Shoots for work and pleasure

For reasons beyond me, I can't fall into a slumber tonight of all nights. I do so need sleep exasperatingly but when sleep escapes you, you try to find other means of falling back into a lullaby.

::

This year in particular, I've had a fair bit of yusheng to toss during Chinese New Year. Don't be surprised that I'm not complaining - I'm actually having a great time doing it.

Here comes some random shoots.

An impromptu corporate shoot for Aspire Concept. Glad it turned out well. :)

Cute artwork drawn by colleague's boyfriend for her department presentation.

Record breaking yusheng tossing.




Fringe activities: Ting Ting Candy Man







I miss these candies for real! It's got a doughy texture. Me likey.




Part of the fringe activity is the Turkish Ice Cream.







My favourite has always been the pistachio (middle). It's been so long since I last had it and it tastes exactly like I remembered it. Awesome.




Saw this retro handset in a magazine and it's now on my to-get list :)




Likewise for this twin USB.




Quirky OMGFacts on Twitter excites me.




Inbetween the docudrama shoot that I'm busy with, I visited a restaurant in City Square for lunch.

Mushroom soup in decorative bowl.




Salad with pasta in wasabi marinated sauce.




The decor deserves attention.




To-die-for chilli crab pasta.




Comes with its sidekick - the lemon slice and tool - can you imagine?




Even the forgettable forest cake deserves A for effort in presentation.




A real throne. Not.




Remember the forgettable forest cake? Well it wasn't satisfying so to kill everyone's Monday blues, we headed straight for real cakes.

Passion fruit meringue at Coffee Bean. My favourite.




Tiramisu - tastes better than it looks.




Warmed up mud pie - think moist center coated in velvety rich dark chocolate!




Morocan mint tea latte - what can possibly go wrong with chocolate and mint? Apparently, nothing.




To add honey to tea, we spotted a pair of fluffy doggles at the docudrama shoot.

Aww! He's 12 years we were told. All the way from France this one.




Black doggle is a lot cuter in real life. Her name literally reflects the colour of her fur. Go figure.




Aww-ness.




Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant at Carlton Hotel.







Fortune cookie says.




Tung Lok Restaurant at VivoCity.

I know it prolly bores you but I was totally checking out the fancy method they served up yusheng for tossing. I'm not sure of the base sauce but this absolutely rocked our tastebuds.













And there's the one with the family.




Friends who know me well understands my love affair with bubble tea. When something as new as this caught my eye, I fought tooth and nail to have it. That included friendly bantering with the boyfriend.

Verdict? It's chewier! Om nom nom :D

It's not easily available yet but I trust it soon will be, as are all fads.




Five minutes before my BBQ starts, I couldn't resist a bowl of divinity from 85 Bedok North. A long time favourite. :)




::

These days, all I'm doing - if any - are yoga and gym. I truly miss outdoor sports.

Of thoughts and food

As I have loaded every picture to Facebook, I see no reason to repeat it here. It's a painful process uploading photos as I do have massive collections of images.

For a start, I didn't think the year rolled off well at all but if there is a single shred of hope that the new year will be better, I will hold on to it with mighty fervor. As such, I don't see myself holding back much at all this year but to go all out amidst caution in what I deem major aspects of life like love, communication - which in turn includes social, familial and corporate - and health.

Seeing as we tend to break away from our social group as we delve deeper into the next phase of life, I began viewing communication tools with keen eyes. Last year saw a lot of painful transitions and I started relying heavily on online communication to catch up with people who are dear to me. It wasn't nearly sufficient but I realized it was all I had to keep the channels open.

On a different note, I think that as I receive lesser time for myself as a result of growing older and having more responsibilities, I treasure every quality moment I actually own. I guess that sums up my thoughts and feelings for now.

Now, onto pictures, primarily of good feasting ;)

::

Baby and hyper Chloe

Haha of all things and names, we found this in an ad!


Lounging in on a weekend.

I wanted to eat Botak Jones' but Nick brought me to another coffeeshop instead to try another version as it's supposed to be famous. It's in Toa Payoh and within walking distance of his place. Read the short write up below the signboard.


Presentation was okay but the golden crisp of the batter got to me.


It was light and crispy but it doesn't beat Botak Jones' I gotta admit - I much prefer the cajun spices on the fries at Botak Jones'. The coleslaw tasted exactly the same as Botak Jones' so no surprises there.

The uncle insisted we sprinkle with heavy hands of the malt vinegar he brought along. Not that he had to even try asking. ;)

Ginger tea with milk at a small tea house in Toa Payoh Central.



I ordered Chicken Chop and was surprised by this version - which they claimed was how they do it. It's pretty bad so I won't be revisiting.



Sweet and sour fish - bad.


Emocube up and running at The Cathay. It has since relocated to The National Library outside the plaza.

Fish pasta with penne at Coffee Club

Double boiled chicken soup - very good.


Spicy lamb herbed and served with pita and fries - good even though I waited quite a while for this.





Cherries and grapes for dinner one weekday after work cos I wasn't feeling like much else.

Unforgettable Ebi Miso Ramen at Bishamon ever since the first time I tried it at lunch with Ericia at Raffles City (note: that outlet has closed) - they opened an express outlet in Bugis B1. I actually prefer miso soup base than any other soup bases for its savoury yet light texture.

So one night after waiting out for Nick to end his Personal Training session with a client, I persuaded him to bring me to Geylang for dinner at Wan Dou Sek.
Char siew chee cheong fun


Deep fried chicken wrapped in paper






Golden mushroom wrapped with - get this - boiled beef. It's the worst dish I've ever had - the texture of the beef is powdery and disintegrates rather than melts in your mouth. I stopped after one bite.

And people, this is what I came here for :D FYI, Ericia recommended this to me and I've never looked back - Pumpkin soup with crab meat.

Playback making-of videos of every imaginable dim sum item while patrons feast on just makes one wants to order more. I swear it happened to me. Heh!

Marche's


I love the creamy pastas at Marche's - another one of my cravings - and the cheese ravioli I had was good! Love the cherry tomatoes toppings which you help yourself to and gorge all you want.






Beef la mian at Asian Kitchen - good stuff.

Veggie wanton la mian

Pan fried pork dumpling



Homemade delicacy - baked whole chicken with russet potatoes - by my lil sis.



It was a fullon rainy Sunday after a docudrama shoot. I craved for a piping hot bowl of good ramen and we settled at Ramen Play for the first time at NEX.

Spicy tonkatsu ramen - the soup base didn't deliver but the noodles I like!

Shoyu ramen


Yakitori chicken with leeks



The young lily has bloomed.


I think it's bloomed too much, it now looks like the shape of a bowl.

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Happy Prosperous New Year, y'all! :)

Chicken soup for the cold weather

This is my blessing from Nick's momsy supposedly for blood circulation during that time of the month. Very yummy stuff if one loves the aroma of herbal soup! Cold weather makes one crave for home cooked tonic soups like such. I haven't been to Nick's in ages due to the superstition people have of mourning ie it's considered bad luck to step into people's houses especially during the auspicious festive of Chinese New Year. I don't believe in it but this is my way of showing respect for others who are celebrating the festive. So, Nick had to scoot it over in bubble wrap. :)

Thank you dear!

And so we turn One :)

Our first anniversary was nothing short of amazing.

I tried to explain how much I love you...

"I've never love someone so so much before. I used to think I have loved, until I met you...then I realized, no, I've never understood love before today. What I'm saying is, I don't want to lose you. That is how much I love you and the reason for my change."

I have change somehow, for the better I think. It's not easy but you give me hope and reason to go on day after day no matter the season.

To be honest, I'm not really interested to make it work. I'm interested to make it last. Today, you'd have realized I've settled in for the long haul.

You are simply amazing and that is why I love you.

Once again, happy first anniversary babydear.

Love,
Michelle

Grandfather Stories

I am mentally unprepared to deal with all of these. All I have now is sadness beneath this phony facade. I might as well come out right now to say I am so sentimental my soul is a hundred years old. Truth is, I don't take to departures so well yet I have recently shared and even written about it boldly.

I'd like to share a little nugget that makes me smile in reminiscence. Do you know who's the funny one in my extended family? Not that cousin who went to drama classes or the auntie with hilarious story-telling talent. It was my very dear Grand dad. He was a jolly character, the real funny one, before Dementia stole his dear humour and slowly controlled his soul. Though slight in build with thin limbs, he was big on humour. What I fondly remembered most about him pre-Dementia was his rambunctious laughter. I am beginning to miss that. I was planning to introduce my partner to him this CNY.

My last moment with him was never had. Except this morning's tale which I leaked online through a tweet status.

I had interrupted sleep when a thin palm stroked the back of my head during the hour before day breaks. In my semi slumber, I considered jumping out of bed. Oddly, there was no fear whatsoever in my heart. "Not possible", I thought. Yet, I felt unusually comforted. So, I prayed for it to stop so I could fall back asleep. In the morning when the last alarm went off, I decided I had a peculiar dream. Of course, I still felt uneasy but there were more pressing things on my mind.

Could that guardian angel be my Grand dad?

::

The only way I know to work through my emotions was to pack. I would pack anything in my sight and only care to rest upon complete exhaustion.

It's my therapy.

I ended up junking a sizeable amount of shoes and clothes. 

The pretty nice stuff in retrospect

For a day, my account was hacked and blogs mysteriously disappeared. Mega thanks to Sheena's panic alert, I managed to restore everything to its former glory. Thank God for security system and dear Sheena's urgent notification that I couldn't ignore.

Couldn't say the events of 2011 has fully sunk in for me. Everything is still as it was. And workload gets heavier after the integration of every campaign. I hate to be the last to leave the office every night. It's not my resolution for the year! Every work rat sure has its day. Twenty-four hours to get things done, and still be semi sane the next day. What an art.

On the home front, I just acquired a fancy new bed that I've saved up for and am refurbishing parts of the house. I have bundled up mountains of unwanted shoes and clothes to make space for new ones. It's super freaking therapeutic and zen like to describe the least.

Most recently, I'm starting to eat healthily again thanks to the boyfriend's influence. More greens, sans fried fatty bits. Though he'll surely beg to differ when I'm still stuffing my face with sugar treats! I've not paid my dues for all the indulgent feasts to either take to the gym or hit the road for a run. I'm frequently either preoccupied with work or downright exhausted from it. Whatever distance I cover from walking, my glutes, calves and thigh begin to hurt. In short, I'm in morbid danger of becoming a sloth. So I took up lunch time yoga with a colleague. Great decision. Boy, it was all that I needed really.

Mentally, I feel pretty good about myself - a state of equilibrium from being surrounded by great friends, a loving family, amazing colleagues and a perfect boyfriend who doesn't overindulge your odd whims and fancies.

The social circle I am close with are still the same people from my younger days. Many of us has made serious plans to get into long term relationship or to create a family unit. Some, like me, has made commitments to The One - for me, this part is the most amazing process.

30 minutes into penning this, I realized the need to self dedicate this post as a back patting morale booster. Personally, I felt I had made the most out of what was given and turn it into something I'd be proud to add to the list in years to come.

In my life, I've met many great people and some mean ones. Some of them weaved gold thread in the fabric of my life and some weaved burlap. Yet, all of these people added colours to my years making it possible to share interesting stories on and offline. I am deeply humbled and grateful for all the kind support and wise words bestowed by friends and people from all walks of life.

For the most part, I've been very guilty of social neglection, extremely selfish in my pursuit of perfection, uninterested in charitable matters and the unglamourous list goes on. I'm probably not going to change much over the next few years. What truly touches me is having people still love me for me.

What exactly am I known for?

Maybe the tough tenacity to bounce back to form again and again.

And yes, a sucker for sentimental thoughts and thus this post. :)

More importantly, this post is for you my dearest faithful friends and gorgeous boyfriend. :)

::

Such a good feeling to let it out! Basically, this entry has evolved from a form of destress to one of faith, optimism and love. Thanks for making me feel better through your lasting friendship and support. Quite possibly, a little bit of tough love as well. :)