Happy Valentine's Day! :)

Valentine's Day this year was a quiet affair. No need for elaborate surprises and gifts, just a simple day out together, looking for delicious food. I prefer it that way actually because I don't like kengyang to spend too much money on me (because I can afford it mah, why need him to buy right?). And also because I tam jiak. Got good food can already :D

I was ecstatic about the smallest thing ever - we wore matching outfits without prior planning. 

His top was very very cute. We saw it in JB last weekend, and I kept asking him to try because walao damn cute can? Floating astronauts!

We had an early dinner at Potato Head Folk and wow it was definitely the right decision to dine there... even though we had rude ladies sitting next to us initially. 

We were sitting on the communal table because the other tables were taken. We were seated next to 2 ladies and these 2 ladies were so kaypoh! Every single time the both of us spoke, they would stop talking and listen, and then they would make some comments. Why so rude one!! Like I was telling Kengyang how cute the burger name "Baby Huey" was, and one of the ladies said, "hey! you wanna order a Baby Huey?" and then they laughed. Maybe I pronounced it wrong lah, but need to so cb or not. 

Just nice after ordering, a couple of customers left and we quickly changed seats. Damn cb!

Okay back to the good food...

I ordered a Baby Huey burger and Kengyang got the Burning Man burger. For sides, we shared Naughty Fries and Wing-Its. 

The 2 burgers were GLORIOUS. They were worth their slightly high pricetags. We opted for the patties to be done medium, and they came in the perfect meat temperature. Why so li hai one?? Most of the places that Kengyang and I have been to always asked for our preference of meat temperature, but the meat would come out super well done. But the burgers at Potato Head Folk... wow... It was really one of the best burgers I've had in my life. I can't wait to come back again to try out all the other burgers. 

The Naughty Fries was different and quite tasty. Wing-Its - not our favourite. I only had 1.5 wings, mainly because I was too full, but also because it wasn't very good. Kengyang had 4 wings, because he didn't want to waste hahaha. 

Perfect burger!!

Initially we wanted to head up to the rooftop for some drinks, but the sky looked pretty ominous. We shelved drinking plans and went to Vivocity! I finally bought my Sherlock Pop! figurine. It was the last one in stock and so confirm must buy right? 

Had dessert at Caffè Bene and heh we were so disappointed. Not nice and almost S$14. :( 

But aiyah, we had a fulfilling time with each other can already. 

Happy Valentine's to my soulmate! :) 

Gong Xi Fa Cai - CNY 2016!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It's the Fire Monkey year and I don't know what that means. :P 

Every year, I will google snake's fortune for that year, so if you're a snake, here you go! 

• Master Tsai stated that according to Chinese horoscopes, Snake is in the Fire group and Monkey is in the Metal group. Metal is afraid of Fire. Therefore, Monkey will respect Snake, listen and follow to Snake's requests. 
• Career: got a bit of trouble, but will be worth it in the end. 
• Money: stable income and investment.
• Love: single, will find love (males higher chance than females). Not single, will maintain.
• Health: shit.
• General fortune: buay pai (Eng: not bad). 

Don't know lah, I checked one website only. All Master Tsai say one. 

But I'm very confused lor. So many people shared articles on facebook on zodiac fortune predictions for 2016, and snake's fortune always ranked in the first half. Then I bought 8 days, and snake's fortune is LAST. Walao, so like that which one to believe? 

I think the 8 days one more accurate actually. I bought toto and usually I will match 1 or 2 numbers, but this time I have ZERO matching numbers. Goodness gracious. I don't want to play mahjong already this year!!! 

First celebration was with Kengyang's family. We had dinner at Long Beach (Dempsey). 

I don't know why my face like this. 

But the others nice can liao, so post. 

Chinatown was packed to the brim, as usual. 

Then I fell sick on Chinese New Year Day 1. ZZZ. I woke up with 39+°C fever and I felt like shit the entire day. Needless to say, I didn't leave my room at all that day and so I missed day 1 拜年-ing. 

My mom, Kengyang and I left for Pontianak on Chinese New Year Day 2. I think my popo likes Kengyang so the trip was a great one. The scary thing was my popo's sisters and friends. Once they knew I was visiting with my boyfriend, they kept calling her to check if both of us were at home so that they could come and visit and see him. LOL. Luckily not the full group came. Only about 7 of them came to kaypoh a bit. 

Last photo that I took with my popo and mom before Kengyang and I flew back to Singapore.

The journey back was another adventure. Our itinerary was Pontianak-Jakarta, then Jakarta-Singapore, and we had around 2+ hours of transit time.

1 hour before we boarded the flight to Jakarta, it started raining heavily. Confirm will have flooding type of rain. So the flight was delayed for an hour. Should be okay right? Since our transit time was 2+ hours?

Not really.

Really ah, sometimes when you suay, you just suay all the way.

Boarding time for the next flight to Singapore was 13:55. At 13:15, we were still inside the first airplane. People moved SO SLOWLY. We had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal. Just nice, the first bus was full when it was our turn to board the bus, so okay must wait for the second bus. DAMN SLOW. Don't know waiting for what. zz. At 13:30, we reached the terminal, and we were searching frantically for the Jetstar counter to get our boarding passes. Wah just nice again lah, the Jetstar counter was all the way at the end, and we were all the way at the opposite end. RUN AH RUN!! When we reached the counter, passengers were already queueing up for the next flight. WHO CARES! I cut the queue and immediately talked to the nice Jetstar lady in Bahasa Indonesia. She was very nice, immediately printed our boarding passes for us and directed us to the immigration area. We ran all the way to the boarding gate and made it into the plane at exactly 13:55.

I was so hungry and tired. I knocked out on the plane and had a McDonalds upsized meal at Changi Airport. :D

Ok, back to itinerary in Pontianak. haha. 

My mom brought us to Martha Tilaar Salon Day Spa, and was really very cheap. Kengyang and I both had full body massage and my mom had leg massage, leg waxing, haircut and hair treatment, and total was less than S$90. 

Not dodgy type of massage parlour hor. Legit one. Martha Tilaar is one of the most successful brands in Indonesia. 

Then we visited the new shipping office. I practically grew up in the old office (always there after school doing my homework and watching TV), so I wasn't used to this new office.

But hey! Great view from my uncle's large but empty room.

I was very shocked when I saw Gereja Katedral St. Yoseph. Why renovate until so European-looking?? I used to come here when I was young, and in primary 3, we had Christmas sing-along session here.

Too pretty already.

My popo is very proud of her garden.

We also have mango, papaya, coconut, jambu, rambutan, jackfruit trees, so no need to buy fruits already lah like that!

Food photos! Because how can I go to Pontianak and not take photos of the delicious food??

This is my ultimate favourite Pontianak food - Nyam Kway Teow. I can easily devour 2 packets on my own. SO SO GOOD.

Then, it was my turn to visit Kengyang's relatives in Malaysia! :)

I think his relatives more chill than mine haha. But good lah, they all know where Pontianak is ("oh, kun dian! kun dian!").

Ending this post with this photo. Your eyes will thank me. 

My two favourite Chinese actors. Oh my gosh, how come can so charming and handsome one??? 

I sent this photo to Kengyang via whatsapp, and told him I crushed on these 2 guys for soooo long already. 

His reply:

"Ya, after me." 

Earn more money, eat more food...

...and then gym more to keep the weight down. 

But I think I'm slacking in the exercising department because I can feel myself feeling bloated more frequently. Is it time for another round of Teatox? I know many people do not think much about teatox but I've tried it 3 times and each time it worked well in getting rid of the bloat and excess water. Good to try if you're only looking at cleansing your system and not to lose weight. 

There's always a ranting section in my food posts, so here's one:

I have suffered from acne for 6 years now and I cannot wait for my hormones to settle down and stop giving me shitty skin. I know 6 years is a short time for long-time acne sufferers but if you are a long-time acne sufferer, you should be able to understand the self-esteem issues that I go through. For example, yesterday I went to a trade show at Suntec City, and I had the most amazing lip look ever (a slightly dark and vampy berry colour). However, all I could think of is what others will think of my bumpy skin. I wanted to smile and interact with the stall vendors, but talking to them would mean lifting my head up, and that took a lot of struggle. Why, skin, why?! Evidently, my skin is not as bad as before, but still... 

Western medication doesn't help at all - I suffered a lot of side effects when I was prescribed those pills. So I was thinking of going for traditional Chinese medication. Anyone has done that before? Please share your experience with me. Thank you!

Ok back to food photos!

Jeremy, Kokky and I bit the bullet and queued at Tendon Ginza Itsuki for the legendary tempura bowls. It took us 50 minutes and the stuffy weather added to the torture. But hey, we had a good time talking about random things and kokky's happiness, and the server gave us all free tea, so yes it was bearable. 

Do I recommend Tendon Ginza Itsuki? The tempura bowls were definitely lovely, but the long wait might not be everyone's cup of tea, so I'm on the fence. But if you don't mind the wait, then yes it's a good place to try. They only have 2 main items on the menu - the Special tempura bowl or the Vegetable tempura bowl. Already a great indication of a quality food joint. 

Both bowls were delicious and the prices were highly affordable - Special set for S$13.90++ and Vegetable set for S$12.90++. 

I had one of the best chawanmushis in my life here! 

The Special tendon came with a deep fried onsen egg (very spectacular for eggporn videos), so if you're into the eggporn scene, order this set. 

I had the Vegetable tendon and I was pleasantly surprised. I became an eggplant convert after this bowl of goodness. They also included the deep fried lotus (!!) and I LOVED IT. The deep fried leafy vegetables were a bit greasy too. 

Ginza Tendon Itsuki

101 Tanjong Pagar Rd, Singapore 088522

Kengyang and I tried Kinsa Sushi at HillV2 and wah so nice? It's almost tears-inducing because it's quality Japanese food so near to my house. :') 

I had the Wagyu Beef Bowl. !!!!!

You know the popular beef bowl from Fat Cow? This is almost the same quality and it's much more affordable. I confirm will order this again and again and again next time.

Also lol, they had a Chirashi Cupcake. I had no expectations at all - ordered just because the dish looked pretty on the menu - but wow I was blown away! Fresh seafood atop seasoned black rice. Looked good and tasted good - rare right? :D 

Kinsa Sushi

4 Hillview Rise, HillV2 #02-02, HillV2, Singapore 669320

Finally felt the excess flab, so okay time to eat clean on weekdays, and I'm glad to report that I had salads and fruits for lunch for 4 out of the 5 working days. For a tam chiak person like me, that took serious self control hahaha. 

That's pesto and tuna on top of multiple greens. The only sauce that I will excessively eat is pesto :D

Date night - trying out Korean porridge at J-Story!

The porridge was .. okay lor. Nothing too fancy and no wow factor. BUT, I would come back for the samgyetang - so flavourful! 

J-Story

NEUE B2-53 Capitol Piazza, 15 Stamford Road, Singapore 178906

So yes, that's another round of eating. Are you sick of my food posts yet? 

I'm not that interesting of a person, so most of the time I can only share good food places. Pang chance a bit lah hor? 

Have a good Sunday guys! :) 

Spicy noodle, bubbly mask and HARRY POTTER!

This month has been hectic. Filled with mostly busy weekdays and fun weekends. I'm very proud of myself this month. I went out to meet up with friends or to date my man almost every weekend day. Which says a lot because usually I just want to be glued to my bed and never leave my room till Monday comes again. 

Also, I cannot believe November is almost here. Christmas is around the corner. It is mind boggling how fast the year has gone by. Need to start buying Christmas presents again! Typo, here I come! :D

Anyway, you know all these Youtube videos about people trying Korean spicy noodles? I was really intrigued. Got so spicy or not?? So, when I saw that the 7-11 near my office sold them, I grabbed one to try. To be honest, it was spicy. Definitely will numb your tongue a bit, but aiyoh some people really over-react leh! I understand some of them didn't have high tolerance level for spiciness but I saw some people cursing and swearing profusely, then got some even cried like a baby on screen. Not so bad lah! Actually really quite nice. The trick is to not slurp the noodles using your lips, just put a bit of noodles in a spoon and scoop straight into your mouth. Not so spicy anymore! I'll be getting more because it's really nice and the spiciness super got kick, damn shiok!

I had a lot of fun trying out new things that day haha. After my spicy noodles, I tried a bubbly mask. I saw this on someone's Instagram and was soooo curious as to how it will work in real life. 

It's a tea tree purifying mask so it's suitable for my skin. Once you apply the black mask on your face, bubbles will start forming and you will slight tingling to indicate that the product is working in trying to remove the gunk in your pores. Then you remove the mask after 10 minutes and rinse off thoroughly. Very brilliant product if it worked as promised! 

Definitely worked as promised HAHA. I look like a bear!! 

I also liked how refreshing this made my skin feel, and the tingling sensation is quite satisfying. I have used this 3 times and I enjoyed every 10-minute session. Gonna get more soon. I got my first set of 3 on carousell for S$5. Super cheap please, but I think the retail price is much higher than that. 

Taobao purchase from last month - flamingo print tote bag for less than S$8! 

This month's shopping ban has been quite successful. I mostly bought necessities like soap, shampoo etc because I was running out. Other than that, I have restricted myself quite well. Yay. But the temptations were aplenty, especially now that we have Topshop Singapore online and of course every single day I'm discovering new stuff on Taobao. But I'll persevere and save the money for the food and shopping during my upcoming Hong Kong trip!

ALSO, JENG JENG - I finally have the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It is BEAUTIFUL. Jim Kay is a genius. 

My favourite page is this short guide to trolls! :D 

I love the excitement! It's like in the past when I queued up outside Popular bookstore when a new book was released just so that I could read the book immediately after release. Now no longer queueing outside book stores because can just preorder on Amazon! Can't wait for the next one! But hmm, how would Order of Phoenix be illustrated. That book has 700+ pages of densely spaced lines. Another question is how heavy will the illustrated Order of Phoenix be? But who cares about these questions because I'm still going to get all of them!

What a glorious way to end the post. I love Harry Potter so much! I have yet to visit a Harry Potter theme park so maybe 2016 resolution? :)

Eat more, gym more

I have a couple of thoughts that I feel I should just add into this blogpost. Nothing to do with food, but maybe after reading my long-winded paragaphs, the food photos will make you feel better. 

So, yesterday I had a wonderful dinner with two of my closest guy friends (10 years plus of nonsense already oh my gosh!) and we talked about many things, but more so about the romantic relationships that we all have currently. 

The three of us have really different situations. One couple barely argues, one couple argues a lot but gets over the argument quickly (kengyang and I) and one couple recently argues a lot but there seems to be no resolution to the arguments. 

Two of us were trying to help another analyse the toxic arguments that he had with his girlfriend and we came to a conclusion that insecurity and lack of expressiveness were the main culprits. And as a person who has somewhat overcome insecurity, I truly understand why the girlfriend was being difficult. 

Personally, I have treated Kengyang very vilely before as well, and my behaviour was completely unacceptable - I would be really mad at him, but I would not tell him why I was mad. I was hoping he could guess his way through. Being insecure also meant that I was extra sensitive to whatever he did or said. I would also manipulate his words. For example, he would say things like, "wah your dress today very nice!", and I should be happy right?? But no, instead I snapped at him and said, "so yesterday my outfit not nice lah??"

Now that I think about it, I was a complete tyrant. Props to kengyang for sticking with me. I noticed more and more of my friends started to keep their distance and in the midst of confusion and hatred, I realised I have to change myself and stop declaring my insecurity to the entire world. 

So, that was also when I started to tell Kengyang things that made me unhappy, and I guess that improved our relationship a lot. We still argued about the silliest things, but we also stopped the argument as quickly as it had started. 

It took me a couple of years to stop being such a bitch to my boyfriend, but I'm glad he waited, and I'm glad I made the decision to throw away my ego and change myself. 

So, I told my friend to give her another chance. Try to make it work again and give her some time to realise her errors. And my friend truly loved his girlfriend and he agreed that he should give it another shot. But of course, he shouldn't let his love blind his rationality. If at the end of the day, things really cannot work out, then it will be best to end the relationship. 

It's not easy to have a completely trusting and tension-free relationship. But if both parties decide together to fix the problems, I don't think it's that difficult to achieve. It takes two hands to clap right? 

Ok, food photos time. :D 

FYR Cycene Ond Drinc

19 Boon Tat St, Singapore 069619

Some Tze Char stall at Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre

116 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 588172

Hanare Japanese Cafe (food is always great, I've been here 4 times and always delicious!)

99 Tanjong Pagar Rd, Singapore 088520

Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant

2 Orchard Turn, #B3-23 ION Orchard, Singapore 238801

Park Bench Deli

179 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068627

The reason why I didn't take a photo of the actual sandwich is because it was incredibly greasy. But I'll still give this deli another try next time. Maybe get the meat subs?

Ri Ri Hong Mala Siang Guo Hotpot

32 New Market Road 

#01-1042/1052 People’s Park Food Centre

Singapore 050032

Freaking delicious bowl of capalang.

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Holland Village)

241/241A Holland Ave, Singapore 278975

PS.Cafe at Ann Siang Hill Park

45 Ann Siang Rd, #02-02 Ann Siang Hill Park, Singapore 069719

Kim Dae Mun

100 Orchard Road, Concorde Hotel and Shopping Centre

02-17/18, Singapore 238840

If you haven't noticed, I love eating! 

People gym to lose weight, I gym to maintain my weight. :P