I was surprised and touched by the response that the rather morose (on hindsight *blush* oh my) ramblings on my last post elicited. You left me thoughtful and encouraging comments. Some of you went further and sent me private emails, asking after me; someone even tried to cheer me up with a chuckle inducing personal story. I'm convinced I have the loveliest blog readers, anywhere on the internet. What can I say? I'm really happy, that you're mine. This week, I've got my big girl pants on, and I'm not letting anything else get me that low again.
Food bloggers especially, are guilty of bombarding readers' senses with tantalising copy and voluptuous, soft focus visuals of sunlight drenched domesticity.
And we, so help us, love them all the more for it, don't we? We see, we read, we are seduced and we want their spotless marble counters, and exquisite table settings, the artfully distressed chairs, on which their radiant children sit, in their fairyland gardens. They make us dream, and wish and covet their picture perfect lives, where no one fails, nothing breaks, food doesn't burn, and tears don't exist.
Thank you for acknowledging my frailty and my imperfect life. For making me feel your understanding of the reality that behind the pictures and the usually upbeat words is a real person with real struggles that sometimes overwhelm her. I have no garden, my castle is a nondescript apartment, my children don't radiate anything but testosterone, indeed, I live in a huge cloud of it. Many of my dreams get shelved or discarded, I get rejected, disappointed, and.... I cry. More than you might imagine. But I laugh too, a lot, and always with my head thrown back and my belly shaking like pudding in a cup :-)
To seal the deal and give you an excuse to clink glasses, I made you, what else for a blog named Singapore Shiok! but this, created by Ngiam Tong Boon, right here in Singapore, at the original Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel, around 1915. Yes, the very same watering hole which charmed the likes of Hemingway, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, and where Somerset Maugham put away numberless G&Ts while penning tales of the lush, steaming jungles of what was then known as Malaya. Black Monday you say?! Not with one of these in your hand. Friday just got a lot closer. Glug, glug, glug!!
Well it's about time! Was wondering when you'd get around to pouring me one of these - even if it is a virtual one. Soooo pretty - my colour too! ;-)
ReplyDelete:D I figured you might be a bit tired of G&Ts ;) It is a gorgeous colour isn't it? Thought it just might lure you out of your hidey hole (note to self: red comestibles/imbibables are to Ruby as flames are to moths). Great to see you doll face. And hoping to some day taste one of your Hurricanes....
DeleteAh, you know me so well! And oh boy do your gorgeous images do it justice. I just want to reach in and run my finger through the condensation on the glass. Love your New Year wish, btw, and wish it all for you as well! As for the Hurricane, 2013 is shaping up to be the Year of Visiting Ruby, with several long-promised visitors already booked in. I would not be at all surprised to hear you're coming this way... ;-)
DeleteCheers Denise! I can feel you mixing the drink in front of me!
ReplyDeleteYour post is always a joy to read... the well taken photos and your sincere and personal writing style... Like Like!
Hi Chef! Playing bartender is really fun :D
DeleteThank you for your kind words and for making the connection. Great to know such a passionate Singaporean blogger. Your love for what you do at Chef and Sommelier is undeniable!
ooh,Denise.. doesn't this look so 'funny' ? people who never meet you in personal sometime can 'cheers' you up and give a (virtual) hugs more warmer than the person who sitting a cross of you ? But you know, and I believe you know better than me, that live is always up and down. But that make you more wiser day by day .. *let rise the glass* *wink*
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Fitri - we only *exist* in reality, disconnected and isolated, by choice, but we live and connect online. That sounds not just funny, but sad too. It's become our reality in this day and age. People in the same room as us, won't give us the time of day. So, we turn to the virtual beings who populate the internet, all striving to create a 'life' and surround ourselves with 'friends' we have never seen face to face. We are all on life's roller coaster - we have all tasted pain, served differently, accepted differently, but all life changing and all indelibly stamping their mark on us. Some choose to remain silent about their pain, some vocalise it. The silent don't lead painless lives - they fear ridicule and rightly so, when people can be not just unsympathetic but downright cruel. Often the most cruel are the ones we think are the closest to us, the ones we most expect kindness from. If we're lucky (as I've been) when we speak of our pain even to 'strangers', there will those who care enough to stop and listen and comfort or encourage. It's a blessing, I'm thankful for. Apologies for the long reply - as you probably know from my posts, I don't deny my emotions and I don't silence my thoughts. You might say I'm opinionated. But what's a blogger, without opinions? ;) Cheers!!!
Deleteit's like I'm reading a 5stars novel! *I'm not joking* but you are an honest human being...*I mean blogger* I ever met on virtual life. No body do like you, honest and wrote what on your mind and not scare to share and show what the person you are.. I really enjoy to 'come' here.
DeleteI had conversation with my hubby last night, we talked about how 'cold' life in this era now, everybody just don't care. If you think they are care, not really, there is always something behind! So sad! sometime we missed an old time. (Really, living far from my own country Indonesia, and no family around but daughter and hubby... ooh not easy!)
Anyway, hopefully you are doing just fine now.. hey, write a story book after cooking book, is that sound good for you ? :)
Hi Fitri, sorry to hear that you are missing your homeland and I guess, those you left behind in Indonesia. It's completely understandable to long for the place where you were rooted, especially a country as beautiful, with people as beautiful, as Indonesia. Just one visit to Bali 6 years ago, and the memory of the land and the people keep calling me, away from stressful Singapore, compelling a return visit. I still remember standing on a small road in the midst of terraced paddy fields. I was completely encircled by green hills, stalks of padi waving in the breeze. So hypnotic and breathtaking, for a city girl who has never seen rice that was not in a sack, or on a plate :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts and for your concern. As a blogger yourself, I guess you know that no matter what we do or write, there will be those who relate and approve and those who criticise. So, I choose to stay true to myself and write what's in my heart, with the hope that more readers will like, rather than hate it. It's the best and simplest way, I think, to navigate this twisted road we walk ;) That way, whoever is critical, will be criticising my honesty, and that, I can live with....
Hope you have a great week and that 2013 will send so much happiness your way, that your thoughts, at least for a while, will linger less on the places and people that are tugging at your soul.
Wow...that last picture is one gorgeous shot! It's freezing here in MN but I can almost feel the heat on your end by just looking at the condensation on the glass. Glad to hear you are feeling better. Yes, it is not always as it seems behind that camera. I am almost afraid to think what my readers think of me ;)
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