Schweinshaxe, Meatballs and Crocs

Nothing much happening over the weekend, except that I explored T3 more intensively, because of the Crocs sale.

I’m peeling more badly now. So I just can’t be bothered with the lotion. My face is done, so no need to camouflage which I didn’t really quite like.

Went for the Oktobest fest themed buffet at Tanglin Club on Fri. Frankly, it wasn’t spectacular, coz the meats were left in the open for some time, so the pork knuckles were a bit tough and some of the crackles were dried up and hard. And being a meaty buffet, I only took 2 servings, both barely full.

I missed the one I went to a year before, where we were served fresh knuckles and did the cutting ourselves.

And what to finish off a meaty meal with? A meaty movie.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. 3D no less.

The whole theatre was empty. So I could just put my legs up the seats in front. The whole movie was quite entertaining, I like. The food just kept appearing and mutating and I could see burgers right in front of me. Then the others like ice cream and meatballs spaghetti and pizzas. Luckily we’ve had a full dinner.

It served as a relief to the headache which came to me a hour before office closing time, due to some cowardly people who would rather choose the easy way out and offend the customer than to speak to my boss.  *blood boiling*

Saturday, it was busy in the office after 2 weeks of quietness. First week was quiet coz it was a long weekend. The 2nd was quiet coz it was the F1 period.

Then last weekend, it was so busy that I needed some sleep after the last batch of customers had left.

Despite being the Mid Autumn Festival, there was no moon sighted. Coz it was drizzling the whole day and pretty cloudy. Not to mention that the haze was blocking also.

We went to the Crocs sale, with the FOX and Borders and Adidas all having discounts on their products at the same time. But the crowd was with Crocs, as others were not spectacular at all. Bought 2 pairs of Sassari, one for me and one for my mum, but sizes were quite difficult to find. I wanted to get Athens too but sizes tad too big.

New stocks supposed to be in on Thu. Wondering if I should go check it out again.

My mum was very happy with my purchase and she wore it out the next day for breakfast.

Oh, dun bother about the Borders sale, unless you like hardcovers. Plentyyyyy of them.

We had dinner/supper at this Xin Wang HKG cafe. I think the food there is pretty good. But I was disappointed that the red bean drink came ice blended. Yes, the beans were blended with the ice. Not original leh.

But their (apparently new) papaya soup noodles was niceeeeeeee. It’s the same style as the CQYD noodles, but it’s a different soup base. MUST TRY!

But damn it. Extra carbo loaded. I thought they were having dinner at Kembangan where we first met before heading for T3, and I ordered beehoon goreng. They said they were eating too. Only fries.

That’s why I said it was dinner/supper.

Puppies and snow

Last week I went to the Hush Puppies warehouse sale at Bt Batok and threw about 200 bucks. One of my favourite culottes was a bit tight for me, so I gave to my mum. So today I went there again, meaning to get a size bigger.

And then, I spent another $80 to get some other stuff other than the one I wanted. Tsk tsk.

I saw this blue suede shoes on Her World mag, and nearly went to get them today. Hmm…

I need to curb my spending a bit…

Friday, I was on half a day’s leave. Wanted to go to town but then decided not to as it was approaching peak hours by the time I finished. So I went off to catch a movie instead. At least I could still catch a 7pm movie. Went to watch White0ut.

The scene was at Antartica. And probably due to the timing, the theatre was barely occupied. And I forgot to bring a cardigan. So I was freezing inside.

Doesn’t help anything when all the scenes are at minus temperatures and with all the snowstorms and frostbitten fingers. Urgh.

My toes felt like they were in Antartica too.

Virgin experience with 3D

Yep yep. Went for the first 3D film of my life. Watched Final Destination 4 just now.

The movie was so-so only. But it was quite fun seeing all the broken shards, splattered blood coming towards you, and the floating plaster in the pool. Looked so cool.

And the effects. When the survivors of the racing disaster at the stadium died one by one, the innards and fleshy bits of them left hanging on whatever, it looks really…convincing. And the funny thing was, the people inside the movie was watching 3D too, and whatever they see on screen, it’s blurred when we see it.

And their glasses, look much better than ours. Mine kept slipping off my nose coz it ain’t got a nice bridge. So I had to keep pinching my nose to keep it up.

And I just realised that ours is an edited version. It was supposed to be R21 before censoring.

Somehow, I think I can get addicted to 3D films. Nowadays a lot of shows seemed to have a 3D version, and next probable title on my list is G-Force.

Laughing Gor 之 变节

Just watched Turning Point (Laughing Gor 之 变节)  just now. Engaging. Very 无间道 actually.

Will talk about it later. Time to sleep!

The Proposal

I’m not talking about me, I’m referring to the movie!

Watched The Proposal on Friday.

I love the killer heels (Christian Louboutin stilettos, to be exact) that Margaret (Sandra Bullock) wears here. Though I couldn’t possibly wear it myself coz of my weak ankles. And how simply amazing she walked thru stonepaths and wooden planks on them.

Freaking funny man! Although the ending was predictable, but I still enjoyed the movie. It doesn’t feel like 108 mins. The storyline is just normal but the stuff they say inside –

The dog inside there is so cute too! He has provided some laughing moments too.

If you have read the sypnosis, you would know that this whole thing is a sham. So how did they convince the others when Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) announced their engagement to his family and friends? See how they explained about the ‘proposal’.

And what the quirky mum and granny of Andrew gave the hen’s party as a surprise to Margaret on the day before the wedding that make Margaret gape?

Ok, enough spoilers now. You know I can’t really explain the movie that well.

Give it 4/5 for this, coz Sandra Bullock is like older than Ryan Reynolds (and quite obvious in the movie), but isn’t 姐弟恋 becoming a norm nowadays?

Change of plans

Yesterday was supposed to meet AA & JL for dinner, and go for the movie UP in 3D after that with G. Ended up that things changed in the course of the day.

I ended up meeting my diver frens and watched Where Got Ghost.

Finally went to this place called Beach Cabana for dinner. I read about this place where dogs can go but didn’t manage to find out where exactly it is located. And when I realised where it was, I was surprised coz I pass by this place so many times but I didn’t realise that something was there.

It’s actually along the ECP beach, between Long Beach Restaurant and McDees, in front of the carpark C3. Hidden behind leaves and trees. And that’s why I’ve never noticed it.

They were kind to Caramel. On the menu, it costs 80 cents for a glass of water, and $3 for a jug of iced water. So I asked if they were able to serve Caramel water. They came out with a water bowl of iced water for him. No charge.

Food-wise, very nice. I tried the sambal chicken chop, lamb chop and baby ribs. Baby ribs were quite tough at some parts, but surprisingly they fall off the bone very easily. Probably they were grilled, thus the toughness. The sambal chicken chop was same sambal for the stingray. Very nice combination.

My main was the lamb chop. Very nicely done and I didn’t need to have a tug of war with the meat. Nicely grilled and none overdone.

Only thing for all the foods – portions didn’t really manage to fill one up. Even with our side order of chicken wings. Oh, that was fantastic too. Ask Caramel. Hehe.

Towards the end of the meal where we were waiting for our bill to come, some bikini babes came around and apparently they were setting up for some games, to promote SOL beer.  Too bad, we had to rush for the movie.

Overall, the dining experience was pretty good, other than they having the radio broadcast too loud (we told them to turn it down which they did), and it could easily be seen that once the crowd comes in, they do not have ample assistance around to create a good service for the guests. The crowd started coming in only about 10pm and I could see they are starting to weaken in their service.

I might come back again, just to have a place to bring Caramel for dinner and for his ‘freedom’ to exist. Good food but not too value-for-money so it can’t be a regular hangout.

We rushed to Tiong Bahru for the movie. Overall, the movie was not too bad. It consisted of 3 short stories, but I felt the transition to the next story not so smooth. It kinda followed the sequence like the Thai horror movie, 4bia.

Very Singaporean as usual, and many parts were funny coz of the way they speak, basically.

The ‘horror’ bits are created by the sudden loud sounds or sudden scary images that flashed past. Some scenes are basically special effects which doesn’t blend in perfectly, and quite obvious too.

To me, I give it 3.5/5 stars. For the entertainment it managed to give.

I still wanna watch UP.

What happened on Saturday?

Went for a fren’s (actually knew both the bride and groom) wedding last Sat, onboard the Long Ranger.

Quite a unique place to be at. There were few activities onboard, eating almost the whole day, and with a very humourous Captain Blake.

Didn’t take much photos, because there were tons of cameras onboard, whether P&S or DSLR or phones.

Up in the sky you see

Red roses decked the yacht

There was also kayaking and other activities on the yacht. Enjoyed the atmosphere.

At nite met up with JH and went to watch Public Enemies. Was super tired by then slightly before midnite. I took forty winks coz really BTH. It was supposed to be quite good, but physical overcomes the mind.

Towards the end, it did catch my attention though.

就是爱你 － 陶吉吉

Just now I heard this song playing in the background during Michelle’s and Shaun’s wedding, and recalled that it was the 2nd march in song of my sis’ wedding, which her buddies were singing.

I think hor, the 3 of them sings better. Haha~ maybe also they slowed down the pace of the song so that it made the whole thing lovelier. Pity I got no video of them singing here.

After watching the Star Awards….

This year’s Star Awards got a lot of ‘pattern’.

Parrot, helicoptor, ‘magic’…..

The ‘time’s up’ horn is like some Olympics going on. So this is to make sure that everyone hears the horn and stop talking? Very distasteful.

I like Quan Yi Feng’s sexy dress with that elegant long necklace. Very nice combination (and of coz super expensive) and the most ‘expensive’ artiste of tonite. Congrats on her getting the most Popular Female Artiste award.

I share the joy of Pornsak. He is visibly happy for getting the Most Popular Male Artiste award. 

And although I missed the scene where Ng Hui received the best supporting female artiste with Xiang Yun, I’m glad she was one of the recipient. Never did like her before, but the show Little Nyonya really gave her the break. Reminds me of Ivy Lee who used to have that kind of luck in her acting world. Hope her acting route be more smooth sailing for her.

One thing is, why is everyone neglecting Zhong Qin today? I saw her in the screen many times, but none of her talking. What happened?

Chew Chor Meng was good and I’m glad that he has not deteriorated to anything too bad yet. Congrats to him too for being the Best Supporting Actor.

When Vivian Lai started running up the stage with her 5-month old baby, I think everyone hyperventilated. OMG. Then I started to see the a lot of the female artistes (doesn’t matter if they are wearing a long dress or super short dress) running up the stage to receive their award after that.. Why har?

Congrats to Rui En for getting the Most Popular award too, though she had to be away to London.

Before Jeanette Aw was called up to be the Most Popular Female Artiste (by then it was the last name to be called), I was thinking, WHAT IF she doesn’t get the award? It will mean that she didn’t get anything tonite. And it’s super cruel after everyone deemed her to be one of them to get the most awards tonite because of her Little Nyonya role. But all well ends well. At least she got something back home.

All these wraps up my feeling for tonite after watching the Star Awards.

Taken and found

Oh wow, I’ve just watched the best show for this year.

My heart was just beating very fast when as I watched the beginning of the show and how the daughter was abducted.

After that, it was all action and ingenious thinking. All the fighting were so smooth and realistic instead of plenty of special effects.

It kept all of us entertained. No wonder it was still quite a full house after 3 weeks of casting.

And yes, I watched this at the newly opened shopping Iluma opposite Bugis Junction. The only thing that I remembered was the extremely long escalator which stretched from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor, and that when it was stopped for the day, not one of us wanted to actually walk down which seemed forever.

And yes, if you have not watched this show yet, go watch. Trust me.

Celebrity news and thoughts

The recent reports on the 红星大奖 is making me feel that the whole thing is over-sensationalised.

First, so many people had been shortlisted for the 最佳 ranking for the 小娘惹show. Like what Pat Mok had said, because of a single show, the rest of them had been neglected just because they had been acting in another serial other than 小娘惹 and so didn’t stand a chance to be in. While one side might say sour grapes, the other (like me) feels like having an OD of the show.

And when 戴阳天 got ‘ousted’ from the ranking, everyone felt it was a surprise. WHY? I dun think that was even a small surprise. Just because he was in the famed show means he should be in the running?

And now I feel the whole thing is just an act of trying to garner votes for them, whether in or out. So as to get more people to spend more money on the phone.

Tsk.

Another news which made me rather irked was the arrest of 大炳 for the 2nd time for drug abuse.

I used to enjoy watching his show, but now I feel he’s like a hypocrite.

Like what 张小燕 had said, if he is feeling stressed about the debts he had to pay, he should have gone thru the proper way of getting himself treated by the doctor, and not to resort to drugs and blame everything he did for the predicament he is facing now.

A waste of his talents, but he deserved it.

FF4, tired body and uncertain leave

Woke up this morning feeling like I’ve run a marathon. Well, not that I can run one, but you get my drift.

Legs feel rheumatised, probably coz of the aircon blowing on my legs during movie watching last nite. And mentally tired too coz I’ve been dreaming the whole nite. Probably coz of watching the FF4 last nite and with all the fast action, made my mind work overtime.

Hmm…how to rate the show? I guess it’s quite entertaining with the action involved, but I actually felt sleepy towards 3/4 of the show. This show, you should sit as far back as possible, coz the action is close up and everything will look like a blur when you sit too near.

The cars…damn cool. Some near seconds to death scenes wasn’t really impactful though.

Damn…I can’t be a movie critic. Everything also say not bad. Unless it’s really horrible.

I am glad though it’s Friday today, though there’s something weighing in my mind.

I was supposed to take leave in mid May for my LYLY trip. But then slowly I see my colleagues going for trips (leisure & biz) and then I think I’m left to be the only one in the ‘group’. And I need to go coz I’ve already paid $2k for everything. My schdeule is to depart 2 days earlier than the time 3 of them come back. The CEO just decided on a trip days ago.

Now I must find a really good time to tell the CEO so that he’ll not try to be difficult. Nowadays when we take leave, he’ll just give a neutral face and agree grudgingly, then divert topic.

Ai yeeeeerrrrrr……………..

Shinjuku Incident

Went to watch Shinjuku Incident last nite.

I must say it’s slightly different from the usual Jackie Chan movie. In here he doesn’t fight as much as the other movies he was in, and so it’s a bit weird when sometimes he doesn’t fight back. And it’s more of his role which he did well, rather than his fighting in there.

I’m intrigued by Daniel Wu’s makeup in there. He really must have put on tons of whatever to get his ‘cat whiskers’ and ‘opera face’.

Otherwise, the whole movie is quite good. I didn’t feel like sleeping at all during the 2-hour movie. Only thing is, GV really has got a lot of commercials beforehand. Until I nearly lost patience.

Next one to watch – probably Fast & Furious 4. They’ve got sneaks last nite too, and it was nearly fully booked for the 11.20pm show at 9pm.

And for the third time, we bumped into CP again at the cinema. Ha~

Saturday happenings

Woke up at 5+ coz I was hacking non stop, to find my sis burying her head in between the pillows. Didn’t even realise I was so loud.

Lost my sense of smell. Can’t even enjoy my food that I felt so sad. And my ear was starting to ache too.

Went to Hooha Cafe on Saturday. Food was ok, big portion. But the mushrooms and service was not that impressive. The thick batter of the mushroom actually made me sick.

The rack of lamb which I ordered was so-so only. And if I decide to give one portion to YX, then you will know what I mean. They do not have levels of doneness available for lamb, which was disappointing. But it was done nicely though. Just that it really needed the sauce to lift the taste.

I was more irritated about the service though.

Although there were plenty of them on the floor, I duno if they seemed to have difficulty hearing or we spoke too softly. They brought along wrong foods (some which we didn’t order) for 2-3 times, and when we asked for one round of iced water they gave only to those on one side of the table. Some which we ordered didn’t come at all, but then they didn’t have it in the bill so we left it as that too.

Went for the Watchmen movie after that. For the first time I stepped into E-Hub which is next to Downtown East. And I didn’t even know they’ve got such a big building there and since when? Anyway, I couldn’t grasp what the movie is about though it was quite entertaining, albeit very long. But if you ask me about what the story is about then I guess I couldn’t tell you.

It was after I see the reviews then I realised I’m not the only one. Heh.