I don’t exactly like birthday celebration or any special occasion, primarily, I dislike surprises or anything that may result in crowd of people. That was what I have told many people. I have come to realize that I don’t necessarily dislike surprises; I dislike surprises that will inconvenient me.
Say, never ever try to surprise me with a birthday party, or to appear at my door without prior arrangement. It is disruptive to whatever I may have in plan, that, I don’t appreciate.
We spent my birthday in Singapore this year. I hadn’t gone out of the apartment since Presidential Election day, which I only set feet at the void deck which is less than 2 minutes away from where we live, and went back home right after we casted our votes. The other out-of-apartment outing was to Housing Development Board some 2 months before the Presidential Election day to make ourselves tens of thousands of dollars poorer by making the down-payment for the unit that we have booked.
So, it was not all that fun for me to plan for the birthday outing. I knew it would be simple, and loosely scheduled. It is challenging to try to fit ‘everything I like to do, want to do, and everything I love to eat’ into one day.
Simple solution – we went to my favorite mall – Great World City.
Checked out ‘Imperial Treasure’, came recommended by our dear friend, Belinda – among other good recommendations.
We were looking through the food menu and the friendly reception lady said, ‘We have Dim Sum too.’. ‘Would your dim sum dishes contain more pork or more shrimp?’. ‘Most of our dishes are made with shrimps’. The husband replied almost instantaneously, ‘ok, table for 2′. See, we are not fans of pork.
Once seated, Mike took the Dim Sum order sheet and ticked away! He was ready to order, and I asked to look. On hindsight, I should leave it as that, because I ordered an additional dish which I had to finish alone!
The husband reached for the honeyed walnut that was served while we waited for the food. ‘Don’t eat them!!’, I exclaimed. Oh well, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the walnuts, I just needed to snap a photo of it before he messed them up. He already did, one poor little walnut dropped on the table.
Came highly recommended by Bel, the imperial congee! (It’s not really named ‘imperial, I made that up, so please don’t go insist on ordering the imperial congee)
Mike ordered the chicken congee. That fellow didn’t wait for me to take the photo at its original ‘state’ as it was first presented, and scooped away from the large bowl into his tiny bowl! I had to set the focus on the little green ‘bush’ of onion springs to ‘blur’ out the background of the ‘ravaged mess’.
Being a Teochew, I should love congee. What can I say, I guess being part Teochew and part Hokkien, not all the Teochew traits are passed on into my genes. I don’t fancy congee that much, I don’t really enjoy hot liquidy hot food that takes forever to cool; that said, I love western style creamy soup. I know, me and my quirky habits. Sue me!
I was however, encouraged to take some of the congee, because the extremely picky husband gave a thumbs-up after tasting it. I trust Bel’s recommendation too. It was GOOD!!!!!
Next up, the shrimp dumpling (Har Gow in Cantonese). I love shrimp dumpling, the authentic ones. The less authentic ones are mixed with pork.
Then, come the deep-fried shrimp dumpling with salad cream. All time favorite too. I was disappointed when I saw 3 pieces served. I made a sad face – I am a darn manipulative biatch – and complained, ‘It is wrong to serve 3 pieces. Who should get the 3rd piece? If we fight, how?’ Of course, I get the 3rd piece – birthday, or not. 
Another favorite dish – deep-fried tofu skin wrapped with shrimp fillings. See, even number is good. It didn’t matter, really, I think I ate more than the Pony. Hah!
When posted on facebook, the super foodie master, Belinda, commented that this is to be dipped in vinegar…. (the rest is not that important). Vinegar?? huh?? You mean V.I.N.E.G.A.R??? Oh, so the vinegar was meant for this? Er well, we ‘discovered’ the vinegar after we forcibly stuffed all the food down the throat.
Me: Hey, what is that dark-colored sauce? (compared to my soy sauce, that looked darker)
Mike: hmmm, vinegar?
Me: What is that for? Why didn’t you tell me there is vinegar? Do you think it’s for the ‘toad’ (read on for ‘toad’ dish)?
Mike: hmmm, maybe.
Me: (¬_¬) why didn’t you tell me earlier?
Mike: Come, open your mouth, pour it in, stand up, shake a little. Same effect!
Me: ！(◎_◎;)
‘Chee Cheong Fan’ came next. I believe it is wrap made from rice flour, wrapped with shrimps and served with soy sauce. I have tasted better ones, so this dish served at Imperial Treasure only scored a ‘pass’ in the score sheet. The skin is not thin and smooth enough.
Here comes the ‘Toad’!! Presentation is important for a highly visual person like myself. This looked a little scary. The clear and shiny skin reminded me of that toad, hence the nick. I struggled to take the first bite. I finished all 3 after failed attempts to force the husband to share this dish.
I don’t know what is the skin made of, but the filling is mushroom and vegetables. It actually tastes fine, but I find it a tad too oily in the filing. I believe the ingredients are stir fried, wrapped (probably glutinous rice, because it’s a little sticky on touch, therefore they glazed the skin with a little oil) and steamed, which makes the skin transparent.
Although the dishes came in small portions. 6 dishes for just the 2 of us were plenty. We were so full!
I was having blocked nose shortly after we sat at the table. By the time we called for the bill, the symptoms – which I believe is allergic reactions – became worse.
We have developed yet another ‘new’ tradition in our marriage. During my birthday month, we enjoy a special discount from one of our favorite apparel brands. As odd as we are, we only shop in this brand for clothes (casual or work) for him, on my birthday! How strange is that!
The story goes that the husband used to only tailor his work attire at the tailor shop that was originally located in Mandarin Hotel. The husband is not only fussy about food – yes, he makes no effort to hide that ‘quality’, so his colleagues and even his boss would pass the menu to him when dining in group – he is also very particular in his clothes. In his defence, most labels do not make sizes for the ‘petite’ and slender Asian men. He is right about that. Mike is kind of ‘trimmed’. When we found a brand that makes XS, and fits him so perfectly as though it was tailor-made just for him, it becomes the favorite brand immediately.
That year, before we left for a holiday trip (the year which I can’t remember, who remember dates other than their own birthdays!), we walked into the shop and grabbed a bunch of clothes. At the cashier, the nice lady told us that there was promotion and that I would qualify to apply for membership. We did just that and enjoyed the discount right away. Since, we would ‘restock’ his wardrobe for casual and work clothes during my birthday month.
Restaurant information
Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#02-06 Great World City
Singapore 237994
Tel: (65) 6732 2232
Mon-Sat: 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 11pm
Sun & PH: 10.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 11pm
The norm is that I would wait outside the changing room while the boy changed and modeled for me. I would ‘approve’ or ‘disapprove’. With years of practice, I don’t even try to do it too nicely when disapproving the ‘wrong’ clothes. I keep things simple, ‘you won’t wear it’. He believes me. ‘No, not nice’. He trusts me. I would love to say, ‘give me all your money’. I hope he would gladly does that too!
I am a homebody, if you haven’t noticed by now. By the time we paid for the purchases, my energy level dipped to floor. It’s understandable, right? By this time, I was already having running nose, and looked like I cried my eyes out with the teary eyes.
We were deciding between Starbucks and TCC. ‘Starbucks’, as I planned to order the iced green tea latte. ‘Too crowded’, the husband said. (¬_¬) Why ask then? We headed to TCC.
We even have a ‘regular’ spot now! It’s almost a déjà vu, he would always give me the option between the 2 coffee chain, then, starbucks is forever too crowded, and we always ended up at TCC!
I ordered the Lychee Jazz. It’s creepy. I was thinking about Belinda’s Pina Colada that made her ‘drunk’ at the mani parlour, and I was wanting Lychee (not a fan of pineapple), and Mike said, ‘Lychee Jazz’? He does that sometimes, he invades and hijacks into my train of thoughts and steal information from there. He is a mind-hacker!
He ordered the Lychee Tea Freeze. He didn’t like what he ordered, he complained that it was too cold. Mister, the keyword is ‘freeze’, not exactly the tea or lychee, ‘yo know?
Then, another standard set in. The boy dozed off in public, always! (see photo below – taken at the Restaurant on site of the hotel) I told the waitress, ‘I don’t know him, really. I have no idea why he sat at my table.’.
TCC @ Great World City
1 Kim Seng Promenade, #01-29 Great World City
Postal : 237994
Phone : 6737 3317
Fax : 6737 4177
Business Hours:
Sunday to Thursday & Public Holidays – 8am to 11pm
(Last Food Order – 10.15pm, Last Drink Order – 10.30pm)
Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holidays – 8am to 1.30am
(Last Food Order – 12.45am, Last Drink Order – 1am)
**Time travel back to before we headed out for the birthday meal**
I was on facebook thanking all the nice friends who posted birthday wishes on my wall.
Suddenly, I remembered that I should probably pick out some lucky numbers for 4D.
Me: Dear, could you write 0 to 9 on a piece of paper for me to pick?
Mike: orh.. (similar to ‘okay’)
Of course, he wrote all the numbers on the paper, without cutting them up for me to pick. What was I thinking? If he was any less funny, we wouldn’t be married. Not that I agreed to marry him for his sense of humour; I tend to think that I helped to ‘enhance’ this quality of his, even though I am not at all funny. Strange things happen to us, all the time.
**Time travel to the night before**
The husband went out for social meeting with his friends. They had ‘hi-tea’ buffet. Buffet!!!! I WANT BUFFET!
He came home with a happy face, and said, ‘I bought you a present!’. I do like the silver ribbon and box. I was also starving.
Anyway, he came home with a cake. He picked chocolate mousse cake. It’s really moussy and soft. He ‘forced’ me to cut the cake. I hate to cut cake, it’s very difficult to decide the right way to do it, because of the decorations. I love the almond biscuit – base of the cake.
I had another slice in the morning, and gave the rest to my nieces who live across the building. They are more likely to burn the calories quickier than I.
**Time travel to the birthday, minutes before we left home**
Normally, I bun up the hair, because of the crazy humidity and heat in the tropical Singapore. My work which requires me to be working with yarns on a daily basis, doesn’t exactly help with the heat too.
I haven’t been to the hair dresser’s forever, and the hair was very outgrown in every possible way imaginable – at least in my context. I need tidy hair, always.
With only one day out in the street, I can’t fit in the hair dressing appointment into the slot, and I can’t go out with a broom on the head, can I? What did I do? Hey, I am the Queen of DIY, so some people say. (Queen, doesn’t necessarily means achieving excellence in every DIY project; Queen in this context, only means I top the chart of doing anything, and possibly everything on my own. Period.)
I colored my hair, two days before (see, it’s like preparing for my wedding all over again! How exciting!!!), to cover my genetic grey hair – I have this at birth. I trimmed my hair length to 1 inch shorter to tidy up the ends, and layered the hair all around to lighten the weight on the top. As the hair grows longer, it weighs everything down, and can flatten your hair, especially if you don’t have short bangs. Oh well, because of the way I snipped off the hair, the ‘V’ shape at the back of hair is formed ‘naturally’.
**Time travel to 13 Oct**
We slept with desires of the BelLee pie that Mike collected from Belinda the day before. It was a conspiracy.
I can tell you right now, conspiracy theory exists! Everyone conspires with everyone about everything! No kidding!
The two of them conspired, with Bel as the mastermind. The Pony went to pick up the nice smelling ‘loot’ from Bel’s place. He phoned me just before he was coming home. Apparently, I have married quite a decent and uncurious man, because he didn’t peek into the ‘loot’. He asked if wanted to just have cake for dinner.
It was wrong timing, I was packing the supplies and doing ‘brain-cell murdering’ task – costing. I asked him to decide. It was just a little odd that he would get me an early birthday cake.
He came home with packed brown rice and mixed veggies.
He also told me with a cheeky grin on his face, that there was a present for me. I snatched the bag over, and as I removed the red napkins that covered over the ‘present’, I asked, ‘Is it curry puff? Is it? Is it???’. It smelt like curry puff of baked pastry. He just kept quiet. I thought he was trying to be secretive, oh well, it turned out he didn’t know what was inside!
I peeled the foil to reveal the content…. It’s a giant pie!!!!!!!!!! It smelt soooooo gooooooood. I felt almost guilty because a thought flashed by – I don’t want the brown rice anymore, I want the pie!
I ate the brown rice, but my mind was with the pie the whole time. It takes a non-human to resist this, so since I have decided I am just human, I dug into the pie and it was so delicious! It’s mmmm, yummmmmm, mmmmm some more. I was so full, so I kept the rest in the fridge for the next day.
We = Mum + Me, struggled with the heating process of the pie. I am now convinced that I am always confused, because my mum is not very helpful with giving directions.
When asked about the oven settings, she said, ‘use only the ‘wind’ setting to avoid burning’, next, ‘use the fire setting so that the fillings is heated too’, next, ‘can also use both the wind and fire setting’. In between, she and I observed the pie carefully every several minutes.
She said, ‘leave the foil on’, she removed it anyway.
‘Maybe we can flip or remove the pie crust if it starts to burn and continue to heat the fillings’, I suggested. With almost a sneered tone, she dismissed, ‘Don’t be silly, I guarantee it won’t burn’. She flipped the crust anyway.
I am grateful that I turn out quite alright despite the confusing and conflicting directions that the mum gave and gives throughout my growing up and till now.
Alas, the pie survived all odds, and we had the heartiest breakfast. The mum must have pinched some vinegar by mistake (the Chinese saying to describe a person of being jealous). She kept on and on to tell me that she knew how to make that pie too, and despite all that, she had 2nd helping while we had only one. If I weren’t careful, she might just leave me with an empty tray! (It happened!!!)
Along with yumilicious pie, was a bag full of treasures.
Little horsey – known to us as pony – charm. Of course there is a Pony! (I so love this little horsey, and his smug smile is annoyingly cute)
Belinda visited Hong Kong (her birthday trip) in early October, and met with Debbie. They have carefully handpicked these little cuties for me.
We do love owls, as Bel remembered seeing a carved owl that we bought in Krabi and Bali, respectively.
I have grown to appreciate elephants too, because the FengShui master told us that elephant is very auspcious animal, especially with the trunk up. (Different for elephant to be placed at home; it should have a humbling mannerism with the trunk down)
And, where there is a Pony, there is a Meow! How considerate! And, cruelly relevant in sizes too!! Hey!
Deb picked out a beautiful brolly that comes with a Japanese girl on the handle. The girl wears 2 hair buns! She exclaimed (I would imagine that she screamed or yelled!), ‘Doesn’t this reminds you of our Lis?’ Sure thing, I am reminded of me too!
I have designed a Shintzu Japanese doll after myself. I have always imagined myself with two pigs’ tails or hair buns. It is a ‘compensation’ to my younger self. Like I said, I am born with genetic grey hair, so I was not (still not) comfortable with spliting my hair into sections that will reveal the grey hair more prominently. I only tied my hair in pigs’ tails or hair buns at home when I was a child.
My doll design doesn’t always reflect the person as realistically. It is a personal playground to allow that Me-Child to dance her dances, freely. If I wanted something to look exactly like me, I would take a photo. 
The well wishes come in pretty packaging and card. I cherish and appreciate.
**Time travel to 08 Oct**
With more financial commitments in housing matter landed on the shoulder, and that the government department ignoring my reaching out for help, we decide to cut back on presents and other expenditures. I used to trust that we will always have a dependable government, I guess this is the year of change, in perspective, belief systems, and fundamental trust. See, this happens when the minister and his office ignore the citizen despite the numerous pleas. How can I trust to have the problems resolved when I am not being listened to?
So, we implemented the ‘no present policy’. (like it would work! We have that in-force since 2 years ago, so far, it’s just slimming down the price tag, not exactly abolished)
The Pony gets around it and paid for my business expenditures instead! See, I have wanted the impulse sealer for a while now, but because I was going to indent a bulk order soon, I didn’t want to burst the procurement budget for the month. Oh well, looks like, I get to have the pie and eat it. 
Then, come the quirks. He placed the shopping bag by the bed, and said, ‘I bought presents for you’. Guess what, ‘Zam-Buk’ for gentle healing; and ‘VapoRub’ ointment!
What do these things tell you about me? Sure, I am a very clumsy person and I have allergies! I have never used Zam-Buk until I reached early twenties. The first cute tiny tin was also a gift, from a male friend working across my counter. We lived near to each other, so we took bus home together whenever we were both on the evening shift. He noticed that I had cuts and bruises regularly, so he introduced me to Zam-Buk. I was resistant to it at first, it’s like a grey color grease with strange scent. It would be nice to be minty or cooling, but it’s not, so it didn’t feel like it was working. I used it anyway. Since I hardly pay attention to the regular bruises and cuts, I can’t tell for sure if the ointment helped at all.
**Time travel to 27 Jul**
Earlier this year, Belinda has already gave me an early present. She made this lovely pair of earrings using pink opal (Opal is known as the October’s birthstone). I honestly didn’t expect anything more, this already came as a pleasant surprise.
**Time travel to 21 Jul**
Cynthia, a long time good friend (way before our crafting days) made me a long necklace. Remember I don’t like surprises? I stand corrected because I do love surprises when the other person has given in so much thoughts and considerations as to not inconvenient me in any way.
Cyn made ma a matching necklace, to the bracelet that she had made me some time back. I love that bracelet, needless to say, I love the necklace too!
Yes, dear friends, if you must surprise me, please send them in the mail. Thank you very much. ♪(´ε｀ )
**Time travel back to the birthday, 17 Oct**
The day ended with a quick tour to our future home. It looked.. different, from the previous visit. They have fences around the area that the buildings are to be constructed. The Pony ignored me when I started to remark on my preference for the fence color.
He circled around, and I began to get confused – which is normal – and asked, ‘where are we now?’. ‘Still here, just going around it’.
Back home, the running nose got worse. I popped in the heavier dose of Clarinase, but it didn’t help. I dug into the drug box and found Zyrtec. It cleared all the symptoms within 10 mins! While I was thankful to the effectiveness of the small white tablet, I can’t say the same about the side effects which last till now (as I type).
Yesterday was bad. Dry mouth, dizziness, and difficulty in breathing, are not exactly the dream combination that I wished for. The effects are wearing off by today, so I only have residual dry mouth effect lingering.
I am confident that I will be as good as new by tomorrow!
