A Moment

We had dinner at the Hawker Centre nearby with the In-Laws and the Sis-In-Law and the cute babies. The Zhi-Cha stall that we ate at is kinda famous and there is quite a crowd of peeps eating and ordering from the stall.

Most of the other stalls along the stretch were closed, except for this other lone stall selling economical rice. A lonely old man was manning the stall. There appeared to be quite alot of food left and in the one hour plus we were eating, no one bought anything from the stall that sells economical rice/nasi lemak. The old man started packing the leftover food into many bags. I felt kinda sad at the moment, thinking how sad the old man must have been, waiting for customers that never came. Packing away so much leftovers when the crowd at the place were all patronising the Zhi Cha store. I hope his business becomes better, or perhaps he should consider other alternatives besides hawkering. It must be quite devastating a hopelessness, a desperateness to sell away your perishable wares before the day's end. Its a sad nite.

Dearie's Pizza

Pizza baking in the oven

I got off the train one station after my usual stop and walked home instead of taking the feeder bus service. In the late evening coolness (although the air was hazy ah), walking in my high heels was actually bearable. Good for this lazy moi to get so exercise huh (aiz, especially in view of the ballooning dress size).

Came home to warm cheesy smells from the kitchen. Yup, the dearie made Pizza today. From stretch (almost lah) with Pita Bread as base. Just add pizza sauce, topped with honey baked ham, luncheon meat (or spam), pineapple pieces and mozzarella cheese and bake in oven.. Tat Da!! Easy home made pizza for dinner. The melted cheese was simply divine goodness! Add in some mushroom soup and the meal is complete. Although the canned soup would be better if it was home cooked.. ;p

Hee, starting to get overdose of western style food. Looking forward to other type of cuisine.

Dearie Cooks Dinner

Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta and Lobster Bisque

Hotdog with Italian Sausage

The dearie got home an hour before moi. He got down to cooking dinner. We had planned to do a simple Italian Hotdog meal with lobster bisque ( from a can lah!). However, the dear one was afraid that wifey would be hungry. So he did a pasta with sun dried tomato and poached prawns (weird combi huh) as well.. Hee i simply adore anything with sun-dried tomatoes. I can eat it just by itself.. *Slurp*

I'm been particularly hungry this whole day.. gobbled down my fishball noodles for lunch and had biscuits and choco for tea. Its been a decadent food day today.. so not very good for the diet plan. *Gluup*

This Sat

We managed to check out the Playground at Big Splash with the mommie. We had claypot cuisine at Claypot Fun. The food was alrights, but it din quite meet our expectations , although it could be that we had set our standards high as its a restaurant managed by Jumbo.

After lunch, we popped over to the neighbouring Old Town Cafe for drinks and some snacks. Mommie liked the "Ipoh" styled food served at the Cafe, so I gathered that we will be back to the area for more food. The place was not as crowded as I thought it'll be, and we strolled along, checking out the many stalls selling a great variety of items, new and old.

Went home to catch some movies, catch a few episodes of my current fav Korea drama and ended the day with a short trip to Ion with the sis-in-law and the 2 cute babies.

Its been a nice day, not having to worry about work. Or work at the new place. A rightful decision which was made 1 year ago to take the plunge, I'm certain. If not, I'll prob be struck at work (old workplace), managing the anticipated yet unavoidable surge in demand for our services, for this entire weekend. The perils of customer service. Plus, the crazy 8am to 9pm work weeks. Eeeps.. Now that's a rather scary thought. (Although I still miss the old pay.. ;p)

Wanderlust Again..

Blimey!! The travel bug bits again. I wanna travel.................................to London, Paris or the US, Switzerland. Aiz.. only in my dreams..

2 Days 1 Night

Just got back from the co's annual retreat. It took place on a rustic country club on our sunny island. A 2 days 1 night getaway from 'work' work. We had the usual presentations ( although i kinda found the presos interesting), a GPS related team building activity, workplans, discussions. Phewz, it was hard work walking round under the hot sun trying to spot landmarks. We ended day 1 with a bbq dinner at a rustic family themed restaurant. A rather novel way to end the day.

We played 'hard' after dinner. While the rest of the peeps returned home or to the lodge with the charted buses, the colleagues decided to stay for "Prawn Fishing" which was offered at the restaurant. Golly, I've not prawned for so long, and it felt good to rediscover a favourite childhood past-time. And the best part? It was "ladies nite" and there was a one-for-one offer. We got 4 rods at the price for 2, so it cost just $7.50 for an hour of prawning per pax. So shiok! We caught a grand total of 2 prawns between the 4 of us who fished and broke personal records in the one hour. ( ha ha..3 of erm had never done prawn fishing before mah ).

My room for the night..

This was followed by bowling at the club's bowling alley upon our return to the club. Gosh, it felt great to do a game of bowling. Another of my favourite childhood activity. I should really do it more often. We ended the day with some wine and a round of card games. A rather jolly time we had. Am glad I opted to stay overnight.

Of wine and Fun

Day 2 started with a round of "Yoga". Ha, I'm a mountain turtle, and its my first Yoga session. I enjoyed the session! Yup, maybe it'll be great to start having Yoga lessons. This was followed by more workplan sharing and team building activities. Although I was kinda slack in participating in the treasure hunt..;p Moi was totally exhausted by the time we ended the Retreat. However, the entire event was well planned and executed. I learned alot and enjoyed alot more at this Retreat that the others I've attended in the previous work place. Even more than the last one i attended, although i was the chairperson. Ha ha.. maybe coz i'm feeling old and it feels great to be just a "participant". Overall..this Retreat was less rigid, less repressive, more humane. More interactive despite the longer duration. I've learned loads and played hard in the last 2 days.. :)

Gotta Luv Her

So I confess, I'm a huge fan of J.K Rowling..and had thoroughly enjoyed reading her books. Here's a wonderful speech from Rowling for Potter and non-Potter fans alike. Strangely, I have no recollection of speeches at my own commencement ceremony many years back. Enjoy. :)

Packed Weekend

We had a fun-filled learning journey at work on friday. The theme was "Style & Glamour" and moi was roped in for the bags portion despite the fact that I'm no bag expert. Phewz, managed to hoodwink my way thru. We went to Vivo City for lunch and the practical part of the learning journey! It was kinda fun lunching out with the chaps at work. We had great fun walking round the place.

Met up with the sec school fres thereafter. We had seafood dinner at Marina Square followed by drinks at the lounge of Marina Mandarin. I so luv the place and ambiance, despite the pricey drinks. Eeeps..we even had 2 rounds of drinks. The company was great as well. We had interesting conversation, despite not meeting up often. This is representative of friendship through the years. Got home around 12.30 am. Glurp, so unused to late nites out..... :)

Had the last steamboat dinner of this CNY with the babes at the homeland on Saturday. Of course, cute Baby Kayson was present! The Mother-In-Law was wonderful. She helped moi prepare the items for the dinner, so it was a breeze. There was even yums lychee martini cake from Pine Garden which Jinny brought and a Cienna 2008 ,which was a gift from Hui for Christmas. I enjoy the sparking sweetness of the wine, although it was too sweet for Jinny and Noven. Its been a great weekend thus far. Meeting up with the fres. Something that should be done more often.

Lychee Martini Cake

A familar route

The bus service which I have not taken in years. The bro says its been 16 years since. Time flies. The feeder service i used to know so well in my teens. The route from school to home and home to school. The childhood home. We've always travelled by car to his place in the past 1-2 years we've visited. So it felt nostalgic, seating on the bus with the bro. Taking the once familiar route of my childhood. Sometimes life passes you by so fast, that you dun often remember the past. Yesterday's bus trip was one of those days where nostalgia sweeps over in waves.

The neighbourhood has changed, the buildings tinted white brown with the dust particles in the wind. The area now looks shabby, in need of refurbishing; so unlike the home from yesteryear. Just like how he's aged in the intertwining years. The greatest enemy of one? Its the passage of time.

Lunar New Year Meet Up

Met the JC folks today. A potluck gathering at Kris's place in Ang Mo Kio. I got sushi takeaway from Sakae Sushi and took a cab to his place. Most of the folks were already there when i reached. Fen was sick so she passed on the gathering.

There were loads of food, although I din manage to whip out the camera for photos. We had abalone porridge and durian puffs (from colin), fried bee hoon and curry (from Kris), prawns and tiramisu (from cecilia), my sushi, mc's nuggets, chix wings, satay, ice cream, jelly pudding, yu sheng etc. Loads of food again.

Of course we had a good time doing the "lo hei". My second time this new year. We chatted a bit and played some games. Its great to meet up with the friends. Ha ha, coz i dun have much of a social life to begin with.. ;p

2nd Day of this New Year

The dearie's up bright and early to start work today. So moi kinda slack the day away, while waiting for him to return home. Cooked some noodles for lunch with the leftover hotpot ingredients and watch tons of tv.. including 2 episodes of gossip girl season 2. Had wanted to do some work and check some office mails with the spare time, but was too lazy ah.

The dearie managed to get off work at about 4 plus and we had time to catch a movie. Yup, a no brainer feel good valentine's day move called "Valentine's Day". A show about couples dating and breaking up and patching back. Featuring an ensemble of big hollywood names like Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts, and the 2 Taylors. Delighted that we actually caught a movie, and a feel-good one at that. We din celebrate Valentine's Day this year, with all the Chinese New Year hoo ha.. and the depleting coffers.. so its great to be able to watch a show on luv for some romantic trappings :)

This Chinese New Year

Table of food at the In-Law's
Yummy veg

Chicken, Duck, and fried Veg

Golly, have finally heralded in the year of the Tiger. The frenzy last minute shopping for clothes and cleaning of the house. And the 2 steamboat reunion dinners on friday and saturday (the day before the eve of CNY and the eve). Its because the dearie's family eats a day earlier. Its the same type of hotpot ingredients which the mother-in-law prepares. Homemade fishballs, cut fish,pork,beef slices, prawns and other wat nots. The dearie's grandma and little uncle joins us for this meal. So much food huh.

This is followed a reunion dinner at my place on the actual CNY eve itself. With my folks and the in-laws. There's only the brother and mommie at my side, while the in-laws are alone if the dearie eats with my family. The win-win situation, is to have both families together. My mother-in-law prepares the bulk of the steamboat items (almost same items as the day before) while I got some extra vegs. This year, the mommie got some mini lobsters and a plate of homemade yummy yu sheng which her friend made for her. I really luv auntie Pat's yu sheng. She adds in mango slices and fried yum sticks which gave the yu sheng an extra 'something' which is missing from store brought ones. So we did a lo hei that day, the first lo hei of the year. So much food again.

The CNY feast

fishballs, roast duck, chicken, vegs,prawns

mini boiled lobsters

Adding lime to the Yu Sheng

Yu Sheng-'Huat" ah!!

On the first day,or chu yi, we went to visit the dearie's relatives. The tradition of the dearie's family is to have a vegetarian breakfast ( while mine is to have mee sua), so we gathered at the in-law's place and hopped to the other aunties and uncle place as the day progresses. We managed to visit my mommie's place in the late afternoon. I think we had like four meals that day.. breakie at the in-laws, noodles at the third auntie's place, mee sua at mommie's place and dinner at the third uncle's place. *Glup* I cannot even bear to think of all the food and tibits I've eaten the past few days. Yup, we're done with the CNY visiting after the first day.

Strangly, I don't feel as much for this festival as I do for Christmas season but I so enjoy the free days before work starts again, Opps.

Happy Chinese New Year........ :)

New Year Goodies

I've been rather slack in the preparations for the new year. Din really clean the homeland much, except send the curtains and carpet for dry cleaning. The cleaning lady is coming on Friday, I sure hope the homeland is decent enough with her helping with the cleaning. Wanted to take leave to spring clean, but.. with so little leave left, guess i wanna save the precious off days.

I wonder how the little containers start piling up. Most of erm are contributed by the dear MIL. She's been a dear, frying the prawn crackers, cashew nuts and floss rolls. She also helped us to order the other tarts and wat nots. Add the items from the dear mummie.. its food galore for the festive season. My contributions? Only a bottle of almond cookies I got from a colleague and maybe some peanut thingy. Looks like not much left to get huh..except for Bak Kwa for the dearie's family Oops..

Yums Discovery

I know I am a late bloomer. Yah, I've just discovered the yummy goodness of Tim Tams. The colleague had given moi a small packet for Christmas and I was feeling hungry one day. So I gobbled up the 2 pieces. The chocolate malt biscuit is rather addictive in a comfort food kind of way. When i told the colleague I just discovered the goodness of the biscuits. she said" Oh my, I must have consume loads and loads of Tim Tams growing up". Well, its not too late to play catch up.. :)

Bright Red Hair

Took half a day off to visit the hair stylist. Had no inspiration, so left my hair in the hands of my stylist. Andrew was clearly more inspired than moi. He gave moi flaming red hair with slight curls for volume. Can't say whether I liked or disliked the hair. Its clearly loud.. literally Ronald McDonald's kind of red ( which the dearie teases me about) but different. Andrew says the colour will fade to a copper red. I sure hope so.

Well.. hair styles are quite cyclic in nature.. I get flat straight hair, colour >> change a colour (red) and get some curls >> goes for flat hair and change another colour again >> decides to get some changes>> so the cycle goes on. Yupz, so its now the red hair (uncle Mc style), slight curls for the new year lah.

Its a subdued weekend.. went for a baby shower..the dearie colleague's on Sat evening with shopping after. Stayed home on sunday, with throbbing headache and tried accessing the work email without success. Still can't figure out why the vpn failed. Aiz.. sure hope the connection problem can be resolved soon, so that I can do a day of working from home next month.. :)

Porridge Goodness

He rustle up some porridge for dinner tonight. He throwed in some dried scallops to broil the rice with. And added some prawns and fish cakes with minced meat. Flavoured with fish sauce and a bit of pepper. And its our dinner tonight. Just simple boiled rice, dearie-styled. With the both of us being still sickly with sore throat. We've been slurping up on soupy food the whole weekend.. and I luv this simple meal the most.

Also, feels accomplished today..because I managed to iron the whole couch full of clothes which has been seating there for some time. Happie housewifey kinda day.. :)

Sore Throat

Been nursing a sore throat since Friday. Plus a runny nose. The phlegm is reddish yellowish the first day. So moi has been drinking loads of herbal tea, chrysanthemum tea, and honey suckle tea. Plus the occasional coca cola with salt and manuka honey. Yah, I know.. i still prefer folk remedies than knocking on the doc's door.

Sure hope this blot of illness with pass soon. Been staying home this weekend.. no Chinese New Year shopping for moi. The next workday starts tomorrow..and moi have not recovered yet. Gulp.. more herbal tea and honey,please.

Shoe Obsession

Yupz.. the shoe collection is growing. So much so that the shelves in the shoe cabinet is stocked chokeful of moi's shoes. From the 5 pairs gotten from the overseas trip and 5 pairs this month.. hee, i have to consider getting clear boxes to stack up the pretties.. Looks like moi will bust the shoe quota for the year ;p

Steam-Boaty Goodness

We went in Vivo City for shopping on Saturday and decided to check out the JPot Outlet there. Been wanting to try the food there, since I'm a Jumbo Card holder and they have been sending fliers on the new food concepts. JPot serves hotpots, with various soup bases that is quite unique.

We had the dinner set menu C with the Bak Kut Teh and Superior Broth soup bases. A rather yums meal which moi rather enjoyed. Definitely a place I would bring the family. Although the bill can be quite heffy if you choose the choicer "hot pot" items and the quantity is not alot.

Its also quite a shiok to be able to concoct your own dipping sauce to accompany the cooked food. Plus, with a serene view of the harbour and the Sentosa Resort, whats there not to like. Already salivating and looking forward to the next hotpot meal. Slurp!

First Baking Attempt for the Year

Saw a recipe for cupcakes from a blog which i read. A friend's friend's blog. The recipe looked quite simple, so i decided to give it a try tonight. The good thing about having the necessary ingredients is that I do not have to pick up loads of stuff whenever I feel like baking.

Its a recipe which used a lot more eggs and butter, giving the finished product a more cakey consistency. The dearie liked the cupcakes. The best of the lot so far, he says. He also tried twigging the receipe abit, by adding some coffee granules into one of the cupcakes. The finished product tasted quite mocca like, and surprising good as well.

I tried one piece and kept remembering the amount of sugar and butter which went into the mixture. Urrgghh.. I guess I'm one who rather cook den eat. At least till I've lost the extra weight I've piled on in the past year. Its a good start, I wanna do some cookies for the upcoming lunar new year. And maybe make some chocolate truffles as well. Let's see how it goes. Quite an accomplished day, this Sunday of mine.