Gatherings in Jan 2009

Yes, I am constantly being reminded by Leecher that I am once again late in my posting (strange that Leecher is soooo passionate about our blog when HE was the one who needed constant reminders to write his fair share on this blog). Ok, back to the topic ~ One of my New Year Resolution for 2009 is to meet up more regularly with my beloved frens :) Despite my busy schedule & was away from SG for 2 weekends, I am pretty pleased at my/our astonishing results in the month of Jan!

1. Winston

It was kinda difficult to co-ordinate our timings due to the nature of Winston's work, but we managed to make it happened! Thinking back, it's funny how we formed this friendship: He always wanted a little sister while I always wanted an elder brother. Because of this, I got 6 other "brothers" from Animal Farm :) It was also @ this very restaurant that we planned the Batam trip which materialized in 3 wks time :) talk about being efficient ~

2. YuXin

My buddy since P3, oh gosh, we literally grew up together :P You've just made your maiden appearance on my blog *waves Hello*Another hard-to-come-by meetup yet it was really good catching up on the news of our lives & others, heehee :) I bet the waiters @ Delifrance must be pretty "angry" @ us hogging the table for 4 hrs with just a cup of cappuccino & dessert. Sorry, but there's just a lot to talk about :P

3. Kenneth & EngKhim

Been almost 2 months since our last meet-up with Engkhim (affectionately known as KhimKhim) and we managed to book him way in advance for the dinner; Khim always like to fly me last min aeroplanes; I have collected like 5 out from him alone :0 Leecher & I headed down to Bugis after work to queue up @ Ma Maison and it was a cool 20 min wait before we were given our table. So what to do to kill time? You've guessed it! Cam-whoring :P

I wondered if it is SOP for Jap restaurants to have larger than life replicas of their food, but I guess they make good backdrops for photos.

While waiting for our orders to be served, we cam-whored some more, really like the ambience of this restaurant, family-oriented.

Khim Khim, the late comer of the day finally arrived. Just in time for a group pic. Ha ha.

Our wonderful spread. Their signature beef straganov omu-rice (top right hand corner), was simply yummy. Lightly buttered rice, with their signature brown sauce was very rich in flavour. Also their must try hamburger steak (bottom left-hand corner), with the beef cooked just right, disintegrated happily in our mouths.

(Written by Leecher, since Blamer is sooo slow in her writing. Cows come home already she still haven finished). Next is desserts at our fav Ah Chew's. Authentic Hong Kong style desserts, I ordered their barley ginko nuts, Kenneth's 杨枝柑露 and Blamer ordered the most not-worth-it dessert. Aloe vera with honey and lime. Thank you Kenneth for ur treat! : )

4. YanBo & Wanling

Since our last gathering, we've decided that we should meet up more regularly in 2009, together with the rest of the BP gang. So, to kick off the start of the Lunar New Year, we had our CNY meal @ Dian Xiao Er in our home ground, affectionately known as Lot 1, hahaha :P

You can never go wrong with their signature duck dishes. Looking through their website, the delicacy "even has won praises from former US president Bill Clinton and the Bush presidential family during their visits to China."

See, even Wanling can't wait to eat the duck (notice that she is holding her chopsticks in her hands, but was stopped by me as we need to take pictures first, heehee)

After a satisfying meal ~ Wanling finally 舍得 to put down her chopsticks :P

The 2 of them wanted McFlurry as desserts, so we walked to Mac to "chill"

Bobo gave me an astonishing look when I took out dent dent & snapped a picture of McFluffy.

Bobo: 连这个你也要拍？
Me: 哦，是呀，先拍 ice cream， 然后才拍你。 不要吃 ice cream的醋, ok?

See, Bobo - I got such a cute picture of you leh :)

Glanced upon something very alien to me, yet I used to stare @ it everyday in school

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Haha, time table! Nowadays, I stare @ my calender more often; counting the days to the weekends/leave days/public holidays. Welcome to the life in the corporate world, haiz :(

Wanling's new thumbdrive. Silly me thought it was a toy till I saw the 2GB on the body. So cute rite? Bobo begs to differ though, haha. That explains why Men are from Mars & Women are from Venus.

5. Pauline

My partner-in-crime from HK came back to our sunny island for CNY. Haven seen her in almost 3 months!

We popped by Morton's for their signature martinis. Richard introduced me to their Lychee Mortini & I am hooked to that, totally. Even FMQ agrees with me during her last visit there (great minds think alike!)

Mixing our drinks behind the counter, can't wait!

The divine Lychee Mortini that totally kick ass! Elliott, who was on a drinking ban broke his ban @ this very bar and ordered the drink, along with everyone else.

Rinta decided to go against the flow and ordered Chocolate Mortini.

Complimentary filet mignon sandwiches served during happy hours. It's so delicious that I grabbed Eric's share as well (ok, I am not greedy, but Eric doesn't eat beef, so don't waste it right? Leecher will surely agree with me, haha) Tender & juicy, absolutely divine!

My face was really red after the drink, as evident in the pictures. No, I am still pretty somber though I had to go home early to rest, hahaa.

A great start to kick off the more-to-come gatherings later. It was really nice catching up with them. As we move onto different chapters in life, I know that my frens will be there for me, no matter what :)

DBS Meet Up

Arranged a meet up with my DBS interns just before last year Christmas. (yes late post thanks to Blamer) Steven flew the kite last min, but heck, we still went ahead.

Came across this Korean snack kiosk at Ngee Ann City.

Can't resist buying something from them while waiting for the rest to turn up.

Korean pancake.

And some meat skewers. Nothing really special about the meat or the pancake. I think their secret is the sauce though. Sweet and spicy the true Korean way. The sauce just makes everything taste good.

Our restaurant for the night. Actually, we wanted to go Sushi-Teh at Paragon. But being ever so popular, the waitress told Bli that we would have to be on the waiting list for at least an hour. Little did we know that Ken would be late for exactly the hour. By the time we sat our butts down and took our orders, Bli's mobile rang. Oh the irony... ...

This restaurant is famous for their Katsu. Be it pork or chicken or... ...

Seafood! Which was what I ordered. Prawns, crab and oyster.

Blamer was feeling quite full from our earlier Korean conquest, hence she only had their side dish, Smoked duck and kope the rest from my plate.

Must kope back. Ha ha. Another interesting thing about this restaurant is tat they serve free flow of miso soup and salad as long as you ordered a set meal. Blamer stopped me from having my third bowl of miso soup citing hair loss again. Argh, my 三千烦恼丝.

Bli with the "late-comer" aka Ken. Ha ha ha.

Group pic taken when we were signing the bill. Lucky razor-eyed Blamer discovered that we had been billed for the Chawanmushi that never came. Lesson learnt time and again, always check the bill before you sign. Nice meeting up and catching up with each other lives. We really should do this more often guys and Steven, next time dun fly kite. : P

Chef Leecher 2009

Blamer's mum heard that I have been cooking for Blamer quite often and wanted to taste my cooking.

Trusty Prego sauce to the rescue... ...

In case my nerves gets onto me and affect my cooking, I bought pizza from Pastamania. I like their pizza more than their pasta. Think the pizzas are even better than Pizza Hut's. Should change their signboard to Pizzamania. Ha ha.

The ribbon-shaped pasta which Blamer likes.

Soak the fresh portobello mushrooms

There's also a piece of Blamer's fav 肥猪肉

Boiled and drained the pasta.

Next, the real cooking starts... ...

Throw in the garlic and shallots... ...

The 肥猪肉, stirfry around a bit till the meat change its colour

Throw in the fresh mushrooms to sauteed them in the fragrant porkbelly oil.

Next slap on the sauce and mix like there's no tomorrow... ...

Oops, I think I slapped in the sauce a bit too hard.

Throw in the pasta... ...

The end product.

Not too bad right. Look the bro is all smiles... ...

On a side note, Blamer has never tasted army combat ration before. Thanks to Roger who came back from reservist. Presenting... ...

I wonder if you could read the labels. But Blamer picked the Potato Chicken Stew. Sounds yummy.

The quick way to cook it. (more correctly it's to warm it) Just place the whole packet in warm water for say 5-10 minutes?

Ta-Da. Taste like super chunky Campbell soup.

Lovely Surprise

Chris (Tokyo office) decided to surprise me with my fave snack after reading this on my blog :)

Lots of Pocky to munch on; hope I don't end up with toothache/sore throat, haha. It was such a pleasant surprise walking into office to find a huge bag of goodies on your table. You've made my day! Thanks ~ Hope to see you soon in SG :P