Singapore Finds

I have to admit I am addicted to shoes.

There is something about shopping for shoes that makes my heart flutter and my eyes twinkle. My mom tells me that I have so much shoes already but I feel that unless I end up having 3,000 pairs of shoes like Imelda does, I don't think I'll ever have enough. I always find myself browsing through shoe stores and trying on my next must haves or search for discounted pairs that would be too hard to resist. One of the joys of finally landing a good job is being able to shop without guilt for the shows I love.

While in Singapore last Saturday I gave in to my inner child by splurging on my favorite accessory. We checked out Charles and Keith at Vivo city mall on our way to Sentosa Island and saw that there was a sale. Charles and Keith was quite expensive back in Manila so seeing them priced so reasonably in Singapore was like manna from heaven! haha.

I instantly fell in love with a pair of bronze 3 .5 inch high heels with a velvet ribbon. It was quite high but man did it feel so nice (Forget varicose veins, I'm getting these darn shoes!) After about forty minutes of browsing (i'm a quick shopper) I came out 100SGD poorer but much much happier with my nice finds. I also bought a pair of black pumps (I call it the sensible classic pumps) for work and a pair of black leather flats that were to comfy to resist.There were other designs that I would love to buy but I stopped myself or else I might end up spending my entire salary on these lovely creations.

I was kinda worried going back as the malaysian customs might question my purchases. Fortunately I breezed through easily. Whew! When I got home I immediately tried them on and walked all around the house. haha. It reminded me of the things I did when I was a kid whenever mom would take ves and me shoe shopping. We'd always model our finds at home.

After modeling my new finds, I carefully wrapped them back in their original boxes and stored them in my cabinet. I wish I had one of those gigantic shoe cabinets o I can arrange them in a display fashion but I guess labelling the boxes will have to do for now.

If love makes the world go round, then shoes make the walking around the world lighter. :)

Camping

I loved sleepovers growing up.

I remember looking forward to the times when my cousin Beryl would come over and sleepover my house when we were kids. Several times a year we would exchange sleepovers once in a while. Despite seeing each other almost weekly, we still looked forward to having those sleepover nights when we'd giggle our way to sleep.

Some of my fondest childhood memories were made during those camping nights. My cousin and I would play "beauty pageants" whenever it was pageant season or we'd play house in my natually messy room. In one of my barkada sleepovers, we spent the entire day preparing for the hs dance and chatted all night about our magical night.

But sometimes sleepovers would also mean goodbyes. After our HS graduation my entire barkada camped out at Ina's roofdeck for a night of nonestop laughter and girl bonding. Little did we know that that was one of the last times we'd see one of our friends for good.

In an impromptu camping, I recently relived aomw of those happy childhood memories. Totally unplanned, we decided to drink and go camping in my room. It was quite hilarious seeing adults at our age giggling and teasing each other to death about the most ridiculous things (think piritong kawali, kalabaw na nagmoomoo haha). One was locked out in the dark by the schoolboys (bad boys!).It was a true bonding moment filled with lots of laughter, giggles, kwentong barbero, kwentong "oc" and "pulis" and of course absolut mandarin (ay mandrin pala!) to keep us sane (hehehe)

The camping flooded on to the next day with a major foodtrip. Yummy lechong kawali, creamy molo soup (aka molo featuring the sotanghon), and tortang talong (aka giniling featuring the talong) all for a measly contribution of RM9 each (parang nag hapi cook ka lang). Of course nothing could beat the laughter that went along the coooking session especially when one would suddenly make "weird" remarks that appeared to have come from outer space! haha.

Who would have thought that an ordinary drinking session would turn out to be one of the best camping/sleepovers ever? Sometimes the best do come in the most ordinary packages, wrapped with a little adventure streak to spice things up. I learned not only to laugh more and smile more, but I've learned to value who are my true friends more. It made me miss home but it made me feel more at home here too.

I finally feel I belong.

I can't wait for the next camping.... Think Hat Yai eto.. yahoo!!!

A new discovery (a.k.a. adventures of the food fanatic)

Last friday I discovered my newest favorite dish in Malaysia--the asam laksa. It was initially introduced to me by Elaine and Alex when they took me out for lunch a couple of weeks ago but I never got to try it till last week. I decided to have a "food trip" to change my usual pasar malam habit of buying char kuey teow and satay. So I decided to try two new malaysian dishes I saw in the night market-- the pan mee and the asam laksa. Both were good but admitedly I liked the latter one better. It was really good. It tasted something in between sinigang and paksiw na isda with a tinge of minty taste to it. I couldn't stop thinking about the dish so exactly 7 days later I decided to have the dish again.

Right now I'm eating my bowl of asam laksa while waiting for my newly installed broadband connection to download the latest greys anatomy, heroes and prisonbreak episodes. It's quite spicy but I like it a lot. I asked the auntie not to put pineapples though. The auntie looked at me curiously thinking why on earth was I asking her to exclude that ingredient. Unfortunately I am terribly allergic to that fruit. Yes, there exist a person in this world that is allergic to pineapples.

One of the perks of living in a foreign country is discovering the country's food culture. And although I still cook a lot of pinoy food here in Malaysia I also enjoy trying new cuisines. I look forward to discovering more of malaysia's yummy dishes in the next few years.

ok back to eating... ciao!

Pictures from Willeah and Mark's Wedding

pics from the wedding of willeah and mark...