Ma La Huo Guo!

Evon promised YQ that she would bring him for Ma La Huo Guo (Spicy Steamboat) when he was back so on Wed that was where we went.

I met my cousin to pass her a cd b4 heading down to Tanjong Pagar to meet Huiyi (but not b4 making a pit stop at 2 Sanrio shops ... check for updates on my LTS blog soon). Initially, Shanice was going to pick us up at the station but she was running late so we made our way to the restaurant on our own. It was a pretty short walk and we made it there in no time.

The restaurant was a small, no frills place and had been recommended by Evon. While waiting, I started taking pics but was stopped by one of the aunties there. Well, technically she didn't stop me but she said that one of the other employees was a blabber mouth and that she would complain to the boss and so on and that they would get in trouble ..... I don't know, she herself went on and on and I shut off :)

This was the only pic I managed to take.

Shanice and YQ arrived first b4 Evon, who was caught in a jam. We ordered first while waiting. Shanice managed to secretly take some pics using her cell phone (waiting patiently for them ^^) They had a pretty good selection of food and the Ma La was really really SPICY. We had to get them to add regular soup base to the spicy side to dilute it a little.

We order so much food and we all ate till we were bursting! Well, I did. However, after that, it was decided that we needed dessert ... all YQ fault, he hasn't had local desserts in a long time and it was time to "stk up" b4 going back to the US.

We made our way to Upp Thompson using Evon's spanking new GPS. It is a pretty cool device but it doesn't always lead u via the shortest route. Hearing it say "Freeway" was one of the highlights.

We chatted more during dessert but had to call it an early nite as Huiyi had to go to work the following day.

P.S. Will update with more pics when I get them

Durian Fiesta!

My mom's NC organized a Durian Fiesta and my friends were interested in going. We had talked about eating durians for the longest time but I did not want to go to JB to do so. So when my mom told me about this event, I informed my friends.

Initially, it was only to be Shanice, Huiyi and I going. Then YQ was added as it turned out he was coming back the nite b4 and not the nite of. Evon had a medical check up and didn't want the durian to mess up her results, plus, she was going to have a durian thing the previous week. But plans changed and we convinced her that a few durian wouldn't fail her. My mom managed to get a tic for her as by that time, it was all sold out.

On the day of, my mom asked if I needed more tics as a few ppl backed out. The first person I thought of was WT. He looked pretty sad yesterday when he found out we had this going on. I sms him and got a reply, yes, he was ON! Haha, so an initial 3 became 6, plus my sis equals 7.

*COUGH*"...company of fellow residents..."*COUGH*

My mom is in the green shirt behind. My uncle was the one that took the pic. Ate till I was bursting! The durians were delicious but I think I'm going to stay away from them for awhile.

After stuffing our faces, we made our way back to my place to change. We were going to Zouk! OMG, we all smelled of durians! LOL.

Squeezing behind the Ferlorry. This was nothing compared to when we had to fit behind Ben's rental convertible that basically had a non existence back seat.

Love black light :)

The gals.

Evon and WT.

My sis and I.

Alcohol! Haha, but I didn't drink much that nite as there is some myth about mixing alcohol and durians .. didn't want to risk it.

Way too many ppl. Didn't anyone have to work the next day? Got sick of the hse music after awhile. Techno? WTF?

Taken outside Zouk.

Our Sex and the City shot :) Who is who? I'm Sam ....

Fun times with friends, treasuring every moment b4 someone leaves :( Another meeting on Wed, more pics then.

P.S. Thanks to Shanice for all the pics!

YQ is home!

YQ came home after being away for a long time. We decided to go to the airport to welcome him back and have our coffee session there :). His flight was scheduled to land at 11.25pm so we only met up at about 9+pm. Funny thing was that my dad was flying off that nite too but I didn't hitch a ride with him as it would have been awkward in the cab .... TOTAL silence .... no thanks!

We (Evon, Shanice, Huiyi, WT and I) first went to Popeyes for some mashed potatoes and fries, mainly because we needed spoons to eat Shanice's Tiramisu. This time around it was not as sweet and pretty yummy. We finished it in record time .. I think I ate most of it .... the draw of alcohol :) After which, we found a cafe that was right next to YQ's luggage belt and we sat for coffee.

Shanice and Huiyi had this uber sweet and thick concoction.

WT's ice blended coffee.

Evon's mocha drink. It had this really nice hazelnut taste.

My usual cuppa.

This pic was taken with Shanice's new camera!

YQ's flight was on time and we left soon after and made our way to Jalan Kayu for supper! YQ hasn't had prata in forever.

Mutabat - Prata with meat. I think I prefer plain prata with egg and/or onions.

Curry to go with the prata.

Satay.

After supper, we all went home as we were going to meet again the next day.

Great to have a friend back, even though its only going to be for a week, then its goodbye again :(

Lunch with the Gals

Shanice had to get her laptop fixed and would be in town, so she asked if we wanted to meet for high tea. We searched online for a place to go but they were all so exp. In the end, I found Suki Sushi which had a sushi buffet from 12noon to 5pm and it was only $20.90++. We gals love our Jap food!

The ppl who were free to go were - Serena the Bum, Shanice the Tai Tai, Evon the self declared day off, and my sis, the "I can go to work anytime I want".

We got there and it wasn't too crowded. We started ordering from its pretty wide buffet menu. These are the items we had ...

Yes, they had soft shell crab!

Oops, double pic .. too lazy to edit :P We had lots of sashimi.

I love the fried little fishies that had roe in them.

Puffs were yummy ... those scallops sucked.

Miso soup took forever to arrived!

Overall it was a pretty good meal. We stay till about 4+pm but my sis did leave early after she decided she had her fill and was ready to start work.

We decided to make our way to Isetan to see my sis in action and along the way we stopped by my Sanrio shop. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they did not have anything new. After saying hi to my sis, we went over to Wheelock where we had coffee and waited for Huiyi to get off work.

We sat and chatted till about 8+ b4 heading home ...... what a day of leisure :)

Southern Ridges Walk

The day started way too early for me! I had to drag my lazy butt out of bed at 6:45am .. wanted to be up b4 Huiyi's morning call at 7am :) We were supposed to meet at HarborFront MRT at 8am but my sis and I left the hse late (her fault). Fortunately, the rest of the gang were not on time either :)

After a quick breakfast and my much need cup of coffee, we set off!

Our starting point. It was going to be a long walk, or so we thought ....

This was at the start of the Henderson Wave.

What laid ahead for us.

Henderson Wave

My sis and I

Scenic shot ... concrete jungle :P

Cool sign, following the "wave" concept.

The walkway of the Forest Walk .... walking on metal sure makes me feel like I am in a forest.

Alexandra Arch.

KL had to leave after the arch as he had the whole day packed back to back with activities.

We arrived at HortPark ... the walk was almost done.

Really nicely done ....

There were concept gardens in the park ... this is what my friends want my dad to have in our hse :)

Trying to find our way ..... I love how professionally the signs are done.

When we got to the end of the walk, it only took us about 2 1/2 hrs. It was stated in the newspapers that it was a 5-6hrs slow walk. We could not have been any slower! And that includes breaks in between and all the photo taking.

Overall this wasn't much of a challenge, think the biggest challenge for me was getting up in the morning to actually do it. But it was fun :) Think I would prefer this over Bukit Timah Hill ... OMG, those stairs! For more info, pls go here. The website is really nicely done .... now to only change those goddamn homemade signs along the walk to make the whole experience look as calm and serene as portrayed on the site.

We then took a bus back to HarborFront and had lunch. My sis had to rush off to work after a quick bite whereas the rest of us headed to Starbucks for more caffeine.

It was an early day for 我们 as Huiyi had dinner plans. I headed home, took a shower and then took a nap .... aahhhhh .... my bed missed me in the morning!

P.S. Shanice sent me more pics but I stupidly insisted that they would stay in our sharing folder after she deleted them on her side. However, when I logged back on to Messenger, they were gone! :( Shanice ... can I PLEASE have them again :)

My Mom's attempt at 糯米鸡 .... :(

A few weeks ago, my mom tried to make 糯米鸡 (Glutinous Rice with Chicken) and it was a really bad attempt. The first mistake was she added plain rice to the glutinous rice.

WTF?!?!

Her reasoning was that glutinous rice was too sticky.

WTF?!?!

Glutinous rice is supposed to be STICKY!! Plus, the last time I checked, its called 糯米鸡 not 糯米和白米鸡 (Glutinous and White Rice with Chicken).

The dish turned out dry and the top part had half cooked rice. We had a hard time finishing i, partly due to the fact that it was 95% rice and 5% meat and mushrooms.

Results : F

Anyway, my mom decided to try it again and I made her dig out my 姑姐's (Aunt) recipe to translate. But why did she do after I painstakingly READ mandarin? She went ahead to do it HER way again!

ARGH!!!!!

This time it was better, at least no more plain rice added ... however, I think this time she really outdid herself and had 98% rice and 2% chicken and mushrooms. I know I complain that my mom cooked too much meat but this is ridiculous! But don't worry, we still got our dose of protein in the form of a whole chicken in soup, leftover chicken with fungus and leftover tofu with mince pork, all from last nite.

Doesn't the rice gets it flavor from the chicken its supposed to have? So it just turned out to be another meal with glutinous rice instead of plain rice accompanied with side dishes. It didn't have the 糯米鸡 taste and the rice was dry (at least it was all cooked)

Results : C-

My sis was nicer, she gave my mom a C+, so I guess...

Average result : C

I want my one dish meal, a nice sticky, juicy bowl of 糯米鸡 with a reasonable amt of chicken, with or w/o mushroom, it doesn't matter. Is that too much to ask for? Is it?

Happy 65th Birthday, 姑妈!

*EDIT* More pics courtesy of LY, pls scroll down :)

My 姑妈 celebrated her 65th birthday on Sat. It was a really fun family (my Dad's side) dinner, nothing compared to my Grandma's (on my Mom's side) family dinner last weekend. Hence no update on that one .. haha.

Gim Tim, the same restaurant as my Dad's 60th last year.

The had recently changed chefs so we were a little weary about how the food would taste. My parents and siblings had gone to their buffet awhile back and did not have any nice things to say about it.

However, the food was good! Also better than last week ... but as my mom said, u pay for what u get .... this dinner cost more than double last week's.

Cold Dish. Yum .. Suckling Pig, Roast Duck, Jellyfish and Porkbelly.

Shark's Fin. This was not as good as it could be. My least fave of the nite.

Steamed Fish. Fresh and delicious!

Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Veggies.

Scallops and Clams with Broccoli. Think this was my fave :)

Garlic Prawns .... there supposedly wasn't enough for everyone to have a piece but I got mine and I wished there were more.

Seafood Noodles. Another winner ... I was stuffed by then but still finished my bowl as it was too good to pass.

Last course ... Yam with Ginko Nuts. It was supposed to be something else but my mom talked to the ppl working there and they said we could change :)

Birthday Cake! The word means longevity ..... correct me if I am wrong, my mandarin sucks :P

The birthday lady :)

The bouquet was bought by Charmaine. Here we are singing Happy Birthday.

The best thing about the nite was listening to my relatives sing. We booked the karaoke room on request of one of my uncles. The young ones started singing first and by the end of the nite, the adults joined in ... INCLUDING MY DAD!

*Wanted to post a short clip but Blogger is being a PAIN!!!!*

There were more family pics taken by others and I will hunt them down! LOL.

Family pic with 姑妈.

Kimmy and Lui Zheng and I.

All the cousins! There is supposedly another cousins pic of when we were kids *shudders with fear*

And finally .... a very precious FULL family pic :)