Dim Sum Breakfast

I miss dim sums. I have not had dim sums for a long time. It is hard to find delicious and value-for-money Dim Sums. Most of the nicer and fresher ones can only be found in restaurants. For the more affordable dim sums at hawker centres and coffee shops, most of them are factory made, so they do not taste as fresh as those in restaurants.

I have observed that the dim sum stall at a coffee shop near my home is usually crowded. Hey, when there are people eating, the food cannot be too bad, right? Hence, I must give it a try. I keep pestering my mum and sister to eat with me. Well, it is no fun eating dim sum on your own. Dim sums must be shared.

The stall touts its dim sums to be all handmade. The variety may not be as wide-ranged as that of a traditional dim sum restaurant, yet it still offers a rather comprehensive selection, from siew mai, har kar, chicken's feet, pork ribs, to baos. It even has a twist to some of its dim sums. Sick of siew mai, you can try har siew mai where the paste is made from prawns instead of pork.

Yum yum. I will certainly come back for more.

Eventful Friday Pt 3 - Chingay

Somehow I hardly watch Chingay on TV all these years. My memory of Chingay still remains it being a smaller and shorter version of National Day Parade with the addition of floats. I have never watched Chingay live before since I am afraid of crowds and can never afford its tickets.

When I hear that the same Friday that I am at Marina for the River Hongbao - my main purpose for going Marina in the first place, I am thrilled and excited. How can I miss watching at least a part of it when I am already there at that place? A part of it turns out to be a good 45 min of the show.

When we arrive at a strategic spot just before the stage (this means that we can even catch some of the performances that are specially reserved only for the paid audience), it is the dragon dance. In fact, there are 2 dragon dances - 1 more traditional looking and the other more religious looking.

There are also many different types of floats - some lighted, some colourful, some even sprayed water. If you are excited about the floats in the theme parks such as Hong Kong Disneyland or Australia's Movie World, just come to Chingay and you can relive some of your happiest memories.

(Bright lit floats)

The participants are raring to go all out for their performances when they pass by us. As a prequel to the actual performances, many of them have already started doing their dragon dance and phoenix dance to keep we standing crowd entertained. Of course, these performances are without some of the fireworks reserved only for the paid audience. Well, we cannot complain, can we? There is no free lunch in this world.

(Phoenix Dance)

One can be easily engulfed by the passion and the enthusiasm of the performers. Some of the Brazilian dancers, resplendent in their colourful dresses and feathers start dancing a good long distance before they reach the spectator seats. When I observe them jiggling their toned abs to the rhythmic drums, I can feel my head swaying to the beat.

(Brazilian dancers resplendent in bright colour dresses and feathers)

We are amused by one of the floats which keep spraying water as the technicians rush to stop the water from spraying as it approaches the standing audience. When the dragons and phoenixes dance just above our heads and within touching distances, all of us ooh and ahh, duck down our heads and reach out our hands to touch them. Not only are there local participants, there are also foreign participants showcasing the foreign culture and arts.

(Another float)

I have never known Chingay to be this exciting especially when I join in live in their performances. This is simply an eye-opener. My spirits are definitely uplifted and rejuvenated from the hectic work after watching Chingay.

Eventful Friday Pt 2 - Free Performance at Esplanade

My mum and I are on our way to catching the Chinggay rehearsal from River Hongbao when we are stopped by the melodious singing of Jiu Jian - one of the well-known local singers of the nineties.

He is giving a free performance at the outdoor stage of the Esplanade as part of the string of celebratory events for Chinese New Year. He belts out many familiar Lunar New Year tunes. Then he also croons one of the most evergreen local ballads - Moonlight in the city (original performing artiste is Mavis Hee).

His vocals are powerful and yet sentimental. He sings with the accompaniment of a live band. We want to hear more but we are at the same time lured by the urge to witness Chingay. It is hard to choose between the two. In the end, we decide to go for Chingay instead.

Eventful Friday Pt 1 - River Hong Bao

Where are the places in Singapore you can visit to fully immerse in the local way of celebrating one of the most important festivals among the Chinese? Chinatown may be the most conventional choice before the Chinese New Year as both local and foreigners will flock to the bazaar to stock up on the Lunar New Year goodies. From the start of the Lunar New Year, I believe River Hongbao and Sentosa will be the 2 places that most people congregate to continue the celebration.

Although I am a true-blue Singaporean, I have shunned these places for many years mainly because of the crowd. I am rather abashed to admit that I may have visited a couple of countries’ tourist attractions yet I am unfamiliar with my homeland’s. I was simply taken away by the developments of the Singapore zoo, Sentosa and Pulau Ubin when I visited them the past 2 years after a gap of more than 10 years.

River Hongbao is more conveniently located at the floating stage at Marina Bay this year. I can kill two birds with one stone – visit the River Hongbao Carnival and the floating stage all at once.

(Entrance of River Hongbao lined with red lanterns)

The entrance of River Hongbao is lined with red lanterns which certainly heighten the auspicious and joyous mood associated with the Lunar New Year. Many visitors stop by to admire and to take pictures with the red lanterns. After passing through the entrance, I am greeted by a 2 storey-high Fortune God lantern. Everyone simply has to stop by the Fortune God to bask in the luck and the good fortune – auspicious start to a new year. Located at the floating stage are many lanterns of lotus, twelve zodiac animals with a brief introduction of the characteristics and the fortune of the year for people under each zodiac sign, wishing well etc. At the centre of the floating stage is another stage where local and overseas singers croon their songs and Lunar New Year songs to the audience.

(Lanterns of lotuses)

At 815 pm, firecrackers set up at the centre of the audience seats for the floating stage are lighted. The visitors are bombarded with about 5 minutes of thunderous cracking sound and bright light. Firecrackers used to be a symbol of Chinese New Year as the red colour, the lights and the sound are believed to scare away the Nian monster. However, as we are more safety conscious, firecrackers are now banned in many countries. Firecrackers can only be light during official ceremonies and by the organizers.

How can I forget the second agenda of visiting River Hongbao? I must go up to the spectator seats facing the floating stage and get a first-hand experience of how the seats are. I imagine myself being an audience of the National Day Parade……

(CBD night scene as a backdrop to the floating stage)

With an uplifted mood, I must trudge on to my new destination – New Year Singing by local artiste at the outdoor stage of Esplanade.

Frenzy of Budget Continues

The frenzy of budget continues with the long working hours and the hectic changing of numbers, updating of powerpoint, chasing of our business line managers for information. We face this frantic work with dread especially when we continue to feel the Lunar New Year celebratory mood.

P.S. This is especially demoralising when my sister has the whole week off as her company shuts down for the new year. Watching her continue with her visits and shopping around with her friends simply make me jealous and demoralised.

Visiting During CNY

I complained to my mum. Visiting during CNY was more exhausting than a full day working in office. With the travelling, the constant smiling, sitting straight and be on the best behaviour took more concentration and could be more energy sapping than working through excel spreadsheets. Despite a day full of TV and eating, I thought I would need sleep more than 12 hour of work.

Ushering in the Ox Year

After decorating my nails with the auspicious colour and patterns, decorating the house for the Lunar New Year is also an essential preparation. In addition to spring cleaning to remove the old, the dust and the unwanted, putting in Lunar New Year decorations will enhance the look of the house and bring in the festive joy.

D-I-Y Pedicure

With Lunar New Year just around the corner, it is the best time to bring out your most scarlet nail polish and paint your nails red. Just having a single colour can appear slightly boring. Yet, I am not professional enough to start blending colour or to attempt a French Manicure.

The next best option is to seek the help of stick-ons patterns to add some variety to the painted nails. The stickers are easy to use. To make them more lasting, sealing them with a top coat will complete the job perfectly.

What do you think of my first D-I-Y pedicure? Hey, you can try them on too this new year.

Steamboat for Reunion Dinner

Having steamboard meal for reunion dinner is very conventional among many Singapore families. Of course, we are no exception. This year, my mum bought a new induction cooker. This induction cooker runs on electricity. It is safer and cooks faster.

For the ingredients, we have the usual fare of squids, prawns, fish slices, endoki mushrooms, chicken slices, meatballs and sotong balls. We have also added in something new - fish paste slice. For those of you who have ever had steamboat meals at Chongqing restaurant at Suntec before, you would have tried the fish paste slice. It is fish paste laid thinly on a plate. Then boiling soup will rinse over the fish paste before sliding them into the boiling soup in the pot for a quick boil.

We try to emulate the same dish. My mum has some frozen fish paste. I took a little and tried to press them (using a spoon) into mashed paste-like, so that I can lay them thinly on to the plate. If it not evenly and thinly spread, it will not cook fast and evenly. Even after thawing, the fish paste is still hard, it takes alot of effort and time to knock them into a maleable paste for spreading. My arms and wrists ache from the pressing. Fortunately, it looks and tastes very deliciously as that of Chongqing's. Hence, my effort is not wasted.

It is a sumptuous dinner, such that we are crying for mercy from my mum when she shoves more food into our plates. I have not had such a satisfying and heartwarming meal for a long time. Hopefully, it is good end to a hectic year and a good start for the Ox Year. :-)

Losing My Cool

It was the day before the start of the long weekend and the advent of the Ox Year. All around, the office was beginning to be shrouded in a cloak of festivities and joy. Work should be winding down. For the Line Finance and the Business Analysts, budget numbers were in the midst of finalising. All templates were supposed to be submitted by this day.

My Business Analyst could not tie his numbers. I decided to help him given that he was not Finance-trained, so reconciliation of numbers could be an arduous task. As I could not make the decision for him on where to throw the differences, I made him sit beside me while I brought him through the differences. He became flustered and refused to take in what I was telling him ten minutes into the discussion. Perhaps he was too stressed out by all the numbers as it was his first time taking a business analyst role. Perhaps he was running out of time as it was nearing knock-off time.

He started to get angry with Finance for creating all these templates and started shouting at me. He refused to listen to what I was saying. I could feel the heat rising in my head. Moreover, I knew he had started shutting his mind off from me as he crumbled under the stress. The reason why I was so familiar with what he was going through because I had gone through what he was going through about a year ago.

I could not take it anymore. I started raising my voice at him. In gist, I scolded him for blaming Finance. I told him that if I were not trying to help, I would have just told him what were the differences instead of sitting down and running through rows by rows with him on where the differences and how we could reconcile them. It was the first time I had shouted so loudly that even my subordinate dropped me a message to ask me if I was alright and if I needed help.

After I have managed to get his attention, I gritted my teeth and continued to speak to him in even tones. Finally, we got the whole spreadsheet reconciled and sorted out.

I felt bad for shouting at him, but I refused to let myself be a doormat. Moreover, I felt that why I needed to subject to his shouting when all I was doing was helping. Hopefully, he would not take it too personally.

Big Boo Boo

When it comes to crunch time, it is inevitable that careless mistakes are committed. I may not be the most careful person in the world but I pride myself that my eye for details is certainly above the average benchmark. Yet, this week proved to be one of the most demoralised week ever since I started working.

Ever since I started working, I had discovered mistakes that were made even way before my boss detected them. Most of these mistakes were past sins that I inherited. I faced them head-on and resolved to get rid of them. These past mistakes were excellent opportunities for identifying the weaknesses in the policies and processes and for streamlining.

I wondered what took over me this week. Was it pure exhaustion from both what was happening at home and the past accumulation of stress of the budget exercise at work? Or was I slipping in terms of standard and quality? Being a coordinator was not something new. Working long hours and into the wee hours were already a way of life during the budget exercise. To be frank, I was truly not as stressed about this budget as the one before. Firstly, I was not both the revenue and cost coordinator simultaneously this year. I was merely doing the cost coordinator. Secondly, I was not doing the Singapore Business Staff Cost Analysis as last year. Hence, stress and work level should rightfully be much minimised.

The first mistake occurred when I had not updated the elimination and adjustment numbers for prior year. I had only updated the current year and the forward year. Hence, my main coordinator had to redo her slides. I was very apologetic and offered to help her update the slides.

In the span of the next few days, I had again missed out updating a certain changed numbers until a colleague found out and told me. I remembered clearly I had checked and saved the changes after the last episode. Then, there was yet another incident of restating some cost due to reclassification among accounts. Again, I left out the prior years in updating. You would think by now three times were simply too many times to make mistakes. I could feel myself losing patience with myself and also losing credibility in my work.

Well, there were more to come. Subsequently, I had again made mistakes when I forgot that for one of the mid-year forecast, we had retrended some of the numbers internally as the numbers submitted by the line were simply unreasonable. When the pre-elim numbers were retrended, I forgot to retrend the eliminations numbers. In the end, there was some mis-match of the post-elim numbers.

What was wrong with me? Why could I not do such simple things? Was I too stressed for time that I overlooked all these details? Was I simply not cut-out to be a coordinator? Since I made those mistakes, I would not shy away from taking responsibilities, I would own up for creating duplicate work to my colleagues. I just hoped that I would be given a second chance to do a better job next year.

Keep it up! I will not be discouraged by these mistakes. In fact, they should remain as painful reminders of what to look out for the next time I took on any coordinating and consolidating job.

Pizzas and Honey-Roasted Wings

It was back to late nights and more late nights. Our considerate and caring bosses ordered pizzas and honey roasted wings for us as dinner as we were staying till about midnight.

The first night we ate them, they were simply heavenly. The marginal utility seemed to diminish the second time we had time, probably because we were too tired to notice the taste. Well, I felt sinful after eating the roasted and grilled stuff twice within a week.

Maybe it was a sign of age, I felt very tired after consecutively working late for about a week. I used to be able to work very long hours for weeks. Now, it was barely in the second week and I felt myself running out of steam. No amount of the delicious honey-roasted wings could perk me up.

Japanese Foodcourt

Foodcourt? Japanese? You never know we can marry the two together? Well, we can find the fusion of Japanese cuisine and the ambience and price of a foodcourt in Singapore - Northpoint.

Are you thinking that the quality and standard of the food will be lower than that serve in restaurants? Perhaps the food is not as authentic as that in restaurants? I can assure that you can keep these concerns to yourself.

Once you step into Ishimura foodcourt, you will be pleasantly surprised by the decor and the variety. The value-for-money selection will also be easy on the wallets. The rowdier ambience makes the entire dining experience more relaxed - fantastic for heartlanders like me who prefer to dine in my flipflops, T-shirt and shorts.

We had the House Special Ramen, the grilled Unagi claypot rice and Buttayaki Bento (grilled bacon with mushroom and celery). Yum Yum.

Beautiful Sunrise

This is the beautiful sunrise from the balcony of my house. Everytime I see and feel the warmth of the rising sun, I am inflated with new hope for the day.

(Before sun rise)

(Sun starting to rise above the horizon)

(More of the sun showing up)

(The sun leaps above the horizon and the skies brighten up)

Dong Dong Qiang - Chinatown

The crowd in Chinatown at this time of the year scares me. Almost the whole of Singapore will descend upon the few streets lined with stalls selling Lunar New Year goodies and decorations. The jostling of the shoppers, the rowdiness of the hawkers shouting out their goodies and prices to draw attention, the Chinese New Year songs blaring from the loud speakers can drive any claustrophic into hiding.

It used to be fun going to Chinatown in big crowds with your seniors and peers when you are in school. As I grow older, I crave personal space and start hating the invasion of this space when everyone is shoulder to shoulder as during this time in Chinatown.

It was not an intentional trip to Chinatown. We were on our way home after eating at Maxwell market. We had to pass by the streets of Chinatown to reach Pearl Centre to board a direct bus home. Maybe it is still a few weeks from Lunar New Year or maybe it is a week day night or even because of the pessimistic economic outlook, the streets are strangely sparse and quiet. Many of those touring the streets are tourists rather than Singaporeans. The next nearest person is at least an arm's length away. It is indeed a rare and rather disturbing sight.

However, only when I was greeted by the red decorations everywhere, the dong dong qiang of (drum and cymbal roll typical of happy Chinese tunes) the music, the leh-longing (selling shouts) of the hawkers could I truly feel that the Ox Year was approaching. Suddenly, I felt very upbeat and excited about the coming year. I had wanted to stop and immerse myself in the festive mood for a while.

(Sales of la cheong (preserved sausages and poultry) are common during the Lunar New Year as the Lunar month is also known as La4 Yue4)

It motivated me to start my preparation for the new year.

Birthday Cake

This year is even more understated than last year. Given that I am at the grand old age of 29, I do not see the need to make a big hoo-ha of this day. When one is happy, every day can be celebrated as if it is your birthday. When one is facing certain challenges in life, tackling real life issues take centre stage. Moreover, as one grows older, other more meaningful days may supersede the importance of birthdays, eg wedding anniversaries, your children's birthdays, etc. Gradually, birthday will just relegate to another normal day.

This year, I have not even taken leave as it is just one day before flash day - the day when we issue report on the prior month's performance to Management. Instead of taking a day off and constantly worrying about the work load for the next day, I would rather work the day before and get my preparation for D-Day.

Initially, I expected to just quietly finish my work and go home early. One of my colleagues who is a friend in Facebook knew of my birthday and sent me wishes very early. Another colleague came to know about it from her and bought me a cheese cake (very yummy because I ate it the next day). Kudos also to CY. I recalled only telling her my birthday once and she remembered it every year.

I have not managed to leave on time at 6 pm but I left around 7 pm. More surprises await me when my sister bought me a small piece of strawberry shortcake. So kawaii (Japanese: adorable). It is also one of the best strawberry shortcake I have ever tasted as it was fluffy without being too creamy (Hint: from Four Leaves Bakery).

Thank you to SYP, CY, Esther, My mum and Sis for continuing to make this a special day for me. :-)

The Craze of Little Nyonya.

The Little Nyonya is the talk of the town – from the costumes, the plot to even the actors and actresses. The climax will occur tonight with the broadcasting of the last two episodes. Many viewers hope that Yueniang will end up with Chen Xi.

The timing can never be worse. The business lines are supposed to submit their revised numbers by today. I press my line to submit by 5.30 pm so that I can leave office by 6.30 pm latest. The last 2 episodes will start airing at 7 pm. No time. I must double up my speed to make it back home with my dinner packed in time.

Fortunately, my line's business analyst is prompt for the first time. The number are in by 6pm, slightly later than the 5.30 pm deadline given but still a good improvement over his usual grossly late submission. I can still make it out of the office by 6.30 pm. When I wait at the junction between my office tower and the MRT station, my line's business analyst is also beside me. Hey, he too wants to go back in time to watch Little Nyonya. No wonder he can submit his revised budget so early.

All in the office, many are going home on time despite it being a Monday evening. Many are rushing home to watch the last episode of Little Nyonya. This craze is likely to continue for a while when one of my colleagues mentioned about tailor-making a kerbaya. Hmm... ...

P.S. The finale is a a sad one as Chen Xi and Yue Niang, though find their own happiness, do not end up together.

New Year, New Start

2nd Jan – start of 2009, time to shut off the holiday mood and buck up. It does not help that it is a Friday when we are barely recovering from the past holidays before we start welcoming the weekend again.

Yet, work does not permit us to slack as we are busy with the budget, preparing for the coming monthly report and the closing of the accounts. It is time to start the engines. After all, this is already by second and half year here, it is difficult to excuse any mistake or ignorance. When I was new, I could still hide under the reasons of being inexperienced.

Despite telling myself to work hard, I have not fully dispelled the holiday mood and weekend mood already started to preoccupy my concentration. Moreover, with the passing of Christmas and New Year, the footsteps of Lunar New Year seem to be accelerating. This is especially when Lunar New Year will be end of January this year.

Ok, maybe I will work harder on Monday. Time to knock off.

Ushering in 2009

How have you spent your first day of 2009? Partying with booze, babes and hunks? While letting hair loose, do not forget about setting your new year resolutions or roaring for a fresh and energetic start? Spending quality time with your loved ones? Do not forget to tell them you love them and appreciate what they have done for you.

Me?

I was busy doing cleaning and scrubbing. Then after letting the cabinets air, I had to start packing in some of the things. It is a day combined with sweat and aches in the muscles. I have a cleaner house to welcome the new year in.

Toast to good health and luck in the new year. Cheers!