Chinatown After Dark

Some photos of Chinatown after dark with the lanterns lit. Enjoy!

Pagoda House building is beautiful with cracks in the wall, and old wooden shutters on the windows.

Just across from Pagoda House, the second story of these shop houses in Chinatown always call to me for photos. Some of them are residences and some are offices and retail. Love these monkey lanterns leftover from the year of the monkey I suppose.

This street is one of my favorites, the tiny blue grey lights in the far background are from Asia Square.

Love the old buildings with the new city skyline in the background.

It wasn't very late, maybe 7:45 or 8pm, not many people out. 

A few shoppers strolling this street.

Closer view of the seafood restaurant.

Another view of the older buildings with the city skyline. I used every walkway and second floor stair case I could to try to get a different view.

Happy Friday!!!

Esplanade Theater Garden

The view from The Esplanade Theater at Marina Bay. Even though we live in the heart of downtown we are never far from a beautiful park.

This building is in the shape of a durian, a popular fruit in Southeast Asia.

They recently renovated the landscaping. It used to be a palm tree garden. Those have all been moved elsewhere and now there are many different plants and flowers and more seating. This photo is similar to the first photo. I couldn't decide which I liked better.

Here is the way it used to look with all of the palm trees. I thought I wasn't going to like to new gardens but I do. I hope all of the palms are happy in their new homes.

The Esplanade has a nice water feature that provides a good reflection of the Swiss Hotel down the street. This is where the vertical marathon was last weekend.

Managed to get a nice bee shot today, excellent blurred background.

And a nice butterfly shot as well.

This is my favorite flower shot of the day. Wish I could figure out how to make those white petals less glare-y. Hard to do with the bright sun.

Beautiful buds.

Happy Friday!!!

Failed Night Photography

This week I planned on going out to get a night shot of this neon sign ad for Dragon's Nest brands. It was a big beautiful neon sign on the side of a shop house. I went a few times and the sign was never lit but I thought since the building was recently remodeled it would for sure be lit soon. Well, the sign is gone. Replaced by a boring wooden painted sign for a new restaurant in the building. Bummer.

So instead I have a few photos I took of little things during the week I came across. Maybe next week will be better.

We have a giant Butterball 9.5 pound turkey in our freezer if any of you are in our neighborhood please stop by on Thursday! I didn't have too many to choose from and this was one of the smaller turkeys in the store so its either buy it or skip Thanksgiving and that is not happening. Last year there were no turkeys in the stores until Christmas so you have to get it when you can. I carried this home on the train. Must have been quite a sight, ha.

Went to Chinatown this week to find a non electric food mill. Chinatown has a couple of really good kitchen supply stores and I did find one but it was $80.00. Ummmm, no thank you. Are you kidding me? $80.00 whoa! Confucius say no way Jose. 

Need a wealth cat to buy that $80 food mill. ha!

Went to Diaso, the everything $2 Japanese store, it speaks to my cheap heart. Christmas decorations are up in Singapore already and I love it.

Popsicle's because it is summer weather year round. Yam was my favorite, Red Bean was Geoff's favorite. They are made with coconut milk, very tasty.

This is my favorite veggie. Tons of fresh leafy green veggies in the store. 

This is the name of them, Xiao Bai Cai. AKA Baby bok choy.

This one is my least favorite. It has a slime-y texture when cooked, sort of like an okra.

 Fresh green bamboo shoots.

Bought these for Geoff's stir fry he requested. I've never cooked with fresh bamboo shoots, always just bought the canned but I couldn't find that in the store so...gave it a try. They are easy, peel and slice. Not much flavor, sort of like a more vegetable-y soft potato. 

Here is the stir fry, pork, bamboo shoots, long beans, red peppers and green onions with dried red chilies. It was good ;)

Mostly food photos because I cook almost every night. But I also have a little project I'm working on.

Cross stitching this pretty butterfly and flower scene from a pattern. This is really taking forever to finish but I'm having fun doing it. I like a project!

To give you an idea of how big it is...the measuring tape is at the top.

A few close ups. No comments on all the mistakes please!

Happy Friday!!!

Abstract Photography

Tried something new this week. Saw an article on facebook about abstract photography and one way to go about it. I had some fun with it. What do you think?

For this type of abstract photography it is good to look for bold colors and shapes and keep the entire view out of focus. 

Love the colors and shapes, some shadows and some light.

I think this one needs more color but I like all of the circles.

This one is my favorite. Love the colors and shapes.

Happy Friday!!!

Rainy Day in the Garden

The rainy season is here and I am enjoying it. Took a wet walk around Gardens by the Bay during a light rain. I figure your really either wet from sweating or wet from rain so might as well.

He doesn't mind the rain.

This little guy liked it too.

Tons of snails were out. 

The snails seemed to love this grove of palm trees. It was really pretty in there, nice shelter from the rain.

If only there were a frog or a turtle or a giant colorful dragonfly sitting on these lily pads. 

The raindrops in this photo are nice.

Perfect petal with raindrops.

One benefit of a light rain is that there aren't many people here so I have the gardens all to myself.

Pretty patterns in a tiny bud.

Super zoom, they look like little bow ties.

The flowers in the above photos are very small buds found on this plant lining the sidewalk. I bet most people don't notice how pretty they are.

 

Then the bees came out. This photo might be my favorite bee photo today.

Love to get a good photo of a bee. Nice bokeh in the background from the raindrops.

Good wing shot. If only I could have got his face in it also. Next time maybe.

Found a cannon ball tree with beautiful blooms.

Several blooms on one tree. This has to be my favorite tree in Singapore.

Happy Friday!!!