Flu Away....

For quite a long time, I remained relatively sick-free. Two weeks ago, however, I came down with a bad cough and cold. I think the virus must be rather strong because I had 'survived' past a number of sick colleagues sitting in close proximity. When it finally came on me, it was like all hell let loose - I've never needed so many days of MCs in my life. The doctor warned that there was some virus going around, and I should expect myself to be well in 2 weeks, and she was right-on.

In addition to having to exile myself to sleep alone in the spare room for a few nights lest I wake hubby and Chloe with my noisy coughing in the night, I had to endure a few suffocating days behind surgical masks. I was so worried that I might pass the virus to Chloe. Alas, she did come down with a 38.5 degree fever one night, but thank God she was well after a day's doze of baby paracetamol. She still looked like she had fun anyway....

Being a germ-freak, I am very conscious of spreading my germs to other people. I also thought that after SARS and H1N1, people are more wary of coughing and sneezing people near them. As such, I wore surgical masks when I was at a bank (that I was inspecting) where we were put in a meeting room. I suppose my team mates were grateful and understanding. However, on one occasion a bank staff entered the room, and he was immediately taken aback. He stared at me with horrified eyes as if I had contracted ebola, and I swear he was contemplating during that split second whether to run from my presence. He muttered something jokingly, albeit nervously, like whether I'd had my temperature checked or something, dropped the documents he came to deliver and fled. Duh.....

So it appears like surgical masks are still not widely accepted in public. Honestly, when I see someone on the streets wearing mask, I will also take a second look to assess if that person is so sick I should walk 20m away from him/her. I think people should be more open to this very considerate gesture of wearing surgical masks, rather than spray their germ-filled saliva onto others in the MRT and enclosed places like the office etc. Agree?
 

Team Lunch

My very kind Team Leader a.k.a Towkay offered to buy the team lunch to thank us for the hard work in the past few months.  At the rate work goes, I wonder if he will buy us lunch every month! Anyway, we headed to Lenas at Bugis Junction, which serves reasonably priced Italian meals. [Given the general austerity drive in the public sector, and on my Towkay's 'gahmen' pay, we paiseh to request for Les Amis.]

My sticky Italian noodles!

Another colleague was raving about the cream sauce carbonara something.... with ham or whatever, so I ordered it.  Again, pardon my clueless-ness about Italian faire (see my previous post here). It was rich and creamy the first few mouthfuls, but as it started turning cold, it was all gluey and sticky. I only finished half a plate - well, also in consideration of the trillions of years my body will take to burn all that cream off given the lack of any form of exercise.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the opportunity to lunch with everyone in the team. It would have been more fun if team mates can be more like my friend SL, who doesn't mind posing for photos anytime and at any angle. No one wanted to be in the direction my Canon s90 is pointing, except these 2 sweeties!

YY and HN looking sweet as ever!

After lunch, while we were all fussing about what desserts to order, the waiters appeared with 3 slices of brownies on a hotplate, with a candle each. Little did I realise it was a birthday surprise for me (and 2 other gals whose birthdays fall in May). Of course the singing of the birthday song could sound nicer and more coordinated, but whatever! It was still a pleasant surprise!

Yummy brownie on a hotplate with lots of chocolate sauce....

LOL! I think these extra desserts to celebrate our birthdays went into the lunch tab. Thanks everyone for the little celebration, and thanks to....

The man who paid....

A 13-Year Promise Fulfilled

My family usually celebrates everyone's birthday with dinner. It could be something fanciful or something simple. Yesterday, we had a really simple one for my birthday. Brother-in-law could not join us for dinner as his mother was in hospital and he was on evening shift to watch over her. Both my nephew and niece were sick, on 'quaratine', and kept away from Chloe. So my parents, sis, hubby and I headed down to our favorite kopitiam zhi-char store at Ang Mo Kio to have a simple dinner. It was yummy nonetheless and oh-so-cheap and good! 

 Fried stuff are so yummy.... !

I claimed my off-in-lieu for May Day on 3 May 2010 (today) and set it aside for a day of relaxation and shopping. Yoo-hooo! This picture below doesn't quite qualify as cam-whoring, but nevertheless it's to be a record of how I look when I'm ahem... 37 years old!

The Promise
The real celebration is to take place today. My hubby insisted on taking me to Dan Ryan's at Tangling Mall. See, I used to be wearing orthodontic braces when I was in the university, which was the time we started dating. To cheer me on with the painful braces-experience, he made a promise to bring me to Dan Ryan's to taste the fabulous ribs after I remove the braces. That was 13 years ago!!! Well, somehow we never got to dine there for whatever reasons. Occasionally, I do complain about that 'broken promise' and how amazing it is we could procrastinate about those ribs for so long. So today, a promise is finally fulfilled!

My first visit to Dan Ryan's. Truly American style.....

The must-have baby back ribs?

Was it really finger-licking good and to-die-for? Nah..but it's ok. 

I had charcoal grilled chicken. 

After lunch, we went to Takashimaya to spend the shopping vouchers that my sister sponsored. Bought a pair of Italian handmade calf leather shoes. I think they are good enough - I don't need another pair of Ferragamos as they are way too expensive! As for my birthday present from hubby, I received it three weeks ago already.... : )