Souvenirs from Bintan

My 3 girlfriends are really sweet to get me these souvenirs when they were in Bintan over the National Day holiday.

This busybody was curious about the newcomers :)

Rainbow Brite

Remember this cartoon character?

A friend asked me to keep a lookout for their stickers if I were to visit Target in US. I didn't manage to but my friend from US visited Singapore recently and got me 2 of these magnet stickers, so that I could pass them to my other friend.

Aren't they lovely? :)

Homecooked meals

I always feel nice and warm eating the food prepared by mom and dad.

Healthy salad

I recently bought some expensive natto bean (fermented soya bean) powder from Isetan Supermarket and have been adding it to my bread by sprinkling over my spread or to my healthy salad. A bit stinky but I like it :)

The wallpaper on my office laptop is

The other photos lining up to be on my desktop are:


I so love my Olympus EPL1 camera. The photos I've taken of the cats, US and Hanoi look fab :)

AVA's Responsible Pet Ownership Art Competition 2010

Casino hotels in Las Vegas

I read the first few paras of an article in ST this morning about casino/gambling in Singapore being given a glamorous image or made more accessible by parents who bring their kids outside the casinos. I read with some interest because of my recent visit to Las Vegas. There is no entrance fee for the casinos in the hotels and there are many slot machines (from 1 penny onwards) and tables for black jack players. However, I wasn't interested at all and didn't even try my luck at any machine/table. It was interesting to observe people of all ages gambling initially but after a while, I just wheeled my friend's baby around in the pram (as babies aren't allowed to be in the area or be stationery). I also wasn't keen to breath in the cigarette smoke air as there is no smoking ban like in Singapore.

I'm definitely not going to pay $100 to enter the casinos in Singapore :)

National Day Celebration in Hanoi

While I was in Hanoi for a meeting, my colleagues and I were invited to join the National Day celebrations at Melia Hotel. There were other Singaporeans as well as people from the diplomatic and business community. I was more interested in admiring the familar stuff.


All these reminded me of home. The cakes, laksa and hainanese chicken, etc. didn't taste as yummy as those back home but it was still a good effort to bring a bit of Singapore flavour to the overseas Singaporeans.

Memories of US trip

I have given myself the challenge of selecting a photo or 2 of the various places to be blogged :)

Monterey Bay & Pebble Beach


San Francisco

Lombart Street


Victorian houses at Alamo Park

Napa Valley

Grapes @ the Castle Winery

San Jose

The dinner prepared by my friend, Jasmine

Las Vegas

Near the Box Office @ The Mirage where we bought our tickets to watch the Cirque du Soleil's Beatles Love. I love the show!


Colourful hot air balloon "floating" at the Bellagio

San Francisco again

The sea lions @ Pier 39

Simple healthy food

After travelling to US and Hanoi the past few weeks, I still think homecook food is the best and I love mom's porridge. She cooked this for me some time back and it never fails to make me feel happy eating it.

Not that I don't love the mexican fastfood and pancakes in Vegas, the dim sum in San Jose, the sustainable fish tacos in San Francisco, the pho in Hanoi, I have to watch my diet. I got to eat my friend, Jasmine's dishes of stir-fried kai lan, steamed fish and baked chicken, etc and it reminded me of the nice homecooked dishes back home :)

Second time in Hanoi

After back from US last Mon, I'm now in Hanoi to attend a meeting with my bosses and colleagues. We arrived around 12.30pm. I was quite happy that I didn't get any headache in US. But earlier, I actually had a dull one. I'm not sure if it was because I was getting hungry or it was rather warm walking around the dusty streets with my colleagues. It could also be due to insufficient sleep last night as I was packing my luggage and clearing some work emails. Luckily I feel better after some welcome dinner and a shower.

I visited Hanoi with a friend in 2005. I remember enjoying the food and art galleries at the Old Quarters, staying in the junk boat at Halong Bay. This afternoon, I felt a bit disappointed by my experience. Perhaps it's because we only explored the area near our hotel and some uninteresting shopping centre (Mustafa is more interesting). Hanoi seems unchanged from 5 years ago.and there are still many motorbikes on the streets.

I am missing home already. Just 3.5 days and I'll be home this Sat evening. :)

Off to US for a holiday!

I'm now @ one of the PC terminals with free internet access @ Changi Airport. After clearing work emails and finishing up the last bit of packing, I only slept from 12.50am till 2.15am. It must be the excitement of going on a long holiday that I didn't feel very tired and I even had the mood and appetite to have a full breakfast of bread, cereal and fruits. Dad was very sweet to wake up early to send me to the airport and even accompanied me from check-in till I entered the departure hall.

I'm looking forward to this 11-day holiday to visit my good friend :) Hopefully when I'm back, I'll have the time to blog about my experience.

Japanese Film Festival 2010

Cute poster for this year's Jap Film Festival. I read the synopsis and watched the trailer for one of the films, Air Doll (R21). Interesting. Mime-Mime and ASYL seem worth watching too. I must check their schedule when it's out.

Terrible Infants

A fascinating musical of short stories about the lives of some strange kids, injecting dark humour and a moral at the end. A little girl made of scraps of fabric. A girl who told tall tales. A boy who was stinky and turn things moldy. A boy who was so quiet and got forgotten by people around him. The lines were witty. Excellent performance by the 5 actors who danced, sang, played various instruments and with the help of props and puppets brought the stories alive. The stories were quirky and at times sad. My sis, friend and I enjoyed the show very much at the Esplanade Recital Studio last Fri evening.

This is their website: http://www.lesenfantsterribles.co.uk/

Cutting my hair short

I had been keeping my hair long for the past few years. Friends and family said I look nice with rebonded hair but I don't want to subject my hair to heat and chemicals. It takes me a long time to dry my hair and in this hot humid weather, it was hot to leave long hair down and I felt the hair band pulling the hair from my scalp when I tied it up.

A week ago, I went to my hairstylist and told her to cut my hair to about an inch below my ears. She commented that looking good is not a priority to me and I want to go natural and use organic hair products. She's right in a way but I think I can still look nice sporting a short hair cut if I bother to style it a bit. Now it's a breeze to dry my hair after a shower. Most friends said my short hair is refreshing but what really matters is I like it :) I will have to put my hair clips and hair band away and I don't think I will need them for a long long time. It also means I have to visit my hairstylist more frequently. This is a right decision I've made this year :)

Bob & Bobby 2

Before I turned 32 last month, it was just Bob.


Sis gave me Bobby 2 as my birthday present.

This is how Bob welcomed Bobby 2 :)


Sis got herself one too that resembles Angel :)

Mini cheese & choc chip buns

I tried a recipe for milk buns a few Sundays ago and improvised by added shredded cheese and chocolate chips. Luckily they turned out quite nice. I would prefer the buns to taste sweeter but the cheese and choc give the plain taste bread a nice touch.

Mommy's special porridge

I feel very happy whenever I eat Mom's porridge. It's simple and full of ingredients, but mom doesn't cook it often, so it's a occasional treat.

Angel behind the curtains

The curtains are one of Angel's favorite hiding places.

I like how he stuck out his paw :)

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 :)