the best laid plans

of mice and men, don't (always) go astray.

it's N's birthday today and we actually pulled off a successful surprise!

(photo credits to the amazing S - go check out his art if you haven't already. and he does this amazing photo/music pairing, feels a little like cheese/wine. ooh! good stuff.)

thankfully, the surprise went according to plan. S deserves an oscar for his amazing performance. N, usually a most suspicious character, didn't smell a rat. and C very kindly opened his kitchen. think the official story was that S wanted to print something, which N accompanied him to do, and then they were to go to C's to pick up a razor (???) and then lunch with the boys at C's. went like clockwork. after all, what's a surprise party without a frantic last-minute duck under the table? although N did see the cake-laden table ("wow, C really went all out for lunch...") before he saw the army in the kitchen.

and the following photos were taken on my iphone so get the perfect standard S set out of your mind!

my phone has a new inclination towards deconstruction. very intelligent, i must say. consider the possible social commentary that could accompany each photo. anyhoos, this is cake #1, the chocolate cake i ripped off K. turned out ok, surprisingly, if you'd be so kind as to excuse the charred surface, thoughtfully obscured by the many many candles.

raspberry roll and patriotic cupcakes

don't know who contributed these but they were so simple yet so so good!

and these are my real friends - lovely ladies who risked life and, uh, amoebic dysentery to try cake #2.

1. ill-disguised apprehension

2. resignation

3, evidence of a fully-functioning gag reflex

1. putting on a brave front

2. the brain (naming rights to A) itself

3. down the hatch!

and more credits to A who, after christening cake #2 "the brain" took the rest of it home because i didn't want to put such a fragile organ through the trauma of commuting from lappis back home. A is also a true friend, and all the other lovely people who restored my faith in my culinary (in)ability. life's good. i can cook.

on a completely unrelated note, i start shivering like crazy if i don't eat meat. realised this yesterday when i was wondering why i was so unbearably cold despite looking like the michelin man in my room. and then i thought about when i was last shaking uncontrollably and it was in kunming in 2006 while on a medical mission to the leprosy village. and that was because i'd subsisted on nutella / pb&j / suspect tuna sandwiches for a fortnight. so after a fortnight without meat, it struck me that i was in a perpetual chill regardless of how many layers i was piling on. should've remembered because i'd not had meat since the chinese binge in london on saturday. so i promptly devoured half a kilo of pork (sigh) and today i was able to go out in a flimsy cardi. darn, there go my dreams of being a vegetarian one day. i used to tell myself that once i stopped growing i'd go off meat (but i'm still waiting for vertical growth). then that became once i'm out of my 20s. but i'm pretty sure i'll find another excuse when i hit the big 3-0. maybe i'll be lactating or something.

self-discovery is an underrated virtue.