2 more days ...

before we usher in the New Year ... as expected, Christmas has come and gone like a flicker of a flame ...

I tend to slip into a lil' depression as we approach the end of the year ... the feeling of apprehension about the New Year kicks in ... seems like another tunnel to chug along ... not exactly looking forward to growing a year older as well ... version 2.8 is about to be installed soon ... while version 2.7 is still grappling with the environment at large ...

Anyway, I'm glad I took time off from work to relax and take things easy before work snowballs into the peak season which is like SOON ... its also a time to reflect on events that happened throughout the year ...

There were some painful and heart-breaking times and several bumps along the way in terms of work and relationships. However, overall I must say that 2006 has been a great year ...

> New friendships were forged, some friendships became stronger, improved relations at work
>> I did my usual bit of travelling, with an entire month off from work ... another extensive round this year ... Batam with the ees, Bangkok with Mum + Sis, Tioman with the gang, the annual HK/SZ pilgrimage, first trip Down Under to Syd/Melb
>>> Picked up a new sport - Tennis
>>>> I survived my 3rd peak!!!
>>>>> I started blogging and am sticking to it

More excitement to come in 2007 I hope!

Out-Of-Sorts

sigh ... its terrible feeling unwell at this time of the year when I really want to revel in all the festivities and post-Christmas sales ...

was down with flu the week before ... and then came the cough that never went away ... and now my eyes are giving me problems ... thought it was the contact lenses that was causing the eye irritation ... so off came the lenses and on came the spectacles with prescribed eye drops ... to no avail ... and to make things worse my spectacles are giving me a headache!!! argh!!! apparently the other optician I visited earlier this year swapped the lenses for each side incorrectly ... such idiots!

anyway, I think I know where the problem lies ... overdose of You-Tubing the past week ... I admit that its more straining on the eyes than working in the office ...

visit to the optician revealed that my myopia has improved slightly ... surprise surprise ...

also, I'm considering Lasik now that prices have dropped tremendously ... 2 friends have gone under the knife this year and I'm tempted as well ... New Year's resolution perhaps ...

Gurl Power

If you have not caught Girls Out Loud (GOL), airing on Channel 5 on Monday Nights, you have to watch this clip ... absolutely hilarious!!! I was roaring with laughter ... hahaha

Yes, yes ... i have been on a You-Tube rampage ... just completed the entire series of Goong aka Princess Hours ... all 24 episodes in 7 days ... whew!

Anyway, before i digress ... the funny bits about the blind dates on GOL which i thought were absolutely corny are as follows :

1) Chelestier (a hybrid of Chelsea and Balestier ... and to think that Balestier is cool??? wtf?)

What sort of a name is that?! So hongkee like ... and to think that this guy actually conferred this name upon himself (what was he thinking?) ... he would have garnered the same reaction from me as Roz did ... tsk tsk

Plus he claims to be some love guru having penned a book about dating tips ... please lah, who is he trying to bluff?

2) Steven Lim (FREAK FREAK FREAK!!!)

OMG!!! Absolutely DISGUSTING and damn narcissistic !!! This guy is oblivious to how irritating he can be ... and he can't sing for goodness sake! People like him should be paired with Kutiya (since they live in a world of their own) ... can we set them up please? They would make a beautiful couple ... really ...

yea, like Xiaxue, i would have ordered a suicide as well!!! ugh!

ok i should probably stop bitching ... but since I am already guaranteed my first class ticket to HELL ... so might as well make the ride worth it eh?

I'm a bitch and loving it :)

Christmas Lunch

Christmas is about tradition ... and so we had our usual family Christmas lunch at Laguna Park ... a time for B&B ...

Bonding & Bitching la! hahaha

and it is also a time when we make fun of our favourite cousins .... Lishi, you have no idea what you are missing out on .... hehe :)

:: sleepy heads from late night x'mas partying ... hence the extra pair of eyes ::

:: blings!!! ::

It's a sign ...

that its time to hit the kitchen ... you all know that i can't cook for nuts ... after all, i did burn the bombay toast during my first home economics lesson and never attempted to cook under the fire from then on (my tasks were relegated to cleaning up and doing the dishes)

fast forward 14 years later ... i received my first cookbook for Christmas (albeit a very ambitious one ... gourmet style) ... hmm ... a big hint that its time to finally touch the stove?



so will i? or will i not?

Merry Christmas!

first of all ... Merry Christmas to me!!! muahahaha!!! thanks Mel for the greeting card :)

and second and most important of all ... Merry Christmas to one and all!!! *muacks*

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Eve was a low-key affair this year ... simple dinner at Wilson's and lazing around chatting amongst ourselves ... 1 marriage announcement + 1 engagement announcement among the circle of friends ... congrats!

more pics here

My Potato-Head

i want to build my own hybrid of men ... you know .... like the Do-It-Yourself Mr Potato-Head?

in Disneyland, you get to choose the pieces that you like and assemble the perfect Mr Potato-Head together ... just the way you like it ... aahhh ... wouldn't that be great? just like cloning a mate ... hmmm ...

yes, yes, those of you in the know (ahem, circle of trust) would have heard me bemoaning the absence of nice men ... chivalry is so dead ... niceness is non-existent ... even having EQ seems so much to ask for ... ugh!

oh yes, i'm so hard to please ...

so a lil of A + B + C + D (i'm silently reciting some names from my lil black book) = the puuurrr-feeecccct man ...

and TA-DA!!! meet, my soul-mate ........... yyeessss, i'm settling for potato-heads now ... i need my dosage of kan-tang!


and you know what the best part is?

see the pot of gold (doh) that darling Mr Potato-Head is standing on? well, being the kind and generous soul that he is ... he gives me lotsa doh to play with ... hehehe

eat ur heart out sista!!!

The Cannery

thanks to a very accommodating friend who works for the MOS group of clubs, we were ... ahem ... some of the privileged few (er, well ... among the thousands) that attended the exclusive, 'invites only' launch of The Cannery ...

with free flow of drinks, including bubbly (brut + rose) ... we all rose to the occassion and thronged the different bars at The Cannery ... first stop was Fashion Bar by FTV which was quite poseur ... expect catwalk music and LCD screens screaming models + high end fashion ...

second stop was The Clinic, where we spent most of the night as we managed to secure a huge seating area for our huge crowd of party-goers ... at the bar area, we spotted some staff decked out in surgeon-style uniforms ... very apt, very cute! pity there were no sexy nurses around to cure any potential hangovers ...

at the Insanity Room, we cam-whored a fair bit and we also did a cheesy lil' ditty for The Cannery's media team ... hollering our love for the place ... ugh!!! am hoping this gets rejected ... hahaha

then came lee's unfortunate encounter at the toilet where she spied upon a couple getting down with it ... ooohhh ... not a pleasant sight ...

passed by Kandi Bar by Hed-Kandi and stopped over at Barfly (which sadly resembles a food court) for a shortwhile before heading down to MOS where chaos and mayhem ensued ...

:: damien ... centre of attention, as usual :) ::

Brasserie Wolf

another expensive lunch this week ... well, not as expensive as Iggy's but more expensive than usual ... this time at Braserrie Wolf (operated by the Esmiralda Group) at Robertson Quay, an alternative to Sage which was fully booked ...

we all settled for the 3-course set lunch (S$24 +++) ...

overall, food was decent at reasonable prices .... amongst us, we had appetizers of either sausages with asparagus salad, or salmon with cheese ... we all ordered the rack of lamb for mains ... very nicely done ... meat was tender and succulent, portions were just right, sauce was peppery and complimented the side of mashed potato ... dessert was wonderful ... the log cake was rich and creamy, unlike the run-of-the-mill fluffy sponge versions ... poached pear with vanilla ice-cream + chocolate sauce had a nice texture ...

great place for lunch if you wanna get away from the CBD crowd :)

The Wedding : Kelvin & Lijuan

Kelvin + Lijuan ... the first in the group to get hitched ...

Wedding banquet was held at The Regent, graced by the whole gang no less ... it was really nice seeing all the guys smartly dressed in suits ... and of course the gals in pretty dresses as well ... feels like prom night all over again ...

First time emcee-ing for a wedding ... co-host was Keith (pic of us below) and i think we managed to chalk up enough chemistry to last throughout the emcee session :) hahaha






more pics here

Itchin' for Iggy's

i have been itching to try Iggy's for ages ... correction ... DYING to try Iggy's ... heard so much hype about the place ... refer to this article (and here too) which states claim that it is one of the world's top 100 restaurants (kicking Les Amis out of the usual league) ...

"Iggy's comes in at number 98. It is, it must be noted, the only restaurant in Southeast Asia in the world's top 100"

it is also ranked as the 4th best restaurant in Asia ...

with such accolades ... who can resist not trying it out when its in Singapore and a just phone call away to making a reservation?

since the wedding was held at The Regent and i needed to take half a day off ... decided to seize the opportunity to finally try out Iggy's with Wilson + Yingkai as lunchmates in tow ...

set lunches are a cheaper alternative to dinner ... a 3-course meal costs $45+++ (if wagyu beef is selected, it will set you back an additional $30) while a 5-course meal costs $75+++

overall, THUMBS UP for Iggy's ... service was great ... from making the reservation, accommodating to my changes, confirmation of reservation ... everything was well handled ...

being a cosy 28 seater restaurant (reservations are a must!), actual service was excellent too ... we were always well attended to ... and another plus : i love the warm bread served before the actual meal ... soft bread stuffed with olives (my fav!) ... fantastic!

don't expect chi chi ambience ... setting is simple, nice and casual ... come for the food!

:: appetizers .. but prior to that we had sesame tofu under a layer of soft pumpkin puree served in a shot glass ::

:: i had the squid ink pasta ... which was a tad too salty but still nice nevertheless,

tuna carpaccio was excellent as was the the juicy prawn croquette ::

:: mains (top) ::

:: i had the Schnitzel ... was a lil too tough for my liking ...

the boys had the Seabass with mashed aubergine ... very well done ... absolutely tasty ::

:: dessert (bottom) ::

:: Panna Cotta with dried tomatoes + basil ice-cream ...

i liked this cos its a very interesting concoction of PC using herbs ... which is really rare,

but YK didn't really enjoy it tho ..

Wilson's Bellini (champagne ice-cream) was more like a sorbet ... very nice and smooth ::

melt me a mountain of chocolate

mention chocolate and i go weak in the knees ... especially if its Valrhona ... which still beats Godiva (to me at least!)

anyhow, Angie was raving about Morton's Molton Godiva Chocolate Cake that started my cravings ... with Shimin's birthday around the corner ... it was the perfect excuse to splurge on decadence at $23.50 a slice

here is my moment of truth ...

verdict? not totally impressed ... although the cake did ooze out thick meanders of chocolate, somehow i wasn't completely overwhelmed ...

Sunshine

there was a glimmer of hope after we voiced our (violent) objections to the forced annual leave encashment exercise ...

and yes! we won!!!

so ... decided to take the rest of the year off ... after X'mas that is :)

high tea ... massages ... the works ... need to recharge before the start of peak season ... those in the know will definitely concur ...

Foul!

i have deleted this post as there is hope!!!

woohoo!

He Sells Sea Shells

nope, not by the seashore but at the Dance India, Taste India event going on at Hong Lim Park from 1 - 3 December 2006 ...

thanks to the generous donations from some colleagues who had spare carnival tokens ... i gathered enough tokens to have a go at shell astrology during lunch time today ...

shell astrology ... sounds wierd? yea, i think so too ...

well, basically the reading lasts about 10 mins ... one gets to ask questions about the future ... career, love/marriage, health, family etc ... after taking down my name, date and time of birth, the astrologer proceeded to throw the tiny sea shells, forming a pattern on the table ... and gave replies via an intepreter ...

accuracy? i don't know ... we'll just have to wait and see ... although certain traits such as tummy probs and family ties were quite spot on ...

was given advice on health ... need to watch the liver (i.e. cut down on alcohol) ... eat less meat + carbos (i.e. eat more veggies ... btw, i'm back to my fruits for breakfast regime)

at the work place, i am to be more careful about my belongings + i need to be careful about $$$ matters ...

... not mentioning anything else ... else it might become a self-fulfilling prophecy ... pinch of salt ppl ...