2 Oct...Dinner at Tao's

Cheesy bacon & mushroom gratin with toasted thick slices of bread...An enticing way to kick off the 7-course meal :P

Top shell with Japanese cold noodles...Next time, I am gonna try having my top shell salad on top of some Japansese cold noodles, great appetizer :P

Room for mushroom? ...juicy, wonder what they put in that sauce

Cream of mushroom...whooo, lotsa mushroom, wholesome!

Snapper...fresh and really love the sauce on it, finger-licking good!

Green tea ice cream...a little more bitterness in it would be just great for me

Rose apple tea...refreshing but was focusing more on the aesthetical aspect of it, haha!

Sometimes, it just feels good not to make any decisions and to have everything planned for you :P I was glad I did not do much of decision making for dinner on Saturday. I was given three options for dinner and I just gotta pick one :P Thank you Mark for providing the options and arranging! :) I chose Tao's Restaurant at PoMo. A 7-course dinner set for each, I thought this kinda arrangement would be good for a big group, reducing the hassle of deciding what to eat or what to order. Each one of us got to choose our appetizer, soup, main entree, dessert and tea. The rest like starter and another side were the same for all. So, just sharing my own 7-course dinner :P

Rainee

I am gonna call him Rainee. Rain or shine, I know lovely Rainee will always be there by my side. Thank you Kat :)

A ticket? A birthday card?

I was totally puzzled when I opened the envelope and saw this 'ticket' cum birthday card. Well, it obviously did not look like a real ticket to the play :P Haha, had a real good laugh when I looked at the seat number. Very clever and creative, gals :P

At the back of the 'ticket'...Well, the date is on!

The creators of the 'ticket'...look at that grin on their faces :P

Goodness, it must be the biggest Tiramisu cake I have ever had :P

It was lunch at Shin Kushiya, a pretty late lunch I would say. But it's good, no lunchtime crowd, nice and quiet Friday afternoon to enjoy Japanese food. You know, I think it's really the most interesting birthday gift that I have ever received. The gals told me about how they had thought so hard about the birthday gift. Was really touched when I knew that they had spent their Thursday evening 'designing and creating' that gift, hmm, card :) ...Thank you gals, for the treat, the cake, the gifts (both Part I and II). Most of all, thank you so much for your friendship, I am really glad that our paths crossed and we got the chance to know each other, love ya :)

What's for dessert?

There were quite a selection of beautiful and delightful cakes and pastries at the high tea buffet at Goodwood Park but I was really kinda too full to eat. Nevertheless, decided to take a few of those pretty little cakes and take a picture of them. Well, with the help of Rene and Edmond, hee, managed to finish those little cakes and pastries on that plate. Always glad to share calories :P ...It was really a nice and sweet little treat from Rene, Joyce, Julia and Edmond for the three October babies! Thank you! :)

Tea at Goodwood Park Hotel

Well, it was kinda a high tea buffet at Goodwood Park Hotel on a Thursday afternoon. It was almost 4pm when I met the rest, real famished by then as I did not manage to find time to get a proper lunch that day. The selection of sandwiches was good, was pretty curious about what were sandwiched in between those slices of bread. Tried the scones and they had that kinda cream (introduced by Cassy when I was in London) for scones. The scones, nice and warm, were delicious when eaten with the cream and jam! What a nice and relaxing afternoon tea time...

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, how often do we get to receive a handwritten card? A greeting card or letter never fails to bring a smile on my face. Lishan never fails to send this little star a birthday card from Hong Kong every year :)

Goodie Goodie

I felt like a factory worker, packing stuff into bags just now. Brainless job but somehow enjoy it at times :P Ha, can still remember how Miss Tan has always described the way I would pack all my goodie bags every year, yes, she's right, the items in every pack would be packed in the same order and same position :P Didi who is back for a holiday thought it's Christmas when he saw the whole living room filled with those gift packs. Hope the little gifts will bring much delight and joy :) ...Didi is playing that "Imbecile Test" app on my iPhone now, haha, good luck! It's probably high time he exchanges that Blackberry of his for an iPhone :P

Some tea?

It was a pleasant surprise that I got on my table last Friday. An ex-colleague was back to visit. Ha, wasn't the gift a little early? :P Nevertheless, it's really thoughtful and sweet of her! It was a long day at work on Friday and certainly needed a cup of tea :P

That little cloud

Was on my way to work, saw this little interesting cloud in the sky which looked a little like a shark but it seemed to be a friendly shark. Really liked the glow it had, made me smile early in the morning :)

Focaccia bread sandwich

Saw focaccia bread (real huge pieces) at Swissbake that day so decided to buy them to cook up something for breakfast the next day. Focaccia bread has always been my favourite, with herbs and rich in flavour, just the right kinda bread for a sandwich. Saw a can of sardine in our food cabinet, had the sardine shredded and placed in the fridge that night and had them pan fried with beaten eggs, milk, soya sauce and pepper the next morning. I guess that formed the 'star' of my sandwich, the rest were just greens, tomatoes and cheese (hoo, loved it when it melted on the egg and sardine :P). Didn't realise the sandwich got so huge when all the ingredients were stuffed in between the bread. I could not finish the whole sandwich at one go, had half early in the morning and the other half in the later part of the morning. You know, whenever I bring homemade breakfast or lunch to work, I would always wish I could sit at a table placed in a nice little garden, enjoying my meal, sipping tea, no laptop, no documents, no schedule to follow, no list of things to work on...daydreaming again :P

Just arrived!

Snoop just popped by my place to pass me these, giving me some of the 'loot' that she had gotten from Candylicious yesterday. Mini chocolate bars with lotsa peanuts, leaf shaped dark chocolate slices that are placed in a nice little tin :P Thanks Snoop dearie, for being so so sweet :)

Over a meal of mee soto

Zai invited us to his place for dinner on Friday night. How time really flies, I thought it was just one year ago that Rene, Joyce, Edmond, Raymond and I had homecooked mee soto at his place. It's certainly great to meet up again! As usual, we ate lotsa homemade Hari Raya snacks and cookies made by his mother. Goodness, his mother can really cook and bake. I hope all her recipes would be passed down generation after generation. As usual, there's much catching up and thunderous laughter, oops, hope we did not create much disturbance to the quiet neighbourhood in the night. Zai's pretty much the same, sporty and adventurous :P You know, we need good gardeners to maintain the garden of friendship, really appreciate Zai's effort to organise our meet ups and gatherings. You know, it's never so much of what food we had but I thought it's indeed the strengthening of the bonds of friendship over a simple meal of mee soto...with lotsa ingredients, the soup was addictive and the chilli was shiok! :P

A quick fix

Pork Bulgogi (Korean marinated meat from the poultry section in the supermarket) was tender and sweet. Stir fried it with capsicum to add colours and crunchiness. This dish goes very well with rice!

Have never ever got tired of eating broccoli and mushrooms :P Oh yes, time to get a new bottle of oyster sauce!

Told my mummy that I would be reponsible for cooking dinner today, hmm, have had enough of food outiside for the past few days and do crave for some homecooked food. By the time I had finished my haircut, I was rushing to the supermarket, hoping that there's enough time to prepare and cook. Made snappy decisions about the ingredients for dinner tonight :P Spent nearly an hour to prepare and cook, quite a quick fix I would say. I was thinking maybe I should prepare some soup the next time I cook at home, ha, let me think about it when the time comes :P ...Realised that I can be such a perfectionist in some aspects of preparation and cooking at times :P

After a week...random thoughts

It's good to take a walk along the beach once in a while...I'm glad I did :) Thanks Rene for the photo!

I have not opened my black planner for the past few days. Neither have I checked my email at work for the past few days. Ha, kinda ignored my long list of things to do at work for the past few days too. Well, not exactly feeling guilty about it :P Hmm, just wish and hope that I have the strength and stamina to survive through the next part of 2010...

"Unless you are a student, retiree or housewife, so much of a person's life centres on that concept called work - where to work, what sort of work, are you happy at work, should you work? The workplace has long become more than just a place you check into five days a week to fulfil form of labour for which you are paid at the end of the month. A colleague put it aptly: Work is a creche for adults, providing structure, stimulation and sustenance.

Here is also where you find friendship, companionship and love even, and you can be guaranteed it's among like-minded people. Afterall, you are similiar enough to seek a job in the same area of interest." ~ Sumiko Tan, The Sunday Times (29 June 2008)

I was reading Sumiko Tan's article, "Work gives life meaning". Hmm, we have worked all our adult life, but have we ever asked ourselves this...do I live to work or do I work to live?...

If you were an instrument in a symphony, which instrument do you think best represents you? Why?...I thought this question is kinda interesting :P I thought about this question not really for long and an instrument instantly came to mind :)...

Although still nursing a nasty cold, I opened my black planner and replied a few emails half an hour ago. Life goes on...

Bruno's...Tiramisu

Which one do you think I would prefer? Tiramisu or hot chocolate lava cake? Well, I thought not many places sell really good hot chocolate lava cake and I always love to try good tiramisu. We decided to have both for dessert. I like the tiramisu! I think I was guilty of eating almost three quarter of it :P As for the hot chocolate lava cake with ice cream, hmm, not really to my liking. Well, should I say it wasn't seductive enough? :P