王菲 - 幽蘭操

Hey Fayenatics! Check out Faye’s latest soundtrack for the movie “Confucius” - 幽蘭操.

During the launch in Beijing, Faye commented through a VCR appearance that she was honoured to have taken part in the project and was motivated to sing for the movie because of Confucius theme. She opined that Confucius antics is essential in times like this because of its positive notion. She said that Confucius teachings reminded people of much needed resilience in troubled times like this. She admired the author and hope everyone would be able to benefit from the movie. 

The verse, I read, was supposedly written by the Master – Confucius- himself. Translating what I found online, they depicted of how the the Master described his own life, like a sprig of Orchid. The Master loves Orchid and named it as the King of Flowers. He noted that it had to endure harsh coldness in order to bloom, thus had perseverance.

When bloomed, the flower emitted an unique but understated fragrance. Though not the smell itself is not overpowering, but the understated flower had the abilities to waif its unique fragrances through the whole valley , in turn outshining all other flowers’ fragrances. 

The plant without its flowers looked just like another spade of grass, an unattractive ordinary plant. However, it takes a man with extraordinary foresight to see the plant for what it really is.  He thought that it does not do the flower much harm, even if one do not recognise it. However, once a man recognises flower and picks it, the flower will have no reservation to perfume the wearer with its fragrance.

A gentleman should learn from the humble Orchid – of its perseverance, to accumulate and grow during the  harsh winter. Understanding its antics, will then Man be successful in generations to come. 

幽蘭操

詞作者：杏壇春熙法蘭文化沙龍 
曲作者：謳歌

蘭之猗猗 揚揚其香
衆香拱之 幽幽其芳
不采而佩 於蘭何傷
以日以年 我行四方
文王夢熊 渭水泱泱
采而佩之 奕奕清芳
雪霜茂茂 蕾蕾於冬
君子之守 子孫之昌

See explanation of the verse in Chinese here:
http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/ent/film/sinacn/20100106/05051089122.html

News of Faye's interview here:
http://ent.sina.com.cn/x/2010-01-07/00492835940.shtml

麦田守望者 - 在路上

也许我要得太多 都不想你难过
也许应该简单活着 快乐痛苦不说
我们没有理想 流浪没有方向
只是梦中的麦田 守着一片金黄

想的美 美梦也无常
那永远到不了的远方
在路上 和我唱这一首歌

如果我有方向 那就是远方
钢铁是怎样炼成 流浪不靠坚强
如果我有枪 早就上了镗
如果能得到玫瑰 我只留下芳香

想的美 美梦也无常
那永远到不了的远方
在路上 和我唱这一首歌

总是梦中麦田 守着每一片金黄~
哦丧失我的理想 用生命把它埋葬

总是梦中麦田 守着每一片金黄~
丧失我的理想 用生命把它埋葬

Singapore Traditional Bread Bakery – Ghee Leong

Wake up and smell the bread!

 

I have been wanting to take photographs of this bakery ever since I saw the TV programme about the shop. Then one day, I almost passed by the place without noticing it, until my mum stopped and wanted to get some bread.

 

I looked back and was surprised. It is the place which I wanted to take photos from – one of the few remaining bakery making traditional bread in Singapore! The place was so dimly-lit that one could hardly noticed it was opened for business.

 

 

The signboard read “Ghee Leong”, pronounced in some kind of dialect.

 

 

See, the interior of the bakery looked like time had stopped. Not an expert in interior design, but I am guessing that decor looked like 70’s. 

 

I was so excited about the discovery that I immediately whipped out my camera and took photos. The aunty-in-charge wasn’t too happy about it and chided me for doing so. In the end, I was scolded by my mum for being so rude – take photos without permission. To pacify my mum and the aunty-in-charge, I was forced to ask for permission again which she readily agreed.

 

See, I don’t think I am rude on purpose. I was just too anxious to record this historic place down and forgot about the surroundings circumstances.

 

People need to know about this place, I feel. This kind of places are diminishing soon in fast-developing Singapore. I am not sure whether there is anyone recording these places down before they are gone.

 

After I got the approval, I immediately pointed my camera at the baker. He was making some kind of bun and is applying egg wash on them. Though he worked alone, but he is working quite fast. In a few moment, all the buns glittered brightly in yellow colour egg wash.

 

 

The traditional bakery actually specialised in big loaf bread. In the photo, the blacken loaf are traditional white bread and beneath it, there are sugar buns. Don’t let the blacken bread misled you. They are the most tender bread one could ever had.

 

Ok, here is a bit of background information. Unlike Europeans who like their bread to have a harder crusts and denser texture i.e. baguette, ciabatta, etc, Asian generally like their bread lighter and softer.

 

Don’t let the black exterior misled you, the white loaf actually have a soft inside. It needed an additional process before it is transformed to the white bread that we are so familiar with.

 

 

They needed to cut the crust away before the white fluffy exterior is revealed.

 

 

The above is half-processed loaf.

 

 

I noticed the owners collected the crusts in a garbage bag and asked what will they do with it. They said someone from local fish farms will come and collect them as feeds.

 

 

People probably do not know what this machine does. It cut up bread loaf into slices. I remembered when I was young, there is a similar bakery near where I lived. I always lingered at the bakery as I loved watching the baker “skinned” the crust. After skinning, they would put it in this machine to slice them.

 

Occasionally, the bakers would slice the bread manually. Because they are all experienced bakers, thus can cut up the slices quite uniformly.  

 

Loaves of freshly-bake breads cooling on the racks. The smell alone could just make you salivate. Where are the peanut butter and Kaya Jam?

 

Another shot of half process breads, waiting to be sliced and packed.

 

Perhaps the demand for traditional white bread are not as before, thus traditional bakers also baked a variety of goods such as sugar buns, butter rolls, and sandwich breads.

 

For those who are interested to visit the stall, they are located at a deserted street off Whampo and Balestier Rd. Not sure if they operate in the day, but I bumped into the shop at night. The prices of the bread are also quite cheap.

Mojito – Don’t drink and blog!

Finally Home Sweet Home! Will blog about my holiday story soon.

I brought a bottle of Bacardi from DFS yesterday and immediately try my hands at making one of my favourite drink today – The Mojito!

My first attempt at Mixology and by the look of it, I think I am quite good at it. 

Cool summery drink. Refreshingly relaxing.

*hics*

School? Homework, what homework?!

*hics*

Best wish for the New Year! Good bye 2009 and all of the devils! Hallo Sunshine - 2010! 

今年の漢字 2009 - Chinese Character of 2009

Japan's annual Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation had choosen a single Chinese character (Kanji) that best represents Japan's situation for 2009. The selection process is also known as今年の漢字.


The Chinese Character which they have chosen for 2009  is:

新
 
It is pronouced as "Xin" which meant "new". Apparently, Japan has chosen this word because of Swine Flu which rampage the country earlier on. It was termed as "新型"（しんがた、shingata), or "new type" flu. Then of course, they had a new government which is termed as "新政権"（しんせいけん、shin seiken).

Over at Taiwan, the Chinese Character for 2009 which best represented Taiwan's situation is:

盼

The character is pronouced as "Pan" which meant hope. Taiwanese after been through so much in the year, hope for a better future.

In Singapore, we do not have such practise of chosing a Chinese character. However, we were told in one of the CNN article that the term of the year for Singapore was:

"BOOMZ"

Well, the controversial Ris Low was chosen to be the most influential person in Asia for year 2009. Not sure what is their criterial, but I think there are more important things /persons that we can remember 2009 for.

Reference:

• http://japanvisitor.blogspot.com/2009/12/kanji-character-for-2009-new.html
• http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20091216-186267.html
• http://www.divaasia.com/article/6572

石川さゆり - ウイスキーがお好きでしょ

One of my favourite song by Sayuri Ishikawa - "Whiskey, your favourite!" Goodness. I want to be able to sing live like her...

Another Interesting article - Five Lies We All Tell at Work

Hmm... I don't recall telling lies that often at work... Ok, I just lied. At times, I feel that certain situations call for one, not that we wanted to do so. I am not a good liar, pretty bad in fact. I have always been very frank, so frank that it sometimes hurt people.

Don't understand why... I think half of the paradox that we are encountering in life and work especially, are due to the fact that we think too much and are unwilling to be frank.

I read through. Out of the five, I think I used only one before.

MSN Careers - Five Lies We All Tell at Work

I swear!

Want to be a vampire? Learn how to feed like them...

I have always been curious (what's new?) about Vampires. Do they ever exist? Why do they need to drink blood? Can they really fly? What do blood taste like? Which blood type do they prefer? Are they really immortal? I can just go on and on, asking questions about their lives, if ever one would like to grant me an interview session. Ha Ha.

Anyway, I was reading MSN earlier on and this interesting article caught my eye. It suggested where a vampire, if they ever existed, should bite into when feeding.

I strongly recommend those with a keen taste for Bloody Mary to read on. ;)

http://www.slate.com/id/2236153/?gt1=38001

However, I am sticking to my Mojito. Read that blood has a metalic, irony and coppery taste... Yuck...