Nine Things + One Thought - Vol. 1
- May 31
- 5 min read
A quick round up of random things in my life. Music. Books. TV. Movies. Food. Home. Fashion.
Welcome to the first edition of Nine Things + One Thought. Every month I will share a summary of what I’ve been listening to, watching, reading, coveting, and other recommendations for my dear readers. I hope you enjoy it!
1 / Music: Hermanos Gutiérrez- Sonido Cósmico
If music emanated from the deserts of America it would sound like this. This is landscape made into sound. These days when I need to do work on the computer y play this album on repeat. It takes me to a rhythm and trance of productivity. I can’t really explain the genre, but it’s instrumental and very Tarantino.
2 / Book: Isabel Allende - Long Petal of the Sea
Isabel Allende is probably my favourite writer. Once I pick a novel or hers I can’t put it down until I finish it. This is the last one I read and I already have the next one on my bedside table. Long Petal of the Sea will take you to Chile, right before Isabel’s exile, through the story of a family of Spanish Immigrants from Barcelona. It’s a story that hurts and warms the heart in equal measure.
3 / TV: Riz Ahmed’s Bait
What if the next 007 was going to be a British Pakistani? Bait is a hilarious satirical black humour TV series that starts with a bang. The first few episodes made me laugh like I haven’t laughed since Fleabag. It gets very surreal and borderline oneiric in the end, but it was still a good watch. Different. Refreshing. Original. It made me rewatch Fleabag.
4 / Movie: Project Hail Mary
My husband has excellent taste in movies and TV shows. I go with his choice always, but what made him think that this was a good choice for our 7 year olds?
Project Hail Mary is thrilling, wholesome, it’s science fiction (which I love) but it’s also 2.5h long. I would have loved to go without kids. I feel I need to watch it again after I had multiple interruptions to comfort tears of anxiety, handle snacks and take a number of toilet breaks. This week we are watching Sheep Detectives. Much more appropriate.
5/ Restaurant: Magpie, Tiong Bahru
I went to Magpie for a special occasion some time ago. The first thing that surprised me was the incredible music selection, played from vynil. We sat at the bar and that made for a very intimate experience. My husband and I like to dine side by side instead of in front of each other. Those two things already won me over and we hadn’t even tried the food yet.
We ordered the deep fried zucchini flower, that was spicy outside and creamy inside, the burrata with brinjal curry, the pork the chicken and the sticky toffee pudding with mace ice cream. It was a lot. We took half the meats back home to have for lunch the next day but everything was delicious. The food in Magpie is specifically crafted to make an impact. Nothing in this restaurant will leave you indifferent.
I had to ask what mace was because I had forgotten after two glasses of wine. Wine that was recommended by the sommelier and was an absolute hit.
Mace is the red glossy net that covers a nutmeg. We have nutmeg trees near the house and when the pear like fruit falls to the ground, it cracks in the middle with a clean cut revealing the bright glossy red net of mace covering the nutmeg seed. It’s a thing of beauty.
This was the experience of dining at Magpie, a succession of vivid memories coming to your head bite after bite.
You can book your table here.
6/ Outfit:
I made my first purchase in The Real Real (second hand fashion site) last week. After a thorough search I finally found the Ulla Johnson cover-up Selena dress I have been coveting for months. It was a bargain, even with the shipping cost from the US. It arrived in perfect condition. I think this is going to be my uniform for the Summer.
7/ Accessory: Waterproof T-Bar Necklace from H&M
Some of my favourite necklaces are unfortunately just gold plated. Since I don’t take them off for showering or for the pool the gold just loses its lustre very quickly, so I decided to buy a 100% Stainless Steal gold necklace for daily use. I have no idea if the T-bar has any significance (please tell me if the comments if it has) but it seems like a minimal enough design for me to wear all the time.
It cost me S$29.90 in www.hm.sg
8/ Shoes: Birkenstock Arizona in Leopard
Like I mentioned in my introductory post About Reunions, I’m currently a person that lives in Birkenstock Arizona Sandals. I have a permanent tan line on my feet from them. I’m trying to change that so this doesn’t help.
I have a few pairs of Birkenstock sandals, but I do not have a pair in leopard. Then the Instagram algorithm served me this ad from Net-a Porter. It was love and first sight. How on earth am I going to resist this temptation? What to do when somebody puts two things I love so much together? The price is an off putting 565 USD, but I’m very resourceful and thrifty. Just give me time.
9/ Home: Growing plants in a vase
Some people have rescue animals. I have rescue plants. There’s nothing more satisfying that bringing a plant back from the brink of death.
This Aglaonema Easter Red plant came to me full of mealybugs. It was growing in a place with too little light and it was leggy, so I pruned it. I put the cuttings in a glass vase in my bathroom and they have been there for months.
Even if I consider myself a bit of an expert in indoor plants, this was totally accidental. It turns out you can grow Aglaonemas in water.
So instead of flowers, why not keeping some of these plants around the house? They last longer and are more economical. They are known also as Chinese Evergreen and they come in many different shapes and colours.
10/ A thought: What nobody tells you about starting something new.
I’m kind of nervous this week after launching this new blog venture on Substack. It’s not the kind of nervous you feel leading up to an event. It comes with the butterflies in the stomach that you get when something really matters to you.
This is because you want it to be perfect.
Of course I’m wondering if this, that I have never done before, is going to turn out well, but I mostly wonder if it’s really ready to launch or I should polish it a little more here and there.
Perfect is the enemy of done.
The fear or not being perfect might prevent you from doing something altogether. So I’m leaving that feeling behind and moving on. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to… be.
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Until next time.
XoXo
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