summer is berry good

summer is berry season and i LOVE berries. yesterday i wanted to buy a box from whole foods but they were 4 bucks a punnet so i exercised some restraint since i had gone there with some good cheese in mind (and i eventually got- aged gouda which was sharp and tangy and tasted more like dessert. oooh yum!) so anyway, my restraint was rewarded today because what did they have at the office?? BLACKBERRIES!!!!

had a craving for double chunk choc muffin from au bon pain this morning so i took a little detour and got the muffin before boarding my train. i dunno if i'm the only messy muffin eater, but i was leaving crumb trails all the way from the train to the office all the way to my desk. i felt like gretel (without my boy hansel) and i'm wondering if there's an elegant way of eating those things. what's worse is at the traffic light, i bump into a colleague and she was like hey how are you??!! and i smile and try not to show my teeth because i know for sure there's chocolate bits all over. it's one of those thing to remember never to order on a date along with any kind of berry smoothie or dried seaweed (because it flakes all over and looks like a weird mole when it gets stuck on your face).

dan has a new found interest in chinese music because it calms his soul when he studies. i think his new idol is stephanie sun.

bday blues

dan's birthday is this thursday and i only remembered when he talked about going to a bar with some of the crew this week. thank goodness i caught myself on time and didn't let slip that the day had totally slipped my mind.

more of a problem is what to do at this very last minute. i can't very well order a bouquet of roses which would do the trick for any female which is why guys have it easy.

after blowing $500 on a flight to visit him, i also kind of don't really wanna be spending a whole lot so that leaves me with a huge variety of options no?

ideas anyone???

saturday night live

i'm working this weekend so i can take an extra two days to go to london. thank goodness the weather is ugly out and if i didn't have to work i would still be stuck at home anyway. and i don't know what drug i was on when i volunteered to work 6am-3pm on sunday. which means i'll leave shanaz's party tonight half buzzed, get up in two hours and head for work. then while adrenaline is still running high, i'll be meeting my equally foodie swiss colleague to explore and show him the messy streets of c-town and then catch the tribeca film we have free tickets for. i expect that i will be zonked by the movie's end and i'll go back home catch sleep for a couple of hours before i have to hit work again. absolutely crazy. i have no idea how the hard core i-bankers do it but i guess that's why they are paid so much damn money.

star struck and heaven bound

waiting for hang's pulut hitam to cook so i will instantly be transported to hawker center heaven with one mouthful. MMM.

our workshop of craft goods and pretty things has not yet taken off. and i haven't even read the instructions on how to set up that sewing machinette and it's already been relegated to the top shelf on the coat closet.

i bought a hand mixer the other day and even got all the ingredients to make a chocolate souffle cake. five weeks have passed and i haven't even started beating the egg whites yet.

there seems to be a horrid pattern here. all these things on my to-do list that i just don't do. i wonder if it would help if i made a to-not-do list instead.

i am badly star struck this weekend. as if eating in close proximity with elton and marc jacobs was not enough for my faint heart, i was one of the ushers/greeters at a VIP luncheon hosted by our CEO. the guests included European Central Bank President, Jean Claude Trichet, ex fed chairman Paul Volcker, George Soros and some other superstars in the financial world (but who really cares when you got the rogue Soros). my task du jour was checking in these hotshots and giving them their name tags. a tall professor-like gentleman comes along looking quite lost. turns out he is volcker and my heart skips a beat when i hear him say his last name. a little later a spunky old dude in a velvet-ish striped suit comes up and i ask for his last name to give him his tag. "soros". oh blimey, i curse and wish i had checked his profile/picture earlier. oh well, at least i got to shake every important hand there was to shake. what a day!

and tonight, for $20, i was pleasantly entertained by Alicia Keys. it's the first time i've seen a superstar concert since michael jackson came to singapore ages ago.

so yes, i am still recovering from starry-eyed-ness.

just for kicks :)

did you think i was lying? my friend took the pictures at low resolution apparently.

mike trying to be inconspicuous. see elton in the background?

a night at cipriani

so tonight peiru and i got decked out--she looking very gamine in a vintage designer dress and me in my one and only cocktail number that i've repeated in such desperate times--and made our way to cipriani for the new museum gala.

SIR elton john was the guest of honour and thanks to company's philanthropy, us small fries got prime seats in the house, at the table right next to SIR elton, marc jacobs and cindy sherman (famous cutting-edge photographer of whom this gala was in honour. of course i didn't even know all this until my cultured friend peiru enlightened me. haha)

but whatever--we had fun getting star struck (more like she spotted the artists and gave me speedy tutorials "he's great artist--he did such and such..." isn't it convenient to have a best friend who's so in the know???)

what a great way to see the side of ny we would never be able to afford-- through glasses of frosty bellini and cutesy petit fours. rubbing shoulders with high society was pretty fun, and even better was getting a $1000 per head dinner for absolutely NOTHING!

highlight of the night was a photographer who took a picture of peiru and asked where her dress was from. we found out later she works for VOGUE. Talk about a compliment!!! woo hoo! you go fashionista!!

maybe hip hop is just not my thang

i have new found respect for hip hoppers. i went for hip hop dance class the other day and felt like a goon because i didn't have the rhythm and i just couldn't get the style. what with the hip shaking/butt jiggling and shoulder shrugging--i just couldn't get into the groove. i mean i was the only clown that was in tights and ballet shoes when everyone else was wearing baggy pants and lots of attitude. (i had just finished a jazz class next door that's why). who ever thought that being bootylicious was so damn difficult???

mango tango

if there is one thing i would smuggle in with me into this country it is mangoes. i love mango to death but i am deprived over here because they don't have the sweet smooth thai variety we get at home. we get those fat stringy ones from latin america that take too long to ripen and whose fibres get stuck in my teeth all the time.

knit wits

there's this knit shop not far from where i live that's very trendy. i think it is called knit new york or something pseudo-cool like that. one can knit some yarn and sip coffee at the same time at this wannabe upscale place. it's the biggest mystery on the block because everytime i peer in, there's not one old person fuddy-duddy in sight. all the knitters are young and hip. and i have a huge suspicion that friday night is gay night because every time i've walked by on a friday i have seen ONLY MEN knitting away. i guess now knit new york can be added to the list of gay hangouts including the nearby prada or gucci store.

another thing i was wondering is how madonna got her name.