Hello, the last day of 2011! :D

It's now the time where we go through that annual exercise of examining and dissecting the year that has passed and what it presented to us! For me, this year has been marked by several significant milestones (this is where the "Milestones" tag on my blog posts come in really useful to aid my failing memory):

1) Starting a job in a new department in March
Still doing sai kang, but upgraded to do slightly more important sai kang! Hahaha.
Honestly I don't really get all that jargon sometimes and I still like a fish out of water. Not interested in building and construction aspect of the job at all. But hey! Part of my New Year's resolution was to embrace all the challenges that came with my new job so I'm just gonna suck it up and continue slogging on! Like Tim Gunn used to say, Carry On!


2) Going for a singles' event in March
HAHA this I suppose, needs no further explanation. It's been one thing that I've always wanted to do for years and I finally went for one this year! One down on the bucket list! I also went on 2 meet-ups (kinda far fetched to call it "dates") with one interested guy. Don't say I never give chance eh! 2 meet-ups hor! Nothing amounted out of that of course. Hahaha NEXT!


Photo for illustration purposes. Of course we didn't make such a nice plate of sushi at the event haha
3) Finally mustering the courage to wear contact lenses in April
I have always been squrimish about eyeballs and touching eyeballs and had been so adamant and so insistent about NEVER EVER sticking pieces of plastic in my eye for YEARS. That was like one of my holy rules to live by or something. Yet I broke this rule this year. The experience was pretty traumatic. I mean the trying to force my eyeball open and sticking plastic in experience. And OMG trying to take it out was even worse. I shall not repeat that long grandmother story about how I spent 3 hours or something trying to take it out because I wrote a bloody long entry whining about it and you can always read about it again in my archives. LOL.
But the point is, never say never! Remember that. Anything is possible. (Ok maybe except having kids. But then again I shouldn't jinx myself.)


Yes this is like a how unglam photo of me after I successfully stuffed the contact lens in my eye
4) Exercising my right to vote in May and August
Yup, the local political scene was pretty happening this year, and I too got caught in the GE wave. Attended opposition rallies, cast my sacred vote, and even got to particiapte and be part of the real live action by doing data-entry as part community service for my company (ok la not really, since I got paid). The new CEO terms it the WOM initiative - Whole of MediaCorp. More sai kang you see! Haha.


5) Attended Ade's wedding in June
I've always wanted to attend a good friend's wedding and I finally got that wish this year! It is indeed very heartwarming to see your friend step down the altar and enter a lifetime of happiness! With more and more people of this certain age group are entering a new stage of their lives, I'm sure there will be more weddings to attend in the coming years. Haha seriously we are getting ooooooooold. :x


5) Awesome holiday of a lifetime in the West Coast, USA in June-July!
This 2.5 week holiday was my longest holiday and also one of the most amazing experience ever. Travelling long hours on the road, going whitewater rafting, experiencing the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, going bersek at the Premium Outlets, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge... ok I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE USA NOW! This time round with my awesome friends! I'm sure we'll have tons of fun!!! With Gillian preparing to leave for her MBA next year, New York 2013 here we come!!! *chants - road trip road trip road trip road trip*


Whitewater rafting is super super cooooooool yo!
6) Epic fall while cycling in December
Haha I'm sure we all know about this one. My wounds (save the one on my elbow) have more or less recovered now, thankfully! :D


This was taken on Day 12
Other new things I've tried this year would include going for an introductory samba class, taking up a short pole-dancing class, tried golf in Bintan, and I've also embarked on a slightly new look by dyeing my hair brown. While we are on the subject of personal grooming, I've also tried brazillian waxing and went for my first underarm IPL treatment recently. I've also tried to be a more active baker towards the later part of the year. All while also trying to keep with a more active lifestyle by exercising at least 3 times a week.

So yup, that's what happened in 2011 for me, in a very big nutshell. I shall end the year with a bang by having a very happening night with Ade, Gillian and Yuanshan!!! Wheee!!! I'm now horrendously late for the New Year lunch that Xiaojing is hosting because this post took me longer to write than expected, so I shall abruptly end this here. Hahaha.

This is going to be another post about my cooking adventures! Haha yes I realize my blog has been filled with quite a lot of cupcake-baking annecdotes recently.

Since I've a week off work, what better time than the present to try tinkering and pottering around in the kitchen?

This time round I'm not baking! Decided to try my hand at making pajeon, which is a kind of savoury Korean pancake. I tried 2 varieties - Kimchi Pajeon and Haemul (seafood) Pajeon. Followed some recipe online but I think my batter turned out to be too thick. :(


Step 1: Mix flour, water and egg together. I think I also threw in some salt. Also throw in your chopped scallions (I think scallions are spring onions?) in your batter mixture


Step 2: Pour the mixture into the pan. Add your preferred amount of kimchi and wait for it to brown.
Anyway to sidetrack, my house has no round frying pan! So it's quite hard to cook this in a squarish kind of non-stick pot coz I can't flip it for nuts.


Step 3: Flip it over and wait for the other side to turn brown too. As shown above, this was my best attempt to flip the pancake over.


My completed Kimchi Pajeon. I think it was a bit undercooked coz my batter was too thick.
Now on to the Haemul Pajeon!


I bought a bag of frozen seafood from NTUC


Repeat same steps as above, except that instead of kimchi substitute it with the seafood of your liking.


My seafood pajeon totally lost its shape and started disintegrating thanks to my majorly fail flipping skills. It looks like a regular dish of stir-fry with seafood and spring onions LOL. -__-
It goes with some dipping sauce but my sauce tasted like regular soy sauce hahahaha. :p

Step 4: TUCK IN!!!

Overall I think it can be improved. I'm gonna stick to pancake pre-mixes next time, hopefully it'll turn out better!

If you think that was the end of my culinary adventures in the kitchen yesterday, there's more to come!!!

I tried making Milo ice cream!!! Hahaha.
Recipe from here: click


Step 1: Mix egg yolk and sugar together.


Step 2: Heat up milk (I used HL Low Fat milk coz that was the only one I had in my fridge) till just below boiling point and add in a few spoonfuls of Milo powder.

Step 3: Pour the milk mixture into your egg your mixture and stir well.


Step 4: Pour the milk+egg mixture back into the pot, and add in whipping cream.


Step 5: It looks something like this after all the mixing. Leave it to cool and freeze.


Erm, that's what my ice cream looked like after a few hours of freezing.
The texture was a little watery and it tasted rather icy. As in I can taste ice in it! Could it be because I used low-fat milk instead of full cream milk? This probably needs another try before I can get it right!!!

Today I'm gonna do a whole lot more baking, as I type I'm waiting for Mabel to come over before we embark on our ambitious baking project.

What's on our to-bake list today?

1. French Macarons
2. Cinnamon Rolls
3. Chocolate Lava Cake
4. Red Velvet Cupcakes

Wish us luck! Watch this space for more updates! :D

Aloha!!! I gave my blog a facelift today! :D

Come to think of it, I have been using the same blogskin for the past 6,7 years! Stopped fiddling around with my blog ever since I entered Uni. To think that in the past I used to be quite enthusiatic about coding and designing my own blogskins! Haiz, I've really lost that creativity and the ability to decipher code that only computers understand.

The thing about templates is that it doesn't offer that level of flexiblilty and customization that I like. And I don't know how to get rid of that fake twitter bar on the side and replace it with my own tweets. The me 8 years ago would probably know how, or would go and find out how. Fast forward to 2011 and the me now can't really be bothered any more. Haha.

I'm listening to the live stream of the SBS Gayo Daejun now as I blog. Finally figured out how to stream the bloody thing live after suffering with 2.5 hours of truncated videos and slow buffering speeds. I updated all my plug-ins and finally realized that I have to download TVU Player and install the corresponding plug-in. Bleahhhh. And now the show has just ended. -__- At least I still figured it out yo. Haven't totally lost that geek in me. TAKE THAT TECHNOLOGY!

I almost forgot about the SBS Gayo Daejun actually, if not for the fact that my little sister reminded me... Every year since 2007, I'd be camping in front of the computer on 29, 30, 31st Dec to watch the annual music shows. Now she can identify blurry pixalated figures in a flash while I'm like "who is that? Never heard that song before!"

Anyway back to my blog... I realized that this blog has been in existence since 2001! That would make my blog 10 years old this year!!! WOW!!!


My blog deserves a birthday cake! :D

Before this blog I wrote in places like the now-defunct teenopendiary... in fact I may have archived all my entries somewhere and it would probably make for good reading if I want to laugh at myself some day. Hahaha :D

Which would mean I have been rambling to myself on the Internet for 12 or 13 years! Admittedly I have been rambling much less now that I am old(er). But I'm gonna keep the rambling going! May this blog survive another 10 years and beyond yo! :D

ANDDDDDD... hate to say this but HALF OF MY WEEKLONG BREAK IS OVER and I AM VERY SAD :(

Already not looking forward to going back to work and facing nincompoops and kancheong spiders. Sigh!

(My almost brand-new laptop crashed while I was writing this entry. It is its evil way of getting back at me after I happily declared victory over technology.)

It's the eve of Christmas Eve!

I was promised a half-day but due to some last minute issues, I have to hang around in the office till it's resolved. Anyway it's raining and my umbrella is broken so I'm stuck here.

Might as well blog since I have some time!

Check out the nice food at Au Petit Salut - was there for my birthday lunch with Angie and Gillian in November (haha yes! I am very slow!).


We ordered an Executive Set Lunch @ $48++ and 2 sets of the normal set lunch @ $35++


Warm and crusty bread


My appetizer - the name is very long but essentially it's pan-seared duck foie gras. My first time having such a big slab of foie gras to myself! Hmmm. Can't say I like it that much. Too much of it can be quite jelat.


Mains - Oven baked French Seabass. It's a very small slice.


Dessert - Sticky date pudding with caramel and vanilla ice cream. Waitress said it wouldn't be THAT sweet but I still find it pretty sweet!


Can't remember whose appetizer - Pork Rillette


Crispy French duck leg confit served with green lentils


Hazelnut crispy bar served with dulce de leche and coffee ice cream


Lobster bisque


I think this is some beef thing... must be Angie's


A cheese platter for dessert!
Overall the food was not too bad. Dinner sets are pretty exorbitant so if you'd like to try French food at a slightlllyyyyy cheaper price, consider lunch!

OK my boss says I can go off now. Abrupt end to this post! Hahahaha :D

About... 3 weekends ago, I tried out yet another cupcake flavour - Mango Cupcakes!


Mixing the mango puree in


All ready to go into the oven!


Somehow they didn't rise nicely :( When I took it out of the oven the cakes would sink.




Ta-dah, topped with my leftover cream cheese and Bailey's frosting and mango coulis.


I discovered a useful way to transport my cucpcakes to work! I always faced the problem of smudged frosting or toppled cupcakes in tupperware boxes. Egg cartons does the trick perfectly for now!
Somehow this wasn't as successful as my previous batches of cupcakes, probably because I added too much vinegar to the milk or didn't add enough baking soda. The texture was also a little off, not cakey enough.

Anyhow I'm thinking of trying tofu cheesecake next, a little sick of cucpcakes now! Hmm I'll leave my baking updates for another time when I'm free to bake! :D

Should I try this next?? - Chocolate Lava Cake

On the 350th day of 2011 my true love gave to me....

AN EPIC FALL WHILE CYCLING IN PULAU UBIN!!!!

Do not ever go cycling in Pulau Ubin. It's DANGEROUS. TREACHEROUS. And not to mention it's damn tiring coz of all the rocky paths and uphill roads.
And if you die die must go, I have nothing to say except good luck. LOL! Nah, but please go slowly when you go downhill! Don't be geh kiang like me and whizz down only to lose control of the bike. Yes I know, having the breeze blowing in your face is quite shiok, but losing half of your toenails is not shiok at all!!! :x

I fell at the slope going down while exiting Chek Jawa. There's a big quarry there, and according to the policemen who cleaned my wounds, that is a very accident prone spot. SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! Thankfully a resort van passed by the spot where I had my accident and I hitched a ride back to the ferry terminal instead of walking all the way.

I herewith attach some photos for your viewing pleasure. I think 90% of the people who read my blog (which consists of a grand total of maybe 5 readers) are also on Twitter, so perhaps you have already seen them.

Here you go! All in its disgusting glory!!!


This was taken after the blood kind of dried, but before I sought medical attention. My toes were dripping blood when I fell. Literally dripping blood. The earth in Pulau Ubin is stained with my blood!!!


The next day after the fall, trying to keep my toes dry while bathing. Btw, food wrap doesn't really work that well in keeping things waterproof. Just so you know.


Taken last night, before my mom cleaned the yellow stuff on my right knee away. My left knee as you can see, is doing pretty well. Just a minor abrasion.


Woohoo! Disgusting!
I've not managed to take photos of the wound on my elbow but rest assured that it looks more or less the same as the above. I've also removed the bandage on my toes after keeping it on for 2 days and assessed the damage. Half the nail on my 2nd and 4th toes dropped off, but at least I still have half a toenail left! It doesn't sound as painful as described, really. My toes are relatively pain free, compared to my knees, which are still pretty sore.

The sad thing is that I probably won't have a nice pedicure for CNY! Haha bimbo much.

I've got more stuff to blog about besides my big fall but I shall save all these for another day! It's the last work week of the year (MANY HAPPY CHEEEEEEEERSSSSS!!! :D) and I have a week-long (forced) break next week! Gonna catch up on allll my backlog and update my one-photo-a-day blog.

Oh and I fixed the GIF image of my baking conquests! Scroll down to look! :)

Emo beans song. Depressing lyrics aside, it's been repeating in my head, so I guess I quite like this song!

Katy Perry - The One That Got Away



Summer after high school when we first met
We make out in your Mustang to Radio head
And on my 18th birthday we got that chain tattoos
Used to steal your parents' liquor and climb to the roof
Talk about our future like we had a clue
Never plan that one day I'd be losing you

And in another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world
And in other life I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away

I was dreaming you were my Johnny Cash
Never one, we got the other, we made a pact
Sometimes when I miss you, I put those records on, whoa
Someone said you had your tattoo removed
Saw you downtown singing the blues
It's time to face the music, I'm longer your muse

And in another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world
And in another life, I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away

The one, the one, the one
The one that got away

All these money can't buy me a time machine, no
Can't replace you with a million rings, no
I should've told you what you meant to me, whoa
'Cause now I pay the price

In another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world
And in another life, I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away

The one, the one, the one, the one

And in another life I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you were the one that got away
The one that got away

Wow. I only had a grand total of 3 posts in the month of November!

Here we are now, 4 more weeks to the end of 2011, 3 more weeks to my week long break! :D

Recently got myself a new Asus laptop. Thanks to Mr Poh's excellent (and some may call it unorthodox) bargaining skills, I bought it at $50 less than the stated price. Now that I no longer have to wait for my little sister to finish using the computer, I can hopefully catch up more on my shows, blog more, etc. etc.

Also caught You Are The Apple Of My Eye or 那些年，我们一起追的女孩。Can I say how much I dislike mysterious forces like missed opportunities and knowing the "what could have been"s? OKAY SPOILER HERE. THE GUY AND THE GIRL SHOULD END UP TOGETHER. I hate seeing the guy look at the girl on the day of her wedding and then thinking to himself that he will be happy for her because he loves her. Idiot! Why didn't you grab her when you had the chance to? And similarly the girl should have grabbed the chance to be with him when she had plenty of chances to. Angry leh! Yes, I do agree that sometimes 暧昧的时期是最甜蜜的 but it irks me when 2 people who obviously have the hots for each other and are perfect for each other, are just too stupid to realize it, or too scared, too prideful, yada yada. (And the lead actor is cute!)

Haha I should chill, it’s just a movie, although it is based on the director’s real life experiences. I guess this is why I like watching romantic comedies and chick flicks, because I know for sure that the lead couple will end up together. I like feel-good movies. It makes me feel good.

Some people say that the movie reminds them of their youth. My youth was very much different from what was depicted in the movie. The thrill of puppy love? No such thing. Silly and childish experiences? The heady rush, the secret thrill... I'm starting to feel that I missed out a huge part of adolescence.

Last Tuesday, a colleague got wind of an extra unwanted ticket to the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) and very kindly offered me that ticket. The Hallyu Wave has taken over Asia people, although it has started to die down in me. That was 4 hours of standing - very tiring! And also very telling when my back started to ache. I AM GETTING TOO OLD FOR SUCH THINGS. I would have thought seeing groups like 2NE1, Girls Generation, Super Junior in the flesh would get me more pumped up, but no, I think this whole Hallyu thing is becoming more like a been-there-done-that thing for me. It's no longer a novelty, gone are the days when a Korean group coming to Singapore is a BIG THING for fans here. I no longer feel any excitement. The only concert where I truly enjoyed in recent memory was Jay Chou's.

The weekend past was rainy and again, I did some baking – Mango Cupcakes this time. Unfortunately it was a bit of a failure because the texture was not the typical cakey, crumbly cupcake. :( Never mind. Try again next time!

2011, don't be in such a hurry to go! Let me enjoy this cool festive season a little more!