u m a m i

Last Sunday V learnt how to use chopsticks. Bravo!

Two weeks ago. It was at a boutique, a small band was playing.

He picks a fight with the vacuum cleaner, crazy boy!

Omiyage sakura 1

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I didn't want to finish the year with just the green quilt, so I looked up in Kumiko Sudo's book on omiyage which had been sitting in my shelf for nearly four years now. The sakura project looked easy so I tackled that and it was great! Enjoyable to make, lots to learn and the result was pretty and functional.

Omiyage sakura 2

The back has a pouch for carrying small items.

Third Yi-Yi sent Mimi and Rufus some new clothes, including Korean traditional outfit. Cute!

They say this is a killer application, so I went to have a look and I am hooked. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy, I have killed so much time building my page and keeping tabs on friends. I have invited everybody-with-email I know and visit the page obsessively. Like how I used to click the "refresh" icon in the pre- Bloglines days. It is voyeuristic yet compulsive. I am also a leftenant zombie, don't "pray pray" OK! My fluff pet is a radish that I have named KimChi.

So, are you on Facebook yet?

We saw artichokes selling at 1 euro per piece in the market and decided to try cooking and eating it. It's yummy. V thinks so too. There are numerous videos out there showing how to cook and eat artichokes, but not many starring a 20 month old child. Enjoy!

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The day before we went to London, we, along with some Singaporean students and ex-residents, were at a tea reception at the Singapore ambassador's residence in honour of visiting Minister for Transport, Mr Raymond Lim, .  

During the Q&A session people asked about environmental issues in public transport (yes, well, it happens, and it came from a Frenchman) and the IRs. Mr Lim was excited to tell us about the soon-to-come Grand Prix and how it would make the city more exciting. We would not believe it, he told the audience, but S'pore these days is really quite a buzzing city.

5 days later, in London, we found ourselves at the V&A museum because my sister is desperate to get some culture into my food-centric self. It was the night of their Surrealist Ball, visitors turn up to picnic in the grounds, dress up in eccentric costumes and dance in the marble foyer. Everybody was enjoying themselves. The event was free of charge.

Buzz. Like style, it can't always be bought.

(More images can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/umami88/tags/surrealistballvamuseumlondonmay07/) 

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Tomorrow morning we leave early for the train station, we have to be back in time for me to sit for my exams. I would really like to spend more time here, London makes me so very happy.

Last month when I was here, I loved it, I felt liberated. From unending maze of impenetrable Haussmanian fortress-blocks to the mixed landscape of London's terraced houses- be it the red, white or marroon legacies of Georgian, Victorian and Anne periods- with glimpses of gardens, mostly in states of careful neglect and allows for peeps into kitchens and basement flats, the sense of release is definitely palpable. My kind of parks, blessedly sandfree, with generous swathes of green grasses and paved walkways, that welcomes dogs and people ON the grass, really we don't ask for much. Pubkeepers and market vendors who banters and flirts, patient and efficient front line workers. 24 hour supermarkets. Little newsagents that sell so many desirable things like Oyster cards and crisps of all persuasions. Restaurants and cafes effortlessly cool, laid back, diverse. People too, they appear happy and comfortable, here it seems OK that not everything has to be sartorially in. Effortless style, I see that a lot.  

This time round, I can still feel the buzz. Well, alright, the hotel concierge was a smug bastard, and the cost of every little thing gives me pause, but otherwise, it feels so good here.

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London makes Paris seem like a concrete jungle. There are surely beautiful courtyards beyond the imposing gates of the cities' batiments, but I have yet to find for myself. Here, just walking down any residential street is relaxing, there are so much greenery and flowers everywhere. There is quiet, privacy and openness, and I feel unsuffocated.

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It isn't that I hate Paris. I don't, my life there is undeniably good, enviable even. But I don't get it the way so many others do, not yet anyway, and yes I will make more of an effort to be patient, to take it easy (I love the song, btw).

In the meantime, there is London, my little refuge and second home. Thank the heavens and angels for that!