In My Life
New Year’s Weekend
Long weekends are always great to relax and hang out with friends, which is exactly what I did to usher in the new year. We had dinner around town, after which we just checked out the happenings around the Singapore River. Every night this month there’re free open air performances organised by the Esplanade, so we listened in on one of the local bands.
And since a lot of you guys reading this don’t live in Singapore or have never been here, I thought I’d just show a snippet. Above you see the iconic Merlion set against the business district. Below is what you see on the other side of the water, which are the Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Flyer.
Food
Challah fresh from the oven
As I’ve done in the previous years, I baked challah for New Year’s. I always love weaving the strands of dough for the round bread loaf. It’s so simple yet never fails to impress. I also tried a twist on panna cotta by filling it with strawberry coulis. That worked out pretty well too. Photos aren’t fancy though because the food was gone almost as soon as I pressed the shutter.
On the Blog
Bookish Scene: Project 52
We started off with our first Project 52 theme, bucket list. If you’ve been unsure about participating in this weekly photo challenge, why not check out the contributions?
Blog Posts
Over the past week I announced my first Bout of Books participation. I also published the weekly Hot off the Press, featuring the YA books that were released over the past week.
Book Reviews
With regards to book reviews, I tried something new to me. I put together a collection of short reviews. All the books I picked had in some way to do with mental illness. The books I reviewed were Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella, The Law of Loving Others by Kate Axelrod and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.
Around the Blogosphere
Amidst all the sentimental reflections on 2015 and the 2016 resolutions everyone’s been sharing very eagerly, there still were a handful informative and entertaining posts that emerged last week. Other than those few, I’m sure the rest got lost amidst the new year revelries.
Book Lists
- Cait @ Paper Fury identified 14 YA books without romance.
Readers’ Lives
- Aimee @ The Social Potato identified 5 holiday reading moods.
- Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction explained how to send book recommendations on Goodreads.
- Alex @ Fiery Reads wondered what makes a favourite book.
Hype
- Cait @ Paper Fury weighed the pros and cons of hype, demonstrating that hype isn’t all bad.
Blogging
- Silvara @ Fantasy of Silver Dragon asked if you blog under your real name.
- Jen @ The Book Avid suggests switching to Disqus and not to use the native commenting system on Blogger. While I don’t use Blogger as my platform, as a visitor, I hate how many comments Blogger has swallowed. Disqus seems a whole lot more reliable.
Reviewing
- Lili @ Lili’s Reflections considered the downsides of ARCs.
God, I just never grow tired of watching pictures of Singapore, especially those who were taken at night (though I have to admit I was hoping for some fireworks pics due to New Year celebrations ;D).
I definitely have to go there some day :D
Ah, I was home at midnight, watching the fireworks across the border. Haha. Since Singapore only allows the official fireworks and banned everyone else from setting them off, the Malaysian ones are much more impressive to watch because they can go on for quite a long time.
The day you plan to visit Singapore you definitely have to let me know! ;)
YES, definitely impressed by that bread! I need to look up a recipe!
And your pictures make me want to hop on a plane to Singapore right this second.
Well, for Sabbath it’s usually braided into a simple loaf. For Rosh Hashanah they’re weaved into round loaves but I like to do it for New Year’s, even if it’s not the Jewish holiday.
You know my door’s open for you when you decide to visit ;)
I love these posts of yours! I love checking out all the awesome posts you feature.
It’s lovely that you shared some of Singapore during the New Year! It looks absolutely beautiful and I’m sure you had a wonderful time on New Years. If I could, I would love to experience New Years in EVERY country – how awesome would that be?
I’m glad you enjoy these posts :) I actually spent the past three New Years in Malaysia. Haha. There are many more fireworks to admire there as opposed to here. But yes, the skyline’s always lit up, so there’s much vibrancy to behold. Although, sometimes I wish we had more darkness, so we’d be able to admire the stars so much more at night.
Awww, I always have this massive moment of INTENSE FLAILS when you link to my posts. *commences quiet happy dance* AHEM. BUT ANYWAY. Those food pictures have me utterly drooling…and omg, Singapore is so pretty!! We didn’t do anything for New Years but food and movies, but no regrets. Introvert style party. ;D
I’m sitting here imagining you flapping and flailing your arms. Hahaha. Singapore has its charms if you’re into urban jungles ;) Introvert style party sounds totally fun is exactly my style on massive holidays like these.