Julie & Julia

A wonderful movie that combines my favourite things in life ... Paris in the 1960s..French language..cooking .. delectable and droolicious food and the adorable Meryl Streep (she is splendid as Julia Child) !

Lose To Win Showreel

http://media.hpb.gov.sg/HOP3/Videos/Lose_to_win/lose_to_win_showreel.wmv

Family Trip to Malacca

Cherish every moments with family ... they are god sent gifts .. = )

Cream Puff & Chicken Pie

Sand trying her hand at making cream puff and it was a great success !

Very good choux pastry, light and fragrant and the custard cream was absolutely yummy...

Here's some chicken pie too that we made... = )

of Flowers & Prince

Love this pic which I took with Gran earlier this evening.Everywhere was bursting with colours and gran is all smiles.of cos, I looked pretty "slim"hiding behind Gran !! Hahaha ..

Photos CAN be deceiving ...

A close up of me and my ladybird which I was not allowed to buy ... whyyyyyyy ....

Sand trying to find her frog prince ...no luck ...hahahaha

My turn !! Puckered lips and puffed up cheeks dun seem to impress... sigh ...

My favourite buys .. for the moment..Heehee

Chanced upon this Jason Mraz CD from Su Lian and totally feel in love with it & had to get one for Travis ! I love all the tracks in this album and have been playing it almost every day for the past 2 weeks ... in the car, in the office , at home .... you get the picture ... = )

So how did Zee Avi come about ? All thanks to Class 95 who played Bitterheart like 5 times within a day and that got me curious as to whose enchanting vocie it was coming thru the airwaves. Not surprisingly, the impulsive buyer in me scooted off to Gramaphone and grabbed a copy and it sure was a great buy cos I love the Jazzy swing and the sound of the ukelele and most importantly, the relaxing and at times cheeky mood...check out the song Kantoi too .. a good mix of Malayu & English...= )

My new lunch bag. Another impulsive buy but it is really cheap (excuses...hahaha).

Happiness Is Seeing Belle's Pee & Poo

Okie, I know the title sounds weird but really, spotting Belle's pool of pee and poo just makes my heart skips with joy cos it means the supplement is getting into her body .. = )

You see, Belle's health has deteriorated quite rapidly over the past year and she is slowly losing her sight , hair , weight and her back limps are probably developing arthritis (symptoms of old age) which means she can't support her own weight and and topple over after standing for a period of time. At times, we will find her lying on her side struggling to get up helplessly and it totally breaks my heart. What is most worrying of cos is that she will not be able to reach her pellets and water source and will die of exhaustion with all that struggle

So I brought her to the vet earlier this month and it is very devastating to hear that I should be preparing to let her move on if she were to stop eating altogether. Being the stubborn me, I refused to consider that option yet and strongly believed that Belle is a fighter.

For a guinea pig that is plagued with all sorts of illness and handicap since young, to be able to live till 7yrs old is indeed remarkable. The live span of a GP is usually 5 - 7 yrs or even 10 yrs if well taken care of . I mean like how many piggies can survive through 7 injections to get rid of mites (dunno why she got that from) , 3 general anesthesia to trim molars (when GA is dangerous for small animals) and countless visits to the vet . Belle is such a darling ... = )

So these days, I have started to handfeed her with Oxbow Critical Care, a nutritous mix, twice a day to supplement her diet in the event that she is unable to get up and reach her pellets.Hopefully this will make her limbs stronger and prevents her from toppling over which currently happens quite often. In fact, I will wake up at least 2 - 3 times per night just to check that she is doing fine but more often than not, I will see her lying by her side

Here's a typical pic of belle standing but this is a pretty awkward position as her back limbs are angular and her back is arched. Then again this is a reassuring situation cos it means she is accessing to her pellets.

This is the Oxbow Critical Care that I have to syringe Belle on a daily basis.

This is not a flattering shot of her ..hahaha .. looking all dishevelled and spunky.

Her eyes are almost white now due to cataracts.

Canon Powershot Seminar on 16 May 09

Attended the Canon Powershot Seminar on Sat at Raffles City Atrium Ballroom on Sat and learnt quite a bit on photography and more importantly rekindled my interest in exploring my canon powershot.Hahaha ...

The guest speakers were Mary Bukom (she was the host too), Jino Lee (Canon Expert), Thomas Ong (Photography Enthusiast) and Dr Leslie Tay (Food Blogger).

Here's some pics of the Seminar.

Some tips on photgraphy ...

An attempt by Dr Leslie Tay


A shot for the album ..

At the end of the sharing by the speakers, we had a chance to mingle with them to seek more advice on photography and their experience with their canon powershot.

My fav will definitely be Thomas Ong (not cos he is read cute ok) but becos he is real.He did not put on any airs and was very earnest trying to help when posed questions on the functionality of the camera. What's more, there were no fake slang, in fact he sprouted mandarin and even hokkein in his presentation ... damn hilarious ...

I spoke to Mary Bukom and Dr Leslie too but found them pretty superficial and probably was more interested to impress others rather than share on their experiences.

Happy Mother's Day !

Buffet lunch at Novotel Hotel

Emotions

Err ... I tried my best .... = P

Love Boat ?

There I was wandering aimlessly onboard the cruise, looking for something which even I, myself have no idea of ... thinking and wishing ....

And that's when I spot him hiding in a little corner ... could it be ... is it real ??

My heart skipped a beat when he turned to present me with the big cuddley cushion ... so sweet ....is cupid finally shining on me ??

I gleefully grabbed the present and held it close to my heart ...=)

I snuggled up to him to strike a conversation but he looked away shyly ....awww




So I waited ... and waited ... and waited ....

Qing Ming 2009

I survived Business Mandarin Level 1 ..YooHoo !

Yup, after 5 weeks of rushing down to 新加坡中华总商管理学院for evening classes twice a week, I have Finally completed Module 1 of Business Mandarin !为我的成就而骄傲!hehehe

On reflection, I really did enjoy myself tremendously (imagine, I did not even skip a single class and we are talking abt my most hatred subject in sch ! *gasp*) and it helped that the teacher and classmates were such a fun loving bunch so lessons flew by with all that fun and laughter in class.

I can't say that I am proficient to converse in Mandarin now but at the very least, I am a lot more confident of business terms (surprisingly I could actually recognise a lot of the terms though my writing sucks..hahaha) and have a deeper understanding of the Business Culture & Etiquette in China.

So here's the course content:

• Meet people and Introduction (Super tongue tight man )
• Meet client and Arrange entertainment ( 董,总,秘书长,省长etc baffles me)
• Basic Banquet Etiquette and Convention (My Fav!!敬词,劝酒)
• Schedule and Gift (送礼 is an art)
• Deal with the Differences, Choose the Topic carefully
• Recruitment
• Presentation and Application of Numbers (十百千万亿兆)
• Phone Call, E-mail and Official Document

Out of my class of 12 participants, almost 75% of them will probably continue with Module 2 which starts next week.

For me, though I would love to join them, I think I really need to revise and brush up on my Chinese first cos Module 2 requires a lot more writing and reading...= (

Our Family Pic

Taken in a studio on 27 Jan 09 looking all set to welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Ox-picious start to 2009

Have been battling the dreaded sore throat,cough and flu bug(the works) for almost a week and the worst thing is thatI have yet to start on the new year goodies!All the pineapple tarts, sugee cookies, kueh lapis ...

Throughout the few days of feasting, all I could do was stare at the spread before me and take photos (how sad right).But strangly enough, I still DID NOT lose any weight.. sigh...

Hopefully I will recover by tomorrow else my weekends are so gonna be burnt!!

Pineapple Tart Frenzy

I was on the verge of giving up baking pineapple tarts (after trying 2 different recipes) when I chanced upon a winning formula from my colleague ..yippee!!

Only problem now is how to make them look prettier!!Hahaha..

My first try was pretty ok but lack the milky taste to it so that failed my own test. The second try was by following a recipe on the Sunday Times and it was really bland ... Dad even had to suggest spreading peanut butter on it (to make it more edible???!!) ...

So it was with much anticipation that I embarked on my third (and final) try and lo & behold, it turned out to be what I like ..the melt in your mouth texture...yummy...

Ok, I admit, I cheated.I had to "bug" my colleague to ask her mum for the recipe after tasting one of her yummy pineapple tarts...hehehe

Watching them is a joy ...
What else can you do while waiting right ? Pose lor...hehehe

My not-so-round pineapple tarts

I love these 贺词 ... fun!

一帆风顺、

二龙腾飞、

三羊开泰、

四季平安、

五福临门、

六六大顺、

七星高照、

八方来财、

九九同心、

十全十美、

百事亨通、

千事吉祥、

万事如意!!!

I am a trainer's nightmare

Have you ever attended a training and came out of the class totally dumbfounded ?Well it was exactly how I felt today after Day 1 of training. Granted, it was an enjoyable session, trainer was pretty eloquent and engaging,but I was struggling real hard to make the connection between what was taught and the course objectives. Tek boleh match sia ...sigh ....

I "endured" all the way till the end of the class before I could no longer hold my horses and charged ... err... strolled cooly more likely, to the trainer, flashed my innocent grin and then went for the kill ...muahahaha ..and said, "After an entire day of training, I am still UNABLE to see the connection of the content with the OBJECTIVEs ....blah blah blah ....as HR (though me participant only) need to ensure that money is well invested in effective course with real application ...blah blah blah .... "

This obviously was kind of a shocker to the trainer cos by that time, all of his other "students" have gleefully scooted out of the room (of cos what, ended at 5pm),except this joker.

So the next 10 min was spent trying to flip through the handbook (which was like not used 90% of the time while teaching)to show me where the course objective was and trying his level best to convince me of the indirect linkage of all that was taught.

At the end of our conversation, I was none wiser and even more pissed (which resulted in this entry) with the far fetch concept that was presented.

Maybe it is an occupational hazard (to constantly evaluate trainers), maybe it is just me with my high expectations , or maybe , probably maybe, the trainer just happen to be "suay" to meet me with my Monday Blues .

One takeaway though .. I am an ENTP type under MBTI profile ....will that give a clue why I am such a nightmare ?hahahaa

Black Forest Gateau for Mum's Birthday

My first attempt at baking a Black Forest Cake for Mum's Birthday.

Though it is not visible in the photo, there are layers of cherries and cream in between which is the most difficult part to do ...hehehe..


I do hope that it will turn out yummy .... = )

Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcake

After my success with the Chocolate Chip Muffins, I decided I HAD to buy the same series of cookbook but this time round, it was cupcakes and I finally bought it 2 days back!

So it was with great enthusiaism that I gathered all my ingredients and started work on what SEEMED to be one of the easiest recipe.. the Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcake. I mean, how difficult can it be right, just squeeze some lemon juice, throw in some lemon rind and hey presto, my cupcake is done!

I was soooooo wrong !!!What started out as a quick baking therapy soon became a test of preserverance as I squeeze and grated and mixed and cooked and whipped and beat into a 3.5hr marathon.Yes, exactly! I must be out of my mind and what's more incredulous was that I started at 10.30pm and ended at 2am (hahaha... told you I was mad)

So, here are the fruit of my labour (pardon the amateurish look yah ).. The Lemon Meringue Cupcake！！！