Haitink's Beethoven

BEETHOVEN.

I appreciate the slap-in-face. I remember people pouring acid all over the LSO when it scheduled a full Beethoven symphony cycle under Bernard Haitink. I think it went something like “oh and the highlight of LSO’s season is guess what … Beethoven symphony cycle” along with collective yawns and smirks.

Turned out so differently from what was expected. It was not run of the mill, apparently. I was expecting some run-of-the-mill go-through-motion Pastoral when I was tuning in on KrisWorld. But instead I sat up and thoroughly went into the music. The second movement was so serene and rich, and the woodwind so intoxicatingly appropriate for the programme and mood of the music. The third movement felt a tad too boisterous, but it was after all merrymaking. The storm felt a bit overdone and rushed, but it was after all a storm. The final movement was another highlight – especially towards the end when the luscious strings sung the final hymn.

I couldn’t wait to fly back to Singapore to find the CD. But that couldn’t possibly be the case of course. And even now when I’m back in Singapore I can’t find the CD. So I had to settle for MP3s and emusic (which apparently has had 20,000 new subscribers since its foray into UK a few months ago). That is not perfect cos’ of the way the tracks were ripped … no longer non-stop and with some errors in them. Urgh. But still good enough to give a stereo rendition. Then the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th …

Okay the 5th sounds a bit too under-laboured. A good place to stop. But I’ll grab the 6th and 9th when I can finally find them somewhere. LSO Lives On.

My Humble Food Adventures

It was the most obvious of ironies, but I only realised it when my aunt pointed it out – in the car, on the way back home. How can a restaurant with such food and such prices be named “Humble House”? Obviously irony is an integral part of modern Chinese cuisine.

Anyway I could not really believe my aunt when she said we were going to Humble House for dinner. I think she had been harbouring desires to get there and try the food ever since we caught the Sam Leong series. So on this fateful day between DeepaRaya we ventured forth. She definitely has no regrets having tried, and paid. Neither do I. Perhaps the marble goby tasted a bit … ordinary, but the rest of the food was outstanding. The setting was quite “can’t see what you’re eating” dark, the music was not quite right, but otherwise everything was great. The only slight problem is that I now want to make a return visit. So my challenge is wondering who I can coax into paying for that one …

Oh and it was my dad’s first time in the Esplanade. So I brought him around a bit. We went to the roof terrace, where I introduced him to the “BEFORE IR” view of Marina South. We’ll definitely be back again in five years.

It didn’t take five years for us to make a return visit to Aston’s Specialities. But we returned to a slightly different place … the guy decided to move from the kopitiam to his very own eatery on East Coast Road. There is now more space, more seating, more erm ventilation generally, and the food remains absolutely smashing good, really regardless of price. I am still smitten and will probably drag my daddy for my next return visit.

My attempt to revisit Cheesecake Café was however thwarted by their apparent slackness and decision to close on Tuesday in addition to Mondays. I sulked my way to Secret Recipe and was mildly appeased by new cheesecakes on the menu. I tried a lemon cheesecake. It was baked fluffy light and had two digestive cookie layers with a zesty lemon topping. I felt it was reasonable, but miss mint thought it tasted too artificial.

I have really been eating a lot this block leave. I have satisfied most of my gastronomical cravings. Had Thai at First Thai where I over-ordered and missed out on desserts and finally visited Curry Favour on Saturday when we put up at Intercontinental. Naturally we also went to The Lounge where I found they had a new singer who is an equal of the previous diva. We also had a fulfilling buffet breakfast in The Lounge. I also visited Cedele and its cheesecakes (my current favourites) too many times. Add Spinelli to that. I also neglected my Royal China mooncakes, and as a result they decided to revolt and go all mouldy. Haiz.

What other food adventures … I still have yet to find the jiaozi which my buddy influenced me into craving. And really there is still Peng Lai Ge to visit. Not to mention North Indian food and tandoori … oooooh ….

Taiwan 2006

Just came back from Taiwan. I am damn glad I decided to have a go at Taipei first as a civilian. The experience of the place is vastly different as a trainee than as a normal being – more constrained, less time, more hectic, more meaningless things that you have to do simply because you are scheduled to do as part of this entire herd of people … like the E-tour. I have many gripes about the E-tour. We set off from 屏東 all the way to 雲林 … (yes near 斗六) and then back to 高雄. … The next day we set out from Kaohsiung all the way to 南投 then to 台北. And all the way we were entertained by movies that invariably showed girls fighting one another … WHY?

It is not all complaints of course. The shopping at 新崛江 in Kaohsiung was good. The E-tour in Taipei actually covered places I had never been to. SYS Memorial was quite boring. The change of guard at 忠烈祠 was cool. The best was the National Palace Museum, which after renovation looks like a cool modern museum. But we only had one half hours there. I would gladly have traded some time at amusement parks for more time at the museum, so I could at least have had a guide. Oh well …

Some observations I had in Taipei. I quite forgot that Singaporeans were quite the bunch that was overly obsessed with food and shopping. I put that firmly down to the fact that I had joined in with tributes to Bangkok in March, and now in Taipei. I had seen many interesting things after a month last year, and I thought it was time to indulge in some things that I didn’t necessarily want to the last time. Still the intensity and passion for shopping which gripped my fellow tourists left me dumbstruck. The worst thing was that it only came to me when tp came and asked about other attractions in Taipei and taking the MRT. I almost thanked heavens for somebody who actually thought of seeing the place (even if it might have been for other motives) instead of just seeking out the next cheap bargain.

So I was glad I went to Taipei before as a civilian, but for more reasons than I would have anticipated last year. I would definitely want to be back. I probably exaggerate when I tell people that “the only thing I can possibly have against this city is its English”. There’s also probably going to be a lot of frustration with politics in the long run and also air quality. Otherwise I’m looking at possibly living there for a while. But that’s in the not-so-near future. For now I’ll be content to go back to Taipei, and maybe visit Yilan for hot springs and Tainan just to walk around. And then there’s New Zealand and Vietnam and …