Awww!

Text from Jean, sent from HK where she is on a business trip: 'I just ate the same food we ordered before in HK and it didn't taste as delicious as when I was eating with friends. Have a great day.'

Awwww, how sweet!

And I know exactly which meal it was that she was referring to, a meal which featured this bird (quail? or pigeon? can't remember) that is eaten with a bit of salt if you like. The Macau fare from that resto in Tsim Sat Tsui. It's a die-die-must-try kind of place.

Feed me, I'm on holiday

Some people just don't have manners. Grrrrr.

A long-lost high school friend (who is not the subject of this rant) is in town from Manila for a short visit this weekend. So of course, I invited her to dinner, right? A dinner to welcome her to Singapore, to allow her to taste the flavours and spices of this island. (And since she is travelling with a colleague, we extended the invitation to this stranger too. Out of courtesy.) I haven't my friend, K, in 20 years, so I was very excited and looking forward to catching up.

So, dinner. My husband and I arranged to meet K and her colleague/travelling mate at a Starbucks along Orchard Road after their Night Safari jaunt, after which we were to proceed to Lau Pa Sat, a popular night-time, street-side hawker centre eating place here that serves all kinds of Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes and desserts.

A few minutes before the meeting time and the hubby and I were already walking toward Starbucks. I was craning my neck while I walked, scanning the crowd sitted outside the coffee joint for a glimpse of my friend. I immediately saw her and her male colleague, who I saw was talking animatedly to another man. My first thought was, wow, he sure made friends so quickly at Starbucks!

When we got to the table, we said hi all around. I couldn't help looking inquiringly at the other man there, so K's colleague (let's call him C1 for Crass No.1) introduced him and said he was also from Manila and was in town on official business.

Curious, I asked the second guy (let him be C2) how he came to be in Starbucks with his friend and K. Did they bump into each other here of all places, I asked. His reply just floored me: 'No. I've been waiting with them for you guys. C1 invited me to dinner.'

INVITED YOU TO JOIN US FOR DINNER, DID HE? WTF? WTF?

I couldn't help but hyperventilate in silent anger. Who the fruck asked this sampid guest C1 to invite more sampid guests to my dinner treat for K?? I mean, hello, when did it become open season to invite your own friends to a hosted dinner without you asking your hosts first if it was okay?

The hubby saw the extreme annoyance in my face and knew immediately that there was going to be hell to pay soon. So he took my arm and said, 'Hey, didn't you want to go to the loo?' while dragging me to the general direction of the pee-place.

He: Hey, relax. Relax.

Me: @%^&@#$*#$&#%. Who does he think he is? Tell me, can you just invite other friends with you to dinner hosted by folks who have just invited you out of frucking courtesy! Invite him to dinner, did he? Why stop at one, tell me? Why doesn't he call more people so we can have a party on my account! The blinking nerve!

He: Whatever it is, don't put K in a spot. It's not her fault that her friend is misbehaving. Remember, you haven't seen her in years! Just focus on that. She could be ill-at-ease about the whole thing too, you know!

Me: What are you suggesting? That I just grin and bear it?

And yes, folks, because I'm Pinoy and long-suffering and unable to say point-blank to C1, 'I see that you have your friend to keep you company tonight. You won't mind then if I steal K away from you for a few hours so we can catch up, would you?', I ended up playing hostess for the night to a friend and her buntot and his buntot. To get through the extremely grating crassness of C1, I just took my hubby's advice -- I just concentrated on K and made sure she had good food and was enjoying her time with me.

Eto pa. To top off the C duo's hateful quotient, when it came time to paying the bill, well, you would expect that C1 and C2 would at least make a show of reaching for their wallets to insist kuno on paying for their share, right? (Lalo na dapat si C2 kasi I didn't invite him at all.) Well, walang balak ang mga kapalmuks to pay -- no overtures, no moves, no inquiry later to ask how much their share was. Grabe.

But really, this isn't remotely about how much it cost to feed the C men, cos it's a small sum and is beside the point. This rant is about the utter gall of a stranger in taking liberties of a stranger's generosity.

But I admit I am the bigger fool, for allowing the evening to start and end without me saying anything to protest the imposition on my time, space and resources. I should have uttered the dialogue I wrote a few paragraphs above but in my defence, I was totally caught unawares and left shocked in the face of brazen bad behaviour.

You can bet however that if such a situation should present itself to me again, well, I've got the scenario studied and the quips readied. So be warned, crass creatures! Don't you start on me or boy, are you gonna get it!

It's raining MAC

Two weeks before my birthday in Sept, I was in a cab on the way to Paragon in Orchard Road here to catch a shuttle service that would take me to my acupuncture session in Spa Botanica in Sentosa. I was stewing there in the cab, willing it silently to go faster so I could make it to the 11.30am free service to the spa. If I missed the shuttle, it would mean I would then have to cab it to Sentosa to make it to my appointment, which would be a waste of my $10-12!

When the cab finally pulled over at at the back taxi bay of Paragon at 11.31am, I tried to do three things at once in my hurry: gave the driver my fare while trying to close my bag while opening the cab door to start a mad dash for the shuttle bay in 5 seconds.

All to 'disastrous' results, of course!

The driver was paid, I catapulted my body out the taxi in 2 seconds ala Flash, but I would know soon after that I didn't complete the simple task of closing my bag because a few seconds later, my bag's contents spewed forth onto the pavement.

It was so embarrassing! My make-up stuff went flying all over, my utility bills, pens, my wallet burst too, scattering my coins. Eeek! I had to pick these up one by one, in front of many cabs queued on that bay too!

It took me awhile to do this and when I had ensured that I had my wallet, house keys and phone inside the bag, I left the scene, thinking that whatever else of my possessions I may have overlooked and left on the sidewalk can easily be replaced.

It was already 11.45am by then and the shuttle that I had been hurrying to catch was long gone. Still a bit shaken and adamant not to cab it all the way to Sentosa, I called the spa to ask for the possibility of a one-hour delay to my noon appointment. Thankfully they said ok to that, giving me more than enough time to regain my composure and catch the next shuttle run at 12.30pm.

While waiting, I decided to rummage through my bag to see what I could be missing. Pen (a gift from a friend), check. Checkbook, got that. Mints, dental floss, ok. Office pass, here.

Relieved that I had all my stuff, I decided to go to the loo to freshen up. And that's when I realised I was friggin missing a MAC pressed powder compact that I had just bought 2 days prior!!! Argh! How sad is that? In trying to save my $12 fare to Sentosa, I ended up losing a $45-compact. And to think that I will have to fork out another $45 to buy a replacement! boohoo. What bad luck!

I had time to spare before the bus was due so I decided to cross the road to Ngee Ann City to buy yet another compact from MAC in 2 days. While high-tailing it there, I just had to send an sms to a girlfriend to tell her of my make-up misery.

Text to Shanana: Aargh! I lost my new MAC compact. Must have left it in cab or got thrown to pavement with my other stuff. Tell you more later. And my compact is so new! Arrgghh!

Her reply: Sorry to hear that. Can I get you the replacement? Been trying to think what to give you for bday. This saves me the agony. Pls?

My reply: Just ask me what I want. If you really want me to be happy, just get me a Chanel bag. Black. Thanks, you're a darling.

Her reply: You're so funny you make my toes laugh.

Anyway, I bought a new compact and made it to the next shuttle to the spa. On the way, I mentioned to the hubby my small misery re the missing compact and he said, don't worry, let's get you more this weekend, before we went on to speak about more important stuff.

I completely forgot about that non-episode until my birthday week when I came home one time to a surprise from the thoughtful hubby who said he got me a small gift, one that he knows I really needed. The surprise really surprised me, for it turned out to be a compact and lip shiner. Wow, how the heck did he have the guts to march into the MAC store and talk make-up with a sales crew there? He isn't the type, see. He is a proud man's man who won't be seen in MAC stores. Or so I thought.

Then a few days after, I arrived in my office to see a stack of MAC products from Shanana! Wow, talk about it raining MAC!

Between the hubby and Sha, that's my haul in the picture up above. As you can see, I have more than enough powder and blusher and lip glass to last me a whole year. Now, if only someone would give me that Chanel handbag, then life would be a really rosy. ;-)

Haze-free Sunday

Today was a good day. Singapore woke up to clean air again.

For many days now, we've had to breath in air with smoke (above), the smoke courtesy of Indonesia who is now watching hapless as forest fires rage in Sumatra.

Its an annual problem, this haze in Singapore. When it is slash-and-burn season in Indonesia, the small fires that farmers and plantation owners start to clear more land soon enough become huge, uncontrollable fires that eat whole forests, generating enough smoke that choke neighbouring countries Malaysia, Singapore and even some parts of Thailand in turn, depending on the direction of the wind.

I thought it was bad on Friday night (Pollutants Standard Index of 80), when the air was just so thick with smoke that my nose twitched no end from the acrid smell. But as it turned out, that was nothing compared to Saturday, when the PSI just doubled to 160! (A reading over 101 is unhealthy, necessitating the gov't to issue an advisory that cautioned against vigorous outdoor activity.) Me? I felt like a smoked chicken sitting at home and started to cough.

Looking out into the smoky horizon last night, I couldn't help but think how true the adage is about people not knowing how good they have it till they lose something. As I was gingerly breathing in smoke into my lungs, I longed for the clean air here that I had taken for granted all these years.

And so it was that when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was to look out the window to check the cityscape before me for haze. I just had to whoop with joy when I 'saw' clean air again. No burning smell to every breath, no haze visible to the eye. PSI Index was at 27.

Welcome back sweet, clean air. Singapore missed you!

'Do not embarrass nation when abroad'

Above is the exhortation of the Chinese gov't to its own people who are poised to travel abroad during the week-long National Day celebrations this week.

Due to increasing affluence, more and more of the 1.3 billion China Chinese are now travelling abroad for holidays. Following various criticisms from tour agencies and host countries, however, about -- well, let's just say those unendearing peculiarities of the mainland Chinese -- the gov't has issued said guidelines.

The official Xinhua news agency on Tuesday said, 'The move aims to promote civilized behavior among Chinese travelers and restore the country's image, which has been tarnished by the behavior of some Chinese tourists.'

The list of dos and don'ts include orders to speak quietly, respect queues and put litter in bins. Also, to be polite in public places and observe the rule of 'ladies first'.

And what's at the top of the don't list? Spitting.

Xinhua quoted an official as saying uncivilized behavior is becoming a real embarrassment for China.

I say this is a step in the right direction for China. By making the public aware of everyday 'bad' habits that destination countries may find objectionable, the gov't is in fact hitting two birds with one stone: refining the rough edges of some of its globe-trekking citizens AND continuing the education campaign for the Chinese people who are soon to host thousands of athletes, officials and spectators during the summer Olympics in 2008.

Hmm, I wonder what the Phil gov'ts do's and don'ts list would look like if they were to do such a thing?

Photo credit: Liao Yusheng

Stocking food for emergencies

I just left a comment on Market Manila's post on panic shopping for canned goods after the latest typhoon in the old country left Luzon without electricity for a few days.

The subject of stocking up on emergency food supplies has just been in the limelight here in Singapore. You see, about 2-3 weeks ago, from out of the blue (at least for me) , there with our September utility bill was a flier that exhorted the merits of always keeping in stock at home a 2-week supply of food for use during emergencies.

I felt anxious when I read the flier. What emergency kaya? I also couldn't help but wonder what the powers-that-be must be preparing us for.

For those interested, here is the Singapore govt's recommended emergency foodstock list meant for two weeks PER PERSON:

1) 3.5 kg of rice
2) 1 bottle (250gm) of cooking oil
3) assortment of 7 cans of meat/fish/beans (abt 400gm/can)
4) 2 packets assorted biscuits (210gm each)
5) assortment of 7 cans of vegetables
6) 1 tin (400gm) of malted beverage
7) 500 gm sugar
8) instant noodles (3 packs of 5)
9) milk powder (2 tins for babies up to 6 months, 1 tin for those who are 7 mnths to 6 years)

Here is the brochure the gov't sent us.

Not wanting to take it too seriously but obviously curious enough to know what the hubby and I may be feeding on if there indeed was an emergency, I took a look inside the kitched shelves where we store some canned goods and other foodies.

Here's what we have:

From left: Splenda, rolled oats, Japanese bread crumbs, mayonnaise, veg noodles, fruit cocktail, tuna in olive oil, Del Monte sardines.




Iced tea mix, tomato sauce, ketchup, luncheon meat, canned button mushrooms, Carnation evap, bottled sardines from Manila, pasta, Quaker oats, assorted teas.




Cashews, popcorn, Kambly biscuits and Skyflakes, burrito pack, Cadbury chocettes, dried mangoes and Schweppes.



Hmm, it's clear from the above that if there was indeed an emergency (touch wood), I would have gained weight after two weeks of feeding on what's available from our shelves while my husband would be emaciated from having only vegetarian instant noodles and mushrooms (which he hates) and okay, cashews and pop corn.

I see now that I must correct this food imbalance in our larder and go buy another pack of veggie noddles for him. hahaha. JOKE lang!!