welcoming 2010

the last sprint of 2009 started with the arrival of johan on the 29th
picked him up at the airport only to check him into his ultra kinky hotel room at klapsons and we rushed off for tea at st regis :)i think i've found yet another good tea place thou the clotted cream is somewhat not really clotted but more like cream. but price is good esp since we went during the mon-wed period so pretty good scones with really good sandwiches and even better twg tea and champangethen it was off to somerset to check out all the new flagship stores, dinner at sushi teh paragon and finally more drinks at alley bar

30th started later coz jo was busy getting his teeth checked so we only met up at marn's bbq for more food and drinks of course

31st was spent mostly at home coz we had planned to start the nite off at mortinis at 5!!! haha johan behaved himself and ordered only 1 lychee martini.... :) after which we took a nice easy stroll towards overeasy where we were to have dinner and spend the rest of the evening... it was GREAT. when jo and i walked in, karman showed us to our table and said..... since we managed to get u an outside table, u can also have it for the rest of the nite. so the story is.... i assumed johan and all his melb friends were going to have a house party but when i met up with them, marn said there was no plans yet but she would really love to see the new year fireworks at marina area... and of course what better place to have it but at Overeasy rite? its rite by the water, there's service, the fireworks would be right above us and for sure alcohol.... BUT by this time... it was 5 days to new year eve! there is no possible way i can get us a table of 10 at the best spot possible! after of course using my wonderful charm and flirted my butt off with the manager... i managed to convinced them to enlarge my friend's table.... so the arrangement was we were to haf dinner then move to my friend's table... BUT upon arrival it was a fantastic surprise that we were to haf the perfect table outdoors ALL freaking nite!!!! what a perfect way to spend nye... OE did a great job with the crowd control so it wasnt totally packed, we had our glasses of champagne at midnite, dinner was pretty good and wonderful friends to start my new year with. best of all i had johan there so it was just perfect... a little disappointed gina cldnt join us but she was hard at work.
and not to forget the 10 mins firework display rite above our heads perfectly at the stroke of midnite...



the party consisted of: Johan, Sarah, Anna, Yanna, Marn, Wilson, Suki, Leon, Sinclair, Keith and later Johannes. a very good mix of old and new friends :) and a mix of nationalities too... ukranians, singaporeans, indos and halfies :D

after numerous glasses of champange, mojitos, wine, long islands the party adjourned up to butter where we were pretty drunk by this time esp our 2 lightweights sarah and jo :)
and then there's the "i wanna go home" pics
then it was off to lau pat sat for supper... fishball noodles, mee pok, carrot cake etc.... new year started off to a wonderful start!!! and i only managed to crawl into bed at 530-6 am? who knows haha

1st jan...
lunch at home with mom and ivan, lunch again with johan at wee nam kee... the most awesomeness chicken rice at novena :) after which we took a leisurely stroll down newton road coz jo wanted to see "his" newton suites and we ended up walking all the way to papa palheta
for most people that 15 min walk wld probably not haf been worth mentioning, but because it's johan and i, pple will understand y its worth being proud of. so papa palheta is opened by leon and i've been trying to look for it for the longest time ever, only to realise that i've been looking just one street down... its a brilliant little coffee place and i hope it doesnt get too popular coz then it'll be too crowded so thus i shall say it serves terrible coffee so pple dont go!!
then it was off to kuma's for her fantastic pohpiahs... it was YUMMY and a good first dinner of the year :D thankfully this is the one kitchen not opened to the general public :) also at this dinner i was informed of what i'll be wearing as maid of honour for my cousin's wedding!!! im so excited that i haf such a big say in what i wear on the day itself :) then off we went to charlyn's engagement party on her roof top garden for more drinks thou i think we were mostly just tired

DAY 5, 2nd jan
jo jo's last day in sg before leaving for siem reap to see the ang kor wat

it started early... meeting at ps cafe at 10am coz ivan had to rush off

ivan had a really hearty brunch... ginger pudding + truffle fries

as per normal, ivan and i made it down on time... then jo 20 mins later, sarah 15 mins later than jo and finally gina and sinclair a good hour and half late.. but at least ivan got see all of them before he leaves sg ( or at least now it is left)

late nite drinks was at upp bukit timah just coz jo wanted to catch michaela before he left...
it was our one last gathering... before everyone left back to their respective places :(

but omg... tabi's shoes were absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! she has the best dress sense ever and terribly nice too!!! im so glad to haf met her and suki this time round... johan is so blessed he has such fabulous friends surrounding him and im so glad to be part of that :)

ged has shown me the coolest form of transportation ever! a portable, foldable bike... he rides it everywhere... to drinks even after partying! ie zouk... its the one thing police wont stop :D

this has been a really long post... sorry to dump everything in one shot but i thot a good summary of jo's stay deserved some sort of effort

to all my darlings all over the world i love u, hope u had a fabulous new year celebration and hope 2010 will be a much better year for all of u

stuffed like a turkey

thanksgiving came a little later than usual... instead of the traditional november, i had my fill of turkey in dec :) it has been a crazy few days... im still recouperating from the large quantities of food and alcohol i consumed over 4 days. and now that i've had a day of rest, jo jo is coming tmr!!! starting another round of alcoholic haze :)

i've been so spoilt this year... this was how i spent my christmas....

christmas eve.... dinner at gina's.... her dad made an awesome mashed potatoes with eggs and mayo and it was yummy! by the time i got there... i was the last one so no pictures. the turkey, ham and beef and other salads were prepared by equinox's chief
then it was back home to change and meet the boys at a pub

after numerous shots and glasses of beer... it was off to zoukmet up with my brother and his besties :)

25th dec 2009...
dragged my arse down to church for morning service all hung over and sleep deprived
and the best cure for a hard morning was christmas lunch prepared by my cousin-in-law's parents who flew in from ireland. it was absolutely delicious
just the protein side of the table... lamb, pork, ham, turkey, beefff all served on pretty trays
was hoping to catch the whole table that was brimming with delicious food

and i have to say these were by far the best potatoes ever.....

and of course tons of wine included... i think the drinkers averaged about a bottle and a half at the end of this.
then it was a quick rest at home where i was furiously making panna cotta for dessert for dinner... then off to kuma's for more wonderful food... her stuffing and turkey were by far the best thou ivan says that lunch's turkey was better and of course more wine there

26th was spent at overeasy/butter getting sloshed with the aussie pple,
27th was dinner with the girls at PS.... these photos will be uploaded once either sarah or sinclair chooses to upload them.... coz they both were having a camera battle

basically over these few days... the only time i got terribly drink, i had church the next day which made it "interesting" to say the least

even though this year was a lot more quieter than last year with regards to the number of cousins arnd... i had more friends to spend it with :)
althou i am desperately missing my friends elsewhere

hope u had a fabulous christmas too whereever u are!

drooolllll

arent they just beautiful?
sigh..............

random thoughts on a rainny afternoon

so ive been wondering if human beings were truly made to be with just one other person over many years... leading to the qn if marriage really works now, in these times

people and society keeps evolving thru time and now traditions and cultures are so worried that rituals will be lost forever. however, the one thing that is still so predominant is the concept of marriage; of finding ur soulmate and growing old together. of course marriage has changed to an extent where divorce is introduced so for the western countries, divorce is a norm and nothing much unlike here in asia. but this is for another day... today's thoughts are whether human beings are built to just stay with one other person over many years

i believe the concept of marriage "worked" for the 2nd generation from mine and older. back then, women were expected to serve their husbands, staying home etc... women had a certain skill set that were appropriate of those time. i mean even their dress sense were reflective of how constricted their movements were to be - the binding of feet in china, all our original cultural clothing like the qipao and those corsets and big skirts. as much as i admire them now, i cannot possibly imagine living my life with those clothes

fast forward to now, nearing the end of 2009
this past fashion season was highlighting men jackets for women
women now are brought up to think for themselves, to not be so dependent on their men, to contribute to household income etc... we've pretty much taken up every aspect of the mens role and more. so under these conditions, is it possible for 2 independent pple to coexist without eventually hating each other?
i guess the need to procreate could be an excuse but in these times, the cost of raising a child could and would instead pay for anyone's retirement. especially with the existence of elderly homes, the elders no longer need to really fully depend on their children to take care of them. so other than societial pressures y else do pple marry? y go through the whole process of staying together even after slips of the heart or tongue then eventually the relationship deteriorates till everything u say/do to each other is out of pure hatred.

i know this is being terribly pessimistic but when it comes to the matters of the heart is it not better to be pessimistic than the optimistic one? i know the pessimistic person of the relationship will loose out on the full experience of things, but if and when it ends, i will not be found moping around for days on end. and yes i know that consciously i enter into a relationship just waiting for it to end. i know its very unfair to the guys ive dated so far but i shd think they knew it in the beginning

but like all girls who've grown up with all those disney princesses, i do secretly hold out a hope that i might find my prince one day

turkey, ham, chocolate cakes...

i had a belated thanksgiving/early christmas meal today
my aunt made her turkey today and it was simply yummy! too bad there wasnt much left to bring home... but more next week when christmas dinner rolls around :)

attempted to bake my first chocolate cake with chocolate and candy cane frosting... the cake turned out better than expected thou i think i need to change the frosting recipe and i just might haf a full-proof chocolate cake recipe.... wished i remembered to take some photos today but everything was terribly rushed and it didnt even cross my mind truthfully
next time i'll try and be better at this...

so someone just commented that my life is most likely to be more interesting than her reading law.... haha
ever since moving back here, my once exciting life has been turned 180 and this i blame
1. the lack of interesting guys here
2. this island being too small and i refuse to get involved with pple with the slightest possibility of having similar common friends
3. i think compared to all my friends who have gone overseas, i finished having absorbed more of the US culture than i thot i did. this is coz of the present family and i chose to maintain friends of different backgrounds instead of hanging with the "real" asians in school. in turn, it intimidates guys here i think
4. emotionally i think ive spent it all dealing with family... any more complications i would probably have a breakdown haha
5. i definitely dont fit the typical local beauty types
6. im comfortable with the friends i have already, so meeting new pple isnt a priority
7. i dont haf my dearest friends arnd to record drunken soliloquies which makes life so much more interesting
8. the general lack of alcohol really or pple to drink with

so no life here is terribly boring... thus i have turned to baking to kill time, that now my cupcakes are just awesome :)

unfortunately now that this temporary home has no oven, baking will have to be on hold for awhile so i've decided to try other stuff that requires little/no use of oven such as jello.... keeping my fingers crossed tmr's elderflower+italian sparkling wine+berries jello comes out presentable or else im going to be stuck for sunday's function.....
am tempted to just make a bottle of mulled wine and bring that instead coz at least that is a sure thing..... :)

10 more days to Christmas

and what will u be doing?

was just sorting thru my pictures earlier this afternoon and stumbled across last year's winter photos


situation was so different .... friends and family and cold weather abound
this year is going to be different... i guess the closest thing singapore has to snow is constant rain and a slightly cooler weather? haha

Moments of Happiness

it has been a tough year... lots happening at home. this week has been especially tough... having to go through the physical moving of houses and frustrations that go with it.
Goodbye cairnhill.... u have been a good house and i've definitely taken u for granted

thankfully i got dragged to ZOUKOUT 2009... my 2nd ever zoukout! the first was very memorable..
bottles of rose sparkling wine to ease the headache and start the party offsarah and mery was terribly gracious and hosted us in at rasa using money earned from acrossthebloodyuniverse.com
and sarah clothed gina and i for the night without her knowledge :)

so the night was as follows
830pm - went in to get our entry passes; stayed for half an hour to check out the different arenas and offerings; back to the rm for more drinks
1030 - sarah gives up and goes to bed
1200 - watched fireworks frm the room
1230 - headed back to watch aeroplane
300 - gave up/grew bored so thus back to the room where everyone took turns to snooze
500 - got up and listened to armin play from our balcony
615 - woke sarah up to head down to finish up armin
700 - aldrin came on to play!!!
830 - jumped into the hotel pool
1000 - gina left to go home for church and i got some Zzzs in the room before checkout!

later on that night after a day of hardly any rest... 3 very sleepy and grumpy girls met up with a surprisingly energetic thou lack of slp guy to pick up johan!
he flew in for half a day on his way back to jkt....
after their pickup service, sarah and gina left jo and i at the naumi
1145pm - met up with my other jo at wala's for multiple rounds of vodka redbulls and acoustic singing this proved to be entertaining coz all 3 of us stumbled out pretty buzzed

and now i just spent a wonderful day out with johan... looking at singapore thru his architecture eyes, appreciating and looking at buildings as if having new eyes
came home, only for a breather before getting picked by johanese for a dinner and movie... ive been wanting to watch new moon after reading the series (even thou i knew it was going to disappoint)... but have had to keep postponing due to my move. this series has actually made me spend tons of time in my room just reading and im such a sucker for such things really... if only there is such thing as that kind of love out there
and omg... i really feel the age and wld love to stop growing coz i spend the whole 2 hours basically drooling over taylor lautner... only to come home, google him and find out he's significantly younger!! such a cougar moment heh

still need someone to go christmas shopping with... this year's pretty good, have ideas as to get everyone except one.... its always the good guy friends that i always seem to haf problems with. sigh... need to get the creative juices flowing :)
but i have already received christmas pressies!

aesop!








an avanti cookie press and icing set











also i was craving k chocolate balls :) and they were promptly flown over... im terribly spoilt

its half an hour before 27th july 2008
half an hour before the service of a dear friend
the shock of his news is just beginning to sink in even after a month of knowing
sometimes i dont knw if its true or just a misunderstanding
im all the way on the other side of the world so i cant make it to his service to bid him a final farewell
but i pray to God to be there with his family and close friends
thank you God for letting Michael touch all of us in his short life and I trust he is with you right now looking down

rest in peace
my dear dear friend
Michael Washington
u will be missed

busy busy busy

after last semester's finals, moving out of my house... it has been total utter madness


between 3 people... we managed to fill a HUGE lorry to the brim with our crap
after days of packing my stuff into boxes and then moving out day came and it was 16 full hours of clearing the house and set about to washing it.... NEVER AGAIN

and then it was graduation day....

weather was impossible.... it was freaking hot and we all had to sit out at the bleachers under the sorching sun! got really bad tan.... got a bib equavalent, and my scalp got burnt! so now im having spotted dandruff problem haha

1 week off was GREAT i heart holidays......

went to San Francisco
1st nite was spent at blowfish and oh my goodness it is GOOD

had the BEST plum sake cosmo... it was yummy that i had 2 orders of it and sayuri (unfiltered sake)

the rolls were good, the sashimi was surprisingly really good too
and the best part was the desert

BON BONS!!!!!!!!!!

embarcadero ferry terminal for lunch


garlic fries + calamari + chicken club + ahi tuna burger + strawbetty milkshake + SF beer = perfect lunch

rockstar!!!!!!!!

listen to this.... its really good!!!! :)

vancouver!!!!

its been a mad few weeks.... had my birthday, prepared for midterms then came along spring break!

one of my bestest present this year

for my last spring break... im all the way up in my usual vancouver.... land of salmon, brown bears etc :)
been wasting time just lazying around, hanging out with my cousins, watching too much korean drama with my aunt and swooning at korean actors. i need to start putting time aside for the things i need to get done before i drown in pilled up work when this week is over. oops.
tuesday i managed to drag amy up to the usual mountain to come skiing/snowboarding with me, she snowboards while i ski. both of us hadnt been on the slopes in a while but soon enuf we got the hang of it and had sooooo much fun! God blessed us with perfect weather and pretty good snow.... and since it was tuesday... we pretty much had the slopes to ourselves which was GREAT. i heart skiing.... didnt realise just how much i missed the sport till i got my skis on. :D

we both called it a day after a few runs and drove down just as the sun started to set.... the view was breathtaking. too bad my camera cant capture the beauty of it but anyway here are some attemptsvancouver.... the place of my own many firsts :D hahaha a place of many fond memories and i just cant help but to reminisce