81mm High Trajectory Platoon 19th Reunion 2016

This is our tradition among this band of brothers who was assembled together since our national service days in the SAF. 

After we graduated from National Service, we will meet up for our Reunion Dinner annually. I really do not know what happened to my maths..how did it suddenly become our 19th reunion this year?

As usual, before the Reunion Dinner, we pay a visit to our fallen brother who was promoted to become the Big Commando in the Sky. We miss you!

This year, we pushed up his supply of gold, silver & currencies hoping that he will have a bigger budget to spend..

With a larger supply of incense paper, it also took us more time and effort to 'wire' the money across to him..

Next, we move on to the dinner this year..A must have for Reunion Dinner every year..Yu'Sheng!

The menu this year a bit different..

Lobster tails.

Our in-house Master Chef painstakingly preparing the dinner before the main force arrives.

Stingray and potatoes.

Just by the fact that the food was served on banana leaves already made them looked more delicious.

Big Headed River Prawns.

Beer Can Chicken.

Lobster tails.

Another shot of our Master Chef with my reflection in the wall mirror.

Final touches, flowers added!

So much work actually went into making every Lou Hei mission a success!

Some pictures you do not usually get to see..when one of your team mate is late and everyone waited for him..

I really meant that EVERYONE waited for that guy to arrive before we could start eating! How can that guy be later than Chia, our 'Late' King??

Jokes aside, it was a pretty long, busy and emo day. I am glad that we are still hanging around after 19 years. Fire Mission Platoon!

Home cooked meals - 家常便饭

A friend of mine saw my supper posting on my Facebook yesterday and invited me to join in for a home cooked lunch earlier today. Her younger brother, who was the top chef at his restaurant in Malaysia is here in Singapore to visit her and he will be the chef in charge.

I was slightly late due to the rain and road conditions, but I was just in time for lunch when I arrived at their home. First dish up, long beans with spicy chili..crunchy, spicy, cooked to the right degree and I enjoyed it!

Next up, sweet & sour meat cubes (咕噜肉), usually pork, but in this instance, it was substituted with chicken. I have always enjoyed eating sweet & sour dishes since I was a kid..this gives me a homely touch, although this was whipped up by a professional chef.. 

The soup of the day: Fish head soup made with fresh fish just purchased from this morning's market trip, the flavours were reinforced by sour plums and one sip of it immediately woke my taste buds up!

When I arrived, the host's chef was burning the claypot on the stove for this dish, some kind of braised pork ribs that melts in your mouth..awesome!

This photo below shows the fish head soup in my bowl..

To me, the star of any home cooked meals would require the staple food of Asians..Rice!

Rice is best when served piping hot, fluffy with sufficient moisture and soft..I had 2-3 bowls of rice and the food was for like for 4-5 pax..I almost finished everything and my friend was commenting that I was a big eater..My friend, if you are reading this, I don't usually eat this much for lunch! Thank you for hosting this awesome home-cooked meal!

My graduation day - 30 Nov 2015

When I was younger, I did not manage to complete my tertiary education due to poor grades and lack of funds to study abroad. It was only after I have to nurture my own kids that I thought of attempting to further my education. Well, I failed in a couple of modules and retook my exams and passed. After a seemingly long journey, my graduation day, 30th November 2015 finally arrived.

I have my mother to thank for these shots of me on stage. It was just a simple ceremony..

I was very glad to have so many Guests-of-honour attending this ceremony with me. They are none other than my family members! :)

My sister & brother-in-law..

My parents, my wife and my three kids..

It was a very hot day and we were wise to stay indoors to do our photo-taking.

Of course, there was also some professional photographers to help us capture these special memories on this very special day.

I had to take the opportunity to show off my very special, limited edition SG50 Commando Logo watch as a lot of friends posted their watches on Facebook that day..

Photo Credit: My wife.

Other Guest-of-honour include an old friend of mine Dr Poh Lee Guan, who happened to be a guest of the school. I haven't seen him for quite a while and it was a great opportunity to catch up.

Photo with my daughter while my niece & mum photo-bombed us!

I had wanted to go to the UK for my graduation in June this year, but was not able to due to the arrival of my son. In a blink of an eye, he is already almost six months old. In the preparation for this day, I recalled something very important while having lunch with my family on this day..

30th November is the birthday of our eldest daughter..which occurs exactly one year from the date me & my wife got married!

30th November is also our wedding anniversary date!!

I would like to take this opportunity to specially thank my wife for taking care of the kids and home all these years. Of course, I would also like to thank the many important people around me; My parents, my siblings, the rest of my extended family and friends for being with me along this journey! Thank you!

30th November is a very special day(I signed up to become a member of the university's alumni on this day too)!..I better save it in my calendar. :p

Print vs Digital Photos

Someone mentioned to me that I have not updated my blog for a long time. It's almost a year, even I was surprised!

Time flies..

I am from the generation that witnessed the change from print to digital media.

While I enjoy the instant gratification of reviewing the digital photos immediately after they were taken, somehow, a part of me still prefer to have them in print so that I can slowly flip through them without having to turn on any device.

What about you?

Season Greetings- Merry Christmas & best wishes to a Happy New Year 2015!

As we mature further, time seems to fly faster..

In what seemingly feels like a blink of the eyes, 2014 is drawing to a close, and another year is coming with a lot of hopes and expectations. May your wishes and dreams be fulfilled in the coming year. Merry Christmas 2014 and a Happy New Year 2015!

Cheers to health, wealth and happiness!

Inspired by a 60 years old cyclist

I was on a ferry back to Singapore earlier this week and I was very lucky to get to know a very determined stranger on the ferry. Mr Jan van Susteren is a 60 year-old gentleman who is on a journey from New Zealand to the Netherlands, mainly on his bicycle.

The encounter with Jan immediately reminded me of the bicycle that I bought a couple of months back when I thought I was going to pick up cycling as a hobby. As the picture below clearly shows,

even on the day I collected my bicycle, I did not ride it home..

I even bought some lighting accessories from the internet thinking that I will be cycling often at night..

But guess what? In the past six months, I only managed to really cycle about two times..Can you imagine how I must have felt when I met a 60 year-old man going around about half of the world on his bicycle alone?

Anyway, after this chanced encounter with Jan, I am greatly inspired by how far a human can go on pedal power. While I am not planning to see the world on my bicycle yet, I will take Jan's advice to start off on a more regular basis..and I will follow Jan's Blog and Facebook updates as a form of support for him on his cycling journey. I hope you can do the same as well.

The other guy in the above picture is a Singaporean by the name Bob. I had requested for him to email me a few other photos we took with Jan. If I receive them, I will update the photos here.

Cheers!

My first attempts at wrapping Nem cuốn (Vietnamese Fresh Springroll)

I have eaten Vietnamese fresh spring rolls on a couple of occasions before, but earlier today, I had my first hand experience at wrapping it myself before consumption!

I started off with a piece of rice paper. It looks and feels like a piece of plastic initially, but after wetting the whole piece in water, it becomes soft and sticky.

Next, this is the time where you will choose and put whatever you want to eat from a selections of ingredients onto the wet rice paper. This was what I added...

Next, just roll the whole thing up very carefully..see below for my first roll..very healthy looking!

After rolling it up, dip it in a fish sauce mixture and it is ready to eat..After the first roll, I was hoping to make further improvements to my wrapping skill, so I kept rolling..

And rolling..

..and rolling...

..I wanted to make it look more delicious and at the same time, improve my wrapping skills..

This was the last roll I ate for tonight..do you think it's better than the first one I rolled?

No matter what, I really enjoyed my dinner this evening! Special thanks to all the people who made this possible! Thank you my friends!:  Cảm ơn bạn bè của tôi