Chilling Out

The afternoon clouds hung threateningly low and the wind rose.

We shrugged at the sky and still plunged into the pool for a quick couple of laps. It didn't rain anyway. HA. We were so pleased that we weren't cheated by the fickle weather.

We were kinda aching from earlier exercises already. So today's swim was capped at 30 laps.

Neither of us felt like eating a heavy dinner. So we went in search of something light. We wandered into La Fromagerie to share a cheese platter, a mediocre charcuterie and an excellent French onion soup. Those were really filling! I later bought slabs of epoisses and maroilles home to nibble on.

Then we sidled over to The Book Cafe for the girlfriend to get her caffeine fix. I had a pot lemongrass and ginger tea. My goodness. It was a delightful pot of spicy tea. The teapot was chockful of evenly sliced stalks of fresh ginger and lemongrass. Favorite!

Out At Brunch

It's lovely to have a girlfriend who specially comes all the way to pick me up and take me out to brunch at PS Cafe.

I feel so pampered!!

The food is brainless, of course. But the lush greens surrounding the cafe make us feel so good.

The cafe was not too crowded. We could just yabber in peace. Wonderful company and conversation are the icing on the cream of any date.

It's even better that I can get out into the sunshine to meet her when I'm all refreshed and chirpy, rather than at the usual end of the weekday dinner when I'm tired and grouchy.

On a side note, she's evil!!! She's introduced me to this online shopping site that I can't resist getting stuff from. UGH.

年年更有余

The man slyly stated that we ought to follow certain Chinese New Year traditions.

I was most suspicious. He barely speaks the language.

He declared that we should have fish to signify abundance for the lunar year of the Ox.

Ha! Indeed. Like rounding up the FaerieFolk for a sushi and sashimi dinner at Tatsuya.

I suppose everyone's in a festive mood. Everyone was beautifully dressed and all excited to sit down to a fantabulous dinner. Well, we largely shop online. So there were breathtakingly splendid jewel colors from Cynthia Vincent, Jovovich-Hawk, Alice+Olivia, Graham & Spencer; boho chic from Leave of Grass and Erdem. So yes, I fingered the fabrics and drooled all over the girlfriends. ;p

Some dresses are reserved for special occasions. I finally mustered up enough courage to wear this Hervé Léger bandage dress that I never dared to wear because it was so unforgiving. What the hell, curves are in.

The horde of us filled up the sushi counter and yabbered away.

I'm almost embarrassed to say, but we ate so little for lunch in order to have stomach space for dinner. We had a lot more sushi than what is shown here. Even though I didn't use any flash, I didn't dare to take that many photos!

The 'Eat' Squad

(7atenine is now closed/merged with Jazz at Southbridge as of Jan 10, then now revamped)

The woman had earlier declared that she wanted to eat at 7atenine.

Who am I to say no?! ;p

Since the woman had to have 5 cold showers a day since she got back, (think it's down to 3 now) I requested for a table indoors in air-conditioned comfort.

We ordered that charcuterie platter again. Purely for the decadent butter.

20 minutes later, we ordered an extra plate of bread that came with an extra complimentary roll of butter.

Anyway, we pretty much ordered everything on the menu and repeated a couple because we loved it so much. Like the ebi bisque, lamb cutlets and wagyu rump. They loved the chilli con carne too.

We also had many many delicious lychee mojitos. *burp*

I missed the woman the last time she passed through Singapore. I'm thrilled that our schedules matched and I managed to catch her this round.

We (plus men) had an awesome evening.

Woman, faster faster come back next quarter or so! We'll eat at 'imp's kitchen'. :D

年年有余

Did I ever mention that I love this sort of Chinese fishcake?

I like it best with just a small scoop of rice and sambal tumis.

A Familiar Type

This woman gave us a packet of Lim Chee Guan bak kwa. "The gold coins type!" She reminded us that she was giving us good stuff.

Since we don't eat bak kwa, we would have just given the pack away. But we thought we'd first open up and see if it was okay. Luckily we did.

We were horrified to see that the pieces of bak kwa were not even proper pieces. Much less 'gold coins'. They were the leftover charred bits and ends from the main squares.

This is the same rotund woman who at our flat, wants to tapau her half-eaten second plate of biryani and anything else she can lay her eyes on. It is also her who would, along with her sons with voracious eating capacity, eat up all the food on the dining table with nary a thought for the other guests.

At the rate she's waddling, she really should embark on a strict exercise regime. Oh, and at the same time, teach her husband that a cheek-to-cheek greeting is preferred instead of a his-lip-to-my cheek and leaving a trail of drool on each side. I always have to surreptitiously wipe away his saliva after. Eioow.

This is one woman who will shamelessly and blatantly "贪小便宜". She's extremely embarassingly, to say the least.

She's damn one kind lor.

I can't help but chuckle each time I remember how one year at lunch, she took offence at the luxurious napkins we used that depict beautiful Botero fat women.

Most Creative EVER!

When I opened up the card, I cracked up completely. I roared with unbridled mirth for a good 15 minutes.

I laughed so hard till I had tears streaming down my cheeks!

The woman not only decided to pen me greetings in Chinese.

What got my funnybone were the 2 squares of her city's toilet paper she had sent along with the card!!!

She couldn't get over my penchant for white toilet paper!!

Woman! You're h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s!!!

I will have you know that if these 2 squares are defined your "rough-grained ugly greyish-thing brown being used as toilet paper", the "rough-grained ugly greyish-brown thing" they pass off in my country is nowhere near your standard of softness or thickness.

Mine's at least thrice rougher and half the thickness. Go figure. Your 2 squares are plush in comparison and beautifully soft. With dotted hearts embossed to boot.

Yours is definitely the "Best Birthday Pressie" this year. Full of wit, ingenuity, thoughtfulness and a damn good sense of humor.

I love you lah.

年初三 :: A Modern Cheongsam

Come, I show you the proper cheongsam version of this top.

When we were at the boutique (strangely, they don't have a website...), I liked the cheongsam too. But it was the top that I fell in love with.

A top would work better for me.

When this girlfriend tried the full length version, I thought it looked great on her. She wore it really well.

Basically, we convinced her to buy it even though she emphatically stated that she didn't need any new dresses.

So I forced the model to take this picture despite her protests. She said that the creases were awful. Do pardon the creases!

CNY Visiting

We went out to do some house visits proper today.

It wasn't too unpleasant.

House visits don't mean a thing to us. But it means a fair bit to the people we're visiting.

We like them. We see them rather regularly actually. But I know they want us to visit specially during Chinese New Year because they celebrate it. So we do.

The street lamps were lit when we reached the last venue. Perfect timing. We left the moment the sun set fully.

When darkness fell, we slipped away to the cinema.

It was time to clear the mind, have a light dinner and wind down to a good movie with wine and cheese.

Cold Water Please Aunty Imp!

Uh oh. I think I've just influenced the little niece to drink really cold water.

Like many tots, she's not fond of tepid water. She gets forced to drink it anyway. But she's getting really good at squirming off.

She was grouchy and said no to her bottle of water. I clinked my glass of ice water at her. The ice cubes made musical sounds that caught her attention. She was most interested in it.

She stretched out a hand to touch the condensation on the cold glass. Then I touched the glass to her lips.

She licked the edge of the glass and then gulped the ice cold water! She grinned at me and willingly drank a couple more sips.

I'd think that cold water, for some reason, is a lot tastier than warm water. Heh. I don't drink tepid water either!

Woots.

年初二 :: The Day of Wii

It was awesome how we didn't have to spend all that money at the arcade anymore and we could still complete The House of The Dead!

The friends put it on unlimited credits. It was so cool that we didn't have to die! We just reload and fire-at-will!

The Wii-motes were vibrating so much that our hands were numb after every stage! The friends were definitely tempted to buy the gun version of the remote. Just so we could get on to playing Ghost Squad!

The intense frowns of concentration and screams of "Die zombies die!" that reverberated around the room were simply hilarious.

Something Healthy

The dessert angel made a fruit fall crumble that was full of goodness.

The tartness of the berries was well balanced by the sweet. That crispy oat topping was a lovely crunchy complement to the fruit.

I had scoop after scoop of this dessert. It was totally yummilicious!

年初一

Thank goodness that as our preferred habit and a nod towards the Indian side of the family, we have Indian food during Chinese New Year.

The man also whipped up a Thai glass noodle and minced chicken salad. This is one dish he perfected after tasting 2 spectacular failures and 1 mediocre final product.

That dhaal-cha, mutton korma, chicken biryani, basmati rice and the sorts make it feel so much better that we don't have to adhere to the traditional dishes of the festival.

I gingerly threw the chicken onto the man's plate. I lapped up alot of that biryani and mutton.

Cass McCombs, Don Henley and the embarassingly gay Erasure (I love their acoustic album Union Street!), blared soothingly out of the speakers through iTunes. Well, I'd like to see you try doing Mambo moves to Erasure in a cheongsam...

I'd puke if I have to sit down to another 8-course Chinese meal with dong-dong-qiang music blasting over the eeky PA system.

For Luck?

I've lost interest in buying clothes just for Chinese New Year.

It's ridiculous to buy frocks in auspicious colors just so that I could wear it to please others.

Anyway, I always have a stash of new tops/dresses in the wardrobe. Those will not be in the colors of red or pink. But they'll just have to do.

In the recent years, if I'm in town for Chinese New Year to do house visits, I've taken to wearing jeans and really casual stuff.

This year, I didn't specifically bother with clothes. But I do need a couple of Chinese tops to wear for work occasions.

So I just bought this muted top that doesn't scream cheena.

A Gift

Each time we chill out at the girlfriend's, she would sternly remind us not to bring any alcohol.

She had enough stock at home to open a cosy bar for a year probably, without needing to bring in supplies. Her dad would keep aside premium blended whisky and single malts just for us.

This round, her dad took us down to the cellar. He told us to take our pick of alcohol. We oohed politely at the bottles of red wine. But of course our line of sight zoomed straight to the single malts sitting quietly at the corner.

The dad was really sweet and insisted on giving the man this special bottle.

Bottled independently by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, this 22y.o single cask No.105.11 almost blew us away. Wryly referred to as "Lip-burn on a race track", it was apt. Straight up, it was piercing. The man immediately identified it as a Speyside. Once distilled with a dash of water, the floral notes came through.

My tastebuds couldn't take the cask strength of this one. I had to open it up with an ice cube. And I went into an orgasmic 'ahhhh'.

除夕 :: 团圆饭 2009

If I have a choice, I will not eat chicken in any form.

That meat, being so politically correct, is omnipresent and absolutely scary.

It's gotten to the point that my stomach churns if you so much so as mention 'chicken'.

When I have no say over the menu, no matter what the occasion is, I will reject sharks' fin. Seeing the dish on the table already breaks my heart.

But I love abalone. I love it as sashimi. I love it dried or out of a can. I love them to be served plain in broth, in noodles or porridge.

办年货 , 准备拜年

You know my dislike of ang pows.

But I know some of the friends' parents will still insist on handing out ang pows to us. I don't like visiting homes empty-handed. Mandarin oranges no count.

So this year, I've also prepped 'return' gifts of abalone, bird's nest and pork/fish floss to wish the families good health and abundance.

If you're celebrating Chinese New Year, 那就预祝您新年如意，岁岁平安.

A Little Pungent Fragrance

We love any excuse to grab little treats for the friends.

This Chinese New Year, many of us are travelling. Many don't celebrate it the traditional way anymore and have put it new spin to marking this festival in their own ways . Some have whittled the visiting to a narrow but sincere circle.

Some of us still adhere to getting gifts for one another. I do too. However, I don't get the traditional gifts of bak kwa, cookies and Chinese New Year goodies. A lot of the older folks and the friends (myself included) do not eat these stuff anymore. Health reasons mostly. Although the palate has gone alot lighter, we still do the occasional pineapple tarts though.

While the younger set doesn't mind the bird's nest concentrate, they prefer something a little more fun.

So for them, this year, the man and I went to Culina to get stocks of black truffle everything.

Salsa, salt and oil.

Flag Day

These past few weekends, many schools are holding Flag Days.

There are many students in uniforms going around all venues with their charity tins to solicit for donations from the public.

The charities' logos and names are conspicuously pasted on the tins . Couple that with the school uniform, there is a legitimacy in what the students do to chalk up brownie points.

While it is all good to do fundraising in the name of charity and for VWOs, my problem is, these students seem to just hold out the tin and ask for donations without knowing a single thing about the organization/s that they are supporting.

Granted, the students are pretty polite when they thrust the tin in my chest. But when I ask them "What charity this is", "Where is it located" and "What does it do", I get the most terrible answers. The answers range from "I don't know", "I'm not sure", "My teacher didn't tell me" to "You can google it later" and "Can't you read it on the tin yourself".

You tell me, can die or not?

I'm wondering if schools just blindly send out students to do this sort of fundraising without a briefing. Shouldn't there be some sort of background information these students are supposed to digest before stepping out to meet the public?

(But there are the rare few who could, in all of 30 seconds, answer my questions quite comprehensively.)

The Economist

Because reading People, Hello!, watching E! on tv and the sorts aren't enough, I devour gossip magazines galore whenever I'm at the hair or nail salon.

These glossy magazines and juicy updates are such an easy read! I love it that each time I visit, the salons will prep a good 5 latest magazines for me to flip through. It's amazing how they're able to track what I've read and those that I haven't.

My subscription to The Economist has recently expired. I haven't gotten around to renewing it yet.

So for these 3 months, I am completely tickled that the nail salon subscribed to the The Economist and made sure they have a monthly copy for me at each visit.

All they've seen me read is tabloid news. I don't even bother bringing a novel to the salon. I usually prefer to read brainless things. So I really don't know why they would suddenly think I might enjoy reading The Economist. (Which I do, by the way.)

Like this, I think no need to renew my subscription anymore. Trips to the nail salon have gotten just a tad educational. Heh.

What Makes Me Smile

Happiness is:

- waiting up and fidgeting because the man's parents aren't home even at midnight.

- hearing the door open and rushing out to greet them.

- putting the abalone, bird's nest, ginseng powder and fresh flowers into his mom's hands.

- grinning at her look of surprise at the many gifts.

- seeing the parents smile because we remember to do little touches.

Tomato Tofu Paste

On this trip to the grocer's, the man came out with a tube.

He waved it triumphantly at me.

It's a tomato tofu pâté!

He said he used to eat this on a regular basis years ago. It was like his favorite thing with everything. Then the supply ran out.

He found it again at the organic foodstore.

And he tucked into it before he got home.

And when we got home, he fumbled around in the kitchen. He yelled "It goes well with crackers too!"

Ginger Tales

I had a grand time laughing at a dear friend's blog post.

She marvelled at the different types of ginger in the supermarket and took a photo of it. The caption below the photo read:

"There was mango ginger, lesser ginger (which makes you wonder if the other gingers laugh at it), tumeric and other roots."

I had to beep her on msn. Seeing this was a late night conversation, I bet you we made perfect sense to a third party.

imp says: "lesser ginger (which makes you wonder if the other gingers laugh at it)," Priceless!
imp says: versus lesser mortals.

scully says: well didn't it make you wonder?

imp says: i think i better be a normal ginger.

scully says: Normal Ginger : HA. You Lesser Ginger you
scully says: *Lesser Ginger moves to back of line*

imp says: normal ginger might end up at le cordon bleu.
imp says: lesser ginger ends up at the zi char stalls.

scully says: poor Lesser Ginger
scully says: but then again they all end up dead. so maybe it doesn't matter!

imp says: OH DEAR.

scully says: tis true
scully says: as Lesser Ginger and Normal Ginger are parted for the last time. and Lesser Ginger says, "it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known"
scully says: or really the whole thing does Lesser Ginger say , "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known"
scully says: then poor Lesser Ginger loses his head on the chopping block
scully says: *clomp*

imp says: i'm convulsing in hideous laughter right now.

scully says: tsk, tsk, poor Lesser Ginger's death is a laughing matter?
scully says: i propose we observe a moment of silence for all gingers, great and lesser.

If anyone wonders why we were having this sort of conversation, it all stemmed from this great flurry of insensitivity.

Bowmore Marmalade

The bar held a mini Chinese New Year celebration.

The owners were really kind and treated us to the famous roast meats from Tiong Bahru Market.

They also picked out an assortment of Chinese New Year snacks and pastries for sampling.

Normally, I avoid these pastries.

But put a different marketing spin on it, tell me that it complements whisky; I'll think about eating it.

Strangely, the snacks and roast meats went really well with the Bowmore 16 y.o, Auchentoshan Threewood and PC6.

The thing that really got my attention was the Bowmore 12 y.o marmalade. It was sweet and tangy altogether!

Held together by pectin, this marmalade was absolutely pleasing.

We wanted to get a couple of bottles for the friends. But the marmalade wasn't available for retail. The owners brought only a couple of bottles back from Scotland for their personal stash.

Bowmore really has an awesome range of whisky flavors that match different foods and cater to even hard core whisky lovers like us. We are certainly impressed by the distillery.

What Chinese New Year Means To Me

We discussed what should go into the goodie bags for our old folks this Chinese New Year.

As much as we wanted to pamper them with bird's nest and abalone, we realized that these 年货 wouldn't satisfy their needs. It'd make them smile and make us happy, but it wouldn't achieve the desired impact.

At the end of the day, we narrowed it down to these items:

1) a 10kg sack of rice. 2) 6 small bottles of chicken essence
3) 1 kampung chicken 4) 2 packs of fresh chye sim
5) 1 packet of dried mushrooms 6) 5 S$10 NTUC vouchers
7) 1 big ticket item at each volunteer's choice/budget.

We figured that these would be practical. These don't mean anything to me. It might not be anything to you either. But a goodie bag containing these items means alot to our intended recipients.

No.7 would be decided by the volunteers responsible for their roster. The individual volunteers are in the best position to know what the old folks need. It could be a month's supply of medicine, walking stick, radio or even a television. Whatever the volunteers see fit.

Being Chinese New Year, these would be accompanied by a S$100 ang pow.

We would also need to sit down with them to go through the Budget measures that are relevant.

I find no joy and significance in celebrating Chinese New Year. It's a festival that carries no meaning for me. But I find peace in doing something concrete to fill up the days during this period.

If our actions could bring some cheer and tangible benefits to the old folks within our sphere of influence, that would be something positive within a festival (though rich in cultural roots and history) which I find shallow in practice.

On This Night

We wanted drinks at the bar in the NUSS Guildhouse at Bukit Timah.

But they ran out of Bowmore. Boo.

The bar had only one other pathetic single malt label. So we didn't want to stay.

It was a nostalgic stroll through the old yet new grounds of the man and friends' alma mater. We went in search of snacks and Bowmore at the new Black Angus 2 blocks down. I guess the restaurant's pretty new. So it's comfortingly quiet and peaceful, for now.

Then we decided to pop by the club for proper drinks on the rocks. We were served a beautiful cheese platter with a perfectly aged brie. That set the mood for juicy conversation and plenty of laughter. I knew I slept at 10pm last night for a very good reason.

We definitely wanted to mark the historic inauguration of the 44th President of the United States.

The PAs

I work very closely with many fierce PAs. (Personal Assistants)

I'm unfailingly polite to PAs, no matter what.

I've gotten quite used to their quirks, moods and short-tempered days. I'm rather scared of a couple actually. PAs wield enormous power.

It's hilarious really. Like today.

A PA just ranted at me over the phone. (It wasn't my fault!) I could empathize with why she was grouchy. I wasn't even angry! Ha. I gauged my tone to keep it neutral and used phrases like, "I'm so sorry...", "Yes. I understand." etc. I didn't even protest at certain things she said. Luckily she stopped short of calling me "useless". I just let it slide. She's much older than I am. Formidable too. Anything to soothe her ruffled feathers.

I'm still going to send her cookies for the Chinese New Year to thank her for her advice.

Amazing hor?

PAs are the only people with the concession to scream at me; I can still smile after I put down the phone.

Counting The Calories

I'm not sure why. But I'm scrutinizing what I put into my mouth.

While I generally don't take breakfast, I take 2 heavy meals a day. This is something I want to control. I want to moderate my daily food intake.

I think I'm going to be so picky about food that I won't make very good dinner company anymore. Except to the intimates.

I haven't gone off meats yet. (I hear a sigh of relief!) That damned chicken is still making is social rounds. So I pick at it on the rare occasion.

At a work lunch the other day, I rejected prawns. Still, 2 prawns landed on my plate. I chopped them up, pushed the pieces around the plate and requested the server to clear it. I did the same for the dreaded chicken and the stinky fish. I hope no one noticed!

I love pasta. But I will have to share a main with my dining companion. I refuse to finish it unless I'm doing something really strenuous for the day.

I'm not doing manual labor. Even the daily exercises I do are not vigorous to the point of needing to load up on carbs.

My metabolism has slowed significantly over the past year. And it's showing on my hips and tummy. I need to adjust the food intake to match my new metabolic rate.

I vain can? I want to be trim and fit.

But. I will never be able to resist sushi and sashimi. ;p

No More Caffeine

I think I've officially kicked caffeine out of my life.

I had my last coffee and Coke Zero on 2 Jan 2009.

This isn't a new year resolution. I haven't been sleeping well due to all the sweets and caffeine ingested over the festive season. I just suddenly decided that I don't want caffeine in my life anymore.

So I just greatly reduced my caffeine intake.

I console myself by thinking I'll allow that glass of cold Coke and hot cuppa mid week. Once a week. But 2 weekends came and went. I find myself consciously not wanting them.

I've been feeling sleepy. Other than that, I don't have a craving for serious caffeine. It doesn't take much to resist.

I don't miss coffee. I haven't had the guts to try decaf yet. It's still got some amount of caffeine. I'm so sensitive to caffeine that I can't sleep in the night if I take coffee at lunch. I do love the aroma of coffee though.

I pick out tea that is caffeine free, or ask for a second infusion that would have minimal amount of caffine in it.

Coke Light. Coke Zero. I miss them. I miss the acidic bubbling in the mouth. Ah well. I've been substituting that with sparkling water. So it sorta works.

I now avoid cakes and ice-cream completely to skip the refined sugars.

The one thing I miss would be the dark chocolates (56% - 70% cocoa content) that I'm so fond of.

Chinese Roast Meats!

The friends raved about the siew yok and char siew (Chinese roast pork and barbequed pork) at this coffeeshop in Serangoon.

Apparently this stall is quite well known. There is a Botak Jones in the same coffeeshop that everyone ignored during the time we were there.

Obviously we wouldn't know how to even get to the area from where we were at Venus Drive. So we followed the friends' car and toddled along to lunch.

The roast duck and chicken were nothing much to shout about. They were pretty okay, but not the best around.

It was the siew yok and the honeyed char siew that blew us away. WAH. The siew yok skin was crispy to a fault! The char siew was tender and beautiful in its smoked tones.

I had to eat so slowly just so that I was aware of how much food I was putting in my mouth. I didn't want to overeat!

Jin Xing Hong Kong Roasted Meat (金兴香港烧腊)
(Coffeeshop on ground floor of the block.)
Block 214, Serangoon Avenue 4
Singapore 550214
Tel: +65 6283 3695

A Morning Stroll

We like to infuse a little bit of nature into our weekends. We don't want to be cocooned in air-conditioning.

This morning, we did a 7km slow walk in 2.5 hours. We hit the suspension bridge to do that treetop walk and swung back.

We parked further away at the Venus Drive carpark on purpose so that we could clock a longer distance.

It was my first time there! But I really didn't think it'd be difficult. This is Singapore!!! How unfriendly can the terrain be??

While the rest wore sensible jogging shoes and berms, I stuck to wearing trail sandals and a tennis skirt. Heh. But I insisted on carrying a bag of supplies. No matter how easy a trail is, accidents can happen. I know that all too well. That bag had stuff that could keep me alive for 48hrs, even with a broken leg!

It was literally a stroll in the park for us. We skipped and sprinted along some parts of the trail. But we didn't run lah. Not that on to run all the way uphill and across rocks.

The monkeys scared me at one point. When the monkeys saw us, some scampered down to perch on the railings of the boardwalk. We kinda stopped for a while. We had to walk by the monkeys and we didn't know if they were going to jump at us!!! ARRRRRRRRRGH. I swear the monkeys were grinning at us! Me and animals. No good that way.

Anyway, the view from the suspension bridge was quite beautiful. We lingered for quite a while there without anyone else coming along.

We considered stopping by SICC for lunch and ask them to buggy us to the cars. But the breeze was lovely. Not too humid at this time of the year. So we decided to just finish the rest of an easy 2.5km to the carpark. Lunch can be somewhere else more interesting.

Our weekends should be spent walking around the parts of the island that are not exactly within a concrete jungle.

A Meeting

Of course it isn't fair.

I blog under a pseudonym. Stealthy.

She blogs openly and peppers her posts with photos of loved ones and friends. So in that way, I already sort of know her. But she doesn't know anything concrete beyond my words here.

She doesn't set out to make new friends from blogging. Neither do I. But strangely, we linger at each other's blog regularly. One fine day, we decided to have dinner together.

Even though we already talk extensively over msn, I'm sure both of us had the thought, "Oh dear. How would she be like in person? Can we even talk?"

Thank goodness she's a lovely sane girl. I'm not particularly sociable with strangers. But tired as she was after a long day at work, she still chatted and drew us commonalities to laugh about.

And she paid for dinner. I felt so pai-seh! Luckily the FAR card gave us very good 50% discount off at Prego. (But the Caesar's salad didn't come with a poached egg anymore!!!! Growl.)

Dinner was thoroughly enjoyable- so much so till we still sat down for tea after. We almost didn't want to split but for the fact that the next day was an early start for me.

I was surprised that it was mellow and very comfortable evening.

You know, after a certain age, we're settled in our skin. We'll make alot of new acquaintances definitely. We simply can't be bothered take the initiative to make new friends. Even with people whom we see everyday, we will not classify all as 'friends'.

But I guess a new friend has just swung along in my life that evening.

Crabs

The friends wanted to take us out to eat crabs.

We car-pooled and went up to House of Seafood at 180.

I was floored by the sheer amount of people at the open-air restaurant. It was a ridiculous crowd. A good half of it didn't mind sitting right next to the busy road.

We sat inside at the far end. We waited a good 45minutes for our food.

Yours truly didn't flare up. I was prepared to wait. Plus the many going-ons and colorful humans kept me rather entertained.

We had one black pepper crab and one chilli crab. I didn't really like the chilli gravy. Too sweet. I was very wowed by the black pepper gravy. That gravy was awesome. Sweet and peppery all at once. The rest were merrily plucking stuff off shells and bits. I didn't really fancy crab. So I dunked alot of man tou in that black pepper gravy and quaffed them down.

By the time we finished decimating crabs, the crowd had petered out somewhat. So perhaps we should eat later the next round rather than at 8.30pm when the entire world goes out to dinner.

A Get-Together

I like Margarita's for its high ceilings and cheerful colors.

We ordered the gamut of quesadillas, enchiladas, guacamole and salsa. Then we asked if the vegetable soup was vegetarian. The server said "Of course!" And of course our table was quizzical. Vegetable soup could have been cooked in chicken stock okay.

That started the whole conversation about vegetable dishes that weren't actually vegetarian, how airlines and restaurants weren't understanding about Jains who don't even take vegetables that are roots. We traded many stories on flying experiences on the different airlines.

The man also recalled that once on our national carrier- he made his choice of having Indian-vegetarian meals. The stewardess actually replied without thinking, "But you're not Indian."

I don't like airline food. I don't like starving either. So I usually tapau my favorite instant cup noodles onto flights because our darling national airline doesn't serve instant noodles on business or cattle class. On many flights in business class, I specifically send in a request before the scheduled flight for boiling water for my noodles. Even then, they made a face when I politely asked for hot water mid flight.

Anyway, as a result, tonight, I'm going to dream of that eeky leather toilet seat cover on the planes that our national airline uses on the SIN-NY route.

The big debate of the night was whether everyone should own a Wii. Just so we could stop plonking coins into the machines and complete House of The Dead 2 & 3 in peace.

The man was terrible and stole the birthday girl's bumblebee windmill.

Sorry birthday girl!!! I hope the gore-tex jacket keeps you warm in the chilly spring breeze and makes up a little for it!

In Play

A friend sent me the link and urged me to go play this.

I told him I'm bad at games.

My my. It's rather fascinating. Beautiful too.

I'm hooked on it.

Go figure it out.

Play Auditorium.

Annoyed With Crystal Jade

The only thing I like about Crystal Jade is its spring onion noodles dry (葱油面).

I think its food generally sucks. (Except the Crystal Jade Golden Palace at Paragon.) Your homes probably cook better food. Heck, the hawker centres serve tastier food.

Friends who have eaten with me at at Crystal Jade (except the one at Paragon) would know that I will always order the 葱油面. If they don't have it, I'll order century egg porridge - which has gone down the drain at many branches. The menu offers some tempting stuff. I always make the mistake of ordering it to try. When I take the first bite, I spit it out.

I'm especially annoyed with the branches at Holland Village- Crystal Jade Kitchen and Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao.

I called 4 times over 3 weeks to make reservations. I had problems all 4 times at both outlets. When we turned up at the restaurant. They claimed I didn't make any.

I spoke to the staff on the phone in Mandarin and Cantonese. I called twice each time to confirm the time, date and outlet address. And they managed to grandly lose everything. Then who the hell did I speak to? The phone ghost?!

The attitude and reaction of the staff to our horror at the 'lost' reservations are priceless.

It makes me want to strangle them. They just threw us back into the Jurassic age of service delivery. It's worse than non-existent. It's downright rude. (Although Crystal Jade Bishan has fairly good service. Oh, but they still charge S$0.30 for potable tap water)

I hate Crystal Jade. Officially. I'm never stepping foot into another one come hell or high water.

If I do, I'm freaking not eating.

Feeling Manja

I am still awake.

Because I've got a craving.

Somebody promised to get me instant mash and top it up with bovril.

That somebody is fast asleep right now.

*turns around to look at bed and scowl*

But that craving isn't strong enough to push me to put on decent clothes to walk down to the 7-11 to grab the mash.

Plus I don't know where the bovril is kept in the labyrinth of kitchen cabinets.

We Taught Her The /f/ Consonant

Brave little Missy Raeann came out with us for dinner despite nursing a fever from a vaccination jab.

I had so much fun repeating "Friendly funny faces!" to the little tot. It was probably the tone I used and kept to the whole evening. For some strange reason, it tickled her quite a bit. She giggled everytime I ended the phrase with a silly face.

I think her mommy will roll her eyes at me if /f/ is the first consonant she picks up! Haha.

I'm very glad that the little one's fever dissipated by the end of the evening.

I hope she stays so sweet as she learns to recognize the humans hovering around her. If she's okay with me, I can babysit her very soon!

I shall attempt to teach her sounds!! I don't allow little tots that I'm babysitting to watch tv. So I shall drill the 19 vowels and 25 consonants into her. I'd love to have her recognize the differences between grapheme and phoneme. And when she's much older, I want to teach her the alphabet and phonograms!

Perhaps we could play spelling bee when we're older! We can draw and paint! So exciting.

I think her mommy won't let this terror near little Raeann now! Heheheh.

One Man's Meat Is Another's Poison

Somebody wanted to suck up to me. They obviously didn't know me enough.

They had the nerve to send me a piece of sharks' fin.

It was all I could do to not go too hysterical over it. I couldn't stop shrieking. I threw a fit.

Delicacy my ass!

I instinctively stomped on it and junked the box and its contents into the bin. I didn't even want to give it away and perpetuate the eating of sharks' fin.

I'm writing a cheque to the sender instead and very nicely tell them not to ever send me this sort of crap again. There are certain issues I take a firm stand on. This is one of them. I will not swallow it just so to make the sender feel good. What message would I be telling the sender?!

Sure, I'll be diplomatic about rejecting the gift. I'll craft very poetic lines. But I must do it.

Educate Your Children At Home Please

You know what irritates the hell out of me?

Parents who give their children a running commentary at the movie theatre when it's screening Red Cliff, not a cartoon.

And the parents encouraged the children to talk loudly for the whole 2.5hrs. The parents replied to their questions just as loudly. They talked over the sound of war scenes and explosions.

These children are not toddlers. They are at least 5 - 7 yrs old. Old enough to know that talking in cinemas is a social disgrace.

For all the 'culture' they impart to their kids, they forgot to impart the most important- social graces.

And I said so. The parents were indignant because they viewed it as their right for buying 5 movie tickets. They didn't think it was any booboo in talking throughout.

I hope your children don't grow up to be like you.

I hate Singaporeans sometimes.

Bite-Sized Food

(7atenine has now merged with Jazz at Southbridge, as of Jan 2010)

We chilled out at 7atenine again.

The girlfriend unwrapped the foil from this tube on the charcuterie platter. She thought it was cheese. She tasted it, eyes grew big and frowned. She said it was butter. She made all of us put a chunk into our mouths. That butter was divine! It was salted, delicate and really smooth. It was a very good butter that we knew wouldn't be found within the commercial brands.

So we asked the chef. He told us a very romantic story of family-made butter on a dairy farm. He said that the butter we tasted was churned by hand and flown in from the north of France.

We had seared scallops. There was mash beneath it. The moment I licked that dark sauce on the mash, it was an instant orgasm. It was bovril!!! I loved the bovril on mash.

We were quite hungry I guess. For 4 humans, we had 15 items on the table.

7atenine
8 Raffles Avenue
#01-10/12 Esplanade Mall (at the Outdoor Theatre area)
Singapore 039802
T: +65 6338 0789 F: +65 63340 789
Email: talk [at] sevenatenine [dot] com

At That Age

He sings good. He's only 16.

He's sweetly awkward and very earnest. As a singer-songwriter, Weiwen Seah's got it started for sure. The talent is unmistakable. Some covers and some originals. Very nice. He's going to add a lot of depth to the Singapore music scene.

But ummm.....I kinda wish he didn't keep reminding the audience 5 times in a row about his "upcoming EP" and his myspace address. That got really tiresome. Dude, I can google you know.

Self-promotion needs to be done with a certain level of finesse so that it sits well with consumers who will pay for his albums. I'm a critical consumer, not a friend. So I hope with age, he will become more polished.

So when he wasn't talking and did only the singing and the strumming, I really enjoyed his gig with For This Cycle at Esplanade tonight.

Just What I Needed

I've forgotten how soothing it is to get pampered at the spa.

The girlfriend made a date and drove us all the way to Changi Village Hotel for a massage.

The therapist kneaded strange kinks out and put a couple of bones back into alignment. I was kneaded into a very pliable putty.

I had 2 hours of precious solitude.

Ah, bliss. It's the perfect way to start a weekend.

Kat Parsons

Hearing Kat Parsons in a private setting is lovely.

But listening to the singer-songwriter do an acoustic gig at Esplanade's Outdoor Theatre is an audio visual treat.

Put the lovely backdrop of our city skyline and an almost cold breeze, the evening is postcard worthy.

I hope you strolled by Esplanade earlier and caught her one-night public acoustic gig. It'd be a pity to miss it. I really love how the arts and music scene is becoming so much more vibrant in our little island.

Kat Parsons has got uncannily strong pitching. Each note she chases and bends is pitch perfect. She has got a very very powerful voice. Her vocal lines are very melodious.

She also did 2 covers- the classic 'Someone To Watch Over Me' and then gave a really cute twist to Rihanna's 'Umbrella'.

She's a really good storyteller too. I love how she reveals the reason behind each song she wrote. Witty, funny and superbly down to earth.

Feeling Toned

Of course the super-on girlfriend jumped into the freezing pool did her usual 40 laps non-stop in 30min.

I was whiny. The early morning pilates yesterday counted for something right? It was cold!!! The girlfriend was not having any of it. If not for her steely gaze, I'd have abandoned the pool and scuttle up to the flat in that chilly evening breeze.

Well, I only crawled 22 laps.

We had tons of motivation tonight.

The man bought us slices of cake from Pâtisserie Glacé.

I was so glad that the girlfriend insisted on watching the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2008. I couldn't tear my eyes off that screen. It was a visual extravaganza. Oh my, those bods and abs were fab! Enough said.

7atenine @ Esplanade

(7atenine is now merged with Jazz at Southbridge as of Jan 2010)

Finally there is a decent fusion tapas bar at Esplanade. 7atenine in Singapore. At last.

This is urban chic totally. I haven't raved about a venue for long time. I love the vibe. I love the chairs in the outdoor area! Surprisingly comfy. It's a beautiful venue for a cosy party. I would love to throw a party there. :)

The bar is great for small and fussy eaters like me and the girlfriends. For now, the Stroobant creations are meticulously guarded by Chef Fleuer; the food's going great. Sublime, even, going true to the words in their press release.

The seafood saffron risotto sealed my high opinion of the food. It was delectable.

Don't say I didn't remind you ah. It's tapas. Tapas = very small portions by Singaporean standards. So while we love the S$10 - S$20 per item, others might choke at the hefty price tag for like, 8 strands of udon in the carbonara or 4 decadent crab balls.

Don't go away without trying its cocktails. The mixes are totally Frankie Anthony's brilliance (Frankie A we call him in KL.) The bar uses top notch ingredients. In my Granny Smith Mojito, fragrant apple mint was used instead of the cheap bar leaves. That Granny Smith taste was unmistakable. Very different from apple juice made from Fuji or Gala. The bar pours a proper gentleman's shot for its single malts and whatnots.

I like it that it uses proper Irish whisky for its Irish coffee. A proper Jameson.

Oh, Patron was used for its tequila cafe cake. Awesome. It made a difference. Already, when a good mixologist does a margarita with Patron, it will taste out-of-this-world-different. Because I would be one of those who could identify the minute uniqueness between Patron, Sauza and the other crap that local bars serve.

Rock salt and not table salt was used to rim the glass of my Bloody Mary. What can I say, it's bloody good.

Stars

We went for our first gig of the year!

Stars were in town for an evening.

Our friends in Brisbane were raving about the Stars gig there 3 days ago. We were expecting good stuff for this Singapore leg.

Unfortunately I had a pounding migraine that didn't go away even after dinner. I was rather tortured, but nothing earplugs couldn't help alleviate.

At the risk of being murdered, I'd say that they sounded pretty pop-ish rather than cutting edge. Good pop though. Very easy listening.

The band was really charming. They bantered, they joked and appreciated the audience.

I hope this first gig of the year means that there'll be more good gigs to come!!

A Beep From The Bestie

The bestie is traipsing Germany. I told her to party well for us.

I didn't expect her postcard to come in the mail tonight.

It's a thing we always do. Wherever we are, we send postcards to each other.

I love it that she does. It is a most pleasant surprise this first week of 2009.

She giggled and asked if I had to pay extra postage on the postcard. I was puzzled.

"Postage is 1 euro, babe. I only stuck on 0.45euros!" She explained.

Oh. HAHAHA. Well, nope. The post office must be feeling very kind during this festive season.

Late, With A Purpose

This sweetie claimed that she was lazy with the Christmas cards and gifts this year and was thus late.

I think her little package arrived fabulously in time. It chased away the new year blues ya know?!

I'm tickled that she left the envelope blank so that I could re-use it. And I have! In fact, I've just licked the flap and will post it tomorrow across the other side of the world.

Do Women Need Body Hair This Long?!

The scariest thing I saw this Christmas is a pair of very hairy legs on a 29yr-old Singapore woman.

The hair growth was quite a lot and it could equal a male's. She has toe-hair an inch long sprouting rather merrily on all toes too.

What's more, her 2inches-long armpit hair peeped through the short-sleeved shirt she was wearing.

It was all I could do to not react and blink normally.

I was traumatized beyond words. It was days before I could even bring myself to mention it to the bestie.

I Don't Know What To Do With This Gift

One of the strangest presents I received in the mail over Christmas has got to be this set of tiny nail clippers.

You know the those tiny nail clippers they sell in the mall's babies' section? I looked at it and tried to fit it to my tiniest fingers and toes. It didn't fit my big nails.

I concluded that they were meant for use on babies.

Yes, the "manner of giving is worth more than the gift itself" and that "it isn't the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it."

But.

Besides the fact that the tiny clippers fit into the envelope to arrive along with the Christmas card, I'm not so sure why would the sender pick that out for me. (I don't even cut my own nails. Neither have I found the need for a pair of nail clippers.)

I'm fairly sure the sender, while nice, doesn't share the same sense of humor. I'm not so sure nail clippers for babies are classified as a gag gift.

I think I appreciated the card a whole lot more.

Our Day Out

Today was a shopping day with my little god-daughter and her mommy.

The man was a sweetie and chauffered us around all day. He took us out to lunch at the club before dropping us at the shops.

The little one ignored the man all day. But when he picked us up from the shops and said hello to her, she beamed and chirpped a "hello!" right back.

The little one needed shoes, some dresses and a sweater.

I didn't dare to buy the little one anything earlier. Toddlers grow so fast and before I know it, things don't fit anymore. I need her physically beside me in order to have a perfect gauge of her size this month.

It was so fun buying stuff for her. There was no way to just stop at one item. In the end, the shopping bag was filled with lots of cute stuff for her.

And nothing for the 2 adults.

The mommy was like, "What do I do with 10 pairs of socks??!"

Motivation

The girlfriend and I made a date for a swim and read session.

The arms were strangely feeling some effect of the swings from half an afternoon of playing wii tennis at the friend's home. I wasn't sure if I could swim 30 laps still.

She popped by with a an exquisite cake in hand from The Patissier. That absolutely motivated me to complete 20 laps at least.

Then I got lazy and clambered onto the deck chair to watch her swim another 20 laps.

My arms are going to ache.

Ah well. We're back to the fitness routine for the year.

Blue & Brown

This is one practical gift I use alot of.

I love the color combination so so much.

I use it so frequently that I think it might break pretty soon even though I received it at Christmas!

There're so many dinner invites, potluck and all. It's quite well made and great for lugging containers, pyrex and whathaveyous around to the houses.

I haven't used it for shopping yet though. I haven't time to hit the shops. :(

A Cheery Greeting

Pretty pouches make me happy.

I decided to use this one today instead of keeping it away in the drawer of 'new things'. Heh.

This is a completely unexpected gift that arrived in the mail. I'm not terribly close to the sender. Yet she took so much effort to get it, wrap it and trudge to the post office to send it to me.

I am touched. Reminds me that the human spirit is well alive in optimism.

My Bad

When the man and I couldn't contact 2 dear friends of ours for the longest time, i.e. 4 months, we knew something terrible must have happened.

Friends come and go. Many, I don't even bother to keep in contact with. But those close to our hearts, we try to keep them near. These 2 are people we love. We will not let them go just like that.

There was no response to our emails, texts and calls. Phone numbers were changed and they moved out. There were sparse fb updates. They completely disappeared from the social scene.

Bad.

When there was zilch reply to our invite for New Year's Day dinner, that was the last straw. We had to find a trail to hunt them down through mutual friends and acquaintances till he finally talked to us over a couple of text messages. Even then, he was reticent. We had to piece together the information.

When we found out what happened, I was filled with guilt. Never mind about a possible divorce. It was her altered behavior and loss of sanity that floored me. How could she, this incredibly smart, beautiful and talented fashionista take this path?

I have thoroughly failed her.

How could I have ignored the warning signs? I should have forced the issue to dig deeper the reasons beneath.

And now, what can I do?

Continuing The Festive Feasting

We had a craving for mussels and decided on Brussels Sprouts for dinner.

It's kinda funny how this bunch of us always end up at Robertson Quay! It's as though we don't have anywhere else to go to.

But I love the eateries and restaurants at Robertson Quay. The vibe is so casual chic.

Anyway, I like venues where I could wear slippers and not get kicked out.

We had 2 pots of mussels and 1 pot of clams. So much mollusks!!

The beer was minimal though. We aren't really beer people. So we only had a glass each.

It was a fun and surprisingly laidback Friday night out that ended at 10pm. Amazingly early.

Our First Dinner of 2009

We hosted a dinner for our very close friends.

We were really honored that they chose to spend New Year's Day with us.

To do a proper spread of food for them, the man started on the prep 3 days in advance.

We didn't want any sort of Christmas meats anymore. No ham for sure. I staunchly kicked chicken out of the menu.

So we opted for a simple Bulgogi beef, honey-soy glazed pork ribs (a little overdone though! Ugh.) and lamb done in 2 ways. There were the usual favorites of greens, mushroom linguini, raisin and cashew pilaf. There were also roasted pumpkins on the side.

Now, about those 2 legs of lamb. They were awesome.

The man did the 7-hour leg of lamb so soft that it was effectively a stew. He also roasted another leg of lamb that was most beautifully crisp on the sides and a tender pink in the middle.

The girlfriend took so much effort to pick out fresh green apples and made a very tasty apple crumble!!! I love apple crumble!!! She also brought, imho, the best vanilla ice-cream from Mövenpick to go along with it.

There was another traditional sherry trifle made by this guy who does fabulous desserts. He declared that he couldn't cook to save his life. But he could whip up the sweets easy.

In the spirit of the new year, we had single malts of course. Light drinks. None of us will have a date with the Hangover Fairy tomorrow.

Much Ado About Garlic

As the server gently dropped the napkin onto my lap, he whispered, "I know you like the chopped garlic. I'll get the kitchen to do a plate for you."

Fwwaah. I was rather taken aback. I didn't expect him to take such an initiative. (That was before we ordered the bottle of single malt.) I was very impressed that he remembered my specific idiosyncracy.

He came back with 2 full heaps of freshly chopped garlic!

I promptly swooned.

Of course it wasn't enough to go around. Unfortunately, those were the only ones we got. Subsequent requests from the rest of the table reverted to that fake watery tasteless crap. The server was very apologetic and explained that he couldn't get more as the kitchen was very busy.

Poor boy. I didn't insist. He'd probably get a scolding from the kitchen.

Well. Looks like we're back to square one.

While I am still very impressed by the server's earnest efforts, I'm not enamored with the kitchen's attitude.

If the restaurant doesn't understand that these are the little things that thrill customers and make them very willing spenders who return regularly, I don't know how else to put it across to them.

For future visits, I'm taking along my own garlic.

The BJOTW

You know this Buddha Jumps Over The Wall (BJOTW) dish?

Well, never mind that the origins of the dish are rather rude, it is superbly delicious. I enjoy BJOTW so much that I can discern the minute difference between a good brew and an excellent one.

The aroma alone from a bowl of BJOTW is uniquely intoxicating. I love all the complex flavors of the soup. It is awesome.

But I have a problem with hypocrisy. See, the ingredients call for sharks' fin.

And I don't take shark's fin because of 2 main reasons (Ethical and environmental arguments aside). One, because I dive and I'm superstitious that way. Two, I can't bring myself to eat sharks' fin because I truly like and admire sharks.

Shang Palace does a beautiful BJOTW. Each time I have it, I'm wrecked with guilt. And I have this eternal dilemma sitting on my head. It's not about eating the fin per se. It's about eating the entire brew simply because it's slow-cooked with sharks' fin.

My question is, does scooping out the sharks' fin make it okay to eat this dish?

Well. The girlfriend doesn't think it's okay. She thinks that I'm full of shit by simply not eating the end product. She insists that it doesn't make it better- sharks' fin is a key ingredient in the BJOTW. She refuses ALL dishes containing ingredients she doesn't eat, period.

She sagely offers me one permanent solution:- "Turn vegetarian."