Okay, so I'm back from hiatus. Armed with a new blogskin.
Anyway, yesterday we went to the Peranakan Museum, for the understanding Southeast Asia seminar. Whoo (: I had great fun there. So, once all the schools came (RGS, RI, ACS(I), VS), we all congregated at the foyer to have a short briefing and introduction to the seminar.
We had a talk by Ms. Ho, PM Lee's sister-in-law (wow), about the RSP. She was a fluent speaker, without referring to a script. She said how privileged we were to be the pioneers of this programme, and I agree with her.The MOE is seriously investing in us plenty of money, to get us to know more about the region. And this would come in handy when interacting with people from neighbouring countries, being able to understand and respect their culture. Respect was another thing she covered. In learning more about our neighbours, we would know how the lifestyle/customs of others were different from us, and appreciate the rich, albeit different, culture. "Singapore, being a small (and therefore vulnerable) country, we would need to have good relationships with other countries. Resilience would get us through it, as Singaporeans are known to embody the 'never-say-die' spirit, and how our country prospered from independence." -summarised version of what Ms Ho said after that. YES, I AGREE. Isn't that why RSP was set up in the first place? So that we would become ambassadors of Singapore, and possible diplomats who knows the situations of our neighbours.
Following that, we were split into 3 groups (A,B,C) and went to different venues. Our group (C) went into the lecture room first, and I expected a long and dreary talk on Peranakan culture. Therefore, I was surprised when I found myself in a rather small room, with food and beaded art pieces on display. We first went to the cook
ing area, and Mr Philip Chia (the chef), taught us how to make curry meal from scratch. This picture shows him dry-frying the spices for the curry powder, and after a while, there was a fragrant aroma coming from the pan. I would love to blog more on his cooking and the food, but this post would then turn irrelevant. (I'm going to write more about the Peranakan food)
Peranakan cuisine is heavly influenced by Singapore, Malaysia and sometimes even Thai food (for Penang). The food is the result of blending Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with spices used by the Malay community. It uses plenty of coconu
t milk and leaves like pandan, lemongrass, kaffir lime and laksa. An example of their cooking is otak-otak, which is a mix of fish, coconut milk, chilli paste, galangal and herbs wrapped in a banana leaf! We also got to sample the Peranakan kuihs during the tea break, like the nine-layer kueh, tapioca and kuih serimuka. They tasted sweet and sticky.
Anyway, yesterday we went to the Peranakan Museum, for the understanding Southeast Asia seminar. Whoo (: I had great fun there. So, once all the schools came (RGS, RI, ACS(I), VS), we all congregated at the foyer to have a short briefing and introduction to the seminar.
We had a talk by Ms. Ho, PM Lee's sister-in-law (wow), about the RSP. She was a fluent speaker, without referring to a script. She said how privileged we were to be the pioneers of this programme, and I agree with her.The MOE is seriously investing in us plenty of money, to get us to know more about the region. And this would come in handy when interacting with people from neighbouring countries, being able to understand and respect their culture. Respect was another thing she covered. In learning more about our neighbours, we would know how the lifestyle/customs of others were different from us, and appreciate the rich, albeit different, culture. "Singapore, being a small (and therefore vulnerable) country, we would need to have good relationships with other countries. Resilience would get us through it, as Singaporeans are known to embody the 'never-say-die' spirit, and how our country prospered from independence." -summarised version of what Ms Ho said after that. YES, I AGREE. Isn't that why RSP was set up in the first place? So that we would become ambassadors of Singapore, and possible diplomats who knows the situations of our neighbours.
Following that, we were split into 3 groups (A,B,C) and went to different venues. Our group (C) went into the lecture room first, and I expected a long and dreary talk on Peranakan culture. Therefore, I was surprised when I found myself in a rather small room, with food and beaded art pieces on display. We first went to the cook
ing area, and Mr Philip Chia (the chef), taught us how to make curry meal from scratch. This picture shows him dry-frying the spices for the curry powder, and after a while, there was a fragrant aroma coming from the pan. I would love to blog more on his cooking and the food, but this post would then turn irrelevant. (I'm going to write more about the Peranakan food)Peranakan cuisine is heavly influenced by Singapore, Malaysia and sometimes even Thai food (for Penang). The food is the result of blending Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with spices used by the Malay community. It uses plenty of coconu
t milk and leaves like pandan, lemongrass, kaffir lime and laksa. An example of their cooking is otak-otak, which is a mix of fish, coconut milk, chilli paste, galangal and herbs wrapped in a banana leaf! We also got to sample the Peranakan kuihs during the tea break, like the nine-layer kueh, tapioca and kuih serimuka. They tasted sweet and sticky.I shall stop blogging here, and would be followed up soon on the other cultures of the Peranakans.
Labels: food