Cantucci

One of my favorite desserts from Italy is Cantucci with Vin Santo. It is a simple serving of a couple of cantucci (which is almond biscotti) with the sweet Italian spirit vin Santo. The spirit is called holy wine as it is the exact same type of wine used in Catholic mass to consecrate Christ' body in bread and wine ritual.

I love the fact that cantucci is storing well, especially in the humid Singapore weather. A bag of cantucci di mandorla that we bought from train station in Venice taste so good, in November, a full 3 months since the end of our vacation. Ahhh, the sweet taste of Italian holiday right at home.

Let’s bake!

Beautiful morning outside

What a beautiful Sunday. Off my cold! 630 a-wake. Yakun kaya toast set breakfast with Kopi-O, a refreshing shower and steam at gym (mom went for a swim), and home-cooked lunch of char kway teow with fishball soup (Papa's creation). Only a run is missing.

Divine chocolate

Here is my new favorite chocolate bar, Cafe Liegenois Noir by Galler bought in Brussels.

Guide of buying chocolate
To choose a high quality chocolate bar, please check the list of ingredients. In this case, the dark chocolate bar has cocoa mass, listed as first ingredient, followed by sugar. Watch out for that because I have encountered numerous chocolate bar where sugar is the main ingredients. :(

GALLER CAFE LIEGEOIS: bittersweet dark chocolate filled with a light coffee mousse. Galler is Belgian royal warrant holder. 2 x 70gr

Ingredients
chocolate: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor. Cocoa content dark chocolate: min. 60% cocoa feed. Sugar, vegetable fat, dates mash (mashed dates, inulin), mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes and apple juice concentrate juice, sugar, thickener: pectin, citric acid, antioxidant: ascorbic acid), whey powder (milk), cocoa mass, natural coffee flavor syrup pears and apples, cocoa butter, emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.

Country of origin
Belgium
Manufacturer's Address
Galler Chocolatiers SA 39 Rue de la Station 4051 Vaux-Sous-Chèvremont Belgium
Allergens
Containing Milk, Soy-bean Soy.
May contain eggs, nuts, Wheat, Gluten

Gym-ing

Oh my mind was full of task lists. Speaker bio! Summit deck! 360 briefing! I am so sick of noises. So I went and exercise. 10mins run at 820am Friday. BodyBalance followed by Zumba with Eunice on Saturday morning. Swim 10 laps Saturday afternoon with mom. Alright!

I woke up this morning at 630am with aching but well body. Off to Dublin now via London Heathrow on A380 SQ308 followed by Aer Lingus to Dublin arriving 1940! My whole Sunday on flight :( I guess time to do my 360 homework (argh!).

Fireside chat with Toni Townes-Whitley

Earlier today, I went into office especially to attend a special fireside chat session Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Public Sector, Toni Townes-Whitley, even though I was feeling unwell and lethargic after particularly tiring start of the week.

Penning my thoughts, I am not particularly articulate, I am walking away feeling inspired by this lady. She is articulate and great speaker, but all CVPs do, otherwise that is a necessary skill to be in that role. However, what I found refreshing is the open conversation, the authenticity, and when she brought forth various topic such as fear-based management in a company full of smart people. When asked about strongest skillset to look for, she talks about consultative skill, which I think meant by active listening but also ability to listen, absorb, digest, and bring forth simplicity out of complexity.

It is also clear that she has been a public sector person when she talks about her family and the culture to serve the society and also change the world. It is also clear that she understands people motivation when she talks about giving ourselves a break and celebrate, and also when she challenges that things have to start from customers, but also when she said the challenge for everyone in sales facing role is to bring the inspirations to people internally that external view.

Later on, I found myself reading a blog about someone who decided to quit his high-paying job in Microsoft because along the way, he lost the way while gaining status within the organization. The link to the blog is here to read further.

21KM 2 Apr 2017 training

Week 27 Sunday:
Run One George St 4.1km 32 mins, treadmill

Miley Cyrus

Here I want to write my comment about Miley Cyrus, a recognizable celebrity name of course. She was known as a notorious attention-seeker young woman who has courted controversies with her outrageous outfits, promiscuous stage acts, and lewd photos. I never had deep impression of her. Until today.

Miley Cyrus at Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show, Sept 2016, New York

Here is the article from Huffington Post, about her outspoken critic of Donald Trump and her comment during Jimmy Fallon show. The title of the article is misleading, link. Because after watching the video, I found no outright critism from her to her host Jimmy Fallon about messing up the appearance of Donald Trump on his show. But I found a masterful performance of Bob Dylan's "Baby, I am in the Mood for You" and leant her vocal critism of Donald Trump, who has so far been a disgrace of American politics. I am impressed by Miley Cyrus' intelligence, outrightness, and original spirit. She has been through a lot since the time of her teenage celebrity, and it must be hard to live through that from such a young age, among competitive spotlights, and with such an outsized talents must come expectation. She also went through a highly publicized breakup with a man that she seemed to have loved very much. So I salute a tough lady like that. Go Miley Cyrus!

Me Before You

Watched this movie on the flight to Seoul. Tear jerker movie about a romantic relationship that blossomed for a simple-happy village girl with no skills and big heart, after she became the caregiver for a disabled Tom. Emilia Clarke was silly and adorable Lou in this movie and Sam Claflin stiff but charming as the quadriplegic Will Traynor.

Fans of Game of Thrones would also recognize Tywin Lannister as Will's dad. This movie ignited fierce discussion about disability and choice. I think the tragedy of the romance would show that it takes more than a sweet relationship to uplift the lifetime of disability. It makes me realize how difficult the life could be for disabled people that non-disabled takes for granted many times. If the movie just ends with happy ending that would portray the life of a quadriplegic too lightly.

APAC FY17 Kickoff

Phew, I did it. Presented our 1-min pitch on Agility and Tools as part of the AHQ Culture initiative. I feel great and elated. What a stressful situation, I am glad I did it.

Colombo Sri Lanka

Just landed in Singapore at 8am this morning, very tired. Flight SQ was 1am Colombo time, which was way past 3am Singapore time. After lack of sleep the previous night (flew in at 1030pm landed midnight Colombo which was 2am).

The session was good. We went to Sky Lounge at Kingsbury which is a nice hotel. I stayed at Grand Cinnamon hotel, 5-min walking distance from the backgate of the hotel. The street always strikes me as Jakarta 10 years ago. Told Hasitha it seems that he lost a bit of sparks in 2 months since I last saw him during the kickoff. He joked around his 45 years old age and 29-year old boss, which of course isn't true (2 years younger are more accurate). Going for a round of golf tomorrow.

I am so tired, should probably take care of my body and health, and be ready for 3pm discussion with Amor and culture team.

Ming Lee's farewell

Spent Friday attending Ming Lee's farewell after cancelling my trip to Bangkok. Then yesterday a nice dinner party at Ming Lee's place well prepared by her and her husband Agustin. They are nice hosts, and very generous. They invited us to their house at Seletar, and hosting a dinner from 7 thru midnight with lots of wine, sake, and more wine.

I am now awake on Sunday afternoon typing this note while getting ready for my flight to Colombo. Laundry is on, vacuum my room, threw away garbage, and recycle newspaper. Also had packed, run 30 mins, and play a bit of game. So it's been a productive mundane weekend.

Now I am going to write about our holiday.

This is in front of Paris Nord train station, after train from Brussels

The following morning we explore the Paris around La Marais neighbourhood, this is Hotel Du Ville

Department store, closed on Sunday (boo)

Mom and Dad

Breakfast with croissant budget at a cafe nearby Pompidou

A nice church at Jardin Nelson Mandela that is under construction

This is the backyard of the Bourse

Papa at Netherland

Museumplein Amsterdam

Henry and Mom at I Amsterdam sign

Cafe Restaurant Amsterdam

Random post

Cafe Restaurant Amsterdam, Westerwerk

Vienna

I had a terrible jetlag, so it is 230am right now and I am wide awake. Might as well documenting my thoughts of the recent holiday before time and memories fade away...

Next up is Vienna, a well developed city. It feels wealthier, especially off our train which departed from Venice, which is another expensive city. The city is clean, I spotted the main sights around the compact area which I had researched throughout my trip.

Breakfast onboard the OBB train

Resting at OBB Lounge

In essence we spent the day around the Stephendom, travelling from Schwedenplatz U-Bahn (the metro stop), strolling towards south passing Fleichmarkt, Stephansplatz, around the Vienna Opera house and finally Karlsplatz. The St Stephens cathedral is of course majestic, but what I can remember is the stop for horse-carriage next to it. We also wander around the shopping street, and found Petersplatz where the magnificent St Peters church was a highlight.

Domkirche St. Stephan

Graben

Hotdog stand or Vienna's hotdog (Würstelstand)

In front of St. Peter's Church

The Baroque interior of the Church

We then stroll to the and Albertina where we stop to rest at the junction near the famous Sacher Hotel. Through a kirschy time-travel exhibition that depicts the old Vienna from Roman time. It looks interesting for history-buff we had the time.

We passed the large public square Heldenplatz where the old imperial Palace was.

Public square & gardens in front of the old imperial Hofburg Palace, with imposing statues

Heldenplatz

 Crossed to the east for Vienna Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper), arriving at Ringstrassen area.

There is tourist information centre where we rest, while Henry and Mom hunted some photo at Sacher hotel.

Velvet sofa at Cafe Museum

Sacher torte

Apfelstudel with vanilla sauce (divine)

Original "Wiener Schnitzel"
golden brown breaded veal cutlet, parsley potatoes, lettuce and cranberry sauce

Viennese mixed sausage platter
four kinds of different, typical Viennese sausages,
onion mustard, horseradish, gherkin and rye bread

The desserts bar

Omigosh

We then capped our trip via a superb lunch at Cafe Museum, a smart cafe on Operngasse with replicas of original Adolf Loos decor, a former hangout for Klimt, Schiele & others. It opened in 1899; although their desserts selection is very tempting, we selected Vienna's speciality. My favorite is the original Wiener Schnitzel (made of veal not pork) and Apple strudel (Apfelstrudel).

Karlsplatz

 

Paris

Why is Paris always have this unique flair in the air. The weather and atmosphere seems dramatic, and chic when I stroll around the city. We are back to Singapore right now, landed 7am this morning, and after a quick check at luggage services, we quickly take taxi home to rest before my office hour. The 3-day in Paris passed quickly. We use the first day to stroll around the city and has the one experience of tourist cheat over the ticket - infuriating. Other than the upsetting experience in Paris (which seems like everyone we know had experience in Paris) we enjoyed our final leg of the journey...

Arrival at Paris Gare Du Nord station

Department store, closes on Sunday... (boo)

Classic Hotel Du Ville

The following morning we went to explore Paris by ourselves, nearby La Marais neighbourhood

Breakfast with a croissant at a budget cafe around Pompidou Centre

Church (Paroisse Saint Eustache) that is adjacent to Jardin Nelson Mandela.
The nearby site is under construction, also the RER interchange for Les Halles-Chatelet

The Bourses

Louvre Pyramid

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Musee D'Orsay

Pont Royal

Mini bug at Palais Bourbon

Lunch at Le Saint Germain

outstanding Pave du Thon (seared tuna steak)

big plate of mussels dish (very good as well)

third dish we ordered was Pork Medallion

Eiffel view from Esplanade des Invalides

Musee Rodin

Walking along Invalides

Invalides

Afterwards we took bus 89 back to our accomodation which was at Le Marais. That is a good bus touring around the city passing famous sights (preciously the direction we were walking earlier in the morning!). A bus ticket costs 2 Euro on board of the bus, if you bought in advance from ticket machines, the generic ticket (which can be used for bus,train,tram, or metro) costs 1.90 each or 14.40 in a pack of 10.

the next morning Carousel near Place du Concorde

Champ-Élysées

Arc du Triomphe

We then continued to shopping at Outlet area La Vallee, which is at the end of rail RER A, the last station just before Disneyland Paris. A couple of very good brand at good deal, we shopped at Tumi and Gucci.

At night we went straight to sunset at Basilica.