Chicken Caramel Cake, Anyone? Sunday, October 18, 2009
I was having my day off when I received a call from the aeromedical center (my current National Service unit).
Like what most people perceive, calls from your workplace spells trouble. I am no different.
However, no matter what, you have to pick up the call from your workplace, or else, it spells DOUBLE trouble.
Reluctantly, I picked up the call and was greeted with...
"Hello! Do you want to share the cost of a cake?"
For a moment, I thought...
"When has my medical center becomes a bakery?"
In the end, it was made clear that, it was the clerk who called me, asking me, if I would like to share the cost of the birthday cake for two of our NSF friends in the medical center.
Nevertheless, I agree to it!
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The next day, when I return back to my unit, I heard the guys saying
"Today we are going to have chicken caramel cake."
and this was followed by laughter.
Now like everyone, my first thought was
"What is so funny about a cake?"
Being the Kay-Po (busybody) type of person, I questioned one of the guys what had happened
And the answer has to be relate to an incident yesterday (the day when the phone call was made).
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Apparently, the clerk (who called me) was asking around for opinion, what cake would be preferred.
One of the medic in my department told the clerk...
"I think chicken caramel cake is good. Or you can consider buying black vinegar cake."
And in reply, the clerk naively asked
"Then I will buy the chicken caramel cake. Do you know where it is sold?"
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If you still can't get the joke, think again...
"Is there even CHICKEN CARAMEL in the first place?"
"National Heritage Board and Hua Song Museum are inviting you and your guest to an exclusive celebratory private party, this Mid-Autumn Festival at Hua Song Museum."
The first thing which came to my mind was
"How are you going to have a celebratory private party in a museum?"
You will need wine, cakes, and maybe some wild music when it comes to party.
But in a museum, is it possible?
Unless you are telling me that, the museum will be replacing your wine, cake and music for
Chinese White Wine
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Mooncake
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ErHu music
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And, since I will be meeting DAWNald duck that very day, I might as well bring her along. We had never try going to a museum before for a date
And the most important thing is ...
"IT IS FREE!"
(It costs S$32 to enter Hua Song museum by the way.)
But alas, DAWNald duck told me that she wouldn't be coming with me to the event at the very last min.
This end up having me going to the museum alone, with no accompany, no camera (DAWNald duck got a digital camera) and no date.
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Nevertheless, I proceed to the museum alone.
For a little history, Hua Song museum is located inside the infamous (haunted?) Haw Paw Villa.
The very moment when I alighted the bus, the sight of Haw Paw Villa entrance made me shiver in fear.
Why?
If anyone of you can remember, along the entrance of the Villa, there is a man-made cliff.
The cliff with no light in the night.
And at the top of that cliff, there sits a BIG (and I mean real big) tiger statue.
RAWWWR!
If you think that the tiger statue looks fierce and scary, imagine it in the night, with no light along the cliff.
The very eyes of the tiger gave the whole statue a life of its own, as though the tiger will pounces on you anytime when you are not alert.
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The entrance of Haw Paw Villa was no better.
The entrance of Haw Paw Villa (during the day)
In order to reach Hua Song museum, you will have to walk past this entrance, and continue walking all the way up a long pathway for about a minute.
Along the pathway, there were statues at the side.
One of the stautes
Imagine walking down the pathway alone with all these statue at your side looking at you, during the night.
At that moment, I was imagining one of the statues, suddenly tap me from behind and says
"Hello, mister! You drop your wallet lar!"
Nevertheless, I shaked off that thought in my mind, and continue walking (at a fast pace) through the dark and creepy pathway.
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The sight of cars and bright light made me assume that I had reached the museum. Moreover the sight of humans (and not endless statues) reconfirmed my assumption.
I was welcomed by a staff (can't remember his name due to the fright I had from the walk) from OMY.sg.
And the first thing i asked was
"Eh, do you have any drink here?"
I was expecting some soft drinks
Coke or Sprite, anyone?
or maybe some
Cocktail
This was when I remembered...
"Hey, this is a Mid Autum Festival event! Do you drink soft drinks and cocktail during Mid Autum Festival?"
Stupid, isn't it?
So instead of soft drinks and cocktail, I was served some Chinese tea.
Freshly-made tea served during the event
Of course, I didn't get to taste the Chinese tea, since i don't really drink tea, maybe except
Pokka Green Tea
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Talking about tea, they do serve us moon cakes as well.
And this was also the first time that I get to know that there are Halaa and Non-Halaa moon cake. I wonder what is the difference.
You can also get to make your own mooncake at one of the stations.
Make your mooncake for FREE
I was having the thought of making many boxes of moon cakes for me to "ta bao" (take away) home, to save on buying those mooncakes as gifts.
(I am not cheap-skate. Its just that a box of moon cake can cost you S$40, you know?)
However, due to the fact that there were so many photographers at that time, I couldn't possibly risk getting my picture post on STOMP with the headline...
"Cheap-skate blogger bringing tons of moon cake home!"
This isn't worth for just for some S$40 moon cakes.
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Due to the fact that I was all by myself during the whole event, I was walking around awkwardly, lonely.
To add on the awkwardness, while everyone was using their fanciful camera taking photographs, I was the only one to be using my W910i 2 mega pixel handphone camera taking photographs.
(This explains the low quality of the photographs I had taken.)
As a result, in order to avoid the crowd, I chose to wander from the reception area, and proceed into the museum gallery.
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The very first person which greeted me when I walked into the museum gallery was him, a Chinese wax statue!
"你好吗?" "How are you?"
I was wondering will this wax statue suddenly tap me from behind and says
"先生,你的皮包掉了啦!" "Hello, mister! You drop your wallet lar!"
At the very least, this wax statue wasn't as scary as the statues along the pathway.
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As I walk into the gallery, I was wondering what Hua Song museum is all about. I had seldom being to a museum before.
The first time was
Changi Museum
when I was in Primary School.
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The second time was
Army Museum
just a few months ago.
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And now, Hua Song Museum.
As I walk into the museum gallery, I realized that Hua Song museum showcases the lives of Chinese immigrants in different part of the world.
One of the exhibits show us the interior of a Chinese junk (a ship) which Chinese immigrants took.
"Whose Smelly Clothes is this?"
According to the tour guide, as many as 600 immigrants are cramped into a Chinese Junk for nearly a month to reach Singapore from China.
We have Female-Only MRT in Japan, and Singaporeans are voicing out that they would like one of those train too.
But long long time ago, there were no Female-Only Junk. Regardless whether you are female or male, you will be cramped together with 599 other immigrants not for a day, but 30 days.
For those who hate taking crowded public transport, stop grumbling and count your blessings.
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The next wax statue which I saw was
WOOF! WOOF!
Now what is a dog doing in a museum?
Nah, the complete picture is this...
This whole wax statue gave me a creepy feeling.
A lady in white, with long tied hair, comforting a baby. Imagine the lady suddenly stands up and says
"先生,你的 Baby 掉了啦!" "Hello, mister! You drop your baby lar!"
I was starting to feel that this whole Hua Song Mid-Autumn trip is beginning to be like a Hua Song Halloween trip.
Perhaps I was too shaken from the statues in Har Paw Villa, that I link every wax statue with a creepy soul with it.
This lady in white is no creepy soul. Instead, she is better known as
"Majie"
Majie are like those Philipino or Indonesian maid we know better. However, Majie are better from maid nowadays.
1. Majie are loyal
This means they won't quit from their job. That means you can be free from finding a replacement at any point of time.
2. Majie are hardworking
This means that they one-man-show everything. From cleaning your car, to babysitting, they are doing ALL the housework in your house. What you want, they will do it for you.
Of course, one thing which never change, there are no special service, if you get what I mean.
3. Majie don't get off
This means that they are practially working 7 days a week. Now you won't need to worry about them arguing with you about going Lucky Plaza, or worry about no one doing your housework at the weekend.
4. Majie don't get marry
This means that they don't even get to have a boyfriend, as this is their custom. You won't even need to worry about them going to Lucky plaza and end up bringing their boyfriend home.
With all these advantages, it is no wonder people prefer Majie than the maid nowadays.
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When it comes to Chinese, the next thing you will think of is food.
Like what they always say,
Regardless whether it flies, walks, crawls or swims, as long as it is alive, the Chinese will eat it.
And you know what? It is true, or else why would I see this?
Anyone fancy Snake Soup?
For that very moment, I thought the snake was real.
I even went very close to the chop board to examine the "snake". Of course it was fake but the thing which make it so real was the "flesh" and "skin" on the chopper.
And talking about food, the Chinese have all sort of exotic food.
One of them is this.
Guess what is this
Apparently, this bone-like thing on the shelf is a deer horn. And it don't costs cheap.
For that very moment, I was tempted to "da bao" (take away) the horn home, to cook some soup for my aging mum, as a form of filial.
How many times can you see a expensive deer horn on the shelf, unattended?
The next most important question is, how many times can you see a REAL expensive deer horn on the shelf, unattended?
I do not want my photograph to be posted on STOMP with the headline
"Stupid Blogger Caught for stealing fake deer horn."
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Other than wax statues and figures, I also managed to find out a "secret" little corner in the museum.
If you aren't careful enough, you might miss this little corner.
In this corner, there are no statues or figures, but instead there are only posters-movie posters like these
This movie was showing when i was not even born
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I wonder why that girl is licking the priest's foot
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A Classic Jin Yong movie
When I was young, instead of colorful digital movie posters, cinema will put up gigantic hand-draw movie poster.
Without fail, I was always fascinated by these hand-drawn posters.
I always wonder how in the world do they produce such poster, which I never got my answer even now.
What was even more fascinating in this little corner was that there is this pretty slide.
The Shiny Effect
And accompanying the slide, there were even more old movie posters on it.
I didn't know this was actually a slide, until one of the guest was telling her friend
"I wanna sit on this slide!"
But looking at her height, I worry more for the slide than her.
(No offense ar!)
And what makes this little corner amusing was this little thingie which resemble those old-style Chinese take-away.
Anyone wants some Chinese take-away?
A Chinese museum never fails to include food in every of their exhibits and decorations.
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In addition, there were some exhibits which were being kept inside cabinets, which I managed to take some photographs of them.
This was how a Marriage Certificate looks in the past. Red Eggs (Food again) included
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This figures look so 70s.
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You can actually count how many people are on the dragon boat.
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And last but not least
I finally took a picture of someone I respected, Dr Sun Yat Sen
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Nevertheless, the trip down to Hua Song museum was a fruitful trip.
There was so many things which I had never seen before, appearing in the museum.
And the answer has to be relate to an incident which happen a few weeks ago.
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2 weeks ago, I was scheduled to do guard duty in my camp, during the Saturday. Prior to my shift, we were being told that there was A wild dog running around the camp.
We were supposed to carry a baton, which was said to chase away that particular dog. However, during my midnight shift, I (and my buddy) was not given it.
And guess what?
We met the particular dog, or rather THREE dogs!
If you are thinking like what my friends did...
Those dogs are NOT chihuahua!
Or rather, those three dogs are similar to
Solid Black German Shepherd
Upon seeing us, the 3 dogs charged at us, barking furiously!
Having a phobia for dogs (I was bitten twice), my first thought was to run. But thinking twice, I was holding a
SAR 21 rifle
Portable Lamp
Walkie Talkie
Checkpoint scanner
How in the world am I going to outrun three charging dogs?
Fortunately, my buddy who was with me, told me to stand still, be calm, and raise up my rifle.
Perhaps being too surprised and scared, I raised my rifle and aimed my rifle at those dogs. And the funniest thing was that...
My rifle was NOT loaded with any bullets.
What my buddy meant was...
Raise up the rifle to HEADBUTT the dogs with the rifle, in case they pounced at us.
Luckily for us, those dogs, upon seeing us standing still, stopped charging and barking at us.
However the distance between us and the dogs was so near that I can literally see their sharp teeth.
Nevertheless, the whole experience was scary, but yet interesting.
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And so, when I went home the next morning after my duty, I told DAWNald duck about this incident.
But instead of comforting me, she asked me
"Do you know why you are being chased by the three dogs?"
To which I replied
"Perhaps it was because I stepped into their territory?
