Brother's big day

Today is my brother's big day aka ROM day.
Wonder why he chose today, i suppose it's easy to remember their wedding anniversary next time :p

Anyway, ROM venue is having renovation so we had it at Furama Riverfront.

I am sincerely happy for him since he's my precious little brother.
But i am not elated (like the 1st round).

It was a small, private affair with the 2 families and some of his/her close friends.
Strangely, i don't know much about my new SIL.
I think i am not fair to her.
After the divorce saga, somehow i don't have faith in re-marriages and maybe unconscious to me, i don't know if his relationship with this girl will last. So i never bother to truly get to know her, merely acknowledge her existence. It's the same way you would treat new colleagues coz you don't know how soon they will become ex-colleagues.

Surprisingly, they have progressed so far and now she is my SIL.

I just want my brother to be happy and if she's the one who can give him happiness then i am thankful to her.

Ok, i guess it's time to accept her into my life.

This Christmas

This Christmas, we were a little busy.
For me, it's getting presents ready.
Actually, there are fewer presents to buy this year since i don't have any colleagues to buy for (that's a big saving being a teacher), but there are more adhoc presents to buy.

For hubby, he's busy cooking or preparing some form of food.
We went to Market Place @ Paragon, Swiss Butchery & good old NTUC to get all the necessary food stuff & condiments.

Then on Xmas eve, hubby prepared tiramisu, the dessert for Xmas lunch. After cleaning up, it was time to go to my Pri Sch friend's house for dinner. It's a gathering with 2 other families and strangely we stayed from 5+pm to almost midnight. Maybe because the guys had 3 bottles of wine and beer to keep them company & the kids had great fun playing catching in the house. For me, since i can't drink (gotta to drive the family back), I just move around the wives, guys and kids' stations to maintain momentum :p

On Christmas day, we started preparing food since 10 am since the family guests will be arriving at 12. The menu includes roast chicken, portobello mushrooms with ham & melted cheese, bruschetta, assorted ham, assorted sausages, salad and mini potatos + rice (for the elderly). MIL added pizza. It was a good gathering as brother & future SIL joined us too. I half suspected it's a meal with agenda as mom wanted to "showcase" future SIL to MIL.

Since hubby did all the cooking, i finished up with the cleaning & washing (my therapeutic activity). After the guests left at 3+pm, Flo & I mopped the whole house, and then Aloy joined us to wash the bathroom. Very touched to see them earnestly cleaning up the whole place.

Yesterday's meals were all much lighter to hopefully ease the load on the stomach. But since we were inspired by Cel, we decided to try baking pandan cake too. The result of the 1st attempt was edible but hubby found it a bit too dense. We will adjust in our next attempt.

Seriously, Christmas has not much meaning for me. It's not an offensive remark but because i am in not that religion, Christmas is just another weekend to me. Of coz the kids love Christmas since it's a time of receiving presents. As for gathering, there can be gathering on any other weekends or holidays too, so nothing special. But the thing i like about Christmas is this family effort of shopping for ingredients, preparing the food & desserts and getting the house cleaned up after that. It just brings the whole family closer.

So that's our Christmas 2009. I wonder how 2010's will be like.

Japan trip

This is my 2nd time there so i had higher expectations.
Conclusion: a little disappointed.

Maybe it's our fault coz we always leave our holiday planning to the last minute and we are not the type who will check countless travel agents just to compare itineraries.

So i just booked from Chan Brothers and i chose the 7D 6N one coz it's cheaper than the 9D one. Also, i was greedy, in the sense that this itinerary has many shopping stops so i thought i can shop to my heart's content.

The weather ranges from cool to cold depending on whether it's raining or day/night. We also got to see falling snow (which is a 1st for me) and personally, i enjoyed the weather very much. For most of the days, i just wear long john + another cardigan. It's only when it's raining or at night then i wore the down jacket.

I also enjoyed "being with the crowd". This is because we got to do like the locals do at the different shopping districts. Went to Shinsaibashi in Osaka and Ginza & Shinjuku in Tokyo. Eh...of coz Ginza is my favourite :p

At this point, the plus points of this trip end. The rest are disappointment. 1) Food sucks. Ok, it's better than the endless tempura meals that we had during the 1st trip. But it's still a disappointment. We had many bentos and also 2 crab meals. Excuse me, don't assume everyone likes crab and how about people who are allergic to seafood? And also spare a thought for the children! So many crabs were wasted because of the children not taking crab and also some people like me who are crab-intolerant.

During the previous trip, our resourceful tour guide managed to get optional sashimi dinner for us. We were looking forward to the same fresh sashimi this trip but alas! there was no chance.

Although we got to visit quite a few shopping districts, there wasn't enough time to settle for a good meal. It's always a 1 hour session. During the last trip, at least we had enough time to have lunch or dinner on our own, so we tried their sushi, udon, etc. Oishi!! It's so frustrating to be in Japan and yet not being able to try sashimi & sushi :-(

2) The planner of the itinerary really should be shot. Every night was a 2 to 3-hour bus ride to another city, so there were nights when we couldn't find decent dinner because by the time we checked into the hotel, many of the restaurants were closed. The 1st night in Tokyo, we ended up eating Lotteria burger (a burger chain that 1st established itself in Japan in 1972). The burger is small in size and quite tasty (better than MacDonald's) but super ex.

Another night, we bought french pastry from Dalloyau (http://www.dalloyau.fr/), supposedly a long-established Gastronomy house (since 1802) for dinner. And the last night in Japan, we bought bread, muffins, etc. from Disneyland for dinner. This is because there is nothing to eat near the hotel. Oh, there was a convenience store in the hotel so i bought 2 cup noodles. Yeah, so much for my cuin

Though the trip sucks in itinerary planning and "cuisine", i am quite happy with a few achievements.

1) I was able to control my spending. So proud that i did not buy anything from Disneyland. (Actually, it's because i was down with a bad cold and going around cold Disneyland with blocked nose is really no fun. Couldn't breathe well, more sensitive to cold and very tired. But what to do? For the sake of the family, i must participate right?)

I also didn't buy much from the rest of the shopping districts (actually, it's more because there's no time :p, but also because i don't find the items/food value-for-$. Some brands seemed to be cheaper in SG.).

Ok, i just had a minor purchase - Burberry Blue Label wallet ;-)

And a final "achievement" is that i did not gain any weight (yeah!!!). Hubby reminded that it's because i didn't eat much from the bentos and crab meals. Quite true. I just ate heavy breakfast from the hotel buffet and rest of the day was just a bit of rice, pickles, soup and whatever edible (which isn't a lot).

Anyway, it's still good bonding time with the family and i am contemplating having a customised tour to Japan next year (Hubby is going to faint as it will be much more ex).