Saturday, January 31, 2009

31th Jan 2009 (CNY Special) - rek

Its been a very er... sort of busy, lazy new year week. so this will be a long blog to account for everything in the past week. Irin got to know that i have another new blog, and she was quite upset about it. baby, i'm still blogging in this blog, just that this week, lazy la. Part of the issue with not blogging on a regular basis is that memories will get hazy, and you start forgetting what you wan to write about.

25th Jan 2009, Sat (one day before CNY eve)

there was ritual offering to ancestors. look at all the food. take special note of the duck.

26th Jan 2009, Sun (CNY eve)
Woke up late. then start to do this and that. at night pray. stay up late to shou shui. nothing eventful.

27th Jan 2009, Monday (CNY 1st day)
Went over to TPY early. chill~ wait for red packets to flow in.

one of the tibits. prawns that my 3rd uncle fished. hmmm... somehow its over done, and not as nice as it looks... must be the maid dont know how to cook.
Anthea hiding in the matresses.

Basically eat alot of tibits, eat steamboat, collect red packet. blah blah, same new year tradition.

27th Jan 2009, Tues (CNY 2nd day)
Twanged the first half of the day at home, then went to sentosa in the evening with pa ma. Actually i had second tots about going. flowers are of no interests to me. but my sister didnt plan or rather explain the plan very well to my parents. the 2 old ones were dressed and ready to go at 2pm, while my sis was still idling on msn at her home. -_-" in the end, i have to take matters into my own hands. i asked my sis to meet us at vivo city where we will be taking tram in. then i guide my dad on the road to vivo city.

dinner was settled at the coffeeshop near my house after much consideration. Curry fishhead, stout ribs, hotplate tofu. oatmeal prawns was packed as we were too full to finish it. it was a long wait for dinner but overall quite worth.

28th Jan 2009, Wed (CNY 3rd day)
Irin came over in the morning. then we went to have lunch with ranna's in-laws at fortunate resturant. ranna didnt get the timing rite... somehow we had the impression that lunch was supposed to be at noon. but it was shifted up to 11.30. in the end, i accidently left irin at home while rushing my parents to meet ranna's in-laws. after alot of coaxing, managed to get irin to come over for lunch. sorry, baby.

We went over to TPY after that and watch some TV with uncle5. and played abit with anthea, whom developed a run-away-from-randy-and-cry symptom. the last person who got this was my aunt3's daughter. hahaha, hope she gets cured soon.

I left early with irin to get her bag from home, then send her home.

on my way to meet boon, ray, gu and cindy after sending irin home, mom suddenly called, telling me to go home to turn off the pot that dad left cooking. OMG~! where am i suppose to get a cab at that hour at that area? then ranna called to say that uncle8 sending dad home to turn off the stove. Mom pin the blame on me, saying if i had set the VCR to record the show when i went home, dad wont have to go home, and he wont start the stove. abit yuan wang rite? hmmm... but look on the bright side, thanks to this incident, i dont have to survive on the duck stew for the next week. YESH!~ well-burned.

Had a interesting gathering with boon, ray, gu and cindy. cindy happen to be preggy with her next child. hmmm... mixed feelings lah. envy, but not enough to get us starting families at that very instant.

29th Jan 2009, Thursday

Today's my first Driving Practical. Thanks to my dear sister, the first thing the instructor said to me was, Crocs, sandal, track shoes are not allowed on driving test. great... later i found out why. due to the bigginess of the crocs, you cant step on the brakes properly. with aid from its thickness, you cant feel how hard are you stepping on the accelerator. Overall, the lesson was quite interesting.

I think with driving, the difficult part is not on the theory, but on the actual getting used to the controls and different judgements of distance. let's hope i can do better next time.

Haiz.... rinna didnt come back home for dinner. dad was looking forward to watching her enjoy mom's fried pork chops with sweet & sour dip. Actually, comparing my parents to other parents, they are alot more understanding. and all they wan is to have dinner together as a family. so far, this havent happened for this chinese new year yet. true, they came back for dinner, but we all didnt eat at the same time at the same table. so that dont count. I know and can feel, pa ma are most happy, when all are together on a sunday night for dinner. so far, that was ard once or twice last year. but some times, work commitments just dont allow us that much freedom. especially with rinna's job. sooner or later, i will be going back into the work force. hope i can maintain the sunday night dinner with them.

30th Jan 2009, Friday
Irin came over in the morning. i think more or less her entry will give a better picture.

Today i also notice that my effort in cleaning the stove is starting to lose its effect. maybe will wait awhile longer before cleaning it again.


31th Jan 2009, Saturday
Went over to JB with my parents, Aunt1 and husband, seline and uncle1. a long ride.

reaching JB, here's breakfast:
Either the coffeeshop's very generous with thier teabags, or they are recycling.

The food isnt really something to talk about. been a long time since i had such bad dim sum. bet you, i can throw the siewmai at a dog and kill it. kidding lah, its too powdery and flaky to do that.

Old ones found all kinds of fruits and fa gao they were buying to use for praying to the Sky God this coming monday night.

Uncle1 showed us his plans for his new house which has been building for the past 3 years. after much effort, the toilet is there~

was suprised this thing still can move. well... its malaysia...


the female dog named bobby.


the male dog named angie. hahaha, no la. its coco. haiz... sometimes i wonder about the uncle1's naming system.

Look at the lotus. nice hor?


A sight you dont see often in singapore. high tension cable~ the feared enemy of SAF signallers~


Lunch was very disappointing. the resturant even tried to serve us stale fish. in the end, dad made them take the fish back. after which, we went back to uncle1's house to chill abit more before heading back to singapore.

after dropping off uncle8's car at TPY as well and the praying stuff, we went to balastier for assam fish head, deer meat with spring onion, oatmeal prawns, chilli potato-leaf, stewed meat. dinner was good. so much better than the malaysia one.

Throughout the journey, aunt1 was saying that seline will be giving me prob, disturbing me, but my mom say that wont happen. when it comes to bullying, i'm tops. and true enough, seline was bullied by me til she say she's going to run into the female toilet and hide there. well... she started it. she pinch me first, so i pinched her back. and i even video-ed it. hahaha.



Malaysia was nice if you prefer a slow pace. for me, i cant stand it and i think it will be even worse for irin. pa ma might like it there as they can plant things on a larger scale. see how la, i think even if pa ma go over, they will soon come back due to the food there. hahaha.

Somehow aunt1 got to know that i went to church and told my mom. and she asked my mom not to stop me from going there la, blah blah blah, that my heart is much quieter now la, blah blah blah. mom dont believe that this is so, as even before i go to church, i already have a clear, cool mind. and she even made the effort to ask me to go temple with her tomorrow to pray to tai sui. aunt1 start to tell me i shouldnt be going to temples lah. crap, anyway, i'm skipping church tomorrow and going to temple with pa ma, after that, will help them with buying things to be used for praying to sky god. sorry, but i dont be praying to a god named jealous. or any god named after negative emotions.

Sometimes i wonder about seline. my dad brought her home once when she was alone in tpy with no one to play with. i came home to find her playing by herself and not disturbing my stuff or my parents. my mom said that seline ask her to go rest as she can take care of herself. though she drank up all the peach tea in the fridge, she kept her word and was peaceful and quiet.

Then why or how did she become such a spoilt brat infront of my aunt1? this is something i really dont understand...

30th January 2009

Spend the day with hubby today, was nua-ing at his place till around evening time, as feeling sick all the while, having flu as well as fever, but I as unable to get some sleep due to all the banging and drilling. So decide to go out at night and met up with cat for dinner. I was extremely happy that I will be meeting her, I miss her a lot, its been so long since we see one another due to work and studies commitments. After our dim sum dinner at Victor's we went over to Daiso at Plaza Sing, both hubby and me bought quite a lot of stuff (Mostly are titbits =P). Enjoyed myself today, but at the same time I will have to thanks my hubby for tolerating all my nonsence today.

Kakinotane: Soy Sauce Cracker

Shrimp Cracker, bought this for juan, she simply couldn't resist this.

Mentaikoage: Mentaiko (Spicy fish roe) Cracker.

Unisen: I was shock when I read the ingredients, it consist of Uni (sea urchin) paste, being a lover of sea urchin, I simply couldn't resist this cracker. Ummm... Wonder what will it taste like.


Esamamenonfuraiyaki Cup: Bought this specially for Daddy, being a nuts, green peas and bean lover, tot he may like this cracker which is made from edamamme (green soy beans) and cheese.


Rin

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Birthday to Alicia!!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai Everyone... Heez.. been busy with all the celebrations which is why I took so long to blog.. Heez.. This year had a total of 14 Hong bao, wonder will there be more to come.. Muahaha. Annyway here is the debrief of what I have done.

During Chu Xi, I spend the whole day helping my mum preparing the ingredients for making popiah as well the reunion dinner. The popiah thingy has been a tradition for my family for the past dunno how many years, the main reason behind it was all the shops are closed during the CNY period, so it will be better for us to prepare some backup.

Went over to visit my grandpa as well as my small uncle during the first day of new year, baby ashley which is my small uncle's son was so cute, so chubby, maybe I should upload some of the pictures I took. At night, my whole family went over to Alicia's place to have our reunion dinner with my relatives as well as to celebrate Alicia's birthday. Had a lot fun catching up as well as teasing my little cousins. After dinner, we lao yu sheng which is also a family tradition so that all of us can"Pu pu kao sheng". Below are some of the pictures we took that day.

Joyce and Me, this was a candid shot, we are laughing cause I accidentally on the timer while we are trying to take a shot.

Juan and Me.

Alicia who is the birthday girl and me.

John John and me,wonder what is Joyce doing at the back.

The girls.

C4 (Cousins 4)

The ladies of the family.

My cousins.

Our Yu Sheng, this year we had abalone instead of salmon, Yummy.

All the hands lao-ing the yu sheng.

The uncles and aunties are look so happy.

The kids.

Us with our Yu Sheng.

On the second day of CNY, the C4 who are me, juan , joyce and linda took alicia out to celebrate her birthday. We brought Alicia to the Grand Cathay for a movie(Brides Wars), the show was nice, afterwhich which we went to pasta de waraku at central for dinner, the ambience there was not bad, but it is very warm in there even though all the fans are on, doubt the air con was on. The service was prompt but a lot of mistake was made, and we are quite unhappy about it, but we did not make any complaints as its CNY and we did not wanted to create trouble. After dinner, we walk over to Clarke Quay and took some pictures here and there. Below are the pictures we took for that night.

The five of us, we did not ask anyone to take the picture for us. Guess how did we did that?

Ice Cocoa, both linda and Juan ordered this, the Ice Cocoa is not sweet which is not a good thing for us, on top of that it is kind of powdery. So don't be cheated by how it looks.

Vanilla Float, think its just sprite with ice cream, both joyce and alicia ordered this.

Calpis Float: Calpis Soda with Ice cream, I didn't taste any Calpis in there at all. Definately not really something that I will ordered again.

Fried Cheese Balls, they are hard, small and miserable, there isn't much cheese in it, and when it is served, it is not even warm. This dish is a extreme disappointment.

Spicy Cod Roe and Mushroom soup Spaghetti: Linda ordered this, only had a mouthful of it, I like the taste, the soup was tasty with the taste of the mushroom that was in the soup. When it was served previously the cod roe was not in there, luckily we asked the waiter if not we would have been cheated.

Juan's Carbornara Fettucine, Waraku Style. It is too creamy for my liking, but my sis definately loved it.

Alicia's Teriyaki chicken Spaghetti, did get to try it, so couldn't really comment on it.

My Cabbage and Bacon Spaghetti in Tomato Cream Sauce. Didn't like the dish at all. In the first place, I ordered fettucine and not spaghetti, and on top of that it should be in tomato cream sauce, but there isn't any sauce, in fact it was kind of dry and tasteless, there isn't even any tomato taste.

Joyce's Spinach Bacon Spaghetti in Spinach Cream Soup. The dish was not bad, but joyce wasn't about happy about it, she specifically told the waiter that she didn't want any garlic in it, and who knows she not only tasted garlic but she even see bits and pieces of garlic in it.

Prawn Gratin, it comes with the pasta set that me juan and joyce ordered, the gratin was far too watery for liking, basically I just tasted the pasta and not even the cheese. Juan was saying the branch at Heeren served better gratin, so if you guys wanted to give pasta de waraku a try, I would definately recommend you to go Heeren.

Rin

Saturday, January 24, 2009

25th January 2009

Met up with Randy and Raymond to watch Red Cliff II at Cineleisure yesterday, the cinema was at level 9, was kind of lost, felt so kuku, think its really been a long time since I catch a movie in a proper theatre. The show was nice and grand however I don't really like the ending, but it is base of true history so there is nothing that can be changed. After that we met up with boon and we went to Nihon Mura with the tea time buffet, the variety wasn't a lot, haha, but think of it, we can't expect too much from a $17.90++ sashimi buffet. The photos and details of the buffet is below. Went over to toy outpost and caesar for a look, was kind of interested in the Zhou Yu sword, but after Randy tried holding and swaying with it, decided not to get it.

After caesar and outpost, me and the guys kind of spilt our ways, they accompany Randy to The Rock for service, while I meet up with Linda and Juan to shop for Juan's petti-coat and shoes for CNY. All of us had chuan chuan at Marina Square Food Court for dinner. To me its not really up to my expectation but both Linda and Juan like it. The elaborations are below too after the photos for Nihon Mura. Think I will stop here for the day, going back to my pet society and show. =)

Tamago Sushi. Althougt I took it from the conveyor belt, I didn't get to eat it. Pout..

The sushi with egg, crabstick and ham. I love this, a combination of ingredient that I love.

Fried Maki, Randy warn me about it being on the conveyor belt for some time le, cause the Mayo on it has already kind of dried up, but raymond took it and he also finished it cause nobody wants it.


Futomaki, not as nice as the one at Tampopo, might be the ingredients not being very fresh ba.

Egg mayo sushi. I kind of like it, unlike the ones at sakae, the egg mayo here is not very heavy.

Crab Stick with Tamago and Shrimp Roe. Didn't taste this either, wonder who ate it?

Suppose to be Ebi sushi with cucumber, but I only see the ebi on the top one, didn't manage to find a single of ebi in the bottom ones.

Breaded Prawn Sushi with Chilli Powder. I personally find the chilli powder overpowering, so didn't really taste the prawn.

Tuni maki with dry bonito flake. I didn't try this, so you can ask Randy about how it taste. =)

On third of the portion of sushi we took. Can u imagine how much sushi have we eaten?

Chawanmushi. The chawanmushi had many ingredients such as fishcake, mushroom, ginko nuts, crabstick, chicken and prawn. Yum Yum. But the prawn is not fresh in it wasn't fresh at all.

Sashimi. Our favourite, they run out of Maguro, so only salmon and tai is served. The slices are fresh and thick compared to other Japanese Restaurants, but I find the tai sashimi not fresh enough.

Tako Yaki, they fried it, its those instant ones, but I think its not bad.

Mushroom Yaki, the mushroom absorbed quite a lot of teppanyaki sauce, both raymond and I find it too salty.

Octopus Legs with Mentaiko. I love this dish, doubt they add any seasoning to the octopus so with the mentaiko, the octopus is very tasty instead of being over salty.

Hotate and tako Chuka. It's the usual chuka, nothing special about it.

Ebi Yaki, its takopachi but instead of octopus its the prawn one, the prawn isn't fresh and on top of that, it is stuff with lots if red ginger, being a person who dislike ginger, I dun really like this dish.

Fried Squid. The Squid isn't rubbery but is crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, something that I might come back for.

Ebi Fried, personally I find it too gelate, we didn't even manage to finish this plate.

Bbq hotdogs, there is nothing special about the hotdog, just the normal ones that you can get in any supermarket, as you can see above, it kind of "Chao Ta", was extrememly disappointed with this dish, thought it might come with a special sauce or something.

Fried Tofu. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, i think the sauce is the same as the one they use for mushroom.

My bowl of Chuan chuan with "la mian" and beef brisket sauce. The chuan chuan includes: stewed mushroom, radish, curry fishball, braised pig intestines and beef brisket. The radished was kind of uncooked and I didn't really taste the curry in the fishball, but the rest of the dishes taste great.

Juan's version of Chuan chuan with "la mian" in curry sauce. Her chuan chuan include: xiao bai chai, curry fishball, braised pig instestine, meat ball and siew mai. She emphasize that we shouldn't order the curry sauce cause it doesn't even taste like curry. But she was overall happy with her choice of Chuan Chuan, althought the small intestine was sold old.

Rin