FaceBook for kids

I grew up in an era where the walkman was the most prized possession any kid could have, in school. Computers were, more often than not, unheard of (I could only draw symmetrical lines on mine) what more the internet and everyone carried a phone card (do those things still exist?)

These days, kids are walking around with MP3 players, mobile phones that play music and takes pretty pictures, FaceBook-MySpace-Twitter accounts and the list goes on.

What's going to happen to Generation-Z?!

ps. I overheard a pretty interesting conversation over breakkie this morning. Some ladies were discussing the possibility of starting their teenage kids on driving lessons with their driving instructor. Can you believe their instructor is still teaching? Well, neither could they, as they were working out the driving instructor's age when they were being taught (She must be pushing 60 now). Anyways, the whole point of the discussion was whether to allow their kids to learn on the automatic transmission or to learn how to drive a manual one. They spent about 20 minutes discussing this. The topic wouldn't even come up had it been their time. Kids these days have too many choices. Maybe that's the reason some keep making the wrong ones...

Photo Blog : Raw Fish Salad

It's a huge thing for the Chinese to have this dish during the Lunar New Year. Over the years, the meaning has changed a little, but in general, it's for prosperity. Everything about the Lunar New Year is about prosperity. Here's this year's Raw Fish Salad

Raw Fish Salad

Dulux Ad

I took this from FaceBook again. Once in a while, they do put up interesting adverts. I remember a fresco I was mesmerised by in a palace in Germany. The artist managed to make the side wall look 3 storey's high although it was only 5 or 6 meters tall.

Locks away!

Got my locks cut yesterday. Not a spur of the moment thing, although I sounded it out to the hubs, in case he had an adverse reaction to it. But no... he didn't and I'm loving it!

It's short, just above the shoulders, easy to maintain. I probably won't need to blow it dry after a wash, but it's always better to shape it. After all, you never know whom you're going to run into when you leave your house... sometimes it's that crush you had in Kindy and you'll always want to look presentable.

Anyways, did the first wash this morning and I only had to use half the shampoo (excellent money saving here), no conditioner (there's not enough hair to condition!) and blew it dry in record time!

I think I'm going to have to maintain this length for some years. The last time I had this style was six years ago.

Locks Away

Shopping in Heels

I guess when I was younger... like a lot of years ago... nah... like last year (!) I could walk for hours on end in heels shopping. These days, I can't even survive a couple of hours. I had to do about three today and the soles of my feet hurt something chronic. It wasn't even a rushed shopping trip, window shopping as I was waiting for the hubs to have dinner.

Whinged to the hubs... he wondered how it's possible that I didn't buy a new pair of different height. Even I'm shocked! *grin*

$1.93

Things that you can buy for a dollar ninety-three...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ah... forget it!

Petrol... that's how much one litre costs these days. I thought it was a whole lot less than that, when did it go back up so high? Grant that I've been home bound for the past year, plus the fact that the hubs is the one driving the car and filling it up, maybe that's why I never noticed it gradually going up.

Maybe I should just be happy that we have a car to put petrol in and that we can still afford to pay $1.93 for a litre of petrol.

Steak craving

Last night, the hubs was looking to have some steak for dinner. We chugged down to Orchard, and ended up at Ion Orchard, thinking that we'd be spoilt for choice. But we were totally flabbergasted. There are no steak restaurants in the WHOLE of Ion Orchard. Most of the big brands have stand alone shops in there; LV, Harry Winston, Gucci, Channel... how can they not have a steak restaurant? Maybe someone should think of opening one there. Even the concierge was a little taken aback. Steak? Uhm... (and he flips open the directory pamphlet open) No, sorry, but there are only Japanese and fusion dining places here. Right!

Anyways, to satisfy his steak craving, we dined at Jack's Place tonight. Surprisingly, they still do pretty great steaks and their service has never ceased to surprise us. Only because the old aunty remembers us. Not that we dine there that often... I think it's just my cute hub's face she remembers *grin*

French Tips

I took up a pedicure package... about three years ago. There's only supposed to be 10 sessions. To date, I've only used 8. It has been pretty difficult to use these sessions up. Why? Even if I went there every other month, I should have finished it by now, no?

I think it's because of the pedicurist available for this particular chain. Most of them are not all that experienced. My package allows me to have a French pedicure done or a foot and lower leg scrub. Seeing that I can pretty much scrub my own foot and lower leg, most of the time, I try to take up the French tip one. For those of you who are not familiar with what a French pedicure is, it's the one where white tips are painted following the contour of the toenail.

They're not as easy to do as one would think. My latest would be an example. She wasn't very experienced, and even as she has painted the tips neatly, they are grotesquely thick. On a couple of my toes, it looks as if she's drawn the white tip on half the toe. One other thing that irks me about their professionalism, I can almost always see bum cracks when they're attending to their other clients. Oh, well... just another two sessions and I won't have to see them again.

Food Blog : Ikea Chicken Wings

Of all the things that Ikea sells, their restaurant here is doing extremely well. Before the second branch was open in the East, the restaurant was usually full. It was extremely difficult to find a seat, let alone share a table. And it wasn't because they were serving caviar or lobsters. Their menu was simple and affordable. Beef and pork balls with potato and ligonberry sauce, lightly grilled salmon, a few salads and baked chicken.

Anyways, these days, their menu consist of a mixture of local fare like mixed rice with two side dishes and some amazing fried honey chicken wings. Not everyone can evenly fry chicken wings, leaving them crispy on the outside, evenly cooked on the inside and still moist. I hate eating wings which still have uncooked red bits inside.

Okay, enough about the chicken wings, you've just got to try it.

Inglourious Basterds

The hubs and I finally watched this on the DVD. Got to admit that I didn't find it all too entertaining. Sure it had some gore, the scalping thing was pretty gory, but the machine gun scenes were too quick. Couldn't see who got shot where until everyone was down... in 2 seconds.

We watched it during dinner (which is not something you'd want to do with the scalping...) and had time during the movie to read the newspaper while most of the conversation was going on in German (I would've fallen asleep if we watched it in the cinema). I guess it's more of a non-action movie. Something that Mr Tarantino is not used to producing. I still love his Kill Bill series.

Good bits were the accents by Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger; German, French, English, American and Italian.

Wipeout Australia

I think I watch this reality show only for the Aussie commentators. They are just the best. Where do they come up with their lines?! It's a reality show, it can't be scripted, right?

It's my third episode today and I never would've found it had I not been channel surfing over the long weekend. First round, 20 participants go through a 4-obstacle course where only 12 with the fastest time will go through to the next round. 6 will be eliminated in the second round and 2 on the third. The grand prize is $20k. Not such a bad thing for the weird obstacle courses they have to go through. Today's episode doesn't have interesting participants, so the commentators have their work cut out for them. Yesterday's episode had a parking officer, a lady with an evil laugh, a nurse and a red headed boy. The commentators had a field day with them.

Meanwhile, the show itself is pretty boring (slippery and spinning courses being their major obstacles) if not for the excellent giggle inducing comments and Benny Hill background music.

Data Enty Clerks

I had the strangest brush with immigration early this morning, while coming back home from our Lunar New Year festivities in Malaysia.

Apparently the passport which I've been using for the past seven years, while living here with residency status, suddenly doesn't match the number that's in the system. Hmm... did I have any problems coming out of the country? No... no one stopped me from leaving the country. So what happened? Because on top of it not being a new passport, I have forty pages of the various country's, which I've visited over the years, immigration stamps in it. I don't know... it totally didn't make any sense, especially at three in the morning.

So we chugged over to the office and a kind officer straightened everything out. I won't have anymore problems leaving and coming into the country again. That's good to know. I was told that the system was updated over the long weekend and I guess someone typed in one wrong number.

Lunar New Year ~ Passing the time

As little kids, it was pretty easy to pass our time during the Lunar New Year till we had to go to school again. Frequent visits to our relative's and family friend's house, collecting 'Ang Pow' and eating an assortment of cookies, crackers and food, made the time pass pretty quickly.

That was then. Now that I'm an adult, and a married one at that, plus I don't have many family on this side of the world to visit, what would I do to fill in the time? Play with the little kids. Right! Out comes the UNO cards, playing cards and maybe boardgames. Once the kids are suitably satisfied... what do the adults get up to?

I don't know what everyone else gets up to, but we do friendly mahjong games. Everyone thinks that it's just to pass the time, and hopefully gain some money out of it, but it requires loads of brain work, if you'd like to play it well. You'd have to figure out what everyone else is trying to do with their given tiles and hope that they won't win with the tile that you throw out or that you'll win before anyone else does.

The reason why the elderly play it, is to prevent the early onset of dementia. It is believed that the more you use your brain, the longer you can keep dementia at bay. And it's amazing watching the professionals play. They've been playing the game for so many years that some can even picture their tiles in the correct order in their head, while it's a mess on the table. Or that they can feel the grooves in the tile and know what they're holding in their hand without having to look at the tile.

I can't do either. I haven't been playing the game for long, but I do enjoy playing it and that's the only game that I ended up playing for the past couple of days in order to pass the time.

Lunar New Year ~ Traditions

The Lunar New Year brings families together. According to the Chinese calendar, it's the first day of the new year. Not only do the Chinese celebrate this day, but it's a public holiday in a lot of the countries located in Asia, so everyone who's not Chinese also gets to enjoy the celebrations.

Fire crackers are set off at the stroke of midnight to scare the evil spirits away. I remember growing up in Malaysia in the 80s, waiting with my brothers and cousins for the stroke of midnight. Popping sounds would echo through the night and almost everyone wouldn't be asleep. Later on in the years, the kind of firecrackers got interesting with coloured bursts and interesting sounds. I remember most vividly my younger brother getting injured by them through no fault of his, most of the time. They are now banned in Malaysia and Singapore.

Other than public holidays and firecrackers, it is an aged old Chinese tradition for families and friends to gather during this time to make merry and stuff their tummy with an array of cookies, meats and the traditional 'Yu Sang'. Literally translated, 'Yu Sang' means 'Fish Raw'. It's a dish where various vegetables are julienne and neatly placed on a circular dish, slices of raw fish is apparent, sauces and spices are added and everyone shouts out auspicious wishes while tossing it. Of course you have to eat some when all the tossing is done. Every part of the dish signifies some fortune or something.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, daughters who have married and moved out will return to their parent's place to pay their respects as their husband so happens to live far, far away, don't have the opportunity to visit that often. A lot of the traditions are brought down from great great grandparents and we still follow them, or at least try to maintain them.

Ever since I've moved to Singapore, I don't go back to visit my parents for the Lunar New Year. We're not all that sticky on Chinese traditions, I guess. Besides, it's not economical for us to fly back during the peak season *grin*

Valentine's Day

Eight years ago, I was proposed to... today. Wow... it's been eight years and I can still remember the event as clearly as it was just yesterday. I've been prone to not remember certain things... more so events that are more than two years old. The hubs can attest to this.

Sometimes he'll bring me to a park (there are numerous national parks in Singapore) and I'll be asking if I've been there before. Yes... but it was quite a while ago. Yeah... that's why I don't remember being here. After all, one lush green park looks like another.

Anyways, I didn't know I was going to be proposed to. We usually don't go out for dinner on Valentine's Day, unable to accept the overpriced meal, so we have steak at home.

I remember it being a workday. I think the hubs came back early, as all I had to do was eat dinner. I didn't notice the decorated ceiling above our dining table until I wondered why the desktop fiber optic chrissy tree that we have was upturned and the light from the base was aimed at the ceiling. The hubs had meticulously stuck confetti stars around the dining light. What a sweetheart! Meanwhile, I still didn't think anything of it, as it was Valentine's Day, a little decoration would be suitable.

After dinner, which was delicious, the hubs went off and left me sitting at the dining table. He came back with a bunch of flowers (where he hid that, I don't know...) in one hand, got down on one knee, produced a ring box in another hand (where he hid THAT, I don't know...) and popped the question!

And they say that the rest is history *grin*

Okay... I was very, very, very shocked, I must have cried too and in the midst of all that, I said yes. Later we went out walking to buy ice-cream from the petrol station across from where we live and the 20 questions came out.

I can't believe the amount of forethought that went into that night. It was all very devious... the hubs chose the ring, made sure it was the correct size by testing out one of my rings on his finger, even bought it from the goldsmith shop which was located in a shopping mall I've never been with him to.

And apparently he wanted to pop the question twelve days before, the 2nd of Feb that year being a pretty interesting date to remember, but I was working that night or had to meet an ex-workmate or something.

And if Valentine's Day didn't work, he would've done it on the 20th. So he's been keeping the ring for a whole month? I need to look into his drawers now for anymore hidden jewellery...

Suffice to say, I'm glad he asked and even more glad that I didn't have to think to say yes. It just felt right.

Traffic Jams

I HATE traffic jams. Living in Australia and Singapore has given me the lucky chance to escape them. But the hub's family lives in Malaysia and we're usually there for the Lunar New Year (LNY) reunion dinner. He's got a huge family, 4 other siblings. Everyone makes it a point to gather at his parent's place with their kids, so it's a pretty great opportunity to catch up and eat till our tummy explodes.

This year, seeing that the eve of the LNY falls on a Saturday, we didn't expect an abundant of cars to head into Malaysia in the late arvo of Saturday. Most people would've tried to head there on Friday night or evening after work. So, we thought why not after breakfast, but sleep got the better of us and we took off after lunch instead. When we got to Singapore's customs and immigration point, it was smooth sailing. No cars crawling on the lead up to the point and no cars waiting to see an immigration officer. We were in high hopes. The hub's family lives 20 minutes away. We'll get there with plenty of time to spare, maybe take a nap. Cars not inching on the bridge either. Yay!

Our gleefulness was short-lived. Cars were inching 1km away from the Malaysian immigration and customs point. It took us an hour and a half to get to an officer. Boy do traffic jams make us tired.

Pistachio Fridge Cookies

Pistachio Fridge Cookies

It's my first time attempting this and I'm kind of happy at the way it has turned out. Heaps easy to make, only wish that I was doing this in a cold country as butter doesn't do well here. I still can't get puff pastry to work, even when I was placing it on the marble table.

I wasn't able to roll the dough... being sticky and everything. Might have to invest in a half circle baking tray or place it in the fridge for 8 minutes before rolling it over the crushed pistachios.

iPod Touch

I finally succumbed to the need to upgrade my OS on the iPod Touch. It took me a whole hour to get to the actual download page as I needed to set up a MAC account too, on top of the iTunes account that I already have. Crazy Apple people... and the only reason why it took me so long is because I couldn't set up the MAC account using iTunes, like it suggested.

Anyways, it's nice to know that FaceBook has updated it's application on this device and placed the 'post' button far away from the keyboard. When it first came out, there were plenty of people mistyping and posting before the post was ready. With a few other face lifts, one just needs to relearn how to use the application again. It's a typical FaceBook thing.

The one thing that I'm happy about is that I can update my Twitter account without having to log on to the MacBook. If only this Twitter application had a logout option. I'm not used to keeping my internet accounts logged on, forever.

14 Blades

I have to hand it to Daniel Lee. His action movies are just awesome! Well, I think he's only done Three Kingdoms : Resurrection of the Dragon and 14 Blades, but if he's going to direct more, be sure to catch them! Maybe like wine, directors get better with age too!

I originally liked the way Zhang Yimou directed his movies. Although he's got more than 10 movies under his belt, I've only watched Hero and House of Flying Daggers. If you haven't watched either, you've GOT to watch them.

Anyways, 14 Blades. What did I like about it?
Fight sequences were awesome. Not a lot of gore, arterial spray and the hero doesn't really get injured... only when he met his match in the Femme Fatale that Tuo Tuo was. Her character was great! The evil eyes... the moving faster than her clothes can. All very good CGI. The ultimate was the 14th Blade. Upon release, it separates into 4 different blades and if your body is in the way of its projectile, you're definitely getting seriously mortally injured.

What didn't I like about it?
Nothing that I can think of at the moment. It wasn't draggy or long, the pace was just right, the fight sequences filled the voids and got the story moving.

I would buy the DVD, just to catch the movie without having to read the subtitles at the same time. I can't for the life of me understand Mandarin.

Food Blog : Ajiman Ramen

We were in the neighbourhood, Orchard Road. With the number of new shopping complexes being opened on this stretch of road, it is a wonder how some of the shops are able to survive in this cutthroat world. Take for instance 313 @ Somerset and Orchard Central. They are located right next to each other, so what's the pull factor? If you're taking the MRT and stop at the Somerset station, you will chance upon 313 first. Just a short walk away... Orchard Central. And according to my observations, Orchard Central would be more of a food complex as compared to the plethora of clothes, shoes and accessories that are in 313.

Anyways, while getting a feel of the food shopping complex, sometime last year, I chanced upon Ajiman Ramen. It's their first branch in Singapore and were trying very hard to paint themselves as not Ajisen Ramen. Anyways, as I like Ramen, the hubs and I ventured in and had a fabulous meal the first time round.

After a disappointing meal the other night, at another Ramen shop, we ventured into Ajiman again for dinner. They are my all time favourite Ramen shop now. Their soup stock has just the right amount of miso and pork base, not making it sickly thick at the end of your meal and the yellow noodles are springy. Having first tried Ramen in Hokkaido, I usually order the Butter Corn one. Generous helping of young sweet corn, head and tailless beans sprouts and strips of wood mushroom. Yummy, yum, yum, YUM!

You have to try their Chawanmushi too. The steamed egg pudding is smooth and flavourful. It comes piping hot, without any hidden ginkgo nut, just a piece of chicken, crab meat and a couple of sliced mushrooms.

Butter Corn Ramen

Photo Blog : Where do old computers go?

We're waiting for the recycling person to come pick these up. I can't believe what a computer geek the hubs is *grin*

Dinosaur Parts

Food Blog : Ajisen

Meal times during the weekends are always the hardest for us, trying to figure out what to eat, depending on the time that we're awake. Yeah, weekends are for sleep ins and arvo naps.

We ended up at the Macca's at IMM for breakfast. IMM is a shopping complex located near our place and they have the best parking rates on the west side of this island. It's free for the first three hours, on your first entry. You're probably wondering how people can spend more than three hours at a shopping complex that has no cinemas. Well, you can... sometimes waiting in line to get a new phone or to pay for groceries. So far, I don't think we've spent more than 3 hours in there... since they've started charging for parking.

Anyways, we went back there for dinner and this time we had to pay for parking. They don't take into account that you didn't spend three hours the first time you entered their parking complex.

Right... it's a food review. When we first came back from Hokkaido, we were so in love with Ramen that we had to try all the restaurants that sold it here. I think Ajisen was the first one we tried. Didn't match up, so we never went back. Of course we were comparing Platinum to Silver.

15 months later, we're back and it's not so bad... I had the Butter Corn Miso. Noodles tasted fresh enough, none were clumped up together. Soup was thick and tasty. Corn was young and sweet. Those are the good bits. Now for the bad bits. The Char Siew was overcooked. Beans sprouts had tails and was slightly blanched. Somehow the half raw beans sprouts found here does not taste the same as the Aussie ones. We also ordered a side dish of fried Silver fish. The dish came not crunchy, drizzled with some sweet and lemony sauce and sprinkled with a dash of chili pepper. Sauces for fried Silver fish should come on the side.

Maybe we'll give them another 15 months.

Photo Blog : Pussy Willow

A Lunar New Year tradition, the first year it's brought into my home, hopefully it will bring me prosperity in the coming Year of the Tiger

Pussy Willow Gone Wild

Photo Blog : Piano Bauble

My ex-boss gave this to me when she was leaving the company. It's pretty and my first Swarovski gem.

Piano Bauble

Photo Blog : C Sharp

It's been a while since I last played the Piano. Can't believe I still remember how to play it, what more some particular scores.

C Sharp

Food Blog : Botak Jones

There's a name you don't associate with food. The first thing that comes to mind? A bald westerner... a bald westerner who's lived or is living in an Asian country, one that uses the first word "botak", which is Malay for bald. Anyways, I'm glad Jones came to live in Singapore and decided that he couldn't find a place which served great steaks at reasonable prices.

The Botak Jones chain is generally located in a non air-conditioned food centre, so you don't have to pay for the atmosphere. Open kitchen concept and lots of wait staff running around the food centre, mirroring the service quality of a restaurant within the food centre.

Anyways, for dinner, I felt like having some steak. In the suburb where we live, there are not a lot of places for us to have good steak so we drove over to the next suburb to have some steak. We usually don't go to this branch, as the first time we tried it, we were sorely disappointed with the done-ness of the steak. But last night's dinner was scrumptious. What more, we had a one-for-one, being loyal eaters of the chain.

I survived a Japanese game show

My apologies, but I was channel surfing again.

So there's this trend which the Japanese started. Their game shows are really, really ruthless, embarrassing and stupid. So much so that some people are actually tickled by it. To me, the hilarious part is the availability of contestants.

Meanwhile, in the above show, created by the Americans, the contestants are Americans who audition and are flown to Tokyo to participate in the game show, which is specially set up for this particular show. Like all reality game shows the process of elimination determines the ultimate winner. Prize money, a quarter of a million dollars. The group is divided into two, they first play against each other, the winning group gets a treat and the losing group has to do a forfeit before sending a couple of their weakest 'links' for a final challenge and the loser gets eliminated. Crazy stunts. I can't see this going into more than 2 seasons.

Slogans that make you go hmm...

Took this from Facebook. Doesn't really make you want to purchase anything, does it? Maybe the ad agency thought that if people looked, they would find something that they liked, so getting them to look would be the first priority.

Maybe it's just me, I didn't have the urge to look.