Away in Sydney

I will be back 12 July.

Meantime, I leave you with these exciting news from my friends:

Here's Suzie Wong
and here is Claribel

Here's Suzie Wong

Since her grand opening earlier this month, the dynamite polefessional Suzie Wong has been very busy.

Her brand new studio, outfitted with many unique features, is now open for pole/dance classes, rehearsals and rent.

Suzie Wong has also started a forum for pole and belly dancers. Do join to make this a lively platform for dancers interested in discussing costumes, events, "how-to's" etc.

We look forward to hearing a lot more from Suzie Wong in the days ahead.

and here is Claribel

Official Opening of Claribel's Raks Sharki Studio
at her new location:
31-A New Bridge Road (opp. Central)

Date: 18 July (Friday)

Time: 1.30 - 5.oo pm

Guests of Honour :
Madam Raqia Hassan
Dr Mo Geddawi

It's party time with light refreshment
+ free belly dance trial sessions
+ belly dance demo
+ belly dance jam

Fee: Free for all

Dress code: casual or middle eastern

Intensive bellydance course for
instructors, performers and choreographers
starts Staurday July 19.

Enquiries: tel 65368394 (Claribel)

email info@bellydanceinsingapore.com

We have Lights!

We've had the mosque lights for a long time. We did not have them up because we couldn't figure out how to.

Until - a flash of brilliance hit us recently. We needed to build a box trellis overhead!

The design, construction, installation and wiring of the project was a lot more involved than we imagined.

But, finally, it got done. With the help of a very good crew of carpenters and electricians.

The home is looking more and more middle-eastern. I like.

Belinda's Hafla@Blu Jaz Space

Click on image for larger picture

Contact Belinda (96258385) if you are interested to perform at her very popular hafla.

About food and restaurants

In Garlic and Sapphires, restaurant critic Ruth Reichl asserts that while food is important, nobody goes to a great restaurant just to eat :

"People go for the experience of being in a great restaurant. Sometimes they get it; sometimes they don't. It all depends on who they are."

To avoid being recognised by the restaurants she was reviewing, she used various disguises. And comes away confirming that restaurants do indeed treat customers very differently, depending on impression and perception.

Garlic and Sapphires gives insight to what different ordinary folks experience in the world of fine dining.

Apparently, it is de rigueur that serious and responsible restaurant critics in New York city be incognito in their work.

It makes me wonder about the modus operandi of our food critics.

It's not just hae mee

A bowl of hae mee at the end of a trying week can mean so much more than just dinner.

Especially when it is home made.

The very thoughtful girlfriend asked us over for this one-dish dinner because she knew we had been stuck at home for the past few days with carpenters and electricians working on a small home improvement project.

Generous friendship and comfort food goes a long way in restoring the spirit. I am almost ready to face the next couple more days of noise and mess starting tomorrow.

Thank you friend.

One coffee one afternoon

She has been trying to get me to do coffee with her for months. And for months, I've had one excuse after another to not meet up with her. Until one afternoon this week when I really was free for a couple of hours and thought what the heck, I was going to get myself a cuppa anyway, so why not with her?

I was all settled at a Starbucks with my favourite latte when she came flying through the door, late and flustered as usual. She plonked herself across from me and, to my horror, immediately announced that she will NOT be having anything to drink because she just came from lunch and she already had too much to eat and drink.

Nothing? Not even an iced tea? In a near-empty Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon?

Nothing. And she proceeded to drone on and on about her famous husband, all the work coming their way, her itinerant tenant, her previous son...

My mind split into two. One half half-listened to her endless yammering, the other half recalled all the miserly ways this woman inflicts herself on "friends".

She goes to people's home for dinner, and eats only the "good stuff". Then asks to take home all left-overs in quantities enough to feed her and her family for the next one week. She goes out to dinner with people and then announces at the end of the evening she does not have cash or credit card on her. She asks 20 people to her home and feeds them 2 fried fish (what happened to the seven loaves?)

I have tried to overlook all her faults - and they are too many to even begin to list - and tried instead to look for redeeming qualities.

But that afternoon, it all crystalised in my mind that I am pursuing a lost cause.

So, just like that, I know that is the last time I see this woman of my own volition.

Arabian Nights@Blu Jaz

Starting June 20, Kyoko performs every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. Showtime is 9:30pm.

Belinda hosts her very popular and successful hafla every 2nd Saturday of the month. Performance time at 9:30pm and 10:45pm. The next hafla will be on July 12.

Contact Belinda (96258385) if you are interested to perform at her hafla.

Bellydance fans - do bring hip scarves, zills, veils, canes and shimmy the night away.

Blu Jaz Cafe is located at
11 Bali Lane
S. 189848
Tel: 62923800

Italian by Pasta Brava

The place is tucked among a row of restored shophouses on the very quiet Craig Road.

The food is Italian from start to finish - good old traditional Italian fare that is both home cooked comfort food and gourmet dining at the same time.

The decor is an eclectic mix of old world Italian and Straits Chinese - antique display cabinets filled with interesting copper and china knick knacks, colourful paintings provide contrast on walls painted a deep burgundy. Low lighting from colonial Dutch chandeliers finish the place with a sense of dignified tranquility making it the perfect getaway for a quiet dinner at the end of a busy workday in the city.

And on the weeknight that we were there, the place was surprisingly busy. Happily, we noted that the clientele was mostly young courting couples sharing an intimate dinner in a peaceful and pleasant environment to end a long workday.

And so, we had our evening of nostalgia and sentimentality as we ate our excellent dinner in a roomful of young hopefuls in hopeless love.

Pasta Brava is located at
11 Craig Road
Singapore 089671
tel: 6227 7550
(closed on Sundays)

A night with Belinda

It never fails.

Wherever bellydancers gather, there will be dance throughout the night.

So it was at Belinda's hafla last weekend. Where bellydancers in turn perform for each other, dance with each other. Where everyone had come together for a night of celebration - of joy, friendship, music and dance.

I love Yangchow fried rice

I do not like plain steamed white rice. I like dressed-up rice - bryani, Hainan chicken rice-rice, lor mei fan, nasi lemak, nasi kunyit. And fried rice. Especially yangchow fried rice.

A pig-out friend was so thoughtful to buy us dinner at this elegant Chinese Restaurant that also happens to serve up the perfect yangchow fried rice.

Where the rice is still el dente and particulate to the bite,

where the wok is so hot that the fried rice has wok hei in its aroma,

where the mix of garnishes - prawns, char siu, scrambled eggs, chopped scallions - are in perfect proportion so that every mouthful is a harmonious medley of taste and texture,

where the colours of seductive red, fresh yellow, and brilliant green on shiny white are in good balance so that the dish is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the stomach.

The friend is right. The yangchow fried rice here is exactly like that.

The restaurant is in a members-only club. So make friends with somebody who is a member already!

Popiah with friends

We planned the weekend popiah dinner early - like two and a half weeks ago. We wanted certain people for this dinner, and it was the first weekend that we were all free.

The long anticipated dinner date finally arrived. Everybody had a grand time with building their popiah, adding the type and amount of condiment to individual liking and chomping down on their masterpiece with gusto even as they think what else different they were going to do with their next popiah. What I found amusing was how everyone wrap their popiahs differently - from layering the ingredients to where to smear the sweet sauce and chili sauce down to the style of wrapping! Wish I had the time to take pictures of the popiah construction process.

The friends' contribution were desserts - home made ice-cream, apple crumble pie, chocolate fudge cake, banana-walnut bread. We managed to work our way through most of the sweets.

The night was one of those rare occasions where different groups of friends were meeting for the first time, and everyone got along famously and even exchanged phone numbers.

That is always an encouraging sign and it makes all our efforts worthwhile.

Last of the work place

Because I worked only 3 afternoons a week for the past 3 years.

Because I have never lunched with any of the staff at work.

Because I never socialised with the staff.

Because I have always kept my private life separate from work.

Because of the independent nature of my work.

Because I have had minimal contact with any staff in the organisation.

So it came to pass that as I packed ourselves out of the office early this week, I found that I am actually more sad to leave my machines than the people.

Hafla@BluJaz by Belinda

Click on picture for larger image

Come join the party!

Bellydance on a Sunday afternoon

I am happy to see so many participants at Claribel's one-day all-free trial sessions last weekend. I know everyone who was there had a great time.

The pictures speak for themselves.

May

was the month

- we made public our decision to exit from our work
- and found out who really cared that we should be happy rather than convenient and useful
- but then we knew exactly who these wonderful people were all along anyway
- which makes our years of association a truly meaning one

- we ate at our other kitchen 6 times, with friends, out-of-towners, and by ourselves
- and still think the food is great

- I had my hair bleached and coloured a brilliant violet
- which is something I wanted to do for a long time
- but had held back because I did not think it would inspire confidence to show up for work looking like a striped Barney

- mother and I are further estranged from each other because of the woman whom mother protects with fierce maternal love but whom I view with open disdain
- and I find I have no regrets about the unbridgeable gulf between mother and me

- we worked 12 afternoons this month
- which made May the most number of work afternoons in the past several months
- which made May the highest billing month in the past several months
- which made us feel good that we will exit on a high note