Berry Goodness

My morning smoothie of celery, strawberries and the new Powerberries drink by Peel Fresh.

Recipe:
1 stalk celery
6 strawberries
Half a cup of Peel Fresh Powerberries
(if only Peel Fresh would pay me for this promotion haha!)

Method:
Blend all together and enjoy!

My window handle broke off

My window handle broke off when I was trying to close the window. It's made of metal but it just broke into half. I'm posting this photo as a testament to HDB's lousy quality window handles. Thankfully the contractor I called managed to find a replacement.

Peanut Porridge

photo from sparkyboi

I love peanut porridge, the kind that you find in hawker centres, early in the morning during breakfast hours. This simple and much-overlooked dish is delicious with the smooth watery texture of the porridge and the scent of boiled peanuts -- heavenly! I actually ate this yesterday and today for breakfast. It was comforting and warm, and I enjoyed myself immensely despite my perspiring in the hot and humid hawker centre. The price and portion helps too, it's cheap and it doesn't fill you up too much, leaving room for a snack on the side or a glass of juice.

This is what I would call a "happy bunny experience".

The Pursuit of Happyness #1

I chanced upon a quiz for married couples and there was a question regarding how happy one was with their partner after a few years of marriage. There were answers to pick from, including "Still as happy as when we first married", "I go my way, my spouse goes his/her own way", and "We do our own things but are happy to get back together once in awhile".

My friend who took the quiz remarked, how can anyhow still be as happy as when they first got married, that's impossible, she exclaimed.

But for me, I can safely say I chose answer #1 on the quiz.

I realise after a few years of marriage that the "happiness" factor is really, all in your mind. By re-aligning your thoughts and viewing things from a different angle, you will find that you can still be happy despite all the chaos around you. For example, despite all of Kimmy's irritating habits, he's generally a great husband who loves me, cares for me and still likes to spend time with me. So I try to think of activities that we both can take part in, and often. This entails effort of both people and it's probably something a lot of people overlook when they lament on the lack of happiness in their life.

So to be happy, the first thing to do is, look at things from a different angle.

Dog Chain

Strangely, nobody has been interested in this lovely chain with a plastic dog charm. It's simple, chic and cute, with a glossy black dog, diamante collar, black and silver chain. My guess is nobody's taken notice of it, or dogs aren't so trendy nowadays. I see a lot of people wearing butterflies, fairies, birds, what happened to our trusty Man's Best Friend?

I would love to keep this piece for myself but I already have my Doggy in Diamante with the silver dog charm.

Hope someone takes a liking to this puppy one day. =)

Is anybody still getting married?

Despite the recession, I hear stories of people who just got engaged, but not when they have to do their wedding stationery. Why is that so? Is everyone cutting back on their wedding budget and not wanting to do up nice wedding invitations for this once in a lifetime event?

When I was doing up my own wedding invitation a few years ago, I also fretted spending some hundreds of dollars getting stylish chic invitations done. I tried to ring in some favours with my suppliers, but to no avail, I still had to pay for their materials and labour. However, my cards turned out superbly gorgeous and friends were highly impressed.

I hope to give my couples the same "woo-wah" effect with their invitations but they'd have to take that first step in trusting me with this small but essential part of their big day.

www.card-blanche.com/blanche.html

I do have a promotion going on with free upgrades on paper stock, contact me if you are interested. :)

Achievements and Plans of World Domination

Last night at dinner with two very dear friends of mine, we were discussing the different paths our secondary school classmates had taken in the last 15 years. Whilst it seemed increasingly common to have many of them becoming academics and attaining their PHD, there were also many who have settled early into a cosy family life with kids in tow.

The friends who studied for further degrees and in high powered jobs, I admire them for their drive and tenacity. And the friends who are happily tuned to a routine family life, I guess they do have found the meaning to their life.

I was never one to have highly ambitious goals, to rise through the ranks and achieve "world domination" so to speak, but I also don't seem very skewed to a laid back family life with screaming kids on a Sunday morning. I do wish to have children of my own, and while it so far hasn't materialised, I wonder if I would be ready if it does happen.

But until things change in my life, I will be spending much of my time and effort keeping my company afloat until the recession turns for the better. Business has been slow and the customers more penny-pinching. *sigh* I hope things will get better, and then I can get my life back on track.

Beary Cheery Breakfast

I found this bear-shaped saucepan in Giant for $2.99 and decided to get it just for fun. Kimmy made some pancakes with it for me yesterday, here they are, so cute and cheery. Their faces aren't very defined but oh well...they're still sure to bring a smile to your face in the morning :D

Land of the Lost

A movie remake of a 70s TV series, Land of the Lost revolves around a scientist whose time machine invention sucks him (and two friends) into another dimension/universe. It's no holds barred in this other dimension, with giant crabs, frog-like alien-zombies and dinosaurs, and a loosely built plot about world domination or rather, universe domination.

At first, I thought this was a movie for kids- think Brendan Fraser Journey to the Centre of the Earth kinda thing. However, with one mention of the F word and a host of other dirty joke references (some which involve a prehistoric monkey-man), I reckon the parents who brought their kids to watch this film might be regretting a little.

Will Ferrel was his usual self here, you know his deadpan style of humour. It's fairly passable. I found myself enjoying the "calamities" that befall him and his friends more. I especially like the mosquitoes in this Land of the Lost. They totally freak me out but are enormously funny. I must say the CGI for the movie is pretty damned good as well. The dinosaur that befriended them looked immensely real, or he could have been a loan from the Jurassic Park archive.

Overall, Land of the Lost makes for perfect afternoon entertainment. It's not highly original or ridiculously hilarious, but would probably still give you that warm fuzzy feeling after watching, sorta like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth. Oh and not to forget, the ending credits pay homage to 70s style groove with music, 2D illustrations and stylish typography...nice.

Baby Rabbits up for adoption again

My mom's rabbit gave birth (again!) about 7 weeks ago and here are the adorable little bunnies, all waiting to be taken home. One or two might be "reserved" but do let me know if you are interested and I will try to get them for you.

What do you do on weekends?

For many, weekends are a time for family, bringing the kids out to the park, going shopping and running errands. For the busy corporate warrior, it could be spending time whipping their bodies into shape, or out of shape if they go drinking with friends.

For me, I eat. With a tightened belt and satisfactory shopping on my holiday last month, I find myself with nothing to do on a weekend out with the husband. The weather's been scorching lately and we inevitably find ourselves in the mall walking around aimlessly and working up an appetite. And being Singaporean, I do love my food so, and sometimes, searching out the best food around town can be an enjoyable experience.

My theme or motto for food now would be "budget conscious and value for money". I found this in the Famous Sungei Rd Laksa at Kelantan Lane, only $2 with cockles and fishcake (no prawns unfortunately for me as I do not eat cockles). The gravy was delicious, much better than Katong Laksa and its numerous copycats. See photo here.

After that, i went for teabreak at Ramen Ten. Strange place for teabreak I reckon, but it wasn't crowded and had seats, and it had a $4.90 waffle promotion that comes with free hot coffee or tea. Pretty good value as you get a huge scoop of vanilla/choc ice cream and 2 pieces of (skinny) waffles.

In an hour, I was heading for dinner. I wasn't hungry but since kimmy was, we decided to go to Urban Pantry at Novena Square. Urban Pantry is opened by Donut Factory and it serves up simple western and asian meals at low low prices (pictures shown here). Portions are generous too. Kimmy had the UP Burger which is $5.50 with fries and coleslaw. The beef was suitably tasty and did not feel like frozen patties from the supermarket. I had a mushroom soup ($3.50) and potato salad ($3) as I wasn't up for a main. Surprise surprise, the portions were so big I could not finish them, and they were all homemade goodness, no watered down canned soup. To add to all that, they have combo meals where you can have a main and soup at only $7. No taxes too!

A friend's Facebook post about eating her way through Singapore on her holiday here had no less than 10 replies on food, food and more food. Needless to say, I am sure I won't be the only one eating my way through the weekend.

I Love You Man!

I've never thought much of Paul Rudd. I've seen him in movies ever since he acted as Alicia Silverstone's irritating stepbrother in Clueless, but he was always a part of the supporting cast. In I Love You Man, he gets a meaty starring role as a guy (Peter) who's never had male pals, and goes about finding one to be his best man at his impending wedding.

A ton of laughs follow as he goes on a series of "man-dates", and things get funnier when he meets Jason Segel (Sydney), who plays this really strange laid back guy who goes to the beach with his dog - a beagle/pug mix - in ugg boots, and embarrasses Peter with questions about his sex life. I think I laughed so hard I got a slight headache. It was good too as I was a bit miffed that my popcorn had no salty ones inside even though I told the guy I wanted "mixed". Perhaps it was the combination of sugar, coke and the movie, because I had a great time!

I'd love to tell you my favourite parts, like the one about the 89 year old uncle, and the masturbation station, but I'd leave you to catch the movie. Overall it's a pretty hilarious movie with great witty dialogue, especially from Jason Segel. I loved him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I love him here too, and let's not forget Paul Rudd, whose scenes with Jason Segel are a hoot!