A&E - 19th May

Night time belonged to Alvin DarLIN!

Celebrated our first anniversary together.

Check out my eye bags..
Slept at 6am cause I had to finish doing up my presents fer him.

O yeah, last minute.
But the ‘concept’ was conceived during Reading week whilst studying fer Heavenly Mathematics.
(And I am so gonna S/U it now. Pui. But considering every question (15-20marks each) was a 2 liner answer like this small paragraph here, the fact that I passed was eye popping.)

I took the Mister to Stone Grill since he hadn’t been there before.




The whole 2nd level was ours fer a good 20mins >> excellent photo-taking opportunity.




This was when my addiction to Portobellos resurfaced again.
By the way, my obsession to sashimi had faded, though I like them still.


Presenting my presents from darling.
To look at what I gave him, check out the mister’s blog!


He bought me the book, 'Destined To Reign'.

The bookcase was done by scouring technical board, putting plastic and a nice print over it.

Being fastidious, he wasted many boards to make it purrfect.
And the product's brilliant!

He has talent fer design isn't it? 




The book also included a self-made bookmark.

 


He also gave me a mug fer collecting dust. Hurhur.

And a sticker which I think wasn't that nice cause he photoshopped my head till it’s too flat!

But overall, I still love the gifts he showered me with!

*MUAH*

Amanda's 22nd

The Birthday Woman’s celebration was spent at Changi Airport’s spanking new Terminal 3.

We treated her to Dian Xiao Er.
(Air-conditioning there was bad, we’re on slow cooker)

Considering our friendship of 7 years, plus the fact that we’re all Chinese, it’s rather surprising that this was our very first Chinese-themed lunch together!



After lunch, we plonked ourselves at the plushy seats of Coffee Club and chatted o’er coffee/tea fer 4 hours, occasionally making trips to the ladies..

We vacated the place only because it’s time fer dinner andAlvin and I had a special date.

Yes, the three of them had dinner at the airport too.
That’s 7 hours at the airport fer them.
-19th May

Concluding S.Korea

This shall be my swan song post on Korea.



The first snow I saw there.
Beautiful isn't it?



And here's a photo of women making kimchi by the road side on that particular snowy day while having lunch at a grilled fish eatery opposite Handeap Station.


Okay, I am wrapping it up with the last day before I leave fer Japan on 23rd Dec, Sunday.

This may as well act as a guide fer future exchange students to Hanyang University at South Korea. Fer my juniors! (Divide ₩ by 600 to get SGD)



Let’s start from on a usual Sunday morning..
I’d go to Saeansan Church, now known as Dream Church.
A 20min walk from hostel. There’s an English Service by Pastor Jae (handsome and in his late 20s) at 12pm.
If you ever attend, do render your services!



Favourite food haunts near school.



Ji Gae Ji Gae! About 2500₩ per person.
The side dishes are really nice!



There's this auntie-uncle shop which we named after the old couple who run it.
Great food and their service, tops!
Poured us water (though it's self service) and gave us gum after meals.
Their dolseop bibimbap is to die for! 2500₩
Most importantly, it is the only stall nearest to school which opens on Sunday.



Then there's the Toast Shop next to them.
Try all their toast and watch them make toasts on hot stove with great dexterity!
Ranging 800₩ to 2000₩ I think.
Fresh fruit juice sold here too!



Udon-Ya is close by.
The bosses are brothers and they stayed in Japan before, hence their Japanese eatery,
Whenever Miao and I visited, we always had extra dishes from them, and once they even served us authentic Jap tea from their own personal storage.
I guess, the rest weren’t as blessed. Haha



And just righhhht outside school, is Ma Dang, which my senior introduced to me on MSN.
Fer 5000₩, it’s enough fer 2-3 people!
It was our first eatery we went to without the Koreans during our 1st month.
We didn’t know what to order and just looked blur at the auntie.
She said a string of Korean and presented 2 dishes fer us in the end with a plate full of fried pork as side dish.
The steamed egg was the first to be wiped out.

There are more food eateries at the inner lanes.
That’s where we have MamaII Western Meals, Tuna Bibimbap with delicious side dishes, numerous watering holes and out of the world ktv sessions (No-rae-bang)




Back to school, here’s the main entrance and the bustop where we’d take a free shuttle bus to Handeap Station or Lotte Mart.

Behind Lotte Mart, there’s yet another hypermart which sells more variety.
Fer girls, buy as many SkinFood products!
They are a heaven lot cheaper than Singapore. Eg, a nailpolish cost half the price there.



Passed by the post office where I'd sent sweet nothings home and to Alvin.
Shipped backed a back-breaking load of stuff from here too.



I met my studiomates fer the last time.
Prof Yoo gave the Korean students a talk and presented to Ho Yeon (whom he always call Shy Boy) a gift fer being the most hardworking student!
Felt extremely happy fer him!!

Then, they gave me an exquisite traditional Korean Fan and a Christmas card.
Thanks so much folks!



The Girls and I.
Su Jin and Bo Young were the ones who introduced me to Korean online shopping and assisted me with my purchases of 5 bags, 1 watch and a few other stuff.
They cooked dinner fer me too!



The Guys and I.
Gosh, Jisu. My best partner ever.
There was once I repeatedly refused his kind offer to help get my print job done cause he had some work submission due in an hour but he insisted to cycle out with me in the end!

Kyeong Duk , I’d never ferget the ‘private broom’ incident and he greeting me ‘Emily Anyeong’ all the time in studio.
Il Hyeon, the hilarious one and most patient guy ever, taught me Korean.
Ho Yeon, his wonderful girlfriend who bought him a heater fan and supper fer us.

There're still a long list I'd like to acknowledge, like Jin Tae, Sun Ki and so on..
The Koreans were truly great hosts beyond words.
And this exchange programme was a once in lifetime experience indeed.

Missing everyone and everything so so much.


Wishing everyone a blessed journey in their future endeavours!

P.S. Jisu maybe popping by Singapore in July! Ooo!

Unexpected Guest

I received a call from someone I’d never expect to hear from.


A familiar voice came thru the receiver.
A little gruffy, like an elderly man’s, but I can’t seem to make any connection to anyone I knew till he said, ‘…I am Prof Shin.’

PROF SHIN all of people?!
Woah. I met him only a couple of times..
He's Hanyang University’s Dean of Architecture Engineering.



He was in town fer 3 days and asked me to arrange with my batch's exchanged students to do dinner at 7.30pm that night at Orchard ‘Tarate’ Hotel (he spelt out but in a heavily accented voice, I heard Ts instead of P and D.)



Was quite excited and I said I’d get back to him as soon as possible.

Looked at my watch, drats, it’s 4.45pm.

In the end, only 2 of us could make it, so with full regrets, I had to call off dinner.
I highly suspect this wouldn’t be the case in Korea.
The students would all rush down to meet their highly respected Prof.


Nevertheless, we arranged to send him off the next evening.
Still, only 3 out of 7 came. Sigh.
Fortunately, other Korean students who were doing internship here came too.

They got him ‘Ba Kwa’.
(Why didn’t I think of that!)
We got him Pineapple tarts, prawn rolls and low po bing from T3.

Haha. Anyway, it’s the thought that counts.


Was really grateful that despite his hectic schedule, he still wanted to take us out fer dinner..
Fer us, we’re just terrible hosts.

Baking Attempt 20th May

">"
Tried baking a couple of days ago after I went fer a jog.

A JOG(ke).
I better start working on my stamina.
What’s a 10mins jog when Alvin could just stride to catch up with me.
Threw in my (orange) towel and my ‘jog’ turned to a leisurely stroll to pick shells at ECP.

The mister had to literally drag me away from the beach to go to the mart before sun sets.
Hoo.


We planned to bake brownies.
Alas, in a hurry, I pulled the wrong premix off the shelf!!



My supposed ‘brownie’ ended up being a MOIST CAKE fer heaven’s sake.


Found out the blunder only when I noticed the mix was a tad more watery than usual.

Naturally, the mix seeped out from the cake container much to our exasperation.



 And it continued to flow mindlessly in the oven till the heat conquered it.



And most naturally, half of the cake is still waiting to grow mould in my fridge till this very day.
(the other half was eaten by Alvin)



Showing off, the bakers.
Hurhur.

L' Porto-bello(s)

After much thought, I’ve decided to name my hamsters PORTO(male) and BELLO(female)!



The names sound just, well,  fat.

Inspired from PORTOBELLO Shrooms.

Fell in love eating these mushrooms.

Succulent and delectable. Ahh…




They are actually mature crimini shrooms and though there are a few sources which claimed how/where the name originated from, I found this most reliable:
The portobello in Northern Italy is called "cappellone" which means "big hat"


Aside from these.


Just yesterday, I happily bought 4 large portobellos to the mister’s house and threw them to him to grill.

Alvin darLIN cooked 2 fer me and they turned out smelling purfect, looking the most delicious, and tasted wonderlessly wonderful with a light sprinkle of salt on the caps.


But as I continue to dig into it, blacker than usual juice oozed out.
Hmm.

I didn’t dare eat the second shroom.

Pretending to be kind, I offered the mister the second shroom.
(if there weren’t the odd stuff, it would have been long gone down my esophagus and into my stomach.
HAHAHAHA)


As he was eating,..

‘Did you wash the mushrooms?’


‘Yes I did, I rinsed it under running water’


‘HUH! Just like that?!’
Horrified.

‘Ya, why?’

‘Ya, if I die it is your fault.’

He looked worried but continued to slice his shroom asking me why.

I haven’t got the chance to explain my mum soak them and brush the gills when I heard a gritting sound coming out from his mouth as he munched into his second helping.

‘Hey, how come there’s a gritting sound!’


His eyes grew bigger.

‘As in, when you eat mushrooms, there shouldn’t have any gritting sound!’

(More so when it’s plain shrooms!!)

After a short and worried pause, the mister swallowed it, hard, before managing a meek ‘huh.’

‘Okay, I think it’s a c-a-t-e-r-p-i-l-l-a-r.’
(Honestly, I don’t think caterpillars feed on mushroom, was just scaring him)

He dropped the plate and was feeling the ultimate siansationess all around him now, especially in his mid region.

I pitied him.
‘Okay, maybe, it’s soil leh?’


‘Huhhhhh……. I don’t want to eat already.’
And he dumped my 1/8th eaten portobello away.


‘Haiya, if you die from this I’d die long ago. I ate a WHOLE mushroom ok.’
Realising what I'd just said, I quickly added on,
‘OKOK! I SAY GRACE NOW. Lord please sanctify the food that we’ve eaten!’ and patted on my tummy.

Gee. Better be late than never, right or left?


Later that night while watching Champions League Final (my first ever soccer league match, other than World Cup) with a bunch of our friends, he complained of queasy stomach.

Hallucinating.
*Rolls eyes*



P.S.:
Man U won. It was a nice match but *Yawns*
And I thought ‘Glory Glory Man United’ sounded eggxactly like Little Peter Rabbit had a Fly Upon his nose’ nursery song.

The Undrinkable

This was how the Korean Drinking Session at Yong Pyong Ski Resort last December was like!

* Drink mixed with mandu, to cheese and chocolate biscuit crackers, stew, beer, shoju (rice wine), mango juice, tangerines etc fer us to imbibe.
** Mandu means Korean Dumpling, like shui jiao.

Fatass and Lardball?

My latest pets can be seen at my alter ego's blog HERE!
They're so fat, cute and cuddlely at 9 weeks old!

Got them on Mothers' Day!
This made me a mom of 2 too!

Till now, I haven't had a name fer them.
HELP

Unmerited, Undeserved

I took on a 2 days temp job as an event helper at a convention center.
And I got to say this was the best paying job thus far.


I only slogged fer 2 hours during the 2 days?!
This was how it went.


Day 1
Reported at 9.30am.
Boss showed me around and by 10am, he said I could do some shopping and be back by 11am.
Which store opens 10am? Instead I went to nap at a closed lounge.
At 1.15pm, I told the boss that the crowd had gone fer lunch and he said I was free fer the day!

Woot. What luck!
Alvin said it’s disgusting. Hur.
Headed to the pet shop to get treats fer my new pets before going fer massage.
 
The 2 hours of continuous walk in pointed tip shoes gave me terrible aching feet.
Alvin's massage skill was superb (learned from a massage book, although nowhere compared to mine which was self taught, hurhurhur) and combined with the prowess of Tiger Balm Massage Cream, my feet felt a great deal better.


Day 2
The agent told me I had to report early at 9am.
I was like what for! Crowd only comes in at 11am and my aussie boss would be asking me to go shop again.

Drats, so I slowly strolled to meet him though I was already running late.

And the most brilliant thing happened.

I bumped into my 2 aussie bosses on the way to meet the agent.
They said I needn’t work fer the day as I’ve already gave out most of their supplies the day before.
Severe shortage. Haha.
Said he’d sign my time sheet and I’d be free fer the rest of the day!
I thanked him and wouldn’t stop beaming a wide smile.

Woah..
I haven’t even entered the workplace.
Talk about undeserved and unmerited favour. Hallelujah!


It was home sweet home as soon as I passed the signed timesheet to the agent.
And here I am typing this right after I removed make up.

Totally damaging and a complete waste of time slapping it on and removing. Foundation is pui.
Yesterday, I still had the mister to help me remove.


Gee..
Earning S$60+ per hour just by handing out.
The aussie bosses were really kind.

And of course, it’s only by grace that I received such favour!
Never underestimate the powers of sowing.


I should start looking fer internship soon!

But fer now, slacking a week more is just pure bliss.....

Happy Mothers' Day!

Don't you all find these a tad too familiar?!

Watch with your mom and ENJOY!!

Durian Feista!

Overall, the Durian Feista was nice.

I recommend it, but be warned that you’d stay away from durians fer quite a while (depends on individual)



It’s at Goodwood Park Hotel at the deli.
 

Had Durian Mousse Cake (the best), durian puffs, durian crepe with fruits and ice-cream and durian brownie puffs (horrid).



Durian Mousse Cake was less rich compared with Emicakes.
So fer those who likes cake this way, it would certainly be great!

Durian puff was ok, cause I don’t really fancy creamy stuff.



Durian crepe with ice-cream serving came in 2 rolls.
This was what overloaded my lunch.

Thank God the waitress adviced me to not order another mousse cake.
I tend to overestimate myself with regards to ordering food.



As fer the durian brownie puffs, my verdict:
Durian and brownie don't blend well.
The paste overpowered the brownie resulting in a weird taste and texture (gooey).

With that said, my plate of puff was promptly shoved to Alvin, my food bin. (Hurhur, it rhymes. And together it’s Albin.)

Well, if I am at Orchard Area again before Jul 31st, I may pop in to get a mousse cake again!

The Square Root of Three

Harold and Kumar 2, Escape from Guantanamo Bay was really good!
Nothing like it’s first.

I like crude humor.
It tickles me to bits.
Just like how one of my closest friend moaned during a bout of mahjong.
Woah-Hahahahaha, I could never ferget it!


This was one of the highlights of the show:

Spoiler ahead! -Kumar recited at the ‘wedding’.

'The Square Root of Three' by David Feinberg

I’m sure that I will always be,
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight

Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
With just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun,
As 1.7321

Such is my reality,
A sad irrationality

When hark!

What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply

To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds.
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued,
Your love for me has been renewed

Tralalalala

From the time since internal crit ended, the next 1 ½ weeks still left me somewhat unsettled.
5th may, would be when the list of those selected fer external crit be out.
It either spells
a) the external critics being interested to know more about one’s project
or b) they pinpointed serious flaws in it and one have to resit RIBA Part1 the following year again.

I would rather not be in the list and I am sure many of my peers have the same sentiments too.
Once in a while, I’d confide in Alvin and ask him to pray fer me.

And something wonderful happened.
What best time it was fer the new Solid Rock monthly issue to be out the day before the list was sent!
Before I opened the magazine, I asked Christ to speak to me and He did!

Let not your heart be troubled and bask in the Blessings of Deutronomy 28.

That was the gist of Pastor Prince’s end of year 07 sermon which I didn’t get to hear!
The anointed message allayed all of my fears, prayed in tongues and had a good sleep that night knowing everything had came to pass.

So this morning, as I opened the e-mail, I wasn’t afraid (though my flesh betrayed me by my heart pounding faster)
Scanned through the list in a second and Praise be to God (!), I am eagerly looking forward to end of exam and Durian Feista Buffet on Thursday now!


P.S.: I am watching Harold and Kumar 2, Escape from Guantanamo Bay tomorrow. Hoo. It better be good.