My Bubbling Experience

I guess KOI doesn't need much introduction.

Judging from the queues at every KOI I go to, its popularity speaks for itself.

I am one of the big supporters who could survive on KOI alone for a meal. Take tonight for instance. I went out with the intention to buy a regular size milk tea and then use the rest of my $10 to buy some sandwich ingredients for a hearty and healthy meal.

Instead, I splurged $7 on two large cups of Milk Tea with Pearl Half Sugar. Of course, one was for Baby. With just $3, it was barely enough to buy any ingredient. So, I strolled home contented, sucking the aromatic tea with chewy pearls. And yes, I made drinking bubble tea my dinner.

To me, drinking bubble tea in general is an experiential activity. It is more than just tasting the tea or pearls. But I love to be able to chew the al dente pearls floating around my mouth in the cold milk tea. And, KOI is the only shop where I order milk tea. At all others, I order green tea or honey green tea.

Although the wait for the tea can be pretty long, but the exprience to me is like waiting for my toto number to be called out. I get really excited receiving my tea over the counter. Immediately, I would tear open the wrapper protecting the thick tube of straw, and I couldn't wait to suck those black pearls into my mouth.

What an experience of joy!

After each cup, I would crave for more. And soon in a few days' time, I find myself waiting in line for the next bubbling, pearlie experience.

So, that's my experience. What's yours?

Beauty After the Knief

Note: The following post is my personal opinion and not a representation of anyone's opinions.

Pre-yoga today, Celeste shared with me Dawn Yang's photos. So, I made a comment that she reminded me of Angela Baby. And we decided to google Angela Baby's pre-plastic surgery photos.

When I saw the stark constrast of the before and after photos. I couldn't help but awed at the wonders of the knief. The first question I asked Celeste was "You want to do plastic surgery too?".

All right. Before jumping to conclusion, calm down my dear friends. I am not saying, I will go under the knief.

The only thing is, I supposed I would become more even more cynical if I see a beautiful face with almost perfect features - that she must have cut herself somewhere to look like this.

Is this jealousy or envy?

I guess I can't be jealous at the pretty faces that have emerged from undergoing the knieves. If I were, I wouldn't be looking at the photos and going "wow, they are so pretty". And, I really think they were very brave to go through the surgery - for goodness sake, those cuts and stitches must have been painful, even during the healing process. Ok. I have uber low tolerance for pains. So, I am probably not the best person to go through pains for beauty.

I have also seen the procedures before and they look pretty disgusting to me. And I can't bear to risk my not-too-bad-face under the blades. What if I turn out beastly instead of beauty?

For fame and beauty, many women dream of turning themselves from plain Janes into attention-grabbing beauties. Most of those who have gone under the blades, seemed to have turned into paparazzi frenzy. These ugly-ducklings-turned-swans (sometimes just simply plain and not ugly) have attracted much media's attention, casting themselves in the limelight - becoming infamous or famous. Either way, they become some sort of celebrities and talks of the towns, acquiring foes and supporters along the way. As it is, bad press is still publicity.

But the sad reality is, the desire to become famous has caused not just women but men to change themselves outwardly so that they could be picked up to become amongst the rich and the famous. The media's focus on pretty faces that have become successful,  make their lives seemed even more like a fairy tale is a form of encouragement to the normal beings on the streets to dream about living the plastic-surgery produced glamarous lives.

Although there are days I wish to change certain parts of myself, I think I am most unlikely to go through such a drastic change. Firstly, I can't bear the thought of surgery. Going through lasik was already a big step forward. So, as much as I could I would not put myself up for needles and threads.

I'd also like to have people telling me that my children look like me instead of wondering if my hubby had the children with some other woman. I also like the idea of aging gracefully. Even if I can't look SYT forever, I know that other than my physical appearance, there are other bigger and more significant things in life that mean more to me. So, to each her own, we just choose to live our lives diferently. No two lives are the same.

Having said so much, here are a few pictures of Angela Baby's before and after. It doesn't change the fact that I think she's really quite an eye candy.


AFTER



BEFORE

Pictures from: http://www.shun2u.com/2009/08/angela-baby-before-after-plastic.html

Hooked On Rice Crisps

Recently, I saw this advertisement on Mister Potato Rice Crisps on the train. What attracted me to the advertisement was the information below.

• No Added MSG
• 20% Less Fat
• Cholesterol & Transfar Free
• No Artificial Colouring

I love potato chips. I eat even when I am stuffed. I can eat only potato chips for my meals. So, I often end up feeling really guilty.

So, when I saw the information, I decided to go in search for the rice crisps. It was not very hard because there was a huge wall of them at the supermarket. The promoter let me try the chips and I got hooked - I bought ALL 4 flavours.

I ate a flavour a day and till today, I still love it and still eating but a flavour in a few days. I also bring the crisps out with me so I could snack anytime I want. It tastes like potato chips, yet it has a lingering aroma from the rice. I read the label and realised it is made with a combination of rice and potato.

Although, I am not going to label it as healthy chips, at least it is healthier than all those chips I have been eating. I don't feel so guilty. So, I made this my favourite chips now. By the way, when I went to HK, I tried a really healthy potato chips, which tasted really too bland. So, I am glad Mister Potato Rice Crisps is still delicious. 

Here is the order of my favourite flavour - Original, Hot & Spicy, Sour Cream and BBQ.

Try it for yourself!

Moda Shoppe Collection #5: Attention To Details

Yay!!! I am once again very proud of our next collection. For some reason, I think our clothes are looking better and the materials are getting better too.

For this launch, I broke the ceiling of my shopping budget (again). And I am eyeing some items for back orders - like the Halter Frock with Spring Embellishment. I placed it on my own waiting list first because I suspect it will be hot and I have given priorities to customers.

I was hoping to wear this for Kellyn's wedding this Saturday. But I think I won't have a chance to buy it for myself. So, Winnie and I are on our own back orders. Haha.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for more items to BO cos I still want more items - ok and more colours. I want to own almost every piece cos it's so hard to decide! And each of them is unique and has its own beauty. In this business, it's literally "Customers First". I rather wait than let them wait.

I am lucky to have kept myself a cardigan, which I wore to Mei's KTV bday. Was sick that day. So, really appreciate the stylish yet warm cardi. And last Saturday, I wore One Shoulder Drape Blouse to meet Kellyn etc. Love how it looks.

Of course, there are other pieces I took but I did not shoot. No time. So, you girls just see for yourself when the collection is launched.

One Shoulder Drape Blouse:

I love how it makes me looks slim!!!

Knitted Stripe Long Cardigan

The cardi I wore to the KTV

And... Here's the launch preview we did for this launch. From this launch on, we will do a preview each time we are launching. Even I got excited. I couldn't sleep last night because the preview looks really nice. And of course, after looking at the clothes on Winnie, I wanted EVEN MORE!!!

Winnie looks great and Celeste did a good job with the design.

See ya all babes!

Rainy Hong Kong

Warning: Read with patience. This is a long entry. Thanks.

We have gone to Hong Kong and returned. The trip was all right for me because it was raining quite a bit. So, we were not able to do much sight-seeing or street shopping. Or maybe, I really wanted to sight see more than shop. Instead, we ended up eating a lot and exploring shopping malls - not to shop, but just to explore. We also watched movie on one night when it was pouring.

Here are my after thoughts after surviving rainy HK.

1. The food servings were really big. But the girls were all so slim. How is that possible?

2. A must-go-to restaurant in HK is the Peking Restaurant at City Plaza HK. It's on the 2nd/3rd level of the huge mall and serves really nice Salted Egg Prawns. Our favourite is this melon cooked in some broth. It was very tasty. The Xiao Long Bao was disappointing. But the Cod Fish was really good too.

3. It is good to buy the 3-day MTR pass when you are there. Walking is absolutely possible because there are really many shops and malls along the streets. There were also tonnes of eateries. So, the one thing you do not have to worry is - lack of things to buy and lack of food to eat. That was why we ended up eating a lot. Cos when something interesting caught our eyes, we went in. But, buying the pass is still good. Cos we did stations hopping since it was raining, to catch a glimpse of every stop, which was kinda' fun!

4. We also popped by a neighbourhood mall. It was boring but we bought food at the supermarket.

5. People in HK walked very fast. The streets were almost always too small to accommodate everyone. I felt claustrophobic walking on the streets. The streets were so messy that I couldn't shop - cos I felt confused.

6. Speak Mandarin. I think they will attend to you more than if you speak English and look Chinese.

7. If you miss certain brands at a mall in the city because of lack of time, worry not. There were so many malls selling the same thing, with the same brand. I could find H&M almsot everywhere. And international labels almost everywhere too. Of course, I shopped at Mango again. Like always...

8. Many people own a Chanel!

Since it was a trip to celebrate our first marriage anniversary, we were happy to just spend time relaxing with each other.

"I appreciate you a lot because I have given you the most precious thing of my life... My Lifetime." - Baby

This is the first time I am travelling so light. But of course, I still stayed chic. I merely squeezed most of my clothes in and also brought lighter clothes.

Baby chose a ballerina picture to colour and wrote "Happy Anniversary" and gave it to me.

Oi Suen Guest House - It was almost like living in a rented room in a flat. The guest house itself was very clean and safe. But I couldn't say the same for the block. We even saw a bumper being put out to sun. It was a good experience staying in a guest house. Nothing bad about it. Just that, right below our block was Baby's favourite - Smelly Toufu. That was the biggest minus staying here.

We saw a strike outside DBS - they were still on the Lehman Brothers issue.

Some sights on the street. One of the shopping malls is called "Yong An", which is Ray's name! So, I took this picture for him.

Mona Lisa having an ice-cream. Made of slices of bread!

The bread - so creative!

K11, a shopping mall, was all sweets and candies. How inviting to hide from the rain.

So, how could I resist some? Especially gigantic ones.
(Note: I was wearing Crochet Trapeze Mini in Navy Blue from Moda Shoppe and flats from Pazzion.)

On our first night, we had our 1st Marriage Anniversary Dinner at Restaurant Petrus. It is one of the best fine-dining French restaurants (Michelin 2-star rating) in HK, located the 56 level of Shangri-La HK Island.  It offers a view of the harbour and TST. The service was impeccable. But the food was a tad disappointing (not every dish on our degustation menus were appealing to our taste buds). Nevertheless, the most invaluable is the companion and time spent at dinner. We ate for 4hrs so, it was really a good time to talk and catch up on time loss when we were both so busy back in Singapore.

The restaurant exuded opulence, extravagance and elegance in traditional French style.

We had a table next to the window and folded drapery.

As we were starving and could not make up our minds, we had two degustation menus. The most unglamarous thing we did at the restaurnt was - swapping plates and food. But well, we wanted to taste a little of everything. So, here are some pictures. The rest? We were too busy eating, criticising, chatting, swapping food and did not bother shooting.

And as always, some funny faces shots.

The restaurant did what I expected. They surprised us with something for our anniversary. If they didn't, I would be quite disappointed, given their standards.

Photo at the doorway - really full and sleepy.

I transformed the day look to night look by adding black tights and I swapped earstuds for pearl earrings.

The wall paintings were so vivid and beautiful.

The second day, we set off in our new shoes.

And did what tourists usually do - taking lots of photos at the harbour.

(Note: I was wearing Bright Turquoise Knitted Overlay from Moda Shoppe with a black tank top beneath. This overlay was good. It kept me warm in the malls and was cooling enough in the heat.)

Followed by a cheap ferry ride from TST to HK.

And bought egg tarts - in this case, egg cups. The yellow one was normal egg tart. The white one was egg white tart. We both liked the white one more.

From this shop

And of course, some street shopping shots.

From left: Colour Kimono Inspired clothings on the wall. An elderly looking at a Hardware Stall and there were so many of these shops along this street we were on. Some nice dresses at Ladies Market. A shop with many laterns.

We finally saw a Mahjong place. But we were only outside.

Baby's favourite smelly toufu place, right below our block.

The smelly toufu stall.

Last day, we were heading back. There was no photo of myself on the third day because it was raining non-stop. So, we kept eating. We also bought magazines and lounged around to read.

(Note: I was wearing Miss Selfridge Inspired Cardigan in White with Black with Fringe Sleeves Top in Silver from Moda Shoppe.)

New On the Menu

I just realised that in the recent blog posts, I been posting chicken menu. Well, that's one of the most convenient - especially roasted chicken.

So, here's another one.

Looking Autumn

I think I love the fall looks. Cos I love wearing trench coats and boots. I love how ladies look in their scarves and gloves without looking too bulky. I find this look... sexy.

So, I wore my trench dress. And I sneaked these shots in the lift when I finished yoga. I wore this dress with booties I bought in HK. Oh well... Since it makes me looks nutty wearing boots in Singapore, I invested in a few pairs of booties, to prepare myself for the fall/winter look.