Labels: bali, birthdays, boozing, clubbing, food, friends, indonesia, travel, videos

written at 12:46 0 comments

Labels: birthdays, food, friends, hong kong, macau, travel, videos

written at 15:27 0 comments

Labels: australia, birthdays, friends, gold coast, road trip, sydney, travel, videos

written at 09:47 0 comments

Mini-celebration for Jupiter the other day with drinks and steak sandwiches at The Bar at Morton's. Awesome company, super delicious party in my mouth and ridiculously strong drinks that made the afternoon a well spent one. Happy hour and free flow steak sandwich promotion available daily from 5 - 7pm. Definitely worth the visit!

Labels: birthdays, boozing, food, friends

written at 00:06 0 comments

Labels: birthdays, family, photo entry

written at 17:54 0 comments

Labels: birthdays, family, photo entry

written at 00:18 0 comments

It's the night before my first paper and I'm strangely calm. Even though I still have a mountain of things to study for my second, third and fourth paper, I'm not as stressed out as I was the same time last week. I think this is what they call, resigned to fate, LOL. Anyway, we had a mini-celebration for my dad today at home. My mother prepared stuff for a steamboat feast and the in-laws were invited. I decided to dedicate this entry to my dad.

I love my dad, a lot. But our relationship wasn't always like this. Since I can remember, I've always been terrified of my dad. He has a really hot temper, much like my brother and I suspect like my niece. Hence, when I was younger, I feared my dad the most. It also didn't help that whenever my mother was trying to discipline me, her ultimate tool was to say "I tell daddy ah."
Then there were those arduous teenage years where I actually told myself that I hated my dad. Thinking back, I realise that a lot of my hatred stemmed from the fact that my mother used to complain to my brother and I all the time about the flaws of my dad. I think that played a huge part in shaping my impression of him. In addition, my dad used to travel for work a lot and I guess in some sense, it never gave us the chance to become close. PLUS, I'm not the super macho guy as most of you know. I'm not into fishing or soccer like my brother, so there wasn't really anything that I had to talk to my dad about. All in all, I think I only got close to my dad when I entered university.

I stopped listening to the rants my mother had to vent and started listening more to my brother. I started to see how much my dad loves us and how he has a different, less conventional way of expressing it than most people. My dad is one of my role models in life. He has really strong will power and is very selfless. I on the other hand, have very weak will power and am very selfish. This shall serve as a good reminder, to learn to be more like my dad, to become a better person.

Labels: birthdays, family

written at 23:19 0 comments

Labels: birthdays, photo entry

written at 22:06 0 comments

FINALLY, FINALLY FINALLY paid this place a visit and I must say, I was a tad disappointed, ha-ha. To be fair, I honestly think I went there with exceptionally high expectations so in retrospect, it probably wasn't as disappointing as I thought it to be. I actually managed to make a reservation during lunch time and it was a good thing I did because the place was packed! I have a feeling it has something to do with the nature of scarcity, in addition to the decent food the place provides. Went there with the Rainbow Wheel since it was his birthday (and mine so happens to fall on the next day; which is actually now as I'm churning out this entry).


Ordered 2 Cafe Lattes, since the place is supposedly known for it's coffee. I'm not much of a coffee expert, but according to Daryl, their coffee is really good, so I guess you'll have to take his word for it. I did a bit of research prior to visiting the place and it seems that there weren't any dishes that were particularly recommended. Friends also mentioned that the food wasn't bad, but it wasn't fantastic either. Decided to get the Roast Chicken with Soba Noodles Salad and D.O.C Shepherd's Pie and the overall verdict is: not too bad. We didn't try the waffles at the place even though they're highly recommended by most people since neither of us are really fans of waffles. Overall, I don't think I'll pay the place another visit any time soon. Alright, here's looking forward to more cafe hunting :)

Labels: birthdays, food, friends

written at 00:36 0 comments

Labels: birthdays, family

written at 22:02 0 comments

Labels: birthdays, friends, photo entry

written at 12:12 0 comments

Oh, hi there! Pardon me as I dust off the cobwebs that have formed around my blog space. Haven't been updating for over a month now, partly because life got pretty hectic once I finished my summer term in UBC and headed over to the United States. And also partly because I got lazy while I was on summer vacation, ha-ha. I mean, after a long day of sight-seeing/shopping/having fun, all I want to do after I get back to my hotel/apartment is take a nice long bubble bath, slip into something comfortable, crawl into bed and relax.
But, I've been back in Singapore for almost a week now and have TONS of time to kill before the next semester starts. Hence, I shall attempt to make full use of all this free time to finish editing my photos and hopefully blog a little more. I have a sinking feeling that next semester will be a crazy one for me (FTW200, CAT & MA = FML).

Anyway, this entry isn't about some of the escapades I got myself into whilst abroad. The group of us celebrated Harris's birthday the weekend I returned to this sunny island. So thankful that I was already back by then, haven't seen the boys in a really long time. We ate at this really ulu place around Tanjong Pagar that wasn't too bad. It costs S$36 for a 3 course meal and you have the option of choosing a 2/3/4/5/6 course meal. If you're wondering why I have photos of 6 food items, no it's not because I ordered a 6 course meal. Rather, Ian and I each had a 3 course meal and we deliberately ordered different starters/entrees/desserts so that we could give all their chef recommendations a try. I would say the only true disappointment was the Tiramisu, everything else was SEDAP!
And yes, of course, given the location of where our dinner took place, we very conveniently traipsed on over to Taboo for some Liquid Buffet before partying the night away at Play :) I miss clubbing in Singapore, so much more familiar, safe and fun than it is abroad. It's good to be back.

Labels: birthdays, boozing, clubbing, food, friends

written at 12:49 0 comments

Attended Yang's first ever hotel birthday celebration the other day over at Grand Hyatt. Was pretty excited because I've yet to attend a party at this hotel and the fact that it's located in the heart of town just added to the excitement. Swung by really early to help him prepare the finger food for the guests. Actually, we went around town purchasing disposable utensils etc. first, before going for a quick dip in the pool before we settled down to assemble the finger food :) Looks good huh? Truth be told, it's pretty simple to make. If you're curious, let me know.


It's been a while since I've attended a hotel party whereby I didn't end up dead drunk. I think I'm still a little reserved when it comes to boozing after the drunken incident that took place roughly a month ago. I was definitely high though, Yang kept asking me to talk softer even though I wasn't aware that I was talking very loudly to begin with, ha-ha. We didn't really do much at the party - mostly stood or sat around, chit chatting or catching up with friends and cam-whoring of course. As you can tell from the photos, I changed outfits halfway through; not out of vanity but because as more people arrived, the place got warmer and warmer. Not sure when's the next hotel party I'll attend, but looking forward to it already :D

Labels: birthdays, food, friends

written at 15:24 0 comments

So, the family travelled to this restaurant (Chao Shan Cuisine) for dinner on a Saturday to celebrate my dad's birthday. Kind of embarrassing but I'm not entirely sure how old my dad actually is. 60+ is all I know, ha-ha. To be fair, my parents aren't exactly sure how old my brother and I are either, so I guess we're even. At the very least, we know when each of our birthdays are, LOL. #failfamily
I was half expecting the restaurant to be of equal calibre to the kind my dad usually brings his company's customers to when they are in town. However, it's more similar to the kind of restaurants you find lining the roads of Chinatown - pretty old and cramp. No complains from me personally, but it got relatively troublesome with a baby in tow. Add in the fact that she hardly slept in the afternoon and that made for an interesting dinner to say the least.

Lesson learnt: bring at least one of the maids along. One of my maids didn't want to tag along, so my mom thought it'd be fair to let them both stay at home and rest. BAD MOVE. We had to take turns molly-coddling baby Tara because she was exceptionally cranky from the lack of a good afternoon nap.
Another lesson learnt: my mother is not good under pressure. My sister-in-law and I tend to be the peace makers in the family, with my dad and brother having the volcanic tempers and my mum being the general worrywart. The sudden thunderstorm in the evening DEFINITELY did not help things.

But of course, at the end of the day, we managed whatever crisis came our way and made it out of dinner in one piece, more or less. The food wasn't bad, not too sure what the total bill amounted to, but I'm certain it was close to $1k, if not more. I've come to the conclusion that I do not like suckling pig. It's so god damn freaking oily, it felt like I was eating a heart-attack. The arrowhead shark was what I was looking forward to the most because my brother told me that it is like FUCKING expensive, around $700 per serving? Apparently it's sooooo expensive because firstly, it is insanely difficult to catch. Secondly, it is rarely sighted and lastly, shark cartilage is supposedly the most beneficial and sought after form of cartilage for consumption? I'm not sure how true these facts are, ha-ha, but I just took them at face value. The taste is so-so in my opinion, kind of tastes like tortoise shell in tortoise soup. Ah well, never really had a taste for expensive stuff. Don't particularly fancy abalone, can't see what's so fantastic about veal or foie gras, you get the picture.


Drove home in the torrential rain, which felt like the longest car ride of my life. We were all soaking wet and baby girl kept crying because she was afraid of the thunder :( Biggest irony was that we were finally home, the rain subsided =.= At least baby girl calmed down and was her usual happy self after getting breast fed. Family hung out in the living room for a bit before we decided to cut cake in case baby girl got sleepy and cranky again. My brother and sis-in-law prepared two cakes for my dad - one from them and one from my niece, ha-ha. It's kind of cute, the do-it-yourself cake from The Icing Room reads: "To Ye Ye (爷爷), ♥ Tara". Unfortunately, it didn't exactly survive the ride home from the shopping mall, so it looks somewhat smushed up in the photo, LOL.
Glad to see my dad so happy; he's usually stressed out from work and he got REALLY upset with me last week when I came home literally, fucking wasted. Hope that spending more time at home and with the family is making him feel better =\ He keeps thinking that I'm going through some sort of depression or psychological trouble when in actual fact, I was just being an idiot and taking the notion of having a good time to far. Sigh pie, I will try my best to change and make sure it doesn't happen again :)

Ugh, on an unrelated note, I cannot WAIT for Monday to be over. Going to spend the rest of tomorrow cramming in some last minute revision for Monday's IEA finals. Honestly HATE the module sooooo much, can't wait for the examination to be over and done with. Then I can breathe a little easier and focus on preparing for BP finals on the following Monday. And then, I'll be FREE and can start planning the more nitty gritty details for my post exchange travelling :D

*2 more weeks*

Labels: birthdays, family, food

written at 23:27 0 comments

Just clearing the back log of photos that I've taken over the past month or two at parties or when I went clubbing, ha-ha. Crap, I realise that in 3 out of 5 occasions, I'm wearing the same baby blue shirt :( Sadly, I don't have any cash to buy new clothes :( Everything is going towards my summer exchange funds, aside from the S$92 that I recently spent buying a new Kanken haversack. Bank account has really taken quite a hit from all the clubbing, think it's time to start staying home during the weekends and start eating grass. Besides, exams are looming and I should definitely study a bit. OKAY, I have deadlines to meet, ciao.

Labels: birthdays, boozing, clubbing, friends

written at 18:16 0 comments