End of 2009

Time of the year to reflect upon what had happened for the past 1 year… with my fuzzy memory, I remembered that:

I got married, went for a kick-ass honeymoon in Japan, bought a multi-generation HDB flat, failed my CFA level3, slapped myself for not buying more equities in March 09 and hold till Dec 31 2009.

Besides the above, I am in good health and everyone around me is also still well and alive. That alone, is the best part of 2009.

Going forward, here’s what to expect:

1) My long-awaited, designer flat. This designer and contractor better be good…. The renovation is stretching to 6 months and I’m about to DIE with anticipation already!

2) I gotta pass my CFA Level 3 and be a real CFA -> Certified Financial Analyst. Yes, I really do need that title to boost my ego.

3) Put my green fingers to test. My new place will be a little green house. Hrm…. If I didn’t inherit my mum’s genes, too bad. I’ll be buying fake greens instead then.

4) Adopt 2 bunnies? Although hubby is more keen to keep a pair of cats as pets… but seriously, cats and dogs are simply too demanding. If the bunnies don’t work out, I can always cook a rabbit stew with truffles instead.

5) Be a domestic goddess. I can’t wait to cook and eat, cook and eat, cook and eat in my brand new dry-and-wet kitchen, with an island, a kick-ass oven, a small herb garden and many days of dinners with friends.

Hopefully, 2010 will be a good year as well! Happy new year and may 2010 be a fruitful year for you!

10 weird things about me…

I’ve just read another blogger’s post about her 10 weird things, and to keep the spirit of “10 weird things” alive, I have to share 10 weird and totally honest things about myself or else… I will never strike lottery in my entire life. (Or something really bad along that line)

Ok, here goes:

(1) I daydream almost everyday about what I’ll do with the 2 million bucks if I ever strike TOTO or the Big Sweep. It keeps me going every morning; especially when my equity investments are under-water or when I feel broke. (that’s almost everyday, now that my new place is under renovation)

(2) I have already picked names for my future children and pets. Well… I might never, ever own a parrot, but I already HAVE a name for my parrot if I ever have one! Similarly, I do not have children at the moment, but I have already decided on their names, regardless of whether Hubby likes the names or not.

(3) I am a tree-hugger at heart. I recycled what-ever I can at home. I’ll sort out the rubbish and dispose them in the designated recycling bins near my block. I keep a set of chopsticks & spoon, and fork & spoon in office so that I do not have to use disposables when I lunch in. I also bring my own grocery bag when I do marketing and recently also started to bring my own shopping bag, so that I do not use paper bags/plastic bags during shopping sessions.

(4) I still get nervous whenever I drive. That’s partly because I do not drive often enough. But I do make sure that I drive at least once a week (courtesy to Kahshare Rental) to improve on my driving, and most importantly, PARKING.

(5) I am quite a paranoid. I’ll always buy Travel Insurance whenever I travel, even a short trip to Malaysia. Before the trip, I’ll email my brothers the details of ALL the insurance plans that I have, and all the bank accounts as well. Then I’ll pray to who-ever-is-up-there that I’ll make it home alive and well.

(6) I dream to be a Stay-At-Home-Mum who runs her own business and yet, can look after her kids at the same time. Once again, I do not have kids yet; guess I’ll look into this when I eventually have kids.

(7) I have scoliosis, which means that I have a curved spine. For a period of time, I was so resentful of my abnormal curvature that I dreaded the mirror and moped around, feeling so sorry for myself. Then I started volunteering at RDA and realized my so-called “disability” is nothing compared to the kids who have real disability. I am just glad that I can walk normally; I have hands and fingers to type my emails, cook, wash my clothes, and basically be a normal person.

(8) I worry CONSTANTLY that I will age faster than Hubby. To start with, Hubby has a super baby-face, and he is currently in some dragon-boat team, training hard every weekend. Hubby’s like Benjamin Button, he is getting hunkier as he aged?! Not that I am complaining since I get to “enjoy” his hard work (wink wink). But that gives me a lot of pressure to look youthful. I do not wana look like his elder sister when we’re out!

(9) I cry easily. Read a book, cry. Watch a movie, cry. Listen to a song, cry. Someone is sad, cry. Someone is happy, also cry.

(10) I always overeat. This is a bad habit that I’ve been trying to kick. The thing is that my brain seems to be unusually slow to detect that I’m actually full. And by the time I recognize that I’m about to explore with food, it will be too late. Then I’ll spend the rest of the evening feeling sick and the following weeks, feeling fat.

Yup, 10 weird things about me. Happy holidays!

First to call my own…

I’m so excited! I’m going to collect my very first digital camera ever in about 1 hr’s time!

Can you believe that in my 30 years of life, I have yet to own a digiCam? I’ll usually borrow a Casio ex-slim from Hubby, or I’ll just use my camera-phone if I need to take any pictures.

I guess the issue is that, I seldom take any pictures to start with… There are always someone else, carrying a DSLR taking pictures anyway. All I need is to pose, be polite and ask someone to take pictures for me, and then I’ll just go Facebook and copy the photos.

Even when I am on a holiday, Hubby will be the one taking the photos and I’ll just…. Well, stand and look around. Observe the surroundings and take mental photos in my brains.

That used to work…. Until I realized that I am getting old and fuddy, and cannot exactly remember places and people anymore... ...

And yet, I scoff at the idea of carrying a brick around my neck. The whole idea of a holiday is to be carefree and enjoy myself, instead of fuddling around with high-tech equipment (ie: DSLR camera, with 1 extra lens, with a tripod, spare battery and a camera backpack) that is 30% of my bodyweight.

However, with an up & coming trip to Taiwan with my family, I think it’s time to buy a decently small yet powerful camera and take some memorable pictures! Especially since this is my first family trip ever, and I’ll really like to take more pictures of my mum… … … Pictures that will allow me to show MY grand children how great their grant-grandmother was…

So, after some research, I chanced upon Canon Powershot S90 from the famous blog: ieatishootipost, where the blooger, Dr. Leslie Tay gave his honest review on the camera. After viewing some of the pictures taken by this small and compact camera, I am totally sold!

This must be THE only compact camera with manual settings where you can control the ISO, shutter-speed and shoot in RAW format. Well, other than Panasonic LX3. However, this S90 is easily 20% smaller and sleeker than the LX3.

Well… it is still NOT a DSLR, so gotta managed your expectations. But for such a small compact camera, this sounds as good as it gets.

Ok, I’ll collect the camera later during lunch, and play around with this new baby and see how I’ll like it?!

I am so excited! Ahhhhh!

Pretty Woman

Feeling ugly today. Urgh. Even the new intern dresses better than me.

It is such a hassle to be a woman. Gotta watch my hair, face, figure, nails, legs… Argh, I’m going crazy already!

I think most girls find doing girly things fun. Facial, shopping for new clothes & shoes, going for pedicure, shopping for make-up … … etc.

For me, I’m doing the bare minimum just to look presentable. I’ve never been trendy to start with. I just make sure that I look okay so that I do not embarrass my friends or my hubby when we walk together.

For special occasions, I will make an effort to dress up. Got to at least show some respect to the hosts of the gala dinners or weddings or parties, and since I do not attend such events often, it can be rather fun to play “dress-up” once a while.

But normal day-to-day… I can be rather nonchalant. Come’on, my brain cannot function at 7 am in the morning, the act of mix-and-match is beyond me. I just grab what-ever has been ironed. And I only iron my clothes once every few years…

But, today… it hit me that I really gotta watch my dressing. I look really STUMPY today. Urgh… like an auntie.

Time to go shopping during lunch.

Cookbooks vs recipes from the internet

I have never bought a cookbook in my life. EVER.

I’ve always thought that why would anyone buy cookbooks when you can:

(1) Borrow from the library
(2) Tons of FREE recipes from the internet
(3) Free recipes from cooking blogs
(4) Recipes from Telly programs on Channel 16: Discovery Travel and Living
(5) FREE recipes from newspapers (eg: Sunday Times) and magazines (Ok, not exactly Free free since you have to buy/subscribe for the papers/mags in the 1st place)

So far, whatever I’ve cooked are from the above mentioned resources. I simply cannot bring myself to buy any cookbooks.

But I realized that I ENJOY receiving cookbooks as presents! Quite a while back, hubby bought 2 cookbooks from some crazy discounted store at $10 each, really cheap for a fully illustrated cookbook. I just LOVE looking at beautiful pictures of beautiful food. In fact, I’ll just read them again and again, just to look at the pictures and fantasize about myself cooking these dishes and throwing awesome dinner parties, and people will swoon at my wonderfully-cooked, beautifully presented dinner.

All these will be a reality once I have my own place! But of course, I need to practice on my cooking 1st…

So, hrm… in case for those who wonders about what gifts to buy for me, a cookbook will always be appreciated! Doesn’t have to be expensive, a $10 book was enough to keep me very happy for days!

In fact, I’ll definitely cook you a meal or bake you a cake from the very same cookbook!

Update Project Habitat: All walls are down…

Finally, we are almost done with all the hacking.

Flooring is totally gone, and all walls except a “half-wall” are hacked away. Currently, we need to touch base with the Designer to why that half-wall is still there…

Except for the perimeter walls, we basically hacked all the walls. Yes, ALL THE WALLS. In total we have hacked 11 walls. ELEVEN walls?!?!

Except for the pillars, everything is down. And finally, I realized how big this apartment truly is… … …

This project is getting more exciting!

I feel like a business partner…

Basically there isn’t much change to my life although I got married. Except that my so-called husband is behaving more like a business partner instead of a husband.

We talk about almost nothing but money. Or how to make more money. Whether in 3 years time we can afford to buy a 2nd apartment. Whether we can upgrade ourselves to a District 9 or 10 address before we hit 38? Yup, 38 and not 40. Because “Biz Partner” here is very competitive and want to lead the high life before he is 40.

I am getting tired of this. Not the least say, very, very pressurized. It’s almost like I’m reporting to my boss about our AUM (Asset Under Management) on a monthly basis. I’ve to draft out my next 3 years of “saving-cum-investment plan”, and have to aim to hit my KPI (Key Performance Index) in order to be a good wife. I am NOT joking. We seriously did sit down to talk about all these. The only thing lacking was an official Business Plan.

To look at it positively, it is good financial planning. In the beginning, it was also quite cool to talk about financial terms, or to show off my financial jargon with someone who can actually understand (other than fellow colleagues). But after a while, it isn’t fun anymore. I have to constantly know whether the Hang Seng Index is up or down, or whether there are any new promising stocks to buy. Or “what is the latest market trend.”

I DO NOT FREAKING CARE ABOUT WHAT IS THE FREAKING MARKET TREND AT FREAKING 1130 PM??!!!

Ok there. I got it out of the system.

I admire him for being so driven. But now, it seems almost like an obsession. It’s not like we don’t have enough to eat or spend. In fact, both of us are financially savvy enough to be rather comfortable actually.

Contentment is the key to happiness. I aim to be happy. I don’t need to be rich to be happy. Yes, I belong to the camp of poor people who always tell themselves that money isn’t everything.

I still believe money isn’t everything.

Life of a stray dog…

For those who know, I’m almost running a mini-SPCA at home… My mum is a very kind hearted lady who ends up adopting a few stray cats and these kitties are now part of the family and are very much loved.

She is also part of the “reserved” team of aunties of the Cat Welfare Society, as like if those aunties are too sick/out-of-town to feed the neighborhood cats, my mum will stand in for a few days…

A few months ago, I got to know that my mum has also adopted a few stray dogs near her work place. According to her, there are about 7 stray dogs living in a quiet corner of the CBD area. I’m not going to pinpoint the exact location, in case the AVA decided to cull the dogs…

According to my mum, previously these strays were being fed by a kind-hearted soul, but somehow, the mysterious kind-hearted soul stopped showing up and these poor dogs began to starve.

Seeing those skinny strays looking frantically for food, my mum begun to feed these dogs with her left-over lunch or dinner. Obviously that was not enough for a pack of 7 dogs… then she started to COOK meals for the dogs. She will usually cook some cheap cuts of pork with unpolished rice, and make a conscious effort to feed the dogs in the evenings.
Even during her off-days, she would still make her way down at night to feed the dogs.

2 days ago, I decided to tag along with Mum to take a look at these dogs. Due to the up-and-coming Taiwan trip, she has begun to worry about these poor dogs and whether they can survive for 9 days without her. These dogs are REAL strays, which mean that they are wary of humans, and are not happy puppies which will run up to you to be petted.

There were only 3 dogs when we arrived at the site. Mum said that we were late and a bunch of them had already gone out scavenging for scraps. The remaining 3 were left behind to protect their home turf. They kept their distance when we poured the food into 2 buckets that served as feeding trays and didn’t approach until we walked away.

They were really thin and mangled-looking. They had to fend for themselves, no proper shelter and had to scavenge for scraps just to survive. All these are grown dogs and I do not think it’s possible to re-house them to be domesticated pets. Nonetheless, they are sweet-natured and seem to understand that we’re here to feed them, and were actually quite docile.

Any kind souls out there who is willing to pop by every 2 days to provide some fresh water and food for the dogs while we’ll be away for 9 days?

My 1st trip ever… with Mum.

Coming this Jan, I’ll be on a 9-days trip to Taiwan with my mother, my 1st younger brother (I have 2 younger brothers) and his girlfriend (my future sister-in-law??)

Although I’ve been to Taiwan before, and I’ve also traveled with my brother before, but this is the very first time that I’ll be bringing my mum on a holiday. And since brother is bring his GF along; I guess Mum will be MY primary responsibility.

I’m excited and apprehensive at the same time. I’m excited that I can dote on my mum and finally sponsor her holiday but I don’t whether my mum will drive me crazy with her usual nagging or her typical-auntie remarks or actions of extreme frugality…

We (my 2 brothers and I) took about a month to convince my mum to take a holiday to Taiwan… My long-suffering mum has never boarded on a plane in her life nor has she ever traveled anywhere further than M’sia. And yet she kept telling us not to waste money, and insisted that she did not want to go.

It was only after I lied that I’ve already bought the tickets that she finally relented and agreed to go on a “waste money” trip to Taiwan.

Then she started nagging on who’s going to look after the cats while she’s not around in Singapore, who’s going to clean the house... …etc. Thankfully, this is when a 2nd brother is most useful. Ha.. ;).

I just hope that this trip will not ruin our existing, fragile mother-and-daughter relationship!

Project Habitat: I think I can bake…

I’ve never, never really baked anything in my WHOLE life.

Well… Home Economics’ classes didn’t really count.

Key reason to that is because I’ve never had a proper oven ever.

My mum is a really good cook, but she only cooks Chinese dishes and I doubt she has ever used an oven before. So while growing up, no oven.

Then I moved over to the States for 2 years, there was an oven in the kitchen, but I used that to roast chickens, beef, turkeys… Somehow, it didn’t hit me to bake a cake, nor even a cookie.

Then I’m back in Singapore and camped with the in-laws… and still no freaking oven for me to bake a cake?!?!

Argh… so after all these years, I’m still a bake virgin.

But now with my new place coming up, I started researching on the brands and types of ovens. I started to look at cake mixers and have already decided on the brand and COLOR of the standing cake-mixer that I wanted.

I fantasize about me standing in my big, airy, wonderfully new kitchen, making cakes, soufflés and macarons… … …

Yup, I think I can finally bake. But I need my kitchen to be ready!

p/s: renovation haven’t started yet. We’ll take over the keys officially on this coming sat, and once HDB approves the reno permit, then we’ll be all ready to start hacking!

Holloween Costume: Retired Hooter Girls

This really cracks me up. I was laughing non-stop for 5 mins when I saw this. HAHAHAHA.

I love Halloween!

Dressing up for Halloween…

A conversation with Hubby last night.

Me: If you were to go to a Halloween party with me, what will you dress up as, dear?

Hubby: Hmmmm…. *deep thoughts* ...... ...... ..... I’ll be Astro Boy.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. *burp*

I think my hubby will make a really good Astro Boy. In fact, knowing him, he will most probably wana show off his body and go around half-naked.

But… I’m just afraid that people will mistake him as Bruno instead.

p/s: if I ever have a son, I’ll dress him up as Astro Boy. So cute!

What exactly do I do for a living?

I realized that I do not actively talk about my job. So much so that, some of my friends do not know exactly what I do for a living…

There’s a reason to why I do not actively talk about my job, unless that person is in the same industry as I am.

The reason is that people will usually ask “what stock will you recommend ah?”

And I’ve learnt not to “anyhow” give advice.

Yes, I’m in the asset management industry, working in a small boutique fund that specializes in stock markets in Singapore, M’sia and HongKong.

Yes, I look at stocks and shares everyday and reading financial newspapers & financial magazines is part of my job. I get to attend briefings and meetings with the management of listed companies, and get to ask questions directly to the CEOs or CFOs on how they run the company.

But no, we are still a small fund and I primarily look at small-cap companies, ie: companies with market capitalization of less than US$500 mil.

Anyway, back to the issue to why I do not actively talk about my job is that I do not want to give advice to what is the “best” stock to buy now… or “is this the time to enter the market?” or “is the worst really over? Will we see a double dip?”

Seriously, if I can answer all those questions with confidence, I will be a stay-at-home-Trader and making tons of money. I doubt even the Guru of all Gurus, Warren Buffet can answer to those questions with conviction (ok, except for the “best” stock to buy now, I’m sure he can recommend a few to you)

I’m more than willing to discuss and offer my personal opinions. But, please do not ask me anything too technical. I wouldn’t want to be blamed for your losses. And even if you make $$, I cannot get to earn any commission either.

So, better to just keep quiet.

Project Habitat Update

Update: NOTHING is going on at Project Habitat yet. N.O.T.H.I.N.G.

I have many friends who asked, whether our new place is ready or are we moving in soon…

Hrm, the seller is still staying at OUR new flat. Previously when we bought the resale flat, the then-owner already mentioned that if the sale were to go through, they will need to rent for at least 1 month.

So now, we gotta honor that agreement although we are dying to start the renovation. DYING…. In fact, we’ll most probably start immediately the moment the occupants move out.

I can’t wait!

Why are these chairs so expensive?!

I’m a sucker for chairs. Whenever I’m at a furniture store or some lifestyle shop, the first place I head for is the Chairs Section.

And I will not leave until I’ve sat on EVERY chair.

Not sofas, but chairs. Somehow, chairs just speak to me. Be it armchairs, dinning chairs, study chairs, even stools, I also like!

And now that I begin shopping for furniture, it just hit me how bloody expensive these chairs can be.

To pay 3k+ for an armchair is rather insane… And these aren’t even designer chairs. Those, I heard go into 5 digits?!?!

These are just made-to-order chairs. Yes, I know it’s made of calf leather. And yes, I know that it’s hand-made, and yes, I know it looks quite expensive BUT STILL?!?!

Ok, maybe I can understand why armchairs can be so expensive. After all, a good leather, cool-looking armchair can be a signature item of the house.

But why are dinning chairs so expensive too?!?! Just a few pieces of wood/plastic/cushion what… Seriously, these people are ripping me off.

OK, maybe it’s time to go into the furniture trade. Maybe I’ll learn how to make chairs instead. I’ll bring in a chair-making master from Thailand or Bali, and I’ll be his apprentice for 3 years and after that I can specialize in making chairs! And in time to come, I can become a Chair-making Master and impart my wonderful chair-making skills to my disciples.

Till then…. I just have to find some other places that sell cheaper replications of what I want…

Project Habitat

Yup, I’ve decided to name my latest and most expensive project ever as “Habitat”. Brought my ID (Interior Designer) and contractors down to my new place last night and the 1st thing that all 3 of them said:

“Woah, must hack until siao”, ie: bonkers.

The new place is not that new, in fact, the flat is 23 years old and the current owners didn’t exactly take good care of the flat. Thus, everything has to go, and I mean EVERYTHING.

Every tile, almost all the walls, windows, doors, cabinets, toilets… you name it, it has to go.

It is strangely rather exciting and liberating to know that everything gotta go. I CANT wait for them to hack. I feel that this place has so much potential to be a really interesting apartment because the layout is so different and I have a lot of space to play with.

Although the ID has already come up with a really cool layout, but after surveying the actual site, he said he needed to see the raw beams and columns before he can promise anything.

Project Habitat is going to be very exciting!

Vertical gardens

Another sign that I’m getting old… I wana pick up gardening.

I know… that’s SO auntie rite? No offence to fellow gardeners, The typical image of a garden is a middle age auntie, who is slightly pudgy, wearing some baggy old T-shirt with old faded shorts. Messy hair in a grandma-bun and of course, classic yellow rubber gloves.

Yup, that’s my idea of someone who enjoys gardening, and yup, I’m describing my mum up there.

But seriously, how many young, hot, sexy gardeners are there out there? Well, I might not be that young anymore but I can still work on the “hot and sexy” part. Ha…

I haven’t really planted anything in my life yet. I mean, how difficult can gardening be rite?
Wrong! Apparently, keeping plants alive and healthy is quite a task. Keeping plants green and not brown seems harder than it looks. Anyway, it will be very soon for me to find out whether I inherit my mother’s green fingers. Since I’m going to have a pretty big balcony at my new place, both hubby and I have decided to do some major “landscaping” work and have already set aside a budget for plants and greenery.

Recently, vertical walls are in vogue. It sure looks cool and super relaxing, but I simply cannot imagine the work to maintain a “living wall”… If you have been to the new T3 at Changi Airport, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s really very relaxing to look at plants cascading down a wall… leaning over the railing, swaying slightly to the breeze (in T3’s case, it was the draft of the air-con. Haha)

But a girl can dream right? Ahhh… looking at that wall is making me relaxed already.

Movie Trailer of Julie & Julia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvJHsJD8ic

Pathetic blogger

I think I’m the worst blogger ever. I’m lazy, I do not update my blog regularly, too lazy to take pictures of whatever-i-eat-or-do, even lazier to post them. Not to mention that even if I do take pictures and actually take the effort to post the pictures, the photos suck because I’m such a lousy photographer.

Nonetheless, I still cannot really bring myself to close this blog. The very reason why I wana keep this blog going is that, if ever, one day I passed away suddenly or die young, then my hubby, friends and brothers can have something to read and remember me by…

Kind of a morbid thought, but that’s the key reason why I keep this thing going.

Ok, although I’m pretty sure not many people actually read this, but I will try to make an effort to make this blog a little more interesting.

But, nope. Im no Julie Powell, some spunky lady who decided to blog about her adventures when she decided that she needed to work on a project to prove her self-worth: to cook 524 dishes in 365 days from Julia Child’s recipe book. And from her very popular blog, she ended up writing and publishing a book, and Tadah! Now her book is being made in a movie, starring Meryl Streep!

How cool is that?! The film: “Julie and Julia” is based on two true stories; one is about a lady, Julia learning how to cook at age 37 while she was in Paris; another one is also about a lady, Julie learning how to cook to get her dignity back while staying in New York.

I’m so going to catch this movie!

Rider’s Lodge

Finally, I made my way to Rider’s Lodge in Johor, Kulai. Courtesy to D who organized the 1/2 day trip and to K who was so nice to be the designated driver.

We headed off early, meeting at 6.15 am and everyone was punctual! A great start to a good day, in about 1.5 hrs drive, we arrived at Rider’s Lodge.

This was my first official riding class ever since I came back from the US. I did a crash course previously somewhere near Boston where we did a trail to the mountains to enjoy the dazzling colors of the fall. The slightly cool air, coupled with the amazing colors of red and orange was simply breath-taking. We even spotted a deer and a wild turkey. I still remembered that my horse was a clam, old chestnut, and we were riding “western” style, ie: cowboy style, which is different from the English method that is more popular in this part of the world.

It was such a pleasant experience that I’ve always wanted to go it again. And finally, at Rider’s Lodge, I get to learn how to ride again.

Just sitting on a walking horse isn’t that difficult, but sitting with the correct posture and LOOKING graceful is rather hard. Learning how to move with the horse while it’s trotting/galloping is even more challenging.

I was having such a hard time trying to stay in rhythm and half the time, I thought I was going to fall off the horse. Since I’m like the most accident-prone person in the world (according to my hubby), I was really scared that I’ll fall off and break my hip or leg or anything.

Nonetheless, it was a really, really enjoyable experience! I’ll definitely want to do it again. Heard that the new Equestrian Centre at Kranji will be opening in Nov that will save the hassle of driving up to M’sia.

Fail Fail Fail

Ok, failed the CFA level 3 exam. G.R.E.A.T.... ... ... ... ... Gotta re-take next June. Just the thought of it is enough to make me vomit.

O well, just gotta suck it up. Wailing about doesnt exactly help either. *Playing the violin and making a lot of angsty noise actually did help me feel much better*

Argh... Dun bug me. Im all grumpy and angsty rite now.

Anime: La Corda d'Oro Primo Passo

Ok, too lazy to blog about the food trip in KL-Ipoh anymore. Memory getting hazy anyway. ;)

Anyway… life after exam is indeed good. The moment my exam was over, I’ve been busy keeping myself occupied.

Other than pigging out in M’sia, I also caught up with all the korean dramas that I’ve always wanted to watch. “Boys Before Flowers, Coffee Prince, My Girl and Full House.”
By my 4th consecutive K-dramas, I had such a severe overdose that I swore that I’ll never watch another K-drama again… ha. Nonetheless, best K-drama of all time gotta be Boys Before Flowers.

Then I started cooking again! Didn’t really do anything ambitious due to the limited space in parents-in-law’s kitchen and the lack of an oven. So gotta concenrate on Chinese cooking instead. Learnt to make Ngo Hiang, Wasabi prawns, wantons and claypot rice. Still cant wait for my dream kitchen at my new place…

Hang out with the horses at RDA again… was comtemplating whether to take up riding classes in Singapore but vomited when I saw the cost of lessons. Think I’ll give it a pass for now… I’ll rather do a crash course in M’sia or something…

Then I started on my violin classes, yay! Much to the dismay of my neighbours and fellow family members, I’ve been practising on my violin rather religiously. I aim to play something decent by end of this year… I tell myself that I’ll play Canon in D major someday….

So, to keep my enthusiasm going, I’m currently watching an anime, La Corda d'Oro Primo Passo. It’s about a girl who has no musical background but somehow chanced upon a “music fairy” who granted her a magic violin. And that’s how her advanture with music and fellow musicians begin. A rather educational anime since I get to learn a lot about classical music in a very fun way… heh, I can totally relate to the heroine in the anime… except of the magical violin part.

I just hope that I can pass my level three exam! Results will be out soon. Or else, I’ve to go through another year of mugging and suffering… Noooooooooooooooooo.

Wana post some pictures from Ipoh (part 1) before I proceed to Part 2!


Monster Sea Cucumber at Teck Kee Ipoh. My hand is barely half its length and not even as wide! This dish is ROCKS!

Monster chicken from Man Zhong Ipoh. This is ONE chicken, NOT TWO. How can a single chicken has so much meat???!! Nuts....

Beek Noodle at Tungkak.

Monster prawns at Tangjong Tualang. A close up pic where you can see the roe of the prawns at the heads if you look carefully enough.

Ta-dah! Monster prawns. Some are even bigger than my hand. Geez....

Food trip to Ipoh & KL. (Part 1: Ipoh)

Ok… this is not for the faint hearted. I know this bunch of people are serious foodies, but seriously, our food guide, Dr Wong, in my opinion, the is ultimate Food God who really knows where are all the good stuff.

Warning: super long post.

A total of 12 of us, packed into 3 cars and 2 bikes headed to Ipoh and KL for the ultimate 5-days-4 nights of mega-pig-out sessions.

The very 1st pit-stop was at Tungkak, which is famous for its beef noodles. The version of Tungkak’s beef noodle comes in the form of a super tasty clear broth, with beef and noodles. It was pretty good, but this dish didn’t rock my world. Personally, I will not drive all the way to Tungkak just have a bowl of Beef noodles.

After that, we basically “cheong” for the next 3.5rs to Gopeng (outskirts of Ipoh) to Tanjong Tu-alang to eat some monster prawns. And Geez…. These prawns were indeed the gorzilla types. Each prawn was longer than my hand??!! In fact, the gem lies in the prawn roe, they were so sweet and fragrant that they could easily be mistaken for crab roe!!

This Zhi Char place at Tanjong Tu-alang was indeed fantastic. It was super ulu though…. So ulu that even the GPS didn’t have its address. But, of course, our Food God can always find his way to good food.

After that, another 1 hour’s drive and we hit Ipoh. 1st dinner was at Public Restaurant, aka “Man Zhong”. Due to a special request from our good friend, Porky A, Dr. Wong ordered 2 roasted suckling pigs. TWO??!! Who in the right mind will eat TWO suckling pigs in one sitting??!! Well… this bunch of crazy people actually did. Dr. Wong also ordered a sterilized-rooster steamed in chicken broth, and the chicken was basically a cousin of Gorzilla. It was the size of 3 chickens combined??!! Seriously… Everyone almost fainted when we saw the size of the chicken.

HOW CAN ANYTHING GROW SO BIG??!! Apparently, sterilized cocks can.

The gorzilla chicken was too tough for my delicate palate, and basically I think this chicken had died in vain as most of us didn’t/couldn’t appreciate it.

Next day’s breakfast was a military exercise. All of us gathered at 6.45 am and “cheong” to this kopitiam, located at the Old Town of Ipoh. I’ve forgotten the name of this Kopitiam, but it is directly opposite of the famous “Nan Xiang” kopitiam.

According to Dr Wong, we had to arrive early because this place would get really crowded after 7 am, and he was right. Shortly after we were seated, there was this tour bus that dumped tens of local tourists and the kopitiam got really busy.

Breakfast Part1: Curry Chee Cheong Fan (really good!), with super “gao” (Ie: thick) Old Town Kopi-O, M’sia style French toast, more kaya toast. And some even ate Hakka Yong Tau Foo.
After that, we hopped over to Nan Xiang Kopitiam and continued with Breakfast Part 2:
Penang style Char Kway Tiao, more Old Town Kopi-O, peanut pancakes (super crispy and fragrant).

By then, I was kinda bursting already.

Then we went for breakfast part 3: Another kopitiam to buy more Chinese pastry and Dr. Wong ordered a plate of roasted pork belly.

Argh…. How can these people eat like that??!!

Just when I thought I’m going to skip lunch, Dr. Wong bought 5 salted chickens, supposed to be really famous in Ipoh.

And fuah, IT WAS THE BEST SALTED CHICKEN THAT I’VE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. The meat was soft and yet firm (typical of kampong chickens, different from the “factory” chickens that we eat in Spore), it was nicely flavored with Chinese herb and, of course, salt. The chicken was done is a semi-steam/baked style, so the texture of the chicken is similar to our Hainanese chicken rice, but trust me, the flavor was like 100 times better.

It was so incredible… I think I ate almost 1 whole chicken by myself.

And just when I thought I REALLY couldn’t eat anymore for dinner, Dr. Wong brought us to Teck Kee Restaurant, one of the very best in Ipoh. And fuah, it was the best restaurant for the whole trip!

Every dish served was fantastic but the star dish is the monster sea cucumber braised with scallops, chicken and chestnuts (aka Gao Luck). The flavor was robust and sweet-in-the-savory way. The texture of the sea cucumber was chewy and “Q”… really really delicious lah. By the way, the sea cucumber was about 14 inches long??!!

And the best part, each of us only need to pay 30+ sing. Best!!!

Ok, and after that sumptuous dinner, we still manage to find some room to squeeze in Supper: Ipoh Horfan with chicken, porkballs and sprouts. There’s something about the water in Ipoh that the horfan was super silky and the sprouts were super fat and juicy!!

Ok, after that. I simply cannot eat anymore. In fact, I began to feel a bit ill…. We headed back to the hotel and I had to take a indigestion pill to keep my system going.

And that was just Day 2 in Ipoh.

Children vs dogs/cats

I've heard from a few couples of how when a baby comes along, suddenly pets (usually cats and dogs) are seen as threats to the new baby.

“Car fur will cause allergies to the baby”
“What if doggy bites the baby?”
“No time to look after doggie AND the baby”

Soon, it’s a matter of time, these pets are either being given away or being abandoned.

Sigh. And to think that these owners used to call themselves “Daddy and Mummy” of their pets. Some even claim that having a pet if like a “prelude” to having a baby. Yeah right… and you give away your “first born” when the real deal comes along?

I recognize all these issues and to this date, I keep asking myself whether Im ready to have a dog or even a cat, esp when my new place is ready. Or should I just have a baby 1st? Just take my baby as a pet loh?

I’m taking violin lessons!

Yup, now that my exam is over and I can finally have my life back! Yippe!

For the past few months, weekends were spent cooping at home, forcing myself to mug. Now that I’m free, gotta make FULL USE of the precious weekends by learning something new.

Last year, I decided to be a volunteer and it was one of my best decisions ever. I’m still volunteering every Saturday but had to stop for a few weeks to mug. Can finally hang out with the horses and children again, brings a smile to my face just to imagine that.

This year, I’ve decided to learn to play the violin! Yup… I must be the oldest student ever. Ha. I’ll be meeting my violin teacher this sat and looking really forward to buy my very own violin and practice it at home!

I’ve always wanted to play the violin, there’s something heart wrenching about the violin. The quality of the sound is sad and yet so beautiful. Anyone who has watched The Red Violin will know what I’m talking about.

Alrite, cheers to an up and coming musician! :p

Frustrated

I’ve been busy pretending to study for my CFA exam lately. Why pretending? Because I’m simply too frustrated to fully absorb whatever I studied… basically what went into my brains didn’t register for more than 5 mins…

Recently, Hubby and I have been busy looking at apartments. We have been looking for an apartment since 1.5 years ago… previously we thought that property prices have to drop further due to the “greatest” recession since 1930s. So, we waited…. We camped with the in-laws while waiting patiently to buy our very 1st dream apartment at a decent price. In fact, we were so sure that we’ll pick up a good deal that we actually “rejected” a few rather good buys….

Sigh. We were so wrong.

This “greatest” recession ever is fake. Recession. My ASS.

Seems to me that most Singaporeans are still very rich, new property launches were being grabbed like hot cakes. Even resale private apartments’ asking prices have surged immediately by 20%??!!

Singapore is getting to be a REALLY expensive city to live in. Even government public housing flats at so-called “prime” areas like Redhill, Tiong Bahru, Bishan and Toa Payoh are going at min $500 psf.

Suddenly, the thought of immigrating to Australia seems really appealing. For S$1 mil, I can most probably buy a 3000 sqf HOUSE with a nice garden. In Singapore, $1mil cannot even buy you a decent 3 bedroom condo of 1300 sqf.

I’m a “prudent” investor. I didn’t chase after the property during the crazy days of 2007 and yet, I still cannot afford a place now -> even during a recession??!!??!!

What the hell?

Pro-gay vs gay-friendly

Is there a difference? I think there is. I’m gay-friendly but I’m not pro-gay. If you are my friend, I will still love you as my friend regardless of your sexual orientation. I will not discriminate you nor pass any ill-intentioned judgments against you.

However, I’m not pro-gay either because I still believe in the union of 1 man and 1 woman. If one day, my future child were to tell me that he/she is homosexual, I think I will be upset (for at least a while) and be in a state of denial, but finally, I believe that I will still love my child and accept him/her as he/she is. I will most probably question why did that happen and whether my up-bringing cause his/her sexual orientation to be atypical.

However, in any case, I will not be ashamed of my child, just like I’m not ashamed to have gay friends, gay colleagues, gay neighbors… … etc.

The saga of Aware, has brought up issues that have been going on, from “under-current” to main stream. And I’m glad that it has happened because I hope people will, for once, THINK about their values, beliefs and what they stand up for.

Personally, I am behind the Old Guards of Aware because I believe in being “inclusive”. Inclusive means “inclusive – all types of women, in all shapes, sizes, colors.”

Conclusion: I’m not a beach person…

D and I took a short trip to Langkawi to attend a friend’s wedding during the Easter holidays and we have agreed on the following conclusions:

1) Both of us aren’t big fans of beach resorts. I always break out in heat rash when ever it gets really hot and humid. As for D, he needs his wines and beers CHILL…. And these babies don’t stay chill for very long when it’s 33 degrees. No cold beer and you’ll get a grumpy D.

2) I simply cannot stand screaming kids in the pool. I’m not the kind to soak in the pool and do nothing. When I go to the pool, my focus is to swim and exercise. Thus, I get really irritated when kids dash around the pool, or swim zig-zag around me while I’m panting away doing my lap swims. And I thought I’m quite maternal.

3) Sentosa is actually quite a nice beach getaway too if you can block out those oil tankers.

I can take the cold winter in Japan… but the heat simply drives me mad. Nonetheless, it was a really beautiful wedding.

Just that D and I were wishing that the theme of the wedding to be "bikini babes and beach hunks - Zouk Out Style!".

Spruce at Tanglin Road

For those who have read the most recent Sunday Times will know that Spruce, the restaurant was being featured. Reviews were rather positive and the owners of Spruce used to be from the Wine Garage. We used to frequent Wine Garage all the time until it revised the prices UPWARDS by about 50-100%, then we stopped dinning at Wine G.

After a quick check that the restaurant wasn’t expensive, plus if you order a bottle of wine from the restaurant, the corkage will be free on your 1st home-brought bottle. In any case, corkage is $30, which is okay…

Spruce is at Tanglin road, directly opposite to the Brunei Embassy actually. A little ulu but nowadays, ulu restaurants are more popular. Many people, who used to go to Dempsey, are all avoiding the area like mad. We all kinda miss the ulu-ness of Dempsey.

O well.

OK, back to Spruce. The whole restaurant is very understated yet done very stylishly. That gives a good vibe that the restaurant is more into its food than some showy décor. A lot of greenery surround the little restaurant, thus it’s really nice if you can get a seat outdoors, esp if the weather isn’t hot and humid.

Food is good, given for the price. I must say it’s actually damn good value. We had the Onion Crepes and grilled calamari with rockets for our starters. The onion crepes were really good; the sweetness of the onions went really well with the buttery cheese sauce. The calamari was tender and flavorful, nicely done. Both starters were about $15-18.

I ordered the Braised Duck pasta (shown above) in tomato sauce. The dish didn’t look very appetizing at 1st, but do not be fooled, the flavor was robust and the “gaminess” of the duck went really well with the slightly sourness of the tomatoes. Mmmmmm. Yum. That cost $18.

Hubby and K ordered the Spruce burger (shown above). A little disappointed as Hubby and I agreed that Botak Jones’s burgers was at a better value given Botak’s price point. And my personal favorite burger joint is still Relish. Spruce’s Burger is at $18.

A had the steak with fries. I didn’t get to try that but from A’s looks, he seems pleased with his piece of red meat. I cant remember how much was the steak though.

As for dessert, we ordered 4 types of cheeses to share. The truffle cheese was clearly a winner. But then again, truffle with anything is always a winner.

My personally favorite was the cheese with “ashes” infused in it. Very interesting combination. The ashes really brought out the mild saltiness of the cheese and its “cheesy” flavor. Ha. I liked that.

All in all, each of us spent $60 each, inclusive of 2 bottles of wines! A while was ordered from the restaurant and we brought our own red.

I’ll love to retun!

Do you know...?

Do you know that our PM, Mr. Lee had an interview with the BBC? You shld have read about that in the papers right?

Do you also know that the final question got "censored" by our local newspapers?

The last question was:

BBC: “Finally, Prime Minister, I read that you are apparently the highest paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four or five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money?”

PM Lee laughed and said: “I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings.We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want. We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’. We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.”

I'm disappointed in our local newspapers. Since our PM is already so open about his highly paid salary, why couldn't the papers share his pride as well?

Myth confirmed! -> Apple Cider Vinegar really works!

I’ve heard so much about Apple Cider Vinegar being good for our hair; since it’s acidic while most of our hair products are alkaline. So, Apple Cider is supposed to balance our scalp’s PH level and remove whatever residue or build-up from our shampoo or other hair products.

Since I have a huge bottle of Apple Cider sitting in the fridge, I decided to conduct an experiment to see whether the cider is really good for my hair.

One thing to note is that I have very sensitive scalp. So much so that, I am actually allergic to most shampoos, eg: Pantene, Dove and even, Phyto (Anti-aging) aren’t suitable. Currently, I am using Klorane – sensitive scalp and so far, this shampoo works for me.

I filled a basin of warm water and poured almost half a cup of Apple Cider Vinegar into the basin. Didn’t care too much about the proportion. Agar-Agar can already.

Then I shampooed my hair as usual, but instead of using normal tap water to rinse, I used the diluted Apple Cider to rinse out the shampoo. I also massaged my hair & scalp and let the apple Cider sit for at least 10 mins before I rinse my hair again with tap water.

Viola! My hair did feel lighter and cleaner. In fact, it also gave me some volume to my very fine and limpy hair. I am most impressed with the effects…

I highly recommend all to try. Apparently, you can use Apple Cider Vinegar about once a week on your hair for optimal result!

*happy*

Hotel626: a free horror online game!

For a FREE game... one cannot complain. Do play it if you have nothing better to do. In fact, it's really quite cool if you enable your webcam and micorophone. And o yah, BLAST your speakers and scare yourself silly.

Me, being the scardy -cat, was basically hiding behide a cupboard while hubby was playing the game. Just hearing the sound effect was already scaring the shit out of me.

Finally took some gut to play this game in the day (hrm... during office hours!), but without blasting the speakers, one cannot fully appreciate the game lah.

Guess, I just gotta try it at home later! It's a short game, you shld be done within 15 mins or so!

http://www.hotel626.com/

Cats... I simply love them. And this one has a rather "special" face. I'll call him Mr. TwinkleBell If he's mine.

My V-day dinner (home cooked!)

Ok, the order is reversed. I prepared the prawns as starters and the steak as the main course. I actually forgot to take a picture of the dessert, which was chocolate mousse with candied cherries.

I seasoned the prawns with salt, pepper and olive oil and sautéed them in high heat for like 2 mins. As for the sauce, it was made with beetroot (thus the ruby color), onion, carrot, tomatoes and cucumber. I followed the recipe and blended the ingredients RAW… mistake. The sauce tasted way too raw for our liking, I will definitely either roast or at least cook the vegetables before blending.

Other than that, it was actually rather tasty.

As for the steak… aiyah, very easy. The mushroom sauce was basically just mushrooms, white wine, garlic and cream…. Also very easy. Chop Chop.

The dessert was a bit more complicated. In fact, I actually made them the night before… a pity that I don’t have the pictures to prove! Dark chocolate to be melted over a basin of hot water, and fold in the double cream. After that, just throw in the fridge to chil overnight.

A tasty and meaningful V-day dinner. Not to mention CHEAP! ;)

Do you know … …?

I think parliament debates used to be “live” telecast… Now, you can only see snips of it on the news. I tried to google when exactly did TCS (or then SBC) scrape that, but I can’t seem to find an answer via google… …

Anyway, I chanced upon this blog (http://www.choongyong.com/) and he attended a Parliament debate on 12 Feb 2009 and what interesting stuff I’ve learnt:

[1] You cannot have camera phones with you while attending a Parliament debate.

[2] MPs can “sign in” their attendance and somehow disappear for a large part of the debate. (Hey, that’s what I did for my lectures during JC!)

[3] Temasek lost 31% (S$58 bil) in 2008, GIC “might” have lost 41%. Actual number is unknown since there wasn’t any clarification by the Minister of Finance.

[4] One of our MPs, Dr Ong Seh Hong is a litterbug.

Hmmm, I’ll like to attend a Parliament Debate one day… and I’ll get George and Mel to go with me! ;P

And ChannelNewsAsia should show both “live” and repeat telecasts of the Parliament debates. On one hand, Singaporeans are being blamed for showing apathy towards our political scene, on the other hand, real-live debates are not being aired in public. Then, how are we going to see our very well-paid MPs prove their worth? (Or the lack of it?!?!)

These numbers are scary… …

In my job, I get to read economic data and announcements on a 1st hand basis, courtesy to Bloomberg and Reuters.

And as the days go by, I see more and more horrible data and reports...
(From Business Times)

“Singapore‘s non-oil exports plunged 34.8 per cent from a year earlier. The January fall in exports from a year earlier was the biggest since records began in 1977, the trade agency said.” (Fresh from the oven, numbers released this afternoon)

“JAPAN'S economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 3.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, or 12.7 per cent at an annual rate, marking the most savage contraction in 35 years, the government said yesterday” (Data released yesterday 16Feb09)

And I don’t even want to talk about data from the USA and Europe…

For myself, during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, I was still a nerd in JC and the “event” was merely a textbook case study for my Finance course in Uni years after.

As for the 2001 dot.com crash, I didn’t feel a thing since I was still an ignorant student in Uni as well.


2003 SARS outbreak, I was blissfully doing an extended internship in the US, so by the time when I was back in Singapore in Dec 2004, Singapore’s economy was up and running again.

This time… this time is different. I am facing this recession point blank and I am feeling every bit of it. To be frank, I do not even know whether I’ll get to keep my job by end of this year.

2009 and 2010 will be a tough ride.

I'm disappointed... ...

Sigh. I'm sure many of you have went through this: "to salvage or not to salvage a friendship" ...

After being friends for almost 20 years, I seriously wonder whether I'm being taken for granted or i'm just plain petty. Maybe my expectations are too high, maybe I'm disappointed that my love and friendship arent reciprocated.

It's just such a pity to give up a friendship of almost 20 yrs... yet, I can't simply just bottle up my frustrations and displeasures. Yet, at the same time, I cannot bring myself to confront the issue. (which is very, very unlike me)

The bestest friend is now an Alien.

Funny Conversation with Hubby


I said: You know, some people said that guys with small feet have small d**ks?

Hubby: Ha. That’s dumb. Woooh… look at Ronald MacDonald’s then. *Grin*

I: Wah Lau… YOU ARE GROSS.

Hubby: Maybe that’s how BIG breakfast comes about?!

Yup… that’s my hubby for you.

This is not right... ... ... I dont think I ever wana eat suckling pig again. It kinda kills me a little to see a little, pink. baby piggy on that grilling pan.

It almost looks like a new born baby! Geez...

"I didn't do anything wrong... why must I have children?"

Ha. Think i'll use this line during CNY next year...

Brothers and Sisters!

Wedding couldn't have happened without these very important people!

Happy Birthday to Hubby!

Hrm, although he's arent no cat... but the idea is there lah. Heh, mine is coming up in 2 days time! ;P

Back from the Land of the Rising Sun

One word to describe the trip: F.A.T

I ate so much Japanese food in the 2 weeks while I was in Japan that I think I’ve surpassed an average Singaporean would eat in 1 year.

I’m not kidding. Somehow, my stomach was tuned to the geez-im-never-full-until-im really-going-to vomit mode. Very unhealthy… Hubby and I wana try so many restaurants that we ended eating 2 sets of dinners most of the time.

We would hit this Unagi restaurant and order 1 bowl to share and then hit another sushi place to whack on more sushi. Or I could eat 1 huge bowl of ramen and when I walked past a really delicious-looking pastry shop, I just had to sit down and eat another huge slice of cake.

I can’t believe how almost everything we ate were so freaking good. Even milk from the supermarket was like the best I’ve ever drank in my life.

Foodies aren’t no foodies until you have been to Japan.