Pancakes! Nom-nom-nom...

It is 6:41 p.m. and I am craving for morning pancakes!

Check this out, I need to have a pancake journey along side with my apple pie one.

 

The Nose of Stephen Fry

I was browsing the internet and looking for photos of celebs and this link came up, I couldn't help but clicked on it and I knew I made the right move. How special one feature has to be to have people open an album/blog/whatever-that-is (maybe a Pinterest board) for that. 

First, it was this.

Then I typed angelinajolieslips.tumblr.com, and..

I wonder how many I can find, so I continued, and I found nothing.

I tried Amy Winehouse's Eyelines, James Dean's Eyes, Brad Pitt's Eyes, etc. (Probably they are not special enough) If you found any, share with me please. 

Movie #2 - A lot like Philophobia

Love & Other Drugs (2010) // Friends with Benefits (2011) // No Strings Attached (2011)

Philophobia is a the fear of falling in love. I suppose people who have this phobia have their own reason or story behind, it can be fear of getting hurt, or commitment issue, or trust issues, etc. I always find it interesting to look for resemblance between individual movies instead of looking at those belong to the same series.

What are they about:
- Men and women were extremely comfortable in one another's company and took what they want
- No commitment
- Started with no expectation and ended up with frustrations followed by happy endings

Movies, stories I heard and what I have been through proved positive that commitment does not come easy, and fear exists, especially those with trust issues. I might started to agree that having sex with a friend that you are super comfortable with is alright, or maybe 20% of me agree with that. Just a moment ago you felt like you are super confident that you are 100% ready and then few seconds later you just back off. Signs of fear are distancing yourself, avoid expressing how you feel and feeling intense insecurity. You know it and you can do nothing about it except finally one day you are brave enough to lay down your heavy, burdening armour. I am lucky enough not to suffer from any fatal illness but sometimes when allergies struck me in a really hard way I would be thankful that I was not in a relationship with anyone. The situation is almost equivalent to not wanting anyone to see you turn into a monster. Ah well...focus on the movies.

Love and Other Drugs (2010)

Talk for hours...

Feeling super comfortable together

Relationship or no?

Making one another put on a smile that lights up the world

So comfortable that you can travel together and do not care how you look when you fall asleep..

It is okay to drop by anytime at her place 

Spending the night together with Chinese takeaway and movie on bed

And the ending.

Friends with Benefits (2011)

Yes movie night, with beer, yes.

Grabbing lunch together and pick up the phone telling the bad-ass ex not to call.

Knowing how each other spend their days, including their secret hiding place.

Make fun of each other, a big YES!

And this pleasure part, yes.

No Strings Attached (2011)

Fall asleep together just to feel safe

Help each other out when parents are asking about your relationship status and request a meeting

Sweet surprises for that friend

Insecurity leads to avoidance, hmmm..

If you are thinking a lot lately or these movies remind you of somebody, go watch them all and perhaps that can take your mind away from your crazy thoughts for a while. Off to make desserts. Enjoy!

Untitled Thoughts

Passion is when you have only 2-hour sleep in 2 days, you still insist to do that. For me that is baking.

I tried mixing two different types of bananas this time, the out come looks great, and probably because I mixed the batter for a longer time so the bread is slightly more airy this time. It is still keeping its amazing weight and volume, and none the less, the aroma and taste!

When your life is filled with work 24/7

Life has been pretty insane recently. I thought it was hectic when you have 2 part times at the same time, I guess I am putting myself in a  challenge - having 6 (part-time) jobs at the same time. It sounds crazy isn't it?  Big and small, all related to design. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work in a way that I would enjoy. Even though I might not get any monetary reward (I do get some from some of the jobs), the result was always rewarding. Seeing how my commitment changes people's businesses or overall outcome was one of the best things I get from my jobs.

I will update my blog from time to time amid having a full plate. Next post will be about another homemade dish from my mother. Stay tuned! :-)

MaMa's Recipe - Stir Fry Assorted Veggies/Fungi | 李家菜 - 炒雜菜/菰菌

Allow me to introduce this dish in English. I thought it would be wonderful for those who cannot read Chinese/local expats to try this recipe at home. My grandmother and mother will always be the best cooks in my life. (It is grammatically wrong because there can only be one "best" but I have to say both of them are.) My mother cooks Western dish as well while my grandmother mastered traditional Hakka cuisine, grandma's Turnip Cake was one of the reasons I look forward to Chinese New Year besides getting Red Pockets from relatives.

My friends and I often discuss dishes our moms/helpers cook at home, I found out the variation is HUGE! I can hardly find friends that does "Western-weekends" like my family does. Western-weekends meaning usually on Sunday/Saturday night, my mom will prepare a more Western meal, for instance we will have corn, smoked salmon, tomatoes, salad, meat platter/cheese platter, cream soup, etc., and together with baguette/pita bread/pasta. Sometimes I will stay at my friends' place for dinner, somehow I still find my favourite dining place is my home.

I tried to sum up the characteristics of mom's style of cooking:
-Unintentionally low fat/low salt/low sugar
-75% vegetables
-Simple

Mom's dishes are local but I cannot say it is 100% Chinese. I guess it is because we grew up in a once-colonial city like Hong Kong, the style of cooking evolved in the past 100 years. We have loads of imported goods from around the world which increases the accessibility of ingredients. For locals, eating out is very common. Cooking at home might be more expensive especially for those who is living alone...but I still prefer cooking simply because it calms me. 

I have always wanted to make a recipe book for my mother and I am going to make it happen. It is more challenging than I thought especially whenever I ask my mom: Can you tell me how much ______ you used in this dish? and the answer is always a pinch/a bit/just a little! I'd say that is the art of abstract by Mrs. Lee. I guess for those who cooks everyday/mastered the art of cooking unintentionally are very unaware of the amount of ingredients they use. They do it according to what they FEEL about it and they can sense it. It would be interesting to write a COLLECTION of RECIPES from my friend's mothers as well! I am getting greedy again..

I am going to share the recipe tomorrow, stay tuned!

Ingredients:

- 1 Tbsp of oil
- 3-4 Cloves of garlic and/or shallot; finely chopped/sliced (Add more if you prefer stronger taste)
- Chili, chopped (Optional, for spice lovers!)

- Mixed Vegetables (Total around 800g; 4 servings)
  - Lotus root; cubed
  - Chinese green beans and red beans; chopped, around an inch
  - Black fungi; soaked and cut into pieces of bite size
**Tips from Stella (my mom): It can be any kind of veggies that you like, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, fungi; nuts such as pine nuts, cashew nuts and walnuts, or tofu cubes or slices. There are different types of Tofu, categorized according to their texture, i.e. how soft/hard they are. For stir frying the harder one is better because it would not be torn into pieces.

- Oyster sauce, depending on the amount of vegetables you use, for example 2 tablespoons for around 800g of vegetables, add a little more to adjust according to your preference. This is the moment I learnt my mother's "it just feels right" skill in estimating the amount of seasonings.

How to cook

1. Boil the fungi and beans for a few minutes before stir frying in order to soften it.

2. Place a pan over medium heat, pour oil; when oil is heated put in garlic and shallot.

3. When the ingredients start giving off extremely pleasant smell, add lotus roots and black fungi, stir fry for 5 minutes, add oyster sauce and stir fry for another 5 minutes to let them absorb the taste.

4. Add green beans and red beans, stir fry for another 10 minutes. Voila!

Book #2 - The Complete Guide to Designing and Printing Fabric

This is a book that I would love to have it on my bookshelf. (I am having the image on my future gigantic book shelf in my head..) Another book from Laurie Wisburn is Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing. She is a self-made fabric designer and a blogger from the states, check out her blog! The prints she created gladdens your day, obviously it is about pattern and mixing of colours so do not expect it to be MUJI like. I do very much appreciate the art of wood block printing in India, the patterned fabrics and papers are impressive, I could not help but bought 2 big pieces of table cloth and a scarf from an Indian shop owner in Singapore. They used natural dye so what I needed to do when I got home was to soak it in high salt concentration water overnight before washing it in the washing machine. 

The shop owner was extremely helpful, honest and offered really good price, it's on my list of must-go in Singapore now :-)