Monthly Archives: October 2007

Home cooking

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There really is nothing like home cooking… there are times here when you get really sick of eating inexpensive Chinese, Malay, Asian food… when you crave Western food or something homemade.

This morning I made banana and chocolate chip pancakes for everyone and boy, was it a nice change. Thanks to my friend Tiff’s fabulously easy recipe, all you do is use powdered pancake mix following their directions except maybe add half to 3/4 of the milk. Instead substitute 1 to 2 mashed bananas, the riper the better. Then add as much chocolate chips as you like. Then that’s your batter and cook them like you’d cook regular pancakes. They turn out really moist. I don’t remember why or when she showed me this but I remember them tasting really yummy. But now I’m craving fresh blueberry pancakes…

Then for lunch I made grilled cheese with avocado sandwiches. At home we have a panini maker so it’s much easier to make grilled sandwiches. I had an interesting time trying to flip the sandwich to brown the other side. One of my favorite types of cheese is Gruyere which is a cow’s milk cheese and when you bite into it, it has salt crystals in it. It’s a hard cheese though so it was difficult to cut it up into pieces to make the sandwich. I bought one avocado at the wet market last week but I wasn’t really happy about it, when I opened it the skin was really tough to remove and the seed was really big so there wasn’t much avocado “meat”. Plus it was pretty expensive, I think $1.50 each. I remember buying a bag of 6 at Costco for maybe $5 and the quality was much better.

Hm, I forgot to take pictures.. oh well. I burnt the first one but the other two turned out alright. The must’ve been good because my flatmate Justine finished off the last piece of the burnt one 😛

Ron went out studying at INSEAD again so to save him the trouble of going out to find lunch, I brought him something to eat. I had marinated some chicken drumsticks with this pouch of spices that Ron had bought a while back, it was called “spicy fried chicken marinade” or something. I figured I’d try my hand at frying something, although I hate hot oil. I ended up using a big crock pot and putting in approx 1cm of oil at the bottom. It ended up working pretty well because the pot was deep so oil couldn’t splatter out as easily and with the cover on, it cooked the chicken to the bone while also still making the skin crispy. The taste wasn’t anything spectacular to me but Ron seemed to enjoy it, he said it was like Kentucky Fried Chicken without the breading 😀

But I totally smelled “fried” so that’s not something I’m going to do too often.

Then I indulged myself tonight and had dinner again at Margaritas with Alex and Joyce. Alex says he has been craving authentic Mexican food since he left the US because most of the places he’s been haven’t been that great. He had finally finished studying and taken the BCOP exam so finally had time to have dinner. Joyce and Alex had just come from a day full of talks at the 19th Singapore Pharmacy Congress. Apparently there are at least 1500 pharmacists in Singapore, about 500 attended this congress.

Everything at dinner was so delicious and I am so stuffed! I had a chicken burrito and we shared a pitcher of mango margaritas. Joyce and I shared a serving of Kahlua Tiramisu as well. It had tons of cocoa powder on top and was very delicious. It was Mexican because the lady fingers were soaked in Mexican coffee. It was served in a nonconvential way as I think it was made fresh in a bowl.

Alex was playing with my camera… but doesn’t this picture make you want to try some Tiramisu too?

We’re way too stuffed… don’t ask me where Alex is looking…

We took a little walk to the bus stop and called it a night. It’s been over an hour since dinner and I’m still so full…

Thank you to Alex and Joyce for their birthday wishes. Thank you to Patrick for trying to send me a Super Wall message on Facebook 😛 Thanks to Bani and Elaine for their email wishes. Thank you to Kurtis for the Hello Kitty birthday card from Japan!

It’s been a nice weekend in Singapore. Next week we are going to Vietnam!

Remembering High School Days and Good Deals

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I stayed in most of the day because it was pretty gloomy and I didn’t really feel like doing much. Ron had headed out earlier to study again and he’s still out studying actually. But the weather started to clear up in the late afternoon and the sun actually came out so I didn’t want to waste the nice weather and decided to go out. Lucky for me, my friend from high school, Teddy, was around so we decided to meet up for a bite to eat.

We met at Plaza Singapura near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. I did a Google search for scrapbook stores in Singapore and found they had one there called Made With Love. I had yet to find one that sold nice cardstock or rubber stamps for my cardmaking. I enjoyed making cards in the US to relieve stress and I loved to give something I personally made to friends. To see a sample of the cards and other crafts I’ve made, click here. So anyways, I decided I’d check it out today with lack of anything better to do. I usually hate shopping on the weekends because it’s so crowded but I was getting a bit stir crazy at home.

I got to Plaza Singapura before Teddy and once there, I got distracted by an outdoor sale. I was going to walk past but then I saw that most things were marked special price of $3 or $5! So I had to browse. If you know me, I can’t pass up a good deal… so I ended up spending $13 for 2 dresses at $5 each and 1 top at $3. Don’t ask me why so cheap but I wasn’t complaining.

Here’s one dress made of a cotton like material, it’s past my knee length so I figure I can wear it to work with a tank top underneath.

Here’s the second dress made of a linen like material and the skirt even has lining. I think I may have to attach straps because I don’t feel comfortable wearing tube tops or dresses anymore. I like this dress especially for the hem.

I bought this top because of the floral polka dot pattern and the color. I don’t own anything yellow and figured this matched the tropical weather in Singapore.

So not a bad haul for $13, less than 9USD! You can’t get those prices at Ross or TJ Maxx, that’s for sure.

There was another stall next to this one that I started exploring but thank goodness Teddy arrived to pull me away from spending more money. I think the sale goes on tomorrow though… so dunno how tempted I’ll be to go there again 😛

Teddy and I haven’t seen each other for more than 5 years, we couldn’t really figure it out, but probably not since I was in undergrad at Berkeley, so more like 7 to 10 years! He moved to Singapore a few months before we did and he’s been so busy travelling for work that we haven’t had time to meet up until now. We went to a cafe and he ate a Philly Cheesesteak while I had a macadamia nut latte. We had a nice long catching-up session.

Then we went to wander around the mall a little since I’d never been there before and I eventually did find the scrapbook shop. It was a bit crowded but I did end up finding some nice textured paper, they were 12 x 12 sheets at $1.25 each, buy 10 get 1 free. It’s definitely not as cheap as the US but I was happy to finally get my hands are nice cardstock! I’ll probably have to go back on a weekday in order to explore more when there are less people.

We continued walking through the mall and I also bought this book from the bookstore there, it was on sale for only $15:

It looked pretty cool and I figured I could use it in card making or also try to make jewelry. I do really want to take some jewelry making classes at some point as I’d love to make rings and earrings. I dabbled in it before but wasn’t that great at it. I think I need a class for techniques because it’s always better if someone shows you rather than reading a book.

Afterwards, I headed home on the MRT then went to get dinner at the Dover Rd Food Center to bring to Ron and his groupmate who were studying at INSEAD. The curry chicken rice had HOT red chilis and I also ordered Malay Style noodles which were good, it had squid and peanut sauce in it.

Well now I’ve got one scrapbook store to shop at, the next to try is Laine’s Papeterie at Wheelock Place on Orchard Rd.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

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Some days seem to drag on, which was yesterday. On Thursday I stayed in most of the day except went to Holland Village Cold Storage for some groceries. The INSEAD Student Council hosted a BBQ at the apt complex next door to us, Dover Parkview, so we went for a few hours last night.

Today was my birthday but it really didn’t feel like it should be my birthday. Maybe because it’s not my birthday in the US yet, I was born in the afternoon I think. 😛 I guess also because I had to go to NUH this morning for my pre-employment medical check-up. They were rather straightforward with their assessments, it was a bit odd. For example, the nurse at the front desk handed me a urine test strip and asked me to go to the restroom down the hall to “pass urine” on the strip then bring it back to show her. I only thought it odd because there were not less than 5 people in the waiting area. Maybe we are too prissy in the US where everything needs to be so private… I had blood drawn.. ouch! For Hep B and Varicella antibody titers and I also had to get a chest x-ray for the first time. They don’t place PPDs here I guess because most people here have the BCG vaccine so a PPD will usually test positive. On a positive note, they are pretty efficient here with going through patients in a timely manner.

After my check-up, I headed to the Cancer Center Pharmacy to talk to my soon-to-be preceptor Siew Woon to see when I could start work. We decided that I can probably start Oct 29th! My application has been presented to a reviewer at Singapore Pharmacy Board (SPB) so I hope to hear back from them in 7 to 10 days. My Employment Pass (EP) has already been approved by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) so I am just waiting for the official letter from the SPB.

So what happens here as a foreign graduate, I must complete 3 months of pre-registration to learn about the practice of pharmacy in Singapore. In order to do that, I must submit an application to become a “pre-reg”. It’s taken me so long because I did not bring a few documents (diploma and pharmacist wall certificate) with me to Singapore and they require verification of originals. I did bring a few documents that were not accepted because they now require these be sent directly from the school of licensing board. Most of my documents are finally in order and I’m hoping they’ll give me “in-principle” approval of my application so that I can start my 3 months of pre-registration training. I also must take and pass the licensure exam, known as the “forensic exam” on December 1st. After I complete the 3 months training and pass the exam, then I can finally be a registered pharmacist in Singapore.

I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel…

So sorry for that tangent… I headed home after NUH to have some lunch and Gladys asked me out to celebrate my birthday at 3pm. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant but I assumed it was something sneaky because she had helped with Ariana’s surprise birthday a few weeks ago. I met her at the ground floor of my apartment at 3pm and we started walking and she said she thought we’d do karaoke. We have 2 entertainment rooms at our apt complex that you can rent out for parties. Although the surprise was a bit spoiled because one of the security guards came to ask Gladys about the air conditioning in the room because it apparently was not working. But as we walked up the stairs to the karaoke room, I was pleasantly surprised to see the partners waiting there to sing me happy birthday 🙂 Some of the girls spent all day yesterday baking cupcakes! There were chocolate ones and maple syrup ones, both very yummy. If you’re asking yourself “why maple syrup?”, the Canadian partners Anne Sophie and Emilie brought their own stashes of maple syrup from Canada and use it in everything. They reminded me of pancakes so now I have a a craving for banana and chocolate chip pancakes…

We didn’t really sing but listened to some classic Chinese music, which reminded me of the songs my mom used to sing when we were kids, and then some oldie English music. We just sat around, munched on goodies, and chatted… especially what we could be doing while all our husbands/boyfriends were studying for finals. Although we didn’t really figure out anything 😛 We had to break up the party around 5pm though because security came back to hint to us that we had to go. They’re so strict here!

Thank you ladies for my party! It’s so nice celebrating with new friends 🙂

I’ll try to round up some pictures later to post…

Soon after I got home, Ron came home from studying and with a bouquet of flowers. If you know us, you know that I always harass him because he hardly brings me flowers anymore, maybe only once every other year… so I was pleasantly surprised by the bouquet of orchids.

There were quite a few types:

Ron planned a dinner at this restaurant called Ikukan off Club Street on Mohamed Ali Lane.

We sat down to this cute place setting:

The restaurant style is “Contemporary Japanese Cuisine” so they had things on the menu like Foie Gras Tofu and Foie Gras Chawanmushi. Notice I’m focusing on Foie Gras? I miss it… and I still miss it because they didn’t have any! Apparently they sold out during lunchtime… so we’ll just have to go back some other time to try it.

Drinks first: Umeshu (homemade plum wine on the rocks) and Ron’s cold sake

BEI NASU DENGAKU (deep fried Australian eggplant with red miso)

TEMPURA

SUSHI MORIAWASE (assorted sushi: tuna, swordfish, amberjack, salmon, scallop, conger eel, ikura, and sea urchin)

Fresh fish was so yummy!

HOTATE SPICY CREAM (baked scallop, seafood, and eggplant with lemon and spicy cream sauce)

This was a bit strange, too sour.

SEAFOOD RICE

It was yummy, sort of made up on left over fish pieces.

KAMO NEGI (2 sticks of duck breast meat and leek with organic sea salt)

Tasted like beef! A bit dry.

OCEAN TROUT HARASU (2 sticks of ocean trout belly with organic sea salt)

This tasted and looked like salmon, the charred skin was the best part but fatty so didn’t eat much of it.

SASAMI UME (2 sticks of chicken breast with plum paste and organic sea salt)

I think not enough plum paste, it was rather plain except whatever green herb on top gave it a bitter but pleasant taste.

SUKIYAKI (grilled chicken breast, mushrooms, tofu, green veggies, and some type of noodles)

Very yummy but we ordered it before we realized we were already full so I didn’t eat much of it.

Dipping sauce for grilled chicken breast in sukiyaki, I think a soft boiled egg

We were pretty satisfied after the meal.

Approximate cost of $55-60 per person. The service was quick and attentive. I’m sad to have passed on dessert because they had banana cheesecake and tempura ice cream but I started to have a tummy ache. 🙁 But I guess that just means we need to go again. They have outdoor seating which looked nice, especially on a cool night like this.

Thank you Gladys, Ariana, Anne Sophie, Emilie, Elina, Sofia, Marit, Neha, Gaelle, Maryam, Virginie, Clotilde, Nathalie for my party in the afternoon!

Thank you to Justine and Yu-Ming for coming to my dinner in the evening 🙂

Thank you to my brothers and parents, Joyce, Vicki, Lisa, Jane, Dwight, Tiff, Helen, Will, Gary, ShineTay, Andy, Teddy, Cindy, Jeff for your “electronic” birthday wishes!

I’m sorry if I forgot to mention anyone’s name, I didn’t mean it on purpose! I feel blessed to have so many friends sending me well wishes, so many that I have a hard time keeping track 😛

I couldn’t have wished for a better day… thank you all!

Traditional Chinese Medicine

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Today I attended the conference at NUS pharmacy school and today was a different format. Groups of students had picked a topic and were required to give a 15-minute, 17-powerpoint slide presentation. Today’s main topics Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the advancement of Clinical Pharmacy.

The presentations on TCM were very interesting to me. Although I am an occasional user of TCM, I didn’t know much about it. As a kid, when I was sick, my mom used to brew us herbal soups that generally tasted bad. When we had upset stomach or diarrhea, we took Po Chai Pills which are these herbal pills shaped in little pellets. It’s seriously a miracle drug for stomach ailments.

Well back to class, one of the presentations focused on the basics of TCM which include things like acupunture and medicines. We learned about the theory of “zang fu”. It’s a concept that describes the function of the organs in the body and the interactions that occur between them. Organs are either classified as “zang” (yin organs, “dark”) or “fu” (yang organs, “bright”). They talked about how medicines are also classifed as either “yin” or “yang” and the TCM practitioners use these properties to balance a person’s “yin” and “yang”.

It makes me wish I could take some classes related to TCM so that I can be better equipped to help patients who use Chinese medicines.

Just a note on the rest of the presentations on Clinical Pharmacy, they involved presentations on Board Certification, Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs, importance of documenting pharmacist interventions, and pharmacist’s role in health promotion and disease prevention. The presentations were very broad and touched on programs in Australia, the US, and the UK. It made me realize that in the US, we’re a bit close-minded since there is not much discussion about other countries’ programs. On the other hand, it also makes me realize how involved pharmacists are in the US, at least in California. It gives me pride in my profession.

It’s a bit strange “going to school” again but I love it! I’ve learned so much in the past few weeks especially about the practice of pharmacy in Singapore.

Some good news, I think I can start practicing here in another week or so. I have approval of my employment pass and my application with the Singapore Pharmacy Board is being reviewed… yeah!

Paris, je t’aime

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http://imdb.com/title/tt0401711/

We arrived back to Singapore on Sunday. We were so exhausted after all that trekking around the temples. We ordered McD delivery for lunch. I did laundry. Then went to sleep the rest of the afternoon.

Monday wasn’t very exciting since it rained all afternoon. I had Chinese class in the evening where we learned things like numbers and dates.

Today started out as a rather ordinary Tuesday. We went to Ghim Moh Wet Market for some fruits and vegetables then to INSEAD for weekly Partner’s Lunch.

Tonight, a group of us went to Alliance Francais, which is a French language school along with theater and other arts, for a movie screening of Paris, je t’aime (Paris, I love you). Gladys let us know about the movie screening yesterday so since the boys are busy studying for finals, which are next week, we needed to find something to entertain ourselves and the movie was the perfect thing.

Unfortunately for us, it started raining when we were getting ready to leave our apartments for the movie. First we had some trouble getting a taxi since when it starts raining, people call ahead to reserve and most taxi cab drivers wait for those calls because they get an extra booking fee or S$4 on top of the fare. So basically the taxis were ignoring us.

Two out of three of the taxis made it to Alliance Francais on time to pick up our tickets but one of the taxis was lost. Elina, Emilie, and Sofia were in that lost taxi. I got a few distressed phone calls and SMS messages from Sofia because the taxi cab driver did not know where he was going and was driving around and around in the rain. The eventuallly made it to the area where we were but a few blocks away. They just really wanted to get out of that taxi. Three of us went to pick them up and bring them back to the theater. We had a quick dinner in the cafe upstairs before settling down to the movie. We were relieved that they made it safe and sound. It’s kind of unsettling to find out that there are crazy people like that in Singapore. The girls said he sounded drunk and was speaking nonsense even though he spoke perfect English to them when they got into the taxi.

As for the movie, it was quite entertaining and a bit strange. It’s basically a full length movie of eighteen five-minute shorts about love in Paris. The shorts were a bit too short for me, I wanted more after each segment but I still enjoyed it. I think it’s worth a second viewing.

It stopped raining by the time we left. Some of us took cabs and some of us took the MRT. We didn’t get home until 11pm by MRT. I have to call the California Board of Pharmacy and UOP tonight to find out the status of my documents. It’s going to be a long night. I think I’m going to take a nap…