Happy birthday to us

It's our birthday

...he said mid embrace. Well, give or take four hours more.

He's going to pop open a bottle of champagne($300 SGD... why didn't he just buy jewelry?!) bought specially for this occasion and we'll drink sparkly bubbly to toast our special occasion.

I bought him another pair of cufflinks (I love a young man in cufflinks). This time, a pair from JJ Weston. Silver elephants... because elephants never forget.

A strong relationship is one that appreciates not only the big gestures but the little ones as well. If I had a wish for tonight, it would be that we never take each other for granted. Listening to all the silly problems our friends have with their relationships, we've got so many good things going. I'm a really lucky girl.

It's a wonderful day... if only there wasn't the finals exams. *Grin. Anyway, I don't think anything can spoil this fuzzy familiar feeling inside that I've been having all year long.

Here's to many more with my boyfriend. Thank you for asking, darling.

Gracious!

stormy cloud nine

A Brewing Storm on a Cloud Called 'Nine'

It is not anger, just heartache. Nothing serious, but small things do add up. No screaming, of course I cried buckets (I provide you rain, dear Nine). Not over, but things fundamentally changed. Bad timing, then again there is never a good time for this.

Update: *Gallant didn't leave me feeling upset for too long. Last night, he said sincere apologies and held my hand to his heart. Today, he gave into my valid *ahem* demands.

Well, tomorrow is the first day of exams. But *tomorrow, what problems lie ahead?

type of writer quiz

You Should Be A Poet

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways. And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery... Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever. You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Oh right... you'd laugh as hard as I did, knowing the kind of poetry I churn out. Hmmn... how about poetic writing instead? =)

And you know I love quizes near exam time:

People Envy Your Generosity

You're a giving soul, and you'd do almost anything for those you love. And they'd do anything for you! People may envy how giving you are, but more than anything, they envy those you open your heart to.

What Do People Envy About You?

What a cheap way to feel good about oneself...

You Are The Opposite of Machiavellian

You don't have a cynical, power hungry bone in your body. Honest and kind, you believe being a good person is the most important thing. While your upstanding morals should be admired, be careful! You're at risk for being manipulated and toyed with.

How Machiavellian Are You?

If a person were truely Machiavellian, she'd lie at every single question and appear the exact opposite. Then again, a Machiavellian would have never written this disclaimer.

You Are 40% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

I honestly thought I was a lot more weird than a mere 40%. =)

Little tarnishes in this lovely relationship of mine (minor problems that will, like fine antique, eventually give character and define its beauty) coupled with much of the big world stresses makes a very unhappy me.

At times of grave (emotional) sorrow, it is sometimes nice to get a different ear. So I called *Mr Winks who tried his best to console me. And if you're anything like *Mr Winks, in times of great tears, you read the other person quotes from Nietzsche.

Different persons, different remedies.

bacon pasta and lemon roast chicken

Love is Bacon Tomato Pasta and Lemon Roast Chicken

I've finally finished the last of my papers in NUS. Now, with less than two weeks to exams, I can assure you the near future is full of late nights, panda eyes and a crammed head.

After a long Sunday night at the breezy arts canteen writing my essay (the study rooms are full and the library is closed) and a tiring Monday morning editing the essay, I just had the urge to cook a huge, elaborate meal.

Furthermore, the boyfriend was hinting (pretty hard) that he missed my cooking. I had to oblige.

I wanted to make Belle's baked fish with marjoram but I was out of the herb. Then I couldn't decide between pasta and salad, or roast chicken with butter and garlic rice... so I made everything (with the exception of the rice).

The pasta was a great success! Here's my secret when I try out online recipes: I choose one that I like, and then google around the main ingredients to find other recipes to compare, and add own touches to the recipe and voila! But with the searching and cooking and preparing, my whole afternoon and evening was all used up.

I started off with this Capellini Capricciosi recipe.

The pasta tastes a lot better than it looks. That and I have bad photography skills.

Bacon and Tomato Pasta
serves one tiny eater and one large eater

Olive Oil
100g of streaky bacon (2cm bite sizes)
Two cloves of thinly sliced garlic
Two medium sized onions
Two large ripe tomatoes
Handful of parsley
Salt and Pepper
Chicken broth
Splash of white wine
Angel hair or thin spaghetti

Heat a hot skillet coated with olive oil to pan fry the bacon. Cook the bacon either half crispy or well done, depending on how you like it (if you like very crispy bacon, do make sure you continue frying and remove ASAP and add it towards the end else further cooking processes will make it soggy. I prefer the medium crispy version). Add garlic and onions and saute till the onions turn translucent.

Add the finely diced tomatoes. I would prefer to leave the tomatoes for a long time in the skillet to get it relatively soft. Again, it is up to you how long you like it. Add a little chicken broth (not too much, it is a relatively dry dish) and the salt and pepper. I added a little more salt than usual as the pasta, since dry, would require this.

Add the white wine (around half a cup) and simmer to evaporate some alcohol. Then the al-dente cooked pasta and then the parsley. Serve immediately. If the pasta looks a little dry, add a spoonful or two of olive oil (the original recipe demanded 1/3 cup!).

I would add a little cheese. I bought some and I forgot to add it but it tastes good enough even without. I would skip any herbs though. Any of that dried stuff would have made it the taste too complicated.

Preparation time: Twenty minutes if you chop your ingredients quickly or one hour and fifteen minutes if, like me, did preparations while watching Gilmore Girls on the telly.

*Gallant loved this dish! We prefer this to the white sauce or marinara based ones. I will definitely be making this again and it is relatively easier to prepare.

Remember to only eat free range (kampung) chicken
to help minimize cruelty to animals! =)

I made a roast chicken too (for the first time). The recipe was adapted from Tauton Press. It was truly fun to make (the hour cleaning, stuffing and *rubbing the chicken quickly *flew by). I was so impressed that despite my gusto preparing so much stuffing that consisted of huge button mushrooms, lemon, garlic, bell peppers and parsley, everything fitted into my tiny chicken's cavity. I made the sauce too with the drippings, chicken broth and some white wine.

The pasta and chicken, along with lemonade (when you buy too many lemons, make lemonade!) and a green garden salad, we had a great dinner last night.

Women Getting Trapped

I think I see more and more of my girl friends who have boyfriends getting into dangerous traps. Time is indeed a toil, especially at an age too young to wed (thankfully, we still are).

The twin traps are i) finances and ii) eros. The first is to be lavished expensively by one's man, from simple change for the soda machine, dinners to fancy gifts. My own sister received a new handphone, a platinum diamond (chip) necklace, weekly dinners at nice restaurants and someone to pay her handphone bills, amongst many other things (gosh, she has it better in a relationship than I do!).

The thing about women that men know too well is that most of us feel obligated to return the favour (pun intended) in some way. Machismo and (*true) social rules state that we can't go dutch. Truth be told, what else does a natural man, even the most patient, want but sex?

Thus eros is the repayment women give. Yes, I understand that own pleasures need to be fulfilled too and I bear no prejudices to those who have experienced it. The reality is that the issue is indeed a serious taboo indicated by the female (largely Asian... okay, my girl friends) hesitance to admit so.

Really, it is such a private, intimate space and pleasure I would personally seek to save for my *Mr Forever-and-Ever. Keeping it though, I'm sure, is very difficult and requires lots of willpower.

So if a woman gives it away, the man, while enjoying the pleasurable gratification has also got himself a ball and chain (touche!). Only difference from the married version is that he (if he cruelly wishes to do so) can remove it easier, without paying alimony.

For the woman who gives eros away (without the true intentions for own gratification),without having her man trap her with *financial guilt, now, that's a really silly girl. *wink.

I worry for my sister and my girl friends. I am even more worried about the girl who fell into both financial and eros traps.

Although I do wish to meet the woman who traps her man in finances and eros!

watch

see the robots, see the boy

http://clik.clak.free.fr/film_high.htm

If you like well done animation, a sweet plot, mechanics... and one of those this-hits-that-and-causes-that kinda shows (you'll get what I mean).

boys

Boys and Last of Things

I had a pretty dream last night. My boyfriend past appeared to me in a tux and asked if we could waltz together for one last time (funny thing is, I've never waltzed with any of them).

We did the Fred and Ginger thing, as he gallantly turned and I gracefully twirled to an empty dance floor. What seemed to be the surrounding was only a blanket of stars.

He then kissed me kindly on the forehead, and told me he was letting me go now.

Yeah, I know that. He left me years ago. *Hmpf.

It was a tiring few days as I hurried my essays (still have one more to go and a presentation before exam, barely three weeks away! *eep!). I had barely any sleep lately.

So when *Mr Winks (I just realised how *obscene it was to call him *Winky) text messaged me to have dinner, I was too tired to cough out any creative language. Imagine how irritating it must be for you to text someone a whole para, to be only replied with 'yeah', 'okay', 'Wednesday?' one-liner messages. I thank *heavens for my understanding friends.

"Well, for you and your leisure I shall make the requisite sacrifice. On the hour past noon then fairer one", said he

But he says we would have the last of dinners together. I can't believe he is letting me go too!

Which could actually be true. You see, *Mr Winks is no ordinary person (really, I mean that... very eccentric-like). I can actually imagine him saying that he wants to 'remember me this way', prolly 'unspoiled by the capitalist world and makings', retaining my 'innocence and purity'.

Yeah, we talk like that to each other. Sometimes, I wish we all would. Some friends have testified arguing and insulting each other as signs of closeness (and closure?). Me? I would prefer to get melodramatic with you.