Loopie - Joop

update - right eye is good now. but i'm sore that i couldn't attend last saturday's 10th year reunion at "spice room". (trust them to think of such a name.) bet you girls had a blast huh! bah! again, i'm surpried to see mums-to-be and mums in the photos! woohoo! wish i were there!

Just got myself some artificial "natural" tears. my right eye has been dry, sore and irritated since last evening. nearly scratched my eye out. yikes. if anyone's caught last evening's grey anatomy, don't you think it was gross, even if it's halloween week? a banker who sawed off his perfectly healthy albeit stomping foot, a chain-saw pumpkin carving contestant with a lodged finger in the saw (which banker stole to saw off his perfectly healthy foot), a dad who needs to decide whether to remove the life-support system of his suddenly brain-dead daughter and accept her heart for transplant, an intern who chose to be a surgeon because of his deseased (?) wife and in turn "saved" himself from a severe stroke (although he did decide to specialise in psychology now instead), grey who isn't quite sure how to lay her mum to rest and brought her dead mum's ashes to work in a ziploc bag and drops the bag in the corridor (!)... and then there's...

just got to know the stories behind several people's lives. there's one particular girl whom many are not exceptionally fond of, for fear that she'll hurt the one who loves her. hearing that story, i can't help but reflect on myself and my life thus far. i'm no saint and i've never claimed to be one. but it's just so easy to sit back and be all self-righteousness, passing cruel judgement on others. for the mistakes i've made and the hurt i'd caused, i hope i'd be given a 2nd chance to make it up to those affected. everyone yearns for a chance to make amends, to make things right. and so i hope that she cherishes this chance she has to prove to everyone that she's true to her word.

With Steph's fool-proof recipe.. VOILA!! H-E-A-V-E-N!! Sent most of them off to hao-e's office cos i couldn't afford to let them sit around at home tempting me... still, i stuffed myself with 3 gorgeous slices. i'm so gonna regret this tomorrow...

Ooh-ee.... Have sworn off poultry for a while. surviving on seafood i.e. prawns, scallops and fish now... so we had sambal prawns for dinner on tuesday. yummy!!

i'm gradually losing my grip on reality. i forgot to call home yesterday, forgetting my weekly date with my mum on the phone. i forgot it was tuesday. days are whizzing by...

Once a upon a time there was a man who fell over the edge of a cliff. But as he was falling, by a stroke of luck, the man managed to get hold of the out-sticking roots of a tree trunk. And there he was, dangling in the air with nobody up there to help him and hundreds of metres down only a bottom of rock. In his desperate situation he began to pray: "God, oh God, help me!" And God replied "Yes, here I am. What can I do for you?" "O God, please help me, save me please!" "All right!" said God, "but first I have a question to ask. Do you really believe in me?" "O yes, Lord, yes of course! Why else should I pray? You are my saviour, you are my rock, you are my rescue!" "All right!" said God, "In that case I will save you... Well then, LET GO!!" "What do you mean 'Let Go!'" said the man. "Well, let go!" said God, "Don't worry. I will carry you all the way. but I ca...

DSCN1569 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . It's not Chinese New Year yet, but i found a rather simple recipe for pineapple tarts online and decided to try it out yesterday. when i said rather simple, it still took me a total of 4 hours to make the pineapple jam, pastry dough and assemble all 30+ of them little balls together. the result was quite alright for a first attempt of course and it did satisfy my craving for pineapple tarts, BUT they were still a little different from those from home especially those from bengawan solo. most of the ingredients in the recipe were readily available, probably because i took the recipe from an "ang moh" website. the "authentic" recipes tend to call for freshly grated pineapples. thank goodness i didn't choose to grate the pineapple myself or my fingers would become casualties and the jam would look more reddish than necessary. *wink* i'm also dreaming of ondeh ondeh, but no luck with the gula melaka...

As promised, this is the recipe i use. tried and tested. (you may want to reduce the sugar to your own taste.) Ingredients: 4 cups of cooked rice, keep warm 4 chicken thigh fillets or 2 chicken breast fillets, cut into chunks 1 onion, sliced 1 cup dashi stock, made according to the package's instructions 10 tbsp soy sauce 5 tbsp mirin 3 tbsp sugar 4 eggs, slightely whisked Directions: Put the stock, soy, mirin and sugar in a pan and simmer for a few minutes. Put the chicken chunks and onion in the pan and simmer on low heat for a few minutes. Bring the soup back to the boil; pour the eggs over chicken and onion. Turn the heat to low and cover with a lid. Turn the heat off after 1 minute. Divide the hot cooked rice between 4 bowls, then place the chicken mixture over the 4 bowls of rice.

Karaoke 97 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . a decade ago, we sported sleeveless blue dresses day after day. a decade ago, we went to watch jacky cheung in snow wolf lake in the midst of 'O's. a decade ago, mee poh from the canteen was something that we ate pretty often. a decade go, a bunch of crazy gals who lurved ktv gathered regularly for, well, ktv. so started this unofficial group nicknamed karaoke kakis. I LURVE YOU GUYS!!

Last night, we had another round of great barbeque food at Swizzle Inn. Woohoo!! Hao-e ordered his favourite margarita shrimp and mussels while i had my favourite medium rare prime rib. Scrumptious! Look at his beaming smile. Hao-e looks a bit tired doesn't he? It's been a long long week. This is the prime rib i ordered. yummy!

Was craving for some banana cake on tuesday, so i went surfing on the web for an easy recipe. was actually hoping to have some of those heavenly, rich banana cake from the confectioneries back home. but this version on dianadesserts was lighter and definitely healthier. it was nice. it just didn't satisfy my craving. heh.

Just realised i didn't post this picture up. C and i were super excited when we found kang kong in marketplace 2 weeks ago! can you imagine kang kong in bermuda?! fried it up with shrimp paste almost immediately that night for supper. ooh....

after a week of wallowing in self-pity, i've finally gotten off my arse this morning and took a nice long walk around the neighbourhood. trying to smell the flowers i guess. there was this private garden that was open to the public today and i walked in out of curiosity. nicely manicured lawn with a beautiful moon-gate filled with creepers. there was a little sign that read something like "you are closest to God when you walk in a garden". 'true' i thought to myself, cos who could have created such beautiful things right?

This is my cutesy ex-pet, Chewy Lim. She's 2+ years old now (turned 2 on 25 Sept if you were curious) and lives with my mummy-in-law. ain't she cute?