Reflections on being Miss Singapore Universe 1999

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The following is an article based on an interview by Valerie Wang Jia Yu of the Singapore Straits Times. The article was published in the Sunday Life! print edition section May 24, 2009. Photo © JE Nilsson for CMC 2009

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro in black

Winning the crown

In 1999 when I won the Miss Singapore Universe title, I was 24. I had just graduated with Honours from the National University of Singapore, NUS, and was pursuing two separate Masters degrees.

One was a Master of Arts in English Language with NUS and the second was a part-time Master of Science course in Information Technology with Nanyang Technological University, NTU.

Literally sitting with the crown in my lap, I subsequently graduated with both degrees in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

Curiosity and ambition

I suppose there could be many small reasons why I chose to join the Miss Singapore pageant back then, but it comes down to a combination of curiosity and ambition.

The first reason is that I’m always one to look to expand my repertoire of experiences. Up until my university days, I’ve always prioritized education and academic training. I also noted that I tended to be rather nervous and shy during presentations at tutorials. In that sense, being in a pageant presented a new challenge to me. It would be an event where I will need to be able to present myself on stage, in front of a large audience, overcoming stage fright.

I decided to take up that challenge and overcome my fear of presenting myself in front of many people. I even joked about this at my recent Doctoral graduation dinner celebration: after parading in a bikini in front of Donald Trump and millions of viewers, there’ll be nothing more frightful thereafter in terms of public appearances.

A plethora of opportunities

The second reason that drew me to the pageant was the opportunities that the event presented for the young women who chose to be in it. Contrary to what some might think, that pageants are demeaning to women, personally, I think pageants provide an excellent arena in which young women are given a voice, or at least, they are given the chance to find their voice. Being on stage, these young women are not only encouraged to polish their self-presentation skills but they are encouraged to have their say in the pageant’s related portfolio, voicing their thoughts on women’s issues for example or lending their services to humanitarian efforts.

Promoting Singapore

My portfolio as Miss Singapore Universe for example, was quite broad. Part of my work as Miss Singapore Universe entailed efforts on the humanitarian front, such as heightening awareness on AIDS in Singapore, spending time with the elderly living in elderly care homes. Other aspects of my portfolio included working with the Singapore Tourism Board in promoting Singapore as a choice country of destination for tourism, especially within the regions of Southeast-Asia and Asia-Pacific.

After the crown

There were no radical changes after I won the title in terms of lifestyle or relations with family and friends. But with the win, came a plethora of interesting opportunities that one could take in life and I think that’s where it got interesting for me. Most of all, I’m grateful for most things that came my way after winning the pageant – the trip to Trinidad and Tobago for example, where the international Miss Universe pageant was held in 1999, was truly an unforgettable experience by any standards! The people I’ve met along the way, delegates of other countries as well as the locals from the country is nothing short of a fantastic experience. The international event was a networking opportunity of a lifetime. It gave me insight into the beauty of the diversity of cultures, values, traditions, language, food and religions; and these are aspects that I brought with me in my research interest all the way into my doctoral thesis, which is about how Scandinavian top managers make it in Singapore.

Putting “Miss Singapore Universe Winner 1999” on the resume

Being Singapore’s delegate to the international pageant is something that I will always be proud of. On the international scene, more is expected of you. You stop being just a beauty queen and take on an ambassadorial role for the country, you answer questions about your country, its history and its socio-economic and financial policies. I think that to the majority of the public, pageants were (and still are) seen as entertainment, similar to how we would view a sports event, a fashion show, a reality series etc. I think having been Miss Singapore Universe is pretty much a non-issue with my friends and colleagues at the university.

My professional interest however, lies in academia, research and writing.

Style and self-presentation

I think beauty is an evolving concept, and over the years I believe the young women participating internationally have become more career oriented and this is reflected in how the local pageants are run. The professional aspects of style and self-presentation, has become more important than just good looks.

Pageants are after all a very important recruiting ground for all kinds of front persons aiming for a career in the tourism, public relations, modeling, human resources, entertainment, television, movie and the fashion industries – all important, major businesses with global turnovers that count into the billions.

Oprah Winfrey, who is one of the wealthiest and most influential woman on the planet for example, began her career by winning a pageant.

A fantastic opportunity

I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for any young woman to take part in the event because it does offer a platform in which young women can launch themselves in their career. I think that the experience of the pageant in itself is tremendously enriching for all involved. You learn a lot on the job, you learn from other people’s life experiences you meet along the way and you can make lifelong friends with other young delegates you meet at the international event.

There are a lot of fun memories of all the friends I made that I still come back to. If I could do it all over again, I would do it all over again and do it better.

 

Spaghetti al Salsa di Pomodoro Crudo

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Mixing the cherry tomaroes with the tagliatelle. At Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Cherry tomatoes marinated in olive oil and garlic, going on top of some tagliatelle.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC 2009

It was during our trip to Italy late last year when we stepped into a genuine Tuscan house where the old housewife continued to uphold the family cooking traditions that stemmed from generations back. We sat down and settled for Aqua and a pasta dish that seemed nice, and walked straight into a new world of flavours as unexpected as unforgettable.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Florence, Italy 2008

Standing outside a fantastic eating place with a beautiful view, about one hours drive from Florence.

This restaurant is located about one hour’s drive from Florence, a small monastery that serves food. I don’t even remember the name of it but it’s somewhere along the A1 when heading from the Gucci factory outlet, towards the vineyard cooperatives around San Gimignano. This is where I got introduced to this dish.

It’s very simple to prepare, as are many Tuscan dishes. The only things you need to be very careful with are the ingredients or the whole thing is hopelessly lost before you start and you will just be disappointed.

To make Spaghetti al Salsa di Pomodoro Crudo, you just cut, crush and mix into a bowl and let it sit in a warm room from morning to about lunch.

For about four persons, I took about 20 small sweet, flavour filled and sun ripened tomatoes, a generous handful of fresh basil and one fair sized clove of garlic.

Cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basicl. At Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Ingredients to this tagliatelle dish.

Crush the garlic clove, slice the tomatoes directly into the bowl so that the juices are not lost along the way; shred the basil leafs into the bowl using fingers and top up the bowl with fresh, green and fruity first class olive oil.

Ripened cherry tomatoes sliced and ready for marinating. At Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Sliced cherry tomatoes.

Olive oil Pouring olive oil into the cherry tomatoes and garlic mixture.

When it comes to olive oil, there are different qualities beyond “virgin” and “cold pressed” oils. What you want is something better than extra virgin olive oil in flavour. The oil to look for is from those that hand pick their olives and have them pressed on a daily basis. Although this kind of quality olive oil is difficult to source, the daily pressed olive oils will render oils that are ultra low in acid content. In the end, this decides the fruitiness and the aroma and ultimately the entire experience of the dish.

When it is time to serve, remove the garlic cloves and pour the tomatoes with the wonderfully flavored olive oil into a bowl of steaming hot and freshly cooked pasta. For four persons you will need about 400 grams (1 lb) of pasta. Top off the dish with freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of sea salt.

My new cooking buddy, the Grill Pan

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Fillet of beef on an iron grill pan. At Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

To fry a few pieces of Couer de Filet of Beef to perfection,
sprinkle with sea salt, let the beef rest in room temperature for about 40 minutes. Fry one side until brown in a grill pan, flip once and fry until done. Let the beef rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC

There are a million good reasons to go out and buy a new pot or pan to the kitchen if you really try to come up with some. But what it eventually boils down to (excuse the pun) is that it makes cooking more fun. Sometimes, having a new utensil might even improve the results of your efforts.

On my part, I often find myself buying something that looks nice, figuring out later what to use it for. Eventually I will show you a very nice Italian milk-foamer and yes, a perfectly useless high-tech electric juicer that currently eats up half a cabinet of shelf space and we can’t throw it away because it was too expensive to buy in the first place. And is there anyone who actually even knows what a raquelette is?

However, our latest toy was not improvised but something that we decided to make do with, after we decided that a separate grill section to the stove would not be practical after all. After some shopping around we simply chose the heaviest cast iron grill pan we could find, which turned out to be an 11″ AGA with black enamel coating inside and out. The very look of the pan sitting snug in the shop was enough to get us all excited about it, conjuring up dishes to cook in it!

AGA cast iron grill pan. At Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Our new toy, 2.9 kgs worth of cast iron AGA grill pan makes frying in barbeque style a breeze. The heat source does not matter as long as it can make the grill pan sizzling hot.

Continue reading “My new cooking buddy, the Grill Pan” →

Pasta and Chicken liver sauté, just XO good …

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Pasta with chicken liver and a dash of XO

Tagliatelle pasta served with chicken liver sauté, bacon, shallots and fresh parsley.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC

In my view chicken liver is a true delicatess. Its mild flavour and fine texture is likely to appeal even to those who normally are not that enthusiastic about liver. It is inexpensive and the health aspect is overwhelmingly positive.

It is also tender and usually quite fail-proof to cook, since it is done in about 3-5 minutes in a dollop of butter.

However, liver can’t be combined with everything and if you want to go beyond butter things can get ugly pretty fast.

Some additional ingredients might not go well with liver, others might be too dominating and kill off the liver flavour, making the dish pointless. Too much onion or meat cubes for example, are mortal enemies to the sophisticated aroma of tender chicken liver.

In general, safe combinations are cream and herbal spices, but here we have tried to be a bit more adventurous than that.

This dish is one of my favourites since besides containing a few surprises that makes it interesting, it shows off chicken liver from its very best side.

To serve four persons, we will need about 500 grams of pasta to this dish.

Ingredients
400 grams of chicken liver
3-4 medium sized shallots
150 grams of bacon
1 tbs dried marjory
1 handful of fresh parsley
1 cup of cream
White pepper
Salt

Preparations
Tidy up and cut each chicken liver in three parts.
Slice and dice the bacon into small pieces.
Chop the shallots
Grind the dried marjory finely in a mortar
Continue reading “Pasta and Chicken liver sauté, just XO good …” →

Maggie of London dress with those Roberto Cavalli heels!

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Roberto Cavalli patent leather stiletto heels

Roberto Cavalli black patent leather stilettos.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC

At 11 cm high, these skinny stilettos are not the most comfortable to move about in, calling for quite some stamina and that masochist in you to wear them. But some things can’t be rationalized in life and I love them just because they are so impractical, so elegant and sleek in lines – like a drawing on paper that was once fantasy, now turned into reality.

These shoes have a personality all of their own, their tiger striped insoles echoing the sharp look it carries on the outside.

Black dress from Maggie of London, at Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Draped black dress from Maggie of London. Vintage silvertone jewellery from Lisner and Trifari. Thick banded white gold ring from Cartier.

Depending on your imagination and what you pair with the shoes, it can take you from classy to trashy in an instant!

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro in Roberto Cavalli stiletto heels, shoes

I’m not over my fever on draped clothing, so I thought I’d pair the shoes with this black Maggie of London jersey dress that is draped around the collar and ruched down the sides.

Roberto Cavalli black patent stilettos, shoes. At Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

But then again, you could also forget about walking in these. Some shoes are made to look just gorgeous, strewn carelessly on the bedroom floor, and this pair of Roberto Cavalli stilettos is one of them.

The Opéra Garnier in Paris, France

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Opera Garnier in Paris, France

The Paris Opera house, also known as Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier.
Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009

If there is something that makes the French French, I think that is a certain spirit – they just don’t do boring. It’s in the fashion, women in skyscraper skinny stilettos in the Metro in the morning, their passion for life and, in their architecture. Take this Opera Garnier for example. It’s an orgy in marble and gilt, exudes a love of life and is a grand example of how to do things with panache!

Just consider that they started to plan this building with its surrealistic grandiosity less than half a century after the French Revolution in 1793, when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been publicly beheaded because of their opulent life style.

The realization that there actually is an indoor lake under the basement make you half and half believe that there probably is a phantom somewhere in there too. All sets the stage in our minds for a great theatre play. You just need to step inside and the grand entrance staircase will within the blink of an eyelid place you in the spotlight, on stage in the theatre of life, cast as the star.

Top of the Opera Garnier or Palais Garnier in Paris, France

On the roof are sculptures of Apollo, Poetry and Music by Aimé Millet and Liberty by Charles Gumery.

The grandeur strikes you already when you set your eyes on it from across Place de l’Opéra. Above the golden frilly edge of the roof are statues of Apollo, ‘Poetry’ and ‘Music’. This is the ideal setting and one can think that Gaston Leroux’s Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (1909) must have basically written itself. This was also the story that was later adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber to the musical, The Phantom of the Opera in 1986 and became one of Broadway’s longest running musicals of all time. I can’t even write the title without hearing the theme in my mind. Continue reading “The Opéra Garnier in Paris, France” →

Vanilla ice-cream served with apple cinnamon sauté

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Vanilla gelato, ice-cream served with apple cinnamon marmalade

A summery dessert.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC, 2009

One scoop of vanilla ice-cream. On the side, one small apple sliced, diced and fried in butter, sugar, cinnamon and some breadcrumbs. Decorate with a quick drizzle of dark syrup and top off with a small leaf of mint.

By the end of last autumn, we received a large number of apples from a neighbour who had a spacious garden filled with old apple trees. Apple will store and keep over the winter if kept reasonably cold and dry. Now however, we were down to our last batch and looking at our very last three apples and we decided to celebrate them by transforming them into this wonderfully sweet and temperature cooling dessert. And besides, if looking for something Italian inspired, what could be more Italian than gelato?

A buffé with a French-Italian theme

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Caprice salad with buffalo milk mozzarella, olive oil and fresh basil

Caprice salad: sun ripened tomatoes with buffalo milk mozzarella cheese
with olive oil, basil, black pepper and salt.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC, 2009

Planning is a big part of the fun to holding events. It’s a phase that allows you to be creative and fantasize the possibilities!

In a few weeks, we’ll be holding a dinner for friends with a French-Italian theme and thought that a lunch buffé the same day should set the stage for the evening event.

So far, we have thought that the following should be in there somehow:
Continue reading “A buffé with a French-Italian theme” →

Rösti – turning raw potatoes into culinarian delight

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Rösti, made with potatoes and carrots

Grate fresh potatoes, flavour with garlic and some Italian hard cheese. Fry until golden brown in a generous dollop of butter. Done.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC, 2009

There are many aspects to cooking, from nutrition to economy, to pure lucullian joy. Ideally I try to combine all these aspects into all that we cook.

One of my favourite things to do is to take something simple and then add a twist and a half to it and see it turn into something both delicious and fun, that might even render you a couple of surprised looks at the table.

Today we needed something to go with a mouthwatering piece of beef, and we didn’t want to spend all day preparing the side dishes, so we settled for the Swiss staple, rösti. In a world of rice, pasta and french fries, rösti is not always ranked amongst our first choices.

Rösti was originally a breakfast dish, slightly related to the fried carrot cake or chai tao kway we find in Singapore, but one that will fit splendidly together with anything that benefits from the company of potatoes.

If you haven’t got around to actually cook this before, the basic recipe is pretty uncomplicated: grate fresh potatoes. Add salt and pepper. Fry. Done.

Depending on what kind of dinner you are planning rösti lends itself to many variations. Adding different ingredients such as garlic, onions, carrots, bacon or apple can turn this dish into something different, interesting and one that is to your liking.

Chef’s secret; How to flip it so that the nicely browned side is upwards when served? Use two pans. When the rösti is half done, put a similar sized pan on top of the first one as a lid, flip the whole thing, and fry until done in the second pan. Or just fry one side and do the flipp onto the serving dish.

Smaklig måltid!

Nautical stripes, a Swedish summer staple

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Black and white striped top, black Warehouse shorts, Marc Jacobs shoes

By the road, in nautical, flower picking.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC, 2009

It took me years to get over my loathe of horizontally striped clothes, to see them as chic or flattering after a girl friend of mine once commented that a red and white striped t-shirt I had on was the ugliest thing she had ever seen.

It also didn’t help that one of the first fashion basics that we learnt in school was that horizontally striped clothes tended to make the body look broader whilst vertically striped clothes tended to lengthen the body.

But growing up, you often learn to unlearn what others have taught you or have impressed upon you through the years and these days, I don’t think much about wearing horizontal stripes. In fact, I think these nautically themed tops such as this black and white striped jumper from H&M can look effortlessly chic, depending on what you choose to pair it with.

While nautical is all the season’s rage on the runways, from Armani in Italy to Ralph Lauren in the USA in both menswear and womenswear, Gothenburg is a harbour city where come summer, you’ll find more nautically inspired clothing out on the streets as staples than perhaps any other city in Sweden. People often throw over a sailing jacket in white and navy or red and navy, that is both wind and waterproof when out shopping, paired with leather docksides. Here, nautically themed clothes are an indication of the city’s history and heritage as a trading port and home to the Swedish East Indiaman company and its ships some 300 years ago.

While April doesn’t usually allow for bare legs and shorts, Sweden seems to be experiencing a warm spell these weeks, with summer weather already here in the middle of spring. The clear blue skies are encouraging people to take to their hobby in sailing, and a view of several sailing boats at sea is exactly what you’ll find in the archipelago region along the Swedish west coast.

In this post, I’ll be sharing a few different looks with a single striped top.

For something casual (shown in the first picture above), I’ve paired the striped top with a pair of black woollen shorts from Warehouse and a pair of patent leather ballerina shoes from Marc Jacobs, as an alternative to docksides.

Marc Jacobs red patent leather shoes with pink bow

By the shadow of a picket fence: Marc Jacobs ballerinas in red patent leather with contrasting pink bows.

Keeping the red patent, pink bowed shoes, the top also works when worn with white shorts for another casual look (pictured below). These white cotton shorts are from Bay Trading from the UK, a company that sell quality items at affordable prices. I like how these shorts tend to look like a mini-skirt from the way it has been cut and sewn.

For something more dressed up, shorts are good to pair with heels, the trend being seen on the runways since 2006 with Luella and Gucci both having their own renditions of shorts with heels.

L\'Autre Chose brogue mules with tie front detail

L’Autre Chose brogue mules with tie front detail.

In my own ensemble, I’ve paired the black and white top with white shorts and a pair of L’Autre Chose brogue detailed mules. I find mules, even stilettoed ones, less dressy than courts and quite common a shoe form in more tropical climates, which make them perfect for a smart casual do with shorts. Espadrilles are another favourite of mine to pair with shorts.

Nautical black and white top with white shorts

Nautical black and white top with white shorts, paired with the L’Autre Chose shoes.

An inspirational multimedia clip from Bill Cunningham, On the Street: a show of legs in Paris (22 March 2009) shows in pictures, how wonderful it is to have legs as a fashion feature, be it in early spring or summer. And I think here, shorts have also gained in popularity as an item to be worn paired with dark leggings and heels; a look that elongates your legs without the use of vertical stripes.

In my ensemble, I’ve paired the black wool shorts with a pair of black patent leather, pointed toe stilettos from Roberto Cavalli. No leggings necessary in this weather, if it keeps up. Cavalli is one of my favourite designers because he never loses sight of what is feminine in a woman, and puts that theme consciously into his designs in women’s clothes, shoes and bags.

Black and white top with black Warehouse shorts and Roberto Cavalli heels

Black and white top with black Warehouse shorts and Roberto Cavalli heels.

Roberto Cavalli black patent leather stilettos

Roberto Cavalli black patent leather stilettos.

As an indication of the warm weather, here’s a happy bunch of Easter lilies, basking in the warmth of the summer temperatures in spring.

Spring lilies with a summer feel, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Yellow Easter lilies basking in the early summer warmth.

Enjoy the warm weather upcoming!