I'm a Dad!

Monday, 7th of June 2010 was an extraordinary day, to say the least. I was preparing to go for my hand surgery (to remove some titanium inplants) in the afternoon, but before I did that, I had to accompany Daisy for her routine gynaecological check-up in the morning.

Daisy was already 36 weeks pregnant and by my estimation, we would expect a baby by the end of June. In fact, Daisy already had strong contractions when she was 33 weeks in (she was even admitted for one night), and has been taking medication to delay delivery till the baby is full term. The deal is, for as long as she's taking her meds, she won't deliver. That way, by the time the baby is delivered, my hand would have healed nicely.

But the good Lord had different plans for us. The routine tocographical measurements that morning showed that she's already having contractions at intervals of 10 minutes. The doctor ordered that I cancel my surgery and admit her to the delivery ward that afternoon. I was still in a daze; not entirely sure if the doctor was sure of what she's doing.

True enough, within half a hour, Daisy started feeling the pains of contraction. I called off the surgey while she called the office to say that she won't be coming in, and we just grabbed a few things from home and headed to the hospital.

We've already decided that morning that some epidural would be good. No point making it any more difficult for her, is my thought. Lucky for that thought, for that made the whole experience so much more bearable in terms of pain and anxiety.

We checked in at 12pm. By 2pm, we could hear the gynae going through the other delivery rooms, telling her other patients to "Push!" Just before 4pm, she came into our delivery room. After some checks, she decided, "okay, let's delivery this baby now!" A few "Now, push!" later, my life has changed forever.

Baby Jayden came into this world at 1607hrs and he just amazed both Daisy and myself. After a few cries as he came into this world, Jayden just lay there at the baby cot and started to curiously check out his surrounding.

Almost immediately, Daisy started trying to breastfeed him and within a few minutes, the little baby learned to latch on for sustenance.

Jayden was born exactly a month early, weighing 2.8kg. We stayed 2 nights in the hospital and went home to Daisy's parents place, where we would stay till he's a month old.

Since coming into our lives, he has filled our days (and nights) with anxiety, fatigue and exasperation. More than that, however, he has also filled our lives with joy, wonder, amazement and humility at the goodness of God. If I may say so, he's one heck of a cute baby!

We thank the Lord for this wonderful gift of love and will strive to be good parents.

We would also like to thank all our friends who came, called, SMSed, left messages and sent bouquets of love. We really appreciate your well wishes.

Today, Jayden is one week old. We just got his birth certificate done back at Parkway East Hospital this afternoon. My son is officially a Singapore citizen, haha!

Now that I'm a dad, I'm definitely looking forward to what this next chapter in my life holds!

Ultimate Parker In Asia

I decided a couple of months back to do something a bit adventurous and signed up for the Ultimate Parker In Asia wine grand tasting event. I even got a ticket for my father in law.

So, on the 1st and 2nd of May, I spent the entire weekend sipping fine wine at the Fullerton Hotel Singapore. We did see Robert Parker, but he was too busy with his book signing event to socialise with anyone.

Besides tasting hundreds of fine wines at the Grand Tasting, participants to the event were allocated 3 master classes each, and I chose to attend the following wine master classes; Fine Wines of Austria, The Rise of Cool Climate Syrah/Shiraz Around The World and Landmark Australia.

For Fine Wines of Austria, we tasted the following wines.

2008 Huber Gruner Veltliner, Berg

2008 Jurtschitsch Gruner Veltliner, Kaferberg

2007 Salomon Undhof Kogl Reserve Reisling

2008 Leth Roter Veltliner, Scheiben

2007 Reinisch Rotgipfler Reserve

2007 Temend Sauvignon Blanc, Zeiregg

While Austria is primarily a white wine producing country, we were also fortunate to try some of their best reds.

2006 Juris Pinot Noir, Haide

2007 Markowitsch Rosenberg, Carnuntum

2006 Arachon T.FX.T. Arachon Evolution

2006 Weninger Blaufrankisch, Durrau

2005 Tschida TBA Samling

For The Rise of Cool Climate Syrah/Shiraz Around The World, we tasted a total of 9 wines.

2005 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz, Grampians, Victoria, Australia

2006 Heathcote Estate Shiraz, Heathcote, Victoria, Australia

2005 Yering Station Reserve Shiraz Viognier, Yarra Valley, Australia

2007 Shaw & Smith Shiraz, Adelaide Hills, Australia

2008 Man O'War Dreadnought Syrah, Waiheke, New Zealand

2007 Trinity Hills Homage Syrah Viognier, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

2004 Paul Jaboulet Hermitage Petite Chapelle, Rhone Valley, France

2006 M. Chapoutier Cote Roti Les Becasses, Rhone Valley, France

plus a mystery wine, which I forgot to note down, haha!

The last wine master class we attended was Landmark Australia, simply because the bulk of wines we find in Singapore today is mostly from Australia.

Landmark Australia introduces 11 great wines:

2003 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter Valley

2002 Pewsey Vale The Countours Riesling, Eden Valley

2007 Shaw & Smith M3 Vineyard Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills

2008 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay, Margaret River

2008 De Bortoli Reserve Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley

2004 Wynns Coonawara Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra

2007 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River

2007 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, Hunter Valley

2005 Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz, Eden Valley

2006 Glaetzer Anaperenna Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon, Barossa Valley

Seppeltsfield 1909 Para Tawny, Barossa Valley

Yup, that last wine was actually a 101 year old Tawny!

Tasting that century old port wine was a humbling experience. I don't think it's on sale in Singapore, but make a trip to the Seppeltsfield estate, and they will sell you a small 375ml bottle for A$650!

101 year old wine! Now, that's definitely an experience!

Party At The Chens'

Meals at the Chens' have always been special events. From whisky parties, to home-cooked feasts to rooftop BBQs, they have always been most enjoyable. That's why, when he called me on Friday to ask if I would like to drop by his place for dinner, there can be no other answer but YES!

Apart from the glorious food, there is always great company.

And premium booze.

Apart from whiskey, there were plenty of beer and wine. One wine in particular, an Australian shiraz by Flying Fish Cove was simply lovely. Will definitely be looking out for this baby in the future.

No dinner at the Chens' is complete without some premium cigar. Last night's cigar of choice was Trinidad, and my goodness, it left me feeling a little anti-gravity in the head.

The missus definitely seemed to have enjoyed herself.

And that's the most important thing :-)

Welcome To The Kop End...

Seen at a local pub.

Funny as hell

So Good...

Penfold's Private Release.. Exquisite

Rooney's Goal.. Glorious!

Park Ji Sung's Winner.. Song Boh!?

EZ Pack

I just got back from CGH and was yearning for some bah kwa. Now, I am also aware of my weight management issues and did not want to over-indulge. So, I thought, why not grab a pack of those vacuum-packed mini bah kwa that Bee Cheng Hiang produces? A mini pack a day, ain't gonna be too harmful. Brilliant right?

Problem is, they did not last beyond 12 hours. They were so good, I gobbled up all 300g of them! Sigh...

N97 - I'm Loving It!

Daisy found her N97 too bulky so she gave it to me instead. The N97 being my dream phone then, I gladly accepted and bought her a Samsung Jet in return. A few of Nokia's machines are really pretty good and I'm proud to have owned some of them; 8250, 8310, 6300, 6500Slider and now the N97.

When I first got the N97, I immediately liked it. The transition from the 6500 (S) to the N97 provided large amounts of exploration and fun.

This week, another major landmark development happened. Nokia's new Ovi Maps 3.03 now comes with free navigation for a wide range of Nokia products. Woohoo!

Suddenly, the N97 thrumps the iphone on more fronts.

In-built FM transmitter... the songs I play on my phone can be played over a radio. Today we were listening to music from my phone in the car, when suddenly, the sound of snoring can be heard over the radio. Apparently, the wife used my phone to record my snoring to prove a point.

Default Message Reader... No need to read SMS while driving anymore. Let the phone read the message out loud for you. Only problem is, if kanasai is written as KNS, then the phone will read "kay-Ann-Ass".

Dual LED Flash... doubles up as a torch light.

5.0M camera with auto-focus and Carl Zeiss lenses... nuff said

Physical QWERTY keyboard... when we need precision typing. Although, I still use the alpha-numeric keypad most of the time.

I'm not too concerned about software comparisons as it's clearly only a matter of time before both phones have identical software support and applications range. It's the hardware that makes more things possible.

All hail the N97!

Project68 [03/01/10]

One year ago, I declared that I would 'work towards' bringing my weight down from 75kg to 68kg. After one single update, it became stagnant, and then went back up to 73.5kg! I got too paiseh and gave up updating.

It was only after coming back from Europe and seeing my glorious double-chin in all the photos that I decided, enough is enough! From then on, it was no drinks with meals, no snacks, minimal carbo and as far as possible, no dinners.


After a few months of lethargy and giddy nights, I'm glad to say that I've done it!!!


Now to maintain and do some exercise to up my fitness. Due to the lack of energy and exercise the past few months, my muscles have all become jelly. Gotta fix that.

The plan is to pick up badminton. Time to improve my game :-)

Christmas Eve 2009

Here's wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. Unlike other years, this year I'm not attending the Christmas vigil at midnight but will go for Christmas Day mass tomorrow.


This evening, it was just a quiet dinner with Daisy and her parents, accompanied by a very rare bottle of red.

Loving my bottle of Cirillo Estate 1850 Old Vine Grenache 2004.

The wine is made from Granache grapes from vines planted way back in 1850. That's why it's so rare and hard to find. Again, I'm no expert, but as far as I'm concerned, it's nice to the last drop! haha!

BBQ at the Chen's

Had a great evening BBQ over at CP and Helena's new place. Me and Daisy were the earliest to arrive so we had a chance to take a picture together. Daisy then went off for a friend's hen party.

The place is simply great. Nice cluster condo with a fantastic rooftop area. Perfect for BBQ and drinks!

Unfortunately, I was so engrossed in the BBQ (the portable BBQ grill is a must have for anyone with a space in their home for BBQ!) that I forgot to take any other pictures of the event.

Soon It Will Be Christmas..

... and a Happy New Year!

1st Attempt - Singapore Chilli Crab

Last week, I tried my hand at re-creating Singapore's unofficial national dish, the famous Chilli Crab.

So I bought a few Sri Lanka mud crabs, let them swim for a while in tap water then brought my chopper down on them.

Then, I cleaned them up a bit and prepared some spices to go along with the crabs.

An hour later, voila!

The verdict: Looks like authentic Singapore Chilli Crab; taste like crap! Haha!

Basically, a bit too watery, not sweet enough and too spicy.

UK & Europe Honeymoon - A Picture A Day

This is a quick summary of our trip to the UK and Europe in August. A picture a day, plus a few words.

Day 0 - [13 Aug 09]

Singapore

With much eagerness, we said goodbye to Singapore and get our hectic work lives out of our systems for a good two weeks.

We took a midnight flight out of Changi. The timing was great as we were scheduled to arrive at Heathrow early the next morning, giving us one full day in London.

Day 1 - [14 Aug 09]

London & Manchester

We reached London early in the morning at met Fu Onn at his house. We then went for our first meal in Europe; Ponti's Full English Breakfast at Liverpool Street tube station.

When Fiona did get to knock off that evening, we hopped on the train to Manchester. Woohoo!

Day 2 - [15 Aug 09]

Manchester

We spent the morning walking around Manchester city centre. We could see a mix of Reds and SkyBlues in town.

After checking out of our apartment, Daisy and myself checked into a hotel room at Salford Quays, which was within the vicinity of Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium. We spent the afternoon immersing ourselves in the scenic Salford Quays area and checking out the MUFC Megastore. Fu Onn and Fiona left for York that evening.

Day 3 - [16 Aug 09]

Manchester & Edinburgh

When we woke up on Sunday morning, we could feel that the atmosphere to be distinctly different from the day before. There was more buzz and the you could see more people on the streets. Almost every other person in that part of town wore a red top!

As we made our way to the stadium, we soon became part of a massive procession of football fans heading to the Promised Land of Soccerdom. For the two of us; we finally fulfilled our own soccer pilgrimage by watching Manchester United play a Premiership match at Old Trafford. After the match, we took a flight out to Scotland.

Day 4 - [17 Aug 09]

Edinburgh & London

We had initially wanted to stay in the B&Bs of the Scottish Highlands; with a scenic loch in front of the guesthouse and a cloudy mountain at the back. But a rescheduling of Manchester United's season opening match meant we could only spend one night in Edinburgh. A single malt whiskey fueled night no less!

We even went off the beaten tourist track and ventured into the countryside to visit a whiskey distillery. In fact, that distillery turned out to be the one producing Glenkinchie, which we had just tasted the night before. The most memorable part of our trip to Edinburgh has to be our ascend to Arthur's Seat, a peak in Holyrood Park. That evening, we flew back to London.

Day 5 - [18 Aug 09]

London & Amsterdam

As Fiona had to work, Daisy, Fu Onn and myself flew off the next day to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city and the people were very friendly. I must also mention that our hotel in Amsterdam was the nicest one we've stayed in during the course of the two weeks. I was banned from trying to smoke weed but we did have watch a live 'adult' show in the famous red light district.

Day 6 - [19 Aug 09]

Amsterdam & Bruges

From the land of Grolsch, we took a train to the land of Duvel!

After a quick transit at Antwerp, we arrived at the medieval city of Bruges. Now this is a city lost in time! From the narrow stone paved roads to the architecture of all the buildings around the city, you will definitely feel transported back to a time of knights on horses and maidens walking by with their laundry buckets. OK, so maybe it's just me.

Day 7 - [20 Aug 09]

Bruges

Initially, we imagined this place to be less known and hence less touristy. That proved to be wrong and you could tell that the city survives entirely on tourist money; with its many romantic canals, windmills, churches, chocolatiers and restaurants.

For a tiny city, it has numerous Michelin starred restaurants. There are also downsides to this place. The hotels are of very inferior quality, shops close very early and food is very expensive. That said, we still had a lot of chocolate, beer and mussels!

Day 8 [21 Aug 09]

Bruges, Brussels & Barcelona

We left Bruges early to spend a few hours in Brussels, for more chocolate, beer and mussels! Haha!

In the evening, we took a flight to Spain where Fiona rejoined us, and what a (heat) shock Spain turned out to be. Barcelona was hot! The greatest shock came when we found out that our apartment did not have air conditioning!

Day 9 - [22 Aug 09]

Barcelona

As hot as it was, we still managed to pack our few days with activities. Walking down La Ramblas, touring the Nou Camp, visiting Segadra Familia, enjoying the vista atop Montjuic, etc..

It's a pity really that we stayed in a place without air conditioning. That taught us a very valuable lesson in booking for hotels in the future. Overall, it was still a good trip. We also had our best meal over the two weeks in a chic local restaurant called La Botiga. Highly recommended. It was a gem of a find for us, really. I'll probably blog about that story in another post.

Day 10 - [23 Aug 09]

Barcelona & Paris

Barcelona may be a beautiful city but the heat was really too much for us.

So, after saying goodbye to Fu Onn and Fiona, both going back to London to work, we continued on our way to Paris! Ah! The cool French weather was so welcoming. I can't understand why Cristiano Ronaldo would ever want a move to Spain so much!

Day 11 - [24 Aug 09]

Paris

Paris was amazing! All that talk about it being the most romantic city on Earth, well, it's probably mostly true.

The very simple act of strolling down Avenue des Champs-Élysées already feels so romantic. This is easily my favourite city during the course of the two weeks that we were in Europe.

Day 12 - [25 Aug 09]

Paris & London

With heavy heart, we said goodbye to Paris and took the Eurostar back to London.

That night, our hosts (Fu Onn and Fiona) brought us to a Szechuan restaurant near Liverpool Street. As a matter of fact, we had Chinese food every single night that we were in London!

Day 13 - [26 Aug 09]

London

While our hosts went to work, we took the time to do the usual touristy stuffs.

While we did not see the Queen in person, we did see her palace and a host of other London landmarks. We also watched a West End play (Les Misérables) and did some shopping over at Chinatown.

Day 14 - [27 Aug 09]

London

The whole Chinatown shopping trip was to help prepare for a steamboat dinner on our last night in London.

It will be an evening that all 4 of us will remember for a long time. We had a yin-yang steamboat of chicken soup and mala soup on the verandah of Fu Onn's apartment. The winds were strong and super cold. As dinner progressed, we started pulling on more clothes to counter the cold. After dinner, Fu Onn and myself went out to a nearby bar for drinks and got caught up in a karaoke mood. After 5 beers each, we went home to find Daisy and Fiona still awake and started setting up for a home karaoke session, projecting Youtube MTV on his TV. The video recording of that session will make for many a good laugh in the years to come.




Day 15 - [28 Aug 09]
London



After doing some last minute shopping and taking a final good look around London, it was finally time to head home to Singapore.



We had wanted to have a good dinner at Heathrow before the flight but a mess-up of tax rebate issues meant that there wasn't any time at all for dinner.


Day 16 - [29 Aug 09]
Singapore


After what seemed like a never ending flight, we finally touched down back in Singapore on a fine Saturday evening.

It was a most memorable 2 weeks of our lives together. What made it even more memorable was the fact that we also spent most of that time in the company of good friends.

We would definitely love to go back and spend more time in Scotland and France. Not to forget, we have yet to visit Italy, and the Vatical City in particular. Till then, there is the (very important) issue of working hard and saving up to take care of. Haha!

Thanks for reading! :-)

Hong Kong Jan 09 - Part 2

So Okay, I've been putting off completing the archiving of the X'mas/New Year trip to Macau and Hong Kong. I had tons of fun that time. Will just do a quick wrap up before me and Daisy go off for our long belated honeymoon. Yup! We're going on a honeymoon!

Anyways, Hong Kong was about food mostly. The food is good, and it doesn't help that food in HK is cheaper than in Singapore. But I wont be posting more shots of Dim Sum, don't worry. Hong Kong is also about maids congregating at Victoria Park.

It's also about great roadside munchies; Daisy's favourite being curry fish balls.


Also, if you've watched Hong Kong dramas/movies, you'll find vistas of terraced cemetaries. Kinda let you feel like Chan Ho Nam in one of those triad movies. Dunno what I'm talking about? Too bad for you then.

There are also plenty of "Missing" / "Lost" posters in town. From people who are really missing...

To "forget about it la" kinda missing pets.

But I tend to like the extra-ordinary, like going on a hike along the mountains of Hong Kong. The Dragon's Back Trail, anyone?

Starts off along wooded trails that can be kinda creepy if not for the occasional ang moh hikers you chance upon once in a while.

The trail eventually winds into the open hilltops that span the length of Hong Kong island.


I'm not sure if you could see it, but the trail seemed like it was never going to end! Up the side of one hill, down the other. Repeat for 9 peaks!


Yep, it's tiring all right! But the view from the trail, I assure you, is breath taking.


And the view gets better. With the cool sea breeze, it's a great feeling altogether.

Really glad we took the time to try something different.

From the Dragon's Back Trail, we ventured to Big Wave Bay and Shek O.

Sipping a beer at Big Wave Bay, I somewhat expected to see Grace Lam in some kinky action behind one of the big boulders on the beach. Also don't know who Grace Lam is? Then, really too bad lah.

Anyways, one trail I definitely do not look forward to hiking is the one tranversing Lantau Island to get to the giant statue of Buddha.

On the cable car looking down, we could see groups of hikers slowly making their way across the hills. The end of the cable car journey is the massively crowded Ngong Ping 360 themed villlage. (One tip on getting Cable Car tickets is to buy it a day earlier. Saved us 2 hours of queuing)

I've always met friends on trips overseas. This time is no different. Guess who we bumped into? Haha! Jensen and ShuZhen! Yeah, silly Liverpool fans, haha!

It's a good thing the Buddha is a Manchester United fan. Oh yeah, baby!

Lantau is also famous for silky smooth dou hua. Refreshing stuff.

Being a food lover, I find eating the roasted goose at Yue Kee a highlight of the trip.

It's located at some super ulu place. Somewhere in Sham Tseng actually. But boy is it good!

Salivating right now.. Another famous HK makan institution is Under Bridge Spicy Crab. We ordered the mildy spicy version that day as Daisy decided I was not to be allowed to eat spicy food. Will elaborate more later.

But I'll fefinitely go back to HK and order a properly spicy version of this dish; the spicy crab. Unlikely to be as good as the dishes at Mellben Ang Mo Kio but interesting nonetheless.

Having read of a toilet themed restaurant opening a few years ago, I sought it out and found it somewhere in Mongkok.

I would grade the experience as fun and interesting haha! Food is ma ma dei but it's the experience that matters.

Even our cups are in the shapes of urinals!

All that postings about food is making me real hungry right now. Already looking forward to going back to HK for makan. This time, I'll be more controlled. Back in January, I ate so much I suffered major indigestion. Feeling nauseous for one whole day, I finally had bouts of vomitting late one night. Daisy had to rush me to Ruttonjee Hospital and I had to have my butt jabbed by a lady doctor.

Luckily I was discharged a few hours after that but wasn't allowed to have a properly spiced Under Bridge Spicy Crab. But I recovered enough to celebrate the New Year at January the 1st 2009.

As well as my own birthday on January 2nd.

I love Hong Kong. Will definitely go back there again.

Yup, I believe I'll be seeing Hong Kong again pretty soon.