The Canadians turn 21 (again) !!!

The Canadians turn 21 (again!)

@ Soft Belly

367 Little Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000

My Belated B'day Pressies!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMIAH!

with love from Singapore

Yay! I finally received my pressies! :

THANKS TO Xiaoping:

I really loved the 2 silk ties, Mindustrie Polo T, Matrix Calculator, SONY ERICSSON W660i and the entire bunch of notes!

Thanks to Ah Kiang Su Su (Uncle Gordon) for making everything possible!

Thanks to SIA for flying my uncle here!

Thanks Mum and Dad!!

I love the pressie u you both gave me!

Thanks friends for coming with me to receive my pressies!

Hehe.. Special thanks to Ben and Hayden for showing up too!

Jasmine's Bday Series 1: Nando's and Brunetti's

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASMINE!

Our Dearest 'Ah Ma'

We had planned this (in secret) all along! To surprise Jasmine the weekend before her actual birthday. Our friend, Luke even had to miss his badminton training just for this special event! Jasmine and Hao Na had clinic practice till 5.30pm that day, so they met up with us at Melbourne Central, Nando's.

Nando's

MELBOURNE CENTRAL

309 Melbourne Central,

Melbourne 3000

03 9654 9888

A pleasantly surprised Jasmine upon receiving her special Bday Card:

She was happy.. until...

...she opened the card..

It reads.. HAPPY B'day AH MA!!!

Next was her pressie presentation ceremony:

We gave her her all time favourite 'Ah Ma' bag (bottom left) and 'Ah Ma' Scarf...

...complete with 'Ah Ma' Undergarments (Granny Panties)! *Eeew!*

Next, we proceeded with the feast after much (delaying and) fanfare..

This was what we ate:

Nando's Chicken with medium spicyness and low spicyness, fries and chicken Ribs!

JJ Rating: 3/5 - food was quite alright! The spices they use are damn 'shiok'. Real Peri-Peri Peppers. Medium is just right (maybe too spicy for some girls). I loved the fries! When you order 'Ribs', don't expect pork ribs, it's a chicken shop. Expect tiny bite-sized chicken ribs, rather unique! Service could be better though..

BRUNETTI

Brunetti City Square Café - Gelateria - Creperia
214 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000

This was where we went after meeting up with my uncle at Crown Casino. That's where I received my belated bday pressies! From Crown, we took a nice stroll down to Flinders where we dropped by at Brunetti! This Brunetti has much lesser selection of cakes and tarts and lacks the cosy atmosphere of the Lygon Branch, but it's a nice place to celebrate.. under the stars!

Looks a little like a Glasshouse..

We asked for a B'day Candle..

That's a huge candle!

A sample of what we ate:

We had to pose quickly for these photos! The sparkler was dying down fast!

After sending Xiao Luke off, we headed home.. Time for fun with Ah Ma new clothes!

Surprisingly, the Granny's looked quite good on us!

Farewell Chalet 030707

To say farewell and good riddance to Rachel (girl in blue.. who happens to be in every pic) and I. Loudest Ten member, Zhen Kiat and her friends master-minded this little farewell gathering for us. It also happened to be Jacintha's (another Loudest member) birthday as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had practically invited the whole class, including our optometry lecturers: Vivien (left), Jiajia aka Kimberly(right) and Monica (Behind Viv).

The food was pretty good, we even had stingray, crayfish and prawns! It's only then when I realised that I have lost touch with everyone in my 2 years of NS...

One big disappointment: Of the guys, all of whom I regard as my brothers, only three turned up. From Left to right: Me, Jason, Teck Soon and Samuel and Mr Tranny *gasps!*. According to Sam, the rest already *flew away by aeroplane to Melbourne to await me there.

*Pang Puay Kee - Literally translates to Releasing Aeroplanes: It simply means Not Showing Up or No-Show at the last min for an appointment. The explanation for this phrase still eludes me to date.


All in all we had great fun! About 4 of my female classmates had quit their jobs as optometrists to join SIA as flight attendants; 'Cabin Crew', they call themselves.

3 of my friends have just graduated from B. Optom in UK, Cardiff University. Another 2 are leaving for there this year too.

One of my classmates, Beilei, had just set a new benchmark: she just got engaged (in the Singaporean Context, getting engaged means u have either registered your marriage with ROM or have already applied for a HDB Flat and now face a deadline of 2years to ROM) and is planning for her wedding in October this year. Sadly, I'll be in Melbourne by then. More weddings coming up in the next couple of years!
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Lastly, I would like to introduce to you a very special and noisy group of girls known in the Underworld as dum-dum-daaaaa : The LOUDEST TEN (see pic below).

The Loudest Ten was formed when 5 girls from my class and 5 from the other found out that they had a lot in common and thus.. merged into a heaping, ear drum shattering, mass of.. cosmic proportions (think BIG BANG). The term, Loudest Ten was coined by one of my lecturers to describe them. Later on, the Loudest recruited our senior, Lay Lay who gave them 'maternal care' during our overseas community eyecare program in rural Thailand, making it a grand total of 11, though the suffix Ten stuck.

am doing inside, you ask. I became honoury member when I became attached to my girlfriend, who is a member of this group.

It was nice seeing everyone again. I'll like to thank everyone present that day for making our farewell a night to remember! It's time to pop that champagne!

Dad's Birthday Celebration @ Cafe Oliv 030607

Dad's B'day Celebration at a place of his choosing. Read about this newly opened chic cafe on the papers. Barely 2 weeks into opening and it had achieved much acclaim. Surged in popularity ever since a write-up was done about it and featured in the Straits Times Life!. We ordered their signature dishes like Salted Egg Soft Shell Crab and Lamb Shank.




Fig 1. Cafe Oliv Appetizer Platter


The Cafe Oliv appetizer platter was really good too, served in a unique 3-tiered platter. Also got the All-Time favorite Seafood Pasta in Thai Cream Sauce. Everything was DELICIOUS! Dad kept comparing this cafe to what he feels was the somewhat Inferior Garden Slug, a recommendation which I had made.





Fig 2. Seafood Pasta in Thai Cream Sauce
(with a Happy Mum in the background)
He feels that this place is cheaper and better... Better.. Yes.. but the price range was about the same (not that the Garden Slug wasn't good too though). Rather enjoyable dinner =)

Fig3. Clockwise from Top: Lambshank, Pork Ribs,
Beer-Battered Fish 'n' Chips, Seafood Pasta in MIddle.