Curious..

I do track the number of visitors to this blog through an invisible webtracker. At the beginning, there were about 40 visitors / pageloads per month. I’m ok with that. Not expecting high traffic volume. Good to keep it small. But lately, the numbers have gone up to puzzling rates, see below:

Over 300 unique visitors, I wonder where they come from. Average of 80 returning visitors – ok, probably my own friends. 400 over pageloads is about the sum of unique visitors and returning visitors. Wouldn’t it be good if they can track how pple who read this blog are related to me (like in friendster)? So anyway, just a small request for those who have been reading this blog silently (without me knowing), to drop me a comment so I know who are you and how you know of this blog. I'm curious!

Rakuzen & No 5 Emerald Hill

Brought mum to Rakuzen at Millenia walk for dinner on Sat. The food quality is alright, I like it for the good service, nice ambience and there is usually no freaking long queue.

This is my second visit. On my first visit, three of us were given a private dining room! Now to do that, we have to spend minimum $100. Considering the prices of their food, $100 isnt that difficult to hit.


My order - Tempura Udon ($16)



Mum's - Chicken Katsu with egg on rice ($14)


Hubby's - minced tuna belly and grated yam. Interesting ($18)




Sunday evening Ah Jess, hubby and I went to No 5 Emerald Hill for fried chicken wings and martini. Had to wait til its past 9pm to order martini as the one-for-one promotion starts then. This was our first time drinking martini and though the lychee martini was sweet and fragrant on first sip, it left a bitter and burning aftertaste which both of us din like. Wasted. Between No 5 and Ice Cold Beer, I like the latter better. They have more varieties of draught beer, or at least they had Hoegaarden draught.



Shrimp Paste Fried Chicken Wings



Lychee Martini

A Baking Weekend

This is a weekend of ready-mix baking. Bought this pkt of Betty Crocker muffin mix in a pouch. The portions were just right for my mini muffin tray of 12. The amazing thing was, they had REAL blueberries inside and quite alot of it too.

Bought this flavour in the 'pouch' packaging.



A surprise choc in each muffin. These chocs are meiji's melty kisses in strawberry.



Covered up with the muffin mix



The muffins baked well. Each one perfectly domed shape.



Each muffin seemed to be shouting 'EAT ME!'

Not only was it easy to make, they tasted pretty good. Light and fluffy.



On Sunday, I used the usual Daiso Cookie Mix to bake 2 batches of cookies.


Oatmeal+Cornflakes



White Choc and hazelnut


I like the oatmeal cornflake cookies better. The oatmeal gave the cookies a slight chewy texture while the cornflakes' crunchiness provided contrast.

Lovely Snack

I’m not a big fan of dark chocolate, usually opting for milk chocolate / praline chocolate. But when I tried these Loacker Dark Noir wafers, it was just sooo good that “Once you start, you cant stop”. I like the intense chocolate taste, and that its not overly sweet. Unfortunately, each piece of wafer is really paper thin, and before you know it, half the packet is gone… superb comfort food!

updte 2 May 08 - I bought a pkt at Giant Hypermart for $3.75 only to find the same thing at Marketplace for only $3.45! How can Giant be more expensive than upmarket Marketplace?!

One-for-one Lunch + Hi-Tea Buffet at Melting Pot Café – Holiday Inn Atrium

Brought my family to eat the one-for-one Lunch + Hi-Tea Buffet at Melting Pot Café – Holiday Inn Atrium. Food was ok. But the spread was limited and it was all local fare. The total bill amounted to $105. Previously I also went to Tiffany Café at Furama Hotel (City Centre) for their buffet dinner and the total bill was $115. For that small price difference, the Furama buffet had roast duck, seafood items and a wider dessert spread.


The main buffet setup



Assorted Kueh



Freshly prepared rojak and kueh pie tee



Watercress soup - cooked on the spot


Another order and cook item - paper thin Thosai




My family is busy tucking in


I'm just there for the baby... feel like I'm carrying a Koala bear..


Happy family


Happy grandparents

Mussel Guys @ Vivocity

Went to Mussel Guys for dinner on Friday because their set meal was reasonably priced and there was no long Q. Ah Zhen and I shared a set meal. Food turned out to be quite good standard. Must go back again to try more stuff. I was drooling at their mussels in a pot, ribeye steak and pasta..

Our set meal comprised:


Mushroom soup



Dory in herb cream sauce


Ice-cream dessert


Ordered this sinful indulgence - peanut butterscotch milkshake. Yummily Sinful..



After dinner, we came back and baked jam muffins. Added mixed berries jam , turn out pretty nice.


Not enough space in the muffin tray

Jakarta Trip - Apr 2008

Back fm short Jkt trip. So was actually itinerary as planned?

BBQ – tick
Duck King tim sum – tick
Clubbing – tick
Karaoke – tick
Shopping – tick
Swimming – tick
Gym – nope
Pirated software and DVDs – no comments



Let the pics do the talking:


Day 1 - Saturday (12 Apr 08)



A mini BBQ at the balcony



The good stuff - fresh prawns, lamb chops, bacon wrapped enoki mushroom etc..



Simply yum..





Forbidden Citi (not related to Indochine Group). Music wasnt to my liking.




Day 2 - Sunday (13 Apr 08)



All dressed up to go to church



A very crowded church












Baby ends up sleeping through church



Lunch at Chinese Restaurant
4 dishes & 1 soup















Baskin Robbins for dessert





Buying dinner ingredients at Fish market








Dinner - steamed soon hock, drunken prawns, chilli crab, kimchi soup







Karaoke at home and baby slept thru



Day 3 - Monday (15 Apr 08)



Tim Sum lunch at Duck King - 50% discount



Deep fried mango-prawn



Baby can see cannot eat




Went to see bro's office. Just one of the rooms here






43rd floor



The heir to the throne









Found Krispy Creme! Tried the famous original glaze for less than $1 sgd. But it tasted normal to me. Dun see what's the big deal.












Dinner at Soup Restaurant
The menu wasnt exactly the same as the Singapore one though..






Signature samsui chicken



Veg in oyster sauce. Their oyster sauce has a weird (unpleasant) smell





Lotus soup



Salt pepper eel - my favourite dish



Fried venison



Trying to fit baby into the pot (just kidding!)




One smart baby looking at camera



Day 4 - Tuesday (16 Apr 08) - last day



Finally we had local food for lunch. This place is good for their grilled fish


Went to get a haircut ($7sgd) and pedicure ($5sgd). Felt like a queen with 2 person servicing me at one go. One attending to my head, one to my toes. But of cos, the quality is not as good as Singapore. My haircut looks like a helmet while the nail polish used was dried up Revlon (no OPI).



Something no longer in Singapore. Curly fries and root beer float fm A&W




Baby sleeping soundly before I left


And this concludes my 4D3N Jakarta trip. Sheesh.. I ate so much!

First trip of 2008 - same as last trip of 2007

The travelling star must be shining high in the sky. 3 of my frens are travelling this month as I noted fm their msn status - Macau, Shanghai n Beijing, Geneva .. mainly for work. I seldom get the opportunity to travel for work, so far, it's been one trip per year for the last 2 years that's all.

Anyway, I managed to squeeze in a last minute trip to where else, but Jakarta (the few places that offers cheap tickets even when it's a last minute booking). Booked my ticket on Tues, for departure on Sat. Compared to the days when I booked airtickets 2-3 months in advance, this is really J-I-T..

Was on msn with bro:

James
shall we have a bbq on sat?


James
or you want duck king tim sum?

James
you want to go with me to chiong on sat night?

PP says:
ok. sat BBQ

PP says:
i rather go K

PP says:
karaoke..

PP says:
chiong also can..

James
ok, sat chiong, sun k

James
i'll prepare wagyu beef, big prawns, squid, fish for bbq

PP says:
then Greg how?

(-> I'm wondering whether we can bring the baby to K, since my mum wld like to go K as well)..


James
greg?

James
greg drink milk

(-> Bro thinks I'm asking what will baby eat for BBQ)..

PP says:
if we go K...

James
oh yeah..

James
hmmm..

James
so you come sat, sun we go shop and eat...

James
Mon, Tues how?

PP says:
u on leave meh?

PP says:
maybe just walk ard shop lor..

James :
can go swimming and gym and watch lots of dvds too..hahahahaha

James :
then buy lots of pirated software for games and songs and mp4 for your sony ericsson to download

James :
then you'll have lots of games to play in your handphone

PP says:
can buy cheap nintendo wii?

James :
cannot

James :
buy can buy cheap pirated nintendo wii games

*disclaimer* - I probably wont be buying pirated stuff, it was only a suggestion by my bro

Wu Bai and China Blue Asia Tour 2008

Oh yes.. my first concert in my 30 yrs and probably the first for hubby too. Bought the second cheapest tickets at $98 each. Unfortunately, I din bring my camera thinking they dun allow phototaking. Can only make do with hp camera.

Venue - Suntec Convention Hall



The top 2 tier seats



Our seats are the front-middle of the red zone. That's how 'near' $98 tickets are.

The concert goers were a mixed bunch. Youngsters, uncle aunties, grandparents and even very young kids. Lucky brats. I took 30 yrs to go for my first concert and here they are, at age 5?



View from our seats



Phototaking while waiting



Best pic I can take with my lousy hp camera that cannot zoom in high resolution mode


Concert went very smoothly and Wu Bai sang very well. First part was the heavy rock songs which I mostly did not recognised. Second part, he danced abit with 4 hot singers. His dancing was quite cute. He also sang the Singapore 881 favourite song, but the hokkien version. Last part he sang his classics which got the audience more warmed up, and saved a few of his best songs for encore. Finally he taught us the '花朵舞' and we enjoyed ourselves in the mass dance, before he ended the concert with a song that urged us to '快点回家!' and the audience happily responded '不要回家'.

He is the Emperor of Rock

Happy 30th Anniversary!

As my gf puts it, this year is my 30th Anniversary on earth... sigh.. old already. I'm not a party organiser, so I din have one big bang party, but just lots of small gatherings with my various groups of frens.


My colleagues gave me a surprise cake in office. Was bluffed into thinking boss wants to have a quick meeting, so I diligently brought my notebook and pen... heh.. actually they got the candles wrong too. They thought I was 29.. no wonder it took me quite a bit of effort to blow out the candles.. Thanks all!




A very good dinner at Ma Maison with Ah Jess, who gave me just what I needed - a slow cooker.



They even have their own plates



Fried camembert cheese



Squid Ink Pasta - Love it



Beef patty in special brown sauce - Very tender



Actual birthday with hubby was comparatively lacklustre.. (becos neither of us planned anything).. Watched 10,000BC and had dinner at Shin Kushiya. Had lots of yakitori, my favourite was the oyster wrapped with pork? Forgot..


Sinful foie gras with apple

Someone recommended this steamboat place (beside Aston) at East Coast Road and my frens gave me a treat there. Interesting place, individual pots of steamboat, a few types of soup base to choose from, pretty good quality ingredients and a nice dipping sauce. Only at $12.90 (promo price)? Unfortunately, they were rather shorthanded and service was slow.














The usual suspects.. thanks for the dinner and gifts!



Dinner with Ah Zhen n Siew was a good catchup session (pardon my whinings!) and it was very heartening to hear about Ah Zhen's wedding plans. Ah.. an event I'm looking forward to. Unfortunately, NYDC served us very crappy food (lousy salad, so-so baked pasta, ordinary sandwich). Can only go there for desserts. St James did not disappoint us though. Had a great time at PowerHouse and Boiler Room.





What about my own family? Met my mum on a Saturday and we had a good simple Kenny Rogers dinner with New Zealand ice-cream for dessert.



What about myself? Well, I would say, I got myself 2 presents. A free makeover (at Makeover Inc) which I purchased extra pics, and my first concert!





I finally can bear to fork out the money..

The Jetsetting Baby

Haven seen my nephew for about 3 weeks. Whoa.. he slimmed down in 3 weeks! No more chubby cheeks. No more 'fat fat baby' teasings..





The best job in the world



He must be contemplating the mysteries and philosophy of life.. or is my paparazzi camera making him confused?



*chirp chirp*



Bro is bringing them back to Jkt. I think the baby is going to fly more than me this year.. I've yet to leave Singapore since Jan 2008, and he already went Msia over Good Friday long weekend. Argh.. a 1 mth old travelled more than me !



Sleeping snuggedly at the airport. A very bochup traveller..






Can see the baby's leg hanging out?