new year, new beginning. I have moved!

www.coffeechocoholic.wordpress.com

recently I can't help but think, seems that my cousin's passing brought the whole family closer. sometimes you really need a calamity/catastrophe to bring people together. there's news of an upcoming new yr gathering, and a Mothers' Day (see what I mean? my aunts even planned up to May, lol) buffet at a cousin's house.

On Boxing Day, my cousin is throwing a full-month celebration for his daughter, so its another opportunity to meet my aunts, cousins, nephews & nieces. I'm glad to have opportunities to catch up with all of them, becos since my grandma passed away we have no chance of meeting up on special occasions or weekends. I can't wait till my bro ORD, and we don't have to lease the room out anymore, then we can officially invite relatives & friends over. it'll be fun!

on a lighter note, I feel like shifting my blog to wordpress or livejournal. but I need to think up a name though. any suggestions feel free to tag!

looking fwd to Xmas! :D another stayover at Jer's house. totally enjoyed my last weekend with him. haven't stayover since some time and just being around each other feels gd. well, maybe except when he keeeeeps playing Winning 11 on his Xbox. HAHA.

merry christmas everyone!

after looking at my wardrobe for tml's outfit, I see the same scenario all over again ): I need more work clothes - nice bottoms like skirts, nicely cut blouses/shirts & perhaps more dresses. now everytime I see a current client I kp asking myself, have I worn this to see him/her b4?

LOL. call it excuses for my shopping urge or whatever. but new year means new clothes to me.

so the top of my wishlist for christmas & new year is:

MORE $$$



($_$)

did you know that Post-Its were invented by a mere 'accident' at work? some employee accidentally toppled some kinda glue over some papers. when it dried later on, he discovered that the paper had some kind of adhesive and could be stuck & removed and he had a brainwave abt what it could be used for.

I sort of stumbled on sth like that while trying to make truffles for jer's family ytd. like I said, I got ready a second batch in case there wasn't enough for the party. so while jer was away at work I thought I could make those truffles and keep for his family. turns out that because I used normal whipping cream (instead of thickened cream, becos he got some extras from the pasta ingredients) it really couldn't harden. but you know what?

It turned out even better, although it couldn't harden its became this thick creamy chocolatey mousse. Not as airy as your typical mousse, but richer, slightly thicker & very very chocolatey. we decided that next time we would add blueberries, strawberries or some ground nuts to make it an even more delightful dessert. I'm happy just to see them scooping it out and eating it all up from the spoon. mission accomplished! (:

the dinner party turned out good. helped jer in the kitchen & we churned out a few rounds cod roe pasta, mushroom cream pasta & white wine mussels for his friends to take turn to eat.

I think what happened before the party was even more exhausting than preparing food for a large group. we scrubbbed, brushed, cleaned, vacuumed, mopped, & sweeped the whole house squeaky clean. I had to show these, our whole afternoon's efforts:


I'm super proud of this panel of wall becos it looked so clean after my scrubbing. you should have seen the 'before' :P and we even mopped the floor with detergent it was practically gleaming...




too busy during dinner to take pictures of the food, but here's what I took of Mika these two days.











actually Jer had to work today and I only knew about it ytd. so basically, I 'sent' (I can't drive ma... opened the door for him only la) him off to work & slept in a bit. swept the living room, made myself omelette. and later I still have truffles to make. cos I made a second batch in case there wasn't enough to go around last night. since there was, this'll be for his family then.

now I feel like I'm the housewife waiting for her husband to come back from work! hahaha. but well, its a nice, sweet feeling. come back quick, baby! I know you'll see this (:

my chocolate truffle mix before I put it in the fridge to harden. chocolate truffles with baileys filling. its actually quite troublesome. becos the chocolate softens quite fast and you gotta roll them into bite size balls into cocoa powder. everytime it softens, put it back into the fridge and wait till its harden again.

will try to take pics of tonight's dinner :D cross your fingers for me in hoping that nothing will crop up at work so I can sneak & hide away in jer's house safely!

had a great time catching up with my GSS exchange friends. haven't seem some of them for ages. was glad & surprised at the turnout rate. we had 9 or 10! :D dinner at shokudo & a short drinking session at the lounge of a hotel. don't ask me where, I saw something scribbled like 'Equinox' before we went in, I was just following them :P

so, handling work alone has been taxing. maybe it was becos I was trying to work from home, and juggling my personal engagements + work. tried to kick up a fuss ytd when I had to go Vivo to help Jer collect sth for the dinner on Fri. I was carrying so much stuff & I had to make an extra trip back home, then out again to meet my friends. heh. but aiya, kick up a fuss a while only la I know the limits :P

but some people don't. my blood boiled today after this stupid IT consultancy boss tested my limits for the upmteen time. I did him many favours, by going out of my way to add him on MSN (I don't add people from work to my list & I don't want to start the chain by creating new account for work) when he was in China. he had first abused it by msging me on work on a Sunday night. being up doesn't mean he can cross the line. and not once had I heard a word of thks from him for everything I had done for him b4. writing his proposals for his clients & helping reply officers' emails.

today he made me come back to the office to do him another favour. and he only told me he's not coming back cos he's stuck elsewhere. the thing is, we arranged this since ytd and it was to put his stupid 3 chairs in our office cos they are shifting office. why didn't it occur to him to tell me so I don't nd to make the trip, and when he knows I am out at a site?

what's more. he couldn't even apologise. and he kept bugging me if I'm coming back to the office so he could put the chairs there. until I was super pissed and told him straight that he should have told me and it occurred to him to say sorry. of cos I didn't tell him I'm going back. so not going to do it for him. GOD! if my boss wasn't away on holiday & I didn't want to spoil another person's day I would msg him straight.

yesterday, before my meeting ended... my client asked when is our next meeting. I told him I am relatively free this week and I can meet him any day. He said, Ok Thursday then.

before I left, maybe out of guilt, he admitted to me:

'actually your boss asked me to arrange a meeting on Thursday with you'

seriously... I was like -_-

if he wanted me to meet the client twice, he could have jolly well told me that. instead of going behind my back and make it look like my client wanted it. god. its not like I have nothing to do, slacking at home. I've been working my ass off since 9am in the morning. ate breakfast while checking emails and having half hour lunch.

I dunno, maybe it won't seem like a big issue to some of you. but I feel that this reflected bad on me to the client. its like my boss doesn't trust me being alone in the office.

well, if he doesn't trust me, hire someone else to help us out then. don't make it a one-man show!

attended my cousin's wedding over the weekend, and felt happy for him and for the opportunity to our whole family to gather for more joyous occasions. the past few months since my cousin's passing had been gloomy, and it doesn't help that... lately my nephew (his son) has some issues that made the whole family worried and troubled over him.

my aunt accidentally blurted out my late cousin's name during one of the conversations over the cocktail reception. a genuine slip of the tongue. I think I was the only who heard it. Seeing the sadness that momentarily glistened in her eyes, I gave her arm a squeeze in a brief hug... just to let her know I share her pain. we all do. yes... we can't help but think of him during times like this... 'there should have been one more table', 'he should have been here' and etc. but well, since it was a joyous occasions we all diverted our attention away from the topic...

naturally, I got some attention being one of the next few in line to be married. my 'poor' cousins, their own younger brother beat them to being married... so they got a bit more of 'pressure' to get hitched. anyone knows gd bf- or husband/wife- material please gimme a ring! my cousins are eligible and in their early thirties! :P

pictures are up in FB, since its a more private affair, I guess I won't upload their pics here.

today, in short, was a damn chaotic start of the week for me. I forgot my bunch of keys. and trust me, you don't want that when you are the only one left with keys and you need to run two places b4 11am. and guess what? cabs were mysteriously full for the 15 minutes I was standing at Jurong Town Hall Road. ARGH.

but the consolation I had was that my meeting was quite relaxed today and... I gave myself an early Xmas present.

splurged on Shu Uemura's cosmetics, bought over the counter :X yeah yeah. its sorta an impulse but a good investment. got some free gifts from my purchases (worthy gifts of cos, :P) and next time I'll revert to buying online. keke.

looking forward to Jer's dinner for his friends at his place this Friday! we've been planning since some time ago. Like I said b4, he's inviting some of his frens over (hello! I think some of you were given my blog url :P) and he's whipping up some simple dishes... I'm the appointed helper/dishwasher/waitress/cleaner/insert whatever 'cha pa lang' role of the night. HAHA.

and of cos my dearest GSS exchg friends... I'll see you on Wed (: can't wait!

right after I finished my morning's entry, my long & dreadful day started. I had lunch way past my usual lunch time at 2+ and hopes of a nice thai lunch was dashed. the restaurant closed at 2pm and only reopens later for dinner. so my boss & I with our client had KFC for lunch.

they were commenting on how long it was since they last had KFC and they said its the age gap. when you get older, you start to eat less of this kinda unhealthy food. you know, while we were in hanoi, on one of our nights in the hotel... we were watching a documentary on stomach cancer. It was mentioned that rice and salt i.e. excessive salt intake are contributing factors to stomach cancer - which is why Asians are prone to it.

it had quite a big impact on me, cos I saw how the entire stomach was removed to stop the cancer cells from spreading. can you imagine yourself without a stomach? your diet and appetite will change drastically. I love my food, I wouldn't want that.

and this morning I had this sudden idea, maybe we can meet up every weekend to run at the stadium? you guys think its feasible? I don't wanna grow fat & unhealthy leh... need to do sth to keep fit! :P

saw many pretty dresses on ASOS online. would love to buy them but since they are priced in pounds, I don't want to risk it. risk my hard-earned money on clothes that are great-looking and expensive, but I can't wear or it only looks good on the model -_- Some of my favourites!

ASOS | ASOS Lattice Detail Fitted Waist Dress at ASOS

Killah | Killah Ruch Front Jersey Dress at ASOS

Oasis | Oasis Ruffled Sculptural Dress at ASOS

once again my boss 'bang seh' me to go meet another client and asked me to go meet the client alone first.

anyway, I realised the next few weeks will be a blur of events and made a mental note to jot down a list of things I have to do. for work and for my personal life. especially since next week my boss won't be around, I'm hoping I can work from home and kill many birds with one stone.

since when did I lose my interest at work? I rem being proud to be such a consultant becos of the exposure I get and the hands-on training I got. but as time passed, my boss' promise of hiring didn't materialize. I think a main contributing factor to this is because there's no colleague with me at work. no one to bitch, no one to share weekend or holiday plans, no one to go lunch with.

then also, there's a lot of meetings he didn't involve me in, and I'm starting to think if I'm just a high paying clerk + secretary sometimes. so... I really hope jer & I can work out the business proposal, though there's a great deal to work with. client's here, gotta go!

everytime I come back from a trip, no matter how near/far the destination is, I get an urge to equip my laptop with Photoshop so I can learn all the editing tools & beautify my pictures. but till now PS is still not installed on my com. So I resorted to downloading free photoediting software online to help in editing.

Found Picasca (I think that's how its spelt?) which is an application from google. I think its pretty user friendly though I took some time to familiarize with the layout and functions. I love it for its collage function and is already experimenting with different layouts.

I'm thinking... maybe I can use it as a banner for this blog? let's just find me some time to play around with HTML codes and you guys will be the first to see if it works.

on a more solemn note... went to the temple to offer joss sticks to my cousin today. its the 49th day rituals and I decided to drop by instead of participating in the rituals. mum was concerned as to the annual leave I'm taking recently since I just went to Hanoi. so my bro cleared his off to 'represent' us instead.

if my cousin was still around, he would have ran in the marathon the last weekend. his family received the chip & his number tag & they put it beside his urn. Its been almost 2 months, and each of us is still dealing with his passing. I don't think any of us will really get over it because his departure was so very sudden. these few weeks, when my mum mentioned him and the things he did/bought for her... sometimes I still feel my tears welling up.

hai! have not openly thanked him for all that he did for me, and this will be the regret of my life. next time I will tell my kids how great he was and he will be remembered in our family (:

the year is coming to a close, and inevitably I reflect on the past year and many memories surfaced - the good and the I-want-to-forget. time to pack my room and throw out things that are cluttering my room! and hopefulle usher in a fresh start.

Hanoi: one last look

let the pictures speak for themselves, some more of Hanoi

hanoi: my travel companion

who is none other than jeremy! :D



honestly, we have never spent so much time together alone & overseas before. besides our JB trip with his family & his NH clique, we've never travelled together. I even wondered what if he grew tired of me after 6 straight days of seeing me 24/7? HAHA. of cos he didn't!

anyway, travelling with boyfriend is a first for me and I'm glad to say that it turned out well. we didn't discover shocking habits that changed opinions of one another. neither did any of us found ourselves mysteriously sleeping on the floor the next morning. so all is well!

as usual when he's tired, he asked for me to help him massage. and when we came back, tired and legs aching from the walking, I remembered that Veron & I had run a hot water bath to soak our legs in Paris too. which made me do the same for ourselves and we helped to massage each other's legs.


he navigated when we were lost and I was too tired and bothered (on a side note, I am able to read the map too!). I think that was the only time I got on his nerves. I kept nagging at him to ask the locals for directions in my hurry to want to get back to the hotel. but he was determined to follow the map and get us back on track. which he did! :D

I helped him to shave.

he helped to carry my luggage.

when we came back, the turbulence on the later part of the journey was quite bad. even the cool & stone-faced Caucasian sitting beside me let out a loud 'Shit!' while the plane dipped and rocked back and forth on the turbulence. I remember clutching Jer's arm with a panicked face, half thinking: is this it? He saw my reaction and just laughed it off.

but I'm serious, the plane was so small. who knew if it could take the impact. but whatever it was, I still hold on to the thought that I had at that moment I held on to his arm

At the very least, I found the person to journey with me... No regrets.

Thanks baby. Glad you enjoyed the trip as much as I do. Looking forward to our next trip together!

hanoi: major attractions

we spend about a day being tourist-y and visited some of the major attractions in hanoi. actually our objective of the holiday is just to relax and enjoy the weather & slower pace of life in vietnam. which was why for our entire trip we did not have an itinerary planned at all. we only drew up a list of places-to-go and the night before we thought abt what we wanna do and add in the restaurants that is along the route. and voila!

sometimes while walking to our destination, we find sth along the way which we didn't see on the map. and we just stop for a while and explored. I really like the impromptu and no-rush feeling of this holiday. a really gd recharge for me.


some monument for a past King we discovered

many people asked, isn't 6 days in Hanoi too much? even the hotel manager said she can finish all the attractions in 1 day. yes of cos we can... we can also fly to Ho Chi Minh. but in view of our budget & we didn't want to rush ourselves here and there, we did not plan another destination besides Hanoi. if not it would beat the purpose of the aim of our holiday - to relax! (:

so here goes, some of the attractions we went:






Temple of Literature. full of Confusian's teachings by long-ago Vietnamese.






Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - holding place of his body


war memorial

hanoi: more food

before we left for Hanoi, Jer & I spent some time researching on places & restaurants to go based on other people's reviews. It was fun to find a particular restaurant, try the food for ourselves and see if it was really as good as the review said it to be.

our first two attempts didn't turned out well. Au Lac Cafe was a real pity, many reviews recommended the place for coffee & snacks. Supposedly, its a cafe with a front terrace where guests can sip coffee & have pastries and watch the world go by as it is strategically situated facing the main road. right opposite to Metropole Hotel. But when we made our way there, all we saw was a boarded up area with nothing like what we see. It has either closed down or moved ):

Bobby Chinn's
then we also tried to find Bobby Chinn's restaurant - named Bobby Chinn's - and we managed to find it about 10-15 mins away from where we live. but it has moved. argh. luckily the neighbouring shop gave us their new address. and you know what, its new location was almost, just almost... out of the map. its like at the top of the page right at the border. I guess you can say at least we got the address :P we made our way down by cab one of the evenings and also explored the region.


Bobby Chinn's now at 77 Xuan Dien St, near 2 major lakes divided by a long bridge. Its located inside a prime residential area. Much like our Bkt Timah Road with its restaurants & eateries. we were early as we didn't think of calling to reserve and wanted to avoid the traffic. but it was nice to just walk along the lake (it looked more like a sea to me), enjoy the sea breeze in take in the beautiful skyline & architecture.


the meal at Bobby Chinn's was good, but too dark for us to take pictures. and we tot we would looked 'sua gu' to take a picture of all the food. it cost us USD70+ for two. Jer say it was abt the same as local standard but for the ambience & quality - worth it! because we were early, it seemed as if we had the entire restaurant to ourselves & the waiters were very attentive.





Fanny's Ice Cream
one of our best find among the restaurants we visit. the ice cream was fantastic. made in-house naturally and every scoop was smooth and melts in your mouth nicely. Our favourite have to be the dark chocolate. I also like strawberry and chocolate coffee. the vanilla flavour with the tiny black flecks shows it was made with real vanilla and not just artifically flavoured. now you know how to tell the good ice cream from the artificial ones!







other local food we tried:

salty crepe with seafood, very yummy!


a fried version of another Vietnamese popular dish: spring rolls


restaurant style pho! its a franchise restaurant called Pho 24. we went twice. actually road side stalls taste abt the same its just that in restaurants the cut of the beef is better, and more selection.


they call our you tiao 'fried bread sticks'. not as flavourful as our local version, but taste great when dipped into pho soup

hanoi: halong bay cruise

on the second day, early in the morning we set off for our luxury cruise. allow
me to say 'luxury' because we paid about USD170 each. so! it must be luxurious! hahaha. anyway, b4 we could board the cruise we had to take a 3 hour journey on the road to the pier. and at the pier there was some communication breakdown and we had wasted a bit of time: us waiting for the boat manager, and the manager likewise. not knowing each was already there.

so of cos we spent some time... cam-whoring!





the cruise was good. nice food - two buffets and one full menu lunch. the bay was beautiful & very peaceful with the rocks & caves dotting the coast line. we spent about an hour kayaking, a very good way of immersing in the tranquility of the bay. there was a moment where I almost bump face first into a gigantic rock while kayaking, because it was so dark and we couldn't see anything in the cave. phew! almost disfigured! lol.

we also climbed a lot of steps to go up a viewing point which was the highest point in halong bay to catch the bird's eye view of the beautiful scenery. 437 steps. and 100+ steps at another location. plus the kayaking. so I guess our buffet was justified? :P

more photos will be uploaded on FB. giving jer the honour of uploading the pics. so I will wait till he does then I compile my own albums, telling more about our experience. more posts to come! still a lot more to share (:








legend has it that when the Chinese invaded Vietnam long ago, the gods sent down dragons to help them. the dragons spitted jade & jewel that became the islands and islets now found along the bay. these formed a wall and a barrier against the approaching enemies and the Vietnamese were saved. The place where the Mother Dragon landed was now known as - Ha Long Bay.

While we climbed steps to one of the highest viewing point in Ha Long Bay, we also went to a cave rich in history and geology. Apparently the cave dates back to millions of years ago, and evidence were found that cavemen once lived in the very cave we went. Millions of years ago, Ha Long Bay was deep sea. evolution and erosion over time (and we mean a really long time here) created the beautiful place that it is today.

hanoi: first impressions

when we first boarded our transport to our hotel, we were commenting on how slow their pace of life was, all so different from us. evidence - the car was driving abt 2/3 the speed of a local car on a highway.

then we realised maybe its not the pace of life. its likely that its due to just how vietnamese drive. the scooters/bicycles/bikes are an unruly crowd! zipping across the lanes like nobody's business. most of the times, there are basically no rules practised on the roads. the drivers mainly just avoid people crossing the roads. so you shouldn't dash across lest they cant avoid you in time. why... we used the traffic light and when the green man flashed for us to walk, guess what?

the motorbikes were zooming across the road like the green man was for them. we thought we looked damn silly standing there, looking lost and confused. lol. but of cos, in no time we got used to the traffic conditions there and crossed like pros. the trick is to cross slowly, not dashing. becos you can never out run the bikes & car with their sheer volume on the streets. cross section by section and the vehicles will avoid you as they pass.



and for a developing country like Vietnam, I was impressed that even small local restaurants have clean toilets WITH toilet paper AND proper flushing systems. of cos they are not sparkling clean like our toilets. but sometimes when I go JB the toilets are like just a bucket of water for 'flushing' and no paper. so this is much better than expected!


hanoi: street food
street food is a must. city dwellers might be skeptical of the standard of food & hygiene but from what I see - nothing much to worry about. they use gloves, chopsticks, etc when handling food and even on the streets you find the stalls providing tissue/serviettes. of cos, they clean their bowls & utensils by dunking into a pail of water (clean one of cos, check to be safe *winks). but jeremy & I came back fine so no worries! a bit of germs won't kill!


the first local dish we sampled, its seen like 90% of the time. pho - rice noodles! its a bit like a thinner version of our kuey teow









some of the street food we sampled:


vietnamese tang yuan! in ginger soup with roasted peanuts


Che - a dessert that mixes a lot of ingredients together. coconut milk is an ingredient in many desserts, used in che too!





quite a nice kebab at less than SGD2!


a simple dish that is likened to our chee cheong fun. taste very gd with spring onions and a special sauce. seems like some gland juice from an insect was also put in. let's not think so much abt it :X