Brown Sugar

It's that time of the month...to meet up with PS & G for our monthly gals' night out. PS decided that we should try out Brown Sugar! I was looking forward to the dinner as I've heard so many good reviews about them.

So I made my way to Stardust @ River Valley where Brown Sugar is located, and was disappointed at the exterior of the building! It is actually a Community Club lor...quite run down...and the toilet...ok, never mind...

G & PS had arrived earlier, and I spotted them immediately, because there were only 2 tables occupied in the restaurant!! The place has a really nice ambience though, perfect place for a quiet dinner for two. The other table was occupied by a couple, and I think we may have spoilt their romantic candle lit dinner with the noise that we were making...hehehe...

Nice and simple table setting...

Risotto with potato gnocchi...

Mushrooms & parma ham pasta in cream sauce...

Molten lava chocolate cake with honey & fig ice-cream...

I didn't take a picture of my main course of oxtail stew and mushrooms with tagliatelle, because the lighting was quite dark. All the pics were taken with my mobile phone camera, because I left my Lumix at home again! :(

All the dishes were very nicely done, and quite delicious. The pasta was al dente, and the sauces are satisfyingly savoury. The molten cake was not too bad, but the honey & fig ice-cream was delicious! I initially thought it was vanilla pod ice-cream because of the flecks of seeds in it, but we clarified with the waitress, and she confirmed that it is a honey & fig ice-cream. Too bad I forgot the brand of the ice-cream! PS & G, can you remember?

I wonder how the restaurant survived though - there were only 2 tables occupied throughout the whole night! No doubt it was a Tuesday night, but 2 tables is really kinda pathetic.

As usual during our outing, we talked a lot, gossip a lot and lauged a lot! :) We were talking about me wanting to splurge on Miumiu bags during this economic downturn...and G recording down all the other places that we want to eat for our monthly dinner in her new Palm PDA phone...we also talked about our jobs, my impending trip to Hong Kong, etc.!

Ok, that was a lot of topics to cover in 2.5hours...that is why we have to meet up every month! But it is a dinner that I look forward to every month! See you gals next month! :)

So bimbo...

I'm very disturbed with the mindset of young people nowadays, especially after reading this article.

Should we blame it on the parents or what? Or is it just her "character" to talk and think like that? What went wrong?

Her remark that she just do not understand why her friends doesn't ask for money from their parents is really the ultimate bimbotic thing to say! If I'm her parents, I would not be proud to have my daughter saying such things on national newspaper.

And I think she has just ruined her chances of ever getting a first job that pays her well enough to buy a Chanel bag. I just hope that amongst today's youth, there are still some who are grounded and will make good leaders in the future. We need to have good leaders in the next generation, because I believe that life will be tougher, and harder in generations to come.

May peace reign on earth. Amen.

Asia Grand...

Had lunch at Asia Grand today, because I am simply craving for their Salted Egg Yolk Prawns! I used to work in the same building where Asia Grand was located, so I had loads of opportunities to eat lunch there. It is definitely my favourite place to go for a nice dim sum lunch.

Just check out the pics!

The most 'shiok' XO sauce and pickles...and it's FREE...

Deep Fried Mushrooms with Garlic...

Carrot cake with XO Sauce...

Egg tarts...

Century egg porridge with lean pork...

Chicken feet! My favourite...

"Zha Liong"...

"Ha Kow"!

Custard buns...yum!

The highlight...Salted Egg Yolk Prawns!


"Yang Chow" fried rice...

A good meal to end the long weekend holidays...*burp*...gotta hit the gym tomorrow!!

Happy Diwali!

Ok, festive seasons are excuses for pigging out! It's Deepavali on 27th October, and as usual, I'm invited to P's house for the delicious tea and food! P's mom cooks the most delicious dhal, paneer, etc.

I was the first to arrive in P's house at 3.30pm, and smuggled the surprise birthday cake for AQ into the fridge :) Finally, AQ and C came, but without the dogs as promised! Boo! But C had some bad news - Holly went on to the rainbow bridge last night! So sad....she is such a feisty little ball of fur! C's dogs had always have lots of character...will miss Holly very much!

So we hang around the kitchen, gorging on burfi, gulab gamen (i think this is how it's spelt), aunty's chai, and other delicious snacks.

Gulab Gamen...my favourite


Burfi...C's favourite...

The Surprise cake was finally revealed...

The very surprised birthday gal and the gracious host...

We had a blast at P's place, maybe we should have more of such gatherings more often! :)

Steamboat at 4.30pm...?

Met up with TS, EK and PC at Coca Steamboat (Takashimaya Branch) yesterday at 4.30pm! I don't know what to call this meal - Lunch? Super high tea? But whatever you call it, it was a good meal and we had a good time catching up on our busy lives! :)

Surprisingly, the restaurant was quite full! There are other crazy people like us who eat steamboat at 4.30pm...hehehe....so can we say we are perfectly normal? :) We started at 4.30pm, and left the place at 7.30pm! Value for money hor?

After I parted with the gals, I met up with J, but I was too full to eat a proper dinner with him! We ended up at Big O's Cafe...

J enjoying his cup-of-cinno...

He ordered his usual marinara pasta and it took forever to come! I think they missed out on his orders. Thankfully, the pasta looks and tastes good...think he enjoyed it very much!

Marinara penne...

After dinner, we went over to Hilton Hotel to collect AQ's birthday cake! AQ's boyfriend, C, said that this is her favourite cake, so we are going to surprise her at P's house tomorrow! Hmmm...are the short acronyms for people's names making you blur? :P

Hibiscus Cheese Cake...$7.80/piece before GST!

I got a cheesecake for J as well, because he is flying off to China again tomorrow! :( He was barely back in Singapore for a week, and he's flying off again!

Oh well, at least I have BB with me. By the way, BB is the name of our car - short for Big & Bulky. Despite being BB, he is so easy to drive! I love driving BB! And I think because he does not have a protruding boot, it is sooo much easier to park him! I don't know about you, but I find it very hard to gauge if the boot is going to crash into the wall or not when I park cars with a boot!?

Tomorrow is going to be another pigging out day! Diwali goodies at P's house! Yum....

Oomphatico's!

Met up with PS for a short coffee break at Tanglin Mall, and we chanced upon Oomphatico's! I had wanted to go to Cafe Bravaria, but they were closing! So we went down again to Oomphatico's!

Nice decor...!

I ordered a Flat White, which came in a stylish cup, but was not captured in the picture. Didn't have my Lumix with me, so had to use the handphone camera!

Flat White...

We also shared a serve of Sticky Date Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream. The pudding was nice, but nowhere near Marmalade Pantry's version!

Sticky Date Pudding...

We didn't stay for too long, as Mr Ang came to pick PS up to go for dinner. But I can see myself going back to Oomphatico's! sometime in the near future, just to enjoy the ambience, and the not too bad coffee :)

THE most famous pepper crab in Singapore...

Yes, finally I went to Eng Seng for the most famous Black Pepper Crab in Singapore. You know what? I was mildly disappointed.

I am not fond of sweetish food, and the black pepper sauce for the crab was too sweet for my liking. I would prefer it if it were more savoury, and maybe more spicy. There was also not much gravy for me to scoop up! I like my savoury gravy!

Black Pepper Crab...

We ordered a tofu dish, which was quite good, and also a plate of veggies.

Tofu...

Veggies...

We were pretty lucky to get a seat like under 10 minutes and with no reservations! But it is not someplace that I will go running back soon...I still prefer Melben's crabs in Toa Payoh.

Ok, I should go back there soon to take some pics of their Claypot Crab Beehoon! Yum! :)

Alone in a Cafe...

It was one of those days when I just feel like being alone in a nice Cafe. Ok, whenever I'm alone, I always like to splurge and be nice to moi :)

My usual place to hibernate is Canele...and in my effort to be "economical", I ordered one single piece of Salty Caramel Macaron and a cup of tea.

I spent a couple of hours in Canele reading my book - A Thousand Splendid Suns - and taking small nibbles of macaron and sips of tea in between!

Bliss! I wish I could do this everyday!

Ladies Who Lunch...

I'm off work today, and decided to have lunch with G - probably my only friend who doesn't have to conform to a strict 9 to 5 job? :)

G suggested going to Bistro Petit Salut for their $25+++ set lunch. I thought that was quite a good deal. We wanted to go to The Line, but I decided to spend a bit less and go for the $25 lunch.

Ha, I'm trying to be conscious of what I spend on so that I can buy more frivolous stuff like Miumiu bags...hehehe...

Anyway, it was pouring when I reached Holland Village! So I went to hide in Coffe Bean, and waited for G. As I was thirsty, I decided to get a drink. While perusing the drinks menu...I decided I should get the cheapest item on the list as part of my "economic restructuring plan"...ha! I like how my "plan" is going already. So I ordered a kid's size Sunrise! Woohoo...less $$ out of my pocket, and less calories to consume. Then I realised their brew of the day is cheaper by $1.10! Boo!

Here's me sitting in Coffee Bean with my kid's size Sunrise, wet umbrella, and the ubiquitous handphone.

A rainy day...does not give good lighting for photos!

And here's the end of our lunch! Didn't remember to take the appetizer and main course! Aaarrgghh....I had the baby bay scallops salad - which was not good, because the scallops are fishy! The beef onglet was pretty nice, and I had them change the french fries to mashed potatos. I wanted gratin potato, but they missed out and it would take them another 10 minutes to do it, so I told them to get me the mashed potatos as it was faster! And G had to rush to fetch Isaac to school. Told you she is "free" :)

I had the creme brulee...again it was not fantastic, but serves my craving for caramelized sugar.

This is a close up of G's dessert - cheesecake with sorbet - which I thought was a weird combination. The other desserts did not interest me.

It was a lovely lunch altogether. The bistro was not crowded, a few business people and a group of Japanese ladies who lunch.

Well, the set lunch was quite worth it. I think the other dishes might be tastier. G had the escargots and I think she enjoyed them. I will probably come back here and try the other dishes when I'm in those "Ladies who Lunch" mood.

After lunch, we fetched Isaac and his friend, to school! His friend is sooo cute! He's half Japanese, and he's so bubbly and was very friendly. He asked me if I want to go to his home to play Wii! Hahah...that was really cute, and he said it's his birthday today! Happy Birthday!

It is nice to just take leave and do a leisurely lunch with gal pals once in awhile. Guess the next one will be in December, when PS can finally take leave after her probation! :)

Another weekend...

Oh dear, my life seems so monotonous nowadays.

Typical weekend is spending hours in TCC, then on to dinner, and sometimes to a movie or just back to J's place to...do nothing. No wonder I have to lug around my book, DS Lite, and iPod to keep me occupied?! We usually hang out at the quieter TCC at Robertson or Beach Road.

And that is what we did exactly last weekend at the Beach Road TCC. J was working "very hard" on his assignment in the background. My posion is usually Mocha Villa, but I felt something less sinful and ordered the Iced Minty Mocha.




Took a pic of my PINK DS Lite and PINK camera case. Yes, I have a lot of PINK stuff. Guess what's my favourite colour? :)

My current read...which I've finished by now, and it was another fantastic book from Jeffrey Archer! This book is a compilation of 9 short stories, and it was written when he was imprisoned for...cannot remember why he was jailed. But I think that experience actually enhanced his writing!

More PINK stuff! See My Melody diary and Luxe Bangkok guide! Yes, I'm going to BKK next month, and I just want to do something different other than going to MBK to shop. I want to experience another side of BKK, hence the Luxe guide.

After "tea", we went to Funan to get an external hard disk for me. Finally! J refuse to buy me the PINK and sleeker but more expensive hard disk. Oh well, I just need tons of disk space desperately! And ended up buying this kinda bulky and odd-shaped Maxtor 320GB hard disk. My laptop is always prompting me "low disk space". My overcrowding problem should be resolved with the hard disk, I hope!

Thanks for the hard disk, J!

Selamat Hari Raya!

It's public hols today! And this is a typical way of spending it with J nowadays...life can be so mundane! But it was pretty enjoyable...with our first stop of the day at...

The Marmalade Pantry at Palais Renaissance! I called up yesterday, to check if they will be serving their brunch menu the whole day today, and the guy said yes. So I made a reservation at 1pm, already making up my mind I want to eat eggs Benedict. But alas, they are not serving brunch at all today! Wrong info by whoever took my reservation. Sigh...but the manager came over to apologise and I just let it go.

I like that ball of "flower" - so cute, but I don't know what flower it is though. It is always on the tables in Marmalade. The poster behind the flower proclaims that Pierside Kitchen is now open with an even better menu! Yeah, must go check it out soon. Had dinner there once, and it was really good. But of course, really expensive too.

Both of us were so hungry that we over-ordered. J had the cabbage and bacon soup (upon my 'recommendation' because I've always wanted to try it...hehe...), and I ordered my usual Crab Caeser. The soup was not warm enough but was served with a hunk of nice, warm bread. My favourite dish is still their Crab Caeser...utterly divine. What is there not to like? It's bite size lettuce leaves smothered in Caeser sauce, thin croutons, pinenuts, and the best part is the shelled crab meat! So easy to eat crab like that. And they don't use those artificial crab meat, it's real crab! You can taste the real freshness of the crab. J like the salad better than his soup.

J ordered the Grilled Chicken & Bacon Club sandwich. I had this before, and it is rather tasty. The chicken is nice and tender, and they use some pesto sauce on it instead of the usual mayonnaise. I ordered the only item on the menu that resembles a breakfast dish, which is the scrambled eggs, with sausages and field mushrooms on toast. Not nice leh...so disappointed...it just taste...normal..something I could cook at home? The scrambled eggs are nothing like the ones I had in Perth! So no picture guys...not worth posting it up!

After the filling lunch, we went shopping! The mission is to find a nice key pouch for my car keys, and of course it has to be reasonably "branded" :)

Hey, check out the statue! Walked past this statue by Botero outside Shaw House. I thought it's cute.

And on our way to Takashimaya, we walked past the new Ion building, and saw more art exhibits. I like this one...cute!

Seems like Orchard Road is gearing up to be an arty farty place...no? And here comes another statue! There are several art pieces on display along Orchard Road, quite interesting actually.

Here we are! Approaching Takashimaya....I just love to shop in this place...

There is as usual a loooooooooooooong Q outside the Louis Vuitton boutique. I didn't bother to Q and check out their key pouches because I don't really fancy LV stuff.

Walked past Loewe, and did a detour because I saw a really nice bag! I walked in and was immediately greeted by the sales person - this is why I like to go to Loewe, they don't give you attitude and someone will always greet you to welcome you to the store. Too bad, they don't have any key pouches.

Nex, I went into Fendi because I saw a nice new bag at the Fendi in Scotts, and wanted to check out the price. They didn't have the pink colour that I saw, and the sales assistant insisted that the bag does not come in pink! But I really saw a pink bag in the same design... *scratch head*....

Anyway, not getting the Fendi bag even if they have it in pink, because I am waiting for TJ to get a Miumiu bag from Italy! Hope she finds the bag that I want! *cross fingers* And at like at least 30% cheaper?! :)

Fendi has some key pouches, but nothing that made me go "wow". So we left, and went over to Ferragamo. Also nothing much here...so went to Gucci. The sales person was not very interested to serve me, and when I asked if they have any key pouches, she just went to get one really ugly looking one. Apparently, that's the only design they have, so I walked out again. Cannot stand the attitude!! I think I'm going to boycott Gucci from now on.

Next, Bottega Venetta! My favourite bags of all time! But I know they are really expensive, and they do have a simple key pouch that costs $450. Ok, not going to pay that kind of money for key pouches!

In the end...guess what I got...

Yup, Kate Spade, in my favourite colour PINK. Nice and simple, and very "me". Agree?! I am glad I've accomplished my mission today.

So how did you spend your holiday today?