Singapore : A Parade of Elephants

While in Singapore, on the 11th of November, we went chasing after 165 elephants to be found all over Singapore ....indeed it was a Parade of Elephants. What!, you may asked. 165 elephants wandering around the big metropolis of Singapore?! No kidding!

Of course we were not kidding - we found a lot of them along Orchard Road and some in Marina Bay Sands though all in all, we managed to find only some 40 of them. Never saw the rest of them ...... all spread out at 19 locations in Singapore. We had only so much time! It was fun!

Here is the very first of them all.....

"165 fibreglass elephants, each designed and decorated by the biggest celebrities and international artists. This is the world's largest outdoor art exhibition in support of Asian elephants conservation, seen for the first time in Asia."

These elephants will be on display until 6 January 2012 and then on view for auction from 8th-11th January 2012. The auction will be on the 12th & 14th of January 2012.

For more Information, visit Singapore 2011 Elephants Parade.

 

Mud or Sand Prawn Dish

Just an update - finally decided to cook the sand prawns in soya sauce (light and dark with garlic and chilli).

What a yummy dish it was! Even TK who does not take prawns enjoyed it!

The texture of the flesh is a cross between that of a crab and a prawn. The cooked flesh is really sweet - that from the body is sweet, firm and juicy while the meat from the claws and legs is more, I am not sure how to describe it, tender and sweet but falls apart in the mouth. Totally different sensations!

Mud or Sand Prawns

In Sarawak, the Mud or Sand Prawns appear to be seasonal and usually seen at the end of the year at the height of the North-East monsoon. Apparently they live and burrow in the mud/sand along mud banks of estuaries or mangrove swamps.

They are exposed when heavy rains washed away the mud banks and are collected by local fishermen for sale in the local wet markets in Kuching - albeit in small quantities. The photographs were taken by my brother, Khiong.

 

 

They are about 6' - 8" long with one big and one small pincer, pretty much like the sand crabs. The big pincer is for fighting or self-defense and the small pincer for picking up food. I think the baby aliens in the series of science fiction movies, ALIEN,  were modeled on this creature! Here are some close-ups taken in my kitchen!

 

 

 

To clean them, remove the head carapace and wash away all the insides and remove the gills. There is also a thick (3mm) vein full of mud that starts from the head to the base of the tail. I use a chopstick to push out the vein. Note that in a normal prawn, the vein is along the back of the prawn but in the sand prawn, the thick vein is along the underside of the prawn!

The sand prawn can be eaten steamed, stir or deep-fried. I have not gotten round to cooking it yet. Apparently amongst the Malays, they use it for treating asthma.

Wedding Dinner

The wedding dinner was at the Li Garden Restaurant (梨菀大酒家） at Hock Lee Centre, Kuching. It is one of my favourite  restaurant serving good authentic Chinese food at a reasonable price. 

For the wedding dinner that night, the food (10 courses) was excellent - as always. However, there were two outstanding dishes and both are my faves!

The Cold Platter ...

and the Peking Duck....

The Peking Duck served in this restuarnt is probably the best of all the Peking duck dishes served in various restaurants in Malaysia or Singapore and certainly better than those I have eaten in Beijing!

 Yummy：-）

Another Family Wedding

 

Today is the 29th day of the Tenth Moon and there is a wedding in the family again.

The first female of the 30th Generation (三十世) of our branch of the Peng (彭) Family getting married today is the granddaughter of my third brother and the eldest daughter of his second son.

The wedding ceremony is at the Sungai Maong Methodist Church. The groom is a Methodist Christian. The tea ceremony for the bride side was at the home of the bride at 12th Mile Kuching-Serian Road. Mum is the guest of honour there today.

A happy Mum with the bride, her great-grand daughter.

 Great-grand mother accepting the offer of a cup of tea from the newly-wedded couple.

Mum with her grandson, father of the bride.

  
Mum taking a rest after a hectic morning.

Mum with the newly-married couple.

 The wedding dinner will be held tonight.

Preparing for Year of the Dragon

The Lunar New Year of 2012 is the year of the Dragon or Chinese Year 4709 or 4649 depending on who is counting :-) It is only about 9 weeks away. 

Every year, on behalf of my mum, we will make cookies for distribution to relatives and friends. We need to decide what cookies we should have  and the following four met her and our approval for taste and texture.

Final selections .......

My mum likes strong warm colours like pink or red for Lunar New Year. So her choice is to change the green mint chocolate to the pink strawberry chocolate! We may add some decors like silver /gold dragees or hundreds-thousands to the other cookies.

Baking in our kitchens will begin in earnest after Christmas. usually we include one canister each of the four varieties in the gift pack. Each year, we have to bake some or more forty sets :-O

Singapore

Heading to Singapore - my first visit in 11 years, a long time considering that I spent 8.5 years there in the 1980's. A lot of catching up to do with old friends! Will update on my return.