It's F-I-N-A-L-L-Y Here!!

Day 576

 

All thanks to Cleo's Eligible Bachelor - Mr Goh Zong Wei! :) HOT HOT HOT!

Weekend Getaway

Day 571 - 573

Friday 24th February

Some of the slackers (actually only 1 - Jiaqi) managed to escape from the clutches of her manager and was home by 230, all ready to start our beach getaway but sadly, everyone else was stuck at work. By the time everyone was done, it was already 630. This has to be the longest Friday for all of them since they usually pack up by 430. The first thing everyone wanted was FOOD!

Dinner @ Giorgios
Recommended by Miss Neverfull -Jiaqi
Pricey even though servings were huge and the sticky date pudding is to-die-for! 

 

We only managed to reach the beach house around 1045pm and it was so dark out there that we couldn't find the house. Once we were inside, everyone was oohing and aahing about how spacious and beautiful it is. But all excitment soon turned into disbelief when we realised that the house is not fitted with aircon. Seriously WTF??!!??!?!?!?! Such a beautiful house with NO AIRCON??? Our perfect beach house is now our biggest nightmare, especially when this weekend is going to be one of the hottest at 38 degrees. I was the one who booked the beach house and I totally blame it on myself for missing this out. ARGH! No aircon means we have to open the balcony doors and then it's so hot out there, there are lots of insects - mosquitoes, flies, praying mantis, crickets and all sorts of other irritating ones flying into the house. NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE!

 

It was so f***ing hot that Shenton, Jiaqi, Emily and Jasmine decided to sleep in the living room with the balcony door opened. Our room opens up to the balcony so we slept in our room but it was so f***ing hot that none of us managed to get a good sleep. WORST SLEEP EVER!

Saturday 25th February

With the balcony doors opened and the blinds up, it was impossible to sleep past 9am. We were all up and went out for breakfast before heading to Woolies for AIRCON! It was 38 degrees! 

Everyone was sweating buckets in the house and I can't even remember the number of times we popped into the shower to cool ourselves down. Despite the heat, we still played Wii. Wii wasn't the entertainment, Jiaqi was. It was so funny watching her play. Not only was she complaining about how tired her arms were, she was swinging and moving the controllers in weird motions and directions - totally uncoordinated. We taught Emily and Shenton how to play bridge. Jiaqi refused to learn as she only wants to play games that doesn't need to use the brains. So we introduced her to Heart Attack. LOL. No brainer game but super fun and it got all of us super hot. So it was time for a dip in the sea.

 

 

The boys were so hungry after the dip that there wasn't enough food to feed them so Jasmine and Jiaqi went out to get more food. Prawns, calamari, chicken wings, lamb, kebabs, sausages and pork fillets. YUM. Thankfully it was a much cooler night than yesterday and we had a great time chilling out on the balcony. One of the best BBQ to date. We've already made plans to BBQ at Emily's new place once she shifts in this Friday.

Sunday 26th February

 Emily was the first to wake up this morning because she slept almost immediately after the BBQ at 1030pm! We had to shift back all the mattresses, clear the fridge, remove all rubbish and leave the place by 11am. Frankly, I think all of us are glad that we're going home because we've got AIRCON at home! We had brunch, stopped by a winery and everyone voted to head home. We can hear our aircons calling out for us. Although our getaway was less than perfect due to the lack of the very important thing called aircon, we still had an awesome time. Sometimes it's not about what you do or where you are, it's who you are with. :)

My Fave Spin Class

Day 567

The pig-out sessions every weekend always leave me feeling guilty but I just can't stop! So to make up for the fats I've gained, I work doubly hard during Monday's Spin class. Monday's Spin class is the toughest Spin class as the instructor, Melissa, doesn't give you any chance to sit on your bike to catch your breath. Instead, she'll keep pushing you to add more resistance and go faster on your bike. I always sweat buckets during her class and walk out of her class with jelly legs but I still go for her classes religiously because I know I've tried real hard to lose those calories that I've piled on over the weekend. At least I tried!

Eat Out - I Ke Su

Day 566

I couldn't resist getting the Groupon voucher for I Ke Su after reading all the positive and glowing reviews of it on Urbanspoon (US). I called almost 2 weeks in advance to book a table and was really looking forward to it, until negative reviews from fellow Groupon buyers started appearing on US. I was really shocked by all the negative reviews as it was a stark contrast to the initial glowing reviews. It seems like I Ke Su had fallen from grace. From best and fresh, it became terrible, not fresh and disappointing. We prepared ourselves for the worst but the food was actually quite ok. It's a family business run by Viets and the only Japanese in the house was the waitress. The service was great and the owners seemed like genuinely nice people who are trying their best to keep I Ke Su going. We actually feel sorry for them that there are so many negative reviews on US.

 

The seaweed salad, edamame and miso soup were pretty standard. Some of the reviewers mentioned that these were probably store bought items which we agree but seriously, that's what most Japanese restaurants do. Let's face it, this is Melbourne, quality and authentic Japanese food is hard to come by and hey, we aren't paying top dollars, so let's adjust our expectations a little.

 The gyoza was not pan-fried but deep fried. Not what we were expecting but they were still good. 

This is I Ke Su's speciality item and the owner made it a point to recommend it to every diner. A Jap and Viet fushion where vietnamese corn flakes is used in the tempura coating. I like the coating but not the sweet sauce. Our fave for the night.

This is the weirdest of them all. Agedashi tofu it's not. More like deep fried tofu swimming in some sauce. *speechless*

We thought the sashimi was ok, definitely not as bad as what has been said about it on US. The rice in the nigiri sushi was too dry and hard but the rolls were pretty good. It isn't the best but not the worst. We've had worse sushi and sashimi in Melbourne and Gold Coast.

Overall, we enjoyed our dinner at I Ke Su. The food definitely wasn't worth the $100 that it advertised itself to be. But we absolutely love the service we got. Friendly, attentive and genuine. The male owner was taking a break and was sitting opposite us when he saw me digging into my bag for tissue and immediately walked over to hand me more serviettes, with a huge smile on his face. He then went on to tell us that if we are still hungry, we can pick up more food from the sushi boat at no charge. The $50 Groupon was probably not as great a deal it was made out to be but it was a fair price for the amount of food we got.

Super Full Saturday

Day 565

How a Super Full Saturday Looks Like : 

- Rise and Shine

- Food @ 109

- Lay paralysed on the sofa for the next 2 hours (a result of too much food)

- Fell asleep (again, due to too much food - all the blood was channelled to digest the food)

- Woke up

- Food @ Thanh Phong

- Food @ Stokers

- Walking around in my apartment, hoping to digest the food faster!

 

The homemade brunch @ 109 was HUGE. Mr Tan had 2 croissants, 2 hashbrowns, 3 scrambled eggs and sauteed mushrooms and I had sauteed mushrooms, wilted spinach, 1 hashbrown and ham and cheese croissant. I thought I was able to finish 2 croissants and once again, I overestimated my stomach and ended up only having the ham and cheese. We were so full that we could hardly move. Slowly, slowly, we drifted into dreamland. zzzZZzZZZzzZ...

 

 

Woke up at 7 to get ready for dinner @ Thanh Phong. Jiaqi loves their Cambodian egg noodles and said it was kinda like our Ba Chor Mee. The minute we heard that, all of us ordered that for dinner. Haha. That's how much we miss Ba Chor Mee. Mr Tan is dying to have his fave Mee Pok every day when he returns to SG. The Cambodian noodles were nothing like our Ba Chor Mee because there's no chilli! That being said, it was delicious, definitely something that we'll order again. YUM! We also ordered prawn spring rolls and prawn pancake which were both good. The spring rolls were really small, probably the size as my index finger but the pancake as big as the plate! Once again, we were stuffed. But we are still going for desserts!

 

 

Using the Entertainment Book 1-for-1 voucher, we went Stokers for pancakes. It's a really nice and cosy place but sadly the pancakes were expensive and sucky. We had strawberries, cherries, rum banana and chocolate peach. The chocolate peach was really bad. Chocolate and peach doesn't work for us and none of us wanted to have a 2nd bite of it. The strawberries were more like sour berries and the only saving grace was the ice cream. At almost $13 per plate, there's no way we're going back.

With so much food going into my system every weekend, my gym classes seem so
insignificant. Sigh. I MUST slim down before I return to SG, Super Full Saturday shall be a monthly affair or perhaps it should never happen again!

Pilates

Day 563

I get bored easily. After spinning for the last few months, I'm beginning to get bored with the classes and started to look for other classes go to. Pilates caught my eye but I wasn't sure if it is my cup of tea. You see, I've always associated Pilates with Yoga. I did 8 yoga sessions a long long time ago with Kellyn, MP and Geraldine at a local CC and I didn't enjoy the sessions at all. To me, Yoga is b-o-r-i-n-g and thus I was a little apprenhensive about Pilates but my first Pilates class totally changed my mind.

1. I actually sweated!
2. I could feel my abs working hard!
3. I was shaking so much during the class that made me determined to go for more class to improve my muscle strength. 
4. I'm so stiff that I can't sit up straight without bending my knees.

I'm making pilates a regular class to improve my posture, muscle strength and flexibility! 

P-I-L-A-T-E-S ROCKS!

Happy Valentine's Day

Day 561

I got a rose today! A rose! I almost couldn't believe my eyes. I can't remember the last time he bought me flowers. Till now, he cannot remember the name of my favourite flower. Needless to say, surprise dinners, surprise presents or any surprise is almost non-existent in our relationship. It would take an enormous amount of nagging and hints from me to get him to give me a surprise. Why did I marry him again? Hmmmmmmmmmm..it makes me wonder at times too! But, but, but....I got a rose today! Has all my years of nagging and hints finally managed to creep into his head? I'm praying hard! 

Thank you, Mr Tan! I LOVE it! ;)

 

 

 

Every florist, every restaurant is all out to suck you dry on Valentine's Day. I don't need a huge bouquet of flowers, an expensive gift or a fancy dinner. A single rose (even though it's 15 times more expensive than usual, haha) and a simple dinner is enough to make me smile. Thank you for making the effort, Mr Tan! :)