Friday Night Out

Haven't met up with A for friday dinners for ages so we arranged to meet after work today.

Dinner was at the basement of Isetan, Shaw House. Pepper Lunch it is called. Its a new japanese franchised high class fast food similar to Yoshinoya. High class in terms of cost per meal and also the quality of food served. Its kinda like a mix of Jack's place and Macdonalds. The raw meat and vegetables come served on their patented iron hotplate so that you can cook it the way you want.


My order - "Shimofuri" pepper steak set with rice and either a drink or soup

The rib eye steak that A ordered was pretty good too but it only came with corn, beans and carrots. PF ordered the doubled chicken set which was only average. The shake salad that we ordered to share was pretty nice but a bit pricy for the amount given. There weren't any pork dishes on the menu which I felt was a pity. This place is pretty good value for money if you want to have good quality steak served fast. We completed our meals by sharing the Kuromitsu Soft Ice Cream which is essentially soft serve ice-cream with raw sugar caramel sauce topping. Didn't get any pictures of the ice cream because I just couldn't resist taking a spoonful straight away. Ah well, I will remember to get a picture the next time. I really liked the ice cream because I'm such a sucker for anything made with raw or black sugar. The girls felt it was bit too sweet though. This place was super crowded when we got there but the staff were pretty helpful and we got seats as soon as we ordered. I guess the novelty of having sizzling hot plate fast food was part of what attracted most of the customers here. Still, I probably would patronise this place again in the near future.

After dinner, we walked around a bit trying out the mooncake samples at the food stalls. 3 more weeks to the mooncake festivals and everyone is already out hawking their wares. The crown hotel's yam & durian mooncake was pretty good. I also like hilton's ginseng snow skin mooncake and their baked mixed nuts with ham mooncake. Hmmm yes I can forsee myself turning into an "oink oink" in the next few weeks.

Leaving Orchard rd, we made our way to Meidi-ya hoping to find fresh horse radish. We are experimenting with a different way to pickling bamboo shoots. More on that later if it turns out well. Anyway, no such luck so we made do with powdered wasabi instead. I've also picked up some genmai tea and apple sweets that were on special. (^_^)V

On the way home, I got caught in a massive jam on the ecp. A mercedes car had caught fire (big fire it was too) in the middle of the road. The fire engines arrived 2 seconds before us to put out the fire.


That's taken from the cab I was in.

I can only just imagine the shock of the neighbouring cars when the mercedes suddenly burst into flames. The car was completely wrecked by the time my cab went pass it. No ambulance so I guess the driver and any passengers were ok. I don't think this is the first time I have heard of Mercedes bursting into flames while driving so presumably expensive cars aren't all that reliable as they are always made out to be.

Anyway, have pigged out in a most satisfactory manner tonight and indulged in my most favourite pastime --> supermarket aisle shopping so the office work that I have brought back to finish didn't seem all that bad now. Am going to bring my dad out for dimsum lunch on sunday. We are going to try the eating joint that chubby hubby has just patronised so expect more pigging out this weekend.

Good thing I've got gym session tomorrow morning...

Exercise

Just got back from a kick boxing session with tintin (my aerobics instructor. That's not his real name btw) and a 2.5k jog at the gym. The effort would have been even more worth it if I had been a good girl and ate something light for dinner. Instead, I cancel out all that huffing and puffing with this..


mmmm fried chicken...

You know when your 魔鬼訓練 (exercise regime from hell) has paid off...

when you gone from stage 1 --> huffing and puffing 5 minutes into the session. By 15, you start to wish you were died and at the end of the 1 hr class, all you can do is crawl into the change room whimpering and swearing that you will never again take this instructor's class. Your legs have by now start to feel like jelly and you have trouble taking even the escalator.

to stage 2 --> Huffing and puffing only after 15 minutes of workout (not bad. got improvement). Curse and swear (silently) at the instructor 30 minutes into the session because he was standing at the stage repeatedly shouting "biceps, sides, push, all the way up, elbows, cross it, lift" while you are below trying to follow orders and not to die from the pain in your arms in the meantime. At the end of the session, you still wish you were dead and your legs still feel like jelly and you still have trouble taking the escalator but hey, at least you didnt swear that you never wish to see the instructor...ever again.

then to stage 3 --> Wondering at 15 minutes if instructor is sick today because the workout feels easy. Huffing and puffing at 25 minutes. Curse and swear (silently) at the instructor at 45 minutes because his abs exercise doesnt seem to end. At the end, your legs feel a bit like jelly but you haven't wish you were died and after 30 minute of rest, you feel fine enough to tackle some gym stuff.

to my current stage --> Smiling at 15 minutes because you can see the other participants from the mirror and you know they are at stage 1. Wondering at 20 minutes if you should switch from the purple (lighter)weights to the green ones next session. Start huffing and puffing only at 45 minutes. Rest for 20 minutes at the end of the session to go jog 2.5k.

Now all I have to do is to figure out how to lay off all that calorie laden stuff I seem to eat afterwards....

Don't worry

Was having a chat with my colleague at lunch about her two daughters whose characters are as different as day and night. The older daughter is more reserved and quiet while the younger one is bright and chirpy. If you ask them both how their day was like, the older one would just reply ok while the younger one would regale you with stories about her teachers, her classmates and the various interesting things she did during her recess breaks. Her day might not always be hilarious but she seems to have a knack of making even the smallest event seem fun and interesting. The mom puts it down to a combination of high EQ and a sense of curiosity about life in general. She also wished that her older daughter would be more like the sister.

I remember a time when my own mom used to gripe about me and my brother’s indifference towards whatever is happening around us. She also liked to ask how our day was and when we said ok (period), she would go bang her head on the wall. Not literally of course. Sometimes she would ask (on purpose) what we did for the day and our answers usually won’t veer too much away from wake up, eat, go school, do work, eat, sleep. That’s when she will start to spew blood. Obviously, we didn’t see anything wrong with our answers. After all, that IS a general summary of what we did everyday. Perhaps that’s why I always find it difficult to find something to blog about unlike others.

Now that we are heaps older and earn our own money to waste spend, we no longer give “wake up, eat, go work, come back, eat, sleep” answers even though that’s how I still feel my life is sometimes. Some people even think that I have a sense of curiosity about life in general seeing how I always seem to enjoy whatever I am doing. So I guess I would just like to say to my colleague “Don’t be too worried about your elder daughter. I’m sure she would grow up to be just fine.”

Marriage

In a couple of weeks, I will be celebrating 2 full years of married life. It may not seem like a long time compared to some other marriages I’ve known but it never cease to amaze me. For someone whose life goal is to own her own house, car and dog (note: there is no husband in the picture), my life has certainly taken on a very different path from the one I have envisioned.

It hasn’t always been a bed of roses nor was it only thorns, blood and tears. Sometimes I enjoyed the companionship and at other times, I sorely missed the freedom and solitude that I used to enjoy. Thinking you know someone but then discover facets that were hidden before. Having to adjust to a whole bunch of strangers, living under someone else’s roof and not being able to be there 100% for my parents are still some things that irk me.

I used to think that perhaps I was the only one facing problems but have now realised that every couple have problems as well. It’s just a question of more or less, trivial or serious. I’ve had people asked me if they should get married. It’s a tough question to answer. I’ve always felt like saying “Which stories do you want to hear? The happily ever afters, the in betweens or the ones which ended in a divorce? I know equal numbers of all three.”

I can only tell you how I came to mine: Examine it as if you are buying a house. There could be a 1000 and 1 reasons why you will or will not take the plunge. For some, it’s the gorgeous view or the prestige of the postal address or that it’s just a good investment. It could also be because it makes you feel safe or have a certain comfort feel about it. For yet some others, its because that’s the only house available to them on the market. The most important thing, however, is not to ever look back once you made up your mind.

Wooo snowleopard

Havent done any quiz in a long time...

Not bad lah. Snowleopard. Would have preferred being a panther or wolf but this would also do. Better than being labelled as a cat or sly fox hehehe.

You'd turn into a Snowleopard! Like a snowleopard
you are quiet, shy and not seen much and find
it hard to talk to people, but dont really mind
being by yourself. However once you have gotten
over your shyness and are relaxed you are so
different it can be scary! You have a few close
friends who can grasp your strange ways. You
are generally laid back but when you get angry
you get angry and can be very vicious and a
force to be recond with, though few people ever
see this.

What animal would you turn into?
brought to you by Quizilla

WA Trip (Final)

24 Jul 05
Perth

This is the last day of our WA trip. Breakfast was back at Pancakes at Carillon. Ate the same stuff again.



More shopping as well but my luggage is close to bursting so I had to refrain myself. That is so depressing. Lunch was sandwiches at David Jones. The food was superb.


"Pumpkin Focaccia"


"Smoked Salmon Sandwich"

Hubbz bought himself a pair of working leather shoes at a bargain. Good. Its about time he changed those shoes of his. Since it was a sunday, everything closed at 4 so we went back to the hotel for free drinks with the coupons we got from our hotel.


"Shot at the pub"

Dinner was in Williams street. This time we opted for vietnamese pho. The place recommended by G's cousins was packed and the food is fantastic. The pho was how it was supposed to be and we got repeat orders of the vietnamese spring rolls.


"Must try"

Fully satisfied, we walked back to the hotel to wait for the cab which is taking us to the airport. Seeing how we still had a full hour before its arrival, I headed off to Swans Bell for some last minute photography.


"Swans Bell by night"


"Swans Bell by day"

Heading back to the hotel, we were just in time for the cab's arrival.
Flight @ 12am.

So that ends the last of the narration for the WA trip. It has been great putting everything down for future reference and readings. The group has resolved to make such holidays an annual trip but then I could get pregnant by end of this year (HOPE being the key word here. This is also another story for another day.) so we shall see. I regret not doing it for our NZ trip last year. That was a pretty amazing event as well.

Now back to normal day blogging.

WA Trip (VII)

21 Jul 05
Perth

Woke up nice and early as we had to visit Hubbz's uncle who lives in a old folks home in Perth. Breakfast at the macdonalds down the street in order to save time. Mackers here is so much better than that in singapore. They have very wonderful looking deli style sandwiches which made me drool.


"A little guest at our table"

This will be my first time meeting Hubbz's uncle so we brought him some fruits as a gift. Turns out that he was in hospital recuperating from some flu so I didn't get to meet him afterall. Its also the first time I heard about his colourful history. Interesting man indeed.

Meeting up with the rest at noon, we head out to visit Kings Park since we had the car. Got flower crazy again. Tsk tsk. Here's proof hehehe.







We didnt stay as long in the Park as I would love to as a suggestion was made to head out to Subico for a spot of shopping. Its a supposedly trendy little suburb with great shopping. Trendy yes but definitely a disappointing shopping spot unless you are pregnant. The pregnancy clothing here are definitely very interesting and very wearable but the rest of the shopping --> bleah :P

It was time to head back to return the car before 5. Walking back towards the hotel after that, a quick decision was made to adjorn to James street for dinner. A wanted to bring us to a restaurant they patroned a couple of years back on their trip to Perth so we hopped onto the free CAT service. Great place this city. They have free shuttle services that spans most parts of the city centre. Good for the tourists like us and really convenient for some of the local residents too who lived along the CAT routes.







Dinner @ A fishy affair. Greek seafood restaurant with a pretty nice ambience. The seafood though was just like the restaurant name - a fishy affair indeed. Perhaps the chef had a one-off terrible day with seafood (The seafood here is supposed to be pretty famous) but meat dishes are definitely recommended here.


22 Jul 05
Perth

Slept in late and had a huge breakfast at Pancakes at Carillon. Its the Perth equivalent to Sydney's Pancakes at the Rocks. The pancakes are definitely just as good and they sure bring back memories of my uni days.

Spend the rest of the day shopping at a huge discount outlet mall -> Harbourtown. Bought heaps. Essential and non essential stuff coz the discounts are so amazing. We didn't even finish walking the whole place when we had to leave so we vow to bring the guys along with us tomorrow.

Watched Quidam tonight. We were planning to go watch in Singapore but I have been so slack with buying tickets and now I'm very glad for my laziness. It does pay off sometimes :D
AU$79 for centre front row seats. Seats like that would have cost $220 back home!!!! It was a full house and so we figured that some corporate bigwigs probably didn't need or want the tickets and it was let out for last minute purchases. Yippeee.


"Illegal shot since photography not allowed inside"

The show was SIMPLY amazing. This is the 3rd Cirque Du Soleil show I've seen so far and I loved every one of it. A and hubbz thought the theme was a bit too dark and depressing but I thought it was pretty ok. Yeah I know I'm just bias. I even got 5 minutes of fame (perhaps less) when I got pulled up to "entertain" the audience during the clown segment. I was supposed to play a girl who had an affair with this hunk (played by another audience. Cute one. Too bad not tall enough.) and got found out by my fiance who got so mad that he shot my lover dead afterwhich I was supposed to get really depressed and killed myself off with poison. It sounded simple enough except that I forgot the second half of what I was supposed to do while watching the others prance around the ring. Forgot to get depressed. Forgot about the dying by poison bit and then when the "director" repeatedly shot me with a gun, I forgot to die. Thats when I realised I would never make a good actress. Ah well, Hubbz says "This is the closest you will ever get to having an affair so you might as well enjoy it while you can."

Dinner afterwards was at food court. Yucks. Never ever eat chinese in a Perth food court. Trust me.


23 Jul 05
Perth

Breakfast at London Court today. Quaint surroundings, good food. The caffeine fix was wonderful for warding off the morning chill.



The entire afternoon was spent shopping. First at Harbourtown then off to a highly recommended swimwear discount outlet and then later in the city centre. Got myself so much stuff that I won't have get anymore for chinese new year! I must say shopping in this city is super cheap.


"Shopped but still have time for snaps"

We were craving for soupy asian noodles after that horrible stuff that passed itself off as chinese fare yesterday night and almost did a jig on the streets when we spotted this japanese noodle house (in a dodgy alley near our hotel) that was still opened.



We were the last customers but thankfully they could still do food orders. We had ramen in miso based soup, ramen in pork bone soup, california roll, tempura and katsudon. The food was devoured with great gusto and it didn't disappoint. Yummm.

WA Trip (VI)

20 Jul 05
Margaret River/Perth

Woke up just in time to check out today. Watching the boys playing cards and toasting mashmallows in the fireplace til late at night is a very tiring affair. Just before we drove off, we dropped in at the farmer's shed to do some shopping for handmade organic soap that the farm owner's wife was making. They smell so divine and are all named after types of wine. I cant remember which ones I bought but I definitely cant wait to start using them.


"The local resident asking for a last belly rub"

Heading out from Angarrack Farm, we turn into Leeuwin Estate. Its an award winning winery that we were told is a must visit. Its definitely a very lovely place and guess what..we were just in time for a winery tour. Even though I've been on a couple of winery tours, the Leeuwin Estate tour was pretty good. The guide did try to speed things up a little on account that we are are supposed to reach Perth before 5 but we still didnt managed to finish the whole tour til almost 1pm. Tasted a fair bit of expensive wine though so at least we recoup the tour fees.

Heading off towards Perth, we made one last stop - Margaret River Choc Factory.


"Mmmm choc"

We went a little crazy in this place. Buying and stuffing our faces. It was a good way to prepare for the long drive back towards Perth.

The traffic on the highway (if you can call it a highway) was pretty bad. Throw in the city's fascination with one way streets and we didn't end up arriving to our hotel til 7pm. Good thing we had already decided halfway thru the drive to keep the car for another day so we were not too particularly stressed out.

A and Hubbz had to meet their relatives for dinner so the rest of us explored the neighbourhood in search of food. Korean bbq was our final choice. The food was pretty good with generous portions. Too bad the other couple don't take beef. Haiz.

After dinner entertainment was at the Casino. The boys tried their luck at the tables while the girls explored the place.


"Exotic flowers"

Final verdict : Big but utterly boring.

40th Birthday

It's her birthday today and the celebrations were grander than any other years I could ever remember. Must be because we are celebrating the son finally taking over from the dad this year.

The only patriotic (even though I am not a citizen) thing I could ever remember doing was participating in the NDP when I was in sec 3. Our school was one of the few arrowed chosen to be part of the nation's celebration. A whole year of prep work and sacrificed weekends for one single day. Not to say it was all sweat and no fun. There are a lot of things that would easily captured the attention of bored 15 yr old minds from a nunnery school - like a hundred 20 yr old army guys for instance. Back then you see, 15 yr old pimply school boys were deemed too kiddy and were not worthy of our attention.

Information were traded like game cards. Which guy was the cutest, tallest, coolest etc etc. We were even prepared to secretly take pictures of the guy the whole sec 3 cohort was secretly in love with interested in. Actually, we did just that. Secretly take picture of the guy that is. That photo was circulated among the whole school and was the most sought after school photo ever. I still have that infamous photo in my picture album to remind me of my carefree youth.

The memories of raging hormones and unrequited schoolgirl crushes...

WA Trip (V)

19 Jul 05
Margaret River

After some home-cooked breakfast with free range eggs courtesy of our farmstay hosts, we head out to explore the region. First stop - Berry Farm. A nice little place. Not easy to find but then we got pretty lousy navigation skills. The fruit trees were bare at this time of the year but the owners had grown quite alot of beautiful flowers.




"More blooms"

The cellar door stocks heaps of jams and chutney but we were mostly interested in the wine. The mango wine at this place is divine. Like ice wine but not as sweet with a delectable mango smell. Definitely not to be missed.

Chalice Bridge Winery was just around the corner so we decided to head in that general direction since we been seeing their products on display at alot of the restaurants along the way. Unfortunately for us, their cellar door is only going to be completed in the later part of the year so we veer off to the Rockyfield winery next door instead.


"Bare vines"

There was a lot to try here and we ended up getting quite a few bottles of whites to bring back. The owner pointed us in the direction of Augusta for lunch and a spot of whale watching at the lighthouse so that was where we went.


"Blooms outside the pub"


"Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, naturally."

So named because the Dutch sighted the Cape in Mar 1962 in the vessel "Leeuwin".

Australia's most southwestern point with the Indian Ocean on the right and the Southern Ocean on the left.
Lat. 34 22 South Long. 115 08 East

This lighthouse is a working lighthouse at the moment and we joined the next scheduled tour that brought us all the way up to see the huge lightbulbs installed inside after a brief narration of the history and the lifestyle of the olden days lightkeepers. This is a good spot for whale watching if you can get used to the binoculars supplied and the strong winds. They sighted 40 whales the day before but we didnt see any while we were up there. Tough luck.


"Us at the top"

The area surrounding the lighthouse was pretty interesting to explore and we spent more time below than up at the top.




"We even went down to the edge of the sea just to get a closer look at some of the residents."

Heading back home, we were just in time for the feeding frenzy back at the farm.


"We were told these are goat-like sheep that are good for eating. Hur Hur Hur."


"The owner's youngest daughter with the orphan lamb that thinks its a dog."

Dinner that night was at the local award winning restaurant, Winos.



The food was really good and their wines comes in 3 different sizes - samplers (15mL), tasters (50mL) and glass (150mL). I thought that was a pretty cool idea. If only they have that in Singapore too. I ordered the Chalice Bridge and Moaning Frog to sample.

The food orders we had were given really funny names on the bill - the kangaroo (which I ate) was typed in as skippy, vegetable lasagne was known as no meat, duck was daffy and pork ribs was porky. I was cursing myself silly afterwards for not remembering to take a picture of that bill :(

WA Trip (IV)

18 Jul 05
Busselton

We slept in this morning coz its not everyday we got to stay in a 5 star hotel ok. Good thing they allowed us to check out an hour later.


"That's the view from our rooms"

The sky today seem cloudy and a bit grey. Definitely not a good sign. We decide to explore the beach at the hotel and take some some photos just in case it starts to pour. *Touch wood*


"More flower shots from me. I am fast becoming known as the no human photo gal within the group."


Storm clouds brewing so we decide to head back to the car"

We decide to head over to Busselton Jetty even though its drizzling just to try our luck. Good thing the rain stopped as we got there.


"More flower shoots"

Since the weather looked pretty alright, we decided to take a stroll along the Jetty. It cost money to do that actually but the ticket gets you into the observatory at the end and also a 1-for-1 coffee at the nearby restaurant.





Some little facts about the Busselton Jetty.

• Its 1841m long and is the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere.
• It ceased operation in 1972 and is now a major tourist attraction.
• There is a underwater observatory at the end of the jetty and a little train that gets you there, weather permitting.

The wind was strong that day and we gave up walking to the observatory halfway along the Jetty. (I just had a look at their website. The observatory is really worth a visit. Too bad we were there at the wrong time. Best time to visit - summer) Turning back, we decided to head for some caffeine fix.

Warming up after hot coffee, the group decided to split ways. SW and hubbz had to go pick up her brother who is arriving in Margaret River by coach in the afternoon. The rest of us will make our way slowly towards Margaret River and join them at tonight's farmstay accomodation heaps later.

Next stop on the itnerary - Ngilgi Caves @ Yallingup



The caves, about as big as the Jenolan caves in Sydney, were pretty big and very interesting to explore. Our guide was really knowledgeable as well. Not only did he know his caves, he was also very well informed about other stuff with regards to nature. Like the current au conservation status and the native plant life in WA.

As usual, I was taking more photos again. The caves were set in a national park and had heaps of very interesting wild flowers that were in bloom at the moment. You would think that trees and shrubs would be rather bare in winter but nope...heaps were in full bloom with a riot of colours ranging from blue to red to yellow. According to our guide, there were a couple of pretty rare wild orchids that were in bloom just last week but unfortunately for us, the blooms had just wilted. Never mind. I bought myself a wild flower guide from the cafe as a consolation


"Pretty gum nuts outside the cafe"

Leaving the caves, we went in search of food. Fast food was our closest option and so chicken treats it was. That's similar to red rooster for those familiar with food joints in Australia.
I was pretty glad we decided to eat there as we were blessed with company from a flock of wild gallahs.


"Pink. A certain sg celebrity blogger's fav colour :P"

Following a tip off from our caves guide, we headed off in search of Canal Rocks.


"View along the way - pounding waves of the Indian Ocean."

Canal Rocks is a series of protruding rocks that form a natural canal that is both popular with photographers and fishermen. A bridge is build over the canal so that the rushing seawater can be viewed from above. This is the relatvely unknown spot that our guide in the caves tour told us about. It wasnt easy to find as it is right at the end of a little turnoff next to a winery. Awesome view. We were pretty glad that we didnt give up halfway.


"Thats the bridge which the seawater ran under"


"Canal Rocks"

After leaving Canal Rocks, we head to a nearby surfer's beach to wait for the sunset.



It was a wait well worth waiting for even if we had to drive to the our lodging in the darkness and without road directions :P The only regret I had was that we were unable to stop along the way for some photos of kangeroos that have wandered out into the pastures to graze. We even saw a kangeroo's silhouette among the vines. That would have made a reallly good picture. Guess it will just have to remain imprinted in my memory for personal viewing only.

Lodging for the next two days is at Angarrack Farm. Finding the place was a bit of an adventure for us. The beckoning lights and awaiting friends were a very welcome sight indeed. Entering the premise, the interior promised a very cosy stay for the next two days.

Dinner that night was pasta and roast chicken with salad. Home cooked with fresh ingredients from the supermarket in the town centre of Margaret River.