Saturday, December 29, 2007

Christmas gifts

I've been lavishly loved this Christmas. I must say i'm a lucky lucky girl. Christmas this year i've been showered with expensive gifts by 2 boys i love very much. *wink*

From the boyfriend:

When i took a picture of this I kinda promised myself that i would not post this up on my blog. So i don't come off like a little princess spoilt by her prince charming. So i don't make other girls jealous. So i don't seem like i'm showing off.

But i must say i do feel very much spoilt and pampered and immensely grateful. So, yea, don't be embarrassed by me k, dennis? hehe...I really could not ask for more.

From the big brother:

Timex Women's Ironman Triathlon Sleek

I've been running without a proper stop watch for some time now. Because mine broke and i somehow could not save up enough to buy a new one. It's not that I have problems keeping my cash. I just have problems with my priorities. :) Anyway, thanks the the generosity of my brother, I didn't have to spend a dime!

But alas, the first day with this and i sprained my ankle 3 kms into my run. haha....

Friday, December 28, 2007

Phuket Day 4





Day 4 was the last day. I was pretty drained from sleep deprivation and non stop touring. we played in the beach for the 2nd and last time. we rented a car and drove to town (which was dead...on a Sunday...weird). We went to Wat Chalong which is one of their more famous buddhist temples. Then we went to Promthep Cape. Which is the best, more gorgeous place in the whole of Phuket. It's the southern most point of Phuket, so it was a sunset viewing bay. Gorgeous.

thus ends the Phuket adventure. Missing it like crazy. :)

See also Phuket Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Phuket Day 3






Day 3 was spent at James Bond Island. This time around we had a tour guide with us, and he was quite a guy. He was an avid traveler and backpacker, so i had a good chat with him about his adventures (and misadventures). I personally liked this tour better than the PhiPhi island tour. There was more to do for this one.

At night we had dinner at a barbecue steamboat buffet. What started of as harmless friendly dining became a vicious game of scissors paper stone, whereby the loser eats a raw egg. 3 matches were played between steven and i. I ate 2 eggs. haha...

Read also Phuket Part 1 & Part 2

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

catching up

let's put the rest of Phuket on hold for a bit. it's time to catch up.

i've been travelling quite a bit of late, which explains the long absence. i was in Singapore from 20th December till 22nd December. Went there with my family, to fetch my brother on the 22nd, at 3 am in the morning. then we jet straight off to Fraser's Hill, stopping in Subang for a few hours to rest. I of course slept most of the way. :)

Fraser's Hill was quite an experience. For one, it was the first time in a long long time the family tree was 99% complete. For another, we ate in Ye Olde Smokehouse for dinner, where the food came really late, the service was less than satisfactory, so was the food, and the electricity tripped like a gazillion times. And finally, the place we stayed in wasn't the cleanest place in town. but, the company was good. :)

Christmas eve was spent back here with Dennis. Christmas eve was awesome. Dennis met pretty much the entire maternal side of my family. I really do wonder what I've done to deserve him.

Dennis, you're amazing.

Christmas saw me at the Acts Church christmas play. They're really good. My hat's off to the production crew. In the afternoon was the yearly Christmas treat by Uncle Peter. Food was truly scrumptious! turkey and shepard's pies are slices of heaven. :)

it's 5.22 am. yup...feels like the festive season alright. :)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Phuket part 2

Day 2 saw us up at 5-ish 6 in the morning to join the Phi Phi Island tour. We went snorkelling, which i honestly did not like very much. Fish aren't my favourite living things unfortunately. They're meant to be on my plate, deep fried or steamed. :) At night we took the liberty of watching a live Thai kick boxing match. quite an eye opener! Feast your eyes...


see also Phuket Part 1

phuket part 1

The Phuket trip was amazing. i never imagined having so much fun and peace and serenity and comfort in a place that is so amazingly gorgeous. words mean nothing. so check out the pics k?

Phuket Day 1
water in Phuket (1) tastes funny and (2) is dirt cheap
first meal we had in Phuket was Thai food at Hemingway's



we paid for this shot...and they aren't even that good looking...

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I'm a grad!

click for larger image

that's 2 credits and a pass. not the best. not MY best. but when u slog through a 3 year course u do not particularly enjoy, it becomes more than a chore by the time u hit the 6th semester. so i'm happy. with the amount of effort that i put in, this is better than i expected. :)

I'm a GRADUATE!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

prawn pasta and oreo cheesecake

nothing says yummmm better than simple pasta with prawns and mushrooms sautéed (this is my new favourite word whenever the topic of cooking arises) lightly with virgin oil, garlic and minced meat. and to top it off, oreo cheesecake for dessert. 100% made by moi. :)

i cooked for the secondary school bunch last night, also a table of 7, and it was almost flawless. the pasta lacked a bit of taste, but nothing a sprinkle of salt couldn't fix.

no broken plates. no hot oil scalding. no negative feedback.

:)

p/s: i should take photos of the food next time. and of the satisfied stuffed faces. hahaha...

Thursday, December 06, 2007

trying to be the woman of the house

ever since my parents left for Kuilin on Sunday I've taken on a whole different persona around the house. It was as if my mind had suddenly switched to woman-of-the-house mode, being in charge of everything, overseeing anything that comes and goes within the 4 walls.

i walk around the house and pick up things and put them back into place. i bring in the mail. i sweep the floor. i make sure my brother mops the floor. i straighten floor mats. i check the water dispenser. i make my brother fill up the water dispenser. i wash, hang and dry, bring in and fold the clothes. i rise in the morning with minimal help of an alarm. i shut and lock all windows and doors at night. i arrange things on tables and counters. i straighten up the sofa cushions. and i cook.

now now, don't need to drop jaws. i may not have in-born culinary sense but i have cooked edible decent meals before, none of which i've heard any complaints from my victims. but they were always simple dishes, which require minimal use of pots and pans. and they may have lacked a little taste and finesse but they aren't all that bad.

today i decided to be brave. i invited my friends over for dinner. i cooked, for 7 people, chicken chop with mashed potatoes and fries. sounds like a mouthful rather than a handful, but believe you me, i am exhausted.

i marinated the chicken chop myself. and i sautéed (learned a new word today) it. but it turned black waaaaay too fast resulting in me removing them from the pan before the insides were cooked. thank God for microwave ovens.

i boiled and mashed my own potatoes with butter, mayo and salt. this was pretty good actually. i didn't have a masher, so i worked up quite a sweat with 2 forks and a spoon.

fries were deep fried. they were...well fries...so yea...was alright.

the gravy, i made myself too. it smelled amazing as it was simmering. i threw in chicken stock, garlic, button mushrooms, oyster sauce, some other stuff i can't quite remember. i kinda remixed 2-3 different recipes. here's where it went wrong. recipes showed chicken stock in ml while my chicken stock concentrate was in gms. thus it was hard for me to gauge. which resulted in me using waaaaaay too much. in the end, you could rub salt into every square centimetre of your tongue and it'd still taste less salty than my gravy. it was that insane. which was a pity coz i didn't get to eat my mushrooms.

and...i broke 2 plates. from microwave heating.

so yea...today i cooked for a table of 7. cleaning up after was a chore.

i think i'll stick to running.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

thoughts

u crossed my mind today
when i woke up in the morning
it got me smiling
sent my head a spinning
sent my heart a racing

u crossed my mind today
when i was walking around the store
i looked n stared at the floor
so others never saw
the radiance from every pore

u crossed my mind today
when i sat in front of the tv
my thoughts were far from reality
the strength drained from my knees
i wished u were there with me

u crossed my mind tonight
as i sit here by my computer
thinking of words that sound better
remembering times spent together
hoping the next time would come sooner

u crossed my mind tonight
and i can never be more true
all my thoughts today were thoughts of you
wondering if i crossed yours too...

Sunday, December 02, 2007

and so it came

THe Ultimate Prom Nite was shown LIVE on 8TV last night from 11pm to 12 am and yours truly, in all her grace and poise, dressed in diamonds and stilletos and fake eye lashes, had to topple off a stair on stage. classic. :)

anyway, the entire prom night was great. we all arrived in a limo, pair by pair. i came in first with Chay. Riding in a limo is pretty magical, even if we sat in it for like a minute tops. we had the typical red carpet treatment whereby we step out of the limo and were greeted by flashing lights. then we move on over to a photo booth, so to speak where a tonne of other cameras were snapping away. talk about living the celebrity life! and all these were projected on big screens within the hall for all to see.

the first time i was on stage itself, i almost tripped doing a twirl with Chay. uhuh....3 inch heels...no joke. :)

the show only went live from 11 pm. i was nervous as hell, anticipating what kind of question i'd have to answer. lucky for me, mine wasn't too hard. i think the rest of the night went pretty well. i could see all my friends and family. friends from college were there, friends from school were there. friends ive not seen in AGES were there. felt really touched. :)

so did i win? sadly, no. but it's been a journey i didn't regret taking. it was an experience i'd never forget. would i go through it again? mm...maybe, maybe not. there were a lot of moments whereby i felt so out of place that i thought i'd made a mistake. so, yea, i'd think twice. :)

winner was Amanda and Reagan. i have...no comments. watch it here to see for yourself. :)