Thursday, March 17, 2016

Hainanese Chicken Rice - Hail Chicken Rice!

According to BBC Travel, this dish is worth the 15 hour flight from Europe!  The BBC article is a wonderful read.  I didn't know much about the history of Hainanese Chicken Rice even though I eat it fairly often.  Well done and thanks to BBC for profiling this awesome dish from Singapore.

On this blog post, I share some videos I made of the chicken rice that I have enjoyed.  First up, is the Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice.  This is their outlet at United Square.


Chicken Rice is widely available everywhere. In food courts, coffee shops. Here are more examples. This one is at Funan Digilife Mall (which I think is going to be renovated)

Here is another example, from another local food court. A Chicken Rice set meal. Always delicious!

Yet another chicken rice store, in the suburban areas. This one is near Jurong East MRT station.

A store selling chicken rice in Toa Payoh.

And yet another plate of chicken rice in a local coffee shop. Wonderful!

Thanks for watching!

Monday, March 14, 2016

Let's Make a Musical Friend - Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Orchestra Harry Potter Theme

Attended a cute event by the Yong Siew Toh Consevatory of Music of the National University of Singapore.  Here was the Orchestra coming together, to play the well-known theme from Harry Potter.  Very good performance!

 

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Let's Make a Musical Friend - Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music National University of Singapore Concert for Kids

Attended the 'Let's Make a Musical Friend' outreach event by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore.  This event, held annually, is designed to entertain and attract younger children to be more interested in the instruments of an orchestra.  You will see from the videos below that the event was fun!


Held in the Conservatory concert hall, and complimentary, kids of all ages were welcomed.  Many families attended, and some brought their babies along.  Not often you can bring young kids to halls like these.


This is the opening - on the woodwind section.  In this part, the emcee (whom I think is a faculty member and conductor of the orchestra later on) introduces the flute, clarinet, oboe and tuba.


In this second part, we look at the brass instruments.  Like a marching band! Oh when the saints go marching in!  French horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba.  I didn't know that the French Horn was 4 metres long if unwound, hence the sound was very warm.  The trumpets were very regale.


In this third part, we look at strings. Very classy.  Violin, viola and cello.  The violins could make a very high sound.  The cello could go very low - hey it rhymes! 

In part 4, check out the percussion.  He did not go through all the instruments because he said there were too many.  Instead, we were treated to this wonderful percussion performance!  Good stuff.


Last, but not least putting everything together, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music orchestra perform the theme from Harry Potter. Watch their performance on this page. Very good performance indeed.

The crowd (and kids) certainly enjoyed the show! There were many young children and I must say that the hall was rather quiet when the musicians performed.  I think the kids enjoyed it!

After the main performance, it was time for sectionals.  And we attended the woodwind section.  There was an oboe-ist, who played beautifully a short excerpt from swan lake.  Check this out.

Overall, it was a wonderful event for the family.  My kids enjoyed it, and looking around, it was clear that the other families had a good time too.

Keep up the good work!!