Chapter Two: The new landlady

 

“All day breakfast for you honey?” Freda asked in her sweet voice.

“Yes please. And I’ll have my tea with cream and without sugar please.” Toby answered in his booming voice. He was combing his hair with full gusto, applying layers and layers of hair cream on his already greasy hair. A round face with hair parted in the middle, he was not much of a looker. The buttons on his carefully ironed white shirt looked like as if they were about to burst. Being the overtly confident person he is, he couldn’t help admiring himself in the mirror.

 

“ You are such a sexy thing, you are” he said.

 

“Honey! Breakfast is ready!” called Freda

“Ok I am coming.”

Totally oblivious to the rotund built of her fiancé, Freda whipped up a hearty breakfast which was enough to feed three grown men. 10 Cumberland sausages grilled to perfection, 6 pieces of smoked bacon pieces, a hearty helping of fried mushrooms, baked beans, scrambled eggs and 5 pieces of heavily buttered toast. One could literally squeeze enough melted butter to fry three eggs.

 

“Oh honey you are spoiling me,” chuckled Toby. “Doctor says I should really cut down on my calories.”

“No worries honey, you can always munch on the carrot sticks I have prepared for you here.”

 

Oh you are such a darling.. come here and give me a kiss, you sexy thing.” Freda obligingly gives him a peck on his rounder-than-a-melon- cheek.

 

“And that’s a wrap!” Shouted Kenden, a burly fellow in his forties, a freelance photographer and director. As soon as they made the director’s cut, Freda and Toby disengaged themselves from each other as if they both had contagious diseases.

 

As descendents of the Kelp and Gee empire, it was compulsory for them to do this ritual every year since they were engaged- Kenden would come to their house, do a short interview with Freda and Toby on life after engagement, take a few videos of their daily lives (albeit grotesquely boring) and have the videos on air every year in January. Kenden did it for the money, of course, the Kelps and Gees were generous providers and did not require him to produce something of Oscar award quality. Of course there were times when he wished he was the one who was pampered in the videos instead ( oh but who wouldn’t? Given Freda’s assets and ethereal looks, one could not help but drool over her), he always persevered from the beginning of the shoots to the end. Money was the only motivation in his life.

 

“Right then Kenden, when do we expect to see the finished product?” Toby, in a businesslike tone, casually asked.

“It won’t be too long, trust me. This year we didn’t have to do outdoor photography, so it should be fine. But I need the both of you to pick out some photographs for the covers though.”

“Oh you mean for Kelp Digest? Anyone with us grinning like monkeys will do. That’s what Dad wants anyway. A public display of affection.”

Freda gave him the death stare. How many times does he have to be reminded that some things are not meant to be said out loud?

 

Kenden shrugged. “Well, I’ll come by sometime on the 15^th, and hopefully we can sort something out. Olive says we need to finalise everything by the end of this month before they send it for printing.

 

“Whatever.”

 

Toby swallows the food instantly and wipes his mouth. He took a glance at his watch and exclaims: “Oh! I am going to be late. See you later tonight hon. I have to go now.”

And he grabs his briefcase.

“Kenden, I’ll leave you here then. Freda’s going to be around today so you can like.. work out the details with her. I got to go.

 

On his way out he threw a stack of papers into Freda’s face.

 

“By the way, have a look at the pre-nup I drafted ok?” he shouted as his banged the door close.

“Pre-Nup?”

Freda stood rooted on the spot as she flipped through the pages and pages of words, none of which made much sense.

 

Kenden sighed as he cleared up his equipment.

 

“Honestly Freda, I don’t know how you can stand him. Its been five years.. each year the both of you do the same thing. Last year it was dinner at Ivy’s/ The year before that you were both at Legoland Windsor. Does it not bother you that you are engaged to a man who doesn’t love you at all?”

 

Freda smiled. “Ken, I don’t have a choice. You know that. You’ve worked with us for so many years. You ask the same question every year. And you know that every year, the answer will be the same. As long as our families are strategic alliances, there is no way I am going to run away from all this. It may be crap to you but at least, this mere façade is keeping the legend of the two empires alive. It gives people hope. And it keeps the stock market alive. That’s all I need to know.”

She had trained herself to answer without a hint of doubt, whenever she was questioned by close friends on her engagement to Toby. Putting on an act was the least she could do now. Her father had left behind a legacy of bad debts hidden behind a good name. And Toby’s father was responsible for keeping that good name alive. She was the price that her father had to pay.

 

She called her friend, Hillary.

 

“Hiya. I need a favour.”

 

“Sure, shoot away!”

 

“I’ve been thinking… perhaps I should rent out the spare room in my house. Toby’s hardly around, and I could do with some company.”

 

“Well… I do have somebody whose looking for a room. A music student. Young girl, in her early twenties. What do you say?”

 

“Cool. I’ll be around today. Why don’t you ask her to come over then. We could grab a drink later.”

 

“Sure. Call me after the viewing then.”

 

Lynette was overjoyed that she could view a room. Never did she expect to get a reply that soon…

She looked in awe at the apartment before her. It was beautiful.

Gingerly she went up to the door and pressed the doorbell. She was greeted by a lady so beautiful, she thought she had knocked on the doors of heaven.

“Errr… Miss Fred,.. I mean Freda Gee?”

 

“Yes, Its Freda Gee, not Fred. You must be Lynette. Come on in.”

 

Lynette looked around the apartment with great interest. It was very tastefully decorated, with cream coloured drapes for the windows, white leather sofas, a Victorian style armchair and most importantly, a Wagner piano.

 

“You play the piano Fred? I mean Miss Gee?”

 

Freda looked at her sharply.

 

“Yes I do actually. This was an engagement gift. You may only touch it with my permission.”

 

Lynette gulped. Had she entered the Ice Queen’s chambers?

 

Following Freda, they entered a smaller room, with a single bed, a wardrobe and a working desk.

 

“This will be your room. You are not allowed to refurnish this room as I will not tolerate banging on the walls. Duvets and pillows will be provided. There will be a separate meter in your room so that I can monitor electricity usage, which of course will be borne by you. Any questions?”

 

“Errmm..”

 

“No? Good. Let’s go to the kitchen.”

 

“Now this is the kitchen. You can use everything here, provided that you wash up and dry everything. I won’t be cooking for you though, I assume you are capable of cooking yourself.”

 

“Yes Ma’am.”

 

Oh my God, this is the torture chambers. Should I even stay here?

 

And Freda turned around and smiled at her.

 

“I don’t like it when you call me Fred, but I think we’ll get along great. You don’t seem to be much of a talker. That’s good. You shall pay 1 month’s rental in advance.”

 

“But…”

 

“And,” Freda looked at her with a glint in her eye, “ If I like you enough, I might just let you play on my piano.

 

“Who else stays here?” Lynette finally managed to blurt out a sentence amidst Freda’s non-stop chatter.

 

“Oh. My fiancé. Toby. You may get to meet him, you may not. But that’s not important.”

 

“Oh, alright then.”

 

“You may move in tomorrow if you wish. Here is my phone. Go back and think about it. I shall be here tomorrow after 11am, when my classes are over. Remember to bring along the one month deposit with you.”

 

And before she could say anything else, Lynette was ushered to the front door where Freda slammed it shut right in front of her.

 

“What was that all about?” Lynette wondered to herself. Although…the wagner piano was very very tempting….

 

She started thinking…

Hmmm I won’t have to take the bus anymore, and I get a nice room. Plus, this lady is interesting. It’d be good to see what she’s really made of.”

 

As she walked on the streets, thinking of how she was going to dig the dark secrets of her landlady to be, she bumped head on into a man.

 

“Watch where you are going freak!” Lynette screamed.

 

And it was no other than Andrew, the freaky guy who touched her hair a few weeks back.

 

“You! Why do I keep on bumping into you? You’re a plague!”

 

“I am sorry . I really did not mean to bump..”

 

“JUST SHUT UP!”

 

And again she left in a huff, not realizing that she had dropped her umbrella in her haste.

 

Before Andrew could call her to give her her umbrella back, she had disappeared into the sea of people…

 

Andrew shrugged, took the umbrella with him and walked off.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Having kept my culinary skills under wraps for the past three years (ahaks) this year I decided to cook a simple meal for my family during Christmas Eve. Well... I say let the pictures do the talking... here they are!

An overview of the food. Like I said, this was a strict family affair... hence the lack of presentation... hehe

The star of the day --Roast chicken with mixed herbs. Thanks to Cooknengr's tip, marinating the chicken in beer and brine actually brought out the flavour of the chicken! And yeah, chicken should taste like chicken (quote the Cooknengr) so I did not put any honey at all. Stuffing consisted of carrots, onions and portobello mushrooms. The entire bird was liberally massaged with Golden churn butter... evil!

This is my version of caramelised potatoes. I know it looks nothing like the real thing... but I was so worried that I would burn a hole in the frying pan while cooking the caramel, I didn't wait for the sugar to brown completely!

Basically this is how I made the caramel:

a) Heat up two tablespoons of sugar in a dry frying pan. Do not add anything.

b) Keep the fire very very low. Watch the sugar melt and stir constantly.

c) When the sugar melts and turns golden, turn the fire off. Stir in a tablespoon of butter.

d) Mix well and pour in the pre-boiled potatoes (note: Potatoes must be cold. Run them in ice cold water)

Blanched brocolli and gravy-made with the juices from the roast chicken. Heavenly!

Dessert-Superior Soya Agar-agar topped with English Raspberry Yogurt, USA cherries (thats what it reads on the packet) and Batu Tiga bananas, drizzled with Australian honey. Now thats what I call globalism.

Mushroom soup. Nothing to shout about except that I added in 4 whole button mushrooms (sliced). My mom loved the soup. :)

Carlo Rossi- I asked Kenny about this... and according to his expertise, this is normal table wine. Folks I am no wine connoseiur so this tastes pretty ok to me. Dont take my word for it though....

On overall lunch was pretty good. Everybody was stuffed... and it felt good to enjoy a home-cooked meal prepared by me (after so long). Christmas celebrations do not run in the family so this is a first. Lets see if I can keep it going next year...

Merry Xmas everybody!

A bowl of tang yuan (glutinous rice balls in sweet soup) brings the whole family closer during the annual winter solstice. Regardless of where all Chinese descendents are, be they in Eqypt, Toronto, Malaysia or Australia, on this day we share this common tradition of eating tang yuan, celebrating the imminent arrival of the new year.

My mom prepared this tang yuan soup... it contains the conventional tang yuan (in pink and without any filling), the white tang yuan containing peanuts and also another type of white tang yuan with red bean paste. The sweet soup is boiled with pandan leaves, honey rock sugar and black sesame paste. Heavenly is the word...

Hope everyone had a taste of these heavenly balls (no pun intended). Happy Dong Zhi to you.

Ok.. i know this post is long overdue. For the next few days, or weeks, I shall be posting periodically each chapter from my Nanowrimo novel. I did consider at one stage to print out the hard copy and distribute it for a modest fee (on an ad hoc basis), but since this is my first attempt at Nanowrimo, I felt it best to publish the novel on my blog instead. Wil, I have to thank you for reminding me about this... so ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the fruit of my debut attempt at Nanowrimo-Shades of Grey.

Chapter 1: Memory of Fallen Petals

 

Walking down the path which seemed so familiar to him, Andrew walked towards the bus stop which would take him to Windham House, the building he had worked in for the past two years. For some strange reason, everything around him seemed to have a melancholy feel to it. He felt as if there was something amiss.

 

A gust of wind blew towards him, its icy cold tinge slapping him hard. Soft pink petals began to fall from the trees above, showering him with what seemed like a blanket of soft pink snow. It was romantic, but all he could feel, was a heartbreaking twist in his heart. He opened up his palm to catch the petals. The petals, as if they had a mind of their own, avoided his hand and fell to the ground, livelessly.

“ Aren’t these flowers pretty? They are so pretty. Look at them falling into my hand. Look at them! When we get married, I want my flower girls to shower me with these petals. We would feel as if we were in paradise. Isn’t it wonderful?”

 

Teresa’s voice rang in his ears. And he looked at his empty left hand which used to hold hers each time they took the same path together every morning.

Oh she was so beautiful, he thought to himself. A tear rolled down his eye. Was it  the wind which made his eyes sting? Or was it his broken heart?

At that moment, he wasn’t so sure.

 

Dragging his footsteps as if he had a thousand iron rods chained to his feet, he reluctantly made his way to the bus stop. It was all routine to him, but today he was alone. If he had the power to stop time, this would be the moment he wanted to preserve in his memory.

 

You see, only three weeks back, he had attended the funeral of Teresa. A young lady he had loved so much, whom he had wanted to marry, whom he had shared all his dreams with. But now she was gone. She was gone.

 

….

After what seemed like eternity, Bus No. 19 appears. And he proceeded to board the bus, knowing where it would take him, but not knowing whether he wanted to go to his destination anymore.

 

It was as if… all purpose for living had stopped that instant.

 

Looking at this shadow of a guy from afar, was Lynette. Her big, almond eyes tried to engulf the beautiful scenery around her.

“This must be the most romantic place anyone can ever be” she thought to herself. An aspiring first year student at university, majoring in music composition, she was determined to make a name for herself. She played the piano since she was 6, and was a confident girl. After all, she came from a family who were musicians. Her father was an acclaimed violinist whereas her mother was a soprano. With such musically gifted parents it was not surprising that Lynette too chose to pursue her further education in this field.

 

And she saw Andrew.

Those eyes were the saddest she had ever seen. It was a handsome face, no doubt, but he definitely needed to shave. There was stubble everywhere and he wore a green scarf with

an orange jacket.

 

“My goodness, we should call the fashion police man. What on earth does he think he is doing, wearing colours which clash with each other horribly? Does he think he is an elf or something? He must be freaking out of his mind” she thought.

 

“Not a bad looking face though, if he were my man, I’d make him look like a hunk. What a pity…”

 

And she boarded bus 19 after he did.

 

Surprisingly, the bus was packed. There were no empty seats except the one next to the freak-ish fashion criminal.

 

“Urrggh, I hope he’s not as freakish as his fashion sense” Lynette told herself. And she sat down next to him, trying hard not to laugh at his bizarre fashion sense. She also noticed that he wore mismatched socks.

 

Andrew in the meantime was a bit taken aback by Lynette’s move to sit next to him. He had grown so used to Teresa sitting on the seat, so used to it, that he suddenly lost his mind.

 

“Teresa”, he said, “Where have you been?” and he started to stroke Lynette’s hair.

 

*SLAP* *SLAP*

“What the heck is wrong with you!” screamed Lynette. Everybody in the bus was shocked.

Her tight slap sent Andrew back into reality. He apologized profusely, embarrassed at what he had just done… all eyes were on him.

The bus driver sensed something amiss, stopped the bus and went into the passenger seats.

“Whats the problem now folks?” he growled.

“He tried to molest her sir”, answered a young man sitting opposite Andrew.

“Andy?”

“Sorry Les. This lady.. I thought.. I thought she was Teresa.”

“Andy, come here.” Les gave him a hug. “I am so sorry for you, lad, but you need to get over her. I know its going to be hard. But life goes on. You need to move on too.”

“Ok folks, back to your seats now then.”

 

A fuming Lynette stood all the way to town. She swore to herself that she wasn’t going to stay in this neighbourhood anymore. Especially not one where people actually symphatise with a psychomaniac who just touched her hair and called her what? Teresa.

 

She made up her mind to find a room in the city.

 

“Save myself from all this stupid bus trips”

 

Andrew still looked dazed. He was not sure why he thought this lady could have been Teresa. He stole a look at her. Yes she was fresh faced, but she lacked a certain charisma which Teresa had. And she was bold enough to slap him.

 

Well she certainly has a very nice coat” he thought to himself.

 

And before they both realized it they had arrived at their destination.

 

Lynette left in a huff. Andrew walked slowly towards Windham building, unsure of what the day holds for him. Perhaps, it was going to be another long, mundane day ahead…

This is a belated post. I was supposed to do a write up on the movie last Friday after I came back from the cinema, but somehow did not get around typing it. So there you are.

I watched "The Chronicles of Narnia-The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" last Friday with a couple of friends and my sister. Suffice to say I was very happy with the movie. Most of my guy friends beg to differ, saying that its more of a kid's movie than anything else, but hey, its CS Lewis you know? Think Alice in Wonderland and you get the idea. Watching movies like these are all about setting your imagination free and bringing out the inner child in you. In an imaginary setting so well described as Narnia, you need to forget everything about the real world and just, well, indulge in moments of make-believe.

My favourite character in the movie was, well, Lucy. I loved it when she played hide and seek and found the wardrobe which would in turn, open the gateway to Narnia. As she slowly ventured into a whole new world on the other end of the wardrobe, the excitement revealed on her face reminded me of a prank I used to play when I was a kid.

You see, I had this wardrobe fetish as a child- I would hide behind racks of clothes inside the wardrobe, giggling to myself as my mom screamed frantically for me to come out and take my bath, or to finish off whats left on my dinner plate. I loved hiding behind clothes... and of course, this particular "hobby" always got me into trouble. I remembered getting lost twice in a shopping mall because I decided to be smart and hide under the racks of clothes while my mom was picking out the clothes that she wanted to buy. Of course after I realised I was lost I did the logical thing every 4 year old would do-cry on the top of my voice so that whoever it was could discover my existence and bring me to my mom.

That was 21 years ago.

The Chronicles of Narnia is a story of courage, love between family members and how good prevails over evil... typical run of the mill storyline, one might say but it doesn't hurt to be reminded of the good things in life once in a while. Of course I was totally blown away with the background music written for this movie. It was absolutely fantastic. Music is so powerful that it can breath life into what would have been a standard movie. LOTR was one such movie with music scores so beautiful, I was moved to tears.

It is probably not wise to compare TCFN to LOTR since we do have different expectations as far as these two movies are concerned. They cater for different taste and personally, I like to have a little bit of child-like imagination in my movies. The innocence of children is an evergreen favourite in my list. Guess I can only say that I am a child at heart.

I hope I have not given out any spoilers in this post. I've tried to convey my inner thoughts on this movie as vivid as possible without giving away the plots in the movie. For those who haven't watched it, please do.

:D