(A melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution.)
"But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." - Psalms 52:8
Monday, July 28, 2008
kelvin and siew lee's wedding
i don't get to meet the Loon family often so it was great that the wedding brought almost everyone together! (all except for aunty mew in australia with her two gorgeous daughters.)
YAY! happiness all around! XD
me and mom
teh outfit of the day
adrean's Raoul photo moment, hehe
my cousin, neil! i think he's the youngest in the family
grandma, uncle bert and family
aunty mew fong and family (canada? USA?)
aunty joanne and family (canada)
aunty mew chan and family
neil's hilarious. i love bullying him... BUT HE STARTED IT! HE ALWAYS DOES! HE CALLED ME CHUBBY!!! :(
Loon boys have cheeky faces. too bad their ring leader, Mark, wasn't around. *sigh*
all the unmarried cousins
daddy!! :D
ok ceremony beginning... woah violinists!! playing pachelbel's canon heehee
'and here beholds the RING to rule them all!!!' yar, i'm only kidding.
yeap! i've had the chance to load on the shadows these few days.
1. woke up bloody early (5:30am o_O) wanting to jog but decided to play with my colors instead!
i have teeny eyelids and teeny eyes though, so whatever style i was trying to pull just disappears when i smile.
all over colour: EM's Baby Bath corner: EM's In the Garden eyeliner: er, Maybelline... in brown?
good grief, i look cock-eyed.
2. my cousin's wedding!
i LOVE purple on my lids. gorgeous, gorgeous color... taaz (omgdness i look like such a retard in those photos) was right!! hahaha.
i need to get those fantastic E.L.F. brushes the reviews were raving about, instead of using my finger pads. *sigh*
all over colour: EM's Baby Bath crease: EM's Diary corner: EM's Mystic Night (damn pretty, very metallic - i was actually afraid to put this on coz it's highly pigmented; one teeny mistake and that's it!) eyeliner: KATE Super Sharp Eyeliner in Black
some pictures are really gross, so please just focus on the eyes, haha! man, i love purple so much now.
alrighty wedding banquet's tonight! *excited* will be back with more pictures... unless my eyes can't take it anymore. :D
eh by the way ah, i'm not good at this at all okay; coz like, my eyeshadow's not blended in and not obvious sometimes etc... i just get tired arms and give up after awhile. i'm just putting this up coz i adore EM's colours.
i woke up this morning... and simply decided to take leave.
oh, it was GOOD.
i had so much left over housework to do, so i finished that. and then i felt fat, so i did some exercises. next i finished all my feeds, took a bath and YAY SHOPPING FOR ALL THE STUFF THAT I NEED! XD
out of my shopping list, i needed to get a brand new mouse and silver shoes for yy's wedding. these two items were the first and last item i got in my ... OMG I SHOPPED FOR 8 HOURS.
11am - 7pm. good grief.
so, the shopaholic bug strikes again.
heehee, lemme show u my spoils of the day! i stepped into citylink all relaxed and calm; anyway the GSS is over (i think?) so i don't have to worry about seeing cheap deals...
O_O BYSI SALE!! i made a beeline for it, and in 1 hour and 4 trips to the changing room, i bought these:
really weird dress - $18
really pretty and slimming top in 2 colours and 2 sizes (no size, and they both make me look great). gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. comes with an obi belt too! - $25 each
by the time i step out i was wondering to myself 'wah, my errands just never seem to happen... i keep getting waylaid before i hit marina square. some weird curse.'
then i see charles and keith and VOILA - THE SILVER SHOES with no size. dah! marina square, i'm soooo getting there.
15 minutes later i make it! OMG TOPSHOP SALE GOGOGO:
velvet anchor necklace - $9
i leave topshop and OH CRAP MAN MISS SELFRIDGE'S...
cinch belt - $23
i saw a really nice corset belt in brown but thought i wan't gonna wear it much... naaah. *puts back on shelf*
by then i had to call for some shopping control - XUMMY!!
he was around the area so we met up for awhile... BUT NOT BEFORE THE DIVA SAAAAALE
after weiyi left, i was all ready to hit the eastbound train. then aileen msged, 'hey today's games day?' (referring to kids' cell tonight)
i thought to myself, 'ooh aileen has the charles and keith card hehehe...'
so i called her, 'hey! are u going home now?'
a: omg viv i need retail therapy.
v: YAY JOIN ME AT MARINA!!
a: WAH JUST NICE! OK OK WAIT FOR ME WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
so yeah. downfall part 2:
charles and keith at marina didn't have size 38. hmm. ok we will shop our way to suntec. heeh. we popped into topshop but nothing much... i've been there!
but when we stepped into selfridge's...
corset belt - $29 (plus the cinch belt) I CAN'T HELP IT I LOVE IT DON'T JUDGE ME T_T
nothing at mango. i saw how much my birthday dress costs. hehe.
dorothy perkins is actually my favourite out of all the topshop, selfridge chains. but yar it's a tad large though...
i got 15% off my entire purchase so it only cost me $60 when it was originally -
hibiscus top - $23
maternity wear (haha!) - $29
yellow clutch - $16
i'm too lazy to take a picture of my shoes but u'll probably see it in at least 2 out of 4 weddings this year.
and yeah i spent almost $200 on miscellaneous items bar silver shoes and logitech mouse. i think i need help? but i don't want help coz everything looks so gorgeous!!!
it started with We Sing, We Dance and We Steal Things.
now that i'm listening to all his albums, i get shivers down my arms (omg, he's amazing live! from a recording no less) and i just caught myself staring at my computer, seeing but not really seeing for about 5 minutes... just listening to his voice blending in with his scat-pal.
i'm entranced, or as xinwei tells me all the time: mrazmerized. :)
i was pretty happy about today, since my tuition kid cancelled out on me hence giving me a precious FREE DAY.
(seriously, i can show u my schedule... it's been packed since... hmm... the start of june? yes, people whom i wanna meet or vice versa have to book 2-3 weeks in advance! i'm taking a one month break from meetings in august, i need to relack one corner, yo.)
so i was happily planning out my free evening: i need to get a clock, sturdy black flats for work, a new mouse, and um, some clothes and accessories while i'm at it. where else can i find everything trendy but at marina square!
alvin offered his company (which made me quite the gleeful girl) so i was envisioning the whole evening shopping hand in hand and picking out nice stuff to get...
oh wait. food is important... where to eat first?
i browsed through hungrygowhere.com, checking out all the highest rated (and cheap) restaurants/eateries at suntec/city hall/marina square. in the end i decided on Pho House at Suntec...
but when we arrived at City Hall i was loathe to walk all the way to the END of suntec (is it just me or do you also reckon the new walkway to suntec is longer than the old rickety escalator + overhead bridge?)
so alvin and i start walking around city hall aimlessly... and then i see my bro.
hurhurhur. *rubs hands with glee*
i tiptoed around adrean, and hugged him like a koala bear!! it was all so worth it... the look on his face and the little scared sound that shuddered out of his throat was priceless.
his face had 'WHAT THE! which mad girl...' kinda scared look. hehehehehehe.
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE.
and alvin and i continue wandering aimlessly.
alvin: ochacha? me: no...
a: spageddies? v: nope. a: new york new york? v: noooooo... ok ok u choose, and i'll just follow. OH LOOK IT'S HALF PRICED WAFFLE DAY!!! a: oh u wanna go? v: hmm... nope. a: -_-"'. how about shokudo pasta? v: nope.
alvin was about to tear his hair out from frustration and hunger by the time we reached marina square. we chose to walk around a quieter part of marina where no one really goes to... and i suspected previously that it's because that's the uppity fine dining area where everything is priced exorbitantly...
OH THERE, I'M RIGHT! there's Tomo Fine Dining! i just read reviews of that restaurant on hungrygowhere. the reviews were great, but when i looked at the price range, it was $75-$85 per pax.
GOSH!!
but alvin was interested to just check out the prices since i mentioned they got really good reviews, and besides, their set lunch was advertised on a standee chalk board @ $15-19 (i can't really remember) so how ex can the set dinner be right?
and i was right again! the set dinner was only $20+ ... again, my memory has failed me. (i hope u realize where this is going now)
we happily decided to eat at Tomo (Fine Dining worrr) since, fine dining apparently comes for cheap. yay!
i can't stop gushing about them and i need to explain why. this is also why it's friggin' 12:24am and i'm still sitting here typing while nursing a headache (i think i got over excited and all my blood vessels must have dilated and caused too much blood pressure in the brain. but oh no, the headache didn't ruin the meal at all, oh no it didn't!)
at first we were seated at the dining area, and then we were coaxed by the head chef (who said he was nursing an injured finger that's why he wasn't behind the counters; i'm not sure if i believe him, he's always joking around!) to move to the counter seats so we could see what the chefs were doing. he said it'd be more fun and interactive that way and we'd be able to check out the chefs' skillz.
so ok, we upped and moved over, while i began to get excited about watching chefs do their stuff. once we sat down, the lady tending to us (Candy, who's extremely informative to us noobs to fine dining; chatty but not overbearing at all) persuaded us to go for the Omakase.
i looked for the Omakase 'set'. OMG THIS IS THE ONE THAT ALL THE REVIEWERS ATE! IT'S $80 (or more, depending on quality) PER PAX and was extremely vague in their description of the food served in every course. i was torn between the reviews that i read (everyone must've gone Omakase! it must be good!) and the price i was paying for 7 unknown dishes...
what swayed me was that i just got my tuition pay and this week during service i missed tithing coz the bag had already passed by the time i got back from the loo. WHY SO EFFICIENT SUDDENLY??? *grrawww* so all the money was still there...
'ok let's go for it.'
Candy warmed up to us first and she reassured us that we will enjoy the experience. well, everything was still up in the air, so i just smiled and had a 'i really hope so' face.
ok this is where i feel like stopping my descriptions.
i don't want to tell u what i ate because if you go, u will surely have something different. also... there was a certain dish that when presented to us, my jaw dropped and alvin was positively squealing with delight.
i've been eating (sometimes excessively) for 25 years, and u really have to trust Candy coz, my word, she is fantastic. trust her with your palate!!!!!!!!
and they actually made things with wasabi in it... and i gobbled everything up. mind you, i do not like wasabi. i really don't, but the entire meal... *wobbly chin*
OK FROM HERE ON, I START MY DESCRIPTIONS. IF, LIKE MOVIES, YOU HATE SPOILERS...
PLEASE STOP READING HERE!!!
------------------------------------------------
alvin and i had:
1. appetizer - jellyfish with Japanese cucumber
2. salad - veggie with amazing dressing, grilled sweet potato, pumpkin and sweet corn which was in season and hence SO SWEET
3. sashimi - GOT SCALLOP YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!! after this you'll forget about salmon. srsly, this will open up your sashimi mind... *in heaven* alvin grinned like a maniac over the yellowtail though. We also had maguro, which was in a thick slab, and salmon, of course.
i can't say i eat a lot of sashimi but i think i'm at a stage where i eat less, but appreciate more. u have to try this restaurant. after this place, sakae (YUCKS, REALLY.) and random sashimi u pay $$ for will not appeal to you. maybe only the sakuraya fish market sashimi can stave off my cravings now. and i thought sakuraya was already the freshest it can get in singapore... -_-
4. teppanyaki beef - it is not as plain as u'd think it be... the beef cubes and shitake were absolutely bursting with flavor *KAPOW!!!*
5. chawanmushi - this was the dish that made both our jaws drop when presented. It's called the ikura chawanmushi, but Candy calls it the "happy chawanmushi", and it's not a misnomer by any means. When you open the lid of the cup, you don't see the egg, all you see is salmon roe. It mixes just wonderfully with the egg, and even better, they use real crab meat instead of cheapo crab sticks. Absolute heaven.
in between courses the head chef andrew was strolling around, and popped in once in awhile to ask if the food was good. while i was having the chawanmushi i accidentally phrased myself 'don't wanna eat' when i actually meant that 'i can't bear to eat it all up'. he looked abit affronted but grinned when i cleared it up. *phew*
ah, my stupid mouth that speaks before the brain can communicate with it.
6. grilled fish - i don't eat fish coz it's troublesome and bony. but this particular fish was in season, so Candy recommended it as one of the dishes. they chose to grill it and the skin was crispy, the fish oil was so fragrant and the meat was tender and juicy. alvin and i devoured everything!
7. hotate - this had spicy mayo over it and rather heavy tasting so i can't say i LOVED it. still, it's better than the smaller version i've tried at sushi tei.
oh the presentation was great as well! they were served in huge sea shells the size of my palm... i wanted to bring both shells home and make a mermaid costume out of it, hehe.
8. sushi - we had 3 pieces; swordfish, maguro, and eel. huge slabs of fish balanced on a small wad of rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds. I CAN REALLY GET USED TO THIS!!! XD~ Alvin liked the unagi best, but I liked the swordfish best. The maguro was very very lightly flavoured and topped with a slice of avocado, which made it the perfect piece to eat in between 2 stronger flavoured sushi.
9. soup - it was just boiled fresh seaweed and water. but oh so flavourful... :D:D:D
10. ice cream - yuzi sorbet - THE BEST THING TO MAKE YOUR MOUTH TINGLY AND FRESH AGAIN. and once again, i normally hate sorbets. so sour and way too tangy on the tongue, bleurgh... but yuzi was just nice. and so was alvin's black sesame gelato, which had a right balance of sweetness.
i very delightedly told the chefs at every turn that everything was so awesome and pleasantly a lot better than the usual fare we get at average restaurants (like, duh right), and their reply was, 'oh because we get everything direct from hokkaido... even the ice cream!'
sodesune.
11. rock melon - $12 per slice. ice cold- crispy, sweet and juicy. what a lethal combination.
we also made friends with the chefs over the counter, jack and situ. apparently it was jack's last day at tomo!
'oh no where're u going??'
'oh hahahaha i'm going over to the new Tomo branch at M hotel.'
'ok we'll go look for u there.'
'ah, no problem, i'll surely recognize you.'
i love their staff. so personable, and fine dining that's just so homey at the same time. it's so unlike my currently 2nd most expensive meal at the italian restaurant place... it was a lot more upper crust and stiff. it's all behave, behave, behave, and you're expected to know what that xxxx-ette meant.
but no it's so different here! i hounded the waitresses with questions about tea and ice cream and unknown slabs of sashimi and ground up iffy stuff. they also gladly provided me with methods to mix my food with the separate garnishes for taste-tests and didn't laugh when i stabbed at my fish (coz i'm quite failed at chopsticks and fish eating.) like a cavewoman. *blush*
there was only once when Candy had to shush me coz i laughed with delight over the prospect of free ice cream. heeh. so paiseh. but she smiled and said, 'hey not too loud, otherwise other customers might want it too.'
i think they were so nice to us because we were like wide-eyed children in a candy store... and we were!!
i am definitely going back. and after this, the only other place left to go is Hokkaido where they get their supplies WOOOOOOO!!!
this has turned out to be the best meal i've ever had in my life. it's also the best $100 i've spent on food, ever. it is also the meal that made me the happiest, the only meal that pleased me at every turn, and the one meal that made BOTH of us want to jump up and down on our stools with ecstasy at every serving.
wah kau! yes, over FOOD.
we left the restaurant in a serious state of HAPPY.
alvin and i were discussing about the singapore F1 this afternoon. i really want to go but the tickets are so highly priced i'd rather he save the money and get something more practical.
but while we were still discussing our options, i got quite excited talking to alvin about walking around the circuit and i enthusiastically kinda uh, referred to myself as an 'F1 race queen'!
*silence around the lab*
then kenny, the new boy, went 'ooogwhehglll', the sound frequently known as the *hurl*.
mock furiously i turned to him and said while laughing, 'eh! what do u mean by that! wah liao eh!'
kenny: wah liao, RACE QUEEN??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
me: *grrrrrr*
alvin: 'eh what race queen...'
kenny to alvin (kenny thought alvin agreed with him about hurling): hahahaha yar lor, what race queen right?
alvin (mock threateningly): ehhhh... not race queen? *evil laughter* u see your proposal later... be careful ah...
kenny, alarmed: OH OH OKOKOK SORRY SORRY
then we all just laughed really hard.
but this was not the end.
10 minutes later hanbin strides into the room, oblivious to the short camaraderie that just happened between alvin, his mentee and i, so i tried to explain what happened.
me: yar! that kenny was so irritating, i said i'm a drag queen-
i stopped abruptly and clasped my hands over my mouth which was shaped like an O.
there was a 5 second DEAD SILENCE in which i was hoping nobody heard me, oh my goodness, please let nobody have heard that-
simultaneously, there was a roar of snorts and shouts of laughter while everyone in the room tried to grasp that fact that i just called myself a drag queen, omg.
kenny was the most delighted of them all, 'this is even better hahahahahaha drag queen hahahahaha!!'
key lime pie, a new casio (gorgeous baby!) and loads of side splitting moments
I HAD KEY LIME PIEEEEEEEEE:
at california pizza kitchen and it was creamy, lime-y, tangy, smooth and altogether YUMMALICIOUS.
mm-mmm. *shudder*
i will be back for more.
...
so i went to meet my gal pals who're seriously overworked, the poor dears. tetchy xinwei refused to take pictures and lolled her head all over the cushioned backing of our booth and groaning for some Yoko-yoko.
angel didn't look any more upbeat... and that's why THANKS FOR COMING TO LUNCH WITH ME I LOVE U ALL!!!
they gave me a new casio watch, and a dress from Mango (which is pretty but looks weird on me somehow).
the lunch at california pizza was darn good. their pasta kicks ass man!!! for once i was glad i didn't go for just aglio olio. mmm-mmmmm.
man, i am so hungry right now. :(
after lunch with the girls, i headed towards marsiling to meet alvin WHO VERY KINDLY WAITED FOR ME THOUGH HE'D REACHED 45 MINUTES AHEAD OF ME... THANKS DEAR!! :)
when we arrived at the wongsters' they'd already started on one game.
alvin unveils cranium WOW and gets everyone excited!
check out their characters! they get to wear hats now! wow so much character!!! :O
meanwhile we start on pete's card games Marriage Material (where u try to escape marriage, haha) and Guillotine (below):
yay for Cranium WOW! it's the updated version of cranium, so they have updated songs and trivia!
for example, alvin and pete had club cranium for humdinger... and they had to hum 'kungfu fighting'. absolutely hilarious.
here's yy doing her sculpture. the hint is 'thing'.
can't guess? the answer is:
heh-heh. ok now wai liong's turn... he's trying to do a baby bottle:
and here's pete's sculpt. the hint is 'expression':
the answer is...
haha!
the following are all pete's creations. he is GOOD man!
we also had mindmeld where all team members are given a word and we're to write down 3 words that come to mind - and at least two of us must have a word that overlaps.
so the word was 'Honeymoon'... here're our answers (EH I WROTE WHAT I WROTE FOR ENTERTAINMENT'S SAKE)
