#youperfectdorkofahusband

 
     "Why do you look so worried?" ZM asked.

     "Because I'm afraid I'm going to be the stupidest girl in my Feng Shui class tomorrow," I confessed.

     ZM laughed, "That's the silliest thing I ever heard."

    "If I was as smart as you, I would be fearless."

Happiness

     He is the happiest person I know. And, sometimes, just sometimes, his happiness is big enough for the two of us. 

The One With All The Cheesecakes

image credit to allthisbliss

    ZM and I were watching re-runs of Friends and it just reminded me of how some things will always be perfect. 

[Scene: Outside Central Perk, David has a cab waiting to take him to the airport and he’s saying goodbye to Phoebe.] 

David: Oh, I hate this but I-I-I have to go. I-I can’t miss my flight. 

Phoebe: Are you sure? I’ll bet there’s another flight to Minsk in like… 

David: July. Umm... (He speaks Russian.) 

Phoebe: That’s really beautiful. What does it mean? 

David: Please clean my beakers. (Pause) I don’t get out of the lab much. 

Phoebe: That’s good. I got to admit, I thought it was something else. 

David: Yeah, I… Well I really actually wanted to say umm, that, but um, I figured I probably shouldn’t because y’know, I…have to leave. 

Phoebe: You’re right! You’re right. Don’t say it. 

David: I-I do though. 

Phoebe: I do too.

(They kiss.)

Taiwan (5): Cijin Island - To the Lighthouse (Part 3)

“To want and not to have, sent all up her body a hardness, a hollowness, a strain. And then to want and not to have- to want and want- how that wrung the heart, and wrung it again and again!” 

“What is the meaning of life? That was all- a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.” 

- Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse 

我和她 （4）

 

      在父亲节，我们到了婆婆家吃饭。婆婆消瘦了。

    我还记得在妳昏迷的时候，婆婆心痛的叫着“莉萍，看妈，看妈”。我心更碎了，因为心里也在叫，“妈，看我”。

   婆婆不愧是妳妈妈，她好坚强。妳像她，还是她像妳呢？ 她也好想妳吧。可是，妳不会让我们为妳脆弱的。

   妳总是那么的潇洒。

Taiwan (4): Day 2 - Cijin Island (Part 2)

         When we got to the mountain side of Cijin Island and the sea just seemed to go on and on and on, I thought, Here is a place almost big enough for my grief. 

  

        Mum, everything beautiful feels like you. 

Paddington House of Pancakes

Paddington House of Pancakes
Opening Hours: 11 am to 10 pm (Mon-Sun)
About $20 per pax
Western, International
Wide range of pancakes & serviceable

      Paddington falls into the spectrum of food places where I enjoyed the experience overall but would not recommend it to friends. Not without reservations at least. Paddington is what I would call a Good Idea place that does not taste as good. It's a real pity though because it has a beautiful menu:

       

     P tells me Paddington is a franchise brought over from KL. Its concept is pancakes around the world - so the menu is really beautiful and extensive. Truly drool-worthy. But perhaps therein lies the problem. Each pancake is supposedly made only after you order it - so there is a 15-20 minutes wait. Indeed, there is a wait, but when my pancakes reached me, it wasn't even warm! I ordered some fancy naming Buckleberry and P ordered Oslo.

   

     My blueberry pancakes clearly stemmed from a good idea. Cream cheese filling! It tasted good even though my pancakes weren't warm. But imagine if they were piping hot and the cream cheese melted in the mouth! Alas.

      And, look Oslo and Buckleberry have the exact same type of eggs! The pancakes doesn't seem too different either - so why does it take so long?

    I think there's just too many options on the menu and you can't completely blame the kitchen staff for not being on top of things. So, I think in the end everything was just about there but not enough. Serviceable. Just like the decorations - rather run of the mill we-are-oh-so-cool-industrial and how I realised later that the bill exceeded $50 but the cashier did not tell me to pay using DBS so I could get a complimentary pot of tea. Serviceable, but not there.

 

         Still, it is a decent pancake house with killer drinks (we ordered a wicked pitcher of some lemon lime zest). I am pickier than most when it comes to pancakes. As P and I reminisced about our old swimming days and how Dad and Mum would bring us to this terrific old school pancake place for dinner afterwards or even Mum's truly awesome banana pancakes for breakfast. The thing about pancakes for me is that it does not need to be fancy, it does not need to come from some exotic place in the world. It just needs to come from the heart.  

   So, I don't need hundreds of choices for pancakes. It feels like all the choices are hiding what is at the heart of a real pancake. A real pancake is a big fat hug in the morning from someone who loves you. And the most important thing about a hug is that you need it to be warm. 

Home & Decor (3): Wardrobe & Closets

     One of my frivolous dreams was to have a big enough wardrobe to put all my clothes. I recall vaguely that when I agreed to marry ZM, I asked if he would let me have a huge wardrobe and he laughed and said, "of course". So, one of our three bedrooms will be turned into a built in wardrobe! I think out of all the things he has done for me (and he has done a lot), I will always remember how he agreed with no qualms to turn one of the bedrooms to a built in wardrobe - because this was clearly cost-wasting and possibly space-wasting. But, that's just the man he is, he will always fulfill my dreams even if they come at great cost... and with that generosity and kindness of spirit, I'm also learning to become a person as good as him. 

    Now, onto frivolity: 

     

       

    I always thought I would have my built-in wardrobe in nice thick mahogany, but lots of design inspirations have the shelving in white and it's quite lovely and clean actually.

      I think the important thing when deciding the shelving is matching the colouring of the walls and the carpeting/tiling. This is done so well in the picture above!

      One of my favourites:

   

   I like the elegance and functionality of the wardrobe design above. An important touch is the hangers - the uniformity and use of wood. 

    I can't decide if the shelving should remain open or closed. Here's a comparison: 

     

    When the shelving is done in darkish brown/black, it has an aristocratic air about it:

     I really love the touch of having a built in dressing table. The mirror, chair and carpet combination is divine. 

     Finally, when it comes to personality, nothing can beat the one below. The turtle dove blue, turquoise, gold, light green and white combination has left me entranced. Having curtains cover the shelving is lovely, similar actually to the purple curtains my Mum did for P's closet, shrouding it all with a touch of mystique and nostalgia. 

    

"You have been in every line I have ever read"

      Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. 

                                                              - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations 

Taiwan (3): Day 2 - Cijin Island (Part 1)

   
     One of my favourite parts of Kaoshiung was Cijin Island. You take a short ferry (about 10 mins) and you will arrive to a completely different island. It's really quite a quaint simple place and I believe I will return one day.

     The seafood lunch we had at Cijin Island (we ate at the first restaurant on the seafood street) was definitely Dad's favourite meal. We ordered tons of seafood, a bottle of 台湾啤酒 (Taiwan Beer) and had free flow rice. It costs less than SG$50 in total.

     After that, we proceeded to rent the most ridiculous pink bicycle dotted with pink hearts. We didn't actually pick it and it was given to us, I felt, with Mum's mischievous blessings. The weather alternated between a scorching dry sun and sporadic rain. We cycled while nagging at each other, "eh, are you cycling?" and constantly telling Dad, "you only ring the bell when someone is in front of you!" when he rang the bell every few seconds to signal to the world, WE ARE COMING THROUGH.

   

          We decided to cycle to the end of the island and then make our way back to all the suggested sights. There were three of us on a four person bicycle. I suppose we were all sad in our own ways but also happy. I always remember this saying that you never really know how happy you are until ten years later. When you are in your moment, you can tell yourself as hard as you can to treasure it, to cherish it, to live in it. But you never really see anything with quite as much clarity until you are too far away now to be in it.

       Perhaps happiness can only ever be truly ascertained with hindsight, because we are always living in pursuit of it.

Style Inspiration: Cupcakes & Cashmere (Pink & Grey)

images from Cupcakes and Cashmere

    My two favourite colours currently are pink and grey. Grey because that is how the world feels when it is softly peaceful. Pink because that is my one bloom of optimism.