Saturday, May 26, 2007

Chat with Chuan - Japan

Chuan is now in Japan, on a similar program as i am. We were exchanging views on how Singapore is lacking. Before we came out to "see the world", Singapore was so perfect.....but not anymore. Singapore is so rush-rush-rush, and people are so concerned with their own lives, to the extent that some of us think that the world only revolves only around us.

He sent me some pics of Japan.... wayyyy cooolll.... would love to go there one day! Since he is too boh chup to blog, i will be posting on his behalf.
If there is one thing that the Singapore Government is uniquely good at, is giving out cash packages....that is Uniquely Singapore!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Baby Shower

Though i have been invited to many Vietnamese-organized parties in my company, i realized i have not posted anything on them.

This time, its an early "Baby Shower" party for 2 of the lab girls.... going away for maternity leave for a couple of months. Vietnamese party = Vietnamese food.... loads of them, in fact. Funnily, i dun find them familiar at all, even though Singapore is well-known to have cuisines of all sorts.
One of my favorites is this spring roll which they call bo` bi'a.
Not our usual "Popiah" as you can see, and not pronounced in the same manner too. Its basically like our "Chee Cheong Fun", but with much thinner "skin", and filled with all sorts of vegetables and shrimp/pork/beef.
It is usually dipped in peanut sauce, which i find it a striking resemblance with our Satay sauce.







Another hot favorite of mine is the ba'nh nam. Its just like a piece of flour cake, with some kind of shrimp concotion on top. My inexperienced taste buds could only reconize the taste of the shrimp....the rest of the flavours are kinda....ermm.. foreign??... But its simply delactable!










Some Vietnamese aunties noticed how much i was enjoying the food and further probed about my opinion of getting a Vietnamese girlfriend who is able to satisfy my tastebuds....goodness. Almost feeling myself blushing, i politely excused myself to get more food... heh.

Here is a pic of some of my wonderful, hospitable and kind, Vietnamese colleagues.


On a final note, i wonder if i would still be able to enjoy such small & cosy company events in Singapore. I'm beginning to like the culture here. And i'm falling in love with the typical US no-OT work culture. Somehow, it answers many Singaporeans' dream of having quality family life....and it answers the government's concerns about keeping families together. What is the point of having one "Eat with your family day", but eat in your cubicle for the rest of the 364 days?

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mother's Day

Its my 1st mother's day without my mother by my side....its also the 1st time in 10 years or so that i wished my mum a happy mother's day. The 8440 miles between us made me realize how i have forsaken my mother's love all these years.

An interesting phrase caught my eye in SF Chronicle today:
"You never know a man until you see him with his mother."


Happy Mother's Day, mum.

Plenty of Love,
Son

Sunday, May 06, 2007

The Club



After the last vehicle break-in, i decided to buy a "steering wheel" lock from Masterlock.

When i asked for a steering wheel lock at the store, the sales-guy gave me a quizzed look, and said,"Oh!...You mean the club??? Its just down by the aisle right in the centre."..

Astonished, i just followed his directions, and i saw the "club".

Oh well, another new day, another new thing learnt.