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!