I got this lovely cupcake box from Phoon Huat - but they only came in sets of two, and weren't cheap. One of Dad's friends often pops by to drop off fruit and when I got back this time, they brought durian for me (which was really sweet of them except I don't eat durian :)). So I made them some cupcakes today.
Apparently Silkair gives out little booklets now for you to read onboard - quite a nice idea. They gave these out in the gift bag.
There was finger food prior to the event and a gift bag too! D and I were pleased with the loot. Since the event was sponsored by Silkair, they taped 27 return tickets under random seats. Unfortunately, neither D nor I found tickets. There were a number of unoccupied seats though and we were contemplating digging under those seats to see if any of them had tickets taped underneath!
My friend D got tickets for a sneak preview of Burn After Reading. The movie was fun - and funny. I love the Coen brothers :)
Here's Shan today - he's getting more tired. He still eats well though and loves to sleep in an air conditioned room. Those sores are supposed to be the cancer growing, according to the vet.
Mom was saying today I ought to post a photo of monsoon rain because when it rains here, it REALLY rains.
This looks to me just like the Serangoon Gardens roundabout - which I also think is an eyesore.
A friend came over afterward and spent the evening here.
Busy day yesterday - went to the vet with Shan and his lymph nodes are very swollen which is bad news :( He is still eating well though which is good!
Mom and I went with a neighbour in the afternoon to this briefing and forum on estate upgrading. Essentially, they're going to be spending $5.5m to change road signs, put in 6 lampposts, a few new lights and pave 800 m of 'jogging track' (I used to run along that route as part of my run but it was too smoggy - paving it isn't going to help with the traffic). They also intend to increase roads by 200mm - 1500mm to help with 'traffic flow'. The problem is that there are too many cars clogging up the roads - and increasing it by a minuscule amount isn't going to help with the actual problem - there are just more people living here these days and they bring in more cars. I don't think it CAN actually be solved unless they intend to restrict parking which they have said they don't want to do.
The thing that really made me mad was that it was such a done deal. We filled up survey forms in February and I had specifically said not to mess with new estate markers because it actually homogenises the estate - soon every private estate is going to look basically the same. So I asked when we're going to be allowed to vote on whether we WANTED these changes.
The MP hemmed and hawed and said it was 'too difficult'. I pointed out you could just send out a survey, mark the items that they wanted to change on it and ask people yay or nay. Nothing tough about it at all.
So of course the MP said that it was difficult, and they had to bear in mind the 'silent majority' - though this is the same MP who had just minutes earlier said they had survey forms and if people didn't send in their feedback, what could they do?
To top if off, a guy on his right told us how we should be grateful to our neighbourhood committee for all the hard work they put in - and how they had earmarked $5.5 m for us. I fail to see why I ought to be grateful for something I didn't ask for.
I made a chocolate tart for dinner - had these little decorative flowers which I bought from Phoon Huat the other day so I put them on top.
Made these for dinner - N helped to fry them because I was going to use a saucepan as per the recipe but she used a wok instead. I have to say I'm still uncomfortable deep frying in woks. They tasted pretty good anyway.
I went with tarsiergirl for lunch today and bought dessert home - Ah Bohling and Mango and Pomelo for Mom!
Seriously, did John McCain think that Dave Letterman might not watch tv and might not notice he was on another programme?
is it any wonder they didn't let her onto Letterman?
Little India has been lit up for Deepavali - this is just one of the many lights.
These were really colourful decorations - very eye-catching but I wouldn't know what to do with them!
We walked through the Bazaar in Little India which was a very colourful sight. I even managed to get a skirt.
Dessert was very good. We had the green tea mousse as well as these two gorgeous cakes.
I met with two of my ex-colleagues from CWS for dinner at Seven Sensations. Besides the buah keluak and yam soup, we had the lasagne which was very good and the gado gado.
It's been a busy couple of days. Saturday I had lunch with M and we went down town, where I met L, whom Simian and I met in B-more. L is now back working in Singapore.
Yesterday, my parents and I went to look at the columbarium for sites for my grandparents' ashes - the graveyards are going to be exhumed in a few years and they need to be moved. Then on to the vet with Shan, and then I met J, who went back to California this morning.
Today, Mom and I met one of the ladies from the vet clinic who has been very helpful. She's leaving the country to work abroad for a while. We went to Yakun for coffee.
I met with two groups of out of town friends today at Plaza Singapura. My friend O came with her husband L, and they're both in town from the Cayman Islands where they now work. L has family in West Virginia and when I mentioned goiriego's great grandfather was Govenor of West Virginia, he mentioned that his granddad had been mayor in Ravenswood! It's pretty amazing how many people I've met actually with links to West Virginia.
Then I met with my friend J again, in town from California, and we went to have ice cream and buy lots of stuff we didn't need from Daiso.
You can't beat This Fashion for the cheap clothes - and this is probably the biggest one at the Singapore Post Building. You don't get amazing quality - but at this price, what more do you want? K asked if I could get her more skirts when I go back to the US - so since the other skirt shop I used to go to closed down, This Fashion was our next stop. I also realise all the shops carry similar skirts - just under different names. I also got a bunch of early Christmas presents at a store in the same building.
Mom and I also had this spinach soup and a beancurd dish with fried enoki mushrooms - the beancurd dish was a bit more bland but still very satisfying. Mom says Lingzhi is probably her favourite vegetarian restaurant.
This was a very interesting salad. It came in a long glass and then they poured the sauce in, shook it around (hence the name I assume) and onto your plate. I tasted vinegar, soy sauce and something slightly creamy - they also had (though you can't see it) lots of mushrooms and hazelnuts. Lovely.
Herbal soup and home made barley too - all that food for $12. What's not to love?
I went for facial with Mom and then went for vegetarian food at the little stall on the same floor after. Fake char siew and fake goose - gotta love it!
We drove by this laundry shop yesterday - you don't see many of these around anymore.
We capped it off with Mom's favourite dessert - green tea yogurt. I'm not a big fan of green tea at all, but they somehow make this taste like avocado.
I still managed to go for lunch yesterday - and what a yummy lunch too! It was Seven Sensations again!
Shan on the way to the vet yesterday for his second chemo shot. He seems better these few days - more lively and hungry! He wants to eat again, which is good!
Just before we went to the vet, Scout came into my bedroom and had an altercation with Eve. I let Scout out and when Eve saw that Scout had made an escape, she turned around, thought about it a second and bit me instead! When the teeth sank in, I was like, this isn't good. The pain didn't really sink in till last night though.
Evie tends to be a little grouchy - and if she can't get the object of her wrath, has been known to go after whomever is convenient. She normally does not bite though - or at least not as deeply.
Here's what J had for tea - toasted kaya bread, teh terik and two half boiled eggs!
We stopped for tea at Toast Box which sells traditional toasted bread and traditional 'kopi tiam' drinks.
One of my childhood friends came back to visit from the US and we went for lunch with another long time friend. J is back on a holiday before he starts work as a full fledged dentist! Here we are having lunch at a chicken rice place - obviously I didn't have the chicken rice, but there was plenty of other good stuff to eat.
I have never understood the signs that say "Baby on Board" - does having a baby on board mean that you can't hit that car, as opposed to say any other car on the road?
So I loved this sign on the back of a van I saw today!
We ordered a pineapple pudding - and this wasn't what we expected but it was very surprisingly good. It's a semolina pudding - and tasted like a steamed pudding. We didn't taste any pineapple but there were nuts and what seemed to be apple so we were wondering if it was a pine AND apple pudding.
I also left my ATM card at the cashier and had to go back with Mom afterward to retrieve it!
We stopped for tea at this cafe opposite Mustafa. The marsala tea was a little peppery for my liking.
M had the day off today so we went to Little India to Mustafa and of course for lunch first. We went to Raj - the garlic naan today was extremely tasty. The taste of wafting garlic freshly toasted on the naan was heavenly.
Then of course we went to Mustafa to shop. We managed to get a hideous (and very cheap) gag gift for a friend. We also saw the gorgeous singing Merlion that goiriego loves so much. If you ever want a fake fish tank with fake fish and butterflies scrolling over windmills, you know where to go.
One of the donut shops that has sprung up in the last year or so - suntaneye, you'd like this!
This wasn't your $2 mock goose from the vegetarian hawker store - it actually was pretty excellent, crispy on the outside and not too oily.
I walked around Novena Square 2 with Mom looking for a shop that sold pretty and cheap skirts but it seems to have disappeared!
Mom and I went to Lingzhi today and had the healthy spinach soup. Lovely.
Here's the chocolate tart after it was glazed and I sprinkled decorations on it.
I also brought some cookies over for Imp and D - Simian insists that ORCs are a better name, but Imp and D agree with M obviously and think it should be Pimp my cookie!
Simian is yelling Pimp my Cookie as I type this. Incidentally someone asked me in an elevator today to ask me if I made them myself and said they looked delicious. I offered her one and she politely declined - but her partner with her piped up that he would have one! :)
I am not best pleased with the dog at the moment - D returned some books to me and lent me some. Fortunately his books were at the bottom of the bag because the dog PEED ON THE BAG. Some of my books which were at the top got splattered with urine - some of my books were safe, and D's books were all okay - whew! The rest I contemplated throwing out. I've cleaned them best as I can and am going to dry them to see if they will stop smelling. It's not as if the dog needed to go either - he had just gone out to pee, but he was acting out about something - probably Scout.
He did however manage to pee on the CD that Imp got me - that was fortunately in its plastic wrapper.
D also made a gorgeous dhaal. Imp and D also packed some food for me to take home for Mom.
This was a really lovely salad - it looked so simple but was extremely tasty. D says it's simple to make too.
I went to Imp and D's place tonight for dinner - D made an awesome moussaka. It was very filling and I could only finish half.
The presentation was lovely but the french toast also wasn't fantastic - and the yoghurt was a little too sour for J and me. It could have done with more honey.
The fries were okay but I think I've been spoilt by 5 Guys.
I met my friend D and his wife J for lunch at Relish. D has just gotten a job in London so the two of them will be off in November. I've told them to keep some couch space for me so I can crash at their place - London!
I've been to Relish before and remember the veggie burger as being pretty good but today's meal left me underwhelmed. To be fair it's more of a burger joint and today they had a brunch menu instead of their usual one. I have to say the pancakes weren't great - and I think I make better ones. Plus these cost $14.
For those who asked, here are the monkey bathroom accessories someone gave us because they were throwing them out. There is a monkey shower curtain, a monkey tissue paper holder, shower curtain, toothbrush holder and a dustbin. Here they are sitting in exile in the garage right now. Simian likes them.
I also made a chocolate tart today for dinner at Imp and D's home tomorrow night. I'll add a glaze tomorrow. Somehow when you make a biscuit tart base in Singapore, it seems to hold together better when you make it the day before. I suspect it has something to do with humidity.
These are the cookies I made today - Simian's favourite, ORCs (Oatmeal, Raisin, Chocolate cookies). M came by to pick something up and said that she prefers to call them Pimp my Cookie! She also brought me caneles!
Strange sign we saw at a drycleaners. So if I'm not
(1) well dressed;
(2) successful; and or
(3) living in District 9, 10 and 11
does it mean that they won't serve me? Guess I need to go to another dry cleaners then!
