I really should be doing work but...

Ionno, just feeling pretty good these days... I just feel really loved. :) I keep forgetting to post an entry about this japanese place I went to. It's called izumi or something, in north park, and the food's really good. Not as traditional as Kikuya, but they're pretty generous and the fish is really fresh!

We had the fresh tuna salad. The tuna chunks were marinated in a sesame oil-based sauce, and was yummy with the microgreens.

Next on, I had the seared scallops. It was tasty in a soy-based sauce, with fish roe on top. A tad too salty tho, and the scallops were kinda small, and a little dry. Nonetheless, definitely above average!


I had the stuffed orange roll, which was essentially spicy scallops in the roll with fresh salmon around it. I actually like this, they were generous with the rice, and even though it was only 4 pieces, I felt real full after it. The salmon sashimi was really good, especially the thick chunks.


We went to this dessert shop after, where I had the strawberry fraiche. The filling was sweet custard and strawberry sauce, and layered with a coating of whipped cream. The strawberries weren't overly sour, and the cake was moist and not overly sweet. For custard lovers like Jenn, this would prolly hit the spot.

Went to the Fish Market @ Del Mar too, cuz Mike's mum was here for a week.


I had my usual swordfish with basil cherry tomatoes and potato gratin. The fish was a tad tough this time, and not as melt-in-yr-mouth as I remember, but overall it was good.

I had the triple berry crisp with vanilla ice cream, and it was really good! Heaps better than that crap I had at extraordinary desserts. The berries weren't too sour, and it was sweet against the milky vanilla ice cream. I love it. :D

Okay guess I should go back to work.

"The monkey on your back is the latest trend, and I'm your biggest fan" :)

Life is like finding a parking space.

It's funny how you can suddenly develop an epiphany doing the most mundane things. I was trying to find a parking lot at my apartment complex when one suddenly crept on me. Now, it's incredibly hard to find a parking lot after I wanna say 8pm everyday, including the weekends, because my apartment complex is mostly occupied by low-life graduate students with their boring families who does nothing but wheel their kids around the apartment blocks. That said, I wasn't hoping to find a spot close to my block when I got home from gym at 9 plus. So imagine my thrill when I found one which was moderately close to my block, maybe about two blocks away from my place. As I was getting out of the car, and headed towards the mailbox to get my mail, this car reversed out from its lot from RIGHT OUTSIDE my house! As I was getting into my car to park at that new spot (by now, you guys must think I'm incredibly lazy, to drive two blocks instead of walking, with the soaring gas prices and all that, but in my defense, I just purchased a shitload of groceries that I need to carry home. So there!), this car zoomed past me and subsequently parked the car even before I could start my engine.

So right now, you're prolly thinking wth am I blabbering about? The thing I realized is that life is like finding a parking lot. You have your lot in life, just like cars have their parking lots. There's no point in fighting for other people's lots, because some things are just meant to be.

Now, I'm not saying that you should be resigned to your fate and just sulk in your very lousy parking lot, but what I'm saying is that one should be content with his lot (pun intended), and there is no point at all in being overly envious and jealous of other people's lots.

Believe me, I've tried means to prevent people from taking my very good lot at times, but well, it doesn't always work, just like how there's good times and bad times, and rather than being angry and mad when you got a bad lot, just bear in mind that the race is long, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you get excellent parking lots, sometimes you get sulky ones.

So seek comfort that you got a lot, as sulky as it is. Sometimes you don't even get a lot, and have to park super far away in the other apartment complex. There's always bound to be someone worse off than you, so cherish what you have, and appreciate them for their good instead of myopically looking at the bad in your life. Like what my friend Terence said, some people can't even make it home to find a parking lot......

Like one of my favorite sayings of all time " God gave me the strength to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference".

Shepard's pie!

I realize that my blog is kinda like my stand-in boyfriend. I started this blog when I launched into singlehood, and I think it was my channel of ranting, and talking about my everyday life. Ah, the comfort of confiding in my posts.

Anyways, I made shepard's pie! It used to be one of my favorite foods when I was little. I remember always staying over at my cousin's, and the maid will make spaghetti with ground beef and mushroom, AND shepard's pie! I used to eat soooo much. :P So anyways, my shit attempt at making it. It tastes soooooo good. :) I'm pretty amazed. I ddi a twist on it, instead of putting carrots and peas, I put cauliflower, and I used fat-free milk and low fat butter to make the mashed potatoes, red-skin potatoes (more nutritious) and added a good amt of basil to heighten the taste of the beef. Well, it really does taste like the best thing I've ever made! :P Brings me back to the good old days...

I am so lame.

Aight, sorry for being so lame these two weeks. The thought of writing a post has crossed my mind umpteen times, but nothing draws to mind! The last two weeks has been so uneventful and monotonous. Unless I want to complain about the never-ending work and classes, of course, but I'm sure you guys have better things to do than to hear me go on and on about work.

Went to a casino night organized by the taiwanese association today. It was really fun! It kinda felt like the prom cuz everyone was dressed up in slinky dresses and shirts and ties. The theme was red and gold, so you can imagine, red and gold balloons, glittery butterflies on glass vases adorned with spring flowers. Very tasteful. Didn't drink much and ate quite a bit of food. The DJ was really good tho, feels like he was playing the hiphop playlist off my ipod. Heh.

I feel fat. I was sick all last week and didn't go to the gym. And the week before that, I was in London, so I didn't get to go to gym. I went this Mon and that was it. I did contemplate going today, but I just couldn't physically get my arse off my bed.

I slept around 12 hours today! So proud of myself. Ha ha. I love it that I can recoup all my sleep during the weekends. Few people I know are capable of that. Usually people just wake up their normal working times. Somehow my body senses it's the weekend, gives a little jump of joy, and just proceed to indulge in deep sleep. Ha.

A few days ago, I dreamed that I was a princess. Wee! And well to put a long story short, it involves my dad being the king (who hates the knight who I'm in love with), a knight who I'm in love with, and a wicked prince who tries to force me to be together with him. Oh well.

MY SISTER'S COMING FOR A WEEKEND NEXT MONTH! I'm so excited! She has a conference in Philly, so she's flying here to spend time with me before she goes. I miss her soooooo much. ^_____^ It's gonna be great.

Headed back to the motherland in June. Going to Perth for a week too. Gonna be a sweet sweet summer! :)

...

I am officially addicted to "How I met your mother". Eh hem.

Lunden III

Dim Sum the third day! We went to this place called Imperial China or something like that near Covent Garden. The dim sum was comparable to Singapore's Crystal Jade Golden Palace, but the char siew sou was SUPER GOOD. The crust was flaky and sweet, and the BBQ pork was sooo fresh and sooo yummy!

Happy Jenn and I!

Li'er and Ariane! :)


The century egg porridge was super yummy. Not too bland, not too salty. :)


The carrot cake was so-so.


The fan chong was so so too.

The acclaimed char siew sou.

Other assorted dim sum.


Went to this Japanese fusion restaurant for dinner - Atami's! Li'er curled my hair for me... so sweet of her... I love you babe! :)
In the cab... me and Li'er
Jenn and Ariane...

I had this really yummy drink, which was a plum wine shaken with egg white. Pretty good.


I had the foie gras with pan seared duck breast. The foie gras was kinda oily, and undercooked, so it wasn't that great. A good foie gras shouldn't taste oily at all.

We ended up going to Movida, which is a super exclusive club that is really hard to get in. And it was model's night, so the whole place was swarming with hot hot hawt models.


Cam-whoring.
Again.
And again.


We couldn't get a cab to supper at Chinatown, so we hopped onto this rickshaw where this poor Asian dude had to lug all four of us. Very brave man.

We had the whole of an hour to pack our luggage and drag our sorry arses to the airport. Ha. An unforgettable trip indeed.

Lunden II

We walked along the coast, and saw these funny looking people.

We even stumbled upon a merry-go-round. Super random.


This is the ONLY sign, I repeat, the ONLY sign that has a "You are here" spot. Believe me, we looked at so many signs cuz we kept getting lost, and none of the maps had a "You are here" spot, so essentially the maps were useless. -__-


We went to Borough Market the second day to have lunch.

We saw these dead rabbits, which looked very gross and smelled very bad.


I had the mulled apple cider, which wasn't sweet at all, but it was thirst-quenching. Jenn had a very good pear juice. It tasted sooooo fresh...


Since we were in Britain, we HAD to get fish and chips. So we came to this "Proper Fish and Chips" shop, which looked really good. They battered the fish and fried it fresh in front of us. With the malt vinegar and fresh cut fries, it tasted REALLY GOOD.


We had the cod fish, which was very fresh and very tender. The malt vinegar enhanced the freshness of the fish, and the batter was lightly seasoned which went well with the fish and everything.


I had the toasted cheese sandwich, which was essentially fresh grated cheese between toasted sourdough bread, with chives and onions. It was really good! Even though I'm not a big cheeselover, the saltish cheese with the chives and onions were supreme.


I had the cinnamon baklava, which was too sweet.


I was very amused with this poster. :)

I got this foie gras with black truffles pate, and it was soooo good. The flavor of the foie gras wasn't overpowering, and very fresh, and of course the black trufles didn't hurt. :P My favorite!


We went to London Bridge, which was pretty cool, except the winds were so strong we couldn't take good pictures. Oh well.

Getting ready for our 2nd night out... we went to Kiasu for SINGAPOREAN FOOD. And to Funky Buddha for clubbing.


Came across this ad for Tiger Beer in one of the tube stations. WTF! Tiger Beer is soooo bad, I don't understand why people drink it, and it's apparently popular in London. Mannn, no wonder why British food tastes so bad. Ha.


Chicken rice!! The rice was undercooked, and the chili sauce wasn't spicy and garlicky enough, but overall it's still enough to satisfy my craving. 9 pounds.


We had the oyster omelette to share, and it was actually pretty close to the real thing.


We met the owner of the club AGAIN who invited us to the VIP section, where we had free champagne for the rest of the night. We HAVE to stop meeting the owners of the clubs we go to. We got him to change the music to R&B, and he even kicked a guy out who tried to get fresh with Jenn. Woot! I chatted with the server who served us champagne, and we got a picture together.


Diane, Ariane's friend who joined us for the night. Really nice person. :)

Lunden!

So, I have been procrastinating against writing this blog, cuz I have soooo much to talk about London, and I know that I'll be stuck at the computer writing for hours for this post. Also, I have been terribly unwell ever since I got back from London, so I wasn't really in any condition to blog about it...


So! Our layover was in Houston, Texas, so we took the chance to explore southern comfort food at this seafood restaurant called Pappadeux. Since we were in the south, I tried their oysters and crawfish etouffee...


The oysters were HUGE. I guess that was to be expected since the people there were twice our size. It was meaty and very fresh. YUUMMMMM.


The etouffee was HUGE too. As expected. And the crawfish was broiled in a yummy seafood cream sauce, and tasted heavenly with the dirty rice (which was cooked in some cajun spice sauce). Ahhh, so good. We had to pack the rest to go cuz we almost missed our flight to London *whooooops* So good.

Jenn and I didn't really sleep very much on the flight there. The lights were too bright, the seats too crampy, blah blah blah... so...

tadaa! Jenn's last bid attempt to shut everyone out to get some sleep. :P (she'll kill me if she finds out I posted this here)


The first shop I saw flooded me with fond memories of Singapore... man I wanna go back to the Marks & Spencer at Wheelock Place again... fond memories..

I bought a shitload of biscuits from there ( and convinced a not-so-awake Jenn to do the same) cuz I was worried that it'll be the only M&S I'll see... which I found out later that almost every train station has a M&S *gwa gwa gwa*. See, the thing is, I've tried looking into shipping M&S biscuits from London, but apparently they only do bulk and the shipping was like 50 pounds or something exorbitant like that. So.

Saw a Cornish pasty shop on the way out of the airport, and got a Guinness and beef one, so good! Tastes really flavorful with the mixture of potatoes, onions, beef and a faint taste of stout. Yum! Bought another one subsequently, which was lamb and mint, but it tastes like crap, so don't ever get that!


Finally after THREE BLOODY HOURS of traveling on the Southern train, and a bus subsequently, we reached Ariane's pad at Waterloo, the Whitehouse apartments. :) The only thing I don't like is the bloody access cards to the doors. On a sidenote, transportation in London is soooo expensive! I think I spent like 60-80 pounds for transportation for the mere three days I was there. -__- I hate the depreciation of the American dollar. Sigh.

Jenn and I trudged to the London Eye, which was within walking distance from Ariane's apt, and we went on it.

The London Eye...

I thought the inscription was beautiful...
On the London Eye... the Big Ben building in the distance

And well another important looking building... I love the architecture in London, loads of intricate carvings, olden statues... I love it!

Getting ready for a night out...
Went for roasted duck etc at the Four Season's hotel in Chinatown...
Chinatown!
This phone booth stinks of pee and puke. I had to hold my breath for this shot, so my smile was more like a grimace.
They're promoting Singapore there too! Woohoo! :)

The roasted duck that Ariane is so addicted to. It comes in a sweet dark sauce which is pretty good. And the skin is crispy, albeit a little fatty. The meat was moist and tender.
I ordered the japanese tofu with enoki mushrooms, reason being that I had this dish in Chicago and it was really good. I still think that the one in Chicago was better, just because it was cheaper and the portion of enoki mushrooms was more generous. The stock was also more flavorful... but in all, this is still good.
We had the aubergine (eggplant) with fish claypot. It's essentially good flavor, but I felt that the fish is too fried. Ha.
A very happy Keira nonetheless. :P

Which after we were joined by Fay for Amika.
Amika is a newly opened club which quickly got very exclusive, and only frequented by ballers and high profile pple. Ariane had to pull some strings to get us on the guest list!
The bartenders were REALLY PROFESSIONAL. I was blown away. They used tools, they put like twenty different ingredients in each drink, and they really take pride in their drinks! An average drink at Amika was around 12 to 15 pounds tho (= 24 -30 USD), so yea they're worth the price I guess. Man, they really put the bartenders in the states to shame.
The shots are sooo pretty, those red things are raspberry drops. Yum! :)
The best Bloody Mary I've ever tasted in my life. Apparently the secret ingredient is garlic vodka. What the hell is that! :P

We met the owner of the club, and got our fill of free champagne for the whole night. Wee! :)

All in a day's work. I'll blog about the other two days in separate blog entries. This is getting too long.