Was happy to see DK, Hisham, Jayden, Mus, Diana and Eevon at our event and glad to meet William for the first time! Friends like Claudia, Nadia, Jacelyn and Lawrence did not managed to make it for our event due to personal commitments and Nicole was not feeling well that day.

Kicking off the event was Jack & Rai singing the unplugged version of “Pixelated”, a song in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2009, live at the blogger event and followed by a screening of August 29, a short film produced by HPB and a group of youths.

[Part 1 of August 29]

[Part 2 of August 29]

Starring Lawrence and Evelyn Maria, August 29 is a heart-wrenching love story about a girl who is dying of AIDS and how she chooses to spend her last days with her ex-boyfriend, a photographer.

My colleague, Janice then shared the objective of the blogger engagement event and programme lined up to commemorate World AIDS Day 2009. This might sound cliché to you but we really hope to create more awareness about HIV/AIDS through the power of our blogger friends.

Did you see the countdown timer on the right column? It will be counting down to December 1, a day when many people around the world can often be seen wearing the red ribbon that has now become a familiar symbol of:

• CARE and CONCERN for people living with HIV and those who have died from AIDS;
• HOPE in the search for a vaccine and care; and
• SUPPORT for people living with or affected by HIV

Did you know that…

• condoms can provide protection against HIV when used correctly and consistently?
• when you are tested negative, it does not mean you are HIV negative for life?
• you will not get HIV by sharing food and drinks with someone who has the virus?
• a lot of people still do not know about the above-mentioned after so many years of public education since the discovery of the virus in 1981?
• and you can find out more about HIV/AIDS at HPB Online?

“Your life, your canvas” is the theme for World AIDS Day 2009 and is inspired by the notion that we are all responsible for painting the canvas of our own lives. What we choose to put on that canvas is entirely up to us, and the choices we make all contribute to a constantly evolving picture.

We will be having the finals of the Graffiti Art Competition at Scape Park on 21 Nov 09 and will also be hosting an exclusive World AIDS Day event of art, music and dance, featuring guest appearances by Jack & Rai on 5 Dec 09 at SupperClub Singapore.

To stand a chance to win one of the 100 pairs of tickets to this special event, all you need to do is answer 3 simple questions on Breathe.sg.

To increase your chances of winning the tickets, do keep an eye on my blog as I will also be giving out 5 pairs of tickets to 5 lucky readers in this 2 weeks! Some of our blogger friends will also be holding a ticket giveaway in their blogs so do keep a lookout on Breathe.sg!

Show your support!

I sincerely hope that you can also show your support for the World AIDS Day 2009 by joining our Twibbon campaign on Twitter and Facebook to create awareness on HIV/AIDS.

If you blog too, you can also show your support by embedding this countdown widget on your blog.

To participate, copy and paste the following codes to your blog:

Standing Sushi Bar

I love the spontaneous meet ups that we organise via social media! Nadnut was asking online on Monday if anyone is keen to go Standing Sushi Bar for ala carte dinner and a few of us, Fari, Nicole, Justin, Glenn and Sarah and I decided to join her!

And guess what? When we reached Standing Sushi Bar, Nadnut asked if we are keen for Omakase with a budget of $50, instead of having ala carte food. Given that the UOB Credit Card is having a 1 for 1 discount for Omakase until end of October, the bill will be $25, before GST.

The problem was we were in ODD NUMBER! Someone had to sacrifice! Glenn was nice to order ala carte instead.

Chef Roy and Kawasan

So with a $50 budget, what did we get? A 7-course dinner, completed with soup and dessert! Chef Roy and Kawa-san made us really good stuff!  The each dish is served only after everyone in the group finished their current dish and hence the food served were very fresh!

First course: Sea Snails

The Seas Snails were very sweet and fresh. My first time trying this! Some of us had a hard time getting the meat out though.

Second course: Assorted Sashimi

My all time favourite! YUMZ!

Third course: Eggplant with Special Sauce

I did not know that this was Eggplant until I checked Nadnut‘s twitpic. I love the way they cooked it!

Fourth course: Deep Fried Tuna on Stick

It has some other filling other than Tuna! I like!

Fifth course: Grilled Hokke

The taste of this Fish was very nice. Lightly salted and it smelled good!

Sixth course: Yakiniku Beef

The Yakiniku Beef tasted okay only. Maybe because we were enjoying the complementary sake and did not eat this fresh enough.

Seventh course: Assorted Sushi

The sushi had very little rice, which is good! By this time, I was pretty full already!

Radish Soup

The radish soup was a nice way to end the dinner.

Dessert: Ice Cream

From what we heard from Sarah, her friend wasn’t allowed to change the flavour of the ice cream and was offered Green Tea flavoured icecream. We were in luck since we have Nadnut with us! We were allowed to choose between 3 different flavours – Citrus, Green Tea and Black Seasame!

I must say that I enjoyed the food very much and the total damage was $29.40 each after the UOB Credit card discount! Damn worth it right? If you are keen to try Omakase and you have a UOB Credit Card, go there during the month of October 2009! If you don’t have an UOB Credit Card, go look for someone who has it.

Oh, did I mention that the owner of Standing Sushi Bar is Howard Lo? He was one of the contestants on “Eye for a Guy” and coincidentally, he is also a Fresh Air Ambassador! Too bad, we did not get to meet him as he was caught up with some stuff on Monday. We will probably get to meet him during our next visit to Standing Sushi Bar, which is on 20 Oct!

The attendees for this coming round of Omakase will be Nadnut, Nicole, Justin, Jacelyn and me! This time Nadnut will be bringing her friend along so we are in even number! Nadnut has requested for Chef Roy and Kawa-san to create a different menu for us the next time we visit!

I am so looking forward to it! YUMZ!