Sabbatical - The Madrid Edition

Has it really been almost exactly 3 months since I've left Spain? I figured I have to finish writing about my sabbatical in Spain before more time has lapsed and more trips have passed me by.

Madrid was all about creative street art, and lots of interesting murals on the walls and shop fronts/gates/doors. I am still trying to figure out what a mannequin propped up in a balcony mean? I noticed that in at least 3 balconies in different areas. It was too much to be a coincidence. Was it code for some illicit business that takes place in that particular flat? Or just that some really cool artist lives there and nothing more nefarious?

Madrid was also about beautiful blue skies and puffy white clouds streaking across the azure. Gorgeous patterns in the dazzling brightness. I could never get enough of how beautiful and interesting the sky was every single day.

And lastly, the huge flea market and the laneways on the slopes with all the shops selling antiques and vintage ware. There we were, most aptly located in our Airbnb apartment with the biggest flea market on our doorstep. We loved checking out the little shops even if that mean trudging up and down the hills and wandering around the flea market and trying to score a bargain at the market stalls. And now back in Singapore, I wear the lovely reversible skirt I bought in Madrid, and as I finger the pretty fabric, I remember my time under the sun, under the dazzling blue sky, under the puffy white clouds.

Sabbatical - The Barcelona Edition

Barcelona was amazing for its cool cafes, great coffee (we discovered a cafe con leche was pretty much the equivalent of a flat white), yummy food (both traditional tapas and contemporary, modern Spanish cuisine) and of course, Gaudi (and other architecture).

It helped that we were in an area which was central but yet residential as we we amongst several cafes, restaurants, bars and bakeries. The residential buildings were old, several hundreds of years type of old. Many had no lifts, the twice-a-day down/up the 5th floor where our Airbnb apartment was, definitely improved my cardio-vascular strength after our 5 days there. There were several very interesting cafes just below us with tastefully curated interiors, pretty young girls and/or hipster guys with big beards (a dead giveaway) running the place. The food was fresh and delicious, the drinks just as good. For cafe lovers, we could not be in a better spot.

I had the best Galician octopus in a tapas bar/restaurant here too. This is a seemingly simple dish, the waitress told me they boil the octopus and then add paprika and olive oil. The texture was perfect, not too chewy, not hard, just so tender. A few pieces of bread was handy to sop up the leftover oil/ sauce. After this, everywhere I went, I looked to see if I could find this on the menu.


Now onto the modern cuisine scene. We were lucky to have obtained several recommendations from my colleague who works in Barcelona and even luckier that his recommendations were spot on. Getting recommendations is one thing, getting those which actually come from people who have good taste or at least taste which is not too far off from yours, is another thing. This was kinda a lucky dip as I didn't know this colleague personally but someone introduced us on email. But out of the 5 places he gave us, we went to 2 which were a stone's throw from our apartment and because they were so good, we actually repeated one of them.

And then finally, the architecture. I loved the old buildings (apart from the old we were staying in and climbing those stairs up and down) and was looking up the entire time in Barcelona. You need to look up to get the best photos! Of course then there were the Gaudi buildings. We were disappointed by the Sagrada Familia because of how the succeeding architects have "continued" with his legacy. But the Casa Batllo, we loved. This House of Bones was simply amazing and the augmented reality tour was quite inspiring. The organic and weird features were just beautiful.

So Barcelona, good bye for now. But I think I will be back.

The Sabbatical - Home Improvements Edition

It is absolutely true when they say statistics show that a large proportion of people quit after going on sabbatical. The thought of going back to work, facing the deluge of emails waiting for you is just daunting and depressing. I think however, the studies focus of people who self- reflect and feel that they can/want to do more with their lives etc. Maybe the daunting emails play a part as in "I can do more than just respond to these irritating emails."

A week and a half before I was supposed to go back to work, I wrote my boss to ask for another 3 days' off to make it a whole week out instead of returning to work on a Wednesday. As I was arranging my social calendar with friends in Singapore, from Seville where I was at that time, I was thinking I didn't have enough time to pack in all these meetings, plus do those little and not-so-little home improvement jobs I wanted to tackle.

After not hearing from the boss after 4 days, I wrote him again and asked if silence meant consent? This got me an immediate response, the good man replied that he thought he had said yes on email before and if he didn't, he said it in his head, resoundingly. Ahhh... who wouldn't love a boss like that? It makes the mountain of emails less irritating, almost.

Anyway to put work out of my head, I started tackling the home improvement jobs. I patched the few holes in the master bedroom walls left by the removal of the curtain rods which were never in use, ever. Not a great job as I did that in the semi-dark but I think better than nothing. And we finally bought a can of Nippon paint called "Charming" this afternoon. I was really impressed by the whole computerised system they use now, the computer dispenses a few drops of coloured paint in the right concentration into the can of white paint and then the can is placed into automated shaking device which shakes it up to mix it well. So no one needs to stock a bunch of coloured paints and hope that they all sell equally well. Anyway this is NOT my kitchen but what I hope the Charming colour will be close enough to. But I got a sneaky feeling it is going to end up looking exactly like the colour of my cabinets now...

Sabbatical - The Paris Edition

My long-awaited sabbatical (five years) started with Paris being the port where we landed for our Spanish sojourn.

We had an apartment in the Bastille district and our flat was near a daily fruit and vegetable market. The riot of colours and shapes was simply gorgeous. The variety, impressive, just look at the different types of tomatoes! I ate donut peaches every day as they were cheap and plentiful. And sweet.

Even better than the fruit and vegetable market was a bakery that we stumbled upon on our first morning. The baker-proprietor was a delightful Frenchman. We visited it faithfully every single day of the five days we were in Paris, some days, twice! Every thing was made on site, every baked item delicious and beautiful. The only reason I don't have a photo to capture this highlight of my Paris trip is because everything we get our hands on from that bakery, we gobble down too quickly and then realise we haven't documented anything!

We also found this deli which had nice cheeses, pates, empanadas, quiches and cold meats. Together with a crusty baguette from the bakery, we fed ourselves well in the apartment when we did not feel like going out for dinner.

The pastries were definitely the highlight of our Parisian leg. We ate our weight in pastries I am sure, but then we also walked so much, we walked off every single calorie. I can still taste the heavenly flavours...

An Urge Came Over Me

I have this inexplicable urge in me tonight to buy another piece of art. It's not that I got a raise or a bonus or sold some shares and made a profit. It's not like I had a hard time at work and needed to reward myself. It's just something that crept over me, that I just needed it.

I am not sure what it will be, but I am leaning towards another Ling Yang Chang (the Herons & the Waterlilies on the extreme right) or a Zhu Hong (the Geylang Night Scene, which is second from the right). Or to buy a piece from an artist I have yet to own, like an Anthony Chua Say Hua. Perhaps something small, something which will be easier to find some precious wall space to hang. Or something very big as we do have that whole blank wall in the holiday room.

I am viewing that as my way of contributing to the arts, support the artists.

Sweets For My Sweet

Desserts are my Achilles Heel. When I go to a restaurant, I look at the desserts first and then try to work backwards to see what my appetite can accommodate and then figure out if I am going to get a starter and a main and what to order. As such, it was difficult when I found out that I have probably more than 50% chance of getting Type 2 diabetes in some stage of my life, because that meant cutting down on the sweets down and watching what I eat even more.

This amuse bouche that we had during the recent Mother's Day lunch was one of my favourite items that day. The pair was encased in gel filled with a chocolate hazelnut and a raspberry liquid resting on a biscuit respectively. These were the best! So interesting to have them pop in your mouth to fill it with a delicious liquid. 

This was a chocolate dessert, I can't remember much about it because I am not a chocolate fan. (Really? There are people who don't like chocolate? Yes, I get that a lot.) But the presentation was really pretty and the small bit of chocolate I tasted was not overly sweet, the way I like my chocolate (if I had to like chocolate).

Who doesn't like an apple tart? This was an unusual one in its presentation, as with all the dishes on the menu really. This restaurant does strive to put a twist on its items, a fusion of western and Japanese and definitely presented in a way that you least expect.

So with a great love for desserts, what can/should I do? "Everything in moderation" does seem to be a good mantra for everything and especially in this case. But on the other hand, the other important quote that comes to mind is "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first."

Your Heart Will Tell You Good Art

Credit: Lotus Series by Singapore artist, Ling Yang Chang from Cape of Good Hope Gallery

How do you tell if a piece of art is good or bad? How do you know if you should buy it? Some of my friends who are interested in art and are contemplating buying art, have asked me this question.

I think you know from your gut or perhaps, more accurately, your heart.

A good piece of art will speak to you. You walk away and come back to it again. If you still have the same buzz or ring in your heart, then this is it. A good piece of art grows on you and you will not tire of looking at it. It says something to you, sometimes you don't have to be able to verbalise what exactly about it that you like. You just do.

I remember learning at my first painting class, an epiphany of sorts that came to me - that art is both science and art. I recall my teacher being rather impressed that a novice student pointed that out to him at a first lesson. Telling if a piece of art is good or bad is a lot like that too. There are technical aspects you can consider - the science part of it. But for the art part of the evaluation, your heart will be able to tell you.

This painting from Ling Yang Chang's Lotus series was one of his first works I encountered by chance one morning of wandering around the art galleries. It definitely spoke to me. Even after 2 months, I think about it. Your heart is never wrong when it's like this.

Quick and Simple Home Improvements

I can think of various cheap and simple ways to enhance a room:-
1. Bunch of flowers from the supermarket
2. New cushion covers
3. Aromatherapy oils or fragrance sticks
4. Framed postcards or pretty calendar pages
5. A cheerful throw blanket over an old sofa

My favourite is to grab a bunch of flowers from the supermarket and arrange them in my collection of vintage pots and vases. I rotate the vessels and see what catches my fancy and what goes best with the type of flowers and colours.

Flowers from the supermarket: $3
Lifting mood of the house and the owner: priceless.

Habitual Baking

When we were living in Sydney, I used to make this orange cake quite often. It was such an easy recipe and I am a lazy baker. Or maybe call me a creature of habit, that's probably a fairer description. I bake what I am used to and rarely try new stuff. Once something new gets on my list, I just repeat it over and over again.

But somehow I stopped making this orange cake once we moved back to Singapore. I think it was out of necessity that I started baking bread and then the whole creature of habit thing took over and I almost exclusively made bread, interspersed with rock buns, another old-time favourite. Occasionally, I would make a quiche for lunch or dinner. And that was it. Oh except for that couple of times I tried my hand at making hot cross buns.

Anyway I decided to revisit this old friend last weekend. But instead of making the cake in a loaf tin which was how I used to make it in Sydney, I used little cupcake moulds. They cook faster this way and were easier for handing out in the office.

I made myself a nice cup of Earl Grey and had one for dessert right after dinner.

They were well-received in the office today. I think I will reinstate this recipe to the "Frequently Baked" list once more.

It's funny how much our personality traits are deeply embedded in different aspects of our life.

What I Buy When I Travel

I have a long-term love affair with all things fragile and breakable when I travel. There is never one trip where I do not come home lugging back some glassware or china. Why can't I love wood or plastic? That would make life so much easier! 

I love the look of mismatched china, I love drinking out of tea cups and saucers, particularly vintage ones, I love laying out my sweets and savouries on cake platters and stands. And I like eating and drinking tea a lot. I love taking afternoon tea. I love having tea parties at my house. I guess that explains a lot!

Me and My Tiffins

I generally don't like having too many takeaway containers in the house. Sure they are convenient to have around when you need to put some leftovers in the fridge or bring some extra food to the office. But seriously, how many does one need (even factoring in spares for emergencies)? We don't need to generate more waste. Plus those takeaway containers aren't constructed for multiple use and are apparently cancer causing as they emit some carcinogenic chemical when they are overused.

Hence, I try to remember to bring my own containers when I go to the nearby hawker centre to buy takeaways. Instead of the retro tiffins of multi-tiers like the 2 I have above, I use a single tier one (since I usually buy a one-dish meal like noodles or porridge) which is made of stainless steel and insulated to keep the food warm.

Call it what you may - being green, trying to reduce our chances of cancer, or just not wanting to hoard more useless stuff, I think it is an easy thing to do.

The Scent of My Memories

Our memories which we keep tucked away deep inside, can be triggered by a picture we see, a song we hear, a perfume we smell, a food we eat.

A visual trigger is probably the most common. One thing reminds us of another and leads on to our memories, a bamboo basket like a cake tin but made of woven bamboo strips that I chanced upon in a retro shop reminds me of the steamed egg cake that my mum used to make when I was a child. I remember there weren't any bakeries near where we lived. I can see in my mind's eye how she would beat the eggy mixture by hand, and it had to be one-directional for many, many times to ensure that the cake rose. She would line the basket with tracing paper and then pour the mixture into the basket and then steam it. We would eagerly await the cake to rise, for the satay stick to be poked in, to test whether it was done, and then for the cake to cool before we could have a slice.

But to me, the most powerful trigger is the one of smell. It is more subtle than sight, and you often forget about the sense of smell and its power. I think it is more overwhelming when triggered. It brings back memories that you don't remember you have and takes you right back.

I was recently in Penang, and the first night in Georgetown, the Boy and I wandered down into the area where grandma's house used to be, looking for dinner. We ended up at this coffee shop. When this bowl of koay teow thng (rice noodle soup) was brought to my table, I could already smell it, the distinct smell brought me back to when I was perhaps 8 years old, spending my school holidays in Penang. Every night, we would go across the street from grandma's house, to the koay teow thng stall and order a bowl. My first recollection was it cost RM0.60 or RM0.80 then and by the time I last ate it, it was RM1.60, I might have been 14 or 15. And then I stopped going to Penang with my mum until the recent few years when we have been visiting again almost annually.
My tastebuds confirmed what my nose already told me, this was the same stall even though it is some 30 years down the road. The taste seems to have been imprinted in my memory despite the long lapse of time since I have last had it.

I finished the bowl of deliciousness and as I was leaving, I stopped to chat with the stallholder who looked to be in his 30s or maybe early 40s. I told him I used to eat this koay teow thng a long time ago and was it his father who had this stall about 30 years ago? Oh more than 30 years ago and the stall was at the small lane by the side of the current coffee shop, he said. I told him how the taste was still exactly the same, it hasn't changed and it was excellent. He was all smiles, even though he was busy, I think he enjoyed this brief exchange where we walked down memory lane together.

Work In Progress

We have been in our little flat for almost 3 years now, it's a cliche but time does fly. Our renovation and upgrading works thus far were:-

a. before moving in, basic and minor renovations - we were very eager to move into our own place!
b. about 1 year + upon moving in, upgraded shower fixtures and replaced the sink in the common bathroom. We had also replaced the stove from the stainless steel one to a glass one and repainted our kitchen cabinet doors from a plain pine to a baby blue and changed the handles. Finally hung up the 2 mid-century space ship lamps purchased online from Holland.
c. very recently, hung up more artworks and created a sorta salon wall with smaller pictures in the living room (I say "sorta" because they were under threat of removal by the Boy but I think they work and he's left them alone since).

However the one area that always felt neglected to me was our bedroom. We finally put double-glazing in and wooden blinds and that improved our sleep quality. But apart from that, we hadn't done much. The space (bedroom cum office) was functional but soulless. We have a couple of nice vintage furniture in it but that still didn't do anything for the room.

So this time round, we are focusing on our bedroom cum office. We will finally:-

a. get rid of the much-hated platform parquet floor in the office area, legacy of the last owner. It was a dumb, impractical feature but we kept it because of the speed we needed to move in 3 years ago. We made it more practical by switching the sleep and work areas, so you don't fall over the platform stumbling from your bed to the en-suite loo in the middle of the night. 

b. flatten the indentation in the 2 big end walls and make them into feature walls. I am the creative director for the bedroom area while the Boy is responsible for the office. Dark, heavy drapes will divide the 2 areas. We will be laying wooden floors on the newly-leveled surface. 

c. hack the wall separating the bedroom/office from the rest of the house, opening up the space. We will however be putting in a sliding door to block off the private space from the dining/living rooms when needed.

So we are now awaiting the contractor's quotation before we give the go ahead and I am excited to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and have a bedroom which says style rather than just function.

Tribute to Some of the Loaves I've Made

There is something satisfying about making your own bread, not just because you save a ton of money not paying for mediocre bread at exorbitant prices at delis and gourmet bakeries, but also the fact that you are actually making something very basic with your hands to feed your family. People feel a loss of satisfaction with the Industrial Revolution, that's a fact. Making something with your hands counts for something...

 The back story to my bread-making was when the New York Times came out with its wonderfully simple No-Knead Bread some 8 or 9 years ago, I was intrigued. Bread-making always seemed to involve a lot of hard, manual work and mysterious workings of yeast and leaveners. Until this No-Knead bread recipe burst out on the internet. The only drawback was it required a cast iron pot or a Dutch oven. I lusted after a Le Creuset cast iron pot since then, frequently checking the prices during sales. However, nothing could make me part with S$500 for a pot, Le Creuset or otherwise, not even bread.
Then fast-forward to 2010 when I started going to the US regularly for work. The opportunity to get my much-coveted Le Creuset Dutch oven arrived. For a little less than half the cost of the same at home, I could get a shiny red pot. I hand-carried my precious cargo from San Jose to San Francisco via Hong Kong to Singapore. And then the break-making started in earnest!

The bubbling of the dough mixture was most satisfying. This meant to me that the magic was working.

Leaving the dough for a 12-hour proof plus another 2-hour makes for a sourdough bread, without the need for a sourdough starter. Another shortcut! I just love this recipe. The Boy also loves this bread and would clamour for this on a weekly basis. I was also eager to cut down the cost per loaf from about $30 to a more normal $10.

I even ventured into the land of bread that required kneading after seeing a picture of the same posted by a friend. So I made these 2 loaves but as they were white bread, they weren't the hit the sourdough bread was, and so I went back to baking what the public demanded.

On a subsequent trip to the US, I even bought a second, slightly smaller Le Creuset pot in orange and I've since used that one more to bake my bread because it gives the dough a better rise because of the proportion.

I've experimented with adding dried cranberries, candied walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and dried figs to the dough. Making bread especially the No-Knead bread is easy and enjoyable and helps achieve the satisfaction quotient of making something with one's hands.

Cammeray

This mid-Century block is very modest, but it has a charm about it that sticks in my mind. It has been 3 years since we lived there and I had only lived in it for 8 or 9 months but somehow, I can't get it out of my mind. The clean, modernist lines, the beautiful green surroundings, the water nearby, the very genteel feel of the village...

I always loved Surry Hills for the vibe, the hipness, the cafes, the feel of the whole neighbourhood, but in the end, I think my heart keeps coming back to Cammeray. And maybe it's time my head admits it too. I think it's the first time I've said it out loud.

Weigh In

I have always had a mild obsession with retro weighing scales and have bought a couple from overseas flea markets and contemplated lugging back one of those heavy ones with metal weights you can add or subtract on the weighing pan. But good sense always prevailed at the end. However, I am always on the lookout for vintage weighing scales whenever I travel.

Anyway, the battle of the bulge also continues and a less retro bathroom scale is involved in this battle. I have been jolted back to action and have been faithfully logging in on My Fitness Pal (G calls it My Fatness Pal which seems to be a more apt name really). I have been quite successful in keeping to my goals this whole week since I started and have only failed today, but I plead Chinese New Year Reunion dinner - 'nuff said. I don't want to be lugging around the equivalent of 7 litres of milk every day with/on me but I am looking at it as 3+2+2, I think it makes it easier when the loss is calibrated in smaller, more do-able chunks.

The next few days will be a challenge, with pineapple tarts and other CNY goodies everywhere I turn. I think a couple of pineapple tarts once a year wouldn't hurt. After all, we have to keep traditions going!

Random Musings

This blog has been totally neglected for the last 3 months. I blame.... eBay I think. But I am now a reformed, ex-eBay addict and have time for other stuff like updating my blog (just one personal blog now, have decided to let the other one die a natural death, but also need to get round to pulling my weight on the vintage blog), reading a bunch of books that I've been faithfully borrowing from the library and getting my impacted wisdom tooth operated on and removed.

So what have these photos got to do with anything? I am not quite sure except that they are colourful, have interesting street scenes and I enjoyed walking around Chennai by myself where I took them.

I don't think I'll be going to India this year due to work budget constraints. If that is so, then it will be the first in 3 years that I don't make at least 1 trip to India. It will be a record of sorts for me as I sat back one day a few months ago and thought to myself, "Now which country have I travelled to the most in my 20 year career?" (yes - 20 years!) and the answer was "India". Not exactly what I was hoping for, but that's the truth. And in the wake of the Delhi bus gang rape, I wasn't that happy with the realisation.

But this year, there won't be that much work-related travel. We are hopeful that we are getting our acts together earlier in the year, and plan our personal travel better and get to where we say we want to. Without the hassle of work travel, travelling might become more fun and I may in fact, want to travel while I am on leave, rather than opting to sit on my couch at home which was what was my preference the last 2 years when I was getting on a plane every other week.

 All right, random musing over. Blog re-activated.

20th Class Reunion

My Law School class of 1992 is having our 20th anniversary class reunion next Friday. 20 years! Seems unbelievable that 20 years have flown by in a twinkling of an eye. We were just young adults in our early twenties when we finished up our 4 years in Law School, sold ice-cream in the foyer to raise money for our graduating class bash, practised hard for the traditional graduating class concert - as you can see, we did Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and to this day, I don't know how the show went because I was one of the background dancers and didn't have the luxury of watching the performance. And I don't remember watching the taped (yes taped on video) recording afterwards. What I do remember is lots of sweat and tears in the rehearsals, where many life-long friendships were made and a couple were broken.

Those 4 years were the best ones of my life I reckon. There were lots that I learnt inside the lecture halls but even more outside the lectures. At the jam and hops bopping to the live amateur bands, canoeing for ages in the open sea to Sentosa island and camping overnight (and then realising that I had to canoe back! What? No one told me I had to take the canoe back and it wasn't a canoe there, take the bus back kinda outing), in the foyer scooping out big scoops of ice-cream, playing Pictionary, having lunch in the Arts canteen while hungry eyes stared down at you, willing you to hurry up and vacate your seats, those long tea breaks at the School of Management canteen, mugging late into the night at the Faculty, then walking back with a friend to the hostel...

Those were the good old days. And in a week's time, we will all be meeting up, with more kilos piled on, less hair, more lines on our faces but I am sure we will all still see the young ones in our early twenties beneath all that. I can't wait.

About Shanghai

  There are a few things I really like about Shanghai on our recent trip. Normally work trips to Shanghai are an in-and-out affair. But this time, we combined it with a weekend since both G and I were coincidentally there the same week for work.  

So my love for Chinese calligraphy and painting combined with a dress into wearable art. Here beautiful lotuses handpainted on a charcoal grey linen dress, the cut is simple and doesn't need much more when you have art. Oh yes and that's Snowy peeking out, he is my usual travel companion because he is small, cute and compact. He's not too pleased to be seen in a dress though...

 
 The little individual shops in Shanghai are a delight. As I always say, a mall is a mall is a mall. No matter where you go. Hence I try to avoid malls and hit the little individual shops. This was a Chinese teahouse on an old Shanghainese street. We were slghtly doubtful that it was actually a teahouse because it did appear too funky and modernised and (especially because) it had that capitvating mural of dollies in cheongsams.

 Architecture in Shanghai is an amazing affair. Taller, higher, shinier! The modern buildings are pretty awesome but the old Shanghainese buildings are as interesting if not more. I have walked down the Bund admiring the beautiful colonial buildings, and stopped to read every plaque affixed, telling its history. But this was my first time to the French Concession area which boasts also of the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings. Lovely.

 Cool little bars and cafes on this hip little street we tried so hard to find, and were almost giving up after much "discussion". Yong Kang Road is where all the white people congregate. On that street, you can almost believe you aren't in China. This little bar, with its vintage interior and very clever use of repurposed, upcycled egg cartons for papering over the ceiling for acoustics and aethestics, vintage luggages propping up the bar, definitely won us over easily.

 A slice of local life, unpretentious, every day living is always interesting to the outsider looking in, even for a brief moment. Here, residents set up little folding tables and chairs and pass time playing a game of Chinese chess. Others sit or stand around observing, as with this man probably mulling over a move. You see sights like middle-aged men with their singlets rolled up above their bellies sitting around in easy chairs on the pavement outside their houses. I think that is their strategy for keeping cool. Isn't this fun?

Finally, we close with a dress since we started with a dress. Shanghainese tailors are renowned for their skills. The fabric market is another wonderful place to spend many hours, wandering around, fingering beautiful fabrics, flipping through design books, talking to the shopkeepers and tailors. For the price of an off-the-rack shirt or dress at home, you can get gorgeous, tailored outfits. You just need to ensure you have enough time to try, give clear instructions, check the finished outfit, wait for revisions and then you will be the best-dressed person amongst your friends when you get home.

Shanghai - we will definitely be back for another leisurely trip.

Stop And Look

 Often we are so busy with wok and life that we don't have the luxury of time to observe simple things around us, of what Mother Nature has created. But when we stop for a moment and actually take that time to observe, what beauty we see...

A vibrantly coloured grasshopper perched on the gate, even if it first gives you a big shock, you can't help but admire the lively coat it has. What a beaut.

You admire it for a brief moment while contemplating how to get through your own front door (because it is quite big and scary), and then the problem is solved for you because the gorgeous work of Nature flies off back into its natural surroundings.

Or you go for a walk and notice this flowering tree, all up and down its trunk, the pretty orangey-red flowers, with little green buds and fruit, interspersed between the leafy foliage.

We just need to stop a little, look a little. And then get back into our busy, frantic work and lives.