Merry Christmas!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

orchard road coming right up...

'tis the season to be jolly.. fa la la la~ la la la~

Yup yup, Christmas is just round the corner and as usual Orchard (and everywhere else) will light up with a few thousand kilowatts again.

Latest tree attraction, well.. the nearest to my working place, is the Soo Kee diamond studded star tree at Bugis Junction. The one in West Mall is kinda huge too.. going for about 3 storeys high. Ahhh... since Vivocity has much more space... I wonder if they'll put a humongous tree there as well? Don't know 'coz haven't been to Vivo. It's like out of the way, you know?

*take a peek at the Soo Kee tree pic taken by others


Also, been seeing those Hippo buses around and its kinda cool. Going topless on a hot sunny day... (the bus is topless.. not the passengers!) If you're interested, here's the link for more info.


Tuesday was Prudence last day in LS. For her farewell lunch, we went to a quaint little shop at Kandahar Street called Bumbu.



- outside view of the restaurant

Food's not bad, can try the 'Coffee Chicken' and the 'Tauhu Telor'.

daisy

And so, have decided to call her Daisy. Well, not sure if she knows that's her name but I'll say, "Daisy, come come.. gai gai!" when I want to pick her up to play. And her nickname shall be 呆呆, coz she's quite stone at times.

This morning, let her play on my lap and she'll run up the arm, trying the 'obstacle' race which basically involved climbing over a hand wall, running headlong onto a steel tummy and sliding down the wobbly lap. But hor, you know what... she pooped on my arm. Haha!

first day!

Opps...Caught in the act!

Looks like she had discovered that the wheel is so much fun to run on! Still bearable, not too much noise at this moment. Good thing that the cage has no parts that she can chew on.

Been letting her get used to my hand. Didn't dare to pick her up, so waited till she gets into the food tray and then picked up the entire thing. She'll not notice till for about 5 seconds later and then she'll start to panic. Sniffing around and finally coming out to walk on the palm. Of course it didn't help that I also gan cheong and ended up with sweaty palms! Haha, but its fun and will have to hold her everyday so that she'll not go wild...



Come closer...

new home

small cosy home...


Finally the latest addition has arrived! Heh heh, for the moment, she doesn't have any name yet... but she does like to sleep alot. She's been sleeping in the office and now after putting her into her new home, she explored a little, ate a little and seemed 'gan cheong' for a while, and now... sleeping already!


dun disturb!



She's only been home for about an hour or so, and she has finished exploring. Well, the cage isn't exactly very big anyway... Seems like she haven't discovered the exact usage of the wheel. At first she refused to climb onto it... going under, going around.. anywhere but climb on it. After I had finished bathing, I found she's actually perched on the wheel but didn't run on it. Probably she's still young (around a 5-6 weeks old).

Seriously I think she dislikes the cat litter as bedding. She tried to burrow her way through it but gave up as the cat litter is harder and not conducive as a hiding place. Hmm... probably will try to get the recycled paper bedding next time. Softer and more comfy!


can you see me?

preparation for the new arrival

i thought i'd never rear any hamsters again after the last one dieded... but well, things have been buzzing around ever since last weekend. Went to scout for a small cage (coz now its the first time i'm rearing dwarf hamsters... but hor, i read from the internet that black bear is actually campbell breed.. not dwarf.. hmmm.. don't know!) So anyway, went to Pet Station in Causeway Point. Didn't like the cages found in Pet Lovers Centre, as either it was too big, too expensive or they have wires (which makes way too much noises when the hammie starts to chew on them!) Anyway, managed to find one cage meant for rodents and mices (hmmm...hopefully it won't attract the real ones! yikes!). From Taiwan it said (i mean the cage of course!). Well, as long as it is within my budget. Got it for $16++ but somehow got discount so ended up paying $17+ for one medium sized cage and a small hand carry container. Last time I bought Habitrail cage and now i looked at that price ($40), nearly fainted. Why? Coz the last Habitrail cage i actually threw it away when the last hammie dieded. *sob sob*

But, couldn't find the Carefresh beddings (grey colored recycled paper type that was quite popular two years back) there so today went shopping at Pet Lovers again. Asked the sales guy and he recommended cat litter... Cat litter leh! Hmm.. anyway, he said nowadays that's what people are using for the hamster bedding and so i bought one packet (6 litre) to try lor. Also bought hammie food and hammie wood block for them to chew (dun chew my new cage can liao!). Anyway, wood block for chewing is so lame. Can just use ice cream stick I suppose...

Will update the pictures once the camera's batteries are recharged. The stupid batteries will actually go flat very fast(whether u use or dun use).... dunno why also.

unknown

well, at least it ranked somewhere! *LOL*

GST

So GST is increasing again? Well, what do we expect? GST going down? In our next live perhaps!

Well, indeed we had made our vows of less restaurants, less shopping when GST was last incremented to 5%... but how many of us really adhered to that? For the first few weeks/months perhaps... but come one year down the road later, we're still surviving. Shops are still ringing in the sales, houses still get sold, cars are being bought in droves... (hehe, probably the last one was a little exaggerated! :P ) Anyway, the point is, we'll complain, we'll protest... but sooner of later, all of us will succumb and accept our fate.

Still, probably its a conspiracy theory of some sort. A knee-jerk reaction of consumers would be to go all out and buy all our 'big' items this year, just so that we do not need to pay the extra 2% when the increase is implemented. Imagine a goods of $2000... 2% of that would be $40, and that's a lot! $40 could get you a brand new phone (with 2 yr line of course!). Let's say everyone out there quickly went out to buy those items this year (to save costs). Then if the increase was suddenly delayed (or staggered), that would ensure the economy gets boosted up quickly. Shops would be happy that their sales had increased by the tenfolds, no loss to consumers as they probably needed to buy their stuffs anyway and thus, the country's economy rises, yay! Haha, well...

Anyway, the point is, any increase of whatever sense... we'd still survive. For new job seekers, make sure you cost in the extra 2% towards your pay package. For existing employees, just pray and work hard to ensure company is growing and thus (maybe) you'll get a fatter bonus next year. For us not so lucky ones, well.. hawker centre... here we come.

freckles and such

Although I'm quite a sucker for any sales person to approach, but if the price is too high... well, you won't get my business.

Was walking in Guardian West Mall, and as usual, the sales lady saw my freckles and thus begins her sales pitch. "Miss, you want to try some cream to remove your freckles? This product very good, it clears the freckles from within. Not like the others, which just provides the whitening effect..." I was like, okay.. show me the product then. No harm looking. So she went to find her brochure and said the product was from Japan bla bla bla... Then I was like, how much is that? Is it like expensive? Then she whispered and said, "Ya.. its slightly a little pricey but think of the wonderful effects... and it has medicated values to it as well... etc etc" Okay, so how much is that? Guess how much... 1 tube of around probably 50ml or so... SGD$180! Wa lao... so expensive. Cannot afford.

udon for dinner

So was kinda bored... and figured I'd do udon for dinner. The other motive was to finish up some stuffs that had been sitting around in the kitchen for a while now (that would be onions, garlic). So here's what I did:

Ingredients

1. udon ($2 for two packets)
2. seafood (mixed sotong, small prawns and clams. Seasoned with pepper, sesame oil and some salt) ($1.90)
3. ikan bilis soup stock (instant ones)
4. 1 big onion (chopped, and seasoned with olive oil and some salt)
5. lots of minced garlic
6. taiwan sausages ($3.30 per packet, used two so cost is $1.65)
7. butterhead lettuce ($2+ per packet, used one, so cost is $1)
8. red chili ($1, used one, so cost is $0.25)
9. mint leaves ($0.80)
10. fish sauce (optional)

Process

1. Boil udon for about 1.5 minutes to soften and pre-cook. Rinse with cold water and set aside in serving dish.

2. Boil the soup base and set aside.

3. Fry minced garlic, seafood and chopped onions. Add red chili as desired

4. Add soup stock and let it come to a boil. Add pre-toasted taiwan sausages (cut into smaller pieces).

5. Add udon and coat well with soup. Stir gently and add in lettuce when the soup has thickened a little. Let it cook for about half a minute. Dash with some fish sauce to add to taste.

6. Serve and garnish with mint leaves.


Total cost for dinner (serves 2)=$7.60

Quite tasty, but it didn't look pretty. The bowl was kinda small so everything looked cluttered. The first bowl came out dryer as the sauce thickened well. But the second one, came out looking like udon soup.. which I don't mind la.

child of our time

Have you heard of this programme? I find it a great show, informative and educational. Suitable for all, not only parents. It follows through the lives of selected children from various backgrounds, and this project spans across 20 years.

Child of Our Time comes on TV (Arts Central) every Thursday 10pm.

Yesterday, we learn about what motivates a person/child, the way we pick up new skills, why talking on cellphone while driving is dangerous and to recognize some disabilities that we may not be aware that we are having.

It shows that a child, given a reward at the beginning of a task, will actually performs badly or half-heartedly, if done at all. If the child is given a surprise reward after the task is completed, will return to the task will renewed vigour. And surprisingly, if a child is not told that they will be getting any reward at the end of the task, they will still perform the task (and they looked quite happy enjoying it too!) without any expectation of a reward.

Also, it seems that a person will learn better if the new skill is linked to some senses; smell, taste, visual, auditory etc. As a baby, there is a link between skills and senses for us to learn better and faster. However, for most of us, this 'link' will disappear once we have mastered the skill and when we grow, as this 'link' is now deemed useless. However, for some people, it seems this link remains with them. So, when they listen to a music for example, they will actually see blots of shapes or colours forming in front of them (probably when they were young, music was linked to some shapes and colors). I find these information, fascinating :)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

Here's wishing to all my Muslim friends a very very happy Hari Raya Aidil Fitri! Maaf zahir dan batin!

home-made ice cream~

There's this quaint little shop that we always walked past during lunch at Shaw. Outside of the shop stood a chalk board that exclaims exotic flavors such as "Red Date & Longan Ice Cream", "Plum Ice Cream" etc. The flavor of this month is "Wasabi Lime".

So finally today we went into the shop to try. It was a nice surprise that we can sample any ice-cream that we like before we even buy anything. Tried the wasabi lime and its actually quite good! Refreshing, I would say.

But as usual, I'd go for the safe stuffs. I had Chocolate and Coffee (you can mix 2 flavors! How nice, hor) The others tried the Wasabi Lime and Mango, Chocolate Banana and Coffee, and Oreo Cheesecake and Vanilla. The price is $2.80 for small cup. But they'd fill up to the brim and the ice-cream is actually quite the sticky type like gelato!

I give the chocolate flavor, the highest vote in terms of taste. Rich and slightly bitter.. very good, very nice. Tasted a little of the oreo cheesecake flavor.. quite nice and good for those who prefer their ice-cream sweeeet. The coffee flavor, would come in second in terms of aroma, but the taste is not as good as the chocolate. Chocolate banana... hmmm.. not for me.

If you're there, you can look for Eunice. She's super friendly and you can talk to her about any ice-cream flavor that you would like to see on the menu. She did mention that coming flavors would be Durian and Black Sesame!



ps: the shop's name is Tom's Pallete.. didn't ask about Tom though...so i dunno who's Tom
pps: ahah! we've asked about Tom, and this Tom is a common friend of Eunice and the other co-owner of the shop, who has been contributing ideas and honest feedback to them

S.H.E 'Perfect 3' World Tour 2007

They're back again on 27 Jan '07. Anyone interested in going? Tickets go on sale today! Check it out here.

houston, we can't see you

Yah man... hazy days are here again. 9pm psi level had hit 150. Imagine the people in those hot spots.. man.. hope rain will come soon.

mid-autumn night~

中秋节快乐！Have a great day, this mid-autumn~!

To HC n Gerry, congratz! and glad to know that your mini-hunk in on the way!

cooking show

Just happened to watch a cooking show on TV (Channel 5) earlier this morning. Think the show's called "Ching's Kitchen" or smthg like that. So there was this cook, and her name is Ching He-Huang, and don't know where she comes from but she's staying in England. She has a chili factory where her employees are all Brits, and they were like busy chopping up chilies, cooking stuffs etc.

Anyway, she showed one recipe about how to make the sweet thai chili sauce from scratch combined with some homemade thai fishcake. Sounds interesting? I thought so too. So the sauce is really simple. Some boiling water (200 ml), combined with sugar (she said it was dunno how many grams but to me.. it looked like a lot!), and two chopped red chilies. Throw everything into boiling water and let it cook on low heat.

Next, how to make the fish cake. She chose salmon, so she cuts up the salmon block into smaller chunks and throw into blender. Next throw in some sugar (also looked like diabetic inducing amount), throw in some 2 tablespoon of fish sauce (finally some use here! heh heh), throw in one egg, throw in chopped corriander and chili, throw in two tablespoon of corn flour, some salt, some pepper, some lime juice and some salt (actually looked like quite a lot of salt). Next blend everything and then scoop out the paste and fry in a pan.

Here's the interesting part. While the fish cakes are frying, she went to attend to the sweet chili sauce that she was left cooking earlier. Put the sauce into a blender and blends it. Then pour out into a sauce dish. Next, she goes back to the fish cake to turn over to the other side. But, when she flips it over, the TV viewers were presented with... burnt fish cakes! *LOL* Imagine that, a cooking show where the stuffs are like burnt and its a deep brown chao tar kind! So she had to continue no matter what, and so she said, "I like my fish cakes crispy". That's ultimate! Muahahahaha!

If you like, you can catch the show on Saturday's, I think its around 8.30-9 or 9.30 am. Realized that England grocery shops do stock up on Asian sauces, as there were Lee Kum Kee's, Yeo's and other familiar brands shown.

buy buy buy

Yesterday I wandered inside Cold Storage Causeway Point. I've always liked the variety of produce that they have over in Cold Storage (but not the prices, of course). It was amazing. Fresh green vegetables, some with names I've never heard before. Wide array of meats and seafood. Local, Japanese, Australian stuffs.. alot!

Anyways, I looking at stuffs when suddenly an auntie called out to me and asked whether I wanted to try any chocolates. Ok, no problem with that, so I went over to her chocolate counter. You can imagine Godiva, Chocz, etc but then this is like neighbourhood style but with upmarket prices! So anyway, she let me try some and so I thought ok, I'd buy some from her. So she weighted some and out came the price.. $13.80! Then she said, why not buy up to 200 gms (its $1 per 10 gms).. I was like, $20 for chocolates? NO! Haha, anyway, I still bought $10 worth from her.

So continued walking... and looking at stuffs.. when suddenly another sales lady called me over to ask whether I wanted to try some honey drink. I was kinda thirsty after tasting those chocolates, so ok, why not. So she started offering samples of all the different flavours she had. Before I knew it, once again.. I agreed to buy 2 bottles from her. Come to think of it, their strategy not bad.. get the customers to taste chocolates and then get thirsty and then offer them drinks.. *LOL* Anyway, the deciding factor on the honey drinks, was it was something nutritional and the price was right. Originally sold at $18 per bottle, now 2 bottles is $20. So that was the deciding factor. The chocolate one.. what can I say? Stupid lor...

fish sauce?

Was walking around in NTUC, searching for groceries to buy. Wanted some vegetable.. but what do you know... the whole range of vegetables.. looked, kinda limp and dead. It doesn't entice you to buy.. nothing looks fresh.. just very 掺. I suppose its because this one is in those neighbourhood kind area.. so we don't get the better products? I don't know.. or else, the vegetables imported from Indonesia, doesn't look exciting at all.. the green is like a boring kind of green, if you know what i mean... haha probably you don't, but do come down to my neighbourhood to take a look, and you'll understand.

Anyways, walked past the aisle selling sauces.. and found, fish sauce. I was searching for fish sauce in fact, but I kinda forgotten what I wanted it for in the first place. You know you wanna buy it, but you don't know why you wanna buy it. Anyway, i bought one.. its $1.30 or smthg like tht.. and its a huge bottle. Well, anyones with recipes that make use of fish sauce, do tell me, thanks! Somehow I don't think its for instant noodles though. Hahaa!

tired...

it's just like the beginning of the day...
already.. i feel soo soo tired...
give me back my sleep!
take away my eye bags!