We recorded this HBO movie on our Hub Station recently. This story revolved around a “has-been-popular-in-the-80s” boyband singer, Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) who was struggling to make a livelihood with his expired music career. He met a young woman, Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) who could write lyrics for his music. She used to major English Literature in her university days and had been terribly hurt in a previous relationship with a married professor who made use of her to publish a best selling book. I was the only one who made it through the show. Croaky was already snoring 15 minutes into the show.

Did I say I used to be a Hugh Grant fan eversince I watched Notting Hill? He had such a charming accent, unmatchable confidence and style. Unfortunately, my opinion of him plumetted with his constant string of negative publicity. Despite all these, he is still the very much sought after actor for romantic comedies. Well, what to say? Women like bad boys. Quiet and unattractive men – please stand aside. I am thinking of poor Colin Firth… but this quiet personality played very well in Bridget Jones and Mama Mia.

Music and Lyrics is just the right kind of movie with all the appropriate elements to fill the souls of die-hard romantics. I am not the kind who enjoy the blood and gore in Gladiator or Lord Of The Rings. Nor am I the kind who like to explore dark and serious themes of betrayal, life and death when I am watching movie. I still enjoy to be scared (once in a while) by horror and suspense – The Others and Sixth Sense. Nowadays, movies which are well thought and put together are far and few – think of the poor ending in Pan’s Labyrinth and The Golden Compass.

The following was the hilarious beginning to Music and Lyrics – a MTV played by the younger version of Hugh Grant who was singing and shaking his bum. For a moment, I thought I was on the wrong channel.

And this was the ending which I had missed. Croaky missed recording the last 5 minutes of the movie because there was some error with HBO schedule. I managed to find this on You-Tube!

And the lyrics to the popular hit-song – Way Back Into Love.

I’ve been living with a shadow overhead
I’ve been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I’ve been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past, I just can’t seem to move on

All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can’t make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart to you
I’m hoping you’ll show me what to do
And if you help me to start again
You know that I’ll be there for you in the end

And finally, if you like the music, download here.

Download Way Back Into Love MP3

Eversince I have upgraded wordpress to 2.7.1, I am having problems editing my posts. The older version of wordpress had some intrinsic problems and I don’t want to be an old hat not moving with the times. I thought my problems would be solved by “upgrading” to a more stable version. It was an easy upgrading process – deleting and replacing the new files.

Now, I have this problem that I cannot edit my posts after I click published.
The error:
Forbidden
You do not have permission to access this document.

There’s plenty of mosquitoes nowadays, and I can’t sit still here to google the solution.
Another day perhaps.

Afterword: The error only occurs for one affected post. I have decided to ignore error instead.

Recently, I bought a set of anionized pots and along with the set came a recipe for baking pandan chiffon cake. The recipe is special because you will “bake” the cake in the frying pan instead of an oven.

Ingredients

Well, before you start, heat your frying pan at high setting for 10 minutes.

Whisk egg whites until stiff. Add in sugar and cream of tartar.
Add in the egg yolks, oil, milk, pandan paste and vanilla essence.
Mix slowly and evenly to get a smooth batter.
Sieve and fold in the flour slowly. Pour into a mould.

Place the mould in the frying pan, cover and bake at medium heat for 15 minutes.
When water droplets form on the lid, the cake is ready.

It’s green and puffy, like a mega doughnut in the mould.

And a piece of cake to go along with your tea.

Simple?

He made it!
Croaky presented me with this hand-made duck from Daiso on Valentine’s Day.
This was in response to a dare in this entry.

 If you take a closer look at the duck’s wings, they are crooked. Nonetheless, it was a great first attempt for a man with big hands! It’s a labour of his love and a promise delivered.

I feel proud of my dear Croaky.

I am now a new convert fan of making my own earrings – inspired by the fanciful earrings adorned by the female characters on the period TV dramas. Even their house-maids wear beautiful, long dangling earrings, which are at least 2 inches long. And the materials which are used are exquisite pieces of jade, pearls, rose quartz and other precious stones.

The shop which I particularly fancy is Lai Guan Beads Mart because of its huge array of beads and its affordable prices. There are other smaller shops in the vicinity as the prices are not as competitive as Lai Guan. I also go to Mix N Match (in the same building) to compare prices and to find other pieces which are not available at Lai Guan. There is also this Golden Dragon Store which has been around for the longest time but I do find that the range is rather out-dated and the stock are not as new. (Especially the sections for embroidery, cross stitch and other craft kits).

In my humble opinion, the most ridiculous place to buy your beads will be at Spotlight where the prices are steep and the range is limited. Beads fanatic don’t shop there. Even with the membership discounts, the prices are going to bleed you and your wallet and you might as well buy ready-made pieces from push-carts.

It will be fun knowing more beads fanatic and share wonderful tips/know-how with these people. I need to know more like-minded individuals who share my hobbies.

The big feast for CNY was prepared way in advance as I drafted out the menu for Croaky’s approval. He, being a no-fuss man, agreed to everything that I have included in the menu. His only concern was the crab-killing session which was supposed to precede the feast.

The ingredients for the feast. The jumbo crabs took the two of us 1/2 hour to kill, and me 1/2 hour to dissect. Croaky freaked and jumped out of the kitchen while the two crabs were being assasinated by Woolly. Where do you see such a timid man?

The chilli crabs! Drenched in mouth-watering gravvy and spicy sauce. Our delight for the night.

Croaky deep fried these buns, which were a bit chao-da. Makes a great complement to the chilli sauce.

Braised sea cucumber, mushrooms and bamboo shoot. I love the fatt choy (black moss) best.

Abalone with mixed vegetables. The carrots are neatly cut into flower shapes for prosperity.

And winter melon soup with spare ribs to go with the rest of the meal. What a feast, yeah?

Croaky tucking into the meal, with a gluttony look. All is happy with the food.

Happy New Year

My second attempt at dress-making. This time, the tribulation was to made a matching pants for my newly bought embroidered brocade from Madam Butterfly. The shop sells satin pants, but only light coloured ones, and it costs $69 for a samfui like pants (which imo is not suitable for daily wear).
Samfui pants are pants with straight cut and flare a bit at the bottom.
Well, I thought straight cut means sewing straight right? How difficult can it be?

So, I bought some materials and decided to make one myself.
Material costs:

Rest of my professional tailor-kit (Sewing machine, bobbins, chalk, measuring tape, ruler): my own
Paper pattern: I didn’t buy! (Grave mistake)

Nonetheless, I made a mess of everything. And this was only 10% of the mess on my living room floor. Men don’t really care because they are so used to living in their pig-sty. It’s true!

As I did not have any paper pattern, I had to draw on the satin on free hand – professional tailors used their measurements and rulers. I took out a pair of my existing long pants hoping to replicate the pattern. It was not a perfect solution and I ended up sewing a pair of pants which was too small for my size. As a result of my folly, I had to spend the entire Friday and Saturday night trying to undo the sewing with my unpicker.

My zest to see the completion of my home-made pants carried me on. And I spent the whole of Sunday afternoon in front of my sewing machine. I realise as you grow older, your hands at the sewing machine becomes steadier. Straight lines just become so easy.

And finally – my very own tailor-made pants!

This is a great step towards making more clothes.