when the week ends, the real weekend begins.

i've always dreamt about having a picnic at the botanic gardens with the full works sunday brunch style. finally managed to convince my canoeing mates that something like this was worth waking up at 7.30am on a sunday for. i offered to bring all the food just to persuade them that it wasn't such a bad idea after all and so the past two days were spent planning, grocery shopping, prepping and finally cooking! 

el menú

i might have been over ambitious to think that i could pull all of that off on my own, so thank god my elf chef (aka sister's bf) and loving mother offered to help cook and clean respectively. 

note to self: grocery shopping needs serious muscle strength. transporting everything from home to botanics also needs serious muscle strength. 

it was great fun nonetheless and save for the very small picnic mat situation, everything fell into place perfectly. good weather, great food (i would like to believe!) & fantastic company! =)

from left to right:
pancakes with vanilla poached peaches and caramelized bananas,
baked eggs with mushroom, bacon & cucumbers
elf chef's balsamic cream mushrooms and home-made salsa
smoked salmon and cream cheese with crackers
roasted pumpkin and spinach salad 

the grand finale - bread & butter-less pudding
(lovingly assembled by elf chef!)

missing in the pictures was the ultimate sunday brunch tipple - mimosa! the champagne and orange juice combination completed the picture. 

if you're interested, here are some of the recipes i used as reference:

Pumpkin and Spinach Salad 

(Fantastic salad combination, I also added feta cheese)

Vanilla Poached Peaches 

(Unbelievably easy yet delicious)

Jamie Oliver's Bun & Butter Pudding 

(Made a few adaptations by soaking the raisins in Cointreau, using French baguette, omitting the butter, cognac and zest. It was so yummy I'm still thinking about it now)

I hope you had a great weekend too, have a blessed week ahead! =)

farewell.

it's been a week of goodbyes on many levels.

1) i bade goodbye to my grandma who lived to a ripe old age of 97. for all the love you've given in your own ways, thank you.

2) my stint with the F1 team came to a close. it's been such a great experience, with every one in the team being no less than wonderful. i will never exchange the past few months for anything else.

3) it was a short but sweet story with J as the few more minutes finally expired. absolutely no regrets.

overwhelming, but comforted by Your love.

i know everything will work for my good. =)

hauntingly beautiful, this is one of my all time favourite song which never fails to lift me up each time.

christmas dinner 2009 in pictures.

it was a wonderful evening worth documenting, so here's what we had for dinner:

setting the table

parma ham and rock melon salad; french onion soup

whiskey-glazed carrots; pumpkin with scallops and mushrooms

chicken le cordon bleu

shrimp and scallop pasta in foil package

monkey munchies

lovely company!

cubicle rat.

i really love wan jun's sense of humour. =D

credit: ms lee wan jun, the maker of funny charts

indian101.

jolene and rama - lunch with these two fellows is never a simple affair. you'll not only get fed in your tummy but your brains will also get poked poked poked and then you come out at the end of lunch feeling like you're 100x enriched with issues on life's greatest philosophical issues. i think so far we've touched on religion, chinese values, morality etc etc etc etc etc... ...

haha but i've always enjoyed their company and this time was no exception! we ventured into rama's country (somewhere called little india) for some indian food. his mouth dropped when i told him that i don't know what's a dosai so his quest to have some indian-chinese food became an indiancuisine101 lesson.

have you have stepped into a indian restaurant, not knowing what to order and always end up with either roti prata or fish head curry? i take the easy way out, i just don't step into one haha.. the closest i got to indian was prata, which i'm sure someone out there will vehemently object because prata is so not indian.

fear not my young padawans! after today's post you will be able to step into an indian restaurant with your chest inflated and heads up... just remember me when you're eating and mouth a silent "i love you chian". thanks.

rama: it's illegal to use the pedestrian crossing in little india, let me show you the indian way!

jolene blinks and rama has dashed across to the other side of the road.

rama recommended a few places worth visiting in little india, namely gokul vegetarian restaurant (indian-chinese cuisine), chellas and komala vilas. we decided on gokul's!

trying to do the m1 one advertisement thingy

clean and welcoming interior of the restaurant... i like.

pretty!

this is called paper dosai. very large thin piece of dosai with potatoes at the side. the 3 gravy looking thing on the plate are from left to right: coconuty paste, curry and onion paste. delicious! the bowl of green mash on the top left corner of the photo is called paalak paneer, which is actually mashed spinach with cottage cheese and it's really good! when chian says it's good, just take her word for it.

being an indian-chinese restaurant, gokul also sells the indian interpretation of chinese food like mee siam etc. this one above is called chicken kurma, which is like chicken curry, except that they use mock meat instead of real chicken because it's a vegetarian restaurant. the thick spicy gravy is an absolute winner.

breads - one of them is chappathi, the others.. i forgot.

that's all for the first lesson folks, i'm quite a lousy teacher because i think i've forgotten half of what rama said. aiyahhh you guys just take down the names, order and eat can already lah. i hope you'll have a bolly good meal when you decide to go indian next time!

gokul vegetarian restaurant
19 upper dickson road, 207478
phone: 63967769

believing and speaking.

the first day of school tomorrow for the last time. though i've gone through the same routine so many times, this time feels a little different and a bit more special. after all, it's the last stretch of school before i say hi to the working world. *mild butterflies in the tummy* i feel like a primary one kid all over again! but first let me savour what's remaining of any school holidays i'll ever have.

blessed new year everyone! it's going to be an awesome year ahead full of the Lord's love, joy, rest, protection and favour. =)

happy 10th year anniversary daughters of a better age!

a walk to remember.

you once had such a great fear of water getting into your ears, never dared to venture into the deep end and refused to do even a small leap into the pool. i saw how much you grew - stronger and braver, from saying "i can't" to "i'll try my best". a small victory each lesson brought you to where you are today! looking at you cruise through lap after lap just leaves me in awe, and i could hardly believe you are the same boy 3 years ago, so awkward and tense in the pool. today, i saw you overcome your biggest fear of swimming underwater to complete the test, and i am so proud of you!

all geared up for the bronze survival test!

you were a natural since day one, with near perfect strokes and an amazing ability to grasp the techniques even at such a young age. you're like a dolphin in the water! it was worrying to see you develop a slight phobia about the test, crying and stopping lessons midway the last few times, right up till today when you started tearing on the way to the pool. oh but what a brave young girl you are! not only did you not give up halfway through the test, you even completed it way faster than kids twice your size and age!

proud daddy taking a photo of little miss valiant

check out the height and size disparity =D

constant encouragement for his younger sister

ethan and rachel, you're my champions! =)

yay we did it!!!

putting my heart back together.

had a short getaway to bintan over the week, blessed with perfect weather despite it being the monsoon season. jogging alone along the shore with the waves crashing in was a simply exhilarating experience! on the downside, it seems like my photo taking skills have also gone on hiatus. oh welll... =/

angsana pool

kaka the krakowdile

love actually

perspective

rocky road

like wine, they get better with age.

thank you for popping by tonight, for no special reason but just because you bothered enough to do so. edited some of the jb photos just for you! =)

=)

hankie pankie under the blankie!

average colour tone --> still dark

siqi's afraid of fire

major teethbrushing competition

paraparagoddess

enough of the world for the day, good night and thanks again!

He drops bits of love from everywhere, through anyone.

Haha, thank you for thinking of me when you see a camera. You probably didn't know it but it came at the right time, and I least expected it to be coming from you. =)

turning of age.

finally! after almost all the 1986 babies in this world celebrated their 21st birthdays, it was time for mine! =) i didn't want a party because I've always thought that it was weird to have different groups of people in your life to come together and talk amongst themselves, not to mention the 0.001% of the time you really have to get a decent conversation going, but i really wanted to take this day to thank everyone who's been a part of my 21 years. and so i succumbed.

mike brought me to Food for Thought for dinner one day and boy, the moment I walked in, I fell in love with the decor and ambience. it looked as if a whole english diner together with its traditional glass panels, chalk written boards and pastry stands just migrated to S'pore. It boasts of being "a quirky little indie diner where you can get great comfort food at a fair price... and discover simple ways to give back to the local and global community". all i could think of was cosy, cosy cosy! it was a tough fight between Charlie's Corner's laidback atmosphere and this, and i eventually settled for Food for Thought. Sorry Charlie!

diner's namecards-turned-invitation cards.

on a small budget and space constraint, it was torturous limiting my guest list to 20. sorry my dearest hcanoe babes for meeting you all at a separate time! fast forward a flurry of planning and emails, the day came for my very first partayyy.

balloons were purple.. not blue!!!

it was a thanksgiving themed dinner, with a specially created menu thanks to Chef David.

starter: shitake mushroom and fennel soup

mains: roast leg of lamb withrosemary and garlic, beef striploin with onions and thyme, slow roasted pulled pork steaks, gammon ham, mixed green salads with oriental dressing, roasted corn with chilli and lime butter, potato gratin with cream and onions, sweet potatoes, handmade foccacia

dessert: red velvet cake

drink: watermelon mint freeze/lychee sage freeze

the full works.. gorgeous platter

the food served was nothing short of fantastic. my favourites were the pulled pork, potato gratin and the sweet potaoes. the pork was roasted until it was soft and every bite was flavourful. the sweet potatoes were extremely fragrant and.. sweet! special mention should go to the corns! it was a simple dish but it was the best corn i've ever eaten. the food was much nicer than those served on the main menu, if only everyday was thanksgiving day. =)

i've never seen a red coloured cake in my life until the day mike brought me here. Chef David refused to tell me what ingredient made the cake red though. the recipes online added red colouring but since Food for Thought doesn't approve of artificial flavours, mike suggested cherries but i think it's beetroot. B-E-E-T-R-O-O-T! *gasp* who cares what it's made of anyway as long as it tastes devine.

my birthday cake

the desserts are all made by various hidden "Aunty Talents" in Singapore. a great concept i must say. the signature cake would be this Shi's Old Fashioned Red Velvet Cake, doesn't disappoint if you're a cream cheese lover.

i must also add that a portion of Food for Thought's profits goes back to society via various community projects such as the Clean Water Fund. the staff were all very friendly, making you feel happy just being inside the diner. All in all, i'm very impressed by the concept of the diner and though there are some kinks to be evened out, such as the efficiency of the service, i'd give them two thumbs up considering it just opened in July.

Kanon the Kamera

dear friends and beloved family, thank you for coming, and thank you for Kanon. =)