My room-mate and my pillow

My room-mate will just happily sleep on my pillow without leaving a space for my head. I'll then try to find a space in between his legs against his tummy :)

Talented singer: Inch Chua

After reading about her in today's Straits Times, I visited Youtube to listen to her works. I'm impressed. Here's one of her music videos.

Good Friday weekend and Sis' Birthday

Sis' birthday fell on Good Friday this year. I suggested that we and mom had lunch @ Japanese Dining Sun @ Chijmes.

Angel was lounging on top of the dining table when we were getting ready to leave the house. Mom always said Angel looks kind of sad like he knows we won't be home to be with him.

Dad had to work but he was very sweet to pick us up in his cab. Sis took a photo of him on her Holga :) Our birthday girl was wearing a lovely dress bought from Trove Shop @ Esplanade.

Lovely blue sky and fluffy clouds over @ Chijmes.


Our feast. We were very disciplined and ordered a tofu cheese cake to share :)


After a satisfying lunch, we took the MRT to Bugis and walked to Haji Lane. There are a few interesting shops - Sis and I bought some clothes and accessories :) One of the shops, Dulcetfig has 3 resident ginger cats. We also met a stray cat outside another shop.

Dad met us after his work for dinner @ Army Market.

On Sun, I planned a lunch for all of us @ Imperial Treasures @ ION Orchard. Dad wasn't working and could join us. He doesn't really fancy Jap food too. He had beef and fish slice porridge and all of us shared roast pork (which Mom did like and complained of strong porky smell), chee cheong fun (that came with yummy peanut sauce). Sis had one with roast duck meat tucked inside the rice rolls. A nice plate of fresh Hong Kong kailan. Xiao long bao. The last order was siew mai and I butchered it into smaller pieces and ate with chillies.

After lunch, sis and I brought Mom to Mandarin Gallery, 313 Somerset and Orchard Central. We had some teacakes and teh-si @ Toast Box @ the food court of 313 Somerset, so I only had space for a small bowl of melon soup @ Far East Plaza for dinner after all the good food. I think it was an enjoyable weekend for us :)

Lemongrass - my favorite homemade drink

The ingredients: pandang leaves, lemongrass, ginger, water and rock sugar

I tried to present the drink in an aesthetic manner with the lemongrass :)
But it doesn't really matter when it was just me drinking it.

Feeling sick and well

I felt a bit nauseous while having lunch today. Coupled with a headache, I was a bit worried if I could take good notes for a meeting at 4pm. After visiting the toilet (not to puke fortunately) and laughing about work with my 2 colleagues, I felt better. I even enjoyed the 4pm meeting as my boss and the visitor know each other and it was a light-hearted discussion. I don't look forward to writing the minutes tomorrow morning, but I feel good that I don't feel sick anymore. Maybe it's just the weather - freezing in the office and heatwave when I had to go down to Golden Landmark hotel to send some materials to a visitor. Maybe I haven't been getting enough sleep. Whatever it is, I'm glad I can write this, think clearly and enjoy the rest of the day :)

Shugo Tokumaru's music

Last Mon, I read in the Straits Times' Life!'s article "Dream diary whimsy" about this singer-songwriter, Shugo Tokumaru. Tickets to his show on 19 Mar have been sold out and he said to the journalist that he doesn't think his abstract lyrics (in Jap) make much sense to Jap listeners and he encourages people turning up for his gig to "imagine new scenery, lands, dioramas and lots of different colours". I cut out the article, so that I could google about his music.

Here are 2 of his music videos. Cute animation and really whimsical music. I don't know what he is singing though :)

Yummy brown rice porridge

After all the baking, I didn't feel like making shepherd's pie for lunch today. When Mom suggested cooking brown rice porridge, I was all for it. We put in lots of veggies and Mom wanted sausages, mushroom balls too.


Lunch was a wholesome meal and we had it with some nuts :)

Vegan cake

I tried this recipe for vegan chocolate cake and tweaked it as I had only a bit of cocoa powder left and mix with instant coffee powder. Mom said Dad likes coffee cake. This cake uses canola oil and white vinegar instead of butter and eggs.

I could only smell coffee when the cake was almost done. It didn't have the usual aroma of butter cakes. The cake texture is also softer, when I ate the cake yesterday, it really tasted healthy. Dad tried a bit and said he didn't know what he was eating. Sis said the cake wasn't sweet enough and she won't eat it again. This morning, Mom ate a piece and said it was not bad. I tried it too and it actually tasted much better. I could taste some sweetness and it helps that I have sprinkled lots of chocolate chips and macadamia nuts on top, so I'll be bringing some for my aunties, uncle and cousins to try later :)

Little Tigers @ home

Since it's the start of the Year of the Tiger, I mustn't forget our little Tigers, Angel and Bob.

Sis took some photos of Angel who looked disinterested.


Mom said Bob looks more like a tiger. Sis thinks he looks weird here. I think he's cute :)


He wanted my attention when I was using the PC just now.

Dressing up

Other than wedding dinners and when I'm in the mood, Chinese New Year is another occasion that I will bother to dress up and put on some makeup.

Sis took some photos of me doing so over the weekend :)


Putting on my lip gloss in the car and using the back of my handphone to see my reflection.


Lining my eyes


Rummaging through my pouch containing my creams and makeup stuff. I was in that awkward position as I was half blind and using the toilet seat cover to put my stuff.

I enjoy trying organic makeup. I have been using 100% pure lip gloss which smells fruity and recently I got Sante eyeliner to try. I feel more comfortable too using make-up with no/minimal chemicals, since I have been using organic/natural skin and hair care products for the past few years.

Chinese Reunion Dinner 2010

On Sat (Chinese New Year eve), my family and I had an early reunion dinner with our aunty, uncle and cousins @ Soup Restaurant @ City Square Mall @ 5.15pm. As usual, the first dish was the Yusheng. After the server said all the auspicious words and poured in the sauces, seasoning, etc, we tossed everything before tucking in.

The other dishes included the popular Samsui chicken and this time they included mayonnaise prawn, jellyfish and pork rib. The chicken with garlic sauce still tastes the best.

Baking pizza

I took leave yesterday to help mom to clean the house. I wanted to try making some pizza for our lunch. It was quite simple to do, based on this recipe, but the taste of the pizza is more like a pizza bread, rather than the aromatic thin pizza from Spizza and Timbre. I must try to find that recipe!

Anyway for my first time, I think it was quite a good attempt. Dad ate up 2 small ones. Sis ate the one I made for her without any veggie. Mom only had it this morning and it didn't taste as good as yesterday.

Beautifying my bag

My friend has made Happy Daisies for me and her other friends and surprised us by mailing them to us.

After trying the flower on my hair, my blouse and my bag, I decided that it looks best on my black bag :)

My "new" bags and wallet

Sis was going through her collection of bags and there were some that she decided to throw (as they were flaking) or give away to Salvation Army. I saw a few that she didn't intend to keep and I want them!

They are inexpensive bags but I like their design:

The bag is from this brand, Yin and Yang. I like its striking colours and it looks a bit retro.

Sis bought it from H&M store in Ginza last year. I was eyeing it too but since she bought it, I decided not to buy. How can I let it go when she doesn't want it anymore?

Sis got this Ripcurl from Australia a few years ago. I like the silvery pink colour.

I'm so happy to own these 3 bags. They are still in good condition. I'm just waiting to wear the clothes with the right colours to match with the bags.


My "new" wallet is this Mango wallet that Sis wanted to give away as the button stud on the left side is not working well. She also has other wallets. The black markings from the shape of the buttons look like nipples. Hee. I have been happily using the wallet everyday. It has enough space and compartments to hold all my cards, money, coins and house keys :) Too bad Sis is a size smaller than me or I could have taken over some of her clothes that she had packed yesterday for Salvation Army.