found our favourite food stall

We used to go to the zi char stall (cooked food) at the old location at Telok Kurau but they moved a few years back. I chanced upon the new location driving along Changi Road so we decided to go there for dinner last Sunday. It was super crowded and we waited for an hour for our food to arrive. It was worth the wait but I might try to go during weekdays. After the meal, we had ice-cream just across the road called "Leng Leng" as in "cold cold" in Chinese with all the local flavours such as gula melaka, black sesame plus others. The posters on the wall were super hilarious when the texts were in Singlish.

I ran out of ink but my son continued to sketch and it was a pleasure to watch. Here are the photos taken of him sketching.

Petain Road

Result of November Sketchwalk. There are three parts of Petain Road in this long sketch namely the shophouse, the park and the playground.

Petain Road was named by municipal government of Singapore in 1928 after Field Marshall Henri Philippe Petain, one of France’s greatest military heroes from the First World War. However, the name drew controversy when the French military force grew from bad to worst as Petain became the Prime Minister of France in 1940. There were suggestions to change the name of the road when it became a notorious red light district in Little India in the old days. Today, this row of beautiful shophouses are the homes of rich and famous with elaborate majolica floral ceramic tiles covering the walls and flowers, cranes and phoenix adorning the pillars and walls. Directly across Petain Road is a big park with lush green and a colourful playground.

Size : 700mmx300mm
Paper : Saunders Waterford

it is staring at me

This motorcycle was staring at me to sketch it. I think it belongs to a student on campus.

Parenting with iPad

I am alright with tissue box on the dinning table at coffee shop but not the iPad. Why are the young parents letting their kids glue to the cartoons on the iPad at the dinning table? The parents should try to engage the children with meaningful conversations or activities from a very young age at the dinning table.

November Sketchwalk at Little India

We're going to Little India this weekend, at the Kitchener Road vicinity. Kitchener Road stretches from Jalan Besar and cuts through the heart of Little India.

START
9:30 am
City Square Mall
— main entrance where the Christmas decor is going up

Closest MRT station:
Farrer Park on the North East Line
Exit H or I

END
Somme Road Playground
— stone's throw from City Square Mall
https://goo.gl/maps/wV2eFEX1o8N2

We'll meet at 12:15pm to share our works from the session.

Tampines One Toast Box

I needed a local coffee after my lunch at Tampines One, Toast Box was just there but very crowded during lunch hour. There was a constant line at the counter and I was so lucky to find a very tight seat just next to the column at the back that I could see the entire cafe. An ideal angle to watch people and sketch. Two old uncles were chatting over coffee, office workers having lunch, executives looking at their phones all the time, mothers talking about their children and senior couples helping each other with their food and I was sitting there sketching, such is life!

My father loves Steak

We brought our 85-year-old father to this one michelin star restaurant for his favourite steak on Saturday. I did a sketch before he arrived and my fountain pens had no ink. So this was done in ball pen.

My brother said "we will be there 10 to 15 mins" and we both forgot our father now walks in a much slower pace. He may walk slowly but his mind is still active and he knows he is a blessed man in the world.

He thoroughly enjoyed his two glasses of beer and a 200-g steak, still with all (except one) of his real teeth intact.

Bumpy Ride

My mother-in-law passed-on on Tuesday, 7 Nov 2017, 11:10am at The Changi Hospital. I was just returning to work on the same week under a re-employment contract after my official retirement the week before. Tough week as I continued to teach 5 classes on Wednesday and Thursday in addition to attending to the wake and funeral preparations. My elder son also rushed back from Hong Kong. On Sunday, I sat at the back seat of my car for the very first time as I was always on the front seats. I was able to sketch amidst the bumpy ride on our way to collect the bones and ashes of my mother-in-law at Mandai Columbarium.

Both my parent-in-laws born and die in the same year, 1930 - 2017, aged 87 with 6 great grand children. Blessings!