Friday 29 March 2013

my new toy

So I got a new toy to accompany me on my travels.
On Wednesday afternoon I became the proud owner of an Ipad.
The road to acquiring it was of course fraught with anxiety and annoyance.....

I wanted the Ipad 2, not the new generation with the retina display Ipad, just the old Ipad 2.  The first shop I went into didn't have it, it was there on display but nope they didn't have it in stock.
It was there proudly on display in the next shop I went into, but just not there for me to own one just yet.
After two failed attempts,  I got a little smarter, I called the next shop and sure enough they didn't have it in stock either.
I called a friend, one that I knew would point me in the right direction.
Order it on line she said.
So I did.
I also ordered a couple of accessories to go with it.
Online shopping is just not me, I like having my purchases with me as soon as I pay for it, so ordering my much anticipated Ipad online drove me quite batty.  Here I was desperate to get my hands on one and I did but I had to wait to touch it.
What I liked though was that I could track where my purchases were, which was some relief as I wasn't sure I would get the Ipad before I leave on Saturday.
On Tuesday accessory one arrived.
On Wednesday accessory two arrived and still no sight of the main prize.
Then late on Wednesday it Finally arrived.
All shiny and new in its box, waiting for me to get my fingerprints all over the shiny new screen, and I duly obliged!


Monday 25 March 2013

6 days to lift off

I leave on Saturday night for 6 weeks in London
I am excited, and yes a little hesitant as I have quit my job and am going to travel a bit before I sit myself down to think about what I want to do.

In a way its the excitement of the unknown that I like, even though its a bit frightening, it still gives me a buzz.
The job and frankly, my life were both going nowhere.  Is this part of empty nest syndrome?  With the boys all grown up is this where I feel like I have nothing left to do?  Its been 30 years of looking after the kids and nurturing and guiding them along (well mostly) and now I am a little lost as to what my purpose is.

the first drink
on the way to the picnic ground
Its a whole new world out there for me.  The girls (young women that I have worked with for the last 10 years or so) and I got together to officially launch my unemployed status, with our usual bubbles in the park series.  Where we get together in a park with food and champagne. It all starts innocently enough .........

some of us
food & Booze









I love these girls, all of them and some that couldnt attend are the young women that I have enjoyed sharing my professional life with.  Thank you ladies for helping me start my journey!


a not so very stable me waiting for  the cab

Friday 22 March 2013

Robert Plant

There are no words to describe how I felt last night.
No words can describe how it felt to see one of my absolute heroes on stage strutting his stuff.
The moves are slower, the voice a little tired, the face all craggy and lined, but oh boy it was Robert fucking Plant!
I did get a video of him singing my favourite song but somehow its sideways and I dont have video editing software (oh wait maybe son no 2 can help)
Son no 2 went with me to the concert as cousin with bad back still had the bad back.  and like I told son no 2 after Plant finished his set
I can die happy now!


I still need to learn to take better pictures!
but didnt flash my boobs
and he now has tits too but who cares!
I got close to the stage too!

Thursday 21 March 2013

free the women

India has been in the press for the wrong reasons recently.

A few months ago, a woman was raped and beaten and left (with her companion) by the side of the road to die.  That poor young woman did die.
A few days ago another woman was gang raped in India, not that in between there weren't any other cases,just that this time it was a Swiss tourist who was travelling with her husband.

I had a conversation with a colleague on the plight of women in India and we talked about the rapes.  This colleague is female, half Indian and close to my age.  She blamed the Swiss tourist for getting raped.  They were in an unsafe area she said and she went on to say that the  woman was probably inappropriately dressed, as are all western women when travelling in India,  and that's why she was raped.

I was stunned, dumbstruck, speechless for a full minute!  I have been in India, I have seen how the western tourists dress, they are very respectful of the culture and most wear the traditional Punjabi salwar kameez, but that's not the point.  A woman should be allowed to feel safe in the knowledge that she can wear what she wants without having anyone abuse her.  Why should what a woman wears be the reason of why she is attacked.  Why are we women the ones that immediately jump to that conclusion as well.  And most of all why blame the woman and not the man!

 When we were younger and when we  traveled to India, my male cousins were always very protective of us and rarely let us go into town without one of them.  They would do their best to shield us as we walked in town.  My cousins would tell us to be careful of men trying to brush against us as they (the men) would use that excuse to grope us.  The problem was always there, the rapes and molesting of women, its just that now the problem is being reported more as women are increasingly moving out of the homes and traditional roles,  to work.  Women are becoming aware of their right to be able to move about freely, their right to be safe in their own country.

It is an enormous uphill battle, to get men in India to see the problem and how to deal with it.  For a society that supposedly  places their mothers ( I did want to say daughter as well but with all the infanticide and abortion of female foetus's.....) on a pedestal, they still treat women abominably.

Its however not just a problem in India.  I would like to see laws passed that castrate rapists.  Harsh?  perhaps not,  as when a man rapes a woman, he asserts his dominance and hurts more than just her body, he steals and damages her respect, dignity and her right to be free.

I quote Abraham Lincoln  " Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves"






Wednesday 20 March 2013

last day at work

So Thursday will be my last day of work.
I started my 'career' in events quite by accident.  My brother and his friends started an event management  company in 1996 and I worked for them on and off for a couple of years helping them out when they were short handed and when I was in-between jobs. It then became a full time job. I'd like to think I was hired as they thought me competent but I think it was because I was the only other person they knew who would work for so little and  knew how to use a computer and Microsoft excel!

From then till now I moved to two other event management companies, leaving the company my brother helped start after 9/11 (he sold his shares before that though)  I have enjoyed my work even with the  long hours and quick turnaround times for all projects,  but the work gave me that injection of adrenaline that made me feel alive!  I got to travel to many places and meet all sorts of people.   It is however a thankless job and every time I attend any sort of event I feel for the planners as I know what it takes to have an event run without a hitch (most of the time delegates don't realise when things go wrong anyway!)

It was fun while it lasted but its time to move on.  I have achieved mostly everything that one can in this industry short of opening my own  company but then I doubt I would ever do that as I really hate doing events.   This last job was never right and although I enjoyed the work, there just wasn't enough to keep me occupied.    My mind was seriously  developing into mush, and that's how this blog actually got started (apart from the fact that I desperately needed an outlet for all those voices causing a ruckus in my head)  Most days I would write while in the office as I had nothing to do.

I am sad in a way to close one door, leaving a job and industry that I have flourished under for the last 15 years, but I am positive about the future.  Positive about the endless opportunities and possibilities that lie in wait for me, its just that I have to reach out and grab them!


Monday 18 March 2013

what are jeggings??

Of course I googled them, of course I read wiki to find out what they were but I am puzzled by the whole WHY?
Are the fashion houses so lost on how to create new looks that they combine leggings and jeans and come up with this!

This whole post got formulated in my mind this morning when walking from the bus stop to the office.  A  woman was walking in front of me and because I had a camera in my handbag, I took a picture. (I still don't own one of those really smart phones that does everything for you)   I couldn't help myself, I had to take a picture.
I apologise to this woman but seriously honey you shouldn't be in those jeggings
the rest of us in jeggings 
I am the first to admit that I have made several blunders in the wardrobe selection of the day, but I learn and I try to not make the same mistake twice.

The picture below is what jeggings should look like on a person

jeggings on a skinny woman
On the right is what it looks like on ordinary women with lots of curves and we should tell  the fashion houses to go fuck themselves and to start creating clothes for ordinary women  or they should  come up with a  " who shouldn't be wearing this" chart.

gluten free experiments & discoveries

I love baking, and of course eating the said baked goods which is why my weight is so erratic.
Going gluten free has thrown me many challenges one of which is how to bake muffins, cakes and pies without the easy option of wheat.  A challenge I embraced tentatively.

I started by using the pre packed gluten free flours found in the supermarkets.  They consist mostly of white rice flour, not very nutritious or tasty.  they tasted like sad imitations of real wheat and lets not forget gummy and well....... like rice.
So I went online to trawl the websites (very different from the trawling I did on the dating websites but trawling nonetheless) and I found a wealth of information dedicated to gluten free living and good advice on the different flours and grains available.  I was afraid to experiment at first then as I got better at baking gluten free and trying the recipes, I got bolder.
I plunged headlong, well tiptoeing actually,  into the giddy world of experimentation,  using the different blends that all these experienced people had written blogs on.  I searched supermarket shelves ( I still am too lazy to go out of my comfort zone and head to the speciality stores in town) for the flours I needed and  concentrated on building recipes with the flours I found.

dough is too firm
crumbly but yummy
I made a batch of choc chip muffins on Sunday, using a blend of flours I had on hand, there is something missing in that they are too crumbly but they tasted fine.  I will have to adjust the flours and the  percentage of each type ( I used Sorghum, Brown rice flour and potato starch) to see how to make it less crumbly.

Then I tried making a tart. I had lots of plums in the fridge and thought why not.....

For my first all purpose flour blend, I used Sorghum, brown rice, potato starch and almond meal,  gratefully recreated from the Gluten Free Goddess  and I made a batch of this to use (successfully) in my earlier baking attempts of choc chip cookies, and blueberry muffins and I used this blend to make the pastry for the tart.

Plum & Apple Tart
200 g gluten free all purpose flour
1 tsp xantham gum
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
125 gms butter - cubed into small pieces
1 tbsp sugar.
So its the same as all baking, you add in all the flour, sugar, salt and the gum to a large bowl then add in  the cold bits of butter.  Using your finger tips, quickly rub in the butter.  yeah easier said than done in this humid and hot country!  Pastry making in Singapore is stressful, in that you have to do it quickly and I have always failed as the butter melts too quickly in the overheated kitchen and I get a tough pastry as the end product.  But Gluten free pastry is easier to handle - it wont toughen as it doesn't have gluten!!  Even a dunce with pastry , like me, can bake a soft crumbly shortcrust pastry!
Anyway,   beat the egg in a bowl, and add it in to the crumbly flour mixture and bring the mixture together to form a ball.  There should be no bits of flour left in your bowl, it should all stick together in one nice ball of dough.  Put the dough in the fridge (I used a Ziploc bag ) for about 20 minutes, minimum.

While the pastry was chilling, I started on the filling.  I adapted the plum filling from here.   As we experiment, we learn, and I learnt that its actually damn difficult to pit plums! I made an almighty mess.

500 grams of plums
300 ml of water
150 grams of sugar
put water and sugar in saucepan, bring to boil and when sugar has melted add in the sliced and pitted plums with skin on.  I actually put everything into the saucepan then reread the recipe and thought shit!  and had to take the plums out as they only were supposed to go into the damn pan once the sugar had dissolved!  another fine mess!
Anyway after water boils blah blah, add in the plums and cook for about 5 mins ( depending on how ripe those fucking plums were in the first place!)  The riper they are the less time to cook......who knew
Once cooked, drain plums and set aside to cool.
Hmm what was I going to do with this sugar water?  I didn't want to throw it away.  Waste not want not!

the second part of the filling is the apple sauce -
2 apples ( I just used what ever apples I had)  Peel, core and chop apples and put in saucepan, use the plum and sugar water ( one cup) and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, boil till apples are tender.  mash ( I used my potato masher!)
set aside to cool.  now for the pastry
Oh and don't forget to preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) a bit earlier
roll out pastry between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper.  Lift bottom sheet, and carefully place pastry gently onto the pie tin ( or is it into the pie tin?)
do not stretch or pull pastry.  be nice to it!
after being baked blind
bake blind for 15 - 20 mins (baking blind - there are a dozen 'real' blogs about baking out there and I am not one of them or you could go ask Wiki)  once done, take pastry out of oven and spread the apple sauce evenly across the bottom of the pan and then arrange the plums (yeah right, my plums all got mushy as they were too fucking ripe in the first place so I just dumped them and spread them over the apple sauce), Sprinkle over the plums, half a tablespoon of brown sugar and
not so neatly placed plums in a tart
then bake in oven for 15 - 20  mins.  and Voila you have a plum and apple tart!

I think I need to take better pictures though.

Saturday 16 March 2013

rock gods then and now

With all the concerts and getting to see my heroes in the flesh, albeit aging flesh, it got me thinking of what they looked like then.
I remember them when they were youthful and in their prime, strutting their stuff on stage.  Not legends yet, but creating history day by day.  I am part of that generation when music was being discovered and played.
here is my montage of my heroes then and now,


Bob Dylan - He cant sing, we all know that, but his words are magical poetry.  I would not be able to see him perform live as I wouldnt be able to tolerate that reedy voice !

Steve Winwood  joined Spencer Davis Group at 14!  He is now 65.  I will watch him perform live as his voice and music is something I still love.









 My father was appalled that I liked the Rolling Stones.  He thought they were rubbish and I was a silly schoolgirl with unrealistic fantasies about skinny white men with long hair and strange music! I think they should have retired a long time ago, and I wont pay the ridiculous amounts they charge now for their concerts. Their music in the earlier days is what I liked and anything after the early 70's in just sheer indulgence on their part.








Keith Richards deserves 3 pictures though.  (another wild haired skinny guitar playing white man)


Johnny Depp's Inspiration

David Gilmore of Pink Floyd

Another one I would love to go see in concert even now.





    The Who  Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry.  Pete's been having a bit of bad press recently with the child porn thing and I hope that they arent true, cos then he would be off this list! They werent as magical for me as Led Zep or Pink Floyd though







Ian Gillian of Deep Purple.  I have talked about him in the earlier post, but this man could scream in tune.  He cant scream to that pitch anymore but on Tuesday night at the concert  he showed that at 67 he still could sing, snarl and growl like an old rock god!  And if you ask me, he hasnt lost his looks either!

Jimmy Page now
Jimmy Page then
Led Zeppelin, their folksy rock tunes and lyrics have been my companions for so long . They are my all time favourite rock band and to me the greatest band.
With my fetish for guitar playing skinny men with wild hair, Jimmy Page was my ultimate fantasy. He still is!







Robert Plant the showman!  The voice.  I still think he had the best voice in rock.  There was one Grammy's, I was watching, and Plant went on stage and I asked my son who that was!  I didnt recognise the old man he had become....

                                                           





There you have it, my rock gods!

Wednesday 13 March 2013

nothing in life is certain

I posted an entry yesterday about part 1 of my  musical odyssey and lamented that I missed seeing Deep Purple in concert.
I posted it early as all my attempts of getting someone to go with me for the concert failed.  My brother who would have loved to go with me, had recently come out of hospital and  is recovering  from Dengue fever.  My cousin who also would have gone with me at the drop of a hat, had a bad back (he better get better as he is going with me to the Rock & Roots festival next week) Mr NZ, isn't here, he is off in the wilds of Africa working, and well A, yes he is still around somewhat, wasn't interested to go.

So I posted my entry yesterday crestfallen that I would miss Ian Gillain, Ian Paice and Roger Glover (3 of the members that were in the band when it had its biggest hits)

At 10 minutes to 5 yesterday evening, I got a message from son no 2
" I just got given 2 tickets to Deep Purple.  You want em?"

Of course I wanted them!  but the dilemma was who would go with me? Cousin with the bad back said OK he would go.  So I had to go meet son at train station after work to get the tickets and when I got there, he said he too would go if cousin with bad back couldn't.  So from being forlorn and miserable about missing the concert on Monday,  to having two people who would go with me and we had complimentary tickets!  The pictures are not so good, my point and shoot camera (yes I had a camera with me as was downloading the pictures for yesterdays posts in the office, yes I know I am supposed to be working in the office and not updating my blog but seriously who cares) is quite old and limited but I was over the proverbial moon!

Paice on drums, Gillain vocals, Glover bass, Airey keyboards & Morse lead  guitar
Ian Gillian at 67, still rocking
complimentary ticket

Tuesday 12 March 2013

the red coat

So I bought a red coat.

One doesn't need a coat or jacket in Singapore (although our offices and malls are a freezing 18 degrees C) our weather stays the same throughout the year at a wonderfully humid and hot 34 - 29 degrees Celsius.
I do however keep a woollen coat for my travels and its a  black woollen classic cut to the knees coat.   As its going to be spring in London when I go, I thought that the big coat would be too much, but then as we were heading to Inverness and up to the Highlands of Scotland for at least 5 days, I figured I would need to take my coat with me.
On my recent outing and errands day (Saturday) I was wandering around the mall and happened to see a red coat..........
and it has a red hood

Whats wrong with buying a red coat one may ask, well....90% of my wardrobe is black and grey.  I have  the occasional brown, dark blue and singular splashes of red, yellow, orange and recently pink.  Yes singular splashes mean I own one piece of clothing (tshirt or blouse) in that colour.   So for me to go out and buy a coat that's red is well, a big change for me.

Horrors!  I seem to be including colour into my wardrobe!  I wonder if its an age thing?  Do we get fed up of the monotony of black and grey and introduce colour to brighten up fading and aging looks?
something to think about.......





the music odyssey..... part 1

Two concerts down and two to go

Joss Stone - What a voice!  Oh my what a fucking voice.  With legs up to her armpits, long blonde hair and gorgeous, shit if I was a man I'd be mesmerised with that beautiful soul goddess.
We are starved of good quality concerts at affordable prices, some of our festivals like Mosaic, bring in great performers for a lower fee.  I applaud our festival organisers for bringing in this powerhouse.  My only little bit of disappointment was that she didn't sing any Janis Joplin songs.

Gilbert O Sullivan
I realised within 2 seconds of his opening song that I am so over the pop period of my youth.  The simple pop melodies bored me to tears and while some people were up and dancing to his music, I just wanted him to finish his set so that I could go home.  My music tastes have evolved and I guess it took a silly little pop performance for me to realise it.





Deep Purple - I fucking missed this!!  why?? cos the last time they came Ian Gillian (Their line up has changed over the years and Ian Gillian is my all time favourite of all the lead singers they had)
 didn't make the tour, this time I did check and the members were not listed until 2 days before the concert!  and no one wanted to go with me. I couldn't load the video but go check it out on youtube to listen to Ian screaming in tune!  One of Deep Purples classics!

Two more days of concerts to look forward to..................

Monday 11 March 2013

men in pink.....


I was running a few errands on Saturday,  filling up my prescription to make sure I would have enough meds for my trip which include my supplements, one does not want a menopausal breakdown while away, and because I was afraid of being late for the doctors appointment, I actually forgot my mobile at home.
I was at the bus stop when I realised I had left it on my bedside table.
My first reaction was " Fuck!" and if I hadn't been running late for the doctors, I would have gone home to get it..
The first hour was hard, I kept hearing phantom phone beeping and feeling phantom vibrations in my handbag. It did get a bit better after that but I didn't relax or forget about the phone, I did wonder all bloody day about who would have tried to call/text me.
But that's not the point of this post.  The point of this post is that I sat down at lunch time, in a high pedestrian traffic area, watching people.

Men in pink.
Is it some kind of fashion statement or  the new 'it' colour for men?  Sure some men look good in pink  (No they don't actually) but that rather large man, with a well sculpted rotund belly would have been less conspicuous in another colour.  Of course people can wear what they like etc etc, but the pink explosion should have spared the men.  Seriously.

Men carrying their wives/girlfriends handbags
one word.  WHY?  why would a man do it.  Why do women subject their men to it? Its not like the bags are too big and heavy, I see some men carrying tiny silly looking bags as well.  Its just wrong!  Men,  grow some balls and tell those stupid women to carry their  own shit.

Head down, looking at video clips on mobile phone while walking
that's taking multi -tasking too far.  Do we really need to watch that video while trying to walk through a crowded shopping mall?  One man stood waiting patiently in front of this girl who didn't seem to notice she had stopped walking until she looked up to see a man waiting for her to get out of the way!  It was funny, really funny to see her reaction!  I am very afraid for these people, that one day,  they will walk in front of a bus or car or fall into a manhole!  Maybe they deserve it...

I cant not mention the fashion faux pas,  that is the camel toe.  My sister has a few words to say about women that get it wrong
"They don't have mirrors"
"They obviously don't have friends, cos a friend will not let her walk around like that"
and I agree.  If I ever walked around flashing my vagina (well technically its my labia but...)  at the world I would like my friends to stop me and tell me to put that thing away!

All in all an interesting day with men in pink with handbags and women flashing!

Friday 8 March 2013

Plant vs Page

I have 4 concerts to attend in the next two weeks.
My musical odyssey kicks off tonight with the Mosaic Festival and Joss Stone.  On Monday night I will be listening to Gilbert O Sullivan ( I am showing my age and the fact that I actually listen to pop!)  Gilbert O Sullivan is a 60 something, piano playing Irishman  (someone from my generation) who writes and sings cheesy pop songs.  Its a blast from the past, its me going to listen to songs from my uninitiated early days when things were simpler.

On the 21st and 22nd of this month is the Rock and Roots Festival.  Robert Plant is coming, from Led Zeppelin!  I wish it was the original Zeppelins but alas only three survive ( Drummer John Bonham died in 1980, although his son Jason did play drums for the reunion tours a few years ago)
Plant isn't my favourite Zeppelin, that of course is Jimmy Page.  I seem to have a fetish (if you can call it that) for guitar playing long haired skinny white men.  I would drop my knickers for one of those anytime!
(I am an old groupie!!)  Plant was a sexy wild haired gorgeous man (skinny and white as well) that could make any woman cream her pants just by fixing his smouldering gaze on her!
Jimmy Page however was the virtuoso, coaxing sounds from his guitar that made you weep.
The silent man on stage with the equally wild hair, matching Plants vocals chord for chord.

I will do a round up of all the concerts, especially after the Rock & Roots as Bonnie Rait and Paul Simon, Jimmy Clift all perform as well.

Will I feel over the hill, watching my heroes from a long time ago or will I feel like taking my top off and flashing my boobs at Robert Plant!



Tuesday 5 March 2013

i love it when a plan comes together

Quote from one of my favourite TV show characters in the 70's The A team's Hannibal Smith!  Yes kids it was a TV show before it became a movie (one that I thoroughly enjoyed and no not because of Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper)

The plans are falling into place, things are getting done and I am pushing ahead with the travel plans.
Passport has been  picked up and I thank the camera fairy that this picture is not as bad as the last one.  Ticket to  London has been purchased and sister in London has been told of my imminent arrival and length of stay.

Son no 2 has been informed that I will be unemployed come March 22nd and that I will be away, exploring.
He took it pretty well, but then I didn't expect any dramatics from him.  I did expect it from my mother and have been pleasantly surprised that the drama was quite minimal.  But then its early days yet so who knows.....

I still have another 2 weeks to go before I am officially unemployed and another week after that before I fly off to the wild blue yonder, or in my case London.  I still have a few things to wrap up and organise before I go and of course there is a list for that, and a planner.  Each errand has been marked, highlighted and underlined as it gets done and I am (somewhat) confident that I will get them all done by the time I leave......

I just love it when a plan starts coming together!!