my new house

Collected the keys today to my new house. Some pics taken:

Seaview

IR and CBD view

Private lift: Cool, i can decorate my lift doors! Considering the gaping wide mouth of a killer shark on each side of the door *lol*

Balcony

Rm1

Rm2 - toilet ( forgot to take pic of e master bedroom! oops)

Rm3

View from Rm3 ( May soon be blocked by the $3M/unit condo Seafront)
Can enjoy for 1 more year mabbe.

Kitchen all done up. Just need to buy a fridge :)

Christmas Dinner

Endeavoured to cook for my bf for Christmas, esp after having stopped cooking for ages :P

Menu as follows:

1) Jamie Oliver's Special Lemon Sherbet
I improvised this by making it into a ball and topping up with Club Soda.
My bf loved it! :)

Blend of syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest and mascarpone cheese. To stir hourly for 4 times!



2) Turkish Meatball Stew
Found the recipe on some Turkish website: used minced beef instead.



It was very successful, better than i expected :)

3) Salad
Mixed leaves tossed with Greek dressing, Feta cheese and Olives.

Rocket leaves with proscuitto ham and shaved parmesan cheese.


4) breaded Eryngii mushroom wrapped in proscuitto




5)Toast with hummus, parsley, rocket leaves and parmesan shavings


My bf made this for me! :)

Musings from Hanoi

I'm now at the lobby of a little boutique budget hotel in the central of Hanoi...it's ard 11pm now and i'm trying to send an e-card to my brother to wish him happy birthday -- well he's in sydney right now, and it's already 3am on his bday :)

Hmmm, i'm 4th on the queue to use the washroom to bathe today so here i am... jotting down some musings to pass time.

It's now my 3rd day here in Hanoi. Just came back from Ha Long Bay today from a 2D1N cruise. Weather was so good, and the scenery is breathtaking...every view is like a picture postcard. The sunset is so beautiful - the setting sun is like a huge mandarin orange, falling quickly on the peaks of the hills.


The food on board is great too...will be posting some pictures here after i'm back in spore.
We had some pretty neat and romantic dinner on the cruise last night, and we ordered a bottle of bordeaux 1996 red wine. I ended up pretty drowsy after my 3rd glass - wondered if it's due to the liquor or sea-sickness. Heh.








This morning woke up so early in the morning to kayak around the isles and the fishing villages. It was fun - and i brought my hp to the kayak to take some pictures but it started to get wet. it was fortunate it was slim enough for me to slide in between my foot and the track sandals i'm wearing, to avoid all the water that's already in the little kayak. My butt and my legs are mostly wet :(



Think they could have finished bathing by now, going up to check on them.
Oh i think Vietnamese are mostly pretty friendly ppl -- at least i enjoyed my stay here in this hotel, the cruise and my dinner experience -- which i'll write another entry to discuss more on that.

Logging off for now! ZzzzzZ

my bf's older niece

i must dedicate a posting to my all-time fave little one- my bf's older niece. She's not much older than the younger one though - she's only turning 2 next feb.

her name's tracy - symbolic of a warrior :) well she's quite like one.
or rather, my bf says she takes after me! her love and joy comes from playing and eating and more playing and more eating. that's it. that's her day. oh ya, lots of attention and company too.

she's so naughty yet so adorable, my love for her pours out at the mere thought of her :D

this is a picture of her when she's almost 1 yr old. she was sulking cos we disallowed her from grabbing and eating the nasi briyani in front of her. (well, how can she take solid rice at this tender age?). and she has this nasty boil on her head as a result of rolling off the bed, though till now i still can't figure out how she could have such a big boil from a 2 feet high bed. poor gal. sympathic yet amusing at the same time.. heh.

this picture was taken when she's slightly older than 1. she happily lined my bf's ex company's namecards on his tummy and toss it all around the bed.

haha...a close up picture of her naughty face.


see the river of cards? heh.
oh and the precious moment's little toy lamb that was sprawled shyly on the pillow (my 1st present for my bf) is now happily one of her many possessions :)

some warm memories of her:
1) when she's about 1, she look at me shyly and then at my hangbag, then look at me shyly again, then at my handbag. i was wondering what she was trying to mean, but she has already opened her gaping mouth towards the handle of my handbag...heh. so cute!
2) it was mother's day and we got sunflowers for bf's mum, sis, and her. she saw that i didn't have one and promptly passed hers to me. then i said no, it's for her. then she pulled my hand to feel the carpeted core of the flower, cos she liked the feeling and wanted to share it with me. heh. so cute again!
3) one day she was all dressed to go out to play, but while waiting for everyone, she found my water bottle in my bag when she was rummaging through it. and she wanted to drink the contents, so she passed the bottle to her granny to 'ask' her to open it for her. she tilt her head backwards and with one hand, she held the tip of my long evian water bottle and pour the water into her gaping mouth. of cos, as you might expect, she was wet all over, and was stumbling from side to side like she's in a drunken stupor. heh. so cute! of cos she had to change into fresh clothing again.
4) just last month, we were about to go sentosa, and i was trying to entertain her while waiting for everyone to get ready. so i played the elmo song on my hp for her. she excitedly took hold of my hp and started shaking her butt. she was so intrigued she didn't want to return me. i stretch out my hand and to my surprise, she beat me :) when she saw my shocked look, she looked sorrily and patted me, then when i ask for the hp again, immediately her sorry look left her, and she beat me on my hand again! then she looked a bit apologetically and tried to pat me again. heh. so amusing...
5) food. there's nothing that can delight her more than food. you should see the gleam in her eyes when she sees a bunch of grapes, or M&Ms. and when she's younger, nice toasted buns and breads. she'll swing her arms wide with joy! heh. and that day it's her 1st time eating a Din Tai Fung meat bun. she took her 1st suck at the juice in the meat, and she gasped wide-eyed! and she sucked again, and she gasped louder, wide-eyed! heh, so amusing!

There you go, the little one that never fails to amuse me :) my fave little one!

Preoccupation

My past few days have been much ado about nothing - spent most of it watching Anime (Bleach & Naruto) and period drama ( Duke of Mount Deer - when Tony Leung and Andy Lau were still in their 20s).

Sigh, i was too ill-disciplined; i have so much on my to-do list but nothing has materialized. Felt like a little Jack of all trades without focus.

This month is my SOM in church - serving the congregation in our service - welcoming every attendee, handling them bulletins, collecting offering, selling packed lunch boxes etc. I did enjoyed serving the others but thought that I could have been more enthusiastic and gone an extra mile, but i kinda felt a little lazy after a while.

Likewise, i promised my dear to help him out on his products marketing, but it kinda fizzles out after a while. Fortunately i had an ounce of zest left in me, and i prodded him to visit Autobacs. Wasn't as potential as i hoped, but well, one door closes another opens. Nvm, I enjoy challenges - it's a platform for learning.

I have also done nothing to prepare for Xmas - be it a good evangelistic opportunity, be it a good gathering for my friends and family, be it a nice romantic dinner prepared for my dear, be it.....
Ohhhhh :(

And realised that our house has already TOP. Hmmm......better do something about the reno and decor soon. Have to deal with the home loan, and the CPF repayment.

And we have yet to decide on our photographer for the wedding! Gosh!

And i have yet to consider my career progression, and whether i should take my Masters.

Also haven't planned for my Hanoi trip next week!!

So much to do, so little time.
Or learn from Urahara or Duke of Mt Deer...heheheh

Living in an unfair world

The sun shines on both the good and evil.

I must meditate upon this truth to keep me sane, while exasperation and anger welled up within me. I've been treated unfairly and unkindly.

Who can i turn to pour out my grievances?

I have just finished reading The Last Battle, last book of Chronicles of Narnia. Haven't i just been reminded that the world i live in is imperfect? That my hope lies in knowing that one day i'll be truly home - in a perfect world without sin. Let me hence live this life with good cheer, knowing that we're strangers in this land. So there is no way i can be totally happy and comfortable in this place, for this is only but a shadow - a poor one - or type of what there is to come.

Joy is a decision. Peace is of the noble. Love is the greatest.
Let me continue to meditate, and continue to be hopeful.

Passion

I like people who are passionate in what they do. With that layer of emotion, it seems to add a whole new purpose to the mundane task.

I like musicians who are passionate about their music - you can feel it in their music, chefs who are passionate about their cooking - you can taste it in their cooking, business people who are so passionate about their business - you can almost see it in their eyes.

I can feel it in Joshua Bell's violin tunes, Leslie Tan's Cello.
I love Jamie Oliver - his passion fuels my inspiration.
And recently i met a lady who runs her own research company - i can see it in her eyes that passion is the main driving factor in her biz.

It has all along been my desire to live my life passionately!

Passionate in being who i am
Passionate in living out what i believe in
Passionate in my relationships
Passionate in my work
Passionate in doing what i enjoy

I guess i'm about a toe into it now, and that will be my guiding principle to focus on for this year to come. It's something fundamental and essential to me :)

10th year reunion @ St Nicks

Went back to St Nicks for our 10th year reunion since we've graduated. Gosh we felt so old! Met up with Yanping, Siew Yee, Adele and a bunch of others to go down together. To our dismay, we realised that the usual feeder bus service 262 is discontinued, but fortunately being replaced by 269.

It's so nostalgic to walk down the lane leading to the school. The baby crocodiles are no longer there; it's now a little pavilion. Entering the canteen i was surprised to see a couple of hundreds of ladies there, despite it being a friday evening. Yes ladies, all grown up, no longer the kids we used to be. Some are already mothers, carrying their little ones around. But interestingly, not a single one brought their partner along, despite the outright invitation. Hmm, a sign of feminism?




It's so great to see everyone - the heartwarming feeling is indescribable! :) I'm glad i went - it's so nice to revisit the days of old, retelling those stories of the past.

Oh and 2 stall owners did open their stalls specially for us:
and this aunty and uncle actually remembers me! :) after 10 yrs!


This is Uncle Mobin's assistant; he's not around though. I missed his teh tarik!



All in all, it was truly a wonderful time together, reminiscing the past. And yes ladies, i'll remember to invite you for my wedding lah! :P

baby eevee

Went to Thomson Medical to visit Isabel & Alan (my 'ah kor'), and their lovely little Eevee! :)


This is Alan posing for the photoshoot after my comment on 'why is he lying on the patient's bed watching TV instead of the wife?!'
Hence this picture shall be named: 'Mother' and Baby. Heh.

40 weeks to wedding

62 weeks since my bf proposed, and 40 weeks to our wedding :)

Love in more ways than one

I was trying to plan our itinerary for the Hanoi trip when i came across this Hoa Sua School - a F&B establishment set up to train the disadvantaged youths. I thought it's real meaningful and would be a good idea to visit them and learn more from them :) It's like Shatec for the disadvantaged.

Well, we have several examples in the local context too - In the middle of halfway house compound, Social Enterprise Ark in Geylang's Lorong 23, housed 11 businesses set up by Christian halfway house, The Highpoint. These included Goshen restaurant, a furniture shop and a car polish service, that created more than 70 jobs, most of which were filled by the halfway house's 58 residents.

Goshen was helmed by executive chef Benny Se Teo and 17 crew members - 15 of whom were ex-offenders. However despite raved reviews, Goshen Restaurant closed down last May after one year of operation due to lack of financing.

In his stint, Benny was very inspired by Jamie Oliver's Fifteen:-
Jamie Oliver combined two ambitions: to open a top class restaurant and to give disadvantaged youngsters the chance to gain professional training that would set them up for an independent, inspired and productive life. And five years on, Fifteen is still achieving both, improving and expanding all the time.

Same goal; different outcomes.

A bit of background: Jamie is my all-time inspiration in the art of cooking. But with or without him, i already had great passion in food and cooking since childhood. And it has been my dream to venture into F&B in the course of time - and not just that, i would want it to be a non-profit organization, where every penny earned is sown back to helping more people.

The case studies above have reminded me to be wise and prudent - otherwise i'll end up shattering the dreams of those i have helped to build. I must seriously prepare myself if i intend to put my foot into this. Or rather, my heart, my mind, my soul.

Poisoned!

Went with bf to a wedding dinner last night at Swissotel Stamford (Westin). Indeed as what my bf says, it can be rather confusing and daunting to find the way to the right ballroom esp if you happened to be attending a dinner in one of the smaller ballrooms ie. one big ballroom split into 3 wedding dinners. Gosh, the common sight is seeing guests hopping around to get into the right one.

That said, we did manage to find ours, thanks to the hotel ushers :) It was a simple event, but yet you can easily detect the romance in the air! I just love weddings - ohhh you can see the love and bliss in the eyes of the wedded couple. And that never fails to add warmth and romance :)

To review the ballroom and the food - i can just say it's of 3 star quality. It's rather different from the Bridal Show held at the hotel last year - we went to scout the banquet offerings and found the food pretty good - they even provided a dessert chef to customise for us any dessert we would like to have. I found the idea refreshing.

But to our disappointment, yesterday's food is slightly below average. Nothing impresses. But they managed to amuse us:
1) the lady who poured the chinese tea was most amusing: she poured it from the pot vertically such that everytime she poured, she did it with a violent splash. Scary!
2) the cold dish was a self-service dish, when the 2nd dish came - shark's fin soup, the waitstaff had no idea who or how to portion it. so she went off and ended with a debate with 3 persons who should be the one. Eventually a lady came and timidly served us.
3) the next dish scallops with asparagus was served by another boy: who served the 1st few plates with 6 scallops, and the last few with one or two. He looked so inexperienced that we offered our help to turn the table wheel and push over the plates one by one.
4) yam ring: this lady is so amusing and yet so endearing. she nicely portioned out all the ingredients in the yam ring and then she stopped. She just gazed at the yam ring on the big plate. She looked so helpless that my bf's uncle offered her a knife for cutting. She took it but continue staring at the ring fearfully. Then came her supervisor who decided to help her out. She continued to stand there holding the knife, so i suggested to her maybe she would like to return the knife to the uncle instead, which she did.
5) Ee-Mee:

Nothing wrong, but this is my first time i had ee-mee served on a plate instead of the usual bowl. And when dessert came (mango sago), he placed plates again, and we laughed.

Okay now you may wonder why this posting is titled 'Poisoned!' That's because i had food poisoning as a result of the food at this dinner. Sigh, visited a doc this morning and ended up spending my entire sunday at home. And i'm still suffering from the painful effects now :(

I'm just happy we didn't end up choosing Swissotel Stamford for our wedding!

creative marketing

The lazy lamb woke up to a cool saturday afternoon, after a night's marathon of Anime watching. Ate only a donut for dinner last night, my tummy is growling. Too lazy to go out for b'fast (or lunch really!), i went to the kitchen to look for snacks - found some Banana cake, Digestives, and Oreo peanut n choco creme.

I made a pot of Houji Cha - my fave highly aromatic Roasted Green tea. And plop onto the couch, ready for my weekly routine of reading the newspapers, and logging online to check my emails.

I reached for my Oreo. And stopped - the little advertising on the packaging caught my eye. It says 1. Twist 2. Lick 3. Dunk
What ingenius idea even for a plain creme biscuit, to differentiate from the plain vanillas by injecting creativity.

This reminds me of two other experiences in this recent week: Kettle Chips & Sandwich Shop.
I used to wonder who will spend abt $5 to purchase a bag of chips, and somemore, my bf was crazy enough to grab 3 in a go. But if you have never read what was on the back of the bag of chips - go read it. You won't regret!

Every bag has personified of the character (& USP) of the chips' type, for eg. my bf's fave Unsalted Chips:

"Let's face it. Not all chips taste good naked. Insecure in themselves, they cover over sad potato flavor with extreme flavorings. Not so for our unsalted potato chips. Because we've searched the world over for the Perfect Potato, we're letting this chip out of the bag completely naked, in all its small batch-cooked perfect potato glory. With nothing but the rich, rustic flavor nature gave them, our Unsalted Kettle(TM) brand potato chips can't wait to get out of the bag and show you what they're made of. "

Check out my fave Honey Dijon:

Dijon mustard is sophisticated and a bit snooty. Honey is sweet and wild. Sparks fly when they meet...it's love at first sight. Honey mellows and softens mustard's sharp edge. Yes, we know, we're talking about potato chips here. But take a bite of these sweet, savory lovelies and you just might get obsessed. We are.

I like to frequent the Sandwich Shop @ Hitachi Towers, esp after my yoga session at Planet Fitness. They served the most delicious sandwiches in the region - eg. smoked salmon with avocado; crayfish with arugula leaves. Yum!!

Their advertising behind every pack of sandwich and on every piece of their serviettes leverages on their strengths: freshly made daily, leftovers given to their friends in the homes, use of premium ingredients etc.



Going back to sipping on my tea, and thinking how can i use this to leverage on positioning the products i'm involved in right now....

the red sea

Really wish i could split open the red sea! :P

Well, the STI this week has been a sea of red, mirroring the Aug phenomena. But the effect for me was greater than in Aug, my stocks plunged $16K in a week. Yes, that's my loss.

My daring stock, Cosco, dropped from a peak of $8.20 to $6.45 within a week :( Predicting that year end will see a rally in the stock market, i valiantly vested further in Cosco today.

If you think that my situation is bad, and i must be panicking, you're wrong. Volatility is part and parcel of trading in the equity market. And opportunities come only when there is votality. If the market is flat throughout, who can profit from it?

Well, my principle is to take calculated risks, and to invest only the amount that i can bear to lose. That means that i'm not taking the speculative route, but looking at long term investment in fundamentally strong stocks.

It's really fun to play the market - like strategy gaming. Well i had my fair share of mistakes too - energy and technology stocks have been plunging like mad. But all these are hopefully a valuable lesson to me.

Haha, anyway do hope my prediction is right and i'll have a Merry Xmas. Otherwise, hmmm you can give me a treat :)

Finding joy in contentment

Prodded by the melancholy in me, i started flipping to Ecclesiastes on my morning routine in the mrt to work. Pleasure is vanity, and labor is grasping for the wind. Even the wise man dies as the fool! So then what profit have i?

It is great blessing to be blessed with everything i ever wanted. Yet in all these, i find temporal security but no satisfaction. I have never been too concerned with material things; wealth and power have also never been that desirable. Where then can i find joy and satisfaction?

Sometimes it's in the little things that i found meaning and joy: watching a little squirrel bouncing across my path. It never fails to amaze me whenever i look at creation - the sky, the sea, the mountains, the fishes, the animals, the flowers, the bees, the birds, the snow, the rain, the clouds...
And wonder how small i am compared to the magnitude of the universe - like a drop in the ocean.

I love God and the beauty of His Creation. How can i live a life as if there's no God, when the world is a witness of Himself? And How forgetful can i be - that He needs to remind me daily of His Presence :)

~Amazing love how can it be, that you my King should die for me
Amazing love i know it's true, and it's my joy to honor you
In all i do, i honor you~

meaninglessness and dread

I'm stuck in this melancholic mood for some days now. Going back to work today simply made it worse. Attended a meeting on next yr's credit card budget...Did my appraisal with boss....Cleared the spate of emails in my inbox, a result of 2 days of leave. The events were overall not unpleasant actually, just that my mood got into me and i ponder over the meaninglessness of the events: this little rat race of 'meeting targets' is somewhat a dread for me.

To this i ask myself: would these have mattered when i'm 80 years old and dying? Otherwise then, what would have mattered? What will be something i hope to have achieved or be proud of?

on top of my list would be to love and be loved - and spent quality time with my loved ones and friends. And to love the unlovable.

and secondly, to gain wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

then again, have i taken for granted that i'll live till 80? (life expectancy) have i forgotten that i have no control over the sands of time?

i remembered the first time i visited a cancer patient, mrs tan, as part of my volunteer ministry. what struck me most was how fragile and unpredictable life is! A month ago she was just thinking that she had a minor cough, and a month later she found out she had last stage lung cancer.

let us not take what we cannot predict for granted, but live each day as if it's the last - in this, we'll treasure and use it for what truly matters to us the most. every additional breath we take is in itself a blessing from God, and something we should thank God for :)

e beginning of e little musings

I was lazing by the beach, gazing at the cloudy sky. What a beautiful afternoon - to be off work, to be alone by the beach, and to mull over the little happenings of my recent life. Feeling rather introspective, i began the 1st posting of this little blog.

But I have to first attribute my gratitude to the singapore govt: kudos for the wireless@sg, otherwise this blog cannot be borned into this tiny isle of sentosa.

In Ecclesiates, the Preacher said "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity". How true! Much i've pursued was just grasping for the wind. And how meaningless!

My mind was drawn to the slate of events that happened in the last 12 mths:
New job & new industry
New church & new ministry
Preparing for a new marital status & new home
New gym membership: new yoga
New financial investing: equities and funds

These changes did have substantial amounts of impact on me. Yet it amazes me that i’m recently feeling rather apathetic towards all these changes. Was i getting old? Or slightly jaded? Where was my childlike fervour? Or was it because i have realised that all is just grasping for the wind?

Then that would give me another reason to continue lazing by the beach, and gazing at the sky, feeling the breeze on my face, knowing that this too is also ephemeral.

But sadly my work-conditioned mind gently reminds me that perhaps it is time i should do some inner reflection and recalibrate my energies. While at the same time, of cos, continue to laze on the beach...