My last day....

Farewell lunch and dinner from dear colleagues :')

Everything went so fast. Before, 2 days felt like 2 years. But now, I feel like I'm in a dreamworld.

I don't know if it's real. Really. But I had done it, gone over it.

What I feel now?

Relieve. Let go. But at the same time, I feel sad. Six years and one and a half months are not short. But not long either. I've made lots of friendship. Lots of happiness, and there were some sorrow too.

Dear colleagues from all areas in hospitality industry :)

Anyway, any good thing will have to come to an end. Nothing lasts forever. I just have to accept the reality. Most importantly, looking forward. As we never know what lies in front of us.

I'll be missing you all guys...

But I'm glad though. I made so much friendship. I'm glad, we still keep in touch, although we are no more together. We still share the same hobby, and same passion.

Half gone half stay ^_^

Hope Buddha blesses us. You and me.

Wake up and realise, I'm no longer belong as the family. But at least, I'm not alone. Thank you everyone, for everything. One thing I will do tomorrow, to call my Boss and thank her for the opportunity, support, and everything she'd given me all this while.

It's just a job that I quitted, but I hope our friendship will remain forever... Take care all my dear friends, and all the best to you! Most importantly, be happy always.... Cheers!!! :)

Welcome June!!!

Time flies. 

Without realising, we have come into the middle of the year now. 

It's summertime.

This month, it's exceptionally hot though!

We started this beautiful month with Vesak Day celebration. Moon was shining brightly up high in the sky. The sun was shining glaringly early in the morning too! 

The heat, the rays, it just absorbed fully into our body. To energise, to revitalise, to refresh our body and mind, to live again, to grow, and bloom again! 

Add the right positivity seeds in, feed enough water to hydrate, some vitamins to let us grow healthily and beautifully, and the rest, let time and nature play its part. 

With new hope that we can bloom wiser and most importantly, happy. Not forget to share it with others, to make other people's life beautiful too! So that we have a purpose in life on why we live in this world.

This month, is a month full of celebrations :) May good luck stay with us and guide us along through our life journey! May all sentient beings be happy. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu :)

Happy day full of activities :)

This morning I finally saw my son again. He just had 3 days 2 nights school learning journey's trip to Malacca. It was his first time having a trip outside Singapore with his friends and teachers.

My hubby gave him RM100 as a pocket money - in case he wanted to buy or eat something. However, he used only less than RM15 and that included a lovely gift from his heart especially for me - a Doraemon's passport cover!!! :)

The first gift purchased by my dear Baobei :)

Last week when I passed his passport to him at home, I also passed my passport's cover for him. I said it was too thick for me. And since I gave mine to him, I was left with nothing. So I was surprised that he could buy that for me in return! Thank you dear Baobei!!! And his father received 2 sachets of Malacca white coffee as a gift, that he got from his friends :D

This afternoon I met up with my 2 besties. We had a wonderful brunch at Din Tai Fung, a Taiwan originated restaurant, specialising in Xiao Long Bao or soup dumpling. It wasn't ordinary meeting up session, but also to celebrate Aileen's belated Birthday!!! ^^

Thank you Shelly for treating us delicious Birthday's brunch :)

We ate and chit chatted. After that we headed to another place to have our long waited Bing Soo or Korean dessert - red bean with ice and milk :)

The initial place that we wanted to go was closed. Luckily there was another shop not so far from there, which offered a great place to hang out with a great taste and unique presentation of the Bing Soo! ;)

Pot Bing Soo and Som Som Espresso Banana @Banana Tree :)

Yes, the place was called Banana Tree Café!!! It's a chain from South Korea, located at 26 Keong Saik Rd.

Since we were still quite full, three of us shared a pot of Bing Soo decorated with a stalk of -fake- sunflower ($12.50/portion) and a cup of Som Som Latte with Espresso and banana, topped with a candy floss and a tiny bit of marshmallow  ($7/cup).

They also sold pots of pudding topped with assorted flowers at $6.50 each (see the photo above - 3 flower pots in the middle). It's really great especially when the weather outside was really hot!!!

In the evening my son and I joined the San Bu Yi Bai 三步一拜 (three steps one bow), this year at Fo Guang Shan temple or 佛光山侍 at Punggol, together with PY and PW. We changed the venue this year since we couldn't get the ticket at Kong Meng San monastery at Bishan last week.

We were lucky we managed to do it here though as this was the first time they held it in relation to celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the temple.

Vesak Day at Fo Guang Shan - San Bu Yi Bai

Before started we gathered at the main hall and recited few Buddhist chanting. Once done we slowly walked out to the opposite ground and then to the roadside. It took us almost two hours and we ended it with another chanting. I was very grateful for the chance given to us. My son has done it much better this time. I'm very proud of him! :)

We had vegetarian food after that and finally headed home. It was such a long day full of activities. Although tired and pain, it was all worth it! :)

Vesak day is coming in two days time. Here, I wish everyone Happy Vesak Day! Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta. May all sentient beings be happy! :) Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu Wish everyone enjoy your long holiday! :)

Ema Datshi Recipe

This afternoon I received and collected gifts from Luzee which was brought by Sonam, her colleague in Bhutan, who came here for the official visit.

Happiness is when I received red rice, chili, and cheese from Bhutan :)

She gifted me 2 kg of red rice, one pack of Datshi (Bhutan handmade cheese), and one box of Ema (giant green chilies).

I was very exciting receiving all these items. I called my hubby immediately and told him that I would cook Ema Datshi (Bhutan most famous - national - dish) to be eaten together with the red rice this evening.

At the same time I asked my Bhutanese Charo (friend) for the recipe. Hehe... Thank you Flora for your recipe. I followed it accordingly :)

Ema Datshi with Red Rice :)

Ingredients:
- 10 pcs of Ema (chilli), cut half or in quarter. Remove seed is optional (to be less spicy)
- 1 pc of small size white onion (chop thinly)
- 1-2 cloves of garlic (chop small)
- 1 pc of tomato (chop thinly) - optional
- 1 pc of Datshi or 2 pcs of cheese slices
- 3 Tbs of vegetable oil
- Salt
- 1 cup of water

Ema Datshi ingredients :)

Preparations:
1. Boil water, sliced onions, tomato and oil for 10 minutes
2. Add chilli
3. Add cheese (mash it and spread on top of the chilli)
4. Add salt
5. Cover the lid and boil 2-3 minutes
6. Stir the chilli and cheese well, cook for a little while more with small heat
7. Turn off the fire, remove the lid, taste if you need additional salt, and leave it for a while before serving

Tarrraaaa......

Ema Datshi - Before and After ^_^

It's shared among the three of us. I think my hubby and son can become Bhutanese too. They enjoyed it very much! And when I asked my son to rate, he gave me 9 out of 10. Wow! Haha... ;)

Thank you Luzee, Sonam, and Flora! Without all of you, we wouldn't be able to enjoy this delicious food, food that comes from your warm heart :) Name same kadinche la! ^^

Chilli Chop and Dhall

Yesterday evening it was just like another night. We had potluck gathering at my place. It had become more often for me to organise such event as I felt that this way it would be much more convenient for the host to organise, as every guest who came would bring their own food or beverage (either they cooked it themselves or purchased it outside), and enjoyed sharing it over a dinner.

Our potluck menu - Bhutanese food and Gulai Ayam

This time, there were Jambay and Uden, who brought the Bhutanese pork curry or phaksa pha, a bottle of white wine, and chips for my dear son; Mendy, my Myanmar friend, who was also my colleague, bringing another bottle of white wine; and my Indonesian friend, an ex-schoolmate and travel khaki, Margaret, with her Gulai Ayam, a traditional Indonesian dish - chicken cooked in yellow curry-like spices.

I prepared Kewa Datshi (Bhutanese dish of potato cooked with chilli and cheese), ingredients for Dhall (Indian lentil soup) and Chilli Chop (Bhutanese deep fried chilli coated with Besan or Gram flour).

Chilli Chop and Dhall

I loved Chilli Chop. It's delicious snack that you could eat it as Chang Pa (accompany for the beer), or have it with rice. After my post about Bhutanese food recipes, I obtained the recipe of Chilli Chop from Amrith Subba, a Bhutanese blogger who loves writing  (you can still find the recipe there on the comment part). From him, I found out that I had to use not the normal flour, but Besan or Gram flour, a flour that wasn't commonly used or sold here in Singapore. I tried searching it in many local
supermarket but couldn't find until one day Uden and I visited Mustafa and found it there :) That was why I thought of organising the potluck with her (so she could enjoy her home food here in Singapore).

I ate Dhall almost in every meal during my stay in Bhutan. I missed and loved the taste. That's why I would love to learn on how to cook it so I could enjoy it anytime when I felt eating it. But at that time, I wasn't aware on how to cook it. First, I wasn't familiar with Indian spice. And second, I didn't know how to use the pressure cooker. So, ever since I got my pressure cooker from Luzee, read here, I then started gathering some info from friends and Internet about how to make both dishes :)

I called it Sonam Lhamo's Eating House based on my Bhutanese name :)

So, although I had the information on hand, I thought it's still better to watch the local Bhutanese mixed and cooked the dishes. Therefore, Uden was showing me on how to cook it yesterday. Hmmm.... both dishes turned out well. All of us enjoyed the food, the wines, and the chit chatting. We talked and stayed until quite late then they went home.

Today, I tried cooking Dhall myself using the pressure cooker. Hmmm.... I think it's quite successful! ;) I'm very happy la! Now I can enjoy it anytime I want. But I need to learn more on the Chilli Chop as I think it can still have some improvement on the way how to do it. Well, just like any other things in life, practice makes perfect. I need to learn and practice more :D Hope I can do better very soon!!! :)