Score!

Yet another lucky find at a secondhand sale. This Mid-Century modern side table will go nicely with the chaise longue sitting pretty in my living room. :)

Striking while the iron's hot and before the enthusiasm cools, this year's Christmas decor have been un-plastic bag-ged, and strung up on the decorative twigs. The same ones which have been multitasking for over a year, through X'mas 2008, CNY 2008, and "rest of the year 2009".

Ho ho ho! :)

New Day

View from my front door, after an early morning airport run.

Nyam nyam

Browsing through a copy of a magazine we'd picked up at the Japanese supermarket, we came across pictures of juicy pieces of beef ribs, tempting us. To assuage the disappointment of a failed trip (due to arrogant Americans and their bureaucracy), we decided a full on greasy meal of barbeque-d meat over charcoal fire would be THE thing called for on such an occasion.

Starting with an array of appetizers/accompaniment to the mains...

Ah, juicy pieces of meat, wrapped in lettuce, dobbed with chilli, and garnished with onions and raw garlic. *burp* No vampires tonight! Har!

The Kalbi beef ribs! It was good, but the Kalbi pork ribs were better! *salivate* Brings me back to the NYC food fest, but this did not live up to my expectations...

After that meal, we decided a walk by the riverside was called for. Nothing too hectic, just a slow jaunt. Afterall, we DID have lots of veggies, so that counts for something, right??

Chinese Roasts

After being tempted by a juicy-looking picture on some foodie's blog, I jotted down the recipe and logged in some hours in the kitchen.
Marinated Char Siew and Siew Yuk, roasting in the hot oven, dripping fat onto the vegetables under it. Yum yum!

Dinner is ready! So, I was a little optimistic about the portions...:P

Two geeks with their entertainment for the night...

New Home, Old Home

One weekend evening, spurred by the excitement, we peddled to what would be our new home in the new year. It took all of fifteen minutes, moseying through the park connectors, for us to reach the overhead bridge, overlooking our soon-to-be home. We peered curiously at the residents jogging on the threadmills in the gym, and others frolicking in the pool. And proceeded to wander around the neighbourhood, getting acquainted with the many friendly feline residents nearby.

One not very sociable feline friend was sitting on a ledge, refusing to be enticed down by Our Friend's vigorous meowing.

What? As opposed to DEAD ones?? Strange ads received at the soon-to-be Old Home.

Monsoon

The monsoon season is truly upon us. It's been storming daily, and the weatherman is warning of flash floods well into the new year. There are many things to be grateful for at this time...such as not being on a 2-wheeler, subject to the elements on a bad day...

In preparation for the hibernation such cool weather calls for, we barricaded ourselves in The Cave with some nice choco-mocha-something else muffin, warmed up in the oven, a cup of Yorkshire tea, and the papers on a Sunday morning.

This is the life...:)

In an effort to eat more healthily during the week (so that we can justifiably pig out on the weekends), and also to fortify our immune systems against the many assaults on it that the cold weather normally brings, we've embarked on a liquid diet of sorts...

I've always been a big fan of Chinese soups, the only thing I'm fairly confident of whipping up successfully in the kitchen. So tonight, I've thrown all manners of somewhat healthy stuff, like 2 kinds of veggies, mushrooms, a bit of lean meat into the mix, and boiled the whole thing up for a meal. Satisfying. Though, I might start to feel hunger pangs after a couple of trips to the loo...Still. It was comforting to fill the tummy with warm sloshy stuff on a cold and wet day.
And for good measure, I've steamed up my own brand of "essence of chicken" to nourish our bodies, if not our souls...

Road Trip

A road trip around the island, recounted in pictures.
Udders - An ice cream parlour in Goldhill Shopping Centre. Read a review somewhere that recommended the Mao Shan Wang premium ice cream, so of course, we had to trek our way there one Saturday afternoon. In comparion, the D24 was a disappointment after the rich creamy taste of the Mao Shan Wang. The Rum Rum Raisin was not quite to my taste, being a bit too rummy. I still prefer the Rum And Raisin from The Ice Cream Gallery. :)
Dried Chilli Crab from Uncle Leong. For this, we trekked all the way to Ang Mo Kio. The slightly burnt dried chilli gave the crabs a slight tangy taste which was very pleasant. Makes a change from the usual chilli or pepper variety. Definitely worth a rerun!
Not content with the crabs, we headed off to a new joint in Newton, District 10. Surprise surprise! Chef Dean (from our Paella Night) now works at this joint! Didn't taste the cuisine (afterall, we were stuffed to the gills with crabs). Merely had a creme brulee and some drinks before calling it a night.
On a lazy Saturday, I met up with an ex-colleague for lunch, and a tour of her newly rented apartment. Wow! What a view! Tempting, tempting...but way out of my budget, and not within my requirements. Oh well. Always good to have a chance to kaypoh...

Hero Lai Lo!

So, I've been impatiently waiting for my mobile service contract to be up for renewal, so I can get my grubby little paws on a new phone ("I don't care which model! I just want one of them fancy touchscreen things!").

Yesterday, I made a call to the service provider, got myself a handset upgrade voucher, found out that one of the phones I was eyeing was on special promotion "ending today" (*panic*), rushed myself down to the shop (thankfully, located only next to the office), only to have my excitement deflated by the notification that said phone was out of stock. So, like one of those eager birkin bag fans, I optimistically placed myself on the waitlist, and settled down for a long wait.

Surprise surprise! The very next morning, I got a call from the shop, telling me the new stock is in, and I could go down and get my hands on my very own set of the new HTC Hero! Alas, Ah Ho was trying to complete the repairs of my ceiling (a portion of which had threatened to boink me on the head just weeks ago). So I waited very impatiently, trying to rush him through the job (including the additional job of replacing the not-working-very-effectively bathroom tap). After an hour, I threw my hands up in despair and gave him my keys to lock up after himself. I HAVE to get my hands on my new toy!!

Aahhh...satisfaction!



Except, even the geek in me had some problems figuring out how to transfer contacts, message, undo default settings for contact views, etc. This is a tricky little monster! Urgh! And, I was exceedingly frustrated, trying to type on the screen with my fat fingers! Fortunately, Our Friend very cleverly suggested turning the phone to "landscape" position, so that the qwerty keyboard keys would be more spread out, and make easier targets for my fat fingers. Success! Yay!

And while I was already out in town on a Saturday afternoon, I decided we might as well head to one of my favourite shopping haunts to hunt for my latest fashion must-have - trendy necklaces. I've been busy checking out online shops, on occasion, even braving the big bad cyberworld out there to make a few small purchases. On some of these sites, I had spotted some very trendy-looking necklaces (or at least, what *I* would consider trendy now. A few years down the road, I might very well demand to know why my closest friends did not stop me from leaving home with something that hideous looking hanging around my neck...).

I present to you, my friends, my haul from this afternoon!

1 cheapie edge-y ring (the light blue one), and 2 very ostentatious dressy rings which were not all that cheap. But in my own defence, I have to state that they were on 50% discount! Still, they cost about $30 in total. Not too bad.

1 of the 2 "feather" design necklaces I've been searching for.

Couldn't resist choosing the peacock feather design. Besides, it was 2 for the price of $10! So, of course I had to choose 2!

Success!

New baking powder, new flour, and a whole lot less brutal whipping of the batter.

Et voila! Easy-peasy! Steamed banana cake! At least, it's risen! Haha! We'll see whether the taste made all this worthwhile. *waiting impatiently for cake to cool down*

Meanwhile, I've also gotten some green tea powder from the baking shop. Next on the list - Green Tea Steamed Cake!

Nocturnal Adventures

Ever since I had tasted 4th Aunt's yellow wine chicken in KL, I've been making a half-hearted search for a bottle of glutinous rice yellow wine to further my culinary adventures back home. Thus far, I had been most unsuccessful.

Until now.

FINALLY! After much googling and asking around (supermarkets, TCM shops, local grocery shop uncle, chatting to customers in TCM shop), I've managed to get my grubby little hands on a bottle of the above - "Kiukiang Glutinous Rice Chiew"! And where was it hiding all this while? Why, in the bottom shelf of the condiments section in the neighbourhood "Shop n Save", of course...

I've never had much confidence in my culinary skills, and would not usually attempt any western recipes which called for any sort of slightly more exotic ingredient than "dried oregano" or which required more than 2 steps in whipping the whole thing together. But when it comes to chinese recipes, I am somehow filled with less trepidation in exploratory adventures.
So, armed with some recipes from the internet, and my magical bottle of yellow glutinous rice wine, I set off on tonight's effort. Ladies and Germs, I present to you *TADA* - Yellow Rice Wine Chicken, with (copious amounts of) Ginger, Red Dates, Wolfberries, and Shitake Mushrooms (the last ingredient is my own addition, mushrooms being one of my favourite food). Not half bad, if I say so myself! Good enough for me to offer to share some of it. Hehe! Chucked in a good half bottle of the good stuff. Once you're through slurping up all the soupy goodness, I'm sure you'd (be drunk enough to) give me the same compliment for this dish too! HAH!

Alas, the other experiment tonight (Steamed Banana Cake) failed miserably to rise (to the occasion). Our Friend blames it on the flour. This means, of course, that we'll have to scout for fresh new flour, and MORE ripe bananas, to test out the recipe. So off to the baking shop we'll go tomorrow...