This is how my tomato-soup pasta looks like. It's actually bh's special pasta and I managed to 'steal' the recipe after observing him cook it a few times when he was doing his internship here in Sydney and was bunking in at my apartment. This has become one of my favourite foods to cook and I can have it for every meal for a week at times.
Chris Teppanyaki bought a new car - the VW Golf! Check out the gleaming new leather seats and the cool sunroof. The car suits him. I'm glad he didn't get the Jeep we talked about previously, cos that's so not him.
I'm looking forward to the Mardi Gras parade tomorrow, provided the weather is good. It's been stormy these past few days. If you don't already know, Mardi Gras, Sydney is the largest gay and lesbian event here, and some say, the most spectacular one in the world. Below are some pics taken at last year's Mardi Gras parade. The red milk crate I'm carrying in the pic below was for standing on to get a better view. It's a must to bring along a stool or crate or you'll just be watching the perspiration on others' backs.
ps: Boss went back to Singapore today. Time for a good break this weekend. Went for a few beers with the boys this evening. It's so easy to get along with the boys. Girls are just a little too complicated to make good chillout buddies sometimes.
bh's special pasta; teppanyaki's new golf; mardi gras
seven emotions, six desires
七情六欲 literally translated means 'seven emotions, six desires'. It is a chinese idiom and happens to be the title of a song that my boss likes very much. I sang it twice for him at karaoke last night and we had a little discussion on what this phrase means.
Simply explained, it means the various emotions and desires that human possess. A more detailed explanation (I Googled it as I promised my boss) is:
七情 (seven emotions) - 喜 (happiness), 怒 (anger), 哀 (sadness), 乐 (joy), 爱 (love), 恶 (hate), 欲 (desire)
六欲 (six desires) - of the 眼 (eyes ie from what you see), 耳 (ears ie from what you hear), 鼻 (nose ie from what you smell), 舌 (tongue ie from what you taste), 身 (body ie from what you touch), and 意 (passion from the heart)
The song 七情六欲 by 李翌君 has quite meaningful lyrics. I'm too lazy to try to translate so I went to some free online translator and got the below hilarious translation. To summarise and explain very simply, the song talks about how uncontrollable a human being's emotions and desires are. (Note: to my non Chinese friends reading this, please don't get the wrong idea that the lyrics are actually ermm... gibberish?)
forever 18
It's Laura-Mae's birthday today! Most of us were too busy running around this morning preparing for Boss' arrival and kinda forgot to wish her until Romy mentioned it. Our bad. She's such a darling mother hen seated just behind me at work, and always brings us yummy foodies, so we thought we'd get her a pretty little cake. A really colourful one. Just a bit too sweet for my liking though.
And here's me with the birthday girl (and cheeky Romy behind). Laura-Mae, we wish you "Forever 18 and forever pretty"!
food diary: 18 - 24 feb
Because of my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and gastritis history, I thought it might be useful to start a food diary like my tudi. It would be a weekly update for me instead of a daily one. I know this may not appeal to most people reading my blog (like why the hell would you wanna know what I ate or how many times I took a dump in the week, right?), but then it's more for my own reference and to give those who like to nag at me for my horribly unhealthy lifestyle more things to nag me for. I know for sure those who care will bother to read through my uninteresting food diary because I do read my tudi's, haha.
monday
breakfast (B) @ 9.30am: 3-in-1 coffee, 2 'Hit' brand chocolate biscuits
lunch (L) @ 12.30pm: fried noodles with spicy salt and pepper fried fish fillet
dinner (D) @ 7pm: leftover from lunch
dump: nil
tuesday
B @ 10am: 3-in-1 coffee
L @ 12.30pm: tuna & mushroom penne in cream sauce
D @ 8.30pm: homecooked congee with bits of red dates, sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, egg, crabsticks, white clams and canned spiced pork cubes, vanilla yoghurt for dessert
dump: once
wednesday
B @ 10am: 3-in-1 coffee, 2 'Hit' brand chocolate biscuits
L @ 1pm: homecooked fusilli in tomato soup base that has chunky bits of tomatoes, carrots, onions, minced chicken, sausages and mushrooms
D @ 7.30pm: leftover lunch from tue - tuna & mushroom penne in cream sauce, 1 orange
dump: nil
thursday
B @ 10am: 3-in-1 coffee
L @ 12.30pm: tuna & mushroom penne in cream sauce, vanilla latte
D @ 7.30pm: homecooked tomato soup base (this time w/o the fusilli) that has chunky bits of tomatoes, carrots, onions, minced chicken, sausages and mushrooms
dump: once
friday
B @ 10am: 3-in-1 coffee
L @ 1pm: pad thai with chilli, grass jelly drink; nutella coffee
D @ 7pm: fried seafood noodles with fish cake, squid and eggs
dump: nil
saturday
B: nil
L @ 2pm: leftover lunch from thur - tuna & mushroom penne in cream sauce; one-sixth of an orange
D @ 8pm: one third portion of ravioli with spinach and ricotta, 2 slices of supreme pizza, 1 slice of mamma mia pizza, Lindt dark chocolate drink with milk for dessert
dump: nil
sunday
B: nil
L @ 3pm: vanilla yoghurt, 1 crab sushi roll, cappucino
D @ 8pm: leftover from earlier in the week - homecooked congee with bits of red dates, sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, egg, crabsticks, white clams
dump: nil
hi boss, i'd like to offer my personal but objective opinion
Work-related so can't give too much details.
A couple of days ago at work, I stood up for something I believe strongly in and communicated what I felt directly to my big boss. Some think the incident too trivial to warrant such a reaction from me. In fact, many chose to ignore it altogether and stood around like an audience watching an interesting sitcom simply because 1. they felt it too insignificant and mainly 2. the matter doesn't concern them at all.
It doesn't concern me too. However, I see bigger underlying issues that if left unattended, will only generate more grief later on. I am a saint who thinks for the overall well-being of the company and only act for the greater interest of everyone >>> HAHA. Maybe not. I did it purely for my own selfish reasons so as to avoid having to pick up the scraps afterwards. Perhaps a mixture of both. I don't know too. It could be just an impulsive act of the moment for no reason at all.
I wrote a rather lengthy email to my boss, which some might say, a bit longwinded. I just wrote what came to my mind. I let the mouse cursor hover above the 'send' button for a few seconds while I contemplated editing the piece to make it more concise and to sound more politically correct. But hell no. So. It went out, the raw unedited version of my perhaps-a-tad-jumbled-up thoughts.
It was a heart-thumping couple of hours awaiting a blasting for wasting his precious time. But phew, Boss actually agreed with my thoughts. ^_^v
24yo mouse
It was night when green plum (gp) got home after a tiring day at work. The sky was gloomy and it was drizzling. The usually pretty moon and glittery stars were half hidden by the dark heavy clouds. But gp was smiling to herself as she remembered this day 2 years ago.
She got home, sat in front of her laptop, and began 'window-shopping'. Should she get a car? (Oh. People can't drive.) Maybe a phone? (Nope. People got a better phone than her already.) Or a tie? (Eeee cannot. Someone told her girls who give boys ties are usually scheming to 'tie' them down.)
... ... ... how??? ding ding! got idea!
that mary-jane
I've been browsing through Bianca shoe collections online and really really like their shoes.
These four pairs are my favourites at the moment, especially the golfer-inspired black and white mary-jane flats (2nd row, 1st pair). I thought they would look nice on tudi too.
Fairly affordable too with prices ranging from SGD29.90 - 79.90 per pair. The only problem I have now is they don't have these designs in my sizes anymore (Both the golfer-inspired pairs in the 2nd row have completely sold out). I have contacted the owner to see if there's any possibility of custom-making one more pair for me, but no, "they produce limited quantity per design and colour and do not reproduce their previous collection designs to provide exclusive style for their customers".
(Btw, the link to the above shop is also listed in my blog's left hand column under "online shopping - products and services" if you also wanna windowshop there.)
The good news is that tortillagirl on etsy has put up another Big Fat Peekaboo Heart Bag that I missed when it sold out the last time (I even secretly cursed and swore and cried in my heart). I will just ponder over whether I should really get it and sleep on it for one more day... and see... because, well, you see, it's not exactly very cheap, leh...
sun, moon, star and rainbow
I received the below email from a friend in response to my previous vitamin D entry:
"Not only are you the sun (you bring warmth and enlightenment), you are also the moon (you bring love and kindness), the star (you bring simplicity and hope) and the rainbow (you bring colours, joy and happiness to our lives)."
WOW. I was quite blown away.
everyone needs vitamin D
Colleague: Weather has been good since you came back!
(I heard it had been raining like crazy in Sydney and was really cold the last few weeks I was away even though it's summer)
Me: The skies cry when I go away and beam with sun when I'm back.
(I think it's me. I bring the sun to all of you so that you'll have lotsa vitamin D and that makes you happy! I am the sun! HAHAHA) ^ ^v
OK. Let's stop the crap and get back to work.
Update: come to think of it, family and friends told me the weather was bad in Singapore before I went back, but voila! it was all bright and sunny but not extremely hot after my arrival back home. monkeycrab sings: "I am your sunshine, your only sunshine. I make you happy, when skies are grey."
do u remember ' 紫罗刹 ' ?
I've subscribed to mobtv! The monthly subscription is not SGD6+ as what I heard from the Joanne Peh commercial. I paid SGD29.90/mth cos I needed international access from outside Singapore.
I just watched the 缘之绘 (Taste of Love) episode shown last friday cos I missed it. Have also just downloaded episode 1 of 黄金路 (The Golden Path) that had already ended on Channel 8. Apparently this 30-episode drama is Channel 8's 2007 year end blockbuster. To mark the 25th anniversary since the 1st broadcast of Singapore's local TV drama serials, this drama incorporates some of the best remembered scenes in past serials like 小飞鱼 (The Flying Fish), 三面夏娃 (Pretty Faces), 出人头地 (Finishing Lines) and more. It boasts of a sizzling cast of both veterans like 李南星, 陈丽萍 etc and upstarts like Joanne Peh and Felicia Chin etc. I wonder if it's as good as it claims to be. Shall find out in a while.
I am amazed that I can even watch those super old shows I watched as a child. Remember 最后一个大侠 (The Last Hero, that's where the 紫罗刹 came from in the blog title) and 五脚基 (Five Foot Way)? I can now re-watch them online! How cool is that? So many old shows I wanna watch again!
And I can also catch Singapore local news and current affairs programmes. Oh how can I forget Phua Chu Kang? I can watch Seasons 1 to 5 at my own leisure. All commercial free too.
I think the SGD29.90 is really quite wu hua (well spent; worth it).
you have mail
Coming into office today after a 3-week break to about 500 unread emails and more than a few reports due in 1 week's time is no joke. <.<
homesick already
Have just settled down back in my Sydney apartment. Am feeling homesick already and just a little lonely having to come back to an empty apartment after all the noisy festive gatherings back home the last few weeks. Above photo was taken yesterday when we had our last family get-together for another lo hei session and a few rounds of mahjong with dear rae, bamboohorse and hao zi.Going back home just makes me miss my family more now.
tata
Just went through the departure gate at the spanking new Changi Airport Terminal 3 and awaiting boarding. Homesick already. Til the next trip back, most probably next CNY.
To all those I didn't manage to meet up with, sorry friends. This trip back was primarily to spend time with my family. And 3 weeks wasn't enough. There were still so many things I didn't get to do, like play pool with my bro and spending more time with my grandparents.
Yesterday was one of the happiest days of the entire trip as I was surrounded by all my loved ones. Will really miss that feeling. T_T
Okay, gotta go. Tata.
kungfu dunk
My newfound shy shy & pretty friend treated me to a movie - Kungfu Dunk! She doesn't want her identity exposed so I promised I won't post her photo on my blog. But she has such a lovely smile that I just have to share it (the smile) with everyone to brighten his / her day. Hence the mosaic-ed face. I have even mosaic-ed her clothes so no one can identify her from that! :P (You won't be angry, hor?)Btw, Kungfu Dunk proved to be quite a disappointment. The only saving grace is really just Jay Chou. He is just soooooooo cute. I thought the show was ok until the 4 kungfu masters appeared at the inter-varsity basketball finals and joined in the game. It was absolutely ridiculous the way they tried to manipulate the game with ridiculous kungfu moves. Before their appearance, the boys at least played proper basketball even though Jay Chou had the advantage due to his kungfu background.One of the Jay Chou songs bamboohorse sang at karaoke (I forgot the name), the MTV showed how he lost his GF cos she cannot handle his stardom and the paparazzi. Jay, come to me baby. I can handle it!!! LOL.
our 'lo hei' wishes
*toss toss, toss toss*
tudi: 年年有余 ah!
monkey: huat ah!
bamboohorse: strike 4D ah!
monkey: first class honours ah! (that was for bh)
tudi: strike toto ah!
monkey: strike lotto and powerball ah!
*toss toss, toss toss*
monkey: walk along the streets also find money ah!
bamboohorse: all the ugly people disappear ah!
tudi: and all the stupid people disappear ah!
monkey: and the irritating people ah!
bamboohorse: and the smelly people ah!
*toss toss, toss toss*
to the doc
I woke up yesterday morning with a sharp pain in my abdominal area. Gastritis, I thought, and took some antacid. The sharp pain came and went throughout the whole morning as I went about the day's plans - dental appointment for my regular check and polishing (which only lasted less than 15 min cos my teeth were clean and quite tartar-free ^ ^), lunch with the 39-ers Joy and Yen, and off to Citibank to settle my car loan stuff. Also took some time to settle my insurance stuff too. This last week here in SG is basically 'housekeeping' week.
I also LS-ed (diarrhoea) a couple of times.
So I popped into the clinic a block from where I live and saw my regular doctor. He said I had a history of IBS so he wasn't surprised. Gave me a whole lot of medicine and nagged nagged nagged at me to take regular and balanced meals.
I took the chance to tell him about my heart palpitations.
According to him, as long as my heart beats don't go beyond 90 beats per min, and that the palpitations don't occur more than 5 times a day, there should be no need for me to go for an ECG. I told him I took my pulse once when it happened and it was about 90 beats and that the most I've gotten them in a day was 2 or 3 times. He advised me to start a diary and record down the details each time it happens from now onwards: pulse, date, time, location, activity I am engaged in at the moment.
Note to self: buy a pretty little note book and carry it with me at all times. oh and must not forget to bring a pen along too.
specially for the brack labbit
#1: I beat David in our first game of Scrabulous! Labbit, you have been avenged. You may like to reinstall the application and start playing again. (click to enlarge pic to see the scores)
#2: The cute, sexy, pretty, charming, super-yummy unit 39-ers reunite!
#3: It's V-day today. I liked what I saw on the Google main page. Cute.
#4: Wow. I thought having school bags, folders, socks, ties is an overkill... nowadays got school shoe laces too! Btw, this student was wearing the school socks too but not visibile in pic.
bamboohorse's weird (wet) dream
bamboohorse narrates:
小 S (a famous Taiwanese singer/actress/tv host), 张韶涵 (a famouse Taiwanese singer) and I are good friends.
One night, 3 of us were gathered at 小 S's place. All of a sudden, the 2 girls started frenching each other. I stood watching them, in shock.
Then 小 S turned to me and asked "你要不要 (do you want some too)?".
I said no.
She then ran towards me and bit me on my lip.
End of narration.
Tudi and I: O.O WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Wet dream wet dream!!!
'卖咖哩'
Went karaoke with tudi and bamboohorse late into the night yesterday.
Hilarious moments:
#1: while bamboohorse was crooning 爱过你 towards the end of the song 广岛之恋, tudi went 卖咖哩.
#2: educating tudi on the art of hovering above the toilet bowl - in case you kena a dirty cubicle where you just can't stand to have skin contact with the bowl. I was trying to demonstrate the various positions one can take to ease the pressure from one's thigh and butt muscles and the different angles one can take to ensure maximum accuracy.
Below are a few of the shots taken, some of which are our noob-ish attempts at self-camwhoring. There are also a few video clips yet to be edited. Will post those once I've tidied them up.
sunflowers
I've had fresh sunflowers greeting me everyday from the moment I touched down in Singapore two and a half weeks ago.
Each time one wilts, another will take its place in the large CocaCola glass bottle in my room.
This morning, there were two very pretty ones.
ps: thanks for them. ^ ^
They are beautiful.
turning into a couch potato
I've been watching a lot of Mediacorp programmes, anime, movies and DVDs in the last 2 weeks.I try to catch as many episodes of Channel 8's 7pm and 9pm shows - '美丽的气味' is a brand new series that just started showing this week (I forgot the name of the previous show I caught a few episodes of) and '缘之绘'. Also the repeat series '有福' on weekends starring Christopher Lee. I even caught an episode of a super old series '卫斯里传奇' starring Li Nanxing, Zoe Tay and a HK actor Tao-something. These crappy Channel 8 serials, I'll definitely miss when I leave for Sydney this Sunday. I think they are very uniquely Singapore. I also saw this crappy TVC with Joanne Peh (have I mentioned before she used to be my junior in my sec sch symphonic band?) in it promoting MobTV at SGD6++ monthly. While switching channels, I also caught bits of Jacky Wu's '我猜' show on Channel U and Fear Factor on Channel 5. The best show I watched on these Mediacorp channels has to be the CNY countdown where a lot of the local celebrities gathered to perform the good old dong dong chiang songs. It takes being away from home for a long while to make me realise that I actually enjoy watching all these. Maybe I should subscribe to MobTV so I can watch them online.I managed to disrupt tudi's jogging routine and invaded her place for a DVD night. Out of 3 options given: 2046, Chungking Express and Wilde, I picked Wilde because of 2 men - 1 smart and 1 simply droolicious. It's a 1997 movie about a 19th century Irish playwright, novelist and poet Oscar Wilde (played by Stephen Fry) whose life was ruined by his love for golden boy Bosie (played by Jude Law). My favourite quotes by Wilde in the show were 'I find that alcohol, when taken in sufficient amounts, brings out all the effects of drunkenness' and 'In this world, there are only two tragedies, one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it'. This movie is now in my list of favourites.Also thanks to tudi who passed me a collection of Studio Ghibli short anime films, I've watched 4 out of the 14 films: Grave of Fireflies, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and The Cat Returns. Not sure I've got time to watch the rest too. They are really good. I especially like Spirited Away. Oh and Princess Mononoke was actually released by Miramax in 1999 and had Claire Danes and Billy Bob Thornton amongst many other Hollywood celebrities voicing for the characters. Talking about anime, I finally caught up on Bleach and Naruto. I find the fight between Naruto and Orochimaru too gross, especially the part when Orochimaru vomitted hundreds and thousands of snakes at Naruto. That made my hair stand. Orochimaru should just die cos he looks really disgusting. Tudi also gave me a link to watch a jap romantic comedy anime 'School Rumble' and I'm 2.5 episodes into it. Funny and worth continuing, except it takes a while to stream.Other DVDs I've watched include Death Note 1 and 2. I heard part 3 will be showing soon and remarked to P that I did not get the chance to watch the first 2 episodes and he bought the DVDs for me. I just googled and found out that the third instalment, 'L, Change the World', about the last 23 days of L's life, will only be released on 21 Feb. I'll have to wait for the DVD and watch it alone in Sydney then. I'm also contemplating getting the manga. I remember flipping through volume 1 just before I got a job based in Sydney. That was when I was crazy over Bleach and thought shinigamis really cool. My favourite shinigami in the Death Note movies is Rem, the white gentle god of death who sacrificed himself to protect the girl his friend loved so as to keep his promise to his good friend. I don't mind having such a guardian angel also, lor.On the big screen, I caught CJ7 with my bro and Sweeney Todd: the demon barber of fleet street with tudi. CJ7 was better than I'd expected (I went into the cinema not knowing what the whole show was about). It's hilarious with very touching parts that made me tear big time. I find it quite refreshing in that you don't see a lot of Stephen Chow and none of his act-stupid faces. I was blown away by the kid's acting and thought him really cute until I found out subsequently he's actually a she. O.O"I loved Sweeney Todd too. I read up a bit on it (it's actually based on an old musical from the late 70's) before watching it and am very impressed by Tim Burton - I didn't expect him to do such a good job of it on the big screen. Johnny Depp looks yummier than ever. I just didn't like the bloody parts and had to shut my eyes many times.Movies I'd like to watch before returning to Sydney are Kungfu Dunk (this is purely because of Jay Chou), Ah Long Pte Ltd (I support local productions! Even though the reviews on the show are really really bad. Btw, I caught 881 on the mini screen in SIA's inflight entertainment and loved it!) and Leap Years (another local production starring Wong Li-Lin, Nadya Hutagalung and Qi Yu Wu) but I doubt I have the time for all of them...
learning to flash
Just 2 minutes ago, I saw my 3.5yo monkey cousin watching Hi-5 and mimicking the girls wearing super short skirts. She was twirling and jumping all over in the middle of the living room, holding her little kindy pinafore dress and flashing her undies. So. That's what the kids like about Hi-5.
She has also been watching this cartoon called 'Winx'. From the bits I managed to see on tv, it's about this group of 4 or 5 girls, very skimpily dressed in boob-revealing and/or navel revealing tops, who can turn into pixies. It's no wonder the little monkey is beginning to like spaghetti tops and such.
Bah. I don't like.
lambchop
Notice I have this 'Rescue me!' gadget in the left column on this blog that links you to an Australian site where you can help abandoned pets by adopting them? Each time you visit my blog, you see a different pet featured.
Today, I saw this pup that reminded me of a particular person who used to be known by the same name in moblog. Sadly he seems to have 'disappeared'.
hacienda@dempsey & zouk
08-02-2008: Quotes of the day
#1: 'he's so yummy I can rape him again and again and again' ~ monkeycrab
#2: 'are you a consenting adult?' ~ the one and only brack labbit
#3: 'at the most three to seven times a night ONLY la' ~ the celebrity
Angel #1 aka sunshine23 and I finally found Hacienda after circling in Dempsey Road for a while. Point to note - there are more than a few trees with fairy lights.
I took a photo with the star and THE STAR.
Ambush successful!
And the paparazzi stalked the star back to its other not-too-famous friends.
Angel #1 was introduced to her first Jaeger Bomb.
The red bull in the bomb really does wonders. (Guys take note.) Warning: prepare tissue for whatever.
Labbit got a bit jealous.
We are angels. So we do not like to disappoint. Nah! Tit-grabbing @ Zouk for the rest of the night (this time on the boys).
View the rest of the tit-grabbing photos here.
cny day 1: snapshots
Mama played us out. We all agreed to wear red for the first day of CNY as a family. She decided on a green top after reading some feng shui master's advice - wearing green on day 1 will bring those born in the year of the Rat good luck. And yes, my Mama is a mouse (so is my bro 2 cycles later), ie. 48 years old this year.
My family with my Mama's bf's (Uncle) family. Left to right, front row: Uncle's eldest son and second son; middle row: me, Uncle's youngest daughter, Mama, Uncle, Uncle's daughter's bf; last row: Bro.
Me with my car!
Bro modelling my sunnies for me.
With Bro's gf this time round squeezed inside the car.
Indulgence in a few rounds of mahjong.
fwah. got present!
Flew to Simei MRT Station at top speed in my uncle's car and ran all the way from the car park to the station control to meet a mysterious someone. And I got this pair of drum sticks as a present!!! Happy like monkey. ^ ^
Got to know this shy shy someone through my blog. She always dreams of flying away somewhere far far far far away. We corresponded via email for a long while and finally met for the first time today. She's really pretty leh. Hope to meet again before I leave ya.
springcleaning: snapshots
Chefs hard at work whipping up a sumptuous reunion dinner.
The raw materials. Some of them.
Kids at play. Very noisy kids.
Vacuuming.
Cleaned up room.
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