my ajumma notes

Warning: Spoilers ahead! What's with the 'spring-autumn romance' theme? Of course I know that in real life, younger men do go out with older women. I'm just surprised the idea has turned up as often as it has in Korean drama. I thought Koreans were rather conservative about these things. Perhaps producers want to 'challenge steoreotypes'. My Name is Kim Sam Soon Sam Soon (30) and Jin Heon (27) She's definitely more mature than he but the tragedy quotient in his life is pretty high and he has many work and family responsibilities so he isn't immature or anything. Just less mature. They don't look too bad together. Anyway, a 3-year age gap is no big deal what. I think. (pic from here ) Dalja's Spring Dalja (33) and Tae Bong (27) The age gap is very obvious here. Plus, Dalja is independent, has gone through a lot, etc, while Tae Bong still has so much to experience in life. In the end, though, she does find a sense of security with him. It also hel...

According to a poll of about 300 people, reported in yesterday's Sunday Times, (how come nobody ever asks me these things?) , the Seven Wonders of Singapore are (in order of merit): 1. The Esplanade (a whopping 82 votes) 2. Changi Airport (53 votes) 3. Sentosa 4. The Merlion 5. The Singapore River 6. Food 7. Mount Faber and LKY (tie - 10 votes each) Some 'offbeat choices' which didn't make it to the top 7: aunties selling tissue paper at coffee shops, Singlish, kiasuism, 4D-Toto outlets and Newater (said someone of Newater: 'We are probably the only country with branded recycled sewage.' Well said, ha ha.). Maybe it's a personal bias but I feel that a 'Wonder' must also have strong historical and cultural/social value (so I'm rather miffed that Angkor Wat didn't make it to the 7 Wonders of the World; in fact it was never in the running for the top 7). Therefore, these choices are a little too modern for me. The Esplanade, for example, is a...

Four S'porean sailors have ensured that Singapore will sail (in at least one category) at the Olympics!! Woo... woo... claps... whistles... pic from CNA Apparently, the guys have done well enough to be assured of an overall position of nothing worse than 20th in this World Championship they are competing in. So, let's say they finish 20th. What are their chances at the Olympics? Well, they can look to Marion Bartoli for inspiration. Ranked 20th in the world, she beat Ms Impossible-is-nothing world #1 Justine in the semis for a place in the Wimbledon final. As she (Marion, i.e.) was inspired by Pierce Brosnan rooting for her from the stands (after which she got the tag 'licensed to dream' -- ha ha, cute), perhaps the sailing people can get a Bond girl or two to cheer the guys on next year. Best memory of this year's Wimbledon: pic from the Wimbledon site Great match , great sportsmen. Too bad neither of them made it past the semis... again... Never mind lah, they can...

Here is another of my ominous post-China visit posts. Every time I go there, I think there is no way we can compete with China. In fact, I think we will be overwhelmed. Actually, one doesn't need to go there to think that, I'm sure. Shunde I'll bet the majority of Chinese Singaporeans don't even know this city exists. I was one such Singaporean till I learnt that it is my father-in-law's hometown. It's about an hour's drive away from Guangzhou and a very much less busy place. This lady working at our Guangzhou hotel exclaimed, 'Shunde? What did you do there? Such a boring place.' Actually, Shunde (Sun Tak in Cantonese) is a really successful city and a manufacturing hub. All sorts of things are made there, including furniture, home appliances, and even Little Tikes toys! Shunde people are also astute business people. I'm told, though, that they are not keen on their city becoming a mega bustling city so they are content with enjoying their wealt...

Besides HK, we also went over to Guangzhou and Shunde (more about this city another day). If your taste buds are as Southern Chinese as mine, you will probably enjoy the food there. With the huge portions they serve, don't be surprised if you put on weight after a few days there! After all, some Cantonese dishes are also rather oily (and salty). Yummy dumpling noodles , not too different from what you can get here, except that the bowl is much bigger... Water cress soup , again not unlike what you get here, in a huge pot (diameter about 30cm I think). The pot is sitting on one of those wheely serving trolleys because it's too bulky to leave on the table. Generously large bowl of porridge, char siew/siew yuk , very fresh choy sum . Strange, we only got the stems of the choy sum. Wonder what happened to the leaves. In the top left of the picture is the brown lid of the huge soup pot (also on a trolley). Vegetables are really fresh but, as my sister constantly reminds me, you don...