WOOP zine

This Persian nougat recipe by Hamed Allahyari and Julia Busuttil Nishimura of Free to Feed, as published on thedesignfiles.net. The speckled green and red from the pistachios and barberries look so striking against the white nougat. Also it looks like terrazzo, my current favourite material.

Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r foundation because why not?

3. Giovanna Battaglia's wonderful book >>>

VIBES VIBES VIBES VIBES VIBES

VIBES VIBES VIBES VIBES VIBES

I can't pinpoint my first ever cup of tea, but I can remember specific cups or types of tea.

The best mint tea I've ever had was after a meal in a restaurant by the walls of Jerusalem, sitting outside in their garden and sipping little hot cups of fragrant tea, punctuated with cool autumn air that I'd hungrily breathe in to get that 'freshness'. 

I don't remember what I ate - probably some roast meat with pita and hummus - but that sweet tea was crisp, minty and addictive. This was about 13 years ago and I haven't had mint tea since.

The first time I was introduced to chai was purely by accident. I took a sample cup of beverage from a Starbucks barista while out shopping years ago and love it - although I had no clue what it was. Assuming it was the seasonal special, I made a mental note to buy a proper Tall cup of it the next time I was at Starbucks. I pointed to the chai latte special on the board, not knowing what it was but assuming it tasted yummy.

I haven't had chai since.

I drank the best pots of English Breakfast Tea (I literally drank pots of it at a go) at - where else - London, England. It was always perfectly brewed, never bitter, and I added in copious amounts of sugar which turned into a sort of sweet drink to end off a meal. The perfect companion to the cold rainy Spring weather. 

Ten years on and it's still my tea of choice, although I add much less sugar.

Also, that time I went to a chrysanthemum farm in China and bought back a bag of premium chrysanthemum flowers for my late grandfather, so that he had something to brew for tea, only learning that it was often used as offerings on altars. My grandfather never opened that packet of chrysanthemums.

But more than a decade later, I learned that the flower symbolises life in Chinese culture.

This Friday night, after an hour spent vegging out in front of the computer reading about Napoleon Bonaparte (a rabbit hole I was led into after reading about death masks and finding out there was one of said man), I decided - it was tea time.

I had been penciling in my schedule for weeks to work on WOOP every Saturday morning, but I guess Friday nights after work, uninterrupted and alone, have proven to be the most productive.

Anyway, the month of March will be decided to tea. Everything tea.

Behold: some of the choi-est (chio means pretty) leather jackets by Understated Leather and Wolf & Rosie.

Understated Leather makes leather jackets (and a few other things) with details like bell-sleeves or awesome fur collars and the best part is that they are open to customisation. If I ever get one done, I might get one in blue.

Understated Leather:

Wolf & Rosie:

Today I break the silence of this space with my personal tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew – Singapore’s first Prime Minister, one of her founding fathers and in a way, a father figure to many of us Singaporeans.

No doubt the web will be flooded with tributes to him in the days and weeks to come, and also perhaps every year after this; articles and news sites detailing his legacy lest we forget. But let me add to the sentiment – what he stood for me and what I admired about him, which I feel resonates with the foundation of WOOP zine, my beliefs.

He saw a problem concerning people and their future. He saw a solution to the problem. He took it upon himself to be part of the solution, and his belief turned into a lifelong cause and campaign for the greater good of Singapore. His conviction and passion went beyond politics, ego and self-interest. He lived his life for us all. If love is knowing when to let go, he must have loved Singapore too much to give her up.

I don’t feel like anyone could match him, but don’t we go through life the same way too, in different degrees? We have beliefs, whether they are idealistic or practical, it doesn’t matter. We no doubt face opposition in what we believe in sometimes, but I hope that like Mr Lee, our conviction is unshakable and strong enough to support us when the going gets tough, and for us not sit back and lament how difficult things are. Of course all that Mr Lee has done and gone through is more than I could ever imagine in my life, but if I were to model my pursuit of my beliefs on somebody, it’d be him.

It’s not just someone with impeccable English we’re after – we’re looking for that special writer with a talent of weaving words into a compelling narrative; one that exposes the subject’s soul in a representation that’s true, honest and flattering.

We’re after someone who understands how to translate a subject’s energy and passion into words on the screen without losing any of its heart.

If you’re that person and would love to meet all kinds of people who do all kinds of different things, we’re a match made in heaven.

In lieu of the recent trend of healthy eating, we decided to get Ethel to record her diet for three days, and get a nutritionist (her friend, Raine) to comment on it because…why not?

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