Summer Holidays.

Uh oh! 

Sorry for the long absence taken by me!

I'm been so busy with school, with settling down back in Bangkok, and really setting out to fully enjoy my last three months here in the final term of my course.

After my short term break back home, I came back to Bangkok with my mum, who was joining me for a short trip and will be visiting the uncles up north and all.

This post is all about what I did within that short 10 days of "summer holidays"! 

First up, I've got to share this little incident of how I almost missed my flight.

Oh yes, I was really, like 2 minutes late from the official counter closing timing. The story goes like this - I was supposed to meet Charmaine, my school mate at the airport at 2pm, our flight is at 3.30, last luggage check in is at 2.30, counter closes at 2.50.

I got out of my house early in a cab, got stuck in the traffic jam for an hour plus, got thrown out from the cab to take city link MRT instead, which by then, I was all sweaty, running from station to stations, panicking, calling Ben in tears, and by the time I finally got on the train bound for the airport, it was already 2.20pm, and the entire train journey takes about 20 minutes.

Then, to top it off, just before reaching the airport and I was supposed to call Charmaine to notify her about my arrival...my phone had no more call credits, because I spent it all talking and crying to Ben earlier.

Kudos to Mew for helping me to relay messages after messages to Charmaine, which I've sent through LINE.

When I ran and finally reached the counter, it was already 2.52pm, I started blabbering to the lady saying that I cannot contact my friend because I have no credits, and I couldn't find Charmaine either!

Just then, Charmaine popped out from no where and shouted "WRONG COUNTER!!".

Yep. I was blabbering to the lady at the wrong counter. 

HAHAHA! So, thank goodness she checked us both in already, and I just had to drop my luggage. Meanwhile, we had the priority lane tickets to clear customs faster, and we ran frantically down to the gate.

WORST day of my life.

I was so close to purchasing new tickets for the both of us. And boy, I am just super grateful to be on that plane, back home! =')

Meet mummy dearest for dinner that very night, and we went to Penang's Kitchen at Katong.

Ordered a few of their specialities, the Penang Assam Laksa, Char Kway Teow (stir fried black noodles with sliced preserved sausages, prawns and vegetables) and the Herbal Duck Mee Sua (Herbal soup with duck drumstick served with rice noodles).

Ben also ordered his favourite, the Penang Lor Bak, which is minced stewed pork wrapped with bea curd skin and served with a sweet sauce.

Ben and myself used to enjoy dinner at this place because the food is good, and taste as close as you can get, in Penang. However, our recent trip has been a major disappointment.

The Assam Laksa was not as richly flavoured as it was before, the duck was so tough it almost flew across the table when I was trying to tear the meat away from the bone, and the Char Kway Teow didn't have enough flavour/stir fry enough.

The only saving grace, was the Penang Lor Bak, which was soft and tender on the inside, and crispy like how it should be, on the outside.

Maybe it was just that night (Thursday night at 8pm, no one else was at the restaurant, we were the only customers) so the food was cooked half heartedly? Or the chef was off duty that night? I'll never know. Maybe your trip would be worth your time.

Penang Kitchen
283 Tanjong Katong Road
Tel: 6348-8595
Open daily except on Tuesday: 11.00am - 3pm; 4pm - 9.45pm


Then, on Sunday night, I brought Framm, who was visiting Singapore with Jane to one of my favourite Bak Kut Teh (Spare Ribs Soup) place for dinner.

There was the usual you tiao (fried dough fritters) to dip into the soup, the spare ribs soup, the pork trotters, the pickled vegetables, peanuts, liver soup and vegetables soup.

Yeah, that's Framm's face, she's looking in disbelief at the amount of food Ben and myself had ordered for 4 people.

This was at Tanjong Pagar area, the restaurant serves the white peppery type of Bak kut teh, instead of the herbal type. Thank goodness the taste is always consistent each and every type I've been there!

Outram Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha
#01-05/07, Tanjong Pagar Complex, 7 Keppel Road
Tel: 6222 9620
Open daily except Mondays: 7am - 4am.


Next, to satisfy Framm's cravings for Mao Shan Wang/ Durians (a type of durian with bitter sweet taste and little seeds), we head to one of the durian house somewhere in Serangoon!

It was super good! Writing about this now makes me crave for it again! =( We had like 4-5 durians, and was thoroughly satisfied. Sorry, I can't remember the exact location of this durian place. Perhaps next time when I drop by again, I'll take the details! Heehee!

As this was Framm's first trip down in Singapore, we brought her to the usual touristy spots to take photos! HAHAHA! There's more of course, that we've helped her take, but I'm not going to flood my blog with her photos! =D

The next few days was spent with my friends, my brothers, my mum, my in laws, with baking etc. The week past by so fast I was in bed one of those night, pleading with Ben not to send me back to Bangkok. HAHAHA!

Went for Mookrata a.k.a Thai steam boat with my brothers and mum and Ben at Tom Yum Kung Fu.

Not bad for thai steamboat, but the environment was really small, and I had to watch my back each and every time the serves was walking past with a huge burning stove, because the space was that constrained.

I missed having dinners with Ben. =(

Tom Yum Kung Fu
16 Circular Road (Boat Quay Area)
Tel: 6536 1646
Mon - Fri: 11:30 - 15:00
Mon - Fri: 18:00 - 22:30
Sat: 18:00 - 22:30

Then, on Monday, I went for my haircut and also meet Jane, Framm and my brothers for dinner at Newton Food Centre, trying out some of the local seafood delights which they have to offer there. =) It was a pleasant meal despite all the hawkers trying to sell their business.

I also had a dinner with my daddy Lim and brothers, a simple but yet satisfying dinner. So happy to be spending some treasured time with my dad. I hope the boys are taking care of him! =) 

Then, it was back to baking.

Paris Brest

Polish Lemon Cake - which I had so much trouble with, and it was supposed to be the easiest! But somehow, the cake was pretty dry.

Black Forest cake - tried my hands at a new recipe, wasn't that bad, but the glaze could be better. Layers of chocolate biscuit with fresh chantilly cream and rum cherries.

This cake reeks of Kirsch, which I'm sure my fellow friend, Mew will enjoy!

I had my girls, Chanel and Mabel over at my place one of those days to try some of the bakes which I've made, they were supposed to have some delicious Bacon Quiche for tea, but the bacon quiche was taking way too long to bake, and so they left without tasting that. =(

I set about the next few days, experimenting with baking Bacon quiche and using different kinds of cheese.

Thank goodness I succeeded just in time to prepare a fresh batch for Ben's crew during one of his events.

Ben's boss invited us for dinner, and we had after dinner drinks at Highlander, where I down glasses after glasses of neat whiskey on the rocks. Whoa, I've never done that before, but man, it taste good!!

A blur and super red shot of us, due to the insufficient lighting at the place. 

Then, I had like a rest from all the baking, and had dinner, lunch with my in laws. My Mummy J just came back from her trip to Australia, visiting my Sis-in-law and her new born son (Baby Evan!! =)) and my Daddy Teh just came back from his golfing trip in Hua Hin. So I managed to catch them both on different days to have some dinner/lunch together before I get back in December.

As I've mentioned, the holidays flew by so fast, I was pleading one night to Ben not to send me back to Bangkok, I just want to stay. HAHAHA! But this hubby of mine gently reminded me that I still have one more term to go, that I'm supposed to be doing what I love, and that he will come visit me!

Yeah, with that, I baked one last bacon quiche for my in laws and I took the plane back to Bangkok with my Mummy N.

The mini ham and cheese quiche for Ben's crew. 

Aww. I miss my honey bunny already!!! =(I have so much love and admiration for Ben, and that alone makes me put in effort to keep the relationship going. There's never a day that I feel alone, because I know I have him. (ya lah, being mushy now. HAHA!) So yeah! 3 more months before I'm back for good!! =) Can't wait!!!

And, that's about it! I'm back again to conquer the last final term of my course.

*Fighting!!*