Refreshing Pear Sorbet, with Mint & Lime

I've been trying to do so many different things lately. Having recently finished (most of) the Blogging Your Way class, I've been thinking a lot about how to improve this blog, what I want to achieve with it and most of all, what is it that I'm passionate about and want to pursue. As you may have noticed, I've changed the layout of the blog and made some slight tweaks, begun to consciously style my photos a bit more and put effort into taking good pictures. I've got a lot more room for improvement obviously, but I'm really grateful for and blessed by all the encouragement that I've gotten from friends and visitors to this blog. It makes me want to do more, and create even more beautiful things and images. I'd especially like to thank Arianna of Arianna Interiors, who featured my blog yesterday here. I'm sooo excited cos it's the first time I've ever been featured on someone else's blog! :) I met the lovely Arianna together with a group of other design bloggers, who are forming dbcollective (Design Bloggers Collective) as a way to further promote design blogs and the design community.

Another thing keeping me busy is Pinterest, a new visual bookmarking/cataloguing site. Check it out if you haven't already, it's addictive! I've been surfing relentlessly and 'pinning' things rabidly. My pins and boards can be found here or follow the link on the right column. There's so much more I want to do, like take time to properly look through all my fellow BYW classmates' blogs and do more 'discovery' research, read up on photography techniques, just read (the new Jasper Fforde!), pick up my flower arrangements again, and of course bake and cook!



Speaking of which, I haven't made ice-cream in a while. In fact, it's been really long since my freezer bowl cracked and leaked weird blue fluid (which was quite a while back). The replacement bowl has been sitting around for a while now and I thought it was about time for a christening. I eyed some pears and thought to myself that they'd make a great refreshing sorbet. I'll just pretend it's still summer.



To kick it up a notch (a la Emeril), I wanted to add more flavours to the pears. Initially, I wanted to pair the pear (no pun intended) with ginger in order to spice it up but I didn't have any ginger in the house. What I did have was my newly acquired mint plant (now dead sadly) and some lime, which I thought would really enhance the delicate flavour of the pear. I'm a big fan of lime, vs lemon, as I feel like there's that extra fragrance to it. True enough, the sorbet was heavenly, light yet with a creamy texture from the pear flesh, gently spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and laced with the refreshing notes of mint and a hint of lime. I also put together a simple verrine dessert, as per the serving suggestion below. Enjoy!




Pear Sorbet, with Mint & Lime
(makes about 500ml, my ice-cream maker is a 0.6L)

4 pears, peeled and cubed
70g caster sugar
70g glucose (replace with sugar if unavailable)
50ml water
half a lime (you will need both the juice and the zest)
3-4 sprigs of mint
half tsp nutmeg
half tsp cinnamon
(the spices are really to taste, so it's up to you how much or little you want to put)

Heat the sugar, glucose and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

When the sugar has melted, and the syrup is simmering, add the diced pears and spices into the sugar syrup. Squeeze the lime into the mixture (retain the lime, as you'd need the zest later). Turn the heat down to low.

Take the saucepan off the heat once pears have softened. This should take about 10 minutes.

Add the mint leaves to the mixture and grate the zest of the lime into it. Let this steep to impart their flavours while the mixture is cooling. You don't want to add the mint and zest during the cooking process (or while the mixture is very hot) as the flavours will be over-extracted and become bitter. Let the mixture cool for about an hour.

Remove the mint and puree the mixture. I used a hand blender, but I suppose you can use a food processor or stand blender as well, as long as the mixture is turned into a smooth puree. Transfer into a container and refrigerate, preferably overnight.

Turn on your ice-cream maker as per your manufacturer's instructions (if using a freezer bowl or disc type, this should be placed in the freezer at least overnight, I usually just keep mine in the freezer whenever I'm not using it).

Pour chilled mixture into freezer bowl and churn. If your bowl is chilled enough, this should not take more than 15 minutes to churn into a frozen mixture. The longer you allow the machine to churn, the more likelihood of bigger ice crystals which will result in an unsmooth ice-cream. So you'd ideally want a cold machine that will do the job fast.

Spoon sorbet into a container and store in freezer or serve immediately.

Serving suggestion:
Speculoos biscuits, crushed
Pears, cut into small cubes (I soak these in a lemon-water mixture to prevent oxidation)
Pear sorbet

Spoon 2 tsps of crushed speculoos into a transparent serving glass.

Add 2 tsps of chopped pears.

Top with a scoop of pear sorbet.

Garnish with a sprig of mint and some wafers.

Blogging Your Way

I've been taking this e-course called Blogging Your Way conducted by Holly of decor8 and Leslie of  A Creative Mint on how to find your blogging voice, as well as many other tips and materials on how to publish a successful and attractive blog. It's been nothing short of inspiring, far surpassing my expectations. I had originally expected there to be lots of 'technical' how-to's like how to take good photos, style, creative post ideas, market yourself etc. 

But it has been a lot more than that, nothing short of defining one's life goals and passions and how to bring that into your work and blog. It has forced me to think about what really drives me and what I would like to do with my life. Having recently read Eat, Pray, Love (I really want to watch the movie!), this question has been hanging over head and I've become all too acutely aware that I'm pretty lost. I have some inkling of what interests me - food, flowers, design, styling, weddings but how they all tie together, I'm not so sure. The question we had to answer as part of our homework for week 2 was what I can bring to the blogging world. To be honest, I'm not sure. I like to blog because it provides an outlet for me to share my inspiration, thoughts and finds on things that interest me with whoever cares to read. I like to post pretty pictures that I take, some of which allows me to practice my styling. I don't blog because I want to be a successful blogger. In fact, sometimes I'm too shy to let people know I have a blog, as I know I'm not focussed or doing this professionally enough. For me, I hope the blog will become a portfolio of my passions and talents, and perhaps one day I can make a living from that.

But whatever it is, the course has definitely helped me sharpen some of my thoughts and I really hope to implement some of the amazing things I'm learning right now in BYW. I've also met some great people, and discovered some great new blogs. We're only halfway through, and I can't wait for what we'll learn next! Stay tuned to a new lease of life for this blog soon!

Chinese New Year, Thoughts & Tiramisu!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! As you can see, the Christmas tree has given way to a more ching chong red auspicious arrangement of pussy willows, rose hips and amaryllis.

It's been a while since I last posted anything. Very hectic month and even more busy trip back to Singapore thus far due to work. The first month of 2010 has past and there's a lot of thoughts going through my head regarding life direction, career and personal objectives amongst other things. It's not new to me that I have varied interests and have never been able to narrow or focus on one single thing - which results in me being a Jane of all trades but master of none. I like to dabble in this and that, and get a little carried with one area sometimes but then I never really see it through. My phases have included fashion design, floral design, web/graphic design, weddings, interior design and drawing, photography and currently cooking/baking and food styling. One look at my shelf of books and you can see the above themes manifested in the hoard that I accumulate.

Suffice to say that there are many trains of thoughts that need clarifying. I spent most of last night surfing for interior/product/food styling courses. Maybe it's time to take the plunge, or perhaps more like dip the toe into the water. I leave you with the tiramisu I made the other day. My first attempt at tiramisu in a long time and as usual, I had to go choose the most complicated recipe and tweak it. Will post up the recipe next week when I get back to London (recipe notebook left there).

Homesick

It's been about 2 weeks since I got here, how time flies. I'm beginning to freak out about how long I am going to be here and what that means. Getting increasingly frequent pangs of homesickness and mini panic attacks. Yes, I know life here sounds exciting (it's London after all) and the experience of setting up a new home and all is great but at the risk of sounding ungrateful, I sometimes ask myself wtf did I think I was doing deciding on this move. I miss the familiarities of home, of my close friends and loved ones, knowing where all the things and shops are, having the convenience of a car and knowing I can meet up with my dear friends whenever I want. Here, I find that I have to watch what I spend on, ask around before I know where to get certain things, I don't even know the areas when people talk about them, and generally I just feel lost and unresourceful. I hate hate hate feeling like that. Whilst it's definitely been easier having a couple of friends here who have been more than great in showing me around, it's just different.

Restless, unsettled, lost.

Notes of A New Londoner Part I

I feel like a student again. Everything's so expensive here, I have to watch what I eat, drink and buy in case I overspend. I guess I should stop converting everything back into SGD cos that's only going to give me a heart attack soon. I probably will end up eating Pret sandwiches a lot, or take-out M&S food, gotta start rationing my Starbucks coffee as well, gone are the days of S$1 kopi. The plan is to cook for dinner and bring in the leftover for lunch and have 2 nice meals during the weekend. Let's see how I do on that. Although it's just sad that I have to watch my expenditure so closely.

Not just that, but I am really starting to miss the convenience and luxuries of having a car to zip around anywhere anytime. Here, I'm subject to the ubiquitous oft-broken down Tube, bus or walking everywhere (I've already worn out my cheapo Far East shoes) cos I can't afford to be cabbing everywhere. Hais...

Speaking of shoes, EVERYONE in London seems to be wearing flats. Not that that's a bad thing, but I had thought more people would be wearing heels, judging by the amount of heels H&M, Topshop are selling. But no, everyone's feet are clad in flats. Some even wear trainers or slippers with their work clothes (I suspect there's a pair of heels hidden in their bags) and that attests to how much of a walking culture there is here. Not just a walking culture, but a practical culture since pain-free feet take precedence over style. Either that, or I'm totally hanging out in plebian cum tourist land where the chi-chi fashion forward Londoners don't hang out. Probably the heel-cladden fashionistas are zipping everywhere in black cabs or their shiny beemers.

I really should find out where the real Londoners hang out. So WHO are the real Londoners? The old money and aristocratic? The surburban working middle-class? The stylish fashion set? White-collared I-bankers? (who have most probably been retrenched and disappeared these days) Or is it the cosmopolitan melting pot of immigrants and transient working people (like me) that I come across everyday in Central London? Seriously, when I take the Tube, not one person is speaking English (American doesn't count). A smattering of various tongues can be heard and I thought I came here to be surrounded by the Queen's English.

I guess this is the real London - a city where paths are crossed and different people of the world come together to call this place home. Just like me. Now I just need to find out where Hugh Grant hangs out.

Starting In London

I've been meaning to blog about everything here since I came but haven't been able to because it hasn't been convenient to do so thus far, and there was just so much thoughts and observations to pen down that I didn't know where to begin.

I wanted to start another blog just to talk about London, but then again it might be troublesome for those who would read both. So I'm sticking to this for now, unless I feel compelled to move later.

Oh where to begin? It's been 5 days already since I left. I was very touched by my friends who turned up at the airport to see me off. Really fortunate to have them around, cos I was having trouble with my luggage. It was TOTALLY overweight (and that's after I already took out some at home). Luckily for me, Jean was a miracle worker and managed to redistribute my stuff around my multiple bags and I managed to get through onto the plane without having to leave anything behind. As I was entering the gate, it really felt like going off to Cornell all over again. Needless to say, I was quite upset to leave and was crying quite a bit. Even on the plane, I'd go to the toilet and cry.

Then I got to London. To be honest, I don't think it has hit me yet. The past 5 days felt kinda like a vacation, except that I wasn't really doing touristy things like shopping and sightseeing. I was busy walking around the various neighbourhoods and viewing apartments. That's all I've done really. I've seen about 30+ apartments thus far, and walked around South Kensington, Belgravia, Marylebone, Mayfair, Covent Garden, and also near Angel. The first 2 days of viewing were crazy as I saw about 30 in 2 days. There weren't any that jumped out at me though a couple left an impression. I've shortlisted about 3 thus far and the pics are here.

Apartment 1

Apartment 2

Apartment 3

The first one is located near Great Portland St and Regent's Park, on the edge of Marylebone and Fitzrovia. Very large and spacious apartment with neutral colours. When I saw it I felt it was really well decorated, until I saw the rest. The kitchen is a fairly good size with a dining room of sorts as well. Kitchen has new appliances but the stove is electric. Yes, the kitchen is very important to me, and is kinda disproportionately weighing on my decision. The location's pretty good since it's quite near to Marylebone High St, Oxford St and Regent St where all the big shops are.

The second one is nicely furnished, cosy and on top of this bridal shop along a cute street called Elizabeth St in Belgravia. The kitchen looked a bit old though but the owner has done it up really nicely in a homely cottagey sort of way.

The third place is in Chesham St, which is kinda off Eaton Sq (atas place) was the most well-furnished (now Apt 1 kinda pales in comparison) and has the British India sort of feel about it. Only one bedroom though, but it does have a powder room (!) though it does seem like wasted space since I can't really make it into a walk-in wardrobe with no storage there. The kitchen is nice and new, but again, induction stove.

Apt 2 and 3 are kinda in between the Sloane Sq tube and Victoria tube. Pretty prestigious neighbourhoods. While it is well decorated, it doesn't really feel homely or my style, whereas Apt 1 has the benefits of having the main furniture in, but I can do it up, like a blank canvas. So currently Apt 1 is tops.

I'm going to look at something else tomorrow that really really looks like it has potential. 2 bedrooms, with wonderful furnishings (more of my style) and in the same areas as Apt 2 and 3. I think the downside is that the apt is in a building (as opposed to a period house) and there aren't that many supermarkets or big shops nearby though plenty of small cute shops and cafes.

Think this might be the winner :)

The Duchess

Though it wasn't as entertaining as Australia, it certainly spoke much louder to me. Throughout the film I found myself empathising with Georgiana. While Kiera Knightley put in a fairly good performance, Ralph Fiennes amazingly managed to pull off the Duke's role in such an unfeeling, stonewalled manner. One could not tell what was behind that face. No trace of emotions that betrayed what he thought and his motives. I spent the whole movie trying to guess why he did the things he did and I still don't know. The concept of happiness not being an entitlement, and being subjected to circumstances, all hit too close to home.

This movie was definitely depressing. And as qi cham as Little Nonya (which incidentally I do not watch). Initially wanting to avoid watching that tonight at JW's place, the Duchess definitely also featured its fair share of oppressed suffering women.

Quote from the movie:
"I love you in the way I understand love." - The Duke

And something I heard on Class 95 last night:

"It doesn't mean that when someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, that they are not already loving you with all that they have."

What Should I Do With My Life?

That's the title of the book I'm reading. It's a collection of stories of how people are in various stages of deciding what to do with their lives, finding meaning and purpose. Each story is a few pages, and the author tries to weave in themes that he sees coming out from all these people he meets.

I must say that the stories do unlock one's mind, and it gave me perspectives that I did not consider before. I always end up putting myself into the shoes of the person in question, and trying to identify with the situation. The last story I just read was about how a woman gave up a job offer which would have doubled her salary, to pursue her childhood dream of being a landscape gardener. The job offer forced her to relook what she was doing in life. She knew if she took the job, it'd just be for money and not anything else. It made her realise that she was not after money in life, and she just wanted to do something that made her happy. Oftentimes we see money as the means to that end - to be able to afford to pursue something that makes us happy be it to bum, open a business or study. But once we get caught up in the pursuit of money, often that overshadows whatever original goal we had.

I thought about my childhood ambitions. Did I have any? I know that I was never the sort who grew up with a conviction to be something (there are stories about that too in the book), but I do remember wanting to be a fashion designer at some point, fashion merchandiser and also make-up artist at another. In my late teens, I think I also wanted to be an interior designer and a chef. While these never really lasted or developed into strong ambition, the stories have made me dig up these memories and realise that there is a common thread among them - that they are all jobs in the creative field, vocational in nature requiring some sort of a skill. They are not money-spinning, highly intellectual jobs in the corporate world.

My fear though, is that my talent does not match up to my passion. That whilst I may wish to pursue these things, I will inevitably fall short. Fear of failure, in our success and qualification driven society. Maybe I belong to the category of people who are good at what they do not like, but like what they are not good at.

I tell myself that these questions and fears would be best answered and confronted if I actually act and take a step in that direction that I have always felt tugged in. No more sitting around and just agonising over what could be.

Now I just need someone to bankroll me.

Loveliness

I forgot why I loved weddings and beautiful things. I had stopped visiting those lovely blogs over on the right in the past few months as my mood got worse and work got crazier. But tonight I took some time out and was looking through some of the wedding blogs on my google reader and realised how much I missed beautiful pictures, lovely things and all that emotion and happiness that are captured at a wedding.

I hear of people planning weddings (their own), and venturing into wedding planning (others) and I still ask myself the same question as I did before - will I ever? Guess I still don't have the answers to either but maybe if I start surrounding myself with love and pretty things and inspiration, maybe one day I will.

Joy

'Tis the season to be jolly! So I must muster up a jolly post to uplift myself and you, my dear reader.

It is the time for us to count our blessings, no matter how small. To remind ourselves the source of smiles, laughter and joy. So I thought I'd try to come up with a list of the little and big things that bring a smile to my face and give me that warm fuzzy feeling one.

• Seeing and playing with cute little kiddies
• Giving and making loved ones happy
• Cooking and baking and being in the kitchen (not washing!)
• Flowers - be it receiving, buying or arranging
• Being appreciated and loved
• Zooming along on a long uncongested road

What else is there? I shall try to think of more to add to the list. Speaking of lists, I haven't been able to draw up a Christmas list yet, as I've been lacking in inspiration. Find it a tad contrived to just buy random gifts for people as I believe gifts should be meaningful.

So what gives you joy? And what joy are you bringing to people around you this holiday season?

A Thousand Words

I was looking at some professional wedding photographs online and was enraptured by the moments that the photographer managed to capture on film. The radiance and the smiles on the faces, definitely takes talent and skill. The photographer is pretty famous in the wedding circuit, Kelvin Koh of Lighted Pixel. My sister will also be using him for her wedding, hope her photos will just be as amazing.

some thoughts from it -

doing something you love for a living and the passion that goes with it

those moments in life that take your breath away simply remain in your memories unless they can be ingenuously recorded. but they are but a mere cross-section of your life, perhaps not showing depth of the past or future.

the casual shoots are actually more fun. everyday life immortalised. if only each day is lived like that.

Happiology - The Search For and Study of Happiness

Taken from April 07 issue of Her World (yes, can find some good stuff not always fashion and trash)

Happy Triggers

• Happiness is dependent on your state of mind, not on your bank balance. Cultivate a positive outlook and find a positive spin for negative events.
• Count your blessings - start a gratitude journal.
• Perform random acts of kindness: Smile at someone who looks forlorn. Let someone in a hurry in front of you in the queue. Call or visit a grandmother or older family member.
• Interact with nature.
• Look after your body. Eat right and exercise.
• Find your magic trigger - the thing that makes you happy, whether it's writing, loving, dancing or climbing mountains.
• Each day, no matter how busy you are, find one thing to bring you back to consciousness and to happiness.
• Live in the moment.
• Don't compare yourself with others - self-awareness is the route to true happiness.

Other things that stuck:

"Researchers have also found that it's not so much the rewards, the accolades, the new house, the new car, but the dream of it and the pursuit of it that can bring happiness."

"It's the process of being alive, of doing something that is far more important than the results"

"... remember to enjoy the moments of happiness without allowing worries or fears to steal away from them."

I'm also reading Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness right now, pretty interesting read on how we imagine the future and our assessment on what we think will make us happy. No it's not a self-help motivational slash inspirational book. It's written more from the angle of sociology, psychology and economic theories with lots of case studies and social experiments.

Tons of books awaiting my reading. Tons of work awaiting my doing. Away with the procrastination monster!

Friendly Advice

Advice from my wonderful friend:

You totally should get yourself into the dating scene. It's the equivalent of going for interviews even if you don't actually intend to resign - it's good to find out your market value.

Haha. Well put. Now, where can I find that scene?

Why Are We Weird?

Having Fizzy Fish from M&S in the office. They are sooooo SOUR!!! But that's good, cos I need to wake the bloody hell up from my food coma.

Many things to blog about (mostly food) but a little lazy right now to upload pics. Peirui is hounding me for all the non-existant entries in BYTFF. Ok, so just to hold myself accountable here's what I need to flog - Canele from lunch yesterday and Ikukan and Patissier from dinner.

I think we get weirder as we age. By we, I mean my friends. We've always been a little strange but the weirdness gets honed instead of going away. Case in point: conversation over dinner last night. Unlike normal amicable peace-loving people who would nod politely and say "Ah, yes ok" to straightforward answers to nuggets of wisdom such "Why not to order seafood on a Monday" and "What is deadweight loss" or "What is a ketone", we question and poke and probe and argue and expand a subject that's probably only worth 2 lines into a PhD thesis. Why ah? (other than the fact that we need to entertain ourselves this way) But it's amusing nonetheless.

And Spizza is pronouced as it's spelt! Spiz-za, NOT es-pissa!! Who says that gosh!