being home
In January, I made a slapdash decision to go home for Chinese New Year, for a scant 6 days.
It was, as always, heartwarming to be home, especially at such an important time of year. It’s amazing how much you take for granted the feeling of being surrounded by your clan, partaking in simple rituals and traditions that unfold the same way year after year, and how easy it is to slip back into it even after you’ve been away for so long.
handing out chopsticks for lor hei
What I love about being home is that in a short period of time, I get a crash course in my zany, multi-cultural, super extended super close family all over again. Fully immersed in Pakir-Singh-Wee-Tan-Sim-Lee culture is just fantastic, a little nutty, and very yummy.
tossing the lor hei
And then there’s the giggles, and cackles, the exuberant sharing of stories, the catchups, the goss, the loud shouts that characterizes my family, and ALL with your mouth full of amazing food. All. The. Time.
the best punjabi food
Home again in just 5 short weeks. CANNOT. WAIT.
Read Moreseason’s greetingments
Happy holidays everyone, albeit a little belatedly! I hope everyone who stops by here had a wonderful silly season with plenty of great family and friends time, some relaxing, and soul food, whatever form those may take for you!
Christmas seems to have been an emotional time for many this year, with the horrible weather here in Melbourne affecting homes and cars of many that I know. However what has really affected me more is the sad family news received by a friend, and some from my own family back in Singapore. If you have had a week of feeling down at a time when everyone is celebrating – don’t feel alone. There’s been a few of us this time round.
Thankfully, I was surrounded by S’s beautiful family who plied me with lots of support and distraction, and though I’m still feeling horribly homesick for Singapore and my own family, it’s not been entirely unbearable.
Christmas with S and his gorgeous mum (and our GIANT tree!)
So anyway, back to the sentiment of this post – of wishing all of you a very happy new year, of counting our blessings, and of remembering to express to your own loved ones at this time of year that you truly care for them.
xx
Read Morea story about eggs
My Pa and I both love eggs. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but eggs are the perfect food – they can morph effortlessly into a multitude of textures and tastes. An egg can be the perfect snack, or a couple with some accompaniments, a filling meal. We love them curried Punjabi style, with onions, in a souffle all light and airy, creamily scrambled, half boiled Singapore style, fried with a bit of soy sauce, sunny side up and runny, sunny side up and crispy on the edges, deep fried, , sliced, poached with smoked salmon and hollandaise… Any way, really. Eggs are always welcome in our world.
When I was a kid, Pa would wake me up on a Saturday or Sunday morning. We’d cycle or he would drive down to the local coffeeshop and order some Roti Prata for the whole family. Whilst waiting for it to be cooked, he would order us a hot Milo, and some half boiled eggs. We’d sit there eating our breakfast together, my legs swinging under the chair, me marvelling at how fast my Pa could drink the world’s hottest Milo and slurp down his eggs. When we were finished, we would bring the Roti Prata back home for the rest of the family and all sit down together for a noisy, chatty meal.
The perfection of having that breakfast hour with my Pa before the rest of the family did every few Sundays has stuck with me till adulthood, and now I’m happy that S and I recreate that tradition every Saturday before I go to teach.
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’d know that my Pa is in Melbourne visiting me for a month. It’s been a nice 2 weeks so far, with lots of swimming, time together and activities.
The other day, he turned to me in the afternoon, more bright-eyed and chirpy than usual and with a huge smile on his face.
“Girl,” he whispered, “how about some eggs?”
Still grinning widely, he made a motion with his hands, of dipping a hard boiled egg in salt, and he didn’t even have to tell me, I knew exactly what he was craving. And suddenly, because my Pa said it, so was I.
moments giggling with Pa
I whipped up some hard boiled eggs pronto and we sat on the swing in the garden for a gorgeous half hour, dipping them in salt and taking huge bites whilst holding hands and enjoying this beautiful spring weather. And all of a sudden I was 12 again, sitting with my Pa and enjoying a precious sunny hour over some eggs.
See, eggs are good. That’s why they call them good eggs.
Read Morea tribute to pakir singh
This article was published recently in the TTG Asia Newspaper ((June 10, 2011) about my father. I’ve always known my parents were formidable human beings of greatness, who have given us an unattainable life to live up to (or even close!) – but it’s also wonderful to read from a third party perspective just how much this inspirational man touched the lives of others in every thing he did professionally.
I think we, like so many children, grow up not seeing their parents as anything but in their role as parents, and as we grow up, we start to see the layers that make up these people who loved us so much, raised us so well that we believed our family unit to be the centre of their universe. Little did we know, that they too were like superheroes, each day shedding their parent suit and pulling on their professional ones, and rather awe-inspiringly, touched everyone in their lives as much as they did ours. You can grow up, as we did, knowing that you had wonderful people as parents, but not realise until adulthood just how wonderful, and how special to everyone else too.
I love you Papa, and am so truly gobsmacked by everything you’ve done in life.
Aside from that being an incredible read, (and once again, can I just say, how the heck are we children supposed to live up to this?! Future parents, please take note – all greatness can come at the price of children who underachieve subsequently just because THEY CAN), – can we please note the article came with this hilarious caricature that not only is cute, but captures his superb 5 o’clock shadow magnificently.
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birthday month update
My birthday MONTH is going swimmingly well from my last update about it – I’m feeling altogether EXTREMELY loved, and all the lovely celebrations are doing their duty of making me forget about the topsy turvy final year of my twenties, and focus on all the blessings and happiness I have in my life instead!
Highlights of the birthday month so far:
Being utterly spoilt, as promised, by my wonderful man on the best holiday either of us have ever been on -you can read more about it here, here, and here for now, and there’s more tales to come as I slowly sort through our million photos taken! The best thing about the trip was spending SO much time together – S and I never tire of each others company, and this trip just brought us even closer together and gave us the relaxing that we needed from a stressful and busy year!
nothing better than sailing with your darling!
Then there was the amazing few days in Singapore where I got to see my lovely dance partner’s new business venture and be INCREDIBLY proud of him and his team, and have a long long catch up with Wei, one of my oldest friends, with whom time seems to stand still as we grow up in our lives together yet apart. I also got to spend some amazing quality time with my sister (whom I’m lucky enough to be besties with), my family, and especially, took my daddy swimming lots.
Then there’s my beautiful extended family. I come from a large but close knit family and living away is sometimes painful – I miss out on all the birthdays, weddings, and celebrations that I most times find more fun than partying with my friends because we are truly just a fun-filled extravaganza every time! Well this time I got in a steamboat dinner with my cousins, and also, we had a little bit of a Pakir Party at our house to celebrate my birthday! YAY!
clapping along to the birthday song!
It was just awesome, I felt like a little kid again, with my aunties and uncles and everyone singing and clapping along around me, and being asked to MAKE A WISH before blowing out the candles… PEOPLE, I have lived away from my family for 10 years now – it has been a long time since I’ve had a GOOD birthday cake with MAKING A WISH OR TWO!
my gorgeous mummy and i having a giggle.
The GLEE is apparent! It was a truly swell moment and makes my heart glow with happiness.
Here’s everyone who came:
so much love!
It was a lovely night, and I was thoroughly spoiled with pressies I didn’t expect, an Egyptian clad boyfriend (!!), members of my family from both my Indian and Chinese side, great food, and lots of laughter. WHEE!
As soon as I got back last week, I was blessed again to have my mummy visit me for the weekend, and ALSO just look after me and do those magical things that mummies do! She fed me, stocked my winter wardrobe, and we had a whale of a time just hanging for 2 straight days. Gotta treasure those moments with a great lady.
It’s all been SO good that I’ve even not been feeling sad due to this awful chest infection I’ve got going. It’s a mere trifling, with all this good cheer around me.
SO phase 2 of my birthday month is now beginning, with its Australian leg. We commence tonight with S taking me to the beautiful Cumulus Inc for dinner – we haven’t been on a real dinner date for SO long and I’m mucho excited!
Thank you EVERYONE! You’re making this the best coming of age ever!
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Who Is This Girl?
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