Ah Yat Seafood

28 Nov'2008


Hubby's birthday today and we went to Ah Yat Seafood at Turf City for dinner.

We wanted to try the bamboo clams as recommended by hubby's parents but no stock.



Wow, so many different types of seafood......




We chose the live scallops.......



and an Alaskan King Crab as hubby had never tasted it before.
They are humongous...


This was the smallest as there're only the 2 of us eating.





The live "fan" scallops was rather disappointing. Rather tough.



Now the Alaskan King Crab was something else........

We had one half of the crab cooked with black pepper and




the other half in some special pumpkin sauce. There were curry leaves in it, so it tasted a bit like Indian curry. I like it but hubby thought that it was too rich.







Birthday Boy digging in.......



Wow, the Alaskan King Crab was so meaty! Every claw was full of meat. The shell was thin and we just use a pair of scissors to cut thru it to get to the meat.

We finished the black-peppered half but couldn't finish all the pumpkin sauce half and had to take-away some of it. I think 4-6 persons can share that one crab.

The crab was rather expensive. It weighed 2.19kg and it cost $164.25 after the 50% discount! I was stunned for a second, if there're no 50% discount, I think I would have fainted but hubby really wanted to try it and to give himself a treat - so ok lor, I'm not complaining. Though I think this will be the last time ordering this crab or else maybe long long time later.

I would recommend steaming the crab as I've eaten it before and the meat is rather sweet.

If you go there to eat the seafood during weekdays - it's 50% discount off the price - during weekends, it's 30% off.

My Wedding (on Scrapblog)

Found a new interest - digital scrapbooking.

This site is just awesome. You can choose the designs from their templates or re-design it to make it unique. There are plenty of backgrounds, pics etc and music too to choose from. You can order and have them printed out into a booklet too - check it out at :





I'm slowly putting some of my wedding pics onto this digital scrapbook as I realised that all our wedding photo-albums are collecting dust in some obscure corner of our bookshelf (think most of you are the same, right?). It's rather boring pouring over the many, many pics inserted in those photos pockets, you kind of glaze over it. At least, with this digital scrapbook, it's colourful and interesting.

Of cos, I will not be putting in all the pics (too many!). Just some main ones. Most probably, I'll have it printed out in a booklet with all the designs that I had done.

I'll be posting a couple of my digital wedding scrapbooks and will be posting it as I finish each one.

Here's the first.

APPRECIATE

Read this story in someone's blog and found it very meaningful.


Someone said that we can do nine good deeds for someone; but if we were to fail him in one favour, he could wipe out memories of the nine good deeds and only remember our one failure!

How so very true - as sometimes I am guilty of it. I hope that I will be able to see and be aware and catch such negative thoughts more easily so that I can be more appreciative of the people around me.



A Story to live by

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind.

She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her.

She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her.

When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her,'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind.The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her.

She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Hamster Drama!

20 November 2008

Aiyoh, so much drama with Bob, our hamster.

As usual, we sometime let Bob out of his cage in the laundry area so that he can be free to run around instead of always running in the running-ball.

We will of cos close the bi-folding door so that he won't be able to run out of the laundry area to the rest of the house. But there were some times where if the wind blows from our front windows, the bifold door swings a little back and there's a slight gap from the bottom of the door - BOB sometimes do find his way out of the laundry area this way.

We let him out in the evening as they are nocturnal creature. Usually, he will auto go back to his cage to sleep or sometimes he will sleep in a corner but this time, we couldn't find him anywhere in the house.

So we suspect that - horrors - he could have gone down the drainage pipe (see arrow 1, there's a hole in the drain cover to put in a hose but that night, the hose was not in the drain-cover hole so there's a gap). We slowly opened up the cover expecting the worst, drowned and body floating? - but no leh, nothing.

This was in the morning, so hubby said that he's most probably somewhere in the house but if by evening, he's not back in his cage, he's most probably got flushed out to the sewage pipes.

I was so sad, BOB is so cute.

Anyway, hubby took half day leave and was back home in the afternoon. On a hunch, he took a look down the smaller pipe (arrow 2) which was where the washing-machine water goes to drain out - hmm...... saw something brownish but that could be the pipe stains but hey, wait!!!! "I can see whiskers moving, it's BOB and he's still alive!"

I looked down the pipe and called him "BOB, BOB" and he responded by trying to climb out of the pipe which of cos he couldn't cos too slippery.

Hubby took a clamp and put it down the pipe and BOB instantly clamour onto the clamp without prompting and hubby managed to clamp him out of the pipe.

He was still rather active and he quickly ran into his cage. He was shivering. I read that hamster cannot be wet for too long or else might die so I quickly brought out my hair-dryer and we try to dry him asap. He was so smart, he didn't like the hair-dryer blowing in his face so he turned around so that we can dry the back of his furs - he was showing us his ass.



BOB fell down the big drain-pipe (arrow 1). There's another smaller drainage hole inside the big drain-pipe where BOB climbed onto. The water does not come all the way up to the smaller drain-pipe or he would have drowned.
Hubby clamped BOB out from the pipe arrowed 2.



Blowing warm air.



Poor BOB, he looked tired and half-dead.



BOB is really a survivor. He fell into the hole and was wet all night.

On top of that, I, ahem, did some clothes washing and all the soapy water drained into that small pipe drainage which BOB was holed up in - and thank goodness, I did not do a hot wash!!!!!
The water temperature for my hot wash cycle is 95 degrees - he would be cooked alive!!!!!!!

RSYC - Christmas Bazaar

15 November 2008

It was open house at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club at West Coast and I had wanted to go to the christmas bazaar.

So disappointing, not many vendors, maybe around 20. I had been before to the bazaar being held at the usual Hyatt Hotel and there were way more vendors and varieties. Not many people browsing either. I guess it's just too way out just to specifically go and attend the bazaar.

No pics of the bazaar cos it was so dismal.

I like the RSYC though, it's small and homey.



On the way to RSYC, came across this little green scenery. I like it very much - look at all those bird's nests ferns. It seems like a scene out from Jurassic Park - a dinosaur is coming at any moment.

This was the original RSYC, way way back then........

Then it was relocated and rebuilt.....




And relocated and rebuilt again to this current RSYC.......

George Bush - Sociopath?

The below is a very interesting article.

A sociopath seems to be mostly Heads of countries and organisations according to commentators.

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Below taken from WikiAnswers :

Here is a list of ways to identify a sociopath. This list is from "Profile of a Sociopath". It is a pretty good list of sociopathic indicators.

• Glibness/Superficial Charm
• Manipulative and Conning
• Grandiose Sense of Self
• Pathological Lying
• Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
• Shallow Emotions
• Incapacity for Love
• Need for Stimulation
• Callousness/Lack of Empathy
• Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature
• Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency
• Irresponsibility/Unreliability
• Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity
• Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle
• Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility
• Contemptuous of those who seek to understand them
• Does not perceive that anything is wrong with them
• Authoritarian
• Secretive
• Paranoid
• Only rarely in difficulty with the law, but seeks out situations where their tyrannical behavior will be tolerated, condoned, or admired
• Conventional appearance
• Goal of enslavement of their victim(s)
• Exercises despotic control over every aspect of the victim's life
• Has an emotional need to justify their crimes and therefore needs their victim's affirmation (respect, gratitude and love)
• Ultimate goal is the creation of a willing victim
• Incapable of real human attachment to another
• Unable to feel remorse or guilt
• Narcissism, grandiosity (self-importance not based on achievments)
• May state readily that their goal is to rule the world

(Obviously, in order to be a sociopath a person doesn't have to exhibit anything like all the above. Usually, the lack of a conscience, the manipulation of others, dishonesty and the inability to love and/or have lasting and profound personal relations and cruelty are key symptoms and often much more revealing than having been in trouble with the courts).

Here is more input and personal anecdotes from other FAQ Farmers to help you know if someone is a sociopath:

• First, you'll know a sociopath from the description/list posted above here. Also, as another poster wrote, get a book on Sociopaths and it will help you beyond belief. Even a book or article on controlling personalities or borderline personalities will help you. Once you can identify the pattern you will begin to "see the light." Sociopaths are charming at first and may seem charming and normal to everyone around them. But they have an almost scary need for control. They will isolate you from friends and family and you will be tangled in your web before you know it.

• The key characteristics of a sociopath include: (1) having no conscience, (2) inability to treat others as human beings, with feelings and rights and (3) inability to learn from experience, from life. One result of this last is gross immaturity, though it may be hidden unless one knows the person well. A sociopath behaves as if he/she were the only person in the whole world and as if everyone else just existed for their benefit and had no existence in their own right. (4) Sociopaths treat other people as toys and hanker after the power to control and hurt their 'nearest and dearest'. (5) Many are monumentally self-important: they may pretend to be millionaires when in reality they are sliding towards financial disaster. (6) Habitual dishonesty.

• He will charm his way into your life and heart, then take complete advantage of you - your emotions, your finances, your intellect. He will make you think you are the crazy one. Your friends will see right through him. He will isolate you from your friends and possibly your family. He cannot hold a job and will probably commit crimes - theft, fraud, forgery, and spend time in jail or prison. He will abuse drugs or alcohol. He may abuse you.

• It is very difficult to recognize a sociopath but in a nutshell, a sociopath is a parasite. There is no help because a sociopath does not want to be helped. A socipath will attract you with his charm and bring you to his side, then he will toy with you, lie and show no remorse. Sometimes there will be a fake smile in his face while he engages in his malicious ways. When confronted, he will deny any responsibility, then back away from you and blame you for whatever wrong he did. What is worse, everybody will believe him because he is able to gain sympathy in a cunning and calculating way.

• My nephew is a sociopath. Growing up he would torture my cat, throwing lighted matches into her bed while she was resting. He would break and hide my mother's belongings and lie about it. One day, she caught him hidding the broken pieces of a porcelaine figurine with the other missing objects. He lied to his parents accusing her of hitting him. He came to live with me when he started college. For six months I worked hard trying to make him feel at home. I helped him with his college work, and to get a job. For months I was lied and manipulated. I defended him when his boss accused him of lacking respect and attendance. I believed him when I accused of starting fights, drinking and smoking pot in campus. I even offered to pay for a week's vacation once the semester was over to celebrate his good grades, or at least the good grades he made me believe on. At last I found out he had quit college, had no job and had spent the vacation money. He just turned twenty years old. When I told him that he needed to keep a job and/or study if he wanted to stay with me he moved in with his current girlfriend and told everybody, including my family, that I had thrown him out of my house. Unfortunately they believe him. When I confronted him about his lies he smiled and said nothing.

• I'm a little concerned that some people may be labelling everyone who has treated them badly as a 'sociopath'. Here are some examples of sociopathic behaviour: 1. A member of the family develops a nose bleed. The sociopath's first reaction: 'How dare you bleed on my carpet?' 2. Husband faints in wife's presence. Her sociopathic reaction as she steps over his body: 'Hell! That means I'll have to collect the kids from school today'. 3. Mother makes singularly vile false allegations, such as rape, against her own son and calls the police. When the police point out there's no evidence to support her accusation, she says, 'But I feel just oh-so-violated', as if that constituted evidence. 4. Teenage daughter is diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia. When the psychiatrist orders inpatient treatment at a mental hospital with a special unit for teenagers, the sociopathic mother tries to prevent her going to hospital. When the father takes their daughter to the mental hospital, the mother threatens to abduct her! She tries to phone her daughter in hospital daily and subjects her to emotional blackmail.

• A number of mind-controlling cult leaders may exhibit many of the behavioral characteristics of a sociopath -- an outstanding ability to charm and seduce followers. Since they appear apparently normal, they are not easily recognizable as deviant or disturbed. Although only a trained professional can make a diagnosis of whether or not someone is a sociopath, it is important to be able to recognize the personality type in order to avoid further abuse. These traits also apply to a one-on-one cultic relationship. ... Glibness/Superficial Charm ... Manipulative and Conning ... Grandiose Sense of Self ... Pathological Lying ... Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt ... Shallow Emotions ... Incapacity for Love ... Need for Stimulation ... Callousness/Lack of Empathy ... Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature ... Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency ... Irresponsibility/Unreliability ... Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity ... Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle ... Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility

A sociopath does not have to be a person that is constantly in and out of jail, failing in being able to keep a job, nor constantly being broke. Sociopath's can be wealthy, have a great history in the work place and have never had any run in with the police. What they do have is the ability to manipulate each situation to where nothing is their fault. They are quick to give praise to someone, but use that as another way to draw them further under their control. They truly have no capacity to believe that anything they have ever done is wrong - even when caught in a bold faced lie.

They don't preplan their "sociopathness" and how it will effect what they want - sociopath's are naturally that way. They are the way they are - to everyone in their lives - from when they were a child, throughout their entire lives. They do not have the ability to change the way they are. They may "mellow" as they age, but their need to have control over others, the need to be implusive, their feelings that, even in lying, they never do anything wrong, and their ability to charm everyone they think they need to charm, does not leave them as they age.

It's also very hard for someone involved with a sociopath to be able to see what they know is happening, even after catching the sociopath in the lies and manipulation. It's incredibly hard to decide to leave a sociopath, as well as stay away from that sociopath.

Bedok Food Centre / Bedok Jetty

08 November 2008

Hubby and I decided to go all the way to Bedok Food Centre to have dinner. We had satay, oyster omelette, kang-kong cuttlefish and cheng-tng.

Wah the cheng-tng is quite ex now. We had the $2.00 bowl and it was not that much, can you imagine if we had ordered the $1.50 bowl?

Went for a walk at the Bedok jetty. Quite a number of people.



This lady found herself a good spot to fish. Everytime she put in her fishing line, she got a bite.

Birthday Treat

02 November 2008

A pre-birthday treat for hubby - a pedicure.

I think the young girl worked up a sweat just scrapping the dead skin off his sole......... ha ha ha.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!