Paris is...

... HUGE!

This shouldn't shock me anymore as it's not the first time I've been to this city, but I think with all the walking that I've done over the past couple of weeks, my legs are starting to feel the strain. But then again, maybe the city is really, really HUGE!

Here is the Notre Dame with a dismal sky. It was threatening rain the whole day, but stayed cloudy, which is a good thing, walking around in the slush of autumn is no fun. I think I was planning a rather near impossible route from the Notre Dame to the Lourve to the Arc! Not actually entering the places, it should take you half a day to walk the entire length, keeping in mind that the sun sets at 5 in the evening at the moment and I have to take a half hour train back to the airport hotel.

My walk started at 3 in the afternoon and there was a super long queue of people wanting to climb the Notre Dame's tower, so I didn't do that (although it would be such a waste to not do it when you have the time. Maybe I'll need to spend a couple of weeks in Paris!) I went into the cathedral instead and I have to admit, it's HUMONGOUS! Plus I haven't been to the ones in Rome, so it was almost a culture shock. It didn't help that there were thousands of people within the cathedral!

Front facade

Inside the Cathedral

I think they purposely dim the lights within the cathedral. As with all cathedrals, tripods are not allowed, flash photography is not going to help you in places this big so you'll just have to be extremely steady with your camera and pretend that you're the tripod. Not an easy feat.

De Halve Maan

This is the only Brewery left in the city. A working brewery. The hour long tour was very, very informative and kept me on my toes. Only because we were warned that we'd have to get through over 250 steps for the duration of the tour. Half of them probably upwards, which didn't seem like a lot but the brewery is old. Old, old old, it's been around since 1856. The interesting part of the steps were ones that were so narrow that you'd have to climb down backwards. Some of the people on the tour didn't want to listen and tried to go down sideways... not a good idea.

Meanwhile, I learnt that beers with the 'triple' label is the best, although it has the largest percentage of alcohol among the beers. After the tour, everyone gets a glass of beer. If you wanted to have the triple, you could request for it. Beer is sooooooooooooo cheap in Brugge. This one comes straight from the barrel and probably cost them 50c.

Bruges Zot

Cheap beer

While wandering around in a supermarket, beer aisle. It's less than one euro a can. Amazing isn't it? Sometimes when people say that beer is cheaper than water, it's so true.

Belfry

The Belfry is old. Old, old, old. What more, it's a medieval bell tower.
It was built in 1240. That's like more than 700 years ago.

You can climb all the way to nearly the top of the tower... all 365 steps up. And it's a narrow, one person at a time kind of climb because the stairwell is old. No one thought that 'tourist' would be climbing up... yeah, I'll bet not everyone who lived in Brugge in the 13th century wanted to climb the bell tower. Only the bell boy/man would do that.

So I decided to give it a try. What's 365 steps? I've done a few of them towers before...


Up, up and away... Don't you just love the simplicity of the diagram. It didn't hit me right away, but the diagram is very, very accurate. The steps spiral up on a thin pole unlike other bell towers I've been to, and this doesn't allow two-way traffic! Well, I made it all the way up with about 4 breath stops *grin* The good thing is that I'm not the only one who did that.

Up at the top is a huge music box, you know the kind that plays music while pins are being plucked with a revolving cylindrical steel barrel. I was hoping that it would work... it usually rings every fifteen minutes, but just my luck, it was being maintained the day I climbed it. I can only imagine the vibrations and the loudness of the ringing because while I was climbing up, one of the big brass bells started to ring and it was LOUD!

Nothing much to see up at the top as two-thirds of it was under maintenance. Anyways, the coming down was pretty easy... it always is, isn't it?

Photo Blog : Misty Sheep

Winter is starting to settle in over here in Brugge. Is it early this year?

This morning there was a blanket of mist all over the place.
This picture was taken right outside the hotel.
There's a paddock with sheep.
Glad that they're being kept warm with their fluffy curly wurly coat.

Misty Sheep

Photo Blog : Calm Waters

Calm waters make for a great reflection, especially when the sky is clear and blue and there's no wind!

The old city of Brugge is surrounded by water, I guess at some point in time, it was a little island separated from the main land... fortress-like. Of course there are living creatures who enjoy the water besides the boats. But luckily for me, they sleep during the cold early mornings too.

Below is the most photographed spot in Brugge, De Rozenhoedkaai (Quai of the Rosary). On Sunny days, you can spot artists, photographers and find bus loads of tourist here. It's the end of the canal tours, which is also one reason the water's so calm.

De Rozenhoedkaai (Quai of the Rosary)

More of the Rozenhoedkaai

Manneken Pis

When in Brussels, you must visit the pissing statue.
That's what everyone tells you and so you do.
I didn't really know what to expect.
Didn't do any research on it.
The statue is tiny.
It wasn't dressed in any national costume.
The area around the statue was small.
There was just sooooo many people trying to catch a glimpse of it!

Manneken Pis

Food Blog : Meridien 3

There is a cosy restaurant within the Markt Square that shares its space with a Haagen Dazs counter. It looks as though it would be a really expensive restaurant, but their menu is pretty alright. The ground floor seating area has a great view of the Belfry, and the hubs and I were lucky enough to get that seat by the window. So he had the rack of lamb and I got the grilled cod. Extremely yummy on a bed of celery with a butter sauce but there was just so much of the cod. The lamb was yummy too, but again, there was just so much of it. Sometimes, generous servings just doesn't help *grin*

Rack of Lamb

Grilled Cod

Food Blog : Belgian Mussels

When in Belgium, one should have all things Belgian. I have to say that the food here is amazing. The hubs and I finally decided to have the mussels yesterday and they were extremely yummy.

We had to wait an hour for our dish because they get them fresh from the market/ocean. We had them in white wine and in one pot, there were just over 60 mussels. Most of the other guests ordered a pot each, but I'm not much of a mussels person, so the hubs and I shared one... Like most dishes here, it comes with a side serve of Belgian fries *yummy*

Mussels in white wine from Petite Maison

Photo Blog : Windmills

There are only 4 original windmills left in Brugge. Two of them are still working, but with modern machines, I think they're just there for the tourists. Didn't get to enter any of them, but they are huge!

Windmill

Photo Blog : Lamp Posts

Another rare find in old cities is (if they maintain/kept them) lamp posts.
The older they are, the more intricate the design.
How come modern lamp posts are not as intriguing?
Excuse the gray sky... it's Winter!

Photo Blog : Shadowplay

I love taking pictures of my shadow. It's not something that everyone does, but I have a few; over grass, over fields of flowers, on pavements, on stone walls, everywhere and anytime the sun is shining. I just find it fascinating... strange person that I am.

As we're nearing Winter on this side of the world, it was a rare occasion to find the sun shining bright enough to take a shadow picture, not to mention the timing... other people's shadow walking into the frame. For this one, I had a beanie on *grin* it was cold, but the sun was shining.

On the pavement of Brugge

Food Blog : Spaghetti Bolognaise

One common dish on most of the restaurants' menu in the city of Brugge is Spaghetti Bolognaise. I'm not sure why... maybe it's a comfort food of sorts, and cheap.

But the way it is cooked and presented is different from what I'm used to. For one, the first one I ordered came like this. Heaps of vermicelli pasta, heaps of sauce (with too much tomato bits) and heaps of Parmesan! It looked like half the cheese! It was strangely yummy, but I already had a bowl of pumpkin soup and just couldn't finish it. There was just soooo much, especially with the pile of Parmesan.

Bistro Bar

Then I started looking around for others and I'm glad I stopped by this restaurant located in the Crown Plaza Brugge Hotel. The portion was just nice and the sauce was yummy too. They used zucchini as a filler in the sauce and it was strangely yummy. I licked this platter clean!

Lind Restaurant

Photo Blog : Stained Glass

I love looking at original stained glass. I could just look and look at them like how people stop in front of great masterpieces and just stare, wondering what the artist was trying to evoke.

So, what goes on in my mind while I look at a stained glass? Well, nothing special or mind blowing, just in awe as to what it would have taken them to make such beautiful vivid renditions! You can tell the ones that were done in the 16th Century and the ones in the 20th by the vividness of the colours. And up close, they look painted.

Considering how the future is supposed to be more technologically advanced, it's surprising that the replaced pieces are very one dimensional.

Stained glass rendition in the St Salvatorskerk, Brugge, Belgium

The Independent Traveller

I'd like to say that I'm a pretty independent traveller and I can't tell you if there are any courses or trainings to go through to become one. If you arm yourself with enough information about the place you're visiting so that you don't look lost when you arrive, you'll be fine. These days with the world wide web, it's amazing what you could find.

So after a delayed departure from Singapore, a long flight for which I didn't get to sleep as I only got two seats to myself (and this is where height does have a disadvantage!), I arrived into Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. A quick trip into the city at an expensive €8.70 by subway and I arrived at the extremely busy train station of Gare du Nord. As I've never been on the Thalys (a high speed train operator) I decided to give it a try. The tickets are a little expensive, but it takes you an hour and 20 minutes to get from Paris to Brussels. The ride was smooth... no different from the TGVs or AVEs or Shinkansens. I think I'll try another way back. I love that I don't have a tight schedule to follow!

From Brussels, I still had to catch the slow going train (read normal) to Brugge. Luckily they run every half hour. Was met with some light spitting rain, you know the kind that doesn't feel like it's raining if you're brisk walking but it actually is if you're standing still? The makeshift taxi stand (without any indication that it's a taxi stand) took a long while to fill.

The hotel which will be my home for two weeks is just a little away from the city centre. It's a cosy hotel of 4 floors. Surrounding it, green grass, autumn ravaged trees, some ducks and sheep!

Brugge... a lovely city in Belgium. Did you know that the WHOLE historic center (which will probably take you 4-5 days to finish) is a world heritage site? Google it! Anyways, that's just my kind of holiday destination. I love looking at old buildings, walking on cobbled streets and wondering aimlessly around imagining what life would have been like in the middle ages. I should have bought a pedometer. I know I'm going to do heaps of walking *grins* But now the lack of sleep on the flight is starting to take a toll on me and the bed beckons.

Operational Requirements

Well, I'm still at the airport... waiting to board my ride across the globe and it's being grounded due to operational requirements. That's a new term for me, and something that doesn't cause panic to all and sundry. I mean, doesn't "operational requirement" sound like a routine check up which the plane must undergo and couldn't previously as it was doing too many miles? Well, that's what it sounds like to me.

This particular operational requirement has hit all the A380 planes, you know, the double decker bus that flies? Yeah, that one. And this is only because something happened to one earlier yesterday morning and thanks to that, 5 flights are being delayed at the moment. The particular flight that I'm on will officially be 3 hours delayed if the engineers are to be believed. I don't think my travel insurance covers this...

BUT I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry, right? So engineers, please take your time and check every nook and crany so that the operational requirement is met. I wouldn't like to have my vacation disrupted, k?

Travelling Extremely Light

I think I'm forgetting to pack something. I'm heading off to a place where the temperature will range from 6-17 degrees celcius and my luggage is only 11kgs heavy, of which 2kgs is probably the tripod. What am I forgetting?

Oh, well, I guess I'll just find out when I arrive, eh? *grin*

"Essence of Chicken"

There are just sooooo many things I can say about the title, but I won't. Instead, I'll just ponder on this.

Why does the "essence of chicken" taste so much better when warmed at exactly 6 minutes from just boiled water in a bowl? I've always drunk it this way, slightly warmed up. I've tried drinking it straight from the bottle... *shakes head* just not the same.

"Essence of Chicken"

Food Blog : Sakae Sushi

Sakae Sushi here in Singapore is one of the few places where you can find the sushi-train-counter-thingie. They are also known for their all-you-can-eat buffet from 3-6pm which is pretty good, considering. The only thing is that you're only allowed one of the expensive plates for this buffet. But then again I could eat gyoza after gyoza after gyoza...

Anyways, I had dinner there tonight and look at this interesting dish! It looks pleasingly yummy, doesn't it? There were 2 other combinations which I didn't like, some scallop thing, some salmon thing.

This has rice piled on the bottom, egg on the sides, a little fake crab, a bit of prawn, some fish eggs and a little piece of lettuce. It's the oddest colourful combination. The Inari is sweet and everything else just compliments it.

Inari with prawn and fake crab meat

Food Blog : New York New York

This particular chain has been around for a few years, but before this year, the hubs and I never stepped into it. I don't know why... could be the deco (it's done out American style, pool table, license plates and everything else that screams hard rock cafe?) or that the menu looked messy.

But sometime this year we ventured in and was pleasantly surprised that their dishes are not too bad... depending on which branch you go to. We're usually in the Jurong Point one. Tried the West Coast one, was sorely disappointed.

So far, we've tried the entree platter, spaghetti vongole baked in parchment paper, the chicken flat sandwiches and cappuccino mushroom soup. I'm sure there are others, but I can't for the life of me remember.

So, here's one of their famous dishes... Deep-fried chicken thigh coated with bread crumbs topped with sliced mushrooms and melted mozzarella cheese (I can't remember what they call it but the Australian in me is screaming chicken parmigiana) *yummy yum yum* The chicken is not over-fried and the cheese keeps it warm! I ended up lapping the plate. Can't have this entire dish if I ordered the soup too *grin*

Chicken Parmigiana with mushroom and melted cheese

The Inevitable

The inevitable has finally happened
Of course, you say, it was inevitable
[That sounds vaguely like a line from the 'Matrix']
But... but... but...
But this inevitable occurrence has been a year in the making!
The hubs has finally been sent to a small town in Europe for work for a few weeks
*sigh*
That leaves me with time all... to... my...self...
I would normally be OK with that, but we've been living together for so long
We've got a routine, you know
He'd wake me in the morning
[Because he leaves earlier for work]
We'd have dinner together
Come back at the end of the day and I'll tell him about my day
Great listener he is
[He usually doesn't gossip about his work day]
See, routine
Now that he's not around
[Because of the time-zone thing]
Who am I going to whinge to?
Oh, wait!
Email!!
I'll have to email him!
*grin*
Hmm... kind of reminds me of when we were dating
Have we come full circle?
I was living in Australia and he in Singapore
And even with the measly time difference, there were heaps of emails bing-bonging
Not to mention the expensive phone calls as Skype hadn't been invented yet
But have no fear
Have passport will travel!

Short dramas

When I first started to watch Korean Dramas, I was applauding their use of different casts for one and the length of their episodes. They are usually 62 minutes long with only one advertisement break. Good stuff!

On top of the normal 62-minute episodes, the dramas are usually only 16 episodes long which I've taken as a 'just nice' length. Too long and you'll start to lose the plot as however cute the actors and actresses are, you tend to want the drama to move on to the end.

As I was saying, they also have 35-minute mini episodes which could go on for over a hundred and fifty episodes long. Even in normal drama length, that's pretty long, isn't it? These mini episodes portray the drama in everyone's point of view for nearly everyday of their lives.

I'm currently watching one called Happiness in the Wind which is nearly approaching the end. I think there are 175 episodes long and it's about episode 163. I need to fast forward these last bits as it's starting to become a little draggy. Maybe it's because I'm not really interested in knowing what happens to every other person's daily life but I'll have to wait it out. Maybe someone on the internet has just put up scenes with just the lead actor and actress?

Catch Ups

It has been a great year this year... I know, it hasn't really ended as yet, but it has been an odd year for me in terms of catching up with old friends. Ever since I moved over to Singapore, I've been the one going back to catch up with them. This year, all of them came over to visit Singapore, all at different times of the year, which was probably a pretty good idea coz when we gather together for a catch up, we might not get an equal opportunity to do a proper catch up.

Thanks girls, for making Singapore a stop in your holiday... I guess it's my turn next year, huh?

Thirteen Toes

Recently, I decided to try a french manicure on my toes and it turned out ok... if you look at it from far *grin* my hands are not so steady, unlike the manicurists.

Anyways, I was pointing this out to the hubs and he wondered if I could paint an octave of piano keys on my toes. He thought I only needed ten toes for that but there are thirteen keys in an octave, eight white five black.

So... if I had thirteen toes, would that look funny? Would anyone even know that I have an octave on my toes if I painted them black and white?

Three of Three

The real day
Lovely Spring day
The sun was shinning
The birds were chirping
A slight wind was blowing
I couldn't ask for a nicer day

It started off with church
Then teas, money and jewellery
A short luncheon with the best company
A trip around town and a tree lined street for some pictures
No rest for the weary
Cozy dinner reception with the best entertainment

And that was my wedding day 8 years ago, yesterday
Happy times...
It still is!

Food Blog : Clifford @ The Fullerton Bay Hotel

Recently opened, this five-star hotel, The Fullerton Bay, houses only 100 rooms (read exclusive), an AMAZING poolside bar (and when they say poolside, the bar surrounds the pool), one other indoor bar and this restaurant. The hubs and I couldn't decide what to have for our anniversary dinner and decided on this. Can't say that we're sorely disappointed, there were some nice bits to the meal.

Before I go into the food bits, let me start on the service crew. 80% of them can't take a simple order. 100% of the 80% are unable to recommend from the menu. Doesn't this just set the mood. But the both of us were too into the fact that we're hungry and needed to be fed straightaway to get up and leave. Besides, there were only 2 other tables... not much of a scene, huh?

With Western fusion food on the menu, it wasn't difficult to decide what to eat. The hubs had the lamb and I the beef. We had a bowl of mushroom soup each and shared a platter of lobster and scallops carpaccio. A free flow of two different kinds of bread had me going. I took the white one which was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and the hubs had the multigrain one. With the butter came a shredded duck dip. It tasted almost like tuna, but had a little ducky-ness to it. Apparently this restaurant is famous for this duck dip and it's offered free flowing with the bread. Warm white bread, heaps of butter, slab of duck dip. Yummy combination!

Right! The entree. Scallops were from Hokkaido, raw and thinly sliced. I'm not one who's into raw food but this one just melted in my mouth. The lobster was done al dente and it tasted like lobster, nothing extra special. The soup was interesting. It definitely didn't come out of a can... very creamy and slightly bitter from the different mushrooms used to make it. The 'ravioli' that was in the soup was a total let down. The skin tasted like won-ton and I wasn't sure what the filling was. The hubs liked the soup, go figure.

The lamb main was alright. It was a lot of meat. The mini samosas were average too. We didn't even notice the bed of ratatouille till after the dishes were taken away from us.

My beef was supposed to be a wagyu one. These days, I can't tell the difference. It was alright. Nothing to rave about. The fries were coated in something before being deep-fried, making it crispy and the metal pot was a little warm to the touch.


For dessert, I had the creme brulee which wasn't yummy (caramelised sugar at the top needed a hammer to break), but the mini madeleines that came on the side were. The hubs had some espresso with rum and lemon peel. At the end, the espresso was on the house... only because they forgot to charge us for it. So much for five-star service.

I'd probably go back just to eat bread with butter and duck dip... maybe they'll change their main menu with the season.

Food Blog : Ku Ra

I love how Singapore is so multicultural that you can find almost any food from around the world here. Having said that, tonight's dinner was probably screaming for us not to try it. Maybe we'll go back in 6 months time...

Ku Ra, a Sapporo (Japan) Ramen little cafe, has probably been opened for a week, maybe shorter. They are part of the Ajisen chain of Japanese eats. Their official opening day is this Thursday. Menus are still soft laminated, probably waiting for the 'real' (read official) menus to arrive on Thursday. It was heartwarming to discover that the tiny cafe was full of people.

The hubs ordered the white miso which was pretty close to what we remember from the ramen we had in Hokkaido. He lapped the bowl clean!

I tried their Shoyu and was sorely disappointed. The soup was too salty, making the noodles salty too and when I asked for a bowl of warm/hot water, the waitress smiled and asked if the soup was too salty! She brought me some plain broth instead, but that wasn't enough. I had to add some of my room temperature water into the soup and in the end, I didn't even drink the soup. The Cha Su was alright though, right amount of fat and moist meat.

One interesting thing they had on the menu was fried chicken soft bone. What they've done is to roughly chop the soft bone, found where the bulk of the breast meat of a chicken is, into 1" sticks, dip in a light tempura (little too salty) flour and deep fried. What gets served is an interesting crunchy snack!

The Gyoza was nothing to tell home about, the hubs says it's too 'Chinese' tasting.

Da Moon

After a week of haze and blurred visibility, it rained really heavily over the weekend and tonight, clear skies. It's things like these that makes you appreciate the amazing skylines that Singapore has to offer.

Da Moon

Jewellery Pieces

Bvlgari makes really, really great jewellery pieces. I'm not going to compare it to the other jewellery houses, because it wouldn't be nice... every jewellery house has its own design and way of making it.

So, Bvlgari... about nine years ago, I bought my first piece of the B.zero1 range, a 3 tier ring. I still wear it from time to time, and I still love it. Actually I love all my pieces. After purchasing that ring, I was supposed to get the matching pendant for Chrissy, but never got around to it. I think it's just too huge a piece to be wearing everyday... I don't like changing my pendant all that often.

Over the years the jewel house has unveiled some new designs, they have even designed some interesting earring studs stops (check out the Griffe Diamanti range), but nothing has been more iconic to them than the B.zero1 range. To date, I have a total of three pieces from them and am lusting after another one for Chrissy *grin*

Hazy days

The haze is back in Singapore. At this time of year, almost every year, Indonesia burns their forest to clear them. With the wind and everything, it has brought the smoke over to our skies. The haze is different when compared to smog. Smog smells distinctly of burnt petrol fumes. Haze smells of faint regular burned non-biodegradable things...

As this burning happened some ways away... walking out of a building into the open, the air smells faintly burnt... like something has burned far, far away and the wind has brought the smell over. It's not suffocatingly thick, this haze, I think the atmospheric reading has been less than a hundred psi. It's amazing what our noses pick up.

I remember back in the late 90s, people had to wear masks because the haze was so thick! Schools were closing and outdoor sport activities were postponed. Luckily for us, it will rain nearly every other day, even for a little while, just to wash the air a little. Hopefully with all the weird weather that's going on around the world, the haze won't get too thick.

Here's a photo of a part of the central business district at dusk with the haze. I'll have to see if I can get a 'normal' day picture to compare.

Hazy skyline at dusk

Food Blog : Ichiban Boshi

It's been a while since we patronised this place. They are part of the Fiesta chain of Japanese food. This particular branch makes fresh soba. There's even an authentically looking Japanese dude showing everyone who walks by his skills in making the noodles.


Unfortunately, the noodles needed to be cooked a little longer. Other than that, everything else was good. The sauce wasn't too salty and after you've finished, you're supposed to mix the broth which the noodles were cooked in with the leftover sauce and drink it as a soup. Yummy!

We also ordered a side of ika tempura and this branch makes it not too salty.

The Coffee Club's Ice Blended Chocolate

There must have been something wrong with the dinner we ate tonight at Shoteppan. It was our second time at this particular cook-your-own-teppanyaki place (except we usually get them to cook it for us, it's allowed, I'm not paying money to cook my own dinner!)

Anyways, they must've lathered the MSG coz we were feeling rather thirsty about a half hour after the meal. Not only that, but the ventilation at the place didn't work too well and our clothes, hair and my lovely handbag was just permeating oiliness.

So the hubs decides to have something to wash the MSG from our mouths and chanced upon this place. I think it's the first time I've actually gotten anything from them. I'm usually the Coffee Bean or Starbucks chocolate drink kind of person.

The description of the drink had me and when the drink came...

This would be the most insanely awesome blended ice chocolate drink I've ever tasted.
Firstly it's a mixture of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and milk. The ice was so finely blended that it didn't taste like there was ice in the drink. And you know that they use real chocolate chunks to blend the drink because there were still tiny specks of it while you're drinking, like sediments. But yummy sediments *grin*

ps. It's twenty ten, twenty ten (20.10.2010) today...

Two of Three

The hubs and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary tonight. Eight years ago, we celebrated this day with a 9 course yummy dinner with our friends and relatives... all 450 of them. That's like a lot of people between the both of us, isn't it? Did we know everyone? Surprisingly, more or less *grin*

We weren't picky as to who attended our wedding dinner, as long as our friends and immediate relatives came. And came they did. I remember hiring a couple of buses to cart guests to the venue and back to a meeting point. The food was yummy (all my favourite!), company was boisterous and the hubs and I had a blast!

The best part about Chinese weddings is that you usually get money as a present. I didn't get to count the amount of money we received, but it was enough to pay for dinner after everyone left and had maybe a couple of hundred left over. That's considered a good thing *grin*

Last year, our anniversary dinner was particularly bad. I can't remember the details (you'd want to forget these kind of things) but the hubs tells me that we decided to have steamboat at home and for some reason the base wasn't heating the pot right. Which meant we were sitting at the dining table for maybe a couple of hours, slow cooking all our food. Baddd...

This year, we decided to eat out, seeing that it's a Tuesday night. We ended up at one of our favourite restaurants, No Signboard. Their dishes have never failed to fill us. We even take guests there, when they can't decide what to eat.

BUT the experience was a little of a let down today. Just as we were starting on our crab, I noticed that one of the claws looked like it had fungus growing... you know, when crabs get injured, their flesh turns bad and black... which means that that part of their body was starting to rot. We had the dish re-served, which was a bad idea coz they took another half hour to cook it. By the time the dish arrived, we were kind of full, the earlier dish of drunken prawns (I miss drinking herbal soups!) and claypot tofu had settled. But we took our time eating it and it was yummy! I don't know if the kitchen decided to give us the freshest crab, but the flesh was so sweet, even with the chili sauce which it was cooked in. AND you have to order the fried buns that go so well with the sauce, I could just eat the buns and sauce and not worry about the crab.

So, that's two out of three. We haven't decided where to go for our third one yet...

Spoilt for choice

I can't believe how spot on the saying 'spoilt for choice' is.
It's only Monday today, and I'm thinking of having the same dish for lunch for the week!
With the crazy weather we've been having, haze plus rain, it has put a dampener on my lust to explore.
So let's see what lunch delights bring... tomorrow!

Catch up weekend

I'm trying to clear the hard disk of all my recorded Korean dramas throughout the week, but am failing miserably. I should really stop typing now and go back to finishing my fox drama, which ended maybe a couple of weeks ago? Yeah... watch the telly, girl!

Corelle Ware Part 2

Now that the USD is at its all time low against the SGD, I decided to surf the internet to have a look at how much Corelle plates and bowls would cost me, if I were living in the US. Baddddd decision.

I can't believe the prices! It's like a 70% discount from what we have to pay here and they have ALL sorts of designs. Like 10 times more than what we get here. My all time favourite has been the Plum series, but all my plates and bowls are the Winter White ones. Somehow white just makes everything clean and expensive. But I have a few Plum pieces.

After browsing the World Kitchen website, my new found favourite is the Cherry Blossom. A set of 16 costs only USD50!!! Now, how long do you think it'll take for them to bring this design over to Singapore?!

Homecooking

The hubs is out at a wine party with his workmates today and I get to cook one of my favourite pasta dishes.

Prawns on a bed of Spaghetti cooked in olive oil and finely diced garlic

Sao Joao Festival

Every country, no nearly every city has their own festival. Singapore celebrates a number of festivals, mostly cultural based like the Mid Autumn Festival, Deepavali, Thaipusam and Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Porto, a little town in Portugal, has one of the liveliest festival, the Sao Joao Festival. It's a celebration of the Saint John the Baptist. Held near the end of June, the annual party actually goes on for more than 12 hours, starting the evening before. Everyone comes from everywhere within the city and gathers at the town center to just celebrate. Massive street party! The thing that grabbed my eye about this festival is the fact that if you find someone gorgeous, hit them over the head with a plastic hammer! And here we thought walking around the neighbourhood with lanterns is weird...

Food Blog : Aoba

Aoba is known for its Hokkaido Ramen and it was one of the few Ramen places in Singapore where the bowl of soupy noodles reminded me of the Ramen I had while I was in Hokkaido.

Anyways, these days, everything's starting to taste a little too salty for me, plus I wasn't feeling like a bowl of noodles yesterday, so I ordered a bowl of Cha Su on rice instead. Didn't have much expectations but the Cha Su turned out to be extremely yummy! The Cha Su serving was generous, the pork itself moist and tender and a little salty on its own but with rice... mmm... Mind you, I also ordered a plate of squid tempura (whcih wasn't very nice), a plate of pan fried gyoza (which was yummy, served with vinegar) and a plate of yakitori asparagus wrapped with bacon.

It was too much food so we had to doggie bag some of it and I had porridge tonight. The Cha Su really, really goes well with porridge. I wonder if I'll be able to just doggie bag the pork bits, come back and have it with porridge the next time!

Cha Su Don

Hot! Hot! Hot!

The weather's been really crazy these past couple of weeks.
It's so HOT these days.
I can't even think of writing anything today because it's super hot, sitting on the couch probably sweating!

Luncheon Meat

Growing up in a Cantonese family, we've always had porridge with pan fried luncheon meat, fried dace with black beans and a minced-meat-long-beans dish. It's usually a Saturday ritual, maybe to cleanse our system from a week of oily food.

So, ever since we started eating luncheon meat, it has always been the Ma Ling brand, from China. It's infamous here in Asia, only because the meat is finely minced and it's not too salty. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's really different from the taste of the big brands of Spam (which brings back happy memories when I saw them being sold everywhere in Naha!) or Tulip.

About 3 years ago, something nasty was found in Ma Ling's luncheon meat and it was recalled, taken off the shelves and the company looked to go bust. Three years on, I'm glad they didn't. They're back and they're still as yummy! *grin*

Ten Ten Ten

It's the 10th of October 2010 today.
Did you end up doing something special?
Or was it just another ordinary day for you?
I cleaned the house.
There were too many 'clean me' spots and I had the time.
I love the feeling of a clean floor.
Could do some floor angels but I won't because the house is extremely muggy!
I'm sweating as I'm typing this... sitting directly under the fan.
The hubs ate something bad and slept the whole arvo and night away.
Dinner was a bowl of instant noodles, onion oil flavour, for me and cup-a-soup for the hubs.
I guess it was just an ordinary Sunday for us.

Cleaning the Kitchen

How do you get rid of all the oil that's stuck EVERYWHERE in the kitchen? It's not like I cook that often. Plus I don't deep fry or wok fry lots of things, although, after eating so many meals these past couple of months in hawker centers, the wok is beginning to grow on me.

Anyways, back to cleaning. Yes, how do you get rid of all that grime?

I tried cleaning a section of the kitchen today. It was fairly easy with Mr Muscle, a metal scrubber and some tissues but my fingers are paying for it. And that's only on the kitchen tops. I don't know how to get rid of the grime that's stuck to the kitchen cabinets! Maybe I just need a new kitchen *wink*

Parking lots for women drivers

I read an interesting article in the newspapers today. Since a part of the Central World Mall in Bangkok was blazed in May this year, they've managed to finish refurbishing it and is now opened to the public. Central World Mall is kinda huge in Bangkok, third largest in the world, it's a one stop shopping mall, could probably spend a whole day in there if you're really looking for something to buy.

Anyways, they've added some 200 parking lots just for women drivers! I wonder what kind of message they're trying to get across. The fact that women drivers need wider parking lots as it's difficult for them to park their tank-like vehicles or so that they won't be hassled while trying to get back to their cars. Whatever it is, I think it's a novel idea. Malls in Singapore should look into that too!

Food Blog : Fish & Co

The Fish & Co chain is one of the casual restaurants I can keep going back to, a favourite dish being the Swordfish collar. They started off serving grilled or fried seafood with french fries or rice and veggies. The only thing which I didn't like about their dishes was the pathetic broiled rough cut veggies which they serve on the side. Their menu has expanded and now they serve filo based pizza and pastas.

Recently, the outlet in Great World City has added a all-you-can-eat salad bar to their menu and have expanded their choices of side dishes to the main courses include coleslaw. Not run of the mill, full of different kinds of shredded vegetables and it tastes like it's freshly made! The vegetables are crunchy to the bite and the dressing is not overpowering. I hope all the other outlets pick up on that too.

Vacation Photographs

My younger brother is currently on a vacation for which he's not bringing along a camera.

Since the dawn of the camera, everyone has been sporting one while they're on vacation. And it's primarily used to capture pictures of places they've been to. But with this day and age, and of course Photoshop, you could use whatever photos that are published on the web, superimpose your head and body into the picture and voila, you've been to the Antarctica without having to leave your house!

So why do people still bring along cameras and are happy snappers while they're on vacation?
Habit?
It's what everyone's doing?
Don't like the angle of that particular picture on the web?

I'd like to think that it's the fact that they might not have had the time to visit all the touristy places while on their vacation or that they can't be bothered scouring the internet for pictures and superimposing their head and body onto it. Plus it's also fun to leaf through the thousand of pictures when they're back. Everyone complains about it being a chore, but it does bring a smile... pleasant memories.

Coffee Machine

I'm on the hunt for a coffee machine. It's for the hubs. I don't drink coffee. Tried it for a couple of years while in Uni, Vienna coffee with three packets of sugar was my poison and then, just like that, my body started to reject the smell and the taste. It's weird.

Meanwhile, I'm so grateful for the internet. Scouring the web for a coffee machine that suits our needs has never been easier. I haven't settled on a particular machine yet, there's no need at the moment, or maybe I'm waiting for one that'll make hot chocolate too!

Eating Guests

No, I don't actually eat my guests, I don't like human meat and they know it. In fact, some of them like the guest room so much that they keep returning.

What do you do with your guests food wise? Do you bring them to places you'd like to eat when there are more people around or do you try to get them to suggest what they'd like to eat?

Most of the time, my guests are undecided. They have no idea what they'd like to eat and I'm not sure if they're just being polite. There's a reason why they get asked, it is so that they won't have a bad image of the country they're visiting, right? Plus it's their vacation, surely they don't want to be stuck with a meal which they don't enjoy, seeing that their time in that particular place is limited. I for one, am not shy to make a suggestion *grin*

Anyways, that's not the important part, I guess... we're just gathering for a huge catch up, so it doesn't really matter if the food's nice or not, right?

Playing with Satay

We ended up at the Laguna Food Center in East Coast for dinner tonight and among the usual dishes which we 0rder (Chicken wings from Teddy Bear and dry fried bee hoon) was the Satay from Harun. 30 sticks of chicken and 10 of the mutton. I don't know what it is about their marination which makes the chicken and especially the mutton yummy. There's no taste of lamb and contrary to what everyone tells me (that they all get marinated from the same provider) Harun's satay is definitely different.

Here's what my lil brother did to his sticks after he finished. I think the cleaner person must have cursed at us come cleaning time!

Sticks of satay

R.I.P Mrs L.K.Y

Celebrate life as if it were your last day...
Life's too short to sweat the small stuff!
Don't worry too much about life because you could just keel over and die in a minute...

We all know this, so why do we still persist in making life difficult?

Right, I won't let this post get more morbid that that! Only because my thoughts are running all over the place and if I were to translate them onto this blog, the post itself will not make any sense.

The current prime minister's mom passed away peacefully at home earlier this evening. She was the wife of the first prime minister of Singapore and has been pivotal in shaping this country, although her actions are never in the spotlight. Behind every great man, there's always a woman rings so true in her case.

In keeping with the short post, I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes which I sometimes do (especially the singing thing *grin*)

"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."
-- Mark Twain

Binary Numbers - Uniting the World

Today's date can be looked at in Binary form

The American way of looking at it
100110 = 32+4+2 = 38

The rest of the English speaking world
011010 = 16+8+2 = 26

Maybe that's the reason why there are always differences between the US and the rest of the world?

Ah, but come 10th of October, the whole world will think alike!
101010 = 32+8+2 = 42

42, the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!)

Singapore Airlines

What it must feel like to be on top of the world. Singapore Airlines has always been known around the world as the best airline and they've worked hard to maintain that image.

Everyone wants to fly Singapore Airlines. They have the widest seats, most legroom, best in-flight entertainment, most pleasant looking service crew, newest planes and widest range of meal requests.

The service standard is totally different (as compared to all the other airlines) and it's true that how much you pay for the ticket depicts the level of service. If you place all the service crew in a lineup in plain clothes, you'll be able to tell the Singapore Airlines ones from the others.

Anyways, during the financial downturn and the rise in fear of flying, various airlines reduced their fares and people who weren't afraid of travelling and had to travel took advantage of that. Those were the good old times. Now they're looking to increase their fares starting tomorrow, hoping to reinstate the level of their fares back to the pre-financial downturn era. It's going to be a huge shocking jump for everyone.

V.I.G

No time to think about blogging today... cleaning the house, or trying to make it look remotely presentable as my lil brother (the V.I.G) is coming to stay for the week. I wonder what he's going to occupy his time with while he's here...

Stiletto Race

Not surprisingly, this was done in Australia.

A group of women decided to make their mark in the Guinness World record, by running the 100m relay race in Circular Quay, Sydney, in a minute and four seconds, in stilettos!

Anything for a good cause, I guess, money was raised for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. I can't even imagine running in running shoes, but to do it in 3" stilettos, they must be crazy!

Mocumentary-dramedy

I know I'm a little behind on my news but here's a new word in relation to the television I learnt today: Mocumentary-dramedy

It's like a mouthful, isn't it? I can't even think of what that might be just by reading it. Is it a mocking-documentary-drama-comedy? How can one television show consist of all that?

Alonso takes the Singapore F1 Grand Prix

I don't know if it was predicted, but Alonso of Ferrari won the Singapore leg of the F1 Grand Prix.

After getting free walkabout tickets to last year's race, the hubs and I decided that we'd stay at home and watch it in High Definition on the telly and I'm glad we did. Not only did we get to follow all the cars all over the track (if you're physically there, you're only watching the race from one point) but we saw every bump, touch, crash and fire! Loved it! Pity it didn't rain, that would've made for a more exciting, slippery and slower race.

Highlights:
Hamilton throwing his steering wheel away in frustration - hilarious!
Kubica showing how an overtaking was supposed to be done - in your face, Hamilton!
A Lotus car catching on fire one lap away from finishing - left me gasping!
Massa's catchup from last to finish 9th! - amazing driver!
Singapore's night skyline!

Glasses vs Contacts

I come from a family of shortsightedness. My parents and both my brothers sport glasses. So I've been known as 'four eyes' since I was ten, which was a long, long time ago.

I can still remember my first pair of glasses; they were plastic, red on the top half, clear on the bottom and it covered half my face. As I got older, the glasses got trendier (read metal frames) but they still covered half my face until I got to Uni. My current pair is by far the lightest, smallest, nearly frameless (yeah, the lens is being held together by the bridge and the sticks which go behind the ear.

When I was preparing for my wedding, I was advised that glasses don't do well in wedding photos. So after much cajoling I tried on contacts. I don't even remember the last time I didn't have to push my glasses up my nose! Not to mention the weirdest feeling, poking your eye when all it wants to do is close at the impending entry of a foreign object and taking it out was another adventure! After much practice for the next 2 months, I didn't have to spend a half hour in front of the mirror trying to put them on... just 20 minutes. As the years go by, the optometrist tells me that I have slight astigmatism in my eyes. I can't believe the contact lenses people haven't come up with daily moist contacts with astig.

These days, I only wear them once in a blue moon, I still love my glasses.

Zoom zoom!

I can't believe I didn't get free tickets to the F1 Grand Prix this year. Not that I get them every year, but after getting one last year, for which I was pleasantly surprised as I don't remember entering my name for the competition, it doesn't feel good to fork out over S$200 per person just to watch it, right?

Anyways, one of the free channels was showing tonight's practice run live. The road was drying from the rain earlier today and it looked pretty bumpy too. It's supposed to be smoother this year, being the 3rd year Singapore is hosting this.

The best part about watching it on the telly was the aerial and cockpit views. Singapore's gorgeous skyline... this country was meant to host the night race!

Hotel Blog : Toyoko-Inn Naha Asahi-bashi Ekimae

Sometime at the end of April, the hubs and I went off to Okinawa for a short vacation. The island itself wasn't too difficult to get to, the shortest way from Singapore being via Taiwan. I did another blog on the flight which we took, so I won't go into that.

Okinawa Island. Not such a small island. Could be nearly twice the size of Singapore. There is only one monorail that connects the airport to the city and about 10 minutes beyond. The public bus service is extensive as they do not have a subway system but not very frequent. Probably a good idea to rent your own car as some taxis don't even venture to the remote areas. Only con is that I nor the hubs read Japanese.

Right! This blog is about the hotel which we stayed in. Ever since a couple of my hub's friends recommended the chain of Toyoko-Inn, we've been staying at their various properties every time we go to Japan. Clean rooms, excellent locations and yummy breakfast is always included. This particular property is located a 3 minute walk from a monorail station and central bus station. Perfect place for visitors who want to make use of the extensive bus services for touring purposes.

Rooms are typically japanese sized and there's an option to pay more for a deluxe (slightly bigger), but we figured we're only there to sleep and shower, don't need a bigger room and it was clean. No pet moss in the bathroom and all mechanisms were in working order. Well maintained.

The best part of the hotel is the breakfast. The spread was a little different from the ones in Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido Island in that it serves a little western style too (cereal, bread, salad and sausages) on top of the regular japanese (white and mixed rice, miso soup and a local cooked dish). And we weren't expecting the mixed brown rice as the other branches usually serve a selection of onigiri (rice triangles). I would definitely go back, if only to have the yummy breakfast.

All-you-can-eat breakfast

Food Blog : Fried Rice

I almost typed 'Flied Lice' because for some odd reason, I keep thinking of it that way. And it's not even from living here in Singapore. I think I got it from the pronunciation of Chinese women selling fried rice in Australia.

The Market Street Food Center, located above at the Golden Shoe car park at Raffles Place still holds many secret gems. Take this particular stall for instance. One dude. One dude to cook, collect money and take orders. Amazing profit I hear you say. Well, yes, I'm curious as to the rental charges of a unit in that hawker center. So fried rice. Easy to cook, isn't it? And from watching him cook, you would think so too, but how come I'm not able to recreate the same dish at home? It's soooo simple. First, messily fry the beaten egg. Then add rice and voila, egg fried rice. You can choose to add prawns, anchovies or barbeque pork and you can also choose to have it with sambal. The dude is generous with his rice too! It's probably one and a half rice bowls a plate at $3.50. An additional 50c for a sunny side up egg.

Egg Fried Rice with Prawns

Lunch decisions

Running out of things to eat near where I work. Sometimes the reason I don't venture into some of the places is the bad, bad ventilation. No matter what you do, the oily smell just clings onto you and if you can smell it, you betcha everyone you walk near to will be able to smell it.

I should really wander out towards Lau Pa Sat for lunch. It's another affordable food center with many, many variety of stalls. There's even a Wendy's. Hmm... there used to be an A&W, but I'm not sure if it's still there, maybe Wendy's took over, eh?

Sometimes it's a good thing to not have choices. Like at my previous work place, we were stuck in a corner of Orchard Road which didn't have a lot of choices when it came to affordable food. We can't be having $20 lunches everyday, can we?

Vacation time!

I want to go on a holiday
Soon
Very, very soon
Now would be good

I do realise that I get these thoughts whenever I'm working
I was fine while I was not working
But now...
It's only been what... four months?
That's four whole months without a holiday
A break
People would start pulling out their hair, right?
Especially when I was so used to taking a break from the office every so often

F1

The F1 is coming to Singapore!
Lights are up
We've been driving in broad daylight at night!
Roads are going to be closed from Wednesday this week
Zoom Zoom!

Couch Potato

Ok. I've decided not to follow the new Korean Drama which will start on Monday because the reviews weren't good, even the drama synopsis wasn't remotely enticing. Which leaves me with one less show to follow. I'm going to have to catch up on some of my drama this weekend, you know... to clear up the space in the recorder's hard drive. One down, three to go.

One of Three

As if one wedding anniversary is not enough, the hubs and I have three.
First, the day we signed a piece of paper in Singapore, making us legally married.
Second, the day we invited our friends and family from Singapore and Malaysia to attend a 40 over table dinner in Malaysia.
Third, the day we signed another piece of paper after mass under the watchful eye of a priest in Australia.
Happy one of three anniversary hubs! *grin*

Once a year...

... I fall sick.
Yesterday was the day.

Went to bed with a fever and luckily it broke in the morning after my shower.
Didn't end up visiting the doctor as I don't even end up taking the medicine.
The nose is still running a little, the office's air conditioning didn't help.
I have a feeling that the slight cough will come tomorrow, but hopefully with the dequalinium lozenges I've been taking, it won't be a full blown flu thing.

Hotel Blog : Chisun Inn Asakusa, Tokyo

For my single week long trip to Tokyo in April this year, I decided to give the Toyoko-Inn chain of hotels a miss and stayed at this place down the road from the Toyoko-Inn which the hubs and I stayed in the last time we were in Tokyo. One of the reasons for me picking this place was the price. I had to watch the budget as I rather be spending on food than an extremely comfortable hotel room. As long as the toilet/bathroom has no pet moss and the bed is clean, I'm ok with the hotel. There was an offer on at that time (buy 2 nights, get the 3rd night free) which worked the per room night to be S$77. That's pretty cheap for a hotel in Tokyo during sakura season.

Pros:
Located in the suburb of Asakusa on a main road. I love this suburb of Tokyo.

It's within a 10 minute walking distance to the Asakusa Sensoji Temple and a 2 minute walk from the metro on the Toei Asakusa line. I realise that most of the stops for the Toei line are more interesting as compared to the Tokyo Metro lines. Anyways, this location is only a 4 minute walk from the Tokyo Metro Asakusa or Kuramae station, so you have three subway stations to choose from.

Free internet. Let's face it. Most of the hotels, even the budget ones, throw in free internet. Japan is amazing in that way.

24 hour convenient stores located on the walk back from all three subway stations. Yummy hot food and a selection of Japanese takeaway. Great place for meals if you're on a budget.

Cons:
No free breakfast included in the price (Toyoko-Inns include daily all-you-can-eat breakfast) but it wasn't difficult to find breakfast with the convenient stores located nearby.

Web content loading

Being the sister of a mildly brilliant younger brother who could program the pointer in a computer to do interesting things has it advantages. I was always delightfully amused when he showed me something new that the pointer could do like leave a trail of pointers while moving or making it do interesting things while a web page was being loaded.

Anyways, that was EONS ago, as in possibly 15 years ago. These days, nothing amuses me anymore. Yes, it might be awfully difficult to program (I'm guessing that it is as I don't know how to do it, and everything that I don't know how to do, is difficult) and no one's come up with anything new that the pointer can do.

So, it was with a warm chuckle that I happen to come across a site today that amused me with its web content loading icon. Instead of making the hourglass turn round and round or lights blink in circular movement it showed a list of things you should have done before you die and ticked them off.

Among the list:
Mistakenly used a bidet
Bathe in spicy tomato
Churn for mermaids in the Baltic
Split your Ledenhosen
Forget to wear clothes
Use apres ski in a sentence

You'll just have to try it out for yourself at www.raileurope.com. Make sure it goes to the Europe site.

Food Blog : Red Bean Mooncake

I've already purchased my mooncake this year, but wasn't too happy with it. Maybe it was just too sweet, after having about half of it in one sitting. So while walking around Vivo City waiting for the hubs to have dinner, I decided to give the Tang's-sponsored-mooncake-selling-area a walk around. Every year, they invite bakeries and hotels to take up a booth and sell their mooncakes for a discount.

I wasn't looking for the lotus paste ones again, since I already have that, and neither was I into the snow skin ones. These days the snow skinned ones come with Chempedak, Durian and Yam flavours. Eurghhh... Anyways, I went around trying anyone who baked a red bean filled one. While growing up in Malaysia, we seem to always buy that for this lantern festival and not so much the lotus paste. Maybe because it wasn't as sweet. And I think for me, it was probably because there's no egg yolk in it.

After a few tiny bite sized pieces, I finally settled on this one stall. All the others were either too sweet or the biscuit part was too dry or the colour was not right (it has to be black and not actually reddish). And surprise, surprise, the stall that I bought from is actually a bakery from Malaysia. It's not the ultimate best out there, but here in Singapore, it is.

Red Bean Moon Cake from Seasons

Short post

The long weekend of Hari Raya Aidilfitri is coming to an end. Work tomorrow.

Had to leave the house today for lunch, the hubs didn't want instant noodles. But dinner was an amazing shabuz again! I don't know what it is this time, but the soup was yummy! *burppp*

Back to the telly! Catching up on my Korean drama serials for the week.

Australia

Channel flipping on a Saturday night, found this on Star Movies. It was huge when it came out, a couple of years ago and I've been meaning to watch it, if only to perv on Hugh Jackman. He is such a hottie *drool*, even when he's not playing Wolverine. Speaking of which, that's going to be shown next!

Right, the movie. I'm in the middle of it at the moment and it's okay. Maybe because I only started watching it half an hour into the show. From what I can gather, the show's about two people, one an Australian cattle driver and another a lady, from the UK most probably, and the subplot how the aboriginals were treated badly. The scene, outback Australia in the 40s. I don't know much about the history of things, but apparently the Japanese attacked and there's always one mean-o, Fletcher (who's pretty ugly looking too!) who died too easily towards the end.

Did I like the show? I don't know. I probably won't be watching it over and over again, too little scenes with a clean cut Hugh Jackman and I'm still undecided as to whether I like Nicole Kidman as an actress.

Food Blog : Glazed Doughnuts

While I was working at my previous job, there was only one shopping mall with a food court located within a 5 minute walking distance from the office. Because of this, our choices in food for lunch was pretty limited. We would venture further out, but sometimes our strict one hour lunch time would hinder us. Within this shopping mall are cafes, restaurants, a supermarket and a Boulangerie (Bakery). Sometimes I love the French language, only because they come up with sexy words like boulangerie and lingerie *grin*

This is my all time favourite doughnut. It's simply glazed (that hardens when dry), sprinkled with either chocolate or coloured sprinkles or diced nuts and they make it on site, fresh. Unlike all the other doughnut chains that have opened shop (Krispy Kreme, Mister Donut, Dunkin' Donuts and J. Co) here in Singapore, La Tanglin Boulangerie Cafe's doughnuts are fluffy but not floury. It is also value for money as the size of the doughnut is slightly bigger than all the other franchises and cheaper at that. It has been a while since I last ate them, so I bought TWO!

Pink Glazed with Chocolate Sprinkles

Sea Green Glazed with Coloured Sprinkles

Passwords

How safe is your password? Most probably not that safe.

How old is your password? You're most probably using the same password which you started the particular account with.

At the place I'm working at the moment, there are plenty of login codes and each login requires a different password. It's not compulsory to have different passwords, but you'll see why later. Not only that, one login might be known by two or three different names.

You might not get your logins at the same time thus making the creation of the passwords at different times. For example, if you get one login now, you've attached password 1. Two months down the track, you receive another login and you're thinking you should assign the same password, but password 1 will expire in 1 month and you're out of sync already. That's just dealing with 2 logins.

Anyways, to make matters more complicated than they already are, the most interesting password instructions which I've come across is the following. It's supposed to be extremely secure (I'm sure it is, because you might not remember it either!).

1. Your password must be between 8 to 12 characters long (That's actually a good thing. My insane hubby does 16-20 characters with the same rules! OMG, I hear you scream? You'll have to forgive him, he's a little insane.)

2. Your password must contain at least one capital letter (People usually capitalise the first letter)

3. Your password must contain at least one number (People usually make the last character a number)

4. Your password must contain at least one symbol (WHAT??? Symbols? But it won't make sense if I put a symbol in my password seeing that passwords are usually a word or two, unlike my insane hubby who showed me his list of passwords once and it was just lines of gibberish! Imagine trying to remember U3&j%Dne%6%Ff4y9*i as a password!)

5. Your password will expire every 90 days (Goodness gracious me!!! I'll have to come up with another one after 90 days... have no fear, I'll just change one character)

6. You are not allowed to reuse the last 16 passwords (FOR REAL?!?!?!)

7. More than half the characters in your new password must be different from your previous ones (WHAT????? I need to write this down...)

So, you've either created a page in your notebook filled with logins and passwords or a password protected excel or word doc. The only thing with the excel and word doc, although the password doesn't expire, once you don't remember it, you'll never be able to open it!!!

*sigh* Life before computers was so much simpler, wasn't it?

Mooncake season part 2

I actually succumbed to purchasing mooncake this year. I don't think I did last year. I usually buy my mooncakes from the Raffles Hotel. Somehow their lotus paste is not overly sweet and the crust is not overly oily nor dry.

Every year, new variations of the original mooncake appear and I guess it's a way for the various hotels and bakeries to ring up their till. This year, as last year, 'snow skin' mooncakes are the popular choice. These modern mooncakes have to be kept in a cool, cool place or the skin will melt and have the weirdest combination of tastes within it; Durian, champagne truffle, chocolate to name a few. Google snow skin mooncakes and you'll find more.

Anyways, I bought the traditional ones, lotus paste with pumpkin seeds, except that this year, they decided to add pine and macadamia nuts. I thought it wouldn't be so bad but after having half of it, I think it's going to take me a while to finish it.

Oh happy day...

There are days... and then there are DAYS!
Today was not supposed to be any different from any other normal day, but I've been feeling a little depressed with some things that are going to happen whether I want it to or not.
And it's pretty bad, getting depressed because I just spend money, usually on things or a thing that will definitely perk me.
Well, let's just say that today's purchase should last me till Chrissy!
It's an odd shade of blue and utterly soft!! Love it!!!
Gosh! There was a reason why I wasn't supposed to go back to work...

Cloud Staircase

With a title like that, you'd think the Korean drama would be a flop. I thought so too in the beginning, but I find myself strangely following the series.

It's about this dude who lost his parents and kind of got lost himself. A kind elderly doctor from a remote island took him in and taught him everything about being a doctor. One day, the daughter of a well known hospital in Seoul drops by and suffers appendicitis. No one is around to operate on her because there's a brewing storm (the elderly doctor went to Seoul for something and her doctor boyfriend can't get to her) and so the dude operated on her and saved her life. During the course of healing, the girl so happens to fall in love with him and he too finds himself liking the girl (no biggie there). So he moves to Seoul and decides to work in the hospital pretending to be a certified doctor. Everyone's impressed with him in the beginning, and the girl breaks off her engagement to her long time beau to start dating him, but bits and pieces of his life start to crack and soon everyone will know that he's a fraud.

I haven't finished watching the show... not sure how it will end, but I'm sure the writers have decided to give it a happy ending.

4 day work week

It's a four day work week this week. We've got Hari Raya Puasa this Friday, a public holiday for Singapore. I love 4 day work weeks! Well, if it's a three day or two day work week, it would be even better, but beggars can't be choosers!

Mooncake season

It's mooncake season again and Change Alley in Raffles Place, among other places, have started allowing the various hotels to display their mooncakes for all to taste and buy. The mooncake festival is the Chinese Lantern Festival which happens at the end of the Hungry Ghost Month.

I remember when we were young and growing up in Malaysia, us kids used to have our lantern made out of colourful cellophane and wire wound into shapes of either a fish or a rooster. I think I always ended up with the fish. We'd light one candle on a highly unstable wire holder and walk aimlessly around the gardens. Such simple pleasures. If we're not careful and trip or bump into each other, or if the wick of that particular candle is more stubborn than the wax, our lantern will catch on fire and we'll have to buy another one next year. I think I remember recycling mine, patching up the torn cellophane with cellophane tape.

These days, kids have the option of a battery operated bulb on plastic lanterns in a myriad of shapes and sizes. Some even come with music when lighted. I've seen Ultra man ones, Hello Kitty ones and all other Sanrio characters. I'd love to experience this festival in China one day, just to see what the locals do. Intricately designed lanterns... oh, I'm such a sucker for some things traditional.

Mooncakes used to come in three varieties : Lotus paste with and without egg, Lotus paste with nuts and red bean with pumpkin seeds. The crust is pastry like and I usually have the red bean one as it's not as sweet. The way mooncakes were baked made them more of a savoury snack than a dessert.

Modern mooncakes are another thing. We have snow skin these days instead of the traditional crust pastry and the filling just gets more and more bizarre; Champagne Truffle, Durian and even Ice-cream filled. I've tasted a few and found them to be more of a dessert than a savoury snack.

I wonder if the Chinese Garden here in Singapore will put up a themed decoration this year...

Stuff we put on our faces

I've been wanting to write this for a while now. I don't know about everyone else, but I have a myriad of products which I use. Although, I don't get up a few hours earlier than I have to to spend a couple of hours everyday primping my face. No... one can tell that I don't do that *grin*

Anyways, I've noticed that I do use a few brands, and here they are:
1. Cleanser ~ Clarins' Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Cottonseed
2. Moisturiser ~ Shiseido's Pureness Moisturiser (one with SPF when I'm on vacation)
3. Eye primer ~ Benefit
4. Eyeshadow & Liner ~ Chanel
5. Pressed Powder ~ Shiseido
6. Lip Balm ~ Burt's Bee
7. Lipstick ~ Benefit

My, my, that looks like a long list, but it takes me less than 5 minutes to put on my make-up in the mornings, and that's even when I bother to. As you can tell, I'm not really into the make-up thing, and hopefully, this will defy all and my wrinkles won't show up till I'm in my 70s.

And before I go to bed
8. Facial Oil ~ Clarins (love the smell of this!)
9. Eye gel ~ Chanel

I'm allergic to everything else, which includes Toner. I've never really understood what that's for. So what is your daily facial regime?

Moist Cakes

So I had some time at work today and I decided to Google 'moist cakes'. I don't know what has happened to my cakes these days (not that I bake all that often) but being in Singapore means that cakes should be a little more moist than say if you were baking in Australia or the North Pole, right? I get frustrated trying to handle puff pastry here because it just melts! I've been thinking of wrapping curry puffs in the fridge.

Anyways, this post is about moist cakes. So thanks to Google, I've learnt that people add MAYONNAISE to their cakes to make them moist.

Did you just say mayonnaise?
Blearghhhh...

Did you just cringe? Dry retched? Vowed never to eat any of my cakes ever again? Your lost! *grin*

But I have to admit that my initial reaction was just that, blearghhh... but everyone swears by it! Mayonnaise is essentially oil and egg, which so happens to be a couple of the cake's ingredients. Let's face it, the reason why cakes are dry is because you either over-bake them or you didn't add enough liquid. But if you don't bake them enough, it will be too soggy and if you add too much liquid in a cake, you will have to bake it longer. Catch 22, huh? Mayonnaise is your answer. Try it and let me know if it works! *giggle*

NATAS

NATAS (a travel fair) came and went... one of the few times that it hasn't affected me since I started working in the travel sector. The news reports that it's apparently the largest spending of customers, a record of S$85mil. That's A LOT of money, isn't it? This is the time that people buy holidays for December, a major school holiday season the world over. Coupled with the fact that the prices are jacked up for that season, people are still willing to part with their money... what's a little money for their sanity?