Last evening sunset & today's breakfast/dinner

Home-prepared dinner

Today's dinner comprised of cod fish ($13 for 200 gm) with miso sauce and kailan ($1.50) with Japanese rice. Eating fish regularly can prevent one from getting stroke and heart attacks. It's the Omega-3 oil that does the trick. Continue reading here.

Fruits for breakfast & lunch @ Food Republic

It was a day of gathering for us, the old Rafflesians at Wisma Atria Food Republic. I had the char siew roasted pork for lunch ($12.50). After lunch, we proceeded to the nearby Toast Box for our kopi and chit chat session.

A haircut at Chong Pang

This afternoon I was at Chong Pang to buy some fruits and came across a Malay barber shop. My hair was fairly long and thought it was time for a haircut.
I personally prefer Malay barbers to others. They are versatile and have a sense of fashion that suit people of all ages.
The barber shop had 2 customers and I waited for my turn. I saw a notice on the wall regarding the prices of the haircut. A flat-top would cost $12, a normal haircut for an adult $10, a senior citizen or a child was $8.
The guy who cut my hair was about 30 years old. I spoke to him in his language which was Malay.
At the end of the haircut, he asked me how old was I. I told him I was 70 and he was shocked. He told with a smile that I looked like a 50 something. The reason he asked me for my age was to see whether I was a "senior citizen" which would entitle me to a discount of $2.
He also asked me whether I was a Malay or Chinese. After finding out that I was a Chinese, he congratulated me on my fluency in the Malay language. He said my pronunciation was perfect. I thanked him for the compliment and told him I was raised in a Malay kampong and my childhood friends were all Malay, hence my ability to speak the language like a Malay.

BT: The language I spoke to the barber was actually Bazaar Malay or pidgin which I picked up as a child.

My usual home prepared lunch

Once again, we are back to our home cooked food. We may not attend any buffet meal for a while after yesterday's experience. The grilled salmon, salad, fried egg omelette, tofu and rice is more satisfying than yesterday's buffet.

Buffet lunch@ Marina Bay Tower 1

Lunch was at Marina Bay Sands Rise Restaurant. The food spread was mediocre. There was no oysters nor beef steak. Food wise was average for the price we paid ( $52++ each).
There were a few flies that bother us. I saw them settling on the cheese which puts me off. One even settled on the side of my water glass. The staff and service was good (most were Filipinos). I will not return to dine at this place again.

Meals for a Sunday

Today's breakfast was an assortment of fruits, yogurt, croissants and
kopi O. The croissants were from FairPrice at Killiney Road.

Today's lunch

Today we cooked sea cucumber, fish maw,shiitake (mushroom) and pork ribs stew for lunch. For dessert, it was a cup of Japanese green tea and chestnut candy.
We are trying to eat more sea cucumber because we believe that it slows down the ageing process besides having anti-cancer properties.

Cabin crew attacked in London subway

Received a message from a crew who had a bad experience in London and would like to share it with his colleagues.
He was with a stewardess at a train station and suddenly a middle eastern woman clad in abaya (cloak) accused him of touching her and carrying a bomb. She started hitting him and the stewardess but the crew did not fight back. In fact, the crew sustained injuries from the attack.
A policeman intervened and the woman told him the 2 crew accused her, besides the abovementioned lies, also took pictures of her and made racist remarks. The policeman did not press charges against the woman.

Killiney Road hor fun

At Killiney Road in the evening and saw people eating oishi food from a particular coffee shop. Out of curiosity, we ordered the same food and found that they were great! Topmost picture was that of fried beef hor fun ($5) and 2nd picture was that of the san loh hor fun or sliced fish kway teow($5.50). 

The Lightning Express by The Everly Brothers

The lightning express from the depot so grand
Had started out on its way
All of the passengers that were on board
Seemed to be happy and gay

But one little boy who sat by himself
Was reading a letter he had
You could plainly tell by the look on his face
That the contents of it made him sad

The stern old conductor then started his round
Taking tickets from everyone there
And finally reaching the side of the boy
He gruffly demanded his fare

"I have no ticket" the boy then replied
"But I'll pay you back someday"
"Then I'll put you off at the next stop we make"
But he stopped when he heard the boy say

Please Mr. Conductor
Don't put me off of this train
The best friend I have in this world sir
Is waiting for me in pain

Expecting to die any moment sir
And may not live through the day
I wanna reach home and kiss mother goodbye
Before God takes her away

A girl sitting near was heard to exclaim
If you put him off, it's a shame"
Taking his hand, a collection she made
The boy's way was paid on the train

I'm obliged to you miss for your kindness to me
You're welcome," she said, never fear
Each time the conductor would pass through the car
The boy's words would ring in his ear

 

Breakfast and my philosophical "view"

This morning I had my breakfast of garlic bread and kopi O, sitting next to my window and watch the things go by outside. This is one of the simple things I enjoy coupled with my good health given by God.
The apostle Paul once said you can and should learn the secret of a contented life. When Paul wrote "godliness with contentment is great gain" he wasn't just speaking philosophically (1 Tim. 6:6). He had learned the secret to contentment in every circumstance of life (Phil 4:11-2). 

Lunch, onigiri and fruits

Onigiri are Japanese rice balls. We made them using the leftover grilled salmon and rice. We may have them for afternoon tea.
Were at Chong Pang market a while ago and bought all those fruits from there. The jack fruits are sweet and can't get them elsewhere. The Australian oranges are also sweet and juicy which are better than the ones from FairPrice or Sheng Shiong.

Pizza toasts for breakfast/Japanese dinner

After a nice hot cup of kopi O at home, my wife made these mouth-watering pizza toasts for our breakfast.
We will be heading to "Finest" for our almost daily grocery shopping and get the stuff we will be cooking for dinner.
I prefer eating at home although it's a bit troublesome with all the preparation, cooking etc . Eating out is convenient but not so healthy.
An example is that I will easily put on weight when eating out. If I eat our home prepared food not only will I not put on extra weight but lose some.

Battered fish,bean sprouts and miso soup dinner

The dessert is the Japanese chestnut candy or known as kuri kuri. We take it as a dessert with the Japanese green tea after dinner.

Eating sea cucumber makes you look younger

It is claimed that sea cucumber is good for health. This sea creature is found at the seabed. It is supposed to prevent certain types of cancer, help in healing of wounds, slow down the aging process etc etc.
I found some dried sea cucumber being sold in the Chinese medicinal shops but they are very very expensive. 100 grams of dried sea cucumber cost from $45 to $220! The non dried ones in the wet/supermarkets cost much lesser...about $9 for a packet of 400 grams ( from Sheng Shiong).
This is our first time cooking the sea cucumber (picture above). We mixed it with fish maw, pork, shiitake etc. We had it for lunch yesterday and it turned out to be tasty and nutritious (hopefully).

Japanese rice in Singapore

I loved eating Japanese rice due to its starchiness. Californian rice is fine but still the Japanese one tops my list. These days, it is easy to obtain this type of rice. I bought it online from a company in Singapore called Tawaraya. The picture above shows the 2 packets of rice from Hokkaido which were imported by Tawaraya. Each pkt contains 2 kilograms and cost $ 17.50 (discounted as first time buyer). I ordered 2 pkts and together with delivery charge is $40 (delivery is $5).
Since this is my first time ordering the rice, I will cook it later and see how it goes.

Having the new Japanese rice for dinner

The rice is fluffy and tender as well as smooth. The grade of rice I bought today isn't the best or most expensive. The more expensive ones are almost double the price I've paid for.
Above was my dinner for the day.

New cabin crew feels discriminated

Cabin crew who joined from 1 March 2016 will not receive the same amount of incentive flying allowance (ifa) as their colleagues until after 27 months in the service. Each non-ranking cabin crew (stewards and stewardesses) will be paid $12.80 per hour when they are on flying duty and this apply only to those who joined the company before 1 March 2016. Those joined after 1 March 2016 will be paid the old ifa of $9.50 per hour. The whole idea not to pay the newbies is to discourage them from resigning before 27 months in service. Some newbies told me the disparity in payment isn't fair. Most want to make flying their career and may stick around for a fairly long time.
It makes matter worse for the newbies when the flight duty goes beyond 14 hours because they will lose out much more due to the ifa payment of 2 1/2 times more per hour..example for a SIN/LON flight in which the total duty hours is about 15, the newbies would be paid ($9.50 x 2 1/2) $23.75 per hour instead of $32. The difference is $8.25 per hour. Take 8.25 and multiply it by 30 ( SIN/LON/SIN) the answer is $247.50. So you can see that those who joined after 1 March will be paid $247.50 less than their colleagues on just one London trip.
One can understand the company's point of view. They want to keep the young crew as long as they can. In place now is the 18 month bond for the newbies. If they leave before their bond is up, they would be penalised. To some I spoke to, they told me they are being punished "in all front". " It is so demoralising to know that you are being discriminated and paid lesser than your colleagues" a five-month stewardess confided in me.
Perhaps someone would like to comment on this matter?

Trip cancelled and retirement in Malacca

We were planning a short trip to the Malaysian state of Malacca but has since cancelled it due to a possible terrorist attack as reported in the press.
The terrorist attack in Nice, France a few days ago had also made us think twice before travelling overseas. We feel safer at home although there is no certainty that an attack would not happen here.
Our intended itinerary includes the famous Jonker Street, A'Famosa Fort, Christ Church and many others. We planned to stay at one of nice hotels in Jonker Street which happen to be the intended target of the terrorists.
To be honest, I must admit that Malacca is one of the few places that I would want to spend my retirement.
With a population of about 800,000 (S'pore's population is 5.4 million) and an area twice the size of Singapore, Malacca is a good place to retire. The cost of living is half that of Singapore's. Examples are: rental for a 3 bedroom apartment in the city area is about S$300 (RM 1,100) per month and a brand new 1600cc Japanese car cost between S$30,000 and $40,000. In Singapore the same type of car cost about S$110,000.
The pace of life is much slower than here. There are fewer traffic lights and practically no traffic jam. Life will be less stressful in Malacca as compared to Singapore.
One could easily obtain a 10 year retirement visa to live in Malaysia under the "Malaysia My 2nd Home" scheme.
Below is a chart showing the distribution of expenses in Malacca.

Chart courtesy of NUMBEO