ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

The real McCoy: Narcissus Brand Stewed Pork Trotters An imitation: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Artery-clogging it may be but it's comfort food par excellence A stall serving this iconic dish with its stack of cans of the pork trotters, to ensure that you know the cook is using the real thing. Fried vermicelli with Narcissus brand stewed pork trotters. The mere thought of it is enough to conjure up images of mother, family gatherings, festivals, homes full of aunties, uncles, cousins, babies, grandmother and grandfather to many Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. For generations, this canned food in its distinctive yellow packaging has been a staple of home festive cooking. Chinese New Year, weddings, birthdays of the elderly and the new-born have all been welcomed by a big dish of fried vermicelli with Narcissus brand stewed pork trotters. Cans of pork trotters are also used as gifts and symbolize that you wish the recipient a ...

The Jersey Devil of the Pine Barrens: Survivor of the Jurassic age or result of an unholy union with the Devil? Guitar players learning how to flat-pick at Albert Hall, near Waretown Aerial view of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey A concert in Albert Hall A big fat cat belonging to the owner of the General Store in Chatsworth A house in Chatsworth The General Store in Chatsworth A music store in Mount Holly that sells folk music instruments Think New Jersey, and most outsiders think of ugly oil refineries, the derelict bridges and pot-holed roads that connect it to New York, and crime-ridden towns like Trenton and Camden, all in all a not too flattering image of the State that calls itself "The Garden State". Some parts of New Jersey such as the sea-side resort town of Cape May in the South,the rolling hills of Vernon near the border with New York, and towns like Lambertville and Frenchtown along the Delaware river bordering Pennsylvania still retain their charms; but by ...

1972 Gibson Es-175D, Acoustic Image Clarus 2R with Raezers-Edge Stealth 12, Acoustic Image Coda Plus, and in the background ZT Lunchbox Amp with extension cab The previous post [below] which has a virtual MP3 player plays some sound files of my guitar playing. This post is the content since I didn't know how to combine the MP3 player's HTML coding with Blogger's WYSIWYG editing. The accompaniment to my amateurish playing was by Band-In-Box software:a fantastic sotware just listen to the acoustic bass, the drums and that great piano playing. However the files further down the list from song 5 or so downwards were recorded with earlier versions of Band-In-A-Box, and in these the accompaniment is MIDI unlike the real sampled sounds of the later songs. All guitar players yearn for that awesome tone, which for electric guitars is the result of the combination of guitar, amplifier and the player's touch. And yet, the final tone that comes out of the speaker is the result o...

A Florida swamp: Turkey Creek near Melbourne Baked Crabs at Ozzys' near Palm Bay The Desert Inn at Yeehaw Junction Baby Backribs, Palm Bay Airboat ride on the Saint John River Saturday night at the County Line Saloon Fruit and nut stands on the way to Saint Augustine The Skyway bridge near Tampa and Clearwater A Southern mansion in Mount Doro Sunday afternoon country music jam in Malabar Though it was written in 1981, Joel Garreau's book The Nine Nations of North America is, in my opinion, still valid. In it, Garreau suggests that North America can be divided into nine regions, or "nations", which have distinctive economic and cultural features. He also argues that conventional national and state borders are largely artificial and irrelevant, and that his "nations" provide a more accurate way of understanding the true nature of North American society. [Taken from Wikipedia: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations_of_North_America ] Florid...

Lok Kai Yik: An almost extinct Peranakan dish Close-up pf Lok Kai Yik in all its glory Sambal Belachan: A fiery hot chili dip with fermented shrimp paste When I heard that Charlie's Peranakan* Restaurant in Singapore's Katong district was closing down, I cancelled a trip to photograph newly discovered African catfish species at Qian Hu fishfarm. *For more about Peranakans see http://www.fu-lu-shou.net/2009/02/my-peranakan-heritage-discovering.html Peranakan food is already an endangered cuisine. Lok Kai Yik is even more a highly endangered dish within Peranakan cuisine. The elaborate preparations, the labor-intensive activities and the huge assortment of ingredients that go into making a Peranakan dish make it a less commercially viable cuisine. But the main reason for Charlie's closing down was not for lack of clientele. It was because the Singapore government had just raised the levy for the foreign workers which many Singapore restaurants depended on as the locals are ...

The magnificent-looking Chief of the Swamp Aborigines Welcome sign to the Village: "Charcoal Junction Village" The jetty at our yard bordering the swamp Big Stork standing on roof of house Just caught: A Civet Cat Mangrove wood for making charcoal Aborigine children eating their meal An Aborigine child Bitter Gourd stuffed with fish and shrimp meat Making charcoal from Mangrove wood Mother and Baby Idyllic vilage scene Wild jungle flower Wild Boar Soup with White Peppercorns Wild Boar Trotters in Black Vinegar and Soya Sauce Woman collecting mangrove wood The oil rig yard we are constructing in Johor, Malayisa is near a mangrove swamp. The swamp is well-preserved and teeming with wild-life. A community of Aborigines belonging to the Seletar tribe of sea aborigines live in a village called Kampong Simpang Arang or Charcoal Junction Village . The tribe earn their living by making charcoal from the hard Bakau or mangrove tree wood, and by catching Crabs, Fish Sh...