SnackAttack! Fav!

Manage to have dinner @ home & catch the ch8 varierty show - snackattack today=)

Mum's dinner is still the best! Mum had prepared stir-fried cabbage, ahcha, handmade seafood balls, steamed fish. They are great homecooked dishes=P

Snackatttack topic is on 面煎馃 ~ my fav!

Jotted down all the stalls being recommended in the show..from Kovan, Pek Kio, Bendemeer, Tiong Bahru to Maxwell..shall visit each of them starting off with the nearest one in Kovan=P After that, shall conclude which one is the best=)

Corrinne May's concert on 3rd Aug, Fri, 7.30pm! Would like to catch it..wonder if tics are still available...

Ceremonies & Celebration!!

I think my eyebags are getting heavier and dark circles darker that even my mum nags me to sleep earlier. So shld be catching on sleep right now isnt it...but wkends are just too short & feel like blogging now..so I am lying on bed with my lappie=)

Commencement, Gala dinner, ST's bdae are highlights of this week.
Commencement - A rush, rush affair but sweet to see frenz & head bck to sch again=)
Gala dinner - A fri night with okie food & wine
ST's bdae - Nice dinner @ ichiban boshi with the gers

Weekend is here again.

Time really flies..can't imagine that I have worked for close to a year. Happy about AI in Jun..yeah I feel the blooming of hospitality world=)

Commencement 2007 coming next Thurs! 5 jul 07. 3pm. UCC.
The Singapore HR Awards 07 Gala Dinner next Fri! 6 jul 07. 7pm. Meritus Mandarin.

BBA commencement dinner @ Asian Civilisation Museum falls on the same fri. So keen to go with jo too cos want to explore ard ACM abit...sobs=( Gala dinner shld be exciting too...but no evening wear lo=P

Straw-Buh-Buh-Buh-Buh-Berry Shortcake~

Decided to walk over lunch to suntec today to get the Strawberry Shortcake Music CD for my niece...it comes in a 3CDs Boxset=)

While I am ripping the songs over to my lappie & listening to them, realised that some of the songs are actually not that kidish....still like the CDs nonetheless! Strawberry Shortcake Rulz!!

getaway @ batam~

It was a rainy Sat morn...thankfully I manage to wake up on time to take the nel to harbourfront.

The wet weather was not supposed to dampen our mood...in fact, we had good food, good sleep & good hypermarketing during our short trip @ batam. Harris resort was great with a family concept & orangie theme, the emphasis on orange reminds me of nus bizad haha....

We went for a fantastic timsum buffet @ holiday inn...it was @ an economical rate of S$12.80++ & the timsum were freshly prepared and really tasteful. A good lunch kickstart our day...

We headed off to Nagoya Hills Mall later in the afternoon. Wasnt too impressed by the shops there but we were tremendously excited @ the hypermarket. We discovered the great deals there & stocked up on some necessities. Items obtained: garnier light facial foam, biore pore pack with green tea & cherry blossom flavour, Vaseline Aloe Vera Moisturiser, Tim Tam biscuits...Shiok!

An Indonesian massage @ harris marina spa rounded up the day. We ordered free pan pizza to the rooms for dinner..tv googling..chatting! Back to sin the next day..

Minjiang

We had dinner @ Minjiang, Goodwoodpark hotel on Sun evening to cbrate lihua's ROM on 9 June=) It was a great yummy dinner! Xq has the 15% disc card. We wanted to give our bride-to-be a treat but ended up she used her sub credit frm her future hubby to treat us ops=P

Our first dish - Fruits & prawns in mayo which was slightly too generous..we concentrated too much in eating for subsequent dishes... so realised didnt take pics =P
Over drinks @ border bistro, we settle on a trip to Batam in mid Jun...it is that fast, haha we want sun, sand, sea, massage, away frm city, no need to take leave = sat & sun @ batam!~

HIP

Saw this from Shine's blog: http://www.hiphotels.com/

It is a great website..the HIP hotels are fascinating! The hotel called Hi in Nice, France seems interesting..esp its restaurant.

Viewing the rest in time to come will surely be an enjoyable process for me=)

1st Worktrip~ Kuching=)

Kuching, also known as cat city, has the characteristics of a cat basically.
A small, quiet, slow city....not much bustle either in the day or night.

People seen here: their general character seems to be sincerity and simplicity. Local fare eaten here: Kolo Mee, Laksa, Popiah are good food with authentic & not processed taste.

SuperDog

Saw baby jan b4 heading bck ofc to settle some stuff today. Baby jan was sick yest & vomitted 7 times=( She was a brave ger, nvr made a whine or cry althou she was uncomfortable. Glad that she has recovered today=) Hugging her close is a comfort. All of us, even my bro & dad luv baby jan to bits & like to carry her. We are all worried that she wldn't recognise us & let us carry as we dun see her that often... haha see there is childishness in adult world too=P

A couple of hrs in ofc b4 heading off to vivo to meet up with fio. Realised that travelling to vivo frm ofc area is quite convenient by taking bus 97. Great! We wanted to watch spiderman3 but all 9plus tics are sold with only 11plus tics left...no choice we cant watch cos got no car to travel bck if we watch=( Dinner was settled @ SuperDog. I had the chicken hotdog with iced choc. Quite nice. I was'nt satisfied thou after eating them while fio was saying she was v full le. Think I hve becum a glutton these days? I wanted to hve dessert..hee gelato, icecream or anything sweet. Luckily the idea was dropped off thinking of the inconvenience of eating while shopping. Got a tangerine black covered heels & joop top...Fio got two Coat's tops & club marc slacks..haha overspent?~

Tmr evening is the sk cc yoga class with sis again...12 sessions in total but have missed two le thus far...think it is ending soon with a couple more sessions to go...better dun miss again=P

Strawberries, Scenery, Steamboatsss...

Strawberries, Scenery, Steamboatsss...

The above sort of sum up the short trip to Cameron Highlands. My first time to this place which is 8h by coach frm Sin. I luv the cool weather, fresher air, night mkt & delicious steamboat over there=)
Despite the dogs that scared us on the first day, the big spider that threatened to stay in our apt & refused to leave, it was a nice trip nonetheless with the gers!

FishY

Saw this inspirational note in inbox =)

The Japanese love fresh fish. However, the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price.

So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan? If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?

Too Much Money

As soon as you reach your goals, such as finding a wonderful mate, starting a successful company, paying off your debts or whatever, you might lose your passion. You don't need to work so hard so you relax. You experience the same problem as lottery winners who waste their money, wealthy heirs who never grow up and bored homemakers who get addicted to prescription drugs. Like the Japanese fish problem, the best solution is simple. It was observed by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1950's.
" Man thrives, oddly enough, only in the presence of a challenging environment." L. Ron Hubbard

The Benefits of a Challenge

The more intelligent, persistent and competent you are, the more you enjoy a good problem. If your challenges are the correct size, and if you are steadily conquering those challenges, you are happy. You think of your challenges and get energized. You are excited to try new solutions. You have fun. You are alive!

How Japanese Fish Stay Fresh

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.

Recommendations

Instead of avoiding challenges, jump into them. Beat the heck out of them. Enjoy the game. If your challenges are too large or too numerous, do not give up. Failing makes you tired. Instead, reorganize. Find more determination, more knowledge, more help. If you have met your goals, set some bigger goals. Once you meet your personal or family needs, move onto goals for your group, the society, even mankind. Don't create success and lie in it. You have resources, skills and abilities to make a difference.

Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go!

All 4 Gone!

Woke up on wed morn. My original confidence, no-worries attitude towards the surgery seems to be a little shaken as I read up more on impacted wisdom teeth surgery using Google. Concern about the side effects & other possible complications. My decision this morn is to go ahead with it & don' t think so much. 3 months ago: My dentist has recommended me to do it @ Alex Hosp due to the angle of the tooth. I guess all my wisdom teeth are still in a gd state as they are not causing me any pain. However, the dentist recommended me to remove before they start to cause problems to the molars ard them as those lower jaws wisdom are fully grown. Brushing is definitely difficult due to the angle of the teeth & food debris trappings are likely. Conclusion of the day: Prevention is better than cure! Remove them now instead of risking to remove the molars 2gether with the wisdom only when they decay! So after so much of weighing the pros & cons, I decide to have all four of my wisdom removed under general anaesthesia.

My x-ray was done way bck on 13 Jan. Original surgery scheduled on 21 Mar but postphoned due to work commitments to 11 Apr. It has to be done witin 3 mths which is b4 13 Apr. If not, the validity of the x-ray will lapsed and I hve to do the x-ray again = more $$ phew...Since I am on the monetary issue, glad that a referral letter has been taken from the polyclinic...it saves me 700plus under govt subsidy & the whole bill thus amounted to 900plus which can be offset by medisave. Extracting 4 wisdom @ a go is more economical than 2 each time =)

~The surgery~
GA was really an xperience, you feel yourself become more & more tired...& before you realised you have fallen into a deep slumber. Totally don't noe what happen after that. Only rmb the last qns by the GA doc was: How old are you? Where are you working? When I woke up, my mouth felt numb with a long strip of cotton guaze in it. Blood pressure was being measured constantly. The rest I can't see clearly cos was without specs...Before long, the nurses pushed me & the bed back to the ward on level 1. Shall cut short on the post-surgery medications & stuff....feeling ok now....hope the pain wldnt augment over the nxt few days...& the face wldnt swell..wish me luck=P

Going to hve the stitches on chin removed tmr. Hope no obvious scaring =P
What a week of surgery & ops...nvr go hosp so freq in a week in my whole life!!
Phrase of the day from myself: 健康很重要，无论是身态或心灵上，与健康当好友，天天都美好！

Wisdom, Stitches, Pain?

Updating my blog on a weekday..Tuesday night to be exact.

Mixed feelings now...glad to see that the stitches on my chin are recovering fine. They will only be removed on Thurs.

Going for the long scheduled & postphoned wisdom tooth surgery tmr.....I was told not to hve any more food from tmr 6am onwards...which means I wld hve to miss bkfast tmr. Left ofc @ 10 todae. Went hme to eat mum's white congee. Although I felt full but eating dinner, I actually started to eat bread considering that I wld not be able to enjoy my fav essential meal of the day - bkfast tmr morn. Silly & irrational.

Kaya Toast

On Gd Fri morn, went to visit aunt' hse to see baby janelle..
Baby jan woke up v early...but today I didnt dare to carry her cos I injured my chin the night b4 on my way hme with coll sherry. Sherry accompanied me to RH A&E as the RMG clinics were closed. I had stitches done on my chin. Really hope there will be no scar after the stitches are taken out as per the doc..

We went to HG Mall to have bkfast @ ya kun toast. Baby Jan seems to hve separation anxiety with her grandma as per my cousin. After bkfast, we headed bck to her hse, my another young cousin jera was using straws to make hearts & stars for her sch...it seemed rather complicated...haha but she said can earn svc pts...helped her with a few...but had to consult her along the way when I was stuck hehe...

Suddenly, dunno where the inspiration came frm, my aunt, cousins etc decided to make KAYA today. Jera was given the task to go the mkt to buy 3 coconuts, 1 kg of sugar and she was keen to go cos she wanted to get her straws too...she asked me to accompany her so I went along. After getting the necessary ingredients, we started to prepare our own Kaya...while one of my uncle fed baby jan milk. Baby jan doesnt't like to drink milk these days & prefer plain water instd. Given a choice, she'll willingly suck the bottle with plain water & turn her head away from the bottle with milk. My uncle was pretty good @ feeding her..haha we were saying maybe she was too frightened off by him & thus drank her milk obediently.

While baby jan was taking her aftrn nap, we were in the kitchen making the kaya. Making kaya involves lotsa patience as my aunt explains...constant stirring is required. From the beating of the eggs, adding in of the sugar, beating again and subsequent stirring of the mixture over the fire, it really takes plenty of patience and time to hve a smooth and silky kaya texture as the end product. Pandan leaves give a light green colour to the mixture, adding in sugar that has dissolved makes it brown. It was fun preparing kaya with the whole family & I learnt how to make Kaya today. The smell of the fresh hot kaya was real good..it went well with crackers & white bread yummy=P

恩恩的大头照=P (she resembles the baby on MummyPoko Packaging?? hehe)

Mum' Savour

It is Sun again!

Attended my mgr's church wedds on sat aftrn...it's a v. sweet affair with flower girls & boys coming in b4 the bride walked down the aisle=)

Sun morn drove to mkt. Mum is going to make Popiah today! We got the necessary ingredients like the popiah skin, turnip, bean sprout, lettuce etc @ the mkt. Mum alwaz got lotsu stuff frm Amk mkt on Sun cos tt's the only day she goes to the mkt in a week. Got so much stuff in the end...wanted to call sis & bro to come down & help carry the stuff up frm the car.

From the grounding of the peanuts, mixing the sweet sauce to cooking the turnip...the steps involved can add up to quite a handful..but the results are pretty satisfying=) I luv Popiah, esp the qiji & sembawang hill food centre ones...but I muz agree that mum's ones are v v. nice too=P Sun's the best when I get to hang ard in the kitchen when mum prepare homecooked dishes 4 us...

For def. of popiah - refer to bro hk's blog hehe...

Random

I guess weekend posting has become a habitual thing?

Saw baby Jan on sat morn! Gave her the cute little fan and handkerchief bought for her @ bkk...she is going to be 5 mths old soon....she has not master crawling and walking yet...but can try holding the milk bottle by herself now..she ventured into swimming the other day with my cousin=) Guess my small niece like drinking plain water most, she will just hold on to her milk bottle, and drink her water v quickly making sucking sounds haha....

Bored act in the living rm while watching Japan Hr on Sun...

Before

After

Tata! Done! What to use it for? Hvn thot of it yet=P

Indulging, Shopping, Dining - Weekend @ BKK~

Striking off my 3rd toplist - trip to BKK over the wkend ended in a haste...nonetheless it was a safe & sound trip!

Tiger Airways airtics were booked way back in Jan. Free seatings on board so must get-on early. 2 1/2 hr later, sis & myself were greeted by the new BKK Suvarnabhumi Airport which sports a contemporary look. We explored around the airport to find the free shuttle bus to the bus services terminal. While trying to find it, a taxi driver quoted a rate of 600 baht which we know was way out. We managed to catch the free shuttle. Helpful lady @ bus services terminal told us the bus no. to take to reach Rama IV, Silom. It's 556. While we were still checking with her, she realised that 556 was leaving...so she ran out of her ofc to help us stop the bus half-way, and we hopped on!! The bus was an authentic, non-aircon kind that the locals take. With Thai music playing in the backgorund...breeze blowing in while the bus moved...the bus journey was a great xperience=)

We alighted @ the backpacker area, somewhere near Lan Luang Rd and took a cab from there to reach Pan Pacific Bangkok. The cab fare costed around 100 bhat. We checked into the hotel which was booked under associate rates. Staying on 29th floor, our windows looked out to the swimming pool of the hotel. I discovered that I wld'nt be able to take any pics for the subsequent days as I did not bring along the charging base for my cam. Sadly, the cam could not be switched on at all...guess it had hibernated cos the last time I used it, it was on one bar of batt.

Our shopping spree begun and we covered Siam Paragon, CentralWorld, MBK, Platinium Mall, Chutuchak Mkt in these 2 1/2 short days. Especially like Siam Paragon for its Gourmet Mkt which is like Taka basement. Like Platinium Mall for its levels of good tiny shops selling female fashions. Like Chutuchak for its hustle and bustle under the hot sun. When asking for the prices of the stuff, I tried using "tao-rai" (thai version of "how much"). Ended up the shop owners answered in thai and sis and myself could only smiled cos we couldn't understand. Haha so we decided to switch back to Eng version.

Dinnner on the 2nd night at Food Loft @ Central was a really enjoyable xperience. Love the place for its nice ambience settings despite it being a food court. You will be given a "Flavours" card when you enter the place and food will be ordered using that card while payment are made when you exit from the place (similar to Marche). It has nice aesthetic couches by the windows for you to enjoy your meals...food are being served in nice tableware.

Amidst the good shopping and dining, I did not manage to catch much sights and places of interest in BKK except Chulalongkorn Uni and Lumphini Park which are near to PPBBK.

Weekend is here!

Fri night - Met up with Jo, Anlian & Fio....left ofc at 7plus cos I was just too hungry to continue with work...had dinner @ MOF central stage. Spent most of the time queueing for the seats. Went back ofc after a quick dinner while the gers headed to changing appetites for desserts!!! Took a detour last LRT home which brought me to all the diff stops b4 rching my stn...so I ended up spending close to 20 mins on the LRT instead of the usual 5 mins, shld have juz walk home instead bleh...

Sat morn - Woke up @ 10am! Rushing to get ready to go for the lunch buffet @ HTL. This booking was to cbrate dad's belated bdae in Feb. It was a post-dated one as his bdae happens to be in the CNY period and I can't get table at staff rate during then. The six of us including Granny had a hearty lunch b4 heading off to MS to get toys for Janelle. Got a muscial toy for 6mths+ baby for her=) Jan was sleeping soundly when we reached. Especially like her sleeping look...it simply seems so peaceful and without all worries in the world. She'll just sleep and will not be bothered by the noise or adults' talking around her. When she has just woke up, she will open her big eyes and look around her curiously. An adorable baby whom I simply adore and want to hug her. When we left, she was still sleeping...didnt bear to wake her up cos she had just fallen asleep when we arrived. At least saw her...hvn seen her since CNY. I shall find time to come again & play with her next time=)

Shopping + Sentosa = Satisfaction!!

Had lo hei with ST & XQ @ sakae as agreed last year!! We felt extremely bloated after having it. Apparently, the smallest serving size is kinda big too...& with all the sushi we had taken b4 hand, it really make us all bloated. Had dinner @ Fiesta on Fri nite with SSL, felt that fiesta serves nicer & more variety sushi, soba....ST, XQ & myself went to shop @ mphosis and got tops @ 50% off...rmb my fancl cleansing oil using up soon..gotten it with XQ to save 3 bucks when we buy 2...the auntishly feeling is coming up ops=P

On the eighth day of CNY, me, SJ & Fio headed down to the island located at the southern part of Singapore - Sentosa!

This was a trip that has been postphoned for weeks before CNY and finally it is set!! Though we had plenty work to settle over the wkend, we nit to sweat out seriously too & thus it boiled down to time-mgt minus a few hrs of slp...SJ & I reached earlier this time round & we headed off to the basement for food! SJ got a super cheesy hotdog bun which she kept praising it haha while I got a blueberry bravisso gelato. Went up to L3 outdoor deck to hve our food while waiting for fio.....& looking @ the long queue for the SentosaExpress...haha so SJ started to hve evil thots of askig fio to queue for us since she was late. Fio rched when we were just done with our snacks...so we queued 2gther & the queue was not slow actually.
Managed to accomplish 3 things there - Cycling, Luge & Flowers. We were a little offset by the dizzle when we were ready with our rented bikes...fortunately the dizzle didn't get heavier..and off we were to our 1h of bike riding. Not really used to the routes @ Sentosa, many deadends & road hazards cos we didnt follow the usual bike track..thankfully we made it back safe & sound!!!

Next up is skyride & luge=) They have either individual or combo, we chose the combo cos it is more economical @ 8 bucks & we get to try both. All three of us were short of cash...seemed that atm was pretty faraway...decided to pay using my suppl maybank visa. And surprise! The friendly tic counter staff said maybank has a special promo with them & we get to enjoy islander rates, i.e 5 bucks pax!!! Yippee it's my first time and I enjoyed both though really wish their duration can be longer....

Safety helmets for the luge that stupid me wore the other way rd & didnt realise till the caucasian tic man knock on it & told me bleh stupid...

Adorable young kids queueing in front with the oversized helmets & they wore it correctly=P

View from the skyride...worried that my cam'll drop so took a quick one=P

Finally, the finale show was the FLOWERS....colourful, magnificant flowers & mural paintings...
-To be updated-

Sun dawn 2am, updating this entry. Went for work tis morn for the intl women's day seminar 07 @ the new ntuc centre. Went to do collegen pedi @ special rate, went suntec career fair with xj, met up the pals @ jack's plce, drinks @ CitySpace...hsh=)

Side-tracking apart, back to FlOWERS!! Under a state of half dizzle, half sunset sky, we walk through the flowers, mural wall paintings & garden sculpturing...

Haha tinks the little girl likes the girl sculpture that resembles her... doesn't they look alike (the face & the hair).....

Colourful mural painting

Stations for photosho0t where crewman helps to take pic...here we are told to point to the white sheep to ask them to head home??

Finally, our Mr Merlion & piglet in hotair balloon...time for ourselves to head back to mainland...Good bye!!!

Post-mortem of CNY!!!!

Post-mortem of CNY!!!!

The 3rd day of CNY （初三） is usually a school day....I am glad that it is still a PH today=)
Have been feasting & feasting for the past three days since Sat....new year goodies are just so tempting right? Over-feasting has a tendenacy to give me tummy probs...so i noe all these feasting must stop today so that I can return to work tmr in tip-top condition？想想看，这几天的佳节， 让我最开心地还是年除夕夜的逛花市。我最爱在吃完年夜饭后和一家人去逛花市， 买年花。。回到家后继续欣赏倒数节目。。听起来有点孩子气，但我确实爱除夕！（haven't been using chinese to write, this seems kinda of strange, but since im in the mood of CNY so can't miss out some chinese chars=)

Really looking fwd to the lao yu sheng & sentosa trip @ the end of the week!!! I want my yusheng @ sakae as ST promises right?...I want my exercise, sun-tanning, flowers moments @ the island (",)~