30 Nov 2019 – It Has Indeed Been A Busy Month

Wed: cousin Calvin in Brisbane/Australia made my day today – tkx to him for working out a comprehensive coding for the family tree to show how we are related. Will share this on the LAM TinYue Heritage FB-posting when I get my act together to provide him with whatever names and YOB&YOD I have in my notes.

Thu: Happy Thanksgiving to all celebrating. Reflecting over a decade of Thanksgivings, feeling blessed&thankful for everyday even without my flock who are always in my heart&mind and with our family tradition of 2019 Beaujolais Nouveau, if I can find a bottle here. Pix credits to Cindy&Linn.

https://amylamsg.com/2016/11/25/thanksgiving-2016/

Changi Airport’s tunnel leading to T4 – amazed how this location was once the budget terminal and now look at this – nobody in my way for these shots with how ice-kacang were made in the good-old-days. Have been trying to explain this and now finally an illustration speaking fluently, tkx to Yip YewChong.

Welcome Lily from KCH and Angelina&Zephyr from Belgium and if the Minions cannot get the attention of this adorable 3yrs young’s no one else can!

Welcome, Happy Thanksgiving&tkx for dinner to Lesley who is here for a short working trip from CA/USA. She is the only person I know of who has 39cats! Met at the new revamped Grand Park City Hall Hotel – sadly not what it used to be where I would occasionally pop in for a drink in this spacious lobby with a personality+pleasant life-music many moons ago. No recognition of the new tiny entrance/lobby or anything familiar to find my way about – only after asking to learn that it is on the 3-level. Pix downloaded.

BakKutTeh dinner@OldStreet/FunanMall. Koong Woh Tong’s Chinese traditional herbal jelly Guiling Gao 龟苓膏 is one of my favourites there and I like it best without honey or sweetener. The slight bitterness+herbal root Tu Fu Ling 土茯苓, Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae, Glabrous Greenbrier Root compliments each other, especially after all the eating over the week, really needed this. Pix downloaded except for the one with Lesley.

Fri: TGIF on this Black Friday – a good weekend&shop till you drop! Thanksgiving is over in SIN and you can now bring on the Christmas! Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary Lock&May and Happy 13-BDay #3 who now joins #1&2 into their teen-age years. Had to pick up fresh fruits@Parkway for Campers Christmas bash tomorrow. Decided to watch Last Christmas to get my mind off things I do not want to do! Would probably forget about this movie soon, but it had enough moments to keep the festive spirit alive for now. Lovely rainy afternoons yesterday&today.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special – George Michael/WHAM

Sat: was wakened to this sad news of the stabbings on London Bridge/UK&in the Hague/Netherlands. Family&friends all over the world, plx be safe&take care.

Even the Norwegian Ambassador, pastor&brass-band here@Sjømannskirken for the Christmas Bazaar with AudreyM, it was difficult to get into the spirit of Christmas in this heat.

but always enjoy their fresh-baked goods&open-face sandwiches and always manage finding something to add to my collection, no matter of size!

Got the fruit cocktail to Campers’ and then off to watch a performance by The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre of Peter Pan in Serangoon Gardens@Wild Rice, Funan directed by Ivan Heng. Wendy, played by Mae Elliessa’s voice did sing to me. 1st time in this 358seats taking up 20,000sqft across three floors, nice design but tight on the leg-room and make sure you have a jacket with you here! Tkx to Clem for this musical, but poor him who really had so much pain with his knees by the end of Act 1.

Tkx to management&staff+friends of Campers’ Corner for the season’s 1st Christmas seafood bash – apologies for being late, but it was still Nov and this is the Big-One that did not get away! Appreciations to Pat@Owls Brew for preparing the food.

Managed to pull thru’ all these events in one day&one piece in spite of the worst day on the roads&on the buses. Was waiting longer for the buses, stuck in traffic+detoured prolonged bus-rides all day.

Everywhere red! Taxi stands overflowing with queues all because of the road closures for the StanChart Marathon+U2 concert. Tkx to Victor for his live-report while crawling on the road.

Perhaps all these detours are a reminder for me to slow-down at this stage! How life makes twists &turns and I never would have guessed that I’d end up where I am now, but wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

26 Nov 2019 – Passport + IC Renewal

Sat: thank you PuiAh for dinner&safe journeys home to Vancouver/Canada. At Quentin’s with HS, Sam+Colin where one can also visit the Eurasian Heritage Gallery@the Eurasian Association.

This typical unique yummy Eurasian dish Feng (tkx to HS for the recommendation) is a yummy mild curry of finely diced pork, pork heart&liver – 心肝 literally heart&liver in Cantonese is a term of endearment!! for real.

https://www.echineselearning.com/blog/chinese-heart-and-liver-darling

PuiAh thought the OxtailCurryDebal too spicy – I  liked it, but then I enjoy spicy foods (again spicy here is relative). PasteisDeBacalhau, dried cod with potatoe, chopped parsley, cilantro&onions, whipped with eggs and fried. And of course the popular SugeeCake

Was@Quentin’s in 2015 with Clem and then again in 2016 with Yun.

https://amylamsg.com/2015/12/10/future-of-us/

https://amylamsg.com/2016/11/03/welcome-cousin-yun-november/

Sun: OMG, The Crown – Season3 with all 10episodes are out on Netflix and yes watched some yesterday afternoon and the rest today.

Mon: made an appointment online some weeks ago to collect my renewed passport/S$70&IC/S$10. ICA impressed me again as they did in 2010&2015. The line snaked to outside&around the side of the building – was in by 0800hrs&out by 0815hrs. Yeah – another 5yrs to gallivant outside of SIN before having to renew the passport again!

Time for breakfast – crossing the canal to the food center, must have been nearly a decade ago since I had a bite here.

Nice to see these murals and that the place is brighter, cleaner and cooler with many fans.

Since in the area, heading to Arab St to check out materials, but alas, forgot to take with me the colour samples and as it was, most the the shops were still closed. Pleasant to stroll down this area in the shade where the only crowds were these figures in the side lane of HajiLn leading me to the bus-stop on OphirRd

At the MP Town Counsel to put a deposit (S$300, to be refunded 2months after the event) for reserving the Communal Area 44A – S$85.60 including the use of water&power for the day is affordable. What a productive morning.

Tue: welcome Tore from Norway back to his other home here in SIN. Good of him to make time to catch up for brunch during his paternal leave here with Aurora.

A frustrating afternoon@Campers’ trying to learn to use the photoexpress App – am about to throw in the towel…

Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go ― Sarah Dessen/What Happened to Goodbye

22 Nov 2019 – Again Is Not Affordable For Me

Tue: nice relaxing day to calm the body&soul. Congratulations to #1, last high-school XC meet@Springdale Race-Course where she placed 18 overall&the team+#2 placed 12@5A-SC-State-Championship-Meet. Last banquet and a new chapter for #1 soon starts in USC/Gamecock. Looking much forward to being with my flock again for her High-School Graduation Jun 2020 before she flies from her nest! Pix credits to Linn&Elizabeth

Wed: a voice from the past – welcome Sven Poulsson (L&M’s father’s cousin) from Norway. We last met in the 1970s and no problems at all recognizing him today – sweet&short get-together to reminisce and tkx to KK for delicious wholesome home-made dinner. Seemingly Sven’s bro, Espen has been working here for a while and somehow KK recently became friends with Espen, thus connecting the dots! Saw Sven off to the airport and safe journeys home to him.

Thu: lunched@FunanKopitiam and to catch a movie@GV there, first time in this new cinema. The Good Liar, do not read too much into it and just know that the plot is about this elderly con guy who tries to con an elderly widow. If you read too much in advance, it’ll destroy the element of surprise. Went with just knowing that and enjoyed it. Read the detailed plot and the critics after watching it and was not what I expected. Thought that both Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren did good enough to convince me of their roles here.

Appreciations to Leo for helping out to download the PhotoBookExpress App which I need to work on for the UKC2C book for Camper’s. Tkx to Calvin for Pat’s home-cooked dinner@Owls.

Fri: TGIF and a glorious weekend to all. Welcome Siong from Ireland back to SIN for a buffet lunch with PuiAh, Meg, myself, Jo&Joyce. Good that she is able to take a break from her farm to visit her family here and tkx for taking time to catch up. Safe journeys for her back home to Ireland.

Was surprised to see hardly any crowds at Roxy’s Feast@East Buffet Restaurant. When we were last here 9yrs ago it was crowded.

https://amylamsg.com/2010/11/10/visitors-from-canada-ireland/

Am wondering if they will be able keep this going when there were so few ppl even on a Fri??

Tkx to AudreyM for the invite to Affordable Art Fair which was not affordable for me even 5yrs ago, not to say now!

https://amylamsg.com/2014/05/25/affordable-art-fair/

The only affordable thing for me is a yummy bite from Jamie@Gattopardo Ristorante Di Mare – nice surprise to see her working there. Speedy recovery to Giovanni who is in hospital getting rid of his appendix.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – Leonardo DaVinci

18 Nov 2019 – Overseas Friends

Thank you to those who has recently joined the LAM TinYue Heritage Family Group in FB. Hoping that all invited will join and help join the dots here.

Fri: TGIF – a good weekend to all. Welcome WInnie LEE from CA/USA back to SIN to celebrate her 70. Good to also catch up with CHIJ elementary-school classmates Pat Chee&Rebecca Lim who are now into their 70s (Jan 2020 for me!). Brunch@Beach Road Prawn Mee 美芝律大虾面 at East Coast. Introduced Winnie to The Coffee Bean’s PandanGulaMelaka Cake@MarineCove and she, too, likes it. Tkx for dinner@Les&Ivy, roast from my regular@UbiAve 2.

Sat: woke up to loud-speakers blasting to this Family-Day event for the pre-school downstairs.

App 1hr on bus16 to Tan BoonLiat building on OutramRd. The bus stops by the graves of Tan TockSeng on the TiongBahru Trail – have been wondering whose grave it is and finally an answer.

Crossing the overpass-bridge with a clear view of 3SengPoh Rd which used to belong to the LAM family, now NewCape Inn.

Enjoyed shopping, tasting good unusual gins, yummy smoked salmon&cheese at Journey East’s Nordic Pop-Up Market end of this year’s – tkx to Anita but missing Ginger, may she RIP. Providore Warehouse has this gigantic interesting Christmas goodies.

Appreciations to AudreyM&Clem for dinner&dessert at these new eateries on OutramRd – Voyage Patisserie where a piece of cake there cost S$9.

Sun: tkx to KimBeng&Mindy for lunch@Old TiongBahru BakKutTeh and for driving me to pick up the smoked salmon&cheese@Journey East.

Appreciations to niece Daisy for the premiere to Disney’s Frozen II. With Olaf, time will always be frozen to LaLaLand and the Happily Ever After in spite of the crowds@VivoCity.

Nice to catch up with Leo and tkx for ChickenRice&TowKwarPop@MaxwellMarket. Pix downloaded.

Mon: welcome WONG PuiAh from Vancouver/Canada back to a room with a view in SIN. Nice catching up .10c will not buy you a packet of kachang puteh&S$2.50 will not get you into a movie-show as it did in our childhood days.

14 Nov 2019 – Magnolia Snack Bar

Tue: the sun this morning was quite different from other days! Looked like just an egg-yoke surrounded by smog, but it cannot be smog or one will not be able to see the sun! Appreciations to  KengWe for taking time to look at my LAM TinYue Heritage research and pix. Hope that he&his students will be able to use some the material for their research project. Also hoping that he will be able to help to find a home (not@Semakau!) for all my research materials where anyone interested will have access to.

https://amylamsg.com/2017/06/09/a-family-of-bankers/

Tkx to niece DaisyLam for a nice catch-up, dining@FoodRepublic/Capitol. Have been wanting to eat Popiah&Rojak since my return and finally got to do it.

Such a change with Capitol Building and the surroundings from CHIJ school days across the road from here. Glad that the facade is more or less still the same, but the interior has been revamped for the Crazy Rich Asians!

Nor could I afford to shop here,

or eat in any of these eateries. Believe it or not, but Campers’ Corner was once located here many moons ago.

Where Magnolia Snack-Bar once was when I could get milks-shades there in the 1960s, now I can get an ice-cream with real gold! topping for S$10 – bringing back memories from both early teens and the last trip to Japan 4yrs ago!

https://amylamsg.com/2015/12/04/japan3/

Sharing the above video in hopes for those who are not aware that garbage&thrash can be used constructively. Appreciations to Garry for the share and yes I do wonder why the rest of the world are not doing this? Tkx to niece Patricia for the reminder that we can’t just keep filling up Semakau. Have always been interested in the environment and even more so now with the climate change.

Looks like it is going to be another really cold winter for those in winter-wonder-land while E-Australia is struggling with their forest fires. Natural disaster is not within human control, but what is happening in HKG where it is within human control – unfortunately this political&power struggle for control will head into disaster, so very sad for my mother’s&my maternal relatives’ homeland.

Wed: how can I be so wrong about the sun&smog – the cough last night kept me from a decent night sleep and same this morning to discover that the PSI reading was between 80-90 last night and today it is 100+Seems like this body is still sensitive enough to detect this for better or worse! Rest&snooze is about all I can do for today, but will not stop me from working on the LAM TinYue Heritage and to set up a FB-Group so that the younger generation will not forget their heritage.

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots – Marcus Garvey

Thu: stared on some medications so to get a better night sleep last night. looks like a hectic weekend ahead from more overseas visitors – thus celebrating Chris’s (CC) Bday tonight (Bday tomorrow) but, being a good family guy as he is, was unable to join us@OwlsBrew, but was in our thoughts then!

https://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Owls_Brew/

11 Nov 2019 – A Small Family Gathering

Fri: TGIF – tkx to Wilki&Patty for this small family gathering@PorKee (where their parents used to frequent) with some of our favourite dishes. It is a very rare occasion to get all my 3Wong cousins together. Sitting: one of the twins Jordan. From L-R: Wilki, me, Mei, 16Auntie, David, John, Daisy. Behind me: Sue, Jo, Evelyn&Raymond and 17Uncle in the big pix; Daisy, Huang, Kim, Patty and Sue in the other pix – 4generations here, missing from the WONG-branch Jay&Joshua+Daniel here. Pix credits to Jagger&Huang.

The CoffeeRibs are no more and that must be have been my favourite ribs of all ribs, now it is ChampagneRibs which is also yummy and so are their CerealPrawns. HomemadeTofu (the best for me) with SeaCucumber, YamBasket,

Steamed SoonHock/MarbleGoby 笋壳鱼, favourite fish-dish for most Cantonese family. Dessert Teochew Orh-Nee 潮州芋泥 – Yam paste with gingko nuts, rich&delicious but packed with cholesterol, had only a couple of spoonfuls to not tempt fate! All food pix downloaded except the dessert. Problems with memory-card in camera.

Tze Char煮 炒 zhǔ chǎo (zhú chǎo); literally=cook&fry, also romanised Zi Char, is a Hokkien term used to describe a Chinese stall that provides a wide selection of common and affordable dishes which approximated home-cooked meals. Uniquely SIN dining term that has come to refer to an extensive mish-mash of dishes cooked to order, based loosely on Chinese cooking. More elaborate and expensive than hawker fare, but cheaper and lacking the polished presentation of upscale Chinese restaurants. Ask 100ppl what tze char is and you’ll probably get 100different answers. Ask them which is their favourite and expect 100more different answers.

KokSeng&PorKee with their Cantonese-style cooking are the locations my family seem to frequent.

Sat: taking it easy and fasting – feeling uncomfortable&unwell with the excess weight. Great running for #1,2&4. #4 tied for 6th girl overall, first in her age group and a new PR at the Run Hard 5K! Meanwhile, #1&2+team Irmo XC girls were 4th at 5A Midstate Qualifier in Camden and will move on to compete at State next weekend. Way to go, my running ladies+their coach. Tkx to Linn for updates+pix.

Sun: wishing the Hi-Group a safe trip back home. Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) on Wedding Rituals & Ceremonies in Different Religions@NLB. Harmony of Faiths in SIN with talks and discussions on the commonalities and differences in weddings from different religions. Rev Liew caught my attention here by turning water into wine, good trick – an illustration of Jesus blessing our marriage. Educational&interesting talk by all in the above panel and good Q&As from the audience. Looking forward to catching their next talk in Dec.

Only in SIN where one can find all these places of worship within 5mins walk from each other. Love should have no boundaries, but I do not live in a Happily-After or LaLaLand. Too tired open a can of worms here. Appreciations to Clem for dinner and this round@DinTaiFung RafflesCity tkx to the voucher from HI cousins.

Edited 19Nov: tkx to Alvin for this contribution where there he discovered a street in Bali where places of worship are literally 1min away from each other.

https://goo.gl/maps/dvhhsbLjqjz8t45L6

Mon: more or less back to sync here. Dinner with Wilki&Patty+Daisy@JalanBesar – fishhead, turtle soup&beef-hor-fun. Safe trip back to HI with hopes that they will still return back here to eat even though their business&paper-works are now finally done&settled.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life – Richard Bach

7 Nov 2019 – And Vending Machines

Mon: the 4walls are more or less back to normal without any covers and feeling more relaxed with most of the laundry&unpacking done. What else next with vending machines??? Have yet to try hot-snacks or the Norwegian salmon but my Norwegian friends never knew that one could get frozen Norwegian salmon from a vending machine. Now you can even drop off your Laundry, dry-cleaning, bag&shoe spa &more! Do like the OJ machines – for S$2, you can watch 4oranges being freshly squeezed and both taste&temp wise are to my taste.

An actress once advised me, Make sure you do your own laundry – it will keep you honest – Cate Blanchett

Tkx to David&Wilki+Huang&Kim for the voucher&dinner@DinTaiFung where the food is consistently good. It is amazing how far they have reached, considering that I have never forgotten the taste of their XaoLongBao in Taipei/Taiwan1996 just before they opened their 1st International branch in Toyko. In SIN alone, there are 25branches and with a group of 5 of us, there was no problem with at least one owning a CitiCard.

Tue: toilet tank leaking and not getting properly into the bowl, tkx to contractor Vincent, got it was fixed S$100. IC S$10&passport S$70+4mugshots S$10, all papers in the post for renewal. Running thru’ figures will give me an idea where the money is being flushed away!!

Shaw@Jewel to watch The Farewell – Based On An Actual Lie are such appropriate words when this movie is about a conspiracy of lies on death! A Chinese family who, when they discover their beloved Grandmother has only a short while left to live, decides to keep her in the dark and schedule an impromptu wedding to be together. Highly recommended to see how family dynamics, cultural differences, etc bind the family together.

The Farewell won’t change cinematic language, but by opening us up to a clash of cultures we don’t often get to see and by showing us the beauty of a lie, it just may change you – Glenn G

Enjoy being in the basement@Jewel where GB Shaw’s quote about where there is no sincerer love than the love of food applies so fully here. With Jewel nearer to me (bus 36 direct to T1@the airport in less than S$1&20mins). the food selections&eateries here are endless and would take me a year to try everything! The basement@Takashimaya is also good when in the Orchard Rd area..

Wed: a day catching up with movies Made in China&Hello World – the few ways I will sit down and not run around! Ended the day at Plaza SIN to meet with cousins+HI group for dinner@Kopitiam, somewhere I can afford to treat everyone with my 10% off card there!

Also Patty wanted to shop@Daiso where she bought 43items!! – she told me that when her DIL was visiting Japan, she bought 150items from a Daiso there!!! Got me to wonder how many items (total) have I bought from there?

Thu: going thru’&filing both hard&soft copies of paperworks with the body, especially the stomach needing a total rest – ie fasting and drinking just warm water to flush out the system today.

3 Nov 2019 – Back On The Red Dot

Thu: smooth&uneventful flights snoozing and watching a bunch of movies which I have little recollections of. Arr on schedule to receive the best news – congratulations again to the IrmoHigh GirlsV-XC – Region Champs for the 2nd year in a row, way to go #1&2+their mama coach, my 1st born. What an honour to be their mother&grandmother. Pix credits to Jeremy.

After a shower and a few minutes of snooze, headed to Filmgard@Bugis – appreciations to SIN #6 Irish Ambassador Patrick Bourne and the Irish Embassy for this last flick of the Irish Film Festival 2019, and for the taste of Barmbrack which is traditionally served on Halloween in Ireland. The origins of Halloween actually dates back to the Celtic festival of Samhain.

Was in much of a zombie state of mind to give any comments on this movie, The Hole In The Ground which is supernatural horror film directed by Lee Cronin, from a screenplay by Cronin and Stephen Shields.

Fri: TGIF! Breakfast – BakChorMee@Blk59 MarineTerrace/132MeePokKwayTeow, still missing the old congee&carrot cake stalls but does not stop me from enjoying the other foods! Surprised to bump into Penny and nice to meet her hubby, Paul.

Good being back to the local foods in my comfort-zone+conveniences in-spite of the apt looking like a battle-field both inside (my own mess) out (MRT/TEL-line-constructions) at present. That too shall pass…

Welcome back to SIN (Food-Paradise), cousins David&Wilki+Patty WONG and Huang&Kim, all 5 from HI.

Just down the street where their accommodations are, Little India is conveniently located with Tekka-Place, an old block with a new facade opened on time for this 2019 Diwali where the peacock’s tail is ready for courtship. 2018 lights, the tail was not in that stage. Maybe next year 2020, the Diwali lights will be with a flock of peachicks!!! hahaha.

Sat: the various ethnic foods, cultures, customs, religions, rituals, etc living as peacefully as possible side by side is what makes SIN so unique and what I like best here. After India last night, today a taste of China in Chinatown.

Of course the shaved-ice@MeiHeongYuen is a must for my young friends and me too. Tkx to Linda for the help in her dried-goods store for Kim. Another taste from LimCheeGuan was all I could handle in this weather. Had to rest at their serviced-apt before another taste of OldChangKee on the way to Campers to say hi. Alcohol related credits to Calvin&Pat – lol

At this rate and in this heat, do know better than to even think of tasting anything alcohol related! Had a delightful time just catching up, staying awake and hoping for a good night sleep.

Tkx to Huang for taking this present pix of cousins David, John&Wilki WONG who are in many ways just like bros to me as their mother/4auntie LAM PohKow (1915-2016), have tried many times to adopt me during childhood – for real. B&Wpix from 1950s.

https://amylamsg.com/2016/02/29/with-fond-memories-dedications/

Sun: the body&heart are not so forgiving nowadays if I do not take this day to rest even when the mind tells me that nothing is impossible – 2negatives should make one positive, but will follow my heart and take my brains with me.

2 Happy Bdays  HongSze and JohnK/Ireland