It was the last housewarming of the year and as it drew nearer to the start of the new term, we decided to keep it simple with minimal preparation. As such, it became a steamboat, which somehow surprised quite a number of them.
It was a pity that pictures were not taken. Nonetheless, it was memorable and I hope the guests enjoyed themselves. This time, there were lesser food leftovers =)
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas 2012
This year we celebrated the holiday at Frank and Jo's place, potluck style. And we decided to bring along our bee hoon which we had practised for a few times the week before. After learning the painful lesson of consuming the humongous amount of leftovers, our estimate was much better this time round, even though the unfinished bee hoon settled our meals for the next day. Nevertheless, it was a scrumptious feast with a large variety of food.
After the meal, it was a quick exchange of presents via the use of mahjong tiles for allocation and Goubin had used his present to obtain 8 toto numbers to be bought to try our luck at becoming richer. That was followed by a game of charades designed by Jo and I truly enjoyed the session of laughs and grievances at the difficulties of the question.
Soon, time flew and the party had to be dispersed. Nevertheless, it was a great Christmas gathering.
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| The Christmas feast |
After the meal, it was a quick exchange of presents via the use of mahjong tiles for allocation and Goubin had used his present to obtain 8 toto numbers to be bought to try our luck at becoming richer. That was followed by a game of charades designed by Jo and I truly enjoyed the session of laughs and grievances at the difficulties of the question.
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| Our gifts exchange |
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| The satisfied people with their presents =) |
Soon, time flew and the party had to be dispersed. Nevertheless, it was a great Christmas gathering.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Housewarming with JC friends
This was our second housewarming which we donned our aprons for a homemade feast. Earlier in the week, we had tested out the chicken curry and the fried bee hoon and we found them suitable to stay as the menu items.
However, the preparation was entirely different when the number of guests was 16 instead of 2. The skills involved were totally different as we had to cook the bee hoon in batches while adding in our mountains of carrot and cabbage slices. Luckily my dear managed to learn from my mistakes and produce an excellent batch of bee hoon. For the curry, it had to be split into two pots as the ingredients overwhelmed the maximum capacity of one. The other fried stuffs like sotong balls, fishballs and chicken nuggets were well taken care of by my dear. Fortunately, the dessert was done the day before, otherwise our five hours of cooking would be lengthened even more. I guess part of the time spent was due to my butter fingers causing spillages and messes here and there.
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| Looks delicious right? |
However, the preparation was entirely different when the number of guests was 16 instead of 2. The skills involved were totally different as we had to cook the bee hoon in batches while adding in our mountains of carrot and cabbage slices. Luckily my dear managed to learn from my mistakes and produce an excellent batch of bee hoon. For the curry, it had to be split into two pots as the ingredients overwhelmed the maximum capacity of one. The other fried stuffs like sotong balls, fishballs and chicken nuggets were well taken care of by my dear. Fortunately, the dessert was done the day before, otherwise our five hours of cooking would be lengthened even more. I guess part of the time spent was due to my butter fingers causing spillages and messes here and there.
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| Clockwise from top left: bee hoon, fishballs, otah, curry chicken, nuggets, sotong balls |
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| Jelly with fruits |
Though we overestimated the consumption of my friends (I guess age plays a part in lowering our appetite) till the point that we need to have the same meals for a few days, it was fun and great to have everyone attend the event. It had been a long long while since the last time in which all the guys turned up for an outing, well almost, and I thought that was simply amazing. Thank you all for making this happen =)
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| The wonderful JC friends of mine with their spouses |
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
妈咪感言
熬了那么久，终于让我熬到了第32周！还有最多两个月，我和小志就能见到然然了，好兴奋哦！怀孕初期真的好辛苦哦，现在我终于有苦尽甘来的感觉了。回想当初，我吐到连吃东西都没有胃口（这怎么可能啊？？？），现在实在是太舒服了吧，让人觉得很没有真实感耶。
除了宝宝偶尔很爱踢我使我睡不著，手脚很痒，还有偶尔有点儿气喘之外，我觉得自己的身体状态和怀孕之前没什么不同。 现在的我真的是好幸福哦！能吃能睡能玩，又有个这么爱我、疼我的老公，我还有什么不满足的呢？虽然有点儿担心自己不晓得会不会照顾好然然，但是有小志在我身边，我什么都不怕。希望这个小瓜能够顺利出世，不要太为难她老妈。
嗯，等然然出世后，我们的生活应该会有天翻地覆的变化吧。也许，我会很想念她在我肚子里狂踢的时候。也许，我会忍不住想要把她塞回我的肚子里。尽管如此，我还是很期待见到她！宝宝，我爱你！
除了宝宝偶尔很爱踢我使我睡不著，手脚很痒，还有偶尔有点儿气喘之外，我觉得自己的身体状态和怀孕之前没什么不同。 现在的我真的是好幸福哦！能吃能睡能玩，又有个这么爱我、疼我的老公，我还有什么不满足的呢？虽然有点儿担心自己不晓得会不会照顾好然然，但是有小志在我身边，我什么都不怕。希望这个小瓜能够顺利出世，不要太为难她老妈。
嗯，等然然出世后，我们的生活应该会有天翻地覆的变化吧。也许，我会很想念她在我肚子里狂踢的时候。也许，我会忍不住想要把她塞回我的肚子里。尽管如此，我还是很期待见到她！宝宝，我爱你！
Progress of Xiao Xiao 9
Yet another visit to Wendy and another confirmation that Ruo Ran is alright and growing well. My dear refunded the supplements which sort of contained a certain fish smell which was missing in the previous batches, though later at home, we found out that the new bottle also contained the same fish smell but at a lesser intensity and that our exchange was somewhat superfluous. My dear also got advice for her itchy hands and feets, which was a simple solution of applying moisturiser on them.
I guess recently Wendy was more concerned with estimating the weight of Ruo Ran, thus the scans were usually of the stomach's cross-sections. Perhaps we should request for Wendy to print the scan of the baby face or side profile instead for the next visit.
I guess recently Wendy was more concerned with estimating the weight of Ruo Ran, thus the scans were usually of the stomach's cross-sections. Perhaps we should request for Wendy to print the scan of the baby face or side profile instead for the next visit.
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| The stomach's cross-section with arm's cross section on the right |
The Hobbit
Looking at the list of movie titles coming out in December, this was the only deserving show to be watched, at first glance. At least that was what my dear felt. I guess from this entry onwards, I shall include the movie poster as well to make my post more colourful and less boring.
The show started off with some remnants of the starting of the Lord of the Rings, with a few seconds showing of Frodo. After all, this story was a prelude to the Lord of the Rings. From then on, it was the memory playback of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. In a nutshell, Baggins was sort of forced into an adventure by Gandalf the Grey to accompany thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin, to reclaim their homelands, Lonely Mountains, from Smaug the dragon sixty years ago. Smaug was attracted by the massive amount of gold in the dwarves' lair, so the story said, and thus attacked them. When forced to evacuate, Thorin nursed a grudge against the elves as the latter refused to aid them at that point in time.
Thus the adventure started and the entourage encountered a group of trolls who tried to eat them, but was later turned to stone by the sunlight which shone upon them after Gandalf heroically split a big rock into two. To pour salt onto the trolls' wounds, the group plundered their hideout and thus obtaining some elven swords. The group later met up with another wizard, Radagast the Brown, who informed them of a dark force poisoning the lands. At the same time, a group of orcs were hunting the dwarves and Radagast tried to lure them away using his trusty rabbits, while the group seek refuge at the elves' hideout.
At the elves' hideout, the group found the answer to the entrance of another route into the Lonely Mountains, and they secretly set off for their journey while Gandalf was explaining the quest to the White Council. However, the group was captured by another group of orcs after they witnessed a fight between the mountains, a redundant scene in my opinion. Baggins, due to his small size and coupled with the ridiculously poor eyesight of the orcs, managed to escape by squatting and somehow found Gollum and picked up the ring which he dropped, the ring which he called the precious, the ring which was the main focus in the Lord of the Rings. After a series of riddles, Gollum realised that Baggins had gotten the ring and attacked him. By a stroke of luck, Baggins realised that the ring granted him invisibility and he used that to escape.
At the same time, by plot no jutsu, Gandalf appeared out of nowhere, by magic of course, to save the dwarves and then together they killed a path out with ridiculous and comical stunts. Maybe just like chakra, Gandalf need to recharge and could not conjure the entire group out. Anyway, after escaping the mountain orcs, they encountered the orcs who were hunting them. Thus, the group was on the run and they retreated to the trees at the edge of the cliffs. Thorin tried to attack the leader but was no match for him, and he was almost beheaded only to be stopped by Baggins' assault. Then the group was rescued by a group of eagles after Gandalf sent a distress message via a butterfly. I guess, other than being used for the butterfly effect, butterflies can travel at insane speeds too.
The eagles then dropped the group somewhere safe but in the visibility of their destination. The movie ended with the dragon rousing from his sleep.
I guess after watching Lord of the Rings, there was not much surprises in this movie. However, it was an engaging movie with moments of anxiety and anticipation peppered here and there. Enjoyable, at the very least.
The show started off with some remnants of the starting of the Lord of the Rings, with a few seconds showing of Frodo. After all, this story was a prelude to the Lord of the Rings. From then on, it was the memory playback of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. In a nutshell, Baggins was sort of forced into an adventure by Gandalf the Grey to accompany thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin, to reclaim their homelands, Lonely Mountains, from Smaug the dragon sixty years ago. Smaug was attracted by the massive amount of gold in the dwarves' lair, so the story said, and thus attacked them. When forced to evacuate, Thorin nursed a grudge against the elves as the latter refused to aid them at that point in time.
Thus the adventure started and the entourage encountered a group of trolls who tried to eat them, but was later turned to stone by the sunlight which shone upon them after Gandalf heroically split a big rock into two. To pour salt onto the trolls' wounds, the group plundered their hideout and thus obtaining some elven swords. The group later met up with another wizard, Radagast the Brown, who informed them of a dark force poisoning the lands. At the same time, a group of orcs were hunting the dwarves and Radagast tried to lure them away using his trusty rabbits, while the group seek refuge at the elves' hideout.
At the elves' hideout, the group found the answer to the entrance of another route into the Lonely Mountains, and they secretly set off for their journey while Gandalf was explaining the quest to the White Council. However, the group was captured by another group of orcs after they witnessed a fight between the mountains, a redundant scene in my opinion. Baggins, due to his small size and coupled with the ridiculously poor eyesight of the orcs, managed to escape by squatting and somehow found Gollum and picked up the ring which he dropped, the ring which he called the precious, the ring which was the main focus in the Lord of the Rings. After a series of riddles, Gollum realised that Baggins had gotten the ring and attacked him. By a stroke of luck, Baggins realised that the ring granted him invisibility and he used that to escape.
At the same time, by plot no jutsu, Gandalf appeared out of nowhere, by magic of course, to save the dwarves and then together they killed a path out with ridiculous and comical stunts. Maybe just like chakra, Gandalf need to recharge and could not conjure the entire group out. Anyway, after escaping the mountain orcs, they encountered the orcs who were hunting them. Thus, the group was on the run and they retreated to the trees at the edge of the cliffs. Thorin tried to attack the leader but was no match for him, and he was almost beheaded only to be stopped by Baggins' assault. Then the group was rescued by a group of eagles after Gandalf sent a distress message via a butterfly. I guess, other than being used for the butterfly effect, butterflies can travel at insane speeds too.
The eagles then dropped the group somewhere safe but in the visibility of their destination. The movie ended with the dragon rousing from his sleep.
I guess after watching Lord of the Rings, there was not much surprises in this movie. However, it was an engaging movie with moments of anxiety and anticipation peppered here and there. Enjoyable, at the very least.
44 and counting...
In view of my dear's growing tummy and low energy levels, which basically eliminates most outdoor activities, we decided to keep it simple by having a good lunch at Ichiban Sushi at AMK Hub. The only grievance was the long wait of thirty minutes for the food to come, despite the restaurant not having that many customers. I would have finished the entire bottle of preserved ginger if I did not consider that the bottom-most of the ginger may possibly had been left inside for the longest of time. Nevertheless, half of a jar of preservatives was inside my stomach by the time the food came.
After that, we carried out our plan to watch The Hobbit, followed by an appointment to Wendy's. Yet another milestone in our lives =)
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| His meal |
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| Her meal |
After that, we carried out our plan to watch The Hobbit, followed by an appointment to Wendy's. Yet another milestone in our lives =)
Monday, December 10, 2012
Rurouni Kenshin
Last Saturday saw us watching this movie with me having no expectations as I did not have any background knowledge about its manga from which the movie was developed from. My dear had seen its manga / anime when she was young and she had loved the series.
The movie started off with the ending of a Japanese civil war and Kenshin, relinquishing his sword and therefore his title in the battlefield, only to have a survivor to retrieve his sword and kill in his name. Ten years later, during which he officially disappeared but still made his presence felt by helping strangers, a cruel drug lord was trying to use opium to control Japan. In order to do that, the drug lord attempted to forcefully take over several land areas, one of which was the dojo of the female lead, to whom Kenshin came to the rescue. However, through that action, Kenshin exposed his identity and the police wanted to recruit him to kill villains, to which Kenshin refused.
In the meantime, Kenshin got to acquaint himself with a street fighter, who later became his ally. With the female lead held hostage, Kenshin had no choice but to confront the drug lord and duel with the survivor who killed in his name. He almost had to break his promise of no killing to save the female lead when she was paralyzed by the survivor's eye technique and could not breathe. But all well ends well, with all the bad guys either rounded up or dead.
There was pretty much blood spilling in the show and the swift sword moves were indeed very realistic and fascinating. Despite the gore, there were elements of cuteness imbued into the main character, making him a very likable character. I quite enjoyed myself watching this movie, though I'm not sure whether I will watch the anime / manga.
Perhaps one funny incident from this was that my dear friend forgot to include himself in the total count for purchasing the tickets and thus had to sit out for this event. It was, however, made up at the dinner and desserts later at Wing Seong Fatty's (Albert) Restaurant Pte Ltd and NYDC respectively.
The movie started off with the ending of a Japanese civil war and Kenshin, relinquishing his sword and therefore his title in the battlefield, only to have a survivor to retrieve his sword and kill in his name. Ten years later, during which he officially disappeared but still made his presence felt by helping strangers, a cruel drug lord was trying to use opium to control Japan. In order to do that, the drug lord attempted to forcefully take over several land areas, one of which was the dojo of the female lead, to whom Kenshin came to the rescue. However, through that action, Kenshin exposed his identity and the police wanted to recruit him to kill villains, to which Kenshin refused.
In the meantime, Kenshin got to acquaint himself with a street fighter, who later became his ally. With the female lead held hostage, Kenshin had no choice but to confront the drug lord and duel with the survivor who killed in his name. He almost had to break his promise of no killing to save the female lead when she was paralyzed by the survivor's eye technique and could not breathe. But all well ends well, with all the bad guys either rounded up or dead.
There was pretty much blood spilling in the show and the swift sword moves were indeed very realistic and fascinating. Despite the gore, there were elements of cuteness imbued into the main character, making him a very likable character. I quite enjoyed myself watching this movie, though I'm not sure whether I will watch the anime / manga.
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| Us with the lead actor (in paper) |
Perhaps one funny incident from this was that my dear friend forgot to include himself in the total count for purchasing the tickets and thus had to sit out for this event. It was, however, made up at the dinner and desserts later at Wing Seong Fatty's (Albert) Restaurant Pte Ltd and NYDC respectively.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Progress of Xiao Xiao 8
Just came back from another visit to Wendy and I guess my dear was very happy after hearing the good news about Ruo Ran with her head downwards in the womb. She (the baby) had been working hard in turning herself around, though much to my dear's discomfort. Maybe it was meant to be, or maybe because I had been speaking to her from below almost everyday, just to claim credit =P Another good news was that she is currently at 1.7 kg, which was a marked improvement from 1 kg three weeks back, and this time, the word "smallish" was finally unused. However, there is presence of proteins in her urine which may pose problems in the future.
Till the next visit two weeks later. Her pictures below:
Till the next visit two weeks later. Her pictures below:
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| Left: side view of body (spine top) Right: side view of head with spine |
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| Two legs on the left, stomach on the right |
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Updates on Renovation 16
After a delay of a few months (due to work commitments), the installation of the blinds and the poles hanger are finally done. Yet another proud production by none other than me myself. Actually, this doesn't really qualify as a renovation item, but well, it was still an improvement to our house.
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| The blinds |
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| The poles hanger |
The blinds were bought from Ikea and the poles hanger were left behind by the previous owner. And the only thing left to install them was to drill holes into the walls and ceiling. Ever since my first drilling of a hole in the house, I realised that one can never underestimate the skill of a craftsmen. After all, how difficult can hole drilling be right? Big mistake. After many trials of ugly holes marks and long hours of noise pollution, I can only say that I had improved but not master it. Till now, I still need to take at least 40 minutes for one 1-inch deep hole. Perhaps I should be comforted by the fact that I paid good money for the good concrete walls in our house.
Anyway, I guess I can finally declare that the house will remain in the present state for many years to come. At least until the next renovation, which probably will not happen =)
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Tampines Eco-garden
We first knew of this place through one of the television programmes on Channel 8 and we were thinking that there was actually such a place and yet we knew nothing about it. As such, we sought to visit it one day during the holidays. We originally wanted to visit this place much earlier but our plans changed due to extension of cut-off time for another activity. My dear decided that today was a good day since our housework was done and we still got some time.
En route to the garden, we passed by a park and we found it quite interesting enough for us to spend some time there. There was a young couple making out at one bench (young people these days) but that was not the interesting stuff I was talking about. I was rather referring to the structures erected there but got worn out, probably to negligence and poor maintenance. Nevertheless, it was some fun for us.
The eco-garden was just across the road and we found it with ease. The place was some sort of a nature reserve but on a smaller scale. We first visited the toilet to see how eco-friendly it was since it uses bacteria to digest our excrement. I was amazed that there was no smell, typical of a toilet in shopping centres, which ought to bring them to shame. We then covered the entire circumference of the area in less than an hour, which included stopping to take photos, scratching our blood donations to the mosquitoes and admiring the greenery around us. The place was not as deserted as I thought for there were the occasional joggers and strollers walking in the opposite direction to us. I guess this place will not be that suitable for dumping a body, though the possibility still exists.
In the end, we realised that we could have walked to the park instead of taking a bus as we managed to find a short route back home. I guess we will probably be back but with our kids =)
En route to the garden, we passed by a park and we found it quite interesting enough for us to spend some time there. There was a young couple making out at one bench (young people these days) but that was not the interesting stuff I was talking about. I was rather referring to the structures erected there but got worn out, probably to negligence and poor maintenance. Nevertheless, it was some fun for us.
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| Was it connected to electricity? So that it will buzz when the ring touches the rod? |
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| My arsenal of cannons - with echos as projectiles |
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| The aging map of the park |
The eco-garden was just across the road and we found it with ease. The place was some sort of a nature reserve but on a smaller scale. We first visited the toilet to see how eco-friendly it was since it uses bacteria to digest our excrement. I was amazed that there was no smell, typical of a toilet in shopping centres, which ought to bring them to shame. We then covered the entire circumference of the area in less than an hour, which included stopping to take photos, scratching our blood donations to the mosquitoes and admiring the greenery around us. The place was not as deserted as I thought for there were the occasional joggers and strollers walking in the opposite direction to us. I guess this place will not be that suitable for dumping a body, though the possibility still exists.
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| The signage at the entrance |
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| The rules which most people probably ignored |
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| The map in case we got lost |
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| The eco-toilet with bacteria digesting your wastes |
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| The mimosa |
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| Some plant that I like |
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| Another one that was liken |
In the end, we realised that we could have walked to the park instead of taking a bus as we managed to find a short route back home. I guess we will probably be back but with our kids =)
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