Un café

THE FACTORY 

22 Lim Tua Tow Road 

Singapore 547772

Spartan & quaint & best of all, hidden. Perfect for ice-cream in summer, or coffee on rainy days. 

Writing the City

'Prose is all well & good, but it seems to me that poetry is full of music...'

Julia Bell

Last week, our creative writing fiction class attended a short seminar entitled 'Writing the City' by Julia Bell & Jean McNeil from the British Council & that was a nice change from the lessons that we've been having. Creative writing classes have always been a beacon for me in the past two years of college, with the exposure to interesting literature & the rediscovering of an innate hunger to write, but somehow this semester's fiction course was a little... drab. Perhaps it was the way classes were conducted; three hours of sitting in a circle & workshopping other people's work, which sometimes tended to go in circles without answering any quintessential questions (What does it mean when one says that a novel has a voice? When does one draw the line between fiction & autobiography?). Talking about writing, to me, is always necessary but often dull. Perhaps it also had to do with the kind of fiction my coursemates & I were producing, a lot of it being self-absorbed & overly-personal biography, only with disguised characters & changed names. Most of all though, it was largely because fiction doesn't come naturally to me at all, like how poetry or songs (sometimes) do, & these thirteen weeks were spent feeling largely like a fish out of water. Last week's class however, felt a bit like a breakthrough.

It was more of a reading of their work & discussion than a direct teaching seminar. The pieces they read, both excerpts of work-in-progress-novels & poems, were impressive & on occasion, brilliant. Jean, a travel writer whose work encompasses both Antarctica & Africa, talked about how good writers never let their life experiences & people & current landscapes directly translate into their writing, but how they used these tools to provide a template, a vibrant background for the invented story they had to tell, & I could definitely see how that was the case in her stories. There's a certain richness & creativity & also a curious authenticity, when a writer infuses the surrounding culture & his/her own life into a story without allowing it to be a true reflection of their own lives.

Julia also addressed the issue of fiction vs. autobiography, where she talked about how writing fiction isn't equivalent to ranting on the author's part. Throwing up your emotions on a page is the least of any kinds of writing, which often happens to writers in their early stages. Adolescent angst & bitter romances & painful experiences are treasure troves because of the strong emotion it invokes in the writer & his/her readers, but truly magnificent writing pays attention to how all of it translates onto a page & transforms personal experiences into something powerful & sublime. That is why writing is above all an artform, where things like rhyme & form & style are utilized to craft stories to the best possible form.


It was a good hour. What a terribly awful rant that must have been to some of you, but it was an eye-opener for me... I enjoyed it tremendously! Anyway, I haven't been blogging nearly enough & I promise I will soon when the obligatory final exams are over & summer holidays kick in. Till then... au revoir!



P.S. You can read about Jean's work here, & read some of Julia's poetry & short stories here.

Thursday.

Books Actually

@ No.9 Yong Siak St 

Tiong Bahru Estate 

Pears for Poaching

The first time I had a poached pear was in Switzerland, in a tiny inn off the side of a mountain during Christmas time. I remember it was paired with ginger cake & hot tea. Savouring that sliver of warm fruit nestled to the side, combined with the snow outside & the warmth within was absolutely magical. It took me a long time to figure out the perfect balance of ingredients, but it was worth it. The most amazing thing is how incredibly simple it is to make; anyone could do it.

I initially tried David Lebovitz's recipe for poached pears, but it didn't work for a number of reasons. First, it's near impossible to get the special type of pears that he uses (Bosc / Conference pears) here, which are of course great if you can get them, because they are firm & sturdy, perfect for poaching. The Asian pears, which are what we get here instead are very crisp & great for eating raw, but fall apart easily when simmered for a long period of time. The Anjou pear, a good in-between, can be found in Cold Storage fairly frequently throughout the year. 

Secondly, there were several adjustments made to the spices & other ingredients used in order to suit my own taste. I don't like to use lemons because it can overpower the subtle flavours of the other spices. I substituted it with an orange & cardamom seeds instead to retain the fresh citrus flavour, but feel free to experiment... you're the one eating them after all :) Perfect for a rainy evening, or for Christmas dessert.

Spiced Poached Pears

If served with a slice of cake or on top of a tart, the best thing to do is to reduce the remaining liquid & use it as a sauce/glaze. Otherwise, warm poached pears are perfect with some good-quality vanilla ice-cream, or even on its own.

Ingredients

1l water

1 cup of sugar

200g honey

6 medium-sized Asian/Anjou pears

1 orange

1 split vanilla bean OR 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 cinnamon stick

3 teaspoons of cloves

3 star anise

1 teaspoon cardamom seeds

Ginger slices (optional)

1. Put the water in a large saucepan / pot under low heat & slowly mix in sugar & honey till dissolved


2. Meanwhile, peel & core the pears, cutting them into quarters or halves. (Halves take longer)

3. Slice orange into half & allow it to stew face-down in the water for a couple of minutes. 

4. Add remaining spices & oranges, constantly stirring & making sure the pears are fully 
submerged for an evenly-poached texture. You can also cut a piece of parchment paper to lay on top of the pears.

5. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove the pears & set aside.

6. Retain the liquid in order to keep leftover pears in. Or turn the heat up a little & reduce till it's concentrated to about half it's original amount (to use as sauce/glaze with accompaniment) 

Serves approx. 6-8 people for dessert

Oh, did I ever have it!

I like simple things. I like street shows & the hum of a train station in Paris. I like music with good &  honest lyrics. I like a song composition which musical backbone consists of only a ukulele, a xylophone & three voices. I like simple things, & it's been too long a time since I've heard such a unique sound... it's absolutely refreshing.

Paris' very own We Were Evergreen has a dynamic tome that never goes out of style; Their lyrics & melodies have a naïveté-like quality to it that is endearing, but not over-sentimental. It's something quite special to see... A beautiful song that emerges when a couple of chords on a ukulele are put together with a bass-line & slick vocal harmonies. I always think that the appeal of indie music comes from the sum of its parts, rather than soaring powerhouse vocals or a huge brass section, because it shows such creativity in complex arrangement while remaining relatable to music-listeners. That's why I will always prefer Andrew Bird whistling a simple tune for a pre-chorus, or Edward Sharpe making a song out of claps and twelve voices over more chart-toppers. We Were Evergreen is a perfect, perfect example of this kind of music. Give it a listen, won't you?

You can listen to more variations of their single, Baby Blue, here & here, and also watch this crazy awesome stop-motion video of one of their earlier songs, Penguins & Moonboots. 

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: The End

'The idea for this compilation came about like most ideas often do: while I was checking Twitter & Tumblr & the rest of the new-fangled social networking sites on an otherwise mundane afternoon. I don't quite know how it happened, but I was just suddenly aware of how much & how often we quote famous people. People, myself included, are constantly filling their blogs with verbatim from the influentials: authors, poets, celebrities, musicians, politicians, artists, philosophers, & the like... & for some reason, it got me a bit upset. Please don't get me wrong: it isn't bad to quote the aforementioned. They were, are, famous for a reason; if not for wisdom or advice or life experience, at least for being wildly entertaining. It does lead us to the question though... What is worth quoting? What is it exactly that deems a person 'quotable'? Surely it is not based solely on the worldly prominence or social status of the individual, but the weight of meaning in that statement that deigns itself worthy to be remembered. I'd like to think ordinary people like you & me say extraordinary things every day, that everyone in this seven billion population on Earth has something to say, simple or profound. 

So here we go, these are Quotes from the Lesser-Known.'

Prologue to the QFTLK compilation

Stacy T, 20

Too embarrassed to write a self-professed, self-praising, one-liner biography

___________________________________________________



It all started from a creative writing project final. I remember writing something like this in my journal, two weeks before it was due: 'Oh god I have no idea what to do. A blank slate. Nil nil nil. Gods of creative writing, HALP!' Excuse me, I was a bit deranged by then, starved of sleep & good ideas.

When I finally struck creativity gold (or at least, I'd like the think I did), the problem of the number of subjects came up. Who would help me with this mad prospect? I had less than two weeks, so I set my bar pretty low: at least fifteen people would be good enough to make a decent final project. But it was amazing, the amount of help that poured in. Family, friends, colleagues & even acquaintances, all of you amazing people. People set aside time for video interviews, long talks over coffee, phone calls (long-distance, mind you), random polaroid-taking sessions, answering emails etc. After two weeks of working, I looked at my scrapbook consisting of nearly forty interviews & a video compilation, & almost wept with relief. I was exhausted, but overwhelmingly happy.

There were so many more wonderful interviews, but the ones that were put up here best represented their respective fields & topics of music, photography, writing, acting etc etc. (You can ask me for the video or the complete book if you'd like a peek though, I'd be happy to pass it to you). It's a little late, but I just want to say that I loved every minute of this project, & that I enjoyed sharing all of it with you.

Here are the previous QFTLK entries:

(1) Claudia, Paris & Travel
(2) Lizzie M,Theater 
(3) Samuel, Running
(4) Jennifer, Books
(5) J.J, Music
(6) August, Photography & the Arts
(7) Myself, Love & Finer Things 
(8) Megan, Art & Happiness
(9) Nicholas, Music
(10) Swee Cheng, Travelling & Photography
(11) Samantha, Writing
(12) Alarice, Purpose
(13) Marc, Journalism
(14) Vanessa, Books & The Imagination
(15) Jayne, Dance
(16) Sheri, Art 
(17) Alex, Love
(18) Dylan, Music & The Beatles
(19) Tiara, Education
(20) Melanie, Fashion

Cicada summers

Tomorrow will be the end of summer as I know it. Holidays are coming to an end! It's crazy. It feels as if the last exam of Y1S2 ended yesterday and I was just getting ready to relax with friends & a stack of good books. The thought of fourteen more weeks of assignments & stress... geez. Apologies, it's just the regular school blues. It's been a good summer though.

Every since seeing the scene in the movie Bridesmaids where Annie is handed a tall glass of pink lemonade by the classy waiter (so good that she had to stop & say, 'God, that's delicious.'), I've been trying to fabricate the summery beverage. God knows we need a drink for weather like this. The base recipe for lemonade is dead simple right? A mixture of water, lemons & sugar that you bung into the fridge to chill & twenty minutes later, voila! Lemonade. It's a bit harder than it looks though: the key to getting the perfect lemonade is to get the right ratio of ingredients to suit your taste. In my case, I like my drink more tart than sweet, the light pink shade that cranberry juice gives, & I love the extra fizz that soda water gives, unnecessary as it might be. Most of the time, the best things in life are the non-essentials.

I've been making this since summer last year, huge quantities at a time to last for as long as a week. It can easily be turned into an alcoholic party drink as well, just add a splash of schnapps or light rum, whatever you have in your fridge really. Garnish with lemon & orange slices, turn on a Beach Boys / Gold Motel album (or anything from this summer playlist), & sink back into relaxation.

Pink Fizzy Lemonade

You can halve, double or triple the recipe as long as you remember the base ratio (mine is 1:1:4). Remember that not everyone likes it as tart; you may have to add more sugar to make it sweeter, or more water to make a less-concentrated drink. Also, if you are serving this quite some time later, add the soda water to the mixture just before serving or all the fizz will be gone by then.

Ingredients

12 medium lemons (enough to make 2 cups of lemon juice)

2 cups of white sugar

8-9 cups of club soda

Cranberry / Raspberry Juice

Orange slices

Ice cubes to serve

1. Squeeze most of the lemons, leaving at least one to be sliced for garnish. Put lemon juice aside.

2. In a large pot, heat up 2 cups of club soda under medium-low heat, adding in the 2 cups of sugar slowly till it has dissolved into a thick sugar mixture.

3. Add the lemon juice, stirring constantly for about 3 - 4 minutes till everything has melded together. Allow to cool for a while

4. Pour the warm mixture into two large pitchers, and add the soda water. Add the appropriate amount of cranberry or raspberry juice to colour the liquid a light pink shade, while constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.

5. Put in the fridge to chill for about an hour. Add ice cubes, and garnish with lemon & orange slices.

Makes approx. two 1.5l pitchers 

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 12

'You've been to so many places, due to the nature of your job and throughout your childhood. Is there any place in particular you'd like to live in, and why?' 

'Honestly, it's wherever I feel God wants me to be, wherever I have purpose, you know? (laughs) So it's not necessarily about wanting to live in a country like say, the States, so I can have a big house there, because these things don't really matter much to me. Honestly, I don't mind living in a box in some third-world country as long as I have purpose and I have an impact.'

Alarice T. 26

Singer-songwriter, recording artist

You can find out more about Alarice & her music here.

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 10

'Why do you like to travel?' 

'I have always been fascinated by the size of the world, the diversity of human race, their cultures, the terrains they live in and many, many other things. I won't say it's important for everyone to see the world. Everyone has different interests, but new sights definitely give more perspective.  

'What was your favourite place in the world that you have been to?' 

'I don't really have a favourite place. Everyone is different & I like these differences. My favourite place will be the next one that I am going to.'

Swee Cheng, 35

Marine biologist, photographer, avid traveller. 

The above picture is taken by Swee Cheng himself during a recent trip to NYC. You can see more of his beautiful photographs of places across the globe here.

Fast & Free

Summer is here!

The days are longer and hotter, and the summer dresses and tank tops are back. I'm eating more ice-cream than ever and meeting friends for brunches and buying flowers for the Beatrix Potter vase, even thought they wilt every two days because of the heat. I listen to the Beach Boys & The Young Veins all day, because even music is seasonal. Wayne & Libby Huirau from Parachute band has come and gone, and it was a fabulous weekend of fun and learning and music, and appreciating our brief brush with fame (well, sort of).

I watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy and felt a little bit sick inside. It came out last Friday and I was in the office, sobbing like a whale in the studio during lunch hour over Lexie Grey's VERY untimely death (and Mark crying and saying We're going to get married... we are meant to be. TOO MANY EMOTIONS). Shonda Rhimes has made me emotionally damaged for life. She seems to be very very fond of killing off my favourite TV surgeons and leaving the crazed fan base in agony with her cliffhanger season finales. Recall: Hospital shoot-outs, roving buses and people getting hit by them, cancerous melanomas, unexplained absences from multiple episodes etc etc. I know, I know, it's just TV! I tell that to myself every time I watch an episode, but it's not that easy, is it? 


Speaking of TV, Parks and Recreation renewed for season 5! Kristen Wiig has left SNL. Ted's wife still unknown (it better not be that asshat, Victoria). 

Work has been good so far. Tomorrow is Breakfast Birthday Party Day & that means waking up an hour earlier to make savoury pancakes for seven people. Last week, while cataloguing our music database, I stumbled upon a fabulous Christian Band, Rend Collective Experiment, a combination of Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe. They are creative and inspiring, and best of all, they are in love with Jesus :)

And yes, USA for Bethel School of Worship! I cannot wait! Hello, California! I am blessed beyond words.

This post is a little self-indulgent... I won't do it again for a long time, I promise. It's been an interesting couple of weeks, and if I don't write it down, I forget!

I choose light

 

The words we say today, we'll say

And we'll see them again, we'll see them again

So I choose my words so carefully

Like the sun, make it glow, or they glare at me

Well, I choose light

Light that won't

Keep me up at night

_________________________________________________

I am in love! I want so bad to be at Coachella now. There's a certain quality in their music that speaks of honesty and light and summer; it shines so evidently, even in the depths of a dark Brooklyn apartment. 

It frustrates me sometimes that I live here. I know I should be grateful to; there are so many reasons to be thankful for Singapore. But just by being here, I will never experience the secret pleasure of being at a clandestine underground gig, or feel the surge of thousands of people at a music festival become one, in the space of a song. 

The complete set-list 

hosted by La Blogotheque / The Switch

Saw You First

Atlantic 

Meantime

Up Up Up

Wandering 

Love Me Do

'Love is giving of your best self even on a bad day. Love means sticking together. Love is not taking things personally even if someone else is in a bad mood. Love is going to get ice-cream. Love is staying even when they drive you crazy. Love isn't a result of circumstances, love is a choice. Love is speaking kindly under pressure. Love is family. Love is kissing. Love isn't finding a soulmate, it's being a soulmate.'

It may be a little late, but this is love, from the Girl With The Glasses Show.

Colour on the walls

Rodarte 

Chanel

Burberry

Not usually into haute couture, but reading Hywel Davis's Fashion Designer's Sketchbook (Thank you, Page One Warehouse sale) has proven to be mightily interesting.

It's awards season across the globe and everyone is looking absolutely gorgeous, flaunting 2012 spring/summer collections that were showcased last year during fashion week. Especially adore Rodarte's lovely floral summer dresses; a hot red carpet choice for stars like Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman & Elle Fanning in the past few years. Shouldn't be obsessing over five thousand dollar dresses, but hey, a girl can dream right?

Cannot wait to see 2012 autumn/winter collections! Burberry's prêt-à-porter menswear is particularly stunning.

Once a hoarder...

My dad has always been a hoarder. It's not uncommon that I'll come home and he would proudly show me a new knick-knack; a stained-glass lamp from one his grateful business customers, or a pair of army boots that he got for half-price at a long forgotten shop. His latest find was a set of beautifully-carved wine crates that used to hold bottles of premium Shiraz wine, picked up from our void deck! I loved them. One of the crates sits just beside my bed, home to a few weathered classics and beat poetry collections. Honestly, I'm just as bad as him.

No one (including my dad and I), however, beats Lisa Congdon. An illustrator and self-professed hoarder from San Francisco, she decided to chronicle her numerous collections last year in a blog. Entitled 'A Collection A Day', it showcased a hefty 365 assortment of vintage trinkets and curios, carefully arranged and documented. Besides the obligatory sets of stamps or matchbooks, odd bits and ends surface into whole collections, like the tiny plastic tabs which keep your loaves of bread fresh. I can only imagine what her house looks like!

The collected works are nonetheless lovely, old-timey and antiquated. One gets the feeling of stepping out of a musty book, or the back of a dusty shelf. You can visit the original blog, or order Lisa's CollectionADay book from bigcartel here.

The European Experience: Part 7

A City of War
Berlin

'You girdled sorrow, you clung to desire;
sadness stunned you, in you everything sank.'

The Song of Despair
Pablo Neruda

There is something about Berlin that strikes a stray chord in the hearts of all who visit. The political and historical air emanating from every street corner is almost overpowering; the city's attractions, though numerous, hover around the notion of war & death. After four days, the air of suppression inevitably starts to sink in, for it's hard to walk fifty feet without stumbling into some sort of war memorial or monument. From the holocaust memorial (Part 3) to the crumbling facade of the Berlin Wall, everything about that place screams of Germany's dark past.

That's not say we didn't have an ounce of fun in Berlin though! A couple of currywursts and hot tea are wonderful accompaniments as you walk the streets, soaking in the sights and sounds of the metropolis. The gaps between the roads of concrete will open up into beautiful scenes if you let it. The museum island, for one, is rich in modern art culture with its absolutely resplendent large, open plains. The massive squares of the opera house, universities and Brandenburg Gate are alive with its locals and German youth decked out from head-to-toe in slightly ill-fitting military garb, taking snapshots with eager tourists.

Another thing that was a real bonus was our wonderful NewEuropeTour guide, Eva, who lead us through the city with much passion and charisma. Besides that, Eva also showed us that despite the (sometimes) horrific history of Berlin, it is what millions of people call home and a place she loves deeply. Although the urban sprawl of Berlin may take some getting used to, its rich history and culture is not something to be missed.

The silver flush on your cheeks

Buying a used Polaroid One Step off a friend for twenty dollars seemed like a pretty good idea; that is, till I saw the prices Amazon were asking for 600 polaroid colour film. $150 for 20 exposures? Not in a million years.

It's times like these we turn to projects like the IMPOSSIBLE POLAROID REVIVAL: people with a passion for instant photography, who has developed new Silver Shade Exposure technology for the average nostalgia-lover. And not at ridiculously overpriced rates too.

I loved the sample shots, the brilliant inconsistency of it all. Splurge excessively on online photography accessories? I think so.

The coming of age

I used to detest hearing people go on about work all the time, but now I totally understand. It's so bizarre feeling 'old'. Work, rockafella practices, meetings, family, church commitments and worst of all, A-level results just around the corner... It's going to be a tough couple of days. Yet, every week I ask God to help me pull through and I do. Sometimes all you have to do is laugh in the face of life and it'll all be better :)

Found a collection of 'World's Worst Metaphors' and it certainly got me laughing. For definitions sake, metaphors are used to put connotative meanings to phrases and not to state the obvious, the literal, and the hopelessly stupid. Here are the top picks...

Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the centre.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for while.

She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature British beef.


How I would love to use all of these gems is a single essay.

flash flash flash! photography

Five photography accessories to die for. Why do you make me broke, photojojo?

1. The Don Draper Leather Camera Satchel. For those who watch mad men, you'll see how amazingly suited this bag is for a certain Mr. Hamm.

2. For toy-camera suckers, a must-have. The 360degrees Spinner Panoramic

3. Always a fan :)

4. Works with any toy camera with a hotshoe! Holga, Dianas, BBFs, Lomo cams... etc.

5. I don't have a DSLR, but these beautifully-coloured straps are good enough reasons to have one! Love the sky blue and red!




Flying off to Perth tomorrow with Oops! Asia. Looking forward to getting some decent photography in whilst whizzing around doing goodness knows what. For now, au revoir!