Afternoon Tea with Slug

Sneaked out of work in the late afternoon to have an enjoyable high tea with Slug at one of our favourite hangouts, Bao Today. Their dim sum just makes us keep coming back for more.

A gleaming egg tart

Fried prawn dumplings that MUST go with mayo

Siew mai topped with fish roe

Petite bo luo char siew buns

Steamed prawn dumplings topped with scallops

After that, Slug bought a HUMONGOUS candy floss for me. It appealed to my sweet tooth inititally, but sipping bits of that huge sugary pyramid made me sicker with every minute.

Candy floss larger than my head

By the time we met up with Bo for a jovial chat, the candy floss had gone straight to my kidneys. I could not believe Bo would be working overnight to salvage what was left of her corrupt SPSS file and having to deal with threatening calls from the office ghost (eek!).

My buddy for 11 years!

Christmas Eve Dinner at PRP

Went to our all-time favourite PRP to celebrate Christmas Eve. Had their luxurious Cantonese cuisine buffet which always gives us a thrill whenever we think about it.

On the way

When we got there, we were seated at a nicely decorated table and I was playing around with the Christmas ornaments and balloons while Slug was poring over the buffet menu.

We were still pondering over what to order when we overheard the captain telling another diner that the appetizers were laid out under the Christmas tree. You won't believe how we sprang off our seats and to the Christmas tree to enjoy some fleeting seconds of exclusivity to the appetizer table. Slug cleaned off half the tray of suckling pig morsels in one fell swoop. This appetizer was so coveted that I had to keep watch on the Christmas tree and whenever the chef brought a new tray out, I had to shamelessly play Fastest Tongs First with other kiasu combatants to seize the most pieces. The whole tray of forty pieces could be cleaned up by three people within seconds.

Our favourite suckling pig!

Christmas Eve is the best time to go for their buffets because the menu sees additional dishes that you can never find during other days. Besides the festive staples like turkey, honey ham and log cakes, the suckling pig stuff is one of them (that explains why we had to dash for them). There is also free flow of Peking duck (limited to two pieces per diner during normal days)!

To die for: fried prawn balls with salad sauce and walnuts

Peking duck bonanza

MJOW (the abalone tasted stale though)

Another to-die-for: steamed seabass Hong Kong-style!

Fried prawns with oats (with a special tinge of curry flavour)

Out of a sudden, an announcement was made and I thought they were rallying us to do some yam seng toast. It turned out to be their in-house Santa Claus and elf making their pompous entrance into the hall and distributing presents.

They gave us chocolates, sweeeeeeet!

There was a tantalizing array of desserts but I went straight for my favourites: chilled mango sauce with pomelo and longan almond jelly.

Feeling too drunken and bloated to go anywhere after dinner, we lazed around at their quiet lounge.

Nice oriental partition behind us

Under some Shinto gate

We took a lovely stroll to Esplanade, Boat Quay and all the way to Clarke Quay just to help a curious Slug locate the two statues of Stamford Raffles. Feeling pooped out at the end of the walk and wondering which bus to take home from Clarke Quay, we were suddenly ushered up a free chartered SBS bus, courtesy of Guinness. On the bus, there was a sexy elf who explained to us about the collaboration between Guinness and SBS to operate buses that will take party-goers to City Hall, Clarke Quay, Zouk and Orchard (in a loop) for free during Christmas and eve, and New Year and eve. I was impressed because it is a good initiative for drunkards whose legs may be too wobbly to drive or walk. According to the elf, there was even a booth at Clarke Quay where we can pick up free Guinness drinks. I started to whine about missing out on the free stuff when Slug stated matter-of-factly "Girls don't drink stout". Kill him and his sexist notions.

The bus took us through the highly-congested (with people) Orchard Road and we felt so lucky we were sitting in an air-conditioned bus instead of jostling with the sweaty crowd outside. Then we alighted at Orchard Emerald admist girly shrieks, frenzied spraying of foam and confetti, and loud wishes of 'Merry Christmas' from apparently 'over-high' youths.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Celebrations

Boss threw an advanced Christmas party for us today, and was very kind to sponsor about $300 for the food. The feast included roast chicken, ham, pizza, seafood platter, cake, a loaf of bread specially imported from Italy that costs $30, chips, beer, wine and fruits.

Diligent helpers preparing the food (while the rest of us looked on)

C cutting up the chicken

Boss looking at C apprehensively

We tried to make one another drunk with our stockpile of Merlot, Chardonnay and Carlsberg. Although Boss was earnestly telling us, "The Manual Code says no alcohol is allowed during office hours", we could hear from his faltering voice that he would soon succumb to the temptation of imbibing alcohol.

Maybe we were all a bit high from the merrymaking, we actually exhibited our true selves in front of a quiet Boss. We kept edging WK and CH to do the Hard Gay pelvic thrusts and the Backdorm boys impersonation. C was relishing the very expensive bread he recommended, because the wheat is made only in Itlay and that bread is only produced once a year. On knowing it was my birthday, Boss personally served me the cake and everyone sang me the Happy Birthday song (Aww~). CH annoyed me by pinching the Christmas ornaments (the reindeer, house and Santa) off my cake for his dogs (which I think will just swallow them and die). WK was making wild suggestions like setting like a smoking zone in the office, throwing such parties every week and even implementing a 3 1/2 day work week (1/2 day is reserved for the party).

WK doing the Hard Gay dance

Boss distributed presents for everyone, and we ended the party by drinking till the last drop (and of course, still leave at 6pm sharp).

Lately ...

My home underwent a horrendous renovation, as part of the upgrading programme for this neighbourhood. Our toilets were totally revamped, and doors and windows were changed. During these 11 days of construction furore, drilling was rampant. Workers were stamping around in their dirty boots pushing carts of cement. Sand, dust and cement bits were strewn all over the floor. And with our toilets looking like that ...

... I had to make do with a temporary toilet (which looked like those kinds used in Chinese funerals) that was installed in the middle of the kitchen. Life was tough without the shower heater.

Mum even came up with a hypothesis: The better you treat the workers (the Banglas and Chinese nationals), the better they will carry out their work. So she brewed barley and chrysanthemum drinks for them everyday, and even occasionally bought lunch for them. True enough, everything was completed in good condition, whereas the other neighbours (including 4th Aunt) who quarrelled with them, complained about them and fussed over trivial things received shoddy work like leaking pipes, poor cementing and gaping holes in the wall. You should have seen that gleeful smirk on her when she said that they even gave her free rubber stoppers for the windows.

Work is fine, because I enjoy writing about the roads.

Don't be fooled by my messy desk. The papers and notepad are just a facade to mask my daily surfing of the Net, playing of minesweeper, reading of magazines and even phone-chatting. There just isn't enough work to keep me busy.

I think I am starting to like Mum's stupid mangly Meow Meow, from all angles.

From the sweet and serene look ...

... to the cuteness ...

... to the weird contorted sleeping poses

Blood Donation

Went to the blood donation drive at PS during lunch time with my colleagues CH and WK. CH was not eligible to be a donor because he had taken flu tablets the day before, and to think he was the one who initiated coming here to donate blood.

So after all the filling up of the questionnaire, the interrogation by the medic, and the blood tests, it was time to extract blood. Even though this is not my first time at it, I still felt nervous. I mean, check out that needle that is piercing one of my arteries.

There it goes!

So my blood made its way from my arm to a little bag, but after some time, the attendant began to frown. "Your blood flows very slow huh," she said. I could not believe it, because the previous time I donated blood, the blood bag was filled within three minutes. I explained that it might be because of the sugary drinks that I have taken before I came here, and she intoned seriously "No, I think your blood has clotted." I went aghast at the thought of jellied blood wobbling inside me, and the attendant quickly said, "Oh, no lah, I mean your blood clotted inside the needle lah." Chey.

After a gruelling fifteen minutes with the offensive needle under my skin and many tiring arm exercises that I have to do (to stimulate blood flow), the attendant decided not to wait for the blood bag to be full. I realised my blood flow practically stopped. When I asked if the three-quarter full bag of blood is sufficient, she said, "Okay lah, enough for baby".

Some joker came over to take pictures of the donors (which they can collect the free prints after the donation), and I wasn't feeling the best.

Another attendant came over and bandaged my arm with some very rough and sticky bandage, and he asked what colour I wanted. Trying to be difficult, I said purple, thinking he would not have such a colour. To my surprise he whipped out a lavender coloured bandage! WK was pissed because he was not even given the choice and got slapped with a neon green one.

Then we had free drinks (Milo!) and biscuits at their resting booth while we waited for our prints.

WK, me and CH

When we left the blood donation booth, I was about to pull them along for shopping when CH sternly reminded us that we had the boldness to take three hours to donate blood (and during office hours!). Spoiler.

The ugly bruise

KTV with Slug and WY

Boss was on leave, so sneaked out to sing KTV with Slug and WY on a rainy afternoon!

We sang a string of weird songs. I sang Chinese songs from the 70's, like 爱你一万年 by 尤雅. Slug sang Hokkien songs, and his (and mine) favourite is 三号妈咪 by 陈金浪.

Very sexy Hokkien song

WY was the worst. He sang 迎春花 by 费玉清, but the most ridiculous was Thousand Legged Worm and Slug actually sang along too!

Two grown men purring like kittens in this song

Full Troop Exercise at Fort Canning Tunnel

I had the opportunity to attend a full troop exercise (sort of like a safety drill) at the yet-to-be-opened Fort Canning Tunnel. Involving LTA, SCDF and SPF, it was an exercise testing the safety facilities in the tunnel, like jet fans, water hydrants and other emergency features.

Outside and inside the tunnel (with a flashy vest and an oversized helmet)

A make-believe situation about a lorry that has caught fire was created, and after the detection devices in the tunnel had spotted the incident, the emergency unit was notified and the SCDF firefighters were dispatched to put out the fire and move away the 'casualties' (which were actually some dummies).

After the exercise, CH and I helped ourselves to a lavish high-tea buffet at the site office. There were spaghetti, chicken kebab, sushi, seafood salad, nachos and free flow of Milo! Yoohoo!

So in the event of any vehicle breakdown or fire (highly unlikely, I would say) in the tunnel, there is actually a set of procedures to follow to maintain order and ensure safety. Sigh, I would have to write on that for Boss soon.

Tea at Sakae Sushi

Boss was on leave today, so sneaked out of work to go shopping with Slug at Marina Square. We made it in time for the high tea buffet at Sakae Sushi, and my, was it value for money!

The buffet not only consisted of free flow of sushi, but also a serving of seaweed or beancurd udon, a portion of Strawberry Smile and two portions of watermelon for each person. All for a cheap $18.90++!

A big bowl of chawanmushi

Our favourite ebi fry and soft shell crab handrolls (and gyozas and tempura crabsticks)

The best part was the Strawberry Smile. It is a frozen strawberry with yoghurt in its centre and dipped with white chocolate!

Shweet!

I think our cravings for big feasts are getting out of control, but ... who's complaining?

I suspect I won't be smiling that smugly when I step onto the weighing scales at the end of this week.

Dinner at Lemongrass

Had a great makeover at Shiseido, and got some free makeup samples (I have a shameless penchant for free stuff)! It was a depressing rainy day so Slug suggested having dinner at Lemongrass. The thought of having a feast always lifts our spirits.

We had fried chicken in honey sauce (pure thick honey!), fried soft shell crabs (in big chunks) with garlic, and Slug's favourite fish maw with crabmeat soup. They were really generous with the crabmeat morsels, but I hated the fish maw with its plastic taste so I dumped all of them to a more-than-grateful Slug. I cannot believe Greedy Slug actually ate up all the garnishes (lettuce, parsley and some weird orange fruit) in the dishes.

Chalet Day 2

We were all snuggling in bed until we were awakened by Henglip's robust singing and the high-pitched squeaks of the worms in Haoling's game. Why are they up so early? It was only 11+am. Wee took the initiative to yell at Henglip to shut up, but it was in vain. Not long later, we started to hear some mellifluous Hawaiian music and thinking that it came from Haoling's laptop, I called her to lower the volume. No, it wasn't her, she said. It was only much later that I realised that the Hawaiian music was coming from the speakers installed all over the chalet compound. Ah Sir was the numbskull who opened the windows to let in the Hawaiian invasion, and I was the numbskull who switched off the fan and the stuffiness bothered Ah Sir to get up to open the windows.

After we were finally willing to get out of bed, we had beehoon for lunch and played mahjong with Kar Cheng. Kar Cheng the bigot grilled Haoling with stupid questions about God and His friends. Later in the afternoon we went for a dip in the pool but sadly the sun was nowhere to be seen. After the swim, the rest of the folks had come and it was buffet time! All the spring rolls, salad youtiao, big prawns, luohan zai, and even yam paste!

After dinner, we went to stone at the beach and played catching at the kiddie indoor playground. Kar Cheng and Henglip plunged into the pool after that, and since we were sweating and feeling sticky, Wee and I followed suit. I had to exhibit some maniacal defence moves to ward off Kar Cheng and Henglip from flinging me into the pool, and they were really bewildered. I could not believe Kar Cheng actually went to consult some fat BLACK society kid on the art of somersaulting into the pool.

We had to leave early because Henglip had an exam paper the next day. Haha, to think he actually brought his lecture notes to the chalet last night and firmly proclaim that he was going to study, but ended up slacking with us.

Till next year.

Chalet Day 1

It's the annual chalet again, and my, how time seems to fly and all of us are once again together for a warm reunion at the boring Aloha Loyang.

Mum made a huge pot of stewed pork bun, tapioca kueh and orange jelly a la Marigold for the potluck dinner. The stewed pork bun is always a hit, because I always see Ah Ma gorging on the fatty pork without the bun, Wee gorging on the bun without the pork and Ah Ping gorging on the whole thing (and lots of them). Anyway it was a rare occasion for me to enjoy badly burnt barbequed chicken wings, satay and otah.

Halfway through eating, I undertook an important responsibility of catching and tickling Ah Gim's two kids (Gordon is so adorable!) while Wee had to be Mister Dragon (what fuck is that). It was a headache looking at those two hyper imps running to and fro in front of me for a full thirty minutes. Grabbing them was worse, I got my hands full of sweat and slime for doing that.

Haoling brought along a cute combat game about worms which kept Henglip (the kamikaze Bacon), her and me entertained while Wee and Ah Sir were flagrantly ripping techno songs from my handphone. After the dinner, we went to the seaside to brainstorm for lame jokes and ghost stories. Yeah, it has come to the extent where we really had to scour our brains for entertaining fodder, whereas in the past, we could not wait for our turn to speak. We ended up talking about Paris Hilton. How dry can this get?

We were amused with our folly when we overstayed the time limit of the gate to the chalet compound. The bicycle shop staff were apathetic towards our plight, and the security guard was patrolling in some twilight zone. So all the way we trudged back through the sandy beach and the muddy fields while Wee spoilt the serenity of the beach by warbling along to her newly snitched techno songs.

At around midnight, the older folks left, leaving Ah Sir, Wee, Henglip, Haoling and me to guard our chalet and protect a sleeping Ah Ma. So it was time to bathe, and I brought everything but my toothbrush and toothpaste. I checked with the rest of them and only Ah Sir brought a teeny weeny tube of toothpaste which probably was only enough to cover her upper deck of teeth. To my horror, they did not even bring their shower equipment. Very smart.

After that, it was a few rounds of mahjong before we watched Kung Fu Hustle (not that we were very eager to, but it was the most watchable among the three DVDs Haoling brought) on her laptop. Thanks to Wee, we had to eat her favourite Char Mee. As usual, Ah Sir had this very annoying tendency to secretly fall asleep while we were engrossed in the movie. Do not ever invite her to any midnight suppers or movie marathons or pyjama party.

We finally decided we had enough of Kung Fu Hustle at 5.30am and went to sleep.

10 Things About the Motorshow

Finally finished my enjoyable stint at the Motorshow. I even had the chance to catch the Subaru stunt show by Russ Swift (twice, in fact). Below are some gravity-defying acts (Warning: Loud screeching sounds will damage your hearing).





He isn't a wussy when it comes to reverse parking!

For the next two stunts, fun-seekers had to bid for a prized seat beside Russ. I would say it is well-worth the money because you cannot fool around with your car like this on Singapore roads.





At the end of the stunt, one of the passengers was asked how he felt, and to which he exclaimed breathlessly "It is like a centrifuge!" There was an awkward silence as everyone looked lost. I was groaning to myself 'Don't use big words.' He even dared to continue "Do you all know what is a centrifuge?", and before he could begin his impromptu explanation, Russ quickly shooed him away.

After the show, I went for the test-drive. It was so fun that I had to go for another round. The cheeky speed demons took us in their Subarus and sped, drifted and brushed shoulders with pillars. The windows were wound down, and all the wind, the smoke and the screeching tyres - I deliriously lapped them all up.

Ten things that I have garnered about the Motorshow

1) Different beauty standards - I must say the most attractive race queens of the whole Motorshow were stationed at a booth (manned by a car brand from China) next to mine. They had fair and flawless skin, curvy bodies and looked totally stunning with makeup. I was quite surprised to observe that the other models from big brands (like from Japan and Korea) could not match up to those beauties.

2) Pretty boots that hide a secret - Black boots, white boots, PVC boots, leather boots, knee-high boots ... You cannot catch a race queen without her boots. Although they really look good on leggy models, the lack of ventilation causes a weird smell to be concocted in between their toes. I was gagging when this model in the toilet cubicle beside mine took off her boots, and there was an unmistakeable 'salted fish' smell wafting through the air.

3) People are generally nice - 9 in 10 of them would take brochures from me when I was distributing them. Some were courteous enough to say "Thank you" with a big grin. I guess the trick is to flash them a smile that is oozing with sincerity and thank them for accepting a piece of coloured paper that will probably end up wastefully in the bin anyway. Those who did not give me face received a profanity mouthed behind their backs.

4) "Confirm free or not?" - This was the most asked question when I encouraged interested people to sign up to be members of a motoring portal that my booth was promoting. My first assurance that it is definitely free never registered on them because they had to ask the same question again a few more times. When they were finally convinced that it would not rob them of their dollars to be members, their next question was "Got goodie bag / free gifts or not?"

5) Die also must find - Speaking of free, no unfamiliar territory can stop them from hunting down freebies. "Where to collect the free ice-cream?" and "Where is the lucky draw box?" are the two most popular work-unrelated enquiries that I have encountered.

6) Freebies galore - You will be surprised at the freebies that the exhibitors gave away: Mazda calendars, Subaru fans, Bridgestone tyre pressure gauges, 1 year's free supply of petrol from SPC, limited edition Ferrari merchandise, Wall's ice-cream, AIG watches, Nescafe coffee etc etc (and even carabiner pens and air fresheners from my booth). I had a helpful colleague who helped me jostle with the crowd to lay his hands on an exquisite miniature car from Nissan.

My first car!

But I would rather have this

7) Kiasuism in the works - When it comes to freebies, you have to respect Singaporeans for their highly 'competitive' spirits and perseverance. Just look at most of them amassing goodie bags and brochures from various booths. Just look at the 4-booth long queue for the Nissan miniature cars which only 48 sets were given out at selected times of the day. Just look at the even longer queue for the free tickets to watch Russ Swift's stunts. I am sure they have gotten back the value of their ticket with the free coffee, free ice-cream, free performance (for some only), freebies and views of the race queens and the Lambo.

8) Snobbish exhibitors - They pissed me off. I hated the skeptical looks that I got from the exhibitors from Toyota, Lexus and Suzuki when I was asking them for their price lists. I may not have the look of a million bucks now, but someday I will show them.

9) Singaporeans are a photographic bunch - Everyone just had to record Russ's stunts digitally for their own viewing pleasure later, and the way they tailed Russ's Subaru with their camera devices was even smoother than the Kallang Wave.

10) I love the Motorshow - because my mission to promote the motoring portal to the public there was only secondary to sneaking out for shopping breaks, enjoying test drives, sipping coffee, napping and enjoying massages with OSIM iDesire in the exihibitor lounge. And I got to know many pleasant people from other departments, and they really made my working experience enjoyable. Definitely better than holing up in the office.


Look forward to the next Motorshow in 2008!

Motorshow 2006

Boss sent me to man a booth at the Motorshow at Suntec. Today is only my second day. I was busy gazing at the cars and race queens, sipping coffee and enjoying massages with OSIM iSqueeze at the lounge, and sneaking out for some shopping quickies.

Here are some of the beauties at the Motorshow:

Lexus LFA with such a smackable backside

An unconventional Toyota make

Newcomer Orochi

Who can miss this Lambo?

I am in love with this vintage TD2000.

Cute windscreen and wipers!

This is one sexy car made mainly of plastic with millions of tiny Swarovski crystals embedded in it. It practically glitters under light.

zaZen from Rinspeed

Its interior is completely orange!

F1 racing car adorned with Bridgestone tyres

Sporting a cute Bridgestone wet-and-stick-on tattoo

Sexy siren Ferrari

Cute car from Suzuki

A flashy car with an impressive in-built Sony audio system. Bring on the techno!




Tiring day ... And I still have four more days to go ...