February 2012
7 posts
4 tags
Ipoh Hor Fun in Singapore
I love Ipoh hor fun. It’s one of my favourite local dishes, considering it’s not really local since it is from Ipoh (supposedly). I’ll leave the googling of what hor fun is to you but essentially, it is a thin, flat rice noodle, sort of the same shape as a tagliatele but made from rice flour. Hor fun, in my opinion is not to be confused with kway teow, which is also a flat rice...
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““My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they...”
–
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.
In 2010, my heart was telling me that it wasn’t right. But it only told me part of the truth. It didn’t tell me that things haven’t been right for a very long time. If I had even listened to that mustard seed of truth, things might have been...
2 tags
“He was still too young to know that the heart’s memory eliminates the bad...”
– Gabriel García Márquez, Love In The Time Of Cholera
I never did finish the book. I left it in London. Looking through some of my photos of New York, I was reminded of this passage in the book. Was I happy then? Yes without a doubt. Did my world crash? Of course it did. But I was happy again. And...
3 tags
New York 2012
New York was somewhat planned for the fall of 2012 - for my birthday actually. I had great hopes and dreams and plans, new places to go, new things to try. Flights and accommodation have even been booked. I don’t know what’s going to happen with those tickets and perhaps I might not stay at the Sheraton by Central Park, but I’m hoping and planning to be in New York this...
1 tag
January 2012
4 posts
2 tags
New beginnings
Life for me, was thrown upside down about 7 weeks ago. Short of going into the painful details, I’ve been struggling. And my struggle has turned into a downward spiral of depression. Yesterday, I was admitted to hospital for observation. I sat on the ledge of my (parents’) 9th storey apartment. I don’t know if I would have hurled myself off. I wasn’t afraid but in the...
1 tag
Dark days
I’ve been diagnosed with depression.
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Meet the Fellas
Say hi to the Fellas. Raspberry, Mikey, Cat, Ellie, Bug, Monkey and Antoine (who’s affectionately known as Toinee).
They’re my comfort when I need comforting in ways that words can’t express. I’m in my 30s but yes, they are my comfort and they make me happy.
This is Bug. Bug is preparing for his first solo trip halfway around the world.
I made a little sleeping...
December 2011
21 posts
2 tags
3 tags
Breakfast, the most important meal of the day
I love breakfast. It’s a little more difficult to make breakfast for one but I still love breakfast. I always have. I like breakfasts and dinners. Lunches I have less of an affinity for, unless it’s a dim sum lunch with friends.
Starting 2 January, I’ll have less opportunity for breakfast because I’m starting work at Boulangerie Paul which is opening at Ngee Ann City...
Once when I was feeling really down, you hugged me for 20 minutes and wouldn’t let me go. No one has ever hugged me for 20 minutes just because.
1 tag
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.”
– Hermann Hesse
5 tags
Open-faced burgers
I love a good hamburger and my preferred patty is made from minced pork, minced beef, and chopped bacon. The good things about making your own are:
You know exactly what’s in it
No messing around with unwanted stuff like chutney or onion marmalade (yes, I know there are some of your who actually like the stuff!)
You can make em whatever size you want
You can keep an emergency stash...
What I learnt from Mission Impossible 4 today
It was a great film but what resonated most with me today was the part at the end where Tom Cruise told Jeremy Renner that his wide hadn’t died, that he faked her death in order to protect her. And then he saw her from across the waters and she saw him too and they looked at each other and smiled.
Sometimes I wonder how it is possible to love someone more than when your heart feels tested...
1 tag
Meet Karen
I’ve had a crappy 36 hours. Seriously crappy. So why am I blogging this? Because make up, a cute skirt and a gorgeous bag make the person!
Meet my latest bag, the Kate Spade Park Row Karen, just in store. My friend from San Francisco brought it in for me coz it’s way cheaper to get in the US than in Singapore. Early Christmas present. Initially I thought I was going to be...
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”
– Thomas Paine
6 tags
Meat & mushroom tartlets in a herbed crust
About two weeks, a friend pinged me and asked if I’d be interested in be interviewed for a feature in the Sunday Times. Here’s the article from the 4th of December. The theme was Christmas and the journalist was looking for something savoury coz the other people were making sweet things - mulled wine, cake pops and cupcakes. Another friend of mine suggested making mince pies with a...
5 tags
Japanese tonkatsu on rice
A couple of months ago (yes, this photo is that old), Sue Ern came over for dinner instead of trying to rub elbows with the Orchard Road human traffic and I decided to make tonkatsu because we both are meat eaters. We had a great time catching up over a quick bit of frying, eating and make up. I thought I’d post my tonkatsu recipe because many people don’t know easy it is to make....
1 tag
Miette, San Francisco
This is utterly charming. And it’s so much more special coz I was there last September. Am only waiting for my HDD and I’ll have pics to share of San Francisco!
Miette: A Video from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop from 4SP Films on Vimeo.
6 tags
Cupcakes New York City style
The cupcake craze began in New York I think and I read about Magnolia Bakery in my IDEO Eyes Open New York book that I bought mainly for the gorgeous photography. I didn’t make it there my first trip so it was on my priority list of to do’s the second trip, and I made it to both the West Village and Rockefeller branches. Of course, four cupcakes in 4 days was really too much for me...
7 tags
Grimaldi's. Pizza.
Found Grimaldi’s when my friend, Pete, and I were out exploring Brooklyn one Saturday afternoon in September. We walked across the Manhattan Bridget thinking it was the nicer pedestrian bridge (which is of course the Brooklyn Bridge - duh) on the one day the sun decided t shine with all its might. Having only just arrived in New York, both of us had no idea what we were doing! After...
6 tags
Fresh Salt
One of the things I love about New York City is how everything is online and how there’s a review of everything I’ve looked for. Can’t remember the name of a shop that I went to in Dumbo, Brooklyn - googled it and found the P.S. Bookstore (I only later noticed that there was a banner at the back with the name printed on it). Can’t remember where I had a meatloaf sandwich...
4 tags
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New York in Black & White
Washington Square Park
First Avenue
Wall Street
On a rainy, miserable day like today, in a tiny, boring miserable place like this is, I remember New York and how being there makes me feel alive. All I want is to be back there. And I will be. Soon. Not as soon as I hope, but sooner than what it feels, I think. I’m looking forward to it.
November 2011
14 posts
6 tags
Serendipity 3
Serendipity has been one of my favourite movies since I first saw it absolute yonks ago. I loved the city. So when my friend said that Serendipity 3, which was where the cafe scene in the film was shot in, was just mere blocks away from his apartment, I knew I’d have to go. He said to go early too coz as soon as it hits lunch time, the queue gets pretty long.
The decor in Serendipity...
5 tags
Graffiti wall on Houston
My body wants to sleep but my mind wants to stay up all night so I’m just going to post some pics of a graffiti wall on Houston, just off Bowery.
Given that the whole wall is very artistically covered by graffiti of one kind, obviously one or one group of graffiti artists did the whole wall. I figure it’s a sanctioned graffiti wall. Does anyone know?
I can’t wait till I go...
5 tags
Books in New York
Powerhouse Arena on 37 Main Street (Brooklyn, NY 11201) is my favourite bookstore in New York so far, and I’ve only been to New York twice. My friend Pete and I stumbled into it when we were out exploring Brooklyn one hot Saturday afternoon in September and we stayed for a little more than a while because it was deliciously air-conditioned and there was free wifi there.
That was last...
6 tags
Katz's from When Harry Met Sally
Last year when I visited, walking along with Abrams (Lisa), she pointed out “Oh that’s Katz’s where they filmed the orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally. Up till then, I hadn’t actually seen When Harry Met Sally; I thought I had but I thought wrong. So between September ‘10 and May ‘11, I actually did see the movie and it was on my list of places to visit...
5 tags
Brunch at Peels
I think I came across Peels on Twitter. I don’t even remember when but this trip to the City in May, it was definitely on my must-go list. I’d heard good things about their brunch.
At 325 Bowery (Corner of 2nd St), Sheryl and I had difficulty determining whether to turn left or right for 325. The thing about New York is that you need to know whether you’re walking...
4 tags
New York City photos from 2010 & 2011 - finally
[Click on the image above to my entire New York City photo set on Flickr.]
Alright! I have only just finished processing the remaining pictures from my May 2011 New York City stopover. I was halfway through them earlier on in September when my external hard disk - with all my photos since 2006 - crashed. My Mac guru friend David couldn’t restore the HDD , three shops in Sim Lim shook...
2 tags
I know I shouldn't have but...
Lunch. Yesterday. I know I nutritionally I shouldn’t have. I know lots of people are really stuck up when it comes to spam or luncheon meat. But I love it. It’s a childhood thing, I think. And in fact, lots of restaurants in Japan and Hong Kong serve spam on noodles, with rice or in sandwiches.
So I had luncheon meat, fried, on a bed of rice with a raw egg (also very Japanese and...
5 tags
Books and people
Singapore is so boring! S’what I always say, still. My biggest gripe is that it’s small and since I’ve grown up here, I’ve come to accept everything as ‘just the way it is.’ It’s not like New York where it’s bustling 24/7 (the subway doesn’t shut at 11:30pm like it does here in Singapore) or London where there’s so much to see and do, and...
3 tags
Two days in Bintan
About a week ago, I went to Bintan on a two-day one night resort stay with Kimmie and her 16 month old Noah. Her friend got her vouchers off Groupon as a Christmas pressie and she very kindly invited me along.
We went on a Thursday-Friday and the resort - Bintan Cabana Beach Resort - was deserted. Perhaps it’s not the most popular beach resort but it was nice to smell the ocean and walk...
1 tag
Remembering Marylebone...
… Missing London.
I don’t really know what brought my mind to Marylebone but I miss it. I miss the delightful little streets with a mixture of the small independents and the larger high street shops. I miss going “Shall we walk up to Marylebone since it’s on the way to Baker Street which is convenient to go home?” I miss the Le Creuset shop, hunting for those...
4 tags
Incidental trip to Bonheur Patisserie
Jeanne whom I got to know at Notabilia’s bookmaking class (and there’s another one on Saturday which I’m attending - yay!) invited me along to a screening of Food, Inc. yesterday at The Pigeon Hole yesterday and as we were early, we stopped off at Le Bonheur Patisserie (both on Duxton Road) for coffee (me), tea and cake (her).
Here’s my iced latte. Nothing to fave...
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Featured on Notabilia: quinoa salad with green...
I am absolutely thrilled to be featured on Notabilia - thank you Pooja - sharing my failsafe go-to recipe when I’m knackered after a day’s work or when I have vegetarian friends coming to dinner or when it’s so hot outside that all I can stomach is something crisp and clean on the palette.
Click through for the recipe and I hope you like it too.
And here’s a link to...
4 tags
Lunch at Nihon Mura Kaiten Sushi
It was a rainy afternoon and I decided to join my parents for lunch nearby (Balestier Point no less) for a spot of Japanese. My parents had been to Nihon Mura Kaiten Sushi a couple of times and thought the food was yummy (the sashimi was fresh & juicy) and they had a really good value lunch offer (3 items for $8.90++) so since I wasn’t due to do anything till 3pm, I said sure!
...
October 2011
19 posts
2 tags
Slip cover for my MacBook Pro
I’ve been sewing all day today, well almost.
On Tuesday I went to Plaza Singapura with Delphine and the kiddies (a two year old Diego who’s funny and will listen to my broken French and reply in French and a 3 month old Leo who’s just the most smiley baby alongside with Paula) and picked up some really pretty navy blue and white spot fabric at Spotlight. It was avery quick...
2 tags
You're such a tease!
Work in progress of my latest book making creation - a cloth, hard cover book.
Photos of the finished item to come.
3 tags
Afternoon at the library
Decided to go to the library on Bras Basah today (and walked there too from Novena!!) coz I wanted to do some research on a project I’m working on and having never been to Japan, I had no idea what Japan is like or how the city of Tokyo is organised. Paris has its arrondissements, London has its boroughs, New York has it’s neighbourhoods; LA I’ve been to but can’t for the...