Let me buy you dinner.

I took a day off from work to settle my stuff with the inland revenue department. It went well and I am back home now with half more day to spare. They told me I made a silly mistake in one of the forms I submitted and the current status is that I infact have credit balance with them. It's not a terribly huge credit amount but it should be enough for me to buy dinner for a few (offer valid till the next credit card billing cycle).

I'm still in a critically dire situation with work (that was the problem I was referring to in my previous post) but I suppose it just boils down to a matter of updating my cv, if you know what I mean. I had thought I won't be updating this blog while my crisis still looms but I guess I have too much to rant about!

Anyways, I did do a few nice things over the weekend: had a 4-hour conversation over a few drinks with my socialist friend (lets see if he will hit me on my head for labelling him that). And I did some cooking again Sunday evening: a characteristically Malay curry dish known as rendang. It turned out ok but wasn't spectacular. It was also not a particularly photogenic dish so I'm not putting up any pictures of it.

I still have a few peaches in the fridge and am open to suggestions on how best to eat them. The French buddhist suggested I make a compote as the fruits aren't very ripe but I thought that would be a tiny bit boring.

A break

There will soon be a long break in this blog as the author is currently going through a seriously rough patch that is eating up everything around the author's world. There is always the risk that the days of lavish wining and dining may fast become a memory of a passed era.

Crumble

Crumble indeed!
Throwing caution to the wind tonight
Indulge!

Had my favourite dishes for dinner tonight: baked rosemary chicken, spaghetti in olive oil with bell pepper and courgette. A fabulous dinner - even if only in my opinion - accompanied by family and a lovely bottle of French Pinot Noir.

I even made apple crumble for dessert: stewed apples in red wine, topped with cinnamon scented crumble.

I'll save you from having to guess what plant I was holding there. It's two twigs of Thai basil.


And you see here again the fresh basil as garnish on the apple crumble.

We had it with lime ripple ice cream.

Shadow of a quail's egg

La Haine

Why do bad news sell? Why do so many people like to sit in front of the television feeding on news of war and conflict, and then swear and curse? We seem to come from a blaming and cursing society. Secretly, many of us get a high out of hating. We need those news of war and injustice as scapegoat for our anger. Do we really care for the victims? Honestly? Or do we just use the bad news as victims of our hatred; a channel for our anger; an excuse to hate.

It is one thing to be a victim of all those bad things - and therefore have a real need to fight against it to survive - and quite another thing to be completely distant from, and unaffected by, those bad things, but feed on watching it like a spectator of a bull fight.

I am a dreamer but I am not out of touch with the real world. I am not being ignorant and I do not shy away from the real world just because it can be grim. Far from it actually. I live in that world everyday. I do not wish to go hunting for hate-subjects.

I have enough real problems and real woes in my life. I rather be thinking of calm waters and open spaces; of the sound of gentle waves and the touch of a cool morning breeze.

Roller Coaster

La vie est comme ça. Cela fait longtemps que je n'ai rien écrit. Hate to say it but I have been going through some rough patches - to say the least - at work.

I hope to meet a friend for dinner this Saturday. I can use the break.

J'ai pas de nouvelle pic, so I'll put up some old pics from my last holiday in a beautiful city.

C'est quoi les moments amoureux quant à toi?

Un dîner ensemble devant la télé le soir lundi?
Une balade à la main dans la main au bord de la mer?
Regarder ses beaux yeux à travers de la table à dîner?
Etre à côté de l'un à l'autre en regardant le lever et le coucher du soleil?

A wedding dinner

It was indeed an impeccably beautiful event. They booked one of the trendiest hotel in town nine months ago for the occasion. It started with a cocktail reception. Everyone was smartly dressed, many in suits and ties. The dinner proper started 45 minutes later.

The banquet hall was stunningly beautiful: a play of contemporary effects from gentle lightings mixed with a formal elegant continental interior. Like everyone else, I was enthralled. A jazz band in blacktie played soft easy music throughout the evening as we wined and dined. Guests were also entertained by a good humoured emcee who took us through a brief video montage of pictures of the couple: from the start of the relationship to the fateful wedding day. It was very very well done and the resulting montage was absolutely beautiful.

I knew her before she knew her husband and I knew them both since the early stage of the relationship. So it was quite amazing looking back at the evolution of their relationship. I think it's always moving to see how people's lives evolve through the passage of time: how certain things have changed and, even more so, how certain things have remained the same.

Ten or twenty years ago, did you ever imagine you will be where you are at today? Were you really a different person then compared to now?

Yes! It's a No.

I do not think you are able to survive in the corporate world for more than a few years if you do not have the skills to say no.

The general observation is that the more, successful years you have behind you, the better able you are in saying no. The no can range from the extremely subtle, where your requester walks away happily without even realising that you have effectively implemented your no, to the extremely pronounced, that leaves no room for ambiguity. Whichever the case it might be, it's a no.

And no, there is not going to be any picture for this post :-)

C5H4NC4H7NCH3+C2H5OH swimming in my veins

2 measures of gin, a squeeze of lemon plus the whole chunk of it, a few cubes of ice, all topped up with fizzy chilled tonic...

Does alcohol merely magnify feelings and emotions that's already in you or does it create new ones?

The public place smoking ban is enforced across UK starting this month. I bought myself a pack of 20 from the corner store last Friday. I'm a non smoker who chain smokes... and then stops. I can't remember how many sticks I've taken since Friday but I still have a few left in the pack, all of which will be left untouched and will be in the dustbin before Monday. My next puff will probably happen no sooner than 6 months later.

(chemical structures of nicotine on left and ethanol on right, taken from wikipedia)

Step into my Bubble

All of us have our own personal bubble, which is really the physical distance we keep between us and the person we are talking to. The size of this bubble varies according to who we are talking to as well as our mood at the time of talking. This bubble is no doubt influence also by our culture.

On hindsight, I notice from a few occasions that, when my western friends and colleagues approach me, they tend to come into my personal bubble. Don't get me wrong - I am really ok with it, as I usually can adapt quite well to different cultures. It's just that I find that quite interesting as an observation (or is that just my imagination?).

There is this European colleague, whom I've spoken to a number of times before, on the phone but have only met for the first time two days ago. This morning, in a conference reception, he came over to have a chat with me and he walked right into my bubble. While he is a more senior staff, I do not report to him and there is no issue of authority between us. In fact we were having a casual smalltalk conversation. I found it quite amusing really that we were standing almost at kissing range (we are about the same height).

While the Western culture is generally known to be more open, it is also a culture that tends to value privacy more than most Asian cultures do. Asians, on the other hand, often claim to have a culture that is more welcoming and warm. So it is really quite interesting if Westerners actually practise a smaller personal bubble.

The other thing is that I'm not sure whether it works the same way if I was the one approaching the other person. Say, if it was I, this morning, who went over to the colleague, and stood so near him, would he have felt as comfortable? Once again, I am really not complaining at all (not especially when the other party is rather pleasant looking :p ). I'm really simply amazed and curious.

All this of course is my own opinion and observation. So, I stand to be corrected.

The business of Death

A distant relative passed away a few days ago. How the funeral business has changed over the years. Gone are the days of the eerie funeral parlours with joss-stick smoke stained tiled walls. They are now replaced by 5-star hotel like establishments with 5-star services for both the dead and the living.

You can also now plan for your death as you do with other worldly things in life. You can protect yourself against inflation by starting to invest in your funeral when you're in your prime age. Thirty years from now, a funeral of the same quality will cost you muliples of the amount today. So is there any wise financial action you can take? Well, this is where the "Plan" comes in! You invest a monthly instalment into one of these super dupa funeral establishment and say, in 5 years, you would have paid up the complete sum of your future funeral. So 30 years later when you finally need to use the service, the financials would have all been taken care of - and you would have paid a much lower price! Of course one can argue whether you could have invested the amount elsewhere and get a higher percentage return than the inflation rate. Then there is the risk of the funeral establishment going bust.

Another financial investment you can make is to start buying burial plots now. Not only can you protect yourself from inflation but if you have an acute business sense you can even make money out of it. You see, burial plots these days can be bought and sold like any other real estate property, though they have not gone into the rental business... yet.

By investing in your own future funeral, you also save your family and friends from having to pay and organize for your funeral. Plus you have the added advantage of having the power to decide on the scale and grandeur of it. I imagine, if you so wish, you can even go down to planning the detailed level of decor and theme of the event.

(the little piece of poetry on Death was something I took from the scrapebook I used to write in my teens and twenties)

French kiss

Scallops! Do let me indulge in one more foodie post and I shall write about something else in the next post.

It's father's day - apparently. Dinner tonight was at an old favorite Chinese restaurant. We go back a long way. We have known that restaurant since its humble beginnings and now more than 10 years down the road, much has changed but thankfully the food stays good! But even with food aside, I have a sentimental attachment to that place. It feels like an old friend.

Right lets get down to business. It was a seafood spread tonight: fish maw and dried scallop broth, double boiled, fried cuttlefish with curry leaves, steamed cod steak in ginger and soy, and stir-fry sweet peas with fresh scallops.

No, this post has nothing to do with French kissing at all. I just thought it would make an interesting title. Alright alright, it's the scallops. They make me think of that.

A night out.

The rain from this afternoon continued into the night.

It has been a while since I had a night out wining and dining. Ok ok I did have a few business dinners in the past week but those don't really count. Nothing like a good conversation - which includes a possible lively debate - with a good friend over a good hearty meal. And that's exactly what I did tonight.

The place was packed. Our reservation was for 9.30. We sat at the bar counter for a few minutes before our table was ready. I had a glass of red wine and my friend, an orange juice. We shared a salad for entrée. My friend ordered the plat du jour, which was salmon and clams. I had the signature sausage dish.

The house wine, which was Italian was fine but I've tasted better Spanish reds. The salad was absolutely lovely. Meal was accompanied by a basket of bread and an olive oil-balsamic dip. The crusty bread was very good. My friend was very happy with the plat du jour - the clams with cream sauce was really good - but I found my sausage dish over salted.

After dinner, we found a quiet bar in the vicinity. We sat outside and made our orders. He had a vodka and a smoke; I went for a cherry brandy. Another hour or two of conversation and it was time to retire for the day.

I walked back to my car and he, back to his appartment.

The rain from this afternoon continued into the night.

Would you like a teaspoon of toothpaste?

The hotel did not provide us with toothpaste. I brought my own toothbrush but got some toothpaste off a friend. Without a suitable container, I came up with the brilliant idea of carrying it in a teaspoon. So that's what I did: walked through the long corrider from my friend's room to my room, carrying a teaspoon of toothpaste.

Pictures

The sound of waves

(written two nights ago while I was away):

It's past ten at night and it has started raining. I'm all alone in this
hotel room. The roar of thunder sounds like a whip cracking at my door. I
can see the bright flashes of lighting seeping in under the draperies.

We arrived in this beach resort just in time to unwind after the 4 hour bus
trip, showered and then went for dinner. We will be here for the next two
days. The event is quite aptly named as team building. That's what you do
with your fellow coworkers to build up the team spirit. Sounds rather
gungho if you ask me.

There is something about having an entire room to yourself in a beach
resort. The beach is just a few hundred yards from the room. Take a few
steps outside and you can hear the sad but peaceful sound of the sea. Even
under the moonlight you can - just about - make out the white formy waves
racing to the shore.

No Milk Today.

I have 10 packets of Tony the Tiger Cocoa Frosties but not a drop of milk to go with it this morning. I reluctantly drove to the nearest corner store, grabbed a chocolate bar and a carton of fresh milk, made my way to the counter, smiled at the girl behind and opened my wallet.

Two pieces of miserable looking banknote stared back at me. That's all I had - loose change that was not even enough to buy a mars bar. I looked at the girl, smirked and told her I would be back with more cash. I left the food at the counter, then drove to the nearest auto teller cash machine which happened to be in a petrol station. I was behind a queue of 4 persons. Came my turn and I discovered the machine was down.

I went home, frustrated and hungry after wasting almost 30 minutes doing the run around.

And still, no milk.


No milk today, my love has gone away
The bottle stands forlorn, a symbol of the dawn
No milk today, it seems a common sight
But people passing by don't know the reason why

How could they know just what this message means
The end of my hopes, the end of all my dreams . . .

(music by Herman's Hermit - a real classic you wish you will still remember on your death bed)

Of chicken and lotus

After a scorchingly hot morning and afternoon, the sky has gone all dark now, heavy with threats of rain. It's about time for afternoon tea but instead of cakes and a cup of Darjeeling, I had a bowl of sweet lotus seed and logan. It resembles a soup but it's really a dessert. Soup, on the other hand, is what I had earlier for lunch and here is how it was prepared: cut a hole off a coconut, discard the water, stuff in pieces of chicken, dried wolf berries, red dates and other funny looking herbs, pour in the water, cover and double boil for a couple of hours.

Dried lotus seeds before they were cooked into the lovely dessert:


Chicken in a coconut:

Du shopping!

Ah pour moi, pour faire des courses est toujours une activité qui concerne la nourriture! Je fais rarement du shopping pour des vêtements ou autres choses. Voilà de petites images du matin...

Un joli bâtiment en construction sur le chemin vers le magasin.


Voyez ce que j'ai acheté!

Le bruit et l'odeur

Quand j'étais dans la station-service mercredi matin, je me rappelais la chanson du groupe toulousain, <<Zebda>>, le bruit et l'odeur. La station-service était au bord de la route et comme chaque matin il y avait un embouteillage. Il y avait le bruit de la klaxon, il y avait l'odeur du gaz d'échappement et puis, juste devant moi, on avait l'odeur de l'essence! Mmmm c'était bon! Aimez-vous aussi l'odeur de l'essence? Et l'odeur de la mélange de l'arôme du café chaud et de la fume de cigarettes dans un bistro bruyant? Notre odorat est l'un des cadeaux les plus précieux du Dieu .

Un jour comme d'autres

Voilà! une autre longue journée au bureau. Pas de grandes choses intéressantes sauf que j'ai vu encore ce matin le beau garçon qui travaille dans le même bâtiment. Je ne le connais pas mais il me fait parfois le eye-contact quand on se voit dans le parking.

Comme vous voyez dans l'image, le ciel était toujours bleu quand je suis arrivé au bureau. Mais tout ça est déjà dans le passé! Il est 21h00 maintenant et le ciel est plein d'étoiles.

J'ai bien mangé le dîner et viens d'acheter deux tranches de gâteau: pêche au meringue et chocolat-banane. Miam miam!

Twist it, shake it, drink it, it's call Life!

I had a cheese sandwich for lunch at work today. It was white bread with processed cheese slices, packed in a see-through flimsy plastic container. The container was held shut with staples. The bread today was stale and the tomato slices dry and chewy.

I spent most of the day talking and negotiating. Only did two meetings face to face. The rest was done through telephone conversations, emails and instant messagings. I know it's a cliché but really it does make you wonder how we lived and operated before all these modern tools of communication.

Came home, kicked off my shoes, and breathed a sign of relief; felt the tension easing away from my tired shoulders. It rained this evening, setting a perfect temperature for a nice hot shower.

I didn't realise how hungry I was until I sat down for dinner. It was a far cry from lunch. I had freshly cooked white rice with stir-fry beef and leek in soy.

And just had a pepsi for supper. Sometimes it happens.

Dodo

Ah bien. C'est déjà l'heure de dodo. Lundi arrivera bientôt. Trop bientôt!

*lights out*

I like to sleep in pitch darkness.

To dot or not to dot...

After a porky lunch I fell asleep by accident. Woke up just in time for tea. Had three slices of the apple cake with a cup of medium strong tea. The bluntly sharp flavour of cinnamon against the mellow flavour of French butter was a perfect background for the many morceaux of baked, sweet apples.

Seen from a distance, life does appear to be a mosaic of dots and spots and sploshes on the canvas of time doesn't it? The French - ah oui! the gastronomic philosophers - are geniuses to have invented the passé composé-imparfait pair of tenses in their language as a vehicle to desribe the very dots and sploshes on our canvas.

I sat myself down in the living room infront of the TV. At the blunt end of the cathode tube, some animated dark circles were dancing around, against a maroon background.

They were talking about Hamlet on BBC.

Blue Gin

Name and Shame.

This is a very bad doggy.

Green against blue

Green against blue. Dancing shadows and singing birds. A hurried squirrel, a long tail magpie. Are Sundays suppose to be sunny? This is a place just a minute away from my house. I think it makes a great lovers spot.

The supermarkets only open at 10 around here. I forgot the milk yesterday and had to get it today. After an early breakfast, I had to drive round the neighbourhood to kill enough time before I could get my milk from the supermarket.

I'm baking an apple cake today.

First Post

It's half past midnight on a weekend. I'm going to bed.