Fugly, the baby Pigeon

Last Saturday, when I was walking home after gotten my hair styled for the Shanghai Chic party, I came across a baby pigeon, which was walking around with a limp.

Before I proceed, I shall tell you something about myself. As much as I am an animal lover, I simply DISLIKE birds. Ok, I can tolerate them but I find birds stupid, smelly and basically flying bags of bacteria. ESPECIALLY PIGEONS.

I find sparrows kind of cute, white turtle doves very gentle and beautiful, even mynahs seem more spirited. Other than Crows, which I EXTREMELY dislike, pigeons come a close second.

And a baby pigeon stood in my path and it was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. At first I thought it was a sick bird but upon close inspection, I realised that it was a baby pigeon. It was making baby chirping sounds and was walking with a limp. It must had fallen from its nest from the nearby trees.

Argh.... I hate pigeons! But I simply couldn't bring myself to ignore that baby bird. So with my head of freshly curled hair, I picked up the bird and brisk-walked home.

Hub's reaction was as expected. “Eeeeek, that bird looks sick. Why dont you just bring it back to where you found it?”

Well... If I were to return the bird to where it was found, I believed it wouldn't last more than 3 days. Anyway, I thought that the bird might be able to feed itself, so I put it in a box, with a slice of apple and a small saucer of water. With that, I headed out to attend the party.

Hours later, when I checked on the bird, it didn't touch the apple at all. Even when I placed the apple really close to its beak, the bird had no idea what it was and continued to make chirping sounds.

Damn... this bird still had to be hand-fed and I have never hand-fed any birds before! I tried to feed it with some cooked pasta and to my horror, the stupid bird had no concept of OPENING its beak. So, I figured that I just had to pry open its beak and force-feed it.

The moment the bird swallowed something, it finally dawned upon its tiny brain that it was food and started pecking at my hand frantically. After a few trails and errors, and some research on the net, seemed that I could feed the bird with a combination of bread and cooked fish (Cookie's leftovers).

It has been 3 days and the bird is still alive! And it is not limping anymore! So in the mornings I have to wake up 15 mins earlier just to feed it before I head out to work. Cookie, the cat is curious of the little fellow but so far, leaves the bird alone.

I just hope that the bird can grow asap, and learn how to feed on its own and I can then set it free.

It is still the ugliest bird ever and so, I've named it, Fugly. If anyone has any experience in feeding baby birds, please kindly share! If anyone wana adopt Fugly, even better, PLEASE contact me!

Theme Parties!

My group of friends from the university is really into theme parties and all of us, for the past occasions had put in tons of effort to out-dress each other!

Some of the theme parties that we had:

- Pyjamas X’mas 2006
- Cartoon Characters 2007
- Green Party at QH’s housewarming (can’t rem the date)
- Retro Party 2008

And tomorrow will be “Shanghai Chic” at China Club! Looking really forward to tomorrow’s theme party since the last one was in 2008. I really appreciate the time and effort that my friends had put in to organize a party for 16 pax!

All of us, already in our 30s are still making a fool of ourselves but seriously, without this group of friends, I believe my life will be dull as hell.

Above are some pictures from … yes, the Retro party. It was so so so fun and we spent a good 30 mins just laughing and taking pictures of each other. Kudos to my Hub, who was the key organizer for the Retro Party; he managed to rah-rah a few retro items from fellow friends and relatives, and also took the trouble to rent a few rarer items from a cute, little retro shop at FarEast Plaza. It was really hilarious to pretend that we were our parents in the 1970s…

I hope tomorrow’s party will be a blast!

We re-potted 2 cuttings of mints, I chose pineapple mints. The leaves are so pretty!

I was thinking of buying this tub to plant some edibles until I realised it cost almost $80 each! *w/o the plants!*
My "lecturer" for the workshop. She is so young!

We attended this workshop with our neighbours, who are also avid gardeners. Had a good time bonding with the neighbours!

Gardening workshop at Hortpark, 19 Sept 2010

Hub and I, together with our new neighbours attended a gardening workshop at Hortpark on Sunday, 19 Sept.

It was my very first time to Hortpark and what a beautiful park! I was like the "mountain tortoise" who was wooing and ahhing at everything . The workshop was conducted in a very comfortable air-con lab, and we had a very young and pretty "lecturer" teaching us how to do stem cuttings, and how to plant some edibles like Kangkong and pak choi.

To be honest, I expected the workshop to be more enlightening especially since we paid $15 per pax! The workshop was really for beginners and the "lecturer" simply went through some gardening basics. Nonetheless, we got to take home some mint cuttings, some seeds and 2 packets of soil.

All in all, it was good fun bonding with our neighbours and a great way to spend a Sunday morning. ;)

Plants in the bathroom

I've always wanted to have plants in the bathroom... simply because I can then shower and water the plants at the same time! (kind of silly, I know...)

Other than that, I've always enjoyed the company of plants... their quiet existence calms my mind and since bathroom is a place where I relax, thus, I should place some plants to make the bathroom even more relaxing right?

Unfortunately, I have 2 very small bathrooms. In fact, the master bathroom is so small that, I have to place the sink outside of the bathroom, just to have a decent shower space. The above picture will be a dream bath.... where I can, hrm... have "live" audience while I sing in my shower. Heh...

Nonetheless, I am quite determined to place plants in the bathrooms. I will definitely work on the idea!

How much is "1 cup"???

The measurement of "1 cup" really baffles me! I just had a failed attempt at making Banana Cake. ;( Since it was a failed attempt, I'm too embarrassed to post any pic.

The recipe called for 2 cups of plain flour. My measuring cup indicated that 1 cup = 200 ml. But when I googled "1 cup", WikiAnswers and many various websites indicated 1 cup = 236 ml or 240 ml. Then there were also websites that indicated 1 cup = 250 ml. Well, I figured that 10 ml shouldn't make too much of a difference. So I used 480 ml (2 cups) of flour.

But as I was folding the flour into the wet mix, I knew that something was wrong. The mixture was too dry... but I didn't know what I should add to a dry mixture. More eggs? More yogurt? More milk? I had no clue...

Since I was already "committed" to making the Banana cake, I might as well finished it, dry mixture or not, I simply just put it in the oven and hoped for the best...

As expected, the cake turned out to be too dry. So... maybe I should have used 200 ml = 1 cup instead?

I am so confused.... I guess I just have to try another time to figure it out!

Beatrice and Virgil

During the long weekend, a wonderful friend, D gave me a present, a book, titled “Beatrice and Virgil” by Yann Martel.

I am familiar with this author as I have read his award winning book, “Life of Pi” for at least 3 times. I enjoyed “Life of Pi” so much that, I insisted D to read it and in fact, bought him a copy as a present a few years back. And now, D returned the favor. ;)

"Beatrice and Virgil" is a captivating book, once I started, I could not stop. Luckily it was rather easy to read (but hard to digest), and I was able to complete the book in a day. And after that, I could not stop thinking about the book.

It’s the way Yann writes, the way he describes that make you go "hmmmmm". There is a particular section of the book where the lead character describes a pear to another character that has NEVER seen nor eaten a pear before. The description is so vivid and full of life that, I really felt like eating a pear at that very moment when I was reading the book.

Now, I ask myself how I’ll describe a simple object or event that I take for granted everyday, but yet, someone else might have never experienced before…

1) How would I describe the aroma of freshly ground coffee to someone who has never smelled coffee?
2) How would I describe the sight of a butterfly resting on a flower to someone who has never seen a butterfly?
3) How would I describe the thrill of sprinting down a slope to someone who cannot walk?

By forcing myself to describe each object/action in details, allowed me to internalize and then truly appreciate the very object/action that I’m about to describe.

The book is easy to read but hard to digest… the book is about the Holocaust and how 2 different men, but with the same name dealt with it.

How would you describe the horror that you have witnessed to someone who has never been through hardship?

How would you describe the pain and anguish that you have suffered to someone who lives the privileged life?

How would you describe the senseless violence that you have gone through to someone who has never been through unrest or war?

Personally, I find the ending of the book too abrupt and there are parts of the book that I do not understand. Compared to “Life of Pi”, which I think has a better closure and development of the characters; “Beatrice and Virgil” seems a little chaotic and unfinished. But is that intentional?

Nonetheless, it is a worthy read. Highly recommended.

p/s: so is "The Life of Pi"

Pizza vs Foccacia

2 weekends ago, I tried making some pizzas. Recipe for the crust seemed easy enough and my brother even made some self-made kimchi as topping. The dough wasn't as sticky as I thought it would be and the crust turned out to be very crispy. All in all, my brothers and I had fun making and eating the pizzas...

So, thinking that bread-making would also be as easy-peasy, I made grand plans to make some foccacia bread on the following weekend. I was especially inspired by another blogger, Petunia and her very delicious-looking picture of her grape-with-rosemarry foccacia.

But my first bread-making experience turned out to be a scary one!

It started all good on the Saturday morning, until I really couldn't figure out the recipe as provided by Petunia. The proportions were in "cups" and after translating the measurement to "ML", it still seemed rather strange to me. So, I last minute googled another recipe which I thought look rather simple and easy to understand.

Following the recipe, I mixed the dry and wet ingredients together to get a REALLY sticky dough. In fact, it was sooooo sticky that I freaked out a little, and ended up adding more flour. But, it was still very sticky! After 5 mins of trying to knead the dough, I gave up and dumped the sticky dough to my KitchenAid. I used the dough hook instead to knead the dough.

So while my KitchenAid was kneading the dough, I was clearing up the huge, sticky mess that the dough had made on my table top. I had pieces of sticky dough all over and, I tell you... these sticky bits refused to be washed down the sink! I had to use boiling hot water to dissolve the bits.

After almost 8 minutes, my KitchenAid started making weird noises and I peeped into my mixing bowl. Woah, the sticky dough just got STICKIER!!! Argh...... so, I freaked out once again and added more olive oil. By now, I doubt I was following the recipe anymore...

I stopped the KitchenAid (in case the sticky dough spoil my prized KitchenAid mixer), and decided to knead by hand all over again. So, I kneaded and I kneaded and I kneaded, but the sticky dough simply refused to yield... and it continued to be as sticky as ever, so I added more and more flour... until a "smooth, elastic dough that stretches" was finally formed.

By then, my table top was all messy again. Argh...

Anyway, I could finally start proofing the dough. I put the sticky dough into an oiled bowl and cover the bowl with cling wrap. The recipe indicated 1-2 hrs of proofing until double in size.

So while the dough was proofing, I rushed down to RDA to fulfill my volunteer duties. 2.5 hrs later, I was back and yup, the dough was double in size by then.

I transferred the dough to a square baking tin and let it proofed for another 1 hour or so. Ok, by then my guests would start appearing any moment, so I just had to send it to the oven. A quick dressing of sea salt, cherry tomatoes and thyme leaves from my dying thyme, and in the oven, it went.

25 minutes later, I presented: the Foccacia bread. It was edible, thankfully. Despite of all the additional olive oil, flour and more flour! The bread did not rise as much as I would like, but... at least it did rise!

After this experience, I think I'll just buy a foccacia bread from my Delifrance! Pizzas are definitely easier!

p/s: Thanks E for taking such beautiful pictures of the bread. ;)

Some people just have limitless amount of energy, not any old, how energy, but POSITIVE energy.

As much as I can, I try to let myself to be surrounded by these people; to breathe in their positive vibes and bask in their positive glow. After that, I’ll find life is good again and I’ll be so damn happy and thankful that I’m alive and healthy, with a good head on my shoulders and 4 useful, working limbs.

The irony part is that, these people aren’t my high-flier friends who are making big bucks, but they are the parents or children whom I worked with, on every Saturday. As some of you may know, I volunteer with the RDA – Riders for the Disabled Association of Singapore, and it has been 2 very rewarding years since I first stepped into RDA.

I’ve learnt how to be grateful, how to have an open heart, how not to take things for granted, how vast a parent’s love can be and how strong and resilient these children/teens are. Sometimes, I feel ashamed of myself whenever I feel down, I mean, how bad can my problem/issue be, as compared to these children and parents who have to face everyday.

If they can make the best out of how little they have, the more I should work hard and accomplish what I have set myself to do. I started off with the thought of volunteering my time and give what ever little contribution back to the society, but it turns out that I am the one, who is receiving and learning so much more.

Next Saturday, 18 Sept 2010, RDA is organizing a fund-raising Fan-Fare where there will be Pony/Horse rides, Face-painting, Games, Food and Drinks stalls. Coupons of $20 will be sold on that day, and if anyone of you happens to be free or around the area, do come down with your little ones, to “horse” around with us! All funds raised will be donated to RDA.

I will definitely be there, of course. I am most probably taking the afternoon shift – 2.30 pm – 5 pm or so.

Add of RDA: 5 Jalan Mashhor, Singapore 299174. Tel: 6250 0176

RDA is just next to the Singapore Polo Club, behind the row of nurseries (FarEast Flora ..etc) along Thomson road.

2 begonias have died... ;( so, I've decided to grow herbs instead. Mint is quite hardy, the basils are puny, but at least still alive. The frangipani is doing ok, I see many green leaves sprouting. *phew*

Spot the "Botak" plant... These are "Japanese Bamboos" or, at least that's what I've been told at the nursery.
Ginger is growing happily. A rather no-frill, easy to grow plant. Hopefully I'll have free gingers to eat soon!

I bought this Thyme just 2 weeks ago, but its roots are turning black and the leaves are dying too. Hiaz, to minimize my loss, I cut all the healthy leaves and froze them. Doubt it can hang on much longer...

Cookie, the curious cat was checking me out... until she saw another cat at the car park.

My plants after 3 months

So it has been 3 months since I moved in. Time to review my planter boxes...

Begonias -> Not much of a success. 2 have died, the remaining 4 seems ok, but they aren't looking all that healthy and happy to me. Hmmmm...

The herbs -> Mint is good, the basils... barely surviving. Thyme died. ;( Still considering whether I should get a pot of Rosemary. Argh, but I don't want to be a murderer... Luckily, the ginger is doing alright. The pineapple plantets (not in the photos) seem ok too. Hub commented that the "herb corner" is looking untidy and ugly. That kinda hurts my ego abit... But, that's how herbs are, aren't they? Any tips to "beautify" the area?

Japanese Bamboo -> Not good at all, the first batch had almost all died. So, I bought a second batch and some are showing signs of stress again... leaves are turning brown and dropping everywhere. I'm getting a bit discouraged, maybe I'll just get another breed/type of plants instead. Argh...

Another year to slog

Ideally, I should have passed my CFA level 3 by now, and can finally start thinking about starting a family. I’m in my earlier 30s… and biologically, it is about time to have children before age-related complication sets in.

But life isn’t all rosy and no matter how hard I try, things just do not go according to plan. I really did sit down and study for this Level 3 exam, but either I’m getting senile or I’m really just a stupid person, I did not manage to clear the exam, which already was my 2nd attempt.

1st attempt: I was busy with the wedding prep and subsequent house hunting activities that I did not prepare well for the exam. So, I jolly well deserved to fail.

2nd attempt: Wedding was over and finally got myself a HDB flat, I put in the effort and really sat down and studied. I did all the mock exams provided and went through all my notes. I really wanted to pass the exam and proceed to get my chartership. But, when I saw the morning paper… I panicked. The structure of the paper was very different from what I had been practicing and basically, I had no idea what the questions were asking about.

With that, I flunked.

Next year will be my 3rd attempt and I cannot afford to fail this time round. I have registered for the course early and once my books arrived, I will start studying. I will also sign up for “tuition” classes and seriously intend to be a “chao mugger”.

Haiz, the disappointment and shame that I have to endure for my “failure” is very, very, very difficult to stomach. In fact, I was moping around for the past weeks and took me a while to finally accept that what ever grand plans I have about having children, will just have to be postponed for another year.

Some friends commented that I should just go ahead with family planning and not let CFA be a hindrance. But I find this exam to be highly demanding and the fact that I have to juggle between my job, my personal life and the exam is already killing me. I simply cannot imagine being pregnant AND study 6 books and sit through 6 hours of mind boggling exam in a day. Yup, the 1st paper will start from 9-12, a break of 2 hours, then the 2nd paper from 2-5pm. And usually you will not have time to even pee nor drink any water during the intensive 3 hours per paper. It would be just scribbling, scribbling and punching madly into the calculator.

Just the thought of taking this exam all over again, is already making me DEPRESSED.

Why am I doing this to myself…?

Pictures taken by a true artist...

Same HDB flat but an artist can somehow capture angles and pictures that I simply cannot.

I invited a really talented friend over for dinner yesterday, and the pictures that he has taken made my place looks like a million bucks!!!

*impressed*

Bleeding Blueberries Muffins! I like...

Check out my little strawberries muffin cups. They are so cute, aren't they?!

Got some leftover dark choco chips... don't waste.

How do you like your muffins?

Above pictures are my 2nd batch of muffins. The 1st batch tasted pretty horrible because I didn't cream the butter and sugar before I mixed all the ingredients. The result: sticky muffins.... which I really don't like. But I gave them to my neighbours anyway. Haha!

I like my muffins soft and buttery, almost like little butter-cakes in a cup. So, for my 2nd batch, I ensured that the butter and sugar were sufficiently creamed. All light and fluffy before I folded in the remaining ingredients.

Blue berries and dark choco chips actually worked! Heh... and I got what I wanted. Light, buttery little muffins... Yum. So much happier with the 2nd batch.

Now... I have some apples sitting in the fridge, as well as a spare packet of walnuts. I'm thinking of making apples+roasted walnuts muffins for breakie tomorrow...

Regrets…

There aren’t many regrets in my life but if ever I could turn back time, the one thing I would change: study harder during my university days.

If I had put in more effort in my studies, attended the lectures and tutorials; and had the discipline to sit down to study for the exams, I believed that I could have done so much better.

Now, my poor grades from my Uni days are biting me in the ass.

And I have nobody to blame but myself.

Recipe: Braised Beef cheeks

This recipe is from The Sunday Times. Yup, I regularly cut out the recipes featured on The Sunday Times and keep them in a folder. Most recipes are rather easy and from my experience, taste really good! This dish is definitely one of my favorites, the cheeks were very flavorful and so melt-in-your-mouth. All my guests and Hub love it too!

Note: I bought my frozen wagyu beef cheeks from Mmmm! at Square 2 (novena), and they cost about $20 per 450-480g, which could feed either 3 not-very-greedy people or 2 really greedy/hungry people.

Ingredients:

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 bay leaves, coarsely chopped

1.25 L of red wine

130 g carrots, diced

150 g yellow onions, diced

50g celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed with skin on

2 beef cheeks. 450g each

salt and pepper to taste

flour for dusting

1 tbs canola oil

10g butter

Method:

- If using frozen beef cheeks, do rem that they will take about 24 hrs to thaw in the fridge!

To marinate the cheeks:

- Put the dried herbs in a muslin sachet and place it in a large pot, together with 750 ml red wine, carrots, yellow onions, celery and garlic. Bring the mixture to a boil with the lid off, then cool to room temperature.

- Place the beef cheeks in a large resealable plastic bag, add the red wine marinade (with all e herbs + vegetables!) and leave in the chiller for up to 24 hrs.

To cook the cheeks:

- Remove e cheeks and set aside.

- Strain e marinade into a bowl and leave aside. Reserve the herb sachet and vegetables.

- Season the cheeks with salt and pepper, then flour it lightly, dusting off excess.

- Heat a heavy skillet, add canola oil and evenly brown the cheeks on all side on medium heat.

- Pour away excess beef fat rendered in the pan and use the pan to saute the vegetables.

- Placed the sauteed veg, beef cheeks and herb sachet in a casserole dish and add the red wine sauce, and the remaining red wine. Bring to a simmer and skim off surface scum.

- Transfer to a pre-heated oven at 140 deg C and braise for between 3.5 and 4 hrs. The red wine should just cover the top of the cheeks.

- After 3.5 to 4 hrs, remove the beef cheeks and set aside. Strain the sauce into a small saucepan and skim off the layer of oil. Discard the veg and herb sachet.

- Reduce the sauce over low heat until thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

- While waiting for the sauce to reduce, slice the beef cheeks into about 2 cm thick, then sear in a hot pan with butter. By now, the cheeks will be fork tender, so flip it just once when searing.

- To serve, drizzle sauce over the beef cheeks.

Ta-dah! Yummy Braised beef cheeks!

I followed the recipe word for word, until the part of reducing the sauce. My guests were hungry and so, I used Worcestershire steak sauce instead of waiting for the red wine sauce to reduce. The effect was still rather pleasant since the cheeks were already bursting with flavor.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the cheeks as much as I did!

Pear and Chocolate cake with Ice-cream

Chocolate Meringues

Lemon drizzle cake with ice-cream

Braised Wagyu Beef cheeks

Mushroom soup

Above are some pictures of the recent baking and dinning sessions.

Instead of throwing a huge house-warming party, Hub and I have been hosting a series of small group dinners for our friends for the past weeks. And I've been cooking and baking for every weekend for the past 6 weeks or so.

Although it has been fun getting accustomed with my new oven, hob and hood. I'm getting a little tired of cooking and cleaning continuously for the past weeks. Some dinners were held on Fridays, which mean that I've got to start preparation from Wednesdays and there were times when I had to cook soup/bake desserts on the day before until 1.30 am, so that my guests would have something decent to eat.

I need to "close shop" for 2 weeks to recuperate!

Which part of Black-Tie do you not understand?

Ok, now that the so-called blacktie event was over, my conclusion: Ladies in Singapore do not understand dress-codes…

99.5% of the gentlemen came in their tuxedos, shiny black leather shoes and cute little bow-ties. I counted only 3 men out of a total of around 50 gentlemen, who came in their business suits and of course, they stuck out like sore thumbs.

As for the ladies… horror of all horror, some came in PANTS, some wore dresses that I would wear to office instead of a black-tie event. I would say, about 50% of the ladies did not adhere to the dress code.

Of course, the organizers were decked out to the nines, where the ladies wore beautiful gowns, expensive jewellery, carried exquisite beaded clutches and did their hair and make-up. But, they were the minority…

It turned out that I was one of the better dressed! Geez…

Sure, this wasn’t one of those gala charity dinners or some award ceremonies, but seriously… pants??!!

The organizers took the effort to book a swanky, exclusive dinning venue, brought in some good labels from 1982 Bordeaux, paired the food with the wines and wanted to have a glamorous event to celebrate our nation’s 45th birthday and yet, some ladies didn’t even make the effort to wear a decent long dress…

Where do these people come from?!?!

HDB Letter Boxes

On Wednesday night, Hub and I were on our way to dispose our stash of recyclables to the recycling bin and we realized that our block’s letterboxes were under “renovation”.

In fact, HDB/town council would be replacing the old letter boxes with new ones and suddenly, Hub said “Eh, do you think we can display these old letterboxes in our flat??”

I was like… HUH? 0 _ 0

“The town council will throw the whole structure away, what a waste. We can display it at home, it will look super cool and also add storage space” added Hub.

“Okay…. ….. …. How the hell are we going to move the thing to our flat?!” Although the structure is “only” about 1.5M in length and 1 m in height, I wasn’t too sure about its weight. If it is a 100% steel structure, we will need a few strong men to execute the job.

So, I gave the town council a call yesterday and have also emailed the person-in-charge. Hopefully, this will pull through and I will then have a piece of HDB’s history sitting in my house!

These letter boxes are 23 years old!

What if another lady wears the same dress as me?

As the black-tie event draws nearer, I start to wonder whether I’ll be caught in a situation where another lady wears the exact same dress as me!

There is such a possibility since I only bought the dress rather recently and it was an off-the-rack item. Not to mention that the dress was very affordable, despite the fact that it looked rather grand and good enough for a black-tie event. Well, in my humble opinion, of course.

So… I’m betting that all the other ladies, who will be attending the event aren’t the cheap-skate-types. I hope that all of them will be wearing Prada, Valentino or TanYoong and the equivalents, and not my cheapo-po-but-still-presentable gown (I think!) from a local store…

OMG, what if someone really wears the same gown as me?

I have thought of bringing a scarf/drape along, but I cannot find anything matching from my pathetic collection of scarves!

*panic*

Ip Man Cat 叶问猫 葉問猫

Hub showed me this video last night. SO CUTE! And this cat really looks like Cookie! I'll go home and check whether Cookie can perform such stunts as well!

Am I ashamed of my mobile phone?

I was reading Mind Your Body this morning and came across this article written by Mr. Gary Hayden. The article was titled “Modern Trappings” and the gist of it was about our full-blown consumer society and how we, as consumers are most probably “conned” by the advertisers and manufacturers to think that we want or need certain products/services, although seriously speaking, those aren’t genuine needs.

The author also mentioned about a mobile phone operator in Britain that ran a series of advertisements with the tagline “Ashamed of your mobile?” The ads portrayed situations in which people are shamed ‘cos of their mobile phones were not up-to-date models.

Now, that sounds a little familiar.

I am one of the dinosaurs out there who is NOT carrying an iphone or any versions of Smartphones. My current phone is Sony Ericsson, Cybershot C902. Of course, when it was first launched almost 2.5 years ago, it was a cool and hip phone with a built-in camera of 5 mega pixels (a very big deal at that time), a radio-&-MP3 function and could also surf the net, as long as I pay for it.

Then the iphone came along and the rest was history.

Since then on, almost everyone I know owns an iphone. Well, except Hub. Both of us are gadget-idiots, and just somehow not really interested in any entertainment electronic devices, such as Wii, Xbox, PSP, ipods, iphones, imacs, ipads … etc.

So many people have commented on how “lao-yah”, ie: old and lousy, my current phone is, and some of them had even commented in distaste “OMG, how can anyone NOT carry an iphone”…

And up to now, I still have no desire to own one. I have checked it out and was previously considering of getting the iphone4 once it hits Singapore. But then, I’ll look at my trusty-and-never-say-die-no-matter-how-many-times-I’ve-dropped Sony Ericsson, which is still in good working condition. I just don’t see the need of a new phone.

“Don’t you wana play all the cool games?”
“You can watch youtube and other videos while commuting”
“There are so many cool aps!”
“You can use it as an ipod”

Yup, I know that but I do not play games nor do I want to. When I’m commuting, I usually catch up on my readings. Be it books or more often the case, financial reports or magazines that I usually do not have the time to read in office. If I do not have any reading materials, I’ll usually just quietly think or reflect upon certain topics/recipes/issues that I want to ponder about. I actually enjoy the 20 mins of free time to let my mind wonder, or simply observing people in the train.

I do not need the iphone, ipod or i-whatever. Of course, I want all these cool gadgets and will most gladly welcome any gifts or donations! HAHA. But seriously, I do not need these items.

The day when my current phone died on me, maybe I’ll consider getting one. But as of now, I am happy (although still slightly embarrassed) with my Sony Ericsson.

Disappointment...

Life has ups and downs. And during the "down" periods, I will be dramatically depressed and mourned for the loss of a loved one, a loved pet, a sought-after-job-that-I-didn't-get, or another failed exam, a failed interview; or some health issues that I cannot be cured of.

Every trough in life has made me a stronger person, that I know. But when I'm right at the bottom and all hope is lost, I DO NOT want to be a stronger person. I just want to wallow in my misery and feel sorry for myself.

But ultimately, I will pick myself up. Be it hours, days, weeks, months or years later. Life has to move on and wallowing in self-pity will not get me anywhere.

Nonetheless I can't help but to envy those who just seem to have everything. These people are just born blessed. They have everything works out for them and everything seems so EASY. I hope these people count their blessings and give thanks to who-ever-is-up-there.

Then there are others who just have to work so hard. I'm one of these hard-sloggers. I simply have to slog like hell just to be an average person. Sometimes I really feel like giving up, but I cannot admit defeat so easily. Sometimes I asked myself why do I have to fight so hard for? For pride? For dignity? For money? For love? For myself? For family? Why can't I just take things easy and just cruise along? Then there will be times when I beat myself for not fighting hard enough, for not working hard enough, for not doing enough, for not achieving enough... ...

Sigh. And the slogging continue.

Apologize for these senseless ramblings... just need to get these negative feelings out of my system.

Some Pictures from Singapore Garden Festival 2010

1st Pic: My favorite exhibit. I like the structure and how innovative this garden was. The combination of aquatic plants and soil-based plants was really cool and the concept was such a modern interpretation of what a garden could be...

2nd Pic: a bed of begonias. So beautiful... the silver leaves with dashes of purple. Currently I have some begonias in my planter but after seeing this, I cant wait to buy more pots of begonias!

3rd Pic: These pretty pink blooms were rather strong smelling.

4th Pic: I was wondering what were these "trees" made of... still couldn't figure it out.

All in all, I really enjoyed the exhibits! $7.20 well spent. ;)

Cookie still thinks it's World Cup season

During the crazy days of World Cup, I would wake up at unearthly hours to catch some live football action and somehow, Cookie, with her super senses, could figure out that I was awake and would swing by to keep me company. Although I must admit that the whole block could probably hear me shout with joy whenever Spain scored, so Cookie's "super" senses might be overrated.

USually at about 3 am, she would meow daintly at the door and I would let her in, and both of us would watch football together. She would happily park herself at her favourite corner on the sofa and I would just sprawl myself on the sofa while drifting in and out of consciousness...

There were a few times when Hub would wake up to the sight of a daintly cat, curled up in a corner with a very UNDAINTLY human being snoring away on the sofa...

But now, World Cup is over but Cookie doesn't know that. She is still coming over at 3 to 5 am in the morning, meowing out to us, to let her in. Im the heavy sleeper, so I cannot hear no shit, but Cookie is kinda driving Hub crazy as he is a really light sleeper.

To add icing to the cake, Cookie, being a really smart cat, has figured out which window is our bedroom window and started to meow outside directly outside the window instead of the door! *no worries, we stay at the 2nd floor with a HUGE window ledge, so Cookie will not have the danger of falling off the ledge*

Of course, me being the pig, is still blissfully unaware of what is going on. Cookie is a very daintly cat, her meows are usually very soft and meek. Like "mmmmmmeow", so I doubt the neighbors can hear anything as well.

But Hub can hear her every meow in the morning. So far, he is ignoring all her meows so as NOT to encourage her from coming over in such unearthly hours. I hope Cookie gets the message soon...

Or else, I'm going to have end up with a grumpy hub with panda eyes.

Cookie, the black-&-white cat

I first met Cookie one late evening when Hub and I walked over to check out the reno of our new place. She was relaxing at the void deck and actually came over when I called out "meow meow".

She was very friendly and endearing, and I was thinking to myself that this cannot be a stray cat. She was too trusting of humans, she must have been previously someone's pet.

Subsequently, I would always bring a can of cat food whenever I went over to check out the reno. In fact, I made a point to walk over almost every night, so that I could feed Cookie.

Very soon, Cookie recognized my calls and soon, was responding to my voice and would start running over when I called her name.

Now that we have moved in, we learnt that Cookie used to belong to a family on the 3rd floor. But for some reason, she was being "banished" to the void deck. I also realized that there are easily at least 5 other people at our block who are feeding Cookie, and almost everyone who stays at my block knows that this black-&-white cat is Cookie.

Cookie follows me around when im at home. When I was watching World Cup, she was sleeping on the sofa, next to me. When I was doing some work on my dinning table, she would jump to the table and sleep near me. When I was handwashing some laundry in the toilet, she camped outside and waited for me.

It is VERY difficult not to like this cat. Furthermore, she's a talking cat, she will talk back with different "meows" whenever you talk to her. SO CUTE!

The catch is that, she is ultimately not my cat, and she is used to roaming around at the void deck, and will always want to head back to the void deck. I can't keep her at home all to myself.

The good part of having a part-time pet: I dont have to clear her litter box nor her hairballs.

Ok, I think I can deal with this compromise!

My very first Black-Tie event

I have never been to any galas or charity dinners or formal, corporate functions that require a Black Tie dress code. Not ever in my 30 years of life.

And suddenly, Hub received an invitation to attend a formal dinner on National Day and the dress code is Black-Tie.

W.O.A.H

Hub already has a tux, as well as, different types of bowties and cummberbunds to choose from. He has the traditional bowtie and silk cummberbund for the true, blue traditional black tie function ala James Bond. He also has something that is more stylish, a thin, black silk ribbon for e bowtie, or even a grayish polka dot bowtie with matching cummberband that shouts FUN and yet still formal enough for a black tie event.

Yup, that’s my Hub for you.

As for me, to my horror, I realized that I do NOT own a formal, long gown. Damn… I should have bought my evening wedding gown 2 years ago instead of renting it. Argh… I REALLY loved my gown then. Unfortunately, my bridal studio had closed shop for good, so I can’t go back and buy back the gown; and I also seriously wonder whether I can still fit into that gown in the first place.

I do have a few pretty, flirty cocktail dresses and some formal but knee-length dresses. None deem fit for a black-tie function.

That means that I HAVE THE PREFECT REASON TO BUY A BEAUTIFUL GOWN!

I am secretly very excited!!! Of course, I showed my pained expression to Hub when he told me about the event last night and I was grumbling how I have to waste money buying a gown just for this event, but seriously, I WAS JUMPING FOR JOY AND EXCITEMENT once I was alone in the bedroom.

It is also stated on the invitation that “national dress” will also be acceptable since it will be National Day after all. So…. Does that mean that I can wear a Sari? A Cheongsum? A Sarong Kabaya?

Hmmm…. How about a Cheongsum gown? I have about a month to find a gown… which means that I have to get it off the rack instead of tailor-making one as the timeline is too tight.

Shopping time!

p/s: The orange gown on Michelle Yeoh is absolutely divine! But I don’t think orange will look good on me… but it’s such a beautiful gown isn’t it?

My Planter boxes are ready!!!!

Took a day off to do up the planter boxes and.... Dah Tah! They are done! Now I just have to ensure that the plants live and flourish!

1st Picture: The standing planter which is made of old teak.

2nd Picture: The planter which is in my wet kitchen. Original plan was to plant some edibles but as I do not have sunlight in that area, I can only make do with indoor plants. Nonetheless, seeing all these greenery already makes me very happy.

3rd Picture: The outdoor planter that is along my corridor. The monster fern doesn't seem that big in the picture because I've trimmed almost 40% of its leaves.

4th Picture: The "Before" picture of wet kitchen planter.

5th Picture: The "Before" picture of the corridor planter.

The Planter Box Saga…

So I went to World Farm, a nursery at Yishun, 2 weeks back, hoping that I could buy some plants on the cheap and engage replanting services from its staff at a reasonable price.

World Farm has a very different feel from the nurseries situated along Thomson Road. World Farm, is literally a farm… it feels very kampong and people just leave you alone to touch, smell the plants. Those along Thomson Road are more commercialized and the nurseries are always busy, busy, busy with other customers that it seems to me, nobody ever slows down to REALLY appreciate the beauty of these plants.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my trip at World Farm, despite leaving empty handed. As World farm is busy preparing for the up and coming Garden Show at Suntec, the Manager said that they were really short-handed at the moment, and suggested that I contact a landscaper to help me on my planter boxes instead.

“Eh… ok, but I’m on a budget, y’know” I said.

“It’s ok, this guy is good and cheap” said, the Manager.

“So, agar-agar how much do you think the 2 planters will cost?” I asked.

“Aiyah, should be a couple of hundreds lah. Max of the max, 1K” he claimed.

Alright then, I contacted this landscaper, he came over the next day to check out my planter boxes and said that he would provide me with a quotation in about 2 days time.

2 days later, he quoted me $2XXX. I was like WTF….?

This guy is trying to skin me alive man. Hub, being the Forever Mr. Robert said “wah, ok what… very cheap. Half price from what our ID quoted us originally”

NO way! I can do everything at HALF THE PRICE.

That was it. I went down to Thomson Road yesterday (Sunday), since it was only 5 mins drive away. Drove past JM Flowers, saw the huge “50% SALE”, parked at its car park and all ready to start buying plants and the necessary equipments to do up the planter boxes.

Yesterday was the last day of sale; sadly, many of the good stuff were sold out. Nonetheless, I made my choices and picked the best looking ones available and caught one of the sales managers to sit down and discuss the charges required for delivery of plants and soil, as well as replanting.

It turns out that JM does not provide landscaping services, meaning that I’ll have to do all the “groundwork” of the planters myself, and JM can then take-over by laying the soil and replanting.

Ok, although I’ve never done anything like that before but I have done my research, I know all about the geotextile, the drainage cells and the type of soil that is suitable for my plants. All theory, of course.

Nonetheless, I’ve bought most of the hardware required and will start working on the planters soon.

The total bill: $700-$800 or so, since the soil will be charged as-per-use during replanting. Heh, luckily for the Monster Fern that we picked up earlier, will help us save quite a lot since the huge fern practically covers the entire planter that’s along the corridor.

Bleah. $2XXX, MY FOOT!

Impulse buys over the weekend… *argh!*

Between Hub and I, I am the frugal one.

No doubt, Hub has a good eye for esthetics, as you can easily tell from his dressing and the way he carries himself. In fact, many people have suspected that he…. hrm, belongs to the “happy” people, but rest assured, he’s just what we call a “metrosexual”.

As for me, I just try to look presentable and not disgrace my husband when we are out. I’ll put just enough make-up in order not to scare people; I make sure I smell clean, look clean and smart, and basically no-frills.

So, when it comes to buying furniture, Hub looks out for exquisite items that come in exquisite prices. I’m the practical one, if we were to buy anything expansive, it better be in a strategic location in the house where everyone can admire. That’s the whole point right? Or else, Ikea sells very decent looking furniture that can be quite chic, and at definitely more affordable prices as well!

So, during the weekend, Hub wants to buy this bedside table that I thought was ridiculously expensive. It’s a bedside table, for goodness sake, and who will notice a bedside table??? Guests will most probably spend 5 seconds touring the master bedroom and after that, just mingle around at the living/dinning area. Why spend such money on a bedside table that nobody will notice??? And the icing on the cake is that he intends to put it at MY side of the bed ‘cos he thinks it will fit better?!?!

I was stomping on my foot insisting that he shall not buy a useless piece of furniture until I saw the most beautiful “designer” planter box that is made of old teak. I basically went gaga over it and after stroking the planter box for the 2397th time, I decided that Hub should buy the planter box instead.

O, did I mention that I already have TWO build-in planter boxes in my new place…? But, but, but, that old-teak planter was SPEAKING to me!! I simply couldn’t resist…

And the planter box cost as much as the bedside table.

Eventually, instead of buying only one piece of furniture that we were supposed to, two happy people bought two silly pieces of furniture and made the furniture shop owner even happier.

Damn. What happened to the practical, frugal, old me?! Well, at least my beautiful planter box will be displayed right at the front door area, and not next to my bed!

Maybe I should get this picture, blow it up several times and hang it somewhere at my new place. ;)

Me and my “picky” mouth…

I’m not picky about food, in fact, I eat EVERYTHING. I choose not to eat certain items like shark’s fins, bird nests, blue fin tuna … etc due to environmental concerns. But technically, nothing really disgusts me and I’ve tried cooked bugs or even some raw stuff that normal human beings do not usually eat…

However, it really upsets me when I have to eat bad quality hawker food. Guess I’m spoilt by my mum’s home-cooked dinner since young and now that I’m married and camping with the in-laws, dinners are usually take-aways since my in-laws do not cook.

And I am SO SICK of hawker food! They are either too oily, salty, or at the other extreme end, tasteless and bland. So, whenever I can, I’ll cook my dinner. Be it a steak, pasta or sometimes, a complete Chinese meal of 3 dishes and 1 soup.

And since I stay with the in-laws, it can be a bit tricky if I only cook for myself and Hub, and leave them out. So, I’ll have to be the dutiful daughter-in-law, and rush home to cook dinner on a weekday to feed myself, Hub and the 2 elderly.

It’s not that I’m complaining. Since I’m the itchy backside that wana cook dinner. Nobody is forcing me to do so.

It’s just that I’m picky and want to eat some, wholesome, home-cooked dinner after a long day in office. Although cooking is a hobby for me and I do find it therapeutic, There are times that I do wish, FOR ONCE, I can come home to a home-cooked dinner, instead of being the mad woman who has to hustle around in the kitchen after work.

Now that I’ll be moving to my new place very soon, I’m thinking of buying a slow-cooker to enjoy stews or Chinese soups when I’m back from work. No more yucky hawker food for dinner!

But that will mean that I’ll have to prepare for dinner, on the night before. Haiz, Still no free meals anyway!

We’re finally moving in!

Next Thursday, 17 June 2010, is supposedly an auspicious date for us to move into our new place and thus, by hook or by crook, Mr. Contractor gotta pull it together and hand over the keys, latest by Wednesday.

Our new place is almost ready, but as usual, there are still tons of stuff that needed some touch-ups. Some re-plastering/repainting of walls need to be done, our wet kitchen’s back splash hasn’t been installed yet, wine fridge’s socket is still not working, some of the cabinets’ hinges have to be changed … … etc.

Other than these nitties and gritties, we are almost ready to move in! Yeah!

So, being typical Chinese, we must, of course, consult a Fenghui Master to pick an auspicious date. Then prepare a basket of auspicious items, such as 4 – 8 Mandarin oranges, 1 pineapple, 6 bamboo shoots (I’m just going to get the canned equivalents), rice, sugar, salt, cooking oil, charcoal, a red packet with money, red dates, peanuts and …. Some other random items that I cannot remember for now.

But the most anticipated moment is when both Hub and I will roll the pineapple into the flat and shout “HUAT AH!!!”

That will be so hilarious but fun!

To be frank, I’m not so bothered whether we’ll “huat” or not in our new place, I just ask for peace, health and love. Money, to me, is not a big deal…

Living below my means

Do you realize how easily one can be trapped into living according to a perceived expectation of society? Seems that because both Hub and I are working in the finance sector and in our early 30s would mean that both of us should live in a condominium. It also seems that many have begun to feel entitled to a certain lifestyle and a certain amount of luxuries.

What about living below or within our means? What about living a more enriched life but with less tied to material things? What about pursuing what you wanted instead of what others expect of you?

Of course, Hub and I were previously looking for a swanky condo as our very first love nest but due to the recent property craze, there was no way that we could afford one without taking a three-generation type of mortgage (doubt the banks would approve anyway, this is not Japan in the 1980s). So, we settled for a resale HDB instead.

After Hub and I made that decision, a tremendous weight was lifted from our shoulders and we could afford to renovate our place to exactly what we wanted. We could hack everything away and basically reconfigure the whole space. We could custom-make some furniture that reflects our characters and beliefs.

Although renovation cost us a bomb, it was still within our budget. I did not have to sell one of my kidneys or bags of blood. But if we were to get a condo, that would stretch us a little beyond where we wanted to be, not that we couldn’t afford it. But why must we afford it?

I like to live simply in my simple world and enjoy my simple joys.

Like having sunshine on my face during my morning runs, like having Cookie (my sort-of adopted cat) happily purring at my feet, like preparing dinner for my family while blasting my favorite CDs.

I think I’m a simple girl at heart… very low maintenance and it really doesn’t take a lot to make me happy and contented.

How much do you give?

When I was younger, I was more concerned about how much I'm taking, how much I'm entitled to and how much I'm receiving. It was always about me, me and me, and how much I did NOT have, did NOT take and did NOT receive.

Never once, did I think about how much I should have given nor have given any in the first place.

All the thoughts about wanting, taking and not getting what I wanted made me a rather angsty and unhappy teenager and subsequently, a young adult.

A few years ago, out of the blue, a thought of giving dawned upon me. I just wanted to give my time, my energy, and MYSELF to a purpose, and for a change, I wanted nothing in return. This "nothing in return" was a new concept to me. I've always wanted something in return. It's not that I'm calculating, but I've always believed that nothing is for free, so if I've given something, be it time, energy or money, I expected something in return.

But now, I've learnt that when I give wholeheartedly, and not expecting anything, I will end up receiving the most. Now, I'm more concerned about how much I can give and to who. I'm more conscious of my actions and the impact that I'll create by giving.

Give back to our society, give our aging parents our listening ear, our love and concern. Give our spouse, siblings and friends our support and faith. And for once, expect nothing in return.

By giving, I've become a happier person, and hopefully a better person as well. I hope you can be as well.