ReversO!

My all time favourite chocolate ice cream is made by the Island Creamery in Singapore. It's called ReversO and for a while it just did not occur to me why it was called that. Then I realised that it was because it was an Oreo reversed with the cream surrounding the biscuit. It is an intensely chocolate-y creamy taste with rich dark chocolate biscuit bits buried as bits of secret treasure.

This is one of my favourite pick-me-ups and it seldom fails.

Hooray for the Golden Rule

I used to wonder why it was even necessary to have the Golden Rule (Mt 7:12) since it seemed to me as a young adult, that it was much more important to figure out what someone would like or would not like that was *different* from what one would personally like or dislike done unto one. I always thought that people's innate sense of fair play would dictate that one would automatically do unto others as one would them do unto you. At least to one's friends, family and generally to anyone that one did not bear any ill will towards as opposed to one's clear enemies. In other words, I would to a complete stranger, behave politely, not shove him or her, be punctual, give him a drink of water if he asked for one and so on.

In and Oxford undergraduate tutorial, I remember sitting in some freezing room in my college with my fellow PPEists and the Greats students, debating not whether the Golden Rule was necessary in our Moral Philosophy tutorial, but how it should be understoond more finely or whether it made sense at all. In other words, one man's meat may be another man's poison so we then arrived at the conclusion that on specifics, we should bear in mind other people's different interests. For example, if I hated tea, then being offered a cup of tea which was very common undergraduate courtesy when receiving a visitor in one's room, was not a polite gesture by someone who knew me well, but would pass muster from a stranger who did not know me as complying with the Golden Rule. However in a broad sense, the Golden Rule still worked eg remembered that I hated tea, my host would also be obeying the Golden Rule by generally being considerate of my taste buds.

It was much later in life when I had friends who were persistently different in their lifestyles and persistently friends as well, that I came to understand why it was even necessary to spell out this rule: essentially because some people really do believe that it should be one rule for them and another for other people including people they considered friends or family. Let alone the next level of becoming more sensitive to how different someone else might be.

So now that I am older and wiser, I have learned to cope in more imaginative ways. I have learned to listen better to figure out what someone is really saying and to assess whether or not they have the ability to comply with what they themselves have agreed to. And to adjust around that in different ways. I certainly get a lot less annoyed this way.

In the meantime, I can entirely see why the Golden Rule is necessary. It still is a standard for many people to, hopefully, aspire to.

My Secret Garden

It's not quite a garden I have to admit. It's more like an empty field with large, old trees in it that have grown so high they dwarf the public housing flats in the distance. It is my secret place only because I seem to be the only person who uses it. In land scarce Singapore, it is inevitable that this piece of land will soon suffer the fate of being dug up and concrete poured over the living earth. Indeed I think it has already been tendered out and sold but the developer has not yet taken possession of it or the sale is not yet complete.

In the meantime, in this pocket of time and space though, I roam freely in it, sitting long under the tall trees, or walking by the canal watching the little egret and the great egret fish. Sometimes I see a kingfisher flash past if I go early in the morning. I am almost always alone, save my dogs, although people are near enough as there is housing surrounding the field and a train station on the edge of it. This morning I saw an oriole flash past in siren yellow and black as I jogged gently towards my empty space.

I often wish I lived on a farm or in some village when I come here so I could have the same sense of space, and that sense of eternity that comes with it. It reminds me of the times I spent rambling in the hills of Yorkshire and the Lake District, or lolling in the gardens of Oxford colleges. In such moments, communing with God becomes easy and the heart stills no matter what the heartache and the busy-ness of working life falls away.

Nothing like a Cuppa

Nothing like a cuppa as a pick-me-up on a long work afternoon. It is all sweetness, froth and milky tea.

All ye Malaysians and Singaporeans will instantly recognise this drink. For the uninitiated, all you have to do is to stroll down to a coffee shop and in this part of the world that usually means a non-airconditioned little street cafe which serves often both meals and drinks quite cheaply.

If you do not intend to drink your tea sitting in the coffee shop, then ask for "packet" and they will decant your tea into a plastic bag like the one you see in the picture and lo and behold you have a portable cup that you can hang (as long as you can find some where to hang it off). This cost me all of S$1 (less than an American dollar).

I especially like the version which has a strong dose of ginger in it and it's called Teh Halia (or ginger tea). It is heavily sweetened with condensed milk and has been aerated by being poured from one large cup to another several times with the upper cup held a good 2 feet above the lower cup. Cheaper and faster than a cappuccino machine, if you can aim right that is. Ahhhhh.

A Burst of Yellow

I love Christmas and have enjoyed this year's thoroughly with much feasting with friends and family. It is all about to end though with the Feast of the Epiphany so I am about to sink into a post - Christmas - back - to - work gloom. Luckily for me, there is a birth of a new baby to celebrate, and I do not mean Jesu (although that is clearly a reason too) but my sister give birth yesterday to a gorgeous healthy thumping baby boy.

So to celebrate, I bought her a bunch of yellow roses and while I was wandering around the very cold flower room at Far East Flora wholesale centre (where it is possible to buy flowers in small quantities quite cheaply), I came across a lovely bunch of deep yellow orchids which I could not resist buying. I thought to share the latter with my readers.

I do hope you like them and I will be back in full writing force by next week.