The Nightingale: 2013

It's 2 days away from our 1st wedding anniversary!

Being the #KNS couple that we are... we decided to celebrate it OUR way. I've never been the type for romantic candlelight dinners, so I thought of having chilli crabs! Asked for recommendations from friends and Mr. Google but... most of em' restaurants are at Marine Parade, East Coast, etc. which is a pain in the ass for folks like us who don't own a car.

This morning, by chance by Fate, I came across this review on Samy's Curry (god knows how) at ladyironchef's and damn it looks good. I love Indian food and most of all I love fish head curry... any kind of curry, in fact. Plus it matches my original idea of having a uniquely #KNS celebration, lol.

(Credit: HungryGoWhere.com)

The place looks pretty old school too. Kopitiam-ish concept? It's the oldest restaurant on Dempsey Hill, long before it became the IT place where cool people hang out. I've barely been to the place... not cool enough apparently.

Before our very sinful dinner, we've booked tickets to watch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in the afternoon. I saw this option for a "DX Atmos" theatre and I googled to find out what it is. Basically it's a theatre with a bigger screen and better acoustics... not sure whether there'll be much of a difference, but what the heck. It's more than 2 and a half hours, so I think I'll bring a cushion for my forever aching behind.

I have a love/hate relationship with trilogies and chronicles because cliffhangers leave me unsatisfied. I paid ten bucks or so to be entertained so I want to be entertained. And then I'll forget about what happened in the previous movie because I have a really bad memory. The good thing is I can rewatch the whole thing again and I'll get a pleasant experience catching up with the story... until it ends with another cliffhanger, leaving me unsatisfied again.

...Okay, I think no one will understand, I'm just weird.

TGIF! It's ze weekend! :D

Hello again! My last post was in August and that's like whoa. There seems to be quite abit of visitors from the US of A for some odd reason - Hello there and thank you for reading my uninteresting content. :) Anyway, changed the URL to the blog's name (more apt, anyway) but I'm sure it's not that much of a biggie since this is the 6534904th time I've changed the URL. Yup.

I never really had a huge huge hobby, unless you count the typical kinds like travelling and eating and sleeping... I wouldn't call this a passion (yet) but recently I realized an INTENSE liking for cooking. Being a noob in the kitchen (only 8 - 9 months old!), I googled intensively for simple recipes I could start with and I think I've been doing a pretty decent job. :)

Some of the almost idiot-proof dishes I tried:

Rice Cooker Mac 'N' Cheese(only used mozzarella... should look prettier with parmesan)

Rice Cooker Claypot Rice

Japanese Curry Rice
(used brown rice and it was good)

Inspiration for the rice cooker recipes came from this link which went viral within my circle of friends on Facebook. I didn't know one could ~~take over the world~~ do so much stuff with a rice cooker! The lemony risotto looks gorgeous and I'm looking forward to trying it soon.

Upon further googling, I also learnt that you can cook a whole lot of dishes with a slow cooker as well (not just stew and soups)... click here to find out. I'm definitely trying out the Apple Butter recipe... but first I need an immersion blender (hint hint).

Will continue to experiment more! Next up, beef stew (with a slow cooker most likely). :)

Success isn't the thing that defines a person at the end of his/her life. The journey does. A person may obtain everything he/she wants in Life, but I guess... it's the people you've met, the experiences you've gotten and the lessons you've learnt that truly matter.

Perhaps I've been slower at my self-discovery journey and finding my purpose than most of my peers... Perhaps they have not even thought that much about their purpose and find themselves trodding on the so-called 'correct' paths. I do understand that everyone has their own set of problems... it's just that I always seem to feel lost and confused, and tend to envy people who knows what the hell they want to do with themselves. :P

Like the quote says, the 'best things' might take a while... but as long as I believe and work harder for what I believe in... I'm sure this day will come.

FIGHTING.

It's time for lunch.

I've been down the flu for the past couple of days, and it sucks. I haven't had such a bad flu in the longest time... the weather has been too unpredictable nowadays, I suppose. :( Even in the office now, while wearing a jacket, I can feel my hands turning stone cold. Brrr.

I've been getting lazier in housework recently. I'm not quite sure why, but I've been feeling fatigue, bad. Maybe it's because I haven't gotten a massage in ages. Or maybe it's because it has been leading up to The Flu. Anyway, the poor husband has been taking over my duties the past week and he's like so poor thing, lol. I'll try to resume my work after my flu goes away, ya? :) He has been making lunch boxes for me too, and I feel like a spoilt, pampered daughter. XD So sometimes it's not too bad being sick after all... feels nice to be spoiled rotten.

On a brighter note, we had McD breakfast with some friends and caught Despicable Me 2 last weekend and it was GOOD. Too funny! We all need some laughter in our lives, no?

"Underwearrrrrrrr..."

It felt good to be up and about on a weekend morning. The weekend lasted a little bit longer. Perhaps, next time we can go to one of those brunch places, which I never had the chance to try. :)

Till then, I'll need to get my nose to stop running the marathon first.

Alright, the strange gone-case formatting was driving me crazy so I've switched back to the generic template.

It has been a rough couple of weeks, but I have good things knocking on my door so I'm sure I'll see the light soon. :)

A mini-update about the house. The feeling of having your own home is indescribable... There's not much of a design (pretty simple really), mostly mix and match of furnitures and colours. I was going for earthly colours to emphasize on the 'coziness' and it turned out lovely (to us lah).

I don't have a feature wall because I can't justify spending a thousand or so on a patterned plank. No offense to those who do have feature walls, it's just that my budget was veryyyy veryyyy tight. :P

Looks pretty decent though, even without the feature wall. It's kinda like "angmoh style" because in the US of A I don't think they have feature walls for TV.

See? In the US they only have TV consoles/cabinets. (Image off airbnb at a condo apartment in San Francisco)

Long-ish walkway to the main door. Can play bowling lor! That's how we did the pineapple rolling thing... like a pro. BOOM.

The room that made the biggest impact is undoubtedly the MBR. LOL. Please do imagine the looks on our parents' faces. Hilarious. The One Piece bedsheets were purchased from Taobao through 65daigou, along with my toilet accessories and everything.

The rest of my rooms... still 見不得人 due to the mountains of stuff still unpacked. I have no idea why a GUY (i.e. the husband) can have SO MUCH STUFF. He used a WHOLE LORRY to transport his stuff pls. Hopefully we'll be unpacked by the time we hold our housewarming parties... some time in June. Or July. Or December. ._.

We're pretty much settled in, and started cooking simple fare here and there.

LOOKS GOOD RIGHT~

But the curry chicken was not cooked by me. I took some leftover curry from my parents' house over the weekend and just heated it up, lol. But I cooked the rice and veggies ok? Which turned out pretty good if I must say so myself. It's a combi stir-fry of french beans and assorted mushrooms. I haven't cooked in a million years, so props to the husband who guided me along. :D

I also made french toast for breakfast over the weekend. Yummys! Along with hotdogs and tuna sandwich triangles.

It's just the beginning so the dishes are all quite idiot-proof. I'll start cooking more, to train for my future SAHM "career" when the husband makes big bucks. :D

I barely touched any sort of housework for the past almost-thirty years and therefore I can be considered a walking disaster when it comes to anything household. But my life changed (being a new wife) so I MUST change too, I thought. I'm quite against the idea of having a maid due to various complications I encountered over the years and its financing implications, so I'm a part-time "housewife" now.

One of my aunts had kindly sponsored a garment steamer for my laundry, as suggested by my mum, and it has been such a life-saver.

Tips on using a garment steamer:

1) Don't let your water level drop to none while steaming your clothes. When the machine runs but there's no water to steam, it'll get damaged.

2) Empty all your water after steaming, to defend against dengue!

3) Don't test the temperature with your hand. If its hot enough, the steam will be visible.

4) During steaming, some of the steam might condense and you'll have some hot water dripping, so you'll need to watch out for that cuz the water will be super hot.

5) Your clothes might have wet spots here and there due to the steam, but it's normal. Hang outside before putting into your wardrobe, otherwise you might have strange little things growing inside your wardrobe. Or if you have it open concept like mine, you don't have to worry about it.

6) Technically it's harder to use than an iron, but there's lesser risk in burning a hole in your clothes.

7) Steam your clothes while watching TV. Otherwise it's really super boring.

8) Certain materials take longer to be crease-free, that's normal. It also means that you probably shouldn't buy clothes from that store anymore. Puma tees are heavenly to steam! Giordano tees = bitch plz.

9) When you hold up the sleeves to steam, pinch with your fingers so that the steam is not too close to your hand. I kanna twice already, super scalding lor the steam!

10) Get your husband to steam instead (not the dirty-minded kind hor) so that you can sit back, kiao kah and relax. :D

For more housework for idiots tips, stay tuned to #thewifelife, lol.

『感恩』

This is something I live with nowadays.

Times are hard, but not as hard as others. Skies are grey, but not without the occasional golden peaks of the sun. I have nothing, yet I have everything.

I am thankful for all the goodness in my life. It's far from perfect, and the road ahead is still a pretty rocky path but I know that I'm never really alone. I am thankful for the husband, my parents, my friends. I am thankful that I am able to wake up every morning. I am thankful for my fairly good health. I am thankful for having a roof over my head. I am thankful for the water and the food in front of me. I am thankful that I am loved.

Times are hard, but not as hard as others. Because I have people and things in life to feel thankful about, I have the strength to carry on.

感恩。

Managed to find a blog layout I like - something simple and does the job. Gone were the days when I liked everything frilly and flashy and BOOM-BA DESIGNER STYLEZ. Also gone were the days when I had alot less stuff to do in real life... namely during my student and post-student days. I used to make my own blog layouts... I'm not too bad, actually, but it was really time-consuming.

The husband is in Moscow now, and he has bought me one of those Russian nesting dolls as promised. *whee!* He's there for work, but took a video of himself frolicking in the snow to make me green with envy (intentionally or not, I may never know...).

More updates about home stuff (bored yet? XD).

FINALLY bought the coffee table. After much deliberation, we still got the Noguchi-inspired eventually, lol. It's pretty HUGE but the Natural colour is so pretty.

Bought the TV console too. We were contemplating whether to custom make one anyway because we couldn't agree on a design... but then I found this!

Both were purchased from X'clusive Home at Toh Guan. Much thanks to the smelly sis for sponsoring my coffee table! :)

I also ordered the LG Direct Drive washing machine (7kg) as recommended by Joey, and I bought it from Kong Tai Electrical Trading - people who live in Jurong should find this shop pretty familiar. This shop has lotsa raves from Renotalk too. I THINK this should be the model (that's the thing about catalogue buys... you're not quite sure what you're buying... but cheap what!)

My aunt also sponsored a garment steamer from Philips and an electric kettle from Bosch (no pic, forgot which model).

We're very blessed to receive such awesome gifts from loved ones! :)

22 March
The final touches...

Walnut door with painted matching door frame

Door handle with keys

Lighting for display cabinet installed (LED bulbs)

Aircons are all mounted - study, 2 bedrooms

23 March

COMPLETE. Handover done by ID! But the worst had just begun - cleaning. OMG. Dust bunnies are like totally not cute. No pictures of our unglam states, but basically we vacuumed (most of) the dust, cleaned/wiped everywhere, scrubbed the toilets and wiped the floors (yes, "wipe" because of the laminates lol).

Now pretty much spick and span... but would have to re-wipe and vacuum again this weekend because there were a few more plaster-related, dirt-incurring touch ups.

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I had my first bath in our MBR bathroom and it was SHIOK. I love our instant heater plus rain shower... the pressure's not the biggest but good enough. Speaking of which, I haven't finished buying our bathroom accessories, so... XD Will get around to it.

Most of my TB stuff are arriving on 30th March (in 3 days?!)! Excited to install (or rather... let the husband install) my stuff. I hope the quality's as good as the reviews say. Toilet accessories are unexpectedly expensive!

We're most probably getting this coffee table from Comfort Furniture.

It's kinda small at 800mm in diameter, but then again my living room has already shrunk alot in space due to our 3-metre sofa, so... I guess it might be a good thing. :D

If it's reaaaaaaaaally too small in real life, maybe we can consider the Noguchi replica instead (also from Comfort Furniture).

There're still so much furniture not bought yet! *Home Alone expression* And we haven't even got our curtains yet. 忙忙忙................................

15 Mar 2013

Laminates all done! Lovessssssssssss. The rose white of my walls go perfectly with my flooring. Carpentry's all done too (SIBEI FAST).

Living area.

Bedrooms.

Dining area/entrance to kitchen.


Went for the RAW feel of wood at the study room.

Close-up of the laminate.

The husband's ginormous display cabinet.

Kitchen. Solid surface top not installed yet.

My Elkay sink! :D


For the cutlery and utensils.

Our shoe cabinet at the foyer area.

18 Mar 2013

Our lights were all installed, as well as the solid surface top for kitchen and vanity, and ceiling fan.

Kitchen lights! White until machiam operating theatre. Great when I'm cutting up chicken.

Solid surface top, hob and hood, as well as tap all installed.

Toilet lights!

Vanity closet in MBR toilet... look at my CHIOZ glass tap and sink. *LURVE*

MBR ceiling light. Boring I know, but it's a safe choice. :P

Ceiling lights for the rest of the bedrooms. Similar but smaller.

IKEA spotlights for my walk-in. Looks great! :D

My 56" glossy black ceiling fan. I was worried about the size (too big??) but it turned out okay.

20 Mar 2013

Time for Taobao shopping! Much to the horror of many, I've decided to get my dining table and chairs through TB.

Getting 6 chairs instead of 4.

I had a few criteria when it comes to looking for a dining table. First, cannot have sharp edges. Second, cannot be clear tempered glass. Third, must match my woody woody theme. There's not alot of choices in Singapore that matches the criteria... the ones which "can make it" are freaking expensive. =_= It's like nearly 1k for a table... excluding the dining chairs!

And then I brought the search online... the rest is history. XD The dining set costs a total of about S$1035, including shipping as quoted by a freight company.

I also bought other stuff from TB, through 65daigou.com! The toilet accessories are from a pretty reputable brand in China called "Jomoo" or 九牧, therefore a little more expensive than the other ones I see in TB. Should be worth it!