Sun, 26 Nov - The Clammy Saga Continues!

My sister, having seen the clams I've dugged up from Pasir Ris beach was also itching to give it a try. Apparently she shares the same fond childhood memories of digging clams at East Coast beach and cooking it in instant noodles!

So we arranged to meet there in the morning. It was much harder work than my sister expected, especially with our inadequate plastic toy spades, and it wasn't so easy to find the clams. However, soon we got the hang of it, and we managed to dig out a good haul with the help of the kids and my maid. Here are my sis, kids and maid toiling in the late morning sun. Lauren and Isaac were smarter, they just relaxed in the shade...My sister said that we should go to the beaches at Malaysia one day to dig for clams.

We had lunch at my SIL's place at Tampines. Later the kids swam at my place and then we went to Seletar Country Club for dinner. I was quite disappointed that I missed going to the Popular Warehouse Sale at the Expo. Just had no time to squeeze it in even though we were at the east. I'm a sucker for book sales, and I had already missed the Penguin Book sale a couple of weeks earlier.

Sun, 19 Nov - Another Clammy Day

And you thought the adventures with the clams were over...Well, it's an outing to Pasir Ris again today, and it was almost a replication of last Sunday's events. This round however, Cheryl got to pat a white pony... HA! My maid came along today and she, together with Cheryl, got into the business of digging for clams at the beach as well. Sharp-eyed Cheryl managed to spot many live clams while my maid dug. Together, our haul was pretty impressive. Just look at these shots... More than 60 clams.I sifted out the smaller ones into a blue cup and later returned them to the sea.

Here is Isaac and my nephews looking curiously at the clams. I don't think I will bore you poor readers anymore on my clammy stories. They'll probably be made into vongole or something!

In the afternoon, the kids took a long nap while TT went off for a badminton game (tsk, tsk). I had some time to fiddle around and play games on my new phone. At night, after dinner, TT drove through Orchard Road for us to take in the sights of the Christmas light-up. Tried to take some photos but without much success because the car was moving, and the camera battery just ran out on us (%#&%!). I also forgot I could actually use my phone camera to take pics as well...

Clammy Farewell

I talked to my friend Colin about what I should do about the clams I had dug up and he advised me against consuming them. He said Singapore waters is pretty polluted and just to be safe, I shouldn't eat them. He suggested throwing them back to the sea. Hey but I wasn't going back to the beach any time this week, so I wondered what I should do.

Well, my mum made the decision for me. When I came back from work on Tuesday, I realised some clams were already missing from my container. I looked at dinner laid on the table and I saw a couple of cooked clams with their shells wide open at the side of the stir-fried veges. "I decided to cook them!" she proclaimed happily! And then she proceeded to tell me what she had done to the clams she had eaten earlier. She washed the shells properly and pasted them on a picture collage Cheryl had done previously. Voila! The clams had reincarnated into butterflies! I must say I was rather impressed by her ingenuity. This is the picture I'm talking about.

In case you're wondering, I helped Cheryl apply the glue for the artwork above. There's no way a 5-year-old can be this neat. I bought the colourful pom-poms and pipe cleaners from my favourite Japanese $2 shop, Daiso. We tried sticking them with white craft glue but it dried so slowly so I decided to use my intoxicating tube of UHU glue instead.

So back to the clams... I ate some and they tasted quite fresh, though I fancy they're far too tiny to be of any good. The next night, my mum cooked the rest in the soup and commented that they made the soup so sweet...She suggested I go digging for clams again and try getting bigger ones next time! The shells we kept for Cheryl to make more butterfly wings.

I'm glad, at least the clams have been immortalised in Cheryl's picture...

Sun, 12 Nov - A Sunny, Pony and Clammy Day (for want of a better title)

The day started out beautifully sunny, quite unlike the wet day before. We hadn't met up with my in-laws for weeks now, so we decided to go to Pasir Ris Park because they all live in the east. We went to the part where the horses were (I wrote a previous entry on this). My nephews rented bikes, and TT also rented one with a baby seat for Isaac to ride on. Cheryl was not interested (maybe still traumatised by her bike falling into the Botanic Gardens pond?), so I walked along the path with her. We stopped to pat and feed the ponies. Below is a pic of Cheryl patting a pair of pigmy ponies. I like their blonde fringe and lashes! And the pic that follows is a posed picture of me (my hand, rather) trying to do the forbidden! (I didn't in the end... I'm far too law-abiding, hee.) When we reached the beach, I played sand with the kids. We just dug sand and picked seashells.


I was reliving my childhood days where I used to dig the sand for live clams. And then me and my sis would bring them home and cook them in our instant noodles! I think I spent about half and hour digging about 4m stretch of sand and managed to dig out 14 live clams. I was quite pleased with my "catch" as I didn't expect to find so many. I'm sure the people fishing at the beach were quite amused by this grown woman digging diligently in the sun as if looking for hidden treasure! I collected some sea water in a container and put the clams in it. This is the picture of the live clams, with their body parts sticking out. I've never seen them this way before, because they were always eaten before they could be observed! The clams were actually pretty active, moving about in the water. I even took a video of their movements because I was quite intrigued. The kids also seem quite amused by them though they couldn't see what the fuss was about. I am now wondering what I should do with them eventually. Shall I cook them? You shall know in a few days time... (I think I need a life... here I am blogging about the adventures of dug-up clams).

After all the hard work digging the sand, we went to White Sands for lunch. We all had chicken rice at the food court and these are the kids fooling around at the helicopter kiddie ride there. Then we went to the Library to borrow some books. Isaac seems to regard the library as a toilet, because almost every time we step into a library, he poops! Fortunately, TT took him to the toilet to wash him up... Both Isaac and Cheryl slept in the car on the way back home. Isaac continued on with his nap back home. My maid was off today so I decided to prepare dinner today! Just didn't feel like eating out again. This is indeed rare... so must blog it down! I fried nasi goreng from leftover rice for TT & myself and the kids had pasta bolognaise. Cheryl even helped me to cut the french beans and watched me as I cooked.

After dinner, I lost my temper at Cheryl that evening over some trivial matter, and TT sensing the tension, took the kids out for some ice-cream so that I could enjoy some peace. By the time they came back, all was forgotten. Cheryl had too much ice cream and she threw up a bit at night. Hopefully she won't be too greedy next time...