oh yes, i am a “great” cook

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Let’s be honest here…

  1. This entry is for Nuffnang’s contest.
  2. Everyone knows I don’t have much cooking skills, so the entry can’t be about my favourite cooking experience.
  3. If you couldn’t get the hint from number 2, the entry is about my disastrous cooking experience.

This happened a long time back when all I knew how to cook was rice, omelette, instant mee, and canned food. There was some leftover spaghetti in the fridge, but no leftover sauce. I was to call Mum in the office to get instructions on how to prepare the sauce and that was what I did.

Thaw the meat out in hot water. Mix in some corn starch. Pour in the spaghetti sauce from the bottle. Add a little sesame oil for that extra fragrance. I never had the knack to know how much of something to add to make the food taste “just right.” I had to get really specific instructions. Like exactly how much water to thaw the meat out. Exactly how much of corn starch. Well, you get the idea.

So, all I remembered was everything that needed to be added in small amounts was one teaspoon. (Or so I thought.) Cooked everything as instructed. All was well until the last part, adding the sesame oil…

One teaspoon. That was how much I put in. After that, the whole sauce just smelled of sesame oil. Weird. Mind you, I couldn’t figure out what I did was wrong, but I ate whatever I cooked anyway.

That was when Sis came along and told me it was supposed to be…one drop of sesame oil. Wow, I’m such an idiot. :sweat:

Now that you’ve read my embarassing little story, go watch “Julie & Julia.”

the ris low saga

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Ok, I’ve been busy and the next thing I know, I have 4 comments on my previous entry waiting to be replied to. That means…my comments box is working fine now! Yay~~~ Thank you guys for your comments. That was the kind of comments I was looking for all along. I wanted to know how people felt, whether they had differing views and whether they were willing to share their differing views.

I shall reply to the comments via this entry.

After all the hype about Ris Low, the whole issue is starting to get a little stale. No doubt I’m still clicking on those news links regarding her in my Twitter feed, but I kind of think it’s time to move on.

I refer to this recent article about her. From this article, I can tell that she has learnt a lot. Despite the bad publicity, she has grown to face it and dealt with it in what I would say a “matured” way. I may have sounded like one of those unforgiving Singaporeans in my previous entry, but I think the most important thing is for people to learn from their mistakes and to strive to become a better person, otherwise, you don’t deserve other people’s understanding.

Perhaps as what Raynor commented, she is only 19 – one of those who hasn’t seen and come to understand the world yet. Maybe she thought a Miss Singapore World title was a glamorous affair and never thought about the other responsibilities that came with the title.

As for her poor English, if she were to brush up her skills, I don’t see why she shouldn’t be given another chance. I just feel that speaking good English is necessary for Singaporeans since we claim our first language to be English and our language of instruction is mainly in English. That should reply to Deanna’s comment. I would understand if she came from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Japan, or any other non-English speaking country. However, she comes from Singapore, a country where its citizens are native speakers of English, there is no excuse for speaking poor English. We probably use the language everyday. Having said that, I’m not boasting that my English is perfect either.

PS: Fran, you can send me that project email.

would you want her to represent us?

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As we all know, Ris Low gave up her Miss Singpore World 2009 title amidst the criticisms about her poor English and her prior criminal offences. The joke is still on her as spoof videos are made of her and viewed by a wide audience. However, there are also those who defend her. I refer to this letter in TODAY written in response to the issue.

Why do you think those two reasons are not sufficient for her to step down? Sure, Singaporeans may not be as forgiving as we picture ourselves to be, what with the yellow ribbon project, but the fact that she did not even report her prior criminal offences when taking part in the competition is going against the rules. It’s like lying on the immigration form that you have not been previously convicted of any crimes.

We are not fooling the rest of the world that Singaporean English standards are higher than that. Every country who takes part in the competition wants someone to best represent their country, so does Singapore. What is wrong with that? Seeing that your English is so much better, would you want her to represent your country in an international competition?

If Phua Chu Kang could go take English courses to brush up his English after being criticised, so can Ris Low and the rest of Singaporeans who speak as poorly as her. Until she learns how to speak properly, I really don’t think she should be given a second chance.