i have a suspicion the Lees have read Kafka

I picked up an old copy of Franz Kafka's short stories recently. The first story was 'The Great Wall of China' and this paragraph really stood out:

Nowadays one can perhaps speak about it without danger. At that time for many people, even the best, there was a secret principle: Try with all your powers to understand the orders of the leadership, but only up to a certain limit—then stop thinking about them. A very reasonable principle, which incidentally found an even wider interpretation in a later often repeated comparison: Stop further thinking about it, not because it could harm you—it is not at all certain that it will harm you. In this matter one cannot speak in general about harming or not harming. What will happen to you is like a river in spring. It rises, grows stronger, eats away powerfully at the land along its shores, and still maintains its own course down into the sea and is more welcome as a fitter partner for the sea. Reflect upon the orders of the leadership as far as that. But then the river overflows its banks, loses its form and shape, slows down its forward movement, tries, contrary to its destiny, to form small seas inland, damages the fields, and yet cannot maintain its expansion long, but runs back within its banks, in fact, even dries up miserably in the hot time of year which follows. Do not reflect on the orders of the leadership to that extent.


And the recent security debacle in Singapore and the debates in Parliament seem to confirm this...

don't you sometimes wonder why/how the oddest, most random pieces of information are retained at the back of your head?

like how your toilet paper should face out because it tears more easily than if the roll faces inwards.

(from the first episode of vintage Singapore sitcom 'Three Rooms' - anyone remember that?)

mmm... custard...

as my mom had a box of Marks & Spencer all butter tartlet cases sitting around in the kitchen for some time, i decided to bake this weekend and use them up before they ended up like the christmas pudding of 2006 (or maybe it was 2005?).

i was surfing Epicurious.com for a tart recipe (something that is foolproof) and chanced upon this, which had very positive ratings and reviews. as i only had 8 tartlet cases and the recipe made 24, i quartered the ingredient amounts and made 6.

To make Portugese Cream Tart (filling):

Whisk together 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour in a heavy saucepan.

Whisk in 150ml of heavy cream (I used Dulla Pure Cream), 2 large egg yolks, some lemon zest, a pinch of salt and 2-3 drops of vanilla extract. Cook over moderate heat and stir constantly. The custard will thicken. Take it off the heat once the first bubble appears on the surface (which will take about 10mins).

Transfer the custard to a bowl to cool, whisking until just warm. Spoon the custard into the cases and bake in a preheated oven (at 200 degrees Celsius) for about 10mins until the crust has browned.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool slightly. Sieve some icing sugar and ground cinnamon over and serve either warm or at room temperature.


the custard smell filled the kitchen as i was enthusiastically whisking it over the stove and it tasted really delicious. the generous dusting of cinnamon also helped balance the sweetness and sharpness (thanks to the lemon zest) of the custard. initially when i found the recipe i thought it was for Portugese Egg Tarts but upon taking my first bite, i realised it was far from it. but it turned out to be a good thing as this custard can be used as a base for many different tarts (e.g. fruit tarts where you layer pieces of fruit over the custard) so i'll definitely be filling this for future use.

HIS faith has made me whole