Happy Birthday Bro

The Bro is on mc at home today... Can't believe he asked me to cook for him instead of extorting an expensive meal... Since the Mum and Dad are away this weekend, i am the head of the house and kitchen! hahaha....

We had Hokkaido Gratin in Cream sauce with Ham and Mushroom.. heavening... needless to say, cos i cooked it! must be yummy cos the Bro asked for second helping! hehe. (^^,)v

Gaga over monkeys

Drove past my old neighbourhood this afternoon. Saw the craze over the "monkey" trees.. OMG! they have turned the road into a shrine... -_-" pls restore the place back to its old quiet self...

Paintball

Brought home 3 souvenirs from our game this afternoon.

1. Tired muscles

2. Cut on lower lip (just 2 very tiny cuts caused by the flying splinters of the cracked paintball shell. If you observe the safety rules, it is a very safe albeit strenuous game. But don't be deceived by the sweet exterior of the paintball, the taste is YUCKS! Even though the guys assured us that they were edible, they din say the taste is BITTER!)

3. three blue-blacks all on my right leg. hmm... just realised the 3 of them are neighbours..

Drum roll...... tadah! And the trophy goes to...... the 5cm dia bruise on my right knee! i think it will look as colourful as the paintball tomorrow! hehe..

[added on 1 Oct: Just realised there's a bigger bruise on my left hip.. life's lonely on top..]

24th Japanese Song Karaoke Contest

Knew there would be enka... but didn't expect to have half of the contestants (uncles and aunties) singing enka which sounded like hokkien songs to me... to make things worse.. some aunties sitting behind us actually started singing along to some of the songs! (-_-")

Simply didn't know how they judge the contestants... well.. at least the winner sang a song that i heard of... the original japanese version of an old Jacky Cheung cantonese song, 遥远的她.

The saving grace were the guest performance by the winner of the previous year's contest. He sang Diamond Dust by Himuro Kyosuke from jdorama Koori no Sekai and Only Human by K from 1 litre of tears. quite nice.

The special guest was a Reiko Maruyama-san (or at least that is what the compere pronounced it as...) She was quite entertaining and knows how to miggle with the audience. Quite omoshiroi and professional.

Baikohken Revisited

One colleague wanted to eat ramen cos the weather is cold..
One colleague wanted to twang as there's no managers around today.
So ended up here for lunch.

Miso Butter and Corn Ramen ($13.50) - Good! But SUPER big bowl.. I suspect all the miso bowls are this huge. Someone please remind me to order the half bowl next time. I spent half an hour eating this bowl and I managed to stuff everything down! yay!! oops! hehe! (^^,)v

I like the butter in miso soup. And I simply adore corn! Yep I'm a corny person. lol. (>_<)

Feedback

Someone told me that my photo of the sunset is very depressing... what do you think??

My friend and I were enjoying the beautiful sunset in front of our hotel when we decided to take some cheeky poses. Since our faces would be washed out by the sunlight, I thought it might be a good idea to take our back view instead. (^o^)v I thought it had a "romantic" feel to it...

Or is it the caption?? "问年月　何年月　恨年月" but i think the words are very beautiful too... very poetic.... hehe... shall i search for another photo to display?...

~La la la II~

Welcome to my home! :)

I really can't take shoes shots... (@_@?)

Large Reclining Figure

Been struck by this bronze sculpture by Henry Moore outside OCBC building but somehow the angle is always off...

Thought it would be an interesting pic with the man in the background... hmmm... looks otherwise..

Q&A

Qn: Guess what is this?!

Ans: Postbox!

Saw this very cute postbox outside Kreta Ayer Police Station. Just gotta take a piece of it home! Really like the drawing cos I think it is full of 童真! (^^,)

Happy Birthday Pa

Oops! I forgot today's my dad's birthday! Lucky no dance class today... At least I'm home for dinner! hee.....

Draw a House

"Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You love your house and family. You are a gifted artist as well. Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you. Your life is always full of changes. You are very tidy person. There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. Your life is always full of changes.

You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You have a strong personality and you like to command, influence and control people.

You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love. We also see that you are sensuous, sexual, and privately passionate. You are self-confident and happy with your life."

Just for fun. Try out here.

温岚 - 热浪

Landy is back! Heard this song on radio on Monday morning. A Great Perk-Me-Up! I nearly jumped up and danced around in the office! (^^,)

Dance Withdrawal Symptoms

Oh no!!! Been dancing and prancing at home... Sigh... Had graduated from beginner's class on Friday. Sadly, out of the 20 odd people from the beginner class, only 5 people wanted to continue with Intermediate. The number is too small for a class to be conducted... :(

Our instructor K came up with a wonderful idea. He wanted to plant the 5 of us as moles (LOL!) in the next beginner class so that we could double up as leaders (i.e. the Lead in the dance) and psyco the people to make up the numbers for an intermeditate class. Best of all, we can refresh the beginner class at no cost! Yippie!! But this only starts in Oct.... What am I going to do on Fri nights now?!

Mooncake Frenzy

Went into mooncake overdrive this week.. Practically had mooncake for every day of the week...

Raffles Hotel Mini Snow-Skin Mooncakes with Champagne Truffle & Ganache ($45 for box of 8) and Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Raffles Cognac Truffle ($43).

Champagne - Too annoyingly sweet. No alcohol taste. :(
Cognac - Also sweet but slightly stronger alcohol flavour than the Champagne.
Both snow-skin are too thick and sweet. It has an overpowering essence scent that mask the taste of the filling. Though soft, the skin is too sticky that got stuck on the knife so the shape of the mooncake becomes deformed. Grossly overated!

Also tried out Marriott Hotel Mini Snow-skin Wild Strawberry Yogurt Mooncake and "Ebony & Ivory" Whisky Chocolate Praline (both $42.80 for 8 pieces).

Wild strawberry - Average. Just yogurt in mooncake.
"Ebony & Ivory" - Oohh!! I love this. Nice alcohol and chocolate combination. The snowskin is just nice. Not too sweet and don't try to overcome the main dish that is the Praline, unlike the Raffles Hotel's.

Also bought Eater Palace Classic Teochew Yam Paste with Pumpkin Mooncake ($8 for 1 piece). Very nice when warm. Smooth yam paste. Almost like eating Yam paste dessert.

Still have Four Seasons D24 Durian Snowskin Mooncake ($8.40 for 1 piece) in my freezer.

Shared the Marriot and Raffles mooncakes with a colleague as we wanted to try out the flavours but didn't want to get the whole box. Luckily the others could be bought singly. Thank goodness, Mid Autumn Festival only comes once a year. I cannot afford to put on any more weight le! (>_<)

Say a little prayer.....

i think i shall try that..... i wish for....... the patience of course! you think i'll break his head?? hehe!

really cannot tahan my boss sometimes.... argh...... :p

Wong Kok Char Chan Teng

Location: Bugis Junction #02-50

Had the Baked rice with chicken chop in twin sauce. White sauce is fixed, the twin could be either beef sauce or Italian red sauce. I chose the latter.

Nothing spectacular. Average. If I must find something good to write about, it would have to be the rice. The rice was cooked just nice.

This is one of the unfriendly places that charges for ice / warm water. 50 cents for a glass but they gave a ridiculously huge glass! I think maybe about 500ml!

~La la la~

Sotong's Law: If you shop with a purpose, you could never buy what you want. If you have no agenda, you often find lotsa surprises!

Two lovely dresses I found and brought home last night! (^^,)

Life Isn't Always Made To Order!

No Reservations

No Surprises.

(Is there) No Other Handsomer actor to match the gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones?

Oddly, No Yearn for food after watching this romantic comedy about 2 chefs!

Marutama Ramen

Location: 6 Eu Tong Sen Street #03-90/91 The Central

Finally ate at this raved ramen ten. Spur of the moment decision. Had reached at 5pm and was pleasantly surprised to see no queue at the door. Alas! It only opens at 5.30pm... Didn't want to waste my time waiting and looking like a super kiasu Singaporean, I went around the mall to look look see see. Went back at 5.20pm and to my horror, I am the 10th in the queue! (-_-")...

The chicken broth is a refreshing change from the usual tonkotsu, miso, syoyu and shio. Yummy! The ramen is well done but I find it slightly too thin (more like cantonese wanton noodles...) The charsiew is nice and tender. Only gripe about the place would be the price... For my bowl of Marutama ramen, there's only one lone piece of charsiew, some spring onions and seaweed... Price: $12++

Oh ya, saw WL in the same restaurant when I was leaving.

~ It's a small small world! ~

The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of...

Had this recurring dream last night... Dreamt that I was on a very tall building that is still under construction. Being afraid of heights, I had to climb down the building floor by floor... I didn't dare to use the tower lift... But with all the formwork and scaffold lying around, getting down as a huge challenge.... I was forced to make a decision or end up left behind...... I can't rem the rest of the details but this scene keep playing in my head...

Went to google on dreams interpretation... Here's what I found out from Dreammoods...

Construction
To see construction in your dream, signifies a new surge of energy, ambition and renewed confidence. It may also represent the rebuilding of your own life

Building
To see a building in your dream, represents the self and the body. How high you are in the building indicates a rising level of understanding or awareness

Height
To dream that you are at a great height, signifies that you have reached one of your highest goals or objectives.
To dream that you are afraid of heights, denotes that you are striving for goals that seem beyond your reach.

wahaha... you really need to take this stuff with a huge pinch of salt! :P

Anyway, I think that some dreams have to do with your waking life as well... I attended a presentation on a construction of a project earlier the day... reminded me of the times when I was working on site.. so maybe that's why I dreamt of construction! lol.

Fann Wong

Saw Fann rehearsing for her dunno-what's-the-title movie with the dunno-what's-his-name Korean actor in the dance school just now. She's super thin and wearing super thick makeup. Even with the super thick makeup, she's only decent looking... (My dancemates also think the same way!) Hmm..... I wonder how she looks like without makeup... She was rehearsing a certain pose the whole time. To give her credit, that pose does have the stance of a dancer...

Food Junction @ Bugis

Ate at this new foodcourt twice this week.... wrong choice!

Tuesday
Omelette Rice - Hamburger set ($6.90) which consists of an omelette over plain rice on a hot plate, with 3 pieces of broccoli and carrot and a meat patty. Yucks, I don't like "fake" omu rice. To me, omu rice should be rice wrapped in omelette and not this. The omu rice at Taka foodcourt is still the best.

Today (Friday)
Oyster mee sua ($3.80) - I've not eaten the real McCoy before but I certainly do not like this version. The oysters taste very "oyster-y". It is so bad that I need to let the Chinese parsley (that I had meticulously picked out) soak in the broth to overcome the smell! And you know how I hate the smell of the Chinese parsley! (-_-")

Smelly fried bean curd ($3.80 for 9 pieces) - Saw this on the menu while waiting for the mee sua. Thought it was quite interesting so got it to share. It has no smell at all. Maybe they were restricted by the foodcourt setting so they could not make this super smelly. But since this is called smelly bean curd, I expect it to stink! So it failed in that aspect. In addition, it taste just like normal fried bean curd. What a complete waste of money and stomach space!

Ichibantei

Location: 60 Robertson Quay #01-01 The Quayside
Tel: 6733 1654

Tried みそチャーシュー面 miso charsiew ramen $11.80 (what else! :P). Too salty for my liking. My colleagues' 豚骨ラーメン tonkotsu ramen $10.80 is slightly better, not as salty. Ramen nicely cooked but too thick... Soup salty... Charsiew v.v.v. salty (and i thought i had already trained my taste buds to tolerate kotteri ramen after Hokkaido...) charsiew is not the usual round shape type, theirs is rectangular slice (another booboo....) the menma and ajitsuke tamago are good but not sufficient to save the bowl... the restaurant has a nice enviroment though... warm and cozy... too bad no photos... will only go back if someone "force" me to and if there's no other choice...

ラーメン物語 (ramen-monogatari)

＜ラーメンのタイプ＞ (Type of Ramen)

１）だしの種類 - 豚骨、鶏ガラ、魚介 (Types of broth: pork bones, chicken bones, fish and shellfish)

２）味付けの種類 - みそ、しょうゆ、塩 (Types of seasonings: miso, soy sauce and shio)

これらの組み合わせでタイプが決まるが、だしは複雑に混ぜ合わせている場合が多い。　油が多め、味が濃いめだと「こってり（している）」、油が少なめ、味が薄めだと「あっさり（している）」という。 The combination of the above ingredients determines the type of ramen. The soup stock is often a complicated blend. Ramen with a fair amount of oil and a strong flavour is called kotteri (rich), while noodles with little oil and a mild flavour are considered assari (light)

＜基本語句＞ (Basic Vocabulary)

• れんげ　-　スープを飲むのに使う中華料理用のスプーン。 renge: Chinese-style spoon for drinking soup

• トッピング　-　（ラーメンの）上にのせる具。 toppingu: ingredients put on top of ramen

• 味付け卵　-　煮て、たれなどをしみ込ませた卵。 ajitsuke-tamago: boiled eggs soaked in sauce

• チャーシュー　-　焼き豚。味付けした豚肉を蒸し焼きしたもの。 chaashuu: roast pork; the pork is flavoured and then roasted

• メンマ　-　タケノコの一種を薄く切って調理したもの。 menma: a kind of bamboo shoot that is sliced thin and cooked

• 鶏ガラ　-　（鶏の）肉を取った後の骨。 torigara: bones that remain after the (chicken) meat is stripped off

• 替え玉　-　追加用の一食分のめん。 kaedama: a second serving of noodles

• 完食　-　何も残さず、全部食べきること。 kanshoku: to eat all the noodles and drink all the broth of the ramen
  

Ratatouille

A well deserved 4 stars!

This animated adventure of a rat who aspires to be a cook is full of fun, laughter, love, warmth and (what else) food! Makes me wanna eat!!! Yum yum! It's definitely more than a cartoon. Don't dismiss it as a kid's show! It's amazing how they blend in the complicated real-life themes and emotions in this animation. Just watch it! :P

Disney Ratatouille site

《秋心赋》

My fav song from the musical... very 诗情话意 .

《秋心赋》 词曲：梁文福

海无边　天无际　无边无际无尽期
风凄迷　雨丝密　残泪滴
人遥远　心思念　思思念念只一个你
不回忆　又回忆　空回忆

心上秋　何年何月渐渐染上眉头
眉上秋　早已积成心上忧
心上秋　何时再与那年的你聚首
等是爱　盼是爱　望是爱
问年月　何年月　恨年月