The World According To...

Are YOU ready?

2008-06-16T22:28:00.003+08:00

On the cover of the current issue of TIME magazine: How to Survive a Disaster. The article summarises several key points to beat the odds, and come out alive.
1. It's a matter of preparation. If you never anticipate it, you can be pretty sure you won't be ready to deal with it.
2. Panic can be your friend. Supposedly, animals play dead to discourage predators from attacking. Naturally, if this is your response in a crisis, it may not have the desired effect. TIME reports that many survivors have reported feeling an overwhelming urge to stop moving during the incident. Often, what snaps them out of the stupor is thinking of loved ones, especially children. I find that quite easy to understand, and if I had children of my own, I'd want to fight to be with them as long as I could. How do we deal with this "deer in the headlights" phenomenon? Firedrills! Yes, that waste-of-time exercise that seems to only reinforce the belief if a fire breaks out, we will all indeed perish, actually secretly teaches our brains how to get out of tight corners and hairy situations. Watching the stewardess pretend to blow up the life-jacket on your 1000th flight may save your life.
3. We all have our role to play. Identity shapes behaviour. I can identify with that. In a stressful or new situation, I revert to whatever I'm most comfortable doing. Sometimes it's carefully and obsessively copying and rewriting notes when I should be planning a new strategy. Other times, it's baking enough to feed an army, when I should be paying my bills. The good news is, Doctors tend to act like Doctors. We triage patients, check vital signs and administer CPR. The basal instincts kick in. A sense of responsibility, and the experience to act instinctively, allow one to lead in situations where others tend to follow.
4. How one person made a difference. Risk Rescorla's belief and dedication made the changes that saved 2,687 lives on 9/11. He was one man fighting against the system, but he stuck it out, and it paid off. This is something I know in theory but am still struggling to put into practice. I need to believe that I can do something, before anyone else will.
The article was referring to physical disasters - earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorist attacks etc. I think these points apply to all disasters, including the emotional ones we battle with on a much more regular basis.
Try them out, I'm going to.

Everything and more

2008-06-12T20:53:00.004+08:00

The husband's birthday is tomorrow and I have nothing to give him. Thankfully he's identified some camera equipment that he wants, but doesn't need, and has decided that that will do. Terrible wife aren't I?? I also organised dinner with his friends, but didn't make it a surprise because I had to find out if he wanted a big do or a small one. I guess I should have known the answer.
One of our friends who is coming to dinner said they thought long and hard about it, and came to the conclusion that he has everything. Gladly, the birthday boy came to the same conclusion yesterday evening while chatting in the car on the way home (thanks sweetie).
I don't think I've ever felt that sort of contentment in my life. Or that I ever will. Maybe it's just built into my nature? I'm married to the eternal optimist, who always sees the silver lining in the cloud, and whose glass is always half-full. He's married to the woman looking at everything through mud-tinted glasses, and who always chooses the worst possible interpretation of any scenario. I guess we must compliment each other in this aspect...
I'm learning to be more grateful for what I have (that is the lesson to be learnt here), but it's an uphill battle that needs constant reinforcement. Which is surprising if you consider objectively what I do have. Relative health, a lovely home, supportive family, caring in-laws, a stimulating job (ok, so I could earn more), and of course a wonderful husband. What more could I possibly want?
Take stock of your life. Chances are, you'll find it adds up to more than you realised.

Duty to teach, duty to learn

2008-06-09T20:10:00.004+08:00

I'm on rant-age today, everything seems to get my goat. One of my tirades led to the realisation that I was wrong before. You don't get a choice when it comes to Medicine. It's a career. Not a job. It's not one of those professions where you can say "I'm on holiday, I'm not a doctor anymore." If someone needs help, you give it. It's your duty, it's a moral obligation, and if you deny someone in need, it's negligence. Yes, I know that this subject has been debated before, but as I said, I'm on a rant-age. And this is my blog, so I'm right. Of course feel free to add your comments, presumably you're a friend, so you know that I may bark, but I don't (seldom) bite.

One of my grouses today (and I'm not sure how I landed there since I'm not even a clinician at the moment) was the use and abuse of junior staff. Departments everywhere claim to focus on training, not just service, especially for trainees. These poor guys pay almost 20% of their take-home salary to be part of a programme that is supposed to teach them how to be good specialists. The seniors are supposed to teach, not just use the warm body to do work that they deem too boring for themselves to bother with. Of course, doining menial work comes with the territory, Medicine is an apprenticeship after all. As a trainee, we don't go in expecting a 9-5 job, or a 5 day work week. We know that being available when staffing is short, or when emergencies arise, is part of the job description. The nature of the work means that someone has to be responsible every second, of every day. And inevitably, that means covering for each other. We may complain, but we know this at the bottom of our hearts.

As we get more senior, we inherit people to take care of, and to teach. At first, it's a scary responsibility. Trusting someone else is infinitely more difficult than relying on yourself. How unnerving that the minute you get to the stage where you think "ah, I can finally take care of myself", someone gives you a newbie to look after. What compounds the issue is that this isn't a arena where a mistake can be erased by a click of the 'backspace' button. Unfortunately, people's lives are in our hands. So you learn to delegate. This is a good thing! It's an extremely underrated talent - being able to appraise and appropriately place others responsible for work you are overseeing. We certainly cannot do everything ourselves, nor are we expected to. Often, we feel ourselves sinking under the pressures of what we feel we must achieve, when in reality all we have to do is get some help. But I digress, that is a discussion for another time.

This is turning into a very long rant.

I will try to get back to the point. We have a duty to teach. Only when we teach those below us, will they ever be qualified to take over the reins. It's not enough to put them in the driving seat when it's all on autopilot. If they are only to be the babysitter, or the labourer, then we will forever have to be the mother, or the foreman (haha, that sounds so ridiculous, but the analogy works for me right now). I assume the barriers to teaching are laziness, and fear. As I said earlier, it's a lot easier to do a job yourself than to correct a learner through it. And what if one day the pupil surpasses the master? While we are young, and have energy, at the peak of our careers there seems no reason to groom the next generation. What happens when we tire of it all? And we want to move on to something else? If there is no one to take our place, it won't be an easy transition. The irresponsible among us (and I fear I am not being too harsh), will simply let go and leave. Sink or swim, he doesn't care what happens to those he left behind. But those of us who feel the weight of our profession, will agree with me that part of the duty is to ensure the next generation can carry on.

I realise i have only addressed the first half of my title! The second half is easy (mainly because I'm not tired and all ranted out. And I assume you are bored of me too). Those of us who are to inherit the throne must prove ourselves worthy. The reins are not going to be handed over to any Tom, Dick or Harry. It takes a lot of work to be a good doctor, and least of all, a sense of responsibility and humility. While we are training, there should be no task too small to do well (of course, buying the team drinks from Houseman canteen does not count). My two cents worth is, whenever you start bitching about the s*** job you just got arrowed to do, think about whether there may be any hidden benefit that your boss thinks you may gain. If you don't see it, consult my husband, as he is eternally optimistic and positive-looking. If he can't find it, you're right, you're being used and abused. Too bad, we have no union.

Alrighty, didn't know I had so much to say, have a good week ahead!

Easy Peasy

2008-06-04T21:05:00.007+08:00

TS and I discovered Colbar this evening. Yes, I know, WAAAAAAAY behind all the trendy people. It's tucked away off the AYE at Portsdown road, conveniently on the way home from NUH.
Holland village seemed too 'busy', vivocity is getting boring, didn't feel like eating duck rice, and I was not in the mood to cook. Instead, TS had chicken curry (not spicy, very coconutty, very more-ish with rice, 3 pieces of chicken) and I had a steak (oddly tender, nicely medium, tasty if mushy fries/wedges, canned button mushrooms! and an egg). Rounded off with a can of Kickapoo, and dinner came to S$30 for two. Not coffee shop prices, but reasonable considering the ease at which we settled the whole issue of dinner. We'll be back.
It's a relaxed sort of place, wear slippers and shorts, sit outside. Pietrasanta just opposite is also nice (ate there last week) but considerably more expensive (S$50-80 per head) and more "effort". Cicada is in the same complex, but looked prohibitively atas for the kind of dinner we had in mind.
On Sunday, I was supposed to da-bao back dinner from Vivocity (I had a pedicure, shiok. Now need to find some open-toe shoes that I can wear to work.), TS wanted Carl's Jr. but it is in direct violation of my 'diet', and besides, the queue was too long. I popped into Cold Storage instead, and bought a couple of beef tenderloin fillets and some mushrooms. We had the steaks pan fried in a dry non-stick pan over HIGH heat for about 3 min per side, then sliced and run under the grill blanketed by sharp cheddar cheese. When the cheese was melted, the whole thing was rolled up in a tortilla with baby spinach (had to sneak in the veges somehow) and eaten with a touch of Linghams. Ta-dah: TS thought it was even BETTER than the portobello mushroom burger he had been looking forward to! And it only took 15 min from the time I stepped into the house to the food being on the table. We were starving by then of course, and so we inhaled it all without taking a single photo. You'll just have to trust me when I say it was Goooood, and that it will be made again. I must remember the onions next time.

A job or a career?

2008-06-03T22:21:00.003+08:00

If you google "job vs career", you'll get 358,000 results. Obviously I am not the only person pondering this question.

According to Cambridge Dictionaries Online -
1. job (EMPLOYMENT), noun , the regular work which a person does to earn money. Interestingly, 'boob job', 'dead-end job' and 'inside job' also appear.
2. The definition for career is essentially 'job'. Big help.

Webster's English Dictionary states:
1. job \'ja:b\ n: something that has to be done : TASK; a specific duty, role, or function; a regular remunerative position
2. ca.reer \k*-'ri(*)r\ n: a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling

So which one do you have? And which one do you want?
How did I go through the last 5 years not realising that there was a difference, and that I had a choice to make?
What is my answer? (why are there so many questions in this paragraph?)
That's the million dollar question.
(What a cop-out post you may say. Truthfully, I don't know what the answer is yet. But when I do, I will share.)

It's the simple things...

2008-06-01T17:00:00.004+08:00

I've made an amazing discovery. Weekends.

For five years, I never had them unless I was on leave. Ward rounds, followed by changes, pre-meds, morning OT cover, on calls, pre-calls, post-calls, I could count the number of times I had a full Saturday and Sunday off since I graduated. And don't get me started about public holidays.

I sound bitter, don't I? Well I'm not. We all know it comes with the territory. None of us gets into this line thinking it's a 9-5 job. But at 7pm on a Friday night when the surgeon is still buried somewhere unrecognizable, and you're on call the next day, I'm afraid that insight goes right out of the window.

In my new job, I get weekends. (Am still waiting for the bomb to drop that this is just the honeymoon period). Two weeks ago, when Monday was Vesak day, TS and I even went up to KL, had a lovely few days with the McPs, and didn't have to take any leave! Does the rest of the world really take these things for granted? It just blew my mind!

So now, I'm getting used to having so much time to myself! (ourselves). Lazing in bed on a Saturday morning, doing a whole day of nothing and discovering that I can repeat that feat again the next day, these are just amazing experiences for me.

This weekend, TS and I went to Sungei Buloh with some friends. We go every 6 months or so, and since it's the school holidays we decided to take our 10 year old nephew along. Black skies and thunder tempted me to pull the covers up and stay in bed (7.30am rise and shine should be reserved for weekdays) but TS said we had to go anyway. The weather turned out to be just right, not too hot, and no rain. Unfortunately it was high-tide, so we didn't see as much as we have on previous visits. I think the kids had a good time, and even though it wasn't much exercise it beats sitting on the couch...

We're planning a trip to Chek Jawa on the 28th (Saturday) so sign up soon!

(P.s. it seems the bosses work weekends. Must I really give this up one day??)

Finally...

2008-06-01T16:52:00.000+08:00

I got my hands on TS's Oz pics from a YEAR ago!! Very very sorry Geert, I promise they are ON THE WAY.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

2008-05-29T19:55:00.003+08:00

I used to think this was a good interview question, as it made the interviewee have to make some sort of commitment to a plan, and to think about and invest in the future. The other day however, I thought about what my answer to that question would have been 5 years ago (let's not even talk about 10), and where my life actually is now. Let's just say I would have flunked fortune-telling 101.
Ok, I still think there are SOME merits to this train of thought. Planning for the future allows you to have goals to work towards instead of wandering aimlessly, and thinking about the end-point does help shape the present substantially. But what does it mean when the destination reached is so different from what was planned? Does it mean the person was hopelessly deluded and way off track? Does it mean (drumroll please...) FAILURE? I don't think so. We're changing so much all the time, and 10 years is a significant proportion of a 30-year old, or even a 40-year old! Experiences shape us constantly, and our needs and wants change with every little milestone in our lives (hook-ups, break-ups, make-ups, hirings, firings, you get the idea...). We should have an idea of which direction we're heading in, but it's perfectly ok to land up somewhere else.
This is not some abstract discussion. My life has changed so much in the last year that I wouldn't even believe where I'm standing. I've made a HUGE job switch, I'm married (to a very very lovely man), living in a house of our own, and all that I thought I knew turns out to be a mystery. But I'm also happier than I've ever been, maybe even happier than I thought I could be. The whole time I was growing up, I thought that the only way to do things was to be a high-flying career woman. At the medical school interview (which WAS ten years ago!), the know-it-all-self-righteous-me was offended (!) when the old Prof asked me how I was going to juggle being needed in the hospital when my child was sick at home. The old man knew more than me about the ways of this world, because as much as I did enjoy my job, there is no fight at all as to who would win that battle.
I thought it was 'old-fashioned' to stay at home any longer than the 3 months maternity leave duration. I thought it unthinkable that I would not want a maid. I wanted to be the HOD, the CMB, heck, even a trauma surgeon! And where am I now?
I don't feel guilty or envious of my peers who passed the march exam and are now registrars. I thought I would be, but all i feel is very lucky that I had the last few months to myself, and to our little new family. I wouldn't have traded that time for anything in the world because I feel I am a better, happier person for it, and what do we live for if it's not to be happy. I had a choice and I made it. And I hope I never forget that we always have options, it was a really amazing thing to discover.

Distracted...

2008-05-28T17:24:00.002+08:00

I've been a terrible blogger, I know.
I'm almost a month into my new job, and time really flies!
It's SO different from my old job that sometimes I wonder what I did for the last 5 years. But then I take a look around at the other doctors who used to be clinicians here, and I realise it's ok to make the change. I am happier at work, I'm pretty sure of it. I'm not missing the day-to-day life in the hospital, and not being TOTALLY disconnected via TS works out very well too.
I'm also working on a SECRET (Yes, I'm a terrible secret keeper because a real one wouldn't even have advertised that last statement) which has been sucking blogging time from here, hopefully soon to be revealed...

To tide us over (and to cheat a little),
excerpt from an e-mail I sent out in the first week of work...
"First day of work update -
I have a desk, a laptop, stationery in the drawer, and NO PATIENTS! No nurses, no medication, no needles, no monitors, no surgeons, it's a totally different universe!
There are quite a number of my classmates with me so it's not all unfamiliar, and only one of them has done any type of admin before, so we're all in the same boat.
I didn't do any "work" today, but after the briefing with my boss, I'm not really sure I'll EVER be able to do anything constructive, I don't understand half of what he's talking about!
'Deliverables', 'financing', 'macro-organisation', 'quality and operations' and 'strategic planning' don't mean much to me, I'll have to take minutes for meetings (huh?), and I'm not even sure who the perm sec for health is...
But I don't miss the old job one bit, and I think I can do this new one. I am looking forward to going to work tomorrow! (Hmmm what will I wear?)..."

Patients Like Me

2008-05-11T00:53:00.002+08:00

I attended a Disease Management Conference at the end of last week as part of my new job. I had expected to be horrifically bored, but was instead exposed to some really wonderful updates and ideas that I would not have known if I hadn't made this switch.
One of the highlights was a speaker from Canada, Dr Alex Jadad.
I heard him speak twice, and took away two things. The first is www.patientslikeme.com. Dr Jadad spoke about how patients are empowering themselves over the internet, and how the medical profession must keep up, or lose out to the advances in technology that are passing us by. I checked out the website and am very impressed by the easy and comprehensive format, which allows the patient to enter and chart his/her progress, and also to print out a summary for the medical professional. The advantages to patients involving themselves in their care, in monitoring and in actively seeking information are almost unquantifiable.
The second session was about end-of-life care. This is a topic that really resonates with me both on a professional and a personal level. Having a loved one deteriorate in front of your eyes, slowly and painfully, is one of the sad facts of our aging population, and something that no one can adequately prepare for. How to we strike a balance between wanting to ensure the best for the person and yet respecting his autonomy, sometimes despite his apparent incompetence? Professionally, where to draw the line in resuscitative or life-support measures in the critically ill was a topic that I had a great deal of interest in from the start. Over the years however, intimate experiences with my patients and their families just made it too painful for me to watch people go through such a heart-wrenching time. I found it difficult not to bring my own emotions into it, and took the sadness and despair home. It would have been wonderful to be able to leave those feelings at work, but I have accepted that that is not the person I am, and this is not the help I can provide my patients. I will find another way to be there for them. Dr Jadad has an interesting approach to this. He doesn't leave those issues at work. He brings them home and embraces them as a human being. This takes immeasurable courage and dedication. I don't think I'm ready for that, but it is inspiring to see someone with that degree of conviction. And the results speak for themselves.
The other idea I left the conference with, tying in to the second point, is when to recognise that we have done our best, and that the patient is going to die. Our responsibility is then to facilitate this (I don't mean euthanasia) with as much dignity as possible, and with recognition that when the patient passes, his loved ones will need care and support. In summary - if death will not be a surprise, perhaps it's time to let nature take it's course.

Thomas Keller's Chicken

2008-05-03T20:55:00.003+08:00

Finally, some pics. But we polished it all off in no time. Today we had our chicken with onions, flatbread, avocado and baby spinach. Linghams chili sauce added the finishing touch. Delicious.

Chocolate almond torte with chocolate ganache, aka Eugene's birthday cake

2008-05-01T09:02:00.001+08:00

To be eaten with Vanilla Ice Cream.

From JoyofBaking.com

200 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt 65%)

150 grams unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

150 grams granulated white sugar, divided

4 large eggs, separated

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

100 grams finely ground almond meal

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C and line an 8 inch (20 cm) springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Separate the cold eggs, placing the egg yolks in one bowl and the egg whites in another. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until they reach room temperature (about 30 minutes).

Melt the chopped chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted, remove from heat.

Meanwhile place the egg yolks and 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream the yolks and sugar until pale and thick (about 2 to 3 minutes). Beat in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla extract. Fold in the ground almonds.

In a clean bowl, place the egg whites and whisk until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whisking until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar and whisk until stiff peak forms. Fold about 1/4 of the whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Quickly fold in the rest of the whites and mix only until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake has a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

When cool apply Glaze (from Chocolate and Zucchini).

Melt 200g dark chocolate (I used 65% Lindt again) in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring with a spoon from time to time to help it melt.

When completely melted, remove from heat and add in 200ml of whipping cream, stirring as you pour, and until completely incorporated.

Let the ganache rest a little, until thickened to the desired consistency, about 15 minutes.

Pour the ganache on top of the cake, and spread it on with the back of a spoon, letting it ripple onto the sides between the tin and the cake. Refrigerate for at least an hour, then run a hot knife around the side of the tin and loosen the sides. Carefully lift the cake up using the parchment paper, and serve on a cake board.

Heavenly.

The BEST Roast Chicken

2008-04-28T22:47:00.003+08:00

This chicken is SO good, that I have no pictures of it. But I will keep trying to get that elusive shot of the perfect bird before the greedy people come in. (unfortunately, my husband is both an expert bird photographer, and a greedy person. Conflict of interest.)

Just follow as is, definitely truss the bird, but I'm not sure about the comment about fighting for the chicken butt....
Have not served it with mustard, but the chicken is ALWAYS finished with fingers, not cutlery.

Thank you Thomas Keller... (and epicurious.com)

Tarte Tatin

2008-04-28T22:38:00.002+08:00

Otherwise called Fancy Apple Pie with not enough crust (so say the Queks).

At least it was beautiful...

Tarte Tatin (largely from Gourmet, March 2001)

1 frozen puff pastry sheet (I used Pampas all-butter), thawed
1/2 stick (1/4 of a block of Anchor butter) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (I used brown but next time will go for half-white, half-brown)
7 to 9 apples (I used a mix of granny smiths and some first red ones), peeled, cored, and cut into 6s (or 8s for large specimens)

Preheat oven to 230°C.

Spread butter thickly on bottom and side of skillet and pour sugar evenly over bottom. Cook until sugar melts into the butter and starts to bubble gently. Arrange as many apples as will fit on sugar, packing them tightly in concentric circles.

Cook apples over moderately high heat, undisturbed, until juices are deep golden and bubbling, 18 to 25 minutes.

Put skillet in middle of oven over a piece of foil to catch any drips. Bake 15 minutes, then remove from oven and lay pastry over apples.

Bake tart until pastry is browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer skillet to a rack and cool at least 10 minutes.

Just before serving, invert a platter with lip over skillet and, using potholders to hold skillet and plate tightly together, invert tart onto platter. Replace any apples that stick to skillet. Serve immediately.

Warm chocolate tarts... YUM

2008-04-28T22:17:00.003+08:00

I've been wanting to make these for a long time, but couldn't find the perfect recipe. In the end I combined this super easy pie dough with a delicious sounding filling from epicurious.com which thankfully tasted as spectacular as it sounded. Fresh out of the oven, I can't imagine a better chocolate dessert than this.

For the pie dough
In a food processor, mix 170 g of flour (with one heaped tablespoon removed and an equal weight of cocoa powder used to replace it) with 85 g of sugar. Then add 85 g of butter straight from the fridge, cut in small cubes. When that's well blended, add 2 tablespoons of milk and blend again. You should obtain coarse sand. Divide into 10 small tart pans and press to line base and sides. Place circles of baking paper and uncooked rice on them, and bake at 200°C for 10 minutes. Transfer baked crusts to rack. Reduce oven temperature to 170°C.

For the filling
Bring 3/4 cup whipping cream (I used extra-light) and 6 tablespoons of milk (I used low fat) to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add 170g chocolate (I used 65% Lindt); whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk eggs, sugar, and salt in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture (be careful not to cook eggs as the warm chocolate goes in). Pour filling into warm crusts.

Bake tarts until filling is set in center and puffed at edges, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack and let cool 15 minutes. Serve warm. (Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate. Before serving, reheat in 170°C oven 10 minutes or microwave individual tarts at 5-second intervals until warm.)

Banana Muffins

2008-04-24T12:19:00.003+08:00

Back to work soon, so I'm furiously cramming in as many recipe-trials as I can this week. I decided to make banana muffins for the people at work to thank them for all the support these last couple of months.
I've made these cakes many times with varying success depending on the recipe. They've always been edible (thank goodness) but I think I'll be sticking with this formula from now on, with one little tweak - dark chocolate bits instead of white chocolate.

I love this one

2008-04-22T03:36:00.000+08:00

So cute!

2008-04-22T03:33:00.000+08:00

This is classic!

2008-04-22T03:31:00.000+08:00

YUM!!!

2008-04-20T22:13:00.002+08:00

After a LONG time, finally a post about food.
I realise what was wrong with the previous ones - TOO COMPLICATED.
This is the BEST apple pie I have ever EATEN (and made, which is a huge bonus).

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius.

PIE CRUST (from Chocolate and Zucchini - as the writer says, I will NEVER make pie crust any other way again)
In a food processor, mix 170 g of flour with 85 g of sugar. Then add 85 g of butter straight from the fridge, cut in small cubes. When that's well blended, add 2 tablespoons of milk and blend again. You should obtain coarse sand. Dump the whole thing in a pie dish and press/pack the dough with your fingers so it lines the whole dish.

FILLING (from Allrecipes)
In a bowl, mix 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup white sugar with 1/3 cup all-purpose flour and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon.
Peel, core and chop 6-8 apples (I used a mix of granny smith and red gala varieties) into 1 inch cubes. Toss with juice of one lemon, then sprinkle with flour and sugar mixture and mix well.

TOPPING (from Allrecipes)
In a food processor, mix 1 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Then add 3 tablespoons of butter straight from the fridge, cut in small cubes. Blend until well-mixed, then press mixture lightly together with fingertips. Sprinkle mixture over apple filling. Cover top loosely with aluminum foil.

BAKE
in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 25 to 30 minutes, until top is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Eat with vanilla ice cream (Now all I need is one of these...)

P.S. I attended Pierre Herme's WGS culinary masterclass over the weekend. Fantastic fun, though I don't think any of those creations will be exiting my kitchen anytime soon.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm obsessed with this little man

2008-04-07T19:53:00.001+08:00

Our Bali Honeymoon

2008-03-07T12:32:00.000+08:00

Japan 2008

2008-03-05T11:23:00.000+08:00

wedding pics

2008-03-05T11:12:00.000+08:00

Finally some wedding pics

2008-03-05T11:06:00.000+08:00

Aus'07

2008-01-06T15:59:00.000+08:00

This collage is made for Lin,who is on call AGAIN today!

Rock Art

2007-12-31T12:46:00.000+08:00

An early painting at Ubir,showing a running male figure with hunting gear.The thin, sticklike limbs and animated stance are characteristic of the Dynamic Figure tradition. The original significance of these figures is unknown but some are arranged in groups that appear to depict ancient hunting practices or ritual activities.

The rock art of the Australian Aborigines represents the longest continuously practiced series of artistic traditions anywhere in the world. The site of Ubirr in Arnhem Land, northern Australia, contains one of the most impressive assemblages of Aboriginal rock painting, ranging from the earliest periods to works created within living memory. A favored camping place during the annual wet season, the rock faces at Ubirr have been painted and repainted for millennia. The sequence of rock art at Ubirr and other sites in Arnhem Land has been divided into three periods: Pre-Estuarine (ca. 40,000?–6000 B.C.), Estuarine (ca. 6000 B.C.–500 A.D.), and Fresh Water (ca. 500 A.D.–present)

D200,18-70mm

My Wife

2007-12-31T11:40:00.001+08:00

That's Lin smiling sweetly to me :)

The backdrop is a breathtaking panorama of Ubir,a famed Aboriginal rock art site in Arnhem Land,Northern Territory.

D200,18-70mm

Saltie

2007-12-31T10:08:00.001+08:00

A close-up view of one of the mean looking Salties patrolling Adelaide River.

D200+80-400 VR

Whistling Kite

2007-12-30T23:27:00.000+08:00

An inquisitive Whistling Kite flying low alongside our boat which was cruising down Adelaide river,Darwin,Australia, in search for salties.

The boat was always accompanied by up to 30 kites of various species. They fought,jostled and dived kamikaze-style for pieces of left-over from the crocodile-bait.

They provided us with great entertainment and photography opportunities, especially when the hightlight of the cruise,the Salties,were nowhere to be seen!

This shot was taken with my favourite travel combo:D200 with the versatile 80-400 VR lens.

Coppersmith Barbet

2007-12-29T11:38:00.000+08:00

A beautiful Coppersmith Barbet, Megalaima haemacephala,returning to its nest hole to feed its young.

It is a resident near passerine bird of Singapore,where it is the most common barbet species.The name barbet refers to the bristles or barbs fringing its heavy bill.

At 17cm in length,it is just slightly bigger than a House Sparrow.More often heard than seen, it makes a characteristic metallic tuk...tuk...tuk, reminiscent of a copper sheet being beaten,hence giving rise to its name.

This photo was taken with D200,500mm F4,1.7x teleconverter,SB800 fill-flash,Gitzo 1325,Markins Q20.

Oz in Pics

2007-07-31T22:35:00.000+08:00

Text hopefully to follow soon....

Back to Reality

2007-07-28T08:32:00.000+08:00

We've been back from Oz for a week, but have been so busy that had no time to update this. I've done two night shifts since Monday and am on call again tomorrow, lucky my little break seems to have improved my mood towards work.
The holiday was lovely, we saw some really spectacular scenery and shared some very new experiences - a helicopter ride, camping, doing laundry (haha, ok new for me). Hopefully TS will have some pics for me to put up soon, the ones I took just don't do justice to the real thing.
We also watched Harry Potter (TS SNORED during the movie - ok I admit that if i hadn't read the book it wouldn't have made much sense) and Transformers (he liked that A LOT more. I have some issues with it but on the whole very entertaining). I read the new Harry Potter book too (along with half the world), but more on that in another post.
Some BEAUTIFUL purchases were made in Australia, which hopefully one day soon will appear in pictures here, but as they are not to be seen by TS at the moment everyone else will have to wait too (I'm SO excited), and we ended off the trip with a restful three days in Perth with Uncle Haniff's family.
Lots to do now that we're back, have to plan the (small - i hope) wedding, and START STUDYING (I can't believe I have put that down in words).
But for now I'll just look forward to enjoying my Saturday before I have to report to work in 24 hours.

(PS as TS said, what's so bad about reality?!)
Lin

New developments!

2007-07-05T16:54:00.000+08:00

We're engaged!
We're also off to Oz for a two week holiday tomorrow, hopefully lots of adventures to blog about when we return. Take care, have fun, Lin and TS

Photomerge

2007-06-21T20:27:00.000+08:00

Stitched 4 pics together to create this panoramic view of Lower Pierce Reservoir at sunset. This is for Lin who is working very hard on-call tonight.

D200,18-70mm

New Toy

2007-06-18T22:18:00.000+08:00

We bought ourselves a new camera! (I love this new 'we' thing that allows me to share my expenses and hence everything becomes half price. Of course there are twice as many things to get, but since for me shopping is 90% of the fun, it's all good!).

Since TS is such a photo-buff, and he's taught me a thing or two on the trips we've taken to India, Oz and Thailand, my little digital IXUS just seemed a bit inadequate. It take great idiot proof pictures, but I felt a bit left out when we were shooting a great sunset and I couldn't add any manual functions. So in a little trade-up (Thanks Taylors), we've gotten ourselves a Canon PowerShot S3 IS.

It's not an SLR, but it has plenty of manual functions and a 12X (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) optical zoom as well as super-macro mode (I LOVE taking things up close), and most-importantly, I can switch it to full-auto mode in the event that I'm lazy, TS is not around to tell me what settings to use, or I discover that my attempt to manually control the images turns out crap.

Anyway, taken about 50 photos so far, and most of them suck. It seems I should have read the manual first. The only three (half) decent ones follow.

Longans at breakfast. I know it's not a terribly interesting photo, but look how SHARP the fruit are!

Nin's home-cooked Nasi Lemak with fried chicken, sambal prawns, omelette, ikan bilis and peanuts, fried fish and cucumber. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I'll admit it here, the picture is terrible, the food takes ALL the credit.

The third ever picture taken with the new camera (the first two were foggy and for 5 min I didn't figure out that it was from condensation on the lens - cold shop, hot carpark). An SBS bus zooming down Orchard Road. Or rather a very slow SBS bus, and even slower shutter speed (is that the correct term to use?). I know it's not very well composed, but I like the colours and the movement effect!

Ok, so I promise to take more lessons and brush up on the technical details, cannot wait to get to Australia in 3 (!) weeks.

PS, the new S5 is out. It's 8 megapixels vs our 6, and has an attachment for a slave (?) flash, plus some kind of updated processor, but for 20% less money we thought we'd just get this. Anyway, we can always find someone to help us UPGRADE when the time is right....

Dawn

2007-06-15T10:34:00.002+08:00

Woke up at 5.45am to be in time for photo-taking at dawn. Was delighted to find Lin using the pic as her laptop background!

D200,18-70mm, my new Benro tripod.

Apple Pie

2007-06-05T12:25:00.000+08:00

Ok, so it seems no one is reading our blog for cooking instruction. Will just upload pictures of the stuff I've been making to (hopefully) make you drool then.
I did two apple pies this week using Martha Stewart's pie crust, had a bit of trouble with the butter melting in our heat (cannot wait for an airconditioned kitchen with a marble slab, and a full size oven!!!!) but all in all not too bad at all.
If you want to give it a try leave a message and I'll send you the recipe.

Follow-up

2007-05-30T23:46:00.000+08:00

I tried the cheesecake cups, and have decided that in future I'll add butter to the crust in the same way that the cake crust is made. The crumbs by themselves are too dry and don't have the same texture one expects from cheesecake base.

Have made a pate brisee (that's pie crust to you non-bakers, though i haven't figured out how to pronounce it yet) that's resting in the fridge, all ready to be rolled out and filled with apples tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

We just watched Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. Be warned, it's a REALLY long movie, almost 3 hours! I loved the first episode, thought Johnny Depp was so different (though Kiera's pout does nothing for me and I don't understand the fuss about Orlando). I didn't watch the second one because the shots just didn't look that good, and thus had no idea where the story was going when this movie started. It's confusing, but you sort of figure it out enough to be able to predict the ending, no surprise there. The special effects are spectacular (if you're that kind of girl), Geoffrey Rush is consistent, Johnny is just plain loopy, Kiera pouts and Orlando tries to smoulder... As you can tell I wasn't too impressed. But it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen and the kids we took to watch it liked it, so objective achieved.

I'm going back to work on Monday after two weeks of "recovery", my nose is almost back to normal and just as I thought I was getting bored I'm now starting to feel that time is running out! Of course my room is still in a mess, and I didn't organise any studying, but at least I tried out some new recipes!

Here's to making the most of the next 4 days...

Cheesecake YUM

2007-05-28T22:34:00.000+08:00

I've been baking up a storm. In the last 5 days i've made chocolate cherry cupcakes with dark ganache frosting, chocolate malteser cupcakes with horlicks frosting, nigella's chocolate cheesecake, and new york cheesecake (both 8 inch and indivudual portions).

The first three were alright.

TS liked the choccherry (with a bit of whipped cream i would have called it a blackforest cupcake), not too sweet and very moist. It didn't keep well though and was dry by the second day. Recipe came from a nigella-inspired chocolate orange cake i found on the internet. The frosting was just dark chocolate (I used Lindt 55% because ran out of Valrhona) and whipping cream.

The malteser one was a letdown. The cake was kind of hard, and the frosting tooth-achingly sweet. Only L liked it and he has a VERY sweet tooth.

Chocolate cheesecake was hit and miss (I just got nigella's FEAST which explains the choice of recipes). People who like cheesecake thought it was good (I got one 7/10 rating and my sis said it was great, but then she's my sis) and people who expected chocolate truffle cake (though i don't know why since i said it was CHEESECAKE) almost spat it out.

But yesterday's cheesecake. Now i'm proud of that. I love New York Style Cheesecake, dense and with a good bite, not slimy and melty (is there such a word?). I prefer it with a hint of lemon instead of overwhelming vanilla, a bit of the sour cream taste, and I like a lot of crust (not too buttery please). I've made a lot of cheesecakes, but yesterday's (if i do say so myself) was the BEST. It was all the above and more. I compared several different recipes (Donna Hay, Chantal's from AllRecipes.com, Nigella and Kraft) and came up with the following compromise (a little less sugar here, and a little bit of lemon zest there). I also resized it to make one 8 inch cake PLUS 24 cupcakes (the individual portions are so cute). I figured for all that effort I might as well make more, and also try out the cupcake idea.

Before the recipe follows, here are some tips

1. WAIT until cream cheese is room temperature. Do not be tempted to start earlier unless you have a heavy duty stand mixer and are prepared to scrape down the bowl A LOT. You will otherwise just end up with lumpy batter and a sore arm.

2. Use a water bath for the 8 inch cake. It really stops it from cracking, and the custard (cheesecake is not actually a cake) turns out SO smooth. Nigella recommends wrapping the pan in plastic wrap. I didn't dare. So i used a sheet of foil to cover the base of the springform pan BEFORE clipping the side on, then two more layers of foil around the whole pan, plus careful handling to make sure foil didn't tear (unless you want water in the cake base). Only pour in custard after foiling is complete (I imagine would be quite messy otherwise). Place the foil wrapped and cake-filled pan in a roasting tin, put that in the oven THEN pour in hot water from a kettle halfway up the side. Because i'm so paranoid, after the baking time was up i poured the water out of the pan before putting the cake back in the oven to cool down. (see below). For the cupcakes i just put a pan of water on the shelf below. Have no idea if this made any difference to the outcome.

3. Let the cake cool down in the oven. Completely. Meaning do your baking WAY ahead of time. I baked at 11pm, which meant the cake was done at midnight. I turned the oven off, then left the cake in until 7am (it was still a bit warm) when it went into the fridge for another 4 hours. It was really really beautiful, no cracks, brown top. Didn't bother with the cupcakes, somehow they didn't crack despite me just taking them out and putting them on a wire rack immediately after baking (had to make space in the oven for the cake). But think they didn't taste as good having missed out on this step.

4. In this case, the crinkled paper cases look much cuter than the stand-alone cups i usually use (see previous cupcake post). Fill to the top, custard doesn't rise much.

5. Get a food processor and a stand mixer. I would NOT attempt this otherwise. But go ahead if you're brave...

6. Sieve the mixture as you pour it into the pan. Yes this is troublesome but the end result is SO SMOOTH.

I have no photos. Because I was lazy, and the cakes looked so fantastic I had to get them out for people to eat. Nevermind, the recipe is so good I'm already planning when I can make it again. Bought some really cute orange and yellow cups just for that time.

Ok, so for one 8 inch cake AND 24 individual portions (If you just want the cake, make 2/3 of this)

INGREDIENTS
4 cups digestive biscuits
1/4 cup butter, soft

6 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (I used Kraft Philly, 3 X full fat, 3 X reduced fat, just to make myself feel better)
2 cups (fine granulated) white sugar
1 1/8 cup milk
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sour cream (I used light, next time may use full fat just to see if it's richer)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
3/8 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (my oven reads 150C on the dial when the internal temp by thermometer is 180C, so please check yours). Line an 8 inch springform pan with foil as detailed above. Put out cupcake papers.
Process biscuits in food processor until all crumbs. Take out half and divide into cupcake papers (about 1 tablespoon each, shake to distribute evenly). Whizz (process) butter into the other half, pour into springform pan and pat down with the base of a drinking glass. Chuck into the freezer.
In a stand mixer beat cream cheese until smooth, add sugar and beat again. Blend in milk a little at a time, and then add the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, lemon zest and vanilla, then add flour until smooth. Sieve then pour filling into prepared cupcake papers and springform pan (I only poured the custard into the cake pan just before it went into the oven ie. after cupcakes were done ?to prevent a soggy biscuit base).
Bake in preheated oven (25 min for cupcakes, 1 hour for 8 inch).
Follow the cooling instructions as above.

Ok I hope that was follow-able for those brave souls who decide to trust my instructions (or who even read my blog). Let me know how it goes.

Out of Action

2007-05-23T16:16:00.000+08:00

Nothing exciting been happening recently except that I went for sinus surgery last Thursday, I won't go into the gory details since no one except my colleagues would be interested, but I'm on hospitalisation leave for another 10 days or so. So far been sleeping and watching lots of TV, also booking our Oz holiday in July (check out the cute countdown to the right, thanks for the link Jit), and tix to Shanghai for Serene's HEN in September (credit card took a real hit this week) and reading a bit. Thought maybe if I put some aims up here they may actually be a bit more likely to happen, so I'm supposed to clean up my room and organize my studying (for Frb 2008 exam, yes, it's not too early) before I go back to work. I will! Hope there are developments to update on that front, 'til then...

Emma's Wedding

2007-05-06T15:54:00.000+08:00

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Bean!!!!!!!!!!
A short but very sweet ceremony at St Ignatius Church was followed by dinner at Senso, and I think the pictures say it all. Emma looked beautiful, Dave was very dashing, and we couldn't be happier for them.
Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera before we got to the church, so no pictures, but Emma was gorgeous walking down the aisle)

Dr Tan and Dr Poon

(very nice to see Nat too! Welcome back, we missed you!!)

Krabi

2007-05-02T00:08:00.000+08:00

TS and I have just returned from a week in Krabi, Thailand. If you're as ignorant as me (unlikely), you think Krabi is where middle-aged Caucasian men go to seek nubile Asian women. Yes, we saw a few couples that made us wonder if that was true, but I'll be the first to admit that I WAS WRONG.
Krabi is a province in Southern Thailand, on the Andaman coast. Phuket is 3 hours away by car, but the tourists are flocking to Krabi as it is (not for long) less developed and commercial. We flew into Krabi airport on Tiger Airways, a budget flight from Singapore. The trip was unremarkable, just note that no outside food may be consumed on the plane, and you have to walk from the terminal to the plane which may be a problem if it rains.
We stayed the Central Krabi Bay Resort, it's located in Ao Nang province, a half hour ride from the airport and Krabi town. There are many resorts, restaurants and shops along the Ao Nang Beach area, but Central can only be accessed via a 10 min boat ride, or a 15 min walk across the limestone cliffs. The walk is steep, but if it's not raining or dark it's quite pleasant and pretty. This secluded location makes the stretch of beach in front of the hotel much quieter that Ao Nang beach. The hotels along Railay Beach (a famous place for rock-climbing) share this exclusivity, but may only be reached by sea which makes the seclusion quite inconvenient.
Our first day was perfect beach-holiday weather. Blue skies, bright sunshine, perfect for the day-tour to Phi-Phi island (where The Beach) was filmed that we had booked. We snorkled in Maya Bay, marveled at the sun-worshipping behaviour of angmoh tourists while hiding in the shade, and had lunch in the new hotel that has been rebuilt after the devastation of the 2004 Tsunami. Unfortunately we accidentally deleted all the photos taken on this day, and I also developed a very itchy rash from the sun (despite SPF 50 sunblock applied every 2 hours).
SUNSET ON THE FIRST EVENING

Since this holiday was meant for RELAXING, we left a free day in between each of our "adventure" days. So after our island-hopping tour, we took the next day easy, had a morning swim in the beautiful hotel pool, then walked over the "mountain" again and went off to the Shell Cemetery.
Shell cemetery, Sussan Hoi, or Gastropod fossil beach, is 75 million years old, and was formed by blocks of thousands of shells stuck together to form a solid mass about 200 meters wide and 50 meters thick. We took a songtaew (local bus) from Ao Nang beach (for 30baht or US$1 per person) and it was a scenic half hour drive at 20% what we would have had to pay for a tuk-tuk (local taxi). The beach itself is not immediately impressive for what it is, but it's very pretty and with the brilliant weather that day we got some lovely shots. More importantly (for me), it's where pearls from the Andaman sea can be bought by the bagful at a fraction of the price sold elsewhere, and it was the perfect opportunity for me to practice my bargaining skills (TS said when i finally sealed the deal I actually looked a little deflated that the whole exercise was over).
MORE SUNSETS FROM AONANG BEACH

Day three was spent on a tour to the natural hot springs, crystal pool and elephant camp.
The hot springs originate deep underground in volcanic chambers, and naturally hollowed-out 'bathtubs' have formed in the stone as the water runs down to the stream, creating the perfect place to sit and chill out. Except that it was filled with people. But TS got some great shots of the local kids enjoying themselves.
The crystal pool is an amazing natural pool 800m into the rainforest at Khao Phra Bang Khram Nature Reserve. The water is clean and warm spring water, and it's really like a swimming pool in the middle of the jungle.
TS was most excited because the Reserve is the only place left in the world where the rare "Gurney's Pitta" bird survives, but unfortunately we didn't see one. We did see a Land Hermit Crab though.
Elephant trekking is how the elephants that used to work in logging camps now earn their keep. The forests are no longer logged and without the tourist dollar these animals would be let back into the wild where they would perish after being brought up in captivity. Our ride kept wandering off the track to have a snack in the bushes, but it was a very nice hour that we spent in the quiet jungle, surrounded by really spectacular limestone cliffs.
Day 4 was a washout, literally. We attempted to go to Railay Beach for the famous sunset, but it rained the moment we set foot on the island, and it was a good thing we even made it back to our resort in on piece. TS's PDA did not survive the journey so well, and I still have a nasty bruise on my foot where I slipped on the wet boat.
Day 5 almost didn't happen, I was having a nasty sunrash and a battered foot, but since we couldn't cancel our tour we went ahead at the last minute. It turned out to be a fantastic day out kayaking in the mangroves, visiting caves with drawings supposedly 3000 years old (I sound sceptical because some of them really look pretty new, but I wouldn't get into an argument about it), and having a lovely swim in a natural spring at Ta Pom.
TS really enjoyed himself here and was SO cute swimming up and down the stream wearing his goggles and chasing the fish.
Thankfully my rash didn't get any worse with that day out, and we didn't have any regrets at all.
Our flight only left at 7pm the next day, so we had massages by the beach (200 baht an hour!) and foot scrubs (they INSIST on showing you the muck they scrape off your foot, YUCK), then took our own cab to the airport instead of the hotel transfer (500 baht vs. 1200 baht!) and felt very pleased with ourselves (yes, typical Singaporeans).
All in all another great holiday. Oh yes, we ate at Sala Bua Restaurant on Ao Nang Beach 5 nights out of 6, and the only reason it wasn't 100% was that we couldn't get out of the hotel the night it rained. The food, both Thai and Italian, was very very good, and very very reasonable, please try it if you get to Krabi.
I've been thrown headfirst into work already (had a BAD first call), and TS starts tomorrow, already we're planning our next trip, can't wait.

The Interpreter of Maladies

2007-04-22T22:32:00.000+08:00

I've just finished a really good book. "The Interpreter of Maladies" is written by Jhumpa Lahiri, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. (Also nominated that year was "Waiting" by Ha Jin which i read awhile ago and enjoyed, though it did not make as big an impact as this book). The author also wrote "The Namesake" (that's an english word for those of you who were thinking otherwise...) which has been made into a film by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). Read the book a few years ago but haven't caught the movie yet, hope to when I'm on leave next week.
The book is a collection of short stories, mainly about Indians living or interacting with the West, and as contrived as that sounds, this book is anything but. The first story had me hooked. It is a short, simply written tale, but with such poignancy and pain that I've been thinking about it everyday since. I immediately gave it to two friends to read, and when they came back to me the expression of identification and realisation on their faces said it all. The story connects with the reader on such a basal level that it doesn't even feel like you're reading someone else's story. And the little rollercoaster of hope and despair painted is so real that when you finish the story you just feel so personally affected. Without giving too much of it away, this story is for anyone who has ever been in love and wondered how something so magical could ever be lost.
The rest of the stories are not as emotional, but they are quiet observations on human nature and I think the reader will find something to identify with in each one. To me that's what makes a story engaging.
I'm not sure if I've described the sentiment of the book well, but I hope I have made you want to give this book a try, because it really is one of the best reads ever. I'm going back to read The Namesake again.

Iggy's revisited

2007-04-22T22:08:00.000+08:00

The department had a farewell lunch at Iggy's yesterday. Yep, VERY generous... Also very amusing given the freeflow of alcohol. Some pictures are better left off the internet...

Anyway on to food. Capellini with sakura shrimp, scampi oil and truffles. Or according to some of my dining companions, beehoon with haebee. I thought it was very yummy, though the little prawns DID remind me of the ones I used to have in my fish tank.

The burger revisited (picture taken by the talented NBT), since i had it the last time i opted for the fish option (see below). Wrong choice. Meat was yummy as before, though there were MANY complaints about the size of the main course, with a few people loudly discussing where they should go for chicken rice after. We may be banned from Iggy's in the future...

My smoked ocean trout (looks like salmon to me but then I wouldn't really get into an arguement about the differences between the species...). Not BAD, but not GOOD either. And NOT filling at all. TS's fish the last time ( think it was sea bass) was so yummy and had a really savoury vege mash below it that this little dish just disappointed.

Anyway, I'll still be back again, maybe when the menu changes, but in the meantime been dreaming about the foie gras-wagyu burger at the four seasons... maybe tuesday...

KL

2007-04-22T21:55:00.000+08:00

TS and I went to KL last weekend to visit the McPs (cousin and family). We drove up in good time (4 hours) and didn't get caught along the way. Stopped for some pretty awful A&W (see coney dog to the left), and got lots of keropok on the way back.

The little man is just adorable, so clever and good-natured, I could go on for hours and hours but i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The pendent that the two cute boys are wearing is Uncle B's, supposed to give the wearer super-strenth. R looks on sceptically.

Changi Boardwalk

2007-04-07T17:59:00.000+08:00

We've been trying to exercise. TS has been running and swimming, I bought a yoga mat. And every weekend that we're not on call, we've been doing a little morning walk. Last weekend we did Bukit Timah nature reserve and East Coast Parkway. Unfortunately we had Prata for breakfast on Saturday and Nasi Lemak on Sunday so not sure how many net calories we burnt...
Anyway, Thursday evening, TS and I decided to catch the sunset at Changi.Planning the Ayam Penyet dinner (see below) to follow of course.
We brought along my little IXUS point-and-shoot because he was too lazy to get his D200, but ended up with some pretty decent shots.My attempt at an 'arty' shot...
Amazing beams of light created by sun setting behind some clouds.
Kelong portion of the boardwalk
An oilrig, such an eyesore in the day, becomes such a pretty lighted feature.

For amateurs like me, shoot in "m" for manual mode on your idiot-proof cam, limits the compensation the camera does so night looks like night and day looks like day. Also, contrary to my instinct, underexposing in the fading light produces more realistic looking scenes. All the above tips courtesy of TS of course.

Ayam Penyet, mmmmmmmmmmm....

2007-04-07T17:49:00.000+08:00

TS and I went for a sunset walk at Changi on Thursday evening, and topped off the evening with a yummy ayam penyet at Changi village hawker centre. It's basically smashed fried chicken served with rice cooked in chicken stock, and a fiery punchy YUMMY YUMMY sambal. Delicious. As you can see, TS was a very happy and satisfied man. Pictures of the sunset to follow.

Sri Bistari
Blk 3 Changi Village Road #01-40 Singapore 500003

'POP' goes my heart!

2007-04-04T13:42:00.000+08:00

I LOVE Hugh Grant! Yes, he's looking a little tired around the eyes, but all the more convincing as a washed up 80s pop-star. We went to see the movie "Music and Lyrics" with my sister and husband a couple of weekends ago, and all came out singing.
I love a good rom-com so it wasn't hard to please me but TS and L enjoyed themselves too. L even called me early the next morning (Sunday, while i was at work, but that's another sad story) to play me the song over the telephone.
It's not a ground-breaking story, and Drew is a BIT too sweet and kooky for me, but Hugh saved the day with his charm and bashful grin. Kristen Johnson unfortunately still reminds me of a man (I thought she was playing the character from 3rd rock that way), and Cora Corman's "sexy spiritual" thing made my skin crawl (but i guess that was the idea) so I don't have many bad things to say about this movie! Really enjoyed it, if all movies were this "feel good" i'd watch one every sunday evening. My parents have seen it and loved it too (except mum was a little worried that Buddhists may be offended) and to top it all off I bought the soundtrack yesterday so when anyone calls me, 'POP' goes my heart!!
I'm sure all you cynics out there will be rolling your eyes, but I'm grinning and singing.

P.s. read in one of those tabloids that the hottest new Hollywood couple is Hugh and Drew. Publicity stunt right?

TS's insect pics

2007-04-04T13:20:00.000+08:00

I'm hoping to get him to add the details of his pics soon, but at the rate we blog i thought i should just get these up first and supplement later.

TS's Bird Pics

2007-04-04T13:13:00.000+08:00

Kittiwake Couple

2007-04-03T13:40:00.000+08:00

Here's the pic I printed for Lin on Valentine's day (Chinese). It is a loving couple of Black-legged Kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs at St Abbs Head, a nature reserve under the stewardship of the National Trust for Scotland. The cliffs are about 4-5 storeys high and I had to lie prone in order to photograph them at eye-level, while trying to maintain my balance. I did get jelly-legs peering down the cliff... thankfully i am still here to write about my experience.
TS

Technical details: Nikon D70, 80-400 VR lens

Doing (?)good

2007-03-21T20:34:00.000+08:00

TS and I went to batam. This is a long overdue update, but just been so busy. We went as part of a medical mission trip, my first and his fourth. Was great on several counts
(1) I've been wanting to do this kind of thing since I graduated but always thought I'd be more of a liability than a help and it turns out that the three years of training i've had so far counts for SOMETHING
(2) I got to see TS work, which I never really have and good to report that he's every bit as 'cool' as I thought he'd be :)
(3) We spent time together doing something totally different from what we usually do and enjoyed every minute of it

Was a bit tough in that we saw situations we don't usually have to deal with in Singapore. We're so used to our way of life here that we've forgotten many people aren't so lucky.

Hopefully we left doing a little bit of good, and I know we're both looking forward to adding these trips to our list of regular activities.

Iggy's

2007-03-12T17:44:00.000+08:00

This is the post every blogger in Singapore that writes about food has to include. The trip to Iggy's. TS and I started the long weekend with lunch there on Friday afternoon. Dad came along too, and I realised that I am a HOPELESS food blogger. I feel embarrassed to take photos of the food, have no idea how to arrange the lighting, and am too greedy to wait to tuck in. And so you will all have to be satisfied with this ONE photo i took, and rely on my brief descriptions of the dishes.
Lunch was great. After all the hype (check out Chubby Hubby for example) I was worried I was setting myself up for disappointment. But the food was very good, the atmosphere while simple was very conducive for enjoying lunch, and all in all I felt my S$50 dollars (per person) was very well spent. Yes, it seems expensive to spend so much money on lunch, but for one of the best restaurants in Singapore, I didn't feel there was much to complain about.
For starters, TS had squid ink pasta with little grilled octopuses (octopi?), Dad had an Oyster mushroom salad, and I had maguro carpaccio (ie. raw tuna) - pictured above. Unfortunately my first dish was not very nice and I was sorely disappointed, especially since the other two had made much better choices! The pasta was very good, lots of flavour, not fishy (though we were left with black teeth and lips, and thoughtfully supplied with moist towels by the restaurant) - I just realised not only am I hopeless at taking pictures of my food, I can't even describe it well! I shall not try and break down what went into each dish as many food bloggers do, but i'll just tell you what we had and whether it was yummy or not.
Dad and I chose the famous Iggy's burger as a main course. I was a bit alarmed when it arrive because it was TINY (3 inches across). But it was enough, and yummy. I ate every last crumb, as did Dad, and since he normally watches his diet, the burger must have been worth every calorie. The meat was very moist (fat i'm sure) and just nicely seasoned (cheaper places would have been more liberal with the salt). The accompanying roast potatoes were really complimentary, and the salad helped with feeling less guilty about having such a decadent meal. TS had a sea bass fillet. Now I really wish I had paid more attention to the menu because it was sitting on a puree of some vegetable that he LOVED. But of course I don't know what it was. I don't usually like fish, but I would order that dish if we went back again. It wasn't "fishy" at all, and was so soft (without being mushy) that it really just melted in the mouth.
Up to this point, I had been thinking "hmm, it's good, but nothing to shout about or dream about having again", and then dessert came. I made a few 'suggestions' to Dad and TS on what to order, and so ended up being about to sample the THREE different sweets I had my eye on. TS had warm chocolate cake with a molten centre - available in EVERY "atas" restaurant nowadays, often passable since warm chocolate and cold vanilla ice-cream are a pretty sure bet, but Iggy's version was one of the best we've had. It wasn't too sweet, and instead of just tasting undercooked, the centre had a texture that suggested it was meant to be that way - creamy and oozy, just delicious. I had tiramisu served with a 'cold cappucino' which turned out to be coffee ice-cream topped with warm milk foam. Again a fantastic combination. The tiramisu was one-inch-square (I swear) but somehow the portion was just right. For Dad I chose a soymilk creme brulee with black sesame ice-cream, since he's pretty health conscious, and it's also his favourite flavour. As I mentioned above, it must have been worth the calories because he polished it off before I had more than a tiny taste!
All in all I would definitely go back to Iggy's for lunch, at the slightest justification for a "special" meal, because I wasn't disappointed and there are lots of other dishes I'm hoping to try. Probably won't be dying to go there for dinner (unless SOMEONE wants to take me), because I think forking out S$150 for dinner when lunch can be had at a third of the price is a little too painful...

Chinese Valentine's Day

2007-03-08T18:43:00.000+08:00

Ok, was googling the above to find a link to explain when Chinese Valentine's Day is and EVERYWHERE says it's the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. So I called TS and accused him of lying to me in order to buy time to get a present (since he refused to celebrate ang moh Valentine's Day) but he says that his mum says that the LAST day of Chinese New Year is the correct day. Anyway, have decided that it doesn't matter since I got such a sweet gift, but thought i should post this in case any of you were getting confused....

Another good weekend

2007-03-08T17:47:00.000+08:00

What a belated post about last weekend but just been busy at work.
Spent most of Saturday sleeping off Friday's call, woke up for dinner at Nin's which was yummy yummy as usual, but more importantly lots of fun. The GrandPs were in great spirits, and had lots of funny stories to tell. We had a big argument (actually, we have a big recurring arguement) about how nursing, doctoring and patient standards have changed through the years. I guess things have changed so much with regard to expectations, technology and society that it's difficult to compare, but since the GrandPs remember their work so fondly, it's hard to burst their bubble.
Sunday was a full family day too, we started with a late breakfast with the GrandPs and mum. She insisted on taking them to eat at NUH (new Kopitiam on Le Patio at Kent Ridge Wing) and despite every bit of me protesting at having lunch at the hospital on a weekend (since we spend every weekday figuring out how to get food from OUTSIDE the hospital), the noodles were good! I guess the place is quite relaxing, not crowded on a Sunday, and it's easy to drop the GrandPs off right in front and not have them struggle with elevators and stairs. TS was finishing up his morning rounds, so we sat with them for awhile then we went back to his mum's for lunch.
Saturday was the last day of Chinese New Year, so there was another feast of roast duck, steamed chicken, fried bee hoon and cereal prawns. No pics, food was attacked too fast. It was also the Chinese Valentine's Day, so I got a cute little present and a lovely handmade card using a picture that TS had taken in Scotland last year.
At 3pm we met the rest of my family to test drive a car my dad is thinking of buying. It's a real beauty. Gorgeous. Shall put up pics when the order is confirmed.
Then we were all off to the spa! Mum booked 6 of us (parents, TS and me, sis and hubby) in for massages at Aramsa Spas in Bishan park and it was really nice! The girls and boys split up for steam and sauna (us girls were dying to know what the boys were talking about but it probably wasn't half as interesting as we were imagining), then we all had massages for an hour. Really great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon, felt like we weren't in Singapore at all. Took hilarious pics of everyone sitting around trying to maintain decency in bathrobes, but think they may object if i post them here...
Weekend ended with a feast at Uncle Leong's in Ang Mo Kio, initially planned to go to Mellben but the queues were incredible. We had to wait about 45 min at Uncle Leong, but didn't mind trying it out since we'd eaten at Mellben 2 weeks before. Lots of comparisons have been made between the two places (which are across the carpark from each other) and I personally thought that Mellben's crab beehoon was a little more flavourful than Uncle Leong's, but that Uncle Leong's signature 'Shimmering Sands Crab' was absolutely delicious. The crab was firm and meaty and sweet and just GREAT. Where do we buy crabs like that to cook at home?? (ok, I don't mean ME cooking, but TS's mum makes a yummy chili crab). We also had some special seafood tofu, broccoli (don't bother with the scallops) and baby kailan. Sorry, only pic I took was of the chili, once the food arrived I forgot all about taking pics and was too busy eating. It was a fantastic way to end the Sunday.
Yay! And now it's two more days to Saturday again! TS and I are going for lunch at Iggy's tomorrow, and I'm meeting some friends at The Tapas Tree for dinner that night. Will update on how that goes (with pics i hope). TS and I are then off to Batam for a medical trip on Saturday (at 6.45am!!!), and hopefully it will be a nice leisurely Sunday.
Hope to see the girls soon.

Snapshots

2007-03-02T20:09:00.000+08:00

Thought I'd do a quick summary of the places we went to last year, we took some amazing pictures (ok, TS took some amazing pictures) and have great memories behind them. Still have to pinch myself to believe we've had such a wonderful 12 months, and still feel very lucky that we have the possibility of countless adventures ahead.Melbourne was our first proper trip together. We went in September for my exams, TS was there for moral support, and a possible holiday if I passed. Thankfully I did, and we had 4 glorious days on the Great Ocean Road. Some of my favourite images are above, the scenery is really as breathtaking as people say it is. From a celebratory dinner at a little japanese restaurant with the slowest service in town, to waking up at 4am to catch sunrise over the 12 apostles (the sun only rose at 6am by the way, after one hour of us freezing in pitch black darkness), it really was the perfect holiday.
India was our next destination in November. We started planning after getting back from Melbourne and finally being free to enjoy ourselves without the threat of exams hanging over our heads. We decided on Rajasthan because neither of us had been to India, and of course if you go to India you have to see the Taj. Also, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur are there, and I wanted TS to have the opportunity to see some of the best wildlife India has to offer. Unfortunately despite our planning, we saw NO tigers (everyone else in our lodge did...) and Bharatpur was dry this year (meaning no Siberian cranes...).

He still managed some great shots, and I managed a ton of shopping... We'll be back in India once we make it once round the rest of the world, we're owed some tigers and rare fowl.
Our most recent getaway was Bintan for the weekend. It rained most of the time, and we got pretty seasick on the way there and back, but it was very very very nice to have some time just to ourselves, and the Angsana resort was very comfortable, reasonably priced, and I had two terrific massages (TS snored through one of them and doesn't remember anything).
Looking forward to our next trip...

Noodles and Cupcakes, our two favourite things to eat

2007-03-02T18:12:00.000+08:00

Note: still learning how to blog aesthetically, so please forgive the crammed pictures. Click on them to open the bigger files for a better look.

Baked up a batch of Vanilla cupcakes from J's recipe on Tuesday night, modified a bit by swirling nutella through half the batch, and creamy peanut butter through the other half. Choice of flavour was determined by TS's addiction to all things chocolate, and also my sister and her husband's requests for a repeat of Hari Raya's creations. Cakes were beautiful. Flat on top for easy frosting, moist and delicate crumb. Good taste, I used a lesser vanilla paste than the recommended madagascar bourbon (which has alcohol) but thought the result was passable.

Some step-by-step pictures below, not professional quality I'm afraid because my lazy boyfriend shot them with our Canon IXUS. I guess since he was pre-occupied with making dinner (yummy noodles, see right – Noodle King brand instant noodles means no worries about fresh noodles going bad in the fridge, and always available. They are not fried in palm oil, and so compared to maggi mee, very healthy! He stirfried garlic and sliced chili padis, then added fresh shitake mushrooms, baby kailan, marinated prawns, and some chili fishcake. Sauce made of seasoning that came with the instant noodles, halved because we’re eating them dry not soup, coarse black pepper, and a great bottled chili from Malaysia. Will try to post a picture of that product soon.) I'll cut him some slack this time...

Sifting the caster sugar, not very exciting but an essential step. Was a bit surprised at how much sugar was called for, but the end result was not too sweet so glad i wasn't tempted to experiment.

My Kenwood Patissier mixer. Was so very tempted to buy a KitchenAid instead, they really do look lovely and the choice of colours is fantastic, but they are also twice the price of my final choice. Almost went for a refurbished one from Amazon.com, but decided to try out something cheaper first. We ordered the 9-speed hand-held KitchenAid mixer, and were so excited when it arrived. Plugged it in, turned it on, and (literally) in a puff of smoke it died. Yes, we forgot to account for the voltage difference in the US-made product. Poor hand-held mixer has been sitting in the boot of TS’s car since, once in awhile we mutter about trying to get it fixed. Bought the Patissier from ParisSilk, it only comes in Red or Cream, but it works well and have not had any problems yet (it’s only been three months).

From top-left, clockwise: Love these stand alone cases, they look much more Pro than the flutted paper cases I think, and they eliminate the need for cupcake/muffin pans. I bake in a Baby Belling, which is only big enough for one shelf to be baked at a time, so laying these out on a baking tray lets me get a lot more done each time. I buy them from SunLik trading along Seah Street, they’re a lot cheaper there than anywhere else, but also available from Gim Hin Lee and Phoon Huat. Batter-filled cases, weighed out 50g per cupcake because wanted nice flat tops and a uniform appearance. One teaspoon of nutella on top of each cake. I swirled the nutella through, but it actually sank to the bottom during baking, so next time I think I’ll leave it on top and hopefully it will end up nicely in the center of each cake.

The baked cupcakes and two types of frosting. Notice the nice flat tops! Frosting recipe is ridiculously simple, just a bowl, a spoon, icing sugar and 35% cream. The peanut butter one was flavoured by just mixing some of the spread through (amount titrated to intensity of flavour desired) and then thinning to spreading consistency with a bit of milk. The chocolate one had cocoa substituting for some of the icing sugar, then a bit of nutella mixed in as above. Important to press clingwrap down on the surface of the icing during storage, to avoid a “skin” forming.

The finished product. I really liked the colour scheme, the hearts and flowers are ready bought edible decorations and I only included them because bought a ton the last time I went to SunLik and now have to try and use them up. Forgot to get squeezy bottles (GREAT tip learnt at J’s cooking class, eliminates the need for messy piping bags when doing geometric designs) so dribbled the icing from a sppon instead. End-result is not so polished, but quite arty-looking I think!

Most importantly, I had feedback that the cakes were delicious, so I will definitely be repeating the recipe, can’t wait to try out new decorations, now all I have to do is find someone to eat the end-result…

To try out vanilla cupcake recipes, look here, I don't want to post J's recipes since they were given out as part of the class.

Photo-Stitching

2007-02-28T18:33:00.000+08:00

Had lots of fun stitching up the pictures for the first time on PhotoShop CSII! The first attempt ended up with wonky buildings due to poor alignment and perspective control. Didn't realise till the glaring mistake was pointed out by Lee (my apologises for shoddy workmanship). Spent 2 more nights PSing away before arriving at a satisfactory pic!

It's quite simple to stitch using CSII's Photomerge automation tool. I opened 4 pictures in PS, went into Photomerge, and adjusted the alignment visually till the most satisfactory fit. Photomerge automatically snapped the pictures together! I am inspired to do more stitching.

My next project is to do a night-shoot, that is if I can convince Lin to brave the perilous route leading to the picture-point with me!

Knitting together

2007-02-28T14:30:00.000+08:00

TS's first attempt turned out impressive on first glance, but if you click on the pic, you'll realise that UOB building has been torn in half... i'll let him explain the details of stitching the 4 individual photos together, and how to avoid wonky buildings, but just for you to admire now...

If only all weekends were like this...

2007-02-26T23:44:00.000+08:00

We did so many things this weekend that I actually felt I had something to blog about!

Thursday evening we went to holland village and got me some yarn, I've decided to learn how to knit and my first project is a scarf. And then will have to plan a holiday to somewhere that i can actually wear it... What i really want to make is a jumper, but having tried to knit a few neat rows, I realise that if i want to be able to wear my creation sometime this year, a scarf is more realistic. I bought a variegated grey wool, but knitted a sample square and decided that a plain colour would be nicer. TS and I both love red, so that what I went and changed the rest of the wool to. TS said he would have warned the shop lady I would come back and change my purchase if he had met her the first time. It seems I do this all the time.... Anyway, it's been three days, and four false starts. Keep dropping stitches and forgetting my pattern, so everything gets unraveled and redone. It'll happen. Friday evening we then went home to TS's for dinner (diet not going to be successful unless we stop eating at Nin's and his mum's) and realised that I had been knitting wrongly the whole day. It seems TS's sisters are all champion knitters, and one should not attempt to learn knitting from the internet. I'm on the right path now.

Met C (36 weeks pregnant and glowing) there too, fresh from a shopping spree at Wild Child in Club Street, and hopefully we'll follow up on the invitation to visit her and the baby-to-come soon.

Saturday morning 8am (!!!) the Taylors picked us and Dad up to take some pics of the Singapore skyline for their project. With Dad muttering in the backseat about when breakfast was, we managed to climb up the Sheares' Bridge and also to the edge of Marina Bay to get some great shots. TS was using his Pro camera, but even with my little handphone one i managed to get pretty decent results.

At 3 we were off to Shermay's cooking school for our cupcake baking class. I've been back to baking for about 9 months now and while i'm pretty happy with how everything tastes, i've really wanted to learn some decorating tips. Also since J was teaching the class and I'm in absolute awe of her amazing blog, I had to sign up for this one. TS came along because he loves to eat, and despite my apprehensions I think he had a good time! The hands-on baking segment was done in pairs, and it was a really easy recipe so all went well, but he really surprised me when it came to the decorations! I was content making pretty swirly patterns with icing, but he made a beautiful dragonfly, cute bumblebee and little frog (something-tree-frog I’m told). He also made a little truck for his nephew (who insisted that it was a train, then forbade anyone else from touching it, ate all the icing and marzipan, then abandoned the cake). Pictures below, sorry for the poor quality but only had my phone with me and it doesn’t take pics well in dim lighting. Will definitely be trying the recipes at home again, maybe tomorrow post-call.