Hot, spicy LAKSA NITE!

As friends gather together round my table, we huddled close together over our steaming bowls of Singapore Laksa and entered the brotherhood in union. Slurp, slurp, slurp! Goes the chant...

Specially for Kim who requested Laksa, I scoured the danky streets of Chinatown for Tau Pok(fried bean curd), laksa rice noodles and fish cake and came home with almost 50pounds of food strapped on my arms. Emmanuel kept asking me if I want one of those ugly, Grandmotherly, red trolley that housewives here like to use for grocery shopping and I simply REFUSE!! Now I kinda regret with a persistent shoulderache settling in from all that "grocery muscle building".

Welcoming my friends(L-R): Suz, Kim, me, Derek, Honghui and Emmanuel in Singapore style.

A sparkly Rockefeller Christmas

Christmas here in NYC is not about the snow, nor the gingerbreadmen, and not even Santa. Christmas here is all about BIG corporations spending obsene amounts of money putting on a show to compete with one another to see who has got the BIGGEST Tree, the LONGEST Q(to see the legenadary Christmas window displays), who has got the most lights and who has got the most crowds. It's a show of $$$ and power. Saks's 5th Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, etc. It's Christmas - Let's enjoy it! ;p

Window display at Sak's 5th Avenue

Angels at THE TREE at the Rockefeller Centre. It was HUGE as in impossible HUGE!!! At 29m, the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree had a long history(started since 1933) and tradition that survived the Great Depression, the world wars that followed and definitely even after the Bush Regime.
And...we were so amazed to see people in their PJs, blankets and pillows on the streets outside the NBC studio..all queuing up to see the next taping of the Saturday Night Live! Who says white men dun Q for crazy things? Psst... I still think those people who queued up overnight outside McDonald's for the Hello Kitty dolls were the ultimate insane.

Forget about ice-skating here....I dun even know where the q starts from!!!! Till next time! =)

French Carribean cuisine at Ivo&Lulu's

What a LIP-SMACKING dinner!!!
Having read rave reviews of this tiny, cosy restaurant at SoHo, I couldn't resist but to try it out myself! Celebrating the news of Emmanuel's new research paper being published in the Journal of Neoroscience, we headed out with our bottle of Charles Shaw's Cabernet Sauvignon for a great time out at Ivo & Lulu's. Arriving at 6pm when they threw the doors open, we were the first customers there(yippee!!!)! By 7pm, the place was filled up and the aroma of food was infused into our sensory journey.

We LOVED the appetizers!! I had escargots steeped in garlicky olive oil(double yumz!) and Emmanuel ordered smelly cheese(bleu) melted on pear....OMG - what a heavenly combination!!! The strong taste of the cheese was mellowed and at the same time, sweetened by the poached pear - this marriage of divine tastes drove us both mad with love for the restaurant. Prices are fairly reasonable at $8 for the escargots and $12 for the Magret entrees.

Look how happy I left the restaurant...wouldn't you wanna go too? Haha... ;p

Jingle your bells at Union Square!

The best places to soak up the christmas spirit at... where else, but a christmas market! The Union Square Christmas Market did not serve Gludwein(complain, complain, complain) but hot apple cider(long Q) and it was so lovely to stroll among the colorful stalls selling knicknacks from Nepal/Thailand/NYC, etc. There was a guy selling unique pics with a soft edge(all nicely framed) and we were so piqued by it till we realise they were all taken with a pinhole camera! Cool! Another Geisha-inspired artist took a famous portrait of Audrey Hepburn and turned her into a slutty-looking Geisha, comics style! That's NYC for you, baby!

Our mission today was to stock up on wine for the upcoming holiday season, at where else but Trader Joe's! The selection was superb(the price too!) and the Q moved so fast before we know it, we've moved 9 bottles out of the store! The grocery store is insane...half the cramped store was the Q to pay. No way I'm standing in line, baby. Uh-huh...

Chancing upon the Zen Palette vegan resto, we went in mistaking it for some Jap Ramen resto(being hungry clouds your judgement sometimes) instead. There is soy everywhere on the menu and I for one hate the "mock-meat" vegan style and would never bite into anything that descended from the line of Gluten. The fried sweet potatoes was a nice treat for an appetizer though Emmanuel makes a meaner miso soup than what they served. Our entrees were excellent except for mistakenly biting into a soy-infused grilled "steak"(yucky-poo!). What amazed us was the Tofu Honey Pie. It looked exactly like a cheesecake and even tastes a bit like it, except that it leaves you with a refreshing taste of eating a lite yoghurt instead of that sticky, rich aftertaste of full-on cheesecakes. Overall rating: 7/10.

This is the MUST-WATCH movie of the year! I shan't reveal more but I must say Leo did a good job in this one and I really can't walk into a jewellery shop next time looking at diamonds. If only a % of the profit from every African diamond sold went into feeding the poor of Africa, preventing civil war and HIV, if only...the world might be a more forgiving place to live in. To everyone out there who are thinking of getting that proposal ring or some sparkles for the romantic occasion, please purchase your diamonds in a responsible way - make sure they are certified CONFLICT-FREE. Did you know that many a diamonds were sold to fund many of the civil wars that have torn the country apart? Purchase of arms, weapons and artillery are all made possible with every carat sold. Villages have disappeared overnight in the feeding frenzy of this greed to power and money...which boils down to the question of supply and demand, of course. Did you know that 2/3 of the diamonds go to America? It is no longer a 1-carat story here in the Land of Dreams. People dream BIG...they dream 2 carats and up. And...where in history did they say diamonds are a girl's best friends? And WHY do men have to propose with them before a woman says "Yes, I do"? Go figure it out. Go Conflict-Free.

The BIBLE I believe in...

The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum has saved my life!

I'm redeemed.... At least for today when Rose has given me back my baking confidence! Today is a day of 0 degrees celsius so I figured the only thing I'm gonna do is to bake. And bake I did! I took a recipe off the web for the Gingerbread men cookies and a Quiche Lorraine recipe with a Miracle Flaky Pie Crust to boot! The Gingerbread men cookies are not up to my standards BUT the Quiche Lorraine was A+++++++++!!!!!! God bless Rose!

After half a day's of kneading and reading(the bible), this is the result:





























































And of course, that last crust was left for me by Emmanuel...mmm....god...I love that crust!!!
This recipe is a KEEPER!

Thanks Kim for introducing this Baking Bible to me! I'm religious again! Wahahaha... ;p

A Walk in the Park...

Having missed the entire change of colours during fall, I settled for walking through the park with the love of my life looking like this.

Though we live next to Central Park, there are some places that we have not visited yet, such as this gorgeous restaurant called Tavern on the Green. For christmas, this gem of a place is all decked out in its glory and walking through the maze to get to the bar or the restaurant already warmed my heart. A bit pricey but I guess for that special someone in your life, it will be all worth it. ;p

It's always nice on a sunny day to walk through the park and then suddenly hear some music drifting in from some obscure corner. An appreciative group of people were gathered around this jazz ensemble by the street and I thought this saxaphonist Mister is really cool.

Christmas is in the air...!

Christmas with friends in New York City!!!

14 more days to seeing my dear friends here!! My dear friend Suzanne is flying in from Singapore and Honghui&Derek are driving down from Michigan! Yippee!!! It's been a head rush buying presents for everyone and I'm so glad I got tix for everyone to Monty Python's Spamalot musical! Nearly forgot about Kim's tix and rushed back to buy it at the box office in time! Was so disappointed Wicked is all sold out again till late Jan 07 so I ordered the book online at half.ebay.com to feed my curiosity about the other wicked witch of Oz! I grew up with the Wizard of Oz since 9yrs old so this is like MY fairytaleland.

Dropped by Macy's the other day just to see Santa and boy, was I surprised to see mainly shoppers my parent's generation(even my grandmah's generation) jostling about and slowly grew bored wih this store. Not my cuppa...a bit like Metro but way much bigger(Macy's is supposed to be the World's Largest Store - betcha China is gonna beat that title in time to come!) The only thing that truly amazed me in this store was the oldest escalator I have ever seen - it is made of aged WOOD! They should change the title to The World's OLDEST Store instead! Wahahaha....

5 Things USA

5 WEIRD STUFF THAT HAPPENED AROUND ME IN NYC

Weird Thing No. 1: The Break-In
Today, I saw a policeman breaking into a patrol car with a hanger. Exactly! Just like you see in the movies! Except this time it is not a black guy breaking in!

Weird Thing No. 2: The Hoover
The all-american hoover (aka a vacuum cleaner in other parts of the world) is the most stupid invention in the whole of American history. I have a good feeling it verges on the same intelligence level as their President Bush. Tall and bulky, the clumsiness and inefficiency of this machine baffles me completely after my past experiences with Japanese vcauum cleaner machines. We have tried looking for a jap model in the stores but balked at the ridiculous prices of the Miele models(US$350 and up) whereas a "Hoover" can cost only US$40! All I want for christmas is a Japanese vacuum cleaner...

Weird Thing No. 3: Fresh Gingko Nuts
Gingko nuts to me came in a can, vacuum packed or still encased in its shell, i.e. fresh. I have to do a retake on the "freshness" when I came to NYC. In my neighbourhood and around Central park, there are plenty of Gingko nut trees. This fall, I spotted old Korean or Chinese grandmothers stooped over the ground where the foul smelling fruits of the gingko trees lay splattered(trust me - it really stinks!). These people are picking through the debris for the nuts! Talk about "fresh"! The things Asians go through for good food...haha...

Weird Thing No. 4: After-Thanksgiving Midnight Madness sale.
Black Friday is the most exciting shopping day for Americans in the whole year. You can get laptops for like US$499 and toasters for US$10. Ok, let's skip the boring household items and zip right through to the Guccis and Ferragamos. Emmanuel and I thought shopping from midnight at Woodbury Commons(premium factory outlets) could get us some good deals so we went. Boy, was that a mistake! The freaking traffic jam in the middle of the night caused us to lose 2hours of shopping(and sleep) and we were so desperate to park our cars(full carpark!) we dumped it next to a empty lot with a fence and zipped out to join in the throngs of people already q-ing up(even for toilets!). The COACH Q wins hands-down as the longest Q. All these people are nuts! To actually q up in the middle of the night in the cold! Latecomers like me only visited stores that has no q. I have to say, I never saw that many asian faces since I came to the US. Koreans, chinese, filipinos, indians, etc. I think instinctively, we Asians know a good deal when we see one. Hehe... Surprisingly, we actually managed to go through the night w/o any sleep(can you believe it!?) and only reached home at 11am the next day. We nearly "died".

Weird Thing No. 5: Service
Through the weekend, we came across a few service staff and I discovered this trend. Whenever we ask a question and they staff doesn't know the answer, they will tell you apologetically they are (1)new, (2) unsure or (3) have no clue, and just move on. Not a single staff has ever volunteered to check or confirm with another staff who might know the answer. Does pride has something to do with it? I dunno. I'm new here. ;p

Lepak one corner in KRABI Thailand...

The famous limestone caves and rising peaks of South Thailand - Krabi. This lovely sunset scene greeted us as we arrived in the longtail boat to Railay East. Filled with romantic ideas of lounging on the lovely white beach with gorgeous blue-green horizon before us as we sip our fresh coconuts, we were sadly disappointed with the arrival of torrendous rainfall that had us cooped up in our hotel rooms watching National Geographic instead. Hrrrmphhh....

Found this lovely Morrocan-inspired hotel at Aonang beach called Alis Hotel with a new and lovely spa. Both of us paid only 2000baht for a one hour aromatherapy massage each in a private room for couples, jacuzzi soak-a-tub on their top floor featuring full length windows with a sea view(great spot!), steam bath and a fantastic facial treatment(4 types of creams/scrubs) rounded off with a cooling cucumber mask! Shiok!!! Their Thai massage beds with colorful beaded curtains are a nice break from the usual dark and seedy massage parlours.

Low season in Krabi is a tradeoff with the crappy weather cos you can stay in fancy hotels for half the usual price! I love hotel prowling for the best deals...hehe... ;p If you are likely to get stuck indoors during the thunderstorms, you might as well get a fancy hotel! Keke... On our mangrove kayaking trip, we stopped over at Tha Pom for a dip and I tot it was quite cool! It is a cool spring water pool in the heart of a mangrove swamps and the water is crystal clear and fresh, with a really strong current! Just like most muslims in the South of Thailand, most of the locals wear everything they have on even for swimming, so I did not do a bikini show-off in front of them(shy). I was taken aback when I spotted some teenage boys secretly snapping papparazi-style photos of me(when I am at the most unglam) with their mobilephone while Emmanuel and I were soaking wet in the water! I swear it was the wet white t-shirt syndrome...urgh...

Saw this cute ancient 2000 year old drawing in the limestone cave left by the ancient civilisations at the Tham Pee Hua Toh cave. This is my first time in south Thailand and I am suprised to find Krabi a lot more muslim-influenced than the buddhist Thailand I was familiar with. Kinda felt like I am in Malaysia if not for the som tams and tom yums.

Highlight of my trip: We saw Ghost Pipefish at Koh Bida Noi!!! My first ghost pipefish!!! Whoohoo!!! If only Emmanuel had not forgotten the underwater casing in NYC, I would be posting a HUGE picture of it on the blog! Nvm...here is a picture of my favourite pair of Cebu mandarin fish instead...i just miss diving and taking pics underwater so much I can't help posting this pic... Gonna miss diving to bits when I move to NYC...boohoo.... ;(

Finally, the holidays are over and Emmanuel is back at work with the mice. I am back to eating as much prata and laksa as my face can stuff in. Gearing up for the cold winter months ahead mah...brrr...

Click here to view Krabi photo album.

In awe of the ANGKOR TEMPLES once again...

After the wedding, we went on a short hol to Cambodia to see the magnificent Angkor temples. This is my second time there and I still find them amazing! Angkor Wat looked spectacular in the sunrise pic here(be prepared to leave ur hotel at 5am) and Ta Phrom is still my favourite temple of all.

We went back twice cos the first time we got seperated in the temple grounds(both busy snapping pix with our cameras) and couldn't find each other at all! The second time we went back early in the morning after our Angkor Wat sunrise and it was the most surreal experience ever. To have the eerie temples to yourself in the early morning mist with the cotton silk trees looming above you is what I want to remember of Ta Phrom as forever. Until the busloads of Korean and Taiwanese tourists invaded my Ta Phrom space and shattered the magic, that is...urghh....

The carvings on the hidden walls near the Terrace of the Lepers were absolutely gorgeous...a must-see! Especially the 5-headed horse and the hidden deities and nagas and the one elephant trunk pulling a human from the ground in one corner. Way cool! I am glad to have bought the Ancient Angkor book(a steal at only US$5!) from one of the many young booksellers in Siem Reap and saw many carvings that I would otherwise have been ignorant about at each temple I visited.


Click here to view the Cambodia album.

Saw this on a wall of a Kodak photo shop in Siem Reap town...Khmer makeover studio shots! Bizarre fashion sense! Mongolian dress-up is "IN" in this country???? *scratch head* Couldn't resist snapping a photo of this to show you guys...hehe...

Tea ceremony, solemnisation and wedding dinner pix!

STOP!!! In the name of love! AHAH!!! Finally! All the pictures are up on the web!!! Thanks to my lovely husband. Gros bisous, mon amour! Thank you all, my dear family and friends who attended our wedding and shared in our joy in our matrimonial ceremony in Singapore. Thank goodness the haze was not the highest PSI record on that day or else i might have to hand out masks instead of wedding favours! Haha... ;p A big thank you to all you brave people for enduring the haze in my garden dinner.

Bravo!

Click here to view the wedding pix album.

It is a pity only Emmanuel's mom from his side of the family made it to the wedding, it would have been even lovelier if both sides of the family were there! Guess we will just to make up for his family in Paris next spring for the church wedding! *excited!"

Wedding in Singapore

Presenting the butterfly motif Peranakan Kebaya on me and Baju Lokchuan on Emmanuel! Got them specially tailored for our traditional chinese wedding tea ceremony by Rumah Bebe in Katong and it costs a bomb(no regrets tho' ;). Weddings are all about family and friends sharing the moment with the bride and groom. This is my babe of a girlfriend Sharon who hosted my ceremony with her smooth and silky voice. Pssst...she is single again!!! *wink* My supporting parents smiling at the tea ceremony till their eyes turned into chinese slits just like in the cartoons...bet my dad never expected a french son-in-law in his dreams..haha... :p

BIG typical chinese family gathering at weddings...and this is only my dad's side of the family!!!

And now my mom's side of the family...

And before the night is over, my husband has already ditched me for chicks over 70! Hahaha... ;p

All my grown up lil' cousins...all taller than me by now!

More pics coming up!!!

Married in New York City!!!

12th September 2006.
5yrs and 1 day after 9/11.
Yes! We are married!!! (pop the champagne!) We tied the knot in under 3mins in front of Judge Blance and her piercing eyes and under the auspices of our dear witness friend, Haung Yu. Nope, nothing extraordinary happened - we didn't grow horns on our heads nor did we start floating towards the subway. We are just a happy, happy, happy couple. =) Can't wait for the actual wedding ceremony(which will be longer than 3mins for sure) in Singapore and the church wedding in Paris next year!

Wedding in Singapore coming up! ;p Stay tuned! 1st October 2006. An auspicious day, says my godmother.

Last weekend of fun before I leave for SINGAPORE!

The result of eating the Sichuan Hotpot. This is a dish recommended for people who wants to :
(1) Blow their brains out but has no guts to do it
(2) Induce diarrhea for immediate weight loss(Atkins take too long)
(3) Make noises like a snake hissing throughout the entire dinner, hoping it will sound sexy to your partner(?!)
(4) Produce a puffed out "Angelina Jolie look-alike-lips" by the end of dinner
(5) Eat the original ChongQing Hotpot in Taipei and decides to try the Sichuan version to see if you can get bigger lips

Damn. This thing is too spicy to taste anything after the first mouthful. To sabotage your boss, you might want to substitute his morning coffee with a douse of this potent shit. And remember to make sure the water cooler is outta water when u are playing this prank.

Nice view of Manhattan's skyline at the Intrepid Museum on such a glorious day! We visited the huge aircraft carrier, the submarine USS Growler and the BA's Concord plane. I was so excited to go into the submarine for the first time but was SO glad when I finally emerged out of the claustrophobic zone for some fresh air n sunshine. Many retired submariners were located within the submarines to answer our queries. One of them kitchen cooks told us that on one of their missions, they only had 2 showers each within a period of 65days...and everyone smoked inside the confines of the submarine, i.e. everyone smelled the SAME! Gee...not so sure if I can handle that actually...me tropical girl need to shower everyday lah. Keke...old habits die hard!