food – trippingdifferently

July 7, 2017

First Potato Harvest!…

i would have never imagined that my garden activities would take up more space on this blog because i never thought i had a green thumb… and looks like it will continue to be featured…

1stpotatoeharvest20170707 — Clockwise from Top Left: the potato plants die back and that’s when you know it’s harvest time! So i harvested a week ago… Top Right: seeing those first potatoes was so exciting, who would have thought… Bottom Right: the entire potato harvest isn’t big, just over 900g but enough… Bottom Left: used the whole harvest to make potato salad for our church lunch last weekend. YUM!

Wishing you a lovely summer!

syc

August 25, 2016

Summer Hols 2016…

We have been back from our annual visit to Singapore for almost 2 weeks now. i was going to post this earlier but we had computer issues. So finally, here is a picture summary of our trip this year:

People often ask what we miss about Singapore. And number one for me would be our family and friends.

summerhols2016a — Just as Meredith Grey is Cristian Yang’s person, these are our people!

i don’t often post pictures of people outside my immediate family but these 2 pictures show some special people.

summerhols2016b — 30 years ago, we were 12 and leaving primary school. 30 years later, we find each other and have tons of fun catching up, such friendships are hard to come by.

Now the next thing we miss about Singapore is the food! We ate ourselves silly, as usual.

summerhols2016c — Top: Kuay Chap, one of my favourite dishes, Middle: Best Japanese food we had this trip, Bottom: Crabs and Suckling Pig!

summerhols2016d — And this stand out dish deserves to stand by itself… half steamed, half fried fish… yummy!

summerhols2016e — Various Hotpots! Left: Hai Di Lao Hotpot with 4 different soup bases, Middle: Traditional Steamboat, Right: Chili Oli Hot Soup.

summerhols2016f — Of course, we had to have desserts!! Clockwise: Tobias with his Holy Smokes ice cream, dessert buffet at a Japanese restaurant, Bingsu (*Korean Shaved Ice*), Lava Cake and ice cream.

summerhols2016g — But my absolute favourite is this lovely piece of beauty from Kki! Yummy, light and tasty!

What we did most of this year besides eating was spending time with family and visiting elderly relatives. It has certainly hit home for me that my parents and their siblings are not young anymore. We visited Walter’s elderly aunt, my elderly aunties and uncles; most of them have health issues and a few have mobility problems too.

summerhols2016h — Left to Right: At the Future World Exhibition at the Art Science Museum, Checking out Walter’s Alma Mater, Learning more about Singlish.

Of course, we also did some more action-packed activities such as canoeing on the Singapore River (no photo cos i have not transferred it from my WhatsApp yet). We played squash and went swimming as well.

summerhols2016i — And we did some catching too… Tobias caught a catfish (*catch and release pond at Orto where we also enjoyed jumping at the Katapult Trampoline Park* ), and of course, a Pikachu!

summerhols2016j — We made a couple of cat-friends too 😉

Last year, my dad bought Tobias a couple of terrapins. They were tiny and cute, fitting onto my palm. 12 months later, they are huge and outgrowing their tank fast! So we gave them back to the shop we bought them from.

Tobias then talked my parents into helping him look after a hamster which he bought with his own money.

summerhols2016k — Bye Bye Biscuit and Brownie. Hello Sparky!

And finally, i leave you with a lovely night view of the Singapore skyline from the top of the Esplanade.

summerhols2016l syc

October 17, 2014October 27, 2014

1st Week of Autumn Holidays…

Actually, we are nearing the end of our 3 week Autumn School Holidays. As usual, i wait till the end to consolidate what we did.

So the first few days was given over to boring stuff like housework and grocery shopping. We did have fun at our usual Squash lesson and meeting a new friend at an indoor play-park we haven’t been to in ages.

Then we hit it big time at the annual Suisse Toy Fair; it’s a huge toy fair showcasing all the new toys, gadgets and games. Well, actually… we go every year and i have been noticing that it seems to be getting smaller. But still we had fun. Tobias invited his good friend to come along with us. We arrived there an hour after they opened, at 11am. i had expected to get out of there by 4pm. That didn’t happen – we left at closing – 6pm! We had a good time so it was worth the time and money.

Top Left: T trying his hand at wood craving, Top Right: T and his friend testing new Wii games, Bottom Right: T and his friend trying out a funny boardgame, Bottom Left: Trying out a new cycle. — Top Left: T trying his hand at wood craving, Top Right: T and his friend testing new Wii games, Bottom Right: T and his friend trying out a funny board game, Bottom Left: Trying out a new cycle.

Top Left: Climbing the Ovalmatine moving rock wall, Top Right: T with his Lego creation, Bottom Right: the Loot from the toy fair, Bottom Left: The boys doing a last race before we leave. — Top Left: Climbing the Ovalmaltine moving rock wall, Top Right: T with his Lego creation, Bottom Right: the Loot from the toy fair, Bottom Left: The boys doing a last race before we leave.

The next day we joined some friends and headed out to the Juckerhof – a rather well-known pumpkin/fruit/veggie farm in the Zürich region. People go during this time of the year to see their spectacular pumpkin displays.

Top Left: 1st sight of the farm, Top Right: Lots of pumpkins everywhere!! All for sale, Bottom Right: giant butterfly made of pumpkins - you could ride on it (if they let you), Bottom Left: giant piano which plays recorded music, it's so big , my head only comes up to the keys. — Top Left: 1st sight of the farm, Top Right: Lots of pumpkins everywhere!! All for sale, Bottom Right: giant butterfly made of pumpkins – you could ride on it (if they let you), Bottom Left: giant piano which plays recorded music, it’s so big , my head only comes up to the keys.

Top Left: that's one BIG pumpkin!! They have a bigger one on their other farm, Top Right: we paid to walk thru the 3 apple mazes and you could eat the variety they indicated - which was Red Spring and they were yummy! Well worth the CHF5 and the walk, Bottom Right: we brought back yummy pumpkins and other produce, Bottom Left: in the large maze at the end of the field, we played a sort of bingo type game. We were given a sheet showing the pests & helpful insects of the field. We were to find all these board & get a stamp to indicate we found them all. It was all for a chance to win a dinner for 4 at the farm - they do serve fresh yummy food! — Top Left: that’s one BIG pumpkin!! They have a bigger one on their other farm, Top Right: we paid to walk thru the 3 apple mazes. You could eat the variety they indicated – which was Red Spring and they were yummy! Well worth the CHF 5 and the rather long walk, Bottom Right: we bought yummy pumpkins and other produce, Bottom Left: in the large maze at the end of the field, we played a sort of bingo type game. We were given a sheet showing the pests & helpful insects of the field. We were to find all these boards, get a stamp to indicate we found them all. It was all for a chance to win a dinner for 4 at the farm – they do serve fresh yummy food!

Tobias also volunteered to cook dinner one time that week – he cooked Spaghetti Bolognese. It was yum! He enjoys cooking – still a little fearful of the hot stove – but he did a good job and we tucked into a good dinner that evening. He has cooked other dinners before too… and i hope to help him learn more recipes and fall in love with cooking.

All in all it was a fun-filled week! Stay tuned for the 2nd installment.

syc