Saturday, November 23, 2013



Chillers: Every restaurant has walk-in fridges. If you don't know what I am talking about, they are literally walk-in chillers. Most are about as big as 5 department store changing rooms. A long time ago, I got a kiss in a walk-in...(no I am not going to tell that story! focus!) I go in there when I need stuff, butter, milk, sugar, eggs, I go in there when I am really hot, I go in there when I need a second to figuratively cool down or compose my thoughts. Our chillers here aren't sound proof, in some places they are, so you can get a good scream in :) Anyway, I'm rambling, From time to time you go to grab something, and something else is in your way...like this: (yes a dead pig snout grazed my arm while I was getting eggs, yes it made me gag, no it did not stop me from eating meat). I hate unexpected "somethings" like this.















And then from time to time you go to grab something, and something else is in your way ...like this: (anniversary flowers for table D3 with the 8:30p reservation. 35 years.) Clearly things like this are beyond charming, and completely welcomed, and make me love everything and everyone for just a minute......until I need to get eggs again.






Thursday, November 21, 2013

I don't miss home. It's only been a month and a half since I left. And this is the adventure of a lifetime, so why would I waste time not catapulting myself as hard as I could into this place? Well I am. And I love it!! But, I was looking for an apartment today, and today, I miss craigslist, and good old classifieds. Finding an apartment here is possibly more difficult that resolving America's health care crisis.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013






I am about the most nostalgic a person can be. I think most of my emotions are gooey and glowing, potentially pink, maybe glittery. I love my memories, and I hold every single one vivid and dear. (photographic memory kind of forces the brain to be clogged with details of the past, but I don't mind) Today I was picking petals in preparation for dinner service.  The marigold petals add a little color, a hint of unexpected pepper to the dessert.  Seconds in, and I was transported back to 10068 Willow Court, the house with the willow trees, and the porch swing, and the rafters where the kittens would get stuck.  Where I broke my arm x2, slept under the stars, and imagined what I would do when I grew up, all while picking marigold bouquets with my chipped nail polish nails, on little hands. The smell of those flowers brought an intoxicating flood of childhood wonder into my conscious thought. I permitted the pause in my day, the nostalgic moment, the daydream of my yesterdays, because life it too short not to stop and smell the ....marigolds.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Deck the August: There is a chill in the air, holiday music is beginning to fill the radio stations, scarves are wrapped tightly on neck, mittens on hands, snow flutters, spontaneously wondering if it should come full force or just dance in the air................rewind.............that's all crap! I am in Singapore. It's a constant 80 degrees. I measure the temp like this: manageable or sauna. It is always hot and always humid, my face sweats, and it feels nothing like Thanksgiving, or Christmas. They try to make it look like it:

Strands of lights under bridges, trees shaped like evergreens. It's a good solid try, and for them this is "holiday" decor. For me, in my head, it feels like August, a month with nothing really going on. I think for as long as I am in Singapore, it will be August. That being said, I will be making gingerbread houses, and trees of macarons.....but my senses are confused. Timing says it's the holidays, but I find myself longing for that smell of pine, that goosebump chill as you leave your home, the essential need for a warm cider by a crackling fire with fuzzy socks and a blanket. I will have to knock to sense into my senses, or else it's going to be a long August. 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

From Hero to Zero quite quickly in China: I enjoyed China. My last day I was alone in Beijing. My last lasting memory was a bit lousy: I waiting in line for a bus, to take me to the subway, to take me to the airport. A local was trying to lure tourist to experience his mode of transport, a rickety motorized tricycle.  In Beijing, traffic signals, stop signs, sides of the road, all meaningless. Red light ? Oh turn left and veer through oncoming traffic. Traffic? Pass it on the left crossing what should be a double yellow line, and weasel back in after the congestion has stopped. Accident? don't merge left to allow more space, get closer on the right and barely miss, there is half a lane you can freely use.  Okay back to the story....rant over. The motorist met my gaze, and said, " $3?" Bus is $2, the queue was long and I was tired, so against my better judgement I boarded his death wagon, seconds later I was adoring my decision. These things are awesome, unobstructed views, breeze, no sweaty person next to you...it was awesome. See:
(yes he is on his cell while driving me in his death wagon)
We pulled up just shy of the metro, I pulled out my $3, he pulled out a hand written card, "$50". Um, no way! Long story short, we fought over the price, he pushed me behind a bus, I got slapped in the face, I lunged forward to decapitate him, he coward, grabbed the $3 and I ran off and hid behind a trash can until he puttered away. And that was my last memory of China.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Around here, pastry is serious business. {pay no mind to the crazy wait staff behind us}
 I mean serious business!
Voila, the faces that create wonder with me every day. 2 week in and they feel like home already
{Wie Chan, Adam, Kay-tear she's moving to Australia :(- Fiona, and Yoke Lin}

Sunday, November 10, 2013

#gottaloveasiankids: In one outfit, this child single handedly has more style and coolness than I have had in all 30 years of life combined 

Friday, November 8, 2013


CHINAPHOTOVERLAOD

THE WALL: Words fail. You hear of it, you see pictures in history books, you think of how it would be to see, and then all your preconceived notions are shot down the moment it comes into view. There are no western emotions that accurately convey what it does to you....and maybe I am far to idealistic, and romantic about the whole situation, but walking on that wall, seeing that city, these are things I never fathomed I would see. Weaving and twisting along the harsh ridge line, such an organic whimsical structure from a distance. Up close the magnificence is hard to comprehend.

 


(before you climb, you can write your wish, on this...I didn't want to spend the money to buy one so I threw a coin in a nearby pool...no kiss on the great wall. That's what I get for not doing it right. Lesson learned people!)



The Forbidden City:Such a mysterious place, a maze of yellow and green tiles, delicate carvings, priceless treasures. Ponds and gardens, houses finished, structures forgotten. Miles and miles and miles of rooms and thrones and steps, and dragons.  They say we only use about 10% of our mental capacity at any given time, today after seeing all this I just wanted to close my eyes. My brain was full. I could no longer process any more. After 5 hours I had to leave, because I quite literally couldn't look at anything else. Mental processor was smoking, I had filled up my internal hard drive, updating was necessary and I needed to restart my system.



 

 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

It seemed like the clear choice, if you go to Beijing, you go to Tiananman Square. So after dropping B at the airport, I took the subway and 45 minutes later was in the midst of the chaos. The night before B and I had taken a late stroll and there wasn't a soul, so I was expecting this again, quiet and peaceful: 
I got this:
so I tried to blend in :) snapped a few pics then got into the queue with the rest of the black haired sea. We wound around and around, checked our bags, and I knew we were going to see General Mao's Mausoleum, I just didn't know how many people would be there! Half way though the queue the flower vendors sat with carts of single stemmed yellow mums. One can only assume the flower and the color was of great significant to this very culturally grounded country. One more switchback and we were in....a large room with a marble statue of General Mao and a lovely mural.  More amazing though was the quantity of flowers. Stacks 10 feet high clutter the room, there was something magnificent about it all. But I really wondered why we queued for so long just for this, and then they ushered us into the next room. Holy smokes there he was! In the flesh enclosed in a glass coffin. No pictures were allowed but it was quite curious, a perfectly preserved General Mao, with an open casket viewing daily from 8a-12p. And then I knew why they waited, and I was glad I waited too. I didn't buy a mum, I didn't bow when I saw his oddly preserved corpse, but I experienced something that is life changing to so many in China. I wasn't change by him, but gained a small insight into what makes the tick. And it made for a great pre-Halloween activity ;)