new year goodies

what's your favourite and must-eat chinese new year goodie?

mine's the most fattening pineapple tart and bak kwa. not to mention the accompanying sore throat that comes with over indulgence during this festive period.

argh...

rats

it's the year of the rat heralding a brand new cycle in the chinese zodiac.

may the new year brings great fortune and wonderful health to one and all. and it's supposedly a good year for those born in the year of the rat too. yeah!

happy chinese new year!

ramen santouka

tucked into a little corner of the mall, ts decided that this ramen shop needed some business from us. although we were apprehensive about the food before we stepped into the restaurant, reassurances were quick as we noticed tables of japanese enjoying their ramen.

it was a nice ramen dinner although the soup base was on the salty side. ramen-wise, we all felt it is way better than bishamon at the basement of raffles city. perhaps the more chewy bishamon ramen is an acquired taste.

the interesting thing about the santouka menu is that the ramen also comes in set meals with a choice of rice or don. unlike other ramen shops, you can also up or down-size your ramen depending on your appetite.

i couldn't resist not ordering the tokusen toroniku [limited to only 60 servings daily]. those conversant in japanese must be intrigued by the word toroniku since toro is tuna belly and niku is meat.

but it's not melt-in-your-mouth tuna belly sashimi, it's the pork equivalent since the meat is taken from the cheek and slow-cooked to a level of tenderness that i feel can only be achieved with fat, streaky pork belly.

it's yummy without the cholesterol overload. hopefully, they can tone down the salt and that will be bliss.

wedding dinner

left for the hotel at about 3:30pm. kind of tired since i didn't get to catch a nap. hoping to catch one later in the hotel room. :)

by the time wilson brought us to room 4160, it was already past 4:00pm. after we were settled in the room, wilson brought mum up to his bridal suite for her make-up to be done while dad stole some shut-eye in the room.

the tape that i brought from home wasn't sticky enough to secure the safety pins onto the corsages. had to go downstairs to buy another. estee came along because she needed to look for a salon to style her hair.

the one at the hotel wasn't available till 5:30pm which will be too late since the solemnisation was scheduled at 6:30pm. after finding the tape at mph at the basement, i accompanied estee to look for another salon.

there are no other salons in raffles city. the next nearest, hairworks is at citylink. thankfully, she didn't have to wait to have her hair done.

i left for the hotel to get a shower and steal a much needed 40 winks. bought some buns at the new bakery at the basement extension to last me till dinner.

once estee was back in the hotel room, there was a flurry of activities as all of us got ready for the night. when estee and i arrived at the function room, we realised that there was a confusion with the corsages. duh!

and wilson's corsage came loose! arghh... but the banquet staff managed to pin it back on for him.

the solemnisation ceremony at clarke room was a short and simple one. both fathers witnessed the ceremony. many of jan's relatives attended the ceremony while we didn't informed ours since it was rather early.

after some photo-taking, all of us proceeded to canning ballroom to prepare to receive the guests. estee, qijin, sharon and i helped out at the reception. that meant i didn't have any opportunities to mingle nor take pictures with the guests. sigh... :(

the rest of the evening went on like clockwork. the 1st entrance, cake-cutting. 2nd entrance, champagne-pouring followed by toasting onstage with noisy "yam sengs". and finally the photo-taking table by table.

the general feedback for the banquet was good. i enjoyed the dinner too. managed to go around to take some pictures for my parents as well as play with the little ones.

wilson & jan

the much-awaited day for my family [especially my parents] had finally arrived.

i was woken up by my mum at around 9:00am. told her it's still early since the first guests were only expected at 10:30am. trust her to be so "kan cheong".

furthermore, my brother has yet to leave with his entourage of "brothers". apparently, the make-up artist for the bride was late.

when it was time to leave, he appeared in the room with the corsage and a safety pin to ask me to put the 2 together and pin it onto his suit. gosh! how last-minute, right?

with the corsage properly secured, the groom and his party left to fetch the bride. about 10 minutes later, the house phone rang... wilson's on the line. guess what?

he forgot the bridal bouquet!!!

fortunately, the 'convoy' was still in the carpark and i just needed to bring the flowers down for him. all this drama even before i had time to wash up!

went for prata breakfast with my maternal 4th aunt and her hubby. when i returned, many relatives from both sides of the family had already arrived.

had a quick change of clothes before i began my assigned task for the day which was to prepare the bird's nest tea for the tea ceremony. that kept me occupied throughout so i wasn't able to take any photos which explains the not-so-good quality of the pictures. haha... :P

gouty arthritis

yup, it's confirmed that the swollen toe joint that i had last week was due to high uric acid level in my blood. the blood test had returned a result of 8.9 mg/dL, quite a bit higher than the normal range of 3.4 to 7.0 mg/dL.

right now, the gp has recommended dietary control to see if the uric acid level can be kept in check. basically it is to avoid purine-rich food and to stay well-hydrated at all times.

additionally, exercise will also help to metabolise the uric acid. that means that i should get back onto my usual workout routine since i've more time now. :P

will do a follow-up blood test in 2 month's time to monitor if there's any improvement. if it falls within the normal range, then medication is not required.

cheers to good health in 2008!

cloverfield

supposedly a highly anticipated from jj abrams...

didn't know about this movie until i read in the papers that movie critics weren't given a chance to preview the movie hence there wasn't any review in my weekly copy of 8 days.

ong sor fern from straits times went out on limb to say it should be good pending her retrospective review. another journalist, tan yek keak, also from st, complained that the movie gave him a 50-panadol headache. haha...

that was no doubt contributed by the hand-cam mode of shooting in the movie, a la 'the blair witch project'. i must say it isn't your typical, run of the mill hollywood blockbuster monster movie.

i kind of like its unconventionality though i was slightly disappointed with the ending. not enough of a closure i feel. frankly, the ending left me and the audience at the theatre feeling shortchanged.

it's was, 'huh?! the movie ended?! duh!'

but i guess, the ending remains true to the style and tone of the whole movie.

ouch

limped to see the gp at the next block this morning.

my first toe joint is swollen and it has progressively gotten worse from the first signs of trouble on wednesday. it wasn't some gungho injury from sports or gym. neither was it a result of a swipe at an offending furniture in the dark at home.

so what happened?

i couldn't remember any trauma to the right foot. with all external factors eliminated, it only left me with the dreaded 4-letter 'g' word - gout.

a condition that results from crystals of uric acid depositing in tissues of the body. it is characterised by an overload of uric acid in the body and recurring attacks of joint inflammation. info from here.

how do i know about this condition? well, johann has it and had described the symptoms to me previously. just that i didn't know it can be SO painful.

and i can't remember how many times i've cursed under my breath when trying to move my right foot even a tiny fraction of an inch. yes, it has become so sensitive that even the slightest movement is traumatic not to mention touching it.

my foot became so tender and painful that putting it under my quilt is unbearable. needless to say, sleep was affected.

that was how i ended at the vista family clinic this morning. i would have been here last night had it been opened.

just as expected, the gp's diagnosis confirmed my suspicions. had a blood test to check my uric acid level, the result will be out tomorrow. meanwhile, anti-inflammatory medication and painkillers were prescribed together with advice to stay hydrated and a list of food to abstain and avoid.

btw, johann was spot-on when he said the elderly uncle was streaking ahead of him while he was shuffling along miserably the time he had an attack.

it happened to me too. :(