dumplings

yup, that's right. 端午节 is round the corner again. this year, jan promised my mum that she'll come by to learn and help her out.

i fear for her. :P haha...

unfortunately, estee is down with flu... very likely that she had caught the bug from me a few days earlier. so in the end it's only mum and jan doing all the work. my contribution to the annual festival remains consistent, i eat the cooked dumplings.

delicious! :)

七月十五

i went for a run today after dinner at around 8 plus.

my mum asked why i had to run after dark so i complained to her it was her fault since she had called home to ask me to heat up the soup and rice earlier. i couldn't have left the stove unattended.

on the way to the sunset way canal, i saw this whole long stretch of pavement by the side of the road all lit up with candle light at regular intervals. it was quite a nice and magical sight if you don't see that they're those red candles on a wooden stick used for prayers.

fortunately, there were still some runners and cyclists on the track and the moon is full and bright tonight. after warming up by the canal, i tried to get my ipod nano to start recording my run. something happened...

it returned an error message telling me to attach the receiver before i can power up the workout option. this is weird 'cos i've never had this problem before!

the sensor on my right shoe is already switched on while the receiver has been firmly attached to my ipod before i left my house. hmm... what's wrong?

i fiddled around with the sensor and the menu. didn't work, still the same error message. must this happen tonight?!

then i removed the armband which held my ipod so that i can look at the screen more clearly and also to make sure that the receiver had attached itself properly to my ipod.

in my mind, i was telling myself that if i can't get the nike+ to record tonight then i'll skip the run and walk home. after a few more minutes of fiddling, i finally managed to get it to work!

so i ran and came back in 1 piece with nothing else interesting to blog about. :)

was it a coincidence? or something spooky?

well, i seriously have no idea! >_<

端午节

although this chinese festival isn't as widely celebrated here as places like hong kong or taiwan. you know it's round the corner when hotels and restaurants bandy new and sometimes bizarre flavours of dumpling. or when you hear news reports that the dumpling chains have increased prices or have long queues at their shops.

it only hits home when my mum makes her own today assisted by my sis. i contribute to the process by eating the dumplings. :) hehe...

i don't know if her version is cantonese or teochew because some of them have a dollop of red bean paste in addition to the usual ingredients of pork, chestnuts, dried shrimps and mushrooms since i'm not a dumpling connoisseur. this year, she didn't make the cantonese version that comes with steamed green mung beans.

my mum's version isn't too salty and she trims off most of the fatty bits from the pork belly meat that she uses, so it's less of a cardiologist's nightmare. i relish the annual indulgence for a few days while she gives some away while saving some for prayers on the festival which falls on this coming saturday [5th day of the 5th lunar month].

how did a festival originally meant to commemorate 屈原's patriotism and his love for his state become another gourmet experience? guess that's uniquely singaporean, isn't it? :P

traditional chinese festivals

saw a programme on channel u about how chinese singaporeans [do not] celebrate our traditional festivals such as mid-autumn festival.

who’s guilty of it? probably me. :P

while me and my family do not really observe/celebrate mid-autumn festival with a dinner or a special gathering, we do however, buy mooncakes for prayers and consumption.

the reason that it’s not a special occasion here in singapore is because it’s not a public holiday to begin with unlike in hong kong which i heard it’s celebrated in a much bigger way, perhaps due to its pre-dominantly chinese populace.

in fact, this year, in addition to the traditional lantern festival at the chinese gardens, chinatown is also lighted up with a bazaar set up specially for the festival.

but do i feel the festive mood in the air? nope, i think it’s because my family do not have the tradition of celebrating the day. in fact, i’ll be catching a string quartet performance at the esplanade with my sis this sunday. :P

nevertheless, i still partake in mooncakes in copious amounts during this period. love them since young. not helped by suppliers who send them to the company. i know it’s loaded with sugar and oil but who can resist a once-a-year indulgence?

i prefer the traditional baked white lotus seed paste version, without yolk if i can help it. this year, adelyn is not around to mop up the pieces of yolk that i scrape off.

i think it’s ridiculous to charge more for yolks since there’s a corresponding reduction in the lotus seed paste. does the yolks cost that much more than lotus seed paste?

however, i’m also open to new flavours. this year i bought something new from szechuan court, mini snowskin with a dark chocolate centre with almond slivers. yummy!

the best part? got a good discount since i asked thomas to buy for me. hehe... :)