Exhale

Alright I'm doing a Blogging Prompt for today. The title is Exhale!

Well I'm just gonna do a post about a new "habit" that I like doing nowadays. Even though I meditate everyday, and I focus on my breaths during my meditation, these days I like to "meditate" when I'm out and about - very simply put, I bring my awareness to my breath! Haha. It's a very easy thing to do, just stop whatever you're doing, take some deep breaths and continue. I think it helps a lot.

I read once that a great meditation master is able to meditate "everywhere". When they're walking, drinking, eating, driving (!!) and even sleeping. Errr haha. But I get what they they mean by this. It simply means that they are able to bring their awareness and consciousness to whatever they are currently doing. And if we can make this a habit, our lives will change really. It's a great exercise too.

In fact as Mingyur Rinpoche said, the easiest way for us to meditate is to just be aware that we are breathing. I think I talked about this once, but... When was the last time that you're conscious that you're breathing? I asked this question to myself once and I think the only time of the day where I'm conscious of my breathing is when I meditate haha. And thus I make it a habit to do these mini meditations throughout the day. Just telling myself "okay, you're breathing, keep going".

Sometimes it's quite scary to think that there are some instances where I was actually like "not breathing". Or perhaps not breathing right. And it feels better to just remind myself to breathe properly again heh. And yeah it's a very easy habit to do! Just stop whatever you're doing and take deep breaths. If you do it lots of times throughout the day, you'll feel more focused and better I guess.

Don't forget to breathe guys. And breathe well too.

Vegan Food in SG

Right continuing on the Singapore trip last weekend, I'm gonna share with you some of the awesome vegan food that I ate while I was in Singapore! Had a wonderful weekend eating so many good vegan food in SG haha. I wish I have more time to explore and eat more vegan food in  Singapore. One day hopefully. I think I should dedicate a trip just to eat the vegan food I've been seeing on Instagram haha.

Impossible Gyoza!

Lets begin with this amazing Impossible Gyoza from Empress @ Asian Civilisation Museum! I've been wanting to eat Gyoza/Wonton/dumplings for a long long time and I'm glad I managed to eat this. This is ridiculously good. I love the flavour and the texture of the "meat" made out of the Impossible Patty. Candy ordered the Omnipork and cabbage dumpling too but I forgot to take a photo of it heh.

Heng Hua Rice Vermicelli (right)

Next we also have this rice vermicelli with Omnipork and deep fried beancurd! The rice vermicelli is okay. A bit "disappointed" with the omnipork. I was expecting it to taste kind of like pork haha but it has a very familiar mock-meat aftertaste (unlike the Impossible). But the broth of the vermicelli and the deep fried beancurd is so so rich and flavourful. Love the dish! Great for sharing.

The Matcha cake! 

Kai and Candy ordered this sticky date pudding (I hope it's vegan, I think it is HAHA) and it is the best sticky date pudding I've ever eaten! It comes with a butterscotch ice cream but I didn't have it. I ordered the matcha cake with coconut ice cream and it's very lovely too. The stick date pudding tops it all though. Really flavourful, rich, decadent and just robust. Please give it a try folks!

The Impossible Patty Melt (not vegan tho)

The next day for brunch with Jolene and Tacy at Parkbench Deli, I ordered the Impossible Patty Melt! I just realised that it's not vegan cause of the cheese. so I opted the cheese out. But then I found out they have a sauce inside which I'm pretty sure it's not vegan but oh well, I still eat it anyway haha. Will do better research next time. But the patty is really good! Love how comforting the whole melt is. Even Jolene and Tacy says it tastes like meat mwahaha. Had some kombucha to go with it too.

Look at the size of this dosa! Briyani on top

For lunch with Nivedha and Saeyeoh, we went to Anjappar which is actually an international restaurant chain with branches in different countries! I ordered the vegetable briyani and an onion dosa, which turned out to be the biggest dosa I've ever eaten in my life haha. I love the chutneys that compliment the dosa, and the briyani is pretty flavourful too! I always miss Indian food and I always try to eat them whenever I'm in Singapore. My wish is granted in this trip weeee.

Hands down the best vegan Ice cream I've ever tasted

For my last day I went to try Kind Kones which is recommended by Neal. And well, hands down the best vegan ice cream I've ever eaten!! I seriously wish I have more space in my stomach (and money HAHA) to try all the different flavours. I tried the pandan gula melaka and double chocolate and they are so so good. The chocolate one don't even taste like it's a vegan ice cream! They used coconut milk as their base but the flavour works really well! Anyway it's so good that I had another scoop of their D24 durian flavour haha. Had it on a cone to go as I was making my way back to City Hall.

Truffle Orh-Luak

Last but not least for dinner with Syaz, Reb and Yingzhi, we went to Flavours by Saute in Funan. It is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that sells the veg version of many Singapore favourites! I ordered their truffle orh-luak (oyster omelette). It is really good! Though I feel that the truffle flavour is kinda "on and off", some pieces have them but some pieces don't. It does give me the same whole-ness feeling of eating orh-luak though so I think they did a really great job. Also we tried a vegan otah which tastes like otah but has a different texture. And the lion's mane mushroom with truffle mayo is lovely too! :)

And yup that's all for the awesome vegan food that I ate in my lovely weekend in Singapore! I look forward to eating and trying more vegan food when I'm back in SG :) Please give these a try folks!

Of Wedding and Weekend

Congratulations to the newly wed!

I went for Jes' wedding a week ago on Saturday the 28th of September! I seriously can't believe that I'm actually attending a wedding of one of my best friends whom I've known for 13 years. It feels weird... But of course I'm happy for the new couple! Just that I realised how fast time is flying!

Anyway yes I headed down to the Genting Hotel Jurong after I met Nivedha and Saeyeoh. I walked from Westgate and was just trying to find my way to the hotel. Jurong changed so much really haha. I was just following the hotel by looking at it and heading towards its direction heh. It is located behind JE library so I kinda know the place. It was rather a sentimental walk to go there really!

Met Ade again! Can't believe we're attending Jes' wedding haha

Met Adeline first as she was in the hotel's lobby with the other bridesmaids. I thought that there were things to be done but apparently everything is done! Haha. Was just hanging around the lobby with them. I thought I had to wait till the banquet to see Jes but she went to the lobby too! Joined her for the tea ceremony session near the ballroom and then we took some photos together.

Then I helped out at the front desk thingy with Ade and Klaus (is that the correct name haha). Okay lah Ade and Klaus were the one doing the greetings, my job was just to point out the guest tables and where to put the red packet hahaha. And then Brenda came and I joined her to the ballroom to chope some good seats! Mengfung came and shortly after that the banquet started :D

Table 16

Was seated with the other Tanglin folks like Carmen, Jaslyn and the rest. Man we are all adults now!! So scary haha, it felt like yesterday when were still in uniform. Anyway food after food, drinks after drinks and photos after photos, the banquet was an enjoyable one! Food looks really damn good even though I can't eat em haha. Thank you so much Jeslyn for helping me order veg food from the hotel!

Missing Neal and Weiqi!

Anyway yeah it was a great night to be reunited with the Tanglin folks again. As mentioned above, it really felt... Weird to experience all of these. It feels like yesterday when we are all still in grey pants and checkered skirt. And here we are attending Jeslyn's wedding together. It's so... Fuzzy really. That night really made me miss our secondary school days! I think life was simpler back then heh.

13 years since I know this lady, and now she's married!

To Jeslyn, I just want to congratulate you and Leon for your wedding! And I wish both of you a blessed and blissful marriage. May you both love each other more every day :D You're one of the few people who still kept in contact with me all of these years, since we went to different poly, and even since I went back for good. And I will forever be grateful for that. Thank you for all the spontaneous dinner and supper and outings that we did when I was still in SG! Please keep in touch alright.

Okay that'a all for this special night back in Singapore! I will blog about the awesome vegan food that I ate in Singapore haha. Once again congratulations to Mr and Mrs Foo! <3

September in Singapore

Hello! It's been exactly a week since I returned from my trip to Singapore. I went to Singapore to attend Jeslyn's wedding last Saturday and it was a great trip! Managed to reunite with a few people that I haven't met in a long long time. More of that coming up here. Anyway I will blog about Jes' wedding on another post, so this is just the meetups that happened in that weekend :P

Also I will be talking about the food on another separate post. Cause I had great food mwahaha.

So I arrived in Singapore on Friday at 1 PM again. I seriously love flying with Scoot now. Cause I think it has a sweet timing for the flights to and from Singapore haha. My flight was at 9:45 AM and by arriving at 1 it would mean I get to check in the hotel straight away when I arrive at the hotel whoop! Reached the hotel at 2-ish I think and rested for a while before heading out to... That's another post HAHAHA. And then I met Kai and Candy for dinner at Empress, which is at Asian Civilisation Museum.

Thanks for the dinner Kai and Candy! And thanks for feeling old together haha

It's great to meet Kai again! Haven't met her since April last year where we met for Nic's wedding. And it's always a good time meeting with them. Talking about jobs, and all things random. Can't believe next year will mark the 10th year that we know each other. And meeting with them is always a great time. They're one of the few people I can openly talk about things. So thank you for the dinner Kai and Candy! And thank you for feeling old together haha. I hope to catch you soon again!

I went back to the hotel after that to crash cause I was really tired.

Us at Parkbench Deli :D

The next morning I met up with Tacy and Jolene for brunch! Great to see Jolene again too, I last met her on April 2018 too when I went for Nic's wedding. Sharon and Weilun couldn't make it as they have work, catch you both again when I'm back ok! :) Went to meet at Parkbench Deli at Tanjong Pagar and it's really a nice quaint cafe. And we also had some Acai at another cafe nearby. 

It's a pretty cool afternoon walking along Tanjong Pagar, I don't know when was the last time that I went there. Anyway it's nice meeting Jolene and Tacy again! We always talk about so many things and it's great to catch up with each other again. Hope the next time we meet, the 4 of us can reunite!

After that I went to shop for things to bring back, and went back to the hotel to do some work (yes, I brought my laptop to this trip haha) and also do some packing up. I kinda failed cause my plan was to wake up earlier on Saturday morning to do work but I ended up waking up late! That's why I decided to do work before I head out again haha. Took the train to Jurong to meet Nivedha and Saeyeoh!

3 of us reunited again! Hello Dr Niv :P 

I'm so happy that I get to finally meet Nivedha again! After 6 long years. Well we did try to make plans to meet up but whenever I'm back (or she's back), either of us won't be in Singapore haha. So yep I'm happy to be able to meet her again. And it's so cool that I get to call her Dr Nivedha now haha. I know you told me not to call you with a Dr but hey just wanna tell you I'm proud to call you a Doctor! I wish you all the very best for your future endeavours :)

The last time Saeyeon, Nivedha and I met was 3 years ago, when the two of them sent me off at the airport when I returned to Singapore in August 2013. Well it has taken us so long and I'm really happy that we finally get to meet again. Pretty crazy to think so many things happened in these 6 years.

After that I went to Genting Hotel Jurong for Jes' wedding! I went earlier to help out Ade and the others but turned out most of the things were done haha. Okay another post for the whole wedding :P

As for my last day it was a pretty chill day for me. Another failed attempt to wake up earlier hahaha. I wanted to actually go to the temple in the morning for the Sunday puja. Also it was new moon day on Sunday! But yep, I woke up late again and decided not to go heh. I went to try Kind Kones instead as recommended by Neal and yes the vegan ice cream is so yummy! Will definitely come back.

Reunion of the Biomedders haha

After doing some last minute shopping I went back to City Hall to meet with Ying Zhi, Rebekah and Syazwani for a late lunch! Finally met Rebekah again after 6 years too haha. And Ying Zhi after 5. Oh gosh I feel really old, has it been that long :O Anyway had an enjoyable lunch at a vegan restaurant in the newly renovated Funan (thanks YZ for the recommendation!).

So yes, it was indeed a wonderful weekend in Singapore filled with reunions and fun! At the same time... I feel really old, with the fact that I'm attending Jes' wedding, when it felt like yesterday when we were still in Tanglin! Well time flies, and no one can stop it from moving forward eh.

I look forward to the next trip to Singapore. Hopefully I can meet with the people that I missed this time round. And as usual, Singapore you're always constantly changing really. Alright see you when I see you again everyone! Thank you for the wonderful (and short) weekend in Singapore! :)

What Does It Take

This is my current earworm since September actually. I really love this song. It somehow made me think and feel about the past. Great song to listen to at 4 AM in the morning.

Why Blogtober

Right maybe to kick things off, let me write about why I decided to take part in this year's Blogtober. 

Well to begin with, I made a goal to myself to write at least 100 entries in this year, just like every other year. I'm not sure why but this hasn't been going well for 2019 haha. Usually I'll hit a 100 by September-ish but whew, it's really difficult somehow! Things get quite busier this year and somehow I'm just kind of losing my mood to blog at night. Or at least not as often as the previous years.

It seems like everytime I returned to my room after dinner, all I want to do is just to rest. Not do anything. I don't feel like blogging or even scrolling through my social media! I simply lay on my bed and do nothing haha. Or sometimes I would watch YouTube videos and that's it.

I'm not exactly sure what leads to this. Perhaps it's the sub-conscious thought that I have "reached" my aim of blogging for 10 years last year. And thus I feel a but uninspired to blog as often, as I don't have another goal haha. And little did I know this would lead me to failing my aim of blogging 100 posts a year. But fear not, we will hit the number for sure mwahaha. I hope so... 

Generally I don't like the idea of blogging everyday. I tried it once and it wasn't a good experience cause I feel like I was rather "forced" to blog every day. But well I'm taking up this challenge, and this time round I'm making some plans to carry out this challenge! Blogging prompts sound fun. And I have a few posts that I am already planning to write so yep. Not as "forced" as I'd imagined I guess.

Alright that's all for this second Blogtober post. I will see you tomorrow.

Blogtober 2019!

Hello and welcome to Blogtober 2019. This is my first time participating in this haha. Well at the rate I'm going, I don't think I'll accomplish my goal of blogging 100 posts in this year. So I decided to join the Blogtober event by blogging every single day in this month of October! No one is probably going to read my blog but hey I'm just joining in the fun and to also accomplish my goal heh.

Okay to begin this Blogtober, I wanted to write a list of post ideas that I can write. But I think it's gonna take a long time to fill them up in one night haha so I will add more as we go along the month. I am not going to write like full posts for every post. I might share music, photos, recipes whatever.

Okay here goes some of the ideas for Blogtober 2019!

1. Share a recently discovered music

2. My favourite music of 2019

3. Post about my recent trip to Singapore

4. Vegan foods that I ate in Singapore

5. Share a recipe of a food that I like

6. My plastic-reduction journey of 2019

7. Bullet journal journey of 2019

8. Random photos I shot in October

9. Some film photos I took in Singapore

10. Videos/documentary I found on YouTube

And lots and lots and lots of blogging prompts HAHAHA.

Okay that's all for this first post of Blogtober 2019. I will add more along the way when the ideas pop out! Wish me luck, and may the blogging odds be ever in my favour haha. See you tomorrow.