Korean Movie and Drama

Watched the movie, "Miss Granny" and it was touching. Ageism. Things that will affect us, in time to come.

Also, my favourite actress Gong Hyo-Jin has a new drama. With Jo-Insung nonetheless! WoOohOoo! It's Okay, It's Love.

2NE1 All Or Nothing 2014 World Tour in Singapore

Was an impromptu decision. Ticket was bought just 2 weeks before the concert.

The number of concert goers weren't that many, only about 7400 as reported in the newspaper but there were about 34,000 others who were at the National Stadium. No wonder Stadium mrt station, Kallang Wave are all crowded. Finding a washroom without a long queue would've needed a miracle!

Anyway, hurried to Indoor Stadium as it was nearing 7pm and I still needed to find a washroom! But, there was still long queues to get in. Thought the doors were open for seating from 6pm?

And, I didn't find any sticker for the light-up event. -_-''' Tsk tsk...some people...

stage

Sound system was quite bad, to be honest. CL and Bom's mic were too loud, but that's because overall the music was way too loud. Down one notch would be good.

It was party from the get-go! Should've just converted the entire venue as dance floor. Bass was thumping and the girls looked like they were enjoying every bit of their performance. =)

Liked the concept of colours. My favourite was the white and black segments.

Before encore, the girls appeared at the premium section area and shook hands, took pictures with the fans. CL saw an elderly lady, and went over and gave her a kiss. Elderly lady was delighted. Thought that was rather sweet of Chaerin.

Concert lasted about 2 hours or so. Rather short, but was fun. CL said they signed some CD and we could get them on our way out.

Oh, apparently they are selling the CDs but we were told autographed copies were to be given out at random. Hmm, so went and tried my luck. Guess I was lucky. =)

AON in Seoul signed CD

White segment

nice pic

backshot

All Or Nothing [AON]

I'll be a blackjack for a night. See you.

Current fav, besides Come Back Home.

cpf minimum sum

From Jul 1 2014, CPF min. sum is now revised to $155,000.

Min. sum is in existance to allow members who had fulfilled this criteria when they are in retirement age (55 yrs old?) to have a monthly draw down annuity @ $1.2K per month.

Hmm, let's track back for a moment. Assuming one can contribute 1K per month into CPF, in a year one would accumulate $12K. After 10 years of contribution, there will be at about $125K. At this juncture, let's say that person buys a house. Most of that money will be used for housing with little left.

Assuming new 4-room flat @ $260K after grants.  So each partner forks out $130K for this. Let's say wipe the CPF savings out, and the other partner does not have so much and has probably $80K. Balance of 55K to pay.

Restart the CPF contribution and continue to contribute 1K per month. Assuming min. sum continues to revise upwards to beat inflation, the sum might be $215K in 2029. So, 1K per month x 13 x 15 yrs = $195K + interest etc ~ probably $221K.

Looks possible.

Track back a little. To contribute 1K per month, means monthly salary need to be about $4K min, which will nett about $1400 in contribution and about $1250 into OA and SR.

If one can get a starting salary of say, $3500 then CPF contribution shall be about 33K for the first 2 years.
Then, get promoted/pay increment or change job to get $4200, and CPF contribution shall be about $40K for the next 2 years. By the 5th year, should be quite comfy with $5000. The other assumption is that one is getting their 13-month.

With these assumptions, one seem to be able to afford a HDB flat after working for 6 to 7 years. Then, just need to make sure that the monthly salary does not drop below $5K (and continue toget 13-month) and to continue working for the next 15 years.

Looks like I didn't do all these calculations when I started working, so I can see where it went wrong:

1. Starting pay below $2K for a year
2. Average pay of $2.5K for 2 years
3. CPF contribution started later and smaller sum (non-citizen)
4. Stayed for 10 years in a company that did not practise 13-month and no structured pay increment, and max bonus of 1 month at best

Guess either I was stupid, lazy, too comfy etc, or seriously naive.

For people who has just started your careers, you still have a chance to be on track. Just make sure that your salary increases by 15% to 20% once every 2 years, and company pays 13-month and bonuses.

Lesson in life.

fast approaching

The untouchable ages. The next round in life. One, that can be liberating or one that'll trap the darkness within.

Does wisdom comes with age?

Wisdom doesn't really come with age. It is the assumption that as you aged, you would've tried a lot of things. A whole load of 'em and learnt the good, the bad and the ugly of it. If one ages without doing a lot of stuffs, then one doesn't get any wiser. Thus, it is the experience and not the age.

Am wondering, whether is it too late to do alot of things?

Singapore River Safari

Located at Mandai Lake Road, River Safari is adjacent to Singapore Zoo. Tickets can be bought online via River Safari website. Bought mine for $23.75 (after 5% discount for online purchase). It's open from 9am to 6pm daily.

Took #927 from CCK Bus Interchange. Unfortunately, there was a horrible jam that lasted for 45 minutes due to the 2014 Zoo Run that morning. Gosh, should've checked the news...

traffic jam at 1.5km to zoo

Go to the Visitors' Services counter to redeem the complimentary (till further notice) boat ride. They'll print a slip of paper with time-slot and you'll need to show that to the staff in-charge of boat ride.

still CNY mood

RS staff recommended to start from the left side. Oh, into the aircond area. Nice.

start here

Nothing much inside there, just projections on the wall. The exit of that led to the Mississippi River exhibit area. Didn't see any beavers though.

alligator snapping turtle

alligator gar

Mississippi paddlefish

Ancient species. There are fossils of paddlefish. Said to be able to grow to 206 pounds (approx. 93kg!)

African dwarf crocodile (Congo River exhibit)

It's a pretty long walk from entrance and passing by all these rivers: Mississippi, Congo, Nile, Murray, Mekong and Yangtze. Kai Kai and Jia Jia are sure nestled deep inside the River Safari.

Prefers warm blooded animals as compared to cold-blooded ones.

watching me, watching you

lesser adjutant stork

crab-eating macaque

when was the last time i had crab...

Ok, finally arrived at 'Panda Forest'. Actually, an airconditioned indoor viewing area.

let's see some panda!

One should be as quiet as possible so as not to scare the panda away.

aiya, not your head la!

red panda

Looks like a big cat and the stripes reminds me of a raccoon but these are way way cuter! Not related to the black and white panda though.

aww~

ball of cuteness~

There's also the golden pheasant. Vivid coloured feathers with a long plume for tail.

nice colours

golden pheasant (male)

And finally, the panda. Lucky us, Kai Kai was out and about.

Kai Kai and his bamboo leaves

nom nom~

Jia Jia was rather shy that day, or rather, she was hiding when I was there.

panda moving, quick!

There was still quite some time before the boat ride at 230pm. The boat ride place which is the Wild Amazonia, is very near the Panda Forest. So, went to visit the Squirrel Monkey Forest first.

Before that, let's take a look at Jaguarundi. Jaguar who?

sleeping cat

Jaguarundi

beware

house rules

There's a LOT of squirrel monkeys in there! Hahaa, the monkeys are pretty tiny. Well, tiny for a monkey that is.

that's too near

never seen a squirrel monkey before?

so tired...

After monkeys, there are otters. And the crowd seemed to be very interested in electric eels. Hmmm.

playing around

giant otter

Then, there's the aquarium. Airconditioned but dark. Hence, no pictures.

to see the manatees

How about the scenaries?

scenic?

heading to Wild Amazonia

Amazon River Quest

At the slotted time, proceed to the Amazon River Quest. Once inside, there's another queue. Waited for 15 minutes outside and another 45 minutes inside. And how long was the boat ride? Less than 10 minutes. -_-'''

If you sit on the left side, there'll be a little splash.

All in all, two hours is enough to see everything in there. Excluding the wait for boat ride, of course.

The Return of Superman KBS

Hooked onto this reality show. Such cute kiddies!!~ Lee Haru and Choovely Sarang!

saying i love you

Breakfast. NYD. 2014

Hello and good morning! It's a new year, a new start.

And with abundance of food in the fridge, made myself a big breakfast.

greens, baked tomato with basil, scrambled eggs and sauteed mushrooms with butter

Dinner. NYE. 2013

Felt like having scallops. And for the longest time, felt like having a good steak. So went shopping in Isetan, and was hovering around the beef section.

Miyazaki wagyu @ $32 per 100gms? Faints. Bought USA prime ribeye beef instead. About $12 for 150gms. Hmm...not exactly cheap also. Hope it taste good!

mine...all mine!

Have never cooked steak before, and was too lazy to see any recipe so just decided to marinate it with salt, pepper, sesame oil and a dash of soy sauce. Unfortunately, splashed too much of soy sauce!

absorbing the marinade

Kept the meat in the freezer till an hour before cooking time. Then, left it to sit at room temperature.

cook all with butter

The scallops didn't sear enough, but didn't want to overcook it as it might turn too rubbery. *imagine Gordon Ramsay throwing all those rubber scallops back at ya*

pan seared scallop with some wilted vege in balsamic and butter

Scallops were alright. Was abit worried that it might be undercooked, so popped it into the toaster for another 5 minutes. Texture was similar to lightly boiled/cooked scallops. A darker sear on its outerside would be perfect.

ribeye steak - well done

As the steak was a little thin, should've just sear it for less than 10 seconds on each side. Thought it was cooked well done, prime ribeye beef is a piece of good meat. Tender, and plenty of fats. Yums. Just need to tone down on the marinade, next time.

Bon appetit~ Have a Happy New Year!

homemade roast pork 101

Meat. I like meat. Ever since I was a tiny tot (maybe not so tiny, but about four or five years old?), I remembered eating char siews and siu yuk (roast pork) for lunch, with plain porridge. Charred bits, fatty bits with soy sauce and crackling skin. Double yums.

So, made a tiny suggestion to my sister and here's her second attempt at making roast pork.

Ingredients:

A good slab of pork belly (400 to 500 gms)
Nam yu (preserved bean curd that's reddish in colour)
Five spice powder
Mashed garlic
Salt
Shao Xing Hua Tiao wine

shao xing wine, five spice powder, preserved bean curd

Prepare the rub mix:

just a dash of wine into the mixture of smashed garlic, bean curd, five spice powder and salt

mix well

Prepare the meat:
Pat dry the meat
Use knife and poke into its skin
Turn the meat over and make vertical slits on its meat

make tiny slits

rub into the slits, cover all areas of the meat only

Place the pork with meat side down.

make sure there is something to hold the meat so that its underside can be aired dry

rub salt onto its skin part

Shove the meat into the fridge and forget about it for a couple of hours to dry it as well as letting the rub sets in. Minimum four hours but longer better.

When it is ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to about 220 degrees celcius.

pre-heat the oven

ready to be roasted

When it's halfway done, take the meat out to dab away the oil from its skin.

aiyo, so oily

Then, use a satay stick and stab at the skin to make tiny holes. Or, use anything you like, as long as it can make tiny holes into the skin. Oil will ooze out after that, so make sure to dab away.

Brush rice vinegar onto the skin and put it back into the oven.

in case, like me, you don't know how rice vinegar looks like

Cook till meat looks done and skin is crackling.

roast pork, do-it-at-home style

Let the meat rest for a few minutes.

homemade siu yuk

lovely crunchy skin

My sis cooked it. We took care of the eating part. Yums.