Weekends in Singapore

I have had 2 amazing weekends back to back here in Singapore.
Not to say it seldom happens, but these 2 I want to document.
Last weekend, I went on a Singapore-style road trip.
Aidan, Stewart and I drove to Kranji, past the cemeteries.. which were pleasantly peaceful toward the famous Bollywood Veggies for good old, locally grown, organic grub.
Lunch was Papaya salad, mixed vegetable stir up, scrumptious brown rice, cheese toaties (?) and a lot of dessert.
Yeah, their Chocolate Banana cake and banana bread is 'to die for'.
We had about 5 servings and they gave us a couple more. :)
The 3 of us then walked around the reserve, observed all the locally grown and even found a lake we sat by, for awhile and watched the wildlife.
I squealed like a 4 year old when a giant monitor lizard crossed my path to get to the water.
We could have stayed in the sanctuary for hours but a storm came and Ivy Singh, the owner of Bollywood Veggie signaled to us to get back in.
We grabbed more dessert to take away then drove around the farmlands, stopped by Kranji beach (yes there's a beach there which faces JB) and even went by the Goat farm.
Driving around Neo Tiew Road reminded me of my road trips around South West Australia and their wine region.
No doubt, it is a completely different experience but comforting to know that Singapore does have it's lush landscape when we seek it out.

Saturday early evening and we head over to Lakeview.
Brian and Curly got registered the week before and are legally Man & Wife now so a celebration was in order.
On the menu, popiah... DIY... the best way.
Also a signature way of 'communal eating' amongst this group of friends.
Sometimes it's Congee, other times Soup noodles.
But always presented in a way where you could have it just the way you liked it...

The Bamrah Brothers worked their music magic with Tom (Kelly, DJ Shellsuit) and we were all blessed with funky tunes and smooth grooves.
At one stage, the Mini-Marys came out and everybody had to try...
Take a cherry tomato coated with and from the dish marinated with Worcester sauce, pepper, Tabasco, salt. Dip it in your ice cold (premium) Vodka shot, eat the wee tomato and knock back the shot.
YUM!

The music started sounding better (I mean honestly, it hard to sound better than DJ Shellsuit & the Bamrah brothers) but the conversation started flowing easier and it wasn't long til the weekend really kicked in and the atmosphere meshed magically.
A few more cycles of popiah, cocktails and live jam sets and Saturday ended sweetly.
If not in deep sleep.

This weekend started with the Welcoming Home of a long lost friend Nasser.
Dinner at Oso on Friday night up in the Penthouse followed by drinks at La Maison got me much drunker than I even really realized.
When I woke up on Saturday morning, without a hangover...
Aidan lovingly reminded me of our McDonald's greed earlier that morning. WHAT??!!
I gave in to a fillet o'fish and fries. Aargh! And I asked for sauce which I wasted! OMG.
Truly bad behaviour!
Anyway before we headed out that night, Aidan and I went for a quick swim in the evening before it started pouring rain again.
Saturday night started at the Magic Bar.
Bar 84 at the Gallery Hotel.
This quaint little bar sits elegantly, as if floating amidst tall wooden beams in the darkness behind the hotel. As a group of 7-8, we were seated comfortably and our orders taken quickly.
I had the bloody mary which was delish.
After about 45 mins into conversation, we were asked to move to the main bar.
There, a little Japanese man hosted us and showed us a whole array of Magic tricks.
Telling on him, in detail would be plain mean... and I wouldn't want to spoil the experience for you anyways.
All I can say is... Go and experience it for yourself. It will blow you away.
One more thing, there is a $20 cover charge per head.
But I find it is worth every cent and shows support to magicians and artists alike.
We left Bar 84 with our jaws dragging the floor. But we were up for some dancing so we went to OverEasy in search of some disco. Has took good care of us there and we got to see Tracey Phillips which is always a treat.

On Sunday, I was craving Indian and went to Komala's but it was closed for renovation so I had dim sum and laksa instead.
Rie and I spent the afternoon making salad and a healthy rice mix for Sophie, Tiff, her brother, Fabian, Aya, Stew and Aidan who were jamming in the living room.
Guitars, cajons, keyboard harmonicas, shakers, bass guitar, more cajons all covered the hall and raw music filled the area.
There's a certain power in sound vibrations and how healing music is... even in it's rawest form.
And it was mesmerizing to see a whole group of friends grooving together happily.
We all ended up watching E.T sprawled on the floor, surrounded by cushions and it totally brought me back to my childhood.

Today I feel renewed and ever ready.
My friends are planning a camping trip on Lazarus Island soon and that is probably more a mental mission than a physical one so I am off to prepare.

Singapore is as magical as we make it.... wish me luck.

Thalassaemia

I have recently agreed to make an appearance at a charity event in Sri Lanka (Colombo) in September so I decided to do some of my own research into the rehabilitation center and see how I could possibly help them, starting now.

The disease is Thalassaemia
and the charity is for the establishment of the National Thalassaemia Center at Kurunegala.

"Thalassaemia is a genetically inherited, non curable, but easily preventable disease. It is a heterogeneous group of genetic disorder. The production of normal hemoglobin is partially or completely suppressed in this disease. Treatment for thalassaemia is costly and needs life long therapy. As the disease is inherited, the best way of preventing thalassaemia is avoiding marriages between carriers." -

(http://www.zimbio.com/Sri+Lankan+Models+And+Actress/articles/n01hcF-aDsE/Thalassemia+Rehabilitation+Fund+Sri+Lanka)

Bascially, children with the disorder have to go through dialysis up to twice a day.
It can be very painfully and demoralizing, as Jacquie Mei (my Catwalk Lao Si) tells me.

I realized that apart from sending picture/educational books to the kids, a useful contribution would be nourishment or holistic help someway.
I gathered from reading the Center's mission statements that these patients could benefit significantly from medication such as Vitamin E.
I went on to find this chart stating Palm Oil as one of the best source of Vitamin E.
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/images/vite.jpg

Anybody have any suggestions or hook ups to help me do this>?