Jessica Pan's Blog: Graduates in Wonderland, page 5

Cheese and tomato buttery biscuits

I’m a still-wandering twenty something, and it’s a good week if I manage to plan a full 7 days’ worth of menus and meals. It’s during these organized weeks that I begin to feel like a capable adult. The rest of the time? Well, I muddle through.

Busy life, chaotic city, stressful commute – more often than not I need special recipes that I can make quickly, and an ingredients list that I can grab cheaply. This becomes super important during the late spring and summer months: it seems there is al...

Five Days in Barcelona

I flew to Barcelona last Thursday to spend a few days with my friend Susanna (we go all the way back to high school).Here are some snapshots (more to come):

Catalon flags off a windy street

Sandy, white beach at Barceloneta

Free tapas at a Spanish wine bar

The post Five Days in Barcelona appeared first on Graduates in Wonderland.

The Ron Way

I met Ronny Chieng when I was living in Melbourne two years ago. His stand-up comedy special The Ron Way, will run onComedy Central Asia on April 27, 28 & 29 in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. (Click into the post to get the audio and slideshow) Last week, he won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2014 Directors’ Choice Award for his one-hour comedy show. Here’s his post-grad journey from law student to international comedian, in his own words:

The post The Ron Way...

Love in the Time of Tinder

A tongue-in-cheek yet very important etiquette column

photo by Starks Photography

Dear Miss Fine,

Let’s talk about Tinder. It’s a dating phone app where one views a few photos of potential suitors and swipes “yes” or “no” if you like them or not. How would you approach this as such a fancy, refined lady? Who would you eliminate immediately? Who would be a keeper? And does a lady “chat” with them first or wait demurely?

Or would a lady not even be on Tinder? If so, what’s a girl to do while lookin...

English Wildlife

We took a daytrip to Lewes, a tiny village about an hour train ride outside London. All I wanted from the excursion was to find and pet a bunny. It’s Easter – is that so much to ask for (asks the Chinese Jew)?

Instead, we went for a hike here:

England!

I tread a bit closer…

What. A. Poser.

Came across some “history”

History, etc etc – America! Yay!

And some old English gentleman playing lawn bowls…

And then, I spotted this guy…

At first, I thought he was a hamster, but he seemed to hop and have a bunn...

Lily Allen & Me

Guys! Last month, I interviewed LILY ALLEN for a cover story for a magazine! I’ve loved her music since she appeared on the music scene in 2006, so it was quite surreal to have tea with her inside Claridge’s Hotel in London.

Lily Observations:

# 1 – she looks so familiar, so it felt totally natural, like we were just friends chatting

# 2 – she wasn’t scary

# 3 – she wore a navy T-shirt, a Chanel necklace, skinny jeans and heels. Her hair was swept up (I know you wanted to know)

# 4 – she had long,...

Simple Spring Salad with Halloumi

Spring is here! To me, it’s time for salad: there’s nothing better than fresh, crunchy veggies after months of eating carbs, meat, soup and cheese.

But let’s face it – any time of year is perfect for cheese, and my favorite salads often include it as a bit of a cheat. Paired with the powerhouse veggies in this salad, you’ll make your mom proud and feed any lingering cheese addiction without too much guilt.

Have I mentioned halloumi is one of my favorite cheeses? If you’ve never tried it – make...

Marathon Man

I had the pleasure of watching Cooky run the Paris marathon last April — and what a pleasure it was. It was early enough that drunk Parisians who had not yet made it to bed stood on the sidelines shouting with me. Just me and a bunch of drunk old French guys, who were very amused at the runners.

I stood near the Bastille, searching for Cooky as a stampede of men – all spitting and grunting – stormed past and then he waved me down, because I had failed to spot him in the sea of other men (fact:...

BOOK TRAILER Premiere!

Our book trailer, filmed in Beijing and Paris, and put together by our good friend Qiao Li. More about the making of it later – for now – enjoy! We hope you like it!!!

The post BOOK TRAILER Premiere! appeared first on Graduates in Wonderland.

Paris vs. New York: The Dog Round

Credit: Vahram Muratyan

When Rachel saw this postcard, she immediately began questioning her French, because she only knows the above French phrase “une crotte” as, well, a dog’s mess (pardon our French). Either way, it did bring back memories of living in Paris. Our good friend from college just got a puppy and we’re too jealous to even think about this too much (“so, like, the puppy LIVES with her? She has access to a puppy anytime she wants? How is this possible? Why is that not my life?”)

Y...