wouter hamel

discovered a brilliant artist while checking out monocle live: volume 3. beautiful voice, great lyrics, plus points for looking so cute and a dutch to top it all off. what's there not to like?

i think wouter hamel's going to be a big name soon. gotta get him to singapore somehow!

what to do with your ex's shirt...

this video's brilliant, and the designs actually look really good!

incredible india.

sugar cane stall indian style

it sucks you in, churns you around and turns you upside down before spitting you out. that's how i felt about my first trip to india. it was a short solo work trip of 3 days, and every single second was an adventure in itself. 

slums and poverty intermingling with luxury and wealth. waves upon waves of funky smells. beautiful yet derelict looking colonial buildings as a reminder of the british rule. being stared at by every single person who walks past. swarmed by a never ending sea of people. tuning out to the cacophony of car horns. 

the excitement and yet at the same time, fear of walking around alone - i never stopped walking and only paused for the slightest click of my camera.

i feel as if the country has won this time, leaving me a battered little soldier girl. which makes me even more determined to go back again to conquer the rest of the country.


this set of photos come unedited, as raw as the city is. enjoy!

home.

back from a whirlwind work trip to tokyo, hong kong and mumbai. was great to be back in tokyo and hong kong, but mumbai really overwhelmed me on all accounts. absolute definition of culture shock. that's another story for another day.

it's been some time since i've seen such refreshing shots of singapore, really impressed by singaporean photographer nguan! 

find out more about nguan here and here.

a piece of real history.

relatives found a really old family photo of my very young grandmother and her foster parents! gosh that must have been taken way back in the 1920s. 

how cool is that?

my grandma's on the extreme right!

i still miss my grandmother quite a fair bit, but it helps that my mum and i share openly about it. we're always joking that she's probably happily chillin' with my grandfather, so that's good. =)

10,422.72 kilometres away.

my prized find from portobello market in london - 

a 1903 map of the netherlands, taken from the encyclopedia britannica.
(large photos to showcase the font details)

it's a beauty, i'm in love with it.

when the week ends, the real weekend begins.

i've always dreamt about having a picnic at the botanic gardens with the full works sunday brunch style. finally managed to convince my canoeing mates that something like this was worth waking up at 7.30am on a sunday for. i offered to bring all the food just to persuade them that it wasn't such a bad idea after all and so the past two days were spent planning, grocery shopping, prepping and finally cooking! 

el menú

i might have been over ambitious to think that i could pull all of that off on my own, so thank god my elf chef (aka sister's bf) and loving mother offered to help cook and clean respectively. 

note to self: grocery shopping needs serious muscle strength. transporting everything from home to botanics also needs serious muscle strength. 

it was great fun nonetheless and save for the very small picnic mat situation, everything fell into place perfectly. good weather, great food (i would like to believe!) & fantastic company! =)

from left to right:
pancakes with vanilla poached peaches and caramelized bananas,
baked eggs with mushroom, bacon & cucumbers
elf chef's balsamic cream mushrooms and home-made salsa
smoked salmon and cream cheese with crackers
roasted pumpkin and spinach salad 

the grand finale - bread & butter-less pudding
(lovingly assembled by elf chef!)

missing in the pictures was the ultimate sunday brunch tipple - mimosa! the champagne and orange juice combination completed the picture. 

if you're interested, here are some of the recipes i used as reference:

Pumpkin and Spinach Salad 

(Fantastic salad combination, I also added feta cheese)

Vanilla Poached Peaches 

(Unbelievably easy yet delicious)

Jamie Oliver's Bun & Butter Pudding 

(Made a few adaptations by soaking the raisins in Cointreau, using French baguette, omitting the butter, cognac and zest. It was so yummy I'm still thinking about it now)

I hope you had a great weekend too, have a blessed week ahead! =)

have a blessed week ahead!

if work gets overwhelming, don't forget to

from workisnotajob

some kind of wonderful.

heard a song over the radio today which somehow reminded me that life has been pretty wonderful life despite the crazy work schedule. i'm very blessed indeed.

and so i went home to google the song and found a couple of versions, from the drifters who sang the original version to michael buble who did a chirpy cover, but the best was still the one by peter cincotti, which i heard over the radio:

the volume's very low, you need to blast your speakers a little

have never heard of peter cincotti until today but oh boy, that voice and boyish looks made me swoon like a little girl.

check out these other two great songs too:

goodbye philadelphia

rainbow connection

sunshine.

couldn't peel my eyes of this great shot. 

the girl's smile spells sunshine a thousand times over. =)

from carolines mode.

have a slice of the world.

3 guys
44 days
11 countries
18 flights
38,000 miles

i'm pretty damn sure it was a trip of a lifetime alright!


EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

i like the jalepeno shot!

also check out move and learn here.

first seen on black eiffel!

qarah moment.

was extremely blessed to be given the opportunity to host claus meyer, the co-founder of critically acclaimed restaurant Noma, when he was in town recently. a great, great visionary man and loving father indeed. this was one of the biggest highlights of my job yet!

read more here and here.

in memory of.

none of my friends knew very much about my grandma, or "ah ma" as i call her, except that she had been ill and battling colorectal cancer for the past year. when she passed away last week, i specified that none of them needed to come to the wake, because i've never been comfortable with the idea of people coming together to mourn. people should always come together to celebrate - for happy reasons. nevertheless, unknowingly even to myself, she had played such an integral part in my life that i have been aching to pen these thoughts down, aching to share how great a person my ah ma had been. 

i spent part of my teens staying over at her place on days when i had to train at the swimming pool near her home. the image of a sunny side up with bread - my breakfast whenever i stay over, has been deeply etched in my mind and that's the one memory that kept floating back into my mind. i visited her every couple of days in the past year that she's was unwell and it has became sort of a routine which i now have to undo. it's an overwhelming feeling that strikes when it finally sinks in that this time it's really goodbye forever. 

bits and pieces of my daily life reminded me of her and i can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for my mother. my mum had been her closest kin, never failing to give her a at least a phone call every single day for as long as i can remember.

during the wake, my mum commented that ah ma was her iron lady, encouraging her to continue working after  her pregnancy, stressing the need to be financially independent. my mum was an adopted child, but she grew up a mighty fine lady indeed. and now, my mum is no doubt my iron lady through and through.

i never understood why people liked video recordings (who actually sits down to watch a video clip of their last holiday anyway?), but i now realise that the impromptu video i'd made of my grandma and her sewing machine is probably the closest i can ever get to seeing her in person again. it's a funny 2min video of her animatedly comparing the prices of altering her own pants versus sending them to the tailor (we're talking about S$3 here), and i can't help but chuckle every time i watch it. a great way to remember her by!

the last few months of her life had been painful for her, and it was heartbreaking in the last days to see her suffering and yet could do nothing to help. in a way we're glad she's relieved of her pain and is now in a much better place.

ah ma, i love you and you are dearly missed.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. - revelation 21:4

just shoot me.

spotted these beautiful iphone covers offered by our local design store pomelo:

too bad i haven't turned over to the dark side (someone has to support nokia the underdog), otherwise i'd definitely get my hands on one of these beauties!

when there's a burning in your heart.

death cab's latest single - you are a tourist. 

a one-take music video that's super old school psychedelic. i like! =)

something to shout about

after all the cheesy postcards and merlion chocolates, we finally have tastefully designed souvenirs worth showing off to the world. i would proudly wear one of these shirts and carry one of these notesbooks! =)

to the people behind LOVE SG, you're doing a great job so keep going! =)

You've Got the Love I Need.

I heart Florence and the Machine

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air

I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying "Lord I just don't care"

But you've got the love I need To see me through
Sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough

And things go wrong no matter what I do

Now and then it seems that life is just too much

But you've got the love I need to see me through
When food is gone you are my daily meal

When friends are gone I know my savior's love is real

Your love is real
You got the love

sent into a state of trance.

it was a thursday, it was 3 hours of sleep, but it was all worth it, because it was armin van buuren at zouk last night! known by many as the world's no. 1 DJ, i knew i had to go. not to mention he's from the netherlands and from leiden! (i can already feel pete's sense of pride for his countryman =p) 

it's a date!

 and boy did he rock, he was so a.w.e.s.o.m.e. 

more more more

with timbre rock & roots tomorrow as well, it's turning out to be quite a music filled week. can't wait to see imogen heap perform live! =) 

have a great weekend everyone!

a week of His crowned goodness!

such an awesome sunday! back to the waters paddling in a k2 for the first time in years, followed by a fantastic brunch at the plain with the canoe babes and fed my soul with a great sunday service. it's great to have a colleague, friend and fellow sister-in-christ all in one pretty package called ms. liew. =)

humpty dumpty and vegemite soldiers 

dippy eggs with vegemite on buttered toast sticks

(ermm.. we borrowed a marker and drew the eggs ourselves so please don't be disappointed when yours doesn't look this cool.) photo courtesy of shoe.

darling's eggs

poached eggs with ham, cheese, & roma tomatoes on sourdough toast

iced coffee with milk and honey

skinny cuppacino

photo courtesy of woon

chanced upon this funky french/finnish indie pop band called the do, and this must be one of the weirdest funky song and video, caught myself bobbing along to its bollywood-like tune!

slippery slope - the do

another of their song with a beautiful video:

dust it off - the do (live at aquarium de paris)

have a fantastic week ahead everyone! =)

updates.

so much to do so little time! it's been a crazy busy two months but fulfilling nonetheless. there are many things i'd like to share but the inertia to start writing during a non-work day is just too strong. i will get down to it someday, but in the meantime, here's sharing a track by villagers from the album becoming a jackal - perfect for a rainy chillout saturday. have a great weekend everyone! =)

"I'm leaving for the great wide open plains
Leaving while this holy spark remains

I see you've written promises to make me stay

But it really doesn't matter now anyway

I'm leaving

True love feeds on absences like pleasure feeds on pain

So no matter where I'm standing I still love you all the same

And I hope you feel the same way when its your turn to disappear

I'll be cheering from the sidelines with a sandwich and a beer

"

- set the tigers free by villagers

phil 4:6

i really like this design from olly moss.

the world calls it optimism, i call it bible hope. 

it's a hope that never disappoints.

blame it on the weather man.

inspired by the non-stop rain and freezing weather, i posted a message on facebook:

"dear God, when I wished for winter in Singapore, i wasn't expecting so much rain."

well, there ain't no rainbows without rain buddy

then in a span of 15 mins my brain kept churning out cheesy sentences like:


"heaven ran out of cats and dogs, so it decided to rain giraffes and elephants instead."


"too many people must have sang the song "rain, rain, go away" the past year and God decided to clear the backlog of rain debt before this FY(financial year) ends."

oh man... sometimes i'm so lame i can't stand myself... i have to sit down instead.

hooked on 6:04 minutes of awesomeness.

I LOVE MAGNETIC MAN.

(yup.. in caps+bold+underline for emphasis)

goodbye and hello

good morning world and blessed new year to everyone!

it feels surreal to be back in january again and all i could think about at the stroke of midnight was "oh my god, is it really january 2011 already?!?" nevertheless, i'm psyched up for the year ahead, because i know that it's going to be my best year yet. amen! =)

2010 has been an incredible year with unbelievable blessings and experiences. i've been having this strong urge to pen them down just so that i can look back 10 years down the road and smile at what life was like a decade ago.

so, before i kickstart the new (and awesome) year, i'll take some time to be thankful for the experiences which i have been blessed with the past year:

- visited korea for the first time on a whirlwind work trip and didn't see much
- had a Before Sunrise episode which was drama until the end but absolutely no regrets
- visited the land of the rising sun for the first time

- joined the F1 team, had a fantastic F1 experience and took away with great friendships

- finally picked up spanish

- got my first performance bonus (wee!)

- marked my first year of work and still feeling thankful everyday for being able to enjoy what i do

- got posted to the department of my dreams

- went back to holland, revisited old friends and made plenty of new ones
- travelled alone for the first time to scotland
- got blown away by the beauty of the highlands, scotland
- ran another half marathon and spent half the journey swearing i'll never do it again
- finally stepped into zouk after a couple of failed attempts, and on mambo night too!
- finally repainted my room and got rid of my gaudy blue

sometimes we get so absorbed in our challenges and all we think about is the bugging problem that we forget the many other blessings to be thankful for. i'll be the first to say that it hasn't been all clear skies and rainbows the past year, but on hindsight, i'm grateful for each moment and wouldn't change it a single bit.

now, i wonder what richer blessings 2011 will bring. =)