December Break + Christmas 2014

I admit I'm a truly less-than-diligent blogger. I don't even remember when I last posted, in fact, I almost forgot about this little space I have to blog about the things worth documenting in my life!

Again, I blame it on the yet-another-hectic-semester for my disappearance. We all know that education/a degree is only what we call 'means to an end' but myself and everyone around me always inevitably get hung up about projects/exams/deadlines so much so that results become the WORLD to us.

I am truly sick of my time in school. Before uni, I always feel refreshed and charged up after a break. But now, no break is ever enough and I only dread the start of another semester when holiday comes to an end. I'm really trying my best to regain my fighting spirit and enjoy school while it lasts. Yet that is just as challenging as every hurdle I come across during my school terms. The only thing that's keeping me going is the very awesome bunch of people I've grown close to over the past 2 semesters. I honestly don't know and cannot imagine what it'll be like without them. 

Results were out on the eve of Christmas Eve and I'm once again disappointed in myself (though I've already been persuading myself that results ain't the end of the world). Well, thank god I've learnt to get over disappointments rather quickly. So instead of spending all-the-time-in-the-world (aka December break) sulking, I've put them to good use and am really stuffing myself with good food!

Met up with Huimin after my exams for some darn good ramen! This place is just next to Cuppage. The soup is super rich and flavourful that I think some people might find it jer-lard but I liked it!

Hachifukumaru Nantsuttei Ramen @ Orchard Point

Couldn't resist taking pictures with pretty decor along Orchard Rd!

No pictures of the things we ate on our JB day trip cuz (1) I am quite paranoid when taking out my valuables in the public in JB (2) I was so.freaking.hungry. But took a wefie with 4 chio faces also good enough lah, right??

But anyways, just for info, the bak kut teh place is as follows:

Shoon Huat Bak Kut Teh 顺发肉骨茶

236, Jalan Sutera 1 (Taman Sentosa)

I do not really like eating BKT but this is where I found my love for it. It's not really the same as Singapore's peppery or herbal BKT. It just has this very unique flavour to it and I always ask for more soup! You'll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of ingredients they dump into the claypot. :)

I usually take a cab from City Square Mall (JB) and the cab drivers usually refuse to go by meter nowadays. But it should not be more than 10RM to get there. So if some drivers quote you 20RM etc please do not get tok!

Also, PLEASE BE EXTRA CAREFUL OF YOUR BELONGINGS. Unfortunately, we met a snatch thief on a motorbike that day. Luckily the thief was amateur enough to fail in his attempted to snatch Yumin's bag. I always thought that they only grab handbags/shoulder bags because those are easy and sure-succeed. I didn't realise they will also target people who sling their bags across their bodies.

My tips:

1. Wear a waist pouch under your shirt where you store some cash and your passport. Even if you are so suey to meet a snatch thief, at least you don't lose your travel documents.

2. Do not put all your eggs in one basket - keep your cash in several places like your bag, pockets, bras and shoes if you want to also can. ^^

3. DO NOT BRING HAND BAGS AND SHOULDER BAGS. You will become the target, 100% + chop.

4. Sling your bag inside. Not facing the road. And hold on to it at all times when you're by the road side.

5. Be super alert. If you sense a motor bike that's coming to near to you, siam!!!! 

Shiok Maki @ Koh Grill (Wisma Atria Food Republic)

The day after my JB trip I brought (but didn't pay :p) my sister and mum to try out my favourite sushi! Tried a few other sushis which I didn't really like. Shiok Maki is still da best (Y).

After feasting for 2 days in a row, I had another feast at my brother's new house to celebrate him moving in!

Had some contributions for this. Helped my Mum with the soup, steam fish and spinach with abalone. The very appetising-looking 盆菜 is unfortunately not the work of me and my Mum. Lol.

After patronising the newly opened 麻辣香锅 in NUS's The Deck, I find myself to quite like Mala Hot Pot. It's not really hot pot imo, more like stir-frying your favourite ingredients in 麻辣 sauce. It's usually super oily and sinful but I crave for it a lot, even on sunny days!

So Mum told me about this place called 日日红 at Chinatown that serves really good Mala Hot Pot so I had to give it a try!

They had all my favourite ingredients: pork, pork balls, enoki mushroom, oyster mushroom and bai cai. Generous serving only for $11 (for 2), including rice. Best thing is I didn't feel super thirsty after eating this like I would at many food outlets

And I must say it's really good!!! I craved for it the very same afternoon that I just had it. There's just something super addictive about 麻辣香锅.

This place is located at the coffeeshop of People's Park Complex. It's the first row facing the MRT station. If you are facing the coffeeshop, it's towards the left.

So.............Christmas went by and that means I had more feasting to do!!!!!

Christmas Gathering with my secondary school bunch. We had our usually steamboat and for once we didn't overbuy BECAUSE I WAS AROUND TO STOP THAT FROM HAPPENING.

Sc was my secret santa this year and she got me scarves for my Taiwan trip! :)

Then it was potluck with my Poly bunch! 

Kw & I were in-charge of the pasta which I must say that I didn't really do a good job cuz I under-prepared the sauce, making my pasta a bit dry -_- but it was a good dish overall! 

Daphne's (or her mum's) ribs! 

Jennifer & Jiehao's salad

Ok doesn't look so appetising -_- but it tasted better than it looked!!!

Jean's kimbab!

Christmas-sy decor at the back! 

Last but not least, BBQ with my proggies!

Yes everyone looking oily and messy and gross after an intense BBQ session.

Secret Santa Shirlynn bought me very chio scarf too (cuz I duplicated my wishlist lolol)

My gift exchange with Kw was so exciting because he gave me this super big present which was rather heavy!

And I totally guessed it

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A WAFFLE MACHINE!!!!

Okay yes I am rather obsessed with waffle machines and I always knew I would own one someday! (But I was expecting when I have my own house or something haha)

So that's all for my December food adventure & my Christmas. I have less than 5 hours before I wake up for my flight to Taiwan. SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR MY FIRST TRIP TO TAIWAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even think I can fall asleep tonight but I'll try.

Will be back to blog about my Taiwan trip, PROMISE!

See you guys next year! :)

Daphne's 22nd!

Short entry on Daphne's 22nd birthday celebration!

We held a small celebration for her at my favourite japanese buffet restaurant: Irodori @ River View Hotel. It's a little bit more expensive than I last remembered. The bill added up to $43 per pax on a Friday night. But for food of such quality, I think it's still worth the money!!!

As we were all famished, I didn't manage to take pictures of most of our food. (Yes I was busy devouring so I forgot.) But I manage to take pictures of our second servings!

 Octopus and Swordfish Sashimi
(Swordfish is the only sashimi I eat besides salmon)

Succulent slices of salmon sashimi

 This is under Irodori Special, IF I didn't remember wrongly, this is called Lobster Roll.

And honestly, given the variety of offerings on their menu, this is the only sushi you need to eat so you won't be too full from the rice!

 Soft Shell Crab Handroll! Super good stuff, I had 2 even though I was already super full!

 The legendary: Teapot Soup. 

It's usually served in smaller teapots but we ordered 10 teapots and only 4 were served after 2 hours. So we asked them to give us a super big pot, which they did!!! This is really a MUST TRY!!!! The last time I was there, I only took a sip to see what it tastes like, and to my surprise, it's super sweet (from the seafood) and sour (from the lime) and refreshing! I subsequently ordered another 3 pots just for myself! This time, I cannot remember how many times Jason and Jiehao (and myself) recited 'teapot soup teapot soup... ...' while we waited impatiently.

I guess it got really popular so the wait for it is unbelievably long. Now that I'm telling you guys........ok I'm regretting already.

Cake cutting time!

They sang a 2nd time for me to take this video lolol

Full attendance again!

Five & Dime

There're too many things I wanna blog about but do not have time for. Now that my internship is over, watch out for many outdated blog posts coming up!!!

Kw has been very tied down with work so we mostly spend only 1 out of 7 days a week together. With that prolonged absence, it calls for the need to hunt for some good food!!!

With so many people raving about cafe hopping and brunches, we went to Five & Dime for some good noms!

Here comes my first throwback:

Still have personalised reservation card one so nice!!

Hibiscus tea for me as I wanted something light and refreshing!

Take a good look at the sugar cup behind my teacup.

Minutes after this photo was taken, I accidentally knocked the cup off the table and a loud "PIANG" sounded, followed by a super embarrassed me because the glass pieces got to the next table. >< sian why do I have to be so accident-prone?? I had to sit through the next hour of brunch in guilt and shame.............but the staff were all so nice about it!!

Anyways, I really loved the hibiscus tea! It's quite tangy and sour without sugar which was already good but I prefer popping in a cube of brown sugar!

Looking at this photo makes me wanna have a cup of this right now. Slurps!

While we were waiting for food. Someone please tell me why can't he ever look normal in candid photos....

Eggs benny for me as usual 

Can't really recall but I think this is smoked salmon salad!

American breakkie for him

 Dig in!!!

 See what I mean by him never taking a proper photo?

And when asked, he just gave a slight smile. Even the waiter at the back looked more appropriate. 

End of brunch date!

I think that the food was pretty good and for brunch food, it's pretty reasonably priced given the portion and standard!

However, I've came to the conclusion that brunches are super overprices breakfast food which I do not absolutely love. Having said that, I guess there won't be anymore brunch dates in awhile. Cheena me still loves traditional kaya butter toast + soft-boiled eggs for breakfast!

Dejected.

Rejection.




I don't think I have ever faced as much rejections as I do now in uni. Throughout my life, I usually don't have major problems excelling in the things that I do. I had no issues in getting to where I want to be. But the past 2 years have been like a roller coaster ride for me. Sometimes I wonder if my luck has been used up and that I've exceeded the quota.

Sometimes I happen to surprise myself and perform beyond my own expectations. But most of the time I find myself dealing with failures.






"It's not that you're not good but.. ... ...".





If that statement is true then I guess I'm just not good enough. No matter how much I try, how much I hope, it's not enough.

I know I should pick myself up. Losers never quit. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Good things come to those who wait. The ones who give up don't know how close to success they are. If things happen this way, there must be a reason. Something better is waiting and I just don't know about it yet.

However, at this point, I am really disappointed. I know I shouldn't be. I still do well in many things that people don't. But it feels so bad to be given hope, and have it all taken away. I really wasn't expecting much initially. But I began hoping again. I began building up my expectations. And have everything crumbled down again. I can't help but feel like I'm just not good enough. And maybe I never will be.

It seems like every time I pin my hopes on something, it just never happens. Every time I start thinking about the bright side of things, about the future that could have been, the dream always vanishes, like it's never mine before.





What have I learnt from this?

Just try my best not to have any expectations again. I'm getting tired of aiming for the best. Tired of setting high expectations for myself and keep failing again and again. Tired of trying to make my loved ones proud. I just want to live life as it is and learn to take things easy. It's just too exhausting, too straining to shoulder all these expectations.

Why am I always working so hard? Why am I always living for the future? How do I know I'm always going to have tomorrow to live for? Why can't I just live like everyone else? Just be happy and contented with what I have.






真的累了。

Kw's double 2s!

And here comes Kw's 22nd birthday celebration!!!

The celebration was postponed because we both fell sick on his birthday weekend :( both of us had high fever that went up to 39 degree Celsius and throat infection. (Which resulted in my taking MC on the 2nd week of work and I'm still recovering from the illness T.T)

Buttttt postponing the dinner had resulted in full attendance! So I guess it wasn't a bad thing after all!

Given Kw's love for steamboat and BBQ, I suggested Mookata so we can have the best of both worlds! After some research and Jason's suggestion, we decided on the newly opened branch at Serangoon Gardens - Tomyum Kungfu!

They don't take reservations on Friday and weekends so we had no choice but to queue and there was a huge swarm of people waiting in line, and every group had at least a party of 5. We braved through the hunger for about 45 minutes and we finally got a seat!!!

The pork set that's suitable for 5-6 people. 

The chicken set that's for 2-3 pax! For some reason they like to add quail eggs to stuff. 

The veggie that's included in the set and the must-have in every Thai restaurant - Thai Iced Tea! 

And we dig in!!! 

Platter of beef and sambal kangkong!

The bowl of brown sauce is a mixture of quail eggs, sesame oil, soya sauce and some other stuff which we were suppose to dip the meat in before cooking. YES THIS WAS GOOD TOO.

Given our insatiable love for kangkong, we ordered a serving of fried kangkong, which is one of their signature dishes! It came with a sauce (on the top left hand corner of this picture and it deserves more camera focus than this!!!) which was like a mixture of some spice and coconut milk. I was initially skeptical about FRIED kangkong but this is really good!!! There were mixed feelings for the sauce, Jennifer and I loved it!! But some of them didn't like it. To each his or her own, try it for yourself!

The fried kangkong was also good on its own. The batter it was fried in masked the veg's taste and it was just crispy and fragrant! The sauce (imo) had a rich and smooth after-taste which I loved!

The stove burns on charcoal instead of gas can which is more authentic and makes the meat taste better! The oil from the meat didn't get all mixed up in the soup like it did the first time I had mookata. Everything's ala carte. The bill came up to slightly below 30$ per pax. I would say the food is good and I will be back!!

We all bunned up our hair to brace ourselves from the smell that was gonna stay in our hair for days!

Source of Jason's happiness: The cake. 

JH meticulously removing the wax on the cake.

Happy birthday loverboy! 

I'm losing count of the birthdays we've celebrated together;

and you should also start losing count of mine. 

I love ya. X.