Singapore Archives - ET Speaks From Home

Kids Stop Singapore Review

Kids Stop is an interactive centre designed for children aged 18 months to 8 years old by exposing them to science in their formative years. This was our first time visiting this place which is located next to the science centre. It is well worth going if you are also visiting the science centre. There are two types of admission fees: Singapore/PR or Foreign. I do think their fees are quite ridiculous especially if you are foreigner. The whole place is well designed with hands-on activities and programmes but the whole place is quite small and confined with not much seating areas for adults and there are two different opening times.

Visiting Merlion Park in Singapore

It is not often that I will visit tourist attractions when I go back to Singapore for a holiday. I have “been there and done that” through my teenage years and early adulthood so the precious time I have in Singapore is usually spent catching up with friends and family. However, during this latest trip, I decided to take the children to Merlion Park, to visit the famous Merlion statue.

Apam Balik / Min Chiang Kueh Recipe

Apam Balik, also called Min Chiang Kueh (面煎粿) is one of the local snacks from my childhood that I used to eat for breakfast or dessert. Nowadays, it is a very common kueh/snack you can find at shopping malls or at hawker centres. They can come in many different fillings like ground peanut, red bean paste, cheese, salted green bean paste, chocolate, black sesame seed and many more. It is more common/traditional to have ground peanuts as the filling. If you have a nut allergy, you might want to avoid some of the Asian desserts!

My preferred filling for Min Chiang Kueh is ground peanut. I had already bought a few packets of ready-made ground peanut with sugar while in Singapore last year so now was an opportunity to use it.

Summer Activities A – Z: T

I know Autumn is in full swing now but I’ve not long to go now with my Summer Activities A – Z! I started in July but have been playing catch-up since our holiday to Singapore. Here are the few T activities we did.

Hundreds and Thousands Mini Cake

This is a recipe from One Day One Dish book by SeaShore publishers which I bought when we were in Singapore. In the book, the recipe is called Chocolate Rice Sprinkle but instead I replaced the chocolate rice with Hundreds and Thousands.

Chinese Qing Ming Festival / Tomb Sweeping Day

Qing Ming festival is a day where you pay respects at your departed loved one’s grave. The day varies each year as it goes according to the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on the 5 April 2014. However, it is an acceptable tradition for the families to pray to their ancestors 10 days before and 10 days after the actual day. This is to avoid major congestions at the cemeteries and temples. As many countries like Singapore are densely populated and short of land, most of the deceased are cremated.

If you would like to know how this festival originated, check out Chinese Culture for more details.

Now I like to share with you some photos of how it looks. Besides offering the traditional types of gold ingots and money, there are now offerings that include high tech gadgets to allow the afterlife to “catch up” with trends!

My granddad passed away in 1989 on Chinese New Year day. So on every Chinese New Year day, besides the celebrations, we will also offer joss sticks. These photos were taken a couple years ago before the 25 years lease is up. Now my family has moved and cremated my granddad and placed his remains along with my grandma who passed away on 24 March 2013.

River Ang Bao 2014 in Singapore

Sadly tomorrow is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations and this is also my last post for the Chinese New Year theme. Hope you all have fun reading my blog posts from making Chinese New Year lantern crafts to foods!

Chinese New Year Goodies in Chinatown

Today, I would like to take you on a journey to see Chinese New Year goodies found in Singapore Chinatown. Living there for over 20 years and going to Chinatown in Outram Park is one of my highlights and recommendations to soak in the new year atmosphere.

Since I moved to the UK, I miss the opportunity to shop for the full range of Chinese New Year goodies. Some of these goodies can be found in UK Chinese supermarkets though so take a closer look if you get chance!

Now here are the streets in Chinatown. These goodies can only bought a month prior to Chinese New Year. All the street stalls will close after 1 – 2 am on Chinese New Year. So if you want to join in the festivities, make sure you time your travel before the New Year!

I have no idea why these varieties are only available for this limited time, like waxed salted food such as duck, sausages, ham etc. Maybe during the olden times, the only presents/gifts you can bring to visit your family and friends are preserved food. Hence the reasons of them being popular.

These are the varieties of waxed salted duck, salted ham, salted fish and Chinese sausages:

Different Types of Chinese New Year Goodies

This time of year is the best time to travel down to Asian countries, especially Singapore. Not only are you escaping the bitter cold in the UK, you are going to enjoy the different varieties of foods and festivals there. As a proud Singaporean, I would like to share some of our delicious Chinese New Year goodies. They are only produced once a year to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Chinese are very superstitious so all the goodies are labelled in red. Why Red? It is corresponding with fire, and symbolizes good fortune and joy.

Some of these photos were taken by my friend and sister in Singapore who kindly sent it over to me.

Nian Gao (年糕)

Nian Gao are made from glutinous rice. They symbolise raising oneself to a higher level in each coming year. They are available all year but people mainly consume it during Chinese New Year. They come in a variety of colours, depending on how they are prepared. Some are moulded in a fish shape, golden coin or plain white roll etc.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is also know as Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival in Singapore. For every festival, there are lanterns hanging across the street and children showing off their beautiful lanterns. I still remember I used to hold a paper folded red lantern and sometimes it would catch fire if I swing it around. Now the lantern are battery operated so it will be safe for children. Each year, the lanterns are getting more and more fanciful.