Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Hair: Remember the time I was going from the second floor of the restaurant down to the first in the lift, and the doors closed so I unbuttoned, and quickly reached into my shirt to get the pesky hair that had fallen off my head and lodged itself in my bra and had been bugging me all day, and as I was fishing for it, the doors opened again because I forgot to hit "1" and our bistro full of people saw me, in chef attire, with my hand down my shirt? Ha I remember that too.....It was awful.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

*************Attention....**************
the following post is a bit racy! It reveals intimate details about my life, but I think you can handle it.

One time I washed my fancy stuff, with my non fancy stuff, and my fancy stuff leached all it's color....so now, my non fancy white undershirts, are light pink, and are now fancy...and my fancy stuff...looks old. Its a double edged sword. {Thanks for nothing Persil colorstay detergent...you owe some fancy and non fancy stuff}

Monday, January 27, 2014

So I am getting on a plane soon.....I would really like this to happen during my flight: 


yep isn't it cool that on my blog I can do what I want? so yes, I am taking both our valuable time and posting this kissing clip....because it would be real nice. 

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Prada vs. Prata
One is $3, the other $3k. One will make you love your taste buds, one will ensure you count every calorie you ever intake. One is made in Asia...wait they both are. One you will show off to your friends, one you will hide the frequency you buy it from everyone! One will make you feel like a million bucks, one will give your GI track a workout. One will go out of style by next season, one will forever be perfection. I will let you choose which I indulge in more....

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Dear Ikea,

thanks so much for having cheap furniture so when I moved to SG I found a nightstand on sale for $34. Thanks so much for also including an allen wrench and decent instructions....but really? How hard is it to make every bolt a hex bolt? Because, when you put in phillips screws, that I hadn't planned for, I have to use scissors to finish my project, and I almost stabbed myself twice. Had I really stabbed myself I would be billing you for pain and suffering, but I didn't so instead you are just getting asked, by me, to either include a phillips head on the other end of the allen wrench, or make all the dang bolts hex bolts!

Sincerely,

Monica Kate

Friday, January 24, 2014

DBD#10 Snore Feast:he was tall, light, and handsome. Blue eyes that swallowed me. He had asked me to dinner at his place, and seeing he was tall but french...therefore I could take him....I agreed. I showed up all primped and ready, he had made a lovely spread. The conversation was a charming mix of english and french. We ate, then sat down for a movie. He hits play, I'm thinking I might get held if things go well, the trailers at the beginning start, and then I wake up to a blank TV. Yep. You read it right. I wake up, I have a blanket on, the hall light is on, and a note is taped to the TV:

"Monica, 
you looked so tired and are snoring so loud, I went to my friend's flat across the hall. Feel free to spend the night, text me when you wake up."

I wiped the drool of my face, found my shoes, then took a very awkward short walk home. Note to self, when meeting a stranger for the first time, nap first because falling asleep with a stranger isn't safe. Note #2 to self, when meeting a stranger for the first time, nap first because, "snoring so loud" will ensure you never get a 2nd date.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Sometimes I fall asleep by the pool and wake up 4 hours later....{I woke up only because it was raining}. And when I wake up, I know I didn't budge once, because I have a headphone cord tanned into my skin.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The things that make me, me:
Every morning I put on some of this...because it makes me feel fancy
I wear a different sock on each foot to not forget life is full of playful wonder
I paint my nails black on days off because it makes me feel edgy
before service I always ring this cats bell because I know it will bring me luck

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Cheetos: He was a PhD, in from London doing research on chefs, he asked if he could interview me for a piece he was doing. I was flattered. He was coming into Pollen to interview a few of the other chefs as well. When my turn came I went out, lipgloss on, hair tidy. Hope he is ready for eloquent perfection. I removed my apron and to my horror!!!!!!! one of the 87 Cheetos I had stuffed into my mouth seconds earlier, hadn't made the destination. It had fallen in my apron and was hiding and as I untied the strings, it fell on the floor, the doctor picked it up and put it on the table.

"Is that a Cheeto?"
"I guess so, no clue where that came from" (LIE)

then I look down at my shirt, and I had a cheesy belt imprint. That lone Cheeto, in a matter of minutes, had cheesed my shirt to an extent that a quick brush wasn't going to fix. I died. We started the interview. Things went fine, not sure I was the "eloquent perfection"I had hoped I would be, but I was me. He stood up to go, so did I, he thanked me for my time, I picked up the Cheeto off the table....the Cheeto that had been on the floor....and popped it in my mouth!

"Did you just eat the Cheeto?"
"Don't worry about it"

and then I walked quickly into the kitchen. So if you ever read an article about a chef who ate a Cheeto off the floor, that was me.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Lucky Charm:on rough days I wear this dark bracelet, it was given to me by another chef. I like to think when I wear it I have superchef powers, I can take on the world. Being solo is not as easy as I had anticipated, doubt creeps in with the smallest allowance. I feel so completely alone and so very very different from everything around me. I wouldn't change this for anything, and I realize Singapore is the unexpected wonder I have looked for. It is simply that on some days, I have no one to lean on here, no one to hug me and tell me I am amazing. I have no one to show my successes to, no one to tell me it's just not a big deal. I have all of this....it's just 8,770 miles away.  So this, this little nothing to many, is my secret weapon. It's my lucky jersey, my rabbits foot, my fortune cookie.  I have all the tools I need within myself, but sometime it's easier to think that the power is coming from a few beads on a string. Sometimes relying on others belief in us, is enough until we believe in ourselves.      
 Merci a jamais AFL.  

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?:
Look close....
ding ding ding, that's right, no toilet paper holder. WHY!? This is ridiculous! The toilet paper is outside the stall by the hand dryer, you get it before you go on. Only no one tells you until it is too late!

Now take a look at exhibit B:

This is probably the only thing I have found that I completely hate about Asia, the toilet paper situation. I am sorry to be so graphic, but really what do people do without it? The first time it caught me off guard I was in China in the Forbidden City. Busy place, right? Lots of tourists, right? Normal toilets, right? WRONG! They had squatters with no toilet paper! The one day in my month in China my body starts to malfunction....and there is a squatter with no toilet paper. Enter saver of the day, the tourist map. I have had this same no TP issues 2 other times, so, I now travel with toilet paper all the time. 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Nice day, surfing the web on the deck, oh that's a cute little rain cloud:
 Wait, what's going on, it's dark
 and 2 minutes later the rain was so bad I couldn't even see across the street. Singapore, I adore your little weather tantrums. 

Monday, January 6, 2014

Chef Flourist: a large bank here in Singapore was having a holiday dinner here, during a meeting among the chefs and managers the question came up if anyone knew a florist who could do their arrangement. No one did, but I suggested I could do an arrangement or two. And 2 turned into 22 small, 2 medium, and 1 really really large one. Moral of the story, what should be the motto for my life, keep your mouth shut :) But the flowers turned out quite nice:
 No space to prep so I took over the HR conference room
almost there....
 the small....
the medium....
 the large....
fruit, veg, and florals. Enough to make me realize I never want to be a florist.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Gory Story: You connect the dots


Saturday, January 4, 2014

New Years Eve:I am quite juvenile in my day dreams. I dream of the perfect Christmas in a cabin, a New Year's Eve party where I have the quintessential party dress and perfect hair, and get a really really great kiss just as the clock turns 12:00 and fireworks start. Maybe someday. But for right now....I am completely in love with this. I worked New Year's Eve with Adam and Wei Chan. They are better than a dress and a kiss. We found little ways to enjoy the day: putting stuff into liquid nitrogen, having a contest to see who could unwrap the hi-chew in their mouth the fastest (I won, but only because neither had ever heard of such a thing)
as the tickets came through one after another, after another, I couldn't snap out of it, the nostalgic coma I had created. Thinking back to all that had happened in the past 12 months. The people, the places, the love, the joy, the laughter, the learning, the giant flops, the adventures, the blessings. I don't think I stopped smiling all day.
I could go on and bore you with more of my deep thoughts that I think are real good, but I will spare you.....and give you photos instead :) Happy New Year
the last selfies of the year....taken at 11:59p
 
 
I did get my fireworks

what the restaurant looks like after a giant party
and lastly my giant face....first selfie of 2014....as I looked over all the chaos of a whole bunch of people trying to get to the metro, and realized I wasn't getting home anytime soon!