friday five

22/1/2010

FF: Bumper Edition

It’s Friday! Time for:

a) Getting hyped up about the weekend. Mine consists of a lunch by the ‘godfather’ of French cuisine, Michel Roux Snr, possibly a trip to the beach because it’s meant to be 39c in Sydney tomorrow AND having my fingers, toes and probably eyes as well crossed for Monday on where a lot of stuff will be happening. Huge! Excited!

b) Friday Five!! Have been totally slack (as usual) and so here’s me trying to catch up with the ones I’ve missed.. in 2010.. which is ALL of them so far.. thankfully 2010 isn’t that far along or I might be here all night..

Friday 5 for January 22: Personal Adds
1. What’s your favorite “just add water!” food?
Instant mash potatoes. Those terrible reconstituted Maggi ones. That come with “just add water!” gravy. Love!

2. What’s your favorite thing to add vinegar to?
Xiao loong bao (Shanghainese dumplings) mmmmmmmm!

3. What’s something weird you’ve added to normal food?
I can think of a few:
- Sambal to my pasta
- Japanese mayonnaise (amongst other things like english mustard, orange marmalade, mint sauce etc) to my mash potatoes. Poor mash always suffers when I feel like being experimental with whatever random stuff I have on hand but I totally endorse the addition of Japanese mayonnaise!
- Japanese mayonnaise to instant tom yum noodles
- Chilli flakes to chocolate mousse (OK maybe this isn’t so weird..)

4. What’s your favorite thing to add whipped cream to?
DESSERT HELLO!

5. What’s something you refuse to add anything to, even though most people add something?
My two cents on the ‘Allah Feud’; I get too riled up..

Friday 5 for January 15: Misses
1. What’s something you frequently misplace?
It used to be my mobile phone. These days I always seem to know where it is! My second most misplaced item would be my glasses followed by my keys..

2. For whom are you often mistaken?
Possibly her. When I was younger (like, ten years ago!) people used to tell me I bear a close resemblance to Malaysian model Ling Tan.. which is kinda funny.

3. When were you last misinformed about something important?
When someone told me that (again on the Allah Feud issue) Christians have taken to bombing Muslim homes WTF (for the record that did not happen)

4. Where in your home do you have a seemingly random collection of miscellanea?
Mainly in hidden spaces. I have a bad habit of doing a ‘boy tidy’ when I need to clean up quick and things end up in the strangest/first most convenient stash location..

5. Upon meeting someone for the first time, what qualities in the other person are likely to cause you to misjudge him or her?
I’ve learnt not to… judge a person by their shoes..

Friday 5 for January 8: Last Resorts
1. What’s something you wear only when you’re just about out of clean clothes?
Clothes that used to fit me well and are now two sizes too small!

2. Who’s someone you hang out with only if nobody else is available?
My cat.

3. What’s something you eat only when the budget is really, really tight?
Haven’t really, really been there. Instant noodles I guess, but even then I tend to have a go at it with anything else I have in the kitchen (eggs, sauces, etc). But I have instant noodle cravings randomly!

4. Who’s someone you call for help only if you absolutely must?
As a last resort.. probably the parentals :)

5. What’s something you’ll watch on television only because it’s slightly better than watching nothing?
News. Bad American sitcoms.

Friday Five for January 1: Newness
1. What’s something that’s better when the newness has worn off?
Shoes. Wine. Men.

2. What’s something you already own that could stand to be replaced by the newer version?
My Macbook, my TV, my non-existent microwave oven.

3. What’s something that was better before someone made it “new and improved?”
Cash. At least you always knew how much you had left before the advent of credit cards hmm?

4. Of geographic locations whose names begin with the word “new,” which seems like the most interesting place to visit?
New York, New York.

5. On what date will 2010 no longer feel like the new year?
After my birthday, when I am a year older :(

c) Some mandatory Friday beers. Am off. Have a great weekend! :)

18/12/2009

Wrapping up this week..

Friday Five for December 18: Wrapping.

Oh I love this week’s Friday Five!

1. How seriously do you take gift-wrapping when you give gifts?
It should be an Olympic sport! I am the worst combination of designer, Aquarius, and OCD-perfectionist :(

2. Do you save gift-wrapping to re-use later?
Only if it’s not damaged in any way (and the print looks nice) otherwise.. recycle and save some trees!!

3. How picky are you when it comes to selecting wrapping paper?
I can spend HOURS when I really get into it, I know it’s ridiculous but.. I not so secretly enjoy the whole tactile process of buying wrapping paper. Or any sort of paper for that matter. Then after that it’s a matter of 4mm double sided tape vs Scotch tape (depends on paper) and finishing it off with a bow (if I have another few hours to spare to find a matching one! just kidding.. really.) Also this has nothing to do with paper selection but I cannot work with scissors! I hate scissors! I have to have my cutting knives with a fresh set of blades. OK I could have answered this question with one word and just said Very. Sorry.

4. How much attention do you pay to the way gifts you receive are wrapped?
Is this a trick question? I notice details.. that’s what I do for a living.. but of course I won’t condemn a poorly wrapped present lah! Aiyoh is this going to put you off giving me non-professionally wrapped presents for the rest of my life WTF I knew it was a trick question

5. Among people you know, who is the most talented at wrapping gifts?
This amazing chick called Miss Mabel that worked in Metrojaya in 2002, on the 4th floor of Bukit Bintang store, when I was buying a vase for someone’s mom and I remember she wrapped it so well that I asked her if I can sit down and watch her work. OK I made that up. No one wraps presents better than I do!!! Just kidding. Actually all my designer friends are bloody good with FA work – I think it comes from all those hours in packaging class so don’t hate us yeah! I sliced my finger apart during that class in Uni and went to emergency room OK :(

Have a good weekend! xo

11/12/2009

Friday Five!

Reinstating Friday Five!

Buyer’s remorse is a well-known condition that strikes us all, but what other kinds of remorse have you experienced?

1. When did you last experience emailer’s remorse?
When I was really upset at a friend once, the guy she was seeing was stepping all over her, and I said some things that came out way harsher than I meant it to. I wished then that I didn’t hit send, so I followed it up with a call. It ended well eventually, she is a really close friend and she knew I meant well. But still.

2. When did you last experience diner’s remorse?
At Secret Recipe in KL. I always give them the benefit of the doubt, because there was a dish I really liked there, but coupled with horrible, rude staff and then what I found out was reheated meals, I have now sworn them off for good.

3. When did you last experience movie-goer’s remorse?
When I went to watch that Keanu Reeves end-of-the-world movie.. and dragged some people along with me! It was pretty bad, and I just wanted to see him in a movie because I used to be a huge fan..

4. When did you last experience caring friend’s remorse?
When I realised it wasn’t reciprocated and the friendship wasn’t sincere – it felt like a total waste of time.

5. When did you last experience lover’s remorse?
When I once ‘exclusively’ dated a guy for 2 days, it was obviously a rebound (I was 17 I think!) so I told him that! It was kind of sweet though, we went on a total of one date and held hands and stuff! :)

10/12/2009

Things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was

Ah. Am having a bout of nostalgia.

Just recovered my Lycos password for an old guestbook I used to have linked here – way before blogs had a proper comments system people used to use that as a primary mode of leaving notes! Imagine that..

Kind of missing the days where keeping a blog took some time and effort, when nothing was automated and putting an entry up took a lot of fiddling around with Windows Notepad and FTP! The days of webrings, and link exchanges, and I’ll-sign-your-guestbook-if you’ll-sign-mine! Hands up if you remember all that!

Reading through old posts/guestbook entries/comments is also making me feel a little old. I’ve been doing this for close to ten years now. Am completely out of touch with the people I used to interact with online on an almost daily basis. I wonder where they all went, if they’re still blogging, if they’re married with kids, if they remember the nonsense we used to get up to!

Also, just a little bit pleased to find that Friday Five still exists!

I’ve just done something completely random and emailed the bassist from a band that I once posted pictures of because his guestbook entry was just so funny. Incidentally they are an Australian band and I am curious if they are still together. I doubt I’ll get a reply, but who knows.