Electric Dreaming

It seems that books, like toys, can come alive at night. And all this while I’ve always thought I’ve been dreaming.

“109 Lightning Books” by Airan Kang at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery.

Really Cute Wedding Invite (Brief)

This is so cute and funny. I don’t know about you, but I think it beats those cheesy photo slideshows they do at weddings. Sweet precursor to a wedding I’d like to attend! I feel like I know what kind of people and the kind of (fun!) wedding they’d have.

Dear Ms. Addams,

style me gorgeous this halloween, pretty please!

f21, vivienne westwood, zac posen

 

Spicing Up Rainy Days

I woke up to rain this morning. And rubbed my hands in glee. Perfect weather to be sipping curry in between lazy snoozing.

Golden goodness in a huge cup!

This curry is thick and sweet with the pulp of pumpkin. Hmmm perfect receipt to be dumping your pumpkin squash into while carving out jack-o-lanterns.

Goes really well with the salmon and prawn that calls for it. And some Bak Choy and mushrooms. Its not that hard to have a balanced meal when you can throw everything into one stew of golden goodness.

Great balance of sweet, sour (lime), refreshing citrus! (lemongrass) and spicy curry paste. Makes for a mean gravy to go with hot steaming rice too.

Now this is what I would call perfect rainy day food.

Thai Yellow Pumpkin and Seafood Curry

Adapted from Nigella.com

Ingredients

200ml coconut cream
2 tablespoons Thai yellow or red curry paste
175ml fish stock (or one maggi fish stock cube!)
1.5 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1.5 lemongrass stalks (cut into three and bruised)
1.5 lime leaves
0.25 teaspoon tumeric
500g pumpkin (cut into bite-sized pieces)
salmon
prawns
bak choy
lime!

Cook!

Heat the coconut cream and mix in the curry paste.

Add the fish sauce, fish stock, sugar, lemongrass, lime leaves and turmeric.

Bring to a boil.

Add in the pumpkin and simmer until tender. About 15 minutes or just until the pumpkin has enough bite.

Add the prawns and salmon and simmer until cooked.

Add the bak choy last. When the bak choy has wilted, add the lime.

Serve! With fresh coriander if you like

Literature is wayyy underrated

Yesterday I had a really good time at the movies.

Actually, yesterday I had one of my best times at the movies ever!

Because I’ve watched one of those rare ones which leave you thinking and thinking about, simply because there are so many themes and ideas layered on top of each other that you are thrilled and curious about. If only because some of them are feelings you’ve been wanting to put into expression for a long long time.

That’s what I got with Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, screened at the artshouse as part of the Singapore Writer’s Festival.

Who’s Balzac? Hes a french novelist and playwright, known for being one of the founders of realism in European literature.

In the movie, the little seamstress gets educated on Balzac by two city boys sent to her town for Communist re-education. Because the boys are great storytellers, Balzac, and other novelists like Dumas and Dostoyevsky, open the seamstress and other village folk to the fashions of the world that Communist China has closed its doors to. But none as important as the freedom to have and follow ideals.

“The savage has feelings… only the civilized man has feelings and ideas”

This affects the little seamstress in a slow but sure way. After a period away from her lover, and an abortion, she packs up, puts on some modern shoes, and leaves the boys with a quote:

“A woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price.”

Ever needed reminding that you, yourself, are your greatest possession and it’s up to you and yourself only to take charge of your life and earn your experiences? I think this movie hit it.

Instead of relying on the two city boys to paint the world outside for her, and waiting her lover to come home and define herself by him, she chose to walk out of the village herself.

Of course there were lots of references to Mao and the revolution. (I think this picture says it all about Mao and his very devoted peasantry haha) I can’t say I can identify with that. But even China has to keep up with the times. Everybody is linked to the environment. And with the whole world changing around you, it’d be impossible to remain behind stubbornly. I don’t think communism in China was really an ideal when nobody is allowed to test it in the brave new world.

I also liked the importance placed on literature as a means of education, escapism, a respite for your ideals and the need for freedom of ideals to keep your sense of self with you in a suffocating environment of menial chores meant to dull your mind.

But I think what was best put forward was the irreversible toll time and modernity ravages on people. Growing up makes you put down some things. Like youth – which is always hard to reminisce upon because its sunk with your newfound maturity and realism. And even if you go back to the places of before, the pictures, and the memories, there’s nothing else you can do except look through the window of a period in your life like a child trapped indoors wishing for play.

I’m not saying this movie was perfect. (There was a really abrupt fast forward to 20 years later.) Nor am I saying that it’s for everybody. But I think it is an honest, heartfelt effort which deserves a watch and some pondering over. Nothing overly dramatic nor ambitious. Just a subtle observation at coming-of-age which really pulls at your heart I think. Plus some humorous bits that got the audience laughing along and the characters so endearing.

And gorgeous never-before-seen scenery. It took the director 7 months to get permission to film on location in Zhangjiajie. It made mountain life seem like a simple and appealing hiatus.

Loving offbeat movie fests! Catch this if you ever get a chance!

Everyday Cake

Whoever said cake was only fit for dessert hasn’t really enjoyed cake at all.

In fact, whoever said cake wasn’t to be enjoyed every day, every itching you get, is really far off from cake heaven…

which happens to look like this.

It was Dad’s birthday last weekend. And I thought I’d break the little old tradition of getting up early to fry some bacon and eggs, by baking this wonderfully healthy nutty wholegrain goodness that is the cardamom-almond-walnut-wholemeal cake!

The thought of cardamom and wholemeal just excites me. Because I’ve never baked with wholemeal flour before. And because cardamom permeates everything with such flavour, through your kitchen and two storeys of house, so that a whiff of it would wake anybody up instantly. Plus spice always makes you feel nice and warm. Not that we really need that in blistering weather. But for a cool morning, perfect breakfast and snacking food.

One bite into this gets you walnuts, almonds and wholemeal! Very full-bodied and rich in texture.

I’d do this again for afternoon reading and chamomile tea! And a house smelling of the sweet spice

Adapted from bonvivant and orangette.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter
150g granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 whole milk
140g walnuts, chopped
140g blanced almonds, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons
2 to 3 level teaspoons ground cardamom seeds

Bake!

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. One by one add the eggs. Add the vanilla and beat to blend.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches. And then add the milk.

Add the lemon juice and zest, followed by the cardamom to taste. You’d want a balance between the lemon and the cardamom.

Add the almonds and walnuts and stir them by hand, folding them gently into the batter.

Lay it in your cake tin! And bake at 170 degrees celsius for about 35 minutes.

Serve at room temperature or warm. It tastes even better on the second day!

Weekend Recap: All Caked Out – Choc-a-Bloc/ Lana; Deepavali; Daddy’s Birthday – Peony Jade/ Peach Garden

This weekend I got the best of both chocolate cake worlds.

First, it was Lana Cake at Auntie Rose’s Deepavali luncheon.

And then there was choc-a-bloc!

This is really the best! My family eat it for every birthday we have. We can’t seem to have enough occasions for this cake.

Choc-a-bloc’s chocolate sponge cakes are so moist and soft, they are melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Love the generous slather of fudge in between the layers of sponge. Although thick, the fudge is whipped to such a light texture, it doesn’t add any heaviness to the springy, moist sponge. Instead, it brings more chocalicious goodness!

I think it says something when my brother can finish half the cake at one go…

Sydney International Food Festival

Food has always been a big draw in advertisements. At least to greedy foodies like me. So what better way to get your message across when you’re holding an international food festival, than with some wicked food styling.

This year, the Sydney International Food Festival has taken food styling to new heights. Each poster displays food best known to participating countries styled into their national flags.

Here are some of my favourites.

Cool Beans. These hold such promise, they make me want to zip over to Sydney immediately!

They also hold some great party ideas

An (Anti)ode to One True Love + Reading Gold

The other day on the promise of not-just-another-typical-sappy-romantic-comedy, I caught (500) days of summer.

If you are a hopeless romantic, this movie will leave you in dissatisfaction. If you’re not, you’ll say yay for realities and our vulnerabilities to love.

I think what I liked best about the movie was how they managed to show that fickleness you get in your 20s – when you know you are supposed to be taking things more seriously because marriage is on the cards for you by social convention and how you find it a struggle to settle down with somebody just yet, even though he makes you giggle, makes you feel comfortable around, has the same interests, is someone you can have shower sex with (haha). I mean, marriage is really the rest of your life! Or so you hope for it to be.

I know we are all supposed to be rooting for poor Tom Hansen. I was! But Summer stole my heart with her sweetheart dresses – especially the one on the left with the really cute bow.

I also enjoyed the fun design that made the movie into the pretty picture it was. Lots of Ikea and that chalkboard in Tom’s bedroom. Who wants an everchanging bed poster?

And surprise reference to Alain de Botton! Not all 3 of the books but the one on the left – “the architecture of happiness”. I’ve never read it myself. But I have read “how proust can change your life” and did enjoy every minute of it. Loads of fresh insight into randoms like making friends and taking a holiday. Best of all it reinforced my love and our need for literature. Alain de Botton is really one of the few philosophers I can stomach. Not that I read a lot of them.

Would really like to read “essays in love” next. Come to think of it, “how proust can change your life” was really long ago. Think I will go pick it up again soon!

On a random note, I’d recommend this too for those who need to deal with love. “The Four Loves” examines the nature of love in four major forms – affection, friendship, eros, charity. It really gets you rationalising and forces you to look at your situation from a different perspective which, sometimes, is all we really need. And the best part? It moves along in such a candid, light voice that it doesn’t feel needlessly imposing or very confusing. Perfect for some reflection and musing.

I’m not saying this movie was perfect though. Director Marc Webb meant for it to do greater I think. He said the movie centred on gender tensions. I really didn’t see that. What came across was a honest and personal story about unrequited love and young idealism; and yes, everybody has to move on… even if it takes some 500 days and a whole disillusion phase.

It was definitely enjoyable! But I’d say it is far from Juno. If you liked (500) days of summer, you’d love Juno for its offbeat romance.

Juno is still No. 1!

Jaw-dropping

These Alexander McQueen heels have pretty much gotten a lot of people talking:

I think this is when expression precedes all semblance of wearable fashion. McQueen is using his shoes as a forecast to what the ecology of the world would look like. No wonder he came up with these sea monsters – with rising sea levels, we’d probably end up as Atlantis.

I like this one though. It looks like a warped bootie. And the bronze colour reminds me of autumn and the crisp brown leaves.

Are you loving these?