Saturday Lunch

We have always loved having friends over for lunch or dinner. It is way more cosy than meeting in restaurants.

You can laugh as loud as you want, move around, stay as long as possible, ease of using the washrooms, no irritating patrons ...and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, that is really a luxury - something that we cannot do often. I have only had my friends over about three times.

Yesterday , 6 of his colleagues came over for lunch. As husby was having a super busy week, I did the marketing on Friday and planned to prepare the ingredients and sauces that night.

BUT I fell sick ... had fever and mini-outbursts. LOL. Poor husby had to tolerate my nonsense for the night and nothing was done, which was bad as I had a medical appointment early the next morning.

So , I had an early night after eating the medicines and decided to wake up at 5:30am . And I did. Prepared the ingredients, sauces for the main dish , boiled the potatoes and did a super quick clean-up of the living room.

I had to leave by eight am for the hospital so cooking was left to husby (THANK GOD he can cook!) for the day.

MENU FOR LUNCH
Starters : Mushroom Soup & Potato Salad
Main Dish: Grilled Chicken with Herbs and Vegetables
Desserts: Chocolate Fudge Brownie with Choc Chip Ice-cream

Just a simple one since there were only two of us preparing everything . Luckily, the brownies turned out fine or I would hang myself.

And unfortunately, his friends were quite late so we had some time to rest after I laid out the table... :)

Okay, call me thick-skinned but I love my dining area! :)

It was definitely effort-worthy as his colleagues are very

 nice and friendly people. I didn't feel out of place at all!

Only managed to snap a pic of the

dessert. Too busy eating! :P

As part of the SIngaporean way of life, we are just too busy to indulge in such activities on a regular basis. I wish we could do this more often.

All in all, it was a great afternoon. I love the food (thanks Mr!), the company and the house (heehee.....)....

The only thing I hate is the cleaning up!!!! URGH



CINDEREL-LAH!

The very first musical I watched with my husby back in 2004 (we were just friends then) was ALADDDIN by WILD RICE PRODUCTION.

And since then , we have been to more than a few musicals and plays. I am glad I found a partner for this. Never had friends who have the same interest.  My favourite musical would definitely be "Phantom of the Opera" and favourite play would be "Those who can't -TEACH!"

Now , there is an upcoming musical by WILD RICE again that I really wish to catch...

Poor Cindy lives in a crowded HDB flat with her Evil Casino-Obsessed Step-Mother and two Ugly Step-Sisters, Precious and Treasure. All she dreams about is going to The Grand Fish Ball where Prince Char Mee will choose a bride. Fairy God Makcik appears, and Cindy is transformed from “no taste” to “fashion ace” and off to The Ball she goes! But will the Prince recognise her? Will the shoe fit? And will true love find a way?

With an imaginative local spin on the world's favourite fairy-tale, CINDEREL-LAH!, W!LD RICE’s very first musical pantomime is BACK, revamped and upsized especially for the Esp-LAH-nade!!


AARRRRRGGGGHHHH! I really want to go ... but I need to seriously convince husby. He is not so keen on it because apparantly, he prefers the original cast.

How how? Cheat him - just buy tickets and force him to go?  Hahaa.....

You can check out SISTIC for more information.

Ok , time to plan!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - recommended?

My date with Mr Potter did not start off well.

I had such a busy morning that stretched all the way till 12 plus and the date was supposed to be at 1:40pm. I was slightly late thus, had to rush through make-up, sped down the roads and frantically looked for a parking space.

Then, I was squeezed in the lift with about 10 or so students (forgot it's the sch hols for sec sch) in the same lift - ALL going to catch the same Mr Potter in action.

I was really glad when I was finally seated to catch the show. I shall talk about the characters first.

I know the characters have really grown up but I couldn't help thinking about the cute and adorable trio when they first started.

Super cute! 

All grown up

The media is always harping on Hermoine (Emma Watsons)... commenting on how she has transformed into a hot babe. Well, cannot deny that she is really pretty now....

A scene from HP and the Deathly Hallows

But I just prefer Ginny Weasley. She has this strong and silent type of beauty but still maintaining the sweetness. 

Or even Luna! 

But Ginny is still my favourite!!! :)

Anyway, my take on the movie? Well, I am not going to be among those who lament that the movie is not good, the book is much better etc etc... I mean, come on! Of course the book would be better! There is no way you can squeeze in that many details in just 2 hours or so.

There were scenes that I wished were slightly more detailed but I think , as far as trying to stick to the book as much as possible, it was a good attempt :) *smiley face and thumbs up*

I just do not like the ending . Because it is very anti-climax and you just wish it doesn't stop there! However, we all know why the ending is as such ....there is a PART TWO!!!! Yeah!!!! Too long to wait till June though.... 

On the other hand, I feel that HP fans who have read the book would probably be able to relate to the movie more. There were many characters / scenes that one may feel are insufficiently introduced / explained if one has not read the book. You'll probably wondering "Who's that?" , "What's supposed to happen?", "why like that?".....etc. 

Thus , my recommendation is to read the book beforehand. It is more exciting when you see all the actions you've been reading about being visualised . But if you are someone who doesn't mind the occasional confusions along the way, go ahead and watch. It is pretty worth it. 

Date did not start off well but definitely ended great.

I do not mind catching the movie again  :P

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Photos are all from Google images

A Date with Mr Potter

Yo yo yo.... I cannot wait for tomorrow afternoon.

I have a date with Mr Potter himself... to allow him to astound me with his wit and magic.  I am super excited!

I have been an avid fan of Harry Potter books and I told myself to re-read the last book before watching the movie. UNfortunately, work keeps me busy ...at the moment,  I am only at page 152. Gonna have a busy morning tomorrow so I obviously doubt that I can finish the book by noon.

Never mind, I can always finish it up later.

Ok, Potter... do not disappoint me tomorrow!

Meeting up with Aly @ Bali Thai

Back in junior college, I got close to 2 girls.

We ended up being best buddies throughout the JC years. When u see one, the other two will always be somewhere behind. Always together.

We managed to keep up the closeness of the friendship throughout the university years and also , as we stepped into the early years of our working life.

Unfortunately , along the way, one fell out. Tried as we might, she obviously doesn't want to have anything to do with us anymore Very sad....I was rather affected for a long time. But now, I have accepted it as part and parcel of life.It is better to treasure what you have than hoping for something that you don't possess.

Thus, I was really excited to meet up with Alyson after almost eight months of not seeing her.

She felt like having Thai food so we went to Bali Thai @ Tampines Mall!

I was really wondering why the place was very empty although it was lunchtime on Sunday. Every other food place @ TM was pretty packed. And I remember that the food here  is quite good..... hmmm..I wonder why.....

I was trying to take the pic of the frame on the wall. From where I was sitting, it was quite tough not to have Aly in the picture as well. She was very shy and pretended to be looking else where ! Tsk!

We decided to go with the set lunch. I think it was about $15 (before GST)  for a set of side dish, main course and dessert (but not allowed to choose the dessert.Whatever they give, eat! )

 

 Her mango salad. Bali Thai's mango salad is always

just nice. Sour enough for the tastebuds but not 

overwhelming to the extent of cringing at every bite.

 

She ordered the Tom Yum noodles.  I would say

it was just okay. Nothing fantastic. I think Secret 

Recipe serves a better one.

I cannot remember the exact name of the dish.

It had a Tom Yum base - with fried vermicelli . 

Not bad... would be better if it is more spicy

(hmmm....I thought Tom Yum is supposed to be 

spicy? How come this is not?).

This was delicious! Fish fritters...very crispy on

the outside , super soft on the inside. It tastes 

even better with the THai chilli sauce.

Dessert was tapioca with coconut milk. I would

not order this if I had a choice. I only managed

2 out of 5 pieces. It was alright,I suppose...

the coconut milk helps A LOT.

I suppose I was slightly disappointed with the standard of the food that day. I have eaten at Bali Thai before and the food definitely tasted better before. 

Hmmm..... I hope they are not trying to cut costs.... and I really hope they are actually doing well enough and will not close down. I like the TM branch :)

BALI THAT RESTAURANT (TM BRANCH)

4 Tampines Central 5
6787 1500