One of the best running storylines on TV

And I think what really makes George Clooney so attractive is the twinkle in his eyes... *swoon*

funny birthday stories

so Fang's and Geri's birthdays fall one day after another (actually I have 4 friends whose birthdays are 1 day after another) and since we are meeting for dinner tonight, I decided to get their birthday presents before the meal.

except now Fang wants to share in Geri's present AND Geri wants to split Fang's present AND BOTH WANT TO MEET ME TO GO SHOPPING FOR PRESENTS.

hence the potentially funny situation tonight where they'll end up buying themselves presents...

and out of the group of 4 of us for dinner, I'm the only one who'll not be receiving a birthday gift!

An Evelyn Waugh weekend - something that jumped out at me

"The truth is that motor cars offer a very happy illustration of the metaphysical distinction between 'being' and 'becoming'. Some cars, mere vehicles with no purpose above bare locomotion, mechanical drudges such as Lady Metroland's Hispano Suiza, or Mrs Mouse' Rolls Royce, or Lady Circumference's 1912 Daimler, or the 'general reader's' Austin Seven, these have definite 'being' just as much as their occupants. They are brought all screwed up and numbered and painted, and there they stay through various declensions of ownership, brightened now and then with a lick of paint or temporarily rejuvenated by the addition of some minor organ, but still maintaining their essential identity to the scrap heap.

Not so the real cars, that become masters of men; those vital creations of metal who exist solely for their own propulsion through space, for whom their drivres, clinging precariously at the steering wheel, are as important as his stenographer to a stockbroker. These are in perpetual flux, a vortex of combining and disintegrating units; like the confluence of traffic at some spot where many roads meet, streams of mechanism come together, mingle and separate again."


Evelyn Waugh, 'Vile Bodies' (1930)

House arrest

so here's a funny story. the electrical mains to my office building caught fire and now the whole building has no electricity. and rewiring will mean we'd be office-less for about a month.

so now my colleagues and i are on "house arrest". which translates to me "going to work" in my PJs.

which is kind of funny. unless you are my bosses...

HUR HUR.

Family holidays are an exercise in diplomacy

You know how they say that birth order affects your personality/working style?

Here's a brief explanation:

Birth order theory outlines four types of personalities- first borns, second borns, only’s and youngests. If you were 3rd of six children then circumstances would have meant that you either functioned predominantly like one of the big four above.

Here are the four birth order types and some of their characteristics:

First borns – the leaders, the drivers and the responsible types. These people like to manage others but first they need to manage themselves. They love to feel in control and can feel uncomfortable with surprises or feeling out of their depth. They are conservative in their outlook, which is both a strength and a weakness. Their ability to focus on a goal and their propensity to organise others means they can achieve whatever they put their minds to.

Their tendency toward perfectionism can mean they can be low risk-takers but they can be the rock around which organisations can be built. Approval of authority is important for this group so don’t expect them to rock the boat too much. First borns, above all else, want to forge ahead.

Second borns – the ‘people’ people, the compromisers, and the flexible operators. They are likely to motivated by a cause and will enjoy working alongside people. They will often choose tasks or even a job that will give them a feeling of belonging. Friendships are important to this group so they will learn to get along and will help keep the peace in a group or organisation. They often need others to drive them but they are the glue that holds groups together. Relationships are important to this group so make sure they included in all activities. Seconds, above all else, put people first.

Only’s – the quiet achievers, the finishers, they expect nothing less than the best. This group will raise the bar for everyone around them as nothing but the best will do. Their great strength is their ability to work for long periods of time on their own so they make great project finishers and strategic thinkers but they can be secretive and don’t deal well with conflict. Recognition is important to this group. Only’s, above all else, aim to please.

Youngests – the initiators, ideas people and the challengers. This group are the creative, live-for-the moment types who can put some fun and verve into activities. While the message for first borns is to lighten up it seems that this group need to take things more seriously sometimes. Great initiators and very impatient doers, they perservere to get something started but often are not the greatest of finishers. This group will often do anything to be noticed so make sure you pay heed to their efforts. Youngests, above all else, will blow your mind.

So anyway, I think this theory does not quite apply to parents - it's as if being a parent overrides this birth order thing.

So anyway - 2 parents + 1 very typical firstborn = me caught in the middle of crossfire.


Shaken, (but thankfully) not stirred.

another failed baking attempt

in today's weekend/holiday baking misadventure, my lemon glazed cookies didn't turn out like the picture in the magazine:

1. Because I ran out of wax paper, my dough rolls which I had to set in the fridge were not, well, cylindrical.
2. The texture of the dough didn't feel right when I was handling them and placing them on the tray.
3. The cookies spread out more than they should on the tray.
4. My cookies turned out browner than that in the picture.
5. The end-product cookies were a bit wetter than I thought they should be.

Maybe I had too much butter because I was not very exact when measuring 3/4 cup. And using wax paper would probably help achieve better cookie shapes AND set the dough better.


it's a good thing I don't have aspirations to be a dessert chef. I think I'm not meticulous enough a cook to get by as one.

The misadventures of little old ladies

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it to everyone by now but I've recently taken up dressmaking classes at a little place near my house. Reasonably affordable and a good life-skill to have (and even more so in these "times are bad" times) so I figured it was worth the investment.

Anyway, the set-up is all very homey in the sense that it seems to be the place where little old ladies (or middle-aged aunties) spend their time socialising, oh and doing a little bit of knitting/patchwork in between. I'm trying to pick up some Hokkien by listening to these conversations so perhaps it is killing two birds with one stone (or in my case, a sewing machine!).

In the course of my last 3 lessons I have noticed that little old ladies and aunties have a propensity to be comedians. Seriously. Last week, there was an auntie who when I first started my lesson was unpicking a pair of pants she made because of a mistake. Halfway through the lesson she lets out a cry and we discover that after unpicking the seams, she sews the pieces together in the wrong order AGAIN and realises this when she is staring at the crotch area and wondering why it looked so wrong. The teacher is incredulous to the point that she decides that the auntie cannot afford to make another mistake because the cloth may potentially tear from all the sewing and unpicking so using a piece of tailor chalk, she marks "F" and "B" (for Front and BAck) on the respective pieces to clearly demarcate which is which!

Later on in the lesson, a little old lady (who is learning knitting) comes in to the main sewing area to make a call to her husband on her mobile phone. Mid-conversation her phone battery dies and she frets about how she is now unable to make arrangements for her husband to pick her up. One of the ladies in the shop suggests she take out the SIM card and put it in another phone so that she can check her husband's phone number (since she cannot remember it). They do so and she calls her husband from the shop but he doesn't answer so she calls her daughter to call her husband. After the merry-go-round, she finally gets to him and makes the arrangements. At the end of it all, she asks us where she can buy a new battery to replace the one she has in her phone! Another lady says, "Huh? Just charge it lah!", to which she goes, "Charge? I don't know how to charge my phone. I only know how to use it to dial." At this, it is discovered that she didn't even know how to tell that her battery was running low before it died on her.


Comedy. Pure comedy.

i need to take a step back and breathe

sometimes I feel like Jacob circa Genesis 29

but I am looking towards seeing the work of my Lord's hand as in Genesis 30:25-43.


funny how Genesis can be such a relevant book to modern life. or maybe it just shows how Man, when cored down to his essence, is the same then and now. but the coolest thing is that my God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Why all children should grow up watching Charlie Brown cartoons

Linus Van Pelt: Well, I can understand how you feel. You worked hard, studying for the spelling bee, and I suppose you feel you let everyone down, and you made a fool of yourself and everything. But did you notice something, Charlie Brown?

Charlie Brown: What's that?

Linus Van Pelt: The world didn't come to an end.

'A Boy Named Charlie Brown' (1969)

-------

I took a trip down memory lane recently and watched 'A Boy Named Charlie Brown' and 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' and realised how beautiful in every sense of the word these cartoons are (they just don't make shows like them anymore!)

Every child should grow up watching them for the lessons they teach and grown-ups should re-watch them to remind ourselves of the important things in life which we seem to have forgotten while we were busy "growing up".

A modern day spin to the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen'

Article 1: "All the consumers, being equal in [the eyes of money], are equally admissible to service, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their manners."

Complaining when you are unhappy with the service (or lack of) and expressing your disappointment is hence permissible.

You could end up with a free massage! :)

Turning 23 - of whisks, weapons and wine

Celebrations started on Friday with cake and some presents in the office. I'd asked for a hand-held whisk, a clutch that can double up as a weapon (because you never know when you might need one!) and one of those animal balloons with feet that I've seen little children walk around with as if they are walking their pets - for me to indulge in some eccentricity and "walk" it around the office.

Unfortunately, my colleagues broke to me the sad news that the shops near the office are not selling them anymore. Apparently they are not in fashion anymore. Pity.

Spending the evening (and the early hours of my actual birthday) with family and close friends is quite a treat and something I'll hold dear to my heart.

The icing on the cake? A long-distance phone call whilst snuggled in bed.

Weekend Poirot marathons

Captain Hastings: Is there anything in the English cuisine that you like, Poirot?

Hercule Poirot: The English, they do not have a cuisine, my friend, they have only food.

Captain Hastings: That's harsh.

Hercule Poirot: Like the meat - overcooked, the vegetables, too soft, the cheese, inedible. When the day the English create their own wines it is the day I return home to Belgium!


"Agatha Christie: Poirot" Yellow Iris (1993)

Pumpkin part deux

Because a $15 pumpkin goes a long long way...

I had to figure out a way to finish the other half (since the first half made enough soup for the party plus 2 meals after that for me and my folks) so I decided to make pumpkin cake as I had seen an article in the papers recently about using vegetables to make cake (have you heard of chocolate zucchini cake?!)

Before you make pumpkin cake (or in my case, I poured the mixture into soufflé cases and called them muffins!), you need to prepare the fresh pumpkin purée. All you need to do is to cut up the pumpkin into 4 or 5-inch pieces and slowly roast them in the oven (about 2 hours). Simple as that - the low heat will cause them to caramelise and taste really nice.

To make pumpkin muffins:

Sieve -
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons groundnutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl, whisk -
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs

Then whisk in -
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin purée

Add the dry mixture into the wet one and whisk until smooth. Pour into the cups and bake in a pre-heated (22o degrees Celsius) oven for 15-20 mins.


I brought these to work and people who don't usually eat pumpkin really liked it so it's a good way to get people to eat their veg!

And the sad news was I ran out of sugar to make a second round so I still had to figure out ways of finishing up the (now) roasted pumpkin. Which meant I ate pumpkin mash (just add butter and salt and pop in the microwave for 2 mins) the next day.

I think I'm staying off pumpkin for a while...

Reading Proust

makes you very pensive and conscious of your sensory memories.

watching Herbie Hancock perform live at Abbey Road with Corinne Bailey Rae triggered memories of sitting in a dark pub/bar, sipping rum and coke on the rocks and listening to jazz... the smells, the taste of rum and coke, the tinkering off keys, the full-bodied, smooth tone of the sax, the nifty brushwork on the drums, the lights refracting off the sax and the body of the bass guitar....

which in turn reminded me of a cold, brisk night in Coventry as we travel to Canal Basin and us standing in the car park unloading and loading equipment again at the end of the night... us in our black puffy-ish jackets and me with my pink scarf to keep me warm...

*******

reading Proust also gives you the urge to buy madeleines whenever you see them just so that you can perhaps also partake of that magical moment when the the brain's memory meets that of the senses and both are reunited and even reinforced...

oh to have a madeleine softened with tea...

Soup, Salad and Sandwiches

a bit of a belated post

so I decided in a whim to throw a party to celebrate the fact that my favourite pescetarian* is back in town for the month (although, there hardly was a need for a reason to throw a party - I felt I really needed something to look forward to and a party was the perfect answer!).

This time, I thought a luncheon might be quite a lot of fun since most people have plans for the evening rather than in the day (yes yes, all these friends of mine that are attached...) and the theme of 'soup, salad and sandwiches' was perfect as most things could be prepared in advance (hence more time to entertain people when they arrive) and all the food, except the soups, could be served warm or cold.I served 3 soups - pumpkin and leek, mushroom and onion. Of course, all the food served was completely pescetarian-friendly so I could not cheat with chicken stock and had to make vegetable stock by boiling soy beans with ikan billis.

For the salad portion there was stir-fried fresh corn with chilli and parsley (and loads of butter),
a delightfully summery mango salsa,
char grilled capsicum (conveniently nicknamed 'traffic light')celery and carrot sticks (you can catch a glimpse of it in the top left corner) with hummus and a simple cucumber, cherry tomato and olive Mediterranean-inspired salad.And fulfilling the sandwich component was tuna in olive oil (dolphin-friendly, I should emphasize), soft-boiled eggs with homemade mayonnaise,
teriyaki salmon and a cheese platter with Cornish chutney (sadly not pictured due to eagerness!). To go with all the food I served three types of bread (baguette, country-style walnut loaf and thin-cut white) for some variety.

Needless to say we were stuffed and what better way to burn all the calories than to engage in some friendly competition...

ahh... good times... and the irony of the day? the pescetarian could not make the party at the last minute!

*a vegetarian who will eat fish

Recipes

To make homemade mayonnaise, you need:

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
pepper to taste

Whisk the above ingredients then slowly add 1 cup of olive oil while whisking. The mixture will emulsify and become a lovely yellow mayonnaise.


For a hearty pumpkin and leek soup, simply finely chop up some leek and fry over low heat in a heavy-bottomed pan with some olive oil. Let the leek soften (do not brown) before adding in chunks of pumpkin (the rule of thumb is smaller is better). Add enough stock to cover the pumpkin and cook over a low fire with the lid half-covered. The pumpkin will release water and once the vegetables are soft, you can remove the lid to allow the soup to cook down. When the water level is down to the desired level (it depends on how thick you like your soup), remove from heat and blend to desired creaminess. The soup is now ready to be served!


For a delightful mushroom soup, melt 40g of butter in a large pot. Add 1 medium shallot, chopped, and cook till soft. Add the roughly chopped mushrooms (I used about 2 punnets-worth of white and brown in total) and slowly cook it till soft and browned. Add 600ml of stock, 1 diced potato and a sprig of chopped parsley, then add 60ml of white wine once the stock starts to boil. Let the soup cook down. Remove about 1/4 of the soup and puree the rest. This is so that when you return the separated soup, the end result has nice chunks of mushroom. Boil down to desired thickness before serving.
(If you do not have to cook a pescetarian-friendly version, fry some chopped bacon with the shallot at the beginning of the recipe as it will add a lovely smoky flavour and body to the soup)


The onion soup needs some tweaking so I'll post the recipe when I have figured out how to improve it. :)

a catch-22 dilemma

in a bid to save the environment, one is encouraged not to use too many plastic bags. but are we kidding ourselves into thinking we are saving the environment by declining to take a plastic bag when purchasing books or magazines? doesn't reading books and magazines increase demand for such items and hence more paper is used to print them?

on the other hand, if we decide to save paper and make everyone read their material online, won't we contribute to an increase in electricity use (and by extension, a whole load of other forms of environmental destruction)?

perhaps the world would benefit from people being less intellectual. oh woe!

sometimes it's so hard to know where to start

i was about to start this post with the lyrics to a timely song and leave it as that but i realised that that's exactly what my previous post, published some two weeks ago, was like.

i think sometimes it's hard to pen down frustration, and that even if you do, it often doesn't make you feel any better. looking back, i guess there was always some of it lingering at the back of my mind but i kept brushing it aside, invented some excuses not to accelerate change, tried to be optimistic and not let it get me down.

maybe that was the last straw - and through conversations with other people, it does seem like i'm not wrong to think so. except, it seems like options now are even more diverse than they were the last time. weird, isn't it? how you think that later in life, decisions become easier because you know yourself better and what you want, blah blah blah...

part of me wishes there was an easy way out/i could take an easy way out. but the other part of me is alarmed that i'm getting 'soft'. so THAT part of me is what is pushing me to be proactive and not put it off anymore.

i've been feeling very unsettled the last few days and this morning i decided to pop this old CD back into my discman (yes, retro...) and this song seemed to really speak to me. and at the exact moment i needed to hear it (you know, when your mind wanders and starts thinking a whole bunch of thoughts...)



For every good thing
God is doing within me
That I cannot see
Amen
And to the healing virtue of Jesus
That's flowing in me
Amen

For every hope
That is still just a dream
By trusting in You Lord
Becomes reality
I stake my claim
And seal it in faith
I say Amen

Amen
Amen
So be it Lord
Your Word endures
I say Amen

Amen
Amen
So be it Lord
Amen


the greatest feeling is knowing that God is watching your back...

the beauty of it all

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength,
But sometimes I wonder what He can do through me;
No great success to show, no glory on my own,
Yet in my weakness He is there to let me know . . .

CHORUS
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.

We can only know
The power that He holds
When we truly see how deep our weakness goes;
His strength in us begins
Where ours comes to an end.
He hears our humble cry and proves again . . .

CHORUS
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.


His Strength is Perfect by Jerry Salley & Steven Curtis Chapman

Finally, odourless teppanyaki!

I've been meaning to write a review of this relatively new teppanyaki restaurant in Suntec that we discovered one Sunday after church but I did not have my camera on me on my first visit, and we've not been back for a second visit until now. We've been meaning to return since our good first experience and I was initially slightly apprehensive as the standard of food in newly-opened restaurants seems to either deteriorate after the initial spark or have teething problems at the beginning and get gradually better. Thankfully, Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House has managed to maintain standards and pleased all 4 rather nit-picky eaters.

The concept behind Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House seems to be Japanese-style French food and the big draw of the place is the fact that you don't emerge smelling like a combination of teppanyaki meat and vegetables. The secret is in the fact that their extractor fans are not high above the iron griddle but at the end of the griddle (on the edge of the cooking surface, just in front of where the chef stands and cooks) so the food smells don't travel further than the cooking area, or even towards you!

As we were out for an early celebration of my brother's birthday, it was no holds barred when it came down to ordering. The restaurant was having a promotion on their French-style lobster so we each had one in addition to our set meals. The place offers set 5-course meals from $35++ and currently has a $9.90++ value set which comprises of teppanyaki meat, beansprouts and vegetables, served with a bowl of rice and miso soup.

We each picked some cut of steak for our main course (sirloin, tenderloin, ribeye) hence we were split down the middle with 2 of us having the $45++ and 2 the $55++ sets. For the first course, we were served seared scallops served with grilled mushroom and asparagus spears. The scallops were delightful and the accompanying sauce, which we made out to have wholegrain mustard and miso went very well with the dish.
Our second course was corn soup, served with garlic bread. The garlic bread came pipping hot and they were very generous with the garlic butter. My mom does not like creamy soups much and she really enjoyed the fact that the corn soup was not too heavy and the bits of corn were nice and crunchy.
As we ordered an extra lobster each (promotional price of $18++), the restaurant chose to cook up our lobster at this point so that the following salad would cleanse the palate before we had our steaks. The lobster was coated in flour and grilled with a generous helping of butter and olive oil (not to forget sake) and a slice of cheese added towards the end which gently melted over the flesh. Other than the fact that the chef left the lobster on the grill for a few minutes too long, the big sections of lobster meat were delicious (the smaller bits in the pincer were sadly a bit tough). Again the seafood was served with the mustard-miso sauce which I enjoyed so much I nearly forgot about the side dips of mustard and finely chopped onions in a sweet soy-based sauce.
The salad served after was very refreshing although the dressing was a bit odd - it tasted rather fruity and was not too bad but I would have preferred a lighter dressing, especially because it did not seem to complement the raisins in the salad.
My sirloin steak was beautifully done - not too bloody but not too well-done that it was dry and tough. I loved the peppery sauce that accompanied the meat. All of us pretty much ate in silence at this point.
The dessert was elegantly put together and the idea of having fruit AND something sweet (the creme caramel) was great because you get that nice sugary ending to your meal and yet are not overpowered by a heavy dessert because of the fresh fruit. We were slightly undecided as to whether the creme caramel had some kind of toffee in it or whether the chef had just burnt the caramel slightly as there was a bit of a bitter after-taste. Maybe it was cooked at slightly too high a heat as the texture was not as smooth as it could have been.
It was a lovely meal and a great place to sit around and have a casual yet sophisticated lunch. And the fact that you won't smell is a major plus point!

Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House is located in the basement of Suntec City, around the big fountain, near Soup Restaurant.