Can't sleep!!!!!

Woke up at 6.55am today and can't get back to bed! Damn it!!!
Argh... how can this be happening??? I think it was due to the temperature. My aircon was leaking last night so we slept without the aircon.

Had a tiring week so thought I can finally sleep late come this wkend. Anyway, hopefully I can take a nap during the afternoon. I have told hubby this will be a relaxing wkend. Not like the past wkend where we were so busy, no doubt we were very happy.

Today is a pretty exciting day to me. maybe i get excited easily....
Our 42inch LCD TV is coming in today! to replace the living room antique TV. It's about 15 years old liao.

Before that, we are gg for a 2nd viewing of a 4room flat at Lor Ah Soo. If the unit is not too dark, then we will be getting that unit already. Let's see how it goes!

要去练愈加了.

My Busy but Fun-filled Day Part 2... Chunky Choc Chip Cookies!

I FINALLY DID IT TODAY! I got down to baking cookies for the 1st time after my Home Economics lesson in sec sch. Yeahie!

Fortunately, it turned out not too bad. But my arm is aching now as I had to cream the butter and sugar followed by the flour. But thank god I have a "saviour" in the kitchen. And she's....... tada! Mina! thank god she was helping me with 60% of the creaming. If not, I think my arm would have broken off. ok, i was just exaggerating. I will use the electric beater the next time yah.

The dessert chocolate from Carrefour was great! Chopped that up as my chocolate chips. the process of laying the flour, egg, butter, sugar was easy. But it was the baking timing that kept me busy. I had 3 batches of cookies. Each batch took about 40mins. So that's about 2 hours of baking time. Comments from 4 family members....

MIL: 1st piece, she felt it was too sweet. Perhaps it was the choc chips. Subsequent cookies, she felt it was not bad.
FIL: "Buai pai" aka not bad. I poured him a glass of water after he had eaten my cookie. Don want him to get too heaty. hee...
Hubby: Hmm, it's yummy dear...
Mina: Girl, "Mayat Ser-dap" aka very delicious in malay. haha... I asked her to eat more.

During the baking, I tested 1 piece from each batch. Don't find it really delicious. So-so only. After dinner, I ate 1 piece and it tasted better than it was just right after baking. Ate 1 more piece. Must control diet still.

Enjoyed myself thoroughly and can score points at the same time!
Going to my mum's place for dinner tomorrow. Gonna bring some to her. =)

Chocolate from Carrefour! Can use this for Fondue as well...
Hideous sight! My 1st batch of cookies. Didn't expect them to "grow" till so big. Argh. But after they cooled down further more, they looked OK. p/s: this was taken using my PDA phone... still prefer my digital camera pics.
2nd batch being baked!
Close-up shot of the cookies.
The lot in the cookies tin. Yum yum...

Recipe:
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Directions:
Set your oven temperature to 180 degree celcius.
Cream together butter and sugars until smooth.
Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
Mix the rest of the dry ingredients.
Stir in chocolate chunks.
Drop cookie dough onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

My Busy but Fun-filled Day Part 1... Chinese Garden

Recently, my 2nd BIL had introduced books authored by Neil Humphreys. He is a British who had lived in Singapore for 10 years. He wrote about his trip round Singapore in his 3rd book on SG and Chinese Garden was one of the location he went to. We realised that we had not been to Chinese Garden togther before. So there we went today!!! Started off at 8.15am to a good breakfast. Tada! Roti Prata! haha... It's usually our supper. And coupled with Teh Tarik. What a good start to this morning!

My last trip to Chinese Garden was with my family during Mid-Autumn Festival about 13 years ago. The entrance gave me the "Tang Dynasty" feeling with the cheena gate over there.
I felt that the main attraction there were the pagodas. In total, there were 3. Twin pagodas which stood side by side and the third, the high-rise pagoda(7 storeys high!). We did climb up the twin pagoda which were only 3 storeys high. The High-rise pagoda stood true to its title. It's really and situated on the top of a slope. You need to climb quite some number of steps to get to the ground floor of this pagoda. Hence, we gave it a miss. =P

There were not too many of visitors there. We went to the Bonsai garden, Garden of Abundance. A pity that the Japanese garden was closed for renovation. if not, we would have visit it.

It was fortunate that the weather was cloudy when we were exploring the garden. It started to get terribly hot before we left. An enjoyable trip. Pictures cannot illustrate well enough the beautiful scenary that we saw over there.

p/s: IMM had a face-over and new shops and eateries opened. I was surprised but nevertheless, my 1st stop was Daiso!!! Saw so many stuff. Bought a measuring cup (with the cup measurement, not just the ml) and some small items. Went to a new eatery called Taiwan Wan Jiao (hongkong style cafe). Their signatory fried rice and prawn paste chicken wings were yummy! Recommended!


My Egg Prata and Teh-tarik! It was not too oily. good start to my day.
The Twin Pagoda! Doesn't it look very calm and peaceful? The only thing that I don't like is that you can't help having some HDB flats in the background of my pictures. Argh! It spoils the whole picture man! The 7-storey High-Rise Pagoda! I took this at the bottom of the slope. didn't get up there.
I climbed onto a boulder located near the lower slope of the High-Rise pagoda grass field.
Flower shots time! Felt happy seeing this colourful flowers along a stretch of the path! Couldn't resist taking a shot of it! Seeing the flowers further brightened up my day!
Hubby took a close-up shot of this hibiscus. I like this shot.
Me being the girly me only saw this pink hibiscus and started to take a few snaps of this flower only. Didn't even bother about the white one.

Inside Abundance Garden. a mini-bridge.

This is the 13-Arch bridge! We came in by their West Entrance and had to cross this bridge before actually getting into the garden.
One of the twin pagoda. I love the architecture and must include the blooming flowers in the pic. hehe...
Only one of the twin pagoda's door is open and that we can climb up. Took this while we were on our way going into and up the pagoda.

Me enjoying the scenary before leaving Chinese Garden.
Crossing the 13-Arch bridge as we head to the carpark.
One last pic of the twin pagoda before we left. You guys must be so sick of the pagoda pictures that I posted. haha but I couldn't resist sharing it with you.

For one moment, I thought I was in Hong Kong Disneyland when I saw this bench supported by 2 "mickey mouse" lookalike cousins here in Chinese Garden! It was the ears, I guess. Then I realised there were these for the different horoscopes as well. this was the Rat bench. There were Monkey bench, etc. haha....

JUST DO IT tomorrow!

I have been surfing net diligently for the past 1 hour or so. Very fascinated by recipes of cookies, everything chocolate! haha... I'm going to try my hand at baking chocolate chip cookies tomorrow! Talked so long. finally got down to wanting to do it. hehe...

Got most of the ingredients at home except brown sugar. Gonna grab some tomorrow.
JUST DO IT! No more procastination Carol!

I had a great night. Allan worked till quite late tonight. Before he was home, I was enjoying myself to the jazz music at Lush 99.5. Danced myself crazy to the music. It was so relaxing. Danced around my room for 15 mins before hubby announced he's home! =) Haven dance for a long time. hehe....

Ok ok, hubby has stopped watching his show. I shall be back in bed. Will be driving my 2nd brother-in-law to the airport later. he's gonna be in taiwan for about 2 weeks. that's army life yah? always out for exercise one leh. 1 year about 3 to 4 times.

Catch up again tomorrow!

Itinery tomorrow: gonna visit Japanese Garden and Chinese Garden tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

Day without him around

Yesterday, Allan went KL for work. He spent a night there. Getting really used to couple life. Missed him although I know it's just a night. But it's like getting so used to seeing each other every day after work. But anyway, worked till quite late yesterday. Went home, had dinner, watched the korean serial dramas and before I know it, it's 12midnight! Without Allan around, I felt abit lost in my bed. Although it's just a Queen size bed, but I felt it was very big for the 1st time. Not sure which side to sleep. Rolling here and there. But slept in my usual position which is nearer to the alarm clock cos I don wanna scramble around early in the morning to snooze the bloody alarm. haha.... In short, I don't like the feeling of sleeping alone in my bed.

Do you ever wondered how would you feel if your spouse is gone? I can't imagine.... No wonder they say "Don't marry someone you can live with. Marry the one you can't live without". I finally understand the underlying meaning of this statement.

p/s: we just had a discussion. And I realised he had never slept alone in the bed. haha... wondered how beau will feel? hmm... really curious how it will turn out. (i'm sitting here giggling, don't ask me why)

My 1st Trip to Mustafa!!!

What a busy road!
What else? The Menu!

Reading the menu over and over again.... although I have placed my order already. =P Chicken Tiga. It was very tender and delicious!
Our Naans....

Beau who is truly enjoying his food! haha...

Went to a few new interesting places today. 1st, we went Novena Square. That's the new wing Square which sells alot of Korean fashion. And Velocity where the specialty is sports shop. At the Square, there are still alot of shops which has not yet opened. Trying my best to resist buying any clothes and shoes. It's a window-shopping trip for me accompanied by patient Allan. I parked at 4th floor. I don't know why I had difficulty tonight manuvouring down the multi-storeys. Sweat man! Allan and I were both so relieved when I reached the ground floor. He could see that the car was VERY near to my right wall. At times, I could see that too. But I kept seeing those car scratches at the wall near the car front left corner. So i just felt so so scared that I would scratch the front left. I think he really felt like scolding me for driving like that but he didn't lah.

We went Mustafa for the 1st time! I didn't turn in time into Mustafa center. I turned into the next available road => Desker Road. Found a lot pretty fast and walked over to Mustafa from there. I felt like I was in foreign land. It was so lively, vibrant and full of life! That place, I mean. There were people of all races, tourists. All the food outlets were still opened and crowded. When you enter the Mustafa Center, the doorman will greet you as you enter as well as when you leave! That is so cool! In Singapore, unless you are the 1st or last to leave japanese shopping center like Isetan, then you will hear these greetings. And I can feel that the greetings are sincere. Not like those you get from U2.

I had never seen so many watches in my life before! They have so much of those retro ones like Citizen, Casio watches which I like! Anyway, our objective is to go and buy a mini toaster. There are simply so many things to see over there. We only went to Level 1 and Basement 1 & 2. There are the upper levels which we will venture next time.

Once outside Mustafa, I couldn't resist having North Indian food. I love naan and chicken tigga. We went inside Basantha Bhavan. I ordered plain Naan for me, garlic Naan for Allan and chicken tigga. It was yummy! very worth it! This place has even gotten a culinary award before. Feeling really satisfied, we headed home and vow to return again. It just felt like I'm not in Singapore.

Buffet Dinner at Takaya!

There is the tempura scallop, pork cutlet and softshell crab.
Sashimi platter! salmon, tuna and swordfish!
Appetitizer: Jellyfish right at the top. Bottom left is "hai zhe". Right is "niu2 bang4"

Me! They serve alot of wine too... but no no for me.
Edamame...... served warm
Topshell stew. my hands were not very steady when taking this pic.

I went for a complimentary buffet dinner for 2 at Takaya's Bistro yesterday. This Bistro at 244B Upper Thomson is actually its 2nd outlet in Spore. The 1st one is in Chinatown Point. Michelle and I had actually went there for dinner once. The marketing manager searched through blog site for those who had been there and invited them for a complimentary buffet dinner. So there Allan and I went.

The signboard is very prominent, so you don't have to worry having problem to locate the Bistro along Upper Thomson which has so many eateries! The Operations Manager Charlie who is in charge of the store was very friendly and recommended quite some dishes for us to try! It's my 1st time eating scallop tempura. It was yummy! hehe... I love their grilled/bbq mushroom! It was very juicy! I regretted not ordering another serving but then I was too full at the end. Next time, I will have more of this. Their sashimi platter consists of tuna, swordfish, salmon and cuttlefish. I ate cuttlefish sashimi elsewhere before and didn't like the taste so I asked them to omit it. Usually I only take salmon. But I'm keen to try on tuna and swordfish. Finally Allan has identified the one and only sashimi that he dares to take and that is Swordfish! For me, I'm surprised that I like the tuna as well.

They had a new dish called Ebi Teppanyaki. It's prawns cooked with black pepper and a special sauce. This is a new dish created by the Bistro. It' s unique & delicious. They have this ingredient: "Niu2 Bang4" in some of their dishes which I seldom see in other Jap restaurant. like their appetitizer and a top-shell stew dish.

This food in Takaya is very reasonable priced! That was why I always wanted to bring Allan to the Chinatown point but no chance to due to the location. Well, next time we can just pop by the Upper Thomson branch!

Takaya's main company is actually supplier of seafood! So that's why the customers can get good deals at lower price. Charlie showed us their retailing list. We wanted to buy scallop tempura and seafood roll last night. But we need to pre-order if we wish to collect it at the Bistro. Their office which has the ready stock is at Ubi! Very near my place and Allan's office. So we will pop by there to buy instead. hehe....

I'm looking at the Delivery Order list right now.... Alot to buy from lei. tempura fish fillet. tepura squid rings, seasoned octopus, softshell crab,raw scallop meat, raw prawn, seafood tofu. I think if I am organizing a party, can grab alot of stuff there. The prices are very reasonable.

A dying dragonfly in my toilet

I felt like a National Geography member today. Saw a dying dragonfly dropped onto the wash basin this morning while I was in the loo. Gosh, my heart skipped a bit thinking what was it. Cos it happened too fast. I just saw something black and with wings and it's BIG!

Rescued it from the sink and decided to take pics of it. Poor dragonfly. Its wings kept fluttering slightly. It must have felt frightened. I decided to put it at Allan's desk and wait till he comes home. hee... surprised!

Diagonal viewTop-View

Tiring....

I was woken up this morning with a pain bout of cramp at my abdominal area. I was still thinking,"Gosh, what on earth is happening." After a trip to the loo, then I realised it was my menses starting. Damn it! I went back to my bed and tried to get back to sleep. It was still painful at 7plus. So decided to take MC and rest since it's hurting. I can foresee that if I went to work, I cannot take it and will come home halfway. So no point too... Still must waste money taking cab.

Still, there are some emails that I must respond to cause time is running out. Thank god I brought my laptop home. So started working at 8.30 in my room.

BUT I realised since last night that I am becoming more inefficient. And lethargic. Last night tried to write an email but took bloody long to get it done. So I am still thinking what is wrong with me? Is it plain tired or what? I'm still thinking the reason. Am I being de-motivated by anything? I'm not sure. But I must find a way to get through this.

My mind keeps thinking about work. Also, my email inbox is in such a mess. And I need to find a way to improve some of my work processes or format. You see, there are a thousand and one things that I need to do.

I must use today to have a good good rest. Staring at the computer screen the entire day is NOT good!!! I need to go have a shower, rest in bed with my book and see if I can catch a nap.

Sentosa Flower Shots!!! Lots more....

Finally I'm able to Blog! My alumnus dinner for the 1st time!

I always take blogging for granted till I wasn't able to for the past weekend till today. When it wasn't available, I felt weird cos I can't post my thoughts or share certain events with friends. Hmm... actually I was having a thought some time ago. What if one fine day, blogspot is closed down. Then all my entries, photos, memories would disappear just like that! I think I would need some time to get over it. One blog entry takes about 30mins to 1 hour. Sometimes it can be even more than that. I have over 200+ entries, that means about 200hours of time! Let's hope if that day really comes, I would be warned and do the necessary archival => printing out all my entries perhaps? haha...

okok... time for an update...

I went to my Secondary School => AMKSS last fri for their alumnus dinner.

Right now, i can suddenly recall my school song. Ok, it went like this....

Alma mater dear, to thee we sing your praises

We will ......... hmm hmm hmm.... (can rem the tune but not the lyrics)

Not too bad right? Still can recall the 1st verse after let me think, 27-16 = 11 years!

Gosh, that's fast. Time flies. 2 yrs in JC, 4 yrs in NTU, 4 yrs working. There's a chinese saying, "shui yue bu liu ren" meaning time and tide does not wait for man. It's true. It just felt like yesterday when we passed our O-Levels. We went back and saw our Geography teacher Mrs Ismail who still looked the same some WHAT! 10 years ago! She's a very nice teacher no doubt we always kena scolding from her. She can be so mad at us that she will just lecture us the whole lesson and as a punishment for not listening to her. I told her that I can remembering her lecturing only. haha... Cos I was sitting right next to the OHP and she was lecturing us from that spot. So that explains my vivid memory.

The school had undergone a renovation and the school is much bigger. But somehow, the nostalgic feeling that I had of the school left as well when the school underwent renovation. However, I felt something stirring inside when I saw the montage of the old school building. Where we had the quadrangle aka assembly place. Along the stretch, we had the Home Economics room(for the gals) and also the Technical room(for the guys). I always felt that the Home Economics room was haunted. my own imaginations, i mean. haha...

Most interesting memories was the camps that I had attended. It is the camps and friends that I have made there which made my secondary school life the most enjoyable part of my study life. Most 2 exciting: Camp Discovery(I can't describe this camp in words. You gotta go through it to understand what I mean). Outward Bound School at Pulau Ubin. Where I tried things I have never done before and perhaps never will again in my life => abseiling. swimming in a quarry. Jumping from a platform that is around 6m(estimate) above the sea into the sea.Night walk in the forest. And of course, the badminton camps and prefect camps.

The Registration counter at the porch of Ang Mo Kio Secondary School. my alma mater.

My best pals are from secondary school. from front left: Sharon, Huiyi. Huiqing next to me.