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

Wanderlust 2010: Central Japan

Yup, we've been to Japan and back. 28th April to 5th May 2010. Central Japan to be exact. Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Kobe in 7 days. (5.5 days in Japan to be exact because of the travelling time). Japan has always been high in the list of places I would like to travel to, since the teenage days with the popularity of Japanese Dramas. The travel agent had a 2nd pax travel for 50% off, so we decided on Japan instead of our original choice of Korea. Its a good deal me thinks, so its Nihon , land of raw fish, sakura..here we come.

We travelled by Japan Airlines. Another experience i would say. i quite like the Yuzu sky juice provided by the airlines. Ours was an overnight flight from Singapore. We reached Narita Airport early morning and started day 2 of our tour straight. Totally zonked out when we were at Disneyland Tokyo. The place is huge, compared to Hong Kong Disneyland manz. We did some rides although the place was very crowded as it was Japan's Golden week. The entire country's on holidays and travelling. So glurp.. imagine the long long queues for the rides. We headed to Ginza for some shopping. Yup, me luvs shopping. Although i din get any burberry blue label bag in the end as i din like any of the designs. The dearie did get a black label shirt though. We had dinner at Ginza area before checking into our hotel for the night. We stayed at Tokyo's Hyatt Regency. Hee, liked the hotel. Our hotel's within walking distance to Shinjuku. Our guide brought us there for some shopping. We had ramen for supper.

Disneyland Tokyo

Shinjuku at Night

Ramen Shop- Where we had our supper

Day 3 started with a visit to Ameyoko. A local products market. This was followed by outlet shopping at Gotenba Premium Outlet Mall. Hee, the time we had there was too short. There's Coach outlet, Gap outlet, Prada outlet and many many other outlets (i wonder if its be more shiok outlet shopping in the states). We also went to Shirato-no-Taki Falls, where we had our first glimpse of Mt Fuji. Our hotel that night was a traditional hot spring (onsen) hotel. We had a traditional Japanese Meal and the dearie even tried out the onsen. Moi will definitely try the onsen the next time we are in the country (Hokkaido maybe?!) . Is also interesting how the sky is bright and sunny at 4am local time (3am sgp time).. so bright that moi kept worrying about oversleeping. Hee, our days start rather early with morning calls at 6-6.30am local time.. *Yawns* and breakfast at 7.30 am ( imagine eating rice at 6.30 am in sgp .. glurrp!). The locals usually have a full fledge morning meal consisting of rice. So diff from my 2 pieces of bread routine at home..

Goodies at Ameyoko

Our room for the nite

Dinner at the traditional styled Inn

Day 4 was visit to Mount Fuji! The weather was rather good that day, we had a wonderful view of the famous mountain and even went up to Mt Fuji's 5th Station. Very beautiful views (although my fav is still Switzerland's mountains.. opps). We proceeded to Oshino Hakkai with its crystal clear pond and more views of Mt Fuji. We left for Nagoya after that. It was shopping at Nagoya ( at Sakae shopping street near Nagoya TV tower and the Oasis 21 Complex) before stopping at Gifu, where our hotel was located. I rather liked this hotel we stayed at. Out of the way, but nice.

View of Mt Fuji

We headed for Kyoto, Nara and Osaka on Day 5. We visited Kiyomizu Temple which was a temple built in 1633 in Kyoto. We had lunch and shopping at the street next to the temple. I luv Kyoto, which provides a glimpse into the rich cultural history of the country. The next place we headed to was Nara. We visited Nara Deer Park where many deers roam freely . Todaiji Temple which housed the largest bronze Buddha Structure in Japan was housed within the park. We ended the day at Osaka, whereby we had time to do more shopping!

Osaka Castle

Day 6 was Kobe City tour. We opted for the city tour instead of going to Universal Studios. The entire tour went for the city tour as those who opted for the amusement park were not able to get tickets due to the long queues (golden week mah). We visited Osaka Castle, followed by Kobe Chinatown, and Kobe Harbour. Did more shopping and ended the day at Osaka again. More shopping and eating at Shinsaibashi (Osaka's shopping and eating paradise).

Really Oiishi Peach Jelly.. Expensive but good

Kobe Harbour

Shinsaibashi's food street

Day 7 was for last minute shopping at the shopping complex near our hotel before we catch our domestic flight from Osaka to Narita and subsequent flight back home. *Sighs* time passes when we are travelling. The wallets are lighter, but the mind is rich with the sights of the places that we've been to the past few days. Feels great, finally being able to visit Japan. We'll definitely be back, either Hokkaido or a free and easy trip within Tokyo. Hee hee, moi is a happy donkey. Such trips light up my life.. i heart the sights, the cultural, the food. Till the next long trip next year (hopefully Korea or Australia) =)

Osaka Airport

Lunch at Osaka Airport

The shopping loot!!

Sleep Patterns

The sleep routine:

Sundays to Thursdays Nites: 11.45 pm to 6.20 am. (6.5 hours)
Friday & Saturday Nites: 12am to 11am and later.

The lack of sleep on weekdays lead to almost full day sleeping on weekends. Gosh, moi must really sleep earlier on weekdays to reduce the topsy sleep patterns. =)

So Sunny

For the past few workdays, i've been having external meetings which ends rather early. Some days, I am home by 5.30pm woa.. a luxury which i have never (almost lah) experienced before . The sky being bright and sunny from the windows of the homeland. Today, i managed to finish the novel which i had been reading by 8pm. Ahh..the price of leisure on a weekday. i so wanna find moi a job which allows me to knock off on time and yet bring home the moolah. Such wistful thinking i know.. just like the loads of work left undone because of the meetings. *signs*

Changing Times

More changes abound. More updates shortly. For one, the travel plans are getting more firmed up. If all goes well, we'll be travelling end April. Haa..

3 Days Already??

Gosh! You mean 3 days have passed already?! The long weekend came and is gonna be over soon. We've been sleeping late and waking late. Relishing the moments of simply doing nothing. The days passed in a blur.. We celebrated the MIL's birthday at a Zhi Cha restaurant nearby on Friday, plus trips to both the parents' place. The mommie was doing this qingming ceremony thingy today and we popped by. I really need to spend more time with the mommie. I so wish that she would move nearer to us. *Signz*

I think I'm having long weekend withdrawal symptoms and dreading work tomorrow. Pondering the meaning of a purposeful existence. Is work the end all and be all? Perhaps I'm simply overwhelmed having to cope with 2 portfolios in this transitional period at the workplace. *Aiz* I sure hope things pend out well...

Making Tiramisu

I was at Vivo City some time back and got some lady fingers biscuits ( Savoiardi biscuits) at Candy Empire. So, moi decided to try making Tiramisu. Managed to get the requisite Mascarpone at NTUC Finest, plus some brandy and cocoa powder. So, I followed a rather simple recipe. The dessert was yummy, although the lady fingers could be more well-soaked in the coffee mixture. I used very little of the lady fingers biscuits and the cheese mixture was spread rather thickly too. Will try to improve with a more complex recipe the next round. Buts..Hee, the dearie likes it!!

Limited Space

Sometimes I feel that I have quite limited space in brainy land. Strange that I just cannot seem to remember my debits and credits from the schooling days. My theory? That i forget stuff by modules. Ha ha.. obviously the basic accounting knowledge from the secondary and jc days have been totally squeezed out to make space.. ;p

Bottled Up

I wish that he would lead a proper life, I pray that he would come to his senses. I hope that he would one day become more sensible, responsible and rational. I so wish that he would make good of his life.. For her sake. Its not too much to ask for, I sure hope. He remains my greatest source of worry, even if I have to shoulder the responsibility alone. I will. Or perhaps, I am simply too harsh, my expectations of him too high. Whatever, will have to see how it pends out..

Mommie's Birthday

We took the day off from work. Am I sure am glad we did. Its the mommie's 56th birthday! We caught up on lost sleep before heading out for the day. The mommie had wanted to visit the Flyer, and so we did ( I know, we quite "mountain turtle" ah..going only so many months after the opening!).

Lunch at Popeyes

It was a rainy afternoon and the rides were temporarily suspended due to the bad weather. We had a late lunch at Popeyes while waiting for the rides. Luckily the rides resumed around 4pm and we gamely got our tickets despite the slight drizzle. Its a good experience, being able to view my favourite landscape and the construction going on at the nearby Integrated Resort. (Despite the pricey tixs and the short half hour ride.. ;p)

Still Drizzling Outside

Beautiful view of the City

Top of the Wheel

This was followed by dinner at Vivo City. Yup, we brought mommie to dinner at JPot. We chose Dinner Set B this round, and added some items from the menu like vegs and bean curd. We had the superior broth and Bak Kut Teh broth again and ended up totally stuffed. We had free flow longan tea and drank many many cups of the drink too. Dinner was yums, and reasonably priced as we had a discount coupon for $20 off. Hee, perks of being an auntie with loads of membership cards.. We ended the day with shopping at Vivo and moi brought back loads of goodies from Candy Empire.. ;p

Pasta Tonight

We brought some fresh chorizo sausages from the supermarket over the weekend. The chap at the counter mentioned about cooking the sausages with Pasta. So I did, for our dinner tonight. I was afraid there would not be any vegetables in the pasta, so i threw in some carrots, diced tomato and button mushroom to balance the saltish spicy sausage. Hee.. used up my sun-dried tomato sauce.. gotta go grab more. I quite like the pasta paired with the sausages combi. Will definitely be rustling up more sausage pasta soon.

A Boy and Dragons

Worked from home (or from the MIL's place rather) today, so i promptly shut off the work mail at 5 plus. We had an early dinner and took the darling little boy out to the movies. Its the first time that he's watching a show with his jiu jiu and jiu ma. So, of course we caught a cartoon, and a 3D one as well. Yup, we watched "How To Train Your Dragon". At $11 per pax, it sure is a pricey movie.. but worth the moolah for the 3D version.. ;p

I only knew it was a show about dragons, but golly.. its a great show. Simple story lines about misfit boy "Hiccup" saving the day.. but the whole movie rocks. I sure luv "Toothless" the cute Night Fury.. ;p Plus, the little boy enjoyed himself too. Its been a good day and start to the week, just like its been some time since we've last caught a movie.

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. :)