I came back from tutorial today wondering what to have for dinner. And then I remembered, I had half a can of chicken stalk left in the fridge. It had been sitting there since Friday when I made chicken rice. So at that thought, something welled up inside of me: it was time to retry cooking the ever elusive Wat Dan Hor Fun (a type of hor fun, 河粉).

Wat dan hor fun is another one of my favourite noodle dishes, probably up there with char kway teow and Hokkien mee. I suppose, it's one of those few Singapore-based dishes that I was exposed to as a kid growing up in Canada.

And given my favourable results cooking Hainanese chicken rice the previous week (I think it's all due to the fact that I acquired a jar of proper chicken rice chili from my last visit home), I was spurred on to give my hand a try at wat dan hor fun again.

Gathered all the ingredients I could from the four corners of the kitchen, washed, sliced and chopped stuff. There wasn't all that much slicing and chopping needed actually.

It's probably one of the more expensive meals I'd be capable of cooking here in Waterloo though, as it consumed pork, fishballs and prawns (and I was even missing squid). Usually, I'd just have one type of meat for a meal.

At any rate, boiled the hor fun noodles, and as soon as they were done, threw them into a well-oiled pan. Fried with dark and light soya sauce until I could see some of the noodles becoming burnt - quite necessary indeed. A bit too much dark soya sauce though - the noodles started to look like char kway teow instead

Then on to the sauce... this has always been the source of failure for me. I just can never get a handle of cooking with corn starch and egg at the same time. When everything is combined, they somehow just become a big clumpy mess.

But somehow this time, maybe the merlion was with me and things didn't go so poorly. As the sauce mixture came to a simmer, I held my breath and poured in some corn starch premixed with cold water. Mixed it in, covered the lid and waited. Washed some dishes, for good measure.

And finally it came time to add the eggs. Held my breath even more this time. Cracked two eggs and threw them in. Stirred them around a bit. Things looked like they were starting to get clumpy, and I thought I had met my match. However, the thought crossed my mind to maybe let the eggs cook from the heat of the sauce, rather than the heat of the stove.

And so I turned off the stove and moved the pan to an empty element (yah, I know, I should probably be using a gas burner, no?).

And... the egg stayed separate in the sauce. It actually looked, something like wat dan hor fun.

Now, in terms of appearance, I guess maybe I could fool some distracted passer-byer into thinking it was actual wat dan hor fun. Maybe I could even fool myself. But I know that since I'm no hawker, it probably isn't that great at all. Taste-wise, it's ok. But I have no standard here in Waterloo - where else can you find Singaporean cuisine?

At any rate, this is why perhaps I term today's version of wat dan hor fun the kiasi version. I'd imagine that if you placed my rendition beside some authentic hawker rendition, people would stay clear from mine. Why?

... Kiasi lah!

I was working in the lab the other day with my friend on our design project when he saw the wallpaper on my notebook, which had the name 張懸 (Deserts Chang) on it - it was one of the wallpapers available on her site featuring her new album, 城市. My member pointed and commented, "that's a good artist."

I was pleasantly surprised, as this was the first time that someone other than me knew who 張懸 was. According to my friend, she's actually quite popular. I knew I liked her music, but I didn't realize that she was as popular as my friend described.

One of the things that I appreciate about 張懸 is that she is a singer-songwriter. I've come to appreciate this genre a bit more, since I find that sometimes, their lyrics seem less fabricated.

He recommended to me another artist, 盧廣仲 (Crowd Lu). I looked him other the other day while taking a break from studying, and found his music not bad at all. Some of his songs remind me of David Tao a bit. But I like some of his songs already.

In particular, the first song I found on Youtube was Oh Yeah. The lyrics are really simple, but he sings it with enough feeling that you can feel a degree of happiness emanating from him.

Another song I found I liked was 愛情習作. A lot of the Mandarin music I listen to are actually from female artists (i.e. 張懸). So listening to a male singer-songwriter is pretty refreshing, perhaps in someways on the lyrics side. Guys and girls think about things very differently. And that may come through in lyrics.

And so a song like 愛情習作 is one that you would likely not find from a female artist. Which is maybe why I like it right now. (Though perhaps some may disagree with me...? I know I'm painting with huge generalizations here. Give me a bit of a break for now...)

I feel nostalgic. But then I realize I have to study.

Sometimes, I just don't know anymore. But then, did I actually know anything to begin with? Probably not. Sometimes, I just think I know or can do so much. And then it's now when I realize how little I actually know or can do that it hits me.

Pride goes before destruction,
  a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed
  than to share plunder with the proud.

But by now, the fall already hurts.

I used to think that the song Falling for the First Time by the Barenaked Ladies was about falling in love. But I think now that it's not. To me, it's maybe not even about "love" in that sense at all, whether falling in or out. Either way, I invite you to have a listen and make of it what you will...

Barenaked Ladies - Falling for the First Time

I'm so cool, too bad I'm a loser
I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out
I'm so brave, too bad I'm a baby
I'm so fly, that's probably why it
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

I'm so green, it's really amazing
I'm so clean, too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me.
I'm so sane, it's driving me crazy
It's so strange, I can't believe it
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time

I'm so chilled, no wonder it's freezing
I'm so still, I just can't keep my fingers out of anything
I'm so thrilled to finally be failing
I'm so done, turn me over cause it
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

Anything plain can be lovely, anything loved can be lost
Maybe I lost my direction, what if our love is the cost?
Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind

At church today, the speaker made a remark about making a logical choice versus a loving choice.

Actually, at times, a choice could both be logical and loving. But at other times, they can be vastly different.

This could be misconstrued into people justifying poor choices out of "love" (or perhaps infatuation).

On the other hand, decisions made out of an understanding of God's love may occasionally be illogical, yet still a good choice depending on what your perspective on faith is.

So then, are my illogical choices out of "love" or love? It's good to be mindful of this.