(October - Mixed Up}

It's been such a long time since I did anything blog-worthy. Dad is finally discharged last Thursday. Praise the Lord his wounds are recovering very well. Thank you all who kept him in prayer!

We've had an amazingly blessed Ladies' Conference and Marriage & Family Conference on Fri and Sat. Speakers were awesome. Learnt many practical tips from them. Will provide the link to the free downloads once we get it up. Listen to them, you will be blessed, I'm sure! Even if you are single, or not a parent yet, it sets you in the right place for it.

We've got 3 more days of Life in the Spirit seminar to go for the month of November. Then it's December with Christmas Banquet and some web training for me. It's a pretty intense 2 months.

When will I have time to scrap? So many beautiful pictures from Japan, but so little time to do what I want to do. Have in mind some projects for friends, but I've simply no time to stop and devote time to scrapbooking :( I need another long holiday! Ha ha ha...

October has been a mixed month. First two weeks were fun-filled holidays! Next two weeks we were kept busy with hospital trips. And now, work's picking up really quickly.

I want to be joyfully busy. I'm tired, but I'm not frustrated. I'm busy but not drowning. I was anxious about dad but yet there was an unspoken peace.

My Prayer:
Lord, grant me strength and grace to go through the months ahead. I will stay joyful because the joy of the Lord is my strength. I will be refreshed and restored because the Lord is my comfort and my shield!

{How to do ur eye make up}

Watch this. Their make up skills r amazingly SCARY. Lol
Have a fun filled monday !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ImaaS2-MY&sns=em

{Awake n Hungry}

FIL went thru a major operation on Monday. It was a heart wrenching sight when we saw him after the ops in ICU.

Today's the third day. Praise God he has been moved to a normal ward. Thank u all who prayed with us.

Haven't had the opportunity to do any scrap projects. Don't really know where to start.

I'm really suppose to be asleep right now but i'm wide awake. Not just that. I m also Super hungry right now! Debating if i should allow the hunger to wear itself out thru the night or risk the extra kilos with a packet of instant noodles with eggs, slurp!!

What do i really feel like eating now?
- prawn noodle soup with lots of chillie
- hor fun with prawns n scallops
- black char tao kuay with lots of eggs

Enough!!! Urgh ....

{Scrap shopping from U.S. sites!}

The US$ is rather low at this point. If you are considering to place any scrapbook orders from US, now is the time! http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/

I would, I would, if only I could. I'm officially out of scrap storage space! I have to start using what I've bought and stop buying still I clear the existing stuff out. HELP!!!!

Saw this while browsing online, such a sweet piece!

http://www.filipinasoul.com/2007/09/filipina-among-the-2008-memory-makers-masters/

{Osaka}

There's just so many fun things to see and eat in Japan, despite the fact that we don't fancy raw food. Yes! There's more to eat than raw food!

I've been flooding my blog with photos from this trip, ok ok, no more :) More photos available on facebook.

I'm seriously contemplating to do a scrap album for Japan but I'm not quite sure where to get started and how to select the pix coz' there's more than a thousand pictures!!! Any suggestions?

Our last stop for this trip: Osaka!

The famous Glico man billboard in Osaka!

My jeans, socks and sneakers were soaking wet from the rain. Bought a skirt and a pair of boots. Trying to look creatively Japanese here lol...

This is the takoyaki snack. I love it, but that's just me, everyone else seems to find it so so only :(

We got to design, select our preferred flavor and 4 of our choice ingredients for these 4 cup noodles at the Ramen Museum. Isn't it cool?

The winning design goes to.... (drum roll)

In case you can't read what M wrote "Lim Peh's" followed by the print "My Cup Noodle" Lol... The repressed ah-beng is surfacing! NoooooOOOOoooooo...

S$6/person just to dress in this ridiculously funny outfit! We had fun actually...

And the winning picture goes to.... (drum roll)

This photo generated so many comments on my facebook. Lol...

Hmmm......

Cup noodle comes with a piece of tender, roast pork!

Osaka Castle Museum

The one and only cosplay character I saw :(, one is better than none :)



{Kyoto - Land of Geishas}

Lots of touristy Japanese shops in Kyoto.

Geisha sightings!

Nishi Market

Believe it or not this is tempura chicken but it actually taste like good quality fish or tender squid. It is delicious!

The most disgusting tasting bowl of Ramen I had in Japan. Not as spicy as it looks and the combination of spices is just bad. Imagine curry powder, dried chillie, fresh chillie, chillie oil, chillie paste all mixed together in a raw kind of taste. Yucks! It's suppose to be Japan's spicest Ramen... Disgusting!

My Japanese scrungy :) One look, they'd know I'm a tourist. It's like wearing the orchid shirt and walk around Orchard Rd ha ha ha..

Gion. Nice little area. Very traditional looking.

Not a big fan of Kyoto. Very touristy. I think spotting the Geishas made this Kyoto trip complete. 2 days would be MORE than enough.

{More Food and Sights as We Journey to Hakone!}

The best black sesame mochi ever! See the amt of filling!!!! So nice!!!

This Japanese biscuit looks really good, coz he grills it when you order. But it taste like soya sauce. yucks!

Our traditional Japanese dinner served in our dining room. That's just part of the spread. There was sashimi, tempayaki beef, shabu shabu pork, steamed chicken, special cod fish with beans and so much more! It was a really interesting dinner...

O... and the highlight is that shell thing you see in the video but I couldn't load it here. It was squirming and twisting and turning as it was being cooked alive! EEEewwww!!!

Crab meat Gyoza - very delicious - sweet and juicy crab meat.

Gyoza Chinese noodle - delicious soup base and noodle texture.

Fried octopus... slurp!

All found at Hakone's Gyoza Centre... tucked away little eatery.

After all these delicious food let's enjoy some sights of Hakone:

Yeikan Ryokan (Traditional Japanese Guesthouse)

From the door way to our unit. Right ahead is our bedroom. On the left is the dining room. On the right is the toilet and pantry. Just before our bedroom, there is a stairway down that leads to our very own attached hotspring onsen and bath area... VERY NICE!

24-hours hot spring onsen... the water is really hot! But absolutely relaxing. From where we sit in the onsen, we get a "mountain view". There's no glass to the window, so it's fresh mountain air :)

Here's the stairway down from our bedroom to our attached onsen.

Very interesting traditional style shower with a modern twist.

Our "kimono robes".

So manly right Lol... hilarious!

Venetien Glass Museum - mixing glass crystal plants with real garden plants. A beautiful sight!

Beautiful place! We even spotted a hummingbird that is half the size of my index finger! The video is too long for upload!! So cute!

Such a beautiful sight. You see that arc-area on the right? It's made up of endless glass crystals. Quite an impressive sight here, but the photo doesn't really show it!

A tree made of glass crystals

Like a little cottage, I like :)

Love the weather! Perfect! Air con temperature with light breeze.. nice!

Hakone Outdoor Museum

M and his quiet sense of humor!

If I were 12 years and below, I would be on that thing and in the net! Looks like so much fun!

This is really cool! It's a projector video. You see M's projected shadow on the right. When he hits on those white droplets on the projection it burst into beautiful flower petals. It's fun even for the adults!

I'm in Little Miffy's Home!

I  like Hakone for its laid back, relaxing, slow pace. It's a joy to walk around this little town. 2 days would be better. So much more things that we missed seeing! Sure wouldn't mind coming back to Hakone! Ichiban! And that attached onsen is a luxury!



{Tokyo - Oishi! All About Eating!}

Every simple bento meal from the food hall comes nicely wrapped in paper, stickers, inserted into paper bags and plastic bags. They even prepare for you chopstics and wet tissue. This was our first bento meal.

Crab claw - real crab meat... sweet and juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside. The thing I didn't like about their food hall meals is that the food is all cold... so, yucks.

Gogyo Black Miso Ramen - don't be deceived by it's plain looks. It's ramen texture is just right and the soup base is... ... hm.... MUST try! Fragrant roasted pork taste... absolutely savory!

This is what the Gogyo Ramen shop looks like from the outside. Nicely tucked away in a very unlikely location. We nearly missed it, even though we were just at the building next to it.  

Hotstone White Miso Ramen... Mmmmmm.... fragrant miso smell but taste of sweet pork bone, clear soup that is not too salty... excellent and it comes with 1.5 special Jap eggs - completely cooked egg white with 1/2 cooked egg yolk OMG!!!!

Bento Boxes, so pretty right...

Make your own Japanese pancake. So fun!

Freshly bakes melon bun. Sweet and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy (like cotton wool) on the inside with a subtle but fragrant taste of melon. AMAZINGLY good! The best snack I've had on this trip! Unfortuantely, I only had the opportunity to eat one of these. All the others that they sell at the bakery is not nice, has to be this particular store:

This is so cheap! Half the price of what they sell here. Bought a box and finished it at our trip! Lol... grapefruit tasting collegen drink from Fancl... girls, remember to get this first thing you reach Japan!

Delicious yakitori grilled right b4 your eyes under the tracks of Ueno station. A different experience! We like it! Beef, pork, chicken (Pork mix really means: kidney, intestines, liver etc)... you do pork then slap your arm... they will know you mean pork meat lol)...

I love it that they have caffaine free coke! I can drink and sleep at night! Woo hoo!!

This is like Udon tempura, yong tau fu style. You pick what you like and select the type of noodles you want. At one point, the food court at Raffles Place was serving this and we loved it! But it's no longer there :( This was at Gotemba Premium Outlet Food Court.

Don't underestimate this plate of vending machine curry katsu don. It taste so "home cooked"! I love it! Cheap and good!

Mark's choice of vending machine meal: Soba noodles with a small bowl of Katsu Don. You get the best of both worlds at one price!

Fresh, large, grilled scallop at Tsukji Market... Oishi! Sweet, juicy and scallopy! Hmmm....

This deserves two shots because it's so good!

The best takoyaki balls with egg mayonaise, only found at Tokyo Dome! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside with a generous portion of sotong, topped with my fav egg mayo!!

Ah... my every night ice cream from the 7-11 near our hotel. So huge, M and I shares one... chocolate with cookie crumbles waffle ice cream... so nice!

See, just Tokyo alone, so many fav!!!

Most of my friends think it's a pity I did not eat any sashimi or try any raw food. Well, I have an excellent excuse. I'm allergic to raw food. My lips swell up when I take them. Valid right? Well, the truth is also, I really like my food cooked, very cooked :)