foods from the Phone

These pictures you see here were taken on days when I thought my meals were going to be routine and regular, but which turned out to be spectacularly new after all. 

See, I don't have a habit of planning my meals. 

So whilst I do know (roughly) what it is I have to eat (thank you diet) I don't know where  it is I'll eat it at. And since the menu is flexible, so even though I might have thought about going for Thai but because I'm at a place where there's very good Turkish that comes recommended, I might embargo the Thai and head for the Turkish instead. 

It's all very spontaneous, very on-the-go. 

There was this particular day where I was in Suntec City and because my route to the convention center took me past this Thai place, I had a lunch of noodles in seafood tom yum soup. 

Then there was this day when my companion thought we might go to Chinatown but then the bus passed by the Kampong Glam area and so down we hopped and headed to a Turkish restaurant which we'd never before tried.

There are hits and misses, of course- we loved the green curry beef and the fish maw soup at this place in Tampines, but the tom yum seafood noodle at Suntec could have had more seafood in a thicker broth.

Spontaneity grants us more hits, fortunately, even if we don't really remember the name of what it was we ate at the Turkish place but only know that we had a lot of bread, a lot of cheese, and a lot of olive oil. 

In my phone I have the dine-out pictures. 

But I also have the dine-in ones. 

These are of meals which we prepped in our kitchen, particularly during the months of the circuit-breaker where there was no dining out and you either had your meals delivered, you did a takeaway, or you cooked them by yourself. 

They're memorable, each one of them, and secretly I sometimes wish we had more time to prep these meals the same way again. 

We don't do this so much anymore. 

Breakfast these days is more slap-dash and go, but during those months, we had more time. 

So there was a day where we had a geriatric-style breakfast of soft-boiled eggs with oatmeal and honey on the side. 

There was a day where we had a South Asian breakfast with pan-fried naan, a single fried egg and coffee topped with cinnamon. 

And there was a day where there was a bowl of smoothie that blended avocado, blueberries, oats, honey, coconut water and banana. 

Lunches and dinners were no less simplified. Ingredients we didn't usually have, we now had. Things we didn't usually make from scratch, we now made. 

Like the homemade rosti which we peeled and shredded the potatoes ourselves and then ate with pan-fried boneless chicken thigh served with a dollop of Greek yogurt on the side. 

Like the green curry fried rice which the Chef made from leftover green curry, a beaten egg and overnight rice, which we then enhanced with pieces of fresh beef stir-fried. 

And, of course, the homemade broccoli soup that saw us simmering the vegetable over the stove for a good twenty minutes before melting in a chunk of cheese, adding in a portion of fresh milk, plus a bit of turmeric and sea salt into a base of organic vegetable broth that came from Cold Storage. 

Election Fervor

Politics is something that I usually prefer to reserve comment on. 

It isn't because I have no opinion. 

It isn't because I am committed to one leadership and therefore disfavor the others. 

And it isn't because my choice (or none) has no effect or influence upon me. 

We're a small country; a small city-state less than 50 kilometers east to west, less than 25 kilometers north to south, with a local population that stands at about 4 million. 

How possible, then, is it that anyone who lives here and dwells here can be not affected by the Policies, Bills and Laws set down by any political party that hold a seat in the Government? 

Of course not. 

We all get affected. 

It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. It doesn't matter whether you favor one Party or have a favorite Candidate or think this person should be doing this whilst that person should not be doing that. 

The same Policies and Rules when passed will have an effect on you. 

Does it then make a difference whether or not this candidate or that candidate is an ideal politician? 

Yes, and No. 

Yes, because personality, attitude, background, education and career matter. 

No, because background, education and career- whilst important- are not necessarily a defining criteria of what makes a good politician. 

You can have a reputable family background (old family name), a stellar range of letters behind your name, and a successful career with lots and lots of accolades, but if you are arrogant and hypocritical and if you suck at your presenting attitude (I say 'presenting') with the people whom will be putting their trust in you, I'm sorry, you fail. 

In the same way, of course, if you are extremely personable and pleasant and identify well with the man or woman who will be putting their trust in you, yet cannot hold your own on the international stage, cannot communicate well in the language of trade, nor be able to assess the effects of your policies on a larger nationwide scale, you also fail. 

Yeah, it is a tough call. 

No one said being a politician was easy. 

In fact, so hard a call it is that there are very, very few (or none) who have managed to balance both together effectively and harmoniously. More often than not, a politician is either one or the other. If liked by the people, he or she will be disliked by his or her peers on the international stage. If liked by those on the global stage (especially the analytical kind) then chances are, he or she will be disliked by those (who voted him or her in) at home. 

I'd love if a political candidate is groomed to play both roles effectively, but it probably takes too much effort (and anyway no one has time) so let's just say it to be an impossible calling, and that we people of the world shall never have a politician who can balance well both sides. 

Given that, however, what it does mean is that a candidate or incumbent can be either a policy maker or a personable character. 

Maybe it is a naive, childish perspective. 

Maybe it is too basic for what is the Deep Think of International Politics and Political Systems. 

But I am no intellectual. 

And I don't care to sound like one. 

To me every system has her pros and cons, every leadership has its strengths and weaknesses. There can be no perfect system, just like there can be no perfect leadership. 

All we can make do with is to find the best balance of leadership quality, adapt the best policies that suit the situation of the present moment, and carry on. 

Again, maybe it sounds like I have no opinion and that I am once again sitting on the fence. 

But you see, I am used to being on (or near) the fence. 

It is impossible to not know- and see- firsthand how the Incumbents and the Oppositions are when you grow up in a Zone that has been, and continues to be, hotly contested by both sides every five (more or less) years. 

We are the Zone that has had the experience of having to stay up late way past midnight on Polling Day because we were the last constituency to be announced. 

We are the Zone that has had the name on our estate dustbins changed at least three times because our boundaries got redrawn and our Town Councils got changed.

Other constituencies may have had the luxury of being Walked Over (just bring out the potato chips and the beer) but we are the Zone that pays close attention to whatever changes there might be once Election season starts- because in Politics anything and everything can happen, and you never know what will, or will not happen. 

Did anyone anticipate the (now famous) 10,000 strong crowd at the rally held at a field close to the junction here? 

Did anyone anticipate that the results of the vote count from that rally would send a few good Ministers out of their current portfolios and into new ones?

Or that years later people would still remember the pickup truck with its loudhailer megaphone on its rounds in the estates blasting its manifesto statements to the high-rise residents in Teochew?

Some things change. 

Some things don't. 

Maybe impressions and memories really do linger.

At the end of the day, does it matter whether the vote count swings this side or the other? 

Yes. 

Because it affects how our homes will be for the next five years. It affects how our estates will be for the next five years. And maybe in the little things like the flowers downstairs our house, the sheltered walkways, the bus stops, the overall maintenance of the estate, yes, it does matter. 

What is of real significance, though, isn't the ixora at the foot of the overhead bridge near our house, or even the wheelchair ramp at the front of the block. 

What matters is that, should we (for one reason or another) have a need to go see our MP to "write a letter" on our behalf to the relevant departments and authorities, who it is that listens to us and represents us will be what gives us that glimmer of hope that life can go on, that things can be resolved, and that a solution to life's daily s*** always exists somewhere. 

The Very Messy Blog

Out of all the blogs that I have had since I started blogging about 14 years ago, this one shileejwel.blogspot.com really has to take the cake for being the messiest, and the most colorful. 

It wasn't deliberate. 

I did not wake up one morning and decide that hey ho, I'll change the format of my blog such that one part will have articles beginning with pictures, and the other will have articles beginning with words.

Neither did I go and muck around with the font colors to make it such that some articles would have paragraphs of green above and below whilst  paragraphs of brown would be strategically slotted right between. 

These things just happened. 

Okay, so maybe I did forget that once upon a time I had intended to begin my articles with words and not pictures. 

And maybe when I migrated the blog over from IE 11 to Chrome I did attempt to play around with the font colors because during that transition period, Blogspot only had green-no brown- and I thought that font color selection up there on the bar was going to be permanent.

Of course, what happened is that I clicked on an article from 2018 and lo and behold, there was a paragraph of words right up on top followed by the series of pictures below.

And Blogspot has migrated everything over to their new platform, including the font color selections that contain two shades of brown. 

Now, I could make a U-turn and restructure my blog articles- but we are in the third quarter of this year and to make them all centralized I would have to go back all the way to (I think) the middle of last year.

I don't have time.

So I shall just keep it as it is and accept that there are times in our lives when we make bumbly boo-boos and it is happier for our souls that we would stop aiming for perfection but embrace those boo-boos with light-hearted, cheerful glee.

One Farrer's 19th

A few months it has been since I stayed at the One Farrer Hotel and Spa along Race Course Road in the vicinity of Little India.

Now that I think about it, what a long time ago that one overnight stay seems to be.

It might be due the events of the circuit breaker, it might be due the impact of the Coronavirus upon the worlds' economies, but 2020 is certainly turning out to feel like an extremely, extremely long year.

Not only do we have no international travel, there is limited domestic travel, and hotels in our country have (more or less) been repurposed for the sake of quarantine 

Maybe it is this sense of disquiet that makes the memory of my stay here a very precious one. 

To begin with, One Farrer Hotel and Spa is an unusual one. It is likely (to date) the only hotel property that has located itself right next to a hospital, near a mega department store open 24 hours, and yet, keeping well within the boundaries of a rich cultural enclave. 

To stay here means you're literally above the Farrer Park MRT station, less than five minutes away from the shopping of Mustafa and City Square Mall, right in the heart of Little India, and a short stroll away from the Pek Kio Market and Hawker Center. 

There is much to appreciate at this property, especially the fact that there are three categories of rooms, out of which the 20th floor is a penthouse kind of suite, the 19th floor is the suite, and the rest of the floors are the executive. It makes the decision-making process much simpler.

My stay this time was on the 19th floor. 

And so surprised was I by the design of the room that I completely forgot to take the picture. 

 

 

 

 

Never had it been thus far in many of my stays that I'd seen a room specially designed for the use of a wheelchair. 

I wish I had a picture. 

But I don't, so let's just imagine a long corridor sort of design that marks the length of the foyer to the space beside the bed, the entrance of the bathroom so wide, to the size of the shower area also so wide.  

Simply put, the foyer is long enough for one to zip into the room after closing the door (no awkward turns there). The space beside the bed houses the mini bar and the kettle pot and is convenient for one to make a spinabout between the working table, the kettle pot, and the bed. No problem when you want to get a cup of coffee or a Coke whilst typing up a paper, or sending an email.

 

The entrance to the bathroom is a little tight (and which did make me wonder for a while) but depending on the need, it is doable with transfer chairs. What strikes me is that the bathroom has dual sliding doors- one between the room and the sink space, the other between the toilet and the shower area. The sink space is huge, the toiletries and bath amenities are a soothing green, and the wardrobe opens up right inside the bathroom so the convenience of dress for the guest is thoughtful, and remarkable. There is no glass door at the shower area, by the way, so the chair can go smoothly in, and everything lies within an easy hands' reach. 

I like the full-scale amenities that One Farrer provides. On one hand the muted, soothing colors make it a place for rest and recuperation. On the other hand there is a place for (professional) work with a good writing table, comfortable chair, writing planner, stationery set and coffee table books. You don't have to worry about missing out on toiletries- they provide an adequate supply, mouthwash and vanity kit included. And they have bathrobes, slippers and hair dryer. Hungry, peckish guests have Tai Sun peanuts, Jack and Jill's potato chips, gummy bears(!), Nespresso capsules and soft drinks. 

 

It's as if they've thought of everything for the guest who needs, or wants, to stay all day in the room for rest and respite, and whom may not wish to go out at all. 

Or, even if they do, that all they need is to head down to the lovely, clear waters of the swimming pool with a book, a magazine, the soft drinks, the nuts and the gummy sweets.

Selfies 2020

These pictures have been sitting in my phone for at least half a year. 

I should know- I know that I took a heck lot of selfies after having gone to rebond my hair at the salon late last year. 

What I didn't know, however, was that even though I had all these pictures in my phone, I actually hadn't transferred them over, and so hadn't written about them at all. 

Imagine my shock, therefore, when I found out that the last time I'd written about my face and my selfies was in the July of last year. 

We're in the July of this year. 

Which means, I have not written about my selfies for ONE WHOLE YEAR. 

And I write a lot here some more. 

But the date doesn't lie, and so I have to ashamedly accept the fact that, yes, for twelve whole months I really did fail to write about what is a very important and very personal topic to me. 

Selfies, to me, are a confidence booster. 

Especially if you're someone who isn't photogenic and who thinks she doesn't look pretty in pictures at all. 

Now, it might be that I don't know how to pose, how to smile, how to look natural, how to this, how to that, but the fact is I'm camera shy, and I get nervous when the lens is trained on me. 

It's not that I don't practice. 

I do- with the mirror at home. 

But there goes whatever I've rehearsed the moment the time comes to take a picture. 

Once I'm told to gather together for a group shot, or even "let's take a wefie", right away I forget which angle works best for me, I forget how I should smile, I forget everything, and in the end, all that comes out of the final picture is a lopsided, awkward looking, goofy-faced me. 

It's fine if you're body-confident and you love what you see in the mirror.

I don't always do. 

Like most women, I do get insecure about my looks. I do have days that I can't "rock it", and I do have days that I can't "go get it gurl". 

There are the days where I don't like what I see in the mirror, and there are the days when I feel like s*** and think I look like s*** as well.

But that's where the beauty of selfies come in. 

Because it is these little portraiture style pictures of myself that, over time, will become an album which I can refer to when my confidence is ebbing and my self-esteem is down in the dumps. 

On days that I look good I take a selfie. 

On days that I don't look so good I also try to take a selfie.

And I don't stop until I get a good one. 

Just so that I can in all times and in all circumstances remind myself that I am always beautiful because I AM ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL. 

the CB diet: More Takeaways

You know you're an introverted soul when the sight of these pictures start giving you serious nostalgic vibes. 

I didn't think I would miss my takeaways this much.

But apparently I do. 

Is it the comfort of having my meals in the quiet of my own home? Is it the ease of being able to just eat and converse without having to hear the conversations of diners close by? Is it the joy of eating out of takeaway boxes- an experience which I find incredibly fun? 

Whatever it is, I'm actually missing the way I had these meals during the circuit breaker. For some reason lunch and dinner times seemed slower, the food tasted nicer and I learnt to appreciate the aesthetics of some meals better. 

Now first I have to say that I'm not usually particular about garnishing and plating. I'm a street food kind of person. As long as the food is presented neatly and with that bit of appetizing vibe, I'm good. It matters not to me about about the pattern of the plate or the nicely carved carrot at the side (unless I've paid astronomical prices for it) 

But shall we say that I got suitably impressed when my meals from Ichiban turned up looking appetizing and aesthetically beautiful even though they were served in a plain-looking, inexpensive plastic bowl? 

Shall we say too that I loved how the servers arranged the roast duck as neat as they would have on their plates in their restaurant, and that it felt no different picking up the piece from the plastic tray as I would have from their plate?  

Every takeaway I had during the circuit breaker was memorable. 

Whether it was the green curry beef, the tom yum soup, the tom kha soup or the pad thai from a Thai restaurant somewhere in Beach Road, whether it was the dim sum from Swee Choon, the XO roast duck rice from Tembeling, or the salmon don from I-can't-recall-where, I really loved them all- and I won't hesitate to do a Grab for any of these again. 

East Coast to Changi V

As much as I'm a soul who loves cool, grey skies and bracing, chilly winds, I have to say that the light near the Coast on this particular afternoon was one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. 

It was a light that reminded me of Los Angeles. 

It was a light that reminded me of San Francisco. 

It was a light that I knew I'd seen in places where the oceans meet. 

People often assume that we're like Maldives or the Virgin Islands or Fiji. They assume that we have nice sandy beaches, waving coconut trees and clear blue skies. 

But we don't. 

Well, we do have the sandy beaches and the coconut trees, but we certainly are a land of skyscrapers, steel and glass, and we do not walk around in sundresses, sandals and sun-kissed hair.

That being said, we do tend to spend our days in flip flops and shorts when we're not clad in shirts, jackets, heels, shoes and ties. 

Yet, we are a land of tropical skies. 

Make no doubt about that. 

But unlike those places where their skies are blue and their seas are also blue, our humidity often grants us a scenery of sky that can range from the overcast white to the overcast grey to the pale blue to the bluest of blue. 

You never know how the day will bring. 

The morning might start out as humid and overcast, but the afternoon might bring about clear blue skies. On the other hand, we might have a morning of clear blue skies followed by sheets of rain in the afternoon right after. 

So a blessing it was that the skies on this afternoon where I cycled from East Coast Park to Changi Village were of the bluest of the blue. 

It didn't matter that the time was then two o' clock in the afternoon. 

It didn't matter that I would come back from the ride looking tanned in places here and there. 

It didn't matter that the heat might make the ride a very puffy, red-faced, sweating-buckets one.

I was happy to be out on Daffy under a light so clear, sharp and bright. 

You see, there's something about such a light that makes everything look gloriously beautiful. 

And the curious thing is that you won't notice it until you're there. 

You can be happily making you way along, and then all of a sudden, you find yourself starting to take notice of the trees along the path, you start to admire the artistic shadows their canopies throw upon the ground, and you start to realize just how bright and pure and clear and green the leaves on their branches are. 

I cannot tell how many times I wanted to stop and take pictures of the scenery all around me. 

I cannot tell you how amazed I was at the 'summer-forever' sight of Changi Coastal Park in the late afternoon light. 

And even though I knew it would be another twenty plus kilometer ride back from this side (in the hot sun!), the quiet of this place, the presence of the lovely blue sea, the existence of these majestically waving trees, and the beauty of all this green made this ride very, very worthwhile.