Rattles and Blabbers

fragility of life

2011-10-09T00:20:00.000+08:00

last weekend, i witnessed a heart wrenching moment.. so heart wrenching that my eyes still get teary whenever i think about that weekend. i doubt i can ever forget, i probably never will. it was the first time i witnessed someone slowly losing to the cancer battle.

my uncle was diagnosed 3 months back that he was at the final stage of stomach cancer. back then when i visited him, he was still jovial, ready to battle the illness even though there was only 3 months. Mum called me last friday and told me that the doctor informed that my uncle may not last another day and asked me to see him one last time.

when i reached the hospital, i couldnt recognised the person lying on the bed. He had, lost so much weight.. his face was so thin, his whole body skeletal. i was close to tears and extremely shocked. i saw my cousin and gave her a hug. i knew and confirm then that i was never emotionally strong. i couldn't even say a word without crying. I really sucked big time in this.

he could not eat and could not drink. every breath he took needed immense effort, i could feel the pain and the strain and i think half the time i was breathing through my mouth. it was tense, it was scary. no one taught others how to handle such situations. i don't know what i could do to help, i just helped to cool him down together with my other cousin and massaging his toes and legs. when my aunt tried to drip water for him to drink, he bit the cotton bud so hard trying to get more water out of it. he was that thirsty but every drop he drank made him cough. he was really struggling very hard to survive.

stomach cancer is a frightening thing. you know you need to be healthy so that you can go through the necessary treatment. stomach cancer has no treatment. even after chemo, something like a nuclear bomb destroying everything in sight kills even the good cells leaving no defense in the body for anything. food eaten regardless how little the amount, was being vomited.

my uncle probably died hungry. he passed away in the evening last sunday. we watched him not being able to move his hands, legs and breathing becoming slower, then harder when family, relatives called his name. his determination to try his best to live, but to no avail. fighting his hardest even towards the end.

it's the hardest thing i have to see in my life for now. i can only say that life is so unfair and decided that i should not regret not having done things in my life. living life to the fullest is always easy to say, but whenever we get entangled in the hustle and bustle of reality, it's easy to forget. hopefully i will get to spend more time with my parents and family so that should one day when life decides to be unfair again, i will have the strength and courage to fight the tears and say what i want to say.

Rest in peace uncle Kok Seng. I am sure you are smiling in the house of God right now.

Good Fortune

2011-03-18T13:54:00.000+08:00

I hardly associate myself with the above two words. i always think my life is cursed and things never go the way i want to. For the past week, i realized that it came to me unknowingly.

My US trip was planned last Nov. Though my friend had wanted me to go last year, i had used up all my leave and had none left. The only period i could think of was in the early quarter of 2011. It was initially intended to be early Feb, but air ticket price was exorbitant and didnt make sense for the airlines i checked. Then i got the suggestion of checking out ANA which had reasonable air ticket price and also reasonably good service. So i checked and indeed, the price was affordable but i didnt like the duration of the transit time for my coming back leg. I called the company and asked if i could extend my transit and make it into a stopover, and i was told i can build my own itinerary at the same cost of the original trip. That was so awesome i thought and now what i had to decide on was the final date.

I finally chose 18 Feb 2011 as opposed to a week later which was one of the dates i thought about. I was lucky indeed. Had i flew a week later, i would have been stuck in Japan because of the tsunami and earthquake.

Many of my friends asked if my trip had completed or if i was still in Japan when the disaster struck. I told them that i was damn bloody heng (refers to 'lucky' in hokkien) that i didnt fly a week later. Else, the day where i was supposed to depart Japan at night was when the disaster struck in the afternoon.

I have never felt so lucky in my life when i watched the news in the hospital bed on Friday afternoon after having seen a post in Facebook.

I wanted to go to Japan for a long time. I was supposed to go two years back, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it didnt happen. So this time, 4 short days in Japan was more than what i can ask for. I enjoyed my stay there and even though i travelled alone, i made it back home well and proper. I was indeed lucky that i fulfilled my wish of going back to Japan, see, eat, buy what i wanted.

I hope the Japanese people will ride through this disaster smoothly and that less misfortune will befall onto the country. I am doing my part by donating some money and am glad that many organisations and artists and people from different countries are ready to lend a helping hand or their support one way or another. I guess it must be because people always remember the smiles Japan brings to their faces when they think about the country.

Have you done your part already?

back to blogging

2011-01-13T23:48:00.000+08:00

am starting to blog again because i have so many thoughts and i think i need to put into words either to formalise certain things if not, to get a sense of things.

embarking on the Mon-solution concept was well worth it. tide me through the first 7 months of 2010 and yes, i became complacent. in fact, each month that passed without me putting my mon-solutions into my blog, i felt uneasy.

this year, i need to embark on something new. i term it 'SPARKS'... it's something i have to do and am being measured to quite a huge extend.

sparks is something about innovation and thinking out of the box. putting ideas into workable reality.

sounds huge to me.. have been and always was..

this year, i need to change my mindset.

i need to embark on a daily journey in search of sparks and make them burn brightly.

i don't know how i am going to do it. i just started reading and using the tools suggested in the book.

first couple of pages, it already started making me think.

i guess it's a good start, but hopefully the environment will be encouraging.

let's see how it goes.

trying to get inspired so, will put an idea a day in the blog.

Innovation of the day:

Saw the news yesterday that scientists had problems capturing coloured images in mars because of the heat from the sun. inspired by the stained glass from churches, they noticed that even after years, these stained glass still retain the same colour as before. so, they used this idea and concept to design the lens of the robots exploring mars. They were successful in capturing coloured images not destroyed by the sun.

note: - ideas from old age can also be put into innovation of today.

October getaway - Korea Day 1

2010-10-31T02:07:00.000+08:00

Korea Day 1 - 16 Oct around 1200 hours

Weather: Fair + Cool

Time: 11 ish (Korea is 1 hour behind SG time)

The fligh from Shanghai to Seoul airport was about an hour close to two. we managed to reach Korea safe and sound. I like Korea's airport for it's Zenish design at the same time, the colour of the wood they use are not too dark or too light. it gives me a sense of calm.

We met our tour guide and he immediately took us to the bus. I thought he was rather old. A head of white hair but somehow, his features didn't equate the age of an elderly. In any case, his age was quite a mystery then. He introduced himself as Han Min Yin and we could call him MY for short. He also had an 'apprentice' whom we can address as 'Xiao Wen' who is about 25 years old? Anyway, MY made us felt better when he showed his empathy of knowing the fact that our first leg was an unguided tour but we ultimately made it safe to Korea. He was talking away but i think some of us fell asleep. I was busy taking photos and didnt listen lots, though he was talking a bit of korea history and he even gave us the 'itinerary' of the things he was going to say for the rest of the trip. Some time during the bus ride, i fell asleep..

So our first stop was to have lunch. We had to eat food coz we were all hungry by then. first day's lunch was stewed pork which was at a touristy place and the pork was cooked too long. though rice and seaweed was pretty awesome and so was kimchi. after having a satisfied meal, MY told us that we will be Everland first instead of going to the hot spring at Aqua world coz he felt that we will feel better if we soak our tired bodies the next day. Everyone was ok, and so we went to Everland. I also think it's because the entire tour group were all adults as such, the time we had left to spend in Everland should be sufficient.

I like Everland, for it's deco. It has such fairytale-ish decos and because it's Halloween, it had this magical feel! Even though we were tired, we managed to cover quite a few things. We also managed to catch an animal show as well as the grand parade. We had OTOT till 8pm where we were supposed to meet MY and Xiao Wen by then at the entrance.

Everland is designed such that when you reach the entrance, imagine you are at the top of a hill. As you move deeper, it also means that you are going down the hill. so to meet back at the entrance, we have to go uphill again. Although there is this cable ride up, the queue was quite long. In any case, this didnt occur to us whilst we explore this wonderful, magical and beautiful place. It only occurred to us when we were walking back up, it was indeed a tough hike given that we were all so tired!

Thank goodness we looked good enough to take nice pics during our time day. But as night falls, the weather became really cold, especially with the wind blowing. However, it's still not the kind of cold where it's like you are being spiked with ice. It was just chilly. With my jacket, it was pretty sufficient. I also wore a quilted dress and tights with half tights as well as boots. Not too bad.

I bought quite a lot of souvenirs from Everland. The stuff were so pretty and cute, it was hard for me to resist for sure! I heart heart Everland :)

After that, we headed to the bestest hotel for the entire trip. It's Alpensia Holiday Inn. It's actually a condo and it's so homey! Super lurve the hotel. Too bad there was no snow during this period else we can see the peak covered with snow and people skiing! Really happening.

By the time we reached the resort, we were so tired. We all fell asleep on the way. The next morning, we had to get up early and meet at like 630am, in the end i only slept around 12 ish coz was watching WGM with no subs and waiting for my hair to dry. The bed was so comfy and the floor was heated. Very very cool.

Had a good sleep that night but not sufficient.

PS: Uploading of pics function not working now. Will try to upload when the function is working proper.

October getaway - 8 Days Korea + Jeju + 3 Days Shanghai

2010-10-31T01:24:00.002+08:00

yes my blog is dead. completely! for two months i have not updated it. To restart the momentum, i will blog my Korea + Shanghai trip experience. Those who read my blog faithfully will know that i am a lousy travel blogger coz i never complete my travel logs. This time i will try since i did put up a summary in my facebook. See how it goes.

Day 0 - Oct 15 Friday night 1055pm

Reached Changi airport T3 and was quite happy for the fact that even though we were travelling by China Eastern, it is terminal 3 we are boarding the flight. i have not boarded a flight in T3 and was excited. Unfortunately, the experience of checking in was not a happy one.

The tour we signed up since Feb's Natas tour was with tour agency Super travels. We sealed the deal primarily because it was pretty cheap. for 8 Days in Korea + Jeju and free 3 days Shanghai, we only need to pay $1510 at that time. Subsequently, as the date draws nearer, there were additional taxes to be paid due to the change in airport and dunno what tax. The tour package amounted to about $1688 which was still reasonable.

This being my first time on tour, i always thought that there's the privilege of group check in. However, we were told to join the normal queue by this ah pek who stood there to 'welcome' us. We were confused but continued queuing. When we saw another tour group using the group check in, we were puzzled though we were told that even if we do group check in, we will have to check in family by family, individual by individual. Quite crap shit actually. When we completed our check in, somebody popped out of no where and asked to check our arrangement. We asked who he was and he said he's with Super. So we made our complains to him and ask why our seats were different for our Shanghai to Korea leg, he just said not to worry, when we reach Shanghai, he asked us to go to the counter to request to change. We then challenged what if cannot change, he said sure can. In the end, we complained and say how can the agency ensure that our seats can be changed when we reached Shanghai, what if cannot, then how?

The person then say that he's just a freelancer with the travel agency, that made us even more pissed. However, in the end, we had no choice. Boarded the plane and headed to Shanghai about errr.. 6 hours ride i think? China Eastern sucks coz they don't have any online entertainment, so just try to sleep our way through the flight. Somehow we managed and reached Pudong airport.

It was cold that morning and Pudong airport is pretty huge for the fact that we had to take a bus to the immigration area. We were possibly grouchy and that some persons were quite rowdy and just shoved their way in the bus. When we reached the immigration area, we were faced with more confusion.

We didnt know where to go, lucky we can read mandarin and can speak mandarin and can understand mandarin. We realised there that even though we were transiting Shanghai, we still need to go through immigration and then re-check in again. Imagine our irritation in the chilly morning as the whole process was not detailed to us. We were also pretty helpful coz we also informed the rest of the tour folks as to what needs to be done.

In the end, we managed to check in to our flight to Korea and spent 4 hours of transit time in Pudong airport. We hope that when we reach Korea, things would be better.

Took some pics whilst waiting.

The expo design China Eastern plane

Declaration counter as per signboard

the official mascot for the expo

still wondering why the interior architecture is as such in general, the airport is pretty clean and looks pretty new. My impression of the airport was quite good.

August project

2010-08-29T20:30:00.000+08:00

for august, i decided to make accessories. this is the first but not completed.

polka dots are so pretty. i like how the wooden looking button with a black flower shaped button sewn onto it makes the entire removable brooch so much cuter!

a more entire view of the incomplete necklace. i also like the flowery lace. very very pretty!! can't wait to complete the piece :)!

July project

2010-08-29T20:26:00.000+08:00

my project for july was to make a wedding guest book. i'm glad the bride loved it, i'm disappointed that i could not reach the wedding venue in time.

the materials i bought for the book. lots of stickers which are really awesome! i love the colour of the ribbon.

front page of the book.

the flowery antique piece is a sticker too!

a ribbon ties everything together.

this is where the sticker comes in handy. i stuck them on the pages of the book.

i really like this and put it in the last page.

MBS - the way i see it

2010-08-29T19:15:00.000+08:00

took some shots last weekend, it's a nice walk but it's too crowded. waiting for the place and area to be completed entirely..

neglect

2010-08-29T18:53:00.000+08:00

i have definitely neglected my blog. i'm just so lazy. if blogging was as easy as leaving a status update by facebook from mobile, i think my blog would have been uber active.

perhaps i'm just lazy in figuring out, the last i tried, i can only blog through the html format which was so boring. i will continue to try and see how it goes. i like to be able to upload as and when, where ever and when ever. sometimes i just think i have so many things to say.

i think i have been up to some lately but not much. another time perhaps? i hope the day will arrive.

hmm.. i think it will..

lament

2010-08-02T23:09:00.000+08:00

august has arrived

half a year has gone

how time flies

in a blink of an eye

christmas will be here

and i'd probably be alone once more...

Be objective

2010-08-02T23:04:00.000+08:00

i wonder how snappy i can be to put up an entry.

this happened today in the afternoon where Mr C wanted to ask me to work with an 'old' colleague to organise a team bonding session. i down right refused and he commented that this was the first time without thinking i just said no.

it's interesting how such an immediate reaction came from me, and saying no to my boss so directly probably is career suicide.. haha well i guess when it comes to that colleague, best to stand guard.

i think 3 years of psychotic 'abuse' is nuff said. exaggerating perhaps, but this person is super crazy about mind games. from then till now, the traits havent changed. not even a bit. it's easy to know what she is thinking these days and not care so much.

somethings about people i cannot stand, yet there's no control over. i think if one 口口声声says that they have moved on, they jolly well mean it. i hate it when people starts lamenting about what's stopping them from moving on and how hurtful it is that people can't understand etc.. i just think they are not making an effort and finding someone/somethings to blame.

10 years ago, i'd pity and cry along with the person, a decade on, sorry.. i don't even want to think about working together for even the simplest project. i can be objective, yet i know the person is unlikely to be and would perhaps think of the best way to get back at me.

so mr C if you are reading this, it's how strongly i feel about this particular person. :)

June Project

2010-06-14T19:58:00.001+08:00

my creative juice has been going on a hiatus on and off, especially after the days of working as a shift personnel. 9 to 5 jobs simply doesn't give you much time to do stuff like these. maybe it's an excuse, but i am most creative when the it is late at night. somehow the cool and silent makes me think better.

the latest creative project i did was a love pledge for a very dear friend of mine. seems like these love pledge/contract/promises are the rage these days. couple of years back i saw one made by my cousin and it was very scrapbook style. i have not caught on to the scrapbooking craze and i probably won't. primarily i think the nic nacs to make up a scrapbook are not cheap, but the good thing is, they always yield very wonderful results.

for me, i will check out the nic nacs and what suits my design. i always like to use 'raw' materials. haha..

anyway, back to my project. the original intention was to use green.. almost satiny apple green with a little bit of shine to it. then some ribbons and laces.. etc. usually i hate to work with cloth but they are very flexible coz you can fold them anyway you wish.. but the horrendous thing about cloth is to stick them on. however, with technology being so advance, there's the ribbon type stickers whereby when you iron then on, the cloth would stick nicely.

somehow, apple green turned to pink. pink because i saw this super pretty wrapping paper one day. it's soooo pretty it was irresistable and i just had to get it. i liked the shine on the paper and the subtle embossed on flowers. it is super duper sweet! from there ideas began to form and the crucial thing was to get the contents of the pledge.

it came out to about 10 points in the pledge and initially i wanted to present it on an A4 sized paper but as i got on to buy the materials, i decided to present it in a book because of the medival theme of sorts which i read through the MC speech. haha. it was hard and i was torn between A4 or book because time was too short. the perfectionist in me decided on the book format finally.

below are the pics of the final product. i really like it a lot. my next project is a guestbook. Silver and black theme was the request. i am excited to do these two colours! :D

Materials i used for this project.. of coz it's not all the items..

a preview

the end product

a view of how the content looked like

new skin!!

2010-06-12T18:15:00.002+08:00

I quite like the new blogspot skin templates.

Still experimenting.

in the meantime, i'd stick to this red. I guess it's also about time to change the picture :D

see how.

Mon-solutions June

2010-06-01T21:49:00.000+08:00

i guess this is how people's resolutions fizzle as the months of the new year go by. my MS haitus as i said was either intentional or unintentional. seriously speaking, very likely i had been busy with work and i had no chance to think exactly what i wanted to do for the two months.

i kinda predicted that the month of April was going to awfully crazy and i was pretty right. work occupied most of my time, yet thinking of an ad hoc trip to taiwan kept me going.

May came and went. reminising about Taiwan occupied most of my time and also getting into the reality that the project which lasted 3 long years was finally over needed some adjustment. it's like an actor getting so involved in a role and finding it a tad difficult to move on.

Fortunately, i had the chance to do a strength finder exercise and had the chance to relook into myself again. Secretly, i know i will adjust to the new projects ok it's just a matter of getting the engine started and Taiwan did rejuvenated me somehow. it was a well deserved holiday and i definitely had a great companion!

ok, anyway June MS i have not thought of anything as yet.

In reference to what i wanted to do over the last couple of months like taking up a course etc... i have taken up two courses.

Yoga every Monday (course fee sponsored by my youngest bro in support of my healthy lifestyle - so i guess he does read my blog on and off) and Piano lesson every Thursday. This Thursday will be my first lesson and i have signed up together with Edeline.

Ambitiously, i am considering signing up for Korean class soon. i am also thinking of learning how to make kimchi and other korean dishes!! Soon i'd be an owner of a real life tomato plant.. likely to be this Sunday. All these Korean gaga is because of JGS and the latest Korean drama i am watching which is 食客. All the dishes in the drama are so inspiring! Learning piano has been a childhood dream and am even more inspired after watching Beethoven Virus (also starring JGS)..

Ok so for the month of June, my MS are as such:

Life and health - i shall be less ambitious this month.

1) Go for my Yoga and Piano classes religiously and regularly

2) Try to sleep early on weekdays

3) If point 2 happens, i should have energy to go for BTNR trips again

4) Save even more money (though i think i am doing pretty good on this currently so i must keep up the good work)

5) Finish a book

6) Take more photos

7) Read the papers

8) Learn THE SECRET

I still try to drink a bottle of water regularly and i need to continue to further improve. Bro has agreed to go jogging with me, but he is equally busy this month. We'll see when we'd start. i am thinking of riding bicycle. less impact on the knees.

Let's see what happens this month. :)

雨下一整晚 - Mr Jay's new song!

2010-06-01T00:20:00.000+08:00

好有感觉的一首歌。现代与古代的结和原来可以这么美。

Will write about the feel another day.

credits to kakashihin for availing this song's mv in YouTube!

Chai Por spaghetti

2010-05-30T21:44:00.000+08:00

this inspiration came from this bowl a noodle i bought from 7 eleven in Taipei. i only ate it like a couple of weeks after i returned because i was too hungry. i thought it was savoury, but there was a tad of sweetness to it. then it reminded me that this mix tasted like chai por. the one from tiong bahru chwee kueh stall. i always think the rice cake, oily chai por mix and the chilli were wicked combination. there is no other which can compare!!

so i decided that i will give it an italian twist to it. the noodles in the bowl had good asian texture to it. but i wanted my favourite spaghetti to be the combi. it's like alio alio but not with chilli flakes or chilli padi. i decided to use all the ingredients i can get from the chwee kueh stall.

ok i admit i didnt make everything from scratch, but the starting point is to see how this whole mix will taste like.

i postponed it for two weeks. today i finally managed to make it.

the initial thought was to just cook it with chai por and add the chilli as the final touch. however, in order not to waste the rice cake, i decided to add it as one of the ingredients. though the original intention was to mashed it and fried it till crisp. but i didnt have enough oil from the chai por, so i decided to mix everything together. Actually, the rice cake really has to be fried till crispy then i think it's nice. the one i made is not good enough.

mixing the entire mixture together, the oil is just nice if i didnt add the rice cake and the chilli gives the dish a slight savoury flavour which the chai por misses. The chai por adds sweetness and fragrance. though unfortunately i cannot get the bite of the sasame seeds which is one of the ingredient i liked most in the chai por mixture, but i guess i was too eager to eat the entire dish.

nevertheless, it's very yummy. just as i though. perhaps i'd add a little bit more chilli paste next time. in any case, it's quite solid. pair it with 2009 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc it's actually very awesome!

of yummies made of flour - Taipei

2010-05-29T16:46:00.001+08:00

i am very tempted to write the adventures in Taipei in mandarin. however, my mandarin very much sux to a certain extend, so i will still write in english, but as and when i'd still probably write a bit of mandarin.

Taipei is a foodie heaven. everywhere you go, food is all around so you'd definitely not find yourself hungry in Taipei. Street food, restaurants, cafes, smallish restaurants, fast food restaurants there are so many varieties. i cannot help but conjure images of what and how the food taste like just by having a whiff of the smell coming out from these places. it's very interesting as the smell changes every few steps you take. it's quite mind boggling and very upsetting because my stomach can only take so much food but so tempted to try and can't! Argh.. seriously it sux big time!

like i said, i am a lousy travel blogger. so this entry, i'm posting the yummy stuff i have eaten during the trip which are made of flour.

生煎包

because we stayed near Shi Lin area, there was endless street food for us to taste every night and everyday. My first dinner was the Pan Fried Bao or they call it 生煎包. You can get this in SG but not at this price and the size. As usual, forgetful me dont remember the price, but i remember it being good.

What's good about this bao is the filling. for the price paid, it's got good amount of cabbage, mushroom and big chunks of meat! eating the meat together with the crunchy cabbage was awesome! the bao skin is soft and pretty chewy. Good texture! the bottom which is pan fried is crispy and fragrant! So unforgettable!

双胞胎

then they had our version of beh hay ji.. the butterfly dough fritter or something where you can find in stalls which sells you tiao? they call it 双胞胎. so cute! this push cart sells that and donuts as well as sugared coated twisted donut. it's fried and made on the spot. hot out from the wok! eating it straight away was delish! Slightly hot but crispy. bitting through the crispy outter layer and getting through the softer and fluffy inside was such a wondeful feeling!! totally enjoyed this simple road side food! :)

Caramel egg tart from KFC

our breakfast for one morning was the egg tart from KFC. besides the original flavour which sook tried, i had the caramel egg tart. didn't have much expectations of the egg tart coz after all it's fast food. also, the picture and the actual tart looked quite different. when i took a bite, i was awed! besides having a dollop of whipped cream on the tart, it was drizzled with caramel cooked just to the right consistency and flavour. it's to the point of burnt but not too burnt making the caramel bitter. the sweet, bitter and a tad of burnt was awesome for my morning meal!

Mugwort bread with mochi and azuki bean paste

I have never tasted mugwort and very curious how it taste like because i've always seen it Japan Hour. in this bread, the taste it not so strong so i cannot really comment, but the ingenuinity of having mochi and azuki bean paste as the filling is most interesting. i like it lots! unfortunately, i didnt take a pic of the innards of the bread.

For the second last night, we bought quite a few yummies from Shi Lin night market!!

Mini burger with chicken filling

This burger was so small. one could just finish it with 2 or 3 bites. definitely savory. the meat was very tender and very well marinated. there was also a small slice of lettuce which adds to the texture of this simple burger.

Egg + Flour + sugar

This is simple snack is what you get. if done well, it has to be crispy on the surface and very soft and melt in the mouth for the inside. they come in various shapes and size depending on where you get it from.

Taiwanese prata

they call it 葱油饼 and if you want, you can add egg to it. the egg is a well done sunny side up and it's partially integrated to the 'prata'. the picture doesn't look appetising but together with the sauce. it is very tasty. the sauce is on the sweet and savoury side. eating the egg and the prata soaked with the sauce is wet and flavourful! the prata still retains some of the crispy-ness. it was really good!

blah-ish

2010-05-23T23:37:00.000+08:00

i have been lazy.

supposed to update my trip, but if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know i don't detail my trip very well.

i kinda decided to blog about the stuff i bought instead of the time i spent in TW. Well, this is probably going to be done over the long weekend in the coming week. Taiwan definitely has a lot of good buys which are cheap and i am excited to go back again.. hopefully soon.

i also need to update my mon-solutions. i have.. err.. knowingly/unknowingly missed out two months of this entry. hmm.. it should be returning soon.

in the meantime, i hope this short week is survivable.

Figuring out how to use the mobile to update

2010-05-02T19:42:00.000+08:00

Guess I can only use the 'edit HTML' mode if I wanna update on the go.

This is a test post...

An eye opener - check out this blog on food in Taipei!

2010-05-02T17:28:00.001+08:00

i was searching for cheap and good food in Taipei when google presented this blog.

and it is such a gem!

i already found some places which i wanna go!!!!!

Can't wait!

My list if we can find the places!

1. Saveurs - value for money french food!
2. Crepes! Crepes! and more Crepes! - CREPERIE LA BRETAGNE; SUZETTE
3. Japanese - Either DOZO or SASHI-MIYA
4. Desserts! - 85 DEGREES CAFE; PATISSERIE LA DOUCEUR; PATISSERIE SADAHARU AOKI PARIS

hmm... actually, just check out her strongly recommend list..

there are so many to choose from!!! Gosh! :D

Things to do in Taipei - Laundry list

2010-05-02T01:38:00.002+08:00

1. Go 鼎泰丰 for XLB!
2. Watch Ip Man 2 in a local cinema
3. Go Beitou for hot spring
4. Go PG mall to look for cheap bags
5. Buy Tie Dan and the milk flavoured Tai Yang Bing for Cece
6. Check out Jay Chou's 不能说的秘密 themed restaurant
7. Check out the school where they shot the show
8. Go for pedi and mani @ Jolin Tsai's shop
9. Go for a hairstyle/colour revamp
10. Go somewhere to chill
11. Go Karaoke at Party World
12. Check out more night markets
13. Go Wu Fen Pu for cheap buys
14. Eat Mister Donut!!!
15. Help Tristian pick up his crystal chicken which is near sogo
16. Help Sharon pick up her skin care items
17. Find dress for AK's wedding
18. Go eat the steamboat recommended by Tiffany
19. Help bro buy 牛肉干 which he mentioned that is supposed to be super dry??
20. Go 85th floor in Taipei 101 to eat Big Tom ice cream for a good view!

that's all for the time being.. will add on if i remember more..

Preview of the upcoming trip! - Hotel

2010-05-01T14:07:00.000+08:00

thanks to the ever resourceful sook, this hotel was found though we had a prior arrangement with another hotel! It's near to Shilin night market and i think it's superb!

Check out Trip Advisor about Grandee Taipei Hotel. You'd see the lovely pics!!

Awesome!! Can't wait for the trip to begin!! :D

Looking forward to 05052010!!

trying to learn 한글 on my own

2010-05-01T02:57:00.000+08:00

maybe it's because i am going to korea, or maybe it's course of the current JGS craze? Regardless, i found a pretty good website to learn the basic and i think it's really useful at the moment.

perhaps i can save on the course fees.. hmm.. see how it goes. the lesson is not cheap at least 300 bucks and above.

this is the website i learning and i just completed lesson 2.

On to lesson 3 and 4 tomorrow!

Product Review - Estee Lauder Cyberwhite EX Extra Intensive Purifying Treatment

2010-04-28T20:35:00.000+08:00

the last time i tried expensive cosmetic skin care brands was quite sometime ago. SKII was my all time fav but coz it was too expensive, i stopped using it for sometime. Recently, i was introduced to the above and my trip to tangs the other day made me decide to buy it.

the latest in skincare i guess is the liquid from the bottles becoming bubbly foam when rubbed on dried skin.. i meant to say skin which was tapped dry after the initial facial cleanser wash. so, 3 pumps of the magical liquid, put it on your face and begin gently massaging your face with the liquid which foams up thereafter. leave it on for a minute and wipe off with tissue. thereafter, wash. the wait on the face is for 1 minute before wiping off. whilst the 'bubbles' start to 'burst', you have this tickling sensation on your face which was rather hmm.. weird.

this product is supposed to be used only twice a week and the result - clear and glowing skin. when i bought it, i used it for 4 or 5 days consecutively. i figured that i should start intensively first and then continue with the bao yang thereafter.

my conclusion, i think it's damn good! Really clears the skin and definitely worth the $98 which should supposedly last for 6 months.

i have reduced the usage, just in case i have overdone it.

:)

blabbers

2010-04-25T15:06:00.001+08:00

just wanted to write but dunno what to say. as usual there seems to be some kind of block. heading to taiwan on 5th may and i am really excited! i know it was because of the travel hiatus last year, i think or seem like i will be traveling with a vengeance this year. trying to fit a couple of countries and with limited budget, i think it's very ambitious.

i know that the trips made this year are primarily for pleasure purposes, but i want to see if there would be work or biz opportunities overseas. frankly, overseas work opportunities is a very appealing thought and it has always been on my mind. in any case, i probably won't be doing it in the near one or two years, but i will keep it in mind.

anyway, i am looking at shanghai, japan and korea. Actually, korea and shanghai are already done deal... erm as of that time when we booked the tour package during the travel fair in feb. but i want to head to shanghai before the world expo ends. hmm.. we'll see how.

life has been a little bit interesting of late and i hope it to get even better. i've overlooked April's mon-solution due to work and not sure if i am going to start on May's anytime soon. perhaps it's out of habit that i have been doing certain stuff quite regularly since the 3 months effort, which is quite cool.

Well, may is just a couple of days away and my plans involve learning korean and keyboard and probably take up yoga soon.

first of all, need to fast for the coming week and get ready for the yummilicious food in taiwan!

to close, i've uploaded a blurred picture of Mr Gordan Ramsay whom Elena and i saw on our impromptu dinner in Jones @ Mandarin gallery. It was OMG OMG OMG and he was sitting only two tables behind us. neither of us mustered the courage to go up to him to request for a photo together.. ahh.. but it was quite a rush!

Aside to E, yes.. he's opening a restaurant in the Sands.. that explains why he was here that day :D

keeping in mind

2010-04-21T23:18:00.002+08:00

these 10 points.. i'm keeping them.

1. Global
2. Star
3. Team
4. Mentor
5. Politics - no
6. Positive - yes
7. Patience - yes
8. Fun
9. Adapt
10. Mindset

hiatus... not

2010-04-16T21:46:00.003+08:00

havent been blogging for quite sometime. work occupied most of my time, followed by gmarket shopping, then partial stock bioing these days and.. ahem.. korean dramas.. esp those with JGS. Swooned after watching 'He's beautiful', i got hooked. actually was watching 'Brillant Legacy' cried my eyes dried! Haha then subsequently, started watching 'He's beautiful' and within 2 days finished watching.

Anyway, came across this vid on You Tube whilst searching for more vids of JGS.

The whole idea of the polariod and note tagging.. very interesting!

。。。着

2010-04-03T23:41:00.000+08:00

雨，下着
泪，流着
心，痛着
脑，想着
记忆原来还握着。。

1226

2010-03-24T23:17:00.000+08:00

fiak.. today's 4D first prize is this number.

i freaking hell bought 12X6.. kns.. i could have been a few bucks richer today!!!

i dunno why i bought it, the 4 digits which brought back so much painful memories.

just still not that close.

i hope i will be striking something real soon!!!

what's cooking?

2010-03-22T02:14:00.000+08:00

have attended twice these cooking lessons. i think for the price paid, it's quite worth it. get to drink wine, squeeze your own orange juice. eat the stuff you cook and learn to cook the stuff you eat. plus the ingredients are premium and definitely fresh. great experience. my next sesh will be on April 10 :D

Marinated Sea scallops with Tangerine wedges, Avruga Caviar and Truffle oil

Pasta tossed with Shaved Foie Gras, crushed Pinenuts and Seaweed

the not so easy to make but all soooo tasty lobster bisque with sauteed lobster tail

last but not least, a raspberry volka sorbet with candy floss to end this yummy cooking cum makan session!

touched

2010-03-13T00:39:00.000+08:00

tonight when i came back and unload my stuff in my room. i went out to the living room to get my usual friday read.

i saw my dad flipping through the pile of Friday's papers which were in pristine condition when i came through the door when i reached home. i realised after going over to pick up the read, i realised that my dad had already taken out for me. Urban was lying on top of the pile when i was going to pick it up.

very touched with my dad's noticing my usual habits. didn't think that he'd be that considerate..

aWwwWww...

Black @ 111

2010-03-10T14:38:00.002+08:00

i have not been blogging about food, i think i mentioned that it's duplicate effort to upload the pics in FB and then uploading here again in my blog. But Black made me so happy, i think i should share.

Black @ 111 opened apparently 4 months back (that's what the waitress told me) i passed by it a couple of times lately on my way to town. i was curious, i was intrigued. today, my mission to town was to check out alcoholic tea and buy cakes from deste. i was thinking where to have dinner, i remembered that there was this place which i so wanted to go. So i looked at the menu which was stuck to eye level on the floor to ceiling glass panel. the price i reckon seems reasonable enough and guess what peepz, there is no service charge. however, they still serve your food to your table with the utensils, but you gotta get your own ice water.

Black is a cosy place, not as noisy as it's neighbour 'Apple Bee' (where it's diners created lots of noisy pollution machiam like eating in fast food restaurant..) layout is pretty simple but i thought looked a tad cramp. when i was there, there were only 2 others. the rest of the restaurant was empty. the staff busied themselves sitting at another corner chit chatting.. but were fast to spring up from the seats when they saw me coming.

not impressed with the person who served me coz i asked for dessert recommendations she just said everything was displayed in the display unit. later she warmed up and said that her preference was the chocolate banana something cake.. sorry, but you all know that i aint good with remembering names.

in the end, i ordered a Cesar salad and waffles with manuka honey and figs.

The Cesar salad looked very miserable but it's quite incredible. The ingredients were simple but the taste quite wicked. Maybe it's coz I liked the way they cut/slice/chop (however you call it) the cheese and I love the cheese (Parmesan if I am not wrong) which in this cut went very well with the smoked chicken. Yup not the normal chicken grilled or whatsoever. It's smoked! Quite salty but it tasted almost ham like! The little bit of skin fats really made it quite different.. The cherry tomatoes were juicy and my only complain about the dressing was that it was too salty.. Too much anchovies perhaps? With the hidden bits of black pepper, this salad is more than meets the eye..

And how should waffles taste like? I've never really tasted a good waffle coz I always think that the batter is either too thick and taste too floury or too crispy that it's not what I have in mind of how waffles should taste like. When I ordered this, I was told I had to wait 10 mins. I thought it better be good and I was not disappointed. The Cesar salad raised my expectations a tad.. I kind of couldn't wait. The verdict: the waffles from Black are cripsy at the edges, soft and fluffy in the centre. There is even a slight stretchiness to it.. Contains the melted ice cream very well and it doesn't become soggy! I am a fan!

The fig and manuka honey ice cream so compliment the waffles. It is in truth too sweet for my liking if eaten on it's own. But it goes so well with the waffles and gives it the right amount of sweetness! Imagine warm waffles and slowly melting thick almost gelato like ice cream with small mouthful of dried figs and tinges of maple syrup taste.. I think it's awesome! Black @ 111.. i will definitely revisit :)

Mon-solutions March

2010-02-27T16:18:00.001+08:00

I am quite happy that i managed to keep to my Feb's list quite well. So March can be a fresh start for certain things. Nice and indeed a motivation to keep going.

For March, this will be the list. I have reduced the number of items because a) cannot think of what else to add and b) perhaps i can concentrate better for a lesser number of items this month.

LIFE

1) Eat less carbo/fried items.
2) Sign up on a exercise routine. Either Yoga/Pilates or something which the CC offers.
3) Meet and catch up with friends at least once if not twice a month!
4) Rest early - at least 3 times a week and by 11pm

Continue to drink 1 bottle of water per day when at work.

SPENDING

1) Credit card spending should keep between $600 to $800
2) Shop in a less frequent manner
3) Be debt free (excluding credit cards) for this month
4) Continue to look out for cheap bargains from everywhere else

Recapping Feb's list

LIFE

1) Take a good shower once a week. Including scrubs and exfoliation and putting on lotion.

Has become a habit, so it happens every Sunday if not Sat.

2) Write 2 letters

Still havent write. But i know i will write soon.

3) Go to office on time, if not earlier so can leave on time when the sun is still shiny

Occasional days yes, still much to improve.

4) Rest early - at least 3 times a week and by 11pm

occasional days i sleep early.. not very often, but try to.

5) Eat right - fruit juice or fruits and vege included

yes!! happy to accomplish this.. will continue. Grapefruit juice is my fave at this moment :D

Continue to drink 1 bottle of water per day when at work.

i think this is slowly becoming a habit.. good to feel hydrated, but still need to improve more!

SPENDING

1) No shoes for Feb

So happy that i managed not to get any shoes for the month!!! i am impressed with myself!! Woah!

2) Buy pillow and quilt

Bought super bargained stuff from JL sale. Gave 1 pillow to my bro. i like the softness of the pillow!!

3) Be debt free (excluding credit cards) for this month

i paid my debts in time i believe :D

4) Credit card spending should not exceed $600

definitely will still need to work on this. i have changed the sentence to see if march will work.

5) Continue to look out for cheap bargains from G Market.

in the end i found out there are even cheaper items out there in the internet but seems like making purchases could be a hassle. still it's better than shopping at department stores...

darn cool light

2010-02-21T20:05:00.002+08:00

this is one darn freaking cool design.

really like it.

accessorising the phone

2010-02-21T17:02:00.001+08:00

i came across something else for the phone. i think this is quite cool. love it for the colours and i have seen quite a lot of people using it. anyway i got myself a peach colour. wonder how would the sound quality be?

will know in a couple of days i gather.

You can click on the below link to go to the page but it is all in Jap.

earphones

Alternatively, you can search for this in google. 'ATH-ON300'

I pretty much doubt the one i bought is real. reviews in the website cited that it is fake. well i am spending like 50% off the original price. The above should be the real one. actual price i think is $38. I am getting it for like $13 well, where got original and so good price right?

nevertheless, before i conclude, i will wait for the item to arrive and see if i'm lucky or not.

in the meantime, cannot really wait!! :D

unintentional miss

2010-02-21T02:16:00.000+08:00

i was browsing though gmarket and found this.

gelaskins

so tempted to get one for my iphone.. but it costs $28..

check them out, i think they are really cool.

i am contemplating 'LAND OF DREAMS' and 'SHE WHO DARES'

and oh.. i didnt factor this shopping cost to my budget for the month..

grrrrrrrr...

iRattle

2010-02-19T21:55:00.000+08:00

haven't been updating my blog for sometime, most of my recent entries are pretty emo. i guess that's what it is like when the heart and mind is being cut deep.

anyway, i need fresh air and i had. when CNY arrived, i felt relieved and unchained. this CNY was quite different and much fun i had.

also, there were things to look forward to, so i guess it made things easier.

anyway, i realised that people search for two things very regularly resulting them landing on my blog.

1) Onizuka Tiger

2) Skinny Pizza

such unusual searches.

looking forward to hopefully trips which will be happening soon.

i cannot wait to leave the country again, this time without stupidly waiting for anyone.

yes, i just have to grouch.

allow me my last.

...

is this from...???

2010-02-07T14:57:00.000+08:00

lately, i have been shopping online quite frequently. primarily, the stuff are much cheaper than the items in the mall. i'm sure people have doubts regarding shopping online, i had mine too. however, it became easy peasy when you gain experience from the items you buy and you'd start to realise if the items from the online shop suits you.

more importantly, one should not be lazy and should indeed follow the advise of the seller to do the required measurements to ensure the item fits you.

so i did that and most of the time, the result was pretty satisfactory. but measurement should only be once, thereafter you'd know your size and can buy with confidence.

online shopping a now a thing amongst the peepz i know. especially in office. more often than not, when i see something familiar, i'd ask.. is that from xxx shop from x mart?

then the conversation would continue etc etc etc.

it's really quite fun shopping online actually, just don't get carried away from the seemly cheap prices. cheap prices can equate high spendings if not kept in check! and quite a number of the sellers are pretty friendly and the customer service is pretty good and most of the time, quality is there!

off to do my online shopping again! :D

你有在用你的眼睛吗？

2010-02-04T23:29:00.000+08:00

you were given eyes, with a purpose
just so that you can see
if the fonts are too small, open your eyes bigger
oh, i forgot.
you wear specs
i guess it is about time you change them
obviously you can't see

for the past few times,
you ask stupid questions.
either my english is too powerful
or whatever i type doesnt matter
ah yes..
you always thought highly of yourself
i forgot again.

so it is no wonder
you think you ask very smart questions
questions which you think people overlooked
except yourself
because you are confident
you think it's your talent

but you make mistake
yes you do
i was your eyes, your ears and your hand
a secretary i never thought i was
but
i am no longer your eyes nor ears definitely not your hands
you took me for granted
i never thought of it this way
but yes you did
because in the end,
i was not what you wanted

you made your choice
leave me alone
'I HATE YOU'!
i wish i can
and i really should
in the end
i hate myself
for not being able to
no matter how

you dont know how that feeling sucks
how it hurts
how it will never heal

you dont know
you dont know
you dont know

somehow after knowing how blind you are
how you ask stupidly obvious questions
how highly you still think of your capabilities
i think i can
maybe i will
HATE YOU

not everyone are as silly as you think they are
not everyone are not as capable as you
no one needs to endure your arrogance

i only thought you are smart, capable and endured your arrogance
just because i liked you

i think i can finally wake up
release myself from these chains
about time
i should be free

blog comments being spammed

2010-01-27T22:51:00.000+08:00

lately, i have been getting these weird comments pending authorisations. these spammers are using the blogs to advert investment related stuff.

sibey bo liao..

sheesh!

Jan's Mon - solutions and starting up on Feb's

2010-01-26T22:35:00.002+08:00

not sure how i should do this. as in if i never fulfil my Jan mon-solutions, do i carry them over or add on to feb's list.

i think i will trial and error. For Feb, i will carry them over and make sure i will try to fulfil them so that i can proceed with new MS in the next month..

FEB's list

LIFE

1) Take a good shower once a week. Including scrubs and exfoliation and putting on lotion.
2) Write 2 letters
3) Go to office on time, if not earlier so can leave on time when the sun is still shiny
4) Rest early - at least 3 times a week and by 11pm
5) Eat right - fruit juice or fruits and vege included

Continue to drink 1 bottle of water per day when at work.

SPENDING

1) No shoes for Feb
2) Buy pillow and quilt
3) Be debt free (excluding credit cards) for this month
4) Credit card spending should not exceed $600
5) Continue to look out for cheap bargains from G Market.

Recapping Jan's list, comments in red for updates

LIFE

1) Drink a lot of water - finish at least 1 bottle of water during work

- Managed to do this at least 3 times a week, so i will continue this. Water is good to clear away toxins.

2) Pack my room by month end

- disaster struck when the hanging pole dropped. it was a wake up call to get rid of clothes not worn for a long time. of which i did, but didnt pack much of the room though coz i haven't got my pillow and quilt. supposed to put up new bedsheets by CNY.

3) Rest early - at least 3 times a week and by 11pm

- this i failed miserably. some nights i even stayed up till 4am in the mornings. so not good!

4) Write a letter

- havent managed to, so i'd need to write 2.

5) Eat right - at least 1 fruit juice and some fruits 5 days a week

- managed once or twice a week sometimes more on others, so will still continue to try and do better coz not good enough.

SPENDING

1) Shop for CNY clothes in G market

- managed to do that. got more than enough required. may have overspent here but bigger quantity so can change many times.

2) Can only purchase 1 pair of shoes below $50

- failed. got two and may still need to get 1 more.. for CNY..

3) Big item purchases will be two good quality pillows and a quilt

- havent got them. i think i will only get 1 pillow coz i realised the other pillow i don't usually use.

4) Clear all debts before CNY

- mostly done. a bit more to go.

5) Credit card expenditure should not exceed $600 inclusive of instalment item

- overspent by $400.. still need more discipline.

On a side note, i signed up for a cooking lesson last week and will be attending another lesson on making tiramisu. Thinking of signing up CHI Yoga and see what other cooking lessons will pop up.

karma

2010-01-26T21:59:00.003+08:00

ever thought that you are actually acting out the karma of another person?

lately, i have been thinking of such a possibility..

the thought of what happened was the result of something else.. like you know the cause and effect theory?

in any case, someone has to bring out the karma which you so deserve and thus go about the 'motion' or 'act' to get your good/bad karma to you.

possible? wild thought?

it's worth thinking i guess..

waiting for someone to bring my good karma to me.. in the mean time, i need get the wheels going.. as in start doing good stuff and hope that something good will happen..

为什么？

2010-01-24T17:41:00.000+08:00

不想听到的歌还是听到了。

有一点无法呼吸的感觉。

讨厌这样的无奈。。

Daybreakers

2010-01-23T04:12:00.000+08:00

there are actually quite a few big names in the movie - Ethan Hawke, Sam Neil and William Dafoe. I was quite surprised. the thought of watching this show was ad hoc. was in town with Sook for shopping and she was craving for sweet stuff. so we end up in canele @ isetan scotts and Alvin happened to pass by after buying his very expensive CDs and we decided to catch a show. Wanted to watch Sherlock Holmes but unfortunately not showing anywhere between the 11ish/12ish slots. so we settled for the above.

thought the movie could be something between B grade and slightly sophisticated in certain aspect. well, i was not wrong. humans became vampires due to a virus. vampires with their hunger for blood searched the world for humans who are alive. blood became a rare and expensive commodity, so before the bloody supply run low, vampire scientists were researching for a blood subsitute to prevent blood deprived vampires from becoming some deformed creatures which are a mix between bats and gollum. they are even stronger than the vampires and thus are becoming a threat to the vamp kind.

Ethan Hawke plays Edward (wonder why the character's also call the same name as the Twilight character?) the vampire scientist who doesn't drink blood but had to research for a blood substitute to help save the vampire kind. As pressure rose for him and his team to mass produce the blood sub, time was running short and he met Dafoe through a girl whom he saved. During the encounter, Dafoe shared that he was once a vampire like Ed and because he was tired of being a vampire, he started to do strange things and one day while driving his car, he crashed and got flung out of his car in the day and fell into a river. Thereafter, he turned into a human again. with this new knowledge, they decided to conduct an expriment to prove the theory of exposing vampires to sun and being dosed in time will change them to human again.

of course during the whole course, the humans who survived were killed by the vampire army. Sam Neil who plays the money hungry capitalist whose aim was to mass produce the blood sub regardless if it was going to help or not. in the midst, he even turned his daughter into a vampire which she so hated and thus left him to hide but was discovered by him again.

even though the solution to turn vampires into human again was found, the execution was flawed. another discovery was that if another vampire sucked the blood of those who were turned into human again can also become human. unfortunately, there were only 3 (the 3rd being Edward's brother) converts through this method vs a whole US population of vampire. humans were hunted and 'milked' for blood. so in order to save the girl, the 3 convets had to play hero. brother was killed coz he sacrifice himself and turned a group of army men who sucked him and then the whole scene became a human vampire massacre! it was quite confusing but i thought those who were changed back to human did not want to be bitten but existing vampires and started biting the vampires back. it was crazy! blood flowed/splurted like nobody's biz and head rolled like the neck and head gets detached super easily.

the idea was interesting in the sense that vampires made up the main population, cannot be exposed to sunlight and also address the issue as to what happens when vampires didnt have enough blood supply. it was a very happening take vs the usual vampire stories. it was quite well covered. however, i didnt like the too much blood and violence. also the solution to turn into a human was very nicely thought of since the sun is the source of life and hence the logic was there. very simple actually.

don't have to purposely go watch the show, catch if you got nothing to do..

Fool

2010-01-11T22:20:00.002+08:00

wept

SLEEPLESS

s i c k

WORTH-LESS

Mon-solutions 2010

2010-01-05T23:14:00.000+08:00

frankly, there is no such word as above i mean if spelt joint like that. but googling it shows some results. interestingly, very scientific related. so scientific until i have no interest to read up on it.

there is also company name Monsolution (Metro Oriented Network solutions) which i gather deals with network related issues of which when i accessed the home page, the links are not active. interestingly, "mon" is also defined as a tool for monitoring the availability of services, and sending alerts on prescribed events. somehow related to some form of my work scope to a certain extend.

anyway, i am not exactly interested in science, nor am i trying to further analyse the work which i do everyday. actually, it is in relation to my resolutions for 2010. i am thinking of a more creative way for me to fulfill my 2010 resolution list.

it's quite unusual of me to stop blogging for the year and reflect and then make plans for the new year. perhaps what happened in 2009 made me want to reconsider how i want to do things for 2010. as i was thinking of my entries for 2010 list, i thought and thought and realised something.

have you ever seriously look at the word 'RESOLUTION'?

before i posted this entry, i looked up the dictionary to look into the meaning, but then, it didnt have the meaning which i thought was staring me in the eye. who doesn't know what resolutions means right? who also doesnt know that we usually don't keep to what we resolve to do for the year right. i found the answer, i don't know if you'd agree with me..

look at the words, REpeat, REassign, REwind, REvisit, REplay.. what are the similarity other than the two alphabets 'R' and 'E'? they are verbs which requires actions to be done again. ie, to go back again to do the same thing. does that answer you why we have to list out the same list year after year? hmm.. it does for me. we are planning to RE do our TO DO list for the next year.. no wonder some people gave up planning what to do. we have been embedded with the thought in our subconcious mind that we need to repeat the same round of action next year. makes sense?

so this year, instead of listing my resolutions, i decided to come up with a TO DO list for each month and call it MON-SOLUTIONS: solutions for each month to make life worth living and money last longer. in short a lazy person who has a lower level of determination so that somethings will work out for the year.

the list will be listed according to Spending and Life and each heading will have 5 items max. i am not sure if it's greedy or it's more helpful, in any case maybe it's easier. supposedly, if everything goes well by the last couple of days of each month, i should have my list ready for the next month. which makes this a mandatory 'TO DO' item if i want to make my next month worth living.

to start off for JAN 2010, my MON SOLUTIONS are:

Mandatory:

Put MON-SOLUTION from thoughts to script

Come up with Jan MON-SOLUTION list for

LIFE

1) Drink a lot of water - finish at least 1 bottle of water during work.
2) Pack my room by month end
3) Rest early - at least 3 times a week and by 11pm
4) Write a letter
5) Eat right - at least 1 fruit juice and some fruits 5 days a week

SPENDING

1) Shop for CNY clothes in G market
2) Can only purchase 1 pair of shoes below $50
3) Big item purchases will be two good quality pillows and a quilt
4) Clear all debts before CNY
5) Credit card expenditure should not exceed $600 inclusive of instalment item

Wonder how many i can strike off by the end of the month! well, we will know in another 25 days? I think i will put it in my iPhone as well to track.

the movie for 2009

2009-12-26T14:54:00.000+08:00

it has to be Avatar for the following reasons:

back to basics storyline - ie man's constant destruction to everything and anything around him for the sake of capitalist gains.

fight between the good (Na vi) and evil (humans)

another kind of beings unseen or unheard of ie the Na vis

the very beautiful and colourful creatures which are a cross between dinosaurs and erm normal earthly creatures like the monkeys etc.

how nature will always be a mystery to humans but it's workings are probably the most simple.

amazing graphics and CG - look at pandora and it is so out of this world. super duper like the glow in the dark effects.

the fighting scenes

sam worthington is uber hot!

the feel of the movie and all the very good acting of the actors and actresses

definitely can see the effort being put into making the show, director James Cameron has made this a really unforgettable show!

I will watch is again. this time in 3D.

This year's xmas prezzies

2009-12-26T14:43:00.000+08:00

it was so darn last minute this year. i actually made these the night before. started at 830pm and ended at around 1.30am or so. within 6 hours, churned out around 13 prezzies? Thank goodness for stuff like nail polish in glittery festive colours.

i will make xmas prezzies early next year!!

Raw materials of photo frames and glittery nail polish

raw materials

ski and angel photo frame

glittery aqua snowflake frame with xmas deco

glittery purple frame with xmas deco and ribbon

glittery purple with snowflake ribbon and xmas deco

snowflake ribbon, xmas deco with red and white tiles

glittery silver frame with xmas deco and tiles

glittery purple frame with tiles and xmas deco

black lace tea light holder with black plastic pearls and purple shell

white lace tea light holder with something furry

another lacy version

last but not least

within expectation

2009-12-21T23:38:00.000+08:00

my entries these days seems to be continously on the emo side. right now, i'm supposed to finish reading Twilight - Eclipse. Well, i've finished the portion where Victoria is being killed by Edward and eager to know what's to happen next, but i guess this overpowering feeling makes me just need to get it out of the system.

yet, somehow, i don't really want to. that explains the point of being emo..

i didnt want to mention stuff coz i kept thinking back to the editor's message on last Friday's Urban.

keeping slient with grace.

anyway, i should just grouse. just want to grouse that why do i have know somebody so well only to have a tough time forgetting?

ok, back to Edward and Jacob, i can't wait for Eclipse to show... can start drooling again.. hah!

不之不觉

2009-12-16T00:22:00.000+08:00

不之不觉，一个月就这样过去了。记得那天痛苦的感觉，那段心如刀割的两个星期真的是今年最难过的日子。这样说好像有点 over exaggerated, 但是现在再回想一下还是非常心酸。虽然真的好一点了，因为以为不可能走出这个depression, but i still made it somehow. even then, old thoughts still creep back one way or another in the form of nightmares. i guess, i havent completely let go subconsciously, if not why the nightmares?

要感谢的是朋友们的关心和 understanding. try to jio me out whenever possible to take a breath of fresh air and relook into the surroundings around me which i have missed for the longest time for nothing. really appreciate their never ending encouragements, for sharing my sadness and disappointment and getting angry with me and overall, just lending their listening ears to me to hear what i have to say. really don't know how to thank them.

有一些东西我可能永远都做不到。我的 ITOUCH 不懂在哪个包包里，一个月都没见光了。因为我再也不想听里面的中文歌曲。一听到中文歌就会想到我的 stupid ideals, 我的 overly patience and end up with nothing, the times hitching a ride in his car and just listening to songs without much talking, singing to the songs and twice the karaoke sessions we went for... in short, those days. even with my iphone, i have not transported any songs over.

可能我也再也不能像以前那样喜欢唱歌了，想想看，唱歌的感觉will never be the same ever.

they say music heals the heart and soul, i think it's quite difficult for me. maybe i'd end up listening to English songs. i quite like the Twilight's soundtrack. very laid back, very lazy melody. yes, it's the melody that catches my ear before liking the song and usually not the lyrics. 这点跟他很像。忘记有没有告诉他 before，但有没有再也不重要了。不是吗？

2010 的 resolution 之一就是再也不要当一个超极大笨蛋了！

Another MAC product

2009-12-14T23:08:00.000+08:00

well, this came a bit late. it was after much hesitation and a lot of thoughts. finally, thoughts became action and yeah, i got the Iphone. well, it was with a few regrets and bad timing and a very long waiting ordeal. when i finally got the white, i wasn't as excited as i was on last monday.

see, the ordeal was that the telco sent me the wrong colour. they sent me the black instead of the white which i refused to accept coz the black will definitely not go well together with the pink cover i bought online. as much as i try to psycho myself it will be both unique and erm cool, i just couldnt accept it. so it took the telco from Monday to Friday so that i could get the correct colour. i will not dwell further but i am amazed with my level of patience. Gawd, one whole year of perfecting the art of being patient has turned me to another person who didnt reap what she worked towards being patient for. i was now being patient for the wrong reason. darn, this is freaking bad. i am still damn sore about it.

anyway, i always like how Apple package their products. i think it's damn cool. below the pics of what it is like inside the iphone and how the pink cover looked on my phone :D

the title says it all

before the plastic was removed

white against white

what lies beneath? pull up the tab

cords and more cords

the 'key' to start the phone ringing

let the fingers do the work first

cover it pink!

additional protection

even got protection for the logo

put on the screen protector 99.5% close to perfection..

Green green apple

2009-12-10T21:07:00.000+08:00

Was in town the other day and saw people wearing green polos giving out free apples. Looking more closely on their tops, realised that they were from one of the telcos. Thought this was quite interesting and love that the apple was healthy and yummy!

the bottom tag line was 'the perfect match'

the question was: Did you know there's a STAR in every apple?

picture speaks louder than words.

Weds Sneak - Storm Warriors II

2009-12-10T13:40:00.000+08:00

can't imagine that it has been 10 years since Storm Warriors came out to the big screen. My brothers were reading the comics, i tried reading them, but it was too jiang hu for me so gave up quite fast. i was preoccupied more with bleach, naruto and some others.

when i went to watch the first storm warriors, it was.. hmm.. partially crappy (esp when Anthony Wong who was the sword god came floating out from somewhere and everyone started laughing. it was damn hilarious) but seeing Ekin as Wind was quite a treat then. it was kinda entertaining 10 years ago.

a decade later, they decided to show SWII. i guess a production which took such a long time, everyone would expect it to be good if not, super. unfortunately, the show didnt make it for us.

the people who produced the show expected people who wanna catch the show to have read the comic one way or another, coz they probably missed out 0.5 of the storyline. the short and quick summary didnt exactly explain much, just that there's another power hungry, super invincible baddie - Lord Godless (Simon Yam) who wants to rule the whole of China and with the help of a spy eunuch captured the king. Wind (Ekin Cheng) and Cloud (Aaron Kwok) was supposed to help prevent the baddie from gaining world control but to do that, they needed to enhance their skills as the only person who could defeat the baddie had chopped off his arms coz he turned evil after learning some evil skills. So Wind trained under armless man coz he had the potential to control his emotions which was important coz his new skill required him to become one with some demonic force which will turn him evil.

As for Cloud, he went to train under Nameless (who in the beginning nearly managed to break the force field of Lord Godless but failed)

after 3 days, Cloud developed a new sword skill which he asked Nameless to name this since Nameless was Cloud's master. But to Nameless, Cloud's new sword skill was so out of this world that he could not find a suitable name for the skill. after some thoughts, he 'engraved' a Chinese looking character on the mountain (and this part people, i'm sure you are going to laugh yourself crazy) which no one can recognise. this part was as hilarious as the first episode where Anthony Wong came out.

Wind came out earlier than he was supposed to coz LG's people went to kill him and Cloud. Not surprisingly, Wind turned demonic and Cloud had to fight him and at the same time kill LG who was ultimately killed and demonic Wind battled a very injured Cloud, killing also the girl he loved but whom he so nochanlantly ingnored when she was alive.

the ending was as abrupt as 'Twilight - New Moon'. dunno if they are going to wait another 10 years for part 3. by then, i guess Wind and Cloud will be some other actors?

anyway, the start of the show was promising. effects definitely enhanced 100 times, just that they tried too hard to immitate '300' in a low budget sort of manner. ended up, the effects became rather slapstick trying to tell long stories in very haphazard manner. there were also many blackout scenes.. as in the whole screen goes black leaving viewers wondering erm was the roll of film spoilt or? slow mo was also being shown like nobody's business. so imagine, you sit through a movie, with what seems like low budget CG effects, many slow mos and blackout scenes. hmm.. what do you think? At the same time, the theme song sucked. MAJOR! it was terrible and the female leads had so bloodly little scripts which became rather irritating after hearing them keep saying the same thing. it was either 'Brother Wind, are you all right?' or 'Brother Cloud, are you hungry?'. it was so unbearable!!!

so if you wanna go catch the show, i suggest that you may want to wait for it to come out in dvd or maybe just rent it. if you missed it, don't think you will lose much.

What's in the name of a cake?

2009-12-06T19:57:00.000+08:00

What do you think of when you read the name of a cake in the display unit? What kind of drool worthy image comes into your mind? i am really curious.

for me, the name of the cake, because it is short - gives me the idea/summary as to how the cake will taste like and if i'd be promised a yummy treat when i read their names. i will not be able to imagine how sweet, or how soft or how tasty it will be, but i gather i should be happy after eating it. Afterall, i'd only buy stuff which i have previously experienced a certain level of good feel after trying out the ingredients etc..

i posed the above question coz of my recent trip back to Pan Pac Atrium deli. Apparently, they have new cakes. it was a surprise and the names of the cakes i bought looked rather promising and pretty unique.

two names made me confirm my purchase. Caramel Pear and Pumpkin Cheese cake.

i like caramel and am interested how well caramel goes with pear. Pumpkin i love, and i have yet to taste how pumpkin with cheese taste like. Pretty simple names, pretty basic thoughts came into my mind when i got these two cakes. for the former, i expected only caramel and pear. the the latter, pumpkin and cheese.. well, i was wrong. the two turned out to be more complicated than i have imagined. good or bad, i guess one have to taste it for oneself to come up with the conclusion. for me, they didnt make it although i must say that effort have been put in to conjure up these flavours hoping that they match.

First the caramel pear. i don't know if you noticed but 2/3 of the cake is surrounded by kuey lapis (i didnt until i started eating the cake). i think the idea is cool, but if only this was a simple cake. the top layer is caramel mousse i think (erm if there's something like that) mousse i am not sure, but definitely caramel. dusted with icing sugar and topped with a goosenberry without the dried leaves. a wavy white chocolate deco makes up the whole design of the cake.

Let's then look deeper into this cake. it's more than just meeting its name.

inbetween the top layer of caramel mousse and bottom layer of sponge cake and sandwiched by lapis, there is this custardy layer where you find the cubes/slices of pear. it's a lot for a cake. complicated flavours, i have no sense of what i was eating. it definitely wasn't just as simple as tasting only caramel and pear.

anyone who has eaten kuey lapis will know that it has a strong flavour by itself. i'm not sure of the ingredients in kuey lapis (KLP), i gather there's erm cinnamon? (upon googling, seems like it's this rempah mix is what gives the KLP it's flavour) anyway, the KLP overwhelmed everything this cake had to offer. it's another one of eating the cake by its layers to derived the different tastes of the cake experience. i also think it's a tad too sweet for my liking. using goosenberry was appropriate, but i would think a few more would be better. At the same time, the KLP wasn't a single piece used to surround the cake, it was cut into different pieces to surround the cake, so sometimes, i end up getting a whole of KLP on my fork, leaving a portion of this cake erm somehow, naked?

so this caramel pear was quite a disappointment.

the next day, i had the pumpkin cheesecake. looked simple enough and i guess it should meet my expectations of its name. when i first took a bite, the taste awkwardly seemed very familiar. it tasted like something i have had recently. in fact, somehow the flavour tasted like what i ate yesterday. gosh, it actually had the smell and taste of the KLP again. that's the reason why i thought cinnamon was in play here. though the cheesecake was smooth, firm with good texture, i tasted no pumpkin. i'm only being reminded of KLP, cheese and cinnamon.

sadly, i wasnt awed by it. i think it will be sometime before i visit Pan Pac Atrium Deli again.

Question

2009-12-06T19:09:00.001+08:00

how do you say goodbye to happy memories when they become so bloody painful and unbearable.. leaving only excruciating pain when they unconsciously creep into your thoughts?

someone teach me the trick to this.

your advise would be eternally appreciated.

gawd.. i think i am kinda being influenced by the movie i watched on friday.. haha eternally.. woah..

Xmas Deco in BKK

2009-11-29T14:32:00.000+08:00

They have very pretty designs. Don't think any trees in SG or deco can compare. Faintz, one day i'd go see the ones in Japan. Will not let this year's setback prevent me from going there one day.

Check out the tree. it's outside Central World. Sooooooooo tall!! Tallest i have ever seen! damn huge lor! Anyway, check it out. i wish i had to mood to take more pics then.

Silvery shiny tree outside Siam Paragon

i love the huge ballies spriting out water.. sooo pretty!

this 招财猫 is huge lor!!! sooo damn big! :D

this is the tree i was talking about. Sooooo tall you have to lift up your head to see it :D. Love the blue fairy lights!

and this really huge newage reindeer! Nice!!

Yumeiro Patissiere

2009-11-29T03:31:00.001+08:00

nope, it's not a new cake place sprouted up somewhere. it's an anime which i have stayed up to watch for the last two days. yup, i like anime. don't have specific liking for specific genres. i watch a range of anime from naruto, bleach, d gray man to lately, kobato and the latest Yumeiro Patissiere. Usually my preference is dependent on storyline and other feel good factors.

Anyway, back to YP. i think anyone who loves cakes, desserts or anything sweet should check it out. the storyline thus far for the first 5 episodes i have watch is simple, but character building is there. it's about this teenage girl who is good at nothing except eating cakes. one day, whilst her younger sister won a piano competition she went checking out this cake festival or something at a nearby place. (she found this by being attracted to the smell whilst walking the street) There she was being discovered by this patissier Henri who was amazed by her description of the cake he made for her to taste coz she hit the spot on what his creation is supposed to make the person who eats his cake feel. he then recommended her to study in this St.Marie academy which is a school for kids who dream of becoming patissier/patissiere. That's where the story starts.

it's very cute and super comical. and if you like cakes/desserts/anything sweet, you'd know why i like it so far. perhaps it maybe too kiddish for some, but it's good for me.

click on the below link, it should link you to the streaming of the anime.

enjoy and perhaps you'd get hungry like me after watching each episode.. :D

Yumeiro Patissiere - brought to you by the good people at Kumby!

Dessert escapades this week

2009-11-29T00:12:00.001+08:00

Went back to Gobi with Sook on Tues after shopping. I had to try the Passion Fruit mango crepe and i was not disappointed!! it was AWESOME!!! for a person who love tartness, it's a dream come true for me. i love the presentation by the way. Topped with Passion fruit mango sorbert, layered with mint taste meringue and thin slices of crepe, it has one hell of a surprise which totally wowed me!!

this is but 1 of the surprise.. mixed berries which provided another type of slight tartness.. i didn't eat it together with the sorbert coz it's so good by itself, i'm a sucker for passion fruit too!! yum yum

Sadly i didnt manage to take the essence for this dessert.. it's the hidden cube? or erm think slice of butter. it was hidden either in the 3rd or 4th bottom layer or both. I nearly fainted.. not only coz it was sooo sinful, it was sinfully good!! i love this dessert, to me it's superb!!!! Refreshingly sinful!! :D

Met up with Jo for tea on Sat late afternoon. Supposed to go TWG but then the queue was too long. We went to Marmalade Pantry, also got Q, headed to JAMs but was one step too slow as one aunty got the last remaining seat. Service also sucked at JAMs coz no one bothered to serve or help us checked out the tables to see who has finished and if could leave to allow us to sit. So we ended up at Gusstimo.

Gusstimo's tiramisu with tiramisu ice cream. looking at the tiramisu, it's full of smooth creaminess. i don't know if it's mascapone, but as you can see, the creamy part made up the majority of the dessert. 3 slices is just nice. not too rich and not too jerlat. the sponge was nicely soaked in coffee. my complain, no rum!!

Jo took the souffle. it's rich and soft and probably a choc lover's dream. the choc is not too sweet and has a good level of bitterness to it. i tot the arrangement of the berries just make the otherwise probably boring presentation very much more appetising. the chesse ice cream is smooth and good!

Roadside food in BKK

2009-11-23T21:16:00.001+08:00

i guess many people are skeptical as to whether there will be consequences after eating the roadside food in Bangkok. i had my doubts last time, but since last year, when Cece and me adventurously tried our first roadside food, we were yummized (erm means addicted to yummy food) by what seemed like unhygenic roadside food.

Contrary to the many thoughts of the terrible after effects in consuming these food, they are in fact very delicious, cheap, and no bad side effects having consumed them. it is definitely as authentic as one can get to thai food. i really enjoyed my road side meals this trip.

it's not difficult to know where the good food places are, you can always find either a queue or many people waiting to be seated etc. it's a disadvantage not being able to speak thai, but the locals can manage with simple english. anyway, whatever it is, you just need to point to whatever you fancy. afterall, pointing is an universal sign language.

i was staying at Baiyoke Boutique hotel and just outside is the Patunam night market. Along with night market of bargain items, people also need to eat. as such, simple food like these actually are the highlight for the night market walkabout if you dare to try.

this grilled fish was covered with salt when it was bbqing by the hot charcoal. it's damn popular coz the locals actually sit by the tables and order like one fish per pax. the grill was always filled with the fish and it looked so darn mouth watering good and i just had to buy it. At only 50 Baht (equivalent to SGD 2.10) it's yummiliciously good. the meat is fresh coz it is easily detached from the bones, juicy and tender and you know what, it's has this awesome sweetness which i have never tasted in a fish for a very long time. MUST BUY! by the way, it is not salty if you don't eat the skin. anyway, no one eats the skin coz it's scaly.

if i remember correctly, they call this phad thai. it's similar to our fried kway teow, except it is tastier, more spicy and sweet and yummy with no frills ingredients. it looked very little when the 'chef' was cooking it, but it came up to a huge packet. it's loaded with peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions, tao kua and that's about it. but it's so tasty and appetising when i drizzled it with the calamasi. shiok and it costs only 30 baht!

this is the pork kway teow soup which cost only 30 baht. for this mere sum of money, you get a generous amount of smooth kway teow. the soup was awesome. so sweet and so savoury. it's delish stock! i found out that the cook had put radish in the soup as well. the pork slices were very tender and had just enough fats to make it really delish. the pork balls, so firm, bouncy and crunchy. the pork liver even after 'swimming' in the soup for quite sometime, was still soft and tender. this is really one of my favourite roadside dish and will try whenever i am there! If you are crazy about spicy, put the chili powder into the dish and definitely spice it up lots!

for 25 baht per 100g, there are a variety of fried items you can choose from. from small sized prawns, to pork ribs, to chicken gizzard etc, the sinful fried food whilst it is cooking sure catches not only ones visual attention but smell and sound. haha, it's damn good and very worth it. good to have it with a can of beer which obviously is so darn cheap in bkk. excellent side dish!!

the above was dinner for our first night there when we touched down and headed out to look for food.

another night when we returned from central world, the cab drove by this row of street side stall selling these really huge fish. we decided to try it on friday night before we flew off the next day.

i'm not sure if you can resist this, but i sure couldnt. it looked really darn good with the fish grilling on this hot stove of charcoal. by the way, the fish were alive when they were being put on to the stove, that's how fresh this was. however, it wasn't really as good as the earlier fish we had coz this one had too many bones and the meat was a tad tougher. this cost 120 baht. we ordered other dishes as well, but coz my cam ran out of battery, the rest were stored in my hp.

the fish before it was rubbed in salt and bbq-ed. IT's ALIVE!!!!

the street side hawker doing their stuff! so pro they are!!

fresh fresh veges to accompany our fish!

that's how the fish looked like when it reached our table.

back from bkk

2009-11-22T03:27:00.000+08:00

hmm.. what can i say about the trip? well, didn't bring my mum and me closer nor did it make the forgetting any easier. first two nights i still cried, but not as much. it was difficult. the third night, i didn't anymore. wonder if it's coz went to bai bai, or it's just coincidental. I just didn't.

fortunately, for the rest of the trip, it was much easier. focus was on the shopping i guess and food. whatever weight i have lost over the past couple of days prior to the trip, i've gained it back. so unhappy about it. can't imagine tomorrow still meeting the seniors for dinner. faintz, i think i'd eat lesser, else i will have a hard time losing it again.

i thought about many things and cringed at the thoughts of many things. i still asked myself why and also told myself maybe the feelings were never mutual. i was living in a world of my own all these while and was being lead on? Or how did it go? WTF. Anyway, one thing which stuck was what CH asked me once when i was ta baoing food. he saw the queue and asked me if it was worth it and i instantly replied yes. somehow thereafter, i wondered if it was really worth it and thought that it was and was ready to take responsibility for answering that so swiftly. alas, at the end of it all, this is going to be a scar which is difficult to heal and not sure if it'd ever.

whatever it is, things will never ever be the same and i really hate to have to type this sentence.

anyways, shopping is good. food is good. i am really even more impressed with bangkok now and would religiously return to do major shopping, mani, pedi etc..

will i blog the trip? nope, nothing much to say. i'd probably put up the pics and show other stuff like what i bought or ate.. that kind of thing..

i can't imagine going back to work on Monday, still dam tired. but i only need to work two more weeks and i'd have another week of leave..

so looking forward to it.

drinks + dinner + sms

2009-11-17T00:35:00.007+08:00

it's funny how the string of events can turn out. usually, it's unexpected. the aftermath of the whole episode should have been by now, far and beyond what i felt the day after the whole event happened, but hmm... nope. this morning it still killed me that i have to think about past events and the impending holiday which he and her will be going for.. it just sux.

i was waiting for two things today. dinner with a friend whom i knew would give me another perspective to things and confirmed what i have thought for the past couple of days. whether tears will fall is another story, but i needed to hear what he had to say. i was also waiting for my buddy's reply. she didnt reply me since the day i messaged her about the news. no point of deciding when to biao bai, more of the point of the news i found out. since thurs, she had not replied me. i wonder what happened to her.

today, i had dinner with the friend who would give me the perspective i needed for this whole thing that happened and i was glad it happened. perhaps, it was best to happen today coz the past few days as i reflected, i was angry and really upset. today, though i was calm to a certain extend, i was still unhappy. primarily, what i reaped was not what i sowed. still i felt, things would have been made known to me in a better way.

beer accompanied a pretty good dinner. pity i'd never be asking him to go to that place. on a separate note, thankfully, the places we have visited.. well, turns out that i'd probably never visit them ever. not because those places will bring back memories, but because, the food either not as good to expectations or i have found better places to spend my calories on. kinda fortunate coz of these reasons.

the things about friends i found out are that, they can either give you the best reasons to forget or the worst reasons to remember. in today's case, i am right about the two of them.

one gave me the confirmation that what i never did was probably the reason why i didnt reap what i sowed and he asked me why i hesitated telling the truth. told him that i wanted to give the person time and kept thinking that the next time we met would be the time to tell. nevertheless, i am basically too late. though even if i have told, things may not have changed, but i'd probably have a chance. anywayz, we both agreed that there is no point guessing and what is will be.

buddy who messaged me asked me one question coz i told her i removed him from FB, msn and will never read his blog ever. she asked what if he started to talk to me. i told it's highly impossible given that i have blogged the whole series of events which happened and plus it has been 4 days and i have not heard from him, it's unlikely i'd ever. if i do mean anything to him, i'd have heard from him. however, there's also the possibility that he never read my blog, check his fb or whatever coz it's not his habit. but regardless what it is, i now think that i stand zero in his eyes.

today is probably closure day. heading to bkk in a couple of hours and am all packed. funny today's packing is pretty fast and without much hesitation of what is required. i think i need to get out badly. hop on a plane, enjoy the luxury and spend. it is a coward's way of forgetting, then again, haven't i been a coward yet another time？

太喜欢而做了很多
在工做上也帮了许多
这些都是为了看到他的笑容
也以为会有个美好的结果
但是棉花糖的梦
不可能甜蜜的实现了
因为想太多而失去了机会吧？

anyway, next entry, i promise it will be about something else. sorry to bore those who have been checking out my blog. just need to get it out of the system... i think i have done it today.

Post Mortem

2009-11-14T10:49:00.000+08:00

Woke up in a loss.. it was the same as yesterday when i was woken up by some DBS person calling me up and i couldnt make out which day it was and what i was doing before i went to bed. perhaps it's the brain's temporary measure to delete extreme sadness for that one short minute or two to allow it's host to forget certain things and then hopefully things get better.

Unfortunately, when a person is hurt emotionally, it's more than just the brain that is involved. like they say, the heart and the brain don't usually go along the same way. so when i woke up yesterday and today, the same feeling of disgust overwhelmed me.

it starts with the repulsive feeling of wanting to regurgitate that immense sense of gross and disgust out from the system. nope, no resort to making use of alcohol to forget my sorrows (i'd go to that later) so i am talking about something that is actually not there but it's making it's presence felt. something which i so want to get rid of. knowing that going to the loo to enact the action of puking will not help, i laid on in bed. thoughts of stabbing myself to feel the pain instead of the disgust was awfully tempting but then, of coz it's a suicide attempt which is in itself, ridiculous. what happened next would be all those previous memories coming back to haunt me and then i start to think of what went wrong and where.

two days, the cycle repeated. two days i didnt want to go to bed the night before knowing that the next morning i'd have the same feeling.

this morning, i took the courage to think about things. the only thing which could have made me feel better and finally a sense of liberation was this date September 18. maybe the events which happened after this date had nothing to do with what didnt happen on that day, but somehow, putting everything on this date made me felt better of sorts. actually, this date has always been on my mind since the day itself happened.

however, this meant that for the years to come i'd always remember this date, well maybe not. but then the regret of what didnt happen on that day will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. the thing is, if i had put down everything, forget about going for din with angie and went shopping with him, would i have gotten a surprise? that has always been my question since that fateful day.

anyway, the point is there is no point guessing anymore. things are not going to change regardless how much guess work i'm doing. the point now is to get myself out of this shit hole. i've cried enough and i need to move on. i've been a huge dumb ass throughout this whole episode.

friends kept saying 'let's go for drinks' or 'let's drink and you'd forget'.. well, been there done that. no drinks to forget sorrow, it's something which i did ions ago and the results always.. hmm.. how should i put it? sux big time. not only do you have to nurse an even more broken heart, there's the hang over which makes everything even more sucky. told a friend yesterday that i'd remain sober this time. feel everything and learn from it. i will never repeat the same mistake ever.

today, i'd accept this regret. i had a choice on sept 18 but i chose something else. maybe another me in another dimension is happy, having made the right choice. maybe she isn't. whatever it is, if time can go back to that day, i'd choose the other option. unfortunately, time is never turning back so it's one of those things i'd just have to live with it.

partial shock, immense sadness, anger, puffy swollen eyes, disgust, the stingy feeling creeping up my shoulders making me cringe each time when i think about them on their holiday and knowing that i was a huge dumb ass all these while being true to my feelings.. hmm.. i hope not to experience this ever again.

getting over and moving on in 2 days seems short, but as age catches up, don't really have a lot of time to wallow in self pity and regret. he was somebody important and i'm happy to know that he is happy coz for the longest time he hasn't been.

hopefully the next person who comes along will let me go through a happy flow rather than what i have felt for the last 2 days. well, i guess i just have to remain hopeful then.

清晨六点半

2009-11-13T07:55:00.001+08:00

平时的这个时间，usually still sleeping like a pig even when the alarm rings. refusing to get out of bed is always the case. 今天的这个时间，decided to wake up to post this entry and 外面突然下着大雨 machiam reflecting how i am now.

yesterday 告诉／promise 自己 crying buckets is only limited for last night or when the skies was still dark 今早的第一线光 (yah, somehow it is still a little bright) already broken the promise and self talk. obviously, can't do it.

in the half awaken state before waking up and thereafter, coming to sense of what happened yesterday, felt the following:

1）心如刀割 - actually more like stab than cut
2） shoulders super uneasy
3) stomach forever feel like wanting to get rid of something
4) the thought of food just makes me feel like puking

想啊想，refused to give up and just cannot understand what went wrong and where. maybe it's that fateful day which determined everything maybe it isnt. i hate 'maybes'. as of now, 一切以成定局 is there any use to fret about what happened and why?

过去的many months, the things done never got to anywhere. the encouragement, the concern, the help, the whatevers.. 真的 is nothing. everything wasted and dropped into a bottomless pit. never expected to hear 'thanks' all the time and never always heard it. now i finally know why.

all the while is 一葙情愿。。。

那个人不是我的感觉somehow knew it, just still want to indulge in siaming a reality which was bound to happen and it did. i wish buy 4D or toto i'm so super jun, at least got money can do whatever i want.

thought that i will be 萧洒 and can 拿的起，放的下, knowing me, it's crap. obviously failed terribly. cried till nose blocked so bad and had to breathe through mouth, completely dehydrated and end up with a pounding headache. kaoz, hate to go to sleep like that.

facebook - deleted
msn - removed
following - removed

这样不会好一点， just prevent me from knowing the updates which may happen in the subsequent period to come which i think is 好的 and perhaps make the moving on easier. 不是no heart, just that heart is now cui liao, need to pick up the pieces. all these 只是因为太喜欢一个人and没有说的 end result.

friends say 出国走走 is a good idea. i beg to differ. how to feel happy when i waited from the 1st quarter of the year till now, expecting to go the place i really want by this period, lost all opportunities to go anywhere with my friends because there wasn't a firm answer telling me 'nah... think you better ask your friends to go' and till yesterday found out that the whole time of waiting was for nothing. it sux and yes, i must say.. why the $@#($(%( this kind of rubbish always kenar me.

清晨七点半，雨停了。

十一月十三日 Friday the thirteen, 最后一滴泪也该流干了。

今天的现在，我是世界第一个超极大笨蛋，缠着心里这么久的 mystery already been solved, should feel very free.. but somehow no. 希望第二个笨蛋have better luck than me.

去年的明天，我们看了我们的第一部电影。。。原来走的那一步是我一年后的悲伤。

笨蛋，笨蛋，笨蛋！！！！！！！！

2009-11-12T23:47:00.000+08:00

倒头来，我原来只是一个超极大笨蛋。。。

只能这么说吧

现在的swollen eyes and tears is only for tonight.

真的非常不worth it, but just cannot prevent it from happening.

can only say that friends concern and company, really helped and their patience really to wait for me to share.

it's because of this, i didnt tear and was able to laugh it off.

只是要对朋友们说谢谢。让我在悲伤还可以笑一个。

thanks.. you all know who you are..

now i just need to know how to remove the following from the site.. bloody unsuccessful..

shit and i really don't want to know.

beef steak burger - my version

2009-11-02T23:54:00.000+08:00

was craving for it after watching the cook show. even more when i couldnt get the order at tea cosy. so i made my own on Sun. didn't like cooking in the current kitchen, but i guess make do is ok de.

so i bought aust rib eye steak, already cut button mushrooms, chopped up some garlic, add some butter, cooked the mushrooms first with some onions and chicken stock. turned out the mushroom came out too wet. bought some coral lettuce as well.

definitely could have done better for the cost of the ingredients. then again, could have made two. anyhows, enjoyed cooking was quite fun. wonder what's next to cook up my sleeves. see what kind of craving i'd have bah :D.

sometimes V

2009-10-27T22:55:00.000+08:00

a couple of days back, i put up some pics on the TWG dinner i had last friday on facebook and today a primary school classmate left a message on my photo and mentioned that she some how expected me to put up something on TWG soon and i did.

the interesting thing is she works there and she must have read my comments about the mains i have had which i was rather disappointed with. she mentioned that she will feedback to the kitchen regarding my comments and asked me to buzz her the next time i am going again.

sometimes, somethings are just so unexpected and this actually made my depressive weeks and prolly soon to be a month a little bit brighter.

i read some of the stuff in the tea manual this morning when i was on the way to work. it is interesting and i really would like to know more. i cannot wait to attend the training course.

today i tried two types of tea from gryphon. camomile which Mr Chia offered sometime back and Nymph of the Nile (so fanciful the name) both of which have very strong flowery scent. the camomile was really a tad overpowering, but the tea... it's so gentle, smooth and i think i can only use this to describe the teas i have had - 芳香柑甜. they are very good and light. other than NOTN being a bit overpowering smell on the poeny flower which lasted endlessly when i had the tea bag beside me.

will take a pic of the box next time and show. it's damn happening even got pairing of the tea with food.. wooo.. i like! make good gifts and cheaper than the tea from TWG! :D

more about tea soon. feel a bit better to have something else to look forward to.. of which are attainable as well.

yuzu pear blossom

2009-10-26T23:59:00.000+08:00

it's not a flower, it's a particular green tea i have tried this evening.

yuzu - a type of citrus fruit resembling that of orange in appearance and more of grapefruit in taste.

the pear in this tea is nashi pear from Japan and the blossom is the smell of white orchid.

when the pot was brought to the table, the immediate scent is that of yuzu though not the normal yuzu smell i expected, but definitely it is there. at the same time, there is a subtle flowery scent and i didnt know it's that of white orchid till i visited the site.

i am kinda into tea drinking lately. having visited TWG recently and addicted to the smell of their french earl grey and revisiting to have dinner and a taste of their jasmine tea, i was at a new place and trying out this tea tonight.

comparing TWG's tea with what i have tasted tonight, i have definitely fallen in love with the new tea. not only has the unique fragrance of the tea captured my attention and soothe my thoughts for the night, it has also a good flavour which is light and definitely refreshing as the webpage described. it doesn't leave a strong after feeling on the tongue, in fact, it leaves just a nice bit of taste making me want to drink more. i realised the tea from TWG tend to win in the fragrance but not much of taste and at times, leave a piled up strong after feeling on the tongue.

shizouka green tea - my guess it is where the green tea leaves are from. the taste/smell of the nashi pear, is very very light. it took me a while to find the taste. it is when i found it that i realised the combination of the smell, flavour and lightness of tea made the whole experience really wonderful.

visit www.gryphontea.com and check out their wide varieties of tea!

i cannot wait to attend my first tea lesson, hopefully it will not be too long a wait :) Tomorrow, i will try a sachet of Nymph of Nile. Can't find the description in the website, but will check tomorrow.

the ROM pics

2009-10-26T00:01:00.000+08:00

damn, i sucked!! i really wished i could have done much better. really it's not easy having people by your side telling you how to take, why you should take with flash etc etc. it was a tad irritating and best that people think it's a joke that i am taking the photos and here i am thinking this is the most freaking tough assignment given the almost zlich practise i've had with taking another adult terrestial being. sighz, no wonder the wedding photographers charge so much money.

think i took a total of 155 shots and not all turned out good. the pics i liked best were the ones i took for them at ion. maybe it's the lights.. (well, it's always about the lights) or the more relaxed atmosphere. whatever it is, they definitely looked better.

perhaps i really should go for lessons one day. hmm see how..

if i ever get married, i'd get my photo siao friends to take pics and i'd just take my point and shoot for my wedding and erm hopefully i don't trip on the dress or anything and fall down.

oh well, this is if i ever do get married one day.

thought this turned out rather ok after some erm.. yeah.. adjustments.

Hand Burger @ Raffles City Shopping Centre

2009-10-19T00:03:00.002+08:00

two fridays ago, we visited and waited to be seated at Hand Burger. There were 4 of us and when a table was cleared finally allowing 4 hungry peepz to be seated, we were told that they had only 3 buns left by that very cute i guess, store manager.

relentless, we revisited on the friday which just passed. We felt lucky coz we reached at 7.45pm an hour earlier than the last time we reached there. lucky we were, there was no queue and the diner 'turnaround' was quite fast. we were told to wait and i asked if we waited would there be any buns left. the same cute store manager smiled a little embarrassed cited that there's definitely enough buns to last the night away. guess it's prolly coz the next day was deepavali and they expected a bigger crowd? anyway, we were happy that we would be getting our buns!

the menu was presented in a very interesting manner. for me, the fonts are pretty unique and i liked it. what caught my eye were the origami items which were used to 'accentuate' the food. the concept is pretty unique. though the idea of the menu being displayed with a clipboard was not the most functional, nevertheless, it is unique of sorts.

Us 4 girls ate lots. ordered calamari, but it was blahh.. we had 3 different kind of burgers. Parm prawncake burger, pulled pork burger and tea smoked duck. the burgers came with straight cut fries (must be the in thing now as to how you like the cut of your fries to be) which tasted damn good when dipped in the garlic onion mayo sauce and very fresh leafy green coral lettuce and couple of tomato slices. if you don't want fries, you can order coleslaw put into a tomato cup. Elise and me ordered pumpkin and crab bisque which was super uber thick and i really liked it. for that portion, for that price and how THICK the 'soup' was, it's definitely worth it! the sweetness of the pumpkin, the familiar seafood flavour of the crab bisque blends equally well together. for that portion, it didn't feel too jerlat. i'd order it again the next time!

Des and mine tea smoked duck burger was done really nicely. though if the skin has been more crispy, it'd definitely taste even more like eating peking duck!! but, it's good enough and the thai sauce used was yummy!

Sook's parm prawn cake burger came in 3 generous huge patties. topped with cheese and tobiko. i wonder where the people get the idea of making such burgers. definitely interesting and i wouldnt mind paying more bucks to dine here as compared to EWF. And i love the buns! crispy, sweet and healthy sounding :D

i am sure going to go back again and maybe soon. just hope the next time, buns will still be available.

*ps: now i have problems uploading pics. will upload again another day. Blogger is not very friendly these days.

Fruits Crepe Cake from PG

2009-10-18T23:38:00.000+08:00

I returned to PG today with Elise. A new place, a new counter. Yet the cakes still familiar.

This time, i tried the new items and forgo the old favorites. My purchase and calorie damage for the day included Charlotte Ami, Chocolat De Noeh and Fruits Crepe.

I liked the fresh strawberry mousse taste of Charlotte Ami and even more the layers of sponge cake which surrounded the mousse and cream.. feels like i am back to those days of the strawberry shortcake cartoons and definitely how every girl always love the pink and sweetness of everything that is strawberries! hehe. the mousse, light and slightly sour and very very fragrant. the surrounding layer of spongy cake, so soft, so fluffy, so very melt in your mouth. what's wonderful, the outer part/crust of the spongy cake is slightly crispy!! gosh, i soooo melted when i ate the whole thing. Lurve, lurve, lurve it!!

and then i couldn't resist and had to have the remaining two cakes after the day's events. bought CDN because there were nuts inside. almond and walnuts. interestingly, it tasted like something very familiar. it's not exactly soft. somehow, keeping it in the fridge kinda partially harden a certain layer of the cake (i think it's the ganache). Rich, yes but definitely not the richest i have had for a choc cake. nothing beats the one from pan pac bakery. that one is super duper awesome, and i must stress i am not exactly a chocolate fan. out of the 3, it's not my favourite though i think it'd be a bit too light for choc lovers.. hmm.. it's definitely bitter sweet. so i guess it depends.

last but not least, my favorite for the day. i have finally found something which can rival Arinco's swissroll. this fruits crepe cake is creamy creamy, light light creamy to the max. on the surface of the signature soft spongy cake, it was covered with super thin layer of crepe skin. Within the bravarian cream, super uber fresh fruits. there's grapes and i wonder if it's THAT kind of korean grape (you know the super huge ones where the skin separates easily from the flesh) and peach and pear cubes. the best best best surprise of this cake is that bit of burnt caramel towards the middle part of the cake nestled in the baravian cream. it was awesome!!!! i prefer this more than Arinco's swiss roll. unforgettable and i am sooo going to go back to get it. wasted as i didn't take pics of this yummy cake!!

PG has relocated to Icon Village and it looks like a pretty exciting place with so many restaurants opening up, i can't wait to see what IV has to offer. People working in the CBD area sure are spoilt for choices and the occasional indulgence.

*green with envy*!!

back to normal

2009-10-17T00:55:00.001+08:00

somehow, the 'new post' page is back to normal.

no complains and happy about it.

now i can upload some stuff finally but probably tomorrow :D

2009-10-15T22:57:00.002+08:00

wah lau eh, think my blog kenar hacked. i cannot post my stuff properly. kns!! if i put the title, the rest of the contents cannot appear. faintz.. what's the problem man..

piangz, the blogspot security so damn lousy.

anyone knows how i can transport the whole thing to elsewhere??

knock knock

2009-10-10T21:38:00.002+08:00

got that on my bedroom door two nights ago. it was my bro and he asked this.

bro: how's your SLR? good?
me: hmm.. ok, like that lor.. (looked at him a bit stunned)

bro: so you can be my photographer for my ROM?

me: huh.. (even more stunned this time) err.. you see my pics on my blog and facebook.. what you think?

bro: ok lah, so you help me to take and be my photographer for the day lah.

me: errr.. i thought you got a very good photographer, your ex boss?

anyway, i did agree to help him take but i am apprehensive. because no such experience. okie, i do bring my p+s camera to weddings and occasionally take okie photos. but hello, we are talking about my bro's wedding here! what if i make a mess out of it? What if i didn't capture the wonderful moments? what if everything turns out crappy? gee.. there were a lot of 'what ifs'.

i think i need to practise, but no time to practise. the ROM is like 2 weeks later. and i'm like woah... interestingly, i don't think i'd be wearing a dress. how can a photographer wear dress and walk around. hmm.. either that, or i'd still wear a dress and be a spunky photographer..

perhaps i should start researching and look at how people take the photos and experiment from there..

hmm.. hmm.. i had always wanted to do something like that, but feeling the pressure now.. haha

take a look at this for a start? can qualify??

超极无敌的累！！

2009-10-08T00:40:00.000+08:00

嗨，今天回到家的时后以经close to 12am le.

sighz, initially still wanted to leave early to go chinatown and get my stuff, but unfortunately, forgot that i had a late evening meeting.

meet 来 meet 去, by the time meeting ended already 7 plus pm. BTHz!! when went back to read my emails and try to finished the unfinished stuff and before i realised already 11 ish.

what i BTH is that my intial thought to do the test by myself is correct de. but too bad, too busy, can't do it. ended up i have to provide so many details to the person who is helping i might as well do it myself.

in the end and coz i really BTH, i sent a super straight forward email.

bo bian liao.

haiz.. now i am even more super duper sian.

sometimes no matter how you rush, people don't feel the urgency. now everything is in the limelight, that's where everyone such to do things urgently and point fingers where ever possible.

...

a camera beckons

2009-10-06T23:19:00.000+08:00

hmm.. haven't been interested in techie toys lately except for the iphone. but i'm too lazy to fill up forms and cant imagine holding two phones at one time. i like my current number and i have more than a half a year for the starhub contract to ends.. damn sian. my current phone is definitely unexciting but it serves it's basic functionality. anyway, i heard a colleague waited like 3 months before getting that phone, so doesn't mean that when i hand in the forms i'd get my toy immediately. well, i guess we are talking about a pretty good corporate deal.. so.. can't hiam much.

anyway, that's until when i fill up the form and submit. am trying to think if i'd have any major purchase, can't think of any. seems like flying away is close to zlich for the time being, though still hopeful.. in any case, hope is a very tiring feeling to have lately.

read the papers on Sun and saw the Canon ixus 200 IS. the colour caught me, hmm but on a closer look, not that happening except probably for the Pink one. the 120 IS looks more slick, but wellz, i don't think it's as power pack as the 200 IS.

touch screen, 12.1 mgpx, 5x zoom and 3 inch LCD screen. sounds like all good in a compact camera. watched the video in hardware zone, seems good to hold on the hands and not bulky at all. that also means easy in the handbags and my pockets.

cool! plus 22 scenes to choose from and anti shake feature etc.. hmm.. definitely a good choice! plus price not that ex, CH told me got possibility to trade in.

i wanted to change coz my p+s canon ixus 950 IS is making a lot of 'noise'! the pics i take these days can see it's quite noisy. a bit upsetting. plus certain lightings never get good photos. hmm.. maybe it's me, maybe it's the cam.. haha guess it depends on time, day and moment.

well, it's probably an excuse.

but i will tu to get it. probably end of the year. see how it goes.

errrnn then again, the peak hour advertising is not doing me any favor.

aiyah, see how lah.. maybe i just need a new toy to tide over this sian period..

Barcook raisin cream cheese bun

2009-10-05T23:37:00.000+08:00

hwah!!! happy like siao! Bro just got me the Barcook raisin cream cheese bun!

looks like 明天的早餐有着落了！！！

although it's not going to be piping hot, occasions like these are hard to come by.

hehe!! Yay!! good start to tomorrow i hope!!

bro mentioned that these days the hong lim branch churns out the buns never endingly.. hmm.. that's cool!

wonder when will my next visit be... hmmm..

anyway 2 raisin cream cheese buns to devour tomorrow!!

YUM YUMs :)!!!

Obolo's Le Cassis

2009-10-04T23:15:00.001+08:00

i finally got to visit Obolo after a very very long time. I guess it's coz it's so near to my house i always find it not that necessary to visit.

so today, instead of visiting Cold Storage at Parkway, i decided to head to the CS @ Katong Mall. Primarily also because i wanted to buy 4D and toto from the outlet where i won some bucks from. anyway, that aside, the outlet is damn near to Obolo. i was looking in but could not see the cakes, so i walked away and then thought i needed some nice desserts after dinner, so i headed in.

there were quite a few varieties, but something purple and brown caught my eye. it must be the elegant purple mousse which teased my eyes to return to view it. it has more shade of red than blue and it was dark. i'd like my room to be that colour next time. then i caught the description of 'almond' and further saw an almond, pistachio and two blueberries, i decided that i got to have that for dessert.

Le Cassis is the name and it consists of 4 layers. the top being the black currant mousse, followed by moist dark chocolate almond biscuit layers, rich dark chocolate ganache mousse and crunchy praline feulletine base.

overall, the taste is complicated if eaten in one mouthful. the tartness of the blackcurrant mousse, the sweetness and bitterness of the chocolate ganache mousse, the chocolate almond biscuit layers and the base, there's so many flavours and textures coming together. it's very very cheem! so i decided to eat each layer individually and from there, i realised there's a lot of effort put into making each layer. despite the fact that it may not taste that awesome when eaten together, it's really made of quality. so for $7.20 it's quite worth it.

i like the overall presentation very slick and super magical feel to it. i like and did not regret having eaten the chocolate sheet together with the almond, blueberries and pistachio. it's damn good and i'd love my chocolates to taste like that!!

will definitely check out Obolo again and see what it has to offer, though my next target would probably be GOBI when the suntec cafe opens hopefully soon!!

Blog skin continued

2009-10-03T02:10:00.001+08:00

for the sake of the pictures probably standing out better or that everything seems rather dark these days, i took the easy way out to change the whole blog to blackness.

aiyah, also coz there's borders around the photos.

but then, may change again.

things happen very mood dependently these days..

changed blog skin

2009-10-03T01:38:00.002+08:00

ok, kinda regret. liked the pink though.

seriously, i got to remedy it somehow.. argh!!!

but at such a busy period, don't think it's the best time.

somehow, everything feels sucky.

sian..

headaches

2009-09-29T23:05:00.000+08:00

i hate headaches primarily because it just keeps gnawing away and it's really something that is hard to ignore coz it affects my head. the part where i use to think what i need to do, what deadlines need to be met, what to have for lunch, etc etc. yah the brain.

having a headache since afternoon today. not sure if it's coz of the emails, pressure or simply just the heat and the terrible weather.

anyway, it's a pest that refuses to go away.

like ms lai says, maybe it's a sign.. hah like we are all falling sick.

oh wellz, the world's not going to stop coz we are sick. definitely not the projects.

by hook or crook, the few of us must somehow make miracle happen someday soon.

in the meantime, let me give in to the temptation of swallowing the panadol to get rid of this irritating headache.

some sleep should help too.

nature shots

2009-09-27T19:02:00.003+08:00

Like this shot a lot. took it just with 1 try. the white stands out from everything else.

I can't remember if this is fennel. But just caught it coz of the snail

Courgette flowers.. something you wont see in SG.

rose red standing out from the many whites..

and the fragrant lavender in front of Sagrada Familia in Spain.

blogless

2009-09-27T18:52:00.003+08:00

havent blogged for ages. not that there's nothing to mention, there are lots. grouse mostly and pretty much nothing else.

wish this trying period can be over soon and at least i can book the tickets to Japan.

work matters are getting insane, or maybe not. perhaps self imposed pressure? aiyah, just can feel the pressure and also super sian.

nevertheless, the day will be arriving soon and it's likely that things will not exactly go smoothly but i just wish whatever i am 'incharge' of will go smoothly.

guess the part where the module of the art of management comes in handy. but who the hell have time to remember what was studied during then. hmm.. well i for one didn't until i started typing this entry.

hope to share nicer pics soon. these days i only upload to facebook as it is faster and easier. nevertheless, i will share something in the next entry.

speedy spaghetti

2009-09-13T21:31:00.004+08:00

okie, this was done out of leftover stuff. mostly stuff i got last Sunday but didnt have the chance to finish using or use at all.

i love the coral lettuce and this came with the soil. it's damn cool and costs only around $3 something at Cold Storage if i am not wrong. i had left over tobiko and knew i had to finish it soon. so i decided to conjure up this spaghetti salad or vege spaghetti or whatever you call it.

remembering the incident last Sun which fatally reduced the temperature of my spaghetti and couldn't warm up my mashed pea mentaiko mayo sauce, i did the same this time round. primarily because this was supposed to be cold or erm cool not hot coz lettuce cannot touch anything warm, they'd wither ugly plus no cooked tobiko for me too.

so the only thing which i really needed to cook was the spaghetti and nothing else. so i used the salad sauce (shaken) so that the oil and the sauce mix and tossed the chopped lettuce with the spaghetti first. i then put in the tobiko and then the mentaiko cream sauce and tossed it again.. i then threw another bunch of chopped lettuce.

done in 10 mins!

closer shot for better view

the tobiko and lettuce and sauce.. always a good combi!

hmm.. i think it's damn refreshing! done in 10 minutes damn cool! :D

Dinner @ Oriole

2009-09-12T01:53:00.005+08:00

havent met Cece for weeks and wanted to make the best use of this meet up. so instead of our usual movie then TCC sesh, we decided to have dinner to catch up. i read on Brad's blog that he went to Oriole recently and had good reviews about the place. so i thought, ok better remember to make reservation and then meet Cece there.

the no frills menu

was heng, for the fact that i made reservations coz it was damn full and noisy by the time i reached the place. i guess it's the overall ambience of the place, it's cosy and warm. instant relaxation mode! i think the lights of the restaurant was quite pretty. brighten by single light bulbs all over the place, the designs of these lights are really simple and i love them all! very pretty.

picture was taken in error but i like the effect

the service staff are really very friendly and all so ready to help. product knowledge is wonderful and they make sure everything is being taken care of. Cece had the fish and chips, i was contemplating between the beef cheek tagliatelle and the seafood blue cheese risotto. as i was told the risotto is a seasonal item and the seafood is being flown all the way from Japan, i decided i'd just have that. we also ordered a starter of NZ mussels cooked in white wine with garlic.

couldnt resist..

we chatted as we waited for the food. pretty loudly i supposed coz everyone else was talking at the top of their voice too. it was quite noisy but i guess everyone's very comfortable with the settings and the crowd so that's why.

Our yummy NZ mussels

NZ mussels arrived first and i took a first bite. the mussels were juicy, succulent and taken out from the pot just at the right moment. it's not rubbery, nor too tough. it's soft and one bite and i tasted the essence of the sea all flowing sweetly in my mouth, i think i can finish 1 plate of mussels. yup, it's that good and the best i have had so far! it cones with warm bread. baguette style but does not have the hard crust. in fact, the crust was so crispy like eating potato chips crispy and the bread is super duper soft! when dipped in the sauce.. phewz, amazing! Just that the chef should probably reduce the amount of salt in the dish. nevertheless, it's a MUST TRY!!!

not long after our mains arrived. we waited a while before we consumed our mains coz just couldnt stop eating the mussels. my only complain is that our mains should have been served after we finished our mussels. coz it started to turn cold.

the seafood risotto

the seafood risotto is not as wet as the one i had in porta. the flavour of the blue cheese didnt overwhelm, in fact, the flavour slowly disperses in my mouth and i could taste just a nice tinge of it. the scallops were pretty big, but because they were grilled and also i took a longer time to eat it, it was not as juicy i expected. as for the prawns, no complains. definitely fresh and crunchy. however, i still like the mushroom risotto from porta, i couldn't forget that!!

Cece's fish and chips were definitely better than the one from double bay. primarily the batter is very light and very crispy as well as flavourful. the chips which came along with the fish was seasoned in some crushed ginger or something.. it's good. reminds me of my ah ma's fried ginger! damn nice.

the very pretty white sangria

for drinks we ordered the sangria. it was quite strong and have a good serving of chopped fruits like green apples, lemon, orange and strawberry. there were quite a bit of mint leaves inside as well. over all the drink was very refreshing except the fruits were too sour. we skipped dessert as we wanted to have the ice cream from Gustimmo.

i will definitely visit Oriole again to try every other dish in their menu also the price was pretty reasonable!

green pea sauce spaghetti

2009-09-06T20:27:00.007+08:00

okie, so i finally cooked up the dish today. hmm.. i'd say it's a flop. primarily, it's not savoury enough for my palette and it became pretty gerlat towards the end. probably due to rusty cookery skills, haven't really did experimental cooking for ages other than making salads which doesn't really require much cooking.

the process took longer than i expected and i made the portions a little too big, perhaps that's why the dimishing returns set in as everything felt kinda creamy.

cooking the green peas was a breeze, just boil it and when all the peas float, you know it's time to take them off the cooker and drain. i then cook the mussels (in place of prawns coz it was only 87 cents for like 20?! damn cheap and very fresh fortunately!!) in another pot, but in the midst of washing them, i forgot to boil the water to cook them (i think it's best to cook them in boiling water instead putting them in to boil with the water at the same time.) so that took sometime. i had to boil another pot of water for the spaghetti. a lot of things were happening at the same time.

i think the toughest part of this whole process was to 'sieve' the green peas. i knew i had to take away the skin so that 'sieving' it into a paste like substance would be easier, but i didn't. so it took a long time. i had to mash the peas with the skin and had to do it batch by batch. i think the whole thing took about 15 to 20 mins!!

by then my spaghetti was cooked just right but came out to be quite a bigger portion i had in mind and i absent mindedly ran it under cold water when it was supposed to be hot! i tossed in some oil from the japanese salad sauce which turned out pretty good! and there were mussels which i need to take out from the shells. good thing they were cooked just right too.

before adding the green pea sauce. think with the salad sauce tossed in and eating it with the mussels would have been nicer.

when everything was done, everything was cold. the presentation was not what i wanted either. anyway, i just tossed the green pea paste with the mentaiko mayo sauce and a little bit of wasabi which unfortunately did not save this dish. topped it off with some tobiko and it was done.

that's how the green pea mentaiko sauce looked like.. erm still a brilliant shade of creamy green!!

after tossing it with tobiko and the sauce. the final outcome.

i finished everything, didnt want to waste it. i think the sauce would be better off as a dip or a starter.. spreading the sauce on top of sliced toasted baguette, add a mussel, some tobiko and some chopped tomatoes would probably be nice. well, will try harder next time.

半个包

2009-09-03T23:16:00.006+08:00

This is easily 我现在最喜欢的包！2nd time eating it and i think it tasted even better than the first time i had it. shall not divulge where this place is, but the wanton mee (can't remember the very enticing chinese name) and this 包 is definitely, confirm MUST TRY! will blog about the wanton mee next time, i will go on with the 包.

for the price of $3.60, 半个包 is actually 一个包 split into two. sounds like 废话 right and for that price, can get probably get 3 大包！but, the ingredients in this 包 are super happening lor!! it has the following things inside:

1/2 salted egg yolk
2 slices of chinese 香肠
1/4 of a very juicy 香菇 soaked with all the essence of some very yummy stock
2 chucks of tender chicken thigh meat

and the base of each half is made of super tender minced pork mixed with very, very, very fresh shrimps and chinese parsley. though i usually don't like chinese parsley, this is the best part of the 包!! it's amazing coz once you bite that portion of the 包, it's so 'crunchy'!!! it's like when you bite into very fresh prawns, you hear and feel the crunch in your ears and between your teeth!! the whole mix is sooooo firm and Q! the frangrance of the chinese parsley blends so well together with the meat and the prawn. This is not all, the flour of which the 包 is made of is soft, fluffy and sweet!!

That's how i like my 包!! so it's top of my list at the moment! makes a good light dinner anytime when i have the craving for 包! for this price, it's damn worth it! by the way, it's this 包 which made me wanna dine at this place! So attractive! :D

拜拜

2009-09-02T22:33:00.002+08:00

i didnt go 拜拜 this morning, simply because i was late this morning. not late as in super late, just erm missed the bus at the time kind of late. well, i should have 拜 i coz i ended up waiting about 10 mins for the next bus. erm, that was also because i refused to board the stupid 'new age' bus for 196 confirm no place to sit and sleep. so i waited. darn, i should have 拜拜 before walking to the bus stop.

anyway, i contemplated to 拜 again when i came back, but didn't. suddenly i was thinking, should i 上一炷香or 3. in the end in order not to anger the 神, i decided to get my facts right and tune my thoughts first before anyhow go and 拜 .

okay, tomorrow i try since it's TOTO day.. hmm.. yah somehow keep thinking of that TOTO money. maybe soon it will be mine..

ok, promise the next entry about TOTO will be either months away or i actually strike the prize money :D!

七月的 void deck神台

2009-09-01T23:55:00.003+08:00

500th post and it's the seventh month don't know how many days liao.

i think starting tomorrow morning, i must start to go to the void deck 神台 to 拜拜。must 拜 for the following.

好的来，坏的去！

1) Everything better go smoothly with the testing - as is now, struggling like mad

2) Lesser meetings, coz they can be super brain drain tiring!

oh well, who am i kidding?!? Seriously i aint a saint, i'm just a small fry. Like i really care about the above if my below wish comes true!!!!

Anyway, starting tomorrow, i am going to 求神拜佛 that i'd strike toto soon!! if not, points (1) and (2) will haunt me till the end of November or longer? who knows?!?!

sian ah!!!!!!!

still on the topic of green peas

2009-08-23T21:10:00.002+08:00

thought of this yesterday. think i wanna make spaghetti this coming Sunday.. hmm, well if i am alive by then still.

anyway, the ingredients.

green peas - mashed without skin
mentaiko mayo sauce
spaghetti - cooked
tobiko - because they are bigger and crunchier than ebiko
fresh prawn - cubed
Parmesan cheese - shaved thinly

mashed the green peas through the sift and then mix with the mentaiko mayo sauce till creamy.

cook the cubed bits of the fresh prawns in boiling water, once turned pink - drain.

when the spaghetti is cooked, mix a bit of olive oil (actually i think SCS butter will be nice but very sinful!!).

toss in the tobiko and prawn bits.

then add the creamy mashed green pea mentaiko mayo mix on top.

sprinkle some bonito flakes on top.

hmm.. i wonder how this will taste.. let's see and will post the pics when ready! :)

just tired and flatting out again

2009-08-21T22:48:00.003+08:00

it's only not long that i had a 5 days break during the National day long weekend. now, i'm entirely drained.

however, it seems like pressure gets things going.. for me at least.. time just flies by sooner than things can be done..

hmm.. bad signs

sian..

i wanna fly somewhere soon..

Green Peas and creamy dressing

2009-08-19T22:38:00.002+08:00

a recent experiment made me think about why i used to like the KFC vegetable salad so much. though i am not really a green pea person, but i loved that salad. the dressing is likely to be the same as that of the coleslaw, but definitely don't have that strong yucky stale garlic smell. i don't know why they discontinued that vege salad, it was quite depressing and i always opt for mash potatoes for my KFC set meals.

a year back or so, watched the nigella express and she recommended this super fast and yummy green pea mozerella cheese soup. it was yums! super simple, just cook the peas in some stock and then put into the blender and blend the mozerella cheese with the peas and the stock. super fast, done in 10 mins. it's good coz the green peas have some vege sweetness taste to it, the mozerella brought about a slightly cheesey taste. the entire combi comes very well together. you'd be surprised how filling the soup is!!

and the recent experiment i was talking about, i mixed the peas with this slightly spicy japanese mayo mentaiko dressing. it was wonderful!! i happened to chance upon this dressing and it was the last on the shelves, presume it's damn popular! and it must be course not only does it have the usual japanese mayo taste, add the spicy mentaiko bits, wooo.. takes it up a savoury notch and... when you mix it with the green peas, it's simply delish.

this brings about my conclusion. Green peas goes well with creamy stuff. i gathered that the green pea itself have a light tinge of 'creamy' taste to it. hmm.. try this, remove the green pea skin after you boil it and then mash the green pea through the sift. after that, eat it. what do you think?

hmm.. i wonder if anyone has ever come up with a green pea cake.. it should be nice :p

D & D @ 1 Caramel

2009-08-15T02:09:00.005+08:00

today's the return visit to 1 Caramel in less than a week. went with Cece for a major catch up sesh which was partially overdue. we stayed there for 5 hours. from 7 ish to 12 ish.

customised cupcakes selling @ $6 per cupcake and min order is 12. very pretty!

thought i saw a family having pizza the other time i was there and told Cece that yes, they served mains. however, after studying the menu for like countless times, we didn't see any pizzas! in the end, we resorted to asking the waitress if they served other savories. surprisingly, they did. 3 kinds of pizzas: Margarita, hawaiian and parma ham. so we opted for the parma and mushroom soup. we didn't order cakes at the point in time coz we were going to revisit the display fridge after the mains.

the mushroom soup arrived first and had two slices of crispy toasts. i like the just nice richness of the soup. it's thick with generous bits mushrooms blended to just the correct size adding a good texture to the soup. unfortunately, the were bits of leaves (i think dried basil leaves? Dunno) in the soup and it sort of marred the last few moments of drinking the soup. overall, i'd order it again coz it's savoury enough and not overly creamy!

the pizza arrived thereafter and it's quite big. divided to 8 slices, it can feed at least 3 people or even 4. it's definitely not as good as the one i had in Skinny P coz the toppings weren't that generous and the dough was not exactly fantastic. it could also be because we had too much. we didn't finish the pizza. 2 slices were left behind though we finished the rocket leaves and the parma ham.

if you don't want to visit the fridge, which is something you should do, they also have a menu. i counted, there were a total of 27 different kinds of cakes!

we ordered tea too. mine's the fruit mountain. not too strong, it's quite light but not as light as Cece's Geisha something. the butter cookie is yummy too!

by then we were pretty full, took a walk to the gigantic see through fridge to finalise the cake of our choice for the night. initially we were pretty optimistic, that we will be able to eat 4 cakes in total, but we ordered 2 different cakes first, just in case.

cece ordered the Chocolate Praline Cake. As described in the cakes' menu, quote: '1 Caramel's Cocoa signature with varying layers of chocolate mousse and hazelnut praline feuilletine.' when i ate the cake, i thought it was sweet. cece didnt think it was. i guess we have different levels of sugar tolerance. to me the cake tasted like kit kat again. i very much prefer the CBL coz of the balance of tart and sweet.

i ordered the Nid d'abeilles. Don't ask me how to pronounce it, but quote again: 'Layers of honey chiboust cream and strawberry jelly sandwiched with crispy almond dacquoise.' hmm yet another cheem description. i thought the cake was quite sweet as well. Though the strawberry jelly is sour, it's still sweet. overall, sweet. i didnt taste much honey but the cake was really soft and the chiboust cream was light a fluffy. almond dacquoise is also sweet. hmm.. everything sweet.

i think we had a bit too much sugar that we went on a sugar high and was hyper for a short 30 mins and started to seh for the next 30 mins. we got back to our original state by drinking lots of water that coupled with lots of laughter as we chit chatted. it was so therapeutic and i missed her company. it's always nice to chat with her when there are things i find it hard to understand and needed someone who bothers to analyse and unafraid to tell me her thoughts in a evaluative manner. she didn't need to provide solutions, it's just great to hear what she has to say.

food though not as amazing as the first experience, company was great and the place was so nice to nuah!! i didnt feel like moving from the long bench with that huge fluffy brown pillow. felt damn shiok! it was a wonderful friday night and i look forward to meeting up with my dear friend soon :)!

sunrise pic

2009-08-13T21:26:00.003+08:00

another sunrise pic from the HP

Swiss roll in a different light!

2009-08-12T23:00:00.003+08:00

this entry is very delayed. visited Ion two weeks back and just had to get it. was told that the dry ice can last 4 hours and was skeptical but the roll did made it home together with the whipped cream intact. i still managed to see the liquefied caramel in its deep darkish brown oozing out. that was soooo exciting and i couldn't wait to eat it.

one thing though, i should have asked them to slice it up for me. coz cutting the ultra softy roll was a feat!! even warming the knife with warm water doesn't help as well. it seems so super fragile and when you start cutting it, even more fragile!

let me go straight to the roll. it's soft for sure, the whipped cream is light and very fluff. the taste of the caramel is everywhere, but the saltiness was not that obvious, just tinges here and there. the thing to rave about is that burnt, slightly bitter and sometimes sweet liquefied caramel. the surprise is there were solid bits in it too, so it's woah for me!! i love it!

for $18 a roll it's still expensive. definitely something of an indulgence..

back on my own feet

2009-08-12T22:24:00.004+08:00

today marked the first day after about a month where i went to work without my mum sending me to and fro. a bit apprehensive at first, but heck, i already took a trip to tampines over the weekend for my haircut and took the bus as well as the mrt. basically, the left foot still hurts but just grit my teeth and walked. i guess i need that bit of exercise somehow.

anyway, i missed my cakes from Pan Pac and had a craving. contemplated half the day whether should pay a visit or not. anyways, even to the last minute, i nearly didn't go. so off i went and greedy me bought two items. a chocolate eclair and a chendol cake. see the pic and you'd know why i bought the former. the latter i got it coz it's unique.

in short, nothing to rave about. i'm not sure if it's coz after eating CBL that the chocolate filling in the eclair wasn't anything fantastic and it definitely have some sourish taste which i couldn't figure. didn't taste spoilt or anything, it was just 'blah'.. the saving grace surprisingly was their addition of the raspberries. kinda sad huh.

as for the chendol cake, i was also attracted by the jade green topping. i love the red bean coz it's not the mushy kind and also coz of the jelly which had the typical pandan smell which was so fragrant. sadly the atup chee cannot make it, as well as those greeny stuff. the filling inbetween tasted like agar agar with coconut just not as firm, but it's pretty ok. hmm.. in short, i probably won't buy it again.

oh no, what has 1 caramel done to my taste buds for cakes!?!? this is horrific! hee :p

Dessert @ 1 Caramel

2009-08-10T14:48:00.007+08:00

i read of this place from a couple of blogs and got me curious. had the idea of going prior to catching 'UP' since it's at Handy Rd where The Cathay was. Almost could not make it coz of the activities which i arranged. In the end, we had early dinner and managed to find 1 caramel to have a nice, yummy dessert makan sesh.

when we reached 1 caramel, i was surprised that there weren't that many people. somehow, i was expecting full crowd at the place and finding a seat would be difficult. but i guess it's prolly because it's national day and most people would either be at the parade or catching it a home. if not, then most likely they went overseas. anyway, no complains. happy to be able to get a seat without waiting.

the place looks pretty small. there are two kinds of al fresco areas. one with round marble tables and chairs, each table sitting 4 and there were 4 tables. then there was another more cosy area where there were long comfy sofas to chill and relax.

i love the interior for the mustard yellow cushion seats, dark zenish brown tables and the chairs with the super long backing. it looks almost like antique children chairs but enlarged a few times bigger. felt like a kid when i sat on it. well, the chair was tall. there was also a huge see through fridge where the cakes, tarts, wines were being kept. it was a visual treat indeed!

love their lightings and the cutlery they use. Very modern and classy. in all, the place has a very homely feel. it's like stepping into someone's house of sorts.

the cakes menu is always on the table. it has i think probably close to 30 varieties? it is indeed a tough choice to make. if you make a visit to the see through fridge, it's even harder.

i was determined to eat Lychee Rose until i came upon a separate menu where this dessert caught my eye. 'Red miso souffle'. the souffle is made with miso and comes with yuzu ice cream. i was curious how this combination would be like. so i forgo the cakes and chose this instead.

we had the Chocolate Berry Lust which was recommended. it's actually a tart with chocolate ganache filling. looking at it, seems like very rich chocolate and i wonder how potent it would be. taking a bite, i knew it's ok. the valrhona chocolate ganache was very smooth, creamy and rich but not to the extend of being overwhelming. the tart base is made of 2 layers. one which tasted like kit kat and another hmm.. some very dark chocolate biscuit? i'm not sure and can't really taste what it is.

there was also generous topping of a variety of berries (gosenberry, strawberries, blueberries, raspberry and that very sour berry which i can't remember the name) and small chocolate coated biscuit balls made this tart looked even more tantalising! i must say that the sour berry and the chocolate ganache tasted best when eaten together. there was a balance of sweetness from the ganache and tartness from the berry. not so good combi when eaten with the blueberry though.

the Red Miso Souffle took quite sometime to arrive. we finished the CBL and had to wait quite awhile. when it arrived, i didnt see any reds, instead it's all in different shades of yellows and creams. the presentation was simple and pleasant. we then poked a hole in the middle of the souffle wondering what's inside. poking the souffle was like 'waw! soooo super soft and fluffy!!' we didnt see any filling, but the reward came in the form of the warm, sweet buttery, creamy and milky smell. definitely something nice and yummy. it's a very comforting smell actually. fresh, original and untainted.

eating the souffle with the yuzu ice cream is akin to eating warm brownie and vanilla ice cream. the hot and the cold was like mmmm.. but the difference is the souffle was salty though can't taste the miso-ness of it, but it was definitely salty and eating it with the yuzu ice cream which was partially sour and sweet, it was pretty happening! 3 tastes at one go, it was quite unusual coz each taste has it's presence and was not overwhelmed by the other.

i like this dessert coz it played with my sense of smell, 'touch', taste and sight. i like it and it would have been better if the yuzu ice cream was sherbet instead to play down on the cream i feel.

i was wrong to say that they didnt serve mains. primarily coz i didnt read of mains being served. i should have asked when i called the day before. but nevermind, this leaves more chances to explore what the place has to offer another time, another day.

the chef made this cityscape for national day. It's damn big, should see it for yourself. we were also in for a treat of fireworks display from the NDP after we finished our dessert and got a partial good view. what a way to end a yummy dessert sesh. i'm definitely going back to 1 caramel and hopefully soon :D!

Up

2009-08-09T23:58:00.003+08:00

as a child, i've always loved helium filled balloons. i always wonder how many of such balloons are needed so that one day i can fly. incidentally, i was watching 'Brainac' just the other day and it takes about 30,070 helium filled balloons to lift an adult male of pretty big build.

imagine how many it will take then to lift a house? oh wellz, doesn't really matter as this only exists in animations such as 'UP'.

Old Mr Fredrickson was a boy once who dreamed of adventures like any other kids. his hero was Charles Muntz, a famous adventurer for bringing back bones of creatures unseen by the world. He was later being called a fraud for making/creating bones of creatures which never existed.

It was the love for adventure and Charles Muntz which brought Carl Fredrickson and Ellie together when they were kids and became husband and wife later where they shared the dream of having a home by Paradise Falls. i like this part of the show where there was no dialogue at all. it was a slow instrumental music which depicted the life of Carl and Ellie through the years and how they were happy with the simple things in life by being together and selling balloons filled with helium for a living. it was the kind of feeling that makes you go 'aWwwWww'.

With Ellie's death, the neighbourhood being bought over by some company which started to revamp the whole area and having injured one of the workers, Carl was asked to moved to an old folks home. so one morning, he decided to filled his home with thousands of balloons and proceed with an adventure to paradise falls. all would be smooth flying had he not met young Russell, who is a boy scout of sorts. hilarious part where Russell knocked on the door when the house was flying in the air. who would have thought (well, yeah if you never watch the trailer) something like that can happen.

from there, their adventure began. from 'siaming' cumilonimbus clouds and with balloons still in tact somehow, to finding a Snipe (which looks like a cross between a parrot, giant ostrich and stork) of which Russell named Calvin when it kept following them around and a talking dog which belonged to an army of dogs bred by Charles Muntz who spent his lifetime finding a Snipe so that he can prove the world had wronged him.

and all these while, Carl and Russell were trying to bring the house to Paradise Falls coz it was just opposite where they were. Charles turned out to be an enemy as he was obsessed with finding the Snipe and found Calvin and was adamant to bring it back to the world. Carl and Russell worked together to stop Charles and it was an exciting scene!

the show will appeal to the young and old as it has elements which everyone and anyone can identify with. Lots of laughter and funny dialogues. Nothing less coming from Pixar. Very enjoyable to watch indeed!

Opted to watch the 3D version, no complains except that the 3D 'glasses' kept slipping down my nose. i guess it's either too big or my nose bridge was too oily. once the 'glasses' started slipping, it just continuously drop and somehow, the 'glasses' fogs up too. the initial scenes were pretty interesting as the images pops up infront of you. however, i think i got used to it and the images don't seemed to pop anymore. Also, because it was contained in the screen, so wow factor no more after probably 30 mins to the show?

I'd wanna watch 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' though. looks damn happening! imagine raining food from the skies :D sounds like fun!

Porta Porta @ Stanley St

2009-08-08T14:48:00.006+08:00

Bro recommended this place a couple of weeks back. his description of the food he tasted triggered an instant curiosity in me. determined to try and since i havent meet Cece for weeks, i decided that we should go check out Porta Porta.

Entering the restaurant, it's not very big. yet it has a very rustic feel. very different from any of the restaurants i have been to recently. i felt as if i was transported to italy. if the lightings of the place were incandescent, it would definitely have set the mood better. one has got to see for oneself the deco of the place. it looked as if it's quite messy but, it grows on you. it's a very special feeling :)

The place serves italian food. menu is pretty simple. lots of pasta, some soup, some appetizers and some dessert. bro recommended that i try the tasting menu of which we get to try soup, starters, mains and dessert, dished out by the chef and from the stuff in the menu and we don't get to specify. as we didnt know how big the portions were, we wanted to order the tasting menu and a plate of vongole spaghetti. the waiter seeing that we are both girls suggested instead that he will add the vongole spaghetti into the tasting menu coz if we were to order one plate, it's unlikely that we will be able to finish the whole dish.

first came the bread. wrapped in towel and served on a basket and it also comes with a dip. first the bread. not as warm and hot as i wished or expected. what's nice is that the crust is crispy like eating keropok yet the insides was fluffy soft. lotsa of olive oil were used i supposed coz fingers become rather oily.

dip it into the olive oil with anchovies, garlic slices and onion, you'd think it's an overkill. surprisingly, it's quite nice! would have kept on asking for more bread if we were super hungry, but we decided that one basket was enough and wise decision indeed for we were not prepared for the dishes which followed.

the appetizer was tomato bruschetta. more olive oil, but it's not bad. believe the taste of the tomatoes was enhanced by some good quality salt and it's sourish, sweet as well as savoury.

next came this lasagna looking dish. but instead of pasta inbetween the layers, there's eggplant. love the tomato sauce and the slightly harden cheese. personally, i don't really like eggplant, but this dish was pretty good. it has such varied texture and flavours i wouldn't mind eating it again. though, lotsa of olive oil was being used again.

soup arrived next and yah, the colour looked similar to our previous dishes. we were told this was fish soup. after tasting it, i sure don't remember drinking any fish soup which tasted like lobster bisque, though not as thick. i sure felt like i was drinking seafood soup than fish soup. it's light and i can drink it forever. it's so flavourful i'd order this the next time i'm there!

next came the squid ink ravoli stuffed with crab meat cooked with tomato sauce with crab meat. it was pure indulgence. i couldn't taste much of the squid ink, but nevermind. anything squid ink i like. the crab meat was really fresh and enhanced the taste of the sauce. i want to eat this next time too!!

after seeing the oranges, red, yellows etc, this risotto dish came. simple as it looked, it sure packed a punch. this is something i will try again too! the risotto was cooked perfectly soaking up the creamy flavour of the mushroom sauce. each mouthful makes me want more and it's really unstoppable!! i just kept scooping and savouring each and every mouthful.

the vongole finally arrive, but i was disappointed. it's different from the usual vongole pasta i've tasted. though i must say they were really generous, but i didnt taste the sweetness in the clams ad the sauce as well as the pasta didnt come together very nicely. lucky we didnt order 1 plate. bro told me later the 1 plate is really huge!

calamari and prawns is a must try!!! the batter is almost not there, it's there for that little bit to nicely coat the squid rings and prawns. the squid rings were big and very Q so they were very chewy. love it! the prawns definitely fresh but pity only have two. eating them individually, you know that there's a sprinkling of something on the calamari and that my friends is the secret ingredient that really enhance the taste of this dish. you can also mix it with the chopped tomato and the black thingy coz the lemon is squeezed on top of that side vege combi. but i like the calamari as it is.

finally, the meal ended with a light tiramisu. it's just enough to end the meal on a sweet note.

it may seem like there were a lot of tomato-ish items which initially i thought so much tomato sauce would be too much, but surprisingly, the tomato sauce had their own flavours which matched the dishes very nicely.

the whole degustation menu cost only $47++ but if you pay by cash, there's no ++. for so many dishes and for this price which feeds 2 not so big eater, i think it's really reasonable. the portions they served were generous indeed!

am thinking of going back again soon with a better camera of course and more friends to try different stuff!!! :D

kopitiam teh

2009-08-08T01:04:00.002+08:00

lately, whenever i am home, my mom started buying teh for me as part of my morning breakfast.

it's not a habit for me to drink teh at home. teh to me is work sustenance - to get me through the mornings. before i injured my feet/ankle whichever people thought i hurt myself thanks to the way the sinseh bandaged my feet/legs/ankles.. whatever, i'd either buy my teh from 'Wang's cafe' at Suntec (well, the faithful morning of the fall, i just tabaoed the teh and thankfully, it didnt spill on me somehow..) or Ya Kun, depends on how lazy i'd be on that day..

so somehow, it became mom's habit to buy the teh for me and it's when i realised something.

i don't know how different kopitiam teh is from those of Wang's and YK, i suspect the caffeine level is much higher? coz i think my heart beat much faster when i finished the teh and i don't like the aftertaste, it lingers on forever.

the whole after drinking experience pretty much sux. maybe there's really not much difference, just that at home i have nothing to distract me, but even when i work from home, the aftermath is still unpleasant..

hmm.. in any case, no more kopitiam teh for me!

on a long break

2009-08-06T22:25:00.003+08:00

ok, it's only 5 days. not that long but i think it's long enough.

kinda not going anywhere just need some recuperation time. somehow, last week seemed to have sucked all energy source outta me. i felt so tired at the end of the week and didnt feel that i had enough rest for this week which is ending.

decided on tues to request for Fri and Tues leave so that i'd have 5 in total.

what do i plan to do?

1) haircut, treatment and maybe a new colour

2) rest my feet

3) sleep, really need lots of it

4) do some detox, go on a no meat no carbo diet for two days? Hmm.. if i can make it

5) holidays? nah, still saving for the one in Nov

6) a little bit of shopping wont hurt i guess?

7) update my blog of coz.. a bit outdated liao

Well, simply doing nothing is good.

let me 休息，然后才可以走更长的路。前面的路好相有点遥远，感觉有点sian...