Have you watched Little Nyonya before? Guess this drama has created a lot of buzz about the Peranakan Culture when it was telecasted in 2008. While I am not a fan of this drama due to overacting by some of the cast, it did intrigue me to make my first trip to the Peranakan Museum in December 2008.

The Museum is the first in the world to explore Peranakan cultures in the former Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang and their links with other Penarakan communities in Southeast Asia.

On 20 Nov 09, I’ve made my second trip to the Peranakan Museum by the invitation of Hisham and the Peranakan Association to be part of the Big Baba Blogout! No doubt this is my second visit to the museum, I was able to capture the artifacts from a different perspective. But is visiting the Peranakan Museum the best way to experience the Penarakan culture? It will be even better if you are able to immerse the culture yourself

Do check out the Biggest and Best Babazaar at SMU Concourse today (29 November 09) between 11am – 6pm held in conjunction with the Peranakan Festival! Let the Nyonya favourites, including genuine home-made delights whet your appetite and view intricate craft and decorative items, to complete your Peranakan experiential journey after your visit to the Peranakan Museum!

I would like to thank Hisham and the Peranakan Association for the invitation of this Big Baba Blogout!

Update: Agrh. I am down with a bad flu. Will not be able to go to Babazaar today

Our trainer for the day was Lawrence Teo from The PeepShow Machine and he shared tips on how best we can use our camera or high-end camera phone to take really great shots of food.

During the workshop, Lawrence used the Samsung Pixon 12 to demonstrate how a camera phone can take equally nice quality shots of food and taught us how to enhance the look of the food in terms of lighting, angles and some human touch.

Before: Showing the dish from the top.

After: Rolling up the spaghetti to create a more yummy effect.

Before: Capturing the cake from an angle.

After:  Held a small slice of the cake with a fork.

The “After” pictures certainly give the food more life and added the yummy effect into it, isn’t it? Well, I would love to test out food photography using the Samung Pixon 12 but the phone did not seem to move over to my end throughout the hands-on session.

I would like to thank Hisham for referring me to Samsung to be part of this workshop. I’ve learned quite a bit on food photography! The rest of the photos can be found in my flickr album.

Was happy to see DK, Hisham, Jayden, Mus, Diana and Eevon at our event and glad to meet William for the first time! Friends like Claudia, Nadia, Jacelyn and Lawrence did not managed to make it for our event due to personal commitments and Nicole was not feeling well that day.

Kicking off the event was Jack & Rai singing the unplugged version of “Pixelated”, a song in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2009, live at the blogger event and followed by a screening of August 29, a short film produced by HPB and a group of youths.

[Part 1 of August 29]

[Part 2 of August 29]

Starring Lawrence and Evelyn Maria, August 29 is a heart-wrenching love story about a girl who is dying of AIDS and how she chooses to spend her last days with her ex-boyfriend, a photographer.

My colleague, Janice then shared the objective of the blogger engagement event and programme lined up to commemorate World AIDS Day 2009. This might sound cliché to you but we really hope to create more awareness about HIV/AIDS through the power of our blogger friends.

Did you see the countdown timer on the right column? It will be counting down to December 1, a day when many people around the world can often be seen wearing the red ribbon that has now become a familiar symbol of:

• CARE and CONCERN for people living with HIV and those who have died from AIDS;
• HOPE in the search for a vaccine and care; and
• SUPPORT for people living with or affected by HIV

Did you know that…

• condoms can provide protection against HIV when used correctly and consistently?
• when you are tested negative, it does not mean you are HIV negative for life?
• you will not get HIV by sharing food and drinks with someone who has the virus?
• a lot of people still do not know about the above-mentioned after so many years of public education since the discovery of the virus in 1981?
• and you can find out more about HIV/AIDS at HPB Online?

“Your life, your canvas” is the theme for World AIDS Day 2009 and is inspired by the notion that we are all responsible for painting the canvas of our own lives. What we choose to put on that canvas is entirely up to us, and the choices we make all contribute to a constantly evolving picture.

We will be having the finals of the Graffiti Art Competition at Scape Park on 21 Nov 09 and will also be hosting an exclusive World AIDS Day event of art, music and dance, featuring guest appearances by Jack & Rai on 5 Dec 09 at SupperClub Singapore.

To stand a chance to win one of the 100 pairs of tickets to this special event, all you need to do is answer 3 simple questions on Breathe.sg.

To increase your chances of winning the tickets, do keep an eye on my blog as I will also be giving out 5 pairs of tickets to 5 lucky readers in this 2 weeks! Some of our blogger friends will also be holding a ticket giveaway in their blogs so do keep a lookout on Breathe.sg!

Show your support!

I sincerely hope that you can also show your support for the World AIDS Day 2009 by joining our Twibbon campaign on Twitter and Facebook to create awareness on HIV/AIDS.

If you blog too, you can also show your support by embedding this countdown widget on your blog.

To participate, copy and paste the following codes to your blog: