Atas Steamboat Lunch

Today is the day that I get to fully enjoy family day out after so many assignments and exams that made me miss out on family outings. Today is also my first weekend without 大肥 as he is enjoying two weeks of vacation at Taiwan before his school exchange semester begins at a local university over there (good life!). I miss all the yummy food like braised pork rice, pork dumpling, pepper bun and grilled scallops!

He has to buy a ticket soon!

Back to topic: we all headed to JPot at Vivocity - opposite Crystal Jade - for lunch and it was a atas version of steamboat. To order foods, iPads were placed at each table and you can decide if you want a whole pot or "split" the pot so that you can enjoy two broths in one pot. We had tom yum, JPot superior broth, silky porridge and herbal chicken soup. The tom yum broth tastes like what you will get in an instant tom yum noodle soup (well it isn't that bad) and the awesome thing is that I get to see chilies in the pot! The chilies make the broth look more authentic than just seasoning. Dipping kuay tiao - it is referred as pho in the iPad menu - in tom yum sauce is the best decision I ever made. Maybe I could do product development on tom yum kuay tiao?!

You definitely have to order the scallops, prawn balls, fried beancurd skin and thinly sliced pork to go with your soup. The scallops are so fresh and the prawn balls are handmade. For cooked foods, the seaweed tofu is good but not fantastic until you add with your own mix of chili sauce. At the sides, there are sauce stations where you can mix your own sauce and you can help yourself to the drinks at the drink station.

My little train announcer

Oops... I didn't take any photo of the food cos I was busy eating and the table was a mess. Here is a picture with Jay being full and wants to run all over the place. At this time, we were 95% full and couldn't carry on except to finish up the remaining foods.

Spastic little Jay and his brother

Jay pulled me towards this red knight from King Louis Restaurant and wanted me to take a photo of him and the knight... then his older brother joined in the fun.

Directions to JPot (Vivocity): Level 1, at the corner where Marks and Spencer is. The whole lot of us, seven adults and two children, spent about $200. It was worth the money if you are looking for kids-friendly environment and their staff are very helpful and attentive. I would go back... if I have saved up enough! Remember to go in big groups!

20 Random Facts

It comes to a time when I have finished my exam at 12.10pm today and suddenly feel that there is no motivation for me to do anything. Everything becomes slow and boring when compared to the amount of time I had to grasp for dear life for the past four days to study and cram as much information into my head. I had never checked Facebook so frequently, like 20 times today (I didn't count but heck, it felt like that number), and Instagram on my phone which is probably the reason why my battery was critically low when I am only at Buona Vista MRT station.

So let's cut to the chase and post 20 random (and seemingly disgusting and boring) facts about me!

1. I still have my 臭臭 (baby bolster) with me and my dearest threatens that it would disappear on the day of wedding because it will NEVER be a part of my dowry
2. I like painting short finger nails; short like just-cut that type of short
3. The age gap between me and my siblings are 10, 13, 15 years old
4. I had bad luck with red since young like tripping over at Pulau Ubin while wearing a red dress when I was five and my red-and-white striped heels broke on the first day I wore it to town
5. If you aren't really close with me, don't trust me with your secrets because I will either a) forget it or b) tell everyone else so that at least I can remember
6. Liking to blue colours was acquired from young because there was always blue and pink options for me and my cousin but she was quicker and fiercer (although one year younger than me) and I was left with the (then ugly) blue coloured dress
7. I can't sing for nuts
8. I can't take artistic photos for nuts
9. I LOVE PIKACHU
10. Spamming and "liking" wedding photos on Facebook is my trait
11. I have the bestest best and loving boyfriend even if he isn't 1.80 m, dark and lean
12. I remember people's names and faces from school when they don't even know who the heck am I
13. I used to aspire to be a gynae because delivering baby is such a great job
14. I used to hate people who use "YOLO" but I'm alright with it when using at hilarious and appropriate situations
15. I hate people calling me "EH!" when they clearly know my name
16. My biggest attempt in being a daredevil was the Cyclone rollercoaster in USS
17. My age gap between me and my dad was so big that during primary school, my classmate asked me if my grandpa was coming to fetch me
18. My first handphone was back in Secondary 1 which was a Panasonic flip phone with INFRARED (yes, you heard it; no bluetooth) function for file transfer
19. My jokes aren't suitable for everyone
20. Once you are the target of the group, be wary that my words will drip with sarcasm

After reading so much, some of you probably hate me now. Go ahead and click the "X" button and erase me from your memory because YOLO!

Day 0

As soon as I told my friends that I'll be spending my weekends drawing circles on the floor because 大肥 is going away for a semester at Taiwan, they probe me with questions like

"Are you going to be sad?"

"Would you cry?"

"How do you feel?"

I gave a politically, yet expected and honest answer to them,

"I will be sad and bawl when he has to leave. We trust each other and I know that he can take care of himself and what's left to be sad is that I can only see him, talk to him but not hold him like every time."

I didn't cry as much as I would like 'cos he was rushing to meet his friends at transit area... but I did shed quite a few tears and didn't wanna let him go. For now, the closest item I can get to hugging him is to combine two warm bolsters, a burping machine that emits trash-like stench and a Snorlax face.

He is on the plane now and about to take off and I know he probably won't read my blog, given that his brain always shut down whenever he sees wordy posts and "bombastic" English that he is lazy to comprehend. I told him that I'm more worried for the weather he will encounter over there because it is unpredictable and I shan't go on talking about those 不吉利的话.

He told me to write crosses to countdown the weeks left to meet him like how prisoners cross out the number of days they had spent in their cells. This countdown is more agonizing than a one-minute countdown from the microwave by 3428798372 times.

As of now...

146 days to go.

A Sunday Dinner and Monday Date

Lesson and assignment discussion ended at 12pm and off I go to meeting 大肥 for an unusual Monday date! We planned to eat ice cream, drop by Kooka cafe and play arcade games like little kids. I even suggested Victor's Kitchen for lunch but I presume 70% the menu would be gone by the time we got seats... so we settled for Astons at Bugis+ (previously known as Illuma).

We were starving from the train delays so we picked the yummiest item and the one he had been craving for since last weekend - pork ribs. I ordered the pork chops and it was so tasty and it had just the right juiciness and chewiness. But of course it couldn't be compared to the one we had at Marche Vivocity where the thickness of one pork chop is equivalent to two of Aston's. The thought of it still makes me salivate! Both of us got mac n cheese and garden salad for side dishes and it seemed like everything on Monday fell perfectly in place and chased away my Monday blues. It was the best way to unwind and relax with him before I start mugging for exams.

His pork ribs

My pork chops

I was excited for the Steve Jobs movie, even he was rather excited too... until we finished the movie with a crappy ending. The whole movie is about how he is an - sorry to Steve Jobs up above - asshole for betraying his friends and firing employees just to make sure his company succeeds. Worst of all, the ending felt like as if his story couldn't be told finish by 1.5 hours. Like, someone just ejected your DVD out of the player without you realizing. Yeah, that's how horrible the movie was. Kudos to the casting crew who managed to get actors that resemble 90% like the original characters. I would say Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of Jobs is like watching Kristen Stewart's one-and-only pained expression in "Twilight". Sorry for being brutally honest.

The "Jobs" movie is definitely a movie... wait for it... worth to watch as TV movie premiere on Channel 5 or HBO. Trust me, don't waste your money.

Oh yeah, I dropped by Chef's Hat at Hougang Green for dinner on Sunday with family and I would recommend this place for no-frills and yummy western food! It is a cozy restaurant that caters to about 30 people at most at one time and the chef cooks all the food by himself. It is an open kitchen so you can look over the cashier to peek at what he's doing. My dinner was grilled chicken and prawn aglio olio along with top up of pumpkin soup and calamansi drink. The aglio olio was a tad spicy from the chili padi and a little oilier than I expected, but it didn't leave me jelak or anything... rather I get hungry after eating the food. What's wrong?!

Grilled chicken and prawn aglio olio

Sis wanted to try the chocolate lava cake - and so do I - but the moment I told the cashier I wanted to order desserts, she told me it was sold out. WHAT?! Okay, fine, I shall sulk and head to Wimbly Lu once again to get my chocolate lava cake fix. We settled for Belgian (hmm not really) waffles with cookies and cream and walnut ice cream from New Zealand. The walnut ice cream definitely taste bad... real bad... because the walnuts were rancid and there is this unpleasant "plastic" taste lingering. 

The Key to Adulthood

Congratulations Hui Yi! Being an ultimate klutz and insanely lucky, you have managed to live to 21 years old! I have the party planned four months ahead from location, guest list, catering and decorations and I am proud to say that I'm rather pleased with the results even though it was a cozy celebration with family, relatives and close friends. Let me share this artistic picture of my two adorable nephews who were sitting at the balcony area while waiting for our time to enter the chalet.

We checked in at 2pm and I started with all the decorations. I was so glad that my aunt and cousin came early to help around while 大肥 came a little later. Although I didn't feel any sense of urgency with the relaxed atmosphere as my parents and aunt and uncle chat over kopi, time was ticking and I still had to take the measurements of the area to figure out where I should place my decorations.

Lo' and behold, my sister's vintage polaroid wasn't able to take photos despite replacing the batteries - it eats 4 batteries! Then my cousin had a great idea and told me to open the gift she bought with her brother and I was a bit skeptical when I asked "Is it useful? Will I use it often" and she replied "Hmm... depends but I hope you like it!". It was just the polaroid camera I needed for this situation! They chose a baby yellow colour and it comes along with all the freebies like photo sticker, bag, films, wide angle lens. I can't express how grateful and appreciative I am at that moment.

The whole party caused butterflies in my stomach and I had the littlest appetite for that day (heck, I "ate" butterflies so whaddya think?) I was rushing all over the place, hoping the guests wouldn't be bored and had something to eat instead of sitting there like a China vase. The worst situation was that I had just gotten out of the shower when Hayley and Julie showed up. Thankfully, 大肥 helped me to handle the incoming guests while I get ready makeup and shoes. I wouldn't know what I would do without him... he is so good at hospitality!

Pretty girls at for 5th batch of Massey

This photo shows the height of the shortest guy in the party! I kept blinking at the count of 3... ugh!

Massey classmates! One more year to go!

Secondary school buddies... we came a long way

All my favourite noisy and always-late people!

I love Charmaine's pose with the tall hat and chee ko pek eyes!

Mah spastic and Energizer Bunny AAA batteries (cousins) for life!

On the actual day of 11 August 2013, 大肥 came over to celebrate birthday with my favourite red velvet cake and a simple lunch of western food at Hougang Plaza. Yum yum! I love today.

Happy birthday to me.

Take Life Easy

Body image is a big issue for me, although I look like I don't care about opinions and often encourage people to love their body, it is inevitable in this society full of stick-thin models. I have two favourite quotes that I remembered for a long time and use it to remind myself every now and then to keep me sane.

If your thighs don't jiggle, you need to see a doctor

- Miley Cyrus (when being questioned for growing fat)

Life is about indulging. If you want a piece of chocolate, go ahead; but don't eat the whole thing.

- Miranda Kerr

Part-Time Stints When You're Still Young

Seeing friends of friend's or any other young adult (I cannot use "teenager" because I'm no longer one!) working in a cafe or ice cream shop makes me envious most of the time. Not just small eateries, but any part-time jobs that they get to do during their holidays. You must be thinking are you crazy? They don't have enough money that's why they gotta work to earn more! This is the reason why I yearn to have longer holidays - heck 3 months will do just fine! - for me to experience different part-time jobs before I settle for a real and stable job when I graduate.

What I'm gonna mention later may sound very shallow to some of you who have worked as any of the jobs before; this is because it is purely based on my opinion in finding the joys of working at an ice cream shop or cafe.

I wanna scoop ice cream

Well I know... I would definitely not qualify for a round of interview without my makeup on and dolly-eye contact lens because my acne scars and "strawberry nose" is a dead giveaway for someone with really bad (and oily) skin. As much as I wish I could qualify as "ice cream girl" or "cupcake girl" or "yoghurt girl", my friend has the quality but her boyfriend strongly objects to it. The reason is because he feels that his girlfriend is being used as a showgirl or something and didn't like customers to oogle at her. But Adin, being the super sweet and amazing boyfriend that he is, says that I can meet the mark and he would be even happier that if I could get selected during interview because when I'm happy, he's happy. *cues "Aww~"*

I don't mind getting paid $6 per hour, which most people would ask for higher pay, because all I have to do is to scoop ice cream, give free ice cream tastings, clean up the plates, prepare waffles from frozen ones and tend to the cashier. So simple, right? And you don't have to wear a uniform - that's the best part.

I wanna be a barista or cafe assistant at hippie/ulu cafes

Proud to say, I can make espresso, latte and cappucino! All thanks to the training I had at the cafe for my 2nd year poly project that made me drank up to 4 espressos and 2 lattes a day and still able to fall asleep at night. For a clumsy person like me, I should start with cafe assistant which is cashiering, taking out cakes and serving some light snacks to customers. The cafe doesn't have to be big, well thankfully for these hidden gems in Singapore, these chillax cafes have small areas with dim-litted settings.

Being a barista would be a big step for me because the coffees I made had only been drank by me, my teacher or my friends. Oh gosh, I would be a terrible barista.