Jade Greenleaf's Sanctuary

Interesting article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/lifestylenews/view/438452/1/.html

So, the flute is the oldest musical instrument recorded. :)
And to think I've heard the 骨笛 being performed before. Heh!

This is way overdue... On 9 June, I met up with an old friend, Daniel, and spent almost an entire day with him. Come to think of it, in our 16 years of friendship, that was the only time we had spent a full day together, barring the time we travelled along Great Ocean Road together for 1.5 days...

We first met for lunch at the Pan Pacific Orchard. I kept confusing it with the building of Pan Pacific Service Apartments and it was only minutes before I left home did I finally realise that it's actually behind Orchard Hotel. What a muddle-head I was. And then only when I reached Orchard MRT station and rechecked the map, did I realise that it was where the old Hotel Negara - the one with the very famous restaurant "The Drake" - was! Gosh! I had not thought about that place for such a long time and my only memory of that place was a Christmas dinner with XY and JA there many many years ago, when we were still very young and going to restaurants was really a luxury. But anyway, I found the hotel quite easily, although we were walking under the blazing sun and in mind-numbing heat.

We had buffet lunch at 10 at Claymore. It was a nice setting. The tables were far enough from each other, so patrons could enjoy their meals and conversations without disturbing the others. The spread of food was very good. There was plenty of greens, various types of stew, some carbohydrate dishes, plenty of different varieties of fruits, including green apples, etc. The chocolate fondue fountain was quite big, but it was the array of accompanying foods that struck me. There were all kinds of dried fruits imagineable and the usual marshmallows, etc. But I didn't really pay any attention to the chocolate fondue because I was attracted to the several types of cakes and pastries on display. And I have to say... the tiramisho was absolutely fantastic. It was soaked with enough alcohol to taste wet but not soggy and it was so soft, it literally melted in my mouth. I could have eaten the entire cake by myself... And with Citibank's 1-for-1 deal, the buffet was really really really worth it. I liked the place so much, I wanted to go back again with SH & Reg, but the place was fully booked till end of the week! Damn! Thinking of the tiramisho is making me hungry already... :\

After lunch, we went to Asian Civilisations Museum to view "The Kangxi Emperor: Treasures from the Forbidden City" exhibit. We were joined by Saresha. For $8, we got the view the special exhibit for as long as we liked plus whatever else was in the ACM. The exhibition was really amazing. We joined a guided tour which lasted about an hour. The docent was very informative and knowledgeable. She led us through the exhibits and showed and explained to us several of the items. She was very thorough indeed. We got to see a scroll of painting that was actually 22m long (but only 10m was on display), Kangxi's battle outfit, his calligraphy (which I fell in love with at first sight, and almost tempted a heist to get my hands on them :p), several glazed porcelain pieces (not sure if it's the correct word), robes worn by the Manchus, paintings of the 3 top emperors of the Qing Dynasty & Xiao Zhuang Empress, replicas of imperial edicts, etc etc. The exhibition was fairly extensive and we spent about another 2 hours there, just relooking at the stuff after our guided tour. I was very amazed at the amount of details put into the painting and the level of expertise for the glazing of some of the bowls and cups. There's a set of 12 cups which was supposed to represent the 12 months of a year and on each was painted a different flower. What was so special about them was that they were eggshell thin and the words of a poem could be read from the other side of the cup.

The exhibition basically showed that Kangxi totally lived up to his reputation as one of China's greatest emperors. He was not only an astute king, he was also a warrior and he was also a keen scholar. Above all, he was a patron of the arts and sciences - to me, he was the ultimate patron of the arts. He not only commissioned many artworks but he also practised calligraphy religiously and he was also very keen to learn more about the sciences from the west. In fact, it was recorded that he did so many things in his life, I started to wonder where he found all that time! But the thing was, he also had a rather sad private life. He outlived 3 of his empresses and at least 20 of his children. In fact, he was so sad after the death of his 3rd empress, he never promoted another concubine again. The saddest part was to learn that his favourite son - the original crown prince - was so impatient to be the emperor, he actually conspired with some other officials against his own father, Kangxi. For all that Kangxi was worth and contributed for the country, his private life was beset with various tragedies indeed. The museum didn't allow us to take photos of the special exhibition but we were allowed to take these:

 

 

After we were done with the exhibition, we decided to walk to the Esplanade for a cup of coffee/water. Along the way, we took more photos. I was again reminded of how pretty this part of Singapore was - with all the colonial buildings and tall beautiful trees - and how much effort the government had put in to style this region into a heritage/cultural/arts site.

The Victoria Concert Hall: Where I had spent many a memorable day with my Chinese music friends

The Esplanade: The emblem of quality and success and the pride of the arts in S'pore

Raffles Place: Symbol of Wealth  

We cooled off at Haagen Dazs in Esplanade where Daniel showed me some of his photos. He's a really serious hobbyist photographer indeed! And I must say, he's got a pretty good eye. Some of the photos had really cool or interesting perspectives. It's really refreshing to see photos that are thoughtfully and artfully composed, rather than the whole slew of hundreds of photos of similar things which I always see people upload on FB, Flickr, etc. If he gives me permission, I'll post some of his photos up here for viewing. :)

We ended the day with a really good local dinner at Food Republic in Wisma, where JA joined us. We had chicken rice, laksa, char kway teow and hokkien mee. Yums! And we sat and chatted till the foodcourt was closing. Actually for the whole of the 1st half of 2009, I was so tied up at work, besides taking time off on the 3rd day of CNY, I didn't take any leave or time off at all. So, being able to enjoy a few days of rest, finally, and spending one of the days with some dear lifelong friends was a real precious treat indeed. Here's hoping there'd be more of such days in future.

Three-time Grammy Award winner for Best Traditional World Music, Ladysmith Black Mambazo hails from South Africa and had been around for over 40 years. "Ladysmith" is the name of the hometown of the founder, "Black" refers to the oxen and "Mambazo" is the zulu word for axe. Interesting. And so was the programme. 

For the entire evening, the group presented works from their 2009 Grammy Award winning CD, Ilembe, and selections from their rich and long history. Their performance was extremely polished and their harmonies were so tight, even when they incorporated movements whilst singing, they were still perfectly synchronised with each other. Amazing! The 1st half was a tad hypnosis-inducing, mainly because of the endless looping of South African tunes. But it was so comfortable listening to them, it would have been a sweet slumber indeed. :p

The 2nd half was more fun, with one of the singers heating things up with jokes and audience participation. At the end, they invited members of the audience up on stage to dance along with their melodies. It was really quite cool as 5 gung-ho ladies took to the stage. I thought it was a great way to reach out to audiences as the ladies seemed to really enjoy themselves. And from the very easy and comfortable way the singers interacted with the audience, it is no wonder they're the commercial success they are. 

Years down the road, these ladies would probably always remember those fabulous few minutes and other members of the audience would probably always remember the South African group that came and brought music and fun... Singapore's arts groups really need to learn more from this group.

Cast: Lin Zhaohua Theatre Studio (林兆华戏剧工作室)
Synopsis: Set within the onslaught of capitalism and a period of rapid social change, the play focuses on an aristocratic family's decline to the extent that they have to sell their estate, which includes a cherry orchard, in order to pay off their bills. Lead character, Lubov Andreyevna Ranevsky, rushes back from Paris to stop the auction of her estate and to save her beloved cherry orchard - a representative and reminder of her fond memories of her childhood. Despite the impending auction of the cherry orchard, the owners still indulged in old habits like spending hordes of money thoughtlessly, even though they were nearly broke, and spending time in self-denial and oblivion to their dire situation.
Playwright: Anton Chekhov 

It was not an easy play to sit through, though it was only half the length of Beijing Ren. In fact, nearly an hour into the play, I was struggling to keep awake. I finally had to prop myself forward to prevent any snoring from happening. The play was successful in the sense that, it managed to convey the sense of the characters living in their own world, in self-escapism and denial, such that although they were talking to each other, they were also talking past each other. No one was really listening to anyone else and no one really cared about anyone else - each lived in their own minds, each so burdened and weighed down by their own troubles, each encased in their own little universe, they couldn't and wouldn't realise the societal changes that were happening all around them. And for all that, the play came across as really tedious and heavy-going. But perhaps, that was what the director had intended - the point was conveyed successfully, but audiences were... put off.

The set was great though, in fact it was amazing. The entire stage was transformed into an orchard and there were overhanging layers, which I later realised (after looking at a picture in the house programme) to be rolling clouds in greyish-orange hues - to portray the desolateness of the situation, and there were also cherry trees which were bare - the obvious symbolism here which I needn't add.

This would not be a play that I would recommend for novice theatre goers. 

Pianist:
Joanna MacGregor (UK)

Programme:
1st Half - Bach & Shostakovich's Prelude & Fugues
2nd Half - Brazilian Piano Music (Villa-Lobos, Edu Lobo, Gismonti, Jobim, de Moraes & Piazzolla)

This wasn't one of my 1st choice concerts to watch, however as there were extra tickets, I couldn't pass up the chance. But I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of Bach... undoubtedly he's the great grandfather of music, but still... he's Bach... and somehow, his music brings back somewhat traumatising memories of the Preludes & Fugues I used to practise for piano exams in my youth.

It is rather admirable of Ms MacGregor to present the recital as such. Shostakovich's P&F were influenced by Bach and though the 2nd half was Brazilian piano music, the composers she chose all loved and admired Bach. In the 1st half, she played alternately Bach & Shostakovich for a full 45 minutes without stopping. It was really quite amazing though after about 20 minutes, I kind of got lost. Add to the fact that our seats were at an angle of 90 degrees to the stage, it made my neck extremely uncomfortable. I found solace in closing my eyes and enjoying her playing for what it was.

The 2nd half was livelier. Ms MacGregor's virtuosity and versatility in her techniques were displayed. I loved the 2 Villa-Lobos pieces, actually I've always loved guitar pieces which were rearranged for piano. I always liked the warmth in the music. The last piece of a medley of Six Tangos by Piazzolla was also really interesting and reflected Ms MacGregor's wide range of emotions and depths which she managed to express brilliantly. 

All in all, an enjoyable concert in a very uncomfortable seating position.

Musicians:
(i) Jeremy Monteiro
(ii) T'ang Quartet
(iii) Randy Brecker (Trumpet)
(iv) Ernie Watts (Saxophone)
(v) Richard Jackson (Vocals)
(vi) Shawn Kelley (Drums)
(vii) Christy Smith (Bass)

I wasn't quite sure at the start if I might enjoy this concert was jazz was also something which I don't really know much about. But I was fairly sure about one thing - I would definitely enjoy T'ang. The concert started off with Kelly Tang's "Tang-ology". The quartet was spirited and a joy to watch. And then the rest of the concert featured the jazz musicians. All I can say was that, the entire concert was really enjoyable. In particular, the pieces which featured both the trumpet and the saxophone were amazing. The pairing off of the 2 veterans produced a wonderful kind of spark, which sizzled throughout the concert. I learned something about jazz that night, the tunes just seemed to keep looping. And there's this "tendency" or "need" or whatever to feature each instrument singularly. So the trumpet might start first, then the saxophone, then the drums, then piano, then bass... It could get quite tiring, especially since the 2nd half was longer than the 1st half. That's not to say that it wasn't hard on the musicians of course, but for the audience, especially for the untrained ear for jazz, it could get quite exhausting.

However, the entire evening was so fun, the performers were all so great, the momentary exhaustion was quickly diminished and forgotten. The saxophonist was especially incredible. He played the instrument as if it was effortless and as if he had lungs the capacity of an oil tanker or something. 

A special mention to Jeremy - towards the end of the concert, he thanked the organisers, his team, his musicians, etc. And he even thanked the venue (Esplanade) staff. I thought that was a really great gesture. Most people would just thank the usual people and it's probably the only time I've heard a venue being thanked. Of course, the Esplanade people always do great work - I can vouch first hand - but it's still nice to be thanked. Kudos to Jeremy for remembering to thank the people that really mattered most to the production. :)

The day of the concert was especially hot and humid. And for some reason, the heavens decided they would like to toy with me. The second I got off the bus, rain drops started to fall. My bus stop was the one right in front of Victoria Concert Hall, and I literally ran the entire way to Esplanade, making me even hotter and stickier. Bleargh... And the moment I got into the cool shelter of Esplanade, the rain stopped. How... nice.

Title: Anna Karenina
Cast: Finnish National Ballet
Musicians: Singapore Festival Orchestra

Based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy, the production is an Asian premiere. I thought that the set was pretty nice and versatile enough. I also liked the train. And the costumes were so pretty, especially Anna's red dress in her final scenes - very gorgeous. What's not to like about ballet? Beautiful costumes, elegant dance steps, graceful movements and arches, etc...

The dancers were really fine too. At one point, lead dancer Minna Tervamaki (Anna K) fell down. But she recovered so quickly, it could have been a blink-and-miss affair. SN later told me she suspected the dancer probably broke her shoe, but she was so strong, she recovered almost immediately. It's always such a pleasure to watch ballet dancers who're wonderful... :)

Anyway, next on my agenda of things to do will be to buy the book and finally read it. I'd been thinking of getting the book for years, but have always procrastinated. So, no more excuses now.

Synopsis: A young traveller, Tamino, fell in love with the daughter of the Queen of the Night, Pamino, who was kidnapped by an evil man. The Queen presented Tamino with a Magic Flute to aid him in his quest to rescue the young lady. Through a journey of trials and tribulations, the characters discover humility, compassion and tolerance.

Rearranged, restaged and revived from Mozart's 1791 The Magic Flute, this South African musical is totally un-high brow, and completely accessible, fun and an absolute delight to watch. The performers, who were all not mic-ed up, were powerful vocalists in their own right. They doubled up as singers and musicians, at times playing exuberantly on the marimabas, at times belting out the operatic tunes with heartfelt emotions.

I went because I was curious to see how Mozart's opera would be restaged. And it was quite an eye-opener to see how African music could be integrated with the operatic melodies. I also really enjoyed watching the performers' sheer sense of fun on stage. In fact, the accessibility of this production made me want to find out even more about the original opera. 

Just 1 tiny gripe... when I arrived at the Victoria Theatre, I saw hordes of secondary school children. I was initially stunned and wondered if I had arrived at the wrong venue. While it was really commendable to be able to sell tickets by loads to so many school kids, and indeed it was extremely good for the kids to be exposed to the productions, I had not been in the company of so many children since my school days. It was... to put it mildly, rather traumatising for me that night. Adding to that, a SO of one of the ministers decided to sit right next to me. His cologne irritated my nose so much I almost couldn't stop sneezing. And oh, I HATE the seats at VT... they're so old, every time I just moved my body very slightly, it creaked very loudly. Damn embarrassing.

We celebrated Saresha's birthday at this gem of a place in China Square. The restaurant's recommended on this site and TimeOut. We found it with little difficulty, but it was a rather terrible walk from Chinatown MRT because of the sweltering heat. Usually we would order warm water when we go to restaurants but it was so bloody freaking hot that day, we both ordered iced water, which was a very welcome respite!

Anyway, the restaurant had set lunches for only $20++! All set lunches started with 3 types of appetisers & a salad:

From left: Seaweed with slices of mushroom delicately seasoned in some (I-don't-know-what) sauce, chawanmushi and battered Japanese fish cake. The chawanmushi was so silky smooth, it was almost creamy. I liked that they put edamame in the egg too. It was a really great way to start the meal. The fish cake was very delicious too,  I liked the soft texture and the light taste.

The salad was good too, I always rather enjoy Japanese salads - well, those that don't use Thousand Island as dressing anyway. The mashed potato was yummy, as was the dressing they used - very nice!

We ordered different main courses. I decided to go for Saba Shioyaki:

The mackerel was grilled to perfection. The skin was very lightly crisped and melted in my mouth while the meat was still juicy and tender. It must be the first time I've ever eaten such a fabulously prepared mackerel. I liked that the husband-wife team were thoughtful enough not to give patrons too much rice in the set meal. :)

Saresha had Saba Misoni, or better known as mackerel in miso sauce:

Perhaps she can comment on her meal later. :)

Anyway, besides our set lunches, we ordered Yaki-Gyoza  and Hotate Guratan (scallop gratin) as sides.

While the gyoza was nothing really out of the ordinary, it was still well prepared. We were impressed with the size of the scallops and that they gave us 4 whole ones - so, so, so yummy! *slurp*

And to round up the meal, they gave us homemade Peach Sorbet. While it was quite nice, I rather felt as if I was eating crushed peach-flavoured ice. Heh!

And we weren't totally satisfied with just that, so we also ordered Daigaku Imo (sweet potato in sweet sauce). It was really a highlight of the meal and the best way to end it.

Of course, to end off the post, I'd usually declare that I must go back to the restaurant because of such a wonderful first experience and such delicious food. Unfortunately, the day we went was also the last day of busins for the restaurant. It was with a tinge of regret when we stepped out, knowing there'd never be a chance for us to return. But I guess, some of the best things is life can only be experienced once, so that we can savour that experience over and over again in our memories. So, through my little blog, I jot down these little details for posterity. I wish the owners all the best for their future endeavours.

Met up with the girls for dinner on Friday. R and I discovered a mutual liking for Indian food so she introduced me to Shahi Maharani at Raffles City. My usual haunt's Kinara but I'm always willing to try new restaurants. And yes, I only like North Indian food, sorry... Anyway, we managed to convince SH to go along, so off we went...

They served crackers, like at Kinara. It was more herb-ish and spicy though, and they didn't provide marmalade. :-\ Instead, they provided pickled onions and chilli.

We were a little adventurous that night, so we ordered:

A) Paneer Pakoras:

Found under the "Regal Hor D'Oeuvres" section, it's basically spicy mint with cottage cheese and deep fried. I'm not sure if cottage cheese is suppose to have any chees-y taste or not, but when we bit into it, it tasted more like tofu than cheese. Nevertheless, I still like its crispy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside texture.

We also ordered 2 very different types of meats and its respective curries. On the far end was Chicken Korma and the one at the forefront was Mutton Vindaloo. We also ordered Plain naan and Cheesy Naan. SH wondered if we'd all go into collective coma after eating the Chicken Korma... -_-" Sometimes I wonder at my friends... ;p 

The Chicken Korma was really delicious! It's basically tender strips of chicken cooked in a delicate korma sauce made from nuts and crushed cottage cheese. The curry was more sweet than spicy, and I love the meshing of the crushed nuts with the chicken strips. Sedap!!! I departed from tradition again and ordered Mutton Vindaloo instead of my usual Rogan Josh. There was already a warning in the menu that it'd be ultra spicy and R even asked me if I really wanted to order that. But there's always room to try out new foods. Hence, we all got our tongues burned rather severely by the curry. We also had to change from drinking warm water to ice water to cool the fire in our mouths. I must admit that while the mutton was quite tasty, the spiciness of the curry took much of the original taste of the meat away. I think I still very much prefer my Rogan Josh afterall. The naans were fantastic though. SH loved the Cheesy Naan a great deal, but then again, she's a cheese lover, so... it reminded me of cheese prata though.

And there's a trio that performed at 8pm and they were really good!!! I wouldn't mind going back again just to eat and listen to them, they were rather delightful.

The trio performs nightly except on Tuesdays, by the way. :)