Once upon a time, when we still had cable TV, we enjoyed Jamie Oliver's cooking shows. And then for the longest time after that, long after we kicked our cable addiction, we talked about getting one of his cookbooks. But we never got around to doing it - not until today, that is. Thanks to ViennaG's gift of a Borders Giftcard and the store's 15% markdown this weekend, we trotted down to Borders Wheelock today (braving the mad crowd on Orchard Road enroute) and got ourselves a copy of Jamie's Italy.
We didn't do any research prior to our visit - we simply popped into the store with the intention to buy any of his books, didn't matter which one. However, as I stood gazing at the shelves, this title stood out, shouting "Buy me!". It's by no means his latest work, but the only one so far that fuses two of our greatest indulgences - food and travel. I fell in love with it immediately and thumbed through the pages, almost with lust! Pages and pages of wonderful photos, of food, of people, of the streets. I love the fact that the book's printed on woodsfree paper too. I think photos printed on woodsfree are irresistably rustic. Goes with the classic Italian theme I suppose - his other books were in the usual matt art.
The photos, of course, are really only part of the formula. I have just started reading the book properly, and am enjoying the humour and candour in his narrative. Check out this excerpt from the foreword:
"But I've also learnt on my journey round Italy that the word regional, when it comes to cooking, is only the tip of the iceberg. They are far more parochial than that. There should be a word invented for it like 'villagional', because these guys, rightly or wrongly, will argue that their own village makes a certain thing in the most perfect way and will look down on another village's method with utter contempt! The only other thing I've witnessed which brings out such emotion in people is football."
The recipes, needless to say, are probably nothing less than excellent. We are looking forward to trying some of them out soon! The pastas look really really good.
好快，眼看2007年就要过了。
回顾自己的2007年。前半年过得有点累，在低潮时意志力却很强，让自己有勇往直前的冲劲。后半年，是180度的转变，过得很充实，愉快。虽然不算是事事如意，但无风无浪，日子是简单，满足的。
不过，太平静，又让我有点不安。幸福怎是如此垂手可得？所以在平静的日子里，我又变得有些神经质，心里不时想着其中必有乍，代价是什么，下一章，命运是否要给我好看 ？！！
把幸福捧在手里，小心翼翼，害怕它随时流逝。
但有太多的事，是不由得我们的，握得再紧亦是如此。
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昨天我接听妈妈的电话，小B问我在和谁通电话。
我告诉他，“是婶婶的Mummy。”
他想了想，又问， “那叔叔的 Mummy 呢？”
我回答， “叔叔的Mummy 就是阿嬷啊。”
小B 望着我，若有所思。我想在他印象中, 无论谁的Mummy, 都应该是少妇的形象。为什么阿嬷这么老了，也可以是 "Mummy"?
他长大一点就会明白，Mummy 是会老去的。孩子一天天长大，父母渐渐老去，那是岁月不饶人，人类永远输给时间的一场斗争。我们只有在它晃眼过去之前，好好珍惜，不要把一切当作理所当然。
I have been spending a little too indiscriminately, thanks to the retail choir's chorus of "SALE, SALE, SALE!" that rings in my ears whenever I swing by the malls. What starts off as an innocent errand at the supermarket often gets intercepted by window shopping. And when the festive jingles they play are hypnotic enough to wear our resistance down to a dizzy trance, we actually step into the shops and plonk money at the cashiers. Happened to me, happened to Thomas. A few new pieces of clothing, for which we are using the Chinese New Year as an excuse -we need new clothes for CNY anyway and are buying ahead!
The biggest damage is a new sofa set that was going at 50% off its original price. The old sofa's coming into the study. Well, at least now I get to lounge in the study, sans our TV. This means I can focus better when I'm revising, instead of lapping up soppy soaps while my notes hang limply in my hands...
A serious reminder to myself to curb my spending. With no income, my savings are already taking a constant dip, month by month. I don't want to be bankrupt by the time I graduate!
For a start, I should avoid the supermarkets located in malls. The NTUC Fairprice outlets at Depot Rd and Bt Merah Central are safer than Giant at Vivocity, for instance.
Received this via email from a friend, and would like to share it with you. I wish family and friends love this Christmas, to remember that love still shines beneath the tedium of everyday life, like silver hidden in a layer of tarnish, ready to dazzle any time we make the effort to polish away our cynicism, carelessness, complacence.
I CORINTHIANS 13 - A CHRISTMAS VERSION
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.
Merry Christmas to you.
Thomas made this for dinner tonight - Christmas Eve treat. And it was absolutely delicious! My favourite was the skin, which was roasted to a sweet caramelised crisp and tasted rather like a very good char-siew. The meat was also tender without being too bloodied, which is just the way I like it.
Good job, considering it's his maiden attempt at lamb roast! We wolfed down the entire portion (!!!). It would have been a case of severe meat overdose had we not washed it down with a giant bowl of Caesar-Beancurd salad as well. Hmm...so we ended up having an overdose of everything. But you know...we did try to make it a balanced meal... ;P
Merry Christmas, everyone! :D
I re-tagged all my posts. Yes, all my posts, including those circa 2006. Occupational hazard from work, or rather, from school. I took a module that touched on information organisation last semester, and it made me feel uncomfortable about the disorganised state of my blog entries. And so, being the neat freak that I am, I sat down one afternoon and ran through all my posts.
All entries now use tags from a set of controlled vocabulary I have selected. I'll still add random tags from time to time depending on the subject content, but each entry will carry at least one tag from the controlled vocabulary.
Tag Cloud Glossary
Life - when I ramble on about nothing in particular.
Observations - when I actually try to discuss something coherently.
Memories - when I'm feeling nostalgic
Heritage - old and iconic stuff that I encounter
Family - life with the folks. Entries about Brandon or Zachary in particular will be tagged with their names as well.
Friends - people who put up with me (and then there are those I put up with, haha...)
Pets - my furry companions
Work - my existence as worker ant.
School - my existence as worker ant, with schoolbag on my back
Faith - when I'm determined to stay afloat
Food - what others cook and we eat
Cooking - what we cook and try to make others eat
Reads - snippets from books and websites
TV or Music or Movies or Games - self-explanatory
Travel - when we lug our suitcases into foreign terrain
Photography - when I find time to indulge the shutterbug in me
Chinese - entries written in Chinese
Writing - attempts at prose and poetry
I have been having a persistent dry cough for a few months now, and with the current wet weather, it has become worse, keeping me up at night.
Thomas brewed this herbal concoction - it's supposed to get the "chill" out of my system and get rid of the cough. Although it's medicine, it doesn't taste half-bad at all, especially the yummy chicken drumstick buried under all those herbs. *chomp*
This happened some time last week. Little B was playing with the neighbourhood kids along the corridor, just as I was setting off for dinner. He heard the creak of my gate, tried to run over to say hi, but was waylaid by one of the kids, who deliberately blocked his way and refused to let him pass.
It was nothing malicious, but the kid is very much bigger than Little B, so my first instinct was to go to Little B's rescue and shoo the bigger boy away. However, something held me back and I found myself making a huge effort to do nothing. Let the kids sort out their little brawl on their own, I told myself. And sure enough, Little B dodged the bigger boy within half a minute.
And so Little B learnt a lesson in standing up for himself, while I learnt a lesson in letting go. Because Little B is the first child in the family, everybody tends to be very protective of him, including his Aunt, yours truly. It wasn't easy to be a bystander, watching the other kid "bully" him, but he'd never learn if we always fought battles on his behalf.
Recently I've also been trying to wean him off individual playtime with me, coz' I felt he should learn to play with his baby bro more. Ultimately, we are merely his uncle and aunt, and it's the bonding with his sibling and parents that really counts. Already, I'm telling him that he's a big boy who can walk on his own now, so only his Mummy, Daddy and Grandpa will carry him around. The rest of us will only hold his hand. He seems to have accepted this new "rule". :)
"Which are your favorite sites for shopping online?"
Mostly travel sites - various airlines, Zuji, Octopus Travel. Tried ordering prints from Snapfish as well.
My friend Sleepymama also organises Old Navy shopping sprees from time to time, and I tag along with her orders. :) She recently introduced me to Etsy, which I may check out real soon!
Stormy weather again this afternoon. Bah. Decided to cheer myself up by baking a batch of cookies. Can't bask in the sunshine, so I bask in the warmth of the kitchen!
Didn't have a precise recipe for this - roughly it's margarine, sweet potato flour, sugar and processed cheddar kneaded into a dough before cutting and coating with toasted sesame seeds. I used sweet potato flour coz' I didn't have regular wheat flour on hand, but the cookies turned out fine - surprisingly lighter and crispier than usual in fact.
Didn't know what to call them. Everything sounded cheesy - cheesy hearts, i love cheese, mice-love-these...*roll eyes* "Say Cheese" scored lowest on the cringe-o-meter, so here goes!
