Loopie - Joop

i've just completed the series on www.tudou.com. the last episode (episode 17) was aired in S Korea on 27 Aug 2007. haha. i'm super fast!!! it was a damn predictable ending. but i really enjoyed watching it. the show's recommended to all who's as crazy as i am about korean drama tele. btw, Gong Yoo (the guy in the picture of course) is really cute!!! Lurve his smile!!!

i've been dreaming about korean food for a long time. doesn't help that i keep watching korean shows with loads of korean food featured.... i'm tortured..... totally miss the assorted side dishes, bean paste seafood soup, cold noodles, bibimbap, bbq pork, etc. so i got really excited when i found this korean lady's website . the food looks so good, i wish i could reach into my laptop and pull them out! was still lamenting to hao-e that we are seriously deprived of good asian food on the island, especially korean food and then lo and behold! found some kimchi at miles market this morning!!! wah!! my prayers were sure answered fast! time for some kimchi instant noodles!!

1. this morning i was trying to charge my camera's battery. and guess what? IT BLEW UP!! AND IT CAUSED A POWER TRIP TOO!! didn't realise the power tripped till i opened the fridge 2 hours later... 2. then i was plugging in the kettle and KAPUT!! IT BLEW UP AS WELL!! my second finger is a little burnt, just a little bit. i put some zam-buk on it and it's healing well now. i can't take a picture of my finger, the burnt kettle and my exploded battery to show you cos well my camera hasn't got a battery has it? so off we trooped to town to look for battery and a new kettle. and guess what? no one sells konica minolta batteries here!?!? i've got to look for it online now. sigh.

PICT0003 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . This is my first attempt at making the south african milk tart. see the corner that's disappeared? I ATE IT!! i found it pretty good but hao-e found it a little bit rubbery at the sides.

I'd decided that this blog shall only contain either neutral or happy things, cos who wants to remember unhappy moments right? so i shan't blog about the fight i just had with hao-e and how upset i am with him for being insensitive and unappreciative. and i've also taken him off the authors list of this blog, cos first of all, it is MY blog, and secondly, he has contributed zilch so far. so what's the point of letting him continue to be on the authors list when he doesn't author anything? i'm also seriously thinking about booking my return ticket home, even if it means i have to go back to my old job. the jobs available here are pretty limited anyway despite someone telling me that i haven't been looking for a job hard enough!? it's not an exciting place, as i've tried describing to some of you before, THIS PLACE IS LIKE KAMPONG . totally unsuitable for a city gal like me. I resolve to stop being nice. (update at 11.20pm on 25 Aug 2007 - we'

PICT0005 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . I finally dug out my aerolatte last week after procuring some instant coffee. To be perfectly honest, i've been trying to stop my caffeine addiction since april, but I HAVE FINALLY SUCCUMBED!!! The instant coffee was to make tiramisu, or so i told myself when picking it out of the shelf at the supermarket. but i immediately made myself this frothy latte when i got home, instead of tiramisu. YIKES!!! BUT, i've been trying to keep it at 1 latte every other day. let's see how long i can keep it at bay. i miss hanging out at 'starbucks', 'coffee club', 'tcc' and 'coffee bean and tea leaf' outlets. now i have 'bermy home-made' version. doesn't taste all that bad either!

PICT0007 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . According to steph, karen's hubby loves marmite flavoured instant noodles. I've always doubted the taste of such an odd concoction, but hey, i'm a marmite fan right? So i should lurve this weird combi right? NO!!! It was edible but not tasty. And i had to add mirin to balance out the bitterness of marmite. Ooh, it belongs on toast with margarine. No more marmite instant noodles for me, thank you very much.

The following information comes from the popular taiwanese TV show: Nu ren wo zui da. 1. blowing into a hot water bottle OR blowing up 50 balloons a day can burn as much calories as a 10 min slow jog? this is the latest diet fad from japan. and according to the professionals, taking deep breaths and blowing it out exercises and strengthens the muscles in the chest and upper body in addition to making you feel slightly bloated, thereby curbing your appetite!! aiyee!! time to dig out the hot water bottle!! 2. vaginal creams are not to be used on the face!! sandra bullock uses this to reduce the lines near her eyes. dermatologists say that the cream has an immediate moisturising effect and does in fact reduces the appearance of wrinkles, BUT it causes your skin to thin!! the eye-area is already rather thin and vulnerable so stop! what's sandra thinking anyway??!

After 2 excruciating hours when even the weirdos of the show and the hoff came on to perform(!?!)... argh.... a star is born. drum roll please.... And the winner is..... TERRY FATOR !! 2nd position belongs to... Cas Haley !! In 3rd place is the beat-boxing BUTTERSCOTCH !!! and last but not least.... JULIENNE IRWIN takes 4th place! Hao-e and i were gunning for butterscotch and terry fator. we were a little surprised that cas made it to the top 2 but the final result was great! Hurrah hurrah! and i must add, i voted for terry online ok? i am star-maker! haha!

Went with C. to House of India for the lunch buffet today. Was scorching hot today man. Melted and dripped all over town... even in a thin cotton dress. can't imagine how C. felt in long pants. yikes... the food was pretty ok, but i miss the indian vegetarian food from little india. aiyee... missing home again.

on thursday, hao-e received an email saying he had passed his CFA Level 3 exam! to celebrate, we went to robin hood for dinner. we had fish chowder, spinach salad and shrimp creole. Y-U-M-M-Y ! it is really quite rare these days for hao-e to end work at 8pm... today right after mass, we went to north rock brewery for lunch. Y-U-M-M-Y !! we had roast beef with roasted potatoes and fresh vegetables, fish chowder (again!) and shrimp cocktail. the beef was really good, tender and juicy. fish chowder wasn't as great as robin hood's. but the shrimp cocktail was a tad disappointing. guess they couldn't find fresh shrimp.

we went to 2 pet shops yesterday. hao-e was thinking of getting a hamster for me... but we didn't see any. instead we saw loads of tropical fish and birds. i miss chewy. btw, we are on hurricane alert here. dean, a category 4 hurricane has now reached jamaica and will most likely hit cancun next tuesday. hopefully dean will not turn suddenly northwards towards here. *fingers crossed* this is perhaps the closest i've been to a hurricane. oh! have you guys heard about phrogging? apparently people break into other people's homes and live there in attics or closets with the owners for a week or so without them knowing. their videos are online. weird hor? internet has been very erratic this whole week, probably because of the weird weather we are experiencing. skype was down for most of this week as well, so i couldn't call home. sigh. last thing on my mind this morning, i want to go ktv....

It's down to the final 4 contestants. No surprise, butterscotch and terry fator got through. cas haley was great as well but julienne irwin... eh... not my favourite lah. hope fully either butterscotch or terry wins the million dollars. fingers crossed.

Just started watching the hot new korean serial - Coffee Prince . i know i know, i'm watching WAY, WAY too much tv here.. but what else is there to do right? it's about this 24 year old girl (tomboy actually) who works almost 24 hours a day to pay off her family's debts. she gets to know these 2 brothers (rich of course!) and falls in love with the good-for-nothing younger brother who thinks she's a boy and uses her to ward off the girls he's match-made with. they then go on to run this coffee house called 'coffee prince' of course and he slowly finds himself falling for her. but he's not gay, or so he thinks... so he keeps rejecting his feelings... i just finished episode 3 and i can just predict the ending. but it's still fun to find out what happens in the middle...

I just finished Wonderful Life in 30 hours! all 16 episodes! boy, i'm proud of myself. this is one of those tearjerkers/feel gooders that the koreans are so adept at making... sigh. woohoo... my eyes are puffy from all the tears i shed. every time se-jin's mother appears, i cry. she's got such a sad look! makes me miss my mother much much more!! (notice sentence before makes use of words starting with "m"?) it's a pretty good show, though both leads aren't the best lookers korea has to offer. neither are they the best actors... but they gave a credible performance. the show was really stolen by the little girl who played their daughter. she's so cute, i just feel like pinching her cheeks every single time she comes on screen. as with all melodramatic soaps, this one has the little girl falling gravely ill towards the end... you can't imagine the buckets of tears i shed for her... i'm so glad it is a nice and happy ending.

We had F., C., J. and K. over for a pot-luck party on saturday evening. Hao-e and i used the prima taste package to make some yummy Hainanese chicken rice. i instructed Hao-e in the making of some chawanmushi and choc custard too. spent the whole morning steaming stuff, cos our wok was too small to steam more than one container at a time. only the choc custard didn't taste as good as expected. F. and C. brought sang jhim pau. they are really quite tasty. there was a sarah lee cheesecake and even ice cream! the remnants are still in the fridge. ha. it was dai di after dinner, and the boys esp hao-e had fun strategising. i would say the big winner that night was hao-e. cos not only did he make some really good chicken rice and chawanmushi, he won the game most of the time. it was fun having friends over on a weekend. we should do this more often.

We're having a party at our house this saturday. well, given the size of our apartment, we can only invite 4 ppl max, and because we only have 4 dining chairs, both hao-e and i would have to stand throughout dinner... hahaha.... that would be quite a scene! we're going to try to make hainanese chicken rice using the prima taste packages we brought over. yes, we're so going to cheat here! will post pictures of it when we are done. hopefully everything will turn out fine. back up will be the egg ball soup... and maybe some salad if everything else fails.

1) shocking news. i just visited my ex-housemate's friendster page and discovered she's single. they've been together forever.. 7 years!!! 2) shitface from college viewed my friendster profile. worse thing is i clicked on his thumbnail cos i didn't know he adopted an english name, (corb's fiance's name... my condolences) and his bloody photos was sordidly small. now he's going to know that i viewed his friendster profile and i'm totally not cool about it. am very irritated with myself now.

Am watching america's got talent as i type. my favourite - butterscotch - made it safely through to the top 8. but dutton's and calypso tumblers got axed from the top 10. i'm a bit disappointed that calypso tumblers got axed. sigh.

PICT0011 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . we went out on a boat on saturday afternoon. super fun. and of course everything looks much better from the water. we even went in for a dip. the water was a little cold but still within comfort zone. it was very fun. the family that took us on the boat was really hospitable. and the kids were really well-behaved. i was very impressed with their behaviour. i guess great parents do make a huge difference.

PICT0017a , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . Bought a mixer this morning and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies using the recipe on the mixer box. a bit sweet... i'll try the recipe behind hershey's choc chip's packaging the next time to compare. heh

歌曲：失恋无罪 歌手：黄丽玲 专辑：失恋无罪 作词:林夕 作曲:刘勇志 编曲:冯文甫 你说我对你紧紧跟随 你觉得疲惫 你一句话就逼我撤退 没想到你说最近选择 -个人睡 我忍住眼泪我尊重眼泪 孤独万岁失恋无罪 谁保证一觉醒来有人陪 我对于人性早有预备 还不算太黑 独身万岁失恋无罪 爱不够爱你的人才受罪 用过去悲伤换来自由 难道不珍贵 一个人崩溃 并不是在犯罪 this is a wonderful song by a-lin sang beautifully by 梁文音

蕭敬騰 - the black spider.... absolutely fabulous voice of the century!

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647228-3,00.html sounds familiar... wonder who practices such tactics too? "...placating the Me generation is seen as critical to ensuring the Communist Party's survival. By 2015, the number of Chinese adults under 30 is expected to swell 61%, to 500 million, equivalent to the entire population of the European Union. From issues of grave consequence to trivialities, the government has made clear that it will do whatever it takes to keep the swelling middle class happy."

Not sure if you've heard about the collapse of the motorway in minnesota. I just finished reading this article on it from Time Magazine . "According to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, speaking Thursday afternoon at a press conference, there are no fewer 70,000 to 80,000 bridges in the U.S. in the same category; at least another 80,000 are considered "functionally obsolete," or not up to current design standards, another label that fails to testify to a structure's safety for travel. It would be so expensive to fix hundreds of thousands of bridges, that it's just not going to happen. But these numbers highlight the problem of the nation's infrastructure. No word is likely to make taxpayers' eyes glaze over more quickly. As a result, officials at all levels of government tend to defer maintenance on bridges and roadways; the voters wouldn't stand for the required expenditures, estimated at more than $9 billion a year. They might, however, be willing

Today marks the 7th anniversary of the day i passed my driving test in bt batok driving centre! yeah. i still remember that i took route 1 and was assigned a rather nice-looking, rotound old man as tester. i didn't subscribe to the short mini-skirt look so i suppose i really did drive pretty well, cos i passed with 2 demerit points only. yesh, i'm pretty proud of moi. it's been 7 accident-free years and i hope to stay this way forever. *cross fingers, toes and eyes* Today is also women's day in taiwan - "3-8 fu nu jie". but i think all chinese-speaking people should celebrate it too. what are all my female friends doing today to celebrate their womenhood?

Prima Taste pre-made sauces are yummy! i tried the beef rendang yesterday, it was powderful!! couldn't bear to throw the remaining sauce away, so we froze it and made chicken rendang this evening. if i'm running to the loo tomorrow, then it's prob because of the coconut turning bad. but i dun really care, cos it's yum-mee!