su&hao

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On the day of Sunday, 31 May 2009,17:39:00

Presenting... ...

Bak Chor Mee...................................

and me! And Fried Kway Teow................................

and me! All having a good time :D

su |

On the day of Monday, 4 May 2009,21:28:00

Sunday was baking day so I brought out the fiery red weighing scale! I love to measure out the ingredients then place them in different plates, like playing on a beach and shovelling sand into colourful pails and buckets.

The flour goes into the sift which sits on the big white Corelle plate. The sugar goes directly into the big metallic mixing bowl, on top of the butter which has been brought out from the refrigerator just ten minutes ago so it’s pillowy soft but not melted. Eggs will first sit unbroken in a Japanese rice bowl. Later they will be lightly cracked into the same bowl and very gently whisked with a spoon. An inch of cold milk, any cup will do to add to this eclectic mix of crockery display.

Then out comes my mom’s mixer of twenty years that has served us very well – a cream coloured machine that is always raring to go. Because the weather has been so hot, the air conditioning needs to be turned on or the butter will melt too quickly which makes the batter runny.

Creaming, whisking, folding-in, the mixture evolves from a thick clotted cream to a slippery batter. Then as it interacts with the flour, it thickens and takes on the right identity.

I split the mixture to make cupcakes and the individual cups really came into their own when they ballooned quietly in the orange heat of the oven. Sneaky was the smell that snaked around the apartment, betraying the identity of our little friends.

I love to bake! (And eat!)

su |

On the day of 20:16:00

There is no reason to spend a perfectly good afternoon mulling over what could have been… although, oh the possibilities! My well laid out plans to make life more fun and well spent. I suddenly grasp the importance of time and how it is leaking me by like water in a cracked glass you’ve put on the table. Next thing you know it’s all over – the table top, the carpet, the floor – water is evaporating everywhere except within your very possession. Life will be over soon. Even if we were to dwell in misery every single day, seek comfort that life will be over. And even if we live in happiness, life will be over erasing all of that from our consciousness. Which is to say, everything in existence, and all that we see and feel will only matter for a very short time. The very short time is now.

Yet we humans keep on working ourselves to deaths, complaining, frittering, hating. There must have been a defective stage in evolution, which made humans stupid enough to keep doing these things they neither find worthwhile nor gratifying.

I am not picking on work. I do think that work is part of what gives meaning to life. But is it necessary to work so many hours? The amount of time I spend working versus the amount of time I spend cultivating my numerous interests is grossly imbalanced. At work I do administrative work, I manage people, troubleshoot matters and facilitate events, and honestly there is little creativity, enjoyment or satisfaction. But I do not hate it. It challenges me, especially, to bring out some wit to handle different people in different situations. I just don’t want to work so many hours and I don’t dare to do anything about it. For now. It must be for a reason that I don’t yet know. One day there’d come a reason for me to action.

su |