A Deecoded Life

Food, Beauty, Travel & Lifestyle Blog

You Saw What??

by

As I said in a previous entry, “Sorry?” is my most used phrase here in Singapore because it’s hard to understand their accent sometimes. Over lunch today, I related two examples of this scenario that had us doubled up in laughter. So now my tummy hurts from too much P.osh brownies, Just Acia ice cream, […]

A Dozen Dimsums to Say Goodbye

by

Desmond organized a “treasury farewell lunch” for me today. Yeah I know. I’m not from Treasury. How nice of them, right? There were three of them in the team – Des, his boss Ewee, and their management trainee Nidhi. The other member of their team, Xin Min, was on leave. We headed to Pine Court […]

I Had Two Cakes and Ate Them Too

by

We were still all up at midnight when Cate stood up and announced that she wanted to drink water. When she opened the door, Gelle and Joey burst singing into the room with a small cake and a bottle of faux wine. Awww!!! Thanks again you guys!! You didn’t really have to give me a […]

A Fuzzy Ducky Birthday Surprise

by

After walking around Chinatown and Ion Orchard, Cate, Chu and I finally got home where a surprise was waiting for me – spaghetti aglio oglio, fried chicken, black forest cake, banderitas, party hats crowns, and a room full of friends yelling “Happy Birthday!” the princess and the cherries (now that’s a new fairy tale) crowned […]

Colour Everywhere

by

Last month my friend Gay emailed me to ask if Rodel was the only guy College classmate that we had who was in Singapore because an officemate of hers had said that her bestfriend’s boyfriend knew Gay for that reason. “What?!?” I replied. “Are you telling me that Rodel already has a girlfriend that I […]

Sorry?

by

I was talking to my mom on the phone last night. We were speaking in Bisaya, our family’s dialect. Just then, she said something I didn’t quite hear. “Sorry?” I said. My roommates Cate and Cheryl looked at me and burst out laughing. “Sorry?” is probably your average OFW’s (Overseas Filipino Worker) most used phrase. […]

My UE Square Lunch Buddies

by

I was a lunchtime loner at my first job in Singapore. I suppose penny-pinching on lunches made me pay a price in something other than money. I mean, for four years working in Makati, I always had lunch buddies and looked forward to these lunches-slash-bonding sessions as the bright spot in my busy days. When […]

Handwritten Notes

by

My officemate Vincent saw this under my desk. He came up with this question. My reply is below. It’s a joke, of course. Anand is my boss’s boss. Suddenly I miss the handwritten note-passing days in school. In high school, Lyn and I used to write long letters to each other during class, where we […]

Blissful Dinner

by

We decided to celebrate our first year anniversary in Singapore with dinner at our favorite restaurant, Bliss, which is located in our park, Punggol Park. We ordered the same things that we had ordered months ago when we were celebrating Gelle’s new job (of which her last day was last Friday, by the way) – […]