today at dome and a walk at culina



met up with the girls at dempsey hill's dome cafe - i think we were rather loud but it was fun, and good and i met danny for the first time and he was nice and we exchanged gifts and took many photographs. we didn't really do something celebratory for our ten-year anniversary; maybe in the coming year we will.

he bought me egg tarts.

i love you.

christmas day dinner


mint and honey dressing


honey ham and mushroom salad


herb and butter spaghetti


the scallops


sauteed veges

today's dinner was great - it was good to see the family finish everything, even salad!

menu:

onion, celery and watercress soup/ honey ham and mushroom salad with sauteed carrots and green peppers and three different dressing choices ( honey mustard/ mint and honey and teriyaki)/ honey baked chicken - for 4 hours!/ herb and butter spaghetti with scallops in butter and lemon sauce - siew helped with the spaghetti/ green pepper and mushroom wrapped in bacon kebabs/ herb and spicy chicken saussages in caramelised onion and red wine gravy and dessert by the bro was kopi-c ice cream.


later we are going to skype with ee jie in albany while opening presents.

beautiful







these are gorgeous. maybe i should keep my bangs for a while so i can get my hair like that when it grows longer. so francoise hardy-ish.

and kohl eyes.

first i need to get those cheekbones.
source

a thankful christmas



this is the present i got for mingyao. after scrutinising the tie section for a super long time worrying over whether he'll like this one or that one i finally decided on this one, which he likes so that's great - this is such a weirdly angled photo though. after church service we drove to tanglin mall and had breakfast at coffee bean and tea leaf because after passing by the supermarket's cooked food section on the outside the smell of roasted chicken was too unbearable and we supercraved an american breakfast. the one we had was alright but not the best. it was really nice and chill just sitting outside with random tourists, with the rest of orchard road pretty much empty. we went to far east shopping centre to get him golf things and then we had lunch at tanglin mall before heading back.


pastor melvin huang preached about a dark christmas. this is sort of a dark christmas - i am reminded i can't be selfish and well, some things you can control and it ain't that bad when they only involve you but if it's something you can't control at all, there's nothing to do but to pray. and like i shared at cell christmas party, which i have to apply to my own life - i can't keep wishing for my life to be better. the ultimate aim is to draw closer to God and everything else will fall into place. singing carols this morning i was angry at God. i couldn't care less about shepherds and wise men and candles, but the message was apt and i could rejoice a little after. it's not about how i feel at all. life shouldn't be about just being comfortable. it's really difficult when things don't go the pretty picture way - i suppose it's a way of jolting me out of the 'me me me' mentality.

i have been sa-bo-ed by my family to prepare christmas dinner. i'm not complaining though because cooking is quite fun. i was jostling with the crowd at cold storage this afternoon - the supermarket has super-stocked up their shelves. this afternoon mingyao fetched me and we drove to check out this wholesale seafood place in woodlands terrace - the salmon sashimi is so fresh and cheap. i bought half a kilo of scallops for sixteen bucks and i'm going to cook that tomorrow.

we took a detour around seletar air base. it's so interesting how the house numbers are stamped on the walls next to the doors, like, in a who-cares way.

while anyways it's christmas eve and my siblings and i are watching television at home. it's nice.

a very good saturday

this morning i had lunch with some aki friends at azhang restaurant at mohammad sultan road - lots of meat. we shared three different meats - seafood platter, lamb and steak and had a corn salad which was very homely. it was nice catching up with them after quite awhile. then i took a bus to mingyao's place and we hung out watching a few episodes of The Wonder Years.

shaun had invited us to his cell's christmas party so we had dinner there. later some of us drove to sunset way, at peabody and pretzel, a pretty dessert place where we had tea/coffee and really rich dessert. i've always heard of this hip area but it's the first time i'm there.

oscar de la renta, spring 2008





is beautiful.

the last minute anyhow christmas tree

last year, i was inspired by sejima's zollverein school, muji and all things minimalist.





this year's, we go anti-anti-pattern. the tree and card collection is inspired by all things floral and champalan. particularly the catwalks of oscar de la renta/prada/balenciaga; spring 2008

house visit




today i went to m's house for a quick site visit. it looks wonderful lived in, with all the furniture. i'm really inspired by yh.

a roof top, proposal and dessert




last night was really fun. team d had our christmas party at daniel's house. the weather was wonderful and breezy, cool after the morning rain and the view was beautiful - the city and it's shadows and lit windows. charlotte decorated the place with glass baubles on palms and tea lights along the perimeter of the deck and daniel made roast beef and potatoes with the oven in the pantry at the roof deck - and alas i didn't get to try them because it was so popular. impressive though - the oil glisterning on the potatoes in the sleek oven. i got trigger- happy with my camera. after eric shared his testimonial, he actually got down on his knee and proposed to cheryl. this sounds like a pre-proposal speech, i whispered to hannah when he was talking. hannha was so cute - she was overdressed in her bling necklaces and animal-print shoes. i think it was a truly enjoyable evening.

before the potluck though mingyao and i arrived early so we walked out to balmoral plaza and we sat at the corner pub bojangles and had a beer each. munching on peanuts we sat there in the cool weather and just chilled and talked. that was so nice. i love doing that with you.

glue paper scissors


wrapping presents in the late morning when the light is all dewy with the mist of rain


every year at christmas i get somebody a book for christmas



mingyao had some free calanders from the patissier. lovely stuff.


they come with cute stickers. my kind of thing!


books i bought the other day. the starting of rilke's book of hours was spoilt by the two female american translators who try to merge christianity with buddhist beliefs (what the??) in some new agey zen analysis. whilst the poems themselves are good, i'm irritated.

my first meringue and a very nice date

today was lovely. after work mingyao picked me up and we went to his club to have dinner at fuurin, the japanese restaurant there. we had the buffet. while the tuna sashimi was a let down because it wasn't fresh, the salmon was good and so were the other dishes like the wagyu beef and the katsu. mingyao asked me which is the best katsu don you've tried in singapore. i haven't found the perfect one yet. it'd have to be the egg from the japanese restaurant at circular road and the pork from here.

we took a short walk to check out the golf office and then we drove to siglap to hang out for awhile more. surprisingly it wasn't crowded at all at starbucks and i had a mint tea. simple evenings like tonight are the best where we just talk and enjoy each other's company and laugh with and at each other at so many things. actually he make me laugh all the time.




we had a christmas lunch in the offce, ordering in food and eating to christmas carold. it was ph's birthday and we bought him a beautiful cake and sok bought three meringues. they're pretty but messy to eat and a tad too sweet for everyday snacking.

merry christmas from a lovely boy




i got an early christmas present from mingyao! i chose it myself - it's older than the newest version but it's a beaut. the straight lines and sharp edges and the colour and everything. i feel abit sad to let go of the s50 because i can always rely on it to get great pictures with beautiful colours. that's going to hui as she goes to australia. it'll be great for scenery photos.

meanwhile i'm going to take a lot of photos this season with this new toy!

thanks love.

everybody needs a saturday



i was tempted with borders vouchers and used them to purchase for myself two books - jack kerouac's maggie cassidy and rilke's poems to God - i'm craving for a dose of poetry. and i have yet to plough through umberto eco's book - somehow i must be in a certain state of mind to read it (but the illustrations are grand). the books i bought will be good companions for trainrides (i detest, absolutely, crowded trains. pick a crowd type to make the morning bright and shiny. i'd choose the 8pm or before crowd). they should print more books in those penguin anniversary covers. i love them so but i don't really want to buy those particular books they've printed.

massimo dutti is about good cuts and good fabrics. overpriced, but everything in the world is. so. and classic satin black ballet flats are So Vital To Work - not everyday can be a stilettos day.

and i got a haircut at mama sally's. the closest celebrity sister look i resemble would be nicole richie's shoulder skimming bob with a side sweeping fringe - but mine's in black. i'm so glad my fringe has grown out. i couldn't stand it's initial short length - urgh that desparate week and my unglamorous moments of vulnerable vanity. whilst i'm relishing my shorter length hairstyles (so effortless. a little cheeky and thought-less) - i'm aiming to go back to a longer length in the long term.

and i got my toes painted a matt red - so 90s.

i am starting to wrap presents. summon the ribbons!

the rain it slams down upon us and i love it very much even though my toes get icky and wet - the only problem is i always forget to bring my umbrella. but i do love walking in the rain with the umbrella. i'd walk while getting errands done with s's red umbrella and smell the rain rather than cab. i took a (very slight) detour to books actually and got some paul smith rodia orange notebooks for presents. it's kind of nice that the owners know me by name but it's sad they're moving. i wish they were moving to hong kong street. that'd be grand.

my throat's rather flu-y these days. it started off thick and bass-y but now it's leaning towards raspy. ph and lk at work says, i like this voice better. ah huh.

we are so 'little women'. i miss my ee in albany and i am going to miss my hui. i will come and visit you!

now i will go write christmas cards.

on saturday mingyao and i joined some of the Team D people to particapte in Operation Homeworks organised by Habitat for Humanity. We were supposed to clean up some one room flats belonging to old folks near the chinatown area. The flats we cleaned were not in states as horrible as we imagined, but it made me appreciate a few things.

- that I have simply tiled toilets. the toilets in those flats were simply concrete screed, not even tiled. it may be clean but it can get depressing.

- that i don't have blatant young druggies next door blasting out rock music even though i am an old folk needing peace and quiet.

- that i have a clean house and i am remimded i should help out more with housework

- that i have teriyaki sauce, rosemary herbs, oyster sauce, soya sauce of all brands, black pepper, white pepper, etc. to cook my food in and not merely salt in a plastic bag and a little oil.

- that i am enjoying a dinner with mingyao's family at ritz carlton (where the waiters change your hand towels regularly, change your plates, are attentive to your every need) after helping out with operation homeworks and not just waiting at home for a packet of rice to be delivered to me everyday.

thank God everyday for what i have.

a T.R.E.E.



the office pantry tree made up of words taken by liam and mien hui from the utterrubbish exhibit at the national museum - i'd like to go there before the exhibit end which i think is tomorrow? but i've got other appointments - and sok's cut out paper trees. and the office had a gift exchange, which was after a detangling of christmas tree lights on the book shelf with a rudolph toy next to last year's art deco white bristol board christmas tree taken from home and we went to shangri la hotel's rose garden (i think) for a lunch/tea and what was brilliant was the free flow of tea from the 100 tea selections. and then i got myself italia glitter lacoste blue shoes (discounted) and mahagony eye liner from bobby brown.

okay detox.

it was seven years ago i was in the same group in architecture school as ephrem and kelly and so i was really happy for them today when i attended their wedding - they're really cute together and such nice people. company at my table was great too - i'm glad i was at the table i was at. alvin got to do his hosting/chinese singing thingy and in between the ceremony and dinner mingyao found a mos burger across the road and we had chicken nuggets and fries in the car for a snack - i bumped into leech and she updated me on the sailing people stuff and we're meeting again next weekend at juilien's wedding - where i will meet people like juilien's sister whom i had piano lessons with in greenmeadows but i didn't know they were related till much later - the world here is puny.

it was also great that i had mingyao for company. he came over early to watch wonder years (he got us the box set after we saw it in new york playing on late night tv and it seems everyone above 30 knows about the show) but ended up fixing up my webcam for skype which was good because i kept delaying that and now we can finally skype with ee jie.