An Unplan Friday

Usually we do not plan what we are going to do during Friday after work. We just know that since the next day not working, it will be a waste to go home so early. If we have no planned activities, we will only plan it on the day itself.

Yesterday, I'm supposed to wait for Phyllis's sms to let me know where she would be after work so that she could pass me the Lao Por Bing that she bought for me from Hong Kong. I received her sms saying she would go home straight after work. As everyone should know that I no longer stays in Clementi but Hougang after my wedding, going down to Clementi just to collect things from her sounds like a bad idea of wasting petrol and time.

Therefore, we decided to go Rocherster park for dinner to make this west trip worth the 21Km distance (Estimated). I picked him up from his work and we drove our Journey to the West! 所谓人有三急，both of us need to go to the toilet urgently. Unknowingly, we passed Singapore Poly and hence decided to "borrow" the toilet.

We drove to our IT department and many memories came flowing back. We spent 3 years studying in this place and working hard in the lab for our projects. This school brought the two of us together as friends, then couple and now as man and wife. We took our wedding photoshoots in this place on our wedding day.

Since I left this place 6 years ago, some things remained while some things changed. At least the foodcourt 6 and MLT12 still remains as it was back in 2001! We loitered around the area and saw some students staying back for activities. I felt like a poly student once again as I walked up the stairs and passed the classroom corridor. How I wish I'm back as a student again and not fire-fighting in a political working society now!

We spent about 10 mintues at SP and proceeded to Rochester Park. This was our first time there and we totally had no idea what's good to eat. We walked around the place and settled on this restaurant called 'North Border Bar and Grill'. The food was simply delicious and the place was rather cosy. But all the nice food and cosy environment usually comes with a high price. When the bill came, we were quite shocked that just a meal like this could cost that amount of damage in our pocket.

After dinner, we headed to Phyllis's house to collect the Lao Por Bing. Besides the box of food she brought down, along came her nephew, niece, sis-in-law and subsquently mother! Well, is this a kind of gesture to thank me for coming down all the way to her block? Haha...fat hope! Anyway, she had a very naughty but cute 3year old nephew, James. And also an adorable and sweet 5+months old niece, Dennis who was borned on the day of our wedding (15th Oct)! But the best part is, she had a pretty sis-in-law whom able to maintain her figure and defintely doesn't look like a mother of 2! How can someone who just gave birth last year Oct could have such a figure just 5months later?! Gosh! *Envy*

A trip to the Zoo

Safra club was having a promotion where members get to buy a Zoo ticket for $9.50 (Usual: $15). I bought 2 tickets and we head down to the Zoo this early morning at 9+am. We stayed there all the way until 5+pm just to catch a photo with the Orang Utans!

The last time I went Zoo was 5-6 years ago. Nothing much changed there except for the animal shows which now they called it 'Wonders of the Wild Show' . I remembered last time elephants were included in the show held at the amphitheatre. But this time round, elephants held their own show at the 'Elephants of Asia' venue.

We also went to the Children's World for the 'Animal Friends Show' but nothing fantastic to mention about. We had to give a miss to the penguins area in this trip because it was under renovation. To make this trip worthwhile, we spent some money to have photos taken with the Sealion and Orang Utans. We went to the wrong place where the Orang Utans photo-taking session was held and thus miss the 2.30pm slot. The next timing was at 4.30pm and therefore we stayed there all the way just for dear to take a photo with his long lost "friends"!

We also had our lunch at the Zoo where it sold chinese and western food. It was something like a foodcourt but they called it 'Restaurants in the Wild'. The price was steep and the food taste horrible! If you want to visit the Zoo, please pack your own lunch!

Before we left the place, we bought a small souvenier from the gift shop which is now sitting comfortably in the car. ^_^

Beauty and the Beast
4 Orang Utans & 1 "Gorilla"!
New member in the car
Photos to share

I am with the 'H' and 'W'!

Last year don't know which month, someone from the florist called my office extension claiming there was a bouquet of flower for me. This delivery man said he had placed the flower at the reception and asked me to collect it. He might had gotten my extension number from the receptionist. My first thought was that dear finally did this move which I had been hinting to him about. I went to the reception only to find out that the name mentioned in the card was not for ME!

This year few weeks back, the person who is incharge of employee's season parking pass came up to me asking if I had quit and he need to remove my season parking. Although I DID have the thought of quitting this company, but I did NOT tender my resignation yet! Luckily he brought it up to me and I did the clarification or my seaon parking would have got terminated!

Today, another not-so-close colleague whom we met in the lift asked if I was quitting. He said someone told him that it's me who had tendered.

All this mistaking of wrong person was because we had similar but not the same name.

I am SHara Wong, not Sara Ong!

My XXth Birthday

I had grown one year older on 11th March. This year, I had received the most expensive birthday gift from my dear Hubby compared to the past 7 years presents. He booked a 2D1N hotel with Shangri-la Rasa Sentosa Resort for the Executive Panoramic Room. It was having a promotion package and we had a complimentry bottle of wine and a plate of fruits. However, the price was not that cheap!

We arrived at Sentosa around 12+pm on 10th March. Our check-in time was 3pm and since it was still early, we went to play the Luge & Skytower ride. It was fun but the distance of the Luge ride was too short. We took some photos nearby and drove around sentosa since it was still early for check-in. Reached the hotel around 2.30pm and it was crowded with many people waiting to check-in/out. I guess it must be due to the school holidays which attracted many parents bringing their children for a fun time at sentosa!

After deposited our bags into the hotel room, we rested awhile before walking down to Sakae sushi for our dinner. Initially we wanted to have our dinner at Cafe Del Mar but the dinner reservation was full. After the dinner around 9+pm, Hui's sisters, bro-in-laws and brother came to join us. They brought along wine, chocolates and a birthday cake. The cake was from one of my favourite cake shop, Pine Garden located at Ang Mo Kio. And they got my favourite flavour, Lychee Martini! I bet it must be Hui who told them all about this!

My delicious birthday cake
After all the cake cutting and drinkings, Hui passed me my first present and a card. I did not know that there was another present waiting for me in his bag! Is he trying to use back the trick which I used on him on his birthday? Well, trick always only can use ONCE! So it's not that easy to capture the expression on my face even if you present me the 2nd gift at the later stage! :p

A Renoma wallet and birthday card
Without knowing it, Hui passed me my 2nd present about 15mins later. It was quite a surprise because I thought the Renoma wallet + the hotel stay already cost quite alot he shouldn't have spent money on another gift. But this 2nd gift was bigger than the first!

2 presents (wrapped in Tatty bear wrapper!) and 1 card
And the 2nd gift was.....

A COACH sling bag + Renoma wallet + birthday card
Hui's sisters and bro-in-laws also gave me another product from COACH!

My favourite blue color key/coin purse
After all the toasting of wines, they left the hotel around 12+am. Hui and I knocked out shortly after they left and before we knew it, it was already daylight. We woke up around 9am and went down for our buffet breakfast at Silver Shell Cafe around 10am. As the hotel was expecting many guests, we were not allowed to have a late check-out.

We checked-out at 12pm and went Bugis. Hui wanted to renew his Safra membership as there's a roadshow at Bugis. He renewed the membership for 5 years and gotten 1 year free as well as a Timex watch. We then proceed to Tampines Mall for a movie with his sisters and bro-in-laws. "Music and Lyrics" was a nice show. I particulary liked one of the song which Hugh Grant wrote for Drew Barrymore: "Don't Write Me Off". It was just so touching when I first heard it on the screen! But you need to watch this show in order to understand what the lyrics actually meant. Ofcoz the theme song in the movie "Way Back Into Love" was just as nice as well! Go catch the movie if you havent done so! I like this movie.

After the movie, we went back home for dinner followed by Uncle Ringo near Hougang central. The rides were expensive!! The most expensive ride cost $10 per game! I didnt played any of the rides/games because most of the rides there were those spinning kind which I dare not take. I get giddy easily with just a few turns and with that many and fast turning?? I think I will puke right on the spot! In addition, we had spent quite alot during my birthday and I just don't feel like spending that kind of money there.

Hui and his sisters played one of the $10 ride and some game stalls at Uncle Ringo. We left the place around 10+pm. I headed to bed at 11+pm. I'm dead beat and fell aslp right away! That ended my XXth birthday for year 2007 with the following gifts received:

1) A Renoma wallet from Hui
2) A COACH sling bag from Hui
3) A COACH key/coin purse from Hui's sisters & bro-in-laws
4) 2 angbaos from mummy and MIL (amount will not be revealed!)
5) A hand-made birthday card from Cally (A 11yrs old child which Hui's mum babyseat since young)
6) A top from TIAN from cousin Karen
7) A $60 Isetan voucher from colleagues
8) A Feng Shui book by Lillian Too from colleagues

Yu Sheng

This year, I had eaten a total of 3 times of Yu Sheng. Why is there a need to Lo Hei on the 7th day of the Lunar New Year?? Frankly speaking, I really don't know until I started to search google when writing this blog! But who cares about the history! Most important is I enjoy eating this healthy food and tossing the food high up saying some auspicious words and wasted many shredded carrots, cucumber,radish and whatever other ingredients onto the table! It was believed that the higher you tossed, the wish you made will come true. Well, wonder which ancestor started this saying as I felt it's actually a kind of action that leads to wasting food! But monkey see monkey do is what I will follow every year. God knows how much of vege I had wasted every year!

23rd Feb, I had my first Lo Hei with Mum and Hui. We had it at a coffeshop near clementi. After that, we went to my nanny's house to bai nian.

24th Feb afternoon, I had my second Lo Hei with my sec friends. We had it at Sushi Tei located at Holland Village. It was also a farewell gathering to Jenny who was leaving Singapore the next day back to Australia for her studies. I like the Yu Sheng at Sushi Tei. The portion was big and the salmons were really fresh!



Full version of photos
28th Feb, I had my third Lo Hei with my colleagues. Through my recommendation, we went Sushi Tei again located at Seragoon Garden. This time, the Yu Sheng was paid by the IT managers. We had our lunch at Sushi Tei and pack 3 Yu Sheng back to office. Due to some IT staffs were not able to make it for the lunch together, we decided to tabao the Yu Sheng back to office and had it during teabreak with all the IT staffs.

How many of you actually know the history of how Yu Sheng came about? Well, I have something to share...

"Yusheng or yee sang (Chinese: 鱼生; pinyin: yúshēng) is a Chinese-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Literally translated, "yusheng" means "raw fish", though it can also be taken to symbolise abundance, prosperity and vigor.

The delicacy was invented 1,500 years ago in southern Chinese coastal areas such as Chaozhou and Shantou, during the Song Dynasty. According to legend, a Chinese female deity known as Nüwa (女娲) created mankind from clay and mud on the seventh day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. From then on, this day was known as the "Birthday of Man". It is believed that the fishermen and seafarers of ancient Southern China were very observant of this myth. On this day, yusheng would be prepared in feasts or religious ceremonies, not just to commemorate the event but also to show respect to Nüwa. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many of these fishermen immigrated to Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore in search of a better life. They brought this traditional dish along with them. Yu Sang originated in Kuala Lumpur as far back as in the early 1950's. It was a dish available only after the Chinese New Year when the restaurants reopened, and diners had the dish as a starter,to raise 'good luck' for the coming year.This dish was then adopted in time throughout the then Malaya as it was evident that it was popular and for the restaurants, a very profitable dish despite the labour intensiveness of chopping and slicing the ingredients. With the advent of electrical devises, preparation was made easier but purists in Kuala Lumpur still only frequented restaurants that prepared the ingredients by hand.In 1964, yusheng began to be associated with Chinese New Year (CNY) festivities in restaurants in Singapore. Mr. Tham Mui Kai, the head chef at Lai Wah Restaurant of Singapore, offered this unique CNY dish that combined raw slices of a local fish with a melange of ingredients including shredded carrots, turnips, ginger and jellyfish. In addition, he pioneered the idea of pre-mixing the yusheng sauce in a mix of plum sauce, salt and pepper before serving the dish. Soon after, other restaurants and eateries in Singapore and Hong Kong adopted this practice.

Now, in the 21st century, "Lo Hei" -- tossing yusheng -- is a CNY custom for families and friends to gather around the table and, on cue, proceeding to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying 吉祥话 (Jíxiáng Huà, auspicious wishes) out loud to mark the start of a prosperous new year.

Typical ingredients include: fresh salmon, daikon (white radish), carrot, red pepper (capsicum), ginger, kaffir lime leaves, Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), five spice powder. The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce."