Favor Dilemma

The wedding draws close and we are still trying to figure out what to use as favors. The ones the hotel (supposedly 6 star no k) provide suck. Take a look. The bear looks like he has a hernia. And what the hell is the organza bag filled with? Birdseeds? The 'elegantly designed gift box' is so tacky. Don't even get me started on the wreaths. Are they edible? I just hate giving stuff that people are going to 'unintentionally leave behind'.(I know I would. Why even take it home where I actually have to put it in my trash can and add extra weight so I can lug it out on trash day?)




We've actually decided to make our own. I even mocked up the box. This leaves us with the question of what to fill it with. Should we do 1)Colored M&Ms 2)Yogurt pretzels (I would love to add a cheesy note like 'we're tying the knot' haha) 3) Strawberry Fortune cookies with custom fortunes. Or we could forgo the boxes (imagine wrapping hundreds of em) and go for the Tea Forte favors. Help!!!

My fancy favor box:

Teaforte:

Happy B'day Boz

Today's my fiance's 29th birthday. I can't believe he's almost 30. I was planning to surprise him with going out to dinner, but the *!@$*# ruined by plans by deciding he had too much work. So I had to come up with a different plan at the last minute but I think made out pretty good! The wine club membership I got him (like duh he must have mentioned wanting to join a wine club at least 10 times) arrived at his office today with 2 wines from Italy. So did the Riedel wine glasses I got. Though I have no idea what the difference is between bordeaux and I have no idea if chianti is red or white. Perfect timing ... good thing I'm a procrastinator.

For dinner I got take out from Blue Ribbon BBQ in West Newton. Highly recommended ... it was really delicious. Much better than Red Bones in Davis Square, though that is not saying much because I hated Red Bones. Got the North Carolina Pulled Pork and a half rack of ribs. The spicey sauce was so darn good and the corn bread was freshly baked and excellent. Funny I was in NC for 4 years and all the BBQ I had at the engineering picnics were gross. Really liked the collard greens but fiance thought it was gross. Oh and we have left overs for tomorrow too. I can't wait!

BBQ Ribs with collard greens and black eyed corn. The cornbread is in the foil.


NC Pulled Pork with baked beans and coleslaw.


Wannabe Riedel Glasses. Pardon the fobilicious mess in the background. Notice the Chou Wang soy sauce prominently placed. Doesn't do them glasses justice. Forgot to take a picture with the glasses filled with the Italian Lungarotti 2000 Rubesco. It tasted good ... but I really don't know anything about wine ... dont' claim to either :)


Dessert ... the best part! Raspberry dark chocolate tart from Whole Foods (who knew!) ...mmmm


Couldn't resist one with the Mox. No it's not her birthday. Sorry for the blurryness, the picture looks much better without flash and I can't help having trembly hands.

Last Week in Pictures

Top Left: Moxie enjoying her new fleece bed from Target

Top Right: Mother's day flowers for my mommy with purdy hydrangeas from Flower Verandah. This is the second time I've ordered from them. Great speedy service!

Bottom Left: Nina Shoes from Zappos.com that I returned. Should I have kept them??? Will they go with my wedding gowns??? I swear my calves don't look that fat in real life!!! See the photo was taken top down.

Bottom Right: Mr Crocodile RIP ... dismembered by the Mox the Ripper (and despite the reinforced arms too!)

Almost Famous

Doing a search for "makan wiki" in Google last week, I found that Makan Wiki which I'd talked about in an earlier blog entry was featured on Tomorrow - Bulletin of Singapore Bloggers! (I have no idea how they found it) Here is a link to the Makan + Wiki = Maki article. Isn't that cool? My first brush with fame. Ok ok for those of you gagging in your seats, admittedly I'm not very blog savvy and I hadn't even heard of the Tomorrow site till last week, but I like to think that its an accomplishment albeit small. There are even some contributions from people I don't know. Ahh the power of wiki.

PS: Thanks to everyone who contributed! :)

Food Diary

I've actually been making progress with food! I'm sure you guys will love to hear the sordid details. This is in addition to my staple of yogurt (that I've sworn off).

Friday: juice (that was promptly repelled by me stomach) Saturday: corn chowder, porridge and tofu (cooked by fiance the sweetie) Sunday: mashed potatos from KFC (fiance had the c)Monday: more soup, apple sauce, angel food cake, couscous, scrambled eggs Tuesday: Ritz Bits - mozarella and cheddar (wow), rice and tofu at sichuan fan zhuang (yeah huH!) Wednesday: fried rice from Penang!! + hokkien char mee (noodles are kinda hard to eat still)

When all is well ... I am planning to have some nice good crunchy salad and nuts, fruit (haven't had that in a while), juicy rack of lamb, and pasta/noodles! Haven't even touched on the stuff I'll have when I touch down in SG. Alright time for painkillers.

Fungry :( = F*cking Hungry

I finally got the courage to get my 4 wisdom teeth extracted (2 impacted). Well actually it was a monetary decision :) My dental insurance only covers $1500 and I had to make use of the other $1500 covered by fiance's insurance (before he left his cushy job with good benefits hah) so the procedure would be free! (which singaporean doesn't love a good bargain??) In any case I am so glad I got it done under GA. The best part is I don't remember a thing. No trauma nothing, other than the swelling, nausea, and bloodied spit. Nothing I can't handle!

The worst part, that no one ever mentions is not being able to eat when you are absolutely starving! All everyone talks about is the swelling, the pain etc. bleh. Walking by the food court on Saturday I had not eaten in 2 days (does juice count??) ... was absolutely miserable. Mind you I was absolutely starving. I couldn't have my favorite Chick Fila (only found in the Burlington Mall and Nashua) Had to settle for some burnt corn chowdah. But hey the good news is I actually had energy to hit the mall the day after surgery! I neglect to mention that I totally collapsed and didn't leave the house on Sunday.

Today ...Monday ...I am still hungry. *sigh*

Makan + Wiki = Maki ?

Makan means food in Malay. Singaporeans love to makan. Wiki is a software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. What happens when you combine the 2? You get Maki - The Makan Wiki :) Thanks to my fiance we now have a wiki page dedicated to where you can find the best Singaporean food. Wikis are meant for collaboration so everybody please participate and help us find the best food in Singapore :)

We set up this page because we couldn't find one that met our needs. We were looking for something comprehensive, something that incorporated feedback from everyone, yet easy to use. Be the first to check it out. And remember to put your name next to your recommendations. We like to know who to thank when taste the most divine chicken rice!

Add Your Favorite Foodie Haunts to the List

Run Forest Run!

Fiance is having his "week off" from work before starting at his new job so we went to watch the Boston Marathon during lunch. It's tradition at my company to provide free boxed lunches the day of the marathon so we can go watch the runners as they come through Natick ... perhaps to make up for the fact that we have to work on Patriots Day? I picked up an extra box, though I was horrified to realize later that all xyz company employees could be identified a mile away by their geeky totally uncool (did I say geeky already?) white cardboard lunch boxes. A matching accessory for engineers? Anyway we quickly finished our lunch in the car. But enough of the ungratefulness, Fiance managed to capture some cool shots of the runners. I posted his favorite :)

Somebody Gonna Get a Hurt Real Bad

I managed to skip out of yet another torturous evening meeting last week to go watch Russell Peters at Babson College. Aside from having to walk 2 miles in heels from parking to the auditorium in 30 degree weather, and having to deal with imbecile college organizers, it was all worth while. Not only did I derive great pleasure from masquerading as a college kid, I also laughed for a full hour till my stomach hurt. I suppose I shouldn't be ungrateful and extend a small thank you to the kids for bringing him instead hah :)

For those of you who don't know this guy, he's a stand up comic. If you are indian, asian, or international you have have have to watch his clips that have been percolating the internet over the past couple months. He's extra brutal in real life and rags on anyone and everyone. But hey it's all fun and games as long as it's not you he picks on right? ;)

A funny lookin kinda guy:

Decisions decisions

I finally received the sample material from my wedding gowns and sample wedding invitations! woohoo! All thanks to my parents for being so efficient and the USPS of course. Two days was all it took. Can't imagine how long I'd have to wait if we had the vendors do it.

OK so to finalize the decision on the invites from American Wedding Treasures in Singapore(ironic eh?) please cast your votes :) Personally, I'd remove that cheesy line from the bottom of card 1 and use a different colored ribbon. I hate sheer organza type ribbons. I kinda like the gold one (card3) as well since it goes with the 'gold' theme of my gowns. I was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cards. The paper had a nice shimmery tone to it. Very pretty. Anyhow tough call ...

Card 1, Card 2, Card 3

Let's Go Devils!

Duke vs Michigan State 7.10 PM EST

Confession. So I haven't actually watched college basketball since well college. Though I did catch it that last time Shane Battier brought Duke to NCAA victory in 2001. PS: my claim to fame ... I touched Battier's arm once my sophomore year. Eat that jealous fans. Anyway this is my tribute to March Madness and because I am SICK of writing my self review. (It is hard to mask your true feelings after 4 years.) Anyhow go Duke!

Ugly devils:

Martha Martha how does my basket look?

Basket on the left $54.95, basket on the right $3.97. My crafty talents ... *priceless* . After perusing countless issues of Martha Stewart weddings, I finally got inspired enough to embark on my first craft project since secondary school. What do you think of this Monique Lhuillier inspired flower girl basket. OK granted I stole the idea but still pretty impressive eh? What's next for me? Tending to my garden and whipping up artery clogging 4 course meals like Barefoot Contessa (she's annoying btw but that is for another post)?

Ass Whipping in the Pool

To make our $90/month newly minted gym membership worthwhile, we made our way down to the Newton YMCA pool to swim laps. Yeah yeah I know it won't last but still ... Anyway all was going well till this 80 year old grandma type asked to share our lane. Granny then proceeded to kick butt by speeding past me at this lightning pace. Poor out of shape me wasn't able to get ahead of her no matter how hard I pushed my flabby self. Finally when we were taking a breather at the edge of the pool, I told her that I had to stop after every lap NOT because I was tired but because Peck and I were sharing a pair of goggles. Right ... I could see her secretly mocking me from behind her freaking scuba mask.

Block Party @ 34 Beecher

I decided to try my hand at making agar agar this weekend to take to a neighbourhood supper at our landlord's place (downstairs). My past failures at making this typically Singaporean dessert did not deter me from trying again. I like to think that my cooking skills have improved since the last time I attempted this dish back in college. Don't be deceived though, agar agar is actually very simple to make! It actually turned out pretty well (don't laugh!). I even made the more advanced 2 layer kind with a plain layer on top and a coconut flavored layer below. Sounds like I'm a 'Fang Tai' in the making huh? *grin* (remember Fang Tai? That Singaporean lady who used to host cookings shows on channel 8!)



The party was suprisingly interesting. Got to meet our neighbours who live down the street. Most of them are pretty old and their familes have been living on this street for at least a century. Also met a descendant of the Beecher who used to own this street! They were all really sweet and make really good dessert!

Revenge Sweet is Thy Name

So I hear from The Wedding Papparazi (videographers for our wedding) today that we need to make a decision on whether we want 'Express Highlights' included in our package. Express Highlights mean clips from the morning's events will be edited and played at the reception in the evening for our guests. Apparently, they can only handle one of these requests per day and someone else is enquiring about this for *OUR* wedding date. Luckily we get first dibs.

OK I know this is a lame reason to make a decision but these people must be the same people who booked the photographers we wanted!!! Must be!! The first 4 photographers I'd short listed, all gone, nada zilch. How many people can be getting married on July 30??? And why are they so blurdy kiasu to have done this all like 8 months in advance. Anyway I am vindictive and I want to say EAT THAT I WIN the battle for the videographer. That was an easy decision. Express highlights are mine .... muahahha

But back to The Wedding Papparazi check out this express video they did for a client's wedding.

Olly RIP - 2-11-2005

News Flash: Embarking on a killing spree Moxie the Pembroke Welsh Corgi delivered the final rip to her favorite stuffed elephant, Olly (named after the Olliphants in LOTR). Her path of destruction spared none of her furry pals ... goodbye Wonder Bred, Bunnikins and Yellow Fleece Bear. Only extra tuff nylabones for Moxie from now on.

Spanking New Blog - Spanking New Year

The inaugural post to my spanking new blog, a great way to start the lunar new year. Speaking of which I haven't been home (Singapore) to celebrate in 8 years. Has it really been that long? Man I miss pigging out on ba kwa, pineapple tarts, kueh bangkit, and that Green Spot orange soda! Ahh Green Spot so artificial yet so good. Turns out they are still in production, they even have it in them 80's style glass bottles. WOW