bake-a-cake-day

to make up for the missed photo opportunities yesterday... i baked a cake... hahaha no... i was juz seized wif an urge to bake this really simple cake recipe tt i hv baked before (last week to be precise... wif my fren, i assisted him)

so i went down to grab ingredients namely castor sugar, eggs, butter, plain and self-raising flour and the loaf tin plus a (lousy) zester... and thus the baking process began... a tad messy so i didn't take any pictures... but thanks to my sis' trusty mixer... we soon had a cake in baking... =)



it took a good one hr to bake the cake... (yah dun think its small so dun need to take so long... =P) after which it was time to take it out to cool... and subsequently tip out of the tin...



and then it was time to eat... =P~ yumz...



so tah-dah~!!! my first baking attempt... ;)

a day without my phone...

left my phone at home this morning in a 'dazed-out' rush... feeling weird tt i'm not weird abt it.. u know how dependent we all are on technology... and my phone is definitely one of them... which means no pictures today... sigh...

actually tt phone is not even mine (no i din steal it).. i borrowed it until such time tt i would need to return... and during these few months of using it... it has provided me wif loads of photos... saw something i think is funny? whip out the camera and click away... wan a memory of the moment and din think to bring the digi cam? the camera phone comes in handy... =)

my only gripe would be tt d picture quality isn't tt fantastic and i can't take photos in near darkness (gotta be pretty bright) but otherwise it's a fantastic model of a camera phone... i guess frm now onwards... one main criteria for my purchase of a mobile model is whether it can take good photos... ehhehe...

how ads at MRT stations are made...

saw this yesterday night after macdonalds supper at raffles pl... taken ard 11pm



brought to mind the beautiful silkair station ads (ambient/outdoor) at cityhall and the trains, which was all over the place... which must hv taken a while... alignment etc etc... i took some photos at the station... juz gotta find where they are...

anyhow... this was the ad that they're sticking up... i'm thinking there must be a series of three or four of them.. but i only managed to capture this particular one before hopping onto my train...



flipped thru TODAY and saw that RD has also placed the same ad in print.. so its a simultaneous rollout of ads for them... at the same time... the silkair campaign continues wif an interesting competition encouraging consumers to take photos wif the backdrops etc and then send in to them to stand a chance to win plane tickets... =P now i REALLY need to find those photos... =P

its a slow n sleepy day...

mmm title says it all.. methinks me shld try to post a photo once a day... =P

NLB: big and new!

i went to the library on sunday... the newly opened national library located next to bras brasah building.. dun ask me wat road it is located at.. i dunno...

there were adults and kids all over the place... we were all tourists in a new environment... ahahah everyone took the lifts up and down to the various floors to check out the new building.. and equally there were many who checked out the 'borrowable' section at the basement...

my first impressions when i entered the library was 'cool! got video at the book drop ah!' followed by '=O library foyer and lobby very big...'



excitedly, i went to the basement (know tt perhaps there might not be any windows.. but hoping tt it's nice... heh... i was faced wif grey-ish carpets and grey shelves... -_-" okay the red backs of the sofas were good... but the rest of the lending library sorta gave me this impression of a 'storage' space for books that aren't in the reference collection...

sooooo many people everywhere! kids section equally bleh (they had the painted trees and stuff.. but carpeting were the same wif outside) plus the 'open courtyard' in the middle of this greyness was locked up... yeah.. the doors were closed... and there were leaves ard it too... didn't seemed anyone cleaned it for a while... heh...



decided to check out the other levels... went to 8th floor instead (everyone wanted to go all the way up...) took a few photos of the view..



went inside the reference section and was amazed... bright... spacious wif windows tt let in the light (i'm a big fan of natural light whereever possible).. compared to the basement... it was really a totally different feeling... *plus it was sooooo quiet*

sat down and took out a book i had borrowed frm another library and proceeded to attempt to read one chapter... quite conducive actually... =) perhaps it'll be a good pl to do some work at... went out after a while and proceeded to take the escalators down every level... checked out the open courtyard facing hotel intercontinental... i'm sure alot of couples would go there.. small spaces for chats... =P



all in all, the building is big but all the public gets to borrow out is located at B1... the rest of the 14-storey building is dedicated to research n reference materials (can't be borrowed out)... but they're more beautiful than the depressing B1... =/ so sad... how come building so big we only get to browse ard the basement for books to borrow and read?

guess they wanted to segregate the libraries out... neighbourhood and regional libraries are more conducive for borrowing and reading while the NLB central branch is for people who are doing school/work projects i guess? hrmph...

walnut paste tau huay

walnut paste tau huay, originally uploaded by i am yj.

okay i gotta explain this... i know it looks bleh.. but i tell u the walnut paste is goooooodddd.... juz tt the soft beancurd (tau huay) was a tad weird when mixed wif it since it wasn't sweet...

can't rem what was the store name.. but know tt they hv branches in cineleisure basement and suntec basement next to cedele... =) go try!

straw included...

most convienent soy bean drink ever!, originally uploaded by i am yj.

saw this in a local supermarket... its pretty funny... coz the straw comes included wif the drink... so its okay if u r craving for soy bean drink in d middle of d night and this is all that's left... at least u dun hv to hunt for a straw... =P some chinese/taiwanese brand i think?

things to do wif ur satay sticks

things to do wif ur satay sticks, originally uploaded by i am yj.

this is wat happens when u are eating satay and drinking coconut juice/water and u dun wanna dirty the table wif ur satay sticks... stick them into the shell and fan them out to create an 'attractive' table display...

great for beach parties... u could potentially use sparklers in lieu of satay sticks... =P hehehehe...

wahhh i wanna go aussie again!! >_<

plane05, originally uploaded by i am yj.

this was taken in my second yr of studies in aussieland (a couple yrs back.. sigh) didn't realise how it would turn out.. but was really pleasantly surprised with the colours of the sky and the highlights on the plane wings... =P

we are not afraid

can't believe it... a few weeks ago, london was the target of a terror attack and they were once again under attack... =/ wat sort of 'world' are we living in?

my friend sent me this link yesterday to we are not afraid - a blog (?) to "show the world we're not afraid of what happened in London and that the world is a better place without fear"

right now i think that's what we all need... a dose of optimism and defiance in the face of fear...

oz koalas

oz koalas, originally uploaded by i am yj.

took this during a day trip around the gold coast hinterland... in an aboriginal art shop... felt it sorta (simplistically) wrap up aussie in a photo...

lavender tea at bakerzin

lavender tea at bakerzin, originally uploaded by i am yj.

purple tea!! ahahha first time i saw something that's so interesting... made me feel a bit weird drinking it... lol

travel on a train

travel on a train, originally uploaded by i am yj.

exotic trip! hehe m in a train tt has vines on d handles n stone floors... silkair's ambient ads in action... makes travellin so much more interestin... advertisers should definitely do more of such advertisin! =D

beautiful wallpaper

beautiful wallpaper, originally uploaded by i am yj.

was at barang barang marina sq sometime last week and they had an 'ikea' concept goin on... sections of the store was decorated to give shoppers an idea of what to do wif their rooms.. and this wallpaper caught my eye... it's sooooo gorgeous.. juz had to take a (cam) pic of it... =D

they had a black white version too which was juz wrong... ahahah