My domestic side

I have never taken an interest in baking all this while. Even though I have helped Mrs R Senior with her x'mas baking or some other confections on several occasions, baking still doesn't appeal to me. Trying to motivate me, she kindly offers to get me a professional mixer. Besides, her son has a sweet tooth. Hence her eagerness for me to take up baking. I didn't take up her offer of the mixer. Yet. Though I wonder if she would change her mind when I ask for the expensive Kitchen Aid Mixer. Hehehe...

Once I needed my fix of curry puffs badly. I searched on the net for recipes and most ask for the curry puffs to be deep fried which I try to avoid at all costs. Deep frying means splattering oil all over the kitchen which also means I have to clean up after that. Too much work for a lazy pig like me. Eventually I found one which uses puff pastry. 'Cool, I can just stick them in the oven, no sweat at all,' I thought. How wrong was I... I discovered I had to make a dough, leave it in the fridge for several hours, take it out, roll out the dough, fold it back into a square, roll out and repeat the whole process again for, like, 7 or 8 times. The repeated rolling out and folding in result in wafer thin, crisp and flaky pastry. At once, I regretted taking up the challenge. Doubtless, the end products were some fairly tasty curry puffs. But again too much work. I am just too spoilt by the readily avaliable curry puffs back in Singapore. Afterwards, stupid me found out I can buy ready-made puff pastry in the supermarkets. From then on, my rolling pin is collecting spider-webs in my kitchen drawer. That is the furthest I went in terms of baking.

Few days ago, someone wrote in her blog about her attempt in tiramisu. Ever since I have been craving for it and was actually toying with the idea of making one myself. A german friend who is famed for her tiramisu claims that it is an extremely easy dessert to prepare. Though she didn't share her recipe when I asked how she did hers.. Oh well, who needs her when I have the net. Anyhow, taking her word, I made up my mind to embark on the tiramisu task today. The recipe I decided on requires everything to be, basically, mixed together. How hard can that be, right? Especially when no dough and baking are involved. Well, wrong again. I realised with exasperation that I had to beat (with my bare hands!) the egg yolks and then the cheese cream until the mixture has a smooth texture. (Where is my Kitchen Aid??!!) Then I had to 'beat the egg whites until stiff'. Huh? What? How to beat egg whites till stiff? I had to stop in between and google what that meant. It means, in essence, till the egg whites become white and foamy. Why can't they use simple, layman terms? Next I had to 'fold' the egg whites into the cream mixture. How do you 'fold'? Folding is a gentle mixing method. You use the folding technique to gently combine light and airy mixtures, like beaten egg whites with a heavier mixture, such as whipped cream into a batter. For example, when beaten egg whites are folded into a batter, it is done so they will retain as much of their volume as possible. Folding also traps extra air in the batter blah blah blah.. Sigh... Okay, at least I learned something there.

Anyways, to cut long story short, I churned out a mixture which resembled very much of tiramisu. Verdict from Mr R: A tad too much cognac and espresso, otherwise it is very palatable. My verdict? I think I did pretty well for my first effort. I am going to have some of it again before hitting the sack. Absolutely sinful but who cares.

She sees red

What do you do when a good friend calls you up that she has driven through the red lights and she will be fined 12 demerit points out of her current 24 and if she could use your points instead? The rational behind this phone call I received today is I do not get to drive back home, hence, I should be able to afford giving up my points. Do you agree to help? Me being me, I refused flatly because I do not want to. She has to somehow learn her lesson, doesn't she? But apparently, my dear friend didn't take very well to that because when asked if I should call her back after my lunch, (I was in the midst of eating while she called) she replied, 'There is no need lah.'

Later on I smsed her, explaining my reasons: I find it unfair that someone else has to pay for her carelessness. If I were to help her out this time round and should it happen again, no worries, there would always be me. And she might never learn from the mistake, would she? Regardless she likes it or not, she has to be responsible for her blunder. Whether she is just upset over losing her points or she is mad that I didn't extend my helping hand, I do not know because she didn't reply to my message.

I am gonna just leave it at that and I will not apologise for not helping. Just too bad her good friend is a straight talking one. Putting myself in her shoes, I know I would not be going around asking for demerit points since it's clearly my own fault and I should be the one paying for it. Period.

Hibernation rules!

It is now cold with snow falling every now and then. Days are frigid and short, turning dark at 4:30pm. One sleepy glimpse of the grey gloomy sky every morning or rather, most noons, results in me snuggling happily under my warm covers, refusing stubbornly to get out of the bed. The dreadfully wet and cold weather makes me want to sleep on and on without needing to wake up. I am secretly grateful that I am a bummer who does not have to get up early in the morning to go to work. I am in a hibernate state all day long with absolutely no desire to step out of the aparment. My most strenuous activity these days is cooking in the kitchen. Otherwise you would find me sitting on the couch with blanket wrapped cosily around me, watching TV, surfing the net or typing away like now.

Also, with the cold, I snack incessantly in-between meals. I am always HUNGRY!!! Damn it! Goodbye healthy eating, hello snack junkie!

If only I could hibernate through the coming even-colder winter! During which, I would wake up every few days to grab a bite or go pee. By the time my hibernation ended in spring, I would be very thin and starving which suited me just fine. Who needs dieting and working out anymore when you have hibernation!

Technically, human hibernation is not impossible. A toddler of 13 months wandered outside her family home in Canada. The outside temperature was -24 °C. When she was found, her heart had stopped beating for two hours and her body temperature had fallen to 16°C. She was pronounced clinically dead. In October 2006, a Japanese man was believed to have been in a state akin to hibernation for three weeks. He had fallen asleep on a snowy mountain after an accident and claimed he had only woken up after being discovered 23 days later. Doctors who treated him believed his temperature had fallen to 22 °C during that period. Both made full recovery after the ordeals.

There are also many research projects currently investigating how to achieve induced hibernation in humans. I am optimistic that a breakthrough will come very soon in the near future. It'll then be: goodbye winter, hello my sleeping holiday!

A Bigger Person

Diana Saw, a lady who used to be a highflyer in a multi-national firm, left her job after sick of being a wage slave. She went travelling and found herself ended up in Cambodia one day. The stark poverty of the Cambodians shocked and humbled her. There and then she decided to set up a business to provide people with jobs that pay them fairly. She believes having regular income gives people hope and a sense of the future. With her own savings, she started a small workshop to produce original, quality handmade bags.

Her efforts made me ponder how many of us actually have the courage to leave behind our comforts and earthly possessions, not to mention family and friends, to go help the less privilege in a third world country? Courage alone is not enough. Imagine in the course of your efforts, your supposedly trusted housekeeper stealing from you when you are there in their country with the sole intention of helping their own people. Can you trust them again? How about having to constantly beat off imposters who claim they are policemen or firemen asking for some license fees which is in fact just money for themselves. Some are actual policemen who do not earn much from their jobs. Hence they resort to extorting money from businesses. What about being handed a fake US$100 and you returned the US$75 change plus 2 bags to the conman? Furthermore you have to sort out work politics problems among the workers and worry about their living conditions at the same time. On top of that, you also worry if the business is going to do well, if you can pull this through, you get homesick, you miss the comforts back home... It can be too overwhelming and daunting at times. How do you chin up when things simply just don't go the way it's supposed to be?

It is a very challenging task which requires a lot from a person. A person who is selfless, courageous, generous, extraordinary and has a bigger heart than most people. And Diana Saw is such a person. Despite the difficulties, there she stands resolute in her beliefs and convictions.

My hats off to her.

Madam Butterfly - My first opera outing

Last Saturday I had my first taste of opera. Being an opera virgin, I had no idea what to expect, except for the incredibly high notes which opera singers are well-known for. Before the opera, I also googled what Madam Butterfly was about. Little did I know that Miss Saigon was actually based loosely on Madam Butterfly. Ah, Miss Saigon, in which I sobbed uncontrollably when Kim had to be separated from her child. I silently swore to myself I would not weep during Madam Butterfly. People dress to the nines in the opera and I definitely do not want to be likened to a panda bear with tear-streaked mascara.

After being seated, I was a little anxious if I would enjoy it at all. Opera evokes rather extreme emotions in people. It's either you love it or hate it, there is no in-between, so they say. The first act was basically about the wedding of Pinkerton, an American navy officer and Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), a 15 year old Japanese geisha. The marriage could in fact be cancelled whenever Pinkerton wished while Butterfly wishfully thought the marriage was binding. The first act was rather flat. Pinkerton and Butterfly sang almost half the time about stars, flowers, sea and so on. I had to stifle my yawns. I was half-expecting something more dramatic like Miss Saigon, which was of course my mistake. Because Miss Saigon is after all a modern broadway musical while Madam Butterfly was written some 100 years ago.

During the second act, I stopped reading the German subtitles and concentrated on the music instead. Surprisingly, I found myself being drawn into the plot instantly. That must be the secret: not understanding what they were singing about. Credits have to be given to the lead singer in the role of Cio-Cio-San. She sings fabulously, her joy in her marriage, her belief and longing for Pinkerton's return and her sadness of being abandoned flow freely through her vocals. While her maid, Suzuki sings equally well, she is more of an actress who amply depicts her grief and despair for her forsaken mistress. She magically conjured pain in me that night.

At times, I felt I was Julia Roberts watching her first opera in Pretty Woman, with tears brimming in my eyes. At times, my toes curled inwards whenever the singers reached those high notes. In one scene Butterfly was waiting for Pinkerton to return. There she stood still on the stage with her back towards us for nearly 5 minutes!! It was most agonising for me as I was badly in need to go to the loo. Talk about bad timing.

All in all, it was quite an experience and I do like it. This won't be my last opera. Nonetheless, my next opera would have to be a very theatrical one because I heart anything melodramatic.