waraku

Had dinner at Waraku again. Previously tried the Tonkutsu Ramen so this time round must try something different so I ordered the Champon Udon. Noodle was springy and chewy and the sauce thick and creamy. The seafood is fresh and pork slices just right. Nice.


big bowl of Champon Udon!



closer view of the bubbling sauce!



Dainty looking and yummy too! Have prawns, squid and pork slices in it!


WK tried the tempura udon and boy.... the serving bowl was.. HUGE!

that's WK and his HUGE bowl of udon!



look at those tempura prawns.. yumz!

the stuffs that we might be eating...

The other day when I was at City Hall MarketPlace, happened to walk past a someone who was promoting something (kinda forgot what it was... probably some snacks). So as usual, I'd stop and take a look. The packaging was alright, with some Korean words printed. So I casually asked if its from Korea. The girl said no.. it was from China and asked if I'd like to sample the product. I smiled and declined. Then she asked, "Why? Scared ah?" I answered, "Ya.." Haha, but really... food produced from China, gotta think twice for now. Although of course the government would have done all the checks to ensure that most of the stuffs on our shelves are legitimate and safe to be consumed.

So the latest scandal being the 'bao zi' being sold in their own homeland. The bun makers decided to substitute some of the fillings with.. cardboard! Wow... stuffing it with cardboard is already dodgy.. but to use cardboards that have been treated with some industrial strength chemical to soften it... tsk tsk.. things that people do to cheat your money (cheat money is one thing... but to play with people's live is another! ) Read about it here.

artfrenzy

Penny recently moved her shop from AnchorPoint to VivoCity and yesterday I went to pay her a surprise visit. (Yalar, I ulu mah... never been to Vivo before!)

So anyway, Jessica brought me there 'coz better to follow someone who has taken public transport there before. We took bus #80 and it stops just right in front of Vivo.. how convenient! Heh heh

The shop's quite easy to find (so big mah... of course can find la!)


Art Frenzy shopfront @03-05A VivoCity



many stuff inside (and more to come!)

I've attended the workshop before at AnchorPoint, so next time will try this one at Vivo. But I don't want to make scrapbook liao. Was thinking perhaps clay stuffs... should be quite fun!


workshop area (empty 'coz that day no class.. and moreover, by the time I finish work.. what time liao! haha)


scrapbook sample (aiya, dun mind the reflected light la.. me amateur photographer only... btw, the pictures are Rebecca and Carissa, my friend's daughters)



other things to create like photo frames, figurines etc


Oki la.. that night was the first time I met Carissa. Last year, I only met Rebecca 'coz Carissa haven't been born yet! Muahaha

Anyway, Carissa was grumpy that night... and her dad just shoved her to me as a way of introduction. Like that of course cry mah! If I was her.. I'd be pretty scared!

But after a while, ok lor... must feed her then she'll smile at you. And she really really likes people singing 'twinkle twinkle little star' to her.



carissa (wondering wat i was doing...)



carissa (getting used to the camera)


So next time, if you happen to drop by ArtFrenzy, tell Penny or Desmond that you're recommended by me... should have discount.. if dun haf, let me know!!

chance meeting wif M&Ms...

Danny called me up at 6pm and asked if I wanted to eat dinner with him. So I agreed and had to wait for him to come to City Hall from Depot Road. So with time to kill, I went down to the MarketPlace to look look see see.

Anyway, was checking out the fruits and somehow, I was attracted by this little girl's voice (quite loud) saying something like "Mom... I am more heavy now you know..." and saw her sitting inside the shopping trolley talking to her mom. I was like, "heh... so cute" and turned to see who was the mom. And what do you know... it was Meng Choo!

Small small world! Megan was there as well. Both girls are as cute as you can ever imagine them to be. And Meng Choo asked them to call me, 姐姐. Haha, very funny. It was a happy encounter this evening. Managed to talk a bit with Megan and Macy. So now I know Macy's favourite color is blue.

Anytime Meng Choo needs any babysitter, I'd volunteer. The kids are just so adorable!

i'll be away

Going home in a few hours time. And sms is kinda expensive when you're across the border so, may not return your messages. Nevertheless, have a nice weekend and happy 端午节！

what a nice bun...

Ever tasted a banana cheese bun before? Haha, probably u had. Me.. just suaku lor. Yesterday, went to Concourse for lunch and bought this banana cheese bun. Very nice! U should try it someday :)

service sucks...

There's this ice-cream restaurant in Bugis Junction which I shall not blatantly name out but it starts with the letter S and one of their creation is called "Earthquake"... Ahh, by now you must have figured out which one I'm talking about, else.. sigh, you seldom dine out ha?

Anyway, it all starts with making a reservation. So I called them and said, "Hello, can I make a reservation?" And then the answer was, "Hold on..." So that guy who answered the call went to call another person (presumably the manager? 'coz for some unknown reason to us mere mortals, reservations there need to be handled by persons with authority? buahahaha) After waiting for like 2 minutes, someone took the call (finally!) but just said, "Hello?" and then pause... (for a moment, I really thought I called the wrong number!)

Then I had to repeat myself again and the response from the other side wasn't friendly at all. Don't know what they're grouchy at 'coz its just 11am in the morning and they would have just started their day there.. so Monday blues ah?

Anyway, went there had lunch (and the food was blah... think all the youngsters went there for ice-cream only). But another incident happened. So of all the drinks that came, one was incorrect. We ordered Sprite but it came as Pepsi (or was it Grape?) so we called the waitress. Below was the excerpt:

WL: I believe you sent the wrong drinks to us (hold up the glass and gave it to the waitress)
Waitress: Huh?
WL: We ordered Sprite.
Waitress: S..p.rite? (imagine heavy Chinese accent and very blur look)
WL (getting exasperated): Look, you gave us the wrong drink. Can you change it to Sprite?
Waitress: (still very blur look and just stared at us)
WL: 你给错了，可以换了拿 Sprite 给我们吗？!
Waitress: Sprite?
WL (nearly fainted): 那个白色有汽的水！
Waitress: Orh...

Anyway, we forgave that girl 'coz she's only trying to earn her living. But she can memorize all the food dish, like "sambal fish" etc. Just don't ask her about Sprite.

As it was executive set lunch, there was dessert. Supposed to be designer dessert but came out as... a slice of their ice-cream cake. What a disappointment. And... the size that came out was so uneven. Some got like huge slice while others (like mine) was just a tiny eeny slice. Free stuffs cannot ask for too much I suppose.

So finished the dessert, and called for the bill. Then I saw my colleagues spitting out something onto his plate. Asked him and he said, "Bits of paper found inside the ice-cream cake" Walao... no standard man! So I called the waiter and told him. He just smiled and said, "There's nothing I can do about it" Sigh.. what can I say... service really sucks!

errands

Today is my designated errands day. The Canon A75 has been rotting at one corner so I decided today is the best day to get it fixed (the very least is to send it for repairs!). So off I went to Funan 'coz Canon Link is located there. Else I'd have to go to HarbourFront as the service centre is there.

As the Canon Link only opens after 11am, I was the second customer who's sending something for repair. In Funan there's this stall at Level 1 selling Korean street food, Dong Dae Mun brand. There's this recommended hotdog on a stick wrapped with French Fries. Didn't try that, instead I got the hotdog wrapped in onion pancake instead at $1.80. Tasted quite ok. Nothing exceptional but I'd advise you to put lots of ketchup 'coz the pancake dough goes well with ketchup. So that was lunch.

Wanted to see the famous donut shop in City Hall so dropped by there. Wahh... the basement had changed quite a bit. Everything looks different now. Yalar, I suaku 'coz haven't been there for like 1 year? I saw the Donut Factory queue. Walao, only 12+ niah already so many people! So didn't bother to get any. Quite a lot of shops that I never see before. Got one British stall, got MOF selling Hokkaido gelato then dunno wat else. Alot! Bought something for my auntie (belated birthday present) and then went on to Jurong Point.

Reached Jurong Point, and found out that it was still lunch time. So I went shop shop. Then after that went up to the Medical Centre to surprise my aunt. Heh heh.

Deed done, I went back to Yew Tee. It was raining quite heavily. So I went to Kelly's to get my hair cut. So this time I got assigned with Kevin. So I told him roughly what I want and he went to work. Good boy, he cut very long but I like his style. So now I've tried Ray, Esther, Zoe and Kevin. So far, I'd prefer Kevin and Esther's style. Zoe and Ray are handsome guys so they're easy on the eyes but cut very little. Zoe very PR while Ray, just dun like to talk. Haha!

last day of may

Urgh... I am sooo sooo full! Haha, to celebrate the last day of the month, went KTV this afternoon at Party World Orchard. Met up with Siew Li and Minghui. Minghui is pregnant with her second child! Congratz!

After KTV, I almost fainted from hunger. Siew Li suggested Korean food and I remembered there's one at Far East Plaza. Never ate there before so both of us went over to check it out. It looks like contemporary Korean restaurant with bright green color as its theme. The waitress seems to be foreign (maybe Korean?). We took the dinner set for 2 priced at $59+++.

The appetizers consists of 8 dishes. Got potato, kimchi, salad, vege, bean sprouts, french beans, steam eggs and one jelly like thingy (didn't like the last one). Got two plates of meat for BBQ; chicken and pork collar. One small plate of vege to wrap the BBQ (with garlic, carrots and zucchini). One bean paste sauce for the BBQ. One ginseng chicken and lastly one bibimbap.

The meat was well marinated and very tasty after BBQ'ing. They gave us the chicken thigh meat which was good 'coz I dun like chicken breast. The ginseng chicken portion was good enough to feed 3. The best part of the ginseng chicken that I liked, was the glutinous rice in the chicken. Very very nice! All the essence of the goodness went into the that I think! Haha!

The bibimbap was ok I guess. I won't know how does a good bibimbap taste like. It has lots of vege and beansprouts in it. The bibimbap was just enough for 2. After finishing it, we realized that we didn't taste any meat in it, although it was supposed to have pork somewhere in there. (It was supposed to be beef but Siew Li doesn't take beef).

The wait staffs are polite and helpful. They offered to mix the rice for us. Asked us whether we wanted them to help us portion the soup and the rice. So nice. Our task was just to eat, enjoy the food and later pay money. Very simple. Hahaha!

Oh, got fruits also when we asked for the bill. Some thin slices of watermelon and honeydew. Actually, I think the food was a little too much for 2 ladies. Even if I'm very hungry, just cannot finish all of it lor. In the end, most of the appetizers were still there (we tried our best!), ginseng chicken still have some of the chicken left (all the glutinous rice were polished off!).

I looked at the other tables, and saw this one with two ladies and one young boy (probably about 10 to 12 years old). They had one pancake dish, one soup dish, one hot plate dish, one fried 'nian gao' dish, and each had one bowl of rice. Actually saw a lot of tables had this fried 'nian gao'. Maybe should try it one day.

In the end, the total was $70 for dinner. Next time probably it'll be a better idea to have 3 people eating the set for 2.

The restaurant name is SU Korean Cuisine. Located at Far East Plaza #01-21.

waraku

Waraku at Marina Square. Had dinner with the whole gin gang except Florence who was in BKK and Yong Yew (who since 2007, is no where to be found!) and Melody. So this post is for their benefit (if they ever comes in...)

Seems like this Waraku is quite a happening place with so many diners wanting to eat there. Amazing! But I think all the wait staff looked very harrassed! Too many customers, too many dishes and too many orders that are not synchronized (meaning, customers from 1 table tend to order at different times... such as our table for example!)

Heng, Gerry made reservations so we could go in at 7+. I heard from someone in the queue that they had to wait for an hour. But then, we also waited for HC and Gerry for like close to one hour lor...

We got the private room since we have 10 of us (which could be not a good thing, as private room means you're usually out of their sight, so when you wanna order something, you gotta stand outside the room looking like an idiot (as Charles put it himself!) till they walk past and notice you. Haha! One thing impressive is that the wait staff (although could be better trained), they were quite polite and courteous. Well, anyone who helps to take the customers (sometimes stinking) shoes and place them in the cupboard deserves a compliment!

The menu is as what you see online. Here's what some of us ordered:


Luke ordered Hokkai Tororo, raw stuffs and cold soba infused with cooked egg white



Chirashi something something (the name too long to pronounce) - Adeline ate this



My Tonkatsu Ramen - very tasty but a little bit too salty but still nice!



Gerry had this as side dish and her main is same as Luke's (didn't post what Han Chuan ate, 'coz it didn't look nice.. two noodles (cold) and one rice dish)



Charles had this, I think.. the beef wazen (oops Charles, from the pictures seems like you can pour the egg onto the burning plate. Haha, sorry la.. even Wang Ying said dun pour in mah... cannot blame us for our ignorance :P )


Gina also brought her puffs for us to try. You can view the pics and recipe here.

Aaron (the happy baby) was manhandled by alot of people. Nicholas, Charles, Hong Wee, Adeline, Gina all took turns to hold the baby (all practicing for future ha?) He seemed to like Hong Wee the most! Well, after being forced to pose for picture so many times, Aaron was slightly agitated and complained to Han Chuan (that is he made these cute cute sounds that only Han Chuan and Gerry can understand and pacify him). Haha!

Special thanks to Han Chuan for organizing the event, Gerry for making the reservations and Gina for the tasty (but not enough filling inside the puff) puffs.

riyo mori

riyo mori - ms universe 2007

Hmm... thought her photo after her crowning looks the nicest, the other shots (found in the miss universe website) of her was like nothing outstanding. In fact, the swimwear photo of her looked very 'hiao', the evening gown one was ok, while the one wearing national costume was the worse of the lot! Bad photographer!

Read more about Riyo Mori here.


kurana chibana - 1st runner up ms universe 2006

There's quite a number of supporters for kurana (Luke, are u one of them?)


Closer to home, here are our contestants this year:


Ms Singapore - Jessica Tan


Ms M'sia - Adelaine Chin


Don't they all look the same after a while?

japanese dining sun

Had dinner with Wendy at Japanese Dining Sun (Chijmes). Wanted to go to Sun with Moon at Wheelock but decided to try the original one at Chijmes (nearer to my workplace but then I was still late... -_-''') Well, I could've been there like 10 minutes earlier but somehow, I kind of forgotten where Chijmes was... went one big round before finding it. To tell the truth, haven't been there since... since 3-4 years ago?

I was quite apprehensive about dining there as its a fine-dining restaurant. Never dine at any fine-dining restaurants before. Hmm.. that one at Prego does it count? Probably not... What they reviewed in 2005 was right... kind of hard to find the entrance to the restaurant! However, along the way, noticed that there's this cafe/pub that has the pretty waitresses dressed in Japanese maid outfit. Hmm.. but that's nothing to do with this story.

Ok, anyway, the pictures in the menu were interesting. They have lots of stuffs on the menu. Prices range from $3 (dessert) to $120 (something like a grand set for one person). So we ordered chicken wings and caesar salad for starters, and unagi and clams kamameshi (japanese rice pot dish). The place was kind of deserted on weekdays. We were the only few there at around 7+ and probably about 5-8 tables were taken by 830pm.

So, they served us the salad and wings pretty fast. The salad was interesting, as the bowl, was made out of fried cheese (and some fish perhaps? Not sure but that was what we thought it tasted like... some fishy cheese or... cheesy fish? Hmmm...) And I thought the vege looked alot like 'dou miao'... Wings were ok, as you can't go wrong with fried stuffs.. and since its chicken wings(my favourite chicken part), I have no compaints! But they gave us the wrong rice pot, so it was confisticated back after one minute. Then after some time, they gave us the right one.

The kamameshi was nice. It had chunks of unagi, bits of chestnut, clams, some beans and soya flavoured rice. It may looked small, but it was enough to feed two of us. For desserts, we ordered the tofu cheesecake and sesame ice-cream. Was kind of hard to pretend that we're doing something japanese when the waitress repeated our order and said, "Oh, taufooo cheesecake ah?" Pengz!

Anyway, the tofu cheesecake was really, really small for $5. Same for the ice-cream as 1 scoop is already $4. But ok la, fine-dining mah... so need to charge accordingly. But it was nice. I liked both. Then Wendy ordered something exotic. Grape vinegar with soda. Drinking vinegar is suppose to be good for health. Luckily, it tasted alright. More soda than vinegar.

Total bill was less than $55 for 2 person, which was pretty good as one reviewer once said, "A budget of $50 per person can get you a decent meal even if you order a la carte. " We ordered ala-carte, and ate until we pengz.. and all within budget. Woohoo!

Good experience (and i thought i saw june chua.. but then maybe not...) and shows that fine-dining restaurants as Japanese Dining Sun should not be that intimidating. There are somethings in the menu that are still within budget. But of course, a very big THANK YOU to Wendy for sponsoring tonights dinner! *muaks*

pasar malam

Pasar malams in S'pore runs for very long. It's almost like a funfair... only most of the times, without the fun? hahaha! I think usually, it runs for 2-3 weeks for a stretch! The biggest I've ever seen is in Woodlands ('coz land is abundance over there, I suppose) where they built this huge contraption that shoots ppl to the sky! Ahh, perhaps exaggerated abit but yeah, got such thing you know, honestly!

Anyway, there's one over at my place now. I've bought the yummiest nasi lemak ($1.50 only) from a malay stall and couple with a deep fried drumstick ($1.50... yalar.. expensive.. but cheaper than KFC!), and you'll have a satisfying meal for $3 in total. There's also this stall selling the fried chicken chop Taiwan style, but I've yet to try it. Tried the okonomiyaki (squares of flour with crabstick and cabbage) from another malay stall, but it was like.. yucks... $2.50 somemore.. I want my money back! Also, there's this uncle that sells small little cute young coconuts for $1. Very sweet! (the coconut... not the uncle -_-''')

The keropok lekor here also very expensive... 4 pieces for $1. I think Malaysia cheaper. The pasar malams here and M'sia are different. There's a pasar malam at my hometown (opposite my house) every Tuesday. But to tell the truth, I think I've only been there like once. Dun fancy crossing the road in the middle of the night... very dangerous coz my house is facing the main road and lots of accidents happened at that junction before.

I've been to the pasar malam at Seri Petaling (courtesy of the KL office trip previously). Very fascinating.... I even saw one van selling smelly tofu caught fire. Very drama... Also, you can find beggars (not those healthy kind that just sits there... these are really no hand no leg kind that sprawled on the road... ) Also lots of happening food can be found at the pasar malam. Char kway teow, zhu chang fen (M'sian style with yong tau fu sides), fried carrot cake, chong you bing (onion pancakes), laksa etc. Also got stalls selling fish (although I suspect not that fresh), vegetables, dried goods, fruits, cakes and breads.


ps: today saw the coconut uncle raised the price to $1.20... walao, just because demand is higher, then can suka suka raise the price? (ed: of course can la..) boycott boycott!

botak jones

Went for dinner at Botak Jones (Clementi branch), 'coz my brother's treating. So we reached around 6.50pm, and it was already long queue ('coz its a hawker centre, so you have to queue to order first). Think my brother was at position #12 or so. Managed to place order at around 7.18pm ('coz the time was indicated in the receipt.. else you think I so accurate meh...)

The eta for the food is around 30-45 minutes later, so to pass time, I counted the people still inside the queue.. it was constantly at around 16 people or so. Meaning when one person finish ordering, another one joined the queue.. so that's why constant. My NZ ribeye steak ($14) came first (after 30 minutes wait...) I wanted it done medium but came to be a tad too dry (not so much pink as they claimed), more to medium well. And although the online menu stated that the steak comes with black pepper sauce, I was given their special brown sauce instead. Which tasted like cheesy mushroom sauce with black pepper. So after I ate for 15 minutes, my brother's Cajun chicken ($7) came. He commented that it tasted much drier than he expected. So, all in all, the food was a little disappointing after all the hype. However, if you minus the big serving of fries that came with the mains, the meal should be quite healthy as the meat used are quite lean.




cajun chicken



ribeye steak



One of the staff actually goes around the coffee shop to enquire whether you like the food, to check whether everything has arrived etc. It was observed that they're rather proud and confident of their food.

Almost 85% of the customers in the coffee shop ordered from Botak Jones, so I guess publicity, affordable price and generous portion does help. Taste wise.. acceptable but nothing to shout about. Maybe the rosemary lamb and fish & chips will taste better?

S.H.E Play

Songs List:
01. 中國話
02. 謝謝你的溫柔
03. 聽袁惟仁彈吉他
04. 五月天
05. 藉口
06. BOOM
07. 再別康橋
08. 倫敦大橋垮下來
09. 說你愛我

10. 好心情Just be yourself (達芙妮年度廣告歌曲)
11. 老婆

Everything inside is considered lightweight, easy on the ears. No drama nor anything that requires extensive effort, so probably that's why its called "Play"? Haha.

You'll find track #2 very familiar because the chorus is from an old 五月天's song "温柔" but in this version, it wasn't sampled from them (Mayday) but sung by the boyband 飞轮海.

So far, my favourite track is #3 because I find the tune quite cool. Also because there's a part where Selina said, "喂喂 test test 不好意思由于key定的太高 我们的副歌部分呢就由当家花旦 hebe and selina 帮忙唱一下..." Hahaha!

Track #5 consist of all 周董's signature tunes or lyrics. Like that he no need write new song, just rehash the old ones and pass to his friends to sing(and earn a bit of money as well?). Save time bah...

#8 is basically a chirpy "London Bridge is Falling Down". Hmm.. with a title like that, how can you be chirpy? Tsk tsk...

The new things in the album is that Hebe and Selina tried their hands on writing lyrics (說你愛我 and 老婆, respectively). And Ella tried her hands in composing (老婆).

I usually buy from Sembawang but that day when I went, there was no stock, so don't know what's the price they're selling. In Popular its $20.95 and Laser Fair selling for $20.90. Likely will be selling for less than $9.90~$12, if its a parallel import.

For fans who do not own "Forever" album, you can get this album instead 'coz the songs from the previous albums are all included here as well.

a little older, a little wiser... perhaps!

happy 32nd birthday!

lay-man's planning

I've always been an advocate of some insurance protection, so this issue is to share with you some of the things that I've learnt. Some may scoff or baulk at the mere mention of insurance, but from the way I see it, it is actually a necessity. When I was younger and whenever I wanted something, my mom would always ask, "Is it a necessity? Without it, would your life be any different?" As opposed to luxury, a necessity is something that you need and without it, yes.. one will suffer. Heh, this trick is what some parents could use as well, 'coz ended up, we children didn't get to buy any nintendo's, atari's or what not ('coz can't win that argument!)

As the cost of healthcare will continue to rise, I don't think anyone can be prepared to foot all the bills just by their own bank savings. Unless you're an orphan, then you'd only have to plan for yourself. Most of the time, planning also means, it is for your family members as well.

In the past, most of us may think, diseases will not befall any of us or it won't happen to any of our family members. Yes, no one wants bad things to happen to them. But in reality, it may.

As soon as one is financially able, one should:
1. Get a life insurance. If death occurs, at least the surviving family will get a sum of money prepare for the funeral. Sad la.. but true mah, right?

2. Get a good hospitalization plan. First and simple step, upgrade Medisave to Medishield (it only cost about SGD$96 per year and payable via CPF medisave, so no need touch your cash!) However, take note that there is something called 'co-insurance'. Meaning that, you will likely have to pay some amount of money even after claims. Here is a calculator provided by CPF for you to estimate. If you have extra cash, do consider some other product outside there that offer a more comprehensive medical and hospitalization plan.

So with step #1, and #2 of the above, you can start to make other plans. For example, what happens if life is good but you wanna make more money?

If you're a fresh grad, then can consider:

1. Savings plan (usually this will run quite long, for example 21 or 25 years). This is to force you to put money into somewhere. Like savings to bank but with penalty for default! Haha. Of course, with higher interest rates than banks. I've heard the minimum amount offered by Prudential is SGD$70 per month. So even if the paycheck is small, say, SGD$1500, $70 is just 4.7% of the amount! As it is advisable to save at least 30% of your salary, then please place the 26% into a real bank so that you have some cash on hand. Some of these plan offer cashback annually, or every 3 years. Of course, in doing so, you still can take some of your money out but will reduce the final lump sum at the end of the term.

2. Investment linked policies. Good for when you do not have much money to invest, and can wait for the portfolio to grow slowly.

Retirement planning

As mentioned above, what will happen when we're retired and thus no more income. For lucky ones, of course they would've have some cash generating business running somewhere without them having to lift a finger. For normal ppl like myself, probably having a sum set aside for this purpose, also makes sense.

How much is enough for retirement? Depends on how much you want to spend, it seems. So if you intend to spend $2000 per month for the rest of your life (+30 years after 55) after retirement, you'll need roughly $620,000. If we can save $800 per mth from age 26 onwards till 55, we would've saved about $300,000. So, without some form of investment, likely money will never be enough when we retire.

Luckily, government has some form of planning for us already, which is the CPF and Medisave plans. So something is better than nothing. However, with much factors beyond our control, for example, healthcare cost, living cost (as natural resources are being depleted, its substitute could cost more as money were pumped into the R&D etc).

As the saying goes, "Best to prepare an umbrella in case of rainy days". But the question is, have you shopped for one?

happy mother's day

To all the momma's in the world, "Happy Mother's Day!"

Meng Choo is famous!

Yup Yup Yup! Meng Choo was featured in Digital Life today as one of the mums who blogs! Yippee!

Click here to view the featured picture! Or here to view her blog. Cheers!

I wonder if I can ever get one of her famous cupcakes or not? Heh heh heh... Meng Choo ah, can I (one of your many fans... also Megan n Macy's as well!) get one of your fabulous cupcake for free? Pretty please?

spiderman 3

The truth is out! I'm smitten with the smiling James Franco (Goblin Junior). He's so... so cute!

see... handsome, right?

WARNING: Before you proceed, please be aware that there may be spoilers below. So its your choice...

DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!

(Last chance! You can still click on the 'X' and close browser...)


Eh... still around.. well, oki doki.... it's your choice!

But, spidey-gone-bad Tobey was also quite funny when he hammed it up as a baddie. It's bad when he's Peter Parker the nerd... but it was even worse when he became a jerk. So guys, remember... a nerdie jerk is a NO-NO combo! Tobey (the bad boy look) became much more attractive (though I suspect it's his hair that made the difference!)

tobey with his not-so nerdie but not quite the baddie look...

tobey in his baddie look (much more attractive, don't you think?)

In Spidey 3, there's also another 2 characters involved... Venom and Sandman. I think in Spidey 3, a lot of things were being squeezed in (to keep us viewers entertained, and also to have a storyline somewhere in there...) Venom didn't quite appear till quite the end (the spidey black suit doesn't count...) and Sandman.. well, he's just a sad character...

topher grace as eddie brock.. basically a much better looking reporter than peter parker

however, he ended up as this ugly thing (just because he lost his job, kanna humiliated.. so he wants to kill peter parker... haiyo, people nowadays.. tsk tsk)

sandman doing his thing...

I was thinking all the while.. Sandman doesn't need much costume... he's just wearing the same t-shirt in the 2 hour and 20 minutes long movie (not counting the prison overalls).

Sandman... in his one and only one tshirt... so poor thing...

Overall, its a sad ending... yeah, a lot of people in the cinema were wiping their tears during the last 5 minutes of the show. It's very sad when people turn over a new leaf and they had to die after that...

ps: i ate up all 5 cough drops during the show.. yah.. still coughing...


Disclaimer: please note that all pictures belong to their rightful owners... i just grabbed them via google search to illustrate to you, that's all. Absolutely no malice whatsoever intended...

les miserables...

been sick since last week.. very sianz you know...
cough cough cough... morning afternoon night.... cough cough cough
sianz!

haha, i think my brother also sianz.. 'coz when i coughed, usually its quite loud.. then night time.. more loud lor.. so, how to sleep? probably they can la, but sometimes also buay song me i suppose? heh heh!

well, spidey 3 is out now. should be watching it tomorrow.. so, spiderman.. wait for me *cough cough cough!*

ps: picture taken from allposters.com, so please go there and buy.
pps: inside suntec there's this shop called popcorn ( i think so la..) and eva said her cousin is the boss but he's at esplanade... so can get discount... (these posters not cheap bah, i suppose)

another spotted!

Vas from Vas and Pris (Dancefloor!) At least, I think that's him la... Haha, wouldn't have noticed him in the MRT if it weren't for his shades. Who wears that kind of shades in the morning? At least not the 98% of people that I see everyday in the MRT. Well, he's pretty fair and some would say, boyishly cute. But then, 'coz its rush hour.. everyone seems to be grouchy and grumpy looking no matter what! Haha!

*cough cough* I think I'm gonna fall sick... the throat is already kind of sandy... (probably too much KFC, pizza and laksa these 2 days...)

celebrity spotted!

Ha... today I saw Zhu Houren... at Yew Tee foodcourt! Probably he's staying somewhere nearby? Don't know. But celebrities do have good skin. They kind of radiate... yeah, I think so too. But he still gotta get his own drinks and food. But they got good habit though, after eating they placed their trays back at the tray counter.

Previously saw Liang Wen Foo (music composer) there as well!

too fat?

Yesterday, like usual, I was in the MRT travelling to work. The train was packed to the brim and had this couple talking loudly in a voice that makes you wanna ask them to shut up. Certain voice tone/quality combined with the way they speak, does sound very 欠便, you know?

Anyway, I was minding my own business when I suddenly felt a tap on my butt. (on my butt leh!!) Surprised, so I turned to see who so daring! I turned and saw an auntie (who was already seated) smiling at me and said, "这里有位子可以坐" while gesturing to the seat beside her. I smiled back (but a little 尴尬） and shook my head and said no need no need. So sad.... she thinks I'm pregnant ah? Or my butt too big and I looked like I just given birth isit? Buahahahaha! 'Coz I'm not acquainted to that auntie at all! Wahahahahah... or probably she just like my 乖乖 look and was just trying to be nice? Dunno... and will never know...

changi airport

Today I was at Changi airport again.. pretending I'm going off to a great getaway holiday, where the sun shines, skies blue and flowers bloom...

Nah.. juz kidding. Was there to send off my brother who is going to Paris. Yep, gay Paree~ Je t'aime~ He's on business trip there for 5 days. So good hor? He just came back from Shanghai the other day, and now off to Paris.. wow. I also want....

So met his colleagues as well, and meeting people for the first time... well, sure is awkward sometimes. Think I'm getting too old for these... My conversation skills is getting from lousy to worse... think probably too much time spent on facing the computer and not humans, will slowly(but almost surely) deplete the human's natural ability to communicate with fellow human beings. Chamz right?

The other day was attending this meeting with boss, and volunteered to answer some questions. Somehow my explanation only serves to confuse them even further... :(

And I really think I am getting old. By 11.30 pm on Saturday night, I'm usually already groggy and ready to sleep. Whatever happened to the night is still young... tsk tsk!

happy people

i dreamt of happy people...
i dreamt that i was staying in someplace (looks like residential houses but not the rich kind type!)
i dreamt that i had lots of friends within that area (who looked like they're hair stylist kind...?!)
i dreamt that it was a happy mood, everyone was jovial...
i dreamt that somewhere in the dream, Joanne Peh was in that area, filming her new drama series that supposedly will showcase her as a skater... (inside the dream, she had to do her own stunts, which involves her skating over a ramp and banging her head against the zinc barrier)
i dreamt that although i was a nobody, everyone still come and chat with me...
i dreamt that i was happy...

fruit juice

There I was, standing in line at Yew Tee Food Court's fruit juice drink stall. An auntie in front of me ordered orange pineapple juice, so I said I'd like one of that as well. So I was looking at the juice auntie on how she prepared it. She took a piece of pineapple from the counter and put it inside the blender (which in fact, haven't been washed probably since the beginning of the day 'coz I saw got a lot of fruit dregs in it... -_-''' ), and then she took one orange from one bucket (which I suspect is where they threw those unwanted fruit pieces that they cannot sell one...) and blended those pieces together. So 1 orange + 1 pineapple, and they charge us $2 for it.. geez.

Anyway, it was our choice, so when my turn came, I repeated the order but with a request. I asked innocently, "Auntie, can you replace that one piece of normal pineapple with one piece of Sarawak pineapple?" The auntie looked at me as if I had asked her the most difficult question in the world. Probably she thought I was asking her what's the distance between the moon and the earth...

She blinked, and asked, "What about the orange?" I smiled and said, "Everything same as just now (meaning same as what she had prepared for the earlier customer) but just replace the normal pineapple with the Sarawak pineapple. Then her able assistant blurted, "Ask her to pay $2.50 for it!" I was like... what! The normal pineapple is $0.60 per piece while the Sarawak pineapple is $0.80 per piece. So at most the drink should be at about $2.20, where in the world do they want to charge that extra $0.30 for? Their maths must be really fantastic. The auntie narrowed her brows and said, "我没有办法。。。这黄鹂太贵了，不能焦成汁给你” (translated: I'm bummed... the pineapple (that you requested) is too expensive, I can't make it into juice for you!" I nearly fainted... why is it too expensive? All I wanted was a one for one replacement.. nothing more. 1 piece of $0.60 replace with one piece of $0.80 means only $0.20 extra.. why cannot? I need enlightenment...

tonight's dinner

Unagi Mee Sua Soup with Bakwan

Ingredients:

1. minced pork
2. chinese parsley
3. chye sim
4. dried oyster
5. red dates
6. ikan bilis
7. chicken stock
8. mee sua
9. unagi


Steps:
1. Put chicken stock (little bit only), ikan bilis, dried oyster, red dates and water into a pot and boil for 20 minutes to make the soup.

2. Wash chye sim, cut off the stalks and put into the soup (for vege taste).

3. Mix minced meat with chopped parsley, white pepper, olive oil and corn flour to make bakwans. Add soy sauce and sesame oil for flavour. Roll into balls and throw into boiling soup.

4. Put unagi into toaster and toast for 5 mins.

5. Place the rest of the chye sim into the soup ('coz the chye sim that I bought looks quite 'old' so can boil longer)

6. Take out the chye sim and bakwans when done.

7. Spread some mince meat on a bowl. Pour some hot soup over it and mix well to cook it (heh, 'coz that's how the bak chor mee people do it, so I follow lor...)

8. Put mee sua into the soup and cook until soft. Once cooked, take out and put inside serving bowl.

9. Place all the chye sims, bakwans nicely on top of the mee sua. Throw in the minced meat on the bowl into the soup and off the fire. Pour soup over the mee sua.

10. Place toasted unagi ontop of the mee sua and garnish with parsley.


There you go. Me and my brother's dinner for tonight!

傻瓜

咳。。。真是个笨蛋。 哪个笨蛋？ Well, 就是我。 彻彻底底的笨的要命！

我做人一向来就是有点小聪明。做了几十年的聪明人，就换回一天的糊涂。 咳。。。（正在叹气中。。）
应该可以猜得到吧。。。就是跟钱财有关。　被骗了吗？　可以这么说。　但是，是自作自受啦。　就是不会说　'no' 。。　其实回想来，我的确有说过　'no'，　不过最后还是答应了。　咳。。。　真的是笨死了！

chio or not?

Chio or not? The new (actually not so new.. came out quite a few months ago...) But it has 18x optical zoom! Just how cool is that!

Can read about the full review here.


I think it cost around SGD$899 or something. The previous model where it has 10x optical zoom already cost about SGD$799, so this one is better!

mystery no more

Oki, as promised.. here's the follow-up to the case of DDDP Monthly deduction.

Well, just the other day, I've received a letter from UOB stating that they've refunded the disputed amount.... a day before that, Club Rainbow actually called me up to check on the status. Which really reflects well on Club Rainbow and so I'd think I'd support them again!

The twist came a day after the letter, when a lady from Singapore Cancer Society called me up stating that the DDDP Monthly deduction was actually for them. I was like, huh? Then why deduct twice? She went on to say that because Singapore Cancer Society actually contracted an external company to do the transactions and thus the name that appears at the charge slip will be shown as DDDP Monthly. Also, the double deduction was because of my credit card bill that fell somewhere in between. Hmm.. not that I really understand what she's saying. She also admitted that since they got this company to do the transaction, there had been complaints and thus, in the next deduction, the bill will reflect Singapore Cancer Society so that the donors are aware of whom they're donating to. But to me, her explanation seems to be hurried and shoddy.. no apologies no nothing... just wanted me to call up the bank so that they can deduct that amount! Which is a pity... as cancer is one of the major cause that I truly want to support...

peat moss

Finally i bought the peat moss bedding (recommended by one of the staff at Pet's Lovers Bugis for the pets to burrough). Found it in the Lot 1 branch. Cost about $8++ after discount. It looked soft and feels like foam. Supposedly it allows the pet to dig into it and the top part will retain its shape while a tunnel is formed underground. (or so the picture in front of the packaging shows that.. the rest of the wordings are all in japanese and of course, I can't read nor write nor speak Japanese!) But anyway, so I brought home the pack (after I bought it, only left 1 more in the shop) and looked at it a little more thoroughly and noticed the word: 注意

Hmm... but after the words 注意, all of it are in Japanese... so warning for something but don't know what. Anyway, I opened up that package and well... it looks like dirt. Powdery and dirty looking (brown black in color), but nevertheless, I poured it into a small plastic aquarium and placed Daisy in it. Oki, she digged into it alright, but the moss thingie sticks to her entire bum, head, nose.. was kinda worried that it might affect her respiratory and eyes. So left her in it for a few seconds and nope, she doesn't look like she's having fun. So scooped her out, powdered her (her bathing sand) and make sure she's clean before putting back into her own cage.

Then, I decided to look up in the internet to see what the heck is a peat moss anyway (yeah, I know.. should've done that earlier.. yeah..my fault la... )

So here's the wikipedia definition of peat moss.

Its some decayed moss that was compacted that can hold up a lot of water.. which is good.. but hey, when you reach that part about health dangers.. that's it, that's done it for me.

So off into the garbage bin it goes.. never to return again. (but probably it could've been quite a safe material to use since it can be sold in pet shops... not sure... )

game consoles

ps3 consoles look like this



xbox 360 looks like this


nintendo ds looks like this



while nintendo wii looks like this


The other day I was at Funan, went walking around and wandered into shops that are dedicated in selling consoles and games. Didn't manage to ask how much does a Nintendo DS costs but I think it should be a couple of hundred dollars... The game cartridge itself cost around SGD$55! Saw one parent bought a Nintendo DS for his daughter. That kid looks to be about Primary 4-6 level.. and she gets a Nintendo DS already. Last time I had to top the class before I was even rewarded with... a mechanical pencil! *piangz* Time has really changed! Although my mom did eventually get us one or two handheld games.. forgot what they called it but it can only play one game, those kind... you know? Probably not your era... Those days, we had games like Donkey Kong, Western Bar etc. But I like Western Bar most... its a shooting game, but I don't have it.. I played my friend's one until the battery gone flat!


Western Bar looks like this


Ok, so back to Funan... Overall, I saw like 2-3 guys walk away carrying Xbox 360.. so I guess Xbox still rules? (for now, probably?) PS3 cost $799 per piece and its game cost about SGD$90+.. goodness.. can buy one desktop computer... And Xbox plays hi-def stuffs, so that's cool... Of course, PS3 supports Blu-Ray and supposedly there is a war going on between the hddvd format, but still to us mass consumers, at the end of the day.. its still the price that counts.. may the best priced wins! You can read more about it here.

Okay, I agree... the graphics shown from the PS3 looks awesome... (as seen from Sony Bravia tv in Funan)

Now I just wish that I have a few thousand dollars to splurge on all these luxury!

the day the building swayed...

Was in the office this morning, when suddenly had this dizzy feeling... 'Whoa.. must had been working too hard.' or so I thought. Then I looked up from the screen and then felt it more clearly now, hey.. the building is shaking! Went out of the room and saw Zak starting at Harold's room. The door was like hitting against the door frame on its own. Now that is alarming. So we decided to evacuate as it was like 11.52am. But first had to make a pee stop. Hendrik said he was in the loo when it happened and he could see the toilet door banging... he thought it was some ghostly encounter!

So we got out of office, and voila.. looks like the entire Gateway East and West people were already down there! I messaged my brother who's working at Jurong East... and yeah, he felt the tremors too. So likely is some earthquake from Sumatra. Zak said Bukit Merah also can feel the tremors. Anyway, we went to low ground and had our lunch.

After lunch, we went back to the office and minded our own stuffs. Then around before 2pm... again we felt it. This time we wasted no time and grabbed our stuffs and headed towards the door. Harold happened to be back and he asked us to pack up and go home. So we did.

Read about the news report here.

from m'sia, with love...

Took the pictures one fine day when i was at home.... yeah, was bored so took out the camera and loaded it with batteries (geez, i think my camera spoilt liao.. it eats up batteries like nobody's business!) , and stepped out of the house in style... hahaha! Anyway, it was hot.... very hot... the weather, of course!



i think this is what my parents called 'steel tree', well.. it looks like just the trunk of the plant and to plant it, you simply stick the trunks into the soil and water and wait. Basically, it'll grow and if you're lucky, it will flower too!



hmm... i don't know what this is.. but my sis does though, but never mind la, next time you ask her! i just liked the way the shadow falls!



this.. is Bobbi, my sister's pet



usually she looks like this (if she likes you...)




this one.. some kind of lime leaves... we took it and put inside our water container when we bathe... supposedly to ward off evil... or, you can use it as a natural air freshener!



i suppose this one is some kind of cactus.. and hey, got flower leh! if you wanna know the scientific name, ask my sister.. ya, she's the one that completed a degree in horticulture or something like that...



this one i know.. bougainvillea... although i suspect the spelling, is like a bit off...



this one my mom's plant.. basically the tree is like high up there.. and it has thorns... has some medicinal value to it, and it basically have a chinese name, but literal translation, this would be 'seven star needle' plant... well, literally ya..



this, is basically how the entire garden looked like... somewhere more to the far right of the picture, is the location of the dog house... Bobbi's home (but of course, you can't see it from this picture coz can't fit...). On the left most of the picture, is the 'seven star needle' plant, and you can't even see the flowers from this picture.. told ya it was tall...




and this, is how the front of the car porch looks like... direct to the main road...


So there you go.. i present to you, my home in m'sia... in a blogshell! (modified from nutshell).

Daisy Pics

Shadowy image of Daisy, curious to find out her surroundings...



Here's looking at you babe! Daisy doing her crouching tiger hidden hamster pose...

mystery...

Have you ever received a credit card bill which charges you for some transaction that you never take part in?

Well, unfortunately I am experiencing this now. It all began when I opened up my UOB credit card bill for February. In it, there was a transaction dated 16th Feb and deducted $30.40 for a DDDP Mnthly Singapore. What the heck is that anyway? But comparing the amount, it seems something like a charity donation or smthg... but since its stated 'Mnthly' as its title, it'll likely means that I am going to be deducted for this amount, every month?! What the.... and moreover, 16 Feb I was already happily in Malaysia, so how could I charge that?

Anyway, so I called the UOB Card Centre. First call, they only picked up after trying for half hour or so. So this guy answered and verified what they need to verify and asked me to wait. So I waited. Finally he came back and told me that DDDP merchant in question, is Club Rainbow. I was like, fine but the only donation to Club Rainbow was like in 2005 and that is for a one time donation only. So I asked him what can I do now. So he asked me to wait again... and thus I waited... and waited.. until the phone went *toot... toot... toot* dead. On 23 Feb, I was very busy you know.. no time to wait. So didn't call them again as I need to prepare for an external meeting at client's site. So seems like UOB guys did try to call again but during the meeting so I couldn't pick up the call as well... and on the same night, I had to board the train back to M'sia so will continue with this problem when I'm back.

So today, I called the UOB Card Centre again, and today the response time is much shorter. So I repeated my problem again ('coz I can't recall the previous guy's name, though I suspect he's the same one that I am speaking to now!) and he asked me to wait again. After like 10 minutes, he came back with 2 numbers, 1 for Club Rainbow and another one for the company that runs the DDDP programme for Club Rainbow (think the company is called APPCO or smthg like tht). UOB says its best for me to call the merchant and ask for a refund.

So I called Club Rainbow and a lady called Stephanie (or was it Daphne? Sorry la but cannot catch the name) answered my call. So I explained everything again, and she checked her computer system and came back with this, "Hmm.. Ms Lee, seems like the only transaction that you did with your this credit card was a one time donation to Club Rainbow.. and that was deducted in 2005?" I was like, yeah.. correct.. but what about this latest transaction dated 16 Feb? She reiterated that there is no record for any request for any deduction for 16 Feb for this credit card number and usually the amount should be $30.60 if its really from Club Rainbow. Hmm... back to square 1.

Oki, never mind.. although the mood level had dipped to -20. So I called back UOB Card Centre and this time, a lady answered and her name is Liza (or Lisa.. not sure but from her accent, likely she is a Filipino.. not that it matters..) Anyway, I repeated my problem again, and she needs to verify whatever that needs to be verified again and as you may have guessed it... she asked me to wait. After like 10 minutes, she came back but she has more manners that the guy, 'coz she apologized for the waiting time (not that it really made any difference anyway...). She can't confirm anything but she said she'll call back in half hour's time to advise on next step.

So she did call back after some time, and she said from their records, the merchant is Club Rainbow. She said I would have to request for a written letter from Club Rainbow to state that they have never intended to deduct the amount from my card, and then fax the proof to them. I was like silent for a while, and then said, "Hmm... this is strange, for UOB to start deducting anything from customer, it would have meant that UOB had received instruction from merchant (with prove and everything) but now the merchant had claimed that they did not instruct. Shouldn't it be like UOB work it out with the merchant instead of the customer having to do so?" Simple question, right? Immediately, she said "Ms Lee, its ok if you cannot get the written letter from them, just simply fill up the form to state that you did not participate in this transaction." I was like.. WHAT? First you asked me to get letter and now you say its not necessary? WHAT IS THIS...? So never mind, 'coz she's just the poor customer service person and the problem didn't start from her anyway. So I said, ok.. send me the form.

But I am still curious (although curiosity should kill the cats but me not a cat mah!), so I called the second number, to the company called APPCO. A lady answered and thus I repeated my problem again for the 101th time. Again, she punched the numbers into her computer and the record only showed the 2005 transaction (but no one was interested in 2005 transaction!). Again, I said, it's very strange as UOB claimed to have received the instruction from merchant and now, none of the merchant (Club Rainbow and APPCO) said they had instructed for the deduction. Its like a mystery waiting to be solved... So I did asked if APPCO is running anything for other charities besides Club Rainbow. She said yes and rattled one but it didn't sound anything remotely like what I would donate to. So she said, she will get back to me as this is indeed, puzzling to say the least.

Questions: WHO, HOW, WHERE and WHY?

WHO:
1. Was it UOB that for some reason, entered the wrong digit and thus poor me had to pay for it?
2. Was it Club Rainbow for some reason, submitted the wrong number to APPCO?
3. Was it APPCO for submitting the wrong number to UOB?
4. Was it myself, who signed up for the donation and then became amnesiac and thus had no memory of it?

HOW:
1. It was obvious, the transaction was via credit card.. but for the past 1 month, my main credit card was Citibank Visa and not UOB... and the only thing I used UOB for, was for a monthly instalment for something else (definitely not a charity donation).

WHERE:
1. On 16th Feb (transaction date), I was physically in Malaysia (together with the suspect, UOB credit card). So how could I have signed up for that? (of course unless a post-date transaction was instructed but no leh... don't have this in my memory bank)

WHY:
1. I'm not rich, cannot donate to so many charities (currently is supporting S'pore Cancer Society and NKF Children's Fund through the UOB credit card) and Club Rainbow I distinctly remember is a one time payment (and indeed the organization itself have confirmed that I was only a one-time donor)

Therefore, there is no conclusion at this moment... Only the frustration level has dippped to -30, but ahah, the mystery and curiosity level has increased to +15. Is this somehow connected the the alien lights that I had seen last year? Was I abducted during that short 2 seconds (not very likely as I was with my brother at that time.. but then time need not run in sequence as we know in our dimension. If the aliens runs in a parallel dimension and what I saw was when the dimensions somehow intersected and thus created a pocket whereby certain objects came into our dimension view... ). So no one knows...

--------------------- to be continued -------------------------------