Pink M&Ms

I saw this pack of pink M&Ms and immediately thought of Celest :p She is the one who will usually blog about these stuff. Hehe.

The pink M&Ms is created in support of Breast Cancer Awareness and Research (I think), at least $0.50 will be donated for every pack bought.

So sweet the pinks! But I think purple will remain my color :D

SFU Re-Visited

I walked up to SFU on my own on Tuesday (25 September) late morning from the SFU Village or UniverCity where I am staying as I wanted to try to see where the changes were and to see if I can still remember where things were.

It was about a 15-min walk with some slopes (still on a mountain, remember) which burnt the leg muscles. Cornerstone, the new apartments for rental only and a mini village with the mini-mart, bank, post office, photocopier shop, hair salon, dvd rentals, cafes/restaurants, optical shop etc, making it convenient and nice for students/residents to get stuff and hang out without having to take the bus down the mountain like I used to do. Cornerstone took up part of the old B Lot and is next to the bus terminal which was also spruced up.

I walked on to the AQ (Academic Quadrangle), there are more new sculptures scattered. Then to MBC (Maggie Benston Centre) where most student services are. I remembered the MSSC events being held in one of the rooms there. Browsed in the SFU bookstore, was tempted to buy a SFU car decal for Veron since she has a car now and I think she will like that. But storage will be a problem for now since I am going to fly over to the east coast soon. Maybe I will do that when I get back here. Also wanted to buy a SFU t-shirt (ladies cut) but it didn't seem to be sold on its own. It was sold as a bundle with a cap for about C$23.90? Oh well, I think I still prefer the old logo. The new logo is too "modern" and has no sense of history at all. Then again, SFU is a young university, being set up in 1965. But I still like the crest with the motto underneath "Nous sommes prêts" (read article on the new logo here and more about SFU here).

Walked on to the Rotunda and towards the West Mall where usually the Business students are. Had some classes there before for CMNS and ECON. Seeing the students waiting outside the lecture halls reminded me of my own schooldays :p I didn't manage to see the mini Starbucks counter though. Made a turn back, walking past the W.A.C library where I spent many hours more in the basement using the computers and research. Never for revising school work or studying. Lol.

White Spot is still right by the entrance to AQ/CC (Classroom Complex). I love the veggie burger and milkshakes. All the burgers come with a huge strip of dill pickle (Celest would love that) and special triple "O" sauce. The strawberry shake is so good, thick and made with real strawberries (at least you can taste the bits) and not just the sauce or syrup thing. They have expanded the flavors to include espresso, caramel, blueberry, blackberry etc. I only recall it being the simple vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors in the old days. I bought a strawberry shake for lunch, long line though. I don't recall having to queue for so long previously.

Then my quest to search for the CMNS department in the CC area. Sadly I didn't manage to find it at all. I walked up and down the stairs but nada. Did it so many times I wondered if security noticed at all or just took me to be searching for the classroom :p I kept seeing the GEOG and PSYCH departments.

OH MY GOODNESS! Just read from the newsfeed in CMNS website that Bill Richards has passed away, from injuries through a fall, on 23 August 2007. I just missed the memorial on 20 September 2007. That is sad. I remembered him during the research class I took (CMNS 260), not that I understand it brillantly since statistics and I do not mix but he sure taught me the basics of how that worked and which I still retained in my memory bank.

Read more about it here - Martin Laba broke the news and he learnt of it through Bob Anderson.

Ok, back to why I didn't manage to find the CMNS department. I just checked the website and found out it has moved to its "rightful" place, in the Shrum Science Centre (SCK) building where the programs under the Applied Science Faculty are. CMNS is in the Applied Science faculty but somehow was always tucked under the Arts Faculty, together with the other Arts programs. So now it is finally in the same building as the others. No wonder I just could not find it. From what I heard last time, it was always about funding. Applied Science gets a higher funding compared to the Arts but since CMNS is an Arts program under the Applied Science, it is way down on the pole to get funds for research or other works. Maybe now this has all changed.

I didn't see the pretzel cart or the hotdog cart too in the other side of AQ. So made my way back to the village. This little jaunt to SFU took me about 90 mins. Not too bad - my exercise of the day :p

Farewell Singapore

Finally received the pictures from Nic. 3 of us at the gate before I enter. Look at the tired eyes of all of us. It was around 4am then on 18 September and both Nicole and Doreen had to work that morning. So nice of them to pick me up and keep me company at the airport :)

Cupcakes in Vancouver

Jason took me to Cupcakes along Denman in Vancouver. Such a pretty store with girly display and cute stuff. Tempted to buy the t-shirt but at C$32+tax, I don't think so. There isn't much craze for cupcakes here, unlike in Singapore. But Cupcakes is doing well, expanding to 3 stores now from when they started a couple of years back.

I only bought half a dozen mini cupcakes as the regular size is pretty big and the big size is even bigger!

These are the flavors I bought:
Lemon Drop - lemon cake with lemon butter cream, topped with a lemon wedge candy
Chocolate - classic chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream, finished with chocolate sprinkles
Mint Condition - chocolate cake with mint butter cream, finished with mini chocolate chips
Denman - chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream, infused with raspberry jam and finished with a raspberry dollop
Caramella - chocolate cake filled with caramel, topped with caramel butter cream and sprinkled with praline
Diva - chocolate cake with pink vanilla butter cream, finished with pink sugar crystals

My favorite is Caramella, not too sweet. The cake base is not sweet, similar to Sherie's recipe. The buttercream is also nice, but I think I prefer Sherie's recipe still :p But the frosting sure is pretty.

For more info, visit Cupcakes

Canada 20-22 Sept 2007

Ok, back again and a short summary of what I did for the last few days:

20 September 2007
- had dinner at the apartment. JH and her bf cooked. Very pretty presentation of the fried shrimp with honey mustard on a bed of olive oil and herbs-infused rice and fresh salad with Asian Sesame and vinigrette dressing. So nice!

- drove up to Cypress Mountain viewpoint after dinner to take in the night view of Vancouver.

- stopped at Robson to walk around. Starbucks closed early! 10pm, same as Chapters. Then again this is Canada where shops usually close around 9pm in the major cities.

21 September 2007
- went to the bank at Metrotown, trying to revive (re-open) my bank account. Can't be done on that day so made an appointment for Monday instead. So different from previously where there will always be someone to open an account for you.

- went to Granville to meet LG for lunch. We went to The Keg where I had the lunch special of grilled chicken on bread topped with melted cheese and peppers and onions with honey mustard and a side of fries. That was so good too! Simple but yummy.

- it was raining, so I didn't get to really explore Robson. Instead I hid out at Pacific Centre and checked out the stores. I love this off-gold bag at Le Chateau which looked like the Gauffre or similar runched design. But it cost C$49.95 + taxes. With the exchange at 1.5, I am definitely thinking many times when deciding to buy things. No more the good old days of an exchange of 1.1 now.

- then popped into The Bay and Sears. I think Sears has more things and better deals. The selection was wider. I saw so many brands - Nars, Decleor, MAC, Benefit, Make Up Forever, Crabtree, and lots more but amazingly I was not tempted to really check out the stuff. Lol.

- spent more time choosing gloves and contemplating buying scarf and looking at the hosiery. Sears was having sale of 25% to 50% off (depending on the number of pairs bought). In the end, I bought a pair of black gloves with tiny beads on the side. It didn't make my hands look enormous and fit perfectly. Also bought some woolly socks in purple! Great to keep warm and some knee highs too.

- Finally the rain kinda stopped, so I walked out to Robson and Burrard and checked out the stores on the street. I was heading towards Burrard station to meet JH to get the keys. Along the way, I popped into Coach and saw some items were on sale. The Japanese tourists were grabbing the stuff like they were free. After the 50% off, the wristlet and skinny were going at C$30+ taxes (13%), not that cheap IMO. Also saw an Aldo liquidation store where the items were of the past seasons (I saw my sandals which I bought in 2005/6 I think!) and some were going at "Buy 1 get 1 free" and others to get additional 50% off. I bought tights for a steal. Around C$3 for 2 pairs of tights. Usual price was C$15 each.

- Met JH and then met JC for dinner. We were to go to The Boathouse at English Bay. Nice view. We shared the steamer pot of clams and mussels and the paella, plus a seafood chowder for me. JC had the crab whiskey soup (very rich). The sourdough bread was so good. The steamer pot was very good, especially the clams. The paella was a disappointment. Too salty and watery like having the Teochew rice porridge.

- Walked over to Denman and saw Tanpopo (the Japanese restaurant which a group of us went in 2000 with mother). JC took me to Cupcakes. The shop is so sweet! All pink and girly. So pretty. I love it! Also checked out Mondo Gelato. I had the nutella (very nice) and dark chocolate (even nicer). Then JC sent me back where we shared the mini cupcakes from Cupcakes.

22 September 2007
- JC helped me get the tourbooks and maps for Eastern Canada/USA as I was thinking of traveling there too. So we met for brunch. Went to Pho Hong along Kingsway. The beef noodle soup was so good. Prices have increased. C$6 for a small, C$6.50 for large. The small was huge though, I only finished half of that. But it was so good. The Vietnamese coffee was the ultimate too. Strong, thick and sweet.

- JC then drove over to Metrotown area so that I can see my old apartment as well as Jon/Veron's apartment. Thought I would report back to Veron on her old place and new development. Lol. My old apartment was still the same. No change at all.

- Back to apartment and JH came back to pick me up to go to her bf's place for bbq. Food was so good. The 2 of them can cook. Home-made meatball vegetables soup, home-made sausage and wings to bbq. And grilled peppers to make salad. Simple but good.

- walked along Fraser River along Marine Drive, it was a nice walk. There were wild blackberries so we plucked some and had them on the spot. First time I did that :p We walked for about an hour.

- was "attacked" by a vine when I tried to take pictures of the scenery. It suddenly shot up and hit my leg and snagged my tights. I bear the mark.

So yeah basically that was my last few days. Will post pictures soon.

Travel story (continued)

I'm back again. It was a hassle getting connected at JH's place via the wireless.

Back to NWA, surprisingly the pilots were pretty good at landing. Smooth, not bumpy at all. Also I was so tired, I kept missing the take-off part (my fave). And the plane from Portland to Vancouver is pretty cool. It was a Bombardier and was a tiny plane with 19 rows of 2 seats on each side. It looked old and had a touch of the old-class elegance with its brown leather seats and spacious width and pitch. It didn't fly too high so I could actually see the bright lights of the cities below.

Sleeping hour has been wrecked. Woke up at 11am on Wednesday, and 10am on Thursday. So what have I done?

Wednesday (19 September)
- stroll to SFU compound, the Cornerstone (new place where apartments are for rental and just by the bus bay). So nice now, with man-made waterfall and lots of cafes, telco shop, bank (Scotiabank), hairdresser, optical shop, video store etc. It took most of the old 'B' parking lot. I remembered the East Academic Annex (the ulu place where I had class for CMNS 340 or something)

- late lunch at Crystal Mall, next to Metropolis. Looked like a mini Chinatown with its numerous Asian (Japanese, Taiwanese, HK, Chinese) stores.

- Got a Canadian GSM card for my phone at FIDO inside Metropolis (I'm so used to it being Metrotown).

- So many changes at Metrotown now. Over 470 stores. MAC store too!

- Went to Winners/Home Sense, saw so many nice coats, now I regret bringing over so many clothes :p

- Met Jason at the T&T Supermarket near the Stadium-Chinatown station. Names of the skytrain stations have been renamed, confusing. I need a transit map! Then we went to GM Place to watch the pre-season NHL game: Canucks vs Flames

- Canucks won! 4-0. Shutout!

- Late dinner at Robson Sushi for cheap all you can eat Japanese food. Not too bad. Love the tuna sashimi. Only C$10.95++ Cheap, eh?

20 September (Thursday)
- woke up around 10am and had a breakfast of grilled cheese sandwich with sides of bak kwa and cucumber. Nice!

- exercise for 90mins at the gym inside apartment building. though i only went on the bike and cross trainer and weights.

- stayed in at apartment, going to have dinner in. JH and bf are cooking shrimps with olive herb rice.

Not sure if we are going out tonight, to maybe downtown or to Cypress or Deep Cove. We shall see :)

Transit in Portland

This must be the most horrid journey in my life. Either I am getting old or I really wonder how I could take such long flight when I was still in school. To make the yearly trip of over 20 hours of traveling time.

I am in the last leg of my journey now.

Never ever take a 6am flight to anywhere. It is a weird hour and you don't get to sleep beforehand. I tried but I couldn't. So yeah I was basically awake the entire time and was a zombie by the time I got onto the plane for Narita.

My flight itinerary: Singapore - Narita - Portland - Vancouver

I only read the papers on that flight, didn't even get to read my book. Tried to nap but couldn't. Played Bejeweled. Only bright spot was that there were some games on the interactive video system, and movies were on-demand. Not that I watched any though there were some good ones which I didn't have the chance to catch in Singapore. Eyes were tearing on the flight and tummy not feeling good.

Stopped in Narita, security was a hassle all the way through. Didn't have to remove shoes though. Carried on the next leg from Narita to Portland, it was code-shared with Continental Airlines so it was a full flight (or looked like it).

This leg was worse. Migraine came on full blast, and with it the nausea. So I couldn't eat much either. Eyes still tearing, head pounding, a small army of soldiers hitting right behind the eyes and the nausea made me puked twice. It was like having motion sickness all over again and I never had motion sickness on plane before. This time I couldn't even play Bejeweled. No bright lights for me.

The migraine was probably from the lack of sleep. So can't do anything about it for now. So now I am stuck in Portland for another 9.5 hours before I can get on plane to Vancouver. Original flight was cancelled, otherwise I would be in Vancouver right now, having a nap.

Service was surprisingly quite ok. Not excellent but not terrible too. The check-in lady in Singapore actually allowed me to check in my suitcases without additional charge as the big one was about 3-5 kgs over the allowance. The flight attendants were also pro-active in asking passengers if they want water during the flight.

Also, the best thing was that my 2 gfs came over to my place to fetch me to the airport and kept me company for a while. That was unexpected from the onset when they first mentioned about it, especially they have to go to work that morning too.

To be continued....

Lucky Prata

I have always noticed the signboard "Lucky Prata" hanging from the walkway's ceiling at Lucky Plaza and thought how lame that was. I didn't think much of it till I read a review of the place in the local papers. The food critic raved about the nasi briyani and the fish curry. That got me interested to try.

The chicken briyani was indeed excellent. I love how everything was still warm despite going there around 230pm, after the lunch crowd. The pappadum was crispy, the rice was fragrant and not sticky at all. You could eat it grain by grain if you so desire. They gave me a generous portion of the chicken with lots of gravy, as well as fresh achar (pickled vegetables) and a small bowl of veggie gravy (not sure what the proper term is).

I raved about it to the girls and so we made a trip down to try (again for me). I had the chicken briyani as that was always the safest dish. Mutton can be too muttony or has a strong smell which I dislike, and fish is usually tough and dry.

The portion has shrunk a little the second time round, not sure if that was because we went around 12noon. But the food is still good. This time we also tried the sambal sotong (pretty ok, I'm not a big fan of squid) and the fish curry. The fish curry was oh-so-good! I love the tangy curry taste which is not "jelak" (too rich till you get sick) at all. The fish was sweet and moist.

I also got a taste of the mutton briyani as Davis ordered that. Surprisingly the mutton was cooked very nicely, not dry ot hard or gamey. It was so soft and tender. The teh halia was equally yummy but might be too sweet for some people.

A great place for affordable Indian food in the heart of town.

Location:
Lucky Prata, Level 1 (near the escalator from the basement)

Busy Schedule Again

I can't believe it is another week before I am on the plane, heading for Canada. Back to the place where I spent the last bits of teenagehood to adulthood. Where I grew up. Where I knew more about the Canadian politics and policies than I did about Singapore. Sad but true.

So what else do I have to do now, besides packing? I have been putting it off as it is such an arduous task, and I tend to pack more than necessary.

Schedule:
10 Sept (Monday)
Lunch with cousin IC, then at her office, observing the on-goings.

11 Sept (Tuesday)
Lunch with BW in Chinatown and then exploring it. I realized that for a taste of Thailand/HK, go to Chinatown and you will be transported right back ;p
Foot reflexology at People's Park

12 Sept (Wednesday)
Lunch with AN and DW. Budget lunch of nasi briyani at Lucky Prata at Lucky Plaza.
Massage at Elements in afternoon.
Hopefully can squeeze in gym too.

13 Sept (Thursday)
Lunch with sister near home.
Pedicure in late afternoon at Wicked. Hope they won't destroy my nails further.
And gym, if possible.
Dinner with JK.

14 Sept (Friday)
Lunch with RF and TT at Tanglin Mall.
BWaxing at Strips.
Facial at Decleor.
Dinner with VC.

15 Sept (Saturday)
Afternoon tea at Four Seasons with the girls (farewell for me and birthday celebration for LG).

16 Sept (Sunday)
Doing something with SC.
May want to sleep early to get 12 hours sleeptime.

17 Sept (Monday)
May have lunch with ex-boss and ex-client who will be in Singapore.
HLWaxing at Flair.
Home early to sleep till midnight and last minute packing before driving to the airport at 230am on 18 Sept.

I don't have much time to pack at all! Help!

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Donut Factory Donuts

I told the girls that maybe I should go queue for donuts at Donut Factory after I quit work since I will be free by then. And I did it! I went to the Suntec branch as I am not so crazy to attempt Raffles City where people started queuing even before the outlet opens. Plus I have heard that the line at Suntec is shorter and people took about 10 to 20mins during off peak period.

Arranged to meet to with Davis and Agnes at 11am to queue for donuts, but in the end it only took me 10 mins. I think I was the 6 or 8 in line. It moved very slowly, when compared to other places when buying food but it was all worth it. Davis only waited 5 mins since she came slightly later and Agnes was late so she didn't even have to wait :p

This was my first time queuing for donuts and I was not sure what to expect. Turned out you could just ask the staff if they have the flavor you wanted even if it was not displayed. They were churning out dozens in the kitchen. And in the Suntec outlet, there is even a mini cafe where you can order drinks, salads, food and maximum of 2 donuts for eating in. So it is another option if you just want to try one.

I like that they displayed pictures of the donuts available in the line, so you can browse and decide on your choices beforehand. There was also a note apologizing for the long wait and how they have tried all means to solve the long lines (advance booking, phone order, separate lines etc) and all that didn't work at all and implore customers to be understanding and patient if they waited in the evenings and the items are sold out before they could get served.

This is my 2nd time trying donuts from Donut Factory. The first time I had it, it was just a day or so after the article came out in Urban last November. That was before the craze hit and even so, my sister had to wait for 20 mins for the donuts. Now the lines are usually about an hour or longer on average. Some people have waited for over 3 hours!

Somehow I still prefer the donuts from Donut Factory when compared to others available. The donuts from Donut Factory are just so much softer, especially when reheated in the microwave for 8 seconds. The other places' donuts are too tough or doughy like bread.

So I bought 2 dozens (the maximum quantity allowed) as I know it will be the last time I will be having the donuts for the rest of the year.

I bought these:

Glazed (really amazing when heated up. soft and not too sweet)

Coffee roasted almond (I love this, maybe because of the almonds)

Spicy cheese (interesting savory item, works quite well)

Blueberry glazed (generous filling, but the glazed bit is too sweet)

Double chocolate (bestseller! chocolate filling is pretty good)

Raspberry dark chocolate (quite nice with the dark chocolate contrasting the tart sweetness of raspberry)

Hazelnut milk chocolate (least favorite of all. quite usual, maybe too much nuts and it overpowered the milk chocolate)

White strawberry heart (super sweet, white chocolate with the sweetness of strawberry. reminds me of white chocolate strawberry bar)

Oh, and they are going to open another branch at Novena Square. Oh why now, when I am no longer working in that area. Maybe it is a good thing too.

Mimosa Recipe (Philosophy)

I finally finished the 2nd bottle of the Cocktail Bath Set from Philosophy. This time I tried Mimosa - an orangey fragrance. I didn't particularly like the scent at all. It was just a-ok for me.

How do you make a mimosa?

1/3 c. chilled fresh orange juice
1/4 tsp. orange flavored liqueur
1/3 c. chilled champagne
1 small orange wedge

Combine orange juice and liqueur in a fluted champagne glass.
Slowly add champagne.
Garnish glass with orange wedge, if desired.
Served immediately.

Chili Tuna Casserole

I cooked again, after such a long hiatus. A new recipe, similar to my signature dish, but with chili instead. A friend/ex-colleague sweared by this, terming it as "orgasmic". I just had to try making it since I didn't get to try her version (the one I tried was equally nice, with lemon juice and lotsa pepper).

So trying to re-create it, based on what she would usually use. Chili tuna with lots of cheese. Mine didn't turn out that spicy after all, and definitely not orgasmic. Lol.

Maybe I drained out the chili oil, so that didn't work? Or I only had 1 can of chili tuna. I used up about 200gm of mozzarella cheese but it still didn't feel cheesy at all. Maybe I need to use other type of cheese. Well, back to experimenting again.

What went in?

- fusili

- cream of mushroom soup

- milk

- chili tuna, drained

- regular tuna, drained

- onions

- celery

- mozzarella cheese

- crushed crackers

- lemon juice

- black pepper

Mix them all together and bake for 15mins in the oven on 180C. Voila! Dinner is served. Easy peasy.

My Cross

I finally found a cross pendant which is similar to the one I lost earlier this year. After looking at various jewelry shops (Soo Kee, Lee Hwa, Aspial and even down to Taka, SK and Citigems, plus a few silver jewelry shops), I have more or less given up hope on finding one which is similar.

It seemed like all the shops specialized in dainty, tiny, fragile-looking cross pendants with diamonds. While I do like "bling-bling" to a certain extent, I prefer that for costume jewelry. They are more "fun" pieces to me. For something which I will be wearing daily, I prefer something simple. Plus, I am not a dainty person, so small does not work for me. Lol. I prefer something of substance.

So while out at AMK Hub (yes, I was out at the suburbs and not in town), exploring the place, I ventured into Poh Heng (which is in those neighborhood shops, not inside the Hub itself). I didn't really expect to see the cross, but the first one I laid my eyes on is almost an exact replica.

Oh, the joy! It is slightly smaller and lighter than my previous one. Plus the edges are slanted, not perfectly rounded. But it is close enough and charge it, it is. White gold cross pendant on my old silver chain, which I still refuse to change.

Before I bought the cross, I actually bought a dragonfly pendant as I wanted something nice and big to wear. The chain needs a pendant to weigh it down, else it will keep going up like a choker.

Sherie's Cupcakes - 2nd try

I have been baking up a frenzy! Well, not really. Lol, just like to think I have been doing that. I was home all day on Sunday and thought now I have all the time in the world to bake and cook. I wanted to bake the tuna noodle casserole, based on a friend's recipe, but alas, we ran out of canned soup. So no go. Thus, I turned my attention to baking.

Back to Sherie's cupcakes recipe. Again, I didn't get to mix the ingredients as I actually dozed off and my helper didn't wake me up. She went ahead to make it. I think she likes baking better than cooking :p

Anyway, I got to pour the batter into the paper cups and do the piping for the frosting. I am so not creative at all! Boring swirls all around. Lol. And I also learnt not to do the piping when the cupcake have not cooled totally. See the "melted" frosting, the color has changed to the more buttery yellow too.

Verdict: It is moist and pretty good. But it has a bit of alkaline aftertaste, not sure if it is the flour I used. I used Top Flour. Does that matter? The frosting is fantastic, love the buttery taste, not too sweet too. It yielded close to 50 cupcakes.

TCC (The Coffee Connoisseur)

Tiramisu

I hardly stepped into TCC (The Coffee Connoisseur) as I didn't have a fantastic experience which made me want to be a repeat customer. The last time I went there was a few years back and the food didn't make much of an impressions. Pretty usual fare with average taste or standards. Nice presentation though. But I am not really a packaging person. I am rarely sold by packaging or the visual on the outside. What matters most to me is the "inside", the substance within.

I read about its revamp and new menu, but again the old experience hindered me from wanting to try the place as there are so many other new or old eateries to tempt my wallet.


So what made me stepped into TCC on Thursday (August 30) then? Sheer desperation. Lol. It was late, around 730pm or close to 8pm, and we were at Velocity@Novena. Cedele usually closed at 8pm (I love Cedele soup and sandwiches), and Spinelli does not really have fresh food at this outlet (other Spinellis are fine), so there isn't much option. Fast food is out and I am not into organic food. Harry's bar is boring and we were just there on Wednesday (usual place for company's drinks) and so TCC it is.

The place is nice, interesting chairs/seats. A comfy "bench" for 2 but only 1 side has a partial backing which is too low to really lean on anyway. Another interesting feature is a "waterfall" right in the middle. It is probably just strings with water flowing down it, creating an illusion of a waterfall.

The menu has expanded. Much more sophisticated offerings with proper mains, beside the usual soup, sandwiches, pastas and light snacks. I tried the baked meatball pasta while Vanessa had the pasta au gratin. The meatball pasta was not too bad, the meatball had a taste to it but it got better the more you ate it. I like the cheesy creamy concoction drizzled with tasbasco sauce to give it a kick.

Choco Cinnamon Latte (background - love the cinnamon stick), Caramel Honey Latte (foreground - love the layers)

Food wise, it is still average. I had better. What was nice was really the presentation. The caramel honey latte looked pretty, but tasted a bit weak. Too much milk. The dessert - tiramisu - again scored high on presentation. Taste-wise, it was ok. Passable, not something which will make me want to go back again and again.

Conclusion, TCC is still not my first choice if I want to eat or drink. It is just nice as a place for a chat or chill out, if the outlet is quiet. The service at Velocity is excellent though. Water glasses were refilled automatically, and the service staff were polite and welcoming.

Aquamarine - Marina Mandarin Hotel

I tried the dinner buffet at Aquamarine in Marina Mandarin Hotel. Somehow most people had the tendency to mistake Marina Mandarin for Meritus Mandarin. Is it really that similar? Marina Mandarin is such a give-away for being in the Marina Bay area and Meritus Mandarin is the old hotel along Orchard Road.

Aquamarine is a fairly new restaurant, at the renovated Marina Mandarin Hotel. It is quite a hassle getting to the hotel from within Marina Square Shopping Center itself. I love the color and water theme of the restaurant. Everything is in shade of blue, the shimmering aquamarine of the sea water. It is not as blu-ish as Blu in Shangri-La, but it is still nice.

We got a table right by the dessert section where the chocolate fountain is (and the chocolate fountain is now part and parcel of most buffet places' offerings) so we can monitor the state of the strawberries. Lol. The only drawback is the air conditioning vent, it condensed pretty fast and thus dripped steadily on diners right underneath it (i.e. my friends and the next table).

Food selection - it is a decent spread of quality food. The variety is not as mind-boggling as The Line at Shangri-La, but it is enough.

Stations:

Local food of seafood noodle soup and carrot cake, chicken rice and other roasted stuff (prepared by chef), surrounding the chefs' workstation are tempura (shrimp and vegetables), Singapore bee hoon (finally! I see Singapore noodles in a Singapore's restaurant but without the curry powder found overseas), kai lan, roast beef (very nicely done, not tough or dry), fish fillet, pork ribs, chicken pieces, black pepper crabs and more.

Indian: briyani rice, vegetables dahl, various curries - beef, chicken and mutton?

Japanese: assortment of sushi and sashimi, chawanmushi, soba and probably others, prepared by chefs behind the counter.

Appetizer: Salad, penang fruit salad, oyster shooter, and various canapes with caviar, scallop, crabmeat, shrimp, duck breast salad, etc

Soup: 2 types - cream of asparagus and hot & sour soup. Lots of bread to go with it, and a huge selection of cheese platter.

On the ice: oysters, scallop, mussels, crabs, just cooked live shrimps, crayfish and a special - scampi baked or grilled to perfection.

Dessert: 4 types of Haagen Dazs ice cream with your choice of topping (crushed pistachios, nuts, chocolate rice sprinkles, white chocolate shavings, pink chocolate shavings, M&Ms, marshmallows) and sugar cones.

Chocolate fountain with small donuts and strawberries to dip in, selection of cookies and 2 types of cakes (cheese cake and green tea mousse cake - not sure if they change all the time), and bite size panna cotta, chocolate mousse, tiramisu, creme brulee, brownie, fruit tarts, opera, etc and fruits.

So much food, so little space in stomach. I didn't get to try the Indian or Japanese food at all and lots more too. But here are what I tried:

My first dish - seafood noodle soup. I was just browsing when the chef asked if I wanted a bowl. It was pretty good, tasted like prawn noodle broth but a bit salty, not sure if that was due to the soy sauce I added with the sliced chili.

Appetizer: Oyster shooters, some cream cheese with smoked salmon opera, caviar on egg in potato, grilled eggplant and some other canapes. These were ok, not that great.

Grilled/Baked Scampi - my favorite dish of the night. I can just eat this the whole night. The meat was fresh and succulent. I dipped it in the seafood sauce and hot sauce. Nice!

Mains: fish fillet in a nice white cream sauce (nice, not dry), roast beef in brown sauce (so tender), Singapore fried bee hoon (it was ok), shrimp and zucchini tempura (average, a bit cold), kai lan (not bad)

Dessert: Chocolate mousse (didn't like the whipped egg white but the chocolate beneath was divine), panna cotta (too sweet to finish), opera (wonderful medley of bitter and sweet), brownie (too dry), creme brulee (average, not that fantastic)

I was so stuffed after all that. I didn't take pictures of the ice cream or chocolate dipped strawberries and the oysters, scallop and crayfish. The oysters and scallop were very fresh, crayfish was so-so only.

Location:
Aquamarine, Marina Mandarin Hotel
Level 3
Reservations: 6845 1111