Locks talk

Going short has been great. I mean, my hair. I use less shampoo and spend less time washing and blow-drying my hair. The only downside is, I have to make more frequent visits to the stylist to maintain the cut. But still, short hair’s sassy and so comfortable, I love it!

Sometimes though, I miss having long hair. It’s fun and oddly comforting at times to be able to just twist a bunch of hair up into a tousled half ponytail, or gather the whole mass loosely to one side. I never had curls and was never enough of a fan of the Japanese or Korean curls that so reigned a year or two ago, but it was always fun to pretend at the salon to contemplate giving up my long-time poker straight tresses for wavy ones. Also, the fiance claims to love me any way I look, but he has nevertheless admitted to a preference for long hair on me.

For that last reason, I’m considering whether to grow out my hair for the wedding next year. I guess it’s practical in the sense that the makeup artist can afford to play around with more looks, and I suppose too that it can easily look pretty and feminine. But is that what I really want? Hmm, I guess I have another 10 months to decide, along with the gown, rings, caterer, and whole bunch of other nonsense. Gawd, the circus that accompanies a wedding is such a pain sometimes!

In the meantime, just because I’m feeling nostalgic, here’s a picture of me with long hair, from just two years ago.

Saying goodbye

Life recently seems like a neverending series of goodbyes, all painful. I survive, but every time I think I’ve hardened myself, the next one knocks me down again and takes me by surprise.

Sometimes it all seems almost too much to bear, but deep down inside, I know it’s otherwise, that some things are just not worth the shit, that I’m just too weak to resist.

I need to get back on track and remind myself of my blessings, of what are truly important to me. Sometimes, goodbyes truly are meant to be final, to portend no looking back, to mean no regrets and leave no room for tears.

Crazy busy

It’s been a crazy busy week as I try to finish up work before I take off for a short trip over the weekend. Somehow, there’s also loads to be done for the handover before I move departments come mid-July. I’m starting to hyperventilate as I imagine all there is to be done, but in a good way, sort of.

In any case, there’s always a bright spot to be found amidst the gloom. Yesterday marked fatso’s and my 10th year together, a mini milestone of sorts. Happy 10th anniversary baby, can’t wait to see you back home at the end of the year! =)

Doesn’t he look cute and tubby here? This was us at one of many rest stops on our journey from Philly to Niagara Falls last December. I miss the US of A! Bloody HeeNee…

So damned blur

Walking to Tampines Mall from the bus interchange in the sweltering heat to get my iPod Touch looked at (my iTunes just would not recognise it, weirdly), I kept thinking to myself that I wanted, needed, to get some granola from either NTUC or Cold Storage.

Why granola? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the crunchy rolled oats and nuts, or the slightly sticky bite of the dried raisins that are sometimes added, but in the past few months granola has become my topping of choice for the frozen yoghurt I love from the likes of Frolick and Yoguru. I’ve also always liked granola in chilled milk sprinkled with just a bit of brown sugar, or lashed with some golden maple syrup, for breakfast. With that in mind today, I really was dying to get a bag of granola to store in the office for days when I go to the gym after work, as a light pre-workout meal. And maybe some chilled fresh milk too, if the drinks stall sold fresh milk.

But, I got distracted in NuBox by a deliciously bright Barbie-pink Belkin leather folio for the iPod Touch, such that after the guy had seen to my Touch and gotten it fixed, all thoughts of the granola had melted away from my mind. I paid for the Belkin, packed away everything and left the shop happily to take my bus home. It was not until I stepped home that thoughts of the granola surfaced and I slapped myself in the head for forgetting it.

What a blur ditz!

Suits me just fine

I don’t usually buy suits because most suits look like almost every other – staid, uptight and way too formal. Though people always say I have the physique and shoulders to pull off suits well, I have only ever owned one black Mandarin-style blazer that I recycle at every job interview, formal meeting, corporate emceeing gig, etc. But I was pleasantly surprised to find this ruffly specimen in, of all places, that most pedestrian of suit peddlers – G2000.

Like I said just last night, I’m into grey right now and this dove-grey jacket with ruffled lapels simply swept me off my feet! The price tag is sweet too; I bought this and a matching skirt for all of 80-plus bucks courtesy of the GSS. Best part is, it looked like a million dollars on me and noone at work could tell the entire suit came from G2000!

Sickly

I hate being sick. Especially when it’s an inexplicable bout of abdominal pains/cramps without, shall we say, excessive bowel movements or wind or stomach rumbles. It’s the kind of pain that feels like your guts are all twisted up and you can’t stand up, walk, sit down or even lie down straight.

It’s inexplicable because before lunch I was fine. Then after lunch, I immediately felt like a horse with colic and was unable to sit down to work. Not feeling any better after seeing the company doctor, I asked to leave work early and hopped on a cab home, the pain so debilitating that I was unable to even contemplate getting home by public transportation.

Five hours on and two restless naps later, the pain lingers. Arghh, I’m so pissed that I have no idea WTF is wrong with my body!

Just another chasoba? Think again!

There are chasobas, and there are chasobas. And then, there is Ochacha’s chasoba, which is in a league of its own. I would gladly eat two servings of it in place of, say, anything from neighbouring Shokudo. I just do not understand all the hype surrounding it, or why day after day long queues snake at its entrance at mealtimes. But, this entry is not about Shokudo, it is about the chasoba at Ochacha.

What exactly is it? It is lovely chasoba noodles served chilled, each strand evenly coated with an oishii creamy sesame dressing and topped with sweet cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices. Toasted sesame seeds and sakura ebi mixed up the textures rather nicely and lent the very refreshing dish an added dimension of fragrance. There is no meat in this dish, but even for a carnivore like me, this coupled with one of their delectable green tea latte drinks makes a very satisfying yet guilt-free lunch. And we all know the two attributes seldom go together.

Best part is, this is only $5.90! I need to get my next fix soon…

What price good service?

Last week this time, contrary to my current semi comtose state, I was enjoying knocking back a delicious lunch at Garibaldi prior to an illuminating afternoon at the National Museum.

My starter of roasted foie gras (goose, mind you, not duck) was sublime, the rich and decadent gamey fattiness perfectly balanced out by the sweet yet tart apple compote. The main of homemade spinach pasta in a braised chalon duck sauce was the ultimate hearty comfort food, though I recall it seemed to taste better on my first visit a few years back. WY’s seared, half-rare tuna steak had a wondrous meaty texture, neither stringy nor dry and fibrous as is common. I wasn’t too impressed though by the gelato that accompanied our dessert of apple pie, haute style, finding it too sweet and flat.  

But I don’t mean to simply gush about the food, though I’ve missed it loads in the past few years. What impressed me then, and still does, is the sterling service standards of its wait staff. Anyone can learn the correct way of placing diningware or matching wines to courses, but it’s the simplest things such as consideration for customers that really hit the spot in the end. 

When we were seated finally for our lunch, we were first asked if we would like ’sparkling or still water?”. Having not had this question thrown at me in some time since I haven’t been fine-dining at all, I was taken aback and hesitated slightly while pondering a not-so-cheapo way of saying tap water would be fine. Very quickly and smoothly, without letting up on his friendly smile, our server went on to suggest that “perhaps regular water will do?”.

So first, he offered me what he knew I wanted. Secondly, he put us at ease by suggesting it was perfectly normal, instead of el cheapo, to drink tap water in one of the temples of Italian food. Then throughout our meal, he was by turns a paragon of unobtrusive attentiveness – sweeping up stray crumbs with a swift flick of his wrist, and charm – cajoling us laughingly into trying dessert and pressing the exquisite petit fours on us in spite of our protests that we were too full.

Polished yet warm service like this is too rare in Singapore, and Garibaldi is a keeper in my book for sure. By the way, what price good service? Not much at all! The four-course set lunch costs just $38 before prevailing taxes, and is extremely good value for money for food and service of this calibre.

Tired, but never better

I’m exhausted. I don’t know why, but restful and deep sleep has been elusive for this week and the one before. Sleeping early doesn’t help, because, like last night, I wake up after just four hours and take a while to fall back into sleep again. Needless to say, I have been oversleeping almost every morning, looking grumpy and tired when I reach the office, and generally feeling not my best or healthiest.

But it’s also in the past two weeks that things have been falling in place, both on the work front and personal.

There is nothing like recognition and praise for a job well done, from more than one party, to bestir motivation and a commitment to keep doing your best at work. And I can’t say often enough how glad I am that the date for the wedding has been fixed, venue booked (awaiting booking contract), photographer appointed, and even pre-wedding shoot locations decided! I’m so excited about the last, because they are places that mean a lot to the pig and myself, and at the risk of sounding smug, I do think they are really cool ideas =)

I hope the sleepless situation improves though!

Gown of my dreams

Christian Lacroix: Love, love, love the artful pleating and draping of this extremely wearable gown! Is there any chance that Singapore is home to a tailor equal to the task of re-creating this into a wedding gown for me?

Christian Lacroix: The Principal Can-can Dancer: My favourite sketch, and also the one used in promotional materials for the exhibition.

Christian Lacroix: FAT dress

Verner Panton: A reconstruction of “Phantasy Landscape”, a space with organic shapes made out of foam rubber and illuminated with warm lighting. It was so loungey that all we needed was some trance.

Singapore Living Galleries – Food: Tu-tu kueh cart

WY and I have been wanting for ages to go to the Christian Lacroix: The Costumier exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore. In fact, we met up to go last Saturday but it was too late by the time we met and the exhibition had closed for the day. Then since she was on holiday and I had leave to clear, we decided to go catch the exhibition on Friday (yesterday) and maybe treat ourselves to a decadent lunch at Garibaldi as well.

The exhibit, a showcase of Lacroix’s work in costume design for various stage productions spanning theatre, ballet and opera, etc, was amazing. The costumes and mini stage sets were opulent and sumptuous, and the colour sketches beautifully rendered with flair. I don’t know much about opera, and many of the productions for which he designed were unknown to me. But I wasn’t there for the opera, only for the costumes, and I was totally captivated.

Very fortunately for us, the exhibit is running FOC from 4 to 7 June and we got in free yesterday. Unfortunately however there were some screaming kids present as well, whom I felt like smacking upside down. Thankfully, an activity corner had been set up at one corner of the exhibit hall, with samples and descriptions of the different materials often used in costume design (lace, velvet, brocade and their ilk), and some printed sketches that the children could colour in with colour pencils or crayons. I must admit too that some of the kids can be really direct and funny. We overheard one boy remarking “Wah, that’s a FAT dress”, in reference to the gown in the third picture above. Yes indeed, the beading is elaborate and the structure formidable, but at its core the dress is FAt, like what the boy said.

The exhibition ends tomorrow, so hurry up and catch it if you haven’t already! After Lacroix, pop in to the Verner Panton exhibition just next door. It is a cool exhibition too, though the forms and silhouettes were so familiar I got the feeling like I was stepping into IKEA or one of those furniture shops selling modern, pop-art inspired furniture. And after that, if you have time, take a tour of the permanent exhibits such as the Singapore Living Galleries. Being a pig, I simply adore the Food gallery! I really, really need to visit more of our country’s museums.

4 June 2009, Friday, was truly one of the best days of this year, for this and other reasons.