Sequel to the Watson's YOU Awards

I decided!! I decided to participate in the Watson's YOU Awards. I rampaged a few photoshoot albums and decided to go for this one. The award that I am participating in is the Friendly Female awards. Not sure what I babled in the 400 characters column talking about my features. Hahahahaha ... I just write the thought of the time ^_^". Since, it's a tryout, no harm trying on it. Whether I will get or not get this award will be another matter. If I am sooo lucky that I am able to get it, of course, I will be overwhelmed and filled with excitement. If I cant get it, well no worries, there is always next time. Just dont take it too seriously and just participate it for fun!! At least it's something worth looking forward to. Hehehehe .....

Watsons YOU Awards - which award should I participate?

I came across this Watsons YOU Awards from Xiaxue's Blog. Briefly, this award is about anyone. Anyone who is unique enough can participate this award. There 8 categories of awards are given:-

• Healthy Hair Award
• Fit Figure Award
• Flawless Face Award
• Healthy Skin Award
• Friendly Face Award (Female)
• Friendly Face Award (Male)
• Sunny Smiles Award
• Sporty Physique Award

Last date of application: 10th June 2009

What you need:-

• Receipt from Watsons (No minimum purchase)
• 2 recent photos (1 close up and another full length)

Therefore, if you are a watson frequent customers, why not try it out. It doesnt really matter if you are a male or female. Anyone can participate as long as you have the confident in youself. If you want to know how to do the posing, Xiaxue has her way on doing it. You can probably used that as a guide to submit your photos.

I am still thinking which award is most suitable for me ... Hmmmm ... probably they should have more awards for me to choose. Hahahahhaa... What do you readers think that I should participate in ... hmmmmmmmmm ......... I really need to think hard on this ..... hmmmmmmmm .......

June 2 Friends Gathering

It's gathering again. There are 4 of us altogether. Hui Ying, Meng Li, Celia and me. THe other two, Li Lian and Jessy who initially wanted to join us cancelled their meeting with us due to work. Most of the time our gathering are held on weekdays due to weekends most of us are normally occupied. Our makan place this time is Aroy Thai. I love Aroy-Thai a lot as it serves authentic Thai food in comparison to Thai express. Recommended to a few friends and they quite like it.

Aroy-Thai is operated by a Thai family and is located at 4th floor at Funan Mall. Just two floors above Swensen. Normally, you wont see much people in the shop during weekdays. That's what I like about Aroy-Thai. You get good food and great environment too. Not like a normal hussle noisy restaurant where you have music played so loud and you hardly talk. I just love this place as we can really talk and gossip a lot since it's a not so noisy place. In addition, they have updated their menu to picture menu. This is good as they gave a greater idea actually what the food is about as the food are named in Thai. Of course there are English explanation, but it's hard for you to decide what the dishes are like. Illustrations are still better than words ^_^. I love the reflection of their glass wall as well. It reflects really well that you can even see the true colour.

As always, they will served the fried "kerepek" (deep fried dried tapioca) as a starter in a unique dish like this. Like this and cant resist myself from taking pictures. I guess all of them are already used to me taking pictures of the food. Hahahahha .... as I am just a foood lover!!!

I am a cutleries lover too. Hehehehhehe .... So took a few pics on it. Hohohoho ....

Dish #1: Kangkong

We ordered kangkong as our greens. What special is they fried it not with belacan or sambal but with fish sauce and garlic. Very Thai indeed as in most Thai dishes fish sauce is an essential seasoning.

Dish #2: Red curry chicken

I like the taste of the curry but not the peas. The peas are hard and bitter. I prefer it to be more cook as green peas should be eaten soft. Erm .. .I expect it to be more spicy actually. Probably the waiter thinks that we cant handle that much of spicy-ness, I think he put less chillies. In addition he kept bringing us water. What a great service from him!!! He is really friendly as he kept asking what we need all the time. Oh ya he is a Thai like Shalom too ... Hehehehe ....

Dish #3: Thai Fish Cakes

This is some Thai fish cakes. The thing they added inside are some herbs like basil leaves (one of their most popular herbs used in most of their cooking), fish etc. Other seasoning I am not too sure. The fish cake itself doesnt really give you a great impression but after adding with the sauce accompanied, it really taste great. Salty, sour and sweet are in there. I love eating the sauce only too. We get two servings of the sauce from the waiter. He replenished it the moment we finished up the sauce. Really really great!!!!

Dish #4: Tom Yam Goong

Tom yam soup is a signature dish in Thailand. Meng Li was quite surprise to see when the soup was served not in red as the illustration showed that it was red coloured soup. But for the authentic Tom Yam soup, it's normally very plain and mild looking. Beware! Dont judge the food by the way it's presented. The moment we set our tongue on this soup, we were stunned by the sourness and spicy-ness. It refreshes one's brain and awake anyone who feels sleepy. A MUST TRY too. I am droooliiiiiiiiiiing ................... But for those who have faint stomach better dont take this as I dont want you to blame me for having running stomach... Hahahahahha ....

Dish #5: Laab moo (Pork salad)
This dish will really enhance your taste but. The smell of basil leaves and green lemon are really strong. Plus the bird chillies really makes you wanted for more. Fish sauce as usual is a must. Makes the dish taste sweeter and more fragrance. It's really a combination of aroma and taste. You will feel even more appetising. Thinking about the taste I am drooling again ............. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww .... I started missing this dish ... I WANT LAAB MOOOOOOO!!! So it's a MUST TRY for this dish!!!

Dish #6: Mango Glutinous Rice
Lastly, we ordered our dessert which is their popular Mango Glutinous Rice. The glutinous rice is topped with coconut milk and we eat it together with Thai Mango. Taste really good.... THe angmoh's sitting behind us kept scouting at our dessert (according to Meng Li and Hui Ying) while we are eating. It was like after a while they ordered the same dish too. A great dish!!

Really had a great meal and great talks with friends. As usual normal girlfriends outing, we always talk about gossip, shopping, cosmetics, clothes, bags and of course, NOT FORGETTING our complaints on boss this and that ... Ooooops .. .Hoping no bosses is reading the blog. Hahhahahahaha ... if you are one of a kind of bosses that abusing your employee, then better change for you own goodness sake. Hahhahahahaa....


If you wanted to look for other dishes from Aroy-Thai, they can be found at my previous blog on Post-OQE Celebration. A highly recommended food tryout!!! Enjoy tasting!!

It's just lunch!!

I am really bored with the canteen food. Therefore, I decided to start my cooking regime again for lunch. What I cooked was really easy to make as long as you have a slow cooker and a rice cooker in hand.

Rice

I used a mixture of brown rice and barley. I cook it the night before using slow cooker as normally rice needs longer to be cooked. Then I topped a few tomatoes on the top. But be reminded, barley makes you hungry real fast. So beware .... Use only brown rice if you do not wish to get hungry in the middle of the afternoon.

My Greens
I always love my food with different colours and greens is a must. Here I have two stalks of pak choy or xiao bai chye with me. Washed and cut them. Store in fridge for next day cooking.

Steamed Pork
I loved capsicum a lot. So, I put a lot of capsicum on the pork.

The ingredients required for this dish is:-

• Minced Pork
• Capsicum (Cut into cubes)
• Sesame oil
• Soy Sauce
• Oyster sauce

The ingredients and seasoning portion is according to personal preference. Because, cooking is all about experimenting. You dont get it the first time dont despair. If you still dont get it the second time, dont give up! You will definitely get it right the third time!! Hahaha so no worries. Mixed the ingredients and seasoning together. Put away in fridge in a closed container so that you can cook it the next day.

When next day come, pour everything onto a ceramic bowl. Use double boil cooking method (here the vessel I used was rice cooker). Let it cook while you are getting ready. When you are ready, put in your greens. Then, go for your breakfast. When you finished your breakfast, turn off all your electrical appliances and packed your lunch!! You can clean the utensils before you go off to work or leave it for later if you are not worry about cockroaches or ants crawling in your sink! Hahahaha ... Alright folks enjoy your cooking and meal *Wink*

The Blue Ginger Restaurant (Peranakan Restaurant)

We had peranakan food after we did our photoshooting on the 23rd May 2009. The restaurant is called Blue Ginger located along Tanjong Pagar road. I havent really got the time to do this food review due to business of work. This was sort of a gathering lunch among friends. Present are Celia, Kir, Yap Meng and Kir's friend (cant really remember his name though ... sorry =P). We ordered three snacks and 3 vegies. Thanks to celia for the great food photos!! I didnt take the shots cos my batteries ran out. Therefore, unable to get some food shots. Hehehehe....

White rice were served in a special basket. They have acar and sambal belacan too. The acar taste very good. I just like it cos it wasnt too sour. Sambal belacan goes really well with the lime.

Snack #1: Kueh Pie Tee

I love this snack the most. Outer part is very crispy. It was stuffed with popiah ingredients and topped with prawns. They added sweet sauce as a finishing touch. It tasted very good. One is definitely not enough. You will yearn for more.

Snack #2: Ngo Hiong

Ngo Hiong is actuall pork roll. Minced pork was mixed with some other ingredients. Then, tofu skin was used to roll the pork mixture. It was not too dry, however, it lacked crispiness from the pork. Still, my aunt ngo hiong taste way much better and you get more ingredients too. This ngo hiong was too wet too. When you bit the ngo hiong, you can feel the wetness and the meat is too rough. It's was ok. Not really that spectacular as kueh pie tee.

Snack #3: Otak otak

Dont really like the otak-otak. Muar otak otak tastes way much better. They put too much gelatin to the otak otak. Therefore, it was a bit springing rather than soft and smooth. In addition, except from gelatin, you cant really taste whether it's fish or prawn. For a good otak-otak, you can see cubes of fish and prawn plus a strong aroma of coconut milk with chillies. I think there are much more rooms of improvement on this.

Dish #1: Ayam Buah Keluak

Buah keluak or Indonesian Black Nut is one of the popular dish among peranakan. I have always imagined that this dish taste very good when I tasted the first time at the peranakan stall in our school (already closed down due to not that many people eat it as it was a little bit expensive than other stall). But to my disappointment, it taste really weird. The nut taste bitterly bitter. But it went a little well with the chicken. This dish didnt really leave any particular impression in me to go back for more.

Dish #2: Chap Chye Masak Titek

Definitely not a worth mentioning dish. This neither taste spicy nor salty nor sweet. Just bland. My aunty cooks better than this. This comprised of tofu skin, black fungus, glass noodles and cabbage. If it's well cooked, it can be really really good. But too bad it doesnt. The vegetables are over cooked. Not a good one. Dont like it at all.

Dish #3: Babi Pongteh
This was a pork dish. Pork were too rough. Actually, the pork should taste very soft as if it will melt in your mouth. Similar to others, it didnt really leave me much impression.

Overall, the dishes were just below average except Kueh Pie Tee. Probably they have other better dishes in comparison to those that we selected. But I really wonder as those were the signature dish of peranakan food. In comparison, Red Lacquer taste way much better than this.

After our lunch, me and Celia headed back while others went for their movie. While we are walking to take our public transport, we came across Maxwell Food Center and Celia recommended sweet potato dumpling. It was balls made of sweet potatoes with different fillings. Red beans, pandan coconut, peanuts etc (as you can see from the picture). When we bought it, it was freshly made. Still hot on the shelf!!! The sweet potato dumpling without fillings tasted the best. Not too sweet as I am dont reallly like sweet stuff.

And to my surprise this stall won a few awards and I only took two of them as a proof.

If you ever eating or makan in Maxwell, can always pay a visit to this stall. I assure that you will love it. However, eating too much of it will make you feel bore though. Hahahahahaha .....