Is young a word for fun

Christmas is truly the most magical time of the year! I love the feeling of walking down a quieter orchard road in the morning, with a belly-full of breakfast food and someone special, just before the flurry of last-minute Christmas shoppers flood the streets. The feeling you get when you're sipping a warm chai and listening to Pink Martini's rendition of Auld Lang Syne from the nearby record store. The lights, the smiles, the festive chill in the air.

The days leading up to Christmas were wonderful; full of cookie-baking, cooking, and church rehearsals. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to Universal Studios, and it was absolutely magnificent, although the severe whiplash and bodyache from riding Battlestar Galatica six times lasted for several days. It's been so busy I've hardly had a spare split second to catch my breath. Although I loved giving and receiving gifts (LOVED ALL MY PRESENTS THIS YEAR) and feasting and seeing friends and the three Christmas services, I'm kind of glad it's over. Now comes the time for recuperation and enjoying the last couple of weeks of holidays. Had a blast cooking dinner for my extended family a couple of hours ago (pictures up soon!) and looking forward to end today with the best Christmas film of all time... Love Actually.

For now, at least, my schedule will look something like that: Sleep, eat, telly, eat, repeat.




And Jesus is the reason for the season, y'all. Don't forget!

On turning 19.

Eleven minutes till this brief medley of celebrations (and its assortments of birthday cheesecakes, extravagant meals, heaps of book gifts and a lot of first times!) come to an end.

Birthdays can be a pretty awful affair. Well, for me at least. Isn't it awkward sitting around a table while everyone chimes an off-key rendition of happy birthday? Or receiving gifts you don't really deserve. The thought of being the center of attention for twenty four hours drives me crazy. Today I had to endure the ominous Circle of Death during cell group and it was quite mortifying... but I have to say, sweet. It's nice to know you're appreciated and loved at least once a year!

So thanks for all the messages, tweets, facebook posts and personal wishes from family and friends! I honestly love you all. It's been hard being 18, but 19 will most definitely, be magnificent.

Homemade

Last week was full of unpredictable events, including an unfortunate ambulance ride and a whole lot of panic. That, however, is an entire different matter. Instead of focusing on the gristly details of the former, I'll share about another part of my week... a delicious cottage pie.

I love food, which a plain enough fact to see, but it's hard to find time or the effort. I'd like to blame a mom who abhors cooking anything beyond toast, and a household where dinner is often takeaway from wherever one of us are, (or worse, tuna from the can on crackers), but mostly it's just my laziness. When my godmother graciously and bravely offered to teach me how to make a simple enough dish of meat & potato fare, I jumped at the opportunity. And two hours later... Voilà! A beautiful casserole, brimming with goodness!

I'm not joking when I say that family inhaled the entire thing in minutes. The recipe is that good. I've made it only once since, altering a couple of measurements here and there. Mostly though, it remains my Godma's pie, hearty and homemade. 

Aunty Stella's Shepherd's Pie

Godma likes to make hers with a 3:2 meat and baked beans ratio, but I go heavy on the minced beef because I'm carnivorous like that. Feel free to throw in whatever you like though, almost anything goes! Also, I served the pie with slices of fried buttered bread the last time, to mop up the slurry of gravy that gathers at the base of the casserole dish.

Ingredients

5 medium russet potatoes

75g of butter

100ml of milk

Olive Oil

1 & 1/2 medium yellow onions

500g minced beef

A handful of sweet corn nibblets

100g of button mushrooms (halved or quartered)

1 & 1/2 beef stock cubes
150g of thick tomato puree
3 slices of streaky bacon
Salt
Pepper

1. Skin the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Throw these pieces into a pot, with a generous dash of salt and just enough water to cover. Boil for about 15-20 minutes. They are ready when you can pierce through one easily with a fork.

2. While waiting for the potatoes to boil, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Dice the onions and cut the bacon into rough 1-inch pieces. 

3. Mash the pieces with kitchen masher, of it you don't have one, use the back of a fork. It suits me just fine. I like having slightly lumpy mashed potatoes :)

4. Cut off small chunks of butter and immerse them deep into the mound of potato and let the chunks melt. Add the milk slowly and mix it into the potato.

5. Put the mashed potato aside. Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat up some olive oil in a wok and add the  diced onions, stir-frying at medium heat.

6. When the onions have turned slightly brown, throw in the minced beef and continue to stir-fry at medium/high heat for about 3 - 5 minutes.

7. When meat has turned a pinkish-brown hue, add in the sweet corn, mushrooms, tomato puree and stock cubes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. Add in about 50ml of water slowly and reduce on medium heat.

9. When the meat mixture is done, pour it into a 12x8x3inch casserole dish. Gently place the mashed potatoes on top. I like to run a fork across the surface so the ridges become browned and slightly crispy, yum!

10. Scatter the bacon pieces on top and bake in oven for about 30 minutes.

11. Take out, cool, and serve!

Serves a rabidly hungry family of five.

Another day, another fall

 

A couple of days ago, I was trying to turn on the air-conditioner in church before music class, when I fell backwards and managed to impale the sole of my foot on an upturned three-pin plug. A lot of blood and a quick visit to a GP for one stitch later (yes, ONE. As if my life isn't cursed enough that a hundred dollars must be forked out for ONE stitch. How lame is that?) and I'm at home, missing a couple of days of school and wrapping my leg in a plastic bag before showering.

Too much time at home and not enough human contact is driving me insane. On the other hand, I've gotten extremely adept at hopping around the house on one foot. Which must also, drive my downstairs neighbours insane.

I'm so grateful for friends who helped me on that night, and subsequent ones who visited/dropped a text/promised to help me when I get back to school! And of course, family, for putting up with one whiny kid who wheels around in her desk chair and plays a lot of noisy ukulele. 

Borrowed time, thick as thieves

In this very moment, I am happy because I...

Woke up at noon and rejoiced in the fact that there was no school today

Had toasted blueberry bagels with cream cheese & grapes for breakfast

made fresh coffee for my dad and wished him a very happy 52nd birthday and hugged him

Played the songs of A Fine Frenzy and Simon&Garfunkel on guitar and remembered why I love music.

Had enough time to revisit a comfort novel, Sunshine by Robin McKinley for the 100th time, and was happy because there was someone in the world writing about vampires in a non-gross, twilight way.

Redecorated my room with record covers and Europe trip relics and other miscellaneous weird stuff.

Am Alive.

Crafts of a clumsy kind

It was Mother's Day on Sunday and also my mom's birthday a little less than an hour ago. I don't really enjoy shopping for gifts (even on trips abroad, I rarely get souvenirs for others unless I'm reminded to) partly because it's a chore, but mostly because I'd like to believe that people do appreciate little D.I.Y presents now and then.

So, armed with a new set of acrylic paints and a stack of cards, I set about to creating the ultimate present for aunties: THE COUPON BOOKLET. It is a simple, albeit clumsily put together, lump-sum of pages. Mom, however, seemed to like it tremendously! :) I think that sometimes, all it takes is a ten-song mixed CD or a homemade bed-in-breakfast to show your appreciation for someone else. Beats the 10-carat jewels anyday!

Earlier today we had a Japanese birthday lunch of beef sukiyaki and spicy sashimi, and tempura ice-cream for dessert. We talked and laughed and my dad gave my mom flowers. It was all-in-all, a pretty lovely day.

I love my mom! And I hope she had a really good birthday!

It's a boxed-up world

In the past two weeks, I've inhaled countless dust bunnies and taped together one too many disintegrating cardboard boxes. Packing gets too tiring after all. But let's face it, we all secretly enjoy the chore. It's a treasure trove waiting to be discovered at the back of your drawer and a nostalgic pill rifling through old photos & letters.

Right now though, my once-colourful room (post-its, band posters and pin-up polaroids) has become a blank canvas. Absolutely boring. Can't wait to shift in 36 hours time and mess up a whole other room! Been to the new crib a couple of times to help set things up and I'm proud to say that I put together a chair with my own bare hands!

Of course, I did it a hundred wrong ways, even with idiot-proof IKEA instructions and only 8 bolts to screw in. I did it in the end though, to prove my doubtful parental units wrong! Ha.



HOW-KANG AWAITS. Guess who my parents are voting for on Election day.

And then I would crawl onto your lap

The only word to express this is... Wow.

Buy me an ice-cream?

Today whilst looking at furniture at IKEA, the entire family (except mom) started fooling around with the random household appliances, as usual. This resulted in dad accidentally pushing against the emergency fire-escape door handle and setting off the alarm, holding two embarrassingly large lampshades in his hands.

Needless to say, we all proceeded to briskwalk to a ten-metre radius distance and laugh.



4:12am and I'm watching The Office episode where Michael attempts to force Meredith into going to alcohol rehabilitation. I don't want to go to work tomorrow :/

College essay turned reflection

The most influential person in my life is unknown to most. There are no books or films detailing her life and times; even her name is elusive to most. As a simple homemaker and the humble wife of a businessman, you will not find my mother's name inscribed in history textbooks or her face splashed on magazines. Nonetheless, she is an inspiration to me.

From the view of most people, my mother (whose name for the record, is Jorina) was destined for greater things other than being, well, my mother. Born into a well-to-do family, Jo was given an English education, complete with perks such as B&W television and music lessons, something hard to come by in the traditional '60s. Being artistic from young, Jo entered NAFA and graduated successfully as the first batch of graphic artists in Singapore. She began to carve a name for herself, going on to work in the burgeoning art industry; prestigious galleries and designing firms. However, when she became a mother, Jo prioritized her children above anything else; including her career.

Being a mother to three children was not easy, but Jo excelled in it. Besides the dreary household chores to attend to, she scorned the idea of paying tuition teachers an extravagant amount of money and took it upon herself to educate my sisters and I in Mathematics, Science, and the like. She bought scores of books from bookfairs and secondhand shops, introducing us to the fantasy world of the Brothers Grimm and Enid Blyton. Instead of watching 'junk' cartoons, as she called them, we grew up watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' musicals and the entire M.A.S.H collection when we got older. Most importantly, Jo taught her to be kind and compassionate, and strong in our faith.

More so than I realise, my mother has shaped me into the person I am today. The girl whose life has become so immersed in music stems from her absolute conviction to get me started through piano lessons and buying my first guitar. The girl fond of Hemingway, Audrey Hepburn and Queen comes from her insistence that I learn to love the classics. The girl who goes to church every sunday and for missionary trips comes from her very own example to have a servant's heart. My mother continues to be a friend, a confidante, and the ultimate example of how I continue to live my life today.

A box of matchsticks, an Ipod, and twelve hours in a car.

KL 2010! A short shopping vacation with the family which was pretty snazzy. Though the disastrous trip there with multiple jams only jolted mom's nerves and made all of us go nearly ballisticimus. Have a low tolerance for confined spaces and Deep Purple blasting from the car radio! But all in all, it was a great time of bonding, scoffing food and shopping.

Spend the last few days of 2010 reading lots of Chuck Palahniuk novels at home and watching Big Bang Theory (so fricking brilliant) instead of partying. 2011 beckons new resolutions, delving into the working world headfirst, and hopefully more maturity!

Today was my first day at work and I did three useful things;

1) Open up the company's letterbox to get mail
2) Set up my new work email account
3) Pasted price tag stickers on CDs

The other 5 or 6 hours were spent playing with a colleague's adorable son, checking facebook and hanging around the studio whilst playing guitar. Which is no less than what I do at home. Swine is I!

I also used my first pay envelope to buy Rocky Horror Show floor seats for next Friday. Stoked to do the time warp wheeheehee. Hopefully, Hossan Leong would not ruin the show by attempting to infuse some, um, 'Asian flava' into Richard O'Brien's classic rock n' roll musical.

Happy New Year everybody!

Like a riot, like a riot, oh!

Singfest 2010

So I wasn't feeling all that up to it on tuesday, but I'm kinda glad I went. Its awesomeness made me want to get a ticket for Smashing Pumpkins on day 3 (and from what Victor said, they played 1979 from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness which they play, like, NEVER.)

The Like (alternative poprock band based in L.A.) was unexpectly good. Hail all-girl rockbands!


she reminds me of dull gret. Have been studying way too much lit... HA! I lie. Churchill gets into your head, tho.
Nameless bass, but you can pretty much guess its a hofner. Paul McCartney would have been proud.
Orianthi was an absolutely wicked, 'cept when she opened her mouth and the ghastly aussie accent came spilling out. You could practically see the looks of awe change to looks of mortification when she stopped playing the slick steve-vai licks and tried to increase audience participation by talking. Still, you can't fault the girl, being in MJ's last unseen-tour gives you immunity.

Lounged around while the wondergirls were on!

Harry's was the official caterer, everything was overpriced as usual!

So anyway there was this buff mixed-dude standing in front of us and Sarah asked whether I could take a picture with him. *blushes. And then she called me a cheap slut. THANKS.

Whoot whoot!
eeyer.

If they didn't show that much skin, people would have boo-ed them straight off. Most lukewarm-applause performance of the night!

They were so-so. I don't have a taste of effeminate dudes and mediocre instrumentals. Although Bill has GOT to get a trophy for managing to squeeze into those pants.

Anyway, I was pretty pissed that by the time Katy Perry got on (it took about 45 minutes for them to set the props up and vulgarities were aflame in the mob), there was no batt left cause Sheri used it all to take pictures of Tokio. It was a serious FML moment.

These were the best two pictures before the cam died... at least we got to watch her rock on guitar and sing with amazing vocals. Doesn't hurt that she is hella BEAUTIFUL!


Between holding press-conferences in the sea and having a fiance like Russell Brand, no one can say Katy Perry isn't amazing.

So concludes this year's Singfest! 2008 did have a better line-up I suppose, but you can't expect Jason Mraz and Panic to come every year, right?



The last week has ben breezyyyy. Career day on Wednesday and National Day celebrations today. Loving the long weekend ahead! Will finally have time to listen to the new Arcade Fire album. Have a great holiday everyone :)

I Heart Mom

Sounds a lot like my mom! Except sometimes I screw my face up in disgust for a while and then choke the rest of it down.

Hey, I can't help that I'm a picky eater.

Still, happy mother's day and happy birthday mom. I know you read this blog sometimes when all the green tea is drunk and all the kimchi's eaten. I love you very very much and you will always be my best friend :))