Last weekend Kingsley and I stumbled upon a massive anime festival at Suntec Convention center. Over 85,000 people came to the 6th annual event. Spread across four halls and the exhibition area the festival was full of Singaporeans jostling to take pictures of the characters and diehard anime fans who spared no expense to bring their favorite anime characters to life wearing the most outlandish costumes imaginable.
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Living in Singapore
We recently had a unique dinning experience with friends Sumika and Oyvin. The concept is
Dining in the Dark and the experience is organized by the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH), as a form of raising awareness about the challenges that persons with vision impairment face in their day to day activities.
Our evening began at a fully-lit downstairs bar, where we were served an appetizer and a cocktail. From there we deposited our belongings in a locker and with hands firmly on the shoulders of our visually-impaired waiter (specially hired and trained by the restaurant), we made our way slowly up into total darkness in the upstairs dining room.
Each course–starter, main and dessert–came with 4 tasting portions of different food, making it a variety of 12 different dishes. Our server wouldn't tell us what the food was, we had to guess for ourselves. We also had sparkling water and wine glasses on the table which we nominated Kingsley to be in charge of filling for our table. He did a fantastic job!
The entire experience was fun and enlightening. It was interesting to realize how clumsy I felt during the dinner without the use of my vision and yet my sense of taste was certainly enhanced. I found myself taking tiny bites to better appreciate the little things about the texture and taste of the food.
At the end of the meal we were lead back downstairs and given a fun quiz to see if we could guess what we ate. Without our vision during dinner, the flavors we were tasting became a slight consersational obsession at the table so I think we impressed the waitress with our incredibly detailed (and accurate) food descriptions.
After our lovely dinner we walked 10 minutes down the road to Haji Lane to Bar Stories a cool new bar in Singapore. There is no menu, so everyone is treated to a personal cocktail consultation when they arrive, asking you whether you prefer sweet or sour, fruity, strong flavors etc until they have an idea of your palate tastes. You then tell the bartender what mood you are in and a special customized cocktail is made for you. The presentation of the cocktails was impressive and the bartender matched our cocktails accurately with each persons mood that evening. Mine was "spicy" so I had a lovely passionfruit cocktail with cayenne pepper mixed in. So fun!
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Living in Singapore
It has been almost a year since our last set of kittens but I finally found the time to foster again! These two boys are incredibly sweet. They are not related but formed an instant bond at the shelter and ever since have been inseparable. Kingsley named them IS and NEW for the hit TV show Orange is the New Black. The names are pretty creative so I have to give Kingsley credit but we haven't even watched the show and there is no way these guys will get adopted in Singapore with names like IS and NEW. So I am still trying to figure out some cute names for them...
They are constantly rough housing and getting into all sorts of trouble but we love having them around! The latest game is called hide from Mom right before she needs to leave for work.
Can you spot the black kitten?
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Kittens
The Professional 2013 DEB video:
On October 18th Kingsley and I participated in our second Diner en Blanc event. Diner en Blanc is a flash mob all white formal picnic. While Singapore was the first city in Asia to host this event, Diner en Blanc began in Paris 25 years ago and has also been held in Amsterdam, Munich, Zurich, Montreal and New York.
All diners have to bring a table, two (white) chairs, and a picnic basket comprised of quality menu items and china dinner service. And all diners have to be dressed in white – signifying elegance and proper etiquette when we all meet for the mass “chic picnic” at the secret location.
Kingsley and I were dressed to their nines in white while lugging our tables and chairs to the Stadium meet up location. Once at the Stadium we were whisked away on a coach to the secret location which turned out to be the top of the Marina Barrage which has a fantastic view of the city skyline.
Looking around as I set up our table it became clear that I might have slightly under estimated the extreme lengths other diners would go to decorate their tables. Our was adequate but I certainly plan to step it up next year.
Thankfully this table wasn't right next to ours. It was pretty over the top!
The evening ended with fireworks, dragon kites and an amazing french acrobatic dancing performance. We loved our first Diner en Blanc experience last year but this year certainly took things up to a whole new level. I am already eagerly anticipating next year!
Here is a short video I put together which captures the highlights of our Diner en Blanc evening:
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Living in Singapore
This photo pretty much sums up how expensive things are in Singapore and you certainly pay a premium for specialty items from the US. It's no wonder I bring 2 empty suitcases with me to Seattle and return to Singapore with them filled to the brim mostly with food items from the US.
I just saw strawberries from Japan at the grocery store the other day which were $16.95 per pint! Yikes!
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Living in Singapore
A highlight of the trip to Seattle was being there to celebrate Graham's 70th Birthday. We had a nice family dinner out together and then went back to John and Amy's place for surprise Champagne and Snoopy cake. We also gave him a beautiful photo memory book with birthday messages and quotes from friends and family all over the world. The messages in it were so heart felt it brought tears to my eyes. I am so thankfully to have such an amazing Father-in-law in my life!
My Birthday Message:
Thank you for being such a good man and for always showing me kindness and love. It means so much to me to be part of the Wood family. Warm wishes for a Happy Birthday to you!
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Seattle
I recently learned that I posses an interesting hidden talent...bowling in stilettos. We celebrated our friend Chris's 50th Bday recently he had rented out a bowling alley for the evening. I initially only planned to bowl once in my high heels as part of a dare but I actually did so well that my team decided they were better off if they kept my bowling in my heels!
Team Lan, Lynn and Matt vs. Team Chirs, Kingsley, Marc
Later just and Matt and I were a team against Kingsley and Marc. We certainly didn't win but our group was the most mischievous and we certainly had the most fun!
Kingsley and Marc right before they attempted the very bad idea of bowling at the same time!
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Seattle
These trips back to Seattle are always a blur of trying to see and do way too much in a short window of time. We are often...ok actually always...incredibly exhausted after spending a few weeks in Seattle but seeing so many special friends and family is priceless. Because we aren't able to just pop over and see these people whenever we want - it makes every moment we have with them incredibly special.
Dinner with Gulay and Jen at Purple Cafe in Seattle. I am in love with their cranberry celery chicken salad! Our table was right under the vents though so we were all freezing during dinner.
Sharon and I met in Singapore at a ladies coffee group 4 years ago and formed a special friendship. She and her husband Dave moved back to Seattle last year but we keep in touch and I love that I get a chance to see her when I am back in Seattle.
Playing with our Nephew Jack who might just be the cutest thing in the world!
Dinner at Anthony's with our parents.
Ohanas Karaoke evening with John
Date night just Kingsley and I at Icon Grill.
Cuddles with Zeke
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Seattle
