Jane’s Walk Singapore with Tony Tan: Geylang Serai & Joo Chiat Uncovered

The government sponsors a lot of community programmes 
in Singapore. This particular community though has come 
together on their own to grow a variety of veggies - such 
as these sweet peas!

Colourful rainbow umbrella hanging on the window grills of this vibrant teal facade. I love the distressed door and the understated ornate door knob.

Saw one of few sand covered playgrounds left in Singapore. All are slowly being replaced by rubber matting. 

There are laws to protect the integrity of shophouses in heritage areas. But they only cover building facades - meaning property owners can do as they please to the other sides of the exterior as well as the interiors.

I love snooping around the back of pretty facades. Always humanises the other-wise too perfect experience. 

Pops of bold colour. Grill-work pattern. 

Beauty in the ordinary

This palm tree mural at the side of a building is the only thing that hints to what used to cover this whole area - a coconut plantation.

Educational graffiti 

Rectangles & triangles.

View from above - see the ships along the coast beyond? 

Like little toy houses with little toy people

Geylang Serai Market

Soft curves of the roof tiles vs the sharp lines of the grill work

White canvas

Tour guide extraordinaire - Tony Tan

Like many old buildings from Singapore's past - this building will most likely be demolished to make way for new structures.

Like how Thai's have Golden Mile and Filipinos have 
Lucky Plaza, part of Geylang Serai is called Indo-town. It is a 
popular hang out on Sunday's for domestic foreign helpers on 
their day off. 

One of few overhead bridges that have retained their original form 
since first being built. On the other side of the road once stood the 
Hollywood Theatre, a cinema which would always feature new films 
from the west. In its place the new developers are building a new 
mall which will boast several kilometers of shopping.

Purple & red

Easy like Sunday morning

I love that many places in the East have a law about how high you can build buildings. I think currently it is at 4 floors? With space becoming a commodity, it was shared this will move likely change in the near future.


Tony Tan's deets are here.

Jane's Walks are here.

Mid-Year Resolution Review

One of my resolutions this year was to get my finances order, specifically:

1. paying off all debt
2. cash savings for a rainy day
3. investing in some local insurance / forced savings scheme

I thought 1 & 2 could be done concurrently, after which I could focus on 3. But after re-looking at my budget as well as the events lined up for this year, it looks like number 1 is number 2's rainy day. 

In order for me to meet my goals, I've had to rework my budget so I only spend about 15% of my income on day to day operations, while the rest is funneled to bills and pre-planned big expenses. 

Easy to work out on excel but has proven to be quite challenging to do in real life. Lots of things and experiences I'd like to spend on which I've had to be especially choosy with. I find myself spending a lot of time at home as the minute I step out of the flat, money can't help but pour out. I think its the ban on traveling which has been especially hard as I love love love to explore and travel. Because I've been quite fortunate to do this frequently over the last few years, not having taken a trip after 6 month is making me a little crazy. Every time I've had to turn down an invitation to travel with people, I want to strangle myself just a little. 

The good news is, after June (which will be my tightest month yet), I would've sorted 75% of my number 1 goal, which I'm quite quite excited about! Nothing makes your heart do a little cartwheel like seeing zero balance on a statement!

The discipline and hard work is far from over though, so wish me financial luck as I dive into the second have of the year. 

As for my OTHER new year's resolutions... well, that's another story. How are your new year's resolutions going? 

From our little toaster oven that could, we have ourselves a white fish baked in mustard, lemon and horseradish (ok fine.. .wasabi), sprinkled with cheese. Because everything tastes better with cheese.

With mushroom-hating R away for the weekend, I finally got to try this recipe. Chicken prepped with thyme, salt and pepper then covered in wheat flour. Mushrooms cooked in butter, thyme, parsley, white wine, chicken broth. Oh my, butter really does make everything taste wonderful.

Something sweet & savoury to kick the long weekend off. Cinammon french toast using walnut loaf. Drizzled (ok, drenched) with honey. Cheese omelet.

Shifting

In the meantime, let's continue our meandering at this link: 

http://simple-serendipity.tumblr.com/

Five & Dime

Brunch at Five & Dime on River Valley Road in Singapore with two of my lovelies, J & M. 

Housed in a beautiful black & white shophouse. 

Charming interiors. 

Loving the branding and collaterals.

Short & sweet menu (scrambled eggs & baked beans are delicious) of Japanese Western influence.

Eating and weekly catchup followed by a through the neighborhood.

Domestic Diaries: Kitchen Adventures

When people ask me if I can cook, my ready answer is no. To be fair - I think at the back of my mind I always knew if I HAD to, I probably wouldn't be too bad at it.

I definitely enjoy the AFTER of cooking - I mean, who doesn't love food now a day? It has truly become an art in itself. But the actual cooking? I've never had a burning desire to experiment and whip up any culinary creations.

With my new living situation though, it made sense to try throwing something together other than salad leaves with boiled egg. I could at least cook without filling my entire studio with smoke (just my living room now.. hehe) and would be feeding more than just myself. I find groceries to be rather expensive here, but for the most part, think it comes out much cheaper than eating out every day. If not cheaper, than at least healthier.

So trying is what we've been doing!

We have a very no-frills kitchen - oven toaster, microwave and induction cooker with just enough counter space left to rotate between dish drying and chopping stuff up on our little chopping board.

But we've made do!

My prerequisite for recipes is minimum prep and cooking time with maximum taste - which will explain all the pastas and sandwiches (ok.. sandwiches technically aren't things you "cook".. but you get what I mean). I know this is a no-no for lots of serious cooks, but I am so glad there are lots of "short-cuts" available at the grocery store to help a girl out!

It's been lots of fun actually! And I know both roomie and myself look forward to slowly but steadily increasing our repertoires

Anyone have any simple recipes to share?

Wheat penne with tuna, tomatoes, mushrooms & freshly grated parmigiano regianno

More penne (my favourite if you haven't guessed yet!) - this time as a lamb sausage aglio oglio

Wheat spaghetti with spanish sardines & sundried tomato pesto

Focaccia with goat cheese, grilled eggplant, tomato and arugula 

Turkey on wheat with dijon, arugula and tomtatoes

Penne (yes - my favourite if your haven't noticed by now!) with parsley, lemon and sautéed chicken in garlic

More of the same eggplant sandwich - this time wrapping it up so we could bring it to work

Rica's chicken curry 

Rosemary chicken breasts with gouda, stewed tomatoes, mushroom and eggplant

Domestic Diaries: on Flatmates & Family

It's been 4 months since my baby sister moved to singapore, 4 months since I gained both a new flat and flat mate. 

Our deal was to live together as equally as we could, not holding the older/younger sister role over each others heads. 

Ya'll curious to know how we've been faring? Lol. Sorry to disappoint all you drama-seekers out there, but we are managing quite well!  Just the right amount of curiosity and interest in each others lives, complete trust that we both will act as the responsible and compassionate persons we were raised to be. We never forget we are family, but we also don't forget we are also individuals trying to carve our own legacies in this lifetime. 

I'd be lying though if I said it's been a COMPLETE cake walk. As someone who considers her personal space incredibly sacred, living with someone whose living/neatness standards are ehm.. more relaxed than mine has been a challenge. 

I've tried (trying!) all sorts of tactics to get us in the same frame of mind - written rules, reminders stuck on walls, nagging, reminding nicely, sarcasm, honest conversations.. and one of my latest (not so) genius idea - be a complete and total slob in hopes the mess would get so disturbing she'd clean up after the both of us. 

How we keep (or don't keep! hee hee) our bed and bathrooms is really our own business. But shared spaces like our little living area has become somewhat of a battlefield.. for me at least. 

One would think leading and living by example would enough. But keeping my own bedroom neat seems to have a different effect - makes her forget about the clutter outside, and just draws her more into my own room! Truth be told, when I'm not in need of my recharging and alone time, having her hangout at my room is a great joy and comfort. BUT making room for her in my room also means making room for her laptop, laptop desk, her glass of water, her coffee mug, an assortment of cables and chargers, and other random bits and bobs of what not. And though she will eventually leave my room, SHE DOESN'T TAKE ANY OF HER ITEMS BACK WITH HER. 

To be utterly fair though, there has been slow and steady progress.  Maybe another few rounds of combining all above tactics and she'll be hounding me to clean up? When that day comes, it will definitely warrant a follow up post!

But other than that, and beyond having a new roomie, having my baby sister around has been great. We're definitely learning lots from each other in more ways than we know it, and her energy and enthusiasm is a great balance to my steady demeanor.  Comfort, support and security really don't come in any better package than family. 

And she arrives!

Our firs dinner together - some yummy beef hor fun from our neighborhood kopitiam

Settling into her new room

Domestic duties

Celebrating her first day as a member of the rat race ;-)

Her addiction: milk tea

Dinner with family (and some crazy butter crab!)

Sistership Sunday - going out for some "pinoy" food and dessert

Sistership Saturday: Katong's famous laksa for dinner then writing / reading / class preparing at a coffeesho

Dinner with visiting relatives

Bumming 

Brunch.. for lunch