The Power of Facebook

Actually I lost my draft of this article and was wondering it could be destiny that I should not write about it. Besides something else happened and I have physically wrote a letter ... somewhat..

So do I still want to store this event? In a way I should. I guess. But I would prefer to keep it brief, maybe try to make it light-hearted. Instead of the sombre tone that was in the initial draft.

I knew the influence of social media since I started with teleview, ICQ, Friendster and MySpace.

For M, I had introduced to her Facebook. And sometimes the way she uses it startles me. Like how she found out the double life of my tenant. I have to admit she can be quite a stalker.

And I have no doubt on her intelligence. Especially after this Easter long weekend.

Because I was extended, I thought to visit my friend's 'weekend getaway'. She had taken a month leave because her alpacas (3) were unpacking. I had loved my past 2 visits when I was here. It reminds me of the hermit life I once wanted. The Au life I had once dream upon. I guess I was greedy to experience it one more time. That I forgot how remote the connection would be, especially as she mentioned on a long Easter weekend where visitors were rampant which congest the network drastically.

As I took the regional bus to Mansfield, I pondered if I should get a Telstra sim card at one point, but was too lazy to execute the action. Besides nobody seem to be contacting me that Friday. And when my friend brought me to the city for farmer's market on Saturday morning, there were no messages for me. Maybe I should have responded my brother's Scandinavian photos but I was having my ME time enjoying the market that I forgot. And then once again, as I leave the city, I had once again become unreachable.

We had thought the alpacas should be unpacking soon but Sunday came, yet no action from the mamas. My friend wanted to stay indoors to be ready anytime. And so I did my next favourite activity (when I have no internet), reading. Like what she said, I became quite a reading machine as I stayed in the same spot and finish reading a fiction book she had loaned me. I totally forgot the world around me then. Exactly the life I sometimes wanted. Dangerous though. Because the next thing I knew, it was sunset and we dropped by her neighbour house for some drinks and chats.

The neighbour's backyard has a road that can lead to the top of the hill. So I asked to go up and catch the sunset view. My friend had mentioned that the connection will work at the top too. So I thought to check my phone the same time. That's when I realised how many messages D had tried to send me. He used to do it once in a blue moon, checking on me ever since he's ill. But I never expected his reaction when I did not reply for a day.

It got to the extent M actually dropped a message on the last photo tagged to get my colleague to find me.

If I can find any humour in this incident, it is the 'i told you' scenario to Doc before... that not a single colleague will even be able to find me if I was sick. One WA from Adelaide, One WA from Japan, One LINED from Japan, and clingyM LINED from Melbourne, but nobody .. absolutely nobody managed to find me. Well no AU phone number to call, no address, no inkling where I went.

Luckily though M had contacted K too. Remarkably she was smart enough to know how to find K from the "? liked this photo" feature.

Which is why I have to say, I'm totally in awe of M's intelligence. And utterly embarrassed by what she did. I didn't know how to face my colleagues come Tuesday. And not once did I really discussed this with clingyM.

Though many days later, when my agent were in Melbourne and decided to have dinner with me and clingyM, and clingyM's wife subtly asked me what is my address. And I asked is it because of that incident which she replied ya, nobody seems to know where I lived even.

That night I cried myself to sleep as I wondered about a zillions things. But GA gave me a beautiful gift on Easter Monday to take away all my sorrow. Maybe 2 beautiful gifts. I woke up with a bunch of kangaroos right outside the window eating. Finally as the last 2 mornings, I had trouble waking up early to take photos of them. And I thought that was my parting gift.

Except that this was actually my parting gift...

I was very glad I chose to leave on Monday afternoon. Even though the traffic is so bad that I was an hour plus later than intended. Because it is not everyday that I get to see a new birth. The feeling when I see his legs dangling out of the mama's bottom was so incredulous. I wished I had taken my long lens to capture it properly. :(

As I watch the baby fell many times while trying to take his baby steps... till he finally manage to stand and walk ... I'm truly glad for life as is. I only wish D can recover like baby too.

The Abyss

abyss
/əˈbɪs/
noun
a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm.

When I first heard Daniel Veerapen's "Abyss", I was entranced. The Rose might be an alright short film for me, but this song haunts me.

I went on with some other film like Dressmaker which I really like the twist and hope to read the book some other time. And happy film like Kung Fu Panda. And then Ip Man 3. Question - why  葉子楣 is Amy Yip but 葉問 is Ip Man? If Ip Man was called Yip Man, perhaps there wouldn't be those IT jokes long ago. And about Ip Man 3, I felt it gave an overly romantic view of the Grand master. In terms of martial arts realm, there is no denying his skill and passion for teaching. But Ip Man 3 had concentrated also on his personal life. This is where I felt had been dramatized. In those days, it is impossible for a wife to even show her displeasure to the husband. Besides, when she died, she had already been separated from her husband and had only her children with her then. There was no husband accompanying her at her death bed.
Source: http://history.people.com.cn/BIG5/198307/13110937.html

Of course in today's world, it is expected for husband to be more 'new age' and 'scared of wife' as part of the good husband criteria. I still remembered when the male lead was telling the joke on that. And his wife asked if he is scared of wife too.

Maybe the despondent ME is not able to appreciate the romantic Grand Master.

CapFren has bumped up his mail recently. I did not reply his Dec email because I was overwhelmed with all the changes happening. I thought I would be stronger 3 months later to reply the bumped email. But .. I wasn't. And I don't want to write in a despondent tone. Sorry. That is the only word I can muster now. Maybe when I officially leave Melbourne. That is another 3 more months though. :(

I remembered when Feb ended, I was so happy that 1 month is gone. But somehow with end of March, I couldn't muster the happiness of counting down that another month is gone. Guess the fact that 2 of my colleagues are leaving next week is more than I could stomach. Happy for them, unhappy for myself. Argh!

Focus: the second long weekend will arrive soon. And it will be good. So butterflygalz, please persevere till then. 

And there was light

It all started when the lease was extended. When I first moved in, I already had to get the electrician to replace 2 toilet lights and 1 kitchen light because the previous tenant did not do it. And I told myself these 6 months, I should be safe from changing any lights on my own.

Then I got extended. And the bedroom light bulb fused. A test if I can still change light bulb was given. Did I pass it?

For the whole work week, I did nothing. Lit only by my laptop screen, I slept early when eyes got tired. Then head to work the next day, coming back before sunset but still refusing to touch the wall light. Because I seen how many insects been lured to these 2 wall lights, and never made it out. It is really not a task I want to embark on in the evening.

Finally Saturday arrives. Managed to borrow screwdriver from 光, because he's my 'neighbour' from the next block. Thankfully. Still remember months before, when he was puzzled why every time he turned round the block, he will see me walking to office too. It took awhile to realised we were 'neighbours' and after half a year, I'm glad for that fate at times.. like this. (And when I want to play with air fryer "p )

Although he did offer his help when I asked about electrician fee... but I had remarkably managed to reach the wall light. Cleaned the wall light. 'Bury' the insects. And finally, carefully took out the fused light bulb.

After making a few queries on where I could buy the light bulb, and dropping by a few places e.g. Big W and Coles futilely, I called it a day. Once again I succumb to darkness when sun falls.

By Sunday, after dim sum with colleagues and being teased for actually being able to reach my lights... "Really butterflygalz, you managed to reach it??" and them starting to come out tall stories on maybe I tiptoed with a chair on a table on a xxx. (Actually I used to do that sort of stuff in my previous house. I remembered fondly my parents even moved a table upstairs so that dad could reach one of the bedroom light bulbs too. Those were the healthy days...)

And I decided it is time to have some light. Tramming to Bunnings and once again, was told the light bulb for that particular voltage is sold out. By then, I have been exhausted and I asked if I can get a lower voltage to replace instead. The staff agreed it was a good idea and so I executed the plan. Repeated the same formation as per Saturday and finally after sun set, there was light...

Two interesting things did happened before there was light.
1) I suddenly remembered I had 2 bedside lamps all the while that I never tried to turn it on though. And considering the bedside table was my 'ladder' when I was reaching for the wall light, I wondered if I had stared right through my alternative light source.
2) Initially after I fixed it, there was still no light. And I thought sigh, butterflygalz's replacing light bulb skills has turned rusty. Test fail. But I remembered 光 had mentioned before I replaced the light bulb, to turn off the light circuit in the switch box. And I commented that I usually only just turned off the light only. So I tried his suggestion and voila, it worked.

When Monday comes, I'm still in a good mood. Because it is PH! And Moomba Parade! Though I missed everything but the last part where the dragon was dancing because 光 was late. But then I wasn't dying to go to the parade in the first place. Actually I had lost interest in a lot of the activities in Melbourne already. And so yes, sometimes I'm thankful of 光 who will 'chio' me out at times.

Especially when it was to seek death...

credits from moombafestival

.. with scary rides.

I actually couldn't remember the ride name anymore. But while searching google, I saw a video on the same ride in 2013.

Now I wonder, how did I got myself convinced to pay 12 aud for a ride to death? Maybe because I was seeking. Probably explained why I took off my shoes before I board the ride. 

Faulpez attempts to make Mint Chip Ice Cream

Actual recommended ingredients:
1 c ( 250ml) Milk
3/4 c (150g) Sugar
2 c (500ml) Heavy Cream
pinch of Sea Salt
2 c (80g) lightly packed fresh Peppermint Leaves (or more if you like)
5 lrg Egg Yolks
5 oz (140g) Dark Chocolate, finely chopped (do not use choc. chips)
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. Makes about 1 qt.

Unfortunately I made an adaptation because
1. I don't know what is peppermint leaves. I just bought mint and hope it is peppermint and not spearmint?
2. I wanted a healthier version so I put more milk and less cream i.e.
2 C Milk, 1 C Cream
3. No sea salt so use normal salt

More or less I made some other adapations. Afterall Faulpez rarely follows recipe rigidly. Thus the directions that I followed are

1. Combine the 1 C of milk, sugar, cream, and salt in a saucepan and gently warm until bathwater warm. Squeeze mint leaves in your hands to help release the oils a bit and add to warm milk mixture. Stir until they are all settled into to the saucepan, remove pan from heat, cover, and set aside for 1-2 hours (depending on how minty you’d like the ice cream to be)

2. Strain the mint-infused mixture into another med. sized saucepan, using a fine mesh strainer (if you have all these equipments. For me I just hand squeeze the mint leaves to extract as much of the delicious minty-ness you can out of them, then discard the mint leaves, in the same saucepan).

3. Prepare for the final step by putting the remaining 1 c of heavy cream (or milk for my case) in a medium bowl with a fine mesh strainer over the top (I skipped that sorry).

4. Prepare an ice bath which this medium bowl will fit into. Set both aside.

5. Gently re-warm the mint mixture, and in a separate medium sized bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the mint mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat.

6. Heat over med. heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Pour the thickened mixture through the fine mesh strainer into the remaining heavy cream. Place bowl in the ice bath and stir to combine and cool the mixture in the ice bath.

7. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until fully chilled.

8. After mint ice cream mixture is fully chilled in the fridge, begin gently melting dark chocolate in a saucepan over simmering water (or directly in a saucepan if you have a cooktop which will cycle on and off like Thermador’s XLO (ExtraLow) function. Hmm mine was a heat stove which does goes on and off so I did it directly.

9. If you have an ice cream maker, continue this step:
begin churning ice cream in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is nearly finished freezing in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle the melted chocolate into the ice cream, trying to avoid pouring onto the paddle or dasher. If the chocolate clings to the paddle (dasher) stop the ice cream maker and use a spatula or spoon to break up any chunks. Put mint chip ice cream in freezer to finish setting the ice cream if necessary.

10. If you do not have the ice cream maker... like me.. well.. more effort required...

a. Take your ice cream recipe mixture and carefully pour it into the bowl, then chill in the fridge for up to 2 hours, checking on it after 1 hour. The reason it can take longer than an hour is when a recipe mixture has had cooked ingredients added, therefore thorough chilling will take longer.

b. Take the bowl out of the fridge and transfer to the freezer for about half an hour. Then check just how much the mixture has frozen - ideally, it should have started to freeze at the edges but not fully through to the centre.

c. Take the bowl out of the freezer and beat the ice cream mixture until it’s creamy once again (to dislodge and break up the ice crystals that have formed).

d. Put it back in the freezer for another half hour, then remove and once again beat with a whisk (or spoon for my case).

e. Do this again so that you have beaten the mixture a total of 3 times whilst freezing in between. At the last time, you should pour the melting dark chocolate which will immediately freeze and starts behaving like choco chips when you break it into pieces.

f. Put the mixture back into the freezer for a final time until it’s ready to eat. This can take anything from 30 minutes upwards, depending upon the quantity and type of ice cream you’re making and also how you like the consistency of your ice cream (some people like it softer, some harder).

p/s: Actually I fell asleep by the last time but thankfully not much damage and my ice cream still looked like ice cream. Just probably tasted abit like toothpaste.. I guess I did use the wrong mint in the end?

Bflygal comment: Another 2011 memory.. 17th March 2011. I used to remember 18th March was once an important day for another context. But for this mint chip ice cream context, I had thought of deleting this post too. Like I have thought of throwing away the santa run costume so many times. I know I will not bring it back to SG when I finally leave this apartment, because the costume quality was quite disappointing. For a run I wished to join for so many years, it has somehow become the last run I did. Haven't had much inclination to embark another run. Maybe because I was sick for a few weeks.. all I wish for is to go home. First long weekend coming soon, perhaps something to cheer me up. 

p/s: I actually cannot remember the heat stove could go on and off. Queer. But lately when I was baking brownies and lava cake, I had to melt white chocolate. I tried the microwave but didn't like the method. So I tried the fancy Bain-marie method instead haha. Is just a double boil method and obviously I did the improvised method cos Faulpez will never buy any special equipment, at least not in a rented apartment. I did buy a square baking pan though for the brownie in the end because I couldn't accept a round brownie as the result. As for my ice cream making days, I know that year I even borrowed an ice cream maker later and made golden kiwifruit ice cream, coffee ice cream and matcha ice cream. Hmm but I think those were the days. Now my freezer only has store bought bailey ice cream and some fancy ice cream from Lygon. However I would like this golden-hued memory that has turned blue at this moment, to become more golden according to the Pollyanna principle. 

Faulpez and her Sisig Puzzle

Yes, I am staring at the can of Purefoods Sisig wondering what it is. It was left behind by colleague who last stayed in this apartment.

At first the instruction was very simple. Just empty the contents, cook it, add onion, squeeze calamansi juice and voila, a dish. As easy as 1-2-3. And was planning to cook it for my lunch box next week. But I wanted to know if I can add some vegetables and what vegetables would be suitable for it.

Thus began my research of sisig... and I found out it refers to Sizzling sisig, a Filipino dish made from parts of pig’s head and liver, usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers.
- Source Wiki

Pig's head!!! Geez sometimes I really do feel Filipino and Chinese have a fetish for pork. My Fillipino friends raved to me how much they missed pig trotter which is also a pretty popular Chinese dish, not mine though unfortunately (thus I'm missing out on all the wonderful collagen).

The term ‘sisig' refers to the spicy and fatty meat dish which is a favourite in the Philippines. It is considered a specialty food because the long and arduous preparation of ‘sisig' is really a ‘labor of love.' Reminds me of MasterChef George Calombaris' mother Mary advice that to cook, you must use your heart.

‘Sisig' is best served with a mug of ice-cold beer because ‘sisig' has a unique blend of spiciness of chili peppers, sour taste of vinegar and calamansi juice, and the saltiness of salt and soy sauce. It can be often served with steamy rice and can even be a popular toppings on pizza.

Anyway I concluded to add bell peppers in my dish for some balance in diet. And I will consider including the last step 'add egg on top after removing it from heat.'

So if Sisig is the unofficial national pinoy dish, then Pork Adobo is the national pinoy dish cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic. And I was lucky enough to be treated authentic pork adobo cooked by my Filipino colleague. Finally I got to savour this national dish..

Bflygal comment: This was written in 2011. Supposedly to have a photo of the dish but I cannot seem to find the image and FB has moved the folder structure. A few drafts had been deleted. Was thinking of deleting this too but since I had researched and written so much on Sisig, and because after this, I remembered another 2 more occasions where my Filipino colleague had cooked in Tokyo and my Filipino client (ASM) had brought me to an authentic Filipino stall in Yishun for lunch. These are treasured memories that I don't wish to delete away. So many treasured memories, I wish I can hold on to them forever. Suddenly I remember Inside Out's memory orbs. Sigh. 

빵 (Pang)

After trying to watch if for 2 times, on my third try, I finally managed to finish watching "King of Baking" amid 3 weeks of nighttime cough which is hurting my sides now.

Sometimes I wonder if this KTG really exists. He's so unbelievable kind, even though he can be reckless with his fists at times. Then there are times that he reminds me of someone. The way he loves SYK so faithfully for 12 years. I can't help but envy SYK that she could at least hug his back when they parted. And he still showed his concern to her till the very end. But then a drama is a drama, in real life I was told the guy would never recover if he continues to keep in contact with the girl.

I'm sorry that I'm a man who is too lacking for you.
But my heart is more full of you than anyone else in this world.
- KTG parting words to SYK

A heart, you know, isn't like a switch you can turn off and on.
You can't just close it and open it so easily.
Still, I have more days ahead of me than behind me.
And the days ahead of me will be filled with so many more memories with you.
- KTG confession to MS

After finishing this drama, I suddenly got a love for bread. Been buying those bake-at-home bread from Woolsworth. Haha but I doubt I want to learn how to bake bread as too much hand exercise required. Will think about it. Right now I prefer to just while my time on candy crush (soda). I used to have serious addiction to it then I don't know what happened but I stopped. Lately, because I'm neglected and I'm an escapist, gaming is the best activity for me now. It takes my mind away from my cough too....

KYUHYUN - HOPE IS A DREAM THAT NEVER SLEEPS

Lyrics translated:
It doesn’t matter if I’m lonely. Whenever I think of you
A smile spreads across my face.
It doesn’t matter if I’m tired. Whenever you are happy
My heart is filled with love.
Today I might live in a harsh world again.
Even if I’m tired, when I close my eyes, I only see your image.
The dreams that are still ringing in my ears
Are leaving my side towards you.
Everyday my life is like a dream.
If we can look at each other and love each other
I’ll stand up again.
To me, the happiness of those precious memories
Will be warmer during hard times.
For me, hope is a dream that never sleeps.
Like a shadow by my side you always
Quietly come to me.
To see if I’m hurt, to see if I’m lonely everyday
With feelings of yearning, you come to me.
Even if the world makes me cry, I’m okay.
Because you are always by my side.
Like dust, will those memories change and leave?
I’ll keep smiling to ease my heart.
Everyday my life is like a dream.
If we can look at each other and love each other
I’ll stand up again.
To me, the happiness of those precious memories
Will be warmer during hard times.
For me, hope is a dream that never sleeps.
No matter how many times I stumble and fall
I’m still standing like this.
I only have one heart.
When I’m tired you become my strength.
My heart is towards you forever.
So I swallowed the hurt and grief.
I’ll only show you my smiling form.
It doesn’t even hurt now.
I’ll always hold on to the dreams I want to fulfill with you
I’ll try to call for you at the place I cannot reach
I love you with all my heart.