Making Public Private Lives

With a beaming face on a book cover and
a title that screams a basic need we all hunger for,
who wouldn't want this pick-me-up for a read?!

Chef Judy Koh may not be a motivational speaker, but she sure has the persuasive powers to turn you into a baker. Her latest cookbook, Pockets of Happiness, is soaked through with recipes to mouthwatering desserts. The book's also got an unusual 'filling' - poems! Yes, honest-to-goodness poems baked straight from the heart!



Chef Judy has 18 years of professional baking experience and is Managing Director and Principal Chef of baking school Creative Culinaire. She also heads up an in-house bakery and runs Caffe Pralet. Her accolades are many - clinching several national and international records (among them 'The Guinness World Records for the world's Tallest Chocolate Sculpture' and 'Singapore's Biggest Birthday Cake') and having written other cookbooks. With all these to her credit, you'd think she's 'arrived'. Wrong. There's still Cambodia! She has plans to improve lives and livelihoods of the needy in that land. When asked how far off she was from fulfilling her ambition to make good her skills in imparting them to villagers at risk, she puts it down to eight years. I wish Godspeed.

My heart swells with delight as I recount how in The Living Room, we've come to learn of so many entrepreneurs and professionals from various trades who are making their skills count beyond dollars and cents. Last Friday, award-winning photographer Alex Soh was on our show sharing how he was using his photography skills to aid villagers in Cham Resh (a remote village in Cambodia) build a road that would 'help them walk out of poverty'. Alex emailed me today to say that the 3-day exhibition at VivoCity raised close to $12,000! May The Living Room's profiling of such personalities and their acts of selfless giving rub off on you.

My other guest today was also a shutterbug-cum-multi-disciplinary artist. His story is one of pursuing your dreams. At the beckoning of his wife after marriage when they were just 23 years old, he dropped out of LaSalle College of the Arts, bundled themselves onto a plane bound for the US. No contacts, no leads, no clues. Twelve years later today, John Clang (born Ang Choon Leng) is making headlines after confronting his fears. (Con)Front happens to be the name of his solo exhibition that opens this Friday, 11th June at 2902 Gallery.

John strikes me as melancholic, quiet and contemplative. His personality is in stark contrast to New York City where everything is loud, brash and brazen. Despite having lived a decade in the Big Apple, he's a true blue Singaporean. He even proudly exclaims how he continues to speak like a Singaporean in the US and never did adopt the American accent.

(above: A piece of John's work with his dad as the subject matter. In place of his face that's been blanked out, are the Chinese characters that express an apology to his father.)

Being abroad, he admits to missing his family dearly, especially his elderly parents. His works reflect how highly he treasures family ties - yet another obvious Asian trait. In fact, a video installation at his upcoming exhibition portrays that clearly through his communication with them over Skype while based in the US, and how he walks into the projection and stands in place to make it look like a family portrait. Novel!

A Song for Everyone!

I think Ken Lim is cool. In Singapore Idol, he is the judge I most like to listen to cos I know he says it as it is, no mincing of words. But then, he's been in the industry of over two decades, heading the reputable Hype Records and Artiste Networks, what does he not know? Seriously.

So when the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee contacted me about the possibility of having Ken Lim on the show to talk about the Singapore 2010 Theme Song, which he composed & produced, I was secretly thrilled.

I thought he would be quite intimidating to interview. After all, he must have been interviewed a million times before, and he's not exactly a media whore (is there a male equivalent for that term?). So if he stared across at us with his bored, serious look throughout the interview, with arms folded, I will so die.

But truth be told. Ken Lim is not like that at all. He is really nice and charming! And he smiles a lot too, much more than I've seen him smile in all seasons of Singapore Idol put together. Or then again, it could just be that he really likes Stan & me? *LOL*

Ken Lim and Tabitha Nauser shares the Singapore 2010 theme song.

What I didn't know about the man was that he had produced the official theme song of the 11th Asian Games (Beijing, 1990), and composed & produced the theme song of the 17th SEA Games (Singapore, 1993). So composing & producing for the Youth Olympic Games can't be that big a deal. Right?

"It's different because this time, I know how much the Games means to our nation. And so writing the theme song has its pressures that way," Ken explains. "But composing the song itself wasn't particularly hard. The theme 'Everyone' just came up very naturally."

That's right, the Singapore 2010 theme song is entitled Everyone and it features 5 youths from 5 different continents singing it. The video is currently being played exclusively on MediaCorp Ch5.

But we had an unplugged version of the theme song sung for us 'live' over the airwaves from the voice of Asia herself, Tabitha Nauser. Here she is:

You'll remember Tabitha as 2nd Runners-up at the most recent Singapore Idol 2009. She's only 18 and oh, what a big voice! *beams* She currently sings with an acoustic band at Republic Polytechnic and has plans to pursue a career in the music industry. Go for it, girl!

Without further ado, here's the video of the Singapore 2010 theme Song. In fact, the night before our interview, I still couldn't find it on YouTube. I was told it would be uploaded specially in time for The Living Room's interview at 10am. And we were the first programme to announce its presence on YouTube! *woohoo*

Well, here is the song Ken Lim composed & produced. This time, YOU be the judge!

Onboard the Orient Express!

I watched a TV drama years ago, starring Cheryl Ladd, called Romance on the Orient Express, and I fell in love with trains! I've since taken a steam train at Fort Bragg, California, the shinkansen (bullet train) in Kyoto, and just last week, the luxurious Eastern & Oriental Express.

The classic green & gold of the Eastern & Oriental Express.

It was just a dinner trip which started at 6.30pm and ended at midnight, and we probably went as far as Johor. But the Orient Express managed to transport me into another time and place. It was pure luxury, and I allowed myself to be spoilt rotten! *LOL*

Today in The Living Room, Stan & I had the pleasure of hosting the General Manager of Eastern & Oriental Express, Leesa Lovelace, and the man who whipped up that delectable gourmet meal for us, Chef Yannis Martineau.

From them, we got a rare behind-the-scenes peek into life onboard the Orient Express, which currently runs the Singapore-KL-Butterworth-Bangkok route. We're told it has since gained access to Laos, and will be making its maiden journey to Cambodia!

GM Leesa Lovelace & Chef Yannis Martineau step off the Orient Express to join us today in The Living Room!

But I'll let my photos tell the story of that marvelous adventure. ENJOY!

Stan could not make the trip, so I invited my best friend Ning to join me. The train was to depart from the Railway Station at 6.30pm, but we had an exclusive guided tour by Leesa at 5.15pm, so we made it there early!

Ning & I were ushered into the VIP Lounge at the Railway Station where we filled up our travel documents in cool comfort. Boarding passes & passports all ready!

All the guests were impeccably dressed. The men had to be (at least) in jackets & ties, while the ladies were dolled up in cocktail dresses & gowns!

Leesa met us there and took us onboard the Orient Express for a guided tour. We were told to walk towards the train discreetly so that the other passengers would not think it was time for them to board too. We cleared immigration there with little fuss and *woohoo* climbed onboard....

Leesa shows us the restaurant carriages where we'd have our dinner.

There are various accommodation options available. For those who think a train journey is not really a train journey unless you sleep on double-decker beds, you can book a Pullman room. Charming!

... or you can opt for a State room, which has two single beds. Does this look like a train to you? It's seriously so luxurious, it can pass off as room in a 5-star hotel!

The Presidential Suite ~ there are only 2 onboard. This is its day setting. When guests head for dinner, the staff transforms it into its night setting.

Every room comes with an attached w/c and shower!

After the guided tour, all us media folk were ushered to the Observation Car at the back of the train to get some fresh air and drinks as the other guests started boarding.

Ning and I (being non-drinkers, although booze was free flow for us that night!) ordered some mango juice and chilled out at the open-air Observation Car.

Mingling with the other journalists at the Observation Car before the train pulled out of the Railway Station.

We were scheduled for the second seating for dinner at 9.15pm. The exquisite meal was prepared by Executive Chef Yannis Martineau and his team of talented chefs. And we totally enjoyed the feast laid out before us!

We started off with warm breads.

The starter.

A unique blend of East & West: Tom Yam Cappucino.

For mains, I opted for the sea bass. There was also the option of lamb!

Always room for dessert. This was really yummy! *drool*

After dinner, we were served coffee/tea and treated to this pretty serving of petit fours. By then, we were too full to eat! But we took the opportunity to chit chat...

We shared a table with the Group Editor of Expat Living and his lovely wife Jillian, who shared about their adventures living & working around the world. Such a delightful couple!

You can catch the encore broadcast of this interview on 938LIVE at 11.10pm, or on Channel NewsAsia at 2.30am. To find out more about the Eastern & Orient Express, click here.

All aboard!!! *toot*

French Flair in the Kitchen

Just hearing the theme song of Asian Food Channel's French Food at Home, makes me wring my hands in glee and anticipation. I love watching Laura Calder glide around the kitchen as she whips up delectable French dishes & pastries. She's so pretty to watch! *LOL*

I am so not a cook. I always tell people I can't bake to save my life. "But have you tried?" My BFF asked me the other day. Well... not really.... But I do entertain the fantasy of being a Domestic Goddess on weekends, when I blast French music, put on an apron, and whisk flour & eggs in the kitchen.

The BFF started baking recently and that has inspired me to at least consider dipping my finger into it. Maybe I can start by being her assistant? And watching Laura Calder makes me feel like I can do this.

There's an episode of Season 3 that I particularly like. It's on Simple Pleasures. And she bakes petit fours, powder puffs with cream & raspberry jam, canele, and stirs up a mean lait de poule (eggnog). Oo-la-la! *drool*

Although this Canadian lass loved cooking and baking from a young age (she won her 1st competition at age 6 for her chocolate cake with peanut butter icing!), cooking as a career never did cross her mind.

No, she pursued a degree in Linguistics in Toronto, then a Masters degree at the prestigious London School of Economics, and even began a career in print & broadcast journalism (radio!), all the while cooking & baking as a hobby.

"Even when I traded all my textbooks (after graduating from LSE) for cookbooks, and carted all the crates back home, it didn't hit me that it was what I was meant to do," she says with chuckle. "It was in my face all the while, you'd think I'd have seen it!"

But it was a particularly low point in her life, and a failed relationship, that led her to give up everything, take that leap of faith, and enroll herself in a cooking school in Vancouver. And as they say, the rest is history.

A chance meeting with cookbook author & chef Anne Willan led her to spend the next decade of her life in Paris, learning the finer art of French cooking. And what ensued was two cookbooks of her own, French Cooking at Home (HarperCollins, 2003) and French Taste: Elegant Everyday Eating (2009).

In 2005, she was served up a TV series of her very own, titled after her first published cookbook, and it's been so successful it's into its 3rd season! *beams* I guess when you're born to do something, the universe makes a way for that to happen, no matter how you try to skirt around it. I guess you just have to listen to your heart and trust your instincts.

A very tall Laura Calder, host of AFC's "French Food at Home".

I was thrilled to meet Laura face-to-face in The Living Room and to get to know her better. I found that we have much in common! For one, we're both writers at heart. And it's in the expression of the word that we're able to crytalise our thoughts best. *grin*

She keeps a journal which she carries with her everywhere. She never leaves home without it. And it's there that she scribbles her thoughts, ideas and reflections. I asked her why not start a blog? She smiles and declines. I love that "old schoolness" about her somehow, especially since she's an celebrity chef and must face so much pressure to do so!

Well, you can bet I'll be tuning in French Cooking at Home 3. You can catch Laura too on Mondays 9pm on the Asian Food Channel (Starhub Ch435), or visit her website to find out more about her.

Tip: Read her bio page! It really gives a hint of the sort of person she is! I so totally enjoyed reading it... *wink*

A Class of Budding Glass-makers

The still moist air was an unwelcome prelude to the morning drizzle. The heat perhaps set the mood for what was to be a flaming hot affair at working with glass. Except for two participants who joined Pam and I at The Living Room's Hot Glass Bead-Making workshop, it was the first time they were going to work with glass. It certainly is a rare find to chance upon a professional glass artist than say a ceremic artist in Singapore, so Dominic Fonde, co-founder of Art Glass Solutions was a gem!

What distinguished this workshop apart from many other events before this, would be that this was almost wholly hands-on. The theoretical bits were kept to the minimum and not long after welcome words were exchanged, participants were split into two groups and herded to the back of the colonial studio space on Kuo Chuan Avenue. One group was going to start with engraving on lemonade glasses while the other group would begin with bead-making.

Before we could start engraving, Hannah who's from Germany, had each participant prepare a design on a piece of paper. It would later be rolled up and stuffed into the lemonade glass, and we just had to trace our design with the engraving drill bit. It would be advantageous to possess the ability to produce a good design and to have steady hands. I was down on both counts. I can't draw anything decent, nor are my hands apt in keeping the swirling drill bit from pirouetting away from the design I was to trace.



I did slightly better in the bead-making though Dominic did most of the work. After all, you had to work with a flame about 1,200 degress that shot out from a canister tightly clamped to a table.



In between activities, participants gathered around another table to watch Dominic's friend Katherine demonstrate how copper foiling's done. Most of the pieces that participants produced that day were either for a partner or a child who wasn't in attendance. Such sweet gestures!

Meantime, stay peeled to 938LIVE for details of the next Living Room outdoor event!

A Christian conversion

While there are those who swoon over a certain Italian crooner coming our way next month for a one-night-only concert, we're happy to report we've got one of our own who just as effortlessly makes women weak in the knees with his ballads. Just ask Pamela, who got serenaded to live on air in The Living Room this morning. No wonder he comes in the way of boyfriends and their girls. It's this easiness and charm about him. This is the magnetism of Christian Bautista.

Vocals aside (he has a rich baritone timbre that glides on higher registers, transporting you to third heaven), it doesn't hurt to have chiselled good looks and looking dapper yet relaxed. Words flow easily for this 28-year-old, who first struck out as a singer in 2004 after a decent showing at Star in a Million, a reality singing contest in his native Philippines. Christian's music has won hearts not just among his country(wo)men, but across Southeast Asia. Indonesia in particular loves him, with album sales there reaching the triple platinum mark. Not that his music hasn't won over radio listeners in Singapore. Back a few years ago, his rendition of 'The Way You Look At Me' made it it to #1 on the Perfect 10 chart (what is now 987FM).

When asked why his music appeals to such a wide audience across cultures, he puts it down to digging deep into his emotions. "Every time I sing to my audience, I do my best to romance them, look them straight in the eye and tell them from my heart what I want to say. I think it's important they feel what you're singing...even if it's in a recording studio or on tv. I believe that's the way to go - to get that connection".

Christian's music is slow, sentimental, reflective and reminiscent, and there's no splitting hairs between his music and his personality. He adds, "I believe that we Asians are really romantics at heart. We love singing, we love romance, we love break-ups. There are so many good break-up songs that we just want to listen to them and cry".

I'd read in another interview that Christian begins and ends each day with prayer. I couldn't help but ask him if his faith shapes his life. To which he relates this story:

"When my mother named me Christian Joseph Morata Bautista, my grandfather said "You better be sure this man grows up to be a good boy because of the name you give him". You've got 'Christian' there, you've got 'Joseph' there, and 'Bautista' is Tagalog for 'Baptist'! So wow! I have to live up to that name."

Speaking of names, singing aside, he's also made a name for himself on both the tv & silver screens. Another feather in the cap - playing Tony in a musical theatre production of West Side Story back home. He fancies being in more musical theatre productions because he gets to be another character. For the time being however, this character has a lot going for him, releasing his second album in Singapore titled "Romance Revisited: Love Songs of Jose Mari Chan". Christian's latest album can be found in all leading music stores.

If you are a new convert and want to keep him in range, connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.

Watch Out Boy She'll Chew You Up!

She's no 'man-eater' like how Darryl Hall and John Oates described, but she's definitely an eater! Cutting a slim finger more befitting of a beauty queen than a professional eater is Juliet Lee. The native of the People's Republic of China up until 1992, Juliet now calls Maryland in the land of star and stripes home.

Pam and I have played host to all kinds of people from all sorts of background and varying stature, but none as fearsome as this lady with a voracious appetite. The night before, Juliet had swallowed 160 shrimp dumplings in 8 minutes. That's just over 3 dumplings in a second! When she sashayed into our living room this morning, she radianted health and didn't look weighed down or sickened by her feat of a feast less than 24 hours earlier.

She has us know that her strategy is to use her hands as teeth, especially when she has to wolf down pizzas. Before stuffing the next mouthful, she'd grab the slice in waiting and roll and form it into a shape and size that would go down easier). She didn't need to employ this technique at yesterday's CP Biggest Eater Competition 2010 - a wonton challenge organised by CP Foods. The boiled dumplings were already softer than say hotdogs or hamburgers, and with the smooth skin, they went down easier than most other foods. But Juliet admitted that the going got tougher in the later stages. As each dumpling contained whole shrimps, she had to chew on the dumplings in the closing stages just to get more in.

When asked if she felt bad about such ravenous eating while half the world was starving, she sets the record straight, saying competitive eaters like herself did what they did to promote foods rather than the act of binging or extravagant wastage. We also learn that she and many of her competitors make donations to impoverished communities, so they do plough back part oftheir winnings.

If you're wondering if there is a 'hall of fame' for the competitive eating fraternity, bingo! They call themselves the Major League Eating & International Federation of Competitive Eating! Juliet currently ranks #11 on the Eater Rankings, with only one other lady ahead of her in the male-dominated pack.

When Juliet's not gorging, she leads an active life playing mother to two teenage daughters and runs her own hair salon back in the States. She also claims she's as good in the kitchen as she is at the competition table, preparing meals for her family and her cat, but she says she eats most "gracefully" when the clock's not ticking down.

And as a true blue Chinese, she jests that she'll eat anything that has legs, except tables. Eating is truly Juliet's 'Romeo', and being Chinese gives her an edge!