About a week before the start of November I signed up for NaNoWriMo.
National (though it's actually international) Novel Writing Month.
Setting myself the goal of writing a 50 000 word novel in 30 days.
What was I thinking?
Certainly not that I'd get called in to work in the library for 12 of those days.
Certainly not that I'd discover that working 9 am to 5 pm, even only 3 days a week, is hard work when you have a husband, two kids, a dog, a household to run and a part time job running a business from home!
Certainly not that my daughter would have end-of-year ballet concerts to get to, with all the extra rehearsals that entails.
Certainly not that the closer and closer we got to December, the busier and busier life would get.
Now that I think about it, what was I thinking!?!
The idea of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel quick and dirty.
Just get the words down on the page.
No deleting.
Just do it!
As of today, I have written 4 609 words.
So you could call my NaNoWriMo attempt an epic fail!
Or you could say that I gave it a go, made a great start, and can continue writing whenever I want to.
I don't have to limit myself to a November deadline.
Thanks to Omy.sg & Wanbao, was invited to tag along their festive gourmet trail, 阿伦笑吃人间(Alan's Gastronomy), together with another blogger, Deenise Yang.
1st Station : Tien Court: Copthorne King's Hotel Singapore 403 Havelock Road Singapore 169632
Stepped into the restaurant and could immediately feel the CNY mood in the air...
添财添福大鱼生 Prosperity Yu Sheng
' Grew up knowing that Yu Sheng is always a "must-eat" dish during CNY, but not exactly sure what does each of the ingredients represent. Thanks to the restaurant manager, who had distributed Ang Paos to everyone, with a small note on the meanings of each ingredient, here sharing with everyone...
1. Lime: Good Luck 金吉：祝大家大吉大利！一帆风顺！四季平安！ 2. Fish : Yearly bountiful return 鱼生：年年有余！富贵有余！财运亨通！ 3. 5 Spices （Green Packet): Good Fortune 五香粉（青色袋）:五福临门！五谷丰收！得心应手！ 4. Pepper (Red Packet) : Overflowing of business 胡椒粉（红色袋）：鸿运当头！东成西就！八方进财！ 5. Salad Oil: Smooth sailing of whatever thing you do! 香油：顺顺利利！万事顺利！九九顺心！ 6. Sweet plum sauce: Harmonies & Happiness 酸梅酱：甜甜蜜蜜！祥和团员！福运连连！ 7. Cracker: Room of gold & lots of prosperity! 卜脆：遍地黄金！黄金满屋！金玉满堂！
Credits: Tien Court
Look at everyone indulging in their first dish!
黄金元宝喜迎春 Deep fried pork belly marinated with preserved bean curd
Though as rojak as it can be, with century egg served as side dish, but it turn out to be a great dish. The Q-ness in the pork belly was just nice for me, but take note when introducing this dish to the elderly, some may not have the strength to chew on the meat!
金凤贺岁笑盈门 Smoked Sugar Prawn Chicken
Chicken was tender, very different from what we usually eat in Singapore. Not only Hainanese chicken rice rule the world, Lol. Mixed it with the special sauce, and gives the overall taste a bonus point.
鸿运当头跃龙门 Steamed Sea Bream with Pickled Mustard Plant and Roast Pork
Fish was so-so for me. But I guess if the fish was mixed with the Roast Pork it could give a richer taste to the dish. But too bad, I rushed out to take a picture with the Chef and missed out the roast pork in the dish...was too late!
Wonder who's the big chef ?
He's none other than 何添财师傅, Chef Ho, from Taiwan. He had appeared in several local TV productions! A very friendly chef with no airs, but I'm very amused by his strong Taiwanese accent...
The next dish was a "Surprise Dish" by the chef... first look, I thought was Buddha Jump Over the wall... and thought my trial was damn worthwhile! (Opps, that SamPat look)
That slight yellow shine... came from fellow blogger Deenise who was taking her picture at the same time. Lol... not that general shine from this dish harh.
Okay... so the waiter lifted off the porcelain cover... hmm, nothing much right.
But when he started serving us, I realized it was a wrong judgement! Heard from 何师傅, Chef Ho, he had actually spent more than 8 hours in brewing this soup. Very rich in the ingredients, and will help in improving the overall appearance and beauty. It was a 家传秘方, hereditary dish from Chef Ho's Mum to him, but he added that of course, he cooked better than his Mum!
珠玉纷陈堆满盆 Glutinous Rice Dumpling on Ice
This was my favourite. I remember from young, we had always eaten Glutinous Rice Dumpling in hot, peanut soup from the famous Ah Balling. But this was actually my first time eating it served cold. Very unique, and the ice melted in honey water, every sip down the throat you could feel the sweetness, representing the Chinese saying, "甜甜蜜蜜", harmonies and happiness.
Chef Ho mentioned that every coloring of the Glutinous Rice Dumpling were natural, no additives. Red/Pink color was made from dragonfruit, orange color was made from pumkin, as for the white... I'm sorry, I missed the details. Probably you wanna check out the dumplings and taste it yourself!
Another surprise dish was the nonya kuehs! Reminds me of the nonya show featuring Jeanette Aw only. Of course didn't had the chance to savor every single piece, but just by taking one piece was good enough! Need to reserve my stomach for Xmas feast later!
Dessert overdose! But the Nonya Kuehs was good lah.
Next stop, we took a coach and was dropped at Mandarin Orchard hotel, level 35 ballroom.
*Behind the scene* Heard one of the Wanbao helpers were saying, they got down the bus and shouted, "Everyone! Please proceed to level 53!" Heng arh, thank god I wasn't on the same coach as them. LoL. I think that bus of people didn't 捞 their 鱼生 enough lah. "Hiak-ni-sway" harh.
Immediately change of festive mood! Xmas in the air! *We wish you a merry christmas...we wish you a merry christmas~ *
Everyone was given a xmas hat, christmas deco, giving the overall xmas feel a bonus touch!
Xmas feast menu from Mandarin Orchard Hotel.
Ah Lun seen here with the Chef introducing the appetizer...
前菜 红绿苹果凉拌菜 Appetizer - Winter Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette
One word - 酸. Sour. Okay lah, appetizer, that sour taste from apple helps one to have more appetite for the next dish.
热汤 南瓜松子仁浓汤 Soup - Pumpkin Soup with Pine Nut
I think the Pine Nuts add wonders to the soup here.
Ah Lun seen here with another Chef explaining on more dish...
主菜 文华传统蜜火腿, 炉烤菠菜鲑鱼卷 Main Dish - Honey Glazed Gammon Ham & Baked Salmon Wellington in Brioche
Opps, had forgotten to take picture for the surprise dish, Turkey with Chinese Herbs.
甜品 白兰地圣诞布丁 Dessert - Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce
Fellow blogger Deenise with myself, putting on the Xmas hat! "Ho Ho Ho!"
The organising team had also celebrated Ah Lun's birthday...
Ah Lun couldn't hide his emotions from the crowd... it was a surprised celebration for him, he mentioned that he usually don't celebrate his birthday!
The massive 100+ turnout for the festive gourmet trail!
Once again, thanks to omy.sg and wanbao for the invitation!
Lastly, listen to the staff from Mandarin Orchard Hotel sings and dance to the tune of familiar xmas songs!
It's been two whole weeks since I last posted here.
I found myself feeling overwhelmed with life, so I made the conscious decision to step back and say "no" to things.
Even things that I really enjoy, like blogging, because I simply didn't have the extra energy for it.
I'd like to encourage you all to follow my example and take care of yourself.
There's no need to worry about me. I'm OK. But I'm only OK because I made sure that I said "no" when I needed to, and I didn't allow guilt to get me to say "yes" when it wasn't right for me.
And you don't need to worry that I've been struggling with difficult situations. I haven't. My life has been full of blessings. Just a little too full, if you know what I mean!
Highlights?
Alana and I went to see Breaking Dawn together.
We enjoyed it, and I thought that Kristin Stewart did a good job of portraying the range of emotions that Bella experiences. But I hate it when they split a book into two movies and you have to wait ages for the second half. Aaaaargh!
We had some nice weather and I got the chance to wear my new swimsuit to the beach.
Unfortunately, the weather has turned foul since then and we've had nothing but cold and rain.
In other news, I sent in two job applications and had an interview for a third. Fingers crossed!
Elle Awards 2011 was held at Avalon @ Marina Bay Sands on Thursday, 17th November 2011. Many fasionistas & celebrities were there to grace the occasion, was there together with Huimin to witness the event, thanks for the invitation yea.
The theme was red...hmm, but not many dress up according to the theme yea. Lol.
A couple of awards were given out, Rebecca was there to give out the Actress and Actor of the Year award to Joanne Peh & Adrian Pang respectively..unfortunately both were unable to attend the event...
Breakout star of the year award goes to George Young, heard that he had many online votes as well. Pornsak had also won the Host of the year award. Congratulations!
There was also a fashion show featuring the Spring/Summer 2011 collections of koonhor and Raoul, paired with Swarovski eyewear and jewellery.
Ladies out there, any of the designs catch your eye?
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