Toothy smile

She sure knows when a camera is nearby..

It's the 15th day of CNY today, 7 of us plus 2 toddlers celebrated it by having dinner at Tambuah Mas, ordering lontong cap go meh, sate ayam, sop buntut, gado-gado, kangkung belachan and rendang. Yum! And we had strawberry ice cream cake for a belated birthday celebration.

Child's play

A weird-looking animal-like thingy spotted in child's playground between block 504 and 505 in Bishan.

Jalan Kayu Interim Park

I'm not sure why the weird name, but the park's not that bad. It's located opposite public car park at the further end of Jalan Kayu.

Trolley point

A trolley point located near NTUC next to Buangkok MRT station. A $1 coin is needed to "borrow" the trolley by inserting the coin to the slot and releasing the chain. After grocery shopping the chain can be inserted back to release the coin. Sadly $1 is not a big enough deterrent for some lazy bums to return the trolley. The supermarket lost a significant amount yearly for unreturned trolleys.

A palm-like tree

A palm-like tree planted outside our block. I tried to apply the "unusual angle" photography tips and captured this from the bottom of the tree. Surrounding the tree are the HDB blocks. It still looks quite dark, although I've used highest ISO setting, slow shutter and enhanced its brightness using Gimp.

Crispy chicken

This was my dinner this evening, Uncle Tony's crispy chicken. To make the dish look less sinful, I shot it from the veggie's side, haha.. The chicken's really crispy and juicy. And they used sweet potato instead of regular potato, which I liked - it's hidden behind the veggie, though. We'll be back to try other dishes!

Tenun Songket

Bought these tenun songket in Lombok for gifts. Our cabdriver took us to Dharmasetya handicraft factory cum store where we were shown how tenun songket and tenun ikat were made by hand. Tenun songket is normally done by women, and they have to start learning how to do it since young, as the equipments would be given to them as inherintance. Guys generally do not do tenun songket as they believe those who do won't be able to procreate. Instead, they produce tenun ikat, as the equipment is much bigger and the process is more tedious.

Awfully chocolate

Finally tried awfully chocolate's all chocolate cake. I've been hearing about the raving reviews on this cake, but too bad the shop does not sell it in slices. I bought the cake for yesterday evening's steamboat gathering, had a slice last night for dessert, and then another this morning for breakfast :)

Product training

Attended free Canon product training today at Harbourfront. The 2 hour course covered basic functionalities of Canon DSLR camera. I was quite sleepy as I've read most of it in the website.

I took a lot of photos today but decided to pick this one as this is not a frequent occasion and the rest of the photos are mainly on food :)

Orange tree

A potted orange tree commonly found during CNY period around the island. My neighbours have one pot too, placed next to their door, but I think this one's nicer - placed near Hougang mall entrance.

Pad Thai

Initially wanted to eat nachos at Jerry's BBQ & Grill Jalan Kayu, turned out they are still closed today for CNY. Even the noodle outlet next to it was closed too. So we ended up at the next next next stall called Flamingo, selling Thai seafood. Their pad thai and lemon grass tea were quite good.

Ash Wednesday

Cleanse me of my sin and I'll be pure, O Lord
wash me so I'm cleaner than the snow
Let met hear the sound of joy and gladness
that only those forgiven ever know

(Signed by Ashes - Kevin Keil)

Round and round

One of the rides at River Hongbao 2010, at The Float @ Marina Bay. It's quite expensive - 3 tokens at $2.50 each. There were more people watching than those actually taking the ride.

Blue sky holiday

Our blue sky holiday at Senggigi Beach, Lombok. The cloudy sky made the hot weather more bearable but then we couldn't enjoy the supposed-to-be magnificent sunset and view of Bali's Gunung Agung.

Cascading waterfalls

Cascading waterfalls at Sendang Gila, North Lombok. It took us about 2 hours from hotel to reach this place. We then walked for about 30 mins to reach the waterfall itself, and just about 10 minutes taking photos.

Happy Valentine's day and happy CNY! It'll be a long time before the two occasions coincide again.

Sunflowers

Stalks of sunflowers at Changi Terminal 2, taken minutes before departure. They're too bright to resist, aren't they?

Just another tree

Passed by this tree at East Coast Road on the way to dinner. With a little imagination it looks like a heart shaped tree, complete with dangling red flowers fit for the CNY and Valentine's day occasion :p

Dessert story

Tried chendol snow ice at a dessert stall in Hougang mall. Not bad at all! We'll be back for more.

Random pages

Two random pages from a book I borrowed from national library last Sunday. The photo does not turn out as good as I expected though.

The universal globe

The Universal rotating globe, at the entrance of future Universal Studios Singapore. With most of the Integrated Resort still closed, this globe is the most interesting object currently.

A lonesome muffin

A coffee and nut muffin, my breakfast on a Monday morning. Bought last weekend at Changi Village.

Purple bougenville

Purple bougenville found in front of Woodlands civic centre. I think bougenville is the most common roadside plant in Singapore.

Aerial display

Managed to view some aerial display shown during Singapore Airshow 2010, from Changi Beach Park. We got sunburn because of these.

First quiche

presenting.. my first ever homemade ham-mushroom-cheese quiche.

Wedding invites

I have a collection of wedding invites I've received throughout the years. From the design and material, it is easy to differentiate between those printed in Singapore and those made in Indonesia. Slowly but surely the wedding invites flow has been replaced by full month or baby birthday, just that the invites are not as fanciful.

A brown colored building

HDB Bedok branch office, on a Wednesday afternoon. Managed to get a shot without cars/motorcycles/pedestrians on the way to lunch.

A whisk

One of those days when I'm out of ideas.

The bear tower

Collected a bag full of Conrad bears, wedding favours given at friends' lunch reception last month. Apparently not everyone's a bear lover, so I brought home those abandoned ones. This is one bear sitting on top of the bear tower.