Happy Birthday To ME...

Its another year and I am another year older. Really in my LATE 20s now, there is no turning back, its all downhill from here on out. For some reason, I really did not feel like celebrating this year. What is there to celebrate anyway?

Anyway, as a family, we would usually go out to have a meal but I told my parents that I did not want to. My mom then suggested eating home and I said I did not want anything special. But as usual, my mom doesn't listen and they (yes, they, not me) decided to have steamboat at home. My dad said that if I don't want, they have still have it on their own. The thought of going out just to escape it was in my mind but I just felt that I would prob get more crap later, so I just went on with it.

There was no cake ... I LOVE cakes, esp chocolate and I knew that it would be a downfall of mine. Plus, if I wanted one, my bro and ash would have prob got the really nice exp one like the previous year and I would be tempted to eat all of it. Better to just say ...

"I DON'T WANT CAKE!!!"

Haha, good thing about it is that I got a slightly bigger ang pow from them :) Guess they figured they would have spend more on a cake. Yes, I would choose $ over food anytime!

It was an ok dinner on the 29th, the only argument was ash saying my bro was stingy for buying too few durian puffs. It turn out to be enough (well, my sis didn't think so, but we told her she can get more on her own) as we were all too full after dinner. Plus, I had wine to get me thru the nite! :)

On the actual day itself, my friends also asked me where I wanted to go eat to celebrate. I gave them the same answer, "I don't want to go eat." And so there was a compromise, we just went out for coffee. I also did not want this huge big affair for just coffee so we just kept things at a minimum. If u were not informed, pls don't feel bad, I wanted it that way, don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, honestly! I told my friends that we can have a get together when Shanice comes back and we can go eat then.

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I did get some cake on my birthday but it was shared with a few so I did not feel as guilty. The taramisu had some alcohol it in so that brought a smile to my face, and then CHOCOLATE! With my usual latte with skim milk, what more can a girl (Fine! "Woman") ask for.

Stayed for a couple of hrs chit chatting and then headed home early evening. I had fun, thanks for the company and for keeping it low key. The funny thing is that I already know what I want to do on my next bday, its going to be a big one .....hmm, wonder if I can convince my friends to do it with me? :)

MERRY XMAS TO ALL!

Xmas Eve with 我们 minus one ...

We had dinner again on Xmas eve, yes, the day after that huge meal! But we talked about it even b4 we planned Christine's so we went ahead with it. KL gave a budget, so we had to scraped the atas dinner we had originally talked about. He had a friend working at the newly opened Olio at Suntec so we decided to go there and have their $28++ set Xmas menu.

While waiting for Evon, we had an appetizer but unfortunately since I did not have my camera, no pic. Well, the pic is on WD's camera. The appetizer was really yummy.

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Pumpkin Soup with Crab and Pine Nuts. I really enjoyed the soup, there was a small portion of crab meat and the nuts added a little bite to the dish.

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It was either the soup or the salad. Evon was the only one that had the salad. But it looked pretty good with its nice portion of tuna.

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Then it was either the Turkey with Ham which Evon and WD had.

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Or the Salmon and King Prawns that the rest of us had. I enjoyed this too, the polenta was yummy, not dry, salmon grilled to nice and crisp. The prawns were a little small, but nice anyways. Huiyi said that they were over done but I did not think so .... or maybe I was just starving!

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Olio Brownie compliments of KL's friend. We were given 2. This was sinful!! There was ice cream between 2 pieces of brownie, served on a hot plate, with chocolate syrup poured over it and topped with nuts! I'm so glad i was with Evon and WD side as I knew I would have to fight KL over it :)

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This was the brownie the came with the set. Not as exciting but good nonetheless. The set also included a glass of wine ... YUM! Overall, not too bad for the price. Would consider going back there and trying the rest of the menu.

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Evon and I

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Group pic .... we miss u Shanice!

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After dinner we made our way to our second destination .... KL wanted Starbucks but I REFUSED!! Haha, no way am I going to spend Xmas eve at a coffee place, we have coffee all the time, plus, he picked dinner, the rest of us get to pick part 2. I'm sure WD, Evon and Ben were with me on it .... Huiyi was Switzerland .. haha.

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We ended at a bar across from Starbucks ....

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KL looks a little drunk here ... hmm, I think this was b4 his beer.

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CHEERS!!!!

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Xmas with friends .....

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We asked Sharon to joined us but unfortunately she only made it after midnight. But we still had fun.

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KL left already as he was catching the bus home. The rest of us are cab takers :) I would rather pay the extra and get home in reasonable time. His bus ride takes more than an hr!

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The bar closed at 2am and so we headed over to Xin Wang which was opened 24hrs.

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Haha, decided to take a "couple" shot .... there was a running joke from the nite b4 that we were married and when we were seated, I said out loud that I wanted to sit beside my husband and the waiter thought I was for real ... haha. Well, we do match! PINK!!

By the time I got home, it was past 3am ... tired but had a great time. Need to stay away from food for awhile, my clothes are getting tight! ARGH!!

*Thanks to Evon for all the pics. My sis had the camera but she did not take any pics!!!*

Xmas at Christine & TY's

We had a get together for Xmas at Christine's and TY this year. And we 3 girls did the cooking. Here are some pics from that nite. There's lots, so clear your calendar!

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Here's the turkey in the oven. Sad to say I failed in turkey duty, u will see the results later. I was so disappointed, damn!

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Huiyi and KL, they are doing the veggie skewers.

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All the ingredients we used for the skewers.

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Here's Christine and TY.

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Huiyi and I with the mashed potatoes.

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Chips with dip. YES! That is my SPINACH DIP! I finally found the soup mix needed for it at a grocery store that caters to expats. The other is cream cheese dip, also using the same soup mix. I have yet to find pumpernickel bread that goes with the spinach dip but chips do as well. I had lots of compliments on it ... at least something went right for me.

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Crackers with Wasabi Tuna.

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Chye Huat, Ryan, Kelvin and TY.

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The 3 chefs for the day, Huiyi, Me and Christine.

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Here's Ben and Oliver.

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KL taking the pasta out of the oven.

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The spread ... as u can tell, my turkey had an uneven tan :( I forgot to remove the foil covering it until it was too late. Left it in longer to try to fix it but i think I made it dryer. Was so mad at myself. There is stuffing, gravy, garlic bread, salad, pasta, potatoes, veggie skewers ... a whole load of food for 11 ppl!

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Oh, let's not forget the mushroom soup!

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Me carving the turkey.

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Half the table ... TY has the other half .. still waiting for him to send it over :)

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After dinner was the gift exchange! Guess which present is mine? Haha :)

We had a recycle gift exchange this year. Each brought a gift that was new but was not suitable for them for the exchange. We then pick numbers to decide who gets first pick. Then the following number could either pick a gift from the pile of snatch the previous number opened gift .... confused? Just follow the pics!

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TY was number one, he got this really cool cup and bowl set.

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Chye Huat this picture frame.

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Christine, cookies and tea.

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KL was next and he snatched TY original gift so TY picked again and got gift vouchers to Taka. The amt was not revealed till later ....

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Kelvin got a cordless kettle.

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Ryan a knife set. Ok, I really did not know that it was such a big deal about giving knives. I found out later that u can't give shoes too! Something about the person leaving u? Well, if u were to give me a pair of Manolo Blahniks, I'll be your friend for life! Knives? Hmm, I guess it is something about hurting the friendship? Well, I did give Yuchien 10 cents when she gave me the carving set and we are still best friends, guess I better not mess with superstitions.

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Haha, Ben snatched the gift voucher from TY. Wow, TY had all the popular gifts.

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So he snatched his original cups and bowls back from KL.

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Thus KL had to pick again ... and got this notebook and pen from Espirit.

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Haha, the voucher was too good to pass, I snatched it from Ben!! We found out later that it was $20! Not bad!

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So Ben picked again and got this cute bear tea pot and cups.

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Sharon got a small pillow and a toothpaste tube squeezer thingy.

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Haha, the BEST gift?!?! Oliver got this really sexy women's top!!!

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Huiyi got the King Kong DVD. At the end of the nite, Huiyi took pity on Oliver and exchange her gift for his :) She was the last and I was so glad she did not take my gift vouchers! Looks like I will be buying more Little Twin Stars things from Taka! :)

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Dessert! Log cake!

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Sea Coconut with Strawberries.

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The bunch of us ....

And here's more pics ....

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Had a really great time that nite, it was lots of work but worth it. :) Thanks to my sis who helped out the nite b4 with the prep. Brought her some leftovers which I think she enjoyed :)