No, I didn’t have a big bright idea. Last night, as we were getting in the car, we clicked the fob to open the doors and saw that one of Angpow’s back lights were not lit up. Tonight, we tried to replace the bulb. After looking up the bulb/car-make directory at the auto store, we found the right bulbs. When we got home and attempted to remove the cover, we realized that it was not the bulb afterall. It appears that when the brake is depressed, the bulb works. However, the same bulb does not get lit when we turn on the tail lights (the same bulb works on the left side so we know that it should). It might be a fuse somewhere. It’s a good thing that she is due for a service.

The point of my story is that becoming a homeowner and car owner really imparts many lessons in repair and maintenance. Just within the month of January, we’ve learned how to repair a dishwasher and replace an auto bulb. But you know what? It’s all worth it because you are doing it for something that belongs to you.

I consider myself a newbie to fonts even though I’ve admired and dabbled with them for many years now. My most concrete type accomplishment, at least to me, is my letterpress print “Tea”. Since that last piece, I haven’t had the chance to try my hand again at type setting/letterpress printing. Most of my dabbling occurs on a computer.

Thanks to the support of typophiles who now own a copy of “Tea”, I was able to join the SOTA (Society of Type Aficionados) and what’s most exciting is that TypeCon 2007 will be in Seattle.

I am one who believes in signs. I think this is a sign for me to pursue what will make me happy.

I was very excited to learn via ChubbyHubby that there is now a Pantry Magic in Singapore. I am glad that Singapore culinary enthusiasts can now have access to cookware/kitchenware.

Everytime my mum visits the US, she always seems to have to lug home some of these kitchen tools/wares. Now she would probably find the exact same things back home at a good price.

It’s been a long week but it’s over and I’m so glad. I thought I would sort some teas from previous swaps. I can’t believe I have so much tea. I’m not sure what to do with them. I think I have to hold a big tea party just to consume some of it.

I like to enjoy this tea in the evenings because it has the right amount of sweetness, yet it is delicate. I made this from a packet of the “8 treasures” but you can find a recipe for it here. I was too lazy to pull out my gaiwan so I am just sipping through the floaty bits you see here.

My poor Mike is still busy with his conference over the weekend and mid-terms next week. I’m trying my best to relax and stay out of way but still offer my support in any way possible.

Most of weekend will be spent organizing our workspace upstairs, just in time for tax season.

We bought 3 different old wooden panels like this when were last in Vancouver over Thanksgiving.

My half bath on the first floor has a sort of Colonial Shanghai theme going and I thought these would go well there. I wanted to line them up and hang them on the wall but decided to place them separately. I will have to photograph the others so you can see them too.

I think this one will stay here by the sink. I love how the red pops.

My current favorite dessert is an affogato (literally it means to drown in Italian) – gelato drowned in freshly pulled espresso shots. Bitter yet smooth at the same time.

I could have taken a picture but I ate it as soon as I saw it drowning. That seemed like the best way to save it. *grin*

Every now and then, the wind (with the postal service’s help, of course) blows this way and brings me some goodies in a box all the way from Germany. The little things are gathered with thought and wrapped one by one tidily. Often, the box is accompanied by a nice handwritten list of what it contains. Most of you who know me, know the source of this glee.

This same source is a most wonderful and talented friend. The lucky ones have discovered her work and the good news is that, not long ago, she opened her lovely shop.

Pictured here is my most recent purchase, the Matryoshka Pin. I wore it all over Singapore in December and got quite a few compliments. I think it’s absolutely adorable. Look at some of the other colors that she has created.

What I love about the pretties (pouches, bags, belts, pins and hair sticks to name a few) that she has created, is that they have an element of vintage, but with a touch of her thimble, she presents you with something totally unconventional. Another thing I love about A is her custom work. You bring her a vision or a dream about something and when she presents you with a result, you suddenly realize that it was what you had wanted but couldn’t really describe.

I present you, thymbyl designs by mlle a.

My folks celebrated their 37 years together last night as we gathered for dinner at Pho Nuong. It’s a Vietnamese restaurant that sells exotic meats like wild boar, alligator, eel and kangaroo. They also serve up meats that you can grill up yourself at the table, not unlike Korean bbq. Once you grill the meats, you lay them in a rice wrapper with some rice noodles, fresh herbs and then you roll them up. To eat them, dip them in their umami sauce of shrimp paste, garlic and crushed pineapple.

After dinner, we had some orange cake that I had baked from a very easy recipe. I had fun taking pics of mum and the kids. Aren’t these guys just happy together? Um, dad was back there concentrating on the cake
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Mike and I were Wal*green’s last night to pick up some stuff when we saw these at the counter. We had to get a box. We haven’t tried them yet but they sure sounded tempting. It’s a brilliant idea to me because I love Altoids and the only way I could love them more would be for them to be dipped in dark chocolate.

Totally off-topic, Mike always does his husbandly duty (as he calls it) of calling me during the day. He calls my office and 9 times out of 10, I’m not there. He then leaves me a quick, logorrheic message but he always ends by saying something to the effect of “I hope your day is going well”. Almost immediately after I check that message, my day, no matter how challenging, actually gets better. Thank you, MM!

I talked to C on the phone today and god, I miss that girlfriend of mine! I am still grateful that technology allows us to connect and maintain a friendship in spite of this distance.

She told me that she was surprised that I would still be blogging about Singapore after my return. I told her, au contraire, I have a list of things I wanted to post about so I can remember them and to share with my readers.

Pictured here are a set of Russian nested dolls or matryoshki. According to a friendly expert, these are not traditional colors. But I really like the colors and wasn’t going for traditional when I got them. I bought these at Accessorize – UK’s Monsoon’s accessories branch, my favorite accessories shop in SG.

Now they are sitting happy on top of my apothecary chest in my tea nook.