Korean Beef Bulgogi

Always when i crave for something sweet and savoury, the korean dish that is hot, covered with dark soy sauce and bbq-ed come to my mind, the beef bulgogi. Tonight i tried cooking the dish after shopping for some fresh beef flank and lean meat at FairPrice Finest, the "fresh and higher-quality" version of the NTUC Fairprice supermarket, after my driving lesson at kovan.

This is the recipe i used. And instead of sesame seed and sesame oil (which I ran out) I used LaYu chili oil that has strong sesame taste.

Marketing stuff

As we are closing the year, you start to receive interesting marketing mails for organization. One of it that I like is SPG Year In Review, that I think is pretty cool. It gave a piechart snapshot on my Starwood activities.

It recognizes, that I stayed the most in the Westin brand of this membership. Talk about its crossover promo with Delta airlines (I earned merely 1,800 miles) while the top earner was 120k points... It recommend some hotels around the region I'm in, and encourage me to explore more of the Westin hotels in advance.

Very innovative cross-sell and upsell campaign. Well done SPG. SPG is the award program name for the Starwood group of hotels.

Movies under the Star

This morning while jogging with Clarissa my little nice from Medan, I noticed the sign for DBS Movies by the Bay. www.dbsmoviesbythebay.com for details. Tonight's show is Thor!

I am quite excited for spend this Saturday night with this movie event!

as I'm watching my 2013 To-Do list

I feel a little bit depressed, melancholy. It's now December. The year coming to an end. It feels so fast, time flies. I have not done much useful things in my free time. On my weekend. Time just past.

The year 2013.
The year of Snake.
My lucky year.
What have I accomplished this year.

A sad year. A very touching year. A year of transformation. Waiting. Falling in love. Almost. Falling out. Heart broken. Carrying this sadness inside.

TV Series I am hooked on: The Americans

Normally I had a pretty good feeling on to-be hit TV series even from first seasons. I loved Heroes, Smallville, the Grey Anatomy. I also loved the Big Bang Theory, the Modern Family, and How I Met Your Mother. Unfortunately the former groups, the subsequent seasons turned to be less and less appealing that I dropped my attention after season 3 or 4. (Oh I also love the Fringe).

So now I am super HOOK-ed by the Americans. I found it watching on my Delta flight to Seattle back in August. It has 2 episodes, and so every month when I fly I always checked if the airlines have new update. Unfortunately SQ (Singapore Airlines) this month stopped at Ep 6. So watching online, I finished the rest of episodes, culminating with the finale tonight.

According to latest news, the Season 2 will return and shall premiere on Feb 2014. I can't wait. The Americans are TV series premiered in 2013 about a couple of KGB agents who operated in the US suburb of Washington DC, Virginia. They are master of disguises and were matched by the Centre to live in USA as a married couple named Phillip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell). Throughout their 16 years live together, they have 2 American children born and raised in the United States, Paige and Henry.

The series are tense, interesting, smart, and full of complex plot of spy agents and double-crossing. But what makes me glued on is the marriage love story at the core of the series. Whether that's between Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings especially but also the subsequent implications with Martha, Stan and Sandra, as well as the gorgeous Nina. The plots and consequences of actions are absorbing. Some of the scenes are eyebrow-raising I admit, but never seem far-fetch. In the bizzare hidden lives in Cold War and the brutal intelligence agencies and War, nothing is out of questions. That is what's so wonderful and engrossing about this series. Highly recommended!

Amazing things I saw this week

The beautiful 6am sunset at the Auckland Harbour on Dec 3, morning. The melancholic sunrise, shining thru layers of light clouds formation.

This Volvo ad video.

Back from NZ this morning, overnight flight from stormy Auckland last night. I'm lucky to have two empty seats in an-almost-full flight Auckland-Singapore. Thank you Singapore Airlines.