Any Singaporeans Staying In Overseas

[lv_babygirl]

Hi All,

Was reading the thread and found it interesting. Unfortunately I am not in UK or Italy, but am in Singapore but am from Perth.

Interestingly, been to Italy some 2-3 years back when my boyfriend was posted to Milan for work so managed to visit couple of places in Italy whilst we were there. We wanted to take the eurorail to UK but the pass was so expensive so instead we took the opportunity to drive around Italy during the weekends. Didn't manage to visit Turin unfortunately. Maybe because I grew up in Perth, I didn't quite appreciate Europe as much as I would have liked however, I like the architectural designs at St Peters cathedral at the Vatican

When I read that one of you is visiting Perth, kinda reminisced about it after being in Sg for 6 years now...time flies. Planning to visit my family comes Dec but we'll see how it turns out. No I am not married yet, but soon to in 2 months time. And boy am I feeling the tension and stress of the prep work now.

Sounds like most of you are doing your house hunting wherever you are. Unfortunately I am not even THERE YET and we're not in the point of looking at the moment...sigh! as Cindy said it, prices of properties are sky high, I felt that in Singapore. Sometimes it's beyond means of even purchasing one. Not just in Singapore but I think properties around the world has gone up. I am sure the cost of living in UK is pricey too, I can't ever imagine it...

Hope to join this thread...Have a great day!!

 

[mrs_n]

Haha looks like I'm the sotong one here. Thanks Cass for the link. Her blog looks real interesting. How are you coping? Must be quite tough moving to a new country and with a small baby.

You're welcome Ee-ling, your birthdate sort of stuck b'cos it was our first choice for a wedding date and also what made it unusual was that during one of our MSN chats with Liz and Pauline, Liz said she had the same birthday as you. Haha! So it was kind of exceptional to know two people who had the same birthday, whom I 'met' online and who are both Singaporeans living in europe.

Anyway hope you had a great day.

Cindy my hubby pulled the plant out on Sunday.

Said I'd be better off planting the real thing. Now I need to go and look for Mint seeds again! This would be my 3rd attempt to grow them. The first time I planted the seeds directly into the garden but I think the birds ate them.

I think I would grow them in the house this time.

Have you tried looking just outside Soton? My friend is also looking to buy a place but as London is too ex she is looking at the counties just outside. She is narrowing her search to towns which has trains into Kings X, Euston or St Pancreas as she works around that area. Maybe you could go to the train station and do the same? Otherwise, you could ask for a transfer and move up North where generally housing is slightly cheaper and you could get kaya easily

. Or if all else fails, you could always ask your hubby to quit his architect job and become a footballer seeing that he is mad on football!

Hi Karen you're more than welcome to join us. Wow you must be pretty busy with your wedding in two months time. Is it going to be in Perth?

 

[tootsieroll]

hi Cass,
Was directed here by MrsN. Welcome to England!

Where in London are you? I'm on maternity leave at the moment - I have a 5 month old boy. We live in Essex. How do you spend your days?

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Mrs N

Yeah I am quite busy, rushing out our wedding bulletin for Church, almost done but not quite there yet. Wedding will take place in SG, I totally couldn't do the coordinating for Perth, the Singapore coordination is more than enough work for me. We wanted to do 2 initially for Perth and Singapore but because it's too much work we've decided to just hold it in Singapore, since I am here to get it all done. The last 6-7 months have been pretty crazy, it was photo takings in May, plus attending marriage preparation course for 2 full months in the early half of the year. I just can't wait till the whole event is over. We managed to engaged the services of a wedding planner to help me out. It's hard enough as it is as my parents aren't here. And being foreign to Singapore doesn't quite help. We're in the midst of finalizing just bits and pieces of things. My parents flying in in November so also trying to get accommodation arranged...yeah well, as weeks come I think the whole effect will just snowball at me not that i am looking forward to it as I still have work to juggle with haha.

Nonetheless, thanks for the invite

you have a great day ahead...it's way past midnight here in Singapore and I need to catch my zzz for yet another long day at the office tomorrow...

Cheers!

 

[mrs_n]

Hi Karen yeah can understand how you are feeling. It was the same for me. Was doing my thesis write up in the same year, so didn't have time for anything 'weddingy'. In the end I just left everything to my hubby. We had our wedding in the UK but my mum insisted I have a thanksgiving mass cum celebration in S'pore too. But luckily she & my aunts took care of the S'pore side. I remember there were times when I just wished eveything was over and done with as it was stressing me out. Well, when the going gets tough, a little prayer will help to calm those nerves.

Is your fiance a S'porean?

Hey Cass, nice chatting with you yesterday. Hope 'Mr Moo' is enjoying life in England.

I think it takes a while to get used to a place. If not for my BIL's family living next door, I would be very lonely around here. But it helps that my husband has lived in this village all his life so most of our neighbours know him. Its a nice & friendly village but I'm the only Asian there so I kind of stand out. Hahaha!

I used to feel that people tend to look twice at me but I've gotten used to it. It's not so bad in the bigger cities though as they are more cosmopolitan. What's it like in Richmond? Is that your hubby's hometown?

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Mrs N,

No my fiance isn't Singaporean, he's Malaysian but SG PR. We met in church when I was on holiday back in Perth. Cut the story short our parents are family friends. The rest as they say are history

. will probably share the story with you more on msn or something

I presumed you moved all the way over to UK with your hubby after you gotten married...

I never quite realized that my time in SG which supposedly meant for only a 2 year thing turned out to be 6 years and now am getting married here, sometimes, you never quite expect the unexpected as they say. I am hoping to finish up the wedding bulletin tonight finalizing all the hymns and all that after which it will be submitted for approval to the church.

I just can't wait to get this whole extravaganza over and done with sometimes it gives you more than just a headache. The RSVPS are slowly coming in so I just hope I will be able to get this off on the right note. Anyways, hope you're enjoying life in UK...how long have you been there now? Speak to you soon!!

 

[buzzy]

Hi Karen,

A warm welcome to the chatroom. Read that your are currently busy with yr wedding preparation. Wow, must be exciting. Of cos, i understand the stress that brides went through, but believed that it was afterall worth it.

I had the 'toughest' preparation time last year for the wedding held in March this year. It was crazy. I had everthing arranged like the hotel, the gown, etc over a year in advance. Imagine, i got the gown tailor make a yr b4 the actual day, hw weird is it.

Even when i m over in UK, the preparation stuffs jst keep on adding more n more.. i was on the internet searching n hunting for things like florist, shoes, wedding favours..

When i went back Sin, it was another nitemare.. rushing everyday to meet the studio ppl, the florist, etc...so a holiday back sin was not really a holiday for me as i was pre-occupied with all these chores.

The wedding day passed by so quickly before i knew. I am sure u will enjoy it and be a beautiful bride too.

Hi Mrs N,
I went for a hse viewing yesterday. This time round, not really in the city centre but abt 0.5miles away. Strangely to me, i felt that all hses in soton looked much the same.. those old victorian houses. Dun really knw if that is what i would like to have but we did put in an offer n to my surprise, our offer was accepted.

I felt so 'neutral' even though it was accepted cos i think i had sort of given up hopes on property in soton ( 4 times of 'gezumping'... i am sure u heard abt this lingo...) To have a hse to me is definately great, but i am nt as excited as before.

I knew even though the offer was accepted, we will still live in fear for the fact of others offering a higher price. Cos u never know what's going to happen till the day the contract is exchanged and the house is yours finally.

Hi Cass,
Hope to catch up with you soon... Have a nice day ahead.

 

[casscl]

Hi tootsieroll;

Thanks

We live in Richmond (Twickenham, Middx to be exact), relocated here in July.

I look after my 8-month old son myself. It is nice that we're near the River Thames, the town centre and Kew Gardens - we go for walks in the afternoon when the weather is good. Also signed him up with Gymboree so he gets to meet other babies

But at times I feel quite lonely cos I've not made any friends. I'm currently looking into signing up for salsa lessons cos i used to do it in SG - hopefully can make some friends.

I'm thrilled to find out that you've also got a little bub. How're you coping? Is Essex far from where I am? Sorry, can't quite grasp the geography of UK yet

My MSN id is [email protected] if you want to chat

Hi Mrs N;

My parents are here for a holiday - Mr Moo is loving it cos he's getting alot of attention, very 'manja' indeed

My hubby grew up in Hemel Hempstead and is more familar with North London. I see asian faces here, so I don't get second looks like you do. Richmond is quite nice i must say, lots of nice shops and cafes in the bustling town centre.

Hi Cindy;

Have a good thursday, chat with u soon.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Cindy,

Thanx for sharing - sounds like you had a pretty amazing 2005?! ONE YEAR of prep work for the big day and omph, it's over in March this year. Unfortunately I didn't quite have that "luxury" might I say in preparing for the wedding a year in advance. It was all very hush hush, in Dec last year the big announcement came and it was off we went looking for the right place, right date and right everything to hold the wedding. I was up till midnight last night finalizing all the texts to our bulletin. You know just when you think its easy to get everything done, in fact it isn't. Get calls my parents every week asking how things are going etc. Little did I know we've pretty much towards the end of the 3rd week of Sept. Needless to be remind, yes I know another a month and a bit to go till the big day.

But the feeling you went through for your big day is the exact feeling I am going through now...cold jitters I guess. You never quite get over that I think even walking through the aisle to the altar until the very last breath when you say "I do" haha. Fingers cross, I just hope it will all pan out well

thanks for your vote of confidence

So how long you've been working in the UK or living in the UK for? I have a uni friend who packed her bags after having a 2-3 year stint working in Melbourne just moved right over to UK. Next thing I knew last year she got hitch and bought a nice place in Essex

Read that you finally bought a place of your own, but I can at the same time sense that you've mixed feelings about the place. I am sure it will work out in the end. It's a funny we get sometimes, when we think just when we found what we want, and we are excited about what's ahead, there's this little voice inside of us comes asking "is this really it?" NOt sure if you've ever encountered that but I get that sometimes. And that kinda puts us in doubt. Well, I always believe that if something is yours, it will always be yours

Sounds cliche as it may seemed but I believe the same principle applies regardless.

Anyways, it's 9am here, better get back to work

you know, since joining this thread and I must say, it can be rather "addictive" haha nonetheless, thanks for sharing...have a fab day ahead!! Hear from you soon!!

 

[mrs_n]

Hi Karen I worked in s'pore for almost 6 years then packed my bags, and left for the UK to do a phd. And like you, I met my husband in Church too.

I've been in the UK for about 5 years. 4 of those were spent in Sheffield and the last year was in Wheatley. Life is ok but moving from a city to a village takes a bit of getting used to considering that I have lived in a city most of my life.

Oh well, I'm sure you'll get most things sorted out. Don't worry too much, leave everything in God's hands, and He will bless you with a lovely wedding.

Cindy you ok? You don't sound overly happy and excited about the house, almost kind of unsure. Are you afraid of liking it too much just in case the deal falls through and you have to go through all the process of searching again? Fingers crossed that everything will work out this time.

But then, if you don't feel right about the house then maybe you should reconsider your decision, after all buying a house is a very big financial commitment.

Cass, glad to hear that Mr Moo is enjoying all the attention. Enjoy your time with your parents.

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi there Mrs N,

I had forgotten that Liz's bd is also on the same day as mine

Liz,

Happy Belated Birthday! I'm sure you had a wonderful bd celebration since it was your first in Netherlands and being Mrs Rutter Drop us a note when you aren't too busy with lessons.

Cindy,

good to hear that you two have put an offer on something. Mrs N is right, you have to be really sure about it because it will be something you will be living in for some years. Anyway I think if it's meant to be, it will be yours. No worries!

Cass,
It was nice chatting with you and Mrs N the other day, hope we can do that another time. Mr Moo is one lucky babe to be enjoying the love and attention of his grandparents. I'me sure everyone is having a good time. You're lucky to be staying where you are cos it sounds really green, peaceful and clean so I'm sure that's great for bringing Mr Moo out for walks too. When I see mothers in Turin with their baby prams around the centre and along the roadsides, I always wonder if it's really a good idea cos Turin being a city (although not a big and very busy one), there is traffic and cars everywhere and the air is not that 'pristine'. You have to share some pics of Mr Moo with us some time!

BTW where did you learn salsa when you were in Singapore? I took a course at the Attitude Dance Studio for 4 months (basic salsa) but I gave up at the end cos I'm not very good at 'body coordination' I realised I am more of a 'free style' dancer I have a couple of cousins and a few friends who learnt salsa from that school and who are still very much into it.

Hi Karen,
Welcome to this thread. It's nice to know someone who's from Perth. I miss that place heaps and I can't wait to visit it again at the end of the year or in early Jan next year before we head back here. It's been nearly 10 years since I last set foot on Perth.

How do you like it in Singapore so far? How is it for you compared to Perth? Do you visit your parents often?

I think preparing for a wedding is normally stressful for all brides but at the same time, it can be quite fun and 'interesting' and you get to 'learn' more about your FH.

I also didn't have much time to prepare for my wedding last year. Only 6 months! and hubby wasn't really as 'kan cheong' as me till we had only like a couple of months left before the wedding. We also held three small wedding receptions (a church wedding plus lunch in Italy) plus two wedding dinners in Singapore (one for relatives and another for friends). There was a lot of coordination work but because we kept it all really simple n small and my parents did most of the 'leg work' in Singapore so it all turned out really well. Thank goodness.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Mrs N,

Sounds like you definitely made a good move on over to the UK and now making it "home", think after moving out from a competitive city like SG, I'd definitely say, UK is more laxed minus the stress that I've witnessed in the 6 year period that I've been in Sg. Unfortunately I've never been to the UK, but I've heard a lot about it through from some friends of mine who either live there, studied there or just holidayed there. Must find a time to visit one day

Thanks for your well wishes and vote of confidence in my upcoming wedding. As the week progresses it seemed the big day is just around the corner. My wedding planner took a week off to M'sia for a holiday retreat back to her home town which left me in a way, STRESS FREE without having her bug me to get this and that done . The last headache was the church wedding bulletin and I got that done on Wed night, and I was totally OUT last night fast asleep by 10pm. Couldn't take the late night out that i spent for 2 straight nights.

TGIF here, so you have a great weekend ahead...catch ya soon!

HI Ee-ling,

Thanks for the note. Yeah, you know I never quite expect myself to be in SG for so long. It was only meant to be a 2 year thingy and it just dragged next thing I knew 6 years just gone by just like that, and now I am getting married...it's funny because you never quite imagine it to turn out this way but when it did you kinda pinch yourself if it is really happening.

Singapore is relatively faster pace in terms of lifestyle and work, for Perth is slow and I kinda missed those walks I used to have at Kings Park and South Perth. When you're stress at night you have those nice parks to walk and destress, but in SG, because I am so mosquito proned, you'd never find me in East Coast park or any beaches for that matter. It's more of shopping centers but again - it's the lifestyle environment here in Sg. A vast difference between the two cities. My parents come in and out to visit me, I'd usually make it a YEARLY visit to see them. It's a nice place to relax after a stressful year in Singapore.

Having said that of course, I've however learnt something from Singapore too, maybe it's because of the competitive nature here, now I understood why some of my friends once said, there's really no room for second placing. You're either the icing of the cake or the rotten core of the apple and really, there's no in between. If I may sum it up, survival of the fittest. Kinda missed the slower pace of life like I used to have in Perth of course but at the same time, if I never came to Singapore, I wouldn't have learnt so much and saw so many things in the 5-6 years that I've been here. It was a definite culture shock for me, even though I am chinese but the the environmental and social factors are an adjustment to me. At the same time, I also picked up Mandarin too, god that was certainly challenging to me. But these days in Singapore, due to the CHINA influence every job in the market requires you to be effectively bilingual written and spoken. For me, I'd usually lose out in the written part, spoken, it's not even 50% hahah, maybe just like 30-40%?! And don't even talk about dialects, it's ZERO...haha But of course again these are all trying experiences for me in the time that I've been in Singapore.

6 months to prepare a wedding sounded a tad short and stressful but 3 receptions seemed a lot to handle...I am just doing 1 and it's enough work on my end. Yeah I can't agree with you more on that coordination part which is why for me, I never believed in having a huge wedding, not a big fan of it. I'm happy just doing a small one with close family friends and relatives. After all, a wedding to me, is an intimate union between two people surrounded by the love of their families and friends. I am thankful having engaged a wedding planner to assist us during this event. For my wedding, I placed high emphasis on quality from cards, food, to wine, cakes, wedding favours and whatever else you could think of, I am not too concerned about the quantity. And because of the quality things I am going for, we've been spending quite a bit...sigh! yeah well, as people kept telling me, it's once in a lifetime at the same trying to keep costs down!!

Oh well...anyways, you like it in Italy so far?? As mentioned during the time when my fiance was posted to Milan and Sicily for work for 2.5 months we took the weekends to drive around Italy - went to Genoa, Rome, the Vatican, Pisa, Venice, Verona, and Florence. Missed Turin. I wanted to go Sardinia but heard it was quite far from Milan and so we gave that a missed. But my fav city is Florence. I thought it exudes the charm of Italy.

TGIF, have a great weekend ahead...better get back to work!! heheh, catch ya later

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi Karen,

Wow, being posted to Italy for 2.5mths was pretty long. I'm sure you two had a great time exploring and savouring Italian food!

Florence is my favourite city too! If I could choose to live in another Italian city, I'd choose Florence! Whenever friends or family visit us, I'd bring them to Florence.

Sardinia is quite a distance away from Milan. We went to Sardinia in June. We went by an overnight ferry together with our car from Genoa and it took about 10 hours BUT it's definitely worth it. There are so many stunning beaches all on one island!

OK gals, have a great weekend and 'see' you all here next week or online

 

[buzzy]

Hi Karen,

Sounds like you be having a much more relaxing time since yr planner is away..take this opportunity to have a break. A nice spa will be nice. A lot of brides usually treat themselves with nice spa etc. Lay back, relax...and enjoy Really eager to see your wedding pics.. remember to keep us posted

Hi Mrs N,
I will be re-viewing the property that we put offer in tomorrow. Since this is the most costly investment in my lives, so we must make sure that it's the right one for us especially i got 'second thoughts' abt it.

In fact, over the past few days, i somemore grown to like this house. However, in the mean time, we had told the property agent that we are reconsidering it and will give them our decisions when we view it tomorrow.

Hi Ee-ling,

I am still having a little bit of hestitation over the property. This is such a major decision in my life and the thought of it being mine for years make me feel 'stressed';P

Nethertheless, i had arranged another viewing to ensure that i do really like it despite that i can see myself living in it. I feel that might be a good sign to start with .. hmm.

Hi Cass,
Hope you are enjoying yr new life in Richmond! Catch u on msn soon

 

[casscl]

Hi ee-ling;

It was nice chatting with you too. I really can't complain about where I live, this is a good place to bring up kids (can't say the same about the high standard of living though).

Here's a pic of Mr Moo learning to crawl. This was taken a week after arriving here. He's a full-fledge crawler now

You make Turin sound like Bangkok, haha. When I think about Italy, old roman architectures and beautiful vineyards come to mind.

Hey, i learnt salsa from Attitude dance studio too! I was very much into it, learnt for over a year and danced socially for almost 2 years - i had to stop eventually cos I was pregnant with Mr Moo. Who knows, i might even know your cousins and friends.

I'm sure you'll do fine if you'd persevered

cos you'll realise after Basic and Intermediate, the dance steps will become second nature to you.... provided you social dance on a weekly basis

Hi Karen;

Welcome

I'm new to this thread too.

I cannot agree with you more - that you're supposed to be surrounded by family/friends who love and care for your at your wedding.

My parents wanted to invite 300 guests to my wedding dinner (why would we want my mum's karaoke class's instructor to be at our wedding!?!). Hubby and i cut cut cut the list and ended with about 100 guests. Needless to say, my parents were livid but i think they eventually understood that it's our big day and as long as we're happy..that's all that matters.

Hope all is going well for your wedding preparation

Hey Cindy;
Good luck on the property-viewing tomorrow. Chat with u soon.

Have a nice weekend!

 

[ee_lingt]

Cass,

Awwwwwwww..... Mr Moo is sooooooo adorable! I love his eyes and smile. I'm sure he is the result of good genes from his parents

 

[lv_babygirl]

Morning Ladies,

Trust that all of you had a great weekend. My weekend just flew by so fast, was out on Saturday with couple of gfs - shopping, I didn't wanna get anything but ended up buying a dress and top. Then on Sunday it was church and cell group at St Andrew's so that pretty much took up the whole day. And yesterday evening, fiance and I spent 2 hrs finalizing the wedding invites to the remainder of the people we wanted to invite in Sg and cutting out people whom we're not exactly close to

so Cass I can definitely understand where you're coming from when you chopped your list to 100 from 300

. By the way, MR MOO is sooooooooooooooooooo cute, love his sweet smile and his eyes

no wonder he's the apple of everybody's eyes.

Yeah I am hoping for my photos to be ready next month, and hopefully I will get that posted online so you guys could have a view of it

Right now I don't even have time to think about having a spa or facial for relaxation, no time for that, I am also quite preoccupied with a lot of things on my mind these days. So we'll leave the relaxation probably till after my wedding is over. It seems that as the big day approaches, we're more vexed and stressed out, hoping for best.

Anyways, it's another long week ahead here at the office, I can only look forward to another weekend. In any case, here's my msn [email protected] if you want to add me.

Alright better get going, long day ahead for me here, speak to you soon!

cheers!

 

[mrs_n]

Ah Cass Mr Moo looks so sweet in the piccie! You must be so proud of him.

Karen sounds like you had a super busy weekend. On the bright side, at least you got some jobs done which means lessening your to do list. Hurray, that's something to smile about!

Cindy hope the second viewing will ease your doubts and well just hope everything goes well for you. Fingers crossed!

ee-ling will try and catch you online one of these days.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Mrs N,

Yeah I haven't seen you in a while on this page, I guess you must have been quite busy lately. You're the right the weekend for me has been quite a busy one. We have collegue leaving on Thursday this week moving towards a greener pasture...whilst for me, I've been busy with my own things, look forward to the evening. I didn't quite have a good rest last night but am meeting up with a gf tonight to catch up since it's her b'day tomorrow.

Yeah, I am kinda glad most of what is required to be done for our wedding is done so right now it's a matter of getting it out in order and ensuring that it's carried out properly for the day

Hope all are well on your end, speak to you soon!!! Cheers!

 

[mrs_n]

Hi Karen have added you to MSN.

Yeah was busy helping our new parish priest to design a newsletter over the weekend. His computer has broken down so I offered to help him out. Haha! And now he has sort of 'hired' me to do the job for him.

Another busy week for you I see, but its nice to be 'busy' doing something else other than the wedding related stuff. Can't remember if you already told us, but what are you working as in S'pore that keeps you so busy?

 

[buzzy]

Hi Cass,

Wow, Mr Moo is sooooo adorable!! Simply loves his little smile.. he is so charming! It's no wonder he is the apple of his grandparent's eyes...

Hi Mrs N,

Hope you had a great weekend. In conclusion, we withdraw the offer on the house on saturday. After our second inspection, we realised that the house does'nt really feel right, as in the floor is sloping to one side internally, the rainwater system was badly corroded over the years etc. However, we were lucky to have come across another house opposite the one we were viewing which is up for sale. We were really pleased with the second house and our offer had been accepted. However as it involves in a forward chain, we had to hold on to our offer while the seller hunt for his new house. Fingers crossed...i am looking forward to the day i move into the house.

Hi Karen,
Hope you feel much relax since most of the wedding preparations are done. We will all be excited for your coming wedding. When is your wedding day by the way? May it be a pretty day with sunshine and laughters..

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi,

God you wouldn't believe this, I lost all that texts that I written and now I have to retype everything all over

cannot believe it!!! Don't ever buy a FUJITSU laptop...

Mrs N:

You know what, I never gotten the request to the adding?! Could you either email me the your username of re-add me to your list?! Thanks, sorry!! Looks like you're pretty busy with all that new design works that you'll be doing for the church bulletin, but I think it's pretty easy once you have the template, just have to sychronise all the texts in

Yeah, no don't think I told you guys what I was doing, I am working in the areas of corporate communications with the civil service. Last month was just super busy, I didn't get to bed till 3am every night even to the day of the event launch of some new technology stuff with the some of the IT giants Here's a snapshot of of the event:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/226782/1/.html

Now I am scrambling to organize a public sector seminar which will take place at the Supreme Courts end of Oct. Am in the midst of writing the paper at the moment. Just when one project is over another came snowballing at me, but I guess, it's better to have work than no work I suppose. Hope you're keeping well...

Hi Cindy,

Sounds like all of you are more excited about my upcoming wedding than I am, I am more stressed and worried about the big day as weeks go. I know I should be enjoying it but I am not, I remembered how my gf shared with me how she was totally stressed out from the day she was getting married to the the big day I couldn't understand why but now that i am going through the kinda stress she went through I can now understand why she was worried even right up until the big day.

The big day is 18th Nov - actually I wanted it to be on the 25th Nov, but lord knows my mom suggested 18th because she said it's a good date?! Whatever that meant...but apparently I heard from my wedding planner that 18th Nov is a pretty popular date and I came to find out later that most of the venues were fully booked when we scouted for good a place to hold the wedding dinner.

Anyways, that was another headache because most venues needed a minimum number of at least 15 tables to 25 tables. We didn't have the numbers to begin with. I wanted only 8 tables, something small, and my fiance wanted 10 and we were had our little issues there, I guess I didn't want to invite Tom, Dick and Harry to my wedding so in the end we settled for 10. Last I looked, our guest list looks alright, still a bit more to go.

Anyways, the church wedding bulletin approval should be ready by today, so hopefully finger crossed, they didn't make too many changes to it, getting my designer to do up the creatives for it once the texts are finalized. We'll be having our food tasting next month plus the collection of my tailor made cheong sam. I had my first fitting some 3 weeks back, it looked good so I am looking forward to the finishing works.

We only just discussed the floral decors for the church and venue with my wedding planner before she left for her trip so when she returns we'll be probably just finalize all the details to that. Am getting her to help coordinate all the logistics leading up to the big day. Must admit she is pretty organized. I happen to find her when I was browsing through one of the pages on styleweddings.com or Singaporebride.com. We were impressed with her floral decors for the church, and her service fees suited our budget requirements. Recently I came to know that she coordinated my cousin's wedding some 2 years back, small world

anyways, she was good, and I was quite happy with her thoroughness and her eye to detail. Fingers crossed we hope to have nice weather on the big day

Anyways, I am glad to hear that you found a nice place after much deliberations

well, sometimes, it's worth your time to have a second look before committing. But am glad that you've found what you wanted in the end

Alright I better get going, take care and speak to you again.

Cheers!

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi Cindy,
Congrats on having found a place that you like! I'm sure you are relieved and excited. Now, you can start thinking about the interior decoration. We're still hunting, kinda given up on that first place that we saw that we really like cos it's just too expensive. So the search continues and I hope we won't take too long to find our home.

Mrs N,
have fun with the church newsletter. Perhaps, the priest might 'engage' you to be permanently in charge of all future newsletters

Karen,
Is your tailor made cheongsam from the bridal boutique as well? I had a cheongsam for my wedding too but I got my cheongsam and wedding gown from two different boutiques.

Who's your wedding planner? Equinox sounds like a really romantic place for your wedding dinner. Have you tried their buffets served on normal days?

Gotta run gals. Ciao!

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Ee-Ling,

No my cheong-sam isn't made by the bridal boutique, I was refered to a tailor by a friend and she was rather good with her workmanship, the lady works from home, she lives up in the east part of Singapore. My bridal package didn't include the tea ceremony dress, actually I wasn't even going to do tea ceremony until my aunt openly tell us that she is looking forward to the tea ceremony, that's how the cheongsam issue was threw in

. We engaged Spellbounds to assist in our wedding...

Thanks, yeah we picked Equinox because it was just opposite the church easy access for our overseas guests and we took into consideration that if it's raining at least it's sheltered all the way. Unfortunately, I have not tried their food. After spending 2-3 years in the hotel industry, and having travelled abroad for business and eating hotel foods, I appreciated the food served at coffee shop in Singapore

Alright we'll speak again!

Cheers!

 

[mrs_n]

Hi Karen yeah I thought it was a bit funny that your name was added immediately to my list of contacts, normally I thought it had to be accepted first. Perhaps MSN was having a 'blond' moment.

Can understand the work pressure of working in the CS. I used to work for the CS too. Well so long as you have the work you'll never be made redundant.

Cindy glad you found something more to your liking. Hope you will be able to move in soon and then ...... we can come down and visit you!

Ee-ling he told me he wanted me to help him with this while he finds his feet or until I find a job. He said he was willing to pay me to do it but I don't mind doing it voluntarily. Anyway, I've been looking up some jobs on the website and was thinking of applying for a part time job as a home carer for the elderly or disabled. I used to work part time as a support worker for a disabled couple when I was at uni and I quite enjoyed it. Pay wasn't bad but I think the real satisfaction comes from knowing that you're making a difference in someone's life. Besides it's in Doncaster so not too far away.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Mrs N,

Outta curiousity what was the username you had on MSN that you were added immediately on your list of msn? Because it just occured to me that yesterday I blocked someone but not sure if the person was you, I get weird requests so yeah hehehe and when I see an unfamiliar name I would usually block the person? Sorry bout that

I left office on the DOT today haha, totally burnt out...came home for dinner when my fiance bought take away duck, had that, and out he went again and here I am at home lounging around?! Planning to catch an early night, quite sleepy!! Or I'll just burn it on watcing more KOREAN dramas soapy whatever...hey you guys have The Bold and Beautiful shown in UK? Dang I missed that show in Perth, these days I just have to read their summary of what's happening in the soapy world on the worderful world of the internet hehehe. Please don't tell me you watch Eastenders, or is it Neighbours or Home and Away? heheheh

I used watch Neighbours in high school and I thought it was boring after years or it, after that, I totally lost touch with who died, who left and who's on now?! heheh anyways, will leave you to it then...have a great day ahead...

Cheers!

 

[buzzy]

Hi All!!

Wow, this forum is getting hotter than ever.. i can hardly catch up with all. Puff puff... let me have a little chance to chat up while it's my lunch time now..

Hey Karen,
Nice chatting with you this morning. I got so engrossed that i missed the morning bus.. Hee. Was about half an hour late for work.. oops.

Oh yr wedding is on the 18/11... hey that is the date me n my hubby chose initially and that is my parent's wedding anniversary date as well. However we didnt go ahead with the date cos it is sort of near xmas which is a bit impossible for us to head back to sin. I guessed the reason why it is such a popular date is becose it sounded very auspicious in mandarin. I bet many hotels are fully booked on popular dates.

Curious.. what type of cheongsam u gotten for your tea ceremony? I didnt hv cheongsum for tea ceremony but had it as the evening gown. Mine wasnt those traditional cheongsum.. I would agreed it wasnt a easy piece of gown to tailor. In fact, it took me so many trips down to the bridal boutique to make sure it was right and fit perfectly after 4 fittings.. maybe i am just too fussy...

Whats new in korea dramas.. they r my fav! I din hv the chance n time to buy the dvds back to uk the last time i back to sin. Think the 'latest' collection that i got is 'Da Chang Jing.. Jewel in the palace'... how outdated i am..

Oh, Eastenders, Home and Away are none of my favorites.=P However, we got lots of home ID shows which are my cup of teas.. Oh yesh, another programme which i watched.. Suppernanny... i tink they r showed in channel 5 in sin..That was one of the program that 'horrify' me most..

Hi Mrs N,
Yesh, pls feel free to drop me a visit sometime. Mayb we can arrange one big gathering for those living in UK!! Its not a big house.. but we feel really cosy when we are in. Hopefully, this time we wldnt get any more dissappointment again...i am looking forward to year end... hopefully we can move in by then n have a nice xmas in the new plc.

Oh yeash, i m thinking of converting my driving licence to a UK license. How do u find driving ard in UK.. so far, its my hubby who is doing the driving. There are jst too many roundabout which scares me off a bit. Not to say motorway, once u miss a turn.. thats gd luck to u cos u wldnt b able to make a turn back till say miles down the way... oh.. tats a bit stressful to drive yeah?

Hi Ee-ling,

Yah, the house search is painful. When u like a house.. there's so many factors to consider. For us, the location is very important as both myself n my hubby rely on the public transport at the moment. But again, to own a hse in the city centre is just too expensive. There is so much give n take. Its after one year of hse searching that we realise whats the real elements that we are looking for in a hse for it to call it ours..Have faith and patience.. Good luck.

Surprisingly, we are not into the hse deco issue yet. As u know, we still hv to wait for the seller to get his new hse. Noting is sort of confirm till the day the contract is exchanged then i will proudly call it mine. In the meantime.. just hoping for the best to happen.

Oh dear oh dear.. i hv to go back to my work again. Half a day more to go.. oh.... i am getting sleepy after my lunch

 

[ee_lingt]

Karen,

I used to watch the Bold and the Beautiful in Perth too!! I remember rushing home from Uni nearly every weekday at 1pm to watch it together with my housemates. We were all hooked!

I 'found' the programme again in Italy! They show half an hour of it every weekday and we're about a few months behind America so that's not so bad and I also check out the episode recaps on the net. The show is quite popular here especially with older ladies and housewives

As for Korean dramas, I have yet to get hooked onto them. Maybe I should try watching them when I'm back in Sing for a month in Dec. I'm counting down the days! Only about 70 more days to go.

Heh, for your gals living in the UK, are you able to get good mooncake? Last year, my parents and friends sent me some so we had a mini mooncake-lantern festival. This year, my parents aren't gonna send me any so I'll most probably have to get them from the Asian minimarkets here and they aren't very good at all and of course there is no variety. My hubby was thinking of driving us to Milan's Chinatown which should have a wider and better variety.

Have anyone of you ever made mooncakes before??

I tried making MUAH CHEE yesterday for the 1st time using the microwave. I didn't realise that the ingredients are actually quite simple. Although the result didn't turn out as nice as the real thing, eating it 'brought me back to Singapore' again. Hmmmmmmm. I'm sure the next time we're back, we'll stuff our tummies and suitcases full of Singaporean goodies.

I miss Singaporean hawker centre food too!

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Cindy,

Sorry to hear you were late after our convo haha, hope you that didn't get you into too much trouble Usually we have msn on here at the office, shockingly enough I thought msn was totally restricted in governmental offices but looks like for this particular office, everyone is ON MSN 24/7 hehehe

Yeah, so my fiance explained wedding date sounded good, with an 8 or whatever, he's not into this kinda stuff only because he was brought up in a strict christian family hence, non believer in auspicious whatever out there minus the hungry ghost festival thingy of course, hey that was new to me when I first came Sg. I was told by my gf how I should head home immediately after work, it was a ritual for me then to go home everyday after work for 3-4 years hahah during those particular months

And this year, was told there's 2 hungry ghost, understand today is the last day.

My cheongsam has high collar with v neck and 2 slits at the sides, which means I have to SIT PROPERLY heheheh, I didn't want to wear what my wedding planner calls it "grace-kelly" dress which was made with 100% french lace. I thought the dress looked rather "european" thus didn't quite marked the traditional chinese culture. My dad's side of the family is rather traditional, so I thought best to stick with traditions

The latest Korean must-watch drama is My Name is Kim San Soon, it's really nice - if you come back for hols, or get a chance to buy it in chinatown in the UK, you have to grab a hold of it. I haven't yet watch it, my friend lent hers to me so maybe this weekend I will, but another pass me another series "The Princess Hours", heard that's good too. But I find Korean dramas all too predictable and melodramatic with very similar story lines: 2 boys befriend with one girl, 2 of them falls in love with her, either one has cancer, or the girl dies or in the end, because it's so sad neither ends up together...hehehe but dang I cried like no tomorrow when I watched Stairways in Heaven, still my fav korean actor is Kwon Sang Woo hahah talk about having some ridiculous fantasy eh?! hehehe as my fiance tells me all the time, Korean men aren't all that good you know haha, but I always get that sense that he's just jealous

That jewel in the palace show, I thought it was WAY TOO LONG, I didn't bother watching it..I only watched the end of the story when it was shown on tv

. Oh yeah, I watched an episode of Supernanny, that show was shown on Arts Central, it was rude awakening though, sigh but you know what, actually I am not quite surprise of how certain kids behave but one thing is in the west, parents are not allowed to hit their kids and they do not have a certain way of disciplining them so when they go wild, parents can't do very much except hope that they won't end themselves in trouble. However, in Asia, our culture is different how we think, feel and what we do are dictated by our teachings. These values and attitudes are very much an imprint in our lives since the day we were born.

You might be surprise hearing this from me even though I grew up in AU, I guess as much as I hate to admit the truth, with Asian families, respect and morals are instill in us and like most Asian parents, they would use the cane or whatever to ensure that what they say sticks in our heads and we should always remember that if it's wrong it's not to be repeated. But in the west, parents just do not believe in hitting or even a spank is considered "hurtful" to themselves. Different mindset and teachings I suppose.

Heard you're planning to convert your licence in UK, man I couldn't get my AU one converted till only recently, because when I learnt driving in australia it's Auto, and SG didn't introduce that conversion until only recently. I could have sworn the stupid theory test here is WAY harder than WA!! And don't ask how many times I took it before FINALY passing hehehe. I had no choice but to convert because fiance finds it a pain sometimes that I have to get him to drive me around in times of emergency, I am totally NOT a MAP reader, I am more the kind who MEMORIZES the way to get from A to B heheheh or I will get him to drive me there at night and the next day I will be able to get there myself, yeah I know, don't ask how I did that in AU. That time I had my ex to helped sigh! Sad eh?! heheheh the roads in UK sounds like the ones in Perth, where every direction is ONE WAY and if you missed it that's it you gotta drive miles to do a U turn or whatever?! I remembered my fiance driving in Milan when he picked me up from the airport, god, he end up having an accident for driving too close to the road divider and that broke the side view mirror. Not use to the left hand drive and roads in Europe are SUPER NARROW!!

Anyways, looking forward to our next chatting session on msn

hope you won't missed the bus next time hehehe they have time tables for buses there that should get you out on time unlike SG heheh where I felt stupid when I first asked that questions to someone bout what time the bus would come, and she was like um you just wait, there's no timing on the bus arrival! I am like oh okay...geez, I was a foreigner where in Perth, bus time tables are a norm heheh that was a lesson learnt

Alright well, happy mooncake festival!! Speak again!!

Hi ee-Ling ,

Yeah when I was in Milan I wathed Bold and Beautiful too, but in Italy if I am not wrong the show is called Beautiful - but the only problem I faced it was all dubbed in Italian!! I only picked up one word which was Bounjornio, ciao ciao!! THat's about it...so that time to me the show was just a matter of looking at the PICTURES - I was a bit frustrated of course, when you're in Italy and barely any english is spoken it is hard to actually adapt to it. I was there for a month I swear I could have gone bonkers if I had to be there longer than that hahah

Yeah you should watch Korean dramas, you'll get hooked I am sure. Since you're coming back in Dec for a month yeah, definitely have to savour every moment of it! I can sense your excitement returning home

for me, well, fiance and I planning to head to Shanghai for a week's break although my parents are bugging for my return to Perth to spend the yearly summer christmas with them, not that I don't want to but you know it gets boring after a while...oh well we'll see. And where my parents live now it's super near to Garden City and usually that's where they patronize the daily grocery stores

but Perth is more "asianized" now than it was in in the late 80s/90s god, then, all shops closed on the dot at 5pm with only a late night shopping on Thursday nights and Sundays were a ghost town. Things changed after a while

but you know unlike the rush pace in Sg, by far it is still a much slower pace there.

With mooncake festival just around the corner, yeah, in fact I am planning to get a box of mooncakes for my fiance's mom this weekend from Tung Lok because a friend's friend works there and I get 20-30% discount for it

usually every year I would get them either from Mariott hotel but since last year I started getting from Tung Lok, heard it was good last year. I was thinking of trying out Intercontinental this year which I had an opportunity to taste their sample couple of weeks back, but we'll see how it goes during the weekends. Me not a mooncake fan. You sound like a very hands on person in the kitchen. I am totally not into baking. I am more into cooking chinese food, like making chiken soup, steaming fish or cooking poultry stuff. heheh I usually try to eat at home at least once a week to rid the oil and cholesterol ladden food during the week hehe. Not into curry stuff though, because I am not a COCONUT person. And laksa is a total no no for me, for years in my life I've never tasted it and I guess I never will. Yeah I know I am boring hehe. I am more into steam, soup and braised, not into too much deep fried stuff. Right now, I kinda into that xiao long bao stuff that I tried over the weekend at Din Tai Fung. I thought it was yummy

Once in a while I'll indulge in stingray and shells at East Coast. Hopefully all these yummy food isn't making you hungry hehehe oh I hated the breads in Italy, it's so HARD like a rock, you could kill someone with that hehehe

You know for a month that I was in Milan I never been to their china town, only because fiance told me that there isn't much to see heheh but most of the time we were there, we'd usualy head out dinner at some chinese restaurants there, food is nothing like SG of course, it's usually very plain. I only remember that we always had to travel on auto strada - or what we'd call a freeway in Perth to go somewhere and it's so FAR just to get from point A to B

Alrighty, I better get going, it's 9:40am here - so you have a great day ahead.

Cheers!

 

[mrs_n]

Hi Karen I used the email you gave. Anyway you can add me on, just click my name on the left. My yahoo and MSN ids are the same.

Hee! Hee! We are very excited for you b'cos you're the only one not married yet! So we are here to cheer you on. Shall we organise an online 'hen' party?

I occassionally watch East Enders. Doesn't really bother me much if I miss episodes. No don't really watch Home and Away or Neighbours, I already find East Enders confusing enough. hahaha! Tbh, I think I prefer TCS drama serials both mandarin and english than the ones in the UK. I always try and catch some of the local productions when I'm back in S'pore. Can't get any here though.

Ee-ling my parents brought up some mooncakes last year when they came for my wedding. None this year for me I'm afraid. I'm sure there are some available in chinatowns in London or Manchester but don't think I want to travel all the way there just for mooncake!

Yah I was looking out for recipes on the internet but without the ingredients and the mould probably won't turn out nice. I prefer those snowskin ones better than the pastry ones though.

Cindy yes, I converted my license very reluctantly. Was sooooooooooo sad to give up my Singapore licence I really like our new photocard but oh well, my husband has a company car and they wouldn't allow me to drive without converting it. Anyway the British license is valid for the EU so it is an advantage if you want to drive on the continent.

Ah yes the roundabouts they take some getting used to as well but don't worry too much, just go round slowly and always signal if you're unsure. I think its less stressful driving here. The only times I get stress is when others tailgate me on single track country roads. As I'm not used to driving on single track windy roads I tend to do less than the 60mph limit which probably will annoy some people if they are in a hurry. I don't know how others can do it but it scares the hell out of me going round bends at that speed. So I will usually slow down and let them pass, and then I can go at my own turtle pace. But actually I'm not that bad considering that there is this farmer who drives his tractor at 10 mph. Hahaha! There is always a long queue behind him when he is on the road. Can't really overtake as there are too many bends on the road.

One thing my husband always tells me is that when travelling on these country roads I shouldn't slow down or stop suddenly for the rabbits or birds when they shoot out of the bushes, if you hit them, its too bad. Well, I'm still finding that advice a bit hard to swallow. I stopped the other day to let a phesant cross the road, luckily no one was behind me.

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi gals,

The weather has been a bit erratic the past couple of weeks. 2 weeks ago, the weather started getting cold. It rained quite a bit for a few days. Then there were a few days of clear blue skies and warm days of around 28 degrees. this week, it's been one day sunny, one day cool, one day cloudy, one day foggy. I don't know how I should dress to go out anymore! And sometimes I feel quite silly lugging my raincoat and umbrella with me when it's sunny and I guessed the weather 'wrongly' :-(

I hope it doesn't get too cold too soon. Obviously I'm not a fan of cold weather but then again I love winter fashion (coats, scarves and boots).


Hi Karen,

Wow a cheongsam with two slits. Yes, you'll have to be careful how you sit. I've tried that kinda cheongsam before for one of my previous company DnDs and when I sat down, I had to make sure the slits didn't 'expose' too much So for my wedding, my EG-Cheongsam had only 1 slit. What colour is your cheongsam by the way?

There is also an Italian version of the Supernanny on TV here and my hubby and I actually enjoy watching it. It's really interesting and I pick up tips on how to handle my young students. Italian parents don't believe in using the cane on their kids too but some of them will use the hands to spank em' so I think they aren't totally like the Aussies or Americans.

Heh, I got my licence in Perth too and it was also a licence for automatic cars. It was faster and cheaper for me to get that kinda licence instead of a manual one. Unfortunately I only drove for about a year and a half then I went back to Singapore and never drove again. That's why I have to redo it all again (and anyway Singaporeans can't convert their licence in Italy if you plan to stay here for a long time). There is no option for a licence for automatic cars so I'm learning how to drive a manual car. I'm not very good at coordinating my hands and feet so I wonder how loooooong (and how much )it till take me to pass the driving test.

When I first started watching 'Beautiful' in Turin, I watched it with Italian subtitles to make it easier for me to understand. Some programmes on Italian TV sometimes have English subtitles so I used to put on the English subtitles when I first got here.

I used to live 'near' Garden City too! I love the muffins from the foodcourt and I used to go there just before closing hour to get them half price! When I visit Perth again, I want to bring hubby to my favourite 'junk food' places Nando's Chicken, Red Rooster and Chicken Treat!!

I'm actually not very good in the kitchen. I just like trying out new recipes and experimenting. I don't bake cos we don't have an oven. Plus I don't eat curry as well! that's cos I avoid spicy food altogether and chocolates are a no-no for me. I gave them up many years ago for vanity reasons! (they make me have a break-out). Luckily giving them up wasn't difficult since I never really liked them very much to begin with.

Ding Tai Feng is also one of our 'must go and eat' at places whenever we are back in Singapore. We love their siao long paos too and their chicken herbal soup although they don't have a great variety of other dim sum dishes.

Regarding hard bread served in Italy. Quite a lot of places serve 'hard' bread but usually it means that it's not very 'fresh'. Good and 'genuine' restaurants and bars and cafès serve either warm bread or freshly baked-bought bread that is soft. Bread also gets hard quite fast in Italy. E.g when I buy fresh bread in the morning or afternoon for the dinner at night, the bread is still quite soft. However, if I leave it till the next day, the bread gets quite hard already.

Hi Mrs N,

We haven't chatted for sometime online. As I mentioned b4, eversince we got ADSL, the MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger don't seem to work very well. Half the time, I'm unable to sign in or log on to the messenger, theother half of the time, it takes a long time to do so. Perhaps Google Chat is better.

Oh and I also prefer snow-skin mooncakes. Unfortunately I haven't seen them on sale here before. I guess I will have to wait till I get the opportunity to visit Singapore this time another year. Sigh..... some of the 'sacrifices' we have to make being far from home

Hi Cindy,
How long are you two willing to wait for the owner get a new place? I hope you'll be able to move in before winter sets in.

Blackpeony,
Are you still around? Have you been to Singapore and Japan and back already?

 

[lv_babygirl]

Morning Mrs N,

Saw your message last night at around 10:30pm when I logged on from home but I was busy doing something else so decided to reply this morning when I got to the office

yeah saw your ID, going to add you on msn, since it was such a pain that i didn't quite see that the blinker to add your on my list

Yes I know, I know, me still NOT married yet, dang, one thing's for sure I will kinda missed those days when I was single, but a lot of my cousins most at my age or older whom are married have been like yourself all waiting for this very day to happen. Fiance and I been together for 4 years now, yeah I know about time to get hitch as you say heheh. Not that I don't want to, but holding a wedding isn't cheap these days, and in SG everything here is +++ by now I am pretty much use to that + sign each time I eat out at the restaurants. Nonetheless, I know it's inexcusable to put off a wedding

we're nearly there another 1 more month to go

TGIF. Today we get to knock off work at 5:30pm so I am leaving on the dot today to get home and make dinner

went to NTUC and Cold storage last night to get some bread rolls, having Heinz soup, salad with ham and salmon with added dash of Italian dressing for dinner. Planning to catch a movie tonight, haven't been there for ages. Movie tickets in SG are getting pricey. But I believe it's nothing compared to the UK

however, I haven't seen anything that's worth my time watching. Not sure why but the past few years the movie industry haven't produced the kinda movie that is worth my time. I caught Da Vinci code and I thought the ending sucked, story line not there. Believe the book is much better.

Am not very much a tv person, not into SG shows, even if it's TCS 8, I would have to watch the English subtitles to make sense of what's happening

I haven't caught any note worthy series here, except for a few shows such as Project Runway, The Apprentice, America's Next Top Model, used to like watching CSI but the murder scenes got too grewsome so I stopped watching that. I haven't touched the korean series yet that has been left on top of my dvd player for 1-2 weeks now, trying to get the URGE back heheh so we'll see how it goes this weekend.

Playing badminton tomorrow with my cousin and his group of church friends - I find that the weekends in SG tend to fly by rather quickly than in Australia - guess it's partly due to the endless traffic congestion, the crowded streets everywhere and also after a long work week, you're quite put off wanting to go out. Sunday is church day for us

I always look forward to FRIDAYS heheh it seems that it's always more exciting.

Have a blessed weekend ahead...speak to you soon.

Hi Ee-Ling,

In fact the color theme for all my dresses including the evening and wedding dresses are champagne, so my cheongsam is also towards the champagny colour

it has beads on the top layer of the material I don't look good in white because I am fair so white is very dull on my skin. Doesn't bring out the brightness in me.

My wedding planner thinks I go for "safe" colours as I do not experiment much with others, I am not in to flowers or whatever patterns on my clothes, even with work clothes it's all very standard plain colours ranging from browns, cream, white and of course blacks. Maybe ocassionally I will have a pink, or green lying somewhere but bright colours aren't quite my thing. Yeah I will admit I am boring, but I am more a classic person, I always believe that what a person dress reflex their personality

Didn't know you're into Chicken Treat and Red Rooster, I hated those when I was in Perth, I found them really salty, I still prefer AU MACCAS anyday, SG, don't like their big macs actually, I don't know, even though there should be a standardize way of making mac burgers globally, in SG, the taste is just different. I love pizza hut in AU though

here, Pizza hut sucked big time, pardon my bluntness - just doesn't quite cut that taste. When I younger my brother and I would have a pizza night as a snack almost every other Fridays. Missed it a lot. After coming to SG the past 6 years now, I really missed those brother-sister relationship. We're still close, he's working in Brisbane after he was posted over by his company. I am just looking forward to seeing him in November because he's the best man at our wedding

He's 3 years younger than me, don't come from a big family, it's just me and him but we're pretty close, I call him almost every week if I don't see him on msn.

Alright 'nuff bout me and sob sob reminiscent of my childhood heheh, you gave me the impression you are hands on in the kitchen

heheh well it's better than some of my friends whom can't cook even boiling rice is new to them haha, I started cooking when I was 15-16, when my mom has to work in the afternoon,(she's a nurse) she would prepare all the necessaries on the kitchen table and I would make sure I'd prepare dinner before my dad gets home from work

so that was how the cooking bit came along but for the 3 years when i came to SG, I haven't touch the kitchen for many years and I forgotten the skills of it, and took me a while to get back to what it was again

Anyways, since moving out over to Singapore, I was force to be independant, of course it wasn't easy for me, when I see my colleagues going home to their parents at the end of a long day at the office, I kinda wish I could do the same. I do get lonely during chinese new year and birthdays, because when I was in Perth, all these special occassions are celebrated together with my family. And I found it hard to adapt at first when I came, it's worst if you're not in a relationship. Thankfully during my first year I met a really nice colleague cum friend, each CNY she would invite me to her house for dinner with her family, I don't feel good because during these special times it's a reunion WITH the family and not with strangers but yet she made me feel warm just like home

which is why I am glad that through my years living in Singapore that I have met with good people which eventually became my friends. I don't think I would have been able to do it without them. To me people whom I know, and hang out with play an important part of my life because they shape and influence that way you think, feel and act. I guess I am selective of those whom I'd call friends, partly because of my protective upbringing at home.

Anyways, so much for my thoughts shared here, you have a great weekend ahead. Speak soon! Cheers

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi Karen,
Yah, I used to be a junk-food junkie eating Red Rooster, Chicken Treat's chips and chicken, Nando's wedges, Subway's footlong sandwich and a large Super Supreme pizza nearly every week! Since I moved to Italy, I have Mcdonald's only once a year. It sucks and it's expensive too. I think Australia's Mcdonalds was so much better and the servings seemed a bit bigger too.

I agree that Singapo're pizza hut is really horrible. I used to eat pizzas from take-aways in Perth that were really yummy and of course now in Italy, pizzas are number one!

Cream and champagne are indeed very classical and elegant colours. My best friend is like you, she is also very fair and loves classic colours and wears only 'colourful' stuff when she's on holiday or at home.

 

[buzzy]

Hi all..

How i envy all.. if only my working hrs are shorter. I can join in n chat as much as everyone here. Hee. Anway, tomorrow is saturday, i can stay up a bit longer to do my bit of catching up again. Yippie..

Hi Ee-ling,
U are into muach chee? me too!! tats my fav sweets among all desserts. When i was a little girl, my grandpa used to make it fresh. I still can remember hw wonderful it smelled when its freshly made.

U knw, that aroma frm the ground peanuts.. hmm.. My mum learnt to make it but it took so much of an effort that i never felt like mastering the technique frm her. Mayb i should ask her the next time i am back for cny.

In anthr 5 mths, i b heading back sin, m excited definately! Despite tat we are mths away frm cny, i oredi had the cny cookies crave! Last sunday, i tried making pineapple tarts. Hah, tats was kinda of fun. i got the whole pineapple, cut it into cubes (to dig the 'eyes' of the pineapple was tough!), blend it wi a blender, squeeze out the juice n cook the fibre in sugar till it turned golden yellow. spend 3 hrs doing that. No kidding. Anthr 2 hrs in the evening to make the pastry n bake them. Total pineapple production..= 50 pineapples tarts. Store haf n gave half to my collegeus for some trial tasting b4 i make them for a charity function that my office b organising later of tis mth. tats my little pineapple adventure.

Hi Karen,

Haha.. nw i finally knw the reason y i missed the bus every morning. Ah... the bus time table had changed since early this week. I only realised it yesterday morning. Again, i was late.. so i started to wonder y.When i look at the board, then i realised.. wat, the time table has changed since early week. Guess i need to wake up slightly every morning to get myself prepared n log onto msn for morning chats before i do my morning 'brisk walk' to the bus stop =D

Wow, more new korean shows. Think this time round, i mst really grab more bck to UK. I really do miss korean show over here. Very sadly to say, the plc where i m staying in, we cant receive any free channels nor cables tv programs.

Its funny though as the apartment block is brand new n yet no digital tv cables/ satellite dish were installed. Can u believe it. We can only received boring programs like BBC and a few other common programs. Hw boring. So i have to survive on dated korean vcds from friends to keep myself entertain.

I am just like u, i cried whenever i watched any sad movies. At times it got so bad that i need to excuse myself to wash up my face n eyes got swollen the next morning that i had to wear my specs intead of my lens to work. I jst couldnt help it.. the more i try to control my tears by blinking it many times , it jst doesnt do any help but only making it worst =P

Guess i am as hopeless as you. When i got my licence at 17, i had to ask my parents to bring me on a trial driving trip b4 i dare to drive myself to poly the next day. Guess what i did, which was really silly thinking back. I actually counted the number of traffic lights on the way. I will go like.. ok, at traffic light number 3,turn left, head straight n turn right till i reached my destination.. Haha. I still remembered that my parents asked me, what am i mumbering at.. i replied counting the traffic lights so i can remember my way to school. All broke into laughter. Simply hopeless...of cos, being a new driver at 17, i dare nt really dare to drive alone, i needed company. So my teddy bear was my best companion at that time. He will faithfully sit beside the driver sit all the time till i gained my confidence =P

Hi Mrs N,

Tok abt ovaltinees this evening msn ... oh dear, i got such crave tonite but dun tink its available in UK yeah. Yummy..

I knw its a stressful thing to drive in uk. When u get into the motorway U cant travel too slow, u got the looks from the drivers n yet u can drive too fast, u feel that unsafe. Ya, talk abt the road kill animals. At times, i jst felt so sorry for those little animals. But i feel its still nt as bad as compared to road kill animals in aust where you can see big animals like dead wallabies by the roadside. Argh.. felt so sorry.

Well,i do really hope that my house issue can be settle soon as in the buyer got a hse to move n we got the hse we wanted to buy. From there, we can plan the next big purchase which is a car. But i must admit that i m a choosy driver, i cant handle big cars.. =P I am so used to my car in sin that hopefully i can afford to buy the same car here. If not, i tink i dun mind a nissan micra too.. small car for me cos i cant do parallel parking which is a huge problem in places like uk where everywhere u go, most of the lots need parallel parking skill. I simply cant master it.. hee

Thats all folk.. time for supper on a fri nite. Hv a nice weekend. I dont hv any plan yet for this weekend. Most probably will be jst a relaxing one..

Enjoy!!

 

[casscl]

Hiya ee-ling, karen, sharon, cindy;

Thanks for your compliments on Mr Moo...i managed to catch him in a good moment.

Reading all your postings, there're seems to be so much going on in all your lives - mine just revolves around Mr Moo. Although I derive alot of satisfaction from being a stay-at-home-mummy, i must admit i sometimes wonder if i'm missing out on anything by not re-joining the workforce after my maternity leave. Maybe it's because we're in the UK now (read: no family/friends) cos i don't remember feeling this way when we lived in SG. Hmmmmm.... maybe it's time i ask my sis to send me Korean dramas DVDs - something other than Mr Moo to occupy my time

Talking about soap operas, i've never been a fan. When i was studying in Brisbane, I remember some classmates being quite hooked on Neighbours while i was absolutely addicted to sex and the city..... must've watched the series 3 times over on DVD, hehe. These days, I just watch the Baby Beethovan DVD because it's Mr Moo's "flavour of the month" (last month it was Baby Bach) and is on repeat mode in the DVD player.

An ex-colleague was in London for business last week and brought some mooncakes for us, very yum. Shame they did not have egg yolks in them though Ee-ling, i can't make mooncakes but my mum can and I've helped her before. Let me know if you want the recipe

Cindy, i lagi jia lat - whether weekday or weekend, i can only chat here when Mr Moo naps/sleeps

Hope the seller finds a new house soon, crossing my fingers for you.

My bed beckons. Have a great weekend, girls. It's my 1st wedding annivesary tomorrow...the year seemed to have whizzed by, where has all the time gone?? How many years have you guys been married?

 

[lv_babygirl]

Morning all,

It's a Sunday morning, 7:38am at this exact moment as I am writing my posting here. Yeah, can't sleep, I was up at 5am this morning, watched a bit of tv till 6:30am, tried going back to sleep but can't, so thought I'd go online instead.

We had a busy Saturday, my wedding planner made arrangements for us to meet up with the pastry chef at Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie, a pastry shop under Les Amis to have our wedding cake made

, we're decided to go for something different, having chosen 3 different types of pastries for our guests from Gauteux chocolate, L'amour to Pavlova berries each individually decorated into 5 tiers. It's quite exciting actually

had an opportunity to also eat their yummy cakes too - had that for lunch would you believe felt sick after, too much sugar I think.

Also had a chance to later head down to Chinatown to check out the some tour packages. We're planning to head to China in December, saw a package which I thought was quite a bargain going to 3 cities for 7 days - Beijing, Chengde and Tianjin for under $2k for 2 to go. I thought it was quite reasonable. Am planning to book for that package sometime next weekend. Kinda fascinated with China at the moment, I wanted to go Shanghai initially but their prices didn't attract me. So we'll leave that till next time. No, this is not our honeymoon, it's just a getaway this christmas unlike our yearly visits back to Perth. I wanted to try something different. My fiance calls it the "appetiser", with the "maincourse" to come. Actually we're planning to head to exotic Eygpt for our honeymoon, that's a place where I've wanted to go for the longest time. Wanted to check out the sphinx, the river Nile and of course Cairo. So we'll probably wait for that to come sometime next year

Due to the recent terrorist attacks in Eygpt, fiance didn't feel safe for us to head there. Right now it's between South Africa, Eygpt or Russia

yeah, no Americas, no Koreas, Japan or Europe. Wanted different...after all, I am into the experience

At the same time yesterday, we managed to check out some private property launched yesterday, actually I was impressed with one particular one I saw yesterday located at upper serangoon nested within the private estates. Price wise quite steep, but I liked the location it was just nice. Anyways, no we didn't put in an offer, after all, like all first time home buyers, we're hunting for the best deals around town heheh

not sure yet what our plans are but we thought it's no harm looking

probably planning to view more later today after our church service later this morning. Property prices in Sg going up, I found the cost of living in Sg really expensive. But nothing compared to UK I believe. I can't ever imagine it *cringe*

I haven't had a chance to catch up with any of my korean shows this weekend, don't have that urge at the moment - we'll wait and see when the urge returns heheh. We didn't managed to catch that movie on Friday night, my stomach didn't feel good, ended up staying home after dinner. No time even for badminton when my wedding planner made a last minute arrangement with pastry chef. Just glad that wedding cake part is almost settled, now it's just awaiting for sampling 2 weeks before our wedding. I felt so guilty with all the "cake glutting" last night I end up doing 200 sit ups heheh to burn off all the cal. Felt good this morning when I woke up heheh. I am planning to head to the pool at my fiance's place later this today if time permits. We'll see how it goes when time comes

Anyways, sounds like most of you are busy with either work or a baby

whilst for me, with another month to go for till the big day, I am kinda looking forward to the trip to China than anything else at this stage

Yeah I will get some photo postings out after that

I hope to climb up the infamous Great Wall that everyone has been talking about...just talking about this trip is getting me more psyched up than anything else

spoke to my parents yesterday morning, dad was hoping we'd make a trip to Perth next year, we'll see how it goes

I am just looking forward to seeing my family again on my big day, I haven't seen my dad since last Christmas so it will be nice to have a family get together before I am officially married. No babies so soon, planning to put that on hold till 2 years later. Right now, I am more focus on my career - planning to build on it more, we'll see how it goes.

Alrighty ladies, hope you're all enjoying your weekend. Speak to you all soon on either msn or in this forum. I always look forward to reading all the postings on this forum everyday, so keep 'em coming okay? Take care...and enjoy another blessed working week ahead.

Cheers!

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi gals,

How was the weekend for you all? It's been raining quite a bit here and the weather has cooled down considerably blah.

Sat was my sweetheart's bd so we just had a quiet celebration - lots of good Italian food and wine. We also visited a vineyard and saw some really big wine barrels and on Sunday, we helped his dad make 'home-made' wine using 'special' equipments like grape squeezers and a demijohn. It was fun!

I like Muah Chee but that's not the only dessert I like. I am a dessert lover. I'll eat any kinda dessert except strangely enough chocolate (I'm a chocolate 'racist', I eat only white chocolate. Brown chocs are a no no). I've never made pineapple tarts before and since we don't hve an oven now, I can't try making em'. When we finally find the house we want to buy, I'll surely get an oven so I can try my hand at baking.

Cass, don't worry too much about your life being all about Mr Moo for now. It's only natural. I'm sure with time, you will find 'other' things to occupy your time but I'm sure being a new mother, the baby is the main priority and I bet there is a lot of satisfaction and fun too.

I love the Sex in the City series too and they are showing re-runs in Italy. However, in general Italian TV programmes suck big time. Many of them are cheap reality or talk shows. There are very few 'educational' or 'interesting' programmes. Most of the good stuff and recent programmes and series are on cable Tv - aka SKY. I don't think we will ever get SKY until and if we become parents and I'm home more with a kid However, at the moment, there are no 'baby plans' yet so.....

Karen, sounds like your guests will be totally pampered with the yummy sounding pastries you've ordered for them for your wedding! For my wedding in Italy, we chose a one tier star shaped red berries (strawberries, raspberries, cherries) fresh cream cake. For the wedding receptions we held in Singapore, we did away with the cake hence there was no cake-cutting. We gave out traditional Italian sugar covered almonds to guests instead.

China sounds good even as an 'appetiser' trip. I've visited that plce twice. The first time with my parents donkey years ago and the second time with my JC for a history trip. China is really interesting and the cities and towns can vary very much.

Wow, I'm soo envious of your plans to go to Egypt. It's been my childhood dream to visit Egypt and it's Sphinx and pyramids and I really want to visit the Temple of Petra. I used to love Indiana Jones movies and reading the National Geographic.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Ee-Ling,

Trust that you had a great weekend with the celebration of your man's b'day

wine making sounds interesting, if it was me making the wine, I swear I would probably put TONS of sugar in it hehehe to rid the bitterness. Sorry because I am not into wines or beers or whatever alcohol out there, I don't quite appreciate them very much

I just know that for this wedding reception of ours our guests like literally treated to good food, fine Australian wine coupled with yummy French desserts and of course, unique wedding favours that I customised for them

no nothing like a fridge magnet, chopsticks, or stuffed toy or key chains from the hotels. Anyways, because I am a dessert person, cakes to me are a real importance in terms of quality. The reason why I never chose any of the traditional sugar coating cakes or creams is because I am not a cream nor SUGAR PERSON in my cakes, so it made it hard for the chef because when I told him no cream less sugar, he was like well, I will try my best that's how he suggested all those little tiny patries for us. I tried L'Amour and I liked it, it tastes good, the exquisiteness and intricacy captured the thought in my imagination that it is a definite MUST HAVE as part of my wedding cake

So I certainly hope that whatever we ordered tastes good

We attended a wedding dinner of my fiance's high school friend last night at the Orchard hotel - because the couple had a around about 58 tables, the first dish didn't arrive till 8:30pm!! They ordered something like "plum sauce spare ribs" it sounded good on the menu but it certainly didn't taste like PLUM SAUCE whatever. It was SO SWEET, I had to wash it down with Chinese tea. It tasted like SYRUP GLAZED SPARE RIBS. Sharks fin definitely was starch fin soup alright, it was tasteless all of us added a lot of vinegar just to make it tastes better but well, didn't quite cut it unfortunately. One of the guests at our table left after the sharks fin because the dishes took way too long to be out. The worst part, after the first serving of food the waiters and waitresses literally rushed to clear the dishes without even asking if we are having second servings?! We thought they were pretty rude...

Due to the large number of tables, we also noticed that the bride and groom literally rushed through the wedding group photos with everyone, by 11:30pm everyone was done and out, we didn't get home till 12:30am in which I had only around 3-4 hrs of sleep this morning. Those were some of the stuff we took note for our own wedding, think for that couple they were just glad their whole thing was over, and everyone now is waiting for our wedding. I am only hoping that at the end of the day, everything will turn out for the best

We're not into doing that YUM SENG stuff at my wedding or any of that video showing how we looked like when we were little, totally not into that haha. I wanted something classy with an added personal touch into it, no point doing what everyone else have been doing. Hopefuly what I wanted in my wedding will eventuate to my expectations

Yeah, everyone was curious why Egypt when I could have chosen elsewhere, for me, I am into historical sites with rich cultural heritage, abind with the old and the new as well as the future

Planning to save up for that though, trip itself doesn't come cheap, so we'll see. Tonight we're heading to the travel agency to enquire about China packages. I saw one yesterday on the web going to China for 12 days I thought it covered everywhere comprehensively including the cities I wanted to go like Beijing and Shanghai. I just wanted to do a ONE OFF thingy, been there, seen all, don't need to go again kinda feeling. It's just like Italy, after having the opportunity to visit all those cities, you'll know next time you'd skip this country and move on to the next one, it was just totally unfortunate that we didn't drive into Lucerne when we were in Milan it was just a mere 5 hr drive. Some of the staffs on training in Milan took the opportunity to Barcelona and Austria over the weekends but we didn't quite have that opportunity. So I'll just have to be contented with Italy

Maybe next time should the opportunity come again, I will go to those cities

Anyways, you have an enjoyable week ahead...speak to you soon!!

Cheers

 

[black_peony]

HELLO MRS N, EE Ling and CINDY!

yeah, i have finally shown up.. So sorry for disappearing. You must have thought I have vanished from this planet. Well, I have been busy with work, travelling for work, and travelling for my own holidays... The most important thing is I'm now back!!! hehehe..

Hi CassCL, Iv babygirl and Karen,

Welcome to the thread! I used to come in often but work has been busy over the last 2 months and I have been travelling for some time so kinda disappeared for a while. Boy am I surprised to find out that so much has happened in this site during my absence! Had abit of trouble catching up on all your previous posts!

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am from Singapore but moved to Perth a year ago coz my hubby is aussie. We met in Sin, lived and worked there and eventually got married last mar in Thailand. Then my hubby had to come back to perth for an assignment so I had to follow lor. Am now working in the travel industry but i try to go back to Singapore twice a year to visit family and friends and most importantly, to do my REBONDING (coz it is freaking expensive in perth).

Oh yes, I have just come back from Singapore a week ago! My hubby and I went to Japan first for a week of vacation. Our first visit to Japan actually. Stayed in Tokyo for 3 nights and Kyoto for the remaining of our stay. Tokyo was alright but din shop much as we were travelling only with our backpacks so limited space. But we both enjoyed Kyoto tremendously. very beautiful and rich in history and culture. I did a minor in history of japan when i was in Uni so I have always been interested to visit Kyoto, the old capital. Would love to go back there again. We stayed at a ryokan, which is a traditional japanese inn that has been around for about 200 years! The structure of the inn has been preserved very well and the tatami room that we were staying was great. We even had a little balcony that looks out to the japanese garden in the inn! Love the food as I am a big fan of japanese cuisine. If any of you ever visit japan, I strongly recommend Kyoto.

Then we were in Singapore for a week. Bad time actually as the IMF conference was happening in town. But I had a great time catching up with family (mahjong sessions with grandma!), shopping (YES!) and partying with my frens. It was lunch, dinner and supper appointments with different groups of frens everyday.. My hubby and I were so exhausted at the end of our trip!

sigh... now back to reality.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Black,

I am Karen aka LvBabygirl, they call me Karen in here. Good to hear that you've enjoyed your recent japan trip. Sounds like fun!! I grew up in PErth but now working in Sg for like 5-6 years now. Travel industry, man that sounded like what I used to do when I first gotten a job in Sg haha - I was working the hotels for the first 3 years of my career and moving onto the publishing industry which is also part of the travel industry in SG but more towards corporate in public relations. No not into sales unfortunately. Currently I am working with the singapore civil service sector in corporate communcations

my office is at Suntec where IMF was held last 2 weeks, yeah getting around here is definitely TOUGH BICKIE!!!

So which part of AU is your hubby from? Perth is a nice place to live my family are there only I am in Singapore, have a brother working up in Brisbane. Yeah lone ranger in Asia

it's definitely an experience to be here, language and all yeah that was another new thing for me to grasp when I came - I can't really speak chinese I picked up mandarin here. Life is really upbeat compared to Perth, I missed the quietness back home you know after 6 years living here, the fast pace is sets you apart from what you once were

I visit my family once a year at least, but this year because I am getting married, they are flying in so I am lookin forward to seeing them again

Probably head to Perth sometime next year we'll see how it goes...right now I am just more excited about my china trip in December with my soon to be husband

no not honeymoon, it's just the "prelude" or what he'd call the appetiser to the maincourse which is to come

Eygpt

quite exciting

Anyways, my colleague is bugging for lunch now so I'll cath with you again yeah? have a great day at the office

Cheers!

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi Black Peony,
Welcome back! My parents were in Japan for two weeks too and loved the fresh sushi and sashimi they had everyday plus the hot springs. Hubby and I love Japanese food too. Good Jap good is rather expensive here so we only eat it like once or twice a year here but whenever we are back in Singapore, we fill our tummies with Jap food. Of course I'm sure the ones in Japan are 100% yummier!

Does your hubby know how to play majong? Last time we were in Singapore, my parents taught hubby how to play it and he got hooked after a week and insisted that we bring back a small majong set to Turin with us. We've only played it a couple of times since we got back though.

Heh girls,
What are you usual 'must-eat' things and 'must-go and eat' restaurants or food places whenever you visit Singapore?

Mine are:
1. Hokkien mee at hawker centre behind Balestier cinema.
2. Casuarina Road (v near my place!) roti prata
3. Ding Tai Feng's chicken herbal soup and xiao long pao
4. Paragon's Crystal Jade Golden Palace and Speing Court's dim sum yum yum!
5. local desserts and various dishes at hawker centres
6. kueh kueh

Karen,Black Peony,
Have you ever tried the dim sum at the Chinese restaurant at the Burswood Casino? I used to go there for dim sum.

The wine my father-in-law makes is actually not very bitter, a bit sweet actually since it is home-made and contains less tanins and is not fermented as long as the ones found in wine shops. I'm not a great fan of wine too and I prefer sweet dessert wines like Moscato and Passito.

Wow karen, your friend had so many tables for the wedding. When one of my cousins got married two years ago, he too had many tables, about 45. My hubby and I were wondering where the guests were from and we were saying that even if we invited all the people we have ever known in our lives, we wouldn't have so many as 450 people!

Our wedding receptions were kept small cos I wanted to spend more time with each table instead of taking two second pics and a quick hello and proceeding on to the next table. So in the end, we had only 6 tables for the Italian reception, 10 tables for Singaporean dinner for relatives and two long tables for dinner with friends. It was all really lovely and cosy.

We also didn't screen videos or pics although if I had the time and if I was willing to spend the money, I would have!

Mrs N, hope to catch you sometimes on google talk. My MSN is on strike

 

[mrs_n]

Black Peony glad to hear that you had a nice time. Did you miss us?

Japan sounds cool but is it an expensive place to visit? Haha! I bet you had a great time back home and enjoying all the makan and company. Oh! Can't wait now. We've finally booked our ticket to go back during Easter.

Hi Karen nice chatting with you yesterday. Haha I see you've been very diligent at the wedding dinner. I guess it is always helpful to go to a wedding before yours and take note of the 'no nos'.

That's what I did for my English wedding. Well not so much as to take note of 'what not to do' but more to get an idea of 'what to expect'. Attended my first English wedding about 2 months prior to mine and it was quite an eye opener, it was so different from the ones in S'pore.

Cindy alamak, didn't know my mentioning Milo and Ovaltine was going to trigger off your craving for ovaltinees.

Hey did you get your pineapple from Lidl? My hubby & I saw it in Lidl about 2 sats ago and we bought it. Funnily enough I thought of making pineapple tarts too so have been downloading the receipes from the internet. Did you get your receipe from the 'Madame Cooking Guru' in Manchester?

Hey Cass it's normal to feel this way. A good friend of mine moved to the UK right after she was married. She couldn't work b'cos the visa was a very LONG process (they've improved the system now). So she was quite lonely for over a year until her son came along. She used to tell me how glad she was with his company b'cos it seems he was the only friend she had. At that time, MSN wasn't the 'in' thing yet so really she had hardley any contact with the outside world. Remember you still have us and this forum whenever you want to chat or voice your thought.

Btw, Happy 1st Anniversay. Hee! Hee! Mine's 2 weeks after yours.

Ee-ling maybe you have to reload MSN. I had to 'update' my yahoo msg before I could 'see' Karen! (Eh Karen why you so hi-tech huh?)

We also gave sugared almonds to our guests for the English wedding.

Apparently they are traditional over here. You suppose to give like five and they are meant to symbolise health, wealth, fertility, happiness and long life. But of course, we couldn't give everybody 5 b'cos my dear man couldn't stop eating them. So we had to compromise and get some chocolate to make up the remainder.

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Ee-ling, Mrs N,

Thought I'd scan through the forum before I head off to dreamland. Yay! Tonight, we booked our flights with SA tours in Chinatown - yup it's confirmed we're definitely heading out to Shanghai baby!!! Man I can't wait!! 8 days to Shanghai, HangZhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and Nanjing on the 19th December, we're spending Chrissie in China this year. First time without spending it with my parents in Perth or my cousins here in SG

hehehe

We got a pretty good deal - it's going to a wintery Christmas for me, I hope to see snow

Fiance has requested that dear kaz do not spend anymore money on clothes at zara, esprit, allure or massimo dutti for the next month or shoes at Aldo so we have more spending money for our trip hahah. Woohoo!!!

Dim sum at Burswood, um rarely usually for me and my family it's dimsum at northbridge, I am not much of a dim sum person in Perth for some reason. But I know heaps of my parents family friends daughters and sons all working their their restaurant for pocket money it's an in thing for us chinese in Perth. Though our parents are well off they wanted us to just go out there and work in the restaurants waitressing just to get that extra money on top of what we get. It's just to teach us kids that money is hard to come by and how we should study hard. Man I hated those days waitressing that's for sure but it drove me to excel in my studies. Those days, my books meant more to me than a relationship, so I was a heartbreaker then haha. Though money was good, I am just not the kinda person that likes taking orders from other people which was why I was totally not into service. We were treated like crap then but I told myself, if I do not want to end up doing this for the rest of my life I know I definitely have to work hard in my studies. It was an experience alright, it was just a weekend job for us asian kids growing up in the west.

With regards to that wedding no idea who half those people were anyways, but I understand it's all family related relatives etc etc. Which is why for me I would never want a huge wedding where I don't know half the people who are there. I am happy with just a small one at least you get to really spend those very intimate moments with them

I can't even find 150 people let alone 580?! I am even having a hard time filing in 10 tables yeah well, maybe because I am picky with whom I wanted to invite heheh.

I didn't know my MSN was that "high tech" heheh well I was told to update so I did, and I thought the NEW msn was SUPER COOL!! So these days besides work msn has become an IN THING for me at the office, everyday ROUTINE hehehe man we need MSN totally I swear. I like western weddings, the singapore chinese weddings were total eye opener for me, no idea about that yum seng thing and how you get to do "fashion parade" in your dresses in the dinners until I came here hahah that was something don't think we have that luxury in AU or it wasnt all that common. We have best man speech in Au, father of the bride would also give a speech, and usualy our emcees in AU are realy close friends...

For me in Sg, my emcee happens to be an ex Public Relations girlfriend whom I gotten to know in Sg in my 2nd year here. My bridesmaid, uni friend whom I met in Perth and we end up working in Sg together, have most my friends flying in from all over the place so it's really nice I am just looking forward to the warm gathering

my fiance and I will probably give a speech on the evening and yeah. My father planning to give a small dinner to introduce my soon to be husband to his friends in Perth sometime next year should we return for a visit

I haven't been back this year. Probably will do so next year...just that I have too many places i wanted to go that's why I've put off going back to Perth hehheeh

Anyways, hope to catch you guys online sometime

speak to you real soon! Am smiling from ear to ear, too psyched bout this trip!! hehehe...alright, night night.


Cheers!

 

[ee_lingt]

Hi Mrs N,
Thanks for the suggestion! I reinstalled the MSN messenger and now it works! Yeah! See you and the other gals online soon for a chat!

 

[black_peony]

Oops Karen! Din know you aka lv babygirl... Aiya, I did speed reading on all earlier posts that I had missed so kinda ended up in wrong channel!

Well, yeah, my hubby is from Perth. He grew up in Rockingham though. We are living somewhere near fremantle as he works in the city and my office is along Scarborough beach.

It's funny how you miss the quietness of Perth. I miss the hustle and bustle of Singapore! Still haven't gotten used to Perth's slow pace although it has already been more than a year since I moved out. still find perth boring which is why I grab any chance to go back to Sin. Miss my frens in Sin and the weekly drink sessions.


hey Ee Ling, the chinese restarant at Burswood has been changed. it is now called "Yu" which means jade lah. But they don't use the english word. A little more expensive than the previous one though. Like you, I always have a list of "must eat" food when I go back to Sin. I also love Ding Tai Feng!! And the hokkien mee at Bedok Interchange, Coca steamboat at International Building, Fat Man satay at Lao Pa Sat, Roti Prata anywhere, Chicken rice at Far East Plaza.. Oh man, the list can go on. Hey you should go to the new foodcourt at Wisma when you go back to Sin. Quite cool and the hokkien mee there is also pretty good. They serve the noodles on banana leaf.

Oh your hubby can play mahjong too? My hubby just mastered the skill! He started learning when my fren and mum visited us in Apr. They stayed with us so we got nothing to do at night and my fren suggested teaching him so we can all play. Then this time we went back to Sin, we had a family gathering at my grandma's place for 2 days so he got to play again. if you are really coming to Perth in Jan, perhaps we can meet up for dinner and play mahjong thereafter?? haha.. just a thought

 

[lv_babygirl]

Hi Black Peony,

Good to see your posting in here today

Oh cool didn't your office is along Scarborough beach, that means it's very near to my dad's dental practice

hehehe his dental surgery is at Scarborough beach road

Freo, eh?! Man I haven't been for ages, we live in Mt Pleasant in Perth, just 5 mins walk to the swan river. I missed those walks along the shorelines

well I grew up in Perth, getting use to the hustle and bustle life in SG is new to me and I am still not use to the CROWD on orchard road. It's a nightmare on the weekends. Even driving in SG is a challenge. My worst experience crowded MRT and buses, I totally hated taking buses and trains. Don't like the crowd.

Yeah some people don't really like PErth it's too morbid and slow for them, for me, I like the parks at night, I am into the quietness and at least when you signal to change lanes on the road or freeway people would be CIVILISED enough to let you in!! in SG the "giving way" part is non-existent!! People there are friendlier

I missed it when I used to live there that my neighbours would say hi how are you? here if some guy smiles at you on the streets you would think he's some weirdo or something

MOst of my high school friends have moved either to melbourne or sydney very few are in Asia, one or two are in China working but we still keep in touch. But my friends from uni are here so at least I still have some friends here so it's not too bad

Plus in the course of my career here I've made some friends from work too and we've become good friends even after we moved on in our careers

I make it a point to meet with them every other week if time permits.

It was fun for the first 1-2 years in SG because I was busy hanging out with my friends clubbing and stuff, but after a while I begun to feel BORED, and at one stage I felt work was eating too much into my social life, it was work, work work, or I am was travelling a lot on business, I didn't like the competitiveness here at first couldn't get use to it but it took me a while to adjust to that pace and these days it's work, meet friends and home plus spend time time with fiance

with the wedding in just a month away, I've been busy preparing for that too. Right now I am just waiting to go China...

I will probably head back to Perth next year, we'll see how it goes with the timing and stuff

It's spring time in Perth, weather should be nice, I kinda missed wearing all my cashmeres, turtle neck sweaters during winter minus the rain of course

Alrighty, better get going, speak to you again soon!

Cheers!

 

[casscl]

Hi Black Peony;

I love japanese food too, unfortunately there's only 1 jap restaurant here in Richmond (UK) and the prices is exorbitant! I miss being able to walk across the road from home in SG to ta-bao food.... So Ee-Ling talking about local food, here's the list of my must-eat things: bah chor mee, nasi lemak, nasi padang, indian mee goreng, prata, milo dinosaur, chilli crabs, hainanses chicken rice, hainanese beef noodles ...way tooooo many to list, (this is making me salivate).

Hi Mrs N;

Thanks for your words of encouragement

Whenever i start to feel down, i'd tell myself there're so many full-time working mums who are dying to stay at home to take care of their babies - i should feel blessed. Is your friend still in the UK?.

btw, your story about your hubby eating the sugared almonds. i hope your guests weren't too 'pantang' about receving almonds and chocolates mix as wedding favours

 

[buzzy]

Hey All,

I m back, its lunch hr at the moment, shall take this opportunity to do a quick posting.

Hee.. Hi Mrs N.i m still busy in the kitchen every night baking my pineapple tarts for my company charity function on friday. This is my 2nd try!

Speak about our Mdm Manchester.. Nope,she had yet to try baking pineapple tarts. Think she hardly have the time to really prepare dinner and making those delicacies.. Gee. Hv u dwnloaded the secret recipes.. here u go if u need:

one.http://tabetai.blogspot.com/2005/06/shf9-nyonya-pineapple-tarts.html

I tried the creaming method. Well, i tink if u b using this method, i recommend u to pour in a bit of fresh milk else the pastry will feel a bit dry.

When i make the tarts for 2nd time, i add a few spoonful of fresh milk, the final product taste much better , jst like those u got frm Beganwan Solo. Haha, hubby was suggesting me going into full time pineapple tarts biz..

Have a nice time making the jam.. rememeber to keep stiring the jam over slow fire..update me yr experiment.

Oh yesh, u managed to get the moulds? The chinese stall in soton dun hv any, so i make them into pineapple balls than pineapple tarts...

Hi Eeling,

Wow yr list of sin food make me hungry!! Few days back, i drew up the list of items that i need to buy back when i m back for cny in feb. If possible, i would like to bring back the whole provision shop wow haha...

When i m in sin, i used to hv the Bedok bak chow mee every morning. Dad will hop by to tabao for me before he goes to work. Super pampered at home ..

Gee. On fri, i will love to end the working week with roti prata, must be wi egg, n 1 pack of tea tarik. Hw sinful is that. Of cos, nothing is more impt than sunday yum cha..i love the yu cha plc at singapore recreation club. Wow, the rice rolls, yum croquettes, har kow etc. Wash them down my tummy with chinese tea as ppl claimed that tea will wash away the oil.. Sounds like a pig out trip in sin.

Hi there Cass,
Sorry i saw u online msn few days back but i was busy in the kitchen. Finally my tarts making session came to an end. It was a total 3 days 2 nights kind of tarts baking session. I am nw an expert in pineapple making.. Hee

Are u keen in watching any korean series. Give me a buzz if u do.. I got some with me. Got it frm my last trip bck in sin. I will b gladly to post it over to u if u want to catch any.

Hi Karen,

Nice chatting u on msn every morning! Every morning, this will strike my thoughts.. hmm is Karen in the loo again at this time.. haha.

U love winter? Well, we will b gladly to hv u here. Its nw starting of autumn n i can feel that the temperature is dropping everyday. Lots of rain to come with too. This weekend will be a cold n wet weekend, so i reckon the best thing to do is to hibernate at home again.

Last weekend, i got myself some nice cardigan to 'welcome' the coming autumn/winter. Not more buying boots cos i had got 2 brand new pairs frm last winter sale. But i dun mind more accessories like scarves n gloves =D

No more winter coats too.. hubby keep complaining i had so many in the wardrobe.. ( its only 2 knee length winter coats, he considered a lot?? Well, i promised him that i will stop getting any more coats this winter n in return, i will be rewarded with a handbag when we go back sin. Thats nt a bad deal too ....

Hi Black Peony,
U had a gd trip bck to sin. So envy. I m looking forward to my return trip in feb. It will jst b a 3 weeks break. Any new nice makan plc to recommend in sin? Ding tai Feng is the last i knw when i m back in march. i love it.. yummy hand made noodles..

 

[miso]

Hi
I miss Singapore food a lot too..No choice but to remake some with whatever ingrediants I can find in Japan.

Recently i tried the prima taste brand mee siam. It tasted almost perfect...almost the same as those eaten in singapore.

Immediately told my sis to get me the whole prima taste series..

Would love to try the pineapple tarts recipe but seems a lot of hard work..will experiment soon

 

[buzzy]

Hey Miso,

Welcome to our thread! U in japan? Working or got married there?

Yesh, you mst try the ready mix frm Prima Deli.. Thumbs Up!! I will always get them whenever i m back in sin. I think the mee siam and the laksa mix are the best.. very close to what u can have in the market.

We dun hv those thick mee hoon over in UK.. so i make do with spaghetti instead. Still taste as fabulous! With a little dash of tow por (bean curd), its a comfy food away frm home..

The laksa paste taste good too.. yummy.. but the dried shrimp smell might smell a bit strong, hee..but tat still taste as gd as ever! The best part.. they got sambal chilli paste enclosed.. tats a bonus!

Yesh,making pineapple tarts is a hassle. But the self satisfaction is there.. u can store them in a container n pop on into yr mouth whenever u are whipping up meals in the kitchen.. Gee.. A luxury =D