serendipity

hello friends of happygrub,

this post's for you!

as you would've known, farhan and i bumped most serendipitously at dempsey last weekend. she's shared how we've too many friends in common, which goes to show you how small singapore is, and now let me tell you how i first got to know farhan.

(p.s cafe dempsey, although neither farhan nor i are in the photo)

was interning in august 2008 and one lazy afternoon i heard some seniors ooh-ing and ahh-ing in their office. thinking they were looking at the sex and the city wardrobe, i stuck my head in and found them on happygrub. was intrigued by the beautiful craft and baking on the blog. this accomplished baker not only baked drool-inducing goodies but also packaged them so creatively with gift tags! and ribbons! and the prettiest boxes! and then the mud started to fly. they were quick to fill me in on how farhan was not only domestically gifted but also, get this, a -doctor- i.e. very smart and presumably very busy but somehow managed to find time to bake (and beautifully at that, or have i mentioned it already) she was also married to the devoted, adoring "H" and supposed to be a lovely, personable person herself. oh,  they told me she was aesthetically pleasing, too. helloOOO? what's there not to hate about her and how she sent us all into fits of self-loathing, reminding us of our multiple inadequacies...

my internship ended soon after (unrelated to the afternoon "misspent" in self-indulgence trawling happygrub...) but i continued reading. a few months in, farhan mentioned wanting to take classes in conversational hokkien for communicating with patients and asked if anyone knew of a class. not wanting to appear like a stalker, i wrote to her to tell her that while i didn't know of any hokkien class, i'd been reading and enjoying her blog very much. was pleasantly surprised by a warm reply and that was the start of our sporadic email exchange. we soon established we'd mutual friends and i felt a bit better that i wasn't a "complete" stranger reading another "complete stranger's" blog. sure, that's what blogs are for and there's nothing wrong with reading silently (waves at my silent readers, all, maybe, 3 of you...) but it felt better after saying "hello i read your blog! and i'm not a crazyyy...", but that's me :)

so since 2008, i've been vicariously living through happygrub, excitedly anticipating hana's arrival and now enjoying the privilege of watching her grow. i've sympathised with farhan over her seemingly endless exams, was thrilled when she passed PACES on first try and turned green with envy at her food and travel photos. 

and whilst i sort of knew what farhan was up to from happygrub and through liz (a mutual friend), we never thought to met up. always presumed, probably rightfully, that she was uber busy and was happy to swap emails now and then. until we bumped! at ps cafe! and it was nothing short of surreal. i saw the cutest little girl who looked strangely familiar and it took awhile before i realised it was hana in the flesh! and then i got goosebumps because if babygrub is around, surely happygrub was close by... and sure enough, there was farhan, hot on hana's heels! said hello and thankfully she remembered me haha, sparing me any potential mortification. it was hard not to go into fangirl mode, seeing how i've nothing but immense respect and admiration for farhan. she's in a challenging field (young doctor specialising, doting mama of young baby!) but she seems to meet every challenge with grace and aplomb. she's inspired me and i'm sure she's inspired and encouraged you in some way too.

so thank you farhan for the mention - will endeavour to post a few posts in your honour before returning till blog hibernation.

p/s dear z of zee. maybe serendipity will favour us next! and this time, i'll bite the bullet and say hello :)