Greetings

Emma has been really getting into the spirit of Christmas - pants or no pants.

And in the blink of an eye, it's December already. I have these posts in my head - scattered sentences that sound good, that need effort to string together. This post is a mishmash of all the stuff I’ve been dreaming about, actually doing, or have done.

Does it happen to you too? These days I start off a post, my mind wanders, and then I lose sight of what I wanted to say in the first place.

I've noticed shortness in my attention span that's surely becoming more and more acute. It almost definitely stems from my very undisciplined (read: far too much) use of my mobile devices (turns out, I’m hardly unique). Honestly, I love Facebook and Instagram too much to disconnect completely, but I do recognize that I need to change it up.

I am looking forward to a good 3 weeks off. And this time, I do NOT have a looming intense workshop to trouble me when I return. Instead I have a feisty, attention seeking 10 month old.

So, in the spirit of more than just unplugging, but to create rather than consume, below is a list of things I plan to do during my time off:

1) Prep my homemade Christmas gifts. Salted caramel, chocolate crackle cookies, roasted nuts, vanilla pound cake are some of the things on my to-make list this year.

2) Tend to my garden. I want to pay a visit to some nurseries. No major purchases except soil and what I need to replace my dead herbs, repot with new soil. We also just got our contractor to build raised beds behind our house, and I intend to plant low-maintenance Pandan and lemongrass there.

3) Catch up on reading. I want to finish All The Light We Cannot See (on the list of NY Times’ Best Books of 2014, for goodness sake).

4) Finish watching this. Lately I've been a bit obsessed with alternate history novels. I’ve gone through phases of Spain (as in the country); South American history specifically on the war on drugs and American interference; Slavery/Women’s rights; Medieval England (OK, just the Matthew Shardlake books really); Living, eating and cooking in Paris/France (Julia Child's My Life in France has out to be one of my absolute favorite books. I loaned it to Francophile friend and we’re planning our imaginary French countryside roadtrip; French parenting, and ugh, grisly true crime.

With alternate history, it started with CJ Sansom’s Dominion (which stemmed off the Shardlake series), followed quickly by Robert Harris’ Fatherland. I have to say, I have yet to find a book that really satisfies with a story. Loved the dark, gloomy setting and the atmosphere of fear and oppression that Sansom conjured (just as good as his Medieval England settings in his Shardlake series), but the story was nowhere as good. Fatherland was disappointing to me – I hate books with half-cooked endings. I want to know exactly what happened! I want you to tell me, author! 

The Man in The High Castle, which is based on the book of the same name, has been gripping from the get go. In fact I’m seriously torn with wanting to read the book (and end up not enjoying the series as much), or just watch the series and not knowing what comes next (FYI, I read Game of Thrones when I was still in university, and knew about the Red Wedding/The Mountain slaying Oberyn Martell in the duel years ago. And the HBO series still doesn’t live up to my imagination).

5) Get fitter. I haven't worked out for (I think) 3 months, and while the weight gain has been minimal, I hate the way my body feels, the lethargy and stiffness that I didn't have with regular exercise. Take walks (with Emma), swim (take Emma for swim lessons), and (if I'm being ambitious) go for a yoga class or two.

A few other notes:

- One of my favorite columnists writes an unique gift guidecolumn. Instead of the usual tie/sweater/scented candle, he gives recommendations on charities/causes to give to, a chance to make a difference in this world. In this world of corruption and scams, one of my general concerns when it comes to charity is of course whether my money will be put to good use. With the credibility of his work and the NY Times behind him, Mr. Kristof’s list is probably what you want to refer to if you seek to do more than a little good this festive season. I will be donating to TrickleUp. The downside to this is that you have to donate in US dollars – but even 20 dollars goes a long way here.

- In light of this miserable state of our economy (and country as a whole, really), I’ve scaled back on the purchases this year. Usually I’d be going crazy at Zara (I love their Fall/Winter collections), ordering presents for my brothers and cousins online, falling for all the prettily packaged cookies/chocolates at Jaya Grocer. None of that this year. The only goodies I bought was a tartan skirt (been wanting to recreate this look for a long time) and a pair of Silpat non-stick baking sheets for baking cookies (from Amazon – super fast delivery and still cheaper than local retail. Highly recommended). With Emma around, I guess I also want to make sure we focus on experiences. I play calming, jazzy Christmas carols near bedtime, put up decorations around the house, and even messed around with local “pine” tree branches and leaves in an attempt to create something handmade. Boo and Emma got super excited and decided to hijack the effort, but of course. Really, it is little moments like these I need to cherish.

An attempt at frugal Christmas decorating, with 2 rather unhelpful elves

- We’re still throwing our annual Christmas party with colleagues this year though, and I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and roast my own turkey, which is half the price of buying a ready-made one. I made AK drive me to 3 grocery stores to see what was available (local organic – looked a bit skinny/wiry to me; American Halal – “preserved” in some kind of broth-salt mixture so not suited for the dry brine I intend to do; and the generic American one that comes in sizes ranging from 5 to 7+ kilos). I settled on a good ol’ generic American one that came in at 5.5 kilos. She’s thawing in the fridge as I type. I did a trial run with chicken, and intend to scale up the recipe for the turkey. It was really good with this (in my brother’s words when I sent my family photos of it) malnourished looking organic chicken, so I have high hopes.

Frugal turkey trial run: Test roasting a chicken

Dry-Brined Roast Chicken

Ingredients

1 organic chicken, around 1.5 kg

A few sprigs of rosemary (4 – 5)

A small bunch of thyme (around 8 stalks)

Sea Salt (I used pink Himalayan)

A few slices of butter (cut from a stick)

What I served with:

4 potatoes, cut into chunks (around 4 per potato)

1 large onion, quartered

A few garlic cloves, unpeeled

The day before you want to roast the chicken, rinse the chicken with hot water and pat it dry. Rub a few tablespoons of salt into the skin of the chicken – really get onto every surface you can, erm, reach. Leave the chicken overnight in the fridge (uncovered, this really important) to dry out.

Take the chicken out of the fridge a good hour before you start roasting. Pull the leaves off the rosemary stalks, leaving a few to stuff into the bird. Same with the thyme. With your fingers, gently lift the skin of the chicken off the breast, taking care not to tear the skin. Insert the rosemary and thyme leaves and slices of butter, using your fingers to push the herbs and butter further “in”. Place chicken on the bed you’ve made of it out of onions, garlic and and potatoes in the roasting tin.

Preheat oven to 220 deg C.

Place roasting tin in the oven, close the door, then turn the temperature down to 180 deg C. Roast for about 45 minutes to an hour. After 45 minutes, test for doneness – juices should run clear or temperature of the chicken at the thighs should be above 80 deg C.

Let the chicken rest, around 20 minutes before serving (tearing into it) with the roasted root veg, which should be nice and sticky and caramelized. 

Keeping house, naturally

When we first moved in, AK's dad got us a whole suite of cleaning fluids - spray on glass cleaner, Vim (that pasty white cream thingy), insecticide spray. Well I ditched all of that.

I read snippets of the effects of the chemicals we use in our everyday lives while trying to decide whether or not to purchase Jessica Alba's book, The Honest Life, which I stumbled on while trying to decide if I should or should not get Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook. I do confess, I spend too much time on Amazon.com. Anyway, I didn't get Jessica's book.

Instead I just Googled homemade cleaners, and experimented on my own. Here's what I've changed:

- Used vinegar and water to clean tiles, disinfect washing sponges and best of all, on ant trails.

- To disinfect the tile countertops in my wet kitchen, I mix in half vinegar/half hot water and wipe the tiles. I also spray vinegar on where ants like to gather, like near Boo's food dish and the waste bin.

- Replaced VIM with coarse salt. For scrubbing grout, and (nothing works better, I swear) my stainless steel sink and pots, I just scrub with coarse salt. - Used hot vinegar to clean toilets

- Used a combination of vinegar and water to clean tile floors. They do need a second round with just water, though, to ensure that the vinengar doesn't stay and possibly corrode the tiles. I see no evidence of this happenning (the site claimed that it's safe for ceramic tiles, and mine are), and tested the solution on a small area before proceeding with the full thing.

- OK, why do glass cleaners even need to exist in the first place?? All I do is spray windows with water, wipe down with scrunched up newspapers and I have gleaming windows. It's been fun experimenting, and I love the fact that I have an (almost) toxin-free home.

I used to experiment with so-called environmentally-sound cleaners, but I really don't need to anymore.

Oh, and one more thing - if you plan on doing this, buy good vinegar, not the foul-smelling, super-cheap stuff that comes in plastic containers. Those smell foul. Good white corn-derived vinegar (I like Heinz) is what I use, and the smell goes away after it dries. The cheap stuff doesn't. It's not expensive, given its versatility and is probably still way cheaper than any cleaning solution

HOME-made Greek Yoghurt

Home.

I never thought I'd be savouring this word so much.

All the bits and pieces have finally come together. We took delivery or our new sofa and my newly beloved, full stainless-steel French-door Electrolux fridge (sometimes I feel like giving it a big hug), and purchased white Ikea shelves to store and display our book collection. Now there's plenty of food (and space) in the fridge, Boo has (rather quickly, I might add) reserved his spot on the sofa, and the shelves are filled with reads colleted over the years, with some space to spare. We even have a couple of plants - a giant money tree to fill the corner next to the shelves, mint in the kitchen and rosemary in the living room (because it's so perfect I want to show it off). I'll be sharing some photos when I'm ready.

What a long way we've come.

And I made Greek Yoghurt, following this impeccable recipe to the word (the one for the Greek version, that is). Smooth, thick and luscious, and with just a hint of a tang, it came out better than I expected. We've been eating big dollops of it with honey, and I've also been blending it into our smoothies (another post on that one coming up soon).

Now to get that wedding over and done with.

Where the heart is (and baked eggs)

We've moved in! So our built ins are not ready yet, and we still need to buy a new sofa and a mattress, but the wet kitchen is more than functional, so armed with my microwave convection oven, and the plethora of imported produce one can find in the Klang valley, it was more than easy to whip something up.

Finally we're here. No more early morning meetings with contractors, shopping frenzies, thronging psycho home fairs and stressing. Sure, there's still work to be done, but now that we've moved in, the sense of urgency is very much reduced. Now I just have to re-establish my fitness routine (haven't properly worked out in more than a month), just to make it complete.

Breakfast today - baked eggs. So easy - I used lamb merguez sausages that I cut up and browned in a hot pan and placed in an ovenproof dish. Broke 3 eggs over, a teeny splash of milk and chopped chives. I didn't salt the eggs - the sausages are tasty/savoury enough to carry the dish.

Boo making himself at home.

So close

No I did not die nor go into hiding of any kind. Here's what we've been super busy with!

The end is so near I can almost smell it.

After the roller coaster ride we went through to get this place, the stress and energy spent during the entire renovation process, we're almost there. Almost. My hope is that we can move in in time to celebrate AK's upcoming big day.

Front facade before - note the angular side wall

The back

The dry kitchen, which has sliding doors that open to the teeny wet kitchen

The front extension - our contractor removed the pesky angular wall, pushed the door out and centralized our windows. I love my big windows!

View from the inside. Oh, and note the plaster ceiling. We decided to only do the sides, to keep the ceiling as high as possible

The back extension added an indoor drying cum storage area and made my wet kitchen HUGE

Wet kitchen after the extension.

View from the back of the house

We used Niro Granite wood plank lookalike tiles for the countertop and grey volcanic stone-like wall and floor tiles

A lighter colour scheme for the guest bath

Ours, soon

We finally settled on a place. Now we're in the not-so-fun phase - going through the motions compulsory when buying property (lawyers, bankers, a lot of signing), forking out the initial outlay, squabbling about how we want to do up the place.

I have fallen in love with this place - I love the big open concept (the living, dining and open kitchen are all essentially one big open space - so good for airflow and the place looks huge and modern. It also comes with a little patch of green in front of the living room, and I am thankful for that (so many of the other houses we saw had the green tiled up to make way for additional parking).

Dining and dry kitchen, as seen from the living room

The front door, little foyer and staircase

Living spaces as seem from the dry kitchen

Wet kitchen

Living room

Stretching spaces

Well, I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the kitchen is my favourite part of the house.

My obsession with all things food means that is is also the room that I will (and have done so) spend most of my money on.

Back when we stayed in the run down old bungalow, the only thing I loved about the house was the big, airy, light-filled kitchen. It straddled the east side of the house and one wall was completely lined with windows that looked onto the small garden outside. This meant that a) It was cool almost all day b) It was flooded with natural light and c) being part of a bungalow, it was HUGE. Lots and lots of counter space (I have made pizzas, homemade dumplings, Penang Hokkien Prawn noodles - stuff that require a ton of mise en place - with little issue), a big double sink, cabinets that the owner put in that I totally under-utilized.

Well, that's that. We've moved, at my behest, to a smaller, more maintainable home, though (dare I say) - almost as run down as the first. I have come to love this little space that I have made my own - the manageable size meant that I did not collapse thereafter cleaning it, , the living room in which I have proudly put out all my stuff collected from our travels and bedrooms. The only downside was the bare, rather under-lit kitchen.

So this is what we added to the bare space:

1) A simple industrial rack that houses a myriad of most often-used items – the kettle, mini blender for quick drinks/smoothies, and my acrylic glasses and water jug. I love acrylic kitchenware – as pretty/classy-looking as glass, but safe enough for clumsy people like me or even for kids.



I bought the glass jars on the second from top shelf to store coffee, Milo, sugar, oats, pasta...and reused glass containers that I collected for storing spices and condiments. So much easier than fiddling with opening tins and Tupperware covers. And prettier too.

The rack also houses some of the stuff I have amassed on our travels and - chai tea and coffee grounds from India, orange oil and honey from Phuket and Bangkok gourmet food stores, cinnamon cloves and more coffee from Bali. Organic pasta, soba noodles and couscous from the health stores all around Miri, KL and Penang. Protein powder my mum insisted on giving me, more spices and flavorings – Indian spice rubs, herbs for a Chinese herbal chicken stew. Oh, and the grey oven mitt was a most thoughtful gift from AK, who, knowing how I admire Jamie Oliver, splurged a good 12 pounds on it when he dined at Jamie's Italian in Liverpool recently.

2) I bought this cabinet from my old housemate - a total lifesaver. One side holds my small (but carefully selected) collection of serve ware that I am rather fond of – I have sourced them from flea markets (Amcorp Mall, Penang), Japanese specialty shops, simple grocery stores in Brunei and Miri, handed down from my Grandfather to my mum and of course, more ubiquitous ones from Parkson and the like. It also houses my ever growing collection of bakeware (all manner of baking tins, cupcakes, loaf, springform, tart, silicone and aluminium, my hand held mixer, as well as dry pantry items (flour, instant noodles, canned goods). Its tiled top serves as a workspace too.

It wasn’t enough though. As soon as we moved I knew we had to something about the kitchen to make it usable. At the first sight of the next trip back to KL I coerced AK to drive me to Ikea, armed with a shopping list I created on the Ikea website. My mission could not be clearer.

These rails I got there now hang above this cabinet and hold my oft-used single-serving cookware and my ladles, spatulas – anything I need within easy reach.

3) We also got this bigger metal wall rack, which hovers over the sink. Another piece that is absolutely essential in this space-starved place. Perfect for air-drying dishes and - when I added the hooks - hanging my peelers, scissors, sieves, hand held colander, silicone tongs, etc. off it. Silicone spatula, grater (this one is also from Ikea, I wanna upgrade to a Microplane one)


4) Another space saver - racks that elevate the gas stove off the only (very low) built in countertop. I use the space underneath it for my microwavaeble bowls and pot lids. The rack that holds my tray of condiments has a basket of garlic and onions, and my pestle and mortar underneath it.

5) And because I am helpless at the sight of pretty packaging that I can reuse, and the only place I could fit a part of my collection – tins from cookies, mooncakes, tea, my teeny liquor collection – was on top of the fridge.



6) Another very useful space I improvised – I originally bought this rice-husk cutting board from The Penang street market for, well, cutting. Turns out it fits nicely above the sink, so now I place my other cutting boards on it and use this space for cleaning meat and fish, and basically cutting everything. When I’m done I just wash the boards. No need to hunch over the other worktops. I use the yellow plastic one for meats and fish, the wooden one for stuff like vegetables, fruit and hacking up chocolate bars. Oh, and these two boards serve as splashbacks as well when they’re not in use.





It took me some time to grow into it and make it as friendly and functional as possible – and I would still love to have more work surfaces (I now make my dumplings in the dining room), but as with everything you build, bit my little bit, with things you use and grow to love, you learn to cherish.

Memento

New look for our living room wall.

Lives of Rajput warriors depicted on this hand-printed piece from Jaipur.

Hand-blown sea-green glass lotus-shaped dish and a solid glass soapdish from Bali (love love love). The soapdish reminds me of a block of ice. White fibreglass vase AK got me from Taiwan that we now use to hold a fat orange-scented candle. Background: carved wooden elephant, also from India. Tower of London collage made of old clock parts, that AK got from, well, London.

One of my favourite pieces (actually,I love them all :)) - this Taj Mahal inspired marble piece inlayed with enamel (I think). While the Taj walls are decorated in vivid garnets, topazes and lapis lazulis, this piece is inlayed with softest pinks and blues.

Dash of colour

I love cushion covers! Turquoise embroidered one from British India - one of my favourite patterns ever. I almost shelled out 500 bucks for the same pattern on a pouf at BI, but was halted by the challenge of having to lug it on a plane.

Hot pink beaded silk cover from the City Palace Atelier in Jaipur (I love saying that - Palace Atelier - makes me feel all haute and rich) - the most money I have spent on a piece of cloth, barring my clothes. The fabric is luxuriously smooth and the sumptuous embroidery - it was some superb craftsmanship that went into its pattern with all its gold, silver thread and glass beads. A piece of old Indian royalty in my home :)

In the back, another piece from India, the Jaipur crafts center also at the City Palace. This one is rustic and country-like - handpainted on natural organic cotton. The comfiest one naturally - we take naps on the sofa with this one.

Advent

And another year is gone.

This year, we fought less, laughed more.

This year, AK received his Masters in Singapore.

This year, we splurged in Thailand.

This year, we went on holiday with both sets of parents.

This year, Mum and Dad visited me in Miri for the first time in five years, and we had a blast.


This year, we changed our mentality and got out of the "career is everything" school of thought.

We both put our names down for some big-time purchases.

We resolved to learn more from each other.

This year, I volunteered to serve church (aka dragged by a good friend) for the first time, and loved it.

This year, we made the decision to move forward.

Hope you had a good one too.

Spoils from Thailand

Lotus-shaped celadon platter. I plan to place a big scented candle on this.

Pashminas galore. The prettiest paisley one in the background is a bit coarse (can't ask for much for a mere 150 baht), so I am using it as a sofa blanket. This wonderful stall owner lady told me that she "no talk much, other people ask for 350 baht, but I no talk. 150 baht!", so I bought three - the paisley one and the purple ones (one plain with flowers embroidered at the edges, and one with silver thread patterns). The plain grey one I bought at one of the shops for 100 baht.

Adorable elephant coin purses and keychains.

Handstiched coin purses. 10-30 baht.

A whimsical three-elephant painting. A 100% silk Jim Thompson kerchief I intend to frame and display. The lanna-patterned piece at the back is actually the Jim Thompson packaging - I love it so much that I framed it already.

3 miniature elephants. I spent the entire trip scouring for colourful, happy-looking ones and ended up with these three. AK wouldn't let me get more.

Another JT masterpiece, this time in blue. And a pair of adorable postcards I also want to frame up, preferably in my future daughter's room. :)

Tranquil Buddha plaque carved from blackwood. We bargained this down from 450 to 200 baht!

Here it is in our humble little rented living room.

Here is the aformentioned JT envelope that I framed up.

A funky baby tee with textured Thai God pattern. And the piece de resistance (by far the most expensive of the lot) - a 100% silk, super duper soft and luxurious JT shawl for mum.


Here is a closeup of the pattern. AK spotted the stall selling this and dragged me over, where we proceeded to purchase 4 pieces - one for each of us and one for each of my brothers.


Here's some more shots of the JT shawl. Most tempted to keep this for myself, but a slob like me will likely ruin something so beautiful.




Oh, and MY favourite purchase, the Jim Thompson stuffed elephant. Beside it is a framed applique of a famous Thai effigy.

The 3-headed elephant Erawan or Airavata, which is the mythical "elephant of the clouds"; a white elephant that carried the God Indra. I learnt this from Wikipedia, actually. At the time of purchase all I knew was that this was the most gorgeous figurine of the lot. And if you haven't noticed by now, I do love elephants.



Look at the craftsmanship of this stuffed elephant from Jim Thompson - the little stitched hooves, the mouth and of course the adorable plaque on his bowtie.

I actually have more stuff (more clothes, Jim Thompson t-shirts for both AK and I, normal stuff we collect like key chains and fridge magnets). Next post!!