Babe In Total Control of Herself (or Him?)

Yesterday, the conversation between The BF and I evolved into an interesting topic.

It started when I shared with him the conversation between me and a gf. She was going OMG OMG I have big big news, coz she just heard that a common friend is getting married next year. My antenna had already picked it up a couple months back and I was as surprised as she, then.

You must be thinking it doesn't sound like we're surprised in a good way. Well, getting married is a happy thing and not uncommon (some would say a wee bit overdue) amongst people of my age range, and we are genuinely happy for him. Honestly genuinely. But this dude, at the point when he proposed to his gf, has probably only been going out with her for a year and half max, based on my best estimate. We wondered how well they really know each other to make this kind of commitment and what possessed him to propose and her to accept! We also thought she's a little bit of a control freak...

The BF got interested at the mention of control freak, and asked why we made such a comment. I guess it's hard to pinpoint at a glaring display of control freak-ness by dude's gf but since we both independently formed that opinion, it must be true somewhat, no? OK.... maybe control freak is too strong a description, but she is kinda controlling-ish.

Anyway, The BF then told me that over lunch a couple of days back, his colleague Cindy asked him whether his gf is a control freak. Apparently he paused for a bit and in a voice not entirely convincing said "I don't think so...", to which Cindy laughed in his face. According to her, he's totally pwned and didn't know it, haha. "Is that how it works?" he asked, wearing the expression of a confused puppy dog.

Honestly, I don't know if I'm the kind of person Cindy said I am. At most, I will admit to being slightly manipulative (obviously in a good, angelic, harmless way) but definitely not a control freak. Do let me clarify a bit on the manipulative bit: I believe you can convince people to do things for you if you know what to say and how to say it. All women know that, and some men too. It's very much people management so, I probably shouldn't call myself manipulative, coz that sounds so sinister.

Whereas men, on the other hand, are prone to displaying control freak tendencies. I can almost hear a collective cry of protest but it's trueeee. Let's face it, men are born bossy and some developed very fixed opinions on things too. How many times have you got the "it's either my way or the highway" from men? The BF (yes you, I know you're reading this), as awesome as he is, is not an exception. Suffice to say he couldn't muster any retort when I gave him examples of his mild controlling-ness, hehe.

I think it's fair to say most of us, if not all, do have an inherent controlling trait. The only difference is how much control you want to have. And since no man is an island, that has to be balanced with how much control your partner or people around you will take. As long as we can strike a good balance, I'm pretty certain there will be peace on Earth...

Oh, and Merry Xmas!

watch and eat

I went for a cooking demo today and learned that it's actually very easy to make cake pops. It's soooo easy you wouldn't believe it. I can throw such awesome parties now!

I also learned how to fillet a whole salmon fish. Not that there's any need for me to fillet a whole salmon (or buy one in the first place) but I once watched an episode of Masterchef where the contestants had to fillet a salmon fish and some of them did it rather hideously. I guess the knowledge would come in handy should I want to fillet any fish. It should work the same way, right?

Anyhoo, the salmon fillets were used to make gravlax, like the ones they sell in Ikea. The instructor also taught us how to make bouncy poached prawns. It's in the ice ice water baby. No wonder mine always turn out slightly mushy.

Here comes my favourite, mince pies! I was thinking of making some for an xmas party next week but I thought it's kinda complicated-ish... so I chickened out. It's definitely not as easy as cake pops but not as hard as I thought.

This is Chef Bernard Lee in action. He's funny and because of that the class is pretty interactive.

Of course, we get to eat everything after that and have seconds AND thirds. Much fun!