Steamboat Dinner

It's our usual practise to always hang out at each other's birthday and our steamboat dinner is actually meant to celebrate the birth of our SQ girl 27 years ago. So since she has been serving others for the past 8 months, we decided to give her well-deserved break yesterday. We are all at her commands and preparing for our steamboat dinner. If i remember correctly, it's been a long long while since we last gathered at someone place for dinner. Thus, it was very fun just hanging out with each other over dinner and talking about anything under the sky and also updating each other of our problems and joys.

I guess nothing is happier than spending quality time with the people that you are truly concerned about. This friendship of more than a decade (to be exact is 14 yrs) is something that does not comes easily as we each move through different phases of our lifes and grow as a person and it is possible because each of us put in the same effort in mainting it. Thus, we should always continue put our best effort in sustaining this friendship to another next decade and a next and till the end of our lifes or maybe for our future generations.

It is really lucky that i have you gals around me all this time and tolerate me for all my nonsense and for who i am.

As the request by one of fellow members, i should include the amount of food we took in my blog so that we wldn't end up with excessive food for our next steamboat:

• 3 small white cabbage.
• 小白菜
• 1 packet of pork balls
• 1 packet of egg tofu and normal white tofu
• 1 packet of fish balls
• 1 tray of chicken fillet, fish, prawns
• 1 tray of fish paste thing...not sure what it is called
• 2 packets of 金针菇
• 1 packet of crab sticks
• 1 packet of japanese fish cake
• Some squids

I think that's about all we have last night.

Oh yah, after dinner, we were also introduced to a website. So if you are interested, you can download the game from http://www.mofungames.com/

I find this game pretty interesting too:

HK Cafe



Click here to play this game

P.s. Sorry as usual my blog isn't realli abt pictures so again we failed to take pictures of the people because we are all hot and sweaty.

Baking Time

I actually wanted to post it last week but somehow the pictures can't be loaded so after a few trials, i gave up.

So now i should blog about my baking experience last week. It was actually my first trial with Chocolate Fondant. So what's the result? Please see below:

Batch No. 001

Verdict: Over baked so the chocolate inside actually hardened so didn't manage to achieve the melting chocolate effect when cut.. :-(

After the first trial, i actually did a 2nd batch but this time it was under baked so when i tried removing them from the baking tray, the chocolate actually melted out so no pictures were taken.

Overall, it tasted okie so i will just give a few more trials until I manage to have the right effect. Will update again once i succeed.

It's finally the time to reveal

If you have noticed, during the early part of the year, i have been pretty active in sports, like rollerblading, salsa and have also actually planned to do more new sports, like golfing and swimming but these plans were never fulfilled till date. Many have asked, why have i stop going for my weekly blading? Initially, it was really due to pure laziness but now there is another reason behind it.

Actually, i wanted to share this piece of news in July when i was first informed but due to some old beliefs i have to keep it a secret until now. So for the past couple of months, i have been finding different excuses when people asked me abt this person. It is really difficult for me as i really wanted to share the good news but i believe this sort of news should be shared by the person. Since now it is official and stable now, i can finally make the announcement here. Okay....i shall not be beating around the bush. My sports buddy and good friend since my poly days, Ms. YY, is actually pregnant so i have no one to accompany me for my sports till next year. But we will have one more partner when we hang out, that is baby.

It was actually quite funny since the day when she found out that she is pregnant, we were still joking via MSN that there is not possible and it must be stress. So when she found out that she is actually pregnant, both of us were laughing away and wondering if the doctor has actually make a mistake and kept the news to limited people and even from their parents and in-laws in fear that they will be disappointed if it is really a mistake.

Little did we expect that the pregnancy will be of such difficulties since we were thought that there will be usual morning sickness but we never expected it to that bad since it is no longer morning sickness but more whole day sickness since she was not having any appetite, pucking quite badly, which eventually make it difficult to function properly at work as she can't even travel to work esp. since she has a boss who is so stressful and political to work with. I was asking the colleagues around me on the ways to help her feel better and finding different plums to improve her feeling.

There was a funny story here as well...i was asking one of my colleagues on the method that she used during her pregnancy since she is a mother of 2. She was proudly telling me that she doesn't have any difficulties during her 2 pregnancy. But few weeks later, she realised that she is also pregnant and now she started to experience morning sickness. Hence, both of us were laughing that she shdn't be too cocky earlier on.

Back to Ms. YY, there were times when she got really frustrated and depress so the only thing i can do is to entertain her, stay positive around her and let her vent out all the frustrations. Actually it was quite weird for me, since my friends or colleagues have already experienced motherhood and sometimes they will be sharing their stories with me and so i was able to share some of this stories with her and keep her going.

Though it seem to be a difficult process but there is also lots of joy that i can feel from the couple when she shared the experience of seeing the first ultrasound, hearing the first heartbeat, seeing the first smile, etc. I am very happy for her as this friend of mine moved on the next phase of life...motherhood.

If you are wondering why i seem to very part of the process, it is because I will be god mother of this unborn child which i have nickname as BB for the time being since we didn't know the sex. But now that we know the sex of the baby, I am also helping the parents-to-be to derive the list of potential christian names for them to choose from.

Which sex do you think BB is? The answer is “Boy". I actually got the right answer as i remember my ex-colleagues telling me that if it is a boy, the mum will be more sloppy and i think it is because there is a clash in the hormones and so the mum will have a more difficult time.

I know that the mum-to-be is looking forward to my entry and i hope you are satisfied with my entry and flow of content. Congratulations to you once again and i am looking forward to my 1st godson next year Feb. Like i say, i have less interactions with baby boy but i will definitely try click with BB. I know that you get tired easily but you shouldn't slack too much at home. Remember my philosophy why woman get big butts after giving birth is because they sit too much during pregnancy. Not sure if it is true or not. :p

End Note: For those who will be scared after reading the above, i guess you shouldn't be afraid as the joy that i believe you will have is definitely worth all the effort and if you are prepared for it, you will definitely cope better with the changes. There are alot of people in this world that really wished that they can have the chance to go through such a process even if it is really that difficult.

Gathering

It's been a while since i last met up with my Uni-gals especially since everyone is so busy with work and committments. It took us at least one month in advance to finally find a date that everyone can make it. Out of the 6 of us, 3 of us actually have our own blog so i didn't bring my camera along since i am very confident that Lynnie (one of the earliest blogger) will be snaping away and updating the gathering itself.

Hence, to see what a wonderful time we had that day, just click on this link: http://quacktheyellowduckie.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-girlies.html

Look forward to seeing you gals again which most probably will be our usual christmas gathering or earlier.

My First Homemake Mooncake

I am actually those people who will always want to eat festive goodies on every festival like i must have 肉干 every Chinese new year, moon cakes on every 中秋节, etc. It seem weird that some of these festive goodies are actually available all year round and I don't eat them only until the festivals.

For this 中秋节, i decided to try make some homemake style moon cakes for my family since my parents are vegetarians and they normally can't find snowskin moon cakes in the market. Hence, after much surfing on the internet, i find the recipe and make my first snow skin moon cake for them.

Verdict: Edible but not fantastic. So I guess this will be my first and final batch of snowskin mooncakes.

After having some fun from the making of the snowskin moon cakes, i decided to further explore on other moon cakes and i manage to make the below baked moon cakes with red bean paste which is left over from snowskin moon cakes.

Verdict: My parents and myself prefer this sort of mooncake better since the skin is rather flaky but we need to reduce the sweetness. Thus, i should be making more next week for praying too.

In all, i manage to get the taste right so i will need to improve on my presentations. Look forward to my future creations since lately i have the mood for baking. hehe.

P.s. sorry for my poor photography skills.

MV Time.

Initially, i am suppose to blog about my gatherings with my best buddies. However, those photos taken during the gathering were deleted accidently. Hence, i started thinking about the content for this week and decided to further share all the latest music that touches my heart over the past few months or will get me singing along whenever it is on the radio.

Starting with all the love duet:

1。今天你要嫁给我



2。梁上伯与茱丽叶



3。 主旋律



4。Latest Duet with an oldie feel. 你是我心内的一首歌



I guess that enough of duet for today but apart of duet i am also into catchy or touching songs like those below:

１。小情歌 - How i get addicted to this song is because of Yes93.3 as it was highly promoted by the DJ and hence after constant exposure to the song, it actually get stuck to me as well. Furthermore, it was used as a theme song for one of the radio drama and being a radio drama fan, this song became a favourite as well.



I shall end today entry with the latest from Ah mei - Star Album which i am thinking should i invest in one:

如果你也听说



Hope it is not too many for you and you can enjoy it as much as i do. :P I will be off to my next 1st: to make snowskin mooncake. Hope it will be successful so i can share in my next entry.

Is this enlightenment for me?

It will be a short entry for me today.

Some time back, i went to a religious class and got some enlightenment through the process. The speaker of the night was actually asking the audience if there is always instances where we always find that our life is always not as gd as people or we always comment that 为什么我们的命会这么苦? The reason why we feel that it is bad is because we, as humans, like to compare with others and not willing to 放下. The more we compare with others, the more we will think that our life is bad or not gd as others. Like he say why humans are known as 凡人 is because 凡人就是又烦恼的人 and a lot of times all these 烦恼 are created by ourselves. How true is that? Since actually the cause of all my problems is that i like to compare with others? How come they can do this and i can't? How come they can afford this and I can't? Majority of the times, we will only compare things that we are not good at or can't achieve. We wouldn't compare with people that are worst than us. Actually there are a lot of people who are worst than me and they don't actually feel that they are worst of... Hence, the point is to let go and learn to be contented. Only if you are contented, you will be able to get rid of a lot of redundant 烦恼 that you have created for yourself.

I guess i have not reach that stage to let everything go. If one day, i am able to reach that stage to let go and look back at a lot things, things will definetly be better and I will really be a happier person. Not that i am not a happy person nw. Learning to let go and be contented will not be something that i can easily achieve but at least i will try to work towards that.

Finally, i will like to share a meaningful line from the drama serial, 7th Heaven, that i was watching this morning as my ending for this post.

"God will not give us challenges that we cannot handle. Everything will be worked out fine eventually."

Recently, i am also addicted to this song from the movie - 881 so i have attached the music video here to share with all. hehe quite surprise that i can easily attached the MV here. so you can look out for more MV in my future entry.

Romance Fannatic Part II

Early this year when i started blogging, i did an entry on picking up a new hobby, that is reading. As of now, i am pleased to announce that i completed all the words of Julie Garwood, who is pretty good with romance in old English settings as well as modern world. In her storyline, there will be main plot that get the leading guy and girl to fall in love. The way that discover their love for each other and how they resolve the mystery will get you glued to her works. Hence, if you are a romance fanatics like me, you can start reading her books.

Above that, i also completed another romance Korean show: My Girl this week.

I guess i am really a die-heart with all these romance shows. Though the plots usually involve Girl A falling in love secretly with Boy A who is also in love in Girl B. There is also a guardian angel for Girl A who will suffer at the side, trying so hard to get Girl A to notice him and protecting her from any pain. Through the process, the Boy A start to fall in love with Girl A. However, there is these obstacles that stop them from declaring their love for each other such as the evil plot by Girl B who can't believe she will lose Boy A to Girl A. At this time, i will be sharing a few buckets of tears for the couple. Since i just stand the sight of 2 madly in love people and can't seem to be together. Lastly, another key uniqueness is Girl A is not the prettiest or cleverest but she will still get the love of Boy A. Hence, it is good that is always a happy ending for all. That is why i never seem to enjoy those initial Korean show that got everyone hooked to TV as it is usually a bad ending with the guy or girl either dead or never together.

With all these happy endings that i have seen, will i ever have a happy ending for my life story? Will I ever meet that Boy A of my life?

My dreams continues......

Painful Week

Some of you might not be aware, due to my decision that i will quit my job by next Feb hence i have decided to pack my lunch to work daily as part of my savings programme or cost savings measure. Furthermore, my mum cooks everyday so it is actually not a difficult thing for her to cook more the previous day and i bring the leftovers to work for lunch the next day. Lastly, assuming our daily lunch cost ard min. of $5 and i work for 4 days a week, hence, i can save ard $80 per month. Though it is not a big amount but at least it can help me save a little more and maybe contribute to my monthly retail theraphy.

However, with the no. of people leaving my department, i have to attend their farewell lunch. I will normally attend such functions only for those who actually make my life in my sucky job slightly better. Hence, i am okie to spend slightly more for lunch for their sake. Since it is our practise that everyone treat the person who is leaving and normally we will go to a slightly better place for lunch.

This week alone i attended the farewell of 3 different people, of which one of them is my department director. Hence, the farewell was left to 2 of my colleagues to organise and hence when they send out the notice for the farewell dinner, i gladly accepted it since i can't be that anti-social. The day came and i was told that we were going for a dinner at Holiday Inn Hotel, Tandoor Restaurant - Indian Restaurant. First thing that came to my mind is India Food! OMG! Hopefully it is not those india vegetarian restaurant with all those yoghurt and stuff. So my colleagues and i went for the sake of attending. The good thing when we arrived is that it is not those vegetarian restaurant and i saw on the menu that we have chicken and fish. Phew! Then i was pretty impressed with the set ups and service since after every course we have fresh new cultery and the waiter are so fussy with the placement of the cultery. However, the serving is very small starting with an appetitizer consisting a drumstick, small fish fillet and small portion of mutton which i didn't touch. Then followed by the main course of Nann with small sauce bowl of chicken, prawn, chicken, mutton, cauliflower and peas. Lastly, the dinner was completed with a india ice cream for desert. However the taste is nt to my liking as it is a sour and super creamy. Thus i only took a bit. Though the serving are that small, i actually went home feeling damm full and bloated. That's realli surprising.

Considering my description above, i will have thought that the dinner + price (pre-aligned of $10 per pax) will be only around $ 60 per pax that i will be paying including my director share since there were at 10 of us to split her share. The shocking truth was the dinner was $70 per pax + $10 for present. Hence i have to pay $80. OMG! My whole month of saving + the farewell lunch that i went which is $20+. There realli goes all my effort of saving. Thinking through i guess this is the most expensive meal that i paid for myself in my life till date.

If you think that's it. I receive my phone bill from my trip in GZ and i have another shock.... total of $270 and i can only claim for $70 for work related calls. The rest was spend contacting the team since we were split. Come to think hw come it was only me who was asked to make those call and everyone was calling to my line. :-( There again per call per min is abt @ $1+. Hence, if you are ever in China, try nt to call via HP furthermore nt by pay as your roam service.

There goes all my hard work of saving. Must realli make it back next few mths.

Sorry for my long, dragging and complaining entry but my heart is still very pain.

Department Offsite at Changi Village Hotel

This has been a busy week for me. After returning from Guangzhou, i am off for our yearly department offsite - BCFCPHC (aka. Baby Care, Feminie Care, Personal health Care) at the Changi Village Hotel from thur - Friday. Sorry there wldn't be many pictures since i didn't bring my camera along.

As usual, the event started with the management or we called it as Leadership team updating the whole team on our results and plans for the next year. pure boring....hence, i spend the full 3/4 day drawing on papers and playing sudokou. hehe...Hopefully, the day was saved with the wits of the MC who is none other than my director's husband. But we can tell that my director is super embrassed by her husband since he was poking at everyone and sometimes the joke can get way of hand...you can trust me on that.

After which, everyone changed for dinner, that is F1 theme where they hired 2 babes who carried 2 umbrellas taking pictures with the team. What a waste of $. Then followed by all the newcomers dance performers which is the most entertaining since u can see who are the good dancers and who is stiff one. Lucky for me, i escape my by pretending to be sick. hehe.

Then we have the awards ceremony (both serious and fun award). This year, i was given the special appreciation award for my PADEX Leadership and execution. Unlike last year where i was awarded for one of my project and i got a photo frame which is still sitting in my drawer. This year i have a trophy and $50 takashimaya shopping voucher.

Below is an excerpt of my conversation with my colleague after my award:

M: Congratulations. Still said u dun like your role and then still can get award.
K:I dun like my role and so they hv to give me an award to make me happy. :)

Though, i get recognition from the management but i guess i am still nt satisfied bah.

After all this award ceremony, it is back to the usual partying which as usual i will escape to my room since i realise that these people really can make a fool of themselves by getting real drunk and doing lots of funny things. For instance, this year we have people who get so drunk that they can't even make it back to their room and end up sleeping in the lobby until someone discover him. Or people puke all over the place and lay on the dance floor. I also heard that one guy get so high that they actually harsess some of the girls in the dance floor. Not to say this guy is actually married and with kids.

I realli wonder are they really that stress and so they always get so high each year. Then they become the talk next morning or even the story repeats itself again next year. Realli dun understand them...afterall we are all adults and should know how to control ourselves.

Then the next day, we started with lots of exercise since our new GM is a health freak and i know that my fats level is actually under the obese catergory. But again, there is tis guy who is rather fit but yet both the BMI and fat content is also obese so i guess it is nt a very accurate measure then.

Lastly, we went to Puala Ubin for a half day of team building activities which actually cause me to stay under the hot sun and make me sick with sore thoart and cold. Hopefully, after all my beauty sleep yesterday, i am actually feeling better and it will be back to work tmr again. Haiz