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This durian puff is really tasty. The durian paste is quite rich in taste and the crust is not too bland. Both the paste and crust just blends in well. Yum yum. The main thing is that there is sufficient durian paste in the crust and it doesn't make the crust goes soggy. The sweetness of the paste is just nice too.
This can be found at one of the Toa Payoh's bakery. 5 for $2. Quite an affordable price.
This year's event was a little different from the event of the past few years.
Reached the temple to have some food for breakfast after offering joss sticks to the Buddhas. The breakfast today was of a little more variety. There were beancurd, soya milk, "youtiao" and red bean soup. All are quite tasty though. The beancurd is not too smashed and the red bean soup is not too thick. I don't usually like to take red bean soup due to the presence of "sand". There isn't much "sand" in this red bean soup though. Nice Nice. Here's a picture!.jpg)
After eating is going around to kowtow to the Buddhas. It was to be done before eating breakfast initially. As I need to answer a very urgent nature's call, I have to do that after breakfast as it was the time to eat after I answered the "call". Haha. This is the first time that I use the toilet there.
It was then followed by the mass chantings. I can't hear many of the terms clearly as the loud speaker was quite soft today. After the first part of the chantings was the presentation of the "kasa" to the monks. I didn't manage to take the pictures of the special packages. Those are the relatively more expensive ones. After that was the continuation of some chantings. The emcee said that we have to put our right hand on the shoulder of someone else. This is the first time that I attend the celebration with this additional "programme". The emcee said that this is called the "transferring of merits". I don't get what this mean though. Anyway, after this programme, the whole session was ended with the spraying of the holy water.
While waiting for the holy water to be sprayed, I heard clappings and beats of drum. My eyes lit up immediately. The Thailand workers has arrived! Haha! I laughed till some people are looking at me. There were not as much workers that turned up today though. These Thailand workers would come to the temple with a "money tree", sing and clap while walking three rounds around the temple. The first time that I saw this was done with very high-spirits as compared to this year's. Still quite fun la. I really hope that I can join them. Haha. Here's the person carrying the "money tree" around..jpg)
The "tree" is quite tall. It looks heavy though. Those people behind were part of the Thailand workers team. The drummer was behind. His drum was actually the plastic container of the paint. Haha. Creative.
It's lunchtime after we got sprayed by the holy water and the chantings were finished. It's vegetarian. Not much variety as compared to the past few years though. I didn't ate much of the "main course" as I don't have an appetite. Ate two tasty "Ang Ku Kuehs" though. Quite sweet, suits people like me who have a sweet tooth.
Replace another colleague again. Got a last minute call yesterday and I was so happy that I got to work today. There was two shifts but I only did the afternoon shift.
The concert began with a prayer recited by a "father". I was a little surprised by that. The performance was alright. There were nice choreographed dances too. I was looking forward to the "kungfu" item. The children didn't perform real martial arts but just some martial-arts-like dancing. Not bad though. It's more of tae-kwan-do's style than Chinese martial arts even though they wore the Chinese martial arts' costume. Just feel that the music used for this item doesn't have much creativity. The Taiwan's minority group dance was nice too. The children followed the tempo rather closely. Here is a picture of the "kungfu dance". I missed taking the picture of them posing which they did the splits..jpg)
I got the same old position again. Bored. Was hoping to try new positions though. Anyway, there were two guys who were quite odd. They hid behind and play games. Spoke quite loudly though. Overall, the patrons were comparatively cooperative than last week's event. There were relatively lesser people today though. The reason is that there were two shifts I think.
What I would like to add on is that the emcee's English is really powerful. I really admire that. She did really well in controlling the crowd.
I think I am getting use to this job as I am not that tired today. Just a little hungry. Haha. It may also be the short working hours that's why I am not that tired. The temperature there today was quite cold. One colleague fell sick after the noon shift though. Hope that he will get well soon! =)
I wasn't on duty initially. Got a last minute call from a colleague for replacement and I agreed to help.
I was prepared to face a challenging job for this event. Was thinking about the dealing with the children was going to be the challenging part. But it turned out to be the adults. It's really dramatic. Fierce and troublesome adults. I don't think it's right not to respect my group of people just because it's the big day of their child. Have they ever thought of what message are they bringing across to their child?
The performance was alright. The choreography for some items are quite creative. Glad that I have some nice music to keep me entertained. Was a little stressed with my sore throat and constant ringing of phone. As the music was very loud, listening to instructions clearly was a little tough though.
Here is a picture of one of the high-spirited item. The makeup done for the kids are quite nice. .jpg)
Even though it was a short event, I was very tired as my legs were so painful in those court shoes.
It was my first day of work and it was such a long day for me. I had to stand for around 6 hours for this event. It's always tiring on the first day though. Wearing the court shoes sure strain my legs a lot more. I wasn't feeling really well too and did not have any courage to socialise. I was the only girl on duty for that day!
I was really blur and made a lot of mistakes on the first day. Lucky that I got a nice in-charge who did gave me extra care. There are times that I feel really awkward as I do not know what to do. Glad that the in-charge did rotate positions so that each of the members of the groups get to rest for a while. =D
As I had to stand at my assigned position alone, I try to listen to the talk for self-entertainment. The talk was boring as it was full of terms that I do not understand. The talk was basically about buying and selling stocks. I saw some people attending the talk falling asleep though. There are also some people who left halfway. Heard my colleagues say that the speaker was relatively good as compared to those of the few previous talks.
Most of the patrons on that day were quite nice and cooperative. As I wasn't feeling well, I was neither excited nor nervous. My experience for that day is quite good I must say. I am really glad that I didn't get myself into any trouble.
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The yam is neither in the middle of the bread nor is it on top. It is spread evenly around the bread. The yam natural sweetness of the yam makes this bread really tasty. The almond topping adds on an additional taste that blends well with the overall taste of the bread.
The texture of the bread however have some room for improvement. Personally, I feel that the bread is a little hard to chew. I have to use quite some force though. The pricing is quite reasonable and I wouldn't mind if it would go lower. =P
The story of the butterfly lovers is well-known by many. It is just like the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. I never knew that this concerto is played by a symphony orchestra until I saw these videos. I have always thought that this piece is played by a Chinese Orchestra with a violinist leading.
This piece of music is very nice. It may be a little boring to those who don't really understand this piece of music. Anyway, I think that there is room for improvement for the musicians in terms of their expressions. For the third video, there are some double note played by the leading violinist. It's a little different from what I have been listening to. I still prefer this part to be played with single note.
As I can't find any other videoes that have this 26-minute piece, take note that some of the ending of the video are repeated at the starting of the next video.
The story of the butterfly lovers is the love story between Liang ShanBo （梁山伯）and Zhu YingTai （祝英台）. Thus this concerto is know as LiangZhu （梁祝）in Chinese. Enjoy the music!
This music played by Maksim Mrvica is quite explosive. This music seems to have some cheerful yet mysterious emotions. From his face expression, I can see that he is very bonded with the music that he is producing. I like this piece a lot. Enjoy~
source of video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNzr_lkLYVc
I have been reading this column recently. I find that it is rather interesting as it provides insights into the commonly and uncommonly known health problems. The website is http://healthcommentary.org/.
Even though most of the case studies used are based on United States, the main message about the health problems applies to other countries as well. Feel free to take a look as it caters to the general public with the layman terms used, making it easy to be understood.
In order to have a healthy lifestyle, it is always good to gain knowledge on the health issues beforehand. Wishing you great health and hope that you enjoy the articles!
The first time that I heard Maksim play this song on TV is really an eye-opener for me. I was fancinated by the speed of how he play this song. The accompaniment by the orchestra is so nice! Very fitting I must say.
The first video is the song played with accompaniment.
The second video is the original piece without any accompaniment.
Fancinating right? I like his gestures as he has showed that he is full of confidence and bond with the music that he is producing. His concert really rocks. I hope that I can play as well as him one day.
source of videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dr7uro-moU&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6A-JYbu1Os&feature=related
This is my first time eating steamboat outside. The food was alright. Busy eating and cooking for around one and a half hour. There are three types of soup that we can choose; tom yam, chicken or porridge. My table chose porridge and chicken soup. The porridge is topioca porridge.
Here is a picture of the steamboat of my table..jpg)
It's self-service and we can take our favored combination to our fill. Glucose drinks are available besides from the food for the steamboat. There are both raw and fried food for us to choose from. It would be nice if my favourite golden needle mushroom is available. The fish is quite tasty though.
Seniors and juniors are seated separately but the sarcasm and crapping does not just kept within each table. However, I still feel that there isn't much interactions between the seniors and juniors. The re-appointment was done too. Hope that this new chapter for the team is a nicely written one.
Everbody went separate ways after eating. Went home after walking around and chatting with the girls for a while. Congratulations to those who got their posts in the committee!
