I shall let pictures tell you what happened at Sarah's birthday party. Yuppers... Her birthday is a day after Joanna's. Haha... So easy to remember. =)

Row 1 (L-R): Sarah and me, Sarah with her bouquet of flowers from Alex, UNGLAM photos 1 - Gavin, UNGLAM photo 2 - JJ.
Row 2 (L-R): random snap shots, sam in his so very metro PINk shirt with blue and pink balloons, my table shot, andrew trying to fool around with my camera.. hehe... trying to act sei...
Row 3 (L-R): Typically Singaporeans would just group together at the wrong side of the room when asked to take a group shot, Finally, at long last, we get a group photo, ok, lets start singing "Happy Birthday!"
Row 4 (L-R): Jo and me with her 21st birthday present (refer to previous post) trying to act as cute as the box.. erm.. bag. haha..., Next 3 photos - now guys... this is what happens when you put 4 guys together and give them a bag of makeup. They try to put on make up for Andrew. Hee... =) Sorry andrew... You din get me a camera (i want 7 megapixels one hor...), so this photo goes up. keke... But thanks for the comic relief.... They were so hilarious la!!

Happy 20th Birthday Sarah!

Especially for Princess Petrina... Newsflash from Singapore!!!

Latest updates on Joanna's 21st Birthday party... or.. was it her wedding?

It was a beautiful day, no rain, perfect for an outdoor pool party. And, so it was, a very beautiful outdoor pool party with lots of helium balloons, wonderful decorations and no forgetting a tiered cake filled with sweet little cupcakes. We were guests of the Cinderella party.. or was it Cinderella's wedding? A wedding? I thought we were invited for Cinderella's 21st birthday party. Are you sure? I think I have enough evidence to show that it was a wedding. Or... at least.. almost a wedding.

1) Cinderella was decked out in all WHITE. Well, ok, not a wedding gown, but a sweet white sun dress.

2) Her cake was all tier-ed. Just like that of a wedding cake. And it is in a very pretty white and pink. Well, maybe not a wedding cake... you see the 21 there? Where is the bride and groom figurine which is usually there? And the cupcakes.. Only have Joanna's name, so looks like it is not a dual thingy, but Joanna at centrestage! You go Girl!

3) We even had table shots! Doesn't this looks so much like a wedding dinner shot? Hmmm... where's the groom?


4) Let's pop the champagne! Wow.. so couple shot right? This is SO wedding!!! Now, were are the champagne glass formation? Hmmm...

5) And, they cut the cake... together?.. Nah.. They just stood together for the photo.

So, maybe it isn't a wedding party after all. But, it was such a sweet birthday party that it looked like a wedding party. It had a wonderful scenary (it overlooks the sea, and you can see airplanes coming into Singapore, making their way to Changi airport, minus the sound) the picturesque evening sunset sky. Of course, there was great company (Adriel, Stefan, jake, Glenn, Nat, JJ, Veen, Ryn, Sharene and not forgetting the host Joanna herself. =)). And, so, since it was a birthday party, we could all goof around both at the poolside (its a poolside party btw) and in her room. Oh, did I mention that she got a room?

1) At the poolside party...L-R: Row 1 - The set up, and those sweet lil cupcakes with Joanna's name on it! So pretty right?
Row 2- Joanna and me, Ryn and me, the monkeys- adriel, stefan and jake, so energetic and lovable.
Row 3- More of the decorations, Sharene, ryn and me with those goofballs at the back trying to be funny, Joanna's lil cousins. So cute rite? Look at Lucious, Leum and Ee wen!! So handsome boys.. Too bad can't see mei mei and Tiffany here.

2) In the hotel room... Joanna's presents and scandalous pictures...L-R: Row 1 - Louis Vuitton Wallet!!!, Her new GOLD Guess watch. Haha... This photo was taken especially for Pet. =)
Row 2 - Scandals Scandals and more scandals. All explanatory..., the floral arrangement that aunty Jenny did as the centrepiece for Joanna's birthday decor.
Row 3 - New Guess bag, What a load of balls & French women don't get fat, aiyoh.. so act cute ah Joanna... Jake goofing around.

Joanna dearie, Happy 21st birthday to you once again!!! Thank you for giving me the honour to be part of your celebration as you cross into the world of adulthood. Your friendship means so much to me and I treasure every moment we have spent together. I love you babe! *HUGS*

Oooo Hooo.... 9 more days!!! Yippeee... Whee.... This has been a long wait.

Ever since I returned from the US, I have been in a crazy cooking frenzy. =) I have just been gunning to try all different types of cooking. Hee... And, yes... this cooking frenzy has been driving me to want to bake bake bake. My latest craze is baking cupcakes. In particular, the recipe provided by Magnolia Bakery (yum yum!!! I had my fill in the US, but I am craving for them again!!! Kristy... HOW?!?!?!). Well, so hopefully over these few days I can get my baking gear together and bake the cupcakes. And, yes... I have my first guinea pig. So, we shall see what happens to him. Haha... Thanks Rudi! Dun blame me if you get food poisoning.

I was with my friend around the riverside yesterday. And, after dinner, we walked down towards Empress place. And decided to settle at Indochine Empress Place, and it is so pretty! The place overseas the Singapore river and it was not too crowded and loud for a nice thursday chill out night. (A far cry from the more crowded Brewerkz and the rest of Clarke Quay that we were at earlier). And it was a beautiful walk down the Singapore river. On the opposite bank, you see an overlit Boat quay with the financial and business district of Singapore in hindsight. While on this side of the bank, you have the beautiful landscaping of the Asian Civilisation Museum which finally ends up at Indochine. Not too noisy and bustling with life, yet, not void of activity. Oh, and the beautiful lights from Bar Opium was a big pull too. I think this is going to be my next haunt out place. Haha... It is such a good place to chill out on a nice cool evening. And!!! They have LIVE MUSIC!!! Whoo hoo... live music Austin style. hee... I miss that so much. I wish that the singapore restaurants and chill out places will have more live music bands.

I have been having recent cravings for a variety of cuisines. In particular, I have been wanting to eat swiss (thanks to the advertisement by Swiss Culture and my long time craving for Ikea's swedish meatballs) food, mediterranean, middle eastern and northern indian foods.

So, well, for dinner, decided to head down to Sofra Turkish Cafe and Restaurant for dinner. And, it was good! Haha... Since there were 5 of us there, we managed to try a variety of food. =) Yupyup, and I managed to eat Hummus which I have been wanting to eat for a long time too. Haha... Missed it a lot since the last time I ate it at Coffee Club express. So anyway, the food at Sofra is good! Yupyup, and the cooks are real Turkish cooks. The salad platter was really good. They had a sampler of some of the more popular appetizers like the hummus, turkish salad, some brinjal thingy. Was really good! Hehe.. And order the sesame bread. It was warm and was really crispy and tasty.
1) That is the open kitchen they had with the kebabs. 2) Jumbo Kebab Platter - Had all the different types of kebab meat (chicken, beef, lamb) and even the minced meat. 3) Flat meatballs. Haha... I was so amused at the name of the dish. Haha.. They could have called it patties, but no, its called FLAT meatBALLs. Ironic, huh? But it was good too! It was tasty, a tad salty though and the side serve of rice was good too! Still can't decipher what they used to cook the rice and flavour it, but it was very flavourful. 4) Desserts!!! From top (clockwise) - Turkish Tea (it tasted like normal celon tea, but was much more fragant. Then again, I seldom drink english tea (cos I prefer Chinese tea) so I am not the best to comment on this.); Turkish coffee; some super sweet turkish pastry called baclava - a flaky Turkish pastry filled with almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios and soaked with honey; Turkish Chocolate pudding which was rich and yes, super sweet.

Struggles struggles struggles... More struggles...

This Christian walk was never meant to be easy. Sigh...

WooHooo... I love Durian. But, I don't know how to buy durians. Why? Cos I don't have to buy them myself. For practically all my life, I have never had to pay for durians (durian puffs and cakes don't count. I buy dozens of those as and when I have a durian craving, cos I dunno how to choose durians) as either my parents will buy them or their usual durian kaki will do so, and I just enjoy the perks of it and pinch off. They're such a nice bunch of aunties and uncles who know jo's love for durians, and will remember to leave some for me even when I am not physically around to eat it then. (I'll eat it later or the next day of course...)

So, today when the few of us (Rupen, Veen, JJ, Nat, Mei and me) trooped down to Geylang for durians, we were standing in front of the store, not knowing what to do. And, we started pointing fingers... "who knows how to choose durian?... You?... You?... You?.. Must be you, cos you eat durians all the time... Nono, I only eat, I dunno how to choose. My dad always buy back for us, so its my dad who chooses..." Uh huh.. and we were standing in front of the store, trying to figure who should order the durians. LOL. We're a bunch of pampered kids man! Haha... So, anyway, a very brave JJ went to order them in the end, and veen went to accompany him a little later. Haha.. And we bought about $60 (5kg) worth of durians. (Should have gotten rid of the shell.. gee...) whether it is worth the price? I am not sure, but I know I had my durian fix. Pity that the guys were quite full, so it was the girls eating more seeds than them.

The next time my parents order durian, I shall follow them and learn how to pick good durians. I hear that if you are good at picking, you can get very good durians even from the cheap stack (well, of course must bargain too la...).

Oh, on a different note, newdaddy's latest entry on Caleb and yoghurt is really funny. Caleb is just so cute!!! Go watch the video!!!

I was at Marche the other day with veen, nat and mei for dinner. It was Nat's first time at Marche, so we decided to let him do most of the ordering. So, one of the dishes he wanted to order was Spaghetti Aglio Olio. Veen and Nat went to order it... But, apparently, the lady at the Pasta station has either 1) never heard of aglio olio or 2) doesn't know how to follow instructions. Aglio Olio, at least in my definition is spaghetti in olive oil that has been cooked with lots of garlic, and maybe even a little chilli and herbs. When they first ordered and she had a confused look on her face, they explained to her that it was spaghetti with olive oil and no other ingredients. Then, she proceeds to ask them, what sauce they want. (Like, duh! they just said olive oil!!!) But, no, she would not take Olive oil for an answer. It was either cream or tomato base. Hmph! And, then she asked the what ingredients they wanted. And as the guys explained to her no ingredients needed. So, in the end, she ended up giving the this:

This is a super back dated post, but still. Some of the Yammers gathered at Celisa and Marissa's house to watch the finals of the World Cup. . Haha... the beer and the drinks, the tidbits and the McDonalds. hee... =)

The 3 french supporters Ky, Hannah and Andrew:

And, some of the rest of us Italy supporters. hehe... =)

And, yes, lets have a group photo. Haha... Andrew's behind the lense, so you don't get to see him here. hehe... =)

So, during the match, we were highly amused at Ky's interesting talk during the match. Like, how Zidane's line of baby clothes are so cute and all, and how she didn't understand why the screen showed that it was 5pm in Germany (well, it was just that the time was about 17mins over into the game, and that girl though it was 5pm there.) Haha... She's so cute la. =) Bring so much laughter to us when we were watching the game. Alex, better teach her a thing or 2 about soccer. Haha...

And finally!!!... Photos to bribe Andrew with... Taken by Alex.. haha... And another one here of Andrew sleeping... And, mind you, this was DURING the match!!!

Oh, and did I mention that it is interesting to hear the conversations that arise when you have a group of doctors together. They talk nothing but work. Haha...

Before Jan left for Houston, the few of us gathered together to celebrate our birthdays, cos we knew we would not be able to celebrate it together. Yups, so here is our birthday "party". Simple, 5 people party, with mahjong and the Stephen Chow (Jan just loves Stephen Chow... he claims it is a Chow thing. LOL) show playing at the back.

1) Birthday celebration L-R: 1) Our ice-cream birthday cake from Savoury Fare - Cookies and Cream!!; Posing with the cake; okie, were a bunch of dangerous ppl, ready to KILL the cake.
2) Posing with the candles lit; Now, make a wish (look at JAN!!! acting like a precious moments doll. haha...); and finally!! BLOW wind BLOW.
3) Jane and Laura with the candles; Eagerly awaiting the cake to be cut. Hurry Jan!!; ahhh.... the cookies and cream cake. It even has real cake in it!! haha... It wasn't too bad after all. =)

2) Random shots at our birthday celebration
Mahjong mahjong; the sword and its stories... Laura and Jan in a sword fight. And, the rest of us playing with swords and... knives?

Congratulations guys!!! Yupyup, some of my closest friends during my university days. Only Rudi and I aren't graduating. Everyone else is.

Ahhh... my lovelies. =) Babes, going to miss you lots especially in this coming semester. Must meet up as often as possible, k? *hugs*

The FOOD post...

The last time Jan, Laura and Jane went to eat at Suki Sushi buffet, I wasn't able to join them. So, we decided to go again, and try to break their last target. Pity that Jane couldn't join us this time. Well, the service was slow. (I had to order my chawanmushi 3 times before it got to me. And, of course some orders got lost along the way.) But for the amount we ate, it far surpassed what we paid. =) And, we managed to get a 10% off our student sushi buffet price too, cos Wang Bin's scallop had a metal wire in it!!! Can you believe it?!?! Gee... And, the manager was not very helpful at first when we first informed her about it. She was like at a lost at what to do, and after apologizing, it took her a while before offering to give us a discount. Well, just pray that nothing happens to Wang Bin, if not... We're definitely going back to demand compensation (now, that's where Business Law course comes in handy.)

We ordered 15 plates of sashimi. Here is 10 plates of it combined into 1 big plate. Hehe... =)

That's Wang Bin and I with some lobster and salmon sushi.

Oh, and who ever can forget the cream puffs? The cream in it tasted like the one from Beard Papa. And, I couldn't resist it, I ate 5 plates (aka 20 cream puffs) on my own. That's just a part of the cream puffs we ate. Hehe.. =)

I love to eat good Calamari or rather fried (or grilled) sotong rings. So, when I saw this on the menu, I definitely HAD to order it. And, when our order came, this was what we Got!!!
Ok, I'm sorry, but the above doesn't look anything close to the picture in the menu, although they may both be from a part of the sotong. But still... And, it was supposed to be tempura sotong, but, look at the picture above? Which part of it looks like tempura? Hmmmm...

I was so full after lunch (I didn't eat breakfast either) that I decided to skip dinner too. But, Uncle Raymond and Aunty Fiona were so sweet to buy durian for e, knowing that its my all time favourite. Hee... And it was VERY good!!! Creamy, rich, not too sweet, with a slight bitterness.. Ahh... Durian..

I do love a light drizzle (well, hopefully I'm not wearing jeans). However, the drizzle just came at the wrong time today. We were supposed to go to East Coast park for some cycling and blading (or, for me, learning how to blade properly), but well, it was drizzles the whole day. Oh well, but the weather is LOVELY today. Cool breeze, yet not dark and gloomy. In fact, it's rather bright! Haha.. =) Looks like we've gotta push back our east coast park plans.

I was supposed to head to Settler's Cafe at Katong with my friend. But, SADLY, we didn't get to go. Why? Cos when we got there was a sign saying "With effect from 1st July 2006, we will be closed on Wednesdays." We felt so cheated!!! Gee... All the way down and then they were closed. Sigh... And, we checked the website a day before to make sure they were going to be open. But, just too bad, the website hadn't been updated. Oh well... On a brighter note, the Pizza Hut Lunch express is really quite worth it (especially since we got a better discount because we are students). For $5.95 (for students, it's $2 off the usual price, but with GST and service charge it comes out to about $7), you get a soup, a soft drink and a main course. Yup, and considering that the normal main courses (eg. baked pastas etc) already cost $8.50 and up, it really is a good deal. =)