Don't Write Me Off - Music and Lyrics

Another song from Music and Lyrics which I love. Who would have thought Hugh Grant can sing :p

I would melt into a puddle if a guy I like sing this to me. It is just so romantic and touching and funny.



Here is the lyrics for "Don't Write Me Off" by Hugh Grant

It’s never been easy for me to find the words to go along with the melody
But this time there’s actually something on my mind
so please forgive these few brave awkward lines
since I met you my whole life has changed
It’s not just my furniture you’ve rearranged
I was living in the past but somehow you’ve brought me back
and I haven’t felt like this since before Frankie said “Relax”

And Now I know based on my track record
I might not seem like the safest bet
All I’m asking you is don’t write me off just yet

For years I’ve been telling myself the same old story
that I’m happy to live off my so-called full of glories
But you’ve given me a reason to take another chance
now I need you despite the fact that you’ve killed all my plants

And Now I know I’ve already blown more chances than anyone should ever get
All I’m asking you is don’t write me off just yet
Don’t write me off just yet

Way Back Into Love - Music and Lyrics

Hugh Grant & Haley Bennett




I so love the song "Way Back Into Love", especially the version by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. The slicker version playing over the airwaves currently are by Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett.

Totally recommended Music and Lyrics for a light-hearted romantic comedy movie. Just a simple feel-good show, with many witty dialogues.

Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore (Demo Version)

Peramakan - 26 March 2007

It was a fun and slightly raucous dinner last night with the old "gang". Jason is leaving Singapore soon, so it was a "farewell" dinner as well as an opportunity to have a gathering for the "viva-gang". We don't meet for Chinese New Year, Christmas rarely. But everyone someone is here (usually Jason or Sharon :p), we will meet up and catch up. It has become almost a yearly affair or alternate year thing.

I suggested Peranakan food since it is something local and not widely available back in Canada.

After reading rave reviews about Peramakan at Joo Chiat, we decided to try it out.

Hmmm...the place is tiny, probably only able to seat between 25 and 40 people, with nondescript tables and chairs. The centerpiece to denote its peranakan roots is the display cabinet filled with traditional designs of crockery.

1st row: assam sotong, ayam buah keluak, beef rendang
2nd row: chap chye, fish maw soup, sambal kangkong
3rd row: garlic kailan, meatball soup, ngoh hiang
4th row: oxtail stew, sambal brinjals, satay ayam panggang

Food-wise, it is pretty good. We ordered quite a lot of dishes to share. Beef rendang, ayam buah keluak, assam sotong, sambal kangkong, satay ayam panggang, fish maw soup, meatball soup, oxtail stew, sambal brinjals, ngoh hiang garlic kailan and chap chye.

The highlights for me were:
*Beef rendang - spicy and tender meat
*Ayam buah keluak - it is black, so black it looks scary. It is very different from the usual style of cooking which has more tangy gravy in the yellow/orange color. The chicken is very tender and could just melt in your mouth. The black gravy is actually thick with the buah keluak paste. The dish comes with 2 nuts, additional nuts at $1.50 each. Heaven for those who loves the nutty taste of the buah keluak
*Assam Sotong - nice tangy assam gravy with squids which are not rubbery
*Satay Ayam Panggang - grilled chicken with satay peanut sauce. Tender soft chicken with a rich peanuty sauce

The rest of the dishes were quite normal. The oxtail stew was not too bad. All the meat were done nicely, very tender and not too hard and chewy at all.

Location:
Peramakan 92 Joo Chiat Road (near Joo Chiat Complex)

Harry's Burger

There is a Harry's near my office. In fact, I see it almost everyday as it is just opposite my office building. Yet, I never went there for drinks or meals until last Tuesday.

Jane texted me about drinks, and I couldn't think of a better place to go. Town was out of the question as I was tired of crowds. Suggested Harry's and so it was on.

Ordered the burger and a strawberry margarita. Burger was huge! Thick buns. Unfortunately the patty was a bit tough and chewy. I had requested for medium well, but it seemed like well-done plus the patty didn't seem to be those grounded beef where it would be crumbly and you could see the juices and color. Instead it felt like a slab of meat with no real texture and seemed rubbery. The bacon was much better, at least it was a bit crispy at the edge. The fries were not too bad either. Could not finish the burger at all - too much meat and bread.

Barbie Loves MAC - The Pictures

Here it is...the collage of pictures of the Barbie Loves MAC Spring Launch 2007 Campaign. Feast your eyes on the real-life "Barbie" dolls at the Doll House. Barbie is being politcally correct by including women of all sizes and colors. One of the "dolls" looked like Alicia Silverstone. The "Ken" dolls were a bit of a disappointment though. They looked like kids! Young school boys (to me) :p

The Barbie vanity table with the mirror is so sweet - I wonder what they did with it after the event is over. Dispose it? Give it to staff? Sell it off? I'm sure there will be people who would want to buy. Unfortunately I seriously doubt it can be sold - marketing budget, mess with their accounting system. No SKU for it.

It is actually custom-made. Just buy some basic vanity dresser table with mirror. Paint the entire thing black, then add pink squiggles as design. Easy peasy. Needs a steady hand though. Same for the cushioned stool.

Amazingly, I only bought 3 items from this collection - Fab blush (looked dark brown in pan, but a lovely rosy hue on me - can be a bit too red if heavy-handed), Springtime Skipper (light green color which is very spring-like and fresh - brightens up the eyes immediately) and Moth Brown (greyish brown, great for a smokey look or to define the eye)

Barbie Moth Brown is different from the Moth Brown released earlier with Madame B 2005 Spring collection. That was greyish-plumy, hence I didn't get it then cos I have too many purple shades. Instead I bought 2 other green shades and 1 purple. I realized I always buy green shades from MAC collection launch - green shades again from Lure (or whatever collection that was - bait, hook and lure?)

I wanted the Don't Be Shy blusher but it was not sold in Singapore (only at DFS airport or town as it was carried by Nuance-Watson). But someone just helped me buy 2 x DBS blushers from Bangkok. So yay! It was absolutely fantastic! I was beyond impressed and speechless as it seemed like DBS was OOS in so many places and the person managed to find it. Last piece from 2 different shops in Bangkok. Talk about perserverance!

Corduroy Cafe @ VivoCity

Interior of Corduroy Cafe

I quite like Corduroy Cafe at VivoCity. Cosy place with a very European feel to it. The chandelier, pillar of pictures, wall of clocks and mural, plus plush chairs made it a nice place to chill. For a natter with girlfriends, whiling the afternoon away, watching the world pass by.

Beef pie, beef stew, chocolate rum tart and panna cotta with berries

Celest and I had a late dinner on Saturday. I was not that hungry so I just had the beef stroganaff pie while Celest had the beef stew. I also had a caramel latte to go with dessert of chocolate rum tart and panna cotta with berries.

The beef pie was excellent. Not too salty. The crust was crispy and the filling was wet but not too much liquid to make it soggy. It was filled with chunky tender beef cubes which could melt in your mouth.

I tried the beef stew and it was good, but the beef was slightly tougher than in the pie.

The desserts - 3 words - to die for. The chocolate rum tart looked deceptively small but it sure packed a punch. I thought the 3 ovals on the tart were some chocolate covered fruits though I didn't recall it being in the description. Turned out they were rum filled chocolate ganache. The entire tart was rum chocolate. I could feel the heat of the alcohol though Celest said she couldn't really taste it except in the center of the tart. Maybe I got the alcohol end :p I would recommend to share it as it might be too much/rich for 1 person.

The panna cotta was a darling. I was never a big fan of vanilla custard type of dessert but the panna cotta was just very smooth. It can slide down the throat easily. Creamy silky sweet with the tart berries as a perfect foil to balance the taste. I like it!

Designer-clad Barbie Dolls!

Barbie has arrived in town, and it was launched in a big way. Barbie Loves MAC - a brilliant marketing collaboration between MAC cosmetics house and Mattel. It has been a long time since there was such a huge fanfare for a spring launch by a cosmetics brand. I would be guessing the advertising/marketing budget is close to $100K or more. The ads taken out on radio (Power98), newspapers, magazines and direct mailers, plus tie-ups with Citibank/Tangs cards and CLEO magazine.

Besides a Barbie Doll House at the Atrium of VivoCity, there is a small gallery of limited edition Barbie Dolls, wearing designer clothes.

Barbie Dolls - almost every girl has owned a doll before. Dressing her up and down, wearing the gorgeous outfits and shoes, accessories, etc. Fodder to fuel a child's imagination. I remembered making simple dresses for my barbie dolls (I had two - and they were my precious then), making pillows for them to sleep on. I even had a bedroom suite which could be changed into an office space for my career barbie doll, in her pink suit. Now that I think about it, it looked like Legally Blonde. Lol.

Well, I was down on Saturday (17 March 2007) to catch the real-life barbie dolls and I took some pictures of the actual dolls.

Top (L-R): Burberry Barbie, Juicy Couture Barbie
Bottom (L-R): Givenchy Barbie, don't remember who the designer is, MAC Barbie

I love the Juicy Couture Barbie Doll. I think I love the color combi more than anything. Lime green with hot pink. Yummy!

Vienna Again

I went to Vienna with Agnes and Davis on Friday. Yes, barely 1 week after my first visit, the girls were keen to try the food there. Again, I didn't take much pictures. Only pathetic 2. The size of the oysters this time were quite small, pathetic when compared to the previous visit. I guessed it depends on the catch that day.

Oyster au gratin, crabmeat with tang hoon stuffed in a tiny crabshell, seasons octopus, spicy conches, bbq eel and the tang hoon.

Shark fin soup with crabmeat

I ate more this time or at least I tried more stuff on the dessert front. I was pleasantly surprised to find the cakes were changed. So I got to try an awesome chocolate mousse cake. There was a pretty bland cream cake. The yam paste was a bit lumpy. Also tried the black seasame ice cream and milk tea.

Home-made Tiramisu!

The girls day/night in finally happened last weekend. Sherie baked tiramisu for all of us. It was so amazingly good! Once you have tasted home-made tiramisu, you know most of the restaurants out there stinted on the good stuff.

You can taste the creamy mascapone (which is usually undetectable in other places) and the thick dusting of cocoa powder and entire ladies fingers soaked in baileys. While some places may have alcohol drenched sponges, the mascapone is usually miniscule.

Feast your eyes on the tiramisu and drool.

Thank you, Sherie :)

Vienna International Seafood Buffet - United Square

I just tried Vienna International Seafood and Teppanyaki Buffet at United Square. It is surprisingly good

It has a decent variety of sashimi and lots of seafood. I think they have more seafood than meat The oysters were super big size - wanted to take picture to show the size but didn't in the end. There were crayfish, tiger prawns, mussels, crabs, yabbies for the cold sides. All were very fresh too. The sushi were not that great, rice a bit dry and hard.

Cooked seafood - crab tang hoon, chili crabs, black pepper crabs, cereal prawns, scallops on shell, baked oysters au gratin, bbq eel, tempura prawns, teppanyaki prawns

Didn't try all the food, but I just don't recall being at a buffet where there were so much seafood before. Even more than at The Line or Melt or elsewhere.

They replenished the food very frequently too. For teppanyaki, the steak and lamb chops were nicely done. Lots of different types of soups too. Dessert is not that fantastic but not too bad. Average. Only 3 types of cakes - chocolate, blueberry cheesecake and durian mousse cake. There is a chocolate fountain and some local kuehs.

Value for money place if you are into seafood. Go somewhere else if you prefer a better dessert spread and salad bar or western food.

**What I tried -
oysters: amazingly huge and very fresh, none of the "fishy" smell or taste
yabbie and crayfish: tenderly sweet
half of crab: a bit tough to dig out the meat, but it was sweet too
sashimi - salmon, maguro, and 2 other types of white fish: fresh, I can just eat salmon sashimi whole day
2 pieces of sushi: dry and tough
BBQ eel: can't go wrong with it
peking duck wrapped in crepe: not bad
crab tang hoon: just took the tang hoon, very nice
cereal prawns: nice! like the cereal
egg tofu: can't go wrong too
beef steak/lamb chop: well done but still very tender soft
tempura prawn: nicely done, not soggy
some soup filled with chicken, wolfberries, mushroom, abalone?, and others - very good
dragonfruit dipped in chocolates, chocolate cake, blueberry cheesecake, vienna cheesecake, durian mousse, fried durian pastry

**Disclaimer: I didn't finish the whole thing, but I had bites from the list :P

Decleor Institut, Raffles Hotel

I just went for my Radiance facial treatment at Decleor Institut at Raffles Hotel today. Apparently it really works! My gfs commented my face was really radiant. Personally I couldn't tell at all. It looked the same to me. With the instant radiance boost, the skin is supposed to remain radiant for 3 weeks. So we shall see how long it lasts.

I love the ambience at Decleor Institut. The staff is really professional. Drink will be served when you enter. After filling in all the necessary forms, you will be led into a room. The room is spacious with piped in music and dimmer. The therapist will explain the procedure to you and ask you to change and then lie on the bed while waiting.

Decleor signature facial treatment includes a upper back massage, hand massage and acupressure, drainage and facial massage, plus masking and exfoliation.

My treatment for that day was a promotion - radiance facial and vitalizing eye treatment. It didn't include the facial or hand massage. I topped up the amount and got the full works.

I like that the bed is heated, so you are warm lying face down, while waiting for the upper back massage. The only gripe I have is the attach-able face cushion for the head to rest on. There is a bowl of water with fake flowers floating on it to relax your vision and take you away from the worries of the world. I also like that the therapist will place a hot water bottle on your back while massaging. The hot water bottle will also be placed on your tummy during the facial.

For the facial treatment, the face cushion will be detached and head will be rested on the bed itself. The bed is those flexible type where the end will be raised so that your legs are rested at an angle. The head/upper body will be slightly raised too, almost creating a wide "V-shaped" of the bed.

Besides the usual cleansing, the exfoliation of skin was gentle rubbing of the "leave-on" mask. Enzymes infused exfoliator left on face for a while before the rubbing off. There was lots of massages on the face and eye area (the eye treatment includes back massage, drainage and massaging of eye area). The facial ended off with 2 masks. They do not use the usual steamer or extraction. (I requested for no extraction). The therapist will use hot towels to clean the face and hold it above the face to lightly "steam" it too. Similar to the Peter Thomas Roth style.

The therapist then applied the instant radiance serum/lotion on the face. That is supposed to last for 3 weeks. Decleor is well known for its essential oil, and the massaging was done using the aromessence and balm.

I am not so sure about the products as I am perfectly happy with what I am using now. But to get radiant skin....hmmm....can consider going there once in a while, especially for the eye treatment.

See's Candies

See's Candies seemed to be be synonymous with the Bay Area. Everytime I see See's Candies, I know someone has just visited or came back from SF.

I returned to the office after CNY hols and found a chocolate lolly from See's Candies.

This is really hard candy. I tried biting it (too hard), licking it (too slow), sucking it (too big). So in the end, I decide to use it as a stirrer for the coffee, thus making mocha! Marvelous idea, no? Lol.

The coffee/mocha turned out too sweet after the lolly melted. At least it is dark chocolate.

Birthday Pics - February 14

I finally have some free time. It has been a real busy week at work.

As promised, here are some pictures taken on my birthday. Thanks for the pictures, Regina :)


The birthday cake - oreo cheesecake from errr....I don't remember now. The cake is really good. I love the candles they bought!

Carolyn and 5 men! (Not Mrs Palm and her 5 daughters :p)

Close-up view of the candles. See the actual "bulges" *wink*

Lovely pressies from my lovely girlfriends - thank you for the perfume, candle, chocolate coated strawberry and heart-shaped balloon.

Great company - all gorgeous ladies - great fun time as always

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. *smile*