Monday, September 24, 2007,9:22 PM
started work at AIA last wk. only 1 word to describe: sad. sad, sad, sad. maybe i juz need to accumulate enough tears b4 they can fall. but i will go on. wish me luck.
PS: if i ever call any of u guys on a biz basis, PLS dun shun away. Its juz for work purposes and nothing else. Defintely no obligations.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007,6:02 PM
another random food post.
was slacking & studying at TCC, so decided to get some nice coffee and a tea-time snack. had a nutello (espresso with nutella) and an american cheesecake (too ordinary-looking so no pics). and this, is the NUTELLO: i dunno if u guys can see it, but the glass it came in was much skinnier and smaller den the already small cup of water they gave! ok, i know authentic espresso is supposed to be served in shots or small amounts lah, but i guess i was juz in the mood for sumting more? especially if i intend to leave my butt there for a few hrs, but yet am not so rich to order a few cups of coffee mah. and it doesnt look DAT nice to bazhan the table for hrs on your own with only a miserable glass of water rite? so the ai-mian-zi me, had to slowly sip my nutello as though i she bu de drk finish while studying loh (thank god for the help of the cheesecake). lol. but seriously, its an interesting idea. the barista spread nutella all over the sides and the bottom of the glass, before pouring in the espresso, and prob topping it up with a little whipped milk and some cocoa powder. before u drk, its best to scoop (a small spoon is provided) away all the nutella and mix it with the coffee, unless u can stand the bitterness of pure espresso (without sugar i tink). the result? someting that tastes like mocha. but be careful when u are scooping the nutella, coz once u insert the spoon in and try to start, the coffee and whipped milk is in danger of overflowing, so do it GENTLY. if u like the taste of plain whipped milk and bitter cocoa powder, u can attempt to slurp up all the whipped milk on top 1st, so it will be easier to scoop.
went golden mile food centre with the OH a few days back to try the famous 76 Golden Mile Claypot Rice (review is in the OH's blog). we went there an hr earlier b4 the stall opened coz we tot it would be crowded (but actually it wasnt, juz dat u have to wait quite long for ur order), so we juz got a table near the stall and had sum snacks 1st. came across this dessert stall juz opp the claypot rice stall which is supposedly famous too, so decided to give it a try. as u can see from the signboard, it sells traditional tong shui like black sesame paste, peanut paste, almond paste, tang yuan in various soups and gui ling gao (herbal jelly) at pretty cheap prices. i tried the peanut paste which was @ $1 only (i tink most of the things there are between $1-2), and it was a pretty big bowl (comparable to those u get @ tong shui shops, if not more). for sum one like me who doesnt really like pastes, its actually not bad. it has a roasted peanut taste, and its pretty smooth, and its not very sweet and wun leave u searching for water after a few mouths. worth a try if u are there and like such desserts.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007,8:50 PM
i finally passed all my papers, and ready for work!
thank you for nagging at me to study. thank you for making trips down to the temple to pray for me & give thanks. thank you for taking a lucky sweet especially for me from the temple. thank you for remembering to msg me good luck in the morning b4 my test. thank you for silently praying on the days of my tests and worrying up to the time i told you my results. thank you for promising to eat vegetarian every 1st & 15th in return for blessing me with good luck, and really keeping to it. thank you for being happy for me everytime i passed a paper. i saw a big smile on your face after the 1st paper, and heard your smiles on the fone after the 2nd & 3rd. most of all, thank you for being ard for me to count on all these while. its finally gonna be 1 long yr. :)
Thursday, September 13, 2007,8:14 PM
another one of the donut shops in the donut craze. the OH came across their website and told me to take a look. pretty good, have 19 flavours to choose from, so i went down to take a look, and ended up with 6 donuts! heh.
here are the flavours, u can check out their descriptions from the website.
Top row(L-R): So Frutti, Blueberry, choc with rainbow rice
Bottom row(L-R): choc with banana custard, bittersweet choc, choc with chopped nuts
sry for the bad quality pics ah!
hmmz overall, ok loh, abit too much glazing, but if u like thick choc on ur donuts, worth a try. the banana custard 1 is sumting diff, and for those who dun really care abt additional grams, its not bad! take a look at www.munchydonut.com
finally managed to put up the video of the lousy har gow i blogged abt in the prev post, thx to blogger's 'add a video' function.
sry for the lousy quality again! heh.
1 last complain, i dun understand WHY muz pple wait until they are juz right b4 the MRT gantry, b4 starting to dig for their stupid tiny ez-link card, and thus, blocking it from all the other commuters as a result????? esp during peak hrs, dun they tink its brainless??? issit so diff to dig for ur ez-link card when u get off the train???? sigh.
Monday, September 10, 2007,8:39 PM
heres another incident dat got me pretty pissed off. went for a late nite movie, and went for supper after dat at a particular cafe. wasnt very hungry, so juz decided to have sum snacks, and ordered 1 portion of xian1 xia1 fu3 pi2 juan3 (FRESH prawns wrapped in beancurd skin) and 1 portion of xian1 xia1 jiao3 (FRESH prawn dumpling). reason why i write the word 'fresh' in caps? shall explain it later. so when i ordered the beancurd skin thingy, i wasnt sure whether it is steamed or fried, so i asked the waiter. and that gong dai waiter with his blur face, after telling me dat it is actually fried and the ming2 xia1 juan3 (i didnt ask anyting abt that though) is steamed, said that but if i wan i can choose whether i wan fried or steamed. so i explicitly said i wan it steamed, and it nodded his head. the next moment, i saw a plate of 3 DEEP-FRIED beancurd rolls appearing in front of me! so i asked him abt it, and he, giving me his blur face again, stared at the plate, and den apologised saying that he tot i was tokking abt the ming2 xia1 juan3 which is steamed (machiam i dun already know). but since the OH didnt wan to make a fuss abt it, so i juz let it pass. but even worse den dat, was that the rolls were DRIPPING with oil lah!!! i even had to, for the very 1st time, use my ex's method of wrapping each roll in stacks of serviettes juz to remove the oil lah!!! look at the damage done: juz ONE roll, can waste dunno how many serviettes liao loh! can u imagine 3 rolls!! i made that waiter give me a whole stack of serviettes to absorb as much oil as i could, and even so, its prob only 50% gone lah! i was damn pissed man! and so much for stating FRESH prawn, its noting near dat! and the har gow! the prawn is 1 whole prawn, yes, but its pretty obvious its frozen loh. u know how it is with fresh prawns, whereby u juz need to use ur chopsticks to poke on it lightly and it will bounce bk. but this prawn, upon poking on it, it disintegrated (i cant find another word to describe it) into pieces lah! and when u take a bite of it, theres dat slight watery taste dat u get when frozen prawns are cooked without letting it thaw properly. so much for stating 'fresh' lah!! i took a video of the 'disintegration' of the prawn, but i realised i dunno how to upload it in my blog, lol. i shall not mention which cafe. grrr.
on a nicer note, finally got to try the taiwan 'chua peng" (shaved ice) from this shop ICE MONSTER. it originated in taiwan, but the owner decided to open branches in sg too, 1 in sunshine plaza (opp burlington sq), another in PS b2. i tried the branch in PS. their flavours are mainly either mango, strawberry or kiwi, with other common flavours like red bean and yam (i tink). but i decided to try sumting diff, shaved ice with mango, durian and mango sorbet! the mango was fresh, but generally not as sweet as mango lingo's (OH said that was the best mango ice ever tasted, lol), but still not bad lah. the durian was shiok man! quite "gao" oso, prob D24? in comparison, the sorbet wasnt really exciting, there isnt the clean, tangy taste i was expecting, but still ok loh. abit too much "cold-ness" in a bowl though. but well, it didnt come cheap, the small portion we had was $6.50, 1 of the more expensive ones in the menu (prob coz of the durian?). prices range from $4.50-$6.50 for a small portion depending on wat u order. hmmz not bad to eat on a hot day lah, but location-wise not very ideal leh, the aircon in PS is already quite cold liao loh, shrugz.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007,3:33 PM
i finally made a decision and i finally stuck with it. i rejected Prudential & will be joining AIA after i pass my exams. no more shuffling ard and feeling guilty. am so relieved! but i still hate studying. urgh.
1 thing i always never got to understand. why muz pple put a tiny ez link card in their bag which is already FULL of things, and put the BIG BAG on the tapping machine at the gantry and it takes sooo long for the machine to detect the tiny ez link card coz of the HUMONGOUS amount of things in the bag, and thus holding up all the other commuters already armed with their ez link card (like me)??!! if u have pockets, issit soooooooo difficult to put an ez link card in ur pocket for easy removal? and if u dun have pockets and absolutely muz put ur ez link card in ur bag, issit sooooo difficult to take out the ez link card b4 u reach the gantry, hold it in ur hand, tap it and put it bk into ur bag so as not to spend years at the tapping machine?? i m seriously irritated with such pple, ESPECIALLY when they are right in front of me.
Monday, September 03, 2007,9:12 PM
spot the mistake! lol, we were thinking if we would get chopped by the chicken rice auntie for snapping this right under her nose, but me being me, I DUN CARE! :p
u finally said u missed me! :)
after all the shuffling here n there, i m prob bk in AIA again. i know i m indecisive, i hate myself for dat too. honestly, i m STILL not 100% sure yet, but i shld stick to it and go all out, enough is enough. all these are not gonna do much gd to my reputation nway. i guess if i fail in the future, its really my own fault.
,8:25 PM
another food post. finally went to try the famous MOF restaurant every1 is raving about. went to the branch in marina square, centrestage (theres a stall in raffles city basement i tink, but no seats and juz sell ice cream only i tink)
from the same photographer who took Pasta Waraku's chopsticks:
we ordered a set which came with a coffee/tea and a bowl of rice, and u can top up $3 to get any of their desserts which is equal or less den $6.50 in the dessert menu.
at 1st i was surprised why the waitress didnt bother to ask whether we wan coffee or tea, now i know why:
this was given together with the set so dat anytime we wan our drk, we juz need to give the coupon to the staff. not bad.
we had the seafood toji set, which consists of a hot bowl of eggs, tofu, prawns, sotong, tiny(i really mean TINY) scallops and lots lots of onions in a tasty broth over a fire, 3 pieces of pretty oily fried chicken (eeewww) and all the normal jap accompaniments like pickles and chilli flakes and miso/bonito soup. the seafood toji is really nice! very flavourful and i cant resist eating the eggs bit by bit when i really wanted to leave it for my dining partner! :)
for dessert, i had the macha(green tea) gelato with jap dumplings(top up $1). hmmz the green tea taste was pretty "gao" (hokkien for strong), but i didnt really like the bits of red bean in it coz for the simple reason dat i juz dun like red beans. the jap dumplings are tasteless, so u definitely have to eat it with the ice cream. they taste like frozen tang yuan being taken to the boil loh (i know its frozen coz i spotted 1 little ball which is still a lil hard, no pun intended)my dining partner had the mango gelato with jap dumplings (looks nicer den mine rite!). the mango taste is weaker in comparison, but nevertheless, not bad.
this is a special gift from a very special person who knows i love chocs, beautiful food, famous desserts and nearly everthing dat i can put in my mouth! :)
featuring, gobi desserts!
there are only 2 main "collection" of desserts there, fantasy and choc factory, and i got both! each comes in a set of 6, each small piece decorated differently and containing slightly different fillings. they all look so beautiful rite?!!
1st up, FANTASY: (i dunno why theres choc in here though, shrugz)
CHOC FACTORY:
a warning to potential buyers though, the desserts are really REALLY sweet! if u dun really have a sweet tooth, pls pls share it with ur frenz, i dun wanna be responsible for indirectly causing ur diabetes! but dat aside, if u love desserts, no harm trying!
Place: Gobi Desserts @ The Central, Eu Tong Sen St.
i dunno if u guys can see it, but the glass it came in was much skinnier and smaller den the already small cup of water they gave!
i tried the peanut paste which was @ $1 only (i tink most of the things there are between $1-2), and it was a pretty big bowl (comparable to those u get @ tong shui shops, if not more). for sum one like me who doesnt really like pastes, its actually not bad. it has a roasted peanut taste, and its pretty smooth, and its not very sweet and wun leave u searching for water after a few mouths. worth a try if u are there and like such desserts.
here are the flavours, u can check out their descriptions from the website.
juz ONE roll, can waste dunno how many serviettes liao loh! can u imagine 3 rolls!! i made that waiter give me a whole stack of serviettes to absorb as much oil as i could, and even so, its prob only 50% gone lah! i was damn pissed man! and so much for stating FRESH prawn, its noting near dat!
the mango was fresh, but generally not as sweet as mango lingo's (OH said that was the best mango ice ever tasted, lol), but still not bad lah. the durian was shiok man! quite "gao" oso, prob D24? in comparison, the sorbet wasnt really exciting, there isnt the clean, tangy taste i was expecting, but still ok loh. abit too much "cold-ness" in a bowl though.
lol, we were thinking if we would get chopped by the chicken rice auntie for snapping this right under her nose, but me being me, I DUN CARE! :p
from the same photographer who took Pasta Waraku's chopsticks:
we ordered a set which came with a coffee/tea and a bowl of rice, and u can top up $3 to get any of their desserts which is equal or less den $6.50 in the dessert menu.
this was given together with the set so dat anytime we wan our drk, we juz need to give the coupon to the staff. not bad.
for dessert, i had the macha(green tea) gelato with jap dumplings(top up $1). hmmz the green tea taste was pretty "gao" (hokkien for strong), but i didnt really like the bits of red bean in it coz for the simple reason dat i juz dun like red beans. the jap dumplings are tasteless, so u definitely have to eat it with the ice cream. they taste like frozen tang yuan being taken to the boil loh (i know its frozen coz i spotted 1 little ball which is still a lil hard, no pun intended)
my dining partner had the mango gelato with jap dumplings (looks nicer den mine rite!). the mango taste is weaker in comparison, but nevertheless, not bad.
there are only 2 main "collection" of desserts there, fantasy and choc factory, and i got both! each comes in a set of 6, each small piece decorated differently and containing slightly different fillings. they all look so beautiful rite?!! 
CHOC FACTORY:
a warning to potential buyers though, the desserts are really REALLY sweet! if u dun really have a sweet tooth, pls pls share it with ur frenz, i dun wanna be responsible for indirectly causing ur diabetes! but dat aside, if u love desserts, no harm trying! 