Cook a Pot of Curry

We managed to squeeze in some time to watch Alfian Saat's "Cook a Pot of Curry" yesterday afternoon, amidst our always-busy schedule.

It has been a long time since we watched a play , the last one was Hansel and Gretel last year.

The few plays by Alfian I have watched have always been impressive. I like the way he discusses political views in a manner that is direct enough to get the point across, but with humour and sarcasm along the way.

 

 

This play touches on something that is probably on every local's mind, in one way or another - is Singapore under threat? Will there even be Singapore with all the influx of foreigners coming in? Are we going to be the 'foreigners' in our very own country? Who exactly is the minority now?

 

The play started off with a scene of the curry incident. If you remember, a couple of years back, the newspaper ran an article of how a couple from China made a complaint against a local Indian couple for cooking the 'smelly' curry. Although the issue was already settled then , it sparked off a lot of interest in the general public and antagonized everyone further to the extent that a "Cook Curry Day" was introduced - just to remind foreigners to assimilate the cultures of the locals into their lives if they want to stay in Singapore.

 

The play went on to discuss, through a series of interviews by their 6-member cast, other issues pertaining to us Singaporeans - namely, breakdowns of trains, the White Paper, language barriers, lost of identity , escalation of property prices and many others.

 

Humour was injected to make things slightly more light-hearted but as I told my husband, the afternoon there set me thinking (not that I haven't thought about these issues before ) even more about such matters . Because it was presented to us through the "in-your-face" manner, I could not help but feel sad at the thought of how close we are to lose our identity as Singaporeans. You know how sometimes, we just brush it away....

 

Wait... in the first place, what exactly is the Singaporean identity?

 



 

Do catch the play as it will be worth your money and thinking brain cells. If I am not wrong, the last show is on 20 July .

It is a good way to do some reflections on how we think and behave as we approach our National Day in exactly a month.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE with family!

I thoroughly enjoyed my first USS visit with husby in 2011. However, there were some things I couldn't get to try out due to time constraint and the unpredictable rain. For example, I did not get to take the Jurassic Park bum boat ride as it was under renovations and had to miss the Cylon Battlestar Galacticca because of the rain!

So I decided to initiate a trip but this time round, with the whole family and a close family of an aunt's. We have been postponing this family outing for ages ... the two of us are forever busy on weekends, school holidays means USS will be totally packed, some of us are not available on weekdays (even during the school hols) ...blah blah blah ..... when suddenly, yours truly had a bright idea!

CNY eve was on Saturday. Most of the people would be doing last minute preparations to celebrate the next day and going for reunion dinners that same evening so that seemed to be a good day to soak up the atmosphere without jostling with the crowd! Clever of me, wasn't it? Haha....

So there we were ....the nephew and pretty cousin were just equally excited although I am sure they didn't really know what to expect.

Taken outside Candylicious store. I am always fascinated by the huge replicas of the jelly beans and M&Ms. 

From our first visit, I noticed it was tough trying to get a decent photo taken in front of the huge Universal globe. But it was rather easy that day .... I attribute that to the much smaller crowd of people that day.

I have wondered before if USS is gonna stay the way it is forever, without any changes. But already, when we were there, we saw that there would be another new attraction coming our way soon. What a way to tempt us to go again!

SESAME STREET Spaghetti Space. I wonder what this this all about - it is opening in March. In addition, a few of the stores have also undergone minor changes since our last visit. 

I've always loved watching this pair - forever in their own world, holding hands, talking non-stop. Who would have guessed they are auntie & nephew ?  :P

As we entered the New York city site, there was a bit of a commotion. Apparently , there was going to be a short dance presentation cum interaction session with a few characters from Sesame Street. We, of course, wasted no time in getting the 'best' seats in front so that we could get up front and personal with the beloved characters.

They were pretty entertaining and my nephew was highly amused by their antics and sing-a-long session.

Elmo giving grandpa a high-five!

Because we explored the New York City first, we missed out on quite a few life-size characters along the way. I really wanted to show nephew the cute penguins that I 'met' the previous time but our paths didn't cross :(

But we got Shrek!




Family photo with my two adopted kids for the day. Haha! They are such a joy to be with!



When we were here in 2011, the Rapids Adventure ride was under renovation. So this time round, we wasted no time in taking the ride. Each boat could accomodate 10 people so all of us (minus sis, hubby and an aunt) were in one boat. My mum kept insisting on wearing her raincoat and was forever adjusting it for fear of getting wet. We were all laughing at her , especially me! I kept teasing her ... I mean, what's the point of taking the ride if you don't wanna get wet, right ?

But guess what happened? The ride is such that the bumboat will twist and turn as if it is on rapids.... you'll never know when you will get wet. At one point towards the end, one person in the boat will get SOAKED! And you have no freaking idea who that lucky chap will be because of the indefinite turns.

And yes, yours truly was the one who got 'lucky'!

I was super soaking wet after the ride that husby was worried I would catch a cold (yeah, my body is sensitive like that...) till we saw a Drying Pod right outside the exit point. It's just like a huge toilet cubicle, in bright orange no less, whereby you just stand in there and you'll be dry in a jiffy! So yours truly skipped her way there, forgetting that this is Singapore, where everything costs money.

It was FIVE freaking dollars for something that will last for about a minute or two!

I decided to dry myself the natural way, and I did get dry pretty fast as we continued our adventure in the sun.

I didn't manage to get a picture with the Egyptian Hunks previously  so Yeah!

These Arabian wings are to die for ! I ate four of that for lunch - just like that !  (Oasis  Spice Cafe)

In fact, there are more than enough Halal restaurants to cater to the Muslim visitors. They are Mel’s Drive In, Friar’s, Goldilocks, Celebrity Café & Bakery, Oasis Spice Café and Marty’s Casa Del Wild (my fav is Mel's Drive in). Honestly, I really appreciate this fact. It used to be really tough getting halal food at such tourist attractions. Thank you!

Nephew concussed for an hour or two.  The parents didn't bring his stroller so they rented this for $10. Cheap, I would say, although the little boy was obviously too big for the stroller.

We queued up for the Transformers' ride since it indicated only 30 minutes of waiting time ( as compared to the original 75 mins ). But in the end, we wasted 45 mins waiting , only to be told that they had technical difficulties and had no idea when that would be solved. Sheesh... super wasted my time1

I got a bit irritated here. There were verbal instructions given - as if we are the real transformers - as to what to do or how to behave once we are on the ride. But they had to interchange the instructions with one in Mandarin,every now and then. Like, seriously???? There are many foreign visitors to USS and you guys choose to do it only in Mandarin?  How about the Japanese, Malaysians, Indians, Arabs, Spanish? Why not just stick to English - the universal language? Sheesh...... so much for all those hullabaloo in the recent episode of the train stations' names.

No one is too old for the magical Carousel ride......

It was nice to see that there is a musollah / surau for the Muslims to do their prayers. Now, there really isn't any excuse not to come to USS (nor is there any excuse not to pray amidst all the excitement!). No more worries about finding a place to pray as this space is clean and comfortable enough , albeit a  tad small. But that's ok , cannot be demanding :)

This is somewhere between the Mummy ride and the Battlestar Galaticca. 

When I went with husby previously, we took the Human (Red) roller coaster on the Battlestar. I have to admit I felt a little dizzy. We took it again that day and again, I felt slightly dizzy after coming down. But my willpower was very strong. I had vowed to myself  earlier that I would try out the blue one (Cylon).

And I did! OMG - it was the best ride EVER!!!

I cannot find words to describe the post-ride feeling - super exhilarating, that's for sure!

We stayed on all the way till the end and managed to catch the beautiful fireworks (the previous visit, I was already resting in bed in Festive Hotel !).

A final family photo - tired, hungry but definitely happy!

Perhaps, we will visit USS again next year, to catch up with the changes and the usual exciting rides. Meanwhile , there are plans to visit the newly opened aquarium in Sentosa. We shall see how it goes!

Hansel and Gretel over the weekend!

So today we brought the parents to get our annual fix of Wild Rice pantomine - Hansel and Gretel!

I knew I would enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed the previous ones I have caught with the other half. It was the husby's idea to bring my parents along this time round. I wanted to bring the little nephew but husby was apprehensive if it would be too long for him to endure (but he would enjoy himself! I know he would!) so we didn't eventually.

We were late though! We reached the place only at 2:20 pm when the show was supposed to start at 2:30pm and husby still had to find a parking lot. Parents and I went down first... but what luck! We were still too late and had to wait outside the door while the show started without us. Thank god they let us in within minutes ... I wouldn't want to miss much!

Google-d

I am not going to be a spoiler here but it was really very enjoyable. My parents had a great time and it was so cute to see my parents' reactions towards some of their jokes or crass remarks, which are very typical of these pantomines by WR.

Husby noticed an ang moh in the row in front of us who had a straight face almost throughout the show. This is rather impossible, I feel -  one can really laugh a lot and being a pantomine, there was enough audience 'participation' as the show progresses. We concluded that maybe he just did not 'get it'. The show is very Singaporean with a few splashes of Malay, Mandarin, Singlish and the dialects. Everyone gets to be the brunt of their jokes  ... and issues such as the acclaimed $50 Malay wedding, bus strikes etc etc were aptly included as well. Like my dad said, if one doesn't get it, it means you are just not assimilated into the Singapore culture yet.

Well, perhaps.

I took a vote at the end, for the most favourite character. Both my parents voted for Siti Khalijah while husby went for Sebastian. Me? I was torn between Sebastian and Khalijah! Sebastian was a darn fantastic witch / chef of the candy house! Love him on that stage so so much!! But Khalijah was equally awesome. She had dual roles - a Filipino maid and the chef's assistant and my god, this woman can really do wonders to her characters, u have to watch to know why. And when she belted out a Tagalog song, I was sold! Ok ok.... she gets my vote! HeeHee.

No photos taken at all since we were late and there were too many people for me to pose with one oftheir life-size posters afterwards.

Well, except for one camwhored one.......

I love my polka dot shawl from Princess Arabia (FB)! Flowered brooch was from IORA boutique.

It was a good outing,definitely.... and this has definitely helped cheer me up :)

If u are going to watch the musical, I am very sure it is worth your money. If you are not, hey , why not???

Happy Ever Laughter - no regrets!

Phew!

I survived the first week of school!

Honestly , it was a little tough mustering up all the energy for school after the June holidays. Yes, we still had to work during the June hols but the pace was definitely slower.

The one thing that kept me going the whole week was the fact that we were going to laugh our asses off at the end of the working week.

Last night , we went to the Esplanade to catch ......

HAPPY EVER LAUGHTER!

We saw the flyer somewhere in early June and I just knew we had to catch it! I mean , look who the presenters are - Selena Tan , Moses Lim , Chua Enlai, Siti Khalijah, Gurmit, Judee, Sebastian, Michelle Chong, Hirzi & Munah, Najip and of course, our very own Kumar!

We went for the 8pm show and it was such a rush as we had to perform our Maghrib prayers first at the Sultan Mosque. And the traffice to Esplanade had to be super duper slow.With just ten minutes to the start of the show, we joined the extremely long queue of cars going into the carpark. Husby decided to drop me off first while he went to find parking elsewhere.

So I went in alone and left his ticket at the front desk. I looked as if I was stood up by my date with the single empty seat beside me. Not too bad though , husby reached about ten minutes and only missed a tiny part of the first act!

And so my night of tummy-hurting and mind-blowing laughter began! Only ten minutes into the show , I already felt like I had been laughing for a lifetime!

This was how it went. The 12 presenters took turns to perform their stand-up comedies, each giving their own interpretation of what happiness is and of course, that included all the sexist, racist , crude and all types of jokes in between. There were many memorable ones but I am not gonna spoil it here :)

My favourites (as expected) were Selena Tan, Najip, Gurmit, Khalijah and Kumar...while the unexpected favourite was Judee Tan. Omg, she's god-damn funny!!! She carried out her character really well. The least funny , in my opinion , was Moses Lim. Heh. But I have never really thought he is a funny guy , anyway.

An interesting thing to note was that unlike any other shows, the audience is free to snap pics or take videos (as long as there was no flash) since happiness = no restrictions :P But I doubt anyone really took because you wouldn't want to miss any part of the jokes.

This was the only photo I captured in the theatre...

I really had a blast , and it was worth every penny spent! I should plan an exciting event for every weekend so that I do not dread the working weekdays :)

Tickets are almost sold out for every show - we were lucky to even manage to get the Category 2 tickets yesterday as there were only a few left. BUT the happy people are going to add one more show on 8 July 2012.

Don't miss this chance to laugh at yourself and others at the same time! No regrets, I promise! But make sure you are above 18 :P

Chuggington @ Downtown East

It's Chuggington Time!

Get ready to ride the rails in a traintastic interactive adventure with the loveable locomotive Trainee from Chuggington - Wilson, as he brings you around Downtown East to have tons of fun and meet his friends Brewster, Koko, M’Tambo and Eddie!

It was just meant to be a quick early lunch with parents and nephew.. when he asked if we could have lunch at Downtown East because there was Chuggington. I do not know much about the Chuggington series but since I had some time to spare, why not?

We had lunch at BBQ Chicken before we went to buy tickets for the train ride. Yup, kids get to ride on the train and take a tour around Downtown East. How cute!



Holding on to his passport for the train ride. He was so proud to write down his name when given a marker to do so.



It was quite a while waiting for the other kids before he could board the train, as there were some hand-painting services going on. As expected, nephew refused to do so!

The train made 2 pit stops before coming to an end. At the first station , they were suppossed to take individual photos , against the green screen. However, due to some technical glitches, the kids were given markers to colour the pictures in their passports.

First round of phototaking --- had to redo it because of the glitches.

So absorbed! He was with this "kor kor" throughout the stop at the first station. Kor Kor was very nice to entertain him .

At the next station , they had some games and quizzes on Chuggington. However, by this time, the little nephew was already yawning and showing signs of falling asleep .It was actually his nap time... poor boy...



Done ...on the way back!

I suppose he did enjoy his Chuggington experience and he was really happy to collect his photo at the end of it all. If only he had been more awake towards the end....

This event goes on till 24 June from 1pm - 9pm.

Train ride tickets are $10 each but if you have NTUC PLUS! card or the Explorer Kid's card, it is only $8.

One and a half more weeks before school holidays end, there cannot be a better time! :)






WICKED - THE BROADWAY MUSICAL !!!!

We have been wanting to catch Wicked ever since it touched down on Singapore land. But due to our horribly busy schedules, we only managed to catch it last Sunday at Marina Bay Sands theatre.

WICKED tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

We caught the 1:30pm show so it was quite a mad rush after the Zuhur prayers. So rushed that I was practically running from the carpark to the theatre in my pretty green skirt! Still a lil upset about that because I love my outfit for that day yet there was no time for a single picture...grrrrr....

But of course, nothing could have spoilt my day because the musical was really awesome to the max! I was already impressed by the stage setting when I stepped into the theatre.

Photo from TravelerFolio

Like other musicals, the stage designs change for every scene and I was really blown away by the whole set. It felt like I was in the World of Oz for the whole 3 - 4 hours. Amazing, amazing, amazing!

We had pretty good seats so I was able to see everything - movement , facial expressions etc - of the actors. They had wonderful vocals on top of the excellent acting skills. The dialogues were so witty and there were many surprises along the way that the audience were kept entertained throughout. Excellent script , that's for sure!

And here you have , the stars of the show....

At this moment, I think they are my favourites of all that I've watched all my life. (yes, a touch contender for Phantom of the Opera...)  And I would love to be in Glinda's role because she got to wear all the pretty dresses - at least 5! :P

This was my favourite scene - when Glinda was trying to give Elphaba  a makeover and giving her advice - her version. It was really cute and hilarious!

Everything was mesmerizing - from the acting, singing,dancing, props , lightings etc! It is definitely worth the money spent.

Wicked is still on till this Sunday so if you have no plans for the weekend, why not try out your luck at getting the tickets? However, do invest in good seats .... because I have heard that those seating at top levels could not really enjoy the show because they , more or less, just saw the tops of the people's heads :P

We are catching Romeo and Juliet next Friday - hopefully it will a great experience as well! :)

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Disclaimer: Photography was not allowed so all photos were Google-d :)

Late post on BENDAHARA

[Continued from the 1st post on Bendahara here]

2 weeks have passed since the mega production where my 'kids' had a part to play in.

It was a first time for all of them to be involved in a performance so massive that I am sure it was something they will never forget.

It was definitely a good platform for the students to learn how things work backstage, the numerous rehearsals each performer has to go through before a show, the tears and joy shared with the whole team and sharpening their abilities to handle any last minute changes. All for the audience to enjoy a great performance.

I was already heavily involved in the performing arts since primary school (and all the way to JC - had to stop after that) so I understand how exhilirating and nerve-wrecking it is while waiting for their turn to go on stage. However, they were involved in just 2 scenes of the whole musical so there was a lot of waiting in between.

And kids being kids, they filled up the time monkey-ing around and taking pictures!

After a while, I got their bug and ended up joining them in the camwhoring moments  :P

They had to put up three shows and husby and I went for the last one , which was on Saturday evening. I felt like a mum to all 22 of them because I was just excited to see them perform, and was waiting in anticipation for their appearance on stage.

I have watched Sri Warisan's earlier productions the past years. Both husby and I feel that they have much to improve when it comes to script writing because there have been areas where the dialogues / movements just fell flat. Some parts also seemed draggy, as if there was a lack of ideas for the character. However, I would say this Bendahara production is the best one among all the other productions of theirs.

Their set designs were done by the very well-known Istana Budaya of Malaysia. I like all the designs for the various scenes.

And the students are still talking about the production - and harping on how much they miss the whole experience. Good! More to come, I hope :)

Ok, my outfit may look a bit funny but I actually like it ... haha ! It was meant to be a skirt but being the very petite me , I ended up wearing it as a dress . I had initially wanted to alter the length but I think now I shall keep it as it is.

With Raihanah.
Skirt/tube dress: KL Bazaar
Black turtleneck Inner: H &M
Belt: No idea :P
Bracelets: Cotton On
Flower Brooch: DIVA
Shawl: pearl-daisy.com (UK)
Strappy Wedges: Pretty Fit
Bag: Kate SPade Nylon Mae

We didn't have dinner earlier so by the time everything ended, it was about 11pm and we were super famished. We decided to go to Teh Tarik Cafe Cartell at EAst Coast (24 hrs btw) and I actually ate egg prata at such a late hour! Gosh!

Shall end this post with a photo which husby snapped while the hungry wife smiled ...heheheh....