Film: Coco Avant Chanel *****

It’s Kirsty’s birthday today. Everyone forgot to make or bring their Spanish themed dish for the lunch party we were hosting for her. I was the only one who brought a dish – Gazpacho (will post recipe tomorrow). So, boss decided we all go out for lunch instead. We went to the local café, which serves both English and Thai food. The owner Richard is English, they make excellent builder breakfast and a good strong cuppa, his wife is Thai, and she makes authentic delicious Thai curries. The lunch was good, but I was quite annoyed that it has totally blown my budget for the week with the present, my hour off for not working and ingredients to make the gazpacho for the entire office.

I had to waste time at Westfield before going to the Barbican screening for “Coco avant Chanel” at 20:45. Bad idea. Sales on and not feeling great = retail therapy. To pay respect to Chanel screening, I dressed up Chanel-esque – I had my hair up, red lipa ¾ sleeve thin black and white striped bodycon dress, a black and gold Chanel like tweed jacket and loads of pearls. As I was walking through the mall, I had one of those Carrie Bradshaw moments where one of the strands of the pearl broke. I froze as I watched the faux pearls scattered to the floor like heavy raindrops. It was a tragically beautiful moment. Not quite sure what to do, I was too embarrassed to get on all fours to collect the pearls, the lady next to me who witnessed it not sure what to do neither. She smiled at me as I said, “so… that’s that.” I managed to savage some of the pearls left on the necklace, good thing that I make jewellery I can get extra to make and re-chain it.



***** France. 105 min. Colour 2008. Directed by Anne Fontaine.

01.03.08.09 @ 8:45 pm The Babican Cinema 1 E13.

I arrived just in time at the Barbican as I was a bit late and had to find where Cinema 1 was, it’s a maze that place. The theatre was pretty full, mostly women of course, the Trojan gays, and a few who got dragged along by their girlfriends. The film was absolutely stunning! I’m not saying it because I love French films and Audrey Tautou. The clothes, ahhh the clothes in the film were just stunning, even the young Gabrielle Chanel’s crochet shoulder cape she wore at the orphanage was carefully designed. And of course, Stephen Jones designed all the hats in the film, including Chanel’s first millinery shop. I loved the story of Gabrielle, especially the tragic love affair between Coco and Arthur "Boy" Capel and how she transformed to Coco Chanel. The ending was a bit rushed I thought, everything was quite slow moving leading up to Capel’s car accident then she suddenly she was rolling out fabrics and next thing you know there were models coming off stairs for a fashion show. I must admit too, the models and their hair and make-up were too modern looking. I thought the film was well captured on how she has developed her own sense of style, how she revolutionise fashion in France and the major inspirations to her signature key looks: the Chanel jacket, the stripes, the signature Peter Pan collar black and white dress and of course, and of course, the LBD – the Little Black Dress.

The film made me wonder on the topic on love and marriage, as it was one of the occurring themes. Coco said, "the best part about love is the making love." She vowed that she would marry no one as her mother married because of love, who also later suicided because her father's infidelity and his abandonment of her and her siblings. In her society, marriage was to gain social status, real love was through love affairs. When a couple is in love, does the label of someone's "girlfriend" or "wife" matters? To me it does. Sure, love affair has the attraction of danger, thrill, lust, the unattainable love, the longing and all the other exciting bits. Marriage to me is sacred (I know, I'm old fashion), it's a life time commitment of love. Of course, one doesn't get married to get divorced but at the same time, one shouldn't married for financial and social status gain. Is marriage just a business contract?

One day I'll sleep

I've been insomniac for about two weeks now, or if I finally can sleep I get awaken easily then have trouble falling back to sleep again. Last night, I was so tired after leaving Kirsty's birthday drink but as soon I laid in my bed, I was wide awake until 5:40am after watching the last of "How I Met Your Mother" and many episodes of "30 Rock".

I don't feel present for the past few weeks, my head was elsewhere during work (it's been quite boring anyway but good thing work is slowly flowing in), I haven't run for ages, I've even lost interest in my religious Body Blast.

At yoga, I found myself hard to concentrate although the meditations helped me a lot and I felt much cleansed afterwards. I hope the regular yoga teacher comes back soon, she was more intense. I quite enjoyed the London Bridge one, Norman, but his class was a bit more physically demanding and it's a different type of yoga than I'm used to.

I need something inspiring and exciting.

I had a good day today though, made some bacon and eggs for breakfast with toast and my perfect cup of cappuccino made from my favourite Italian Moka Press – complete with foamed hot milk and sprinkling of cocoa and cinnamon. Then I cleaned my room a bit, have to seriously sort out my closet, did about half and gave up. It was surprisingly sunny today, thought it was a waste to spend indoors cleaning – okay, so it was really procrastination – I grabbed my tartan picnic mat and went to the park to finish reading "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I thought it was an appropriate book when I took it along to my trip to Budapest, though the book was set in Germany but it was based on the Second World War and the Holocaust. It was a lovely story, I had to hold back my tears a bit towards the end. I always enjoy reading the last bit of a novel the most, and how you let out a big sigh after finish reading the last sentence of the book. Wonder what I should read next?

It's pretty late now, I should attempt to go to bed. I had some Valarian tea, I feel tired but not sleepy. Tomorrow I shall go to the Barbican and will be watching "Coco Before Chanel", I'm quite excited and been looking forward for this film for a while.

Nite. x

Film: Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country

****1/2 Norway/Sweden/Denmark/UK. 84 min. Colour 2008. Directed by Anders Østergaard.

01.20.07.07 @ 6:30 pm ICA Cinema 1.

Many of you know that I love documentaries. I appreciate documentary films because it has a message and it is made with love — whether the message is meant to be propaganda or not, many documentaries are made with little or no budget with maximum time and efforts. "Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country" is a documentary based on DVB's (does not stands for David Victoria Beckham here, Democratic Voice of Burma aka Burma VJ) Burma VJ's footage on the monks rebellion in 2007.

The film made me appreciate the life I have here and how important freedom is. Burma has been dictated by a military for more than 40 years. The people have been living in fear since. Foreign news crews were banned, the internet was shut down, and Burma was closed to the outside world. DVB found a way to broadcast and leak news footage to the rest of the world via internet. These VJs risk their lives and the chances of being caught in exchange for the journalistic spirit of reporting the truth to the world.

This documentary had me at the edge of my seat holding back to shout "GO MONKS!" until the monks were beaten and disappeared overnight. Hurting the innocent is one thing but violating a religious figure, the military is going straight to hell. Wait, they don't believe in hell do they? I wonder what happened if the monks only asked for the fuel prices to be dropped rather than involving politically to free Aung San Suu Kyi? Would the military stood its place or rather meet the demands little by little? And I wonder why no other countries are willing to help out? What about the UN? Can't they do something? Basically, the entire country is in hostage, most of the country has banned tourists and foreigners to enter, it's tough for business without foreign trade. The two rebellions (1962 and 2007) at least gave the Burmese a glimpse of hope that it will happen. They'll just have to stick to their guts and have their voices heard. If you wish enough, your dream will come true. One day.

Cooking: Szechuan Spicy Chilli Garlic Poached Pork

Recently, Candy discovered this amazing authentic Chinese restaurant near Spitalfield Market. It's called "My Old Place" (88 Middlesex Street London E1 7EZ), a sister restaurant of infamous Gourmet San of Bethnal Green Road. One must order a couple skewers of the cumin lamb kebab and a few cumin chicken wings for starters. As for main course, I highly recommend this dished called "水煮肉", I forgot what it was called in English, will re-post when I go there again. This dish is a traditional Szechuan dish, it's usually beef, pork or fish poached by stock, then poured over Chinese miso (spicy bean paste) and veggies, also topped off with fried garlic, chilli and spices.

We've been so addicted to this restaurant, I've re-discovered my love for Chinese food and how much I miss it. It has inspired me to make my own version at home and I would love to share this recipe with you. I've used pork here but you can substitute with beef, fried tofu, firm tofu or boneless firm white fish.



Serves 1

1 Shoulder Pork Chop, slice thinly against the grain
4 Leaves of Chinese Cabbage, slice into 1" pieces
3 tbsp of Spicy/Chilli Bean Paste (available in Chinese supermarkets)
1 Small Red Chilli, sliced (if you like it spicy, leave the seeds in)
1 tsp of Chilli pepper flakes (or dried crushed chilli)
2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped (not minced)
5 Slices of Ginger
1 Spring/Green Onion, sliced thinly
1 Small bowl of stock (I made from chicken stock cube and boiling water)
5 Whole White Peppercorn (or Black)

1. Marinate the pork slices with a dash of dark soy and a sprinkle of sugar.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of Spicy Bean Paste in a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook for a minute until fragrant, add the bowl of stock. Boil it then turn down the heat to a bubbling simmer. Add peppercorn.

3. Cook the Chinese cabbage until soften. On the side, prepare a bowl and fill it with the remaining spicy bean paste. When the cabbage is cooked then fish it out and lay on top of the bean paste in the bowl.

4. Add spring onion or "salad onion" as the Brit calls them here to the stock. Use the stock then to poach the meat until fully cooked. Your stock should be a little thicker now, pour everything into the bowl

5. Heat a couple tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, add sliced ginger, cook for a bit, then add chopped garlic, chilli and the chilli flakes. Don't go too close now it'll burn your eyes! Fry everything until fragrant and garlic looks crisp, not burnt.

6. Pour this spicy mixture with the hot oil over the bowl of poached meat. Mix everything in the bowl before you eat. Served with a big bowl steamed jasmine rice.

Note: If you're a bit of a wimp when it comes to spiciness, then don't use the red chilli at all and cut down on the chilli flakes by 1/2. Of course, different brand of spicy bean paste has different level of heat, so I suggest to taste it to test the heat before you're using it by the spoonfuls.

Theatre: Samuel Beckett's "Not I"

When: Tuesday, 7 July, 2009 @ 1930
Where: The Purcell Room, South Bank Centre: 2009 London Literature Festival

I love Samuel Beckett. Waiting for Godot was one of the plays I’ve read in high school that I didn’t hate and I still love it to this day. I recently saw the play again at The Theatre Royal Haymarket starred Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Despite it was the most elaborate stage production of Beckett I’ve seen, it was also the best production of this play I’ve seen mainly because of the actors.

Tonight, I attended the evening of Samuel Beckett’s Not I performed by Lisa Dwan as part of the London Literature Festival at Southbank Centre. Full house. It was the most intensive nine minutes and forty-seven seconds of theatrical experience in my life! To make the Purcell Room pitch dark, black curtains was laid throughout the space, and a sole spotlight was on “the mouth” exactly eight feet from the stage. Lisa Dwan began her monologue at the speed of thought.

The play concluded with a Q&A session chaired by Michael Conevey, unfortunately due to illness, Billie Whitelaw couldn’t be present; a taped interview was shown instead. As always, Beckett had extreme specific stage direction and the length of each “.”, “..” and “…”, which was heavily guarded and monitored, by Beckett’s estate. The actresses must have “white voice” meaning — they should not “act”. “The mouth” must not move away from the light, a discipline that can only be achieved by physical restraint. Whitelaw had herself strapped; Dwan had a pair of tights, blindfolded and had her ears blocked. Whitelaw compared performing the piece to "falling backwards into hell"; Dwan says it is like driving the wrong way down a motorway without any brakes. Whitelaw being heavily coached by Beckett himself, has passed on all his and her notes to Dwan — the “Not I” legacy passes on.

Having done a bit of research about this play, I had a slight idea what I was getting into but had no idea I would be blown away by the performance. I’ve tried to read the play; it was impossible how anyone could remember word per word and dots by dots. I appreciate the performance even more after the Q&A session and the length the actresses had to go through for it. It was also an interesting concept of thoughts out-loud. A verbal stream of conscience —scattered yet alert. I’m very intrigued to read and see other Beckett plays now.

Cooking: Life's Little Luxury

As most of you know, I love food. Nothing is better than a simple yet luxurious brunch on a late Sunday morning. Scrambled eggs with truffles served on buttered toast. Simple, honest yet luxurious. It's definitely life's little luxury.



Truffles I bought from the Central Market in Budapest.



Shave a few pieces of truffle into 2 beaten eggs and a dash of milk and then a dash of cream. This is not the time to be skimp on the cream here, live a little, be Nigella! Season a little here if you wish, or you can do so later. Melt butter in heated pan over medium heat, pour egg mixture into pan, swirl around with spatula. Don't over cook it as the heat in pan and egg will continue cooking when you plate it.



Served over some buttered toast and voilà!

Wait, has anyone seen my Sunday crosswords?