Star of the Night

hello everyone, i'm back home from work. delivered stuff to some clients at OCBC, and got to cab back home under the courtesy of chris chew. i love the cab charge card, its perfect for me.

work has been rather alright. making more friends in the office now, and work load has greatly decreased after no further research work has been given to me from my direct supervisor. i guess its not that bad after all. only thing i dread about work is the journey back home. jams.

2 fridays ago cindy celebrated her 20th birthday at her house. her party had a princess theme, hence the cakes and the tiaras that we each got to bring home. the 2 tiered cake is made by cake avenue. the cake is so pretty, i love it. cindy spent so much time and effort trying to get her birthday cake right, and i guess they're paid off. the cupcakes are made by vickii, and she was so nice to lend us her cupcake stand. thanks!

we pretty much spent most of our time singing in her KTV lounge. i didn't know that KTVs are so much fun, given the fact that we guys hardly or never step into one. sang a wide range of songs from hello by lionel richie to lady gaga's poker face. of course, the pitches and timings were all wrong! but who cares, we all had plenty of fun 'screaming'.

the 300+ bucks cake got destroyed within seconds. the cake was so huge that we only managed to finish the top layer. it was a rich mud chocolate cake, very tasty. sadly, the fondant was inedible, as it was way too sweet. trust me on that, i have a very sweet tooth.

got her a red patent cosmetic bag from kate spade. glad that she likes it!

Negative 15 Degrees

we all want a white christmas, don't we? merry christmas everyone!!

club med, hokkaido was one of the best family holiday trip. 6 days and 5 nights of pure relaxation- no stress, no pressure, just nature. club med is the perfect place for a good break from the city. activities for the hotel guests are organized from 8am to 11pm. you do not need your phone or internet, my bb was only used as an alarm clock. i love club med. so much so that i'm considering working in club med for a short 6 months after graduation. my 6 months will just be filled with fun, laughter, peace, and joy. nothing else.

so, there wasn't enough snow on the first 2 days of my trip. spent 2 full days in that club. i guess it is a blessing in disguise, since we were forced to participate in the activities organised for us. such as, magic shows, trekking, baking, ping pong, swimming, and playing jenga. i made plenty of friends during the stay, from the young to the old.

i was always looking forward for the night time programme. i love their 8pm shows put up by the G.O-s in the theatre, always so entertaining. from the mini club performances, to comedies, circuses and michael jackson performances. every night, it is full house.

right after the show, there would be games and dancing sessions at the bar, an open one. a perfect place for chilling out after a day of skiing. the games are not only for children, they have games specially designed for adults as well. dancing for 2 hours isn't easy, especially when you have to follow their moves. i had to get drinks from the bar to take a break. i love how everyone there is so friendly.

thank god for the heavy snowfall. for the next 4 days, we skied every single day. in the morning from 9.30 to 12, and in the afternoon from 1.30 to 4. no opportunity wasted. we had the choice of skiing on ourselves or taking up lessons. i like how they have ski and snowboard lessons provided for everyone, from beginner to advance. plus, the ski instructors are people from Whistler, and the Canadian Ski Team. oh, the snow there is so soft, it instantly melts on your fingers or when it touches your tongue. if we had one more day, i would have gone to explore more courses. gives me another reason to fly back.

only complain? the food there wasn't as good as club med, cherating's. yes, we did have sashimi, ramen, udon, tempura, japanese curry. but the food was more or less the same for those 6 days. sadly, we missed out on the hokkaido crab buffet. yet again, IF we stayed for another day.

alls not that bad, since i managed to eat 2 huge bowls of awesome ramen at the japan airport. that is the best ramen i have ever eaten in the entire world and life. nothing else beats it. my whole mind was filled with japan airport's ramen on the flight there. plus, hokkaido's white chocolate biscuits and ROYCE chocolate makes me a happier girl. :)

Ships Ahoy!

two sundays ago, rachel had her 19th birthday celebration on a yacht. we all gathered at marina at keppel bay at 4 since that was the place and time the yacht will depart from. it was my first time there, and the place is beautiful. the whole atmosphere is better than RYSC, but smaller. i wanna go back and eat at prive, looks like a really cool eatery.

the whole ride was from 4 to 9 pm. while on the yacht, i spent most of the time lying down on the trampoline, enjoying the sun during the day and the cool breeze at night.

we went to two islands. first stop was for us to swim, but none of us wanted to except for jon. so he went swimming, while we played mono deal and just more basking under the sun. thank god for loads of sun block, i didn't get a tan from that day at all! :)second stop was just some mini island where developers carry out auctions and sale of land near sentosa. had a short break there, where we explored that deserted island, took more pictures, had dinner and sang the birthday song.

by dusk, we set sail from that island to sentosa's siloso beach. we danced to the music blasting from jon's macbook while waiting for the fireworks display in the song of the sea show at 8. got back to marina at keppel bay by 9, and then it was home sweet home.

enjoyed myself so much that day. thanks rachel for inviting and being such a great friend for the past three years. happy belated birthday once again, and you'll definitely be missed while you head over to melbourne for summer. one less friend for random meet-ups in orchard. :(

That Sweet Thing

nephew lucas was staying at my place over the weekend 2 weeks ago. he's such a cutie pie, never fail to put a smile on me. just talking and playing with him at home just makes me happy. he wanted a photo of himself with the christmas lights, pushing away his mom and dad. how much adorable can he get? gosh, i love kids.

Hello From Hokkaido

For Someone Special

met up with jon last thursday for lunch at SPRUCE. i've heard so much about this small little eatery, and i've finally got the chance to visit that place. i really like its location, a quite area on tanglin road located not so far off from orchard city.

to me, food was just alright. but jon loved it. i find the prices rather steep as well. PS cafe beats it anytime, i think? i wouldn't mind going back to try their brunch menu though, it looks better than their lunch's.

anyhow, the purpose for meeting jon on thursday was to buy rachel's birthday present. we spent the whole afternoon combing orchard in search for the perfect gift that she would love. in the end, we got her a pastel pink see-thru macbook pro cover, a lauren conrad style book, and topshop vouchers. i was so happy with the gifts, and i was so sure that rachel would love them. but less than one hour ago, we realised that vanessa got her the same book as what we did. what a disappointment. rachel said, one copy for singapore and the other for melbourne.

A Belated Birthday

celebrated jonny's belated birthday 2 fridays ago at pamplemousse. his mom treated the whole table to a wonderful 4 course dinner. we sat there for a whole 3 hours- eating and chatting, it was enjoyable. i love the restaurant's interior decor, especially their high ceilings and the chandeliers. do check out their website.

Salmon

Citrus marinated Salmon | Pamplemousse confit | Saikyo miso aioli | Crouton

Beef “Bourguignon”

36 hour Braised short rib | Red wine | Bacon, mushrooms & pearl onions | Kecap manis Mashed potatoes | Guinness froth

“Toast & Milo”

Brioche | Dulce de leche | Milo ice cream | Caramelized bananas | Nutella soil

the pictures and captions are insufficient in describing how good the food was. i finished everything, except for a small little slice of beef since it came in a really huge portion. we forgot to take a picture of the second course, which was, Porcini Mushroom Cream Soup - Escargots, Cordyceps, and Croutons. that was the dish which caused me to lose my voice over dinner, and to have red teary eyes later into the night. i should have chosen the onion soup instead.

my favourite dish was the salmon. the fish was so fresh and the sauces matched perfectly with it! i was savouring every single piece of it. the beef was really soft and tender too, since it has been braised for 36 hours! the best part of the dessert was the milo ice cream. i love it, they should sell their milo ice cream in tubs. i would have bought a big one!

2 flaming lambos, one for the birthday boy and one for his best friend, joshua. i think i'll never ever try one in my entire lifetime. no way man!

thereafter, we took a maxi cab to butter factory. finally man, i've waited like forever to club at butter factory. thanks to jon, we all had vip entry and tables. i wanted to stay there for a short while then head back home due to my throat and eyes. but that night was way too fun, i had to stay.

my kumaleh peeps were there to join us too. i owe them an apology for making them wait for us for so long just to bring them in, sorry!

the birthday boy - GONE. barely even 1 hour in the club.

glad that my friends could all get along. more clubbing sessions like this to come please (except for the allergy)! i wanna go zouk this wednesday, anyone? :) that's by far the most suitable day to club since i'll be starting work right after my japan trip.