Eating jackfruits could possibly lower our blood pressure besides other health benefits. The gauge (above) shows my BP which is fine (123/69). Readings should not be above 140 (top figure is known as systolic and bottom is diastolic) and 90. A constant reading of 140/90 and above indicates high blood pressure especially for people younger than 50 years of age. It's best to consult a doctor if your BP is 140/90 or over.
Coming back to jackfruits, if I do not eat them for a long time my BP could be raised to about 138/85. Therefore, in order to keep my BP in the healthy range, I would eat about 2 to 4 pieces a day.
Ban Mian for lunch
This is the dry ban mian or home-made noodles. It costs 70 cents more than the soup ban mian at Kopitiam. It was my first time trying the dry one. Frankly, there wasn't any difference in taste between the soup or dry ban mian. Both tasted good except the prices (soup = $3.80 and dry = S4.50). However, using the Kopitiam card to buy the noodles will entitled you to a 10% discount (applicable only at Kopitiam eateries). One can top up the card at any Kopitiam outlets in Singapore.
We drove 20 km to Tanjong Katong for our favourite wanton mee. The distance may not be long but it took 35 minutes to arrive there.
You see, Singapore, a small island of about 719 km2 is packed with 5.4 million people. It has 1,000,000 cars, trucks, lorries, buses, taxis and motorbikes (as at 2015) on the roads. There are also 2,300 traffic lights (2014 statistics). Almost everyday we are faced with traffic jams.
There would be certain special memories we cherished throughout the rest of our lives especially the wonderful ones. More so when these occurred in our early years.
One day, a lovely and loving couple moved in next door. They were in their late twenties and were nice people. I was about 17 then and being helpful, I was instantly liked by them. The gentleman's name was Tim and his girl friend was Dolly.
Tim wasn't employed while Dolly was working in the office. I used to run errands for them as I had a bicycle. The shops selling groceries and food was about a mile or two away and I would cycle to get the stuff for them.
In the evening after dinner, I would sit around and chat with them. During the weekends when Dolly wasn't working, she would cook for us. Sometimes I felt bad for invading their privacy. I had wanted to leave them alone but most of the time, they would pester me to be with them.
I learned the Cha Cha as well as the slow dances like foxtrot and waltz from them. Their favourite songs were those sung by The Everly Brothers, examples "All I have to do is dream", "Bye Bye Love", "Cathy's Clowns" etc etc. I had a terrific time with Tim and Dolly.
Tim was like a big brother and Dolly a big sister to me.
One day after I returned from a school camping trip, I discovered that Dolly and Tim broke up. As Tim related the story of the breakup, tears began to roll down my cheeks. For the first time in my life, I felt very sad.
Dolly, I found out was a married woman. She had to leave Tim as her husband had found out about their affair. Tim was brokenhearted and almost resorted to suicide.
It took Tim many months before he recovered from the sad episode. A year later, Tim married a girl from the same kampong. I was really happy for Tim.
Even till today, 53 years later, I still love the songs by the Everly Brothers. In fact, one of my favourite songs I would sing at the karaoke session is " All I have to do is dream.."
Tim has since passed away.
A few days ago, one of my schoolmates committed suicide. He was a bright student but quite serious in his demeanour. We do not know why he took his life, after all he was quite well to do. At the time of his death, he owned a house that's worth 8 to 10 million bucks. Therefore, we concluded that his death wasn't due to financial reason. Then, why would he resort to such drastic action? We are puzzled.
Later at his wake, we were told he was suffering from severe depression for a number of years.
A friend presented us with the banana and brownie cakes. She is a pro at baking cakes and pies. We are indeed grateful because these cakes are super yummy.
My classmates/schoolmates would make it a point to meet at least once a month. We were from R.I.(Raffles Institution). We left RI in 1963/65 and most went to the universities here and overseas. Most of us are retirees except a few who are still active in their profession.
More on the appetising topic lets talk about food rather than about lizard,we had home-cooked paella for lunch today. The food tasted better than the one we ate at a cafe recently. It is a saffron rice dish mixed with capsicum, prawns,squids and chicken meat.
Encountered this 1.5 meter monitor lizard while on my morning walk. This is the first time I have seen such a huge lizard near my place. It is harmless I was told. It feeds on small animals like squirrels, mice, smaller reptiles eggs, fish etc. Some eat vegetation and fruits although most are carnivorous.
There is a small river nearby and I think this lizard lives around there. I was also told it rarely attacks humans unless provoked.
Satay at the Whampo Drive Hawker Center was as good as the ones at Chong Pang and Changi Village.However, the satay sauce was not spicy as it should be. The ketupat were a little hard. Each item cost 60 cents.
Next, we ordered the fried Hokkien Mee. The long queue attracted our attention. It is common knowledge that if there is a long queue, it means the food should be good. Out of curiosity, I joined the queue and after waiting for 15 minutes, I got my $6 plate of the Hokkien Mee. It tasted fairly good but below my expectation.
Will be attending a relative's wedding this evening. I thought the invitation card is unique and pretty. I am sorry not to show some of the details on the card to protect the couple's privacy. Hope you'll like it.
Sayur lodeh is a soup prepared from vegetables in coconut milk popular in Indonesia, but most often associated with Javanese cuisine. It is also associated with Malay food here.
We eat sayor lodeh with white rice. Our sayor lodeh has glass noodles (tang hoon) in it.
When one gets old there is a tendency to be overly sensitive with even the most trivial issues. Below were 3 of my ex-colleagues who belonged to the group.
An old woman who got along fine with me in the work place and even after retiring from the airline. One day I asked her to endorse my e-guide which I was selling to the young aspiring cabin crew by saying a few words. She was upset with me for not telling her or put it this way I didn't rope her into the business. Ever since that day, 8 years ago, she refused to speak to me.
Another ex-colleague who considered me his "friend" but disassociated with me once he found out that I was "Boh Tong" who published the book titled "Fasten your seatbelts". I think he was envious or perhaps ashamed of me.
An ex-IFS was so upset with me when I didn't reply to his WhatsApp messages instantaneously that he blocked me from his phone.
Sometimes I wonder why do old people become so very sensitive and upset over small issues. Don't they value the years of friendship?
Today's lunch was at B2 of Takashimaya. We had the ramen and goyza. Between the 2 of us, we spent $41. Although nice, the food can't be compared to the one we ate in Japan.
We had lunch at a coffee shop near his place. Alex is having advance prostate cancer and was a former chief steward with Singapore Airline. He was given less than 2 years to live by his oncologists. The last time we met was in March this year. Although he is in the advance stage of cancer, one would not be able to tell it because he looked fine and has not lost weight since the last time I saw him.
Since he loves drinking beer, I offered to buy him a bottle but he declined as it was "still too early" according to him. The last time we met, I bought him 2 bottles of Tiger Beer.
We chatted for 2 hours before I decided to make a move. We agreed to meet again soon....God willing.
When I reached home, I had a WhatsApp message telling me that IFS Kok who had a stroke 5 days ago has just passed away. Kok, like Alex was also a colleague of mine. I felt so sad on hearing the news. Perhaps, tomorrow Straits Times' obituary column will have his "passing"mentioned.
Kok was a nice man and we missed him.
The hawkers selling the bbq chicken wings and satay were rather rude. I ordered some satays and requested an extra portion of the sauce as there were 2 of us. One of them told me off. She said that since I did not order the ketupat (rice)and my order was only 10 sticks of satay I was only entitled to a small bowl of satay sauce.
Anyway, they were the unfriendly type of hawkers and were like this even before today's incident. Today's incident was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Yes, I've decided to boycott this stall. The stall address is #01-159 at the Chong Pang Hawker Center.
Btw there is another satay stall behind this one but it opens only after 4 pm.
