Weekend Eats

To sum it all up, my long weekend was food and more food, and of course I did catch up on my snooze.

On Friday we had a good dinner to start the long weekend. Hubby and I found this great chicken rice place at Siglap which I'm sure many foodies are familiar with, Chuen Chuen HK Style Cafe at Siglap. They were fomerly from the old Bugis hawker centre which you will also recognize from the 'Lost and Found' poster, a programme hosted by Channel 5. I vaguely remember eating their chicken rice during those days and if I'm right they still taste as good. The rice was fragrant and didn't leave a trace of oily aftertaste. We ordered a set meal to share so that leaves some space for some food sampling. Their homemade tofu on a bed of baby kailan and japanese mushrooms was worth a try and the marmite ribs though tasty was lacking in its main ingredient, yes, marmite. So, it was good but not great. Overall, the food was decent and affordably priced and I plan to go back to sample their breakfast menu - this time I'll make sure to bring along my camera for decent-looking photos.

Dinner on Saturday evening with Bro and Candice. I was out the whole day so didn't manage the whip up a decent homecooked mealm instead we ordered in a Proscuitto Ham and Funghi pizza and Beef Lagsane from Pizzadorne. But what I did manage to prepare was NZ mussels the chilli crab style.l; Unfortunately it was too starchy this time round. What is a meal without wine, right? We started with a bottle of Gewϋrtztraminer and later a bottle of red made up of 6 different varietal of grapes that bro had brought along. To me, it was peppery on the nose with a slight hint of vanilla and clean on the taste but definitely not for early drinkers as they may not find it easy to drink.

Sunday! Happy National Day!!! Didn't start day bright and early but surely I had a great meal to start the day with my family. This time the venue was The Imperial Treasure Nanbei restaurant at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Airport Terminal 3. I was all excited about eating Peking Duck but the taste was masked by the thick and not-so-refined looking pancake. Kinda disappointing as I've had better ones. However, the soup was divine, even Mom and Dad gave their thumbs up.

Nothing exciting about Monday (hence the colour) as it spells the end of the long weekend. Looking forward to the next one - Hari Raya Puasa - 41 days and counting...

Joined Carol, Madi and the kids at their first picnic outing, I think, at Pasir Ris Park last Saturday. The weather was beautiful and there wasn't much crowd compared to East Coast or Changi Beach. Food was a simple fare of cream chicken and corn soup, summer salad, mashed potatoes and a bottle of sparklies. The kids had fun especially Isabel as she was the more adventurous one compared to Evan - the poor boy was close to tears when they tried to make him run bare-footed on the grass. Let's give him some time to acclimatize to what nature has to offer, he'll get there I'm sure.

Glad we've discovered another picnic spot near home. Will plan a mini bbq there one of the weekends.

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I was out sick yesterday and Hubby who was recovering from flu picked up the bug again, except this time his condition was worse than before. His current temperature measures at 38.5 degrees, so he will have an early start to the National weekend cos he's on 3 days medical leave! Poor Vicki was also ill. Sent her to the vet on Sunday only to find out she was running a temperature of 39.1 degrees. I decided she might as well get her pearlies cleaned up so took this opportunity to also get her health screening done to check for diabetes, liver, kidney and heart function. I was there to witness the Vet drawing her blood and it was a heart-wrenching sight to say the least. She struggled a bit at the first attempt and the flow was slow but it got better at the second attempt; perhaps she turned around and saw me that kinda gave her some reassurance?? Thank goodness the results came back looking good. Phew!

A Lesson From The Chinese Bamboo Tree

I've come to realize long time ago that life is never a bed of roses and I continue to believe so. Sometimes, hard as you might try things don't happen the way you want it to be, rather, the tide is against you and the harder you peddle the stronger the undercurrent... very disheartening indeed. From each of life's lesson I just hope to emerge as a stronger and hopefully wiser person after the chapter is closed. And as the poem suggests, do not be discouraged...

You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilise it for a whole year, and nothing happens

The second year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens

The third year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens. How discouraging this becomes!

The fourth year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens. This is very frustating

The fifth year you continue to water and fertilise the seed and then...take note. Sometime during the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree spouts and grows NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEK! Life is much akin to the growing process of the Chinese bamboo tree. It is often discouraging

We seemingly do things right, and nothing happens

But for those who do things right and are not discouraged and are persistent, things will happen

Finally we begin to receive the rewards

Dessert Workshop by Gobi

The last time I attended a cooking workshop was with Mommy and I was probably under 10 then. Still remember it was organized by Maggi. After so many years later I attended another demonstration yesterday, a dessert workshop by Gobi 's Chef Khoon in conjunction with Wine & Dine magazine's GSS promotion with The Central Mall. You've gotta try their macarons if you feel like having something sweet to end the meal, it goes down well with coffee/tea too. Anyway, we were shown how to make (1) Black Forest cake with Krisch Crème Anglaise and (2) Summer Swish without the need of a sophisticated mixer. The latter is their latest add-on. It looks easy but I think it's easier to buy off the shelve. For one, I prefer my Black Forest done the traditional way and two, I'm not a great fan of crème. But since I did learn something from the workshop I will attempt to 'improvise' it my way and try to create an edible version that's to my liking. We shall see what comes of it.

Bite size of the Black Forest with Kirsch Crème Anglaise served to all participants (actualy cake as shown below)

P.S. Sampled Summer Swirl but was so hungry I ate it without snapping a photo of the pretty looking dessert ;D

Crazy over BOF - Yearning of the Heart

Aging Gracefully

Recently one of the hot topic being debated/discussed about is what childbirth does to a woman's appearance. Zoe Tay, the Queen of Caldecott Hill had everything what many women yearn for - a beautiful face that even a certain plastic surgeon commented on her assymetrical facial features that is close to perfection - but all these were yester-years' report as she is now the centre of attraction, for the wrong reasons. It's undeniable that the Queen has aged and so we do we, but the difference is we do not carry the celebrity tag and as such the aging process is a given that goes unnoticed. While some folks may say that at the age of 41 and with 2 kids in tow (she's reportedly a hands-on Mom) it's natural to look a wee bit older than your peers. I reserve my comments.

Though some people may agree that looks aren't everything but how much truth is there to hold? In Korea I was told young girls receive plastic surgery treat as their birthday gift and apparently it's compulsory. Japan, of course we all know has the highest number of well-heeled customers going to them for beauty aid. Now, even Taiwan, Thailand and China are seeing an increase in what we label as plastic beauties. I remember reading an article about this Chinese woman who opted for plastic surgery to correct her looks when she was told she didn't get the job because of her 'cannot make it' looks.

Although Zoe and some others have insisted on not seeking aesthetic treatments as an alternative, I beg to differ. I want to age gracefully and if it doesn't happen naturally then I won't hesitate to seek help. No, I won't try to turn back the clock as it's impossible I know; I just wanna try to look as presentable as possible. Yeah lah, call me vain, I don't care.

E.M.B.A.R.R.A.S.S.I.N.G

Our 4-wheeled friend decided to throw another fit this morning; The clutch died on us again, 2 years after it was fixed. I was furious when Hubby said it's likely we'll be without a car for 2 weeks and no way am I going to bear with the inconveniences for what I'll be potentially spending so I decided to call Opel for a "heart-to-heart" talk with them, but little did I know Hubby dearest played one of his biggest prank on me to date. Here's what happened.

I made the call to I THOUGHT Opel Customer Service...

Me: Hi, may I speak to Patrick please.

Lady: Please hold on.

30 seconds later...

Lady: Hello.

Me: I'm holding for Patrick.

Lady: Oh, the line bounced back, I think he is on the phone.

Me: Sure. Can someone help me instead as it's kinda urgent.

Lady: Yes Madam, how can I help.

Me: Ok. I'm calling on behalf of my husband, owner of car number XXXX. This morning our car was towed in for service as you can see in your records and

Lady: Oh Madam, sorry, I have no idea of your case, can I get Patrick to call you back?

Me: No problem. He can call me on my mobile or office.

5 minutes later...

Patrick: Hi, this is Patrick Chin, returning your call.

Me: Hi Patrick, thanks for returning my call so soon. I'm Evelyn, calling on behalf of my husband, David Wong, owner of Opel Meriva car number XXXX. His car was sent in, rather towed in to the workshop this morning for a recurring problem and it's really frustrating.

Patrick: Sorry, you said Opel... how do I spell the next word?

Me: *furious* What?!! You work for Opel and yet you are telling me you dunno how to spell Meriva? It's your Meriva model, spelt M.E.R.I.V.A!

Patrick: Errrr... but I don't drive Opel, I drive a Mitsubishi.

Me: What??? You drive a Mitsubishi? You are not calling from Opel?

Patrick: No, I'm not a car salesman.

Oh shit! I was quick to hang up the phone after a quick apology and called Hubby to check on the number. He checked his phone (and had he cheek to laugh) and told me he gave me the wrong number and coincidentally the person I called also goes by the name of Patrick, but the only difference is, he's Hubby's client, MD of a stage lighting company. Gosh! I was dumbfounded and utterly embarrassed by what had just happened. I only hope he does not register the car plate number, otherwise I've told Hubby to not park near his office lest he has elephant's memory.

This is one of my many embarrassing moments and truly a classic one that will go down memory lane.