Last night, I was trying to open a new bottle of mineral water and the cap just wouldn’t budge – tried as I might – I scraped some skin off my right palm and cut my left index finger - ouch! – And it still wouldn’t budge. I immediately thought of BK and sms him so – ha … he was then on the flight to Seoul. Every now and then, little things happened that nudged me he is not here with me, especially when I needed TLC. Now the cap is finally opened - Jennie taught me to leverage on the back handles of a scissor or a tool when The Man is not around, so I tried with that of a turn-screw can opener and it worked! She mentioned to me about living without The Man at Home!!?? Hee.
When I first came to Houston, I knew nuts about the direction here. Today I still can’t tell which part of Houston is E or W till I read the map. The bus route still confuses me, especially when it states Eastbound or Westbound, I recognise and remember places way better. I read the map pretty well though, so at least that helps me get around.
BK was here with me for a week. He made sure I got an apartment that is in a safe environment and comfortable enough for me to live in, he got most of the bulky necessities stocked up for next 5 months while I am here, he visited the school with me to make sure the culinary institute I have chosen to come all the way from Singapore for exists and it is as what the website stated, he oriented me to the bus stops so that I am at the right one to go to school each morning and back, he drove the bus routes so that I became familiar with the environment and could go places. After he has done all these, he told me he felt comfortable and he was ready to head back to Singapore … I felt sad… and he said I will be fine living in Houston alone.
In the first week, when I wanted to visit a pastry cafe, he checked the bus route and timing for me so that I wouldn’t get lost, I just couldn’t make sense of bus 40 bus stops, there are 4 bus stops in 4 different directions? Singapore time is 13 hours ahead of Houston, this meant that when I was going out on Saturday mid morn, it was already late at night for him. One day I told him, I have got to read the metro myself, and I did.
We chatted and webcam via skype daily, that was before he joined a new company where skype usage was not permitted. Now we are on MSN IM. We still prefer to talk via skype and he had it loaded on his mini notebook. He gives me wake-up calls every morning… oops yes! … mostly from Singapore, recently in Hong Kong and today from Seoul, Korea wherever he made his business travels. I remembered there was one morning he missed my wake-up call and I didn’t wake up to catch the bus. April came to save my day and got me to school early that day. He called and was worried I missed school … Ha ha … Of course I wasn’t mad, I felt pampered he remembered my wake up time whatever he was doing and wherever he was. That day, I remembered Chef Sebastien looked at me in disbelief, “You got an overseas wake-up call from your husband everyday?“ Yes, I still do, even though now I hear my alarm clock better.
Every weekend, he would brunch with my dad to update him on me over local carrot cakes, char kway teow and kopi at a neighbourhood hawker centre - my dad just could not associate himself with technology to keep up with my updates. In the beginning, BK would print out pictures and gave dad a run through based on the scripts I wrote for each pix. More recently, he would print out my blog entries so that my dad got to keep up with my thinking and happenings. I am really thankful he has a good relationship with my dad and my family. Every Friday whenever he is not travelling, he would visit my parent’s cum brother’s home to have dinner, mum would cook him special dishes as he needs to eat out most of the week when I am not around. My sis-in-law told me once he stayed to watch a Barbie doll movie with my 3 little nieces – how nice! He is a patient guy and would usually play with them. Now he will attend all the family birthday celebrations as we did from June to Dec each year – yes all the birthdays at home are all between June to December, all 14 of them … and we celebrate them… I miss all these family celebration! My dad turned 69 last month and he set up a skype webcam so that I got to celebrate for my dad too. How thoughtful and cool!
I am thankful I can live my passion and share a common goal with The Man at Home. I am looking forward to his trip to Houston when I earn my Diploma in Baking and Pastry Arts. And then I will be back home in Singapore. Smile!
The environment was familiar, I decided to walk my way back, again. I wanted to laugh – the whole chain of event was so familiar, except for one, this time I was carrying the Sur La Table paper bag, which broke under the weight of stuff I bought just when I boarded the bus. I wanted to laugh because I had written too soon on my blog last Saturday that I was lucky I wasn’t carrying my Sur La Table purchase during my unintended walk back. Today adding on to the weight of my back pack, I was carrying a broken bag containing 2 “professional heavyweight metal” trays, a metal rack, some tartlet tins, an “Endurance(R) stainless steel” mixer, a zester, a whisk (yes, I bought another), parchment paper roll and … Chef Sebastien had earlier said to me in class, “You are buying these things and taking the bus? ” Then we both didn’t know a long walk was thrown in as extra bonus. This time though, the walk seemed easier, despite the weight – I had already walked the route once so I was familiar, I wasn’t too paranoid. I had stopped at a stone bench outside some houses along the way for a couple of minutes, I was really tired, but I decided to continue my walk. Again, I was relieved when I saw Restaurant Depot in sight, my footsteps then all the way back to my door were in auto-cruise, I was really exhausted. I looked at the clock, again it was past 5, like on Saturday. It seems like the Saturday walk home was a familiarising tour to prepare me for today, less the weight.
I took out the vegetable with the intention to cook it for dinner. I find the design fascinating so I took a few shots, then a few more and more … I had picked up the Italian Broccoli from Central Market yesterday, I thought it was a beauty. I have not seen this species of broccoli in Singapore before . I wasn’t sure if it was my ignorance, so I sent a picture via MSN to my friend Kyra, and she confirmed we may not have this in Singapore but it is recognisable it is a type of broccoli.
Bus 82 came when I was on Westheimer, I hopped onto the bus and let it take me to wherever I fancy. I haven’t been to Central Market, so I got down and continued my walk. I love supermarket shopping – rather I love to see what are on the shelves, products that are new and unfamiliar to me, new ideas … and of course I will buy something back, I just couldn’t resist. I got a good excuse this time, my whisk disappeared in class, yes, it vanished… I bought one with white silicon that looked totally different from my classmates and I do not expect this to be mis-”taken” anytime. I fancy all things Jalapenos, and there was a Hatch fair going on – I got a bottle of Green Chile Salsa Verde and another of Jalapeno Hatch Chile Jam … I also got a couple of Jalapenos recipes for cake, choux and sorbet etc (interesting!) from the sample booth but they were not placed into my bag at checkout (sob! …it is okay, I will get them back!) I also got excuse to indulge in bakeware in order to practise what I learnt in the lab …
The French Gourmet Bakery did not have a gourmet feel to it, even the cake display did not look gourmet enough. But I love the spacious seating and a nice touch which include table seating by the windows with tiny curtains … the ray of sunshine gave a level of comfort for reading and my day dreaming. Of course, I day dreamt with an order of Chocolate Croissant, a coffee, and a shortbread called Thumbprint. I don’t think it is classic French, is it? The coconut shortbread has a depression in the centre piped with chocolate fudge, the depression should fit the thumb size of the French chef who owned the bakery cafe. I would like to know all the chefs behind the pastries I tried every weekend but was too hesitant to speak to one. I spent some time reading The Secret, and day dreaming my vision. I was served by Bethany, got to know she is also a Pastry student, doing an associate degree at the Art Institute.
I got off along 20th St @ Lawrence. I made my way walking back toward W T C Jester since walking back to 11th St would take as much energy. I convinced myself that my destination is just the next red line on the map. I don’t know why, but I was smiling as I walked … I was thankful I didn’t have the bag of Sur La Table purchase with me … Restaurant Depot was in sight, and I knew I am near home. At last. In front of me a Central Bank sign read “Strong, Independent, Focused on You”, I smiled. The comforting thought was I have probably digested the Chocolate Croissant and the little Thumbprint.
