Last day of Jan 2011...

Ya...is 31 Jan 2011, times flies passed again. I left my blog silent for so long, thought no one will notice...so i can be lazy..ha. Then, cf remind me to blog. Oh...didn't know i still hv 1 faithful frn who bother to take a peek at my blog.

One whole year seem like a long time which i shd have accomplish a lot of things. But sad to said, i feel nothing has been done. Except spending $$, i visited Malacaa, Malaysai ~ Taman Negara, HK, China ~ Chengdu & Bali and bought myself a DSLR. All these seem to be excuses to reward myself for putting long hrs of time, effort and stress on a job that i slowly grew tired and no sense of achievement.

Also, i forgot my priority again...so 1 more year gone. Scare to realise that is bunny year...my year. Wan to lose my job but at the risk of not finding another job of gd monthly income and maybe not having another job as i dun hv much skill to boost on! Shd i? Shd i not? $ is not everything right? That's what i told a frn recently...

Need to go back to my spring cleaning....hopefully i hv an answer soon.

Salted Fish and Chicken Claypot Rice

Have eaten a wonderful meal of fish and chicken steam rice at a food court in Ayer Rajan Cresent. Thus, when i saw there's a recipe on salted fish clay-pot rice at the "food & travel" Jul issue, i know i want to try out this myself last night. I improvised and include the chicken as well.

For the chicken, i buy 2 drumsticks, so as to get a more tender meat. I have marinated with cooking, sesame oil, corn starch, smash ginger, pepper and light soya sauce. I like it, the taste can be enhanced further but my claypot base in a bad shape now...darken.

Time for a break...

Have not blog for a long while, buried myself with lots of hard work, stress, overnight over the months. Realizing i have not been smiling at works for a while and my heart is telling me to give myself a break. Will give it a good thought.

Recently come across "Min Blog", like her blog a lot, with the smooth music, beautiful photos that brings one through her travel and baking. wanted to steal her idea =P First, i hv to learn to put in the plug-in for music. Next, i'm thinking of having another blog just for baking and travelling while this blog can share more of my life. Oh, i'm also thinking of getting a SLR canon camera and learn to capture nice pictures. I will learn to enjoy my life :)

我怀念的.....

今早我作了一个梦， 我看到了小时候的自己与年轻的母亲在挟小的旧家， 回到从前不懂事但又快乐的日子。我好怀念那段时光， 觉得很幸福。

母亲在年轻时无埋怨的照顾家里的一切，让我觉得自己把时间花费在电脑游戏上，实在不应该。我得醒悟了。

如今，父母随着岁月以老了，有了白发，动作也缓慢，时光静敲敲的过。谢谢你们无条件的爱与关怀，我爱你们。

Lunch with Old Frns

Joan back to sg for short period and glad that we get to meet up with ea and cf for a lunch gathering @ my hse today :) I took up the task to prepare the lunch and again, hv done up a bit too much. Will take ea advice and shrink the portion smaller next time if gt the chance again. But i really enjoy the preparation and done up quite a bit of spring cleaning, one whole mth bef the cny!

Prepare linguine w cherry tomatoes n crab (can be better), chicken drumstick w orange-tomato glaze (hmm...this needs a lot of improvemt), mango pomelo dessert, jane's cake station choc cake. And with complimentary from ea~ wines, nice tea and crackers with cheese, woh wat a spread :) But the best part is the gals get to sit in the cosy air con room and hv a nice chat, with karen entertaining us doing her dance and bed-climbing, happy :) Here's the link to more photos:

zq catch karen in action ~ passing motion ;p

Like this photo, mummy so caring.

Hee...sec take of our grp photos

the gals enjoying a gd laugh :D

2009 to 2010 thoughts

It's been sometime since i blog. Blame it on facebook bejeweled and my laziness. 2009 past very fast with new work on hand to pick up. My new role required shift work sometime on wee hrs, so facebook become my channel for relaxation. I forgot my priorities and new year resolution...when 2010 came, it seem to give me a chance again, i like the new year :)

Last time, i told myself facebook is for my frns i like to hv only. However, with the expand of networks, when yr boss add u in, think politically i cldn't reject. So, i hv to watch wat i said at times now. Luckily, for now my blog remains private to my really close grp of frns n colleagues only, where i cld share my thoughts and photos. I wld not update as frequent, as cos of work, family, frns and other nice things i can spend my time on and i do not wan to work for the blog :)

This year i have to be a more discipline person and not to spend my times on facebook games. Jia you!

Korea Tour ~ 09 to 16 May

Back from korea trip yesterday. Is a 8 days trip to seoul and Jeju island, with my parents, bro, anne and her mum. initiatelly expected the trip to be boring cos expect to visit the drama location most of the time. However, surprising it turns out to be quite fun. The trip itnerary is changed accordingly with the initative of our pretty tour guide as the weather changes. I have a few "first time" in this trip, e.g. visit the open zoo which the bear and lion are just beside our bus, submarine ride and horse riding by myself...ha scare by fun! And weather at Jeju island is really cool and the trip there is fully filled with fun, like it :) Oh, the stay in JW Marriot hotel in Seoul is highly recommended ~ 6 stars, bedroom and restroom is super big..hmm restroom is almost the size of my own smaller bedroom. Also, the TV for all the hotels is 42inch LCD, thks to Samsung. Photos taken...hmm too many, got to sort it out first.

09 May ~ Take flight
10 May ~ Histortical Place Visit, Da Chang Jin village, Palace, Dong Da Meng shopping
11 May ~ Everland theme park which have open zoo concept, theme park, flower park..etc
12 May ~ Wine Tunnel & travel to Jeju Isiand, own time shopping
13 May ~ Visit the dagon rock by the sea, Mountain climbing, submarine ride, horse riding, mysterious road visit, visit bear museum, nanta show
14 May ~ Strawberry picking, water theme park, Spa.
15 May ~ Shopping at street, Lotte world theme park
16 May ~ Kimchi making, culture experience, last purchase of local food & home sweet home.

Tampines One

Today ~ 2nd May, went to shop @ Tampine One, good that the parking is ok. There is a few interesting shops & Japanese concept clothing, eatery & saka Inn, bakery. At least there is some diff for this mall compared to the rest, like it. Buy a nice pair of earring for myself & zq also get himself an accessory, some clothing from Uniqlo which interesting u have to remove your shoes before entering the fitting room cubicles, bought my fav red tea from a Jap store (i drank it in jap once...ex here) & makan @ the Jap mache kind of eatery place called Manpuku. Tried out some food there, I try the soba but is jus diff from the one i tried in Japan..not nice, wat i like best is the fruit paradise tart & the tea! Ramen is not bad also, chasiao is soft & almost melt in my mouth.














Aoba Hokkaido Ramen












Kitsune soba











Food Paradise Tart










Oriental rose tea















Interesting stationary shop @ basement.

BBQ ~ Badminton Grp

On 1st of May, the badminton grp have our annual bbq again. Manage to find a good spot with unoccupied bbq pit for us to place our things. As always we have our portable pits, table, chairs, cooler box all prepared by our handy man ~ Desmond, thus we can hv our bbq anytime, anywhere without worrying abt the pit. Surprising for this round, we finish almost all the food prepared. All the food are nice, like the chicken wing, roasted pork & otah.

The grp is slightly smaller compared to prev 3 years, a few cannot make it, thus feel some difference, hope everyone can get together to hv fun again.

Mid Apr of 2009.

Busy in early part of the week and even on holiday and sat...cos trying to coordinate some offsite work to be held on sat nite by my colleague. Learn something from the job. Sometime, saying or explaining too much might not help , so only said what is necessary.

Hmm...Thurs evening ~ 7 Apr, go ktv with ex colleagues and half the grp left early. Left the 4 of us and quite fun for the last song cos we singing "Jin4 Ge1 Jing1 Qu3"..15mins songs that consists of many songs that only sing a part of it. Each of us take turn to sing and try to figure whats song coming, enjoy the fun of it and hv a gd laugh.

On 8 Apr ~ public holiday, met up ea and cf...too bad im late so the starting of the gathering is spoiled. Dinner is nice as ea brings us to nice eatery place and hv nice ice cream too.

On 9 apr (Sat) ~ first or maybe the second time i played bumper car. Is located @ those pasar malam and i think quite ex, $6 for 10mins ride! But is really fun, i dun know how to control at first and keep bumping into station car and the side...screaming all the way. Finally, i managed and have a great fun. This is something i wan to do all along but dare not =D Glad i get to play it. Thanks zq!! Haa...he said i'm simple to be pleased.

On 10 Apr (Sun), finish the badminton game earlier, cos needed to go tomb sweeping. Instead of taking zq's car ride, i told him i wan to take the walk to sembawang mrt. Cos i wan to enjoy the cooling weather with a bit drizzling rain. And i like it :) It feels so good, i decided not to take out my umbrella. Some thoughts on the way...nowadays, people prefer to take car ride or on the aircon, if they will just to come out and take a walk beside the trees, they will discover the beauty of it..& also one might live longer if will to enjoy the nature more often.

Dinner on 01 Apr 09

Fried rice prepared by zq tonight, nice but luncheon meat too salty xp

Zq's Birthday Celebration with Family

Zq's birthday on the 29th Mar. So one day when i asked him how he wan to celebrate his birthday, he said he wan to ask his family over to our house and we wld do the cooking =.=". So tonight, on the 28th Mar we have the family gathering.

Initiatelly, we intend to hv the cereal prawn. But his dad not eating meat today and his bro & wife not feeling too well. So we have more vege instead. I prepared 5 dishes & a dessert: Bittergourd & Porkrib soup, Mushroom & Broccoli, Tomato Cai Xin TouFu, steam "Xue Yu" fish, Steam Mushroom Black Fungi Chicken with "Hua Tiao" wine (mum taught mi this dish & it is a success, nice!). The dessert is the Mango sago with chin chow. Aimei ~ his sis baked a duran cake...yummy. Is a tired sat but happy when everyone seem to enjoy the meal :)

(zq & his nephews)

Mum's 60th Birthday

On fri 27th Mar, Mum celebrated her 60th birthday. I decided to take leave that day to spend time with her. In the morning, we go swimming @ Yishun safra club. Few years back, she have took up swimming to reduce her back pain but i have never go swimming with her before. I am impressed by her professionalism, cos she was wearing a swimming cap to protect her hair and she offer me the sun block lotion =Oo .... I did not prepare all these at all...lol. And, i am more impressed when she managed to swim a very short distance ~ abt 2m and always try to keep close to the side, but is really not bad already..cos i wld never imagine mum can swim!

After which in the afternoon we go shopping @ Jurong Point in Boon Lay. we try the dessert @ "Ji De Chi". The mall get very crowded near evening time and we didn't see anything that we wan to buy. Abt evening time, dad, my bros and anne joined us for dinner @ a seafood restaurant. I surprised mum with a bouquet of red roses (this is the lst time she rece a bouquet of flower :p) and a birthday cake. The dinner is filling and nice too :) She seem very happy with the roses cos she hold on close to her thereafter :D

First handmade bracelet

On weekends, finally pick up my beads and tools and start making my first bracelet. Is for a gf's birthday. I used to be quite conservative with the design, after seeing xy's design. She kind of insprire me :) Hope to do something lovely and creative too. Quite like the final product. =)

cEsPaLs Gathering

On monday 09 Mar, have a get-together with my ex-colleagues at Bugis Shokudo. Have nice food, good laugh & nice catch up with everyone after so long :)

Dinner on 08 Mar 09

My favourite egg & beans
















Black pepper pork & beans

Yong Tao Fu soup

Prison Break

Another weekends spent on facing the LCD....being catching the American serial drama televsion series ~ Prison Break dvds. Is about this bro who plan the escape from the prison to save his elder bro who had been frame for murdering the vice=president's bro, fight for their iinnocence & how they try to get the organisation down who have support from the govt. The show capture our attention from the start, is excited, makes one want to keep on watching. One season have about 22plus episodes, there are 4 seasons and im only half way through season 2. This is the first english drama that have made me want to chase after the show, great show.

Online games

Recently have hooked on to a new game in facebook ~ rock legend. Sometime game can be additive, This is the second game in facebook i have addicted to, the lst one is "Bowling Bubby". I have spend some late nites & whole day trying to level up, solving quest & battle against the other bands. It can be quite frustrating when the band members you have recuited is bought away by other band....etc. Is fun but i have to try pull away from the game else my panda eyes will be getting deeper & my household work will be piled up..ha. Finally today managed to work on the housework, having a clean house make one feel good too =)

On fri, have watched the Oscar winning film ~ Slumdog Millonaire. The storyline is unique, interesting and one that would make one feel good & happy at the end of the show. I like the Indian's dance at the end, very organised and fun.

Dinner on 24 Feb 09

On Tues, 24 Feb, zq decided to practise his cooking in my kitchen again. =p He prepared the Herbal chicken, Steam Fish & Vege. Though the chicken not as fresh...think is cos didn't have time to let it de-froze, the vege a bit salty, fish is gd. Good attempt :)

Yacht Ride @ Marina - Keppel Bay

On sat evening - 21 Feb 09, went to our first yacht ride @ Marina - Keppel Bay. Organised by GB's frn, the yacht took 12 of us for 4 hrs ride, left @ 730pm & cost $500 in total. One have to hold tight to balance in the moving yacht & most of time we stay on board to enjoy the breeze. It stopped to let us watched the Sentosa's music fountain performance & moved on to somewhere near Kusu Island where it stopped there & we have our dinner & chat till it turn back to the Bay. I managed to sleep at the front of the yacht and watch the stars. So happy to catch the shooting star "liu xing" & make a wish =P

Here's the link to the Yacht ride on 21 Feb 09