Monday, June 27, 2011
at
3:53 PM
| Posted by
Juwen
So the exams are done and thank goodness it is over now. Very unmotivated to study which comes as a consequence of a very unmotivated semester. So unmotivated in fact that I went out to watch the lunar eclipse the morning that I have an exam, eclipse > exam. Meh. Well, moving on to job searching and the whole TR/PR debacle. Now time to answer the next most important question: Which game sequel should I play first? Starcraft 2, Bioshock 2, Dead Space 2 or Portal 2? Another person got put down in the battlefield of potential relationships and clearly that was hard. Even though the friend was quite cool enough to joke about it with us, it's still not a cool thing to have your hopes dashed on the rocks. When I was asked for advice, I gave what any 27-year-old who is very clueless about relationships would give, utter rubbish nothings. In fact I think I was rather cynical in a rather joking manner now that I think about it. The position my friend was in looks vaguely similiar to where I was 5+ years ago except for one minor detail.
My friend went all in. Even now, I still have a problem of risk and will not take action until I'm absolutely sure that it is not going to blow up in my face. Of course, there are many such times where it did blow up despite my rather detailed cost-benefit analyses which further reinforces my habit. This is something that I still struggle to do, to act in a high stakes gamble (this is why I suck at games of chance such as dice games or poker) so for my friend to put his heart on the line is something I salute, because it is something that I very rarely do. The downside to this is that I will kick myself every time I seem to miss the opportunity. But so far, most of the time as the missed opportunity unfolds, my inaction has been justified. I am not the right person or someone else is the better person. And of course that just adds to the reliance of analysis.
I once had a comment from a friend a long time ago, back when I was at my cooking/baking prime, that said "If I was a girl, I'd marry you". While that was mildly creepy at the least, I also thought it was a whole lot of nonsense because if that were the case, I can name many more people who should be on the married list above me and like me, isn't married. Granted that while that friend of mine was merely praising the qualities that "might get the girls", all I hear is the nonsense. Now back to my heartbroken friend, my first instinct was to do what my friend said to me but then I realize what rubbish it was and so I swung to the other end which, on hindsight, isn't a great deal better either. Unfortunately, if given the chance to go back in time and change what I said, I actually don't know what else to say. Mainly because I have absolutely no experience precisely because I'm a total coward. But that's another big story altogether.
There are many such "nice guys" as so aptly framed by the stupid brilliant people at Wong Fu Productions (although not always having that happy ending) like my heartbroken friend of mine. I'll finish with this newspaper blog post on the same subject. Though neither I nor my friend are not exactly in James' position in the post, there are many things that certainly I can identify with and have experienced. Heck even my sister is bugging me that I'm a good catch (blah blah blah) and that she wants nieces and nephews because she says she's too chicken to have her own kids ( ! ). I suspect she's sick of me being around at home =P. We all ask the same question "What is wrong with us if we are the "nice guys" and are a "good catch" but get nothing what was "promised" by the friends?". O noes! We iz duumd! sez teh geekcat.
Ok, enough of this silly nonsense. Back to DVD marathon. And game sequels. And pool. I need more pool.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
at
4:45 AM
| Posted by
Juwen
People have talked about the miracle of birth since forever, especially the first time parents. They will tell you that it is absolutely amazing that two people can produce something so beautiful. While those who have never experienced parenthood have some idea of that miracle when their friends or relatives gave birth and see the joy that the parents have and the little bundle of joy that came as a result of the parents, I'm pretty sure that there is a whole other dimension of that joy that we singletons will not get until we actually get there ourselves.
This was quite evident when I visited a friend who just gave birth to their first child today. The hospital was quite a new environment for me, having been there only once prior to the visit in Australia. And not to mention have never been to the maternity ward apart from when my sister was born. And needless to say, I have not held a newborn ever, not that I'm phobic about babies. Seeing my friend, her husband and the newborn is indeed a very special occasion and there is enough happiness and cuteness to overfill the room. I'm pretty sure the parents felt something of a higher level than what we are feeling.
So all of us took turns holding the baby and of course like most things, I opt to go last. Holding a newborn for the first time and staring into its beautiful eyes, you feel happiness unlike any other. That was something to behold and I can tell you, there are not many such events that give you such a feeling. And I can understand how parents can seem to hold their babies for the longest time because honestly, you cannot stop looking at the baby. It is a human being at its purest (so to speak) and at its most innocent. That moment simply needs to be cherished. Of course, I'm not the parent so obviously I can't do that but that's probably enough of a glimpse into the inner workings of the proud parents. Some of you may know that I have always been a sucker for having daughters. No idea why. But holding my friend's first son, that preference of mine does not seem to matter anymore. You just love whoever he/she is that you are cradling. It's like you are thanking God for bringing this person into the world and regardless of gender, you still feel very proud for this person. Having said that, I still would like to have daughters. Just that if/when the time comes, it is not going to matter or rather, of little significance.
Sorry. Feeling a bit cluckish.
------------------------------------------- It's been close to a week since the event and I'm still finding out more about the history of it all. Felt kinda weird talking about it though I try to conceal my awkwardness. But the issue that I have to grapple with in light of the new information coming in has been interesting to say the least. It seem to highlight my failures even more, that going for it was an uphill battle from the very beginning even though it didn't feel like it then.
And so a question. If your good friend has said to a couple well on the way to marriage that they were meant to be, with one of them being the person that you used to go out with, even before you went out with the person in question, how would you have deciphered that statement? a) That's just a nice-thing-to-say kinda statement. No biggie. b) The statement was well-meant and mutter quietly "Pfft. Whatever." c) The statement was well-meant and confront the friend "Why didn't you talk to me about it then? Could have saved us a lot of time/trouble." d) Realize that you are a complete failure e) Trick question! The real answer is 4 sheep, 5 elephants and 42.
To give you time to think, here's the awesome Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman at the Tony Awards.
For extra time, NPH in the opening sequence for the Tony Awards.
Hint: It's the most common vowel in English alphabet...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
at
3:31 AM
| Posted by
Juwen
Given that I will finish everything in about a week, there's some room for reflection. Which is both good and bad. Good that at least I have a chance to have a look at the big picture and remind myself what's ahead or what has become, bad because in most cases it leaves me in a very uncertain state and often times it bugs me to sleep and then some. And I did say I was going to expound on certain things the last time.
The past couple of months have been rather eventful, not for me unfortunately. Unless you count assignment work eventful. Right now, all I'm seeing is that dozens of people have moved so far ahead of their lives, it seems that I've barely left the starting line. People my age and younger are starting to own their own houses, the countless number of friends getting engaged/married, owning their own cars, jobs and some are well on their way to starting their own families. I'm of course happy for all of above mentioned people but it is hard for a person in my position to not feel even the slightest bit of envy. There is a natural drive within all of us that wants to achieve some of the big things humans can ever do. Call it what you like, the 5Cs as some Singaporeans might be familiar with or the 5 milestones I've talked about before, we all still want to achieve those measures and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to. Even though I'm on the brink of finishing my course and ready to go on to whatever rat race I've been placed it, I can't help but think how much time have I lost and not have the so-called security net of these things.
Let's face it, no one wants to be left behind of the pack because it is a pretty lonely place back there. I've been there for far too long. But perhaps I've been held back for good reason, reasons that are yet to unfold before my eyes. Also let's hope that with the benefit of hindsight that some valuable lessons can be learned before regret starts to creep in.
Speaking of lessons learned, one that I'm only just starting to unpack, came about a couple of days ago. It's not so much of a lesson learned right there and then but it was a slow work in progress that stretched to over 3 years. Some of you might know of the event that started all the way back then and of course how it ended. But what nearly all of you didn't know is that before it all began, I was actually quite determined to not let it happen. There were certain cues which gave me the feeling that this isn't something that I should pursue. But effectively because of a miscommunication (of course I didn't know this until much later), my guard fell and I went for it despite my gut telling me otherwise. So things went very fast and very furious and knowing me, anything that I do fast is bound to crash and burn. And so it did. Too many mistakes made, some so big that for a long time I couldn't forgive myself. Fast forward to present day, after a recent event, sealed what is to be the longest lesson served up to me thus far. Holding up your guard and keep watch are so important but if it does fall, one should act appropriately and not that of a crazed gung-ho self-confident hero. I failed on both accounts. Let's just hope that I don't go the opposite direction and shell up. I feel as though I'm starting to do that already.
On a separate note, I find it slightly funny though that in the midst of all of events that happened in the past 3 years, the one totally unrelated stranger whom I've expressed all of my concerns then turned out to be rather influential in the events leading up to a couple days ago. What are the odds of that? This seemingly small, quirky thing actually ends up being one of the major players that led me to my moment of epiphany about this rather long lesson of mine. There are many more things that I've yet to discover about this so there's more to learn. Better late learning them then never.
What do I know about love? *shrugs* Apparently not enough.
------------------------------------ Something uplifting after that dense but slightly vague post, Kristin Chenoweth sings about life in an apartment. She's so pint-sized and cute.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
at
12:09 AM
| Posted by
Juwen
And so, the last assignment of the uni course has been submitted. Huge relief and burden lifted off my shoulders. Even with the exams coming up in 2 weeks time, I am absolutely not worried about them because the types of questions they ask are quite trivial. And I know what you are thinking. No.
I have to say that this semester was quite a disappointment despite the enormous amount of work that I have to do for it. Firstly, a subject on algorithms was so tame despite having a history for giving really challenging assignments that I figured I shouldn't have done it at all. There were other subjects in the past that demonstrated higher level algorithms than this subject taught. I can't really blamed the lecturer for making this move to make it brain-dead easy because the students in the class were really immature and irresponsible that left the lecturer with no choice but to dumb it down lest he was willing to fail more than 60% of the class. Waste of time #1. Secondly, a subject on secure electronic commerce (you know, the stuff that enables you to shop online without worrying your bank account hacked) is also remarkably tame. I took this subject on the advice of a friend who did the subject previously saying that there is a ton of stuff to learn over another subject I was considering. The assignments again barely put up a challenge and to be honest, I don't think I learned that much from it. Waste of time #2. And finally, a subject on mobile and wireless computing. While I realize that it is highly beneficial in this era where mobile devices are going to overtake desktop computers, there is very little emphasis on relatively up-to-date technology. Have I learned anything? Yes, but I say just minimally relevant. Waste of time #2.5.
But what is done, is done. Now on to the next hard thing, to get a job and some legal paper that says I can work. In other news, Masterchef season is back and everyone's getting stoked about food once again. Contestants this time aren't as colourful as the previous seasons but the show kinda makes up for it in the things the contestants have to do. Somewhat related to food, I saw an episode where Gordon Ramsay toured South East Asia to learn more about styles and techniques used in these countries. So when he paid a visit to Malaysia, I'm naturally curious about what he thinks about Malaysian food. Because it's Gordon Ramsay, the following videos are probably NSFW. Plus hilarity ensues. And those reading this from Facebook, you really shouldn't be reading stuff here, embedded stuff doesn't show on Notes. Click "View Original Post" at the bottom to come to the blog and stay there. Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 Rarely do I hear American or European chefs mention anything about Malaysian food. They can be very knowledgeable about Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian food but nothing registers on Malaysian food. The only comment I've heard about Malaysian food from a Westerner is Gary Mehigan from Masterchef. He seems to have some idea about what Malaysian food is about but even then I suspect that he doesn't really know the whole picture yet.
While this episode is funny on several levels, there's something I think many people will overlook. Mainly because of his hilarious attempt at pronouncing Malay phrases. His approach to something completely foreign got me thinking. And you know what that means...long analyses to come.
Watching the episode, you can see how Gordon struggles to come to terms with the idea of Malaysian food. Chefs, more specifically Western chefs, are trained to be precise with their measurements to maintain balance of flavours in their food. So when faced with the idea that most cooking in Malaysian households pride themselves to cook as they go, or a term used in the episode "agak-agak" (roughly translated, roughly), people get lost. At this point I finally understood why my dad and my Penang relatives never really have recipes for their awesome nyonya dishes whereas we younger generation are so obsessed by having a recipe. It is of course all to do with the convenience and the apparent fail-safe notion of a recipe because we want results , we want them now and we want them good. And with the big boom in cooking shows and reality cooking competitions, the importance of having a recipe has skyrocketed in value. Today, when you cook a dish that is fantastic the first thing friends do is ask for the recipe.
I'm not saying that recipes are bad but I think the over-dependence of recipes is bad. Recipes are a bit like the user manual that come with a computer, they tell you what to do with your computer but there is so much that you can do with it that is not listed in the manual. And of course, there are techniques that can be highly useful but not emphasized in the manual because of the nature of a manual. Likewise with cooking and recipes, there is so much more to just reading the instructions that you can do with food to create new and interesting dishes. So how should we approach cooking then if the idea is not on recipes?
For Gordon it is a bit of an advantage for him being trained as a chef but let me spell it out for you. Taste. Texture. Technique. Taste is oh so important and one that we all can quickly identify as a big part of liking a dish and of course criticize. The balance of sweet, sour, salty, umami, bitter, spicy, tartness etc is key for a delicious dish. But the lesser know thing to take with is knowledge of flavour pairings, what goes well with what. That I think is an underrated skill to have and as important, if not more, to have than a refined taste especially when you are doing the cooking. That is of course hard to get it right and requires lots of experience since there is a combinatorial explosion of possibilities of pairings but there are some things that can help reduce the possibilities down a bit with some taste fundamentals.
Texture. Crunchy, silky smooth, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, firm, juicy, hot, cold, "bite". Vocabulary to describe textures when eating something. Again I think it is one of those underrated skills to have. It is one of those things that you subconsciously knew when munching on that kangkong belachan. Without the dried shrimp or the fried shallots added to it, you knew that something was missing. Even if you manage to encapsulate the flavours of the dried shrimp and fried shallots in the dish without actually using the actual items, you'd still think that something is missing. Something crunchy is needed, something of a firmer texture is needed. Well trained chefs have always had the need to think about textures just as important as the taste itself. That doesn't mean that simple cooks like us can't think about it as well.
Technique. The toolbox for realizing the taste and textures of a dish. Everyone using a recipe will definitely encounter a technique to preparing a dish as stated in the step by step manual. But, yet again the lesser known skill under this umbrella is how and why do they work. You can think of technique as the scientist in the room, together with the art critic (taste) and the fashion designer (texture). If you don't understand how a technique works and why, you'd only know how to use it under one or two circumstances. That is if everything works. Knowing how and why it doesn't work is just as useful as how and why it does work. That is a broader and encompassing thing to have rather than following the technique steps on a recipe.
These three things combined well will almost always create a spectacular dish. Of course easier said then done, but at least there is a plan. While there is still merit in being very precise about your measurements (like in molecular gastronomy, if you are not precise, you are screwed), it is not useful to stick to that all the time. Ultimately, that's how Gordon started to understand Malaysian food, going back to the three T's mentioned above. That allowed him the freedom to modify dishes he encountered earlier and to refine it into something a bit better while still keeping true to the intended flavours. He may not be an expert in Malaysian cooking now (one, he is not an aunty) at least he has a broader view than just satay, laksa and rendang.
To the Asians reading this, you might say what is the big deal. How can a foreigner possibly replicate our kind of food? Why the hell is this post so damn long? I'd say it is a big deal because I think we have been approaching food in the wrong direction, at least in cooking. We forget that cooking is one of those science meets art discipline, that it needs both to succeed. We also forget that cooking is never about the recipes but the food. So, the next time you are cooking to a recipe, relax a little. Cook with your eyes and your taste. You'll learn flavour pairings very fast whether you succeed or not. Unless your recipe demanded the use of liquid nitrogen or 63.7 degree eggs.
The second question, don't you think that is being ignorant? You might say that Western style cooking is easy, simple (this is what my mother would say) which is why we can cook theirs, but ours...oh no, we've got a lot of spices, complex flavours, ridiculous techniques etc. Plus lots of our food are very cultural or historical, they can never get our food. First, for every dish you claim to be complex I can give you a traditional "Western" dish that is equally complex that has been around for just as long and equally cultural and historical in its origins. Argument invalidated. Using the three T's above, you can reconstruct just about any dish on planet Earth so just about anyone can replicate our so-called complex dishes. It may take awhile for them to get the cultural aspect of food but that is just a minor setback and nothing too high for them. The same can be said for us in the other direction.
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