Rice Table / Starbucks Muffin

right now, the sky has been blanketed with under-the-bed-dut-looking grey fuzz of clouds.

after catching up on cuban heels by emily barr, i somehow wish i was libby and my current dilemma in life was whether to stay put in brighton, england or pack up and travel to another country like latin america with my husband and new baby .. well, AS IF it would even be a dilemma. i will probably just argue for the sake of making myself heard within the household but be the first one to finish stuffing my luggage, first to get seat-belted in the car and arrive at the custom gates.

life's really a tease. really. my sister goes to ctc and lands herself in a 'friendship' with a blond russian, whose name rivals the exoticness of a romanov. wai travels halfway across the continent and engages in what i call personal united nations sessions. what the hell am i doing here in chaste singapore? even my elder sister got attached in bristol to an 'indochine' ah-hem, indonesian-chinese.eck, might as well seek some solitary comfort in a starbucks cranberry muffin.


the ever elusive starbucks muffin. simple treat for a morning.

i had dinner at rice table international building with the family. -grin, not sushi tei~ anyway i love it! yea but this does happen to be someone who considers nasi padang one of her vices. i know some people feel that rice table is not authentic indonesian cusine, perhaps comparable to what thai express is to thai food.



but i am sure the lack of photos as i was busy nicking the satays is sure proof that the meal was fantastic! but the crowning glories of the evening were the ayam penggang (grilled chicken), sate ayam (chicken satays) and daging rendang (spicy beef stew). and who can forget the fluffy fluffy tahu telok.. i am terrible at describing the dishes, not doing any justice to them at all so i will have to tell you to hop on by to try it out for yourself!





jimmy even noticed that they were playing traditional music during the meal, only to change it to classical music for soothing purposes i guess but i guess it was time to move the butts when they played rnb. nonetheless, it was a delightful experience -great for gatherings- though i advise you book in advance! enjoy.

bump goes the jag.

my nose is killing me! drip drip drip like a loose water pipe..

anyway, my parents and i got into a car accident yesterday.. at around victoria junction, my dad stepped onto the accelerator one second too quickly and we bumped into a blue renault up front. to be honest, my initial reaction was fright as the impact caused my seat belt to tighten and hurt my rib cage as i plunged forward. no worries, no bones broken.

apparently my mum's first instinct was to shield her face. yar, like really quick thinking right? and my first thought was, "%&*#*, dad's gonna flipppp BIIIGGG time.. so god help me.. " ha, i am bull shitting here. as if i am able to cramp so much words for a 'first thought'.

sigh, the poor car was not as lucky as masters. in a bid to remain a loyal servant, the impact ripped its decorative rim off and the metal armour-like shield cracked into two. oh yea, its bonnet could not shut tightly too. at least we could drive the car to the assessment centre and workshop.

at least dad was not mad. afterall, he did the bumping. haha. when he called the guy in charge at malayan motors, he sounded exactly like one of those misfortunates i have been listening to here at international sos, "hello.. erm.. i got into an accident ... i bump into someone's backside" haha. so glad i am able to remain optimistic about this!

i had quite a laugh when i read this and that. enjoy.

the last leg.

after one and a half year's worth of mental slogging, today is finally my younger sister's last paper! all the best, yang~

i am suffering from a serious bout of monday blues. i am pissed off with my job. irritated with my neighbour. frustrated by the lack of significance of what i am doing. i am so tempted to see what the department looks like should i call it a day. not that my abscence will cause any ground-breaking earth shattering catastrophy, i guess.

i am doing so much prospecting i feel like telling the business development managers to use the prospects before asking me to do more. in short, i feel like telling them to stuff it.

i wonder which doctor will give me a week's worth of mc. i wonder what it will take to give me a week's worth of mc. i know one collegue had it but it was because she had her wisdom teeth plucked out. maybe..

i fear for my sanity.

on a less agnsty note: i love how some things are created a particular manner and they serve a unique purpose due to the way they have been customized? well, i saw dunkin' cookies from marks and spencer and they really made you feel that the people over at marks and spencer really understand their customers.

dunk me!

i am sure most of you have encoutered situations where you just could not seem to get the rims of those traditional round cookies to fit inside you mug of milo or milk.. well marks and spencer has produced oblong cookies with to simplfy those habitual dunking of yours.

sigh,another addition to the already- perfect range of bisuits that marks and spencer has.

weekend!

my company is famous! did you read about us in the papers yesterday where we rushed a hongkonger social worker back from aceh to singapore, after she was SHOT IN THE NECK?!

or how about the singaporean couple who was caught in a potentially- fatal us train wreck?

what are you waiting for? -sign up with us today!
www.internationalsos.com

it has started to pour insanely. luckily dad does not have a golf game today.

Keyaki

koi-yingly so.

"special lunch friday" with mum took us to keyaki at pan pacific hotel. it is a long way into the resturant and you will find a japanese garden, complete with leafy greens and bamboo, and a koi-filled fountain upon arrival. a traditional japanese resturant, the resturant's interior boasts a structure of real keyaki wood and its dated appearance looks almost purposely done, as if to cast out any pretentiousness.








appetizers came in the form of minced salmon, covered in gravy. and being a die-hard fan of eel, the tempura-una set was a no-brainer. a spoonful of unagi never did anyone harm. just look at how pretty the entire meal looks!


a basketful of tempura.




mum ordered the teriyaki-beef-sashimi set, so that we could try out as many varied dishes as possible. the joy of sharing! "the beef is even better than steak," remarked mum.

i think next week will be a special event bacause YANG returns home! haha. i might just call in 'sick at work' ...

all in a day's work.

while prospecting, i actually had to call up this head of a certain bank and after much waiting i actually got to speak to his secretary. she insisted to know why i needed her boss's email address

then i went on the tirade- "international sos is the world's largest medical and assistance provider .. you might have heard of us in the newspapers last week about a singaporean couple who was involved in a us train wreck .. and we were also involved in the mass evacuations for tsunami crisis and the bomb blast ... we also hold monthly seminars ranging from medical to security to crisis management .. basically it will an informative session- "

THEHHHH she says, "sex would be enough?"

understatedly shocked, i replied, "excuse me?"

"having sex would be enough?"

-involuntary silence-

"fax?"

-sigh of relief-

"oh yes, that would be great.. and your fax number is?"

... i kid you not.

Hu Cui

shanghai relish.

we had brunch here a couple of weeks ago.. and i almost forgot to post these pictures! the lesser-known cousin of crystal jade family, hu cui has a beautiful architectural interior that would please any chinois- aficionado.


as you can probably tell, the entrance, decor and even the table setting possess a modern take on the traditional chinese setting. you had no idea how weird out looks i got by waiters who were setting up our table.


the above dish is shrimp wrapped beancurd skin. if one thing is to be noted, it is that the names of chinese dishes usually says it all. haha. but anyway, the juicy-crunchy shrimp paired with crisp beancurd skin is a definate treat for your tastebuds!


jie's favourite wanton in chili oil is a mix of sin and pleasure. "meat oil meat oil" though items like wanton or dumpling are commonly found in hawker centres or haute cuisine, hu cui manages to draw out a certain x-factor within this bundle of goodness.


darling of my palate is the xian bao- which is actually meat-stuffed bao that has been pan-fried- just think juicy juicy meat and oily oily bun. and our adventurous dish of the day, huang qiao shao bing, whose flaky-pastriness was a pleasant surprise.

overall, shanghainese food could be described as generic. they use the same meat stuffing for jiaozi, xiaolongbao, wanton and shuijiao and their sweet fillings do not differ greatly too. but the thing about hu cui is definately its overall atmosphere. though the entrance looks eerily intimidating, you will be surprised by how relaxed and affordable it really is. though the dishes are easily found in the other shanghainese resturant, this boutique resturant here is thanfully free of the chaos and hecticness, evidently present in its better-known compatriots.

i likey.

Cedele Mushroom Soup

delight at depot.



cedele cedele .. almost like a lullaby.
during lunch, i relish at the thought of just packing up my straw bag and walking over to cedele, with my book, for a warm bowl of soup and some brown nutty bread.

just check out the mushroom chunks for the soup!

by the way, i happen to be looking for someone to share their carrot walnut cake with.

visit them at: http://www.cedeledepot.com/home/

ribbit.

i was sulky last night. one of the rare incidences where we could have something different for dinner and my mum did not want to go to dino .. I WANT MY FRIED LICE!

but anyway i decided to cut the 10-yr old act when she suggested longhouse where i tried the famous geylang lorong-something frog legs porridge for the first time .. well, though i had it at upper thomson road .. i figured it is STILL authentic enough .. afterall geylang has numerous 'famous lorongs' .. probably no one can be sure of which is original in the first place!



the porridge was cooked just the way i like it- soft enough for the grains to mush slightly but hard enough for substance. and when you dribble a dollap of kung bao sauce over your porridge, a simply dish perfect for the cool tuesday evening is born. to be honest, it was so pleasing, i could almost ignore the frog legs on its own.

i know the idea of frog legs porridge probably sounds like a dish that would pop out of a witch's menu but when you see it served piping hot in the claypots (the porridge and frog legs are usually served separate), my mind actually went 'hey it really does look like chicken!' but maybe what worries most people is whether it TASTES like chicken?

perhaps i am biased towards the novelty of a new dish, so i would say it tastes even better than chicken.

sigh, looking foward to lunch at cedele's!

my collegue is so funny!

she just asked me if it is a 'rule' that smu students MUST dress up for school. hohoho.

my one but not only.

reading the batman/christian bale issue of 8 days revived memories of eye for a guy 2 last episode. although i cannot really seem to remember much except for caramel corn chips and lays salt and vinegar (which happens to be a killer combination by the way), denise keller puppet-pull-my-mouth-strings monologues and wai's eventual erm devastation ..

which happens odd as say, you are rooting for someone to win because you think he has more to offend, is cuter and funnier, probably more down-to-earth.. then when he does not get picked, you are SUPPOSED to be bummed out but wait- the guys's SUDDENLY SINGLE!?!

anyway i was reading the interview and again, i do not remember the specifics having read it in a rush but there was a question on something like what similarities do you guys (denise and her man) have? -something along those lines at least and i think she mentioned something like, "oh, we are not only half-german, we come from the same german state... we are both confused... "

ok that may seem super out of context but go read the interview and see if you can manage to hold your laughter... but i rest my case and that's one couple you would not want to ask directions from.

which got me thinking like is every mixed kid as culturally confused as they are? what about those who are definately americans/ english/ japanese etc but have been transported to an entirely different country? my knowledge of mixed kids is limited to the fact that most of them are gorgeous -having gotten the best of both dna-worlds. so i think maybe i should go do some research on them.. so if you see me hanging out at penny black's or the dubliner's.. do not bother me for i am engaging in an intellectually stimulating conversation ...

haha.

one tip for career.

for my job i do a lot of prospecting, which includes calling up of companies to ask for their managing directors or human resource directors, so that our business development managers can follow up of sales and services.

my one tip to you is- do NOT work for a japanese company- they are simply not interested in employee welfare.

be mine.

i was blog surfing and i chanced upon a complete stranger's blog who was on her way to new york city.

my heart burnt and cringed with pure envy.

if you are tired of pondering about your surreal existence on earth,
vist: http://www.travelblog.org/

Zambuca

strawberry scented.

no i am not suffering from work blues. no i really enjoy being micromanaged. no i am so looking forward to another week of hum-drum-bored-o-mania work. i am suffering from the disillusioned disease.

last weekend

was spent at: chomp chomp. the apotheca. sushi tei. maxwell food centre. hue. borders. orchard national library. wheelock place. takashimaya. scotts.

doing: shopping. littering the streets of orchard road.

having: tong heng egg tart. steamboat at home. corica apple strudel. nasi padang. lim kee goreng pisang. dim sum. curry puff.

but the best part of my weekend would have to be the three new spanking new books i got at ridiculously low prices at paragon!
cuban heels by emily barr
the painter by william devenport
a quiver full of arrows by jeffrey archer
all for an average of 5 bucks per book.. i mean like HELLO!? each book costs less then a starbucks frappucino.. WHAT A DEAL!?!!

i miss my weekend. it was flawless.

food for the belly. jie bought this for jimmy though mum and i both snagged a bite each. erm well, i cannot really give an opinion since i do happen to be an ardent fan of old chang kee's curry puff..

and food for the soul.

lunch with mum at pan pacific hotel's zambuca last friday.
it was like fine dining at an italian rsturant, minus the wine and pasta. haha.

you know you are in a seriously classy resturant when there is no salt and pepper to be found on the table and you can only get some pepper for your soup when the waiter comes over to ground it himself. the lamb rack which mum had- what can i say about, you either love it or hate it.


it was a pleasant lunch, not very authentic italian as you can probably tell.

at the bentley showroom, now stop drooling all over your keyboard.


yesterday we celebrated father's day at maxwell food centre and i call it 'celebrate' because we let him choose the venue and he said, "hawker centre" (arh, the perils of living with daughters who insist on lazy gourmet) .. hey i love hawker centres- you get the yummiest fill-my-belly food but after eating in insipid places more often than not, you do tend to treat yourself to something different on sundays ...

anyway, we ordered dim sum, indulged in goreng pisang (from the famous somerset food kiosk) and dad was perspiring like a loose tap over his fish porridge..*no wonder he does not need light sauce* sometimes i look at him and wonder why he likes to torture himself.. but to him, it is really "for the food". amazing.

oh yesh, if you see me sniffing my hands and looking like a fool, it is because i have slathered the body shop strawberry lotion and it sures smells heavenly.

it is time to bid for subjects for year 2 -YEAR2?! i seriously cannot believe i am no longer a freshman.. anyway, at least i am on to a good start, i have the same Technology and World Change module as ade..

mean wishes.

which is worse-

people who thrive on others' low self-esteem
or those who feel the urge to crumble a healthy one?

i choose to believe that a lot of good has come out of all these tags, that were driven by cowardice and superficiality. i think i was one of those who would not give a second thought on throwing a nasty comment of two about people. i know that at times in order to derive entertainment, some friends and i must have subjected certain people to unflattering images.

but after reading all tags, i realise that it is not only sad, but nerve-wrecking when some people cannot look beyond what they are saying and see for themselves how ugly they choose to be.

perhaps the people who tag such insensitivities really are good-looking on the surface. perhaps, they are those who never had to worry about where the cupcake or pasta is going due to high metabolism. or maybe they are the ones we secretly all yearn to be in junior college or secondary school.

but the truth is that these people do not do justice to themselves. and i repeat, do not do justice to THEMSELVES. what they have been genetically blessed with on the surface has been overshadowed by what goes on in the mind and heart.

so guys, think about it, why waste a pretty chick-flick image on someone who does not even warrant for a few minutes of your time. i am definately someone of no threat to your prom-queen wishes. so if you feel your toenails curl at the sight of my blog or myself, why not just summon all that energy to stop yourself from clicking here?

the bottom line is i cannot control what others think of me and i can only hope that this fiasco will die down in time. but the next time i think of something unconstructive or uncalled-for, i will just shut it.

hello annoy and s,

just two pieces of advice.

wanna leave a tag?
leave your real name.

don't like my blog?
-fuck off.

jetsetting.

i am the offical planner for "tokyo0805"
- which literally means tokyo august 2005.
can you tell how desparate i am to leave the country? i have actually started to plan my vacation in japan- did you hear that, yang? WE AREEE GOINGGG TO JAPANNN- if i can come up with an itinery for 5 days, plus hotel and airflights.

-cross your fingers. cross my fingers.

Coffee Bean Salmon Scramble

of life's simple pleasures.

breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. i really do not mind eating leftover food or something just as insipid for dinner but a good well-planned breakfast really does brighten up the boring work day.


one of favourites is coffee bean's smoke salmon and egg. to keep it short, it is smoke salmon and diced omelette on a piece of foccacia layered with sour cream. yea, i know you must be thinking sour cream?! well, do not take my word for it .. go try it out for yourself.. haha

another one of life's goodies is glamour magazine. i think should i EVER get engaged or married, i will probably hand a copy of glamour magazine over to my fiancee-husband-to-be and ask him if he understands at least half of what the magazine is all about.

whilst re-reading my old issues of glamour, i found this dove advertisment. and i think it is wonderful, not to mention inspirational. you guys can see for yourself the message the advertisment is sending out...

here there everywhere.

i decided to walk off a heavy lunch at raffles place today and all i can say is COW-WA-BUNG-GA! i was aware that it was lunch time and i knew that raffles place houses countless companies and office workers but boy was i unprepared for the hordes of people around me.

the thing is that RPW (raffles place workers) looked no different than those from city hall or tanjong pagar (the closest mrt-station areas) but they walked with such ferocity and steadth, i was just trying to duck everyone on my way to caltex house. they might be half my size and no taller than a head or so but it felt as if they were determined to ram down everyone who was in their way. well, i guess you cannot exactly blame them as lunch hour in raffles place converts the area into a stiletto-trodding war zone.

i think the anatomy of a RPW during lunchtime is made up of the following actions: you have to be quick enough to get to destination: favourite eatery. crafty enough to 'chope' that table with your tissue packet or umbrella. and finally bold enough to hog that table while you relish in lunch- silently smirking at the standing late-birds.

the funny thing is you probably only get such gusto within the eateries as these sniper-wannabes suddenly turn sluggish after lunch-hour when all the energy for the day has been used up.. arh, one of life's ironies.

Marmalade Pantry Cupcakes / Toast

a cuppa cake.

if you have ANY idea how dificult it is to get hold of marmalade pantry's cupcakes -clue: they are usually out by brunch-, you will understand why i was so carried away when i found them at toast (which happens to be part of the marmalade group).


my mum and i had them illegally over at starbucks liat towers (yes waiii..) coupled with a green tea frappucino and white decaf coffee.


(left) chocolate deluxe
the ultimate chocolate cupcak- this was marvellous! high on the yum-quotient, my favourite of the lot. though considerably drier than the rest, the chocolate was surprisingly uncloying.

(right) cloud nine white coconut cake with cream cheese - this cupcake reminds me of the old-fashion kiddy treats where you have a pretty swirly icing on top of a plain button biscuit, as beneath the cheese layer holds tiny balls of icing.. well, i did use to pick and throw out the icing bits as a kid so this cupcake does not exactly appeal to my senses.


(left) nutella chocolate cake with nutella frosting
- this is darr's delight.. and for cold-hard fans of nutella, darr included.

(in the middle) elvis chocolate banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting- named after the king, 'nuff said.

hey yang, would you like to be greeted with this when you return? haha..