let's party!
SURPRISE NO.3 - PARTY TIME!
i decided it should be a surprise party for him on his 30th birthday this year. although we had them so often such that it can become kind of predictable, i still managed to catch him off guard, wahahaha! it can be as easy as dropping remarks like "eh, so boring to have another surprise party hor, let's not do the same for your birthday this year, ok?", oh goodness, my boy is such a naive chap. anyway, deciding the venue was the next problem. i eventually decided to hold the party at this private place known as "@ home with aries" (located at 24 petain road near jalan besar), the chef (geri's her name) basically runs the whole show and i got to know of its existence through a colleague who's also geri's cousin. the gang was waiting there since 730pm to ambush the birthday boy, and i think it was sheer luck he didn't notice any of the cars parking outside. since the place was located along a row of old paranakan shophouses and no shop name (!), he did suspect it may be a private dinner affair - well, close but with 5 others and a shrekie! just look at the pictures and you'll realise that the shrek ears keep popping up... and of course, the party hat for just the birthday boy himself. oh yes, let's not forget the cake, i had some problem with choices initially... but decided to go for pine garden's lychee martini. it really tasted quite good and a refreshing change from chocolate, i must say, and with its sweet pink colour, it's no wonder this cake's a wedding favourite.
all the food was prepared by geri with veron being her kitchen helper (see picture of them posing at the door after the whole event). i think the soup was minestrone (or maybe a special variant of it, 'cos in so many years, i've never found meat in my minestrone soup), mediterranean salad with homemade balsamic dressing, grilled rosemary chicken legs, and butter squash (aka pumpkin) with macadamia nuts. dessert was delibrately omitted because of the birthday cake (and neumann, thanks for spoiling the cake surprise!!!).
i like this group photo, taken at the cosy area where we played taboo! another victory for the girls! from left: giles&wen (+ seth), mark&pauline (+ mikal, er, sp??), birthday-boy&party-planner, neumann&siew yi. thank you guys for making the surprise a success (oh so cliche sounding), and for all the fun that night. :-)
scribbled at 9:27 pm
.::.
SURPRISE NO.3 - PARTY TIME!
i decided it should be a surprise party for him on his 30th birthday this year. although we had them so often such that it can become kind of predictable, i still managed to catch him off guard, wahahaha! it can be as easy as dropping remarks like "eh, so boring to have another surprise party hor, let's not do the same for your birthday this year, ok?", oh goodness, my boy is such a naive chap. anyway, deciding the venue was the next problem. i eventually decided to hold the party at this private place known as "@ home with aries" (located at 24 petain road near jalan besar), the chef (geri's her name) basically runs the whole show and i got to know of its existence through a colleague who's also geri's cousin. the gang was waiting there since 730pm to ambush the birthday boy, and i think it was sheer luck he didn't notice any of the cars parking outside. since the place was located along a row of old paranakan shophouses and no shop name (!), he did suspect it may be a private dinner affair - well, close but with 5 others and a shrekie! just look at the pictures and you'll realise that the shrek ears keep popping up... and of course, the party hat for just the birthday boy himself. oh yes, let's not forget the cake, i had some problem with choices initially... but decided to go for pine garden's lychee martini. it really tasted quite good and a refreshing change from chocolate, i must say, and with its sweet pink colour, it's no wonder this cake's a wedding favourite.
all the food was prepared by geri with veron being her kitchen helper (see picture of them posing at the door after the whole event). i think the soup was minestrone (or maybe a special variant of it, 'cos in so many years, i've never found meat in my minestrone soup), mediterranean salad with homemade balsamic dressing, grilled rosemary chicken legs, and butter squash (aka pumpkin) with macadamia nuts. dessert was delibrately omitted because of the birthday cake (and neumann, thanks for spoiling the cake surprise!!!).
i like this group photo, taken at the cosy area where we played taboo! another victory for the girls! from left: giles&wen (+ seth), mark&pauline (+ mikal, er, sp??), birthday-boy&party-planner, neumann&siew yi. thank you guys for making the surprise a success (oh so cliche sounding), and for all the fun that night. :-)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
30 years old already... so old! ;P
well, this is going to be a photo-rich entry (as usual), considering we took almost 150 photos the whole day. i'm typing this entry as i upload the night pictures for sharing (kodakgallery is terribly slow huh). the dearest turned THIRTY yesterday and since we took leave to celebrate this big day (no silly course to get in my way this time round), i had to rack my brains to think of fun activities to do - you'll see later.
present time exactly at midnight! he was holding his present excitedly many minutes beforehand, like a kid. i had to use a flattened cardboard box and three pieces of wrapping paper, i've tried searching but there's no commercially available decent HUGE paper bag big enough for the present. anyway, i think it wasn't too difficult for him to guess what's in there, considering his current one is in a terribly bad state. to me, birthdays aren't fun without surprises... so i need to have much more in store for the birthday boy.
SURPRISE NO. 1 - birthday agenda hidden inside wardrobe. activity 1 was be to first fill our tummies at toast box! i've always wanted to try the floss-covered thick toast and with the sentosa plan in mind, this seems like just the right opportunity. ;-)
the LUGE and SKYRIDE is probably one of the newer highlights at sentosa and the bf has been wanting to give it a shot (too bad i wasn't fast enough to get hold of the corporate islander card for some discounts). basically you go on the chairlift to bring you up the hill, and then take the luge downhill afterwards. the luge goes down as a result of gravitational force, but you can still control the speed with the handlebar. it wasn't too much of an adrenaline rush, there were some rather sharp bends, but the hill wasn't steep enough, and the overall ride could have been longer. in short, it's a ride that's safe enough for kids, haha. but it was still rather enjoyable. the weather was terrific for the outdoors, hot blazing sun and not a drop of rain... so what do you need to block the glare from the sun?
SURPRISE NO. 2 - oakley sunglasses (and birthday card)! this wasn't planned initially. what happened was this sunglasses was a special order (through a friend) and we've been waiting for months for it to arrive. it's probably good luck that it was finally due for collection the day before, hence, an added surprise for the birthday boy. it's a basic half-jacket XLJ (in boring black), and according to the bf, this is just to wear for driving. i say, no more oakley for the boy for the next ten years...
break for now, rest of the surprises to come later! ;-)
scribbled at 4:59 pm
.::.
well, this is going to be a photo-rich entry (as usual), considering we took almost 150 photos the whole day. i'm typing this entry as i upload the night pictures for sharing (kodakgallery is terribly slow huh). the dearest turned THIRTY yesterday and since we took leave to celebrate this big day (no silly course to get in my way this time round), i had to rack my brains to think of fun activities to do - you'll see later.
present time exactly at midnight! he was holding his present excitedly many minutes beforehand, like a kid. i had to use a flattened cardboard box and three pieces of wrapping paper, i've tried searching but there's no commercially available decent HUGE paper bag big enough for the present. anyway, i think it wasn't too difficult for him to guess what's in there, considering his current one is in a terribly bad state. to me, birthdays aren't fun without surprises... so i need to have much more in store for the birthday boy.
SURPRISE NO. 1 - birthday agenda hidden inside wardrobe. activity 1 was be to first fill our tummies at toast box! i've always wanted to try the floss-covered thick toast and with the sentosa plan in mind, this seems like just the right opportunity. ;-)
the LUGE and SKYRIDE is probably one of the newer highlights at sentosa and the bf has been wanting to give it a shot (too bad i wasn't fast enough to get hold of the corporate islander card for some discounts). basically you go on the chairlift to bring you up the hill, and then take the luge downhill afterwards. the luge goes down as a result of gravitational force, but you can still control the speed with the handlebar. it wasn't too much of an adrenaline rush, there were some rather sharp bends, but the hill wasn't steep enough, and the overall ride could have been longer. in short, it's a ride that's safe enough for kids, haha. but it was still rather enjoyable. the weather was terrific for the outdoors, hot blazing sun and not a drop of rain... so what do you need to block the glare from the sun?
SURPRISE NO. 2 - oakley sunglasses (and birthday card)! this wasn't planned initially. what happened was this sunglasses was a special order (through a friend) and we've been waiting for months for it to arrive. it's probably good luck that it was finally due for collection the day before, hence, an added surprise for the birthday boy. it's a basic half-jacket XLJ (in boring black), and according to the bf, this is just to wear for driving. i say, no more oakley for the boy for the next ten years...
break for now, rest of the surprises to come later! ;-)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
outback steakhouse on our second year
we were both supposed to be on leave that day, but it so happened that i had to be on course! talk about mood spoilers! especially when it's a not-so-interesting-yet-comes-with-compulsory-test course, so much so that i was suffering from a slight migrane that afternoon. the flowers, half a dozen of two-toned pink roses, and the lovely handmade card (which took the bf two hours to draw) were indeed a surprise... and i really feel bad i didn't prepare anything for him in return.
we both decided on having steak that evening although teochew/taiwanese porridge was the initial choice. i guess it's not common to find good porridge buffet restaurants with good ambience (maybe except goodwood park hotel, although i'm still not sure if it's buffet-styled), and most authentic porridge shops are neighbourhood hawker stalls that target the clubber population during late nights. anyway, when it comes to steak, there really aren't that many choices, outback steakhouse was a place we've been wanting to try, so we've decided to save lawry's and just steak for other occasions (morton's wasn't even mentioned for obvious reasons). we both had our own 8-ounces worth of australian red meat, mine's a sirloin steak with mushroom sauce, and his was known as the prime minister's prime rib. the prime rib definitely tasted better, it was blushing pink on the inside, more tender and juicier than the sirloin. eh, but sirloins are meant to be chewier, right? hmmm, maybe i should have gone for the rib-eye. and check out that accompanying jacket potato dressed with tonnes of whipped butter, grated cheese and bacon bits, yummy!
no card from me (*oops*), so let me just say this, it has been two wonderful years, thank you for everything... with all my love. :-)
[1] my surprise presents! yay!
[2] at outback with the flowers.
[3] the bf waiting for his food, a hungry man is an angry man! anyway, the cutlery are all above average in size.
[4] chocolate flavoured bread served with whipped butter.
[5] the menu.
[6] he obviously likes the butter...
[7] that's the prime rib on the left,...
[8] ... and the sirloin steak beside it. the jacket potatoes are really good!
[9] trying to get a good first cut.
[10] finally, a together shot. but not a very good one, i seriously think all waiters/waitresses should attend photography classes, you can HARDLY find one that takes good pictures! and a rare few are enthusiastic about it. sad case.
[11] FULL, satisfied, and sleepy. ZZZzzz...
scribbled at 7:16 am
.::.
we were both supposed to be on leave that day, but it so happened that i had to be on course! talk about mood spoilers! especially when it's a not-so-interesting-yet-comes-with-compulsory-test course, so much so that i was suffering from a slight migrane that afternoon. the flowers, half a dozen of two-toned pink roses, and the lovely handmade card (which took the bf two hours to draw) were indeed a surprise... and i really feel bad i didn't prepare anything for him in return.
we both decided on having steak that evening although teochew/taiwanese porridge was the initial choice. i guess it's not common to find good porridge buffet restaurants with good ambience (maybe except goodwood park hotel, although i'm still not sure if it's buffet-styled), and most authentic porridge shops are neighbourhood hawker stalls that target the clubber population during late nights. anyway, when it comes to steak, there really aren't that many choices, outback steakhouse was a place we've been wanting to try, so we've decided to save lawry's and just steak for other occasions (morton's wasn't even mentioned for obvious reasons). we both had our own 8-ounces worth of australian red meat, mine's a sirloin steak with mushroom sauce, and his was known as the prime minister's prime rib. the prime rib definitely tasted better, it was blushing pink on the inside, more tender and juicier than the sirloin. eh, but sirloins are meant to be chewier, right? hmmm, maybe i should have gone for the rib-eye. and check out that accompanying jacket potato dressed with tonnes of whipped butter, grated cheese and bacon bits, yummy!
no card from me (*oops*), so let me just say this, it has been two wonderful years, thank you for everything... with all my love. :-)
[1] my surprise presents! yay!
[2] at outback with the flowers.
[3] the bf waiting for his food, a hungry man is an angry man! anyway, the cutlery are all above average in size.
[4] chocolate flavoured bread served with whipped butter.
[5] the menu.
[6] he obviously likes the butter...
[7] that's the prime rib on the left,...
[8] ... and the sirloin steak beside it. the jacket potatoes are really good!
[9] trying to get a good first cut.
[10] finally, a together shot. but not a very good one, i seriously think all waiters/waitresses should attend photography classes, you can HARDLY find one that takes good pictures! and a rare few are enthusiastic about it. sad case.
[11] FULL, satisfied, and sleepy. ZZZzzz...
Monday, June 18, 2007
two years
scribbled at 11:24 pm
.::.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
father's day!
at long last, we're venturing into something other than chinese food. :-) it's always a challenge to think of a suitable place to hold family celebrations - my parents are always lazy to go too far, there must be ample parking space so that they don't waste time searching for a lot and it should preferably be chinese food. my dad has a mild gout problem, and since he has been cutting down on meat (especially red meat), i decided we should go for japanese food this time round. both sushi tei at vivocity and ichiban boshi at great world city do not accept reservations (anywhere futher than GW is probably unacceptable), so we ended up at at yuzu-shimizu at PSB building... i only found this place after doing some surfing. the restaurant was surprisingly nice, the decor was simple yet modern and they even gave us a private area.
[1] parents checking out the menu while waiting for bro and SIL to show up.
[2] the menus - the lunch sets are really value-for-money.
[3] spider maki, soft-shelled crab sushi with fish roe - this is the side dish which i ordered for all to share.
[4] mum happy with her tempura set.
[5] dad with his unagi set.
[6] that's my brother paper hot pot (with only ONE prawn).
[7] bro and SIL - nice shot.
[8] same as my dad, i had my favourite unagi. i don't think i can ever have a japanese meal without having some kind of unagi dish - it's a MUST-HAVE.
[9] the bf's food came soooooo late he was already half-full when his set meal arrived... anyway, that's us with our food!
[10-11] doesn't he look pleased with his yakiniku teishoku (thin sliced beef)?
[12] FULL-FULL!
scribbled at 7:17 pm
.::.
at long last, we're venturing into something other than chinese food. :-) it's always a challenge to think of a suitable place to hold family celebrations - my parents are always lazy to go too far, there must be ample parking space so that they don't waste time searching for a lot and it should preferably be chinese food. my dad has a mild gout problem, and since he has been cutting down on meat (especially red meat), i decided we should go for japanese food this time round. both sushi tei at vivocity and ichiban boshi at great world city do not accept reservations (anywhere futher than GW is probably unacceptable), so we ended up at at yuzu-shimizu at PSB building... i only found this place after doing some surfing. the restaurant was surprisingly nice, the decor was simple yet modern and they even gave us a private area.
[1] parents checking out the menu while waiting for bro and SIL to show up.
[2] the menus - the lunch sets are really value-for-money.
[3] spider maki, soft-shelled crab sushi with fish roe - this is the side dish which i ordered for all to share.
[4] mum happy with her tempura set.
[5] dad with his unagi set.
[6] that's my brother paper hot pot (with only ONE prawn).
[7] bro and SIL - nice shot.
[8] same as my dad, i had my favourite unagi. i don't think i can ever have a japanese meal without having some kind of unagi dish - it's a MUST-HAVE.
[9] the bf's food came soooooo late he was already half-full when his set meal arrived... anyway, that's us with our food!
[10-11] doesn't he look pleased with his yakiniku teishoku (thin sliced beef)?
[12] FULL-FULL!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
SURPRISE SURPRISE!
er, not so much of a surprise, but still - happy birthday, mummy pauline!
scribbled at 11:01 pm
.::.
er, not so much of a surprise, but still - happy birthday, mummy pauline!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
jigsaw night
this was what the five of us did on a saturday night, in 3+ hours.
scribbled at 11:30 pm
.::.
this was what the five of us did on a saturday night, in 3+ hours.
more sweden pictures!
i know this is way overdue. initially, i didn't want to post more sweden pictures, but yesterday i received an e-mail from the lekberg couple (we got to know mr. lekberg through work) with an attached photograph of the flowers they picked for the dining table while strolling in the woods, and i guess i need to mention how great it felt to be able to taste home-cooked chinese dishes after almost a week in sweden. they made us felt so much at home, and even took us for a stroll in the forest; their tremendous knowledge of wild plants and flowers really amazed me. isn't it cool to be able to pick your own wild mushrooms for your stew and cranberries for your juice? almost everything at their place is home-made, and not from the convenient store nearby.
[1] this is the bed & breakfast place we stayed for four nights in karlskoga.
[2] our first meal in karlskoga at the lekberg residence - typical swedish home food, which comprised of bread with a huge slab of cheese, meatballs, whole smoked salmon and potatoes with cream.
[3] this is one of my favourite during dinner - it's actually halved hard-boiled eggs topped with shrimps, mayonaise and caviar.
[4&5] back to nature, mrs. lekberg showing us the little wild flowers.
[6] they actually lit up the fireplace for us! although it was spring, the tempering was still hovering around 10-15 degC, and the warmth felt really good... see how comfortable i made myself. :P
[7] mrs. lekberg's char siew paus! she packed two each for us... after days of having the same cheese, ham and yoghurt for breakfast, this was undoubtedly a good change. the bread was soft and fluffy and the char siew was like the real ones you get locally... it's definitely not easy, considering the ingredients you need (especially when this is karlskoga, i'd seen only one asian tiny grocery shop)
[8] her cheese cake! i'm telling you it tasted better than it looks, and as promised, the recipe is already in my mailbox, hehe. i really should find some time to try it.
[9] picture with the lekberg family (including the son).
scribbled at 9:21 pm
.::.
i know this is way overdue. initially, i didn't want to post more sweden pictures, but yesterday i received an e-mail from the lekberg couple (we got to know mr. lekberg through work) with an attached photograph of the flowers they picked for the dining table while strolling in the woods, and i guess i need to mention how great it felt to be able to taste home-cooked chinese dishes after almost a week in sweden. they made us felt so much at home, and even took us for a stroll in the forest; their tremendous knowledge of wild plants and flowers really amazed me. isn't it cool to be able to pick your own wild mushrooms for your stew and cranberries for your juice? almost everything at their place is home-made, and not from the convenient store nearby.
[1] this is the bed & breakfast place we stayed for four nights in karlskoga.
[2] our first meal in karlskoga at the lekberg residence - typical swedish home food, which comprised of bread with a huge slab of cheese, meatballs, whole smoked salmon and potatoes with cream.
[3] this is one of my favourite during dinner - it's actually halved hard-boiled eggs topped with shrimps, mayonaise and caviar.
[4&5] back to nature, mrs. lekberg showing us the little wild flowers.
[6] they actually lit up the fireplace for us! although it was spring, the tempering was still hovering around 10-15 degC, and the warmth felt really good... see how comfortable i made myself. :P
[7] mrs. lekberg's char siew paus! she packed two each for us... after days of having the same cheese, ham and yoghurt for breakfast, this was undoubtedly a good change. the bread was soft and fluffy and the char siew was like the real ones you get locally... it's definitely not easy, considering the ingredients you need (especially when this is karlskoga, i'd seen only one asian tiny grocery shop)
[8] her cheese cake! i'm telling you it tasted better than it looks, and as promised, the recipe is already in my mailbox, hehe. i really should find some time to try it.
[9] picture with the lekberg family (including the son).