29 Aug 2009 (Fri) - Cooking and 7th Month Dinner

My body is aching from the luge rides yesterday... yes... got to admit I am old... luge rides alone can cause bodyaches...

Melvin whipped up these dishes on 2 occasions... pasta sauce was made from scratch... yummy!

Chicken & Mushrooms Penne

Roasted Chicken & Corn with Mushroom Sauce + Baked Beans

Potatoes, Asparagus, Golden Mushroom, Egg Salad... my all-time favourite!

Spring chicken tasted more tender than the bigger chicken...

White Chocolate and Rasins Cookies... we used pre-mixed cookie mix that we bought from NTUC.



Lunar 7th Month Dinner with family at Yan Palace

I have been joining these dinners hosted by the "Thung Clan" for the past few years... but this year I didn't mange to bid any of the lucky items that I want successfully... The other people were counter-bidding and raised the prices to above my budget. We were given angbaos which consisted of Big Sweep Coupons... wished me luck lah!

My 4th uncle bidded for the Prosperous Rice Bucket at S$380...

My 5th uncle got this Sony TV for my cousins...

I will share the pictures taken yesterday at Sentosa soon!

I L.O.V.E SATURDAYS!

24 Aug 2009 (Mon) - Pictures

Monday is such a drag... but I will not whine about it lah... cause it won't change the fact that it's another Monday yet again....

Pictures of my lovely cousins... and they have grown taller again:

Dinner at my colleague's place with her house-mates:


Pictures are not in order... us drinking vodka after dinner!

One of us was a "new kid on the block" at the drinking scene... guess which one?!

We had pasta, stirred fried chicken...

Followed by birthday lunch for "L__ Angel" at Secret Recipe:

Have a good week ahead!

21 Aug 2009 (Fri) - 88 Pictures

Pictures taken at lunch today:

14 Aug 2009 (Fri) - Genesis

Have you heard of Karin Slaughter?

Or I should rephrase… Have you read her novels before?

I, a ‘mountain tortoise’, only came upon one of her books “Genesis” at Page One in Vivocity for the 1st time about 2 weeks ago… enticed by the picture of a bloody handcuff on the cover (yes, I am sort of a pervert)… I picked the book up and read the summary on the story and the reviews given by the critics…




The first woman was tortured
The second was scared to death
Now the sadistic killer hunts for the third

“Brilliantly Chilling” - heat

Now… for those who know me well… I totally love thriller/ horror/ crime stories.. I especially like to read about dark evil characters - serial killers with minds so twisted that will put Satan to shame. What had actually prompt or push these people to perform such despicable acts of madness?.. I enjoy the explorations into human minds.

Most of the times, they will blame it on some kind of genetic disorder plus bad childhood.

I don’t exactly have a good childhood, but I never have to urge to kill.. so I believe genetic disorder has to be one of the main contributing factors. Personally, I think the country that you are residing at also plays a huge part… these sadistic, soulless perverts can only act out these brutal tortures in a country where land is aplenty.. You will need lots of space, a basement, no neighbor within 10km right? In Singapore, it is almost impossible lah…

I’m getting distracted again…

Well, the aim of this post is to share with you on what a brilliant writer Karin Slaughter is. I have only completed 3 chapters but I am absolutely impressed! She has given depth to each of the main characters, her descriptions of the crime scenes are so vivid… the flow of the story… from one scene to the next.. and how the story unfolds chapter after chapter, are just plain AMAZING.

It is almost like watching a movie… Yes, she is that detailed.

You have to be really talented, creative and expressive to be able to narrate the way she did… totally deserving the title of “The No.1 Best Seller Author”. She is almost as good as Thomas Harris, the author of Silence of the Lamb series.

To be fair, I am planning to read another of her books and I will tell you then… if she deserves to be in the same distinguished category as Thomas Harris…

Sharing with you 1 sentence from the book:

“Needles or straight pins” Pete guessed, “He pierced her eyeballs at least a dozen times.”

Till then… Happy, Merry, Jolly weekend!

12 Aug 2009 (Wed) - Perfect Week

I am feeling good! One of the main reasons is because we only have to work 4 days this week. I know I have said this previously, but honestly, bosses should seriously considerate a 4-day work week. Besides the Sat & Sun weekend break, I will definitely benefit from a Wed midweek day off too!

We can try to squeeze in all the tasks and meetings in the 4 work days… There should not be any pay cut as productivity will increase for sure... a well-rested staff = higher productivity. The management can also saved 20% on their electricity & phone bills… They can too have more rest… which means happy bosses = less stressful environment for the staff!

Win-Win situation lah!

I should pen a note to the management…. Or maybe not?!

I wanted to have a drink last Fri… so Melvin and I went to The Pump Room at Clarke Quay. It’s not my first time there… but it was the first time I am trying out their food. Super good ok!

Half full or Half empty... you decide...

He was having their Roasted Spring Chicken with french beans and baked potatoes... and he was complimenting the food all throughout the dinner!

I was having the Fisherman Basket which consists of Deep-fried 6 Prawns, 2 Scallops and 1 Crabcake with thick french fries... my personal favourite is the crabcake and Melvin liked the prawns.

The beer was going at 1 for 1 if you order before 8pm... total bill for the dinner was ~S$65...

Verdict: Must try!

We went shopping on Sun and took these pictures while waiting for our Chicken Rice:

I trying the "oh-so-innocent" look... not bad hor! Better than "act cute" picture with the peace sign on Fri dinner.... Hahahaha!

I want to blog about the book that I am currently reading... maybe in the next post.

Till then, have a great week.

06 Aug 2009 (Thu) - Freak

It must be my genes or maybe bad karma, but I always attract weirdoes.

Meeting dramatic people or having bizarre events happening to me is part and parcel of my life.

I see no direct link between my behavior and these people/ events leh…

The most recent episode is just so fucking hilarious that I have just got to share it with you:

I was at a mini job fair in Suntec last Friday… well my company is thinking of hiring a couple of sales people and we were on a lookout of suitable candidates for these positions. To our disappointment, the crowd… ahem… or should say the lack of crowd… was pathetic. There were less than 20 Poly students scattered around the 8 stations (desks). Most of them have not even graduated… well… just plain pathetic. We stayed at our booth for a total of 15min (~2pm) and figured it might be more productive to go back to office and work.

At 4.30pm, I got a call from a certain Mr. Loh… the conversation went something like this:

LohZL: Hello, I am Loh ZL.. calling with regards to the vacancy advertisement.
Me: Yes, we are hiring so you may want to email us your resume.
Loh ZL: Ok… may I know how many days will it take for you to reply on my application ah?
Me: Maybe 3 days…
Loh ZL: Then how many applications have you received so far?
Me: Not many, why don’t you email me your application?
Loh ZL: Orh… It will be good for me to know… how many people have you interviewed?
Me: Just send me your application.
Loh ZL: Ok…

So I got his resume around 5pm on Friday evening… and I did send him a courtesy email to let him that I have received and will review his application. His CV was subsequently disseminated to relevant dept…

And before we could gauge if he is/ isn’t suitable for any of the positions… I got his call at 10.30am on Monday morning:

Loh ZL: Hello, I am Loh ZL..
Me: Yes…
Loh ZL: Ah… as it has been 3 days already… I am calling to check on…
Me: Hello!... 3 working days ok… We are close on Sat and Sun.
Loh ZL: Orh… 3 working days ah… Can I know how many people have applied so far huh?
Me: We will call you once you have been shortlisted.
Loh ZL: But it will be good for me to know my chances… and to know how competitive it is…
Me: Pls do not be over anxious. We promise to call if you have been shortlisted.

And you thought that this will be the end of the employment saga… Nope… cause in the afternoon (~3pm)…. I received a call from a he/she with an usually high pitch voice:

Jenny: Hello, this is Jenny… I have sent in my application…
Me: Hi Jenny, I did not receive your resume so you might want to resend. (thinking to myself – this girl really sound weird!)
Jenny: May I know how many working days will it take for you to reply to me??
Me: Around 3 working days… (scratching my head)
Jenny: By the way, how many people have applied for this position?
Me: Just send in your resume and we will call you if you have been shortlisted for an interview.

By the end of the conversation, I was 80% sure that this “Jenny” is Mr. Loh in disguise!

And by the end of Monday, when I still did not get any email from “Jenny”, I was 100% sure that it was him all along! FREAK!

I was on the phone on Tuesday morning and my colleague helped me answered one of my calls… After I hung up on my call, my colleague came to me with a sober face… for a minute, I thought there were some complaints from customers again.

Mari: Eileen, I answered your call while you were on the line… there is a very strange girl…
Me: Is it Jenny?
Mari: Yeah.. she asked many questions on how many candidates there is… are there more than 10 applications etc. when I told her that I wasn’t sure…

All I can say that not only this Mr. Loh/ Jenny is weird… but he/ she is desperate too.

Go figure it out.

03 Aug 2009 (Mon) - FRIENDS!

It had been quite awhile since I last get together with friends to eat, drink and be merry. With work, family and a baby (not me, I meant my friends), it seems almost impossible to confirm on a day to meet. Ok, it was partially my fault too… postponing dinners because I was always sick.

But I did finally manage to meet all my dear friends in the past couple of weeks after all!

It was good… I really enjoyed the chats and laughing over silly things… I always think that the missing piece in my life is a baby… but on 2nd thought, that piece might just be FRIENDS!

1) Teck and Jeslyn are expecting their baby in Sep/ Oct. EXCITING, but do I get to be the god-ma or not?? BTW, I do not understand why Waraku East Coast is always crowded… but I would only give a 5/10 for the food and ambience. We got a table right outside the VIP room where the patrons will have to remove their shoes before stepping into their Japan Tatami styled room. So we were dining with 30 pairs of shoes scattered around us. How’s that for GROSS?

2) I hated my ex-boss but working there at ___ (I can’t drop names as suing people is his hobby)… I got to know some of the best and funniest people around! GH, DT, SL, RL, we should meet up more often leh! For a drink? Or shopping at ION? I will let you guys decide.

3) It was kind of last minute, but I was invited by one of my colleagues (VC) last Friday for homemade dinner. It was an all-ladies dinner… was served delicious tomato-based pasta and stir-dried oyster sauce chicken. Surprisingly good given that they had less than 2 hours to prepare and cook. We brought ice-cream and had vodka to end the lovely evening… should definitely do this more often!