I usually hate eating marmalade, but lately have discovered yuzu marmalade. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit that has a floral, nearly pomelo-like fragrance. It's not as sour nor as bitter as oranges or lemons.
So I've recently just discovered the simple pleasure of yuzu marmalade on toast. Its an excellent dry food for when I'm ill (which I have been recently) and isn't too sour or bitter to be eaten as a snack.
By the way, did you know that toast is good for when you're down with flu or food poisoning?
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
I'm Pro! I'm Pro!!!
Oh joy... To complete my life absolutely, I now have a Flickr Pro account for a year!!! This must be the happiest birthday of my life!
Check out the side panel (in my joy I did the geeky thing and took a screen capture) :-)
And what's more amazing, Flickr's interface is so marvelous, they automatically returned all the photos that they had took out after the 200 photo limit. I was expecting to have to re-upload them and now they're magically, amazingly back!!
Cheers to a 2GB upload limit, unlimited folders and original image size storage!! Thank you thank you You!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
History of Us
Why was this song on my Indigo Girls playlist for so long and I never found it?! Gosh, sappy love songs again (how embarassing).
It just struck me that You like to ask me, "Are you sure?" I say something seriously, and the moment I am not in jest, the moment something is controversial, the moment you hear something I say that you were wishing to hear you ask me, "Are you sure?"
Gosh... who writes these songs? If I could meet her just to hear a sound.
I wonder if You knew just how much it struck me just as it struck her. Or would it just be something that You claim not to understand?
History of Us
I went all the way to Paris to forget your face
Captured in stained glass, young lives long since passed
Statues of lovers every place
I went all across the continent to relieve this restless love
I walked through the ruins, icons of glory
Smashed by the bombs from above
So we must love while these moments are still called today
Take part in the pain of this passion play
Stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust
Until time makes history of us
Jeu de paume’s full of faces knowing peace, knowing strife
Leisure and toil, still it’s canvas and oil
There’s just no medium for life
In the midst of the rubble I felt a sense of rebirth
In a dusty cathedral the living God called
And I prayed for my life here on earth
So we must love while these moments are still called today
Take part in the pain of this passion play
Stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust
Until time makes history of us
There are mountains in Switzerland, brilliant cold as they stand
From my hotel room, watching the half-moon
Bleeding it’s light like a lamb
And the town is illumined, it’s tiny figures are fast asleep
And it dawns on me the time is upon me
To return to the flock I must keep
So we must love while these moments are still called today
Take part in the pain of this passion play
Stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust
Until time makes history of us
And another one that is so poetic... Language or the Kiss
I don’t know if it was real or in a dream
Lately waking up I’m not sure where I’ve been
There was a table set for six and five were there
I stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair
And there was steam on the windows from the kitchen
Laughter like a language I once spoke with ease
But I’m made mute by the virtue of decision
And I choose most of your life goes on without me
Oh the fear I’ve known
That I might reap the praise of strangers
And end up on my own
All I’ve sown was a song but maybe I was wrong
I said to you the one gift which I’d adore
The package of the next 10 years unfolding
But you told me if I had my way I’d be bored
Right then I knew I loved you best born of your scolding
When we last talked we were lying on our backs
Looking at the sky through the ceiling
I used to lie like that alone out on the driveway
Trying to read the greek upon the stars
The alphabet of feeling
Oh I knew back then
It was a calling that said if joy then pain
The sound of the voice these years later
Is still the same?
I am alone in a hotel room tonight
I squeeze the sky out but there’s not a star appears
Begin my studies with this paper and this pencil
And I’m working through the grammar of my fears
Oh mercy what I won’t give
To have the things that mean the most
Not to mean the things I miss
Unforgiving the choice still is
The language or the kiss
It just struck me that You like to ask me, "Are you sure?" I say something seriously, and the moment I am not in jest, the moment something is controversial, the moment you hear something I say that you were wishing to hear you ask me, "Are you sure?"
Gosh... who writes these songs? If I could meet her just to hear a sound.
I wonder if You knew just how much it struck me just as it struck her. Or would it just be something that You claim not to understand?
History of Us
I went all the way to Paris to forget your face
Captured in stained glass, young lives long since passed
Statues of lovers every place
I went all across the continent to relieve this restless love
I walked through the ruins, icons of glory
Smashed by the bombs from above
So we must love while these moments are still called today
Take part in the pain of this passion play
Stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust
Until time makes history of us
Jeu de paume’s full of faces knowing peace, knowing strife
Leisure and toil, still it’s canvas and oil
There’s just no medium for life
In the midst of the rubble I felt a sense of rebirth
In a dusty cathedral the living God called
And I prayed for my life here on earth
So we must love while these moments are still called today
Take part in the pain of this passion play
Stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust
Until time makes history of us
There are mountains in Switzerland, brilliant cold as they stand
From my hotel room, watching the half-moon
Bleeding it’s light like a lamb
And the town is illumined, it’s tiny figures are fast asleep
And it dawns on me the time is upon me
To return to the flock I must keep
So we must love while these moments are still called today
Take part in the pain of this passion play
Stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust
Until time makes history of us
And another one that is so poetic... Language or the Kiss
I don’t know if it was real or in a dream
Lately waking up I’m not sure where I’ve been
There was a table set for six and five were there
I stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair
And there was steam on the windows from the kitchen
Laughter like a language I once spoke with ease
But I’m made mute by the virtue of decision
And I choose most of your life goes on without me
Oh the fear I’ve known
That I might reap the praise of strangers
And end up on my own
All I’ve sown was a song but maybe I was wrong
I said to you the one gift which I’d adore
The package of the next 10 years unfolding
But you told me if I had my way I’d be bored
Right then I knew I loved you best born of your scolding
When we last talked we were lying on our backs
Looking at the sky through the ceiling
I used to lie like that alone out on the driveway
Trying to read the greek upon the stars
The alphabet of feeling
Oh I knew back then
It was a calling that said if joy then pain
The sound of the voice these years later
Is still the same?
I am alone in a hotel room tonight
I squeeze the sky out but there’s not a star appears
Begin my studies with this paper and this pencil
And I’m working through the grammar of my fears
Oh mercy what I won’t give
To have the things that mean the most
Not to mean the things I miss
Unforgiving the choice still is
The language or the kiss
Sweet desire at last!
I've finally gone out and did it. For SGD $1,450.
Yes this may sound lustful - the fulfilment of Desire is a sweet sweet thing! :-)
In case you wonder, my ecstasy revolves around a particular Rebel. The Canon 350D Digital Rebel XT to be precise. Black, sleek, with inter-changeable lens with my non-digital SLR...
Oh, life is sweet.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Vibe at The Meritus Negara
We had a Father's Day + sis in law's birthday dinner to celebrate this Sunday, and were at a loss of good places in Singapore to look for food (surprising, but true...) We knew what we wanted though - a buffet - and Dad wanted Brazilian churrasco (which we didn't completely agree with (given his health condition and the insane amount of saturated fat in churrasco...)
Well it just so happened that IS magazine that week had sent their hungry/greedy editorial team around Singapore rating hotel buffets. Vibe was last on the list and rated 4 out of 4 forks. And, although I'd never used an IS rating before, it turns out they were right on with all the points of note.
The Spread is an international picking of salads, cold seafood (scampi, crab, prawn, Pacific Bay oyster) and local fare meats. Apparently there's a choice of soups that they serve to your table, but we didn't get so far. There's also a pasta and noodle section that cooks up your order and serves it to your table to your specific preferences. The main course ranges were modest, but included some surprises like a not-too-bad laksa.
The Highlights were just as was said - the churrasco meats were of decent selection and tasty, juicy, cooked just right and completely comparable with the likes of Brazil and Carnivore. They had the usual ranging from sausages, to chicken hearts, to the highlight beef rump steak and pineapple. Surprising was the lamb which was cooked to medium perfection (their churrasco grill was not too hot) and juicy, tender and just yummy. Also surprising were their sauce selection, which featured a very yummy pesto dressing that went wonderful with the lamb. It was singularly one of the nicer pesto sauces you can get outside of home-made sauce.
They also had the customary chocolate fountain but with what was a rather large assortment of dippers - ranging from marshmallows, to turkish delight marshmallows, fresh fruit, dried fruit and cream puffs. Alas... no strawberries, or I would have been in heaven.
The Lowlights were not that many to mention. They could have done a better presentation of their cheese platter and included a proper cheese cutting board and fork. It was a shame, as they had a wonderful selection of cheeses, including manchego and terrango, a good selection of hard and soft cheeses and a real parmagiano wheel (I thought this could have probably been on display but I unfortunately ate some anyway).
The problem was that the hard cheeses like the manchego was a battle to cut. I ended up having a vigilant waitress (she had noticed me trying to use the display bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and had to rush over to correct my misunderstanding) putting down her tray to help me cut the manchego after I'd got a knife half lodged into the block. As a result, the cheeses ended up not keeping too well and most people wisely steered clear of them. Shame, as they were really good, and contributed quite a fair bit to the cost of providing the food I'd say.
The balsamic vinegar was more than the right amount of viscuous and didn't really quite go as well as it could have with the olive oil. That's more a matter of vinegar/oil selection than anything though.
Yet, the bad presentation however was more than made up for by an excellent dessert selection which was tastefully presented and tasted equally wonderful.
Main points of difference as rightly pointed out by the shrewd IS team is the churrasco. It's really quite good quality and for a very competitive price (see below) is a far better consideration than other similar churrasco places.
Value for Money is high on my list!! Not only do you get very good churrasco, the desserts, salads and cold seafood selections far outstrips dedicated churrascarias and at a lower price!
Lunch: $29
Dinner: $39 - $42
For Father's Day, I ended up paying around $42 pax and also got a free Father's Day bottle of Chilean wine.
Details:
Vibe
The Meritus Negara, Singapore
10 Claymore Road
Reservations: 6737 0811
Well it just so happened that IS magazine that week had sent their hungry/greedy editorial team around Singapore rating hotel buffets. Vibe was last on the list and rated 4 out of 4 forks. And, although I'd never used an IS rating before, it turns out they were right on with all the points of note.
The Spread is an international picking of salads, cold seafood (scampi, crab, prawn, Pacific Bay oyster) and local fare meats. Apparently there's a choice of soups that they serve to your table, but we didn't get so far. There's also a pasta and noodle section that cooks up your order and serves it to your table to your specific preferences. The main course ranges were modest, but included some surprises like a not-too-bad laksa.
The Highlights were just as was said - the churrasco meats were of decent selection and tasty, juicy, cooked just right and completely comparable with the likes of Brazil and Carnivore. They had the usual ranging from sausages, to chicken hearts, to the highlight beef rump steak and pineapple. Surprising was the lamb which was cooked to medium perfection (their churrasco grill was not too hot) and juicy, tender and just yummy. Also surprising were their sauce selection, which featured a very yummy pesto dressing that went wonderful with the lamb. It was singularly one of the nicer pesto sauces you can get outside of home-made sauce.
They also had the customary chocolate fountain but with what was a rather large assortment of dippers - ranging from marshmallows, to turkish delight marshmallows, fresh fruit, dried fruit and cream puffs. Alas... no strawberries, or I would have been in heaven.
The Lowlights were not that many to mention. They could have done a better presentation of their cheese platter and included a proper cheese cutting board and fork. It was a shame, as they had a wonderful selection of cheeses, including manchego and terrango, a good selection of hard and soft cheeses and a real parmagiano wheel (I thought this could have probably been on display but I unfortunately ate some anyway).
The problem was that the hard cheeses like the manchego was a battle to cut. I ended up having a vigilant waitress (she had noticed me trying to use the display bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and had to rush over to correct my misunderstanding) putting down her tray to help me cut the manchego after I'd got a knife half lodged into the block. As a result, the cheeses ended up not keeping too well and most people wisely steered clear of them. Shame, as they were really good, and contributed quite a fair bit to the cost of providing the food I'd say.
The balsamic vinegar was more than the right amount of viscuous and didn't really quite go as well as it could have with the olive oil. That's more a matter of vinegar/oil selection than anything though.
Yet, the bad presentation however was more than made up for by an excellent dessert selection which was tastefully presented and tasted equally wonderful.
Main points of difference as rightly pointed out by the shrewd IS team is the churrasco. It's really quite good quality and for a very competitive price (see below) is a far better consideration than other similar churrasco places.
Value for Money is high on my list!! Not only do you get very good churrasco, the desserts, salads and cold seafood selections far outstrips dedicated churrascarias and at a lower price!
Lunch: $29
Dinner: $39 - $42
For Father's Day, I ended up paying around $42 pax and also got a free Father's Day bottle of Chilean wine.
Details:
Vibe
The Meritus Negara, Singapore
10 Claymore Road
Reservations: 6737 0811
C'est le South Africa...
"Don't ask me why I'm running out of laughter
There's tears in these eyes, not happy ever after.
While we're sitting comfortably in that white winter city,
How can there be happy ever after?"
Sometimes dreams tell you very strange things about yourself that you don't realise in your waking moments. Sometimes dreams take you places that you've never been.
I was in South Africa last night. I was a ranger, and guided people through the remotes of South Africa, through land made raw and beautiful as nature intended. We walked, ran, flew... until for some reason, we came to a precipice, a raw and open cliff side. On one side, land. On the edge of another, swirling blue beautiful ocean as far as the eye can see. Beyond this point is very far away.
There were lions and wolves around us, but they were friendly creatures. We were lost, having reached the ocean with no further way forward. The travellers did not want to go forward, they wanted to turn back. Finally I suggested following the wolves and lions, whose natural instinct owned the land, for surely they knew the way.
Strangely enough, it dawned on me that I'd wanted to interpret this dream of all the rest of the dreams I normally have during most nights. And how apt, and how strange?
To dream of a vast, expansive ocean means that you might be going on a long journey, or may symbolize your need for space or freedom.
Lions typically represent dignity, intensity and valiant energy. To dream of a lion in a positive light means that you need to call on courage within yourself.
Wolves represent aggressive, instinctive urges and cravings. Seeing a wolf is a warning of false friends.
On the edge of the ocean, there was such a temptation to jump in, float and drift across the water with nothing at all. Except that there was nothing there. There was nothing beyond the sea, that was the edge of the world, the end of everything.
The lion chased the wolf, who wisely stopped and ran off back into the wilderness. I thought for a moment, and followed the lions and the wolves back onto safer shore.
There's tears in these eyes, not happy ever after.
While we're sitting comfortably in that white winter city,
How can there be happy ever after?"
Sometimes dreams tell you very strange things about yourself that you don't realise in your waking moments. Sometimes dreams take you places that you've never been.
I was in South Africa last night. I was a ranger, and guided people through the remotes of South Africa, through land made raw and beautiful as nature intended. We walked, ran, flew... until for some reason, we came to a precipice, a raw and open cliff side. On one side, land. On the edge of another, swirling blue beautiful ocean as far as the eye can see. Beyond this point is very far away.
There were lions and wolves around us, but they were friendly creatures. We were lost, having reached the ocean with no further way forward. The travellers did not want to go forward, they wanted to turn back. Finally I suggested following the wolves and lions, whose natural instinct owned the land, for surely they knew the way.
Strangely enough, it dawned on me that I'd wanted to interpret this dream of all the rest of the dreams I normally have during most nights. And how apt, and how strange?
To dream of a vast, expansive ocean means that you might be going on a long journey, or may symbolize your need for space or freedom.
Lions typically represent dignity, intensity and valiant energy. To dream of a lion in a positive light means that you need to call on courage within yourself.
Wolves represent aggressive, instinctive urges and cravings. Seeing a wolf is a warning of false friends.
On the edge of the ocean, there was such a temptation to jump in, float and drift across the water with nothing at all. Except that there was nothing there. There was nothing beyond the sea, that was the edge of the world, the end of everything.
The lion chased the wolf, who wisely stopped and ran off back into the wilderness. I thought for a moment, and followed the lions and the wolves back onto safer shore.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Suggestion for the Cigarette Smoking Man
Line ashtrays with ground coffee beans. It's inexpensive (always my first criteria), coffee acts as an odor absorber, and the grounds extinguish lit cigarettes very quickly as they're slightly moist.
Good idea observed at Tatsuya's at Crown Prince Hotel.
Good idea observed at Tatsuya's at Crown Prince Hotel.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
All I Want for my Birthday...
Shameless plug - but since nobody reads, I figure what it's worth a shot. :-P
All I want for my birthday this year is...
... a 1 year sponsorship to Flickr Pro for US $24.95.
With the message:
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
Take each moment today and every day to celebrate your vision of the world this coming year.
God, how cheesy. And yet, how apt.
I however have already received the ipod 60gb from You-Know-Who. :-)
All I want for my birthday this year is...
... a 1 year sponsorship to Flickr Pro for US $24.95.
With the message:
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
Take each moment today and every day to celebrate your vision of the world this coming year.
God, how cheesy. And yet, how apt.
I however have already received the ipod 60gb from You-Know-Who. :-)
Ou sont les femmes les femmes le femmes!!
Thanks to Y-'s great influence (:-P) I've been converted to a Christophe Turtle fan!
How?! Where?! What on earth!?
Go to http://youtube.com (apparently the source of entertainment for endless nights with an internet connection) and search for Christophe Willem, winner of the latest version of French Idol (Nouvelle Star). Ou sont les femmes, one very addictive song he does very well is ringing in repeat in my ear and there can be nothing that would sneak a bigger smile on my face than if this song suddenly played in video on my new ipod video.
How?! Where?! What on earth!?
Go to http://youtube.com (apparently the source of entertainment for endless nights with an internet connection) and search for Christophe Willem, winner of the latest version of French Idol (Nouvelle Star). Ou sont les femmes, one very addictive song he does very well is ringing in repeat in my ear and there can be nothing that would sneak a bigger smile on my face than if this song suddenly played in video on my new ipod video.
How Clean is Your House?
Addicted to "How Clean is Your House?" on UK tv. Some tips I picked up from there:-
- Scrubbing porcelain (toilet bowls, sinks etc.) with ordinary table salt (inexpensive in copious quantities) with a light non-abrasive scour like the back of a dishwashing sponge or toothbrush helps to make white porcelain sparkly clean.
- Dump two effervescent tablets (the kind you take to get rid of overnight alcohol or indigestion) into the water, let dissolve to bubble out the muck and flush.
- Lemon juice (acid) + bicarbonate of soda (alkaline) mixed with a solution of water neutralizes the air and helps remove odors. Mix, pour into a watering spray and spray away into the air.
- Hot water, vinegar and dishwashing liquid helps get rid of stubborn stains.
And another tip I picked up because I have a dog at home... You know that fabulous enzymatic odor eating liquid you buy from Watson's at $6 a bottle to remove any scents before you poo? They sell copious quantities of that in a spray version at pet shops for about $28 / 500ml or so which is exactly the same thing...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Steak in the UK
You know how steak in Singapore tends to get killed by too much heat? Today I dispelled the myth that this is something only done in Singapore by ordering steak here in UK (yes - BSG to hell...) and requested for a "Medium" at Tootsie's.
Carnivores please note - steak is a dish best served medium rare.
For the record, I've made a mental note that you (uncarnivorous you) would probably like it medium while I would go for a succulent medium rare.
Carnivores please note - steak is a dish best served medium rare.
For the record, I've made a mental note that you (uncarnivorous you) would probably like it medium while I would go for a succulent medium rare.
The Wonderful Work of Bleach
Just a quick note to pen down a key lesson learnt in the battle against mould, fungi and other things that tend to creep and stick to your walls.
Bleach works.
Douse mould and other yuckies with bleach in the bathroom, leave to sit for about 5-10 minutes and scrub away.
Thanks to you-know-who for telling me this - I was so amazed to see the mould stains just vanish in front of my eyes in a matter of minutes.
Bleach works.
Douse mould and other yuckies with bleach in the bathroom, leave to sit for about 5-10 minutes and scrub away.
Thanks to you-know-who for telling me this - I was so amazed to see the mould stains just vanish in front of my eyes in a matter of minutes.
Investment in Emotion
"where i do disagree with you , is in the assertion that investors are quite so emotional beings.casual investors, perhaps. consumers, certainly. but the people who have, and have abundantly, are seldom quite so gullible.not for long anyway, or else they wouldn't have quite as abundantly."
I don't believe in emotion. If you knew me before, perhaps you would say that was a different me then. But I'd say it again. I don't believe in emotion. I would however, invest in it.
I'd take that argument a step further - casual investors may perhaps invest in emotion, in ethos, in marketing. After all, what makes us buy anything at all? Stocks and shoes may not be that different after all - otherwise Nike would not fare as well as it does.
Investors invest in what sells, in what makes profit. If marketing, hype and emotion sells... like hell they would buy it. As such, I sincerely doubt if the people who have, and have abundantly, may not have this consideration in mind as well.
At the end of the day, we may be looking at different things, but you can be sure that we're at least staring in the same direction.
I don't believe in emotion. If you knew me before, perhaps you would say that was a different me then. But I'd say it again. I don't believe in emotion. I would however, invest in it.
I'd take that argument a step further - casual investors may perhaps invest in emotion, in ethos, in marketing. After all, what makes us buy anything at all? Stocks and shoes may not be that different after all - otherwise Nike would not fare as well as it does.
Investors invest in what sells, in what makes profit. If marketing, hype and emotion sells... like hell they would buy it. As such, I sincerely doubt if the people who have, and have abundantly, may not have this consideration in mind as well.
At the end of the day, we may be looking at different things, but you can be sure that we're at least staring in the same direction.
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