New doll finally ready!!!! Yay!!!

Was stuck with this one for a whole week while I was looking for the right buckles but can't seem to find it so have improvised and made adjustment to the outfit. And yes, am please with how she looks and already have an idea for my next one which might take several weeks cuz will be a little busy schedule the next few weeks :o( .

The Equinox Experience

If you're wondering what's an equinox, this is how Wiki describes it as:

'An equinox in astronomy is the event when the Sun can be observed to be directly above the Earth's equator, occurring around March 20 and September 23 each year. There is either an equinox (autumn and spring) or a solstice (summer and winter) on approximately the 21st day of the last month of every quarter of the calendar year. On the equinoxes, night and day are nearly of the same length as the Sun crosses the celestial equator (i.e., declination 0).'

Go ahead and read more about it if you're interested. But what's really cool is this. Had dinner with Slawek on Saturday, 22 September 2007 at Equinox Restautant, Swissotel The Stamford. What was the occasion? We were not celebrating any occasion but it was quite some time since we had dinner somewhere nice. And surfing the net, I came across the Equinox and thought it was a good idea. And only today thanks to Slawek that we realised, that was the equinox weekend and we were at the Equinox. Awesome!

We have been to Top of the M Revolving Restaurant, Mandarin Hotel and that was a very good experience. The food was fantastic, the view was awesome as it was a clear night and although it was rather pricey, we had a good evening.

So we had pretty high expectations of Equinox. Some things that you have to take note. If you want to sit at the window seats, they have a window seat policy. There are two shifts that you can choose from, either from 6.30pm to 8.30pm or 8.30pm to 11.30pm. Good way for them to make money cuz you get more people by having two shifts. We went for the 6.30pm slot. Also prepare your credit card as you have to give them your credit card details. If you don't turn up, they will charge $40 per pax. And if you're running late, they will hold your table for 15 minutes so do watch the time.

We had a nice table and the view was fantastic. I think the 6.30pm slot is a good one cuz you really see the change in landscape. Each minute I look out, the landscape looks different. So out came my camera and yes, I took pictures. Kinda hard with the glass window and I had reflections in my pictures. And as it got darker, all the pictures turned out blurry. But these are some that I had of the skyscrapers for your viewing pleasure.

Above: View from my seat at 6.47pm.

Above: Slight difference but yet a difference at 7.13pm

Above: Same view but a minute later at 7.14pm.

Above: It gets better at 7.18pm

Above: And this is the last (clear) shot at 7.25pm.

Amazing or what. I tried taking pictures at 8 plus just before we left but it didn't turn out clearly. That's a shame cuz I really like the night view with all the buildings lit up. Very nice.

As for the food...where do I start. We were served with some bread with butter and olive oil. And pretty cool how they served the basket of bread (see below).

For starters, I had their Bisque of Lobster and Mud Crab soup and found it so so. It looked presentable but taste wise..it was pretty average.

Was pretty dark inside when we started on our dinner. We both ordered their Beef Tenderloin (see below) which was their signature dish. For what we were paying, we really expected something heavenly. Found the meat chewy (gums actually hurt after I was done eating the meat). Was very tiring that dish I must say. Huge disappointment. Had to down alot of water when eating dinner. Oh yes, we had still water (no tap water served of course) and we had three bottles throughout the night and each bottle costs us $10. So savour your evian please *laughs*

How could we miss dessert ya? I did think about having Cedele's carrot cake but getting all dressed up and since we started already had the main at Equinox, thought we could end with something nice. So we picked the Sweet Temptation (below) that was meant for two. Should have listened to my instincts and gone for the carrot cake at Cedele's. Dessert was no big deal and that was really our last shot to go ooohhh and ahhh over the food but we didn't :o(

Upon reflection, thus the candle shot below (that's the candle that was burning on our table), Equinox has a great view, the staff was extremely professional but the food needs to be better. It was an expensive dinner for two and all we got were a great view and some nice cocktails that we had with dinner.

If you want to enjoy the view, it's still possible. Have dinner elsewhere, then head to City Space which is at Level 70 at the same hotel. You get the great view of Singapore cityscape minus the huge hole in your pocket. They have a good singer there and you can just enjoy the drinks as you watch the cityscape. That was how we ended our evening and many drinks later, I was a happy girl!

Laura & Jubir's Wedding - A Love Story

On 9 September 2007, a good friend had her wedding at Ritz Charlton Hotel and several of us were there to share the joyous occasion. It was quite amazing as the bride single-handedly organised the wedding in a few weeks and everything went smoothly. I guess we get alot of training in our profession as one of the zillion things we do includes organising events.

These pictures were not taken by me. Most of them were taken by the professional photographer and he took lots of great shots but here are just some of the ones that I really like.

Above: Room beautifully decorated with white lilies and roses.

Above: Details of the flower arrangement for the stand.

Above: And yes, the wedding cake.

We all tried to help where we could on the actual Wedding Day and yes, Laura gave us duties for the day so we all were clear as to what we had to do. So here's a group shot of the girls that were 'working' hard on that day.

Above: Taking a quite photo before the wedding started.

Above: Waiting patiently for the guests to arrive.

After all the guests were in the room and the bride and groom made their way to the front to sign their certificates, we happily tucked into the food. I just love this photograph of the dessert spread (see below) and yes, I did help myself to a couple..especially the chocolatey ones. Very yummy.

Above: Gang at table number 5.

As you can see from the picture, we did eat alot (well we were hungry cuz we didn't have lunch before) so we made up at the wedding and were stuffed by the time we were through. But not that stuff that we couldn't stop and pose for a picture! *laughs*

After we were done, several of us headed up the bride and groom's suite to chill out some. We were greeted by this yummy tower of strawberries and cream. It was so tempting to sneak and take a strawberry but we were too polite and decided to leave it for the couple!

Here's a picture of us relaxing as we enjoyed the view from the hotel room as we caught up with old friends.

And one last group shot of the whole group before we went our separate ways, living the bride and groom to some quiet time on their own!

And here finally, a picture of the happy bride and groom. Congratulations Laura and Jubir. Here's to a lifetime of peace and happiness!! Cheers!

Weekend treats ...

Last Saturday was good. Started the day with lunch at a nearby dim sum place and had a craving for chicken claws so had my fill of that. It was like yummy!! Am drooling just thinking about it now *sighs* Of course that wasn't the only thing we had, we had lots of other yummy things like prawns dumpling, spring roll, glutinous rice and many more dishes. Am a pig yes.

After lunch (more like brunch actually), Slawek and I signed up for pottery class (10 sessions in total) and we went for our first session on Saturday. No pictures from that but will take a picture of the products of our first class. We had a very patient teacher and there were a total of four people for the class including Slawek and I. Very relaxing after I got over the panic stage and realised that I shouldn't worry so much about getting it perfect. I get like that when I create things...it HAS to be perfect but after I realise that it's just futile attempts, I relax some and that's when I start enjoying what I'm doing.

In the evening, we dropped by at the Singapore National Museum as part of their HOMEMADE '07 where they had local musicians performing on stage. And next to that, they had a traditional Pasar Malam or Night Bazaar.

At the Pasar Malam, they sold lots of food from otah, satay, putu piring, nasi lemak. Lots to choose from. And yes, we tried ALOT of the food sold including the satay below. It wasn't too bad cuz we were early and didn't have to wait long. We were there rather early as this bazaar went on till 11pm and looks really great lit up at night.

We Singaporeans love our food and I was amazed to see so many people there and I guess any excuse to eat and reminiscence about the past, you'll find loads of people *grins*

And how could I leave and not have the ice cream potong. Picked my favourite flavour Ripple and had a choice between bread and wafer, I picked bread. Very generous helping for S$1. And yes, it was really yummy!

That's why my weekend was good. Lots of eating and lots of playing. That's how life should be!

Am back at work .....

Yup, couldn't delay it anymore and am back at work. Actually been back for about three weeks and only managed to update my blog today. Disgusting but true. Last two weeks have been a little hectic than usual cuz had to do more than the usual. But things should go back to 'normal' soon I hope.

Been tired once I started work. I have fully recovered but guess it's work that's sapping the energy out of me. Not good at all. Am trying to put in some relaxing time each day, even if it's 30 minutes each day to do a little crafting (since that helps me to relax some) and watch a little bit of the BBC Drama 'New Tricks'. If you are able to get your hands on this series, watch it cuz it's fantastic.

What is New Tricks about? Well, it's about a whole bunch of retired cops who were recruited to help reinvestigate unsolved crimes. And they will do whatever they need to close the case and some of their methods are rather unconventional but if they help to solve the case, why not ya. I have to say that the character Brian (second from the right) is my favourite. He is like a sponge and is able to absorb loads of information and though quite a dufus, he's brilliant and very funny!

So a little bit of crafting and New Tricks each day, will hopefully help keep the doctor away! Also it's the first day of Ramadhan today for us Muslims so that means we fast from dawn to dusk. Good time for me to go back to my Cohen meals cuz I have been very naughty and not been on it. So now would be a good time to start. Ohhh, and I am so looking forward to checking out Geylang Ramadhan Bazaar this year!!! Yay!!!

Check out what I had when I broke fast today. It's 100% Cohen approved *laughs* With the fasting happening for the next 30 days, I am combining some of my meals from Cohen (as instructed by the good doctor himself) so am very pleased cuz portions are much bigger :o) If you're wondering what I had - chicken patties on rice crackers, mushrooms and tomatoes and eggs!!! Now planning what to have in wee hours of morning... Any ideas?