A Pendant

Back from Prague and Paris, the man brought home lots of stories to share, tales of food, dishonest cab drivers and of a night when it was -20°C. He said that -3°C was considered warm! Riiight. I definitely won't survive beyond -10°C. He also bought (among other things) a silver necklace for me. He grabbed it on the plane off the brochure. I like the selection of DFS items on SQ! There're a couple of good buys in there that I can't pass up each time I fly!

A trinket, he said, to wish me well for my work trip. Yes, I need all the luck, sagacity and a dispassionate aura for the week. I'm not exactly looking forward to this trip. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a big joke.

Very sweet and very nice. BUT. I stared at it. "It's heart-shaped!" I stated accusingly. I'm not fond of hearts, ribbons and frilly things. Anything heart-shaped you see on me is definitely a gift. He was quick and shot back. "Well, I like it! Think of it as an arrowhead!"

Okay. Fine. It's quite pretty. I shan't be ungrateful. I shall wear it for a little while. An arrowhead it is. I hope it would symbolize that I'd be able to solve any problems during the week with focus and clarity.

A Box Of Cookies

A colleague was wondering aloud about hotels to stay in on her vacation. So I thought about what she might like, the budget and the purpose of a vacation.

Then I sent her an email with information on some hotels, with a stern reminder to do her research on them before giving them her money. I don't like recommending anything to anyone because chances are, my experiences might not be theirs.

Off she went on her holiday and when she came back, she passed me a box of cookies. "For the hotel recommendation. It was good!" Waaah. My heart nearly dropped. It'd be terrible if it was bad. Still, I only made a suggestion and didn't even get her any discounts. I certainly did nothing remarkable to warrant a gift of cookies.

So sweet of her to do that lah. She's really one of those really earnest, helpful and sweet-natured girls. The cookies are cleverly packed into individual vacuum packs. Light and not sweet, they tasted great and went fantastically with a cup of earl grey. I like those perilla seeds. It's like how I like poppy seeds in my cookies. Now, because of these cookies, I'm extremely interested in perilla seed oil and all its positive properties. Heh.

When We Travel

I'm absolutely thrilled that the man is away on a work trip. The past 2 weeks have been crazy for me. I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about neglecting him as I need to be really focused in the office. That said, I don't enjoy having to babysit his mega farm and sci-fi cafe on fb in the nights, tending to the crops and serving silly Martian brains. They're so annoying.

When the man and I travel on our separate work trips, we send a maximum of 2 texts a day to each other. We don't call each other to chat either. If need be (to check social schedules or buy tickets to concerts, etc), we'll skype and email. But it's really not necessary. I don't like being 'distracted' on work trips. I prefer to just muddle about doing my stuff. I'm so thankful that the man isn't the needy or possessive sort. When we first started dating, we didn't talk much on phone to each other. We've always preferred online chats, emails or face-to-face meet-ups.

When the man is away, I enjoy the solitude. I think he's quite happy to be off without having to fetch and carry for me. Haha. Work trips are time-outs for us. It allows us to recharge, re-focus and meet each other on a new level, fresher and well, nicer.

Well, I do miss having him around to turn on the heater before I wake so that when I eventually do, the shower will be steaming hot. (He wakes up early to do all sorts of nonsense on the guitars and emails.) Now, I've to do it myself before going back to nap for that extra 15 minutes. Quite disruptive. :p Speaking of which, I forgot to get his flight details for this trip. Oops.

Music At Work

The office has gone quiet. The humans haven't left. There're still some of us furiously typing away at the keyboard.

Lloyd Cole has done soothing magic and now John Mayer's strumming fills the air. I looked at the sound system on the desk and sighed. 2010 promises a lot more late nights at work. Having radio for background music in the day is good. But in the evening, I want real music. Like The Decemberists, Trivium or something.

Putting cds in the player isn't going to work anymore. I refuse to fill the cabinets with cds. I've stopped buying cds and what I have isn't enough! I think I need to lug the ipod docker to the office soon. That giant heavy second generation ipod left in the dark drawers will do great on a docker.

I can't work without music. Earplugs do the job in the day when I want to blast certain bands. But now, it's at Volume 5 and no one's complaining! (yet) Heeeee.

Resorts World At Sentosa

We were brought around the expansive premises of Resorts World at Sentosa. Hectares of land filled with hotels, theme parks and concert halls. More gig venues! What fun!

I wasn't really interested in the hotels except to see what sort of spaces they offer. So there's a ballroom that caters to 7000 guests. Differently themed, yes, but well, they're just hotels. I'm not a fan of staying at hotels in town for a weekend or something. Not unless I've got events happening and I need to be on-site. I always prefer my own bed at home.

During the corporate briefing, I really wanted to ask about the type of sea creatures they would have in the Marine Life Park. It was on the tip of my tongue to go "So what about that whale shark? Are you still intending to enslave one after the hooha of protests has died down?" But I didn't, because this visit was in the capacity of work, not marine activist. It wasn't quite appropriate.

After being introduced to all the rides and things to do at Resorts World, I actually had an urge to get on all the rides and experience the thrills that Universal Studios Sentosa had to offer. So sucker lor.

If there is one thing I love at theme parks, it's the rollercoasters. I eyed the rollercoaster that's named 'Battlestar Galactica' due to open much later. When we went by the site, all of us wanted to clamber up the rollercoaster, save for the fact that they were still testing the rides. So only dummies filled with water were allowed to sit in the cars that zoomed through the twisting tracks. I couldn't tear myself away- I wanted to get on it so badly! Faster open already!

Adam & Eve

I squealed when I saw the statues. I wanted to hug them! Botero! I love Botero! These are Fernando Botero's Adam and Eve. They stand tall and proud at the rotunda between Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael.

Honestly, when I walk through the hotels, it's very clear to me that every art piece, each nook and cranny in architecture, shape of tiles, colors and watnots encapsulate strong fengshui elements. I can't explain, but I feel it strongly that every placement is intentional. I don't feel comfortable in any of the lobbies or hotels in the area. The spacious ceilings should make me feel happy and free. Instead, I feel opressed and locked in by the colors and odd angles of the walls. The layout of the narrow corridor of boutiques turns me off. Only one boutique interests me- Michael Graves' gallery.

If you have US$200,000 to plonk down on cards and dice, you'll be very welcome to stay at the by-invitation-only suites/villas of Crockfords Tower. Otherwise, just stick to patronizing its soon-to-open Cantonese restaurant. Once upon a time, the friends and I stood intently by the baccarat tables in Melbourne's Crown and NZ's SkyCity. We won more than we lost. But we didn't dare go near poker. That's a game too advanced for us. Now, I've zero interest in the casinos and I'm not bothered to check out the ones here. I don't like the idea of spending money on chips.

Have you seen the entrance to the casino at Resorts World? It is fugly. It looks cheap and promises decadence, sleaze and a slippery slope down the escalators into the pits of doom.

I can't help thinking that the statues of Adam & Eve are so apt for the integrated resort. Fat fat to roll the money in, fat fat for prosperity and attract high rollers to sustain the operations. Even more so, the statues seem to ominously herald the bleakness and the beginning of all social ills that we fear. Original sin, they call it.

Part 2 :: Gigs In January :: Andrew Bird In Singapore

I was quite ready to give up the Andrew Bird gig to attend to work matters. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make because I prioritized work stuff for these 2 weeks. By a stroke of luck, some swift juggling and procrastination, somehow, I made it to the gig tonight. :)))

I shouldn't be surprised but I am, again, at the sold out Singapore gig even though it's just him and his gear. The separate queues for merchandise and autographs were so long that I didn't even bother to stand in line to get a tee. Mellow night at the Esplanade Concert Hall. No ear plugs necessary.

Andrew Bird is so nimble on the violin, more so than the guitar, methinks. He naturally picks up the violin more frequently than the guitar. In this brand of music, it's not just about meshing classical and indie. It's about creating new sounds. It takes alot of effort to move away from the classical undertones and phrasing. But he did it. He's definitely more expressive on it than his Gibson. Of course I don't know what model that guitar is. "ES125 or 175", came the whispers. Whatever! What took my breath away is his whistling. Man, he can whistle! The whistling isn't something I could just be contented with over the most sterling of stereo systems. I must hear it live!

I giggled when he stated that he would be singing it as 'Sweetbreads' and not 'Dark Matter'. Quite gross! A good way of putting his message across! I kept staring at the lanky stuffed monkey perched atop the Fender amp. What a whimsical touch. The monkey wore the most adorable grin, a cool jacket and the cutest laced-ups Converse lookalikes.

I didn't bother to get tickets with anyone else and had gotten a lone ticket because I didn't know if I could make it. When I finally sat down in the concert hall, I was alone with strangers next to me. But it was kinda cool to realize that the friends were scattered around and we caught up after. Very nice. Tonight concludes a fabulous stretch of gigs for me this month.

Can Still Fit Into The Chair

Hopped into a secondary school today for a quick visit.

Walking into a school full of students is quite a blast from the past. Though I've to say that I don't miss school at all man!

I do like how school curriculum has evolved through the years and efforts have been made to innovate pedagogy and inject creativity into the students' annual workplan. As much as I dislike the school system in Singapore, it has to be credited for giving me a sterling education and its continuous (and slow) efforts to improve.

Those tiny chairs and tables are so cute lor! Can't say the same about the students though. But those that we interacted directly with were absolutely adorable. I gotta say that these 15 and 16 year olds are articulate and obviously prepped well for our visit. They answered our questions well. What I'm really impressed with- these students speak better English than their teachers. Clear and concise pronunication, free of weird (overseas and local) accents and displayed a good grasp of the language.

There was afternoon tea. Asian style. There were curry puffs served from the school's canteen. As a good, the only part about my memories of school that was delightful was the food. I've always loved the Malay stall's begedil and curry puffs. Some time back, I burst out laughing when a colleague's request for breakfast over email stated "Nasi lemak and curry puffs (both Malay style)." I get you, dude! Those are the best.

Although I was really full from lunch, I had to eat two for old times' sake. One sardine and one potato-ey. I wasn't disappointed. Both were old school YUMMZ.

Choosing Your Food

I just finished Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals". I didn't quite feel grossed out. It's more like, huge sigh. Is the information surprising? (Read reviews/comments here, here and here.)

Acquaintances often tease me about my odd preferences in food, how I don't eat chicken or pork, etc. I'm finicky about food. Life's too short to waste on hormone-injected bad food. If these acquaintances are fellow citizens or from countries that aren't third world, it's painful that they don't think too much about their food sources. Often, I can't be bothered to go into an extended discourse about the reasons why I eat certain items and why I don't eat others. If they see it, they'll understand. If they don't, they won't till later, or never. It isn't my place to convince anyone of anything.

The man understands this. So does the maid. Initially, she didn't understand why we're so 'paranoid' about the food we eat. But now she does. They're extra vigilant when picking out groceries.

By the way, I hope you do know that kampung chickens sold in Singapore aren't free range. AVA has never denied that the supposed kampung chickens you see in the supermarkets are not free range. These 'kampung chickens' have been raised on biosecured farms. Organic or antibiotic-free chickens don't equate free range either.

It isn't difficult to avoid eating chickens when I know how they're usually reared, farmed and killed. Same goes for other meats. Compassionate farms exist, few and far. I haven't missed chicken or pork in my food. The other day, I asked colleagues to tapau me 'wonton mee' because it was the most convenient item for them. Or fishball noodles. If I'm asking for a favor, I've to make sure that it doesn't cause too much trouble. But I only ate the noodles and the vegetables and left the rest of the meats untouched. Too bad for me that the stock and gravy are either chicken or pork. (The old adage of "don't waste your food" isn't quite applicable anymore.)

What I do wish for is that more people will be conscious about sustainable food sources and not just zero in on the price or dismiss the fact that only people who can afford it or who are atas will buy environmentally friendly products. My point is, if you're willing to pay for gig tickets, throw lavish wedding parties, baby showers and watnots, change cellphones regularly and pay telcos mad amounts of fees to watch World Cup, do think about the household budget on food and other items. Buying all that's cheap and good, and being frugal will sustain you and your children, but the earth might not be able to sustain your grandchildren.

If our eating habits don't change, our earth will, and it can only be for the worse.

To Catch A Friend

A girlfriend has popped into town for a couple of days. Bad bad timing. I've absolutely no time to sit down for a chi chi tea session or even a meal because I eat at 9pm nowadays. The only possible space to catch up is when I'm out running errands (like how I did a hit and run with corsage because I just couldn't squeeze time to catch up.) Looking at our schedules, the only possibility of meeting her is when I fulfil roster duties at the homes of my old folks with her in tow provided she's open to it and the old folks okayed that.

The girlfriend gamely came along to scrub and clean. She even became my translator when I didn't understand what a neighbor of a roster was trying to say. He was speaking in Hakka. I didn't even recognize the dialect till the girlfriend piped up a reply. I was blown away man! She isn't even Chinese! I didn't realized she has picked up Hakka in a matter of 3 years and I don't even know why that particular dialect! It made for great conversation.

"You've lost weight. Better. You looked pudgy 2 years ago." She eyed me with a critical look. "Keep it up and you might just look your best when you're 40." So much for kind words from this one. I rolled my eyes.

"Marriage becomes you." I stared daggers at her. That was a redundant, ridiculous statement. Before I could chew off her head, she was very clever to quickly add, "But what's normally applicable to the stereotypes of marriage aren't applicable to you. You're abnormal." Yes, I'm glad she knows that and how much I dislike certain types of conversation topics. Don't give me some auntie theories which the man and I don't subscribe to. I've always been an oddball and nothing will change that. I draw a very clear line when defining who are friends. Hence, that is why this one is a friend.

Prata Party!

The girlfriend wanted to throw a Prata Party! Yes! It's been too long since the last one! The thought of the Prata Party got me through the long week. I was so looking forward to it. When we got there, the prata man was just setting up shop in the garden. I was just lurking around and feeling very impatient to sink my teeth into a piping hot prata! Luckily we had the totally addictive Cheetos as appetizers to get us through the wait.

The prata man was really experienced. I was rather tempted to ask him if I could flip my own prata. On second thoughts, I decided against it. I might just make a mess out of it. So I simply watched in fascination as he expertly kneaded and flipped the dough.

While everyone pigged out on the prata telur, prata with cheese and mushrooms, prata with chocolate sauce and banana, prata caramel and watnots, I overdosed on my 2 prata kosong and 2 prata bawang. I haven't had prata for a long while. Had to eat my fill tonight! The pratas were good. Cripsy, soft and without that flour-y taste served straight from the stovetop to my plate. What a treat! The curries that came along were all well cooked, thick, spicy and flavorful.

The girlfriend's father plied us with plenty of Highland Park 30 y.o and lovely wine. Between lime juice, whisky, wine and teh tarik, I had a tough time deciding which to sip from! Heh.

Awwww. Such gracious hospitality at dinner. (Thank you girl!) The evening passed by too fast! I love a good Prata Party.

A New Pool!

After 2 months of construction hampered by heavy rain and winds, the pool at the girlfriend's house is ready!

This pool is almost like her Dad's baby. His pet project for sure. He spent so much time and effort supervising the works. We spent minutes giggling (marvelling) at how into it the Dad is. If he wasn't travelling so much and could spare some time, he would have moved the stones and tiles himself! He swims lah, so of course he'll want to make sure everything's well built. So now that it's finally completed, I must say it's a beautiful lap pool!

I don't fancy pools which are just round or peanut-shaped and sit pretty. Absolutely useless. As one who swims, my eyes lit up when I saw the completed pool. There was this really strong urge to plunge into the pool straightaway for a few laps. This is a proper swim pool!

Its depth is 1.3m evenly across. Perfect. I'm terrified of pools with depths that make the water level taller than I. There's this fear of drowning that's perpetually existent. Being a weak swimmer, I need to be psychologically assured that I can stand up in a pool before I will step in.

When Dinner Isn't About The Food

At Tatsuya, while waiting for the girls to prep our seats, my favorite server asked after my well-being. I smiled and said "I'm okay. It's just been a long day at work." She was like, "Oh dear!" and patted my arm. "I'll arrange your favorite thing." I raised an eyebrow. I don't even know what my favorite thing is.

I was just so glad to be seated and tucking into yummy food at this hour. After the starters, sake and cold ocha, I was back to my usual self instead of being morose.

My favorite girl swung by and gave me a wide smile. "The special is coming up!" When the servers brought it out, I realized she had requested the kitchen to save it for me when she knew the stocks were running low that evening. How thoughtful!

That special dish was a well stewed head of the yellowtail with sweet daikon. It's indeed a favorite thing!

Just Write

I was understandably annoyed when my counterpart didn't see it fit to inform me of an important piece of information in this project. I saw it brew and pointed it out. The emails went unanswered.

When I saw the updates today which confirmed my earlier thoughts, I hit the roof because it meant that my office would have to pay cancellation charges. How can my counterpart be so laissez-faire about it? This niggly thing, obviously isn't a problem to them at all. Let me put it this way- it definitely didn't occur to them that it might just inconvenience us, period.

I was pissed. If they could have done their checks earlier, it would have saved ME a whole lot of trouble. Why the hell should I have to grovel to my supplier to waive cancellation charges when it's just a job and not a goddamn life and death thing. Oh, I forgot it's because I feel too damn responsible and committed to see this project through till I'll do what's necessary to smoothen things out.

I wanted to shriek really really loud in the office. I wanted to yell cheebye and let loose a string of extremely innovative expletives. But I didn't. I just gritted my teeth and said "ARRRGGGH." To the utmost relief of my colleagues, I think.

That's the other thing. I hate it that for work purposes, I've to watch the expenses. I don't even do that for my personal expenditure. My personal spending habits are in such a stark contrast to how I hold the purse strings for work projects.

You know what? It's not my goddamn money I'm losing. I really don't need to feel this pissed. The irony, if the cancellation charges are on my personal expense account, I'd say fark it and let it go. But unfortunately, it's not my money and any sort of expenditure needs to be justified and I need to be able to stand by it. Farkeddy-fark.

At 9pm, I had had enough of an office with no fan and no air-conditioning. I was hungry too. As I turned to leave, I flipped the calendar to today's date. Then I grinned. The caption read, "I've learned to express my anger through my writing instead."

Ahhh. So, I followed that sagely advice. :)

It's About Value Systems

I'm happier with Shang Palace because the food is noticeably better with this chef. But the garlic situation hasn't improved. Well, I wasn't there for the food. It's just a venue to hold a meeting that involved many parties. Although I voiced my reservations about the choice of meeting venue in a Chinese restaurant, I wasn't about to protest too loudly. I need to let it develop and see who these people really are. It speaks volumes about the value systems of these people we're meeting.

Before the bulk of the humans came in for dinner, I was sprawled unglamorously in the adjoining sitting area with a rather stiff drink. Need.to.space.out before getting bombarded with ideas, whys and hows.

This is something I do outside of work and it's a project that I value tremendously, above all else I do at work. I must be mad to concurrently juggle this and the work projects. Too bad for the timing then. Anyway, someone's making a pitch to us and we'll have to decide whether to accept it. Competency isn't a problem. Character, attitude and the heart are issues that will be the deciding factors. It boils down to how much they believe in this project. I'm not convinced they are. The friends and I are split down the middle about their pitch, which has been well presented and financially sound. However, they're strangers to us and we're strangers to them. We've done our homework. We can assume that they've done theirs.

Someone from the other side enthused, "Let's have sharks' fin! Oh, that soup boiled with shark bones is fantastic. The pork ribs too. Very nice."

Given the context of this meeting, the suggestions of food choices for the evening are highly inappropriate. It's so lame, to say the least. I guess the other side didn't do their homework. Tonight has been a test of sorts. If the other party can't see that, we needn't entrust them with this project either.

Part 1 :: Gigs In January

This is so going to be the year for gigs. I know it. The first month of 2010 is already host to a overwhelming number of gigs. More to come in February and March. Ain't complaining for sure. Loving it. The Singapore indie music gig calendar never had it so good.

It's amazing how during this crazy month of mine, I managed to juggle the long work days and somehow cabbed it down to Esplanade in time for the gigs. Importantly, I get to catch up with alot of good friends, talk about topics (music and theatre, for instance) close to our hearts. Am so thankful to have their quirky sense of humor and sharp intellect to keep me sane (and grounded) always. Let's check out the count so far.

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Tue 12th)

This gig sold out the moment tickets were released on the same day. Woah. I was so so close to the stage that I hated water droplets flung all over me, even if they're out of Karen O's mouth. I like Karen O, but saliva is YUCKY. She was totally in element man. So good to see multi-instrumentalist David Pajo touring with YYYs. The last time I saw David Pajo in Singapore was in March 2006 at Esplanade as well when he had a double bill with Darren Hanlon. What a show. Tell me you caught the red Y-shaped confetti and secretly kept 3 Ys. I did.

2. Cat Power (Wed 13th)

Oh, Chan Marshall has no idea how much Singapore loves her. This was a sold-out gig. I was honestly surprised. I don't even know many who listen to Cat Power and all 1600 seats in the Esplanade Concert Hall were all filled. Though she started almost 30 minutes later than the stated 9pm, I'm just glad that her spaced-out behavior didn't happen during this gig. She's a sweetie to come off the stage to hand out fresh flowers to the front rows. I must be such a groupie to keep my stalks of white roses.

3. Patrick Watson (Tue 19th)

This is an absofuckinlutely delightful gig. DELIGHTFUL. I haven't enjoyed a singer-songwriter gig this much since Ben Folds last September. (A rockout arena gig would be Them Crooked Vultures last month.) You gotta be there tonight man, I've no words to describe the gig. Such unbridled joy, pure easy talent. Patrick Watson is fantastic live. His cds don't even capture half of the essence of his live performances. He and the band blew me away with the plethora of musical instruments and the various sounds.

I love how the band did "Where The Wild Things Are" (It's modelled after the book). The tune goes so well with the recently released movie. The movie is an interesting interpretation of my childhood read. However, one needs to watch that movie through a child's eyes and mind, not look at it critically from an adult's sombre and mature concepts. The book has what, 10 lines in it. Obviously Spike Jonze has to be very creative when bringing it to screen. If you watch it like a boring adult, you will go WTF and call it a piece of shit. If your movie diet leans predominantly towards Hollywood blockbusters, TCS5/8 dramas or Hong Kong soaps, don't bother watching this movie- you'll hate it. Whimsical thoughts and preferably a warped sense of humor are needed to 'see' the movie adaptation of 'Where The Wild Things Are'. Do read the book. Or remember how you felt as a child; re-read it now, then compare and contrast. I remember the book and the movie. When I heard 'Where The Wild Things Are' live tonight, I was so thrilled that I bobbed up and down like a teddy bear. Hell, I'm sure my teddy bears will adopt it as their anthem.

4. Andrew Bird (Tue 26th)

Rolling Stone online described him as "a violin virtuoso steeped in early jazz and Celtic folk who announced himself as a top-shelf singer-songwriter". And he is. I know his gig will be mesmerizing. I really really want to watch this. But the date is smack in the middle of a heavy heavy day at the office. Wish me luck that I can get off work in time.

Bands I've watched and can't be bothered to check out again.
Green Day, The Killers, (upcoming) Muse and, (upcoming) Kings of Convenience.

Soup At Lunch!

By now, we've all given up fighting with the birthday girl to pay for the meal. We've decided to let her have the thrill of grabbing the bill during this one meal that she gathers everyone for. We could separately, one on one, haul her out for another meal and threaten bodily harm and all sorts of blackmail gestures should she even make a twitch towards her purse.

At LingZhi's vegetarian hotpot outlet for the annual meal with the birthday girl, we went ahead with loading up the table with lots of food. Our selection of the soup base of black truffle, carrot and turnips was pretty flavorful. It was ummm.....very ideal for cooking vegetables and mushrooms. The other half of the pot contained tom yum soup which lent a bite to the pieces of boiled corn. I wolfed down many pieces of corn. I like corn VERY MUCH.

There were the mock meats which I'm not quite hot about. It's just gluten, flour and starch. UGH. As tasty as some are, including this 'chicken nugget' thingy which had good texture, I preferred the gyozas, vegetables, tofu and rojak stuff! The radish/carrot cake was well steamed- I ate a fair bit of that! Although the Tofurkey- something I had in London because I didn't want turkey, tasted pretty alright as a mock meat especially when there was a good gravy/sauce to go along at the side!

Now, I need to think about getting the birthday girl a present. Yah, I know- I'm terrible- I turned up at lunch without a gift in hand. SIGH. She can be SO DIFFICULT to get pressies for. Since she has found the 3 ugliest things sold in Mustafa Centre, I'm quite determined to find a fourth, elsewhere perhaps. We shall see.

To JB For Dinner!

What can be nicer than being ferried to Johor Bahru (JB) for a seafood dinner?!

The man and I have vague memories of JB. The man's last trip to JB was almost 7 years ago. I haven't been there for some 6 years! We definitely don't know the roads anymore.

The friends prefer to go to JB via the Second Link at Tuas. Amidst the madness of the weekend crowds and snaking queues, it's actually way faster to avoid Woodlands and use the other causeway. There was no queues and we got through real quick. When the one at the steering wheel is this steady and really fast driver, we got to JB in a shorter time than if we had queued at Woodlands.

Going across the causeway is quite a mini adventure as this isn't the usual weekend activity for us ! We rejected the idea of checking out the malls and shopping. The friends were quite relieved. Heh. They had nothing to buy from the shops either. So we headed straight to San Low Seafood. The friends said that this restaurant has been around for 20 years and every zi char-loving Singaporean knows it. I suppose- 9 out of 10 cars parked outside the restaurant carry a Singapore license plate. It's so near the Woodlands entry point into Malaysia. But don't ask me how to get there. I didn't pay attention to the roads and I'm not bothered to find the directions. We won't come in here on our own without the friends anyway.

It isn't even remarkable to mention that the seafood is fresh. It seems to be a given that every zi char seafood place in JB is fairly good. Dinner was nothing short of delicious. The or nee (sweet taro) dessert tipped us over the edge and very close to hebetude.

Nothing could be tapau-ed home as it wouldn't taste that good anymore. These dishes are best eaten hot off the pan. Still, we left with 2 giant bags of keropok udang.

A Garden Party

There're weddings I dislike and won't attend. Then, there're those invitations I say yes to almost immediately. This is one of those.

It's very nice to head out of town on the weekend and into a green belt. I love the easy vibes at Gabriel and Susan's wedding lunch at Mimolette. A party, they say, and a party the guests made. The sauvignon blanc is gorgeous- so good till all of us drank it and none of us knew what it is or where it's from.

The bride and groom had plenty of opportunity to mingle with everyone and chat. Everyone knew one another. We've all hung out at some point, and many, regularly. Those colors on the bride's sari are so beautiful! I love the jewel hues, beads, detailing and most of all, how radiant she looked.

Thanks for having us at your party. We loved it. What a sweet and heartwarming celebration. Congratulations Gabriel and Susan!

Talking About Meixco

I spoke at length to a guest who's a long way from home. He's from Mexico. He showed us photos of Mexican cities, vacation spots and his hometown. I remembered. "The mee-shee-ka", I uttered softly. He heard, "Yes! You know?"

Yes, I know. Somehow, all that I saw and read last month at the British Museum on 'Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler' (exhibition ends 24 Jan'10), came rushing back. I probably memorized the entire exhibition and am still not quite sure of why and how the subconscious mind did that. I had done alot of extensive reading back in school about the history of the country and recently focused alot more on the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire; the short and painful history of colonialism. The Nahuatl language enchants me. The differences between their scripts and codex as compared to the Egyptian scrolls are most compelling. Mexico is one place I'd love to visit.

It's a little surreal that I only know the ancient cities- names, existence, culture and locations, but not much of their current incarnations. I can visualize these cities on the old maps, but know nothing of today's vibrant cities and the Yucatan Peninsula that is also host to Los Cabos.

He has an interest in architecture. I'm not really sure how, but we spoke of how the churches have been built on ancient bases of temples now destroyed in the various cities, starting with Tenochtitlan, today's Mexico City.

See, museums are wonderful and they impart practical knowledge. Museums and their curated exhibitions provide us a link to the world and its citizens through another perspective. We didn't go into the politics of history. We centred on the rich leftovers and the charms of today's spots in each city. I saw a fraction of Mexico through his eyes and the life with his family.

Ookay, cheap thrill, but it brightened the work day.

A Strawberry Shortcake

I'm not reading enough baking and cooking blogs, articles or food reviews. I've run out of adjectives to describe 'good', 'fantastic' and 'wonderful'.

No, the thesaurus can't help. It's gotta do with sentence structures and phrasing now. So I gotta admit I'm no writer when it comes to describing food and desserts properly. It's like, I'm not able to express the words that will accord said items the proper compliments they deserve.

So instead of saying good, I ought to go a step further by saying exactly how good. Take the strawberry shortcake. The girlfriend saved this recipe so that she could bake this for me when she's back in town.

That cream cheese was ummm....creamy. I usually taste the cream cheese on scones and carrot cakes. Put on the strawberry shortcake cake, it added a different flavor. The girlfriend declared that she put very little sugar in there, way less than the recipe called for. And you know what, the sweetness versus all other flavors and the sugared strawberries turned out beautifully balanced.

Now, I just need to go take out that balloon of Strawberry Shortcake, pump it up and wear a pink dress to take a photo with the rest of the cake. Heeee.

Doing A Nut Loaf

A simple dinner tonight was still a 4-course affair. A soup, 1 main and its accompany side and dessert. Seemingly innocuous, but it left me feeling a little dazed. Not from the mojitos, but from the fact that the stomach was in overdrive digesting all the food!

The potato and leek soup already promised that we ought to loosen the jeans. Plenty of nuts, lemon rind, carrots, celery, parsley bread soaked in milk, caramelized onions, etc went into the nut loaf. The end product was this very aromatic nut loaf flavored with various herbs and spices that was super filling. Crunchy and soft all at the same time, it was a good bite to the soup and pasta.

The man served the spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce and drizzled with garlic basil oil. The practice run last week was to ensure he would have sufficient time to tweak and refine the recipe so that it would be ready to be served at this dinner.

There was a homemade cake for dessert too. More about that in a separate post.

I definitely over-ate. How to sleep tonight? The stomach is bloated! But I'm so glad that there's still plenty of spaghetti and nut loaf left so that I could tapau it to lunch at work.

Mojitos For A Hot Day!

Like all sublime food, the ingredients are the secret to making a drink rock.

For a change, we didn't have wine or whisky at dinner. The weather was all the excuse we needed to grab a cool summer drink. We made mojitos. I like mojitos very much. But I rarely get a good one outside. It'd either be too filled with too much sugar or crap rum.

We broke out the 12 y.o Angostura 1824. We found the apple mint leaves that lends cocktails that distinct taste that's different from the usual mint leaves. There was bottled lime juice from the supermarket because we were too lazy to squeeze fresh limes by hand.

As the man bustled about in the kitchen, he also hopped out to put the mojitos together. I vaguely recall that before dinner, we had already drunk 5 or 6 mojitos each. Hiccc!

Eating Well

I like how understated DOMVS is. It was an oasis of calm. I didn't feel like I had walked into a warzone. The menu had changed. But still good. So I wanted comfort food. That meant a hearty pumpkin risotto. I knew the chef was on leave, but I still took a gamble that the kitchen would be well taken care of. It was. The pumpkin risotto was done well. I wouldn't say it was done perfectly, but it hit a spot and made everything alright again.

That made it a very good reason to order a bottle of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1998 to go with the meal. And when the mains were done, we didn't want dessert. But you see, a good restaurant which has pride in its food and service would be able to put diners in a mellow mood and keep them returning. Therefore, in lieu of dessert, we had another bottle of Dom Pérignon of the same year.

We were the last to leave the restaurant. We definitely delayed the floor staff's knock-off time, so on top of the service charge in our bill, it was only right for us to leave a big tip by way of thanks. The dinner at DOMVS contributed to all positive beginnings in 2010.

A Home, Not

Forget houses, I've so many paranoia issues with security and stairs that I'll never live in a house that has more than 1 storey. So when it comes to flats, there is a strict policy of no lofts or penthouses. As long as my name is on the ownership papers, that piece of property mustn't have any friggin' stairs.

Flats to me are like, well, just properties. I've come to realize that they don't excite me. I don't go ooh and ahh over them. They're simply utilitarian. To me, renting a flat and buying one has no major difference. I'm not sentimental over a flat. A home is wherever I define it to be. It doesn't even have to be in Singapore.

I don't have a habit of physically going out to view flats. I'm quite decisive about things like location and environment. Those information can be gleaned through paper submissions and viewed in a virtual tour. I demand full details, disclosure and information. This way, it's easy to shortlist 3 properties and then simply make a decision.

When I finally went down to see the empty flats, I was pleased with the fact that they were everything the lawyers and agent declared. If I could pay the Ikea consultant to outfit the entire flat including the renovations, I'd merrily do so.

Hence, it's extremely pleasing to have a professional interior designer to do the entire project, including yelling at people to faster move their ass and hurry up with it already. I honestly don't care if you use crimson or mauve. It's all maroon to me. Or if the teal leans towards blue rather than green. Better still, another professional can sort out the issue of passing it over to the tenants.

I like conveyancing lawyers. They do the thinking and sums to help me achieve the desired objectives and outcomes. :) These aren't my first properties. Investing in them is important, of course. They ensure a continuous stream of happiness. However, the greater realization is, I finally remember that I possess an active CPF account. This kinda happens when I've obediently paid income tax for 4 years. Neither do I want to invest the funds because it'll be the most sluggish performing with the lowest rates of return among my investments. I just want to find some way to use the funds and not let it sit idle. The whole point of this flat-buying exercise is to deplete my CPF to its remaining limits because I'm not convinced of the viability of this scheme to sustain me through to death.

A Quote & Our Landscape Today

Walking through 'The Image of Our Landscape' at the National Museum where old photos, prints and paintings of Singapore showed a bygone era (the 19th century), I really couldn't imagine what Singapore was like then. It was an unfamiliar landscape, a different culture and atmosphere. I couldn't identify with it.

Then I read a quote by William Hornaday and chuckled rather loudly. Luckily the area was empty.

So many things have shifted and changed along with the sands of time. Roads, buildings, dress, people, attitudes, cultures, political masters, infrastructure, way of life, etc. The island has gone through tumultuous times. Many see Singapore and marvel at our swift urbanization and keen determination to rise as a trading power in the region. Changes aplenty. The landscape of Singapore today bears no resemblance to that of the 19th century port. However, little did the esteemed William Hornaday know that his words spoken in 1885 still ring true 125 years later.

But really, has anything changed?

Otto With The Girlfriend

Starting the year with good food and company is a tradition that I'd like to continue. Who am I kidding, I want it to be like this for the whole year! When the girlfriend had no strong opinions about dinner venue beyond a preference for a glass of wine, of course I pulled her to Otto Ristorante. It's quite interesting how this island's dining scene is dotted by many Italian restaurants. The pastas, meats and desserts really appeal to the Singapore palate.

I considered asking the chef to do a spicy pasta aglio e olio. But bearing in mind each time I visit, I make strange off-the-menu requests that probably made the chef's life miserable, I decided to stick to the menu offerings. The lobster pasta was super spicy as pointedly requested. Hahaha. I think the chef secretly rolled his eyes. Ah well. It was much better spicy somehow. Heh. Otherwise, with just the tomato sauce and minimal spiciness, though beautiful, the pasta doesn't quite pack a punch.

The girlfriend satisfied her craving with a well braised tender veal cheek with mash. That mash! I wanted to steal all of her truffle flavored mash. But I didn't. I restrained myself to 2 scoops out of her plate. However, the shared appetizer of grilled tomino cheese decidedly chased all thoughts of dessert away. We couldn't stomach anything else after the mains.

Since the girlfriend was in the mood for a red, I didn't mind a glass too! Since Italian reds have been around all through the 12 days of Christmas, I'm not so averse to them now. There was no way we could do a full bottle, so we had limited choices and stuck to a half bottle which turned out surprisingly fruity and easy (as promised!).

The girlfriend was sweet. She didn't just pick me up and sent me home. She also asked if the man wanted to join us for dinner. I was like, NO! It's girls ONLY. Then we're free to talk about matters of all manner. Dinner was so relaxing. Service was excellent. Food was very decent. Good vibes all around. What an absolutely pleasing evening.

The First Dinner Of 2010

The man was simply in a mood to try out recipes, so he made the friends come over to try the food. Since it wasn't going to be a proper dinner party thingy, I took the liberty to go out gallivanting the whole day with the girlfriend, then dragged her home to be part of the critics too.

When I got home, all that was required was to set the table. The dinner menu was impressive for a meal that was supposed to be casual and easy. It was, to me, a herculean effort. It was a kinda East-West dinner. The man made the starter, 2 mains, greens and dessert.

The spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce and garlic basil oil was pretty good. Plum tomatoes rock. The pasta was not quite Scarpetta's, but lovely enough. Of course the latter has a special sort of homemade spaghetti that makes it taste unique and not easy to replicate. There was no way we could get the fresh sort of ingredients from our markets in Singapore. This homemade version we had was quite alright.

Now, the stewed beef brisket. He trawled the net, collected a couple of recipes and somehow meshed them together into his own. Together with daikon, tendons and all, the pot simmered for 3 hours yesterday and 2 hours today. Rice and crunchy baby bok choi accompanied the dish. The friends were well versed in matters of Chinese food and stew, and said the stew was flavorful, tender and appetizing. Hmmm. It disappeared really fast. I don't mind it, but my word doesn't count because I'm no expert on beef brisket. I only know that as a stew, it's rather tasty, much better than any I've had at the restaurants.

What's mind-boggling is the man's determination to do dessert. He doesn't do desserts!!! Wonder why he suddenly wanted to try. He must be mad. Still, he chose an easy start. Pre-made pie crust is the way to go. He made a chocolate swirl cheesecake chocolate swirl cheesecake. He was very clever to use dark chocolate to finish the cake. It was a tad sweet, but edible. That dark chocolate is awesome.

Soothing and mellow Italian reds accompanied the evening. I'm beginning to be rather fond of Italian reds now. They've turned out fairly trustworthy this festive season. Still, I'm a complete noob about any sort of wine.

Nasi Padang

The craving for spices didn't hit till we got home proper. So out came lunch on the dining table. Very nice.

Going To The Cafes

I've never embraced breakfast and brunch with more enthusiasm than in London and New York City. NYC has bagels and fantastic pizzas. BAGELS. London has many many exciting food for me. Oh, the cafe culture so rocks.

I love how easy it is to grab a sandwich or salad for lunch here. In Singapore, I don't have many lunch options since I'm stuck in the office office or at work lunches. When I do get lunch on my own, the choices are often oily carb-laden items that don't appeal. (Except Big D's anchovy pasta of course. I eat that ALL THE TIME whenever I can.) Well, there's Subway, Starbucks and CoffeeBean, of which all serve shite sandwiches and NO NICE EGGS. And yes, bad greens. UGGGH. Why do we not have a sandwich culture in the little red dot? Looks like it's back to homecooked lunches soon.

In London, every morning, I bounce out of bed happy and hungry. There's this skip in my step as I walk to Lantana Cafe or Monmouth Coffee, slip inside to inhale all the coffee aroma and decide on what I want to eat for the morning.

I'm missing London's fabulous coffee and its cafes.

Anchovy Pasta At Big D's

(Big D's Grill has closed)

The one pasta that I had a serious craving for. MmmmmMMmm. Oh so spicy good.

Ringing In 2010

After that dismal dinner at Bonta where we left halfway and made our displeasure known, we ran away to the girlfriend's place to whine. Thank god for friends and desserts.

She brought out the most wonderful bread and butter pudding that made up for every terrible dish at dinner. I savored every bit of the pudding. Although she tsk-ed at me (and all of us) for scooping so little custard over it. We rung in the new year with a simple but trusted Sassicaia 2006. No, we didn't finish that crate of wine.

What was unbelievable was how we all sat through The Room and dissected the movie as if we would in film class. The Room is known as the worst movie of the decade. Of course we have to watch it to know why. It's definitely not 'black comedy' as imbd terms it. It's freaking C-grade soft porn with crap plot and plenty of holes! Execrable! We couldn't sit through it and fast-forwarded it to the last 10 minutes before the end.

The Room is phenomenally inadequate, considering the movie took US$7million to make and not US$700,000. Tommy Wiseau's accent would make Singlish sound beautiful. Somewhere in the middle, I was sure that even Mediacorp's dramas might be marginally better than this. The movie was laughingly awful and had me in stitches by the end. 2 of the friends fell asleep. Hahah.

But it's amazing how animated we were when dissing the movie after. We took enormous pleasure in pointing stories and lines that went nowhere, repeated sex scenes and well, the star's hair. Oh dear, if we start 2010 with such a crap movie, may the Hollywood deities help us all to improve the lot for movie genres this year. :p

Christmas Potluck

We were invited over to the potluck (as per tradition) lunch at the dessert angel's. It was a day we excitedly set aside because we missed our friends!

Besides the fruit and nut pilaf (raisins, cashew and pine) merrily done to near perfection, the man tried to recreate the fabulous pasta we had at The Gate. It was tasty, but not quite there yet.

Unfortunately, the supermarkets were all out of big red onions. So he had to substitute with the Japanese big yellow onions which weren't quite complementary. Worse still, the recipe calls for chanterelle mushrooms. We couldn't get the fresh ones at short notice and not now. So we had to stick to the dried ones which weren't ideal. So more to experiment!

I overdosed on curried carrot and coriander soup. I was just so damn happy that the friends didn't put a huge dollop of dreaded cream into it that I slurrrrped up 3 bowls! The greens whipped up by another were fantastic. Although I was sad that I mistook olives for juicy green grapes. Heeeeee.

Well, I rushed through the meal because dessert was the highlight of the meal! That was about all I wanted to eat. There, I've said it.

A friend brought her mom's homemade mince pies. But I was all macaron-ed and mince-pied out in London. So I took only 1 very good mince pie. The chocolate sheet was excellent although the top was a tad oily. She said she had no confectioner's sugar and had to do some thingamajig to substitute. But the dessert angel had cut down on sugar and butter used, so it was still pretty good! Now, what I totally dig is the grape and almond frangipane tart. I ate big chunks of that. I ate both the man's portion and mine, and had second helpings.

Fed, warm and happy, of course I fell asleep for a good hour on the couch, (this is getting to be a bad habit this Christmas!) sprawled most unglamorously with the mouth wide open. Ha.