Shirley's Birthday & Wet Market Shopping

Today is Shirley's birthday, but Helena and I surprised her yesterday evening. I had asked Shirley out for dinner but didn't tell her that I also told Helena we were meeting. And since Helena was planning to surprise her later that night anyway, we decided to "join forces".

It was pretty funny watching Shirley's reaction when Helena appeared with the cake at McDonald's. 

At first, Shirley was staring in the opposite direction, wondering aloud if the people at the other table were talking about insurance. While she was being distracted, Helena came in from the back and when Shirley turned around, there she was! :D Success.

We spent the rest of the evening strolling around Ang Mo Kio central and finally ended up in the Zone-X upstairs. There's Shirley, the two-time Wangan Midnight champion, playing her last boring game with just one hand on the wheel. We ended the night with some PIU (Korean DDR) then split to go home. 

Today's Friday, which means that my mother-in-law will most likely not be using the kitchen. That gives me a chance to whip up a small dinner later. Jerry said fried rice and chicken potato soup sounds good, so I quickly went down to the wet market to buy some ingredients before the stalls close.

I bought: 

One large potato ($0.90), two ears of corn ($1.50), a handful of char siew or barbecued pork ($2), two medium carrots and four string beans ($0.70) and two whole chicken wings ($1.50).

For some reason, I always feel like wet market people are out to cheat my money... Maybe it's the absence of price tags which makes me nervous. Or my early childhood memories of my grandma haggling in the market. Either way, I never ever feel like I got a good deal at the market other than the food being fresh.

What do you think, was I overcharged or not?

:/

Update: 

Chicken soup

And fried rice for dinner ;) 

Birthday Party

My birthday party took place almost a week ago; yet here I am, blogging about it like the major procrastinator I've become. 

On that day I was panicking a little because I wasn't sure if there was going to be enough food. I expected almost fifty people to show up in the evening. 

Thank God Shirley was able to help me during the day. We did SO much work just shopping and later, chopping all the ingredients. I couldn't have done it without her and my mom! (And my little bros whom I tricked into helping me haha)

Four straight hours of cooking. Phew!

I was late to my own party. People were dialing my cell but I had it on Do Not Disturb mode. I was just in such a hectic rush to get all the food, drinks, etc. ready!

Eventually, I got some time to settle down. People arrived and mingled together like I hoped they would.

Poor Shirley also finally got to sit and relax. I'm not sure if she enjoyed the food though. It's kind of hard to really enjoy food you spent so much time cooking!

My salsa was a success and I wished there were leftovers that I could keep in the fridge or something.

Ah yee surprised me with a major delivery of pink and red balloons! 

I look happy here but actually I'm feeling rather bittersweet about turning twenty-four.

Mango cake from Bengawan Solo. Just like my eighth birthday. 

Surprise surprise. Tricia (whom I know through the arcade) and Michelle (whom I know through rollerblading) were actually schoolmates! 

The world is totally small. 

My new aggressive skates arrived the day before, just in time for my birthday! And the big pink bag next to it is filled with presents from disobedient friends who disregarded my note about NOT buying me presents!

Still, most of them followed my "guidelines" and I was quite touched at how many people decided to get me stuff after all. 

I feel that after 21, you don't really need to be receiving presents. The greater gift is always the opportunity to give to others instead of receiving. That is when I am the happiest. But a few presents don't hurt that's for sure :)

I think this will be my last birthday party in a long while. I THINK.

This last one was tiring enough and I feel really weird celebrating my own birthday these days. I don't know, it just seems kind of lame celebrating your own birthday. Maybe I'll just throw random "we don't need no reason to celebrate" parties in the future. I love having people over and organising such fun events. 

So that's all for a little summary and maybe I'll have some energy left over to blog about other stuff tomorrow. 

Till then!

Last Few Weeks Of Being 23

My birthday is coming up next week and I can't help but feel a little sad. As the years roll by and I leave my teenage years behind, I find myself wishing that time could stand still. I know youth is a gift and it doesn't last for long. Like a whisper, it comes and goes. 

I also know that someday in the future, I am going to wake up and realise that I needed to sleep at 9pm not 3am. My bones are going to feel more brittle and my muscles- less responsive. 

Almost all my hobbies involve raising my heart rate to a racing bpm, which is why I dread the day my body fails on me. 

I look at all these young kids around me doing things I wish my fifteen year old body were still around to do. 

So it is with such a mindset that I have been living life. 

Fast-paced. 

No space to breathe. 

Few weeks ago Shirley, two other friends and I went skating/cycling at East Coast Park.

We made it to Bedok Jetty.

And stayed out there moon-gazing for some time.

It was so beautiful, big and bright that night.

On a different day, MingXian drove us both into Johor Bahru, Malaysia. We had lunch at a wanton mee place.

Spent almost two hours grocery shopping in KSL City Mall.

Had dinner at the Bamboo restaurant.

Hung out at Danga Bay after dinner.

Poor MingXian had no choice but to be dragged onto this ride. Even though it was small, it was really fun!

Then we just took a million photos for the rest of the night.

Had a Friday night urban skate as usual to the recently-finished Marina Bay Sands hawker centre.

Met up with the Davidians for our monthly get-togethers.

Went ice-skating with the usual Friday urban crew on a separate Friday.

 

Fell while telling people to "watch out for the curve in front". 

LOL 

Attended Shan Shan's graduation ceremony.

I love graduation ceremonies. I love them even more when they're held in a church with a service and worship before and everything. 

Well, I guess this was my first graduation ceremony that was held in a church with a service and worship before and everything. 

I cried during worship. The songs we sang somehow made me think about how lucky we were with Eric's situation and how God's grace just saves us... weak sinners... I thought about our mission in life and whether I am living out that mission to bring people to Christ. 

Hmm. 

(Note to self: don't wear mascara to church services, graduation or not)

Skated around MBS (yet again) with the three amigos. 

Snacked on the night view.

Finished off with a heavy supper at 126 in Geylang.

This is only one-thirds of the food that we ordered and tried desperately to finish.

On Friday, I went prawning at Farmart with Alu.

And Annie!

Annie had quite a few firsts that morning. 

First time eating MacDonald's breakfast, first time catching a prawn and first time being at Farmart!

Nothing beats eating the prawns you caught. 

Swimming one moment, dead and cooked the next. YUMZ.

So, horrors of horrors. 

I just got back from Skateline's monthly Saturday Night Skate and it was on this fateful night that I dropped my iPhone twice and cracked its screen.

My phone looks like a rat just chewed on it now. 

T^T

The first of the birthday gifts have arrived.

A special chinese recorder-like instrument from Chuan gu & Aunty Pei Leng! 

It's too late to try it now since everybody is sleeping, but I'll probably start chirping away later this morning when I wake up for church.

Gonna be playing the piano at Sunday School later...

I don't know how to explain the rush and mix of emotions that I have right now. But one thing I know: no matter what the situation, no matter how old I am getting or how young I am feeling, my purpose in life is simply to praise God, and I have very good reasons to do so.

All my life Lord, I give it to you! I give all my energy, youth, money and time to the furthering of your kingdom. In every walk of life, I ask that you use me like a vessel to pour forth your Spirit. In every action, word or thought of mine, I pray that you reach out to those who need you most. 

Past Two Weeks

Another month has flown by since my last blog post! 

LOL 

So much for updating regularly. 

I've been busy with the same old usual things- work, friends, hobbies, etc... Poor blogging has totally been left in the backseat.

Anyways, here are a few highlights from the past week or so.

Dinner In Chinatown

Two weeks ago, I met up with Annie and Alex for dinner at this restaurant called 东北人家 (Dong Bei Ren Jia) in Chinatown. 

Annie wanted us to try it since Alex is from Harbin (a northeastern state in China), and all the food they sell is apparently very northeastern Chinese, and delicious.

The Harbin native recommended that we have this pickled vegetable mutton soup. It's a popular dish round his part of the woods.

It has a very heavy muttony taste to it. Not for the fainthearted for sure, but I really enjoyed it. Though, I'm not sure if other people would like my breath after eating that... 

Some cold dish with veggies and... meat? I think? It tastes as tangy as it looks.

The 面卷 (mian juan) were huge! 

A great replacement for rice, they went well with the other dishes.

Fried tofu in sweet sauce.

Fried chicken in sweet sauce and vinegar. 

Guess you could also call it sweet and sour chicken. 

Alex said that this is a dish that is as typical to Harbin as the hamburger is typical to America. 

Okay, he didn't exactly say that, but you catch the drift.

Breakfast At Killiney Kopitiam

This past Monday, I met Marie Nishi, a Japanese tourist in Singapore. She was waiting for her sister at the hospital. Apparently her sis got food poisoning after having dinner in Little India the night before. 

What a shame huh? 

I took them out for breakfast the next day at Killiney Kopitiam. Wanted to show them a more "Singaporean" side of Singapore!

Le typical breakfast.

IT Show 2013 @ Marina Bay Sands

On Friday, I headed to Marina Bay Sands for the IT Show with Shirley & Alverina. 

Don't think they enjoyed the noisy crowded IT show too much, so we spent more time walking around MBS instead.

Taking photos everywhere we go.

Went up to the fourth floor so we could take more pictures on the deck.

It was sooo hot up there, and windy too.

Told them to strike a "model pose" and this is what I got.

Crazy dancing pose.

Shirley taking a photo of her own reflection.

Just like that!

We finally found Steven at the IT Show after searching around. He told us that he was at the ASUS booth, next to Philips, under Harvey Norman. 

Problem was, almost all the booths in that gigantic place were under Harvey Norman, and there were like a dozen ASUS booths scattered all over the floor. It made spotting Steven even harder than looking for Waldo in a sea of red and white.

Big ups to Shirley for her killer GPS instincts. She pinpointed the exact ASUS booth like a bloodhound on a hunt.

Friday Night Urban

As usual, Friday nights are skating nights. This past Friday a bunch of us met at Bishan MRT.

Our starting point was really at Bishan Park.

Ham giving us a little sliding pose at the gas station.

Ended the night at Tanjong Pagar.

And that's all for now! 

My eyes are dying on me.... Goodnight :)