Diana takes an indefinite hiatus
March 26, 2009
Hello. My name is Diana, and I am the writer of this blog. The initial motivation to start this blog was to see how far and serious I would take my interest in baking and eating desserts to. So far, I would say, it’s been pretty good. I’ve done an “apprenticeship” in a cafe, made friends with several foodies along the way and even published my articles print (albeit for a school club magazine, but I’m still proud! 
). Yup, it’s been good.
In September 2008, I moved from Singapore to Hong Kong, starting my first real taste of corporate life. It’s been an exciting move, and I am glad I did it. As such, this blog has moved from being desserts-centric to more of how’s-diana-doing-in-hongkong-centric. With work, study and life adjustments coming into play, my posting frequency has also dropped dramatically. Every time I thought of posting a recipe I had tried online, I would think to myself, what’s the point? Others have done it before, others can do it better. What’s the value-add I can bring?
Honestly, I am ashamed. As a food blog-enthusiast, I look at all the great food blogs out there, and think to myself, how can I qualify to call myself a food blogger? Even though I got into this not to compete for super-blogger-of-the-year, I am still ashamed at the lack of enthusiasm I have had recently. I started this to ask myself how much “passion” of mine means to me. As you can see right now, apparently not that much.
I am trying to get more inspired to revamp this site to become more focused, more interesting and more personal. So perhaps, it’s time to take a rest while I think about how to reorganise my thoughts. It actually feels so much better to end this for a while, because I promise (to myself more than anything else) that I will be back better than before.
It’s not goodbye, but see you later!
The day before my 24th Birthday was spent in Macau
March 24, 2009
My 24th birthday came and went, and it was exactly the way I wanted it: simple. On Friday, we took a day’s leave to venture into the land of vices: Macau. Here’s a sum of my thoughts of the land where you have an Asian who’s an “gondola-boat guy, singing Italian songs”.
The pretty parts are prettier than I thought. Cue in old colonial buildings (though mightily commercialised with McDonald’s and Starbucks fronting it).
The hotels are more in-your-face than I thought. I visited The Venetian and Grand Lisboa. The Venetian is ultra ultra big, and you get a sense that you are trapped in this timeless, perfect Twilight Zone, where nobody sleeps, and the sky is always blue and cloudy.
Grand Lisboa, on the other hand, is in-your-face with its golden grandeur. As if a HK$69.1 million bronze horse (as in THE bronze horse from the 12 Zodiac Animals from the Summer Palace saga) isn’t enough to front the hotel lobby, you have a bronze figure of the Mr Stanley Ho, plus not one, but two gigantic gems (a diamond and an emerald), actually, make them the most gigantic gems in the world. Yup, throw in a couple of mammoth tusk sculptures, a boat complete with tiny carved out figures plated in gold and many many hanging crystals, and you get the feeling that you should be shouting “HUAT AH” the moment you get in.
The food is saltier than I thought. I had Fernando’s, and along the way, tried some bak gua. I have never tried Portuguese-influenced food, but I get a sense that the food is quite saltier. Kudos to the freshness of the clams and salad (surprisingly yummy tomatoes). A lovely end to our lovely day was the egg tart from Margaret’s Cage e Nata (flaky crust with sweet egg custard).
Gambling is not as fun as I thought. Maybe it’s the fact that I went on a weekday. Most of the people who were at the casino seemed to be hard-core, long-time gamblers. Both of us, on the other hand, giggled as we placed our bets, and laughed our losses off (well, at the beginning at least). I never understood the attraction of spending so much time on something you have so little control of, and hopefully never will.
So what do I have learnt out of 24 years of life? Well, I think it’s really to try and be a bit wiser, a bit kinder, a bit happier, a bit more respectful every single day.
I hate the fact that I am able to quote from a animated cartoon, and am always touched to tears during the scene where he becomes one with the universe and disappears along with the peach tree leaves.
But I’m still going to do it.
As Master Oo-gway from Kungfu Panda said,
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
My simple meals
March 11, 2009
While I do not bake as fervently as I wish to, I have upped my cooking capacity – mainly simple meals that I can eat for dinner and bring to work the next day.
They include:
- fried vegetables with oyster sauce
- pizzas (mainly topped with potato and onion, fresh vegeables, ham and cheese)
- stir-fried chicken with baked cashew nuts
- curry chicken with diced cauliflower
- mee siam (using prima taste)
- pastas (mostly tomato-based)
My next endevours include:
- hainanese chicken rice (including chilli sauce, authentically-made with chicken oil, yum)
- lion’s head, literal translation from shi zi tou (braised lettuce with meatballs)
- roasted duck or lamb of some kind
- more variations of vegetable-based meals – I’ve been reading lots of Mark Bittman on NYT.
When I next go home (in April), I will eat
- bbq stingray with less sambal, and more of that sour, onion chilli sauce please!
- fish soup (more fish please!)
- fish head with salted bean paste sauce and pork lard (my dad’s recipe is the best)
drool…
Sites I’ve been drooling over
1. www.orangette.blogspot.com – her writing is fluid and her photographs are gorgeous
2. www.norecipes.com – i like his inspired take on cooking (after all, isn’t it what most home cooks from a previous generation did?).
I’ve been writing lots in list-form recently. Work does that to you, I think.
What I want in life
March 5, 2009
1. Balance
2. Respect
3. Health
4. Happiness
5. Clarity
6. Peace of mind
Writing it down just so I remember.
