a little bit of this…a little bit of that..

in case you were wondering, the title refers to my cooking experiences – a bit of salt here, maybe some cracked pepper there…that’s it! 😛 being absolutely bored and rolling with a recently acquired momentum to blog, here are the dishes we had for dinner tonight!

from left: steamed prawns with egg white and Chinese wine, lotus root with pork ribs, scallops and dates soup, stirfried long beans and asparagus with dried radish, chilli and garlic.

topped off with…

a 2001 Grand Vin de Bordeux..err…it’s a cabsav. 🙂

I’ve made aglio olio, mussels with white wine, pork chops with apple sauce, even brown rice, couscous, etc…but tonight’s dinner was declared as one of the best by the missus…so there! *smirks*

photos

ok sometimes photos tell more than words…so my life in the past few months can be glimpsed through these photos – in a few words, travel, bangkok, taipei, nights, days, house, home, food.

TADAH!

it’s been a month or so since we updated. been busy choosing tiles for the house, and colour schemes and stuff. she’s a libra and i’m naturally incapable of making firm decisions (this does not apply to work by the way), it took longer than well, than most other people i guess. right now the house is still concrete floors (screed already lah!) – we’ll be starting work very soon!

work has been busy busy busy – i sure hope to have a quiet december to wind down the year. went to hua hin last week for a co retreat, so that was rather fun. my “oldest” friend (20 years, since kindergarten!) surprised me by meeting up for a long chat into the night – it’s been eons since we spoke at length, and it’s always nice to meet up with people you feel totally comfortable with.

christmas is coming, and we hope to move in by then – we’ll have a nice, peaceful xmas eve at our balcony, sipping pinot noir….i hope. (the pinot noir – can, the balcony – depends on whether we find time to buy our little breakfast table!)

Photos, photos

Short post here… for peeps who have yet to see the pics from our ROM, here’s the link to view them: http://www.fotki.com/jeffandjanis 

 Enjoy!

panic

one day more. still haven’t written my vows.

oooh..spinelli’s just downstairs

i’m happy.

spinelli is in the next building, starbucks is a street away, o’brien’s is downstairs, coffeebean, cedele depot, and yes, even McDonald’s – all within walking distance. i needed to go to the bank, and i popped down at 4pm, and was back at 4.30pm. My tailor is three blocks away. my friends are all within a 1km radius.

yes – i have settled into my new office nicely.

ok i’m a ‘sua ku’ can – i spent 2 years working in an industrial estate (ok it wasn’t EXACTLY that, but it sure felt like it), where the only good coffee was possibly 6 bus-stops away (in bugis junction) – ok i concede that some may find the kopi from the food centre better than your ‘atas’ latte and such, but still…it’s the AMBIENCE lah. it felt good to stroll among civilisation (ok lest my boss reads this – i WALK FAST; ‘stroll’ is used here for narrative purposes).

ANYWAY.

it’s my second day and i’m still dipping my feet in the water. i can’t write much – many of the issues i come across are p and c. i’ve been busy writing, framing, spinning and most importantly, learning. though my previous job was also PR-related, my current one takes the cake lah – different league altogether; heck it’s a different GAME altogether even. the companies are larger, the sums are much more substantial (i have trouble recognising a million – try translating huge amounts in mandarin), and the stakes are much higher now.

I feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity – reading the bios of my colleagues, i feel really inexperienced and well, rather lacking frankly. Still, my team has been really nice; everyone is professional and happy to teach. With time, i should catch up and hold my own.

Well, that’s that. ROM is in three days, passing keys to contractor(he’s helping with the defects submission) and i’m going to a island somewhere for my co. retreat in nov! yay! (note: i thank God it isn’t bintan. or batam.) Then again, i’m happy to even get to CROSS CUSTOMS – the furthest i’ve been for my previous co. was jurong island (yes, this joke has been repeated too many times).

And Jiahui, yes i looked cute when i was kid. and yes it’s rather odd i don’t look AS adorable now – THANKS AH. 🙂

I must quote a friend, who told me before i left my prev co., “You really know how to make your life exciting huh? New job, new status, new house – all within a week!”

Yes, i really am making my life exciting huh.

One day more…

wordpress really gets on my nerves sometimes. for some strange reason, all our posts got misfiled under ‘uncategorized’; add to that, my html toolbox sporadically goes MIA and since i’m useless at coding, that’s really frustrating.

anyway, i’m taking today to mentally prepare myself for my new job. I’m joining the raffles place crowd – no more taking bus 13 to my suburban office, it’s the train ride from tmr onwards, along with thousands of shenton way denizens. hmm.

been scrutinising the news more fervently of late, hoping i don’t fall behind and instead, hit the ground running. i’ll be working alongside former lawyers, journalists and bankers, all of whom have given up their professions to join this firm/industry. I hope i’m making the right choice, and fingers crossed, i shall not regret leaving my former co.

here’s a picture to share – it’s a sneak peek of our ROM invitation.

zeee grande hyatt?

Went to confirm our wedding dinner venue this morning – friends, we’re having our makan at the grand hyatt. We have the Stamford Ballroom – so it’s an entire floor and private recept foyer for our merry-making!

The ballroom

The private foyer for reception

Had lunch at the relatively new Straits Kitchen and it was excellent food man….

so distracted were we that we forgot to take pictures of the yummy dishes – it’s essentially a huge buffet spread, cooked a la minute so everything is fresh – go try the orh luak, laksa, and roast duck! the indian counter serves a very good palak paneer, one of the best i’ve tried! Oh and they use different plates for different ethnic cuisines, e.g. Chinese motif porcelain bowls for chinese food, the steel plates for Indian prata, peranakan-patterned ones for the buah keluak, etc – thumbs up for the attention to detail. check out the decor too:

A corner of the restaurant adorned entirely with crockery (on left) and champagne flutes (on right)

Feature wall – giving me ideas for the house!

Hair here, there and everywhere (plus bored boyfriend)

Janis went for her hair and make-up trial on Fri and i must say – WOW. I’m not sure if i’m allowed to share the final ‘look’ yet – shall ask her. Let’s just say, i never knew hair could take on so many different styles. 🙂 Here’s a sneak preview of what happened during the extremely fun (for her) and extremely long (for me) 3-hour session:

Jyue Huey is her make-up artist. She’s from The Make-Up Room and she’s an excellent person to have on hand for weddings and events.

me? I kept myself busy reading a guide to investors’ relations….preparing for my new job. haha..and of course i took photos of all her “looks”. 🙂

our new house

finally got our keys. went with parents to perform an ‘opening ceremony’ on thurs….we had a good feeling when we first stepped into the place (not forgetting to hurl the pineapple and ‘huat kuay’ in, plus shouting ‘huat ah!’) – was a bit worried initially as we selected the unit without having stepped into the unit at all.

well, glad to report that everything looks good, and nobody got the shivers, etc while exploring each of the rooms! 🙂 here are some photos:

Our main door

Our balcony – what greets you when you first enter! (yes that’s a pineapple on the floor)

One half of our living area (intending to hack the left wall away to create an L-shaped living room)

A corner of our bedroom (going to make the left window area into a cosy reading corner)

A corner of our kitchen (kinda odd-shaped – it’s a bit like a, say, pentagon, i.e. 5-sided)

Shall post more pictures next time – we were too excited to really get any good shots!