Why Scrambled Eggs?

Speaking of chicken eggs, how would you like your eggs done? Baked, soft boiled, hard boiled, poached, soft scrambled, hard scrambled, sunny side up, over easy, over medium, over hard, omelette, steamed, etc?

Why do you prefer your eggs to be, say, scrambled and make it soft scrambled at that? Perhaps it is due to nature. Your DNA dictates that your egg-style is soft scrambled. If this be true, then it would be an easy-peasy choice by default and and there is nothing mysterious as to why you are like that. 

Stretching this train of thought a little, did your inclination for soft scrambled change with age or when other biological changes takes place inside you? Please feel free to comment and share your experiences here.

Alternatively, perhaps your choice of eggs is a matter of nurture whereby you acquire the taste for a certain kinda egg-style. This would be true when you started off liking, say, soft scrambled before moving on to soft boiled. Make that ajitama (seasoned soft boiled eggs), which is the most quintessential topping for ramen. 

Possibly, you may have no preference at all. You could well find yourself liking eggs in all its variant cooking-style -- you eat whatever is placed on your plate. "Just feed me!"

Or, you may simply loathe the aforementioned eggs and could be absolved from whether eggs are healthy or unhealthy for your age, your blood type, so on and so forth. 

However, you simply love egg tarts! Now, then please explain yourself!!

Apparently, there may be some correlation between your egg-likes to your personality although it is still moot as to whether you-are-what-you-eat as opposed to you-eat-what-you-are.

In "What Your Egg Style Says About Your Personality" written by Elyse Wanshel, it is observed that, "Scrambled egg aficionados are guarded, according to the study. Yet, though they like their eggs a little chaotic, their life is very much together. Those who tend to eat scrambled eggs have managerial or senior-level jobs and usually own their own home. They’re also loyal friends to the end! They may be conservative, but are always friendly and inclusive of others." 

Over at "The Egg Personality Test: What Your Style of Egg Says About You" written by Ariel Knutson, if you are a soft scrambler, "You take some time to warm up to. At first you don't seem very approachable, but as people get to know you they fall in love. You are a hard worker, but always elegant at whatever you do."

The results of such study done on egg vis-a-vis personality is best taken with a pinch of pepper while enjoying your eggs. If you don't like what you read, get a second opinion elsewhere if you can find it. Or, just laugh it off. 

On a more adventurous note, if you like what you have read of those, you know, other eggers, then why not try their eggs and see if your life would change towards theirs. You are not being egged on here as it could not possibly be such a bad thing to make a change. 

Sous vide eggs, anyone? Say what?! As gleaned from Wikipedia, sous vide (French for "under vacuum") is "a method of cooking in which food is vacuum-sealed in a plastic pouch and then placed in a water bath or steam environment for longer than normal cooking times at an accurately regulated temperature much lower than normally used for cooking (typically around 55 to 60 °C (131 to 140 °F) for meat, higher for vegetables). The intent is to cook the item evenly, ensuring that the inside is properly cooked without overcooking the outside, and to retain moisture."

Here then is Daily Refreshing's tongue-in-cheek take on sous vide egger's personality, "You are a promoter of the avant garde with a refined taste for food and fashion. Your attention to details is bordering on obsession and you fluster over things when they are not up to your expectation. But, you are still likable as you have a generous spirit and closes the curtain to your drama once you had given a piece of your mind."

Have an egg-citing and refreshing day ahead, and keep your eyes peeled for new egg-ventures stemming from the ingenuity of our fellow sojourners on this earth.

Seriously, do you need another banker?

If you are not a salesperson, chances are good that you would be wary of them and your antennae would pop-up when they are approaching. Well, by chance, while looking for my usual cup of tea on YouTube, this unintended click has brought me to SPARKS mini-series by DBS Bank.

It was Episode 7 and I found myself watching the full clip lasting 12 minutes and 19 seconds. The setting in yesteryears were nostalgic and the heartbreaking scenes for the banker, Chester, and his ciient, Mrs Lu, were spot on. The acting, staging, casting, scripts, camera-shoot and all were pretty impeccable. Young Chester was outstanding and promising. He played his role with ease and scored with the just-right-amount of nuances. 

It was let on to me by Yasmin Seah in the comments to the clip that young Chester is none other than Nathan Hartono -- the Singaporean singer who was placed second in Sing! China competition in 2016

The blurp from DBS reads: "Inspired by true stories, SPARKS is a mini-series by DBS which follows a group of bankers as they navigate work and their personal lives. A smart and sassy portrayal of how the power of purpose and having the right banking partner enables everyone to get a lot more out of life – and a lot more joy from banking."

Click here to watch SPARKS Episode 7. Your view of a banker is about to be refreshed for good.

Click on the following for the more episodes:

Episode 1: Once upon a time - https://go.dbs.com/sparks-1 

Episode 2: Saving Sunlight - https://go.dbs.com/sparks-2 

Episode 3: Fighting Giants - https://go.dbs.com/sparks-3 

Episode 4: Never too late - https://go.dbs.com/sparks-4

Episode 5: In Pursuit of the cure - https://go.dbs.com/sparks-5 

Episode 6: New Beginnings - https://go.dbs.com/sparks-6 

Make Your Own Rain

Think of yourself as an ocean or lake filled with water of hope and dreams. As you stir and heat up your water they evaporate and transform into water vapour which rise to the sky. 

When the water cool down they condense into water droplets to form clouds. Once the clouds are saturated enough they precipitate and fall down as rain to water both the land and sea.

While you may not wanna blow your own trumpet, you owe it to yourself to make your own rain and create the life of your dream. Sure, you may find your own rainmaker or fairy godmother, but why leave it to chance in the sweet by and by?

The past is past. BUT NOW, you can make a difference. Your life will not change unless you make a deliberate change. Little steps are a modest start which will escalate into a momentum as you persist until your dream grips you and would not loosen its hold on you.

Let the following excerpts from a commencement speech given by Bradley Whitford at the University of Wisconsin inspire to you be your own rainmaker:

"1. Fall in love with the process and the results will follow.

2. Do your work. Find joy in the process of preparation.

3. Listen to the whispers inside you. We have a lot of problems in this world and we're going to need you think outside the box.

4. You are capable of more than you think. Don't limit yourselves.

5. Listen. Listen isn't passive. It is an act of liberation that will connect you to the world with compassion and be your best guide as you navigate  the choppy waters of love, work and citizenship.

6. Take action. Action is the antidote to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes. Learn what you can and move on. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble.

I want you to be an actor in your own life. Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honour your Creator, not by passively waiting for your grace to come down from on high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen -- yourself, right now, right down here on Earth." 

"I work best inundated with things, when it's like raining information." -- Ryan Seacrest

Click here for "Rain Down" by Delirious.

Message from a Bike

Getting the drift, sharing would require less resources to make more things. 

So sharing a commute by airplane, ship, train, taxi and, come lately, bicycle would make sense, and save resources.

Oh, btw, did you notice that the two "o" of ofo look very familiar strategically if you are thinking of bicycle?

Recollections From My Scrapbook

"No two people see the external world in exactly the same way. To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is -- in other words, not a thing but a think." -- Penelope Fitzgerald, English poet and novelist

"The early bird catches the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese." -- Stephen Wright

"A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition." -- William Arthur Ward

When moments are shared, memories are made. 

Thank you, William Wordsworth, for sharing your fascination brought upon by daffodils through your poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud":-

I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 

A host, of golden daffodils; 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Continuous as the stars that shine 

And twinkle on the milky way, 

They stretched in never-ending line 

Along the margin of a bay: 

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 

The waves beside them danced; but they 

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: 

A poet could not but be gay, 

In such a jocund company: 

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought 

What wealth the show to me had brought: 

For oft, when on my couch I lie 

In vacant or in pensive mood, 

They flash upon that inward eye 

Which is the bliss of solitude; 

And then my heart with pleasure fills, 

And dances with the daffodils. 

Btw, dear readers, thank you for wandering to Daily Refreshing and stopping by!

How Do You Solve New Problems?

Thank you, Monash University, for this thought-provoking advert.

Lucozade Got You Covered

Imagine going to the office and you see a fellow worker coming with a pair of red boxing gloves dangling from her backpack. That certainly packed a punch for me not to underestimate the toughness or affinity of a person on the inside of him and her.

That said, no matter which sports you fancy, Lucozade has got your covered.

Are You Ready To Run With Your Dream?

Before you give birth to your dream, it is yet unseen. This is the INVISIBILITY of your dream. Even though you do not see anything, it doesn't mean that nothing is happening. 

When you embark on your dream, you set in motion a positive energy like the planting of seeds which would add to your harvest to come. When a seed is planted, it is beneath the ground and unnoticed but it is there nevertheless. Look out of your windows and keep your eye peeled for your dream.

As you plod along, you may enjoy a small measure of success which seems so INSIGNIFICANT. Do not despise the days of small beginnings. Also, do not belittle your commitment of efforts towards your dream. Nothing that you do is insignificant. Just by sticking it out through thick and thin you are poised to go up the learning curve and become better and greater in what you do. Keep learning, keep growing, keep expanding, keep believing and stay the course. Work with your wheelbarrow and other tools in the garden of your dream.

When your dream is formed, learn to deal with the INTIMIDATION. This could take the form of envy or rivalry. Take your stand and keep fighting for your dream. Do not back down and run away from your dream. You have not come this far for nothing. This is the life that you have dreamed of. Take ownership and live it out. Never mind what your neighbours think.

Note: This article was inspired by Pastor Steven Furtick's sermon on Coming Out of the Drought.

Tiong Bahru Shophouses and Market

Continuing from the earlier blog post on "Visit Tiong Bahru and Walk Into The Past", this sequel will offer glimpses of the shops and market in Tiong Bahru. 

There are coffee shops which offer local food such as variants of the much relished Tiong Bahru porridge, bak kut teh (peppery pork ribs soup paired with rice and tea cuppas), Hainanese curry rice, yong tau foo (mackerel fish paste stuffed into portions of bitter gourd, tofu, bean curds, lady's finger, etc.) as well as restaurants, cafes and bakeries.

Then, there are shops which provide a wide-range of goods and services such as household items, drinks and snacks (think convenience stores), hair salons, legal services, books (Books Actually), spas and dog grooming.

To cap it all, the heart of the action in Tiong Bahru would be its market comprising a so-called wet market (the floors are dry now due to progress) on the ground floor which sell all the imaginable stuffs such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dried goods, flowers and clothing, and a humongous food centre upstairs which sells a representative smorgasbord of local delights (every day food, if you remove the hype) -- only the truly good ones are worthy to be labelled as "local delights", strictly speaking, and you can easily discern from their long queue of die-hard fans and awards garnered.

The above are just glimpses and would not do full justice to the vibe, heritage and all that makes for the distinction of Tiong Bahru. You gotta visit this enclave, experience it personally and then create your own memories of it. 

Visit Tiong Bahru and Walk Into The Past

Nestled amidst towering new condominiums and apartments is the enclave of Tiong Bahru. A walk here will take you back to a bygone era of Singapore as the flats here are more or less what they were like then. 

This is a refreshing view of modernistic Singapore which is off the radar of tourist attractions in Singapore. The ordinary locals may well enjoy it nonchalantly (for the young) and nostalgically (for baby-boomers and the elderly) while the expatriates, bloggers, instagrammers and photographers are basking in it.

Enjoy this walk as you take in the sights.

As of now it is is great to know that Tiong Bahru is still holding court notwithstanding the sprouting of newer and taller buildings in the vicinity as well as the march of modernism. Way to go! May it be a lasting legacy.

Click here for a comprehensive take by the National Heritage Board on the history of Tiong Bahru.

Click here to catch an insightful YouTube clip on "Tiong Bahru's Secret History & Heritage - #InstaWalk With MND Singapore".