Pressies and Gatherings

Managed to meet up with some of the fres since i'm quite kinda free for these few months. Also to get some free time for myself. Had dinner with the babes and Baby Kayson at a rather good peranakan place in the east last week. Rather pricey, but a good change from my usual choice for peranakan food. Got pretty pressies from the gals. Really lurve the pair of shoes the gals got me for my belated birthday pressie. So very pretty.

Also managed to meet up to celebrate Wen's birthday on the 4th of Jan with Fen and Cecilia. We had dinner at Paradise Dynasty @ Ion. Feels good to take an occasional break away from the demands of parenthood.

Turning 30

Gosh, I'm turning thirty in a few days. The past decade has flew by so very fast. Graduated from Uni, got my first job, first boyfriend (the dearie) whom i married, got our own place, travelled to Europe and Japan, started my second job and now expecting my little one.

Time flies and it takes great effort to maintain ties with the friends i so cherish. I so hope the next ten years will be wonderful as well. Had high tea today at Fullerton Hotel's The Courtyard with Fen. Hee.. scones with cream and jam makes moi a happy babe. So good to catch up with friends.. Birthday celebrations these days are subtle and without fanfare. Feels good to catch up with the good friends.. The countdown to the big 3 zero has began.

Brunch Weekend

Its Brunch galore this weekend as me and dearie had brekkie at Swensons before heading for my medical appointment on Saturday. Value for monies brekkie..

This was followed by brekkie at Boomarang with the babes on Sunday. Buttermilk pancakes.. yums. Yup, I've been into having late breakfast recently.. Hee.

Day out with Fen

Celebrated Fen's birthday with an outing to Vivo City on Sat. Mango Cake at Secret Recipe (They were out of White Choco Macadamia.. sobs) followed by some shopping. We din manage to catch SATC 2.. the tixs were sold out for the 3 shows! We ended the day with Dinner at.. *Drum roll*.. ha ha.. JPot lor.. Moi and not very creative with food choices.. ;p

Pork Ribs Soup and Laksa Soup Base

Tea time- Mango Cake

A Wedding and Brekkie

Was busy last Sat with the Sec Galfriend's wedding. Woke up bright and early and travelled all the way to the West to her place. She only had 2 jiemeis. Both of which are married.. coz she's the last in the group to get married..Hee.

The groom only had one xiongdi. Wha, so its a rather easy affair. She had her tea ceremony at her place before the whole entourage moved to her new place in the East for the second round of tea ceremony. Wha..the bride had 3 outfit changes during the ceremony.

It was the church wedding thereafter. A very fast event, i must say. A simple ceremony attended only by immediate family and a few friends. This was followed by dinner. Hee.. tits a long day.

Had brekkie @ Graze with the babes on Sunday. It meant more travelling to the West! Brekkie was great manz.. although i din really like my dish which had quite abit of avocado mixed with feta cheese. We ended the meal with the dessert platter. It feels good, meeting up with the galfriends, especially for brunch. Gotta meet up with the fres more often =)

Dessert Platter

Jinny's Hash Brown

Han's Eggs Ben

Hui's order -Omelette

My Brekkie

Weekend of Cakes

Its the dearie's 32nd birthday last Saturday. We had Thai food with the family and spend Sat shopping. The little nephew decorated a cake just for his dear uncle. Wee! We even had rather good mango dessert at the bugis area. We enjoy simple things in life, especially my heartlander hubby!

Dearie's Birthday cake decorated by little Javen

Sunday was little Aloysius and Charlotte's 1st year celebration. More cake! Check out the pretty Noah's Ark themed cake that Qian got for the little babes. So pretty! So many cakes this weekend of mine..

Its Noah's Ark (Cake) ..

This weekend

Most weekends are spent sleeping these days ( more updates on the reason why soon). But I managed to meet Fen, Wen and Cecilia after work on Friday nite for dinner at the Bugis area (Liang Seah St). We had steamboat at Xian De Lai and dessert at a dessert place a few doors down. ( I still like ah chew desserts which is opposite Xian De Lai). These days, i dun eat much for mains, but i sure luv my desserts..Hee!

Also, met up with the babes for dinner on Sat at Orchard Central. The mall's pretty quiet for a sat nite.. i feel its probably due to complex layout of the place. We had dinner at Heaven's Loft. Great place for chilling out..since the restaurant has a outdoor section which over looks Somerset. We ended the meal with dessert at fruit paradise. The fruit tarts are good manz. Will definitely try the tarts at the other outlets. Slurp. Feels good, meeting up with the babes.

Its been a good weekend. Its challenging times ahead .. ;p

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

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

Chinese Meals

Been having quite a bit of Chinese meals recently. From traditional teochew food at Swa Garden with its yummy cold crabs to tonight's dinner. Yup, met up with the babes tonight for dinner. At an air-conditioned 'Zhi Char' place at Bukit Timah. We had curry fish head, black pepper crabs, fried prawns with oats, fish slices with ginger, vegs etc. A simple zhi char meal that's rather yums.

Curry fish head

Black Pepper Crabs

It was a long overdue meet up with the gal pals complete with the husbands, boyfriend and little one (baby Kayson). I even managed to drag the dear hubby along. We dun meet up often, with our busy schedules. But it feels good when we do. Oh, we really should meet up more often. Otherwise I'll feel like a fuddy duddy soon to be middle-aged donkey.

New Year resolution, to meet up with family and friends more. Learn cooking. Travel more. Exercise more. Carpe Diem.

Christmas Gathering

Met up with the JC friends for a Christmas Gathering on Christmas Day itself. Cecilia's aunt had a rental place which was vacant for the day. We trooped over to the place. It was near the workplace, and the windows looked directly at our office building. Ha, its the holidays and I'm near the workplace. Signz, if I lived near the area, the travelling time is wonderfully short.. ;p

Roast Chicken

Our hostess busied herself with the cooking of rather yummy cuisine. It was actually the most Christmassy meal I had for the past few days. There were mussels with white wine, prawns in chili sauce, spaghetti with cream sauce, squid with salt & pepper, roasted Chicken on a bed of potatoes and carrots, fillings for crackers. So very yumms. Plus, Fen joined us finally. After so many years. Its great to attend a gathering without the dearie at times. No one brought partners, so it was just the mates.

We did the requisite gift exchange. I got a rather pretty precious moments stamp set from Wen. Plus, Santa Colin got us all presents. A pretty mug. It was great meeting up with the JC mates.

Gift Exchange

I ended the day at the In-Laws's place. Where the little ones had great fun opening up their pressies. We ate Chinese, Curry with Bee Hoon. Not too Christmassy huh, but rather economical.. opps.

26th Dec 09. Was supposed to meet the babes for a meal. But Han went overseas last min, so the meet up was postphoned. So, I woke up late and went shopping with the dearie. Post Christmas Sales mah! We ended the day with great steamboat dinner prepared by the mother-in-law. Very yumms. *burp* food overdose these past few days. I so lurve the holiday season with its long weekends.

Being Contented

JW has a pre-existing medical condition which we are all aware of, since the sec school days. Reading his blog about watching others with the same medical condition passing on, his fear of the eventual coming as he grows older, telling us about the unpredictability of life and the need to treasure it. It worries me, saddens me.

I know, we keep talking about retirement and planning for the future. Enjoying the fruits of one's life long labour upon retirement in this country. But, how long is the flame gonna stay lighted in your life? My life? Its at times like this that I reflect upon the meaning of my existence. Would I still work so hard for tomorrow? Staring at the never ending emails crafted in standard corporate lingo. If I know that tomorrow may not come, for the harvesting.

So wanna find something worry-free, stress-free, care-free,time-free which i can indulge in. Ahem.. Suggestions anyone??

Carpe Diem..everyone!!

Life the life you want!!

Dec's a month of Birthdays and Weddings

Attended 3 precious hatchdays for 3 precious bubs. Starting from little Javier's full month, followed by babie Megan's birthday. This was followed by boy boy Kayson's first year party last Saturday.

Kayson's super mommie did a pretty bright banner for his big day, with pretty balloons dotting his granny's place. Add in a 2 tier mickey mouse themed birthday cake from Pine Garden and cupcakes, eclairs. The party is complete. Eecck, its not easy having a kid these days. Every little event in their lifes is a significant milestone and requires thoughtful planning by their doting parents. So xiong being a parent!

On the wedding front, moi had a ball of a time catching up with the ex-colleagues at Bro Nic's wedding on Sat. Yah.. i had to rush from baby Kayson's party to the wedding.. but the rush and heffy cab fares was well-spent. I nearly laughed myself silly with the funny recollections by the funny bunch. Tales of the old workplace, jokes on the funny antics of the ex big boss. I laughed so hard that i was tearing at certain points. Its great to be able to poke fun about the drab situation, like the bunch did and i could definitely relate to the tales and parody. I sure miss erm, especially mel and mdm R. This is probably the one wedding whereby the boisterous company made it utterly enjoyable and fun. 2 more weddings to go for the month! I love the fast paced holidayness of December. :)

Went House Hopping

Both Moi and Agnes now stays in the East side while the rest of the Sec School Kakis are West-siders. And we both moved into our new homes recently (well.. one year is not so recent for moi ). So, the Sec School Kakis did a house hopping event yesterday as a form of 'House Warning' for us.

We started off in the afternoon at my place. Phews.. was so rushing to make the homeland presentable and barely made it. Ryan and XiaoHe brought their galfriends while Qian brought her baby twins, complete with husband and helper. Yup, so it was a rather big group. They stayed a short while... its an awkward timing to serve food, so i only served Rojak and drinks. opps. Moi is not a very good host.

We trooped over to Agnes' place for dinner. I quite like her new place. Glossy and well-designed, quite different from the clean-cut look of the homeland. Agnes ordered some pizza and roasted some chix wings. She also did a yums mash potato, honey baked ham, salad and garlic bread. Great hosting food ideas. Hee.

We stayed later and played Monopoly! Feels wonderful to be playing the childhood board game after so so long. The whoosing high of buying land and building your own property empire!! The constant fear of landing on a street full of hotels and bankrupting oneself in a spin. A sorta make believe Donald Trump. Moi din make a good property tycoon..Agnes won, with Ryan's date in second placing. So gotta buy a set of the game for the homeland.

Dinning @ Togi's with Fen

Met up with Fen for my birthday meal.. at a restaurant i've been wanting to "share share" with her, coz she appreciates Korean Food way better than the dearie. Its one of my favourite hole-in-a-wall-hidden -out-of-the-way kinda restaurant which we happened to chance upon one day.

Kimchi Pancake

It lacks the gloss of major restaurants in terms of ambiance and service, but i quite like the friendly lady boss. Togi's is hidden in chinatown and serves up simple homely-styled Korean cuisine, complete with the requisite small side dishes. It does a rather good bbq grilled streaky pork with lettuce which the dearie like. *Yums*. Ahn-Nyong-Ha-Se-Yo.. Gahm-Sah-Hahm-Ni-Da without going to the land of Kimchi.

Spicy Bean Seafood Soup, Rice cake with Yellow noodle and dumpling

We had the kimchi pancake, spicy bean paste seafood soup, spicy yellow noodle with rice cake and dumplings and stone bowl mixed rice. *Glurp* Happie, with the great meal and great company. Life can be so simple, yah.

Allo 29, in advance!

We had a lovely feast in the homeland. The babes and the partners, with baby Kayson. In early celebration of this donkey's birthday.

Lovely ice cream cake

Han and Malcom brought yummy giant Sri Lankan crabs from little red house. Hui and Richmond did great deep fried buns. Jinny and Noven got wonderful ice cream cake (the exact same cake the dearie got moi last year). Moi, i did my roasted lemon rosemary chicken and mango with pomelo (or yang zhi gan lu)

Chix drumstick before roasting

Its a jolly feast alrightz, in the comfort of the homeland. With cute kayson keeping us all entertained. Its a great advance birthday celebration..simple, yet festive..its great having the babes with moi, along with dearie and baby kayson.

Pretty in Pink

Oh, and i really heart the pretties gift the babes got moi.. can't believe moi is turning 29 in a few days time. 9, the last year of my glorious 20s.. urrghh.

High Tea with the Babes

Moi met up with Han and Hui for High Tea at The Regent's Tea Lounge today.. Tits was great to meet up with the babes for girly chats. The babes who share a great portion of my uni years.. the happie years of uni and pre-uni are memories that i cherish the most from the growing up years. With work, family and many other commitments.. we seldom have time to meet up. I so wish we could meet up more often.. Plus, makes good reason to splurge on nice food at great places ;p

Our table

Luv the berries loads

Compared to Rose Veranda and Goodwood Park's Tea Lounge, I like The Regent's ambiance, selection and quality of food the most. Although the selection of Tea is limited compared to Rose Veranda's. Hee Hee.. its definitely my place of choice for High Tea..quiet, and the air con is non too cold. A great Sat with the babes.

Indulging with the Gal Pals

Its not often that I have such a long leisure break from working.. so the lazy moi actually organized gatherings with the friends that i hold dear. Those who noes me well will understand that lazy lazy moi is neber the organizer for meet ups, often.. its the rest who comes up with the gatherings.. Weell, its my first long break in years.. so..i'm veri free, and wanna indulge abit with my best gal pals before chonging at the new work place. So.. its buffet galore the past 2 days.. ;p

Met up with Fen on friday for our outing to Rose Veranda at Shangrila hotel, weekday high tea. The place has 102 tea selections.. the tea lover moi is in tea haven..ha..We had the high tea buffet.. The savoury food selection was rather limited, although i did enjoy the sushi. I was so stuffed with the savoury choices that i could barely managed with the selection at the dessert bar. But, high tea is about scones and baked items.. especially with the great selection of teas available. I started with a wellness tea called " life and beauty" and Fen Fen had the Pai Mu Tan with Melon. We ended the meal with a sweet fruit infusion tea called "sweet kisses" which had notes of strawberries. I liked Fen's Pai Mu Tan tea veri much.. it really had a faint smell of melons..

Just heart the pretty tea set

Fen was saying that we would need to go back 50 times to finish trying out the entire selection of teas!! Its a nice place to seat and enjoy high tea with its pretty france-made teapots and teacups. My only regret was that i got quite sick towards the end of the meal with a headache, so i din make a good chat partner for Fen and we din manage to "walk walk" at Ion. Ha.. gives me good reason to return again for more high tea, although i like the high tea at Goodwood Park Hotel's L'Espresso a tad better.

My dessert selection

Fen's dessert selection

My 2nd buffet indulgence was this afternoon's weekend buffet at Jing Resturant, located at my favourite part of the country. Just heart the waterfront.

Jinny brought her hubby and baby Kayson.. He's so cutez that we gals had a great time going ga ga over him..or rather Han was going ga ga.. while Hui and I were more sane..opps. The food selection was extensive and of good quality..well worth the moolah, considering the exorbitant ala carte prices. I will definitely be back for more of the buffet.. in time to come.

Din managed to get a good pic of the buffet..

For moi has had enough of buffets to last me for some time. Too stuffed..Great food and great company. What more can one ask for?

Atas Laksa & Hor Fun

Met up with Fen for dinner yesterday. i'm quite a no heart fre, for i always cannot remember her birthday.. Fen wanted to eat @ Conrad Centennial Hotel. Oscars Restaurant. So we had very ex local cuisine there, with Fen ordering the Laksa and moi having the Beef hor fun.. the entire bill for the meal was almost $90 bucks before discount. (Fen had a $30 voucher, so deduct that away).

(photo taken from my new pink camera.. ;p)

Hee hee, the ambiance of the restaurant was okay, although i thought Aquarmarine at Marina Mandarin was better in terms of value for money.. its actually quite enjoyable to find a great dining place whereby you can chat and catch up over a meal, away from the blustering madness of the city.. our next stop would be The Rose Veranda at Shangri-La Hotel for weekday afternoon english tea, whereby both of us are enjoying the short hiatus from the work life.. fen to study, and moi to the new workplace.. my countdown calender stands at 9.5 more workdays. Hip Hip Horayz. silly old moi.

of Dining @ KHA

its been some time since i've met up with the babes. its hui's birthday and we met for dinner at KHA restaurant located @ HortPark, Hyderabad Road. its considered a super ulu location for east side moi. Jinny picked moi up from Queenstown MRT. the restaurant turn out to be beri chi chi with its stylish deco and stunning views. ( i so so super miss the street thai seafood items and meals i had on the streets of Bangkok and Changmai..how i miss travelling to Thailand.. ;p).

well, modern thai cuisine to be exact, and an award winning restaurant by hotelier Yenn Wong and hammed by award winning chef Matthew Lawdern. hee hee. the restaurant was fully packed with a mainly expat crowd..

we ordered mains for sharing. we had the crab and prawn cakes which came with mango salad on the side, roasted pork belly ( crispy yum), deep fried soft shell crab in yellow curry. roasted duck red curry, steamed seabass, mixed veg and pineapple fried rice. mango sticky rice to end the meal. the food was great, although i thought the steamed seabass could use abit more sauce and the duck meat could be more tender..

we had drinks thereafter and left after dinner as baby kayson beckon for his mummy..we got hui a pretty coach wristlet for her birthday pressie..the babes are sure getting busy with their lives.. we really should do a ladies only getaway.. like our trip to Bintan for my hen's nite..:)