Family Day in Singapore

The weather was a bit on the iffy side Wednesday, so we stayed a little closer to home.  Maryana and I had sampled the breakfast fare from the Hawker center the day before, so after getting Ozzy off to school, we decided to take dad across the street for some breakfast.  

We took him through the butcher center and vegetable market to give him a flavor of the culture in the area in which Jeff and Maryana live. But, with dad, you never can tell what he is thinking.  He is never impressed and does not provide clues as to if he is interested in anything around him. If he makes a comment, it is usually about how something in a faraway place reminds him of his childhood, his home, or the food his mother cooked when he was a child. It can sometimes be very frustrating – especially when he is bellied up to a $175 dollar piece of beer-fed, hand-rubbed, Wagyu beef and you ask if he likes it – his response is invariably, “It’s alright.”  Arrrgh!    

 

But at least for today, my choices for his breakfast were apparently acceptable: butterfly bread (a bit like a sweet fried dough), toast with coconut jam and butter, rhoti prata bread stuffed with egg and cheese and some curry gravy for dipping, plus a steaming cup of Singaporean coffee sweetened with condensed milk.  He actually asked for a second helping of rhoti prata bread.  From that gold standard – breakfast was a hit.  

Ozzy with his iPad and Uncle Glenn with his book

My new BFF Sawyer - not quite walking, but climbing like a monkey and head butting his new favorite uncle.

I am smitten

 With so much commotion in the house, Jeff has been sneaking out early in the morning and heading to Starbucks to get some work done. So Maryana was left to entertain us throughout the drizzly morning.  In Singapore, cable subscriptions are a la carte. Jeff and Maryana do not watch much television so all channels are kids channels. Therefore, television was not a viable option to keep dad entertained and he is not a reader. I, on the other hand, am pretty self-sufficient in keeping myself busy, so I pulled out my laptop and looked at some Vietnam tours for Saturday. Dad was pretty adamant that he wanted to get out of the city and see the country -side – so I booked us a day long Mekong Delta tour.  He then headed off for an afternoon nap.

Jeff arrived home around 2:00 and started working on dinner.  He had beef tenderloin that he was planning to turn into Super Nachos. He marinated the meat, ground all the peppers for fresh handmade sauces, Maryana whipped up some guacamole and the three of us all stood around in the kitchen laughing and cutting up like old times.  There may have been a mojito or two consumed on the porch as well.

Brotherly love

Tattoo reveal to Ozzy - his reaction - "A Chicken!"

Then he tried to peel it off like a sticker

When dad woke up, it was time for Ozzy’s swim lesson, so we all filed out of the apartment and took up our discreet stations around the pool.  We were an appreciative audience and of course we were all proud of how much energy, effort, and bravery Oz exhibited during his lesson.  Since it was still a little overcast we headed over to the other pool which also has a heated Jacuzzi and water jet massages for a family swim.  Maryana thought that it was a little too chilly for a swim – but she is accustomed to equatorial weather now.  For dad and I 85 degrees is still warm.  Ozzy practiced his new skills and we had an invigorating swim – dipping between the heated Jacuzzi and unheated water jet area.

The rest of the evening was very relaxed.  The super nachos were a big hit.  Dad finally had some food with meat he recognized (i.e. there was no, “what is it” to start the meal), so he dug in with gusto. After dinner there was some fun time with the boys, a little National Geographic channel, and an early night to bed. Good times.