I guess I finally realise the importance of family bonding.
I've been spending so much time w/ my relatives that I find myself actually starting to like it.
Michelle is turning into a family person! :D

3 consecutive days w/ my relatives.

1st day, Friday, 26th Dec

It's shabu shabu time! (@ Shabuya, Vivo City)

my cousin & my brothers (yes, we don't look alike)

the 2 sauces. left: soy sauce, right: peanut sauce (it has a really distinctive peanut smell, so you'll either love it or hate it)

soft shell crab. yummy!

ebi tempura
very very nice.

the famous wagyu beef

it literally melts in your mouth!

the veg pot. radish, leek, shitake, jap fishcakes, jap fish paste and some other ones that i don't recognise.

pork

2 soup bases, the clear one & the sweet one.

i personally like the sweet broth, it tastes a bit like watercress soup.

this cute lil thing is actually raw beef.

after you mix it with the egg yolk on top, it tastes really nice.

something new ^^

And there were complimentary desserts served too.

2 bowls of 3 scoop ice creams, Macha, Chocolate & Vanilla.

So basically, I only have good comments about this place.

It isn't cheap, but you're paying for the quality.

My uncle treated us anyway.

After the meal, we went to look for sandals for my 2 brothers as theirs was torn. So rough!

We went to several shops before finally stumbling upon the right sandal

My brother's very picky, he only wears those strappy ones.

And it's not worth it, $69 for an ugly sandal for my first brother (at least I think so)

My 2nd brother's one only costed $20, though.

Bought snacks @ Shih-lin before cabbing to my aunt's hse @ Jurong west

Egg crepes w/ pork floss. One w/ sweet sauce and one w/o.

By the time we reached my aunt's hse, it had already turned hard and dry, but still very oily!

Really inedible, but I still forced myself to finish it all

Cannot waste food right.

Crispy Chicken~

thankfully this was still edible, albeit not that crispy anymore.

Seafood tempura.

What the heck is this?!?!

It was my virgin attempt to try this, and it tasted like oily rubber to me.

Hard and tasteless, eww.

I guess fried food has to consumed immediately.

Lesson learnt.

My aunt's husband, which is my uncle, bought back more fried stuff. Great.
Big eater me couldn't resist.

Old chang kee.
I immediately regretted it after eating them.

I DREAD pimple breakouts more than anything else.

Chatted with my 2 aunts and her husband all the way until night.

Made plans for tomorrow's outing then we went home @ around 10+

2nd day, Saturday, 27th Dec

11am shopping @ Tangs.

Nothing caught my eye, the only purchase was an Estee Lauder Powder compact.

My aunt got it for me :)

Headed to Wisma next, Aunt got me 3 outfits @ Hypnosis

& also a necklace, which is like $28.

I think it's not worth its price, as it looks pretty ordinary.

But well, Aunt says it goes well with the jumper.

Last stop was at Taka.

Aunt wanted to get a bag for me, but after walking the whole department, nothing caught our eyes.

Even Guess was disappointing :(

However, she got a pair of wedges for herself and bought one for me too.

U.P. was $70, but after a 20% discount it was only $56 each.

It's really great, sales are everywhere! :D

All that shopping made us famished.

High tea @ Crystal Jade Palace

pan-fried carrot cake

best one i've eaten so far.

it's very soft, and not so oily.

chicken feet

i don't know what's its name, but it's basically fried har gao.

soft & fluffy char siew bao!

this is good. the char siew filling is very sweet and fragrant.

siew mai.

very, very ordinary.

XLB

average. skin was thin, soup was a little too salty.

fried bean curd roll w/ prawn

crispy & delicious. but still, oily.

egg tarts & my favourite water chestnut cake!

love the sticky texture with the chunky WC bits inside.

har gao, another fav.

skin too thin, prawns not fragrant enough.

normal.

claypot stewed beef w/ winter melon

soft meat stewed in rich gravy, what more can you possibly wish for?

Followed my aunt back to her house as she has stuff to give me.

My other aunt said it's my '2nd shopping trip',

and true enough, I went home with many big bags of free stuff. Tee hee.

She has boxes and boxes and boxes of makeup, and they're all branded.

Some are not even used yet.

I was flabberghasted when I saw the amount of cosmetics she had.

The ones she gave me weren't even 1/4 of her total collection.

She gave me so much makeup that I doubt I would ever use every one of them.

Eyeshadow palettes, lip liners, eye liners, eye brow pencils, eye lash curlers, sharpeners, mascaras, loose powders, lip glosses, lip sticks and brushes.

Note that all are in plural, and are all branded.

Dior, Chanel, Shu Uemura, Prescriptives, MAC, YSL, and more.

I felt so giddy after seeing so much branded stuff, I'm not kidding.

Sorry, it's just too overwhelming.

That's not all, she gave me 7 boxes of masks, a body scrub, makeup remover, peeling gel and a purifying mask from the Face shop.

That's still not all yet, there were bags and some caps.

All from the past seasons' collections.

A big thank you to my aunt! :D

Cabbed home after that.

I was so tired, and i looked like a wreck.

3rd day, Sunday, 28th Dec

Steamboat dinner @ my grandma's hse.

I love goin to her house, as it's like going to a buffet, only free.

After eating to my stomach's content for the steamboat, we all sat down and chatted, munching on fruits.

Apples, oranges, guavas, persimmons, pears, her house is like a fruit palace!

Next, my grandmother brought out more snacks that she bought from Taiwan for us.

Nougats, pineapple biscuits, taro biscuits, wife biscuits, and some I can't remember.

My stomach was alr on the verge of bursting after eating all that,

and she even wanted us to eat ice cream!

OMG. I refused of course, overeating makes my stomach uncomfortable.

But I takeaway-ed the snacks, though! Muahaha.

9 hours more to school reopening,

and I'm looking forward to it! :D

Tuesday, 23rd Dec

Buffet @ Penang Place

At International business park (Jurong)

some christmas stuffings & turkey.

the super big spring rolls were delicious, i just couldn't stop at one.

and there were these fried stuff that we couldn't make out what they were. Not bad.

their famed CKT, which i find it overrated. it's spicy, so i didn't eat much.

some common finger food. curry chicken, fried chicken, vegetables, sweet & sour fishcake, and beef rendang (very hard & dry).

the show 'little nyonya' had triggered my cravings for kuihs, i find myself buying them every now and then.

esp kuih talam, my favourite :D

the kuih taitai here is nice too.

ice kachang

green bean soup, my favourite dish here.

stopped at the 2nd bowl as my stomach was very full alr.

it's extremely creamy, and it's not too sweet.

definitely better than the substandard ones you get at kopitiams.

Jo & I were displeased with this place.

It's kinda overpriced for the choices of food available.

As you can see, most of it are finger food.

But when you sum it all up, it makes you feel very full.
Not satisfied kind of full, though.

The usual cost is $23, but due to the christmas additions, which only consisted of roast chicken, christmas stuffings, and turkey ham, it was raised to $26+ per person.

Worthwhile

We cabbed to Bugis to alter Jo's pants, then walked to Haji Lane (MDS) to buy our christmas dresses.

Unlucky for us, it was a time where the sun was blazing with all it's might.

Very very hot, very very unhappy.

We headed home to put down our stuff & changed into casual clothes.

XWZ came to pick us up afterward.

Poor thing, he hadn't slept for so many hours.

We headed to Changi Clubhouse for BBQ :D

starting the fire

The fish was huge. 8 fishes, to be exact. But we only BBQ-ed ard 4-5 of it.

It was my first time eating Cow Belly satay, and I'm glad I did.

Initially, I had doubts about it as I was kinda put off by the name of it.

Cow stomach? Ewww...Not.

Was kinda bemused by the amount of franks they bought.

5-6 types altogether.

There were long ones, short ones, garlic-flavoured ones, cheese-filled ones and miniature chinese ones.
So many franks for what???

But I ate em' all anyway. Kinda sick of franks now.

BBQ-ing marshmallows. I luuuurve them. I stopped at around 8 pcs, due to my laziness.

We slacked till around 11pm then XWZ drove us home.

The whole journey we didn't talk much, as we were all bushed.

I notice I get tired real easily..

What's wrong with me nowadays...?

Had been able to satiate my thirst for TVB dramas this holiday.

I'm turning into a couch potato all over again, little wonder that I always feel so lethargic.

The Four 少年四大名捕 (completed)

Average case-solving show, with a sucky ending as all the couples didn't end up tgth.

Last One Standing 与敌同行 (completed)

A drama with a nice plot, perfect.

When Easterly Showers fall on the Sunny West 东山飘雨西关晴

Currently only at ep 10. So far, I find it not bad.

S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G

Friday, 19th Dec

You guessed it.
It's shopping day!

First stop @ FEP:
Accompanied Jo to have her lunch.
Walked around FEP and I only bought a pair of maryjanes.

We walked to Wisma to buy our Kose beauty products.
And it turned out that Wisma Isetan doesn't have Kose!
I cannot believe this.

So we headed to Taka. At last, we found it.
We bought the White mask & an exfoliating mask and got a 100ml Sekkisho lotion for free.
& here's the deal.
The whole package is only 70 bucks!!
It's like, so worth it. I wanna hug myself! :D

just call me the girl with half an eyebrow

I kept complaining that I wanted to eat @ tcc so we headed to Bugis
But in the end, we only ordered drinks.

joanne's. not sure what it's called.

my chocolate affogato, which is really chocolate ice cream in expresso.
not bad, but it doesn't cater to my sweet little tooth.

Before proceeding with the shopping, we bought our favourite Chicken sausage w/ egg & cheese pancake. Yummy ^^
I ended buying more & more stuff, which includes 3 pairs of shorts, a jean, 2 pairs of heels & a dress.
Was kinda disappointed, as we couldn't find the shop that sold the object we wanted.
It's the very reason why we went to Bugis in the 1st place.

We were so hot & tired after much walking. As you know, Bugis St is always so packed.
Left my jeans at the tailor's and then we headed to Parklane to have the fried wanton, another fav of ours.
And we cabbed to Clark quay to find 小王子 at Lily's pub.

We did the usual, sang songs, dice games, and a couple of rounds of pool.
I suck at it, really.
When the pub was about to close, some pub regulars started to challenge 小王子, and he owned them, round after round.
So PRO! *clapclap*

But he lost to the lady boss at the final round, then it's byebye for everyone.
We went to Chinatown for supper, but I didn't eat.
Just didn't feel like eating. Moreover, I don't like watery porridge at all.

小王子 got a shock when he saw this pic on my hp.
Cute ba! Hahahaha

And so he drove us home after supper.
That's how the night ended.
P.S. I'm so looking forward to Christmas!

Today

Dim sum with family @ Ah Yat Seafood 阿一海鲜

The 1st dish: Chives dumpling.

I never liked chives, as I find it has a weird smell.
But not this one at Ah yat, the smell of chives was masked by the soft & succulent meat inside.
As I'm typing this, I'm feeling hungry again.

Har gao.

This dish is rather well done here. No 'hard skin', and you can bite into it easily. The prawn inside, however, is not that chunky.

Steamed dumpling w/ scallop.

Soft scallop with prawns in the dumpling. It's pretty average to me.

Deep-fried beancurd roll with seaweed.

Very crispy, albeit oily. I like the texture and the feeling of chewing on it. Taste-wise, it's so-so.

Steamed pumpkin dumpling w/ custard.

A rather novel creation, huh?
None of my family members ate this, so I ate all 3. Guess they're not much of a pumpkin fan.
K, the skin was chewy and thick, I liked chewing on it but I found it rather bland.
The inside was filled with pumpkin flesh and custard, but the taste of pumpkin is very faint.

Siew mai.

Didn't get to eat this, as it was snatched up by the rest. Not really that into siew mais, so I didn't order another.

Assorted Rice rolls (cheong fun)

There were 3 types of 肠粉, namely the shrimp, char siew, i forgot the last one. I only remembered how nice it tasted, the rice roll was soft and chewy, not that easy to tear it apart but not that hard either. Just nice :D

Peking duck.

My favourite dish of the day. This is so good, you cannot not order it if you go to Ah Yat.
The duck skin is very crispy and tasty.
Upon biting into the skin, you can immediately feel the softness of the layer of fat beneath it, it's sheer bliss, i tell you.
I ate so many of this! Hahahah

Prawn paste chicken. Specially ordered for my brother, he has to have this dish wherever he goes.
Very average, Golden Sands does a much better job.


Ee mian w/ roasted duck

I don't really like this. The noodle was very bland, not enough salt added, i guess? But it was chewy, which is a plus point.

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Deng deng deng deng!

Overall comments about this place:
It's worth the visit, as the dim sum are pretty much up to standard.
The menu however, is quite limited, for me.
It doesn't have the standard water chestnut cake nor deep-fried red bean pancake, which I absolutely love.
But one thing for sure, I'll be back for more.

Random: I'm so happy! My 'delivery' of famous amos cookies by my bro is here! There's a promotion now, buy 250g get 50g free. So altogether there's 300g of cookies. I got them in 6 different flavours, in absolute cloud 9 now. I LOVE FAMOUS AMOS!!!!