The "mini" surprise birthday cake

Ok. Where do I start with FOOD?

It took me a really, really long time to figure because I really don’t know. So, what I did was, to gather as many photos of food that I took over the past few years, especially those that came out of my kitchen. For many, I regret not making notes and taking down the recipe (very often I decide what to cook based on my instinct and mood). It also wasn’t till the recent few years, that I made it a point to take pictures. But well, am glad I did “start” somewhere....

So, let's start with this.

 

Last January, I was away as usual for the annual SIHH watch fair. And unfortunately had to miss a girlfriend's big 3-0 birthday party. So I sort of made "secret arrangements" with her hubby, made her a mini blackforest cake the day before I left for Geneva, and got him to collect it from my place on the big day. The chocolate cake was adapted from BBC Good Food's Ultimate Chocolate Cake recipe (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3092/ultimate-chocolate-cake), sandwiched with softly whipped, sweetened fresh dairy cream. What made it special, was the homemade brandy-soaked cherries between as well as on top of the cake. Painstakingly(literally- read on) pitted by hand without a cherry pitter and soaked for 2 weeks in cherry brandy with a splash of Cointreau. The pitting part was actually I trick I learned from the Internet. All you need is a sharp-ish metal piping tip and an empty wine bottle. In the beginning it wasn't easy at all(it was my first time pitting cherries), and I ended up with a couple of grazes from the piping tip. But after while, you get the hang of it, and it isn't all that bad. Major drawback was the cleaning up the cherry juice stains. Thankfully I now have a proper cherry/olive pitter to make things easier :)

Zhuan @home

 

What, no food?

A very good friend was surprised when she browsed through my blog last night. She texted me this morning to ask: "Hey, I thought you were going to blog about all the yummy stuff that you've been making?" Hmmm. Wonderful, someone who knows me well enough. Thing is, yes I do have a lot of food pictures to blog about, however a little too much I don't know where to start.
And when I was reading some local baking/ food blogs last evening, somehow I felt rather intimidated! I think I've been away from the blogosphere for too long, I was overwhelmed by the kind of posts people put up.
There's this baking blog that I've started reading in early Sept and really enjoyed: http://not-thekitchensink.blogspot.com  , by a sprightly girl named Janine. The kind of posts she put up, eg. collating all different types of sugars, flours etc into a very detailed table....WOW. Not sure if I could ever muster that kind of effort to do it. It's like going back to school again and making your own notes! But the things she posts are really helpful right down to the notes she takes down at the end of every recipe that she tried out.

I'm really not sure if I'm up to be that kind of food blogger, but I'll see what I can come up with. I come from an editorial background, after all!

So, if you're still waiting for all my food posts, please bear with me for a while. I will fill up this blog, slowly, but surely. Thanks for your patience :)

Zhuan @home

Some thoughts on Swimming With Sharks

Time really flies.
It's been 3 days after I watched Swimming With Sharks and it still feels like yesterday.
Usually, before I watch a play, I would do some basic research as to who has staged the production before, etc. but this time, somehow I didn't, it completely slipped my mind.

This post, I must state, is not a review. Just some afterthoughts, because I prefer to leave the serious stuff to the professionals.

The last time I watched a Pandemonium production was The Full Monty, which I found thoroughly entertaining. Singapore has a very talented pool of theatre practitioners, and Adrian and Tracie Pang are definitely among them. A fresh touch this time, though, was George Young.

I've worked with George Young last year for the NUYOU Time 2012 cover, he was still very new in the Singapore entertainment scene at that time, and it was just a couple of months before the debut of the Millon Dollar Money Drop. To be very frank, my first impression of him wasn't that fantastic. Not in a bad sense, but just that in his own clothes before styling of any form, I found him to be too "student-like". Quite like your regular guy-next-door, more than someone with star appeal. But after interviewing him, I realised that he's rather witty and charming. It was great to see him on stage for once.

Swimming With Sharks is not Young's first theatre production, but it is his debut on the Singapore stage. Overall, I thought he could've "let go" even more, especially in the "psycho" scene. And the emotional changes of Guy(the character Young played) between realising that he was being cheated, and "turning psycho", could've been portrayed more "smoothly". Ok no spoilers here but that's all I'm going to tell you. And with stage veterans like Adrian Pang and Janice Koh, it's difficult not to be slightly overshadowed.

One thing I really must commend on this production though, is the diction of all the actors. This, to me, is the beauty of stage productions (vs movies), even though not every actor is able to attain it yet. Even with no subtitles, I could understand every word they were saying. No, I do not mean that English is a foreign language to me, but if you have seen plays leaving you wishing there were subtitles, you'd get what I mean.

Also, for someone who has just left her job, I could really relate to a play centred upon the corporate rat race. Not that my previous working environment was as severe as Keystone Pictures(the movie production company in the play), just to clarify! It's just that, it all felt quite real, and I really wouldn't be surprised if such things are happening every day in companies (well, except for the "twist" that happened in the end). The screenplay(Swimming With Sharks was initially filmed as a movie, starring Kevin Spacey) written and directly by George Huang was, after all, based on a collage of true incidents. Every minute was entertaining, right till the very last scene. And I went home thinking about what the real corporate world might be like in other industries.

So please, try and catch Swimming With Sharks by Pangdemonium productions at Drama Centre before it's final showing on 7 October 2012. For great evening of entertainment, and also of course to support local theatre! For ticketing details, check out Sistic (www.sistic.com.sg)

What I really want to do NOW, is to find Kevin Spacey's movie version of Swimming With Sharks and watch Buddy "Spacey-Ackerman" devour his new assistant. And no, there is simply not enough space here to talk about the great Kevin Spacey.... :P

Image from Pangdemonium Productions www.pangdemonium.com

Zhuan @home

Was bone dry Swimming With (the) Sharks, but got home wet...

....I meant literally, me, bone dry. Not the play!! This production is brilliant, I enjoyed every second of it. But getting drenched on the way home, when I initially intended to plop onto bed within 10 minutes of reaching home, was an entirely different story. Anyway, more on Pangedemonium's Swimming With Sharks tomorrow. Bonne nuit :)

Zhuan @home

Back to the Blogosphere!

Hello there!

I am back. And feel rather apologetic for the long period of time that I'd stopped blogging. Besides tons of work, countless things have happened since my last post, I shall spare you the details.

 

In summary, I have left my editorial job of 6 and a half years, at Nuyou magazine two weeks ago, but nevertheless I'm not about to give up writing. I have therefore changed the URL of this blog from "Nuyouzhuan" to "The Z Journals" as you can see.

 

Leaving was never easy, but it was something I felt I had to do. Get out, experience more, learn more, pursue other interests.....and perhaps one day go back to publishing a much better and spiritually wealthier person. Nevertheless, I remain as a Fashion Columnist in NUYOU for the time being, contributing to the Fashion Folio pages.

 

From now until further notice, I will be taking up up freelance writing (yes, please let me know if there's anything I can help you with, I will be most glad!!) and be a "commitmentphobe". The only thing(or more like place) that I seem to have been really committed to the past couple of weeks, is, not surprisingly,  my kitchen. It was the first thing on my mind even before quitting my job, and as always, my favourite space to be in, besides the market, culinary supplies store, the bookstore and the theatre. My favourite ever since I was a few years old.

 

Besides being very busy with domestic matters, I've been cooking every other day and even signed up for a cake decorating course. As you may already have predicted, many of my future posts will be food-related. Not so much on restaurant reviews (because I don't eat out that very often), but on other aspects of food. (Gosh I'm feeling excited already just thinking about it!)

 

It feels wonderful to be back in the blogosphere. So watch this space, I will be posting regularly :)

 

Cya around soon!
P.S. This is a picture of the most wonderful Full English Breakfast I've ever had, at the Valerie Cafe in London. I know it's odd posting a breakfast picture at dinnertime, but hey, a great breakfast equates to a great start! So here's to my (re)starting The Z Journals- cheers :)

 

Cheers,
Zhuan @home