Ordering Chilli Crab

The friends LOVE chilli crab- the more spicy it is, the better.

I'm ambivalent about it. I'm not a fan of any form of crab. I eat very little of it. At most, I'll just pick at the pincer part. Importantly, I've no inclination to crack crabs. They spoil my manicure!!! Many of the friends love the legs and wax lyrical about cold Alaskan crabs and of course the hairy crabs (大閘蟹). Too bad for me that I simply can't appreciate the sweetness of the crab meat!!

What I do like, is dipping the oily, crisp, fried man tou (饅頭) into the chilli gravy. I like the tangy rich spicy taste that is quite appetizing.

The friends can finish a crab each, excluding the Alaskan crab which takes at least 4 to share. So every time the friends pig out on crab/s, I'll order this huge steamed fish that I'll merrily finish on my own.

Penang Buffet At Copthorne King's

The other day, I surprised myself by suggesting lunch with the colleagues. You know how picky I am about food. I avoid eating with people I'm not familiar with or those whose preferences don't match mine simply because there won't be one restaurant to please everyone.

As anti-social as I am at work, I mean to buy a farewell lunch for the colleague who is leaving at the end of the month. I really appreciate all the help she has given me all this while. So in her honor, I asked her to grab a couple more people to make a table of 5. This lunch would be all about what they liked to eat.

I picked the long-standing famous Penang buffet at Copthorne King's Hotel because it was Chinese food- something the colleagues would enjoy. Many people I know like the food. I guess it wouldn't go too wrong. The colleagues loved the spread. They loved the homemade taste of the pig stomach soup, Hokkien mee, assam laksa, etc. To my surprise, they hadn't eaten here or even heard of this cafe. I was quite taken aback because I've been eating here since I was a little girl. It is still Chef Loh Hong Chye who helms the buffet's kitchen. It's been a good 35 years since he started this buffet in 1970 and the food has never slipped in its standards.

I'm glad they enjoyed the outing. The sweetest thing- the colleagues insisted on paying me back! Oh goodness. I said no, it was a lunch that I wanted to buy. With all the discounts I got, the bill was so little that it didn't make sense for anyone else to pay. I was embarrassed to take their money. In the end, I still got S$20 from each. Luckily the colleague whose honor this lunch was held, didn't shove money into my hands. Still. DOH! My endeavor to buy lunch has failed. Heh.

I'm terribly particular when it comes to food, so I usually tell acquaintances not to buy me meals for whatever occasion- just buy me drinks. That would make me wayyy happier and it also reduces the chances that I actually have to sit down to drinks with them. Only the friends (and blog stalkers) would know what food/current eating places I like. So, because I picked this makan venue, I'm happy that everyone ate properly and lots of it! I was kinda worried that the colleagues wouldn't take to it.

Goodbye Phnom Penh

On the work front, we've come to do what we intended to do. Lots of effort has been put in to complete this event. That's been done properly. The meetings have been productive.

On a personal note, I've concluded fruitful discussions that seem to take forever to do over emails. Projects have gotten off the ground and to a good start. That is the depth of my commitment. I'm not based in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, so it'd be difficult to see it through. May it sustain through the efforts of other volunteers.

Now, there's more work to be done at the office and handover to be done for the side projects. I must return to share the load.

Very glad that I slept so little on this trip so that more time could be spent with the friends checking out the cool spots in the city. Thrilled that I snucked away from the colleagues too. Wahahaha. On every work trip, I've a really 'bad' habit of sneaking off elsewhere afterhours. Time alone does enrich one's perception of a city. No matter how rough a destination is, it doesn't quite trouble me. (See, tell your daughers to acquire self-defense skills.) Of course I don't stupidly walk into dark alleys either. Anyway, I had a great time. This city is really best discovered on foot.

So now, it's time to say goodbye to Phnom Penh.

Scooters and Motorcycles

You'll see 3 - 4 people sitting on the motorbike in many Southeast Asian countries. So many photos of riders balancing huge stacks of groceries, wood or furniture have been captured. Many have also marvelled at how one tiny motorcycle could seat 4 people including a child.

I'm not too sure what road safety means to them. They try to ride as best as they can- but all that weaving in and out to whim and fancy would mean that accidents happen. However, scooters are not quite a menace in Phnom Penh as it is in Ho Chi Minh City.

I made a face at the little kid. I waved at him. He stared at me in puzzlement and frowned. He kept staring and staring with this pout. For the entire length of the traffic light, he didn't smile and simply frowned.

That disturbed me just a little.

A Way Of Life

I don't think there is much spontaneity in Singapore anymore. People go to designated parks to gather for healthy wholesome activities so that they won't get rounded up for illegal assembly. If more than 15 people want to wear t-shirts of the same color, they'd have to apply for a licence from the relevant authorities to do so. (My tongue is firmly-in-check.)

At twilight in Phnom Penh, especially during weekends, many gather at the wide public spaces and mill around to chat, blast music to do group aerobics, dance and play badminton. These spaces belong to government buildings and private entities. The spaces are definitely not designated parks or anything like that though it does beautify the landscape. However, the Cambodians merrily claim it for their own. Then, there are the people sitting on the road dividers! They braid each other's hair and chill out in the middle of cars, motorbikes and tuk tuks zooming by. (???)

To me, it's quite an interesting spectacle (Yes, I know they do that in China and many other countries too) to see so many people spilling out onto the streets to participate in all these seemingly spontaneous events with nary a police car or crowd control personnel in sight.

Street Food- Yay Or Nay?

Out and about, I usually pass by numerous food stalls along the dusty streets.

Full of color and textures, the array of food laid out in the trays is varied and attractive. The smells are enticing for sure. Frying, sizzling and clinking fill the air. I'm almost tempted to try a bowl of something. Street food.

But I realized I've lost the adventurous streak where food is concerned. I'm so conservative, or rather stubborn when it comes to putting things in my mouth. I've always been finicky, just more so nowadays. I wouldn't dare to try many new or old food, for that matter. Strange food turns me off. Put me on Fear Factor and I won't last 5 minutes in the food challenge. Tsk.

There is no way I'd dare to slurp up the street food in Cambodia- not about to risk getting the runs. I'll stick to smelling them. Even in Singapore, I don't really eat at eeeky hawker centres much. I do eat at others where the stalls are clearly cleaner. Grime, grease and smells can be a little, off-putting. I rather eat a tasteless sandwich from the convenience store than sit at a 'popular good food' hawker stall next to the drain with cockroaches and rats running around.

As Phnomenon so aptly puts it in this post,

"6. Don’t eat stupid things – A good guide to judging the stupidity of a food is that if the locals believe primarily that a food will give you strength or vitality in the pants department rather than chiefly eating it because it tastes appealing. Some foods stay as provincial delicacies for one of three reasons: they’re either shit, endangered or they kill you. If snake’s blood was really that delicious, McDonald’s would have a cobra-flavoured sundae. I’m all for eating new and random (but not endangered) things but remember to keep your expectations very low and your bowels at maximum readiness, because when you do discover something that is loosely edible, it will taste like the food of the gods."

A Coffee In The Afternoon

In the middle of the afternoon where it was hot and humid, I started to feel sleepy. The face felt like an oil pot, the body was sticky with perspiration. Waking up at 6am local time to maximize the day does have its drawbacks. Somewhere along Preah Norodom Boulevard, this is where I caved in to caffeine in the form of a good brew of cappucino.

Preah Norodom Boulevard is the premier address to lovely houses, apartments, embassies and chic shops. I was invited up to the flats and a house along the Boulevard- they're so charming and lovely! Not just the interiors- the stock cabinets, taps, etc. Lovely international quality, like any other apartment in a big city. It is such a stark contrast to the rest of the city. If the average annual salary of US$400 - 600 or about US$30 - 45 a month, I can't comprehend how their street food of rice, vegetables, meat and a drink or noodles can cost US$1 - 3.50 per item. No wonder every office worker takes a 2-hour lunch to go home for the meal. Eating out is not an option here except for a certain strata of society, expats and tourists.

I flipped through the data provided online, EIC and in my files. The data hasn't changed much since 2006 when I studied it in earnest. So it doesn't explain the huge number of Lexus I see on the road now, together with a sizeable population of Honda CRVs and Range Rovers, and a sprinkling of shiny S-class Mercedes.

Along the shops and cafes on Norodom and Sihanouk Boulevard, I'm quite amazed at how many (local and expat) women carry that ridiculous Neverfull tote. Real ones okay, not fake. I wonder why and how. The obvious answer needn't be stated here, of course. The gulf between the very rich and the very poor is immense.

Anyhow, I was glad for a respite. At this outlet (out of 3) in the city, Cafe Fresco serves Illy coffee and New Zealand Natural ice-cream- what a treat in Phnom Penh. Plus they offer free wifi!!! I was in heaven man.

I Did Think About It

Pausing in the middle of typing notes of meeting to frame a thought, the eyes rested on the bottles of water in the room.

So.many.bottles.of.water. Die. What were we saying about bottled water? Oh dear.

When travelling, I've a hang-up about water. I drink ALOT of water in a day. I need to have ready access to water all the time. I'd grab a bottle of water to take into the plane, even if the plane offers bottled water. Extras are a psychological comfort.

I've been told that Phnom Penh is in the process of treating water from the Mekong to supply potable water to urban areas. Looking at the color of the Mekong and observing what people do inside the river, I'm not particularly confident that I'd like to drink the chemically treated end product from the tap. Neither do I have the habit of boiling water in hotel rooms. Terrible, I know.

Well. The friends always slime my tendency for ordering bottled water in restaurants. What?! It's on the menu isn't it? The bottles look good! I'm a sucker for advertising. Unfortunately, bottled water doesn't all taste the same. There is tasty water, I tell you.

As fond as I am about bottled water, I'm not going to raise ruckus and protest if our government decides to ban them. I'll just, well, filter water in Brita jugs or cap the tap with a filter and boil water lor. I shrugged and went back to a more pressing concern of completing the filenotes.

NB: Phnom Penh doesn't carry Fiji water. I carted 6 bottles over from home.

Of A Bookshop Window

I read an observation written by Charles Moore in Notes of the 20 June issue of Spectator. So, I walked by said bookshop, stared at the window display and had a good giggle. Of course I went in to poke around as well.

"Walking past the Church House bookshop in Westminster this week, I noticed an entire window display devoted to one book. It was called Lay Presidency at the Eucharist? An Anglican Approach. What a perfectly undumbed-down title - not the faintest attempt to vulgarise, or, indeed, to interest anyone in any way. Right down to the question mark and the offer of 'an' approach rather than 'the' approach, it had a wonderful Anglican tentativeness about it. I felt it would be crassly against the spirit of such a publication to march in and buy it."

Then I read Notes in the 11 July issue and completely cracked up.

"This column recently reported (Notes 20 June) a display in the Church House bookshop in Westminster devoting an entire window to a book with the defiantly ungripping title of Lay Presidency at the Eucharist? An Anglican Approach. Perhaps the staff were stung by this mention, because the display has been replaced by another, veering wildly to the opposite extreme. The book now promoted is called If You Meet George Herbert on the road, Kill Him."

Lunch By The Mekong

At the group's request, our genial host struggled to think of an appropriate lunch venue that was not French.

From the city centre, we crossed the bulging Tonlé Sap to the restaurants along the bank of the Mekong River. He took us to a rustic restaurant serving traditional Khmer food for lunch.

Expansive and lovely, the restaurant was really somewhere I'd check out on vacation. I was secretly glad the host brought us to a place where locals go. The only grouse- it was damn hot man- no air-conditioning. June to August belong to the rainy season in Cambodia, so it's cool in the mornings and still freaking hot by noon.

The calm and quiet of the surroundings were so different from the hustle and bustle of city cafes and bistros. There was a different kind of buzz- we ate with the company of dragonflies and bees.

The conversation turned to Thai and Cambodian relations. Reluctant to enter into the topic, I sorta zoned out. I was still trying to figure out the Cambodian language and not being very successful. I could sort of read it in Thai, but it wouldn't sound correct in Camobdian. Then the ears pricked at familiar words- I could understand the conversation of the men at the next table! They are Thais. Oh dear. Okay, it's a long shot, but I hope they don't understand English. Eeeps.

Then I got distracted by a woman selling really fresh longans. Almost lush, I'd say. Full, round and luscious, the plucked leaves were still green. Very beautiful. Another came by brandishing durians and offering to open one for us to try. That, I avoided.

Horrors of horrors, there was a huge piece of chicken for each person- no way to escape it. One must be polite. I picked up a wing/breast with the chopsticks and poked at it. I played with it but still had to swallow a good portion. At least, it was well grilled.

Okay, I confess I'm not too enthusiastic about traditional Khmer food, the same way I'm not hot about Chinese food. Too much pork in everything. Khmer soups tend to be salty- too much fish sauce lah. I like the other elements of it- the dips and the chilli. We ordered giant spring rolls (with pork in it) a la Vietnamese style- I soaked it in chilli gravy. Yummmz. They filled me up nicely for lunch.

Imp @ Work

It's been a long day filled with meetings and needing to give 100% attention to all the going-ons.

While I still pull double shifts during work trips (fulfilling the morning itinerary; at night to clear emails and file notes), it's not really exhausting.

Sure, I sleep very little on work trips, but I get by on adrenalin and coffee with caffeine. The pace at the office is punishing. So in spite of tight meeting schedules, I actually find work trips a breather somehow, a way to recharge, even if they're 1-day turnaround trips up to Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur.

If I do have 5 minutes alone, that time will be more than enough for me to gather the thoughts to focus on the agenda for the next discussion. Quite fun.

It's a huge challenge to focus on the 'official' work that I'm doing here as well as finishing up the discussions for the private charity projects that are being finalized and put into motion right now. It's all really exciting. The party in my room last night was absolutely exhilarating because the enthusiasm and commitment of the friends and partners (in these side projects) made me feel alive.

Please be assured that I haven't turned into a workaholic because yours truly is damn lazy and scared of hard work. Many aspects of work can induce stress, but it doesn't make me depressed. I've thought of throwing in the towel last year because of a clash in beliefs. But I got over it and grew up a little bit more.

I can only conclude that I truly love my job. It doesn't define me though. It only makes me more aware of how much more I can do in this life, as a human being. At social situations, I don't bother explaining or telling people what I do. I still don't intend to make a career out of it. I only want to be able to contribute positively as best as I can. But I'm curious to see how long I can stay in this job. Bets laid earlier were for me to last a year in this scope. It's been 2; a total of 4 in the industry. Lots of (not monopoly) money and Nogawa/Tatsuya meals have been won out of many friends. Haha.

Eating Along Sisowath Quay

For hygienic food of any kind, one has to go down to the riverside, to a tourist-trap restaurant located along Sisowath Quay. Unless you possess a cast-iron stomach for local street food.

We just walked along the busy streets filled with locals and not many tourists till we saw bistro all lit up on a pretty street. I was suspicious of it because it looked and felt exactly like a Parisian sidewalk cafe.

But the name said Lyon d'Or, so I hopped along into its doors with a teeny bit of hope.

The menu was alot more extensive than the usual Parisian sidewalk cafes. If all else failed, there were the US$7 - US$10 Khmer and Thai dishes to fall back on. Besides being exceptionally sweet, the dishes were pretty okay. I don't get why Khmer dishes are so fond of piling on the sugar.

At US$15 - US$20 a dish for the Khmer-French style fish and meats, they were way more edible than those at €15 - €20 in Paris. Though the mash and tons of cream in the dishes made it iffy, one could just scrape it away. Oh, the bread was hot and tasty! I actually ate 2 rolls without the strange-tasting butter. But I wasn't about to complain nor compare it to back home. I'm here in Phnom Penh and I'll eat according to the dictated norms as a tourist.

Phsar Chas

In the evening, the Old Market (Phsar Chas) in Phnom Penh was filled with locals, plenty of noise and excited chatter.

What I liked was- it didn't sell too many idiotic things for the tourists. It was a bustling market filled with locals who'd go to buy their usual stuff or soak up the atmosphere.

I meandered to the southern end where a stage had been set up. I guess there would be a performance there later, but I didn't stay to check it out. The PA system just played hip hop, R & B. The adults were just milling around. But the little kids at the front were actually trying to dance hip hop to the music! So fun! Not too sure if the sheer volume of the speakers would be of any good to the little ears.

Further on, there were plenty of food stalls that sold terribly colorful things that I wanted to try but didn't have the stomach for it. The square in front of the food stalls were laid with plastic sheets and people simply sat down and had their food. A picnic of sorts, if you will.

A Big Building

I've not explored Phnom Penh properly. The last 2 visits were simply too brief. It is Siem Reap that I'm more familiar with. This 3rd visit for work meetings, will be over just quickly. Since I won't get to go to depressing museums on this trip, I'll settle for viewing buildings.

This is the building for Phnom Penh's Council of Ministers. More than US$30 million went into its construction. A major portion of construction budget is ummm....financed by China.

Quite an impressive building indeed. Such a vast expanse of space on its grounds. I'm easily awed by big buildings like this. I'm a Singaporean living on a tiny island- don't get to see beeg buildings at home.

A Little Tougher Than That

As we carefully wound through the uneven pavements and potholes, Boss asked if I was alright. "You look a little uncomfortable. You're more used to London and New York right."

I told him I was okay and had this silly grin plastered on my face. It was a really cool night. The breeze was lovely. I was just so absorbed in the sights and sounds, plus trying to get my bearings in order to cut through little streets to get back to the hotel. Alamak, how little you know me, boss. Don't forget I love wearing birkies and flip flops more than stilettos.

Yes. I don't mind chic cities, tasty sparkling water, inspiring museums, galleries and theatre and all the jazz. But there is also another side of me. How to tell him I'm the same girl who spent 3 months in Luang Prabang with ripped fingernails, blisters, pimples and bruised toenails? Not to mention Darkhan at -15°C with no hot showers for 7 days and cold sores as souvenirs to boot. Plus that arduous (no porters) trek from Yunnan through Lijiang because it was the trendy thing to do. And wouldn't mind doing it all over again in a heartbeat.

Aiyoh. So of course I neber say anything lor, just smile only. Not necessary to say anything. :)

Our Movie Night

For the whole of last week, everyone in Twitterverse tweeted about movie nights. So I thought I should blog about it instead.

Note to self, do not follow other people to have marathon movie nights- because the movies we invariably choose can be such mindf*^ks that we need time to digest. Or rather we need loads of stamina to sit through them.

Forget The Wings of The Dove. That was good, much better than the rather dry book. It was enjoyable on screen. Besides the plot, we also loved the 'costumes' of that era. But we were itching to get something surreal on the screen.

We were glued to the silent science fiction film Metropolis. It was mesmerizing. All of 1927's technology. Fritz Lang's vision then was already amazing. Then discovery of lost footage gave it a 2002 restoration. In that version on Youtube, The New Pollutants added soundtracks and re-scored it. So we moved all Youtube clips from the computer screens to the big-ass 60-inch plasma screen. Smokes. It was so cool! Almost trippy.

I was so fixated on unravelling the 1927 Metropolis that I couldn't stay focused on the film after. Luckily there were giant tubs of Tillamook's chocolate peanut butter, marionberry pie, oregon strawberry and expresso mocha to help freeze our brains. We can't wait to watch Frankenweenie next. I certainly hope it'll be as cute as the title sounds.

We picked The Nines. Very much easier to understand than Primer (I had to watch it twice!), The Nines was not ideal for a mind that was still trying to wrap itself around Metropolis. Plus I forgot to read the synopsis before putting it on. Gaah. It was g.o.o.d. In 3 parts, the stories were intertwined. till the HitchHiker brought the protagonist home to where he couldn't, in a nutshell, screw up the worlds.

No Nimble Fingers

It was completely random. In the middle of squeezing brain juices in one afternoon, I rolled away from my desk and asked my colleague to teach me how to weave a ketupat. She's got really deft fingers.

It's friggin' not easy at all. I did the first one right, then screwed up the next 2 attempts. Grrrrr. I didn't manage to get the concept right. I got half of it only.

So of course I had to check it out on youtube. Waaah. Best. Got plenty of instructions. Following those instructions, I managed to make 2 more. But I couldn't quite get it without the videos, especially when tucking the sides in.

Now I need to learn how to weave it on my own, without people helping or looking at the videos.

4 Environmental 'Heresies' ~ Stewart Brand

On population growth and urbanization. Really now??? What a different tune he sings then and now. How? I can't wrap my head around how slums are good for cities. I'd postulate that slums are good for politics and politcal parties. The basic premise of urban planning has always been to eradicate slums and resettle squatters. A fundamental policy in many decent governments has always been to create affordable public housing or at least ensure that its people have access to loans to own their homes in the country of their citizenship. That sense of home ownership, I believe, creates the first layer of the social fabric.

On genetically engineered organisms. GEOs or GMOs. I'm a little swayed by his subtle suggestion about how organic farming isn't really good for the environment. As much as I'm a proponent of all things organic and free-range, these words are getting tiresome. It's a leeetle grating to be constantly reading about sustainable food, sustainable produce and free-range veal, chicken, beef, etc. I cannot decide if choosing to consume organic food sourced from sustainable farms is about me wanting to focus on getting healthier food into the body or it's because I genuinely care about the environment.

So if we could mass produce genetically engineered food, that would solve alot of starvation problems, wouldn't it?

I don't have concrete opinions on the portion about nuclear power. Not a scientist- I haven't studied it very much either- certainly not by reading the journal articles. The enormous power to be harnessed is equally balanced by its mega production of by-waste. If uranium is the new poster child to replace oil, we'll have to remember that it is a finite resource. Likewise, it will poison the environment bit by bit.

Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale

The brochure looked inviting enough. Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale to be performed by the Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra. An easy enough piece- lively and entertaining. So we thought- let's go!

As much as I'm a fan of Lim Yau, I'm quite aware of how young and raw Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra is. I'm prepared to forgive the music quite a fair bit. Although many of the friends and the man aren't ready to forgive that. They're accomplished musicians and went into many technical (and not very polite) details which I shan't repeat. In a nutshell, there were no texture, layers and subtlety. The instruments played, but didn't talk to one another. The musicians really need a lot more practice to perform to a critical paying audience at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

However, what I'm not willing to compromise is the standard of the accompanying theatrics. Besides the chamber musicians and the conductor, The Soldier's Tale is also performed in tandem to actors telling the story that is derived from the legend of Faust.

I was flabbergasted. What I saw last night wasn't even half decent. It was terrible. My gawwwd. With all due respect to the actors, they performed their parts adequately. On a separate (theatre) platform, it could be considered a twist to today's interpretation of a classic. However, in this instance, this contemporary acting really wasn't suitable to last night's production.

The acting mirrored Mickey Mouse cartoons in the 1950s. The actions, the vibes were totally incongruent to the music. How on earth can an actor break out in that Singlish kopitiam accent midway? It was almost insulting to the combined intelligence of the audience. We were so shocked that it wasn't even funny. Humor ought to have some form of wit. Last night, I saw none but slapstick humor. One must be forgiven for thinking that the director was trying to dumb it down for the 'local' audience, which unfortunately had many classical music lovers (and non) in the audience who weren't the least amused. Perhaps if this production is taken out to another venue with another target group of audience, they might better appreciate it.

The stage directions were terrible. Appalling. *facepalm* It had all the sophistication of a primary school performance, but without the charm.

As a combination of less than stellar music and acting, this is by far, imho, remarkably, the most abominable interpretation of The Soldier's Tale I've (heard) seen.

United Breaks Guitars

So if getting compensation for what you think is rightly due to you ain't going too well for the past year, write a song.

Dave Carroll's poor Taylor was broken, presumably by baggage handlers with United Airlines. His heart went to pieces too. Writing a song would guarantee a large audience. His folk style of music is so suited to telling a story about it.

This is really quite witty. The best part, it's effective.

Cooking Coq Au Vin

The man came home early one afternoon and started his research on coq au vin.

Ha! After all that interest in the coq au vin, I knew he was going to try cooking that at some point.

The Cooking Bible was laid out on the table. Except that it was opened to the page of chicken cacciatore. Obviously distracted by another chicken dish, he was trying very hard to decide which to cook.

In the end, coq au vin won. Into the dutch oven the chicken went.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to dinner. Chicken. Good lawwwd. At least, the sauce would cover up all smells and taste, hopefully. At least there were carrots and mushrooms.

Mixed together and slow cooked, the mirepoix, seasonings, mushrooms and all tasted appetizing and fabulous. There were potatoes and buttered basmati rice to go along. I was quite a happy girl without trying the meat. I poked around for chicken skin. Ha.

But the man made me take slivers of meat. Warily, I chewed it. Stewed in the sauce, the meat absorbed all its aromatic flavors and wine. So the meat didn't taste like chicken. Thank goodness.

I kinda liked coq au vin without the chicken. When slathered onto potatoes and basmati, that rich broth made such a wonderful combination for a homecooked meal.

Photos In Hard Copies

I almost never print out hardcopy photos now. It seems kind of obsolete.

All the photos I have are stored in thumbdrives and external drives. Soft copies rock. I could do lots of magic with them on photoshop. It's so convenient to send them to friends if necessary. If the disks crash and the soft copies are lost, so be it. As much as I admire beautiful photos, angles, contrast, lighting and computer wizardry, I've learnt not to be so sentimental over them.

My camera takes more photos of inanimate objects than humans. Say for instance the recent vacation, out of like 2000+ photos taken, probably only <50 captured smiling humans.

However, I decided that printing photos at home would be too much of a bother. There're ink, paper, quality, alignment and whatnots to consider. I cannot be bothered. If hard copies are needed, I'd rather go to a printing shop or something, stick the thumbdrive into the machine and print all that I want.

That was exactly what I did last weekend. Went to the shops to print out plenty of photos to snail mail them to Aunt E in London. Aunt E loves photos in hard copies. So I extracted out a couple shots for her, squished them into 2 separate envelopes and popped it into the postbox.

Aunt E called to specially tell us that the photos are now safely sitting in her living room. She sounded so happy! I'm glad I took the effort. I didn't realize that such a simple thing as receiving photos would mean so much to her.

Album Launch :: Another Sunday Afternoon

(Click above edm invite for a larger image. Come pop in for a mellow night! And please hor, no need to wear yellow. :P For the band's facebook page, click here. For myspace, click here.)

OEH YOU THREE, don't say I not friend enough okay.

Managing For Abundance, Not Scarcity

Last week, I read an article in Wired Magazine online. By coincidence, the colleagues talked about it too and stressed on how our IT systems aren't efficient enough. I rolled my eyes. That is exactly what I thought from day one and never saw any need to change that impression.

Our IT department seems to be made up of reactionary individuals who micro-manage and scrimp on everything. By itself, that isn't a bad thing. Financial prudence is good. IT systems take up a huge chunk of the operating budget. On one hand, lagging behind technology isn't cool; on the other hand, it's not possible to be playing catch up all the time, (Try catching up on missed tweets over a 48-hour period) but we need to know how to judiciously spend on upgrading the necessary aspects within our systems. Which essentially means, we need the IT department to be able to identify the big picture, not go burrowing into small holes and proudly proclaim them as 'achievements'.

I always send out random emails to the friends. (Not chain mails!) Like deep, meaningful articles. Ooof. Or crap jokes or B-grade videos, usually. (But you gotta admit Buffy kicked Edward's ass totally.)

So I sent out this mid-week hello email to the friends. Of course I also complained about my pathetic 55MB limit for office email inbox capacity. By the time 16MB is taken away for colors, anti-virus and watnots, only 39MB of usable space remain. It absolutely riles me when people send emails with attachments that are bigger than 1500kb. The last time someone sent me something with 20,000kb, it gave me ulcers. Archiving works and I do that religiously- immediately, daily. Heck, I work from my archive so that at any one time, the inbox has only 10 emails.

One by one, the friends saw it fit to reply to the mid-week hello email. They seemed to take GREAT delight in letting me know their (work) inbox quota. I realized most get above 150MB of inbox space. SOME get 500MB.

What??!! It is so NOT FAIR!

Eating With Our Eyes Open

The one thing that I appreciate in European, American and Canadian big city restaurants or even small town diners is the fact that they disclose ingredients fully.

Not just that, they go a step further by stating if the chickens are free-range; whether produce is sourced from small farms, sustainable sources, etc and if bottled water goes towards clean water projects in developing countries, etc.

I appreciate Nobu for finally stopping to stock bluefin tuna because that is an endangered species. Likewise on the recent trip, I was very happy with the restaurants we visited. Pied a terre and L'Autre Pied, both which blew our minds. also take pains to point out that they only buy from sustainable sources. A listing of that would be great, but I shan't be too picky. The Latymer does the same, although duck liver is kept on the menu. We probed and realized that the servers possess excellent knowledge of the produce sourced from the various regions for the vegetarian tasting menu.

As much as I like bottled water, I also look at the companies behind. I like to know about the scope of their corporate social responsibilities. At least I don't feel too guilty when indugling in crisp, clear water.

In this aspect, Singapore restaurants and companies really have a long long way to go. Each time I travel, I'm reminded why I'm jaded by the dining scene at home.

It's tough to be 100% green in our lives. We can't quit aeroplanes, cars and air conditioning for now. We can try in other small ways to reduce our carbon footprint. If we still remain ignorant or can't be bothered to sweat the small stuff in environmental protection, your children will live on an overheated earth and breathe bad air, no thanks to our legacy.

The Fun Ride

Now that I'm back in Singapore, I can say it- our driver in London is a weed-smokin', rave-lovin', straight-talking helluva fun dude.

He even showed us his pack of weed. We didn't ask for any lah. Ooh one whiff! That smell was unmistakable. Very familiar too. Brought back many many angsty teen memories!

We were very tickled.

If I were me 10 years ago, I'd do the party scene in London all over again in a heartbeat. That was exactly what I did then for 3 summers. We crawled through all the hottest clubs on the row. Our days began with a late lunch and lasted all the way till sunrise. We didn't even bother packing clothes in the suitcase. We shopped and filled them up with new clothes. London was/is the party city to be in.

Now, our days begin at 8am with breakfast. We check out cafes, restaurants and museums in London instead. We still do late nights- for the gigs and at the theatre. The only leaves I drink or burn are of the potpourri, aromatherapy, tea sort of variety. And the only vice is grain in the guise of malt.

I think the driver found us and our pursuits most boring. :p

Cookbook Received!

The girlfriend went to the Jack Daniel's Distillery and got the man an entire cookbook. Along with the cookbook, out fell an Elvis Beanie Baby who'll be sitting in the car and headbanging to La Roux's new album.

Cooking with Jack features a complete menu from cocktails (of course), hour bites, breads, salads and soups to sweets and relishes. There're a couple of interesting sweets- Old-Fashioned Apple Dumplings and Late-Night Oatmeal Cake. We think we should pdf these receipes and send it back to the girlfriend so that she could make us some! Quick googling reveals that alot of the receipes are available online though.

In return, we could do everyone a Boarding House Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Lynchburg Lemonade Congealed Salad, Creamy Shoepeg Corn Salad and The Real Onion Dip. Hmmm. That sounds like a dvd/wii/trivia pursuit/charades party! Do we have a date?

Happy Fourth of July to the peeps who are citizens and to those who've adopted the continent as their home!

Whisky Shopping At Heathrow

When faced with the enormous selection of single malts on the shelves at the departure lounge of Heathrow's DFS, I literally went weak in the knees.

There were so many beautiful bottles and several limited editions specially bottled for Heathrow. So exciting!!! Each time the man is in London, he always buys it from their DFS rather than ours. These duty-free only bottlings are stirring up the whisky drinkers. There're so many to choose from- Bunnahabhain Darach Ur, Glenlivet Nàdurra 16 y.o cask strength, 2 choices of Dalmore 12y.o, The Snow Grouse (Famous Grouse) and a couple of others.

What I'm really looking for, are bottles of the Speyside Glenlivet Sparkling/Still to lug home. Exhibiting at Food & Hotel Asia last year might not have penetrated the Singapore market. The Moray company went into administration 3 months ago and has been rescued by Highland Spring. Essentially, that should mean that we should still see this brand of water being marketed. It is so so tasty. I've not had such lovely water. If you think Kingsdown is good, Glenlivet is 10 times better. I wonder if any of you hoteliers and restaurateurs is going to bring it into Singapore. (BIG SHOUTOUT here.)

We came away with 2 bottles of limited edition Bowmore 21 y.o distilled in 1988 (port cask matured) for ourselves, and a Talisker 57° North for the friends. The friends would love the powerful smokiness within the ash and orange flavors of this bottle of Talisker.

The man is going to go home to flip his cooking bible. He's chattering about checking out the food that he could do for dinner that would complement the intense aroma of the Bowmore 21 y.o (port cask), which is very different from the distillery's other 1985 21 y.o. (of which we couldn't keep our hands off and finished it.)

I can't wait to taste that Bowmore 21 y.o matured in port cask. I wonder if it's going to make me fall in love with it the way I'm so enchanted with the port matured Bowmore 16 y.o. I've been quite faithful to that bottle for some time now. There just isn't any other bottle that I'm quite liking as much.

At Customs

As Murphy's law would have it, my line was the slowest moving line at customs for security checks. This particular officer was being rather difficult to people he didn't seem to like the look of or their faces/tone of voice/whatever.

He seemed like the stereotypical middle-aged man who was most dissatisfied with his lot in life and took it out on the nearest humans.

In the surliest manner, he commanded the people to 'take off their shoes', 'stay there', 'move there', 'hold your luggage' or 'wait'. He was quite nasty to this family of four who had alot of check-in luggage including 2 baby strollers. I really wasn't comfortable with what I was seeing. But the officer wielded absolute authority and nobody was in any position to say anything for now.

When it came to my turn, I dumped the laptop and ziplock bag of liquids ino the trays. I took off my belt and shoes without being asked. He actually flashed me a smile. "Ah, lovely. Go the whole way! That should be the spirit." I was like, whatever. I just wanted to get this over quickly.

What he said next, boggled my mind. "For someone like you, you speak very good English."

I was like, WTF. So I retorted. "All thanks to your finest universities." Of course it was a fib. But it achieved the desired effect of seeing the smile freeze on his face. At least it stopped him from proving just how ignorant he was.

In this day and age, seriously, customs officers in first world countries should have learnt that yellow-skinned humans speaking good English is NOT a big deal. Go wow only when they fluently speak Swedish, French, German, Russian, Swahili or something that's not the universal language.

Wah lau eh. Not all Caucasians speak good English either.

At The VAT Refund Queue

There was the usual snaking queue at the VAT refund office at the airport.

A young officer was going down the queue checking everyone's receipts to make sure everything had been filled in properly so as to hasten the process at the counter later.

There were 2 women in the line with about 15 or so receipts who asked him if he could let them jump to the head of the queue. The young officer looked perturbed. The women wouldn't let up and kept pestering him to move them first because they had a plane to catch. Finally, he said he would have to check with the rest of the passengers to see if that would be okay. The women were triumphant and said, "Yea, do that!"

At the head of the queue, a lady with about 50 receipts, hemmed and hawed. It was obvious she didn't want to let them get ahead, but didn't know how to say it. I was second in line. There were 5 people in front of the women. So if all 5 said yes and I too, the 2 women would be able to go to the counter to have their VAT refunds processed first. If anyone said said no, then there would be no deal.

I politely asked the women what flight they were on and what time it was leaving. The 2 women told me it was "none of my [your] business." They gave me this blasé look and added that I only needed to know that they had a flight to catch soon.

So rude! What the hell.

Uncharacteristically, I firmly objected. I raised my voice to ensure that the entire queue heard what I had to say. "Then NO. If you want the VAT refund this badly, you should have had the sense to arrive at the airport much earlier to queue, like how the rest of us have done. We've all got planes to catch. If you're out of time, you're welcome to leave the queue, forget the VAT refund and run for your plane."

The man behind me applauded and said, "Hear hear!" The rest of the queue nodded in agreement. The young officer heaved a sigh of relief and moved on.

The 2 women threw me looks that could kill. But they stayed in the queue. Obviously, they weren't really in that big a hurry to catch their plane.

Bye London!

Carefully, we packed our most precious items to be handcarried onto the plane into totes- boxes of chocolate and tupperware containing the huge slices of chocolate meringue cake that Aunt E gave; gifts from the friends, etc.

The car was waiting at the door already.

Our very sweet concierge had earlier sorted out our check-in stuff and printed hardcopies of boarding passes. He and the driver wouldn't let us carry anything! They loaded all our suitcases into the car. 2 huge ones, 2 small cabin pieces, 1 laptop trolley, 2 totes and 1 guitar case. Amazingly, they all fit snugly into the boot.

I generally choose to spend vacations at beach resorts or some destination with an unpronounceable name. If I've to stay in a city, there better be friends, plenty of museums to visit and minimal shopping at the malls. Quirky non-touristy type indie shops would be preferable. Luckily, London has plenty to offer by way of experiencing a city. I don't love it as much as NYC, but it is still lovely. This trip, I'm glad we visited all the friends and aunts we wanted to say hello to.

This vacation has ended too soon! I ummm....don't want to come home leh. There're spots in London that we haven't had time to explore.

We can argue the finer points of the social system much later only if we're citizens or have a vested interest in the country. If you wear flats and birkies or 2.5 inch heels, London's a really easy city to live in. V, I bet you can *stride through the streets in your 4.5 inchers with ease. Stilettos are only for the true fashionistas (not me) and the brave.

*mind the potholes!

Museums & Galleries: Tally For London

(From left: Sokrates, Anthisthenes, Chrysippos and Epikouros)

I'm also rather pleased with the final tally for London. Could have done more. But there were gigs to catch, relatives to pester, people to annoy, friends to bug, and other stuff to check out. There're quite a number of things to do in London. So I've been suitably entertained.

• British Museum
• Tate Modern/British
• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
• Geffrye Museum
• Courtauld Gallery
• National Gallery
• White Cube
• Lisson
• Royal Academy of Arts
• Natural History Museum

Till the next time.

To The Theatre!

There isn't even any doubt in my mind that I don't want to catch 'Transformers' here. While I do want to watch that eventually, it isn't a priority on my list of to-dos in London. Aside from the numerous (superb) gigs we trudged across town to check out, we've also watched so many plays and films.

London theatre offers something for the interested- not just on mainstream WestEnd or Old Vic. There're also the smaller theatres off WestEnd, namely The Soho Theatre and the Bush which are great for young playwrights, Donmar Warehouse and the Young Vic. The city boasts of a mature vibrant theatre world comprising of National Theatre, Royal Court and Barbican.

For film, there's a hodgepodge of cinemas to choose where to go on movie night- Riverside Studios, all branches of Curzon, Odeon, etc, the most exciting being how Secret Cinema does their mailers and screenings. Besides Hollwood blockbusters, the city gets a good spread of indie productions and European films.

There is something exciting to do here every evening, every weekend. The city is so vibrant and steeped in the arts and culture. While we hold animated discussions over which school/education system is better or filled with less bullies and hidden dangers, we agree on the matter of space and variety. It is small wonder that none of the Singapore friends who live here want to come home to the little red dot.

Shopping At Borough Market

We went to Borough Market, bought coffee from Monmouth and swept lots of assorted items into the shopping bag to bring home.

There were many bottles of sauces with white spring truffles within, truffle salt, sea salt, hummus, beans, etc. We also wanted to buy some fresh greens and all for the friends. I was looking to grab a few bottles of chutneys and jams- fig, specifically. Lots of chutneys available. But I was told that figs weren't in season yet. They'd ripen mid-summer, in a couple of weeks. Oh well. There were other jams to choose from.

The man munched on chorizos, brownies and beans. He also gobbled down a pm pie, which was really a steak and kidney pie because it was the thing to eat in London. But the stall didn't have a warmer, so the pie was cold. Not very appetizing, frankly. Pies taste best piping hot. They had a pie named Heidi that looked good- goat's cheese, sweet potato, red onion and roasted garlic. Too bad I wasn't that hungry to eat a cold pie!

I loved this mushroom pâté from Pâté Moi. It was delicious! We bought a few tubs.

*happy sigh* Borough Market is such a cheerful place to roam around in.

Fine Dining

We've had wonderful dinners in Paris and London- Michelin-starred, no less. We took the tasting menu at each restaurant to properly sample the chef's creations. The food tasted has been unequivocally out of this world.

I ain't no food blogger. I shan't even attempt to describe the dining experiences. Mostly, I didn't even take photos of the food. One- I carry tiny clutches. Importantly, it just isn't done to be grabbing photos of food in such a setting. At this juncture of dining, I'm not interested in photography per se. I want to sit down, enjoy the dinner company and conversation, and slowly soak it all in. The restaurants and the excellent service make it more than just about the food. The dinners are truly exquisite- a complete alchemy of textures and flavors.

What is most memorable to me, are the different options of butter available for the diner's choice. Herb, salted, unsalted, etc. All hand churned/homemade/specialty region flown in, etc. Lovely lovely texture and taste. Most of all, I love the portions of butter that were served. I'm a butter fiend. Nothing brightens my day like good butter in a almost fist-size slab. You can't imagine how my eyes lit up each time a restaurant generously serves butter in that wonderful yummlicious blob.

Chinatown

An acquaintance asked, "Don't you miss Chinese food?" Her question reflects why she is an acquaintance. Most friends will know I'm not too fond of Chinese food per se. I like century egg porridge, mushrooms, steamed fish and vegetables- that's about it. I'm pretty happy here without Chinese meals.

The foods I do miss are nasi lemak and mee siam.

Besides hummus and brown bread which we know Aunt E loves, we wanted to tapau freshly cooked vegetables for Aunt E, so we had to make a trip to Chinatown.

The moment we stepped into Chinatown, we genuinely felt out of place. The servers immediately spoke to us in Cantonese, making the man go 'huh' and reply in English. Many of the staff at restaurants spoke Cantonese and sad to say, the English translation on the menu didn't quite accurately reflect the sort of food to expect. Like 'flat noodles'- it took us a while to realize that it meant 'hor fun'. If the menu says 'brown noodles', it can be ee-fu noodles or soba or something queer.

After paying for the packed food at the various places, we beat a hasty retreat from Chinatown.

That feeling of displacement is still very real. It's the same all over the world at any Chinatown we visit. This feeling is echoed by many friends. We don't feel any sort of connection with Chinatown anywhere. In fact, we take great pains to avoid them. We feel more at home at the British pubs/New York bars/Thai and Japanese restaurants, rather than at Chinese eateries.

Such is the conundrum with Chinese Singaporeans I think, at least among the circle of friends. Our education, lifestyles and outlook are essentially cosmopolitan. Many of us aren't 100% ethnically Chinese anyway. There is little connection with the Chinese part of our culture. In fact, there're many points in this culture I completely reject.

To foreigners and new non-Singaporean friends, I cannot emphasize this enough- while our Government says that Chinese is my mother tongue, I feel neither an iota of love nor loyalty to China. And China isn't my frigging motherland. Singapore is NOT like Hong Kong. Not really.

And in that couple of minutes, I've never been so glad to be Singaporean.

Searching For Whisky

The friends are searching for 2 specific ceramic bottle series of Bowmore- the print of sea dragon and sea gulls. We're curious about it too.

The friends could easily source for it through the whisky network and bring them in. But since we're in London, we might as well have a look at the shops. These 2 series are out of production. So I guess they're quite rare on the retail scene, so all the whisky shops don't stock them at all. Available bottles would be squirreled away by the collectors already.

So nope, our search remains unsuccessful. But we have had a grand time looking through the shops on every other street in town.

The whisky shops are beautiful! Old and full of mystery. There is dust on the bottles even. Besides stocking up on the popular distilleries, they also sell bottles by independent bottlers. We like browsing through to acquaint ourselves with the range available.

Blended, grain, vatted, malts, the whisky bars in London are beautiful. I don't like the dives and the pubs. The noise just kills me. I prefer the opulent and stately bars that offer great service and encourage quiet conversation. No.5 Cavendish Square and the Grand Whisky Bar at St Pancras remain our favorite haunts for an evening drink.

Over Books

This trip, I refuse to accept shopping lists from the friends because I don't want to carry 20 bags (from indie and designer labels) home even on a 40 kg luggage limit. I will only lug bags back for about 10 people I love. Out of 10, 5 live in Europe! The rest go up to Europe more often than I do. I need them for favors more than they need me! Oof.

I had no problems going out to get items that could be shipped back directly from boutique to Singapore, especially if the shops are along the way to wherever I'm going. It made my life easy.

More than shopping, I love London for the shops selling art supplies and books.

For those clever ones who asked to buy art supplies, I merrily said yes. There are so many shops selling a wonderful array of art supplies. I really wouldn't mind going out of my way to find them because I'm also curious about them. I decided on Cornelissen & Son and went to grab everything and shipped them back to the respective owners-to-be.

For books, I usually buy them from Bauman and am not familiar with the shops in London. So it was quite a pleasure visiting book stores. My nose was buried for hours at the shops along Charing Cross. In particular, I was searching for first editions of a couple of favorite books. They're not deemed too rare, I guess. I want to get them before the prices shoot up in the next decade or when the author dies. I found them at Nigel Williams. Some are priced astronomically, while some are most reasonable. Well, not so if you consider that some bags are priced higher than rare books.

And ouch, the credit card suffered a huge dent from purchasing books.