Ayuthaya - The Royal Thai Spa

I had the most fantastic massage - it was so good that I almost fell asleep. I certainly dozed off for a while. I have heard of Ayuthaya, but somehow it just never really appeal to me at all. Maybe it is because I go to Thailand every year and there I will have lots of massages at a fraction of the cost in Singapore.

Davis has been looking for a reasonably priced massage at a decent place and when I saw the promotion for Ayuthaya Spa for DBS credit cardmembers, I signed us up. It is a 1-for-1 deal for an hour massage (Thai or oil).

We went to the Ayuthaya Spa at Pan Pacific Orchard (previously Negara Hotel) and the place was smallish. Not many staff too. There was no one at the reception and we had to go "hello...hello" before someone came over. The spa has 6 treatment rooms, of which 2 are couple rooms. The other Ayuthaya Spa is at Gallery Hotel, the first one in Singapore.

We had the couple room (usually at extra charge) since there were no available single rooms. The couple room has a shower and sauna/steam bath area too. It overlooks the pool so nice concept, except the curtains were drawn, so really makes no difference at all.

We opted for the oil massage and it was so good. The therapists are from Thailand so they are really good. Firm pressure and I do miss how Thais always start with the legs for massages. The therapists from the other spas here usually start with the shoulders. After the massage, I just wish I was in Thailand, so that I could just hop out to the pool and continue lazing.

The staff also did not do any hard selling at all. They didn't even ask if you would be interested in any package. So that was pretty good. But since I loved the massage, I was actually contemplating signing up for a package, so I was the one actually asking about it. So rare for that to happen. This would be good for me to alternate between my usual spa places.

Mulberry Agyness

The Great Singapore Sale is still on and Club 21 started the sale last weekend. With that came a promotion with AMEX where cardholders can get an additional 10% off. So we popped into Mulberry and V got herself a Mulberry bag!

The Agyness looks much better than the classic Bayswater. Apparently the Agyness is named after a model :p I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the SAs at Hilton Mulberry. One of them showed us the F/W 2008 catalog and the colors were so vibrant and bright. Unusual for Fall/Winter. It would be interesting to see the collection in real life.

The Manolo Blahnik Shoes from SATC Movie

The central piece holding the SATC movie story together. Manolo Blahnik made specially for Carrie in the movie. Cobalt blue satin pumps, 4.5inch heels and pewter hardware (silvertone hardware for retail).

The shoes are going for US$945 now online (Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, same group). It was US$800+ earlier. In the movie, Michael Patrick King had Carrie mentioned it as US$500+ though he knew it was actually priced much higher.

The shoes looked absolutely dreamy. But at US$945, it is crazily expensive. Plus it is now backordered online till sometime in October. It seemed to be a Cinderella theme :p

SATC Movie Book

Sex and the City, Mr Big, Carrie. The apartment. The movie. New York City. Love. Labels. Bags, shoes, clothes. Eiffel Tower bag by Timmy Woods is retailing for US$3000 with crystals and US$450 without crystals.

I love love love Sex and the City the series and the movie. I just find it is so relevant and the topics are pretty timeless. I finally bought the SATC movie book, so now I have the soundtrack and the book. I rarely buy movie book as nothing really moved me that much :p (But I do have the Four Weddings and A Funeral movie script book thing which I bought so many years ago when in Canada)
The back of the book. I bought mine at Kinokuniya, too bad the freebie of SATC lipstick case was all gone by then :( Here are some of my fave pictures from the book.
I totally dig the vintage white dress with the flower corsage on the shoulder worn by Carrie. ASOS actually has a look-alike dress too, for only US$82.19 :p But it is just not the same. Everyone is into the Dior Gladiator shoes too.
The wedding dresses worn for the Vogue photo shoot. Left is Christian Dior. I like the pensive look, staring out at the window. It is so Victorian. Right is Oscar De La Renta. I think I like the chandelier. Hahaha. I like the simple hairstyle, very flamenco and tango looking.

The very reason to watch SATC - Mr Big (Chris Noth) and Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). Mr Big is still amazingly hot! (for a 50+ yrs old guy) Hahaha.
See, Mr Big knows precisely how to get into a woman's heart. Give her a really big closet. Michael Patrick King certainly got it right. He made the theatre went "WOW" when the closet was shown. I watched the show twice and both times you could hear the amazement of the audience.

Amazed look on Carrie and of course the girls and probably some men would notice that she is carrying a gorgeous Hermes green lizard birkin in 25cm (vert anis). Trivia from the book - the Hermes bag was on loan and had to be returned ASAP once shoot was over for the day. She is wearing Bitten pants which is SJP's own clothing line.
The end of the book and also movie. Four girls and a guy. To have friendship to last through is certainly very fortunate to have. Good friends are precious. I love my girlfriends! One last trivia - the outfit by "no one" is designed by Christian Dior (circa 2008) for the Cruise Collection RRP US$6000 for both skirt and jacket :)

Xin Yuan Ji (Tan Quee Lan St)

Bugis area really has so many good food and many coffee shops around serving local food. I finally found a place selling pretty decent fish meat bee hoon in the area. I have been missing the Novena fish meat bee hoon near Goldhill Centre, so this is a welcome discovery.

Apparently Xin Yuan Ji has been around for many many years. It was originally from somewhere (I forgot the place) and then moved to Bukit Merah before moving back to Bugis area at Tan Quee Lan Street (across from Bugis Junction, where the DHL Balloon is).

The fish meat bee hoon ($4.80) is really good. Milky tasty soup with huge chunk of fish meat and veggies. I ordered the mixed fish (fried and fresh) bee hoon soup before and that was a huge portion. Lots of fish for only $6.80.

Xin Yuan Ji also sells chicken rice, hor fun and other zi char type of dishes, besides the signature fish meat soup. This is the place for me to go when I want something soupy for lunch. Expect a crowd during the typical lunch hour.

Location:
31 Tan Quee Lan St #01-01
Tel: 6334 4086

Girls Night Out - Part III (Bak Kut Teh)

So we were hungry and we decided to have Bak Kut Teh. Originally I thought we would go somewhere nearby i.e. near Robertson Quay, maybe at Mohamed Sultan or something. Tanny suggested this place somewhere along Outram or something. It is where Isetan Office is, I totally forgot the name of this place. Look at our feast. 2 portions of the BKT, salted vegetables, braised taupok, liver soup and braised peanuts with fried dough stick fritters. This was actually for 4 of us, Agnes had left by then. But since it was near Celest's place, she came over to join us. She ordered another portion of the BKT to add on to the other stuff.

This was more peppery and less herbal. I don't really have much preference. I usually just have the soup, fritters, tau pok, salted vegs and peanuts with rice. I don't really take the meat at all. Hahahaha. I love BKT cos they will refill the soup. So yummy.

I didn't really like the place though. As it was right in a housing estate, we were considered quite "dressed up" since we came in from Robertson Quay. The clientele mostly wore shorts and tees or jeans. Very casual wear. We were togged up in dresses or dressier tops with jeans. Quite a contrast and basically everyone stared at us when we entered.

Girls Night Out - Part II (Canele)

Tanny, who frequented Brussels Sprouts quite often, recommeded that we have desserts somewhere else as Brussels Sprouts was more known for its mussels and not other stuff. So off we went to Canele. We decided to each get a dessert and share them all. Don't they look pretty? It was a coincidence that the items we got looked matching too. I totally don't remember the names of the dessert now. The pink (Cube L'amour) - Rose petal mousse, red berry jelly, rose almond genoise and rasberry eau de vie (tasted like bandung was the verdict) and the sponge cake was so soft and airy like.

The round chocolate thing had no name as it was considered an "open food" because it was a special of the day thing i.e. not on the daily menu. The green (Macha)- Delicate green tea mousse and chestnut cremeux layered with green tea biscuit and almond crumble. Cafe Caramel for the last one.

This was the clear winner of the evening. Everyone loved it. The chocolate was so goooood. Rich and dark and mousse like at bottom encased in the macaron like shell. In the center there was a small dollop of white which was passion fruit (I think).
This was my choice and not that great. Hahaha. It is made of milk chocolate coffee mousse, chocolate genoise with expresso, salty caramel and hazelnut feullitine. I think the salty caramel was a bit of an acquired taste. I noticed there are so many desserts with salty caramel now. So it was sweet and salty at the same time. Very different. I would like it better if there was no saltiness in it.
Davis decided to be the odd one out and changed her cake order to an ice cream - Nougatine (Praline ice cream with hazelnut nougatine, salty caramel, caramelized filo pastry) . This was the 1st runner up. We basically polished this off and the chocolatey item ordered by Agnes. The rest, we didn't finish at all.
I love the tea. Canele has such a wide selection of good teas and they are not the usual common garden variety. I ordered the Rosy Pink which is rosebud tea. Light rosy scent which went very well with the cakes.

By the time we more or less finished the desserts, we felt a bit peckish (2 hours later). I think we were triggered by another table's order of crepes. Lol. So off we went for supper.

Girls Night Out - Part I (Brussels Sprouts)

I love girls night out or girls day out, when we can just be totally frivolous and behave like kids again. Gossipping and sharing the latest news on the latest buys and sales and what nots. Men probably discuss sports and cars or who can belch the loudest. Women discuss clothes, bags, makeup and generally happy things like food! We decided to go to Brussels Sprouts over at Robertson Quay for a bite last Saturday. Actually Agnes and I were supposed to go to the National Musuem first but somehow we got stuck shopping, then Davis joined us and we just kinda carried on shopping. All good intentions of not spending money just flew out the window. So finally we made it to Brussels Sprouts and I ordered my very first beer! Not of the year, but of my entire life. I have never order beer as I don't like the taste of it.

Hoegaarden. That is the only beer I can stomach (I first tried it way back in 1999 or 2000 or something when I was thirsty and there was no water available at the club and I drank this from my friend's mug).
It just seemed quite fitting to have beer by the river and it went well with the beer battered onion rings and mussels. The onion rings were pretty good. Huge and with real onions. BK, move over.

We decided to order 3 starter size of mussels to share among 5 of us. It came with a free flow of frites too. Actually you can get pretty full from the fries. The devilled mussels - chilli padi, tomato, curry, coriander, lime.
Devilled mussel with onion ring. This was my fave mussel of the night. The mussels were very tiny apparently due to the season. Winter in Australia means small mussels. Actually some mussels were not very fresh and kinda stank.
Mussels in tarragon cream sauce - onion, parsley, butter, celery, cream, tarragon. It tasted pretty ok, the herbs were not overpowering strong. This was Tanny's favorite.
Mussels in A LA BIERRE BLANCHE - onion, parsley, celery, butter, hoegaarden beer. At least I think this was what we had. Livia ordered it. It was supposed to have beer in it. It was pretty ok also.
Agnes ordered the slow braised pork belly with mustard to share. I think everyone was taken aback by that. I had thought it would be Chinese style with crispy skin and dark meat. At keast that was the usual look when "braised" was used to describe the cooking style. I didn't try it, so not sure how it was.

Our first meal for the evening - mussels, fries, onion rings and pork belly with beer, vodka and tea.

Location:

Brussels Sprouts

80 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-12

The Pier@Robertson Singapore 239013

Tel: +65 6887- 4344

Enquiry: info@brusselssprouts.com.sg

Ivory Raspberry Cheesecake from Getel

This was a highly raved by my brother who professed never to like cheesecake until he tried the ones from Getel Cakes. So he was tasked to get the cake for Ryan's 3rd birthday so that all of us can try it too. Smart, eh? ;p This 6-inch raspberry cheesecake looked so tiny but packed a punch. It was definitely very rich and filling that you couldn't have too much. Light and fluffy this was not.
Described as a combination of white chocolate with sweet raspberries and topped with strawberries and white chococolate curls, this was not overly sweet. Cheesey with a subtle taste of raspberries. I loved the dark chocolate crust and how you won't get raspberries seeds stuck in between your teeth. Plus they deliver too. Awesome!

Information:

Delivery Service

Mon - Sat: 10.30am - 8pm

Phone line

6282 1310 Daily:9am to 9pm

Retail shop

Thurs - Sat:11am - 5pm

Closed on Sun - Wed

JK Don Express

This is a pretty much nondescript outlet serving Japanese and Korean food at Shaw Tower. I ordered the Hokkaido Ramen. Yes I am into Hokkaido Ramen now, ever since I tried the one at Sun with Moon Dining.

This paled so much in comparison. It was average. The ramen was not al dente. The meat was ok, there was no dollop of Hokkaido butter. But they were very generous with the ingredients. I doubt I will go there again, unless there was no other alternative.

Parking Lot Indicator at Night

I was amazed when I saw this one night after work. This was taken when Raffles City Shopping Centre was having a late night shopping, when shops closed at midnight or so, as part of the Great Singapore Sale which will end some time in July.

This board was certainly helpful to drivers who wished to park at Raffles City and Marina Square. Now they would know to park some where else instead. But seriously, at around 715pm, two malls parking lots were full.

I don't know how many lots they have, but based on this which was taken during the day earlier in May, it seemed like Marina has at least 600 lots, and Raffles City has at least 450 lots. Singapore sure has a lot of cars on the road.

Happy shopping. There are still another 3 weeks to go. What have you bought during the sale so far? I know I have bought lots already :p

Fallen Tree?

This was taken on June 11. So there I was, lost in my thoughts, thinking of my "To-Do" list while walking towards the office when I saw this. I was trapped. Lol.

I had to backtrack and find another route to walk towards the office. Apparently there was a storm that morning or night before which resulted in the fallen tree or branches. I don't think it was cut down by the government.

The government here does cut down trees or uproot trees and transplant them somewhere else. Or tree pruning will be done to clear the "excess" branches. Hence the trees here look very uniform by the side of the roads. Many trees were also transplanted to create the "green garden city" which is well known in Singapore.

Philosophy Margarita

Senorita Margarita

Recipe for it from Philosophy (as printed on its shower gel)
2 tsp coarse salt
1 lime wedge
3 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
2 oz lime juice
1 c crushed ice

Place salt in saucer.
Rub rim of a cocktail glass with lime wedge and dip glass into salt to coat rim thoroughly, reserve lime.
Pour tequila, triple sec, lime juice and crushed ice into a blender.
Blend well at high speed.
Pour into a cocktail glass.

Serve.

Spinelli Break

A light tea or I should say coffee break at Spinelli before SATC - 2nd time. Caramel latte (I always love how they decorate using the caramel on foam) with carrot cake. Nice.

Samy's Curry

I have heard so much about Samy's Curry, especially the original one at Dempsey. The days before Dempsey is so popular like now. It was a pleasant surprise to know there is one at Katong Village over at East Coast Road. The bryani rice with side servings of veggies (dahl and cucumber) - refillable.
The fish head curry with okra and eggplants. The fish head was pretty big portion for 3 of us. I still prefer the assam version which was more sourish than this.
Some lamb dish which Celest ordered. She liked it. It was ok for me, then again I am just not a lamb person at all. The flash made it looked like insects? :p Pretty big for a 1 person portion.
The butter masala chicken. This was good, especially with the naan which Livia ordered later. The butter toned down the spices so this was not as spicy as the original masala chicken.
Davis and I ordered a prawn each. It was a huge piece and cost $5 for that! The pappadoms were great. Crispy and savory. Refillable for pappadoms too. Not sure if the refills were charged.

It was a very filling dinner with generous portions for the dishes we ordered.

Qi Ji Kaya Toast

A traditional typical breakfast in Singapore, or at least in the yesteryears of a couple of decades. A simple meal of kaya butter toast, with 2 half boiled eggs and a choice of freshly brewed coffee or tea.

It was satisfying though the butter melted pretty fast and dripped onto my fingers making it a bit messy. The eggs were perfectly cooked. Not too runny. This would be the type of brekkie or snack I would have maybe once in many months :p Somehow I still try not to take more than 3 eggs per week. School health education trained (brainwashed) me too well. Lol.

Creation Cafe

I finally tried the Creation Cafe (I think that is the name), tucked between a Japanese restaurant and a instant noodle stall in Shaw Tower. I had the set lunch which came with soup of the day and a drink. That day was cream of cauliflower which was pretty much run of the mill and tasted like it was from the can. Pretty basic stuff.
I ordered the laksa seafood linguine pasta which was pretty decent. Not too bad but definitely not Da Paolo or Pasta Brava standard. Don't expect too much from the cafe.

Sunday Brunch @ Les Amis Cafe

I love to have a leisurely brunch on weekend as there is something so decadent about having the time to do that. To be able to read the morning papers or book while having toast and coffee. Usually I don't have breakfast as it is too rushed to have anything before going to work.

Last Sunday, we headed to the Botanic Gardens to have brunch at Cafe Les Amis which is near the Visitor Centre.
It was tough deciding on what to order. I was tempted by the local congee and the egg benedict. I became a convert to egg benedict after Marmalade Pantry which did it so well. In the end, I decide to get the Western Set which included bacon, sausages, hash brown, eggs (choice of fried or scrambled), grilled tomato, some greens, mini croissant and toast, plus coffee or tea and a choice of orange juice or fresh fruits. Pretty good, eh? And it was only $12 I think.
The toast and mini croissant plus jam and butter. So nice.
Our entire breakfast sets for 2 of us. Looked good. Too much food that we didn't finish them all. I love the orange juice which was freshly squeezed. A nice brunch with nature. You could hear the water gushing down from the man-made waterfalls nearby. There were many dogs too. It is a dog friendly place with area for dogs to drink water.

Bakerzin @ Paragon

It was a ladies who lunch situation where you get 4 ladies and a baby having a leisurely lunch and watching everyone passing by with their loots. Yes, the sale is on and everyone is shopping. Pink bags, brown bags, orange bags. Yum.
We ordered the lunch set which is quite a good deal. Add $9.80 (I think) to any main course and you get any drink of your choice and 2 tapas dessert. I ordered the lychee tea which was really refreshing and the lychees were sweet.

Curry linguine with chicken and tau poks. It was pretty good, the curry had a bit of a sour lemongrass taste, so it was not totally like the regular curry noodles you get. No lemak taste at all. They were very generous with the ingredients, so much tau poks and chicken. It was hard to eat linguine with chopsticks though. Fork worked better.
We decided to order 6 tapas dessert plus 2 tapas ice cream and share them all. Hmmm...not sure if I can remember them all now. We had the rose ice cream with lychee at bottom (tasted like bandung), the opera ice cream (too much of a coffee taste), raspberry panna cotta (pretty good and creamy), blackforest something (that was so-so), creme brulee (yummy) and something cheesecake (pretty ok).
Another view of the desserts.
Something with rice krispies - the chocolate ice cream was not as good as the caramel ice cream which was so much better
Caramel banana pizza. This was pretty yummy especially when it was served warm and added with ice cream. Nice.

A pretty good meal. It has been a long time since I last ate at Bakerzin that I didn't know what to order. So many choices now.

Bebe Top/Dress

Retail therapy again.
I am so in love with bebe now. The clothes can be quite hit and miss, depending on the seasons, I guess. The current season's dresses and tops were pretty, and quite my style. I like. Plus the sale made the items much more affordable too :) The paper bag looked so luxe with its matt shiny satiny smooth and soft paper. The dark brown paper and handles with a gold sticker just screamed understated luxury.
My bebe top. It can also be a dress as it is fairly long, maybe 2-3 inches above the knees. I love the color and material. So silky soft. In fact, most of the clothes in bebe are so touchable.
I love this detailing. The waffle mesh bit with the halter and the ruched bust area. This can be dressed up or down too. A very good buy since it is on sale :)