happy birthday nick

nick by night! here we are at helvetica in perth, nick brandishing a jug of fishbowl punch in honour of our fredag punch tradition in stockholm.

and nick by day, arriving on his white steed to whisk us to the golden triangle

don't you think day/night nick look the same? ;)

our friendship was forged that last sunny summers day in the park as we fell into step en route back to jeanne's for the post-picnic. my first impression of him was that of the world's most devoted boyfriend. get him started on lauren and the man will not stop... in the best possible way, of course :) we swapped stories about our immortal nanas, his in lebanon and mine back in singers. we puzzled over how they'd managed to pickle themselves and not show the ravages of time or gravity then attributed it to a lost art. there was effortless friendship from the word go, and then nick did the sweetest thing, thus cementing his place in my list of favourite friends. (yes, i have a list. don't you?) he escorted me to london. he'd been planning to visit family for awhile and i was hell bent on being a solo backpacker so he gallantly booked the same flight, was delightful company for the 12h it took us to get door-to-door, such is the sorry state of budget travel... and then he took the tube out of his way and ever the gentlemen, saw me to safety in the big smoke. so much for my pseudo-independence! plus we share some quirks and nick would come up with the funniest nicknames for people who got our goats. thank goodness they were none the wiser. then lauren came to visit and i liked nick even more because i became a lauren fan too and off we went on little excursions to tidemann's and sofo and gamla stan.

and nick's graciousness didn't stop with the end of exchange. oh no! swung by down under over the hari raya long weekend and he was all warmth and hospitality. suddenly we were traveling by car and it was funny because in stockholm all we ever did was take the bus or tunnelbana. or ryanair -_- seeing perth through nick's eyes and enjoying his and lauren's excellent haute gastronomy recommendations made the short break all the more memorable. all too soon it was farewell round two but i'm pretty sure the wind will blow him north soon, or lauren at least.

it's been a year since we surprised him with an army of revelers in claudio's kitchen, and here we are again. so happy birthday nick and many happy returns. exciting times, he's in for a sea change come next year :)

here's one for the album, of us freezing our tushes off in sigtuna, reputed to be the oldest town in sweden but we're not so trusting of guidebooks...

(sigtuna photo credits to simon of http://simonsk.blogspot.com)

please don't judge me

but i just 'friended' one of the puppies from our last litter on facebook.

his new mommy, michaela, is a real sweetie. she wrote us on his first birthday and it is most gratifying to hear back from our puppy's new family. she's every breeder's dream and oscar has truly thrived under her care. she brings him swimming every morning at east coast, to the dog run every evening where he meets his four-legged friends, and most importantly,

"He's very active, extremely friendly to both dogs and people (he's only been in a fight once and it wasn't his fault; usually he lays on his back when being snapped at by another dogs, he's very non-conflict).

But with people he's super friendly!" (in michaela's words)

looks like our little baby is all grown up and quite the jetsetter! michaela shared that he's going the czech republic, where she's from, and then to italy next year. places i want to visit toO!

and here's oscar from last year - just for comparison sake.

(the last photo is one of the first few michaela sent us - told you she's a sweetie!)

JM

à bientôt, ma cherie!

bisous.

(photo credits to S - check out his photoblog if you haven't already!)

A.Mc

she wears the pants, he wears the boyfriend blazer?

and while i'm missing JHD, my swedish sojourn is equally incomplete without stockholm's resident cool cat. the only comfort, however, is that he just might embark on a grand SouthEastAsian adventure (inclusive of moped ride up the peninsular!) and has hinted at paying me a visit back in sunny ol' singers. plus i'm still waiting for my brown paper package tied up with string... mysterious all-explaining parcel :)

JHD

how this hottie manages to hold the same pose, regardless of whether he's trying on vintage wear or hosting the most amazing fredagpunch-es is beyond me. all i know is that i'm mega bummed that he's not going to be in stockholm this time. boo.

:(

iceland

listening to sigur ros catapults me back to last summer, when we roadtripped around the island and blasted their songs as they were meant to be enjoyed.

volki's

baywatch moment

i miss him :(

(dad: since he got too big to carry, we don't know his weight anymore but we're guessing he weighs about the same as you.)

love despite the language gap

one of the best articles i've read in awhile. read till the end!

and i'm glad that we share the same first languages. although he'd be the first to point out that my pseudo-first language isn't really all i make it out to be.

i don't think i could ever be attracted to someone who had a different first language, even if he was was equally proficient in mine. because something gets lost in translation and i'm never as comfortable as i am when i speak my mother tongue, mother tongue here being what my mother speaks to me, literally.

and nothing soothes me the way my grandma's malay coos do. when she calls me sayang, when she babbles in her peranakan patois, when she snaps 'besing memekak!' and i know she doesn't really mean it. little things like that :) and i realise that i instinctively react the same way, i coo the same way to the love of my life and i scold him the same way when he barks. but i, too, don't really mean it.

pity party

my cheap ikea pot gave up the ghost about 4 months post-purchase. mid pancake-flip, the handle broke clean off. while i know that they're for different use in the kitchen and it's like saying i miss the vacuum cleaner when the washing machine's broken, i miss my dutch oven so bad. can't wait to get home and break it out for christmas cooking! mhmmmm :)

(note the deformed mutant pancake after unsuccessful half-flip)

malfunctioning pot aside, i persisted in pancake making, valiantly attempting to flip them with a knife instead (note knife gashes in pancake).

this looked more crepe than pancake-like. (note makeshift papertowel grip on pot side)

it did get marginally better with practice, although i can't say the same for the uneven heat distribution.

and i don't know why i didn't think of it earlier (actually, i do) but then P came and saw me struggling away and after laughing at me for five minutes straight, he suggested i try with a frying pan. well, here's a secret. i try to stay away from the communal pots and pans because they're generally biohazards but i was desperate and from the finished product, i think P was right. just this time.

to complete my pity-seeking story, on the way back to my room i managed to douse myself with a cup of chai. my nightshirt reeks of chai and i'm not scheduled for laundry any time soon. it's mornings like these that make me want to run right home :( am very very grateful for comfortable home to return to in less than three weeks. this' probably the last pseudo-independent stint in awhile and the novelty is fast wearing off.

p/s is it just me or does the pancake resemble prata more than those perfect cafe sirap creations?

happy diamond

it's my gramps' 60th wedding anniversary today!

can you imagine being with the same person for 60 years??? and they were voluntarily monogamous! from what i understand, even though monogamous marriages weren't the law until 1965 (?), even though kong could have had more wives / concubines / slave girls, he didn't. which's such a respectable thing. that makes him special. and porpor's pretty special too. so i guess they both lucked out that way. but, really, it's even more of an achievement to be faithful and monogamous when opportunity to stray abounds - some people are only faithful because no one else gives them time of day. or they have no money to be unfaithful because affairs are expensive.

sixty happy years! it's not just the quantity but the quality of the marriage too. and i'm really glad that they instilled sound values in my uncle and mother, who went on to have their own functional families.

when i'm with my gramps, i see plenty of give and take, plenty of patience, and a desire to see the other person happy. as long as he's happy, she's happy and vice versa. they make it seem simple. they don't sweat the small things, she can burn his food, he can finish the ice cream without offering her any, and it's all good.

wish i could be there to celebrate it with them. porpor's none too pleased that i missed C's wedding this may and i'm not around for their diamond anniversary either. in protest, she's threatened to boycott my wedding. in retaliation, i said i wouldn't invite her. then she complained to my mother. telltale.

ahhhh i want to celebrate my diamond anniversary one day too! hurry up, you.

i wouldn't mind

the perpetual rain so much if i lived here permanently

but i don't.

although just under a year ago we did enjoy an amazing time resort-hopping (kuda huraa, coco island and kandooma, all in a week's work!) in the maldives and i miss the two monkeys like crazy. and the clearest, cleanest water i've ever seen. it was everything i'd imagined an island paradise to be.

kuda huraa infinity pool

kuda huraa water bungalows

coco island

the coco island rooms open onto a pristine wooden deck that you can dive from into the ocean!

i've to keep telling myself that summer and sunshine aren't myths. they actually happen, just not in stockholm at the moment.

(photos from my facebook album sandy bottoms and other stories)

and facebook is terrible because when i miss my sibs i look at my (too many!) albums. then i stalk their profiles and spam their walls. maybe i don't blame them for being embarrassed of me.

the final five weeks

are going to whizz by.

i just know it.

:(

tau yu ter ka

and i really miss this too. with xian cai.

and they only taste good if they're from C-grade stalls :)

hey team

(photo credits to koops)

i could really do with a perry at colbar right now. pyjamas optional but with the double Ds, tat sengs, and wayfarers respectively please. or a mariokart showdown as long as superpeach's on unc's team.

i'll keep you my dirty little secret...

at our

unglamorous best.

t-13days. psyched :)

another london memory

and while i was thinking of loved ones i'd been to london with, these two popped into mind as well. the instigator and the abettor looking deceptively innocent in harrod's. then again, i attribute it to the laduree effect. this photo was taken at the start of, possibly, my happiest 10 weeks to date, and i'm glad we could share the joy then (and now).

so hello you two, you're indelibly inked in my memory, along with london, laduree and uh, litigation. hurhur. it's a swell feeling when things go according to plan :)

why oh why

are my letters hiding in your car???

3:42 PM me:please open my uob (singers bank) letters now

3:43 PM him: please (insert my responsibility) first

me: no!nowwww

him: i hid the letters in mitsu!

they're HIDING!

me: -_-

him: ok

wait

i need to disturb mitsu now

from his SLUMMMMMMBER!

you're a poop.

essentials

me: will you bring me a soup spoon??? i'm eating my breakfast with a teaspoon. is hard.

him: no!

me: WHY???

him: because when i'm there, you're not going to cook. when i leave, you're going to holiday with your family. and then a few days after that, you'll either be in that cabin in transylvania or you'll be on your way home. and when you pack to come home, i guarantee you're going to curse and swear at all the junk you need to carry.

me: no i won't.

him: believe you me...

me: you're supposed to be indulgent!

him: i am! but i'm thinking of you!

me: why can't you be more like GOD.

him: because GOD has infinitely more wisdom than you and He knows you don't really want the spoon.

me: do too.

darn. and there i was thinking that God would be my trump.

logical connections

or not.

(over text this morning)

me: morning mummy, i'm up! need to do groceries. boo.

mummy: i love to go to the supermarket! (lies, all lies... she does that, maybe, annually.)

me: cheap supermarket's far away and full of aggressive and undesirable characters. crazy woman shoved my groceries off the belt the last time and i glared at her and made her pick it up.

mummy: hey, don't start a fight. they may be unstable, no logic. like the dubai (???) ski instructor who stalked, then murdered, my friend in dubai recently.

me: i don't start fights. it was absolutely unprovoked.

mummy: ya. but some people can be mad. i'll pray for you to be surrounded by His angels and peaceful shoppers. love you.

oh i love my mother.

isn't it fascinating how aggressive swedish supermarket woman instantly reminds her of murderer in dubai?

am now looking forward to the divine experience going to the grocer's is going to be. i'll keep an eye out for halos :)

dinner at home

i love skype.

i'd dinner 'with' my family today.

i sat on the dining table, amongst the plates of food, feeling a bit like a meatloaf.

there was steamed pomfret, roast chicken, ebi tempura, kolo mee specially hand-carried from kuching (thank you!) and veggie. because we're chinese, dinner's usually a 5 dish affair. the plates are in the middle for sharing and everyone has an individual plate with some rice. we wait till daddy comes home and then we eat together. we have a usual seat each and dinner's an immensely personal time. it's usually family-only and this sacred sliver of time we reconnect over. phone calls are turned away and we talk about our day. it's the asian cliche of gathering around food akin to how barbarians of old used to gather around the kill / water source but it's true. we gather around food and fill our bellies while being filled in on the day's happenings.

we've a 'proper' dining table in the dining room that seats about 14 and another dining table on the patio that seats 14 too. but those two are for formal and informal entertaining, respectively, and the 6 (occasionally 7) of us squeeze around the antique marble table in the corner of the dining room instead. it's the same table my grandma's been using since she was a girl and i like how we subconsciously prefer eating elbow-to-elbow over being comfortably spaced at the bigger table(s).

so tonight, i was part of the conversation. it was so good to be transported back to my dining table, surrounded by my lovely family. it made me really happy and i'm very very grateful to be back home for dinner, if only in spirit and through the wonders of modern technology. plus i always love watching him securely ensconed in the family fold. if i'm not careful, they're going to steal him from me. not that i'm complaining, really.

although if i just might lodge one teensy tiny grouse, i don't see why he lets me skype magic (my favourite puppy) but not volki (my 50kg 'puppy'). being able to put magic on the keyboard but not volki just doesn't seem like a good enough excuse.