Saturday Lunch @ Aerin’s Bar Raffles City

I woke up at 7am in the morning with full determination to jog. Unfortunately, it was raining and then I got the total valid excuse to continue snugging my blanket up to my chin. I was almost in the dreamland again when my phone started to vibrate non-stop. Apparently my sisters in China and Indonesia are awake and they started to chat about the oil price in Whatsapp. I followed their discussion for few minutes, and then decided to wake up and get started with my day as well.

I started my day with… blogging. Owe few blog posts from last week, so I spent few hours typing and selecting pictures. Afterwards, I showered and went out for lunch with Cit at City Hall. We were walking around at the basement level of Raffles City to pick the restaurant. I wanted to try something new, so I say no to Din Tai Fung even though it looked like it’s the best one (judging from the queue).

We settled for Aerin’s Café, which is strategically located beside the fountain (but never noticed). I go for the set lunch, which come with salad / soup, main, and a drink. We ordered an additional cake for the sweet finish :p

Aerin's Cafe & Expresso Bar

The Ala Carte Menu + Set Menu

Nothing fancy about the food, except maybe for the banana caramel cake which was quite unique. It has a nice surrounding, which might be its main selling point.

Mesclun Salad + Ice Tea

Sinful gratinated, boneless chicken

Banana Caramel Cake

We were there until around 2pm, then I went to Suntec for changing some Ringgit, while Cit went to Cold Storage for some groceries shopping =p I know that I said that b’day story is over, but definitely can’t miss out the self-baked gift from Cit =) Thanks so much for the cheese bread + self-made soya bean curd!!

With Cit + her self-made cheese bread :D

My breakfast for the next 4 days :p

Lunch sponsored by Standard Chartered CC :p
ED

On Work and Life - Moving On!

There have been a lot, a lot of uncertainties in the last three months of my working life. I don’t know who is my boss, I don’t know who will be my team, I don’t even know if I will be in Singapore for the next few months. All these uncertainties, especially the last one, affected my planning and hence my mood. I received so many suggestions from so many different people. I also received so many questions… I appreciate their concerns, but it really stressed me further.

In the end, on the sacral day of 28th March – I finally get a confirmation of my new boss, as well as the confirmation that I will be in Singapore for this year. I’m really happy that day :D Suddenly the future seems brighter. Hahaha.. To celebrate that faithful day, I went to Sundown website and registered for 21km run coming this 26th May (using free credit from Standard Chartered CC =p). I also texted Fitness First said that I want to apply for one year membership! There are so many other things I want to do – planning for holidays and all! I guess I will take it slow, afraid that it will be too impulsive and overwhelmed in the end ^^;

Ok, apart from all the benefits of having confirmation, now I have to deal with the fast approaching issue in hand – I need to find a flatmate or a new flat!! I promised to give answer to the owner by early next month and we hardly decided on anything… It’s really tough to look for flatmate on random months. Sigh!

Anyway, even that can’t stop me from feeling happy :) Problems seem so much smaller when you know you are near with people you can count on. I don’t know how should I summarize the ending? It’s a blessing in disguise, as well as the fact that patience is a virtue!

Here to the end of my 8 months of waiting!
ED

Birthday's Weekend - Last!

The last post with birthday's emblem before ending this month :)

Friday's Vegetarian Chocholate Cake - Emicakes 

Saturday's Tiramisu - Coffee Club

Sunday's Chocolate Cookies - Four Leaves

Monday's Chocolate Slice - Barcook Bakery

After concurring 4 cakes on 4 different days (no I don't want to think about the calories!) I’m now the proud owners of:

Kindle Touch :D Someone says I have to read more! I will try my best! :)

Tripod!! I never know I want it until I got it!! :D

In-Ear Headphone :D Can't wait for the first run with it :D

Challenger Vouchers! Hahaha.. Any ideas what to buy?

Last but not least, a pot of flower sent to my office on Friday from my lunch gang! Lol!!! Thanks so much all!! I’m really touched! My first time receiving flower in office... and it’s really beautiful - They insist to get the sun flowers because they felt that it suits me more. Oh o^^o is it because I’m yellow like sun flower or if I’m round like sun flower I don’t know. I just love it!!

Flowers which brighten up my day :D

That's all for this year :D
ED

Birthday’s Weekend – The Sunday: Teo Heng + The Tanjong

So the day was finally here. I turned 25! I completed 25 years of my life! There was once insurance agent told me that if I want to take any insurance, I have to do it latest by 25. Once you passed that, the premium will be more expensive. Why?? Why the difference? Is the risk in life getting much higher the moment we passed 25? We’ll see. For now I’m still a stubborn person who doesn’t want to pay for any insurance.

When the clock hits 12.00am, I was on my bed sleeping =___=’’ I didn’t even sleep that early on normal day, but I guess the training in the morning really made the difference. I woke up in the morning and went for my usual badminton. After badminton and lunch, my friends dragged me to KTV straightaway, despite me wanted to go home and get some cloth change. I ended up go to Giordano at Clementi mall and bought a random shirt.

We had KTV from 3 to 7pm. Four hours but it feels like seconds. Time just flies! I got to know few good songs. One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful” and “One Thing” are quite good, even though it’s not very new. The favorite of the day was Adele. We got like 3 of her songs in a row. Despite the long list of songs in queue, they managed to insert a birthday song and sang me the english + chinese version while I don't know what to do and join them singing.

After the KTV before being hushed out by the staff

After KTV here come dinner! We ate at the Tanjong – one of the restaurants in NTU Alumni Club. It’s really convenient to just stroll from KTV to the restaurant. It was my first time eating at the restaurant (so many firsts!). The menu was quite comprehensive, ranging from western to Italian to local delights. It took me awhile to decide, and I finally decided to go for fried Hor Fun. I thought it will be healthier than western, but looking at the appearance and the size… maybe not. Well you judge.

Various delicious food from various people

Grill Chicken

Chicken Chop

Chicken Cutlet - The names are fancier but I can't remember :p

Fidel's Seafood Spaghetti 

and my supposedly healthier Fried Hor Fun. It's really large! Satisfied! :p

Tea and dessert after dinner :)

After dinner and tea and dessert, next is another dessert! Cake blowing session with my birthday partner for the 8th year in the row.

I love the cake! Thanks Winson!

Happy Me seeing cake! :D

With my Birthday Buddy - Ha I'm no the only one turning 25. Good!

"I wish I can become 21 again..."

Che was really capturing every moment... thanks so much Che!

With Winson :)

With Che :D 

Cake cutting! I don't know why Handy was so scared to touch the knife =_=

After the cake and few more photos, we helped to tidy up the place a bit and made a move. I’m really thankful for my friends who keep me company throughout the whole day :D

Group Pic with our food!

Last seen pic of the cake before it goes down our stomach :p

I slept smiling that night :) Thanks for making me felt blessed!
ED

Birthday’s Weekend – The Saturday Evening: The Rice Table Indonesian Restaurant with SCE-ians

The annual gathering with SCE-ians for 2012 was held on 24 March 2012. I sent out the invite the confidence that I would get at least 20 people. As it turned out, a lot of people are actually not in Singapore anymore!! T_T Our group is getting smaller and smaller! Nooo! Plus now that everyone is working, it’s tough to get a time when everyone is free – some people went for holiday, some people were working, some people just disappeared… I miss the time where everyone’s worries were just lab and tutorial.

The gathering this time was nostalgic. We held it at The Rice Table Restaurant – the same place we had our gathering 4 years ago (We’re running out of good gathering place!) It was only my second time there =p I like the food, I like the fast service, I like the ambiance. I think it’s actually better than Garuda’s, just that it has fewer options.

I supposed to arrive at 6.00pm, but everyone knows I never arrive on time :p I reached there at 6.30pm, and then start to ask for food without further ado. I remember that it used to be ala carte buffer – you order and they deliver. This time around, they served everything on your table for the first round, and then you can ask if you want to top up anything. Like that we got to try all the food first, which was good!

For some reasons, there are more and more photographers in our group! I’m not complaining! =D the pictures are all good! So here are some pics, except for the first two & last one, all credit to Helios!

Food Photography Session before the buffet start!

Another one! :p

And here is the result - I'm really impressed! Kudo Helios! 

More Food...

Me happily eating Soto Ayam - my first buffet quota of the year!

My Top 3 Favourite #1: Tahu Telor - crispy and sinful

My Top 3 Favourite #2: Sate Ayam - the meat was really soft and fragrance!

My Top 3 Favourite #3: Perkedel Jagung - Not as good as Indo's but I eat half the plate

I was so full after the dinner I swear I can't eat even another prawn. Yet, I'm drooling again now only by looking at the pictures.

Group pic in the middle of the dinner 

I don't like taking pic in a long table (always got people blocked), so I insisted to take another picture outside =p

I had fun on the gathering =D I  know that for some, it might be the last gathering before they pursue their other dream... oh well =( I'm sad! But life goes on - Guess it's best to treasure what's here now :)

Till the next one!
ED

Birthday’s Weekend – The Saturday Morning: MacRitchie Run Clinic cum Fitness Assessment

The invitation came to my office mailbox more than one month ago. Without even looking at the time, I accepted the invite when seeing that it’s FREE for Rec club member.

On the night before the event, I decided to take a look on what is it actually about. Then I realized that it’s a morning event. At MacRitchie. At 8.15am. And $10 fine for no show. The last point was the determination point for me to wake up at 6am the next day despite sleeping at 2am.

Even though I got a bit lost and missed a bus, I managed to reach there on time =) It was the Water Day and the place is crowded with secondary + JC students outing. We waited for few more minutes for everyone to gather and then had a briefing. The organizer engaged one of the run trainer team – F1 Marathon – for the fitness assessment. The trainer told us that the assessment ain’t gonna be easy, and he wasn’t joking.

We had to complete 11 stations of assessment. For each station, they will be giving us grading – excellent, good, ok, poor, etc. The first two stations were OK, but the other 9 were nightmare! Ok maybe only for me. I’m not as sporty as I thought I was =( My leg was actually very weak, not to mentioned about my arms which never did a single push up.

Happily listening to the trainer

First Station - Hopping front and side... It was easy

Second Station - Jumping with one leg... it was not bad

From third station onwards I think I passed out - so here are some pics of others

This guy did push up so lightly!! Jealous!

Station #8 - Trying to hold myself up

Station#10 - Hopped 15 times non stop. It was really not easy!

We completed all the stations in around 1 hour, and then the trainers gave us some tips to run up slope, which I found really useful. Last torturing before the fun, we’re asked to run 2.4km – in the forest – which I completed in 14 minutes before losing my breath. After the run, we’re pampered with isotonic drinks, banana, grapes, milo, and bread. I was alive again! We took some group pictures and then everyone left at around 10.30am.

Caught eating non stop

Group Pic, along with the F1 Team Trainers!

In the end, I didn't regret waking up early. It was a lot of fun! (and free food!) I'm still waiting for my assessment result and the recommendations. In the afternoon, I slept like a pig until dinner time.

Till next event!
ED