Comfort food

After parting from my friends @ Raffles City, while I was on the way home, I had the urge of cooking porridge for my dinner. Dad had earlier asked whether I would like him to keep some chicken rice he would be getting from Boon Tong Kee. I told him I didn't feel like having oily meaty stuff after the roti prata lunch.

I called Mum to help me to soak the rice first and thaw the minced pork. It was no surprise that Mum already started cooking the rice in the rice cooker. As my craving for porridge was so last minute, I cooked the half frozen pork in the rice cooker, added sesame oil, pepper, soya sauce. The porridge was then poured into a plate of coriander.

Mum and Dad asked why I didn't want to take away food on the way home but I wanted home-cooked food and porridge is the easiest and fastest to prepare. I was also thinking of the hearty steamboat dinner last night.

It was sheer bliss when I ate the hot porridge :) Mum said it looks unappetitising but it tastes like heaven to me!

Another birthday present

I met my good friend, Jasmine and her good friend, Clara for tea @ Coffee Club at Raffles City in the afternoon. Jasmine gave me this encyclopedia on cats which has nice photos of cats and the different breeds.

We talked about work, our lives, etc. over 2 hours. It was my first time meeting Clara after hearing Jasmine mentioning her in the past. I hope I can meet these 2 lovely girls soon over tea again :)

Jasper adapting

For the 1st time, Jasper greeted me with her cries when I walked towards the shelter in the park. On weekday mornings, mum has not seen Jasper around in the park. I also had not seen her on weekend mornings. This could mean she is feeling more at home in the park and not hiding during the day. Jasper ate some food before her owner walked the dog in the park.

Her owner also expressed her surprise as this was also her first time seeing Jasper appearing in the daytime. She didn't come very near to where I was feeding the other community cats as she didn't want the cats to be scared by her dog. She settled on a stone bench and Jasper and her dog played with each other like old friends. When she and the dog left, I think Jasper tried to follow (I didn't really notice as I was busy feeding the others).

When I was leaving the shelter, Jasper came out of the bush where she was hiding and started crying until I gave her my attention and stroked her. I gave her some food which she ate a little before she went behind the bushes again. Poor cat must have accepted that her human friends would leave her eventually after the food and hugs. Luckily the community cats seem to accept her and didn't chase her away. Now we have 2 black cats in the park.

Pip, our baby :)

So chubby and adorable when she sleeps.

An evening of great company, food and laughter

I spent my late afternoon and evening with my friends, BB, Agatha and Agatha's son, Tin Hang. We first went to the supermarket to get some food for our dinner steamboat before heading to Agatha's place.

Tin Hang entertained us at times with his cute dance moves when Nat King Cole was singing or the CD on some classic Cuban music was playing. He would shuffle his feet, do tap dance, clap his hands and spin. I find it very funny that Tin Hang loves to spin and many spins he did till he looked giddy. I laughed so much :)
Our steamboat dinner was yummy. Agatha made a dip of one egg, chill and chilli oil and soya saurce. I made one myself too and all the stuff dipped in it tasted super great. It was a satisfying meal and the 2 boys, Tin Hang and BB really stuffed themselves. Tin Hang had a super big tummy after dinner.

Mango pudding

Sis bought 2 mango puddings from Crystal Jade for me and mum. I didn't think it would taste good. But after hearing mum raving about it, I decided to give the pudding a chance. With the evaporated milk/full cream milk poured over it, I like the combination of the soft mango bits and pudding with the milk.

I love our community cats!

I enjoy taking photos of the cats and capture their endearing looks.

Shadow is quite aloof at times and only allows us to stroke her when she's in the mood.

White Cat can be quite clingy and playful at times but he is one of the sweetest cats. A few times, he and Bush won't see eye to eye and will start to growl @ each other. The trick is to sprinkle some water at them and they will not proceed to anything more violent. Sterilisation has made White's coat look better and he is more gentle too. Here's White in different poses:


As you see from the number of photos I took of White, he likes to look at us, into the camera.

Shadow and Fat Cat don't really care for the camera.

I caught White Neck with his mouth wide open. So cute!

White Neck was getting into his morning nap....
zzzzz
I couldn't resist giving him a head massage

The end of his short nap and he was wide awake again.

Bush has a voracious appetite and will go for a few rounds of dry cat food.
After a heavy meal, he will move to a quiet corner to rest.
Just now he was frightened by something I didn't see and jumped.
After that scare, he settled down again.

I hate cockroaches!

I can't stand them! Mosquitoes too as they love to bite me.

If a cockroach flies into the house or my room and my parents are around, sis and I would quickly ask them to catch the insect. Not too long ago, I had to face the creep alone as everyone was asleep. I don't dare to use parents' method of just using a small plastic bag as a glove to catch the creep and tie up the bag and throw the bag and creep down the rubbish chute. So I had to use a roll up newspaper and hit the creep until it stopped moving. The worst part was having to dispose the body.

While feeding Noisy at the void deck, mum and I saw corpses of cockroaches as our area was fumigated yesterday. Disgusting!

Birthday card

This is the only birthday card I have received this year. I'm happy to receive birthday wishes from my friends through paperless means (smses, emails, comments on my blog, phone call). Regardless of whatever form, it's the thought that counts. It was a surprise when my friend gave me this card and wrote wise words on the inside. I agree with him that growing older means we have more experiences, learn from them and become a better person.

Birthday leave

One of the benefits of working for this organisation is birthday leave. It's an unrecorded leave and to be taken any day from a week before the birthday to a week after.

Before meeting my good friend, Huijuan in town, I decided to look for one of the cat feeders working in a daycare centre for the disabled near the park. She and her colleague have been feeding the cats in the late afternoon and most of the time they do not clear the food away. This is littering and residents who see the mess near the carpark or the park may complain to the town council or even think it's the work of me and my parents. I managed to find her in the centre and talk to her. She seemed reasonable and happy to know that we have been feeding the cats in the morning and afternoon. It was strange that she forgot we are doing that as I once met her, talked to her and even gave her Cat Welfare Society's brochure on Responsible feeding. Maybe I look different from the last time. I told her if she's busy and can't wait for the cats to finish eating, she doesn't need to feed as we feed them twice a day. I hope the gentle reminder and me personally talking to her will improve the situation.

Huijuan and I had lunch @ Food Republic @ Wisma Atria. We shared pork floss toast, otah toast from Toast Box, tea and coffee and some dim sum. We like the condensed milk with the pork floss.

We walked around Orchard Road and a few hours later, tried ice cream on cone @ Island Creamery stall near Cold Storage @ Centrepoint. We love the taste of this flavor - Revers O. Not very sweet, chocolatey and rich! $2.50 for a single scoop and I think it's worth the money. Too bad I have no photo to show you. I know where to go when I have ice cream craving :)

We also hopped over to Central, a new mall near Clarke Quay MRT station. I bought a pair of shoes and a dress. Both shops offer discount and I spent less than $70 in total.

We decided to walk to Liang Court to have our dinner @ Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant. Huijuan brought me there a few years ago and we liked the food there. We made the right choice today of revisiting it. We shared the agedashi toufu.

The portion is quite huge. She had her favorite tori karage set

while I ate chicken porridge. The broth is tasty, quite salty but nice!

The price of our food is quite reasonable. All these (after 20% discount during happy hours - 5.30 to 7pm) cost $28plus. We also saw Japanese people having their dinner there, so the food must be quite good and authentic.

Our day off from work passed so quickly. I enjoy spending time with Huijuan and I think she feels the same way too :)

Sis' gifts from Melbourne

Sis was back from Melbourne last night. She seems happy with the trip which is her first long vacation and she said it makes her feel like going for more overseas holidays.

She bought lots of chocolate for us and friends. Koko Black is considered an expensive chocolate brand and she got a few of their products. Mountain tortoise me have not heard of it before.

Sis also bought lots of girly stuff such as:

• Bags for herself, mum and me. My bag is handmade and she gave me a cute cat purse too.

• Lip balms. I got to choose 2! Pink lemonade and apple flavours. Yum!

• Accessories - bangles, earrings and necklaces. Mine is the first necklace. Groovy, right? :)
  

Parents @ Sun with Moon

After completing the cat mission, I had the mood to go out yesterday, so I decided to treat Mum and Dad to Sun with Moon Japanese Restaurant @ Wheelock Place. We were upgraded to a small private room at no extra charge and the rest of the restaurant was packed and I had earlier made a reservation.

As usual, I wanted to try something different. I ordered some Tokyo bento set lunch

as it looks interesting and parents can share the mini dishes with me.
salmon sashimi, roe, avocado roll (left) and unagi (right)
avocado and mango sushi (left) and some beancurd skin and stra w mushroom (right)
(clockwise from left corner) fried toufu (with interesting flour coating which reminds me of some Japanese snack), torikarage (deep fried chicken), tamago (sweet egg), fruity crab salad

Dad likes the beef sirloin steak and fried rice set he tried the last time

while mum had tempura with toufu salad.


I'm happy that they enjoyed the food as much as me.
Sis was probably feasting in Melbourne too at that time :)

My set comes with green tea ice cream with red bean paste topping instead of mini fruit platter.
Mum finds it too sweet.
We had iced milk tea to end the meal

while Dad went for the thick nice coffee.

Carpark

White Neck has been hanging around the carpark near the park instead of going to the park the past few days. We wonder why. I would think a park is a nicer place to rest as compared to smelling the fumes and petrol from cars.

Turning 29

Yep, today is my birthday. No big celebration for me or rather none at all. Yesterday, I was happy to receive some smses and even a phone call from my good friends. Joan and Lee Choon are very sweet to give me little gifts. A foldable shopping bag from Joan which is useful now that we are encouraged to bring our own bag and also a cat bookmark. Lee Choon gave me stickers with my name printed on them.

Mom and Dad both gave me red packets this morning. Sis and more friends sms me birthday wishes. As I grow older, I just want my family, good friends and community cats happy and be able to spend quality time with all these great people.

Dad bought nasi lemak for lunch at Mum's suggestion. I seldom eat that and I feel satisfied with every mouthful of sweet spicy belachan cilli with coconut rice, ikan bilis and fish.