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.