Moi Brownie

I had a box of premix brownie which i bought some time back. Was home early one night, so i decided to bake some brownies. It took like 10-15 mins to add in the ingredients, and baking time of abt 30 mins. And ta da.. easy brownie..


Got the dearie to bring some to office for sharing with the guys and we kept the rest. Totally yums with ice cream.. ;p

The Weekend

Living in the eastside means shopping trips to new heartland malls. one of our favourite hangouts would be Parkway Parade.. pretty ulu when i was a westsider.. we managed to swing by PP for sushi as the dearie was craving for salmon. there's this small japanese supermarket cum eatery that serves cheap fresh sashimi called "fish mart sakuraya". i luv the concept where you have to choose your fish selection at the counter and the chef slices it and serves it up to ya. the selection for other items is rather limited, but the sashimi is okies cheapie..

On Sunday, the dearie cooked lunch for us. yummy yi mian with loads of clams, prawns, crabmeat, pork meat, egg and vegs. coupled with home brewed jui hua cha. tits a great homey meal.

(the dearie's masterpiece)

When the girlfres gave moi an oven last Christmas, i've been toying with the idea of doing some baking. why waste the perfectly good oven, right? especially since i found a Phoon Huat store near the homeland for baking supplies. I started with store bought premix. Now moving on to recipes i found on the web. Feeling quite pleased, although the dearie has to eat my baked items.. ;p

(moi apple muffins)

Quite a typical weekend.. :)

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.

Pink Camera

Yipee.. after so so so many years, i've finally gotten a camera to call my own ( and the dearie's too.. opps).. and its a pretty bright pink too. quite pleased with my sony T90 ( although i had wanted to the the LX3.. ;p).

hee hee.. many many of us are shopping at the great IT shows, for freebies galore. i got a free dvd player, extra battery etc with my camera.. moi is happie babe ;p

a Sat of Blog Reading

the dearie is away for his ICT and will only be back on Sundayz.. and little old moi made my way to the in-laws place, for the dearie is afraid that lazy moi would be alone..( mummie's on weekend getaway cruise).. i'm blessed, for the mum-in-law and dad-in-law are wonderful people..

without the dearie to cajole for the comp with moi, i've been able to do a fair bit of web-surfing, blog reading. the more blogs i read, the more i feel that babes of the same generation share similar likes/dislikes , desires, aspirations.. so beri much the products of our time..i'll be interesting to follow the blogs thru the decade to see how each person's thoughts have evolved with the tide of time..

at work today, the colleague and moi were whining chatting on the flaws and short comings of the workplace.. and it dawn on me that many a times, our responses reflect the current position we are in. Moi, i am the olddie about to leave in 3 weeks time who could not really be bothered to keep up appearances. the colleague is resigned to status quo and working as a means to earn more money for her own self, the boss is the up and coming mouthpiece of the higher mgt with great hope in climbing the corporate ladder. hence, the need for him to keep up the 'i'm shoulderin the burden of this unit and have to ensure every single thing is in order" kind of attitude. moi, i am the " i am forced to be here because the org has deem it necessarily, so please dun expect too much from me" attitude while the colleague has the " i'm gonna be here for a long time but has no hope for promo in the next few years" attitude. this has shaped our positions and responses to work. so different from my attitude of " i'm here to climb the ladder so i have to be exemplary" kind of behaviour i had when i first joined the unit. this was the same for the old boss, whom had tried very hard to manage the big unit but was found lacking by the big boss. when he finally gave up trying, he was no longer the nervous whack of a mgr he had been in the early days ..well, the old boss was blessed, he's now having a great time at his new posting after being transferred out forcefully.. understanding boss and work life balance.. i truly believe that we are all blessed in diff ways..

hee, am i justifying my lack of effort in keeping up with appearances for this last 3 weeks? oh well, silly old moi is still counting down.. 14 more workdays till the long overdue break.. its now Macao and Korea instead of Genting and Japan.. ;p

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..:)

of Angels and Demons

the day was pretty fulfilling, with moi getting off work at around 1.15pm. thats almost on the dot for a sat. so so rare, i sure hope it lasts. we were able to do a fair bit of shopping ( and burnt quite a hole in my poor pockets) got a pretty dress as moi is currently in the "dress" mode. plus do my eyebrows before catching Angels and Demons on the big screen. been wanting to catch the show and i'm glad i did. i had wanted to catch Ramen Gal without avail..

of all of Dan Brown's books, i liked Angels and Demons the best, and rank it above The Da Vinci Code, for there are elements of good overcoming evil, hope in faith which gives it a more moralistic feel good factor that many can resonate with. and the movie did not disappoint. although the ending could have been better scripted and more depth given to each of the lead characters, esp Ewan Mcgregor's role of camerlengo and the scene of final reckoning. hee hee, now i can't wait for my harry potter and twilight sequels to hit the big screens. yupz, modern wizards, vampires and modern fables of the non-secular fascinates little silly old moi greatly.. ;p

i heart Royal Honey Choya

the Bro has been travelling and he usually buys liqueur at the duty free shop when he lands. mummie gave moi a bottle of Royal Honey Choya that he bought as she had 2 bottles at home. its the first time i'm drinking Choya. Slup. i totally heart the Royal Honey Choya. Sweet honey ume goodness so so yum that i'm a convert.. the dearie finds it a tad sweet, but the sweetness is prefect for moi..hee hee ;p

Beautiful Memories

Beautiful Swiss Alps..Belated Honeymoon Pics

Top of Europe.. the most picturesque place i've ever been too..
if i have a chance to go back again this lifetime, i'm blessed..

Borders between Italy & Switzerland.. Lake District

Milan

Water City Venice

Our Italy and Switzerland journey. its great to be able to travel with my loved ones..

indeed there is beauty in this world, esp in Switzerland. these are the wonderful things in life that keeps me going in the next 2 months ahead.. i so so wanna travel. to escape. 2.5 work days for this week.. i am still counting down..

On the Wish List

Top of the Wish List : Amazon's Kindle 2 , e Book Reader.
Just gotta get one. When will Amazon's selection of ebooks be readily available on our sunny island?

the bookworm in moi wonders..and hopes..

A New Addiction

yupz. i am so so addicted to spreeing and online shopping that the dearie is complaining that i am neglecting him big time. its so different a world we now live in, from the world we were born to 20 plus years ago.

online shopping, spreeing,blogging,facebooking, kindleing, online gaming, you tubing... soon i will feel lost in this complex global village e-world of ours.

still awaiting for my purchases from the States to arrive. my B&B body lotions, cosmetics, clothes from Old Navy and DVDs from US retailers. hee hee..its definitely a more worthwhile way to spend my time pursuing my interests /hobbys then slogging at work for a shitty big boss. at least this is my mantra at this moment. quality of life matters along with my sense of self-worth. i wish i had arrived at this conclusion earlier.

A Melodramatic Week

It was a terrible start to the week. a week at work i rather forget. i admit that there were oversights on my part regarding the matter. the way they made it sound like, i was the one who was 70% at fault while D was 30% at fault. i would accept my shortcomings, for i could have prevented and stopped the matter. but my part in the whole affair was about 30%, yet the whole matter sounded like i was the only one at fault. it was utterly bias and an unfair assessment which i cannot stomach, for it is logic that procedures must be followed. the politics of the workplace and the easy shifting of blame. a session meant to humiliate me in front of so many others. i so wish i could forever be a student..or my own boss, yah..

its a real blessing that i have chosen to move. although the place is slowly becoming totally unbearable. everyday i am there, my spirit is being sapped away in bits and pieces. i would have just throw in the letter, if not for the dearie's advise that i only have months to go. yes, being too rationale and logical is a hindrance too. the new place is not the one i had initially chosen, but under the current circumstances, any place would be great. although i am still pissed that that i should have gotten the position which i had accepted, rather than the unknown which i am forced to accept because of time difference.

i guess. i am glad the week is over, for that signifies one week less to go. the kakis tease that i sound like i am on parole, the way i count the days and weeks and that they do not count, for its life imprisonment for them. i agree. totally. 2 more months to go.

Finally Settled

Taken in Pisa.



Pics taken in Rome..

Time flies, and I've been Mrs Dearie for close to 4 months. In the whirlwind of a time, we've completed the house (yupz, the study room is also almost done) and gone for our lovely honeymoon.

Italy and Switzerland
Words can't adequately describe the beauty of Switzerland with it's snow capped mountains and quint little cottage style houses dotting the landscape. Its really my dream country to settle down in, for the pretty landscape. Lake district, which is the place bordering Italy and Switzerland would be my next choice... :) Tits an expensive eye-opening once in a life time trip for us, an i am sure glad that we choose Italy and Switzerland. i also luv Milan for shopping, chic Italian cosmopolitan city. Venice for its old world charm with a tint of romance. Florence and Rome for the history, art , buildings and culture. Hee hee, managed to buy a branded bag at cheap cheap prices. We also went to Zermatt, Berne, Lucene,Interlarken in Switzerland. Charmy, scenic and clean. Hee hee, really really must save up for more trips aboard and to other countries in Europe. :)

On the work front, the economy is in the doldrums, we are officially in recession, but i'll decided to move move. awaiting for news. i guess there is no right or wrong decision in this instance, and i;ve decided not to regret my decision. be it right or wrong. guess i just have to move on if its wrong. current job is just not me. period. so, for long term self actualization, i've gotta gotta move move. will update if things have been settled.

Carpe Diem

The recent ecomonic crisis and the global unrest has brought many a thoughts to my mind.
you'll never noe when the flame is sniffed out from the candle of life.
If you noe you just have one more day ahead, wat will ya do?
Sieze the day, i'll say.
The little boss is posting out, changes abound.
i'm increasingly finding the workplace unbearable.
dun think i'm able to stick it out much longer.
if i only have a life, i wanna do something i luv, else something bearable yah.

Numbness

a tad hurt at her nonchalance regarding the wedding,
maybe i hurt her with my betrayal, our easy acceptance of him.
the ease in welcoming him back into our lives.
bro says she was deeply hurt. by our betrayal.
maybe our views on the subject matter are not aligned. given our positions.
at this point in time, with the wedding upcoming, it does not matter much anymore.
my heart is kinda immure, from the many rounds of battering.
i am unable to discuss the matter with her, the lack of interest from her.
the dear says i've been affected, with my unconscious venting of frustrations over small matters.
i wonder how long i can keep the facade up?
that everything is progressing well unilaterally.
for every non response cuts at the fabric of the whole. i act cheerful, i joke, when tears are welling up within. time after time.
in retrospect, i could have handled confessions better.
but, keeping too much secrets is a burden on itself. i felt relieved, to have come clean on the matter. or perhaps, some things are best left unsaid. as i have learn the hard way.
why? does the ties of kin fade with the passage of time?
sometimes i wonder, what constitutes significant to her?
or perhaps, the hurt i caused her, is the most significant aspect of the issue.

A whole lota books

i luv trawling expo for mega sale events. cheap gets.. it brings out the auntie in moi.
the Borders sale this weekend was the best ever.
we went for the metro sale on thursday, and saw the poster that Borders was having a sale.. hee
so we popped by on friday nite to check out the first ever borders expo sale.
imagine my ecstasy when i found that the books were literally going for a song.
great books for $4 and in pristine condition..
wat more can a auntiey book lover ask for?
and there were many many genres to choose from.
i thought i had died and gone to literary heaven..
piles and piles of great books. at $4 -$12 plus.
wah hoo.. i manged to restraint my self yah,
or rather, the dear one restrained moi..
i only lagged back 10 ( one belonging to the dearie).. compared to the many book lovers who were carrying truckloads..
am currently reading the chick read book..
there's still the jaime oliver book .. the book on tibet, the book on the famous egyptian queen..
the book on Indian cultures.. and many others..
hee.. super duper happy with my purchases.. :)
looking forward to the next expo borders book sale.. ;p

tits a jolly good show

am not really a movie buff but my luv of movies began in my honors year at uni.
the fantasy world of the unreal brings me away from the mandate everyday, from stress.
i find myself wanting to watch more movies when ever i'm stressed..
it must be that planning for the big day is getting to me..

finally managed to catch The Dark Knight.. at Bugis yesterday, the last day of the free tixs the dear one had.
tits really a great show.Christian Bale makes a great batman.. Heath Ledger wonderful as joker in his swan song..
as well as the slow descent into darkness for Harvey Dent.. indeed, for life can be truly a binary.
was the joker mad in his quest to challenge the norms/moral codes defined by society?
moral sanctions imposed upon the amoral by the self defined moral? a tit bit freudian i would say.
hee hee.. tits beyond moi..
but tits really a jolly good show. to moi.. :)

Dah..

the other departments are exploring the effects of new media..and certainly keeping up with the times.
my unit? the big boss is still draconian and runs the unit like his mini empire.
sometimes i truly wonder whether the organization is the same one whole?
it must be just me, why do i take in so much crap from mediocre leadership ?
my extreme skepticism has made me increasingly vocal during internal meetings.
Systemic structural fault seems my fav quote these days. its not for lack of effort in wanting to push for changes.
the place does not encourage individualsim, i think i am getting increasingly stupid by the day.
i gotta move. after the wedding. i promise.

Wedding Blues

think i'm a kinda slack bride.. unlikely that i'll turn into bridezilla anytime soon.. well, after all, isn't it the life after the wedding that matters? chill.. hope the wedding wun turn out to be a big flop yah.. ;p

Our 2-in-1 2008

these days, we are fairy busy with the house reno..
penny pinching with the limited budget which we have since busted big time..
lights, fittings, furnishings, curtains, bed,crockery etc etc..
a new house, our new home, a new phase in life..
getting highly domesticated by the day..
tits tiring to do both the house and the wedding together..
not to mention the extensive damage on the wallet and the depleting savings..
we gotta save, we gotta invest, i gotta move, i gotta learn to cook (highly inspired by the food blogs i've been reading.. yum) after this busy busy 2-in-1 year of ours..