Surprise surprise ...

One of my successful surprise! Glad this turned out well.
had a birthday party for my dear karin whose birthday falls on 16th Sept. So, I gathered a few of her good friends whom I've met and went out a couple of times, and decided to throw her a Staycation!
The Staycation was at Naumi Liora Keong Siak Road. We chose this cause it's one of the boutique hotels which all of us have not been to. Apparently, many of the girls went to many other boutique hotels and I haven been to yet!!
Naumi Liora is actually a sister of a more atas luxury hotel - Naumi Hotel which is located near City Hall i think. But it's closed for renovations till end of 2013.
So, I went to Spotlight after my gym to buy balloons and pump the helium. Spotlight provides such services, of course at a cost. I pumped 6 balloons and I took a cab because it was kinda embarrassing to carry it in the train myself. haha... maybe cause it's pink. And i'm not a very pink person. hurhur...
I went to check in around 3pm and was told the room wasn't ready. So I left my barangs, and went back to PS to get Rive cake. Rive cakes are always good :) One of my favourite place to buy birthday cakes.
After that, I headed back and was able to check in. Was a bit disappointed because the pictures on web looks big but it's not. But the porch is big. We booked the room with a porch. When they rest came, we started to plan out what to eat etc, went to buy famous Tong Yat Zi char. Honestly, I would definitely go back and eat again. Really nice!
So anyway, when we knew she was coming (we texted her bf), we hid outside the porch. I was very nervous standing by the door side just waiting for her to open the porch door. I could hear my heart pumping. haha.. think I very long didn't do such thing liao. #signsofaging
She sense something amiss... so she didn't went out to the porch.. then we decided to crash in! And she got shocked. haha... I thnk the good thing was she didn't expect which group of her girlfriends. Cause usually we go out in 4's. So I was glad I asked her other 4 good friends too!
So we have dinner together and took lots of photos before playing games and drinking. Played till 3/4am before going back home. Damn tired. I think I really cannot "ton" overnight liao... haha... ok, till then. Photo spam!

September celebrations

Last Saturday was an ang pao giving day. Afternoon had 1st year baby birthday, and evening had an 84th year birthday. The 1st baby birthday (friend's of GGH)... he brought me along so that I won't think so much when i'm alone. Anyway, the baby has the same name as my nephew LUCAS! It was held at With a Pinch of Salt .
Never been there but I've heard from my sis-in-law that it's quite a nice cozy place and I can understand why she said that. The deco are very pretty, and gives u a feeling of home. Very colourful too!
The deco that they put up for the birthday was pretty too! They had light snacks (cause it started at 3pm), and the food was okay only. Maybe can try and pop by again for their proper food.

After that, we walked over to Sinpopo (just opposite 112 Katong / opposite Tian Tian Chicken Rice) for a "lim-kopi" session. But I was the only one who really "lim-kopi". the other two guys ate desserts which my tummy cannot fit anymore. Also, was saving space for dinner buffet. hehe.

There are more desserts than main foods and their desserts are very Singaporean old style, like I was told that the ice kachang used to be in balls where your parents hold the ball and eat. I skipped that altogether, and not very interested in trying cause both of the guys have durian ice kacang & durian chendol, both are too sweet to my liking. Lots of the gula melaka.
We parted ways and I went to ah ma's birthday buffet at Parkroyal on Beach Road. I thought I was lucky cause Katong had a straight bus to Concourse and cross the bridge reach Parkroyal already... but.... the bus stops on nicoll highway was closed for F1!!!! In the end, the bus could only stop at suntec city and I had to walk back! SO FAR!!!!
Called my elder bro up to pick me... The road was pretty bad with all the diversions. Never go town whenever there's F1.
Parkroyal renovated and had a new ballroom which looks good on the outside. But not sure inside good not la. Anyway, the dinner buffet had lots of variety of crabs - black pepper crab, chilli crab, butter crab, salted egg yolk crab, danggui crab, and I can't remember anymore. I only tried chilli crab. hurhur. so-so only.
as usual, I had my salmon cause it's been a long time since I ate salmon! Niceee!!! Didn't really tried much cause maybe I wasn't hungry so I kinda skipped the desserts totally, and the array of food, I had the chicken rice which is quite good in fact!
Ah ma's 84th birthday. May you always be healthy and strong!

Clueless

This year is probably the worst mid-autumn festival I ever had.
Went down to the law firm to go through the final HDB documents.
Shit #1 - I had to repay the housing grant in cash. The original communication was I didn't had to. WTF.
Shit #2 - Bank loan on hold. Cause I may be in the new scheme ruling. Seriously.. Firstly, the loan expired, I asked for a renewal, you said no need. just get it approved asap. And getting to you is always so difficult. What banker are you??! Secondly, screw that bedok branch officer. You took more than 1 year to close this case. Always have to send nasty emails before you can reply. Government eh. And now, i'm caught in deep shit because of you.
But what can i do? I cannot complain, and I'm at the losing end.
Shit #3 - All this shit is causing me more than what I calculated. Where can I cough this 6 digit amount of money....
All I can do is rant and cry here. cause there's no other way around it. Who can I complain.
Life seriously sucks.

The Chop House

Last week managed to try out a new restaurant at vivocity, The Chop House. It's actually by the wooloomooloo group. Yes, I spelt correctly. hehe
The whole week had full day meetings, causing me to do OTs because of the warehouse move. Everytime I think of this, I always shake head. That aside. So, we had a early dinner so that we can beat the queue. And thankfully, no queue! It's near the riverfront, so we got outside seats so that we can enjoy the daylight while we ate. :)
Knowing I can't finish the main course myself, we ordered the apparently popular main course to share - The Berkshire Pork Chop. Cost about $32. And... seriously, I like it myself. The juice and the gravy on top was very fragrant and meat was tender! I'm not a very meat person, but I would go back for more! The main course came with a tray of sauces which was pretty good as well.
They have chilli mustard, onions, and something that taste like cranberry sauce. My favourite is the oinions. Sweet and nice! The mustard is not bad too. I didn't like the red one that tasted like cranberry. It's like the Poulet sauce, except this is chunky bits.
For starter, we ordered Crispy Calamari, and the mashed potatoes. The calamari is good! Fresh and fried just nice. The mash potatoes, if you like it plain, then it's good cause it's actually milky mash potatoes. Not my favourite cause firstly, I like mash potatoes with gravy, and this one, I tasted the milk abit. haha... But i realised GGH likes to order mash potatoes like that. hmm...

Milk vs Zombie

Non stop OT since Monday. Totally killing all my good cells. Everyday step into office, i'm like a zombie, fighting with this milk company. I lost. Went all the way down on Thursday noon. Managed to crawl back only like this evening. Super draining. Can I last? My Australia trip is cancelled so which means I got nothing to lookd forward anymore. But it also means my work schedule is evenly packed instead of cramming up all in September. Although September is rather low period, but I have couple of friends birthday coming up!!! :) Looking forward to celebrations even though not travelling. Hopefully this illness will go away. Cannot afford to go on MC anymore. Shall have an early night.

Birthday Treat!

 Had my little royal treatment on Saturday with my girlies to celebrate my birthday!
Had an awesome filling lunch! I requested for Sukiyaki cause I have never tried that before and it looks good (though i'm not a meat fan)!
There are different bases of soup and we opted for the kimchi soup and the milky soup. Both are equally nice but I prefer the milky soup cause it's sweet and flavourful!

Also it was my first time eating meat dipped in raw egg. Taste weird to me but still ok la. They said it makes the meat smoother to eat. Oh well..................
Our dear yuez, ended up making "dan hua soup" or like ban mian cause she kept eating noodles with that egg soup. haha.

Thereafter, we went to watch R.I.P.D. I think it was good! Very funny esp. that old uncle. lol. Use a banana as a gun. I had a good laugh!

Popped over to Aranda for KTV session! Then i realised, I haven been listening to musics and I don't even know new songs! --> Signs of aging!!!! *sobs*

And... we did something really peculiar! Bought a chocolate biscuit (similar to hello panda) and started shaking it! LOL! Yah! Duh right! Cause I was kinda amazed by the fact that linx managed to do it. Haha. Again, signs of stalking her. lol.

As you can see.... Fail. haha... it became tiny little balls. haha... Shall try again next time.

Then, I had this lovely Jelly Cheese cake!!!!! So pretty! Luckily the half top was made of jelly, otherwise we couldn't have finished them. It's not bad, not very jelat!

And tadah!!!! My present !!!! I so kiasu, immediately wore it cause I desperately need a watch to wear. I'm someone who feels weird and lost without wearing a watch. My watch is like almost 24/7 with me. Except when I bath. haha.
Was kinda surprised that they would choose to buy a watch! Thanks for making such a great effort to meet and choose it! Love it! The bling bling around the circumference always make a watch looks so  glam!

The lighting was abit bad cause we were seated facing the spotlight. haha.

Had a great time together, and I feel, it's the thought that counts. :)

JB

And so, I sneaked out of Singapore on its Birthday! hehe.... Went to our neighbour for some KTV session and major gorging of food!

After so long, managed to try the famous dessert all the way from Hong Kong! Cannot go Hong Kong so eat here lor. Too bad the business was so good that they sold out alot of stuff like sago, pomelo, so left with a few choices only. But overall, it's nice!!!

Dinner we decided to go to Kimdo to eat seafood! Ordered alot for 4 people! And we werent very hungry! haha...

Traffic for that day was pretty good! City Square has many new restaurant like Canton-i etc that is worth to visit! Exchange rate advantage la. Can go next time to try!

Cooking Mama - Practical Test 1 Cupcake

Seriously, what's wrong with twitter??? Why can't I post photos??? Isit too big?

Anyway, shall not complain. Heng, now I got free time can blog. hehe.

So....

Today I decided to go grocery shopping and do a practical test myself! RED VELVET CUPCAKE.

Super fail... I followed the instructions... and the finishing came out quite okay... like it's supposed to be flowy when u scoop it up.  it did!

But when I send it to baking, the instruction stated it should be approximately 20-25 min. But mine... I left it will 30min, the cupcake still wasn't ready! Supposedly, if you stick a toothpick inside the cupcake, it should come out clean. But mine wasn't. But when I see the outer skin, it seems dry and cracked already.

So I decided to stop after baking for 35 minute. I tried, but the inside was still sticky. I tasted it, it felt like you are eating kuey kuey. but the taste is fine, like i eat the outer skin, the taste was really red velvet. haha..

So what's wrong with my cupcake? anything too much or too little?

The temperature was the same as the instruction too... hmm...

I wonder. Any ideas? Dig your Secondary books? haha..

Happy 27th to myself :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF!!! *HUGS MYSELF*

ahh... 27 already. I thought to myself, what have I done this past year?

Lots of things went through my mind, but mostly ended up grateful to what I have now.

Really. This year is more of an emotional leanring curve to me. So I have lots of emotional words to say now.

I remember when I was a little girl, I love birthdays because I get to have presents and blow out candles, and more importantly, celebrate and have fun! It was an excuse to eat my favourite foods.

As I grew older, more and more celebrations, but that's that.

Now, yes, I do still like getting presents, but I guess now is more of having close people celebrating with me. Celebrations to me now nothing but just merry joys.

The important to me is just having the people being together and having quality time.

And especially ever since this year's life changing moment, I have grown to take things slow, and in fact, climbing the corporate ladder no longer is my important goal.

Being happy, giving my care and concern to my important people in life, is what is important now.

Because, I really don't know when I will lose to this "enemy" of mine. I may be thinking too much, but I rather be safe than sorry - and live to no regrets.

This birthday, I want to take a little time to thank some people in my life (don't roll your eyes).

My family - Needless to say right? But yea, despite all your own lifes/ family, all of you still took care of me.

Dad, cooking for me and ensuring I have the best nourishment and telling me not to study anymore.

RSVP Girls - 15 years already? Sometimes we argue, sometimes we laugh, most of the times we talk ALOT of crap... haha.. but when it's serious talk, all of you can really get serious. We may be all very diverse character, but no matter what, we stick together.

4F peeps - I don't know what to say.. You guys rock. Just ... rock. haha. Serious jokes that I love them.

Bananas - From colleagues to friends to even closer friends, it's fate that we could just get together along so well. We worked hard, played hard, partied hard.

Godpa Godma - Though we meet not often, you cared about me as well. Encouraged me.

And definitely, guiding my brother and I could see him mellowed his temper alot. Thankful for that.

And, all my close friends from everywhere, to name a few I can think of right now, Celyn Sylvia Esther Helen Albert Eve ... oh. and of course, GGH.

Ya. totally forgot GGH. haha. opps. He too, has been with me through the downest period, encouraged me, controlled my diet (to steer off forbidden food), and always cheer me up.

That's him, a very simple person, so far, I think I didn't see him angry/ sad before. He's just.. always happy. Always so upbeat in work as well...

Seriously, I don't think I can attain this kind of attitude. Haha.

I think I gained only... maybe his "see wide wide" attitude.. abit only.

Well, I have said what I wanna say... there's one more group of people I still treasure them, but I shall keep them in my heart. As long as they are happy...

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Okay, my birthday!!!! I didn't take leave cause it was month end closing, as also too many things to do also with the long weekend.

Came in the office and I saw this on my desk! So pretty!!!! Aren't they pretty?! I love them cause they are so bright, and I love sunflowers. :) And the best part is, he decorated them himself! Yes, the paintings!

Love handmade stuff! It brightens up the whole place.

After work, he brought me to try the japanese food at Mandarin Gallery, Tonkatsu Ma Maison. We reached rather earlier, around 6.30pm, it looked empty, but wrong! All reserved! Had to wait for a while before getting a table. Next time must reserve better.  

The sauce is help yourself to it. Good eh.

We order a curry katsu, and a prawn and pork fillet combo. The menu works like this - Just order the meat you want because all they serve is main course, no sides. So the radish, cabbage, and miso soup is free flow. So... just decide what meat u want la.
The curry is good! But i think the meat is too huge a portion. Oh, rice is free flow too. haha

 After that, walked along Orchard and went Spinelli for dessert and chill.

And to add to my birthday surprise, he gave me a watch! I remembered we were discussing watches like back in january... and I'm surprised he remembered that I like rose gold watches and chrono watches.

This was perfect! With little bling bling and got date too! :):):)

Thank you so much. The fact that you do remember such stuff, I'm happy enough. Still have upcoming meetups with my dearies! Looking forward to them! And happy holidays!!!