Kev's Bloooog...

Oranges...can't get enough of them

2008-06-18T14:17:00.005+08:00

"Oh no, not a another one", you must be saying to yourself. What can I say, I'll buy and try as I see them. Went to a nearby coffee shop for lunch today and then the market for fruit. This Aunty had the whole range of Sunkist (bleah!) and Barnsfield oranges. Although I was very tempted to get the Barnsfield varieties, a new '4 digit number' (not the Singapore Pools kind) got my attention- 3144. Again not listed in my original list because it is an Aussie, it is listed as a Fall Glo Tangerine.

It tasted quite unique. Definitely not sour by any means and its sweetness had a kind of honey-tinge. The only problem I have with it is its many seeds. In one segment, there were at least 5. Too many for my liking and definitely a tough one to de-seed for Matt.

Found quite a good site in both Russian/English that lists ALL (and I mean ALL) the '4 digit' numbers for ALL types of fruit including images of ALL the labels (the Gallery section). You got to check it out- http://labels.com.ru/eng/extra/index.html

Oranges Part III

2008-06-16T23:28:00.003+08:00

The quest continues and I was quite excited that on a single day, I found 2 different types of oranges to try. The 3108 is listed as a Medium Valencia, however, it looked really large compared to the 3030, a small Nova (not listed in my original 'American' list) from Australia.

Both were extremely juicy but the 3108 was definitely not sweet. I'm really wondering if Sunkist grows sweet oranges at all. The 3030 was quite sweet but not as sweet as the Barnsfield oranges I tried during the week!

Oranges again?

2008-06-11T11:30:00.003+08:00

Can't help but try to track down juicy and sweet oranges to make my $ go a long way... Tried a 3107 2 nights ago and found them to be surprisingly juicy and sweet, even though I had been told otherwise by some fruit sellers and websites that Navel oranges are not as sweet as Valencias.

Anyways, to further test this, I bought this 4012 (large Navel orange) from Commonwealth Market yesterday. It has been in the fridge since and I'll try it after lunch today. Hoping for much juiciness and sweetness!

Oranges...

2008-06-05T15:45:00.002+08:00

I've been kinda into oranges recently. Never really liked them cos most of the oranges I ate were sour and had to be cut (instead of peeled). However, in recent times, I've learned a nifty trick from my colleagues on how to peel oranges easily (not just mandarins) and with the current low prices of oranges, I've been more interested in them.

Visiting supermarkets, wet markets and fruit stores has helped a little with my 'orange' education. I've tried to chat with fruit sellers about how to select sweet oranges and the various species that are available in Singapore. All this in an effort to ensure that the oranges I purchase are SWEET & JUICY.

So after a couple of months of 'research', Bel and I have concluded that oranges with labels indicating '4014' on them are the ones to go for. The first few batches did not disappoint, but over the last week or so, I'm wondering if there's any truth in what we've been told. So anyway, more research followed, the Internet kind. I've found out what those 4 numbers mean and if the '4014' variety are really the kind I should go for. Well, you guessed it, I'm back to square one.

One of the '4014' oranges I bought yesterday (3 for $1)

Here's why- the 4 digits only tell you the variety and size of the orange NOT how sweet or juicy they are. What the fruit seller did get right was that Valencia oranges are generally sweeter than the other varietals, but added research has revealed that they must be left to ripen on the vine and if harvested too early, will still be sour. Hmph!

Anyway, for your information, here's the full list of oranges and their corresponding PLU (Product Lookup) numbers. I'll be going for 3108 and 4388 in the coming weeks!

3027 - ORANGE: Shamouti
3028 - ORANGE: Delta Seedless, small
3036 - ORANGE: Midknight, small
3107 - ORANGE: Navel, medium
3108 - ORANGE: Valencia, medium
3109 - ORANGE: Seville / Marmalade type
3110 - ORANGE: Navel, Cara / Red
3153 - ORANGE: Delta, seedless, medium
3154 - ORANGE: Delta, seedless, large
3155 - ORANGE: Midknight, medium
3156 - ORANGE: Midknight, large
3309 - ORANGE: Lima
3310 - ORANGE: Pera
3370 - ORANGE: Maltaise
3371 - ORANGE: Salustiana
3372 - ORANGE: Navelate and other late Navel varieties
3373 - ORANGE: Navelina including Newhall
3374 - ORANGE: Without postharvest treatment
4012 - ORANGE: Navel, large
4013 - ORANGE: Navel, small
4014 - ORANGE: Valencia, small
4381 - ORANGE: Blood
4382 - ORANGE: Juice
4383 - ORANGE: Tangelo Minneola
4384 - ORANGE: Navel, small1
4385 - ORANGE: Navel, large1
4386 - ORANGE: Temple, small
4387 - ORANGE: Temple, large
4388 - ORANGE: Valencia, large

Still busy...

2008-04-24T10:11:00.002+08:00

Still busy at work... good to know that my buddy has left work to be busy with some other things. Check this out - New Media Group.

Photo/Video updates soon...

The boys...

2008-04-08T10:58:00.003+08:00

Been busy and caught up with lots of things... no time to muse and post but these 2 photos bring a smile to my face...

Food Fight!

2008-03-12T16:48:00.001+08:00

Just stumbled across this on YouTube. If you need the historian in me to explain what's in the clip, just get in touch with me.

Matt gets to drive the Big Red Car

2008-03-11T22:31:00.002+08:00

Managed to finish work a little earlier today after 2 full days of training at Chung Cheng High School (Main). Took Matt to Parkway to get his long overdue hair cut. He winged a little at first but was a very well-behaved boy after that. To reward his good behaviour, Mummy gave him a treat on the Big Red Car...

In Days of Yore from Western Shores...

2008-03-01T09:22:00.009+08:00

I still look forward to this day every year. I still miss singing the anthem with gusto. As some may say, it's in my blood. How? Only God knows. I look forward to the day Matt will put on the white and blue and benefits from an education system that is founded on Godly values.

Matt & I dropped Bel off at ACS(I) last week for Fusion. I took the opportunity to bring Matt to the classroom block and show him around. Although much has changed, my classroom hadn't. I'm sure Matt wasn't exactly sure why his Dada was taking him to a classroom and sit him at a desk, but I did it anyway... heh...

Matt tries to get into Dada's 4A4 classroom (now it's designated as 4 Noah)

Matt gets in and probably wonders why it's so messy
(nothing much has changed in this regard)

Dada puts Matt in 'his' seat (dunno who's it is now)

Matt gleefully walks back after his classroom visit

On the way, Matt tries to 'pick a lock'

Of course he didn't succeed!

A Good Start

2008-03-01T09:10:00.003+08:00

We had a good time at CG on Thursday night. Simple as the book was in its content and explanation of desired outcomes, the practical applications of some of these would not be too easy. There was free flowing and honest discussion among group members and that surprised me to some degree. God is truly leading us to be more open with one another and to support us in our endeavour to build strong families founded on Him.

On my part, I have added one committed action to reading the ODB online- that is to pray for a couple of minutes after reading in order to make my QT more complete. Disciplined prayer time has been sorely lacking in my life of late and hopefully this will revive it. On a couple front, Bel and I have decided to add our own prayer items to Matt's agenda when we have our nightly family prayer. We started that last night and Bel & I also managed to pray together this morning. As many of wives on Thursday highlighted the need for 'the men must take the lead', I will try to be more giving and leading in this area.

Overall, it has been a good start and I ask for the strength to continue...

A New Challenge

2008-02-28T17:30:00.002+08:00

We meet for CG tonight after a rather long CNY break. Mark was suggesting that maybe February becomes break month as well. Anyways, Chapter 2 of the book poses a new challenge to all couples. I'm quite pleased to say that I have kept up with my reading of ODB online rather well and there have been quite a number of meaningful devotions that have lingered in my thoughts. The next challenge is to pray daily with Bel. Prayer with spouse is so important and yet often neglected. We will probably try to expand the content of family prayer (instead of letting Matt decide on all the prayer points!) to facilitate this.

Photos from Chinese New Year

2008-02-24T18:09:00.003+08:00

A rather lazy Sunday has allowed me to finally upload the photos from Chinese New Year. They're all here so do take your time to browse.

Till the next Chinese New Year...

One of the reasons I teach History

2008-02-22T16:22:00.003+08:00

These kids were asked 'What is the holocaust?'

This is one of the reasons why I teach History...

Remembering Shai...

2008-02-15T23:26:00.002+08:00

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. —Psalm 116:15

Photos from KL Trip

2008-02-11T22:33:00.001+08:00

The photos from our KL trip are up on my Flickr gallery already. Check them out here. Next up- photos from the Chinese New Year long weekend...

Back from KL!

2008-02-05T23:59:00.000+08:00

Just returned from a 4-day road trip to Kuala Lumpur. The drive up was and down was great as traffic was smooth and we only had 1 unplanned stop, thanks to the boys in blue from up north who were out looking for some 'coffee money' on Saturday afternoon. Most of the trip revolved around spending time with Bel's family, especially her brother & sister-in-law from Sydney. Matt had a whale of a time... Here we can see him shopping for some 'bling bling' at Forever 21.

Apart from shopping, Matt tried the local KL food and also took a tour of Aquaria at KLCC. More photos to come of course.

On my part, I have to admit that I failed my 'challenge' this week, which was to read the Word everyday despite being away from my computer, and hence not prompted by the ODB to read the Word. Will need to be less reliant on technology to keep up with my committed actions for our Study series.

Looking forward to the Chinese New Year break...

Welcome February!

2008-02-01T09:54:00.000+08:00

Woo hoo! Only 1 week between the last post and this one. Not too bad that CG requires me to journal. At least I get in 1 post a week.

As a complete aside, I'm so glad I sent my Liverpool blog deep into the recesses of cyberspace. I would not have been able to take blogging defeat after defeat and all the bad performances. And Tony, if you are reading this: "No, I am not going to buy a Manchester United jersey from you".

Not many turned up for CG last nite but anyways, fellowship is always good and people are willing to listen to me go on and on about my life. That + the fact that someone is going to pray for me after all that ranting makes CG evenings very comforting. Here's a recent photo of the crazy bunch...at least those who turn up regularly.

Making the ODB my homepage this last week has worked rather well. Slight resistance at first to read scripture before doing anything else, but it got much more natural after the week went by. I look forward to it now, even going back to the ODB page during the day to see if there are any updates or links to other interesting reads. Next step would be to add a little prayer time after the reading and reflection.

Heading up north tomorrow for the usual pre-CNY KL getaway. Hopefully I don't have to lug loads of work up with me, but that will depend alot on what I get down today. So back to work it is...

1st Chapter KPIs

2008-01-25T09:44:00.000+08:00

Might as well journal now since I'm already logged in. The 1st chapter of the book is entitled 'Sink Your Roots'. It's all about laying a solid foundation for your personal walk through practice of Christian Disciplines, having true friends you are accountable to and living authentically.

As a couple, Bel and I have decided to apologise to one another, and to Matt when an apology is needed. Individually, I have committed to reading God's Word daily by making the 'Our Daily Bread' website my homepage on my web browsers so that I will read God's Word 1st before doing anything else when I get into the office.

Evolution...

2008-01-25T09:14:00.001+08:00

I've been meaning to integrate all my blogs since I realised late last year that there was no way I could blog regular on 1 platform, let along 4. What in the world was I thinking? Anyway, Singaporean-Liverpudian was sent deep into cyberspace as of 2 minutes ago, and Foodies R Us will follow suit once some of the entries are moved here.

In addition, I will also be journaling about our Cell Group's 'study' for this season. We are reading a book entitled 'Growing a Spiritually Strong Family'. Then individually, and as a couple we take concrete steps to decide how we want to apply some of the principles in each chapter in the life of our family. We're supposed to be journaling all these down 'somewhere', so I was chided by our CG dictator (I really mean leader) last night (1st session) for choosing to 'journal in my heart', instead of somewhere more visible. Might as well use this blog and the labels function to track my journaling then...

Photos from Matt's Baptism

2008-01-22T23:44:00.000+08:00

Matt was baptised on 23rd December last year. Being so busy, I only downloaded the photos last week. Follow this link to check them out.

Time to say goodnight...

2007-12-19T23:15:00.000+08:00

I allowed Matt to watch this little video about Andrea Bocelli putting Elmo to bed in the hope that he would be inspired to go to bed easy. After that, we watched another clip from Sesame Street involving Big Bird (at his request) and Miss Piggy.

When we got into bed and said our family prayer, in addition to the usual family members that he would request prayer for, Matt also asked us to pray for Elmo, Big Bird and Miss Piggy!

Matt visits Jacob Ballas Gardens

2007-11-20T17:01:00.000+08:00

We took Matt to the newly opened Jacob Ballas Gardens @ the Botanical Gardens on 27 October. We thought we would enjoy the kiddy attractions, especially the water play area. Matt was a little too young for the tree house and some of the other education stations but on the whole, he enjoyed himself, even though he scraped his knee when he fell while walking all over the place. You can check out the 3 photos here.

We also visited Dempsey Village after that for lunch at Jones the Grocer. Yummo cold cuts platter and coffee!

Our Cell Group- Blessings & Joy

2007-11-14T23:17:00.001+08:00

For all those who haven't got an idea of who's in our Cell Group...this is the 2007 version of Blessings & Joy. It was the 1st time in the year that all of us were present on one occasion, including all the kids! What a blessing...and joy!

Top row: Mark, Li, Jonn, Rachel, Jenn, Gabriel, Yueh Mei, Bel, Sarah, Chuk, Jerry
Bottom row: Justin, Max, Queenie, Neng Hsiu, Kev, Matt, Mark, Inez

Photos from Deepavali Long Weekend

2007-11-12T23:18:00.001+08:00

I've more or less decided not to renew my webspace subscription with Clubsnap because there are too many 'free' options around. I've uploaded this batch of photos on Flickr to give it a try. Click on this link to see photos of us from the Deepavali Long Weekend. We took Matt to McDonalds for breakfast, went to Courts & Ikea at Tampines and even had the chance to lunch with Uncle Fred who's visiting from Sydney!

Us at Cell Group on Thursday night!

New links

2007-11-07T13:19:00.000+08:00

I've added 2 new links to the 'Places to Visit' section- journalism.sg and Political Commentaries on S'pore, by Catherine Lim. Both are worth having a look at if you're interested in the local press, including what has been un-published in the traditional public domain. On Catherine Lim's website, you will also find all her commentaries archived in a very neat manner.

Still busy today, but looking forward to the long weekend.... hopefully I'll be able to post some photos then.

Busy busy me...

2007-11-06T13:56:00.000+08:00

I've been really busy. No time to upload photos and no time to post on my blogs. My ScoobaKev Gallery has even been suspended because I did not realise that my annual subscription was due. I'm even thinking of shutting down my Liverpudian blog (especially now that the Reds are performing so poorly)...

Hopefully some photos will be up here next week...

The reason I'm bad at Math...

2007-10-21T13:41:00.000+08:00

Finally found the reason why I'm bad at Math. All the note-taking during class and lectures went up in smoke because of all the sheep I was drawing...

Dada Brings Matt to the Playground

2007-10-16T23:13:00.000+08:00

Matt was behaving really well and with some time to spare before heading off to the airport, Dada decided to bring him to the playground for a short while. As usual, Matt had a good time on the rocking horse and slide. All the photos are here.

Trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2007-10-02T22:38:00.000+08:00

Bel had to take a trip to Ho Chi Minh City last week for her work retreat, so I duly tagged along and seized the opportunity to check out sites of historical interest. It was a wonderful trip getting to know the city, the culture and also the shopping. Check out the photos here.

Matt enjoys his 1st Lantern Festival

2007-09-25T21:44:00.001+08:00

Took Matt down to the playground with his lantern tonight and he had a really good time mingling with the other kids. After a while, he got bored with his own lantern and went after the lanterns of the other kids. It was also good to get to know some of the neighbours and their kids. All the photos available here.

Jerry & Chuk's Home Blessing

2007-09-24T21:23:00.000+08:00

We attended Jerry & Chuk's long awaited home blessing on Saturday, 22nd September. It was a small, cosy affair with Rev Lai Kai Ming officiating the service. I got so carried away walking around blessing all the different parts of the home that I didn't snap any photos during the service! There are some before-service & after-service shots though...all found here.

iPhoto up and running

2007-09-21T00:09:00.001+08:00

Spent the majority of the night importing and sorting about 8000 photos on iPhoto'08. The interface is much better than the previous version and it's very intuitive. Had a good 'laugh' at some old photos from the pre-Matt and pre-Esparis days. May want to post one or two of these up one day...

ieat Charity Dinner @ Astons Prime

2007-09-19T23:00:00.000+08:00

Bel & I attended the ieat Charity Dinner last Saturday @ Astons Prime. The food was good, the company hilarious and best of all, it was for a good cause. All proceeds went to the Andrew & Grace Home, a shelter for teens in need of care. If you want reviews of the food we ate, you can check it out here.

Here's Bel & I with our well-decorated name cards!

Jesus is the answer...

2007-09-19T22:51:00.000+08:00

A really cool skit about struggling with love, money, alcoholism, self-image, self-mutilation and suicide. Worth a look from start to finish...

More photos uploaded!

2007-09-18T23:40:00.000+08:00

Managed to get the photos from Bel's camera uploaded as well. They're all here. The photos have run onto a 2nd page, so do take note and click the link at the bottom to see more photos.

Here's another video treat of Matt driving a Snoopy Car. Enjoy!

Anti-piracy Ads

2007-09-18T22:14:00.000+08:00

I stumbled onto this from mrbrown today. It's hilarious. I'm sure most of you would have seen this anti-piracy ad either in the cinema or on a newly purchased DVD.

Now check out this spoof from the IT Crowd, a British comedy sitcom!

Hilarious!

Some photos up...

2007-09-17T23:08:00.000+08:00

Managed to put up some photos from my 10D in Matt's gallery. Will process and post photos from Bel's camera ASAP!

Busy busy busy...

2007-09-12T11:29:00.001+08:00

Sorry there have not been any updates for a couple of weeks here, or on my Liverpool & Foodie blogs. I've been busy but there are photos to upload...like Matt going to the zoo last Saturday! Hang in there....they'll all be up soon!

PMC Cup 2007

2007-08-25T02:33:00.000+08:00

Didn't get many shots of The Brazilian Job in action for the tourney, but we all had a good time...even though we missed out on a semi-final spot by a mere 1 point. You can check out the photos here.

*A couple of photos have also been added to the Walkabout gallery!

Section Outing- Farewell lunch for San Chye

2007-08-24T13:55:00.000+08:00

Professional Development Section (ETD) went out for lunch @ the Holiday Inn, Tiong Bahru (the ex-Concorde Hotel & ex-ex-Glass Hotel). The buffet lunch was ok, but clearly they didn't pay much attention to the dessert spread. My colleague San Chye is leaving us to further his studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

If you haven't seen any of my colleagues before, here they are. San Chye is standing right in the middle, wearing the grey shirt. Standing on the extreme left (in pink) is our Assistant Director, Sai Choo. Standing towards the right (in yellow) is my immediate boss & Senior Head, Hwee Peng.

That's all of us (minus Boon Yean who didn't come along) working together trying to help ALL teachers in Singapore integrate ICT nicely into their curricular areas so that students can be more engaged in their learning.

Matt's Gallery updated!

2007-08-24T00:27:00.001+08:00

Finally got down to processing Matt's photos from Bel's cybershot. His gallery has been updated and you can check it out here. Next step for me is to process the photos in my 10D, which will probably take a while longer...

Happy Birthday Singapore!

2007-08-24T00:09:00.000+08:00

This video was taken when I got home from work on 8th August. We commemorated National Day at work and we all got a flag. Most of us brought our flag home for our kids, which is what I did. Matt was so excited!

Matt's 2nd trip to Sydney

2007-08-19T22:49:00.000+08:00

I've been really slow updating Matt's photo album this half of the year. There's tons more in the camera, but we'll start with Matt's 2nd trip to Sydney in June/July. You can view the photos here. Enjoy!

Matt's 1st Day at Sunday School

2007-08-19T17:32:00.001+08:00

Managed to gate-crash the 3-6 year-olds Sunday School class today cos Steffi was attending with Nate and I was helping Joe bring Jed there. Looked fun so I brought Matt during the singspiration & he had fun, especially watching his Godma learn some moves.

The first post...

2007-08-17T16:40:00.000+08:00

I've finally given in to use a blog to share photos. The Clubsnap gallery is really good for hosting, but it takes a bit to search for recent updates to the gallery. Using a blog to post updates and linking them to the most recently updated gallery will save time for the readers. Also blogs have lots of features that I can leverage on.

Stay tuned for the first update...(cos I haven't updated the gallery in a long time...)