2010 Birthday celebrations Part 1

10.12.2010

I was elated to know that people at work actually remembered my birthday this year!!!! *cue fanfare* and let the celebrations begin~! :)

We had a very cosy lunch at Din Tai Fung cos I had a 30% birthday discount voucher to dispose of, and a total of 11 people added to the noisy environs of the restaurant.. ended up getting free yam xiao-long-baos for dessert cos we complained to the captain after we got some pretty bad service from a particular waiter (his face was blacker than Justice Bao's, lol)... anyways, 30% discount + free dessert made the meal pretty worth it in the end~

After work, it was the customary candle-blowing, cake-cutting ceremony in the pantry.. heehee...

Got 2 cakes, one from my lunch gang and another from my immediate boss *hearts* :):):)

Fruit Sponge from Bread Story~

choc x'mas cake from Lavender, lol... trust my quirky boss to get such an unusual birthday cake... didnt quite expect to see santa on my b'day cake @.@~

with Kimmy Kim, my group member whose birthday is just 7 days later than mine.. so we got to share the cake from our boss~ :)

This is mine! All mine~! :D

With Si Yuan and Esmei~ cant believe we have the fate to be working together after meeting all the way in UK :)

With members of our updated lunch gang.. Robin, Ann and Ang~

Esmei and my new 跟班 Lee Ean.. :P

Wats she staring at?!?? Esmei, always the one with the best expressions... :)

The mess we made in the pantry while ppl were still working outside.. hehehe

and a very nice closing shot~

Damn touched for the lovely celebrations :) but since i'd planned to leave the office early to meet up with Lil and Michelle for Part 2 of my birthday celebrations, I ended up rushing to the lrt station cos we'd had too much fun in the pantry until i was way over schedule...

Love my colleagues to bits... xoxoxoxooxoxo~~

A very chapalang post... :P

Looking through my unsorted photos, i realised that I have lots of lonely photos that by themselves, are not enough to constitute a complete post.. Suddenly had a brainwave to lump them together! *what a great idea~* :P

This is my Caramelised Banana Waffle from Waffle World in 1 Utama when we had a little LJMU gathering last year... kinda miss the food there cos it was quite yummy~

This is the foot-long sausage meal oso from Waffle World, looks appetising eh? :P

You'll never guess where this canggih looking place is.. hehehe.. Its actually The Companies Commission of Malaysia, their new building in KL Sentral is just jaw-dropping (my jaw just cant help dropping whenever i imagine how much taxpayers' money was used-is being used- on the place) :S This is only one of the many training rooms, they use the latest technology (the receptionists use wireless phones even) and their meeting rooms even have their own electronic signboards outside that show who and what meeting is going on in each room. @.@~ my office is not even 25% as canggih i think...

Computer interface.. the place was high-tech but the training was kind of a farce.. the officers hadnt prepared themselves well and couldnt answer some of the questions we posed.. muahaha...

the most unattractive looking dish served at a most horrible taiwanese restaurant called Xian Ding Wei... thats oyster mee sua by the way.. had lousy service at both outlets i've been to, Sunway Pyramid and The Curve.. food is lousy oso!

Pumpkin buns, at least tats wat it said on the menu, but it had pork inside (pity the vegetarians who order this according to the description in the menu) and HAIR! urghhh.... and they never gave us a discount when we complained.. @.@~ never going again! actually i said tat i wouldnt go again after my first experience in Sunway, and that wasnt even half as horrible as the second time.. just that i mistook the outlet in The Curve as another restaurant which serves excellent taiwanese food.. :(

Snowflake's bestseller!!!! Yums~ Went to the outlet in Kota Damansara with Michelle and Lil... :)

Like the hot version as well.. the watery grass jelly sets as you eat which gives a very nice texture :D

AT Sushi Zanmai with Jo in between exploring the shops at Farenheit 88 :):)

after one bowl of rice each, we were bursting at the seams already, but we unexpectedly got this dish of sushi courtesy from Lil's dad after bumping into them at the restaurant~

Something i've fallen in love with recently, but its not available in many of the outlets :(:(

Hot, crispy-skinned, silky eggy eggtarts!!! *drool*

coloured mothballs??? :) nooo... they're glutinous rice balls, courtesy of my mum away from home -- my roommate.. hehehehe... Thanks!!!!

X'mas tree at work in all its glory :):)

After all the presents have been deposited, what a happy sight! :)

X'mas gifts from my colleagues, 9 gifts this year!!! :D but dont be envious.. cos i had to buy the same amount of gifts.. :S:S no pain no gain...

Smoked Salmon Carpaccio
Appetiser from our new year's eve dinner.. a few colleagues with no plans for new year's eve got together at Italiannies to kena tipu by the restaurant.. LoL.. Turns out they only served a standard x'mas set menu tat day, grr...

Fried Calamari & Zucchini
a yummy appetiser but portion was too small to be satisfying :( stupid compulsory set menu... much prefer dining at Italiannies during normal days...

Prawn Gnocchi
This was yummy, but i imagine it'd be too filling for one person.. we thought we'd be smart and order 2 sets, one RM58 and another RM78, cos there was a glass of free wine with the more expensive set... and we added a dessert.. but ended up needing to order a third set cos the portions were too small for 4 ppl... sigh...

Salmon Steak~
didnt really like the sauce...

the dessert we ordered, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie :):):) tats a Reese Peanut Butter Cup on top~

Squid Ink Spaghetti
Very different from the version i had in Venice which made all your teeth black, this one was a little unconvincing... hehehe...

Ricotta Fritta
which loosely translates as cheese fritters??? oh well, guess eating out on public holidays is like this, costly and dissatisfying... :S:S:S

yay, no pics wasted! but relax, there wont be any more chapalang posts for the time being.. not until i accumulate more random, lonely pics... :P

Around Singapore City in one day~

13 September 2010~

Same note as the previous post! therefore, more pics of ME! :P:P One more trip into our neighbouring country for Lil to have a look around.. i secretly think i'm quite a good trip planner if i may say so... hehehehe...

This time we based our itinerary on the MRT line :) Bugis-Marina Bay-Raffles Place-Tanjong Pagar-Orchard-Chinatown-Clarke Quay-Kallang-Bugis~

Loitering round Bugis Junction when all the stores were not open yet :) The sky was damn black as we were leaving Bugis, but luckily it cleared up later for us to make the most of our day..

Next stop was Marina Bay.. I'd actually forgotten what there was to see at Marina Bay, completely didnt realise tat's where the Marina Bay Sands Hotel + Casino is located, how silly... It was swelteringly hot, hence the umbrella, lol...

Customs House~
We actually just kept walking without knowing where we were headed for...

One Fullerton Hotel.. can see our reflections on the building just like the Beatles Story Building in Liverpool~ :):):)

We accidentally stumbled into the hotel while looking for someone to ask for directions, and it is so so grand, i wish i'd have a chance to stay there... *wishing*


stopped by Starbucks for some refreshments.. Starbucks is much cheaper in S'pore if you earn SGD :(

we walked and walked and ended up walking from the end of the harbour to Merlion Park =.=

Lots of tourists milling around and we managed to catch one to help us take a photo :D

After bringing Lil to shop for some souvenirs, we walked some more to the nearest MRT Station which is Raffles Place to take a ride to Lao Pa Sat for lunch as we were meeting our chapalang tour guide who works nearby.. made a detour by Boon Tat St as well... After lunch, we decided to take the bus to Orchard since our tourist pass could be used for buses as well as the MRT :)

With one of the lions at Ngee Ann City~ We actually took the bus twice going one way past Orchard Road at first, then alighting and crossing the road to come back again... @.@~ kiasu ppl dont waste things, especially 8SGD per day tourist passes.. hehe...

amusing ourselves in some tandas at some shopping mall =.=

Somewhere in the middle of Orchard.. doing silly stuff as usual~

Saw this when we were on the bus, but took ages to locate it after we started walking.. I'm standing so awkwardly cos i was trying to hide my Big Gulp cup behind the red colour guy... :P

hugging the post~

oh, and we got to experience the F1 experience in this little booth where you would have gone deaf if you stayed inside for too long, whee~

outside ION Orchard and the MRT station before heading for our next stop -- Chinatown!

The only pic where you can spot me while we were in Chinatown..

Basically just went road the roads looking at the interesting stuff sold and then we went to the huge Buddhist temple and tried to rush to the top floor to catch a glimpse of the Buddha relic on display there before the chamber closed at 6pm.. We were just in time, but i didnt really know what we were supposed to be looking at and furthermore, no cameras allowed inside... I think we spent quite some time in the temple cos it was quite huge.. luckily i wore jeans that day cos Lil who was in shorts had to borrow a sarong... :P

Last stop of the day was Clarke Quay, cos it was nearing Mid-autumn festival and there were many lanterns on display there :):)

Rabbit!! Its my year this year :):):)

later that night~ many other lanterns there besides the 12 zodiac animals :)

cute statues ard the quay

With them again~!

There was also a Taiwanese food festival there that day, but we ended up having Long John Silvers for dinner cos the crowd was just too huge to fight against so we didnt bother.. made a little stop at Kallang cos we'd actually missed the latest time to redeem the deposit for our travel cards, and had to ask for my old roommate to save us.. but luckily we managed to get the refund without having to bother her in the end thanks to a kind aunty at Kallang station who gave us the refund and said that she would help us to exchange the card the next day.. stupid unfriendly unhelpful worker at Bugis MRT Station!! hmph!

All in all a very fulfilling day in Singapore cos we managed to fully maximise our day visiting many of the tourist spots :D but we were both dog-tired that night, heh~