Merry Belated Christmas!

Anyway, am working on Feb 06 issue for mag this month so it's Valentine's Day themed.

Wanted to post earlier but... lazy. :D



Bought roses from Tiong Bahru market. It was at $2 for 3 stalks. We got 20, two given FOC by the uncle of the flower shop. There were plenty of shops selling incense paper and as usual they had those paper replicas of everyday stuff. Found new item that day -- Dim Sum. With baskets. Quite amusing but didn't have camera to take. Anyway, the roses look very pretty in the vase. After the photoshoot, no point leaving it in the studio so I brought it back.

New Gelato Store


Was invited to a tasting session at Gelatissimo at Shaw Lido on 17 Dec. Went with John. Yummy gelato but not cheap! It's $3.90 for one scoop compared to $2.80 for one scoop at Venezia. Oh, and Ben & Jerry's sells single scoops at $3.90 as well I think. We had:



Which doesn't look as yummy looking as these:


New Phone?



This is the phone that I've been waiting ages for. Like the 6100 (the one that I have now), I liked it the first time I saw it. The PR company sent us pictures and info like 3 months ago or something and it was only supposed to come out first quarter of 2006. But the other day, the guy from the PR company said it was going to be available the next day. I asked him to send a tester kit. This is it! It's a Coffee Brown 7360. MP3 ringtone, SVGA camera (i know quite lousy but i dun really need a good camera), Bluetooth (I think), Push To Talk, "leather" back and pouch provided, radio.... can go Nokia website to see the specs if you want. I think it's pretty. Daddy and Mummy thinks it's pretty too. Friends think it's pretty as well. So yes, I'll be getting it after checking prices.

Real phone pic:


It's $498 for recommended retail price without contract but got shops selling it at $538 and $598 without coutract! Crazy right? Even M1 selling at $548 without contract. Tsk. With 2 year contract it's $398. Will see if buying the tester kit will give me a discount before I decide.

Ginger Is A Man

Bought Coffee Bean gingerbread men for gifts this Christmas. They look very nice and comes in packs of 5 ($11 each). I split 2 packs up and bagged them and sealed them to give away. There were extras so we ate them. It was very nice. Texture like the mooncake skin and not too gingery. I like. Mummy loved the smell. Normally, I eat gingerbread men by starting on one hand, then one leg, then the other hand/leg. Basically, I'll finish the limbs before eating the head. But Mummy and Daddy chomp on the head first (so savage!).


Smiley unsuspecting Gingerbread Man.


He lost his head (to Daddy)


Now his limbs are gone. (Courtesy of me.)

I would show you another picture of it but I think Mummy finished him. :)p



I also got "gifts" from companies. Espirit gave my editor a set of three teddies. I took one. Look at the details and good quality stitching! Must have been expensive.

Red Earth (cosmetics brand of Espirit) gave a bottle of wine (with custom made sticker label) and a box of chocolates. Have only tried two. One was eaten by Daddy so not sure of the taste.

A lot of pics but ya. That's all that happened. Sort of.

Sky Dining

We "celebrated" Deepavali by going for the Sky Dining thing. Surprisingly a lot of people went. There was even an ang mo family who blindfolded the dad and the kids were by his side. He was grinning away. I think it was a birthday surprise. Heh. Quite cute. We also saw two guys having the dinner in one car (they came after we got on) and ANOTHER two guys in another car (these two were even sitting on the same side).... so.... not a guy-buddy thing. :p

Anyway, pictures...... Show you the scenery first.



Sunset pictures..... same time, different exposure.


Superstar Aries docking at Habourfront. Earlier and later pixs. The best I could manage on a shaky cable car.




More pictures of our surrounding. There's the condo at Keppel Bay... They have FOUNTAINS in the middle of the condo! We also saw lightning throught the ride. Luckily it was far away. If not quite scary. Too bad the cable car was moving, the lightning too quick and no SLR. If not would have quite a nice picture of the lightning.


Playing around with the "lamp" in the car.


Normal pic...


Heh heh heh... he looks like Hannibal Lecter....

FOOD!!! From Altivo Bar some more!

Soup: Cream Of Mushroom
Verdict: Deeeeeelicious! Best soup ever! Same level as Serangoon Gardens Country Club's!


Main Course: Grilled Salmon with Mushroom Sauce, Baby Carrots, Broccoli and Baby Potatoes.
Verdict: Sauce was very nice. So were the sides. Salmon had nicely grilled skin but the middle part was a tad dry. More sauce would have been nice.


Dessert: Tiramisu
Verdict: The Mascapone Cheese was very very good. More would have been nice. The Ladies' Fingers were yummy but those can be bought at Cold Storage easily and cheaply. They went very well with the cheese though. The biscuit shell a tad thick. Taste like those Egg biscuits. Nice....

One course per round. So three rounds altogether. Altivo Bar has very nice setting. Unfortunately when we went to look for a toilet, there were only portable ones cos they were renovating the place. And the toilets stank even before we opened the door. In the end, never use. Too stinky!

Thus concludes our Deepavali.

Professionally Taken!

As mentioned, the "professionally" taken pics of me foooooood.



And drinks! The champagne glasses one is called Noel Spritzer and the other is supposed to be Italian Soda but we modify the exotic syrups it calls for with rose syrup. Original recipes can be found at Betty Crocker

Dinner Time

As requested, dinner with Indian Rojak (wonderful sauce!) and Prata (yummy gravy!)





Slurrrrrp.

It's Not Easy Being Santa

The amount of work I have to put in for the magazine...



Modified from Betty Crocker's website. Brownies with marshmallows, frosting, mini Smarties, mini Choc Chips, Pretz, chocolate, and food colouring. :p

Other DIY stuff....



Candy Train! Lifesavers are so hard to find in Singapore! And super ex... $1.40 at Jason's Supermarket at Tanglin Mall. I thought Polo mints would have been okay but they were too long. They used to be shorter.



Cocoa-coated Spoons, and a DIY hamper. The hamper was the easiest to arrange obviously. :p

Also had Chicken Wings, and Mashed Potatoes but those are normal stuff.

Back to work.

Mummy's Birthday

I wanted to post this in two sections but no time. 11am liao and still haven't done any work (Was busy photoshopping the photos and uploading them.) Anyway, we dropped by Ah-Ma's place to pick Auntie Bay Bee up. The small girl was there. I think she's starting to recognise me cos she smiled when she saw me. She looked like she lost a quite a bit of baby fat.


Yes? No?


Then while photoshopping just now, I realised that her nose looks... crooked. Don't you think so?


Mummy with Qiu Yi. She looks like Joel (Uncle michael's grandson) no?

See rest of baby photos here.

Birthday Dinner at East Ocean Teochew Restaurant (Same as daddy's birthday last year)


The obligatory Sao Tou. But strangely enough, they were planning to serve it AFTER the whole dinner (with dessert). But after we told them we actually wanted it as first dish, it came as the second dish (need to steam first). First dish ended up being soft shell crab with fruit salad. Very nice.

This Sao Tou quite interesting. Made using sago for the outside, and custurd on the inside. The two above are supposedly for you and Serena (mummy say one :p).


The cake. The chocolate looks like mahjong tile hor? Went to Mariotte to buy. Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch or something. Super rich. They also have new mooncakes this year - "Ebony & Ivory". It's Whiskey Praline Mooncake.


Supposed to take the picture of mummy blowing the candle but she never tell me when. So caught her too late.


Everyone who went for the dinner.


Mummy in the dark. Towards the end, there was a blackout. I was in the toilet with Aunty Bay Bee. Lucky we were just about to exit the toilet. Only light was emitting from the Whiskey Cabinet, and the UV thingy that kills insect. We had already paid and were waiting for the waiter to bring the mooncake samples for us. Mummy was lamenting that they were going to have a 30% discount only for 3 days on their mooncakes but we would be in Melbourne so she cannot buy. (Only for Citibank Card)


Daddy In the dark.


Artistic looking moocake shot in the dark.

See rest of mummy's birthday photos here.