Blogger Chicks Day Out

Once a month, Brenda, Dayna, Cherlynn, Teddy try to meet up to unite in our hatred for IE6 celebrate our love for blogging. For our March meet-up, Teddy unfortunately fell sick, leaving us ladies with no choice but to have a scrumptious lunch at Relax Bistro, followed by an afternoon of shopping (where I got an awesome Hugo Boss top for S$87!!) and comfort food for dinner.

Photos courtesy of Brenda and Dayna

For lunch at Relax Bistro, I had mushroom soup and my usual oh-so-yummy grilled chicken glazed with honey apricot mustard jam with a side of pumpkin puree.

Cousin’s Wedding at Thistle Hotel, Johor

Over the Good Friday weekend, I attended my cousin’s wedding in Johor Bahru, a small-ish town in Malaysia. It’s been over a decade since I last visited Johor and nothing seems to have change.

Anyway, here are some shots of my hotel room, some make-up I bought at a super discount and 2 of the 9 courses served at the wedding. The glutinous rice was apparently really good but I didn’t try it since grains are a no-no on my diet. Oh and there’s a rare photo of me looking very, very stereotypically Asian with monoeyelids. (I only get single eyelids when I’m heavily sleep deprived.)

Dinner at Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant

My friend celebrated her birthday at the Valencian restaurant last night. The food was pretty good but the wait for the main courses was way too long for someone who had a long day at work. And since it’s the type of cuisine that required everyone to share, this was one of the rare occasions where I had to deviate from my no-grain, no-processed-food diet.

For a name like Serenity, I was expecting the ambiance to be, well, more serene. As we walked in, we were greeted by loud Spanish music reminiscent of Enrique Iglesias’ and Ricky Martin’s numbers. But then the live band started playing, and the ambiance was finally there. They played an assortment of bossa nova and slow rock like Bryan Adams and Jason Mraz.

Appetizers

We were first served with sauteed garlic mushrooms with bread — which I didn’t take a shot of because I was famished — followed by bacon-wrapped asparagus and marinated pork skewers.

The bacon was a little too salty for my tastes but the marinated pork was pretty good.

Main Courses

30 excruciating minutes later, the first of our main courses finally arrived.

This is squid ink fideuà with a generous portion of squids, shrimp, capsicum and scallop. Fideuà is a paella with vermicelli. Since it was my first time trying fideuà, I was expecting to be wowed by some exotic tastes but it tastes just like rice vermicelli, which is a staple in Chinese cuisine. How anticlimactic!

After another 15 minutes and a reminder from the slightly miffed birthday girl, we were served Valencian paella. Now I’m no paella expert, so perhaps I’m too easily pleased, but this was good stuff! It had just the right texture — not too sticky like Japanese mochi but not too dry like Chinese fried rice.

Dark Chocolate Cake from Awfully Chocolate

Since the birthday girl has been itching to check out Awfully Chocolate, we got her a dark chocolate cake from there. It’s so good! It’s not very sweet and not too disgustingly rich and had just the right amount of chocolate!

This ends my rare food-centric photo entry! On a side note, I think I’m starting to take better food shots. Perhaps it’s time to get a new camera!

Related posts:

1. Cooking Korean Food – Attempt 1
2. My Valentine’s Day in Singapore
3. Which Part of the World Should I Live In?

As with many Chinese people in South East Asia, I am not purely Chinese by descent. My paternal grandmother is Peranakan from the Indonesian Riau Islands and my maternal ancestors were Peranakan from a coastal province in Malaysia called Penang.

Peranakans are descendants of Chinese immigrants who married Malays. Together, they formed a unique heritage – a sort of melting pot of Chinese, Malay and later, colonial (i.e. Dutch or British) influences.

Despite my ancestry, I didn’t grow up practicing the Peranakan way of life, which is quite a pity since the last practicing Peranakan in my family is my grandmother, who’s about 90.

But last week I was given the perfect opportunity to learn about my culture by the nice folks of the Peranakan Association, who invited me for an evening at Singapore’s Peranakan Museum.

And here’s a snapshot of my experience.

Peranakan Architecture

The museum is styled like a typical Peranakan home. Peranakans are very fond of pastel colors and intricate designs. When I first saw the building, I was quite shocked. It is strikingly similar to my old WordPress theme, Springley. It made wonder if it is possible for art to be passed down by blood…

Peranakan Wedding

This is the setting where lap chai occurs. Lap chai is a gift-exchange ceremony that takes place one day before the wedding day.

And here is an example of the gifts the groom will bring to the bride’s family.

During lap chai, the bride and groom are to serve each other’s parents with tea as a symbol of filial piety and symbol of being accepted into the family.

This is the newlywed’s bedroom. So pretty! But the bed sure looks uncomfortable. :S

And here’s part of the wedding procession. I would like to point out that the groom’s clothes are very reminiscent of Chinese zombies. For the longest time, I’ve wondered why Chinese zombies are always portrayed with Qing Dynasty clothes. Do shed some light, if you know!

But I digress.

Peranakan Superstition

Talking about zombies, Peranakans were highly superstitious people, which isn’t too surprising since they were heavily influenced by their Chinese ancestors. They had all sorts of amulets to protect themselves from evil. These amulets are called tangkal.

Peranakan House

Peranakans had a penchant for naming their houses. As an aside, this could be my house since that’s my last name on the nanyate-esque lanterns.

Peranakan Tableware

Here’s a shot of Peranakan tableware. As with their houses, most of the tableware are in brightly colored shades of pastel with patterns dominated by flowers, butterflies, phoenixes and dragons.

This is a closeup of a Peranakan kamcheng lid. The detail is amazing! Peranakans meticulously pay the same attention to detail in everything they do. I marvel at their patience and at the same time wonder how bored one must of been to design everything with such intricacy.

These people clearly have never heard of Facebook.

Peranakan Fashion

As with Chinese women of long ago, most Peranakan women were not allowed to leave the house. So they killed time by embroidering and making gorgeous wallets, shoes and clothes.

Here are some Peranakan purses made with beads.

Here is more hand-embroidery to be later turned into shoes.

To save the best for last, this is how Peranakan women dressed. It’s a fancier version of the traditional Malay attire Kebaya. For the rich, it’s made of imported Chinese silk and hand-embroidered with all sorts of flowers.

My grandmother still dresses this way whenever she goes out. It’s very elegant. I really wouldn’t mind a modernized version of this as my future wedding dress.

But my hubby sure isn’t going to wear that Chinese zombie-inspired monstrosity though.

Anyway, I hope you found this entry enlightening. There are lots of more of the museum that I did not cover since the entry is already getting way too long. (It’s also taking me forever to resize, watermark and saturate those photos!)

So head over to my Picasa album to look at the rest of the 150+ photos I took.

There was an exhibit that I thoroughly enjoyed but wasn’t allowed to take pictures; it’s where all the bling’s at. So if you have some time, I encourage you to check it out yourself at the Peranakan Museum before it ends on December 13. There are also a bunch of interesting festivities going on from November 27 to December 6 – including a visit to a true Peranakan home.

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1. Singapore Files: The Tissue Culture
2. Which Part of the World Should I Live In?

It probably got its name from the way it’s served. The ice cream is molded into a large block. When served, the ice cream seller would cut it up into smaller rectangular pieces and insert between wafers or bread.

I don’t usually fancy ice-cream but thanks to the Klondike videos, I just had to get my hands on a traditional ais krim potong. Yum!

Happy salivating.

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1. Which Part of the World Should I Live In?

I became a tea nazi, instead. I need to have my tea brewed a certain way to get my “fix” every morning. And it’s gotta be English Breakfast – no wussy fruit infusions, no strange spices, and certainly no milk. Good tea should taste amazing alone.

So today, I’m going to teach you plebeians how to brew black tea bags. I’m being specific here because different type of teas are brewed differently, and since I only drink English Breakfast, which is part of the black tea family, I don’t know know how to brew anything else. (This is also why I call myself a tea nazi, not a connoisseur. But I digress.)

Tip #1: Use fresh tap water

It must come directly from the tap. Mineral water has um…minerals in it; these minerals tend to interfere with the brewing process. Also, water that has been still for a while will make the tea taste flat. So this also means you can’t use electronic water boilers.

Tip #2: Use boiling water only!

While the water is being boiled, put your tea bag in the mug. And wait. The moment your (electric) kettle goes off, run like you’ve seen Sadako and quickly pour the water into your mug! Even one second too late is no good; the tea will taste sour and flat. It’s gotta have that loud boiling noise as you’re pouring into your mug. This heat brings out the aroma and richness from the tea leaves.

Tip #3: Don’t touch! Let the tea brew!

Don’t stir. Don’t put your spoon in there. Just don’t touch! Let the bag sit for about 30 seconds – 1 minute, and then take it out. Higher grade teas will rarely over brew, so you can let it sit for a bit longer. I like my tea bitter so I sometimes leave the bag in the mug. But I doubt most people would enjoy that kind of bitterness. Haha.

Tip #4: Add milk and sugar later

If you insist on having sugar and milk, only add it after the tea been brewed. Adding milk before will prevent the tea from brewing. Although whenyou put sugar in your tea has tea doesn’t have a substantial effect, sometimes I find that the tea tastes a little chemical-like when I put sugar before adding in the water. So just to be safe, add it only after the tea has been brewed.

Et voila! You can now enjoy a good cup of tea!

Misc. Tip: Don’t export teas on your own!

I learned an important lesson when I moved from Malaysia to Canada: teas are heavily dependent on local water. While living in Malaysia, I used to drink Boh tea. It somehow complemented the less-than potable tap water there. The tea tasted very full-bodied. Then when I moved to Toronto, I decided to bring some Boh with me. But no matter how I brewed it, it was just horrid with Toronto’s tap water. There was a distinct piercing metallic taste. I couldn’t find the right tea… until I went to local supermarket to pick up Red Rose tea. It was no way as aromatic as Boh tea, but it tasted like tea, at least.

And now that I moved back to Singapore, nothing has come close to 1872 Clipper Tea Co. (not to be confused with Clipper Teas.) This is really how all tea should taste like! According to 11872 Clipper Tea Co., it’s also gourmet tea. And being gourmet, it’s a pain to find it. Lucky for me, it’s served at the Five Foot Way in my office building. So I get my frequent fix, but at a premium price (even after staff discounts!).

Hope you found this entry useful! All this talk about tea is creating a craving. Time for me to pay Five Foot Way a visit!

Are you a tea or coffee person? What kind of teas or coffees do you like?

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1. Tea of the Mist
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The quiz scores you according to 4 categories:

America, England & Israel

“You are often business oriented and enjoy status symbols. You are confident and impatient and sometimes prone to making blunt statements. You see yourself as adventurous, skillful and competitive. The bottom line – you like to be in charge. Your main strengths – you are decisive and efficient, but can often be perceived as intimidating and alienating. You find inefficiency and indecision irritating and are motivated by a challenge. During group projects, you don’t want to be micromanaged and you expect others to be efficient and responsible.”

Italy, Lebanon & Brazil

“You are stylish, animated and talkative. You enjoy interacting with people and can be dramatic. You see yourself as an expert communicator who is compassionate and caring. The bottom line – you like to be admired. Your main strengths – you are persuasive, fun loving and optimistic, but you sometimes have trouble following through on commitments. You find routine boring and enjoy being in the public eye and receiving recognition. During group projects, you enjoy team members who are friendly and creative.”

Mexico, Netherlands & Thailand

“You are casual, conforming, quiet and relaxed. You tend to be loyal and agreeable and see yourself as responsible, helpful and dependable. The bottom line – you like to be liked. Your main strengths – you are patient and steadfast, but sometimes gullible and indecisive. You find insensitive, overbearing people irritating and work best with people who are sincere, good listeners and proceed at a leisurely pace.”

Germany, China & Japan

“You are formal, precise and conservative. You tend to be accurate, reserved and often uncompromising. The bottom line – you like to be correct. You see yourself as predictable and factual, but others sometimes see you as stubborn and unimaginative. In a business setting, you appreciate others who are consistent, well prepared and tie new ideas to what has proven to work well in the past.”

How did Ivy score?

Given my heavily American and British-influenced childhood, it’s not too surprising that I scored highest for “America, England & Israel”, with a whopping 11 points lead. With that said, I don’t think England is that similar to the US culturally-speaking. I’ve never been to Israel though. So I can’t really make a judgment there. I blame it on the fact that I owned a Malaysian passport for large part of my life. (Yes, Malaysians are not allowed to visit Israel).

As for Italy, Lebanon & Brazil, I scored a 6. Well, I’m a Sagittarius; being social is like breathing air.

For Mexico and friends, I scored an gasping 0. I think I need to learn how to chill and be more peace-loving. Maybe I what I need is more salsa and merengue in my life – both the dance and food are fine by me.

And finally, for Germany, China & Japan, I scored a 1. So much for preserving my ancestral culture. LOL! To my defense, my moral code is heavily influenced by Confucianism, so I don’t think I’m as un-Chinese as this quiz claims.

Awesome Blogs on World Cultures

Since we’re on the topic on world cultures and my nomadic childhood, you might want to check out these great blogs on culture too!

• Pocket Cultures: Founded by Liz, a British expat living in Turkey, who’s passionate about raising awareness on different cultures. I recently wrote guest entry on the perils (and rewards) of learning Chinese.
• Denizen Mag: An awesome online magazine that captures the essence of the lives of third culture kids. Founded by Steph, a fellow TCK and fellow alumna of the Singapore American School.
• Aspiring Polyglot: Another lover of languages like me, although Kelly is just a whole lot more dedicated to language learning than I could ever be!
• Angry Angmo: An expat’s take on life in Singapore. Absolutely hilarious and true to life. I highly recommend this blog to anyone who’s just moved to Singapore. Made me wish I had kept an expat blog when I was living in Indonesia. Although my content could never be as amusing as his, since life in Jakarta revolved around escaping sinophobia, bomb threats and natural disasters. :S

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And on a completely unrelated note, I had a very authentic, enjoyable Korean dinner for the first time in Singapore, thanks to HisFoodBlog. Also met some wonderful people at Social Media Breakfast Dinner #6 today. Special thanks to Claudia and Daryl for organizing it!

Dear readers, so which part of the world should you live in? Which part of the world do you want to live in?

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1. Goodbye Toronto

Sorry, I’ve been missing in action the past few weeks. I took a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to visit my high school friends.

It was like reliving my teenaged years for a week. We watched movies, played pool, ate at Chilli’s and by the roadside, played at the arcade, followed by a whole night of Street Fighter – and then still found the energy to party until the next morning during New Years’ Eve.

I somehow lost this playful side when I went college, and more so when I started working full-time. Life became more about excelling and fulfilling ambitions. And partying in Toronto as a poor college student and in Singapore as a yuppie just isn’t the same. One was just a drunk fest on cheap booze. The other is too upscale and pretentious to have any real fun.

I miss the days in Malaysia, where we would book the VIP rooms at the hippest clubs, order unlimited bottles of Jack Daniels, Black Label and Chivas Regal and just chill, socialize and danced all night. Good times.

But alas, the week had to end. And now I’m back to the life of a yuppie in a fast-paced society. Not much time to rest – let alone party. Nevertheless, this week has allowed me to re-discover a side of myself that I thought I lost long ago:

I still love my whisky and I still love my fun – and it wouldn’t hurt to indulge in it once a while.

How did you spend your new year? What was your teenaged years like?

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