Met up with 'long-lost' Berkeley senior MY yesterday evening... and had a very pleasant catch-up session. Nevermind that we kinda lost touch for 3 years... when you re-meet ppl you can click with, interaction just seems pretty effortless! It was interesting listening to accounts of work experiences in an entirely different field; and updates on various individuals from Berkeley. We were also both utterly disgusted with how crowded dining places were on a Fri night. That it was the sch holiday season definitely made it much worse. After dinner, we adjourned to Esplanade and settled for dessert at the Cookie Museum after watching a free open-air performance. Though I was really drawn by the European/Victorianish decor (and forgot to look at menu prices before getting seats) thought the desserts/teas/cookies were seriously overpriced. And we were rather pissed that it had an inflexible policy that didn't allow us to share a pot of tea (had we shared, we would have had to order 2 pax and nearly twice the price of the original one pax pot!) Nonetheless, we managed to sample some exoticly flavored cookies, such as Nasi Lemak; Laksa-flavored cookies. Surprisingly, I quite liked the laksa-flavored savory cookies... (supposedly limited edition and usually available only during new year season) but at a pricey $35 a tin, it was definitely not worth the money. The 'Mad Rose' flavor was also very nice, albeit tasting a little like powdered bandung, but yeah; wasnt prepared to pay so much for just cookies :P
***
I dun usually fancy watching cooking shows, but I've recently started watching Jamie Oliver's television shows on Discover Travel & Living.... whenever I have the luxury to laze at home on a Sat afternoon. Maybe it's cos of the series I'm watching (in which he does his cooking in a very home-style kinda kitchen, in a casual jacket and jeans) I think he actually doesn't look like a celebrity chef.... Sis says he has a sleepy look. Nonetheless, I think the way he cooks is very 潇洒。。。And his moves are so swift....(like drizzle olive oil also can drizzle so gracefully) and his ingredients always look so fresh and appetizing... Perhaps it's these little things that ppl notice, that contributed to his 'cult status'... :)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Ah, I can finally take a breather! And so this afternoon things slowed down a little and during chit-chat session with colleagues I found out that my DD's kids were called Leon and Noel (reverse of Leon). Quite cool.... if i ever have kids I also want names like that.... :P
Ycc just returned from Tokyo and brought back some anime leaflets for me... hee... and I wanna watch Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea! Opens in Japan July 19 but wonder when it will show here. Coincidentally while surfing on Ponyo-related websites, also found out about a shop in Tokyo (click on 商品について) that makes Totoro-shaped cream puffs. かわいい。。。
Ycc just returned from Tokyo and brought back some anime leaflets for me... hee... and I wanna watch Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea! Opens in Japan July 19 but wonder when it will show here. Coincidentally while surfing on Ponyo-related websites, also found out about a shop in Tokyo (click on 商品について) that makes Totoro-shaped cream puffs. かわいい。。。
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Dilemma
Having been in my unit for nearly 2 years, I felt rather ashamed that I've never really thought very seriously about whether SERS was a good thing for the ppl or not. But a voluntary site recce yesterday made me realise that it was a very simple but important question to ask myself, or perhaps any of us doing all the planning... For usual public queries and such, we always quote the standard justifications along the lines of rejuvenation and improved living environment blah blah but feedback from many existing lessees that they were attached to/ preferred their existing residences really came up quite frequently as well. And so yesterday when I was just walking around XXX estate I somehow could really identify with this sentiment. Notwithstanding that I am a young person with an 'old soul' and somewhat fell in love with the idyllic and 80s- atmosphere of the area (complete with those traditional provision shops that still sell diff kinds of biscuits in huge transparent containers with red covers), I really do believe that new is not always better... And looking at the many elderly residents going abt their Sunday morning activities in the area, I really wondered whether they would appreciate a govt who assumes that they will be happier and better off living in a new 30-storey flat unit close by, but ultimately "elsewhere"? And more generally, though S'pore is getting "hipper" these days; I am somewhat nostalgically upset that many places will never be the same as the way you remembered them to be even just 5, 10 years down the road.
Having been in my unit for nearly 2 years, I felt rather ashamed that I've never really thought very seriously about whether SERS was a good thing for the ppl or not. But a voluntary site recce yesterday made me realise that it was a very simple but important question to ask myself, or perhaps any of us doing all the planning... For usual public queries and such, we always quote the standard justifications along the lines of rejuvenation and improved living environment blah blah but feedback from many existing lessees that they were attached to/ preferred their existing residences really came up quite frequently as well. And so yesterday when I was just walking around XXX estate I somehow could really identify with this sentiment. Notwithstanding that I am a young person with an 'old soul' and somewhat fell in love with the idyllic and 80s- atmosphere of the area (complete with those traditional provision shops that still sell diff kinds of biscuits in huge transparent containers with red covers), I really do believe that new is not always better... And looking at the many elderly residents going abt their Sunday morning activities in the area, I really wondered whether they would appreciate a govt who assumes that they will be happier and better off living in a new 30-storey flat unit close by, but ultimately "elsewhere"? And more generally, though S'pore is getting "hipper" these days; I am somewhat nostalgically upset that many places will never be the same as the way you remembered them to be even just 5, 10 years down the road.
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