I am shifting....

This blog is moving to this new addy!

www.j0annesim.wordpress.com

It's time to embrace new changes!

Bookmark it and visit me there! :)

I could have been in Paris today...

Sigh..today would be the day that I would have been in Paris taking in the French sites and sounds, indulging in all that sinful shopping, French cusine and lovely wine. (BIG) SIGH!

Anyways, coming back to reality! This came in early Friday morning to cheer me up! :) No guesses who it would come from.. Mister B of course!!! He is actually very sweet. After 'enlightening' me on why I shouldn't be whining over something really, really small and despite me giving him a little 'attitude', he still hung in there and sent this sweet floral blooms to cheer me up. I finally straightened out my thinking of course with encouragement from B and friends.

Also, in celebration of my 'Happy Friday', I dragged Princess Min -who probably is the only friend with a flexi working schedule - down to Mortons for some good ol' Martinis!! Actually, its those steak sandwiches that we are eyeing more so than the martinis.. haha! Mortons, famed for its steak sandwiches as well as surprisingly low-priced Martinis, is a must-go when you are feeling stressed up at work! Nothing alcohol can't fix is what you need for a quick perk-me-up! :) I would strongly advise that you go there at 5pm sharp. It gets really crowded thereafter and you maybe turned away if they do not have enough standing area to accomodate you.

After having two and a half martinis, we decided to call it a night at 7pm, we headed off for dinner at Space by Humble House at Esplanade Mall. Space is really the more affordable alternative to Humble House. It boasts a modest menu with great 1-dish meals for patrons on the go. I especially liked the claypot rice ($12)! It's a simple dish, no great ingredients to shout about, but I really love the broth for its comfort food for the soul. Princess Min ordered the seafood laksa ($12). I must say the laksa is great value for money. It's got oysters, prawns and scallops. No doubt, its more expensive than your local hawker fare, but hey, you are not going to be short-changed with the amount of seafood they have given you as well.

And guess what is the best part? Space is now having a promo with American Express credit cards! Buy 1-get-1 free deal! :) With such a deal like this, how can we not be happy?? Moreover, its now the time to tighten our belts so suss out those great deals and be sure to utilise them to the fullest!

Today, I just spent the afternoon with cousin, helping out at a birthday party organised by one of her friends. My task? Being a balloon sculptor! Haha, I just learnt some tricks and my reportoire is still very limited. So far, I can only make sword, field mouse, sausage dog and poodle. Today, I learnt how to make a rabbit and girraffe. But my fave is still the field mouse! Business wasn't that brisk as the children were more interested in screaming in the swimming pool then playing games. Hahaha... kids!

I need to feng-shui my place and I need it QUICK!!!

I feel that my luck has been down of late.. first, it was the nemesis@work! After giving me grief and being so nasty over the phone, I actually physically bumped into n@wk this morning in the same elevator box. In between managing my bagful of laundry, 2 cups of teh, I actually managed to knock into n@wk who almost immediately 'TSK' me and threw me a look of disgust. Just my luck I guess.. I hope it doesn signal the start of a horrible day.

Anyway, I am pretty sure it did! Cos thereafter, my 'worstest worstest' nightmare came true! I now have to face my monthly nightmare almost everyday from next week onwards. Sigh.. its' not a pretty sight at work today as I tried hard to fight the sparkly droplets from falling. I know I am sounding like a child who appears to be throwing a fit.. but honestly, if you only knew the pain I have to go through, its to me my greatest fear! Sigh...

But, I will try my very best to embrace this nightmare.. I have to at least give it a shot right? Who knows, maybe with time, my nightmare may not be that bad after all.. So I am giving myself today to mope and whine.. tomorrow, I try harder to accept and embrace new challenges..

Longing for another cookie...

I discovered the Cookie Museum thanks to recommendation from Cat. Cousin and I went there once to have dessert and were bowled over by the premium collection of exquisite cookies.

Pamper yourself with a lovely brewed pot of tea and sample the delightful bite-sized cookies as the lovely sales coordinator patiently explains what ingredients go into the scrumptious and yummy cookies.

They have such a wide selection of cookies- from fresh and fruity flavours to flowery ones. They even localised their flavours and offered a piece of heaven for those far away from our tiny red-dot. Flavours like hee bee hiam, nasi lemak and ikan billis, laksa and d24 offer much relief to the palettes of the home-sick.

What really got me sold was the Papaya and lotus seed cookie. The melt-in-your-mouth cookie had a lovely scent of the papaya fruit coupled with the sweetness of the lotus seed nuts. Yumz.. my mouth is watering thinking of this cookie.

Last Sat, we went a sampling again after dinner at Gluttons Bay. Wanting to savour the papaya cookie again, we were all set to part with our $30 over dollars for that 24 pieces of cookies, only to be told that it's no longer available! Some of their flavours are seasonal and only available for a limited period.

So after trying many flavours from Mango/cranberry, lemon/macadamia nut to madeline rose, the 3 of us finally agreed on the lemon/apple and macadamia nut cookie. Ooh..I feel like having another one with my peppermint tea now...

So visit the one and only Cookie Museum at the Esplanade Mall today and be intrigued with the array of cookies on display!

You know when you date someone long enough, the question that you get asked as a singleton is 'when are you getting married?' Then after you get married, the very next question people asked is 'so when are you the 2 of you going to have kids?'

When we got married, B and I wanted to have kids almost immediately. Then we moved to Japan and enjoyed our life almost too tremendously.. seeking the slopes and indulging in snow-boarding every other week. We decided to seek the fast-paced life and put babies on hold then.

Now, friends around us are starting to pop babies and with my biological clock fast clicking away, I can't help but feel a little stressed at times. I have friends who are parents. Some have just stayed at home and devoted their lives to looking after their little tots. I often wonder if I can do that. I applaud them just looking after their babies 24/7. Some have even given up any shred of personal time and given their child the unconditional attention all day long. I often wonder whether I can do that, just give everything up. A havoc friend of mine replied 'Hey, if I can do it, you can too!' Then there are the friends who have become (in my opinion) the coolest parents I have seen. They can manage both a career as well as a family (with some help- naturally).

Then there are times that I wonder how B and I will fare as parents. It's difficult to be one and I think its going to be a lifelong affair.. Dunno what got me writing this post, I guess I just been doing some thinking about 'Parenting' in general.. not me being a parent right now.. but just the topic in general.

Ember-licious!

In celebration of mine and Jenn's birthdays, we decided to bring ourselves out for a nice and quaint quiet dinner. It's kinda sad that the rest of the gals are no longer here to join in the celebrations, but life goes on.

Not knowing where to head, we decided to try Ember at Hotel 1929. We prob were one of the last few people in Singapore to uncover this much-talked and raved about gem. But well, better late than never.

I brought my yummy-licious sparkling Pinot Shiraz purchased at the last OZ trip at Domain Chandon. Ooh, speaking of which, Princess Min is now down under on her much much deserved holiday with her shining Lord in amour. Envy, envy.... :)

Alright, back to the evening.. don't expect a big restaurant! Ember was cosy and quaint, recommend to book in advance as the place does not serve a big crowd. When I saw the menu, I almost wanted to order everything.. haha.. it's just me being greedy!

For starters, we chose the pan-seared foie gras served under a warm bed of enoki mushrooms and the chilled angel hair pasta delightfully accompanied with konbu and abalone to share. What a wonderful start to our dinner. (Sorry, didn't manage to snap the foie gras, we immediately 'attacked' the dish the moment it was served!)

Pegs raved about the ox-tail at Ember, but somehow I couldn't find it out the menu. So either I am blind or this was a secret dish that only people in the know knew. For the mains, Jenn had the miso cod-fish (a house fave by many), whilst I selected the chilean sea-bass served with a warm yuzu-truffle butter sauce and mushrooms. I love, love, love anything yuzu. Having said this, I miss TOKYO and all the yummy YUZU delicacies the city beholds. The fish was perfect! The yuzu flavour wasn't that distinctive, I felt that the truffle overpowered the fresh and citrus flavour of the yuzu. But nevertheless, the fish was soft with its meat melting into my palette.

There is always room for dessert! But we didn't want to appear to be too greedy, so we shared the lemon sorbet mille-feuille served over strawberries. That was the much-needed finishing touch to end this wonderful dinner.

This is really funny!!!