Sunday, August 23, 2009
the scent of roses
i know i knw..it's time...i really should start packing..putting all my stuff into boxes and putting aside things to load into 2 massive 50lb bags so that i can go home to Singapore...i can't believe that my four and a half years of studying is done in the US of A and now i'm going home. it was never really my plan to head home, but given current circumstances and the weighing out of options, i have decided that it is gonna be fun to go home and explore for a little while and then we'll see where we go from there. :)
so...i leave the US of A sometime during the first week of September, i'm really going to be missing LA..cos my sisters would both still be here, and i haven't spent too long apart from them...): sigh. and i'm going to miss the shopping, the supermarketing, and my Pinkstar Coolbeans.
so anyway, I trooped up to San Fran about 10 days ago with Marn, although I just spent most of my time with my Graunt and Gruncle...and then they celebrated my birthday for me there..which was cool, and since i've been back, i've been down with a really stupid flu/cold..so i've been sleeping for the last few days. yupp..stupid i know.
but i've also discovered a number of great places to eat...omg, i'm so excited about these places now that i'm getting angry with myself for not discovering them in the first place. zzz
i got my surprise birthday present on Friday, and i'm so glad my boyfriend knows me so well. :) not only do i get to celebrate my birthday when i get back home, but i also get an extended two week birthday celebration. i feel so special. :)
he sent me an 87 Dominus and the 05 Opus, and the 92 Montelena is going home with me..but i'm so excited to try those two wines...but i've been given strict instructions to only drink it when Steph is back from Hawaii. ):
i also got my delivery of roses; and i know i give him a lot of shit about the roses cos i hate that he spends so much cash on the flowers, but ultimately i love them. i really love flowers, but i always try to play it down cos my sisters think that it's a pure waste of money..cos they die. zzz.
and the best present in the world was my cameraaaaa! i love the color, the camera isn't exactly what i'd call esthetically pleasing..(like the Sony Exilims) but my camera has super macro mode and a 12x optical zoom. it's definitely the best camera in the world and would make for an extremely great travel companion. ;) i took some photos and i'm still experimenting with the camera, but i'll definitely figure it out, and i'll soon be able to post tons of photos like how i used to do before.
it's 5 days to my birthday! i'm tres excited this year for some reason...:) we have dinner plans at Fraiche for the three of us, and then my friends are coming over the next day for a little soiree. and it's just going to be so rad. :)
SAM/13:53
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Damn the City of Sin
it is true....all the photos would corroborate a enjoyable time in Las Vegas, of course there we are loooking as happy as larks...:P but truth be told, it was probably one of the most out-of-luck trips anyone could take to the City of Sin.
going at an alright speed, we made pretty good timing in Pinkstar Coolbeans as we were rushing down the 15...then suddenly, we meet one traffic jam, and then the second...and by the time we got to the second, it was more than an hour after, and traffic was at a standstill. we were not even moving...and suddenly, we heard a hiccup, and then felt some vibrations..and Pinkstar lost her battle with the heat.
yupp...she died. on the highway. we had to cancel Carnevino....and wait for the towtruck to tow her 40miles into Vegas on a Sunday night. SPLENDID.
upon arrival in Vegas, we let the car go at some really shady spot, and then got into a shadier place to take a cab, and then got into a really stinky (he seriously sounded like a drunk lowlife) cab and had to endure his hostilities into Vegas where he proceeded to drop us off like across the Las Vegas BLVD with no crossings to get to the Palazzo. yeah. fantastic. late night trooping with bags in the hot humid vegas heat whilst being all frustrated. so we walked across finally, and checked in...which was quite swift thankfully, upon going up to the 34th floor, we realised that the doors of the room would not open, because something had the door latch caught. GREAT. we piled our stuff outside the door, called security, and he couldn't get it open either...so...splendid.
so i had to go get our rooms changed..and thankfully this time the door opened....gah..could you tell we were off to a bad start??
Day 2 started off alright though, we got to know a really nice cabby who brought us to the autoshop, and they pushed Pinkstar into their shop and then promised they'd fix it. we cabbed back to the strip and then proceeded to enjoy some of the heat that Vegas shone down on us. (miserable to say the least) we were good sports though, or at least he was! he walked everywhere to see all the hotels before we finally ended up back at the Palazzo for happy hour at Sushi Samba...then i proceeded to nap cos i was so tired, and we ended up missing dinner at Carnevino the second time. JUST GREAT. you know when it's just not fated.
so after being dragged out of bed, i finally managed to get us to BLT burger for dinner..which was good, definitely a place i'd recommend...and more sleep. the Vegas heat really just puts you to bed! zzz.
we decided to extend the trip, and we picked Pinkstar up, only to pay $540 because her gas pump was on fire. zzz. and then we subsequently went to have stone crab claws for lunch, which were good..but not as good as Komasa's kani leg sashimi. YUMMY.
apres a very intense....afternoon....we dressed up and got ready for dinner at L'Atelier, which i was wayy too full to eat, and then we watched Zumanity, both of which was very enjoyable.
so the trip got better, the luck got better...but...we left the next morning. i have to say..it was most eventful indeed. ;)
it's been almost 2 weeks since he left, and i miss him. ):
but on a lighter note, i just can't wait til Steph gets back...it also means my birthday's right around the corner!!! HOOORAY!
SAM/17:17
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Recycling Sunshine
mon cherie, j'ai de la chance.
after a couple of weeks of impatiently waiting for his arrival, the man flew in on the wings of the SQ bird and arrived into my arms...only to be with me for the next couple of weeks. how lucky i must be. :P
upon arrival, we tottered around before heading out to Girasole for dinner, which proved to be a very wise decision on my part. we were late, but we brought the wine, and it sure was one of those memorable evenings where we got to have good conversations, and sample great food with Sab. :)
the rays of light shine downeth on me. ;)
i forgot to mention that the day before he arrived i was the doggy sitter of the day. :P that's cute little Cookie sore because he didn't get groomed like Sergeant Pepper did...because he had infected eyes. eeks.
Day Two started out great, we checked out Clementine which Sab had been extremely excited about followed by a walk around the coolest supermarket ever when the boyfriend stocked up on a pound of steak...(okay..maybe i exaggerate...but it was A LOT....).
American style wagyu shabu beef to be exact...for our hotpot dinner that night. which save to say, was AMAZING. ;P
so i always have to rave about the one thing that i LOVE doing...besides shopping for clothes, bags and shoes....I LOVE SUPERMARKET SHOPPING. seriously. it is my passion. and i think i will seriously miss that when i move back home at the end of the month. Supermarket shopping in Singapore is really nowhere close to shopping here in LA...and i think maybe i've gotten so used to it that when people ask me what i miss most about LA in the future, i'm going to have to say..."Supermarket shopping". the Boyfriend was always really skeptical about my supermarket shopping adventures with Sab and Clemence, (i think secretly our rents brought Steph, Sab and I up to supermarket shop...) and so when i finally took him along on the adventure, he loved it. :)
you see...we find all sorts of weird stuff in supermarkets....
we went down to the OC on a particularly hot Sunday with Marn, where we had some great Vietnamese food, and then went to Dave and Busters only to find out that the party had been canceled, so we went on to Fraiche for dinner....which of course was fun in itself!
the rest of the week was an amalgamation of things that were all-things LA...we combed through Beverly Center, spent copius of time shopping....(so i influenced him slightly.......) and then managed to troop around the town on the search for good food....;) and of course we all know he agrees with me in the food department. i think we could spend all our lives eating lots of sashimi and ramen...;)
we also re-discovered Americana at Brand in Glendale which was really quite disappointing save the bartender at Frida's. the service staff at the mall were extremely snooty, and it was a real turn-off when it came down to shopping. zzz. we decided that the service at Beverly Center was indeed so much better...there's a reason why it's in Beverly Hills, folks. ;)
so towards the end of the trip, Sab decided that it was mandatory for him to see Disneyland...and of course Miss Deluxe (Annual Pass) knew exactly what she was doing and we trooped around the whole of Disneyland in the sweltering heat....only to find out 4 hours later that the Boyfriend only wanted a token visit and to eat the infamous turkey drumstick. GREAT. :P at least we went on most of the good rides...:)
we spent his last weekend in Las Vegas....which i will expound more in my next post...but for now it's...time to rest and recuperate. ;)
SAM/13:57
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Is Penfolds a pen brand?
OMG! like. just like. about 16hours!!! WHEEE!!!!
-jumps around and does a few little elephant twirls (probably ends up falling on her butt)-
SAM/01:35
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
this marks ONE MONTH.
PROJECT MOTO happened on the last weekend of JUNE. It was the most amazing weekend ever. I had a surprise visitor from Singapore, and my sisters were the best cos they kept it all a secret…just towards the last day they all got slightly antsy and i got suspicious, but they managed to still help orchestrate a great surprise. :) this time it was no longer just roses, wine and soft toys, i got the real deal. :)
He brought the SUNSHINE
so Sab brought me to Melrose with the family to "shop". we had lunch @ The Village Idiot where we had a pretty good meal..then we walked down the street and went into a store where SOMEBODY practically grabbed me and i was in such shock that i ran away (apparently i looked like i was filming a sequence for a Bollywood film....)
i got my surprise on Melrose...:) we sat at 8oz which surprisingly has a really good burger, so much better than what i tried at Umami the other day. after checking in at the Mondrian, we went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. BLT sat us at one of their nicest tables…we had good food, marvelous wine, and just pure unadulterated exhilaration. Hungover and sleepy probably best describes someone who steps off a 18hr flight on Economy (he goes on to upgrade himself because he couldn't take the torture...) and proceeds to drink 2 bottles of wine. The sisters and Clemmy came over for game night and we had a game peppered with a blotched Monopoly board and a red wine stained WHITE couch (which was subsequently cleaned off by the housekeeping pple) and then lots of chatting and getting to know each other. fun.
The Mondrian was swamped with people, and service was…..questionable. But it seriously had no bearing on the bliss. I think it is amazing how two people can be totally in-sync, and just happy to be with each other that things around them just don't matter as much. I didn't really care that we basically had no plans and had to walk in the hot sun up and down and around Sunset without having a mode of transportation, even having to chew a cardboard-like substance at Chin Chin which they passed off as noodles couldn't dampen my spirits. :)
We met the family at Komasa for dinner after Sab and Clemmy came to pick us up…the meal was GREAT. As usual. The food was so good. :) and then we went on to Pinkberry and lots of sleeep…
Then PROJECT MOTO got extended for another day (this was after minimal whining...) and this of course made me the happiest girl alive. ;) we acted as chauffeurs and had to deal with his massive lack of sleep due to the time-difference…but coffee was a great pick-me-up. And then had a GREAT dinner back home where Herlin took off the coats and took out her spatulas and started cooking a great meal. the next day, if i had just driven 30seconds slower, i would have had him for four days longer...but my conscience got the better of me...:) i rushed him to the airport and got him on his flight to go back home to attend the multitude of social gatherings that were lined up...
right now...it's just TWO MORE DAYS TO MAJOR HAPPINESS. yayy i'll have him by my side for a good two weeks. YAYY.
SAM/23:59
Sunday, July 12, 2009
they say it's always good to be HOME
I've put up a couple of photos before this, mostly of my first couple of weeks home and then of Hanoi...I've been procrastinating like crazy when it comes down to updating, but also because the screen of my laptop died on me and I had to wait for a month and a week before it FINALLY got back to me...coincidentally, the day I was supposed to collect it from the store, 3x3 blocks of the Westwood area experienced a half an hour blackout and they were unable to give my computer back to me without keying it into their system. zzz. SMART.
SO ANYWAY...back to photo posting...after I returned from Hanoi, Va and I attended Dith's birthday dinner at Da Paolo...
Yeah yeah yeah yeah!
I managed to hang out with the BFF, Steph T and Chary this summer, which seriously seriously made my trip back to our little island a great one. :) I was able to have yummy meals, and was able to experience the bettter side of Singapore despite the heat. :) between travelling around Asia and spending a ton of time with my family, the girls were great company--we must have circled around Paragon & Taka like 15times and FEP for another 15times. Yeah, we're kinda boring sometimes, but we still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
We were also able to pop by Overeasy--it was interesting, but there are definitely better places in Singapore to hang out at. :)
and shopping for the LBDs...:)
I also had amazing meals, :) good company, good wine, good fun.
Finally Jae also returned home, and we did the mandatory hang out. We were all tired and bushed, but would probably NEVER EVER give up a chance to meet up altogether. I think that my girls and I would definitely grow old together, we'd be doing the mandatory meet-ups no matter which part of the world we still are, and of course I could just predict that my life would be great. ;)
The most important reason why I stayed so long in Singapore was for the BFF's Birthday. OMG. Like hello....crayola! We had a funny potluck, cos everyone brought all sorts of random things, and then subsequently took a ton of photos before we decided to play some Charades. Surprisingly our newbie team won the game against some Charade-Masters…like HELL YEAH to team work. ;) BFF also got to cut her many cakes of which we barely could eat after the huge potluck. I guess it's official…i guess i'm turning a year older this year…..(but this time without my friends….i think…)
I had two dinners at Desire--which I consider the best restaurant in Singapore. It's not high-society like Iggys or Gunthers (which I think is really good)--and I think it definitely one of the most overlooked restaurants. The food is always prepared the way I like, and trust me i'm really picky, and each meal is always a great experience…no matter who I go with. However, I do have to emphasize that I do feel that the food is only always good when Chef Vincent is around…
Iggys on the other hand was a really interesting experience…their wine list definitely trumps Desire, their plating and their extensive tasting menu means you need a huge palate. But i still think that it's slightly overrated. The food was GOOD, don't get me wrong….I enjoyed my meal there entirely.
One of the more important nights that I had in my last week was Meeting-the-"folks" at Clarke Quay. After an INTERESTING meal at some pasta place at Central…because I left my number at TonTon and they never called me back..zzz. Okay so i get that the restaurant was full, but seriously…isn't it common courtesy to call a potential customer back? I think maybe i'm just a lot...more picky on service…because i just have these strangely high expectations that never get met in most places back home…and i intend to change that at some point. :)
So anyway, we ended up sitting at our usual hookah-wine place where we were all perspiring like pigs but yet had fun. It was an interesting night especially after we walked into one of the clubs for free. Between drinks and lots of Lady Gaga, we had a fun time.
So anyway…my farewell/Steph's 2 week celebration was at Oso..being with all the girls (my Taitai club!) and pretty good food made it one of my most memorable nights…we had GREAT conversations…Yang joined us, and it was amazingly fun…and then we trooped over to KPO and after shifting most of the furniture around, we sat there happy with chicken wings, drinks and (his) Hokkien Mee.
That pretty much summed up my trip back home…I tried to find my way around my future, i tried to look for some sort of direction, but i took a back seat and have decided that i needed to finish up with school before deciding what to do in life. Which i will think about now that i'm 3 weeks from OFFICIALLY graduating. Omg. Gotta blog about our graduation. :) have i told everyone that Sab, Steph and I graduated together? We are just FREAKING AMAZING. ;)
SAM/17:57
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Lucky
i never thought that it was possible to feel like i'm constantly tripping over rainbows and smiling.. i'm in a great place...in a happy place...and i feel really really lucky. :)
i haven't felt the need to blog in a really long while, mainly because i'm constantly on the phone, bbm-ing and i've been busy bringing my family around...haven't been feeeeeling particularly excited about sharing what's going on in my life with the world. but i will...as soon as i get my com back tomorrow. :) and then we'll hopefully be back to square one...with my multitude of photos! :)
for now, it's just 8 more days to major happiness.
SAM/20:15
Thursday, June 25, 2009
wow. hot shit.
i haven't blogged in ages...ages. like 2 months. it's almost disgusting. if my blog were a child, i'd be sued by the authorities for Child Abuse and Neglect...well okay...not just sued, but i think if blogger had a choice, they'd remove Goddess in Gold from my hold.
i'm back in LA after a really long time. my com has officially died on me, it's sitting on the surgeon's table in Murray UTAH waiting to get fixed..but unfortunately, the people at the factory know jack shit about impatience. so.....i'm just supposed to be on my patience cap and wait.
i had a rad time in Singapore...when my com comes back i hope that my harddrive will be intact so that 2 mths worth of pics will still be there and i'd be able to blog about my vacation. :)
in other news, the three of us Kudus' graduated from UCLA, i'm finishing up with Summer school, life is dandy...and in just about 3 weeks i get to see someone vv special. :)
i will try to blog when i have more time. eventually.
SAM/13:24
Thursday, May 21, 2009
one more year
the BFF turns.....TWENTY TWO...TODAYYY
i hope this year's the best year of her life. a new beginning, a new journey and a lot more adventures to go on.
i love you BFF. with all my heart
SAM/18:46
Friday, May 15, 2009
harmony in Hanoi
i have been back for a good month...and it has gone past me at the speed of a tornado. a good 15days were spent traveling out of Singapore, where the weather was actually a ton better than it is back here in Singapore.
my Dad flew us into Hanoi a couple of weeks ago...i have extremely mixed feelings about Hanoi. The weather was great, the food was extremely good, the place was quite pretty and easy to walk around. however, the people were not so nice...they were friendly but they all just seemed to be out to get the tourists...and honestly, that doesn't make me very happy. however, i think what made my trip worth it was our visit to Halong Bay.
so we spent the first couple of days walking around Hanoi. we found a number of great street food places...and it was the first time my Dad willingly wolfed down food off the street with me. it was quite entertaining really to see him cringe when he saw the ladies preparing the food, and then add a ton of chilli sauce because he thought that would kill all the germs.
Vietnamese coffee has a special place in my heart. the coffee is so strong and the milk plus ice just makes it perfect for the palate. we also found a great happy hour bar--The Green Mango, where I had good cocktails over a number of days. we also had a great lunch at Le Restaurant where wines were not that great, but the food was well cooked.
the pictures are just all small scale representations, but it won't show you the vast waters and the kaast structures that lay before my eyes. i see the photos, and even after really experiencing Halong Bay, i still am unable to see that same magnificence in the photos.
Halong Bay was just freaking amazing. i can write a story about Halong Bay...i can blog close to 20posts on this one place, but nothing would be able to describe it perfectly enough until one chooses to go to Halong Bay on their own. The magnificence, grandeur of our natural surroundings really overwhelmed me. i can't believe that there are things of such gargantuan beauty so close to Singapore, and it just makes me realise how much we take everything for granted.
i think it's scary when i have to contemplate if i'm happier just because i have a good education, live in a great city and have a somewhat amazing lifestyle. or would i be happy just living a very simple life, rowing a couple of boats, getting my food straight from the sea...
i don't know.
SAM/00:23
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
7pounds? what was i thinking.....
this is basically....a post all about the food i've had in Singapore thus far. I have more pictures that i NEED to upload, and more blog posts that i should do...but i think the food part is most important.
wow, time really flies quickly! i didn't realise that i haven't blogged in almost a month--this is really scary because i feel like i haven't been back for that long...and yet...the last time i blogged was when i just got home. zzz. so anyway, i believe that everyone knows that Kudus and yummy food is almost synonymous with each other. i've come back home to South East Asia and i've been on the prowl for delicious edible endeavors.
my sisters will hopefully be drooling in front of their laptops when they see this...i think it's VERY important to have a healthy discussion about all types of fare. lately, all i've been thinking of is seafood, and sashimi is something that is lacking from my diet. zzz. good sashimi i mean. so i think the first place i'm going to go to when i get back home is....Komasa. ;)
Syahzan brought me to an Okinawan restaurant in Tanglin Shopping center 2 weeks ago, where (together with my Aunt) we feasted on a large amount of food that was very satisfying. most of the food was fried to perfection--after a while, i started feeling guilty for partaking in such unhealthy eating habits. however, paired with a number of bottles of Orion beer, i think he just found me our greasy food hangout. :P i have to say though...their garlic fried rice and homemade tofu were one of the best renditions i've tried in a long while.
sometime ago, my Dad brought me for dinner at Gunthers', which was highly recommended by my AC friends. everything was absolutely perfect except the duck confit, which was a tad bit overcooked. we had a lovely bottle of wine, and our Maitre D even managed to give me the label Osteria style. the caviar pasta was absolutely divine. and so was the highly recommended apple tart. would i go back? hell yes.
i also was taken to Singapore's top restaurant, Iggys, but i think the place deserves it's own mention, like all other food bloggers have done, but i can't do it now. :P
the Mothership Superior started me on our Japanese food hunt. i still have this silly craving that i haven't quite fulfilled yet. ): we tried Nagomi at Cuppage Plaza which was very charming. the ambience is perfect for late night sake and sashimi, but the restaurant offered more than that--by more, i mean a mean tofu salad.
i had also come back to spend a ton of time with my family...which safe to say i think i have fulfilled....i have spent so much time with them, i think i have rarely seen my friends. but it's all good, cos with my family comes good food.
my nephew just turned 1! and suffice to say, the kid's lucky and cute. Syahzan and I have already made plans to expedite his growth in the near future. ;)
SAM/22:26
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
are you made of gold?
I understand this is going to make me sound like a huge miser, especially given my history of being a true-blue member of Shopperholics Anonymous, but I am going to blog about it anyway…
This past weekend, I embarked on a supposed shopping spree with my family. My aunt had been profusely recommending this Thermos MAGIC POT and she said it was on sale at Robinsons—and further added that it was a great buy. So being the bargain hunters that we are my family trooped down to Robinsons amidst the pouring rain, after a somewhat satisfying meal at Red Star, and found the Magic Pot.
Obviously we bought it.
Apres buying the pot, my Mom says that I should go and find the pillow that I like and buy it—I have been deeply dissatisfied with all the pillows at home because they’re not comfortable. So I got all excited and skipped to the pillow department, when I got there, this very nice salesBOY(man) was trying to sell me this pillow that was Buy One Get One Free!
Surprise surprise—I thought wow…! finally one good sale in Singapore…<
but it turns out that one of those pillows was A HUNDRED AND NINETY DOLLARS!! Yes, 190. So it meant that after tax, each pillow would be about 95 bucks even though I would technically be getting one free…like OMG.
So I very pleasantly excused myself from him but he seemed to be intent on helping me find a pillow to go home with. He proceeded to introduce me to a series of synthetic pillows..the cheapest one being $38.90, but it was flat as a runway and I had set out to look for a somewhat firm synthetic pillow, so I politely declined and this is where he told me, “For synthetic pillows, the more firm the more expensive…” so I curiously asked how much the firmer version of the cheap pillow was….it was a whooping $76.90. (no…this wasn’t one of those body contour pillows).
I was flabbergasted…of course right? What did you expect…back where I live, I can walk into le Target and buy a good pillow for $2.99! and I thought I’d even pay a little more and bought my current pillow for $8.99 and I thought it was already a splurge…it’s just a large piece of cloth stuffed!!!
Obviously I didn’t buy a pillow…neither did I have any will to shop the entire day…and I haven’t shopped since (except at Watsons because I needed a mask and face wash). I have decided that I'm going to spend the majority of my allowance on food/drinks/services like my facial…and a very very bare minimum on clothes...I think i’m slightly alarmed at how much stuff costs here…even after going through the exchange rates, I still get better deals up there in LA.
So which leads me now to think about what I am going to do in the future…how am I going to survive in this country…considering fresh grads are paid paltry salaries and I am hoping to survive on my own once I get a job…what should we young ones do?
And I was also hoping to find out…are Singaporeans’ heads made of gold? :P
SAM/11:25
Sunday, April 12, 2009
service oriented--or not.
I have a number of pet peeves when it comes down to dining out, and i think this mostly comes about from getting ace service at all the restaurants that we eat at in LA. Steph and I are suckers for good service, and we seriously continuously patronage a restaurant if we get awesome service. In a strange sense, we are very very loyal customers--if paid the right price...:P NAH just kidding, our loyalties cannot be bought.
I believe everyone knows what I mean by ace service, and it just so happens that we get a lot of it where we dine, so being back here in Singapore has put a new spin on my expectations. DO NOT JUMP TO YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS, i am not about to go to a hawker center or a mee pok stall expecting ACE service, neither am i going to go to a place like Thai Express and expect the best service possible--although it would be great if i did get it. :)
#1
recently (ie 4 days ago) i met the BFFers and Chary, and we made a trip to this new restaurant in Tanglin. I have to honestly say that for a Californian-wannabe restaurant, the food was great. there was nothing that we had that i would complain about, except my friend's choices in the well-ness of their burgers. :P heehee. the drinks were good but their wine menu was VERY limited--really? 3-4 glasses on pour only? service was decent--i say decent in my opinion they failed at ONE very basic level...our servers CONSTANTLY checked up on us, and made sure our glasses were filled...we had everything we needed on the table, and the manager was ace. however...i believe that you should always know how to pronounce the names of your dishes. and sadly, (along with good english) i think that is lacking in most restaurants here. if your chef is going to give his dish an atas name, you better sure as hell pronounce it right so that you can sell the true dish to your customer. hummus is pronouced HUM-OOS not HY-MOOSE. and Rotisserie is pronounced ro-tis-sary not rose-shi-rie. okay...sorry..i went on and on.....
#2
on Thursday, my cousin and i headed to Robertson Quay for wine..because he decided to be a good chap and feed me. so we sit down at this ONE wine bar which is heavily populated and after a tough 10mins, someone is finally there for us to flag down (no one comes to even give us any menus...) so we finally get menus and after another 10mins we want to order a bottle of wine. i was very impressed because there were a lot of very affordable wines--the majority of their wine list (ie 70%) was under 40bucks. so we picked a $38 bottle and told the guy what we wanted. after he took our order, he informs us that they were going to charge us $10 for corkage. which i would have WILLINGLY paid if it was on the menu, but since it wasn't i asked the waiter why and he explained that it was the eve of a public holiday, and they ALSO charge it on weekends. which is RIDICULOUS to me, because here i am going to buy ONE bottle to share between 2 people from your WINE cafe, and you want to charge an extra 10bucks because.....it's going to be a busy night and you don't want me to sit there? i'm not quite getting it.....so that was my second p/o moment...i mean seriously...pet peeve #2 is to charge your customers for the sole reason that you can't accomodate so many people--it's a stupid way to run a business if your focus is on getting more people back more often. the waiter went on to inform us that if ordered a $40 bottle, he would wave the corkage fee. but as i had mentioned earlier, close to 70% of their wine list was <$40. which means that close to 70% of the customers sitting there has paid an extra $10 for corkage.
#3
what is with Chinese restaurants serving by portions and encouraging your WHOLE entire party to have on portion each...when they could very simply not try to be so atas and serve it by plates (S/M/L). i mean...seriously, we went to this fairly popular restaurant and had fried pigs trotters, which they serve per portion, and we only wanted a small portion: we ordered 3 trotters, and then the manager told us that we should order 6 pig trotters and then when we asked them to cut it into smaller pieces and the waitress very begrudgingly did it. and it happened again with the noodles.....
so anyway...Singapore has been a learning experience so far, i just think i should just stake out at hawker centers where i don't expect good service...and go to my favorite places....:P
LIFE IS SUCH.
on the bright side, i borrowed Sab's camera (mine died in NY) so now i can take lots of photos back here while i'm not.........melty...:P hehee. and hopefully i'll have photos to show in a while..:)
for now i'm waiting on the BFFers to come pick me up so that we can go check out the new Uniqlo store in Tampines (i have my own story to tell about that...but i will not say anything...)
SAM/23:56
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
back in the humidity
oh wow. i just feel like i'm melting into a pool of goo. human globs of goo. on the plane from Narita to Singapore, the captain kept saying that it was a cool night, 25C, but the moment i disembarked the Boeing 737, i felt the rush of heat. the scary thing is after loading my suitcases into the car, and going to see my Gramps, i came home only to find that my tee and jeans were soaked through. ): gah, i'm going to need to wear dresses, shorts and tees for the next couple of weeks. it's scary..isn't it?
my luggages were over the weight limit, but what's a girl to do...i brought back like 10 pairs of heels and a full 30+kg of clothes. i'm ridiculous i know. and the stupid thing is that most of my clothes are all black. HAHAH. i'm going to die in this heat.
oh well. anyway, i've got a ton of catching up to play. i managed to borrow Sab's camera...while mine's being fixed. and then i just have to go do what i need to do. like cut my hair, get my facials, go to the gym etcetc.
hmm i actually have a lot to blog about...which i've been putting off...sadly...i'm gonna put it off for now again...:P
SAM/16:42
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
dream a little dream of me
i just realised it's....great to not have to go to school for one quarter...even better to not have to think about taking another exam...it's also great to have gotten okay grades for my last quarter. but really...what sucks is having to pack up my apartment and my bags so that i can go back home for a couple of months....): i'm just procrastinating like crazy.
i will post on spring break soon...right now i just need to pack. ):
anyway, PLEASE visit thekuduscloset.blogspot.com ! and comment and send your friends over! :)
SAM/19:21
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
thrift!
the Kudus sisters just set up our own online store...we've been meaning to do it for a really long while and last night we got our act together, pulled out a whole load of clothes and took a ton of photos. i finally have it uploaded and downloaded. please visit and support!! :) we want to see how much support we can get and then if the responses are great, we are going to do more than just lightly used clothes. we're gonna go into buying. :)
thekuduscloset.blogspot.com
SAM/15:51
Monday, March 23, 2009
i want to hold them like they do in texas games
it's FINAL-ly over...I'M FREE!!!!!!
so we've been going to our favorite restaurants to visit--BLT + Mozza + Komasa (Fraiche is next weekend....) and then going to our favorite stores too...:) but otherwise...let freedom reign!!!
i saw Jae & Marn this weekend after they returned from the Bay...and then it's my turn to go up to Frisco...:) i'm so excited.
we leave tomorrow...and it's gonna be a wild ride!!
<3 til next weekend!
SAM/01:27
Monday, March 16, 2009
honeyPIG
it's been a long....9 days...omg, just ONE MORE DAY.....seriously...i just need all the patience and perseverance i can get for tomorrow. haha.
and looking at food is SERIOUSLY not helping me at all.......
Steph, Sab and I have been looking at copious amounts of food blogs, and a lot of new restaurants plus new cafes to check out, and we cannot wait for Finals to be over so we can go out and explore. yayy...:)
i have...a take home final which i'm working on right now...it's the bane of my life. i hate it. and then i have a final on thursday, and another on friday, and then i'm free...from my college existence! :) for a while, til i take my 4 units in Summer.
it's true..i can't wait to go home and see my BFFers and hang out with her.
SAM/23:08
Saturday, March 14, 2009
randomschmandom
it's been an interesting weeek. zzz. i haven't had any photos because my camera is spoilt...and i need to fix it urgently...or buy a new one. i'm looking at a pink Canon SD1200IS. so, if the Canon people can't fix it...i'm gonna buy a new one. wheeeeee!!!! :)
my job search in the US hasn't been fruitful given the current economic situation...i honestly don't know what i should be looking for, but again, 'm not really a graduate yet, so there is still time for the economy to heal (i'm giving it til JUNE) but otherwise, i'm expanding my job search options elsewhere in the world...:) and HOME.
i'm so silly i've started writing guides to different cities, seriously i think i should write guide books, or just books in general. :)
-sigh so anyway, it's the end of the quarter and it's FINAL exam season, i'm probably not gonna be bloggging for at least a week--not much difference from what it usually is anyway...and then Syahzan's gonna come up and we're gonna go drive around the West Coast. it's gonna be an awesome spring break.
the blah part is that i'm gonna have to start packing so i can bring stuff home...:) i'm gonna be home in a couple of weeks. it's gonna be acee. :) i can't wait to eat some chicken rice, katong laksa and BV Duck Rice. and go to Desire. YUMMY.
SAM/15:27
Thursday, March 05, 2009
munching the Big Apple
Steph and I arrived in JFK last Thursday, and we decided to go the no-frills way and take...public transportation. great idea to save money, but bad idae since we had a bag that was 50lbs. so much for light traveling! what's a girl to do if she needs....her 3 pairs of shoes, 2 bags and 6 changes of clothes for a 4 day trip?!? heehee. :P so we had to navigate through manhattan's ugly subway stations wheeling the behemoth of a suitcase and finally reached our hotel at 9 in the morning..
after a 3 hr nap, we went to the East Village where we managed to get into our 2nd choice for ramen, and had a great Vietnamese sandwich and went to this place called Essex market...all of which was really fun. we then walked around Chinatown and Little Italy before getting to the famed C21.
post C21 saw us in a cab going back to East Village for dinner at Batali's Babbo. we witnessed a confrontation at the neighboring Starbucks before we were seated and got to enjoy the awesome black spaghetti and the osso bucco, accompanied by 2 very awesome bottles of wine. :)
then Sab arrived, and to celebrate our reuninfication, we went to bed early and woke up even earlier the next day to combat the MFA at the consulate. sadly, we were late...the traffic jam killed us and we ended up running up 6 blocks in heels. afterwhich i went to Madison Avenue, and then we went back to get dressed and Steph and I hit Union Square and walked to dinner at Knife and Fork. K&F was great. i was pleasantly surprised! although the shortribs were slightly under seasoned, the rest of the meal was perfect. :)
and K&F had this freaking amazing bread...which tasted absolutely divine with butter--which is funny cos i don't even eat butter...haha
we adjourned to Webster Hall after to meet Clifford for Steve Aoki, and obviously we had a blast. except for coat checks, everything about the night was great! the music was better than i thought it would be...plus obviously the company was ace.
Day 3 of the-Kudus-sisters-do-the-Big-Apple was spent at the career fair...we managed to meet a few interesting people, and then went on a tour of Grand Central Station where i had my Gossip Girl moment....before taking a much needed nap before dinner!
we then made our way to L'ecole to meet Clifford for dinner. the food was good, my favorite part was the appetizers and the desserts. i was slightly disappointed by my hanger steak because it was slightly overcooked. (and you knw with steak...slightly overcooked...means....a serious change of texture!) but my hazelnut tart was awesome, and everyone should go back just for that!
late night Karaoke after at this bar was funny, and we had a blast! we only left at 6am when it started snowing!! and proceeded to only wake up in time for a yummy lunch at MacDs in Times Square. (haha. i'm being absolutely sarcastic.)
NY was fun...we had a blast..of course we did! we're just waiting to go back maybe in Fall...:) for now..it's back to school...-sighFINALSsigh
and.....2 weeks to Syahzan's arrival and 3.5 weeks to homeeeee
SAM/23:31