Look at the stars, look how they shine for you

As we grow up and start to be more aware of things happening around us, we may be disappointed by what we see. The world, is not that perfect after all. And growing up, is not that awesome after all either.

But don't lose hope. Have faith because...

"Look at the stars, look how they shine for you."

 

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

I want a ship, to keep our memories afloat.

All relationships have their ups and downs.

But here's something both you and your partner can do to keep yourselves happy in your relationship- write your unhappiness in sand and carve your joy and blessings on stones. ;)

Let me end this post with a "polaroid" from our recent day tour on board the Diamond Princess cruise. Happy weekend everyone!

TBR again for our eighth

There are several hidden gems in Singapore, particularly in Tiong Bahru. Tiong Bahru is actually a really old estate which has recently become hip and funky with the sprouting of uniquely-decorated cafes, pubs and specialty stores which sport items you may not find anywhere else. After hearing many people raving over the food, ambience and all, Ivan and I have actually gone cafe-hopping one Sunday afternoon for a long-awaited date. Barely 2 weeks later, we are back again, mainly for the bookstore BooksActually. It exudes a rustic literary vibe, with its fiction and literature books beckoning for Ivan (more bookworm than I am) to return cos it closed too early! At 6pm on Sunday.

So of course, to kickstart our Friday night, we headed to BooksActually only to find that there's actually an event held there, where people were reading their pieces of work out loud to the audience. I find it very reassuring and inspiring to see the sheer number of people interested and passionate about the arts and literature in Singapore. And as I was browsing the books on the shelves while keeping my ears open for the sharing session, I came across several Singapore literary publications including one penned by Dick Lee, a collection of Singapore-related poems and a Singlish dictionary!

BooksActually is therefore a must-visit if you're in the neighbourhood! Good place to absorb the bookish aura and take a break from food, food, food!

BooksActually

No. 9 Yong Siak Street

Singapore 168645

+65 6222 9195

Opening hours:

Mon 11am - 6pm

Tue - Fri 11am - 9pm

Sat 10am - 9pm

Sun 10am - 6pm

After doing some research into restaurants/cafes that open late into the night for late dinner till at least 10, since we intended to stay at BooksActually till its closing time at 9pm, we decided on PoTeaTo! One reason was also that it specializes in potato, my favourite, and tea, his favourite. :) And I must say, no regrets. :D  

The entrance of PoTeaTo is pretty misleading, the 1st time I passed the place I thought it must be a really small cafe and did not pay much attention to it as it is more unheard of compared to its neighbours like 40 Hands, Open Door Policy, etc. However, after reading several good reviews online, Ivan and I eagerly stepped into the cafe. The seating space is not exactly huge, but much bigger than expected. Very rustic and cosy decoration and ambience. It got me even more excited! It is free-seating and we had to hang around the teapots/pastries area before getting a table. The good thing is you could use the waiting time to browse the menus and decide on your orders. You gotta make your orders at the counter as well, I guess that's why there isn't service charge, if I didn't remember wrongly. 

The dinner options ($15-$18) were quite limited with fixed sides like potato mash, potato wedges, roasted potatoes, sweet potato mash, fries, etc. I would suggest allowing customers to customize their sides to the main courses! I had a difficult time deciding between the pan-fried salmon with roasted potatoes and roasted chicken leg with sweet potato mash because I wanted roasted chicken leg with roasted potatoes. :( I eventually decided on chicken because salmon wasn't available and Ivan ordered Louisiana pork ribs with potato wedges for himself. Although the chicken has a waiting time of ~30 min (as informed by the waitresses), we had our drinks in jars to keep us happily chatting and immersing in the ambience. We ordered iced chai latte and hazelnut latte ($5.60). I love jars!!!

I highly recommend the pork ribs because there was abundance of meat and the accompanying sauce is freaking awesome! So tempted to ask for more from the counter. The potato wedges were really yummy too. As for the roasted chicken, it was succulent and given that it is my favourite thigh meat, I couldn't pick much on it. But I would really prefer potato mash to sweet potato mash, anytime! I would rather the consistent savoury taste throughout my main course than to have the tinge of sweetness from my mash. While there is room for improvement, I must admit that all in all, I was extremely satisfied with the dinner, ambience and of course the company. ;)

And to end off this really long post, (you should've guessed I have alot of assignments due coming week because I tend to do trivial things when I have more pressing matters on hand), happy twirdsary darling! <3

PoTeaTo

78 Yong Siak Street #01-18

Singapore 163078

+65 6221 2488

Opening Hours:

Tue - Fri 11am - 10pm

Sat 10am - 10pm

Sun 10am - 9pm

DIY Easter Egg

Happy Easter Day!

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend :)

In preparation for our Easter date, an impromptu idea came to my mind and I decided to make my love an Easter egg! Well, an Easter egg needs to satisfy 2 conditions. One, looks like an egg. Two, looks pretty. I think my DIY Easter egg more than fulfilled the requirements, it tasted sweet and contains a surprise too!

All thanks to our childhood favorite, Kinder Surprise! Remember? Egg-shaped milk chocolate enclosing a capsule with a toy surprise?

I haven't had Kinder Surprise for years and it has kinda transformed, at least for the ones in Singapore (cos I saw on the Instagram feed of a friend on exchange in UK with the traditionally wrapped in foil one). It is now in a disposable plastic container that splits open into half where the snack is in the first half and the toy int the second. I prefer the old one!

But oh well, back to the point. It's perfect for an Easter egg cos it's the only egg-shaped sweet/snack that I can find. With double-sided tape and some cross-stitch threads which I've preciously kept over the years, it took me 2 hours to complete my thread-wrapped Easter egg! Happy with the result. :) And my appreciative darling never fails to make me feel that the effort was worthwhile (even though I underestimated the time required and made him wait).

He gobbled down the sweet treat before we tried figuring the toy out. The toy surprise was disappointing to be honest. I remember the toys used to be really cool and fun! It was something like a mini spinning top eventually. Hee, and Ivan kept the beautifully decorated eggshells.

I was thinking... if only Kinder Surprise manufactures Easter-themed egg-shaped treats with customized toy surprise and packaging. That will be pretty interesting. But I'm sure nothing beats a personalized Easter Kinder Surprise, handmade with love <3.

You can try this simple craft too! You can still do it though Easter Sunday is over because Ivan told me Easter supposedly lasts for weeks! Try it this weekend to surprise your loved ones! :)