Pre-embarkation

I’m starting uni in 5 days. count, 5 days.

2013 has been a weird year for me thus far. I have been so happy and so sad so many times  I’m actually kinda glad I’m returning to a state of normalcy by starting school and getting into a familiar rhythm again. That’s not to say school isn’t going to be full of ups and downs. It just that being in a focused system kinda distracts you from yourself. And I believe that’s the way to go if you wanna be efficient sometimes. Plan out your goals first, your ‘me time’ to realise how stressed you are can be fit in as and when the time permits.

I’ve been having quite a ball I would say. I work infrequently at a dental clinic, give tuition, hang with my loved ones, cook, eat, watch movies, read, clean my kitchen. Its been pretty damn awesome in the self fulfillment department but it has also made me kinda dumb. I think my brain cell count has depleted like mad honestly.

what else have I done. I. failed my driving prac test. I went to cambodia and phuket. I got stung by a jellyfish. I viewed the causeway on a boat waiting for sunset. I finally have a diary that I was faithful to for more than 5 days. the trick is write less over a longer period of time. relationship advice that is nott.

speaking of familiar things!  I have been having exceptional food as of late. and its time I post them like I used to. 🙂

 

Handmade gnocchi in white wine and cream sauce with pork sausages, mushrooms and sage leaves

 

Pork knuckle

Salt baked chicken (hakka style)

linguine in veal, ragu served with sauteed asparagus

salmon sashimi and cheeseburger sushi (cheddar cheese, sliced beef, and pickles deep fried with sushi rice)

chilli crab. yakiniku beef and mushrooms with melted cheddar in a kong bak pau

 

Parma ham, rucola leaves and burrata

saffron and white wine risotto

panna cotta

roasted chicken leg stuffed with mushroom served with couscous and pan roasted jus.

I actually have so much more to share! but the pic koality sucks so I can’t.

 

obviously the delicious standard has changed drastically since my last food post jan 2012. that post seems embarassing now. https://upandgone.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/commence-salivation/

I hope to be sampling ramsay’s food next year.

I have also made adjustments to my exercise schedule. I ran twice in the last 5 months. not bad right. 😉

omygad I am starving now.

 

commence salivation

this will be a quiet post.

great overlying  forces at play require we spend the next minute staring at pictures of delicious food i’ve had the honour of engulfing recently.

red velvet xmas cupcakes

tomato and dill pasta with bacon bits

tomato omelette soba with seaweed

mushroom steak  and eggplant with parmesan cheese

shrooms bites (ohmahgod damn good)

tomatos basil soup (hmm i’m beginning to see a pattern here..)

yam ice cream with brownie

juicy lamb burger with fries

king burger w paprika fries

recipes from foodnetwork.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/king-burger-recipe/index.html but replaced steak seasoning with tonkatsu sauce instead. plus with some caramelized onions on top of the cheese.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/french-fries-recipe/index.html but w/o the salt and with paprika instead. i think potatoes can taste amazing w/o salt.

foodnetwork is evil. it makes me hungry and angry watching its programmes. most days this week i turned on the tv at 1am to watch diners and drive in’s and dives where this porcupine disguised as a man goes to various diners in the US searching for fine dining quality food, boomzy food.

its torture watching sizzling steaks and cheese melting off cheese melting off cheese and pancakes drizzled with strawberries and cream and syrup and freshly baked pizzas topped with stretchy parmasan romano and cheddar cheese and marinara sauce.

okay enough of the violent imagery. gosh. need to balance it with adorable porcupine/hedgehog pictures.

camobodia the sequel

i spent the last quarter of my hols in cambodia with my family. can’t really rmb the last time just the four of us went for a holiday trip together. actually i think that has never happened. hmm

lots of good food. lots of dust. lots of tuk tuk rides. lots of nonsense.

tuk-tuks are these carriages attached to a motorbike. probably goes about the speed of a bicycle. travelling on gravelled paths and they sound like tu-ku-tu-ku-tu-ku-tu-ku. puts you in a minimal-brain-activity utility mode.

during our stay there we took a studio family shot. khmer style!

it was exhausting though. 4 hours of make up and dressing!

we hardly ate khmer-thai food cos it sucked. okay it didnt suck but i found a cockraoch in my food and that was the end of khmer food for us.

besides, the gourmet-ish, bistro style food was really affordable.max $5-6.

i’m just showing the fun luxurious side of cambodia. but really, it seems to be stricken with a poverty cycle that they may never be able to get out of.

the best way to have a holiday there is to look out and appreciate wherever you feel beauty lies.

 and for the things that aren’t beautiful, take it with a pinch of salt. understand their pain but at the same time, realize that helping them may not be helping them. sometimes, in the grand scheme of things, there’s little one can do if the source of the problem isn’t well, assasinated.

we can try to empathise but we never will. all we understand about them is by making comparisons to ourselves.

 

dancingcardiacslut

this post’s just gonna be spilling happy food and awesome buys.

starting my post with an adorable puppy!

made strawberry yoghurt with fresh strawberry sauce

tomato basil soup with garlic bread

best dessert of the month:

chocolate mint ice cream @jack’s place. yummms. better than almond seasasme paste @queen’s dessert or coffee egg pudding @Ah chew dessert along bugis

best buy of the month:

4 belly studs from click6 for freaking $1 each!! (squeals!) eeeeeeeeeeee!

here’re the 2 dangly ones:

pretty!

most extravagant buy:

$34 (half off) G2000 heels. slutty bastards seduced my feet. had to buy them cos they were so damn comfy. compared with disgusting rubi flats bleaghh.

best joke:

poster ad@ wickery ider milk tea. freaking ridiculous

not as ridiculous, but still, AWESOME NAME MAN. i hope ‘minli’ isnt an offensive word in some jamiacan language or sth.

POSTSECRET:

I DID NOT.

btw i desperately need a twitter name. dancingcardiacslut, though an excellen and apt suggestion,  is not very , how to put it gently, elegant?

persuant to the pre-U seminar booklet

harlo everybuddy

i was away for pre-u seminar 2011 at prince george’s park residence, NUS hostel from monday to friday and this was my room. it was kinda funny cos it took me 2 days to realise i’d been stripping all along in my room with the curtains open and the boys’ hostel outside my window.

sigh.

anyway it was pretty boring, but i wont say anything specific (it was the jc kids!) bout why it was boring.

the highlights were…

some nice JC ppl in my SG, my SLO dory!

playing bridge with the guys in the pantry

and the making of the 1 minute vodcast on reimagining singapore which i directed. which was mostly dreary cos my team was damn xian but i’m still proud of the result

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsI3-TJY9U

meeting boojunfeng, singapore’s cutest film maker.

argh i should just crop myself out man honestly.

my awesome as hell SP team 🙂 every moment with them was pure chilled awesome goodness.

and i wont forget one of the most epic moments

yam ah mee, ladies and gents, chairing the distinguished panel at pre-u seminar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhkbGC23EM

and the letters i got. they’re too nice man, honestly.

in other news,

i got a new bellystud at bugis street, ignore dust $22. screws from the bottom which is way better cos big balls are easier to find than siao qiu qiu.

and woohoo new makeup Za foundation and skinfood rose essence blusher 🙂 it really smells like roses.

flea buys@ whattheflea! after failed blood donation drive at orchard central.

bestbuy topshop skirt for $3 😀 total spent: $20

grilled honey cod fish with parseley carrots

and some odd doomsday pic i took weeks back

postsecret.

hehe, if only.

 

 

the minli face?

over the years i’ve been getting alot of feedback about this face i do when i observe something silly or lame or kinda funny or childish or ridiculous.

i never really paid attention to it till i realised the sheer number of reviews ive been getting about it. cos all along, i thought i was subtle 😦 kinda, sorta. i dunno.

i guess not. if my friends are able to list down my various expressions.

sigh.

anyway, here’re some pretty peekchas taken a while back.

omelette with grilled basil tomatoes

and some architecture shots for my haha ‘portfolio’

notice the semicircles!

i know, i mildy impressed too.  😀

MUAHHAHAHHAHA.

stop it. behave yourself ah.

postsecret!

i’m like damn busy now.cos i had to rush all my deadlines earlier cos i’ll be away for preusem for the whole of next week and then the blood donation drive and then sparc camp. its a good thing im leaving out australs, or am i.

but its okay cos i dont care im going for a flea tmrw@clarkquay. and then sunday im gonna go on a shopping for makeup spree! wheeee. cos its friday, then you see,tmrw’s saturday. and sunday comes afterwards.

unemployment’s working for me

what have i been up to? not having a job. heheh.

peanutcrumble with peaches and blueberry yoghurt

strawberries with milk and white choc

blueberry cupcakes

 

pasta

strawberry cheesecake.

bought a $98 ezra fitch skirt at a TAB flea@orchard hotel for $10. it is so pretty but i’m too big for it. i’ll prob sell it or continue looking at its prettyness.

 

bought this top/dress for $6.50. pretty as hell.

and these lovely earings for 50c.

 if i could live in any other place in Singapore i would love to live in bukit timah/holland V.

the salvation army, railmall’s organic stores, spas and massive cold storage are just awesome. and holland V has that urban feel, yet in the heartlands.

  

POSTSECRET

oh how sad.

my food issues

when i was younger i wasted a lot of food. I had a small appetite and was a picky eater. NO chili, beansprouts, veg that hasnt been boiled in soup for hours till it becomes totally cui.  And i had to have a equal amount of meat/sauce to match my rice. i used to take 10 mins to nibble on a spoonful of rice. my dad used to say he would pay anyone $1000 to make me eat better. everytime my mum told me not to waste food because there were people who were starving elsewhere in poorer parts of the world i always shoved the plate away and told her to send the plate of food to them if she cared so much about them.

i was a terrible child.

but anyway, with puberty came extra helpings and late night suppers. And somewhere along the road i started cooking and really appreciating food. its such a bliss to enjoy food, honestly.

and i know its a terrible thing to gloat about but i’m super thankful to have an effective metabolic system because no matter how much or what i eat, and how minimal my exercise routine (if any at all), i’ve never been fat. sure i used to have an ass but now its gone and i dont know where it went.

there was once in secondary 2 i was just recovering from an illness. but it was a bad time to cos i was pretty stressed being involved in a debte competition, having to take the place of a senior. my teacher asked if i was anorexic cos i didn’t look well and she had this impression i never ate. (now that i think back it was prob because i once rejected a granola bar she offered to me) she wanted me to write a food journal, which i thought was hilarious. but it was odd, because in my mind i was thinking this is ridiculous i eat all the time and of totally normal proprtions anorexia is totally not an issue for me its not even close, please. but emotionally, it was just so conflicting. i felt personally attacked and till this day i cant explain why but it just left me crying like crazy. i wasnt having family probelms or anything or haha low self esteem, but it just poured man. and for a long time after that i would, not all the time, but now and then at the back of my mind, wonder if i am, even though its not true. there were times when i brushed my tongue with my toothbrush too far in and nearly vomitted i wondered what it would be like to have bulimia.

sure i’ve wanted to be thinner before but it wasnt because i had confidence issues. its because i’m a totally normal girl living in a world that glorifies stick figures.

anyway 2 days ago i swam 20 laps and engulfed a bigmac meal afterwards.

i think i’ll be fine.

working backwards to midfebruary.

the holidays have been AWESOME

I made fabulous pizza with fontaine. i didn’t think it would be so easy to make. pizzahut’s a slut!

it has tomato paste, chopped asparagus, onions, mushrooms, pineapple, ham, tomato slices and mozarella (input italian accent)

its not bad lighting, its glowing.

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watched awesome shows.

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 got my first manicure at PRINCESSMANICURE. my nails look so fake, love em’.

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broughtCHANNIE out to sentosa. I’m gonna try to bring her outmore often so she’ll speak more engrish.

she’s so naughty. i wanna pinch her.

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thursday was our last paper and we had a well deserved BBQ to mark the start of the holidays and the end of our first year together.i think i’m really gonna miss the class. i didn’t think i would at first, but ive begun to really love my class. everyone’s so different (Not just chinese girls with long hair like me). i hope my new class rocks.

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my sis was around for a month and it was, of course, worth celebrating.

main course: coconut curry prawns with shitake mushrooms

blueberry ricotta parfait for dessert.

 homemade steamboat

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and finally, valentine’s.

i baked orange cheesecake for everyone! it was so boomz.

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[POSTSECRET]