ShinChet and Keguang's Wedding in Singapore.

I flew to Singapore last weekend to attend Shin Chet and Keguangs' wedding. It was at Inter-Continental Hotel, Bugis. Walking past the old-fashioned courtyard and entering the off-white lobby with black-and-white tile floors through French windows, the mix of classical-colonial and local lobby reminded me of the time i attended Gavin's 21st birthday there many many years ago...

I took the earliest possible flight (with barely 2 hours sleep the night before...) but sadly, i still couldn't make it for the "chip san leong" or "ragging of the Groom and Groomsmen"...
I sneaked into the bridal suite and saw the couple...aiya...so sweet....definitely worth the trip and lack of sleep!

When i first moved to Singapore more than 10 years ago, i was fortunate to have Chet as my roomie...she was a senior to a little innocent wide-eyed 12 year old me! Chet was in TKGS too so she very kindly took me under her care. She brought me to school on the first day- showed me where to wait for Bus No.33...where to buy school books...how to avoid Mrs. Foo's wrath...How to study for exams...(at your desk while twirling your hair and pulling out those wiry stubborn strands! LOL.) I'm not sure what was Mrs. Foo's intention by placing me in the same room as this TKGirl (and another Cedar Girl...) But i do know i couldn't have been happier! She wasn't exactly the best "role-model" when it came to adhering curfew, or any hostel rules for that matter... But she was a good role-model in school. A great all-rounder who excelled in basketball and got straight A's all the time! Chet was an excellent "big-sister" and one of the most fun room-mate ever!


Took the oppurtunity to congratulate the couple before they got swarmed by the crowd waiting downstairs...

The glowing bride browsing through her speech for the final time...

Her gorgeous evening gown...check out the long train!

Chet finetuning her good-wife habits...

The bridal party helped with the registration...

The ballroom was oh-so-pretty! I absolutely loved the chandeliers, mirrors, door frames...

...and the sweet tiffany blue and cream colored deco!

Cindy and i were in the hotel lobby changing money when we spotted this scrumptious guy... He was so drool-worthy. Yea, even at our age, we still drool... Then he suddenly appeared as one of Chet's guest! (not a very good pic of him here...but i didn't want to be too obvious..hahah)

The very very BIG wedding cake!

Cindy, Jo and I were seated at table No.1.. Closest to the stage... I mean, what was Chet thinking, putting us crazy 3 so near the stage?? But thanks, Chet, it was quite sweet of you not to banish us monkeys to the very far corner of the ballroom...

The delectable Tiffany blue box that held our favours...

Pretty favours in the form of cute little magnets...

Keguang attempts to pop the champagne without any incident...(or should i say "accident"... i heard about the previous wedding dinner they had when the cork hit an old uncle on his head...He was bald...And the cork left a nice red mark on his hiny head! Listening to Cindy tell that story was hilarious!!!) Luckily this time, it went very well!

We were busy chatting away at our table when this adorable little boy came up and presented a posey of white roses! So cute! : )

My date for the day, Cindy...who flew all the way back from USA to attend Chet's wedding...

so pretty...

with Cindy and Jo-lien...two of my closest presby friends...

our Bollywood-hide-behind-flower-stand pose...

Chet looked resplendent in her fushcia Cheongsam!

Can you imagine this is the very same girl who taught me how to survive and enjoy hostel life during my school days in Singapore...
I'll always appreciate how she taught me to get through the sabos at orientation... and to practice standing-broad-jump right above Mrs. Foo's bedroom whenever Mrs. Foo picked on us for being mischievious...LOL. Wow just look at her now.. all grown up and MARRIED!!!




Jo, Chet, Cindy and me...
MIA: the Twins and Yih Zi... It would have been really great if you 3 were there with us too!

We went back upstairs to our room and went a little bit crazy! No, we haven't been imbibing on alcohol.. not much anyway... We were just having fun with Jo's wigs...

Cindy being PCK... i don't really know how to interpret her tooth-picking pose...
It's just so darn funny!



Then Jo decided to send a message to Chet: It's your wedding night...
go ahead... nothing too sinful!!!

Sailor-Moon... (a very disturbing looking one!)

Ah-ha! the Bride walks in with shoking pink hair...

And throws her bouquet for the single ladies to catch!...
(check out my yellow mohawk, Jo's expression, and Cindy's super arms thrust!)

And.... Cindy gets it! : )

Finally, a nice group photo....

Congrats again, Chet and Keguang... Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this beautiful wedding day...May your marriage bring you more joy than you can imagine and i look forward to seeing what comes from you two! ; )

the Launch of the new BMW 5 series.

I attended the launch party of the new BMW 5 series with my parents and some friends...It was held at KLCC. The huge ballroom was separated into smaller rooms with black fabric, somehow they managed to transform it into a gallery showcasing BMW's past and present models...





One room demonstrated the "kinetic art"... You stand on a square rubber mat and move your arms whichever way you fancy...Flap them up and down, wave it frantically...etc And hundreds of sensors will pick up the motion you create and will interpret it onto the white screen in front, giving you an image of the kind of car design you created...Pretty cool!



This is how my car design looked like with my left arm by my side, right hand holding camera to take picture...(Lost my parents hence no photographer!)

Finally, the the dining hall...I always liked dining at long tables...

Butter dish to hold the butter...Always reminds me of an episode of Mr. Bean when he wrongly orders Steak Tartare (only because it's the cheapest item on the menu), is absolutely disgusted by it and then tries to hide it by stuffing it under the dish, into the flower vase and hides some in the butter dish... Yea lame humour, but my Dad finds it hilarious! I'll laugh along because his guffaws are infectious!

Marie and her friend...

Dinner was created by Chef Chris Bauer...His name sounds so familiar.. I think he was executive chef at Frangipani's a while ago...




It was a unique and creative exploration of local flavours combined with established European cuisine...

Appetizer: Freshly shucked oysters with caviar, lemon pearls, and pickled Japanese cucumber...paired with Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Semillon 2008. I liked the lemon pearls..reminds me of Chef Adria of the famed elBulli's molecular gastronomy...

They actually bothered with the full set of cutlery and glasses!

2nd course: Tea smoked salmon with Echire creme fraiche, confit potatoes and salmon roe... paired with Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2007. It was tasty but what tiny portions!
Luckily the wine made up for it! : )

It was apparent SuanPin wasn't impressed with the portions!

But some photo-posing quickly restored her mood!

Sharon's appetite was whet!!

3rd course: Black rice risotto with grilled prawns, baby squid and mussels...Paired with Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2007...

Sharon with the Godfather...

The ladies loved my camera...I guess when life's good (with lots of wine) you can't help but glow...

I didn't wanna miss out cam-whoring...

My dad always layan my cam-whoring...
So can't really blame me for being the poseur i am!

Self-portrait...wah, see how ruddy the wine has made us both!!

(newly acquired)-Family portrait...with a kaypoh onlooker...

Mandarin Orange sorbet with confit zest to clean my palette...

Halfway through, i wandered off alone to search for more friends and was accosted by the photographer...
I unwillingly obliged him with my standard cannotgo-wrong-pose...sigh...ain't easy being a bombshell...

Main: Grilled betel leaf wrapped tenderloin with Savoy cabbage an Indonesian Nut sauce, paired with Cape Mentelle Zinfandel 2006.
When i first saw my dish i jabbed the mushroom on my plate.
My dad laughed at me: " HAHAHAH...Eh, you can't poke the keluak! Hahahah..." What i thought was a mushroom turned out to be keluak which brought back another flashback:
Eleine and I having dinner at a nyonya restaurant, Blue Ginger in Singapore during our college days where Siew Wai aka ("Trevor" then, aka "Desmond" now) was serving.
Ah, sweet memories!

Dessert: a trio of (left-right) French toast with roast apple and dulce de leche (darn fancy name for some sauce made of caramelised plain old milk!!), White chocolate cheesecake with dark chocolate sauce, and Chocolate terrine with pistachio mousse.

SuanPin watched how much she ate to maintain her (already very) svelte figure!

Marie was very pleased with her dessert...


But i guess anyone can tell what she craves next... : )

Nothing like a cup of coffee to wsh it all down...

With yummy pralines to sweeten the night!

The long dining hall's walls were lined with huge screens that reminded us why we were there...(BMW's very clever marketing strategy)

Deanna Yusof was the host for the night...She's gorgeous!

The new 5 series was finally unveiled!

"Never mind that car...lemme enjoy my cigar first!"

Everyone was jostling to get into the driver's seat to get a feel of the car.. But mummy dearest happily climbed into the rear seat, driver's side...hahahah....where she always rides!
Yea, she's retired from driving... I guess all those years of ferrying her 3 children to and fro music, ballet, swimming classes, basketball practices, birthday parties etc etc... she rightly deserves to be driven around...: )

Then it was my turn... When i posed next to the car, some kind dude scrambled to the front to close the hood...

And the other onlookers moved away...warning: serious posing in operation!

The car definitely had a nice facelift and yes the engine's even better than the previous generation. (Yea, i know otherwise they wouldn't bother building this, right?) I don't doubt that the handling and fuel efficacy would be even more superb as i'm a true beemer fan myself. The body however, was a little disappointing. Yes, the design is streamlined and sexier but i felt it was a little stingy on space (when compared to the previous 5). The driver's personal space would do very nicely for my petite frame but my mum complained that the rear seats was a little cramped...i think i'll stick with the 3, thank you very much...