Feb 2013: Hair updates @ Ar Salon (Causeway Bay)

It's gonna be Chinese New Year in couple of days and it's time to get my unruly hair snipped again, esp the dry ends. I havent done anything much to my hair except for trimming since I permed it in May 2012.

Today it's time to dye my hair again to cover those nasty white hair bits sticking up at the forefront. It's annoying coz they refuse to stay down and hide quietly amongst the rest!

Ito san recommended a slightly lighter brown than my usual dark brown. Fine by me:) He didnt go for the super light brown (the japanese style) because he knows I will freak out if it's too light, plus he knows I am very lazy to maintain so the dark roots will look pretty "distinctive" since I wont keep going back to dye my hair.  I only head to the salon like every 4 months or more. So Beedy did the coloring for me while Ito did the cut.

Initially I thought I should straighten or re-perm but Ito san said I didnt have to do anything since my curls are still in place. So he will just layer my "bushy" mop to thin down the volume at the back & do treatment. Sounds like a plan. He suggested for me to keep my fringe long so I didnt have short bangs this time.

So here's the photo updates for today!

(Dated: 5th Feb 2013. Last permed: 9th May 2012)

(Dated: 5th Feb 2013. Half Clipped hair version after dinner)

"Yellow! Yellow!"

My Ozzie Hubby like to have some fun at my expense at time, mimicking my Singapore speech phrases.

Came the other day, he kept saying something which I didnt know what he was trying to say, except that it comes across sounding like "Yellow! Yellow!" with his Ozzie accent.

It wasnt much later, like days later, that I discovered he was trying to copy me in saying
"Yeah Lor! Yeah Lor!"

OMG! I had such a good laugh!

The thing about some girls...

Had lunch with one of my HK friend today and we talked about some recent encounters we had with people around us, primarily their relationship problems that they like to drench us in.

The one thing my friend and I had in common is that, we dont agree with the often heard statements on "How lucky you are to meet a good husband.."

Luck may play 1% role in our relationship but excuse me, a good marital relationship isnt dominated by luck. 99% of it is about management of relationship, management of expectations, compromise and adjustments, shared values, efforts to go extra mile for the other party and lastly, do everything with a dash of optimism and forgetfulness.

"Forgetful" is useful in the aspect of fights and unhappy incidents where one dont dredged up old ancient history or fights , while Optimism is essential in every forward looking relationship where both welcomes each brand new day looking forward to good things in your life. Without all those ingredients and constant hard work, all relationships will be doom to fail eventually regardless what kind of man or woman one meets or get involved with. Relationship is also about communication and knowing what to expect when you get involved with someone, and asking yourself if the tradeoff or shortfall from your expectation is something you can live with. In the same brush, u have to rem that you aint that perfect and the other person reserve the right to evaluate you too.

You enter a relationship with BOTH eyes open, and you dont go in EXPECTING the other person to change for you. It doesnt happen that way, not unless that person is a spineless wimp and u are a domineering person. But even so in this case, both enter the relationship with one willing & expected to be dominated while the other calling the shots. However once u are committed, you close one eye. That's where adjustment of expectations and compromise comes in. Yet, I have heard many girls who complained about not getting their way or their other half dont do what they want. Hello? He is his own entity too, not your slave boy. If he has always exhibited those traits and habits, then dont complain about it when you commit yourself to him. It was your choice. Dont act like a spoilt princess about this and that.

Also, another rule that I hold close to my heart, dont air your dirty laundry esp in public forum. It's one thing to vent frustrations and problems with close frens over a meal and completely another to update your status with EMO messages. That is immature and childish and nonconstructive, if not destructive in long run. Dont ask for sympathetic votes because you are not that perfect and friends who go fawn over u or outpouring of "support" is doing your relationship more harm than good. What makes you think you are soooo perfect in the first place? Every couple has its ups and downs and couple tiffs, what makes you think your problem is such a big deal? Have you even done any self reflections before you start to bemoan about how "pathetic" your life is?

You might think you are soooo right, but not everyone will agree with your viewpoints. Writing it down not only damages your partner's image, it should gives an insight of how immature the author is. Over time, people will form their own perception about you and your partner. Seriously, is it necessary to broadcast to the whole world "if you are bored, upset or those cryptic I am so tired" messages? Even worse, some have daily blow by blow updates about their relationship status. It's mind boggling that some people find enjoyment in such activity.

To me, frankly, social platform is NOT a place to air your grievances about your relationship. Unlike a personal diary where u can bare your heart, social platform is at best for you to highlight happy or funny incidents, or daily mundane events or if pissed, its at people not closely related to you. If you truly cherish and treasure the relationship with that person, you should learn to hold your tongue or in this case, your fingers from writing something that is so widely read, for both of your sakes in the long run. Words once spoken cannot be taken back, just like words written cannot be erased once its out there. Be prepared to bear the consequences.

In the last 20 years, from stories and personal experience, I have come to discover there are TRULY alot of immature Chinese/Asian women out there who seemed to think that Mr Right comes in a cast and concrete package deal. That means, they dont have to do anything but expect the other half to dote on them and treat them like Queen. Much of these wrong thinking to do with the impractical and unrealistic idol Chinese dramas and ridiculous romance books that these silly girls grow up with, with some even spoilt with wrong encouragements from their parents that "My daughter is a princess and u must treat her like one."

Apart from those with relationship problems, I too find it annoying personally with girls who are only concerned about how they look, act helpless.

Just the other day, was watching this cooking program on TV with my Hubby. It was about making some korean noodle dish. This Korean girl who is also part program host was interviewing her Korean mum on how to make her fav noodle dish. Her mum was trying to teach her on TV how to slice the beef and carrots etc. The stupid Korean girl acted squeamish and so fucking useless like the beef was gonna bite her and she kept giggling senselessly, saying oh how difficult it is to make the dish. It's a slab of cook meat for heaven sake!!!! Her mum prob had enough of her bimbo laughs and took over the cutting instead. For some reason, she annoyed me and my husband tremendously. We had to change channel as we couldnt bear continuing with her silliness and incompetence.

It's one thing to not know how to do something and try, but I draw a line at someone trying to play the damsel in distress role over something so simple. It pissed me off. What era are we in? Didnt woman scream for equality treatment? If so, then please spare us the "acting so stupid and behave like all you are good at is slapping layers of makeup on your face with fake eyelashes and flashing polished nails" act. Looks fade girl, its what is left behind that is important and follows you for the rest of your life. So do yourself a favor, build yourself some spine and a good strong character that leaves a lasting impression. Cut the flimsy act if you crave for other people to take u seriously.

Dinner review: Carnevino, Central HK

Had dinner at Carnevino Italian Steakhouse@ Central on Sat nite. It was good!

I am generally not a big steak eater and so as expected, I struggled with my 10oz steak and couldnt finish it. Primarily, that;s also because I had a large serving of Calamari starter.

To begin with the starter...it was KICK ARSE good! I havent had good calamari for a long while now in HK and this is the first time that a spicy tomato based calamari had me lapping for more! Squid was cooked nicely and the heat flavor was awesome! They didnt go easy on the spiciness and OMG! Soooo good!

My partner had the pork belly starter and it was also super moist and tenderly good. It took us 2 bites to finish the meat so its def a smaller portion than the calamari.

Then I had my moscato wine. IT WAS SO GOOD! I know..moscato is moscato. Sweet wine. But this one is fantastic. More bubbly and a very refreshing sweetness that doesnt linger and go stale at the back of your throat. I gulp down so many glasses that I might have been better off getting the whole bottle frankly....

Side info: (The La Spinetta Moscato d’Asti Biancospino is pale yellow with a constant stream of small bubbles topping up the delicate mousse. The nose is fresh and overflowing with aromas of lemon, mandarins and honeysuckle. The palate is sweet but with a remarkable acidity, making it refreshing and not cloying. The finish is long and leaves you with lovely floral notes, and hints of white peach.)

We ordered 2 extra sides, cream spinach and shitake mushrooms. Frankly I think we over ordered for 2 pigeon like Asian eaters. The mushroom was a tad too sweet for me and spinach is spinach goes...what do u expect?

The meat was good quality though i couldnt really tell the difference between my requested medium and medium rare....they look equally reddish on the inside right in the middle segment...so....

Dessert is amazing! I truly love their lemon semi freddo! It was so refreshingly good! The last time I had such a good semi freddo was at Quay, Sydney. So yeah, u HAVE to try this esp if u are already pretty full and sick from all the meat and want a lighter dessert.

Service was good except the only thing that marred the ending was the silly waiter poured tap water into my glass of still water, completely ruiningthe taste and rendered my glass of water undrinkable because I HATE the funny taste emitting from the mix. They should have at least confirmed with me if I wanted tap added but before I could stop them (since I was busy chatting with my companion), damage was done. Sigh.

All in all, a good place to try and have yourself a good time

Recipe: Shrimp Dumpling Soup

Deleted some old post to make space for this since I still havent gotten round to setting up a new blog in continuation of this.

Had a go at making shrimp dumpling for the first time tonight. The wrapping of 60 dumplings took me about an hour to finish. Good thing for home video to entertain me while my hands were hard at work:)

For the soup based, instead of chicken stock, I went with pork bones and with carrots instead. Turned out relatively well in my humble opinion...except I got to rem to add black fungus and add more pepper next time round. Recipe will be up next few days when I get round to it ;p

Dumpling Ingredients

1. 100g minced pork

2. 250g of prawns

3. 4 stalk spring onion

4. diced 4 water chestnuts

5. 3 cloves minced garlic

6. Sesame oil, pepper, salt

7. 3 Tbsp light soy sauce 

8. dash of ginger juice

9. (Black fungus/ bamboo shoots) optional

10. dumpling wraps

Soup

1. Pork bones and meat

2. 1-2 carrots

3. 2-3 whole water chestnuts

4. 4 stalk Spring onion (bottom white half) - upper green half for garnishing

5. coriander garnishing

Max out on photo quota!

I just realised that I had max out on my 1G photo quota for this blog!

Wondering what I should do now?

Start a new blog?
Delete old post?
Give up blogging?

Damn! This is annoying

Food Review: Gunther@ Purvis Street, Singapore

Singapore is one those cities that appears to have many good dining spots but unfortunately in reality, I am often met with disappointing service, meal and/or value. In this rare occasion, I found a rare gem (by Singapore's standard) in Gunther's. 

It was my man's birthday and our wedding anniversary and I chanced upon reviews on Gunther's. The menu looked great, the reviews though mixed was veered towards positive. The positive experience starts with our email correspondence since I am residing overseas. The staff Yuliz was polite, prompt and projected a keen sense of hospitality service with care to details and apt questions for the night arrangements. I had enquired about flowers to be left at the restaurant and was told it could be dropped off anytime as there will always be someone around. I was not disappointed on the actual day itself. 

Starting with service.

It was rainy night and there were staff awaiting in the rain with brollies to meet their guest alighting from the cabs. Brownie points for that. After being warmly greeted, we were promptly seated in as quiet corner as possible as per requested. The flowers were swiftly brought out as per arranged and that was a nice "opening" to the night.

The dinner specials of the night was introduced to us once we were nicely settled down. Jit (I hope I gotten the name right) was warm and friendly, and patiently went through the list with us. He was non-pushy, affable and knows the menu list, the food prep and description of the dish was thorough. Before leaving us to think through our main and starter "choice", he left us with the option of possibly a choice of letting him suggest our dinner options should we be overly spoilt for choice. Everything sounded yummy!

In the end, knowing our goal was seafood and my husband was keen on the fresh lobster, he suggested the signature cold angel hair pasta with cavier, a shared pen shell starter for two, and a shared lobster thermidor. Whilst I was also gunning for the freshly oven baked meat, Jit was wise to tell me to hold that order, finish my lobster and see how I feel like later. He was right, I was truly too full to proceed on after my lobster main.

Food review

I am usually not a big fan on cold starters but the Cold angel hair pasta with Oscietra caviar was delightfully light and refreshing. On hindsight, I should have ordered one plate to share so that I could get another starter since the pasta was a good size portion. However we liked it so it's ok. The pasta had good consistency and texture and the flavor was definitely did not overwhelm, leaving our tastebuds nicely ready to sample the next dish.

The penshell with seafood consomme was another delight though I must admit the prawns in the consomme had a richer sweet flavor as compared to the actual shell meat. Everything was cooked right but some may expect a lighter broth version than what we had. However, the taste was just right for me and again, good portion size.

Our main was lobster thermidor and we had half each. I didnt think I would be full but I was wrong. By the time I was through, we were both very satisfied and this is the first time that I didnt want any more dessert. The lobster was fresh and succulent, nicely cooked such that it wasnt chewy yet retaining the full seafood flavor as any good chef worth their salt should with this dish. The pairing with the porcini mushroom was an excellent touch as it definitely enhanced the overall flavor for the dish and accentuate the lobster's flavor up a notch. The accompanying rice seemed to have a touch of lemongrass or something herby at least, and my partner loves it. 

By dessert time, I was struggling to decide. I didnt need more food but I had to since I was expecting the "Happy Birthday" candle moment. Between the apple tart, suze crepe and choc fondant, I was lost. My man wanted the crepe and I was trying to figure out how does one stick a candle on a crepe and so I forced myself to tell Jit to throw in the Choc fondant.

However what came next was a complete surprise. We were presented with a nice complimentary frozen fruit ice-cream like cake with a candle to boot! When all the birthday wishes and camera shots were done, Jit came to us and told us ever so kindly that he had actually not logged in our dessert order as he knew we are almost full. but he didnt want to ruin the surprise and so he still pretended to take our dessert order. I was grateful for his initiatives and consideration and gladly cancelled our dessert order since the complimentary cake was not only enough, but it was actually the type of cold dessert we were craving for:)

When we left, everything was in order. We were warmly given the birthday and happy anniversary greeting once more to round up the lovely night. One of the staff even chased after us just as we were boarding a cab, as my very contented satisfied birthday man had forgotten his birthday card left on the table.

Overall, we couldnt be more satisfied with the service and food. The bill came up to about SG$400, inclusive of a glass of dessert wine. To us, it was good value enough. Definitely infinitely better than the mediocre Ku De Ta meal we had earlier at MBS for the same price, even surpassing our experience at some of the Michelin places in Hong Kong.

Simple Honest Good Food. The chef has lived up to his vision and provided a food fare worthy of praise. This is one restaurant I would definitely look forward to returning to.

Tip:
-Might be wise to come earlier so that you get the best pick of the specials since it's limited item.
- If you have special dietary requirements or allergies, best to remind server or inform during reservation as I recalled they did not reconfirm on any allergies precaution necessary to note during orders.

Small Handful of Singapore Bus Drivers going on strike

The news that caught my attention was Singapore SMRT PRC bus drivers going on strikes over wanting better pay. They boycott work and demand for better pay, citing comparison with drivers from Malaysia and Indonesia. (Source: Channelnewsasia: SMRT wage protest sees no-show by 62 drivers)



I support the idea of fair treatment to employees and I do respect these drivers hard work. However that does not translate into support for these foreign residents' idea of holding any company ransom via boycott of work. It is not the case that they are employed without a formal contract. It is NOT that these drivers did not know how much they are paid and the working hours before they took on the job. They should also know the company reserve the right to give increments as they deemed fit. If these drivers did indeed not know, then they only have themselves to blame for not doing due diligence.

I have no love for unreasonable behavior nor people as such. Succumbing to their requests and behavior will only serve to open a floodgate of problems in future. Everyone can just go on protest and strikes everytime they decided that they dont like the pay they are getting for themselves, or their peers get better pay increment than them. It's unbecoming to adopt and condone such tyrant attitude to hold employers by their balls over personal gains as such. I do not have all the details and perhaps they do have valid grievances but is this the best way going forward?

Unless SMRT has changed the drivers terms and conditions unilaterally, I see no grounds to acceding to their protest. If these drivers are so unhappy, then by all means, have the guts and resign and search for better paying jobs with whatever skillsets they have and can boast of. The exit door is there, 24hrs/7days. They just need to walk through it, Dont be a coward and cling on to the seat and act like an adult cry baby. However if the company has indeed been inapproperiate and unfair in its dealing, it should admit its internal oversight and system flaw. If the changes are in accordance to skillsets, eg Malaysian/ SG drivers can speak more languages than China drivers thus the pay difference, then even such should be made clear with followup actions. One cannot employ an employee not meeting all the checklist and then turn around to deal them an unfair card either.

Previously, the saga of local bus drivers protests had merits. That was when the company went ahead to change the working hours resulting in worse off pay package and longer working hours. That I can completely understand the angle the employees were coming from. However, I believe that went through proper channel of communication.

No. This is not about nationality card. It shouldnt be either. The person who is driving the bus is a fellow HUMAN. It doesnt matter where he came from or the accent.

Regardless of origins, every employee should indeed not be shortchanged unfairly.
However, there is a distinct difference between an employer acting in bad faith versus drivers wanting a bigger share of wages.

I asked my friends if they rem what Heathrow Airport and British Airways are renowned for?
Strikes.
We have seen what happened to Foxconn in China.
Strikes.

Strikes is a vicious and deterimental viral behavior, regardless the reasons.
Is that what I want Singapore to be known for in future as well?
No. Not really.
It will not bore well.

So I hope SMRT does what it should do bounded within the legal confines.
Letting them go freely with no further repercussion or let them stay on with trust that the company will review the benefits ACROSS the board for ALL DRIVERS at the same time at the yearly, biannual or quarterly review. However, please do not condone such behavior and give in quietly without proper accountability to the public.

We are better society than that.

Food Review: Rubato@ 3 Clover Way, Singapore.

I should have blogged this earlier but being sick right after being back from hols and catching up school work for my Jap test took up most of my time and energy.

Now that I am nicely settled back in again, before my next trip back to Singapore this Friday, I thought I should get my lazy arse moving and update my food review before I forgot!

This time back in Singapore, I headed out to Clover Way (Near Bishan/ Marymount Mrt) In late October to try out this eatery known as Rubato, serving Western Italian food.

Unassuming Exterior of Rubato

It was a "last minute" Sunday trip as my earlier email reservation 3 weeks before did not get a response until Saturday itself. I was kindly informed by Marcus that their email system had been down but they had booked us in for 4 anyway as per requested. That was nice, except that it was a desperate scramble to reconfirm if my original dining company was still free that Sunday on such short notice! Thankfully, they were! Phew!

Reaching there by car was easy but its not exactly a stone's throw away from public transport. Unless you know the private residential area well, walking there might be a real challenge esp from Bishan Mrt. I cheated and took a cab from town.

The setting is a small place. Sunday is their weekly buffet day too though we went ala carte since I wanted to try what exactly is their signature and recommended dishes.

Food thoughts.

1. The clams were good. Very sweet and succulent. (Pix in iphone. have to upload later). Definitely on my must order for shellfish lovers.

2. Their Signature grilled squid was nicely served moist, and cooked perfectly without becoming rubbery nor chewy. It was certainly a freaking huge squid by the way but shared between four adults, each still got a good tasting portion which works out great!

Signature Charcoal Grilled Squid.

 3. Honestly, I cannot rem the name of this as it was one of the seafood specials on the chalkboard that was heartily recommended to us. It was nice, but frankly, it wasnt their best work though I still love the clams.

4. The fresh pear salad. I definitely take issue with this. It was bland and the pear was not sweet. Ok, they are not in charge of a pear farm but if the fruit aint great, dont put it in and swap it to something else like red apple.

There was supposed, and I emphasized "suppose"to be balsamic vinegar in it but i tasted none. I'm not sure if it was because it took so long to deliver a simple salad that I had to enquire about it and Marcus took it out in a flash and someone in the kitchen forgotten the last dash. I did point it out to Marcus it was tasteless and he immediately whip out a separate dish of balsamic of vinegar, while explaining that they had gone "lightly seasoned". I didnt want to argue and have him taste the "TASTELESS" salad which did not had any hint or tinge of sourish vinegar. Only reason, service has been really fantastic to date and I was willing to overlook a simple oversight.

Seasoning aside, the salad was fresh and a good portion. Would suggest to go with a dash of mustard honey if I am the chef to give it a hint of sweetness in event the fruits are terrible.

Balsamic Fresh Pear Salad.

 5. Seafood rivioli.

I cannot comment since I didnt taste this but the company I had told me it was good. Reason why I didnt taste it was because I was getting rapidly filled up and the sauces across various dishes recommended to us were getting abit too similar for my liking.

Seafood Rivioli

 6. The pork belly....has got to be the only disappointing and terrible dish I had here today. The pork was chewy and definitely did not go well with the sauce. Sorry... crispy pork and that tomato sauce just dont go hand in hand....it didnt enhance the flavour or the natural sweetness that should come with fresh pork. Instead the accompanying sauce overwhelm my palatte and the tough chewy texture was pretty off putting. Sorry, gotto fail this dish and hope they take it off the menu or at least relearn to cook pork belly right. It should be soft and tender like braised meat with crispy skin that any chef worth their salt should accomplish easily, but not here. Avoid at all cost. Your $5 roasted chai siew pork belly from hawker is cooked way better than this. And living in HK where pork belly dishes are soooooo perfected as a staple dish, sorry, this pork belly is almost a cousin that should not be mentioned.

7. Ah...what meal is complete without the dessert. My good old choc fondant with ice cream, ordered with a cup of chamomile tea.

The cake was cooked perfectly. No faults there, yet equally no surprises there. I meant seriously, its decent but not wow woah spectacular. If you like normal, COMMON, comfort food type dessert, this is a fail proof order but its not mind boggling if you know what I mean. I am not expecting unsual creativity but at best, this is what any decent homemaker can make. Australia Sydney dining spots definitely serve way better desserts than this and I had more unique dessert downunder in smaller and more unassuming dining spots..

The next downside is the size of the tea. Seriously, for the amount that I pay, I expected a pot, or at least a bigger mug of tea. That cup worth only 3 gulp was frankly a little bordering on rip off. Dont serve in such a small cup. You can get bigger cup for that tea bag. Also, this place needs more variety in drinks such as offering fresh juice. Let's go healthy.

Now that we have gotten food review out of the way, let's talk about service.

Service here at Rubato is impecable in comparison to  general (APPALLING) Singapore hospitality service standard I am accustomed to. Marcus was friendly without being intrusive, food was served fast to a point we had to request the kitchen to slow down as we are still ploughing through 3 courses between the 4 of us.

However, the only small note was that the senior lady who was serving was so eager to recommend their signature dishes that I think she kind of overlooked that we over ordered. I really think that her knowing the size and portions should have controlled the items recommended as any good restaurants would. I am not at a Da Pai Tong or Steamboat buffet. So I felt we really over ordered and that did dampened the excitement by the end of it. However in the spirit that she had really wanted us to try the best, I could understand why she didnt rein us in. Secondly, seeing that many items we ordered had such similar sauces, she could have altered the order to a better mix. Like pizza or something. Then again, I guess this is when experience as a serving staff comes in.

While we were there, 3 other guests had their birthdays and all the staff sang birthday song. I did too with my added surround sound of sing along and clapping. Well, that's me. Of course unlike in Australia, where most birthday people will thank the crowd for joining in the birthday cheer, typical Singaporeans will just smile and ignore every other stranger seated around them. "Great" friendly attitude my fellow Singaporeans. Must be all those years of brain washing of "Never talk to Strangers" in case u get mugged or kidnapped taking a toll on the mental well being of these lot. You wonder why people are saying Singaporeans are a smile-less un-interactive lot.

Overall, I really dig this place and would come more regularly if only is was more accessible. However, I would recommend this place for sure for some of the great food highlights. Go check it out if you havent. You wont stay hungry for long in this dining spot. Just watch the waistline:)

Travel: Excellent Amankila Bali Trip!

Wrote a nice long review earlier on my trip but bloody blog decided to hang on me and didnt even save my long post. F*cking hell. I just hate being screwed by technology like that!

Anycase back to the empty drawing board....Sigh.
Rewrite...with half the humor and wit depleted.

This time round in our annual Oct trip, we headed for Bali. It has been a decade since our last visit and though we never did like Bali for its crowded expat volume as well as its touting and less than ideal sea conditions, we thought we will give it another go except my man decided to up the notch of pampering and booked us in AmanKila. We had really loved our Aman resort experience with 2 earlier resorts and this time round proved to be no exception.

Love it. Love it. Love it.

I guess if you are one of those like us who are just dying to get away from crowd especially loud noisy ones, want to feel like you own the compound with the sort of privacy and exclusivity and has the extra cash to pamper yourself, then you will love Aman resort for everything it lived up to.

It isnt cheap at about US1200++ anite but you get what you pay for, and practically the closest feeling of owning the whole resort without actually owning one. However, you get what you pay for. Excellent service. Privacy. Tranquil setting. No fuss, no hassle. Smooth logistics all the way especially at the airport where we were spared the horrendous long immigration Q that looks like a wait for hours with the masses, and we only had to wait for the Aman staff to clear the immigration for us under 5 mins. I was surprised that he even met us right where we step off the plane and guide us to another separate fast lane that lead us past the crowd and out off the airport when I was only expecting to see him after i stand in line through the immigration. I guess shelving out the dole at times has its benefits...

Apart from having a huge compound nestled in the midst of the coconut plantation and perched high up on the cliff facing the Lombok Straits, the resort has 35villas and frankly, at any one time, I felt like we are practically alone or have only one or two other couple sharing the place. Yet the truth is, I had counted at least 10 different couples at different times different days but I had never seen them all at one place at any one time.

Local gals are employed as flower gals, basically just to prepare flower rings to welcome guests and during eve time. Very sweet!

For the whole week, I never have to share the pool once. My own pool by the beach. Nice!

Because the main pool area is of 3 joined cascading pools, you essentially still own one pool each all by yourself even if there are 2 other couples, with the sun lounges and pavilion situated just before the pool side at each level.

There is another 45m single pool located at the foot of the cliff near the Beach club. We checked out the beach and it isnt as nice as Phuket though the sand was still fine and soft, it just wasnt as inviting with such strong pushy waves.

45m pool length view

45m side view from beach club house

We were told we had the best villa on the whole compound. We had the best uninterrupted ocean view from our patio and room, and at the highest vintage point. That is good too because I am furthest from the break waves and being light sleeper, that work out well.

View from our Villa 37 

Fresh welcome flowers!

Lunch time..restaurant all to ourselves almost everyday.

The amazing and astounding feat is that we never quite figured out how all the staff at the dining area and enquires desk are able to address us by names and room without us saying a thing. We are always greeted by name before shown to our seat. They must have amazing guest description communication briefing every day since there is no photo for them to rely on!!! It's a well appreciated secret that did not gone unnoticed!

Room aspect it was nicely spacious and they kept changing the free flip flop to a point I felt i was very ungreen and had to stash the used one so that I can reuse it. The rooms are broken into 3 segments, first with the sleeping/ study desk/ lounging bed area, then the 2nd area with free refreshment bar area/ lounging bed/ shower/pee area and lastly the sink/changing area.

Poster bed with sea view

Changing area at the back

Repellent was provided but I had no encounters with any mozzies. I love their song collections in their ipod provided in the room. Tv can be requested. The only problem for me sleeping in a poster bed was that I walked right into the column on the first night after I wanted to crawl back to bed after peeing. Wham Bang! Hard enough to wake my husband up but being so tired, I just curled up back to sleep and nurse the bump the next morning!

Housekeeping is so discrete and timely. They dont ever knock on your door. Never. What they do is to wait at the foot of the stairs where the guests will pass, and once they see the couple out of the room, they dashed up to clean up the room like those magical domestic elves!!

During 4pm, there are refreshments by the poolside. I was too lazy to wait for staff on hand so I part time as tea lady. Lol!

Free Refreshment during the 4-5pm slot.

At night, we had a Welcome Dance, which is a traditional ceremony dance of the Gods. It was lovely!

Realised that Fresh vegetables are really not a part of Balinese diet. Couldnt get much greens there. However, I love my Ayam Goreng, curry and Nasi Goreng. Yum! Their Passionfruit refilled daily was the best!!! My only gripe about the resort if I must is that menu variety could be wider. One page of western and one page of Balinese. I guess they didnt want to overstock.

My Balinese breakie. Fresh Egg porridge.

Balinese Dinner with Steamed Fish and curry. 

One of the days in the week, we went on free sight seeing trip within East Bali. Nothing much quite frankly. saw a wedding procession.

Wedding procession

The carps all flocked to me for no reason as I posed for my shot!

By the end of the week, I was sad to leave after the week flashed by so quickly. I was so tired after every day sun lounging that I didnt even get any reading done. Terrible me.... I was alittle too brown before I left and the staff kindly went to their nursery and plucked a few stalk of FRESH aloe vera for me to apply on my tanned area. After that, it was free cookies on the way, listening to my fav music on their supplied ipod while surfing with the portable free wifi in the car.

Designed for Humans?! If not Humans, then for whom?!!

Only just noticed Samsung Galaxy Mobile Tagline "Designed for Humans". Was mobile ever meant for animals otherwise...?

Of course I get what they are trying to say...that its interface is designed for efficiency and supreme convenience yada-yada, but do they even know that the slogan is just plain wrong reading it from an English speaker perspective?  Didnt Samsung team in the states have some say in the slogan?! I mean if you read the Mandarin slogan it definitely does NOT say the same thing as the English slogan.

I wonder what the slogan says in Korean? I wonder if it is a case of lost in Translation...

Hmmm...

It was a subtle awareness that started about half a year ago. An interesting thing has come to my attention.

That is whenever I head out to shop or eat in HK, should I choose to go bare face wearing just T with shorts, there is a 50-50% chance that the staff will speak to me in Mandarin and the other half would be in Cantonese.

However, if I decide to just put on eyeliner with or without mascara, NO ONE will ever speak to me in Mandarin. They would either speak to me in Cantonese or English. It was quite funny that once while I was window shopping, the retail staff standing behind me without seeing me enter the shop started her sales speech in Mandarin but the minute I turned around, she said sorry and immediately swap to speaking English. Hahaha! I was really chuckling inside.

Today was even weirder, the staff at the Japanese tempura place for some reason decided to converse in Japanese while taking my order. Secretly I was happy...hahaha...did i even remotely managed to pass off as Japanese? hahaha! Are my Japanese-brand clothes and hairdo by Japanese stylist paying off? hahaha!

I was asking with my husband, do I look that ching-chong cheena without makeup?!! Why would they even think I look like Mainlander?! I didnt think that I look all that different! Husband being husband was of no help when I ask him for his views. Man! hahaha!

I didnt know which was worse, being mistaken as a Mainlander, or as a Filippino helper when I first arrived in HK 7 years ago (figured I was still too tan then and wearing tanktop, shorts with flip flop the bo-chap Singaporean style). I have had since completely let go of my Singapore wardrobe from then onwards and revamped it with everything non-SG bought clothes.

Anyway, so for a long time now, I havent gone out without minimally my eyeliner apart from grocery shopping! The last thing I want is to be mistaken as a ..... regardless if we share the same ethnic race. I rather be mistaken as an Indian, Vietnamese or whatever. Just not "...." please. No thank you.

While it's nice to be reconnected with some of my ex-colleagues, it can always be a damper when someone tries to burden you with their problems constantly.

There's a colleague whom in the past, has always had financial management issues. She had been around borrowing money from some common friends and though she did repay her loans, it's still not a very nice thing to constantly be known as someone who may ask you for money assistance anytime.

Recently, we got together just to catch up and before long, she started to pour her life miseries on me. Okie, as a friend, I am fine to listen to you and share some life experiences. However, she started to call and cry on the phone and say she lost her money which she was to repay her mum and that her mum do not believe her etc. I didnt know if she had wanted me to offer her money. It wasnt a big sum but HK$1000 is not the same as HK$100, and plus I really dont want to make it a habit for her to constantly approach friends for money when it is not critical. So I didnt offer her but told her to just tell her mum that there is nothing she can do if she dont believed her. Plus, it isnt that she isnt going to pay her back, it's just delay for a month until her next salary. Plus I told her, why couldnt she had just do a bank auto transfer than put the money in her pocket and dropped it? Seriously, who will put HK$1000 in a pocket just like that carelessly when it's 1/9 of your monthly income?  Honestly I told her, apart from nagging, what can her mum do seriously.

My friend didnt ask me for money, but the topic never stop revolving round it. Personally, I found it kind of draggy.

Everyone has our own problems. It's one thing to have someone listen, but another to give the kind of signal as if you are expecting someone to help you out financially. Between family is ok, but between friends, I have a personal policy not to loan friends money unless it really is a matter of life and death, which in this case I deemed it not to be.

Had wanted to go do some exercise yesterday but got held up by her phone call for over 2 hours and ended up unable to go ahead as planned. Couldnt even do my homework since it was too late by the time I finished dinner and all.

Today, just when I settled down to do some work, she texted me again to ask if she could meet me again tonight. I had a choice, to ignore my own responsibilities as a student and abandon my work or go out and listen to her sob story again. I decided against meeting her. I need to prioritise myself and owe it to myself to do the stuff I need as well. So I told her I really cannot meet her as I have homework to do and my class is tomorrow. Perhaps it may come across selfish, but selfishly, I dont want to be dragged down by someone life miseries and wallowing in self pity.

Granted that her mum is money-face and all based on her story, but there is nothing she can do. So talking about it wont make it go away and indulging in the matter emotionally will lead to nowhere.

We all have our family issues. It's not the issues that make us who we are. Its how we view and deal with the problems that makes us stronger or weaker.

So I am sorry my friend. I really dont want to listen to your negative stories all week long.
I need more uplifting things for a change of mood. You are already 30years old. You should have your own directions and learn to deal with things on your own. No one can always be there for you. That is the facts of life.

Another one of those conversations :)

Part I

Me: ... mine isnt a pixie face rite?
My man: Yes, U have a pigsy face. (Laughing away...)
Me: You bitch. (Laughing away)
My Man: Pigsy Face.
Me: Shut up Princess.

Such delightful pre-dinner banter as always... :)

Part II

*Heading down the escalator*

My Man: Pigsy Face

Me: (Took a big bite on his shoulder)

My Man: (screamed) Ta MA DE! (a new chinese phrase I taught him this morn)

Me: Yes! That's the way to say it! (HoHoHo...laughing away..)

My Man: You bitch! (laughing in pain)

Me: Stop complaining Wussy.

A home cook dinner...from my guest

So freaking excited my brother and his gf came over to stay with me for a short holiday over the last weekend. After eating out for several days, his gf proposed to cook us dinner on Friday since we had got nothing planned after a fulfilling dim sum lunch at China Club.

While I am into Asian food, my bro's gf is completely into western dishes. So she decided to make us pan fried foie gras with quince paste, & duck confit with mandarin fruit, as well as parma ham and melon.

I was definitely happy to be sous chef for a change. Good thing my kitchen is well stocked up:) It was definitely fun having 2 people cooking than just me alone...I just the chit chatting and exploring & experimenting was the best part

While making the foie gras, it was a good thing I had quince cube that I brought back from Portugal. Went really well together!

The duck confit was with baked potato was pretty decent but I think she overcooked the breast. However, considering it was all pulled together last minute, I think its effort well deserved of praise! At least she tries to cook for starters....

halfway through the meal, I suddenly rem the beetroot relish and took them out. It definitely went brillantly with the duck confit!

For dessert, we couldnt do without my fav New York cheese cake from my fav store!

(The new location has been moved to Hysan Mall - 6th floor)