Goodbye

The O Levels have finally come to a smashing end. Many must be rejoicing to the tune of frolicking in slumberland till the mid-day sun or indulging in Facebooking till the wee hours of the day. Well, I don't blame you for it, coz if you had slogged, you certainly deserve a breather.

With the end of the Os, spells the end of a long journey with one special girl.

The above adorable little girl (SO CUTE RIGHT??? Don't you just wanna pinch her cheeks??) has blossomed into a charismatic adolescent -- One of a kind, whose memory is like a flour sifter and who never fails to amaze me with her wild imagination or her artistic talents.
With my incessant naggings, she's finally suppressing her abundant energy and showing the serious side of her. I hope I've taught you well......


my absolute favourite part of the room! Am vaguely sad that I won't see it anymore.....*SOB*

Trunks and Bob -- Our trusty companion who r always there for us, rain or shine.
K gave me Trunk's twin -- TRINKS! It's difficult to measure empirically how much it means to be receiving something from you in a long long while! haha
Mixing dinner/ awesome Beehoon breakfast and work certainly don't give us indigestion when you are with great company. In fact, it is in this room where we enjoy a feast of all imaginable opulence.
I could feel the sadness engulfing my heart as I gave you a big hug. A small tingling sensation of reluctance crept up my spine. I'm hopelessly emotional when it comes to parting. However reluctant we are, we have to part.

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again!

Till we meet again, Bittery!

Welcome to the club of Coffee Connoisseurs!

Christmas came early this year. Sweetie got himself a new toy. A present for being a good boy for the year?

Welcome to the club of Coffee Connoisseurs!

A perfect espresso has a distinct flavour, with intense aromas and a full body, delicately topped with a rich, smooth crema. What makes Nespresso unique, is its absolute control of all the elements necessary for producing exceptional coffee, cup after cup.

We were at Taka today, wanting to stock up on the capsules when I saw this gorgeous machine. BLING BLING! My kind of design!

Nespresso provides a unique choice of 16 Grand Crus to satisfy every taste at any time of the day. I'm no connoisseur but apparently, there are subtle differences in each intensity. To savour its aroma, Nespresso welcomes you to their tasting area at their boutique where you can savour the different levels of your choice. ION has much better service as our trip to taka today was dampened by the unprofessional service rendered by one of the staff. She didn't put on a smile, wasn't helpful in explaining the various flavours let alone give us much opinion and worst of all, she walked away halfway as sweetie was tasting his coffee! Management is soooo gonna hear from me! Instead, she was far enthusiastic when serving a Malay family! Racisim?

Sweetie settled for Intensity number 8. Roma -- A subtle balance between strength, depth and finesse, Roma is distinguished by its woody and roasted notes. Central and South American Arabicas combined wih Robusta are lightly roasted to preserve the delicate aroma of the blend. Roma is the ideal coffee for those looking for an espresso that is short, but mild. Quite intense i think.....bought each sleeve of 10 for $9.90, which works out to $0.99 per cup...hmm...cheaper than Mac Cafe! Not to mention more aromatic!

This is baby's new toy! In a smashing red no less! Container's from IKEA....Nespresso sells accompanying accessories like storage and cups, but they are all freaking expensive! Really like our little coffee corner.
Complimentary with each machine bought. We were told, Nespresso Coffee Experts explore the world in search of the finest harvests of "specialty coffees" which represent only 10% of total world production. Nespresso only selects coffees of the very highest quality, which are harvested and sorted by hand and then washed and dried in the sun, before being exported. Upon arrival, the green coffee undergoes several checks before being blended, roasted, ground and packaged. Every Espresso machine is euipped with a high-pressure pump, which draws out all the coffee's aromas and ensures a smooth, thick crema.

Ahhhh...A truly aromatic experience.

Sweetie had his treats......so how can I not have mine? Picked up a few items up today:
Am particularly excited about the Elmo 2010 planner I've got! Battled over it quite a bit as it cost a whopping $16.90. Sweetie tried stopping me. Legitimate, since I've already bought a huge $4.90 boring black planner from POPULAR. Nevertheless, his attempts failed! hehe Dinner was at Tampopo. Was craving for Ramen since the disappointing episode last wkend. Tampopo proved to be a notch better in terms of its thick stock which it claims to have boiled for 2 days using pig bones. Sweet, but it left me thirsty the whole night. Noodle texture -- nothing fantastic; Ingredients -- DISAPPOINTING! THere was hardly any ingredients in the bowl of ramen. Especially sweetie's sabu sabu Ramen. I had to offer him some of my Katsu! Service -- average...had a hard time catching the waiters' attention and I could hardly comprehend the waiter. His diction was amazing! Half fight with Riz Low! Guess the typical Singaporean do indeed speak poor English...or Manglish as some would put it.

Crap or Crepe?

Tuesday.

At long last, the 5 of us managed to get together, all thanks to M who returned from his "voyage". Really envious of that guy, cruising around on board Titanic. Pity G fell ill at the eleventh hour, else it'd certainly be a complete gathering. Anyway, our rendezvous happened at a little cafe tucked at 44 Prinsep Street. Owned by a young handsome Frenchman, Creperie de Arts is just the place for us to chill out.

The restaurant as the name implies, serves an assortment of crepes.

Did you know?
Traditionally known as galette (buckwheat) the crepe is made with flour, eggs and milk.

I had savoury seafood crepe as my main. Succulent scallops adorned the freshly made crepe. Smothered in cream sauce and garnished with some herbs and a dash of pepper, this crepe is dangerously delicious. Size wise, was a little too much for me. M had the classic ham crepe wich was dressed in what looked like lightly-melted cheese. S and E shared a chicken crepe. Wrapped in crispy warmed crepe are layers of tasty chicken coated with marinates, smothered with sliced mushroom and deliciously creamy sauce and finally garnished with a dash of pepper.

We were all up to our neck after our main course, but dessert's always a must! The above was just one of the 2 desserts we shared. Banana split coverered in sticky maple syrup adorn this freshly cooked crepe, with a side of ice cream and topped with fluffy whipped cream. Our senses were further tickled by the Choc syrup drizzled generously on the crepe.

Creperie de Arts is a nice place to host a birthday party or simply chilling out in al fresco style with close friends. Check it out today! Really happy to have caught up with old friends. Endless things to chat about.

Friendship needs no words.....................

Whoever said money can't buy happiness, simply didn't know where to shop!

The end of all major exams are looming, dangerously close! Life will come to an abrupt halt when that happens. YIPEE! I realised how detached all the teaching has made me from the world. I didn't realise how much I missed ORCHARD ROAD! Sometimes our daily goals seem to eclipse everything else.

Spent 9 hours of awesome time with girlfriend H. High Tea, Shopping, Dinner...all in a "hard day's work" I should devote more time to such escapades, but unfortunately, that needs moola and time. Both of which are lacking in my life. I felt so spendthrift on Saturday, but did not accomplish much. I elbowed my way through the racks, totally engrossed in every inch of Orchard Road. Clothes, Shoes, Bags are my catalyst. I'm a WHORE! We navigated the crowds in oblivion and didn't realise that it was pouring out there till it was dinner time! There was simply no time to contemplate the rain.

High Tea @ Pacific Plaza...Al Fresco Style....

It was pretty amazing to see such crowds actively combing Ion, which incidentally is a horrendously designed place. We were walking in circles just to find a directory which could lead us to the Jap restaurant which many mags were raving about. They apparently spent a bomb on reno (can't really tell if you ask me). Finally, after some help from the concierge, we found it. The directory panel was pretty amazing...touch screen. However, due to the poor design of the mall, many shoppers were touching to find their way round! We didn't even get a chance to get close! Ohhh..to add, there wasn't a toilet on one particular level..maybe the big brands were there and it's too 'degrading' to have a smell lingering? Needless to say, I'm not too impressed. The food at the Jap restaurant (think it's called Aboba?) wasn't anything to shout about too. A small little area packed with people drooling over ramen. The noodles were weirdly textured and stock wasn't thick enough but this was fortunately redeemed by the accompanying snacks we ordered. last order 945pm. We made it at 930pm! Yes, dinner wasn't on our itinerary till 930pm! haha....Goal for the day was to conquer Orchard Road, but we failed miserably due to the rain. Amidst the lunacy, i was just glad to sit down and have a good meal.
For desserts -- GUSTTIMO. Nice. Reasonably Priced. $2.90 for 3 flavours. I'm particularly drawn to the melon flavoured gelato. Comfort food which was tantalisingly close to my mouth.

Simply had to take a pix of this iconic building -- CK TANGS. Daddy's first project. I'm so proud of him. This picture still hangs strong in his house.
The result of walking for 9 hours in orchard. Apart from the hefty parking charges. My shoes gave way right in front of Charles and keith at ION (yup...there's C&K over there)...I guess the shoes were callin out to me. Unfortunately, this season's stuff wasn't much to my liking and I ended up forking out $33.90 for an uncomrtable pair of slippers. Why I bought it since it's uncomfortable you ask? Well, it's the prettiest amongst the ugliest!My trophies! Not all from the 9 hours of shopping I did. In fact, only two items were bought in that 9 hours. The rest were long overdued stuff which finally arrived from sprees! weeeeeee
Rewinding to last wkend.....after On pedder Sale, C and I had sudden craving for sinful cakes. Thus, our legs brought us to Canele. Comfort food. Patissier's cakes are simply divine!! Their packaging are to die for! I savoured their salty crepe and ended up too full for dinner.

The best bits of happines are those you create for yourself. I'm gonna create more of that in the next few wks to come hopefully. Suffice to say, regretfully, the wkend passed too quickly. However, thankfully, I did good on Sunday. Cleared some stuff from my bookshelf and threw out heaps of papers. Did filing too -- which required loads of discipline. Next on the list -- my wardrobe. Still under procrastination. For now, I'm sipping my Camomile Tea and enjoying the brief moment of surrealism.

I'll leave you with a funny but meaningful quote:

Shopping is better than sex. If you're not satisfied after shopping you can make an exchange for something you really like.

Lip Service

Ever wonder why people pay you lip service? Well, it's a question I've been dabbling with like forever. @ every point in life, I'm sure things like these happen. Perhaps it's a student telling you she'll work hard (but she's probably working harder at Facebooking or Msn-ing or woo-ing the boy next door); or perhaps a relative or friend who say they'll help but you wait and wait, and the help never came. Recently I met with such incident. Planning on going on a trip this November and am in need of some details. Was conversing with a parent one day and he mentioned that he had tons of contacts (friendly? Helpful? Showoff? You be the judge) and would source hotels and email me the contact numbers. I waited. And waited. On our next meeting, he actually asked "So have you booked your hotel? It's kindof late already you know. If you have not book, you may not get a room!" MY GOODNESS! THE AUDACITY of saying such thing in my face?! Feigning innocence, I smiled and replied in a horrified gasp "oh you've emailed me already?".....Profoundly confused by human nature.

Fortunately, sweetie who is the skeptical one, has booked us a nice villa. VILLA! Delirious with JOY!

Fast forward to the last couple of days....

MONDAY....Sweetie took a day off due to DEEPAVALI...went for a game of golf; rejuvenated himself by breathing in the fresh air laced with dew whilst his other half ie ME, was having a great time slogging! Coz of that, my feelings were at a low ebb and I lambasted him for being an ass...Below was his punishment

OUCH! I'm kidding! A sweet little wifey like me wouldn't do that would I?? haha......We went for a nice massage but he ended up doing a traditional 拔罐 and ended up with the bruises. It supposedly will allow your blood to flow better. The Chinese believe that the reason for having aches and pain is due to the fact that your blood circulation's not good. Thus, you'd need to get rid of the "bad vessels" and "wind" to stimulate new Growth. The westerners believe that it's all a build up of lactic acids due to anerobic respiration!

TODAY...SATURDAY

I've never felt so good. Mugged the entire night for my forthcoming exams this Tuesday till 4am the previous night (I should have started earlier but alas, there's simply not enough time! PS: For those who are wondering and interested, I'm doing a diploma in Creative Writing. "Why" was a question posed by many. Upgrading and elevating my status I guess? Learning should never be stagnant and one should always continually seek for knowledge. Would love to take up more courses, but am plagued by monetary, time and physical constraints) Anyway, I slept like no tomorrow. The sun filtered through my windows and an indescribable feeling engulfed me when I saw that the clock read 11am! Woohoo!! I never had a day off on Saturdays. This was the first time in this YEAR! Sad but true! I never knew Saturdays could be this good! Was very productive straight after clambering out of bed. Went for breakie with sweetie and wanted to visit SHELL to pump up on petrol as they were having a great promotion today-- $1 per litre! Hordes of Singopreans were queueing for it. There were even police directing traffic due to the congestion. Amazing array of cars you see. From a little MINI to BMW or Merc. The crowd did not dwindle after lunch, thus sweetie and I decided not to be a typical Singaporean.

Went over to Autobay @ Kahki Bukit to change our brake lights. The sweltering heat of the merciless sun was killing me but we had to do it. I felt terribly unsafe with my brake lights not functioning. Thereafter, we went for our car inspection. Impromptu. Was very impressed by the automation at the Car inspection centre. Wasn't too impressed with the price though. Cost me a whopping $63 for a mere 5 minute inspection!

THe rest of the day drifted past lazily. Was trying to mug further, but ended up drifting into a seista. Guilt inundated shame like an epidemic breakout.

The highlight of the night:

Went with couple of friends to Sunset Grill. Service tonight was real slow and bad. The waiter spilt wine sauce on my friend. there wasn't any service recovery. Only a mere SORRY. Guess we can't fault him. People make mistakes. Had loads of food ranging from calamaris, white wine mussels, button mushrooms, the infamous Level 3 Chicken wings (that was spicy enough for most of us) to ribs, pork ribs and pasta...THAT's A LOT OF FOOD! I had to ensure I made space for dessert. Who could miss the warm brownie served with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream? I stepped out, rubbing my round tummy and licking my choc-covered lips with utmost satisfaction. :-) I'm a happy girl.

Now on with mugging!

Do you know the moral of the story?

The wkend had been steaming. The sun seems to be beating on us mercilessly with a vengeance every single day! Perhaps in celebration of Deepavali? Long wkend, i don't have one. What's new.

The week started off as an exciting one. But I soon realise I can't count my chickens before they are hatched (you'll see why). In celebration of our 3rd anniversary, sweetie and I visited a quaint little place nestled in a rather peculiar corner of Singapore. It is slated as one of Singapore's best? better? restaurants.

Infuzi @ Biopolis; Don't be deceived by the seemingly romantic decor....it's not as impressive as you think. Cozy but rather average looking furnishings apart from the intricate lamp. Definitely doesn't match up to the price of the food. Service was great (partly because there were absolutely no one except us at one point in time! The whole night, there were only two tables occupied! Sad case.Interesting structured lamp engineered by glass bottles!

Was overcome by feeling of elation when sweetie said he was impressed and is savouring every morsel of his food. He isn't one who is too keen on trying out new stuff. Stagnant is his middle name and comfort zone is his home. Amongst the many appetizers, you'd see my favourite Lobster bisque with brand cream! Absolute Heavenly! They were so nice...seeing that I did not order any other appetizers except the soup, they gave me a free mini appetizer as sweetie was having his! Sweet.

Our Mains -- Lobster Pasta (ME); and Steak (HIS)....my pasta looked like instant noodles on first look, but i was delirious with joy upon taking my first bite. THe taste was absolutely out of this world! Quaintessentially garlic and oil combination. Infused with some kind of herb and flavoured oil, this dish is certainly hard to replicate at home! haha....the lobster chunks however were a little tough. Sweetie's steak according to him, was nice, but average.
Had an intense craving for sweet stuff, thus ordered us a Chocolate dessert. Delectable. The well baked crust was wrapping around a lava of chocolate, waiting to ooz out of the cake. My verdict: AWESOME! My throbbing headache did not dissipate after my hour long massage prior to the dinner. Ordered a pot of Camomile tea and my body and head instinctively struck a cord with the floral scent. It was further affirmed when I felt that my head throbbed no more!

Fast forward mode......

Obviously inspired by the wonderful dinner we had at Infuzi, sweetie decided to replicate the feast on Saturday. Thus, together with cousins-in-law, we whipped up a kickass meal!

Clam in white wine and a host of weird concoction; homemade mash potato (love it to bits!); Creamy broccoli and butter mushroom (which has too much Vinaigrette) + some Red Wine to pair the meal with.....

Steak. Medium.
Chicken chop. well Done! haha...hmm I'm certainly piling up fats in the most undesirable ways!

Saturday came and left......along came Sunday.....

PEDDER was having SALE! Together with C, we went for the attack! There was a multitude of colours and designs to choose from. However, the selection of bags was rather disappointing. Quality of some were also disheartening. How can someone treat such precious bag in that manner? Some were frayed whilst others were dirtied. Discounts were amazingly attractive. between 40 - 80% discount! Unheard-of-luxury for brands like McQueen, Givenchy, Lanvin, Marc Jacob and many more. I was pretty convinced that I'd get something for a steal! no sooner did I conjure that thought did I consume the temptation of shoes. I was coerced into buying.........

I had to! Each detail is painstakingly put together, possibly by hand! It was calling out to me! No sin in that right? Given that it's 70% off the retail price!!

Zipping to current time........

At this juncture when Sunday's coming to an end, one would think, what could go wrong? It had been such a fulfilling day, shopping and cooking. I did mention that there'd be a moral to the story. Empress Dowager had to call and piss me off. She's apparently not too pleased with me coz I did not return her call at midnight the day before! Overwhelmed. My soul is suffocating! Busy cannot seem to be in her dictionary. No compassion whatsoever. Upon explaining, she accused me of not caring for her and even said "What if I'm dying n u didn't pick up your phone?"...wtf! Human's psychology's really weird. Her world of black and white is completely reversed. Then she went on by accusing me of being too busy for P's forthcoming party, which I WAS NOT EVEN TOLD OF! Talk about respect. I blame no one but her, coz of her freaking attitude. Due to her quest of seeking attention, I was made profoundly embarrassed.

The greatest contributing factor in my relationship with dearest is the respect and love for each other. Likewise, communication is also an important key to sustain the relationship. This we are still on a constant struggle but have improved by leaps and bounds. If we want to walk this path together, we jolly well learn to give and take. So far, things have been well and each day is a learning journey. How I wish I could say the same thing for my relationship with Cixi. When will she ever learn that there's a limit to my patience?

Catching up

I realise that my patience is thinning these days. WIth time, I've become cynical. Wonder if it's due to irresponsible people that are plaguing this society. Am supposed to be having my practicum examination today @ 10am but alas, at 940am I received an sms from the school saying that the trainer is down with fever and diarrhoea thus lesson's cancelled. By then, I was already on the road. Been facing an enormous challenge of juggling with my life over the past few weeks. With several major exams happening, it doesn't help that my exams are also lurking round the corner. Irresponsible I say. No wonder the trainer got fired from her previous school! Imagine the agony of those students who had to travel a great distance just to be there for lessons, only to be notified at the eleventh hour. It is no fault of the management's though. I recall the trainer being sacarstic to some of us on the first lesson, saying that we all have a life to run outside school, we just have to adjust and be responsible to cope with the homework given. Hmmm...guess she's not doing what she's preaching! So much for enlightenment. Imagine the opportunity cost involved.....I could have salvaged more students if it weren't for her irresponsible act. The school will hear from me once I get my certification!

On the other hand, the little pocket of time allowed me to catch up with my work and blogging. :-) As I ensconced myself in a comfortable chair, feelings seem to be at a low ebb. Perhaps because the lull period is kicking in. Perhaps of the uncertainty that 2010 brings. Perhaps because of the buttock paresthesia (which was so bad one night I could barely stand) or migraine (which was so bad I had to pop panadol to ease the discomfort...something I hardly do despite the pain), which i've been having recently. Infinite possiblilities. Gonna go for a check soon. With a sickening jolt, I'm channeling my energy to more positive vibes -- FOOD! haha


A delicacy for supper. Had some leftover sharksfin and crabmeat lying around in my freezer thus I decided to whip up a little sharksfin soup for sweetie and I. What can I say? I live a life of luxury! haha
This is way overdue, not that it matters. Was on a food escapade last month. It was seafood for consecutive weeks. Overdose? NAH! This time, it's crab porridge @ Joo Chiat. A quaint little place which sees people from all walks of life pouring in. People of different skin colour were swamping that place! Some were even having their F1 VIP tags.
Been a while since I had claypot rice. I know, it's calorie-laden, but I don't care! I ate the last morsel fro my bowl. The double boiled soup was heavenly. Infused with all kinds of ingredients, each individual pot (as seen in the picture above) is left to simmer in a huge pot (as seen in the first set of pictures). I don't think I'm able to replicate such palatable standards.

The highlight of the day! Crab Porridge! The first pot was so mind-blowing, we ordered another pot to share. unfortunately, the second round was a tat disappointing. Soup wasn't as thick as the first. There was also no roe in the first. The shell was suspiciously clean. Upon questioning, the lady boss tried to sell us the idea that the roe and whatever's within the crab has infused into the soup. Ya right! In the end, realising that we were not a bunch of idiots, she gave us a discount.

On a different note, the latest TVB drama I'm after is about a how a tuition teacher named Queen Ace whose task is to mould a trio who's absolutely hopeless when it comes to studying. Their aim -- to obtain 20 points for their upcoming examinations (somewhat like our O levels). The show is truly inspiring to all teachers and portrays how HongKong is building up the tutoring image. Imagine if I were to be teaching there, i'd probably be a superstar! haha...A totally different realm from Singapore where I work like a dog.

*Horrified gasp* Time flies! Time to steel myself for action!