Kiasu and Kiasee

So, as I wrote, the 2005/2006 Entertainment Book Vouchers will cease to be usable come 1 June 2006. Me, being the kiasu Singaporean, began the day by using it first of all, at Boost Juice bars. The first voucher being "buy a wheatgrass drink and get the 2nd one free". Florrie and I had one each. boy, she found the taste too grotesque for her. as for me, it was good stuff, so I dont mind, and it was not my first time drinking it. Uh, I hit the jackpot because today being Wednesday, I paid only $1 for 2 shots. extremely good deal this one.

then we used the Nando's voucher to buy a quarter chicken and the 2nd one free. which adds up to $4.30 for half a chicken. haha..

and then we went back to Boost Juice and decided to use up the one last voucher. and it was a Skinny Juice for us both split at $2.50 each.

as for dinner, I then decided to use the Domino's Pizza's one where you order 1 large pizza and get the 2nd one for free. called them up and ordered a garlic and olives pizza and the double cheese and bacon pizza. for $12.95 delivered. Theo got a bit impatient whilst waiting for the pizza to be delivered until I received a phone call from the delivery guy who was lost outside number 34 on my street. I dont understand why he did not have the initiative to just drive towards decelerating numbers. And I found him waiting in the delivery car awaiting for my signal to come forward. kiasee.

Back to the phonecall from the pizza delivery guy - his accent gave him away. So, when I met him, I took the opportunity to ask him where he comes from. True enough, he, is from, yah, where else, my fellow country. My fellow countryman had just graduated from Monash with a Media and Communications degree and is awaiting for his PR.

and so, the day started with a kiasu Singaporean meeting a kiasee Singaporean :).

Resident Return Visa

I realised that my RRV has expired and requires me to renew it before I travel. So, that means $120 gone and a trip to the Immigration office in the city. and I have to do it first thing in the morning after dropping Tessa off at kinder tomorrow. Oh well, might take the opportunity to drop by Vic Market to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables.

Birthday Celebrated

TGIFridays Dinner

And so, we popped by TGI Fridays for dinner, the fact that come June 1st 2006, last year's Entertainment Book Vouchers will no longer be usable. So, why not, make full use of this voucher when you buy 1 main meal and the 2nd one is for free (frugal hubba's idea). but another fact is, we have lots of the other vouchers unused, untouched. Tomorrow and the day after, I had better use the McDonalds, Brumbys, New Zealand Natural, Boost Juice, Pretzels World, Dominos, Pizza Hut and the likes vouchers too. Stop kidding myself. There is NO way I can finish using them. So, forget it except maybe the Boost Juice and Brumbys ones.

Back to the dinner, we ordered a Jack Daniels Baby Ribs (my fav) and Texan Steak. That was enough to feed us four. Then we had the Fudge Brownies for dessert. Full. Brimming. Chockablock. Enough. (This is a fact, this pair of jeans bought in 1997 and serving me well after 2 kids is evident enough for it is bursting at the seams. I swear.)

Anyway, while at the restaurant, I overheard this big burly American guy saying to his friend "Well, sex is not sex when you try to have a baby. Believe me, this is my experience". Haha...

When I came back from the restroom, the always-so-friendly hubba has already befriended the American and his German friend. And in his true American manner, John, formerly from LA California, kept emphasising that he makes lots of money in his business. Didnt know that Americans are that mercenary as well. Have always thought only the Chinese are like that. Anyway, he extended his invitation to us to pop over his place for a BBQ at his place one day. We'll see.

The staff at the restaurant was cool enough to hand me a sparkler and sang me a bday song of which I have not the faintest idea what they were blabbering about.

Korean Food

I think I have, as they say it, 口福 (according to one web Chinese-English disctionary, it translates to the luck of having good things to eat, ha!), because I was invited back to my Korean neighbour, Happy's place, for Korean lunch again. This time, it was a special hot-pot dish from her hometown. Cant recall the name though, but I will ask her again. This dish was made with chicken, sweet potatoes, cabbage, with ginger, garlic and chilli to lace the aroma and taste. Oh, she added pumpkin to it as well.

Her friend Mira was there as well and I was told she is a good cook as well. So, I asked her how to make kim-chi. She faithfully told me the steps to make them, well, it sounded kind of easy peasy, but come to the real thing, I dont think I can make it the way she told me. nevermind, I can always pop by my neighbour for some. teeheehee...

生日

生日是标志着我们多了一岁、或者老了一岁的日子，我们高兴、快乐，约几位好友出去大吃一顿，或者与家人相聚、庆祝，在所难免。

然而，对我来说，今天又是一个普通的日子。日子还不是要照过，不过倒是要感谢主的恩典。没了他，日子真的不知道怎样过才好。

人生精彩，精彩人生。喜怒哀乐，欢畅迷惘。

但一呼一吸的寸寸光阴里，我相信自己是爱着的。是被上帝所爱着的。

Failures - Men and Health

I must take comfort in the scripture that man fails but God never fails deep into my heart. for men have failed me upteem times. including 3 incidents today on which I shall not elaborate.

Just please, no more headaches. I had to pop another 2 Nurofen liquid capsules just inn case it gets full blown.

4 days to a much needed break and away from the cold. only 4 more days. am counting down - very badly.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.... And now these things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13

migraine, stress, nightmares and me

my health seems to be in the doldrums...with the recurring cold and flu and now I must have been really stressed out because the full fledge MIGRAINE happened yesterday!!!!!!!!!! and to think I have not had the full fledged onset of the migraine for a good few years. (I used to have them during exam times)

what do I mean by full fledged? well, basically means that I had the vision disturbances, followed by the one side throbbing headache followed by a good retch. erghhhh.....

and so I had to miss steamboat orgainsed by my neigbour.

and the stress must be giving me NIGHTMARES too. I was screaming away with me shouting "Salvation. Redemption" out loud at night.

what am I up to ? I dunno. I just want good health.

Chinese proverb

不经一番寒彻骨，哪得梅花扑鼻香？

Thursday till Today

so, Jessie & Godfrey turned up all right on Thursday and we went for yum-cha at Jackie's Kitchen together some of the same people who was at the dinner on Wednesday night.

since they were going to stay with us, I thought we might as well have dinner together. and the quickest and easiest way was, yes, steamboat again!!! (steamboat round 3 was cancelled and that was why we went for dinner at Kayu on Wed night).

come Friday, brought Jessie to buy some of her stuff at Spotlight and later BoxHill centre. we then proceeded for lunch at Rex Hunt D'lish Fish at Port Melbourne. food was okay. the kids definitely loves it - chips, batter and all. Vic Market was next and I bought some fresh seafood. I kinda missed this place coz I used to shop so much there while living at West Melbourne. then it was home as Godfrey needed a nap and so Jessie went shopping at Westfield. after dinner, we went to our individual cell group meetings with them joining us at the end of their meeting.

this morning, we bade farewell to them as they left our house at 7.30am for the airport. and I am gonna meet them up again when I return to Singapore this week.

three words to describe my state now - fatigued, cold and lifeless.

update : steamboat round 4 tonight as our Singaporean neighbour, the Lims, has extended their invitation to us to pop by their house for dinner tonight. until after I come back from Singapore, no more steamboats please. enough of it liao.

late post

busy full on day indeed. was so bleary spent by this time and wanted to head to bed. but i decided against it, so popped the Renee Olstead CD into the playeer as well as a Codral Flu Tablet (not the Night formula, which tends to make me drowsy lousy) down my throat and turned the laptop back on again.

first it was busy window shopping this morning. with my chirpy neighbour Happy of course. I am so glad I found such a good friend in my neighbourhood. saw the P brand ankle high boots - just in time for winter - too bad they ran out of my size. phew, i can heave a sigh of relief. let it pass. enough of that P brand I think - already own a bag and 2 pairs of shoes from this brand. and truly I am not such a huge fan of theirs but somehow I bought more of their stuff than the G brand (I mean bags) and the SF brand (I mean shoes). But maybe somehow I would still end up buying more of this brand coz they seems more contemporary than say the F brand.

anyway, I came home to find a dozen of rice dumplings from In Chyi. and had 2 immediately - for lunch. thanks InChyi. You are great!

then it was back to KAYU again for dinner- this time with Ps VSoo & Crystal, the Tays, the Oens and ourselves when the Wus backed out and our guests from Singapore Jessie & Godfrey was a noshow. wonder what happened to them. could not contact them at all - either on message or diverted back to Singapore. and they were supposed to return from the Grampians and stay with us these few nights until Saturday. hopefully they will turn up tomorrow.

sidenote on Kayu - I got a free meal for my next trip worth $13.50. Hurray!!!

so, it's the 24 May, oh no, my time shows that it's passed 12midnight, so it's 25 May now - can you belive it, it's 7 more days to Singapore. and received Jaslyn's email this morning. a date's been set for 3 June to go for a buffet dinner at Merchant Court Hotel (I think) and then head to MOS. I'm gonna check this place out. sometimes, at the back of my head, I wonder if I am too old for such things. well, who knows. sometimes, we need to be young all over again.

oh no, just checked out the MOS Singapore website and the music is sounding too loud for me already. maybe I should just head to a jazz club huh?!!

counting down

i am counting down - so today being Tuesday 23 May 2006. 9 more days to sunny Singapore. It'll be an extreme weather change - from chilly wintry to sizzling summery.

Girl Power

steamboat again??!!!

OMG - Hubba's telling me he is inviting Bryan, his family plus his old fogies who are visiting from HK for yet another round of Steamboat. and that makes it round number 3 within such a short span of time and that is within weeks apart and now, merely 3 days apart. no wonder I dont seemed to be able to recover from my incessant cold and cough. it's good though to have a neighbour friend who is a doctor.And she actually came with us to church today and even accepted Christ!!!

Steamboat Round 2

We had our 2nd round steamboat party since the cold season kicked in. And it was for a good reason - Elsie & Jason celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary today!!!

And for desserts, we had mangosteens (very expensive!!!) and other fruits and a green tea cake made by Crystal. very yummy. moist in texture and taste. plus Bubur Hitam made by Julia!!!

there goes my dieting plan.

The Hair Story

Decided to do a bit of pampering yesterday. popped by one of the many Korean salons that has mushroomed in town of late. This one was in Box Hill and it had a quirky name - Beauty Bank. You mean you can deposit your beauty into a bank? or is it that you can credit your beauty and to be paid for in time to come?

well, not to digress, I went in and got a haircut and my coloured/highlighted roots touched up. the brown turned out to be really browner than I thought it would be. and the haircut? well, she gave me a slight fringe and layered it down on a otherwise very thick mane that had grown out of whack these past few months since Jan 19 and which I had my hair done at another outlandish named salon - Fa3 Zhi1 Wu4 Yu3 (发之物语）in Singapore. Why dont they just name it Hair Talk which is just a literal translation of the name in Chinese? like BreadTalk (面包物语）？？？

macbook

now that I have bought this Toshiba notebook, I was told MacBook has been released. arghhhh....actually, this laptop is starting to give me some problems already. it has crashed a few times, and I am starting to get some "disable macro" messages popping up all the time. grrrrrr...should have waited. so much for impatience.

sorted out

I have got the paragraphs issues sorted out. thanks to google help. now my other issue is with the images. it tends to slip to the post beneath and thus messing it.

waiting for replies.

code nickname

sometimes I wonder if I should nickname Tessa at all - ickle pickle sounds good. maybe ickle chilli padi.

the nicks matches her attributes and personality - small, tiny, sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, sometimes fierce and aggressive. well, let's put it this way, she's just so strong-willed and fierce! and we've been advised by her Montessori principal Jill and director Rani to break her will and not let it go on. If not, I'll be in deep pit comes her puberscent years. very worried indeed.

wireless + 中文

ha... I am now outside JNgu's house surfing wirelessly as I have permitted access to his broadband connection. and I was told to use it as I like because he has plenty of bandwidth. and his house is only 1 minute away from Tessa's kinder. whoo-hoo.

and I can now type in Chinese. yay yay yay...我现在可以打中文了。不过比较辛苦一点点，没关系啦，可以用就行的了。yippee.

I'm back

sorry guys I take my word back. I still have the wordpress blog but I have difficulties uploading photos onto it.

now with blogger I can have my photos loaded with absolute ease just that there are no paragragphs and that makes it very difficult to read on.

is there a perfect host out there for blogs where it is easy to post your blog, upload photos, add plug-ins like a tagboard and other good stuff etc. Please let me know.

anyway, I wont write too much today as I am really tired. It was straining day - really. Tessa was up to no good with her meals and her behaviour. and then she threw up. so I cleaned up.

many minutes later, my son threw up. and it was a stinking mess on the bed. Imagine all the hard work I had to put in to clean up and wash him and the laundry as well.

that's it, I am going to bed. nite.

Happy Mommy's Day

This day, being the dedicated day to all mums, is a very special one and a very happy one at best.

We kickstart the day by going to church. Theo was, together with the Sunday school kids, up on stage and performing the song "Mummy, you are my superhero" - better than Spiderman, better than Batman, better than Superman, anyhow, that we are better than all these other screen super heroes. But before he started singing, he went to the mic and shouted "lah lah lah" into it and caused much amusement. Then the Youths performed an impressive rendition of "You Raise Me Up", with 4 lead singers, 2 violinists and 1 pianist. It was, however, slightly marred by a sheer out-of-tune which was easily picked up by any ears. After that was the Mother's Day sermon with Ps V Soo starting with a joke on "Words Women Use" and on the life of Hannah. With the sermon ending, we then proceeded to a special lunch with a special menu "Yong Tau Foo with sweet bean sauce or curry sauce a la Malaysian style" or "Chicken, Mushroom, Chinese Sausage rice (Cantonese Zong Fan) plus entrees of deep fried spring rolls, samosas and dimsims with fruits and cakes for desserts. Finale was of course to cut a special Mothers' Day cake specially bought from David Jones.

Then it was off to our weekly IKEA fellowship in the afternoon. However, we ended up at Jamaica Blue for coffee within the same vicinity of the shopping compound. By this time, we met into the Alan, Sharon and their 2 sons and subsequently Leslie, his wife and daughter Zoe (who had just arrived from KL last night). And we got to know the Singaporean owner of the joint Monica who came here 2 years ago and took over and turnaround this franchise for over a year.

By late evening, the Ngus, Yuans, Tehs, Julia and Nabil and ourselves decided that our dinner will be at KAYU Nasi Kandar, the relatively new restaurant in Box Hill we have been wanting to try. So, there we were - 9 adults with 9 kids and 1 infant, what a strong continent we made our presence felt in the restaurant.

I tell ya, the food was so so good and the prices so reasonable, I vouch that I am going back very very soon again. We had nasi kandar with curry fish, roti telur (egg), fried chicken wings and you must try this- ROTI TISU!!! Yummilicious!!! We even got acquainted with Chef Sri from KL who, in my opinion, makes the most wonderful rotis. Whe he brought the gigantic and humungous ROTI TISU out, the patrons in the restaurant all gazed and stared and ooohed and aaahed at the sheer size of it. It was very crunchy, very oily (full of ghee/shortening/butter - i dunno which) and sweet with sugar and/or honey. It was in one word - heaven!!! so full of cholesterol, full of fat, full of sugar - so sinful yet so wonderful.

everybody enjoyed their dinner there and we thought maybe we should change our IKEA fellowship to this restaurant instead. Yah, we live just 5 minutes drive away from it. Whoo-hooh.

幸福 The Story of Happiness

一只小狮子问妈妈“幸福在哪？”妈妈说：幸福就在你的尾巴上。“于是，小狮子不断地追着尾巴跑，但始终咬不到。母狮笑道：“傻瓜！幸福不须刻意去追求，只要你昂首阔步向前走，幸福就会跟着你。”

NEWS FLASH!!!

Hi fellas,

This is just to inform that I have bought my own domain and awaiting forwarding to an account I have set up with wordpress.

Meantime for now, I can be found on www.stylelife.wordpress.com

In the future, my blog will be at www.mystyle-mylife.com

Regards,

Elaine

apologies

apologies for those mess on the posts. i dunno what happened. must be with the html code. i will endeavour to get it fixed. maybe i will host my blog elsewhere. maybe wordpress. maybe livejournal. maybe movable type. maybe xanga. maybe maybe. too many maybes. maybe i will just stay just where I am. c'est la vie.

ted and mom's day

at first, I wanted to wake up early to make the pizza roll lunch for Theo. but it was too comfy lying in my own bed, all warm and snuggly. The moment you get out of bed, the cold snaps you in. Grrrr.

it's funny how i feel much better after that puke. although now it seems another bout of the cough is returning. not too good.

so, Theo had to be dressed up as a teddy bear. and this was what we did - hubba did the ears and tail and I did the make up with my eyeliner. gee, he looks beary cute.





then I had totally forgotten about the Mother's Day celebration at Tessa's kindy today until hubba called to remind me after sending her there. I think this was the fastest I ever got myself ready, in a record time of 10 minutes and I was out of the house. Arrived at half past nine, which was still okay and kept Tessa company whilst she was doing her own tasks and activities. we were then invited to sit around and watch them sing and perform. too bad I did not have my camera with me. so pissed.

wise saying

良药苦口利于病，忠言逆耳利于行

side note

I'd retched. boy, it was stinking putrid. took a shower to wash myself from head to toe to get rid of the foul-smell. better see a doc tomorrow. and as well, i have to dress Theo up as a teddy bear and make lunch enough for 6 too for their Teddy Bear Picnic. which was why I got hubba to buy some mozarella cheese and franks. I am going to make a pizza roll with the puff pastry lined with tomato paste, cheese, ham or franks and parsley and then bake. and voila - u have a decent finger food for the kids to eat. Hope I am well enough to do that though.

side note: I'd just received a reply mail from my long lost secondary mate Jenn and she actually wrote this: "so cool to have your own blog. The joy and luxury of a stayhome mom.". There u go, I'd just posted something that I WANT OUT being a fulltime mum/housewife/domestic scientist/minister of home affairs and here I have someone "envy" me - a nobody stay-at-home and bored housewife. The aphorism that "the grass is greener over the other side of the fence" holds so well and true!

cold, sleepless and art

here i was lying in the comfort of my own doona, all wrapped up from head to toe in fleece, turned on the electric blanket as well as the heater trying to take a rest whilst feeling cold despite doing all of the above. And I was trying to get Tessa to take her afternoon snooze as well, well well, to no success though. Just as I was gently cascading to sleep, she woke me up by saying she needs a drink of water. Mind you, do you think you can return to sleep after that, NO, I then decided to take out my camera to snap some pictures of her and before you know it, she has taken control over the camera shooting mindlessly. Most of it were craps except for this:



a budding photographer in the making. quite a piece of art you reckon???

my entertainment

i went to bed early last night. woke up intermittently throughout the night to drink more water, took more paracetamol (Lemsip), gargled with Betadine, sprayed Difflam throat spray, sucked some lozenges.

but come morning albeit ill-rested, I still had to wake up to prepare the kids' milk and brekkie and Theo's lunchbox for the day. so today for his lunch, I took it easy by cutting the croissant into half and then spreading it butter, a slice of cheddar cheese, fresh sliced tomatoes and ham with mayo and parsley.

hubba had to send Tessa to kinder as I was feeling cold and energyless (pardon me - if there is such a word). I have no appetite to eat coz the throat really hurts.

I am now in the bedroom, with the heater turned on, and my laptop on my laps, checking emails, surfing the net, pay bills and will try to download some stuuf into the computer.

The laptop has become my source of entertainment really. I rarely watch the TV except for the news on Ch 9. With the internet, I can source all kinds of info from it. (that is why they coined a new term called infotainment) which is what the internet and laptop is all about these days. I am even thinking of watching Dae Jeung Kam with it. That is, provided I can squeeze some time to do that.

pleas for health and sanity

oh no, the virus is back with a vengeance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....now my throat hurts, i feel cold and shivery, i am completely zapped of energy. how am supposed to funtion? beats me. I still have the kids to take care of, meals to cook, laundry to wash, house to clean up, all these never-ending housechores.

I DONT WANT TO BE A HOUSEWIFE ANYMORE!!!!! - I am, listen, I am a desperate housewife. I want to use my brain not my labour. I do not get any appreciation, no wages, no super(annuation), no retirement package to talk about.

get me out of this please!!!!!!!!!! that someone, PLEASE!!!

Love Thy Neighbour

I took the opportunity to take a pic of the Reids (Ivan, Happy and Christian) when they popped by this evening to return my Corningware (for I had earlier in the day passed some Mee Rebus to them).

It was in an extraordinary way how we met them. Almost bizarre in a sense. On 29 May 2005, we held a garage sale to get rid of all the unwanted items in the house. Towards the end of that day, this family walked past our house. Husband, wife and baby in the pram. At first, hubba started talking to Ivan. As the conversation flowed, Ivan sort of revealed that he was half Singaporean and left Singapore for UK when he was 10. Out of curiosity, I then queried him on where he lived before he left. When he blurted out St. Michaels Rd, I almost could not believe my own ears. Then we found out that he lived on No. 8 just before Jln Taman while I lived at No. 21. The next unbelievable thing was that we actually went to the same kinder at St. Michael's Church. But he was 2 years my senior and so, wouldnt have met him at all.

Fast forward now, we live in the same suburb and just 3 streets away. So, we are back to being neighbours once again. Only this time, the location has changed 3500 miles away from Singapore to Melbourne. We have thus grown to be very close to this family as we all share the love to cook and eat good food. They were here when I held the Popiah Party last August. And we have been invited over to their place a few times for sumptuous Korean food prepared by Happy. YUMMILICIOUS!!!

I hereby raise a toast to our friendship. Cheers to you the Reid family!

Footnote: At the same garage sale, we also got to get acquainted with the Lims, also from Singapore, who lives just down the street from us and whom we invited over for the Steamboat dinner few nights ago. What a bonding right away since we all hail from the same country.

Proud Mum

I am indeed a very proud and happy mum today. Is this an early Mother's Day pressie for me from my son this year? hmmmmm...would love to think so. What happened today was, at the morning school assembly this morning for the whole of the prep and primary section at DCC, Mr Grace (the head of primary) called out Theo's name because he was awarded a Congratulatory cert "for remembering all of the single phonogram sounds" and signed off by his prep form teacher, Mrs Soutter. He told me only he and another girl by the name of Eliza got this award.

I mean he speaks no English at home coz I speak to him in Mandarin while hubba speaks to him in Cantonese, but he could still pick up the "right" phonic sounds in order for him to read English. In all honesty, I mean, it is no mean feat for this little guy here. Oh yes, he has been correcting hubba's English pronunciation of late.

Happy Mother's Day (I know it is still early) - heyyy, but it is to I, me and myself. hehe....cheers. and I want to add this: I'm proud of you son!!!

Friends far and apart

A few days ago, I received an email from one of my long lost secondary school friend. I was only too pleased to have received this email. Finally we are back in contact after she had gone MIA sometime after 2003.

And therefore, the logical thing for me to do was to forward her email to our 2 other friends. My mum used to call the 4 of us "xi duo jin hua" or rather "The 4 Musketeers".

So here we are, 2 of us here in Australia (me in Melbourne and HJ in Perth) and 2 of them in Singapore, bonded again.

Now we are planning to meet up with one another coz both HJ and I are making trips back to Singapore at about the same time in June and we are planning a really BIG girls night out cum get-together and do something frivolous. I was suggesting either Zouk or MOS or even go to some really nice place just to hang out and to really catch up with each other's lives.

Singapore - here I am - counting down the days to stepping onto your soil again.

No. of Days to Singapore : 25

GE2006

had initially wanted to visit slumber wonderland after a long long day at church and miscellaneous activity (the weekly IKEA fellowship). however, I decided against it and decided to blog something. anything really that could roll off my mind at this state of lethargy. i am simply addicted to this blogging thingy.

so, the election was over. as we all know predictably PAP would surely win. and they sure won BIG time this time round. Good to know that Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang being elected back into parliament. You know, sometimes it is good to have opposing voices. I still remember this oft joke about the anonyms to the different parties names: PAP means Pay and Pay, so Workers Party was set up to ask "Why Pay", and Singapore Democratic Party said "So Don't Pay". why I am so into the election I dont know coz I didnt even vote - I could if I want to, but at the expense of flying/driving all the way to Canberra? No way!

mind you, there are still people who are willing to travel all the way to the polling stations in other overseas countries as reported in www.zaobao.com.sg. no wonder my brother claimed that he has been extremly busy coz he had to double as Polling Officer in Tokyo.

so much for politics.

steamboat and singapore politics

today being Polling Day in Singapore, I decided to call my neighbour, also from Singapore, to come over for a steamboat dinner with us and the Yuans who are staying with us for these 2 nights.

after a frenzied day shopping for, yes again, more food (it seems like I am doing endless and mindless rounds of food shopping). yet again, this seems prefectly normal for a housewife like me to run and feed the family.

anyway, back to the main point, the Lims popped by with a bottle of vino and home made sambal belachan chilli (hot!hot!!hot!!!). Then, it was conversation time - with 3 of us Singaporeans (Lims and myself) facing a Hong Kong born Australian citizen and 2 Malaysian born Australian citizens. Plus the 4 Aussie kids of course.

Mr Lim, after all an ex-civil servant, in his true Singaporean manner, started the roll about Singapore politics, Singapore government and the Singaporean way of life. He kept lamenting the fact that he is serving his "jail-term" here in Australia is such a waste of his time and energy who could have been channeled to helping the disadvantaged in his ward in Singapore. and he actually knew the PM!!! "It is the government that makes us Singaporeans proud for what they have done for the country". "Singapore cannot afford to be foolish and waver as it is such a small country - it is just so fragile". For once, I feel proud to be Singaporean. And it went on and on. I thought I was at a PAP rally. Well, we'll await the polling results. Good luck.

Update: a check on The Straits Times Interactive was a podcast of the efficacy on the voting system and a newly married couple who made their way to their polling station. A call to my parents was a bigger revelation to me: they both casted their votes on PAP! speak of better times? maybe. I am running late to bother about the polling results now. I am sure, I can catch some more news tomorrow somewhere somehow sometime through that someone somebody.

while writing this, a gust of strong squally winds are whooshing their way through the trees making its presence felt even stronger in a otherwise quiet neighbourhood.

night night - time for bed. totally zapped of energy.

music - baroque please.

dinner food

I must be really bored to keep on posting about food. But nervertheless, this is something I really enjoy - cooking, presenting and eating them.

Was out shopping for more foodstuff today. Came home without the prawns and spring onions. Managed to buy most of the other stuff needed.

Chopped up the water chestnuts and added them to the left over taro, pork and carrot mixture from yesterday and managed to squeeze 13 rolls to be deep fried.

Also, bought Yong Tau Foo - had them deepfried and steamed and made a thick sauce with garlic and black beans and garnished with coriander and roasted sesame seeds.

The only flip today I had was : a parking ticket fine of $50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was overdue by a good 30 minutes coz the daughter wanted to do a wee in the toilet and I got stuck in Missha. reckon it will be a good excuse to plead for a waiver? (well sir/madam, I had only 50 cents with me and that was why........nah....haha...anyway....we'll see)

fun stuff 2

fun stuff

food glorious food

last night we had Henry over for dinner and therefore I cooked, besides rice, as always the staple food for Asians, deep fried ngoh hiang rolls (mined pork seasoned with five spice powder and the like, mixed in with yam and minced garlic and wrapped in beancurd skin), Chinese and Thai style char siew baked in oven, the good-for-u brussels sprouts (although it tastes yucks) stir-fried and stewed with carrots and garlic with abalone and chicken thick stock.

as for today, with the leftover char siew pork as well as the left over raw minced pork, I decided to make use of the char siew to fry some rice vermicelli (fried bee hoon) Thai style with sukiyaki sauce, fish sauce and fried and garnished with carrots, celery, wood fungus, egg omelette strips, sesame seeds and coriander. as with the left over raw minced pork, I then shredded more yam(taro) and carrots and added some corn flour to deep fry them into yam and pork rolls (another version of the ngoh hiang). and then used the left over rice as well as more of the char siew to make fried rice and peas, egg omelette, carrots and celery.

now i have got more of the left over pork and yam(taro) mixture, I will then buy more prawns as well as water chestnuts as well as spring onion to try version 3 of the ngoh hiang tomorrow.

shopping lists for tomorrow will be water chestnuts, prawns, dark soy sauce, spring onions, coriander, green vegetables. and yes to make that chicken pau, I would need more wood fungus, ear fungus, tang-hoon (mung bean vermicelli), and chicken breast meat.

Ding Dong Tom

whoa hoa...this Tom Cruise...watz he up to? used to adore him, idolized him after watching Top Gun way way back when in my teens. NOW? I loathe him. I look at him disgustingly. In a manner to be unashamed of. He got married, then divorced, married again, adopted kids, divorced, fell in love again, fell out of love, then got a child-like innocent girl pregnant, jumped up and down the couch to profess his love for her publicity style (meant to be I guess). Tom, so what if you have good looks but is really an emptry shell deep within?

Ladies "Fei-lo"ship

We had the once monthly Ladies Fellowship today. And the theme for today was "Baking" - and what followed was another round of binching. I had weighed myself to find myself gained 2 kgs and weighing now back at 52kg!!! But I couldnt resist the good food we had for today - Pandan Chiffon Cake and Bread (Sausage Buns and Char Siew Bau) and doughnuts with icing. Yummilicious. Add to that, we had Fried Bee Hoon courtesy of Sharon.

Thanks to In Chyi, our teacher for the day. She is really good at baking and cooking. She makes wonderful cakes as testemant in the many birthday cakes she has produced thus far. Good on ya In Chyi!

Tessa, Flynn, Max & Bunny

 

This is Tessa and her friend Flynn, whom she calls Baby, coz he is so tiny, but she didnt realise she is that small herself. That Flynn's family dogs Max & Bunny. (I have this tendency to call them Max & Ruby, after that cartoon on ABC).

since it was a great sunny day yesterday (albeit cloudy) with blue skies on a late autumns day, we head out to the park opposite the kinder for some catching up. And I got to know that Caroline (Flynn's mum) does some part time teaching in Graphics Design. 

new toy

finally got the laptop up and running. too tedious for me to fiddle alone, therefore had to send it to JNgu for help - all due credits to him please. He is indeed our IT manager/tech guru/website designer all rolled into one.

i am very pleased with the way it is working now, JNgu got wowed by the biometric feature as well as the Toshiba propriety software which got a tad complicated though for him and some other nitty gritty features. yeap, although it looks nothing like the Macs or the Sony VAIO, according to our friend, he said we look at the inside not the outside. How true can that be. Beauty lies on the inside and not the outside. After , as we all know, beauty is only skin deep.

feeling : pleased
music : madeleine peyroux - careless love
lunch menu : for Tessa who wanted "burgers" - she got it - rice burgers with salmon patties
dinner menu : entree - chicken and sweet corn soup with celery and carrots, main - puff pastry roll with tomato paste, mozarella cheese, parsley flakes and cocktail franks. Theo enjoyed it so much he had 2 big rolls of it!!!

*yawn*

I am tired. very tired indeed. it's the reason why i have gone MIA these few days.

I finally BOUGHT THE LAPTOP. no, not Mac, not Sony either. I landed myself with a Toshiba Satellite A100/4600 from DickSmith Powerhouse. well, not that I like the look of it, in fact, I loathe it. it's nothing like the Mac or even the Sony VAIO ones. But this one is easier on the wallet. Exactly the same features as the Sony VAIO VGNFE15GP model minus the in-built web-cam. and I sure got some good deals from them. that makes me happy, very very happy in fact. this was Friday. I came home besides the laptop, a new set of Panasonic 5.8Ghz cordless phones. The current Uniden WDECT phones interferes with the wireless router we have.

Did a fair bit of shopping and dining out too - Friday night at Chaddy for Jap food, Target, Myers and Borders. Sat and Sun at Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre - Kmart and IKEA. *boring* Only difference is - Sat night was Vietnamese food at Richmond whilst Sunday was TGI Fridays at Jam Factory.

today was stay at home day with home cooked meal - rice, hairygourd soup with dried scallops, chicken bones and pork, mixed vegetables with frankfurts and fishball noodles, salmon patties and spring rolls served on a bed of cucumbers. I still like the Vietnamese way of eating spring rolls with crisp lettuce leaves and Vietnamese mint and the carrot strips in chillied fish sauce. Yummilicious.

boring mum with a boring life in boring melbourne. that's me...ha!

sweet dreams.......