Eating to live means I rarely encounter exceptional service at the places I dine at, so the service at Otto was pleasingly prompt and courteous without being obtrusive. The food was fairly good, too.

The set for the evening. Both June and I chose the fish for our main course.

Tomino Grigliato con Porcini Saltati e Prosciutto di Parma - or simply, prosciutto ham stacked on a cheesy mushroomy thingy. I liked this, but both June and I found the prosciutto too salty.

Filetto di Halibut con Crema di Scampi e Spinacini Novelli aka fish on a bed of bayam. Which June, for some reason, thought was arugula.

Tortino Tiepido al Cioccolato con Gelato alla Vaniglia, which I would translate as a tepid tart of chocolate with vanilla ice cream.

I guess the epicurean set appreciates fancy schmancy names for grub, but me, I really like the menu to state what I’m about to eat clearly and comprehensibly without having to read an appended translation. This and my inability to stick my pinky in the air elegantly are among the many reasons I can never be a tai-tai.

I picked dog, cat, elephant, ice cream and letter Z charms for Zoe, and Sheryl very kindly threw in a little heart to balance out the charms at the back of the tee. Zoe has been wearing it since it arrived this evening!

The charms on the front of Zoe's tee.

Close-up of the charms on the front.

Zoe's tee was from a rather special batch where the chains are on the front and the back of the tee. These are the charms at the back.

A customised sticker label!

Zoe liked the tee, but she was a bit upset that it didn't come with a pink vest like Alison's Fox Kids tee. That's why she's grumping in this photo.

Find out more about the range of charms available, and how to order, at S’khor-a-hit.

Photography by Watson Lau of WatsBehindtheLens, digital imaging by Kenneth Wee of A1brand.

This past weekend was a very important one. K’s business partner and our old friend Cedric finally wed his girlfriend of five years, Amanda. It was a very simple wedding, but a monumental event in the Wee calendar. Here’s to you, C&A! Much love and joy.

Reading Eli’s entries makes me nostalgic for high school days. There were many Malay students in my school, some of my best friends were minahs, and I took Malay as my second language. All in all I was very much immersed in Malay culture, which probably explains why I’ve maintained my fluency in the language even though I don’t have the opportunity to use it very much in daily life now. It was the lingua franca of my milieu. Nevertheless, I’d forgotten all about words and phrases such as “stim“, “sound steady” and “kecoh“. It’s all coming back to me now.

Apart from being a useful dictionary of sorts, Minahspeak is a wonderful example of how embracing your type is a good thing. In this post, Eli lists the five golden facts about being a Minah. I’ve reproduced the top three.

1) A Minah is only a Minah when she denies that she is one.
2) As long as you are a Malay girl, you’re automatically a Minah.
3) A Minah is a true Minah if she likes to call other people Minah.

In other words, whether you like it or not, you are who you are. What matters is whether or not you are confident enough to lay claim to your own culture, heritage and identity instead of trying to tamp it down in favour of something supposedly better. Being given a label like “minah” is not so important in the grander scheme of things. You should have bigger fish to fry than that.

Besties in high school, all from different races.

Three friends met for dinner.

They had yummy yakitori at Kazu plus lots of great conversation.

Then they adjourned for some doggy playtime.

Which made all the pooches very happy.

The party wasn't complete without playing dress-up. So we did.