Reminiscence...

Met up with Elmo and TC for dinner yesterday evening at Sakae Sushi @ Westmall. We didn't eat much... mainly ordered small sushi items... partly didn't eat a lot cos Elmo and I wanted to eat off the conveyor belt but we were all seated in the inner area where items served on the conveyor belt would have been removed by many other patrons seated before they could reach us. Chewed on lots of edamame though... haha, guess no one else really liked them that much so they could all reach us! =.= Anyway, the focus of the evening definitely wasn't food... we were much more interested in just talking. :)

How time flies. It did so last night as the three of us chatted on, and it did for the past many many years. As we updated one another with regards to what's going on in our lives and our near-future plans etc, I couldn't help but sigh about time passing by in a flash. The three of us have known one another for more than half our lives -- almost 16 years, in fact! -- and gone through so much together throughout our years in secondary school, and then in jc.

TC also showed us recent pics of some of our other secondary school classmates/ schoolmates on his phone as he accessed their facebook profiles. Viewing the pics resulted in lots of memories flooding back and I started to miss the faces of these people I was looking at. Some of them I used to be on quite close terms with, while others were just acquaintances, but whatever it is, there was the unmistakable feeling of a bonding, simply due to the fact that we were all products of the same school. :)

Although some of them clearly put on or lost weight, many still look the same, so during that short period of time, I felt as if I was transported back to the days when we were still schooling together. Among these people whose pics we were poring over, some we still contact on an occasional basis, while others belong to a different clique. But I wonder... if one day, we were to all gather once again, would our previous chemistry/ sense of bonding surface once again? Would we still have lots to talk about, given our vastly different experiences in the paths we have chosen to take since we separated?

Even if I never knew the answer to the above questions, there's one thing I can be sure of -- all these guys and gals will not be forgotten entirely as long as my memory still functions fine. To them all, thank you for having been once a part of my life. :) And to those whom I still keep in touch with, thank you for still being there in my life. :)

CNY 09 Food Post! Mmmm... ;P

I'm oh-so-very-tired... went back to work today after the CNY break. Students 'stoned', I also 'stoned'. During the first few minutes of curriculum time, we sort of just ended up staring at each other while waiting for our brains to start functioning. :p

Never mind, never mind. At least there's the thought of yummy food I had for the past few days for me to relish... hee.

Pre-CNY meal: SCORE!!!

The day before CNY eve, I cooked lunch for Hubby and myself. I was so pleased while eating the lunch cos, for the very first time since I started cooking for us, Hubby awarded me up to 8 marks outta 10 for the dishes I prepared! *grin grin grin*

Tada! Here's my first masterpiece...broccoli with stir fried prawns and capsicum (Ooohh... love the fat fat prawns. They're more expensive than the usual type I buy, but I think it's worth it...The first time I cooked them was with pasta, but they didn't taste fantastic. This time, I improved!)

Actually, there's a second dish that I got a high score for, but it's minced prawns and meat roll prepared by Mummy, and which I simply cooked with some onions, golden mushrooms and seafood chilli sauce, so I don't think I can gain full credit for that. :p

CNY 09 Reunion Feasts

The next day was CNY eve...Hubby and I had 2 meals that left us really bloated. :p We had reunion lunch at AMK with my in-laws first. Cool... loved all the dishes cos, like I told my MIL, each dish was a representative of my favourite for each food type.

See... prawns (fav seafood), mushrooms (my all-time fav), chicken (fav meat), leek and broccoli (fav veggies) and there's soup (yep, I'm a soupie). Yum... and MIL mixed chilli padi and garlic with light soya sauce, which went really well with everything, especially the steamed prawns. Thoroughly enjoyed the lunch (though I unknowingly consumed a piece of pig's stomach, which I thought was some kinda mushroom... eeewwww...wish Hubby hadn't told me later on).

In the evening, we went back to BT for steamboat, the usual form of reunion meal that Mummy prepares annually. Love the soup... so sweet cos of the yellow beans and scallops that were added, and also loved many of the 'balls' that were on the table.

Fish maw, button mushrooms, prawns, tau kwa, seafood tofu sandwich, cocktail sausages, balls with mushroom filling, shitake mushroom balls, sliced fish, salmon 'balls', fa cai, abalone, cai xin, shrimp wanton, large fishballs with cheese filling (which I really really loved!)... wah, initially thought the meal was manageable, cos there didn't seem a large quantity for each item, but boy, was I wrong! Just a bit of everything = a lot of food! In the end, we couldn't even finish all the stuff. :p Luckily I went for a walk after dinner with Hubby, Beebee and Qiyan, who popped over as usual after her reunion dinner. That really helped to ease the bloated feeling.

CNY Day #2

Day #1 saw Hubby and I chilling out at home, with me spending some time preparing work which, I was later told, was not a good way to start the new year. Oh dear, guess I have to be ready to slog like an ox this year. Haiz. But still enjoyed most parts of the day with Hubby. :)

Then came Day #2. Hubby and I went temple visiting with Papa, Mummy and Beebee as usual. We made it for mee sua at the famous temple at Bishan (alamak, famous yet I forgot the name :p). And cos we didn't have that many temples to visit as last year, we ended the temple visiting by mid-afternoon and were able to jalan jalan at Jurong Point.

Wow, discovered that the NTUC Xtra there is open 24 hours a day. Cool... but hmmm, would there be shoppers in the wee hours of the morning? Anyway, we also came across this kawaii place where people could purchase and design their own cakes! This would be a really sweet gift for someone. What a delicious idea... :D

Later in the early evening, we settled down for dinner at Fig & Olive. It was the first time any one of us tried the food there. Overall not bad lah, but Hubby didn't quite enjoy his meal cos instead of the medium steak that he ordered, he got a well-cooked steak instead, and had to chew glumly on the tough meat. *sayang sayang* But the rest of us pretty much enjoyed our meal.

We also visited my aunt and uncle, who helped to take care of me when I was a kid. It's been so long since I saw them. Felt a little sad upon seeing them cos they've really aged a lot, and visiting their apartment brought on a sense of nostalgia. Sigh, those days when I was younger were really so much more carefree too, compared to the hectic and stressful working life that I lead as an adult now. But at least, I have Hubby now. :)

Okie, I'd better get back to work now while I watch the animal documentary on Okto. :p Looking forward to meeting up with Elmo and TC come Friday evening. :)

PS. The fortune cookies I bought were so 'zhun' lor! Had so much fun distributing to colleagues and family too. Some were so accurate that they were hilarious! Must buy again next year... hahaha.. ;D

What the... ???

Hubby returned home an hour ago, and immediately proceeded to show off his purchases today. Yes, he spent the whole afternoon outside, shopping about on his own. Will blog about some of his purchases which I thought were really nice. Tonight, though, I'll just focus on this one that *ahem* will make one stare... er... in wonder? In fascination? In puzzlement? In confusion? And the list could go on... but in my case, I simply stared BLANKLY.

Yes, this is it. The THING that my watch fanatic of a husband bought at Fossil. He came across this in the papers and went off eagerly in pursuit of it.

This THING is a watch, but with no hands, and which you can wear only where there's sunlight. That's cos it's a *ahem* sun dial watch.

Before Hubby opened the box to unveil it before my eyes, he warned me not to go 'huh'. The next instant, when I saw it, I went 'HUH????!!!!' And now, he says it's his favourite watch. =.=

Oh well, as long as he likes it and remembers not to put it on if he goes out at night. :p

Red red goodies! ;D

Yeah! Talk about being in a New Year celebratory mood already... haha... went to the supermarket after work to shop for little annual treats during this festive period to prepare for my wonderful form class. Though they're in Sec 4 now, I think they'll still be pretty excited over the goodies... heh, even I got pretty thrilled at what I found while shopping about.

TADA! Here's Yoshi guarding all the bags of goodies that I packed for the kids... and check out what each bag contains:

So red hor? Heh. This is the first time I purposely picked out all those treats with red packaging to suit the occasion. Can't believe I didn't think of that before. What I'm most thrilled about is this large box of individually packed fortune cookies I found. Didn't plan on eating any, but since there were some extras, and I was really curious as to whether there'd be a note in each cookie, I just consumed one... and really found a note!

Hee, so fun... my note says "Your kindness is surely to be repaid". Whoa, if this was anything to go by, I guess I'd have a rather good year ahead. ;) Can't wait for the kids to eat the cookie and discover their note! :D This year, I also included an ang bao in each bag. Will enclose a note to each kid, asking them to slip some donations into the ang bao and return it to me next week for the hong bao donation drive to help the less privileged students in the school. Hopefully we can raise a substantial amount.

Happy New Year, kids! :)

New Year Mood...

Happy Lunar New Year (in advance)! Wah, dunno why... I'm just suddenly in the mood to celebrate Chinese New Year. Been feeling like this the whole day today. Maybe it's cos I need that break from work!

But then again, it doesn't seem like it's simply about getting a much-needed breather. I'm actually relishing the thought of shopping for bak gua to give to parents and in-laws later this week, and also looking forward to 2 great feasts on CNY eve! Will be having reunion lunch at in-laws' and reunion dinner at my parents place this year. Yum yum! ;D

Btw, was hunting for some articles online for work when I came across a website that describes the general outlook for the Year of the Ox. Well, I sort of got interested cos this year began with quite a bit of turbulence, especially with regards to the economy, so I just read on to find out more. Not that I'm superstitious and believe fully in such prediction -- it just never hurts to know stuff like that. :)

And here's what I found out:

"The year of the Ox is associated with domestic trouble that seems to have no solution. The grounded, rational, earth influence of the Ox may bring good fortune to troubled economic times but only with a sustained, well planned effort. The Ox influence brings an aversion to risky credit and quick answers that are not well conceived. The Ox year brings success only through discipline and through hard work. The steady ox is quick to anger when confronted by what seems to be irrational opposition, but the use of reason works well and avoids a charge by the angry bull. There is much danger of war and unrest if diplomacy does not prevail.

The last time the earth Ox was seen as the ruling influence was January 29, 1949 - February 15, 1950. The world suffered a recession in late 1948 and early 1949. The world economy recovered during the year of the ox due to rational decisions and careful planning. By 1951, the recession was over. Many will be searching for a quick solution to the current economic crisis, but the ox favors a well planned, consistent path that will take more time but lay a foundation for long lasting results. The strong earth influence of this year favors a strengthening of the housing market, but risk takers will not find this year favorable. Those who look for long term benefits, have a well thought out plan and are willing to work to see results will find great success.

Baby boomers who were born the last time the brown earth Ox ruled the zodiac celebrate their 60th birthday this year. Those who are influenced by the Ox will have experienced many years of good fortune if the planning, hard work and discipline of the sign were heeded. Those who failed to plan are given a new opportunity this year. If the lessons of the past are integrated, the future brings harmony and good fortune at home and in business."

Hmmm... sure hope the economy recovers soon and that peace will prevail everywhere...

Hog's Breath Cafe

Hubby and I met up with HZ and Jess for lunch at Vivocity yesterday and passed Jess her birthday pressie. Glad she seemed to like the watchbox from Hallmark. :) We had lunch at Hog's Breath Cafe at level 3. We'd never eaten there before. When Jess first mentioned it, Hubby's first reaction was "What do they serve? Pig ah? All pork stuff ah?". Hee, so cute. Anyway, it's basically a place specialising in Western food, not pork lah. :p The place reeks of American style in terms of decor and food. I even had crab cakes for the first time (see pic in centre!), which I'd heard of before in the sitcom 'Friends' and used to be curious about. Haha. Here're all the items paid for...

And what we got for FREE! A mudcake with a generous scoop of vanilla icecream... Jess told the waitress her birthday was just 2 days ago so the waitress promised her this yummy dessert on the house. Wah, not bad, not bad. Even supposed to have live band playing during certain time slots. Next time see who else celebrating birthday, can go again... heh.

Okie, Hubby's home already. M sleepy now... will sleep soon and hopefully dream of icecream and mud cake and cheesecake and crab cake and...ZZzzzz...

Cheesecake mission complete! But...

As agreed, Beebee came over for the cheesecake adventure last Saturday evening. I got ready all the ingredients and Beebee got to work soon after dinner. I was observing her most of the time, but took orders from the master chef to hammer the cookies to bits and fold them in with the cheesecake filling from time to time. Think she's lazy and just wanted to make use of my muscles. :p

And here's the oreo cheesecake after refrigeration...

Sprinkled little colouful stars on it for a bit of decoration, then cut it into slices, 2 of which Hubby and I shared as breakfast the next morning.

The verdict? I thought it was passable but Hubby failed it! ;( He said it was worth at most a 4 out of 10 cos he didn't quite enjoy the taste of the cheesecake filling, and also said the butter tasted weird. Sigh. Too bad I can't eat much of such sweet desserts, else I would've eaten more cos I'm ok with the taste. Oh well, at least I more or less know how to make cheesecake now. :p