around the house in 8 days

First lunar new year at the new house. 'New' because we haven't been staying there, and 'new' because it's actually already more than 5 years old.

Some pictures outside of the house.

bamboo that kept on growing and growing...

and it grew and grew till it touched the sky...

lotus and probably small fishes inside there

flower

mulberries, silkworms eats mulberry leaves.. but didn't see any worms though

creepy crawlies to shade the house, but probably will overgrow and takeover the house in a few years time!

It's new year, so gotta have some new year decor.

banner to welcome the new year.. hahaa

new year plant that needs ice cubes to cool it down

these are permanent fixtures.. regardless of season, it'll be there

some colours to brighten the house

smiley fortune cat

putting up the decorations, that's my sis, brother and mom. Me? I worked behind the scenes

time for reunion dinner

Oooh, this year we didn't have steamboat for reunion dinner. Had '鱼生' but with jellyfish instead of raw fish slices. Got nice dishes like fish maw braised with prime ribs, stir fried leek with leftover roasted pork, blue tailed prawns with sauce and deep fried grouper with sweet and sour sauce.

setting up the table for reunion dinner

before cooking

cooked prawns

yummy sweet and sour fish (my fav)

leek with roasted pork (dad's fav)

fish maw and prime ribs with mushrooms

DIY yu sheng

after tossing

Hope everyone had a good time during the holidays! Happy Dragon Year everyone!

wishes

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Year of the Dragon~
May all the good things come our way. Work hard, and play more. Enjoy!

Gong Hei Fatt Choi!

yummy

Ate something yummy recently, at Starbucks. Usually, it's just a cup of Caramel Macchiato. But yesterday, had this thing called Salted Caramel Chocolate Panna something. Hahaha, can't remember the exact name!

But here's a pic:

Salted Caramel Chocolate Panna something

The crust was crumbly and dry, the dark brown top part tasted like soft brownies bits and the not so appetising light brown sauce was the salted caramel part (which I still think it tasted like creamy toffee), and the yellow part tasted like egg tart...

Definitely sweet, but nice!

in conversation

Yesterday there was a bit of a jam on the road, so that started the conversation between the taxi uncle and myself. And for some reason, he was talking about keeping pets and that's how he 'cultivates' love. Somehow that lead to Buddhism, 5-elements and Nirvana.

Taxi uncle: When we go to sleep, we'll enter our astral body. This astral body is very 'fine' like an atom. When we die, we'll take over this astral body. There are other bodies but no one practices those...
Me: Ooh, so this astral body also must 'practice'?
Taxi uncle: No need. Automatic.
Me: Like that, what's the difference? Die also astral body, sleep also astral body..
Taxi uncle: When we sleep and become the astral body, there is no conscience. But when we die, the astral body will have conscience and we'll be able to see beyond the realm of humans...(or smthg like tht la...)

Then he talks about how the human mind is burdened by both positive and negative thoughts of our wants and needs etc and because of that, it is difficult (or almost impossible) to achieve Nirvana.

Me: So what's a Nirvana? Is it like enlightenment?
Taxi uncle: No.. enlightenment is when you understand a teaching. Nirvana is when your mind is pure. When there is no more negative thoughts that pulls you back down to earth.
Me: If like that, go and sleep can already mah.. when we sleep and we are not conscious so there will be no thoughts to bring us back to earth
Taxi uncle: (Laughs) Nirvana has many stages (5 stages), I think nobody can achieve.

Then don't know what I said, and we talked for some minutes more after I've reached my destination and paid the fare. Then I said byebye 'coz don't want to hold him up any longer.

Taxi uncle: You are deep. Seldom I talked to people like you. You seem to know something.

Hahaha! I grinned and said goodnight.

cool stuffs

This site (http://pixlr.com) is good, as per mentioned in our weekly popular mag. Don't have photo editor? Never mind, they have it! http://pixlr.com/editor/
Wanna do some cool effects? Just go right on to http://pixlr.com/o-matic/

Here is a sample of the effects:

original pic

after applying effects

Awesome right! I know! Muahahaa! Free app somemore. *grinz*


Wanna pass time and like to play "Cut the Rope?" Now, can play it online! http://www.cuttherope.ie/

bread

New bakery in Lot 1 (basement). Lots of yummy looking breads on display, so bought 2 to try.

new bakery in Lot 1

Bought the cranberry cream cheese and charcoal red bean bun. Current promotion is buy 3 breads and get 30cents off. Probably worth it if each bread is costing like $1 or less. Anyway, better than no promotion at all!

charcoal red bean bun

whole red bean

The breads were still warm after purchase. Probably just baked. The charcoal bread was consumed a day after purchased. Heated it up in toaster oven and it was still good. Probably not as fluffy as fresh, but tasted quite alright. The red bean was a tad too sweet though.

cranberry cream cheese

oozing with cream cheese, i like!

The cranberry cream cheese bun looked so huge when it was displayed in the shop. But soon after I got home, the bread has shrunken a bit. The dough for this was a tad too soft but has generous amount of cream cheese filling!

Overall, get the cream cheese cranberry for value and the charcoal red bean for novelty. Both breads are at $1.50 each.

no idea

Had two vivid dreams this morning. Reminded myself to remember it, but now, nothing emerges. The fact was, I did not even realised when was the 615am alarm switched off. By the time I was awake, it was already 640am. Hmm.

In the evening, was supposed to alight at CCK station. Still aware of surroundings when the train was at Bukit Batok, then Bukit Gombak, but somehow, ended up alighting at Yew Tee. Had no recollection of passing CCK station... None at all.

Memory lapse? Day-dreaming? Dazed? Or the beginning of something that I should take note off?

2011

Thank you for an eventful year. A year wrought with natural disasters and man-made ones. The world is getting crankier, and so am I. Too many things internalized, makes one craz(ier)y.

Still, there are many things to be thankful for. We are still alive despite the many disasters. Family and friends went through the year with minimal health issues. Travelled to Brunei, Macau, Hong Kong and Vietnam and experienced new culture, people and scenaries. Doing enjoyable stuffs with friends like eating, drinking, and discovering new places. Actively blogging. Discovering K-pop and specifically Girls' Generation (and also securing that ticket to the concert, daebak!)

To family and friends, "Thank you" for being you. Happy New Year, and may 2012 brings you joy and happiness.

food

coffee and cake, best combo

A simple meal.

korean noodles is more filling!

balanced diet

grapefruit & pomelo

Saw this in NTUC and bought 2 to try. It's a grapefruit from Israel, called Sweetie. Hahaa! With a name like that, it should be sweet, right?

grapefruit from Israel

looks like a mini pomelo, doesn't it?

This is the first time I've seen a green grapefruit. Usually, it's like pink in colour, yes? Well, this grapefruit seriously smells like pomelo, the skin texture same as pomelo and it even taste like pomelo...just that it is abit tiny to be a pomelo.

And yes, it was kinda sweet...just like how a pomelo would've been!

Apparently, grapefruit's ancestor is pomelo...so ta-dah, mystery solved! Read about grapefruit.

Merry Christmas

Have a Merry Christmas. Eat, drink and be merry.

chicken mcgrill

Had my first taste of Chicken McGrill yesterday. Since it was expensive, figured it made sense to take some pics before eating it.

still in its box

feel like biting into this?

curly fries

very curly fries

It looked pretty nice. What with juicy thigh meat and all :)~

doesn't this look yummy?

But unfortunately, I've had better ones elsewhere...
Yes, the chicken patty was juicy and tender but it was way too soggy. Huh? Meat soggy? Or, saucy? Too much sauce! Curly fries were a tad too salty as well.

But the pictures turned out well, didn't they?

snacks from Saigon

Pics of snacks bought from Vietnam trip.

embedded parsley makes a cute motif!

closer view of this yummy crispy snack

peanuts filling

i like custas very much!

yummeh!

The crispy snack with peanuts fillings was bought from Binh Tay market from an aunty who spoke Cantonese. It's VND28000 for a packet of 30 pieces. SGD1.80 only?! Hahaa, good buy! Bought the Custas from the same departmental store that has the Vinamilk yoghurt, and a box of 12 pieces for VND45000. That's about SGD2.90? Muahahaa!

it was fantastic~

Got ticket to 2011 Girls' Generation Tour in Singapore concert? Yeap, you bet!

ticket, checked

What else? Oooh, how about a lightstick?

why not get the whole package, hahaha!

Ok ok, not the foamed heart though. Super paiseh to carry it and wave it around la... *shy*
And the tshirt, only wore it when was at Singapore Indoor Stadium. =P

Was at my seat at about 715pm and the show wasn't scheduled to start till 8pm. Another girl sat next to me on my right, and she was separated from her elder sis. Hard to buy the tickets, ya? A young chap sat two seats away on my left hand side, and he was also separated from his friends. But of course, with or without friends, everyone there that night, we were one big family of fans! YAY! And behind me, was a group from Soshified. WoOOhooO!

Sones from Thailand, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia were also present that night. Parents accompanying their teenage kids were also seen, and they bought the most expensive tickets, yo!

still waiting...

At approximately 8.20pm, the stage has some hidden movement. The crowd screams! The covers on central stage was lifted and we saw this:

crowd is excited and the Girls are in there!

When the girls are finally revealed, the concert begins!

concert begins! sowoneul marhaebwa~

The energy level from the crowd was super good! Anytime any of the girls start singing, we'll scream. Camera zoom in on one member, we scream! All the fanchants, we scream! Anytime any member does an expression, we scream! 

On my right, her bias was Hyoyeon. So anytime dancing queen comes within eye sight, my neighbour screams! Behind me, Taeyeon fans, so same thing, they scream whenever Taeyeon comes into view! Sunshiners everywhere as well!

Happy to cheer for all members and they know it because we saw them smile when we were loud! Buahahaha!

Tiffany need not worry about muffled response from audience. During Lady Marmalade, when she and Taengoo pointed the mic to the audience and said, "Scream Singapore!~" We ROARED~ WOooOOO!

For the intro part, Sooyoungie sounded really good speaking in English, so does Seohyun. Hyoyeon, Taeng, Yoona can't really converse in English though. Yuri charmed the audience with her Mandarin~ Tiffany was the groups' spokeswoman for the night. ^_^

The concert format should be mostly the same throughout the tour. Seen the Japan tour concert footages before, so roughly know what to expect.

Girls dancing

YulSic did their pinky promises. So sweet. Maknae was cute and came to our section many times and waved, so did Yoona! Hyoyeon also! *cue screams* I think the crowd dieded and went to soshi heaven everytime pretty Hyo points to the audience as if she can see them, and smiled ever so brightly! Yuri did her kkab arm flapping dance (but with a straight face) when she stood near our section. Hahaha, kutes!

Taeng was super cool with "Devil's Cry". Lots of pyrotechnics during the concert as well. 


(not from SG concert, but just to show Devil's Cry)

One incident happened though. Tiffany nearly tripped because there was a pink carebear lying carelessly on the stage floor (thrown from audience) but she didn't see it till too late. Kinda dangerous! Perhaps crew can assist to remove potential hazard from the stage when necessary? But yeah, Taeyeon did pick up a Dookong. Hahaa! And Hyoyeon picked up a big toy flower. Saw one of the girls threw a rilakkuma back to the audience in mosh pit, wonder why is that?

Lots of concert filler videos; sweet ones, fantasy ones, suspense thriller ones, uplifting ones and one realistic one. The one featuring Key from Shinee was a hoot! He plays an everyday guy who's delusional and thinks that the Girls are with him everywhere. Perhaps, the Girls' had become an integral part of each SONEs life.


Happy Day 


Jessica looks like a Barbie doll during her 'Almost' segment. Kwon Yuri performed her 'If' dance stylishly, Hyo grooved to Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music", Yoona did the pole thingy, Sooyoung classy in 'Sway' and Sunny danced the disturbingly suggestive choreo (to Britney's 3) while thankfully, maknae Seohyun was innocently charming and sweet doing tap-dancing while TaeNy powerful vocals were heard in Lady Marmalade.

Very soon (almost too soon!), the concert came to an end but not without a fight. Tiffany (naughty Pani!) tried to trick us by saying that Forever is really the last song. Seriously? NoooOOOooo! But we fans knew better. We stayed. We chanted. We screamed again and again. So the Girls came back out for final encore. wOoHoOO!

They did 3 more songs for encore, and we did the epic fail of a pink Kallang wave... =_=''' Hehehe, but still thanks to the hardworking Soshified members. You guys did great!

Sunny's shocked reaction, Jessie laughs and Sooyoung pretty, Yuri's cute and the chodings behind

Girls lining up to bow and saying goodbyes~

crowd waving our goodbyes~ saranghaeo~ kamsa hamida~

The concert ended on a Fantastic note (literally, because the end song is really seriously called "Fantastic").

Overheard on my way back in the MRT, a conversation snippet between a mom and her teenage daughter.

Mom: Who was the one dancing to "Sway"?
Teenage daughter: Sooyoung, mom. Sooyoung...
Mom: Who was that one, Taegon? (imagine some mangled pronunciation of poor Taengoo's name)
Teenage daughter: It's Taeyeon, mom. TAEYEON! Hyoyeon was the one who is good in dancing, and Jessica was the one that sings very high...(daughter sounded kind of exasperated but still wanted to let her mom knows who is who in the group). And Tiffany is the one that speaks the most tonight.

Actually, not bad for parents and kids to bond over midst of spazzing over their idols. ;)

On a side note: The lightstick was pretty cool, especially when the entire stadium was waving it.

pretty, right?

missing the tip after all those vigorous waving...

Girls, we'll meet again at the next concert in Singapore! Meanwhile,

Jigeumeun So Nyuh Shi Dae! 
Appurodo So Nyuh Shi Dae! 
Yeongwonhi So Nyuh Shi Dae!