Wedding bells

Ah.. another work week has arrived.

Every morning when we alight at Tanjong Pagar MRT station, Da's and my usual refrain to each other is, "eh... where do you want to eat this morning?". We have run out of ideas!

Recently, we discovered a coffeeshop hidden at the back of an HDB block near the Tanjong Pagar hawker centre. Last friday (1 August 2008), we ordered the steamed buns from the coffeeshop for breakfast. This week, we decided to be more adventurous and try something else. Da ordered the lontong (from the Muslim stall) whereas I ordered the vegetarian beehoon.

What was our conclusion? The fare was simply awful! This is one of those rare few times when Da did not finish his food! In fact, he was grumbling that the standard of food in Singapore has dropped in recent years. Mind you, for a guy who is generally not fussy about his food, for him to pass such a comment and gasp (!) for him not to finish his meal is testimony to how bad the standard of the food is.

So how bad was the food? Well, the lontong was anaemic and it had "no kick". The lontong sold at the coffeeshop along Jalan Tua Kong is far superior to the one we tried at this coffeshop near the Tanjong Pagar hawker centre. As for the vegetarian beehoon, the beancurd was tasteless, the mock char siew was oily and the beehoon was simply not appetising. I am rather fussy about the standard of breakfast beehoon and I have noticed that the fried beehoon sold at vegetarian stalls tends to be either tasteless or too peppery. I do not know whether it is because the stallholder is not allowed to add seasoning. Is seasoning non-vegetarian? Perhaps what is missing is the famous THREE ELEPHANT sauce reputed to be sold only in Muar, Malaysia. However, when I decided to order the vegetarian beehoon from this stall, it was because I thought at first glance that this stall's beehoon may be passable as the stallholder seemed to have fried the beehoon with black sauce. Many a time have I come across vegetarian beehoon that is not fried with black sauce. I shall give you a tip to tasty fried beehoon => good quality black sauce is a must.

Goodness me! I seem to have developed water retention problem as well. I feel awfully bloated. In addition, my influenza that I caught in May 2008 does not seem to have gone away. This will not do! I reject this, in the name of Jesus!

I have been eyeing the pineapple tarts sold at one of the shops located at the Tanjong Pagar MRT station. Today, I gave in to temptation and walked towards the shop, intending to buy 1 container of pineapple tarts. I have seen many people patronising the shop and as such, the quality of the tarts must be somewhat acceptable. When I asked to buy 1 container of tarts, the shop assistant look at me in surprise and remarked, "Don't you want to try the sample first?". Goodness me! Sigh... I agreed to sample a piece of the tart. As I guessed, the pastry melts in the mouth and the pineapple filling is not overly sweet. A container of tarts costs S$17-00, so be sure to savour every piece!

Da informed me today that his father's eldest sister contacted him today regarding 2 matters:-

(1) She wanted me to assist her in the redemption of her mortgage of one of her properties.

(2) She wanted to invite us to her son's wedding on 1 September 2008.

I had a look at my calendar. 1 September 2008 falls on a Monday. It is also the 1st day that our office will be operating from our new premises. Oh my! This means that:-

(a) I have to wear something to work on that day that can double-up as an evening dress to wear to the wedding dinner; and

(b) I have to leave the office promptly at 6 pm on that day. (Sigh... since when have I ever left the office promptly at 6 pm?!).

I asked Da why the wedding is held on 1 September 2008. He said that initially, the family wanted to hold the wedding on the 1st day of the 8th month of the Lunar calendar (which falls on Sunday, 31 August 2008) but the hotel's function room was not available on that day.

I have often wondered why the Chinese need to look at the Lunar calendar when choosing a wedding date. The younger Chinese do not want to consult a temple medium or fortune teller for an auspicious wedding date as they do not believe that a date will have any effect on their wedded bliss. However, the older Chinese (namely, the parents of the bridge and/or groom) would often remind the younger couple to select an auspicious date. The parents may feel that it is important to select an auspicious date to ensure a successful marriage for the couple. Whilst the younger couple may balk at such old fashioned ideas, some parents take offence when the younger couple appear to object to their kind intentions.

Considering that this year is 2008, I would not be surprised if many couples decide to get married on 8 August 2008 (ie. 08-08-08). Before you laugh this off as ridiculous, may I gently remind you that the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics 2008 is scheduled for... you guessed it! 8 August 2008!

The date 08-08-08 not only catchy, the number 8 is considered favorable in Chinese culture. When you pronounce 8 in Cantonese, it sounds similar to the word for "prosperity". Being a nation that is crazy about 4D and toto, we simply love anything that has the number 8 in it (eg. car license plate, unit number of our apartment, mobile phone number, wedding date, etc). The more eights involved in a couple’s life together, the better chance for luck and wealth.

In the case of Da's cousin, I would not be surprised if the family had also considered 08-08-08 for their wedding but chances are that the function rooms of the hotels in town would have been fully booked for 8 August 2008 way, way, way in advance.

So, at the end of the day, having said all this, I have to find a way to leave the office early on 1 September 2008 in order to make it for the wedding dinner. In actual fact, the solemnisation of the wedding will be taking place before the dinner but it is unlikely that I would be able to make it to attend the solemnisation. I can only hope that I can rush to the hotel in time for the dinner.

Next comes the all-important question - what to wear? I have several evening gowns in my wardrobe, all suitable for wedding dinners, but not when I have to go from the office straight to the dinner! Sigh... this leaves me with work dresses that can double-up as evening dresses. This does not give me much choice. I had a quick glance at my work dresses that can somewhat pass off as evening dresses:-

As you can see, I do not have much choice. I was thinking that perhaps I could settle for the black sleeveless dress (note: it is the one that is displayed with the green cardigan in the slideshow above). I could wear the cardigan at work and for the dinner, I could switch to a shawl. I have just the shoes to match the dress. Yes, my latest favourite - my leather sling-back shoes! Now, I just need to find time to patronise Marks & Spencers to check out their stock of lingerie (I have been informed that they sell lovely lingerie).

By the way, in case you are wondering, I could not resist including my baju kurung in the slideshow! I bought the blue baju kurung from a shop at the Petronas Twin Towers a few years ago but have to date not found the occasion to wear it.

Well, we shall see how this goes. Watch this space for more updates!

Incidentally, I have an update on my packing in the office. I have today carefully placed my mini-refrigerator in the carton box. Now, all I have left to pack are my stationery (I frankly have no idea how I could have accumulated so much stationery over the course of the past 3 years!), my table-top Mistral fan and my plants. What about my files and title deeds, you may ask. Ah! I am leaving this in the expert hands of my gang to ensure that the files and title deeds are nicely packed in the cartons and ready to be moved to our new premises.