Life of Pi

After months of struggle, I am finally done with Life of Pi. And yes, I am actually relieved.

This book comes with big words, mind you. I had to reread some paragraphs to let them sink in and at times I had to rely on Dictionary.com to give me a clearer picture - can't imagine it out if I don't get the meaning in the first place, right?

The start was pretty slow. I'd expected it to jump right into the middle of things straight up and have me in its tight grip from the beginning till the end. But nope.

Things only picked up somewhere in the middle when religions, a boat, a Bengal tiger, a hyena, a zebra, and an orang utan got involved. I was horrified reading some of the events that occurred. The words weaved good but often gruesome and tough images of life as a survivor on a boat.

What I really liked about the book is all the zoology terms and animal behaviors explained. How animals have no problems living their lives out in enclosed places as opposed to living wild and carefree in the jungles. Interesting points and perspectives indeed. And if you ever wonder how a ringmaster is able to tame those animals on show and made them do stunts like jumping over rings of fire, the book kinda touched about that too (A little along the lines of Freud & Pavlov...)

However I did not quite like the ending. Somehow things seemed a tad too bizarre and odd. I felt they didn't really make sense. Perhaps my logical mind was what caused the downfall. But come on, [spoiler alert] another castaway (what are the odds?)? A carnivorous island? I guess as a fiction-fantasy, anything can happen.

So it's down to a case of science vs faith. If you are the person interviewing Pi, would you choose to believe a fantastical but seemingly irrational story (according to the book, Pi is afterall an irrational number) or an alternative, far more rational version? For me, yes, Pi may be an irrational number but well, Pi is one of the mathematical constants that plays an important part in science...

Confuse yet?

Well, I guess sometimes faith and science go hand-in-hand...

At the end of the day, Life of Pi is one of those famous books - with a movie in-the-making - that grabs your attention with a neon-sign that says "YOU HAVE GOTTA READ ME!". But perhaps don't set too high an expectation when reading it. Anyway, I am glad I've read it and that's that. ☺

My Rating:

ReC!Pe: Potato-Egg Salad

It has been a really long while since I did a food/recipe post. And thanx to Australia's Jr Master Chef on AXN, I had this urge to cook (although sadly I am a gazillion light years from their level of skills - not to mention they are like only 8-12 yrs old!)

So to avoid any embarrassment, I'll stick to simple food that I can whip up in an hour or so in the morning before I rush off to work. First up, easy-peasy Potato-Egg Salad; good to go on its own or as sides. I had them as brunch to go with tuna sandwiches ☺

What You Need:

• 2-3 large potatoes
• 2 Eggs (hard-boiled)
  
• Onions (chopped)
• Spring onions (finely chopped to garnish)
• Lemon juice (depending on how sour you want your salad to be, add and taste accordingly)
• Mayonnaise

What To Do:

1. Boil potatoes until tender and cut them into cubes.
2. Shell the hard-boiled eggs and mash/grate them into a bowl. Add the chopped onions, lemon juice and mayonnaise. Mix well.
3. Pour the mayonnaise mixture thoroughly into the potatoes, then fold in the chopped spring onions.  Serve warm or cold (I prefer to put them in the fridge and enjoy them cold) 

Innocence

Ecstatic

♥ the packaging!

Comes with a complimentary measuring tape (so that you'll buy dresses from them next?)

But most important of all, ♥♥♥ the brand! 

My very first Victoria Beckham (and its all mine, mine, mine!)
...yes, it's enough to make depresso day go away