Bob and chinese new year goodies

Baking and cooking on Chinese New Year Day 1

Mom cooked her chicken curry as usual. I decided to make shepherd pie and coffee choc chip butter cake yesterday.

I spent the afternoon preparing the ingredients and mixing for both the pie and cake at the same time.


Under the potato pumpkin crust are stir fried ham, spinach, carrot and mushroom soup.


The shepherd pie turned out well but the centre of the cake was not well baked and I had to rebake it. Luckily it still tastes yummy :)


So yesterday's dinner was mom's curry, my pie followed by my cake as dessert.

Reunion dinner 2011

Like last year, we had our reunion dinner with our aunties, uncle and cousins @ Soup Restaurant. My favorite dish is the Samsui chicken.

Happy lunar new year!

A lomo photo of a pretty decoration in City Square Mall. I had reunion dinner with my family and relatives @ 5.30pm earlier.

Learning to drive a manual car

After taking basic driving theory test a decade ago, I finally decided to enroll for driving lessons at the driving school in Ubi. My first 2 lessons on Tues and this morning was under the guidance of the same instructor coincidentally. He taught me the basics and got me to drive round the circuit and do right & left turns after demonstrating. I am still not good in braking smoothly - I either clutched in too slowly (causing the engine to stall) or braked too hard (jerking the car). It has been fun though :)

Siberian cub?

Bob likes to check out the inside of Angel's cage if we forget to close the door. The cage houses Angel's food tray and toilet which will be placed in the room with Angel when Bob is out.

When Bob refused to get out of Angel's cage, we just closed the door and he protested :)

Waiting @ the polyclinic

Mom has gone for a blood test and downed a orangey glucose drink. She'll have to go for another blood test @ 10.40am. I have my iphone and jap notes to entertain myself while mom has me :)

"Never let me go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

My eyes feel tired and it is partly due to me reading for a few hours till bedtime (midnight) the past few nights. I was excited to get hooked on "Never let me go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I don't read as much as I like and I'm picky. This could be the only book I read in the last 6 months, I think. I can't even remember the last book I read. Hee.

I couldn't stop reading the book after flipping the first few pages, so I tried to read as much as I can on the bus and train to and from office and at night. It is not a happy story. I didn't cry but I do feel a little sad for Kath, Tommy and Ruth who had to fend for themselves and in the end had their hopes dashed. Even after they all came together and cleared the misunderstandings, it seemed that they had to accept their fate which was something bigger than themselves. There are some unanswered questions. Maybe the movie (starring Carey Mulligan of "An Education" and Keira Knightley) can help me understand better.

I've found a few good reviews on the book and the movie, but they are a bit of a spoiler:

• Guardian
• New York Times
• Sydney Morning Herald
• movie review
  

Soup in a mug

Parents will save my dinner of rice and other dishes in a stainless steel bowl with a cover. Today, they put the soup in this new mug. Dinner is yummy as always and I enjoy every morsel of food :)

Beautiful ring made by Sis

Sis spent her past weekends poring over this ring and a few other pieces. With her magic hands and help of her tools, she put the stones n silver clay together into lovely jewelry. She doesn't intend to make any to sell and enjoys doing for herself, me and her close friends. I'm happy to wear them :)

Sniffing & bonding

Bob smells like a baby sometimes, as he gets hugs from us and we wear fresh clothes, body moisturizer or perfume.

I am usually very chatty when with family, friends and fellow humans. Alone with Bob in my room, I sometimes do a monologue and usually just stroke him, massage him or stare into his eyes in silence. At times, I wonder what my friend is thinking. He is very attached to me and I think I care for him like a mother for her child.

Finger drawing

A drawing using the free Handwriting app from http://www.cocoabox.com. It's not easy - I had to delete the strokes and redoing them for about 15 mins until I'm satisfied with the overall look.

Waiting @ bus interchange

I shall see how long I can last in taking lomo photos of my shoes. Hee. It's interesting to see how the original colours morph into a different shade. Waiting is also more bearable.

Dressing for cool weather and freezing air con

Sometimes dressing up for work cheers me up a bit. Today I wore some stocking leggings and a wool-like dress as I was helping out in a meeting and didn't feel like wearing my black jacket. I couldn't resist taking a lomo photo of my shoes during lunch break in the meeting room. Hee.

Dolls

I don't collect dolls or play with them but I do find those collected by my friend pretty. I like the clothes she has sewn and the hats she has crocheted and the make-up she put on their face too.

Admire them at Simply Peaceable and you can also find out more about them on her blog.

Lomo photos of my shoes and foot

I took the following photos using the free lomo app for my iPhone camera:


Sitting and waiting in Grand Hyatt


Standing in MRT


Bob staring @ my foot :)

Weekend with Bob, food and iphone

Bob trying to get a space next to my laptop

Yummy braised duck and the usual assortment of egg, pork and tau pok from this Ah Seng stall at Serangoon Garden Food Centre - I don't usually like to eat duck but I love this dish from this stall. The chilli sauce is great too.

My Japanese teacher was very sweet to give us some chocolates from her recent trip to Osaka.

Brunch at Hua Mui Coffeeshop in JB. I should have ordered their Hainanese chicken chop or toast (which seemed to be popular items with the customers), instead of seafood beehoon. The ice lemon tea was not bad.

I like the view outside the window.

Dinner at Tanjong Pagar Train Station after we took the train. The chapati with mutton curry and the gado gado were quite yummy.

As I'm blogging this, Bob is snuggled next to my leg :)

Bob studying Japanese

Bob likes being included in some of my activities, including learning Japanese :)

Angel on the bed

Sis thinks it's amazing that parents are alright with Angel sleeping on their bed but I guess this is love :)

AVA's Responsible Pet Ownership EZlink sticker

I had stuck the sticker onto my EZlink card. Good thing sis noticed the AVA collaterals hanging on the railings of the NEL train or I won't have the lovely sticker on my card.

Notice @ home

I quickly wrote and drew it on a rough piece of paper, so that Dad would not switch off the computer that morning. Sis had to send some files via digidelivery and the PC had to run overnight. Sis was quite amused that I bothered to draw some cartoons below the message.

cooking therapy

I had recently cooked brown rice porridge for myself and parents on 2 occasions. The porridge was full of fish (for Mom after her op) and veggies.


Another time I cooked chasoba with fish and spring onion and coriander for mom and myself.


Last Sun, I cooked fish and pumpkin porridge for myself. It was yummy :) and I felt satisfied eating a healthy meal.

Angel looking good :)

Bye to worry for Mom and Bob

The past 2 months had been stressful, worrying and tiring. Mom suddenly had a lump appearing on her right neck. After numerous visits to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and ENT Clinic, Mom went for a day surgery for the strange lump to be removed and the doctor told us the good news that it was not cancer. About a month ago, Bob was limping and became well after we took him to the vet.

I'm so glad Mom and Bob are well. Of course, there are still stress from work and preparation for my Jap exam on 5 Dec but a big load is off my mind :)