The Dongzhi (冬至) festival, or Winter Solstice festival, is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese. It falls on or around 22nd December, when the sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest.

Traditionally, it is a time for a family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers is the making and eating of tangyuan (湯圓), or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolizes reunion.
(Source: Wikipedia)



Have you eaten your tangyuan yet??? :)



Every year, an hour before Winter Solstice festival approaches, me, mum & sis will be sitting together making tangyuan. It has been like this EVERY YEAR for as far back as I can remember. This is because I love eating tangyuan as a child, & couldn't wait to eat them at the strike of midnight :) So yesterday, this is what we did:



1. Prepare the ingredients






Of course a much more plausible reason would be that we need to offer it to our ancestors. After that I'll scoop myself a LARGE bowl & savour it.

Glutinous rice balls comes different kinds of fillings- Sesame & peanut are the 2 most common ones. But strangely, I love the plain ones best. Which is why we always make our own glutinous rice balls, instead of buying ready-made ones.




In this post, you'll see my naked face. This is then called zero make-up! And I never bluff by putting powder ah! So you all can see me as oily as an oil tree (okay exaggerating :p), spots, dark eye circles & all. Of cos lah I'm at home & it is 11pm leh! Why the hell would I put makeup.



I pouted because the glutinous rice flour is too "wet", so it doesn't stick together!




2. Wash your hands, pick up the dough, & roll them into balls. Remember! You have to roll them as round as possible, cos it symbolises reunion & unity as a family.





Me & Sis rolled a few flat ones they got "disqualified" & "modified" by mum. She took them into her magical hands & mould them into perfect round balls.




That's daddy taking a picture of us girls. He only sits in front of the tv every year waiting to be served! These are girly chores, I suppose. (WHAT'S WITH THAT SMUG FACE, MUM?!)




3. Arrange them in alternate colours, put them on top of each other (like snowmen :D i used to do that!), or however you want.









Bingo waiting while we cook. He just had his grooming session, neat??





4. Boil 2 pots of water. One clear & one filled with red (orange) sugar.





5. Drop the glutinous rice balls one by one into clear water, then wait for it to float.





6. When it floats, it means that it is ready to be transferred to the pot filled with translucent orange liquid.






7. After you transferred all of them to the bigger pot, you can see the colour of the rice balls slowly changing. This is because of the orange sugar (Duh! Like all of you doesn't know)




8. Serve them to the ancestors and deities first.




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9. And then, you can enjoy your own bowl!





Whoa! Had a hard time resizing & renaming the photos. Sorry for not being an efficient blogger, but at least I posted this entry on the dot! By that I mean not a month later or something... Because I wanted to write this entry, I have to rename all the photos that came before this, which is a whole hell lot!



Last week was a busy week for me. With exams papers, post-exam dinner/shopping/celebration, & the start of the filming of Alpha Male Blueprint. I promise more entries in the next few days.









p.s: Those who have me on Facebook, would know that I'm trying to change my lifestyle into a healthier one. I'm determined, to try to get fatter, gain more weight, sleep/wakeup early, & include exercising & healthy food into my diet. Went gyming & swimming on Monday, & I'm gonna do it again tml!

And if someone knows how to gain more flesh on arms, please tell me so! What should I eat? (Actually doesn't matter cos I eat alot of almost everything) Special milk powder from health stores? Supplements? Anything! Just tell me what will make me gain flesh. Keep the comments coming!

I'm sure all of you would have noticed my new blog layout by now. Doesn't it look much more interesting?? :) In tune with the Christmas season, I'd created a playlist (red & green!) like I did every year. For those who paid attention, the main song is changed every 3-5 days. Now its playing "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer", one of my fav xmas songs. I'd also added the 'comments' feature.
Remember to leave me comments! :)


Well, but I don't really fancy a black background for my blog. Might change it after a month or so. I'm sorry I have not written anything for the profile page... attributed to my lazyness. And I'm busy! Didn't even realised I took 170++ photos for the past few days. Now, I'm going back to sorting out the pictures..



Meanwhile... here's something cute to share!




I have far more cute emoticons than these. Which is why ppl always like to chat with me cos I'll make their day! :D

I'm sorry. Because I'm not sorry at all.













I started acting differently during September, because I was indeed feeling differently. Despite having just experienced a very sweet change from my then bf. This is the reason for our eventual breakup. Because if not for this person, I would not be unhappy in my rs at all. And I wouldn't have felt compelled, dissatisfied, irritated at everything. If not for the sulky face I had on 24-hr, he wouldn't have felt stress in this rs. But its not something I can change. I can't help thinking of him 1st in everything. I held myself back, I controlled myself, but I can't. It makes my heart drop to my stomach whenever I see his pictures. Even until now, he's still constantly on my mind, & frequently in my dreams.







No doubt, I'd changed. A lot in fact. Which is why I'm sure my next relationship will be a perfect one.
Please forgive me. I want gifts & candies in my Christmas socks just like everyone else. I don't want coal :(

I just completed a book, and being the emotional me like always, it touched me to tears. I weeped through the whole of the last chapter. The book is titled Unforgettable, by Julie Ortolon. It is very very good, even better than the Nora Roberts one I'm reading now... & even as I read, I keep thinking about Julie's book.





(Skip this part if you're not interested)


The story is about Jackson's grandfather (Preston), who was a respectable politician. He couldn't believe that his grandpa had his mistress & illegitimate son living in the same town as his wife & family. But its true. Preston loved Dolly so deeply, but he couldn't marry her. Because of his wealthy/influential background, & a dominating father, he sure wouldn't let him marry a lounge singer. So he marry a women of respectable background, became successful in his political career, created a family, inherit his father's riches (including the whole town, finance, constuction, manufacturing, alot of sectors). But.... the only time when he's TRULY happy is when he's over at Dolly's humble place.


Now, Jackson, faced with the same situation, does not want to repeat Preston's footstep. With a failed marriage, he is not prepared to be hurt again. But when he meets Riley again after 10 years, he tried his best to keep his erupting emotions under control. However as circumstances would have it, he still fell in love with her. Its the same over there with Riley, who'd been attracted to Jackson since schooldays. Riley is a lounge singer & threatened to exposed Preston's affair when Jackson's father wanted to tear down the old dance hall in town. Facing the run for an election, this certainly isn't going too well for Jackson's polictical career.



Will he choose to face up to his feelings and hold her back even though she want to leave him for his own good? Certainly. Thankfully love stories always have a happy ending.





❤❤❤❤❤❤



How many times have we all said this? That "this is the Love of my life", and then split up after some time. Although I have to add that, yes, splitting up and being away from one another doesn't mean you've stopped loving that person.





Someone told me once... that I'm the Love of his life. Just 4 months into the relationship. Because the love he felt for me had already transcend those that he felt for his 4-yr ex gf. But I took everything for granted. Everything.



I wasn't the Alicia I am now. To be honest, I'm shocked at how I've changed this few months. Recently, I felt like I've not had a quarrel for SO long... so long that I felt like having a shouting war with someone immediately. (Reason why I picked on Cheryl out of a sudden & quarrelled with her last week)



I miss giving attitudes. I miss glaring at him with that fierce look. I miss throwing things in a fit of anger. I miss screaming until I'm dead sure the neighbours could hear us in their rooms. I miss stomping hard out of the room threathening to pack my bags. I miss him standing up almost immediately grabbing my arm. I miss him pushing the door shut when I open, although it made me feel captived and afraid. I miss us shouting at each other in tears over who loved who more, who gave more to this rs. I miss the sitting down & pouring of feelings.
And lastly.... .... I miss the hug... the kiss... the stroking of my head, the way we always ended the argument.




If only I hadn't broken the trust, right from the very start. If only I wasn't young & playful. If only I could be more considerate. If only I can see how much he love me. If only I could be what I am now.



Only in life, there aren't any "If onlys".



Thank you Staciy, I sincerely thank you from the bottom from my heart. Because if not for you, I wouldn't have met him. Although its been a heck of a rs, been many ups & downs, been a whirlwind of a mess, of giving up finally... but still, its one I will never forget.




Yesterday, I went out with Gillian and we caught Couples Retreat. It was so-so, but at the last part of the show, when the fat black guy said to his ex-wife, "I've never stopped loving you.", tears just streamed down my cheeks. May not mean anything to others, but that sentence touched me deeply. Because it hits right to the center of my heart. Seems just like ytd when he said this with an agonizing expression, like hidden reasons. He can't be honest with you, because of hidden reasons too.
Actually no matter you like it or not, he'll never stop loving me... No matter you like it, or not.



❤❤❤❤❤❤


True love is rare. Not everyone gets the chance to have that. Preston had it with Dolly, but he didn't figure that out until it was too late. Because of mistakes they made early on, they never got to share that love as openly as they could have. Spending your life hiding something that special has to be hard. He thought he could move forward, decide who he could love and who would make him happy based on who his family found acceptable. It wasn't that easy though. He didn't get over Molly- because he couldn't.


- Julie Ortolon, Unforgettable




The Love of my life... would definitely be the one I'll be married to in the future.

Was taken to a nice dinner a few weeks ago... and the best thing is I get to choose what kind of cuisine to eat! Decided on french cuisine so I called & made a reservation at Au Petit Salut.

Before that, we caught the preview of Twilight: New Moon. Caught it immediately when it just came out, so excited! Our movie was at 6pm & reservation at 8pm, cos I didn't expect the movie to run so long. Ended up late for dinner as we drove in circles.



Up and deep in Dempsey hill, just opposite the White Rabbit



The back (carpark) looks like this in daytime



Front. I love the distinctive style of the building, gives me a very soothing feeling.



There's an indoor dining area & alfresco dining area, I chose the latter



The indoor dining area looks like this:



(the above 4 pictures are taken from the net, sorry but I forgot to note down the original author, so dunno who to credit to)



If its in the day, you can hear water trickling down the rocky slopes with the wind breezing in your hair while enjoying your lunch. Lean on your back and relax, while enjoying the vibrant of the lush greenery around you. The environment creates a calming mood. And the desolate building seem like a fortress of solitude.


For some reason, I like to see myself dining alone on a fab day like this.


We're lucky to manage to get a reservation on that day, normally people book a week in advance from what I heard.






I don't wanna order the set dinner, because there're things I'd like to have which are not included in the set dinner (becos of fussy me the total price hiked up by quite a significant bit ). So we ordered a la carte instead.


Because we didn't order any appetiser, they gave us 2 servings of some codfish thingy. Apparently they did not charge us for it. For soup, I had Lobster bisque & Mark had French onion soup. I don't like the soup at all, its too creamy for my liking.


No pictures becos at first I really just want to enjoy my meal & not take any pictures. Honestly, I don't quite like to take pictures of food, esp in places like this where the only sensible thing is to enjoy your meal. If you'd noticed, I don't even take pictures of my food in the past. But now I feel obligated to do so sometimes.



Foie gras- the epitome of sin in food. Mine is pan-seared, with baby spinach, red onions and Xeres vinegar. Very yummy!



My pan roasted beef tenderloin served with sautéed wild mushrooms,
mashed potato and red wine sauce. My god, this is delicious! Really feels like heaven.



His braised Kurobuta pork cheeks stuffed with smoked bacon.



Lastly, the dessert- Crème brulée infused with fresh Madagascar vanilla beans. Part of reason I don't want a set dinner. C'est parfait! Underneath the hard layer of caramelized sugar is creamy, rich custard. The cracking of the hard layer is very fun Very sweet it'll make you happy.





Sorry for the lack of quality in pictures above. As seen, I just want to snap a quick picture so I can resume my meal. As a responsible blogger (and the Google pro), I present to you tasty-looking Crème brulée:




Are you salivating by now??







Overall the food was great, except for the soup which I personally don't enjoy. The service was even better, with the waitress asking if we enjoyed our food. And she apologised for the soup was not to my liking, which wasn't even her fault! Its my fussy tastebuds...


Didn't get to try the Escargots with garlic butter (reason being I don't dare to), and the beef cheeks which were highly raved about. Shall try it the next time round.







Price wise is okay in my opinion (hahaha, i say that because i'm not the one paying). But set lunch is very very very affordable, price is much lesser than what our meal costs, although the entrees are more or less the same.


There's a bistro at Holland V too, you can go to their website to have a look.




Au Petit Salut
40c Harding road
(Dempsey)
Tel: 6475 1976
http://www.aupetitsalut.com

My common tests are approaching... in fact its less than a week away.
This time I've been a really good girl to start studying a week in advance, instead of waiting till the day before exam :)

You know, I used to be unbelievable. By 1am, I can even not know what paper I'm sitting for the next day, what time & which location. And get flustered afterwards cos there's less than 7hr to study when I realised its a morning paper.




So... there's quite alot of things I'm looking forward after exams:


1. Read more books

More, more! I want more time with myself so that I can spend my whole day turning page after page.


2. Hit the gym (!!!)


Yeah... even I shock myself sometimes. I can't imagine myself wanting to do any sort of exercise, much less hit the gym eh? To remind you guys again, I used to be from Track & Field okay! I know I totally don't look like it, nobody believes me whenever I say this


Believe it or not, I once bought the 1-mth membership for California Fitness. Because of the benefits illustrated by the person promoting, & the 1-for-1. So I figured mum & I can go together. I was so hyped up after the tour around the Orchard branch, determined to get a trainer and tone myself up. But.... *blush*.... I'm too lazy to get around to it. So after a month, the membership period's over. I'm even lazy to go collect the free gift that comes with the membership.


Tentatively, planned to go with Kexin. But seriously, it'll be embarrassing if 2 "noobs" go to the gym and not know how to operate the machine. Gonna ask someone who frequent gyms, maybe Paedric cos he's a gyming fanatic. Yiqian or Lim would be good companion too.



3. Start swimming

Same reason as I wanted to start gyming- to build up my frame. Seriously I don't care a hoot about working off the fats/cholesterol/carbohydrates or whatever. I just want my broaden my shoulders, cos I feel it doesn't match with my body.

Kaiting said I look perfectly fine below, its my upper body that makes me look thin- too boney. Which I can't help either How do I put meat on my arms? Anybody who knows teach me please.. (email or leave me a comment!)



4. Christmas

To be honest... I'm not really looking forward. There's 2 parties lined up, but not very looking forward. All because someone's keeping me in suspense, no mood lah... blah blah blah. Right?! I wanna help in organising! Let me choose Christmas songs please! Then that day play in your house. Ok ok ok???



5. Short getaways

Or longer ones, if possible. I wanna go to France! So badly! But anywhere is fine, just let me relax for awhile. But its kinda headache too, dunno choose who to go with. Must think of location, activities, and most importantly.... if I'll enjoy his/her company.

But trip'll of course be sponsored so I have no worries!










And lastly...


























Shopping!!!


Sorry, but not shopping for Christmas gifts. What I'm looking forward to, is shopping for new year clothes. New year is approaching too! I had a hard time sleeping last night cos I tossed & turned in bed thinking about the future.


Back to shopping... I don't have alot of things I want to buy at this moment. I don't really want designer bags anymore, nor expensive shoes... Maybe just a few more pretty dresses. But mainly, I just want to save. How weird???







❤❤❤





I've been following Holly Jean's blog for quite sometime (I remembered its through Xingyi), even before s-factor. Strangely, I used to not find her particularly attractive... but recently, I think she's really beautiful- both physical & inner beauty.


It comes from the inside. Her kind & unscheming personality can be seen from S-factor, which sets her apart from the other girls. She writes really well too. Which made me admire her more. I even read through all her archives, every single past entries. How strong she is, even after going through so many ups & downs in her life. And I cried for her today, after reading her September archives- the breakup episode. Just naturally stood in her shoes and feel for her, really feel for her at this stage of her life.


I really like her sense of humour, honesty, and the way she write is so genuine. Not like some bloggers with awful online personality. After reading her entries, somehow as a reader I feel like I know her more than just the surface. Yes, I really think she's an admirable lady. Kudos for Holly Jean!

I've always loved the library... I love the solitude, the quietness, the amazing feeling you get just stepping into the library. I can't explain, but I guess it has a lot to do with my growing up.


My aunt (father's side) first brought me there when I was little. Then when I was 12, I started going very frequently with this good friend of mine. We would even be on the phone without talking, while reading the books we just borrowed. Its part of my growing up, going from the "Kids" section, to the "Young people" section, and now the "Adult" section.





I remember at 12, I hung out with Amelia & Joanna quite frequently. And when we were visiting the malls, I suggested let's go to the library. But they gave me an expression that said, "You can't be real!" I think they replied they'd rather die than to go, or something along that lines. Hahaha, I've got really really good memory, I can even remember things that go a long way back. I remember we were at Westmall then, on an escalator.


Reading is one of my favourite hobbies. Fortunately I have perfect eyesight, despite defying my mum and read while walking/lying down (in this case includes watching tv). Whew!


Now I make use of the time to read whenever I can- on the bus, waiting for trains, in between lessons, any free time I get on my hands. But now that I've grown up, I can't read while walking cos ppl will cast strange glances at me. I still can't finish a book as fast as Jerlyn, she's a speed reader!!!



One day when our lessons end early, I manage to convince Cheryl to go to the school library with me. Here, for one, is someone who hates reading and would never be found in a library. She's so reluctant, and when I'm happily choosing my books, I turned and saw her looking like this:




That moment was so hilarious! Her expression and body language depicts "Boredom" and "Emo". I really can't stop laughing then. After awhile, she tells me she's going to browse for finance/investment books.
























But end up coming back with books titled, "How to make your body look great", "Tips on makeup and haircare".... etc etc



How nice would it be if I me & Jerlyn can convert her, to convince her the greatness and satisfaction of flipping the pages of a good novel.



My exbfs used to roll their eyes whenever they go to the library with me. Cos I'd be like a mindless kid pulling her mum to fasten their pace. My eyes would twinkle and smile broadly while piling book after book of my favourite author on my arms. Like one of them said, "You know... your expression looks like you found gold"


I know I may seem like I have split characters, reading and knitting definitely does not go with clubbing. But I like all of those. There was once I was knitting on the way to St James. Imagine me in my party clothes doing these stuffs... hilarious.


Reading is something enjoyable, at the same time will open you to another world, gain more knowledge, and build your character. Not that not reading means you're less worthy as a person, but it definitely makes you somehow more sensible. Its something I'd encourage, and would definitely introduce to my kids in the future while they're young.














On a sidenote, my 3rd uncle just came back from Tokyo, and brought this back. Aunt checked out the website before he went, and ask him to buy it back cos its much cheaper over there.



I don't normally like Burberry stuffs, but I like this cos its cloth & more suitable for school





By the way, I just finished a book, will share with you guys my thoughts after reading.


And I'm glad I've started on revising for exams, which is just 6 more days away. Even though its only for a mere 2hr, but at least I have the discipline to start, and not wait till the last minute like always.