catch a Korean movie today?

While channel-surfing some weeks ago, I chanced upon a Korean movie “Seducing Mr Perfect” (originally titled “Seducing Mr Robin”).

The movie is a romantic comedy, directed in a distinctively Korean style. In case you’re wondering what this movie is all about…well, it is the usual boy meets girl and absolutely hates her; boy turns out to be (ahem) the girl’s boss; boy “tekan” girl; girl hates boy but because he is rich, tries to “seduce” him with hilarious outcomes; girl gets bullied by ex-boyfriend; boy saves girl; boy falls in love with girl but girl doesn’t realise it; girl falls in love with boy but doesn’t realise it, both somehow doesn’t get together; melodramatic event happens…and somehow in the end, they live happily after (well sorta) …

Cliché? Yes.

Boring? No.

Despite a very predictable plot, the movie was not boring at all. The director got the male protagonist (an American Asian) to speak only in English and the female protagonist to speak mainly in Korean. The verbal sparring in Korean and English was interesting and a welcomed departure from an all-Korean or all-English movie.

There was also the signature quirky sense of humour that is found in many Korean romantic comedies. It’s not slapstick entertainment humour commonly found in Hong Kong comedies. Perhaps, something closer to Japanese comedies - funny in its randomness; amusing in its sarcasms; and hilarious in the irony of role-reversals that panned out between the two protagonists.

Despite a seemingly un-inspiring plot, despite the movie being in a foreign language half the time, I liked the movie because it is unpretentious and retained the signature Korean humour – quirky and fun.

Without over-analysing the movie, it is simply put, a feel-good movie, something one can consider watching if you are in the mood of something light-hearted.

visit this museum on the south side of the river?

Yes! I'm talking about the little known Imperial War Museum, located near Lambeth/Elephant & Castle and very off the beaten track and well clear of tourists. (apart from war enthusiasts!)

This is one of those places that we often drive past whilst house hunting on the south side of the river but never quite got round to actually visiting it.

A very imposing 4-storey building with beautiful grounds that used to be the Bethlem Royal Hospital (aka Bedlam, hence how the term bedlam was derived) which housed psychiatric patients in the mid-19th century, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) is dedicated to the Great Wars and also all military operations that involved Britain and the Commonwealth since 1935.

We finally decided that last Sunday was when we would make the dedicated trip to the IWM to view the exhibits that has changed how we now live and how the world functions today - paying homage to all the inventions (atomic bomb, tank etc). during the war and the social effects (children of the war, holocaust etc.) that have lasted till today.

Also I was drawn to the special exhibition that was on in the museum Ministry of Food - an exhibition examining how the British public adapted to the food shortages at that time.

I often hear about food rationing from my grandparents whom lived through WW2 as a teenager but it's not something our generation has ever had to experience so to hear some of the live accounts, see what a week's ration was actually like, flip through a rationing book etc. really did bring it closer to heart.

The exhibition also focused very much on encouraging the public of that time to grow their own crops and convert their back gardens into vegetable plots with propaganda posters and broadcast advertisements encouraging eating potatoes rather than bread (wheat was imported, potatoes were plentiful).

I guess this very much explains why most British people are such keen gardeners and why potato is such a staple and served in a myriad of ways in this country!

Some photographs of the exhibition (courtesy of Arf!)

In all, I really enjoyed the visit and am looking forward to revisiting the museum again soon and looking at all the rest of the exhibits that I did not get to enjoy this time round. A real gem of London and best of all it's free!

Imperial War Museum London Lambeth Road London SE1 6HZ United Kingdom		Open daily 10.00am - 6.00pm (closed 24, 25 and 26 December) ADMISSION IS FREE (Special exhibitions may charge an admission fee)

http://london.iwm.org.uk

…read The Forsyte Saga?

Five weeks ago, I took the plunge and dived into a series of six novels, barely coming up for air for long stretches as I devoured the words. Written by the Nobel literature prize winner John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga (a trilogy of three novels and an interlude), and its sequel A Modern Comedy (yet another trilogy) chronicle the family squabbles and intrigues of three generations of a nouveau riche English family, the Forsytes, from 1906 through to 1928.

The prose is not particularly elegant, and is rather dauntingly ponderous at the beginning. Once past the first few chapters however, the Edwardian age came alive. I saw London anew with descriptions of carriage rides and walks through lustrous Hyde Park, Bayswater, Knightsbridge and Sloane Square. I travelled through time on the Underground tube (who knew for instance, that they had first and second class carriages for the tube then?) and took commuter train rides out to the newly developing suburbs like Robin Hill and Staines. Two of the Forsytes were active patrons of the arts and the books are filled with beautiful descriptions of the Gaughains, the Monets and other great paintings of the age.

As with any family saga, The Forsyte Saga and A Modern Comedy rely heavily on arresting plotlines and intriguing characters to keep the reader properly hooked. The story of the struggle between an oppressive, possessive, dutiful solicitor, Soames Forsyte, and his free-spirited wife Irene, dominates the first trilogy. Their feud and their subsequent divorce shape the destinies of the next generation of Forsytes, in particular Soames’ only daughter from his second marriage, Fleur, and Irene’s son from her second marriage to Soames’ cousin, Jon.

The portrayal of women shifts subtly as the “modern women” starts to emerge in the twentieth century. Irene, while repeatedly described as being beautiful and alluring, is often a passive character – her thoughts and feelings are never documented and one sees her through the eyes of the men in her life. Independently minded, she is nonetheless reliant on men for money and protection. Fleur, on the other hand, married the heir to a baronet but is seen as a real person in her own right. One hears her spoilt and rather selfish voice, her ambitions, her sorrows and her rather pathetic attempts to control the men around her.

Galsworthy was less successful in generating interest in the plight of the lower classes. Fleur’s husband, Michael Mont (incidentally my favourite character in the book), is a Tory MP who embarked on a series of experiments to better the lot of the English working class, including setting up a chicken farming community for the urban unemployed and urging children to emigrate to the New World. These attempts were amusing but sadly, they failed to fully describe the despair of the poor and unemployed in a world without social nets or adequate opportunities.

Six books may sound like a drag but I was rewarded with the hours of amusement that only a well-crafted, old-fashioned novel focusing on characters and plot can bring. I am looking forward to reading the next sequel End of the Chapter (yes, yet another 3 novels!).

….. read food labels carefully?

One of the first decisions we had to make after bringing A home was what to feed her. There many brands of dog food and the advice that can be found on the internet can be rather overwhelming. Should we feed kibbles or wet food, or perhaps, whip up a delicious home-cooked meal?

A was only 12 weeks old when we brought her home, so we continued her regular brand of kibbles before we tried mixing in our own choice. We started off with a brand she was already on, then we decided to switch her over to another as Vets supposedly recommended it.

Quickly, we learnt to read food labels more carefully and found out more about what those ingredients meant. We were shocked to learn that out of the top 5 ingredients, there was only one “pseudo-meat” – chicken by-product meal, which is basically the ground up whole carcass of chicken, including the neck, feet and innards! Two of the other ingredients were different iterations of corn, which is an extremely poor source of proteins for dogs due to its indigestibility. Dried beet pulp and artificial liver flavoring rounded up the top five. Hardly stuff to whet the appetite of a born carnivore!

The more we learnt, the more questions we had – how much protein content was good, how about glucosamine and omega oils, should we pick chicken or lamb or fish. One thing’s for sure, our quest to find the best food that we can buy to feed A is still a work in progress. Now after 4 different brands, it’s time to try to change her kibbles again because of a possible skin allergy to chicken. Perhaps we’ll try a fish-based kibble, so do we pick a single fish or allow a few different fish types? Choices choice choices…

...celebrate Valentine's Day in a different way?

When I was 15, we celebrated V-Day (the abbreviated version of Valentine's Day that we used) on 13 Feb, so that those who had boyfriends then could celebrate with their boyfriends on the actual day itself. So it was called a pre-V-Day celebration and the venue was always Chili's until it closed. By that time, we also stopped having pre-V-Day celebrations.

The recent re-opening of Chili's in Singapore has brought back some memories, so perhaps it is time to gather the girls and head down for some stupid, noisy fun.

When I was 18, I broke up with my then-boyfriend on Valentine's Day. Needless to say, that wasn't a very good V-Day.

When I was... well, I can't really remember much about the subsequent V-Days. V-Days had a different meaning after I found out it falls on the same day as the birthday of somebody whom I don't really like. Just kidding!

Even as a hopeless romantic, the older I got, the less important V-Days became. When you become more discerning to the ways of the world, you realise that it's all a commercial gimmick and seriously, if two people are in love, everyday should be Valentine's Day (awwwwwww) and you really don't need a special day to celebrate it.

Inspired by the movie, "Valentine's Day", I feel like organising a "I hate Valentine's Day" celebration next year. Check back with me or remind me about it next year. I loved that scene where Jennifer Garner beat up the stupid heart. Now THAT would be a different way to celebrate Valentine's Day. :)

... find an unexpected muse?

I first met Yian at my going-away party at Capella 4 months ago. My best friend had asked him to come because Yian's just moved back to Singapore from New York (and I suppose he could 'inherit' my friends since I'm going away?!) So there he was, walking... no, swaggering... into my party, pretty models in tow and a snappy-happy camera in hand. Hmmmm. His saving grace was his infectious inquisitiveness and a somewhat sharp wit.

Yian Huang is a photographer. A Rafflesian and Bain management consultant turned photographer. His works have been exhibited at the Palais du Louvre in Paris, the Singapore Art Museum, and in Russia, Italy and the US; and seen on the pages of the Economist, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. And he tells me his mission is to document social conflicts and world issues, and to connect with his subjects in a sensitive and intimate manner. Most importantly, beyond being a photographer, he wants to teach, inspire and mentor others to connect with the world around them. Maybe it is that earnest yet determined way he said it... But at that moment, there I was - Fascinated. Inspired. Moved.

It was not just a passing "wow, that's cool" moment. Over the next couple of months, I found myself hankering for the whole photographer's kit and caboodle. Eventually of course, I was kindly advised that it was the technique and the ability to capture the decisive moment that will create great pictures.

Very recently, someone told me I seem to wear my rose-tinted glasses to see the world. Never quite thought of it that way. But what I really want is to see the world behind Yian's camera lens (or perhaps my own someday) - there is something so vivid, intense and alive from behind that lens! Here are some pictures of the West Bank through his eyes:

If you're in Singapore, you can catch Yian's exhibition at Raffles Junior College from 22 - 26 February 2010 - -The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

A dialogue session Conflict Photography: Conversations with Yian will be at 1630 - 1830 hrs on the 26 February at RJC Lecture Theatre 4.

... be In the Mood for Love?

You know how there are some movies you can watch over and over again, loving it more and more each time? In my book, Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love is such a movie. Last week, a bunch of us attended a screening at the Harvard Film Archive. Most of us have seen (and loved) the movie umpteen times, while some watched it for the first time.

The first time I watched In the Mood for Love, I was instantly captivated by 3 things: the lush cinematography; the strangely mesmerizing soundtrack (Yumeji's Theme, Nat King Cole's rendition of Quizás, Quizás, Quizás; and the Angkor Wat Theme) and all the gorgeous cheongsams Maggie Cheung wears in the movie.

Each subsequent time I watched it, I found myself increasingly captivated by the same 3 things-- I took a mental note of the narrow red corridor outside of room 2046, marveled at the apropos timing of the 3 main musical themes, and remembered more of the striking cheongsam prints. However, I also slowly began to realize the reason I love this movie so much is because it is hauntingly romantic. Unlike most romantic movies of the modern era, the 2 protagonists of this love story never kissed and barely held hands. Both their suffering and love lingers, subtly drawing sympathy from the audience. There is so much restraint and hesitation on both ends, and yet the yearning is strong. So little is verbalized, and yet so much is understood. I suppose I must be a romantic at heart.

... go for breakfast at Canele Patisserie?

I met up with some school friends over breakfast at Canele Patisserie today.

Canele, to me, has always been a dessert place – somewhere comfortable where one can hang out with friends and chit chat over a cuppa of hot tea or coffee and of course, yummy desserts…

As for breakfast…It started as a big question mark to me and ended up as a pleasant surprise.

The breakfast menu consists of six different sets, ranging from $7.50 to $13.50. One could choose to have eggs prepared in various ways (poached, scrambled, omelette). If one has a sweet tooth, one could also choose a bakery set (of muffin, croissant, and Danish), blue berry pancake or French Toast. For those who want the best of both worlds, Le Petit Dejeuner, which has eggs, toast, muffin, sausage, bacon, amongst others, would be the choice.

While I would agree that the menu choices were somewhat limited, the presentation of the various breakfast sets was rather pretty to behold. Needless to say, I was impressed with the way the food was arranged and couldn’t help but marvel at how simple breakfast foodfare can be presented in such a delightful way.

I guess it also helped that there wasn’t much of a breakfast crowd and this made Canele an ideal choice for people to meet up and enjoy a quiet morning.

So yes, next time when you would like to go to somewhere quiet for breakfast, why not give it a shot?

...explore medieval art at the V&A, the Met and the Musée de Cluny?

Whilst working in Paris five years ago, I stumbled onto the Musée de Cluny whilst exploring the city. Housed in the former Abbey Cluny, and tiny, by Parisian museum standards, it showcased wonderful illuminated manuscripts and other artefacts from the Middle Ages. I fell in love with a series of six tapestries, called the La Dame à la licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn).

Woven in Flanders in the fifteenth century, each of the tapestries shows a lady flanked by a lion and a unicorn ; five of them each showcase allegorical symbols of the five senses – taste, hearing, sight, smell and touch, while the more ambiguous sixth plays on the theme of “À mon seul désir" (“to my only desire”). Exquisite and intricate, the tapestries awakened an interest in medieval art, which I realised is so much more than the rather dull painted altar pieces one sees as the precursor to the Renaissance and the Old Masters in European painting.

Since then, this interest has lain rather dormant, crowded out by more flamboyant eras like the Pre-Raphaelites and the Impressionists. Over the last two weekends though, I was in turn at the new Medieval and Renaissance wing at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Medieval rooms at the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

The V&A’s Medieval and Renaissance Wing was revamped at the cost of £30M, and was rightly lauded in the press for breathing new life to the wonderful medieval artefacts owned by the V&A, some of which have never before shown to the public. Airy and flooded with natural light, the gallery looks and feels like a cathedral, particularly with the beautiful stained glass panes illuminating the space within. The effect was transcendental.

Highlights include the dazzling Gloucester Candlestick with dragons at its feet, the sparkling Thomas à Becket enamelled casket from Limoges, Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks, a choir screen in its entirety from 's-Hertogenbosch , a fifteenth century version of Aesop Fables in Latin and Italian, and many well-preserved illustrated manuscripts, the writing and illustration of which were the sole occupation of many monks in that period. My favourite works were the carved ivory pieces, particularly the miniature altar panels, some so intricately carved it make me gasp. My boyfriend, A, and I had fun with the many quizzes within the interactive programmes positioned throughout the gallery; we now know for instance, that pointed arches and curved bodies in carvings were characteristic of the Gothic period. We barely made it through half of the exhibits during our afternoon there, so long did we linger in each room. I will have to return at some stage.

In New York just last weekend on a quick stopover for work, I nipped into the Met to re-acquaint myself with some of the wonders within. This time around, instead of hanging out on the second floor where the major paintings are displayed, I found myself lingering within the medieval rooms. Less informative and a shade less accessible compared to the V&A, the Met still has some breath-taking pieces, like the jewelled enamel caskets and tapestries showing the four stages of men. One piece did make me smile – a tapestry depicted man, represented by a stag, being hunted and chased by hounds representing vanity, overconfidence, rashness and desire, which were released by a lady representing ignorance. Read into it what you will…

.....get a new best friend?

I recently welcomed the latest addition to my family – Miss A. She is pure sunshine trotting on 4 legs, always cheery and trying to get into some trouble! Some friends just can’t stop gushing about what a sweet little pup she is, while others who do not share my passion for dogs wondered why in the world I would love having a little ball of fur rampaging through the house, trying to chew on anything she can reach with that mouth full of pearly whites!

While I do not subscribe to the overly romantic notion that dogs are pure love and can do no wrong, perhaps the reason people love their dogs so much, is that dogs are like innocent children playing at the playground, ALL the time! Just like humans, dogs are highly emotive creatures. As I’m typing this, A is letting me know that she’s bored that I would rather tap away at my laptop than play fetch, or go for a walk. But hey, she’s also glad to just lie and sleep at my feet till I’m done. Of course, sometimes she’ll have no qualms about climbing onto my chair and with her paw on my arm, urge me to go for that walk!

Some might think its sadly anthropomorphic to ascribe emotions to animals like dogs, but anybody who has had any contact with dogs will tell you that they are just as capable of emotions like joy, sadness or jealousy (probably in that order!).

I'm looking forward to our little adventures and life together!

...rediscover the benefits of Bodycombat?

There was a period of time, when I would call myself a fitness freak. I was not at my fittest but I was spending at least two days a week at the gym (mainly for Bodycombat), and doing all sorts of activities, like jogging, rock climbing and badminton during the weekends. There was a time I went for a 2-hour jog and then went to rock-climb for another 2 hours!

Somehow, I lost steam along the way, due to a variety of reasons. But I have since rediscovered the joys of Bodycombat. The gym is now located a convenient 10 mins walk from the office, so there will be lots more of before-work, lunch-time and after-work Bodycombat sessions for me.

Bodycombat is a combination of aerobics, dance, and martial arts (like muay thai and capoeira). With the punches, upper cuts, hooks, front kicks, side kicks, jump-kicks, you really get a full body workout! After the cardio workout, there is still 10 minutes left at the end of the session for toning your body (with the push-ups and sit-ups). What's more, you even get to punch and kick an imaginary opponent, perfect for letting off steam on those days when your boss gets really irritating (and you can't do anything about it). :)

...try a new recipe each month?

You know good old tried-and-tested recipes that you've churned out time and again with satisfying results? It's a little like the comfort blanket you've been having for the past 20 years - a little too comfortable, almost.

Well, I'm always up for a new challenge and not just any old challenge. But a challenge to try a technically complicated recipe each month, from the myriad of cookbooks S has been collecting at the Craven Street library.

I've always admired the precision and technicality Thomas Keller goes into in his cookbook,
"The French Laundry Cookbook". It's more than just a recipe book - almost inspirational at times and it really does make you think hard about devouring the works of art when you're at your next Michelin-starred degustation meal, eating merrily into your Course No. 6 of 10.
All top chefs must be perfectionists I reckon. Only with that kind of attitude and drive can you create plates of artwork that will stimulate all senses.

Dr O and I poured through the 60 odd recipes and due to various food exclusions, seasonality and various other factors we pondered, did a SWOT analysis (just joking!) and finally chose "Surf and Turf" (he wanted meat, I wanted fish!) on Page 162.

This "Surf and Turf" of course was not the usual fare you get at steak joints but it was a sauteed monkfish tail with braised oxtail, Salsify and Cepes.
Excellent stuff I thought! I like all the components enough so that should make one satisfying meal.

So off to Borough market we went on a sunny Saturday afternoon, braving the crowds and tourists clicking away on their big ass SLRs. As this is where I do most of my food shopping for the week, it is annoying to get through the crowds that of course, we not going to buy fresh fish and meat at the stalls! They were more spectators and were only interested in composing an "arty photographer-like" shot, not how fresh or where the fish came from.

Anyhow, 2 hours later we finally got all the ingredients needed for the dish and kid you not, the list goes on and on...with 2 different types of stock (we made one from scratch, bought the other!) a red wine marinade that had it's own separate page of instructions and ingredients and lots and lots of chopping and cutting of brunoise. (very small, the smallest cube you could possibly cut of 4 different vegetables, all must be of the same size.

Well we started with the red wine marinade for the oxtail and it needed an overnighter.

One bottle of red wine, 5 pounds of oxtail and about 10 other ingredients went into this marinade.

Into a large ziplock bag all the marinade and oxtail went and there it sat peacefully in the fridge, allowing the marinade to do it's magic on the oxtail.


That seemed sort of easy enough and we were glad we got through the very first stages.



The next day, bright and early I jumped out of bed, eager to check on last night's work and started to prep all the other ingredients.

If you happen to get your hands on this cookbook, you will begin to realise it's a big challenge.

Let's skip and hop through most of it but let's say that there was a lot of sieving, skimming, cutting, browning, braising, deglazing, chopping, sauteing more skimming and sieving involved!


Brunoise of leek (green part only), carrot and turnips.

About 6 hours later,
And this is finally what we produced...

excuse the bad photography...we were exhausted by then.

The uncanny resemblance to the real deal on the cookbook

It was such good fun but would we attempt this recipe again? Probably not.
And how did it taste? It was very yummy and gone in about 4 mouthfuls.
Note: as I was cooking and assembling it during the final stages, Dr O said it was such a tiny portion he could eat 4 portions of it. But let's just say when he finished the first portion, the amount of burre monte (butter emulsion) he had consumed left him feeling rather full.

Till the next recipe challenge!

... find a way to relight your first love?

It seems so long ago since I left architecture school. Have I ever told you I have architect-envy? I always did and even now, sometimes I still do! There is such a strong desire in me to create something tangible, real and visual rather than just within Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint. But somehow, my natural curious self brought me on other exciting journeys, new interests and ambitions.

No regrets at all because I loved the journey - every bit of it - whether it was the start-up adventures or getting lost in the banking titans of the world.

But that meant I slowly muted the designer/ creator/ architect in me. I always had a great excuse - that I would mind terribly if I were an 'imperfect' or mediocre designer, as one does with one's first love. Fortunately, last year, Mr C decided to move to another apartment in Hong Kong and thought it would be a perfect chance for me to play designer.

It was excitement, pride and uncertainty all at the same time! Sure, I can't draw or visualise in 3D like I used to (there must be a muscle somewhere I need to rescuscitate) and I had help from my favourite fellow architecture studio chum. Sure, we are still missing quite a few pieces of furniture, still discussing (again) if we should re-do the kitchen and still wondering why we never seem to complete the project fully even after 9 months...

But it made me realised how much I miss my first love.

I promise a more comprehensive post in another 3 months. But here's sneak peeks of the project, before and after:

Before: This is the entrance, complete with streetside hawker-inspired stainless steel storage, doors and cold, grey granite flooring. You can't see it but there is faux daylight on the ceiling.

Before: This strange alcove connects to the living room. It has a 70s-but-not-chic display cabinet and get this, a MURPHY BED!

After: Same view as the Before above. We laid out the space differently and sealed up the alcove and created a feature wall of built-in book shelves in the living room. The volume of the alcove is now part of the master bedroom as a walk-in wardrobe.

... watch a 6-hour play at the A.R.T?

Some 3+ years ago, when we were both studying in Cambridge, JC alerted me to the awesomeness of the A.R.T. Perhaps it's because I've never been a particularly huge theater fan, or perhaps it's because there are always more ballets I want to go to (and both time AND money are limited), I have never gone to watch a play at A.R.T. all these years.

Yesterday, I finally did. At the brilliant suggestion of a friend, a huge group of us went to watch Elevator Repair Service's production of Gatz-- a 6-hour long verbatim reading of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

Gatz is staged in 2 parts, and one can choose to watch it on 2 separate days, but we decided to watch it in a single day, with a 1 hour dinner break in between. There are honestly no bad seats at the Loeb Drama Center but we had ridiculously good seats-- dead center, five rows from the front. In spite of the glowing reviews Gatz had received, I was prepared to be at least a little bored. After all, it was 6 hours long, A.R.T.'s Gatz website can't possibly be perfectly unbiased, and like I said earlier, I've never been much of a theater person.

As it turns out, I cannot be more wrong. Gatz is innovative, clever and an absolute masterpiece. From the creative use of sound, lighting and props, to the expert timing of the 13 actors, everything was flawless. The play begins with an office scene but by the end of the play, we were completely transported into Nick and Gatsby's Long Island of the roaring 20s. Scott Shepard, as Nick Carraway, was amazing-- how did he manage to read 80% of the book with that perfect intonation and rhythm from the beginning to the end?

One thing I know for sure-- I'll be revisiting the A.R.T. very soon.