Singapore - The Air-conditioned Nation

I just began reading this book which inspired the title of this post. It begin with an anecdote about Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew:

True to form, when the Wall Street Journal asked several 2oth century luminaries to pick the most influential invention of the millenium, Lee named the air-conditioner.

'Air-conditioned' seems to be the perfect metaphor for Singapore: everthing is so convenient, so organized and economically vibrant, 'the perfect temperature'. On the other hand everyone has to cede a whole chunk of their individual will and freedom to the government, submit to 'central control'.

Let's see... what can't one so in Singpore without a permit:

• Protest or conducting any public assembly of 5 or more people. Being at the forefront of 'e-government', at least it's easy to apply electronically from the police. For artistic permits the minstry vets the script/synopsis for the performance - sometimes decision can be a bit arbitrary.
• Form a society. Look at the trouble this GLBT group went though.

I guess despite this, life here is food enough. Kinda like living with your strict parents - every comfort is provided for, but they insist on you doing things their way, with their own rules. Any of course, they thing they know what's best for you - and a lot of times you don't.

Only you're not a teenager anymore and it's not your parent's house you live in but your own country/homeland.

PS: Call them autocratic if you like [and I kinda do], but I do feel the people who run this country sincerely (whatever their methods or silly ways) care about its future. Which is more than what you can say for Thailand - don't get me started about Thaksin and Suriya.

Fulbright Scholars

Fulbright Scholars by Ted Hughes

Where was it, in the Strand? A display
Of news items, in photographs.
For some reason, I noticed it.
Picture of that year's intake
Of Fulbright Scholars. Just arriving -
Or arrived. Or some of them.
Were you among them? I studied it,
Not too minutely, wondering
Which of them I might meet.
I remember that thought. Not
Your face. No doubt I scanned particularly
The girls. Maybe I noticed you.
Maybe I weighted you up, feeling unlikely.
Noted your long hair, lose waves -
Your Veronica Lake bang. And your grin.
Your exaggerated American
Grin for the cameras, the judges, the strangers, the frighteners.
Then I forgot. Yet I remember
The picture: the Fulbright Scholars.
With their luggage? It seems unlikely.
Could they have come as a team? I was walking
Sure-footed, under the hot sun, hot pavements.
Was it then I bought a peach? That's as I remember.
From a stall near Charing Cross Station.
It was the first fresh peach I had ever tasted.
I could hardly believe how delicious.
At twenty-five I was dumbfounded afresh
By my ignorange of the simples things.

Adventures in the kitchen

I got a bit ambitous (and not to mention hungry) today and decided to do a three course meal for dinner. So looking at my bookshelf of celebrity cookbooks, I picked out:

• From bills food, the main is parmesan-crusted blue-eye and braised potatoes with peas.
• And from Donna Hay's Modern Classic, this great recipe for caesar salad dressing.

Did I mention I finally got a new toy? It's this hand blender...yes I dream at night about the pureed soups I can make out of this...


Braun Multiquick

Here's the end result (tada!). Had to pop the fish into microwave for a bit to finish it off (inside still sashimi :P)


Fish with Parmesan crust and caesar salad with homemade dressing

Oh and this is the mess I made (making the crust stick to the fish is harder then you'd think)...


Aftermath I


Aftermath II

Tomorrow will test drive Neil Perry's The Food I Love and try to re-create Greyhound Cafe's bacon fried rice.

Random things in my head

Too lazy for proper post today... I'll just give u some random thoughts:

1. Cool name of the day - Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain. Really, it's a medical periodical.
2. Embarassment of the day - Recognized by waiting staff at fave restaurant (so I thought) as "that pathetic guy who always dines alone."
3. Highlight of the day - Got stuck briefly in the apartment lift with cute guy (yeah!) and two of his friends (boo!)... *swoon*
4. Dish of the Day - Beef braised in red wine and rosemary, olives, tomatoes and french bean - topped with crush potato and bacon. Yummy!

Steak Dinner

Today's dinner - as you can see, I was darn hungry after last night vegetarian dinner. Steak (rare - can u see the blood) with roasted tomatoes, mash potatoes and mustard cream

Seinfeld - The Fix-up

... funny scene from the Seinfeld DVD I saw yesterday. Courtesy of www.seinfeldscripts.com.

Jerry and George are in Jerry's apartment. . [George doesn't like the idea of fixing Jerry fixing him up with Elaine's friend Cynthia]

George: Out of the question. Out of the question!
Jerry: Why?
George: No! I'm not gonna do that! That's one step away from personal ads! And prostitutes! No! No, I am not going down that road! What does she looklike?
Jerry: She's good looking.
George: How good looking?
Jerry: Very good looking.
George: Really good looking?
Jerry: Really very good looking.
George: Would you take her out?
Jerry: Yes, I would take her out.
George: Oh, you hesitated.
Jerry: What hesitate? I didn't hesitate!
George: No, something's off here, you hesitated.
Jerry: I'm telling you, she's good looking.
George: What about the body, what kind of body?
Jerry: Good body, nice body.
George: How nice?
Jerry: Nice.
George: Just nice?
Jerry: Pretty nice.
George: Really good?
Jerry: Really very nice and good.
George: What about personality?
Jerry: Good personality. Funny. Bright.
George: Smarter than me? I don't want anyone smarter than me.
Jerry: How could she be smarter than you?
George: Alright, let's see, let's see. What else. What else. Oh yeah, what does she do?

New scene. Elaine and Cynthia are having a similar discussion.

Cynthia: First of all, what does he do?
Elaine: He was in real estate, um, now, he's not working right now-
Cynthia: He's not working?! How come he's not working?
Elaine: Well, um, he, he got fired.
Cynthia: Why did he get fired?
Elaine: Uh. Why? Oh, right. Um, well, he tried to poison his boss.
Cynthia: Excuse me?
Elaine: Such a long story, Cynthia, seriously, I mean he just had some problems at work.
Cynthia: Is he nuts?
Elaine: No, no, no, he's a really really funny guy.
Cynthia: What does he look like?
Elaine [pretends not to hear, George ain't exactly good looking]: Pardon?
Cynthia: What does he look like?
Elaine: Um, well, he's got a lot of character in his face. Um, he's short. Um, he's stocky.
Cynthia: Fat. Is that what you're saying, that he's fat?
Elaine: Powerful. He is so powerful, he can lift a hundred pounds right upover his head. And um, what else. What else. Oh, right. Um, well, he's kindof, just kind of losing his hair.
Cynthia: He's bald?
Elaine: No! No, no, no, he's not bald. He's balding.
Cynthia: So he will be bald.
Elaine: Yup.

Cut back to Jerry and George.

George: What kind of hair?
Jerry: You know, long dark hair.
George: Flowing?
Jerry: Flowing?
George: Is it flowing? I like flowing, cascading hair. Thick lustrous hair is very important to me.
Jerry: 'Thick lustrous hair is very important to me,' is that what you said?
George: Yeah, that's right.
Jerry: Just clarifying.
George: Let me ask you this. If you stick your hand in the hair is it easy to get it out?
Jerry: Do you want to be able to get it out or do you want to not be able to get it out?
George: I'd like to be able to get it out.
Jerry: I think you'll get it out.
George: What about the skin? I need a good cheek, I like a good cheek.
Jerry: She's got a fine cheek.
George: Is there a pinkish hue?
Jerry: A pinkish hue?
George: Yes, a rosy glow.
Jerry: There's a hue. She's got great eyebrows, women kill to have hereyebrows.
George: Who cares about eyebrows?
Is she sweet? I like sweet. But not toosweet, you could throw up from that.
Jerry: I don't think you'll throw up. *She* likes to throw up.

Cut back to Elaine and Cynthia.

Cynthia: Has he ever been married?
Elaine: No.
Cynthia: Has he been close?
Elaine [a little desperately]: He once spent a weekend with a woman.
Cynthia: He didn't really try to poison his boss?
Elaine: Yeah, he did.

Food Porn

I've got another confession to make - I think I'm addicted to Food Porn.

At last count, I have 11 seductively phographed, full-color cookbooks in my bookshelf. This isn't even my house, it's a serviced apt in expat Singapore!

According to this article here, I have serveral 'gastro-porn' equivalents of the Joy of Sex:

Now it cannot escape attention that there are curious parallels between manuals on sexual techniques and manuals on the preparation of food; the same studious emphasis on leisurely technique, the same apostrophes to the ultimate, heavenly delights. True gastro-porn heightens the excitement and also the sense of the unattainable by proffering colored photographs of various completed recipes. The gastro-pornhound can … moisten his lips over a color plate of fresh water crayfish au gratin à la Fernand Point. True, you cannot get fresh crayfish in the United States or indeed black truffles, three tablespoons of which, cut into julienne, are recommended by [one chef]. No matter. The delights offered in sexual pornography are equally unattainable.

It got me thinking...

• I did take a cookbook to read in bed and picture myself trying a few cooking techniques.
• I've given serious thought to buying some cooking toys... erm I mean tools. Like this suggestively-shaped handblender. Am I SATC's Samantha shopping for a vibrator?

Well truth is I do enjoy cooking more and more now - what started out of plain Singapore-induced boredom is getting to be quite a good hobby, provided that I put myself on a cookbook buying embargo.

Tried very hard to rope in my Thai colleague to be my guinea pig today. It's not as easy as you'd think - from what pieces of information I can gather, this is what she usually takes in daily.

Breakfast - Soya Milk, mixed with green tea and strawberry Nesvita cereal.

Lunch (all-day buffet actually) - Sunflower Seeds. Soya Milk.

Dinner - Fruits.

Alas, my menu of potato salad and corn and ginger soup could not entice her.



Apple and Cinnamon Pudding - from earlier

Some Other Time - First Post

Well, finally started a blog about a zillion internet years after it's the 'in' thing. I think the hardest part was choosing the blog title, then it came to me browsing through some CDs... I picked up a Bill Evans album.

Some Other Time.

It wasn't the lyrics or the context of the song (more on this below), just the title kinda captures my mood now (not that I especially like myself for this). Apply for grad school? Some Other Time. Be a good boss and reply to that pesky, older-than-his-team-lead former team member's email 'Re: Give Me Some Non-bullsh*t carreer advice? Some Other Time.

The list goes on but I don't want to bore you guys.

Okay, got that confession out of the way. But I have to tell u that I really like the song... always reminds me of missed encounters, empty smokey bars late at night, aching loneliness, hopeless romantics. The lyrics are a lot like what i feel after flying back to Singpore from home:

Where has the time all gone to?
Haven't done half the things we want to.
Oh, well, we'll catch up
Some other time

This day was just a token,
Too many words are still unspoken.
Oh, well, we'll catch up
Some other time.

When Tony Benett sings 'Oh, well' it's with this sad resignation.... hurr

At least tonight I got some new trivia about the song though: when Googling the the lyrics just learned that the song, like a lot of jazz standards, was taken from a musical. This one is On the Town with music by Leonard Bernstein. It's about Two sailors finding romance on 24-hour leave in New York City and (new info again); later to be made into a film starring Frank Sinatra.

Anyways I gotta sign-off now, but 'Some Other Time' I'll tell you guys more about some things I like:

Bill Evans, jazz pianist
New eats in Singapore
my successful reproductions of celebrity cookbook recipes
Anarres

and probably quite a few things I hate too. Oh and more about shy old me.