Borough Market

Borough Market in Southwark London is the largest fruit and vegetable market in London. The market dates back around 1014 and today is a vibrant market showcasing food and produce from all over the UK and Europe. The market operates under the arches of the train viaduct near London Bridge.
Many of the stalls have free tastings and also cook on site showcasing the produce.

Borough Market

Fresh Rabbits

Tarts

Local Pottery

One of the many pie stands

Fresh Fish

Mushrooms

Vegetables

London

Work brings us to London combined with 2 full weekends to sight see allowing us to enjoy the city. The weather is quite mild during the day but early morning and late afternoon brings chilly weather. It is a good time to visit with the Parks and Gardens having a winter look and signs of Spring is around the corner with daffodils and other Spring bulbs starting to flower.

It has been really nice having winter meals of soups and roasts sitting in one of the many pubs with an open fire blazing (Although you need to unlayer as pubs and shops are so over heated.)

We ventured out to Windsor on the weekend and viewed Windsor Castle and  the surrounding High St which has interesting shops and restored buildings.

Even though we have both seen the big ticket items like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace before it was nice to do a quick viewing of these sights again.

Big Ben

Guards At Whitehall

Old and New London

Snowdrops in Hyde Park

Westminster Abbey

Windsor Castle

Guards at Buckingham Palace with Winter uniforms

National Orchid Garden

The Singapore National Orchid Garden is located in the Singapore Botanic Gardens .The garden is approximately 3 hectares of landscaped gardens showcasing over 600 species and hybrids at ant given time from a collection of over 1000 species and 200 hybrids. So at different times of the year the displays change depending on what is flowering.
A section of the National Orchid Garden is dedicated to orchids named after Prime Ministers and other celebrities.

Thaipusam, Hindu Festival

Yesterday Singapore celebrated another festival called Thaipusam. I was on the bus and stumbled upon the coulorful procession. Reports in the paper today said that about 7000 people took part. 

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai  (Jan or Feb ) and is dedicated to Lord Murugan (the son of Shiva and Parvati)

Hindu devotees start their procession at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in the early morning, carrying milk pots as offerings or attaching “kavadis” to their bodies. The procession travels for 4 kilometres before finishing at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. 

Kavadis are  an intricate structure of steel and wood - is attached to the carrier's body using rods and spikes piercing the body.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple 

Kavadis

The procession

Another kavadis

Pomelo Salad

Pomelos are widely available in Singapore from supermarkets and from wet markets. They are also in abundance during the Chinese New Year.

The pomelo tastes like a sweet, mild grapefruit and is about 3 times the size of a grapefruit. It has very little, or none, of the common grapefruit's bitterness. The skin is usually green or with a slight pink tinge to it .The fruit contains huge amounts of pith which is early peeled away and discarded.

The Pomello makes a very easy and  refreshing salad often called Yum Som O in Thai either as entree or as a side dish.

It is best to toss the salad at the last minute.

Pomelos

Pomelo Salad

Serves 4 as entree

Ingredients:


2 Pomelos  peeled and flesh removed into and each segment broken into tiny segments

24 cooked medium sized prawns skin and tails peeled


2 Tbsp Shredded coconut  or coconut flakes toasted


2 Tbsp Fried shallots Available packaged  in supermarket  or 

6 red shallots sliced very finely and fried in a little oil until brown

1 cup Coriander leaves


1 cup Mint leaves 


4 Tbsp Peanuts toasted


Red Thai chili chopped  (optional)


2 Kaffir lime leaves thinly sliced for garnishing 

4 red shallots sliced

Ingredients for Dressing:

1 Tbsp Fish sauce 


2 Tbsp Palm sugar grated


4 Tbsp  Lime juice 

Method

•   In a dressing bowl, add palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Stir well.

•   In a mixing bowl, add pomelo, prawns, fried shallots, toasted coconut,

  coriander and mint leaves, chili , sliced shallots and toss with dressing.

•   Garnish with kaffir lime leaves and serve

Pomelo Salad

Chingay 2012

The word Chingay is from the Hokkien dialect, meaning "the art of masquerade". The festival began as a neighbourhood parade with only Chinese elements in 1973.The Chingay Parade has evolved to be the grandest street and floats parade in Asia, showcasing vibrant multi-culturalism of Singapore and exciting cultures all over the world.

The parade was held down in the F1 pits and this year the parade was done on a temporary pool of water running the full length of the pits.Performers were from various countries and the highlight of the parade was the  36 metre long Dragon as well as the finale with 1000 performers .

We could not get tickets but we went to the nearby park to watch the fireworks along with many other families who were having picnics.

                   

                                                                            Chingay Fireworks

Thirsty Hippo

Living in humid Singapore results in having to prevent many items rusting and going mouldy in a very short time.
In each wardrobe it is necessary to place moisture absorbers like Thirsty Hippo to prevent clothes and shoes from going mouldy and musty.
The amount of water collected in these devices is always amazing and they need to be replaced every few weeks .
Below is a photo of  the amount of moisture collected after a fortnight in the wardrobe.

Black line is the level of the moisture

Lion and Dragon Dances

During the Chinese New celebrations many businesses have a Lion or Dragon dance to herald in the new year and to bring good luck to the business. For the past week there has been quite a few dances around our area for new apartment developments and shops in the local shopping centre.
The Lion is made up of usually two performers covered in the lion costume whereas the dragon consists of many people holding the dragon up on sticks. 
The Lion dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the dragons are believed to bring good luck to people.

In the Lion Dance the lion performs  the "Cai Qing" or 'Picking the Green'. The green here refers to vegetable leaves which are tied to a piece of string which also has a red packet attached containing money. The lion 'eats' both, the leaves and the red packet. After eating the greens the lion explodes back into activity, spitting out the leaves. This is a symbolic act of blessing by the lion, with the spitting out of the leaves signifying that there will be an abundance of everything in the coming year.
The lions are normally awarded with customary gifts like oranges symbolising wealth or mandarins symbolising luck and red envelopes containing money. 
The following videos are from a performance at our shopping centre yesterday.

Lion Dance yesterday

                                                                      

      Dragon Dance yesterday

The Lions