NAE:UM :: 'Episode 6: After Work Hideaway'

Checked in with NAE:UM for its new and refreshed 'Episode 6: After Work Hideaway'. It's the restaurant's take on the familiar Korean pocha (pojangmacha) that many people retreat to, well, after work for lights bites, skewers and loads of beer or soju.

Ignored all the offers of Korean rice wine and such. I really don't like the taste of it. Didn't want soju either. Sake was the wine to go. Or wine. The snacks arrived in their signature themed box, which is always a fun start to the evening. 

We began with appetizers of duck galbi, and an exquisite thin blanket of daikon with yellowtail sashimi, lemon soy and caviar. The somyeon of buckwheat, scallop and white kimchi was still gorgeous. I loved this iteration too. Apparently it was supposed to be cuttlefish at the start of the new menu, but somehow, it became scallop again.

Then it was a jeonbok of abalone, wagyu beef and seaweed. I didn't want wagyu if it came in slabs. I can't deal with the fat in those. The kitchen told me it was minced beef. Okay then. Minced isn't so bad. It was presented so delicately.

We got to the meats. The deep fried turbot with sweet cabbage and parsnip was beautiful. I requested not to have the quail with leek mind and black garlic. I detest the very strong gamey flavors in quail, pigeon and pheasants. They replaced it with red grouper. Perfect. That was beautifully seared with very crisp skin.

When these meats are considered mains, I would prefer to have proteins that I could eat and fill my tummy with, not leave a restaurant dissatisfied and hungry. I'm also at an age where I do not want to compromise on eating things that I do not want to eat. I'm not being difficult in asking for a replacement ingredient since the kitchen already have it.

The sotbap of house-made dubu, braised pork and braised kimchi was comforting. That was soooo delicious. The larger portion of rice was given to ME. The man didn't want that much carbs. Heh. Red kimchi and gochuchang isn't my thing, but I'll deal. It came with a small cup of kimchi soup. I tasted it. As far as red kimchi soup go, it was a really elegant iteration. But it isn't my thing, so I gave that all to the man. 

The first dessert of apple, shiso and fromage-blanc was delicious. I enjoy desserts like this. I picked out the shiso leaves though. The bit of apple was sliced soooo thin. The second dessert was what I've always loved in NAE:UM's offerings — dates and jujube, and unfortunately this iteration came with truffle. The man loved it. I liked it, but I could have done without the truffle.

Y's Achar Buah

Y gifted us a tub of achar buah. His version is filled with well, preserved fruit. Remember those candied plums, raisins and olives of our childhood? I didn't eat them, but I remember them. Y used these in his pot of achar, simmered, boiled down and placed in tubs for his friends.

This achar buah is sweeter and less tangy than the usual Nyonya achar. The latter uses vegetables (cauliflower, cucumber, carrot, etc) rather than fruits. Don't ask me about spicy. I don't find achar spicy at all even though chillies are used in the concoctions.

I didn't want to keep the achar buah forever. I decided to finish it in three meals. Went to get lunch after HIIT so that I could whack those carbs into my tummy. The man wanted carbs too! The Jalan Sultan area was convenient for us. So it wasn't a matter of getting the 'best of' whatever or at our usual 'ideal' eateries. It was a convenient, decent pack of lunch that we wanted to go with the achar buah.

The man got chicken biryani for the man from Victory and added on vegetables and chicken innards. I wanted nasi padang and didn't mind the version from Hjh Maimunah, and added on sides so that we had extras and got a portion saved for dinner too. I had no time to get out to buy dinner that night or sit down anywhere to leisurely eat. 

I bought six begedil. Hahahaha. And loads of sambal quail eggs. There, spices sorted. The spicy part would come from there, and also from Hjh Maimunah's very good sambal terasi and sambal belachan. These went so so well with the sweet achar buah. What fantastic foods!

A Garden Wedding Party

I rarely attend weddings nowadays. Some friends who are on their second or third weddings, and for a select few, I will still attend, especially if I see them regularly. Church weddings and drinks are fine; luncheons are dependent on venue and mode. I prefer not to attend those awkward and stilted sit-down Chinese banquets. I ABSOLUTELY DETEST THOSE> I NO GIVE FACE TO ANYONE FOR THAT. 

This afternoon's wedding celebration for Candice and Ross was held at such a gorgeous garden venue of Sri House at Dempsey. There were canapés but it wasn't a luncheon or tea. Importantly, the invitation indicated 'drinks'. VERY GOOD. I had happily accepted and turned up. I wouldn't have minded if they had opted for an outdoor garden party. But I guess it's impractical to do so in Singapore. They held it indoors, in pleasant air-conditioning. 

As luck would have it, Sri House ran out of Glenfiddich for this party, and gave me Monkey Shoulder. I'll pass. That choice totally controlled my alcohol intake. I opted for red wine instead. I don't drink that much red wine because the sulphites do funny things to IBS symptoms. That meant I would take it slow. And I did. I was done after two very full glasses of red. Then I downed four full glasses of water and felt really pleased. I even skipped the boozy wedding cake and opted for a piece of the other non-boozy wedding cake.

Have I already talked about those BounceBack pills? I think they rebranded to something else. But the point is the same. DrinkAid, et cetera. Take those at your own peril. It doesn't mean you can drink like a fish after. That's not the point. You will still get drunk if you go overboard and feel like shit, and still kena a hangover. At our age, why would anyone just want to get sloshed for the sake of clubbing and getting sloshed? Your skin sucks and your throat feels like crap the next day.

It was a very busy weekend full of socials for me. I could put my foot down to say no to attending, but I didn't. I decided to turn up for all my socials since I care about these people. I knew I was in for a whole weekend of drinking. I could decline alcohol. These weren't mad parties where people would force anyone to drink. 

I don't feel pressurized about drinking either. I never do. I drink if I feel like it, and I don't if I don't. That's that. Nobody would dare to or have any right to judge me for not drinking, or drinking for that matter. But that Saturday, I felt like having three drinks in the afternoon and five drinks at night. So I decided to take it slow and pop some pills to ease the load off of my liver.

Celebrating N's 48th!

N's husband rustled up the few of us for a last minute gathering at their home to celebrate N's birthday. Some couldn't make it, but many of us could. He wondered what he could order for dinner, and we flat out told him pizza and pastas, Italian, to make it all fuss-free and painless. Delivery would be dependable and quick. Nobody would be there to pig out lah. Something simple would be the best to create minimal hassle for the hosts too.

Glad to see N finally chilling out and relaxing for her birthday dinner celebration at home. This meet came after a few hectic weeks for her, and I. We didn't have time to meet prior to this celebration, and couldn't match schedules for a quick coffee or to walk the dogs together either! But we could do quick drop-offs and pick-ups. I could easily take Ryo over and walk him. Hahaha. Tonight was a proper meet, it was N's birthday dinner. Time must be made to get together for a few drinks and a few bites.

I had things to do in the afternoon, and sent Choya ahead first. Ryo would be glad to see her. She would have no problems chilling out there for the whole afternoon with Ryo before we came up in the evening. Hahah. She was perfectly fine. But I understood she had a spat with Ryo and won a new toy from him. Tsk tsk.

It was a lovely evening catching up with friends. Of course I over-ate — couldn't resist the various pastas and I obviously drank too much too. But gosh, thank goodness for those BBack pills (or DrinkAid or whatever). Without them, I'd have had a royal hangover. But I did have to mega-hydrate in order to keep functioning. Heh.

N's husband B gave us strict instructions not to bring gifts. So I didn't. I simply sent her flowers that arrived in the morning, and got small jars of cookies that would go well with their daily caffeine. N was happier celebrating at home than partying it up at a club or a restaurant. Everyone was comfortable hanging out and chatting — we didn't realize it was midnight! No wonder the floofs were restless — they wanted to pee and they wanted supper. Hahahaha. 

With all my wishes for another year of fun and joy, N. For goodness sake, I should have gotten you a package at the osteopath. Stay injury-free! 🍅

Ennui, Elision, Omission & Isolation

Again, reading about the life of a housewife with memory lapses in 'The Hole' by Hiroko Oyamada (2014) ; 「穴」小山田浩子, isn't my idea of cool. I don't know if the forest is fantastical in her mind, and the mythical animal she saw is simply native to the region. Anyway. 

Translated by David Boyd and published in English in 2020, reviews chose to look at the book's 'bizarre' tale as a representation of gender roles in society, along with young married couples' economic worries, the sense of dislocation, and also the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. (Reviews here, here, here and here.)

In an oppressively hot summer, protagonist Asahi 'Asa' and her husband Muneaki Matsuura have just moved to the countryside for his newly transferred job. As such, she hasn't gotten a job, but their finances are okay because they live rent-free in a house here that happens to be owned by her in-laws. Asa seems to have holes in her memory since she can't seem to describe her previous job or even remember what her husband's job is.

It's a very small town. A village in the countryside. Job opportunities are rare. There're many retirees and elderly in the village, and very little young adults or children. This is a huge change from the couple's previous lives in Tokyo, when both had jobs that occupied all their time. When I finished reading this long paragraph about her new life in the village, I was equally numb. I shuddered to think of such a life for myself. To have to prep meals for my husband twice a day? And pack lunch for him? OMG. To prep, cook and clean all day. NO.

In this small village, Asa isn't even called by her name; she is referred to as "the bride". The gender roles are stereotyped and clearly defined here. She falls into hole, and then many subsequent holes. There're so many metaphors in the story, and an eventual metamorphosis when towards the end of summer, and the end of the book, we learnt that she secured a job as a cashier at the local 7-Eleven. 

Once I was finished at the supermarket, I'd spend the rest of the day at home. There were no libraries or malls or bookstores within walking distance. Once we'd finished moving in, I felt like a kid on summer vacation: no homework, no plans. I started looking for a job, but I was having trouble getting around. All I could do was check the bulletin boards at the grocery store and the other small businesses in the area. Under these circumstances, I couldn't imagine finding anything very soon. I'd wake up a little before six, pack my husband's lunch, make his breakfast, see him off, go shopping, clean the house, or maybe run the laundry — but after that, I didn't have anything to do. Living the dream? Really? It was weird to think about how, until now, I'd been working from morning till night. That life didn't seem real anymore. We were two different people: the me who had to work all day to make ends meet, and the me who had nothing to do after lunch except waste time until making dinner in the evening. I was pretty sure I'd get sick of my new routine within a week — but it only took a day. Every day after that was as mind-numbing as the one before, ad infinitum. In theory, I could watch TV, use the computer, read a book bake like I used to when I was single — but it seemed like everything cost money. I had to spend money to pass the time. People say housewives get free room and board and even time to nap, but the truth is napping was the most economical way to make it through the day. The house moved slowly, but the days passed with staggering speed. Soon I lost all sense of time. I didn't have any appointments or deadlines. The days were slipping through my fingers.

Choya Was Happy & Good As Gold At The Hair Salon

I thought that the nail salon and the hair salon would be the two places that I can have some 'alone time'. Without the Smol Girl. But nowadays, I take her along too. Heh. She's rather unobtrusive.  

I still go to one nail salon in town without Choya, but the other one allows dogs in there because the dog groomer occupies the ground floor. That's Le Pawtory, and Emerald Allure is the nail salon I can hop into while waiting for Choya to be done with her grooming. I don't do anything complicated to my nails. I just have them cleaned and shorn short. Most times, I leave nails unvarnished. That's easy.

Then when I made an appointment at the hair salon to do a scalp treatment and to cover the grey roots, my hair stylist said, "Bring Choya here! If she's okay this first visit, she can come again." Since I wouldn't be trimming my hair this trip and have it bother the Smol Girl who would be on the floor near me, I decided to take her up on this invite. 

Now, my hair salon is located at this mall which doesn't explicitly allow dogs to roam about. But there's a Pet Lovers Centre within the mall, on Level 4, which is right next to my hair salon. LOL. Anyway, I don't have to sneak. I just drive up to Level 4 carpark, and walk straight in to the shop. I bypass all escalators and elevators. 

I picked a quiet week day afternoon to visit so that there wouldn't be many clients who would mind a Smol Girl hanging out. Luckily I did, because the husband couldn't be at home with Choya or take her along to his meetings, and there was a thunderstorm predicted.

I allowed Choya to have a wander for a few minutes when she walked into the salon. She likes to know where she is and figure out geography. Then I went to my seat. She explored a little and settled into a corner. There would be a few corners that she could shift about when she grew tired of this. 

I spent 2.5 hours at the salon, with the Macbook open and furiously typing. Choya snoozed the afternoon away. She's unperturbed by hair dryers and similar sounds. The chemicals used aren't that strong today. I was so stoked by how chill she was. The darkening skies outside didn't frighten her since there was not thunder at that point. The mall was insulated enough against the sounds of a light drizzle. 

Know your floof. You would know if she's okay being quiet and not really moving for hours in a corner. Can she stay there unleashed and uncrated? How would she be in a bag? Know how she reacts to external stimuli. She's not going to meet your expectations if you've never conditioned or socialized her to do so. Don't set your floof up for failure. 

I know mine. THAT'S MY GIRL. 

It's Just Dinner and Math, There's Nothing 'Girl' About It.

In a group chat with some acquaintances who happen to be all girls, they brought up a meet and a date, but the venue was pending. Then three of them made this suggestion that really triggered me. They typed out, "Let's do a girl dinner!" They weren't being sarcastic. They're thinking of wine and cheese and charcuterie. Not even mac n cheese. 

WALAOEH. NO. 

I veto-ed it, but for very social reasons, I couldn't be too rude. I replied, "I need actual carbs. I can do vegetarian but I need more than finger food. Happy to join in if venue and date work out." And I left it at that. I can do burgers but my stomach doesn't want anything greasy in the composition of the patty. Which is why I end up choosing Impossible meats each time and stick to Shake Shack's beef patty ratios.

For many reasons, wine and finger food of charcuterie and cheese sets off my IBS symptoms stat. Charcuterie, salami, sausages and cheese do not make a satisfying meal for me, in the same way that if you feed me pizza and wings and call it 'dinner'. I HATE THESE FOODS. FFS, at least give me bread and tasty salted butter. The last time a girlfriend fed me wine and cheese and crackers for dinner at home, I had to ask for cup noodles. I was hungry. 

This TikTok 'Girl Dinner' fad is extremely annoying. Bird food? Seeds? Grass? Wine? Bubbly? What then comprise 'Boy Dinner' huh? Meats and bones and offal? Beer? Whisky? Can we be less Neanderthal about it? Good gawwd. Food is food. Not all girls eat bird seeds and not all boys eat red meat. Can I get some pasta, kway teow, udon/soba, rice, a ton of mashed potato, you know... not pizza but SOMETHING CARB-Y? I'm not bothered that it might not be healthy enough. People can make their own food choices. But yes, it's a trend and it does affect how people view food, and as it is, many people have a complicated and often an unhealthy relationship with food. 

I'm more concerned of a gender label, and an assumption that it's also made okay by corporate co-opting when restaurants advertise their own 'Girl Dinner' menus. It's really condescending. You know what they say about 'women drivers'? Yeah, let's not perpetuate that stereotype maybe.

Emily Heil succinctly summarized it in her comment titled 'Girl Dinner is everything, so Girl Dinner is nothing', published in The Washington Post on August 4, 2023.

If this indicates girls have their own spending power, sure. But Girl Dinners ≠ Girl Power. And I'm also iffy about the terms 'Girl Boss' and 'Girl Power'.

The gendered aspect of the Girl Dinner was put into high relief when its spawn began emerging. Boy Dinner is a more protein-forward affair. There’s Husband Meal, which apparently consists of foods that would appall the wife were she home. And cold chicken nuggets the kids didn’t eat is a feature of Mom Dinner.

.....................

Girl dinners have always existed; they are merely what we eat when we’re alone — whatever it is, however strange or un-sustaining. It’s what we eat, for whatever reason, whether it’s because we just … can’t. Or because we finally can — because, in Carrie Bradshaw’s words, “it just feels great.” But it seems that the desire to brand something, to “romanticize our lives,” is strong in the culture of social media. “People have been doing this as long as there have been cheese and crackers,” Miller says. “And before. I think the fun of it is that it’s silly.”

I say I cannot math. But it doesn't mean that I'm a girl and therefore I'm bad at Math. It simply means I do not care for academic excellence when I'm forced to study E, A, C and F Mathematics. But I can do a full budget spreadsheet for a corporate team, as well as an overall company budget. I can Excel very well. I might not have skills to audit those though. Haha. And I can most definitely math when I sort out my own stock portfolios on Stashaway and such.

I have no sense of humor when it comes to this. It's not even a lighthearted thing. Let's just stop with this 'Girl Dinner', 'Girl Math' (to justify spending on... I dunno, designer goods, etc), 'Girls Trip' and whatever the heck it is. It isn't self-deprecation. It isn't funny. It is a gender stereotype. IT IS NOT CUTE.

If we're talking about seminars of finance and legal viewpoints for women, social causes, business opportunities, and discussions, sure. 'Women in Tech'? 'Women Litgators'? Can! Let's do that, say the fireside chats hosted by various banks, law firms, and tech companies, as well as social charities, say for example, this one by Dentons Rodyk and their commitment to the Global Women's Sponsorship Program. Pick one (or two) that suits you and go with it. But this term/slang of 'Girlboss', imho, ought to be retired and not thrown around like it's so hip. 

ShinnSato Okinawa Cuisine

Checked out the new-to-me ShinnSato Okinawa Cuisine at Orchard Plaza. Okinawan food is wayyy too familiar to me. I literally ate these styles of food growing up — soba, tofu, bittergourd and pork slices — these are still my comfort food today. Whyyy... I dunno. My Japanese heritage on the paternal side of the family doesn't hail from Okinawa. 

Bittergourd chips appeared. I was so pleased with the stir-fried bittergourd and pork. I could have that and a bowl of rice, and called it a night! It's got those homecooked flavors which I love, and it's a dish I can do well, and mine isn't inferior when compared to this version. Yay. 

If you're not a fan of bittergourd, there're plenty of other things on the menu to munch on. The yakisoba was surprisingly tasty; this version was more savory than sweet. Nice! The Okinawa soba uses wheat flour instead of buckwheat. The tamago went well with the yakisoba. There was banana fish! Okay, ordered that — it's a prefectural fish called gurukun グルクン (double-lined fusilier) that's always deep fried, served whole with lemon. 

There was the stewed braised pork belly (角煮, kakuni) , which of course leaned sweet. This iteration in either Chinese (紅燒肉/東坡肉, hong shao rou/dong po rou) or as this Japanese version always taste sweet. Dohhh. Had to order the peanut tofu (jimami tofu, もちもちピーナッツ豆腐). I love Okinawa tofu because it has got less soybeans in them. Heh.

We also had tempura of prawn and corn. The man ordered some beef tacos thingy that we were all iffy about. Hahaha. I skipped it, and skipped the negitoro maki too. I needed space for my pork onigiri, which is effectively spam and egg onigiri!

I love meals like this with friends. Sure, we can do fancy. But with friends we see often, we can do any type of meal. These are the best — they're comfortable to chill out at, and comforting to the soul. 

Sambal Okra & A Steamed Red Snapper

The man loves coriander and could have it with almost everything. Our Click & Grow now has three happy pods of coriander; he has been cutting off little bits here and there to go with his meals. Anyway, it was time to harvest a whole load of them to encourage greater growth. When I have an explosion of coriander in the plant pods, the fastest way to decimate them is to use them to steam fish.

On a night when the man had mad calls till midnight and no cravings, I could do an easy dinner. I didn't know what I wanted to cook. The last-minute supermarket run yielded a nice fillet of red snapper, and vegetables of enoki mushrooms, okra and Shanghai greens. The prep was ridiculously easy, and the clean-up wouldn't be tedious. Homecooked meals are always light, and since I don't put much salt in the food, hopefully they're tasty enough. Heh. 

I passed on frying the fish. I don't mind frying it, but the cleaning up oil splatter sucks. Sat the fish fillet in soy sauce and topped it with enoki mushrooms. Steaming it would take less than 25 minutes. While the fish was being steamed, I could just sort out the vegetables. #ImpieCooks2023

I only eat okra in one style- stir-fried with sambal. I always have a sambal of sorts in the freezer. Had three tubs this round. Opted for sambal belachan tonight. Tossed the okra in sambal belachan, dribbled a bit of fish sauce, and that was all! Easy peasy. The Shanghai greens were just lightly stir-fried with garlic, salt and pepper. Nothing complicated about them, but I love my greens done like this. 

小玉壶 ::《逃出大英博物馆》

I've not particularly bothered with visiting classical museums in China because they didn't have many artefacts or heirlooms. Most of these have been taken out of China either by immigrants, smuggling, theft or uhhh dubious cultural exchanges. The 'famous' and known pieces are all in Taiwan, notably its National Palace Museum in Taipei, and many remarkable pieces in the British Museum in London, UK. 

The recently released Chinese video three-part series on Douyin — 'Escape from the British Museum' 《逃出大英博物馆》#抖音精選 has ignited fresh calls for British museum to return these artefacts. It tells the story of a jade teapot in London (personified as a woman in Han dress) looking for its way back to China. That teapot isn't a heritage piece, as it's recently done. But it exists; it's an actual piece in the British Museum, created in 2011 by Yu Ting 玉雕大师、俞挺, in Suzhou. It's "decorated with a Mughal style pattern of lotus flowers and entangled branches of Mednilla Magnifica."

Instead of watching crappy C-drama, I watched all three parts of this series (totaling about 17 minutes; each lasts for 3min, 4min and 9min.) Wahhh, what a blistering metaphor that totally tugs at one's heartstrings. LOL All films and C-drama adhere to the national propaganda anyway, right down to the plot that has to be morally acceptable and especially the clothing that cannot have Korean or Japanese influences. Dohhh. The underlying political commentary in this teapot story is ridiculously powerful, and it definitely stirred up a ton of nationalistic sentiments. 

The British Museum Act prevents any return of its permanent collections. Unilateral, obviously. Of course it makes sense to the museum and its administrators, but on it's quite laughable on the nationalistic front and in the face of fierce global critique. In this day and age, I feel that looted national treasures ought to be returned to its rightful owners. Even if a museum had paid for its items in its permanent collections, these of dubious transactions and well knowing the historical value, ought to be fiercely debated about returning it to well, China, especially if she can provide better care and a permanent home for these items. Citing museum rules of not returning is just arbitrary and it kinda stinks hearing it.

This three-part video caused a stir not just with the museum administrators, it also created giant waves and hit a huge sentiment with the Chinese social media users. Okay, likely all nationalist Chinese. Comments and opinions flew around the globe. 

Titled 'If the British Museum isn't taking good care of relics, Chinese want theirs back', Wei Wei's article in SCMP pointed out that the British Museum seems really lackadaisical with security measures, and can't even keep up with the filing of a proper catalogue of its estimated 23,000 Chinese objects. 

It has been said on the Chinese internet that “the best of China’s cultural relics are not in the Palace Museum, but in the British Museum”, and that “no Chinese person can walk out of the British Museum with a smile”.

Indeed, while the sight of these marvellous pieces – each a showcase of the mastery of Chinese art – may stir national pride in Chinese visitors, such feelings are often mixed with grief as the tour of the museum goes on.

I obviously don't feel any ounce of nationalism or ire over the these objects in the British Museum. If any, I'm thankful that I don't actually have to go to China to see it or queue like crazy (i.e. Beijing's Forbidden City and Summer Palace queues) to view them. But I understand historical and issues of 'rightful ownership', and I can empathize with the desire to have these objects 'come home'.

From the declining years of the Qing Dynasty in the late 1800s (First Opium War 1840) to the collapse of the dynasty in 1911 and all the way to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, that whole century saw an exodus of treasures sent out of the country. Wouldn't you want back something that you morally and ethically have a claim on? Whether you would pay to get them back is an entirely separate issue. The third part of the series has this tagline — 山河无恙，家国永安. SCMP's Wei Wei concluded her article with, 

So why would this jade teapot that travelled overseas as a cultural exchange flee the British Museum? A romantic answer, from Chinese netizens, goes: the teapot was sent there in peacetime, and still remembers the way home. 

Celery in This Chicken Stew

The man has a sudden fascination with chicken stew, and decided to prep his own version of it. I was sooo tickled. I think he would be having homecooked chicken stew all month. When the pot is just for us, we don't cook that much; we can feed four pax easily lah. The volume is enough for dinner and maybe two more meals for the man.

The man's version of stew is the classic one with celery, white wine, bit of Lea & Perrins, and cream, and a touch of light soy. Along with the usual carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and red pepper for depths of flavor.  I think that the red pepper is not so important, but we like red peppers in stews, so we added that randomly anyway. The celery is the essential ingredient. I'm not hot about celery, but I don't mind it in my food; I just won't eat it.

Unlike my Asian-style chicken stews, the man's version can be eaten on its own without rice. Tonight, the man had big servings of the stew, with potatoes as carbs and nothing extra. No rice, no bread. If you're a fan of chicken stew done this way, the man does an excellent version. N got a taste of it when she came by to drop off stuff in between moving-home madness, and because she hadn't eaten all day, we insisted that she ate something before leaving. 

The Smol Girl scored herself some steamed chimken too. We got bone-in thighs and two whole drumsticks plus two pieces of breast meat for us, and 200g of tenderloin fillets for her. I was too lazy to haul out the utensils to sous vide. Steaming her tenderloin fillets in a ramekin in a pot was a lot quicker and neater. Heh. 

This 200-gram portion of chimken would be split into her bite-sized snack in the morning and late afternoon. She didn't like the rains or thunder one bit, but come dinner time, she was willing to eat. She was very pleased with her meal. 

I had my tiny bowl of stew with a cheese and garlic ciabatta. That was delicious. Ciabatta is my bread, not sourdough. No no no to sourdough. I'm not a fan of chicken or celery, no matter how comforting they go together. I might be more amenable to stews in winter. Hahaha. In a stew like this, I'll only take a bit of meat, loads of mushrooms and potatoes and try to avoid the celery. The stew unintentionally complemented the heavy rains tonight.

'Unhappy Hour', Surge Pricing for Beers in the UK

Blinked at what UK pubs are doing — 'Unhappy Hour': U.K. Pub Chains Adopt Surge Pricing for Pints, published in The New York Times on September 13, 2023. Jenny Gross reported that Stonegate Group's 800 out of its 4500 venues across U.K, i.e Slug & Lettuce, Yate's and Craft Union, are using “dynamic pricing” in which a pint might cost 20 pence (USD 0.25 cents) more during weekends and evenings.

In July, the average price for a pint of draft lager was 4.31 pounds (about $5.37), up from £4 a year earlier, according to Britain’s Office for National Statistics.

Customers have become accustomed to surge pricing across various industries, including retail and travel. But some Britons said applying it to pubs went too far.

Pete Favelle, an I.T. consultant in Abergavenny, Wales, said that surcharges made sense for products that had limited availability, like flights or hotels, but that charging extra for pints at certain hours was “just a grab for cash.” He said he hoped the policy would fall flat because of the difficulty in implementing it. “Their poor front-of-house staff have to explain to enraged customers that, actually, their next pint now costs an extra quid because it’s got a bit busy,” he said, using a colloquial word for “pound.”

I'm like, ehh, don't give Singapore pubs any ideas. We're so good at doing surge pricing here with ride-hailing apps and even our biggest cab company that everyone complains but sucks it up anyway. Now if pubs take away Happy Hour prices, we'll just riot. We already have such high alcohol taxes. Good gawwd.

Still, I've never seen £4.31 (~SGD 7.32) for a pint in Singapore. I doubt I'll see it unless it's some super promotion going on for soon-to-expire cans or barrels.

PS: Why does the NYT writer need to explain 'quid'. Don't people know?!

Over at The Guardian on September 12, 2023, Rob Davies wasn't too scathing with his commentary. He simply found quotes from a few different sectors and humans and reported the increases as something that the pubs are doing anyway, regardless of consumers' opinions. 

I guess everyone wants a higher salary, and costs are simply rising too high. For businesses, that's even more painful. How do you mitigate quality and standards versus service staff and what customers want. What is tenable? What is untenable? How to keep a business afloat?  

It has previously done so during one-off events, such as World Cups, but has now taken the decision to introduce price variance on a more regular basis.  

Patrons have been informed of the change with a “polite notice” in Stonegate pubs, informing them of the need to raise prices to cover extra staffing costs, more bouncers at the door, extra cleaning, washing glasses and “complying with licensing requirements”.

I get surge pricing during events, holidays, special occasions and, I dunno, Jubilee things, that sort of stuff. Many restaurants' menus go crazy during Christmas and Valentine's Day. Fair enough, I suppose. For drinks, there might be a 'minimum spend' imposed per number of patrons at each table, or extras collected as a holiday cover charge. But to do a surcharge for drinks pretty much all the time during the exact evenings and weekends is like...... you win lor. 

OKAY. Let's do this. DAY DRINKING. We swop to DAY DRINKING. Or begin happy hour at 4pm and drink till 5pm before 'Unhappy Hour' kicks in and surge pricing kill our wallets. Then we go home. Middle-aged people sleep early right? So we simply start drinking earlier. 

Bath Time For These Floofs!

When Maya and Ivy's pawrents are gobsmacked with a newborn human and a brand new schedule, it's very tough to have oversight over everything. They finally asked if I know a groomer who could come over to help out with the floofs. 

I don't. Didn't bother to ask around. I prefer to send Choya out to trusted groomers. It's an experience for her, and now that we have found this spacious salon that she's comfortable at, I'd rather have her go there. She likes all her Jie-Jies at Le Pawtory, and she finds it find that she can come upstairs to look for me after. I would be having my nails done! 

So I shifted Choya's grooming appointment slightly earlier, and also took Maya and Ivy along. Told their pawrents that they're very welcome to just hop along with us for the next few months till their sleep patterns and schedule shift, and become a tad less crazy. With three floofs in tow, I skipped GrabPet and requested for the salon to send along their little transport van. Bundled all the floofs (+ me) into the van and off we went. 

This is Maya and Ivy's first visit to Le Pawtory. Went well, methinks! Ivy is a tad timid and prone to excitement pees. OMG. When I first started picking her up to go gallivanting, she literally peed herself and all over her front door. Now she doesn't do that anymore. LOL So we need to control her emotions, and when she's with familiar people and floofs, it isn't so bad. Of course the trick is to pee her before we get up to the van, and after grooming. But in between, she might still trickle out a few drops. Zzzzzz. 

Although Choya only bathes once a month, it was no sweat for Choya to be bathed again after two weeks. It isn't too drying. The important thing is to get her brushed and de-shed. Her shedding is quite spectacular now, and I can't do it properly at home even with the vacuum deshedding brush. It also coincidentally matched Maya's shedding too. Hahaha. These three floofs have undercoats. The weather triggers their shedding. Everyone got a thorough combing-out of their undercoat. 

After two hours, we had everyone's nails clipped, butt fur and fur at the paw pads trimmed, ears and teeth cleaned, thoroughly bathed, dried and brushed, and we were all set for the month! Everyone went home very pleased. There, less itching, girls. It's a great arrangement. Floofs get sorted with me there, and yet I'm not just waiting blindly. I get to have a manicure and a pedicure; the Macbook comes along when I need to get real work done, otherwise clearing emails on the phone works. Yay. On 'Spa Day', I feel really productive. Heh.

宴庭的三頭鮑魚和海鮮炒米線

I was supposed to have S over for dinner at home to celebrate her birthday. I'm not cooking and could just get delivery. But a whole spate of minor home repairs and such made it eeeky to do so. I was too tired to clean, even though dinner meant that the dishwasher does the bulk of the dishes after. Had to ask S to make do with Yan Ting instead. Luckily the sweet girl didn't mind that!

It was a busy evening at the restaurant. Food took some time to arrive, but the dishes all came one after another, so that was fine. I passed on the daily soup, which was a seaweed-something. No. I don't like seaweed soup done Cantonese style. It'll be soooo weird. Skipped the rest of the soups too since I didn't feel like fish maw or anything like that. Opted for an easy glass of red wine. Hahaha. 

Had an easy three-headed abalone with bits of broccoli. Asked for the oyster sauce at the side, but the kitchen still drizzled some onto the plate. Zzzzz. Kitchen, at the side means NO SAUCE on the plate can! At least the abalone wasn't swimming in it. The fillet of sea perch with miso came plated with berries. I blinked. WhyyyYyyyy. That was sooooo weird. 

The food came with a big serving of our requested minced garlic and chilli padi. Yay! Of course I inhaled the entire plate of garlic. Mmmmm. S had to have her favorite stir-fried seafood vermicelli (海鮮炒米線). The restaurant does this pretty well. We were totally full by then. Dunno why we ordered dessert. Managed to stuf in a dessert of gui ling gao (herbal jelly) with a tiny drizzle of honey.

Mumu the Quadrupedal, An Extraterrestrial

An extraterrestrial who crash landed on earth and feels out of place? Hmmmm. This isn't a book I'd usually pick up. But I'm in an episode of book drought, so I'd read anything vaguely interesting.

Read 'Walking Practice' (published independently in Korean in 2017). It's a debut novel by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle and published in English by HarperCollins in March 2023. (Reviews here, here, here, here and here.)

Since that crash landing, Mumu the quadrupedal, has been stuck on earth for 15 years. Mumu has stayed alive by disguising their fluid body into the human form, killing and eating humans they meet via dating apps. Sex brings Mumu humans to devour. I burst out laughing at that. How apt huh! The author has crafted quite a vibrant character. Author writes gory details. But it's really cool. It's funny when we see their attempts to be 'human', but it's also sad when we realize their deep loneliness and desire to connect with another living being. 

Mumu needs to eat, and humans satiate her appetite and nutritional requirements. Mumu learns that the quickest way to find humans to eat is via the murky world of dating apps. We follow Mumu from hookup to hookup as they kill their victims and clean them up. With their home planet destroyed, there's nowhere to return to, and they're torn between the contempt they feel for Earth's humans, and a desire to belong to this planet that they are forced to stay on.

They are stomping on the masterpiece I slaved over as if they were mincing meat. I am loath to show them the real me. If I'm going to be stomped, I'll be stomped as a human, and if I'm going to die, I'll die as a human. Can you understand the agony of hating humans so much but shoving that hatred aside to look just like one? The desire to become a member of society always overpowers the shame of being embraced by their system. There's nothing worse than having my hideousness incur ridicule or cause some to be struck with fear. I will use every last bit of strength to hold on to my mimicry of humanity.

The story's fonts change (as digital books are able to play with that), and so does the spacing between the words, presumably to take us to inside of Mumu's head. The ending was almost poetically hilarious. She finally met a 'human' who transformed after sex into a form thrice bigger than she is. And he had tentacles. Gosh.

At the end of the story, the translator Victoria Caudle penned a note to express her thoughts about translating this work, and her advocacy work for the global queer community. I thought it was really nice of the author to have this understanding and generosity to acknowledge his excellent translator. 

Physicality is not only expressed in the language the novel uses, but also in how it visualizes the mental state of the narrator through the disruption of legibility. In the source text, this is expressed more orthographically due to the fact that, in Korean, the parts of a sentence are marked by postpositions, which make the meaning more trackable when words are torn apart and stitched together. The limitations of how English is written and read created further challenges when trying to express this facet of the Korean text in the most legible, yet still visually striking and disruptive, manner. Ultimately, the solution resided in moving away from replicating the Korean technique and into a more technical adjustment to how the words are presented on the page. While at first it may look like a typesetting error, the expansion and contraction of the English text is the strategy I devised as a way to visualise in English the way the Korean text separates and clusters characters when the tension breaks and Mumu's consciousness reverts to something less human and indecipherable to others. 

The final two pages of the story.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed the story. It's hilarious and tragic. Mumu is a competent hunter, sardonic murderer, offering incisive glimpses into how humans view gender and how people marginalize those who are different. The book features 21 line drawings by the author. These presumably take the form of Mumu when they can't control their form anymore. Mumu says that they're female. But I choose to use 'they' as the gender pronoun.  

The Korean wave isn't just sweeping films and network television. It's also sweeping books and their English translations. The translator Victoria Caudle has a huge part to play in getting this book out to English audiences. She read it, asked to translate and for permission for a sample translation to be sent out to Barbara J. Zitwer Agency (responsible for exporting big-name Korean writers such as Han Kang, Shin Kyung-sook and Kim Young-ha to the English-language market), and it was picked up by HarperCollins, and the rest is history, so to speak. 

“He is completely brilliant with a singular vision that is rare and new,” said Zitwer in an email interview with The Korea Herald. “It was the most sensational writing I had read in a decade. … It is incredibly rare and the first time that I sold a Korean book in English before I sold it in Korea,” she said.

“It was so unreal that I first thought it was a scam. … I heard this is a very rare case: An author who has only published independently signing a contract with a huge publisher like HarperCollins,” Min said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. 

Dolki Min is the author's pen name. He also only appears masked for public and media appearances.

In an interview with The Korea Herald in January 2023.

'Laap Mei Fan' in the Donabe

The stomach wasn't feeling very well that day. Instead of heading out for dinner with Smol Girl while the man went to a death metal gig, I decided to stay in for dinner. Didn't bother to get takeout either. I had a craving for fluffy rice with vegetables and lupcheong. Got 'em ingredients and also shiitake. Those would lend more flavors. So I whipped up dinner for one! And still had a bowl leftover for the next day.

I didn't put any salt in the mix. I wasn't in the mood for salt tonight and figured that the lupcheong would salt it evenly to the levels I wanted. I wanted a light and clean meal... which is an oxymoron with lupcheong. But hey, I like it. Heh. The rice was lightly browned at the bottom. Yay! Although I intentionally didn't want it to be browned further. Is this legit claypot rice (煲仔飯)???! #ImpieCooks2023

Hmmm. This is an experiment. I'll continue to do laap mei fan / 臘味飯 / 'claypot rice' in the cast iron Staub, especially if I want the brown bits at the bottom. The Staub is hardier and deals better with burnt bits. It isn't difficult to do this in the cast iron pot since it locks in the steam equally well. I'm used to boiling up rice in pots anyway. I don't really want to burn up this gorgeous double-lidded donabe for it. I shall keep the donabe pristine for fuwa-fuwa rice only. 

Now, if you put vegetables into the donabe to cook together, put the bare minimum and for flavoring only. That was what I did. Otherwise, those leafy greens would be steamed yellow and mushy, and become rather inedible. Shiitake can take the heat, so no issues. The lovely homegrown bok choi that accompanied my bowl was separately blanched, then placed in the donabe for five minutes before serving. 

Six Hours of Weekly Gyrotonic Practice This Month

A fellow Gyrotonic practitioner, L, is working hard to get her Level 1 coaching certification, and is required to chalk up coaching hours. I merrily volunteered for it. It's a tad intensive since L doesn't mind me doing many hours, and she needs to complete it before September ends. Hehhh. She said that in addition to taking on newbies to Gyrotonic, it's awesome to have a seasoned practitioner to add to her experience too.

L is still new to teaching, so she's understandably nervous. While it's fun to get certified, I'm not keen on teaching at all. I'd rather be a student/client. For these hours, I take it as a personal practice as well, relying on my own understanding and what my instructor has imparted. It's always good to be able to compare instructors' tips and have a check on how well I understand the movements.

I'm very clear what I separately want out of Pilates and Gyrotonic. They're not the same. The movements give me a different stretch in the muscles and work them differently. It's tough to build up strength in Gyrotonic, but much easier to do so in Pilates. But you can never get full strength without lifting weights and doing loaded squats. Gyrotonic can work on weaker obliques and rotation and spinal articulation, but Pilates can't fully do that.  

A Full Table at Mad Charcoal

When it was an impromptu table of four for dinner at Mad Charcoal, the man was thrilled. This meant that he could go to town with the sharing plates to fill four stomachs. It was great catching up with the friends too. Conversation with them is always a hoot.

SO MANY PLATES ARRIVED> MANY MUCH FOOD. There were pork ribs, ikan kurau, octopus, beef brisket, 800g of côte de boeuf steak! Then there were sides and carbs of an easy mash and pasta, plus ratatouille and corn. I really liked that corn! The man had taken a bottle of hot sauce along, and totally loved having it to go along with the meats. 

We brought along an easy bottle of red (from Château Lauduc), and also had pints of Archipelago Belgian witbier from the drinks stall. Of course we had plenty of iced water too. Grilled items are so greasy in the tummy if we don't wash that down with sufficient H2O.

Our dinner was punctuated by the occasional wafts of incense and acrid smoke from the burning of joss paper, and bits of ashes. AIYOH. This is still mid-way through the lunar Seventh Month. That's the only problem with sitting outdoors and in non-air-conditioned venues in the evenings. Hmmmmph. Ah well. At least for tonight, it stopped periodically till the next human utilized the stretch of burners.

Less Gluten & Mock Meats at the Renovated Ling Zhi

I haven't stepped into Ling Zhi Vegetarian (靈芝) for ages. That's mainly because I dislike the standard dishes at Chinese vegetarian restaurants. They tend to be oily, full of carbs and gluten with so many fried items, going low on the vegetables. They're catering for people who want vegetarian food on specific days but who aren't actually vegetarian. That demographic makes a huge difference to a restaurant's menu.

For dinner tonight, we ordered a number of items, and were ready to tapau the leftovers. Hurhurhur. J rewarded herself with a regular Coke after a long week at work. I also bravely had a can of Coke Zero. Heh! The restaurant closed for renovation for weeks in April. The lights brighter, and the area cleaner, but whyyyy are the interiors still so dated?! Dohhhh. The restaurant used to have loads of mock meats in the menu. The parent Tung Lok Group has promised that gone are those days, and they literally wrote this statement on their website to reassure a wider audience that their food also caters to allergies and offer nutritional value. 

Gone is the conservative style of preparing vegetarian dishes with mock meats. In its place is a range of dishes filled with wholesome goodness and tonifying fare, prepared from the finest and freshest ingredients. We use a selection of premium and organic produce from our specially-contracted farms to bring you cuisine at the best quality.

I raised eyebrows at the frequency of 'truffle' appearing in the menu. Some seemed to be actually shaved black truffles, but most stated were 'truffle oil'. That's a big no no for me. That's so synthetic and I personally dislike the taste and smell of truffle oil in my food. J's truffle mushroom bisque was not bad at all, and we also thought they could just do away with the truffle oil. I opted for the double-boiled lingzhi soup — tasted fine to me! I gulped at the kale broth on the menu. That would take some guts to sip it, or if you really like kale.

The snow peas with asparagus, celery and macadamia were stir-fried nicely. Crunchy. J said that the deep-fried yam ring was good. I know nothing about yam rings, but I would eat some of it. The fried hor fun with preserved vegetables and kai lan was middling. I was thinking, a white version with less soy, closer to Teochew kway too would be nice. Heh.

People who like mala and Sichuan pepper would enjoy the Firecracker Monkey Head Mushroom. It was a great dish, but not for me. Next time, I'll stick to my regular order here of monkey head mushrooms in a dragonfruit, with the wasabi-mayo on the side. Since we were too lazy to look for dessert elsewhere, we shared a cold bowl here — chilled aloe vera jelly lime sorbet. 

The 9th President of Singapore 2023-2029

We went to the polls on Friday 1 September 2023 to elect a new President. The electoral made our intentions clear. Of the three Presidential candidates, 70.4% of us eligible voters elected Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the ninth President of the Republic of Singapore. 

Erm, hurrah? The 'campaigning' is such a non-event, and the period is too short for us to even evaluate the candidates. The candidates can't 'politicize' their campaigns!? (What an oxymoron.) Voting is such a personal thing, yet the power play to favour the majority party is so entrenched in the system. It's not a farce here in Singapore (yet), and whatever little power the electorate has, we must be sure to use it. 

I have no illusions of change. The President is a figurehead without executive or legislative power. Well, he can ask all the questions he wants. But...... I just wanted to a human who wouldn't embarrass us on the international stage, someone who knows what he's talking about without utilizing toilet humor and given to misogynistic statements and trying to defend those. 

My President can be a pineapple. Just don't be a clown. Remember this famous reply uttered by Heng Swee Kiat in 2019, one of the most cheena Ministers ever — 'that the older generation of Singaporeans isn't ready for non-Chinese PM' ? That made me so angry. I wanted my President-elect to be the Prime Minister. Alas it was not, and being a President isn't a consolation. IMHO, it's quite a waste of his considerable talents.

If I could have voted for a First Lady that comes with the President, without a doubt, Jane Ittogi would have my vote. She's a great communicator, involved in our independent arts scene, and comes across as very genuine, relatable and warm. She's a woman of our times; I really admire the relationship between her and her husband, our ninth President. Of course 8days already promptly penned lines and a pretty substantial article about the new First Lady's style and quickly published it once the elections results were firm.

Chicken Ovaries in a Stew

I had two packs of frozen chicken ovaries meant for Smol Girl. However, one expired in July. Although it's technically okay to still let her have it raw, I decided to let her have the 'fresher' pack and I used the older pack for human food.

I could just simmer the ovaries with liver and gizzard. Or toss them in dark soy and chilli. But I decided to make a chicken stew out of it as a one-pot dinner. Seared all the offal and the breasts and thighs. Capsicum, carrots and potatoes went into the pot.  #ImpieCooks2023 

The ovaries and the liver would be taken out first and set aside, along with the breasts shortly after. The thighs and all could continue simmering for a bit. This isn't Cantonese soup. It doesn't have to be simmered for two hours. Light soy, dark soy, a touch sesame oil, and mirin would be all the umami the stew contains. It's a chicken adobo, but without the green chillies. I forgot to buy them. Teeeheheh.

The chicken adobo stew was mainly done for the man. He's the one who doesn't mind chicken at all at any occasion. He loves gizzards and liver. The ovaries simply added a fun dimension to the contents. So this stew had gone easy on the salt, and he could eat a bit more offal. Heh. He loved the gravy. LOL It went great with brown rice. I had cooked fuwa-fuwa rice for myself. That totally went well with the stew too. I took a small piece of thigh. It was rather delicious, if I may say so myself!