Random Blog

Phew! Weekend at last!

I have been busy (what's new?)... from preparing my presentation for pre-budget meeting in Bintan, traveling to Singapore and Bintan, meeting up friends from uni who were back from Beijing for a short bit, spending time with mom, bros, sistas, nieces and nephews, spending time with Barry and Claudia (will update some stuffs on our plans later), catching up with girlfriend Amy in Singapore, eating ba chang to catching up on work. Lots more to do... esp. since traveling to Paris/Brussels early July is in the cards.

Anyway, highlights :

1. Porridge buffet at Orchard Hotel Singapore courtesy of Amy - if you read my blog regularly, you would know that I am a fan of the humble porridge. There were plain porridge, sweet potato porridge, brown rice porridge and made-to-order fish porridge while I was there.

They have everything imaginable to go with porridge : blanched vegetables with garlic oil, 5-spice braised intestine and chicken, braised pork, drunken chicken, fried salted veg, Szechuan veg, dried anchovies, dace with black beans, preserved olive leaves, bamboo shoots and so on... truly a refreshing meal.

2. When I found a tick on Claudia after an outing : Barry, the good papa said sternly to our little girl "if you are bringing friends home, you have to ask first". Claudia just sat and stared at him while being lectured. Made me laugh.

3. My mom's ba chang. Everybody who had it said it was her best ba chang yet this year. I am not biased just because my mom made the ba changs. These are claims by non-family members. And my mom made 2 batches due to popular demand.

She said they were good because she never held back from putting lots of goodies like chestnuts, dried mushroom, dried shrimps, shallots and just minimal 3-layer pork. She is right. Very rare to see 4 chestnuts in a ba chang.
4. Grilled seafood (fish, scallops, shrimps, squids) in Bintan served with 12 kinds of dip - sambal, green sambal, bird's eye chilli (BEC) in fish sauce, BEC in dark soya sauce, BEC in light soya sauce, BEC in sesame oil with shallots, BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, chilli sauce and I honestly can't remember...

We rounded off the meal with panna cotta. If only the relaxing sunset scene with palm trees on the dessert plate was true of my week in Bintan.... budget preparation ALWAYS gives me zits. Sucks.
5. Bought 60ml Coco Chanel Mademoiselle EDT at a very very very special price from DFS courtesy of Amy... I could have picked more than 1 bottle of perfume from Burberry and Bulgari and Gucci stuffs but restrained myself as I had just went crazy at Zara and on books the week before. Also, have just opened a new bottle of Gucci Envy. But, I did add some eye colour and mascara from Clinique to the shopping basket at Changi Airport. I needed therapy... retail therapy... Singapore is a dangerous place. ... and I have no loyalty to a scent. LOL!

6. Had "Buddha/Monk jumped over the wall" at Eden KLIA while waiting for my flight - I love this soup!

7. Barry made pasta and Italian seasoning Shake and Bake chicken for dinner when I got home from Singapore AND washed the dishes. 2 thumbs up! I am one heck of a lucky girl.

8. Last and definitely not least, nephew Soen Aik got offer to do Med. at University of Michigan.

Oh, and I got sea-sick in the ferry to Bintan.. it could be lack of sleep, empty stomach (left hotel at ungodly 7.30am to go to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal!) or just sitting at the wrong location in the ferry. I took the advice to sit at portside, all the way behind just before the return trip to Singapore. And I felt so much better!

Last night, we went out to Chilli's because Tim, a friend of ours was totally craving it. We ordered nachos (with additional of guacamole and jalapenos pour moi) and wings (too bad not blue cheese dressing, only ranch - but still good) as appetisers and the boys ordered the burgers and I had the lamb shank (I exchanged with Barry halfway through it as I couldn't possibly eat lamb without Dijon mustard). After dinner, we went to Dome for a shot of Expreski. It was definitely in excess. We could feel the meal till this morning.

Apart from that, the usual eating but nothing worth mentioning esp. since I didn't take pictures lest the boss thinks that I will leave to be a chef... Haha!

Today, I worked a little in the am, had peanut butter sandwich with strawberry yogurt drink and 2 ba changs and am now relaxing. Will have a sweet navel orange later. Pure bliss.