Robinson's Sale @ Expo

3rd day into the sale and already the event hall looks cleaned out. No queues either at the cashiers. My colleagues and I picked out our goodies with no interference and the full attention of the sales staff before cruising through checkout. I resisted the temptation to grab everything and just got the stuff I needed in the near future. Lancome, Biotherm, Shu Uemura & Helena Rubinstein at half price!

Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore's first year hosting the F1 race. How exciting, it's a street race that's held at night. With 23 turns and 61 laps, the circuit is supposed to one of the trickiest. The media activity before race day focused on the picturesque circuit that was designed around many of Singapore's landmarks (e.g. The Singapore Flyer, Fullerton Hotel) and the bespoke lighting designed by Phillips to replicate day light, resulting in a surreal illuminated track that the aerial cameras caught beautifully on film.

The show didn't stop there. From practice to race day, drama abound. During qualifiers, Massa and Ferrari teammate Kimi secured pole and 3rd positions respectively for race day. Alonso was placed last due to technical glitches with his vehicle. Come race day, there were 5 accidents, 2 of which warranted the presence of safety cars and another that saw Kimi crash out. There was an unfortunate incident where Massa drove off too early from the pit stop with the fuel pipe attached to his car. The race ended with Massa and Kimi at the bottom 3 and Alonso first. Although, Alonso's Renault teammate Piquet was the first to crash in the race and caused the safety cars to come out. The most consistent performer (at least to me) was Hamilton who qualified for 2nd position and finished the race 3rd.

Purse hanger

I have been looking for a purse hook for the longest time. The only versions I have been able to find are the usual crystal encrusted ones that I feel are better suited to 14 year olds than to someone my age. So glad I found this at the Celine boutique. Its available in yellow or white gold.

Office BBQ

Obligatory social get-together. I bought a dozen pieces of corn to marinate based on a recipe I found in a celebrity cookbook. Worth trying if you have a BBQ to attend soon:

Ingredients:
1 dozen corn (de-husked)
1 fresh coconut to milk
1 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tspn Salt
1 knotted pandan leaves

Preparation:
1) Milk the coconut and save the first extraction to brush the corn with while grilling.
2) Boil the rest of the coconut milk with salt, sugar, honey & pandan leaves for about 10 mins.
3) Soak the de-husked corn in the mixture for 15-20 mins.
4) Remove to grill. Brush with coconut milk.

Mumbai & NY Travel Notebooks

Finally laid my hands on these hard to get LV notebooks.

New York is the first in the series of travel notebooks and features a mirror-like finish on the cover and postcard. The illustrations are also extra tall.

The Mumbai notebook is the prettiest by far with its pink cover, gold lettering and colourful illustrations. Heard the Mumbai notebook was given out at the Premiere of "The Darjeeling Limited". A great movie that I recommend to everyone.

That puts my collection at 4. Now I just need Rio, Athens, London, Paris and Sydney.

Kimmidolls

My girls Kokoro, Tomomi, Ayame and Makoto. I used to have a porcelain Japanese doll when I was little. Not quite sure where it is now though. Anyways, couldn't resist these kimmidolls. Apparently there are 31 different versions based on the traditional kokeshi dolls. I was reminded that I have no place to store them so I had to settle for the magnets instead.

Lanyard

My employee pass lanyard snapped into 2. You can see the remnants in the picture. I have had it for so long that my cards were stuck to it and had to be cut out.

Since it is not politically correct to use my old Citibank ones, I decided not to be cheap and treat myself to a nice branded leather version. After scouring all the usual brands, I finally bought a Prada gold coloured leather lanyard which is one of the cheapest. Who knew a piece of leather could cost that much. Since the store only had the display piece left, intuitively, it has to be the best value for money.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

I made Spaghetti Bolognaise for dinner tonight.


Ingredients:
1/2 an onion (minced)
1 garlic (minced)
2 tomatoes (chopped)
1 bottle of tomato paste
500g minced meat
50ml steak sauce
1 packet spaghetti
Salt
Basil
Rosemary
Olive oil
Cornstarch

Preparation:
- Boil spaghetti in water with salt.
- Stir fry onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned.
- Add minced meat and fry until slightly cooked.
- Add tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, steak sauce & cornstarch.
- Add Basil & rosemary before serving.

Interbank Session

Attended some inter-bank information session that lasted a good part of the day. Then had to work out of some stranger's desk for the rest of the day. So glad that my gym is within walking distance so I can head over there immediately after work.