Holiday Happenings

It’s the middle of June again and I finally have a whole, uninterrupted week off from work. What a luxury! But even as I write this, it’s already Thursday and my week is almost up, sob!

I had no intention of travelling at all this week; like it or not, travelling can sometimes be stressful and June is too hot for any strenuous wandering round. Instead, I chose to stay home and do some house cleaning, gardening, reading, and thought about catching a movie or two. Well, it’s Thursday today and all I can say about my holiday is that I’ve done the following:

Cleaned up 2 store rooms
Cleaned up the linen cupboards
Cleaned up kitchen cupboards
Swept garden every day
Read several books
Watched Makansutra Raw four days in a row.
Made konyaku jelly and durian bread pudding (apart from dinner)
Had lunch with a friend at Raffles City
Began another on-line course

Wow, rereading the list makes me sound positively old and boring. That could be the real me but hey, one can’t be hip and happening all the time. But seriously, you can’t imagine how pleased I am with my two neat store rooms.

For entertainment, I always find reading satisfying but in the last few days, I have taken to watching Makansutra Raw each day after dinner. True, the series feature repeat programmes now, but Seetoh always makes me laugh. I like his unbridled enthusiasm for food and while his eating (or chomping on many occasions) can be a little unrefined, at least he doesn’t talk that much when his mouth is full, unlike many other food show hosts. He also speaks well in an authentic Singapore style and makes many interesting comments about the food and the food culture here without being pretentious. The other food show hosts I like are Nigella Lawson (she makes food and cooking seductive and has the best vocabulary; check out her adjectives!) and Anthony Bourdain (brash, loud but has many original observations about food and places).

I don’t really care about food that much although I enjoy cooking for friends and family. I am always a sucker for a good recipe and over the years, I have collected a ton of recipes. Just this week, I contemplated throwing out my recipe magazines but finally found a place for them in my store room so they get another reprieve until the next time. I know the Internet makes these recipes unnecessary but there is always that one recipe that looks interesting and that I hope to try one day and so into the file it goes. If you are interested in cooking, let me share my favourite sites with you. For any Western food, I always go to allrecipes.com. For local food, I like bakingmum.blogspot.com, and she has a list of other websites that are interesting too.

And did I mention my on-line course? Yes, doing a course in June sounds like self-inflicted punishment. I clearly need to review my options for fun. But since the evenings are now devoted to the World Cup (translation: husband is hogging the television every night), I too need to spend my evenings doing something challenging. But while I am not a football fan, I am always full of admiration for the game and the fans. Truly, the World Cup is one event that unites people all over the world, so I too feel the excitement of the game.

Tomorrow is Friday and I have the weekend too to really have some serious fun. I am thinking hard now about what I want to do. Hmmm… well, let me finish my book first. And in case you’re wondering what literary tome I am reading, it’s actually nothing cerebral. It’s J.R. Ward’s series on the Black Dagger Brotherhood. It’s hardcore vampires here and none of that simpering stuff that is in Twilight but the truth is such books are like fast food. One can only have that many meals before they begin to taste the same…. But in an emergency or if one is in serious need for fun, they will do. Enjoy your holidays!