CNY

Families gather on the eve of Chinese New Year to celebrate with a grand feast called the reunion dinner. From what I understand, there is a traditional set of dishes that is served including a fish which is not fully consumed, some black hairy noodles and abalone. I was in the grocery store yesterday and I noticed you had to ask the cashier to go behind the register to give you a can of abalone. They are stored next to the cigarettes and the hard liquor. Abalone? An addictive substance? I guess the abalone is the centerpiece of the meal since a can will set you back about $50S.

Both the black hairy noodles (actually some sort of moss) and the abalone are both endangered species. At least no one will tell you that the American turkey is an endangered species. Last year, I celebrated CNY by sobbing my way through a number of parties. This year, I will celebrate by cooking! (no endangered species on our menu, that will be for sure!) What should we make?

I got myself a metronome! My teacher spent the last lesson telling me that I got no rhythm which is something I’ve known for a long time. I like to just play willy-nilly and it sounds fine to another person who has no rhythm (like Donald), but it drives Jeremy a bit nutty since he has a very strong sense of timing. I’ve read somewhere that all humans have an innate rhythmic abilities simply because of the steady beat of our hearts, but I swear, I must have some sort of arrhythmia because it just isn’t there. So I got the loudest one I could find and it has a bell that rings on the first beat and I set it to a snail speed and play my piece so slowly in an effort to not rush running scales and not slow down where I have trouble with the notes. This is going to take forever.

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Scientific name: Catharanthus roseus
Common name: Madagascar Periwinkle
Location: Singapore