A Beautiful True Love Story

I'm a die-hard romantic! Like many women, I like stories of enduring everlasting love and fairy tales (happy ones). It always fascinates me to hear captivating stories like Cinderalla, Snow White, 50 First Dates, Music & Lyrics, Full House, Dae Jang Geum, My Lovely Samsoon, My Girl, Princess Hours, and 1st Shop of Coffee Prince but I never thought it could happen in the real world. These were just plots that were created to be shown on screen... so unreal and highly impossible... but hey, I got to know a different but beautiful love story yesterday.

During an ice-breaking session, a new colleague shared that he was married and his wife was a South Korean. Nothing special about this, I've friends with spouse of another nationality. What's interesting is how they met and how long they've been together before they decided to embark on the road to be "happily ever after".

They met in Singapore on a trishaw tour, the lady then a tourist and the guy a trishaw rider. Hmm...Wonder what's his pick up line then?
The lady went back to South Korea.
The guy won her heart and they dated for 8 years. (Wow, a long long-distance relationship!)
They met each other 4 times a year.
They conquered the language barrier.
On DC's birthday last year, they got hitched. Guess what? The groom rode on a trishaw with the bride (just like how they first met) all the way to the park for the solemnization ceremony! How unique and romantic!

I never believe long distance relationship could last, it seems that they managed it every well (for 8 years!). Cheers to this long long-distance relationship that is now in blossom!

Well, every married couple sure has a love story to tell (including us) but till date, this is my winner!


Related Posts:
The Language of Love
On Our Special Day Today
Flower Blossom

Appreciation Lunch@Tambuah Mas

Big Boss treated us to a real good meal today at Tambuah Mas at Tanglin Shopping Centre.

It's a traditional Indonesian restaurant with very authentic furnishing but hey, the food is great!

I can't take chilli, curry, hot and spicy stuff at all, that's why when Boss announced that she's giving us an appreciation lunch at Tambuah Mas, my face went blank. I've actually heard of the good name of the restaurant during my days as a telephone operator but I was skeptical. People who know me knows that I steered clear of spicy food... Hehe, I was really proven wrong this time. I totally enjoyed the meal there. Every dish was so nicely cooked that even the rice was nice and I've actually asked the waiter to extra rice top-up! :P

I recommend the Rendang Lembu, Tahu Telor and Satay.

Boss ordered chilli crab but too bad we had to waste it as everyone was very full. This is the first time I see everyone eating a crab with fork and spoon, huh?! Boss was probably the first one who started eating with her fork and spoon and the rest followed...It was a little hot for my taste but might be too mild for people who loves hot spicy food.

Tambuah Mas... hmm what does this mean in english? It's definitely worth trying. In fact, I was thinking of recommending to my Father-in-law this place for the coming Fathers' Day, he likes curry, so he should like this place?...

The only complaint: The Cendol is too sweet!

Go try it!
http://www.tambuahmas.com.sg/

What we had:
1. Ayam Goreng Istimewa - Fried chicken
2. Rendang Lembu - Beef stew
3. Ikan Nila Santan - Whole Red Fish in Coconut Gravy
4. Udang Belado - Prawn
5. Kangkong Belacan
6. Tahu Telor - Fried Beancurd **Must Try**
7. Sate Ayam - Chicken Satay
8. Chilli Crab
9 ES Cendol Kacang - Green Bean Jelly & Red Kidney Beans in Coconut Milk and Palm Sugar
10. Nasi Puteh - Steamed Rice


Related Posts:
Yummy Crabs!
Buffet Dinner at Conrad
天天火锅
Bursting Full!

Un-delicious donburi

Lunch ... where to go? Ever since I came back from Japan, I am hooked on Japanese food ... once again. I thought I can put my trust in the many Japanese eateries around. Clearly I had forgotten how the run-of-the-mill Jap eateries in Singapore sucks ... big time! Even Waraku is somewhat lacking ...

So today I ordered Char Siew Ramen. The soup is not overly salty, which my Dad and Mum complained frequently when they had it at other places. There are thin streaks of fat in the char siew, which oh la la, MELTS in your mouth! Bravo!!! No sick feeling from the fats here. No pic here, I was rushing into the ramen.

CP order Unagi Donburi. Tasteless was the miso soup that accompanied it. The tamago slices don't blend with the unagi taste. Worst, I doubt they used Japanese rice. It looks like some poor quality rice instead, a bit elongated in shape to pass off as genuine Japanese rice. The rice was cooked too soft and mashed in places. Hey, it tasted more and more like some of the old rice I ate before.

What crap ... crap.



The sake sashimi wasn't any better. Although they gave big slices of salmon, it was tasteless.



Location:
Beppu Menkan - Tiong Bahru Plaza


Related Posts:
Hanabi Japanese Restaurant
Ma Maison
日本村

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The movie started with great promise and I thought I am going to enjoy it thoroughly. However, there comes the biggest disappointment at the end ... Warning: Spoiler ahead.

Aliens???!!! Flying saucer???!!! What crap! An alien that looks like E.T???!!! Is Steven Spielberg getting overly nostalgic? I expect an Indiana Jones movie to be exaggerated, stretch the imagination but aliens and saucers are simply too much. This film was in development since 1989 before the current script satisfied Lucas, Ford and Spielberg to produce the movie we see now. However, I am thinking if they are getting blocked in the head or just taking the audience for a ride.

Well, it seems the theme of Crystal Skulls was already in development years before. See this from Tokyo Disneysea. The attraction opened in 2001.

Go Speed Racer, Go!

This movie is a heady mix of colours, cranky jokes and furious car races. Although the reviews slammed it, I think we both enjoyed it pretty much. Racer X definitely looks cool.

MMS working... finally

After my hp was repaired, all the phone settings were erased and gone. I was told that the software has been upgraded. For many times, we tried but couldn't seem to get the MMS to work. That's quite a sad to me cos I use the service quite often... But today, there's a breakthrough! I couldn't stand it anymore and tried searching for the solution online... Guess what? I finally got it working! Had to reset the message server, proxy and internet settings. Mmm.. maybe the software was upgraded, that's why I have to refer to the 3.5G guide (see below) when mine is actually a 3G phone.



Now I can send and receive picture messages. *Happy*


Related Posts:
Back into Business
My Hp has got hearing problem!
5 Megapixel... Phone?

That's Nice, Honey!

Father-in-law just bought a bottle of premier honey from the food exibition at Expo today. At night at his place, he eagerly scooped a spoonful for us to try. DC had that funny, tongue-out, squirming facial expression that I thought the honey tasted sour! When did Honey ever taste bad? I didn't believe him and I tried... true enough, it wasn't at all sweet as he claimed. The golden semi-liquid was so thick, gluey and tasted marvellous!

Coincidentally, my dearest mummy kept asking me to finish up my huge bottle of honey at home yesterday when she came to visit and boss treated us a cup of warm honey lemon drink during meeting this morning, and today father-in-law let us try his newly-purchased honey!

I like honey! Maybe I should just listen to wise mummy and father-in-law's words, to drink it daily for its beneficial effects:
(1) Resists Bacteria
(2) Anti-Ageing
(3) Anti-Oxidation
(4) Promote Child Growth
(5) Promote Skin Healing
(6) Promote Liver Protection
(7) Promote Digestion and Bowel Molity
(8) Enhance Hematopoieses
(9) Improve Sleep


Related Posts:
Healthier Diet...Possible?
Food for thought
Sick!
Air Supply

Cafe de Amigo

It was another special occasion today but I was rather busy back at work that I didn't have time to plan. Well, we can always go for a nice dinner. Ok, so off we went to Cafe de Amigo at Funan IT Mall. Strange right, to find a winery and cafe tucked away on the 2nd level of the electronics haven.

I think the main business at this cafe is wine, because there were many bottles stocked there. I thought the ambience was quite nice, decor and all.

We took the set dinner for 2, which gives a free bottle of wine if u pay with the ABN Amro credit card.

Food is so-so. Nothing spectacular. Not much effort into the presentation, just plain food served on a plate. If you look at the Leng fish fillet, it's almost like trying too hard.



Leng fish ... what's that? I can only find Ling fish on the Internet.

Ling fish - A slim, long-bodied fish with small scales, a long anal fin, and two dorsal fins, the second being much longer than the first. A large, mottled, brown or greenish fish, the ling may grow to a length of about 2 m.



Escargots is alright but we had tried this same one many times before.


Common chicken chop


This apple pie is something special. Most reviews raved about it. When we were there, a group of 3 actually came in just to have an apple pie each. I didn't really like the flaky crust. The apple slices are too thin and tasteless. I think I prefer the chunky apple pie.


A pic to round it off.



See how we spent this special day in the past years:
2007
2006

Concert in the park (Bishan)

It so happened that Concert in the Park is coming to Bishan. It's practically in our backyard. So, there's no reason not to go down and have some photo fun. Not sure if my takes will be good enough for the photo competition held there but I will give it a try! It's was also a good opportunity to try out my rarely used zoom lens.






Related Posts:
Chingay @ Bishan
Recce at Marina South park
The Istana Park

Porridge Craze

01/05 Thu: Fish Porridge with dried scallop at MIL's place
02/05 Fri: Centuary Egg Porridge from BS Coffee Shop (CP)
07/05 Wed: Chicken with preserved veg Porridge for CP, Seafood Porridge for DC from BS Coffee Shop
08/05 Thu: Pork Porridge at PS Crystal Jade (DC)
12/05 Mon: Fish Porridge from AMK Coffee Shop
13/05 Tue: Fish Porridge at Amoy Hawker
16/05 Fri: Fish Porridge from BS Coffee Shop

DC and I are into porridge recently, in fact we have been having it like almost every 3-4 days (sometimes even every meal) for the past 2 weeks!

I don't know why I suddenly like it so much, I never like any other porridge except the one that is prepared by my mum. I used to find eating porridge very time-consuming (cos it's hot) and most of the porridges I've tried outside doesn't taste right. Very funny cos now I find them rather delicious.

DC, on the other hand, has always like to eat porridges and would always order the porridge at Crystal Jade almost everytime we went there for dinner. So, he had no problem with eating it everyday with me.

He introduced me to a nice one at Amoy Street porridge (though i prefer the raw fish better...). My mummy has lately also been frequenting a porridge stall and kept wanting me to try it. I used to say "No, I don't like porridge". But now, maybe i could give it a try! Hehe...

I've also tried the porridge buffets at quality hotels, suntec, etc... i dunno when this craze will last but if you know of any popular tasty porridge around, do let us know! :)


Related Posts:
Healthier Diet...Possible?
Early present

Baby Boom

Recently people around us just keep producing babies that suddenly we find ourselves 'surrounded' by many little ones...

We just came back from DC twin nephews' first month celebration. Weng Ge and An Zai are cute, they must have brought double joy to their parents (hope no double trouble when they grow up!) The twins' aunt had just given birth to a baby girl a few days ago. Looks like there's another round of celebration next month!

Next up would be DC's 大表姐 and my 堂姐 who will be delivering their first child soon in Jul and end of the year.

People we know have been asking when DC and I are going to have ours. Hmm... thanks but the time is not right yet, we're still not ready to be parents. :p


Related Posts:
A new addition to the family
Birthday Dinner
Baby Christian

Let's Smile :D

Introducing Sony's Smile Shutter!

We walked into a Sony shop and found this new innovative gadget. It detects and captures smile automatically. We tried and it really works!

DC was so fascinated by it that he broke into repeated uncontrollable smiles... the result? Lots of pictures of him! Haha.

Bravo (should I say Bravia instead to Sony?) to the new technology! :D


Related Posts:
Want to be happy? Take up photography!
A photo a day
10,000 shutter count

Mothers' Day Celebration

We celebrated Mothers' Day 1 day earlier this year, programs all lined out one after another...

First was home-cooked lunch at bro-in-law's place. DC's bro and wife prepared quite an elaborate meal, there were grilled meats in skewers, prawns, roasted chicken, fish wrapped in leaves and etc all very nicely displayed. The mango sago dessert and apple sauce was good.


After lunch was entertainment time. We went KTV singing at Woodlands Party World, a first for DC's family! DC caught me by surprise when he started singing all the new songs that he had never sang before. Wow! Impressive, man!


Then come the night. DC and I rushed to Crystal Jade Toa Payoh after our singing session and we were late but luckily food was not served yet. There were 4 mothers among us... 四婶，堂嫂, my sis and mummy. Food was acceptable but not as good as before, it's probably because the restaurant was so busy that they could not keep up with their usual standard. Nevertheless, it was still a good get-together. :)



Happy Mothers' Day!



Related Posts:
Mothers' Day 2007
Mothers' Day 2006

Coincidental Meetings

Had a bit too many coincidental meetings recently... keep bumping into old friends on the streets or in the company, is Singapore really that small? For some, we are really fated to meet i feel... otherwise, I wouldn't bump into them more than once.

Case 1. CR saw me in Redhill market and called me on my phone. He didn't tell me but somehow my instinct told me that he was nearby. True enough, he was... We met up this Tue for lunch to catch up. :)

Case 2. Firstly, I met EL at the neighourhood Chingay then I saw SL and Simon at a recent company training. Coincidentally, we four ex-colleagues became colleagues once again (direct or indirectly) serving the same company!

Case 3. LC saw me when she was on the bus one morning and texted me... Few weeks later, when I boarded the bus, I saw her on the bus. We met again on KT's wedding.

Case 4. YD and I bumped into each other unexpectedly one evening at the mrt station. Saw him a number of times after that... at the gate, on the escalator...

Case 5. TTL spotted me just yesterday at his company. He tried to contact me while I was in Japan but I was out of reach... fancy seeing him there, ha!

It's a small world indeed!


Related Posts:
Its a small world after all
Good to meet again

Healthier Diet...Possible?

DC and I are trying to adopt a healthier diet, one with no less coffee, no less tea, no less carbonated drinks, no less sugar, no less chocolate, no less ice-cream, lots of more fruits and lots of more vegetables... is this possible to achieve? Hmm...


Related Posts:
Sick!
Air Supply
Food for thought
Stanchart Marathon 2006

When The Iron Man Meets Doomsday

This post is not about Iron Man meeting his death and no no it's not about Iron Man meeting that charater in the Superman comic either...



It's just about the movies "Iron Man" and "Doomsday" that we watched, one on Labour day and the other today.

Iron Man:
A billionaire industrialist and inventor, Tony Stark is kidnapped overseas and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. Upon his return to America, Tony comes to terms with his past and uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications. Donning his powerful armor once again, the playboy adventurer vows to protect the world as Iron Man.

Stars Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard.

Doomsday:
Great Britain, 2007. A deadly plague, known as the "Reaper Virus," has broken out, killing hundreds of thousands in its wake. In desperation, the British Government evacuates as many survivors as it can out of the infected area, and then builds a wall, preventing the remainder from escaping. Thirty years later, with the wall still up and the victims all but forgotten, the virus breaks out again. The Government decides to send a crack team of operatives, led by Major Eden Sinclair, into the hot zone to investigate the possibility of a cure.


So, which do we prefer? Just look at the pics above and you'll see who's falling short... :P

[Edited on 09 May 2008: If you have not watched Iron Man and is planning to do so, remember to stay till end of the credits! Be sure to catch Iron Man meeting Nick Fury... We missed it!!!]

堂嫂 came SIN

Cousin's wife came to Singapore 2 days ago, being hosts, my parents brought her to a nearby (my parent's personal favorite) coffee shop for some cooked dinner... only bro and I were there, the rest including DC was not free.

Back then when we stayed at her house in China, I remembered she fed us with super huge meal servings (at least 8 course every meal, all prepared by her!!!)... it's really time to pay back for her superb hospitality but of course our 5 course dinner treat was no match compared to hers. In fact, she had quite a small appetite actually. Just hope she enjoyed the meal.

After dinner, we sent her home (she's staying with Ah Ma now) and visited Ah Ma. Recently Ah Ma's leg was swollen with pus, it actually quite hurt me to see her suffer from pain esp. at her advanced age. She has been applying cream on her leg, pray that her leg recovers soon...


Related Posts:
My Yi Ma Arrives
Playing Tour Guide for a day
My Grandma
Busy Busy Week

Unbearable Heat

Can't stand the hot stuffy weather! It's definitely good idea to stay indoors these days.

DC and I took shelter at our favorite cafe where we enjoyed the delicious tiramisu and drank our iced coffee. The feeling is great, we just sat there reminiscing the recent Japan trip. It was a relaxed and lazy afternoon...










Related Posts:
What's at Dome?
Tiramisu
Canele