Woof! (it's a happy happy day!)

This is Xiaohua... a.k.a. Ah-girl... a.k.a. Sophia's beloved doggy. Hee... she paid a surprise visit to our corner of the staff room yesterday when Sophia went home for a while and just brought her back to the staff room. The moment Sophia came back and put on her 'act cute' voice to say "HELLOooo!!!!" to me, I knew something was up. Heh. Just look at Xiaohua with her large doleful eyes! Can anyone not use a cutesy tone in front of her??? Oh my... she's really so adorable that I started behaving silly in the staff room, going ga-ga over her and cooing to her like I was talking to a sweet baby and treating her like a mini queen, making sure she was comfortable at times. Haha. By the time I was done with her, I think I had some doggy smell all over me. Hee. Not that I mind, of course. Sigh... when oh when will I have a furry friend of my own at home too? (*HINT HINT to Hubby*)

Though it was a crappy day at work (other than the little visit from the doggy friend), I had a wonderful time after I left the workplace to meet Hubby. We were going to the dermatologist again -- XIAOBAO No. 3,4,5 and 6 came! Argh argh argh! Yeah... had a cyst developing on the right side of my face this time and wanted to get the injection once again, then the doc said some other smaller bumps on my face were also cysts, so gave me FOUR injections in all! *faint*

Once again, he asked me to reduce stress cos it's the root of my cyst problem. Even advised me not to be 'too responsible' and just do my best without being too bothered by the outcome. Easier said than done lor! So many things to be accountable for. :(

Anyway, the cysts are settled liao... for now. *sob* But am glad Hubby was with me... really made me feel more relaxed, even when I had to go shopping with part of my make up gone and the cysts in plain view. :p We went shopping a bit around Orchard, then went down to Suntec City. Had a great dinner... Hubby brought me to this Korean place at the basement of Suntec City which had great food at reasonable prices. Hubby ordered seafood tofu soup with rice while I ordered kimchi ramen with fish fillet. For side dishes, Hubby ordered baby octopi and I chose Korean fried pancake. Total bill came up to about $20 only. We're sure gonna visit that place again when we go to Suntec in future... :)

Baby octopi (which I simply refused to eat :p) and delicious kimchi and ikan bilis appetiser, the seafood tofu soup and rice, my ramen and finally, the Korean pancake... so filling! But then again, doesn't this always happen when I eat anything that's new to me and delicious? Heh. Greedy greedy!

Purchased quite a lot of things in all from both Orchard and Suntec, but just wanna mention one special that was totally unexpected. This lady from Israel who was in charge of one of the pushcart stalls stopped us and demo this nail buffer on one of my fingernails, making it shine at the end of the buffering. Heh, it was quite amazing to see it work. She offered to sell it to me in a pack with the nail buffer, cuticle oil and lotion at $45, 50% of its U.P. Sounds like a great deal, but what really got me interested was this face mask cream that she introduced next (probably cos it was so hard not to notice my cysts -_-). Apparently, it contains salt from the Dead Sea, and works through 7 layers of skin to control oil produced by oil glands. She applied some of it on my hand to test. Then she also applied some exfoliating cream on Hubby's arm and we saw all the dead skin starting to appear all over his arm. Sigh, what to do? My face like that so I was really tempted to try out the mask. Not just me, Hubby was interested too. In fact, he tried out the mask last night after we got home! Can you believe he buffered his nails too? Now his nails are shining more than normal. Haha... found myself a new girlfriend! ;P But find Hubby so cute cos how many guys will actually try out all these with their wives? Got lah, but very few lor... hee. Anyway, in the end, we bought both the mask and exfoliating cream, and got the nail buffer set F.O.C. Hee.

Hubby's thumbnails... see which is the 'before' and 'after' respectively? Yeah... the thumbnail on the right has a little more shine than the other one... actually it's much shinier, just that my camera not good enough to take at close range :p

Ok... eyes tired, brain tired, body tired. Conducted two workshops this afternoon and tomorow gtg school conduct another two workshops in the morning. Tata now, bloggy!

I'm like a fish in the water... NOT!!!

Nice blue water surrounded by lush greenery and apple green concrete blocks...quiet, peaceful environment (cos thank goodness, the kids from the estate didn't have their swimming lesson that day, for some reason :p)... just imagine being at the scene above, watching the blue of the pool and...

A BIG CLUMSY BLACK WHALE STRUGGLING UNDERWATER --> ME. (oh, and at least 2 people laughing at me... sigh.)

Had my first swimming lesson with Hubby as my instructor and Beebee for some additional moral support last Sunday late afternoon. Went back to Bukit Timah and eagerly went straight down to the pool after greeting Mummy and Papa. Changed into this black Triumph halterneck swimsuit that I bought from Takashimaya just the evening before (it was a good deal btw, U.P. $130+, bought it for $89.90). Even took the trouble to pin on this nice white flower that came along with the costume, just to feel even more positive about what I would be facing in the water.

Alas. Positive experience throughout?? No no no. The moment I submerged my body (up to my neck) in the water, I started getting butterflies in the stomach. The queasy feel of having my body movement restricted/ controlled by the water surrounding me started up again -- something I have not experienced since I was last in a pool in Sec 2. Ugh.

Hubby started by asking me to practise putting my head underwater and just holding my breath. He wanted to get me comfortable with being underwater so that I could pick up swimming more easily. It's good advice, but me being me, I just felt like a big whale underwater with my blowhole totally blocked. It was really scary for me, cos I've this irrational fear of drowning. Had to constantly stay near the edge of the pool just in case something happens and I could save myself by clinging on to the edge.

After a few more tries, I managed to stay underwater without panicking too much, but was still not totally comfortable. Beebee showed me how to practise kicking, and Hubby also later showed me how to move my legs in the breastroke manner.Tried practising these lots of times, and even started going into the deeper end of the pool to dip my head underwater. Then went back to the shallower end and tried swimming in a single breath using the breastroke width-wise. At most could reach the middle of the width. Sometimes it got terrifying cos I felt myself out of breath and the water was pushing down on me so hard that I found it tough to find my footing on the ground and surface for air. Then I would start thrashing about in the pool in a sudden panic attack. Sigh.

Although it might not seem like much, especially to swimmers out there, I feel like I've made some good progress already. I started out fearing the going underwater part, but managed to practise it repeatedly, especially at the deeper end, and even tried the legs movement for the breastroke. Am gonna practise again, definitely. Perhaps next week or so. Now that I think of it, it's actually quite fun and relaxing to be in the pool. I do miss that already! Hehe. But of course, I must overcome my phobia first... sigh, wonder when I'll really be able to swim...

Travel tales...

Weekend has come and gone once again, but this weekend has been really eventful, especially when most of it has to do with travel ;)

Travel Tale #1: CHINA

Went to parents-in-law's place for lunch... they've returned from their China trip and my goodness, they sure did quite a bit of shopping there cos, according to them, everything's real cheap there. It was interesting listening to them relate their trip to China and looking through the pics they took. I really felt they were very lucky too because the Sze Chuan earthquake took place about a week after they left the area. Also learned from them that China's stuff are nice and cheap, but the food's not as nice. Apparently, the food there is super salty. MIL kept saying that the scenery's lovely, and weather's good even though summer's coming, and that we should visit the country one day. Hmm... don't think it'll happen. Call me prejudiced or something, but I simply do not wish to be in a country with people who'll eat just about anything under the sun. It's plain cruel and unnatural. *make a face*

But that aside, I think it is true that the scenery's beautiful, and shopping's great there with prices so low. And look what they brought back from the place too -- giant mushrooms!!! Haha... me being a huge fan of mushrooms, I just couldn't help but take a pic of it. Ahaha, was really amused by these.

TRAVEL TALE #2: TAIPEI


On Sunday, we went back to Bukit Timah and finally saw all the goodies that Beebee had bought home from her graduation trip to Taipei... hee, so fun! She bought quite a number of fun things for Hubby and me. Here's what we received each:

For Hubby --

* a colourful clown key chain

* a wacky cane with a little palm (Hubby says we can use that to whack our kids in future...hahaha...)

* another fun key chain in the form of a bull dog -- the type that's got teeth for you to press one by one and if you hit the right one, it'll just glare at you and clamp your finger in its jaws

* a mini candy in the form of dung

* a piece of white chocolate in the form of *ahem* breasts (I wonder what Beebee is implying -- that Hubby's horny??? Heh.)

* and a pair of adorable magnets in boy and girl tribal form, which is now stuck on our fridge. So cute cos their short little legs would shake each time the fridge door's opened or closed

For me (loads of pinkish stuff!) --

* small Hello Kitty backrest cushion (I'm resting on it now...)

* Hello Kitty recipe clip (already stuck on the side of the fridge)

* Charmmy Kitty shoes odour remover (though I can't bear to put them in my shoes...Beebee says cute so buy... maybe will just display them somewhere :p)

* pink and black oriental design camera case (which I'm using already!)

* lovely Japanese paper craft stickers (dunno what I'll do with them, but they're so sweet to look at)

* another piece of candy dung

* teeny weeny chocolate pudding

Lovely gifts! We had such fun looking and playing with some of the things. Thanks, Beebee... heehee. And check out the local goodies that she bought home too... she had to check in a big box of these... Realised that many of Taiwan goods are like those you find in Japan, with such attractive packaging. Beebee says no wonder cos they sort of follow the Japanese trend. In fact, many of the items Beebee bought for us are in the form of Japanese packaging with Japanese words on them. Looking attractive packaging makes me wanna try Taiwan/ Taipei too... heh. She also says the night market's really happening, with so many things to buy and at low prices too. Can shop till 2 or 3am. Plus the people in the retail line are really polite and make customers feel like kings/ queens... Beebee was really impressed by them...Wow... Taiwan/ Taipei, can consider!

TRAVEL TALE #3: SINGAPORE

Ok lah, I know very lame. We didn't go anywhere with our passports yet I call this part of the entry travel tale #3. Hehe. Never mind, at least while travelling about Singapore on Saturday (actually, it's mainly travelling around Orchard in Singapore), I got quite a few good buys too. :p

Was looking for another fruity fragrance to replace my previous Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, which I loved cos of its green mango and lotus flower concoction. Couldn't find any at DFS fragrance level, so went back to Hermes boutique, thinking maybe they have new fragrances there. Was about to buy the Un Jardin Sur Le Nil again when I was recommended a new Hermes fragrance named Kelly Caleche, a blend of jasmine, rose, iris and oak moss. Usually chose fruity scent over flowery type, but this one's really nice and special, not too overpowering. Also love the bottle it comes in, cos the tip opens and closes in a special way. So bought a twin pack for $190 and chose a bottle of 12.5ml male fragrance free for Hubby too. :) After this experience, I think I'll just stick to Hermes fragrances cos they really not bad.

Later on, at the toys store at Wheelock Place, I also found a whole series of Mickey Mouse themed mini food displays to add to my collection! Thought wouldn't be expanding my collection anymore till I came across this... couldn't resist cos it reminds me of Japan Disneyland where I enjoyed myself so much last Dec... So just bought it lor... ;)

In the evening, Hubby and I also discovered this new place at Far East Plaza, along the row of fast food restaurants eg. Carl's Jr. It's a cosy Japanese restaurant that allows you to place order for your food using machines. You also pay at the machines, like how you use a vending machine. Then you collect a receipt and wait for your number to be called before collecting your tray of food from the counter. Interesting... price is more or less reasonable for the main course, but might not be worth it topping up to a full meal cos you pay about $4 extra just for a small bowl of miso soup and chawanmushi which doesn't exactly taste fantastic anyway. Other than that, the main courses are quite tasty. Hubby ordered raw salmon with rice and I ordered fried dory fillet rice.

That's all for this entry... heehee, next entry will be about a very memorable experience yesterday...

Meet the Parents... no, not talking about the movie...

Today was Meet the Parents Day at work... same madness as usual in the morning before the session started, with me frantically trying to get all the admin matters settled and my homeroom ready for the parents of my students when they come one after another. I really wonder why everything always has to be pushed to the very last minute at work sometimes. It adds so much unnecessary stress when things could have been communicated in advance and everyone can settle their own things at a more manageable pace. Well, guess that's life at this place.

Anyway, once the session started, I was talking non-stop (so now my throat hurts-- again-- when I swallow!), but find it quite enjoyable to speak to the parents as soon as I got over the initial 'dread' of having to face so many parents, and many of whom are new to me since this is a new form class for me this year, with only about a quarter of kids from my previous form class. But thank goodness most of the parents are really nice, not like those you'd normally expect with kids in a top class, where the pressure of achieving great academic results is really high ( I really thought some would be quite demanding etc) and I soon started to feel more relaxed, especially when I met up with parents of my prev form class kids -- it actually felt like meeting up with old friends cos they are so friendly and nice. :) Hee, what made my day was also when a few of them greeted me with "Wah! You getting prettier already hor?", "You look younger despite getting married!" and "You've slimmed down quite a bit leh!" (Although the last comment always makes me wonder exactly how BIG a balloon I used to look like, cos it's not exactly like I look so hot now either-- still 'ba ba' what, just maybe a bit less :p) Well, whatever it is, these lovely parents really do know how to make me feel better... haha.

Another thing that made my day was knowing how concerned some of my kids were for me, especially my girls who've been with me since they were in Sec 1. Heh. They stayed back to help me during the Meet the Parents session and this girl brought along a whole strawberry strudel from Ritz Apple Strudel to share with her buddies and saved a large slice for me cos she and her friends know that I wouldn't have time for lunch since session would last from 10am to 4.30pm. Oh... fell in love with the yummy strudel! I've tasted the apple one before cos Mummy likes it a lot and used to buy it, and the mango one too, but this strawberry's the BEST!!! It's just oozing with strawberry richness. I love it! Checked out the website and found that a whole loaf costs $26.50. Wow... but really quite good. Thinking of buying one to let family try one weekend... Yum yum...

Mmmm... speaking of yum... must record this sinful deed that I engaged in last night. I got back home quite late in the evening and was feeling kinda tired and stressed cos still had work to do at home, so I demanded that Hubby buy home a nice dinner for us. He bought one of my favourites -- Hawaiian pizza -- and chicken wings from The Pizza Place at Jurong Point. Nice! As if that wasn't enough, he also dropped by Jurong East on his way back and bought a large tub of icecream from this place called Original Mix that resembled the packaging for the Haato one. We tried their peanut and honeydew flavour before (not bad!), so this time he picked mango and dark chocolate flavours. The chocolate one tastes pretty normal, but the mango one's great -- neither too sweet nor sour. Wah, this large tub cost him slightly less than $30 lor. Expensive! Ate two large scoops -- one of each flavour -- some time after dinner. Very sinful and guilty! :p

Sigh, weekend's coming, holidays are here, but still can't relax cos Monday I've to give a presentation at another secondary school and I need to use part of my weekend to prepare ppt. slides for that presentation. In fact, after this, I gtg back to work. :( But luckily, all is not lost for the weekend; there're some exciting plans coming up. Tomorrow Hubby and I going back to his parents' place for lunch (they've finally returned from a three-week holiday trip in China), then we're gonna go shopping. One thing we're gonna get is a swimsuit for me... haha...we've decided to go back to my parents' place slightly earlier on Sunday so that we can use the pool there cos Hubby's gonna start teaching me how to swim properly! Haven't gone into a pool since I was in Sec 2 when I attended swimming enrichment classes (yeah, that was also when I escaped, with a friend as my accomplice, taking the swimming assessment cos had a phobia of drowning if I were left to swim on my own :p).But now that I'm a big girl, I think I can deal with the water better. I think Hubby's right lah. Swimming's a life skill, and I should learn it lor. Maybe will get Beebee to come along. I'm only crossing my fingers and hoping hard that I won't be sharing the pool with the kids from the estate who are currently taking swimming lessons on Sunday! :S So pai seh lor... :p

Oh ya, on Sunday can also see what Beebee bought for us from her graduation trip to Taiwan! So excited... she seems so pleased with her choice of gifts for us that I really am curious to find out what they are... hohoho. ;D

Food, Glorious Food! ;D

Today's Vesak Day... woke up late in the morning and read the papers with Hubby...then spent most of the afternoon working on preparing holiday assignments for the kids (so poor thing hor, holiday also must do homework... but bo bian, else how to make sure they continue practising their ang moh??). Later in the evening, managed to look at my newly-purchased recipe books cos wanna see if can whip up something easy to pack to work as brunch tomorrow, plus can serve as Hubby's supper when he returns home tonight. :) I know it's a bit thick-skinned to name this blog entry "Food, Glorious Food". After all, I'm certainly no expert at cooking, so where's the glory in the food? But never mind lah, just wanna make myself feel good about my cooking...haha. Anyway, this was the outcome:

Hee, the above was what I set aside for Hubby to try later. The main dish is Warm Frankfurt and Yoghurt Potato Salad with Prawns. Ahaha.. the name so long right... actually it's a combination of the recipes for Potato Salad and Warm Frankfurt and Mustard Potato Salad. Just wanted to try something with the ingredients that I already have at home. Also prepared a simple Side Salad to go with the starchy potatoes for some extra nutrients. :) I tried both, and think they taste quite ok (else I wouldn't dare put them up here! :p), so here's what they're made up of:

Warm Frankfurt and Yoghurt Potato Salad with Prawns (serves 2)

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced into 2-cm cubes
2 chicken and mushroom frankfurts
8 prawns, de-shelled
1 medium broccoli
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
1/4 red capsicum, diced finely
8 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
spring onions, thinly sliced
olive oil (extra light)
plain yoghurt
low-fat mayonnaise
minced garlic
coriander leaves, finely chopped
thick chicken stock

1. Boil the potatoes, frankfurts and broccoli till just tender. Drain and cool completely.

2. Fry the spring onions, red capsicum, button mushrooms, minced garlic, prawns together.

3. Add mayonnaise, plain yoghurt, a dash of thick chicken stock to the pot and mix.
4. Once thick, add frankfurts and continue mixing over low heat for added taste.
5. Pour everything over the potatoes and broccoli and mix well with coriander leaves.
6. Add olive oil and continue mixing.
7. Finally, serve with the hard-boiled eggs.

* Amount of mayonnaise and yoghurt according to own preference. The more, the thicker. Add a bit of water if too thick and sticky. :)

Side Salad (serves 2)

a few leaves of large iceberg lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
about 1/4 of small purple cabbage, diced
1/3 of long Japanese cucumber, sliced
minced garlic
olive oil (extra light)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1. Mix the iceberg lettuce, purple cabbage and Japanese cucumber together.

2. Add the minced garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice into a small screw top jar and shake well.
3. Pour dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly.

* Amount of minced garlic and olive oil according to own desire. Can use other leafy veggies for this side salad too. Important thing is the dressing. :)

Heehee, there goes! Quite pleased with the results, although I know the dishes aren't spectacular cos I've tried doing salads before. But it was just so fun trying out new ingredients to add to alter the taste a bit. Yesterday I tried pasta salad, but it didn't turn out fantastic -- Hubby said it was a little too bland cos I followed the recipe book and didn't add salt while boiling the pasta, which is what I usually do. But ok lah, at least it was edible and we finished it all up. Plus it looked quite nice with the coriander leaves as garnish... hehe. :p Will try to improve on the taste though! ;)

Tomorrow I must remember to look through Ms Leong's recipe books at work... hopefully got some free time to do that and then photocopy whatever recipes I like... hehe. Now that the hols are coming, I'm really eager to try out more stuff.

Oh ya, today's also the day I signed up for 8 Days subscription for the first time. Hehe. Can declare myself an avid 8 Days reader liao. Whole year's subscription totals $90 in all, quite ok lah. So now Hubby no need to buy a copy for me every Monday already. Today's 8 Days also very cute... came in an extra large size -- very readable (see the difference between today's copy and the usual copy in the pic). Can't carry out to read though... so big!

Ok, Hubby just msged... he's on his way back now. Better pack my things for tomorrow (sigh, so slack after the great long weekend). Gotta pick out a few movies to screen in class too as post-exam activity... already promised the kids... heh. Night!

Life is all about experiences... (Part 2)

Yeah... back again... Ya, just wanna continue from where I left off the other time... :)

INVASION OF KERORO!!!

Ehehe... so cute... look at what Hubby bought home a few nights ago... Guess the appeal of that silly frog Keroro is still pretty strong to us... haha. Anyway, it's a box of Keroro parts to be self-assembled...it's quite cute, and Hubby managed to complete it within a short time. Now it's standing atop our Bose player in front of our CD rack. I think it makes playing music more fun...hahaha.

From top left, the box of assorted parts, then what the figurine looks like once assembled! So cute...wearing that Elvis lookalike wig and costume. Then the next 2 pics show singing Keroro placed on top of our player...so fun to see. :)

MOTHER'S DAY TREAT...

Last Sunday, Hubby and I went back to Bukit Timah to join Mummy, Papa and Beebee. Mummy had mentioned that she would like to have her Mother's Day dinner at this tofu restaurant at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, so we all agreed on it. Before we left for the place, I passed Mummy her gift. Hubby and I came across it the same day we visited the Japanese store at Bugis. We saw this nice hand-woven bag that she could use as a shopping bag. It's got a nice pic of an elegant Japanese lady and some beautiful scenery. The store owner was also nice enough to gift wrap it for us for free. :p

Anyway, about the tofu place... it's actually a small cosy restaurant named 'Think Tofu Pte Ltd' btw...and although they specialise in tofu (they've many ways of cooking tofu...hehe, it's like a haven to us tofu lovers), they also offer other non-tofu dishes. The place isn't vegetarian, so there're meat dishes, even steak. Each dish costs $5.50 for a small but reasonable portion. The only dish we ordered that costs $10 was sweet and sour prawn balls. In fact, all their prawn dishes cost $10. We ordered 9 dishes, including a small pot of soup to share. And added to our order of steamed rice for each of the 5 of us and drinks as well, the total bill came up to only about $65. So each person's share was worth $13, and we all got to try so many dishes. Pretty cheap for a filling 9-course meal...heh. They also have family set courses but we thought we'd rather just choose our own dishes.

There's the cosy restaurant. If it's full, they also have additional tables placed in the open space outside the restaurant. It's located at #B2-18 Bukit Timah Shopping Centre (just beside Beauty World). We ordered fried fish fillet, braised tofu and mushrooms, si chuan tofu, fried cereal tofu, steamed tofu with prawn roe and broccoli, braised pork and preserved vegetables (nice! not too salty, and the meat is sliced thinly so doesn't look too fatty and oily), gyoza (meat dumplings), sweet and sour prawn balls and tofu soup with assorted mushrooms.

Actually I hadn't visited that shopping centre since goodness knows when, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw the basement level all renovated and there were even a few other restaurants around, like some Western place and even a nice Japanese restaurant that looked quite classy from the outside. Hehe, next time sure wanna go there try other stuff... yum! :P

Nice evening out with friends/colleagues...

Speaking of eating, last Friday I was out having a yummy Indonesian buffet dinner at Rice Table @ Orchard International Building #02-09/10. Tried the one located at Suntec City with Hubby before and remembered it as a yummy place, so when Theresa said she'd planned a thank-you dinner to all of us main i/cs for Chorus Line musical there, I was quite looking forward to it. Initially thought of spending the evening with Hubby since it was our 26th month wedding 'anniversary' and we rarely are able to spend time together on such special occasions, but he had accidentally made other plans so I ended up able to make it for Theresa's dinner invitation.

Met Sophia earlier and we went about window shopping (also in the hope of actually being able to get something), but all we got were many face masks for me and many pairs of eyelashes for her! Haha... but at least we managed to look around in boutiques and see interesting stuff, most of which were of course too expensive for us to buy in a hurry. :p Anyway, we continued shopping after dinner and luckily we got more rewards... I got a book at Borders for Hubby as a little anniv gift and she got herself a Calvin Klein bag that was on 20% discount at Isetan. It was so amazing watching her purchase that bag. She saw it and decided on buying it within like a single minute, though it cost a 3-digit figure! Haha...but it was fun going around shopping and looking at things with her cos we like looking at almost the same kinda stuff.. Heh.

Anyway, something funny happened at the dinner. Dunno why but one of the waiters was so quick to clear our table after our second round that he didn't even bother checking if we were totally done or what. Just barged in and took our plates and dishes away. Poor Sharon was even in the midst of digging into some dish and holding her cutlery when that guy just took them away from her. My goodness. We really were quite annoyed, so Sophia complained to the supervisor there and earned us 5 $10-vouchers. Haha... it was a surprise cos we didn't expect to earn those vouchers on the spot. Gave them to other nice senior colleagues sitting near us. Heh. It does pay to complain sometimes. Haha.

Shortly after I got home, Hubby came back with HZ... treated him to some of the most recent peanut butter and honeydew ice cream that Hubby bought from Jurong East. Nice seeing him after so long... he's quite free at home cos Jess is away doing volunteer work in Shanghai -- so admirable of her! :) I'm sure she'll have great experiences to share when she returns... ^_^

BACK TO THE PRESENT...

Ok, gtg cook dinner for Hubby and myself soon. Yesterday we went Kino and I bought a couple of recipe books there... Already went grocery shopping earlier and bought ingredients. Hoping to try out some of the recipes today and tomorrow. Ms Leong also lent me some recipe books but I left them in school. Never mind, will pore over them next week and learn some stuff. Hee. Can't wait. Also saw some salmon at the supermarket just now. Thinking of looking for some recipes that'd teach me how to deal with salmon, then try cooking that for Hubby, so he can't keep complaining that all he's eating are 'fake' meat and fish! :p

PS. Hope Beebee's having a great time at Taiwan! ;) More importantly, hope she's safe and sound... :)

Life is all about experiences... (Part 1)

Indeed, experiences are what make up life... we learn through experiences, we grow through experiences, we feel more through experiences. Whether good or bad, experiences are what make us all more human. Yeah... am just throwing out random thoughts once again. :p It's been a long 10 days or so since I last stopped by here, and when I mean long, I mean long not just in absolute terms, but emotionally as well, cos so many events happened within this period of time, both good and bad. But I've managed to leave the bad memories behind and just wanna indulge in the nice ones... :)

THE POSTMAN DELIVERED MUSIC THAT MOVES THE SOUL

Yup yup, remember that time I mentioned Yiruma, the famous piano composer from S. Korea? I wanted to get his album so Hubby and I spent some time trying to look for it online. Found it on HMV (Japan) website, so we placed an order for it. And it finally arrived some time ago! Listened to it a few times and discovered more gems besides the song "Kiss the Rain". It's a really wonderful album titled 'Piano Museum'. I'd give it about a 9 outta 10! :) Hubby also helped me get my favourite track into my mobile phone, so now I listen to "Kiss the Rain" at work whenever I need some sanity or wanna feel 'zen' amidst all the chaos and madness. :p

MY VERY MUCH ADVANCED BIRTHDAY GIFT...AND A SMOKY EXPERIMENT THAT CAME WITH A YUMMY TREAT

On 9th May, 21 days before my birthday, Hubby gave me something he'd wanted to keep and pass me till my birthday, but curious me couldn't wait soooo long to find out what he had gotten me, especially since I was told that he already just bought me something. Ended up pestering him to just let me have the gift (of course, before that, he made sure he ruined any little hope of me receiving another gift on my actual birthday. "You sure you want it now ah...Then on your birthday that day no more liao ah...you won't get anything already ah..." was what he rambled on for several minutes before he finally passed me what he had bought me. And it turned out to be...

Yup, I got a DVD set of a Japanese drama serial (looks like I'm back to the good ol' days of watching Jap dramas again) titled "Prescient Teacher Meguru". She's prescient cos she's got the blessed power to look 20 years into the future of others whenever she's full from eating, and her character teaches English in a private tuition school, so it's quite interesting to see her in action in class with students of various ages. With such a plot like that, of course one can guess that it's a comedy. And it also stars Kyoko Fukada, one of my favourite Japanese drama actresses, cos she always looks so super sweet. ^_^ We watched a couple of episodes together already... there're some fun parts, but we're still hoping that the plot would thicken soon and leave us more satisfied. Nevertheless, if not the plot, at least there's Kyoko Fukada to look at! (Hubby was a bit 'heng' on this one lor. He didn't know I liked this actress -- couldn't even recognise who she was -- and just bought the DVD, thinking I'd enjoy the plot. :p)

Besides the sweet Kyoko Fukada, he also bought a box of sweet treat home -- icecream from Haato. That was the first time I saw icecream in the styrofoam packaging (it's strawberry and durian flavours btw... both my favourites! Tasted great!) ok lah, maybe I mountain tortoise lor, but it was quite refreshing to see. What's more, it came sealed with about two pieces of dry ice, and Hubby, as inquisitive and playful as ever, came up with the crazy idea of experimenting with the dry ice. We were just watching the 'smoke' come out from the ice and he suddenly thought of finding out what would happen if the pieces of dry ice came into contact with water. So we stood at the kitchen sink for a long time, staring at the fun sight of that happening. Just watch the video below to get an idea of how the experiment was carried out... haha...

SATURDAY...

On the following day, Hubby and I met Beebee at Clementi Sports Hall for a game of badminton... Beebee was the one who suggested playing that morning. Wah, it's been so many months since we last played badminton cos after getting the ping-pong table at home, we just sort of felt lazy to go out to play badminton when we could play ping-pong at home. Saved us a whole load of $$$ too, but the exercise that morning with Beebee was good lah. Right arm ached after the game. But we had an extra person playing... heh, this China lady asked to join us cos apparently, her kakis didn't turn up as planned. At first we thought that maybe her kakis were late, and she'd only join us for a while. Turned out she played with us for about 45 minutes lor! In the end, she realised that she was the one who had remembered the wrong time -- she was supposed to meet them at 9am, not 8am lor. Sigh... so blur. Beebee was quite annoyed, knowing her *ahem* feelings about certain people, and even wanted her to pay us for the time she spent playing on our court with us. Haha... but luckily, she didn't march up to that lady to demand $2 payment lah, else we dunno where to put our face liao... Hehe.

After the game, Beebee came over to our place to chill out... Hubby gave her the Tamama puppet plush that he'd bought for her when he was out the other day, and she spent some time playing with it too. Haha... Tamama is really cute! Think Beebee influenced both Hubby and me to like Keroro and his gang already... Heh. There, the pic shows Beebee playing with the puppet plush...notice her fingers are quite short so couldn't fill up most of the space in the finger holders... ^_^

Ok lah, gtg for now... still got more things to update actually, but it's getting late and I'm quite tired already. Have been getting very little sleep for the past couple of nights, so am more easily tired now, I guess. Shall post the remaining experiences the next time I log in. Am just so looking forward to the end of this week, when we would have completed most of the results processing madness, then can enjoy the long weekend (Monday's a holiday... Yaay!!!) Meeting a group of colleagues for dinner @ Rice Table in town on Friday, and just decided with Sophia today that we'll meet earlier to go shopping before meeting the rest... I think it's a well-deserved reward for us. :)

All things Japanese! Well, for me anyway... :D

Isn't it great when you go out jalan jalan and end up returning home with stuff that you like? *little voice in my head: Yeah, it sure is!*

Heh, that's what happened today... Hubby and I went out to town in the late morning. We resolved to leave for home in the afternoon at about 3pm cos I know it's exam period and I need to mark hundreds of scripts once again (then what am I doing blogging now?! Er... *sheepish look* Just done some work on the computer and can't resist recording today's events online... still fresh in the mind mah...tomorrow! Tomorrow confirm go full steam. :p). Ok,I'm digressing. Anyway, what's important is that today was a fruitful day of jalan jalan for both of us... :)

HUBBY's new stuff:

Hubby went home with a new square-shaped Tommy Hilfiger bag. It looks pretty nice and offers the options of either hand-carrying it or slinging it over a shoulder. The second item he got was a cute purple tee showing a silly panda (he likes it cos it looks silly! -_-) trying to do a balancing act. It's from this store located at Bugis Junction #02-20, named "Design Tshirts Store graniph". There're quite a lot of nicely-designed tees there and some caps as accessories, all imported from Japan. Apparently the designs for the tees are by various artists, some selected cos they won T-shirt design awards. I just checked out the English version of their website at <http://www.graniph.com/en/news/index.html>. Pretty cool. Ogled at some of their designs. Quite an artistic website actually.

MY new stuff (Hello, Japan!):

At Bugis Junction, we went to explore this store named "Akihabara Japan Products" at #03-25. It was the second time we bought stuff from this lovely store that just screams "JAPAN IS HERE!". Hee. I love this store. It's got so many authentic goods from Japan. There are costumes, clothings (Hubby got his yukata there when we couldn't find a suitable one for him in Japan last December), bags, purses/coin pouches, accessories, home decor items, lunchboxes...aiyo, so many all packed in one cosy store! I bought a lunchbox and a small box bag to go with it (yes... finally can forget about using recycled plastic containers and pulling out small plastic bags to carry my meal to work). So pretty and Japanese that I think I'm gonna start cooking more meals at home just so I can pack food to work the next day! Haha... dunno if this is just another little form of joy to help me feel better about my stressful work environment (sigh, I can be so pathetic at times). But never mind, whatever ulterior motive I might have in getting these, the most important thing is I still like my purchases! ;D

And yep, since I was in the mood for anything remotely connected to Japan, I got myself this white tee from "Design Tshirts Store graniph" too. Can guess why I chose this one in particular lor. :p Each tee there costs $35, but if you purchase 2, you pay $30 for each tee. Sometimes I really wonder why I'm so crazy about Japanese stuff... maybe I was a Japanese girl in my previous life... hmmm... that'd have been nice... *dreamy smile*

OUR yummy lunch!

One thing I must put on record is the lunch experience I had at Bras Basah Complex today. We wanted to visit G&B for comics (oh ya, it was a sort of party there cos it was Free Comic Book Day, a day when participating comics stores in USA give away free comics. We managed to grab quite a few free comics too! Hee). Anyway, before we went there, we stopped by Coffee Express food court for lunch. Hubby recommended this stall specialising in Cantonese roast, so we ordered from there. I had a plate of roasted duck rice ($3.50), Hubby had roasted pork rice ($3.30) and we shared a bowl of wanton soup ($3.30). My goodness... for those prices, I would think the dishes are quite normal. But as it turned out, the portions of meat were really generous and delicious! The plates of rice actually came with cooked leafy vegetables, not the usual few slices of cucumber. The chilli's great, and they had lemon sauce available too. And there were TEN wantons and lots of leafy vegetables in the bowl of soup. Each wanton boasts a full round portion of minced meat and prawns. Really nice for such prices! Apparently, the stall is a winner of the "Live to Eat!" award presented to local food stalls selling great tasting food. Shiok ah! Next time if I were to go Bras Basah Complex, I know what to eat without even having to think.

Omg... look at the time. Gotta stop now and perhaps mark all the way till Hubby gets tired of playing "Crackdown" on his X-box (he's been at it for close to THREE hours now... *mutter mutter*) and decides to turn in for the night. *looks at Hubby, rolls eyes at his totally absorbed gaze on the TV screen* Sigh.