After 3 months, it was time for roast beef again. So, the ninja set a date and after some back and forth msn meetings, we dutifuly turned up in a nondescript corner coffeeshop along East Coast road for a Sunday roast.

This time round, the crowd was much smaller. The ninja, the budaks, lonelyham and yours truly. But being the big hearted people that we were (bless!), two ang mohs native western food consumers were adopted into the group, mainly because one of them complained to me once, "you can't find decent cheap western food in singapore. Slapping some meat, beans and chips on a plate doesn't count!"

Well well... I'll prove him wrong and boy did I!

Take a look at that! A whole 1.7kg of Burgundy Roast beef, done to medium rare perfection. And its no ordinary roast too, having been marinated carefully in Burgundy wine for two whole days prior to serving. And it came with the most delicious wine sauce I've ever tasted.





And just because we're eating in a kopi-tiam, that doesn't mean we can't be atas and have some wine! I was quite looking forward to it cos it was the first time I used the Reidel O wine tumblers since acquiring them in March (thanks to NHK and J!). Really, it is an ingenious design, being stemless and all. Just perfect for a hot and stuffy coffeeshop with 7 people huddled around 2 tiny tables filled with a gazillion plates of food.

Well.. we stuffed ourselves silly, to say the least. Even A who was nursing a horrid hangover perked up enough to enjoy the food. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves...






Cake from Awfully Chocolate - I'm not a dessert person, but apparently this was quite good. MrsB liked it very much!

To those who are going to check it out, please note that you need to ring up (Aston at 91474627) at least two days in advance for the roast. Oh, Aston's moving out of the coffeeshop to bigger premises. Sunday was their last day. According to LHam, they will reopen a few doors away sometime in mid July. I am so going back, maybe for their fish and chips. I can't eat like this every Sunday!

Thanks to NinjaHelloKitty for painstakingly organizing the logistics! And I stand in awe that you were able to have an even bigger dinner down the road. All I did for the rest of the day was to vegetate. :P

All pictures taken from here.

Monday morning, brand new day, brand new week.

And I come into the lab to a... mysterious smell hanging over Duc and I. "-_-

It used to be a common thing.. this mysterious pong business in the old lab before it was renovated, as the false ceiling above us used to be a rat's fantasy playground. And sometimes one would die in some god forsaken corner and rest in peace until its decaying carcass emits that smell. And we would be hunting down the source of the mysterious smell until we are led to some dusty corner with a half rotting rodent curled up there.

Other smells would be contributed by escapee specimens.. I clearly remember a particularly unfortunate Birgus latro which daringly made a bid for freedom while no one was watching and ended up in the same dusty corner with its abdomen half chewed. Whatever's left of it is in the museum now. RIP.

Aaaah, that smell.. its come back today. Hanging over Duc and I like an ominous dark cloud.

I suppose if it gets any stronger tomorrow, we'll have to hunt down the source. I hope its not a rat. We've been rat free for years! Don't tell me our defence is breached! *gasp!*

Time for a sundowner and no shot glasses?

No worries! We serve our B55s in glass tubes! A quirky touch but its time to get real shot glasses. Pippetting the different liquers can be a real pain when you just want to knock it back in a hurry.

Donations welcome!

This is another truism. My supervisor usually makes a dramatic entrance to the lab, audible to everybody sitting in their little cubicles.

First, the door rattles. He usually assumes that the door is not locked and tries to open it only to find that it is. Then we hear keys being taken out, some muffled sentences (perhaps cussing, that is quite likely) and the door flings open. This is followed by a colossal sigh and thumping of chest where his heart is, as he comes in and surveys the carnage that is his lab. By that time, all games windows would be closed and out comes the word documents. Industrious students working, checking specimens, writing emails, generally looking busy.

A few times though, he comes in with nary a sound, as if springing a spot check. But all that he caught me doing was checking out BBC, which isn't half as bad as gofugyourself.

Phew. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him in weeks. Must go hassle him now.

Secret kitkat stash

Secret kitkat stash
Originally uploaded by island_girl.

Not so secret anymore.. but this is what fat freddy got me from his recent trip home, on top of the girly mag AND some fine absinth..now I have two bottles!


Have to remember to work my way through them (both choccies and booze) slowly, else the new jeans won't fit anymore.