China's 5.8

Is this number 2 or 3? Will it ever stop?
Truth be known, I didn't know that China was in the ring of fire until the Sichuan one happened in 2008

Brotzeit

Running out of things to eat, the hubs and I ended up at this German bar in Vivo City. We've eaten here once before... actually twice before. The first time was after our Germany vacation and we were looking for some yummy sausages and more importantly for me, wien schnitzel. The place didn't disappoint then... but tonight it did. Sausages were still yummy the second time we ate here... I guess by and by they've decided to focus more on their beer than food.

On a separate note, I need to go to Wien to try their schnitzel... I wonder if it's the same as in Germany *grin*

Dong Yi - Part 2

I don't believe this, but I'm still in the middle of watching this drama serial!
The reason why I finish a drama really quickly is because I sometimes fast forward certain parts of the drama.
I haven't been able to do that here because every part is important!
It's going to take me longer than usual to finish this drama which is a good thing, as I won't have to look for another one to watch after this *grin*

Computer Fairs

There's going to be an IT fair this weekend... actually starting on Thursday. Every time the hubs tries to venture into the hall, he turns right around and walks out... we don't really need that new printer, computer, hard drive, camera or shopping trolley!

Throngs of people venture into the exhibition halls all the four days and almost everyone walks out with something. After all, they've been shoved around, shoved around many, many people and queued for hours... they can't leave empty handed.

Joyous is the sound of the ringing tills for the exhibitors *chuckle* but since we don't have tills anymore, the laser or dot matrix printing sound of the credit card machines will have to do!

Radio tunes

It's the 90s weekend on the radio this weekend and it's bringing back heaps of memories.
The kind of music my friends and I used to dance to while frequenting night clubs during our uni years.
Good times, good times!

Grow faster hair!

I've been keeping this a-bit-shorter-than-shoulder length hair for slightly more than a year now and I'm already tired of it. There are only so many styles you can do with short hair, can't even tie it properly, so I've decided to grow it again. Long, long, long...

Going to have to wait awhile as I think my hair takes a long while to grow. It's now at the irritable length of just at my shoulder, which means that on some days, it'll not curl the way that I want it to.

Chile's 6.8

About a month ago, an earthquake struck off the coast of Chile. Is this the start of some series of earthquakes around the world? You don't expect the Earth's plates to move and not cause a chain reaction, right? Let's just hope that if anything were to happen, it will be on a smaller scale and not the other way. I don't want to have to think about the fact that the Earth is breaking up...

English

Is the English language really all that difficult to master? As the years go by, I am finding it so, especially when you're multilingual. I've noticed that people tend to spell the way words are pronounced. But the English language is not about that, which makes me a little envious of them little spelling bees who find it so easy to spell words they might not know the meaning of, while under pressure.

Take the word 'than' for instance. I've seen it being spelt 'then' when people really mean 'than' or the word 'this' when they mean 'these' or 'of' when they mean 'off' or 'to' when they mean 'too'.

As everyone relies on the spell check and don't pay attention to the word itself, these kind of slips happen. I used to have a good giggle at lost-in-translation websites, but I've come to realise that I get a giggle out of these kind of mis-spells too.

Gibberish

Sometimes I wonder what nonsense I'm penning. Some entries are great to read, especially when they have significant meaning or a world event. But some... I'm so close to rewriting them! But I guess I won't, it'll just remind me that sometimes, my mind is not in sync with my fingers and out comes the gibberish :)

Old medicine vs new medicine

Well, as predicted the diarrhea has started. Tried to subdue it with some dhamotil and smecta but it didn't seem to work this time around. So I went to see a new doctor today and he's decided that I needed to have some modern medicine to cleanse my system. I don't think it's working because it hasn't helped. Thought it would be pretty instant as it was the only medicine he gave... my usual doctor provides me with 3 different kinds!

I have a feeling that my body's allergic to it even! Guess I'm not taking it anymore...

Diarrhea and solid food

When you have diarrhea, everyone tells you to stock up on liquids, eat soupy dishes or congee. Yes, after having to run to the toilet every 3-4 hours or so, you get pretty dehydrated, so plenty of liquids it is.

Water, water is liquid, right? If you're stocking up on water, shouldn't you be eating solid stuff? I hate extreme diarrhea, the fact that nothing gets processed properly in my body and comes out as liquid. Well, it looks like this week's going to be a week of delicate eating.

Chendol

Why is it so difficult to find yummy Chendol here? Do I really have to make it myself?!

Chendol is a Malaysian dessert made primarily of ice. Toppings include green coloured rice flour which look like short rats tails, red beans, a good dollop of coconut milk and the most important ingredient of all, melted palm sugar. I could eat any dessert with palm sugar... it has just the oddest yummy taste!

Anyways, I had that last night for dessert and I'm so looking forward to the diarrhea which I can predict would come, if not today, tomorrow... such is the weakness of my tummy and my greediness for yummy roadside desserts in Malaysia.

Sudoku

I know I've written a short post on this about a week back, but I can't get over how great this game is. I play it on the train while on my way to work, while waiting in queue for my lunch... it's such a waiting-time filler!

Ever since the hubs got his android phone, he has introduced me to this game called Daily Sudoku which is also available on the iPhone. Amazing, amazing and highly entertaining game which allows me to wile the hours away. Do I sound nerdy?

Anyways, with some practice, I should be able to narrow the nightmare level to less than 10 minutes? At the moment, spending more than a half hour on one game is just not on! :D

Meanwhile, I don't think I'll be able to play the game with a pen on paper anymore. I need the colours, highlights, the ease of placing pencil marks quickly and having the program take care of everything for me.

JPEG

It's used all the time for compressed picture files. But have you ever wondered what jpeg actually means? No? Not interested? Well, I chanced upon it, ergo I'm having it etched here :P

In the computer world, all files have a three letter extension, a dot something. Everyone knows that .doc is for word documents, .xls is for excel files and .exe files are sometimes very, very dangerous. Yes, you need them to run some scripts, but like all scripts, it's very easy to hide a devious script that will create havoc on your computer.

.jpg or short for a JPEG file means Joint Photographic Experts Group
Hmm... now that I know what jpeg means, it doesn't really make sense, or does it? Saving a picture file as a jpeg file will compress the file at the same time. If you're talking about compressed files, bitmaps and gif files can't even compare to how amazing a jpeg file is.

Dong Yi

I've started watching this Korean drama and it's really gripping! Set in the olden day era where Kings still have concubines, and it's riddled with heaps of funny scenes and plots, some elaborate, some not so elaborate.

Dong Yi, an extremely clever and observant girl, blessed throughout her life. Even after having lost her father and brother at a young age, to a trap set by the baddies, she manages to overcome everything that's thrown at her with a smile plastered on her face and become the love of the King's life. That's just the gist of it! The drama is 60 episodes long and each episode is an hour long. These are the kind of dramas you want to watch when you can't sleep on a plane that's flying halfway around the world *grin*

Mighty Mouse

"Here I come to save the dayyyyy..."

I can't believe they don't show those kind of cartoons anymore. They were the best! Although it showed slightly violent themes if you think about it, but it wasn't all that violent because they were cartoons! Even Ultraman and Thundercats weren't all that violent. These days, they don't call them cartoons anymore but animation. It's a whole different world which we live in now... kids watching them animation tend to follow, especially the action figures.

Anyways, this entry is not about cartoons... it's about the current mouse which the Macintosh computers use. Have you tried it out yet? It's an amazing piece of equipment. It has track pad features on the top which allow users to scroll, zoom, pinch... all this and it's still a mouse! Aren't the people at Apple just the best?!

New Zealand's 6.3

Christchurch was hit by an earthquake today, magnitude of 6.3
Looks like it's the start of a chain of events...
Didn't something similar happen around this time last year?
What is the world coming to?
Why now?
Does extinction need to happen in order for things to be set right again?

Printers

Slow day at work today...

I read somewhere that it takes 22 seconds to print one page, that seems a bit long, doesn't it? If we're not talking about laser printers, it's apparently pretty quick, for a bubble jet. But 22 seconds is still a bit long, no?

Do we take the printer for granted? I know I have. Been living with laser printers at work, and my prints come out in a jiffy.

Have you ever stood by a printer and waited for your prints to come out? How long does it take? If there's nothing that needs doing, you might have the time to stand by the printer and wait for your prints to come out. But most people don't have the time to do so, which brings me to my question, 22 seconds for one page? Not acceptable!

Wiling the hours away

There's a game
In the iPhone
That has me hooked
It's called Sudoku Daily

There are only 16 levels a day
Not that I know all the rules
I'm still learning
But still...
What now?

Home

This weekend is the first weekend since the Lunar New Year that I've had to myself.
Waking up late, not eating on time and generally just lazing around.
The laundry is finally up to date and I guess I should really get to the ironing.
But it's my first weekend to myself!
The ironing can always wait, it's only two baskets full *grin*
On another note... do we really have two baskets full of clothes?!
That's a tiny bit of one too many pieces of clothing for two people, isn't it?

Whole Milk

Reading today's newspaper (The Straits Times) brought the following picture. It's part of a double page advertisement for No Frills, a house brand stocked in Cold Storage, a supermarket here in Singapore.

Whole Milk

I just don't know what to say about the kind of milk this is. I mean, it's the first time I've seen something like this. Sure it's cow's milk... right? What I'm curious about is, will you buy it? Or will you just not notice the wordings? Or will the wordings just not bother you?

I'm just trying to think... the milk which I used to drink (which was incidentally super yummy) was a Home Brand from Woolies. Did it say whole milk too?

Photo Blog : Chap Goh Mei

One of the things to note on this final day of the Lunar New Year is the full moon.

Here's a pic taken by the hubs on the 105mm. My hands are just not steady enough *grin*

Chap Goh Mei Moon

Internet Friends

Tonight's meet up with some friends I met over the internet back in '96 was amazing. Not only did the years not age them, everyone's character is still the same! It was a really, really great catch up, especially over some sausages and beer at a German waterhole. We should do this more often... like once every 5 years, yeah?

Am Idol 10

The american idol is back on again! Preliminary eliminations... but it looks like for this round, there are quite a few great singers! How do you eliminate the good?

Photo Blog : Raw Fish Dish

The infamous Raw Fish Salad dish... every Lunar New Year, it's a must have dish... at least once! Of course, people tend to have it as many times as there are days, and then some! It's all in the good name of prosperity.

So this is what the hubs and I ended up having on Valentine's Day *grin*

Raw fish salad from Putien

Laundry, Oh Laundry

I don't know what happened but I'm wayyyyy behind on my laundry again!

Not to mention the ironing... yes, don't even mention the ironing, the basket containing clothes that need to be ironed is overflowing!

*sigh* I guess I should get to it now and not be writing this, huh?

Criminal Minds

The hubs and I were watching Criminal Minds this afternoon and it was awesomely gruesome. This series delves into the mind of a criminal. The team profiles criminals with the evidence that they have and somehow in the last 5-10 minutes of the show manages to catch the serial killer.

Today's episode was especially gruesome. It was about a pair of brothers, one brilliant and paralyzed from the neck down and his brother, a person who's mentally challenged, living on a pig farm. The brother has the amazing ability to kidnap people, usually homeless junkies, paralyze them by breaking something at the back of their neck with a hammer, collecting some spinal fluid and while they're still aware, cut into them with a knife and saw off their limbs and body parts to feed to their pigs. Gruuuuuesommmmme!

Pigs eat everything, bones and all, so when the police finally came, they only found shoes, all 87 pairs. Nothing was left by the pigs. I'm guessing that they had a really good life while they were being fed fresh meat *shudder*

Smelling Unique

I've picked up another new scent and hopefully I won't have to change it for a while. I remember getting my first bottle of Bvlgari and using it for close to fifteen years. Not the one bottle... I think one lasts me a year and a half. I'm not a massive sprayer of perfume. The scent was just comfortable to the nose, not too overpowering, my skin didn't turn it into another smell and lasted the whole day. I think I still have a couple of half bottles sitting in my cupboard somewhere.

Then in July 09, I found something from Hermes which was also easy on the nose, not too overpowering, although it didn't last as long as the Bvlgari.

While wondering around a mall today, I found one by Annick Goutal. It's a new name for us here in Asia, we usually stock the bigger more famous brands and not the cottage industry ones. But I'm glad I came across this one. It's going to be my new scent for the next 15 years!

Paternity Leave

There should be a law in this country that grants more than 2 days of paternity leave... or was it 5 days? I'm not too sure, but I'm sure it's a whole lot less than maternity leave. The current maternity leave is 16 weeks. Sounds like a lot but I'm still envious of the Western countries where working mothers are allowed to take a whole year off without having to worry that they will lose their jobs.

And here we are trying to increase paternity leave...

Dream High

I'm currently following the above k-drama. It's about a group of high school kids, each with their own amazing musical talent. They get to study in a prestigious music school which helps gifted kids debut sooner. Such is the aim of most kids in Korea?

The show kind of reminds me of Glee... the singing, dancing, not so much of fighting between the kids... except that it won't stretch as long as Glee will... the kids can't stay in high school forever and this will end at episode 16. After which, I'll want more. The show casts real singers and dancers making most of the singing and dancing executed amazingly well. But they have tight schedules to follow... so there will be no extending of the drama. Maybe they'll do a season 2, eh?

Gold

I read an interesting article about gold today. There is, apparently, a lot of it sitting idly in a warehouse. I thought gold was kept in safe deposit boxes. Aren't they?

With the world economy spinning out of control with the help of some natural disasters and some brought on by humans, gold is slowly coming back as a medium to have. How come I'm the only person without a warehouse, hmm?

Photo Blog : 35mm

Piano's make great subjects
Playing with the 35mm
I can't believe how with the digital era, we're going back to the basics. Film cameras without zoom used to have 35mms lenses only

My Piano

Damnyouautocorrect!

Whenever you need to laugh, really laugh out loud... this is the one website you've gotta go to. It's amazing what the auto correct within the iPhone can do! What more, this is only in English, for those of us who speak other languages, it's a whole new world of, "Damn you auto correct!"

Home Sweet Home

There's really nothing like home. We're back in Singapore after a few days of celebration and I'm thinking that the watching-what-I-eat thing should start today. Yeah, after a few days of good food, I'm ready to settle for mediocre food!

Grand-pere

We're usually at grandfather's house (on my hubby's side) on the second day of the Lunar new year for some catch up time with cousins, aunties, uncles and their kids. It's the only day I distribute ang pows in Malaysia... I think.

I never knew my grandfathers, one passed away 4 years before I was born and another a whole lot longer than that. But this particular grandfather is old... yeah, I hear you saying aren't all grandfather's old? But he's really, really old. I think he's turning 90 this year. And I've known him for more than 10 years.

I don't think he remembers who I am, we only meet once a year on the second day of the Lunar new year when his house is open for family gatherings, and the odd gathering when there's a funeral for someone in the family. His siblings are all not getting any younger, and as a part of life, funerals do happen.

So, Grand-pere lives alone in a pretty large house... strategically placed, I think the house has 8 bedrooms. Could be more, as grand-pere has 8 kids. Everyone has gotten married and moved out, save for one daughter, who's not married, but has decided to live away from her childhood home. I can just imagine how 'festive' it would be when everyone comes back to celebrate; kids with their extended families.

Chor Yat

Today is the first day of the Lunar calendar
Many, many traditions to be held
Vegetarian for lunch *yum*
Massive choices of yummy stuff for dinner

The Lunar new year is all about eating, eating and more eating
Tossing of the thinly julienned array of vegetables with raw fish for luck
Home-cooked dishes, mandarin oranges, cookies, tarts, fried thinly sliced vegetables...
Hmm... I haven't seen any love letters around, have I?

The best part of it all is that it goes on for 15 days
Can you imagine, 15 days of merry making?
What will this do to our waistlines?
That's ok, we'll have the rest of the year to work it off!

Firecrackers

You know the Lunar new year is approaching, while living in Malaysia, when the first sounds of firecrackers start popping. These are singular ones that whistle while flying upwards and pop at the end. Currently firecrackers are illegal items, but people still find a way to purchase and let them go, usually around the eve of the day, the first and second days.

In another 10 minutes, there is going to be a cacophony of noise as the real firecrackers start. These are unlike the official ones (hosted by the governments during while welcoming the western new year) that last a whole 10 to 15 minutes with bursts of colourful light, although if you put enough of them together, it could last that long. On another note, it is fascinating that people are able to come up with the kind of fireworks that we have now, complete with flowery names like willow, chrysanthemum, dahlia and peony.

The Lunar new year firecrackers are short red sticks, tied together such that when the fuse goes off, the crackers pop one by one but at an alarming pace and sound. It's loud and according to the Chinese, that's meant to scare away the bad and old in order for the new to come into the new year.

Passwords

I vaguely remember writing about passwords around May or June last year, about how complicated your password should be to prevent hackers from guessing and getting access to your email/facebook/twitter/blog accounts. I hope you don't use one password for every internet account that you hold.

Having said that, I have a few passwords. Most of the time it's one for each account and I've written them down somewhere because you just don't remember 20 passwords for 20 accounts, I'm not that brilliant. The good thing about that is that I get my personal macbook to remember the passwords for me, so that when I launch that account, everything's there and I just have to click 'login'. The bad thing, I don't bring along that little notebook of passwords when I don't bring my macbook along with me.

So, whenever I travel and have to use another computer, a few minutes is spent pondering on what the password should be, and sometimes even the login name. For instance, Twitter is forever logged-in on the iPhone, there's no way to log out. So when I'm trying to update something on the computer, as I don't use the data roaming, I sit there for a few minutes wondering what the password could be.

Moral of the story? There isn't any... keeping a various array of passwords is good AND bad for you *grin*

Diarrhea

If you're squirmish about bodily fluids gone wrong, don't even read this post.

I'm having the worst diarrhea of my life! I don't think I ever remember a session being so bad! After everything that's been cleared in my bowels, water's just coming out. I now know what an enema feels like and it's not something I want happening ever so often!

Gurgling

It's gurgling!
My tummy has been gurgling for more than 9 hours now...
What on earth do you think it's doing inside???
I'm almost afraid of going to the toilet...
But I know at some point in time, I'll have to!

Clean, clean, clean!

Short post today, gotta clean the house... the hubs is coming back! I know, I know, I've left it too late again, haven't I? Maybe I should think about getting a weekly maid, if only to do the floors and the bathrooms.

Mt Bromo Erupts

There's a volcano located on the ring of fire in Indonesia called Mt Bromo. It's not all that famous (to me, that is) but it has been spewing smoke since mid December last year and there's a wiki article about it.

Today, it decided to spew heaps of volcanic ash, so much so that flights in and out of Bali and Lombok have been cancelled. I guess it's not as powerful as that Iceland one, Eyjafjallajokull.

En Garde!

In the world of fencing, En Garde is like "Fore!" to golfers.

What would you use in light of the new American Idol judges?
Fail?
En Garde! also as a warning to expect something totally different... fairy tales? Where everything is seen through rose coloured glasses.

It's just not the same, is it? Everyone's happy, too happy it seems a little fake. Oh well, I guess it was inevitable that people move on to bigger and better things... After all American Idol is in its 10th season!

Happy Australia Day!

Sometimes I wish I worked for an embassy in a foreign country, only to enjoy both public holidays.
Can't complain, Singapore does have a few more holidays as compared to Australia.
I guess I'll just have to stick to working for an American firm that does not observe US holidays.

Damn You Auto Correct!

Whenever you need to laugh, really laugh out loud... this is the one website you've gotta go to. It's amazing what the auto correct within the iPhone can do! What more, this is only in English, for those of us who speak other languages, it's a whole new world of, "Damn you auto correct!"

Today's one is especially hilarious "Special Cucumber Unit!

The Snow Queen

I don't think I remember reading Hans Christian Andersen's version of this story, and I'm sure there are heaps of versions around, but the Korean's have managed to come up with a sob fest of a story with this underlying theme.

The only reason why I picked it up was for the actor, Hyun Bin. Not liking the way he looked in his most recent drama Secret Garden, I decided to pick this one up and it was one of the saddest k-drama I've ever watched. If you're going to watch it, stop reading now.

The story evolves around two people, the dorky guy, a maths genius and a girl who's been sick all her life. Something about the storyline should have warned me not to watch it, usually when someone has a weird illness, they will surely die. That's just the way dramas are meant to be. I thought my brain was mature enough to handle this, but no... my eyes are all swollen.

To make the story more sobby, the guy's best friend, who happens to be a good-looking maths genius commits suicide when he loses in the countrywide maths Olympiad. He didn't even place second, he didn't even place third. Of course the dorky guy came in first, so he blames himself for the reason his best friend committed suicide. Which if you think about it, is a bit silly, how can you be sorry for being smart? But he's supposed to be a 17 year old...

The story picks up again 8 years later. We find out that the dorky guy leaves school and decides to become a boxer. It was the dream of his best friend to be one, so he takes it on himself to fulfill that dream. Meets up with the younger sister of his best friend without knowing so, falls in love only to discover who she really is. Anyways, they somehow patch up only to have the weird illness claim her life. Such a sad, sad ending because the dorky guy spends most of his life being miserable... and lonely.

Will I watch this again? Yeah, if only for the early scenes between the main actors as they bicker and become steadfast friends.

Korean Tongue Twisters

I can't even handle the English ones and I'm going ahead of myself in trying to learn ones in a foreign language of which I'm not fluent in. I guess it might be easier to remember if I knew what I was actually saying... kind of reminds me of the times I was in school and uni trying to memorise sentences and formulas that don't make any sense to me! That's right, it doesn't make sense ergo it's not easy to remember.

It's a mesh of weird things, doesn't even make sense, something akin to she selling seashells on the seashore.

This is from the Secret Garden Korean drama where in order to take his mind off something the lead actor recites this over and over again.

"Kimmm soo han moo, keo bu gi wa du ru mi, sam cheon gab ja Dong Bang Sak! Chi chi ga po, Sarisarisaenta, Wori wori, sapeurika..."

Storm turns one!

Happy Birthday Stormy!

When I first heard this kid's name, I thought, "Boy, is he going to have a hard time at school!"
I still think that *grin* but the name is beginning to grow on me, the more I see him and the more I call out to him. Cute kid, it'll be interesting to watch him grow.

Handbags and crowded food courts

Your handbag doesn't deserve a seat in a crowded food court. I don't care if you've paid a thousand dollars or ten dollars for it, it doesn't deserve a seat in a crowded food court. It's not eating, even if it is, it should be sitting on your lap or hanging off the table or chair.

I don't know if this is a normal occurrence in Asian countries, but here in Singapore, it's everywhere, something of a culture. With Singapore being relatively safe, the handbag can afford to be left on a seat of its own while the owner eats.

And I love asking people to move their bags to make way for my bum. The daggers I get sometimes are just priceless. I wonder if they know that they're actually shooting daggers for the fact that their precious handbag has to vacate a seat.

My Name is Kim Sam Soon

A legend among all Korean Dramas! It's a series which I have no trouble watching over and over again, a feel-good drama. The writers and producers have strayed a little away from the norm of a pretty girl with a good-looking guy. Instead, the story is about a plus sized girl who's a great pastry chef. She meets a good-looking younger guy who runs a restaurant and ends up being the pastry chef. They somehow get close and against what their brain tells them, start to like each other.

The good-looking younger guy doesn't have a string of girlfriends as he's still hung up on an ex-girlfriend who left suddenly 3 years ago. Anyways, the leads end up being together, a happy ending, the kind that I like. One of the plus bits to this drama is of course the good-looking younger guy. He's none other than one of my favourite actors, Hyun Bin, and I'm guessing that this is one of his early dramas for which he started getting famous for.

Halfway through!

The hubs is away again for work and luckily it's only for 3 weeks this time.
Can't wait for him to get back... then life will be back to normal *grin*
I never knew how much I would miss him...
Always thought I would be ok being alone, it was always ok when I was younger.
Maybe he's just attached himself onto me with super glue, eh?

Wanna Cookie?

It could only happen in this day and age.
Bust enhancement cookies...
Absurd, no?
Just the thought of cookies being able to enhance busts...
Well, just so you know, they exist.
Not that they're safe...
These kind of things are never safe.
But people still want to try...
People can be silly sometimes.

Tidbits Galore

It looks like the Lunar new year is nearly upon us.

Everywhere you go, stalls are starting to display all the yummy goodies; cashew nut cookies, love letters, peanut brittle, pineapple tarts, mandarin oranges, barbeque sliced pork and the list goes on! Hmm... I've got to remember to get a couple of new clothes!

Takashimaya market place

Sunday's are for resting...

I should really clean the house... but I'm just so lazy. One of the benefits of having the house all to myself (and the hubs) is that I don't really care that there's dust all over the place (neither does the hubs)!

Maybe I'll do it next weekend... the Lunar new year is coming up and as a custom, one has to clean the house of all things old, dust is considered old *grin* A couple of weeks will be all I need to clean this place up, right?

Money is a scary thing

What would this world be if we didn't have money? There will be other forms of barter of course, but now that we have to live in a world where money is the major form of barter, we'll just have to make do.

So, how much is enough? Enough to live comfortably. I'm living comfortably at the moment. If I don't want some maids trailing me, a house that's too big for the both of us, a driver in a flashy car, massive jewellery hanging on me and jet-setting all over the world at a whim, I'm alright! Although, that last one would be nice *grin*

Right! Money... as the Lunar new year approaches, the Singapore pools will be preparing for another big draw. Can't remember what last year's one was, maybe it's the same every year, but this year it's $10 milion! Will you be buying into it? Queues have formed everywhere tickets are being sold, everyone's donating to the pool... parting with a little in the hopes of winning big. Would there be a possibility of no one winning?!

Facebook the generation gap

I was having dinner with a few of my workmates sometime last year and I know I should have written about it sooner but it just hit me that there are some things that are obvious with age.

We were all in the middle of discussing Facebook. On the one side, it's a phenomenon which everyone wants to be a part of, and that makes the concept work, because ultimately Facebook is about connecting people. People you haven't seen in a long, long time, people whom you see everyday, but don't have the time to connect, parents who want to know what their kids are up to, parents who connect with their kids on 'their' platform and new/old friends to learn more about that friend.

Some people use it to advertise every moment of their life, I do that from time to time, but not to the extent which some do. It's a great platform... teeming with information, some irrelevant, some surprising... I find that I'm mostly happy when there's an update because it means they're still alive.

So, one of the topics that came up was the amount of information that appears on your news feed. You'll have to remember that these are people you've either asked to be a friend of or have accepted their request to be a friend. Why did you befriend them when you weren't going to like their news updates? Or curse them for updating ever so often.

Would this be considered a generation gap thing? Generation X living in generation Y's era and trying to understand it. If you're irritated with the updates, just don't read them. Apparently, that's easier said than done, some people are really drawn to gossip.

For those of you out there who have Facebook accounts, what do you use it for? I think everyone who has an account should treat it like a marriage with the following vows; for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do you part.

Pasta Dinners

Pasta would be the easiest out of all the meals-for-one to make.
Grill the bacon to perfection, cut them up into bite size and stir in the sauce.
Bought a bottle of cabonara to last me a whole week, and then some!

Cabonara Spirals with Bacon

Touch Keyboards

So an interesting thing happened just now, not something I would've done before and it just took me by surprise. I had to trim the nails on my thumbs (only) as it was difficult to type on my iPhone touch keyboard. Isn't that just the whackiest thing ever? The nails were in the way of my thumbs flying over the keyboard and sent the predictive text crazily into overdrive.

Kindy for toddlers

While I was driving to get my dinner tonight, the traffic was crawling, allowing me to think a little on the side and I came up with this - "Money can't buy you the ability to use your brain."

I've never come across a society that puts their kids through school, private lessons and tuition at a young age of 3. Yes, not 13, but 3. Where's the physical play time? Where's the getting some vitamin D from the sun? I guess if I grew up here and never knew any better, it wouldn't be strange to me, but I didn't. I grew up roller skating on my driveway, cycling around the neighbourhood, climbing over drains behind houses in my estate, don't remember much about the studying part of school as I was usually out for a tournament or something...

What in the world brought this on? There was an article in the newspapers today. Parents queued up for 12 hours in the hopes of getting their child who was born in 2010 a spot on the waiting list of a prestigious kindy in 2013. I don't know about you, but that whole sentence doesn't make any sense to me. It was such an absurd notion that I didn't even bother to read the article in full.

But I do have some points I want to bring up. Firstly, it's a spot on the waiting list. Even if you're number one, if everyone who has been granted a spot (I'm sure there's another criteria for this too) takes it up, where does that leave your child? Kindy-less? I don't think so. These parents would have a back up plan, which means a domino effect, doesn't it? At the bottom of the chain, some kid would be on the waiting list hoping to just get into a kindy, any kindy!

Secondly, would you even take your baby to queue? Is one of the criteria, "Oh, your baby is so cute, let's just grant them a position on the waiting list"? Pure utter nonsense, just pure utter nonsense.

I don't know if I'm furious or just vexed...

Anyways, just on the side, I miss driving to and from work. I remember that I do a lot of thinking while I drive, not to mention catch up on my music! I'm still stuck in the 90s, which in 5 years will probably the 'oldies'!

Blue is the colour of my room

I knew there was a reason blue is a favourite colour... next to lilac... But yes, I've always leaned towards blue when there's a colour decision to be made.

Blue is the colour you want to look at when your brain needs to absorb information. Blue is also a soothing and calming colour. And that's apparent in the sky. Don't you look up to the blue blue sky and feel a sense of pleasant calmness? I guess you can also say that about the sea. But sometimes the sea is more green than blue.

Anyways, when we first moved into this house, I got my own bedroom and I knew I wanted to paint it blue and paint it blue I did. I can't remember the exact pantone colour (a shade darker than reflex blue?) but it's a dark bright blue, not navy. Coupled with the yellow lighting, my nights were pretty comfortable. Then I got married and moved into the hub's room, which was painted a whitish green (lucite green?) and the hubs has now made my vacated room into his library cum computer room. I'm glad we didn't repaint the rooms, not that we were going to after we got married.

Swollen Eyes

So, for anything that you watched on the telly which brought tears to your eyes... who would you 'blame' that on? The actors, directors, screen writers, your own imagination gone wild, your heart, your brain for getting sucked in??? Countless!!!

I'm one of those people who get emotionally involved with a show that I'm watching on the telly, or even in the movies. Sad, but it's not something I can help. I remember when I was young, my mom and I would catch the cantonese dramas which were showing on the telly right before dinner. She would cook a little, come out to watch, cry heaps and serve dinner when the episode was over. I also remember that the old dramas had a lot of sad scenes in it. Must have been its forte because it forced everyone to follow it.

So, for no reason at all, but being too attached to a drama, I've just finished a bawling session after watching the 17th episode of Secret Garden. I think I might watch that episode again, and again. It was just so sad... no one died... well, not yet, but just the anguish, the thought, the plot with which I can relate to, is creating havoc with my brain.

Terminal 1

Singapore has three airport terminals. The recently opened Terminal 3 is now 3 years old. How time flies!

Meanwhile, it has been decided that Terminal 1 was in dire need of some upgrading. Of course, for a place which has been in operation since the dawn of Singapore Airlines... I'm not saying that there hasn't been any upgrading of facilities between then and now, but compared to the newly opened Terminal 3, Terminal 1 was really in dire need of some upgrading. Started in 2008, it looks to only be completed in 2012!

Meanwhile, amidst all this upgrading, the airport is still in operation. It's only the aesthetics part of the airport that is being upgraded. Disruption is kept to the minimum as everything is boarded up and if you don't frequent the place, you won't even know what you're missing. But I've been there so many times this year that I've started to notice certain things, mostly the availability of food outlets. And the fact that there's absolutely NOTHING to entertain you with while you wait to board your flight or are in transit. All the entertainment worthy experiences (the ones that keep you awake enough to wile the hours away while you wait for your connection) are located in Terminal 3. Kind of reminds me of airports from not so developed countries. I guess I've been pretty spoilt in all these years, expecting an airport to be a building full of entertainment too, and not to mention the fact that they should be a shopping mall masquerading as an airport!

Rashes

I can't believe in this day and age, I'm still allergic to certain creams.
I've really gotta go do a skin prick test to find out what I'm really allergic to.
The only reason I've been putting it off is because I'm afraid it's going to tell me that I'm allergic to all things expensive!
I'm sure the hubs would be happy about that tho...

While the chicken man is on holiday...

... the help comes out to help?

I had the strangest experience buying from our regular chicken wing and bee hoon place today. The regular uncle is away for a holiday and had two friends come help him out. It's great that they're willing to help, but it took 3 dudes to do his job. One to cut the chicken wing, one to pile on the regular order of bee hoon, and whatever side dishes and one to place the packets into a plastic bag. The person who piles on the regular order collects the money too, looks like he's the leader of the dude-pack! But he gets help from the dude who cuts the chicken wing with the calculations. With so many heads, I'm not sure if they made money these couple of weeks.

Anyways, on top of that, the dude cutting the chicken wing was carefully cutting it (like he was afraid it would hurt) and the dude who was piling on the regular order was extremely slow and neat. It was strange to see it all as I'm so used to the way the regular uncle packs, cuts and serves his customers. Had me entertained while in the queue, but I can't wait for the regular uncle to come back.

Anniversary Meal

It's been thirteen years since I started going out with my husband... to date, it's still a poignant part of my life. I remember the tears... of sadness and joy and I will never regret saying yes. Hopefully the hubs doesn't regret asking either!

Anyways, today's blog is about food. Again. When has it ever been about anything else...

We were supposed to have a simple dinner of grilled chicken wings, satay and a plate of noodles but the East Coast Laguna Hawker Center was closed. Not sure if they're just doing renovations or are only cleaning the place up. Late as it already was, we ended up having Korean food at Ju Shin Jung.

Loved the atmosphere (big open restaurant with excellent ventilation), the beef and generous side dishes. The short rib beef was gobbled up so quickly that I only managed to take a picture of the belly pork. Will definitely come back again but will only order a variation of cow parts.

Slow grilled belly pork and onion on a slice of lettuce

Organising the iPhone

Is your iPhone inundated with hundreds of apps, most you don't use and has been filed away in folders which take up 5 or more screens? Most people are afraid of throwing away an app they previously downloaded, for free, for fear they might use it sometime in the near future. I'm trying my very best to not be one of those and to keep to three screens. Why three you ask?

Well, there's the home page which is my second screen. This is where all the most used applications are on. To the left screen, I have my games, food, language and miscellaneous folders and to the right, utilities (app store), misc social networks, radio and news. Does that sound organised to you? I'd like to think so. So how do you organise your iPhone?

100 Trillion

That's 100 with 12 zeros to follow
Only in Zimbabwe can this happen

100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars is worth 5 US dollars. That's kind of sad, isn't it? So even if I were a millionaire in Zimbabwe, I wouldn't be able to buy anything or survive, would I?

Sometimes I wonder if the world would be a different place if there was only one currency... what are you talking about?! Of course it would be different.

Firstly, there would be no money changers. What in the world would they do??? I'm just sending this world into chaos, aren't I? Other repercussions would be the people who make money by trading money... they wouldn't exist also, right? Let's not even go there...

Secondly, there would be wars (or hefty words) to decide which currency to use and if they're not able to single that out, a new currency would have to be prepared. IF that is done, how do you peg it? I won't even go there because the money changers and foreign exchange traders would come after me. Anyways, let's call it "world currency"

Thirdly, on average buying a mediocre cup of coffee in England would be the same price as one in Zimbabwe, which is 7 world currency. No one would think that as expensive or cheap as they wouldn't have known otherwise. But then again, 7 world currency could be point zero zero seven cents in current day pounds ;)

Fourthly, and more interestingly would be salary! Yes, it's always been a hush-hush subject, but with the world currency, everyone would be paid fairly, you think? If I were an average maid in Indonesia, I should be paid the same as if I were working in the US, right?

Then, immigration and emigration wouldn't happen as often as it does now. Why would I want to move to another country if not for money... experience? Standard of living? Argh... boggles the mind. I've got to plan this right... but I think I'd like to live in that world... what a weird world it would be!

D7K

I've been itching to buy this since it came out in November... or was it October last year.

I've always been a point and shoot (PnS) camera kind of person for most of my daily pictures, but after playing with the hub's dslr for a week (while I was in Tokyo last year), I was sold. As a camera to bring along while travelling, dslrs are just so much better. There is only so much a PnS can do. Don't tell me it's the person behind the camera, having a steady hand and all that rubbish. Yes, those are important facts, but a PnS cannot give you swoon-erable bokeh.

Being a little sheltered, I only discovered bokeh when I started playing with the 50mm and 105mm lens'. Boy... was I hooked! I started to notice pictures with really, really good bokeh and what you can actually do with it. And when I had finally finished drooling over everyone else's pictures, I sighed to myself and decided that I really needed to get a dslr. At the time, the only worthy camera was the D90 (don't really care for the other brands as the hubs has a Nikon too, interchangeable lenses come in handy), but since there were some announcements that another model of the same size and weight would be coming out, I waited. I didn't want to get the smaller (S size) or bigger models (L and XL sizes) as the smaller one felt like a toy camera in my hands and the hubs already has the bigger one (L size). The M size that the D90 and D7k are sounds about right.

At the moment, I'm still waiting for the price to drop, seeing that I don't have any trips planned in the next month or so. Bringing the camera out on a daily basis just doesn't fit into my bag, however big it is. Hopefully the sellers would realise that people want to spend some money before Chinese New Year (which falls on the 3rd of February this year) and put up some hefty discount. The camera is currently sitting on S$2,100 with the kit lens.

... and a Happy 2011 everyone!

The first of January is just another day in the year but why does it always feel different? This year, there was a slight change in the air... a tiny change, but I felt it, did you?

What did I end up doing today? Well, there was a house warming party to prepare for and I think I was born a food preparer in my previous life... not that I'm supposed to believe that, the previous life thing. When in the kitchen, I prefer slicing and dicing food (especially vegetables) as opposed to cooking, cleaning and washing. But I'm not deft with the knife, unlike how all those professional chefs who appear on the telly do when they're slicing and dicing vegetables. No, I still take the normal amount of time an average person does...

Anyways, when all was said and done, I ate toooooooooooooooo much! But the food was way too good to say no to. Every 15 minutes, "Just one more little bite..." The tummy is still bloated and I'm going to have problems tomorrow... excellent start to the new year!

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