pushing culinary boundaries

met up with the PSA peeps for dinner on friday.

venue was at this yakitori place - Tori Tama - at robertson quay.

as both kian neng and i arrived later, we got weiren & px to go ahead with the ordering..

and boy, the food they ordered!

so after trying beef tongue for the first time 2 weeks back, i was "forced" to try other stuff again...

i was always a very safe eater so imagine i have to eat chicken heart, chicken liver, chicken cartilage!!

zzzzz.

i have never eaten the above before. i can only say only the heart is still manageable.

the rest i only tried a small piece before giving my share to the rest. *blech*

and they were still telling me at least they didnt order the chicken cockscomb or windpipe!! @_@

oh and i tried lily buds too - super yummeh like asparagus. :)

and i have my fav. drinks - soju on the rocks! - there. hmmm....

and with a pre-dinner wine with my colls before dinner and more wine after dinner, i can only say i have a good friday sleep ... hehe.

and back to shopping for me after....a month!

i got a dress and cropped pants from gg5 only to be reminded by candice AFTER that they will be having sale during naional day weekend (normally 15-20% storewide).

PUI! so i must make sure i wear them before that... grr.

and a shirt & cropped pants from uniqlo.

*muhaha* im a happy woman yesterday.

oh and since there is a winterwear shop at PP, we stocked up on long johns for the boys and bought YZ a new coldwear jacket for our nov trip since there is sale going on. his existing one will be passed on to YR.

i still remember we bought that piece for YZ's trip to perth when he was 3yo. :D

it was pretty underused - we only use it thrice for perth, HK & germany for YZ.

so now it is in still in good shape and size for YR this nov at 3yo+ too.

some outfits for the week:

left: top & pants from gg5

right: dress from APM (seoul)

上小一了！

its another milestone for the elder son - P1 registration!

it has always been the plan to move back to the east from redhill to be nearer to my mum's.
so apart from proximity to my mum's, the decision to relocate to bedok specifically is also due to the number of primary schools in the area.
in bedok area, there are actually quite a number of seemingly good schools to choose from.
but being lazy us, we just target those within 1km to us so that commuting will be less of a hassle in future - red swastika, yu neng & feng shan.
so last june, we registered to be PV for both red swastika & yu neng.
and since we only got selected by yu neng, the choice has been made for us. hehe. yu neng it shall be.
so in the past year, both hubbi and i took turn to clock the hours.
we were pretty lucky to get assigned to "interesting" activities like P1 registration, P1 orientation, mint museum & road safety park excursions etc which allowed us to clock in 6-8 hours at 1 go.
so the whole volunteer process was pretty smooth with us taking 2-3 days leave among ourselves each. :)

and given the track record of 100% success rate of PV in the past, we were pretty relaxed and secured as the P1 registration process approaches.
BUT as the registration process started in late jun, we were aghast to see record high numbers for P1A & P2A phases for yu neng.
in the end for phase 2B (which is us), there are only 25 vacancies left which is the lowest for the last few years (apart from 2010 which saw pretty scarce seats left in 2B as well). :(
and i seemed to recall there are 30+ PVs registered.
and not forgetting the grassroot leaders too... zzz.

but luckily it was all good! with some PVs giving up halfway (never complete the 40 hours required or not registering DESPITE clocking the hours (?!)) and only very few grassroot leaders applying, the end applicants number stands at 21!
*wee* no balloting required too.

im so happy. cos we dont have to go through the harrowing round when its YR's turn 3 years down the road. :)

so since yesterday is registration day, both hubbi and i took leave to spend the day together.
though registration only takes less than half hour in the morning, we think we deserve a good time-out to take our mind off before the results were announced to us today. :)

lunch was at les bouchons @ ann siang road.
not sure if the standards drop overall or the branch here just cant be compared to the one at robertson quay...
the service was less than desireable, house white tastes super bland, fries was oily and the steak was really so-so... @_@
the only "good" thing is perhaps the size of the steak for the price. zzzz/

after a bleh lunch, we made our way to cineleisure to catch "secretly greatly".
seeing good reviews, both hubbi and me watched the show without much knowledge of the plot and expectations.
and it turned up surprisingly good. even for the husband who normally snort at korean anything. ha.
its started out comically about 3 north korean spys trying to inflitrate a south korea town and waiting for further orders to carry out missions.
but along the way, they assimilated too well to start caring for the neighborhood and those around them.
and korea shows love to pull this stunt - make you laugh hard at the start and then cry hard at the end. zzzzz
yes, the ending is touching and sad. sigh.
at least 3.5-4 stars!

it has been a good day for us, less the lunch.

and today, we received email from the school confirming the securing of a place. :D

next step: P1 orientation and buying uniforms/text books etc in nov!

the ng family has been catching lots of movies recently.

during the week, we went to catch yet another show - pacific rim.

the plot is pretty simple yet engaging. i like how the premise set is totally believable.

pretty cool show with all the action sets.

both the boys and the husband enjoyed it.

and we have been going out for the last 2 days - think today will be a lazing day for us at home.

hubbi came to fetch me from work and off we went to central!

due to some credit card promo for spending a minimum sum last month, we were able to redemn a camera.

this chio baby - casio JE10 in pink no less!

it comes in black & white as well but of cos i chose this. hehe.

think the retail price is around $200+. a good point & shoot camera i guess.

and its super lightweight and small enough to fit in a normal clutch even. good.

after dinner, we went for a short stroll around singapore river and the boys got to watch some buskers at work.

pretty nice relaxing friday evening for us.

were clueless where we should head out for dinner yesterday when i finally suggested bugis.

heard my coll mentioned this eatery at bugis plus serving value-for-money french food - poulet, so off we go! 

the boys wearing tees from K-swiss (bought at seoul) featuring their fav. superheroes!

notice the boys have a unique way to carry their bottles? yes, they do it this way - just over the neck. @_@ 

@ poulet - we ordered onion soup, escargots, roast chicken (their specialty), duck leg, desserts to share

Portions at poulet is just right - french food is seldom overwhelming and i love that.

pricing is super decent around $80 for us, pretty similar to saveur at far east.

and the food is pretty good too (onion soup is so-so and duck leg not as tender as we want), esp. for the pricing.

the husband and i will be on leave tomorrow! *wee*

cant wait to have a good proper date with him, though it the usual movie-lunch-window shop formulae... ha.

some outfits for the week:

left: peplum top from APM, pants from zara

right: long-sleeve top from APM, suede skirt from zara

(i miss shopping in seoul!!)

oh AND, we have booked the tickets for our nov family trip! hehehe.

yes, seems ahead but just get the air tickets out of the way first.

i have the next few months to carefully plan for the trip!

foodie weekend

the feasting started from friday evening when my boss treated my team to chongqing steamboat at tanglin shopping centre.

i think i ate enough meat/fishballs for the rest of the year. *burp*

not to mentioned all the *gasp* quail eggs!!

steamboat is bad. i only know im beyond full when ive trouble burping.

the burp only came out after squeezing through all the food inside me.. ok too much details..

wanted to go light for saturday but my willpower is really as thin as paper, come to think of it.

breakfast was nasi lemak(!) at killiney. kill me, pls.

after the kids phonics classes, we brought them to tampines to catch despicable me2.

and of cos, i cant resist getting nachos with cheese and polished it off all by myself.

yes, no sharing pls. *ashamed*

i feel that despicable me1 is better though the boys definitely enjoyed 2 more.

i guess they made 2 more accessible to masses and the jokes are more from the physical side rather than the lines like in 1.

can anyone still remember when the professor made boogie robots instead of cookie robots and Gru retorted with "why are you so...... old?" in 1? that had me cracking for the longest time!

i made my way to meet the gang for tanny bday dinner later.

this time round, we tried lolla at club street.

very nice ambience and setting.

food is good and pretty exotic (we tried beef tongue, duck fat potatoes and Hokkaido scallops among others).

BUT portion is really small and overpriced.. all of us concluded we wont be coming back...

we were not really full despite eating more than 10+ dishes (blame it on the small portions) among us and spending quite abit. @_@

so we adjourned to PS cafe for feel-good good food (truffle friesx2! fried calamari! cakes!).

yum.....

we have also think of the next venue for candice bday - 海底捞 it shall be!

some photos:

@ lolla - (from left) ser, tanny, candice, me, zm & gb

zm trying his new S4 on us

happy bday girl with our pressie for her - LV vernis key pouch

my outfits for the week:

left: top from gg5, wrap skirt from zara

right: top from forever new, pants from haji lane

Land of kimchi - last day & berry gleeful with the loots!

finally, our very packed and fun-filled 6D5N seoul trip is coming to an end.

our flight is in the late afternoon but the plan is to move out to the airport right after lunch so we can have time to shop @ incheon airport (which is really good to shop!).

morning was spent packing up all our stuff. 

after checking out and depositing our luggage with the concierge, we moved out for our last lunch in seoul.

the temperature dipped a little that morning so temperature was at a cool 19 degrees.

decided for pipping hot congee for lunch!

we tried a random congee eatery near our hotel and the beef bulgogi congee is super yummy!

i think the congee here beat the previous 味加本 that we tried 2 days back...

*nom nom*

we booked a cab to the airport and the fees was pretty reasonable ~ $70.

though if you take subway and switch to airport train it will just cost $15+ like how we first made our way into town the first day. LOL.

the flight back was not as smooth as the flight to seoul. :(

still, im very glad when we touched down singapore at night! home sweet home indeed.

till our next holidays!!

now, on my shopping stash!!

it was not easy trying to buy stuff for myself when most of the time you are with kids and the husband.

but after being "trained" for so many years, its abit of a stretch but still doable to shop FAST with them.

and of cos, the late night shopping alone helps too. :P

so what did i buy?

the most obvious stuff will be masks and skincare! we are in seoul afterall! :)

the masks here are much more cheaper than in sg ~ ard $1+ per piece. 

and best of all from buying all these beauty products is all the freebies that come along with it!

the best freebies came from sulwhasoo (if you are familiar with this korean brand selling in SG).

its is around 15-20% cheaper as compared to SG but the freebies are shocking!

i bought the first care activating serum and ginseng renewing moisturiser and i got the following:

- 2 travel kits (4 products each - cleanser. toner. first care serum. ginseng renewing moisturiser)

- overnight treatment (15ml)

- cleanser (30ml)

i think i bought over 120+ masks (though i gave away half of them to friends and colleagues...).

also bought laneige products to try too (its around 40% cheaper over there!)

only 1 pair of shoes from conscious effort not to look at shoes (i think i have enough shoes at home and the shoe cabinet is really bursting at its seams liao...).

clothings wise, i think i did ok. it was after all not a shopping trip for me.. @_@

around 15+ pieces of clothings altogether with prices ranging from ($20+ to $100+) - good variety!

best buys from the trip will be the 2 bags!! :D

1) MCM backpack which i really like and started using over there. ha. very good for on the move leaving me hands-free.

MCM is known for being much cheaper in korea. 

thanks to the husband for getting this for me!

2) Prada mini saffiano bag in pink! 

i wanted to get a small sling bag for sometimes and my top choice was really celine luggage nano and i think its pretty impossible to get luggage anything unless you are in their france boutique. @_@

i was still checking online if its cheaper to buy from seoul. most of the results say that it is the cheapest to buy prada in incheon (a well kept secret obviously) in asia! more so than HK.

so i bought the bag without really knowing how much it costs in SG... :P

but im glad i did for it was a good buy!

i had the chance to check out the prices from prada branch in ion when back in sg and the retail price here is whooping 30% more expensive and they only have it in black. HIAKS!

im a happy woman.

ok that conclude the second trip for the ng family this year.

im starting to think of our next destination for year-end! Yeah! :D

how's the weekend?!

the weekend is over in a whizzz, like what's new!

the last working week has been pretty sucky at least for me.

it was OT for monday and tuesday. and even though i got off on the dot for the rest of the week, i still need to log in to work for at least an hour each day (well, except on friday..).

so when the weekend really started on friday evening, im determined to spend the weekend happily.

and thankfully, the boys and husband help to make it happen.

so for a change, mummy got the chance to propose what to watch in the evening and for once they took up my suggestion of watching running man! lol.

so friday evening was happy time watching my fav. variety show with my fav. persons.

saturday was theresa's big day!

we attended her wedding lunch at conrad and the whole affair was simple and heartwarming.

brought YR along with me and he was an angel throughout the lunch. :)

hubbi came to look for us after the lunch and we took the chance to check out the revamped wing of suntec city.

by the time we went my mum's place to fetch YZ, its time for dinner.

i decided to go changi village mr teh tarik for a totally sinful dinner for moi - think prata & rojak!

shiok.

the last week must have been tiring on me physically and mentally for i found myself barely able to stay awake at 11+pm.

it was off to slumberland for me...

the best part for today is i got to sleep alllllllllll the way till  its almost noon time!

wah, something i havent done for the longest time.

hubbi brought the boys to in-laws place for breakfast himself, letting me to sleep in.

i tell you, the sleeping in is the loveliest thing for this weekend. to sleep until 自然醒 is so 难得!

and come dinner, i had a sudden craving for crab and that is what we ate.

sometimes, the husband can be very sweet to give in to my demands like this. :D

the coming working week will still be busy for me given it's year-end closing.

but with such a good weekend, im game to face it!

some photos for the weekend:

very cute cardholder from lapalette! new branch opened at suntec.

outfits for the week:

left: dress from warehouse (worn to theresa's wedding lunch)

right: top from seoul (APM), green (looks black here) pants from bysi

a photo of me from yesteryears! i think YR looks like me when he was younger!

dont you think so?

Kimchi land day 5 - lotte world & apgujeong

we decided to visit lotte world on a monday so that the crowd is more manageable.

and indeed, it was not packed at all and we had a leisure time exploring the place.

we took a cab from our hotel since lotte world is located on the other side of the hangang (han river).

we reached in 20mins time by cab and proceeded to get the tickets.

though most attractions and including transport is free for YR given his age, it is not the case for lotte world. @_@

the child fare starts from 3 yo so we duly paid for YR's share and it's not very worth it as he cant take most of the rides as most of them required at least 110cm in height!

and the staff were pretty strict and measure his height each time... zzzz

still, the day was spent most happily, especially the boys, here.

we were here for a good 5-6 hours i think.

photos:

 lotte world has a kidszone and the boys were the happiest here!

in the gift shop 

lotte world is mostly for the boys.

it is still at best OK for the husband and me... ha.

after lotte world, we went window shopping a little at the lotte shopping centre next to it.

more DFS shopping!

we left for apgujeong area which is also on this side of the hangang.

apgujeong is a nice neighbourhood of eateries and shops. not unlike other areas like samcheongdong and myeongdong.

however, i found it pretty boring.

not as quaint/different like samcheongdong nor does it offers variety like myeongdong.

still, it was a good-enough place to let us spend the rest of the evening.

last dinner in seoul. what else but grill meat again! lol

this restaurant at apgujeong serves delicious steamed egg as 1 of the side dishes - nice!

can you spot the 2 bowls of steam eggs? they look like rice in the photo.



we made our way back to the hotel before 10pm - pretty early but it has been yet another long day for the ng family.

and i seriously need to pack the luggage, our stuff was all over the room..

though our flight back to SG was in the afternoon the next day, we need to check out of the room by noon still.

our seoul trip is finally coming to an end!

kimchi land day 4 - lotte mart, DFS shopping & more food

after the late night shopping yesterday, i only managed to get out of the comfy hotel bed near to 11am... LOL.

by the time we were finally out of hotel to start the day, it was time for lunch. wahahah.

for today's lunch, we decided to head to a pretty popular korean congee place - 味加本 - at myeongdong.

congee eateries are pretty common in korea and they look sumptious with their ingredients.

yummeh food fare

we ordered 2 congees and 1 samgyetang (ginseng chicken) for all of us.

the brocolli with prawn congee is surprisingly nicer than the abalone with mushroom one.

it must be the congee absorbing all the sweetness from the prawns. *slurp*

the ginseng chicken aint too bad but what we had at tonsokchon is much better. hehe.

after lunchie, we made our way to lotte mart.

getting lazier, we just cab down since its only 2 stations away and by cab is actually much cheaper.

i think we have enough of letting the boys have their dose of taking the subway....

lotte mart at seoul station is pretty big, not unlike the previous carrefour in suntec.

grocery shopping in foreign land is always exciting!

all the snacks look exotic and delicious mostly because we have no idea of the actual taste. LOL.

all our stash!

 we got the market O brownie which was what most people would have bought from korea anyway.

and of cos seaweed, lotte pepero biscuits, different chips to try etc.

hubbi bought grapes and korean melons to try for the rest of the trip and they were indeed nice given they are freshly harvested in the country.

i even bought a 1.5litre sparkling makgeoli (rice wine) back.. hiaks.

the good thing about lotte mart is that they have tons of cardboard boxes available at the counters and DIY tapes for people to pack their loots in.

we packed our all those stuff to be brought back to sg in a box so that they can be easily checked in!

easy peasy! 

it was cab back to the hotel to put our stash and then to the DFS shopping area of myeongdong where all the big department stores are - lotte, shilla & shinsegae. :)

then we slowly walked back to the main area of myeongdong which is near our hotel.

for dinner tonight, we decided to try chicken galbi!

there is this popular chain of chicken galbi (there are 3 in myeongdong alone!) so we decided to try there.

we were pretty unadventurous and only chose cheese to be added in apart from the rice and chicken (there are other ingredients to choose from like kimchi or octopus).

1 thing i love about seoul is you have people helping you to cook your food most of the time! ahh, lovely for lazy people. :) 

chicken galbiiiiiiii!

abit like paella!

myeondong during the weekend is good - bustling with activities.

they boys stayed out later today till 10+pm (hotel proximity is a good reason to do so)...

apart from the 1.5 litre bottle, i got myself a small can for supper tonight.

so good to much on crackers and gulp down makgeoli while watching HBO with the husband at night. :D



this drink is sold in SG right?

its berry nice! at least to me.

i wonder chips with coke is worse or this?

tomorrow: we are heading to lotte world finally....

lesser crowd on a monday hopefully.