Friends, lunch and dresses

I am on leave today since I have about 10 day from last year to clear. I met 2 girlfriends for Japanese buffet lunch at Chiso Zanmai at Central Clarke Quay. At around $20 per person, it's quite worth it for the selection (without sashimi) and free flow of drinks. We had a good catch up before R and I went to hunt for a shop at Pickering Street. I bought 2 dresses at $49+ while R got 1 :)

Shopping and lunch with parents

Yesterday late morning, I drove to an estate in Ang Mo Kio with parents, as mom has been telling me that a stall at the food centre sells cheap and nice shoes and I thought I should visit it soon. I like a few designs and bought 2 pairs :) Lunch was roast chicken and iced cheng teng at the food centre.

Shopping therapy during lunch time

I managed to squeeze some time to buy the clothes last Mon and the shoes today. Both on Monday, I have just realised. The clothes cost me less than $70, but the "Sixties" shop at Wisma Atria doesn't allow trying. All 3 fit me quite well when I tried them at home. I couldn't get the colours I wanted for the 2 pairs of shoes, but I still bought them at less than $60. I hope they will be gentle to my feet and not bite them.

My new pair of white shoes

I got them at a bargain during lunch time today. @ $19! The original price was more than $100 and the only available size is US9. Although the left shoe is a little bigger than my foot, they fit my feet quite well. After walking around the shop @ Velocity Novena in them for a few minutes, I decided to buy them. Even the cashier was surprised at the discounted price. I'll find an auspicious day to start wearing them :)

Lunchtime shopping

After getting some organic skincare stuff for sis and myself from
Bud Cosmetics at Square 2, I walked over to United Square to check out the Cold Storage. I was contemplating which cereal to get for my breakfast over the next few weeks. The Waitrose ones are value for money, being a kg each while Nature's Path weighs 311g for almost $10 but it has interesting ingredients - bananas, almonds and green tea! I've tried the waitrose berries cereal before and it wasn't too bad. I shall get one of them after I finish my meal.

Shopping in Brunei

My colleague and I managed to find a gem in the unspectacular shopping mall next to the hotel. The shop is called Hotwind and owned by a pair of sibling (brother and sister) and their female co-partner who also is the fashion consultant and was recommending clothes for us to try. She could figure out the clothes my colleague likes, as she is more adventurous in her dressing.

We had only a few pockets of 30 mins on Thurs and Fri in between meetings and meals to go to the shop 3 times to try the clothes and buy them. These are only about a third of what I had bought. I took a photo of them on Thur night :)

I can only wear most of them on weekends though. Some of them cost $10 to 15 each. A few are in the range of $20 to $30. The most expensive one was almost $100 as it was a reject from a brand. Importantly, I'm happy with them :)

Shoes investment

I like the 2 pairs of shoes I bought recently.

The first pair from this brand "Terra Plana" was bought at Barefoot shop at Orchard Ion. It cost me $159 but I'm happy with the purchase for being environmentally friendly (eg. recycled leather). The right shoe pinched my foot a little when I wore it the first time but subsequently, they feel comfortable.

The 2nd pair is Vibram Fivefingers. I read about it on a friend's blog, checked out online reviews and asked another friend how she feels wearing the shoes. I tried them @ Outdoor Life @ Velocity @ Novena Square and they felt comfortable. There was a 10% discount for cash payments and I got the shoes at $179. I walked in them for a few nights, when feeding the cats. When I jogged in them for the first time @ Botanic Gardens, I got blisters on the inner side of my feet. I rectified that when I wore them a week later by wearing my toe socks. My back leg muscles ached quite a bit and I felt good after the jog and best of all, my knees didn't ache :)

Visiting supermarkets

Nowadays I find it unsatisfying to shop for clothes, shoes, etc as I can't find anything I like or fit me. But food is another thing. I enjoy browsing in supermarkets and I can usually leave with some fruits, baking ingredients or organic stuff.

A visit to ThreeSixty at Ion Orchard more than a week ago got me a cheese bagel (tasted alright), organic dark chocolate bar with chilli and organic dark chocolate with blueberries. I have eaten a few pieces of the blueberry choc in between a slice of bread on 2 mornings. An unusual way of eating choc but I get part of my breakfast with some dessert to start the day. I recently tried the chilli choc - it's really spicy, but not to the extent of burning your tongue. Mom doesn't like it and return the rest of the piece for me to savour :)

Yay! Blogger seems to be working alright for me to post this :)

Cooking and shopping therapy

Recently, I have been interested in using the stove instead of the oven.

I cooked this bowl of instant noodles with lots of veggies and mushrooms, using the satchet of Japanese fish stock my friend gave me. I don't think it's super yummy but I felt comforted to eat something I cooked myself.

After eating at this E-Sarn Thai Restaurant at Sixth Avenue a few times, I keep thinking of their warm lemongrass drink. The other day, I accompanied Mom to the veggie stall and also got some lemongrass stalks and pandang leaves.

I have managed to brew 2 pots of lemongrass pandang drink added with a little ground ginger (I think fresh ginger slice will be better) and rock sugar.

It's refreshing but I lack some secret ingredient, sp it doesn't taste as great as E-Sarn's one.

I like Japanese food and recently have been checking out the Japanese section for their sauces and stuff. Mom and I enjoy reading Urban's supplement to see what Jap food this writer will recommend. The other day, she featured this sesame nutty salad cream and I managed to find one without the nuts at Cold Storage Great World.
I tried it thinly spread on a slice of bread. It's really salty as it has salted egg york and tastes like Bromil/Mamite. Mom has used it on some apple chunks and veggies to make her version of Rojak.

I also bought some Japanese nuts (cheesy ones, sesame and brown sugar walnuts) a few weeks ago from Isetan Scotts supermarket and ate them with blueberries as a snack on Fri afternoon.

Yesterday, after our Japanese class, Flying Raisin and I headed for the Isetan Scotts supermarket to browse. I bought the cream sauce that FR has tried on her soba. The Urban writer has also recommended this miso paste with green chilli but it was sold out at the supermarket, so I bought the sesame miso paste that sounds good. There was also a demo/sampling counter of some Japanese soba but I was more interested in checking out some fish stock satchets stacked at the racks there. I got a small pack of 6 satchets (the less salty version) when I saw that the satchets looked like the ones my friend gave me.


Today, I used the fish stock to cook my udon soup with mushrooms, coriander, spring onions and pumpkin (that Mom steamed earlier and was quite soft).
The nice aroma of the fish stock (really not overly salty) and the veggies and the sweetness of the pumpkin made me drink up all the soup.

Sis also tried the sesame miso paste for her dry instant noodle and fried egg - she finds the taste on the sweet side but still nice.

I still miss baking but I find that it takes a long time in times of preparation and baking and the past few times, the stuff I baked just don't turn out right. I hope to find time again to bake cookies and cakes. I have some recipe that involves ground ginger and I still have chocolates waiting for me to use them for my baking :)

Shopping for cat stuff

For the past few weeks I realise I enjoy shopping for food, treats and toys for the cats.

Recently I got Angel and Bob some toys from this pet shop called Sundreams at Far East Shopping Centre. The lady there is friendly. I have also bought a scratching board for Bob, wet food imported from Japan for him and Angel. The wet food will be a weekly/fortnightly treats for them. I also bought this pet grass to see if I can grow them for the 2 of them and the community cats to eat.

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 :)

Nice family outing

We visited Ikea @ Tampines for the first time yesterday afternoon. My friend Joan warned that it will be crowded on weekends. Luckily it wasn't too bad yesterday. There were a number of empty lots in the carpark and the crowd was manageable. Sis was looking for a wardrobe but she just recorded the product specification and number on a paper as she said she doesn't want us to say that she is being impulsive. Haha. Mum and Sis also asked me to get a chest of drawers as mine is really old. I told them I can still live with mine. Maybe I will invest in a good one a few years down the road if I'm going to be a confirmed single :)

We bought a blanket (for me), fruit bowl, wooden planks (Dad will DIY and do some shelves to put the cat food in the kitchen), wooden hangers (for sis), cheerful pink shower curtains. The cafe was not as crowded as I thought. I was almost drooling at people eating the Swedish meatballs and chicken wings and eyeing at others eating their takeaway ice cream and hot dogs. But I must curb my hunger for a more yummy dinner. Sis suggested going somewhere for BBQ stingray. I rattled a few places like East Coast Park Food centre, Changi Village and Old Airport Road Food Centre. In the end, Old Airport won.


I ordered the fried fish bee hoon soup
as it was my choice of food for dinner when I used to learn tennis with Fion and Lee Choon nearby. Mum had seafood soup from the same stall
as her stomach had been feeling unsettled after she ate my healthy chocolate mousse. (Hee. I hope my friends didn't have the same problem. I feel alright eating that on Fri and even eating it this morning with banana).

We all tried the kangkong (without sambal)

and BBQ stingray
which were Sis' main course. Not bad. Dad ate fried kuay teow.
I found it a bit too sweet.

Mum ordered steamed tapioca with coconut flakes.

After so much food, I could only stare at the bananas hanging at the goreng pisang stall
as there was no more space in my stomach. It was a good dinner and I really enjoyed it as it had been a long time since we last ate out at an inaccessible place as a family. Sis commented that I looked a bit crazy beaming away at the end of the dinner. Hee.

Outing with Agatha & Tin Hang

I met Agatha and Tin Hang around 3plus pm at International Plaza, so that I could bring them to Baroccoco to shop for clothes :) I bought 4 tops, a pair of pants and a skirts @ $159 as the shop is having sales. This is my 3rd visit since Nov last year and the shop lady and her assistant recognise me and remember my name. I like their service and they are not pushy. And of course I like their range of clothes. Not all are my style but I can find some pieces I like.

After a fruitful shopping experience, we went to the Coffee Bean downstair to have our hot drinks while Tin Hang had his milk. We have some funny experiences in the toilet of International Plaza (Tin Hang pooed) and on the way to Tanjong Pagar MRT station (I carryed the stroller with our 2 shopping bags down the long flight of stairs) before we window shopped at Raffles City.

For dinner, we had sandwich sets and shared carrot walnut cake. Agatha gave Tin Hang some small pieces of bread and cake and he happily lapped them up. He smiled for my camera. So adorable :)