Potluck Party organized by ME!

Ok, other than a few hiccups we (Ghaya and I) faced in the beginning of the party, I’m glad to say the party turned out to be quite successful.

Everyone turned up with “flowers” in their attire other than Shirlyn (host) who used her plastic sunflower found at her home for the theme. Though we did not play any games, Shirlyn’s wedding video kept us entertained. The foods prepared by individuals were delicious!!! I like Ann’s sambal stingray. *slurp* Well, I did not cook mine, Mummy helped me prepare the ngo hiang the day before and pan fried it for me before I left in the morning. keke

. ngo hiang . vegetables . sambal stingray .
. curry chicken . fried rice . sushi .
. chicken wings . aga aga/almond logan/watermelon . chocolate royal .
(not in pic: garlic bread, calabee potato chip, more fruits, mango pudding)

After having the food and dessert, it’s time for the early birthday celebration for Ying wei and Rajes. We took out the cake from the kitchen and sang the birthday song and they were really surprised! After having the cake, at about 3pm, we left Shirlyn’s house and I proceeded to Chinatown to meet Mummy and Sis.

It’s actually fun to have such parties as everyone brings a dish and the host need not prepare the food. Though we used Shirlyn’s house for the party, I’m glad that Ghaya was around to help me (the organizer) get things right. It’s my first time organizing such parties and I’m proud to say that it went pretty fine and I hope they had a good time. If not for me being so paranoid to have my house “dirtied”, I’ll surely open up my ouse for parties, but but but… I guess I’ve to think through it carefully 1st before sending out any invitations… keke

Dinner @ Crystal Jade Palace

As Crystal Jade Palace is still under renovation, they've temporary shifted down to the 2nd level and occupy Hui Cui which sells Shanghainese food.

. entrance . wallpaper . roast pork .
. pan fried fish . river shrimp sautéed with a salted duck egg yolk sauce . claypot chicken with garlic .
. local spinach with assorted eggs . gui ling gao . deep fried mango ice cream .

As usual, we ordered the roast pork pan fried fish which tasted still as good. This time we tried something new - river shrimp sautéed with a salted duck egg yolk sauce. It was very nice but it’ll be better to stop after taking one shrimp as it's actually quite rich in taste. Also ordered a claypot chicken with garlic which was ok and local spinach with assorted eggs which was incomparable to what we had at Nan Bei Imperial Treasure. It tasted weird and we’ll definitely not order that in future. Sis wanted to try their walnut cream for dessert; however they did not have it today. Daddy had the gui ling gao as usual and I tried their deep fried mango ice cream which was tasted normal.

Ok, I know this is a boring post… Check out tomorrow’s exciting potluck party update.

Sneak preview:

Wardrobe Malfunction

You don’t hear it only on Hollywood stars. It happened to yours truly on this rainy morning.

I was wearing a dress with a zip by the left and I actually forgot to zip it up! I was informed by a very very kind soul only when I reached the MRT station.

Having traveled from my house blk to the bus stop to boarding the bus, not a single person told me. Not even a stupid biatch who obviously would have noticed it as I was standing in a position, which she couldn’t have missed seeing it. And on the bus, I was standing and holding on the pole with my left hand. Gosh, I wonder how many people on the bus have seen it. Luckily, I wore a black tube, which was rather long inside my dress, else I cannot imagine the amount of flesh I'll expose in an early morning (-.-")

The Journey to Class 3 Driving License

Start off date: 30/11/05
Amount spent: $1,819.05
Total number of lessons: 39
Frequent car used: 43
Common mistake made during revision: 39 (fail to use appropriate gear)

Final Destination
Date: 25/4/06
Time: 15.45
Test car: 35
Number of demerits points: 18
Result: PASSED

Regardless of it being Pure Luck / Good Traffic Conditions / Not Bad Weather (drizzling) / Enough Practice;

I’m thankful for what I’ve received.

Annual Dinner and Dance @ Swissotel

Last night's D & D was pretty fun I should say. However, the people at our table were not very enthusiastic when playing some games but we still won 2 of the table games though. Keke.

I, so called "volunteered" to participate in the Ms Glamour section as A did not want to though everyone in our table voted for her. I was their second choice, not that it matters as it’s all for the sake of having fun. Gosh, I think I embarrassed myself when we (S and I ) were told to dance to the music. And of course, S was great!!! I was like going around tables asking them for the roses which was a decorative piece on each table. The MC then said “eh eh, why are you asking flowers from people” *digs a hole and hides face* Anyway S, won obviously, she was hot!!! HahaI hope nobody remembers what I did for that “performance”.

I won the 17th prize for the lucky draw - $20 Takashimaya voucher (at least I won something yeah). Our new company buyer even added a grand draw which was a trip to Germany (HQ) for 2 individuals and I think it was a real surprise to everyone as it was really unexpected draw/prize.

Games and Ah Gua show (stand up comedian show for dirty jokes) added entertainment to the night. Though, there was really a dance after dinner, obviously nobody stayed behind it was a dinner (like past years) to everyone who attended.

Overall, I had fun dressing up for the event and taking tons of pictures with my colleagues, playing the table games etc. Hopefully, there’ll still be D & D for the next years to come and we’ll "party" again!!!

chinese dinner menu
. smoked fish and prawn salad combination .
. braised shark's fin soup with shredded abalone and crab meat .
. pan-fried scallops with assorted vegetable served in crispy basket.
. deep-fried crispy chicken with sweet walnuts and prawn crackers .
. stir-fried broccoli with sea cucumber and dried mushrooms.
. steam live grouper with crispy broad bean paste .
. deep-fried sesame seaweed roll stuffed with minced seafood .
. fried glutinous rice with assorted preserved meat .
. chilled green tea pudding with fresh milk.
. chinese tea .

Ulcer = Talk less

I've ulcer on my gums near my wisdom tooth and it's hurting me like crazy. However it might be a good thing as it prevents me from talking too much . I tend to be very direct at times in front for my colleagues when I'm not thinking in the same frequency as them. With so, I might offend them unknowingly.

Having said that, there were a few issues which my perceptions were not in sync with them yesterday. But I won't put in here as you'll never know who's reading it, of course my Sis and closer friends will sure hear me rant... keke

Bought six bottles of "Three Legs Colling Water" from NTUC to reduce the heatiness in my body. Heard from my colleague that drinking it will help the ulcer go away faster. Hope it works for me...

Dinner (I don't think so...)

Breakfast
3/4 red apple
2 slices of white bread with tuna

Lunch
Mixed vegetables rice (without rice) of tang hoon, bitter gourd, lemon chicken & minced pork

Tea break
Vegetable pau
1 mini cream puff
1 mini chocolate eclair
2 soon kueh
3/4 of mini Danish pastry
1 mini slice of fish fillet
*except for the vege pau which I bought, the rest of the tea break were leftovers from the company meeting.

Dinner
Looking at the stuffs I've ate above, I shouldn't even be thinking of having anything for dinner except fruits.

My weekly exercise has gone downhill.... It's been about 3 weeks since I last had my twice per week run. It's time to head the tracks!

It's Her Birthday!!!

Celebrated Sis's birthday @ Tony Roma's as Mummy had the $40 voucher from DBS.

. appetizer sampler . onion loaf . baked potato soup .
. St. Louis-Style Ribs (carolina honeys) . steak & fish fillet combo . apple crisp .

The appetizer sampler was served with carolina honeys wings, potato skins, mozzarella sticks and three dipping sauces. The wings were a tad too sweet for our liking, but love the potato skin. Onion loaf was very oily but nice too. Soup and ribs taste delicious as before. However, the steak and fish fillet did not captured our taste buds. Actually I wanted to have the Skillet Cookie Sundae (giant chocolate chip baked in a cast iron skillet, topped with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge) for dessert *slurp*, but Sis said that it might be too sweet, therefore we ordered the apple crisp as decided by the B'day gal.

Oops, I did not prepare any present for Sis this year (wondered if I bought her anything last year too. keke). But being her little sister, I know that it's best and safer to get what she really wants. So past me your wish list, Sis!!!

Lebanese Food and Ben & Jerry's

Meet up with Janice and Yingwei after my driving revision today. We shopped @ Bugis for about an hour 1st and decided to proceed to Baladi for dinner at 6.30pm though I made the reservation for 7.30pm.

. 1st row - interior .
. chicken platter . beef platter . small pizzas .
. mint tea, mango/peach yogurt . menu . light .

We ordered the chicken/beef platter instead of their wrap as the waitress mentioned that the wrap has no fries included. Therefore, I assumed that the last time I came, I ordered the platter too. When the food arrived, it was not the same as the previous time. Ok fine, since this has more meat and fries (as said by the waitress). Took a bite of the chicken and fries and it was not hot at all! We told the waitress about it and she offered to heat it up for us. It was still the same after the reheating. We decided to just have it lukewarm as we were hungry already. Ordered the small pizzas and it tastes like cheese/meat bread which we don’t find it tasty at all.

When we asked for the bill, the cook asked how the food was and I feedback to him that the food was not hot at all even after reheating it. He apologies about it and when the waitress came back with the change, she too apologies again.

Nice ambience + nice fries + not bad service = 3rd try?

After dinner, it was only 7.45pm and we thought that it was too early too head home as it was a Saturday night after all. So, I suggested Ben and Jerry @ Suntec as I’ve not really tried their ice cream before and it was a new branch.

. menu . mix & match .
. our ice-cream . sign board .

We shared the Mix & Match of cherry garcia, chocolate fudge brownie and chocolate chip cookie. Perhaps we ordered the wrong flavours as we find their ice cream normal only. Will try their other more unique flavours in future.

After the sweet dessert, we head back home and luckily I was back in time to watch "The sad love story". keke

Korean Food @ Togi

Dinner was a Togi Korean Restaurant @ Mosque Street with Sis and Zr.

Though I had tea time of pau at home and they had Chippy’s Triple C over at Far East, we still ordered quite a few dishes.

. side dishes . chicken soup . cutting the chicken .
. kimchi tuna fried rice . kimchi tuna ramen . saba fish .

The ginseng chicken was nothing to rave about as I don’t really fancy ginseng soup and the chicken was rather bland. The rest of the dishes were nice. This time they added quite a lot of tuna chunks into the ramen. I remembered the last time I went there with Lx, only a couple chunks or tuna could be found in her ramen

We were bloated after the dinner; however, we could not think of any places to hang out, therefore Zr drove us home. If only Sg has more night markets like Bangkok…

Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai @ Jubilee Hall.

Went to watch Hainanese Opera - Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai (Butterfly Lovers) after work today. Daddy asked if we wanted to go as I think he has extra tickets so Sis and went along.

We had dinner at Chin Chin (along Purvis Street) 1st before heading to Raffles Hotel- Jubilee Hall for the show. It had been a long time since I last went Chin Chin to have dinner. We used to have dinner frequently there last year when I was working near town area. Too bad, they serve the Chinese style mutton soup only on Friday, Sat and Sun. Anyhow, we still had the other delicious Hainanese food.

. menu . ladle and bowls . hainanese mixed vegetables .
. hainanese pork chop . chicken . bitter gourd soup .
. kaya toast . the one and only pink London cab in Sg . pink “bread” van

. Raffles Hotel - Jubilee Hall.

. Background - Zhu Yingtai (dressed as a male) & Liang Shan Bo .
. Foreground - Zhu Yingtai & Liang Shan Bo .

Sis, Mummy and I did not stay for the whole show and we left after the 6th part as we were too tired having to read the Chinese subtitles screen which was placed at the side of the stage. Daddy stayed for the whole show and he said that 2 fake butterflies “flew” down from the top to the stage during the last part. Haha, so that was what the 2 strings were for...

Initiative

"You got to be initiative to follow up on the issues between our company and your colleague" said a customer.

If I were to do so for everything I passed on to someone for follow-up, then I think I'll have to work more than 8 hours a day.

But am I paid enough to do that much?

Lunch @ Crystal Jade Kitchen (Holland V)

We had lunch at Holland Village Crystal Jade Kitchen today for Shirlyn’s belated birthday and farewell lunch for Yingwei. I seldom visit CJ Kitchen as I’m not really into porridge and Chinese noodle but as Ghaya have not tried before we decided to head there.

We ordered the following:

1. claypot tofu with diced chicken and salted fish (comparable with I.T)
2. lemon chicken (I seriously don’t know why they ordered this as I’ll rather get their specialty - roasted duck/pork)
3. shrimp rice roll (does not melt in the mouth like I.T)
4. pan fried carrot cake (too mushy, prefer I.T)
5. local spinach with oyster sauce (normal)
6. char siew pastry (nice)
7. glutinous rice chicken (pic says it all - below average. prefer I.T) you’)
8. deep fried pork ribs (normal -with tinge of garlic taste)

*Imperial Treasure = I.T
*Crystal Jade = CJ

I guess I'll stick to their specality dishes like roasted duck, pork or porriege if I were to go CJ Kitchen again. Personally, I prefer some of I.T dim sum and dishes to CJ Kitchen. Speaking of CJ, nothing beats their CJ Palace's “palace fried rice” and fried fish fillet... *slurp*

Saturday @ Dhoby Ghaut

Went to Plaza Sing with Sis in the late afternoon as she wanted to go to Spotlight and check out something. After walking around for an hour, we decided have a rest and have high tea @ for Cosy Tea. It’s actually a vintage store which has a small restaurant in it. Too bad, we weren’t allowed to take pictures as the table ware and décor were rather exquisite. We shared the scones and I had the tea tasters which consist of 4 small cups of Lavender, Rose, Earl Grey and Raspberry while Sis had a cup pf Early Grey. Overall it was a nice experience.

. noodle omelete with ham and cheese .

ZR met up with us for a simple dinner at the food court as we’ll be heading down to a newly opened restaurant bar - Giraffe, located over at the Istana Park to chill out.
The couches were not very comfortable for chilling out; therefore we stayed for about an hour and headed home after our drinks and wedges. Interior design of the palce looks good, wonder how's the food?

. giraffe . entrance . perrier (sis's) .
. heniken(zr's) . ice latte (mine) . wedges .
. entrance . foam . me and sis .

Hair Cut by Richard

I went to Compass Point to have my haircut today after work as my hair stylist was relocated to one of the salon there. It might be my last time having him to cut my hair as he’ll be going to Penang to start up a salon. As I mentioned to him that I might be going to Redang in June, he suggested dropping by Penang after my trip and I can have my haircut and rebonding (which is 6 months since I last did it) there. Haha, great suggestion. Maybe I should think about it since Mummy has a friend staying in Penang. Maybe I can meet up with Mummy over there??

Alternatively, he recommended his colleague to me and perhaps I can go to her next time to try out their rebonding. Hopefully, she’ll be able to cut my hair the way he does it or maybe better? We’ll see…

Absolut IceBar Stockholm VS Office

I feel like I'm back to the Absolut IceBar Stockholm when I'm in the office.
No joke on it, the toilet mirrors are covered with "mist" due to the condensation and the walls near the door are wet too. Plus, I heard from the cleaning auntie that the floors dries up only around 9.30am though she mops it before 8.30am.
It's freaking cold here *brrr brrr* BUT the weather outside is scorching hot when we're out for lunch...

Sugar cakes

Sugar cakes used to be my favorite snack when I was younger. Wrapped in a pink paper, these sticks of sugar cakes are sweet and soft which melts in the mouth.

Passed by a push cart this evening which sells many different kind of chinese snacks and I bought the below. It’s the sesame version and it’s actually my 1st time eating it. Somehow, I don’t really enjoy it as much as I used to. But anyhow, it’s nice to reminisce about those days when I used to eat them in my grandma’s place…

Where're my blind spots???

Argh….. Why can’t I just drive properly??? I keep on forgetting to check my blind spots and do safety checks when parking. I seriously got to remind myself to do those during my next few lessons else I’ll be so dead for my test which is booked for at the end of this month.

On another note, my shoulders are aching and how I great it'll be if I can have a shoulder massage now…

A pic to motivate myself
Cute Pink Beetle Convertible

Lovely Present

Received the below present from Lx when she went to BKK recently. Haha, she knows that I've lots of earrings therefore it's the perfect gift!! Thank you!

As you can see, it's not filled up as I did not hang all the earrings I have because I'm afraid that they might tarnish if left in the "open". Therefore, only a few are up on the holder. No worries, I'm sure as time goes by, more will be added to it. keke

On another note, I'm still in the mood on doing digi scraping and have just offered my colleague to help her do one over the weekend. As there aren't many "piece of cake" layout online, I got to start doing the scraping from scratch with the use of downloaded papers/embellishments etc ...

Unexpected

Life is weird.

Sometimes, things happens when you least expect it.

But when you're looking forward to it, it does not happen.

p/s: not that I'm complaining that it happened :p

"Super Madnes" Lunch

Today’s driving lesson was a drag as I don’t like the instructor. It was the same instructor which I had for my last Sat lesson. He’s a new instructor to me and somehow I feel like he does not “understand” me as he’s not the few instructors which was assigned to me for my 30+ lessons over the past 3 months

Hope that I don’t get him for my next few revisions…*fingers crossed*

After lesson, Mummy and I headed down to a temple at Balestier before going to Novena Sqaure for lunch as I wanted to try Ichiban Boshi’s Super Madness $5 set meal, which starts only from 3pm .

The set meal was value for money as the set comes with a choice of main course, tea/coke, miso soup and gyoza.

. menu . wasabi . black pepper salmon set (mummy's) .
. pork cutlet curry set (mine) . gyoza . miso soup .
. wasabi and ginger slices . interior . iciban boshi .

As we'll be having steamboat for dinner tomorrow, we went to Bishan NTUC to buy the necessary ingredients. Can't wait for it as we've been saying for the longest time to have steamboat at home and finally we gonna do it!!