profile i'm a girl who have stepped into the unknown called work and decided that schooling is better. i also have a propensity to go crazy over fried chicken wings and simply love to squeeze and over-feed my obese hamsters. my blog is a mode for expressing my love for food, movies, travel and shopping! contact qiuuing@gmail.com email me if you don't feel comfortable leaving a tag :) Lijit Search tagboard resolutions for 2011 exercise once a week start saving more than half of my salary every month find a boyfriend (added by lily) shopping list 2011 lancome flextencils basic black pumps one whole set of nail art (pedicure) a car (!!!) reads friends adrienne bren bobby cheeks farah ivy jeannie sharon sijing vic other blogs beatrice tan camemberu grocery list ieatishootipost sixpegs sparklette recommended shops accessories ivbelongings mykillerheels mysummerdiary mytreasurest clothes hervelvetvase lollyrouge loveandbravery lovebonito myspringfling missypixie modparade robotninjas trooops vaingloriousyou food cupcake divinity food infinity mad baker periwinkle bake shop others concierge.sg iconceptz snugg the little happyshop uniquegrabs whimsnfancies toys an ufo-catcher addict's woes lain lain plushie paradise previous entries by post
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 Thursday, December 31, 2009 @ 22:43
yum cha went to my second home (at least for the next three years) to drop off books as well as my great buys from diaso, so i do not have to carry too many things on the first day. took longer than expected, but managed to finish up and join lil and edmund on the way to yum cha @ chinatown. i've heard plenty of good reviews about the place. although i'm not a fan of dim sum, i was looking forward to it.  the restaurant has an electronic device, which allows you to call for waiters, tea and such, on every table. so every time you press a button, your table number will flash on the screen as if you were at a polyclinic. tau was keeping himself amuse with this device while waiting for our food. the restaurant was so understaffed the staff did not even notice our number was flashing. you get faster service flagging down the waiters.     the food was average. for the price we paid, $101 for 6 people, i expected better. we waited very long for the food to arrive and the last few dishes were not hot at all. the only thing i would say was superb was the paper-wrapped chicken. everything else just lacked something. the egg tart was fluffy but not sweet enough. the silver fish was crunchy but dripping oil. the century egg and lean meat porridge was smooth but the pork was non existent.  after splitting up with the guys, i met up with my sis across the road for koi bubble tea and durian pancake. sis tried the new passionfruit tea with aloe vera, while i had the chocolate milk tea. sad to say, they will no longer be serving small cups from 31 jan 2010 onwards.  we managed to make it down to vivocity to catch sherlock holmes. awesome movie! lil said her friend found the british accent quite hard to understand, but i found it ok. maybe what her friend meant was that robert downey jr, who plays holmes, was alternating between muttering and speaking like a bullet train most of the time. however, i thoroughly enjoyed the movie. it was humourous and exciting. hope the second one comes out soon.  to conclude the day, we met up with our parents at sushi tei for dinner. it was crowded by the time we exited the cinema because of the countdown held on the rooftop of the mall. couldn't wait to escape the crowd and head home after such a happening day. @ 00:31
hulu my mother gave me a huge hint today. she picked up a magazine and proceeded to read our horoscopes. she started with my dad, mumbling to herself about typical stuff, be thrifty and all that sort. then she started getting very excited when she scanned mine and exclaimed how interesting mine was. supposedly, next year is a good year for tigers to be married because of some star alignment thingy. i agreed with her because i know a few people who are getting married next year. i jokingly added that i have only 12 months to find a future husband to meet the deadline. you could see practically see her eyes light up when she managed to engage me in conversation. so she continued reading out loud that for those who are unlucky in love (big unspoken 'like you' here), all you need to do to bring love into your life like a beaming beacon is to put a gold/bronze hulu on your table. i replied, wow, now i know why my love life is so empty because where in hell do you find a hulu? and she ended the discussion by saying she'll buy me one. i hope she's not serious. Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 23:47
last minute haven't been updating recently as i 1) didn't bring my laptop with me to malacca 2) am currently too busy hugging buddha leg (chinese proverb for being too last minute) for the meeting tomorrow. it definitely isn't fun rushing and trying to finish up what's needed to be done. i was joking with my friends i probably left handprints on the buddha's leg. you know what they say about procrastinators. "procrastination is like masturbation. at first it feels good, but in the end you're only screwing yourself." Thursday, December 24, 2009 @ 21:49
christmas eve party had our annual christmas eve party today. instead of holding it at my house, we gathered at my grandma's because she just had her eye surgery and we didn't want her to move around much. the change in venue didn't really matter as my grandma's house has always been a central point and a great place to get together for such big occasions. dad dropped me off at my grandma's house after lunch with the presents and the log cakes from marriott (which in case you're wondering nobody ate. you'll know why later). i spent the time playing with my cute niece and taking pictures. most of my relatives started trickling in after five.  alvin saying hi! my cousin got it from golden village and gave it to her daughter (the niece i was talking about). my first impression was mcdonald's happy meal.  my niece is obviously very doted on. and not only by us. this is a tiny crab the uncle from the wet market gave her. he previously gave her a live prawn to keep too.  the naughty but pretty and lovable girl.  i was not the only one who arrived early. my twin cousins passed time by playing computer games and then reading books.  my mum who came by after work just plopped herself on a bed and went to sleep. i got bored after a while and started playing with my niece's kaleidoscope. then, i realised that i could take really pretty pictures with it. the following three pictures are taken with the kaleidoscope.  the scenery outside the window.  my niece, grandma (she's wearng sunglasses to protect her eyes) and my aunt (got cut off a little).  my mum. thought her blue shirt and black hair made a very nice combination. so after everyone showed up, we started on the feast! it was a pot luck, so everyone brought along something. we had a big spread! not really christmas-y food but we all enjoyed the buffet.  chicken wings, satay, konnyaku jelly from rickson's kitchen, ham, abalone, jackfruit, durian, nachos, kuehs from bengawan solo, fried beehoon and aglio olio from harry's. by the time we tried to finish all these, no one had space for the log cakes. while the rest were finishing up dinner, my cousin, sis and i locked ourselves up in the room to line up the presents. we tried something new this year. instead of everyone getting everyone presents, we decided that everyone will just get one present this year and draw lots. the present has to be at least $20, for all ages and gender.   we had 13 presents all together!  a mess in the hall where everyone was ripping their wrapping papers! last but not least, before leaving for my malacca trip...  i want to wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year! Labels: family Wednesday, December 23, 2009 @ 15:25
valentine's day movie christmas is not even here yet, so why am i already writing about valentine's day? the story goes like this. i was looking for topics for cloze passages and i was thinking why not valentine's day? after all, next to christmas, it's the next most commercialised and widely celebrated holiday. so i got to typing in my favourite search engine, google and came across many search results of valentine's day movie. being a self-confessed lover of chick flicks, i was surprised i had never heard of the movie before. thus, i decided to check it out.  apparently, i didn't miss the movie because the movie opens next year! the style is similar to love actually, as it is a romance movie, involving intertwining lives of several los angelinos.   i'm quite excited about this movie. it has a star studded cast, featuring many big names such as jennifer garner, ashton kutcher, jamie foxx, julia roberts, jessica biel, eric dane, anne hathaway, queen latifah and many more.  also, after surfing more websites, it came to my attention that the movie also features a hot kiss by the two taylors, who are currently dating. they are small fries compared to the names mentioned above. however, this kiss of theirs created a lot of publicity for the movie. the trailer was just released monday, so i was really lucky to chance upon it. visit the movie's official website to view the main trailer and teaser trailer. this will definitely be on my movie list next year! Labels: movies Tuesday, December 22, 2009 @ 22:36
ambush @ jurong point had a lovely dinner with lenard and lil that day at ambush. tried this new entree they had which was coincidently one of my dad's great loves--steak. thus, i decided to recommend the place to my family for dinner.  ambush at jurong point is similar to the taka branch. it's open air seating. rather small and cosy, located on the second floor, adjacent to courts.  as mentioned earlier, the steak (4th on the list) is part of a whole new list of entrees. too bad neither my mum nor sis decided to try other items on the list. i would have loved to snack on some of them.  we ordered the bruschetta to share, as always.  mum ordered seafood with pesto cream sauce. we had the aglio olio there previously and found the aglio olio lacking. the pesto cream on the other hand, was memorable. unlike the usual cream sauce, the pesto cream doesn't get wearisome after a while.  sis tried the chicken garlic sausage with rosti. she found both appetising but quite oily.  dad and i had the steak. it was better the first time i had it. the steak was tender but had lots of tendons. the sauce had little grain mustard in it. more like brown sauce. however, they were definitely more generous with the portions this time. the fries was fantastic as usual. dad's verdict: he'll only return if someone else was paying. Labels: food @ 00:13
how to brush your teeth this post is inspired by my latest expenditure and probably the highest of the month (yes, higher than my buys at mango)--a visit to the dentist. while in indonesia, my teeth was hurting, so one of the first few things i did when i arrived in singapore was to make an appointment at the dentist. after the fillings and polishing i got to talk to the dentist about proper brushing of teeth. i'm sure everyone knows how to brush their teeth but it's still good to reiterate.  squeeze a thin strip of toothpaste onto the toothbrush. you don't have to squeeze too much toothpaste. and make sure your toothpaste contains fluoride. use back-and-forth and up-and-down motions to brush your teeth. make sure you clean all surfaces, including your inside, outside and chewing surfaces. brush along your gum lines. place your toothbrush 45 degrees angle to your teeth. brush gently to prevent damage to your gums. brush your back molars. this is the place where bacteria is most likely to hide. (and is also the step i have to pay most attention to.) brush your tongue to remove bacteria, which causes bad breath. spit out the toothpaste and gurgle your mouth thoroughly.following today's visit to the dentist and my big hole in the pocket, i will make sure i pay close attention to my back molars! Monday, December 21, 2009 @ 13:32
someone's engaged!  just wanna shout out a big congrats to my close friend tau and his girlfriend, sharon... they are engaged!!! so happy for the both of them. they are such a sweet couple and compliment each other so well. sharon really brings out the best in tau. just want to wish them all the best! check our sharon's blog for her beautiful ring! *picture taken from tau's facebook Labels: friends @ 13:22
finally a vacancy in malacca! who knew malacca is a hot location for christmas? i definitely didn't. in my estimate, probably 98% of the hotels in malacca have been fully booked. it was really frustrating calling and looking for hotels (yes, we were that desperate and actually made several overseas calls). we weren't fussy, something clean would be sufficient. my family have been trying to find a hotel for 25-27 december for the past week and we finally caught a break.  say hello to one of the minorities (part of the 2%)--cheng ho guesthouse. we stopped looking for hotels, since there were no vacancies and those hotels with rooms were very high end, and started searching for guesthouses and hostels.   according to reviews at hostels.com, the rooms are clean. cheng ho guesthouse is rated 74/100 and considered one of the best hostels in malacca. the hostel is centrally located, within walking distance to all the tourist spots. there's also free wi-fi and broadband services. what's more, the air-conditioned twin rooms cost us only 60rm (sgd$25)!  however, i'm really worried about the shared toilets/bathrooms. i'm very particular about toilets and while there were no reviews about the toilets, they look really small in the picture above. can you imagine bathing in that small cubicle with the toilet bowl taking up so much of the minuscule space? furthermore, reviews also said that the employees often mess up reservations and cautioned calling closer to date. i'm worried about that because almost everywhere's filled up. if they do not put down our reservations properly, we'll have no place to stay. hopefully everything turns out well. *pictures taken from hostels.com Labels: holidays Sunday, December 20, 2009 @ 09:16
swensen's voucher went to swensen's with my dad's vouchers he got from work. it was a basic meal for each of us. a baked rice/pizza/pasta (no main courses) + a coffee/tea/soft drink + a scoop of ice cream (we got to choose our flavours).  in addition to the limited choices, some of us wanted to step out of our comfort zones (we're always eating the same few items that we enjoyed) and try something different.  beef stroganoff baked rice. it's one of the newer items on the menu. looks slightly burnt here, but the beef didn't taste charred at all. the brown sauce is surprisingly good. i was unimpressed with how tight they were with the beef and sauce. my rice was dry and sticking to the pan at the bottom and i had to ration my beef.  my dad's beef lasagna. not one of his usuals (he doesn't like tomato sauce and cheese). some people might not like it being too sauce-y, but i personally love how generous they were with the sauce (as opposed to mine). with every mouthful, you taste the pasta, minced beef, bits of spinach with the tangy tomato sauce. delicious!  last but not least, ice-cream (clockwise from bottom left corner): milo, macadamia nut, chendol, peanut something. i recommended the chendol to my dad, as i had the chendol milkshake previously. wasn't wowed by the milkshake, but the ice-cream drew me in. the milo is very sweet. i felt it was more condensed milk than anything, but my sis assured me it was purely milo. mum preferred haagen dazs' macademia nut and sis was satisfied with hers. overall, we felt swensen's ice-cream was too creamy. Labels: food Saturday, December 19, 2009 @ 19:28
day 7: jogja to singapore our flight was at 7.25am, so we checked out at 5am. the holding area for the airport was weird. usually after going into the departure area, you get to patronise shops and restaurants. however, in jogja, what you get is a sitting area. so we just sat around playing bingo while waiting for our flight.   it was another smooth journey on airasia indonesia. one thing that irritated me was that we were really hungry when we got on the plane but by the time the food cart got to us, they ran out of hot meals except for vegetarian and sandwiches. the stewardess didn't even check with the other food cart whether the item was available. beggers can't be choosers, so some of us had vegetarian fried rice and tuna sandwiches. i really enjoyed this trip to jogja. we got to see many things that we didn't know was offered there such as dieng plateau and bromo. and looking back at the pictures i took, i got some good shots. much better than the ones i got in cambodia earlier this year. other than the horrible hotels, everything was worth it! even the arduous 11 hour journey to bromo! later in the day... it was weiliang's birthday the day we came back to singapore. meiyi called us for dinner at jpot, vivocity to celebrate his birthday. poor boy was having stomachache the whole time.    we had a feast. qi and i shared a soup. after finishing up our meal, she suggested that we cooked her leftover rice in our rich soup base. so we scoop up some soup and left just enough to cook the rice into porridge. looks gross here but it was fantastic! definitely something i'll try at any steamboat restaurant.  dessert was mango ice. sis, qi and i shared it because the waitress told us it was a huge portion. thank god we listened to her. the ice was shaved milk flavoured ice and when served with that generous amount of mango sauce, mango and nata de coco. it just blew us away.  the twins were also celebrating their birthdays, which falls on 18 december. adri got so excited about being included in the birthday party that she blew out all the candles before the birthday boys got to them.  cute christmas decoration at vivocity.  went to collect our hamsters from miak's house after dinner. missed them so much. here is grumpy cappu saying don't disturb my sleep! |