Happy Birthday to ME! :)

After almost an entire week of continuous feasting (steamboat, ma maison, kyoto, brotzeit, mondo mio), it culminated at Absinthe with king prawns with chorizo and pine nuts, pork belly, rabbit leg, seabass with warm soba, white wine, coffee and this:

No pictures so I drew this from memory

I am BELLY happy and very happy.

:)

Lilac is the colour of bliss

Not my colour.

Not my style.

But because my mummy bought this as my birthday present, I will wear it.

:)

2 years on

What a ride it has been.

And through it all, I am glad to have 2 friends who are actually supportive of it, regardless how precarious or doomed the situation is.

Thank you c & y for your irrational faith and support.

In the year ahead, I would like to...

1) Practice empathic listening. Avoid autobiographical responses. Diagnose before I prescribe.

This is from one of the priorities I set after my 7-habits course. How many times have I appeared to be listening, but really I have drifted off; or am listening in order to respond or give my own advice; or judge base on my own experiences or motives? Empathic listening is perhaps one of the hardest to achieve.

2) Write more

3) Take good pictures.

For that, I will be signing up for basic digital photography lessons this year. Know my equipment before I can express through my lenses.

4) Read more

5) Love more

Cheers to a brand new year. May our lives be filled with laughter and love. :)

The Big Zero

Paul Krugman called the decade past the Big Zero. Zero job creation. Zero economic gains. Zero gains for homeowners. Zero gain for stocks.

"It was a decade in which nothing good happened, and none of the optimistic things we were supposed to believe turned out to be true."

Zero. That's 2009 for me. It is perhaps the most uneventful eventful year. An oxymoron. Many things happened, but nothing really happened.

I started the year convinced that I was going away; to a fresh new beginning. But less than halfway into the year, I realised it was not meant to be. For so many reasons, I couldn't and didn't want to. And so I left and returned to where I'd started - HR. Full circle. Instead of being the good little grateful officer that I was supposed to be, I had to send in my application for another job (overseas again) and caused quite a little disturbance with the superiors; only to realise I had sent the application to the wrong email address... "It was God's way of telling me that it's not time yet," I told my boss. And so the days passed by peacefully again.

On the dating scene, I tried dating a few guys. Rather hi-po (for the uninitiated, it stands for high potential in public sector speak) ones, I had imagined. Guys that I thought were charming, funny and/or nice. And I actually kinda liked them. BUT. You all know my funny horror stories. I am a magnet for strange, sad guys... Twice, I tried to walk out of this current situation. I cried my heart out and actually felt my heart aching and was convinced I had to move on. Yet each time, I fall right back in and here I am, still in status quo.

But if I could do everything all over again, I would because each one teaches me a valuable lesson. The former painful stint made me cherish my job and realise what I am good at. The current situation is teaching me... whatever that I need to learn.

Of course, 2009 was not a complete zero lah. I completed my first mini-marathon (10K haha!), started learning guitar (I am so giving up soon...), committed myself to photography (new body + lessons next yr!), stayed committed to yoga, spent more time at home (housework on Saturday mornings, time with Ricky), went for 2 entirely spontaneous trips (Bangkok and London), found out that I could handle 75% alcohol, found out that I COULD NOT handle caipirinha (gives me a heart attack or allergic reaction), realised my true friends and that I am a terrible snorer (SHIT).

I guess 2009 was really a year of self-discovery. Realising just how much shit I could handle and/or internalise.

Cheers to that.

London, Winter 2009

London. heathrow. bicester village. shopping. paul smith. okonomiyaki. best coffee at vergnano. la cage aux folles. tower of london. snow. national gallery. child with a dove. national portrait gallery. soho. dim sum at yauatcha. gobbling. full english breakfast. st paul's cathedral. millennium bridge. gabriel's wharf. nutella and banana crepes. icing sugar. south bank. london eye. big ben. the ugliest palace in the world. harrods. sudoku. leaky nose. coffee discs. billy elliot. fortnum and mason. tea and more tea. a lunch time concert at st martin-in-the-fields. fish and chips. chez bruce. orgasmic appetisers. dashing back in the cold. dozing on the tube. bak kwa. bbc. four seasons. too fat and too yummy duck. delicious kopparberg. covent garden. chicago. indian food at punjab restaurant. bejeweled. marks & spencer crunchflakes. tube. conveyor belt sushi. paddington station. farewell.

Honeycomb & Vanilla

I used to avoid using flash for my pictures - thinking and assuming it's too harsh and ugly. But oh, I finally got down to using the external flash that WL had kindly passed to me long ago and I LOVE IT LAH!! The external flash gives me gorgeous bright white pictures. I LUB!

Colours!

Cookyn with Mervyn

My colleague PW and I were invited by our colleague CW to attend a "cooking party" featuring a 4-course Italian meal with wine (!!!). Now, I'm not a "cooking person" (am an "eating person" haha) but after checking out the website of Cookyn With Mervyn and seeing how many past participants had their DSLR slung around their neck as they cooked, I was intrigued. Excellent photog opportunity! :)

The session was held at 270 Thomson Road, Novena Gardens (at the office space above the restaurant - Peach Garden).

Meet Mervyn - "The Food Explorer"

Meet Amanda - "Hostess Extraordinaire"

They are a perfect example of an extraordinary husband & wife team :)

And us - "The Chef Wannabes"

Mervyn's cooking philosophy is to use the best ingredients possible in terms of freshness and quality.

Large portabello mushroom and freshly grated parmesan for the Mushroom and Truffle Risotto.

Tip: Mervyn advised to not wash mushrooms but to instead wipe clean with kitchen paper towel. As mushrooms will absorb water, the taste will be different when you cook them (I think!)

Live littleneck clams from New Zealand for the Vongole.

According to Amanda, this was chosen as the flesh to shell ratio is good.

Freshly diced strawberries for the Strawberry Panna Cotta.

Handmade "meatballs on steroid" for the Italian Meatball Casserole with Fresh Mozzarella. They were the size of tennis balls!

Freshly chopped garlic

(I only put this here because PW and I were in charge of the garlic haha!)

This was the recommended brand for tomato puree. Not too sweet.

A device to ground pepper. Fully motorised with light. Cool stuff.

Herbs and wine. We had wine from start till end. Seriously.

As there was only one main working station, we had to gather round and take turns to handle different tasks such as chopping of herbs, stirring of risotto, frying of foods, handling the clams etc. This arrangement suited me fine as it allowed me to take pictures without worrying that I'm lagging or that my food is burning!

Not everyone gets to play with the cool device hor!

And the end results!

Vongole - The soup was flavourful and the clams sweet. Yummy.

Risotto - This was very fragrant (with truffle puree and porcini) and tasty. Though the rice tasted 3/4 cooked and I would have preferred it to be softer.

Panna Cotta - The panna cotta was premade as it required 3-4 hours to set. The largely milky sweet base topped with sugared pureed fresh strawberries and drizzled with Balsamic sauce (awesome stuff), this dessert was a sweet & sour comfort food.

Meatball casserole - I didn't try this as it was beef meatballs. :( But according to the rest, it was yummy!

The session was around 4 hours and very well-paced. Much of the usual stress of cooking was taken away as it was more of a cooking observation and handling relatively simple tasks. What I found useful were the tips that Mervyn would dish out along the way. Of course, the 4 bottles of wine that came as part of the session helped. :) For a group of 12 and above, the usual fee is around s$80 per pax. For a session of this length with good food, good company and good hosting, I would say it is worth an experience. Try it!

Cookyn With Mervyn

I think the only reason...

...why I keep going back to PS Cafe despite the overpriced mediocre food and beverages...

...is because I love the fresh flowers and gigantic floral arrangements; the brown and white sugar cubes;

...the general look and feel of the place;

...and the opportunity to take pictures in a pretty, pretty place.