Cultural Expedition

For those of you who may not know, I grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and we lived there for 9 years, 9 amazing years. Of all the places I have lived, this is my favourite. It will always have a big piece of my heart and it draws my family back almost every year. There is something so magnetic about the culture, the food, the shopping, the people, everything really. This really deserves a whole blog post of its own as a big part of who I am is a result of the life I led there and the experiences I had.

While living in KL it became a way of life to experience different cultures and their traditions. We would always have school holidays for Hari Raya and Chinese New Year for example. These traditions were so normal for me growing up, that I took them for granted and I realized last week that I don't know that much about them.  You see I was invited by my Singaporean friend Tong, to a Chinese New Year carnival that she had helped to organize with the Singaporean society. When Samuel and I arrived there, I realized how little I knew about this amazing and interesting celebration.

This was also a great time for me to practice a different style of photography as I really have only done portraits up until now and even then only a few. I realized how hard it is to take pictures in a crowded place where everyone and their mother is out to ruin your shot! But I loved it, and hopefully the pictures are okay! I also had to deal with really bad lighting and consequently very high ISOs at some points but I'm learning and these challenges help me.

I decided that instead of me trying to explain all of the ins and outs of the Chinese New Year celebrations, it would be more interesting, and more importantly, accurate, if Tong did the honours. So she has kindly done a Question and Answer with me to give us more of an insight. I believe it is so important to understand and embrace other cultures and never take for granted what we can learn from other people. 

Q: Can you give us an overview of what Chinese New Year is and what it means to people?

Chinese New Year is the traditional festival where we celebrate the coming of the new year on the lunar calendar. It lasts for 15 days. For traditional Chinese families, we have reunion dinner with the family (immediate or extended) on New Year's Eve with a huge feast. From Day 1 onwards, we will go visiting with mandarin oranges that signify prosperity (because in mandarin, mandarin oranges have similar pronunciation as prosperity). The youngsters will wish the elders good health and luck, while the elders will wish the youngsters good results in school and healthy growing and such. Then they will give us red packets (traditionally known as angpaos) which contain money. You are entitled to receive red packets as long as you are single and not married! Once you get married, it's your turn to distribute them! On Day 15 which is the last day, we will eat glutinous rice balls (traditionally known as tangyuan) which signifies reunion and harmony in the family for the year. 

Q: Why is each year represented by an animal?

The Chinese zodiac has 12 animals. It runs in a cycle and the animals are in the order Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Pig. It originated from some folklore that the animals had a race to determine the order of the animals.

Q: Tell us about Yu Sheng and what is the significance and tradition behind it? Also, what food is used to make it?

Traditionally, it is to be eaten on the 7th day of Chinese New Year, but it has evolved over the years so we eat it anytime when we gather within the 15 days. It is made from fish (the most important ingredient, because in Chinese saying, it signifies the accumulation of excess valuable things that we bring over to the new year), carrots, radish, chilli, flour crackers, sweet sauce, five spice powder, lime juice etc. It is extremely colourful and whenever we add in an ingredient into the big plate we have to say something auspicious that is related to its look or taste or pronunciation (e.g. when adding sweet sauce we will wish for sweet marriages etc.). And after we add everything, we will all hold our chopsticks and mix everything together as high as possible to signify rising assets/promotions/improvements, and also we have to say all the auspicious phrases every time we raise our chopsticks. It can get quite messy, but it's really fun and noisy.

Q: What's it like moving from Singaporean culture to English culture? What do you find so different about the people and ways of life?

English culture is very different for me because I come from a traditional family that is very much influenced by the Chinese culture. When I first came over the most difficult thing for me to get used to was the accents of the people, as well as for me to adapt to the accent in order to be understood. It's quite interesting that we are speaking the same language but it's so hard for us to understand each other. Also people here are very open-minded to sharing, especially with like love, political and sexual issues. But in Singapore there's not so much freedom of speech so I was a bit overwhelmed at first. But I've gotten used to it now so as much as I miss home and my family I do enjoy myself here!

Thanks Tong!

We were welcomed with a handful of oranges taken from this glorious pile!

There was lots of different types of food on offer; this stand sold Gyozas which are steamed dumplings and can often have a variety of fillings. They were cooked in this steamer and the served with soya sauce. Yum!

This young lady was a machine with her chopsticks!

There were also some crazy martial arts acts. It was really difficult for me to get my shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action as the light was so bad. Oh well I gave it a shot!

This guy had a look of death in his eyes! Check out some of the lovely decorations.

I noticed this poster stuck to the floor; it doesn't really have anything to do with Chinese New Year and was put there by the University but I thought it most fitting for this post and for life in general really.

Back to food as you know how much I love it! This stall was serving eggs boiled in tea or "Tea Leaf Eggs". I didn't get to try one but they look most interesting.

I think this photo captured the vibe of the afternoon; everyone was enjoying themselves and the food!

This little girl was so cute! Although from the look on her face I gather she thought I was nuts, which of course I am.

Oh I love food!

Towards the end of the afternoon everyone commenced the Yu Sheng (see Tong's explanation above). This was really crazy to watch; not only did the line of food go on forever but the sheer speed of the chopsticks was enough to make your eyes go funny...so much so my lens could barely find a focus point! This first picture is of Tong setting up.

Lastly here is Tong and me with our nifty chopsticks right before Yu Sheng started!

I also wanted to shout from the rooftops that our wedding is in the current issue of Cosmopolitan Bride magazine and includes lots of pics and an interview with yours truly. I will hopefully blog some photos if I can confirm that it's not a violation of copyright. If you can't contain your excitement nor or unable to wait for me to post, head to a news agent (that's if you're UK based of course!).

Fried Rice

I will end with a recipe for a Chinese dish; Chinese food is one of my absolute favourites and I grew up eating some of the best Chinese food around. I plan on doing lots of Asian recipes as I believe it's the best food in the world so I thought I would start off with a really easy recipe for Fried Rice from Kylie Kwong. It's really simple and good way to get started with Chinese cooking. Preferably you would cook this in a wok, however, if you don't have one a big frying pan will do. Always let the pan get extremely hot before cooking. Another handy tip with wok style cooking is to get ALL your ingredients chopped and ready and the sauces into bowls. Why? Well Chinese cooking takes very little time and you won't have enough time to chop and cook at the same time. It makes life much easier, try it!

This recipe calls for a lot of oil...I find it unnecessary and I never use it all. If you use a non-stick pan you definitely don't need to. So for the first step of the recipe try a tablespoon and then another tablespoon when you add the next batch. As I haven't adapted this recipe, I have included the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/deliciousfriedrice_72056.shtml

Have a lovely weekend everyone, feel free to comment below.

xx

Worth a Thousand Words

I came across this amazing true story the other day; it made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me feel as if I was there in the story, in every picture. This beautiful story is by Phillip Toledano and it's called "Days with My Father". It's a photo journal he started shortly after his mother passed away, and its the story of the last days he spent with his father, who at the time was in his 90s. This heart wrenching account is told with moving photos and beautifully written captions. The captions really help you to appreciate the photo and the story being told that much more, as well as the heartfelt relationship the author/photographer shared with his father (Link further down).

I suppose the reason this photo journal resonated with me so much is largely because one of my greatest fears is losing my parents. It may sound silly but I feel afraid of it everyday; you see, I'm somewhat morbidly inclined (I inherited it from my paternal grandparents). I try not to think about it, but often I do, I well up even as I write this. That's why it's so important for me to appreciate the years we have together, to tell my parents I love them everyday, even if it's only in an email, to spend time with them whenever we can; so much so, that when Samuel and I finally start a family, my parents are planning to get a house next door (not a joke!) and for me I think that is the way it should be.

It also reminded me of the power of the still image, of why I love photography so much, of what a single image can mean to the person it belongs to. For me one of the markers of a great photo is does it move you in some way? Do you have an emotional response to it? It doesn't necessarily have to be a technically correct photograph or perfectly composed, but if you react to it, even if it's just a simple thought of "oh that's really beautiful"then I feel the image is doing it's job, or rather the photographer.

Have a look at this story; if this can't help ignite some passion for the power of the still image then I guess we will have to agree to disagree!
* It's not very long and if you hover towards the bottom of each photo you can click to the next one. Many of them have captions, the prose is lovely.

Please do click on this link below and have a look, it's so worthy of a read.

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/

When I read this it reminded me of some of my favourite photos from our wedding day and what they mean to me, of how these special photos have captured some of the most special moments in my life. (All photos by Anna Rosell)

This photo is of a really special moment between my Father and me just before the ceremony started. We were both extremely nervous, or as my father would say "crapping myself" about walking down the aisle in front of everyone. I remember we were terrified our walk would be ridiculous or that my Dad would step on my dress and rip it, or worse, I would fall over. So we decided to practice for a little while. I love the way we are both so focused on that moment and I love the way I'm holding his arm. It was a moment that so easily could have been missed, easily forgotten, but I love that I have this reminder and one day will be able to show our kids.

I love this next one; it was during my father's speech and in this moment he was talking about my Mum and what a wonderful wife and mother she is, and she truly is. I just love the way she is looking up at him; she looks the happiest I have seen her. I mean just look at the emotion in her eyes! This is one of my favourite photos from the day.

This next one is of me during my father's speech. He wrote this beautiful poem for Samuel and me and I hadn't heard it prior to the wedding day. I had no idea this was being taken and it really captured how I felt in that moment. Even though you initially can't tell from the image what part of the speech it was, I just knew when I saw it, that it was taken during the poem.

This last one captured me with the hugest smile and I love the way my Dad and I are looking at each other, with Samuel looking on in the background, while he danced with my Mum. We were all so happy and proud on that day and this photo really shows that.

I thought I would finish with a picture of my parents together, simply because I love them and they look pretty damn good...not just for their age, but for any age!

I hope you enjoyed the photo journal and these photos. If you have any comments, feel free to leave them by clicking on the comments link at the bottom.

Carrot Cake


To finish here is an amazing recipe for Carrot Cake. It's by Jamie Oliver and I have provided the link as I have not changed the recipe at all; it's so perfect it doesn't need changing! 


Jamie Oliver's Carrot Cake


What I will say is that you must, must not over cook it! I always check it around 10 minutes before the recipe's cooking time is up, just to be on the safe side. If it's nowhere nearly done, give it another 5 and check again. If it's nearly there, check every 2 minutes. An easy way to check is to put a cake tester in and see if it comes out clean; there should be no sloppy goo on it. If you don't have one, I suppose you could use a fork. Also, bear in mind it will carry on cooking while it sits in the tin. If you prefer, you could always make this with a traditional cream cheese frosting instead. This recipe calls for 100g shelled walnuts, I decided to use 50g walnuts and 50g pecans and it was lusciously good!


Enjoy!

Have a lovely weekend!
xx

Is My Hair White Enough?: An Ode to Drab

Before I start this post can I just share with you that my blog upload quality issue is sorted! Yes that's right, my pictures look better on the blog (well I hope you think they do!). So if you would like, have a look at the photos of Birte that I reuploaded to the post "A Little Help From My Friends". You can also click on the pictures now to make them bigger (I did forewarn you all that I take blogging far too seriously).

Now onto the more serious stuff. Nicki. The anomaly of the universe.

Nicki and I met about 9 years ago and haven't been able to get rid of each other since. Despite serious attempts to repel each other on all levels, some of which included Nicki punching a school locker, we have some how made it through and are still friends, great friends.  When Nicki and I first met, she apparently thought I was boring, and that we had nothing in common other than the fact that we had once, many moons before, stayed in the same hotel in Phuket (obviously our initial conversations lacked decent content). Luckily for me, she has since reassured me that I am not boring only extremely annoying. Despite our initial hurdle, Nicki welcomed, me, the new girl at school, with open arms, and we bonded instantly. Before long we spent every weekend together as well as many hours talking on the phone late at night. From the tender age of 15 she has remained one of my best friends.

To the outsider, and well, to the insider too, Nicki and I are chalk and cheese. I wear an apron with a dog face on it and love my garlic crusher, Nicki wears studded belts, ripped jeans, and men's ties. I pride myself on my long, dark hair and Nicki has sported an army buzz cut, experimented with neon white hair colours, and once shaved her eyebrow because they were doing it on Big Brother. I look for stability and domesticity and Nicki yearns for chaos and possibly a life as a polygamist. She likes arty, foreign films, generally with far too much nakedness, and I like romantic comedies with Jennifer Aniston.

I remember the day she came into school with a beanie hat on and a bald patch straight through her eyebrow. She whispered to me, "come into the bathroom, I need you to see my hair". As we entered the ladies and she removed her beanie, I realized that she actually meant "I need you to see my non hair". She had decided to experiment with a very exciting hair cut that delicately combined a buzz cut with a "I will just hack chunks from my hair" kind of style. Later came, the dog poo brown hair colour; after inquiring as to whether she had fallen, head first, into a pile of cow muck, I encouraged her to find the most powerful bleach available to rectify the dire situation before she started attracting a large herd of animals. Luckily she has now found a style that works for her. But I have to say that every year of our friendship and milestone we have reached has been marked by a bizarre hairstyle that Nicki has endured.

Although we may be chalk and cheese, we seem to get on so well. It's a mystery to the world, especially the Soho crowd....when we go out together I'm sure we look like the oddest friendship match ever to walk the Earth. But it just seems to work, we laugh extremely hard together and discuss our toilet habits as if we're discussing current events. I love her very much and can't really remember a time when we weren't friends. Nicki is an extremely talented girl and she has opened my eyes to lots of things I may never have experienced. And as I'm a bit of an odd ball myself, it seems only natural I would attract a nut case!

Despite the crazy hairstyles Nicki is a stunning girl, with amazing bone structure and beautiful lips; I think this really comes across in the pictures. As Nicki and I are true opposites, I realized when photographing her that I would have to adapt my style. I generally prefer a natural, soft look, but Nicki contrasts with green grass, amber leaves and strolling labradors (maybe it's her hair). Her aesthetic warranted something edgier, funkier and so I realized that you have to adapt your environment and be more spontaneous. So after starting in the park, we headed to the canal near Angel, Islington. While walking along the canal we found this crazy wall and did some fun shots in front of it.

Anyway here are some of the photos. I have decided to post a few more than usual.

I think Nicki looks gorgeous here!

I'm not sure what Nicki is looking at in the photo below but I love how she looks next to the big tree.

I found this in one of the boats along the canal; I thought it was a pretty good way to get a garden theme going on a house boat!

Here is the funky wall; Nicki's jumper coincidentally worked quite well with the graffiti!

How cool does she look! Hot!

Thanks Nicki for being a great friend and model. I truly love taking photos of people; it's a great feeling, capturing someone through the lens. Here is a picture Samuel took of the two of us: chalk and cheese!

To finish here is a healthy recipe for root vegetable mash. It's inspired by Rachel Allen, but anyone can make it their own. It's a lot healthier than regular buttery mashed potato as you only need a small amount of butter and good seasoning to make it taste good. These are the veggies that I use, but feel free to substitute different ones. Swede, turnip, regular potatoes, and pumpkin/butternut squash would work well too. There is some butter in this recipe, but you need it for flavour and when split four ways, it's not so bad!

Root Vegetable Mash

Serves 4

3 big sweet potatoes

5 big carrots

4 big parsnips

15-20g unsalted butter

sea salt, black pepper

1. Peel all your veggies and chop them into even sized medium chunks

2. Bring a biggish saucepan of water up to the boil and add a good amount of salt (I use table salt here not sea salt)

3. Put your carrots in first and after 5 minutes add the rest

4. Boil for 15 minutes

5. Once softened enough to mash, drain thoroughly (no one wants watery mash!)

6. Mash with the butter and a good pinch of sea salt (go easy if table) and ground black pepper.

This is great as an accompaniment to a roast dinner or with stews/casseroles.

Have a lovely week everybody. Feel free to comment!

xxx

Stop Being Afraid

Do you remember being frequently asked as a child what you want to be when you grow up? I remember contemplating this question throughout the course of my childhood and even to this day I still ask myself this question, although now it goes something like this; "what do I want to be" or "If I could have any job in the world what it would be?" I have this notebook from pre-school where we had to write what we wanted to be when we were grown up; I wrote, and I am word for word quoting here, "I want to be a butcher because I like sausages". Although I do get overexcited when a deli counter full of meaty delights is before me, I feel that my ambitious streak came later....not that there is anything wrong with being a butcher, but nobody likes sausages THAT much (except for my husband).

As a child you feel that the whole world is at your feet, that whatever you want you can have, through every door there is an opportunity; you can be a brain surgeon or football star, or the next Britney Spears. Nothing seems unattainable, all you have to do is go for it. I wonder when so many of us decide to settle, settle for a second rate dream? I feel that so many of us believe that our dreams are just mere fantasies of an "ordinary" and "normal" person that can never really be achieved, and unfortunately, as a result, so few of us really chase those elusive dreams. The dreams that excite you, drive you to fulfill your passions. Why is this? I think it's because we're afraid. I know I am afraid.

I keep telling myself that I need to stop being afraid, afraid to chase my dreams, my aspirations, my ambitions. I have made no secret of the fact that I am in love with photography and everything about it. I realise now that it wasn't until I discovered this fantastic medium, that I found a true passion for something; that very something which made me go "yes! this is what I want to do!". Before now, I never felt I had found something that grabbed me, that challenged me in a way I wanted to be challenged, that I enjoyed so much; I had always haphazardly searched for a profession or even just a subject, to reach out and grab me; to consume my interests and help me realise my potential.

It has taken me almost two university degrees and five years in undergraduate education to discover a true love for something. Why oh why did I not find this wonderful thing at 18 and consequently, have spent the last six years honing my photography skills and thus saving myself from hundreds upon hundreds of hours slumped in lecture chairs, sore eyes from incessant essay typing, and a heavy head from reading far too much textbook spiel. Despite all of this, I feel that "something" is holding me back and I think that "something" is a fear of failure. I'm scared I won't be any good, that I won't have a natural talent, that I won't make a living. But I'm also afraid to not TRY, to not give it a go. So I want to shout from the rooftops and say that I am determined to overcome my fear, to seize the moment and go for what I love. After all, I don't want a life of regrets and I'm sure nobody does, life is too short after all. Sometimes I feel that this is a crazy dream but I'm in love and if I turn my back, I will crush my heart. So here it goes. I promise to tell you what I'm doing, show you my pictures (even if they're downright awful) and take you with me.

What I find so daunting is the never ending amount of knowledge I need to absorb and the amazing photographers who are out there. How will I ever even come close? But what I have to believe is that I may not be that good now but I WILL try and I hopefully WILL be. I will invest in my training, I will practice and I will accomplish what I set out to do.

In keeping with my decision to overcome my fears I thought I would tell you about the first photography fear I overcame....my Nikon 70-200 (a generous hand me down from my Dad). This is the BIG BOY of lenses: it weighs nearly 1.5 kg. You need biceps of steel for this bad boy and it scared me, big time. But last week I decided to just take it out and use it for some portraits of Nicki (photos to come soon). It's a super sharp lens and despite being heavy I quite like it for portraits. You can get great bokeh (smushy mushy background) and you can stand back from the person and zoom (I guess if you were shooting a couple this might give them a chance to relax together without being too aware of the camera). Okay so here is the evidence of my accomplishment: Samuel took this on his iphone so I apologize for the quality. You can see what a pooey day it was as well!

Here is a picture I took of Nicki and a preview of our session together. The rest are to come soon, and I also hope to reupload the photos of the lovely Birte, once the upload quality issue is sorted.

So my first stop on the road of photography: a camera skills course for beginners taught by Damien Lovegrove. Damien is a very well known, highly acclaimed wedding photographer who now teaches a variety of courses at his studio. It's on April 6th and I'm really excited to get some basic technical knowledge under my belt together with a children's shoot. I will of course be posting the images for you all to see. I think this will give me the confidence to handle my camera better and nail those all important exposures. Wish me luck!

Ultimately what I want to do is document love; be it at a wedding, or between friends, couples or families. To capture the emotion and heartfelt love of your subject, to capture who they are, and convey that special something you can't see or touch, only feel in an image, is a beautiful thing and I believe it requires skill. So I have set myself the challenge. I'm trying to not be afraid, to have a bit more belief in myself. I hope my sheer passion and love for it will be the driving force to achievement, if not, at least there will be no regrets.

Tonight Samuel, my Mum (who is visiting) and I had a simple meal of tagliatelle with Arrabiata sauce (spicy tomato!). It's really quick and easy to make and the key to its great flavour is to let the sauce cook down for a while so the tomato flavour intensifies. It's really healthy too!

Arrabiata baby!

Serves 4-5 portions

2x400g tins of chopped tinned tomatoes

1-2 chillis (depends how hot you like it)

1 rounded tsp of dried oregano

4-5 big cloves of garlic finely chopped (NOT crushed-this will be too intense)

1-2 tsp of sugar (this is an important ingredient, start with 1 and when you taste for seasoning see if you need more)

Olive oil, sea salt (if using table go easy), pepper

500g tagliatelle (this is the weight for dried not fresh pasta)

1. Heat a medium saucepan on a medium to low heat

2. Add your chopped garlic and chilli and fry for 30 seconds-be careful not to burn as the garlic will go bitter. If you're worried just take the pan off the heat while you stir it.

3. Add your tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper

4. Simmer on a low heat for around 30 min or until reduced and tasty.

5. While the sauce is simmering, cook your tagliatelle according to packet instructions in salted boiling water.

6. Add the pasta to the sauce, never the other way around!

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading, my shoot with Nicki is coming soon as well as a few more posts I have lined up. Feel free to comment!

xxx