He sings!

If you are wondering why I have posted a photograph of my hair bunned up, it is because I attended a wedding dinner of a friend tonight. It is not often that I get to attend wedding dinners (because most of my friends are already married) and each such dinner is an opportunity for me to have my hair nicely arranged by a hairstylist.

As Da had arranged for a technician to come to our home between 10 am to 1 pm today to have a look at our under-the-stove oven which is faulty, I decided to potter around in the kitchen while waiting for the arrival of the technician.

I ended up baking/cooking... what else?

As Da and I had a bunch of overripe bananas, I baked a banana butter cake and some banana nut cookies.

Despite my having used several bananas to bake the cake and the cookies, we still had several bananas left. As such, I decided to fry some jemput-jemput (that is, banana fritters).

Since our non-stick pan already had leftover oil (heehee... I will use any excuse I can get!), I prepared some batter using plain flour and rice flour, added some baked peanuts and fried anchovies before frying anchovies and peanuts crackers.

As we have run out of bread, I also baked a loaf of mixed nut bread using sunflower seeds, pistachios, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds.

The oven technician arrived around 1 pm today. He checked the oven and informed me that there is a slight problem with the heating element because I do not use the oven often enough. He also said that for under-the-stove ovens, we need to use the oven often otherwise the heating element would become spoiled. He did some servicing and then left. Hmm... I guess I need to roast chicken more often then!

Shortly after the oven technician left, Da came home. As I intended to go to the hair salon after lunch, we went to our favourite coffee shop at Jalan Tua Kong for a quick lunch. When we arrived, we noticed a new stall in the coffee shop. The stall selling yong tauhu and laksa has today been replaced by a stall selling western cuisine. The name of the stall is very interesting - "Ang Mo Chiak", which literally translated means "western food". We decided to take a raincheck on ordering western food. Da ordered a bee hoon goreng while I ordered longevity noodles (that is, mee sua) with soup.

After lunch, Da gave me a lift to the condominium development located next to where we live. There are two hair salons located in this development. When I entered one of the hair salons and informed the lady boss that I wanted my hair washed and bunned up, she said, "Now?". At that point in time, I was tempted to reply, "No, next year." but I decided not to be so cheeky today. I nodded my head and she gestured me to sit down. This hair salon is a small set-up with one lady boss, a shampoo boy (yes, shampoo boy and not shampoo girl) and a girl who does manicure and pedicure.

The shampoo boy shampooed my hair and then asked me to proceed to the basin to have my hair rinsed. When he asked me, "hot water or cold water", I paused for a moment. This is the first time that a shampoo boy (or shampoo girl, for that matter) has asked me whether I prefer to have my hair rinsed with hot water or cold water. I told him that I had no preference and he used warm water to rinse my hair.

As the shampoo boy was blow-drying my hair, he asked me to select a hairstyle from a plastic folder. When I opened the plastic folder, I noticed that it contained cut-outs of magazine photographs of local and foreign celebrities, models, renowned persons, etc. However, there were only about three photographs of women with their hair bunned up. I pointed to the hair style that I thought was the nicest. The shampoo boy nodded his head and informed the lady boss of my choice. This is most unusual. This is not the first time that I have had my hair bunned up at a hair salon for a wedding dinner. However, the other hairstylists would generally ask me what I would be wearing to the dinner, etc and then recommend a hairstyle to suit my face as well as what I intended to wear.

Notwithstanding this, I was pleased with the end result. The hair wash and styling cost me S$28. This is a photograph of my hair bunned up, taken from the back.

The side view is nicer although the photograph below does not really do justice to the actual hairstyle.

Initially, the lady boss spoke to me in English. As she was doing her finishing touches, she asked me whether I speak the Cantonese dialect. When I replied that I did not, she then asked whether I speak Mandarin. When I nodded, she asked me in Mandarin whether I am a Korean. *grin*... my brothers and I have often been mistaken for Japanese tourists ever since we were young (in fact, all my relatives at my father's side of the family look Japanese. They are also very tall and I am in fact the shortest of the female cousins at 1.62 metres tall). Nowadays, I tend to be mistaken for a Korean. When I smiled and told her that I am a Singaporean, she asked whether I am used to being asked whether I am a Korean.

On this topic, I remember several incidents that happened when I was young. There was once when my mother, brothers and I boarded a taxi and for several minutes, the taxi driver did not speak because he thought that we were Japanese tourists and he did not know how to speak Japanese. Another incident in point - when I was young, my father's office use to be in Collyer Quay. Whenever my mother brought my brothers and me to meet my father at his office, the retailers at Change Alley used to call out to us in Japanese as we walked past their shops. For some reason, these retailers could all speak a smattering of Japanese. Perhaps back then, Japanese tourists often patronised the shops at Change Alley.

When I got home, it was time to get ready for the wedding dinner. I had a last minute change of mind and decided to wear a calf length sleeveless sky blue satin dress instead of my earlier choice of full length sleeveless royal blue satin dress. After putting on my make up and matching earrings and necklace, I slipped into my 3" black slingback sandals. A friend had offered to pick me up from home at 7 pm to give me a lift to the wedding.

Before I left the house, I packed some of the homemade goodies and gave them to the three handsome boys who live opposite Da and me in our apartment block.

As Da had arranged to have dinner with WC and SC today, he left the house first at 6.45 pm. At 7 pm, my friend arrived to pick me up.

The wedding was held at a resort on the island of Sentosa. There was heavy traffic en route to Sentosa (which is accessible from Singapore via a bridge... or if you prefer, you can take a cable car) and by the time we arrived at the resort, it was closer to 8 pm. Thank goodness for valet parking!

It was a very interesting wedding dinner. The bridegroom not only went up the stage to play the guitar, he also sang to his bride. This is the first time that I have seen my friend play the guitar and sing. Hey fellow members of the DRSS Choir, we have a potential recruit for our choir! The church wedding was held at the Church of St. Francis Xavier earlier today but I did not attend. Hmm... I wonder whether the bridegroom sang at his church wedding as well?

Gosh... look at the time. My mother, my brother (LG) and LG's girlfriend (ZT) have gone to Muar, Malaysia for the weekend. As such, I better end this post now because Da and I have to go to my mother's home now to babysit Boy-Boy (who is home-alone).

Have a restful weekend!

Shaloam,