old friends

Two pairs of my female owner's friends got married when she was in Brisbane. Each couple had just established their homes in the northern part of Singapore. As part of my female owner's homecoming, the female half of Couple Fren decided to host a dinner. The menu was decided on the spot by her and my female owner at the supermarket. Cooking took about 3 hours. The dinner was attended by the two couples, my female owner and her Ex-Er-Zi who happened to be in town (currently studying in Denmark).

It was an evening of food, fun and fellowship. Catching up with old friends has always a joy for my female owner. In addition to the food featured below, there were various goodies from Japan and alcohol (my female owner's indulgence in Singapore). And the good old Tai-Di.

Quite obviously, they overbought.

My female owner's maiden attempt at washing squid.
5-spice Chicken that didn't turn out correct
Mapo tofu that...again...didn't turn out rightSambal seafood (that's where the squid went!)
Stir-fried vegs with mushroom. In her typical blurness, my female owner cut up all the mushrooms, except one.
The entire dinner (plus a pot of soup, eggs with sausage and pineapple rice). 7 dishes for 6 people! The traditional shot - one of the husbands was late in coming home.
A surprise birthday celebration for her Ex-Er-Zi. Yes, he is only 2 years old. =)

vision

The year my female owner entered junior college (when she was "18++++"-"+++++" years old), her principal had the vision of building up the school's choir to make one of the best in the country (and perhaps internationally?) . Then, it was in a sorry state of affairs. The principal wasted no resources in engaging one of the best conductors in the nation to train the choir. As for my female owner, she got conned into joining the choir because her friend wanted to join (the friend quitted soon after, but my female owner stayed on).

The principal moved on to other postings a few years later, but her aspirations and investments probably stayed, coz years later "18++++"-"+++++"+"+++......", the school made headlines in the local news, for winning international competitions.

The vision and goals of a leader... It really looked impossible then.
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Two schools emerge winners in international choral competition

Channel NewsAsia - Monday, April 21

SINGAPORE: Some students have gone international with their co—curricular activities and have returned with trophies to show for it.

Jet lag and cold weather did not affect the spirit of students from Anderson Junior College who were in Italy last month for the 10th Concorso Corale Internazionale — an international choral competition.

The choir, comprising 61 students and 14 alumni members, emerged as the overall winner, beating 33 teams from 13 countries.

Anderson JC has previously won other awards in competitions in Prague, China and Malaysia.
Catholic High School also participated in the same competition and took home the trophy in the Mixed Youth Choir category.

Evidently delighted, the students said the experience is even more important than the win.