Week 6 Highlights:

Michael’s colleagues at Liberty International Underwriters have been giving him a wonderful introduction to the food of Singapore. Each day he tells stories of where and what he has eaten. This past week he was formally introduced to Peranakan food (Peranakan= descendents of Chinese immigrants in the 15-17th centuries to areas such as Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore that have created and subsequently maintained a distinct and rich culture). Thank you, everyone, for the leftovers!

We enjoyed Peranakan food on Tuesday night at The Blue Ginger, where we dined with a wonderful family (Colin & Aileen)  who will be joining the Liberty Corporate Development Program and rotating through Boston starting in February. Colin and his wife are both from Singapore and they have a two year old son, Andrew.  Our plans are to teach each other about Singapore and Boston, respectively.  Jack and Andrew were fast friends – and the food was not only interesting, but scrumptious.

Everyone was looking forward to our Friday night ” beer and scoot” only to be turned off by the dreaded “haze.” Just as work was letting out for the weekend, the PSI was climbing to “moderate” status, meaning it was okay to stay outside, but that the smoke (from open burning for agricultural purposes/ slash and burn farming) coming from surrounding regions was covering parts of the city, leaving our throats scratchy. One beer later (approximately 175 scoots back and forth in front of our favorite watering hole) we headed indoors, take-out food in hand. Thankfully, the haze cleared out on Saturday. Only to come back later . . .

Over the weekend we visited the National Museum of Singapore. We enjoyed the exhibits on the Botanic Gardens (which we’ve yet to visit), local food (surprise), photography in Singapore and fashion. The kids were especially taken with an exhibit on local pop-rock music from the 60s … we had to drag Jack away from music by The Straydogs, The Thunderbirds and Naomi & the Boys.

 

 

Check out Jack’s new favorite band the Straydogs. 

After the museum we ventured through Fort Canning Park. We had fun exploring the “secret passage ways” and playing in the massive trees. 

 We headed to the East Coast for a family date night dinner at Zaffron Kitchen. It had come highly recommended and boasts many accolades, but when we arrived we were the only ones there … forgetting that Singaporeans “sup” later than we’re used to, it didn’t take long for the restaurant to FILL up with families. In addition to having mouth watering, perfectly textured Indian food, they have a children’s indoor play space. Nothing like the smell of garam masala and the joyful screams of children who’ve consumed freshly made naan! 

Sunday we concluded (hallelujah) our “park hopper” pass by visiting the Jurong Bird Park. This beautifully laid out jungle walk housed beautiful, bright birds. Maggie Lou and I each expressed a little regret about not being home to welcome our  backyard feathered friends return from down south, but we travelled on, in awe of flamingos, birds of paradise, macaws, raptors and mama’s favorites, the kingfishers. We took in a bird show, sweated through our clothes and enjoyed our last park!

Lastly, the family has decided that Jack would greatly benefit from nursery school.  It seems all the kids his age are in school. He’ll start on March 25th, 3 days a week. He is very excited to make friends and play with new toys. Mama is nervous (what is she going to do all by herself?!?), but she’s sure she’ll manage

Random pics throughout the week.

Shark sighting at Marina Bay … ahhhh!!!!!