tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68627175337813257772024-03-14T08:56:25.411-07:00lux: de novoDihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.comBlogger353125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-77035715739503740732018-11-13T05:03:00.002-08:002018-11-13T05:05:01.106-08:00marked with suffering
Blessed Be Your NameIn the land that is plentiful Where Your streams of abundance flowBlessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your nameWhen I'm found in the desert placeThough I walk through the wildernessBlessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out, I'll Turn back to praiseWhen the darkness closes in, LordStill I will say
Blessed be the name of the LordBlessed be Your nameBlessed be Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-15068516237251518582018-10-16T07:20:00.000-07:002018-10-16T07:20:04.996-07:00Wishes for William
Wishes for William by W.M. Letts (1882 – 1972)
These things I wish you for our friendship’s sake –A sunburnt thatch, a door to face the sunAt westering, the noise of homing rooks;A kind, old lazy chair, a courtly catTo rub against your knees;Shelves of well-chosen books;I wish you these.
I wish you friends whose wisdom makes them kind,Well-leisured friends to share your evening’s peace,Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-17385452893974964542018-09-12T07:16:00.001-07:002018-09-12T07:16:39.562-07:00Bursting forth Just now, I nursed baby S to sleep and as I looked down as his sleeping face - his perfect sleeping baby face - it occurred to me that I had never written about either of my babies. They were perfect - are perfect - but I somehow could not put that into words. Everything I wanted to say seemed trite - how do I describe the perfection in the curve of my baby's eyes without sounding like a Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-38547282468259303332016-01-23T12:33:00.003-08:002016-01-23T12:33:33.887-08:00waltz for debby
It's been nearly ten years since I heard Waltz for Debby. Is it silly? To celebrate song anniversaries?
A jazz loving friend of mine sent it to me - the mp3 of the great Bill Evans version. Try it, he said. You'll like it.
I listened and liked it in a vague, well ok it's nice kind of way. But I wasn't blown away. I didn't have the capacity to really understand it then.
That was in 2006-7? Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-4321265342089423312015-12-19T13:34:00.001-08:002015-12-19T13:34:43.513-08:00Banana Bread Part 1: The sugar free one
Earlier this year, I discovered to my dismay that one of my favourite Singaporean baking blogs had shut down entirely. The blogger didn't just stop blogging; she took down all her archived recipes as well. I was so annoyed. So I've decided to be more diligent at clipping/reproducing recipes I've discovered online.
I never met a banana bread/cake/muffin recipe I didn't want to try. There's just Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-81716787963208999602015-10-07T18:52:00.001-07:002015-10-08T18:36:16.744-07:00Five spice stir fried chicken with cashews: A riff on a Nigel Slater recipe
It started as a Nigel Slater recipe for stir fried chicken with cashews and broccoli. But I hadn't any broccoli. I did have an enormous jar of unsalted cashews that my parents left behind when they came to visit though, so I decided to make the dish anyway.
Along the way, I added and tweaked quite a number of things and I'm afraid that it no longer resembles Slater's original recipe. But the Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-83305402680794239142015-08-04T07:37:00.000-07:002015-08-04T07:39:00.944-07:00Starting youngAbout 6 years ago, I went to the hospital to visit a friend who'd just given birth. Another friend L, who I hadn't seen since high school was there too. I don't remember how it happened but L, who was also married with children, wound up giving me unwanted advice in a wagging finger tone about how I should think about having kids young "because it's better". I was single at the time and wasDihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-73776435244327589152015-02-02T00:24:00.000-08:002015-02-02T00:24:32.814-08:00squidgy
I've been meaning and meaning to write. But the last few months have been spent moving the contents of my entire apartment into storage, looking after a small baby, looking for a tenant, getting said baby his vaccination, and preparing to move to another country with said baby.
But I stopped by because last night, lying under the covers, I began itching to write something - anything - about Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-66196528909644226732014-12-08T17:13:00.003-08:002014-12-08T17:13:54.905-08:00It takes one to know one
Scene: Mr Grey and I are watching baby squawk and kick his legs furiously.
Me: You know dear, I think baby is going to grow up to be such a naughty boy.
Mr Grey: No he's already naughty! He just doesn't have the ability to carry out his naughty schemes yet.
Me:.................Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-67632401149912004692014-11-26T03:01:00.000-08:002014-11-26T03:01:00.127-08:00Kittens and cubs
On 23 July 2014, Mr Grey and I became parents to a tiny howling red faced boy. Four months on, he is no longer so tiny but he does still turn red when he howls for food.
He is a real game changer, this little boy. The last four months have been filled with exhaustion, panic, crazy love, happiness, worry and poop. So much poop.
At 4 months, he's a milk drinking, crazy pooping machine. He can't Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-20786236193108291542014-10-14T06:04:00.000-07:002014-10-14T06:04:12.831-07:00grandfather storiesHere in haste to link to this blog post because it evoked memories of my grandparents.
I was very fortunate to have moved into my apartment with Mr Grey at the same time one of my aunts was moving into a smaller flat. She offloaded much of her crockery and some other odd bits and pieces on us. Most of the plates and bowls she gave me turned out to have been the remnants of my grandparents' Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-51297359815812301062014-07-10T21:47:00.000-07:002014-07-10T21:47:20.813-07:00Balance
I never thought I'd turn into the kind of person who doesn't know what to do with herself once she stops work. Growing up, I excelled in doing nothing. I spent my school holidays sprawled on my bed reading ... everything, drinking milo and taking the occasional bike ride. I didn't learn an instrument (something I regret now) so I never had to practice anything. On the last day of school, I'd Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-6697267560727693282014-07-01T20:40:00.001-07:002014-07-01T20:40:32.343-07:00Brown butter blueberry muffinsThis is a recipe good enough to have been reproduced on two baking blogs. I used the version from here, primarily because the measurements are British - in grams and cups - thank goodness! Converting a recipe from American measurements to British isn't difficult but if someone has already done the work for you, why reinvent the wheel?
I've tried a couple of blueberry muffin recipes before but Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-27537676987131700772014-06-03T17:25:00.000-07:002014-06-03T17:25:18.877-07:00Food writing and cookbooks
After discovering Claudia I looked for cookbooks by people who really knew particular cultures very well. I bought everything she had written, her book of Mediterranean food, her book on Italian food, and then I started on the American writer Paula Wolfert. Paula also immersed herself in food cultures. The first book I bought by her was about Moroccan food. After that it was Marcella Hazan, the Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-43369947290177282552014-05-28T02:16:00.003-07:002014-05-28T02:16:36.054-07:00Maple Pecan Shortbread Bars ("it's just like pecan pie mum")I cook often and bake rarely. So when I first posted about the NYT article on food and life which featured a beef stew and maple shortbread bars, I wholly expected myself to make only the beef stew and not ever get around to the shortbread bars.
Life and a thing called Mothers' Day intervened and I have since made the shortbread bars twice but have yet to make the beef stew - although I have Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-89369296215062818132014-05-05T21:46:00.003-07:002014-05-05T21:46:52.974-07:00Food writing
No recipe today but a food article I re-discovered.
Years ago, I read this article about the Zuni Cafe and the memory of it has lurked in the shadows of my mind ever since. At the time I read it, the description of the cafe and the bay area held a special significance. I read it at a time when plans for a trip to the bay area, along with certain other future plans had suddenly and Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-60494016186934784072014-04-14T20:29:00.000-07:002014-04-16T00:46:42.223-07:00Thai stir fried minced beef with holy basil and chilli
If you follow the liturgical calendar, you'll know this week is Holy Week - the last week of Lent. Do you attend a more traditional church? I don't but I attended Anglican church schools for 8 years of my life and so some consciousness of the liturgical calendar has always been present in my life.
Anyway, this being Holy week, I thought it would be appropriate to post a recipe calling for heapsDihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-59267252577565235402014-03-22T05:53:00.000-07:002014-03-22T05:53:10.050-07:00Matthews' Lentils
There are two Matthews involved in the making of these lentils. One, the Matthew my sister brought over from Newcastle, who very kindly made vegetarian shepherd's pie and also very kindly left behind half a bag of lentils in my kitchen.
The second Matthew is Matthew Fort - whose cookbook "Cooking by Numbers" mysteriously turned up at my house one day. I seized it with both hands and, out of Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-23825103940412997772014-03-15T01:03:00.001-07:002014-03-15T01:06:46.770-07:00Megan's oatmeal
Well it was a pretty ordinary Saturday in my household - ordinary and extraordinary because we've had a non-stop streak of saturday weddings and so we were hopelessly out of the most basic groceries, even my instant oatmeal (!) and muesli.
Mr Grey promptly decided to eat last night's leftovers for breakfast, I poked around, considered my options and then decided that today would The Day.&Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-62549762962509200472014-03-10T19:12:00.000-07:002014-03-10T19:12:22.891-07:00Cooking and life
I came across a 2001 NYT article on cooking yesterday that managed to really put the finger on the pulse of why and how it is cooking can be such a life affirming, comforting hobby.
Some passages from the article below:
"Anyone who cooks even casually knows the feeling. Cooking is almost always a mood-altering experience, for good or for bad, and at its best it is do-it-yourself therapyDihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-87637938659759812922014-01-09T01:07:00.000-08:002014-01-09T01:07:16.456-08:00pasta for two
Last night I cooked pasta. I made the sauce, I boiled the pasta then mixed it. Mr Grey got home shortly thereafter and we ate.
This morning I realised that it was the first time since Mr Grey and I got married that I made pasta all by myself.
See, I cook all manner of other dishes by myself. But for some reason, in our household, pasta has always been two person job. Mr Grey boils the noodles;Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-71030570719591479702013-11-25T18:43:00.000-08:002013-11-25T18:43:47.245-08:00The One: Roasted vegetables and Chicken stock
Sometimes, in fumbling around cooking and trying out different things, you stumble across a recipe that turns out - strangely and incomprehensibly - perfect. It is The One. The one that you have subconsciously been looking for. In fact, all the other recipes you tried were but pale shadows of the One.
In the last few months, I bookmarked two separate recipes from two different blogs and only Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-27971087719784217402013-10-10T19:12:00.002-07:002013-10-10T19:12:44.235-07:00white collar kingfishers
These two little guys have been hanging out at the tiny patch of green on the way to the train station. Sometimes, they sit far apart, sometimes, like in the picture above, they sit side by side.
I look out for them everyday. The last time I tried to take a photo of them sitting together, one of them got annoyed and flew off. Today, I was more cautious and kept my distance which explains theDihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-72254537420429208012013-10-07T19:55:00.000-07:002013-10-07T19:55:22.426-07:00Celebration of the Edict of Milan
1700 years since Constantine issued the Edict of Milan.
Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6862717533781325777.post-73390160605265209962013-10-02T19:52:00.000-07:002013-10-02T19:57:25.305-07:00home body
Isn't the reading corner in the picture so inviting? Saw it and couldn't resist posting it up.
I have to say, I'm really loving this stage of life when I get to have my own home and I also get to hang out with friends in their homes. Hanging out with friends in the comfort of their own living rooms and kitchens is such a luxury. It's quiet, you get unlimited water to drink, there isn't Dihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12278218691348203953noreply@blogger.com0