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year one

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Year One

today is the first day of our second year together being married. it’s been an eventful year.

we were fussing over the weekend what we should do for our first wedding anniversary. we had intended to take a day off from work and spend the time together. Had a thought about it and thought we’d be better off saving the annual leave for a more pratical use (i.e., renovation works and moving). even then we hoped to do something special over the weekend, or rather, on Sunday to commerate the day.

We ended up taking a very lazy approach to it, deciding only the night before. We’d go for a massage, for high-tea and then for a movie, which very quickly became a foot massage, high-tea and movie only if the time permits.

Saturday was spent at my parents’ place, followed by dinner at my paternal grandma’s place. We had an early morning, and we were quite knackered by the arvo. I had baked a somewhat failed chiffon cake haha. Well, I got the taste correct, but the batter overflowed and it looked like a massive muffin, before deflating when it cooled. BAH. At least it tasted fine. =D

Then we were on a mission to find and choose a card for Donald to write me. It had to be the right card that reflected our characters and the things that we do together. You know, like how you go shopping, it had to be the right piece of clothing before you bought it? and at the right moment?

something like that.

We were looking around for a while, for the shop that I bought my card from. I had wanted us to have each other identical cards. And for the life of me, I couldn’t find the shop! GAAH. At least we found a really quirky card in another shop. It was from the same series as my birthday card. So it was all good. heh

Sunday was really spent lazily. We woke up early surprisingly, and then was out of the house by 11am. Had a decent 45min foot massage before heading off for our high-tea where we ate for about 3.5 hours, slowly and talked. Based on a recommendation on a food blogger’s website, we made a reservation at The Lounge at The Regent Singapore. We saw the spread and was a little worried about it. At SGD42++, it sure didn’t look like a lot. We popped over to The Traders Hotel next door to check the spread, and although there was a lot more to eat, the buffet ends at 3pm, which meant that we only had 1.5 hours to eat. It was also SGD$7 more expensive. So it was back to The Regent Singapore.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad =D The dessert spread was awesome tho. hehe. (I’m all for dessert!).

Desserts!

But it was the talking that I enjoyed more. You know, the kind of chats that you can have when there are no distractions. And the kind of chats that you have where you can talk about anything and everything. *beams* And that makes me happy and contented.

So, to Mr. Ting, here’s to the many firsts of the many years ahead we have together. =)

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mayhem

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we’ve been busy. as you can see from the lack of posts. a good kind of busy.

and yeah, I’ve been procrastinating too. I could have probably taken some time out of playing Restaurant City on Facebook and do some writing. *sheepish*

Well, since 2nd August, Donald and I have made some major decisions regarding our life, our choice of contractors, the design of our flat, etc etc.

the long National Day weekend passed by fairly quickly. went on a semi-baking frenzy and tried baking a batch of warm chocolate cake, and a batch of salted egg custard buns (流沙包?). These salted egg custard buns are sooo sinful. I tried them first at this restaurant at VivoCity called Boss ages ago, and they were good. Then I tried some at Tung Lok Signatures a couple of months back, and they were AWESOME. And then I had some at a food expo..*grin*.

So I tried baking some using a recipe from the Feb 2010 issue of the Food&Travel magazine. They were alright..got way too much sugar in them, and the custard wasn’t runny enough. And the buns were crap. =| I might give it another shot when I move, and adjust some of the ingredients.

Donald and I caught Inception the same weekend after alot of deliberation. I was torn between wanting to watch Inception and Despicable Me (“it’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!!!”). Donald wasn’t too big on watching a cartoon..so I got to pick brunch and he picked the movie. =D Brunch was a rice porridge buffet at Suntec Convention Centre. I always thought that rice porridge was good to detox after a week of unhealthy eating. Not that having a buffet was healthy in any case. =P

Got re-acquainted with an old CD that I found in my bedroom at my parents’. The Legend of 1900 starring Tim Roth. I watched that movie heaps of times, and subsequently bought the CD. Classical music never sounded so good. =) Especially The Legend of the Pianist. *sigh*

Saturdays are mostly spent having breakfast at Blk 85 Bedok North Rd, and then buying groceries to cook at my mom’s place. I recently bought a cook book recommended by Food&Travel magazine, Irene’s Peranakan Recipes. Thought I’d go easy first and started with the Bakwan Kepeting (crab meatball soup). The smell of the soup wafting through the kitchen was so good. Fried garlic and pork stock. Yumo! Been trying to do bits and pieces of Peranakan dishes. Got the stamp of approval from Mama about my babi sioh but I haven’t gotten a chance to try the pongteh on her yet. Still confused about the styles of cooking pongteh out there! The two styles I’ve tried taste different, but the base ingredients are still there. As long as they taste good I guess!

My mother-in-law’s also been getting a little adventurous with her cooking, testing and trying out some recipes from my food magazines. She’s tried two recipes from Food&Travel, a duck breast recipe, and a sesame prawn recipe. I’m really surprised at how tender the duck breast was after it was cooked! I mean, I thought duck wasn’t easy to cook too. Besides roast duck, I haven’t had duck cooked in other styles, apart from that time a ex-colleague (who’s French) who cooked up this really gorgeous duck. So this duck breast recipe was a really nice surprise.

I also just recently received a cookbook with over 100 cupcake recipes from my cousin who lives in Canada. I’ve already spied some cupcakes that I want to try! I think the oven is going to be overworked during the 1st month. =P

Right. Moving on. hehe. Sundays and some Saturdays are also spent window shopping for our new place. All these sourcing for prices are driving me nuts. We’ve been to so many expos selling electrical appliances that I think the salespersons know us. -_-” At this point in time, we are seriously better off buying them at neighbourhood shops. I’m serious! I made some calls, and I was surprised at how much lower priced they were. It’s all about timing.

We’ve also been to Ikea so many times for colours and inspiration. Thank goodness we don’t eat there everytime we go to Ikea. The meatballs just aren’t the same as the ones in Australia =( I reckon we could probably bounce the meatballs that they serve in
Singapore haha =P

But seriously, renovation works will start in 1 month’s time! How time flies!!! I can’t wait to see the end product of it. Last weekend was spent shopping for tiles and sanitary ware. The sanitary ware bit was fine…but the tiles. OH THE TILES!! How to choose!! We had decided on a lime-green bathroom, and a very orangey kitchen. =P We are still working on the layout…so don’t think we are being too loud.

Can’t wait. =D

Just one of these days, I had this mad craving for an Aussie barbie. Meaty, herbed, spicy sausages, in a roll, and onions, heaps and heaps of onions, and all of that topped with mustard. But of course snaggers were expensive in Singapore, and I couldn’t have a barbie whenever I wanted to. So we settled for brunch at a local cafe that served Aussie fare, called Jolly Frog. They were featured in a magazine and the picture featured was the good ole big breakfast: sausages, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, toast..oh yeah, they were missing the beans. Ah wells. I had a white chocolate latte. I know, me being somewhat caffeine intolerant, the irony. I don’t know how to appreciate the taste of coffee, but I sure know when they serve a damn good coffee. It was just really smooth, went down easy, with a nice aftertaste in your mouth. The foam was just right, firm and it held it’s shape. haha..I feel like I’m talking about eggwhites..but yeah.

And of course I had the big breakfast. The first thing I dug into was the sausages. *swoooon* It felt soooo good. Reminded me of the kind of sausages I got from the butchers from Mt Hawthorn. My father-in-law had poached eggs, which they served separately; Donald & I had the scrambled. My mother-in-law had the smoked salmon sandwich (forgot the name of the bread they used) which she really enjoyed. Donald & I felt that something was still missing from the big breakfast. It was decent enough for a fix, but just wasn’t enough to make me go ‘ah…that hit the spot’ or ‘just like the ones in Perth’. But it’ll do, and the coffee too!

Welp, off to see the musical, Fried Rice Paradise, tomorrow at the Esplanade. Gotta love musicals. =) And then it’ll be another crazy weekend finalising some design details, making more appointments and going lighting shopping.

Category: Daily, Food | Tags: , , , , ,

of late

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of late, donald and i have been busy. the whole renovation works thing has died down a bit and things have come to a crawl. a brief respite from all the designing, budgeting and planning. well, not really the right time to slow down, considering it’s the GSS and we should be out there checking out prices and buying some stuff. (when does the GSS end btw??)

and the funny thing is that we are supposed to be making a decision about the contractors and interior designers by the end of the month. whee…oh joy.

of late, donald and i have been busy. donald’s taken up a secondary part time teaching job. he’s enjoying it, and it also means one less evening for us to spend time bumming around each other. i work a little later on those nights, since I’ve got nothing else to do at home anyways. like last night. i’m guessing it’s not that bad for him. if he’s got time to work late, and still watch World Cup, it can’t be that bad =P

and it also means extra shopping money for me, no? =P

of late, donald and i have been busy. we didn’t take the time to celebrate father’s day with my dad as well. we were waiting for my mom to come back from her exciting holiday in NZ, and we’d all go out together. so hopefully daddy understand *sheepish*

and i was waiting for my cookies too =P my precious, my Bryon Bay Cookies. mmMMM.

of late, donald and i..oh bugger. more like i’ve been getting busy at work. i’m learning so much more now, and i feel like i’m. dealing with exciting stuff. the colleagues who’ve been at it for the past 4 years or so might think otherwise, but i’m really enjoying it! Doing investigations, writing reports, handling foreign workers, learning about the law and the procedures. Heaps of research but learning on the go. I almost wish that I can keep at this forever. haha. I say almost because between this kind of work, and staying home to look after my child, I’d choose the latter.

and no, I’m not pregnant. it’s a choice that donald and i made before we got married. =) but that’s another 1.5 years away. save up a little more and we can talk about it.

of late, donald and i miss arguing with each other, only cos we’ve been busy. donald just said he wished  we had time to argue, at least it meant we were together. haha. we’ve been good lately, haven’t we? maybe it’s cos you’ve got World Cup to keep you occupied and I’ve got my magazines and baking to keep me occupied.

speaking of which, i baked Anzac cookies on Monday..and they were awesome. Oat-sy goodness. mmMM…I think I like them as monster cookies rather than smaller cookies. Recipe did say makes 24. I ended up with only 15. Bah. But monster 15 cookies. Simple to bake, and the kitchen smelt heavenly. up next on the list are pecan and chocolate chip cookies for dear Aziana, my smurf in the office. =P

off to have a decent high tea buffet at Merchant Court tomorrow, and then a walk to Fremantle Seafood Markets at Clarke Quay! how exciting!! Can’t wait to check out the alfonsino there. my favourite fish, mmM..that’s on the menu for dinner on Sunday if it’s available!

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