Just when I though I was out...

After a couple of low low weeks (so low that I was seriously considering quitting this damn place) things have taken a slight (very slight) ... no not turn, more like a hiccup... for the better. 'New' people are coming in -- former interns mostly -- and V is back at the helm. I guess it helps that the last few days have been tolerable, even though they still be long days and late nights.

I ask myself why I'm doing this and cannot come up with anything better than: 'because I can't see myself doing anything else'. Which is weak. But I really cannot do anything else other than write (and talk, ask questions, plan, complain). And I can't see myself using these same 'skill sets' *cough* in any other industry. Public Relations? *shudder*

Anyway, working today, public holiday it may be (Happy Vesak Day!), but it's not all bad. It was surprisingly cruisey in spite of the lack of stories. The office provided a nice North Indian dinner, which really made my day.
Unluckily, a story just came in just as I was about to leave. More unlucky still for the newsmaker -- he got hit by a falling tree branch and died. So I feel fortunate in my own speschul way.

Happy Birthday Baby! Lovely dinner last night, with good company, good wines and a terrific cockroach hunt/kill for added excitement and gore. Food went down well to my relief (two days of full on cooking + burning hands from handling all that chili, garlic and whatnot). D initially invited all of 3 friends ("more food for me!") till I pointed out that a spread of more than five dishes plus rice, wines and cakes was a little too much even for his monster appetite. I found the buah keluak a little dry, but D didn't really think so and ate seven of them

Nonya Night: Dinner Menu (complete with icecream stains)


Pièce de résistance


My baby, his buah keluak and me!

After the shittest of shit weeks, I am having a B.R.E.AK -- taken specially to spend time with my D, who has been putting up with my black moods giving me all the hugs I could ever ask for. Also silly things that he finds online to make me smile.

Caught Pirates 3 (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrr!!!!) yesterday, went shopping (shoes!), and hung out like a normal couple. I was so unused to it that I had a headache and had to go home. Haha.

Oh dear this is terribly juvenile, but I could not help but giggle.

In response to a parliamentary question on the current outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease: The current outbreak is largely caused by the Coxsackie A16 virus. Teeheehee

VERY SHIT DAY

And apt weblink that came my way:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49542/funniest-exit-interview

This is one helluva thankless job sometimes

(silly boo-boo #0987654: whoops forgot to hit 'publish post' that day)

Today, the World's Dumbest Girl (i.e: me) made a silly boo-boo (#0987653), so no theatre for her! *slap* (no, i.don't.want.to.talk.about.it)

Instead, Ju, D and I hung out, had coffee, laughed too loudly and ended up having a great time after all. We ended up at Newton, where, for all the compulsory bitching and swearing about how They utterly ruined the place, took away its charm and replaced it with the most unintuitive, smoke capturing, heat retaining, fake swiss chalet redesign, we had a fantastic dinner complete with sinful dripping hallucinatory crimson chunks of Tulang Merah (literally: red bone or mutton bone soup). And mutton soup. And orh luak (oyster omelette).

Mmmm... so good.

Sop Tulang


Ju: Mutton soup model


Sher: get out of my face! I'm eating here!

Buah Keluak: The Midnight Story

Woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep, so I decided to check on my nuts to see if they were ready to break open... and they were! :)

Just soaking my nuts

So armed with a sturdy pair of kitchen scissors, a table cloth, cork board and a chopstick, I proceeded to whack them open and extract all the lovely flesh. It wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be -- the seam in the middle of the nut is a natural weak spot and pries open quite easily one it's breached. Just a few strategic jabs with the edge of my multi-use scissors (the can opener bit was especially handy) and the nuts gave up their fragrant treasure. The flesh was tar-like -- soft, sticky and slightly crumbly. It smelled like heaven -- if heaven was scented with the pungent smell of rich wet earth, anchovy paste, and Nam Puey (preserved black chinese olives).

It's not very neighbourly to be whacking your nuts loudly at 2am

In my research, Buah Keluak (or Indonesian Black Nut, also known as Opium Fruit) is said to resemble a brazil nut, or a slightly flattened golf ball. But I think the best way of describing them -- although not really the politest way -- is that they look part scrotum, part walnut.

Buah Keluak (already stuffed and cooked): part scrotum, part walnut, all goodness

Cooked with chicken and pork ribs in a spicy sauce, Buah Keluak are a Nonya (Peranakan) delicacy -- and is often considered to be an acquired taste. I can't really see why. Unless it's because just like Apricot seeds and Bitter Almonds, the raw nut contains Prussic Acid or Cyanide. Evidently:

Fruits of the rose family--including cherries, apples, plums, almonds, peaches, apricots, and crabapples--contain in their seeds substances known as cyanogenetic glycosides, which on ingestion release hydrogen cyanide gas through an enzymatic reaction. (Straight Dope)

But what's life without a little danger my food-loving friends? (The gycosides break down upon cooking, in any case)

They're so delicious. Think of it as an Asian truffle. The nuts are not excessively hard to find, but the dish isn't all that common because of the amount of work the dish entails. It can be quite dear to eat the dish at restaurants and from what I've heard, not worth the premium. I have yet to try the dish in restaurants though 1) because I think it's a rip off, and 2) because I know two lovely women who can make sublime versions of the dish: Grandma and Junie's Mummy. If my attempt at the dish is successful, I hope too, that I shall one day be inducted into the Buah Keluak Hall of Fame.

My grandma is Nonya (kind of... she was given away to a Nonya family when she was a girl. Yes, they did that in those days: I've an extra daughter, whould you like one?). Anyway, she's wonderful at making all sorts of time-consuming, delicate, multi-stepped, tradtional Nonya recipes. Which is great for me as she likes to share recipes. The downside is that like my mother, they don't have exact recipes for them so getting them just right is a little tricky.

Grandma taught me a shortcut of sorts, which is to prepare the nuts beforehand. Soak 'em, knock 'em, unstuff 'em, restuff 'em, steam 'em and freeze 'em. This way, when I want to eat some delectable Buah Keluak, I can just prepare the Rempah (spice paste) and have the frozen nuts on hand already.

See also:
Nostalgic Recipes
Buah Keluak: The Dark Side

Mayhap doing a run to the market and then proceeding to eat too much lunch is not the best way to get over horrific cough and dizzy spells... You think?

But I managed to get 50 lovely Buah Kelauk for D's Bday Dinner Bash (Theme: Nonya Food). I'm letting my nuts soak now for a couple of days.

Officially out of office today. Body caved in on itself as I was having my morning workout, with coughing, dizziness, breathlessness -- the works. It was bound to happed sooner or later -- I've been having this crazy cough for yonks now. So it's bedrest, fluids, and sleep for this worn-out gophergirl.

....YAH RIGHT like that's ever gonna happen....

It's fuckin Friday and I'm FREE!!!! I'm gonna haul this tired, coughing, dizzy, worn-out ass to the market to buy buah keluak! Sing it with me! BwuAAHHHHHhhhhhh.... Ke-LUAK! BwuAAHHHHHhhhhhh.... Ke-LUAK!

D's Personal Safety Bulletin #0517

Message begins: //Watch out for falling planes and trees. 4 Singaporeans died this week to things falling from the sky//end message

You have been warned

The prawning expedition turned out to be quite a failure: Three hours, 1 prawn, 5 coral.

Somehow D lost the plot a bit and started catching bits of dried out dead coral instead. I don't know how he even did it... coral don't bite!! We gave the lone prawn that D caught to the couple sitting near us... they didn't get much of a catch either... oh well... We had a pretty good time in spite of that. :)

Gone fishin': pretending to be pro

Going late night prawning later! Yay!

Actually I really suck. But it's a good excuse to spend time with April & SY and just bum.

In true Singapore style, it'll be in concrete pools where large yabbie-like prawns are loaded in every so often. I pity them a little -- they just be sitting ducks prawns with no where to go but our bellies! Muahahahaha.

I'm glad they've finlly got this figured out

Now to convince D that a gummi bear left lying around his room for 3 months cannot possibly still be safe to eat...

One of those days

No not one of those shitty-want-to-curl-up-and-die-days, but one of those niggly-things-going-wrong-and-are-kinda-funny-kinda-silly-days.

Had a mini drama (I'm a real drama princess aren't I) after my bloodtest this morning. As per tedious routine, I got up at 6am to troop to SGH by 8am for the doomsday sounding '0'-hour bloodtest (i.e. pre-meds). As usual, I didn't get a band-aid for it as I needed to take another blood test at 10am (yes, the 2-hour blood test, you're too smart). I took my meds quickly then, grabbed by bag, stuck my thumb in my elbow to put some pressure on the jab-site and went to get some breakky when I wondered why people were giving me strange looks. Then I realised the cotton wad in my elbow was soaked in blood and there was blood pooling in the wrinkly crevice. Blood was starting to streak up my arm a bit and my thumb was drenched. So, trying to act cool, I clutch my elbow closer, twisting it awkwardly a bit to hide the gory bits and try to find the bathroom. But was luck would have it, they were all under refurbishment. So like a headless chicken I desperately roamed several hospital departments until I came upon a disabled loo within the radiology department. And then I forgot to lock the door and a nurse walked in on me as I was frantically washing blood off my arm, making me look like some kind of murderer.

Then I had a mini-fit when the strap of my current favourite bag (a huge black and white straw monstrosity) started to fray and threatened to come apart.

Then I had an embarrasing moment when I tried to powder my nose in public when a sneeze caught me by surprise and i AH-CHOOED! powder on my face.

Also, I had to crawl rather unceremoniously on the carpet, under a table and a tricky tablecloth to find my mobile phone, which i had dropped, at a late media event just now, just as Minister was about to speak.

Just one of those days...

Time's Alt 100 is a hoot

4. Heather Mills, dancer
The panel just loves Dancing With the Stars. And they're impressed that "her leg doesn't just fly off." As you'll see throughout, the panel has only a vague understanding of medicine.

28. Jesus
When I made it clear that only living people could make the list, the panel — in loud unison — pointed out that he's very much alive. There was no talking Jesus off this list.

36. Toyota Prius, car
The panel did not care that, technically, the Prius is not a person.

57. Sammie, Jimmy's cat
Sammie, who ate some of that poisoned pet food, is a survivor.

64. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran
"Not because of his mental disabilities, but because he always has a tight blazer on," explaned Xzibit.

66. Kim Jong Il, Supreme Commander of North Korea
"Not because of the nuclear capabilities, but because he is wearing stunner shades!" Xzibit said.

78. Owners of Golden Bird
Tommy the Clown insists that the fried chicken at this restaurant in the Inglewood section of Los Angeles is exemplary, or as he put it "They do chicken right." Bridget is also a fan of battered chicken, ordering the Chicken Milanese for lunch without even knowing what it was. When the waiter explained how it was prepared, she exclaimed "Chicken fingers! Why didn't you just say that?" Bridget has a point.

81. Eva Longoria, actress
There was a late push to put a Desperate Housewife on the list, but Eva basically won because she gets spray tanned by Jimmy all the time. Though he tried to make it sound socially important by saying she should make the list "for taking the fear out of spray tanning." Eva Longoria 1, terrorists 0.

94. Michael J Fox, actor
The panel loves stem cell research. And they believe Fox is the top stem cell researcher in the world.

Brought to you by:
Xzibit, rapper and host of MTV's Pimp My Ride
Bridget Marquardt, 1/3 of Hugh Hefner's girlfriend
Eddie Sanchez, UFC fighter
Tommy the Clown, krump dancer
Dr. Boogie, hairstylist and contestant on Bravo's Shear Genius
Jimmy Jimmy Coco, spray tanner
Glenda Borden, party planner

So evil...

From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine:

The toxic pipeline ultimately emptied into the bloodstream of people like Ernesto Osorio, a former high school teacher in Panama City. He spent two months in the hospital after ingesting poison cough syrup last September.

Just before Christmas, after a kidney dialysis treatment, Mr. Osorio stood outside the city’s big public hospital in a tear-splattered shirt, describing what his life had become.

“I’m not an eighth of what I used to be,” Mr. Osorio said, his partly paralyzed face hanging like a slab of meat. “I have trouble walking. Look at my face, look at my tears.” The tears, he said apologetically, were not from emotion, but from nerve damage.

And yet, Mr. Osorio knows he is one of the lucky victims.

“They didn’t know how to keep the killer out of the medicine,” he said simply.

It sickens me that ignorant greed can have such devastating effect, but more so that any retributionary action is entirely meaningless... Still it would be good to jam a cattle prod up that that silly gambler's ass just for the fun of it. URGH! FOOL!

From the WHO

• According to the US-based Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest, counterfeit drug sales are estimated to reach US$ 75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of more than 90% from 2005 (This is way higher than the estimated $15 billion given to me for an article I did in 2006!!)
  
• Many countries in Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America have areas where more that 30% of the medicines on sale can be counterfeit, while other developing markets have less than 10%; overall, a reasonable range is between 10% and 30%
• Medicines purchased over the Internet from sites that conceal their physical address are counterfeit in over 50% of cases.

I don't much care for the fake stuff bought online -- usually lifestyle drugs like erectile dysfunction drugs etc -- but necessary medicines for malaria and cough mixture in developing areas are needed to save lives, not take them!

I Send Away the Tigers

I've thought about it a million times
when you and me did nothing but smile
when forgiveness was the best, forget about the rest
- the second great depression

this one's for the freaks
you're so beautiful...
may you stay like freaks
may you make mistakes
may your will never break
for underdogs revenge is sweet
revenge is sweet
- underdogs

so when you hear this autumnsong
remember the best times are yet to come
- autumnsong

Mmmm... crab! :)

Did a Ban Leong Wah Hoe run this evening for mumsy's bday dinner. BLWH never disappoints. Such fantastic eating...
Burnt my chin with a sizzling squirt of chicken fat from the har cheong gai (prawn paste chicken) and managed to wolf down a whole bowl of rice and several servings of their delectable 'birthday noodles' -- Mumsy looked askance and said "wah, you can eat a lot now huh?' followed by 'your sister is so 'pui' (fat) now' (to my brother)... to which I said 'am not!' through a mouthful of my fourth helping of noodles. T_T;;

Fat Lewts

This gopher is cashing in on her reputation points. Australia here I come again! *beams* Eight day junket trip to the Gold Coast! Fan-fucking-tastic! Whahahahaha. Best to make the most of a one-year Australian visa while it lasts!

A couple of advertorials on the sights and sound, plus photos of some celebrity DJ (no idea who he is, haha) and I'm good!

Lolz in the Office

To this, my colleague suddenly breathed a huge sigh of relief and exclaimed loudly: "Only brain size what!"

Another interesting factoid: We walk faster than YOU. Nyah nyah

It took a whole week because I had to resize, recategorise, 'shop the photos and learn how to use bloody flickr ... but the full set of Sydney/Melb photos are finally up. For full viewing pleasure In.Chronological.Order. please see Sydney-Melb 2007

The recipe for a perfect two day's rest:

2 hours at the Gym
A foot massage
A manicure and pedicure
Leisurely grocery shopping
The Shield season 6, four-episode marathon
Midnight snacks of goat's cheese and toast
8-hours of uninterrupted, sound, restful sleep
Recreating a batch of divine Ricotta Pancakes ala bills (but not quite)
A big ole batch of roast potatoes, tomatoes and grilled mushroom
BACON!
Great coffee
Great friends

Ricotta Pancakes in the making

Oven-fresh roasted goodness


The Spread
<

It was all very nice and leisurely -- apart from some uninvited relos who rocked up and ruined my mood for a bit. But anyway ...today (and Monday) was a lovely substitute for my non-existent weekend. press holidays! I don't much D trying to set fire to my toes though....