Birthday cake and balloons

Attending my niece's 1 year old birthday party is more of a gathering with my cousins and aunties and uncle. As we watched little kids blowing bubbles by the pool, my cousin, sis and I who are more than 30 years old commented that we are not youngsters anymore :)

Retreat and brunch

This morning, my colleagues and I gathered @ Food for Thought @ Botanic Garden for our department's retreat. It's nice to be away from office at a casual setting and yet have a serious discussion about future work plans and current challenges while drinking and eating.

Dinner and stroll

The food wasn't great but the place was not crowded and we could dine in peace. Before going home, we took a stroll around Punggol Park. There were some cute cats with tipped ear sleeping or strolling too.

The long wait

The one hour wait was tolerable with the company of the Hunger Games book 2 "Catching Fire" and the friendly staff. Before 5pm, one of them went around apologizing for the long wait and gave out these cookies.

24 Mar 2012 = Feel good day

Today is another of those "feel good" days. I managed to scrub the shower area clean, make granola, practise driving, make mom's day less stressful and have yummy Teochew porridge dinner with S :)

DIY granola

After mixing rolled oats, nuts, brown sugar, honey, toasted wheatgerm and oil together and baking them in the oven, I have made granola for my breakfast or snack on certain days :)

Curry leaves and mint

SP gave us a bunch of the herbs she bought from Little India. I have yet to try the curry leaves but have used the mint for tea and in my cheese sandwich :)

Hungry me

Sis said I'm a glutton as I always seem to be hungry even after eating something substantial. Like yesterday, I was feeling peckish around 4pm even though I had Korean rice roll (a bit disappointing as I expected more kick at a price of $8). Agy and I got milo and muffin from the office canteen. For dinner, parents kept aside yummy brown rice with fried egg and asparagus with prawns and mushroom. I gave S a small portion for him to try as I wasn't very hungry after snacking. When we returned home from cat feeding, Sis was cooking her angel hair pasta in tom yam paste with tuna. She offered me some as she may not be able to finish. I added some tomatoes to the salty dish and it was yummy. You see what sis means :)

The Hunger Games

I collected this book and Catching Fire during lunch time on Thurs. I was hooked on it as the storyline is interesting and easy to read For past 2 nights I slept at nearly 1am to devote an hour to read. I read on the bus and train and finished the book last night. I may want to catch the movie at the cinema. I shall give my tired eyes a break before starting on the second book :)

Dinner @ Saizeriya

Even though SP, FR and I have been communicating over whatsapp, Facebook messenger, we have lots to talk about and catch up face-to-face :) Yesterday evening, we shared sautéed spinach and mushroom, chicken gratin and green bean pesto sphaghetti at Saizeriya at City Square Mall.

Knowing Marina Bay Sands a little better

After exploring one part of MBS this afternoon, I now know how to walk from the Casino, past the shops to get to the restaurants at Level 2 above the Casino. If not for work, this information is not useful and of interest to me. It was quite fun and challenging though when I tried to do a simple map/layout.

Comfort food at Millenia Walk

I was considering where to head for lunch on my way to Marina Bay Sands this afternoon. Since I need to change the train at Promenade station, I decided to settle my lunch at Millenia Walk. I remember Cedele and ordered my favorite Beetroot avocado sandwich and a soup.

Spiral staircase

When S and I were sitting and sipping our drinks during lunch time yesterday, I noticed this staircase between Novena Square and Square 2. I wonder what it is for.

Dry Soba with fish

This was lunch for me and sis yesterday. I cooked the last bunch of soba and some pumpkin noodles first, before stir frying the fish slices sprinkled with toast wheat germ and salt and French beans. I added some mirin to the soba to sweeten it a bit but sis would have like the dish better without it. And of course weird me like the mixture of sweet and savoury tastes :)

"Dressing up" on Friday

When there are no events or meetings on Friday, I can wear my fun clothes. Today I carry the bag given by FR and SP and wear this Uniqlo tunic (which becomes a dress paired with a lace trimmed petticoat). I like the small cat prints - a reason why I bought the top :)

Draw Something

When SP asked us to download this app, we have been playing it since last Fri/Sat. It's like pictionary - where you are given 3 different words (of different levels of difficulty and points/coins rewarded) and you choose one word to draw something for your friend guess. Last evening I drew something similar to this picture for FR who guessed correctly. I didn't do a print screen of the original drawing, so I tries to do a quick one for sis to see. Not as cute without the bouquet of red flowers
but I just want to show sis I had fun drawing it :)

Attempt to eat healthily after evening jog

I wanted to have simple oats for my late fibber at 9pm last night at home after jogging with Fion. But since I had these ingredients at home, I had tuna capsicum burger and papaya. Nice :)

Meeting my good friend in Bishan

Another thing that I wanted to do was to catch up with my good friend over drinks and kaya toast :)

Trip to Central Clarke Quay

I'm a little sad that I couldn't get any Japanese books from this 2nd hand book shop, Bookmart @ Central, Clarke Quay, as my Japanese is too atrocious to read and understand the text. I haven't been disciplined to revise them on my own and I don't think I have the time to go back to Ikoma to learn Japanese again. But it's nice knowing that there is a place where one can browse for 2nd hand Japanese and English books (which are in good conditions) and they are affordably priced too.

Trip to Chinatown

I finally could take leave this afternoon. I visited S at his fish stall in Chinatown. I'm impressed by how he neatly displayed his fish and stuff. Lunch was porridge with veggie and chicken at Chinatown Complex food centre. It was quite satisfying and I haven't been there for a few years I think. I bought 2 cups of ginseng chrysanthemum tea from a grouchy uncle and drank it outside S' stall, chatting with him for a short while. Then I hopped over to People's Park Complex to get some lace to lengthen my short dress. I'm happy that I managed to do what I wanted to do for the 1st part of my afternoon leave :)

My dose of vitamin c

The apple slices added a bit of joy to work yesterday morning, while the orange perked me up a little while I was getting ready to leave home for office. Hee.

Oreo is well

Someone asked about Oreo. Here is a fluffy side view of him during breakfast yesterday :)

Couscous with salmon & zucchini

I bought some organic couscous some time back but it has been sitting in the fridge untouched. Last night I thought why not cooked that for lunch today. The cup of couscous is more than enough for me and sis, so I have some yummy leftovers :)

Fat Cat is home

I released Fat Cat back at the void deck last night and he seemed quite scared and walked under the cars in the carpark and to the bushes in the park until I couldn't see him. This morning I am happy to find him at his usual hideout among the bicycles at the void deck. His stitches will be dropping off soon and he has a good appetite. He meowed at me too and I spent a bit of time stroking him before going home.