Into the deep end

Creatures from the Black Lagoon? Hmmm… these could be cousins. Meet our fascinating deep sea denizens in The Deep: Illuminating the Mysteries of the Deep Sea

(above) One of over 40 specimens displayed, this is a Flapjack devilfish, a finned octopus that lives near the bottom of the sea floor. When they are caught, the muscles of the octopus retract, giving them their characteristic flat pancake shape

We had the chance to catch this fascinating exhibit at the ArtScience Museum last June. The whole exhibit is like a sci-fi movie come to life, if the sci-fi movie in question involves strange life forms. The creatures here are what are known as abyssal (from abyss)  because, well, they live deep below the sea, deeper than most divers venture. Looking at them brought home to me the realization that we still know so little about life in our seas, despite the fact that we’ve sent many manned expeditions to the moon, have gone exploring farther into our solar system that we’re now saying hello to Pluto, and have made inroads into technology that we can communicate with anyone in the world at the push of a few buttons. As these pictures show, our seas are still uncharted territory for the most part. They’re our version of terra incognita. Enjoy the images!

[EDITED] Lessons from falling off a bike

For a well-balanced life

Kermit at rest. (I named my beautiful green Trek bike Kermit. I have a habit of naming some of my things. For example, my Mac has a name and now my bike. Why do I do this? I don’t know. Because.)

So there I was, nervously perched on top of a big green bike, seemingly miles off the ground, and navigating through Sentosa’s three beaches, which were filled with gawking tourists, trams — and horrors! — little kids in scooters and bikes and families with pets. Why oh why didn’t they all go home?? More to the point, why am I here? I could be home, reading a book instead of trying to navigate through Sentosa’s crowded beaches on a weekend! Instead, I still can’t believe that I am indeed riding a bike. On my own. Without training wheels…. How did I get here?

Walks with D: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

The thing with being with someone who loves the outdoors and sports is that sometimes you have to participate in the things they love to do, just like they go along with you to check out bookstores, go malling, or watch movies. You know, compromise — the grease that keeps relationships moving forward.

So when D suggested we go on a hike, I readily said yes. Readers of this blog will know I am not really averse to going on nature hikes; in fact, I can and do walk long distances and like it.

So when he said let’s go try Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, I said, “Sure, why not?”A bit about Bukit Timah Nature Reserve: It’s huge. It’s 163 hectares of towering trees and winding trails and contains a rainforest. It also encompasses Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore’s highest point at 163.63 meters above sea level. The hill is composed mainly of granite and used to be a quarry in the 1900s. It’s no longer a working quarry, of course. Now, people go there to hike, look at trees, and generally commune with nature.

F1 Rush

Because Captain Mal (my mac) was sidelined for months, I’m playing catch up with posts in the next few weeks….

The race cars were so fast that the photos I took of them were a blur. This is probably the best one

The last time I watched F1 was in 2009, during the second year of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix and my first year in Singapore as the editor of a travel magazine. One of the hotels invited a few editors into the McLaren enclosure because the McLaren group was billeted at their hotel. It was luxe personified, with white suited and white gloved waiters offering champagne and nibbles as you watched the race in air-conditioned comfort. We even got to go down into the McLaren pit. Ahh, the perks of the job. It was a heady experience that I was glad I got to do, especially since I was not really a fan of racing and wouldn’t buy a ticket to the races if it were up to me. But, even if I weren’t a fan, there was no mistaking the energy and anticipation of fans who watched the race.

Scenes from an Easter Sunday…

… in which we ate too much Italian food, imbibed glasses of Bellinis, laughed a lot, told stories, argued, bought stuff — in other words, celebrated. Good times!

Had heard a lot about Osteria Mozza but haven’t had a chance to eat here, so it was great that we had our Easter brunch there. Food was fantastic! Expensive, of course — as only a Mario Batali restaurant can be. It’s definitely not an everyday kind of restaurant. More for special occasions, like today. The service was great, too! The waitstaff was very attentive and saw to our every need, even anticipating refills of Bellinis! Now, that’s my kind of service!

Starters were assorted bread, which went well with the coffee I had to have before the meal started, because I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink the whole day and I get a caffeine-headache if I don’t have coffee first thing. So we munched on bread while waiting for the food. We also ordered Orechiette with sausages and chard. This is actually a main, but we had it for starters, because we can. The orechiette was very good. The pasta was cooked just right and the sausage and chard complimented each other very well. The sprinkling of bread crumbs was a nice final touch, and mitigated the strong flavors, creating a nice balance. I wouldn’t mind having it again next time we eat here. On second thought though, it can be a bit heavy, so it was actually a good idea to have it for sharing.

Bellinis! Alcohol in Singapore is expensive, so this was, at $18 a pop. So if you’re here to celebrate and splurge anyway, do what we did and have the free-flow at $50. I thought it was worth it, but that’s me. You can check the health of your bank account tomorrow.

Tagliatelle Verde with lamb ragú, olive Taggiasche & mint. This was phenomenal and really hit the spot. At first I thought the serving was a bit small for the price, but about an hour later, I wasn’t done eating it! Flavors blended well together. The lamb ragu, although slightly salty for me, was the perfect compliment to the pasta.

This vanilla panna cotta was the perfect end to the meal. It was creamy and delicious.

Paparazzi pics of us just enjoying ourselves. The great ending to this Easter Sunday? My haul of magazines and A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold. The exile is over! As a friend said, “You really had a good Easter, huh?” Yes, I did!

Weekend: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

I’ve realized that I’ve been behind in my blog posts lately. I had planned to update more frequently, but you know how it is, life happens and somehow before I knew it, weeks have passed and I haven’t done a single entry (pop culture posts of videos and links somehow don’t count)! Mabel, a good friend and wonderful blogger (check out her blog here) said she missed my “walking around Singapore” entries, so I thought I’d post these images of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve today…. Actually, I had planned to post this a few weeks back, when I had the crazy idea of downloading and filing all my photos from the phone, but got sidelined because of a bum back (more on this in a future post).

Weekend: Saturday in the park*

A swan in Singapore Botanic Gardens’ swan lake. In the few times I’ve been to the Botanic Gardens, this was the first time I’ve seen swans on the lake!

Went on a “just-because” picnic with friends at the Botanic Gardens last Saturday. “Just because” it was a beautiful day and we needed a break from the usual malls and cafes (and also, it has to be told, we were lacking in funds). Turned out, it was a great way to just relax and feel the balmy breeze out in the open. As my mom used to tell me when I was a kid and holed up in my room reading a book, it’s good for the earth to get to know you. Sure, in Singapore it’s well-manicured grasses and well-tended shrubbery and plants, but it’s still nice to actually touch the ground and lie on the grass.

Out walking: Little India at night

At the crossroads of Mackenzie Road and Selegie. This was a few weeks after Deepavali but the decorations are still up

I haven’t been running lately, so as a compromise, I’ve taken to walking a lot. I live fairly central from town, and most of the places I go to are roughly three kilometers from home, so after a night/day out gallivanting, I would walk home. It’s my compromise for not being so assiduous with the running regimen. These pictures were taken around a week or so ago. I was always on Orchard Road, watching films during the German Film Festival (…incidentally, why are serious films called “films” and Hollywood blockbusters “movies”? Ever think of that? It’s the same bugbear I get when in a library or bookstore, fiction is divided between “bestsellers” and “literature” — aren’t all of them literature? Anyway…) and I was walking home and it occurred to me to just take pictures. So here they are. I don’t know if it’s because I was just in a reflective and pensive mood when I shot them, but there’s a loneliness to the images that particularly resonated. Or maybe that’s just my take on them. So let’s begin…

Weekend movie: Ilo Ilo

It seems that this is my weekend for fraught family dramas. I watched Ilo Ilo today, the debut feature-length film by Singaporean director Anthony Chen, which chronicles the relationship of the Lim family and their new maid, Terry.

Because it recently won the Camera d’Or at Cannes and got positive press, I was very curious to see it, and judge if it lived up to the hype. Let me just say it: If you haven’t seen it, you should make it a point to go watch the movie.

Went walking

I got a bit antsy Sunday afternoon. I usually like being at home because I rarely am, but for once, I was hankering to be outside — outside, but not in a mall, so on the spur of the moment, I went hiking at the Southern Ridges. Half the Southern Ridges, to be exact — from the Alexandra Arch to Marang Trail and ending in Vivo City.