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.

maze grill

splurged on a staycation and went back to where i've spent many happy childhood hours. this stunning view never grows old and the weather was perfect but somehow the running shoes i packed never left the bag ;) what i hadn't realised was the fantastic in-room breakfast options ;) bak ku teh and fish porridge???? are you kidding meeee????! sold! folks were up to pre-celebrate cny (brother and i are in london, sister in sg) then left to spend cny itself with sister and sg fam. folks in town = feasting, and my father, bless him, made a classic comic comment. he said, "wah! london has no bad restaurants huh!" to which my brother and i just looked at him incredulously because, duh, there are tons of bad restaurants, overpriced, oversold with crummy service etc but we sort of pride ourselves on being discerning and not taking them to substandard places when they're in town! why subject anyone to mediocrity! hilarious. 

so an example of a good place i love because it's a stone's throw and literaly in the 'hood is maze grill at park walk. it's opened about a year now and the sunday roast is amazing value with free flow sides. oh the sides, i could keep going and going... the sort of el cheapo trick is for one person to order the sunday roast and the rest to a la carte but feast off the (now) communal sides. you didn't hear that from me ;) and the service is efficient and professional, good wine recommendations that aren't just pushing the priciest bottle, you know? and the lovely thing about maze grill is that i'm a carnivore to the bone and love a bloody, juicy steak but they've such tempting starters it's hard not to get full on them before the mains arrive!

maltby street

so i've not been in awhile and suddenly there's a hip new market that's not maltby street?? it's nearby though and i can't remember what it's called now but it seemed like a hipster offshoot with a cluster of stalls including this amazing one that sold oysters. but one can't go to maltby without having monty's pastrami and st john's custard donuts. and i may or may not have fallen in love with a vintage chesterfield in original condition (!!!) which may or may not have been purchased on a whim to remind me to age in a similarly graceful fashion. patina and the like, you know ;)

the plan is to redecorate one i'm done with medsch (and finally earning again haha) so the dear chesterfield is going to be the star my other little tweaks revolve around... exciting!

daddy i want a pony

the weather hadn't been great and when there was a sudden stretch of sun, i was eager to banish the cabin fever. far from outdoorsy / athletic (don't let the pictures fool you!) but thoroughly enjoyed this venture to the country that had a walk involving wild (!) ponies (!!!) who were so tame they sidled up for nuzzles and cuddles, and a leisurely lunch at berwick before heading home. there was a freak snow storm on the way back (scary!) but that's february i suppose!

steamboat

(photo credits to the artistic H, who makes even pop up dosa kitchen meal look cinematographic in her snapchats)

this is most belated but around CNY time i had my clinical group girlies and R round for steamboat. R and i have the sweetest meet-cute, if i may say so myself. was at heathrow last summer waiting to clear security to head stateside when there was a queue diversion and i was shuffled to a different queue. this new queue was moving even slower than the one i was previously in, and there was this girl who sort of let me go first. or maybe i let her go first. i can't remember! we were both very polite! so we both shrugged good-naturedly at our slow queue and later got talking. because her mama's trained her well, she didn't give too much away at the beginning, just said she was going to singers. and this, of course, got me very excited. so then she said she was doing her elective there, so of course i too had to chime in and talk about my singers elective in a few weeks. we delicately picked our way towards talking about our medsch to find out IT WAS THE SAME SCHOOL. but it's so big our paths hadn't crossed before that!!!! swapped numbers and planned to meet up in singers and so we did! she asked if she could bring N (her housemate) along for the boat ride (they were going to link up in dubai and continue to singers together) and N ended up being my clinical groupmate. she's the absolute sweetest and i'm so glad i met her through R in singers (of all places!). so when i had N and H (clinical group girlies) round, of course we'd to include R and conveniently exclude the smelly boys. some things don't change, no matter how old we get ;)

steamboat with the rice cooker is a life hack, many thanks A! and hm it was the girlie's first time and i was enjoying watching them all excited about this 'chinese fondue'. it's great to be able to share a part of home / heritage with friends so far away. did have a semi-early celebration with my folks who were around just before CNY but it was nice to have friends so eat with during actual new year :)

oh hello

it's been some time! 2016 off to a flying start and um, how is it already march??? time's been whizzing past and the busier real life gets, the quieter things are on the blog front. final year is progressing at break-neck pace and i keep pinching myself wondering how exactly i'm going to sit and be done with finals in three (!!!) months! but the more i think about it, the more accessible / achievable this insurmountable goal is. left with eight weeks of surgery and in the middle of that we've a two week easter break. yay! sound like a broken recorder but i really like what i do and am ever joyous to have cut losses and made the switch when i did. it's surreal to think about how in a matter of months i'm the doctor, i'm the one where the buck stops and i've to take responsibility for my decisions. feeling increasingly prepared for the mantle and am just excited, really, to move on with life! speaking of which, got some fab news yesterday and my first job is going to be in central london, hopefully at a hospital two streets from the flat. that's unheard of and i'm so very grateful, so humbled, by how things have worked out. to get my first choice deanery when the odds were daunting, to say the least, is beyond belief. but God!

as a doctor, visibility is something in woefully short supply and i'm just glad to know where i'm going to be for the next two years. one day at a time? yet it feels a little premature to be celebrating my first job before clearing the little hurdle that is finals!

i'm sorry, this must be very boring talk! logistics and future and other adult-y things i've been putting off as long as possible because my castle is the clouds is where i'd rather be. have some posts coming up with photos and brief commentary of life of late. do check back, if you'd like to see :)

villeneuve and aosta

spent christmas with this little monkey climbing all over my face, and wouldn't have had it any other way. it's strange - not the biggest fan of children nor they me. offspring of friends one sort of has to grin and bear. although i'd be the last person to offer cuddles on tap. yet when i met this little bundle, something in me melted into a pile of goop. can't explain emotional attraction / attachment but little L i love to bits like no other. maybe it's his magnetic smile, or how we seem to have the best conversations. he also can't seem to stop rubbing his cute face into mine, and i get plenty of kisses back. love at first sight, if i ever knew it. doesn't hurt that i adore his mama (and papa) so mega love fest all round.

it was also such a treat to visit C (his gorgeous mama) in her hometown, with lunch at her childhood home. unabashedly a product of our parents, past and providence. i feel someone would only really know me if they've been to singers, met my family and seen where i grew up. and while i know C from london, spending time in the town where she grew up, breathing in the alpine air, exploring the streets she walked as a school girl was such a privilege. doesn't hurt that aosta (the nearest city) is pretty darn gorgeous and after lunch we went walking till late :)

room with a view!

malcesine

skied for two glorious days then happily hung up my skis. figured best to quit while i was ahead, and before i broke anything. in retrospect, do think i might've chipped a tooth during a particularly nasty tumble but hm, no harm no foul? thrilled to have ended confidently on a hard red slope that i couldn't have managed the day before. so easily please, i am. such low expectations! the blacks weren't open, but even if they'd been, it'd have taken more than liquid bombardino courage to get me up (and down!) one of those. am resolutely the world's biggest chicken when it comes to risk and risk-taking. yay can't wait to be a junior doctor having to manage risk on a daily basis.... :/

C, as usual, had the best tips and suggested we go to malcesine. had been tipped off about riva del garda which she then sort of wrinkled her nose at (haha). so malcesine it was, with the shortest of stops at riva before deciding it was indeed not quite what we wanted. it felt like florida? sort of low rent and motel and palm tree-y. malcesine, however, was just stunning. driving there was surreal because it felt like a ghost town. miles and miles of beach front property but empty! weather was mild and we were later told it was a summer place, as one would've imagined. the sole open cafe was right on the water and made for a pretty lunch spot. was surprised by how affordable things were. expected the worse but mains were EUR8? more than decent! 

fieroo

a green (beginner) run that was literally green. thank you, el nino for the lack of snow! was a little disappointed (and relieved!) that there was no snow because i've a well-documented love/hate relationship with skiing. basically, hate the skiing, love the apres-ski? been skiing since i was a child and never really warmed to it. sounds so bratty, i know :/ it's just this irrational fear i have of heights and speed and not being in control, and if i were a better skier, i'd feel more in control. chicken and egg. thought to enjoy madonna di campiglio instead and used it as a base for day trips (to trento one day) and then spent another day just wandering around the town. fieroooo is a bit of an inside joke (after fiero in the musical wicked. couldn't help but have lunch at al fiero (excellent, btw!) and send a piccie to the inner circle whatsapp group for a laugh at fiero's expense.

it was one of those places where the waiter was wonderfully generous and kept comp-ing drinks. bubbles once we sat down, sweet wine at the end then grappa too??? i was doing a mental tally the whole time and must say we'd about EUR20 free booze each at the rate he was going. yayy! inner el cheapo well pleased. the lamb chops were great (i don't usually like lamb!) and the pasta special done to perfection. 

food files

little known fact but the dolomites have stars aplenty! i'm a little wary about chasing stars and find it doesn't always live up to expectation, plus inner scrooge doesn't want to be oversold nor spend too much on food. i'm easy enough to please, eat everything and don't have so fine-tuned a palate as to differentiate between haute cuisine and regular. in fact, haute cuisine portions are often too small to satisfy my ravenous appetite. so there. the in-house restaurant had a star but what the chef did to his own disservice (?) was to make the bistro food (included in full board) so darn good that we never felt the need to top up for dins at his m*star resto in the same floor space! he said himself that his trick was to do simple food well and oh my did he more than live up to that. the pasta each night was out of this world, it just kept getting better, and the starter and mains and dessert were as good. really lucked out and i figure it's more the chef's skill than the setting that makes for incredible dining.

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.

trento

had the privilege of meeting C on PICU while i was at great*ormond earlier this year. split my time between NICU and PICU and because we're both terribly shy, we only started talking towards the end of my placement, despite us having been on the same ward round for four weeks prior :/ turned out we really got along (at least i think so!) and kept in touch as i moved on to st*mary's as she was doing a six month stint herself. she's lovely and kind and someone i'm so glad to have gotten to know in 2015. both abandoned wives (her husband E was in trieste and the mister was traveling a fair bit!) we explored london together and i like to think i caught her good habits of walking everywhere and eating home-cooked. my takeaway habit was partially kicked, to her credit! we'd been trying to think of how to meet up in person once she went back to trieste to resume her last year of paeds training before becoming a consultant this year (!!!) and when she heard i was going to be in madonna di campiglio in december, twisted her dear husband's arm into driving all that way to rendezvous in trento. 

this photo made me think of camus' quote about how in deep winter one finds an invincible summer within. probably not what he meant and most defo wasn't referring to global warming nor el nino but had a little chuckle all the same.

appreciate everyone's busy and E had had a long few weeks (who hasn't!) but they spent the night in trento and it was wonderful to see them again. they'd been before and sussed out the good restaurants so lunch was amazing, naturally, then as we walked around the markets he plied us with mystical alcohols like flaming parampampoli. it's officially my new favourite word and i say it at random now. had met E in london when he was visiting and he's +1 i've grown fond of. it's lovely when friends are with worthy partners and they're so good to and for each other, you know? makes my heart swell :)

2016, let's gooO!

it's no secret that primrose hill is my happy place. am a one trick pony and it's my default 'things to do' suggestion when friends are in town. instead of squeezing into a stinky hipster coffee place, i suggest we take a walk to and up primrose hill if the weather is good. best views of london and have spent many happy hours there this year. so it was only fitting to spend NYE there too with the hordes of other revelers. just like 2012/13 (see, one trick pony!) was sandwiched between schoolgirls and rastafarians, second-hand smoke of the green sort aplenty. was also late (typical!) and ended up sprinting up the hill in wellies as the crowd counted down and fireworks went off. thank goodness that went on for awhile so i caught most of it when sufficiently elevated. at my height, every little counts and wouldn't have been able to see any of it otherwise! 

did a little 2015 review in the previous post so will spare you the self-indulgent reflection. in a way, 2015 was really hard and i'm so glad it's over. not quite good riddance but you get the picture. was recounting the year and it had more lows than highs, and the uncertainty about the future really got to be. there are definitely moments i'm not proud of, and moments i wish to never repeat. but that's life, isn't it. i'm hopeful for 2016, cautiously optimistic about a year that will see five years of hard graft come to fruition, to close one chapter and begin the next. since we got married in 2012 (yay, acquired a spouse and a house!), the years that followed have been a relatively happy continuum but i'm itchy for some action. growth is painful, and being stretched then stretched some more - even more so! but through it all i know Who holds my future, and who holds my hand.

onwards and upwards! here's wishing you a bigger, better and brighter 2016.