Immigrant Food....

Once I attended a course where the trainer asked what we had for dinner the previous night. After hearing the replies from the course attendees, she went on to ask why we are jamming our body's digestive system, especially with complex foods such as curry fish head, bak kut teh etc. Her main point of contention is not that the food are harmful to our bodies, but more she couldn't understand why modern Singaporeans who are enjoying relatively good incomes and comfortable lifestyles are still eating immigrant food...?

Basically food such as bak kut teh and curry fish head etc are unique to Singapore and Malaysia. The reason is that early immigrants to Southeast Asia are mostly poor dock workers who don't have money to buy fresh ingredients for a good meal. There's no such thing as a steak or a whole chicken for a good meal, unless a whole group of workers sacrifice their salaries for a whole month to buy and share one chicken. Ingredients such as pork bones and fish heads are cheap as the wealthy would prefer fleshier cuts. With these basic ingredients, workers salvage what spices and vegetables they can from the docks and mix it all up in a pot. That's where bak kut teh, curry fish head and kway chap comes from.

So the trainer is asking why are we now eating poor man's food when we can afford better. But she fails to understand that these are food unique to Singapore. No, I've not been paid by Singapore Tourism Board to market their Uniquely Singapore concept, but born and bred here, I feel a sense of connection with such food. It is iconic of the lifestyle my grandparents had in early Singapore / Malaysia and many others like them. And while Singapore is complaining about the lack of creativity, to think out of the box... but hey, aren't these exact examples of how early Singaporeans can be inventive and creative in developing new recipes, new ways to enjoy food? What's more, these dishes are getting well appreciated by the foreign community. I remember reading somewhere that a Singaporean businessman made his success in Shanghai selling just one of these... bak kut teh. And there are plenty of foreign tourists who came to Singapore and loved the unique taste of curry fish head and chilli crab.

So why shouldn't we eat these food and enjoy them? Especially if we can now afford fresh ingredients and good cooks to provide quality to such dishes? Enjoy away I would say, and feel proud that there is something... ok unique... about Singapore.

Ramblings of a style-less slob

Ooh... I love those clothes, shoes, accessories, bags... everything that Anne Hathaway was wearing in The Devil Wears Prada... and of course not to mention, that seemingly limitless supply of branded stuff available in The Closet. The show was most definitely a girls-night-out show... terribly fun for girlfriends to watch together and go ga-ga over the fantastic labels.

Meryl Streep was BRILLIANT!!!! She is undoubtedly the greatest actress alive. With minimalist subtlety, she has made the character Miranda Priestly entirely her own. Now I simply can't imagine another version of Miranda Priestly... and credit must go to Meryl Streep for making the movie so much more 3-dimensional and believable than the book. (After reading the book, I just felt sick and tired of a bitch whining and complaining non-stop about a 2-D caricature of a superbitch.)

One downside about watching the show though.... After coming out from the movie theatre, one look at my reflection in the ladies' washroom mirror made me feel I'm an entirely style-less, ugly slob!!! Good grieve... what am I wearing? It's so plain, so dull... and everything in my reflection tells me that I look like Andrea when she first reported for work at Runway! Horrors!!!

Heh... the feeling was temporary as I am still "recovering" from the "high" experienced watching that movie...as piggy has said. But at the same time, it made me so much more conscious of what I'm wearing and things like accessorizing my outfit. Was walking around in Tiong Bahru with piggy and panda yesterday and we just can't help noticing the different necklaces, bags and shoes on display at the shops. How I wish I can have access to the Closet where I can just pick out what I want.... *dreamy*

What the F*** was that for??!!

The breakup of a relationship is always distressing and an emotional torture for the one that is rejected. Especially when the breakup happens in a long-term relationship of more than ten years, the amount of emotional upset and torture one feels can almost make suicide seem tempting. Yet our lives are not given to us by God to take away... it's given to us to love... love ourselves and love others.

That said, feeling tempted to slash one's wrist after the breakup of a long-term relationship... that I can understand for the emotional turmoil is tremendous. But feeling tempted to kill yourself for a relationship of 3 months?? And for someone whom you know have had a history of changing heart???? HALLO!!! What the F*** was that for???!!!