Two weeks break

Hurray!! Jap test is over! Meaning there will be two weeks break from jap classes. No more cracking my brains over the presentation every week! hehe. sounds like a torture.... why am I still continuing with the last sem?? Maybe it is the LAST sem that's why I'm continuing ba........

Today's class only 7 students attended. I think everyone's siam-ing the test..... but with so few students meant we have to talk more during class. gasp! Lucky there's XJ-san to rely on when I'm lost for words. haa.......

Wonder how many will continue next sem?? hopefully there are more than 10pax......

Kuishin-bo @ Suntec City

My first visit to Kuishinbo with YZ and LF. Had heard raves about this Japanese buffet and had seen the queues before so was quite eager to try it out. We were sitted at the end of the restaurant which is quite a walk from the entrance so we could see all the food before we started. Yum yum! :P

The spread is quite impressive and the range is quite extensive. The usual suspects are all here, sashimi, sushi, salad, kaninabe, teppanyaki, tempura, oden, soup, rice, udon, soba, curry, some cooked stuff, fruits, dessert, soft ice cream and drinks. Even choosing the drinks took some time cos besides the usual green tea, they have a selection of Lipton tea bags, coffee and cold drinks. The blackcurrant drink that LF recommended was not bad.

Although they only have 3 types of fish for sashimi (sea bass, salmon and tuna), YZ said it was nicer than Akira (at Emerald Hill). Both of us like the sea bass most.

Sushi - ate only 4 pcs cos I didn't want to spoil my apetite by eating too much rice! hehe. The sushi was pretty decent.

Tempura - average as it was not warm enough. Maybe next time should stake out at the tempura stand!

Teppanyaki - the chicken was quite good and tender but YZ said the salmon was a bit fishy.

Kaminabe - can't comment as I didn't eat it. I was quite full after just 2 servings of sashimi but I had little bites of everything else.

Cold soba - Simply Love it! But ate only one mouthful cos I had to leave some room for desert! lol.

Curry - Much better than I expected.

Oden - average. The raddish was not well simmered enough.

Chawanmushi - good.

Green tea ice cream - too sweet and no green tea taste

Didn't take a lot of photos as I was busy eating! hehe. Lunch is about $33 after service charge and GST. Of the 2 Japanese buffets that I had eaten recently, I prefer this. Go for the lunch buffet. It is more worth-while than the dinner!

Prawn, fish and vegetable tempura


Very quaint teapot soup. I didn't know that you are supposed to use the lid as a cup to drink the soup in

Some of the deserts we shared

Beginner Ballroom Dancing

I had my first dance lesson tonight. Whoa…. Didn’t realise that dancing could be so tiring! It is almost like working out in the gym! I can feel my muscles aching, after rounds and rounds of practicing the dance steps. We learnt the basic box steps and reverse turn of Waltz today. YZ and I had to partner each other cos there were not enough male partners to go around! Hehe! Anyway we took turns to be the "guy" in leading the dance. Hahaha. And of course I have to be the "guy" most of the time….. cos yz is erm….… even though she was wearing pants and I was in a skirt! But it was a whole lot of fun dancing even though we seemed to be moving at a faster pace than the others! Think we must learn to control ourselves, be more serious and slow down in the next lesson.

Ramen @ Baikohken

I love ramen! But it is very hard to find good ramen in Singapore... went to ate at this new ラーメン店 (ramen ten) around Raffles Place called 梅光軒 Baikohken. It specialises in 旭川　ラーメン(Asahikawa ramen) which basically is Hokkaido ramen since Asahikawa is in Hokkaido. It is the 2nd largest populated city in Hokkaido after Sapporo. Been missing the ramen since my visit to Japan 1 year ago.

I ordered the 味噌チャーシュー麺　(Miso char siew ramen). One plus point is that they serve the ramen with a special spoon. It looks like a normal chinese soup spoon but it can "hang" on the bowl! You can see this spoon on every ramen bowl in Hokkaido so I was pleasantly surprised to see it here! hee!

Anyway, the 4 components for tasty ramen.

1. Char siew
The char siew here is very lean. Very ideal for health conscious people. But I thought it might be tastier and more truthful to the authentic Hokkaido taste if it has slightly more fats. Still the char siew is succulent and full of flavour.

2. Bamboo shoots
I love that the bamboo shoots here are in big chunks. Cos elsewhere, sometimes they don't have bamboo shoots which is so vital in Hokkaido ramen. But the bamboo shoots are a bit tasteless today...

3. Ramen
My ramen is slightly overcooked but the springiness is still there.

4. Miso soup base
I like the miso soup. Not too salty but still have the good old miso flavour.

The bowl is HUGE and served with a generous portion of bean sprouts and spring onions. For the price $15.50, this is the most expensive ramen dish in the shop but very very filling. I would give it overall 3 out of 5. I will definitely go back again to try the other soup bases, 塩shio (salt) and 醤油syoyu (soya sauce). Also a good place for me to practice my japanese with the japanese cook! hehe..

Oh yes... the shop does not have service charge, only gst... :)

Deathly Hallows continued...

I had finished reading the book at 230am this morning after 12 hours of non-stop reading. This finale to the series is far better than the Order of Phoenix and the Half Blood Prince. More intense. More action packed. And of course, Voldemort is finally dead...... And it does help that JK Rowling did not kill off the 3 main characters. Sort of a happy ending ba....... (^^,)

Would have to catch up on my sleep tonight! Turning into panda le..... lol.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

He's back! I collected my Book 7 yesterday! (Ha! In the end I did not join the queue at 7.01am....) Only read a few chapters so far but there is already one casualty! Whoa! Wonder who is going to be killed off next......... This book certainly looks more promising than the Half Blood Prince. Shall be updating soon. Till then, it's back to The Deathly Hallows!

Commitment.....

I had finally given my commitment to...................................... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! :P

I had wanted to adopt a sit-and-wait attitude towards this Book 7 but today I could not resist the temptation anymore... or rather a good bargain! Haha. Was attracted by the lucky dip that Popular is offering so I decided to preorder the book! Can't rem the top prize but someone apparently won a laptop at that Popular last week so I thought I'll try my luck as well. Alas, I only got a $5 cash voucher. Well then, it can help to pay for part of the $48.05 cost. (^*,)

This means that I am going to join the queue at 7.01am on saturday morning! Going to wake up even earlier than a normal working day. lol.

[Edited] The $5 voucher cannot be used to pay for the book. Looks like I would have to spend it on something else before end of this month! :gasp:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This is the worst Harry Potter show till date. Been bored by most parts of the show. It is a miracle that I din fall asleep in the cinema which is ridiculously warm. So many details were left out that this show is at best, patchy. I won't recommend it unless u just want to complete ur series (like me).

Super LOW........ week

In general, this has been a superrrrrrrrrrr lowwww morale week. Been feeling blue, even after the retail therapy on Tues, it did not seemed better. Unhappy events just happen one after another to dampen my whole week. This is simply not one of those weeks. Ok, I might be exagerating a little. One nice thing is I saw him thrice this week. Although each meeting did not last very long but I'm contended. Still, the whole week is still BLUE.....

How do girls destress?? Number 1, shop. I did that on tuesday. Number 2. Eat. That's what I did just now. Went for a japanese buffet at Emerald Hill Road. Read some reviews that the food is good but both YZ and I felt that it is only so-so. For $35, I do not think that the quality of the food is fantastic. Although sashimi is free flow, I think it is below average. Maybe we have high expectations for japanese food! Service is quite fast though. Maybe the place is a bit ulu, it is only about half filled on a Friday night. I don't think I will be going back in the near future.... Anyway, thanks to YZ for listening to all my grievances.

Oh yes! YZ and I signed up for a beginner ballroom dancing course! hehe. I had wanted to learn ballroom dancing since I was very young. I think I was inspired by Dirty Dancing even though that film is not about ballroom dancing. Anyway, I couldn't find someone to learn with me for ages. So when YZ suggested, I simply jumped at the idea! We went to check out the school and registered for it. We even bought our dancing shoes! Hehe. I spent an hour trying on the shoes cos I could not decide which pair was most suitable for me... The heels are all about 3" high! I feel very tall just wearing them. I could already feel my muscles ache just after trying them and walking around the shop. I just hope I won't break my back while dancing in them!

Looking forward to the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix tomorrow! I think I will go and "revise" my Book 5 tonight! hehe!

Tuesday Blues..

Feeling quite moody today..... decided to skip class today and went for dinner with LF. Why am I feeling blue?? hehe. only LF knows..... and that YZ who abandoned us cos of some 北海道弁当... :p Although we had some retail therapy as well, I can't say that I am fully cured. (*_*)