Q.NiNg

Oh my! It’s been 10 months since I last posted an entry in this blog. Such a long time that I had to retrieve my password and username from my email account. Hehs :p

Well, some updates on what happened from Aug 2010 to now!!! 🙂

Though it is a short period of time, the past months had been quite a  learning journey for me. Since graduation, I went through 2 contract positions and 3 rounds of job hunting before I found a job as a full-time permanent staff. I am very appreciative of the help given by my family and friends (especially Ms J and Ms A. *winks) and thankful for the many opportunities.

At the two organisations I was attached to as a contractor, there were good and bad times. The good times were plenty more than the bad. I met nice mentors and senior colleagues who genuinely teach me the ropes. It is truly a privilege to have so many colleagues I enjoy working with. Going through the bad times help serves as a good precedent for future. Good or bad times, there’s always areas for learning to happen!

Through the many interviews, I slowly gained the confidence and better perform at subsequent interviews. After meeting the worst interview where a stress interview went wrong when the nasty interviewer started attacking on my personal life, I feel I can now deal with similar or worst situations in a tactful manner.

I am HAPPY with how things work out. Am looking forward to a wonderful working experience! One step nearer to my goal! 🙂

To end off this post, here’s a good quote:

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” – Gail Devers

I got bored and decided to bake…at 12.30am!!!! 😡

Looked through the refrigerator and see that my mother have not use the frozen unbaked puf pastry and there’s a new can of tuna too. Hmmmm, shall I experiment and try making tuna pastry? Yep, I shall! Just got to make sure I don’t burn down the kitchen. 😉

So I thawed the 375g frozen unbaked Puff Pastry, opened a can of Skip Jack Tuna and starting playing with the pastry dough. You will see in the photos below that the puffs look different because of my experiment. It’s sure fun playing with the dough! :p

Once the puffs are prepared, in they go into the preheated oven!

Wooo…the smell! How awesome..but it’s making me hungry. 😡

Approximately 30 minutes later, the tuna pastries are browned to perfection. Time to take them out of the oven and let them cool.

Look, here’s a puff that looks like a crab. How crappy! Haa

..and presenting to you Puffy Smiley’s before and after photo. Opps, smiley didn’t like the ‘makeover’ much as it caused one eye to be bigger than the other @-@!

Puffs are cooled and stored in the fridge for later when family wakes up for breakfast ❤

Puffs and hot tea/coffee anyone?

🙂

This is the second time I’m making Bibimbap. The first being on the 13th Aug: See Post

The awesome thing about this dish is it’s really easy to prepare and it’s a great way to clear food stuffs from your refrigerator. All you’ve got to do is to throw in your favourite dishes, the important korean hot pepper paste and mix everything well before you enjoy your Bibimbap. 🙂

This round, I made a lazy version with:

Cooked white rice + Purple cabbage + pan-fried minced beef + lettuce + boiled black fungus + hot pepper paste

STIR STIR MIX MIX MIX STIR MIX STIR till well and you get Bibimbap!As I’m not much of a spicy eater, this version that’s more salad-like suits me better as the veggies help to douse the ‘fire’ in the mouth! Hehs 🙂

My Degree Conferment & Awards Ceremony is on the 27th August this year. Countdown: 12 more days! Woohoooo!

This evening, I went to the studio with Si Jie and Mei Qin to collect our graduation robes. Woah, the deposit for the rental of the robe is $150. Got to take as many photos as possible before returning the robe and get the deposit money back. 😉

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At the studio, there were three big bears around and so the three of us took individual shots with the nicest looking one after we’re done with the grad gown fitting. Heee, the bear is soooo cute! Oh, the gown on the bear is the grad robe of another university. Mine’s another design and the sash colour is light purple!!! 🙂

Now, this reminds me that I wanna get my Build-A-Bear bear and buy it a graduation gown. 🙂 And my furry sister, Tara, can wear the grad attire too during the photoshooting session. That’s an IDEA! Hee

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Soon, it’s dinner time and we headed over to Kovan area for some pizza and bubble tea.

Oh, and Mei Qin brought me a souvenir from Australia! SWEET!

Before she went for her Australia holiday, I jokingly told her to bring back a live kangaroo and koala for me. LOL. And she gave me something that fits my ‘gift request’ the closest:

I have a toy Kangaroo with a Koala tag on it! Hehe ^^

Thanks Mei Qin! Hugs! 😀

Went to Changi Airport T3 to hang out with Wei Shan, Shu Yi and Shu Hua.

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While taking a group photo, we noticed a group being busy with these BIG white cards + cameras + laptops etc. We managed to see two cards with ‘will’ and ‘marry’. Hmmm, that looks like a marriage proposal ehs? So, the curious/busybody us waited at the benches near the scene for the marriage proposal to take place.

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After one or two rehearsals, the guy headed to T1 via the skytrain with a big bouquet of flowers for his girlfriend.

Moments later, he arrived with her at T3 and he led her to the garden area.

While she was admiring the flowers, his friends took action and lined up behind the oblivious lady to form her name (i.e. E.D.R.E.A).

This caught the attention of passerbys and soon, there’s a crowd (including yours truly and friends). 🙂

Finally, she realised something is amissed and turned. She lets out an excited scream!

The friends flipped one card after another to reveal Will.You.Marry.Me.? …and the guy proposed on bended knees.

And the good crowd cheered and applauded excitedly when the lady said ‘YES YES YES…’!

It’s such a good day to be able to come across such a beautiful event!

May the couple have a happy marriage! 🙂

This afternoon, I went to the kitchen to get a drink and I saw this big stainless steel mixing bowl lying in the cupboard. Why do we have that??

Now I remember!!!  My adorable Daddy went to buy that big mixing bowl from IKEA during the period we were watching the korean drama ‘Kim Sam Soon’ and he wanted to follow how the main character eats her Bimbibap. HAHA.

Alright then. Since I’m itching to cook something new, I decided to prepare Bibimbap for dinner tonight and Daddy can finally use his big mixing bowl. 😀

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So, what do I have in the fridge that I can use? AHA! There’s minced beef, eggs, mushrooms and lots of veggies. GOOD!!! These shall be my ingredients for NiNg’s version of Bibimbap. 🙂

3 2 1 START!

1. Fry 1 packet of seasoned minced beef with onions with 1tsp of olive oil.

2. Cook mushrooms (of your choice).

3. Crack 2 eggs and beat them in a bowl with fork. Pour egg mixture evenly and let it cook for about 30secs. Flip omelette the other side and let it cook for about 30secs too. Slice them thinly when cooled.

4. Shred carrots and purple cabbage.

5. Place cooked rice in mixing bowl.

6. Arrange the minced beef, mushrooms, eggs and veggies nicely on top of rice. Place a nice portion of hot pepper paste in the centre of everything.

7. GO CRAZY and start mixing everything well. Haha, looking at the speed my dad is going (in the second photo below), I believe he’s totally excited about using his mixing bowl FINALLY. 😀

8. Once everything’s mixed well, what’s next? Eat of course! So, GRAB YOUR SPOONS AND DIG IN! Yums;)

Somehow this dish reminds me of Lunar New Year’s Yu Sheng. 🙂

Back in year 1998, I watched Armageddon and I love the main movie soundtrack ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ by American rock band Aerosmith. Twelve years later and I’m still replaying the music on my music player! Keke 😉 Are you still listening to the song too? Well, if you aren’t, let me ‘refresh’ your mind with the song. Here you go:

I adore Yuna Ito’s singing and I’m delighted to learn from my friend that lovely her did a cover of Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’.

WOOOHOOOO!!! Did you enjoy her version of the song??? Well, I did and I can see myself replaying her cover of this song over and over again. Perhaps I will find myself listening to it twelve years later too? We’ll see. 🙂

…Bill Joy was brilliant. He wanted to learn. That was a big part of it. But before he could become an expert, someone had to give him the opportunity to learn how to be an expert… (Gladwell M 2008)

Many fresh graduates, like myself need the opportunity to be able to learn how to be an expert in our area of study and to accumulate valuable working experience. But, are there companies who provide such opportunity? Oh wells. I’ll just have to continue improving myself while searching for such a company that allows me to pursue my interest in HR.

Gotta be positive!!! ^^..and may I receive good news soon! 🙂

We planned to have Ramen but upon seeing the longgggggggg queue outside the jap restaurant, the hungry us agreed unanimously to head elsewhere for dinner. 😉

Up the escalator we went and were greeted by Ma Maison restaurant’s beautiful exterior. Hazel mentioned the restaurant’s squid ink pasta is nice and Brendy almost hyperventilate while describing how special the curry rice dish is. Jasmne got interested while hearing the  food reviews. Heehee. Now, where am I in this picture? Oh ya, I’m slacking at the benches outside the restaurant while getting over my bad mood caused by someone. Gahhhh

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I don’t know why the girls were laughing their heads off when I summarised their ‘food reviews’ and came out with the decision that it’s a GO for this restaurant. Hmm, what did I say? Hehs

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This is the second time I dined at Ma Maison. The first was at Bugis Junction and I had the Grilled Fish Lunch Set. Today, I shared a serving of the Squid Ink Pasta and a Tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet) Set with Hazel.

Good recommendation, Hazel! I love the Squid Ink Pasta! 🙂 I like the picture below. It’s taken by Jasmne and Hazel was totally oblivious that she’s in the picture. And the end result is NATURAL! Nice.

After dinner, it’s time for some TCC Coffee/Chocolate drink. I regretted buying my drink after knowing we were not allowed to play Monopoly Deal there. Hahs

Being Monopoly Deal (MD) addicts, Jasmne and I gulped down our drinks so that we can head off to find a place to play the game. :p If you’re asking why we call ourselves MD addicts, it’s because there was one time we played about 13 hours of non-stop MD with another friend and from that day onwards, we will meet on occasional weekends for MD. Heeeheee! Love hanging out with the number one MD kaki. Now, where’s that MIA friend/cousin of mine/Jasmne’s? Have she decided to stay with the Kangaroos and Koalas? LOL

…Who’s game for some Monopoly Deal with us??? ^_^

– End –

I took Ma Maison’s business card and *woooooo* they have many outlets in Japan. You can check out their website too. I wonder if they have the same dishes in both country? 🙂

Ma Maison @ CENTRAL #03-96

Tel: (65) 6327 8122

A few hours ago, I was randomly watching videos posted by FB users and there is a particular video that made me sob uncontrollably after watching it. My dog came over to me to console me but I did not dare to hug her for fear of transferring the sadness over to her. 😦

The video started off with a woman carrying a little kitten so I continue watching the video thinking that it is one of the other many videos of pet owners playing around with their pet or of funny things their pet do. Next, the woman placed the kitten on the floor. At this point, I thought she might be preparing the kitten to showcase its trick and continued watching (which I regretted later). Ughs!!! That woman started stabbing and squashing the poor kitten with her heels (she’s still wearing them) till it died. I will not describe this in detail and would not advice you to view the video as it was extremely traumatising for me and I would not wish for you to go through the same pain.

I feel sad for the innocent animal and am utterly disturbed by the inhumane treatment of the kitten. I cannot comprehend why anyone would enjoy inflicting pain on others and this terrifies me.

😦

someone please help erase this from my memory, PLEASE!

For those who feel you will be able to help identify this sinister woman, do take a look at the video: Click here *

*Learnt that the sinister woman got punished (jailed).