Yearnings for books and soft serve ice cream--

Ovidia--every other Tuesday 'The best time to plan a book is while you're doing the dishes'--Agatha Christie

Though this may not have been her idea of 'doing' dishes!

Aren't they pretty though? Both Lent and Ramadan are currently being observed in Singapore, so I've been trying to dedicate my afternoon break hour to fasting and reflection.

I know that right now people elsewhere in the world are living under the constant threat of air strikes, starvation or deportation and it feels almost wrong to be living in comfort--even the writing is going well, though I'm here writing this instead of dumping today's quota of words into the Tembusu Tree.

I was reading about Beauty World, a market and food centre that was opened in 1947, the year my current WIP is set in.
It was at the junction of Upper Bukit Timah Road and Jalan Jurong Kechil, in addition to over a hundred stalls that sold everything from fresh and preserved foods to cleaning supplies, hell money, textiles and stationery, it was also a well known venue for getai performances during the Hungry Ghost Month.
Since those days and after several fires, today there's the Beauty World MRT Station, Beauty World Shopping Centre and Beauty World Plaza.
It's a side of Singapore that most tourists and visitors don't see, because it's not posh and developed enough for high end travellers and not historical/ traditional enough for those who come looking for 'authentic' Asia.
It's just an area where locals go to shop for cheap good food and supplies--or a haircut or massage.

On my last visit I found a new shop (source of the pretty bowls above)

I'm not just writing about it because I love soft serve ice cream. I also loved the owner/ manager Mark's good energy. According to him, Pompette is currently the only handcrafted soft serve ice cream outlet in Singapore. (Fastfood chains like McDonalds and Burger King use a pre-mix).
It was like a wake up nudge for me. I like soft serve ice cream, so I grumble about the lack of soft serve ice cream in Singapore.

This man likes soft serve ice cream, notes the lack of soft serve ice cream in Singapore, and starts a soft ice cream business.

It wasn't a simple matter of buying into a franchise either. He studied ice cream making and invested in these machines...

I heard these machines cost 50K--meaning I'm not likely to get one for home use any time soon. Luckily I live close by!

But the lesson I felt I was being pointed to was: when I'm unhappy about not having access to the things I want in my life (everything from the books I want to have written to the arm balances I want to have mastered) I should go out and study all there is to learn about them then plunge into the practical learning process.

Because that's the only way to produce the crafted from scratch books/ ice cream that you want--

Matcha Green Tea and Chocolate

Thai Milk Tea and Meiji Milk with Mango compote

Yes, the Thai Milk Tea was a little sludgier than it should be, but the shop is less than a year old and still working out their recipes.
And I would rather have a softer than it should be rough draft of a book than no draft at all! Especially a book that I make myself out of personally sourced fresh ingredients instead of pre-mix powder!

And another nice thing was, coming out of the shop and looking down into the atrium I saw this pop up secondhand bookshop offering--

and there were lots of people browsing not only the books on display here but the mysteries, romances and 'literary' books on the shelves underneath the floor we were on.
Yes, I went down there and found copies of three of my books.
And yes, it made me happy to see them there--because much as it would be lovely to make millions in royalties, it would also be fantastic to have something I write prompt someone to open up or write about their own ice cream dreams one day.

'Crime fiction is a mirror of society.' Martin Edwards in The Golden Age of Murder
Maybe we can change society just a little, by changing what we show in the mirrors we hold up to it.