SuperDog @ VivoCity

We ate so much that day in VivoCity. After a late lunch of Kolo Mee, we went to Superdog for a late dinner.

Davis wanted hotdogs and I didn't mind trying, especially since we were given some coupons . So our dogs were at a discounted price which made it pretty reasonable. Besides hotdogs of all kinds (German, Polish, Bratwurst, chili, etc), it also sells burgers and shakes and smoothies.

Superdog

So I order the Superdog which has a bratwurst sausage topped with diced onions, melted cheese and bacon. I was sold by the bacon. Unfortunately the bacon wasn't crispy which was the way I prefer. The bun was soft and lightly warmed.

Chili dog. Look at the thick golden fries.

Davis had the chili dog which looked pretty nice. I love the chunky fries. Served nicely hot and crispy, the fries were just so good!

I wouldn't mind going back again to try the burger and shake.

Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee

I heard lots about the Kolo Mee (aka Konlo Mee) from East Malaysia where Sarawak and Sabah are. Supposedly the noodles are al dente with the springiness/bouncy bite to it. The toppings are similar to the more commonly known Wanton Mee.


Went to VivoCity and saw an outlet selling Sarawak Kolo Mee. Since I was a newbie to it, I had the original and shared a bowl of dumpling soup with Davis. They were very generous with the dumpling soup, with lots of dumplings in it. Didn't count how many there are, but it seemed to be endless. Probably 8 to 10 dumplings. The most I ever seen in a soup. I like the dumplings. The skin is soft and smooth and the filling is chockful of minced meat, prawns and stuff.


The Kolo Mee is served with minced meat, char siew and veggies, plus a small bowl of dumpling soup and shrimps. The noodles were al dente and firm, definitely not overcooked. I don't recall the sauce served with the noodles but with the sambal chili, it tasted not half bad. Would I go back all the way for it? I doubt so. It is nice, but not unforgettable fantastic for me. I much prefer the "Special" Noodles sold at the stall in Kovan hawker centre. Now, that was lip-smacking delicious!

Rainbow

I saw a rainbow. But it was not in the sky. It has been raining lots and that day it stopped. I saw the strip of rainbow at the bus stop. Sun light shining through the glass at the bus stop shelter created a prism of light, dispersing it and became a rainbow.

That was so cool. Everything the light fell on had the rainbow. And black really absorbs light. The rainbow was on my hands, my bag but not my black pants.

See the pic below. Cool, eh?

Dating Profile Quiz

Your dating personality profile: Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love. Stylish - You do not lack for fashion sense. Style matters. You wouldn't want to be seen with someone who doesn't care about his appearance. Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate.

Your date match profile: Romantic - You need someone with a traditional understanding of romance. A true romantic is a must-have in any potential date. Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Outgoing - Shy and timid people are not who you are after. You need someone with a vibrant personality to breathe life into a relationship.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Big-Hearted 2. Stylish 3. Liberal 4. Romantic 5. Adventurous 6. Religious 7. Sensual 8. Practical 9. Intellectual 10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Romantic 2. Practical 3. Outgoing 4. Wealthy/Ambitious 5. Big-Hearted 6. Adventurous 7. Stylish 8. Religious 9. Traditional 10. Sensual

Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions

Food @ Chocz ?

Seafood pasta, cake and coffee

Chocz - the place selling chocolates and desserts for some outlets, actually sell food too. Simple fare like pasta and sandwiches. A limited menu.

We tried the set lunch and it was the worst meal I ever had. Or at least one of the worst. For once I didn't finish the food.

The set lunch consists of main, dessert of the day and tea/coffee.

I decided on the seafood pasta and coffee. The pasta was soggy and absymal. Quite tasteless. It came with 2 pieces of mussels and 2 pieces of prawns. Then they ran out of prawns and gave 4 pieces of mussels for 1 plate. Quite bad.

The dessert was a strawberry cake. It looked artificial and tasted even worse. Very wet and crumbly sponge filling and had a weird taste to it.

The only thing that is good is the coffee.

Maybe Chocz should just stick to its chocolates. Godiva it is not too.

Donut Factory

The latest craze to hit Singapore. Donut Factory.

Where else would you see constant long line of people waiting for hours (1 queued for 3 hours!) to get their hands on the donuts? And it is not a one-time occurence. It has been long line since it opened, probably even more since the writeup in The Straits Times a few weeks back.

I was fortunate enough to sink my teeth into one of the delectable donuts. My sister bought a box after waiting for 30mins. She bought them by chance as she passed by the shop when it first opened and bought a dozen. She figured since she already waited for so long, she might as well buy more. And this was just a day after the news report. She didn't read the report then.

So what is so special about Donut Factory? Donuts have always been around in Singapore, but most places sell donuts which are denser and thus feel more doughy and heavier.

1st row, L-R: Blueberry Glazed, Double Chocolate, apple cinnamon or peanut butter glazed
2nd row, L-R: glazed, strawberry white chocolate, glazed
3rd row, L-R: Lotus mocha, kaya white chocolate

Conversely the donuts at Donut Factory are very light and fluffy. It really feel like you are eating air. It is just so soft. I tried 2 flavors - glazed and a coffee thing. I heated it up in the microwave for 8 secs and boy! It was so good. Extremely airy like chiffon cake. You can gobble it up in just a few bites/chews.

I tried it cool or in room temperature. That didn't feel so special. Just quite usual, but still less hard than other donuts.

Apparently the reason for the line is the production is too slow to cope with demand. My sister said there was only 1 person making the donut, and 2 others taking them out of the fryer and packing them for the customers. Someone else posted online that they make donuts by batches of flavors, so if you want something else, you have to wait.

And now I heard you can also placed order and just pick up. But it takes about a week to pick up the order. And most people who queued tend to buy 2-3 boxes. I guess it is the same mentality as my sister. Buy more since you have waited for so long.

So until the craze dies down, I don't think I will go there for another taste.

Damn! Just realized what those flavors are. I should have tried the double chocolate too. Darn it! Hope the line gets shorter soon. Too bad my office is no longer near city hall. Sigh.

Hmmm...Another Quiz

Using your mouth Your sexual hidden talent is your ability to use your mouth. You are incredibly sensual, a great kisser and a seductive lover. You drive all of your partners crazy with your mouth. Take this quiz at QuizUniverse.com

Choco-therapy @ LifeSpa

I am a bit annoyed with LifeSpa as it is next to impossible to get an appointment now. I tried making an appointment on 29 Dec for 20 Jan, and was told it was full but they will put me on the waitlist. And on 15 Jan, they called to say they have a slot on 16 Jan and if I would like to take it.

I decided to go for it cos I would never be able to get an appointment at all.

So I opted for the Choco-therapy treatment. It usually costs $388 which I think is way overpriced and not worth at all. With my package, I am paying around $140 for that which is still quite expensive.

So what is in the Choco-therapy? All things Chocolate!

You will be scrubbed, soaked, kneaded and wrapped.

I didn't particularly like the therapist Rachel. She did the body scrub as if she was in a competition to see who would finish first. It was so fast that I didn't feel relaxed at all. Plus the chocolate scrub scent was not very strong. In fact I couldn't smell anything.

Then I was led to shower off, before dipping into the milk bath jacuzzi for 15mins. The jacuzzi was nice though I didn't discern any milk in the bath at all. Just a very faint milkiness of the water. Again no scent. I felt like I was in the delivery theatre or something as the therapists just opened the door to put towels and tea etc in the jacuzzi room. It was a free show for them all. No privacy at all. I like the mini chocolate they gave together with the ginger tea. The jets of the jacuzzi were not very strong so it was just a gentle whirring of the water.

Finally it was time for the massage. It was just a 30mins back massage. It was so painful, lots of acupressure which I didn't really like. Even when I told her it was painful and to reduce pressure, she still persisted in doing the hard massage. Maybe she couldn't gauge her strength. I really prefer something soothing, but again it is getting harder to find therapists who can do that. The heating pad was overheated and I had to ask her to reduce the temperature.

The chocolate body wrap was next. Now that was the only time I could smell chocolate. Dark yummy chocolate. After my body was smeared with chocolate, I was all wrapped up in a heating pad. I felt like a hot chocolate or chocolate pudding or fondue, being cooked. Then I felt like brownie when the heat got too much and I thought I was in an oven. After 20mins, I was led for a final shower.

Would I do this again? Highly unlikely. Give me a regular good massage or a good javanese mandi lulur. I think I much prefer that. The chocolate therapy was more of a novelty. Chocolate was to have good properties in withdrawing toxins from the body, but somehow I doubt it. The amount they used was so minimal, what benefits are there?

But I still smell of chocolate so the chocolate body mask did permeate my body.

Next appointment - my birthday :)

Over the years

Found some old pics and decided to make a picture grid with them. I used to take pictures of myself using the webcam back in 2003 when I was tracking my weight loss. Then it was used to do my FOTDs. Webcam became blurrer and blurrer and I stopped using it. So no more pictures until I bought my digital camera. The frustrating thing is that I kept losing the pictures cos my pc kept crashing. Some I extracted from the Yahoo Photos which wasn't ideal for storing as the size was tiny when you extract them.

But here it is. Me as a toddler, teenager and then mostly in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. I have not taken any pic for 2007 yet.

Completed Jigsaw Puzzle

I bought 3 sets of jigsaw puzzles in December last year, hoping to spend less time online. It worked to a certain extent. I started on one...left it for a while and completed it beginning of the year. So it took about 1 month to complete a 1000 pieces puzzle.

I must admit I have help from my helper who put them together when she was free. So I did the border and the top 2 corners and the last 1/3 of the puzzle. She did the rest.

Now I have a problem. To whom should I give the puzzle to?

The next puzzle to start will be the Precious Moments.

I'm a Mixed Personality!

There it is! Proof that I am a mix of everything. No wonder I am so confused. Lol. I am both a Type A and Type B personality.

Take the test here

About Type A and Type B Personality

According to scientific literature, Type A behavior is characterized by an intense and sustained drive to achieve goals and an eagerness to compete. Personalities categorized as Type A tend to have a persistent desire for external recognition and advancement. They are involved in various functions that bring about time restrictions. Such personalities have a tendency to speed up mental and physical tasks with extraordinary mental and physical alertness. These characteristics make for super-achievers and high-powered people.

Type A individuals can get a lot done and have the potential to really move ahead in the world. But there is a high price to pay. Certain components of such a personality can inhibit happiness and even threaten health. For example, the goals that Type A folks set are often poorly defined and therefore hard to achieve—a perfect recipe for misery.

Type A is also characterized by a general discontentedness and the impulse to be overly critical and demanding, even contemptuous of imperfection, in the self and others. This focus on negative aspects and the accompanying bursts of hostility and impatience result in guilt, remorse and anxiety.

Type A personalities are motivated by external sources (instead of by inner motivation), such as material reward and appreciation from others. Type A folks experience a constant sense of opposition, wariness, and apprehension--they are always ready for battle. And anyone can imagine how this constant (and very exhausting) existence would deplete reserves of contentment and happiness and disrupt personal equilibrium.

Although the literature is somewhat inconsistent because of problems with the conceptualization and definition of Type A behavior pattern, it has been linked to higher risks of cardiovascular diseases. The risks seemed to be reduced with intervention aimed at reducing Type A behavior. Indeed, those with a high Type A score would be happier and healthier if they were to file down the jagged edges of their personality. By learning how to control the negative behavior patterns while preserving their drive, Type A people can be successful without sacrificing their emotional well-being.

Type B behavior is usually defined as the absence of Type A behavior. Type B personalities are relaxed and have a laid-back attitude and posture. They are friendly, accepting, patient, at ease, and generally content. They are at peace with themselves and others. They show a general sense of harmony with people, events, and life circumstances. They tend to be trusting. They focus on the positive aspects of things, people and events. Type B folks are self-encouraging, have inner motivation, are stable and have a pleasant mood. They are interested in others and accept trivial mistakes. They have an accepting attitude about trivial mistakes and a problem-solving attitude about major mistakes. They are flexible and good team members. The Type B person is able to lead and be led.



Results of Your Type A Personality Test

Personality Type

Your score = 55

What does your score mean?

You seem to be in the middle between the Type A and Type B personality. In this case, the middle ground is good. Your attitude to life is more of the "smell the roses" kind and you know how and when to relax. Nonetheless, you realize that picking up a challenge and competing a little bit for your place in the sun can add some spice to your life. The equilibrium is important, so don't let your hostile, aggressive, and competitive alter ego take over too often. Generally, you are easy to be around, and people tend to feel relaxed and comfortable in your presence. Yours is a very healthy attitude towards life.

Interesting test.

The Sonnet Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLDf) Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed? Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance. Your exact opposite: Genghis Khunt Random Brutal Sex Master Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so. You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls. ALWAYS AVOID: The 5-Night Stand, The False Messiah, The Hornivore, The Last Man on Earth CONSIDER: The Loverboy Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

Read My Result
Take the Test

Then and Now

It was a rare occasion to get the three of us together again. It has been a long while after we left the company to meet up. The last time the three of us met was probably in 2004 or something.

While I do see Sheryn quite often (as in maybe once a month or alternate month or something and definitely when it is our birthdays and christmas), I have not seen Maggie since 2004 or so. We kept saying we must catch up but somehow work got into the way or we just got busy with our own lives.

So it was really great to get together on New Year's Eve at Maggie's place for a party. Met some other friends of Maggie's too. Just a girls party, which is equally fun and hilarious with the "live" entertainment we got ;p

See how much we have grown and changed:

Then: Oct/Nov 2003

Now: 31 December 2006

Turkey Dinner - 16 Dec 2006

This is a belated post on the 1st Christmas dinner party at my friend's place. They served turkey which was their first attempt at making it. I was the "supervisor" as I was the only one who has made turkey before.

They did a great job in seasoning the turkey and making it so pretty. The food was fantastic and too much as usual.

The trick in making very moist turkey is in the basting. Most places served very dry and tough turkey as they did not baste enough. I never was a big fan of turkey as it was always so dry that it was so disappointing. Until I learnt the trick of basting, and successfully made my own, I enjoyed turkey again, but only homemade ones. Especially when made by my cousin-in-law who is a pro in baking turkeys.

Drool at the nicely baked turkey and the other Swedish food.

Candle-lit entrance to the apartment

Streamers adding to the festive mood

Appetizer - some smoked salmon and caviar (fish roe) on seafood filling sandwich and sprinkled with dill - a Swedish specialty

Close up of the appetizer - quite full after this

Beautifully baked turkey with bacon-wrapped sausage and apricot

Another angle with tomatoes and sauages on the side

Me carving the turkey - moist and juicy

My plate - brussel sprouts, mash potatoes with cheese, bacon-wrapped sausage, asparagus, mushrooms, turkey breast with gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce (pity I can't polish off the plate, was so full)

Dessert - homemade cheesecake with peach, dessert wine and Swedish version of Coke (in bottle)

Before the proper dinner itself, we had ginger biscuits - the best ever - wafer thin and sweet, other cookies and Glogg (warm mulled wine with almonds and raisins). The ginger biscuits and Gloggs are only available from IKEA during Christmas period.

Sweet Dessert post to start 2007

Ben & Jerry - two favorite men in my life. They are with me when I am sad or when I am happy. When I need something sweet, when I need cheering up. They always make me feel better.

Amazing though how it took me so many months, years too (?) to finally enter a Ben & Jerry Scoop Shop after they set up shop in Singapore. Always, I prefer to take them home in tubs and enjoy them in the relative comfort and safe haven of home or at parties.

So on 31 December, when I was out with a friend, she wanted ice cream from Ben & Jerry. Off we went to the outlet at Raffles City basement. My very first entry. I discovered there were so many more flavors available than in the tubs sold in supermarkets or gas stations. To my credit, I didn't order any :D But I did try what Sheryn ordered - Dublin Mudslide. It has Irish Cream and swirls of coffee fudge and chocolate chips cookies. Nice, but my fave is still New York Super Fudge Chunk - chockful of dark and white fudge chunks, pecan, walnuts and fudge covered almonds in chocolate ice cream.

Scoop of Dublin Mudslide

I like the decor of the cafe - with the cow on the table. It reminded me of COWS in Canada. Huge store with a cow in front and scoop counter and other souvenirs of apparel and accessories.

Flavors I have tried:
Butter Pecan (rich buttery ice cream with roasted pecans)
Pistachio Pistachio (pistachio ice cream with lightly roasted pistachios)
**New York Super Fudge Chunk (chocolate ice cream with dark and while fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts and fudged covered almonds)
Half Baked (Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream with fudge brownies and gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough)
**Chocolate Fudge Brownies (chocolate ice cream with fudge brownies)
Chunky Monkey (banana ice cream with fudge chunks and walnuts)
Chubby Hubby (Fudged Covered peanut butter filled pretzels in vanilla malt ice cream rippled with fudge and peanut butter)
Cherry Garcia (Cherry ice cream with cherries and fudge flakes)
Dublin Mudslide (Irish cream liquer ice cream with chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and coffee fudge swirl)
**Phish Food (chocolate ice cream with gooey marshmallows, a caramel swirl and fudge fish)
+Bovinity Divinity (Milk chocolate ice cream and white chocolate cows swirled with white chocolate ice cream with dark fudge cows)

**I Like!
+ No longer available

Flavors to try:
Vermonty Python (coffee liquer ice cream with chocolate cookie crumb swirl and fudge cows)
Fossil Fuel (sweet cream ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces, fudge dinosaur and fudge swirl)

Last post for 2006 - Spa Esprit and Life Spa

This will be my last post for the year 2006. I started this blog on 1 Jan 2006 and focused on food, massages and everything nice. It was intentional not to post much personal stuff/thoughts on other matters as I post that on my other blogs. I didn't want to duplicate entries.

Year 2006 has been uneventful....tried out new restaurants and spas, and also went back to old favorites. I may have to change focus for Year 2007 as I am trying not to eat out so much now in a bid to be fitter and healthier (read = weight loss regime. Haha!).

I ended 2006 with a massage or two. I made an appointment at Spa Esprit for 29 December, but they called to cancel it as there was a fire in their outlet (I found out today when I went for my re-scheduled appointment).

I managed to get an appointment at Life Spa for 29 Dec instead. It was done by another therapist. Not as good as Lilian though. She was so "fast", I felt rushed by the entire experience. A good therapist will always use long, soothing strokes to create a feeling of languidness and relaxation. Another reason why Tui Na and Thai massages are not relaxing but are more "therapeutic" to hit the sore spots.

Strawberry Butter Meltdown - Spa Esprit Paragon

With a name like that, how could one not feel like being slathered and ready to be eaten? :p I first tried this treatment in 2005 on my birthday (courtesy of a special voucher from Biotherm). It was so good but so pricey too, for me to warrant paying $150 (?) for that. I remembered the strawberry scrub which smelled heavenly and sweet, followed by a shower and then the warm buttery massage. I felt like a cake!

I had another voucher for 50% off at Spa Esprit, so I decided to try the Strawberry Butter Meltdown again. The therapist "Susi" was fantastic! I really prefer Malay therapists as they are always much better than those from China. Plus they can speak English. Therapists from China usually only know Tui Na (or what they think is Tui Na as many are not professionally trained at all, just applied great pressure onto the body).

She asked if there were any particular areas that needed more attention, and I told her to focus on my shoulders. She started off with the massage - warm strawberried buttery cream or whatever was applied onto my body and she started massaging. It smelled so delicious that it was so tempting to want to taste the concoction. Lol. Susi just managed to hit all the right spots and there were times I drifted off to sleep. So rare for me to sleep during massages now.

After the massage was the scrub. More strawberries! I am not sure what went into the potion but there were bits of red (strawberries I assume) and some fine white particles for scrubbing. That was followed by a shower. There were 4 jets on the wall beside the handheld showerhead. Pretty cool option. Unfortunately the shower space is really tiny.

I am seriously considering if I should splurge on this and have it once every 2 months and have Susi work her magic on me.

Signing out:
Happy 2007, everyone!

1st Designer Bag Lemming

Prada Tessuto Gauffre (Pre-Spring 2007)

I am never really that crazy about designer bags or wallets, compared to some of my friends who are into them (LV, Gucci, Ferragamo, Dior, Celine, etc). Mainly because I have not really seen any designs which just called out to me. But now I am lemming for the latest Prada Pre-Spring 2007 Collection - Tessuto Gauffre. I first saw them in some women magazines and were attracted to the bright cheery colors. So different from the usual black nylon bags, and which there were so many fakes around.

No doubt there will be fake Tessuto Gauffres too....but they are just too nice to resist. Read from CC that there won't be many pieces being brought into Singapore and already the wait list for them is pretty long :( There are 3 sizes (S, M, L)... think I would prefer the biggest since I always carry lots of stuff and in either green, red or blue. I don't think orange and yellow are my colors and white gets dirty too easily. Not sure why but I am not so against orange now. Maybe I am so used to seeing it everywhere for work. We have been promoting "orange" as the color for most communication materials.

If there is an angel, maybe I will get it as a birthday present ;p

ETA: I saw the bags in real life at the Prada store. My lemming is kinda killed now. Didn't really like the green and blue bags, and I think medium sized would be better. I didn't really like the gold zips too. Lol. Don't think I will buy it but as a gift, I will still accept. Lol. Possibly in red or orange.

ETA (28/1/07): Went to Prada again, and looked at the bag. Lemming stirred again. I like the large sized, I was mistaken about the sizes previously. So large sized and in orange. Surprisingly I like orange. So not my color but it is so cheery and uplifting. It costs S$2370 or something like that and sold out island-wide. No more large sized in any colors here. Darn!

Kopitiam at Swissotel

We decided to try the fish head curry and claypot tofu for lunch at the Kopitiam at Swissotel. The fish head curry was the lemak (coconut-ty) type. It was still pretty good though I much prefer the assam version. I love the tangy taste mixing with the spices.


The pot was huge and was enough for 3 persons and had chockful of okras (ladies fingers) and eggplants (aubergines/brinjals) and tomatoes too.


The claypot tofu was good. The egg tofu were nicely braised and came with lots of vegetables though I would like it more if they had more mushrooms in there.

Gloria Jean's Coffees

Gloria Jean's Coffee made a comeback few months back with the first outlet at Raffles City basement. It used to be in Singapore in the late 90s (I think) but closed down a few years later. The coffee then was not as great as those in Australia.


This time round, the coffee is certainly more robust but it is still very sweet. I tried the Tuxedo cake based on the barista's recommendation. I didn't particularly like it. Found the cake to be dry and tough. The coffee was nice though I don't remember what I ordered. I like the way it was presented. Lovely.

O'Briens - Jelita Cold Storage

Click on image to see the crushed chips

This is utterly disappointing. I ordered the Christmas Sandwich (turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, stuffing, lettuce and coleslaw) and clam chowder for brunch yesterday.

Maybe I was expecting the kind of turkey sandwich served at Starbucks (which incidentally was absolutely amazing!) or even better, but I certainly didn't expect such dismal portion or presentation or taste.

They used turkey ham (not real turkey meat) and the coleslaw was dripping sauce all over. The stuffing was just miniscule crumbs that I could barely see or taste it. And the dealbreaker was the chips. The chips were all crushed up. I seemed to have been served the "leftovers" from the pack.

The clam chowder was not much better. Too salty and too much vegetables. It seemed more like a vegetable soup with pieces of clams added. Granted, it is not Boston style where it is creamier, but this tasted like something right out of a can.

I like O'Briens or I used to like it after this experience. O'Briens used to have very fresh sandwiches made on the spot when it first opened. Or maybe it is the outlet problem. I have been to outlets at CityLink, Millenia Walk and Raffles Place and the food was fine there. But the one at Jelita is just bad.

Billy Bombers - The Heeren

Classic poster

It has been such a long time since I last ate at Billy Bombers. Think the last time I was there was in 2003 at the inaugural branch at Bugis. This is a fairly new branch, opened since 2005 or so. We decided to try the food as not many eateries were opened then (close to 9pm).


Going back to basics. We shared a burger (think it was the mushroom burger) and hot wings. I had a root beer float too. The float was nice, then again, how wrong could it get? Root beer with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The hot wings were huge - look at the pieces. We were not expecting that. I thought it would be the usual small wings, not wings and drumlets too. The sauce was not too bad, at least it was a bit sourish spicy. The burger was a bit of a disappointment. Celest was disappointed with the size of the lone pickle :p I was not that fond of pickle, so she had all of it. The burger was not very juicy and was not much better than ordering from Burger King or something.

Verdict: Not going back there in a hurry.

Hoshigaoka - Shaw House

Steak Ju

The Steak Ju at Hoshigaoka is surprisingly good! I usually try not to order steak as it usually is very tough or overcooked despite me asking for medium well.

I wasn't that hungry that night at Hoshigaoka (Shaw House branch) and didn't particularly feel like having the Chawanmushi set (my fave). It was a toss up between Ten Zaru or some udon or the steak.

I decided to give the steak ju a try as I saw several diners having it. Rule of thumb - When in doubt, look around you and see what others are having ;p

I didn't regret ordering it. The beef was very tender, done just right. Not too tough and yet not rare at all. No pinkish tone to it. I am not sure how the Japanese does it, maybe it is in the seasoning? The onions were caramelized to the right sweetness.

I found another dish to order in Hoshigaoka now :)

Ayam Penyet Ria

I always see the signboard hanging at Lucky Plaza but have yet to try it until today. Went with Davis to try the signature dish - ayam penyet ria - as she had a craving for it.

We shared the dish as it was 3ish pm then and I just had lunch around 1pm.

The chicken was so tender and could practically melt in your mouth. It was piping hot, fresh out of the wok. The tumeric powder just brought me back to childhood, to primary school canteen where the Malay stall auntie sold the fried chicken wing. Delicious!

The chili is really spicy though. The meal came with tempeh, tofu and kang kong. Very nice.

Would love to try the bakso too.

Location
Ayam Penyet Ria
304 Orchard Road
#04-25/26 Lucky Plaza

Christmas Gifts

Christmas came early this year again. The feasting started yesterday at a friend's place and continued today at home. The girls came over for lunch and I made my specialty - tuna noodle casserole. It was more sweets than real food today as we had cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, strawberries and sugar rolls. For savory, there were only KFC chicken and the casserole. Very healthy ;p

PublishStila Kitten Set (includes Kitten IT gloss, kitten eyeshadow, illuminizer), Festival Coffret (includes mascara, smudge pot, lippie and convertible color), some other Stila items - illuminating powder, moisturizer sample, Fashionable IT gloss, foundation sample - necklace (love the gold stuff in the teal crystal pendant), YSL mascara, purple ring (so my color!), M&S keyfob, choccies, Belle towel (my fave Disney Princess character - love her gold dress) and Coach mini skinny (my own present for myself - love tghe red trimming).
Forgot to take picture of a towel set and notebook from Esprit and a small bottle of CK Escape fragrance.

Got some pressies from the girls and others :) I love all the gifts! Thank you!

Coach Key Fob BCA

This is so cute! So similar to the key fob from Coach. The credit card is most like me, I guess. Hehe. It said "Spend me Spend me" :P

I love it! Going off for a steamboat Christmas dinner soon. This is to replace the usual Christmas lunch we have on the actual day as most of us will be celebrating it in Bangkok this year. But some couldn't make it then.

I love Christmas :)

Wedding on 26 November 2006

This is the first wedding (not of the year as my brother got married earlier this year) but of the nuptials season. A long time friend whom I barely kept in touch with for the last few years, but we were roomies back in Canada, and were pretty close then. Cute bears :)

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony at the bride's side. There were tons of relatives who flew in from Indonesia and Hong Kong, plus helpers from States and wherever else. I love the teal cheongsum she is wearing. It is so my color! :p It is definitely something different, not the traditional "kwa" which most brides wear during the tea ceremony.

Wedding Fever!

This is my 3rd wedding in under 3 weeks (1 every weekend) and the last. It seemed like everyone is getting married this month. The picture is of the wedding ceremony in church for my younger cousin, actually my youngest cousin on my Dad's side. I love her gown. I was never really one for wedding gowns as they all seemed to look the same. Strapless, satin material and with many layers, making it stiff and big, etc. But hers was a simple creation. Very elegant and very old-world. A sleeveless v-neck shift dress with intricate lace design overlaying the "soft" dress, ending in a train with lace details at the edge. Nice!

It was quite an emotional affair, with the bride tearing when saying her vows, and the groom choking when he sang her a song at the end as a surprise. I like that they each wrote a page in the program on why they are marrying each other and their thoughts of their partner. It is nice to know as unless you are a very close friend of the couple, you won't really know how they met or what they think of each other.

It is quite a big affair with guests flying in from all over the world.

There are 3 parts to her wedding. Tea Ceremony in the morning, followed by the church wedding, and finally the wedding dinner tomorrow. Thank God for the short break.

My new phone - Moto RAZR V3i

Moto Razr with a shoe charm from an "angel"

I finally did it. Took the plunge and tied myself down. 2 years. After being contract free for my entire phone owning life, I am now stuck for at least 2 years. Not that I ever change my service provider or phone for the last 6-7 years. I guess I just dislike the idea of being tied down. I like to be free and easy, to have the freedom.

My phone gave up on me yesterday. I suspected the old problem came back when a few friends and clients could not hear me when I answered their calls. Since there were no repair shops nearby when that happened in the late afternoon, I had to buy a phone.

A real pity the Blackberry Pearl is only sold exclusively to Singtel. I was so ready to get that. Then I contemplated getting a Nokia 6118 (?) or LG Chocolate phone. In the end I got the Motorola Razr V3i as weight and quad-band won out in the end. The Nokia is too heavy. LG has a too sensitive touch screen. Razr was already something I was considering earlier, so I decided to get that. In maroon, I doubt Violet will ever hit our shores.

I felt so dumb when I saw all the stuff in the box. Headset, screen wiper, cds, mini memory card, etc. I never had so many things in my phone before. I am just too used to my vintage phone where it is not multi colored, has no camera function or MP3 or web browser, etc. Suddenly I have all these and more. Still trying to get used to using the Moto. Been such a long time Nokia user.

Thai Express - Soft shell crab tang hoon

I have been craving for the soft shell crab tang hoon (bean thread) in "claypot" from Thai Express ever since I had a sample from Davis' order last 2 weeks ago.

Thai Express revamped and expanded their menu for the outlet at Raffles City. I didn't know that until I met Davis for lunch the other day. There were so many items now e.g. crispy prawn pancake, stuffed tofu, crayfish tom yam, crayfish tang hoon, soft shell crab tang hoon, minced chicken basil rice, chicken ball with tang hoon, etc.

Soft shell crab tang hoon

On Thursday, we had dinner at the Thai Express at Paragon. The outlet only started serving the items on the new menu the day before. So I finally had my chance to sink my teeth into the soft shell crab tang hoon. It was so yummilicious. The bean thread soaked up the flavor of the sauce, the soft shell crabs were crispy and perfectly formed, the mushrooms were juicy and it had lots of black peppercorns and garlic and ginger. This is my favorite dish in Thai Express now.

Plaza Market Cafe - Raffles the Plaza

I never really had a good impression of the food at Plaza Market Cafe at Raffles the Plaza as the selection didn't excite me at all the two times I was there. The very first time was probably a few years back when I had high tea there. I remembered it as very local in the desserts and the food was nothing to write home about. The 2nd time was for breakfast back in 2003. Again, I didn't think the food was that fantastic. To date, Ritz Carlton has the best breakfast buffet in Singapore with a wide selection of food (western, local, Japanese) plus freshly squeezed fruit juices.

So when a colleague asked me to have dinner with her as she has to use her dining voucher before it expired, I agreed. Anyway, we needed to destress for a while. We decided on Plaza Market Cafe as there were not much choices. Inagiku was too expensive, Prego was not that great either. So Plaza Market Cafe it was. At least it was a buffet so we could certainly find something to suit us both.


I was pleasantly surprised to note that there was a decent dessert spread (though most were gone by the time we made it to dessert) - chocolate mousse cake, cheesecake, pulot hitam, ice cream, some cakes etc. Don't remember much now. But the food at Plaza Market Cafe was mostly peranakan with some Japanese fare too.

For starters, I had the oysters, mussels, and some shrimp stuff. That were good. Then I moved on to the sashimi and one piece of sushi. That was followed by pie tie (absolutely deliciously) and laksa. Nice. By then I was already pretty full but still being me, I just like to try new stuff. So I had some prawns, beef rendang, eggplants and fried rice. We also had a bottle of white wine to accompany the food, courtesy of the voucher :p

All in all, it was a satisfying meal. Way too full by then.

Location
Level 2, Raffles The Plaza
Dress code: Casual

Open:
Breakfast
Daily - 6:00 am to 11:00 am
Lunch
Daily - 12:00 noon to 2:30 pm
High Tea
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays - 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Dinner
Monday to Friday - 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays - 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm

For restaurant reservations, please dial: 6431 6156.