up up and awayyy

(except the ice cream man shot, photo credits to dr. koo chiehshen)

it's been awhile.

had a wonderful time with family and friends on sunday (thank you!!!)
and was finally ready to go. 

uneventful flight to london and currently in the country for a week of pre-uni vegging out. 

 thoroughly enjoying the pastoral surroundings, small towns and supreme hospitality. 

have a ton of books for company, the best of british tabloid trash
and family just a whatsapp message away.

plus there's wireless so i could be constantly plugged in.

but that would defeat the purpose of vegging out, wouldn't it.

either way, what more can a girl ask for? :)

catch you when i'm back in the city!

p/s because these meatballs are fast reaching their expiry date, it would be apt to direct you to the new blog.  

mysterymeatballs started out as an exchange blog while i was in stockholm in 2009, and then the second helping chronicled the second half of the bar exam course, starting work, and all the way till i decided to go back to school. so it looks like it's time to move! 

thanks for stopping by, and do visit at doctorlawyerindianchief if you'd like to check in.

curry drama

this genius invite landed in my inbox last week and i couldn't resist sharing it.

There's never really a need for a reason to get together and chow down, but in the event that you do require an explanation you'll find it over here:

Reason #1 is located over here http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110808-0000102/Number-of-neighbour-disputes-hit-high
(Now whoever heard of such a preposterous thing!)

Reason #2. is located over here http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=254441147918239
(A good excuse to cook and eat in good company if I ever heard one)

trust ashie, hostess extraordinaire, to throw a politically aware dinner party!

i, for one, was completely oblivious to the curry going-ons. however, this alternative viewpoint, as voiced by the voice of reason (naturally), was that perhaps it's all a storm in a teacup (curry pot?)

understanding the furor a bit better, it seems like netizens were unhappy with the indian family being told to restrain from cooking curry when the sensitive-nosed chinese family was at home. however, this arrangement must've been suggested by either party and agreed to by the other. i.e. it must've been mutual and consensual. so there didn't seem to be a need for all the anger at the result.

for the uninitiated, mediation is never about a one-sided outcome and because it's not binding. this is unlike a court order which is 1. determined by the adjudicator and 2. binding. thus, the mediator's role isn't to decide the outcome based on the facts presented so any angst towards the mediator is misdirected. the mediator's role is to be move the parties towards a mutually beneficial solution.

there you go, mediation in a nutshell i.e. me clinging desperately to what little legal knowledge i can purport to semi-possess.

that said, we really don't need much of an excuse to eat curry nor to party. what a great way to share curry appreciation and champion tolerance.

if you're curious as to how the party went, clickety click to ash's right here.

guess who's one month old?

please don't judge but we had a first month party for the precious pups :) for the uninitiated, a first month or "man yue" as it is known is a chinese tradition to celebrate the birth of a baby. wikipedia tells me this practice stems from ancient times when hygiene wasn't that hot and the infant mortality rate was high. the family would only celebrate the baby's arrival if it made it through the first month, coinciding with the end of the mother's confinement period.

with purebreds that can be even more fragile than human babies, we didn't want to jump the gun in case the litter didn't clear the one month mark intact. but thankfully they did, and once we could we rallied some friends, got some red eggs (another first month tradition) and grabbed the opportunity to start socialising them puppies young.

the first photo is how we carry seven puppies from A to B, the second is a drowsy sahara in my cousin natalie's arms, and the third is a pup (augh! i don't know which...) passed out from all the excitement.

mind you, there were plenty of baby humans that day too and i'm a little small thing-ed out!

MOF

 

one of the things i really like about the firm is the work hard play hard culture. sure, that's how most places like to sell themselves but this one really puts it money where its mouth is. 

another really nice thing is how inclusive they are - everyone's invited from the directors to the interns. in fact, i remember receiving the invites while during the bar course, before i even started pupilling at the firm. this friday's event was no exception. gotta love the firm tab, which translated to the liberty to order "one of everything" for the table. it's such a bonus to work with (for?) people who are genuinely good and people who are more friends than colleagues. needless to say, the view was amazing and i never tire of oggling mbs from across the bay. had heard many good things about kinki and was glad to finally check it out in person.

yay for the ministry of fun!

next up, pupils' bash. DUNDUNDUNNNN. a time-honoured tradition with every pupil going down. defo mixed feelings of anticipation and apprehension! looking forward to finishing pupillage on a high note, although not literally, and just might have to defensive detox this last month in the run up to the bash.

:)

the voice of reason lighting gramps' candles 

a cake in the shape of his most prized possession

there i was, happily traipsing around europe by myself and absolutely reluctant to cut short my joyride to make it home for gramps' 88th on the 17th of june. seeing how the graduation ceremony was only in july, i planned to max out my gradtrip and return on graduation morning.

thankgoodness for the voice of reason, who managed to persuade me to come home on the 17th, so i could be at gramps' birthday dinner that night. you know how the golden oldies are - celebrate their birthday on the day itself, or not at all. so i hummed and i hawed before reluctantly rescheduling the flights and dragging my sorry backside back.

and guess what? the voice of reason was right to trust his instinct and risk fire and brimstone by almost insisting i came home. fast forward exactly a year and i cannot even begin to describe how relieved i am to have been with gramps for his last birthday, and the few happy months after.

(note to self: always listen to boyfriend)

first party of 2011

was casino royale / vegas themed. got the tribe to go as a royal flush (singapore airlines playing cards, no less!) and the last minute addition was relegated to being joker. spent a good part of the past two days slaving away on these babies but it was well worth the effort and near asthma attack from inhaling all that chalk dust.

also, a big shout out to yvonne who let me 

1. crash her house 

2. patiently drew spade after spade and big bubble letters

3. plied me with reese's peanut butter cups and crisps 

4. provided much appreciated comic relief during the otherwise very serious task of creating a set of royal flush costumes from scrap cotton and felt.

was so desperate (and undomesticated) that we almost resorted to suturing the costumes together because while we can't sew to save our lives, six-months-from-being-dr. ang does a mean post-surgical repair job.