I know my friend is a shopaholic because

I know of this friend of mine who is a real shopaholic because by visiting her blog luxuryhaven, you would be wondering where the hell did she get so much information on SALES.

Another clue is that when i found this cute icon from cool buddy

and dedicate specially to her, haha.., she gladly accepted it and used it as her profile picture in her blog.

There's once when she went oversea, she saw this really cute hello kitty luggage bag, she bought it without any hesitation. Knowing that she's such a hello kitty craze, it isn't surprise that she got it but then guess what? She didn't want to come back with an empty luggage bag, therefore, again, she went on a shopping spree just to fill this newly bought hello kitty luggage.

Well, i'm writing this post because i want to win the preview screening ticket to the cinema show "CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC" so that i could compare which is more shopaholic, my friend or Isla Fisher? Otherwise i will have to wait a couple of days more before i could "Catch Confessions of a Shopaholic on 26 March!"

SIMPLE LUNCH

It really had been quite some time since i last cook a complete meal. Today, i woke up pretty early, do some house work and went to the supermarket with the mind set on buying ingredients for making some stuff for my weekly family gathering at my brother's place tommorow. As i was window shopping around in the supermarket, decided maybe i could cook some stuff for lunch as i'm really tired of eating out every day already. Lolz.

So for today's lunch, we have baked white snapper. This is actually a modification of baked cheesy prawn which i recommended earlier. I do some adjustment to the recipe and come out with my recipe of baked white snapper which is available in my bon appetite blog.

Doesn't this look cheesy? But actually it is not, it is infact very juicy.

Another dish which i make is Steam Salted Egg Toufu Prawn.

This is my creation from my memory some 20 years back whereby i tasted something like that.

Arrangement before steaming


After Steam

I also make a chinese cabbage with fish dumplings soup. Didn't take any picture because i think there nothing to show off about this soup. I loves to use chinese cabbage in soup because it always make the soup very sweet and tasty after 20 minutes to half an hour boiling. No salt is needed if u just drop a chicken bullion cube to the water, the cabbage and the fish dumplings will contribute to the rest of the flavour in the soup. This is a quicky to complete the meal with vegetables.

Oh yes, btw, i just bought a 3 in 1 scanner/printer/copier and a new 10.1 mega pix digital camera from the recent IT show. One more purpose of cooking today's meal is also to test out my new camera. How do you all think about my new camera as compare to the old one?

It had better looked better, * wink wink *otherwise, you may all conclude that i'm a lousy camera man. But hey, i'm at least contributing to the economy's recovery by SHOPPING.

lolz.

Crocheting

Found this crochets bag extremely beautiful. However, have problem understanding the instruction given. But i'm so lucky to find this website with the basic crochets instructions with legend, simple written instructions with abbreviation representing different stitch and even video to show different stitch step by step. Wow! Really very thankful. So i shall find time to get down to town to get my yarn and embark on this new project. Shall post my completed product if i'm successful in making one as beautiful as the above.

Sweet things elevate your mood

Went to the nearby mall just now, saw my favourite strudel having a promotion store there. Couldn't resist the temptation, so i bought a small piece to eat. This is my favourite strudel store - RITZ APPLE STRUDEL & PASTRY.
There's many branches around in Singapore, but this one that i bought from is not a permanent store, it's just a food event organised by the management of the mall, i just happened to saw it there. I know, i shouldn't be eating all this but i was thinking, since i took a 10 minutes walk to the mall, and another 10 minutes walk to get back home, so i could afford to indulgence a little.

Not really a small piece huh, heehee..... but i don't really do this very often, so why not.

Today i choose mango as the fillings because i know they are always very generous with their apple fillings, so i choose mango instead. At least i would not be eating so much of the custard fillings and piled on my calories.

Also bought this at the petrol kiosk - not so much for the candies but the container - because it's Hello Kitty. Sweet stuff does lift your mood, so go ahead, indulgence in some thing sweet occasionally.

Are you affected by the recession?

Recent conversation with colleagues and friends have set me thinking - i'm really lucky to be able to hold a job and keep the home going.



I have always grumble about not being treated fairly in the company which i think have set some of my colleagues to have the following conversation:



"Are any of your friends or relatives affected by the recent mass retrenchment?"



"Not that i know of"



"Mmmmm...... you know it's a good thing that our company have always been stingy in spending, otherwise, we might not be able to survive this economic crisis"



"Ya, and we are so lucky to be still employed and being paid promptly"



At that very moments, i was so pissed off that i feel all these are targeted at me. However, now i really feel that they could be right. Never mind the fact that the company is not affected by the crisis at all at the moment, but who knows when we may be hit, and i could be the next umemployed roaming the street.



I'm officially in the 21 years of service with my company, no awards, no appreciation gift, nothing, but i'm not complaining anymore. Because i feel i'm so lucky to be still employed.........

Taiwanese Porridge Buffet

Yesterday as both myself and my partner did not have a proper lunch, so we decided to go for Taiwanese Porridge Buffet dinner.

This place that we visit is actually near my old house area. It's actually a cafe of a hotel which changes it's name several times due to change in management. However, i just loves the food that they serve and also the ambience. The cafe may not be posh but the food is quite good considering that it is reasonably priced as compare to some very posh restaurant.

The taiwanese porridge buffet comes with so much variety that i could hardly count how many items are there actually.

I have actually taken a picture out from their web featuring the Taiwanese Porridge varieties of item - it serves from clear soup, braised duck and pork, braised taupok, braised hard boil egg, braised beancurd stick, assam fish, mixed vegetables, porridge side dishes, mussels, curry chicken with french loaf, mutton, beef, steam egg, etc. etc.......the list can go on and on, complete with plain porridge, sweet potato porridge, plain rice, tanghoon. It also serves surprises tim sum dish, fruits, desserts like ice kachang and bread pudding (something which i don't normally eat, but yesterday one was pretty good), a wild variety of ice-cream in an ice cream bar. It's definitely a must try for people who loves variety but didn't want to pay too much like my childhood friend - STgt. (STgt, this shall be our next meeting place if you don't mind the journey) But i guess buddy STsn wouldn't like it (i guessed) because i knew she goes more for fine dinning and not much of a buffet goer.

This is the ambience that i have taken a picture of. (not very well taken thou)

My favourite soup..............err, i meant the soup bowl.

Heehee...... i loves this bowl because it's slightly tilted to the front so that u can actually see the content inside the bowl even when you take a picture from the front instead of from the top. Very good for presentation of your soup for photo shooting. Haha...... have actually been looking for this type of bowl but didn't want to pay too much thou.

This is my favourite dish among the buffet varieties - mussels with shell on cooked in spicy tomato sauce complete with onion and garlic (not sure whether if this sauce is call Neapolitan sauce). Never fail to take this every time i visit.

Some of the side dishes that we ate.

Clockwise from 6 o'clock - fried peanuts and anchovies, pork floss, preserve block bean curd, seasoned chye sim and sliver fish with black bean paste.

Yesterday surprise tim sum - pan fried gyoza serve with vinegar and shredded ginger.
Curry Chicken drumlets served with french loaf. Another dish we will never miss.
Lastly we complete our buffets with some fruits and ice kachang without the kachang. Heehee... which is my habit - ice kachang without the kachang (red bean).

As we both are not a great eater, i did not take picture of all the dishes that is being served yesterday. For eg, we have given the assam fish a miss, didn't take the picture of all the braise item like braise duck, braised hard boil egg as i knew that those food which is cook with dark sauces will not turn out well in my camera.

Oh, just in case if you want to visit, here's the address:

Quality Hotel Singapore

201 Balestier Road Singapore 329926

Tel: 6355 9988

The cost of the buffet is only $10.80 ++ per person for dinner from 6.30 pm to 10.00 pm

Isn't it value for money? For $10.80 ++, you gets variety + ambience, where to find?

I think after 10.00 pm, they called it porridge supper and it's only $8.00 ++. It's served all the way up till 1.00 am. I have not tried this thou.

Here's a map to show where it is located. Just at the corner of the junction between Balestier Road and Moulmein Road.

And if you do go there, don't forget to mention about my blog's recommendation. Maybe i could just earn a free porridge buffet dinner next time round when i visit. Haha..........lolz, just kidding!

New Random

Hey, i've added new Ang Pow Collection to my Ang Pow collection slide show. Have you noticed the additional collection?



Joining contest:

Probably the only type of contest that i would join. Because it's cash prices. Wish me good luck and hopefully i could win the top price of $8,888 in cash. :)

I have been wanting to test out this recipe given in Luxuryhaven's blog - Tea Smoke Chicken.

Luxuryhaven's blog always got surprises for you. If you have the time, do visit. Very interesting. Btw, it's luxuryhaven's blackswan that thought me how to do the link to lead you to another post or blog directly. As i'm a complete "idiot" when it comes to IT gadgets. Lolz........ Tks BLACKSWAN!

Back to the tea-smoke chicken, today i managed to find time to test it out. However, instead of using the whole chicken, i used chicken wing instead. I have also rewrite the recipe for easy reference and safe keeping in my bon appetite blog.

Tea Smoke Chicken Wing