Sunshin3

The weather over the weekend was terrible, to say the least. All plans over the weekend were shelved including attending a friend’s birthday party at East Coast. Considering that i was really looking forward to getting out for a walk, the rain was a bummer.

But because of the rain, I found time to brush up on my culinary efforts. Notice I mentioned efforts and not skills because of the obvious.

Old boy once taught me the joys of pork fat melting onto a pan of potatoes and sprinkled with lots of oregano. The last time he cooked it for us, it left me with tears in my eyes because of the sweetness of the potatoes and the tenderness of the meat. I tried the same with a cut of rib-eye that was marinated with lime, soya sauce, cooking wine, and black pepper previously.

Somehow, searing the meat was like an ode to Old boy all over again. After all, that was how he was. Sweet and tender.

That was Saturday.

Sunday was spent mixing pasta with pesto sauce on Sunday for dinner. And yes, he taught me that as well. Cutting the long beans, carrots, corns, crab meat, bacons and mince meat was easy but the difficulty was coordinating the right amount of milk with the pesto sauce. I lost count of the number of times my tasting spoon dipped onto the pesto sauce.

I don’t really know if I was a good student, since I was banking on serendipity to guide me through but I guess the meals I cooked were decent enough.

Now, if only I can have an epiphany on how to make foie gras.

Sumptuous, succulent and surprisingly, salty.

A company celebration brought us to Lawry’s at Paragon for lunch where we feasted on the physical and the aesthetics.

The interior of Lawry’s reminded one of the old English facade, with the high ceilings, classic cornices and the solid wallpaper decorations adorning the walls. Considering that the cheapest cut in the menu costs about S$59, i guess all of us would like to eat in a S$59 environment as well..

Now, back to the meat.

Most of us had the Lawry’s Cut (approximately 285g) and each prime cut comes with the spinning salad, mashed potates, choice of vegetables (either cream spinach or cream corn) and yorkshire pudding.

But because the meat was so tender and appetising, i was hungry 4 hours later.

Sigh, talk about hitting the sweet spot..

Anyway, if you’re interested, DBS card holders enjoy 1-for-1 on the ala carte menu during lunch so if you’re around the corner and a dbs cardholder, pop by and feast.

Despite a two week earlier release for the Dark Knight, the cinema was packed.

The theme was sombre, the movie was mature and the humor was well, dark. It’s not a kid’s movie for sure and i think all would agree that Heath Ledger was convincingly twisted.

Unlike the past Batman movies, Dark Knight had a lot more angst than love.

Watch it if you want but be prepared for a really long movie.

Honestly, i was somewhat disappointed.

Having read rave reviews of the food at Botak Jones, SK, Daniel and i headed down to their outlet at Bedok to sample the fare.

SK ordered the chilli dogs while Daniel tried the fish burger. I took the botak burger since the menu suggested it.

Wrong move.

The patties turned out dry and salty. If there was any consolation at all, the buns were tasty but no matter how tasty it was, it couldn’t mask the fact that the meat wasn’t well-marinated.

Daniel and SK had it better although i’m glad they helped me finish off my burger otherwise, it would have been a wasted S$11 double patty burger.

I won’t write them off just yet but they really need to either change the cook or the recipe.

Or the menu because it was sorely misrepresented to me.

Old boy is spoiling me silly with his spontaneous, romantic dates.

Just the other night, we went to this french restaurant, “Andre”, located along Telok Ayer. It was a quaint restaurant situated in a shophouse, and not exactly our first choice because we were kinda just hoping to have a grab and go dinner before heading back to our respective offices to continue working.

After all, you know how french restaurants are like.

Based on the waiter’s recommendation, i ordered a duck confit while he had the tenderloin. Like all the reviews online, the meats were tender and definitely artery-clogging. If you ask me whether it’s well worth the wait, i’m sure Old boy feels that it was acceptable.

Probably the only spoiler was them serving house wine in their usual water glasses. And we ordered premium house wine to boot.

Imagine, a french restaurant serving house wine in normal water glasses.

Good lord.

Coming home essentially meant having to take 2 days of medical leave and a day of urgent leave because the weather proved too extreme for me.

I guess it wasn’t hot enough for me to handle.

On hindsight, if i knew i was going to take medical leave, i should have delayed my return from Shanghai.

Heh.

As fun as Shanghai was, it couldn’t beat returning to the strong arms that held me to sleep every night and the familiar masculine scent that brought back fond memories.

Old boy and I had a wonderful date last evening.

image courtesy of http://sparklette.net

He brought me to this restaurant at Tanjong Pagar, called “Blue Ginger”, an alternative since he couldn’t locate the French restaurant that he ate previously. Serving mainly Peranakan fare, the food at Blue Ginger was excellent. We ordered beef rendang, curry vegetables served in assam gravy, and ngoh hiang, which was the boy’s favourite. In fact, you can read another blogger’s review on Blue Ginger.

And thereafter, we took a nice stroll back to the Mrt station.

It’s been a while since i last saw him enjoying something as simple as a good dinner.

I am not sure if it was my letter to the PM that made His Excellency realise something about the growing generation of youngsters or was it the bellyaching of Singaporeans.

You see, poor Sunshin3 here belongs to the rare handful of “teenagers”, who are working full time and paying taxes. However, due to a legislative ruling that payouts were only given to adults who have officially turned 21, we never received a single cent for our contribution.

It isn’t exactly their fault either because they would operate under the assumption that you would normally be in school at 20 and they have factored in post-secondary payouts in the form of your edusave account which you should have been eligible to receive PROVIDED you were still in school. That’s the normal situation and ideally, what all of us would have liked to achieve.

Of course the facts were that they weren’t for our cases.

So when the GST credits were announced, they tweaked it slightly to allow those who were going to be 21 in the year of payout to get the same benefit which Dingo subsequently enjoyed. And now with this year’s budget 2008, they have extended it to include the growth dividends as well which I will FINALLY enjoy.

MWHAHAHAHHA!

I am happy but disapprove somewhat of their dividend policy based on the valuation of your flat when in fact, they should include the number of kids a couple may have. And if you are a DINK, I don’t see why you should get such a good payout cos you have no other commitments except the pursuit of your comfortable, material acquisitions. Just imagine the case of a couple having a total of S$1,200 in payout as opposed with another couple having the same amount but with 3 kids.

Spreading a little too thinly, don’t you think?

The sadness of reality is that Singaporeans are asset rich but not cash rich. Thus the reason why they have all these talk of annuities as well because they are right. Unless you are single for life, it is never possible for you to have enough money to last for retirement without investing in bonds and surefire guaranteed stock returns.

And how i know?

Cos i use calculator lor.

Picture courtesy of Allblackberry.com

Firstly, it’s slimmer and sexier than its predecessors.

Weighing just 151g, the Blackberry Curve is more than just a smart phone. It’s like a fashion accessory with its sleek metallic finish that oozes simplicity and sophistication.

I didn’t had the chance to go through the process of routing emails to my blackberry as it was done by the IT department of my firm but one thing is for sure, because of the faster processing speed, viewing and downloading of attachments was a breeze. Heck, i could even compose emails with attachments once i had downloaded them into my phone.

More than that, what i really like about the Curve is that the trackball is positioned at the front unlike the side panels of the older versions so for females with small fingers, major adjustments aren’t really necessary. Usage of the Curve is absolutely bimbo-proof and i never found it a necessity to read the manual to know how to use the phone.

Apart from the usual PDA calender, memo pad functions, the Curve also has short-cut applications to GoogleTalk, Yahoo Search to name a few. Battery life is relatively short if you’re a heavy user. Mine zonked out on me after 1 and a half days of medium usage.

Next up will be on the synchronisation features once i get round to actually doing it.

..to life on the tiny island.

Batam was surprising quiet for a weekend and a school holiday.

Immigration was smooth as the staff at Batam View Beach Resort handled everything including the booking of our ferry tickets. So in reality, all we had to do was just pack our bags and head there.

It was one of those rare holidays that had events flowing progressively well for us despite not having anything concrete on our schedule. Suite was great and well-maintained, service was good and the massage was erm, cheap. We did some shopping at the MegaMall and located that JCO Donut Factory that Nadnut blogged about previously as well.

With our routine life back on track (momentarily), it’s now apartment hunting for us. Rents are manageable at this moment because Old boy’s a person with simple wants and needs but with the market so buoyant these days, i wonder if there will be a place that we can finally call our home.

Somewhere this month would have been our official one year anniversary. Not that the dates really matter since the both of us have different concepts for time but from my perspective, this is the next longest relationship i have been in after my 3 year relationship with my first boyfriend.

For all that he’s been, it stirred a longing within me to recreate the best moments in love for him. I guess to me, that’s the best i can give apart from my love so it explains the things i do, the little surprises that i drop now and then etc.

Besides, passion fizzles out after a while so it’s up to each of us to maintain the bridge that provides the constant stream of love, support and encouragement.

The anniversary was no exception to my usual surprise element for him as much as he dislikes surprises.

I booked a spa session for us both at the Aspara at Goodwood Park Hotel to commemorate this occasion. Actually more so because i felt he needed a break from work commitments. It was a 2 hour session that comprised of a massage of our choice, the usage of the steam bath, and jaccuzzi facilities.

View of our couple’s suite - photo courtesy of Robert Steiner

The pace was relaxed and it would have set the stage for a better evening if the spa had catered for wine or champagne which they unfortunately did not provide for. Nonetheless, we still had a great time bubbling around and reprising our roles as McSteamy and McDreamy (yes i know it sounds a little gayish).

I believe Old boy and i echo the same sentiments that the pressure strokes could be improved further but at $321 (nett) for our couple package, it is affordable as compared to The Retreat at Changi Village Hotel and i wouldn’t mind heading back there if my motivating decision is centered on the surroundings and ambience.