finally updating

phew.. finally finished uploading all the photos for the last post! yes sorry once again for disappearing for so long.. its just that there’s nothing much really to blog abt.. work’s still pretty much the same.. in one of the previous posts i mentioned abt being frustrated.. yea it was actually abt my contract.. wasn’t really happy with some of the terms.. but everything’s settled now so i’m relieved! :)

so we’ve already completed the hawker assessments for ang mo kio blk 724.. now we’re at hougang blk 209 which is actually just behind the heartland mall at kovan.. which is super near jo’s house! but she’s at work so can’t meet up with her also :( and i usually leave at like 4plus or 5 so dinner isn’t possible too.. its kinda funny how i always walk past that hawker centre to get to her house but yet i’ve never once eaten there before.. and now i’m there almost everyday haha.. so all the hawkers recognise me which will be quite amusing when i go to her place next time cos they will start waving at me! its actually quite funny how ‘popular’ we are.. cos i went back to amk724 a few days back to settle some admin stuff.. den all the hawkers started shouting “laoshi lai le!” which means “teacher is here” [cos some of the assessors are trainers as well].. and they all came to talk to us.. which obviously draws quite a few stares from the pple eating there.. like “who the heck are these pple?!” haha :)

went to sakae the other day for the buffet.. can’t remember when’s the last time i went.. but i’ll definitely not go again! the quality is really quite bad now that i’ve tried other similarly-priced restaurants. and my food blog is also becoming quiet cos i haven’t been out to restaurants much recently.. maybe i should start another one on hawker food haha! but den again i’m always too lazy and tired after work to update! i’ve got lots of pictures of hawker stalls (rather than food) though.. cos we always take pictures as part of the assessment.. its heartening when the hawkers really bother putting in an effort to make their stall look more presentable.. just makes all the hard work worth it! :)

ok i guess i don’t really have much else to say.. will just show you some of the hawker pictures i’ve taken..

notice how all the canned drinks are nicely arranged behind?

very prominent and bright signage with all the celebrities photos nicely printed

very neat and attractive food display (except for the piece of paper stuck there)

trivia of the day:

why is it bad to insert cotton swabs in your ears?

the ears, for the most part, do not require any routine cleaning. ears are like a self-cleaning oven. with the help of gravity and body heat, earwax will gradually find its way out. if wax appears on the outer ear, a cotton swab may be used. if you can’t help but go in farther, you are risking wax impaction or injury. if you do get wax impacted in your ear, you will be in pain and half deaf.

there are over-the-counter preparations that can help relieve wax blockage but warm water in a syringe often works. as a last resort you can see an ear doctor or come to the ER for a good cleaning. it is not uncommon for us to see patients who have violated these rules and come to see us to remove the tip of the cotton swab that has fallen off inside the ear. don’t worry, we are prepared. we also remove other things like cockroaches, beads, and pen caps, all of which we’ve pulled out of ears.

FHA 2008

went to the FHA two weeks back.. its this really huge event thats organised every 2 years where companies from all over the world come to exhibit their products and find suppliers/distributors/customers.. it took up 6 halls at the expo so you can imagine how many things there were to look at! all the stuff there are related to the f&B and hospitality industry.. and only pple in the industry can go in for free provided you pre-register.. if not the entrance fee is $80! so there were things like machinery (think huge commercial cake mixers, ovens, packing machines, ice makers, conveyor belts, dishwashing machines etc.), utensils and equipment (display cabinets, cutlery, dispensers, blenders, baking tins, ovens, stoves, sinks, coffee machines, juicers etc.), uniform suppliers, furniture and linen, and obviously lots and lots of food, wine, drinks etc etc! :) yea basically whatever you can think of in a hotel/restaurant.. it’ll be there! yup so it was a huge eye opener for me cos its my first time there.. some of my colleagues have been going without fail for the past few years! definitely lots of fun looking at all the cool machines and gadgets used in the industry today.. took lots of photos (mostly food haha) but still i could have taken much much more! actually went there on the first and last day but theres just too many things to see so 2 days isn’t even enough for you to walk through every single row! and of course we were all busy sampling food and drinks so we basically had our breakfast, lunch and dinner there haha! :) ok i’ll let the pics do the talking now..

some of the competitions that took place in fha

presentation of food for judging

team competition

as expected.. most of the competitors/teams were from singapore so obviously many of the winners were local.. and there’s actually individual kitchens set up with see-thru panels so we were able to stand outside and see them preparing the dishes.. which made them really nervous!! but i didn’t really stand there for long cos there were so many other things to look at haha :)

baking supplies!
i went crazy at this section cos there were so many kinds of baking tins and utensils.. all sorts of shapes and sizes!

this looked and smelt sooo good but too bad its only for display :( they’re actually selling the roasting oven not the food so there weren’t any samples..

display chiller

coffee cups!
i think they’re marketing the coffee.. or some sweetener/creamer or something.. can’t remember haha! definitely not the cups but they looked pretty!

and den there were lots and lots of display cabinets/chillers which looked so colourful and beautiful cos of all the desserts inside! :) but these were all just good to look at.. couldn’t try any! :(

this was probably one of the coolest cos it could rotate!

some of the furniture on display

i lost count how many gelatos i tried! :X

this gorgeous baby costs 11,000 euros!

space shuttle coffee machine?

retro cake mixers!

orange juicer.. just dump the whole orange in!

have no idea what this stall was promoting but the car looked damn cute!

healthy soya milk dispenser

sushi wrapper!

mini sushi conveyor belt

i really really liked this.. you can display all kinds of finger food/tapas cos it has holes for skewers, hooks for spoons etc.. perfect for parties! :)

utensils

coffee art

i’m in love with asti!! sweet and sparkly :)

chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!

cooking demo to promote a whole range of kitchen equipment

another demo but this time promoting some sauce

chocolate fountain

huge! they opened it on the very last day for pple to eat

have you seen a black lobster before? no its not spray painted or anything.. this is the original colour but it turns red when cooked.. oh and its alive by the way.. it goes into ‘hibernation’ when inside the chiller

huge lobster!

macarons! :)

huge mushrooms from korea

pastry display

seafood!

singapore sling.. all bottled up!

snacks

vodka. the yellowish one is with rowan berry.. whatever the heck that is!

wines

ok thats abt all the photos i took.. like i said there were lots of other things that i didn’t take pictures of.. especially the machinery side.. and i also didn’t manage to walk thru every single row.. plus i was busy eating so i had to keep my camera away haha.. really enjoyed myself and i can’t wait for the next fha!! oh and if you thought all the free food wasn’t enough.. there’s more!

i took home a bag full of freebies! free samples of tea, jam, cookies, biscuits, tidbits, sweets, sauces, honey and even posters! :)

totally random stuff

hellos! sorry i know i’ve not been updating much.. but i will! in a separate post though haha.. cos i’m just gonna upload some photos that are totally unrelated here.. :)

lucky star lantern!

ok its not exactly a lantern.. more like a hanging lamp or something.. bought this from bei a few months back.. its really really pretty at night!! :) if u’re interested pls visit http://aiplusmei.blogspot.com/ to place orders!

this is like the weirdest thing ever! jo bought this for me when she was in kuching attending a wedding.. i dunno how to describe the taste also.. its just damn weird.. you have to try it for yourself! yes it really does taste like pepper!

the school looks damn eerie with all the mist right? this was taken at like 6plus in the morning.. but as we got closer to the school we realised it was actually mosquito fogging that was taking place haha!

 at east coast park/bedok jetty :)

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sigh.

quite frustrated today.. certain things didn’t turn out like what i hoped for.. feeling really lost and helpless now. have been sick over the weekend as well.. sore throat, flu, fever.. its all coming one by one.. wasn’t really in the mood to work today.. was so tempted to just go home and sleep.. but i’ll probably go home and start crying and thinking too much which isn’t going to help or make things better so i decided to just stay on and complete whatever assessments i can..

have no idea what the future holds.. i’m slowly starting to fit in and get the hang of it so i don’t want to leave but yet i think i should get what i deserve.. pple are telling me to fight for wat i want but its not that easy to “demand” for things especially when i’m still so new and inexperienced! sigh. i really hope things change for the better if not i need to start looking again.

i’m just really tired now. and i realised its damn embarrassing to cry in public but… couldn’t help it la. was just too overwelmed at that point and i couldn’t control. :(

ok i shall stop sounding so depressed.. or at least i’ll try. was walking to blk 724 from the mrt this morning and i saw 2 different “crazy” pple who were talking to themselves or imaginary pple.. obviously some pple will start staring, pointing fingers and whisper etc.. i wonder if they even know whats going on.. or maybe they’re just oblivious to everything thats happening around them.. its quite sad to see pple like that who aren’t getting any help.. i guess they’re really misunderstood at times.. maybe they’re having a serious illness but pple just see them as “crazy” and ignore them or treat them badly.. ok my psych instincts are kicking in haha.. sometimes i wonder if its better to just ignore them and let them be.. or to actually try and help them.. which isn’t easy cos they might not even know that they’re behaving weirdly in the first place!

in the afternoon during lunch.. was sitting at the table alone while the rest went to buy food.. den this malay boy came up to the table and sat down.. and he was like “sorry ah sorry ah.. can you help me anot?” and i was like thinking.. what the heck do you want from me? den he started telling me that he just came out from duno what prison.. and he asked if i wanted to see his card to show that he’s not lying.. den he opened his wallet and showed me that he had no money and asked if i could give him $5 for him to buy an ezlink card.. and i didn’t mean to be rude or wat but i was trying to ignore him and do my work.. but he kept going “excuse me miss.. excuse me.. please can you help me” and den i just shook my head and he walked off and approached another passerby..

its not that i don’t want to help but i get quite suspicious towards this kind of pple.. i mean if u’re an old old uncle or auntie and you tell me that u’re starving.. ok maybe i might consider helping you abit.. but its like u’re young and properly dressed.. why should i believe that you need help? i’m pretty sure he has a family somewhere.. ya so anyway i just ignored him la cos i have serious doubts abt what he needs the money for.. yup so anyway today was just full of weird encounters! luckily my assessments were pretty smooth :) ok i think i should go rest.. hopefully there will be good news soon!

trivia of the day:

why does spicy food make your nose run?

there is nothing quite like the rush you get when you mistake the wasabi for pistachio ice cream. but alas, this doesn’t lead to nose running. that is because wasabi does not contain capsaicin, the extremely irritating chemical found in jalapeno or habanero peppers. capsaicin is believed to stimulate central nervous system fibers that control the quantity and thickness of mucus and other fluids secreted in the nasal passages and stomach.

heat in peppers is measured on something called the scoville scale.

0-100 scoville units : most bell/sweet pepper varieties
2,500-5,000 scoville units : japaleno peppers
30,000-50,000 scoville units : tabasco peppers
100,000-350,000 scoville units : thai peppers
200,000-300,000 scoville units : habanero peppers
16,000,000 scoville units : pure capsaicin

the single hottest known pepper is the red savina habanero. if you think jalapeno makes your nose run, the red savina will leave you wading knee-deep in a puddle of your own nasal secretions.

work

nothing much has been happening other than work hence the title for this post.. i’m still pretty much doing the same thing.. going around to hawker centres to do marketing and promotions for our courses.. doing assessments and sitting in for trainings.. oh wait i think i haven’t told you guys abt the assessments yet! ok basically what happens is that whenever we get a new hawker project (usually those going to be upgraded).. we would go down during their briefing sessions to promote our courses and register the hawkers.. currently we’re offering 3 different courses - basic food hygiene, interacting with guests and maintaining displays. the hygiene one is compulsory for those who operate cooked food stalls.. not for the wet market or lock up stalls.. IWG is actually something like customer service where we teach them how to handle complaints and provide better service etc.. and MD is abt teaching them how they can make their stall more attractive.. so it includes things like lighting, arrangement of products, signboards, labels and prices etc.. yup so anyway once they sign up we will schedule the classes.. and after that there will be an on-site assessment.. which is mainly what i’m doing now.. so we will go down to their stall and assess them on whichever module they took.. ya so we will ask questions, provide hypothetical situations, observe how they deal with actual customers and stuff like that.. which is quite interesting actually.. cos we get to share our knowledge with them and we also learn alot.. and its quite fun when all the hawkers recognise you and offer to buy you food and drinks haha.. some of them get really nervous la cos they see it as an exam or something.. but actually we’re there to help them rather than “torture” them.. usually we try to help them pass so we’ll ask leading questions and help them along the way.. basically doubling up as trainers also to enhance whatever was taught in class.. and i guess they can tell when u’re genuine abt helping them and its nice when pple come up to you and really thank you for the help even though its supposed to be an assessment!

yup so usually we’ll be at one hawker centre for abt 2-3 weeks cos all the assessments are done individually and can take up to an hour per module per subject! and we have different manpower each day so it might take longer/shorter to complete the whole project.. depending on how big the centre is as well.. ya so we just completed one at ang mo kio blk 226.. currently we’re working on blk 724.. have been going there almost everyday for the past week or so! most of them are really friendly la.. like they see you and ask if you want food or a drink.. or they’ll come up to you and chit-chat.. some of the “cheeky” ones will try to disturb their neighbours undergoing the assessment.. like pose as customers and start complaining so that we can assess how they handle the situation.. but its all fun la.. haven’t met any unfriendly or rude pple yet thankfully! :)

so anyway all is good for now.. this isn’t exactly what i wanted to be involved in but i guess its a good stepping stone and experience is always useful whether or not its directly relevant.. helped out at a macdonalds graduation ceremony last week for their staff who attended hospitality courses provided by our school.. small event at novotel clarke quay.. only abt 80 recipients or so.. ya so it was a pretty simple set up.. sticking labels on seats.. doing a dry run and ushering the pple in and onto the stage.. unfortunately the refreshments provided weren’t that nice so there were lots of leftovers! oh and i went for fun-o-rama with the band pple.. was quite disappointed with it overall.. not much nice stuff to eat or buy.. i guess its different when you’re the one setting up the stall! didn’t really stay there for long cos my meeting ended quite late.. ended up going home with one AC teddy bear haha! :)

ok i think i’ll stop here for now.. abt to go out for dinner soon! oh yes and i have a very nice superior haha. [there you go! happy? :)]

ouch

i actually managed to sprain my ankle and dislocate my knee on the same day, at different times, and on the same leg! how smart.  

kinda busy and tired with work.. will update soon!

people

i think one of the things i like (and dislike sometimes) about this job is that i get to meet all sorts of pple from all walks of life. and i really mean ALL sorts. had to do some marketing yesterday to get hawkers to sign up for the upgrading courses that we provide.. and i tell you some of these pple really got no patience!! its like.. they can obviously see that u’re busy attending to someone else.. but yet they still barge in and shout questions at you and still expect you to answer them immediately.. den if they get ignored for too long they will start complaining loudly that we’re so inefficient and messy.. yea so thats what happened yesterday.. when there were 4 of us sitting along the table and all these uncles and aunties were crowding in front of us shooting questions like nobody’s business at the top of their voices.. yes i know they work at the market but there’s no need to talk so loudly right? and so the 4 of us there were trying our very best to answer their queries amidst all the noise and helping them to fill up the forms and collect money.. so by the time we were finally done with everyone we were just totally exhausted!

den there was this other lady who was one of the 4 of us.. she actually isn’t our colleague.. all i know is that she rented some office space from the boss and she’s one of his good old friends.. so according to her.. she was there yesterday to help us. but the thing is.. i think she was more of a nuisance than help! actually its not that she wasn’t helpful la.. but just that the way she did things and the way she carried herself made the other 3 of us really annoyed.. so to us its difficult enough having to deal with the hawkers and yet we still have to put up with her! what happened was.. she said she was there to help.. den she said she was there to observe us.. like a spy for the boss or something. and she has no experience whatsoever with any of our courses but yet she was talking to the hawkers as if she was really part of our company and she knows everything. and the worse part was she actually spoke to us in a manner that gave the impression of her being in-charge.. like she’s the lady boss or something.. which really pissed us off.. cos its like.. we’re the ones who have been handling these hawkers all this while.. and here you are trying to use the boss’ name and step all over us and telling us to do things.. like during lunch.. she had to purposely tell us in the face that she was going for lunch with our boss and told us to go have our lunch and be back in time for the afternoon session.. like wth right.

oh and you know whats worse.. the way she dressed was so inappropriate! yes i know you have boobs but do you really need to wear such a low-cut top when we’re dealing with hawkers?!? the hawkers were actually there to attend a briefing on their new market.. so all we had to do was to go up towards the end and just speak to them briefly abt our courses.. which was wat my colleague did.. and to our horror she actually went up there and took the mike after my colleague was done talking! i can’t remember what the heck she said to them cos i was busy handing out the forms.. but its like.. first of all u’re not even part of this company and you don’t know anything about the courses.. secondly u’re dressed like some person who works at the ktv and u’re giving pple the impression that u’re from guilford.. we were like super annoyed but being the nice pple that we are.. we just continued working and ignoring her haha..

shouldn’t it be common sense that first impressions count? and yet there are pple like her. i mean its irritating enough that she kept using our boss’ name in every single sentence.. but she actually said certain things which seemed like she was trying to create internal conflicts between us and our superiors.. so i don’t really know what the heck she was trying to do or even in the first place who she is.. somehow she gives me the impression of a two-faced person.. so anyway after we packed up.. the 3 of us went to bk to rest and grab a bite and the bitching session started haha! apparently i wasn’t the only one who felt pissed off but we all just kept quiet and let her talk the whole day.. oh well i think she’s gonna be around for quite a while but hopefully i won’t have to deal with her much!

other than that.. i’m actually getting along pretty well with most of my colleagues! i haven’t really met most of them yet haha cos i seldom go to the office.. but those that i’ve met are all really nice and helpful! i think its quite amusing how i already know more things than i should about the company and pple even though i only just joined.. even when i was at oosh.. within the first week i already knew all the “dirty little secrets” haha.. not that my colleagues like to gossip or what.. but i guess its natural for pple to warn the newbies about what to expect.. have been going down to a hawker centre in ang mo kio to do assessment.. which is pretty interesting cos you get to talk to them about how they operate.. how they deal with customers and things like that.. but the weather was freaking hot today so it was kinda uncomfortable! oh and i think i won’t lose weight doing this job cos every single stall owner wants to treat you to food and drinks! not that we accept it la.. cos it might seem like a form of bribery.. and we’ll feel bad if we end up having to fail them! ya but we’re just eating and drinking alot la.. breakfast and coffee in the morning.. lunch in the afternoon.. drinks and dessert after work.. omg. fat fat fat. bleh.

was on the train home last night.. and the train was at jurong east station waiting to leave.. it was like the evening rush hour so it was really crowded.. and i actually saw 2 pple “quarreling” which i thought was quite interesting. so what happened was.. the train was already quite full.. but obviously there’s still space in between pple la.. like it wasn’t very very packed.. den suddenly i heard this guy say quite loudly “can you all please move in!” den obviously quite a few pple turned around.. den some of them shifted a little bit.. which obviously didn’t make much of a difference.. so this guy got quite annoyed and he tried to push his way towards the centre where there was more space. so den there was this older guy who was smsing or something.. and the young guy said to him quite rudely “can you stop looking at your phone and move in?” or something like that.. den the old guy obviously got annoyed and i guess its quite embarrassing to be told off in public also.. so he said “i’m already in what”. den the young guy went “no.. if u’re already in how come i can still come in?” den the old guy started grumbling under his breath and i couldn’t hear what he was saying.. and the young guy said “you don’t understand what it means to move in!” and den the old guy started talking to his wife.. obviously unhappy.. and the young guy said “if u’re not happy just say it to me.. don’t go and talk to your friend.. or whoever she is.” den the wife was like telling him to forget it and don’t bother abt pple like this.. so the old man didn’t really say anything back.. but he kept turning to stare at the young guy.. which provoked him even further so he raised his voice at the old guy again “hey what are you staring at man?”

yea so anyway.. i’m not going to say who is wrong or right la.. cos i understand how both party feels.. its like u’re trying to get in and there’s obviously space.. but yet nobody wants to move further in and the door area is packed.. then again if u’re in the train you wouldn’t be that comfortable standing so closely to some stranger.. i think the young guy started off giving the wrong kind of attitude.. like if you want to move in den just simply say “excuse me” and i believe pple will let you through.. rather than shouting at strangers and reprimanding them. den the old guy could have just shifted and not say anything back to him.. but i guess its also a matter of pride so he couldn’t just keep quiet after being shouted at.. but the fact that he kept turning back to stare at the guy was really childish la.. its like.. just forget it la! why can’t pple be more open-hearted?

and since i’m talking abt mrts.. was at the station today trying to rush up the escalator to catch the train that just arrived.. and thats when i understood how others felt when pple refuse to keep to the left side.. the worse thing is that its peak hour and there are alot of pple rushing to work.. is it that difficult to understand the reason behind standing on the left so that pple can go up faster on the right? and its not just one or two pple but quite alot of them! just bcos the train that arrived is not your train doesn’t mean other pple aren’t rushing for it! and so obviously i didn’t make it onto that train cos there were just too many pple blocking the right side.. i was just thinking if this happened at raffles place.. alot of pple would get “scolded” for it!

ok i think i’ve complained enough today haha.. just wanted to get it off my chest.. i guess thats just the way some people are and there’s nothing much i can do abt it as well.. just need to be nicer, more forgiving and open hearted to them and hope that they realise what they do affects pple around them! its fun-o-rama tmr but i’ve got to attend a faw meeting.. still haven’t decided if i should go before or after the meeting.. cos going too early means there won’t be much ready yet and its all expensive.. but den again i dunno how long the meeting will last so there might be nothing left! oh and luke asked me to help him bake muffins.. haven’t done it in quite a long time so hopefully they’ll turn out ok! :)

trivia of the day:

what is a food coma?

there are many possibilities as to what causes the classic “food coma”. many people report drowsiness after eating the traditional thanksgiving meal. turkey is blamed for this soporific effect, especially the amount of l-tryptophan contained in turkey. l-tryptophan is an essential amino acid and is a precursor of serotonin. both serotonin and l-tryptophan have a calming, sedative effect in the human body. l-tryptophan is naturally found in turkey protein but is actually present in many plants and animals, including chicken and cows. the average serving of turkey (about 100 grams or 3.5 ounces) contains a similar amount of l-tryptophan as found in an average serving of chicken and ground beef.

two other factors that contribute to the desire to sleep at the dinner table are meal composition and increased blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract. studies have shown that a solid-food meal resulted in faster fatigue onset than a liquid diet. the solid-food meal also causes a variety of substances to jump into action that ultimately leads to increased blood flow to the abdomen. this increase in blood flow and an increase in the metabolic rate for digestion can contribute to the “coma”.

and just in case u’re wondering.. time is the only true cure for the food coma.

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classic

cool huh?

oh and i left out the trivia in the last post cos i wasn’t blogging from home and it was already a super long post.. so here it is!

trivia of the day:

is it true that left-handed people are smarter than right-handed people?

medical literature is filled with studies on the effect of right- or left-handedness on oral hygiene, depression, immune function, schizophrenia, enuresis (bed-wetting), longevity, language, asthma, allergies, and injury. the list continues but none of the evidence is very clear. in general, the right side of our brain receives input from and controls the left side of our body, and vice versa. therefore, right-handed people are usually said to be left-brain dominant and left-handers, right-brain dominant. each brain hemisphere is known to have specialized abilities. the right brain is responsible for visual and spatial skills, while the left controls language and speech. again this does not always hold true. neuropsychologists have tried to test for intelligence differences between lefties and righties but have found no significant results. males are about one and a half to two times more likely to be left-handed than are females. there is no scientific evidence about why this occurs.