hello and goodbye

so before i left for medsch, had a little farewell party with friends. it felt only right to invite the friends who'd seen me through five years of medsch, and the new friends made along the way, to celebrate finally being done with uni v2. my incredibly talented and generous friend W kindly contributed the most beautiful cake. vanilla buttercream with seville orange curd which was almost too pretty to eat.

organised tables, chairs and a few vendors who were absolute crowd pleasers :)

it was great to seee everyone again and also sad in a way that i'll be london based for at least two more years.

one trick pony

limited repertoire is admittedly in dire need of expansion but if it ain't broke don't fix it? this little rice cooker that could is worth its weight in gold, especially when doubling as a hotpot. happy problem being that spring has sprung (now i've gone and jinxed it it's defo going away again) and will soon be too hot for hotpot. lovely girlies came round for dinner and i think we've the funniest meet cute. was neighbours with A1 and groupmates with L in first year, groupmates with A2 in second year then clinical groupmates with all in third year. they were hostesses with the most, inviting me for parties at theirs which social anxiety (only half joking) prevented me from attending but i'd go round with a small gift before / after and stay for coffee. and suddenly it's final year and realising we're all headed in different directions, made a point to put what little time we still had together to good use. 

they very sweetly came bearing wine and chairs (perils of having more friends than furniture...) and despite busy weekend plans (L had a 0130h overnight bus to catch, E was going to a conference the day after) stayed wonderfully late. i love dinners where we lose track of time because it doesn't matter and everyone is present. sound like such a stick in the mud when i whinge about my strong dislike for phones at the table but it does make a difference and it's nice to suspend the outside world for a couple of hours.

48h in NYC

so it was a bit crazy but i recently jumped at the chance to go to NYC for 48h. long story short - i'd some airline credit to use up before june and because i'm going home for easter, this was sort of the last time i could take a conscience-clear holiday before finals. didn't hurt that my best friend was going to be around the exact same time! and really, who needs an excuse to go to NYC? my last visit was in summer 2014 and with the unbearable heat and crowds, i was not a happy camper. this led to a semi love/hate relationship but so glad this most recent trip changed all that. it's love/love all the way.

i love the energy the city has, it just buzzes (how cliche) and i feel invincible. the architecture is breath-taking and i can spend hours is rapt awe just soaking it all in. the chrysler, the flatiron building etc. crazY! and the food!!! nothing to do with the currency (or maybe everything to do with the currency) but i feel like such an auntie complaining about how things in sg are so expensive in comparison. even london! we'd a 15 course omakase at a fab sushi place for USD105. admittedly well into the 'treat / splurge' zone when it comes to a meal but the same quality would be at least 30% more in london and double the price in singers. so there. rolled out satiated but greedy enough to add extra pieces because while generous servings, my gluttony knows no end.

drinks and jazz at the flatiron room after and hm i just lost track of time. landed at 6pm, uber-ed to union square where i was staying, omakase dins, defensive nap then back out for drinks and jazz till wee hours of the morning! early start on saturday (ugh) but glorious glorious weather. brunch en masse with the crew before having another nap and then steak dinner at somewhere i mistook for a strip club (it wasn't) before a private party till late.

sunday was equally manic, bouncing from brunch at M's suite (and met his parents! fan girl moment, having heard so much about them previously) before brunch round two with F and her friends at the odeon. word has it that bill murray used to fly from LA solely for brunch at the odeon and i do think he was on to something! great vibe and F joked about how this would not have happened in london (her commandeering a table of complete strangers to hang out, essentially we each only knew F or her hubs JP) but it was all good and everyone got along swimmingly. so well, in fact, that we progressed to post-lunch drinks at 230fifth. now i don't know about you but i've had enough of chichi places with a reservation list / queue around the block. we got lucky with 230fifth and i liked how we could waltz in no reso and just find seats, send the boys to buy drinks and take in the skyline. no table / bottle service (ugh) although it did fill up and there was a queue (line, as the uhmurikans say!) by the time we left.

skiing

after a couple of days of delaying tactics (day trips, exploring the town) i ran out of options. didn't hurt that the temperature had dipped some and the was 60+km of ski runs good to go. to be fair, they were good to go from the get go but i had defiantly held off attempting to ski. but it did seem a blooming waste to be in the middle of reputable ski country and not ski. also, the world ski championships were being held on the very same slopes that very same day and i was FOMO. 

used to be a ski snob, only powdah puhleeze but unfortunately life is never that smooth sailing. and turns out i'd to eat my words (but thankfully not yellow snow) about the fake stuff. it's actually easier to ski on! and i had a lesson with a child (ok he's probably early 20s) who, bless him, after a 2h lesson magically took away my fear of heights and falling and uh it was the best skiing ever and i want to go again??? uhh where did that (and my inner cougar) come from ???? pretty crazy how quickly i go from one extreme to another, from being totes skiing averse to realising i can do this, i don't suck at it and oh hey it's fun!!! such was my stream of consciousness.

didn't even stop for lunch! tell a lie, had beers and bombardinos for lunch then kept going. liquid diet! also prob not the wisest of moves to hurl self downhill at breakneck speed after alcohol. liquid courage? but it seemed to take the edge off and make me a better skier. hm. 

the best part about the lack of real snow was that the slopes were almost empty! and my biggest fear is people coming too close / getting hit from behind so empty slopes were a joy. sacrilege but i'd pick empty slopes and artificial snow over crowded powdah any day.

and the world championships were fun! everyone gathered in the town square to watch the big screens and after the race it turned into an outdoor party with DJs on the stage. great atmosphere and i felt cool by proxy.

team dins

had my clinical group round for dinner recently and realise how i lucked out with this bunch. everyone is nice, and that's often harder to come by than it sounds. i mean there seems to always be one or two people to prudently hold at arm's length, to say 'hmm i'm not so sure about so and so...' but in this happy group of eight, i'd love to work with anyone. it's a good team! and in true all-inclusive, "let's embrace diversity" fashion, did chips and dip (M's secret texan recipe!) that i fell for last thanksgiving, a massive cheese board, veggie (lentil bol) lasagna and lamb lasagna with a side salad. funny how lamb is the least offensive meat! H (pictured!) very kindly brought banana bread fresh from her over - and i'd a tiramisu on the go too. the mister had sponsored the cheese plate (aww!) and i'm a self-confessed feeder. it was so great to watch them try different cheeses and slowly a smile would creep up their faces and their eyes would light up! kept the bubbles going (tesco's finest rose wins hands down, trumping the more upmarket italian proseccos!) and then mulled wine at the end. 

before dins, it was a long day where almost all of us got yelled at by patients, so much so the supervisor had to sit us down at the end and make us talk about happy things, like what we were doing that evening. so important to re-enter earth's atmosphere and get re-oriented, you know? so this mid-rotation gathering was a much welcome distraction. and i've only experienced this with medics but they did the dishes and cleaned up the flat before leaving. felt like a terrible host but they insisted, and we all ended up squeezed in my tiny kitchen as someone washed, someone dried and the rest of us provided moral support.

wifely duties

the perks of being married to mr. social is the wining and dining that comes with it. if only a generous expense account came with it too, but alas, one cannot have everything. there was the big hutong 'do at the start of cny week for 30. hadn't done an event at hutong before this but it's no secret we're big fans. this is little plug is completely un-sponsored btw, didn't receive a discount or any kick back but also a big believer in giving credit where due. the events team was such a breeze to coordinate things with and incredibly accommodating of the various dietary restrictions. i'm azn, eat everything, and am often unduly miffed when people exclude huge food groups from their diet. yet with age i find myself more accepting, more understanding and respectful of lifestyle choices. vege/vegan is something i understand better because it's tempting and something i'd attempt to incorporate if i wasn't such a glutton. but other weird and wonderful diets? my (already scant) patience wears thin.

got there early and while i probably should've pulled some organising weight, chickened out and nursed a drink by the bar to get some liquid courage going before having to face a sea of relatively unfamiliar faces. but as my darling sister put when i spoke with her a couple of days later, "you've a pretty good game face, no?" so yay for votes of confidence and fake it till you make it. and i suppose the thing is, this was a purely social gathering among friends. any faux pas would have minimal consequence / bizniz reverb because friends don't judge, right?

the staff were incredibly attentive, and we were thrilled by the excellent service. the mister often accuses me of being difficult (i'm not) and make a point to always be polite and respectful but i do ask him to sort it out during the event if deliverables aren't being met. don't feel it fair as a consumer and service receiver to be expected to accept substandard anything. so no complaints there, in fact, they surpassed already high expectations. the food was superlative and our guests fell in love with the view. suppose there's nothing not to like about the place but hutong is our sweet spot of incredibly views and solid food. it's not often the stars align and we're more used to cracking ambience but mediocre dishes, or the converse when some of the best meals we've had are in bomb shelter-esque environs.

because it was cny, the chef kindly prepared yu sheng. love off-piste ordering, makes me feel so special. simple things for simple folk ;) our friends had an absolute blast tossing it, and some of it might've even ended on the ceiling which was momentarily mortifying but for the forgiving and ever-smiling staff. cultural exchanges, ftw!

this was a lucky iphone5 photo and somehow the lighting really worked out. peking duck was super yums and think we've found our new go-to place :)

can't go to hutong without having the red lantern (soft shell crab on basket of dried chillis) which inspired ooohs and aahs as it was presented, fish with black bean, crispy lamb, sauteed prawns, chopped up duck with lettuce and seafood fried rice. the ginger ice cream and red bean pancake for dessert was sublime, as was the veuve and wines.

on a slightly different note, my current placement has rendered me the least popular person at a party. because when people start asking about my day, telling them i stood by as three babies died in the last 24h is quite the conversation killer (for obvious reasons, i hope). it's always interesting to see how different people react to such news. from overtly sentimental types welling up (yikes!) to the more pragmatic / utilitarian sort harking back to the spartan habit of hurling sick babies off a cliff. clearly the ideal lies in a happy medium. but being around death on a daily basis is sobering to say the least, and thought-provoking on a level i'd yet to experience. mind you, having just completed a six week med/surgical oncology posting before driving straight into this one was slightly more masochistic than anticipated. but hey, steep learning curve and immensely grateful to be at a centre of excellence learning from some of the best.

marathon night

when the mister was outta town last week, C invited me to join her ortho team for dinner and drinks. what i wasn't prepared for, however, was the marathon night it ended up being i.e. 6pm to 6am. now no one really has dinner at 6pm but there was talk of linking up with the nurses in town after dinner. working backwards, we really did end up having dinner later than that. A is new to town and hosted us in his lovely new-built near the city centre. he's also an excellent cook and together with his friend R they prepped a feast of chicken curry, the yummiest dal this side of the indian ocean and tasty lamb mince, all served with roti or rice. C and i each brought wine, i was feeling domestic and threw in a frosted cake* for good measure, and the other guests brought more wine, sticky toffee pud and yummy scottish ice cream. conscious not to promote too hedonistic a lifestyle and have to admit this is really only my second night out in the city since starting medsch 3+ years ago. in fact, the first time was after first year exams! 

after dinner, we braved the cold (look ma, no coat!) to a pub for drinks by the original town wall, then to a club by the railway station, before ducking into a secret bar under (in? over?) the railway arches before ending in another club for dancing. no night out is without its fare share of drama (oh boy!) and as the designated married / sensible / not on the pull person it was more vicarious living as i guarded bags and drinks. not the most exciting at times, but hey. the alternatives weren't any better. left when the lights came on (my inner uncool teen is slightly thrilled to have stayed awake till past 3am) and back to A's for some curry-fueled after-partying. there was i feeling like a hero with my early train (another story) but A trumped with his being at 0700h. host with the most!

oh and the photo of C and i in our pumpkin-turned-carriage because who'd have thought our minicab would end up being a party bus with lights and all. felt it was a waste for it to be ferrying two excitable girls a short distance but the cabbie was kind and helped us take piccies heh.

*so i can't count and somehow scaled up the frosting recipe, and realised too late that i'd frosting for two cakes but only baked one. in retrospect i really should've saved the remainder for a rainy day but in reality i just had it for lunch instead. maturity ftw.

ivy

part of my pseudo-busy social life is the endless stream of house parties. despite being old enough to be their mother (ok, so i exaggerate) it's always such an ego boost when the undergrads deem me cool enough for an invite. then again i could've been asked along to make up numbers (under no illusions there!) and more often than not end up politely declining because i've weekend plans. while the grad medics would be the first to admit that we do sort of clique together, being with the undergrads (especially in clinical years!) has undoubtedly expanded my social circle. last year was a little funny - as the only girl in a small clinical group of 10, and one of five in a larger group of 20 that was split up for the most part, there were moments that had be questioning what in the world i was doing with nine little boys.

that said, have had the pleasure of getting to know a couple of them younglings better in clinics and they happen to live in two houses side by side (girl house / boy house) a short walk away. so my modus operandi (shh!) is to decline the boozy party but go by with a card and gift for the birthday person, and a gift for the party. apparently it's all very quaint and old-fashioned in this world of fb invites that no one takes seriously and is merely accepting of until something better comes along! my mama taught me well? ;) this way i also get some nice sober chat with said birthday person, and being nosey i love having a poke around other people's digs. it was on one such occasion that i snapped this photo of the ivy on the wall. i like ivy. it's my grandmother's name. and strangely hadn't turned red yet (does it always do that?)

nigerian wedding

so the reason why i'd a room friday and saturday night in essex was because my very generous host had booked out the hotel. had a regrettably tenuous connection to the wedding couple but was up to attend my very first nigerian wedding. silly me, thought it was an english celebration for the couple's friends based in the UK. little did i realise that 90% of the 500 guests had come all the way from nigeria. and being the paranoid little poop i am, my ebola alarm bells started to ring. yes, i'm aware nigeria is a huge country and the chances of the guests having ebola was slim, but throw in air travel and possible transit in african airports and i got very worked up. that's why i'm only just getting round to talking about the wedding, when i'm safely out of the 21 day incubation period. when i learnt at the start of the wedding when 500 guests were under on glorious white marquee that most had traveled from far to be there, i inched closer to the open doors (thank goodness our table opened onto the grounds), tried my darndest not to shake hands nor cheek anyone, and made repeated trips to the ladies for the fresh air (good 10min walk to  the main building) and hand hygiene. of course, everyone i later related this to laughed at me :( and when i spotted a lone petechia the next day, i had a near meltdown. not fun.

oh and not just 500 guests but big names from nigeria (whizzkid, the jayZ of a-frickin-ca) were flown in for the party. didn't take much to turn me into a groupie (who kept a safe distance). weddings always make me think about mine, and gosh ours was so different. had lamb soup and pancakes at the next town for our 20+ guests for the wedding breakfast and were done and dusted in just over an hour. in contrast, this wedding breakfast was pretty darn marathon. started at 3pm and when i finally bowed out near midnight, the party was still going strong. what i did enjoy was the dancing from 6 onwards, and the endless supply of DP 2004 that the groom's father kept passing me. but too polite to chug my personal bottle, i'd share it round the table. then like magic, another would appear :)

mingle jingle

it's somewhat apt that i'm typing this just 15minutes before some friends come round for dinner. hermetic as i like to think i am, it's good to have company on occasion. hosting a christmas jumper party was such fun i think we've to make an annual affair of it. we also had, literally, an hour's sleep before leaving for the airport. guests left by 2, cleaned up and packed till 4, taxi at 5. didn't hurt that our wall clock has been out of commission for the longest time (we've yet to get the hang of this 'living without battery replacing parents' thing!) and every one lost track of the time. funnily enough, of our "top ten" friends who came by, only one had to work the next day so maybe that explains the disregard for time. isn't it nice when you don't eye the clock?

london isn't the friendliest of cities but we're so blessed to have good friends and family close by. the year has brought some new transplants to our neck of the woods, and we're looking forward to seeing more of them :)

logistics-wise, if you're interested, we assembled (popped pizza, quiche, canapes etc in the oven, laid out cheese platter), most things with the help of our earliest-arriving guests. singing for their supper, if you like! i'd laid out all the chairs and tried to coax guests to the living room but seemed like they were all content to cram in the kitchen to hang with the mister and his magic pot of mulled wine. we did eventually make it over for the cracker pull and some serious single malts older than me. and despite my whinging about our resident shutterbug going on strike, he was ever so kind as to oblige.  more photos over on fb!

  

happy saturday

so it was one of those mornings when the stars aligned for an absolutely perfect day. allow me to warn you that this post might reek of self-indulgent self-satisfaction and smugness, so if you're reading on an empty stomach, please feel free to visit another time. or not at all ;)

one of my favourite things on earth is sleeping without setting the alarm. and it's happened for a good part of my summer break thus far. but to have the mister sleeping without the alarm too - now that's a rarity that only happens on the weekend. okok, so it happens every weekend because we're usually too lazy to make morning weekend plans. but still! 

we must've woken past noon (oh the luxury!) and promptly migrated to the living room. the mister watched man vs food and then very politely requested an american-size omelette. ever the obliging wife (oh he can dream) i figured an omelette was well-within my limited repertoire. popped out to the store to stock up and sneakily bought more veggie than i care to admit to. see, the mister, he doesn't like his greens. goodness knows how i'm fast running out of scheming ways to hide veggie in his food. and there's only so many times i can disguise it as lasagne mince! now while this might put me in good stead for future parenthood (picky eater? been there, dealt with that!) it's proving to be a daily challenge. in fact, i'm even going so far as to host a japanese dinner party next week to experiment with new ways to hide the mister's vegetables (veggie tempura, anyone? and a salmon veggie miso hotpot!) thank goodness the mister hadn't asked for anything more exotic - because a deep pan omelette with mushrooms, spinach, onion, tomato, bacon and cheese is a meal in itself.

and lest you think we are complete slobs, we actually had party plans! hermetic as i enjoy being, very occasionally we do get invited out. it's embarrassing how little we socialise. hey, i'm all for meeting new people and presenting my best self to complete strangers but there's a time and place for every thing. anyhoos our friends just bought and completely renovated a house in angel and we were psyched to visit them in their new digs. nevermind it entailed us trekking across londontown. fuel-ed up by the huge omelette, we took a slow drive by the river.

our friends had done an amazing job and it felt so wonderfully grown up to be in a proper house. it had three storeys and a yard and plenty of space for animals and kids! i got major home envy and here's hoping our starter flat grows up into a respectable home one day :) and being pseudo-social creatures, we got to know a few of their other friends.

we did eventually excuse ourselves to explore the rest of angel and had a lovely evening wandering around the little lanes, stopping for a drink or three at frederick's. had to make it to the japan centre to buy ingredients for our japanese home-cooking but after that, we continued on foot to polpo, after lusting over the flank steak from insta. 

i guess more than the spread and company at D's, the indie shops in angel, the cool cocktails at frederick's, the fun of groceries and yummy-ness of polpo, saturday was perfect because i got to spend it with the mister :)

thanksgiving dinner

so this post a bit late coming but K had us round for thanksgiving dinner and boy those boys can cook! between him, his sisters and housemates they'd dinner covered! those were some mighty fine birds but C wins for painstakingly bringing a dozen molten chocolate lava cakes and home made tau huay all the way from bristol. now that, my friends, is dedication. and a golden girl worth giving thanks for :) her tau huay was more like the old airport road pudding that i miss with a vengeance and the chocolate lava cakes were truly death by chocolate but in the best possible way. grateful for family, and the wonderful by-product that is family friends. we've spent a good part of our lives together and there's this amazing shared understanding that they get me. and my parents, bless them. and when one of us starts a story about our latest parental shenanigans, there's no need for context because we know exactly what they're getting at. aww :)

and on a separate note, the mister taught me an important lesson at dinner. his EQ is through the roof and he picked up on something i completely missed. so much for women being more socially aware! thankful to be married to someone who inspires me to be a better version of myself.

thankful list over here, if you'd like to see.

the wedding photos!

our wonderful icelandic photographer was very fast to give us the full set of photos from the wedding. however, we wanted our family and friends in singapore to be the first to see the shots so we only shared some of the better ones on facebook after the singapore celebration. it's been a short six weeks since we tied the knot but oh wow does it feel great to be married to my favourite person on earth :)

we had a leisurely morning start. tea ceremony at 9am followed by the church ceremony at 11am. here's my sister, and C, my oldest friend making sure we were all set for the short walk to the church.

the bridal procession, and if you look hard enough, you'll see my brother running ahead to tell them we were en route!

14 family and 16 of our closest friends made the trek to watch us exchange "i do"s

surprise poppers that also took our 16 friends a good 2 hours to clean up after. character building!

just about the greatest friends ever

after the church ceremony and before our wedding pancake brunch, we went to the beach to take some photos! 

we took some portraiture shots on the beach, by the lava fields, in the meadow, by the church, on the jetty, just about everywhere! then we proceeded to the next town (15 minutes away!) for lamb soup and icelandic pancakes, washed down by copious amounts of DP, courtesy of our exceedingly gracious guests. the young at heart then drove to the neighbouring natural hot pools, we'd a luxuriously long (5 hour!) dinner back at the hotel and because the sun just refused to set, we were dancing on the rooftop terrace till 4am.  V, the manager, introduced us to putrified shark chased by brennivin. vile!

that's all, for iceland :)

happy halloween!

how fast it's been a year since this. last year, i'd just gotten back from kuching, where we'd conveniently picked up some handy transformers masks, before making a dash for bongo's*bus. this ingenious idea saw us gathering at a*tica, horded onto eight coaches and then carted to various night spots as the night wore on. i went as a leopard print clad fashion faux pas (ooh, scary!) and this later became the barometer for potential friendship.

random: you dress as what?
me: fashion faux pas (pronounced: fox parse for double faux pas!) 
random: hahhh. you where got foxy. you wear lehper preen leh...
me: nice meeting you! -shimmies away-

but i digress. one year on, i'm spending not-halloween at medsoc drinking diesel (vile mixture of beer, strongbow and blackcurrant!) and trying very hard not to compare the uni basement to the glittering string of clubs we covered last year ;) 

costume of the night - pumpkin patch girls were a huge hit!

plus all good nights end with a doner kebab slathered in everything and chased with indomie.

naturally.

happy halloween folks! what are you dressing up as :)