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The ever-changing work schedule + Chatting with my sisters late at night = a very tired Aline + bad skin + headaches. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and not sleeping very well. I keep having weird dreams.

I just enjoyed 3 days off work and feeling great today. I feel like I’m ready to tackle the long week ahead.
I will have 8 a.m shifts for the next few days. I hate having to wake up early and leave home by 06:15 but at least I will be back home before 19:30 . I kinda prefer the 11 a.m shifts.

Mike came to Singapore for a couple of days with other friends and we met up at Vivo. The others went back to their hotel after shopping.

As usual, food pics.
At Thai Accent restaurant:
Mango Salad

Tom Yum soup

Mango Tango

Phat Thai (Pad Thai)

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It felt so weird having to go to work during the weekend. I even missed the Wine and Cheese party organized by Colas. argh. Today is Monday and I have to go to work again. My rest days for this week will be Tuesday and Friday. Can’t wait!
I really need to get a netbook to carry around with me. I always feel too tired after work and just want to have dinner (sometimes even skip dinner) , shower and go to bed. I spent about 1 1/2 hrs on public transport (bus, train and bus again) in the morning and another 1 1/2 hrs in the evening with nothing to do while waiting to reach work/home. I start work at 10:45 today but I need to leave home by 9 a.m. I have some time left and decided to update this blog of mine. (finally!!!)
Until I get a netbook, I will only update once in a while.

Here’s one food update!

I love Indian food.
I went to teach French for one hour the other day and I was given an Indian breakfast. It was good. I don’t remember the name of this dish and forgot to ask them which part of India it originates from. It was a bit spicy but I love it. I ate my breakfast while my student worked on the small test I gave him. He is on hols right now and I don’t have to tutor him until mid-April. I forgot to ask if he is going back to India during the hols. Anyway, I can just concentrate on work now and enjoy my off days.
Time to eat something before I leave for work. >.< A cheese and ham sandwich………
I want Indian food! :laughing:

If you know me well enough, then you should have been able to guess that I’ll be writing about food. :laughing:

What I like to eat when I’m feeling hungry late at night or early in the morning:
Glutinous rice balls! They are called tāng yuán (汤圆).

(frozen and not yet cooked.)

This Chinese dessert is usually served when it is Winter Solstice. (Some information about the celebration of winter solstice here.) It is also eaten during other Chinese festivals to indicate togetherness or reunion. Since it is so easily available at the supermarkets here in Singapore, I eat glutinous rice balls whenever I feel like it. I was also buying glutinous rice balls quite often when I was still in Shanghai. There are many types of fillings available: peanut, red beans, black sesame etc.
I don’t remember if ready-made frozen glutinous rice balls are sold in Mauritius. We usually make our own glutinous rice balls at home. :flowers: I miss that .

I bought those with peanut fillings.

Boiled in water + a few slices of ginger . Most people like to add sugar to the ginger soup but I don’t add sugar if the glutinous rice balls have sweet fillings inside. I only add sugar if I’m having plain glutinous rice balls with no fillings inside.


I like my glutinous rice balls dry but back in Mauritius, mum was telling us to drink the ginger soup. The fact that I don’t drink the ginger soup is also another reason why I don’t add sugar. If you plan to drink the ginger soup, add sugar.

I don’t really like peanuts but if it is inside glutinous rice balls, then it’s alright. This filling also contains white sesame.
I always feel a bit weird when I eat glutinous rice balls all alone. If I’m going home this December, one of the first things that I’ll do back in Mauritius will be to make glutinous rice balls with my family and eat, sitting at the round dining table. Yes. Let’s not forget the round dining table.

I love KFC’s cheese fries. :love:
I try to avoid eating fast food but I eat KFC’s Cheese fries about 4 times a month. I think it’s good to give in to my cravings sometimes.

I had lunch with Nicolas, one of my primary school best friends about 3 hrs ago. We went to eat at the Coffee Club right outside Raffles Place MRT station. The last time I saw Nicolas was 6 or 7 years ago. I didn’t see him for a couple of years after we finished primary school but we met up again one day thanks to a mutual friend. He is one of the few primary school ex-classmates that I still keep in touch with.

I was thinking about this the other day: I’m still not sure if Singapore is where I should be. I still don’t feel like this is ‘home’ but at least, here I’ve been able to meet up with my good friends again. I have 3 other close friends in Singapore. I’ve met them at different stages of my life and they have been very good friends. A few years ago, I didn’t think that I’d see again after they/I left Mauritius. Now somehow I’ve landed in Singapore and they happen to be working/studying here. I’m really happy.

Back to food…

Soup of the day was Leek and potato soup. It was good. :flowers: I had just finished my soup when I suddenly remembered that I had my camera in my bag.

Mushroom and Parmesan baked rice. I could smell the parmesan as soon as the waiter put the dish down on the table.

Mango peach smoothie

Nicolas had the Honky Tonk Gumbo Set meal. (Weird name!) I didn’t take a photo of his Lychee soda with vanilla ice cream but here’s what his food looked like. (90% of it anyway)
He had already started eating when I took this photo.

We only had one hour to eat and talk but it was good to see him again. We’ve known each other since 1990. That was so long ago. I can’t help feeling a bit old. I miss my carefree childhood days.

The food was good & we got to talk for a while after not seeing each other for so many years. Sounds nice right? The only thing I’m sad about is that I forgot to ask one of the waiters to take our photo. As usual I took photos of food and forgot about taking photos of people. Argh. I’ll try not to forget next time.

Lisa’s friend Jeff came over for dinner last night and Lisa bought Chilli crab, Black pepper crab and some other dishes.

Chilli crab is very popular in Singapore. I’ve heard of this dish even before coming to Singapore.
Audrey and Colas both like the black pepper crab but I didn’t like it much. I preferred the Chilli crab.

This seems to be fried mantou. Mantou are Chinese steamed buns with no fillings.
We dipped the mantou in the chilli crab sauce before eating. yummy!
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As mentioned before, I went on a trip to Hong Kong and mainland China with my youngest sis for ten days.

I was too busy to take photos during my trip. The only photos I took with my camera were on the plane and on the train.

On the plane to Hong Kong:


I didn’t have time to eat at home and had to buy the food on the plane. Jetstar is a budget airline. The plane tickets are cheap but meals aren’t included and have to be bought during the flight. I chose the Hainanese Chicken Rice meal. It was expensive and didn’t taste nice. >.< Next time, I will eat at home or even at the airport.

After I finished eating, I put on the N95 mask that Lisa got for me. Almost everyone was wearing a mask. Mine looked a tad funny but that’s all I had. I found it a bit hard to breathe when wearing the mask. I also had to fill in a health declaration form on the plane. Seeing so many people wearing masks on the plane made me worry a bit.
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Something not related to this entry:
I’ve been sleeping late everyday because I’ve been chatting with my sisters. Argh. The other day I went to bed at 7 a.m . It was 3 a.m in Mauritius. Huge eyebags now. >.<
One of my sisters and I are meeting in Hong Kong next week. It has been 1 year since we've last seen each other.

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Häagen-Dazs ice cream!

They were SGD 5.15 cheaper if buy 2 at ‘Shop n Save’.
I have never tried these two before.

I love anything Green tea: green tea hot drink, green tea cold drink, green tea candy, green tea cake, green tea milkshake, green tea ice cream etc.
I only ate a few spoonfuls. :laughing: I will try the Summer berries & Cream when I’m done with this one.