A perfect day (for lazing at home and doing nothing)

It rained the entire afternoon today. Our flat, being on the 20th floor, is very breezy on normal days. Today, I had to wear a cardigan in order to prevent myself from catching a chill! The temperature as reflected on my room clock was 24 degrees celsius for most of the day!

Its funny how I used to always wish I was home during days like these so that I can nap all afternoon. Ironically, taking a nap was the last thing on my mind today. I spent half the afternoon surfing the internet and planning the itinerary for my upcoming honeymoon *yay* and then the rest of the afternoon watching crappy drama serials on cable tv (including one of my favourites while growing up - Yi Tian Tu Long Ji starring a very young Tony Leung)! Ok yes, I am from that generation... but seriously, Tony Leung still looks pretty much the same now as he did in that show! I wonder how he keeps himself looking young... mmm...

Anyway, what's an afternoon of lazing without food? Well, since its one of those lazy days, I did not cook, but luckily, my house is well-stocked with junk food. My snack cupboard stocks a whole range of snacks, ranging from chips, nuts, biscuits, chocolates. My poison for today? ........*tada*

Kettle Chips use all natural ingredients with no artificial flavours, colours or sweeteners, and trans fat. Their honey dijon flavour is my all-time favourite. Sweet and tangy at the same time, the chips are highly addictive! The one on the right is a lesser known chip, Sun Chips! Being a multi-grain chip, Sun Chips are made with whole grains to support heart health and they claim to contain 30% less fat than regular potato chips. Despite this, trust me that taste is not compromised as the chips are totally full flavoured and yummy! Both chips can be bought from Cold Storage.

Today's choice of ice-cream is my all time favourite ice-cream - Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby! Chubby Hubby is chunks of chocolate covered peanut butter-filled pretzels in a rich vanilla malt ice cream with deep ripples of fudge and peanut butter. I fell in love with Chubby Hubby when I first tasted it 5 years ago. Since then, this has been my favourite ice-cream coz its filled with goodies that I love, and I can finish a tub at a sitting all by myself! It is really ecstacy exploding in your mouth! Try it!

Re-visiting the National Library

Hands up those of you who have not visited the National Library in the past year! Well, you are not alone.. It has been at least 5 years since I last visited the National Library. Decided to drop by today to borrow some reading material for our Bintan getaway this weekend. Colin and I will be travelling with his Kao Fu and Kao Mou to Bintan Lagoon Resort this weekend, and while the 3 of them happily explore the various golf courses on the island, I will be sprawled out on the beach / pool side reading and working on my tan.

The Central Lending Library, located between Bugis Junction and Bras Basah Complex is a 16-storey, two-block development which replaces the old National Library at Stamford Road. This flagship building of the National Library Board houses the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, the Central Lending Library, and the Drama Centre, all under one roof, and a nice chic roof at that! The picture on the left shows the entrance to the library, while the one below shows the courtyard where one can relax with a book (though i'm not quite sure if anyone in the right frame of mind would be doing that in our Singapore weather)!

Though the library building is spanking new and modern, I couldn't help but miss the old brick-red building at Stamford Road, where many afternoons were spent doing research for school projects, and cramming for exams!
Anyway, I borrowed 4 books today, namely The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Girl who played Go by Shan Sa, and 2 travel guides for Tokyo and Barcelona! Really look forward to read the books and to more leisurely visits to the library! :)

Oscars Fever

This morning, I had to make a quick trip to whampoa market for lunch ingredients as well as some yummy breakfast of fishball noodles. Had to rush back by 9.30am to catch the 79th Annual Academy Awards (aka Oscars). Ever wondered why the Academy Awards is also known as the Oscars? A popular but unsubstantiated story has been that the moniker caught on after Academy librarian and eventual executive director Margaret Herrick said that the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar. Weighing 8.5 pounds and standing 13.5 inches tall, the statue is bronze plated 24 karat gold!

Now, here's a quick look at who was wearing what for the prestigious party!


After lazing on the couch for 3.5 hours following hollywood trivia, it was time to prepare lunch.

Here are the ingredients for today's lunch :

300grams of Xiao Bai Cai
olive oil
garlic
oyster sauce
sugar
corn flour
water




1 can of Ma Ling luncheon meat, cubed
3 potatoes, boiled and cubed
olive oil
some dark sauce for taste
sugar
parsley
water


The end product?

A very satisfied Colin giving my home-cooked lunch 2 thumbs up! :)

Sore muscles and a very bruised ego

In case some of you do not know, I have always been "allergic" to exercise...well, perhaps that has just been my long-time excuse of having poor fitness level and absolutely no ball sense!

But as fate would have it, I met, fell in love, and married a Fitness Fanatic. Colin works out at least 5 times a week, and given his travelling schedule, this is really quite a feat! His gym gloves and running shoes probably rank higher on his travelling packing list than his toiletries, and if he is not working out in the gym, he would be playing badminton on the court, or swinging at the driving range or golf course.

Anyway, now that I am not working, we decided to take this opportunity to start on some kind of a fitness regime for me. As a fitness guru, it was important for Colin to know where I stood before he planned my fitness journey, and we started off this morning with Raj, a personal trainer from Singapore Swimming Club.

Raj made me fill up some forms, took my body measurements, blood pressure, pulse, then put me through a series of tests including sit and reach, push ups, sit ups, and a step test, after which I was already totally breathless and my pulse was racing at 145 per minute. Raj explained to me that my flexibility, strength, and fitness were all in the Very Poor range. For example, the Average Range for sit ups was 20, but I only managed 4. Just as I was getting embarrassed, Raj quickly emphasized that with regular work outs, control of diet (yah rite), and enough rest (for sure no problem!) I would be in good shape in no time! So, here's a look at my body fat analysis. which we will revisit every 3 months. Raj then followed up by designing a simple work out regime for me to do on my own during my next visits to the gym. After spending an hour with Raj, I left the gym with very sore arms and an even sorer ego.... :(

A day in the life of a Tai Tai

Some may wonder why i call myself a home-maker wannabe rather than a Tai Tai wannabe..well, i figured that being a home-maker is just the rite of passage to achieving "nirvana" - Tai Tai-dom!

Lucky for me, I had my first taste of Tai Tai-hood today! Colin and I decided to take a day-trip to Johor Bahru this morning. He had wanted to practice his golf before our Bintan trip with his uncle next weekend, while I would spend the 4 hours at City Square, doing grooming and shopping!

Armed with my Aldo handbag, 250 Ringgit, and my credit cards, we set off for my first day out since I stopped working! YAY!

Traffic was really light on the causeway, which is really a refreshing change from the heavy traffic that we always experienced on our weekend DVD and groceries buying trip. My first stop in City Square was Nippon Yataimuba restaurant on level 4. Hey, it won't be glamourous if a tai tai's stomach growled while doing her nails or hair right?


After filling my stomach with the Wakayama Ramen (quite yummy with fatty pork which melts in your mouth), it was time for some major grooming! First stop was at a nail salon on level 4 for a Classic OPI manicure and pedicure. After doing my nails, I did a ear candling to detox my ears *eeew*. Last stop was at a salon next to Jantzen where I did a Redken All Soft hair treatment.

The end result? Soft flouncy hair, clean ears, and perfect nails! The damage? Merely 200 Ringgit (S$90) for 4 hours of pampering! I could get used to this life! :)

First working day of the Lunar new year..and I'm not working!

Though I have not worked since last Friday, my "unemployment" finally sunk in this morning when I opened my eyes and remembered I no longer need to wake up to the beeping of my alarm clock, rush into the shower, then crack my brains on what to wear for the day! I just languidly stretched in bed and revelled in the comfort of my air-conditioned room, my 400 threadcount egyptian cotton sheets, my simmons backcare mattress and my tempur pillow!

After 5 minutes of pure indulgence, I decided that I will kick-start my day by going to the market.

I love the Whampoa Market, which is just a 2-minute drive from my flat. There are so many great foodstalls in the hawker centre adjacent to the market, and I need to get some ingredients for today's lunch.

Lunch was fried rice. I had spent fifteen minutes last night researching for recipes for fried rice so that I can arm myself with some basic knowledge on how to prepare this simple dish that Colin loves so much.

Ingredients : 2 cups of leftover rice, olive oil, garlic, 1 chinese sausage, $2 of char siew, mixed vegetables, 10 shrimps, 2 eggs and soya sauce for taste.

I laid out the ingredients in little bowls so that I would not have to stumble around for them when I start to cook. These are little tricks for amateur chefs like myself.

This is me at work in my humble kitchen, had to force Colin to take this photo of me coz he doesn't understand why I need to take a photo of myself cooking.

Check out the end product. Mmm...I am getting pretty good at this...

Cooking up a storm for the 1st time!

Woke up this morning feeling all excited coz today is Colin's badminton day and he had left for the club. I decided to surprise him by cooking my first meal of the year all by myself... For those of you who know me, I'm quite a klutz in the kitchen (or home for that matter).. and most of our meals are prepared by Colin while I was always relegated to the cleaning up role.

Now, now, what should I cook? We had stocked up on vegetables, meat, tofu and eggs before CNY, but looking at all those ingredients in the fridge drew up a blank in my mind. Finally, I decided to go for something basic and which I knew had little chance of failing, PASTA! Fried up some garlic and onions in the pan, added my trusty Leggo's pasta sauce, threw in some mixed vegetables and some meat balls, and VOILA! Lovely Angel Hair Pasta! *YAY*



Found some leftover bak kwa in the kitchen which I threw into an omelette! hey, no way am I going to let my lack of culinary skills limit my creativity in the kitchen! The bak kwa omelette turned out quite dry but still yummy!

Colin, being the ever-so-sweet hubby that he is, slurped up everything on the plates!

What an encouraging start to cooking!

A new year, a new beginning!

What a way to start the lunar new year...after 29 years of my life, this is probably the most relieved and happy CNY for me...not having to dread going back to work, not having to worry about deadlines at work... yes, u guessed right, I started this golden pig year UNEMPLOYED! ooh....how did that very dirrrty and taboo word come out from me sounding, actually, happy? well truth is, since I was a little girl, I have been aspiring to be a home-maker, thanks to my mummy dearest, who has not worked a single day since she married daddy.

Mummy used to take such precocious care of my and Brandon (ah boy), bringing us to school, preparing our 3 meals per day, (sometimes 4 or even 5!) and spending the rest of her time just taking naps, watching cantonese serials...(or so I thought!)

Ok.....fast forward to 29 years later on 16 February 2007, the last working day before CNY turned out to be my last working day with Aryan (SEA) Private Limited.

Having spent less than a year with the company, I was surprisingly sad to leave. Perhaps its the people, the wonderful colleagues who I have grown to call friends, the lovely team who I painstakingly put together and who braved through thick and thin together. Anyways, people come and people go, as a HR practitioner, i should know this better than anyone else right? Anyway, thank you to all of you who have made my time with ZARA, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Evita Peroni, and the Royal Sporting House so full of excitement, fulfilment, and laughter!

My farewell lunch with all the fellow heads of departments at Bakerzin @ Paragon. The mushroom linguine and cakes were yummy-licious! My pretty boss Sharon & I in matching outfits

My team, On Yu and Serena in the photo on the left, the bak kwa gang Rain(my other team-mate) & Claudia on the right