I just had the worst dinner in my life. I had been wanting to make myself a meal for sometime now since Julien had left for Paris. So I decided to do so today. There was this packet of herbal satchets for making pork rib broth (very popular asian dish) that didn't sit well with Julien's acute sense of smell, so I thought I should take advantage of his absense at the moment and make myself a bowl! The menu I had in mind was steamed egg, rice and pork rib broth. That sounded really good (in my mind).
First mistake I made was to tear open that satchet. I had realised after that the ingredients in the satchet were not solvable in liquid and were meant to just flavour the pot of water that it was put into. Kind of like a tea bag. But the asian in me decided it wasn't a good idea to waste so i popped it in the pot of water anyway with that tiny opening thinking it wouldn't do that much harm.
The second mistake I did was to put the satchet in that pot for way too long. Like tea, the longer it stays in the pot, the stronger it flavours the water.. I had left it in there for about an hour, and the flavour of the herbs were overwhelmingly... bitter. So I had to correct it by dumping in spoonful after spoonful of salt to balance the taste out.
Next mistake I did was to choose to steam an egg than to fry the egg. I would've been eating it within 5 mins. But because I chose to steam it, I ran into this trouble of trying to find a bowl structured to fit the steamer (which we obviously do not have). I ended up trying to put that bowl over the pot of boiling broth which did start cooking the egg a little, only a tad too slow. After what seemed like 30mins, the egg was still retained it's liquid texture. I was starting to get frustrated and hungry. So I decided to change bowls or try to find a smaller one to fit the steamer.. that was when I tipped the bowl by accident, and lost my egg custard... half cooked at the bottom of the bowl. In the end, I made some sausages and had them with overly bitter broth and rice.
The good news was: I managed to feed myself still.
I miss my yeti....
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Bachelor's party
Hi all,
As my beloved Tinker mentioned, I'm in France at the moment... I can't wait to be back in Singapore to give a big hug to my sweetheart.
And as was said in the last post I was cornered this week-end and boy it was fun.... for the others!
9.30 am Saturday my brother storms into my bedroom (I'm staying at my parent's place) and tells me to get up and dressed... I was really shocked but I managed to negotiate a shower and I stuffed my bag with different clothes. I even took my coat because I remember my other friend who was taken one week-end with only the clothes on his back almost died of cold on the beach in Dieppe. I didn't want that to happen to me.
We took the road and Matthieu asked me to set the GPS to Valmondois, a place where many of my friends live. I used to go there often when I lived in France. So I thought my friends were just going to get me drunk 2 days straight. But we took a turn and here we were in a paintball terrain in a forest... The first joke was that I was going to be sent in a field naked with a boulder tied to my leg and would have to run for my life. I wasn't naked, it was worse they gave me a bunny suit... I was going to be a target.
So here we are all geared up, them in military style green suits, and me in my bright white rabbit suit. They did gave me a gun and no boulder, I was lucky.
The paintball in itself was fun, but to all people who play it WEAR THICK CLOTHES! I still have nice round bruises all over my body. They're going to stay a while I fear.
After the game we had a nice lunch copiously topped with red wine and here we went to L'Isle Adam a town not far to which I'm familiar as well. I thought I'd be off the hook and just peacefully drink all the alcohol bought to me, but Thomas had a surprise for me...
He pulled out the same bunny suit out of his bag and a sign saying in French "I'm getting married, it's the crisis, help me". They gave me a basket full of condoms and I had to go sell them in the street... With kids running around me thinking I was the new clown in town. I forgot to say that my totem was a mop.
Some people were laughing a lot, a few completely ignored me, and a some men (usually the ones walking around with a woman roughly their age) told me I was insane to get married, and that I should run away while I still had time. I'm going to put that on the account of sarcastic jokes, but there were quite a number of them... Not very reassuring.
Anyway, this lasted a while with the highlight of a drunk Yeti moping in front of a blue car and then as he was going to the window to ask for a reward realised it was full of policemen. I wasn't arrested but they didn't give me money too used to give fines they are.
The afternoon was still young and the heat was getting unbearable so we decided to go for a fresh beer in a bar. I had to go to each table of the bar to get money by selling my condoms again. And after that I was given a rest until after dinner which we had in Paris.
As my beloved Tinker mentioned, I'm in France at the moment... I can't wait to be back in Singapore to give a big hug to my sweetheart.
And as was said in the last post I was cornered this week-end and boy it was fun.... for the others!
9.30 am Saturday my brother storms into my bedroom (I'm staying at my parent's place) and tells me to get up and dressed... I was really shocked but I managed to negotiate a shower and I stuffed my bag with different clothes. I even took my coat because I remember my other friend who was taken one week-end with only the clothes on his back almost died of cold on the beach in Dieppe. I didn't want that to happen to me.
We took the road and Matthieu asked me to set the GPS to Valmondois, a place where many of my friends live. I used to go there often when I lived in France. So I thought my friends were just going to get me drunk 2 days straight. But we took a turn and here we were in a paintball terrain in a forest... The first joke was that I was going to be sent in a field naked with a boulder tied to my leg and would have to run for my life. I wasn't naked, it was worse they gave me a bunny suit... I was going to be a target.
So here we are all geared up, them in military style green suits, and me in my bright white rabbit suit. They did gave me a gun and no boulder, I was lucky.
The paintball in itself was fun, but to all people who play it WEAR THICK CLOTHES! I still have nice round bruises all over my body. They're going to stay a while I fear.
After the game we had a nice lunch copiously topped with red wine and here we went to L'Isle Adam a town not far to which I'm familiar as well. I thought I'd be off the hook and just peacefully drink all the alcohol bought to me, but Thomas had a surprise for me...
He pulled out the same bunny suit out of his bag and a sign saying in French "I'm getting married, it's the crisis, help me". They gave me a basket full of condoms and I had to go sell them in the street... With kids running around me thinking I was the new clown in town. I forgot to say that my totem was a mop.
Some people were laughing a lot, a few completely ignored me, and a some men (usually the ones walking around with a woman roughly their age) told me I was insane to get married, and that I should run away while I still had time. I'm going to put that on the account of sarcastic jokes, but there were quite a number of them... Not very reassuring.
Anyway, this lasted a while with the highlight of a drunk Yeti moping in front of a blue car and then as he was going to the window to ask for a reward realised it was full of policemen. I wasn't arrested but they didn't give me money too used to give fines they are.
The afternoon was still young and the heat was getting unbearable so we decided to go for a fresh beer in a bar. I had to go to each table of the bar to get money by selling my condoms again. And after that I was given a rest until after dinner which we had in Paris.
The rest of the evening was a lot easier, I didn't have to wear my bunny suit anymore. I was so drunk at that point that it wouldn't have changed much.
The fun parts were when Thomas took out red cover with useless items that I had to sell. I didn't do very well, and the tourists around were not very receptive.
Then I was asked to play the guitar in front of a crowd gathered to listen to a real concert... I was way past any playing skills by the alcohol in my blood and I'm not sure if the crowd actually applauded...
The rest of the evening is a blur. A portrait of me was drawn, and more drinks were pored... I ended up in a bad state that I shall not recount here.
I would like to thank all the people present a the paintball and during the evening, I was glad to see you all even if we didn't manage to talk a lot. My special thanks go to my witness Thomas who organised all of this great day (for them!), mec fallait pas abandoner tes recherches d'appartement pour organiser tout ça. Finally, thanks to the photographers. You will find all the pictures here if you wish to see them.
Je vous kiffe tous et je vous fait une Henorme bise à chacune et à chacun. Désolé si j'étais vraiment trop bourré ce soir là.
The fun parts were when Thomas took out red cover with useless items that I had to sell. I didn't do very well, and the tourists around were not very receptive.
Then I was asked to play the guitar in front of a crowd gathered to listen to a real concert... I was way past any playing skills by the alcohol in my blood and I'm not sure if the crowd actually applauded...
The rest of the evening is a blur. A portrait of me was drawn, and more drinks were pored... I ended up in a bad state that I shall not recount here.
I would like to thank all the people present a the paintball and during the evening, I was glad to see you all even if we didn't manage to talk a lot. My special thanks go to my witness Thomas who organised all of this great day (for them!), mec fallait pas abandoner tes recherches d'appartement pour organiser tout ça. Finally, thanks to the photographers. You will find all the pictures here if you wish to see them.
Je vous kiffe tous et je vous fait une Henorme bise à chacune et à chacun. Désolé si j'étais vraiment trop bourré ce soir là.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Perfect 10
Wow, the weekend is over already? It's funny, work wise, I seem to be doing less, but with more production. That's a good thing. This week went by pretty fast. Which is good since I want to see my Yeti soon. I'm not sure if I shared this (I don't think I did) but I've got about 9 "sisters" participating in the tea ceremony games with me. So with me that makes 10 of us. Good luck to my Yeti.
Just last Friday, we had all arranged a meeting for all 10 of us to meet. not everyone knows everyone yet you see. I've got my two sisers, Min and Rachel, 3 cousins, Ying, Jasmine and Justine, and the remaining 3 are my good friends, Angeline, Yihmay and Gen. So it was a good idea by Ying to be arranging this meeting for everyone to meet up and get to know each other first before the games. From my experience, it's usually pretty weird if you're supposed to just turn up at your bride's house on the wedding day and meet the other sisters for the first time, and still brainstorm for game ideas for the groom before he arrives. That definitely can be done, but then everyone's too cordial with each other, not really wanting to voice out their full ideas, since they all don't know one another. So this meeting is good... I thought... AT FIRST.
There were a few hiccups on the meeting... my beloved cousin who was supposed to book the place forgot to book it, and she had told the other sisters that the restaurant was located at the 5th level of Taka when it was actually on the 4th. And she had forgotten to bring her mobile phone, so she was also uncontactable. Hence everyone was kind of late because we all got lost on the 5th floor. Ahahaha.. What was good was, because we were such a big group of girls, we were given a private room at the restaurant which was awesome! Really nice room too I must say, all pink and posh!
So, everyone was as usual a little awkward at first, being ushered in one by one looking as though they were walking into a job interview with a panel of judges. Guess who was the latest? Min my own sister!!! Grin. She had a good excuse though.. she is a business development executive with the government hospital, and so had to stay in a little for some mandatory work. Or so she says.
When everyone finally arrived, we all started the evening with an introduction so everyone could put a face to the name in the emails they have been communicating with these past few weeks, with regards to the wedding. The evening, was pretty enjoyable, as they were sharing experiences with one another on how they got to know me etc etc etc. I'm not sure how, but the flow of the conversation brought us to the topic of a Hen Party. It's like a bachelor's party, but for the girl. In Singapore we call it the Hen Party. Don't ask me why. So then my cousin Justine, who had organised a couple of Hen Parties by now, started to get really excited, and began throwing ideas on places and things we can do.
At some point, to give everyone a better idea, Justine whipped out her laptop and showed everyone except me, pictures of her past hen parties... all I could hear were gasps... and some of my friends were looking at the pictures with their lower jaw in contact with the floor.. Now I'm getting worried. Hahaha... So there you have it, my hen party is in the process of being planned, and I have no idea what's coming at me. But I guess I'm GAME!
Julien on the other hand called me just yesterday, saying he was in the midst of his stag party. Which is great! I really think it's important for the groom to have a party with his friends before the wedding. It's more complete that way. =) From the short conversation, I think it was Mattieu, his brother that organised it. Julien got woken up in the morning and was asked to just follow him, no questions asked. I think he was taken to a paintball game. He had called me when he reached for a few minutes before he started his game to tell me that he was the target and that he would have to run naked in the forest. HAHAHAHA. It was a joke... I hope. Haven't had any updates since. But I guess I'll let him blog about it on the details.
I miss my yeti. We haven't really made proper time to speak to each other since he left. Maybe today??
All my love to everyone in France. See you guys at the wedding!
Just last Friday, we had all arranged a meeting for all 10 of us to meet. not everyone knows everyone yet you see. I've got my two sisers, Min and Rachel, 3 cousins, Ying, Jasmine and Justine, and the remaining 3 are my good friends, Angeline, Yihmay and Gen. So it was a good idea by Ying to be arranging this meeting for everyone to meet up and get to know each other first before the games. From my experience, it's usually pretty weird if you're supposed to just turn up at your bride's house on the wedding day and meet the other sisters for the first time, and still brainstorm for game ideas for the groom before he arrives. That definitely can be done, but then everyone's too cordial with each other, not really wanting to voice out their full ideas, since they all don't know one another. So this meeting is good... I thought... AT FIRST.
There were a few hiccups on the meeting... my beloved cousin who was supposed to book the place forgot to book it, and she had told the other sisters that the restaurant was located at the 5th level of Taka when it was actually on the 4th. And she had forgotten to bring her mobile phone, so she was also uncontactable. Hence everyone was kind of late because we all got lost on the 5th floor. Ahahaha.. What was good was, because we were such a big group of girls, we were given a private room at the restaurant which was awesome! Really nice room too I must say, all pink and posh!
So, everyone was as usual a little awkward at first, being ushered in one by one looking as though they were walking into a job interview with a panel of judges. Guess who was the latest? Min my own sister!!! Grin. She had a good excuse though.. she is a business development executive with the government hospital, and so had to stay in a little for some mandatory work. Or so she says.
When everyone finally arrived, we all started the evening with an introduction so everyone could put a face to the name in the emails they have been communicating with these past few weeks, with regards to the wedding. The evening, was pretty enjoyable, as they were sharing experiences with one another on how they got to know me etc etc etc. I'm not sure how, but the flow of the conversation brought us to the topic of a Hen Party. It's like a bachelor's party, but for the girl. In Singapore we call it the Hen Party. Don't ask me why. So then my cousin Justine, who had organised a couple of Hen Parties by now, started to get really excited, and began throwing ideas on places and things we can do.
At some point, to give everyone a better idea, Justine whipped out her laptop and showed everyone except me, pictures of her past hen parties... all I could hear were gasps... and some of my friends were looking at the pictures with their lower jaw in contact with the floor.. Now I'm getting worried. Hahaha... So there you have it, my hen party is in the process of being planned, and I have no idea what's coming at me. But I guess I'm GAME!
Julien on the other hand called me just yesterday, saying he was in the midst of his stag party. Which is great! I really think it's important for the groom to have a party with his friends before the wedding. It's more complete that way. =) From the short conversation, I think it was Mattieu, his brother that organised it. Julien got woken up in the morning and was asked to just follow him, no questions asked. I think he was taken to a paintball game. He had called me when he reached for a few minutes before he started his game to tell me that he was the target and that he would have to run naked in the forest. HAHAHAHA. It was a joke... I hope. Haven't had any updates since. But I guess I'll let him blog about it on the details.
I miss my yeti. We haven't really made proper time to speak to each other since he left. Maybe today??
All my love to everyone in France. See you guys at the wedding!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Cheongsam Day!!!
Wow!! It's half past midnight and I got home just. Was out shopping the whole day actually - For cheongsams. Well, it was more my mum. I already know what I want. I had previously got material that Julien picked out for me for my cheongsam (Chinese traditional tea ceremony dress) and boy is it really SEXY! Love it love it love it!!! So today I had only one task. To get the material to the lady in the shop and have her take my measurements. I never really measured myself after such a long time. And I'm proud to say I'm still pretty proportionate after having not been able to exercise for the longest time. (Let's just hope I stay this way till after the wedding). I'm really excited!
My mum on the other hand, is still taking it easy. She has thought about what she wants, but she hasn't really started looking for her clothes. So that's what we did today too.. We combed a few areas, namely, Chinatown, Katong Plaza, Katong shopping centre, Katong Mall and International Plaza. Our objective - to scout for either nice gowns or kebayas or cheongsams. The result - I'm just home, and we got nothing.
The good news is we chanced upon this kebaya shop selling Peranakan women wear and what I realised is... it's not easy finding a top that matches the skirt. Every piece is different and unique though and that is what I like about the shop, only it would be easier if they had colours for tops that match their skirts better without making my mum look ill. But it's pretty pricey too. It costs about SGD$ 600 for a full attire. After what seemed like an eternity to me, when in fact only 2-3 hours had passed, we finally settled on a fabric for a top that would go with my mum's skirt. Choosing the skirt was easy. Finding a top that matched it was not. Plus they did not allow us to buy our own material for them to make us a top which I personally thought was odd.
I don't want to spill the beans too much on my cheongsam. I'll keep it a surprise for the time being... until the wedding. =) If you do see it, and like it, let me know, and I'll show u the shop I got it from. There are many other nice outfits available off the rack too.
So just before you leave, why not take a little bit of singapore with you?
After thought: My Yeti is back in Paris for 3 weeks, and I'm missing out on too much fun at the moment.
My mum on the other hand, is still taking it easy. She has thought about what she wants, but she hasn't really started looking for her clothes. So that's what we did today too.. We combed a few areas, namely, Chinatown, Katong Plaza, Katong shopping centre, Katong Mall and International Plaza. Our objective - to scout for either nice gowns or kebayas or cheongsams. The result - I'm just home, and we got nothing.
The good news is we chanced upon this kebaya shop selling Peranakan women wear and what I realised is... it's not easy finding a top that matches the skirt. Every piece is different and unique though and that is what I like about the shop, only it would be easier if they had colours for tops that match their skirts better without making my mum look ill. But it's pretty pricey too. It costs about SGD$ 600 for a full attire. After what seemed like an eternity to me, when in fact only 2-3 hours had passed, we finally settled on a fabric for a top that would go with my mum's skirt. Choosing the skirt was easy. Finding a top that matched it was not. Plus they did not allow us to buy our own material for them to make us a top which I personally thought was odd.
I don't want to spill the beans too much on my cheongsam. I'll keep it a surprise for the time being... until the wedding. =) If you do see it, and like it, let me know, and I'll show u the shop I got it from. There are many other nice outfits available off the rack too.
So just before you leave, why not take a little bit of singapore with you?
After thought: My Yeti is back in Paris for 3 weeks, and I'm missing out on too much fun at the moment.
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