3/28/2011

EARTH HOUR 2011

So Michelle took part in her first official WWF event, EARTH HOUR 2011. Singapore did it big by having an event at Marina Bay with bands, booths and a 3.5km walk around the Marina during the actual hour where the lights were off. While the downtown core shut off about 40% of their lights (a little disappointing - especially the Sands Resort that didn't seem to turn off anything), about 3000 supporters took part in the walk. What's extra cool is that the WWF team were expecting about 1500 but one day before the event, the website got hammered with signups, so much so, they had to shut the site down. Michelle was running the Registration Booth with about 12 ass kicking Volunteers and they were busy for the entire night. Overall, it was a successful event, a well run event and a good time was had by all at Earth Hour Singapore.

3/25/2011

BLESS THIS GROUND

As a manager for my team, I was lucky enough to be invited to the blessing of the site that will eventually house the new LUCASFILM SINGAPORE building. The small band of rebels, err, managers, gathered for a Feng Shui blessing at 9:28am exactly (if we missed it, we would have to reschedule) as that was an optimum time to bless the ground. We read a blessing, made some offerings and buried a small wooden box, housing the elements and topped with a dragon protector. It was a cool ceremony and I am happy that I was part of it. Next month, we have the official Groundbreaking, so stay tuned for that!

3/10/2011

BACK TO KRABI

It's the new year and we decided to visit one of our favourite places from 2010, AO NANG: KRABI but this time we went with our friends John & Lisa. One quick 90-minute flight, a 30-minute taxi to Ao Nang and voila, we were at the hotel and walking through the sunny streets of Thailand. This trip consisted of two major events: A Curry Cooking Course at the Krabi Cookery School & the Hong Island Speedboat Tour.

The cooking course (a fantastic belated Christmas present to us from J&L) was a four hour affair where we learned how to make 4 curries from scratch: Red, Green, Yellow & Panaeng. We also learned Tom Ka Kai Soup, Pad Thai, Morning Glory, Papaya Salad and Stir-fried Peppercorn Chicken. The chef teaching the class, Mrs. Ya, was wonderful and entertaining for the entire afternoon and it was a blast. We learned a lot and more importantly cooked a lot and then ate it all. It was a great memory and we will definitely use some of those recipes we tried.

The next day, we took part in a speedboat tour that took us around a number of the tiny little paradise-like islands around Krabi and it ended with a few hours at the large Hong Island. There we swam, scuba'ed, ate lunch and I fell asleep in the sand - yes it was that relaxing. While it is High Season and there are tons and tons of tourists doing the same type of tour as us making all of the islands a little crowded, it's still cool to see all those limestone formations and walk along the white sandy beaches or swim in that aqua blue water, it's beautiful.

Finally, Michelle crossed off a goal from her "bucket list" by getting an official Thai tattoo done in the traditional bamboo style. She decided to "put a bird on it" by getting five birds flying around her forearm to her wrist but instead of having it done by the gun, she got it done with the sharp bamboo stick. Mr. Tattoo (yes, that's his name), said it wouldn't hurt as much as the gun but he was a charlatan as it hurt more. Luckily it's much faster than the gun, it heals faster as well and bottom line, it looks fantastic.

After all that, we spent the rest of the time sunbathing, swimming, looking at the shops, drinking G&T's, playing pool and ofcourse indulging in that amazing Thai food. I would heartily recommend a great restaurant called The Massaman (located at 382/2-3 Ao Nang Muang 81000: that's on the main road that McDonalds & Starbucks is on a few minutes up from those shops), it's cheap, friendly and the food is fantastic. If you only eat one thing, try the namesake, the Chicken Massaman Curry, it's kind of like a Thai version of mexican mole and well worth a visit.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend and even though it was our second time here, I can totally see us going back for a third visit, yes, it's that good. Check out our pics HERE!!!

3/03/2011

FEBRUARY 2011

What a month!!! Chinese New Year! Valentine's Day! Singaporean Basketball! BBQ's! Rock Band Parties! Art Museums! Out-of-Town Guests! Steamboats! It goes on and on!!! For the shortest month of the year we sure packed in a lot of FUN!!!

3/01/2011

THE ULTIMATE SLIDER

Last weekend we had a BBQ and came up with THE ULTIMATE SLIDER!!! A Pork & Beef Burger spiced up Mexican Style, covered with cheese, served on a homemade Jalapeno Cornbread muffin with some mustard, lettuce, red onion & tomato.... that's good BBQ!!!