off the beaten track and into the belly of the dragon

A trip to the dragon kiln (apparently one of only two left in Singapore) this weekend made me wish that I had a clue about photography. If I knew anything about composition the possibilities would, I'm sure, have been endless. In fact, it's really prompted me to try and do something about that and get some formal tuition.

None the less, here are some of the pictures for Sweet Shot Tuesday. Everything on or around the kiln was, of course, brown. Wood, clay, bricks, pottery - so I like that all the photos have a very autumnal feel about them. You can read the clay artists' blog here.

every shade of brown next to the kiln

the surrounding hills seem to be made of rejected pots. they look like giant shells

pots pots pots, as far as the eye could see

very much in the jungle - with the mosquito bites to prove it

old chinese shutters. kinda hoping my husband will go back and get them... and a woodworm guy

classic local coffee cups, at this price I'll have 200 in case I ever open a cafe...

beautiful Peranakan ware

not for sale. probably just as well, a jungle-dwelling antique Singer probably doesn't make life easier

(lack of) mooncake curry

It's Chinese Mid-autumn festival. In Singapore it's sometimes called Mooncake festival, or Lantern festival. It's the time of year when children play with paper lanterns and birthday candles (and yet somehow I'm always the cause of any flare up). Someone told me last year that it's a celebration of the roundest full moon of the year. I can't remember who they were or if they were to be trusted. But I'll take that as the inspiration behind the spherical lanterns, round mooncakes and abundance of pomelos.

We went to Chinese Garden to see their lantern display - I think it's one of the biggest on the island. It was classic unashamed Singaporean kitsch. If you've seen this post, you might notice a theme developing - I'm drawn to the kitsch. I wouldn't say I particularly like it, but I can't take my eyes off it. I can't resist the colours. I think it might be the complete antithesis of the essence of me.

The Boss loved the whole evening. It's pretty magical when it starts to get dark. She was, however, disappointed by the absence of mooncakes - this was a strictly lantern-only affair. I reckon the absence of mooncakes was the best bit. Have you ever tried one? Like a REAL one, with the duck egg yolk in the middle that tastes like it was laid sometime around the beginning of last year? Excuse me while I turn away and take a few deep breaths... There's a Glaswegian expression that sums it up perfectly; they gi'e me the pure boak.

There was a really lame Chinese food court set up, with terrible food. I can't stress enough how unusual that is here in Singapore. Delicious, cheap hawker food, within ten paces from wherever you happen to be standing, is a basic human right here. So once we'd got home and plugged a small person's mouth with a large banana, I decided to whip something up out of the fridge/cupboard. It was a risk, but I think I created something worth repeating. It was good at 10pm last night, though to be honest we were too hungry to even taste it. But for a leisurely, solitary, leftovers lunch today, it was droolsomely delicious. Recipe after the photos (all straight out of the camera).

(lack of) mooncake curry

Makes about 4 portions
You can add more or less spice. These quantities made a mild to medium spicy sauce.

• 2 onions, sliced into half moons
• salt
• a thumb of ginger, grated
• 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 4 tsp medium curry powder
• 3 carrots, cut into large chunks
• 2 potatoes, cut into similiar chunks
• half a head of broccoli
• tin of tomatoes
• 500ml stock
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 2 tsp garam masala powder
• small carton of coconut milk
• coriander leaves
• slivered almonds

1. fry the onions & ginger in vegetable oil in a big wok 
2. a good pinch on salt helps to stop the onions catching
3. add the garlic once the onions are quite soft
4. stir in the coriander powder, cumin powder and curry powder, and fry for a few minutes
5. add your chopped vegetables, tin of tomatoes and stock (I use a cube)
6. leave to simmer slowly for as long as it takes the carrots and tatties to be cooked (for those who need accuracy, that's precisely one preschooler bedtime. Oh, OK, about 45 minutes... ish)
7. put some basmati rice on (if you cook it the right way my way, it'll take exactly 15 minutes)
8. add the peas and garam masala and cook for another 5 minutes or so to cook the peas through. I read somewhere once that garam masala, being a mixture of ground toasted spices, has already been cooked so you can happily stir it through at the end without worrying about harsh flavours. every day's a school day eh?
9. turn the heat down and stir in the coconut milk and coriander leaves
10. let it warm through and serve on rice with almonds sprinkled on the top - or better, leave in the fridge overnight and eat the next day with warm naan...

Sorry, it has all been eaten - no pictures. But as you can imagine, it looks a lot like a plate of curry. And the best bit? NO MOONCAKE.

desperately seeking seasons

Every morning the weather forecast on the radio is the same: 28 to 32 degrees C with a chance of thundery showers. Every flippin' day. 365. We reckon they have it pre-recorded.

As another Singapore Summer (apparently) draws to a close, we're seriously hankering for Autumn. I'd love to spout all that blah about crisp, fresh outdoor pursuits and fabulous fashionable layering, but honestly those aren't my memories from our last real temperate-zone Autumn. Me and her staying in out of the rain, playing, eating and snoozing - now that's what I'm talkin' about. Idle bliss.

she turned out the lights, positioned the lanterns, and posed. very unusual behaviour for her.

Autumn will never come to Singapore in any meteorological sense but today it has drizzled all day. Me and The Boss have been stuck inside, and with the aircon on, you could almost believe it was really Autumn. So we set about making some lanterns to decorate the flat, because with mooncakes in the shops it must nearly be Chinese mid-autumn festival.

We used this tutorial from minieco because I assumed it would be something my daughter and I could do together (you know in that rose-tinted way that almost NEVER happens). By the time I'd actually read it though and started with the scalpel... and then the matches, it had to become rather a pre-schooler-free zone. But it was still a brilliant way to spend a rainy afternoon - me cutting zigzags and trying not to set the paper on fire, and her colouring in and blethering at the table beside me.

Once lit, she said the immortal words "wow! look at those bad boys!".

Couldn't have put it better myself.

NEWSFLASH! 4th Sept: the divine Chelsey from papermama just picked my top photo as coming 3rd in her "favourites from august" challenge. Hurrah! If you want to see all the others and join in next week (when the subject is "heart") click on the button.




NEWSFLASH 2! 10th Sept: April at the Gingerbread Blog featured this on her Sweet Saturday link-along. Hurrah x 2! To see all the other projects and to join in next time, click on the button.

tiger balm and a dirty knee

It's eight weeks until my birthday. In bingo terms it'll be my dirty knee.

My dearest friend is flying all the way to Singapore to help me celebrate, and to ease herself over a broken heart. So I decided to spend the time between now and then becoming a better me: me V2.0. If I achieve the five mini-goals that I set each week, I hope to be bursting with a joie de vivre that she'll be helpless to resist. Also I'll be able to enjoy her visit more, indulge quite a lot, and start the next year on a high note.

This week, one of my mini-challenges was to save lots of money by doing loads of free stuff. So, as well as making these strawberry muffins (so as not to waste a packet of fruit too sharp to eat) and downloading free colouring-in sheets for The Boss from Ottobre and Sarainklings, I set off on an adventure to Haw Par Villa.

If you're at all familiar with that curious panacea for all ills, Tiger Balm, then you already know how the Haw Par brothers made their fortune. With it, they created this villa and the surrounding "Tiger Balm Gardens" and filled it with more than 1000 gaudy, kitsch and sometimes grotesque statues depicting Chinese mythology and legend.

My husband has always refused to go. He's quite a curious and adventurous person, but this simply held no appeal for him. But I had a morning to spare, and other than the bus fare, it was free...

So far, so "whatever" right?

Well, then it all starts to get wild.

The thing that was most confusing was that, surrounded by vibrant colour, I found it almost impossible to see things I wanted to photograph. There are a few snaps that came out quite interesting - I particularly like the Buddha who overlooks the container port (below) - but mostly it was just overwhelming. Overwhelmingly odd.

I try to be rational, so I try not to say wishy-washy things like this but, it just had a really negative vibe. I can't be more specific than that. And what's most confusing for me is that, aesthetically the statues at Haw Par appear to use similar materials, techniques and colours to those on the south Indian Hindu temples here in Singapore. I imagine it must even be the same craftsmen who maintain them. But the temple statues, surrounded by garlands and smoke and voluptuous aunties in dazzling saris, are uplifting and joyful and surprising, where Haw Par is baffling, peculiar and a bit unsettling.

I can't figure out why. A religious aspect is present in both so it's not a lack of devotion. And some of the Hindu legends are equally gruesome, depicting similar beheadings and disembowelments. But in any of the Hindu temples I'm always itching to get my camera out and capture some of the magic (this photo of Sri Mariamman was taken on my crappy wee phone, while I hopped up and down in my bare feet on the burning paving stones, but doesn't it still manage to look fascinating?).

Sri Mariamman Temple, Pagoda Street, Singapore

I love solitary exploring, and I have a soft spot for Tiger Balm, that priceless bartering commodity from my school days. So I'm glad I went to Haw Par Villa. And it was free, so that's one of my mini-goals well and truly checked off. Shame about the gym aspect of this week's list... Here's to more dedication during week two of project me version two point zero.

Linking in with Sweet Shot Tuesday

sugar & snaps: part 2 turkish delight

Following last week's post I’m ready to give turkish delight another go. It’s taken about three years to recover emotionally from the last attempt, but I have every confidence in this Hope and Greenwood recipe, as printed in oh comely magazine. I hope neither of those enchanting companies mind my reproducing and commenting on the recipe here; I’m a big fan, I’ll link to your websites at every opportunity, and I won’t make any money from it. Promise. Come to think of it, I haven’t made any money from anything in ages.

So, rose and pistachio turkish delight...

Note: this isn’t something to do with the kids. In fact, I wouldn’t even do it when they’re in the house. Boiling sugar scares the beegees out of me.

You will need:
groundnut oil, for greasing
900g granulated sugar *
1tbsp lemon juice
175g cornflour
1tsp cream of tartar
2tbsp rose syrup
2-3 drops pink food colouring
100g shelled pistachios
icing sugar and cornflour, to dust

* aka: a shed-load of sugar. I was stunned at how much.

one
Line a 20cm square baking tin 4cm deep on all sides with baking parchment and lightly oil it with groundnut oil.
Ha. This bit I can do. I’m totally on a roll.

two
Place the sugar, lemon juice and 340ml of water in a pan and put it over a low heat. Stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring it to the boil without stirring and slowly, using your sugar thermometer, bring the mixture up to 118C. This will take about 15 minutes.
Okay, so now I know where I went so catastrophically wrong last time. I am far, far, far too impatient to wait for the sugar reached the right temperature. It took ages. Perhaps my hob heat was a bit low, but I was there for at least half an hour, if not longer. So I’m already a big fan of my sugar thermometer. She's a disciplinarian.

three
Meanwhile, in a separate pan (this one must be really deep and truly heavy bottomed), place the cornflour, 570ml of cold water and the cream of tartar. Give the mixture a good stir and place over a low heat.
Just like making gloop back when I used to run creative workshops for the under 1s. (What? You've never played with cornflour gloop before? With an under 1? Trust me, gloop + baby = fun.)

four
Keep stirring so that there are no lumps (it’s like making cheese sauce). Bring to the boil and beat quickly until the mixture looks like wallpaper paste. Take off the heat.
Hmm. Never wallpapered before. Don’t know what wallpaper paste looks like. Mine looks like this.

five
Place the cornflour mixture back on the heat. As soon as the sugar mixture has reached 118C, pour it over the cornflour mixture. Stir it well – it will look like an ocean of icebergs – and if any lumps persist, whisk them out with a metal whisk. Keeping the heat low, bring the mixture to a geyser-plopping simmer. Let it simmer like this for an hour.
Ocean of icebergs? Not quite (not that I’ve seen one). And by the way it doesn’t smell very good at this stage, very starchy. Bringing to the geyser plop takes quite a while too (not that I’ve seen a geyser either). This isn’t something to try if you’ve anywhere to go in a hurry. My un-airconditioned kitchen has now hit 30 degrees and I'm getting ratty. You'd probably picked up on that.

six
Take the pan off the heat, stir in the rose syrup, the pink food colouring and the pistachio nuts. This will turn the colour from a strange and unappetising yellow to a pleasant pink. Pour the pink blubber into the prepared tin and leave the Turkish delight to cool and set overnight.
So here’s where my guess work comes into play as I could only get rose essence and that super strong pink colouring paste. The mixture tastes quite nice and lemonish already, so I don’t want to overdo the rose essence. I try half a teaspoon. With the colouring paste I dip a skewer in the little packet and then swirl it about in the turkish delight. It goes a pretty violent pink. I think I’ll leave it at that. I have slightly less than 100g of pistachios, can’t imagine where the rest of the plate went during the past two hours.

seven
Once set, cut into squares and dust with equal amounts of icing sugar and cornflour sifted together.
It worked! And not only that, but it worked beautifully and lusciously and deliciously and rosily. And it gave me quite the most sublime spoon-licking experience of my life (like I said, this is not a recipe to do with the kids around).

The only thing I'm not sure about is how to get the sort of "dryness" around each piece of jelly (as you find in the authentic stuff), so that the powder coats the cube rather than sinking into the jellyish wetness after a few minutes and making it sludgy. Perhaps it has something to do with the ambient temperature of my flat, which never drops below about 27C. I was going to give most of this away as gifts, but this powder/sludge interface won't be a good look by the time I see them next week. Hey ho, we'll have to eat it all ourselves.

Now if you’ll just excuse me, I think I need to go and floss my teeth... and de-sticky my camera.


I believe this recipe came from Hope and Greenwood’s book Life is Sweet.
I think I might need to find me a copy.


Linking in with life made lovely monday and sweet shot tuesday.

a small sky

While London burns, if you crane your neck a little and peek just over the edge of the murky sky to the east, you'll see that it’s National Day here in Singapore. It’s 30 degrees in the shade at breakfast time, flags are fluttering, the kids are all on holiday, and later we’ll indulge in the shiny-eyed patriotism that is watching the National Day Parade on the telly.

National Day commemorates Singapore’s independence from Malaysia in 1965. It’s also a day when Singaporeans around the world celebrate their nation and its values. I can't see the concept of a National Day working in the UK (just look at what's going this week, not much national pride going on there). I suspect British people are too cynical to get behind overt patriotism anyway, and the nation's too much in debt to stomach it.

As National Day crept into its fourth hour I was wide awake; that tricky second night of jetlag. The first night is usually bliss - exhausted from the trip and the restless journey, you sleep as if drugged and wake feeling wonderful and just a little bit smug. You’ve escaped jetlag! But by the second night you’re screwed. At 3am, with eyes full of grit, your stomach grumbles expectantly while friends and family eat dinners thousands of miles away. The post-flight dehydration seems only to be getting worse, and then The Boss wakes up for a twilight blether about a bad dream.

The combination of jetlag and National Day reminds me how far away I am, both geographically and ideologically. But I took a photo last week in my garden in Scotland, and looking at it brings me a little closer to home. More than the granular quality of the dewdrop or the bloom on the alchemilla leaf, it's that the reflection of the sky is very small. Granted, it would have been a significantly better photo had I had got something clever reflected in the droplet, but today I just need the sky to look small, 'cos we're really not so very far away after all. Majulah Singapura.

To see some photos by people who would definitely have captured something cleverly reflected in that droplet, see Sweet Shot Tuesday.

sweet shot: chinatown

With my blog now a whole week old, I'm feeling brave enough to try joining a bloggy/linky/challenge type thingummy: Sweet Shot Tuesday with my3boybarians (click the post title). I'm nervous that the technology won't work, so if you see my photo and it's up in the correct place, please give me a comment or something to let me know I've done it right (or advice on how to get it right!). Okay, here goes...

This is one of my favourite pictures from a morning in Chinatown, Singapore the other week. I love the colour contrast, the rain stain texture on the wall, and by some miracle I think I might have got the composition ok. The other reason I like it is that I've played around with tweaking it and pimping it digitally, but I still like the original (the one shown here) the best.