Hear Me in Seefood

I do a little voice over work in my spare time. I have been both blessed and cursed with a deepish voice. The number of times I have been either complimented or insulted for having a deep voice served to give me a little hint: people notice it. Having dabbled in some acting, I find I love the moments of being on stage, but definitely cannot abide by the amount of time rehearsing takes away from kiddie routines.

I love that acting is seen as both something sort of noble, and also something sort of whoreish - and I totally get both! As an actor, you have to be able to be vulnerable, to let honesty bubble to the surface, to let your ego aside, in order to serve the function of acting on stage. And yet, you feed your ego simply by being on stage, you are effectively lying whilst striving for honesty, because it is in practical terms, a pretense after all.

I have been lucky that I have been able to do voice over work, which requires a different kind of acting that, physically, relies solely on the control of your voice and breath. You don't have to look good, you don't have to smell good, and you don't have to put in hours of rehearsal. I have done commercials and more recently, in the past three or four years, done dubbing and voice over work for dramatic programmes, as well as computer games and so on.

I got a small part as the turtle in the upcoming movie Seefood, which is opening in local cinemas next week. I am very grateful to have gotten that opportunity. The film has already won awards overseas, and is a joint effort between local and international companies - you can find out more about it here, which is the blog maintained by the audio recording company which cast me (and regularly, happily, employs me).

So the theme for the premier, which is tonight, is blue and white, and since I don't have either of those colours in my wardrobe, I am going to make an outfit this morning, which will be a long blue skirt with a white and multi-coloured print, which I shall attempt to make like the following picture, except with sleeves:

this pic is taken from here but i found it on pinterest.com.

And I will be making both pieces out of the following textiles - one is a slinky knit in aqua blue and the other is a rayony, polyestery, silky mix print. Both ae from NAgoya and cost less than RM15 per metre.

If I have time to, I will post a picture of the finished product before my night out. Wish me luck!

Lovey, C

Been Up To Good.

Hope everyone has ahad a lovely new year and all other holidays from last year's raya till this year's chinese new year!

Been a while since i have posted, but it wasn't from a lack of news or opinions! So many awful things have happened in the news both local and international - and i have often felt the urge to have my say here on my blog.

However, a big lesson came to me sometime during the last few months - and that is that no matter what i have to say, my blog can only be one-sided, and people who wish to enter into discussions with me here (polite or otherwise), will also, by the very state of such things, have their own one-sided opinions.

I can vent all i want, but i won't sway anyone here who has no wish to be swayed. So i decided to keep most of my opinions to myself, and to refrain from commenting willy-nilly on my social media platforms. 

It is kind of liberating, actually. I simply take a moment begore i press submit or enter, and ask myself if i have been kind and helpful, or have my words simply been more negativity to spew into the world?

I have usually deleted my words before sending them into the netosphere. Either you become a troll or you provide fodder for trolls. So, even though i have stood on my own soapbox now and then, i think i rather enjoy the notion that this platform is for me to put my news out there to any who might be interested. If they aren't, i assume they would simply move on to something more interesting to them.

So, what have i been up to, then? Lots of toddler- caring, sewing, moving, school routine bladibla. I have really enjoyed being a stay at home mum this time around, but as o near the two-year mark, i do rather wish for me time more and more.

I am a cranky sort of mum when i feel overly-stimulated - and with two tweens chatting, asking and performing at me whilst i care for an increasingly independent toddler, i feel thy most of the time! I get loud and strict and snarky. It's not nice and i don't like that about myself. However i won't abide by bad behaviour and i do expect my eldests to attempt maturity at the very least!

Anyway, i have been sewing up a storm. Especially flowy maxi skirts which are stupendously easy! Today i also whipped up a wrap circle skirt for Panini:

And last week a slinky kniw gathered skirt, here modeled by Baby One - who is now so big she is accepting handmedowns from aunty Panini:

And then last year for their cultural week at school i made a greek roumeli-style outfit for Baby Two, who so loved it! Baby One is in lotud dress, from Sabah. They both wanted to celebrate their differences so I had to make something because we only have Malay baju. Baby One's is my own outfit from when I was about 15!

I also made about 30 reversible tote and sling bags. It started as an emergency gift for a birthday present I had forgotten to buy, and turned into a fantastic creative excursion for me. I made a whole bunch for our staff, who despite various setbacks in our plans last year, worked hard and stayed with us through our journey:

If you want to see more of those bags, go here .

I also made some costumes for Hubby Boo that he and his partner needed whilst they were in a major telly comedy competition last year. That was fun because I only ever had a day or two to create them in.

The beginnings of a muscle suit:

And Hubby wanted ass enhancement:

Might I say that the padding failed because it was not properly worn!

I made these delicious cookies for Baby Two's valentine's day gift for her classmates. As delicious as they look:

I made myself a maxi skirt out of this wonderful cloth i got from Kamdar and tested out the lovely turquoises i have seen adorning nails here and there.                  

      

I also love the trend in zip-top and foldover clutches in colourblocked patterns. So I made myself one in faux leather left over from one of the Hubby costumes I made. I lined it with a spotty print from Nagoya:

 


BE nice, smell nice :)


Lovey, C     

Illy bean's beanie

I have been knitting:





She likes to take it off quickly so my photos aren't that great.






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Illy agrees with Vegemite

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Cooking Monster

Old capsicum and chillies? Make a salsa!







I took out the membranes and seeds because deep down i harbour hopes my daughters will look on my food and want to try some. It won't happen again if it burns the top of their mouths off. So i like to keep the results as open as possible!



Tiny shallots in a pan with salt pepper tumeric and paprika. I had no garlic and usually load the dish up with it. Wouldn't normally use tumeric but today i wantrd that dry yellow warm vibe that i get from it. Sweat'em down.






Chop or slice your veg. I usually have long thin slices but today i thought i would live a little and dice. Add to the pan. Season again.



I always adda chopped tomato seeds and all, and squish it into the pan to get that mushy consistency i so love:)
Cook down with a little liquid. I used soy sauce and have used dashi before. If u think the tomato might be too acidic add a touch of sugar.
Serve thusly:



Or put it in the fridge and keep for a little side on any future dishes.
I love dill and in this combination takes the bite off any residual chilli heat nicely.

Brunchtime!
C
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Success!

My fourth attempt at macarons and decided to repeat my paprika macs which were the only successful batch. This time around, it was on purpose:)



I took my SIL to the Bagus bakery solution store and dropped her off while i circled the block. 40mins later and slightly flushed, she emerged triumphant and happy:)

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