Countdown

Besides nursing a bad back, a sore throat has also inexplicably decended on me. Slight chills too.

On the work front, we've been pouring over details of a major event we're organising. We have 6 more days to put in place every process. Nothing can go wrong.

Any event organiser would know though, that it is just impossible to have full control over everything. As of today, there are still many loose ends that cannot be tied because various parties involved are not ready.

We just have to do what is within our sphere of influence, and pray for the best.

The discovery of a pretty new clutch was a welcomed sight in the midst of work stress. (It was a gift, I didn't buy it!)

Quack quack

I sprained my lower back and am waddling around today like an old woman.

Pain-ful

Work...Out

The current financial turmoil means that many in the field have to keenly watch the market and play the right moves. So while it is the Deepavali public holiday in Singapore, Roboman popped in the office this morning.

Since he was going to take just over an hour, I tagged along with my notebook and plonked myself somewhere quiet for breakfast.

I'm reminded once again that I'm really a lot more productive out of my office cubicle.

And it is back to work tomorrow...sighs

Who's the superbum?

Giggle

Breakfast at the gardens

That's how we shop

Overheard at a shopping mall:

(A young couple marching out of a shop)

Man: I swear to God everytime you want to buy something you have to shop for it at least TWICE!


Woman: But darling, that's just the way girls shop!

Old Town White Coffee

We have dined at Old Town White Coffee a couple of times lately. (The one near Jalan Jurong Kechil and not the outlet in the east)

The food is not fantastic, but at foodcourt prices, it is reasonably good.

Whether it is to have a nice warm breakfast of half-boiled eggs and coffee, a snack of kaya toast, or to have full meals, this place provides a quick bite in a fairly comfortable ambience.

Being a Malaysian chain, they offer favourites like Nasi Lemak, Ipoh Hor Fun, Penang Laksa and Curry Mee. Of these, I would recommend the Nasi Lemak and Curry Mee. You would be better off having Penang Laksa at Penang Kitchen, as the version here, while served in a larger bowl, has thin soup and very little fish. Save the Ipoh Hor Fun for days when you really have the cravings and can't make a trip to Malaysia. The one here is very average, although not bad.


Try also their various Thick Toasts. Super thick slices of toasted bread - crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. Very nice :)

The Start...of a long weekend...

...began with Friday night plans to head out for some live music and drinks.

After dinner, we decided we should take the car home and cab out instead (so neither will have to sit out the drinks).

Getting two exhausted bodies back though, resulted in a mega procrastination that consisted of a bundle of cuddles, half-asleep teeny naps, conversations and giggles, that finally led us to remain holed up at home.

We mused about how we behave like some old married couple instead of the almost newlyweds that we are.

Then we took it further by plonking ourselves in the living room singing along to oldies like Sugar Sugar (The Archies), Whatever Will Be Will Be (Doris Day), Buttons and Bows (Dinah Shore) etc etc.

Was a nice start to the weekend though! La la la

Word of mouth

You know how people always say that many things get popular through word of mouth? The food stall, the tailor, the cool shop, that new blog etc.

Well I'm once again completely blown away by how this is so true.

When it comes to what happens in an organisation, some people are just naturally interested in the lives of their colleagues. Not just work issues like how they fare in producing work, but how they feel, when they are happy, annoyed, had a fight with their spouse. What brands of clothes they wear, how many pairs of shoes they have, who they are dating. Who's intending to quit, move departments, getting a new boss, not getting along with their staff.

Sure, I would hear someone out if he/she needs a listening ear. I would confide in 2-3 close colleagues who have become friends. I might even share something I know with someone if I believe the information could help him/her in a specific situation.

But I am really not bothered to hear or know about issues that don't concern me, and especially not if the issue does not even concern the person telling it to me.

I still get taken aback by just how much information travels within the circle of ex and present colleagues. I accept the fact that I could be one of those that people talk about. It doesn't bother me when facts are discussed, and I try not to be over-concerned when they are not.

But what I really want, as I always have, is to be disconnected from this grapevine. I don't see myself as any part of it. I'm honestly not interested unless a brick is about to fall on me or my team.

Most of these things really don't matter at all in the larger scheme of things. They only come alive within our office space.

I saw, will sew

After a pow-wow mind-boggling meeting today, I popped out to get myself this.

Photo taken from Brother Solutions Center

This object of desire couldn't have been more different from the content of the meeting's discussion, and boy was I excited!

I've been wanting a sewing machine for ages. This was was on sale for only S$138, a good price for leisure crafting activities.

With this buy, I've promised myself that there will be no more "wants" shopping for the rest of the year. Money will be spent only on Christmas presents and more worthy causes than mere shopping therapy. Yes, I can do it!

Now to figure out the instruction manual...

My Morning

Tears patted dry

After a really awful morning, the tear ducts couldn't take the pressure anymore and I spent 15 minutes in my cubicle trying not to whimper as the tears poured.

I cried out in my heart to God for strength, and He provided...

someone to hear me out and pray for me
someone to spend lunch hour with me over porridge and baked rice
someone to call to provide comfort and a listening ear
mum's assuring voice and advice over the phone

The heaviness of heart is still there, but there is now too, a sense of peace.

Cooking Ruckus

We had 3 friends over for dinner on Saturday, including one who is a couple of months' pregnant.

Wanting to get ideas for the mains, I consulted a food forum, where many people said I shouldn't do fish. Apparently certain fish is not good for pregnant women! Anyway, I asked my pregnant friend and she said the only thing she couldn't eat (because of an allergy) was spicy food. So there. But I decided on chicken anyway after checking out couple of yummy looking recipes.

I have never roasted a whole chicken by myself before, and had a real bimbo moment when I took the chicken out of the packaging. I actually did a little jump and scream when the head and feet popped out from under the nicely wrapped chicken. My yells led Roboman to come by the kitchen to find out what the ruckus was about. I'm embarrassed to say that he had to witness a traumatised wife going "eeww eeww eeww", cringing, and flaying her arms about.

He then gallantly chopped them off the unwanted parts for me. One of the feet flung out towards me, leading to another round of yells, much to my husband's amusement. Oh well, there's always a first!

Here's the chicken. It tasted lovely and was very tender, but I think it could have crisped up more.
I also made (from scratch, I must proudly add) cream of mushroom soup, and a nice green salad with persimmon. Roboman contributed his mashed potatoes. Unfortunately I forgot to take good pics of them.

Bacon wrapped veges. The favourite :)

Made for the 1st time as well, Double Choc Chip Cookies. I didn't know I had to use 2 trays =P Haha, so all my cookies merged together.I had to cut them up after. Thankfully they actually tasted pretty yummy :) Especially with vanilla ice-cream..

String of hearts

I wanted a pop of red.

Strung this up for wear the next day.

Bruschetta

A crowd pleaser and so easy to do. Slice up a baguette, rub slices with a clove of garlic, toast lightly, and rub again with the garlic - the bread should glisten with garlic oils.

Top with a pre-prepared (and left overnight) mixture of fresh tomatoes, olive oil and oregano (fresh if you can).

Serve and enjoy :)

Wine & Cheese

As they say, the night was still young after the Arabian Night party.

We popped down to the Wine Hut. We weren't very impressed with the decor or music of the place, but the cushy sofas made it comfortable to lounge. After all, our investment-banker-time-never-his-own friend took a while to peel himself away from work.

We couldn't help but reminisce about the New Zealand trip, where beautiful wines were had in scenic, tranquil surroundings.

Still, it was memorable because I decided to reacquaint myself with blue cheese. For the longest time, blue cheese has been considered one of the most disliked food for me. It has been years since I last had it and I never include it in the cheese platters I serve.

Amazingly, the very first nibble I took turned out to be very pleasant! I decided then that my tastes have changed, and blue cheese would now certainly be included in my diet.

Much like baked beans. I could never eat them before.

Arabian Night

I'm involved in a major UAE project. As negotiations are drawing to a successful close, one of the key project managers decided to hold an Arabian Night party at her home, instructing us to turn up in "something Arabian".

Not having anything remotely Arabian, I popped home after work to glue on some fake lashes. After all, one of the things we've noticed are the gorgeous lashes of the Arabs. The sales reps at M.A.C. told me these lashes were the "most natural-looking" of the lot, so I thought why not? The lashes, a pair of gold toned dangly earrings, and a sheer black skinny scarf around my neck bought my entry pass into the party.

The thoughtful hostess prepped the whole week to serve us copious amounts of food. As I was not familiar with many of the guests, and new to the group dynamics, I kept busy observing how the table quickly filled up with beautiful platters.

It was a pity everyone left so early. I planned to, but was surprised everyone else did as well. Especially since it was soon after the thumping of belly-dance inducing music came on.

From the driver's seat

On the way to work

Head Askew

We had dinner at my parents' place tonight.

[Mum's prawns were FANTASTIC. I always forget the recipe although she has told me many times. I really should write in down.]

Roboman was sitting next to me and everytime he turned to me I noticed his head was turned funny. I then observed that his head was tilted to one side throughout dinner!

My man is so funny. He plays tennis one night and squash the next day. Him and his friends forget that they are no longer 18-year-olds. He strains his shoulder/neck, and doesn't realise it the entire day.

"Didn't you notice your head's tilted?!"
"Nope, not really."

"Doesn't your shoulder/neck hurt?"
"Hmm, not really. Well, maybe. Dunno. Feels funny."

As I burst into a fit of giggles, Roboman says: "Well maybe tonight you can do the wifey thing and give me a massage."

Then it was my Dad's turn to guffaw.

I love my family :)

Teal or no Teal

I wore teal-coloured tights to work yesterday. I was in one of my quirky moods.

It looks really blue here because of the indoor lighting. Not nice.

I planned to snap a pic in natural light. Unfortunately it was dark when I left office :(

Out Of Office

The friend received the standard Out of Office auto reply from my email account.

I received this response from him today:

Who can I contact for matters regarding Socializing & Programming Analytics Management, or S.P.A.M.?

Headless one,
could you send more emails my way? Makes my day! Muahahaha. Would I regret this?

One World

We enjoy the buffets at Cinnamon, a restaurant at One World Hotel. The hotel is situated right next to One Utama - one of the newer mega shopping malls in Petaling Jaya.

They do a really wide variety of food at a good price. For lunch over the weekend, we had (among other things I don't remember) double boiled melon soup, sashimi (I had salmon and abalone), Penang Laksa, satay, Ayam Percik, ice-cream, cheesecake, fish/chicken porridge, fried noodles, cheeses, breads, Indian naans, nuts (I nibbled macademia), salads, steamed crabs, pasta (including squid ink), mussels, Lok Lok (bite-sizedfood on sticks that you dip into boiling water to cook) sushi, tempura, brownies, and roast meats etc.

Unfortunately I only took ONE photo of the lunch. That of these little cheeses. I thought I had photos from a previous visit there, but I can't find them! =P

The Real Chef

I haven't been doing any Weekly Chef posts lately. Not that I haven't been cooking, but because I know for a fact that I'm really not much of a cook, and my weekly dishes can be boring. (Tasty but still, boring). So boring that I gave up photographing my food.

This weekend however, we're having dinner guests on Saturday - so if all works out well, maybe I'll have some photos to share :) I'm still deciding on the menu!

Anyway, this lovely homemade chicken pie was lovingly prepared (from scratch) by my mother-in-law. She is the real deal. Fantastic cook. She does anything from pies to (her famous) brownies to layered cake (kueh lapis), to Peranakan fare, to roasts, to curries, to herbal soups. The food she makes not only turns out well, but she also manages to do them very efficiently. I once witnessed her making about 6 large cake-tins of brownies, one after another. All to be sliced up and prettily packaged for nurses working at an old folks' home.

I want to train myself to be a better cook. It can be quite discouraging sometimes because of the tiny kitchen we have! A lot of mid-prep cleaning up needs to be done to make room throughout the cooking process. For large groups, it is all about planning, planning planning! But I often remind myself that it is not the size of the kitchen that matters, but the food that is prepared in it, and the people who partake of the food :)

To more lovingly prepared food!

I'm not that serious

Someone just told me:
You're actually very funny when you're not so serious.

I'm tickled!

But yes, I'm only really humourous when I am 100% relaxed, and that unfortunately doesn't happen very often. Especially not at work.

Bebelympics once again!

Our annual Bebelympics was on the last weekend in KL.

Just who are these Bebelympians?

A bunch of 15-18 people - mostly old college friends of Roboman (plus friends' friends, wives, husbands, siblings etc) - who meet once a year for a weekend of competitive games.

At each Bebelympics, there will be 2-3 organisers and 2 captains selected. This year, the theme selected by the organisers was BACK TO SCHOOL. I thought this theme was waaay cool. Most Bebelympians turned up with something school related on. Either a school tie, shorts or a T-shirt. Many of the girls also had their hair up in all manner of pigtails.

Our fantastic organisers managed to persuade a primary school principal to let us use one of her school's classrooms to "administer" Maths and Science tests! So it was a bunch of oversized "pupils" seriously scribbling and trying to score to beat the other team.

The rest of the day was filled with races, tug-of-war, basketball, and a couple of rounds of WII!

Fabulous stuff! It was a pity we were not participants this year because we had a wedding to attend.

Till Bebelympics 2009!

Sunnies for me

I'm in KL this weekend.

I'm really liking my oversized sunnies.

The lenses are neither too light nor too dark, and has all the protection that a good pair should have.

The big frames help block out sunlight that usually shine in from the sides of smaller frames. I don't experience the kind of dizziness that I sometimes get from wearing small framed sunnies.

I like how I look in them :) Bug-eyed.

Suppers

Too many late night suppers ain't good for the waistline.

But they're great for cravings, companionship of friends, and a sense of well-being :)