Wednesday, December 26, 2007

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! :)

Friday, December 14, 2007

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

Thursday, December 6, 2007

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!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

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