Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Got a little more adventurous and spent my Christmas Eve a little differently this year. Guess what? I went to City Harvest Church! I just had to find how what the big hoohah about the church is! Why thousands flock to the church every week or every other day and devote so much of their time there. The service was held at Expo, the environment and surrounding gives you the feeling that you're attending a concert. The notorious overzealous people were ever present, but once you're prepared for it its actually ok. They are really friendly, outgoing and outspoken which are not bad characteristics at all!

The 2 hours service includes praise and worship, a homily and a damn good skit. Nevermind that you're not Christian or don't believe in God, you'll quite impressed by them. They were damn professional, it was interesting, funny and there were hardly any mistakes considering they are volunteers. And of course i had to notice the pretty dancers too...how can i miss them!? That aside, their mediawork was also damn good, its no wonder why they can attract so many youths, the whole thing was bubbly and everyone was so good at what they do...including the pastor himself. No doubt, other than the amazing mediawork, you can actually learn skills from them that you can apply outside, for example their good public speech and confidence! Don't get me wrong, i still won't want to waste my weekends and devote some of my time there, i just find it really interesting and its actually quite ingenious to come out with a church of this concept. Pardon me but i'm not actually thinking of this in a religious sense but rather in a business sense...ingenious...entrepreneurial...bravo....so damn good lah. I'm pretty overwhelmed, not by God himself but the people there...and how good they are at doing their stuff. They actually make people willing part with a percentage of their income every month, enjoy their work, be enthusiastic in everything they do there and even bring in friends week in week out with no promise of a commission or anything...now isn't that what every company will want? So if you have the time, regardless of your religion, forget the fact that this church actually has a bad reputation, cast aside all fears and just go there and see what it is all about. It'll be an eye opener.

After the service, Jit Hwee, Chin Seng, Kheng Siang and myself went to East Coast for a sumptous dinner. All of us had cravings for chilli crabs and that was the place we thought of. We got there at around 11pm and there were already hardly anyone around...yup that was where and how i counted down my xmas this year...quietly and peacefully. After dinner, we had to make the mistake of going down to Orchard Road. We had wanted to watch a movie and Orchard Cineleisure came to mind. Had a scary walk from Centerpoint to Cineleisure with groups of people holding party foam sprays spraying anyone and everything like its damn fun. We had to play dodgeball and avoid this kind of crazy people. I would have picked a fight if anyone sprayed me feeling all clean and all lol...just kidding. In the end, the tickets for the nice shows were sold out leaving us only the not so nice shows so we didn't watch any movie.

Had a family xmas party at Kok Bin's house this year. Sis did most of the organising and preparation, it was good and everyone had fun and lots of food. Received many t-shirts, chocolates, boxer shorts and a book this year..which are things i really need and love haha. Oh and i got myself a Manchester United jersey! Although i've been a Manu fan since primary 5 (1994), i've never owned a Manu jersey before in my life and so this is my first! Although i bought the jersey myself, i managed to persuade mum and sis to share and pay for it as my Xmas present! Lol. I would like to wish everyone that visits my blog a very very Merry Christmas! Fret not, there's 12 days of Xmas...we're only at the beginning..there's still time to buy gifts for your love ones if you haven...and of course..don't forget about me too. ;)


The Sushi spread sis got from Sakae


The Jacob's Creek rose wine we had that day


It won't be a complete Xmas party if you don't serve Turkey! Here's ours!


The rest of the food


Our Xmas log cake from Swiss Bakery..it was really good!


Having a go at the lucky draw


Sis and Brandon


Brandon, Kok Bin's Mum and their pet rabbit


Really nice of my cousin Ah Ling to get me this book! She sees the entrepreneur in me!


My first Manu jersey!


Oh i bought myself a nice new wallet from River Island too..i deserve it lol

Somewhere during the week, i also found time to finally catch The Warlords. Its a movie full of actions...but there are scenes that leaves you asking questions...like why the hell they throw bao at Jet Li when they themselves want to eat bao lol. Aiya watch the movie yourself..its worth the weekend price.


Nick reported at 10:21 PM

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Monday, December 17, 2007

Yup I'm still on the right track on becoming the boss of my very own steak house. Found time during the week for experiment number 2. Used different sauces and ingredients to marinate the steak this time and it did turn out a little better than the first time...although still not up to standard. I'll definitely keep trying! Have 3 whole years to perfect it! And when i do become a top steak chef in the future, i can read back and reminisce how i got there! Lol.


The meat


The sauces and other ingredients


Then you pose with the meat


First, you put some sauce on it


Spread it well


Wrap it up and marinate it overnight


I bought a nice new pan for my experiment


Chef Lim at work


The finished product 1 - Rib Eye


The finished product 2 - Flanked steak

Spent my past week watching quite a number of movies. Its weekday off peak price and I've loads of time on my hands! There is really nothing much you can do in Singapore anyway!

Went to Toa Payoh with Puss on Tuesday because i wanted to get my SingPass password which i had forgotten. We ended up exploring the HDB hub where we found a nice small HDB gallery and flats showrooms. The designs of the showrooms were really nice but deceiving considering the new flats nowadays don't come in that size anymore. We then ended up watching The Golden Compass at Toa Payoh Cineplex because it was raining heavily and couldn't venture much. Turned out to be quite a kiddy show, which reminded me slightly of Narnia.




Posing with a stone heartlander at the HDB Gallery




A retro household at HDB Gallery


The stone heartlanders

Somewhere during the week, i also caught Enchanted. Turned out to be quite a funny show with retro style Disney songs and animations that reminded me of my childhood lol.



On Thursday, Puss text me on my handphone and asked if i wanted to go shopping at Orchard. I said yes and what an expensive day it turned out to be. I spent a total of nearly $200 on shopping, parking and food. A bulk of the expenditure went to the Christmas presents meant for friends and my family. Every year, i tell myself not to spend so much, but it just happens.

Then on Friday, I met up with Samantha and Puss for lunch, movie and Xmas gift exchange among ourselves. We had lunch at Apollo Banana Leaf just off Race Course Road. Didn't really like the food there, didn't even finished my rice..probably because we didn't order my favourite Fish Head Curry lol. After lunch, yes you guessed it...we went to watch a movie. This time, we watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and what a mistake it turned out to be. It was a super lousy show, i fell asleep midway through the show. The cast, the storyline and everything else was bad. Don't watch it if you read this lol. Tried persuading them to watch Warlords instead but both of them weren't interested! I bet they are regretting now lol.

Guess what i bought Samantha this year, a nice retro toy in the form of a Tamagotchi! Saw it behind the cashier at Takashimaya and thought it will be fun buying it for her considering she still behaves like a child and i did! In return, i received 2 pairs of Top Man's boxer shorts from her which i really do need because most of mine are torn and tattered now! lol.



It was the annual Xmas gathering among my poly mates yesterday. This year, we held it at Meiwen's house. As for the gift exchange, i bought a mini cooper remote control car from Takashimaya! I just realised that they are selling it all over Singapore now. Lol. And fortunately, a guy got it. I'm sure the girls will be complaining non-stop if they were the one that received it..and complain somemore for the next few xmas too! Quite a fun gift mah..i wouldn't mind having one too!


Henry got Meiwen's SIA plane models


Ah Buck with the Mini Cooper remote control car i bought!


I got Sham's Starbucks mug this year!


Meiwen got Ah Buck's poker cards!


Sham got Valencia's Brands Essence of Chicken! Lol


Valencia got Henry's Kinky Big breasts woman Mug lol
Nick reported at 5:42 PM

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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Met up with Jit Hwee, Kheng Siang and Chin Seng on Wednesday to celebrate the latter's birthday. Them being my good friends in the unit, 2 has ORDed and 1 is posting out. I'll be left alone there soon! No worries! Because of course i have other good friends there who will hopefully be there even longer than i! Anyway we had dinner at Plaza Singapura's Cafe Cartel and dessert at Gelare. After dinner, i went to meet Henry at Zouk for my 2nd consecutive Mambo night in a row. There was a significant increase in the number of girls and people that night as compared to the previous week. More of the University students has probably finished their exams and came out to play. I didn't get drunk or high that night again because i had to drive! I can't say the same for many others that night. There was even this girl wearing skirt lying flat on the curb just outside Zouk...now how ugly is that?

Recently, i found out from Facebook that someone thinks that i'm not adventurous! I've no idea why he/she thinks that way because that is so not true! I do a lot of things that you guys don't know about k! And i rock climb, dive, travel, club, got myself a class 2 license, cook, signed on etc etc and that is way super adventurous! Haha.

Anyway went to Johor with Weijian, Puss, Bernerd and Remy yesterday. And what a trip it was! We ate, we shopped, we sang, we joked, we shouted and we ate some more! We all met somewhere before noon at Boon Keng MRT before setting off for our trip. We first visited City Square where we had lunch at this Chinese restaurant similar to Crystal Jade Kitchen style. The good thing about Malaysia is that almost all its good food is half price as compared to Singapore! So you can enjoy the Kenny Rogers, Secret Recipe, Auntie Annes, Manhattan Fish Market, Genki Sushi etc etc and not worry about the bill! All of us also ended up buying lots of clothings and other stuffs, its the Malaysian Great Sale after all and we were all in shopping mood.

After City Square, we went to Holiday Inn for awhile to buy DVDs, games etc before we continued our journey to Pengereng-Renjit, our original destination, for our sumptuous seafood dinner. Its almost a 2 hours drive from Johor Bahru and i slept 3/4 throughout the journey leaving Bernerd with all the driving haha. The place that we had seafood called Jade Garden is apparently famous for their cheap lobsters and we just had to order some. Adrian Pang and Michelle Chia from Yummy King apparently traveled all the way there to feature this store too. The seafood turned out to be delicious but the whole meal didn't turn out cheap no thanks to the lobsters which already accounted for exactly half the bill. But compared to other places, the lobsters are really comparably cheaper. So if you're a lobster fan, you should really try out this place. Just a 2 hours drive or a 1 hour boat ride from Changi Village and you're there!


An idea of how Renjit looks like


Walking towards Jade Garden


The lobster tanks


Gong Gong


Drunken Prawns


The delicious fish. Its apparently called underwater chicken fish when directly translated


Doufu


150RM worth of lobsters

After dinner, we rushed back to Johor Bahru because we wanted to check out their new Giant Mall before they close. We managed to get there at around 9.15pm and the place was still buzzling with life. And when Puss asked one of the shop assistant of Jusco their hypermarket, we were pleasantly surprised when she told us that the place will close at 12am. We shopped out heart out and Weijian even bought one whole set of office wear preparing for his internship at Hong Leong Finance coming Monday. We also went to their groceries section where i decided to buy a few steaks to cook and try out at home.

And i did cook this afternoon. 1 for my mum and 1 for myself with 2 more still in the fridge. It didn't turn out too nice though, it was kinda tasteless. Its probably because i didn't season it long enough for the taste to get in. Shall try my 2 other steaks again either tonight or tomorrow. You never know! I might become a top chef someday somewhere! Start placing your orders now!


My pan


My working area


The marinated steak


The sauces i used. BBQ and Black Pepper


Cooking in progress


Finished product 1


Finished product 2


After mess i created


More mess
Nick reported at 1:49 PM

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Met up with Sham, Valencia and Puss for what Sham described as the "last" dinner before the upcoming marathon we were about to run the next day. Lame but yeah. Haha.

This time we dined at Marina Square's Changing Appetites. Its probably quite new because i don't remember seeing it around before. Anyway the food was alright...affordable and there's so much to eat you'll be so bloated afterwards you'll be walking sideways. Anyway a leopard will never change its skin, which is why i ordered their biggest burger there, appropriately named the Barbarian burger. Its a gigantic burger with two 200gm beef patties, 2 dory fillets and 1 piece of chicken in between the buns. Obviously i didn't finish everything, all 4 of us struggled to finish the food that evening. Which is why i always say: "When you're hungry, you think you can eat a cow!" I must not over order and over eat again!

After dinner, we went to catch a 9pm plus movie. We watched Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid this time and what a huge mistake it turned out to be for me. Its not the show, its a good show actually. A typical Ben Stiller comedy full of humor.



Anyway I mentioned that its a mistake for me because by time the show ended, sent all of them back and reached home myself, it was already past 1am, and the marathon's flag off timing the next day is 5.30am! I went to sleep immediately of course but guess what...i woke up at exactly 5.30am the next day. Lying in bed feeling super sleepy and all, i gave myself lots of reason not to turn up for the marathon...and yup i didn't go in the end. Well...at least i didn't have to limp the whole week or risk getting an injury.


Failed


Argh

In the end, i met up with Puss who also didn't turn up and return our championship chip without the tee-shirt. We had lunch at Citilink's Simply Thai before i went to play soccer and even scored a goal for my team! Good thing coz i wouldn't have been there if i ran the marathon in the morning. My team has been on an unbeaten run of late and i hope this continues!

Yesterday was my colleague Rodney's wedding dinner. To tell you the truth, this is the first time i'm attending a friend's wedding dinner. All of my other friends are still not married, i hope they don't all come at one shot because its gonna be really expensive if that happens. Anyway i had a good laugh watching the video they played during the dinner of what happened in the day before the sisters allowed the groom and the brothers into the house to get his bride, i've never seen anyone having to complete so many stunts before they were allowed in. I've always thought that a big angbao will do the trick. Anyway the dinner was at Riverfront Furama Hotel and its also the first time that i see performance in the process of serving the first dish. 2 men with stuffed bellies came out and started dancing around the dining hall, it was really hilarious.


Jonathan and I


The 3 cups of mix my table made for the groom, it contains beer, red wine and martell

I wanna do something special for Xmas, but what? Anyone has a party going on somewhere? Haha.
Nick reported at 2:51 PM

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Spent the week enjoying myself, slacking, resting. Important thing is i don't have to go back to camp nor do any work...now thats how life should be!

After coming back from Wallaby, i have more than a dozen people commenting that I've lost some weight...especially my face...now thats good news! But i didn't bother to make any effort to maintain it so i went out for a nice sumptuous international buffet dinner with my mum and sister at Trader Hotel's CafeBiz on Tuesday. It was a 1 for 1 offer they got from Women Weekly magazine. There were a big variety of food but it was okay considering I've been having lousy food for the past 40 days.


All 3 of us


Mum and Sis


Yummy isn't it


Some desserts


More desserts


A really hungry man who hasn't had a good meal in a long time

Had a mini outing with my ex CCIS platoon mates on Wednesday. I took a train to town that day because i wanted to drink at Zouk that night. After exiting from Somerset MRT station, i realized that it was raining cats and dogs outside. So I was stranded under the building just near California Fitness. It was just opposite Orchard Cineleisure where i was supposed to meet the rest of the guys, but there's no way i was going to drench myself and feel uncomfortable the whole. So i waited and waited and this girl had to come over and ask me to buy this charity ticket for $10. Being the nice guy that i am and someone who don't really like to reject others, i obliged and became $10 poorer. Anyway it turned out to be a great outing, having not seen most of them for the longest time ever since they left the army more than a year ago, we actually sat down for a movie and dinner in town together that day and reminisced about old times.

The guys chose this movie call Hero. I went into the theater with no idea what the movie is about. Its a feature expansion of one of Japan's highest-rated television series with this bunch of prosecutors being handed a case of manslaughter that takes a twist into high-level political corruption. Not the most interesting of movies you can catch now but its still half entertaining.



After the movie, we went to Vil'age at Heerens for dinner before we headed for Zouk where i had made arrangement with the rest of my unit friends to celebrate Xiaoqing's birthday. It turned out to be a wild wild night with everybody dancing and drinking like there's no tomorrow lol. Fortunately i controlled myself and made my own way home safe and sound. I have loads of photos though. Check out the wildness!







































Met up with Weijian on Thursday after his final paper. Both of us wanted to get some presents and do some shopping ourselves but ended up empty handed. We had dinner at Takashimaya's basement 2's Fisherios. We continued our shopping around Orchard before we decided to watch The Kingdom. It turned out to be quite a good movie with its settings in Saudi Arabia. After a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed whole families of Americans, this FBI agent assembled an elite team to fly there on a mission to investigate and locate the terrorists. Watch it for the actions and Saudi Arabia, a country most of you haven been to and probably won't plan to go in the near future. Other than that, ignore the small unrealistic fightings and cheesy conversations and the show will turn out fine.




The fish and chips from Fisherios, i copied this from my sis's album lol

Its also nice to see how the show depicted loyalty to country in the show. But somehow sad to say you don't really see this in Singapore. Regardless of how competent our government is, how safe how country is, how successful and affluent our society is doing and how we miss home every time we go abroad, people here are just afraid to say that they love their country. They do their national service with reluctance and back mouth the government whenever we can. Lol thats how we are, sad to say...but its true.
Nick reported at 1:58 AM

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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Got a little more adventurous and spent my Christmas Eve a little differently this year. Guess what? I went to City Harvest Church! I just had to find how what the big hoohah about the church is! Why thousands flock to the church every week or every other day and devote so much of their time there. The service was held at Expo, the environment and surrounding gives you the feeling that you're attending a concert. The notorious overzealous people were ever present, but once you're prepared for it its actually ok. They are really friendly, outgoing and outspoken which are not bad characteristics at all!

The 2 hours service includes praise and worship, a homily and a damn good skit. Nevermind that you're not Christian or don't believe in God, you'll quite impressed by them. They were damn professional, it was interesting, funny and there were hardly any mistakes considering they are volunteers. And of course i had to notice the pretty dancers too...how can i miss them!? That aside, their mediawork was also damn good, its no wonder why they can attract so many youths, the whole thing was bubbly and everyone was so good at what they do...including the pastor himself. No doubt, other than the amazing mediawork, you can actually learn skills from them that you can apply outside, for example their good public speech and confidence! Don't get me wrong, i still won't want to waste my weekends and devote some of my time there, i just find it really interesting and its actually quite ingenious to come out with a church of this concept. Pardon me but i'm not actually thinking of this in a religious sense but rather in a business sense...ingenious...entrepreneurial...bravo....so damn good lah. I'm pretty overwhelmed, not by God himself but the people there...and how good they are at doing their stuff. They actually make people willing part with a percentage of their income every month, enjoy their work, be enthusiastic in everything they do there and even bring in friends week in week out with no promise of a commission or anything...now isn't that what every company will want? So if you have the time, regardless of your religion, forget the fact that this church actually has a bad reputation, cast aside all fears and just go there and see what it is all about. It'll be an eye opener.

After the service, Jit Hwee, Chin Seng, Kheng Siang and myself went to East Coast for a sumptous dinner. All of us had cravings for chilli crabs and that was the place we thought of. We got there at around 11pm and there were already hardly anyone around...yup that was where and how i counted down my xmas this year...quietly and peacefully. After dinner, we had to make the mistake of going down to Orchard Road. We had wanted to watch a movie and Orchard Cineleisure came to mind. Had a scary walk from Centerpoint to Cineleisure with groups of people holding party foam sprays spraying anyone and everything like its damn fun. We had to play dodgeball and avoid this kind of crazy people. I would have picked a fight if anyone sprayed me feeling all clean and all lol...just kidding. In the end, the tickets for the nice shows were sold out leaving us only the not so nice shows so we didn't watch any movie.

Had a family xmas party at Kok Bin's house this year. Sis did most of the organising and preparation, it was good and everyone had fun and lots of food. Received many t-shirts, chocolates, boxer shorts and a book this year..which are things i really need and love haha. Oh and i got myself a Manchester United jersey! Although i've been a Manu fan since primary 5 (1994), i've never owned a Manu jersey before in my life and so this is my first! Although i bought the jersey myself, i managed to persuade mum and sis to share and pay for it as my Xmas present! Lol. I would like to wish everyone that visits my blog a very very Merry Christmas! Fret not, there's 12 days of Xmas...we're only at the beginning..there's still time to buy gifts for your love ones if you haven...and of course..don't forget about me too. ;)


The Sushi spread sis got from Sakae


The Jacob's Creek rose wine we had that day


It won't be a complete Xmas party if you don't serve Turkey! Here's ours!


The rest of the food


Our Xmas log cake from Swiss Bakery..it was really good!


Having a go at the lucky draw


Sis and Brandon


Brandon, Kok Bin's Mum and their pet rabbit


Really nice of my cousin Ah Ling to get me this book! She sees the entrepreneur in me!


My first Manu jersey!


Oh i bought myself a nice new wallet from River Island too..i deserve it lol

Somewhere during the week, i also found time to finally catch The Warlords. Its a movie full of actions...but there are scenes that leaves you asking questions...like why the hell they throw bao at Jet Li when they themselves want to eat bao lol. Aiya watch the movie yourself..its worth the weekend price.


Nick reported at 10:21 PM

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Monday, December 17, 2007

Yup I'm still on the right track on becoming the boss of my very own steak house. Found time during the week for experiment number 2. Used different sauces and ingredients to marinate the steak this time and it did turn out a little better than the first time...although still not up to standard. I'll definitely keep trying! Have 3 whole years to perfect it! And when i do become a top steak chef in the future, i can read back and reminisce how i got there! Lol.


The meat


The sauces and other ingredients


Then you pose with the meat


First, you put some sauce on it


Spread it well


Wrap it up and marinate it overnight


I bought a nice new pan for my experiment


Chef Lim at work


The finished product 1 - Rib Eye


The finished product 2 - Flanked steak

Spent my past week watching quite a number of movies. Its weekday off peak price and I've loads of time on my hands! There is really nothing much you can do in Singapore anyway!

Went to Toa Payoh with Puss on Tuesday because i wanted to get my SingPass password which i had forgotten. We ended up exploring the HDB hub where we found a nice small HDB gallery and flats showrooms. The designs of the showrooms were really nice but deceiving considering the new flats nowadays don't come in that size anymore. We then ended up watching The Golden Compass at Toa Payoh Cineplex because it was raining heavily and couldn't venture much. Turned out to be quite a kiddy show, which reminded me slightly of Narnia.




Posing with a stone heartlander at the HDB Gallery




A retro household at HDB Gallery


The stone heartlanders

Somewhere during the week, i also caught Enchanted. Turned out to be quite a funny show with retro style Disney songs and animations that reminded me of my childhood lol.



On Thursday, Puss text me on my handphone and asked if i wanted to go shopping at Orchard. I said yes and what an expensive day it turned out to be. I spent a total of nearly $200 on shopping, parking and food. A bulk of the expenditure went to the Christmas presents meant for friends and my family. Every year, i tell myself not to spend so much, but it just happens.

Then on Friday, I met up with Samantha and Puss for lunch, movie and Xmas gift exchange among ourselves. We had lunch at Apollo Banana Leaf just off Race Course Road. Didn't really like the food there, didn't even finished my rice..probably because we didn't order my favourite Fish Head Curry lol. After lunch, yes you guessed it...we went to watch a movie. This time, we watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and what a mistake it turned out to be. It was a super lousy show, i fell asleep midway through the show. The cast, the storyline and everything else was bad. Don't watch it if you read this lol. Tried persuading them to watch Warlords instead but both of them weren't interested! I bet they are regretting now lol.

Guess what i bought Samantha this year, a nice retro toy in the form of a Tamagotchi! Saw it behind the cashier at Takashimaya and thought it will be fun buying it for her considering she still behaves like a child and i did! In return, i received 2 pairs of Top Man's boxer shorts from her which i really do need because most of mine are torn and tattered now! lol.



It was the annual Xmas gathering among my poly mates yesterday. This year, we held it at Meiwen's house. As for the gift exchange, i bought a mini cooper remote control car from Takashimaya! I just realised that they are selling it all over Singapore now. Lol. And fortunately, a guy got it. I'm sure the girls will be complaining non-stop if they were the one that received it..and complain somemore for the next few xmas too! Quite a fun gift mah..i wouldn't mind having one too!


Henry got Meiwen's SIA plane models


Ah Buck with the Mini Cooper remote control car i bought!


I got Sham's Starbucks mug this year!


Meiwen got Ah Buck's poker cards!


Sham got Valencia's Brands Essence of Chicken! Lol


Valencia got Henry's Kinky Big breasts woman Mug lol
Nick reported at 5:42 PM

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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Met up with Jit Hwee, Kheng Siang and Chin Seng on Wednesday to celebrate the latter's birthday. Them being my good friends in the unit, 2 has ORDed and 1 is posting out. I'll be left alone there soon! No worries! Because of course i have other good friends there who will hopefully be there even longer than i! Anyway we had dinner at Plaza Singapura's Cafe Cartel and dessert at Gelare. After dinner, i went to meet Henry at Zouk for my 2nd consecutive Mambo night in a row. There was a significant increase in the number of girls and people that night as compared to the previous week. More of the University students has probably finished their exams and came out to play. I didn't get drunk or high that night again because i had to drive! I can't say the same for many others that night. There was even this girl wearing skirt lying flat on the curb just outside Zouk...now how ugly is that?

Recently, i found out from Facebook that someone thinks that i'm not adventurous! I've no idea why he/she thinks that way because that is so not true! I do a lot of things that you guys don't know about k! And i rock climb, dive, travel, club, got myself a class 2 license, cook, signed on etc etc and that is way super adventurous! Haha.

Anyway went to Johor with Weijian, Puss, Bernerd and Remy yesterday. And what a trip it was! We ate, we shopped, we sang, we joked, we shouted and we ate some more! We all met somewhere before noon at Boon Keng MRT before setting off for our trip. We first visited City Square where we had lunch at this Chinese restaurant similar to Crystal Jade Kitchen style. The good thing about Malaysia is that almost all its good food is half price as compared to Singapore! So you can enjoy the Kenny Rogers, Secret Recipe, Auntie Annes, Manhattan Fish Market, Genki Sushi etc etc and not worry about the bill! All of us also ended up buying lots of clothings and other stuffs, its the Malaysian Great Sale after all and we were all in shopping mood.

After City Square, we went to Holiday Inn for awhile to buy DVDs, games etc before we continued our journey to Pengereng-Renjit, our original destination, for our sumptuous seafood dinner. Its almost a 2 hours drive from Johor Bahru and i slept 3/4 throughout the journey leaving Bernerd with all the driving haha. The place that we had seafood called Jade Garden is apparently famous for their cheap lobsters and we just had to order some. Adrian Pang and Michelle Chia from Yummy King apparently traveled all the way there to feature this store too. The seafood turned out to be delicious but the whole meal didn't turn out cheap no thanks to the lobsters which already accounted for exactly half the bill. But compared to other places, the lobsters are really comparably cheaper. So if you're a lobster fan, you should really try out this place. Just a 2 hours drive or a 1 hour boat ride from Changi Village and you're there!


An idea of how Renjit looks like


Walking towards Jade Garden


The lobster tanks


Gong Gong


Drunken Prawns


The delicious fish. Its apparently called underwater chicken fish when directly translated


Doufu


150RM worth of lobsters

After dinner, we rushed back to Johor Bahru because we wanted to check out their new Giant Mall before they close. We managed to get there at around 9.15pm and the place was still buzzling with life. And when Puss asked one of the shop assistant of Jusco their hypermarket, we were pleasantly surprised when she told us that the place will close at 12am. We shopped out heart out and Weijian even bought one whole set of office wear preparing for his internship at Hong Leong Finance coming Monday. We also went to their groceries section where i decided to buy a few steaks to cook and try out at home.

And i did cook this afternoon. 1 for my mum and 1 for myself with 2 more still in the fridge. It didn't turn out too nice though, it was kinda tasteless. Its probably because i didn't season it long enough for the taste to get in. Shall try my 2 other steaks again either tonight or tomorrow. You never know! I might become a top chef someday somewhere! Start placing your orders now!


My pan


My working area


The marinated steak


The sauces i used. BBQ and Black Pepper


Cooking in progress


Finished product 1


Finished product 2


After mess i created


More mess
Nick reported at 1:49 PM

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Met up with Sham, Valencia and Puss for what Sham described as the "last" dinner before the upcoming marathon we were about to run the next day. Lame but yeah. Haha.

This time we dined at Marina Square's Changing Appetites. Its probably quite new because i don't remember seeing it around before. Anyway the food was alright...affordable and there's so much to eat you'll be so bloated afterwards you'll be walking sideways. Anyway a leopard will never change its skin, which is why i ordered their biggest burger there, appropriately named the Barbarian burger. Its a gigantic burger with two 200gm beef patties, 2 dory fillets and 1 piece of chicken in between the buns. Obviously i didn't finish everything, all 4 of us struggled to finish the food that evening. Which is why i always say: "When you're hungry, you think you can eat a cow!" I must not over order and over eat again!

After dinner, we went to catch a 9pm plus movie. We watched Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid this time and what a huge mistake it turned out to be for me. Its not the show, its a good show actually. A typical Ben Stiller comedy full of humor.



Anyway I mentioned that its a mistake for me because by time the show ended, sent all of them back and reached home myself, it was already past 1am, and the marathon's flag off timing the next day is 5.30am! I went to sleep immediately of course but guess what...i woke up at exactly 5.30am the next day. Lying in bed feeling super sleepy and all, i gave myself lots of reason not to turn up for the marathon...and yup i didn't go in the end. Well...at least i didn't have to limp the whole week or risk getting an injury.


Failed


Argh

In the end, i met up with Puss who also didn't turn up and return our championship chip without the tee-shirt. We had lunch at Citilink's Simply Thai before i went to play soccer and even scored a goal for my team! Good thing coz i wouldn't have been there if i ran the marathon in the morning. My team has been on an unbeaten run of late and i hope this continues!

Yesterday was my colleague Rodney's wedding dinner. To tell you the truth, this is the first time i'm attending a friend's wedding dinner. All of my other friends are still not married, i hope they don't all come at one shot because its gonna be really expensive if that happens. Anyway i had a good laugh watching the video they played during the dinner of what happened in the day before the sisters allowed the groom and the brothers into the house to get his bride, i've never seen anyone having to complete so many stunts before they were allowed in. I've always thought that a big angbao will do the trick. Anyway the dinner was at Riverfront Furama Hotel and its also the first time that i see performance in the process of serving the first dish. 2 men with stuffed bellies came out and started dancing around the dining hall, it was really hilarious.


Jonathan and I


The 3 cups of mix my table made for the groom, it contains beer, red wine and martell

I wanna do something special for Xmas, but what? Anyone has a party going on somewhere? Haha.
Nick reported at 2:51 PM

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Spent the week enjoying myself, slacking, resting. Important thing is i don't have to go back to camp nor do any work...now thats how life should be!

After coming back from Wallaby, i have more than a dozen people commenting that I've lost some weight...especially my face...now thats good news! But i didn't bother to make any effort to maintain it so i went out for a nice sumptuous international buffet dinner with my mum and sister at Trader Hotel's CafeBiz on Tuesday. It was a 1 for 1 offer they got from Women Weekly magazine. There were a big variety of food but it was okay considering I've been having lousy food for the past 40 days.


All 3 of us


Mum and Sis


Yummy isn't it


Some desserts


More desserts


A really hungry man who hasn't had a good meal in a long time

Had a mini outing with my ex CCIS platoon mates on Wednesday. I took a train to town that day because i wanted to drink at Zouk that night. After exiting from Somerset MRT station, i realized that it was raining cats and dogs outside. So I was stranded under the building just near California Fitness. It was just opposite Orchard Cineleisure where i was supposed to meet the rest of the guys, but there's no way i was going to drench myself and feel uncomfortable the whole. So i waited and waited and this girl had to come over and ask me to buy this charity ticket for $10. Being the nice guy that i am and someone who don't really like to reject others, i obliged and became $10 poorer. Anyway it turned out to be a great outing, having not seen most of them for the longest time ever since they left the army more than a year ago, we actually sat down for a movie and dinner in town together that day and reminisced about old times.

The guys chose this movie call Hero. I went into the theater with no idea what the movie is about. Its a feature expansion of one of Japan's highest-rated television series with this bunch of prosecutors being handed a case of manslaughter that takes a twist into high-level political corruption. Not the most interesting of movies you can catch now but its still half entertaining.



After the movie, we went to Vil'age at Heerens for dinner before we headed for Zouk where i had made arrangement with the rest of my unit friends to celebrate Xiaoqing's birthday. It turned out to be a wild wild night with everybody dancing and drinking like there's no tomorrow lol. Fortunately i controlled myself and made my own way home safe and sound. I have loads of photos though. Check out the wildness!







































Met up with Weijian on Thursday after his final paper. Both of us wanted to get some presents and do some shopping ourselves but ended up empty handed. We had dinner at Takashimaya's basement 2's Fisherios. We continued our shopping around Orchard before we decided to watch The Kingdom. It turned out to be quite a good movie with its settings in Saudi Arabia. After a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed whole families of Americans, this FBI agent assembled an elite team to fly there on a mission to investigate and locate the terrorists. Watch it for the actions and Saudi Arabia, a country most of you haven been to and probably won't plan to go in the near future. Other than that, ignore the small unrealistic fightings and cheesy conversations and the show will turn out fine.




The fish and chips from Fisherios, i copied this from my sis's album lol

Its also nice to see how the show depicted loyalty to country in the show. But somehow sad to say you don't really see this in Singapore. Regardless of how competent our government is, how safe how country is, how successful and affluent our society is doing and how we miss home every time we go abroad, people here are just afraid to say that they love their country. They do their national service with reluctance and back mouth the government whenever we can. Lol thats how we are, sad to say...but its true.
Nick reported at 1:58 AM

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