came to pick up buckbeak, an easter egger beauty from caylin….on 9.7.2022.^^

buckbeak, Hagrid’s pet, a hippogriff…:-)

came 2 days back to look at buckbeak & fell in love with him/her? but caylin was unsure whether to let me adopt

today she decided

c.h.e.f andy

quakies and sethis joyous memorable occasion sulin’s 过大礼 on 13.1.2021.^^

sulin 过大礼

ervin brought the suckling pig from imperial treasure ion orchard…

c.h.e.f andy

went with lisa to flower dome to see the tulips 郁金香 on 8.11.2021.^^

=========

after flower dome we went to ocbc skyway

I booked the entire skyway for Lisa so only 2 of us lol!

Checked into park collections marina bay.

wife booked a 2 night staycation for her birthday…of course I happily took the bill…:-)

<<view of MBS from hotel room>>

this the old marina mandarin hotel..there is promotion now full dining credits for the hotel room cost

so we going for atas dinner @ peach blossom..free dinner or free hotel room?

after very heavy dinner we went for evening walk..

marina bay skyline mesmerizing & merlion..

wonderful staycation.

c.h.e.f andy

谱    曲 周杰伦

填    词 方文山

such incredible lyrics & singing, mesmerising tale of everlasting love

煙花易冷 人事易分
三生三世 千年之恋
刹那即是永恒

https://baike.baidu.com/item/烟花易冷/211

brief synopsis-

general fell in love with lady in northern wei capital city luoyang

general went to war, luoyang was sacked

lady waited an eternity, finally entering the qielan temple became a nun

general finally returned and lady already passed on

++++

繁華聲 遁入空門 折煞了世人

sound of the bustling world enters the realm of nothingness leaving regrets for all

夢偏冷 輾轉一生 情債又幾本

dream getting cold, always turning and tossing, how many books of love indebtedness?

如妳默認 生死枯等

should you acknowledge, ever awaiting in live or in death..

枯等一圈 又一圈的年輪

awaiting the tree rings, circle and the next circle of life

浮屠塔 斷了幾層 斷了誰的魂

buddha stupa how many levels broken?*whose soul has it broken?

痛直奔 一盞殘燈 傾塌的山門

the pain gushes towards a fading lamp, a collapsed mountain gate

容我再等 歷史轉身

allow me to wait still, let history turn around

等酒香醇 等妳彈 一曲古箏

wait for the wine to mellow, wait for you to play a song on the guzheng

雨紛紛 舊故里草木深

it’s drizzling, our old hometown with deep undergrowth..

我聽聞 妳始終一個人

I heard, you remain single and alone

斑駁的城門 盤踞著老樹根

the ancient tree trunks entangled around the mottled city gate

石板上迴盪的是 再等

the stone bench reverberates “wait on”..

雨紛紛 舊故里草木深

it’s drizzling, our old hometown with deep undergrowth..

我聽聞 妳仍守著孤城

I heard, you still keeping vigil in the abandoned city..

城郊牧笛聲 落在那座野村

sound of cowherd flute in the suburbs, falling on which uncharted village?

緣份落地生根是 我們

we, our fate, have landed and borrowed roots

聽青春 迎來笑聲 羨煞許多人

hear the sound and laughter of youth, admired by so many…

那史冊 溫柔不肯 下筆都太狠

the history, gentle and unwilling, to record too ruthlessly

煙花易冷 人事易分

the fireworks easily turn cold, and people and things easily gone apart…

而妳在問我是否還 認真

and you are asking me if I am still serious?

千年後 累世情深 還有誰在等

after a thousand years, of tired world and deep affection, who is still waiting?

而青史 豈能不真 魏書洛陽城

and history records, cannot be untrue, the book on wei luoyang…

如妳在跟 前世過門

should you be following, wedding me in a previous life…

跟著紅塵 跟隨我 浪跡一生

follow the terra cota dream, follow me. a life of nomadic wandering…

雨紛紛 舊故里草木深

it’s drizzling, our old hometown with deep undergrowth..

我聽聞 妳始終一個人

I heard, you remain single and alone

斑駁的城門 盤踞著老樹根

the ancient tree trunks entangled around the mottled city gate

石板上迴盪的是 再等

the stone bench reverberates “wait on”..

雨紛紛 舊故里草木深

it’s drizzling, our old hometown with deep undergrowth..

我聽聞 妳始終一個人

I heard, you remain single and alone

斑駁的城門 盤踞著老樹根

the ancient tree trunks entangled around the mottled city gate

石板上迴盪的是 再等

the stone bench reverberates “wait on”..

雨紛紛 舊故里草木深

it’s drizzling, our old hometown with deep undergrowth..

我聽聞 妳仍守著孤城

I heard, you still keeping vigil in the abandoned city..

城郊牧笛聲 落在那座野村

sound of cowherd flute in the suburbs, falling on which uncharted village?

緣份落地生根是 我們

we, our fate, have landed and borrowed roots

緣份落地生根是 我們

we, our fate, have landed and borrowed roots

伽藍寺聽雨聲盼 永恆

at the qielan temple listening to sound of rain and contemplating eternity

*building every level of stupa is accumulating merits for afterlife, the highest is 7 levels…

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• 

my RI bro WL organised walk at chestnut nature park on 26.3.2021.

meeting early 6.45am at carpark entrance. carpark officially opens 7am but the barrier will lift at 6.45am for vehicle entry to parking.

we did a 2hr 33m 8.7km walk not so many people today, on a weekday friday…

we went up the observation tower..very beautiful morning cloud formation..

we walked to one arm of the upper seletar reservoir…

we were in luck – saw a lesser mousedeer out rummaging…nice morning walk…

c.h.e.f andy

looked back at my 2020 new year resolution.

basically still very much the same.

2020 was very disruptive becos of covid-19. i am still unable to restart cooking for teban gardens community service centre.

i have though continued cooking 2 times a month for HCA Hospice Care in 2020, except for the 3mths CB (circuit breaker) starting 3.4.2020 till phase 1 where i sponsored some lunches…and restarted in aug2020 for reduced number of patients from 45pax to 25pax.

for 2021 i want to –

1. continue my cooking for HCA and for teban gardens
2. continue diligently my daily self care routine = morning walks (wednesday run with LCH) and exercises and taiji practice and weekly taiji class, and 10- target 30mins meditation.
3. and i am starting vegetarian with RI friend THK every 初一十五 (i am certain i will continue this)
4. start a small herbs patch and tidy up the place

one important activity i started in 2020 courtesy of covid-19 and CB is i started “cook and deliver” once weekly for my brother family, and in return my brother also did that for us. i started with ordering couple times takeaway during CB for my brother but not suiting their palate…so homecooked food it is!

i know my brother think it is very meaningful and so do i, so it’s something we will continue doing in 2021. 🙂

i know my resolutions are underwhelming, not at all ambitious, but it is something i can do, want to do, will do, so they are good for me la!

intended results of self care routine would include –

1. weight management
2. monitoring the 三高=blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol (so only target is to bring down cholesterol to 200, the other 2 are normal for now)

the vegetarian part helps in this target as well and also a very small part in sustainable living.

c.h.e.f andy

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=OFPwDe22CoY

the positivity energy we missed.

👏👏👏

very sadly a few good men after that like obama can do abysmal

Just one nasty moron did untold damages & infected the whole nation with baseness & nastiness

that is because of non democratic vested interest system failure..cannot remove gun rights,cannot negotitate with police union…USA is vested interest plutocracy masquerading as democracy.

actually the fact that even obama could do nothing shows there is very little hope of USA system whether it is called democracy or not.

I think the divisions and fault lines that a obama cannot heal is unbreachable after a trump

every ugliness is release and set free in USA

it is a system failure

the only way only chance America can go forward is if not only biden elected but GOP is smashed into oblivion & a new moral principled charitable true Christian GOP is reborned.

a friend asked “What if the democrats win the house the senate as well as the presidency. Trinity?”

Then GOP have the chance to be phoenix reborned

Younger more rational more charitable more moderate GOP with true republican values and emerge after all the racist bigots old bags are banished.

I don’t agree with low tax low welfare no infrastructure small government dogma or anti abortion anti gay rights but those are legitimate differences in view points and policy directions so it is democratic whether democrats or republicans are elected

gun rights and police union are not

those have to be resolutely opposed.

maybe there needed to be a 毒药 toxic deadly trump virus to poison corrupt decimate and shows its evil destructive powers for America to recover its morality & principles & righteousness and lead the world again….

c.h.e.f andy

trying to see when i last wrote down a new year resolution.

& that was 6 years back on 1.1.2014..:-)

 if today were your last day on earth. When you live everyday as if it is your last, your life will take on a magical quality….

we always say this…carpe diem, sieze the moment…joie de vivre…ikigai…

just in that the hustle & bustle of daily living, even if those words come to mind, they are just floating around at the peripheral of our being, and even if one focus on them it is not easy to experience them in the same degree always as c/w when there is major event, sometimes life changing event.

anywhere i am not good at trying too hard on this.

recently i had a rather bad accident but relatively good outcome. and just prior to that, losing a very close friend and brother …

so i just want to do the things i can do, and can do more, that others may enjoy…

one is cooking –

• i am doing one weekly friday 140pax breakfast dish for teban gardens PPH community service centre.
• & cooking a fortnightly tuesday 40pax lunch for HCA Hospice Care day hospice patients.

the other is to continue some of the work of my close friend and brother Matthias..we have set up a fund and have a committee of friends and relatives together on this…

六十耳顺，七十随心所欲…

so my convictions are 尽力不强求…when i say not try too hard…actually it is try hard but not to desire any outcome too hard or be so bothered, not to take oneself too seriously…and think too much about the things we do..just do it..if i run i run, i exercise i exercise, i cook i cook…there is nothing to it..just be happy i can do what i do and it is useful to others…

c.h.e.f andy

 

went with wife for  a walk at bukit timah hill BTNR….

decided to take a walk at hindhede nature park.

quarry view nice at hindhede park..

seems that the water level here is rising slowly as rain water cannot get out…

south view path was closed, tree fell down due to rain.

so we took the taban loop took 35mins instead the usual 25mins to bukit timah summit..took longer coming down too 20mins instead of 15mins.

with the slight detour to hindhede park and a slower walk bup bukit timah hill, the walk was 1.5hrs in total. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

this morning my OPS bro WT shared the following writings –

亲：早上好，今日21点30分立秋，属晚立秋，天气至少会持续炎热半个月以上，问苍天什么季节最忙？ 秋天，多事之秋； 什么季节最公平？ 秋天，平分秋色； 什么季节最简单？ 秋天， 一叶知秋； 什么季节最长？ 秋天，一日不见如隔三秋； 什么季节最爽？ 秋天，秋高气爽；什么季节最险？秋天，秋后算账: 什么季节最暧昧？ 秋天，暗送秋波！哈哈，祝立秋快乐！

haha! didn’t know today 立秋!

anyway in the past never really notice such things like 立秋, singapore having no seasons to speak of. lately there were lots more messages sharing on 立春， 立冬 winter solstice (so i did a post sometime back 冬至吃t’yuan汤圆)etc.

as one RI bro commented on the message –

“Fasinating – the word 秋 can be used in so many ways to describe people, events, activities, beliefs, aspirations, nature, the environment, the atmosphere and of course the weather. And almost if not all in positive ways. English words which can be used in a similar fashion? Some not so nice words come to mind”.

triggered, i did a rejoinder on my own-

秋去春来，回首50秋，我们一起走过了多少春花秋月，此时春华秋实，正是春秋鼎盛，迈向百岁千秋，放眼哥们虽不说千秋大业，也然是春花秋菊，各有千秋，自能洞察秋毫，不会老气横秋，不羡秋水伊人，秋波传情，不叹秋风落叶，月过中秋，无需千秋万载，凡事过耳秋风，无视春蛙秋蝉，念惜春露秋霜.

not that i know so many chinese phrase, i just googled them…

but i do understand the meaning, so just string them together to portray our time, our mood, our perspective, our past, present, future and for me most importantly our inner peace!

c.h.e.f andy

received googlemap email notifications this morning that my Andy Quak googlemap photo views passed 10million views on 17.5.2018. ^^

good that folks are finding my photos on googlemap & hopefully the reviews useful. 🙂

was sharing with my friends that this blog is for my own enjoyment & to reminisce & relish the moments & experiences shared with my family & friends (why I blog?)..

& googlemap post are by the way mostly cut & paste from the blog entries…

still, it is a good feeling that folks are viewing the photos & reviews…

c.h.e.f andy

with the CNY break, wife was free a few days this week.

we went for a morning walk up & down bukit timah hill @ BTNR on 19.2.2018. ^^

we were able to park right at the carpark a short walk to the visitor centre. this time we took just below 1 hr, with a few rest stops, at the huts & the summit.

we walked 3 times this week & one time the following week. 🙂

on the second time this week. we took 47mins up & down, basically a consistent 25mins up to the summit with a short rest at the hut. this time we could not find parking at hindhede road side so went over to park at courts & walked over the overhead bridge.

pleasant walk as always…

outdoor, in nature,

among the woods…

 a relatively easy walk, easier than dragon’s back, and much shorter of course.

no comparison with bukhansan la! that was 7hrs & lots tougher…

serene, peaceful..

soon we were at the turn to the paved main road.

& after the usual long flight of steps, we arrived at the summit the tower & the stone marking the summit.

a very pleasant morning time together with wife, afterwards, we went for a cuppa at tiong hoe.

c.h.e.f andy

today’s my youngest daughter’s graduation ceremony on 8.7.2017. ^^

it was scheduled for 8pm.

wife made a beautiful bouquet, using pink roses & baby ‘s breath (apparently carnation family?). i think better than many you can buy outside.

looked easy when she made it. it’s like her first time, trial & error, but i must say came out really nicely, the results! clap! clap!

i wear the light grey suit i bought for £99 at TKMax near covent gardens, with a £9 tax refund. this a place my son pulled me along & helped me buy & it came out very well & i wore it to his graduation ceremony 4 days back.

after dropping my wife at the entrance lobby, i was directed to carpark 3. however after entering carpark there was an attendant who asked for some yellow & other colour labels which i didn’t have. anyway the suit must have worked, so he let me passed & parked, and i walked to the atrium hall, met with daughter & wife, took some photos, then proceeded to the auditorium.

& we were seated on the front ie first row! quite fine with me, no questions asked. haha! my dental surgeon who did my implant, was seated directly behind me….

good for my phototaking…

after the 2 hr seating, we met daughter at the entrance atrium & the graduating class took some photos together.

c.h.e.f andy

one of the first “event” after returning from our immensely fun & memorable holiday in london & wales (for me 27apr to 12may2017 arriving evening of 12may) was a good friend’s son’s wedding on 13.5.2017.

it was held at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. 12 of us RI friends attended.

we had a reception after the church ceremony & took many photos with the happy & proud parents & also with the wedding couple.

afterwards 8 of us went to killiney kopitiam siglap to have a cuppa. another friend staying nearby who was unable to go for the wedding during to prior commitments joined us for coffee.

this my close RI friend. we have been meeting quite regularly for the last few years, after a small group of us started to meet up with the 2010 world cup viewing.

old friends are always fast to get together even after many years of not being in contact. still, spending more time together, sharing & doing things together do make a difference. and among this group of close RI friends, we have been doing that more regularly the last few years.

this friend in particular has been to many of my home dinners. usually/always, he makes an effort to come earlier & chit chat a bit. we also helped out at newgate learning hub bread of life (BOL) saturday community breakfast last year in 2016 with 2 other RI friends.

i cooked total of 14times for BOL breakfast dish, the last on 8.10.2016.^^ the program ceased last year, for time being.

we now also do an almost monthly birthday get-together among this group of friends.

and i had a very enjoyable birthday dinner & tete a tete with this friend recently at mikuni on 27.3.2017. ^^

it’s always a good feeling to see the young ones starting out in life, seeking & finding what they want, and the union & happiness that are theirs for a lifetime.

c.h.e.f andy