*1118 - curry

Home-cooked curry. The recipe is simple but amazing: curry powder, tomato puree and lots of fresh tomatoes to give it that edge, sugar to counter the acidity, cloves for that special kick you can't quite place your finger on, and coconut milk for the creaminess. Add in anything you want in it (meat and veg, I mean) and simmer on low for as long as you can stand to wait.

Eggplant and okra (i.e. lady's fingers--how often does one find this in the US?!) were the highlights of this one.



This is a dish worth teaching an ang moh how to use a spoon for. It's absolutely necessary to be able to slurp up that stuff by the spoonful; forks just don't do it enough justice.

And the relevance of this post is, obviously, that it is Diwali / Deepavali. Obviously ;) Happy festival of lights!

(OKAY PARDON ME, I realise that might be a blasphemous statement because this isn't Indian curry by any means. I don't even know what sort of region of the world this originated from but I can attest to it's simple yummyness and customisability!)

*1117 - the real Peter Pan

To this Tink replied in these words, "You silly ass," and disappeared into the bathroom. "She is quite a common fairy," Peter explained apologetically, "she is called Tinker Bell because she mends the pots and kettles [tinker = tin worker]." [Similar to "cinder" plus "elle" to get Cinderella]

- Chapter 3, Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie

I watched Peter Pan, the Disney creation, and it was delightful. And then I read Peter Pan (well, skimmed through half: the beginning and the end), the original by Barrie, and it was darkly different. I much preferred it.

*1116 - spinach artichoke + poached eggs

One of my favorite dips to make / eat: spinach artichoke dip. So much better than the processed bottled crap when you make it yourself with bundles upon bundles of fresh spinach!

It goes beautifully with poached eggs on toasted cracked wheat bread with fresh tomatoes and avocado slices.







Poached eggs are easier to make than you imagine--they just require a very gentle touch.

*1115 - FREE blog giveaway #2!

While I don't think this will be half as exciting or be met with the same kind of enthusiasm as my Blog Giveaway #1, here is my second attempt at having some fun before I ship these off to the nearest non-profit.

It's ...



Yes, you read that right. The event of the year we've all been waiting for. EVELYN'S (EMBARRASSING) DRESS GIVEAWAY!

Faced with the problem of an exploding wardrobe, I thought it would be fun to ship a bunch of dresses off to someone who may or may not actually wear them and even if that person hates it, it's off my hands and I no longer need to fuss about how to get rid of it myself.

Rules:

1. Drop me an email at evelyn.chan.yp@gmail.com if you think you're a US Small and not extremely tall, and we'll see what happens next!

2. NO MOCKERY of any article of clothing I send over. As warned, they are likely going to be embarrassing, no designer wear or anything particularly fancy.

3. US addresses only (not enough money to be shipping embarrassing dresses across the world) ... UNLESS you promise to send something of an equally embarrassing nature back as well (but no clothing please).

4. While stocks (?) last!

Have fun :)

*1114 - yoga quote of the day

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized

- Haim Ginott

Remove all the "teacher" or "child" references and apply it to your life. While we are not in control of situations, we are in control of our actions, and that is to a scary extent what makes our world miserable or joyous. Make a choice and choose love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (wow, having Galatians 5:22 hanging on your childhood bathroom wall that you stared at everyday as you pooped has ingrained the fruit of the Spirit deeply in my mind). It can be hard but this is one thing I have to learn. Swallow my pride or impatience or grumpiness and choose to smile instead, and it could avert an unnecessarily petty quarrel or a heavy mood that evening. Yes? :)

*1113 - panta rei

This was when we were living in our old apartment a little further down from where we are now. We stepped out of the apartment to the bus stop and traversed through what felt like a part of Mexico. Rolled along and then suddenly turned into a ridiculously narrow road (the kind where if you are so lucky as to be crawling along looking for a parking spot, you might hold up five blocks worth of honking vehicles as you try your best to parallel park brilliantly in a spot that you only come across after circling ten times on your very first try, which doesn't usually happen under stress like that) and then, we were in China. We hop off and walk through China with eyes wide, round the corner, and suddenly we were back in San Francisco. Blink. One thing rolled into another so abruptly, it was as if we had crossed invisible borders to different parts of the world in just 10 minutes.

And then we settled into an Italian restaurant, Panta Rei, for some really amazing pasta. Really. Amazing. Really.

Duck with homemade spinach fettuccine in brandy tomato cream sauce. Tasted heavenly but actually looked kind of gross in the photo (my excuse: I only had nerve for one shot per dish because this was the type of restaurant where you feel judged if you whip out your camera), so none this time.

And then all sorts of shellfish with homemade squid ink linguine and a white wine sauce. WOW. (Evidently shot blurrily and hastily from somewhere near my lap.)



And it made for good leftovers too--a teeny bite in a little saucer the next day!



You can really tell when you eat fresh homemade pasta ... the texture is just so different and the flavour is fuller. But after the two or three times I have attempted this in my life, sans mechanical pasta rolling machine a la Statler kitchens that could roll your hand into a sheet of pasta in an instant if you weren't careful, I have since concluded that no matter how good it tastes, the hours of pain that go into hand-making pasta with a rolling pin and a knife are just too much to go through for a mere treat for myself. Or anyone, for that matter. (Sorry.) Some day: a pasta machine. Mmmm.

*1112 - too much

There's some sort of desperation in the act of rushing to Google "ways to maximise closet space" when you look at the bursting walk-in closet and dresser drawers that cannot close while knowing that there are still two boxes yet unpacked.

No, I didn't find a clever solution. I'll let you know when I do.

*1111 - i wonder

How is it that it used to be so much easier to acclimatise when I was younger?

*1110 - of Singaporeans

"Culinarily, they are among the most homesick people I have ever met."
- Calvin Trillin (America food writer)
I can't say I disagree.

*1109 - tourists

The day Erin came to visit gave us all (Erin, EV, and D) a lovely chance to be the touristy tourists we were dying to be! Our trip out to Pier 39 was as typically touristy as you can imagine it to be. A walk by the water's edge. Peering out over the water at docked boats, sailing cruises, Alcatraz, the bridges. Having steamy clam chowder and crab sandwiches on a wooden bench. Seeing / smelling / hearing the sea lions bake in the sun. And after, a tram & BART ride back and then chilling over coffee in the sun, catching up with an old friend. Perfect.

Picture by Erin, of us by the wharf
(I think D is going to complain but I will leave this up until he does)


Do sea lions and seagulls have some sort of symbiotic relationship or are they just friends?


Moving from the city of clam chowdah to clam chowder in bread bowls over here :) With a disgusting (as in, yummy) deep fried (ew?!?! Yum?!?!! My brain cannot decide) crabby sandwich sitting by my bum.


The lovely carousel, and carousels always warrant some sort of old-school photo editing ...


And of course we had to go for a ride on it!


If you are ever at the Fisherman's Wharf, you have to do the crazy mirror maze that's somewhere above the Lefty shop. It was weird seeing 8 D's and 5 Erin's and 4 me's at one time switching rapidly between blues and purples and greens, and your brain really does get confused about what is reality and what is just a reflection. Reminded me of a day at the Singapore Science Centre when I was younger where they had cool exhibits like this ...


Oddly enough, we haven't done anything much more touristy than that and the bay cruise and I guess the amusement park we almost pooped our pants at last weekend (neither too brave when it comes to scary rides but determined enough to challenge ourselves--more on that another time). Our weekends have been filled with (1) eating amazingly good food or (2) moving-related pains, mostly a combination of both. The pain of moving is fast becoming a distant memory because if I think about it too much, my muscles go a-tremble instinctively and brain tries to bleep over it quickly.

Our new apartment is amazingly perfect and so much more than we could ask for. It's now feeling strangely empty because D has left and will be at home for more than a week. But some alone time is always good and I'm going to unpack my 23896512 boxes/suitcases that are still lying around and marring the look of the apartment. Some of our furniture is still waiting to be assembled so no sneak peaks yet!

*1108 - swedish meatballs with lingonberry preserves

This photograph represents roughly 80% of all the reasons why one should go to IKEA.

(The other 20% being cheap self-assembled furniture)

(D reckons that percentage is closer to 81%)

*1107 - facebook stats

Some interesting Facebook user stats, which, among other nuggets, reveal that Singapore leads the pack in Facebook addiction.

Social networking traffic in the US:
In first place: 91% of all visits were to Facebook
In second place: 2% of all visits were to Twitter

Wow.

*1106 - on foot

Today, I left work mid-day to receive 15 pieces of furniture, make a salad, and bring leftover pizza in for lunch, and returned within ... half an hour. On foot.

Being able to walk to work in three minutes = the closest I've come to living the high life.