All things happen for a reason

An act of stupidity led to a fracture in my right foot. It wasn't a small crack and to think i managed to limp around a whole week before i had it properly diagnosed & put in a cast- quite amazing.

Anyway, i thought the whole process of going to the A&E Dept, having the foot casted & being pushed around in a wheelchair rather fun....heehee. Afterall, it's a first in 30 years but of course, i hope it's the last time too.

Oh yeah, my 2nd trip to hospital earned me a record MC for 2 weeks (the first visit about 5 yrs ago got me 1 week). Not bad at all, though i don't really enjoy wearing a cast for this long. Sigh. On the other hand, this gave me reason to slow down (literally) & take a step back in life. i get to spend time at home, rest more and most importantly, the opportunity to declutter and clear the backlog at work - i feel the stress at work lift off already. For the past half a year or more, work has been crazy. As the work piled up faster than i could clear them, the stress level rose too. I wanted a break but can never find a better time to go on leave. Well, this incident actually gave me the solution. Not a bad thing at all, sans aching armpits.

As i always think: all things happen for a reason. Either you see it or you don't. When things appear to go wrong, we start blaming ourselves and everyone else or getting all stressed up over it and thinking it's the end of the world. No good. What seems bad may not be bad, really. So, it's important to learn to take a step back and discover/ observe the good things that it will lead to, instead of just the bad stuff. There's 2 sides to a coin - always choose the brighter side. Helps to keep one happy and wrinkle-free - so important now.

Beautiful Sunday

Went to watch the (free) PAYCO concert at esplanade this afternoon with Runying & yes, being a FREE concert, it was full house. Even the stall seats behind the stage were occupied-i dun remember having this big an audience before or did we? I realised I've not been to the concert hall for a very long time - I dun even remember when was the last time I've been to the concert hall - was it as an audience or performer?

Yellow Envelope's crowning glory is quite impressively, looking shampoo-ad glossy (swish, swish) - no signs of balding yet. The revolting Watermelon is still there, yucks. Anyway, seeing the kids play just bring back fond memories & I still miss the days of playing music together with da gang. I wish we'll somehow have a chance to play together again but STEEL, I'm very glad that we are all still very good frens. :)

Celebrations -days of no work & all play. Yay!!

Finally, it's come to the last month of the year. For the first time, I'm really glad for Christmas to be here cuz work has been sooooo busy lately & I'm sorely missing the slack days at work when I can FB (& youtube even). Arrggh. Then suddenly from the Monday before Christmas, the number of emails just dropped to a low and I began to feel some peace & quiet coming back to my life again. Oh yeah, & only then I start to feel some Christmas cheer..lalallalalalaaaa....... Shall enjoy while it lasts!!


"Wish Upon A Star" Party. We went overboard with stars!



No, the picture is not upside down, the tree is.



Tang Yuan day. The mini ones are cute! They remind me of the ones we will make during the PAYCO camps. When there are leftovers, we'll always play games & stuff ourselves silly with tangyuans as forfeits.

Christmas Day at latest hangout place- pool on the roof @ Celestia

Went White Rabbit @ Dempsey. Nice place with gigantic tables & chairs. Too bad there was a wedding held indoors so we were restricted to outdoor seats. Didn't get to see how it looked inside. But anyway, I liked the souffle with apricots, almost finished the entire thing myself. Hmmm, on second thots, not so sure if it's really dat nice or cuz I haven't had souffle for a long time :-p

How high is your threshold for stupidity?

I realised I have a low tolerance level for stupidity so if i suddenly have an heart attack, you should know why.

i do nothing but eat

Yet another month passed with nothing much accomplished except if you count trying out new food places..........?!

RAKUZEN
Had put together a last-minute hen party for our dear fren who's getting married soon. Not so much of a hen party but more like a treat for her. Went for foot massage + foot spa (shiok!), followed by dinner at a new restaurant - RakuZen @ Millenia Walk. Not sure how new it was, but it was the first time i came across it. It is located at where Sushi Tei used to be and we later found out that it's affliated to Sushi Tei. Quality of food is pretty good n its got nice decor :)

Sashimi, yum!



We love our greens.



Scallop & salmon Carpacio


Chawanmushi


Fierce-looking dragon-roll


Xinyi's yakiniku don


Anqi's garlic rice - simple but delicious all the same!


Kushiyaki -Asparagus with pork -- it's not very clear but the dish's more asparagus than pork actually.



AFTERNOON TEA AT AXIS LOUNGE & BAR -ORIENTAL MANDARIN
Met up with Daphne, Rachel & Cindy for our once-in-along-while gathering. Chose the place mostly cuz the price was decent for the selection (S$20++ for single portion & $32++ for 2 to share) and that I've not tried it before. It was a nice place to laze n gather for a catch-up session with a view of marina bay. I wun consider the view breath-taking cuz afterall, it's just on the 4th floor but still nice - especially when it started pouring so heavily till the buildings in CBD became just blurred outlines - there's a nice cosy feeling to just be sitting indoors watching the rain - ready to zzzzzz......

Here's pixs of our food:

The spread


An additional tray of mini pastries - 2 quiches and 1 chicken puff - good for the hungry souls who come to tea without lunch.



Overall, the variety is good but the food is so-so only. Just like with Melt next-door, i think cakes & sweets are not Oriental's strength. Only a couple of them are good, the rest are average. Another thing i didn't like was that, other than the savoury stuff, the sweet stuff all came in single pieces. So if you are sharing a set, you either had to fight for what you like to eat or spend half the time trying to get your friend to take the piece and her trying to do the same. End result: you both decide to share and risk making a mess out of the cakes as you try to half them when they are already such tiny pieces to begin with.

Think it's nicer there at nite though in terms of view and mood. Shall go back another day. Happy hour comes with complimentary tapas, anyone?

With a Pinch of Salt

Met up for dinner with the Payco gang for an early celebration of Uncle Lun's bday. Grace suggested a nice little cafe along Tanjong Katong Road. Food is pretty alright and prices are reasonable too. Mrs Dory Garlic-Crusted, Sir Tenderloin, Squid Ink Risotto are definitely worth trying. My Lamb Monsieur was not that nice but then again to be fair, not many places do lamb well.
Dessert choice was rather limited - Choco Lava - a form of warm choc cake with ice-cream, was about the only thing that looks appetising enough to order and it didn't disappoint. Overall, I think the place is nice enough for me to go back & try out the other dishes. & I so like the decor of the place, cute!

Check out their website: http://www.withapinchofsalt.com.sg/

薑母茶!!!

Sis jus came back from her Taiwan trip and among the stuff she brought back. I was highly amused by this:




Always saw this drink in the show, 命中注定我愛你 but never really thought they really sell it. It tastes quite nice too, the ginger taste is not over-powering. In fact, its rather sweet cuz the base is brown sugar with dried longans & red dates. Brought some to our "tea party" cum "sisters' gathering" yesterday and the gals loved it. For those who wants to know where to get it, here's the addresses of the different branches across Taiwan. the first address is the one located in Taipei:



Sis also got me some Jay Chou postcards when she visited the Mr J restaurant.











I thought the packaging was much nicer than the postcards it held. Still, it was a nice momento. :)