Ive been so busy transfering/uploading/re-sizing photos and more photos lately. My camera's memory card is abt to hit its maximum capacity too. Guess it'l provide a great finger workout as i sit down and slowly delete the pictures one by one. Cant bear to, really. But as the saying goes, the old has to go in order to make way for the new. Riteee.
Alritey, back to what im actually here to blog about. To blog about my past week! Its been a very very eventful week so be prepared for a pretty long entry. But i guarantee u each entry is gonna zap up your nerves, wake up your senses and entice your palettes , far more enticing and tantalizing than your margaret drive char kway teow. Ha Ha Ha. I'm just exagerating. =Pp
Lets Begin!
13th June 2007, Wednesday
A day out with my dearest grandmama~
I wasnt working, so the lovely sweet grand-daughter decided to bring her out today! =P
Firstly, i brought her to CGH to visit one of my relative. Spent about an hour chit chatting about life, about ba zhangs and other stuff which i couldnt comprehend (They were conversizing in dialect, teochew or hokkien am not sure, they all sound rojak-ish to me Ha Ha). Tot of finding Maggie Mee, she's a trainee at CGH. But i dint manage to find her as she was having her hols now. BOO.
After that, the grand-daughter brought her grandmama to the nearby Tamp St 11 hawker centre for lunch. We had porridge from the Chai Chee Porridge stall.
The main outlet is at Bedok Blk 85. The porridge was o-k-i-e, nth exceptional, but not that bad either. Ha Ha. The plus point is that they give a generous serving of Ba Chor (My fave!) and century egg. This hawker centre has many many stalls but for some reason, im always eating the same ol' chai chee porridge. I really dont noe why.
Grandmama bought a bagful of tiong bahru fishballs and fishcakes and other fishy stuff too. Brought her back home via bus and returned to her house at 4pm for grandmama's cooking lesson. Yes! Im learning how to cook. Will u believe me if i told u that i acty spent 1 hour in the hot burning sweaty oily kitchen, trying to see how she fries the veggies, meat, fish and other dishes? Maybe you wont, but wtheck, i did it anyway. Ha ha. And i oso got the opportunity to fry the wantons and veggies! It was damn fun la! Potential house-wife in the making. hee hee~
Ernie in shades
14th June 2007, Thursday
Havent met dearie for the past 3-4 days. Oh how i miss him so very much. Was really delighted to be able to spend time with him today, eventhough its just for a short while. =) Every minute is precious, every moment counts.
Dar dar rode to my house in the evening. We had Cze Char for dinner. Kinda lazy to travel so we just settled for any cze char stall from the nearby coffee shops. No choosing! Just Whackk!
The main reason why we're having cze char tonight is simple. The vermonstress here was craving for tie ban tofus and Har Cheong Gai (Fried prawn paste chicken). So we ordered 3 dishes - Baby kai Lan, Hot Plate Tofu and my Chicken wings! There were a total of 8 wings, so i had 4 and baby had 4. Fair and square.
Tapioca Chips - To kick start our appetite!
I was kinda fascinated with the tie ban tofus. The cze char uncle acty pours the tofus + other ingredients + gravy onto the hotplate, sizzling with egg at the base, on the spot, in front of our very own eyes! Nv in my life of 20 years have i seen someone acty do that! Before that, i even had the urge to ask :"Uncle, tofu zai na li ne?" Ha Ha. The thing i like most abt tie ban tofus is not the tofu, nor izit the sizzling sound the hotplate gives off but rather, the egg at the base! Ha Ha. My as well just order an egg rite? LOL.
And the supergirl here acty managed to bend the metal spoon while trying to tear pieces of har cheong gai meat off its bone. No starring involved. Ha Ha. I was really surprised and stunned for a moment. Ha Ha. I tot i really damanged the uncle's spoon and will have to pay for it until dar dar took it and bent it back with ease. Chey! Low grade imitation metal. whahahaha.
Baby could hardly walk after dinner. Ha Ha. But still, i made him take a stroll with me in the nearby park. Nv like to sit down and do nth after a meal. We chatted, swapped mosquitos, and moon-tanned awhile before walking to TM, which is just in the vicinity, to do some grocery shopping. Wanted to buy a bottle of peach juice (mixer for my Absolut APEACH), but we couldnt find any! Not even in NTUC or 7-11 or Cheers. BOO.
15th June 2007, Friday
Dimsum buffet! I have been waiting for this day to comeee! Since God knows when!
Wanted to go to RedStar but it was oredi 2pm and i doubt they serve dimsum at this time of the day.
So, we settled for Yum Cha!
I was kinda against dining at Yum Cha and insistant or shall i say, persistant about finding another dimsum restaurant as my last visit here, many many years ago, didnt leave quite a good impression on me. Furthermore, Yum Cha cant be the only dim sum restaurant in the whole of Chinatown ritee? But little miss lazy here needed some air-con urgently and so, we settled for Yum Cha anyhow. Situated opposite is "Da Tong", which also serves dimsum but it kinda looks pricey, so we gave it a miss. Im very very sure that there are other dimsum restaurants in the area, just that i dont noe where! My friends in school tell me:"in chinatown got this place sell dimsum very nicee!" and when i ask them where, guess what the ans is?
"somewhere in chinatown". Ha Ha. Thanks man.
Check out all the dimsum we ordered! Think there are about 15 items altogether.
Clockwise from top left: Fried Beancurd Skin with Shrimp, Fried Carrot Cake, Sesame Prawn and Mango Roll.
Clockwise from top left : Spring rolls, Steamed Pork Ribs with Bean Sauce, Crispy Durian Roll, Siew Mai with Fish Roe, Fried Garlic Prawn Dumplings and Garlic Soft Shell Crabs.
Hargaos! A must-have too!
The Fried Beancurd Skin with shrimp is acty one item, under the fried dimsum category, that im bound to order for sure. It may be oilyer than a 3 day old blotter but its damn SHIOK la.
The most unique item will have to be the crispy durian rolls. Crispy fried batter + warm gooey chunks of D24 durian? Enough to send you up to Mars. Another SHIOK food indeed. In fact, this dish has been sprouting up in many many dimsum restaurants all over Sg. So its not quite a new invention acty. Just new to me though. Ha Ha
I ordered Lotus Paste with Salted Egg Yolk paus too! I know, you must be wondering who on earth eats PAU = Carbo = Make u full real fast, while having dimsum buffets? To tell u the truth, i dont, but when i saw SALTED EGG YOLK, i knew it was a must have for me. Ha Ha. Told u i have a soft spot for these addictive orange balls.
Check out the yolk!
In fact, i only finished one pau. The other one, i stole the yolk and left the pau behind. Ha Ha. The process made me feel as though i was a pau surgeon, performing a pau operation. LOL. Gross.
The xiao long baos here are lovely. The skin isnt too starchy and fine shreds of sharks' fin are used to adorn the top of each individual XLBs. Best of all, the broth inside isnt the typical chicken essence broth but rather, it had a hint of sharks' fins soup! Very tasty!
...and desserts to end it all! Mango pudding and Red Bean Paste with Lotus Seeds! Umm
Total bill amounted to $38.80 for 2. Cheap, if not reasonable. If we had not opted for buffet, we would have spent a total of $45 at least (assuming that every dimsum we order cost $3). One thing that puzzles me is how come the waiters and waitresses at dimsum restaurants never smile. They are a pretty rough and hostile bunch of ppl if u ask me. Honestly, a smile can make a big difference when it comes to providing a memorable dining experience.
Overall, the dimsum was great. The standards here have certainly improved over the past few years. Will certainly be back here again for more dimsum but b4 that, il want to scout for other dimsum restaurants first. Anyone wana join me on my dimsum pig out session? Ha Ha. Also gulped down cup after cup of chrysanthenum tea to help wash off all the dimsum oil. Ha Ha. You wouldnt believe it but this meal acty lasted us thru the day. $19 per head for breakfast lunch and dinner. Worth it rite? =P
After dim-suming, we bused down to The Cathay for our 5.15pm Fantastic Four movie!
The show lasted for one and a half hours. To me, it was A-L-R-I-G-H-T. More of an entertaining show. Jessica Alba, She's HOT.
16th June 2007, Saturday
Driving at 1020 in the morning. Bad Bad Bad. I parked and knocked down a pole. BOO. Wasnt focused at all. Very sleepy from having to wake up at 3am every morning to bring the dogs out to pee (lest they pee in my room) and very physically tired from having to do household chores for the past 2 days.
Went to dar dar's house at 5pm. We bus'ed down to Margaret Drive to meet my family for dinner. Dar Dar n me queued for Char Kway Teow first as we were early. It was only 5-ish and there were oredi at least 8 people in line. Overtime, the queue grew to about 10 or more. Waited for about 30-45 mins before our turn came.
Had claypot chicken rice from this stall too!
Yummy! Love the lup cheong to bits.
Dint take a pic of it as i oredi took it before. Same for the CKT too. =P
For drinks, we had "Anything" & "Whatever"! Ha Ha. Each drink has got 5 flavours each. Really depends on ur luck. Mine was green tea which tasted very much like Heaven & Earths' version while my aunt had Peach tea which was far too sweet for her liking. As for "Anything", it was basically plain soda. Heard they have sarsi too.
After such a heavy-in-calories meal, somehow, all 5 of us ladies managed to squeeze into the back of my uncle's Honda Civic. Ha Ha. Really packed like sardines. Dar Dar was lucky as he got the front passenger seat. LOL. After dropping off aunt woon and dar dar next, uncle drove us to Shaw Towers for some sweet treats from Tom's.
We had a small cup of longan red dates + black sesame, a large cup of hazelnut + oreo cheesecake, and another large cup of tangerine and longan red dates.
I feel really tempted to ask the owner of Tom's to make me a baileys cheesecake flavored ice-cream. Ha Ha. Of course, il be providing the baileys. =D
Aunt Jo & Me!
Aunt Keng and me!
me Me meee~
17th June 2007, Sunday
Happy Fathers' Day!
Church in the afternoon.
Dinner with my family at Kenny Rogers. We shared a family combo worth $42. Came with a whole chicken, 4 large side dishes and my fave fave corn muffins!
For the side dishes, we chose garlic potatoes, cold sour creme pasta, cold garden salad with potaoes again and our fave fave cheese macaroni! Everything was goood.
They just renovated and have since resumed business with a brand new outlook. Kinda like it. Very mod chic. Nice.
Check out the Fathers' Day gift from church.
Check me out in specs! This is my second pair of specs which i seldom wear acty. Had to resort to wearing specs today as i had a swollen eye! BOO. But not as bad as last time, when a netball came flying right smack into my face, leaving me with a big blue black on my left eye. Ouch~
