Last day of the year

It's the last day of 2010, I can't believe how fast this year has been.
And the best part about it is that I'll have this blog to remember it by.
Here's to another brilliant year 2011!
Happy new year one and all... Eat, drink and be merry... responsibly *grin*

Secret Garden

I know this is bad, but what can you do when you have time off from work but to catch up on your dramas!

Secret Garden is probably one of the best Korean dramas for this year, and the drama team is ending the year on a good note. Nothing since Boys Over Flowers came out back in 2008 has made me swoon. Not over the actors so much as the interesting storyline.

The story is about a rich dude (shopping centre president) and a poor girl (stunt woman). Aren't they all like that? Scriptwriters have given the rich dude some really good lines and the actor has managed to pull off on the acting. Also love the scary mother, as you would have, I haven't seen a drama where the super rich family has a mother and father who would be so kind to the uncultured, poor and not so pretty girlfriend (yeah, where would the drama be in that?)

The leading man is Hyun Bin. Tall, dark and handsome he used to be, but he has recently lost a lot of weight on his face and is looking rather haggard in this drama. I preferred his look when he was doing World's Within. Don't know who the leading actress is but her facial expressions are really good, especially when a soul switch happens between the both of them!

And instead of recycling a grand mansion, they have managed to find a place with sprawling gardens and a couple of beautiful studio houses. Love the wall to ceiling bay windows, open concept interior design and a quaint lake at the back of the house. How do I get me one of those?!

The shoe queen

I didn't think it would be possible or that I'd actually do it, but I've managed to buy six pairs of shoes today, all for the equivalent price of a discounted branded shoe!

I've been looking around for a comfortable pair of work shoes for the longest time and it's been rather difficult because for one, I haven't been wearing closed shoes for the longest time (living in this humid country just doesn't warrant walking around with shoes that don't air very well) and two, the choices of comfortable shoes here don't really exist for the price I'm willing to pay. So I was resigned to the fact that I might have to opt for some branded shoes, you know, the ones that cost at least a thousand dollars for a pair. Walking into the various boutiques and looking through their designs didn't even pique me. Let's face it, the fashion was a litte on the boring side (read suitable for older people).

So I chugged back to Nine West (my absolute favourite shop from when I first discovered it in Australia) and managed to find five pairs to my delight! These ones should last me for the year, ya?

ps. I need a new shoe cabinet!

Grilled meats for dinner

The hubs and I had yummy Korean food again tonight.
Hangari Galbi located on the 8th floor of Orchard Central.
This time we tried the unmarinated short ribs done medium *yum*
Unfortunately, the bulgogi chicken didn't come out the way we expected it to. We thought it was going to be marinated in the bulgogi sauce then grilled. But it came out like a watery stirfried dish.
But we would definitely go back as it has become one of our favourite Korean restaurants. We just know what to order the next time we're there *grin*

Weather Indicator

I don't know if I've written about the weather before. Contrary to what everyone says, it is an interesting topic.

When I was younger and living in Malaysia, we didn't really pay attention to the weather forecast because it would be either sunny or rainy or sunny with light rain, typical forecasts for tropical islands. Then we moved to Australia, and I started to pay attention to the weather forecasts because it was going to be close to 4 seasons a year. Where we stayed, it was more like Winter for 9 months and Summer for 3 which was not a lot different from Malaysia but at least the temperature varied quite a bit. Anyways, I moved back to the tropical island area, this time to Singapore and didn't bother about the forecasts again. Just never leave the house without a brolly.

So when the hubs was posted to Europe recently, the weather suddenly became interesting again. What more with the iPhone weather app, pretty pictures have been formed and are keeping me amused especially since it's Winter and snowing at the moment.

Travel Chaos Part 4

People are still stranded in Europe and I'm glad I'm not one of them and neither is the hubs.
It would've been really bad to have to spend Chrissy at the airport, cold, hungry and thoroughly depressed.

Ho, ho, ho and all that jazz

So Merry Chrissy everyone... and all that jazz.

What does Chrissy mean to me this year...

The holiday season
It's just another holiday, as I'm working again, and this year Chrissy so happens to fall on a Saturday, I get another day added to my annual leave. Which means I can take it at any time I want to which is better than proclaiming Monday a holiday and closing the office.

Log cakes
Well, I have to admit, I don't really fancy log cakes, especially ones in the black forest flavour, which seems to be the flavoured-log-shaped cake underneath all that icing theme this year. Which means I haven't bought any log cakes this year (nor any other year, for that matter)

Travel time
This year, the onset of Chrissy has brought travel chaos to the world. Nothing as exciting as the Iceland volcano, but chaos nonetheless. It has been snowing heavily over UK and Europe, filling runways with too much snow and depleting the various airport's de-icing supplies. Visitors and locals have been scrambling to the various operating airports trying to get flights out or back to their home in time for Chrissy. A lesson, remember never to fly during or near a holiday season, anything could happen to ruin it.

Family meals
This year, the hubs and I decided another home-cooked meal of Shabu-Shabu. I'll bet all the restaurants are milking this for all it's worth, nothing spells money supply as the holiday season does. What more, a full restaurant means having to wait for your food, plus with a hectic kitchen the quality of your meal might fall... heavily.

And that's what Chrissy means to me this year... and I'm happily waiting for more!

It's Chrissy eve and I'm still at work

No, I'm not blogging from work, although, with the number of people left in the office, which I can count with one hand and the amount of work which I have to do (which is none), I could. But no, that's just not on.

Meanwhile, unlike every other office in this area, everyone's left at around one o'clock, or earlier, which was a couple of hours before I had the above thought. Even the hubs' workplace has an official half day of work.

So should I just sneak out? Who's going to know? The phones are not ringing off the hook... and it's also because the people who usually call are not at their office. And we can always work from home...

Travel Chaos Part 3

The hubs is back!
In one piece!
Unaffected by the travel chaos!
Thank you guardian angel!
*widest grin*

Travel Chaos Part 2

The hubs is back tomorrow... if everything goes as planned. I should go to sleep soon as I'm weirdly tired, but I can't. I think it's the accumulated interrupted sleep I've been having for the past week.

Meanwhile, the hubs has said that he'll give me his blow by blow on whether he's able to get onto his connecting flights! Counting the time difference, he's not due to board his international flight till 4am tomorrow. I've read articles where planes were canceled even when the passengers were in the boarding area.

I hate it when there's chaos when you're travelling.

Travel Chaos

Oh, no... I knew something like this would happen. The hubs is due back in a couple of days time. He's actually flying off sometime tomorrow. But as luck would have it, it's snowing heavily in Europe.

Flights into and out of Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle have been canceled as it was just too unsafe to continue. People have been stranded not only at the airports, but in local areas as roads are too slippery and trains have also been unable to continue as scheduled. Luckily the oceans haven't frozen over. I think we would be in serious trouble if that happens.

Mary stayed out all night

So at some point in time, you kind of wonder how people who write dramas come out with the titles. I've been searching for a new show to watch and this one (also known as Marry Me, Mary) is currently showing on the telly. I think the one above doesn't make sense. So what if Mary stayed out all night... did something happen? Well, one episode into the show and I'm wondering if it did... she met someone, literally knocked into him... and so the story begins.

All I can say about this show now is that the actors are still adorable! And that's more than enough for me to keep watching. And what more, they're showing 2 episodes a day, which is 4 episodes a week. At least we won't have to wait long to find out what's going to happen next (or what happens at the end)!

Sunday blues

I can't believe the weekend has come and gone!
Didn't accomplish much this weekend
Was supposed to clean the house but it's not all that messy...
The laundry pile looks 4 weeks worth...
*grin*
I love living without the possibility of guests coming to visit

Meanwhile, gotta get up for work tomorrow...

Coffee House

So it's the weekend, and what would you do over the weekend but to catch up on the telly dramas which you've missed out on during the week. I'm glad we have a digital recorder... something we got recently where we can record shows (sort of like when we used to have the VCR, only we store the recorded shows on a hard drive) that we're not around to see. So I'm supposed to be catching up but what do I do instead? I went out and bought the above.

The show's about a novel writer and his life. That's just the gist of it. Now all the scriptwriters and actors have to do is to make it into an interesting 18 episode drama... making it interesting so that people would actually sit through all 18 episodes and not just 1 and 18 which is what I'm fond of doing. Sometimes, I wonder why there are so many episodes in between, especially when the show's not interesting.

Can't say that the actors are interesting to look at, so hopefully the storyline will do it for me.

Christmas and Log Cakes

I'm not sure when we (as people who have lived in Asia since birth) started adopting the presence of a (or a few) log cake to have during Christmas. Sure it's not a holiday we generally celebrate, but with the heavy western influence from the telly and even companies who set up shop here, it's not something we can ignore. Christmas trees, presents, Santa, carols, ho-ho-ho and all that jazz.

BUT... it never seems out of place when we try to fuse Asian taste buds with western food. Yeah, never out of place until they tried adding durian (the king of fruits, extremely smelly to some and a fruit that I love to eat) to everything! I've seen durian flavoured mooncakes, durian eclairs, durian filled crepes and even durian jam!

But a durian log cake??? I can't even imagine and I don't even want to taste it.

Food Blog : Kentucky Fried Chicken

Dinner today (and for the next 3 meals) will be fried chicken. Ever since Popeye's came to Singapore, I haven't been eating Kentucky's, only because I don't have a particular branch I go to (the taste is all different at the various branches) and they usually don't cook their chicken through. I hate eating chicken with red bits.

Anyways, I'm starting to get lazy, having to decide what to eat for dinner every night, whether to have it in the city before I get back or not. So today, I ordered Kentucky's, enough to feed 4-5 people. I'm not planning on leaving the house for meals over the weekend!

The best part of this was that it was extremely delicious! Can't be the fact that I haven't had it in a long time... it has to be the outlet. I wonder which branch this came from...

Biggest Loser Asia 2

I can't believe this show.
More so the pictures that they publish!
People were not meant to lose weight that quickly.
It's horrific and doesn't actually make me want to lose weight anytime soon.
Skin gets all saggy and you have a gazillion stretch marks!
Urgh...
*shudder*
Gross...

Faberge Eggs

I've never really understood the importance or value of a Faberge egg, so Google it I did and this is what I've learnt from Wiki.

There are only 42 imperial eggs left in this world...
It's a Russian thing.
Being egg-shaped, they used to be presents during Easter.
Tiny ones that could be worn as a pendant.
They are made of small gemstones coated with enamel and probably gold.
Very, very pretty little things.
There's no hope in me owning one *grin*
(I didn't need wiki to tell me the last one!)

Food Blog : Viet Cafe

There are a few branches of this chain of restaurant and I decided to try out the Battery Road one, under the Standard Chartered Bank building. Ordered the seafood vermicelli platter. It was quite awful. Their only saving grace, the lightly fried fish drowned with lemongrass batter (if you hate lemongrass I don't suggest you have it) and the cold roll. Doesn't look like I'll be going back anytime soon.

Seafood Vermicelli Platter

Haunted Hotels

This must be an interesting fact. I've lived in Singapore for the past ten or so years and I haven't heard of this before.

The Raffles Hotel Singapore has been cited to be a 5 or 6 star luxury hotel. Rooms start from $400 and go up to the thousands. They still maintain the image of concierges from when they were first established and the building itself is a hundred and twenty years old. Their Long Bar is well known for having peanut shells strewn all over the floor. For a luxury hotel, they allow patrons to mess the place up by throwing peanut shells all over the floor.

So how come it's haunted? Apparently, at the end of the Japanese occupation of Singapore (Aug, 1945), some officers decided to fall onto their ceremonial swords after learning that the British were going to win their invasion. So the spirits of the officers roam the hallways, or so they say. But that's not going to stop me from hanging out at the hotel... it's one I have yet to do.

Food Blog : Streaky Bacon

Love the smell of grilled bacon... need I say more?

I love my convection oven, which also has a grill function. Makes cleaning up so much easier. What cleaning up? Just throw the aluminum foil away after.

On the lowest rack, 5 minutes on one side, 4.5 minutes on the other. Blot with paper towels and serve warm.

Grilled Streaky Bacon

Housewarmed

It's been 10 years since we moved into this place and we're still loving the location, facilities, the resort feel and the house itself. Happy anniversary, home!

Bobby Chinn

I'm not sure if I've said this before but Bobby Chinn would be the only food presenter I would willingly watch... alongside his female counterpart, Kylie Kwong. He's a mix kid of Vietnamese and Egyptian parentage, which also helps with his looks and exotic quotient. Being born in New Zealand, having grown up in the UK and the US has made him who he is today.

Bobby just exudes charisma and he knows how to bring this across/through the telly. And he has the wackiest sense of humour... something that's so in need of a tele-presenter *grin* I find myself always grinning while watching his shows and it's not so much for the kind of food that he cooks, but for the interaction he has with the people he meets and his viewers.

Food Blog : Chick Peas

Chick peas (or Garbanzo beans) are just the best snacks. You get them raw, soak them for 12 hours in salted water, boil them in salted water on slow fire for a half hour and voila!

There are many brands, some need to be soaked longer, cooked longer and some just don't come out right. I get mine from the health food section of the supermarket. The packet reads Bob's Red Mill Premium Quality Garbanzo Beans. It's a little expensive for a packet, but it lasts a long while. I've tried the local ones, they're not as sweet or too powdery, which just causes me to cough.

In Asia, you can easily get them from the peanut seller (kacang putih man, usually an Indian in a sarong), who are a pretty rare sight these days. I think there's only one left in Singapore, in the Orchard Cineleisure.

A cup of raw Chick Peas

Muffin Waist

What in the world is a muffin waist?
Did I fall asleep while they invented this line?

Apparently it means a fat waist.
I think spare tyre is more apt, don't you?

I can't imagine a muffin on someone's waist, can you?

Fugu

Puffer fish.
Usually eaten raw.
Usually eaten in Japan.
Apparently tastes like rubber band.

It's poisonous if you accidentally cut the sac that contains the poison while preparing the fish.
Many people have keeled over because of this.
So, if you're sure you want to try this, head on to Japan.

Osaka is known to have the most restaurants which serves fugu, but if you're in Tokyo, head on down to Usukifugu Yamada-ya in the suburb of Shibuya. It's a tiny restaurant, as with most great restaurants in Japan, cozy is the word and there are only 23 seats.

Bicycle Tours

After having tried cycling in Brugge, it was interesting while surfing the web to find some cycle tours throughout Europe and some of Asia. I came by one that goes from Vienna to Budapest. It's a relaxing ride over 6 days and looking at google maps, it's not that bad...

So... how about that for a holiday plan?

Hello Kittyland

What will they come up with next? Hello Kittyland is a theme park. Apparently there's one in Tokyo, who would have thought Sanrio would eventually come up with one *grin*

Anyways, the theme park is only for the super die-hard fans of the cat. Most of the rides are kiddish, even the adults might not enjoy it, after having to queue for it.

Maybe people just go there to get an overdose of Hello Kitty, memorabilia galore!!! I remember fans going absolutely wild when Macca's decided to have collectible Hello Kitty's with their value meals, queuing up overnight just to be able to buy a pair or two of the figurines. And the worst part of it all... there were 12 to collect, 2 a week... a long month and a half!

Mischievous Kiss

Not knowing what the reviews were, I started watching this Korean drama... and it's only because of the perv factor that's a huge part of the show, the lead actor, Kim Hyun Joong. The first time he appeared in a Korean drama was for Boys Over Flowers where he acted cool and calm. Not much different from this show's portrayal either, but he's so bloody cute!

Alright, so the first few episodes were alright. It's about this duh girl who's in her final year of high school and she's in the last class, together with her best friends, with no ambition to do anything after high school. The only thing is that she's had this crush on this dude for the entire time she's been in high school (talk about an unwavering crush), which for Koreans is three years. He on the other hand, breezes through exams like the answers just stare at him, scoring full marks at every exam. One day they finally meet and after going through some interesting and funny times, I hear they end up together. Well, it wouldn't be a fairy tale if they didn't, would it? I think the directors and script writers have all decided that happy endings are much, much better than sad ones. I can't remember watching an extremely sad drama, or even a lightly sad one. Aren't I lucky?

Waffles

When in Belgium, one must always, always have a piece (or two) of waffle! They are easily found and sold everywhere. Most of them (probably for the locals) have upped their game and added fruits or syrup or ice cream. But the more simple the waffle is, the yummier it is.

I decided to try this one while having a walk along Mariastraat. It's roughly made, and the guy behind the counter wanted to know if I wanted it warmed. For sure! Warm waffles are just the yummiest! Then he dusts it with some light sugar powder and voila! Belgian waffle.

Street waffle, Brugge

My first waffle in Brugge. It was probably a bad idea to order one from the restaurant the hubs and I were having lunch in, but I couldn't resist. I ordered one with Chocolate sauce. When it came out, I was a little taken aback. Firstly, because I've never seen waffles served like this (as in the shape). Secondly, it was like really, really deep fried. The pastry was crispy and not becoming of a waffle. The texture of a waffle is somehow a little cake-ish, right? Anyways, I didn't finish this one.

Restaurant waffle, Brugge

Then when we were in Brussels, just next to the Menneken Pis, there was this waffle shop. Surprisingly none of them looked appetising enough for me to buy one *grin* Maybe it so reminded me of my restaurant waffle that I was reluctant to try it or that we had to eat it while standing.

Array of waffles, Brussels

Geeks Galore

I married a computer geek.
A really cute computer geek.
Enough said *grin*

Article taken from the Digital Life, The Straits Times