Posting on my travel blog

Am back from my Hanoi trip, still sorting the photos but am slowly starting to post some photos of my trip. Do pop over to my travel blog.

Grand Nephew's full month party

We had a small party to celebrate grand nephew's full month. According to chinese custom, when baby is one month old, a party will be held to introduce baby to relatives and friends.

Guests were given red dyed eggs to symbolize happiness and the renewal of life. For the chinese culture, Red is always associated with good luck.

Guests will give presents or money in red packets (ang pow or hong bao), closer family members will give golds as gifts. Hubby and me being granduncle and grandaunt, we bought a small gold chain and a pendant, with the high price of gold, it really costs us a fortune lol. But the happiness the baby bought, it is really worth it.

Baby is 12 days old

My grand nephew in law is 12 days old, they hold a small gathering for close relatives to annouce the arrival of the new born baby. The occasion was celebrated by cooking pig's trotters in some sweet sauce of black vinegar. The dish helps keep the new mom in keeping warm during this one month confinement period.

Traditional confinement practices are based on the belief that the new mom's body is 'out of balance' after giving birth. The theory is that the new mom is now in a 'cold stage' due to the loss of blood (lochia) and energy from the birth. As such, the confinement period focuses on re-energising the body with the 'warmth' that has been lost.

Chinese, Malay and Indian communities all have their own confinement practices. While different ethnic groups may do things differently, the main aim is to help the mother and her body recover from the intensities of childbirth.

Traditionally, mother or mother-in-law will be the one taking care of the new mom during the confinement period. Many Chinese mothers however, hire a confinement nanny, a pui yuet (Cantonese for 'companion for a month') who will see to the mom and her baby’s needs.

The nanny will cook special confinement dishes for the new mom, bathe her baby, and do the baby's laundry. She will also take over the night feeds so that the mom can rest.

You can view more information about confinement from source

Yummy, my share of the pig's trotters cooked in vinegar and lots of ginger.

I am promoted to be Grand Aunt In Law

Yayyy, at last I am a Grand Aunt In Law, last week hubby's nephew's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy by Caesarean. Mother and child are doing very well now. Nice to see a new generation born, hope to see more additions to the new generation. We may see a small baby boom during this year being the Dragon year, the most auspicious for birth in the Chinese Zodiac.

This is the KK Women's and Children's Hospital , formerly known as "Kandang Kerbau Hospital", is the largest hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore. In 1966, the hospital entered the Guinness Book of Records for delivering the highest number of newborns within a single maternity facility for that year, and it continued to hold on to this record for a full decade, delivering 85% of the population. Fifty two years ago, I was born in Kandang Berbau Hospital too but not in this new, clean looking building, the old hospital was located on the site opposite this new hospital. Back then we were the baby boomers, too many babies and not enough hospital beds.

Singapore, just like many countries is facing a low birth rate problem. To encourage parenthood, the government gives out baby bonuses of up to S$4,000 ($3,200) for each of the first two children, rising to S$6,000 for the third and fourth. It also matches deposits made into a Child Development Account. Mother has a four month maternity leave and there's talk about having paternity leave for the father too to encourage more to have babies. What policies do your country implement to encourage or discourage citizens to have more babies?

epiphyllum or Keng Hua blooms at midnight

As per previous post about the epiphyllum or keng hua plant that grows in my brother's house, my brother used his handphone to take photos of the flowers that only blooms at midnight. They were so pretty but the image a bit blur.

At least now these photos of the blooms can conclude my topic on the flowers, too bad I did not get to view them bloom on site.

A day at my Brother's house

During the weekend, the whole family gathered at my brother's house to pray to our late parents for the seventh month of the year also known as Zhong Yuan Jie or Mid Year Festival or the Hungry Ghost Festival or the feast for the wandering soul. Normally prayers will be held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month but as 15th day of the seventh lunar month falls on a weekday and most will be working so majority of chinese will celebrate the day praying to their deceased close family members earlier on weekend before the 15th day.

Most might think Ghost Festival sounds eerie but it is actually a joyous affair where the whole family gathered together to pray to our ancestors. I saw this blogwhich is very interesting describing the ghost festival.

As my brother is taoist, food were offered to our late parents as part of the prayers. There were so much yummy food that of course after prayers, we tucked into them and really have a good time. The above photo were the ingredients for making popiah (a kind of not deep fried spring roll), they were cooked by my eldest sister.

We just had to put all the ingredients onto the popiah skin and rolled them up and eat it, very healthy better than the deep fried spring roll.

The above photo of potato patties or begedil prepared and cooked by my sister's indonesian domestic helper. Yummy.

Assorted nonya kueh (cakes)- some in durian flavour - so yummy.

We had other fruits too but I liked these organic strawberries, they were so sweet. At this time, I really drools thinking of the food we ate during the weekend, hahaha.

And what best was the sight of these beautiful keng hua or epiphyllum flowers that grows from the plants in my brother's house. There were about six flowers on one plant and another two blooms on another plant. Wow what a wonderful day it was but too bad none wanted to stay till midnight to take photo of the full bloom of the flowers...lol. These flowers only bloom for a short while at midnight.

For photos on other parts of the world, please visit Our World Tuesday Meme. Thanks to the team of Our World for giving us the opportunity to share my world with the rest of the world.

Having problem posting

I am having problem posting photos to my blog. Not sure what happen. Hopefully the problem will be solved soon. :(

Chinese New Year Lunch and Dinner with my entire family

Having lunch with my siblings and our family at my brother's house. Home cooked food is the best. :)

Chinese New Year is to get together and also having big feast together.

Dinner at Paradise Inn and the main course must be the Yusheng Dish. Yusheng is like a raw salad consisting of shreds of vegetables and with raw fish slices and adding some crushed nuts, crackers, etc

The tossing of yusheng is a must and the higher you toss the better your wishes will come true. Everyone will chat all the phrases of good luck and wishes.

My World Tuesday- Happy New Year 2011

First post for the new year. Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and may 2012 be a better year.

Just back from short trip to Guangzhou, China. It was so much better and safer than I first expected. The last time I visited Guangzhou was in 1986 (antique story already hahaha), so much changes and I will tell my Guangzhou travel story in my travel blog once I loaded my photos. If you are interested you can read about it and how to go about in Guangzhou.

Was about to check in for my flight to Guangzhou last week but was attracted by this huge Merlion Topiary in Changi Airport Terminal 3. I think the Merlion Topiary will be there till after Chinese New Year 2012.


Inside the transit area/departure area, there are more decorations.


Did not visit the butterfly garden in Terminal 3 cause I was taking the morning flight, the butterfly garden was in darkness, I guess butterflies need their beauty sleep too.

For photos on other parts of the world, please visit Our World Tuesday Meme. Thanks to the team of Our World for giving us the opportunity to share my world with the rest of the world.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Just four more days to christmas, have you done your christmas shopping yet?

Saw many shoppers doing some last minute shopping at Takashimaya Shopping Mall.

Here wishing all my readers who celebrate christmas a very Merry Christmas and wishing everyone Happy New Year and may 2012 be a better year for all of us and the world.

Will be taking a short blog break and going for a short trip to China, be back in 2012. :)

The Ice Cream Man and The Cat

Before making our way home after a very happy trip to Pulau Ubin, we had ice cream even though it was raining.

Of course mine was durian flavour ice cream sandwiched between two waffle biscuits.

Snugging comfortably in a corner is this very cute cat.

The cat followed us from the ferry terminal to the car park hahaha.

Comex IT Show

Every year there are so many IT shows in Singapore.

Last weekend, hubby went to Comex IT Show on his own cause I dislike huge crowd. He bought a computer home after visiting the exhibition hahaha. The price was so attractive that he cannot resist.

So the new computer goes to one of my son cause his computer is about few years old and now the new computer have better features and with faster speed. My husband will take over his old computer hahaha.

Geez, each family member have their own personal computer and my sons have a laptop each too for their school projects.

Electronic appliances are getting cheaper and cheaper that most can afford to have more than one.

Cat

Saw this cat not sure if it was a stray or someone's pet.

It had a beautiful black and white coat, so I could not resist taking a photo of it.

Then suddenly the cat was very still and aiming at something

It was trying to attack a bird nearby but I could not manage to take a photo of the bird cause the bird manage to fly away before it became the cat's lunch..lol

I guess the cat must be very disappointed at losing its meal so it turned to us but too bad we aint suitable to be its lunch...lol

Posting on Travel Blog

I am back from Penang and will be blogging from my travel blog. This blog is resting for a while. Please head to my travel blog for latest update about me. :) http://alicetravelstory.blogspot.com/

Blog Rest

Am taking a blog rest to nurse a weak knee.

Also busy preparing for Chinese New Year.

I try to visit fellow bloggers.

I will certainly be back in no time. :)

HAPPY 2011 - BEING PAMPERED

Happy 2011 everybody.

My first post for 2011. Being pampered on this day. :) If only I am being pampered everyday in 2011. ....hehehe. Yes, I share the same birthday date as Elvis Presley but ain't as famous as him....hahaha. Anyway I dont want to be famous cause I like my privacy and am so much contended with my present lifestyle.

Flowers from my son's girlfriend. So sweet and pretty and wrapped in my favourite purple colour wrappers.

My favourite blackforest flavour cake. Will blow the candles and make my wish tonight.

Had lunch at The Ship Restaurant. Mine comes with half a lobster and dory fish. The portion was so much that I could not finish it. Did not photograph the soup of the day (very yummy)

Ending my lunch with tea and dessert of the day. The dessert is fried banana coated in flour.

Just blew the cake and make my wishes. :)

Computer Problem

Having a problem with my computer..........will take awhile before I post anything........

Grieving for my online best friend

I am so sad and grieving for my best friend that I met online. She passed away peacefully on 5th September 2010.

It is so strange that we never met but we can established a friendship so strong online.

We chatted daily online and only recently she is too tired to chat online daily. It is although CC is living next door to me. We shared many nice memories and secrets and she loved to make me laugh with her funny jokes. She is my inspiration and taught me many things about sewing and stories about vintage books of sewing, crochet, etc.

I designed and made an agar agar with a cat's pattern specially for my best friend online, CC of Texas. I called it Happy Katt Agar Agar, my friend, CC loved it so much. It is not easy doing the agar agar cause of so many patterns involved.

In return, CC designed an Oriental SueSunbonnet for me. She even wrote some very nice words for me.

Quoting this from CC's Blog .

Quote:
Allow me to introduce Sue in one of her favorite outfits.
You see, Sue has a wonderful friend and her name is Alice. She lives in Singapore and she invited her little country cousins to come visit her beautiful country. Well, only Sue could go.
Alice met her at the airport, (the big beautiful one that Alice blogs about)..and off they went. Alice had told Sue so much about her country and Sue couldn't wait to see all the beautiful sights.
Well!! Sue, being from the country..was so amazed and astonished, she was almost speechless..almost!! :). Alice took her everywhere..all over and Sue was able to see so many lovely things..and the food. The food was the best Sue had ever, ever tasted. You see, Sue's favorite food is Chinese. And so,the adventure went to food and shopping, shopping and eating..there were so many tasty tidbits and so many beautiful shops...little Sue was overwhelmed.
The last night there, there was a huge parade and get together..Sue was dancing around and suddenly noticed, she had lost her shoes..and just then Alice took her picture. But it's okay...Sue was in a beautiful dress, with her gold basket to hold some of the shopping.
Finally, it was time to go back to the farm..Sue thanked Alice and her lovely family for such a wonderous time,and invited them to come visit the farm.

By CC of Lacenribbonroses

Unquote:

I will miss you so much CC. May you rest in peace but your works and memories live forever in bloggerland.

Local Singer - Olivia Ong

I managed to get Olivia Ong's Album. Simply love her songs and her voice and the music. I could just relax on a chair and listen to her, very nice. BTW she is a Singaporean and she started her singing career in Japan and now she is back in Singapore to promote her songs.



You can listen to her song via You Tube.

Where did the comments go to?

I have no idea what happen to the comments that I published. I think they got lost in space.

Thanks to all those who visited my blog and thanks for your comments. Hopefully, the comments will return and be published soon.