First of all, my camera. I've finally gotten myself a new camera!! And quite a steal too. Well after scouting all over ebay and yahoo auctions for half a year, finally found one which is cheap and good. 280sgd for dah whole package.
Sony DSC-T33
Well one of the reasons I took so damn long was cos I am an anti-Sony guy, (what irony), but after reading multiple reviews, I conceded that the actual camera I really liked was ridden with hardware faults.Casio Exilim EX-S500
T-T I've have had 3 Exilim cameras before this, and I lurve dem cos they are so damn slim and sleek, but not so trustworthy in the hardware department, so I went for the next best I could find, and that was it. The Sony. 5.1 Mp, takes huge pix at 2592 x 1944 pixels. NICE.
Surrealism in my own room. See? e camera is sweet.
Moving on, Just last Sunday, Jiefang gave a treat to me, my parents, Xiaoyu and Jingliang for her first month of work. She had already wanted to treat Xiaoyu, who has been her room-mate for 8plus years. She thought she should also give my parents a treat cos of how they took care of her all this while.
We went to Paradiz centre, and reached pretty early. So before the meal, we took a few pix.
Me and Jie.
My Parents.
Tao's Restaurant. Jie's recommendation. She has eaten there before, but not me. All I knew about the restaurant was that every weekend, Echo Music puts up performances just outside Tao Restaurant. Reputation is that servings are generally small, but very nicely presented and tastes nothing short of delicious.
Besides us two and my parents, we were also waiting for Xiaoyu and her BF Jingliang. Xiaoyu has been Jie's room-mate for 9 years, and besides ppl mistaking them for twins, well yup they're almost like sisters in their friendship. Erm... actually, we both had a hand in pulling the 2 of them together. We were doubtful that it would work for some time, but current statistics show that Xiaoyu only comes home about 4 days per month now, rest at his place. AND. when she comes back, he comes along too! -_-
Well for starters, we each had a small glass of mango sorbet. Since the meal was kind of celebration of Jie's new job, we had a little toast.
Toasting with e Mango Sorbets.
Well after this was the bacon & mushroom gratin and toasted bread. Nice. not too creamy, just right. when spread on the bread, it's simply a fantastic starter. Silly me brought a camera and DIDNT TAKE ANY PHOTO. coz I was busy eating and forgot the camera RIGHT BESIDE ME -_-
This was e same for e fantastic Japanese grilled mushrooms... fantastic taste, fantastic presentation, no photos -_-|||
Following that was salad. nice, but not very outstanding. EXCEPT for e wasabi-mayo dipped prawn salad. I normally detest mayo severely, but in this case, when mixed with wasabi, it was very tasty. Tried some, together with the salad served in a wine glass. Again, silly me, no photos.
Next up was e soup. surprisingly, the most normal tasting was e one with e most appealing name
: Shark's Fin Melon Soup. note: the ingredient, shark's fin melon, is a type of melon, and not a type of shark's fin. Of course my mum knew that when she ordered. I think my mum can do better than them for the same soup. More surprising was the other two that we have ordered. The pumpkin soup came in a cute bowl in the shape of a pumpkin! lol.
Too bad they took away the cap. e whole thing was in the shape of a pumpkin.
E fish soup - served in a teapot and teacup?!?
Well both were very cute in presentation, and tasted great. Pumpkin soup was thick enough. fish soup was light but very well-flavoured, and drinking soup from a teacup was also rather interesting. My dad ordered cream of mushroom, and it's the best-tasting I have ever tried, but I have definitely tasted one that was similar at one other place before, but somehow I can't remember exactly where.
Next up was e main course. We had roasted steak, lamb cutlet, grilled snapperand the restaurant's famous pork back ribs. All damn nice, but smart me again didn't take any photos.
Tea was served at e same time as e main course, and the teas were refreshing. Most of us ordered e apple rose tea and summer peach. I ordered the latter, and liked it more than the other. Jie ordered grassjelly mint tea, which I didn't really like. She liked it anyway, so it can't be bad. Apple rose tea has got rose petals and apple chunks floating around; summer peach tea has got summer peach chunks floating around, and yes you guessed it, grassjelly mint had grassjelly. delightfully refreshing.
Finally, the dessert was served. And at this point, it was like a train hit me - I BROUGHT A CAMERA!!! and off I went snapping.
creme brulee
poached pear
yam ice-cream
Dessert is totally WOO-HOO! Creme brulee is the best, which is very slightly better than the one the ACPD guys did at my place. Well honestly, the ACPD guys are quite good. Will talk about them some other time. Poached pear is great - the soup at the side is to mellow down the taste if it's too sweet for the taste buds - very thoughtful. No prizes for guessing that I chose e yam ice-cream. Presentation is great, with a tapioca chip and tapioca chip shavings by the side. The two go amazingly well together, sthg I have never really even though of before. E yam ice-cream being sweet, can be mellowed down by taking it with e slightly blander tapioca chips.
All in all, fantastic meal. Worth every cent. But it isn't cheap. 200 flat for 6 pax. lunch is cheaper tho, but no grilled japanese mushroom and mango sorbet. Which are great, do not forgo them if u have the budget.
After dinner, we went for that pool showdown that we've been planning to go for since months ago. Between: My dad and Xiaoyu's bf Jingliang. Well both of them are experts who share e following traits:
1) None of pool kaki's can beat, not even a close fight.
2) Eagerly looking for better players in order to improve themselves.
3) Constantly failed to achieve (2).
So after dinner, we were just beside a pool centre at Paradiz Centre, so we just went.
Only one word: Amazing.
Both were equally good at placement, my dad had e upper hand at rebound and snook shots, and Jingliang had e upper hand at foxy shots. It was like *wham* *bam* *slam* and match was over, again and again. Average of about 5 changeovers per game, both were equally matched, playing almost 20 games in the 2 hours. What a roller-coaster ride.
My dad was consistent from start thru end, while Jingliang fluctuated between over-performing and under-performing. Emotional influence according to himself. stress-caused over-performance after losing, and complacency-caused under-performing after winning. Result was almost completely equal number of wins and losses.
Well we did have another table at the side. Game between Me and Jie+Xiaoyu took around 3 games on the other table to finish. SOOOPER UNFAIR. basically, the roll was me -> Jie -> Xiaoyu. To top off that rule, Jie and Xiaoyu play the same set, and continuously. My first loss was absolutely sad. Jie pocketed the ball by genuine accident and Xiaoyu had a free ball for the BLACK. -_-||| wth. But it was still better than Jie vs Xiaoyu, which took about 6 games on the opposite table. In fact, it was after the only such game that I decided to enter e picture with such crazy rules. Amazingly - I still managed to win with such crazy rules. lol.
Meanwhile, my mum was completely enjoying herself watching e performance outside Tao's restaurant. At e end of e day, all of us have enjoyed ourselves pretty much and had a hell of a day. ^_^
T-T I've have had 3 Exilim cameras before this, and I lurve dem cos they are so damn slim and sleek, but not so trustworthy in the hardware department, so I went for the next best I could find, and that was it. The Sony. 5.1 Mp, takes huge pix at 2592 x 1944 pixels. NICE.
Surrealism in my own room. See? e camera is sweet.Moving on, Just last Sunday, Jiefang gave a treat to me, my parents, Xiaoyu and Jingliang for her first month of work. She had already wanted to treat Xiaoyu, who has been her room-mate for 8plus years. She thought she should also give my parents a treat cos of how they took care of her all this while.
We went to Paradiz centre, and reached pretty early. So before the meal, we took a few pix.
Me and Jie.
My Parents.Tao's Restaurant. Jie's recommendation. She has eaten there before, but not me. All I knew about the restaurant was that every weekend, Echo Music puts up performances just outside Tao Restaurant. Reputation is that servings are generally small, but very nicely presented and tastes nothing short of delicious.
Besides us two and my parents, we were also waiting for Xiaoyu and her BF Jingliang. Xiaoyu has been Jie's room-mate for 9 years, and besides ppl mistaking them for twins, well yup they're almost like sisters in their friendship. Erm... actually, we both had a hand in pulling the 2 of them together. We were doubtful that it would work for some time, but current statistics show that Xiaoyu only comes home about 4 days per month now, rest at his place. AND. when she comes back, he comes along too! -_-
Well for starters, we each had a small glass of mango sorbet. Since the meal was kind of celebration of Jie's new job, we had a little toast.
Toasting with e Mango Sorbets.Well after this was the bacon & mushroom gratin and toasted bread. Nice. not too creamy, just right. when spread on the bread, it's simply a fantastic starter. Silly me brought a camera and DIDNT TAKE ANY PHOTO. coz I was busy eating and forgot the camera RIGHT BESIDE ME -_-
This was e same for e fantastic Japanese grilled mushrooms... fantastic taste, fantastic presentation, no photos -_-|||
Following that was salad. nice, but not very outstanding. EXCEPT for e wasabi-mayo dipped prawn salad. I normally detest mayo severely, but in this case, when mixed with wasabi, it was very tasty. Tried some, together with the salad served in a wine glass. Again, silly me, no photos.
Next up was e soup. surprisingly, the most normal tasting was e one with e most appealing name
: Shark's Fin Melon Soup. note: the ingredient, shark's fin melon, is a type of melon, and not a type of shark's fin. Of course my mum knew that when she ordered. I think my mum can do better than them for the same soup. More surprising was the other two that we have ordered. The pumpkin soup came in a cute bowl in the shape of a pumpkin! lol.
Too bad they took away the cap. e whole thing was in the shape of a pumpkin.
E fish soup - served in a teapot and teacup?!?Next up was e main course. We had roasted steak, lamb cutlet, grilled snapperand the restaurant's famous pork back ribs. All damn nice, but smart me again didn't take any photos.
Tea was served at e same time as e main course, and the teas were refreshing. Most of us ordered e apple rose tea and summer peach. I ordered the latter, and liked it more than the other. Jie ordered grassjelly mint tea, which I didn't really like. She liked it anyway, so it can't be bad. Apple rose tea has got rose petals and apple chunks floating around; summer peach tea has got summer peach chunks floating around, and yes you guessed it, grassjelly mint had grassjelly. delightfully refreshing.
Finally, the dessert was served. And at this point, it was like a train hit me - I BROUGHT A CAMERA!!! and off I went snapping.
creme brulee
poached pear
yam ice-creamAll in all, fantastic meal. Worth every cent. But it isn't cheap. 200 flat for 6 pax. lunch is cheaper tho, but no grilled japanese mushroom and mango sorbet. Which are great, do not forgo them if u have the budget.
After dinner, we went for that pool showdown that we've been planning to go for since months ago. Between: My dad and Xiaoyu's bf Jingliang. Well both of them are experts who share e following traits:
1) None of pool kaki's can beat, not even a close fight.
2) Eagerly looking for better players in order to improve themselves.
3) Constantly failed to achieve (2).
So after dinner, we were just beside a pool centre at Paradiz Centre, so we just went.
Only one word: Amazing.
Both were equally good at placement, my dad had e upper hand at rebound and snook shots, and Jingliang had e upper hand at foxy shots. It was like *wham* *bam* *slam* and match was over, again and again. Average of about 5 changeovers per game, both were equally matched, playing almost 20 games in the 2 hours. What a roller-coaster ride.
My dad was consistent from start thru end, while Jingliang fluctuated between over-performing and under-performing. Emotional influence according to himself. stress-caused over-performance after losing, and complacency-caused under-performing after winning. Result was almost completely equal number of wins and losses.
Well we did have another table at the side. Game between Me and Jie+Xiaoyu took around 3 games on the other table to finish. SOOOPER UNFAIR. basically, the roll was me -> Jie -> Xiaoyu. To top off that rule, Jie and Xiaoyu play the same set, and continuously. My first loss was absolutely sad. Jie pocketed the ball by genuine accident and Xiaoyu had a free ball for the BLACK. -_-||| wth. But it was still better than Jie vs Xiaoyu, which took about 6 games on the opposite table. In fact, it was after the only such game that I decided to enter e picture with such crazy rules. Amazingly - I still managed to win with such crazy rules. lol.
Meanwhile, my mum was completely enjoying herself watching e performance outside Tao's restaurant. At e end of e day, all of us have enjoyed ourselves pretty much and had a hell of a day. ^_^
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