Gloria's Jeans Lamingtons

I love lamingtons and when I saw them at Gloria's Jeans, i need to get them.

Strawberry and chocolate lamingtons. The strawberry lamington tasted better. I love it!

Lemon Pepper Seafood Linguine

I am quite pleased with my first attempt to make pasta with white wine sauce. I have always made pasta with the help of pasta sauce either in cream or tomato based. Or even cream sauce from scratch, my own version :p Then I chanced upon this foodblog with a recipe for Lemon Pepper Seafood Pasta and it looked simple enough for me to try.

I did modify the recipe a little, tweaking it to my taste and imagination. Lol.

The "dry" ingredients: lemon, white wine from France, olive oil, black peppercorns, garlic, chili padis, mini portobello mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, linguine.

The "wet" ingredients: prawns and fish steak (I used half of the fish)

Actual ingredients:

1/2 lemon juice

olive oil

a pat of butter

1/3 small bottle of white wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

10 prawns, deshelled and deveined

1/2 fish steak, sliced into pieces

9 mini portobello mushrooms, sliced

8 cherry tomatoes

2 chili padis, sliced

fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

1/4 packet of linguine (enough for 3 portions)

Method:

1. Boil water, add salt and a bit of olive oil to it. Add linguine and cook till al dente.
2. Heat another pot, add minced garlic when hot and sauteed till slightly brown.
3. Add lemon juice, white wine and a ladle of wate from pasta pot to the pot and simmer for a few minutes.
4. Add butter, mushrooms, chili padis, fish and prawns into the pot and cook till prawns turned pink.
5. Add cherry tomatoes to the pot and then the cooked linguine and stir through.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! Lemon pepper seafood linguine in white wine sauce.

It tasted good but it could be better. I added too much wine but it was good as it gave a bit of sauce to the pasta instead of just being coated with olive oil and wine. The prawns and fish were overcooked, thus the fish flaked off. I should have added the pasta earlier so that they could cook together. I love the mini portobellos mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, they gave another dimension to the pasta. 1/2 lemon may be a bit too much for those who do not really like sour food, but I love it this way. The chili padis also added a kick to the pasta.

Yummy! I love how easy the sauce is. Just add white wine ;p

New Phone - Nokia 6121 Classic

I bought a new phone. Technically I didn't pay a cent as it was on promotion for $0 at M1 but I have to be tied to a 2-year contract. Sigh. I hate that. Being tied.

I had to go get a new phone since I lost mine on Sunday. I just hate losing the information and contacts more than the phone itself. After making all the necessary reports, I popped down to M1 yesterday and got this Nokia 6121 Classic. Not exactly my first choice. I still want my blackberry pearl. Unfortunately it is no longer selling at M1 shops, and other phones which looked not too bad were out of stock. Sigh.

The irony is not lost on me too that I could have gotten a better deal on phone during the IT Show since it was a Sunday I lost my phone and the last day of the IT Show. The guy at Arrow Communications at Suntec was very helpful and helped me narrowed down my choices to either this Nokia 6121 Classic (the N6120 looked better as it came in black too where 6121 only comes in this fugly blue) or a LG K195 based on my criteria of a light phone (preferably below 90gm) and to be able to use in all countries.

Of the two, the N6121 is better for the camera, video and other apps but the LG is lighter than the Nokia. I didn't buy from the guy (it could be without contract and much cheaper than M1 shops) as I want to get the Blackberry Pearl (he advised me against it as there is not much support for Blackberry products in Singapore, hence its unpopularity here) and that was apparently available at M1 Paragon. I got there and the SA said those sets shown on their internal website were the faulty sets, so there was actually none available at M1 at all. The sales hotline staff should sync or check with the shop staff.

So everything I was contemplating was sold out. Everything except the Nokia 6121. The LG was gone. Nokia 6500 Classic (both slider and regular) were sold out. A Sony Ericsson also not available. So yeah, left the fugly 6121. Usually when the telcos give $0 to a phone, it is usually a lousy phone or an ugly phone. Guess they knew the blue would never sell on its own.

I don't believe it can be possible but I actually miss my Moto Razr. I miss being able to flip the phone open and I miss being able to touch the side button to see the time being lit. Plus the messaging and keying in contact information were so much easier.

Maybe I only like the old Nokia where it was really idiot-proof with less features and functions. But this N6121 has too many things and I find I need to click a lot just to be able to create a new text message. I can't send contact information as past of a text message, meaning I can't edit any info or add on more info. The buttons are tiny and I keep pressing the wrong buttons.

Another reason for getting the Nokia is the software for backup on pc. That took a long time as I didn't know that I need to keep refreshing the contact list to update new information. I only found out after keying in like 1/3 of my contacts. I wasted more time doing that than the actual keying into the phone.

So at the moment, I am not a happy camper with my Nokia. The music given was awful. Sigh. Why do I get the feeling that Nokia is like Microsoft. Huge and unwieldy. Whereas Moto is like Apple - most people think it is not user-friendly until they tried it and became a convert.

Whatever it is, I dislike having to get a phone in a rush. I think I was supposed to get a new bluetooth headset with this phone, but the SA never pass it to me. Guess it doesn't matter since based on past experience, I don't really find the headset useful at all. I prefer the speaker phone.

Guess what? I just read in papers today that the Blackberry Pearl 8110 is available at Singtel shops. Darn! I guess only Singtel will really carry it. Sigh. But it is pricey at $500+ with 2 years plan too.

Cafe 211 @ Holland Village (13 Feb 2007)

This is a long overdue post. I thought I had blogged about it but I didn't, so here goes.

I went there with a couple of friends as someone had just came in from Canada then and it was almost like a bday celebration.

Tucked away on the rooftop (level 4) of Holland Village Shopping Center, it was a challenge finding the place. Once there, there was no one to show us to a table. I think they used to have those antipasto buffet or something as an option. I have been there sporadically since 2001, somehow it is just not a place I would go back to again and again.

The service was pretty decent when we were there in February 2007. We sat outside as it was a balmy evening. We ordered the spinach frittata or something that sounded healthy :p That was not too bad but not exactly wow either. I think I had the prawns aglio olio which was nice while my friend had the risotto. Dessert was tiramisu which we shared.

Reading reviews of the place on Hungrygowhere, it seemed like the place has gotten worse since July 2007 and progressively horrendous, so it may not be a good place to try the food. Most of the items from the old menu had disappeared. Maybe there is a change of management or chefs.

Blue Toenails

Maybe I was inspired by all the blues and purples I have been seeing. On the runways from the Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, to magazines touting blue though it was more navy or midnight blue for polishes.

So I chose OPI Glamour from the Designer Series which has more diamond dust, hence the sparkly look. I think the flash reflected the diamond dust more clearly as in real life, it is not so sparkly.

And with that pedicure (it chipped slightly on the big toe after 1 day), I am finally done with Wicked. I am so glad, no more Wicked for me. I still think they "destroy" my nails. Plus most of the nail technicians (if you can call them that) are just not so experienced.

The last visit was quite bad in service. They didn't bring out the tea like they usually do. I looked around and saw the other customer also did not get any tea, so I didn't bother asking. It's not like I am hard-up for a cup of tea, but these are little things which make up a customer experience in the salon. Then the pedicurist got started. She didn't even ask if I would like some magazines to read. I had to ask her for some magazines.

How shoddy can the service get? Again, it was only 1 coat of polish. And she didn't ask how I want to shape my nails and I forgot to specify also. She just filed it square when usually I prefer mine to be square with rounded ends. That was the reason why the polish chipped because it was totally square and it was not filed smoothly. I could feel the jagged bits or some rough spots.

So that is the end of Wicked for me.

Sex and the City Movie Trailer

I'm so excited! The movie trailer for Sex and the City is just awesome! I can't wait for the movie to be shown. Targeted to be released on May 30. Not sure about release date in Singapore though.

I can't attach the video over here, but go to the URL here to view.

Enjoy!

Rose Veranda Again!

We went to Rose Veranda at Shangri-La again. After the last time where we had such good food, we were kinda craving for the salmon sashimi and numerous selection of tea. Instead of 6 of us, it became 4 again. It seemed to be full house today with reservations made for most tables. Today the specialty was on the berries. Lots of berries desserts.

But the first attack was at the Japanese station for the salmon sashimi. I had quite a fair bit this time round that I think I ate less than previously. There were more mutton dishes too, no chicken.
Smoked salmon, raw salmon, popiah, salmon sandwich, cheese sandwich, sushi and picked ginger
2nd plate - more salmon sashimi and sushi. caesar salad with anchovies, tomato rice, thai fish curry (this was really nice!), fried prawn spring roll, salmon cake with tartare sauce

Dessert! White chocolate coated strawberries (nope, not all for me. One each for 4 of us) - the berry was very sweet and juicy. Berry-pistachio cake with macaroon. That was nice. Chocolate nuts cluster. I shared that with Tanny :p We already agreed to share dessert, share the calories. Hehe.

Back to savory - mutton curry, mutton vindaloo, thai fish curry, siew mai and pita bread. The mutton curry was spicier than mutton vindaloo! I also had a prawn cracker. That was so good! Had not had that for so long.
My last beverage - Vienesse Coffee. The cream sweetened the coffee, so no need to add sugar. It was good. I also took a slice of chocolate truffle cake which Tanny took a small bit from, and a piece of macadamia nut cookie to go with coffee.

I tried the regular iced tea, iced advent tea (apple, lemon and tea), rose petal tea and the coffee. I also had the pumpkin soup (pretty good) and 1 dark chocolate coated strawberry too. Didn't get to try the laksa or other hot food and desserts. Quite restrained this time? Anyway, the buffet meal became my only meal for the day ;)

Taiwanese Beef Noodles @ Plaza Singapura

I walked past this eatery so often when I was at Plaza Singapura basement 2. There have been so many changes to it. More food selection, I think. I don't really know the name of the eatery but it is next to the Ice Monster with lots of pictures showing mango iced desserts and very near Sakae Sushi also.

There is also a huge banner showing the Taiwanese dishes and one of them is the beef noodles. I think I like 2 types of noodles very much - beef noodles and prawn noodles. Any type of beef noodles - Vietnamese, Thai, Hong Kong, Singapore and now Taiwanese. Hahaha, so I am always ready to have those when available.

It didn't look pretty or appetizing, but it was pretty good. The meat was soft and noodles a bit al dente type. Not overcooked at all.
We shared this mango floss in egg crepe. I would say it looked better in the pictures than in real life :p I didn't really like it. It was very oily and the crepe was a bit too thick. And it did seem like a strange combination to have mango and floss and veggies and the egg crepe.

Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe

I always see Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe whenever I am at Heartland Mall. Somehow it just never occur to me to dine there. So after so many years of giving it a miss, I finally ate there because an ex-colleague wanted to have lunch at Xin Wang.

I am very slow to the cha chan teng phenomenon in Singapore as I am not really a Hong Kong foodie. I was amazed to see the wide array of dishes available and I just wanted to try everything. From the dessert to the dim sum to the noodles, rice and others.

So first up was the pineapple bo lo bun. I sure didn't expect a ring of pineapple stuffed between the two halves of the bun. It was pretty good. Pineapple was not tart at all and it didn't cut my tongue too. The bun was soft and tasted like those man tous used for chili crab dip.

My ex-colleague ordered the black pepper chicken spaghetti. This was a favorite for most customers. It was good. Chicken was flavorful and tender and the pasta was not too soft. Nice.
My main course - prawn paste chicken. It was nice but a bit too salty. So many pieces.
The free wantons when you pay by DBS credit card and spend over $30. This was not that great. Lucky it was free.
The waitress recommended this - deep fried custard buns - when I needed a few dollars to make up to $30 :p
This was pretty nice but oily. I also ordered the black seasame with peanut rice balls for dessert and we had iced milk tea for beverage. So much food. Obviously we didn't finish everything and we shared all the dishes :p

Location
Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe
Heartland Mall
205 Heartland Mall
Hougang Street 21 #01-133/135
Tel: +65-6487 3481

Rendezvous Restaurant Hock Lock Kee

I have heard so much about the nasi padang at Rendezvous Hotel and how it served very good food for close to 70 years now. From its coffee shop space from years ago, it has moved to the 2nd level. Filled with the old-school furniture of marble (or is it granite) topped table and wooden chairs, it looked like the coffee shop of yesteryears but with air-conditioning.

For just the 3 of us, we ordered a fair bit of food - 9 dishes! You select the food at the end of the room and they will serve the food to you. Service was hit and miss. Quick in bringing the food out, but slow in topping up glasses of water.

We ordered beef rendang (I had to try this after reading many reviews that this is the best dish), mutton rendang, sayor lodeh, chap chye, sotong curry, chicken korma, bergedil, chicken liver and gizzards in curry. Actually there were so many pots of curry over there.

My favorite dish is undeniably the beef rendang. The meat was tender, almost melt-in-your-mouth quality except it was not that fatty, the curry had a nutty taste to it that my eating companions commented it reminded them of satay sauce. Personally I detected a faint hint of nuts after they mentioned it as I felt it was a bit too salty. I also like the chap chye as the curry over it was of the tangy type. That gave a kick to the otherwise boring usual vegetables.

I didn't really like the sayor lodeh. The curry was pale and milky and lacked any punch or taste. Maybe I am used to the robust version dished out in other places. The chicken korma was ok - meat was tender and the curry was not spicy. Definitely a good dish for children to start off with. The mutton rendang was also pretty good. Not too much of a meaty smell or taste. The bergedil tasted different, it had a pretty strong aftertaste, not sure what other spices were in it. Sotong had a bit of fishy taste though it was not hard and rubbery at all. I didn't try the liver and gizzards at all, not my cup of tea.

I don't mind the food, but it is not a place that will get me craving for certain dishes.

Location
Rendezvous Hotel, Level 2
Tel: +65 6339 7508

Fraiche Delicious Scents

I was so excited when I received the package. Fraiche products. They smell so yummy. I could smell the soaps once I opened the Fedex box. Having tried tarts and other home-made bath products before, Fraiche was certainly different. The scent has none of the cloying, nauseating effects. In fact, it is very fresh and has a light throw, similar to burning a Tocca candle :p

This is what was in the package. Each item was bubble-wrapped and in its own plastic packaging. I was given 2 soaps - Rose and Bare Naked - and a bath swizzle in Lavender Fields to try.

I am so not a packaging person but seeing how the products are carefully made and packaged made me really happy to receive them. You can't really see it, but the bath swizzle is also shrink-wrapped and then placed in the box. I think it reflects on how much the company has pride in its products too. Looking at the soaps made me want to go out and buy a new soap dish for the soap to rest on. Lol. Crazy, isn't it?

I can't wait to try them out and share the results :) The soaps are organic and made of goat's milk, aloe vera and other good stuff. So far, I like what I saw and smelled. It is way better than Lush which always gave me a headache whenever I walked past the shop.

See previous post on Friache here, and here is Fraiche website. Look and be dazzle by the products.

Santorini Princess

I think people can see a trend in my selection. I am always seduced by images of baths and water. I just love the thought of being able to just chill and relax and look out into the ocean while being submerged in a pool of water.

Greece is another of my dream destination. Besides the history and ancient monuments and buildings over there, I love the idea of island hopping though I am not too keen on taking the boats. I am prone to seasickness. Not a good feeling at all.

After googling for a while on where exactly to go, besides the obvious Athens, I think Santorini (part of the Cyclades islands) would be an excellent place as it is quieter and well known for its beaches and sunsets and stunning view.

From Greeka:
The island faces the Caldera, the famous submerged volcano crater situated in the middle of basin of water....These villages are made of white typical Cycladic houses with blue painted windows facing the black volcanic rock of the Caldera: a sight that has inspired more than one artist including the Greek poet Seferis, especially when meddled with a horizon tainted by the amazing colours of the sunset, one of the most striking in the world.

More searching and I found a very nice hotel. In face it is the only hotel with a spa - Santorini Princess Luxury Spa Hotel in Imerovigli Village. There are only 22 apartments in the hotel and this is what is available in them:

- a large private bath with Jacuzzi and a hair dryer (the room is fashioned in marble)
- a mini bar
- a refrigerator
- a kitchen (utensils provided upon request)
- satellite TV
- air-conditioning (warm and cold)
- a safe deposit box
- a direct dial telephone
- bathrobes, sleepers and other comfort amenities
- large private balcony

The bathroom with the jacuzzi tub
Bedroom with a sitting area off the bed area - I believe this is the honeymoon suite
View from the pool area - sun setting
Day view of the surroundings - Aegean sea, mountains, volcano
The pool - it looks so inviting to have a dip

Imagine sipping juice or wine while admiring the view
Again, dining with a gorgeous scenery

The one and only spa. I love how everything has a dome ceiling
Bliss - soak in the water to release the tension

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

I bought shoes! After a self imposed ban for so long, I finally bought shoes. Cheap shoes :p It started after I wore a pair of black sandals for interview and my feet hurt, plus it was starting to look grotty. Not good for interview, right? Also I have been wearing my birkies out all the time now, cos the other shoes I have are not that comfortable or too high.

My first buy of the year - heels from Charles & Keith. I made use of my birthday discount. This was bought after the interview as I just needed a pair of comfortable shoes which can be worn for work or interview.
My 2nd pair is from U.R.S Shoes. It was comfortable in the shops. The SA at Paragon outlet was very good. Very helpful and even tried to make the front wider cos the new pair was a bit tight when compared to the display shoes. So another pair for work.
I got this fun pair from Martina Pink at Tangs sale. 70% off! Despite the height, it felt very light because of the cork. It comes in bright orange and navy blue trimmings too.
The other pair I bought from Tangs sale. This looked so similar to what I usually wear for work. I wondered if I had this before and it broke or something. As usual, cheap shoes will have lost rubber stubs on heels after a while.

Lush Nails @ Holland Village

I had a spa manicure at Lush Nails at Holland Village on Wednesday. I rarely have manicures as I tend to smudge my nails shortly after they are done. So it was always pedicure for me.

Lush Nails is located on level 2 of Holland Village Shopping Mall, very near the washrooms.

The place is pretty plush with red decor and proper sinks at the foot of the chairs for pedicure. It seemed to be pretty standard to have sinks for pedicures now. I like that.

For my manicure, I was seated next to the glass panels. My hands are soaked briefly in a basin of water filled with flowers petals and lemon slices. That was refreshing. I like the nail technician (think her name is Lulu or something). She is very experienced and fast.

I love how she managed to shape my nails so smooth and rounded. And she also warned me that it might sting a little when she applied some stuff on my nails after trimming the cuticles. I was indecisive about my colors and she mixed one up for me. A whitish color followed by OPI Hollywood Blonde. Pretty!

For spa manicure, I got additional scrub and lotion for the forearms? She was good in massaging the forearms too. My arms were a bit red after the scrub, either the scrub was too rough or I was a bit allergic to the ingredients. My arms were wrapped in clingfilm after the lotion though frankly I couldn't see any difference after that :p

I just like my manicure and it didn't smudge at all. I attribute that to my Seche Vite top coat. It is the best top coat ever. It dries nails very fast (in a few minutes) and retains the shine for a few days to a week.

Thank you, Celest, for the birthday gift :)

Location:
Lush Nails
#02-22 Holland Village Shopping Mall
above Breadtalk
Tel: +65.6468 8485

Raffles City Food Court - Ayam Penyet

I have been eating at Raffles City Food Court after Bikram Yoga. I quite like the herbal chicken at the food court. It has plenty of good herby stuff like wolfberries, dates and other things whose names I do not know :p The chili is really good too, kinda reminded me of the corner outlet at Far East Plaza before it moved out a few years back.

Anyway, walking around while deciding on what to have, I decided to try the Ayam Penyet from the Malay stall.

This was definitely not as good as the one at Lucky Plaza. The chicken was tough and the goreng bits were too salty and not as crispy as at Ria Ayam Penyet. The chili was ok. The dark soya sauce was not really kecap manis (gosh! I miss having the ABC kecap manis on fried egg :p) and while it had a bit of sweetness, it just tasted diluted. More like soy sauce with sugar?

Not really the place for ayam penyet at all. The malay stall at IRAS building does a better job of ayam penyet than here. It even included a small portion of the sour soup (Sayur Asem). I really have not had that home-made soup for so many years now.

J.Co Donuts & Coffee

Another new donut store is in Singapore, getting into the donuts craze action. Queues are still forming at Donut Factory - the store which started the donut frenzy in late 2006 - and sparked off several donut stores.

J.Co Donuts & Coffee is from Indonesia and opened an outlet at Raffles City basement. I passed by it several times the last 2 weeks especially since I was in Raffles City daily for Bikram Yoga. Somehow it didn't really inspire me to want to try the donuts. The smell something deep fried was very strong and seemed very oily. Also I was tired of the awful donuts from other stores which were very oily.

Then the text message from Sherie who totally recommended the donuts, especially the tiramisu flavor :p With such an endorsement, I just had to try for myself. Lol.

The shopfront with a cafe area for drinks and donuts. There are so many flavors of the donuts and the line does move quickly. There are around 3-5 employees serving the customers, it also helps to have a long counter so more people can see the flavors.

Many flavors were gone when I was there around 7ish pm. I like that you can see the fryer and the donuts making process. The donuts floating in the fryer and then being dipped or coated in chocolate or other toppings. Very much like Krispy Kreme style.

It was nice that they have many sizes of boxes so you can order less donuts and still have it kept nicely :)

I ordered 3 to try. A defininte must try is always the original glazed. That is like the benchmark for all donuts to see if it hit the mark.

From left: Mochino (I think - it has cappuccino cream filling and coated with belgian dark chocolate), Tira miss u (tiramisu filling) and Glazzy (glazed)

The tiramisu filling. I was surprised by the foam-like filling. It oozed out when I bit into it. It was pretty good but not my favorite. I quite like Mochino and the Glazzy was really good. Soft and not too sweet.

Comparing Factory Donuts and J.Co, I think J.Co has more bite to the donuts. Factory Donuts seemed to have shrunk? It looked and felt thinner whereas J.Co was thicker and equally light. Plus it really has a huge variety of flavors.

A nice place to have donuts and coffee or other iced or hot beverages if you have lots of space for calories intake :p

For more info, check out the website.