Au Petit Salut

One day as a treat after the exams in September, we brought the kids to Au Petit Salut for lunch. It's a French, fine dining restaurant which offers an excellent set lunch for $32++. Not only is it great value, more importantly, the quality of the food is simply top notch.

Our family loves French food and one of the highlights of Au Petit Salut is their half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter. Words cannot describe how yummilicious this is - after you've eaten the snails, you soak up the garlic sauce with bread. Heaven!

Another entree, orange and pink peppercorn salmon tartare with baby spinach salad. This one is good too but not as good as the snails.

Lesley-Anne ordered the soup of the day, which was pumpkin soup. I didn't take a photo of it as it didn't look very special but oh golly, was I wrong. It is simply the BEST pumpkin soup I've ever tasted, no exaggeration. We went from "why would you order soup here" to "we must order the soup the next time!"

This is one of our favourite main courses - red wine braised beef cheeks with carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes. Melt-in-your-mouth tender. Mmmm...

Kenneth ordered the pork shoulder stewed in wholegrain mustard with creamy polenta. It's not something you can get everyday, the polenta is a lovely change from regular mashed potatoes. You probably need to be a pork fan though. I prefer the beef cheeks.

And finally, dessert. Homemade strawberry shortcake and raspberry coulis for Andre.

Crème brulée infused with fresh Madagascar vanilla beans.

If you're a chocoholic like me, there is only one dessert you have to try - Petit Pot au Chocolat. It's a pot of ultra-smooth chocolate mousse topped with hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

The portions are un-Frenchily large, I can barely finish one set lunch without feeling like I'm going to bust the seams on my pants. At $32++, it really is wonderful value and obviously we're not the only folks who think so, judging from the number of diners at this place. Reservations strongly recommended, if you don't want to be disappointed.

Focus on values - Heng Swee Keat

Yesterday, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat gave a speech at the MOE Work Plan Seminar. In it, he gave some broad strokes of his plans for education. This is the first major announcement on education he's made since he took over the position, so I'm sure it was eagerly awaited by many in the industry.

You can read the full speech here and it's also covered in the Straits Times today. Basically, he calls for a more holistic, student-centric education system and outlines some initiatives he will be rolling out.

One of the key points of Mr Heng's speech is the focus on values. He wants values and character development to be at the core of our education system, which is something I totally agree with. But even he acknowledges that it's difficult to implement as it's not something that can (or should) be examinable or assessed. I'm sure he knows it's a mindset issue, not something you can simply institute. But for a start, he's telling principals and teachers that they should not cannibalise civics & moral education periods for remedial lessons. While this is may be a small gesture, I appreciate he's trying to signal the importance of values.

He's also stressing the importance of CCAs for character building. I'm a little skeptical. While I totally agree that CCAs can build character, these are often waylaid in the chase for medals. As I mentioned before, many schools are so obsessed with the medal tally for sports and performing arts, to the point that these override values such as sportsmanship, diligence, discipline, etc. Unless schools completely transform their world view towards CCAs, character building will continue to be an accidental outcome rather than an objective.

This whole issue of prioritising values is a thorny one because it requires a shared mindset among parents and educators. For eg, I was told an incident where a parent hired a professional consultant to help with her child and his friends' school project. Eventually, the project won an international competition. This is clearly an ethical issue and my question was, did the teachers know the kids didn't do the project themselves? And even if they did have their suspicions, would they have probed or just turned a blind eye? The parents clearly had no qualms about what I consider downright cheating. Such is the message we're sending to our kids - win or do well at all costs. I think if we say values are important, the system needs to stop consistently rewarding achievement over values.

The third initiative in the area of values is the introduction of a new Character and Citizenship Education curriculum. I don't know enough details about this to make a comment. Let's wait and see. My personal wish is that our schools will open up many more creative opportunities for the students to help others on a regular basis, the way international schools do it, so that social consciousness becomes part of their psyche. Going to the old folks' home once a year just doesn't cut it.

Yesterday, a Straits Times reporter called me to ask if I had any comments on the new homework policy Mr Heng was calling for. Basically, he says that all schools should study the needs of its students and define how much homework students should be assigned at the different levels. I told the reporter I had no issues with homework. At both my kids' schools, homework is generally manageable and not excessive. I'm quoted in today's ST page A8, by the way. It's not much of a quote, I'm surprised they included it.

My issue with stress at school is not with homework but with the single-minded focus on results and the accompanying kiasu-ism, as previously laid out in my letter to the Minister. When I met up with Sim Ann, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of MOE, following the letter for a chat, she mentioned that she felt the underlying cause of this competitiveness is the scarcity of university places. Mr Heng obviously shares her view as he has tasked his Minister of State for Education to look into this.

I'm not 100% convinced this is the root of the problem. I still think using KPIs to assess schools and teachers is a huge contributing factor and I'm a little disappointed Mr Heng didn't address this at all. I suspect having to overhaul HR is opening another super-sized can of worms and MOE has enough on its plate at the moment.

Incidentally, I found Sim Ann to be a lovely person - warm, genuine and with a great sense of humour (so important!) Not at all stuffy and pompous like some civil servants I've encountered in the past. She invited me to be part of a dialogue earlier this week which I was unfortunately unable to attend.

I think it's safe to say that Mr Heng and his team are taking parent and teacher engagement much more seriously than their predecessors. Perhaps they don't have much of a choice, considering the currently politically charged climate. Nevertheless, I'm encouraged that they have at least acknowledged and taken into account viewpoints from both parents and teachers, and not just at face value.

Is this education reform in the making? Or just a review? I want to be optimistic. As I told the ST reporter (can't believe I'm quoting myself), every little step counts.

Uncovering the Terracotta Warriors

During the one-week September school holidays, we brought the kids to the Terracotta Warriors exhibition, currently on at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

Time for a dose of history and culture!








Brief history of the terracotta warriors: in 1974, an army of thousands of pottery soldiers and horses was unearthed outside Xi'an, near the tomb of the First Emperor of China. This amazing architectural find revealed a great deal about early China and Chinese art. This is a picture of the actual site.

An installation showing how the terracotta warriors and horses were made.

It was an ambitious project. Heads, limbs and torsos were made separately from terracotta and then assembled. Figures were originally painted in vibrant hues but these have decomposed over time.

This is the main display with a good representation of the major figures - the one right in front is the general.

Nearly 150 suits of limestone armour were found in the tomb. However, limestone is too fragile and heavy for battle so historians suspect they were purely symbolic.

Soon after the death of Qin Shihuang in 210BC, the Han dynasty began. The Hans rejected the life-size soldiers of the Qin dynasty and instead, opted for more modest figures purely as symbolic gestures. These are soldiers with shields.

In the tomb of Jingli, the 4th Han emperor, archeologists unearthed not just soldiers and horses but also animals, farming tools and everyday utensils. This is the mould for Han coins.

Figures were almost androgynous in nature but also featured women. Silly question of the day: Guess which is the woman and which is the eunuch in this picture? Andre thought this display was rather obscene, bwahaha!

There is an accompanying exhibition to the Terracotta Warriors - an installation by local artist, Justin Lee which blends Western pop art with traditional eastern sculpture. Very dramatic and cool, I thought!

The exhibition is very educational and definitely worth a visit. Even though it's smaller than I expected (45 mins is more than enough), it's still interesting, especially if you have no plans to visit the actual site in China!

Kids from local schools enjoy free entry and if you hold a Passion card, you get 50% off adult ticket prices. Pretty good deal. Exhibition is on till 16 October 2011.

Kason Age Group badminton tournament

This week was the annual Kason badminton tournament held at the Chinese Swimming Club badminton tournament. The competition for this tournament is always fierce, as it's considered one of the most prestigious children's competitions for the sport.

Andre participated in the Boys Singles 11 and under and category. He only managed to get to the second round but what we're pleased about is that his competition performance has improved and he seems more confident on the court. Hopefully it serves as a motivational boost for him.

Here are a couple of video clips of his 2nd round match. He's the one wearing orange.

Combat laser tag with dad

Last Friday evening, Kenneth and Andre went on a combat laser tag adventure. The activity was organised by a fathers' group from Andre's school. This group is part of the Dads for Life initiative, aimed at getting fathers more involved in their children's lives.

Conducted by Combat Skirmish, combat laser tag is a simulation game using infra-red technology. Each gun has a computerised system which indicates how many targets you've hit or killed. It also projects sound and lights when you are "shot". Perfect for active little boys who've always dreamed of being in a war scenario... without actual physical contact.

Here's Andre getting suited up.

There were so many highlights of this activity for him, but one of them has to be this oversized gun.

Testing out the equipment.

Not many pictures of father and son in action. Hard to fiddle with the camera when you're in the midst of battle. Apparently, the two of them were aggressively charging and shooting at their opponents throughout the game. Andre proudly declared to me, "I killed more than 10 people!" Truly an outlet for male testosterone.

According to him, the girls were "hopeless" as they merely huddled behind the trees, waiting to get shot at. Now you know why girls and national service don't mix!

I think it's a fantastic activity that packs a punch. It lets boys live out their war fantasies without any danger, unlike say, paintball. It also allows for great family bonding time or at least father-son bonding time, if your daughters aren't too keen.

Thumbs up!

Leaping lizards!

For the record, I hate house lizards.

Well, I hate all types of lizards but the other kinds don't enter my home uninvited so they don't bother me. Some of you might say, "no big deal, I don't like them either." But you see, I REALLY hate those lizards, ie they terrify me to the point of temporary paralysis. The phobia is so bad that I can't sleep if I know there's one in my bedroom. I'm paranoid that it will crawl on the ceiling and drop on me.

At home, Kenneth is known as the Lizard Killer. There's always a bottle of Baygon (to stun them) and a rolled up newspaper close at hand. He has to be quick cos those darn geckos are trickily fast. He jokes that he should put up a chart chalk-marking the number of lizards he has demolished, as a warning to all their kin.

Don't tell me that killing lizards is a sin as they eat mosquitoes and other insects. I've seen those lizards, most of the time, they're not quick enough to catch the mozzies. Instead, they've adapted to the lazy Singaporean lifestyle by coming out at night to feast on leftover crumbs of food. In other words, totally useless. Don't count on them to eradicate dengue any time soon.

I'm not sure how this phobia came about, I suspect I was traumatised when young. I lived in an HDB flat teeming with lizards and since I slept on a mattress on the floor, I came into close contact with them. I guess it didn't help that my parents merely laughed at my fear. In fact today, I still have a long recurring nightmare that I'm precariously perched on a piece of furniture while the room is swarming with the disgusting reptile.

I'm pretty sure part of the reason for my fear is that lizards simply look grotesque. They're bug-eyed with misshapen heads, and feet that cling creepily onto anything like stubborn blue tack. They even drop body parts at will, for Pete's sake!

We've tried everything from lizard traps to old wives' tales like leaving out lavender, egg shells and pandan leaves (I think the last one is more for roaches though). We've also put gauze over the bathroom window. Don't laugh but in a very extreme measure, we've even taped up our back door (we don't use it lah, obviously) since we discovered it was a major lizard highway to our kitchen.

I'm happy to say for the most part, our home is now generally lizard-free, except for the occasional rogue one. I'm a little apprehensive about moving to a larger place on the ground floor at the end of the year. I'll have to figure out how to lizard-proof it. Meanwhile, I'm keeping the Lizard Killer close to me.

I've got the music in me... maybe

A while back, I blogged about the ordeal that was Andre's Grade 5 theory exam. About that time, we also came to the decision that it was time for Andre's piano lessons to end.

It wasn't an easy decision. I had personally hoped that he would at least take piano lessons till the Grade 5 level (for practical) because before that, I believe it's hard to make a call if the child truly has no interest or if he merely doesn't like to put in the time for practice. I blogged about this philosophy here.

However, over the past year or so, the time pressures on Andre began to take their toll. What with school work, tuition and badminton training, he had hardly any free time left. He would practise the piano only when I nagged him to and at times, he would kick the piano in frustration or burst into tears when he couldn't get a piece right. It became increasingly obvious that something had to go - and piano lessons were at the bottom of the hierarchy.

I was pretty torn over this decision, especially since both Uncle Peter and I realise that Andre actually has an ear for music. But after the last set of tears, for the sake of his own sanity (and mine), I finally surrendered. I allowed Uncle Peter to sign him up for a Grade 4 practical exam, which he took on Tuesday, and that marked the end of this chapter.

I would say it wasn't in vain. For almost 5 years, Andre had some music drummed into him weekly by the wonderful Uncle Peter, who became more than a teacher but also a counsellor and friend. The two of them shared a fantastic relationship, it was common to hear laughter emanating from the room during piano lessons.

And of course, the music. More important than the ability to play the piano, Uncle Peter has managed to make Andre NOT hate music. In fact, when I asked Andre whether he would ever continue his lessons, he surprised me by saying he might take them up again in the future, though with the caveat that there be no exams.

That's good enough for me. Meanwhile, I made sure I recorded Andre playing his Grade 4 exam pieces. This might be the last time I'll ever hear him play anything!

1st piece



2nd piece



3rd piece

The gentle giraffe

Growing up, Lesley-Anne was always a stuffed toy kind of girl. She never was one to play with dolls - her stuffed toys were her childhood companions.

She played masak masak with them (they were definitely more cooperative than her brother) and even dressed them up using scraps of fabric. I'm pretty sure in her mind, they all had distinct characters.

Even up to primary school age, she would still bring along a stuffed toy whenever we went out, often rotating among her favourites so they would get equal excursion time. Fair is fair.

However, one of them in particular, stood the test of time and that was Gerry the giraffe.

It was given to her by my sister when she was practically a new born so it's as almost old as she is. It sparked Lesley-Anne's fascination for the animal and remains a sentimental favourite for her.

She started a giraffe collection and was known by her primary school classmates as the girl who loves giraffes, which is somewhat ironic considering her physique is far from tall and lanky!

Here's a peek at part of the giraffe stuffed toy collection today (there's tons more! We're such hoarders). Bet you never knew there were blue or fat giraffes. I like the one on the far right with the googly eyes - it makes me laugh.

And other giraffe trinkets.

We will be moving house towards the end of the year and as a treat, I ordered a couple of giraffe bookends from ebay for her bookshelves. Aren't they sweet?

But it would be tough to beat the experience she had during our Bangkok family vacation last year. We visited Safari World and she actually came right up close and personal to an entire tower of giraffes, feeding them endless buckets of leaves and bananas. That was truly a highlight.

A Knotty Problem

A scarf for a giraffe
Would be forty feet long
But how would a giraffe
Know how to put one on?

- Patrick Winstanley

Sec 3 subject combinations

This month, the sec 2 students in Lesley-Anne's school have one main thing on their minds - subject combinations for sec 3.

In my time, this was a much easier affair, largely because it was a lot more autocratic. In my school, the top 40 kids would be streamed into triple science, the next 40 sub-science, the next 40 pure arts and the next 40 commerce. Within these classes, the subjects were pretty much fixed. Eg. in the commerce stream, you would take Accounting and Geography.

We didn't really have any say in the matter. I was streamed into triple science but being very clear about my inclination towards the humanities, I requested for a change to the pure arts class. I was treated as a strange animal since I was essentially asking for a "downgrade" (I'm still miffed that even today, the arts is still consistently considered a second rate choice to the sciences). However, the principal herself was arts-inclined and so was sympathetic to my case. On hindsight, it was a good decision as I have no head for the sciences and probably would have performed disastrously.

One thing I thought was odd was that Art was a subject in my class. This always struck me as particularly cruel since there were students who obviously couldn't paint a tree trunk to save their lives, but were forced take it as an O level subject simply because they were allocated that class. For me personally, I loved it. One fewer subject to mug for!

The choice of subject combination today is a lot more democratic. Well, sort of. In Lesley-Anne's school, most subjects are compulsory:

Language arts
Chinese
Maths 1 & 2
Chemistry
One other science (Physics or Biology)
Social Studies

What the kids have to choose is whether they will take an additional science subject (which would make it the triple science stream) or a humanities subject (History, Geography or Literature), making it the humanities stream. Those going to the humanities stream would also need to decide whether Physics or Biology is their second science subject.

Lesley-Anne is most definitely humanities-bound. The question is which humanities and science subjects she will choose. Right now, it's most likely Lit and Biology though things can change, of course.

One of the issues she (and I'm sure many students) grapple with is, whether to take the subject that's easier to score or the one you're more interested in. I have been advising her to follow the latter. What's easy to score usually depends on the individual. For eg, Lesley-Anne's seniors tend to find Physics easier than Biology. But this could also be due to the fact that they're generally strong in Maths, something Lesley-Anne isn't.

She's also unsure whether to take up Lit as she hasn't been doing that well in prose analysis. However, I feel that if you have a keen interest in something, you will tend to be more motivated in it, hence increasing your chances of doing well in it. At the very least, you'll enjoy the learning process. Whereas if you take a subject purely for the sake of scoring, if this backfires, man, you're screwed.

Many students choose subject combinations for pragmatic reasons, eg either the one they think will give them the most options later on at tertiary level or the one that will open up the best careers. This is only my opinion and you are free to disagree with me, but I feel this is a very dated approach. Unless these choices also happen to be the ones you enjoy the most, I don't agree with this reasoning.

The world is a very different place today. Professional degrees are not always the most sought after anymore. In fact, people are carving up new (and lucrative) career paths all the time. The most successful people I know do not necessarily go to the best schools or have the best starts - they're the ones who have pursued their passions in a creative way and founded careers that are aligned with their interests.

And even if you're earning good money, many folks are realising that this is not enough to give them fulfilment in life. Personally, I know a lawyer who became a civil servant, engineers who became insurance agent or sales reps and a business graduate who became a teacher.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that at 15, we probably don't know all the possibilities out there, let alone what we want to do as a career. So unless you're very sure about your life's calling, the safest bet actually is to do what you enjoy. Remember the adage, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

Drumming up the Singapore spirit

Every year, the p5 cohort around the island get to attend National Day Parade rehearsals and this year was Andre's turn. Having attended NDP when I was very young, I know it's vastly different from watching it on tv.

However, we hate crowds so have never attempted to bring the kids. So it's great they have a chance to experience this with the school. True enough, Andre wasn't too enthusiastic about the trip at first but he returned from the Marina Barrage all smiles and thrilled by the experience.

Here are some of the photos he took using his handphone.















The goodie bag is a perennial draw - this year, the bag is not bad at all. Made of canvas, pretty handy and tastefully done.

There are four designs - HDB/MRT, the Merlion, Changi Airport and Orchard Road.








Have you displayed your Singapore flag yet? Majulah Singapura!