Bad Luck

With 300 resumes on his desk and a need to pick someone quickly, my boss told me to make calls to the bottom 50 and toss the rest. "Throw away 250 resumes?" I asked. "What if the best candidates are in there?" "You have a point," he said. "But then again, I don't need people with bad luck around here."

- Becky Horowitz in Reader's Digest Feb 2007 issue

Christmas 2007

It was almost a perfect day yesterday.

I remember sitting in the garden in the late afternoon, the sun on my face an the wind blowing.

That was after most of the preparations had been done - the flowers bought from Far East had been arranged and put up, the floor swept... The 2 heavenly slabs of beef gently roasting in the oven, with their delectable smells wafting through the air.

The menu that night was two 2kg slabs of roast beef and a 3kg slab of pork, rolled and stuffed with prunes and apples. That was accompanied with the perfect red cabbage. There was also a platter of roast vegetables which I had to force myself not to gobble up - the roast pumpkin was to die for. There was also my favourite roast sweet potato! Oooooo! And for carbs, we baked our own bread! I can tell you, you've got to hand it to bakers who knead their own bread! It took forever. We baked two types, a flaxseed and black sesame with wholemeal and a poppy seed loaf! Yup, poppy seeds which we bought locally.





I don't know how genuine they were and I can't tell anyway, so I'll just take the lady's word for it that they were poppy seeds.

You don't get high on them. At least I don't know how to prepare them such that they wil make you high. So, will poppy seeds cause you to fail a drug test?

Poppy seeds come in two colours, the black and white. If I am not mistaken, the white is generally used for pastries and savoury dishes, while the black can be used for curries and stews.

We went for the usual midnight mass after dessert of a annual flaming christmas pudding with rum and some strawberry port to wash it down.

Of course we didn't get seats at church. I don't know what it is... But I am beginning to questions my faith, or the lack of it.

Popped by Chin Sin and Thad's place after mass and but I didn't drink. Thad was pissed drunk. Lol.

Can't wait for tomorrow. Will be seeing the blondes. Amir is playing for th RJ alumni band. but I think you know who I'm wanting to see, no?

Distractions

Been wanting to post for sometime now. Damn videostic.com - the cause of my delay? Heroes.

Last night we celebrated Holly's birthday. Mum made an amazing, and I mean AMAZING roast pork. It was a 2kg slab of pork loin that was rolled with a stuffing of chopped prunes, apples, coriander and spinach leaves. After rolled the pork was tied and roasted fat side up at about 180 degrees for about 2hours. With the fat crackling, the only word to describe it was exquisite!

There was a red cabbage side as well. Initially I thought that it would go and hey, how tasty could cabbage be? But the cabbage was an explosion of flavour. Baked in a dish with apples and onions, it was the perfect complimentary dish for the pork. Also it didn't hurt that it looked so bloody good with the purple cabbage.

Dessert did not disappoint either - a Chocolate Amer - a flourless chocolate sponge layered with bitter chocolate mousse from Bakerzin. Thankfully didn't get the bigger cake - this was was a size 5 and just nice for the 6 of us.



Well, dinner time!

Home

Met De and Nick today after work. 

Nick got me two tailored shirts! Very nice. And pants too! Argh, feel bad. It still amazes me when we finish each others' sentences or when we know each other's humour so well that it just cracks us up. Lol. I was laughing on the way back in the cab. 

De got great Christmas presents too. They were early and not wrapped, but they were #1 issues of some of my favourite comics like Wonder Woman (Wonder-f**king-Woman!) and Supergirl. I think I am gonna frame those up. Can't believe he got them. And I suppose it has been awhile since I have been reading comics but I so miss doing that. 

We ate at the above Tonkatsu restaurant, Tonkichi. Great food, and you would probably never have realised that there were a few variations to the seemingly-common tonkatsu. It is quite a different experience - to start with you get to grind your own sauce! Well, just the sesame seeds and then you can add your own chili powder... I loved the pickles. Always have.  I could just eat them with rice on its own. To wash it all down we had ume-shu. All very tai-tai like. 

Also spent a bomb on facial cleansing products. From no less than Kiehl's. I shan't say how much, but I suppose it was an investment for my face. Oh dear, what a blonde. 

I should go to bed. 

Christchurch – Day 8

Christchurch – Day 8

Didn’t write last night. There wasn’t much to write about anyhow.

The weather this morning was great! The Sun was actually out and it looked to be a great day. Though about three it turned for the worst and didn’t get better.

I went opposite Bealey to Circa today since Jacksons was closed today. I didn’t see the last time, but there was this rubber-stamp shop which sold an incredible about of rubber stamps. You could go crazy just looking at them. And then I bought about twenty bucks worth of paper and the lovely lady gave me oneof her catalogues. Really makes you realize how small art is a part of Singapore.

Went to the Art Gallery and the weekend Art Centre market today. They really had unique stuff there.

There was this green woolen jacket I had been eyeing since Wednesday and I finally decided to get it today. I mean it was hand-woven and didn’t cost much – about $89 as compared to the Icebreaker. So I rushed back to the cathedral square about four thirty and went to the stall. I was hoping he hadn’t closed yet, because they normally start to close about four and lo and behold, it was the ONLY piece he hadn’t kept!

We finally got a chance to go to Strawberry Fare. On the whole the mains weren’t fantastic – they were good but I think I’d probably rather got there for a dessert or a light meal instead. Sarah and I shared the entrée of Glazed Figs with creamy blue Castello, proscuitto and fig vincotto with crostini. Now that was fantastic. The cheese was Brie but was more like blue, strong and almost pungent. I really enjoyed the way the cheese and the figs mix in your mouth or the way the saltiness of the proscuitto cuts across the sweetness of the figs. Truly a match made in heaven. The mains were a duck confit and a sweet Briar Merino Lamb rack. The duck wasn’t what I was used to as a confit – the skin was pretty soft, like it was stewed. The texture of the lamb was only so-so but the taste was fantastic. There were two complimenting sauces – a yoghurt mint and some spiced chutney, which complimented it perfectly.

Dessert was the highlight – I had the Ultimate Chocolate Dessert, which consisted of a rich chocolate brownie, a chocolate mousse, a chocolate ice cream and another dark chocolate pudding. To top it off there was a raspberry coulis and a bunch of sliced strawberries thrown in. Sarah had the sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce.

It’s the last night. Time to pack.