Homemade Lemon Sorbet

My base recipe is found at Guardian article here and a bunch of other online recipes. I found however that the recipes that often sticks is the easiest with the least amount of equipment and less exotic ones.

So this is what I settled with, 1 portion sugar to 2 portion of water, to make a sugar syrup. Meanwhile I grate the lemon peels and cook them together. I juiced around 5 lemons and being extra careful not to include the white pith (the whitish part of the skin is what caused bitterness in our juice/sorbet/lemonade).

The Guardian's recipe:
350g caster sugar (I used 500gr to 1L water)
14 lemons, at least 5 unwaxed (I used 7 lemons)

1. Put 250g sugar into a pan with 250ml boiling water and heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to bubble for a couple of minutes until slightly thickened, then set aside and allow to cool completely.
2. Zest the unwaxed lemons and finely chop the resulting peel. Juice all the lemons and strain to remove any pulp and stray pips. Add the chopped peel and stir in the rest of the sugar to dissolve. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
3. Add equal amounts of syrup and cold water, 25ml at a time, and taste, until the flavour is to your liking – remember that freezing will mute it slightly, so it should be quite intense.
4. Put in an ice cream maker and churn according to instructions. Alternatively pour into a strong plastic box and put in the coldest part of the freezer. After 1 hour 30 minutes it should have frozen round the edges – take it out and beat vigorously with a fork, electric whisk or in a food processor until you have a uniformly textured icy slush. Put back in the freezer and repeat at least twice more every hour and a half, then freeze for at least another hour.
5. Transfer the sorbet to the fridge for 20 minutes before serving.

What I Learn from Netflix "The Good Place"

After binge-watching The Good Place Season 1 and 2 in a day, I learnt and gained interests in some ethics concept that is being discussed by Eleanor and Michael, taught by Chidi:

• Aphorism: is a pithy observation about succinct truth. For example: 

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience deceptive, judgment difficult.

• Adage: is a form of aphorism derived from custom or statement past from generations.

• Immanuel Kant

• the four Cardinal virtues: Courage/Fortitude, Wisdom, Temperance, Justice.

Book 1: The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal

The third book I finished in 2020 is The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal. I believe I picked this one up years ago from books that Bill Gates recommended. Coincidentally, BillG decided to step down from the board of Microsoft and Berkshire the day prior, to focus on his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The book, unlike most fiction I read, has the quality that touches your mind, heart, and soul. It is not exactly satisfying. It stays with you a while after you finished the book. I finished it in 2 days while on medical leave.

The Book Cover

The book was written in French, and translated by Sam Taylor to English. The story took place in 24 hours elapsed, exactly. From the celebration of life, for a 19-year-old boy who cares about surfing, and throughout the book his persona emerges, but not quite clear. The prose was well articulated, and defines everyone on the book in unique perspective, with a combination of description of things around the person, their thoughts, POV, but also description of universe. I guess I like this description the best from Priya Parmar's NY Times 2016 review of the book

The story unfolds in an intricate lacework of precise detail. Each character is introduced in particle form, and then the details compound until a wholeness is reached, a person takes shape and steps forward.

Goodreads link.

Negative test result

My phone rang and I disregarded it in the morning. Only later, after refreshed lunch with Papa and Mommy that I picked up and received the news of negative test result. By then my coworkers have been notified that I was tested, and news spread rapidly.

Only after I received affirmation that my voluntary self report was accepted, I sat back and comprehend the emotional roller coaster. "You must have been scared". Indeed I was paranoid, and scared and nervous. What if the test is negative and I might potentially infect my elderly Dad and Mom, and my numerous coworkers?

It is a relief to receive the confirmation of positivity I suspected all along. A huge burden lifted by sharing with everyone. Assuaging guilt and paranoia that has formed and forment in my mind. Confirmed by negative swab result, clear chest X-Ray, and finally recovering body from persistent cough, runny nose, and muscle pain.

Meanwhile however, I read news around the world about worsening situation. US just dropped Fed interest rates by 1 full percentage point. About obituary pages in Italian newspaper that is now 10-pages long instead of usual one and a-half pages. Disneyland closed only in the fourth times. And Singapore advising all citizens to defer all non-essentially travel for 30 days to, essentially, every where around the world. No place has been spared. No economy sector has been saved.

Day 3 of Self-Quarantine and Miss Americana

Here I am bored at home at day 3 of my medical leave, out of caution due to COVID-19. Watched Taylor Swift's documentary "Miss Americana". Seeing her as human, also as driven, hard-working, and humane as possible.

A NY Times review.

Jojo Rabbit is an interesting, entertaing, touching movie

One of advantage of long flights is certainly ability to enjoy endless movies list. Especially on Singapore Airlines which is showing a number of movies that I love to watch recently like Knives Out, Jojo Rabbit.

The young Jojo, played by actor Roman Griffin Davis is a precocious loyalist young Germans at the time of World War II. To watch him grew up while his family situation unravel along us is touching.

A cast of strong and familiar actors such as Scarlett Johansson as her live-loving mother, veteran Sam Rockwell as funky German Captain, and director Taika Waititi as Jojo's imaginary General friend kept us enthralled in the story telling. The young Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) is fragile, scared and strong at the same time.