The magic of the silver screen

Unusually, I am going to start this post with a movie review - of Avatar - which we went to see at the weekend.  My sister is visiting from Australia, and she and Chris were keen to see it.  Personally, I was a bit ho-hum at the prospect, but I am now a complete convert and will be buying the DVD as soon as it becomes available. 

So, Haiku first (composed by sis and self in the back of a taxi on the way to one of our (many) shopping expeditions over the last few days):

Epic tail of man's
short-sightedness.  Out of love,
balance is restored.

And no, that's not a spelling mistake in the first line.

So what did we love about this movie?  The list is long.  First off, it's really beautiful to look at.  Not the parts where the gunships set off on their mission of destruction (definite homage to Apocalypse Now, with shades of Robert Duvall launching an attack on the Viet Cong to the tune of Ride of the Valkyrie), but the scenes in the forest, the colours, the Navi people - especially the lovely Neytiri -  and of course, the special effects.  The story struck a chord too, and  the director managed to stay just on the right side of didactic, so it's a big thumbs up from us. 

Jingle those bells once more

Dear readers



I can say "readers" with confidence because I know that some nasty person in the blogosphere (or possibly some nasty automated machine) just posted a spam comment on my Jingle Bells blog. I have allowed free access to those who wish to comment (thank you, Steve) but the downside of choosing not to moderate comments is what just happened. The only way I could find to get rid of the comment was to get rid of the post, so here it is again for your seasonal delectation and delight.

The Christmas season has officially begun. We have just got back from seeing Aladdin at the Tanglin Club, and we are most definitely in the Christmas spirit. There's something about 100 children screaming "He's behind you" that somehow just gets you in the mood. We are spending Christmas in Singapore this year, a novelty for us, and we're off to Hong Kong for Hogmanay. Chris got back from the UK today, and is busily planning the festivities - he is clearly a man in need of a project.


While he was away I saw the new film version of A Christmas Carol, which I really loved. One of the best things was sitting in the dark in an (over) air conditioned cinema, so that it really was possible to feel that it was Christmas Eve in the northern hemisphere. I think I have seen and pretty much loved every film about Christmas ever made,and I could cheerfully fill the time between now and December 25th watching them all over again.


Although there were a fair number of littlies at the showing of A Christmas Carol that I went to, they were all incredibly quiet, unlike the teens that I shared the cinema with when I went to see New Moon, the second film of the Twilight series. As soon as the vamp and the werewolf got their kit off (in human form, of course) the screaming started. I could understand it for the werewolf (seriously hot, with abs you could bounce off), but not for Edward the vampire (what sort of name is that for a vampire, anyway?) who used to be Cedric Diggory in one of the Harry Potter movies and who looked like he had abs of custard, rather than steel. If I were writing a haiku review of this film I'd say:


Disappointing pap
Save your money to go and
See a real movie.

Yum yum (cha)

Just got back from dim sum lunch at the Fullerton Hotel.  I've written about the Fullerton before, as it is one of my favourite places in the whole of Singapore - a really classy hotel, with several fantastic restaurants, in a beautiful building, in a beautiful location right by the Singapore river.  Sunday brunch at the Fullerton is a treat we save for when we have visitors (so I hope someone will come and visit us soon), but they also do a special dim sum lunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves all sorts of small dishes, many of them little filled dumplings, steamed or fried - a sort of Chinese tapas if you will.  They are usually served with Chinese tea, and the expression yum cha (literally "drinking tea") is the term used to describe the entire dining experience. 

I've tried many dim sum eateries, as my sister can attest, not just in Singapore, but in the UK, Australia and in Hong Kong (the last was a really disappointing experience, interestingly) and I can honestly say that the Jade restaurant at the Fullerton represents the apotheosis of the dim sum chef's art.  The room itself is beautiful, the service immaculate and if anyone ever really was prepared to die for the sake of a foodstuff, this would be it for me.  

While some yum cha restuarants use carts to transport the various offerings from table to table and you can have a look see before you buy (thus making sure you do not choose the steamed chicken's feet by mistake),  at the Fullerton you can order anything you like, as many times as you like,  from an extensive menu, at the bargain price of 33 Singapore dollars per person.   If it is possible to OD on seafood, I probably came perilously close with their wasabi prawns, a signature dish of the restaurant.

Perhaps this is the moment to say a word or two about the Fullerton,(http://www.fullertonhotel.com/) which is one of Singapore's institutions, and a much finer hotel in my view than the more famous Raffles.  The hotel is beautifully situated, close to the mouth of the Singapore River, and even closer to my office - literally, a two minute walk away.  The Fullerton building was constructed in the 1920s, and the name comes from Robert Fullerton, the first Governor of the Straits Settlements.  It was originally an office building, was home to the General Post Office, as well as the very posh Singapore Club, was used as a hospital during WW2, before becoming the headquarters of the Japanese Military Administration in Singapore following the surrender by the British.  Its conversion to a hotel was completed in late 2000.  This is the only guise in which we have experienced the Fullerton, and in my view they made a damn fine job of it.  Most of the original features have been retained or restored, and it is truly a special place.  It would feel extremely decadent to spend the night there, given that we live in Singapore, but I think I might just magic up a special enough occasion to warrant it.

Little India, doggie 69 and must see movies

Chris is away at the moment, so the weekends are entirely my own.  This means more wandering around places and going to movies than I normally indulge in when the lovely C is around, so last Saturday, I hopped on the MRT and went off to explore Little India, and also took in 3 movies over the course of 2 days.  I almost managed to fit in another one, but then I would probably have missed the doggie 69 moment, more of which later.

Little India is just that, a microcosm of the subcontinent, full of the sights, sounds and smells of Bombay - sari shops, restaurants, henna tattooists and home to the Tekka market.  The ground floor of Tekka is a "wet market", with food stalls, and on the first floor there there are all sorts of stalls selling clothes, jewellery and shoes, and tailors who will make you up a sari blouse in a jiffy, or possibly a few jiffies.  There are a number of wet markets in Singapore, so-called, I think, because the floor is wet, as a result of the fresh fish on sale.  A wet market sells all mannner of foodstuffs, not just fish and seafood.  You will also find fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and meat (there is a fine looking goat meat stall at Tekka) all at much cheaper prices than the supermarkets.  Wet markets are, of course, rather wetter than a supermarket, and a darn sight smellier, but if you can get over those two things, they are a great place to shop.


Little India is also home to the Mustafa Centre, which I think I have probably written about before, but it's such an unusual place that it bears repeating.  The Mustafa Centre is a shopping centre in Little India which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  It sells pretty much everything (think of it as the Harrods of Singapore, sort of, but with much lower prices, far more customers and infinitely less style) and attracts pretty much everyone.  Whenever my Indian colleagues come across to Singapore for a business trip, the first of the Singapore sights they hit is Mustafa. Bizarre, really.


But not as bizarre as doggie 69, you may be thinking.  Of course this segment features Lola, who has a new best friend, a 4 month old Golden Retriever puppy called Jack.  Jack lives in the same building and, doggie bladders being what they are, many of the dogs tend to go out for a pee at about the same time of day.  Lola and I ran into Jack in the afternoon and they were all over each other, sniffing and canoodling away and finally ending up in the aforementioned poistion.  I just hope he still respects her in the morning.....

And now, my movie going chums, if you have not seen the following films, then you have a missed a treat.  First up is "UP", a lovely story and a love story to boot.  Its the story of Carl, a grumpy old man, who decides to follow his dream.  Doing so involves tying thousands of balloons to his house and flying off to the wilds of South America, where he Ellie,  the love of his life, had always planned to visit. A slight spanner is thrown in the works when he discovers he has a stowaway in the (rather chubby) shape of Russell, an 8 year old boy scout.  Look out for Doug, the dog.  My favourite character.

My second recommendation is Julie and Julia.  Of course, being someone who loves to cook, it's in my DNA to love this movie, but I have to comment on particularly Meryl Streep's performance.  She always did have the ability to immerse herself  in the character -  to become them, almost - and she does it again in this film.  Look out for her most extraordinary way of speaking (English, not French) , and Bon Appetit!

In fact, I think this movie deserves a haiku, so here goes:

France awakens her
lust for life.  US houswives
reap the benefits.

Au revoir till the next post.

Isabelle

Seoul food

Another trip to Seoul this week. I wrote about my last trip in May, under the pithy title of "Seoul mates"; definitely worth a read  if you haven't yet seen this post.  This time, I had the pleasure of making kimchi - pretty much the Korean national dish.  Kimchi is basically pickled vegetables, the most common form of which is cabbage kimchi (see picture).  Kimchi is also used as an ingredient in other Korean dishes, like kimchi stew and kimchi fried rice.  Koreans love their kimchi, and so did I before I learned how to make it!

Kimchi is everywhwere - so much so that the Korean Aerospace Research Institute developed a space kimchi to accompany the first Korean astronaut to the Soyuz space ship. Kimchi is served at almost every meal, and few Koreans can last more than a few days without a fix.

On the subject of national dishes, I came across this website the other day and I'd like to share it with you.  The website is devoted to stuff about Aberdeen, where I lived for many years before moving to London, but the Whack The Haggis game cracked me up.  I'm not much of a gamer, which probably explains my pathetically low score, but if you've a few minutes to spare on a rainy afternoon, give it a go.

http://www.aboutaberdeen.com/whackthehaggisgame.php

Moon cakes

Autumn: season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, according to Keats, who obviously never lived in Singapore.

Here, Autumn brings increasing humidity and the mid-Autumn festival, celebrated - of course - with food.  In this case, the moon cake. The mid-Autumn festival, also known as the moon festival, falls on October 3rd this year - the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is brighter than at any other point in the year.  As with most Chinese festivals, there is a special food associated with the event - in this case the moon cake, currently being heavily marketed in all its many forms.  The round moon cakes eaten on this festival are symbolic of family unity and closeness and come in all sorts of guises.  "Traditional " moon cakes are enclosed in a sweet(ish) pastry and contain lotus paste and whole egg yolk.  They are very heavy, and ususally served cut into tiny wedges.


The modern moon cake is encased in "snowskin" (much nicer than it sounds, basically a paste of baked white flour combined with icing sugar) and features all manner of fillings, like lavender, chocolate truffle, wheatgrass and melon seeds, hazelnut and coconut, green tea and of course, durian, to mention just a tiny number of the varieties on offer.  Singapore's hotels seek to outdo each other with their inventiveness every year.  How about "Almond Snow Skin with Premium Bird's Nest and Custard Paste" or "Almond Snow Skin with Advocaat Egg Liqueur Truffle and Black Sesame Paste" at the St Regis Hotel, or "Snow-Skin Apricot Mooncake with Popping Candy" from Raffles, pictured top left and described thus:  "luminous snow-skin encasing a velvety filling that yields apricot fragrance and a popping surprise! " 

My regular readers will know my feelings about durian - that most exotic and smelliest of tropical fruits - but nonetheless I decided to give the durian mooncake a try. Mistake.  I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth (or the smell out of my nose) until I had downed half a bag of spicy curry snacks and two cups of tea.  Just thinking about it brings back the smell.........

That said, I also have a very pleasant mooncake memory from this week, which centres around spending time with our new group of HR graduates, who have just joined the Bank.  I spent time with them as part of their training programme and took along some mooncakes to share.  The lavender snowskin went down particularly well, hence the colour of this post's text, as a tribute.

I must say, it was a real pleasure to spend time with such a great group of talented youngsters.  It's easy to become too focused on the day-to day issues of a job and forget about what it was like when everything was still in front of you.  What's in front of us this weekend is the Hari Raya holiday, which marks the end of Ramadan.  We're hosting a Sunday roast lunch in celebration, the first ever since we've been here, but the invitation seems to have struck a chord with our guests, so this may be the beginning of a new tradition on the Kiddy household.  I'll keep you posted! 

Back home

It's good to be back! 
We returned to Singapore last night, to a rapturous welcome from Lola and an equally excited one from the heavens in the form of a gigantic thunderstorm.  Thank you, Thor - a nice touch. 

As always on returning from holiday we were met by a gigantic mound of post.  My first reaction is to ignore it for as long as possible, whereas Chris likes to dive straight in.  Much of the mail is made up of publicity material of one sort or another, and it's clear (to me at least) that Singpapore is well on the way to economic recovery, judging from the number of flyers about new property developments that have arrived in the course of just a few weeks. I've mentioned peoperty in the blog before, but let me share with you today how new property is sold.  Most new property comes in the form of high rise condominiums, many of them with exotic names like Amaryllis Ville, Aspen Heights and Palm Beach Garden, to quote just a few.  When a new condo is being developed, it is pre-sold long before it is completed.  This is done through the construction of a show apartment on the site of the development, which potential customers (and people who just fancy a nosey round) can visit in order to see what the finished article will look like.  If you'd like a virtual wander round, have a look at http://www.ascentia-sky.com.sg/.  I swear you'll want to buy one after reading this, so compelling is the "lifestyle" sell!

If property (owning and investing in) is a key component of the Singaporean psyche, so too is a fierce national pride.  Singapore has been through a lot in the last half century, and some of this is reflected a new exhibition, which we're planning to go to this week, hosted by the National Archives of Singapore.  The exhibition is called “Coping with Vulnerability: The First 50 Years. Posters from our Past” and traces Singapore's trials and tribulations on its journey to nationhood through posters, news clippings and other visual media.

One of the focus areas is water, which has been a big problem for Singapore over the years.  It's strange to think of water shortages in a country that gets so much rain, but the issue is catchment.  The solution to the catchment problem is reservoirs, and there are several on the island, the latest of which is the Marina Barrage - a wonderful piece of engineering and construction - have a look at it on wikepedia at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Barrage.  We haven't been, but reading about it really makes me want to visit.

French Leave

If I have any faithful readers left, they must be wondering what on earth is going on and why I haven't been blogging recently. If any of you can work it out, please get in touch, becasue I'm darned if I know.

Perhaps it's to do with having completed two years in Singapore, so there are fewer new expeiences to write about. Anyhow, I've signed up for another year, so I'll just have to get busy on the research front and make sure I have plenty of stories to amuse and delight you. Let's start with an update on Lola dog, for those of you who are fans of our Miniature Schnauzer puppy. I mentioned a couple of posts ago that that she had been unwell; it was very sad to see her so throughly de-perked by her illness, so we were delighted when she returned to her customary bouncy form. Since then, however, she has been sick several times with the same symptoms, but the vets (we've moved to a new practice) have never been able to find anything to explain what is wrong. It was with some foreboding, therefore, that we set off for our annual leave in Southern France, especially as Lola had been ill just before we left and was only just on the mend. The good news is that, according to the daily Lola bulletins from Ding, our live-in helper, all seems to be well. That said, I'm a bit worried about Chris, who is currently on the phone to Singapore, making "whoo-whoo" sounds in an attempt to have a conversation with Lola. Barking....

With that weight off our mind, we are free to enjoy our French leave to the full. The weather here is unseasonably hot - hotter even than Singapore, but mercifully much less humid. Our days are spent relaxing by the pool (and in my case, perfecting my handstands in the pool), reading, cooking lunch on the plancha (Chris's new toy) and doing bits and pieces on the house. I am feeling immensely pleased with myself as I write this, having just cleaned and lined all the kitchen drawers; clearly I'm wasted in HR and should be pursuing a career as a French maid (which would have the benefit of allowing me to dress up in the odd saucy uniform). All comments welcome.

Red hot in the red dot

On Wednesday, I had one of the most entertaining nights of my life. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of the Red Hot Chili Pipers - have a look for them on youtube - but if they come to a venue near you, buy a ticket and you're in for a treat. I've always found that the sound of bagpipes brings out intense feelings of Scottishness in me and by the end of Wednesday evening I was ready to buy a timeshare in Inverness and book in at the nearest tattoo parlour to have a thistle emblazoned (ever so tastefully) over my left bosom. Normally, of course, bagpipes play traditional music, but there's very little traditional about the RHCPs, apart from their musical skills. They are, in fact, damn good musicians. Their snare drummer is a world champion, and several band members are graduates of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. They call what they do "bagrock", but however you characterise it, it's a damn good time.

So why the "red dot" of the title, I hear my faithful readers ask? Well, it's like this. Singapore is affectionately known as the "little red dot" on the map of the world - in part a reference to its ability to seriously punch above its weight. There are may red dot references in Singapore - from brew houses to museums (see picture). The Red Dot Museum is Singapore's design museum, and it is housed in an old colonial style building that used to be the headquarters of the traffic police. It's a big space and the first time we went we were amazed by how empty it seemed. Actually, we felt pretty much the same when we went back again, so now we've decided to think of it as minimalist rather than appear rude and superior!

I mentioned the Red Dot Brewhouse a moment ago, which reminded me that I don't believe I've written much about Dempsey in my posts. Dempsey Hill used to be the site of the British army barracks, and is now what is known as a "lifestyle destination". It is a lush green paradise close to the centre of Singapore, and home to a variety of rather nice shops and restaurants, of which the Red Dot Brewhouse is one - not that I've ever been there. I have been to Samy's, however (curry served on banana leaves), The Karma Kettle - Indian restaurant with Scottish bar (and the site of the Red Hot Chili Pipers show as it happens) and Au Petit Salut, which is a wonderful French restaurant, better than many I've been to in France. Singapore has many fine eateries, as I've mentioned before. Last Saturday we went to 53, a new place, at 53 Armenian Street, which is home to a chef who used to work at the Fat Duck, and which bases some of its methodology on Heston Blumenthal's approach. There is no a la carte menu, so when you phone up to book, they ask if there is anything you don't like. Now, as you know, there are lots of things I don't like, but since Chris has no such foibles, I figured that he would eat whatever I didn't, so we'd be OK. And so it proved.

The restaurant was as minimalist as the Red Dot Museum, with probably only 20 covers in the downstairs (main) dining room. Scrubbed wood tables with no tablecloths, which I found it a bit iffy in a fine dining setup, but I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to napery. The food was a bit minimalist as well, so it was just as well that the bread was fabulous and kept coming. It came in a little sack with heated pebbles in the bottom which promised to keep the bread warm for 20 minutes, but it was so good that there was no way it was going to last for 20 minutes, quite frankly. So, what did we think? Here's a haiku restaurant review:

6 out of 10 for

the experience but we

wouldn't go again

Feng Shui and Black Swans

The feng shui master came to the office the other week. Feng shui (pronounced fung schway) is very important in the Chinese culture and for every one who thinks of it as a pseudo science, there are many others who truly believe.



Before spending time looking round the office, he sat with me (and one of my team, who acted as a translator, as he does not speak English) and , based on birth date and time, gave a sort of astrological reading on me and several members of the team. Very interesting.......


My office now features red and gold (mainly in the form of an abstract paining in a gold coloured frame), a small fountain and a permanent light. The running water produced by the little fountain is meant to enhance energy and keep my chi flowing round the office and light, being the most powerful manifestation of energy, should be present always.


Furthering the interests of my Chi, I spent time with a Tai Chi master last week. This was part of a management development programme that I was attending last week, which included an optional early morning Tai Chi class. The programme was held at a rather lovely resort and spa hotel on the island of Sentosa (more of which will feature in my next post about the "Integrated Resorts") and the Tai Chi class was held just after first light overlooking the bay (don't think golden sands, think parked oil tankers and container ships, but nonetheless....) and it was a lovely experience, even for one as uncoordinated as me. As many of you know, I'm sure, Tai Chi is described as a martial art, but I think of it more as a sort of moving yoga. Like yoga, it has set moves and series of moves, and getting it right depends a lot on breathing. While I only had a taste, I think that I could get to like it, and possibly even remember a couple of the moves after several hours of personal tuition.....


Black Swans also featured on the programme, but unlike Tai Chi, this was a completely new concept to me. A Black Swan is basically an unpredicted and undirected event that has major consequences. Think 9/11 and the rise of the Internet. A bloke called Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a book about this - The Black Swan - in 2007 and although I had not heard of his book until last week, I have seen articles that he has written about the financial crisis (a rather large Black Swan). Interestingly, and most bizarrely, much of the world seems already to have forgotten just how major the consequences of that particular big bird were and are are talking about not just recovery, but mega bonuses. I have worked in financial services for 22 years, and this business never ceases to amaze me.

Seoul mates

Dear readers, it's been a while. I'm not sure whether the reason I haven't been posting is because there is too much happening, or not enough. For this post I've picked out a couple of themes - updating you on the lovely Lola's goings on and sharing with you the highlights of my recent trip to Korea.

Lola is our miniature Schnauzer puppy, now 8 months old. She has given us many hours of joy (especially once the house training bit was over) and out and out hysterical laughter as she races around the house in pursuit of one or other of her squeaky toys or just because she is so full of energy she has to let it out. Because Chris is away and our housekeeper has gone back to the Philippines for an extended holiday, we had to put Lola into kennels. She was a weekly boarder there with a sort of doggie exeat at weekends. When she got back last weekend, she was very sick. I won't go into the details for fear of offending the more squeamish amongst you, but it entailed an urgent visit to the vet, X rays, antibiotic injection and much squealing from an anguished puppy. Not for the first time, I wished that we could each understand what the other was saying.

She is better now, and back to her normal, slightly crazy self, although she does seem to have developed a taste for poached chicken breast, which was all I could tempt her with when she was feeling so low last weekend. As it happens, I had occasion to go to the doctor here this week, and my bill for consultation, X rays and medication (the same treatment as Lola, albeit for a different condition) was exactly half of what I paid for her! I am definitely coming back as a Singaporean vet in my next life.....

Once I was sure that Lola was on the mend, I was much happier about taking my planned business trip to Korea. It was my second ever visit to Seoul, and I managed to pack in a great deal, including experiencing several important aspects of Korean culture, by which I mean eating, drinking and karaoke.

Before any of you get excited, let me say right away that I did not try (nor was I invited to) bosintang - dog meat soup. Bosintang is not an everyday dish - perhaps a bit like guinea pig in Peru - but it is one of the traditional elements of Korean cuisine. It seems that bosintang came to Korea from China hundreds of years ago, at a time when the posh folks ate far more meat than the lower classes. Dog was apparently one of the few "meats" available to all classes of ancient Korean society. In modern South Korea, the sensitivities around eating dog have led a number of restaurants to use lamb or goat as a substitute, although you can still find the real thing also.

Those of you who know my eating preferences will understand why I would have been delighted with another aspect of Korean cuisine - something called banchan. Banchan is a sort of Korean antipasto, lots of small dishes that are served at the beginning of a traditional Korean meal, and when I say lots, I do mean lots and lots (see picture above for examples of banchan). There must have been at least 25 banchan dishes at the lunch I was treated to, mainly vegetable, fish and tofu based. My favourite was the "Korean pizza" - which was only like pizza in that it was round and flat. It was actually made of some sort of shredded green vegetable and was absolutely delicious. I also loved the tofu, fermented sesame leaves and all the different sorts of kimchi. With banchan, ingredients and dishes vary by province but a constant is kimchi - a fermented vegetable dish usually featuring cabbage, but it is also made with radish, cucumber or spring onions - and lots of chili.

Kimchi also featured at the dinner the Korean team took me to. This was a Korean barbecue, where the meat is cooked in front of you on a on a gas grill in the middle of the table. The dinner was accompanied by soju, a sort of Korean sake, which tastes a bit like vodka, but sweeter. Our evening was pretty restrained, by Korean standards, but it did still feature a round of "bomb shots" when we went off to the karaoke rooms. For those of you who don't know about bomb shots, they consist of a shot glass of some spirit or other dropped into a glass of beer. The spirit in Korea is often soju, but in our case it was whisky. I knew I hadn't a hope of downing this in one, the required bomb shot etiquette, and so I asked for a "white knight" to help me. A white knight is a member of the group who will do the drinking for you; they are happy to be asked, so honour is satisfied all round!

There was no chance of my asking anyone to take my turn at karaoke however - I love karaoke, and I get so few chances to have a go, since none of my friends or rellies seem to feel the same way about it that I do. I was first up, with a poignant (at least I thought so) rendition of Angel of the Morning by Juice Newton that seemed to go down well. That said, there were a couple of really great singers in the team and I was completely outclassed, which didn't stop me going up again, and again, and again........

The other Celt in the group - a Welshman, whose rendition of Delilah is something everyone should hear at least once in their lifetime - asked for an a capella version of Flower of Scotland. Of course I obliged, and then threw in the Corries version of "Will ye go, lassie go" for good measure. If only my friend Eddie had been there, we could have tackled the entire Corries oeuvre and a couple of Runrig songs for good measure. Perhaps the next time.......

Tweet tweet

I had lunch with my friend Steve yesterday. My regular readers will be familiar with Steve - he of the cheffing skills, technology know-how and haiku film reviews, and the one who turned me on to blogging. So there I was, bursting with pride about being a Spotify user, which Steve has ovbiously been for some time, probably several weeks before it was invented, so techno savvy is he, when he started to talk about twittering. Now twittering has reached the periphery of my consciousness, but no more. For those of you who do not know about Twitter, it is a free social networking service that enables its users to send and read other users' short messages about what they are doing on a minute by minute basis. These updates are known as tweets, and I was trying hard, but have been unable to hold myself back from wondering if the users are called twits. Whose life could possibly be interesting enough that people want to follow it so closely? Well, Britney Spears for one, it would appear; she is the most "followed" celebrity on Twitter.

As always, my mission on this blog is to educate and entertain, so here is the Wikipedia link for those of you who'd like to know more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

I love Spotify!

The cyber savvy amongst you will already be turned on to Spotify, I'm sure, but for those of you who have yet to discover it, I have just 3 words - download it now. Spotify describes itself as "A world of music. Instant, simple and free" which describes it pretty accurately in my view. I'm sitting here listening to John Waite's " Missing you" having spent the last hour or so roaming through the music of my teens and twenties - Steeleye Span is up next, followed by James Taylor singing "Close your eyes", which will take me right back to my university days.

I am forever amazed by the power of music to transport me to another time and place. The picture on the left shows Kings College in old Aberdeen, where I spent a good part of the seventies learning all sorts of stuff which I never used again and subsequently forgot all about. We had some amazing parties though. I can still remember cooking curry for 40 in the small kitchen of the flat I shared with my sister, not to mention inviting the French navy for - extremely chaste - coffee (I am not making this up) with my friend Lins after a reception on a French warship in Aberdeen harbour.

My memory of those parties is that we actually spent very little money but the return - perhaps I should express it in terms of units of fun per pound - was huge. Perhaps my personal response to the world economic crisis should be to produce a recession cookbook, although Nigella is probably on the case already, working out how to add dollops of budget gorgeousness to chili with a smattering of carne.

Whenever I do the nostalgia thing I ask myself what I would do if I could have that time over again. The answer is almost always "more". More live music, more travel, more wild adventures and crazy experiences - oh yes, and definitely more boyfriends...........

Horses for courses

Singapore never ceases to surprise us. It's a small island, but we keep discovering parts of it that we had no idea existed - little enclaves that charm and delight. We discovered one of these yesterday, when we went to have breakfast with some friends. Going out for Sunday breakfast is a tradition in Singapore, and I've written before about the many brunch offerings, but this was a bit different. We went to Picotin, (http://www.picotin.com.sg/index.html) a lovely French bistro complete with boules pitch in a part of Singapore that we had not been to before. As we often find with places that are new to us, it wasn't very far from our normal flight path, but has eluded us till now. Picotin is in "Horse City", which used to house the stables for the old racecourse and is now a sort of equestrian centre with extras - extras that include a yoga centre, spa, child care and pet care facilities, as well as Picotin. One of the best things about Picotin is that they welcome dogs, so Lola came too, and very much enjoyed her first taste of bacon.

While we were there, we had a look at the pet care centre - cleverly named K9 Kampus - and we were mightily impressed. No mere boarding kennel , K9 provides the opportunity for single dogs to become pack animals - in the lap of doggy luxury. The facilities include a swimming pool (I'm not making this up), exercise yard, obstacle course, obedience training, grooming and a cafe (this last one for the owners, I'm pretty sure!). We had Lola assessed (did I just move to the upper East side of Manhattan without realising it? I have had my puppy "assessed" for entry to a day care facility) while we were there, so she starts day care this week. If she is happy there, we will be able to board her from time to time, a prospect which filled me with dread until we discovered K9.

As luck would have it, one of our favourite wine shops was having a sale, just a few hundred yards from Picotin, and we were able to pick up a few of our favourites at a bargain price, so this truly was the perfect Sunday.

Doggie delight

Lola, our miniature Schnauzer puppy, is now 6 months old. Our lives changed from the moment we bought her, on the weekend of Chinese New Year, and we are still besotted. Unfortunately, she does not sit still for long enough to have her picture taken, so this is the best I can do. This photo was taken yesterday morning, when she was feeling pretty sorry for herself, having been spayed the day before. I am glad to say that she is now back to her bouncy self, and I mean that literally - she does actually bounce her way across the room when she is excited, a bit like Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout, for those of you who remember.

Not so delightful is the dog in the apartment above, which seems to live its life on the balcony and is constantly barking to get attention. Now, while I would probably end up barking too if I had to spend my life on a balcony, ignoring the barking should help the dog understand that this is not the way to get attention (you see how well I have mastered the basic precepts of dog training?), so something is clearly not working.

I do wonder about these new neighbours actually, since the barking is not the only noise emanating from their flat. Early in the morning, late at night and at random times during the day, they appear to move heavy pieces of furniture across the floor. Either one of them is extremely indecisive and keeps changing their mind about the best spot for the dining table, or they are running part-time training programmes in "moving large items of furniture without the need to lift".

Must remember to ask if I see them in the lift.......

Dentistry de luxe

In my view, going to the dentist can never be a pleasure. I was brought up in Scotland and my first experience was with the school dentist, who operated from a portacabin in the playground, never used numbing injections, and seemed to have trained at the Marquis de Sade school of dentistry. The place we go to in Singapore could not be further from a portacabin; it is located in the penthouse suite of one of Singapore's most prestigious office buildings/shopping malls - Ngee Ann City - in the heart of the main shopping area.

When you walk into the reception area, you'd think you were in a swanky boutique hotel in the West End: reproduction Wassily chairs, gleaming granite reception desks and a huge roof terrace. There is a refreshments room off reception, with cream leather sofas and a bean to cup coffee machine that delivers free espresso while you browse through a huge selection of fancy (new, and clean, not 18 months old, dog-eared and with half the pages missing) magazines, art books and travel guides.

There is another big difference between Singaporean tooth doctors and the UK variety: there are no dental hygienists here, so the dentists do it themselves (if they charge dentist's hourly rates, I guess it explains the cream leather sofas).

So there you have it, another deep insight into the Asian economy. My next post will feature Lola, so if you are already a member of her fan club, keep reading.....

Out and about in Singapore

It seems like a while since I wrote about our social life here in Singapore, probably because puppies are not welcome at the theatre or the cinema! That said, we have been out and about a bit lately and I would like to encourage my movie going readers to check out these films, if you have not already done so. First up, Slumdog Millionaire - a well deserving Oscar winner in my view, even though I do not always agree with the Academy's choices in these matters. It was amazing - touching, gripping and enthralling all the way through. Those of you who are regular readers will be familiar with my occasional penchant for haiku reviews of films I have seen. On this occasion, I have quite frankly stolen (with permission) the haiku review of my friend Steve. His view of Slumdog Millionaire follows:

From rags to riches ?
a tale told, so very well
I'm lost, for once, for ....

Unfortunately he has not written a review of The Reader, so I will have to do my best:

Young man loves older
woman not what she seems but
less and so much more

We also went to see Menopause the Musical, which I thoroughly recommend if it comes to a theatre near you. Chris came along with me, and he wrote the haiku review for this one:

So, four hot ladies
with spring in step and on song;
each flushed with success

Here's the link, in case you fancy reading some more about it:

http://www.menopausethemusical.com/main.php?page=about

The tissue issue

The title of this post refers to the common Singaporean practice of "chope-ing" - reserving a seat in a hawker centre or food court by means of leaving a packet of tissues on the table.


At lunchtimes in the central business district (CBD) and elsewhere you will see packets of tissues on all of the tables. The message carried by the tissue packet is: "This seat is taken". You may ask yourself why anyone would respond to this informal "reserved" sign but people do. Sometimes, of course, a visitor or new resident will not understand the significance of the paper hankies and take the place regardless, but this is relatively unusual.

That said, the practice does not meet with universal approval in the minds of Singaporeans. In fact, a group of undergraduates has taken on the mission of this informal reservation system. A month or so ago seven students doled out thousands of packets of tissues in a Chinatown food centre. They were scrawled with the words: 'This seat is not taken, it's yours!' The students are hoping to encourage patrons to tell others that the seat is occupied, rather than have diners face the tissues. There is a letter in the paper today entitled "The chope-ing vigilante", written by one Rick Lim Say Kiong who has taken the decision to remove and throw away any packs of tissues that he finds at hawker stalls. The wonderfully named Singapore Kindness Movement (check out their website at http://www.singaporekindness.org.sg/), which aims to encourage Singaporeans to make a positive commitment to gracious living through simple acts of kindness in their daily lives has also thrown its weight behind the campaign, so who knows - one day we may see an end to this nefarious practice!

Life with Lola

Lola (the picture on the right) is the new love of our lives. She is 4 months old, black and silver and could rival an atomic explosion for energy. Lola is a miniature Schnauzer puppy - an unusual choice as a pet purchase for us, as our intention was to buy a Weimaraner (the picture on the left), but a Singapore apartment is not the right home for a such a large and energetic dog, so the Weim will have to wait.

It happened like this. We were at the Swiss Butcher (Singapore's best expat meatery) last Saturday, (no, of course we didn't get her there, read on.....) and there is a a pet shop in the same street, right by where the car was parked. There was a sign in the window that said they had puppies in stock; we went in - thinking to have a look but with no intention of buying just yet - and came out an hour later the proud adoptive parents of the lovely Lola. She is a bundle of fun, and has changed our lives. Ding, our housekeeper and I are the main puppy trainers, with toilet training at the top of our list. She has made considerable progress in her first week, so I am hopeful of a life where newspapers become just reading material once again sometime soon.

Training a puppy may be a labour of love, but it is definitely labour. It's really important to be firm and for your "no" to mean "no". The technique I use when she is about to start eating my shoes, for example, is to clap my hands together loudly and say an equally loud "NO!". Chris, my Psychologist husband on the other hand, tries to reason with her. It goes something like this - in a soft voice, oozing with love: "Now, Lola, stop eating those shoes, they're not a toy, sweetie".

I'll obviously have to establish myself as alpha dog in the very near future........

Tick tock

This post is dedicated to the Singaporean love of luxury watches. Not something I was aware of before we came, but something you can't miss when you live here. There are dozens and dozens of high-end watch emporia, selling all the fancy brands. The right watch is is hugely important - whether a classic marque, or a more modern designer timepiece. I was something of a Swatch girl until I arrived here, but I have fallen victim to the watch bug, and am now the proud owner of a limited edition Jaeger leCoultre Reverso watch (pictured here).

I'm stopping at one, but lots of people have many and you can even buy special watch winding boxes to keep them going all the time. Mine is wound by hand, but it would seem that your modern posh watches come equipped with automatic movement, meaning that they need neither batteries nor to be wound by hand, but are powered by the kinetic movement of the body. This is all very well while you are wearing the watch, but what about when you are not (presumably because you are favouring another of your collection )? Well you need never face this dilemma if you are the proud possessor of a watch winder box. It has a little motor that keeps the watches moving on a turntable (honestly) and therefore ready for action whenever needed. Who would have thought?

Unusually for Singapore, which has a very low crime rate, there was a major theft at the end of last year from Cortina Watch, a shop which sells all the top international watch brands. When staff opened up the shop the day after Christmas, they discovered that thieves had made away with almost 8 million Sing dollars worth of goodies. Not a very merry Christmas for Cortina, sadly.

Christmas being well and truly over, we are now en route to Chinese New Year (CNY). There are major sales going on (80% off DKNY at our local mall - you can imagine the melee) and the shops are full of traditional CNY delicacies. These are many and various - allow me to share a few with you, starting with the savoury:

• Sambal prawn rolls. These look like teeny weeny spring rolls, and are basically a sort of fried, intensely prawny crispy thing. My love of prawns made me think that I would really love these, but I'm afraid I found them overwhelmingly prawny.
• Abalone (pictured). This is available all year round, but it tends to feature on CNY dinner menus in much the same way as oysters do in France, or smoked salmon does in the UK. Basically a sea snail that comes in a variety of sizes, abalone is considered a sign of wealth and prosperity. I find the flesh rather tough and the texture not to my liking (no surprises there for my regular readers), and I have never forgotten AA Gill's (The Sunday Times restaurant critic) description of abalone, when he compared it to a certain female body part. Enough said.
• Yu sheng. Now this one I do like. This is a sort of raw fish salad (bear with me, it really is nice), which is traditionally served on the seventh day of CNY. It arrives at the table on a large serving plate, and the raw fish is accompanied by all manner of colourful raw vegetables - like shredded green and white radish, carrots and pickled ginger and topped with little crisps (gold coloured, to represent wealth), peanuts, sesame seeds, cinnamon, pepper and other spices. Every element has a meaning, and the various condiments are explained as they are added. The salad is served with very long chopsticks, which all present at the meal use to toss the salad. The higher the toss, the greater your good fortune will be. Very messy and great fun!

Moving to sweet, there are lots of choices:

• Pineapple tarts. These emanate from Peranakan cuisine and are bite-sized, buttery, sweet little treats. When we visited Malacca last year, we bought some at the mother of all pineapple tart bakeries (perhaps not quite the description used by the Malacca tourist authority, but you get my drift) and they were truly amazing. These tend to be a feature in our office in the run up to the new year holiday, although I haven't noticed any yet - must be my turn to buy.
• Nian gao. This comes in many forms, but the basic version is a glutinous rice cake, and can be pretty basic or extremely luxurious, round and filled with nuts and coconut or shaped and coloured like a fish and filled with durian. For a modern take on the traditional, you can find it translated into dumplings and even pralines.

So as we head into the year of the ox, I wish each and every one of you Gong. Xi Fa Cai!

The Worst Bits

It's only fair to offer a lit of balance after my last post, especially as I sit here with a swollen eye, having been bitten on the face - twice - by a ruddy mosquito. I don't get bitten often, to be fair, but when I do, they usually have a field day. So, in my book, insect life in the tropics definitely falls into this category. There are no malarial mosquitoes in Singapore, but there is Dengue Fever, caused by infection with a virus transmitted by the Aedes mosquito. Singapore is hot on Dengue prevention - achieved through stopping the Aedes mosquitoes breeding. They breed in stagnant water, including in the home, so people here are very vigilant about emptying the water from flower vases regularly, for example. The picture on the right is an Aedes mosquito biting a human, taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I wonder how they got the bitee to volunteer?

It is a beautiful day today, and the weather for the last few days has been glorious, not too humid, and almost cool in the evenings. We have had occasional bouts of wind, in fact, and since we live on the 22nd floor, we can hear it howling around the corridors created by the high buildings in the neighbourhood. I love that, but the humidity is still a challenge. At my age, it's not always possible to separate a hot spell from a hot flush, but when the two arrive together, it's not good.

And finally, television. Now you may ask yourself, what is she thinking? Here she is, living in a tropical paradise, in a vibrant city, surrounded by wonderful places to visit (and working 12 hour days), what possible use could she possibly have for the delights of the small screen? If I tell you that we don't get Strictly Come Dancing, would that make everything clear? In fact, we don't get any of the UK terrestrial channels at all. To be fair, Strictly will start to be shown from next Sunday on the BBC Entertainment channel, but it's the fourth series (the one that has just finished was the sixth series, for those of you who are not aficionados of the show). Well, at least it takes away the stress of trying to work out who will win the danceoff each week.

And that's pretty much it for the worst bits of life in Singapore. Not exactly a long list, and seriously outweighed by the best bits. Come and see for yourself.