Is this a cool photo or what???



These wonderful people are part of the funkiest team in church - the media ministry!! Groovy baby :)

Well, am now in the midst of editing articles and putting together the third issue of our newsletter (due out in July). Apart from that, I have a LEAP assignment that is basically untouched.

Am currently reading C S Lewis' "Mere Christianity". I have to say, he is terribly pedantic. But pedantic people make good teachers. Still, I much prefer "The Chronicles of Narnia". Ah well, I really ought to get to my assignment now.

Ooh, the IOC will be in town soon!! We're all gearing up for that and looking forward to it so much! I know I am but my colleagues are running around like headless chooks, stressing over it. I'm glad I don't have to do anything. Yet. Heh.

Ok, really got to get to my assignment now.

My colleagues were arm wrestling today. And comparing muscle definition. It was totally hilarious :)

So I went to watch Initial D. No plot, no storyline, abrupt ending. But OH. OH. OH. OH. Puh-lenty of EYE CANDY :) Granted, I don't follow the comic series and I know this movie is just for the Schumacher (forgive the spelling if it's wrong. I'm no F1 fan) wannabes and the car-fanatics but I will also say that it was made for girly girls like me who can't help having a crush or two on Jay Chou, Edison Chen and Shawn Yue. And not necessarily in that order too. I basically spent the two hours having an ogle-fest, trying to decide for myself who was cuter. I think it's even a little paedophilic because I don't think they're older than I am. But OH. They are SO cute. I like. I like very much :)

Ok, I'm off to watch Desperate Housewives now. Shucks. That just sounds wrong after gushing about young boys. Ugh.

I am back from a weekend cruise with the family. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. I was glad for time spent with the folks but at the same time, glad to be back where there is mobile reception and where jogging and looking out at the sea simultaneously doesn't make me want to throw up last night's dinner.

I've never counted myself racist. Prior to this weekend, I'd always thought I was racially tolerant. Until I found myself living on a ship where 95% of the passengers were of that particular race. From that particular country. Just so I don't incriminate myself (you know how us bloggers can get sued for anything now from posting naked pictures of ourselves to making racist remarks), we shall call them Zyrgs. From the country that is Zrygia.

Now, I have nothing against Zyrgs. But I found them to be incredibly rude and obnoxious. Every single Zyrg man, woman and child had blatant disrespect for the concept of queues. None of them thought it rude to push past the rest of us who were queueing. It didn't matter what the queue was for. The Zyrgs just had to be first. At the head of the queue. Always. Like their existence, hell, the entire Zyrgian community, depended on it. So anyway, I thought I'd stand up for myself and plant myself firmly on the ground with the full intention of obstructing the next Zyrg who tried to push past me. The unfortunate Zyrg was a small girl. I will not say "little girl" because that conjures up images of cute pink dress, cherubic smile and ponytails. This girl was none of the above. She was mean. And so she used whatever strength she had to push against me. Of course I feigned ignorance as I am so capable of doing, and simply stood still. Now, it doesn't take much effort from me to resist the push of a small girl so I didn't have to exert much force and could look nonchalant. The small girl, however, looked up at me with horror that I would not let a Zyrg child pass. Too bad for her. She met someone who thought she needed to learn some manners.

So that was one of the many awful encounters with Zyrgs throughout the trip. Another small child (this time a snooty little boy sitting with his mother) called out to a waiter and went "You! Time?" Waiters are not your clocks, boy. Ask them nicely. For example, "Excuse me, do you have the time?" And not just "TIME?" like they were your butler. So very, very rude.

The adults were just plain obnoxious, making a lot of noise throughout and interrupting my tranquil time on a deck chair with my book. They had to come along and occupy every other deck chair available in that stretch and shout to one another. The one seated on my left shouted to the one seated on my right. Yes, they shouted over me. And it's not like the deck chairs were miles apart. They were adjacent to each other.

I never knew I could be so irritated with Zyrgs. They've never bugged me till now. It is going to take much effort to make me like Zyrgs again. I know I'm far from perfect myself. But that doesn't mean others need to be obnoxious.

Apart from the Zyrgs, the cruise went well. Quite happy. Will update more tomorrow.

I have my eyes set on this baby:



This be-oootiful darling from Coach will set me back $600 if I so decide to dip into my trust fund. Of course if I had a trust fund, I wouldn't be here sitting in front of the computer typing, wishing I had a trust fund.

But it is such a be-ooooootiful darling, no?

Why can't luxury goods be cheap? *pout* Oh shut up, all you smart-alecky economists. *pout*

Muji sells bicycles.

So I walk into Muji at Bugis Junction and I almost fall over 2 bicycles. I know, they're not exactly small things that you trip over but who in the world would have expected BICYCLES in Muji???

It was great as a stationery store. Then they started selling clothes. And powdered soup. And drain water disguised as milk tea. Then glassware. And cutlery. Now bicycles.

What will they sell next? Perfume? God forbid.

Anyway, here are some pix from Saturday, courtesy of Cheryl:


Pho Chine at Wisma


Cheesy smile

After a long period of abstinence (2 months, I think), I broke my no-booze-loud-music-late-night-smoke-infused-surroundings rule. And where better to break it than at Wala Wala :) The Unexpected was playing as they do every Saturday night but last night, they were goooood. Or maybe it was because I hadn't heard them in so long. Or maybe they were just playing my favourite songs. Or maybe Brandon is still so cute!!! Anyhow, I enjoyed myself and managed to ingest half a half pint (does that make it a quarter pint?) of Hoegaarden before realising I was on medication and probably shouldn't be drinking. But eeet was niiiice... :)

It's a lazy Sunday arvo. The absolute best thing to do on such a lazy day is to be lazy. Never one to buck the trend, I shall head off to bed. Nite!

Today, I managed to get superglue on my fingers and trip over myself a billion times. Just the day before, I had a spectacular fall at a traffic junction in Bugis. I'm such a hazard to myself. It's totally killing the image. Totally.

Anyway, here's today's review for you voracious eaters and readers. Our nice ad agency bought boss and I lunch today at Melt. For the uninitiated, Melt, is the new buffet concept by Oriental (and every other hotel, it seems).

TODAY'S MENU

What: Melt - The World Cafe
Where: The Oriental Singapore
Opening Hours: 12noon - 2.30pm (Lunch), 6.30pm - 10.30pm (Dinner)
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Price: $32+++ (Lunch), $39+++ (Dinner)


With half the number of buffet stations that The Line has, Melt comes across cosier and more subdued as opposed to the hip and trendy outfit that is The Line. The brown and red interiors make for a soothing visual experience the moment you enter, very much in line with the rest of the recently-revamped hotel.


Of special mention is the service at Melt. Almost flawless, the chefs and wait staff are on hand to assist in making recommendations at the different counters or help dish a fidgety omelette rice package onto your plate. My plate always made a quiet disappearance once I was done with the round. Only gripe I have is that they clear your cutlery without replacing it.


Food-wise, expect slightly above-average quality. The veal was excellent though, so was the lamb cutlet which was surprisingly tender. An interesting twist came in the form of fruit naan. Yes, my naan had bits of strawberries which made for a very pleasant tang. As usual, there are Thai, Indian, Western, Japanese and dessert counters. Nine stations in all. And yes, there is also a chocolate fountain. Not one, but two. One milk, one white. However, the milk chocolate fountain wasn't loaded with enough chocolate and looked like metal trays stacked on top of one another, dripping with chocolate. If operated properly, like the one at The Line, you shouldn't even be able to see the metal trays.


For dessert, there are shot glasses filled with various treats in refrigerated glass pull-out drawers. I had a miniature glass of wine jelly with mandarin orange and lychee. Deliciously refreshing but a little heavy on the alcohol. The waffles were not to my liking though. Toppings were aplenty, from mini eggs to peanut butter and fruit, but the waffles themselves lacked flavour and ended up very bland. The butter quotient was definitely lacking.


A good place to go if you want to avoid the lunchtime crowd at The Line. At $32 per person, it makes it a rather worthwhile trip to head to Melt. Oh, and the restaurant manager himself is quite a dish ;) Ashton Kutcher lookalike in a pin-striped suit with a sexy European accent. Hey, he more than made up for the bland waffles :)


Verdict: Go ahead, give it a shot (and while you're at it, I wouldn't mind the manager's number :))

Work has been pretty relaxing lately and that's pretty worrying. I don't know if it's the calm before the storm but I'm certainly cautious.

Haven't gone out in a while. A month, to be exact. It's not like I've been anti-social or anything. I guess I just lost the groove. A bit like Austin Powers losing his mojo. Or maybe not. I miss it a little I think. I mean, I could do without the smoke and the resultant eyebags/bad skin, but I do miss the chilling out.

I think I've become a boring old hag. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go down to the community centre to play bingo with the other old hags.

I am back.

I have to say it was an uneventful 3 days. Oh well, at least it was nice not to have been at work for so long (it felt long).

Today, my regular review column will focus on PCK the Musical instead. Yes, I know you love my food reviews and there are heaps of you out there who cannot wait for the next installment of Today's Menu, but I have to do what I have to do. And that is to write reviews. And because I haven't exactly been anywhere new lately, Today's Menu will just have to wait till tomorrow. Bad pun intended.

Ok, so on to PCK the Musical. I shall try to be completely objective here but it's gonna be tough cos dear Andrew is a member of the cast. Or as the program booklet says, "Crony 1" :) Actually, I have forgotten somewhat how to write a theatrical review. The last one I did was for an assignment in uni for my "Introduction to Drama" unit. But anyway, we'll muddle through somehow. Here we go:

PCK THE MUSICAL

Completely Singaporean in nature, this production feels like something you would expect from a National Day Parade performance. True to NDP style, the musical blatantly injects patriotic sentiments in various forms, to remind every single man, woman and child in the audience that Singapore is turning 40 this year. I must say, though, that it was very effective because prior to this, I had no idea how old Singapore was (shame on me).

The young PCK is played by an equally young girl. Yes, girl. With an opening solo done in a mesmerising angelic voice, the femininity of the voice was slightly disturbing, knowing full well that girl is supposed to be PCK. One wonders why a boy could not have been cast instead. Surely there are plenty of boys with sweet angelic voices too (think Vienna Boys Choir).

The first few songs felt a little out of control, with the balance between the orchestra and the voices being very uneven. Quite often, the orchestra drowned out the voices such that you could not make out what the actor was singing. Diction was also unclear most of the time, causing you to strain to make out the words of the song. That said, credit must go to Neo Swee Lin for her crisp enunciations. It was an absolute pleasure to hear her sing and know exactly what shewas singing.

A pleasant surprise came in the form of Gurmit Singh. His pronunciation was much better than usual and he can actually sing! Although he sounded breathless some times (who can blame the man? He was running around most of the time), his clear voice carried his emotions across well.

Lim Kay Siu delivered a fine performance as the scheming Frankie Foo. His amusing antics were genuinely funny, although it was a little difficult to make out what he was singing. Other than that, he executed his part fairly well.

On the whole, the performance was entertaining. The fact that it is not a production with a large budget has not prevented it from successfully trying hard. If this is the beginning of a line of local musicals (post-Dick Lee era), then I must say that the future of Singaporean-born-and-bred musicals looks very bright. However, I'm hoping the next local musical doesn't plaster us with nationalist sentiments. Let's leave that to NDP.

Alright, so there's my awkward 2 cents' worth on PCK the Musical. I really should concentrate on doing food reviews. It feels so weird reviewing a production. Anyway, I had a fun night. The performance was really quite entertaining and it was amusing to hear jibes in the script about Mr Lua's bald head :) So here's me doing my bit of publicity - GO WATCH THE MUSICAL. Ok, and now it's time for bed. Goodnight everyone.

*Exit stage left*

I am soooo tired now. Went for 2 workouts today in an attempt to finish up my gym sessions. Why do I do this to myself? Ugh. Muscle ache, muscle ache. Ugh.

Anyway, I thought I'd do another food review today. So if you're hungry, read on. If not, well, read on anyway:

Today's Menu

What: Va Va Voom Cafe (I know, I know, it's not a pretty name...)

Where: 470, North Bridge Road, #01-05

Opening Hours: Umm... not too sure. Pretty standard though.

Dress Code: Casual

Price: About $10 per person

Nothing about this place gives away the fact that it is a French-Vietnamese Cafe. Except maybe the traditional Vietnamese straw hats hung unobtrusively in a corner. Otherwise, this place is modern, cosy and chilloutable.

Before you even set your mind thinking about the food, make sure you check off your drinks on the self-order chit. Go for the Lemongrass with Honey or the Plum Lime Soda. The former is delightfully refreshing while the latter offers a tangy perk guaranteed to stimulate your senses.

The owner is a friendly chap who offers his recommendations but is also honest about his food. When we placed our order, he asked if it was our first time here. Upon learning that we were Va Va Voom virgins (!), he told us that we probably shouldn't go for the Sugarcane Prawns. We went with his recommendation instead - the Morning Glory salad with beef. It turned out to be a rather interesting display of beef placed on top of a bed of greens, sprinkled with shallots. Not a bad choice really.

The Summer Roll was another dish easy on the palate. It was basically two spring rolls in Vietnamese rice paper, each sliced in half, accompanied by a sweet sauce. Nice minty taste and generally very refreshing. The next table had the silken tofu though and that looked delicious too, expecially with the golden crust. We will try that the next time.

For mains, I had the Stir-fried spicy beef with lemongrass and rice. It looked like beef curry and tasted like beef curry. Not all that fantastic. Nothing very French nor Vietnamese again. My lunch companions had bowls of beef noodles in soup, all of which looked more palatable, except for the rather raw beansprouts which they ended up picking out.

Verdict: Generally a good place to chill out and have light snacks or salads. There's a comfy-looking couch in the corner as well, along with some magazines and poker cards. Hang out but don't hold your breath for the Vietnamese food. For the price though, it's not too shabby.

That's all for tonight, folks. I will be away on a retreat from tomorrow (Friday) till Sunday. We'll talk then. Bye!

So the birthday was not fantastic. And there will not be a review on Corduroy and Finch because we did not manage to get a table. I'll do the review next time. Anyway, here are some pix:


At the office with the durian cake my colleagues bought me. Btw, that's not my desk I'm at.


Cake again.


And for those of you who can't get enough of The Line, here's a picture of the chocolate fountain I was talking about. Got this off The Straits Times:


That, my friends, is pure liquid French chocolate.

Bon Appetit!

Since it appears to be rather trendy to do food reviews on blogs these days, I thought I should start my own review column. Righto, without further ado, I present:

TODAY'S MENU

Ok, so I could have thought of a better title for my review but I'M writing it so if you have better suggestions, flooble me and I'll consider them. Today's review will be on the swanky new outfit by Shangri-La. Here we go:

What: The Line

Where: Shangri-La Singapore, Lower Lobby, Tower Wing

Opening Hours: 24hrs

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Price: Cringe-worthy.

You know you're at The Line when the service staff are decked out in black and white stripes. Good call by the designer. First thoughts as I surveyed the huge variety of options laid out before me - trendy. So immaculately trendy. The clean lines and colours were perfectly subtle, leaving the food to take centrestage. And rightly so. The many counters seemed to be neverending in their quest to satiate the hungriest man on earth. Making your rounds is akin to a trip to the Louvre. You can't sample everything. You just have to focus on a particular cuisine or course (eg. appetiser, entree or dessert) and then conquer the rest at another time. If your wallet and waistline so permit, that is.

As a rough guide, expect the counters to offer fresh seafood, pasta, sushi, noodles, Indian food, salads, soups, dim sum, desserts, fruits and drinks.

Not to be missed items include the fabulous lobster salad, presented in lovely clear glasses. The tender lobster meat is perfectly paired with a smooth dressing and fresh garden greens. The petite serving size also means you won't fill up at the expense of other food. At the same time, you're free to help yourself to as many glasses as you wish. They do really believe you are the hungriest person on earth.

The beef tenderloin with mushrooms was, simply put, tender. A pleasant surprise came in the form of a potato cake (think fish cake size) with golden brown hints on the outside, held together with a rich cream and butter. Heaven.

Dessert is a must-have. Go for the crepes with chocolate brownie centres and the tiny cups of rich liquid chocolate. The ice cream counter is filled with varieties of toppings ranging from gummy bears to chocolate balls and Oreo cookies. Kids will love the everflowing chocolate fountain with skewers of huge crimson strawberries and sticks of pink and white marshmallow twirls, all on hand to coat lovingly with velvety chocolate.

The only downside - be prepared to fork out about S$50 per person for the buffet lunch. But for the sheer amount and variety of food made available to you, it's not a bad price to pay. What's more difficult than parting with your cash is probably parting with the excess weight you'll put on after a trip to The Line.

Verdict: Great. Go if you are hungry.

That's all for today folks. Check back tomorrow for a special update and yet another installment of Today's Menu on up-and-coming Corduroy and Finch. Bye for now!

I am cherishing my last days of being 24. It's a little intimidating to be hitting the quarter-of-a-century mark. I think this is when birthdays start to scare you and you hope and pray that they're delayed somehow. They always seemed more fun when you were a kid. Back then, there was the huge cake, presents, parties, games, food etc. Now, if you're lucky, you get one or two sms greetings from the faithful ones and a red packet from the folks. The last time I had a proper celebration was the year in Perth when my cell group kidnapped Mei En and myself. I must have talked about this a hundred times :) But it was one of the most memorable birthdays I ever had :) Last year was horrible. The then-boyfriend got angry with me for something that was totally his fault (he lost his way while driving and got irritated) and threw a major temper tantrum. And refused to sit next to me at dinner. On my birthday. How ungentlemanly can you get?? It's the worst thing to have somebody make you cry on your birthday. It really is. I was very thankful though for the very very thoughtful phone calls from Kel and Derek to make sure I was ok. I guess you really know who your friends are in difficult times.

So ok, that was one long paragraph. I shall be spending my 25th birthday looking the pudgiest I've ever been. Never mind lah. I shall just keep the weighing scale out of sight. I'm not obsessing about my weight, in case that's what you guys are thinking. I just have selective attention. Alright, where's the ice cream? Hey, I went jogging today so I'm alright...