Yummy Lobsters Again!

Another trip to Penggerang, this time with some inter-department colleagues. The sun was out in full force, the taxis were either missing or cranky and I'm completely drained.



But boy, was the lunch good! Most importantly, the camaraderie was great! Thanks guys!

United Champions League Winners Again?

I believe ManUtd have the more balanced team for this match up. Barca of course are superb but I believe we can triumph here. Would dearly love for Park Ji Sung to start and for Ronaldo and Rooney to score.

Oh and I suddenly remembered, I have a couple of "ManUtd-to-win-EPL" SingaporePools tickets! Woohoo.. double happiness!!!

Champions For Sure!

It's tonight, for sure. One more point is all that's required for Manchester United to win the Premiership title. We'll get all 3 points is my bet.

Too bad for Liverpool though. Best chance they've had in a while. After tonight, I think FuOnn owes me at least 4 Kenny Rogers meal (ongoing bet, renewed every year, unpaid for a few years already).

Spent the evening whipping a laksa meal (Yes! Just got new stock today) and I'm so gonna enjoy the night! Watching at home right now with Daisy, Andrew and Tommy.

It's Just So Hot

The past couple of weeks have been just hot and humid. Even the nights are hot.

Hosted a game of Texas Hold'em on Friday and we were wondering what the heck is wrong with the aircon. Little did I know that outside, it was a freakin' free sauna for the whole country!

Sunset view from my bedroom window. Now, if only I had an SLR. (the size of a compact, preferably, Haha!)

Relaxing Sunday

Had afternoon tea (more like lattes and mochas actually) at Riders Cafe over the weekend.

Nice scones with butter, cream and jam.

And a killer of a cake called Death By Chocolate! It's a full sized yummilicious meal!

Food and beverage were good. So was the ambience of the cafe itself.

You basically sip your tea and eat your cake with horses trotting right outside your window.

Some just taking a walk in the carpark while others helping themselves to the grass.

Very relaxing...

A beautiful Sunday afternoon for all..

Yup, we're all having a good time, aren't we?

Mini Gathering

Had a few friends over for dinner last week. Trying to minimize the clean up work, I decided to go for simple and easy to prepare food. There was enough food to go around, but sadly, I overbaked most of it. That's why I usually stay away from oven prepared food.

Amongst the items we had were:

Overbaked mini pizzas

Overbaked macaroni and cheese

And yummy fresh oysters, thanks to Chen Peng!

I also made my favourite Black Forest Cheesecake. I paid over SGD$60.00 for 200g of caster sugar for this. Dammit.

My thanks to the Chens, the Gohs and Ms HamSup for dropping by.

May Day!

It's been a tough week. Drained and fatigued. Emotionally and mentally.

Will take this few days to recharge. A token of appreciation of my hard work? Haha. Thanks anyways..

Kuching Laksa.. Adipos Style!

I've always wanted to cook a damned good Kuching Laksa. But my efforts all these years have failed miserably. I just couldn't figure out what Chong Choon (my favourite laksa place in Kuching) put into their bowl of laksa. My last effort while hosting a CNY party also ended up in utter disaster. Luckily my guests weren't familiar with the dish, else they would be scrambling for a drain to puke it all out.

But just last week, I've finally tasted success in perfecting my laksa. Now I'm constantly craving it; and as far as I'm concerned, if I'm craving my own cooking, then it has to be pretty damned good.

I remember shuddering and felt super paiseh serving a pathetic laksa during CNY this year. Now, I look forward to cooking and sharing with my friends. Only problem is, I'm completely out of laksa paste again!

Must You Leave Your Child At Home With A Maid?

I don't care if this video is real (Looks very real). The thing is, the possibility is very real.

Personally, I feel a child care centre is safer. To all my friends with children at home with the maid, please be more careful. For those of you who treats the maid like dirt, you'll never know when she'll be serving you dirt in your dinner. Or poison.

Ever Wondered Why..?

..Pease can't exist

Project68 [29/02/09]

I woke up 2 days ago weighing a happy 71.5kg. That's 3kg off the 74.5kg at the start of the year and half way to 68kg. That means Project68 by June is right on track!

This calls for a celebration!

Yesterday, I had laksa for lunch and prepared baked macaroni and cheese for dinner. Lunch today was a Japanese ala carte buffet I'm still suffering from and dinner later will be crabs at Eng Seng Coffeeshop over at Joo Chiat Place.

But the main celebration was finally opening my prized Godiva's Platinum Collection that I've torturously avoided since last December. It was a X'mas gift from Fu Onn and I've abstained from it ever since.

Ahhh.. Glorious!!

Earth Hour

In the spirit of fighting global warming (or is it climate change?), we turned off all the light in the house from 8:30pm to 9:30pm..

.. plugged in my laptop to the 50" plasma TV and watched Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle

Laksa At Raffles Place

Was at AIA Tower and Prudential Tower yesterday. So I crossed over to Golden Shoe for lunch. Was pleasantly surprised to find a stall selling Kuching Laksa there. It's a branch of the one at Jurong East.


Unfortunately, the laksa I had that day was way below par. Worse than my last attempt to cook it myself. It was just bland and watery. And like the one at Jurong, it doesn't come with belacan.

However, the few times I tried the Jurong one, the broth was actually quite good. Better in some ways than the Kuching laksa at Bedok.

Sigh, disappointed with lunch.. To think they even displayed a culinary achievement certificate. Double sigh.

Anti Sharks' Fins Soup

Saw this on Ashley. Made me feel proud that Daisy and myself made a conscious effort not to serve sharks' fins soup at our wedding dinner.

Luckily, we did not invite that woman to our wedding!

p/s: The video is a spoof, trying to ride on the infamy of the incident where a woman went berserk at the airport in Hong Kong after she was late for her flight.

Hong Kong Dec 08 - Part I

We arrived at Hong Kong from Macau on the afternoon of Christmas eve, and it was straight to checking in at Metropark Hotel. Now this is one hotel I would really recommend. Nothing glamourous about it, but super convenient and very practical. Check out the picture I ripped from the internet:

We've stayed here before back in 2005 and still loved it.

Rooms are spacious.. even after we messed it up.

Did I mention that the view was great?

Especially at night?

The view you see is actually Victoria Park and Victoria Harbour in the foreground; and Tsim Sha Tsui in the background. One probably cannot get a better view unless it's from the top of Victoria Peak.

From the room, if I were to point the camera downwards, we'll see Causeway Bay Sports Ground. That was where I jogged every other morning for about 4km.

Every alternate morning, I'll hit the threadmill in the gym as well as the sauna. If I did not, I really can't imagine the weight I'ld have put on in Hong Kong. After all, half the time is spent eating!

See the fatso with the double chin? Yup, that's me!

The only advantage 'feeling fat' is you probably won't be too intimidated by Bruce Lee. Honestly, I did not expect him to be so.. small. I'm sure he's quick and strong, but Hey, I'm well insulated.

Anyways, Victoria Park plays host to the annual Hong Kong Brands And Products Expo around the end of the year. We had some time between dinner and midnight mass so we went for a stroll through the fair.

It sure was one big crowded affair. Strangely, I don't only see Hong Kong products being displayed.

Amongst others, there were also instant Singapore Chilli and Black Pepper Crab paste.

And guess what? Klang Bak Kut Teh! *faint*

From Victoria Park it was a short walk to Christ The King Chapel for midnight mass. Somehow the priest that night reminded me of a Causeway Bay gu huo zhai. Priest by day; gangster by night. How cool! We were late but one kind old lady offered to share the front pew with us so we actually got a seat in front of the scene of the nativity. While we were saying our personal prayers during Communion, little children would come up to the figurines of the Holy Family and say their own little prayers.

The purity and innocence of little children in a huge metropolitan city. Very touching!

Love In The Mail

This came in the mail a few days ago. Thanks guys!

Miss you all!

Project68 [18/02/09]

I was 68kg for a number of years. Even then, I felt and looked chubby.

However, I suddenly put on another 7kg from July to August of 2008.

And guess what? 68kg did not seem too bad at all. Better than 75kg!

So it was my 2009 New Year's resolution to lose weight; all 7kg of it.

I started the year at 75kg. I was 72.5kg this morning. Happy? You betcha!

Macau Dec 08

I had 2 weeks of free time in December last year as I was in the midst of a career switch. Daisy took a couple of days off too and we headed for a short trip to Macau and Hong Kong. Always wanted to see what Macau had to offer; and I dare say, it does offer a fair bit in terms of tourism appeal. We stayed in the Venetian and that in itself is a unique experience.

We had a big room. It comes with a decent view.

And trust me, you'll love the bathroom!

You may also have heard of the nicely done false sky and canals.

Makes you think it's bright and sunny and perfect for shopping no matter what the weather is like outside. In the 4 days that we were there, we covered less than 20% of the shops at the Venetian. In fact, the only shop that we really dropped by at is the 16,000 sqft Manchester United Megastore. After Old Trafford and the Carrington training facility, this is ManUtd central for the Asia Pacific region.

Until the Cotai Strip is completed (if it ever will be), I'ld definitely wanna stay at the Venetian again. That or one of the many nice boutique hotels.

This is the first trip that we went on without any planning in terms of itenary. So we're essentially blur tourist. And like any other tourists, we did the usual touristy stuffs. Like heading straight for the Ruins of St Paul's.

It's crowded even on a weekday. Somehow I doubt it'll be so popular if was never burnt down and the original cathedral still stood on that hill. Next to the Ruins, on an higher hill stood Monte Forte; or more specifically, Fortress of Our Lady of the Mount of St. Paul. Like the cathedral, it is built and run by Catholic Jesuit monks. Here you'll find big guns the Jesuits used to protect Macau.

Trust me, if the Jesuits still had a say in running the fort, they would have blown the monstrosity that is the Grand Lisboa out of the sky.

I can't believe that I've not heard of the building before arriving at Macau. It doesn't look like a hotel cum casino at all. In fact it looked to me like a gigantic shrine to the devil where Stanley Ho and gang conduct satanic virgin sacrifices every night.

Maybe it's just me but I found the building disturbing. This is one of 3 things in Macau that disturbed me. I'll elaborate later.

Anyways, Forte Monte was a nice place to take pictures.

In face, the whole of Macau is rather picturesque.

We visited quite a number of churches and temples.

We also took long romantic walks. *shy*

We also ate a lot of 'instant noodles' and Portuguese baked rice/pasta but to prevent this blog from becoming a food blog, I shall not be posting pictures of food. That, and the fact that I'm still trying to get myself into diet mode! Haha! Oh, if you guys do visit Macau, do make your way to Lord Stow's Bakery for their version of the egg tart. Yummy! They are so good (sweet), the egg tarts brought out the dragon in me!

But my supposed bravado did not prepare me to face the statue of A-Ma. To get to the statue, you have to scale a rather steep and tall hill in the country-side island of Coloane. As you reach the peak, you emerge from a boulevard of trees and come face to face with a very imposing statue. I felt like I was caught in a scene from Jason And The Argonauts.

It strikes a certain fear in me as I looked up at it. It's a weird feeling, standing on the top of a hill only to have a gigantic statue towering over you. Standing there at the foot of the statue, I could see the entire island of Coloane as well as the island of Taipa and Macau. I just can't stop imagining Godzilla emerging out of the sea around us and start battling A-Ma.

To think that the average height of people in Macau/Hong Kong isn't all that tall. And I thought that the Japanese were supposed to be the short ones.

Yao Ming ma man, I feel ya dawg!

The 3rd thing that disturbed me was Macau Tower. It took me at least one minute before I could psyche myself up to step onto the see-through glass floor. One day, I'll go back there to do the bungee.

Oh and I met some of my regional colleeagues at giving out free almond cookies at Senado Square. I did not tell them I worked for the same company though haha! At the center of Senado Square was St Dominic's Church. On our last night in Macau, we actually queued for more than an hour to get tickets to a concert at St Dominic's by the Macau Orchestra. For a small population, they really did have a decent orchestra. So good that I fell asleep halfway through the first piece.

But hey, being a tourist can be tiring OK? Especially with having to contend with Monster Lisboa, Monster A-Ma and the floorless Macau Tower. Luckily we had a great hotel to return to and rest our weary bodies and souls.

Ahh... the bliss. Makes you never wanna leave the bath. Alas, after 4 days and 3 nights, we had to leave Macau. And guess what? The Venetian has their own fleet of high speed ferries that leave for Hong Kong every hour!

I'll write a bit about Hong Kong; when I have the time haha!