Miscellaneous memos

Having concluded a bad date on Saturday afternoon (password-protected entry), I was all ready to go home and collapse on the couch.

My mobile started buzzing the moment I got home and kicked off my shoes. It was friends calling to ask to hang out later that night, and so I resigned myself to another few hours of walking in blister-garnering heels.

I trotted in to the bar find my friends already absconded in a nice little corner, with comfortable seats and fantastic views. One of my friends caught sight of her friends and called them over to join us, as our table was big enough. Read the rest of this entry »

All those old wives’ tales about having to gulp down your soup while it is piping hot, might not be so true after all.

My mom, being one of those traditional Chinese moms, always insisted that we drink our soup and eat our food while it is scalding hot and fresh off the stove. The longer we kept our food lying around, the colder it got, and the more likely we would get sick from mysterious bacteria that had time to manifest itself in our food. (Wait, there might be an essence of truth in that, but that’s not my point.)

I bought prawn noodles for lunch and left it on the table for a bit, because I was called off to do something.

When I came back the noodles and prawns were thoroughly soaked in the broth and had this delicious flavour from the soup and still managed to retain that fresh crunchiness.

Needless to say, I slurped up every last drop in the bowl of noodles and my colleague has vowed to try the noodles from that stall as well.

Moral of the story: Take your time to eat your food and let it soak in the flavours from the rest of the dish. And sometimes, do listen to your mom. 

Oft times I find it hard to grapple with Singapore’s concept of urban renewal. There is an obvious need to preserve what’s left of our old buildings and we have seen that in a lot of old buildings which have been recycled from their original use to serve another purpose.

But every time I go to a newly restored ‘old’ building, the interior becomes swankier than its predecessors of ‘old’ buildings.

I wonder if it is just me. The older the building looks outside and the strangely modern way it looks inside, just chills the bones off me.

Can anyone imagine the old decadent palaces of Europe being put through such a process, other then installing the needs of turn-of-the century conveniences like central heating, electric cables and Internet broadband cables etc. However, it is always ghastly to think what would happen if you replace that Louis XIV chair with an Arne Jacobson.

I am a traditionalist in that sense.

Which is why I am always sad when I see a beautiful shophouse, decaying timber structures and all, being torn down or renovated to become a club to attract the younger crowd. Why does the surroundings have to suit people, why can’t people adapt to suit their surroundings?

So next time you visit that trendy bar or eat at that new restaurant in town, have a thought, what gave way to the place that you’re enjoying now?

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on Friday called Singapore’s restrictions on the entry of activists for the World Bank/IMF meetings “authoritarian”.

But he said the World Bank and IMF did not plan to postpone their annual gathering, which is being hosted by the Southeast Asian city-state this month.

“Enormous damage has been done and a lot of that damage is done to Singapore and self-inflicted. This could have been an opportunity for them to showcase to the world their development process,” Wolfowitz said in response to questions from civil society organizations at a town hall meeting in Singapore.

“I would argue whether it has to be as authoritarian as it has been and I would certainly argue that at the stage of success they have reached, they would do much better for themselves with a more visionary approach to the process.”

He added that the bar on entry into Singapore for some activists “is a violation of the understanding that we had drawn up” with Singapore.

The city-state has put 27 civil rights activists on a blacklist for entry to the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, and some would-be participants to the meetings have been deported.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-09-15T061612Z_01_SP255817_RTRUKOC_0_US-IMF-SINGAPORE-WOLFOWITZ.xml

We went to listen Groove Armada play at Zouk on Friday, and were greeted with the usual long winding queues at the entrance. People waited patiently, thank god, and the bouncers kept everything in control.

We were chilling out with drinks, before the house music duo of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay played their set, and ran into a couple of people we met at the previous private parties. One girl, whose name entirely slipped my mind, chattered on about how we took photographs together at the cocktail party and how she wanted my email address so that she could send them back to me. I never did manage to catch her again to pass it to her.

We went to Velvet for a while and came back later when the music started. People were swamping in. It was packed to the rafters. Our group got separated. Someone left because he got grumpy with the crush of people invading his personal space. But in the end, it was all worth it. It’s one set of music I won’t forget in a while.

We left early because someone still had to work the next day. Sigh… we are just getting old.