christmas celebrations in the office

recently my company was all placed under the same roof and we had a christmas decoration friendly competition... we had attempted to make a dent but however we tried, my team cldnt beat the rest

my team's effort minus the blinky lights

meera sticking on the star atop our post-it tree :)

my desk... meet steve and edward

i hadnt realised that there were 2 types of snowman! i always thought it to have 3 balls... but my british manager insisted they had 2 balls only :( so i've named the 3 balled snowman, steve to be more american and next to him, Edward for a more british name haha

and these were the top efforts from the other departments

the first room had projector and music etc
the last dept had stuck a christmas tree  and gifts on the ceiling! a little too much time?

Jason's 4-oh carnivale celebrations

how else would an awesome Trinidadian usher in his 40th? a Carnival themed party starting at 11pm lasting till the sun rises or the last remaining party animal stands.

jeanette and i made our way there at 2am where the party was in full swing with lots of beads, feathers and colourful outfits :)

 i showed up in my attempt to be as colourful as possible which is difficult in a closet full of blacks and dull colours haha. managed to scrounge up a red dress, loud h&m earrings, a big pink bangle and rings... i left in the early wee morning of 6am sans bangles and earrings :( haha they got lost during the multiply times i ended up in the pool... a sign of a wonderful party.

i do have to make a mental note to be this cool come 40...

then it was off to sending my two koreans back to their place for breakfast-for-champions/drunks... korean ramen!!! specially brought in from the mother land too!

it came with the korean pots and all... totally hit the really nice spot at 6am

having bryan around and eating korean ramen + kimchi made it very nostalgic... reminding me of LA :/

we had mtv on while eating korean food with koreans, jeanette commented that all we needed now was gangnum style to come on... lo and behold...

our wishes were granted and steph broke out in his attempt at it while bryan looks on in disgust haha

afterwards, we explored Steph's new digs

it's been awhile since i've last lasted a whole night out... and even then, jeanette and i, being the youngest around, were outlasted even by the birthday boy!

*photos all thanks to j's new iphone ;)
 

greetings on this 12 of 12 of 12 at 12.12

thanksgiving 2012

this year was held a little later than the US thanksgiving just coz i needed time to breathe after november's festivities. so i picked the 1st dec... just before people start leaving for their dec breaks. we had more family around this time compared to friends and even included some people at work.

this year's 8.1kg turkey was blessed as Edward (after edward pattinson, in the spirit of twilight and all) by G.

as with every year, it's always a mad rush to get the food out. so photos were forgotten and these were the scraps i found from awesome cousins and friends who knows the feeling of cooking over days :) i do have to say that my timings were an improvement from last year and the turkey was served only 15mins after the timing set for the invitation

as always, loads of alcohol consumed to ensure the food taste alot better than it is haha

this year's menu was:

starters

pumpkin and carrot soup

orzo salad

attempted crispy penne, cherry tomato, basil tossed in truffle oil... the failure dish for this year

 

main

turkey

ham which mom handcarried back from LA coz it was so much cheaper there

stuffing

mash

spinach n artichoke "dip"

grilled corn covered with parmesan and paprika

 

dessert

mulled wine jelly with vanilla cream

apple crumble

i miss all my US friends during this season the most. if only we can teleport

 

my last meal dish

on a recent trip to my favourite japanese restaurant in Singapore with claud got us to eat a dish that has made it to be part of our last meal...

when we both saw the chefs making this... we couldnt wait to try it... claud and i call it heaven in a bowl, while the chefs call it the cholesterol bowl.
it's essentially jap rice mixed with uni, topped with minced toro, topped with ikura and the slightest bit of wasabi
*heaven in a bowl*

What would be your last meal?
 

halloween with the red man

this year, my brother, I and i decided to go round together. first up was at chip bee gardens with our nieces. while driving through this quaint area, it's the first time i realised that there were quite a few houses that made an effort! and groups of kids were going round, trick or treating. it was so cool and all i could think about was my time in LA

 then as always its off to white rabbit!

 

brunching

it's been awhile since i've posted anything online and since the 2nd blog isnt really working out, i figured, no harm coming back to the comfort of mine.

ever since afifah moved back from London, we've made it a point to try out new brunch places every month. first up was the usual wild honey at scotts square. we had a great time catching up and even though she's so much younger than me and i had seen her grow up as a next door neighbour, it was good fun. thus we made a pact to try out new places every once in awhile. since s and g find brunch passe, i've always enjoyed brunch as it's really just breakfast food later in the day. i'm glad to have afifah to drag around sg in search for the next best place :)

the 2nd place we tried was hediard... a small little cafe next to tanglin mall, and the scrambled eggs were awesome! loved their crossant and fish platter too. i'd love to go back ever so often if kids were not allowed there

today we made the hike down to arab street and tried out symmetry. a very cute cafe, food wasnt great but with good music, nice interior, friendly service, decent coffee and a mini jug for orange juice, i cant really complain :)

and we'd be off in a month's time... now to find yet another hidden gem :) 

moving along...

i thot i would be able to maintain 2 seperate blogs... well this one is the more personal one compared to blog 2. but seeing as how lazy i am, i've come to realise that i cant coz as always it's really just a highlight of what's happening.

ourweekofwonder is at least maintained by sarah, gina and i so it'll definitely be more updated then this so it's best we all move over.

i might just come back once in awhile when i want to leave the limelight

only 10 more days

it's that time again and im left with only 10 more days till i add another year to my face. been freaking out a little about crow's feet and avoiding all forms of celebrations. other than a good french dinner w the girlies.

i had to clear leave recently and basically spent it in houses of dog lovers! first swas' with her 2 dogs and then off to bkk w snowy. figured that since bkk is no where in my itinerary this year, i might as well get it over and done with. this time round thou both s&g werent able to follow me so it was mostly family time but i did manage to settle wedding pressies which is great! the real excuse really was to get away from the dreaded chinese new year question of "so WHEN will you get married?"

with chinese new year mostly out of the way, it's now back to work and working off cny food weight... didnt help that sinclair had his instant noodle party just last weekend. going from dom perignon shower to a home party of endless sake, more champ and 3 great bottles of whisky including my favourite of the nite a 12 yr yamazaki. weekend of pure celebrations and a wonderful way to usher in a new year... with lots of good drinks surrounded by friends :)

wishing all of you a great dragon year!!!!

ps. my favourite photo at the moment

reflection on 2011

as always, lots will always happen in a year... a month into 2012 and i'm just thinking of what were the major highlights towards the end of 2011:

Rummikub!
g's addiction to this game is very infectious

thanksgiving :)
my yearly guinea pigging session for friends

this year was rather successful with a very good group of close friends, great elfettes helping, new recipes but way too much food. will need to get this sorted out for this year :)

2011's menu consisted of:

french onion soup

spinach n artichoke dip

corn n tomato

broccoli n carrots steamed, tossed in mint sauce

roasted squash

sauteed mushrooms

stuffing

turkey

lamb chops

a really good chicken dish i forgot the name of now

mash potatoes

mac n cheese

choc n beetroot cake

pumpkin cheesecake

Leo's maggie mee partae :)

my brother's little stint as an A&F model

g's birthday

christmas dinner at valentinos

n of course the last few hours of 2011 was spent at 53... had a few really yummy dishes

hmmm... feel like heading back for more pork n choc dessert haha
wishing all a great 2012!