Dragon Boat Festival

Today's the Dragon Boat Festival and DC and I had a giant rice dumpling for breakfast. The ingredients were very rich, abalone and scallops in it. I've never tasted anything so delicious before!

Like other Chinese festivals, there is also a legend behind the Dragon Boat festival. Here are extracts about the festival taken from Chinese Culture.

Qu Yuan served in the court of Emperor Huai during the Warring States (475 - 221 BC). He was a wise and erudite man. His ability and fight against corruption antagonized other court officials. They exerted their evil influence on the Emperor, so the Emperor gradually dismissed Qu Yuan and eventually exiled him. During his exile, Qu Yuan did not give up. He traveled extensively, taught and wrote about his ideas. His works, the Lament (Li Sao), the Nine Chapters (Jiu Zhang), and Wen tian, are masterpieces and invaluable for studying ancient Chinese culture. He saw the gradual decline of his mother country, the Chu State. And when he heard that the Chu State was defeated by the strong Qin State, he was so despaired that he ended his life by flinging himself into the Miluo River.

Legend says after people heard he drowned, they were greatly dismayed. Fishermen raced to the spot in their boats to search for his body. Unable to find his body, people threw zongzi, eggs and other food into the river to feed fish, so hoped to salvage his body. Since then, people started to commemorate Qu Yuan through dragon boat races, eating zongzi and other activities, on the anniversary of his death, the 5th of the fifth month.

DC's cooking tonight...This time I helped out!

Hee hee... I only helped out in cooking the rice only. :P

We had salmon and green peas for dinner tonight. The salmon was terrific; its sauce was yummy too. Dinner would have been perfect if not for the green peas... the thingy that joins both sides of the pod is unchewable and we had to peel it off before we could push it down our throat...

Lesson learnt:
The joining strips must always be removed from the peas. (Mums are always right! Sigh! Why didn't we observe more carefully and follow what they did? )

Breakfast with CEO

I had a chance to meet Mr CEO of my company for breakfast today (organised for the top achievers). It was a very inspirational session for me. Through the 2 hrs session, I learnt a lot from his sharing and understand his vision for the company.

Some golden words from him to share:

不是金杯，银杯最好，而是人家的口碑最好。
不是第一奖，第二奖最好，而是人家的夸奖最好。

GST? GSS! Ha ha :)

This is something I heard over the TV and could be applied to married life. I thought it is pretty interesting to share it...

"Practise GST and you'll achieve GST results."

It actually means (G)ive, (S)upport and Be (T)hankful to your spouse and you'll get (G)ood, (S)uper and (T)errific results. Ha ha... interesting isn't it?

But I say,

"For better GST (the latter, of course) rewards, go for the GSS (Great Singapore Sale)!"

Ha ha...

The Great Singapore Sale is Here!

I was very surprised to hear from the Radio that the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) is here today!!! I couldn't believe my ears. Today? Sure or not, so early this year?

Not wanting to miss the very attractive discounts, 3 of my female colleagues and I went to Suntec during lunch time especially to shop! We first targetted the GG>5 shop, then rushed over to M)phosis at Marina Square. I was quite sad that I couldn't get to find any special buys leh cos NO SIZE!!!

After work, I continued my search for the best bargain and managed to bought several small items home. :) Rather satisfied with my buys... will try harder tomorrow Ha ha...

Had arranged to meet a good friend for dinner today. She had just came back from her Europe tour with her husband. Hmm... 1 more group of people added to the list of people whom we know who went on holiday in May... I really cannot wait to set off to Bali... I wish tommorrow would be the day!

We went Secret Receipe for dinner, then TCC for dessert. Nice catching up with her... I'll be expecting some good news from her the next time we meet.

We are 3 months Old!

Cheers to our 3rd month of marriage life! Living together for 3 months now, we definitely feel more adjusted to the new home environment and accustomed to each other's living habits. Yah, of course that includes getting used to doing the housework... Ha ha...

Now that our stuff are more or less in place, I think we better start to plan and organise gatherings at our house while we're still considered 'new' couple and the house is not so 'warmed' yet. Ha ha...

Visited Mum & Dad after work. Had not seen them for two weeks. They had gone China for tour. Wow! They bought back a lot of souveniors (mostly shoes) back for us! It's good to see them back again. I really miss Mum's nagging! Oops! Ha ha... :P

If Yan Can Cook, So Can DC!

Yes, DC's done it again! :) This is the 2nd time he cooked for me at home and I'm very touched! Unlike the first time, he did not tell me that he was going to prepare our dinner. As you could imagine, I was very surprised to see the cooked food when I came home. His cooking has improved and you bet I did help him out in the eating. The dinner felt extra warm and tasty. Husband, Thanks for the dinner! It was simply delicious and, you are the best!

Holiday Mood

Holiday mood is in the air this month. A lot of people we know have gone/are now/are going on holiday this month. My family were among them:

1. My sis & friend (4 May - 8 May). They went Hong Kong and Shenzhen to attend their friend's wedding.
2. My Bro & friend (5 May - 9 May). They went to Thailand.
3. My Parents (11 May - 24 May). They went China on a sight-seeing cum relative-visiting trip.
4. My other sis & family (17 May - 20 May). They went to Genting to chill out.

Even some of our colleagues were on holiday too. There are people going Japan, Vietnam, Greece and England. How I wish DC and I are now enjoying the sea breeze in Bali right now! But, our tour package is in June. We have been hearing from friends and relatives who went there that the place is very beautiful and we really look forward to going there for the spa and relaxation. There is still one month to go before we could set off for the long-awaited Bali trip.

Our First Year Anniversary

Today was exactly one year after the day we signed on the dotted line on our marriage cert. It was a pity DC has to work night shift today. This is his second night shift. He spent the day sleeping and he has to work at night, so we only have the evening together. Nevertheless, we had our simple celebration with Mother: Dinner @Sakae Sushi



and ice-cream @Hagaan Daz. :)



Cheers to our 1st year anniversary!

Happy Mothers' Day!

We went to Yum Chai at Toa Payoh early in the morning with DC's parents and we were quite surprised to see the restaurant packed with lines of people along the stairs waiting to go in. So, the restaurant opens at 9am. The people queuing were like us, there to celebrate Mothers' Day with their Mums. :)

After the filling breakfast, we attended the church service at the Indoor Stadium with DC's good friend. There, the church celebrated Mother's Day. It was coincidental that the Pastor's birthday is just the next day, hence the church prepared some items for him. It's an awesome view at the stadium...the whole stadium was filled up with people, just from the church alone! The pastor announced that the church may be relocated to a bigger place so that it could accomodate it's growing members. He gave some hints... there are lots of food variety, e.g Indian food... Hmm... where could the new place be?

After the service, DC and I went shopping at one of my favorite boutiques in Bugis Junction... yeah, we actually spent quite a lot today :)



At night, we went to DC's parents place for dinner and after that, we continued to shop, only this time it was DC's turn to buy and buy ...

Never had such a great time in a while! It's a pity my mum is not in Singapore right now. She is enjoying herself in China now... but she had not miss anything. We had brought forward the celebration on Wednesday. There's steamboat and a tiramisu cake on that day... my nephew saw the cake from Secret Recipe and kept asking "Who's birthday is it today?". Ha ha... we had lots of fun then too! :D

To my mother, Mummy, You are the best! Happy Mothers' Day!

Cousin's Wedding

DC's cousin got married on 11 May 2006. I was working in the morning and had to miss the tea ceremony but DC was there (for the traditional cantonese roast pig). At night, we attended the couple's ROM solemnisation and wedding banquet at the Sheraton Towers.

I've always like the chandeliers at the Sheraton Hotel. They make the ballroom looked very bright and grand. The ambience was quite good. I enjoyed their video montage. I wonder which company did the video? DC sort of regretted that we did not engage a professional videographer on our special day 3 months ago. We could have shown our guests what he had to go through to marry me... Ha ha, I had to agree he had a tougher job than her cousin's husband during gate crashing!

The special Sheraton green-colored drink served during the reception was very refreshing. Thumbs up for that. The food that night was quite good too, some of the dishes were quite creative...DC had given them a good 8! It was quite coincidental that their 1st march-in song was the same as ours! Both DC and I love to go to wedding dinners and we had definitely enjoyed ourselves that night. :)

Here are some photos we took at the wedding celebration:

New Change of Bedsheet

We had our 3rd change of bedsheets today! :) It's a wedding gift from my sis. We like it a lot. Finally, there's a change in color... from the really red and auspicious red to the sweet and refreshing green. :) Thanks Sis!

From Red to Green: