Overdue photo of the rainbow. :p

Double Rainbow from my office window (mid-Nov 2007)

Carrot Cake

I made Carrot Cake with Renie yesterday :p

Cake being cooled on the rack.

In the fridge with cream cheese frosting :p.

Multi-Cultural London Road

I've been walking to work in the mornings. :p This is the PA (Personal Assistant) work with a family, to support care for a little boy. I pass by London Road, a road I know as the place to go for exotic and economical foods. :p My favourite Turkish restaurant, Zeugma, is there, there's a chinese bakery, a few Chinese and vietnamese noodle places, and the famed Japanese restaurant, Wasabi-sabi. There is also a choice of Middle-eastern, Pakistan and Indian food. Just the other day I noticed a greek restaurant. I usually go there after dark for dinner with friends. I also have fond memories of marching with SOUL (my community group) holding up massive hand-made laterns, for the Sharrow Lantern festival.

While I do like going there, I have heard many negative things about the area, especially when venturing there at night. My friends have been shouted at when walking along the street.

It's different seeing it in the morning though. That's especially when the shops have not opened for the day. There is a sense of serenity and a feeling of safety as you can see round every single corner. The shops and restaurants with shop names of different ethnic origins stand side by side in the calm, emanating an air of harmony.


:p Someone from a passing car shouted something at me the morning I took those photos. (Not when I was taking the photographs, just when I was walking back to University). Did not really hear what he said... haha but oh well. That morning I just felt like it added to the vibrancy of London Road.

Another reason why I love Singapore :>

It's the end of the semester and everywhere in Sheffield, people are preparing for Christmas. Not many people (non-muslims that is) seem to realize it EID @ Hari Raya Haji (in Singapore) today. Schools in Sheffield celebrate EID and Christmas and the bbc website mentions it. However, a rough survey of my colleagues in the department suggests that most people are not aware of it. I would not be aware either, if I did not work with a muslim family.

This was when I thought about Singapore, and how lucky we are to enjoy cultural diversity and how making cultural festivals a public holiday is a fantastic way for people to know that the festival exists. If people know about the festival, they are more likely to want to learn about it. This learning leads to increased inter-cultural understanding and better social cohesion among different groups in the community. If people don't celebrate a certain festival, they will certainly know of it, as they won't have to go to work.

This practice works well in Singapore probably because we have a fair number of people in different cultures. Of course, there are still minority cultures who are left out of the Singapore public holiday calendar. But it just means that we have greater opportunities to learn more about other people's way of living. Hmm... one more thing to add to the list of things I like about my country. :>

A European and Australiasia Night :>

I went to my Czech friend's potluck party last night. :> It was fantastic!! Everyone brought a dish/ drink from home. It was a really fun evening; everyone was really friendly, I felt really comfortable, and had many interesting conversations. :) There were people from Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Czech (of course) and even Australia. There was a persistant euphony of different tones and accents in the living room.

Lenka and Alena made lotsa Czech cuisines, including a meatloaf with potato salad, a christmas sweet and spinach pastry. There was pasta made by Italian hands :>, gratin dauphinois (potatoes) from France, a fantastic nutty cake made by German Estee, who claims the cake is from Iceland :>, a Polish eggy beer, mulled wine, and I made Siew mai and pandan agar-agar. Our tummies have never been more satisfied.

I even learnt a little about Australian slang in the 2 minutes before Alena and I left for home. e.g. Dutch Oven?? hmmm better not describe that. Jam Jar for Car, Bugs bunny for money, Molly the monk for drunk

Shame I forgot my camera... but I don't suppose I will forget such an enjoyable event :>