~Rain Rain - Go Away~

The weather has been most depressing lately. It has been raining, raining, raining non-stop.. Temperatures have also dropped drastically. The worst part is, it is all bright and sunny one moment and pouring the next. You don't even know what to wear to go out nowadays cos if you wear too little you will start to shiver and if you're wearing too much then you'll probably get a heat stroke... *sulk* Seems like this weather is gonna last all the way to January next year. Yesterday there was even floods in a few areas cos of the excessive rainfall which is seldom. It is raining again now.. Hope that we will get sunshine for longer hours.. keke..

HD Media Player

Finally... a media player that supports RM / RMVB playback... *Hooray*
A couple of weeks ago, Adrian was talking about this mediabox that is able to output direct to the TV for playback via an external harddisk or USB thumbdrive. Was thinking it would be a good gadget to get for mom and dad so that they can sit comfortably in front of the TV instead of the PC when they want to watch shows. So after class today, I finally went down to Sim Lim Square to look for this piece of 'treasure'. Luckily Adrian already got his so I just went round looking for that specific brand - Ovation - Boy.. it is really hard to find... I scouted 3 levels before finding it. Every store that I went to to either told me that they have never heard of this brand or it can only be found at those small counters outside the shops which was not the case too. Cos those 'small counters' don't even sell media players. In the end I tried my luck in one of the bigger stores on the 4th level and..... YES!!! I FOUND IT!!! *keke* Thinking back, I think those sales people that told me to look in all the wrong places probably hoped that I couldn't find what I really wanted and go back to them to get a similar one at double the price (or even more).. The connections for this media player is very simple too. If your TV has HDMI output, it comes with an HDMI cable for direct connections. If not, it also comes with the (red/white/yellow) audio/video cable. Just connect and the player would search for the AV channel on its own. Comes with a handy remote control too... Easy!! The quality of playback was astonishingly good. Very clear.. much better than the PC monitor *chuckles*

** Mikka.. u should really check if this would work on your TV *winks*

Food Galore....

We decided to do our regular cousin's gathering last Saturday - Halloween!!!
We only had only 18 adults and 2 kids but the amount of food that we had was more than enough to feed 40 people.. LOL...
Its always nice to see a whole table full of food.. *GRINZ* We all just luuurve these food parties...
We were supposed to be each bringing a dish of some sort to contribute to the food 'mountain' so Jac did her 'speciality' - Crab bee hoon which we all love.. *yummie* Poor girl, got bitten by the stoopid crab while picking it up. Luckily the bite was not too serious, if not we would have felt really guilty.. keke... But it was a little disappointing on my end cos there was simply too much food on the table and I didn't eat as much crabs as I would have liked to.. keke... Will be looking forward to the next food party.. maybe Christmas... haha...

German Market Place (in SG)

Today I finally decided to drop by the German Market Place which I have found over the internet.
When I was over in Stuttgart, we found an Asian supermarket - BETA Supermarket (exact location I'm not sure... keke) so I thought here in Singapore, there must be at least ONE shop that sells German products.
Wanted to drop by yesterday but thankfully I didn't as they close for the day at 7.00pm.
The staff was nice, actually as mentioned, they close rather early. I stepped into the shop at 6.58pm and they let me finish my shopping anyway... LOL...
They really have a wide range of products in the shop. From beer to wurst to pickles to schokolade... *GRINZ*

I have been wanting to get spätzle to try out more dishes but they don't have this in the regular supermarkets. Mikka volunteered to send them to me if I really wanted it.. Sweet ja? keke... So, spätzle was actually no. 1 on my 'list of things to find' from the German Market Place. I was actually only half convinced that I could get my spätzle but surprise... They really have it!! Too bad I didn't have time to slowly browse through the racks. Next time I will drop by again when I need my re-stock of Hanutas.. Yes.. they have Hanutas too.. So Mikka.. next time you have one less thing to lug along.. keke...
For those who wants to drop by the mart, address and opening hours as follows :
German Market Place (Along the shophouse further up Coronation Plaza)
609 Bukit Timah Road
Mon - Sat : 10am - 7pm
(Closed on Sundays & Public Holidays)

Käsespätzle?? More like Ham n Cheese pasta

Mom and dad left me to feed myself today.. So I thought I would do something that Mikka taught me.. only that.. its more my version.. Had to more or less change the recipe a little cos I don't have Swabian noodles anymore so I replaced that with pasta.. Its still some kind of noodles.. keke.. Sauteed the onions with butter & olive oil & set aside for 30mins (normally its to be set aside for an hour but I was hungry... LOL) I cook the pasta until it is really soft this time as I remembered Swabian noodles as being more moist. After that, I tossed the ham and onions together to let it mix well, added the pasta then into the baking plate. I used red & white cheddar slices. Oven was preheated to 170°C and the pasta was baked for about 20mins.

*~Mikka's Visit~*

After such a looooooong wait, my Mikka was finally in town... To attend my brother's wedding, to go on a family vacation to Bangkok & of course... our own getaway to Batam.. keke... Just a summary of some of the things we did... *SMILEZ*

30th September 2009 @ the Singapore Hilton - Adrian & Josephine's wedding.. Also, it was Mikka's 'official' introduction to the family. I guess it must have been a real shock to him cos the family is HUGE.. keke.. Overall, the event was beautiful .. Wishing my bro n Jo - Loving each other always!!
02nd October 2009 - Lift off to Bangkok... Tiger Airways is always a favourite (cos its cheap lah.. LOL) Its only a 2 hours flight, so don't complain.. keke.. We stayed at the Grand Diamond Suites. Situated right beside Platimun Mall, I would say the location is great. It was more of a shopping shopping & more shopping trip.. Not forgetting the eat eat & eat also.. It was dad and uncle's first time to Bangkok so they opted to take the day tours instead. Not a bad idea to learn more about the culture of Thailand.
09th October 2009 - Taking the 'lovely' ferry to Batam.. We checked-in @ the Holiday Inn Batam.. Surprise, surprise... The place was 'empty' more or less.. I would say less than 20% occupancy rate.. That's BAD for a hotel, especially since it was so obvious that 2 full blocks were empty.. But anyway, one of the main 'motives' of Mikka to go to Batam is to go play golf. We headed down to the Indah Puri Golf Resort on the 2nd day to check out the place. Mikka had a 2hr golf 'training' session with a personal instructor for SGD80 bucks & I got myself a 2 1/2 hr spa package at SGD 120 at the 'Tempat Senang Spa' next to the golf club. Very nice ambiance, perfect to pamper yourself *winks* But in general, Batam is a terrible place to go to if you have no plans in mind. Absolutely nothing to do... Shopping malls suck, food is bad.. *sigh* Next time, I think I would just book a package direct with the golf club.
12th October 2009 - My birthday!! Am so glad that this year Mikka is here to celebrate my birthday with me.. Didn't do much but its the presence that's important..