Missing last summer

Summer is here again. I'm suddenly overwhelmed by how much I'm missing my time in Yale University last year. I still remember how uncertain I felt after the selection interview at the NUS International Relations Office. I knew that competition was stiff, but I had performed better than expected by not letting my fear and anxiety get me down. I wanted it really badly, because it was Yale. In the United States. You couldn't have imagined my ecstasy when I received the offer email.

This summer programme is not like any other. It is one of the many initiatives of the International Alliance of Research Universities, where students from the 10 prestigious universities globally are given the opportunity to study at the university of their choice, coupled with other unique exposures specific to the selected course every summer.

Till now, I cannot believe how blessed I had been able to study at a university as established and renowned internationally as Yale. What's more, to take a course (International Economics) so related to my major and interest all the way in the United States, the global powerhouse. And to top things up, alongside motivated and intelligent international students who are the creme of the crop in their very own reputable universities. (And sorry I'm still not done) The extremely rustic and beautiful school campus, with an excellent faculty and exuberant students, definitely made this experience the highlight of the 19 years of my education.

I would love to elaborate more on this memorable experience. But I shall leave it to another time. Perhaps I should take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this possible for me, particularly NUS IRO, IARU, Yale University, Banco Santander, and my family and friends who were so happy for me and supported me in whatever ways they could.

Not to forget, the people who had shared those times with me, rushing to meet numerous deadlines and complete piles of readings amidst our weekend travels, surviving grueling and challenging seminar-style lessons which lasted more than 3 hours, twice a week, going for meals in the gorgeous dining halls and engaging in random leisure activities in different corners of Yale (playing table tennis and pool in Berkerley and Caulhoun's butteries, chillaxing on the hammock and tire swing at the secret backyard, going for our colourful flavourful toppings-ful froyo fixes, etc.). There has got to be so many people and so much to mention. But yeah, I really love you guys and I'm missing the times spent together.

It feels so surreal right now, it was such a beautiful dream. Everyone is all over the world right now and I don't know when we'll meet again. Yet for sure, I know that the 6 weeks we've been through, albeit short, will stay forever in our hearts.

IARU GSP Yale 2012 <3

Crabbie Day, Not a Crappy Day!

I'm so proud of myself coming up with such a witty title for this post! The release of exam results yesterday morning resulted in my intermittent waking up throughout the night's sleep to check my phone for the revelation SMS. Glad that my results were up to expectations. And so today, after the crazy sleep bug continued harassing me despite me waking up at 2 in the afternoon, my aunt proposed treating us to a crab feast! The glutton in me immediately perked up, enough for me to wash up and look decent enough to leave the house.

Arriving at the entrance of Seafood Paradise at Senja-Cashew Community Club, we realized it opens at only 6pm for dinner time. With half an hour more to go, we strolled to Bukit Panjang Plaza via the link bridge for some snacks and drinks. I bought my favourite Gong Cha Alisan Tea with Pudding before joining my mum and aunt at the 717 Trading store to enjoy the durian crepes they bought! It was buy 5 get 1 free at $2.20 each and  so they bought 6. The tables and seats provided were pretty cute cos you'd be facing a huge slab of mirror while eating and somehow the mirror makes you look better than you really are hehe. I thought the durian crepes were rather expensive because we were looking at each other in disbelief when we witnessed how little durian the staff scooped onto the crepes. However, I guess it is worth a try cos you can squeeze your crepe for the durian lump to be spread evenly throughout your snack and so, you would not miss the durian in every bite you take! And ta da, it was already half an hour past 6 and we slowly made our way back to Seafood Paradise for our Crab Feast!!!

This Seafood Paradise outlet at Bukit Panjang is their one and only outlet located in a residential area, but I can say it has one of the best scenery and ambience among its 4 outlets, simply because it sits on a huge reservoir surrounded by lush greenery and oversees a beautiful skyline sculpted by neatly-built HDB flats. I can't help but feel very fortunate and proud to be living in Singapore, living in this neighbourhood. 

Seafood Paradise is located at where the pink arrow points!

The posh interior and what you see from inside!

I was busy snapping away when they started serving our food and I shall let the pictures say their piece :) First up, fried Kang Kong with cuttlefish! The Kang Kong is fried the tempura style, very different from the usual sambal Kang Kong. Not exactly to my liking but very unique with the crisp of the veges and sweet sauce. According to the waiter, this is pretty popular among diners. 

Next up would be the favourite of my brother and mine! Extraordinarily tender and the cliche 入口即化 (literally melts in your mouth) stir-fried beef cubes. My brother claims that these beef cubes taste even better than the steaks at Jack's Place! Oppps, different styles I guess!

Oh so tender!

So succulent!

So irresistable!

Omg, it's such a bad mistake to be writing this post full of tantalizing food pictures at this unearthly hour! Oh well, and here come the main stars of the day... CRABBIES!!! We ordered one Sri Lankan crab each for both flavours, Butter and Black Pepper! I still prefer Butter largely because you can dip the fried Man Tous into the yummy creamy buttery sauce (and my stomach just growled at the reminder of its awesomeness).

The Butter crab in a menacing pose!

Close-Up!

The killer combination!!!

The freshly fried and warm Man Tous at their best!

And here comes the Black Pepper crab! We were pleasantly surprised and impressed by the plating! So pretty that it comes with a "painting" of a plant! And of course, the flesh of the crabs are always so sweet, fresh and filling. 

The pretty plant on the left!

Credits to my brother for taking this picture

This picture of the Black Pepper Crab screams AWESOMENESS!

I had a really great experience taking my time leisurely picking out the flesh from the shell which were hateful obstacles, yet making the "success" of tasting the flesh even sweeter. The waitresses were extremely attentive, frequently changing your plates to enhance your dining experience. But I was glad that they left me alone when I was engrossed with all the crab pincers and legs on my plate. Due to carelessness and using too much force prying open, a pincer slid out of my fingers onto my blouse and NEW WHITE F21 shorts! Fortunately, the stains were not too bad. So here are some photos of me and my family who had the honour to be part of this crab feast, cos we hid this from my uncle and cousins who were boringly home and wondering where we were! :P

That's all for today and if I didn't remember wrongly, the bill was about S$130 for the 4 of us. Do drop by Seafood Paradise at Bukit Panjang for a unique seafood experience for special occasions or just when you feel like it, like us! But of course, choose the day you wanna visit wisely because... they're currently having this special promotion which varies according to the different days of the week! (That's why we chose Tuesday for our Crab Feast!)

Poster board displayed outside the restaurant

You may visit their official website for more details and promotions. And for your convenience, the address and opening hours of the Senja-Cashew CC outlet are below! Cheers!

#02-01 Senja-Cashew Community Club

(Opp Bukit Panjang Plaza)

Singapore 679910

Tel: 67669813

Opens Daily

11.30am - 3pm (last order at 2.30pm)

6pm - 11pm (last order at 10.30pm)

Lazy Sunday Picnic

What a lazy Sunday it has been! 

With my topsy-turvy body clock, I climbed out of bed at about 3 before washing up and racking my brains for what to bring for the picnic potluck. While gobbling some of my mum's seafood Tom Yum soup up for a quick lunch, I spotted my mum enjoying a bunch of grapes in her grasp and tada! I can bring the super sweet and seedless grapes I have at home! Fruits are definitely perfect for picnics, sweet & refreshing. 

I grabbed some Bengawan Solo kuehs from BPP before a haphazard drive to Stadium MRT. Just to clarify, the drive was haphazard not because I am a reckless driver but because of road closures unregistered by the GPS! Resulting in my one-way-ticket-drive into the heart of my fearful Marina zone. Eventually, I took a large detour via ECP and Mountbatten before meeting up with Bro's car and arriving at our destination (Tanjong Rhu Road; free parking). We took a short relaxing walk by the river to Gardens by the Bay where we sourced for a comfy shady spot to lay our mats and settle down for a nice, cutesy picnic. And that was when the awesomeness of my Sunday began... Check out the photos brimming with sunshine & joy below :)

Thanks to Bro and Sis for introducing us Gardens by the Bay, as well as organizing this picnic! Being around this bunch of people reminds me of our havoc days in hall <3 And this gorgeous, relaxing environment just makes the food and company even more enjoyable. My little brain kept reminding me that I gotta bring my loved ones here for a picnic soon because not many people know of this place yet. So hurry if you want a serene and cosy picnic to yourselves!

One last photo of the evening scenery before leaving!

A-Photo-A-Day Series: Summer Holiday 2012

Presenting to you... my summer holiday 2012 depicted by this A-Photo-A-Day series! I will be making an effort to capture at least one moment each day of my summer for weekly summaries of this holiday. And I believe this will inadvertently motivate me to accomplish more and be more productive every single day in order for meaningful photos to be shared! You may try this too!

Social Media Buttons Added! & US Visa Issues

Yay! I've added pretty Sherbet-coloured social media icons to my blog at the side bar on the right, courtesy of Her New Leaf's Freebie Friday! Liking her Facebook page will entitle you to the other 2 exclusive colours, Poppy and Sherbet (I'm using this!). 

While figuring out how to incorporate these cute little buttons into my blog, I have found out that saving your photos under the Public folder of Dropbox enables you to copy the public URLs. You may then use your images anywhere online which requires the image source, in my case, in the HTML code. You can do away with photo-hosting sites like Photobucket!

Anyway, just to rant a little before I head for bed, despite the efficiency of the US embassy in approving my US Visa (for my upcoming Summer Programme at Yale University in July), receiving the Visa today and seeing that my name has been printed in the wrong sequence has been extremely perplexing. 

My full name is unique because my Christian name comes before my surname, then followed by my given Chinese name. When the application forms repeatedly reminded me to fill in my name identical to that on my passport, I was confused. For my name to be printed identical to that of my passport, I included my Christian name in the surname column as well. However, I have only found out very recently (if only it was a week earlier!) from a travel agent that the correct sequence of your name is reflected in the barcode at the bottom of your passport details page. And due to the silly act of mine, my name reflected in the barcode at the bottom of the Visa is different from that in my passport. That's it! I guess paying more can definitely get it rectified but I've had enough of paying for the exorbitant administrative fees! And so, I'm very troubled. 

But at least I have some useful knowledge to share with you guys, that is, your details in the barcode at the bottom of your passport/VISA is what that matters. May this save you much hassle in the administrative matters when preparing for your travel!