It was during one of those conversations where we were disagreeing again with each other's views that I got a clearer understanding of what my father really feels and thinks about me, and what my generation encapsulates.

To say that I was slightly hurt is a bit of an understatement when my Dad simply declared that the younger generation (mine, fyi) has "completely no moral values". I don't know if it's because of me, and all the times I've been disagreeing with him, that he's having such a terrible impression of us, but it hurt especially so since I've always looked to him as a role model for his diligence, responsibility and resourcefulness - pretty impressed that he got into gardening not long ago and has been on the lookout for ideas on Google to help his plants grow better. Of course he wouldn't know that how much I look up to him. In his opinion, I'm probably a terrible daughter because I'm constantly refuting him vehemently - not been heeding his well-meaning advice for god-knows-how-long.

It hasn't always been this way. He started off as my hero. The one who used to carry me back to the bedroom when I fell asleep in front of the TV; sometimes I'd even pretend to be asleep so I got to be carried. I wonder if he ever found out about that. He was the hero who would be away for months at a go for work. The hero who'd bring back exotic goodies from different parts of the world when he's back. The hero who got my brother and me our first grey and bulky Gameboys that were all the rage back in the day.

When people asked me what did my father do, I'd proudly announce "He's a captain who's sailed many seas" like it was a great deal and it honestly was a big deal, at least to the little girl I once was. Whatever my father said was treated as the biblical truth and he could never be wrong. Even when he was. Of course, I hadn't known better back then, with no access to the internet and zero idea of how the world really is.

Is this a result of my education? My learning journey in life made me made me embark on a path of serious questioning. Many a times, it includes what my father's said at some point or other. I started getting annoyed by some of the assumptions he'd make of people, things and places.

Here are some examples that really tick me off:

- Archaic views of people with tattoos as 'bad',
- Travelling to developing nations IS endangering my life,
- People who talk to themselves are always mad (through a student, I learnt about involuntary tics),
- Travelling is just a waste of money,
- Every country I'm travelling to is bound to be a target for terrorist attacks,
- People who talk to you on the road are crooks in disguise,

I could go on but you get the drift.

Unfortunately, there's bound to be some slivers of truth in the things he say. However, I can never bring myself to take them too seriously because whatever information he's got or what he's saying is based on his personal experiences from 20-30 years ago from his seafaring days and much has changed since. I would probably have paid more attention to his words had I started travelling back then since he was definitely more 'in-the-know' when he was an active seaman in his younger days.
He hardly ventures beyond Singapore these days (DREADS travelling because of supposed threats all around) and I highly doubt he has an inkling of how developed the countries he's been dissing really are. In addition, following the news as closely as he can is his daily commitment and it just seems like the whole purpose of it is to let us (family members) know how terrible/dangerous things are elsewhere in the world - probably to discourage us from travelling.

I do not agree with his views that we should be living in a cocoons and protecting ourselves from all the different dangers there are out there (how weak is that going to make us; not learning to take risks, resulting in our mediocrity? How are we going to adapt and learn to solve problems if we fear moving out of our comfort zones and challenging boundaries all the time? Can you survive our ever-changing times with this mindset? What worked for 20 years ago might not work in the present, much less the future.

As you can tell, there are a hundred and one things or more that we disagree on or have very strong views on. To say that I'm void of any moral value because of our differences in perspectives though, is making me really sick and tired of starting another similar conversation with him.

Why must it be so hard to agree to disagree?

a girl and her chai poh

Once upon a time, there was a girl.
The girl loved chai poh.
She'd put chai poh into her omelettes,
scrap it off chwee kuehs
leaving them wobbly, pale and bare.
She'd load tofu tops and steamed fish with generous chai poh garnishes
and wistfully hoped that someday
someone would be in the right mind to come up with chai poh ice cream.


Mmmmm... Delicious!

變 - Change

Talking to some people lately has reminded me once again of how susceptible to changes humans are. People whom I've not been expecting to, took such great leaps of faith to move on to the next chapters of their lives at the most sudden timings. It makes me wonder if I'd behave differently too when faced with similar situations; though there shouldn't be any surprise if I do, since change has been identified as the only constant in our lives and at the end of the day, we will all learn to cope and continue living with changes until more changes come by.

Whatever it is, I hope you are happy.

time, slow down please.

At times, I find myself feeling like a helpless parent running after my hyperactive toddler and worrying about not being able to keep up with their pace. The little 'toddler' mentioned happens to be Time in my case (for now). In a blink, the September break is nearly over. Despite the slightly traumatic diarrhea + vomiting episode that landed me on a hospital bed with an IV-drip for close to 3 hours at Tan Tock Seng, I've been having such a great time taking things real slow for the past week; catching up with friends, markings, doing laundry, tidying up the room and spending time with ST. It's been amazing but sadly (we're so close to the end of the year so it's actually not that bad la huh), work's starting again tomorrow.

During this one week, I've had the pleasure of eating some worthy calories so I'm just going to share them in here. I am no connoisseur (thank you Chrome's spell-check) and ST says that I can a little pushy sometimes (not the exact words used but something along that line) when it comes to recommendations so please take my words with a pinch of salt and sugar.

Meng Kee Char Kway Teow from Beo Crescent

This is the second visit after my colleague introduced it to me. I really love the crunchy and sinful bits of pork lard (both big and small pieces) that the lady stall-holder uses to fry the CKT with, not to mention the very aromatic (chao-ta) wok-hei. The noodles were generously coated with sweet, dark soya sauce and she was really generous with the cockles too (I ordered the $5 portion to share). If you do not request for the non-spicy version, this plate of CKT can pack quite a fiery punch; evident in the beads of perspiration that formed along ST's forehead. Much as I was happily slurping up the CKT, my lunch/dinner date did not seem to enjoy it as much as I did. I hope he will someday though, with the non-spicy version!

Turkish Eggs ($8) from Penny University

Ended up here on Teachers/Teachers' Day (w.e.f. 2013, it'll now be on the first Friday of September) with some colleagues after a failed attempt to train for an upcoming run at ECP. The place was bustling with diners at 10 a.m. (another customer told us that it's been that crowded since she was at the place at 9); with barely enough room for us to wait around for a table comfortably without getting in the way of the busy servers - we managed to end up at 3 separate tables (6 of us in total) after a slightly agonizing (I exaggerate) wait of 20-30 minutes but were re-seated together again after a group of 6 were done at the longer 'communal' table. 

I ordered an order of the Turkish Eggs; which was basically two poached eggs swimming in a tangy concoction of whipped yoghurt, spicy sauce, smoked chicken (+$1.50) oregano leaves and served with a slice of toasted and chopped-up sourdough bread. This would be something for people with slightly more adventurous taste buds as the sourish blend of yoghurt and runny yolk requires some getting used to. I thought the plain yoghurt was somewhat reminiscent of hollandaise sauce but then again the latter is usually much buttery/creamier and almost never that tangy. I'm glad that I ordered it because I was really curious about its taste, but I think I'll probably be getting something else for brunch the next time round. Anyhow, while we were 'loitering' and waiting for available tables, I spotted some Windowsill pies at the counter; the Grasshopper pies looked fantastic behind the glass display and the coffee (le usual capp) packed quite a robust punch too (opted for an orange-chocolate blend instead of the usual house blend).

Not-so-humble eggs ($6) from The Humble Loaf

Had this on the same day as the Turkish Eggs; imagine my delight (they didn't see it but I was squealing with excitement inside) when one of my darling colleagues invited us to sing karaoke at Teo Heng after brunch at Penny University. Found at the slightly cramped basement of Katong Shopping Centre (couldn't help but be reminded of the film, Ilo Ilo the whole time because of the numerous domestic helper agencies found there), the first thought that struck me first was "What a tiny space!" Having just had 2 poached eggs hours ago, I was slightly fearful of tipping my daily 'cholesterol scale' if I had another 2 more eggs but I went ahead anyway (after my kind colleague offered to share).

Taste aside, I really love the cheeky name of this side. What is it that makes it not so humble? I'm guessing it should be the ham. Apart from the Serrano ham, it is made up of the humblest of ingredients; 2 comforting soft-poached eggs, bits of tangy pickled celery, thin olive slices, lots of chives/spring onions (can't tell the 2 apart sometimes) and generous black pepper seasoning. I hesitated initially when I read "pickled celery" and saw the generous chives/spring onion (I have a strong distaste for raw spring onions) sprinkled on top because those are usually food items that I steer clear of but I'm glad I went ahead to take a slurp. Apart from adding a nice crunch to the dish, I couldn't taste the sharp taste of the abhorred celery (pickling does wonders, it seems) and there was no nasty 'oniony' taste from the suspicious-looking chives/spring onions so I'm guessing they used chives. The ham shavings lent an even more savory touch to the already-savory runny eggs and since I'm someone who usually goes for stronger flavours, this was a Yay. Definitely the kind of dish you'd want to be sopping wholesome bread with.

Apart from these eggs, we also had a go at the hazelnut-based meringue (tastes better when paired with a nice cup of kopi; it balances out the sweetness imo as some of my other companions who did not order beverages found it slightly saccharine), raspberry pound cake ($2.50) and financier. The pound cake was fluffy and easily one of the nicest pound cakes I've ever had while the financier was moist, strangely addictive and irresistibly priced at $1.50 a piece.

And until the next time work allows for another food rave and rant, that'll be it for now.

Money makes the world go round

Sat down some days back to calculate the copious amount of money I'll be needing for my Travel Grand Plans a few years down the road and finally got a rough idea how much I ought to be putting aside every month at least to make that possible when the time comes. Not to forget, continuity of my life after all that traveling is over... and that kind of ended with a slightly serious discussion with the bf.

I was somewhat taken aback at the differences in attitudes towards saving up between an employee and employer, and that made me start to entertain the thoughts of investments and starting up in the not-so-near future. It's funny, how our trains of thoughts change as we grow older.

Erm, is it too late for resolutions now?

We're too far out into 2013 to call it a new year anymore but no one says we can't have new resolutions only when we reach the final quarter of the year so here goes.

Let's start with...

One: I will learn to stop over-eating and say no to food even before I feel full, because constant/ excessive satiation is not that great for my body at the rate my snail-speed metabolic rate is slowing down.

Re-Prioritising

Less than 10 entries for the whole of 2013 so far and nothing without so little of a mention of work in (nearly) every single one of them. I used to scoff at people who had problems with their work-life balance but look at who's the one being laughed at now.

It's the continual assessment week right now and that could be the reason why I seem to be having slightly more time on hand for now.

It's been nothing less than awfully quiet in this little online space for the past few months. Thank god my 'offline life' has been much more exciting. Phew.

Saw some of the most amazing underwater sights and creatures up close while blowing bubbles in Moalboal back during the June holidays; definitely significant enough to have hit some kind of milestone in my personal scuba journey.

Breath-stopping to see such a large school/ball of sardines swarming towards me.

The sheer enormity and their wonderful synchrony truly blew me away.

Thanks to Bun's awesome recommendation, ST and I made our ways down to look at this little large fella and his group of friends. I guess I'll remember the experience of being flicked absent-mindedly by his/her tail for a long time to come; it was one of alarm, followed by relief, and finally amusement.

And this pair of mating Mandarins!

Didn't have a clue what I was looking at until I snapped a shot and saw the beautiful colours appear on my camera screen. They are probably smaller than half my palm and were darting into safety of the staghorn corals so quickly whenever the flash came up. Very comical and funny experience.

Apart from the awesome dive trip with ST, I also managed to squeeze in a 2D1N trip to Malacca over the long National Day weekend with the girls. In retrospect, I simply find it hard to believe we'd spent such crazy durations queueing for nearly everything; from entry into JB, to chendol and laksa, and a satay steamboat. 3 hours (or was it 3.5?) just to get a table at the famous satay celup place. Woah. You know they say there's always a first for everything... I believe that's also the last time I'm going to be heading to Malacca during their national holidays. All of us learnt that it's truly a terrible time to visit Malaysia (via land transport) during the Raya holidays. Mad queues aside, I had a good time catching up with our little 'support group'. And to be honest, most of the food that we queued up for were really well worth the ringgit. The only exception was the Peranankan cafe just beside the Peranakan museum around Jonker; I'm not that fussy when it comes to food but that's honestly a place I don't think I'd ever want to go back to; for dining at least.

And voila! That's just a glimpse of my 'offline life'.

I'm feeling slightly accomplished that I'm able to touch a little on my social life instead of solely work (again) this time round. clapforself.jpg.

Until the next entry (who knows when will that be), tata and good day.