Sri Lanka

I have dreamed about visiting Sri Lanka for the past two years and was lucky enough to finally do so during the National Day weekend this year. 

The country has left an indelible mark on me especially after having encountered the colourful and warm personalities - from the humble farmer and his wife from Polonnaruwa who were superb dinner hosts, our amazing safari jeep driver who brought us to the best spots to see the elephants in Minneriya, sweet dear mama Kumari from Kandy with whom we bargained to relax the guest house's curfew if only for half an hour, the friendly Chinese owner of the popular Slightly Chilled Bamboo Bar who, we like to believe, was happy to see fellow Chinese people and to speak in Mandarin with, the hilarious Bob Marley wannabe who picked us up in a pick up to his rest house, and then sent us on an easy two hour trek to Shantipura (but which saw us panting up the mountains for half a day, no nearer to the highest village in Nuwara Eliya), to our fantastic and funny tuk tuk driver who gave us a death defying ride to the airport. 

Our trip was nothing short of exhausting, with constant travel from one town to another. But my awesome travel companions made me realise that I can and will forge new travel experiences and memories with like-minded souls. 

Away for yet another National Day

We have a tendency to want to leave our mark on things. Since we can't all be moon walkers, leaving footprints on the moon, we turn to leaving thoughts and experiences behind in words. 

That's why this medium is special to me especially when far from home. It is strange to be away, by choice, during National Day when my whole family celebrates with feasting. 

Shirred eggs on a beautiful Sunday morning

*Today, I will be interrupting my consecutive posts on my family trip to Europe with a post on food.*

Breakfast is a happy occasion for me because my stomach really looks forward to it after the night's fast. 

Mummy recently told me a story involving my tiny toddler self and a sugar plum. Apparently I was happily (and violently) sucking on it and she had wanted to remove it to peel off more skin and prevent me from swollowing the entire fruit, and I screamed in protest. Guess my deadly sin is really gluttony. 

Stories aside, I put together a quick and easy breakfast of shirred eggs on this beautiful Sunday morning and thought of sharing it (anything involving ramekins and oven baked eggs make me salivate). 

First, chop up two tomatoes and an onion into cubes while heating up a mix of olive oil and butter on the stove. Then cook the chopped veggies till soft. Add chopped basil, salt and pepper to taste. 

Next, oil the ramekins and pour the cooked items, filling about 1/3 of the pots. Crack a egg into each ramekin and pour a little more of the cooked mixture in. 

Shove ramekins into oven till eggs are done (about 15 minutes). 

Eat with toasted bread. Yum tums. 

Eating in Grenoble

Switzerland is an expensive country so we were glad to drive across to Grenoble for two days. In stark contrast to the working culture in Europe where the border between work and play is clearly delineated, the parents had arranged a business meeting there during our vacation.

We arrived in Grenoble, hungry and on a Sunday, to mostly closed shutters. Thankfully, some restaurants and shops along the main tourist street were opened for the day. So we popped into an eatery across the Notre Dame for a hearty meal and some wine.

Baked potatoes with salmon

Beef!

As compared to where we came from, we ate really well in France as food was more affordable. We stocked up on fresh strawberries and cherries, crusty bread and yummy cheese. Ahhh...such indulgences are hard to replicate back home. And even if we manage to, eating such fresh produce is pricey and unsustainable in Singapore.

There was a bakery near the city centre that I ran into on three different occasions (over a period of just two days!) to grab some freshly baked bread and tarts. Grenoble is famous for the production of walnuts and the tarte aux noix (walnut tart) was divine! 

Breakfast from our spree at the supermarket

Tarte au citron, tarte aux poires, the most amazing tarte aux noix and a chocolate cake 

Our last meal before heading back across the border was at a creperie. While we were not in Brittany, where the humble crepe originated from, it was a great meal. I loved the buttered apples and salted caramel crepe, which we had for dessert. My sister who is an extremely picky eater loved the meal and kept asking for crepes over the next few days!

Hamburger steak galette

Buttered apples and salted caramel. Oh, be still my heart!

Family vacations

Family vacations are great times to reconnect with the ones that are near and dear. Despite living together in crowded little Singapore, I tend to spend less quality time with my family. 

Mayhaps it is because the introvert in me craves for private moments. There have been times when I desperately desire to move out and be on my own but there is always a feeling of homesickness that pervades the soul during long periods abroad. 

Our time driving around Switzerland and France, sharing moments over food was a dream. It doesn't hurt that the country is gorgeous (despite the hefty price tags). 

Fête de la Musique weekend in Geneva

I had the good fortune of escaping the haze situation in Singapore for slightly more than a week when we flew to Europe for my brother's graduation. Despite the butt numbing-ly long flight times in between my blanketed-in-haze country and Europe, I would choose to return to that part of the world in a heartbeat. I fell in love with the continent, the gorgeous landscape and fresh smell of grass in the air, and the culture and architecture when I first went over for French immersion in Montpellier, and then for a semester exchange programme in Leeds during my undergraduate days.

We were lucky that our arrival in Geneva coincided with Fete de la Musique (or the Festival of Music) weekend. Although fatigue was kicking in as we battled the effects of a red eye flight filled with moody babies, we joined the throngs enjoying music at every corner in the old town. It was a nostalgic experience as the last time I was in Europe during the festival was 5 years ago in Montpellier! Ahh, such memories.

These guys were really popular!

A little violinist came out to play

Strings playing in a cathedral

On a completely unrelated note, I have started using items usually found in the kitchen on my hair. I have had enough of expensive products that contain chemicals and have turned to using coconut oil and apple cider vinegar on my scalp, and to restore vibrancy to my increasingly brittle hair. And it is working! I love how soft my hair feels after using those ingredients.

On MOOCs

I learnt about MOOCs early on when Coursera rolled out its test courses. It was an exciting experience and I  feverishly signed up for and participated in multiple courses. Naturally, I could not finish all that I had started as I was also juggling work, night classes and my social life. Disappointingly, I have only fully completed one course, Fantasy and Science Fiction. And by fully completing, I mean that I watched all the video lectures, read all the required texts, completed all the assignments on time and participated weekly in forums. (I do admit that some courses that I signed up for were too difficult for my mind that was too accustomed to arts and humanities, and I was not putting any effort into understanding the concepts).

Ever since the end of that class, I have been slacking off learning online and have instead fed my mind with shows series chosen had smart, witty dialogues, and great plots, I missed the aspect of learning and discovering new perspectives. 

The mind numbing activity of loading one's mind passively with drama became dulling so I started lining up books to read again. In between work and home, I have been scurrying to the library in an attempt to enrich my mind. But I missed learning from people and being part of a community.

Coursera recently posted a blog entry about an autistic boy. His loving father shared how MOOCs provided him with an safe space for learning and made him more confident. I liked the part where the boy describes the courses as "not impossible". That should be my outlook in learning and in life. 

The internet has transformed the world and I feel extremely lucky that I can tap on this free platform for university level courses from universities around the world. And I will take full advantage of this. Previously, I took the quick approach to learning online and had a tendency to speed through classes, But I will do it differently this time, and slowly savour the entire learning process, absorbing the knowledge that the lecturers freely share.