14 of feb

Ben & I went our separate ways for dinner tonight, both of us had dinner with our own families. By the way, it’s Chinese New Year here and tonight’s the night for reunion dinner. Just in case you’re wondering what’s up with the whole separate dinner with family thing. So anyway I came home to a sleeping giant and I decided to be kind and let him sleep. At about 2AM, I got hungry which is when I saw this box of cupcakes! Awww cupcakes for me! Geez, they’re so freaking pink tho. Awww he bought me cupcakes! Is it a lame attempt to be all Valentine’s Day. Awww awww! Imma gonna eat them anyway because I just have to. The internal struggle I have, over a box of cupcakes…

Well, I had two of them and immediately felt a heartburn coming on. But I really like the silver cups they’re sitting in tho.

So, happy new year to my fellow Chinese people and if you and your significant other celebrate Valentine’s Day, have a romantic day, learn something new about each other and kiss lots.

P.S. Some of you had real nice encouraging things to say in my last post. Thanks a big big bunch. Means much and I’m keeping your words close to my heart now.

Of food and people

My mash-up of photos, from December till just about last week. First up is photos of Karyn’s immensely charming home, she had us over for a Post-Christmas dinner!

(L-R) Sarah, Karyn, Mellow & Yen

Her boy, Tommie

In the bedroom

Headed outdoors >

Ada; Little girl red at Magazine Road

Back in the kitchen >>

Kailan with mushrooms, drenched in oyster sauce. Gah, chinese is so hard to do! Couldn’t have done it without STUMPBO’s help via Twitter.

Day-old salad on mini toast (well only four of them are mini if you look closely), faux bruschetta

Out in town, at Tang’s, for the Harajuku Street Style Showcase >>>

(L-R) Myself, Sarah, Sheryo, Jayden & Tania [Photo by Tania]

(L-R) Sarah, Rae, Tania, myself, Jayden & not sure who’s this lady tho

I sneaked in a photo of shoes but that’s alright right? How could I not! Those Luellas, ohhhhhh, (good) sigh.

Eating

bought these, I will try to make them sometime

yoghurt, mini-sized milo drink, yakult, ferrero rocher chocolate

toasted, coon slices in between a baguette

if you like cookies & cream ice cream, try the Meadow Gold one - it’s a blue tub with a white lid - $7! it’s actually the best c&c ice cream I’ve had, surprisingly. couldn’t have found out about this if not for dinner at Karyn’s!

ingredients for the burger and the mediterranean salad

it was gooood! (i’ve scanned the recipes, burger and salad)

stuff for the finishing touches for the tandoori salmon

with chappati (instead of naan), yoghurt mix of cucumber + lemon juice + red chilli and I used Patak’s tandoori paste for the fish. recipe’s also from Jamie O’s Ministry of Food.

It’s going to be a stay-home weekend for me so I think there will be plenty more home-cooking which means more food photos!

Counting down to 2010

Here’s making up for the lack of everything on this blog, y’know in these festive times!

Fatboy awaiting the arrival of our friends

Celeste, Yajun, Caili, Popo, Ben & myself

Popo made her famooos tiramisu

We started drinking early

Played Charades while waiting for the stroke of midnight

We played with sparklers and poppers at midnight, then a bottle of beer smashed in the kitchen and then we went on to spend many hours watching weird funny horrible Japanese videos on youtube. Drank some more and was I the only drunk one at the table?

We missed you Whiteboy!

{Some photos were taken by Caili but it’s hard to say which ones exactly!]

Eating and making

First up, photos of the picnic are up on Sarah’s! I am gonna finish up my roll of film and share those later. Love the mix of people who joined us, Sandy, Yvonne, Arlia & her 15 year old sister, Nadia, Nurul and Dybs - You girls were champs despite the rain! And I have to thank my awesome friends for being so awesome and entertaining - Nabs, Sherms, Caili, Farah - you guys, love you guys because you’re worth it! Our worlds got smaller that day, Sarah & her friend, Charlotte, went to school with Nabs and Sherms and you’re confused, I’m confused but everyone’s happy!

So abruptly moving on, I’ve been eating and making and here are photos.

Stitching together little pockets for my origami

My gift wrapping improved ten-folds this year! Last year it was shiny paper and lots of mistakes. Btw, you have to check out Essimar’s gift wrapping ideas, I wouldn’t mind an empty box from her, just to get some gift wrapping goodness!

Finished product. One’s going to Belgium and the rest will be put up in my etsy store! Which is totally dusty and needs a revival.

Making cranberry sauce

Some prep work before tomorrow’s picnic. This is the first time I’m making cranberry sauce which also makes this the first time I’m making turkey cranberry sandwiches! I used this recipe for the sauce and will be using this recipe for the sandwiches. I’m so very excited and I asked Fatboy to do the Sunshine Dance so we’ll have good weather tomorrow.

Have a tremendous Sunday wherever you are! x

Today’s Thursday

Started the day pretty early, coffee at the coffee shop, sun in my eyes.

Took a walk at Botanic Gardens before arriving on time for lunch

The heat got to us and that was our cue to leave for lunch at Tanglin.

Waiting for my family to arrive

My lil sister

Happy birthday pops

I’m a sad sick moop of mucus. It’s already Friday and I don’t care if it’s the weekend, oh!

All day Saturday

I stayed in all day, reading finishing up a book, made breakfast lunch and dinner, washed the dishes three times, sat looking appalled at the rate fur and dust accumulates in the house.

Banana pancakes

Bacon, Virgina ham, cheddar on a ciabatta. Broccoli and olives on the side.

Eggplant, olives, tuna, parmigiano reggiano

Now I’m snacking on white chocolate and feeling nerdy, gonna channel that energy somewhere.

My funny boy

I try really hard to convince my friends that Fatboy is a funny boy. He is! And last night after I finished setting the dinner table, Fatboy jumped onto one of the dining chairs and sat there - as if he’s having dinner with us. Ben & I were laughing pretty hard and lucky me, I had my camera beside me. That’s my funny boy and he must think we are idiots!

Sunday Out

Very early on Sunday morning (by my standards), I met Sarah to drop by Soon Lee to check out a new local label, Chalk. The incredible designer behind Chalk is Priscilla and I’ve known her since kindergarten through primary school! Her debut collection features girly dresses and some pieces ideal for office wear. Every piece is saccharine sweet and fun fun fun.

I really wanted the white dress in this photo but Sarah and I decided I would look like a tranny in it. I wish I was more of a lay-dy!

Here’s Priscilla in one of her own designs. Do go to her site and check out the entire collection! Or pop by Soon Lee, where her collection is available. {Hello hello to Sharon and Zann too!}

A cardigan from Soon Lee that both Sarah and I find cute

From Haji Lane, we made our way to CA California at Dempsey Hill.

Sarah’s unbelievably-real-looking headband

I had a Philly Beef Wrap

Because I took a photo of my outfit, I’m gonna shamelessly post it anyway. The dress is Laura Lees for Topshop, tights to hide my terrible bruises from floorball, vintage wingtips via ebay.

Lastly I want to welcome Sarah back to blogosphere! Her revamp is gorgeous and her photos inspiring as ever, go enjoy it!

{Photos from the top half of the set are taken by Sarah}

Tonight, tonight

I didn’t eat all day so dinner had to be epic. Epic it was! We went to PS Cafe Harding because my brother’s a chef there and we wanted to try his specials!

My beetlejuice thigh-highs

Compliments from the chef oh! Fries with some awesome kind of cheese and I believe some truffle oil

I had the roasted rosemary lamb rack special, ugh so good! You know it’s good when you start cutting your meat into smaller and smaller pieces, in the hopes of prolonging the eating process.

Waiting for after-meal drinks

Playing around with cut-out paper, trying to recreate heart-shaped bokeh from scraps of receipts. Failed.

I didn’t manage to get proper shots, all of Dempsey was dark dark and dark. This chambray dress is from etsy and it came not too long ago, beetlejuice thigh-highs from Sock Dreams and vintage black boots.

Also! Don’t forget to participate in the giveaway that’s going on right now, it’s open to international readers as well!

Bacon & eggs

I’ve been gone almost all of last week, gone from here, and I return with a plate of pasta! But it was really good and easy to make which is what I always look out for before attempting a new recipe.

Bacon and eggs spaghetti

I got the recipe from Su-lin, she makes great food and eats out at great places (in London) too!

By the way, do check out TasteSpotting if you’re in need of recipes, be it baking or cooking. They have it all. It’s the Notcot for food!

Be back with more.

N’much

One evening, I toasted almond flakes to go with some vanilla ice cream. If you’ve never had this pairing, you have to give it a try! I can’t eat vanilla ice cream any other way.

Bali, part three

These were all taken at Jimbaran Bay, where we had seafood for dinner before a really late flight back home. Lotsa sky, one lobster and a red nose, let’s go!

Wearing my pilgrim blouse from YeYe

Any grand plans for the weekend? I’ll be running around and am trying not to feel exhausted thinking about it right now. You be grand.

Bali, part 2

The beach in front of our hotel. You can see how low the tide is, we actually walked in the sea and out to another patch of sand and watched the waves.

This is Bumbu Bali, right beside our hotel. They serve AWESOME Balinese food, seriously awesome.

I literally slurped up all the curry in the turquoise bowl.

It’s sorta our thing to eat at McD’s wherever we travel to, so our verdict is it tastes the same in Indonesia!

In Seminyak, along the touristy trail of cafes/boutiques

We settled at this restaurant that serves Greek food, i forgot the full name but it starts with an M.

The food was INCREDIBLY GOOD. Apart from the kebabs. The roasted potatoes, the grilled eggplant with feta + garlic and my grilled tuna, oh la la la, i can still recall how they taste.

After greek food, we walked to Ku De Ta.

I had two bags of chips in two days, something’s wrong with my appetite! Be back with more Bali.