After a good night's sleep, a late night conversation, no recriminations, just quiet understanding. I suddenly feel inexplicably foolish and ashamed for making such a mountain out of the molehill.

Anyway, I mentioned a heavy lunch right, it was actually Brennan, after dithering between spageddies, nydc and coffee club, we finally settled on coffee club at ngee ann city for its ambience and newly launched baked rice set. We ordered the mushroom and parmesan baked rice, honey mustard chicken sandwich and a muddy mud pie( of course). The baked rice wasn't all that great and I suspected they used a campbell based sauce for the rice. The sandwich was better than the rice, I thought, with juicy chicken chunks and creamy honey mustard dressing.

Last but not least was the dessert. The towering mudpie came replete with generous dose of chocolate sauce and oreo crumbs and definitely did not disappoint. The dessert that came with the set lunch was an interesting berry compote with mascarpone and sable tart. It was refreshingly tart, though without the kick that only chocolate can bring.

Eating slowly and just savouring everybit of it, and soaking in the atmosphere, it was luxurious in a way, no more of that when school starts and hectic life begins.

Oh, and I tried my hand at making konnyaku Jelly. It was pretty idiot proof, though very sticky and messy affair. It turned out nicely chewy, though a little too sweet. I forsee that I would be making lots of it, since its one of my favourite none chocolate dessert, maybe experimenting with different fillings.

I also baked brownies, taking advantage of the fact that mum wasn't at hme...hee. The brownie was near perfect, one of the feel times it wasn't too underdone nor overdone, with a really soft and moist and chocolatey taste, with a melt in the mouth texture. Its near perfect because I prefer a fudgier brownies. But my last attempt at fudgie brownie tasted great, but looked horrible..hahah..I hope the feedback is good..hee

Brownies..for sharing 

Konnyaku jelly..yummmy 

After a good workout, I feel anger and emotions draining out and also calories from a heavy but satisfying lunch. Baking helped take my mind away as I concentrated on the tasks at hands.

As I heard the sounds of the fireworks, and could only see naught but the smoke, imagining the revellers at Marina bay, soaking in the fun and atmosphere. Sitting alone in the darkness, quietly, thinking. Tis true I am stubborn. But hate me if you will, love me if you dare, I am who I am.

After working practically almost everyday last week, I am beat. And for this week, I am only working 2 days, friday and saturday(11-3),so for anyone who wants to pop by and say hello, please feel free to do so...hahah. My social life hasn't been that great these past few weeks due to working and a sense of obligation to go home for dinner, so for this week, I am going to go wild..hahah..

Almost at the end of this working stint, I am not sure if I will continue during term time, I have discovered that I luvvv working there. I've met some very nice people, made new friends and have met none of the unreasonble and difficult customers that people have warned me about(not really), but of course 6 weeks is too short to tell. Working can even be fun at times. Say yesterday, we kept waltzing in and out of the kitchen for food, the word scavengers has taken on a new meaning. I went to work on a relatively empty stomach thinking that it was a good night for dieting, no such luck though. There was freshly baked, warm out of the oven carrot cake to be shared among us. It really tasted divine, all buttery goodness and flavoured with cinnamon. Then after that, there were leftover chicken wings, fries and potato wedges which we of course descended on, before the irate kitchen staff threw it away..hahah..because we were crowding the already small kitchen. Then after that, I felt kind of hungry as I was working till 11pm, so I requested for a bowl of mushroom soup and it tasted absolutely yummmy, thick and creamy and filled with mushroom. So was the clam chowder. Both super calorific of course.

Calorific is a work I coined up with Stacey, which means high in calories. Stacey is this girl who also works part time in fosters and is from Nus as well. We became good friends after going to Provence for tunch(read lunch & tea) after work last friday and discovering that we were avid foodies and had the same liking for almost all the same kind of food, how rare is that..hahah. To find a girl who loves eating but scared of putting on weight, but who eats anyway, just like me. On Sunday night, we were both working the same shift, so I popped by Provence to get a bread for her. It turned out that she has also gotten a bread for me from Provence, what a laugh. I really hope that this friendship can last. I have one other friendship that lasted cos of food and thats Brennan, my ever reliable food khakie who is sadly going aussie to study soon.

Anyway, school is starting soon and I suspect that this coming semester, I will be more busy than ever. But in a way, I am looking forward to new challenges ahead.I will also become a trainer soon with HATC,where I am currently a faciliator. The name itself inspires awe and prestige, but it is not as easy as it sounds. There is a lot of hard work involved and for those who know me well, my fear of public speaking and thus stuttering and temporal amnesia is a great deterrence for this job. But I still want to do it, to overcome this particular weakness and I am glad the company is giving me a chance to do so. And I had this revelation, that whatever God opens the door for me to try, it will surely be blessed because He won't want to send me to my doom..hahah..and its true that for all my previous jobs, I have been pretty blessed, so this would not be any exception. Just remember that he can use my weaknesss for His good :)

There are times when I feel nostalgic and I would read back my previous entries. Some of the things I posted about mb were so incredibly mushy. And when I read back the histories of our past msn conversations, which was filled with sweet nothings, I would wonder how come we never do that anymore. Reading it, especially when you are feeling melancholic, fills me with a bittersweetness. We have come quite a long way(almost 16months), the path not always smooth, but still we have made it here. Sometimes I pine for the days long gone, the so- called honeymoon period, the stage of love where all else fades into nothingness, the first flush of love. The headiness, the anticpation, the euphoria..you get my point...

But I realize what we have now is much more precious, much more substantial and far more real than anything. It is built on a solid rock based on our faith, love and giving and above all, God in us. I am just so very thankful that I have found my gem, he has proven time and again of his love for me, despite my many flaws. He has chosen to accept them and love me just the way I am. I am just so very blessed. Did I mention I love him too?

Today, I met a particularly difficult customer, a caucasian. But thankfully, the others had already warned me about him, so I had already steeled myself in preparation for his nastiness when I served him his caesar salad.

C: (looks at the salad) I don't want the eggs. Take aways the eggs
Me: Alright sir, just a minute
(I came back with the salad sans the eggs)
C: Tell the chef that caesar salad are without eggs, and put them on the menu...
Me: Yessir(quickly backing off, eyeballs rolling)

Not even a thank you, not even a please, not even a smile, but I didn't take it personally that this man was so nasty, I didn't want to let it bother me. Call me idealistic, but I like to believe that most people are nice, but there would be a feel oddballs. I just don't understand why such people exist, does it make them happy to be mean? Weird. Wouldn't the world be a nicer place when everybody is nice to each other.

Anyway, enough about nasty people. I met plenty of nice people in my job. For example today, a customer asked me to run out to get a packet of Marlboro Lights, and told me to keep the change, which was $3. I felt a little self conscious when I was buying it and carrying it back though..hahah..

It was pretty busy during lunch today, almost fully packed. And my hands were aching from carrying heavy plates to and fro, clearing tables and all. It always irks me when I am trying to balance my heavy tray and serving soup or clearing the tables and the customers just sit there woodenly. Like hello, at least move away lah, or pass the plates over to make my life a little easier. For customers who do that, they never know how such a small act is greatly appreciated, and I always bestow them with a bright smile and thank you.

So by the time I ended work, I was super tired and super super hungry. I was rewarded with scones, courtesy of Soon, who even heated it up for me and put jam and cream for me, after I mentioned in passing that it doesn't taste as nice without the condiments. Scones freshly baked out of the oven is another matter, and I was guilty of eating one too, in the morning, the smell of it wafting out of the kitchen so entirly irresistable. I shared with another girl too, so I am not entirely a glutton..haha. Eaten plain then, it was simply wonderful. They really do have the best scones in Singapore, do go try it. Available from 3-6pm daily.

Its time for an update. What have I been up to? Nothing much actually, apart from working which has been pretty smooth since the other day, but I guess there really are good days and bad days. On a good day when my mood is good, nothing can faze me, even scolding from the boss. On a bad day however, it is a totally different story. I treated dad and aunt aubrey to Fosters on saturday, and I finally got to try their food properly. I loved their mushroom and asparagus fettucine, done aglio olio style, though it was a tad oily, very oily actually. The bill came up to quite a bit, but it was a sort of a thank you for him for footing almost all the bills in Bangkok. But I thought it was kind of awkward eating there, what with my manager serving me and all, not something I want to do again soon. And after that, we had dessert at NYDC, my cravings for mudpie satisfied at last.

Today, I had quite a nice day. Work was super slack, with very little customers. I had tea with Soon and Chai at Holland v foodcentre after work, the two chefs who are the nicest to me(always offering me food), without whom working at fosters would be so totally different, truly. And they always call me 'mei-nu',which is quite ego-boosting, but of course I take it with a pinch of salt.

After that, I met stephen, and we abandoned our plans to watch lake house in favour of going to little india for dinner. We stopped by Beancurd city on the way and had a bowl of piping hot beancurd which is better than that of its next door counterpart, and was super silky and light. We walked to Komala Villas for thosai after that,it was quite a long walk and I had no idea of its true location, but found it without much effort. The whole dining experience was just so interesting, like being in a foreign part of singapore and their thosai is really good, authentic Indian cuisine. We rounded our meal with a lychee mochi from 7-11, to sooth our burning mouth, and sat by the road side, watching cars whiz pass and watching people walk past. What an interesting date..

ps: pictures were taken courtesy of Nokia n70, my temporary phone until I get my much dreamed of nokia 7370(or better). I know, i know, its a great phone, but with too many features and it is really too big and manly for my liking. Maybe I will grow to like it in time, maybe....