so how was the convocation, you asked? all went well. too bad there's not enough fellow graduands to share the joy with. it was so fast, ended 30 mins earlier than schedule. upon completion of academic procession, there's a few minutes of speech, followed by presentation of graduands and another speech by a graduate representative. and that was it. with a blink of an eye, it's all done.

at the end of the ceremony, blue-robbed-graduands threw their mortar board up in the air, accompanied by all kinds of joyful noise. the black-robbed-graduands just stared blankly. been there, done that.. ;)


food-related update:

spent the $40 worth of coupons at church funfair last weekend by buying lunch, dinner and breakfast for the following day, plus snacks.. this is the list: sticks of meatballs, chicken quesadilla, nachos with cheese dips, spaghetti, tahu goreng, ice jelly, lychee drink, ice cream, glutinous rice, raisin bread, chocolate cake, banana cake, raisin cookies, packets of cashew nuts.

had a yummy chocolate fondue feast at haagen dazs.. big bowl of melted chocolate with fruits, assorted cookies plus ice cream!

.. and we did it! :)

kemaren malem, abis balik dari muter-muter di tampines, mampir ke choa chu kang library. nemu buku resep yg masih rapi jali.. hardcover, bersampul plastik dan penuh ilustrasi yg bikin ngeces. ada resep es krim yg ga pake ice cream maker. kelar dinner, dgn niat langsung deh belanja bahan2nya.. susu, telor, gula. mau bikin es krim vanila aja, yg paling basic. kalo emang enak tinggal ditaburin apa kek gitu. trus ngeliat cara bikin caramel sauce yg gampang banget.. tergiur juga buat sekalian nyobain bikin.

ternyata kenyataan tak seindah harapan. caramel sauce gue angus.. hihihi.. warnanya bukan golden brown lagi tapi item kayak soya sauce =) gara2nya lama banget nunggu aernya abis.. gue tinggal ndengerin mp3.. balik balik udah item aja.. hahahah.. padahal bikin vanila es krimnya udah sengaja ga pake gula supaya ga bentrok sama caramelnya. terpaksa pake improvisasi darurat.. bikin sirup kentel trus dicampur ke adonan es krim.. udek, udek, udek.. difreeze deh.

malem ini baru diperiksa hasilnya.. total jadi 3 container, saking container gue ukuran standar dan gue pake 1 liter susu.. (hahahah pede nian).. mau bikin setengah resep susah maro ukuran telornya sih. hasilnya gimana? lebih kayak puding beku.. hihihi.. buat tiap container, cuma 1/4 atasnya yg berbentuk es krim. bagian dasarnya itu kayak es susu balok nan kerasss.. ermm.. dimana salahnya ya?

btw.. interesting facts from the book (soda fountain classics by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern):
amazing as it may seem, late last century, sodas were seen as too exciting to be served on a Sunday, the Lord's day - it was feared by community busybodies that the fizz would whip the female population into a frenzy of desire. But an enterprising entrepreneur saved the day - he served ice cream instead and the "sundae" was born..

stuck at home today. need to stop and restart app services for server upgrade purpose. it should be better than going to office physically, but, still, I need to go out..

went for farewell lunch this afternoon. at first I assumed it'd be a treat since there're so many managers attending but I was mistaken. and it costed a bomb! after 25% discount, each of us still need to fork out $34.. grmbll.. there goes my weekend budget..

to a dear friend, get well soon! :)

had dinner at miss clarity cafe. read the review about this place sometime back while blogwalking, and decided to check it out. nice place to hang out for decent food with affordable price tag. best of all, no GST and service charge. and the service deserved a smile =)

the four of us had tuna salad, chef salad, soup of the day and fish cordon bleu..








































miss clarity cafe - 5 purvis street, opp. LKC reference library

today's activities: afternoon screening of pirates of the caribbean, sunset mass at OLPS, and dinner at famous yong tau foo stall at siglap.

the yong tau foo was served in ampang style, accompanied by a bowl of thick bee hoon garnished with minced meat. yummy!

yea.. finally yahoo! messenger can talk to msn messenger.. go and install the latest version, ppl! :)

took half day leave today, ended up leaving office on 3pm due to some issues. can't believe it took me almost 2 hours from office to NTU. the waiting time was incredibly long, and the heavy downpour plus strong wind didn't help at all. they just relocated the boonlay bus interchange, and stupidly I took the wrong turn, well, old habits die hard. braced myself into the rain, then I realized that the interchange is just next to the mrt station.. grrmbll..

the time slot for collection of degree cert + transcript + invite cards + academic dress + convo gift was from 3pm to 5pm, and I reached the place at 10 mins before 5pm. rushed to the collection point, but not before I was stopped few times to make a class gift and to update my particulars. by the time I finished updating mine (I've done it already via online, btw, but the person insisted that this one was different and had to be completed), the entrance was already closed. so I entered through the exit door and made my way backwards.

but overall the service quality is good. there're some 'shop attendants' assisting us to try on the gown, hood and mortarboard to get the correct size. plus explaining the proper way to wear them.. unlike my previous convo where we struggled to figure out how to wear the academic dress properly.. :) oh.. the good old days.

had a nice and satisfying dinner at madam saigon, liang seah street. for starters we had mango salad and spring roll..





















main course: beefball vermicelli and grilled chicken vermicelli



















and a cup of warm vietnamese tea..

feel like writing some random thoughts.

Heard of yet another colleague's resignation news today. Two days in a row. Wondering who will resign tomorrow? :S

I just realized that last sunday was the 5th anniversary of my being in the current company. meaning that now I'm on my 6th year already. old, eh? (haree geneee gitu lohh..) I met a senior user today and she congratulated me for still being there after 5 years, haha.

I'm on a "chocolate diet" nowadays. meaning that I'm currently on chocolate-y stuff.. like hot chocolate drink (swissmiss and cadbury, with marshmallow, and preferably whipped cream as well), triple chocolate crunch cereal, chocolate hazelnut spread, timtam chocolate biscuits, hello panda chocolate biscuits..

anyway.. crazy as it might sound, I think I miss school. not that excited for the upcoming convo, though..

"How simple life is. It's as simple as this: you're hungry and you eat, you're full, and you shit. Between eating and shitting, that's where human life is found." (Tales from Djakarta, Pramoedya Ananta Toer)

went to geylang serai market for nasi padang dinner. it's not bad, but not that impressive either. next visit was to goodluck supermarket. bought indomie mi goreng (the authentic one) and crumpy chocolate hazelnut spread. yum!

the ultimate choco drink: godiva chocolixir dark chocolate decadence