Craving

for Korean food haha. 

Korean ban chan or side dishes. I love these

Korean BBQ pork lettuce wrap

River Sights

I attended a thought-provoking talk in the evening at The Head Foundation. It was also a delight to meet  former NIE colleagues at the talk. After the talk, we had dinner together and caught up with one another. 

Juicy grilled chicken at Ricciotti

I also took the opportunity to walk around Boat Quay after a sumptuous meal to enjoy the beautiful night scenery by the river.

Tenacious

I accidentally found them growing at a place where you would not have expected to see them - inside a shopping mall! They just show me sometimes we have to be as tenacious too. Maybe it is a sign for me.

Sweetness

Ice cream sandwich given out as dessert during our work place CNY lunch. Yes, sweetness! :)

Surprise at Work

This is what make me enjoy coming to work - good colleagues/ friends! :) They help to make work bearable especially when dealing with unreasonable people.

CNY Snack

Our favourite snack during CNY is the CNY nian gao. My mother will make different variations of the nian gao snack by coating it with egg batter and fry - a slice of nian gao sandwiched between a slice of sweet potato and a slice of yam, or nian gao with sweet potato, or just nian gao on its own.
I prefer the nian gao on its own because it is sweet. :)

Happiness is...

Rainbow Cake!

2nd Day of CNY 2015

We always have friends visiting us on the 2nd day of CNY for our signature dishes - Hockchew red wine chicken soup with mee sua and my mother's Taiwanese-style braised pork with buns (扣肉包) which were served throughout the day. :) This year, my mother also cooked her glutinous rice (糯米饭) and a new salad dish consisting of thinly sliced capsicums (raw) and pear mixed with apple cider vinegar. :)

Looks like our waist lines will expand lol.

Happy Chinese New Year 2015!

Here is wishing all my friends, my colleagues, my ex-colleagues, my students, my ex-students, my family and my extended family (both overseas and in Singapore) a Happy Lunar New Year!
May the Year of the Sheep bring you and your family Great Health, Great Fortune, Great Success and Great Happiness!
祝大家新年快乐，四季平安，五福临门，事事如意！

Happy Lunar New Year 2015, Everyone!

The four beauties in the family :P

Chinese New Year's Eve 2015

My mother was busy since morning, preparing a number of dishes for offerings to our ancestors and also for our consumption on the 1st day of CNY as we have vegetarian food on the 1st day of the month. She didn't have to prepare much for the reunion dinner because we are having steamboat. She only had to prepare the broth for the steamboat, and prep the seafood, e.g. fish and squid. Something new for this year, she smoked the chicken instead of steaming it for our reunion dinner. It was delicious! :)

Sitting on Top of the World by Delta Goodrem

Sitting on Top of the World (uploaded by DeltaGoodremVEVO)

Tired of Working?

I saw this poster on the door of my PGDE professor when I went to deliver my CNY card to her. She was at a meeting but that gave me time to read the poster carefully. It made me laugh. :) Somehow I don't feel so tired anymore. :)

Here is the text in full (as it might be too small to read from the image)

Tired of Working? 
The year is made up of 365 days each having 
24 hours, 12 of which are night time hours
which add up to a total of 182 days.

This leaves you with 183 days to work minus
52 Sundays which leaves you 131 days to work
minus another 52 Saturdays which leaves you
79 days to work.

3 hours each day are set aside for eating and 
1 hour for bathing, going to toilet which adds
up to 60 days, which leaves you only 19 days
for working.

You are entitled to 14 days for your vacation 
which meansyou have 5 days left for your work
minus 4 days you usually take off due to illness 
or other emergencies, which leaves you 
only ONE day to work, which happens to be
Labour Day which is a holiday.

SO, WHY ARE YOU TIRED?

Spring Cleaning

My mother did a little spring cleaning of the Ang Pow that she has collected over the years, for the past 15-20 years at least. She had to throw out some of the old ones as the self-adhesive part was really yucky. She found the Year of the Goat/ Ram red packets from 12 years ago! Hmm, can recycle and use for this year haha. :P

She threw out a huge plastic bag of old red packets and kept a packet each of the really beautiful, interesting and unique designs.

Happy Valentine's Day 2015

A little rose petal candle made by Marieann. Thank you!

Happy Valentine's Day 2015!!

Roundtable

I attended my first Journals Editorial Roundtable 2015 organised by Taylor & Francis since becoming a Review Editor last March. It was an eye opener for me to hear of some of the antics desperate authors do! I certainly have benefited from the session! :) 
Lunch was provided and it was an eye opener for me too! Never expected such a sumptuous meal! But then it is at Goodwood Park Hotel so it has its standards! :P The soup, Veloute of Wild Forest Mushroom was delicious. In between food, I was chatting to my colleague from my organisation. We hardly see each other on campus so it was a good chance to catch up. :)

My choice of main: Pan Fried Sea bass with Lemon Dill Sabayon. Yum!

Dessert: Pistachio Parfait with Sesame Tuile. Heaven!!

Work. Issue!

There is some work issue...
I will be hoping for the best...

Dual Roles

I think for the first time, the teachers in my counselling school were a little confused over my role haha. 
I did my counselling with the students in the morning. Once my counselling ended, I joined my NIE colleague who was facilitating a focus group discussion with teachers. 
It was funny to see the look on the teachers' faces when I appeared at the discussion venue. They were probably thinking, "What is the counsellor doing here?". I had to explain that I am also a researcher from NIE, besides being a counsellor in their school. :)
A lot of the staff, other than the school leaders and middle managers, don't realise that I have dual roles because I am passionate about both work and I couldn't let go of one or the other. 
I am both a counsellor as well as a researcher. :) 

Rescue Mission

My friends/ colleagues launched a rescue mission late yesterday afternoon. After a meeting which ran over time grossly, they headed to the canteen to get a very late lunch, already past 4pm. On their way back to the office, they heard and saw a cat meowing pitifully at them from the roof. Somehow the ginger cat had gotten itself stuck on the roof in between the first floor and basement one. 
Being cat lovers and compassionate people, they decided to help the cat. Azlina and Filzah actually climbed down onto the roof, despite certain dangers to themselves! In the end, Filzah (being a cat owner) managed to lure the cat out of its hiding place on the roof with food, grabbed it by the scruff, passed it on to Azlina who was at the stairs and released the cat safely on the first floor. The cat ran away so fast and hid in the drain. We followed it and continued to feed it though the drain cover until we ran out of food. It seemed very hungry. :( We couldn't do much more for the cat as it was past 6pm and we all had to get home.
I hope the cat will be alright. I wonder how it wandered into our campus.

Rescue in action: Filzah luring the cat out with food

Have A Great Week! :)

I came back to office after my focus group interview in the morning in school to find the below at my work station. :) A little care pack from my friend and colleague. Thanks! The steamcake/ spongecake was absolutely delicious! I am really grateful for my friends/ colleagues. :)

It is certainly going to be a great week (and many more) working with such caring and supportive friends/ colleagues! :)

CNY Coming Soon

Just realised that CNY is coming soon. Only another 10 days to go...

Breakfast in Bed

Actually I do not fancy breakfast in bed. It's too messy lol. 
But I agree that I am "sweet". You see, I am pre-diabetic so my blood sugar is naturally higher than normal people haha. :P

You Are Sweet

You are the type of person who loves life, and if anything, you feel like there are too many good things to choose from. You are very emotionally in tune, and you tend to know what you want. You need lots of love in your life in order to be happy. Your ideal breakfast in bed is any one that is made with love. For you, eating in bed is the ultimate treat. You are always thankful for what you have in life. Some of the littlest things can be the sweetest.

The Breakfast in Bed Test

Fortune Cookies

My girls love the fortune cookies which Guardian Pharmacy sells during the Chinese New Year period and they usually sell out quite fast. I bought a pack for my girls during one of my lunch times at a nearby mall. 
I introduced my friends to the joy of cracking open a fortune cookie. Oh goodness, they are so tickled by the fortune slips in the cookies and couldn't stop at one! :P With that, I decided to get for all of them fortune cookies as their Chinese New Year gifts as the cookies will definitely be something that they all enjoy! :)

Ownership

On several occasions, Marieann has been staying back after school. She explained that she has been staying back after school to complete her homework together with her classmate. 
My first instinct is to want her home as soon as possible to do her homework. However, I realised that Marieann is learning to take ownership for her own learning. I guess I also have to do some learning. I am learning to let go where Marieann's studies is concerned. It's time that she takes charge of her own learning. 

Juliane's Camping Trip

Juliane came home today from her camping trip. She is alright other than a bruise on her shin because she had a fall at camp. She was telling me excitedly about her camp activities and she also related about her panic attack during abseiling. It would seem that Juliane has a fear of heights like I do.  
Juliane enjoyed her camping trip. She seemed to have grown "taller". Maybe in my eyes, she has grown a  little more independent with her stay away from home and so seemingly, she is standing taller now. :)

At LONG Last

I finally got my new notebook in 2015! 
My current notebook was issued to me back in 2009 after the previous one crashed. But somewhere in 2011, the hard disk crashed and I had to buy a new hard disk to replace it as there was no replacement notebook. There was one or two occasions which I could change to a "new" notebook but I didn't because the "new" notebook was basically an upgraded old notebook (bought in 2010 or 2011). I am really happy that I hold out until now. Otherwise, I would not have gotten a brand new notebook! :)

New Hp Probook, Hp monitor, mouse and keyboard! :)

Quiet

This is the first day of Juliane's camping trip. Somehow the place is very quiet without Juliane around. Now I realise how much Juliane talks when she is at home lol. I wonder how she is at camp...

Packing for Camp

Juliane will be off for a three days two nights school camp from 2 to 4 February. We went through the camping checklist thrice just to make sure Juliane has everything that she needed for camp. :P It almost feels like I am going to camp lol. The most important thing is her medication as she is prone to migraines. :( I just hope her migraine doesn't act up during her camping trip. I hope she will enjoy herself. :)