In the spirit of Olympic – Badminton

We had our usual weekly badminton today. I was playing along with Inche. All in sudden when she hit, the shuttlecock disappeared. I was trying to look for it for a second, and then realized that the shuttlecock was split to 3 O.O

The not so lucky GajahMada Shuttlecock

Fendi was quick enough to make a joke about it, calling Inche “xx Chopper” and asking the guys to watch out =___=’’ We’re having good laugh about it for the rest of the game XD

After the game, we went to usual place for lunch. My favorite Kolo Mee is not there anymore =( It was replaced by a Thai food stall, which served decent food, but definitely incomparable with the usual Kolo Mee :’( No more motivation to play at Jurong East now.

On our way to MRT, we noticed a Pasar Malam, and stopped to pick some fruits. They have like 10 type of fruits, 1 for $2, 3 for $5. So tough to pick 3 from so many delicious looking fruits!

Jackfruit, Papaya, and Guava for $5!

Back home, Winson turned on the TV and we managed to catch the Indonesian team badminton in London Olympic :D It was Mixed Double vs South Korea, and we won 2-0! Go Ahmad, go Natsir! I really hope Indonesia can get at least one gold medal...

The Live result from London Olympic - Group Play Stage C 

No matter how ignorant I'm towards Olympic, everyone else is talking about it and I just can't help but reading through news and trying to get hold of London Olympic opening video XD. One thing I noticed, the Olympic theme is using lots of Pink~! Maybe I will try to catch the closing ceremony if possible.

Till 12 Aug, all the best, Athletes! May the spirit improve my badminton skill. Haha.
ED

Dinner @ Outback + Last GSS 2012 Shopping + Dessert @ Cold Stone

I heard about Outback since the first year I was in Singapore. After 8 years, I finally got a chance to try it. Thanks to Groupon for promoting the 49% off for the Outback Special Meal.

So here we were on a Saturday evening, going all the way from Queenstown to Millenia Walk to try out Outback!

Outback - Dinner Menu!

Peach & Strawberry Soda - Too Gassy!

Deliciously Petite Mushroom Soup!

Main Menu! I was so hungry I looked like vampire.

Outback Special - 8oz Beef - Medium

Since the waiter keep passing by, get the chance to took a pic together :p

Despite the decent portion, I… don’t really feel full after the whole meal ^^; I walked out keep feeling like I wanted something else, but decided to hold back the temptation and distract myself with shopping instead.

I went to Sasa to stock up my BB Cream ($17.90) and Lip Gloss ($16.90). After picking the two stuffs, I just went to the counter and took out my credit card. They come back to me and said that Credit Card is only for purchase above $20. I frowned. How can $17.90 + $16.90 be less than $20? Then they told me that there are 50% discounts going on for Maybelline product!! Just when I need it!! :D :D I decided to buy 2 more as stock ^^

Next stop was G2000, where I managed to pick up 2 dresses ($198) and 1 formal shirt ($29), and paying the total of $108 for all. I don’t even bother how they calculate anymore. I just love how GSS works!

It was around 9.30pm by the time I finished my G2000 shopping, so we decided to walk back to MRT. Apparently, I still can’t get over wanting to eat something, so Winson ended up buying German chökolätekäke® from Cold Stone Creamery. Thanks so much for the treat ^^ And yes, it was the first time I ate the Cold Stone ice cream – love the chocs!

German Chokolatekake from Cold Stone Creamery ($5.5)

Reach back home at around 10.00pm, happy and full :)
ED

No Paint No Gain @ School of Paintball

We received the invitation to the Paintball event few weeks ago from Rec club. Despite all the info that I got on how ruthless and painful can the game be, I still signed-up anyway (because it’s free and lunch provided :p)

Our group! Actually, Batch 2011 + me Batch 2008. How can they be so young??

School of Paintball is located at Jurong West – very remote place that I don’t even know how to explain. Basically we have to take MRT to Boon Lay, then took 199 for around 5 stops, then walk for around 15 minutes to reach the place. The kind of place that you never know existed in Singapore.

The "Marker" - You shouldn't call them anything else, according to the instructor

We reached there at around 10.15am, 15 mins late from the agreed time, but we still have to wait for another 20 mins before the briefing started. The briefing was quite thorough. The guy explained the game, how to use the marker, the facemask, the do and don't’, and even sharing some tips. I was very excited at first, and got a bit nervous when he showed us how loud and hard the “bullet” actually is. OMG. That’s when I started to get panic. I don’t know if I would even dare to shot the bullet.

The briefing before things start to get real

The first game started no long afterwards, and it went on quite nice. There was lots of shots and defends. The second game was ours. The moment I went to the field, I know that I’m in for something painful. Oh well.

The First Round!

When the game started, I don't really know what happen anymore. There are 5 against 5, but I felt that the whole team was locking their target on me. I got hit from at least 3 directions every time I moved from one place to another (and it's painful! instant bruise everywhere its hit!) It's quite amazing how they can shot me so precisely while I can't see them at all! I got hit so many times, I don’t even bother to go back to the shelter to revive myself =__=’ The other group was quite good. Our final score was.... 20 - 1. Guess we came last for the entire event ^^;

After the game, we knew for sure we won’t make it to second round, so we just sit down and start chitchatting while waiting for the food to be served =p The weather was really hot, and the open space area doesn’t leave us with many place to rest.

With Abhilash - my batch grad!! :D

With Aakriti, both of us were wearing SU Tshirt

The lunch started at around 12.30pm. I took 3 slices of pizza and 2 cups of Pepsi, wishing the “survivor” good lucks for the games, and left the place.

Lunch crowd - Canadian Pizza! Too busy to eat afterwards so no pic of the food

I spent like 6 hours (8am – 2pm) for the whole event, but the real play itself was less than 6 mins!! Oh well. Paintball is one of the sports I just want to try once in my life, but won’t really bother to be an expert in it.

That’s all for a paintball! Now when people said that you'll get bruises on this game,  you know it's for real.
ED

Last Weekend – on Dentist, Dark knight, and Dharma

This always happened T_T I missed blogging for a week, and I totally couldn’t remember what happened last week. At most I can only remember the weekends ^^;

After the whole eating Saga on Friday, I went to dentist to check out my teeth. One to ensure that’s nothing wrong, two to ensure that I didn’t leave my dentist allowance to expiration again. I got the same dentist like last year. He was good. I was quite satisfied with the service. He closed one small hole for me, did a normal cleaning, and cost me $140 after GST and everything else.

The rest of the weekend was filled with movies. After Amazing Spiderman and Ice Age, we watched Dark Knight Rises, Three Stooges, and the Lorax. We started to run out of movies. We finished watching the first season of Man at Work as well. Hopefully the whole TV series are going to start soon.

NTU Alumni Movie Screening! $10 comes with tea break :P

On Sunday evening, Feli and I went to Ajahn Brahm talk on “Dealing with Surprises”. He was really good. He can just continue to talk for almost 2 hours without stopping. The stories just flow. I love the way he engaged with everyone from young to old and touches people’s heart in so many different levels. The key lesson I learnt is – do not afraid of surprises. Thing never goes wrong, it’s just different from your expectation :)

The poster!

He was tired and jet lagged but still all smiley!!

Ok... I think that's all for last week. What's next? Surprise me!
ED

One Upon a Friday - Charity Cake Sale @ Office, Simon's Farewell @ Daisy's Dream Kitchen, Dinner @ Indo Padang

So last Friday was quite happening!!

My mentor held a Charity Cake event to support her cousin who got cancer… she intended to raise $500, but ended up with whopping $3000 instead!! Isn’t it wonderful. The ideas were straightforward – she gathered the ladies to bake. She then arranged a sale and all the money earned went to charity. Simple idea, but I must give it to her that the execution was really, really smooth.

The Cake Sale started at 11:00am - The crowd was... promising!

Spoilt by options - It's like a cake cafe~~~!

I didn’t know that there were so many talented bakers in the office. I went to the sale and have real difficulty in selecting which to buy. I want ALL! I spent around $30 and was happy for the rest of the day just by looking at the cute cupcakes. Totally sugar overdosed as well.

This carrot cake is really, really, really good!! I loved it to the last bite

My Sweet Temptation... I mean, my donation... XD

Afternoon, we went to farewell lunch for Simon as well as celebrating Andrew’s belated b’day :p Boon-Seng drove us (so nice to have a car!!) to a hidden treasure along west cost – Daisy’s Dream Kitchen. It served peranakan food, which was opened by Daisy’s parents – one of the singer in Dim Sum Dolly. The food is ok, the spice wasn’t too strong but it has decent taste. What I realized afterwards is – I didn’t feel thirsty at all after the whole lunch! I guess they do hold true to their claim that there is no MSG. The owners were really friendly too and kept chatting with us during the lunch.

Daisy's Dream Kitchen - served healthy nice food :D

The Menu!

The Food! Didn't know how much it costs in the end caused we were treated! :p

The eaters :D I dunno why I made the V sign =_='

Evening, I went to Cathay for a semi-buffet dinner at Indo Padang. We saw the 50% groupon discount the day before, and Fendi was really quick to buy and reserve a seat for us the next day. That’s really efficient. It’s actually ala carte, but the amount of food ordered was really like buffet. All of the food was super delicious and we paid less than 15 each. Totally worth it (but I got stomachache the next day, I guess to much mix of curries ^^;)

Indo Padang - served one of the best Indo food in SG! :D

The happy diners :D

Can't stop eating while taking pic XD

After dinner, we walked to Switch to have a drink. It was 9pm and alas, the place was really crowded. We queued for almost 30 minutes but still didn't manage to get a seat. In the end, we left after chatting around 45 minutes at the front door ^^; From outside, I can feel the nice vibe of the place. There were live band singing top 20 english songs as well as chinese songs! They also have a nice song ordering system. I'm gonna give the Switch another try next time :)

Switch by Timbre!

That’s all the meals for a Friday!
ED

Shape Run'12 All-Women Challenge - 5 KM

Thanks to Karlina and Citra, I got to run my first 5KM Run this year :D Karlina signed-up for the run, and then realized that she won’t be in Singapore during the run itself, so Citra asked if I’m willing to substitute, and yeah, why not!

Shape Run 2012 - 5 KM - The medal is generic across 2.4km, 5km, and 10km!

This is the first time I run the woman-only race. The whole experiences were quite different. For one, the shirt is in Pink and the whole goodie back are filled with ladies specific items (clear throat). During the run itself, I felt more relax and less competitive. Guess because everyone else was also more conscious in taking pictures than finishing the race :p

The sea of Pink!

After the run - Me blocking the 5km route ^^;

My Timing - need more exercise to hit my target of 30 mins for 5km :( :(

Finally! We got to run at the same race!! :D

The best goodie after the run was a home made loaf from Cit :D Alas I was too busy eating I actually forgot to take a pic of it =_=' It's filled with chocs and sesame and raisins and just... nyummy!

From Cit's Bakery with Love :p

To the next run!!
ED

A new addition to the family!

It has been a busy week. Other posts can wait, but I definitely can't postpone this good news any longer :p

My sister-in-law with their second daughter

On 9th of July, my brother got his second daughter - One week earlier than predicted, but everything went smooth. The baby is so cute. I really can't wait to see her!! I wanted to have face time earlier today, but alas I fell asleep for 4 hours. By the time I woke up, my bro is already sleeping T_T

Ainsley Ruby Salim - Hello World! 9th July 1:17PM

Their first daughter suddenly has the 'sisterly' look. How time flies. With the new addition, she is now the big sister!! Oh wow =) Princess Aurelie and Princess Ainsley. I want to meet you both dearly!!

Aurelie and Ainsley

Mum and Dad still have learning how to pronounce Ainsley's name (me too!), but like Aurelie's, I believe we'll get hang of it soon!

Welcome to the world, princess :)
ED

Singapore Garden Festival 2012

14th of July was definitely a day filled with greenery. We started with the two conservatories at Garden by the bay and ended with Singapore Garden Festival (with Ice Age movie in between). How much greener can it be?

I always kind of know that Singapore has a lot of green places, but being to Singapore Garden Festival kind of bring my impression one level up. How on earth can people actually fit in tree and house and the whole garden into an exhibition hall? Sorry, I mean, 2 exhibition halls (Level 6 and Level 4).

Due to the freshness of the exhibition, Singapore Garden Festival only lasted for one week. I can’t really remember the original ticket price, but thanks to Inche, we were paying only $4.5 for the whole green experience XD

Asia's Best Garden Show! For all the effort spend, I would agree!

Our tickets! Oh it's 7 bucks XD Worth the price for sure :)

At the Singapore Garden Festival Entrance - Exhibition Hall 6

Stunned once I go in to Exhibition Hall - Last time I went it was all computers and flyers

Exhibition of all the best plants design

Love the colors

Simple... yet captivating!

Can you figure out what it's?

I can't even believe that those are all real flowers!

They have like ponds, small waterfall, and rains - all within the exhibition hall *.*

At some random jungle

Plants with all the famous building around the worlds

At this point of time, Inche's battery dried up. So she passed me her memory card and we continue shooting with my camera (look at the difference in the quality T_T)

Flowers and Flowers and Flowers

At the Entrance Gate at Hall 4

Was told that we're blocking the view... so took another shot!

Hall 4 were more of student's exhibition and flower stalls

My favorite plant! :D

Decoration Exhibition - Still can't figure out how they do this design. So unique!

This is like the winner of all design - comes with a poem

Winner in Bonsai Category - leafless Bonsai

We enjoyed the festival lots, but were pretty much drained out after walking the whole day (from 8am to 6pm!!) Pretty happy when the dinner time came :) Went to Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Pao to charge up, and then continued with shopping at Marina Square! haha..

Dinner @ Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Pao

What a Saturday!
ED