Of Food and Friends

Everyone is talking about over-eating and moaning about weight gain during the long Chinese New Year weekend. It is not quite over yet. We have a few more days to go till we close out the season on Chap Goh Meh.

This once fabulous body has put on some 3 kgs since December (yes, I started my gluttonous indulgence early). And it did not help that the regular keep fit and trim routine was interrupted during the holiday seasons.

But hey, I am having a superbly grand time feasting on all manner of culinary delights in the company of homecoming friends. I stubbornly refuse to let a few kgs get in my way of fully living this rare luxury.

For now, eating and living sensibly can wait :)

Before PCs

This has been a week of reunion with old friends, re-hashing old stories, re-affirming long-standing friendship.

At some point, our do-you-remember-when conversation turned to typewriters (yes, typewriters, not PCs and microsoft WORD). This is the tool of trade that defines our generation.

Who remembers (or even knows anything of) that marvel of a typewriter called the Selectric from Big Blue? If you admit to having worked with one, you are of the same vintage as me. Remember when your position in the office pecking order was defined by the number of different typeballs you owned?

In my mind's eye I can still see: my IBM Selectric II was olive green and had dual pitch (10 and 12 characters to the inch). The fonts I used the most was Elite (12-pitch) and Pica (10-pitch). I would switch to Courier (10 and 12) when I wanted a different look.

Back then, most of us were trained to type by touch (as opposed to hunt-and-peck). I am particularly proud that at my fighting best, I typed comfortably at a demonstration typing speed of 90 words per minute (wpm) with 98% accuracy. 60 wpm with 90% accuracy was considered the minimum employable proficiency speed.

This is all historical trivia. It is sentimental trivia for me and it feels good to be talking about it with people who lived it...

Through the Years

We were colleagues at work.

It was a very long time ago
when we were so very young.

We lived up the good times,
we saw each other through the rough times.
Collectively, we share a colourful history.

Our personal and professional lives
took us down different paths, to different countries.

I have come home. They still live abroad;
they are back only for the New Year.

It is always a special time when we
see each other on these rare occasions.

So much time had passed. So much of us have changed.
And so much of us stay unchanged.

We will remember this day for a very long time.
We will see each other again.

When we are even less young than today...

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Something Round, Something Sweet

Of all the old-fashioned foods that must appear at the Chinese New Year Dinner table, tang yuan is my absolute all-time favourite.

I make them! I can tell you it is fiddly work all the way.

But this time of the year, I find it therapeutic to roll dozens and dozens of those sweets-filled balls.

It allows me to block out the thought of all the people I HAVE to see and be nice to over the next several days.

So far I have made them with peanut/black sesame/tau sar-fillings.

And of course I also made the red-dyed no-filling ones for good measure.

I can be so traditional when the mood strikes.

Valentine's

I love it that otherwise shy and reticent lovers
openly declare their love on Valentine's Day.

I would be very flattered if that special someone
made awkward attempts at being romantic.

I admire courageous souls who willingly
make fools of themselves to woo the object of their love.

And I am just as happy to hear him tell me yet again,
"I love you".

Hafla by Serene

Madgy El-Leisy (L), Elias Nachef (R), Claribel (Front)

The dance workshops ended.

But we were not ready to end the weekend - not just yet.

We wanted more time together - share a meal, have some drinks, more bellydancing.

This was made possible by Serene who so graciously arranged a hafla for us.

It was a farewell party we will remember for a long time...

How can like dat?

It was raining cats and dogs.
I left my very wet umbrella outside the dance studio.
When I came out, my umbrella was GONE!

It was still raining cats and dogs.

What kind of low-life mingle among us?
(Got people so bad like dat meh?)

Bellydance Week

This is the week we bellydancers have been waiting for.

Elias Nachef is in town this weekend and is available for private/group percussion lessons. Contact him directly on +61418907113.

The first of this year's master-teacher workshops conducted by Claribel happens next weekend. Details of Magdy El-Leisy's workshops are at www.claribelstudio.com.

Magdy is a highly regarded master-teacher, dancer and choreographer of middle-eastern dance. His classes are always fun, instructive and has a feel of good energy.

To finish off this exciting week, there will be a hafla with special guests Magdy and Elias at Sanobar on the evening of Sunday 11 February. Party starts at 8pm. Do come down and celebrate this evening with us.

I look forward to seeing many of you this whole week.