sunday



today i met bert and orlanda for breakfast at macdonald's. later mingyao and i had lunch at the taiwanese place next to shaw where i had my usual chicken chop noodles with ketchup and a special sauce and xiao long baos and we went to borders for a browse before heading to style:nordic where mingyao took a look at the chairs for good back support.

maybe next week i'll go for the alva alto exhibition in nus.

pssst.


i like white tiles and patterns.


cropping to see with a different eye.


turkey burger with cranberry sauce. too dry, ying says. i prefer your roasted beef sandwich.

at p.s. cafe with ying and sharon. we talked about my new york+san fran and about hers in dec. hello, it's a lazy saturday and we had some tea and mudpie and chicken wings later in nydc. i'm craving for something savoury, sharon says, because i baked a cheesecake this morning. you must go to here, here and here, i tell her, about the hidden places in america. and i bought a 'dwell' magazine.

i had dinner with my family - it was delicious loud banter - fighting to talk and hearing everything at the same time. my brother is getting taller. i've always been this tall, he says. i really like the wrapped duck dish and my mother and sisters tell jokes in the car.

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last night

i went to the URA conservation talk. linghao's shophouse extension project + presentation was very nice. i was smiling all the time. then the bosses and collegues went to the Front Row cafe at ang siang st. they had marmalade on toast. us three shared two cookies and had teas in very pretty cups and saucers. it's all about the experience of being in a very nice shop. later the rest of us went to chomp chomp - because matthew had a car - and had chicken wings+carrot cake+hokkien mee+prawn mee+rojak+sambal stingray+kueh pai tie - matthew asked if we wanted kueh lapis, with seafood and we were dumbfounded, only later we realised he meant kueh pai tie, that was funny - and we went to have some shakes and coffees after at cafe cartel. so nice being in the neighbourhood. my friends are funny folks.

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that day i went with mingyao to siglap. we went to coffee club to have dinner with eni. that was nice.

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quiet. quiet.

holiday. come back!

today today




was a beautiful day. i miss all the kids in ym and so it was nice to see all of them. mingyao dropped me at wisma before going to ORQ where his new office is - nearer to my office so that's a very good thing - and i bought birthday cards and gifts and the above things - so cute eh the stickers. that's a gift too for somebody too. mingyao picked me up and then he fetched me home.

and a beautiful yesterday




last night was absolutely divine. the whole of yesterday was because i attended denise - prom queen/miss congeniality's wedding, first at the church in upper east coast road, then later at marriott hotel at night where it became a mini reunion of sorts for the tsd people and there were many vjc fellas and denise looked smashing - poised and goofy at times, vinesh described in his speech before the toast - and aptly so. in the morning the church wedding was simple and beautiful and in between i went to mingyao's place to rest before we headed to town. after parking we headed to the japanese supermarket at isetan and bought these yam cake snacks from the fair and headed back to the car to snack on those because we were early and up for a little adventure before the dinner and while we weren't sitting at the tsd dinner which was a bummer, the lovely ambiance and the lovely bride all made up for it - plus we just walked about and spoke to everybody and yvette and shiv was there! which was so nice and we took photos and denise's second gown in teal was so, denise - and it was breathtaking on her.

and colin cheong, jo dong, flo, ade, sab lim, judy, mingyao and i headed to starbucks at liat towers after for a drink and a chat and judy was hilarious with her rendition of hokkien kua (how do u spell that) and funny chinese band names and ade is giving japanese lessons and gave us several brief descriptions of her jap travels and i was actually as tired as ever - i think it is still part jet lag because it was quite horrible trying to open my eyes even and we left earlier than the rest and mingyao sent me home.

some things

denise is getting married this afternoon.

ole scheeren of OMA is seeing maggi cheung, the newspaper says.

Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness. ~Ray Bradbury

today i met mingyao for lunch at the golden shoe hawker centre - normally we'd meet at the times bookshop downstairs; we bumped into bernice in her black/white lawyer's uniform; today i saw the current issue of monocle magazine that i hadn't seen and so of course i bought it rightaway - actually, right after lunch - and (i love you so) - they featured some really pretty pictures:


- a really cool residence in luxembourg; picture above
- hiking never looked so sexy; picture below


and i read it on the way home on the train - lent my ex-issue to sok leng in the office; i had conviniently re-read it on the train to work this morning.

some things about some things from my trip:

- hershey's limited edition cherry cordial kisses are AWESOME.
- ghiradelli's new flavour - white chocolate with vanilla beans is AWESOME.
- the beauty of travel in my inner world - my trips tend to relate to my encounters with literature and film somewhat - after i returned from canada i discovered douglas coupland and reading the books i saw vancouver; london was a pilgrimage to insatiable appitite for hardy and eliot and bronte in my youth; in later years i read woolf and she described going about in london, and i saw that; cambridge for plath; san francisco soon after i started reading jack kerouac and so when i stood opposite city lights bookshop between chinatown and the beat streets and i read that passage in the book, i saw frisco; new york city for woody allen and for all the love songs about the city; i know what's next sometime next year: hong kong for Food That I Love With Mingyao (the roast duck rice in san francisco, oh the sauce) and for wong kar wai.
- everytime i got lost, i found a new strange/funny/jolly memory. what fun, eh.

jet lag is good for one thing. can't sleep. go run in the morn.

i already miss watching that 70s show reruns on (90 channel-) cable television in a foreign land on a cold lazy evening in a warm orange-y-lit room eating cherry vanilla ice cream - two helpings - with you.

fiction becomes truth

"in the window i smelled all the food of san francisco. there were seafood places out there where the buns were hot, and the baskets were good enough to eat too; where the menus themselves were soft with foody esculence as though dipped in hot broths and roasted dry and good enough to eat too. just show me the bluefish spangle on a seafood menu and i'd eat it; let me smell the drawn butter and lobster claws. there were places where they specialized in thick red roast beef au jus, or roast chicken basted in wine. there were places where hamburgs sizzled on grills and the coffee was only a nickle. and oh, that pan-fried chow mien flavoured air that blew into my room from chinatown, vying with the spaghetti sauces of north beach, the soft-shell crab of fisherman's wharf - nay, the ribs of fillmore turning on spits! throw in the market street chili beans, redhot, and french-fried potatoes of the embarcadero wino night, and steamed clams from sausalito across the bay, and that's my ah-dream of san francisco. add fog, hunger-making raw fog, and the throb of neons in the soft night, the clack of high-heeled beauties, white doves in a chinese grocery window..."

on the road, jack kerouac, p.157-8

and i know where and what he's talking about

tales in technicolour


the golden gate bridge


in the SFMOMA: this fan was swinging like a pendulum in the lobby atrium. mesmerising.


on the plane: the deserts and earth cracks took my breath away.


in washington park before meeting chere: students galore writing reading, etc. around the fountain.

tales in mono


the statue of liberty: is more petite in reality than in those ariel shots in pictures.


dog runs in parks: this was at the wharf before the boat trip. watching dogs socialise in nyc is such a therapeutic experience. my favourite time was dog-watching at union sq park with mingyao. we stood there for nearly twenty minutes. in san francisco we theorised that the dogs were less friendly because of the proportionately larger amount of homeless people roaming the streets.


lego.


bridges: seeing manhattan from the waters.


the flatiron building: across from madison sq. park.


the subway: here i went uptown to have lunch with dionne near columbia uni. train time is good for looking, pondering and trying not to look like a tourist - displaying the look with the seemingly vacuous eyes but in actuality, admiring those red shoes or tracing the lines on somebody's wrinkled face.


in queens at grandaunt's house, we walk to the bus stop to take the q65 bus to the subway at flushing before taking the subway to manhattan. i met my grandmother's eldest sister for the first time, and her family. she took out her old family albums to show me treasured sepia prints. she studied in japan when she was young. her husband was a striking lad with broad shoulders and smart dark spectacles. she's 90. he's 97. they don't look it though, being all feisty verbally. i was humbled in some way i didn't understand.




yale courtyard: the sun, the trees and the archaic stonewalls are whispering around students sprawled on the grass. academia. in the universities, i felt that i missed school a bit. i miss doing research in the libraries and preparing for theory presentations.

"win or lose, we go shopping after the election" - imelda marcos

these are some things i bought, besides clothes. a little something from everywhere to remember somewhere and somewhat.


drinking milk has never been so attractive. this cup goes to the office. from fisheseddy.com


hello to frivolous dolling up


japanese chewing gum from the supermarket near our place in san francisco


more reason to snail-mail


postcards of the paintings i like from the exhibitions. edward hopper is still my favourite.


books from The Strand bookshop


mingyao bought me a degas mug from The Met. postcards of the guggenheim museum in nyc and pretty lip balm

i am back home in singapore.

and it is october.

a last day of holiday kind of day


from across the road


brickwork

today we took a bus to valencia st. cos i wanted to look for my onisuka tiger sneakers but nada so we took a bus to market street and had a shopping day making the final rounds and getting presents, etc. we had katsu donburi for lunch - unoriginal, not japanese but ang mohs and chinese staff - then we walked south of market street in the late afternoon to the mario botta designed san fran. MOMA. we didn't have time to go see the art work, plus we had done enough museums already and so we, yeap we did, headed straight for the museum shop before appreciating the skylit lobby which i find very nicely intimate. we took the bus to the japanese supermarket near our place and bought some jap snacks for breakfast, hijiki for dinner appetizer, japanese chewing gum, etc.

for dinner we had stirfry veges and potatoes; and grilled rosmary chicken and grilled portobello mushrooms - and we still have ice cream left.

i want to/don't want to go home tomorrow.

de young museum and others


de young museum: anticipation


walking to the museum through the park


entry to museum shop


the view across to the gardens and the roof of the museum below


in the tower with the awesome view


the beauty of the bridge cannnot be captured in a photo; it's the whole environment that makes it breathtaking.


we didn't go to sausalito. staring out onto the waters and the view is therapeutic.


the painted cables of golden gate bridge


the beats: citylights bookshop at columbus avenue

i went to the gym again and mingyao made a breakfast of herb saussages and french toast. delicious.

today we took the bus to the golden gate park to visit the de young museum, designed by herzog and de meuron. it's in a really nice setting - the landscaping is very inviting and the type of trees make it very different from the typical woods i've seen in new york city and back home. i couldn't believe i was here at the very museum i see in the books. anyways it is a nice museum, very engaged with its immediate environment. the view at the top of the tower was splendid - san francisco is beautiful - new york is cool and fun but san fran, is beautiful - the way it engages with nature, the blue skies, the contours, the whole city on the hills, the bay and the view of the bare rock of mountains across, the bridge, it's amazing. we only went through the american art exhibits because we didn't have much time.

we took a bus to the golden gate bridge and took a walk across. the striking redness of the bridge is made more beautiful because of the backdrop of the rocks and the slopes.

we went to city lights bookshop - i got mh a book she requested; it would have been nice to buy a book from there but i still have many i've not finished. we walked down to chinatown to buy duck home to eat. the sauce for the duck the drizzles onto the rice is Amazing.

bits of san francisco


victorian style houses on the slopes


in little japan


view of san francisco from alcatraz


alcatraz island - it's so ironically beautiful in the middle of the san francisco bay


an oasis while crossing the dessert

some bits of nyc


strawberry fields in central park


metropolitan opera at lincoln plaza

oh ice cream!

this morning i took a quick run in the gym while mingyao cooked bacon, saussages and eggs and we had a satisfying breakfast before we went to the japanese supermarket and popped into kinokuniya then we walked to see the painted ladies, a group of victorian-era style houses in front of a park and we walked down to market street pass the civic area and to the shopping district where we spent the whole afternoon. we took the muni bus back and started preparing dinner - steak marinated in jack daniel's honey teriyaki sauce and some stirfry vegetables with portobello mushrooms topped off with so wonderful ice creams - peach sorbet and haagan daaz's cherry vanilla with some hershey's kisses with cherry creme on the inside. oh bliss, we had two helpings each, of the cherry vanilla flavoured one.

san francisco

yesterday we took the plane to san francisco. the sight of the deserts on the plane ride was amazing. our place is in the middle of little japan and tomorrow we are going to explore the japanese shops and supermarkets around. after putting down our bags we set off immediately to chinatown to complete our roast duck pilgrimage at the new kingtin restaurant. the slopes in san fran are such a challenge. by night our legs were aching. anyway the duck and duck rice and the lotus root soup was fabulous. we hardly talked over dinner cos we were busy concentrating on the more important task of savouring every bite and spoonful. we bought egg tarts in a bakery then walked home via ellis streets. there are so much more visible homeless people on the streets in san fran than new york city, at least it seems that way.

today we walked to fisherman's wharf and passed along some very cute shops, including a standalone benefit make up shop. we took a look at lombard with the crooked streets filled with tourists, with a tour of coit tower in the distance. we continued to the wharf and looked for a good seafood place. decided on an italian restaurant called noma rosa i think, and ordered a sicilian calamari and a lobster to share. it came with some really good rice that had some chicken base. after the good lunch we headed off to our alcatraz tour. the tour was really well done and by the time we got back to little japan we decided to have some bento in a small restaurant that opened till late. pretty good bento deal for the price, i ate gyoza, chicken teriyaki and tonkatsu. yummy.

now that 70s show is on tv.

friday tales - we took the subway to MOMA in the late afternoon to queue up for the free friday tickets and yeah doing the commercial thingy we went straight to the moma store once we collected our tickets before heading to the exhibits upstairs. the museum experience is more spatial than sensorial. the materiality is very cold but the layers of openings vertically and horizontally make for quite a rich visual experience where one observes not merely the art but the people at the stairs, on the bridges, in the courtyards, across the glass blocks. two museums one after another in two days is quite tiring anyhows and we had a hotdog and kebab outside, those being our first, we were overcharged.

we went home to get our coats cos it was getting chilly and then we took the train up to 110th street to meet kim li and diego. kim was eating jap curry katsu don in a little eatery and we joined her and her taiwanese aki friend judy popped by with her bf allen and diego came along later and we wanted to go to a jazz place, Smoke, down the road but there was a guest star and us being poor people on a budget decided to head somewhere else although the place looked very welcoming and we went to The Underground where there was some standup comedy going on - very bad standup comedy done by amatuers cept for one kid - smiling out of politeness got alittle to difficult after about an hour and a half and we finished our drinks and headed out. it was a short time with kim li - shoulded have told them to come down to this cute unnamed bar across our place but it was interesting nonetheless and it was nice to see kim li again after such a long time.


saturday tales - pilgrimage to dean and deluca. turned the corner at broadway and chanced upon Fishseddy store - wonderland of fancy crockery (bren, check it out!)if you want to buy new york city souvenirs you should come here instead of the typical tourist shops and get some really classy things. we bought a kebab at union square as well and later walked up to the empire state building but we didn't want to queue so long and we contemplated the price to go up and decided that we would forgo the empire state view for a good meal. we turned round the corner and discovered we were in K-town again. bought a pinkberry frozen yogurt and decided to go back to the korean bbq place for dinner. we walked down for a bit to the manhattan mall bit, skipped macy's and went to have dinner - fatty pork and medium rare beef and kim chi - goodness in abundance.

tomorrow, san francisco.

korean tales

today was totally unpredictable. in the morning we took the subway downtown to chinatown to have viet beef noodles which was just alright, not the best. then we took the subway uptown to The Met but we didn't have that much time so we only spent about two and a half hours there before it closed and of course we had to go to the shop before we left and we walked out to the main entrance where people were watching some spontaneous breakdancers doing their stuff - really entertaining - wit and other wise and then we went back to rest before going out again to meet alfred at yasuda, a sushi place next to the hyatt, near chrysler bldg. alfred brought his friend SK along, a german born korean who went to columbia grad law school with him and we had good sushi and some sake plus they went to this area called k-town at about thirty something street which was amazing. we went to a bar called maru i think, and it's apparently a typical thing to order a tray of fresh fruits along with your soju - we had lychee soju - and the architecture was simple bare concrete walls and white chiffon curtains and amazing was it was mainly koreans/asians, like a different world and we headed next to The Third Floor across the junction which was totally asian, a bar with upbeat music and it was like suddenly being transported to korea and SK had a friend and we shared some seats. it was her birthday and SK went downstairs to get some dessert cakes and i had my first car bomb which wasn't heavy and i liked the irish cream taste in it. in short we had a good time catching up with Mr. A. X. and they took us to a korean grill place for supper for authentic grilled beef and pork and kimchi etc. etc. and it was so like, good times, old times and being out and being with good pals.

it was my first korean meal, served in nyc no less, with a real korean. yeap.

artsy fartsy

mama zuma's spicy chips are murder. we picked a packet up at the supermarket opposite the peter sharp auditorium at the juillard school. two chips and i'm dead. even mingyao the chilli padi extraordinaire said, no more. we felt dissatisfied so we went out the get another packet of chips. then we ordered chinese take out that came almost instantly.

today we walked all the way from chelsea up madison avenue to central park. we had lunch at wholefoods supermarket then took a walk to the lincoln centre/plaza/met opera bldg/juilliard school/alice tully dance school and saw there was a free concert tonight so we enquired for tickets and went to visit strawberry fields at central park before grabbing a chicken and avacardo sandwich at aforementioned supermarket and went for a concert by the american brass quintet.

egg tart is best

this morning we walked down to washington sq park to meet chere. we walked down to union square and had lunch at max brenner's at soho. the dessert was great, waffles and vanilla ice cream and chocolate drizzles and fruits. we walked about with chere for abit then walked down all the way broadway to wall street and to visit the world trade centre site. we took a walk at battery park and then headed up to chinatown for dinner. shared a platter of beef, char siew, scallops, prawns and chicken - walked about and looked for a bakery where we bought egg tarts and pastry for breakfast tomorrow. we walked seven or eight hours today. man.

sejima's new museum of contemporary art building under construction, in the bowery, on the way to chinatown.

i'm now in nyc again with mingyao who arrived yesterday. on saturday morning ee jie and i drove to boston to meet up with andrea dn jerrold at wellesley college then we took a bus to the city and had clam chowder! we took a really long walk then rushed back to catch the bus. ee jie and i drove to ny, flushing and stayed with grandaunt again. the next day we went to broadway and walked down the main shops. i super love uniqlo! i got work dresses from americal apparel. we walked for four hours before we met cheng for a late lunch at cafe bari which had a very nice setting. burgers and teas. then we had to go back to flushing to go to jfk to get mingyao.

this morning aunt and uncle fetched us to flushing and we took the subway to town. we walked down fourth avenue and went to chinatown. it was a nice long walk and we were very happy having char siew wanton mee in a chinese eatery. we bought lao po bing and po lo buns from a bakery and walked up broadway and got groceries at wholefoods supermarket. it's a nice area, chelsea. we're watching friends rerun on tv now.