Haha.. After a long hiatus, I’m back! Not that I’ve actually been anywhere really. I guess when you’re jobless and do absolutely nothing everyday, there’s really no need to bore anyone with these details. Yes yes, some of you might be envious that I have the freedom to do nothing. But trust me, there’s nothing to be envious about.

Anyway, (kinda) new start calls for new theme! Haha… Yah, I kinda figured that content is more important than appearance! LOL. Also because I still think wordpress’ theme is very hard to figure out, as opposed to blogspot.

Ok, maybe I should update on what exciting events happened during the past 1 month…

14th July – Exciting day coz…. It’s My Birthday!!!

Went to watch Hellboy II (which I think should be renamed Hell-BORE), dinner at Kenny Rogers and then cake-cutting in the car at Fort Canning. Loved the gorgeous Chocz cake that Dear got me.. Super rich chocolate, super sinful. I like……

22nd July – A day my parents waited for a looooonnngggggggggg time. Convocation Day! A.k.a Last day as a student for the rest of my life!!! Wooohooooooooooooo………

Note the 2 lovely bouquets, which were handmade by my aunt, who used to be a florist but is still very very talented. Everyone thought my bf gave it to me though -_- Sighh… Sad to say, he didn’t make it and neither did he give me anything

26th July – A night not to be forgotten… La Vie de Vegas, NBS Convocation Ball 2008!

Possibly the best dinner I’ve ever been to! Food was great, programme was entertaining, company was lovely and we all looked damn good that night!! Haha… Ok, abit BHB. But compared to, like, Sec 4 and JC prom where everyone think they looked good but actually very orbiang, I think everyone was really quite chio/handsome lor.

27th July – Dear Dear’s Birthday!

Booked a chalet at Costa Sands Sentosa and dinner at Carnivore at Vivocity. Carnivore was nice but as usual the bf didn’t eat much, as with all buffets. Sometimes I think there’s something not right with him. When need to pay (i.e. ala carte), he eat so much and complain not full. When I bring him for buffets, he eat soooooooooooo little that he waste my money. Zzzzz…… No more buffets from now on!

Oh and we caught The Dark Knight too. Dear liked it so much that he wanted to watch it again. I thought it was so-so, not bad but not good enough to make me wanna watch it again. (For comparison’s sake, to me a I-wanna-watch-it-again movie would be Transformers. Which I did watch again, actually. And The Devil Wears Prada, which I watched, like, 3 times in a row on board a SQ flight.) But Heath Ledger was good though. Such a pity………

With so much activities in the month of July, its no wonder I’m still jobless! Hoho…. Finding excuses for myself. Ok la, August is a brand new start. Shall work hard to find a job before POSB closes my bank account due to inactivity and insufficient funds!

After 3 long weeks, I am finally home!!! I LOVE YOU SINGAPORE!!! MUACKS MUACKS!!!

No more cars horning all over the place. No more stupid china ppl spitting on the ground like nobody’s business. Yucks.

Of course, there are things I will miss about China, mainly the super CHEAP FOOD. And considering how important food is to me, I shall dedicate the entire post to what I ate there.

Xiao long bao – 10 for RMB10 (there’s only 5 in the picture coz we were too hungry. BUT! Only S$2 lehh!!)

But after that we found a place that (gasp!) had even cheaper xiao long bao! *drum rolls* ONLY RMB 5 for 8!!! SG$1 for 8 pieces of juicy xiao long bao!!!

We also discovered this Hong Kong cafe near my dad’s place that soon became our favourite eatery. I’ll let the pictures (and prices) speak for themselves.

Si-ping (4 items platter) - RMB 48

We chose the char siew, roast duck, roast meat and steamed chicken. All these for less than S$10!!! How to find this kinda price?! Even kopitiam also don’t have lorrr!!!

Diced chicken and salted fish fried rice – RMB 20 (S$5 for this enormous plate enough to feed both of us)

(Ok, I’m kinda tired of converting to Sing dollars, so kindly divide all RMB prices by 5.)

Abalone mushroom with broccolli – RMB 38 (not cheap, but to-die-for. The abalone mushroom really tasted abalone, so just imagine you’re paying that price for the real deal.)

 HUGE baked mushroom rice – RMB 25

To illustrate how big the plate of rice is, please see the “After photo”.

After 30 min, I only managed to finish half of the portion. Definitely value for money.

Other than Chinese food, China had some noteworthy Western food eateries too.

First stop – Papa John’s

OMG the pizza there is soooooooooooo good. Its 1,000,000 times better than Pizza Hut. I’m like having withdrawal syndromes already! Seriously, someone pleeeeaaasssssseeeeeeeee bring Papa John’s to Singapore! I swear you will earn big bucks! Say ‘No’ to Pizza Hut’s monopoly!! I’ll be your most loyal customer!!!

New Orleans roast beef sandwich. Most people (at least, most Singaporeans) don’t normally order sandwiches as a meal because…… Well, it simply isn’t worth it. But take a look at the size of this bugger!! And don’t think that just because its “only a sandwich” that they will skimp on the fillings. The beef was really tender and just look at how generous they were with the liao!! 

 Baked penne with bacon and mushrooms

Prawns and cilantro spaghetti – RMB 15 (ONLY S$3!!!)

Whole meal (plus a missing plate of lasagne) for RMB 67 i.e S$13!!!!!

Wahhhhhh……. With all the cheap and good food I’ve had, I think I’m gonna have serious problems forking out S$3 (I realised few places sell it at $2 liao) for a plate of chicken rice. That’s RMB 15 lehhh!!!!!! LOL.

Ok, that’s about it. More pictures when I have the time (and mood).

Haven’t blogged in quite awhile, so this is a quick update!

My BM 214 group mates after our last presentation on April’s Fools Day. I wub all of you lots lots!

The craziest bunch of ppl! Just look at what they’re willing to do for the sake of 214!!

Actually there’s a video too, but for my own personal safety, I decided not to post it online.

And following the presentation was our last lecture at NTU on Thursday. Wooohoooooooo…………….. I’d like to think that this is my last lecture EVER, but lotsa people have been telling me that when I start work I also have to go for lecture. Sianzzz….

Haha and I had to take a photo with gary, the chick magnet. LOL. 左拥右抱!!!

Zi lian-ing in Can B.

Today had meeting with wen for stupid cesim. Already do so badly liao still want us to chronicle our downfall. Worse of all, ITS NOT OUR FAULT THAT WE FELL FROM GRACE!!! Zzz… if not for the fact that its 10%, I die die also don’t want to present.

Anyway, silly wendy shi sheng (hoho), but by the time lunchtime came, she was well enough to have spaghetti. Haha… her throat selective one sia.

Had lunch at the new RESTAURANT at NTU. YES, NTU HAS A RESTAURANT!! Its called The Palatte. Surprisingly (for NTU’s standard), the place and menu looked pretty decent!

Sadly, this being the first day of operation, they didn’t have the full menu. And despite putting in effort to mark their chef’s recommendations with pretty pink stars, they weren’t available. Zzzzzz……

So we had to settle for this. Spaghetti Alfredo and The Palette House Salad.

Hungry wen forgot about her sore throat and toothache…

I thought the pasta was pretty bland. Maybe first day they ran out of salt? Salad was… salad lor. What can I say?

But overall, its ok lahhh… Commendable effort. And definitely a BIG improvement from the current western food (think Can A and B).

Remember this?

Yup, from the good ol’ primary school days. Found it in a vending machine at NBS and was so excited about trying it to rekindle the lost feelings!

When I opened the packaging, I was kinda… disappointed. Somehow I remember the cake to be bigger than this? But good things come in small packages right?

Sadly, it wasn’t the case. After I took one bite, there was a slight sourish after-taste. Hmmmm…. Didn’t remember it tasting like this 10 years ago. Unsure of whether it was my tastebuds or my memory was the one failing me, I took another bite.

This time around, I was pretty sure it wasn’t my tastebuds or my memory. So I took a closer look at the cake and I saw………. MOULD!!!

YES, MOULD ON MY CAKE!!! THE CAKE THAT I TOOK TWO BITES FROM!!!

No pictures of the mould though, coz I immediately dumped it in the bin. But it was white and look like strands on cotton. Was pretty sure it wasn’t sugar (as suggested by Hanyee) coz it was isolated to one part and I don’t remember sugar on the cake.

OMG I so wanna complain but sadly I have no picture evidence of the mould. Cheat my feelings (and my 60 cents)……. I was so eager to get in touch with my inner child and yet they try to poison me!!! Stupid Malaysians!!! PISSIFYING!!!

This is just too adorable for words.

Dark choc + White choc = Milk choc

Makes me wanna rub noses with my dear too! Haha… Oops!

Easter holiday was spent at the movies with the cousins and my bf catching this!

As expected, the girls (which means me, my sis and zying) didn’t find it that nice. BUT the guys were like sooooooo into it and they found it damn cool/nice/awesome/______. My guy-vocab is rather limited.

I personally found the show rather…… tiring. Ok, I know its kinda weird to be using tiring but its the most apt word I could think of.

The show is only around 90 mins long and there is this critical 23 minutes. The selling point of the show is that this 23 mins is re-told EIGHT times so that you can see it happening from EIGHT different people’s point of views.

So everytime 1 person’s part ended, the whole thing literally rewinds back to 11:59.59 am and then it starts all over again. By the 3rd or 4th time, the audience were pretty tickled by it. There was a mix of sian sighs (including me) and amused laughters and huhs (mostly from kids). Pretty funny stuff. This is kinda why I like watching movies in big theatres coz you can soak in the audience’s moods and reactions.

After the movie we went for dinner at this new mala steamboat place at Vivo. Its rather secluded, tucked away in a corner just behind Hog’s Breath. But the view was nice. You can see the monorail coming and leaving and the entire Sentosa bridge.

Coz it was their first day of operation, it was only $13.90++ per pax. Normally it would cost like $23.80++ so we were pretty lucky. =) I found the food satisfactory. Not a very wide array of food, but the soup base was nice. Service was lacking in alot of areas, mainly coz they were understaffed. Oh, did I mention it was opened by Ah Tiongs?

Don’t think I’d be going back anytime soon coz not really worth $23.80. If everyday got promotion then I might consider. Haha… I sound like such a cheapskate. =P

Everything was the way it exactly should be – perfect.

Looking happy and pretty/handsome and all ready for dinner!

Hideout for the night – Angus House at Ngee Ann City. A quaint little restaurant tucked away in a corner on the 4th storey, just outside Takashimaya. Everything about it is so classy and yet simplistic- from the furniture to the deco to the waitresses who were dressed as french maids.

No photos of the waitresses, but think along the line of this…

LOL.

Everything was so Valentine’s Day – pink table placemats, pink towels, pink cocktails…

The Food

Hors d’oeuvres: Fried Cod with Potato and Sauce (didn’t pay attention to what the menu said)

The batter was light and crisp and the fish was really really really fresh as it simply flaked off when you try to cut it. Good control of timing as batter was golden brown and fish wasn’t dry. Goes well with the sauce (wished I knew what it was).

Soup: Cream Soup with Vegetables and (I think) Crab Meat

I could have sworn the menu said Wild Forest Mushroom Soup. Zzzzzz…… Anyway, soup was kinda bah coz it wasn’t hot and it tasted Campbell-ish.

Salad: Greens with Smoked Salmon and Japanese Dressing and Bacon Bits

I liked this. The dressing is not the typical heavy fat-ladden sort, but a light sour dressing. I can’t quite pin-point what sauce was used to make the dressing, but I know I tried it before. Possibly some sort of Japanese vinegar. Anyway, the sour dressing complements the saltiness of the salmon and bacon bits, thereby achieving an harmonic balance.

Main Course: Grilled Angus Ribeye Steak (Medium-Rare)

The highlight of the whole dinner – the steak. Served sizzling hot with potato and carrot on the sides and similar sour Japanese sauce. While the small slice of lime seems rather insignificant, it is actually very powerful as it brought out a strong fragrance. Don’t play play!

What impressed me was the quality that the restaurant is committed to deliver. Most restaurants make use of “festivities” such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas Eve to rip their customers off by offering expensive sets and yet serving miniscule portions. But look at this!

Look at how thick the ribeye is! And it was sooooooooooooo juicy and tender, definitely no 偷工减料in this restaurant! I officially declare that this is the BEST steak I have ever eaten (and I have eaten quite a few).

Dessert: Valentine’s Day Special

Isn’t this just absolutely gorgeous?!?! It had all sorts of berries piled on top with mango sauce and bits of Jell-o drizzled around. Can feel all the sincerity and dedication that the chefs put into this intricate little piece of artwork.

Think its just a simple dessert? Think again!

Chocolate oozing out from the inside. I can’t quite decide if this was a panna cotta or a cheesecake coz the white outer layer tastes like philly cream cheese.

Heart shaped strawberry chocolate! So SWEET!!!

Stuffed and uber happy! Best dinner ever!

I heart Angus House lots lots. I will be back soon, hopefully.

WordPress ate my post, again.

Went for my first countdown ever. Lol.

Had planned to stay at home for New Year’s Eve until Zonghe asked us (me, my bro and sis) if we had any plans. Since neither of us had anything on, we decided to meet up. Went to Changing Appetites at Marina Square for dinner.

To those who used to like Changing Appetites: It is no longer the fusion restaurant it first started out to be. It has now been converted to yet another “All American restaurant” except for the minor fact that its serving portions are nowhere near American. Honestly, I could get nicer and larger steaks at Botak Jones at a cheaper price man. The only item that was worth the money was Zonghe’s Barbarian Burger, which had two 200 grams beef patties, a piece of grilled chicken and a piece of grilled dory all packed into a single burger. Largest burger I have ever seen! But other than that, the food was pretty much mediocre. Disappointment.

After dinner, we went to the Esplanade and after much shoving, we settled on the Esplanade Drive bridge. Played cards while watching other people trying to shove their way through from both directions, although I have no idea where they are trying to go. Police were trying to maintain the flow of human traffic with their loud-hailers and flashlights, but to no avail. Haha. OH! There were ALOT of Bangladeshi workers!!! And they were SUPER HIGH!!! I have no idea why they were so excited but they were whistling and shouting and jumping about. Not trying to be racist or anything, but I really felt uncomfortable being surrounded and shoved about by so many of them. The big “Let your hair down, not your guard” banner which warns us of molesters only made me even more paranoid.

The highlight of the event was, of course, the fireworks. And as soon as that ended, the crowd cleared immediately. I kinda felt that the spirit was missing as compared to countdown parties overseas. Although I have never been to an overseas countdown party, the news coverage of places like Times Square and Taipei always portrayed such a joyous and crazy party atmosphere where everyone just hangs around to sing, dance and have fun! Over here? The moment the fireworks were over, everyone made a mad rush to the MRT station to beat the others. OMG…… The walk to the MRT station was seriously the worst part of the entire night. People literally PUSHED their way through. I mean, I don’t mind being nudged a little while being shuffled along, but you don’t have to push someone forcefully right? I mean, I was being pushed from all directions man. And people push others regardless of gender can?!?! Sheeessshhhhh……….

The conclusion? This will be my first and LAST countdown party ever. Period.