I can do anything for 30 days right?

I can do anything for 30 days right?


That's what I thought when I saw this TED talk by Matt Cutts. Immediately my imagination was flooded with all the things I could try for 30 days... How exciting! I was inspired in three short minutes. The concept is a mental tug of war for me given that I am not a fan of repetition, have been known to have the attention span of a goldfish but love challenges and the lure of trying something new.

It also struck a chord due to a book I read earlier in the year during my introspective 'what the hell do I want to be when I grow up' period called the Pursuit of Happiness by Gretchen Albrecht. My friend Jess thought it might help in figuring out what makes me happy... sounds simple enough, right? Well, trust me, when you're considering it from a work standpoint, it's not! 


Anyway, I digress, but before I depart completely, read this book!  One of the things it highlighted to me is that I often do things which I think I 'should' do/like (past study/career choices, abstract art house movies), rather than focusing on the things which I actually do like but feel I shouldn't (Harry Potter, Twilight, eating a whole bag of soft natural licorice). The acknowledgement of that self truth actually brought me to tears at one stage.


So, back to it...

This is one of the reasons why my blog is called Step One
(image from moveyourbooty.tumblr.com)

As we near the end of the year it seemed a perfect time to set myself up with a few 30-day challenges - why not one challenge a month for 2012?

Here are my ideas - I think I have a good mix of exclusion (challenge), and inclusion (new things).

• January - no Facebook (except to post blog posts - I'm dreading this already...)
• February - take a daily photograph
• March - go sugar free
• April - post a daily blog
• May - write a daily limerick (I love writing limericks)
• June - floss my teeth every day (I work in Oral Care - I know it's important)
• July - email (or snail mail) a friend or family member every day
• August - 30 day yoga challenge
• September - go alcohol-free
• October - no caffeine
• November - write a novel for Write A Novel Month
• December - listen to a new song every day

The list isn't final, I'm sure I'll be inspired by something along the way.  Some of them I'm frankly terrified by.

What would be on your list?  

Do you want to join me in some of mine? I'd love some company!!

Singapore By Night

Singapore by night is a very different animal with an architecturally crazy skyline.  Where else would you find a giant curved ship right beside a lotus flower?  A wander around the waterfront is definitely a Singapore 'must do' for any any visitor or resident.

Wild Honey: From Great to Good and Beyond

Isn’t it a shame when a fabulous experience fails to live up to its hype after that killer first impression?  This is the case for me and Wild Honey.

Image from Wild Honey website

My first Wild Honey experience was a drop of rain in the Singapore desert of decent cafes with the Ladies Who Brunch.  The menu was excellent (if pricey), the atmosphere was cozy and a little zany, and (crucially) the coffee was great. 

Since then I have been back four times (although only actually made it in the door three of those) and each time Wild Honey has slid the scale of vaguely to excessively disappointing.  It’s incredibly popular and doesn’t take reservations.  If you can’t make it before 10am (preferably 9.30am) don’t bother as you’ll be waiting forever.  We waited for 45 minutes before giving up and heading to Jones the Grocer.  Out of interest for the final waiting time, we didn’t cancel our name on the list.  They called to let us know there was a table for us...a total of 90 minutes later. 

This most recent time was the nail in the coffin though – a birthday lunch at their new Scotts Road premises.  We waited 50 minutes for our lunch to be brought out, only for them to get my order wrong even though they’d repeated it back to me correctly at the time of ordering.  The actual food was delicious (despite the huge slab of brioche under my avocado and eggs) and, unusually for Singapore, our water glasses were continually refilled.  We waited 15 minutes to be brought the bill, and then another 10 for them to come back and tell us they couldn’t split it as we’d asked for so could we please itemise which orders were to be billed to which credit card.

By this stage we were rather late in getting back to work and in a bit of a huff.  I don’t think I’ll be trying for a fifth.

Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

I have a love hate relationship with food photography. I love gazing at images of beautiful food, imagining how I could make my next few meals more rustic/glossy/fresh/cool... And then you come across on image which is so inspiring you ache to recreate it with complete disregard to its suitability. Last weekends Christmas party was the occasion I choose to recreate this:

Donna Hay iPad Magazine image

Actually, when you look at the ingredients and method it's not such a difficult recreation, but two things stood in my way: Singapore's ambient temperature is terrible for iced cakes and my incessant (and in this case, ruinous) need to make things as healthy as possible.

My friends, when you are making a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing you are purchasing this much cream cheese, icing sugar and butter, so substituting low fat cream cheese will not make too much difference to your waistline (as opposed to declining the second or third slice, which will make a huge difference) so embrace the full fat content.

My ulterior motive for this recommendation is not driven by my ill will towards your calorie intake, but rather from a sense of perfectionism.  Low-fat cream cheese will leave you with runny icing which will never thicken enough. I want your cake to succeed where mine did not - fluffy, white, gravity-defying icing could be yours!

It wasn't a complete disaster though. The cake tasted terrific (if I do say so myself, along with 15 other people) and my experiment adding dried chilli powder was a resounding success. Do it, you won't regret it.  The tongue-tingling aftertaste of the chilli cuts wonderfully through the rich sweet chocolate.

I don't have any pictures of the final result because assembly was done on-site and the cocoa-sprinkling was the responsibility of the enthusiastic four-year-old-MasterChef-in-the-making Amelia. I'll share with you Round Two's result with full fat cream cheese when it happens.

iPad replacing recipe books?  I hope not! They don't handle the flour dust as well