Marina Barrage

Went to Marina Barrage and the weather was looking iffy over in the west, but NEA said that it was merely going to be cloudy over at our destination. So, with faith we journeyed to the marina barrage!

It was the first time in my ENTIRE life (so far), that I stepped onto Marina Bay Mrt station. Seriously. And so, here we are! This was the less "open" way in though it all leads to the same place. The architecture of the barrage is quite something to behold. And then it opens up to reveal a wide open space. But that's not all...

Us on top where everyone is either kite flying, picnic-ing, snapping photos, playing cards, lying around, frisbee-ing... oh, it was grand. :) There was so much happiness going on up there. These grassy slopes remind me of the architecture of the arts faculty in NTU.

What seemed like the residential kuching. People stopped by to pat the little girl. She was such a pretty ginger cat.

She had orange eyes!

She looks like she's having a word with God now.
No sitting? I lie down. :) Metal sculpture of something along the lines of: What goes around, comes around. Can you see us in the reflection?

Not very nice composition but I loved the sky... For some reason, the red from the sky was captured on the camera's screen but not when i uploaded it and viewed it on the PC. Meh.

Gorgeous skyline.

Pilgrimmage to a macaron place...! ($3 per macaron. omg. Flown over from Belgium.) Every time I encounter a macaron "degustation" session, I would scrutinize them like a mother in law would scrutinize her future in laws. HAHA. I stare, squint, touch, assess... I'm thinking: which mac is this? French? Italian? What do the feet tell me? What do the shells feel like? Why is it not shiny? Matt? Where is the filling? It's suppose to be visible! Are the shells hollow? Are they fully matured? How does it feel at the first crunch, where's the chewy texture???

The first nom. We had, vanilla, passionfruit chocolate, gingerbread, hazelnut and caramel. They were delicious but I notice something rather interesting. My first bite was met with crunchy shells! It was so odd! It was also biscuity and wafer like. It was CRISPY?! Though the inside was slightly damp looking from the filling. But it was just pure strange. As recommended, i let them rest for a few more minutes before taking another bite The insides did soften but I must say, they still had quite a bit of crispy going on, which I thought was rather odd. And i think I will conclude that it's because they had to fly over from Belgium and being in the dry cabins, the moisture got sucked out. Hm, it's just my hypothesis because I remember when my sister brought the Pierre Herme's macarons back, they also had this same dry, crisp, texture that was biscuity which i thought seemed very contrary to what I thought macarons were suppose to be like. But of course, then again, I've not had macarons STRAIGHT from the store, so I wouldn't know what its original texture was suppose to be. Anyhow, I still enjoyed them, though $3 a pop is quite... bah. Paid for their air ticket to Singapore.

The last nom.

This was the place.

Beautifully lit trees outside. Loved walking along the wooden boardwalk.

The End! :D

Goodbye KTM

Gem and I visited the KTM railway last sunday. It was quite an experience walking along the railway without fear of, you know, getting zapped to death by the power lines or mauled by an oncoming train. The stuff we saw along the way looked so old that it was a little difficult to comprehend that the trains stopped running only just a couple of weeks ago. We felt like we were visiting ancient ruins from another era.

Just some of our snaps from the day. :)


Us. Before starting our 1.6km walk.

Can't have a railway post without the obligatory track photo.

Train traffic light?

Nice shot of a flower by Gem. :)


We saw some tadpoles swimming in surprisingly clear water.

Super duper ultra kazuper ooooolllddd 3 pin socket and switch.

Old BRICK drain. BRICK!

Tall creepy climbies.

Gem's nice shot of a resident dragonfly.

-.-" Me and my nonsense.

Uh. Like I said.

Very hardy wood plank, part of the train track. Had very beautiful grooves, almost like, i quote Gem, "tiger stripes".

The bridge at rifle range road where we got off the tracks.

Top of the bridge.

We were pretty famished, so I actually gave in to our (yes, our) McDonald's cravings. I hardly ever patronize Macs because to me, Macs food isn't real food. Don't ask me for any rational explanations, I have none. My irrational (?) explanation is that the food comes across to me as plasticky. It's only good when it's hot, and once it cools, I feel like I'm biting in fake rubber food.

I was hoping that our little trekking excursion that afternoon would lead us all the way to the rail mall, but fat chance! Haha. It was one looooong short 1.6km trek.

And yes, from now on, all my food rantings will now be logged in to my new wordpress blog. Hopefully I'll still have the time to cook and bake when I start work! In other news... the results of my dissertation is going to be released soon. *quiver*

Jed, Gem and Jo @ Botanic Gardens 13th Feb 2011 Sunday

It took us ages to leave the house on a bright cheery sunday afternoon. But when we did, it was a gorgeous and relaxing day out with 2 of my best buds: Gem and Jed. :)

It's Jed's first time walking such a long distance, so we had to be prepared to carry him home but the power packed mini pin was a good sport all the way there and back. The only times when we had to tend to him was when we had to run across the pedestrian crossing because the tar road was too hot in the midday sun and he was hopping and kicking his feet in the air because it was scorching his uncallused paw pads (since he's at home most of the time), and when we used our ice water to cool his ears down (which cools him down).

We took a walk from home all the way to the Botanic Gardens where we sat down to take a break and recharge before heading for dinner and back home.

Jed ever so often gets mistaken as a chihuahua. Meh. But at least the commenting passersby always exclaim that he's so cute. Ah, but of course. :)

Hopefully boy and dog had a good time out. By the time we left, it was 7pm, ended dinner at close to 9pm, and got home close to 10pm. We had a Vietnam moment during dinner when we had to sit by the roadside with our tapao-ed dinner since eateries don't welcome pets on their premises. But we had a good time all in all. My polar watch also said that i burnt some good fatty calories. Yay.

Grumpy at having to wake up early, grumpy that i was running late because i woke up late and had to ensure that the dog was fed, leaving the house later than i should have, knowing that I was going to be inevitably late for the first day at a workshop at the office, meant that I was not in the best of moods.

So happened that i had also chosen to try a new bus route to work in hope that it would be shorter than my usual 1 hour 15 min route.

As the bus pulled into the road with my designated bus stop, as i was unsure of the route, i hesitated and didn't press the "Stop" button. And i was like, "ARGH! Now i have to spend more time figuring out how to get back! Am i going to be late!". I stared out the window in utter despair watching my bus stop pass right on by...

But wait! HANG ON!

For some unfathomable reason and without warning, the bus was already halfway past the stop when the bus driver suddenly swung the bus into the bus bay and stopped with a considerable jerk. Good thing it wasn't crowded or you'd have a bunch of rather disgruntled passengers.

I figured the driver thought that someone at the bus stop wanted to board. But not a soul did.

This took me by surprise, but at that moment it occurred to me that i should be getting off. So i sheepishly pressed the button to let the driver open the back door for me to alight and i hopped off as silently as i could.

The strange thing was, i thought i saw a caucasian lady at the stop who looked like she wanted to board the bus, But when i got off, she was nowhere to be seen.

I messaged Gem to tell him what happened and he said, "haha, maybe the bus driver was possessed by the Holy Spirit and stopped the bus...". You know, i might jolly well agree.

I saw God's grace that morning... and then remembered how it started. Remember miss grumpalofogus earlier that morning? Well, i did leave my home grumpy, but when i was waiting for the bus, i just started to thank the Lord for the beautiful morning, my able body (you know, to run across, uh, i mean jaywalk), and for just every thing that i had in my life. I also started to sing, in my head, a praise song that we've been playing in church recently. I'm glad i chose to change the way i started my day. From a heart of unrest, to a heart of praise and thanksgiving.

It's these funny little instances that God tells me that he knows his daughter needs a hand, and extends it down to her. I love it that He shows me He cares in my everyday living. :) God shows up beyond just church, for sure. It also goes to show and remind me again that God is in control all the time, and that He can always turn a bad situation around for good, and when i share about it, it's for His Glory.

See a cute daschund ("sausage dog") somewhere? :)

This was how the top of my butter cake looked like, having cracked open on the top after being baked. Gem spotted it. The artist he is. :)

some recent yums and places

Gem and i went to try the food at Amirah's Grill at Bussorah Street, on the recommendation of J. :) Thanks J! :D

This was the mushroom soup that came with Gem's set meal. It was a pleasant surprise that the soup wasn't your usual campbell mushroom cream soup. It tasted like there was effort put into it (spices, flavour) and there was chunky mushrooms in it. Not a ton, but enough to please. :)
The garlic toast and wrap.

Gem's mixed kebab. Very tasty, each kebab had a distinct different flavour. Yum. Chicken, lamb and beef. The potatoes were just as tasty!
and THIS... my friends, made my heart SING. The HUMMUS. I'm so going to find out HOW to make it. I think i have an inkling of how to make the yellow one, but not the darker colour one. Hm. But oh boy. My eyes widened and tastebuds went WOOHOO when i tasted both of them. Ultimate delicious.

Jie wanted to bake something and i think the words "Alton Brown", "carrot cake", "Cheryl", and "cake" has been floating around enough to provide a subliminal message to her to look for a carrot cake recipe. Ok, it wasn't that subliminal.

Jie: I think i shall make carrot cake.

Jo: I also think that you should make the carrot cake.

And made it she DID. They were DELICIOUS!

So, these were carrot cake cupcakes to give to the neighbour! I slotted that sheet of paper in between the two rows to indicate which cupcake had which particular frosting. You can see that the lemon frosting looks firmer and has a more defined shape than the frosting made with maple syrup. But both taste heavenly. But you must love your sweet food in order to enjoy this!

I gobbled one down myself after the phototaking. How could i not... Yummy.

This was the beef stew (chocolate beef stew) that i made for my sister. I made it once some time ago, and she liked it. I didn't make a lot so she didn't get her fill of it. So recently she requested for me to make it, and HOW could i possibly refuse? :) I like to feed people (just like me mom, but perhaps not yet as skillful) and she's my sister so i'd gladly do it. Besides, it's awesome to know that someone enjoys your cooking. :DD

Raspberry and chocolate sauce cheesecake at Max Brenner. Shared it with JL. :)

Ok, this was before the syrup was poured all over the cake.

Gem and i were walking to Chinatown under the hot sun and saw this really nice wisp of cloud above.

Couldn't capture the whole long wisp, but yeah. :)

Love the rainbow colours! That paler section of colour you see on the building has nothing to do with paint... It was actually the reflection of light from an opposite building's metal(?) exterior.

Pretty rainbow colour, i love.