Buh-Buh-Buh-Buh BREAD!!!

It's done!!!

Let's have a look shall we?

Before the oven...


And after!!! (^_^)

Close-up of a piece of sun-dried tomato...


Yay!! Haven't tasted it yet.. But at least it looks alright. Mwahahaha... Watch this space for taste updates...

Bread is Rising!!

It is the return of...

THE BREAD!!!!

*cue deadly music* Dum-dum DUUUUUUUUMMM!!!!

Yes, indeed. I am making BREAD! After a hiatus of... 2 years? It's a friend's birthday dinner tonight, and somehow I was "requested" (read: told) to bake some bread. Really the order was for sourdough, except that I no longer have my origianl sourdough yeast (*sniffles* it was such good sourdough too...), and it takes at least a week to cultivate a new one... So I decided to try making an Italian-sort bread.

So far, so good. It's got olives, sundried tomatoes, oregana and rosemary in it already. I think there wasn't enough olive oil though... hmm... We shall see. It's going through the first rising now. Don't have a photo to post yet, but keep yer shorts on!!

More bready updates to come...

April Bride ～余命一ヶ月の花嫁～

Sunday, on my way to Japanese class...

"SWOOP"

"Tapatapatapatapa" "Beep beep!! click" "tapatapatapatapa"...

[Rough translation below for those who don't speak text-message]

I whipped my mobile out of my bag.

"Mel, wanna watch 'Tokyo Sonata' or 'April Bride'?"
"Sure what time?"
.....etc, etc...

[End translation]

So in the end, we decided on "April Bride" at GV Plaza.

Based on a true story, it's about this young woman, Nagashima Chie, who gets breast cancer. Even though she beats it, the cancer comes back and starts moving into her bones. Knowing she doesn't have long to live, she invites a camera crew to film her life's last chapter. Her reason: there is an incredible lack of information concerning breast cancer for women in their twenties or early thirties. In order to educate young women about breast cancer, she bravely allows the world to see her in her most vulnerable moments.

It's also a love story. As if by fate, she meets a young man, Taro. Soon enough, Taro is talking about "forever". What he doesn't know is that Chie received her first diagnosis soon after they first met. Although she hides it at first, he finds out and amazingly, refuses to leave Chie's side. With the help of Chie's family and friends, Taro plans to give Chie the most miraculous and beautiful last month of her life.

It was a really nice movie. A bit slow, yes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, the enjoyment would've been more thorough if it weren't for a couple of idiots in the cinema.

Idiot #1: Some stupid girl sitting in the row in front. For the first 5 minutes of the movie, she insisted on texting with her phone that had some megawatt screen. It was BLINDING! I'm serious. Even though the cinema lights had gone out, her phone alone was capable of lighting up the place.

Idiot #2: Another idiot girl. This time sitting somewhere in the same row as Mel and I. It was supposed to be a really poignant scene: Chie is coughing her lungs out and Taro is at a loss, stroking her back in an attempt to soothe the coughing. Yet, Chie insists that Taro catches this all on camera for the documentary....

"WALAWALAWALAWALA!!!"

Some horrendous ring tone spoilt it all. It seemed to last forever, and the owner seemed to be unable to locate the offending device. However, upon location, instead of switching it off...

Yes, idiot girl #2 started talking. She actually answered the phone. Not to say, "Sorry I'm in the middle of a movie. Bye." No, no. She started a full-blown conversation. Loudly. Oh, there were attempts by the other movie-goers to shut her up. You know, polite coughing, tongue clicking, "wa lau"s... She did go quiet for about 1 minute, and then it started again. I dare say her conversation lasted 5-6 minutes.

Idiot #3: The beng sitting right next to Mel. Obviously, he was only there because his girlfriend wanted to watch it. Throughout the movie, he snuggling up to his girlfriend. Occasionally there's a disturbing movement, but otherwise more or less immobile against his girlfriend and doesn't bother us.

Until the last 15 minutes of the movie.

It's supposed to be the climax, the most touching moment, the apex!!

And the idiot beng decides to start playing with his phone and play-fights with his girlfriend too. He disturbs her with the bright screen, she tries to snatch it away, he won't let her, etc, etc...

IT'S ANNOYING!!

No. There are no words to describe the level of irritation caused. These idiots need to be slapped, shot and slapped again.

Are Singaporeans really that incapable of being considerate? Or maybe I should start seeing things in a more positive light..

Singaporeans are capable of being that inconsiderate.

Dehydration...

Remind me to drink some water BEFORE I actually go for a 10km walk/run next time.

Some friends of mine have been doing regular Saturday morning runs at MacRitchie Reservoir for a while, and they've been trying to convince me into running with them for the past 3 weeks. Finally, I got cornered into actually showing up. So today, at 7am, I woke up, had coffee and made my miserable way to MacRitchie.

It was HOT today.

And DRY.

Suddenly the algae-filled, kayak-infested (yes, apparently the school teams train there) waters of our local reservoir looked very inviting.

Any further than 10km, and you would have found a new lifeform living in the waters of MacRitchie. They'll need to be put up new signs in MacRitchie Reservoir:



"Beware of Siew Mai"
"Known to bite."
"More so when provoked."

More Shopping

This time, it really was impulse.

I've been eyeing this pair of wedges from MUJI for a month now, but they never went on sale and I never really could justify buying them.

Finally, today I happened to be in the Marina Square branch. There's a 10% discount sale on all garments and homeware until 4th October.

So of course, I bought the shoes. Not in the colour I originally wanted, since it was out of stock, but the alternative is still nice.

Alright. 10% off isn't the greatest discount in the world. It was actually still a bit pricey.

BUT I DON'T CARE!!

...

Ok. I do a little bit.

But that's besides the point.