Exams' over, here comes the celebration! (Birthday part 1)

So, exams were over and I'm back to blogging! Dunno what happened to blogger lately but most of my pics are not reflected on my blog! Tried linking the pics also cannot! Haiz...

Anyway, I had a rather hectic semester and the revision part almost killed me. Had to memorise so much chemical pathways and names that I wanted to give up. At one point, I even confided in my mum that I will never ever further my studies after I graduate. This is enough! Sometimes, I really wonder what's exam for. Wouldn't school life be more enjoyable if we can take out the exam component. Of course, being a teacher, I can't share this with my students LOL.

Yesterday after exam, my classmates and I went for steamboat at nex. After which, we went for a karaoke session at Partyworld. You had no idea how happy I was. I felt so liberated that I was singing my lungs out! It was very sweet of them to buy me two slices of cakes to celebrate my birthday in advance. Well, that's what friends are for right.

I also received a piece of good news from des that he got a room at Equarius so there will be more celebration coming up with him and my family, swimming and a nice dinner! Oh, and not to forget the present he got for me, it is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful that I can't bear to wear out. And and, it seems like a birthday culture to watch twilight every year during my birthday. We are going to catch the last installment next mon and I can't wait! I am hyperventilating as I type this as I really look forward to a weekend of fun after two torturous weeks of non-stop mugging!

Will be back with more updates!

Lulu and Mimi

School started and so far, I'm adjusting well to it. Not going to talk about school since nothing interesting has happened but I have something new to share. 

I have two new pets! 

Well, it started recently when I was waiting for des at NEX after school. With time to spare, I went to the Pet Safari and saw them selling many small bloated goldfish! They are pearlscale goldfish and very adorable and pretty! Their unique characteristics are the bloated belly due to their enlarged bladder and the pearllike scales!

Pic taken from wikipedia

pic credits to HNLim of myfishforum

So cute right!?!? Like little "fishballs" swimming in the pail. 

Anyway, I tried having normal goldfish as pets before and they were hard to take care and died a few days later. But, I really wanted to try again. I love goldfish.

So, I got some advice from bro and he encouraged me to buy ranchus instead of pearlscale as pearlscale are more vulnerable. Furthermore, I went to the fish shop and their pearlscale goldfish are not as pretty as the ones sold at pet safari.

Some background info on Ranchu:

Like pearlscale, ranchu is another fanciful breed of goldfish. In the olden days, the Chinese royals reared them in their garden ponds. Up till today, they are reared for competitions where ranchus will compete to see which has the nicest and brightest colour and nicest pattern on their back and tail. The unique characteristics are the arched back and butterflylike tail.

After much consideration, I settled for two ranchus. Let me introduce you to Lulu and Mimi!

Lulu is the one with orange and white pattern and Mimi is the one with the overall orange pattern. 

Hopefully, with proper care, they will survive longer than my previous goldfish. Only then, I will consider if I want to add more fish to the tank!

Family Portraits 2012

Sis suggested taking a new family portrait outdoor since bro is very much into photography now and he has all the gadgets needed. Hence, we decided on a few Singapore landmarks that we thought we can take some pictures without having security chasing us, random people who walked in from the tripod and yet with a gorgeous backdrop for our pictures. We finalised on Botanic Garden and Marina Bay Waterfront.

Here are the pictures:

Taken at Singapore Botanic Garden while waiting for sis to arrive. It was raining outside.

Lucas's fav action! Bang bang!

  After the rain, it was so humid and so we moved on to the next location.

July Updates

Last day of July and I'll be receiving August in less than 3 hours' time. 

One and a half week left to my long break and I must say, this has been a very fulfilling break. I accomplished so much in these three months than what I have accomplished in my past holiday breaks. 

Things that I have done:

1. Travelled to China (Yunnan), Malaysia (KL, Penang and soon Redang) 

2. Baked pineapple tarts which were well-received (thanks people!) and butter cakes

3. Read 5 storybooks

4. Spent lots of time with my family (esp mum and ah fat Lucas and des)

5. Visited Equarius Hotel

6. Tried so many new restaurants

7. Re-established my online CD business (musicrelic.blogspot.com) which has such good traffic everyday thanks to those crazy hifi fanatics! LOL

8. Learnt a lot about my father's past hobby (music appreciation and hifi system)

9. Made new friends (old uncles who are also my customers)

10. Completed two cross-stitch projects

11. Packed my cupboard and also reorganised our stationery shelves

12. In the process of painting my house

13. Helping out in a 'project'

The list can go on and on but these are the stuff that are more significant to me. Anyway, I am also looking forward to the start of the new semester and the challenges ahead after a good rest.

Foodhunting (1)

Some things that I have been getting up to lately...

To be honest, nothing much beside meeting up friends, family and my bf. Most of the time, the meetings will revolve around food. In fact, some of our meetings were actually food hunting. Haha... 

So, shall let the pictures do the talking!

Food hunt 1: Food for Thought (At Singapore Botanic Garden)

I like the BBQ pull pork burger! Not a fan of burger because I don't really like beef patty and I thought most burgers have beef. This dish totally changed my mindset and showed me that burger and pork can be a good combination! The fries were crispy too. As for des's pesto pan-fried burgundy fish with ratatouille, it was bland and nothing impressionable. 

Also tried the hazelnut chocolate cake and red velvet cake. Both were too sweet especially the red velvet cake. I wouldn't recommend the desserts. Overall, the place attracts lots of customers as it is a great place for brunch for park lovers!

Food hunt 2: Fullhouse Cafe (theme restaurant at Rendezvous Grand Hotel)

Met up with the girls for dinner at Fullhouse as it was a theme restaurant which was kind of interesting. Basically, the restaurant is like a house of a family (you can read more about the restaurant from the website) with its many rooms converted into different parts of the restaurant (party room for drinks, living room for main course etc.). And since the place is well-decorated, it also serves as a great place for phototaking. 

The healthier chicken dish I have ever tasted. So bland that it makes me wonder what the tomato cream sauce was there for. Oh and they added a xiao bai cai which is not fully cooked. I felt as though I skipped my dinner.

Honestly, I think the food was terrible. Somehow, they compromised the food quality for decorations and I felt a little cheated. The food are not reasonably-priced too. Not going back.

Food hunt 3: Royal China (Raffles Hotel)

Heard so much about Royal China and it made me wonder why I took so long to try their dim sum. My sis recommended the restaurant for the ambience, saying that the place looked lovely with its Tiffany-blue interior and white furniture. Ladyironchef (food blogger) voted it as one of the best dim sum places around. Beatrice the blogger said it was her favourite dim sum place so how can I not try? I love dim sum and know what I'm looking for in good dim sum and so I asked my girlfriends to try the dim sum with me to see if they bloggers were right.

Pics taken outside the restaurant with the murals of Raffles Hotel

Guess what? The bloggers are so right! This is definitely a great place for dim sum as the food are tasty! I love the har gau (prawn dumplings) as the skin is not too thick and the prawns are fresh. Left the place very satisfied with the food but disappointed with the service. I just wish that during my next visit, I will not be served by the manager who will get all my orders wrong. Definitely bringing my family back to try the dim sum.

Food hunt 4: Curry House Coco Ichibanya (Bugis +)

From the name, you can roughly tell that this is probably a sister restaurant of Ichiban.This restaurant serves just curry rice and the options are pretty simple. Just like how the Japanese love their curry rice plain and simple, this menu offers either one or two ingredients that you can add to the curry and rice. Straightforward but yummy. You also get to customise the spice level of the curry, portion of rice and decide if you want to top up to add some garnishes.

Met up with Joan and she tried the katsu curry rice with cheese while I opted for the same one without cheese. The typical Japanese curry is slightly sweet and thick but I find the ones at Coco not too sweet, possibly an attempt to suit the local taste. If I'm looking for a simple dinner, I'll most likely go back to Coco. :)

Food hunt 5: So bad that I can't remember the name of the restaurant except it has a Japanese warrior as the symbol (112 Katong)

Honestly, I think Japanese-Italian fusion is a bad bad idea. Nothing tastes good. For cream-based pasta, the base was too watery and creamy (something which I hate). For tomato-based pasta, I think the base I cook is soooooooo much better. Nothing bad about the pizza except the restaurant used frozen prawns so the prawns taste rather fake. Worst of all, service was poor.

Food hunt 6: Spizza at East Coast (Near Five Star Hainanese chicken rice stall)

We have been going to 112 Katong pretty often the past two weeks are and since Katong has many awesome and interesting restaurants, it just made us keep going back. Saw this Italian restaurant the first weekend we went and des was craving for some good pasta (other than Ambush which is the place we frequent). We reached there at 5.30pm and the restaurant only opened at 6pm. We were too hungry so gave it a miss instead. Today, we went back to try the famous pizza and also the pasta which is customised to your liking. Verdict? Definitely worth trying! The crust of the pizza is good and they use fresh ingredients too! 

We ordered the wood oven-baked pizza with mushrooms and sausages, garlic bread and crab linguine. Price-wise, I think it's reasonable.