1st day without maid...

We survived our first day without our trustworthy domestic helper!!!
Ying Hong cried at the airport, bidding her beloved Auntie goodbye at the departure area.
She was keen to help with Laundry and dishes in the evening, turning out her dad's pants to dig out coins, paper, etc before putting into the washing machine.. and said it was fun doing household stuff.. so proud of her.
These few days she will be spending her day in mum's place, with her hamsters tagging along (mum freaking out!).. haa.. what holiday fun for her.
And then soon we will be off to our holiday in Japan!!! yippie!

Sumptious movie.. Julie & Julia

Just watched "Julie & Julia" (dvd of course, and technically I have not "watched" cos I am still watching it now) . It's so enjoyable and inspiring.. 2 women who were hard working, passionate and determined, gave all their heart to doing something --- cooking --- and were rewarded in the most deserving ways, and proved that with a will, everything is possible.
That's the way to live...

Changes..

I am so lucky to have a wise and loving mum. She is so right about one thing.. we often ask for commitment before we willingly commit. How many of us can love unconditionally and give selflessly out of love.
From now.. will just stop asking for commitment from others. Will let go, and just focus on how to grow myself into a better version of me.
Am glad mum was able to join Yinghong and myself for tea just before we started shopping at "Tampines One". YingHong was so happy to see "popo". And of course, she was delighted with her macarons, and the raisin bread.

New discoveries!!!

Thanks to Alicia and Joyce, explored 2 F&B outlets and they are both superb!
KPO (Killiney Post Office) is super cool.. love the ambience, and food! An ideal chill-out place.
"District 10" cafe also have surprisingly good quality food.. yummy! Ying Hong loved her Spaghetti Carbonara. Will definitely return..

Dinner at Saraceno... MaMa Mia!

Am so glad BeeYean picked "Saraceno" to go for her belated birthday dinner treat , simply wonderful. The lighting in the restaurant was a little too dim for comfort, but it does give a warm, cosy, private dining room feel. Everything else after we seated was perfect! Even the bread in the bread basket served were delicious...

Bee Yean's duck confit smell sooooo good when it arrived, made us hungry instantly!

My mains of Lasagnette pasta with prawns, zucchini, butter and sage was soooo yummy. The portions were just nice, not too large, so we had room to sample the desserts, and how glad we did.

The Tiramisu was moist and flavourful, just the right amount of cocoa powder, and it came in a paper-thin wafer cup that's so crispy and light, without the over-baked or greasy taste at all. A perfect combination of texture! The Panacotta with berry compote was so enjoyable too!

This place is definitely a must-try in my list, and not to mention the very reasonable price..

Tipped over...

Never have I been so eager to regain balance and equilibrium.
Have tipped over , and lost focus for a while. Peering hard but unable to step out into solid grounds. Sigh... Don't think it's worth it anymore.

Glad I am able to refocus this week. Promise myself I will re-apply discipline back to my life, and be constantly aware of how valuable I am. Need to just believe in it, and let it happen. Am sure happiness and joy will return and fill my life.
Thanks to all my dear friends... you know who you are..

Taking a day off...

Took the day off to spend some quality time with Yinghong. Started the day off with a good workout roller-blading in east coast park, and had breakfast at Starbucks - BigSplash. Felt really good without the usual crowds.. :)
YingHong was thrilled that I joined her at her riding class. Even prompted me to watch her when she's doing the "jumping" practice.

Headed off to Cafe Hacienda in Dempsey Road with mum and YingHong to indulge in the infamous award winning mushroom soup (a tad salty for me, otherwise the flavour is rich and fresh!!! Yummy! ) and Mexican Spicy wagyu beef burger (Tasted great , but was soooo filling even though it doesn't look that big).

The Yuzu lemon cheese cake was nice but a little

too sweet for me. Prefer the Tofu Cheese cake at Eden

Santuary, Rochestor Park... hmmm.. miss it..

Overall, a really nice place to chill in the afternoon. Brightly lit with large windows looking out to green foilage, and a few nice sofas, and indoor plants.... simply relaxing. Service is impeccable too. But somehow, beside returning for the burger, I would most likely re-visit Green Room (Bishan Park II) more often than this one. Green Room is just more relaxing and has a more carefree feel. Nevertheless, glad to have tried Hacienda!!

Bloomberg's Office Awards Night -- WOW!!

Had so much fun at our office awards night at the National Museum (Glass Atrium) , the first time its not held in the office... ha!
Initially everyone felt awkward about the theme - Fashion forward Avant Garde , but turns out everyone dressed up nicely, and with the nominees striking a pose against the vinyl screen with spot light - casting a sihouette, and taking a walk down the runway, with disco light.. the atmosphere was really amazing.. felt like you were really at some fashion week event. Thanks to the marvellous marketing team!
The awards and programmers ran smoothly and very tightly, no time wasted. The audience loved the "Wonderboys" (guys from sales and data department) performance of "Nobody" .. all the screams and shrieks, wanting more... ha. And of course, with a good dinner spread and free flow of drinks, it was a great party for everyone. ..surely a night to remember. .

What a surreal week ...

This week started with a mixed pot of feelings, intense and almost unbearable. But managed to contain it, and determined to focus on happy feelings, and taking things easy, it helped!
The week got better, and actually got quite fun.... hung out with Ali at Starbucks for a casual tuition session on editing blot templates (haa.. yes, hence this new template..) ; and ended Friday with highlights --- had my hair cut and colouring done, a good dinner and drinks with Ali at the Prego, and CitySpace (Wow.. I am sure to return to this cool bar for its super relaxing ambience!). Funny that Ms. Kai-Xin-Guo was so disgusted by the couple smooching away in front of us.. haaa.. thought she very "ang-moh" bred and can be oblivious to anything.
This morning was fun too. Brought Ying Hong to her school for the rehearsal of their upcoming Teachers' Day performance. Gotta run now.. else she will be late for her art class....

Afternoon in FortCanning Park

Have been lazy so this update is really about the afternoon we spent at Fortcanning park, 2 weeks ago on 18th July. It happens that Little Artist called and postponed Yinghong's drawing class on that Saturday afternoon. So after we gave a lift to BC to Tangjong Pagar to take care of his band room errands, Ying Hong and myself drove to Fortcanning centre to meet Elsa & Erica to go lunch, and thereafter spent the whole afternoon there while Elsa had her preparations for that evening's "Ballet under the Stars" performance. Was a fun experience for Ying Hong, and we did enjoy the 1st hour of the performance (For free!!! from the patio of Fortcanning centre) before heading home.

Pot Luck dinner!

Hmm , another posting about dinner, but this time ... finally in a different household!!!! Joyce kindly invited Sharon and myself for a potluck dinner at her place, for a get-together after so many years. The host was obviously so excited, texting me like 10 times in the morning to confirm.. haa. but kudos to her winning receipe of Spinach with mushroom and baby abalones!!
Also the zealous host cook like soooo much, enough to feed 20 people lor..
This time, I had more time to really look at Jame's collection of Lego Star Wars in the study.. wow.. really impressive.
Alicia... my blog about another dinner is just sooo bland, and PALEs vs your adventures & surprises in your blog lor.. but still need to post.. hee..

More hanging outs at Jackie's place

Can't remember how many afternoons we have shamelessly hung-out at Jackie's place.. just did that again 2 weeks ago, and had lovely Lasagne for dinner!!! Yinghong was thrilled to hear about Lasagne so we had to go.

Then during work week, finally made it a point to go to the "Genesis" Cafe on Circular Road for the first time. Their "Therapeutic brown rice set" and Lentil Lasagne were both good.. we also shared a plate of seaweed roll with carrot juliennes topped with a little cashew nut sauce. Very tasty and healthy vegetarian meal.. yummy!

Great family fun!! - with Jackie's family

So thankful to my BFF -- Jackie --for having Yinghong & BC for a one night sleep-over at her place. Joined them the next day and we did bowling in Kallang leisure park, followed by lunch at her place -- healthy and refreshing vietnamese rolls --, blockus game , napping, and the 2 mothers sneaked out to Marine Parade central to get herbal tea, and had some soft ice with mangoes (yummy). And while the fathers brought kids to rollerblade in ECP, we prepared dinner (I only helped with some easy stuff like mashing potatoes.. hee) -- Roasted Lamb, chicken legs, vegetables, mashed potatoes.. yummy! Ended the great evening with a round of charade games where the kids took turn to pretend to be animals, movie characters for adults to guess. Sooo much fun!

Food thoughts...

Want to share some of my recent food adventures (some, not so recent but had no time to write about) : The goods and the bads. It was yesterday's dinner at a new dim-sum restaurant in Neil Road with the funny gang (cookie,Ali,Clee) that made me want to warn all the innocent folks out there NEVER to go to this place, unless you want to throw money away and get very disappointed.. and puzzled (is this dim sum?) ... ok the list from rank of 1 (lowest of all = DON'T GO!) to 10 (Must try at least once)
1 : DONT GO - "Dim Joy" along Neil Rd - waste of time. Only gullible tourists who happened to walk past and think the conservation house building looks pretty will drop in to surprise themselves with the tiniest servings of dim sum they will ever find. True blue hongkonger comment from cookie (Linda) : "Wah!!!!! never seen dumplings so small!!! Claypot rice has no black soy sauce taste?!" (funny thing is , we asked for a dish of black soy sauce to add, when it came, each of us tasted and were so shocked--Tasteless!) ---- sorry Ali, I know you are about to start your "Alidontgo.com" domain, but you are so slow and I am just so impatient I have to write about this super-CMI restaurant lah... shocking!

2: GO IF NOWHERE ELSE TO GO - "Max Sandwich Grill & Creamery" - B1 in "Tampines1" - talk about value, this one definitely rank at low end. Just a open cafe with a counter and some seats scattered around the atrium of B1, serves focaccia sandwiches, but so flat lor!!! Can hardly see or taste any fillings in the sandwich. The scrambled eggs and cheese one I ordered is slightly bigger than my blackberry, and so flat I think there was only 1 tablespoon full of scrambled egg in it... Price? $6+ . Coffee is half the size of a small one from starbucks but charged close to 5 bucks. Feel ripped-off. Don't know why they think they can charge a premium, when there is totally no ambience or service to talk about...

6 : ENJOYABLE - "TeaDot" in "Tampines 1" level 3 - nice cafe with cute seats and ambience.. definitely worth spending time here over a nice cuppa..only downside is the staff are slow at clearing the tables.

8: GOOD FOOD WITH CLASS - "ShinYeh" restaurant in Liang Court - Traditional Taiwanese cuisine with fresh ingredients, an extensive and exciting menu, a classy decor, good service, plus a nice view of Clarke Quay. Go for a quiet weekend lunch with familly... lovely.

9 : MUST TRY - "Vansh" at Indoor stadium promenade - good quality Indian food in a posh setting with hip Bollywood music, and very professional waiting staff. Entrance of restaurant looks intimidating, but once stepped in you feel welcome. Not sure about price though..((didn't pay.. heee). See the picture of the papadum rolled like a cigar..