Rantings and Outings

I fell in love.

With a car.



At S$96,000 and a six-month road tax costing S$1300 or so, this sleek beauty is bordering on affordability and extravagence. We can pay for this baby but will have to forego our frequent gastronomic indulgences and my shopping. Daily neccessities will not be a problem, though. Still, the prospect of not being able to buy whatever I want from Warehouse or not being able to stroll into any restaurant any time I want is just too frightful.

So for now, we just have to admire the Mazda RX8 from afar while wondering when the heck Singaporean employers will start to pay employees in sync with their level of capability and contributions.

I had a conversation with a management personnel from a hotel that is setting up shop in Singapore and another gentleman who runs the Singapore office for an international event company. Both were appalled that Singaporean professionals are so underpaid. It was so easy for them to come into Singapore and set up their local team because they could easily poach top-performing individuals from rival companies simply by offering a thicker wad of cash.

Employers should seriously wake up and stop berating employees for a lack of loyalty. You cannot buy unyielding loyalty with half the market rate, can you?

Digressing now - Mr & Mrs Smith is now showing on TV and I think it is so painful to watch. The movie is so bad that even Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt did little to help.

Oh oh! Speaking of celebrities, I dreamt of Johnny Depp last night! We were both at a trade exhibition. He was aloof to every one else, and rejected all invitations to dinner from other business partners. But he came to me, set his piercing dark eyes on mine and said, "I'll see you at Red Dot Cafe tonight." Then he hopped on his horse and rode down the exhibition hall.

Damn drama.

I never got to meet Mr Depp at Red Dot Cafe, wherever the heck that is, cos I had to wake up to go meet the girls for lunch at Cafe Les Amis. Dang.

So, I went to Cafe Les Amis and I am disappointed with the place. Les Amis Group is famous for its chain of fine restaurants and I would have expected Cafe Les Amis to be as lovely as Les Amis (at Orchard Road) or Au Jardin (a colonial house within the Botanic Gardens). But it turned out to be a self-service casual eatery that reminded me so much of a snack house in the Zoo.

Cafe Les Amis serves up burgers, sandwiches, pasta, western mains and some local dishes. Josh ordered the common Fish n Chips (S$12), Junnie had a Margherita on Panini (S$9) and I had a Funghi penne (S$12). Frankly, I have tasted better versions elsewhere.



Angie's Mushroom 'n' Swiss Burger (S$14) was fabulous, though. The beef patty was juicy and the bun was nicely toasted and buttered up.



For me, I think the Mushroom 'n' Swiss Burger is possibly the saving grace for Cafe Les Amis. If I ever were to return to Cafe Les Amis, it will only be for this succulent burger.



Dog owners will be happy to know that their pooches are allowed inside Cafe Les Amis. Just make sure your dogs are properly secured and muzzled (for big dogs). And for fuck's sake, clean up after your dog. I was so pissed with a Chinese couple who brought their dog into the cafe and allowed it to pee at the chairs, then left without any decent effort to clean up the puddle of pee.

Their shoddy behavious was also evident in the way they ate. They left the table after their meal with the bottle of Tobasco sauce uncapped. Since the cafe is outdoor, the crows swooped upon the leftovers very fast, flapping their wings and spreading whatever germs they carried into the opened bottle of Tobasco sauce. I pity the next diner who uses this bottle.

Anyway, I have been spending quite a bit of time with the girls this week. In fact, the Cafe Les Amis lunch date was spontaneously agreed upon over a coffee session at TCC yesterday. The coffee session was also sort of a belated birthday get-together for Angie.


Despite having all the time in the world prior to meeting Angie, we only got down to penning our thoughts on her birthday card that very evening... with her seated right in front of us. So we had to erect a menu as a protective barrier between us to prevent her from seeing what we are writing. Bah!

And while Junnie wrote her grandmama stories on the card, Joshua kept us entertained with scenes from Alien VS Predator. This is him being the alien with the mouth extentions. Junnie does a good rendition of the Predator but I have no photos of that to show.



Anyway, we got Angie quite a cute pressie. It was a beauty package consisting of a figurine of Jesus with a mirror planted in the middle and reads "Please him for Christ's sake!", a tube of body cream with sparkles, lip gloss and a vanity mirror.



If any Christians were to go "Tsk tsk. So offensive!" at this product, then I will say, "Up your ass." Being too anal-retentive should be considered a crime, but this law will never be passed cos too many politicians will then be arrested. :)

The beanbag seats at TCC eventually gave us old fogeys a backache, so we headed elsewhere for proper chairs and some beers. What's up with beanbag seats?! The inventors of beanbag seats must be some dirty old men who are hoping to catch a glimpse of our knickers. There is no decent way of emerging from the shapeless mass for mini skirt-clad women. We have to spead our legs to steady ourselves as we clumsily claw our way out of the floppy seat.

Anyway, this is my fave photo from our date. I never knew that Junnie and Angie are such natural beauties until I saw this photo. Heh. They should pose like this for all future shots.

Pussy Health 101

I went for my Brazilian wax job this afternoon and learnt a couple of things:

1. Pussy skin can get dry, just like the skin on our face and body.

2. One does not need to subject pussy skin to harsh soaps to keep it spanking clean. Strong soap can dry out the skin. Warm water is good enough. You sure?! You sure we don't need boiling hot water to kill the germs?

3. And when pussy skin gets too dry, it itches. Damn. So that's why I itch sometimes, especially after spending a week in colder, drier countries. Since a lady cannot scratch her crotch in public like men, I had to wriggle my arse in my seat. Men are so lucky... in that sense.

4. There are moisturisers formulated for pussy skins. Goodness! The beauty industry sure knows how to make money!

With this lesson learnt, I went out and got myself a bottle of pussy cream from Sothys. It cost me bloody S$99. Damn. Pussy creams sure are expensive. Especially since it moisturises a part of us women that is hidden from view. *sigh*

Dang Sothys better work good and make my pussy soft and supple for that amount I paid.

Crappy Crab Cravings

Shit. I hate getting a food craving in the dead of the night. Especially when I am craving for crabs - either creamy butter crabs or spicy black pepper crabs. Ahh, the sweet, tender white flesh of my faveourite crustacean!

Heck! It is SO not convenient to get this sort of craving right now at 1.10am. Where can I go to get crabs at this bloody hour?

I surfed the Web for directions to good souls who keep their seafood restaurants running way into the wee hours. Alas, I found nothing more than countless reviews of restaurants that sell great crabs. *sigh*

Josh wants to help satisfy my cravings but his eyes were already bloodshot from exhaustion. I cannot be so cruel and insist that he drive me all the way to Lau Pa Sat Festival Market just to see if any seafood stalls are open. He would have made a wasted trip if no crabs are available!

So I shall just have to bear with the craving and pray that I can fall asleep tonight.

Turpentine and Fab Jeans

While I may not be a wine connoisseur, I can tell which wines are fab and which are drab. As long as the wine does not make me scrunch up my pretty face in disgust, that would be a nice wine.

And this, I tell you, is a horrigible wine. Don't ever buy it.

If I ever know how turpentine tastes like, then this wine would most likely taste that way. After twirling the contents in the wine glass, I sniffed it and... whoa fuck! It was like I placed a bottle of clinical alcohol - the kind doctors use to sanitise your arm before an injection - under my nose.
Joshua tried to be nice and suggested that perhaps after a few mouthfuls, our palate would get used to the taste. So he bravely took a few gulps, set down the glass and hopped around the hall flapping his hand at his gaping mouth.

Seconds later he admitted that it was the most horrible tasting wine he has ever had.

I've heard how French wines are usually harder to appreciate, especially for Asians or amateur wine drinkers. This is a bottle of French wine. But could it be this tough to ingest? This bottle really taste so awful! Could it have gone bad?

Like I said, I am no connoisseur so the wine could really have gone bad but I would not know. How does bad wine taste like anyway? Like turpentine, maybe?

Once I flew into Bangkok for a day, during which I had a food tasting session for my Awards dinner. The hotel's management team recommended a few wines to go with the food and I was supposed to taste them and decided which to use for the gala dinner. The first bottle of red was opened and served to everyone at the table. I took one sip and told the hotel's director, a Frenchman, next to me that the wine is nice. He followed suit and took a sip. Then he motioned to the maître d' and said, "This wine has turned bad. Take it all away." Swiftly, the maître d' removed all our wine glasses.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't know how to tell when a wine is bad. The wine in Bangkok tasted fine to me, but it is in fact bad. So the French wine I just had could be bad, but the hell I would know!

Gah! I should just stick to champagne.


Moving on now, I wanna shout about my new pair of jeans from River Island. I finally found me a pair jean that perks up my ass so well, it is truly of a come-fuck-me quality. A good pair of jeans is like Wonderbra for the ass.

And I so lurve the gold detailing at the back!



Any girl would know how hard it is to find that perfect pair of jeans that is good enough for work and play. I lost my fave pair of CFM jeans in Bangkok back in 2005. I left it in the hotel when I checked out and discovered it only when I got back to Singapore.

I'm super happy now, people.

Christmas Deeds

Joshua's HP notebook has degenerated into a stubborn piece of electronic that refuses to turn on without a good fight. It will refuse to respond to the 'On' button despite my repeated jabs at it. The procedure for getting the spastic notebook to run is as follows:

Step 1: Press 'On' button gently while praying that it will obey.

Step 2: Be filled be sense of dread when the weak whirl of its electronics stops abruptly. Pray some more and press 'On' button again.

Step 3: Realise that notebook is having a fun time teasing me. Gentle presses are no use. Start jabbing at 'On' button. Cuss as well to unleash the emotional frustrations. "ON! You motherfucker! ON!" is a standard thing to say at this stage.

Step 4: Pound the godamn notebook while howling. Do this only when Joshua is not around, otherwise he will give me a lecture on patience. And patience is something I do not have. Blame my genes.

Just to get the notebook running so I could write this post, Joshua and I spent a good hour jabbing at the damn button. In a spark of genius, I realised that perhaps it needed some seduction... literally. You see, the notebook had - surprisingly - turned on without a fight yesterday afternoon. The crucial factor was that I was stark naked when I switched it on yesterday. So I figured that must be the deciding factor. I stripped and tried my luck.

Nope. Didn't work today. Damn!

Anyway, it turned on everntually. You wouldn't be reading this if it did not budge.


MERRY CHRISTMAS, PEOPLE!

It is so funny how I had quite a bit of parties lined up before Christmas, but had nothing to do on the eve. Hah! Nobody wanted to party on the eve. Families figured that us youngsters will be too busy clubbing or drinking with friends, so they all threw advanced parties. But seriously, clubs would be too packed on the eve and the roads will be peppered with traffic police out on a arresting spree. There's no better time to catch drunk drivers and speedy gonzales than on Christmas and New Year.

So Joshua and I spent Christmas eve getting drunk on red wine in the living room and watching scary Janice Dickenson celebrating Christmas with her herd of whiny models.

Then tonight we headed to Monique's for a house party. Great spread. She picked up some very nice dishes from a Jamie Oliver cookbook. But it also meant there's no escaping the Moley-Moley.

Last Saturday, the Big Bro, Moley-Moley and their kiddy son came home for lunch with Joshua's parents. The kid did not acknowledge the presence of Joshua and I - not that I cared for it. Then at one point, the kid sneaked into our bedroom and said quietly to Joshua, "Uncle, can you play (PS2) game for me to see? I'll just watch. I promise I won't play."

Hell. What else is that kid not allowed to do?

You know how unsuspecting and frank little kids are. I am dying for the chance to get the kid in the presence of everyone and ask him, "So, are you allowed to come near Uncle and I? Are you allowed to speak to us? Why are you not allowed to come into our bedroom?"

Completely pisses me off how quickly Moley-Moley would signal the maid to pull Ethan out of our room the moment the kid steps in. Sheesh. It is like we are bloody lepers.

Tonight I found a chance to ask little Ethan, "Hey, are you terrified of me? Is that why you don't ever talk to me? Or is it because you are not allowed to speak to me at all?" The kid winced and slinked behind the door.

Anyway, here's what I have been doing for some pre-Christmas fun.

Paintball Deathmatch

Joshua and his colleagues had a showdown in a game of paintball. Since I am not keen on getting myself pelted with paintballs, I volunteered to be the official camera-woman.

The players were given a run-through of how the gun (called a marker) works, the rules, the hand signals, blah blah blah. Then they geared up for play. Face masks are most important as a face shot will definitely render you blind. The vest are optional, unless your tits are feeling especially tender that day.


Before the war begins, players were given a chance to take on a round of practice shots.

And while everyone is still looking fine and clean, I made them pose for photos. My darling looks so cute! How fun it would be to bang-bang while he's wearing that mask. He would be heaving like Darth Vadar!



It was fun to watch them dodge "bullets". It was like a war zone, except nobody died. However, the injuries from a paintball that hits you and bursts upon impact is no joke. Joshua has quite a number of bruises on his arm and thighs. This one on his forearm had actually bled. Ouch.



Kat's Champagne Party

Kat threw a little lunch party for the sales and editorial team at her new abode in town. Damn, that girl has such a swanky pad!

This wooden door (above) is actually a piece of antique which she had modified to be fitted as her bathroom door. Her bathroom's interior looks just like a five-star hotel's - complete with a bath, a rain shower and marble counters. Sheesh.



She blended the same piece of antique wood into her TV cupboard too. By the way, her curtains are from Zara.

But what I love most about her house is this:


Three glorious ceiling lamps made of pearly seashells and gorgeous tassels.

Her house is also fitted with mood lightings. She demonstrated the various light settings for her bedroom, which included a "make love" setting. Dang.

I cannot imagine how much that crazy girl spent on her house. Here's another example of her extravagence - an S$80 toilet brush. Why would anyone need such an expensive toilet brush?!

Her kitchen is outfitted with top of the range equipment - so says the ladies at the party who knows these stuff. Don't ask me about kitchen ware. The only kitchen ware brand I know of is WMF. She has a rotisserie, an oven, a damn stylish stove, a dishwasher and a detailed range of knives, pots and pans, and cutlery. And the biggest joke is - Kat doesn't cook. At most she only toasts Delifrance baguette for breakfast.

So to 'break' her kitchen, the editorial ladies decided to cook for the party.

And since I cannot cook to save my life, I contributed two bottles of Piper. By the end of the four hour party, we mowed down three bottles of Veuve, two bottles of Piper and a HUGE bottle of Jacob Creek Chardonnay Pinot Noir. And there was only nine of us!

Well, I guess that was why Kat said it was meant to be a champagne party.


Lunch was a hearty spread of rocket salad, non-greasy spaggetti laden with basil leaves and cherry tomatos, Irene's steamed chicken thighs in home-made chinese wine (trust Irene to make her own chinese wine!), Caroline's superb fish pie (Shephard's Pie but made with tuna) and a slab of honey-baked ham - generously sponsored by Meritus.


Halfway through lunch, someone stained Kat's cushy suede-like dining chair with juice. The "culprit" grew very worried since we would expect the chair to cost quite a hefty sum and the stains may not go away. Instead of being upset, Kat exclaimed, "Oh don't worry! My chair is Italian made and this fabric is special. It is completely washable and stain-proof! In fact, I can throw it under the shower and simply scrub off the stain!"

I don't wanna guess how much that chair costs, dude!

Later on, she striked a match at the dining table and brought it over to a coffee table to light a candle. We hollered at her to be careful cos that there was a woolly rug beneath her feet, and the last thing we wanted was her expensive house on fire. Again, Kat told us not to worry. So I cracked, "Oh yeah. Her rug must be Italian too and fire-proof."

Lunch ended with a sinful fondue session. Ooh, I love those pretty strawberries!




Uncle Henry's Dinner Party

You can always trust my relatives to throw a good party with LOADS of food. Uncle Henry managed to track down the chef who used to run the kitchen of a restaurant in the Eurasian Association and got her to prepare the buffet spread.


The modus operandi for attending a party hosted by my relatives is very simple. Go with an empty stomach. Quickly say hi to everyone there. Attack buffet spread. And as shown by Kenny and Derek, it is completely OK to pile everything onto one plate and eat like a glutton.

And like every family gathering, we sat around to chat and drink. Oh, and take pictures so I could have something to post on this blog.


This year, we have a new sort of entertainment. We got to play with a new member of the family - baby Reyanna! She's so darned cute. Just look at her! Oh, those delicately almond-shaped eyes!


I don't really take to infants easily, so you can imagine how adorable Reyanna must be to melt my heart. Despite that, I still hold firm to my belief that kids are too hot to handle. It is fun enough to just play with my nieces and nephews when they are cheery, and let their poor parents tackle them when they start to wail to the high heavens. Heheh.

After the eating, drinking and gossips, there were presents to receive! And my fave pressie this year has got to be this:



A sex game! Who would have guessed that it would come from Cousin Nora! Well, technically speaking, the gift was meant for Joshua. But hey, he has to play it with me and no one else, so it was also for me lar!

We get to roll a dice against a board that is made to resemble a floorplan of a house. The dice has faces that reads stuff like "oral", "69", "fondle" etc. And wherever the dice lands on the floorplan, that activity will have to be done there. Fun!

The hardest part of the game, unfortunately, is getting Joshua to agree to execute a 69 in the hall while his parents are there watching the late news. He's so virginal some times. Gah! C'mon! Maybe we might just inspire his parents to join in the fun!

So there's that for Christmas for me. In Joshua's words: It is just another day.

Mad Shoppers

The shopping crowd in Orchard Road this evening was horrendous. Where did all those people come from? With that many people, you might think that the shops were giving away things for free.

Topshop was crowded and the queue lines for the fitting rooms were long. So was Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, Pull & Bear and Zara. Mango's situation was plain mad-house. I figured that if I go shop at boutiques that sold a little more expensive stuff, there might be lesser people.

I headed to Guess... and it was a bloody mad house too! Hell, a herd of frumpy maciks swamped the boutique and eagerly snatched clothes off the hangers. Oh boy, I would love to see maciks in sexy barebacks that are the singature of Marciano.

I blame it on all the sales. Suddenly everything is affordable!

I had to escape the wild people before I tear my hair out. In the end I headed home with only a bag of Famous Amos choc chip and macadamia. Dang. So much for wanting some retail therapy. Gah.

Anyway, the reason why I need retail therapy is because I'm depressed. I have two articles left hanging cos I don't have enough material to put together solid views while the other is pending information from a government body. Deadline is Jan 10! And one article was rejected by the editor. *sigh*

I need a good bottle of wine to drown all my sorrows.

Drinking on the job

It seems that everyday is like a repeat of the previous few days in office lately.

Champagne sessions begin at 3pm or 4pm. We drink till 6pm or until the bottles run dry. We laugh terribly loud throughout as well and be a nuisance to the other departments, but nobody will complain cos everyone loves us too much (OK, that was really the alcohol talking).

So at 7pm now, I am tipsy again as I bang out this post, with my half-written article on a new hotel waiting to be completed. I'll settle that before I leave office... to ANOTHER drinking session at Fullerton's Post Bar.

I hope I will be sane enough to get my ass to the airport by 9.30pm to pick up Cousin Jan's girlfriend who is flying in from the US for a week-long holiday.

*BURP*

I LOVE THIS JOB!

Master of Opulence Has Landed

The saint of luxury has arrived! The St. Regis, I mean. If you don't know what St. Regis is, then you need some quick educating. Click here, people.

It has been more than ten years since a brand new international hotel was built in Singapore. Today, the grand St. Regis held their soft opening (yes, I was invited!) with the unveiling of their specially commissioned fleet of Bentley Flying Spurs. The Bentleys will be used to pick up guests from airport and to drive them to anywhere in Singapore they desire.

Each of the three Bentleys were a unique shade of bronze - the colour of the St. Regis label, and bear the mark of the luxurious brand on the seat's head-rests and car body. Super sleek, I say!

The soft opening started at 11am today, which was also the time I polished off two flutes of champagne. Damn. What a fine breakfast.

We then had a tour of the property. I was squeeling inside in excitement at every turn I make. I used to think that the Ritz Carlton is oh so fine. Not anymore.

Now, it is your turn to marvel at the epitome of modern opulence that has finally arrived on our shores. I shall start with what matters most to me - the bedrooms. Stepping out of the elevators and onto the room floors, I was greeted by a homely lobby swath in warm lighting. The thick carpets looked too pretty to step on even!


The lowest tier of rooms are the Executive Deluxe Rooms, priced around S$400... for now. I bet the rates will rise to hit the S$500 mark after the official opening. And their cheapest room looks like this:


Even their table lamp is so fancy!



As important as the resting area is the bathroom. And I am impressed as well. It is so common to see a bath fixed into the wall. How often do we get a standalone bath?! So princessy, right?



That's not all! The bathroom even has a rain shower with pressure jets at mid height to give you a water-pressured back massage!!! It made me wanna peel off my clothes and leap in for a shower right there and then!



Here's a little more saucy information on the rooms at St. Regis. There are no coffee-making facilities in the room. Why not? Because you will have a butler at your beck and call! If you want coffee at 2am in the morning, you are just a phone call away from an aromatic cuppa. How spoilt! I love!

They even have a special suite designed by Bottega Veneta! Kat was so eager to see the rooms. We had to restrain her and remind her that the rooms will not come with complimentary Bottega Veneta handbags. Alas, these special suites are not ready for viewing yet. We will just have to come back again. I can't wait!

Next, we visited two of the restaurants. First stop, LaBrezza, a Mediterranean-themed restaurant by the pool side. The moment I laid eyes on the interior, I grew misty-eyed and let out a soft moan. I'm sure you'll understand why:


So pretty, right? God! I could sit here on these pretty white chairs with Joshie darling from sunset till the stars go to bed. I must come back here one day (after I have accumulated more savings!) for dinner.

Next stop, Les Saveurs, a French restaurant that offers casual yet sophisticated all day dining. The Sunday brunch came highly recommended by the hotel's management. One would be served a course meal for a fixed sum of money. If you like any of the dishes, you can ask for more and it will be complimentary. In a way it is a buffet-styled meal without you having to get up and grab your own food. And yes, champagne flow is endless too.


To round off the press tour, the good people at St. Regis gave each of us two bottles of quality French wines.

I bet it is for us to continue with our celebration of the new St. Regis back in our office. Heh.

A Little More Dough

It is not exactly fun to chase stories at the year end when most top management are on holiday somewhere else in the world and there are few others I could possibly interview.*sigh*

What to do then?

I turn to red wine at 4pm and drink till I am red in the face. So by now, I am feeling immensely cheery and giddy. Whoooooo!

Speaking of happier matters now, our parent company finally agreed to dishing out a little bit more bonus in addition to what we have already got for 2006. Yippee!

Just a few days ago, I was wondering how to book for rooms in Macau and Hong Kong fast to avoid a no-good-room situation when I don't have much left till the next payday in end December, and possible not enough to get Joshua dearest a decent pressie. Phew! Now, I can clear my credit card bills, buy something real nice for Joshie, buy more new clothes and shoes, go review some restaurants that have been sitting for the longest time on my list, and still have money to keep for my Macau/Hong Kong vacation!

Ahh, ain't life sweet to me?

I realised that I always manage to skip through moments of "poverty" very smoothly. I could be broke for a few days and suddenly come in the way of quite a neat sum to tide me over till next pay day. I could be planning for a substantial expense and not have enough time to save up, yet when the time comes, I would suddenly get a mini windfall.

I remember once Josh and I were down to a few dollars in our bank - yes, we overspent on booze and fine foods - and could not withdraw since the minimum withdrawal amount is S$10. Although we could sign for dinner with our credit cards, we decided against eating at a restaurant... again.

So we pooled our money to get dinner at a hawker centre at Queenstown. Darned funny the way we counted our coins. In the end we had just enough to buy a plate of noodles and a drink!

It was a very sorry plight, but we shared a hearty chuckle over it and laughed even harder at how we could hold on for the next full week without anymore cash on hand.

But what do we know?! The day day, both our pay arrived much earlier than expected and we did not have to bear with another penniless day. Haha!

I say, we must have done some very good deeds in our lives.

A Sunday Well-spent

I was a good girl today. Instead of sleeping till 3pm on a Sunday, I woke up before noon and headed to the park with Joshua for a bit of exercise.

The emphasis here is on the word "bit". To be exact, I went on the rollerblades for five minutes. And not once did I fall. Hah! I'm so proud of myself. Look, losing weight is not on my agenda, alrighty? I just wanna smell the fresh air.

Needless to say, Joshua was in his elements in his pair of blades. He was like a little boy, grinning from ear to ear as he whooshed around for a good deal of time. Occasionally he would pause for a rest and I would wipe the sweat off his brows. Heh, I felt like his mummy lar!

Finally the mozzies, bugs and gigantic ants got the better of us and we headed home. We ended our little date in the park on a sweet note - McDonald cones for each of us!


Then later in the afternoon, we headed down town to get pressies for my office people. Sometime back, I found this shop in Raffles City mall that sells very funky stationary products from Japan, and I thought I could get some very nice pressies there. But I am too ambitious. I wanted to get pressies for 25 people (Jerry is obviously excluded), and altogether that would amount to quite a hefty sum!

So in the end, I bought traditional candy canes. I love candy canes - I hope they do too! These are the things I could only get during Christmas.


The supermarket transforms into a wonderland for Christmas. It is such fun to comb the shelves to see what people could buy to eat at parties. Suddenly there are so many different varieties of chocs and candies! And all sorts of wine are going at good prices.

OK, before I end this post, I must say that if you are missing authentic Thai food like I have been, then Thai Express is possibly your saviour. Unless you are cash rich and can fly to Bangkok for dinner, Thai Express is your cheaper alternative.

Renn Thai and Tuk Tuk at Suntec City are my other faves, but they are slightly pricier than Thai Express.

Most foodie guides in Singapore recommend Diandin Leluk at Golden Mile for a true Thai food fix. I spit at it. Its rendition of my fave Tom Kha Gai is horrendous - watery and too sour.


Thai Express, however, does a good job at the Tom Kha Gai - milky and flavourful with a right balance of zest and spice.

Ahh, for a moment, I thought I was back in Pathumwan Princess in Bangkok, the very place I first fell in love with this rich soup.

Shit, I think I miss Bangkok.