12 Oct 2014 – Fun With Family, Friends & Food

Thu: at the post office to discover that packages of laksa, curry and chicken rice paste are not permitted to be mailed. Such a bummer as these are excellent gifts for people from this part of the world who has immigrated overseas. Found a new brand named Happy Belly – cute name. Made totally in SIN and even has a pix postcard of somewhere in SIN. Oh well, there goes one of the gift ideas for mailing!

Fri: at the market early for breakfast and then grocery shopping for the weekend. Early Fri and Sat early are the days where shopping in the wet market is fun when the produce and fish are fresh. Have to be an early bird as I am picky and only buy small amount! My regular vendors are accommodating to me when there are no crowds! Where can you buy just a few wigs of mint leafs or just one stalk of celery but here at this wet market.

After a week, I need to make my own food and it is good to be with my regular vendors who are kind and helpful as I do not know many of the local names and just show them pix of what I want. Organic fresh produce for S$8 bought and washed before sunrise! These are organic for sure – had to wash and remove the worm-eaten leafs…

Thanks for dropping by for lunch Gel. Glad to see you feeling and looking better. Stay strong and positive and know that you are in my thoughts to be 100% the Gel I knew. Hope that she will get to see the Aurora either next year or in the near future. Tkx to sis Jo for dinner.

Sat: Cape gooseberry, the Physalis fruit can be lovely for food presentation. Bought a punnet yesterday to discover that they were rotten. Brought it back to Parkway Cold Storage this morning and you will not believe what was said…

• Me: I need to return these rotten berries.
• Service person: you want new ones?
• Me: I checked and they are all rotten.
• Service person: so you no want this?
• Me: thinking, duh! but said: would you want to pay for rotten berries?
• Service person looking dumbfounded and said: OK return you money

No apologies, nothing. So wasted 2 trips to ‘Cold Storage – the Fresh Food People’ as they are known and NO comparison to the MT Market! The lesson learnt, if I ever buy Physalis again, I will open every berry to check or just stick to local produce in the wet market…

Either Cold Storage has no idea about the job of a customer service position or that our government has wasted our taxed money spent on courtesy campaign and probably both!

A day of food preparation for Larry/USA, Richard/NZ, Louis/S Africa. Thanks to Chesper for his chicken curry+popiah and to Clement for sashimi+salad. The organic ‘NasiUlum Bug Attack’ was my contribution. Chesper caught me ‘bugging’ 🙂 A lovely evening was enjoyed by all.

Sun: this haze is giving me such a headache that all I feel like doing is staying in my AC place and not go anywhere – have still to finish unpacking since my return! Difficult to even try scraping off paint in the bathroom!! Pix taken 1800hrs from the bus into town with a PSI reading of 100.

Dropped by Campers Corner/Waterloo St and Chris drove us to their the new location for Marmot at Novena. On the way in the van, was wondering why these Indians were walking barefoot from Little India and turns out that it is the Fire Walking Festival.

http://www.hindu-blog.com/…/singapore-fire-walking

9 Oct 2014 – In The Haze

Sun: appreciations to Henry for dinner company. Congee hit the spot at MT Market, so conveniently located just 5mins walk. Thanks for the cupcakes Henry, and good to see him getting healthy and stronger every time we meet.

Mon: public holiday and stayed indoors. Unhealthy PSI reading of 147. SIN is smothered annually in varying degrees by smog from forest fires in Indonesia, but seems like it is worse this year or maybe it is also that I am usually not in SIN this time of the year. Pix downloaded. Not about to be outdoors in the haze, and if I were to mask or deface the Merlion, will be canned and thrown into prison 🙂

Tue: at Mt E and watched a movie, not much to write home about but a good indoor activity like the bathroom scraping and painting project started before the travel and hopefully to complete before the year is over. Gone are the days when I could paint a whole house…

Café Waiting Love**Si-Ying getting a part-time job at the Cafe Waiting Love coffee shop. She falls for Ze Yu. Meanwhile, A-Tuo, comes to the shop and runs into Abusi, a tomboyish barista who is the reason for his breakup with his ex-girlfriend. A-Tuo’s friends tease him and when Si-Ying stands up for him, the two become good friends. A-Tuo develops feelings towards Si-Ying, who only sees him as a good friend until A-Tuo decides to leave Taiwan…

Wed: Mt E again and since I am out, another movie and some Christmas shopping at Mustafa so that I can put them out on surface/snail sea mail. This Is Where I Leave You****When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

5 Oct 2014 – Salam Aidiladha to all Muslins

Wed: was rather down after the goodbye hugs. 10mins subway (NOK 30 S$5) to the train station to catch the Airport Express 20mins (NOK 85 S$16 for seniors). Sitting on one of those reclining sleeping chairs at OSL airport arrival area to have a hotdog before checking in. Overheard this young sweet teenage boy humming softy the melody to ‘My Favourite Things’ from ‘Sound of Music’ did help a little!

OSL-HEL with FinnAir, 1hr 10mins uneventful flight and thank goodness on schedule. Had only about 45mins to make the connection to SIN. Could not resist to do some shopping – Finnish designs is still one of my favourites.

HEL-SIN 11hrs 10mins on a full flight. Somehow it was warmer than normal and could not sleep other than just short cat-naps. Watched some movies but do not remember what! Arrived on time to a hazy SIN on a Thu late afternoon. Stayed awake until 2100hrs and after that the eyes could no longer keep open!

Fri: of course the jet-lag has to kick in and was awake by 0400hrs. Got to the market early in the dark ie 5am, when it is how I like it, peaceful and quiet. A yummy bowl of steaming pork congee from my favourite congee stall at MP Wet Market, now open in the evenings too! S$3+per bowl.

Sat: dark and early and decided that it is confusing with 100s of FB Amy Lam, added SG, my Chinese initial – this is what happens with jet-lags 🙂 Those who think it is for SIN are way too young to know that in 1950 there were only B/W photography (pix of birth place and with my mother), and way before all the Hi-Tech.

Bus service starts app 0600hrs and took one at 0630hrs to Old Airport Rd to pick up family’s favourite paus at Mui Thiang Kee Eating House’s Homemade Pau/ 34 Cassia Crescent. The mini paus/bite size 0.60c each are yummy and perfect for breakfast or tea-time. Bought 72 for Les 72nd Bday! What else can you get for someone who has everything??

Celebrating an early birthday for a dear brother. Thank you Les&Ivy for an exclusive evening at Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora**** located inside the SEA Aquarium, the world’s largest aquarium. This restaurant (windows reflections from our table) was fully booked. We were at the only table in front of the main tank with top service, wines and good food.

Was here in January but under quite different situations…

http://amylamsg.com/…/30/last-day-for-the-snake/

Lobster soup was good, the selection for fish was limited and after a month+ in Iceland and Norway with fresh fish, the Wagyu beef was delicious. Mont Blanc dessert OK. The champagne and wines brought by Les were excellent. Can easily get used to this but then, if the diet does not kick in soon, then the heart will probably kick out sooner…

Food is for eating, and good food is to be enjoyed… I think food is, actually, very beautiful in itself – Delia Smith

1 Oct 2014 – And It Does Not Get Easier…

Sat: sad news about the search for victims of a volcanic eruption in Japan has been suspended because of fears of rising levels of toxic gas. Condolences to the family & friends of the victims.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-29/four-people-confirmed-dead-after-japan-volcano-eruption/5775028

To all HKG family and friends, plx take care and stay safe in these pro-democracy protests. So agree with Johnny from HKG… ‘Although I support the youth, but the protest seems way to far from what they asking for! Shame on all the so called “Politicians”! The Youth are our future! Should NOT use them! SO SAD!’

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29405195

Sun: M&B had visitors for lunch but was too busy to remember to take pix. Delicious quiche, salad, bread and lemon pie all home-made by May. Impressive! Olai found his visitor/1+yr toddle not much company. Being such a lovely day, was out at the backyard enjoying our playtime together. Later to Nesøya to bid Ellen farewell and back to Majorstuen for fresh peel to eat shrimp.

Mon: as the years go by, it gets more difficult to take leave from the loved ones, not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Had really such a wonderful time watching Olai develop and grow even in this short period of less than a month. Taking him to his day-care a couple of times was my high point and such fun. Good times catching up with friends annually.

Tue: thank you to Ingrid and Hans K for wonderful dinner company. Appreciations to May for making the yummy Pavlova. I made the LemonGrass Chicken.

With 4 different kinds of bubbles to choose from, the Veuve is one of my favourites champagnes. Beers from Kilkenny/Ireland, Tromsø/Norway and SIN are places I have lived in even though not a fan of beers but good to have for those who like beers.

Wed: Olai and May stayed home today. Had to pack and head to the airport to catch my flight from OSL-HEL-SIN. Appreciations to Christian, Claire, Ellen sr, family Hustad, Kari, Kirsten, Leng and Mette for taking time to catch up. A pleasure meeting family Lie. Many thanks to M&B for putting me up and for putting up with me… 🙂

Just read this –  Global AgeWatch Index: Norway best for older people. So does this mean that it is time to return to Norway someday soon 🙂 🙂

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-29426285

Oct’s Special Dates

3 Happy Bday CHONG Siong Yin

4 Happy Bday Berit Lisbet EGGEN

6 Happy Bday David WONG

7 Happy 70th Bday Leslie LAM

8 Happy Bdays Larry LAM, Audrey WONG and KONG Heng Sun

12 Happy Bday Karen SCAF-BENHAM

13 Happy Bday David YUNG

16 Happy Bday Patricia LAM

21 Happy Bdays Steve LAM & Dee HALL

27 Happy 90th Bday Ellen HALD sr

29 Happy Bdays LAM Kwok Lock & Kiera CHUA

31 Happy Bdays Adeline LEE, Mark BOROWSKY and Happy Halloween

27 Sep 2014 – Grouse by Kari Heggelund

Tue: thank you to Christian’s family for a delicious peel to eat shrimp supper.  Yummy chocolate cake for dessert. Appreciations to Ingrid for picking up and dropping me off.

Thu: train from OSL S to Jessheim took app 40mins costing 90NRK/S$18 round trip for seniors. Kari is just amazing. She has made baby books for all her 3 children and 6 grandchildren. And I have visited her in all the places she has lived.

We have many years of memories together, being my first Norwegian girlfriend who has taught me much of the culture here. Today for the second time in my life, I had the chance to have a grouse dinner and the first was also made by Kari back in the early 1980s, a dinner fit for a king! Pix not too clear, but those who know Kari will recognise this gracious delightful lady whose special friendship is much appreciated.

Bjørn Heggelund (who is now grouse hunting in Finmark/N Norway) during his medical studies in RCSI Dublin/Ireland 1974. Kari with our first-born, one day apart; Linn & Thomas who also graduated from the RCSI some years ago. Tkx for the Dublin pix Kari.

Fri: took Olai to his day-care and what a treat to be with him. Made my day.

The Fall colours are just magnificent here at the National Library. The roses are still blooming beautifully and all confused with this fantastic weather.

Sometimes I need to pinch myself to feel that life is not a dream and that it is real. Fun with family, friends food etc make life quite a happening. Counting every blessing and never taking anyone or anything for granted but just being grateful and thankful to all crossing this life’s journey.

Scenes from OSL: wall painting, invasion of Pink Aliens at Majorstuen! The most fancy 7-11 with a colourful outdoor sitting area! Art work on various buildings around the center of town.

Civilized life has altogether grown too tame, and, if it is to be stable, it must provide a harmless outlets for the impulses which our remote ancestors satisfied in hunting – Bertrand Russell

22 Sep 2014 – For Continuous Weather Presenting

Thu: was at that area a couple of days ago and wondered what it was all about. Then saw in the local news to discover that Eli Kari Gjengedal has broken the world record for continuous weather presenting. Congratulations to her. In the area again today and decided to take some pix

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29251704

Thank you Leng for taking the time to catch up after your meeting at the Hotel Continental. With 2 kids and a full job, your schedule is a busy one. Comment from Leng -‘ Amy is a friend from Singapore who lived in Norway in the 70s and 80s, and we managed to get coffee at national theatre in Oslo today 🙂 We met each other when she helped me to make brochures for Fort Canning Park in 2001. 2 kids (mine) and 6 grandchildren (hers) later, we catch up yearly for the last 2 years, after we met again 2 years ago by chance in Oslo’s opera house. How small can this world get?’

And this is what happens when you are meant to stay in contact…

Fri: no day-care today and what an education and lovely day with Olai. One can learn from a 3yrs toddler. Glad to know him better and what a delightful child to be with. He is now bilingual and fun to be with.

Sat: afternoon with Claire. Good of her to take time to meet, especially when she is only here from Tromsø for the weekend to attend her nephew’s confirmation. Her kids Eva/18 and Johan/15, and difficult to imagine that she used to baby-sit L&M when she was 15. The best baby-sitter I have had.

OSL Marathon was on and not being aware of it had arranged to meet at Astrup Fearnley Museet. No problems to detour and to take pix of the race having Linn & family in mind with traumatic memories of their house fire a year ago.

http://amylamsg.com/2013/10/06/lost-for-words/

A beautiful afternoon in OSL catching up, visiting the City Hall, (Claire has never been inside), National museum (by Munch self portrait)

Enjoyed a hotdog while chatting and watching life goes by at the National Theatre. With thoughts of all the grandchildren and watching the fascinating soap bubbles float by. Thank you Claire for a lovely afternoon.

Sun: laundry and upload of pix time while the family is out. Meditating over a simple lunch and admiring the fall colours in the backyard. I am truly blessed. Life is good.

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men – Martha Graham

18 Sep 2014 – And Anywhere When The Elements Co-operate 🙂

Tue: followed May to send Olai to his day-care and glad to see that he thrives in that environment. A great way to advertise for property ‘Life looks better from here. Top Floor for sale’

A lovely early walk into the center of town via Vika

Baker Hanson**** for a cuppa + take out lunch for Ellen and I. This fall weather is absolutely gorgeous and the plants are probably getting confused…

Oslo domkirke (built in the 1600s)=Oslo Cathedral, and the surroundings.

The IKEA bus-stop has moved from Fred Olsens gt to Dronningensgt=Queens St by the old post office. The first time at this post office was in 1967 when I was a tourist here with father. A lovely entrance on this street. This FOC IKEA bus is a good way to do some shopping there, and combining with a visit to –

Nesøya, an idyllic island 30mins drive South of OSL where we lived in the mid 1970s. The road leading to the house had only 3 house on the left and an apple orchard on the left. Loking at it now, I am glad for the time spent there then!

Thank goodness for Kolberg’s farm, the old familiar site and a view to the top of Kolsås (the area where we lived in the early 1980s). Delightful and quaint to see an old T-Ford on their private driveway. Good to catch up with Ellen and John jr who is L&M’s half bro and is staying with Ellen now.

Thank you Kris for meeting at IKEA and speedy recovery to her.

Farts dempere=Speed Bumps

KJØR SKATE BARN LEKER=Drive Slowly. Children Playing!

On the road to success; there’s a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called friends & red lights called enemies – Unknown

16 Sep 2014 – Happy Birthday to Ivy

Wed: everything on schedule and sooo good to see the little one again. May made a delicious dinner. Must have been extremely tired, even Olai could not keep my eyes opened and I was out before anyone else.

Thu: getting more to my normal self. A sign of Fall in the backyard. Did not know that I could enjoy the trampoline! Youngest #6 grandchild works wonders on me and got me on it 🙂 It was absolutely blissful to just lie quietly and stared in the clear blue sky, but that of course lasted only for a minute 🙂 🙂

Fri: met with Mette for lunch but was so busy catching up that the camera was forgotten…

Sat: must be rather unfocused as I thought today was when I was supposed to have dinner at the Hustads. There I was at Tåsen 24hrs too early. Thank goodness Ingrid and HansK are such old friends and also very hospitable. Stayed on for a lovely crab dinner and chatted till late. Got back past 2200hrs. It was a another beautiful day and their tenants had their tent up, probably to air it before putting away or maybe using it as the weather is unbelievable.

Sun: OK now I am there on the correct day appreciations to the Hustads for gathering their family and Christian’s family. Good to see OleK & family. Nice to meet Christian’s family and to know that he is now safely home in Norway after 3 months in SIN.

Thank you for the delicious Fårikål=mutton in cabbage which is a traditional Norwegian dish consisting of pieces of mutton with bone, cabbage and whole black pepper cooked for several hours in a casserole is typically prepared in early autumn.

Mon: needed to rest after such a feast over the weekend… 🙂 🙂 🙂

A writer need not devour a whole sheep in order to know what mutton tastes like, but he must at least eat a chop. Unless he gets his facts right, his imagination will lead him into all kinds of nonsense, and the facts he is most likely to get right are the facts of his own experience – Somerset Maugham

 12 Sep 2014 – Unlike Any Other Place on Earth

An early visit to Ytri-Njarðvíkurkirkja before heading to the airport. I have travelled quite extensively but have not experienced anywhere like Iceland. The nature is so surreally out of this world, and only being there can one feel the splendour of this country. Thank you to Peggy & Ian for good company, missed KK this trip.

Goodbye Iceland and hope to visit again. Appreciations to PP for the write-ups and to both Peggy & Ian for the pix following –

After an exhausting over 30 hour flight from Perth but Ian and I landed in Reykjavik minus luggage. We nearly missed our flight from Oslo as I had misread the departing time. Reykjavik was quaint and most of the shops closed early. The next day we had a hike around waiting for our cases to arrive. Ian was distinctly unimpressed and wondered why I dragged him round the other side of the globe. During our walk met up with a young man who offered to take photos of us and also recommended some sites to see and restaurants to go to.

Our overall impression was how polite and well spoken the Iceland’s were. Service was also prompt and cheerfully given. The only exception was the Thrifty car hire crew. Firstly they forgot us then gave us a round of nonsense excuses. All they had to do was apologise for the mess up and not lead us on. We were two and half hours late in our departure as a result.

Iceland is breathtakingly beautiful and wild. The mountains were rugged and the black lava rocks covered with thick green moss was surreal. We felt we were on another planet. When the clouds were low the mountains took on a mystical appearance as the mist swirled around us as we stood on the edge looking down on a pitch black beach with thundering waves breaking on the shores. Walking up to the glaciers (Jöklagöngur Glaciers) was also very exciting -instead of pristine white snow and ice the volcanic ash gave an interesting pattern to the snow, like shadows. The water in these areas are also coloured a vivid blue/green colour.

Going down the volcano was also very exciting. The articles I have read did not really describe what actually occurred. The walk 3.5km to base camp was through volcanic plain devoid of vegetation and the path was covered by volcanic rocks. Amy’s shoes were ruined going through this area. The guides walked very briskly so you get very sweaty quickly but your hands are freezing from the wind. Once at base camp you are harnessed and given a safety helmet. The guides keep mentioning going down the spout in a basket. One imagines a wire net basket and that aggravated my fear of heights even more. It was actually a gantry and the floor closed. All I then had to do was stare straight ahead to manage the descent. The inside of the volcano was enormous and the Statue of Liberty reached 2/3of the height of this cavern. The colours were astonishing. Well worth the cost. The guides also told us the whole operation including the base camp was packed away end of every season only to be reset up the following year. They were very ecologically conscious.

Saw geysers up close and not fenced off. Smoking bubbling hot rivers and hot springs everywhere. It is quite scary to stand on ground that was also sending up plumes of hot steam. One wonders if gushing hot water will follow. Smell of sulphur was quite strong in some areas.

The quaint little villages and churches were also very picturesque. Saw some tiny houses built into the mounds – perhaps for elves??

One thing we noted was the lack of trees and wild animal life. We saw one fox and one mice in the mountains. We did see groups of flying geese and swans. There were sheep and horses roaming freely everywhere. Cows were contained in a paddock. We were not bitten by insects so that is a plus.

The distance between sites occasionally take up to one hour and many areas were off road conditions.

It is very hard to summarise the experiences over the past week. I would undoubtedly think of others in time.

While there is life there is hope. I beg to assert…that as long as a man’s heart beats, as long as a man’s flesh quivers, I do not allow that a being gifted with thought and will can allow himself to despair – Jules Verne/Journey to the Center of the Earth

11 Sep 2014 – Happy Bdays to May Yung-Lam and bro Steven

Tue: Strandakirkja was originally built in the 12th century. The story relates that there is one night when a group of sailors tried to navigate back to Iceland in a storm. The southern coast of Iceland is notorious for its hidden reefs and rough coast. The distressed sailors prayed to God for a safe return and vowed to build a church wherever they landed.

When they ended their prayer an angel, seemingly made of light, appeared before their bow. The angel guided them through the rough surfs and led the crew into a bay for safe landing. The sailors, making good on the promise, built a wooden church at the site. The bay nearby is named Angel’s Bay to commemorate the incident. Many miracles have been attributed to Strandarkirkja and there was a time when it was one of the richest churches in Iceland from the donations of Icelanders coming from all over the country in hopes of having their prayers and wishes realized.

So if I do return here, it means that my wish has been granted…

Seltún, boardwalks meander round a cluster of hot springs. The steaming vents, mud pots and solfataras (volcanic vents) shimmer with rainbow colours from the strange minerals in the earth, and the provocative eggy stench will leave a lasting impression.

Kleifarvatn is the largest lake on the Reykjanes peninsula situated in the southern part of the peninsula on the fissure zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The lake’s greatest depth is 97 m. The lack of life gives an amazing deep feeling of inner peace.

After the big earthquake in 2000, the lake began to diminish, and 20% of its surface has since disappeared. The cracks that opened up in the earthquake have since then slowly filled again and by 2008 the lake had regained its previous surface Level

Hópsnes Lighthouse is a spit of lava land between Cove Hraunsvik and Cove Jarngerdarstadavik close to Grindavik. The lighthouse there was built in 1928.

Blue Lagoon is a must to end this astounding and breath-taking trip with the Puddeys.  A dip in these clear blue hot springs, paradise on earth is the best reward and way to relax after all the driving over the week – EUR40 S$65 including a towel rental). Thank you Marisa, manager of the Blue Lagoon Shop for her excellent service. Would certainly like to visit again and take on her hospitality.

Pix credits to Peggy & Ian for the 3 above pix from the Blue Lagoon. Was to busy enjoying the soak to take pix! This is the 2nd visit at this location and will certainly visit again even if it means to have an overnight stay when travelling from the US to Norway on IcelandAir in the future.

Our last hotel and dinner in Iceland for this time round – Icelandair Hotel Keflavik**** Dinner at Vocal Restaurant****with a delicious serving of Ling Fish at a discount as they had a big group and the service was slower than normal. Not a complain, just a comment. Like that they actually separate the big groups into another room and we had a quiet and peaceful time to wrap up our Iceland tour.

Paradise is open to all kind hearts – Pierre Jean de Beranger