Old Gang

Yay today despite our mismatched schedule and not to mention Jakarta's crazy traffic, we managed to get ourselves to the meeting point hehe. Me, Tik, and Di met up at a new mall, Central Park near Taman Anggrek mall. Miss Pam was supposed to meet us there but she couldn't make it. Too bad, ever since graduation, I haven't seen her. Well, anyway, we had dinner at Waraku and I ordered a tomato udon. Bad choice. It was ridiculously salty!
Ah almost forgot, Tik shared a wonderful news. One of our gang members, Lin, is officially pregger! Yaayyyy! Am so so happy for you dear. Hopefully I can join the club soon and we can go through that together haha

Greetings from Jakarta

We are here for our friend's wedding and before the holy matrimony ceremony this afternoon, we had "bakmi ujungpandang" for our breakfast. This noodle is hubby's fave dish and I can see why!

Delay, Delay, Delay

Aaarrrgghh Air Asia is getting worse and worse, so many delay cases recently and now my flight is being delayed for two hours!
If only we knew, we didn't rush through our dinner.
@さぼてん

Hair Bun

やった！I'm finally able to make it.

Breakfast after the Storm

Oh gosh, what a night! Yesterday I received a critical issue report and it was at 8 PM and that means only around midnight that we could do whatever things need to be done. And since it was midnite, no user was around to do live verification, and that leads to this morning' moment of truth. Praise the Lord, everything went back to normal.

So, this morning I deserved an extra special breakfast; lemon cream danish with Nespresso coffee and don't forget the ever favorite Indonesian instant noodle. Talk about moral and energy boost haha.

 

 

 

My Days in Sketches

.: November 04, 2012. Sunday :.

~ A Little Black Dress ~

 

.: November 04, 2012. Saturday :.

~ Dress Hunting ~

 

 

.: November 03, 2012. Friday :.

~ Cell Group Dinner ~

 

October Highlight

Goodbye October and say hello to November.

A Gift

How's your weekend? Mine spent looking for a dress to be worn at my friend's wedding next Saturday. Yet to find one, although somehow a little bracelet managed to sneak in. Well, well, I still have tomorrow to find the perfect dress before the working chaos rules in full force the next whole week. 

Technorati Tags: Illustrations, Journal, Sketch

Europe Day 2: I AmSterdam!

.: September 26, 2012 :. 

It was Amsterdam free and easy day for us. We touched down at around 10 AM local time at Schiphol airport. Next to the airport is the station, in the same building, so navigating your way to city is fairly easy. The ladies went big eyes for all the cheap and fresh, pretty flowers haha. 

The train ride to Amsterdam took probably 20 minutes or so. We alighted at Amsterdam Centraal Station, an old, red bricked building but still looking gorgeous. We took some photos *duh, of course* before rushing to a nearby tram stop. Tram no. 9 took the four of us - supposedly - near our hotel; NH Doelen, but the tram conductor mistakenly heard the address, I guess, and advised us to alight at one stop ahead. Hmm this should be our cue to question him again since we had the map and it was quite far from the central station, but we were thinking, oh what do we know? And we stepped outta tram after only one stop. So in the end, we dragged our luggages along the canal :p oh but bless Amsterdam, and the cold weather we *or at least I * were actually enjoying the long walk with all the beautiful canals and the bricked building. 

After asking around many times, we spotted our hotel and got ourselves checked in. Since the rooms would only be ready at 3 PM, we had our lunch at burger bar and bought tickets to Rotterdam. 

One hour it took to get to Rotterdam by train and we did the architectural walk as suggested by the lady at the tourist information counter. The route will pass by some landmark buildings and it takes approximately two hours. Rotterdam is said to have a mix of old and new buildings. We took photos at the famous Erasmus Bridge and didn't bother to finish the rest of the route hahaha geez it was windy at that time. We took tram all the way back to Rotterdam central station to catch a next train to Amsterdam. 

 

~ Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam ~

 

 

Technorati Tags: Europe, Netherlands, Travelling, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Erasmus Bridge

Europe Day 1: SG - Helsinki

Our flight was at 11:30pm and I had been having this awful migraine since the day before, so it was hard to get excited about traveling when what you wanted most was to get a nice sleep. So yeah, a rough start for me.

But thank God, after a long sleep in the plane, that nasty migraine disappeared!

12 hours later we touched down at Helsinki international airport. We waited 1.5 hours before changing flight to Amsterdam.

Technorati Tags: Europe, Helsinki, Travelling

Shopping Spree

.: September 23, 2012. Sunday :.

I skipped church service this morning which always the case whenever I need to work at Saturday midnight up until 6 AM Sunday morning. The timing of my work schedule seems to always clash with my ushering schedule, so this morning hubby went to church alone and I met him afterward for lunch. We had lunch with my cousin at Ichibanboshi, a new Japanese rest at Takashimaya (one of our faves).

The fun started after lunch. A second shopping spree for items to be brought for our Europe trip! Hubby went crazy for shoes, too cute ahhaha. I bought a moleskine sketchbook and a watercolor book, some new synthetic brushes, and gouache tube. Yeah, I'm planning to sketch in Europe, can hardly wait! Bought some pairs of tights as well and just about when we declared that the shopping was done, we passed a new store selling Japanese-style clothes. You guess, I walked in and ended up buying :p

No more shopping for months, promise :D

 

~ Bon Voyage! ~

(mixed with white gouache)

This Present Darkness

Piercing the Darkness, This Present Darkness, and The Prophet by Frank E. Peretti. I finished reading all those and I'm left with wanting more. His novels are the kind that give me a sweet aftertaste. Um you know the thing about a great novel, a literature-prize-worthy type of novels, they left you with a disturbed, somewhat gloomy feeling. Most of them. Ones, such as my favourites, Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Those are great novels no doubt, me a great fan of the author and I very much enjoyed the story and actually out hunting for them if I'm tired of those chicklits.

But, it is different with Frank E. Peretti's novels. I felt *oh, this will sound funny and cheesy* warm and peaceful, albeit you get almost the same story weight as from those other more serious novels. So it's somewhere in the middle. I like it.

I was first introduced to one of his works by our cell group friend, back in 2010. This Present Darkness. At first I was a bit sceptical, especially when I knew it was a Christian fiction novel. I mean, in my mind it was expected to be a lousy, corny novel. But in the end I decided to give it a try, maybe even read a few chapters. So I borrowed the book. And, I was glad I did. This Present Darkness (as well as its sequel, Piercing the Darkness) are definitely a page turner, about a spiritual warfare that in physical life is actually the hidden agenda or often the wrongdoings of social issues that people molds and covers to make it look good and even acceptable. A deception. So in his novels, he presented this and trying to get the reader to think and go back to the truth, what is wrong and what is right.

Definitely a soul stirring book. Frank E. Peretti is a Christian fiction writer and some of his books have been adapted to big screen as well. Now is one of my fave author based on the three novels I read. I'll be on the next book soon (The Oath).

Gardens by the Bay

.: August 09, 2012. Thursday :.

It was Singapore's Independence Day, so we had one day off at that day. And since there's a new attraction - Gardens by the Bay - opened up not more than a month ago, we decided to go take a look. What a hot hot day and we arrived at around 12 PM! Me going out there, walking under a direct sunlight? Without an umbrella? Not a chance. So we went to Marina Bay Sands and hang out at a cafe there. After two hours or so, I was finally ready to embrace the sun. It was still hot *and humid* but it was nothing compared to the beautiful landscapes around us. The gardens have the most famous backdrops in Singapore. Marina Bay Sands hotel and Singapore Flyer.

 

These huge trees definitely have become a new landmark in Singapore. Supertree Grove. We didn't have a chance to walk the bridge (sky walk) connecting the super trees. The admission was closed at 4PM because of the National Day Parade that was to be held soon nearby. The entrance fee for the sky walk is $5.

 

~ Flower Dome ~

 

~ Cloud Dome, there is a waterfall inside and a smaller sky walk. It's so cool. ~

 

Homemade Burger with French Bread

 .: July 28, 2012. Saturday :.

Over a week ago, after watching a TV cooking show and noted down all the ingredients, I was planning to make my own sandwiches. I love my sandwich with ciabatta loaves but unfortunately, the bakery slash cafe we visited didn't have them at that moment, so we took the french bread instead. I made this in two different occasions. The first attempt, the patty was a bit bland but my sweet hubby said it was nice haha. The second attempt, I put in garlic paste and basil into the patty and it turned out to be really delicious!

The shot here is from the second attempt. Love the french bread, with its chewiness. Next time, it would be with ciabatta loaves.

 

 

 

 

~ Grilled the patties with my new le creuset grill pan ~

Breakfast at Gastronomia, Da Paolo

.: August 03, 2012. Friday :.

I had my day off today and so we went to embassy applying for visa. We were early, the appointment fixed at 09:30 AM and the guard didn't let us in unless it was 09:30 sharp! But I didn't mind at all. Oh the weather was just perfect, somewhere near cloudy but we still got sun. And the surrounding? Gosh, I love it. Pretty quiet coz the embassy is located just across the road from Botanical Garden, Bukit Timah entrance, and there are small, cozy cafes just a house away. Already we planned for a quick breakfast and me planning for a lunch as well in a cafe upstairs haha It was a struggle to keep up with the diet. Oh well. 

In the end though, hubby went back to office after applying visa so I got the rest of the day to myself. Ordered a huge breakfast with caffe latte, and I was glad I brought my book and sketchbook with me. Sitting outside, sketched passers-by while enjoying my breakfast was priceless. Honestly.

After the breakfast, on impulse, I entered the Botanical Garden, sketchbook and pen at hand.

Golden Bowl "Reunion"

.: July 29, 2012. Sunday :.

Gosh, time really flies like an arrow. It's been almost six years since the last time I met my boarding house mates, which was a year after I graduated and about to embark to a whole new world. And yet it feels like only yesterday haha. I miss my college time and staying in boarding house really helped me a lot in adapting to a new environment back then. So, I was really happy to meet them again even for a short while.

Penne all'arrabbiata

I bought a pasta cookbook titled "Pasta *of course…* and decided to follow each recipe in the book until the last page :p Well, this book is a thick one with 391 pages and a recipe almost on each page. So yeah, I'll definitely take more than a year to try out each recipe haha.

So, the first dish is Penne All'arrabbiata.

Ingredients:

~ Olive oil

~ Garlic cloves, thinly sliced

~ Dried chillies, chopped

~ 1 tin of tomato pasta (I added some fresh tomatoes)

~ Penne or rigatoni

~ Basil

 

Mix all the ingredients, and add the cooked penne to the mixed tomato sauce. And there you have it, penne all'arrabbiata. Can't get more easier than that.

 

 

My First Samantha Thavasa Bag

.: July 21, 2012. Saturday :.

In preparation for the upcoming big trip in September *or rather, it was just me trying to justify this spending :p*, I bought this bag. My first and last Samantha Thavasa bag.

Personally, the smaller version looks cuter but I'm in dire need of bigger bag :D Inside, there's a divider with a fixed zipper compartment right in the middle, so that's good. 

Macaroni Schotel and Wanton Soup

.: June 24, 2012. Sunday :.

It's one of my favorite comfort dish! Dip it in our famous ABC chili sauce and I'm a happy gal haha.

Well, It was time to try out my le creuset bakeware and what better dish to make than this macaroni schotel. We did buy another le creuset's cocotte *ooh I fell in love with le creuset brand!* They are gorgeous. 

I used two cups of macaroni which made for 4 cocottes and 4 cupcake-sized silicone cups. I ended up having macaroni schotel for my dinner for 3 days in a row *I'm not complaining tho*.

 

Another dish made that night, wanton soup. We bought the skins and made the filling. Aah speaking of wanton, which almost the same as gyoza, I remember my ex-Korean room mate in Japan made gyoza and I felt inspired by her, like seriously, her cooking is fit for restaurant. Smell good and taste good. I often felt embarrassed and felt like a kid got caught eating crappy food by her mom, when she asked me what I would have for my dinner, since my reply was always standard. Either instant noodle or instant anything that can be cooked in microwave haha. Well, I guess the real advantage at that time was I always got to eat whatever she cooked.

Onigiri for Bento, Anyone?

.: July 15, 2012. Sunday :.

Oh I love cooking Japanese food. It's super easy, especially when it comes to onigiri. I bought an Onigiri recipe book, hm I don't even call it recipe coz really, it's up to your creativity and imagination when it comes to onigiri filling. Well, this book is a compilation of those very popular filling. 

I shaped my onigiris into small balls and wrapped them individually with cling films :D