Japanese Buffet and My First Fish Spa!!

Last Sunday was a very Japanese Sunday for me. K and I went for my favourite Sunday lunch buffet at this Japanese restaurant in Sogo shopping center.. We never fail to patronize this place everytime we are in KL for the weekend.






They have one of the best potato salad and beef sukiyaki i've tried.. We had the healthy stuff (edamame, sushi, sashimi, chawamushi), and the unhealthy stuff (tempura and chocolate ice cream to complete the meal)..




After lunch, we shopped around in Sogo, Pavilion, and then decided to try out this 28 RM Japanese fish spa at Bukit Bintan's Picolo Hotel. The experience was totally hilarious.. It was a first time for K and I.. We went in and were greeted by 2 chinese women dressed in Kimonos. We had to wash and dry our feet ouselves (maybe that's why it's so cheap!) and then we had 30 minutes to submerse our feet into one of 2 fish tanks filled with hungry fishes. One had small fishes, and the other had much bigger fishes. I was not ready to be at the mercy of these fishes, so decided to take it slow and literally "test water" by putting a little bit of my right foot in first.. It was totally scary... the minute i put my foot into the water, the whole school of them literally swarmped over and started feasting on my foot! I let out a small yelp and yanked myself out.. K did the same, took his foot out, then turned and asked me why the hell he agreed to come with me in the first place.. = )



It took us a good 3-5 minutes before we took a deep breath and finally put both our feet into the small fish tank. At first, it was really ticklish. But after a while, we got used to it, and it was actually quite therapeutic just watching the fishes eating the dead skin off my feet.




We had 15 more minutes left before we decided to give the other tank a shot. This one was even scarier cause the fishes were so huge!! I was half worried they will eat my flesh instead of my skin.. Nonetheless, being the typical Kiasu Singaporeans that we were, we decided that we should try it since we already paid for it. So K went in first, then me. The first few bites were a bit painful, but like the first tank, we got used to it after a while. It took me a lot of courage to try the big fish tank though, and I'm really proud that i survived my very first fish spa!! = )





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Viva La KL!

1:03 AM by Adeline Woo 1 comments
K and I left for Kuala Lumpur last Saturday.. Our flights were at 3pm (different terminals), and at 130pm, we were just starting to have our lunch at home. As usual, we checked in last minute. I nearly couldn't check in our luggage for our flight. The check-in agent told me I might have to collect my luggage on the next flight.

The 40 min flight was uneventful. Apparently, SQ doesn't even serve peanuts now on their SIN-KL flight. I still remembered the last time i flew to KL, there was a complimentary packet of peanuts. But now, it's just juice, coffee or tea... talk about cost cutting!

Fortunately, my baggage arrived on the same flight as me. I collected the baggage and tried to get myself a cab. It wasn't until an hour later that i managed to meet up with K, due to some "mishaps" that occurred, mainly due to the communication problems and the incompetence of the airport staff there. By then, we were both hungry and tired.

Upon reaching our favourite Renaissance hotel, we checked in and headed out immediately to KLCC for some food. Dinner was at "Little Penang Kafe". Here is where i discovered some super delicious Penang Prawn Mee. Well, it's the closest to the original i can find without actually going to Penang! Here it is..


K had some dinner set which consists of rice, vegetables and braised chicken and egg. We also had Fried Kuay Teow to share.. Super oily, and not nice at all..



Dessert was Chenddol for K, and Thai Red Ruby for me.. Overall, quite a delicious meal.. Not sure if it was because we were both starving though..





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My permed eyelashes

I went to perm my eye lashes for the first time yesterday. And I am loving it!!! Now i no longer have to use masara or curl my lashes. And I love how awake and bright my eyes look.. think i am addicted.. =)

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Interesting Cat Names

1:14 PM by Adeline Woo 0 comments
Yesterday morning on radio, Glen and The Flying Dutchman were listing some interesting names that people gave to their cats.

There was "Rosie-Posie Sparkle", "Eighty Bucks" (cause the cat cost eighty bucks!) and my my favourite was "Sir Lickalot". Thought that was hilarious! = )

I did not exercise yesterday. Totally broke my regime, as it was the only day in the entire week that i did not exercise. I had planned on going for kickboxing after work, but K texted me in the evening and told me that EK and S were coming over for mahjong. So i gave in to Mahjong. Guilty!! Then i told myself i will go for a jog below my block after mahjong. But mahjong ended at 12 midnight. By then, i was $5 poorer and too tired to jog. It's 2 hours before i fly off to KL for my training. I am determined to exercise doubly hard over the weekend to make up for yesterday!!

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Just another day..

I did not go to the office today.. woke up feeling totally crappy with minor cramps, and slight flu. Must be the flu vaccination i had yesterday. So ironic, one of the side effects of a flu vaccination is flu. So in order to prevent flu, i need to first suffer from it!

So then i decided to work from home. There was nobody around in the office anyway, and i had my laptop with me. I also wasn't really in the mood for make-up today. It's one of those days when you just want to wake up, not shower, not smear on make up, not comb your hair, and just start your day. Basically, it's one of those days when i wanted to be au naturale (i.e. look ugly!) =- )

I stayed at home for most part of the day. Did some work, cleared my mails, did accounts and sent out a quotation for Vivatech.. I even went online to apply for the 2010 US Diversity Visa lottery. This would be the second time K and I tried our luck at the lottery. Hopefully, we will get it this time round!

The whole laziness vibe got to me so much that i didn't even head out for lunch. Instead, i chose to dig up some ingredients from the fridge and ladder and made myself some cold pasta with celery, tuna and crab sticks. Tasted pretty good! I prepared too much, so will bring the leftovers to office for lunch tomorrow. So far, my resolution to lead a healthy lifestyle for the next 2 weeks has yield some results. For one, i feel much healthier and lighter. And there are no new pimples on my face!

In the evening, i met up with mom and sis for dinner and also to visit my grandma in hospital. Initially, they wanted to eat at Han's restaurant, but i rejected the idea, citing that the food there was too unhealthy. We ended up eating at the coffee shop beside the MRT, and i had vegetarian Kuay Chup. = )

We missed the free shuttle bus after our dinner, so ended up walking to the hospital instead. Uncle David was there when we arrived at the hospital. Grandma looked perfectly fine now, just not very mobile. The doctor did a review on her condition 2 days ago, and mentioned that she had early stage dymentia. Which i'm not surprised, since she had been calling us all by the wrong names. She would call my sister my uncle, me my cousin etc etc.. There was a short discussion on the alternatives for Grandma once she gets discharged: Nursing home or get a maid. We sounded Grandma out on the idea, and it was not surprising that she preferred to get a maid and stay at home.

Grandma told us that she had a dream last night. It was funny yet disturbing at the same time. She said she dreamt that a deity had brought her to the community center below her block, and asked my uncle to bring her home from the hospital. The deity and her were eating at the community center. When we asked her what they were eating, she said they were eating shit. I'm not sure whether she was talking in a literal or metaphorical sense, but either way, it's disturbing.. = (

Mom and Sis took a cab home after that, whilst i walked to the MRT station. Along the way, i decided to do some grocery. Ended up buying two packets of egg biscuits, one box of cornflakes and a packet of high calcium soya bean milk for the flakes. That will be my breakfast tomorrow. K reached home an hour after me. By then, i had cleared more emails and booked my Basic Theory test on 26th Nov. K and I went downstairs for our run shortly after. It was a good run. = )

I'll be going back to the office tomorrow. Hopefully, i will not find any excuses for myself to not go to the gym (either during lunch or after work). I'll be flying off to KL this saturday, and then it'll be another weekend of "feasting" and "lazing", so i better work doubly hard tomorrow and lose all the fats and calories i can !!

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All the hype about Sarah Palin

11:13 PM by Adeline Woo 0 comments
I went surfing on the "Newsweek" website and saw this cartoon on Sarah Palin. It's funny to a certain extent, but disturbing (if this is true) that there is a high chance that someone like that (in the cartoon) will be running the US, especially during the current financial turmoil.

Seems like the former beauty queen who's running for US vice presidency isn't gaining too much credibility from the media. I didn't watch the presidential debate myself, but word has it that she didn't do too well there.

Some say it is elitism at play, that we need to set high standards for candidates running for high office. But i think that the fact that she is a woman makes her an easier target. In a sense, she would have to work harder (compared to if she is a man) to prove herself and make up for her weak resume.

In the article, the writer compared McCain with Palin. He believes that McCain- a man of accomplishment and wide knowledge, is the kind of figure whom one could effortlessly imagine being president of the United States. But not many politically-attuned people in America can say the same of Palin. That they can effortlessly imagine Palin as President in the Oval Office, ready on day one to manage a market meltdown or a terrorist attack.

This article kind of reminds me of the show "24" Season 4, where McCain is compared to President David Palmer, and Palin is the underdog President Logan. Well for now, i am sitting on the fence. Being a woman, I would of course hope that Palin can prove us all wrong. Besides, what could go wrong / be worse? As it is, the US is already in deep shit ..

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My North Indian dinner with K

Today was a super busy day.. My quarterly reporting is due in 2 days time this Thursday, so i'm kinda finalizing all the numbers now.. After my bad experience yesterday where i had no time to lunch after my 1 hour workout at the gym, i decided not to go to the gym during lunch today. Instead, i will go after work. So i bought fish porridge and some fruits back to the office, and ate with 2 of my colleagues in the huddle room.

After lunch, i went Vivocity for a walk. I was looking for cheap promotions for eye-lash perming. Hate the eye my eye lashes are long but not curly enough. I figured if i can perm it, i will look nice in photos for my Perth trip even without make up cause the curly lashes will make me look more "awake". I wanted to shop for winter wear as well for my Paris trip, but the designs at the shop were all butt ugly. So i went back to the office empty handed. Then it was work and calls all the way till the evening.

K picked me up from work at 530pm. We headed to Holiday Inn for some North Indian cuisine. There goes my resolution to go to the gym everyday!

I had been to this restaurant before earlier this year when my boss visited with a few other colleagues from Fairfax. This place is called Tandoor. They serve pretty decent food. They were awarded the "Wine and Dine" certification almost every year as well. The decor is nothing impressive, but i loved the golden plates that they had set on the tables.



K and I had a complimentary voucher for their set dinner for 2. We had chicken drum, fish and nann for our appetizer. I certainly didn't feel it was an appetizer! So filling already!

For the main course, we had this huge white plate with a whole line of small dishes that formed a semi circle on the top of the plate. From left to right: Prawn with curry, mutton with curry, chicken with curry, cauliflower and peas with curry, and the right most one is lentill soup sauce. And then there was saffron rice, and of course, more nann to go with the curry. It was total carboh overload!

For dessert, we had their North Indian fruit ice-cream with strawberry and all kinds of nuts. Trust me, it doesn't taste anything like ice-cream. In fact, it taste like everything BUT ice-cream. I took a bite of mine and didn't touch it after that.. I guess it's an acquired taste.. i don't know! But i don't like it.

To complete the meal, we were then given 3 types of condiments (mint and spices etc) to cleanse our tonsils. Didn't really try much of those also..


On the way back, we dropped by Sheraton Towers to pick up our handphone chargers which we had left in our room when we checked out on Sunday. There was a perfect full moon today, and this is my futile attempt at capturing it in static mode. This totally does not represent how beautiful the moon was tonight.



Shortly after we reached home, K and I went for a run below our block. We did the same on Sunday, but today, i was even more determined to jog off all the carboh i had piled on from my North Indian dinner! Besides, i was guilty for not going to the gym during lunch. I think i am freaking out! I guess i really don't know what else to do to get back my nice complexion and stubborn fats! SIGH..

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Go Karting at JB

Last weekend was 2 full days of fun and relaxation..

K and I woke up at 530am on Saturday to go Johor for some go-karting. There was a new track circuit (the old Permas track had shifted) so we wanted to check it out. K organized the whole thing and managed to get about 20 people to turn up. We were supposed to meet up at the Woodlands check point at 630am, but ended up everybody was late. We waited about 30 minutes for this one last car, before we decided to head to the circuit first, leaving 2 other cars (friends of friends we didn't really know) behind.

The ride into the new circuit was horrible.. there was no proper road at all, just a narrow pathetic path of sand and gravel.. Only a proper 4-wheel drive can survive the ride! I was in EK's car, and i think his Swift had the lowest suspension in the convoy, cause there were plenty of bumps and i think he got quite a few scatches on the bottom of his car. The new track is much bigger than the old Permas one, but less technical.. I went for only one round under the super hot sun. Didn't really dare to go too fast cause it was a new track, and there was this super steep slope that ends in a bending turn. I was so afraid i will spin out! K and the rest of the guys went for 3 rounds; they even took their lap timings.. And my hubby got the best timing!! = ) so proud of him. But as the saying goes: "No pain, no gain." As usual, our dear old "Gungho" K goes all out when he plays, so during the race, he spun out a couple of times, and then ramped into the tyre perimeter and bruised his waist. Luckily he didn't sprain or broke anything..

After the guys had enough of go-karting, we headed for lunch at my favourite Bak Kut Teh at Taman Sentosa. I had been looking forward to this the whole week! Loved the bak kut teh at this stall. Lotsa ingredients, and very delicious herb-tasting brown soup! The group split up after that. 2 cars went to GIANT supermarket for some grocery shopping, and i brought like 4 rows of Vitagen, cornflakes and shower gel. Wanted to buy some soyabean milk for my cornflakes, but couldn't find any. Can you believe it? No soyabean milk in the whole freaking GIANT! So much for calling themselves "GIANT"!

We headed home after that. Traffic was so smooth that we were not used to it. Upon reaching home, K and I packed some clothes and toiletries and headed straight to Sheraton Towers for our complimentary one night Wedding Anniversary stay and dinner for 2... = )

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An Afternoon with Jim Rogers

2:14 PM by Adeline Woo 0 comments
K and I attended a talk by renowned investment expert and billionaire Jim Rogers yesterday afternoon. This was an event organized jointly by the NUS Business School and ACE (Action Community for Entrepreneurship) and held at the University Cultural Center - the exact same place where i had my convocation 4 years ago.


As i stepped into the Cultural Center, a wave of nostalgia swept over me.. It was nice to be back again. I had a minor flash back of me and my friends wearing our white and blue BIZAD convocation gowns and square hats, holding our scrolls and flowers and just being glad that we finally graduated.

On hindsight, i regretted not asking K to come and attend my convocation. At that time, i had only 2 tickets and naturally, i invited my parents. Nonetheless, my elder sister came and waited for me outside. Should have asked K to do the same so at least we could take some photos.. Now, i don't have any nice photos of us on my graduation = (

I tried to look around for familiar faces, but saw none. There was a huge crowd lining up to enter the hall, so i asked K to join the queue while i go register us for the talk. At that time, i was both hungry and thirsty. I had gone to the gym during lunch earlier for a 30-min run and had nothing but fruits for lunch.
Previously, when i went for a talk by HYFLUX CEO Olivia Lum, they served snacks, but this one did not. They don't even have drinks!




The doors opened 5 minutes later and we went in and found ourselves a good spot. I started pointing out to K the exact spots where i queued up to receive my scroll, where my parents sat during the ceeremony.. etc etc.. I was nostalgic all over again.. = ) The talk didn't begin until nearly 20 minutes later.. By then i was getting impatient and hungrier by the minute.


Overall, the talk was not too bad. Jim is indeed very impressive. His wealth of knowledge is so wide i feel as if he's a walking encyclopedia! Then again, we're talking about a man who retired at the age of 36 and took 3 years to travel around the world (116 countries) in his modified yellow Mercedes 4-wheel drive. He talked about how the world is changing. How we are moving from a century where the USA is THE super power, to a century where Asia, more specifically, China is becoming the super power. And USA is just dying off with its Trillion dollar debt and lousy policies. He talked about how commodities will soon become THE money making investment, and how farmers will be driving Maseratis in the next 10-15 years. He is so convinced that Asia is the next BIG thing, that he has decided to move from New York and settle down in Singapore. His 5-year old daughter even knows how to speak perfect Mandarin.

Then he spoke about the huge water problems in India and Northern China, and how water treatment will become the next big thing also. There were a lot of interesting questions during the Q&A. Unfortunately, i thought the Q&A was too short.

After the talk, K and I decided to invest in more commodity unit trusts and funds, and buy HYFLUX shares. = )

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Birthday Dinner & Drinks @ Clarke Quay

2:07 PM by Adeline Woo 0 comments
I met Ruby and Jasmine for dinner on Monday night after my Jim Rogers talk. June was supposed to join us, but she cancelled out on us last minute due to work fatigue. This was supposed to be my birthday treat. I had suggested GRAINS restaurant at Clarke Quay, as i thought the food would be healthy and not too expensive.

K dropped me off at the Central Mall where GRAINS was located. By then, i was hungry and thirsty. I had not had anything but fruits since lunch, and that was more 4 hours ago! So i decided to head straight to the restaurant and meet the girls there. The first thing i did when i sat down was order a hot cup of chrysanthemum tea. Ruby arrived shortly after, and offered a very hungry me some super nice chocolate croissant roll from this bakery downstairs called "Petit Provence". I liked it so much i wanted to get some myself after dinner, even though one costs 60cents!


Jasmine arrived shortly after, and we ordered some vegetables, beancurd, fried rice, and soup. They had this appetizer dish of fried cod fish that was so nice we asked for a refill. Jasmine asked the waitress if it was chargeable and the waitress told us one bowl costs $2.50. So expensive! So Jasmine tried to pull a fast one, and asked the waitress if she could have 50 cents worth. I laughed so hard my sides ached! In the end, the nice waitress gave us our refill on the house. = )

After dinner, we went to Petit Provence to get the croissants. My chocolate ones were already sold out, but Ruby and Jasmine bought the custard ones. We then decided to go for some drinks at one of the watering holes along Clarke Quay. I had wanted to try out the hospital-themed bar "Clinic" but realized they didn't have indoor seating. I wanted so much to sip my drink from a drip and sit in a wheelchair! But it was too warm to sit outside and "chill". So we decided to go to this club called "LUNAR" instead. Jasmine had a friend working inside so we managed to get in for free. Upon entering the club, i was so fascinated by the decor that i started taking lotsa pictures.

Here are some of my fave shots of this poster of a woman in lingerie, and a red color sculpture of Mao Zhe Dong..








I was quite impressed at how huge the club was. Didn't seem like much from the outside! Loved the decor and furniture inside. And the ceilings were given much attention, with all kinds of framed posters and ornaments hanging from above.


This was the huge red leather sofa that the 3 of us sat in.. Loved the silky red cushions!


And the live band downstairs which started only at 10pm... nothing spectacular.


The various ornaments hanging from the ceilings.. they even had bird cages! = )



The 3 of us left around 1015pm. Jasmine's husband gave us a lift, and dropped me off at K's office. K was working overtime, so i met him at his office, and we went home together after that.
I had a nice evening with my 2 long time buddies (17 freakin years!!).. too bad June wasn't there to complete the group..

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