white xmas 2010

~ snow greeted us on 24 Dec morning when we visit Tian Men Mountain~

i'm back. Must be weak at adapting to foreign air, water and food coz I'm suffering from fever and diarrhea again. Just like after hokkaido and vietnam and my last trip to jiuzhaigou in 2005.

took 882 pics this round which is really little in my records coz the weather was so cold that I felt so lazy to take out my heavy camera most of the time. moral of the story is to bring along a dummy especially if you're expecting snow and cold weather. The really cool part was that I spent a white christmas this year. first time!

The tour group was pretty fun as most of them were singles as this was an unofficial trip organised by this freelance tour guide who is also in charge of arranging trips for singles under MCYS. Was looking for a place to go and was recommended by my colleague that he's a great and fun tour guide and though I'm engaged, I'm still considered single so I can join! yippee.

No families with noisy kids, no elderly. Cool. haha.

The next part of my hols starts now as I start sorting my pictures.

めり くりします みなさん！

~ That's how mornings should be spent.. lazing and watching hk drama~

Monday feels great today. I'm cherishing and making full use of my Dec. Year after year I'm still shocked at how time flashes by. 2011 will be another busy year ahead but I'll embrace it with positivity and as much as I can.. enthusiasm. C'est la vie.

Before that happens, I'll pop by China and say hello to Mr 张 first. 2-6deg winter. brrr. I'm looking forward and at the same time fearful of the unpredictable weather.

Advance merry xmas ppl!!

Food Review - Mad Jack @ Nex Mall

Woohooo. Life is never a bed of roses. So time for a bad review!!!

Frankly. I've never had such lousy burgers. Either that or just refrain from eating at a newly opened mall to avoid bad food and service.

I wonder how is it possible to make such horrible tasting burgers which is just meat kiap between 2 pieces of bread laden with butter, cheese and mayo.

Well. It is.

hmm..where shall I start. We each ordered a chicken and beef blue mountain burger which was supposedly chef's recommendation. Blue Mountain coz it had 3 patties of meat in each burger. We were deliberating whether to order the normal single patty or try this mountain burger. Through 1 bad decision, we ended up not just one but three inedible pieces of perishables. Sorry...i can't call them meat.

~ still quite excited about our food before tasting it. Looks can be deceiving.~

1) We saw our one burger going round in circles coz the waiter couldn't find our table. By the time it reached us, it was pretty cold.

2) We asked Waiter 1 if it was chicken or beef. He said beef. So Sharon took it. Then I realised that there was no fries on the plate and informed the waiter. He came back with fries...cold soggy fries.

~ my mock chicken burger which I left almost untouched. Soggy fries behind. ~

3) Waiter 2 served the 2nd burger. I asked if it was chicken coz the color was so dark. He said it was beef. ?! and I pointed to sharon's burger n asked if hers was beef too. Waiter 2 replied sharon's burger was chicken and so I exchanged with sharon.

4) I cut it open and it was OBVIOUSLY beef..so actually, both burgers were beef.

5) He apologised and made a quick service recovery by serving us another plate of unevenly fried fries.

6) My "chicken" burger finally made its way to the table and upon tasting it, it had ZERO taste of meat. It tasted like mock chicken made up of shredded carrot and tasteless minced paste.

7) Sharon who eat to live actually felt that it was the worst beef she has ever eaten. We tried to resolve our problem by murdering the food with wallops of chilli and mayo.

~ murder scene~

8) I asked the waiter 2 if it was mock meat we are eating. He assured that it was real chicken. The reason we made this guess was because we saw "mock chicken burger" on the menu. And Sharon also feedback that her beef was really horrible. To our disgust, he pointed excitedly at sharon's burger and exclaimed that THAT unpalatable burger is in fact his FAVE burger.

I said NEH MIND NEH MIND. Treat it as we paid $15 to buy a story to tell and for the laughter we had joking about our burgers.

Food Review - Koo Kee Ramen & Dumplings @ Bugis Village

An accidental recommendation I made when thinking of what to have for dinner. Turned out to be a surprisingly nice dinner.

Soup, noodles and ingredients were generous, all with the right consistency, flavour and texture.ES left the shop exclaiming with super affirmation that the food was great, ending his lines with a burp. hmm.... need I say more.

~ Great Xiaolong baos comparable to crystal jade and definitely Ding Tai Fung~

~ Mt Pork Ribs noodle with incredibly soft ribs and yummy soup. slurps.~

~ Veggieless spicy seafood ramen ordered by ES. The soup was really good. Thinking of it already drooling. Slurps~

Food Review - Keisuke Tokyo @ L3 Marina Bay Parco

Go visit this place if you really want to be treated like VIPs. The waitresses actually kneel down beside your table to take your orders. Similar to how the Japanese bow 90deg to thank customers for patronising them. Not sure if the kneeling is a common thing in japan though. Emily san..pls verfiy.. :)

Anyways, another thoughtful service was having beanssprouts and onions served chilled in bottles for customers add on to their ramen only if they wish. Yep. Very useful for me and ES since ES is ALLERGIC to veggies and I LOVE veggies.

The speciality of this place is the crab stock ramen. which I found the stock too thick for my liking. I prefer more soupy type of soup base. Okay food but it's a good dining choice to escape from the weekend crowd.

~ Crab Stock Ramen. The egg was yummy though.~

Food- Review - Rock n Ash

As promised, I'm gonna complete all my belated food reviews now.

ROCK n ASH. I was attracted by the name. Sounds very rock which is really my genre.

Buddy Ng informed that she didn't like the cafe. Haha. Many factors can actually come into play such as state of hunger, mood etc. Well, I found it not bad as I was in a peckish mood craving for munchies. It's not very pricey too which is always a great plus. Nice quiet chill out place though I foresee it won't be around for long....since it's SOOO quiet.

~ Cinnamon and cheese toast which is their must-try. Interesting. Around $3.50~

~ meatballs which was okay. Around $3.50~

~ the fish and chips with baked rice set at around $7.90 and the spicy mayo fries at around $3. Noticed all the approximations coz I really can't remember the price! Spent around $20 all in all though~

iphonizer blogging

Iphone newbie on the looose!! That aptly describes mochi for this week at least.

ES was so sweet... helping me to set up itunes, register for apps and helped me sync and downloaded my fave games on it on the same day. muacks!!! I'm the impromptu buyer who is only interested in buying and owning it but super lazy to figure out how to use and do all the admin stuff. woohoo.

~ apps I love~

Learnt 2 new japanese words.. nameraka na 滑らかな meaning "fine (not coarse)". and Flood is called Kouzui 洪水！！Comes with really authentic audio pronounciation too. Dam. how cool is that man...and there're even tests using flashcards for us to remember what the japanese words mean. I'm really amazed at how technology has advanced making our lives easier. Frankly, I've tried keeping a small notepad handy in my bag, jotting down new jap words and attempting to learn wherever I go. But I found myself misplacing the notebook most of time or without a pen. Unless I master the technique of biting my finger for blood as ink, I'm pretty convinced that I'll never be able to upkeep the habit.

oooh... not to mention that this new toy further shortened my 20min train ride to and from work. I'm like playing with it everywhere. Everyone should just get an iphone like SERIOUSLY.

Just that I'm careful at not falling into the category of those who cannot resist constantly checking their iphone, playing games and chatting with others on watsapp while out with REAL friends.

gomen ne...but I simply cannot stand such behaviour... TO all my friends reading the blog...be warned. heh heh heh.

Ragged doll arms

it's that age where I find myself attending endless bb showers and weddings. And it's really only the beginning. Compared myself to other friends who get like 1 invitation every month or so, mine seem mediocore.

So that's how I spent the last 2 weekends.

Sigh. Received an unfortunate news today and just hope everything will be okay for my friend. Jiayou ML! Cliche it is but life IS unpredictable folks. Cherish it. Spend all your bonuses coz you never know what will happen tomorrow.

Rekindled my love for kickboxing and today was the first class. It's really THE class to go for if you really want to sweat it out and push your body so physically hard that the aches are medals representing your achievements.

I had lots of medals. Just sitting here typing is zapping my arms and fingers of precious energy. I couldn't wash my hair properly just now coz my arms and back were aching so bad that i couldn't lift them up and hold for 2 secs. They felt almost dislocated.

I want to blog about a nice new cafe I went recently at marina square called Rock n Ash..but I'll have to leave it for the next post when I feel more normal. I'll be back.

it's holiday-ING time.

it's the time of the year where we're just itching for a holiday.. anywhere. I'm a super impromptu packaged traveller. I'm so lazy to plan my itinerary coz since it's a holiday, I want my precious brain to take a holiday too. Makes sense. I'm a short term person too and it's preferred that I don't plan further than 6 months. I like the sudden adrenaline rush at the thought that I'll be seeing another place really soon. Cheap thrill.

Back to 重点. Yea. I am going away for xmas. Ho Ho Ho, I'll be away santa! yeah... this time going to 张家界 in Hu Nan Province. I read the itinerary and was super excited when I found the names of the sights totally foreign. Ulu is good. Google it and you'll find yourself drooling at the scenery.Okay, maybe only applies to me. heh. Another experience with winter china since the last with 九寨沟 in 2005.

And yep, just to clarify for the sake of Emily san.... i'll be visiting the zhang family not 周家庄。lol.

On a separate note, I've been struggling to stay awake after 10pm every night.

I refuse to believe it's age. But till I can find a better reason, that has to be the primary suspect I guess.

happie PH

Half of the PH is gone.

I spent my morning enjoying 3 pieces of bread with tuna and cheese and my cup of old town coffee.

Noon was a date with my family at Soup Restaurant at Hg mall to celebrate my parents' wedding anniversary. Sweet.

Afterwhich was just hours of bejeweled, brainlessly enjoying the bitchiness of britain's next top model and now surfing the net to update myself with the latest songs. Anthony Neely is so cute. Kawaii.. and bonus that he can really sing.

Not an exciting day but what better way to pass a rainy wednesday.

burnt.ouch

Was distracted by the drama on tv while ironing and poked the iron right onto my knee. Don't ask why knee.. more likely injuries should be on my fingers or tummy. but ya..I like to stand in a flamingo position when I'm ironing, with one feet curved up resting on the other knee. So I kena the knee that was curved up.

It was pain. PAIN. The skin turned white immediately and the skin came loose, grossing flapping revealing the raw flesh. and mine was only a ten-cent coin superficial burn. I cannot imagine Selina's 40% of 3rd deg burns....eeeks. must be hell.

I've been listening to this song over n over again. It's one of those 耐听 songs which might sound a little odd at first but once you catch the tune, it's super addictive. Plus it's kinda rock...i like!

寂寞寂寞就好

詞/曲：施人誠/楊子樸
編曲：鍾興民
製作人：呂禎晃、郭文宗

還是原來那個我 不過流掉幾公升淚所以變瘦
對著鏡子我承諾 遲早我會還這張臉一堆笑容
不算什麼 愛錯就愛錯
早點認錯 早一點解脫

我寂寞寂寞就好 這時候誰都別來安慰擁抱
就讓我一個人去 痛到 受不了 想到 快瘋掉
死不了就還好
我寂寞寂寞就好 你真的不用來我回憶裡微笑
我就不相信我會 笨到 忘不了 賴著 不放掉
人本來就寂寞的 借來的都該還掉
我總會把你戒掉

還是原來那個你 是我自己做夢你有改變什麼
再多的愛也沒用 每個人有每個人的業障因果
會有什麼 什麼都沒有
早點看破 才看得見以後

我寂寞寂寞就好 這時候誰都別來安慰擁抱
就讓我一個人去 痛到 受不了 想到 快瘋掉
死不了就還好
我寂寞寂寞就好 你真的不用來我回憶裡微笑
我就不相信我會 笨到 忘不了 賴著 不放掉
人本來就寂寞的 我總會把你戒掉

Happie bday ES!

First time arranging a bday surprise party and it was really a huge success. haha. arranged for chean and gang to ambush at Fiesta Brasilia at United Square while I gave ES the idea that I am bringing him for a lomantik dinner, just the two of us.

I was determined not to disappoint everyone with the stupid fever and got ES out of the house though he insisted that we should stay home and order in pizza since I'm not well.

It was a good pigging out session since a long time. ES thanked us by a signature ES dance with accompaniment from the brasilia crew. Quite proud that I managed to eat a few pieces of chicken and sausage though my appetite was really down in the drain. Lucky there's a 1 for 1 using citibank. About the food at brasilia, it's not bad. But we were really pissed with the service as the chefs came by our tables to top up our meats once in a blue moon and when they do come over, they are always back with the same type of meats..pork, chicken and more chicken and garlic bread. We didn't even know they had lamb till we feedback to the manager. Yep, it's a buffet and it's weird that our plates were empty most of the time. Is this 1 for 1 service?

~ Halloween themed chocs for ES...peanut butter filled lips..fudge filled ears...etc~

~ Happie bday baby! Thanks for the delicious cake chean and SK san! ~

~ don't look like I'm sick hor.haha.~

Fever talk

I hate fevers. Especially when it attacks just before your great pigging out plan with friends. That feeling sucks.

I slept from 1pm yesterday till 7pm..waking up for an hr in between to take medicine and slept all the way from 8pm till 8am today. A solid 18hrs of sleep.

Decided to watch lots of tv to keep myself active and feel less sickly. Skipping my cough mixture which makes me drowsy. Yep, that's how I'm gonna recover.. escapism.

After popping 8 panadols which didn't seem to work, I turn to the good ole 羚羊 powdered drink from the chinese medicinal hall which always work wonders, minus the tiredness which tend to be the side-effect of panadols.

Come on. Let me enjoy my weekend.!!!

Despicable ME

I got a queue number for BTO. Beginner's luck?

Ha. But yup. All the planning and anticipation brought my hopes high and with the sudden turn of events, I would be lying if I said I am not affected at all.

ES sounded indifferent and wasn't the least bit excited. It was as if a rock was tied to my heart and sank it deeper.

At the same time, I understand why he's behaving this way and the worst part is I know I should not and cannot blame him. Despicable as it is, it is always comforting to be able to put the cause of the problem on something or someone else.

So now, I can only grab and throttle myself, praying for a miracle.

23 days after

the excitement of seeing her slowly having a little more response every time I see her. Her eyes jerked opened yesterday, gave a yawn and as if she noticed her condition, her eyes suddenly welled up with tears with agitation as she could only move her eyeballs. We calmed her down and assured that we're with her. We did those response thingys like "if you can hear us, blink twice." and she did. "if you are awake, try squeezing my hands." and you could feel that she was moving her hands though she couldn't manage a squeeze.

Was she awake? She definitely looked more conscious than any day I've seen her. She was staring straight and when I asked her to look at me if she can hear me, she immediately looked towards my direction.

That feeling is really out of this world. Don't we take the ability to wake up everyday for granted?

11 days after

My mind has been put to a thorough test these 2 weeks. Whether it's the working or emotional state of mind, both are now high and dry. I'm quite sure I've successfully elevated to the next level of my blondie career. Jo would love to know this.

Plans we had finally just embarked on, the future we have painted just a few months ago might take a turn. Might not be for the worse but being the typical skeptical and cynical me, the negativity of everything shouts out louder to me.

It's gonna be a change and it might not be necessarily bad. I'm not religious but in my own school of thought, I believe that everything happens for a reason. So, instead of taking everything as out to kill my plans, which is not going to help at all, I should see them as challenges in life, tests to make me a better person. Sigh, anyway, these are just nitty gritties which I need to air and vent.

The bigger picture would be for her to wake up. Wake up auntie, you've overslept.

Still

Things can only get better. I am believing and I'm sure it will happen. We'll not give up though knowing the journey ahead is gonna be littered with challenges. We'll hang on, motivated by the great battle you've put up so far.

Don't procrastinate in saying " I love you" to your loved ones, give them a hug if you are shy, they can feel it. Buy the food they like and just call at any time of the day to ask how they are doing. Stop grumbling about frivolous and inmaterial stuff and being self-centred. Take care of them just like how they have spent their lifetime, unconditionally loving and protecting you.. even when they are physically unable to do, they'll still be wishing you well in their hearts.

The air feels so still and my heart feels so heavy. I hope this feeling goes away soon.

not in the right frame of mind.. too free.

The recent garmen land authority $11.8m fraud sent chills down my spine. It's freakin' eerie that with such mountainous bureaucracy in garmen sector, people still have the audacity and free time to commit fraud. These people are MAD. Everyday I'm already so busy fighting the bureaucracy at work, can't imagine people have time to analyse and think of how to make money out of it.

Makes me feel that perhaps all the super layers & weeks I have to go through to get ONE freakin paper / email / memo /whatever, approved... is not that foolproof. If men is determined to cheat, they will be able to find loopholes to do that. Greed will help them. Systems and processes are man-made afterall.

And yes, it's testimony to my belief of 'you spend what you earn'. The more you earn, you also will spend more. Fraudsters can never resist the temptation to splurge their ill gotten gains on material wants, even knowing it'll draw unnecessary attention to that criminal acts.

Now... I'm just praying fervently that this idiotic incident will not affect the processes at work. I can imagine agencies starting to relook into their processes and reving up measures in view of lessons learnt from this incident. The snowball effect of such incidents can be scary. LTA's system is really robust I assure you. I seriously do not need a few more layers to further make the already decade approving process even more agonising.

We're over-worked. Who says garmen work is slack and not challenging. Come join me. We have LOTS of vacancies.

new gears

A steal! A steal! $120 NETT for a pair of NB running shoes, a stylo top and a pair of shorts with a slim pocket for my nano! A steal a steal! happened to see a NB booth at wisma and thought it was really value for money. Motivated to go for a jog immediately! nice sports gear really energizes me. yay....

Minced Beef Shepherd's Pie

Me and ES are trying to break the mochi's guinness record. We've been spending every weekend cooking! yes. amazing. I hope we keep up this passion and soon before you know it, we'll be competing in iron chef. woohoo.

Anyway, we've been attempting western cusines due to the influence of all the american culinary shows. Should try whipping up some simple homemade dishes soon which is less time consuming and more practical as daily meals. My dream is to be able to serve my mama san a real chinese homemade dinner. Akan Datang!

I've finally fulfilled my dream of making shepherd's pie. Beef is usually used for shepherd's pie. But I'll attempt chicken next time. ooohh.. and guess which part of the pie I love the most? The mashed potatoes. I'm a carbo fanatic. It's nice though. Loved the texture and it was pretty flavourful coz I used lots of herbs, black pepper and thyme for the beef.

~ furla...I kept this much for U! too bad....lalalala.~

~ ES boiled these crayfish which we caught the other day and stir fried it with butter and salt. really high in sodium but really tasty. Great appetizer.~

Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe (courtesy www.simplyrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs ground round beef (marinated with salt, black pepper, thyme and italian herbs)
1 onion chopped
1-2 cups vegetables - I used peas
1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup beef broth (I used chicken broth in replacement)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (omitted this coz I didn't have it! but still taste pretty ok)
Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

METHOD
1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).
2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.
3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.
5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.
7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Serves four

more rooms pls.

the end of an eventful week. and end of a successful event on wed. but before that, I'll have to cross this hurdle called Friday. It will be a full day of meetings from 8.30am onwards. I very reluctantly squeezed in a last minute meeting at 5pm on fri. What can be better than to end the week with a late meeting.

Seriously, we need to build MORE meeting rooms. Supply do not meet the Demand. At ALL. either we cut down on meetings or build more meeting rooms. Since most meetings are usually verrrrry important and reaaaalllly urgent, that leaves us with the only choice of building more meeting rooms...which aint happening.

First lesson at hip hop and my greatest takeaway was the song!! N-Dubz - We Dance on. Googled and found out that it's the OST from Street Dance 3D.

A good song always saves my week, anybody's week.

Chicken burgers with garlic rosemary mayonnaise

ES was so determined to make our own burgers for Sun lunch that we spent Sat night fantasizing what burgers to make, what ingredients to buy and how tasty it would be. We finally chose this burger as it was aligned to our weekend theme - couch potato slackeee weekend. Took only about 20min to make, easy and tasted really good. Well, I guess anything with that dollop of mayo cannot taste that bad. Yep, quick recipe from FoodNetWork Asia. good for a lazy meal at home.

(Serves 2)

For the mayonnaise:

100g mayonnaise
10g chopped fresh rosemary leaves (or use ground italian herbs)
1/2 clove garlic, minced

For the burgers:
225g ground chicken
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 burger buns
2 tbsp olive oil (I prefer butter)
4 butterhead lettuce leaves

1 tomato (4 slices)

Method
1) For the mayonnaise: In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, garlic, and rosemary; set aside.

2) For the burgers: Preheat a griddle pan over medium-high heat. In a large bowl, add the ground chicken, salt, pepper, and 1/2 of the mayonnaise mixture. Using clean hands, gently combine the ingredients and form the chicken mixture into 2 patties. Place the patties on the pan and cook for about 7 mins on each side. Transfer to paper towels and let them rest for a few minutes.

3) Brush the cut side of each bun with the olive oil/butter and 1 tsp of the mayonnaise mixture. Toast for 1 to 2 mins until slightly golden.

4) Spread the remaining mayonnaise mixture on the tops and bottoms of the toasted buns. Arrange them according to your preference!! Top each with lettuces and tomato slices.

looks totally intentional..

This happened sometime ago but was probably too shocked at that time to bother about posting this. But yes, jaw-dropping kind of shock. I've got a nice little surprise from our very home-grown C&K brand when I bought a bag back some months back. First time buying a bag from there since they are more known for their shoes.

On the ropey strap was a strap pad to make carrying more comfy. Nothing was fishy till one day I noticed that the pad started moving alittle out of place and I gave it a hard push to move it back so that it fits nicely on my shoulder. It was pretty stiff and I gave it a harder push and I was appalled by what I saw.

Masking tape was coiled around the strap which showed the broken rope beneath it. Manufacture error? I don't think they programmed the machine to mask the strap as part of the design lor. And now the pad which I thought was meant to make it more comfy seemed more like was to cover up for the broken strap. What was more incredible was that when I went back to the shop for an exchange for the same bag (coz I really liked the design!!) thinking that ONLY mine was faulty, the salesgirl took the same bag from the display shelf and upon sliding the pad, I saw the familiar masking tape staring at me. She was shocked too and told me that she'll call other branches to check if they have the same bag and to check if they are alright. And yep, they were all faulty.

They offered to allow me to change the bag to another design which I wasn't appreciative of at all since none of the bags really appealed to me. They gave me 2 weeks to do the exchange. Trying to act like a mystery customer audit shopper, I went to almost any CK store I happened to pass by during that 2 weeks to see if they have removed this bag from display. For 2 weeks since my complaint, the bag was still happily on display. I approached a salesgirl and told her that the bag was faulty (I showed her the broken strap) and asked why was it not removed. What if another customer buys it?? She told me in a matter-of-fact manner that they KNEW about it but have not received OFFICIAL instructions to remove it from display. "After 2 weeks???" I asked her. She said, "ya, so we cannot remove. M'am, would you want to choose a replacement bag?"

I was grossly disgusted but just didn't bother anymore to argue with her. Shouldn't store managers be given the empowerment to remove goods which could potentially invite complaints from customers? At least customers like me who already became victims can receive some consolation that they are minimising the damage. The damage wasn't just a broken seam or a stain. It seemed like they had produced 1,000 of these bags, found that the straps were damaged and then mass rectified it by masking taping it and added a pad to cover it up. Cheaters.

I decided to boycott their bags ever since. My first time and last time CK. Thanks for the wonderful experience. Think you've made enough money from the blisters-inducing rock hard shoes you make. A better idea would be stop producing bags and to direct more resources to making your shoes more comfy. Better than selling bad quality shoes AND bags.

I am proud to be a SG

Specialist Generalist. How a fellow SG friend described himself. He's in the midst of job hunting as his contract has ended. I could totally identify with him. He articulated the words with lots of conviction, even seeming a little proud, but the strength gave way to a cynic smile that followed.

To put it in layman terms, we specialise in being general. Everyone can be a specialist! Yep, back to to the term, I feel the same. Never regretted taking arts in Uni. I enjoyed it. It is the frustration of job hunting which really strangles and I wished to see more of "Degree in any discipline" in those job adverts.

Sometimes I think that it's as good as it gets. I've survived 3 years and there must be something that keeps me going. It might be corny but I suspect that it's coz of the bigger purpose in what I do everyday, knowing that my work would indirectly, in some remote way or another, bring about a better life for everyone. I think this bigger purpose is probably what attracts a SG. SGs are emotional people I think.

I'm in one of those positive, life is good moods again. Could it because of the short week ahead? High chance.

Selamat Hari Raya!

Chestnuts 2010

Caught 'Chestnuts' over the weekend. Thanks Matt for recommending this really hilarious play. I liked it! Mirroring our little red dot politics, the latest craze, the hottest national events, pop culture and hit right on bull's eye, what it means to be singaporean. This year, being roasted were Glee, Nightmare on Elm street, NDP, iphone craze, the controversial YOG cheer, fried rice paradise, the flooding, Inception, lady gaga and the return of Wrist Low's sister, Ivory Low Ai Q.

Though the parodies might not come through for some of the themes (e.g. I don't watch Glee and nightmare...), the casts' commendable acting pulled off, making the show as enjoyable as it was to others who could relate to the stories.

The play of words, the witty humour, the clever exchange of expressions, the chemistry among the casts, the carefully choreographed dancing with the right music, and behind it all , a great scriptwriter. Enough reasons to keep me in anticipation for next year's show.

Kudos to the team!

Sausage Risotto

Finally, we made risotto after getting the aborio rice from holland V cold storage. Yep, not all cold storage sells this italian short grain rice since it's not really commonly used. Includes ingredients like white wine, green peas,thyme etc. stuff really exotic to me. First time doing this and I suspect that I did not use enough chicken broth hence, the taste wasn't fantastic. It took some time to cook down the broth as well and I added in a bit of water since the rice wasn't cooked well and I've ran out of chicken broth. I don't really like sausage in it and if I do try making it again, I'll probably replace it with ham or bacon. Cooking is all about improvising it to suit your tastebuds.

The recipe if you would like to try. We scaled it to 2 pax portion but it was still a bit too much rice for us. Asians really eat like birds.

Risotto Recipe (serves 2)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 (16 ounce) package al fresco® All Natural Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup Chardonnay or other dry white wine
• 1-3/4 cups chicken broth, low-sodium
• 1/2 cup frozen petite sweet peas

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute sausage and onion until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add rice and wine; stir 1-2 minutes or until wine is absorbed.

2. Stir in 1 cup broth. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until broth is absorbed, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Continue adding stock, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is adsorbed and rice is tender and creamy, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in peas and 1/4 cup Parmesan; cook 1 minute or until heated throughout. Season with 1/4 tsp black pepper. Garnish with parsley and remaining cheese. Serve immediately.

Cha Cha Cha @ Holland Village

I'll be back. With more friends. To share! Just like most mexican restaurants, the portions are generous. Definitely not for those who just wants a snack. Cha cha cha is located at holland village and I think one of the better restaurants there. I'm a fan of mexican food, which essentially also means I'm a fan of carbo, starchy and beans stuff.

It's a pity that only ES and myself were there coz the portions and variety on the menu means it's perfect for large group gatherings.

~ our main course.. love the beans~

~ sweet strawberry margarita...my fave alcoholic drink~

~ the nachos were really finger lickin good! this is just the appetiser..huge.~

Monkeys are not cute

if you ever visit macritchie or any natural reserve, please DO NOT feed the monkeys or animals there. It'll change their natural behaviour and make them aggressive to humans.

My plea to all stems from my experience when I trekked at macritchie over the weekend. We bumped into a monkey sitting on the wooden rails of the route. I started my animal talk with the monkey, waving and saying HI to it, exclaiming to ES how cute it looked. It was munching something and I commented that maybe it was hungry.

Maybe it really was. The next second, it jumped like 2metres towards me and thanks to my agility, I managed to dodge in time with the monkey landing on the rail just behind me. Besides screaming my lungs out, I totally freaked and was in disbelief at how the monkey reciprocated my friendliness!

It started walking ahead of us, pausing after every few steps, turning back to check if we are behind him. And just when ES decided that it should be safe to overtake it, that aggressive shit did another pounce towards us! eeeks. We scrambled our way past it once we saw it going up the tree.

Well, that was the highlight of the trek and I'm so thankful that I'm still able to sit here blogging ...unscarthed.

Now, I'm gonna end the treacherous weekend with music.

I did it again. the cool but not sustainable jog from office to home.

I feel good. Firstly, for completing the route. Secondly, for standing firm against furla's invite to watch the YOG closing ceremony fireworks. Anyway, can watch from FB almost instantly. That's how deeply addicted people are to this amazing social networking site.

I can smell the weekend already. Smells good.

peace wrecker

this is total crap. you can exterminate them or send them to the moon if you want.

I CAN'T BE BOTHERED. So.

Give me back my peace.

Foodie

I wonder if I'll put on weight just by watching those cooking programmes on Asian Food Channel and Food Network Asia. Me and ES's fave past time at my place would be to have our meals in front of these 2 channels, that's like double whammy, watching food and downing real food into our tummies.

We can spend hours watching, iron chef, chopped, ultimate recipe, food network challenge, unwrapped, good eats....blah. We're also getting into the cooking mood, imagining ourselves in that tall chef hat, armed with great enthusiasm to try out the recipes we see.

So we did. We wanted to try making sausage risotto, an italian version of our zhi char mui fan, soft rice in starchy gravy. Was all set to take photos of it. We bought all the ingredients we needed from NTUC except for the main ingredient risotto rice. We couldn't find them in ntuc so we went to cold storage. And, yes, we were told that only certain branches of angmoh cold storage carries the rice e.g. jelita, which serves more expats and foreigners. URGH. Moral of the story, be sure to grab the main ingredient first before buying the rest.

We ended up making our fave super spicy aglio olio linguine with chilli padis and extra servings of fried garlic. It was just as yummy.

Coming up soon on our cookout list are Risotto, fried mars bars and italian roasted chicken and chips. Akan Datang.

Congrats IB!

It's official. My irritating bro has proposed and is planning for his wedding next year!

It's a love-hate relationship between me and my irritating bro (IB). He's got a smelly temper and few can take his arrogance and weird temperament. That's the best I can describe him. My closer friends would have had a taste of his bad moods and will never forget that memorable experience.

When people ask me if I'm close to my bro, my first response would be..no. Till now, I'm not able to explain why and to make things easier, I'll just attribute it to ba zi bu he. We quarrelled and fight like mad when we were younger. Now that I'm older, I've decided to save my energy on stuff more meaningful and just minimise any communication to minimise conflict. I'm better at holding my temper now.. just breathe in and out..at his incorrigible temper and nonsensical remarks and I'll be fine.

It works. It has made me a better person too. If I can get along with my IB, I think I can get along with ANYONE.

Despite all, I still have a soft spot for him, buying him little gifts now and then, though he'll typically scoff at the gifts and still use it afterwards. He's mad. I dunno if he gets high just making things difficult for people.

But when he's in a good mood, he's really normal. That's like only less than 50% of the time.

Nothing can describe how happy I am for him that he can find a girl he loves and willing to commit to. And for my future SIL, she's a great girl coz she's also a 1981 baby! woohoo.

Looking forward to the wedding and having a baby nephew or niece I can buy lots of things for. I love kids!!!

A different phase of life awaits them... and will be for me too. Congrats IB. Lots of love, mochi sis.

Cool but probably not sustainable...

I need to blog this day. The day when mochi tried for her very first time...jog home from office @little india.

12 AUG

10.5KM

1HR 15MIN

6.45PM - 8PM

There's actually such a thing called the mood for jogging. You feel light, your legs feel strong, you feel the extra bounce at your heels as you put on your gears and drenched in that zest of energy with the belief that you can conquer the distance. Psychologically, you are unbeatable.

On lousy, normal days, it's the exact opposite and jogging a mere 3km can seem like eternity.

I feel good now...but super sleepy. TGIF peeps. yawnz.

A date with Super Star.... Virgo.

Thanks to my papa san's complimentary balcony class room that I got to relieve the secondary school days where my parents brought me on cruise so often. With all the buffet onboard and the really minimal physical activities, it was difficult not to be in TAF club in sec school. Ya, there's really nothing much to do on cruise. Now that I've tried much better food, the free buffet onboard was really not impressive at all. Well, I kept telling myself that I've got to see it in the positive light that it's really a rest and relax thingy and I shouldn't be expecting much.

R&R not really for me. I want stuff to excite me and keep me occupied. Not to mention that the activities onboard were the more family-friendly ones = boring. Ok, I'll maintain my stand till when I have kids.

And not to mention all the kiasu aunties who were cutting queues all the way from check in to rushing for elevators to getting into the restaurants to piling their plates with food at the buffet line. Really irks me out.

Spent quality time with my folks though, despite having the romantic experience of sleeping on the deck for a few hours till it got abit chilly as I really couldn't appreciate the symphony of snores they were performing throughout the 2 nights. Being a light sleeper SUCKS big time. I wanna snore and irritate people toO! ES actually brought pillows and comforter up onto the deck lor..haha.

Spent the last 1.5 days catching up on sleep and my essay. YAY. Yep. Having said that, I have to announce that the long weekend is officially over mochi san.

It's a brand new..short week ahead. yay.

Toy Camera effect

Gonna fully utilise my weekend. Learnt this new toycamera effect on photoshop which I thought really gave the pic a different feel. Never knew how to use adjustment layers till I read this tutorial. Cool. but I'll have to practise more if not I'll forget for sure since the steps are really complicated for my tiny brain.

Not all pics are suitable to apply this though so cannot abuse this technique! heh. Gonna jog... eat... then do my thesis. That's how I'm gonna spend my next few weekends.

~ before~

~after~

Singapore Flower Festival 2010

Met up with Bec and gang for bec's really overdue and belated birthday gathering. Sean has grown again from the last time I saw him. He was starting to toddle in May when I saw him on my bday, unstable and unsure of the steps he was taking. 2 months later and he's really running most of the time. Bec's definitely gonna lose more weight just chasing after him! haha. This is the rate kids grow..amazing.

Popped by the Singapore Flower Festival too. Love looking at flowers and taking pics of them but ironically, I don't like receiving them. haha. Anyways, click click and away.

~ this flower is just too pretty!! omg. ~

~ a candid group pic... chean and SK were busy fluttering among the flowers so nowhere to be seen ~

~ interesting~

~ some editing I did to remove the noise coz really liked the composition of these flowers ~

Urgh. Fun time over. Gotta start writing my final graduating paper which is due like SOON. Altruism and Group Size. How boring.

Feeling Productive

A relatively productive week.

As I was out the whole of the previous week hosting my 郭教授 from beijing for a transport conference, this week was catching up week. I cleared 200 mails in time to prevent a virtual explosion, replied to pending mails, and to complete the week, suffered several internal injuries from news of another restructure (why always me?!!!!).

Victim of power struggles. They make it sound so harmless and great for my personal development, neglecting how it causes dips in morale among staff.

Whatever it is, I wasn't recruited for the many portfolios I've held now and previously. It's a joke isn't it. I held onto the work scope which I initially applied for, all of 3 months when I first joined. That's it. I lost count of the restructures after that.

I wonder what's my career path from here. I'm doing something I really don't like now. Not the first time, but would definitely be my last. I'll see when my threshold of disinterestedness is met.

On a healthier note, I managed to work out 4 times this week, after a whole week of liaison duties which zapped me out of energy. Feeling really good. Exercising really makes one happy!

Hope I can upkeep to this routine. I must beat ES! He lost like 9KG~ !!

Oh...celebrated my mama san's 55th birthday too! She was so happy that she is finally eligible to withdraw part of her CPF savings. We had dinner at master crab @ punggol, her fave zhi char place.

~ salted egg crab~

~ my kiam pa bro~

~ chilli crab.. not spicy one though. the best is still my mum's chilli crabs~

ES can cook, so can You!

ES imposed a special personal project on himself - to cook a meal all on his own! We checked out some recipes from the Asian Food Channel website and he decided to try these!

I'm only in charge of photography and being his assistant, passing him pots, pans etc. The cleaning up was always the most dreaded part of the whole cooking process, which ES did on his own while I was busy preparing my lemon cheesecake for dessert. No pics of cheesecake coz it took too long to set...and when it set in the morning, we gobbled the bulk of it for breakfast.

~ The stuffed mushrooms were yummy. I liked the filling which was made with garlic, sour cream, cream cheese, pepper, salt and some herbs, topped with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. Bake for about 15-20min @ 240deg. Makes a great appetiser and simple to prepare for gatherings!~

~ hard at work peeling garlic... eeks. I hate chopping up garlic..~

~ our main course was just as tasty just that it wasn't salty enough. This was improvised from clams and pancetta coz we didn't like both ingredients. I love the chicken ham, garlic and olive oil. It is just simple aglio olio recipe which I've cooked countless times..but with prawns. Chile actually = dried chilli. We figured that this is an angmoh recipe so they used dried chilli to minimise spice. I say...go for chilli padi..!~

Overall, 8/10. Good job baby! additional 2 marks for cleaning up = 10 marks! woohoo.

Viet Trip 12 - 20 Jun 2010

Viet Trip came and went. Thinking back, I really enjoyed it. It's my first backpacking trip which we tried to get around on our own. The food poisoning and weather seemed to dominate the bulk of my viet trip tale. It was not until I browsed through the pictures that I suddenly remembered what I saw and enjoyed.

~ Ham Rong Mountain @ Sapa was beautiful. The view was therapeutic though the continuous and steep stairs nearly killed us.~

~ Halong Bay wasn't as cool as it was supposed to be. Hanoi has 4 seasons and Jun happens to be the hottest in Hanoi. Hottest in 500 yrs we heard from the guide. Global warming... sighz~

~ the rice terraces were amazing. city dwellers like us become toads in wells when exposed to wonders of simple nature, gawking at how the rice terraces formed intricate and interesting patterns..~

~ loved the silhouette of the mountains in Halong Bay.~

I might go back to viet. probably in Dec when it's more cooling to visit the more scenic Hue, Da Nang, Mui Ne and all.