Sette anni itch

Last Friday we finally put together our office warming festa and invited nearly 50 of our closest friends and family to indulge in some really kickarse Indian food from Jade of India (our client). Apart from beer, wine and other spirits, I also set up a 'Mojito Mojo' corner - it turned out better than I expected. I melted brown sugar in advance and flavoured it with mint, and pre-cut the limes. Inspired at the last minute, I bought lemongrass stalks to muddle and mix the rum, mint, syrup, lime juice, fresh lime and soda. Buoniiiissimoooo.

It was a double celebration too as we were celebrating our company's 7th anniversary. Si, time just flew by! I had to say we had some trying times (imagine 4 women having PMS at the same time, not fun) but our friendship and love for what we do kept us on our toes. And I have to say I love you guys and am grateful for your support which has allowed me to run off to my motherland on numerous occasions. As part of our expansion plans, we have been interviewing some candidates for the PR executive position. It wasn't easy picking someone who would fit into our tight set-up. And we outrightly reject those applicants who think they are BFF (best friends forever) judging by the way they write in to apply for the job. "Hihi, i hear you r lookin' for an exec and I'd like to meet up for a chat!' Tehhhh! How can they write like that?

Anyway on sabato, I chauffeured my folks in my bro's Fiat to the wake of my mamma's godma. Funnily weddings and funerals are occasions where you'd catch up with people you haven't seen for years. In this case, I haven't seen my mom's godsisters for 23 years since I was a 10 year old punk. Inevitably they'd ask 'Wah you so big already. Are you married? Got boyfriend?" My folks came to my rescue and said 'No she doesn't have yet, still looking for the best one." After that, we drove to our old haunt at East Coast food centre and said hi to some of the hawkers there. It was actually quite fun getting lost in the car with mom and dad, and then stuffing our faces with laksa and fried hokkien mee.

Birthday gals galore

This weekend was coincidentally the birthday celebrations of three gals in my life - mia sorella (31), la mia amica Qin (34) and la figlia of my colleague/friend - Emma (1). It's amazing how fast kids grow up. She was just a newborn this time last year and now she's running albeit un po' unsteadily all over the place. Today she was wearing the blue dress I got her from Bangkok and was looking so carina in it.

Before Emma's tea party, I had also treated my mamma, nonna, zia, sorella and her boyfriend to lunch at Zhou's K, a relatively new Cinese ristorante in town. After some dim sum and half a Peking duck, we took a quick tour of Telok Ayer street where nonna used to stay in her youth and where she gave birth to my mamma. It was an interesting history lesson for us and a walk down memory lane for nonna as she pointed out her home almost 6 decades ago in the shophouse where Manna Korean restaurant is currently located. She said our great grandpa (whom adopted her) was a kind man who ran a successful business allocating coolies to visitng ships at the port.

Pap me up

It has been 3 years since I've done my last pap smear so on Saturday I made my way to Thomson Med Centro to see my gynae Dr J Wong who has since moved into her spanking new clinic. For your knowledge, a pap smear aka Papanikolaou test is necessary once you had done the deed at any point in your life and is recommended every 3 years to detect any cervix cancer or abnormalities. So if you haven't done it, best to do it soon. Think of it as your sexual health, like how you'd visit the dentist every 6 months to make sure there's no decay, disease etc. I think it's a prostate inspection for guys? Bo.

Anyway her clinic was a really nice set up; as I sat butt-naked on her hi-tech adjustable chair, I was marvelling at the equipment untill it was time for me to spread my wings for her to gently insert the speculum to obtain a cell sample from the cervix. Some of you might grimace at it but it was not as bad as you'd imagine. Trust me, there's a lot more things that are more painful than this. Since I had expressed concerns at the possibility of developing fibroids and cysts, Dr J followed up with a ultra scan which was like what you see on tv.

She first squirt some gel on my tummy and proceeded to run a scope over it. We both watched the screen and didn't see niente - which was good. She said the surest way was to perform a vaginal scope which was to insert a camera-like device into the cervix that allows a close-up of the uterus and fallopian tubes. Amazing huh? I was more awestruck than freaked out staring at my tiny uterus flickerin' on the black screen. I said to her 'Wow it's very small hor' and she giggled saying 'Yes it's about the same size as a pear.' Imagine it'd expand to accomodate a baby or two (or even 6) - our anatomy is truly awesome (mitico!) She congratulated me that there are no signs of fibroids and cysts in the uterus walls or tubes so it's an all clear. Yay! As I was leaving, I thanked her and said that was almost enjoyable, which came out totally wrong. Luckily she giggled again or else I might seem a tad fetish.

*Do you know - sperm that are unsuccessful in their attempts at fertilising the egg may live in the womb as "wombfish"? I asked her if I could freeze my eggs for future use but she said no because it's not done in S'pore whereas there are sperm banks for men. Not fair right?? If you think about it, the rationale is so wrong. We women only release a precious egg every month whereas men produce gazillions of sperm in every ejaculation. Food for thought.

Spore hi-flyer

After the past year of shooting the incomplete Spore Flyer from the autostrada, I finally took a ride on it last Sunday on F's 33rd birthday. It was her treat to us and her family, and I must say the 42nd storey observation wheel surpassed my expectations - def quite comparable to the London Eye although it'd not be fair to compare the landscape. Ours is ever changing as we could see from the ugly mass of construction at the IR site to the waterfront stadium at Marina.

It's funny how so many attractions revolve around height and vistas (think Eiffel Tower, Great Wall, Umpire State Building ecc). Maybe it's the high we get from on top of the world. Fortunately F had gotten over her 'high' and hangover as a result of her festa al No.5 pub last Friday. She had overzealously downed a few very strong martinis which others were offering me too. I refused agreeing with them I'm a loser and weak arse. I've learnt my lesson not to cave in to bravado.

Anyway I could see her puke wave like hot lava rising up her throat and she had to push her way thro the crowded pub to the toilet at the back. I threw down my half-mangled chicken wing (the best in town incidentally) and fell on top of her when she also missed the steps. It was quite hilarious but we made it to the bagno where she did a prompt 'merlion'. Nice. I felt my own wave rising up and had to squat down to calm myself while this stranger soothed her with a sweet. We dragged her sodden arse to outside for some fresh air where she vomitato some more... And it was only 11pm.

The party continued senza her the next day at Giovanni's where we had a tapas and Sangria fiesta. We had bruschetta with mixed olives, anchovies, grilled sausages, asparagus with bacon, fried mushrooms, clams in vino, and my Spanish tortilla. Just peel and slice 5 potatoes, fry them in olive oil till almost done, and add 6 beaten eggs seasoned with some mixed herbs, pepe e sale. The egg will form a caked layer around the patate and resemble una torta when you cook both sides. Facilissimo.

Newbie on the block

Life was quite uneventful for the last 2 weeks so I haven't been very motivated to update my blog. The only highlight was our new working environment at Circular Road behind Boat Quay. For those not quite familiar with this part of Spore, be sure to avoid the dodgy end which thankfully we are NOT located at. We're kinda stuck in between the chao-ang-moh end and the dodgy mix of loud mamasan karaoke pubs and ah-neh clubs. And no, we haven't send a fruit basket to our ground floor neighbour Black Pearl pub; don't think the ah bengs will appreciate organic strawberries. It's a nice central site though and every morning, I strolled down the riverfront feeling quite pleased with the views.

Right across the river is the Arts House where we'll be having the cat photos exhibition in May - arggh! - a reminder that I need to get crackin' on it. Entries have been steadily streaming in and I managed to secure sponsorship for printing the photos. Cool bananas. I'm also excited that right after May, I'd be packing my bags for my motherland Italia again! Luigi is already sourcing for a nice monolocale (1-room appartamento) at Perugia and we're making plans to tour the Umbria region especially around the Trasimeno lake. Non vedo l'ora di andare - subito!

Pasqua Bintan

What is me and being upgraded to villas? I just came back from an all-girl Easter holiday at Bintan Lagoon and as it was packed, they moved us to a four-bedroom Villa B-26 with our own buggy to boot. Cool bananas. The weather was bellissimo and the 6 of us quickly changed into our bikinis and plunged into mango daiquiris in the big-arsed pool. Life is a neverending vacanza - if you want it to be. Ahh...

Soon the beach was calling and we dived into the low-tided waves at late afternoon while perfecting our tans. Lazy holidays usually fall into these patterns - wondering if you can wake up for breakfast on time, finding fault with your tanline and wondering about the next meal. Hear hear.

P.S: Buon compleanno carissima Elena! Tanti auguri a te! *baci*

Old to new ufficio

Working at home seemed like a really cool idea at first - especially when I could enjoy a full Italian lunch with a glass of Sangria in my pjs but after just 5 days of rushing from meetings to meetings, I was hoping our new office would come soon. We had to move out mid-Feb just after I got back from Samui while Luigi continued to Bangkok and Hanoi. Our ex landlord was a tyrant, having raised our rent from S$2k to S$7k. Pure madness. Luckily we managed to find a bigger and more central shophouse office, complete with a loft at Circular Road behind Boat Quay. Now we could go and tell Mr Koh to go eat merda and eat.

On the day of the move-in, I threw some rice to rid of the evil forces and the 3 of us rolled a whole pineapple from the stairs all the way to our 3rd floor office unit for prosperity's sake (pineapple is "ong lai" = "fortuna arriva!"). It was truly hilarious as we took turns to roll the fruit like a rugby ball on an open pitch. I was just being kiasu lah, wanting the best for our company. We'd be here for the next 3 years so I didn't want to take any chances.

N was away in Australia and smsed us to say she has just walked into Bill's in Sydney and spotted Hugh Jackman who returned the gaze. *Swoon* I text her 'Please send some bacon to Wolverine on my behalf.' Next to George Clooney, Hugh is one of the hottest celebrities alive. We'd let him scratch our backs anytime. Anyway, boy are we glad to be reunited again in our new home! Our new intern would be here too and it'd be an exciting new stage.

Timber tumble

The weekend after I returned from Samui, my family and I were severely distressed to find some of the much beloved pine trees around our flat were chopped down. All that were left were their sad stumps. My brother and I marched up to question the contracted workers who were uprooting the trees but they said they were just ordered by the Town Council to do it. Che cazzo. Boiling mad, we decided to pen separate emails to the committee members - and I also cc-ed the major newspapers and TV news editors. Here's what I wrote which was carried in Today's forum page:

"Dear sir/ mdm,

I'm writing in to express my utmost shock and utter dismal at the felling of several mature handsome pine trees along Elias Road. We have been staying here for about 15 years and my family and neighbours take a lot of pride in these majestic willowy trees which add a lot of character to the quaint neighbourhood.

Even visiting friends, overseas guests and family members often comment on how beautiful they are. Very often we look out of the window and spot various breeds of exotic migratory birds resting and feeding on their pine fruits. It was such a pleasure to see them grow from 5-storey young trees to their current 14-storey height. They are one of the main reasons why we have chosen to stay here for many years. So you can imagine our horror this morning when we discovered that a team of workers have started chopping down a few trees and uprooted 2 of these gentle giants, leaving a huge gap in our landscape.

We do not see the reason why they should all be cut down as they are healthy and not causing any problems. When we approached the workers to find out why, the contractor asked us to refer to the Town Council (which is closed on weekend). They also informed us that they are going to chop down all these pine trees. We heard one of the possible reasons is a recent mosquito breeding problem but we don't see the relevance between the trees and mosquitoes breeding. In fact they are an important part of the eco-system and providing comforting shade and visual beauty for the residents here.

My family and neighbours are extremely upset that this has happened and hope to get a proper explanation for this insensitive action because there is no prior notice given to residents. Given we're a green Garden City, we should have more respect and consideration for these mature trees as well as our home setting. To quote MM's vision 'a City pleasant green and cool', we are seeking to advocate these trees to be heritage trees as part of the Heritage Trees Scheme in our Garden City. This is in line with promoting conservation of these mature trees to the community as they take decades to mature gracefully and beautify our landscape.

We hope through this urgent letter, we can prevent more of these irreplaceable trees from being chopped down because it takes decades for them to flourish but just minutes to cut them down. If there is a need, we will be happy to get a signed petition from the residents around the blocks at Elias Road.

Thank you and best regards. Your sincerely..."

I guess we did have a valid cause because the major papers picked up on this story. Lianhe Zaobao (Chinese), Shin Min (Chinese), The New Paper, Ch5 and Ch8 News (I was interviewed and my mandarin sucked!) as well as STOMP (ST blog) ran it. Yay! Viva gli aberi! Some people said 'why you so free ah? They're just trees.' Well, I think it's so easy to turn a blind eye and sweep things under the carpet but it's so hard to fight for what you believe in. Si, we couldn't save the ones which were fallen but at least we tried our best and managed to put up a good fight. Hoepfully they will think it through more carefully in future.

Calma after the storm

Ok I know I was missing in action per tantoooo tempoooo! Sorry lah, so many things happened over the past month and I finally found some time to update my blog. After the surgery, Luigi arrived on 5 Feb in S'pore, in time for the CNY reunion night - his first culture shock in Asia. This was his virgin trip to his dreamland Asia and what a ride he got! Well, with me as his guida... it was like the F1 - full speed ahead!

He got his first taste of Chinese hospitality at my place when we all settled down for the reunion steamboat dinner where we all shared saliva by dipping our chopsticks in the pot. Yum. He loved it, esp my mamma's chilli dip and dad's freshly caught cuttlefish. Then we went to Chinatown and squeezed our way through the mad throngs of people (big mistake!) before sipping on martinis at A's Home club while the fireworks went off at midnight. The next 2 days were spent visiting relatives and friends, and the happy fellow bagged a lot of hongbaos, ate a few lo-heis and more steamboats to last him a lifetime.

He was also becoming an ace at using chopsticks and eating chilli like a pro. Bravissimo! I guessed CNY was the perfect time for any 'Chao.ang.moh' (one of the few Singlish words we taught him, besides 'C.Bye', 'Kay.poh' and 'Wah.lao.eh') to visit S'pore and get a true taste of local festivity. Luigi truly lived it up and sweated it out, especially lapping up the pool at Aquarius Park, my aunt's condo. As it is, he's saving up 350,000 euros to buy the smallest 2-bedroom unit as his Asian getaway.

After 5 days of sightseeing in S'pore, we flew to Koh Samui on Bangkok Airways and checked promptly into Thai House Beach Resort, a rather charming cosy thai-style haven, where we got upgraded to Villa N. Woo-hooo! The first night was a bit of a downer for us as Lamai turned into a whore-house in the evening, lined with bars, chao ang mohs and putane. E' un po depresso per noi. The second day was much better as we explored Lamai beach, our resort and ate very well at this no-fuss restaurant.

We drank our fill of Singha birra, green curry, and spicy tom yum (in that order) and had a running joke that I was the putana escort. Everywhere you go, you see an ancient chao ang moh and a Thai sweet young thing. I wasn't surprised anymore if a local spoke Thai to me. I get it ALL the time. The second night we took a cab from Lamai to Chaweng, the most developed and crowded part of Samui, for 300 baht (a tad steep). We walked the full length of Chaweng in about an hour and every 10 metres, L was ascotted by Indian tailors who called him his amico: "Suit for you, my friend?" He was amused and polite at first and soon became pissed off after fending off the 25th tailor either called Armani or Giorgio.

The next day we learnt that for 300 baht, we could rent a motorbike for 24hrs and so we did just that, riding carefree without helmets under the fierce glare of the sun. We explored various beaches of the island, saw the towering Big Buddha, hiked down steep hills to glimpse at waterfalls, and stopped for chilled coconuts and a dip after lunch. In the evening we went to find L's affable second cousin Tonino and his sweet Thai wife Bee at their two-storey house. Tonino was easy to like; a no-bullshit straight-talking New Yorker who has eased into a laidback lifestyle in Samui which suits him just fine.

They thought I was L's Asian girlfriend, in my mid 20s. Bee said, "Gino must learn to like spicy because he has Asian girlfriend." I replied Gino is very good at spicy now. Tonino happily showed us his garden, backyard of coconut trees, and shared his life history and insights on the Thai way of life without much prompting. His brushes with the special massages and putane were particularly funny; also how he met his wife and finally won her over. We promised to meet up again the next day and hurried back on our moto at sunset. It was Valentine's Day night - not that we cared - and were just planning to have a simple cena at our favourite Thai place whose waitress was starting to recognise us.

Back at Villa N when I switched on the lights in the dark, I found a big bouquet of red roses on the bed. I gasped in genuine shock, glanced at L and said "Err, who are these roses from? Did someone make a mistake?" He shrugged and said "They are for you." I was still doubtful but figured it couldn't be wrong. He's so sweet lah. What's more, there were 27 roses - because I told him I always feel 26 years old and he added 1 more to make it an odd number for good luck (Italians). Such a clever boy. I'm always outwardly embarrassed but secretly glad to receive flowers.

After another aroy-mak-mak (molto delizioso) Thai dinner, we retreated to our favourite spot at our villa's balcone. It had become our routine and our piece of paradiso. We'd settle in with a bottiglia di vino and sigarette, and talk about everything under the twinkling stars. The sea breeze blew gently and the palms swayed in the dark. On 2 nights in a row, fireworks crackled and lit up the starry skies.

The next day, we lazed around a lot and met up with Tonino and Bee for a late lunch at their casa. The 4 of us then rode around the island to visit this secluded seafront temple and hiked nearly 40min into the forest to locate this gentle waterfall. It was good exercise; L was drenched in sweat while I was half eaten alive by the zanzare. We laid on the rocks and stared at the many dragonflies dotting the blue skies. E' veramente un paradiso.

Survivor of giggliest

I survived the operazione. Grazie Dio. I thought I'd never make it. But as Ming put it in perspective, 'aiya, it's just a lump of fats you're removing - nothing compared to open heart surgery.' Ok still, you know what a dramatica mamma I can be. On the treno this morning, I nearly teared after talking to my nonna and mamma, and receiving a timely sms from Luigi in Napoli - all telling me to be a brava cat. Last night I had a nightmare again and this time, I dreamt that I had woken up at 3pm for the 11am appointment and had a laugh with the doc on the phone.

When I got to the Day Surgery, the nurse was surprised I came alone becos everyone was accompanied by a relative and instructed me to get into a really glamourous patient gown complete with matching white hair net and disposable granny panties. At least the gown was my colour - a pinkish viola. I waited a good 2 hours and went through an agonising mind-f%ck session, swinging from its-not-too-late-to-back-out-now to oh-shut-up-you-wanker state of mind. When I get extremely nervous, I get the bowels (done that at 9am), as well as feel ticklish and giggle like mad. I pretended to be amused at something and giggled to myself, me and Lipoma. I was losing it.

Finally at 1.15pm, the operating theatre nurse apologised for the delay and rolled my bed in for the motherly anaesthetist to do her job. A few nurses came by - their smiling eyes peeping from their masks - to reassure me it's gonna be fine when I told them it's my first time. They probably asked me 5 times for my name, age, IC no, any drug allergies/ medication prescribed, metal implants or dentures, where is my lump -- short of asking why I'm not married with kids yet.

She injected my left hand with some local anesthesia before poking in the drip needle. One down. Next up, they rolled me into the brightly-lit theatre where I slided onto the narrow bed. I spotted Dr Teo and was going to ask him about his holiday when the anaesthetist announced she was going to inject the painkiller now, followed by the anesthesia drugs. I still remembered her kind words 'ok now, take 3 deep breaths for me' as another smiling nurse held the oxygen mask over my nose. She whispered 'you smell so nice' and had this kind knowing smile. Forse lei e' l'angelo custode. I felt a cushy groggy slumber kicking in. And then I passed out. It was the best short-lived high ever.

The next moment I was rousing from my sleep in the recovery ward and I touched my left shoulder to find a bandage instead of Lipoma. The chubby girl's gone. Dr Teo came by to say it went well blah brraah baah but I couldn't register, drifting in and out slightly. Fortunatamente non c'e nausea. Within an hour or so, I could sip on some yummy Milo and nibble on wholemeal crackers, while waiting for my brother to pick me up. It felt good to be alive *kiss the ground* - and I thank everyone for their prayers. Cristian, xie xie per le belissime tulips!