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

Davis' Mini Cupcakes

Davis made a batch of cupcakes and passed some to me to try. Miniatures as I overdosed on cupcakes at my niece's birthday over the weekend.

The mini cupcakes are so cute and just nice for nibbling. I love the cream cheese frosting, courtesy of Sherie's recipe ;p

Thanks, Davis :)

Cube @ Work

This is my very messy cube at work. I have lots of junk and other stuff to make it personal. Too personal, maybe. Lol. But I have finally gotten rid of those piles of papers. I am such a pack rat. Now I am trimming the folders in the office system, trying to delete those "draft" documents and leave behind the final copy.

It is taking me a loooong time. I am just so bad with throwing things away. Sigh. Back to plodding on before I leave.

MAC Flashtronic 2007

I went to Vivocity so many times last month that I feel I know the place very well now. The main reason for going to Vivo is because my fave MA is based at the Tangs there, so no choice. If I want to buy things from MAC, I need to go to Tangs Vivo. No more Tangs Orchard for MAC products.

So why the multiple trips? A few times it was to buy stuff - MAC Ballonancy and MAC C-Shock Collections items. Recently it was to buy the mineralized stuff from the Flashtronic collection.

What did I get? Northern Light MSF - mid tone pink with rust and grey brown veining highlighter blusher. Mineralize eye shadows in Ether (gorgeous deep aqua with silver, black and gold streaks), Tectonic (yellow gold with lime green, warm brown and black veins), Mercurial (yellow gold with lilac and chestnut veining though it looks more lavender pink on me) and Quarry Sky (light blue with olive, coral and beige veining)

Of them, my favorite are Ether and Tectonic. They looked great when paired together. Quarry Sky was quite so-so for me but as usual I got it because it is LE and I am hoping I can get it to work for me. Lol.

Ladies Afternoon Tea @ Regent

We went to the Regent for afternoon tea on Saturday as a belated birthday gathering for Tanny as Agnes only came back from her trip to Japan the weekend before. It was tea but we started at 130pm and stayed there till 5pm, gossiping the afternoon away.

So it was like a 1-meal affair for most of us since some of us slept in and thus skipped brekkie and 130pm was like lunch time. Regent is always nice for its "quiet" location. I like the cosy feel of the place, which was made to resemble a library in an English home. The fried chicken wings were back and they were so good! Crispy and slightly spicy. I didn't have much this time. And I was pretty good in not trying all the desserts (maybe because I tried them previously already).

It was quite interesting to note the topics for the day ranged from pregnancy (Agnes is expecting her first child, and Davis and Sherie are already yummy mummies) to makeup to bags to clothes to everything under the sky :p It was quite rare to get all of us together and our friendship has lasted since we met in end 2004.

The next gathering will be for my "farewell" next month. Food for the day will be local. We are going to Straits Kitchen. Nice! I have not been there since last year when I was there with Irene to celebrate my birthday. I can start daydreaming about the Indian dishes and the nasi padang stuff. Yummy!

One thing I noticed yesterday was that it seemed like most of us are carrying a designer bag :p 2 YSLs, 1 Prada, 1 Burberry, 1 Le Sportsac Tokidoki and others.

Shopping with Vouchers

Yesterday turned out to be a shopping day! I thought it would just be tea with the girls and then home to rest. But I discovered my brand new cream gloss (Full Kiss - finally bought it after lemming for it since 2002 or 2003) from Helena Rubinstein (HR) leaked. There was a hole at the end of the tube and it stained my gwp bag from HR. The girls said I should be able to get an exchange for the cream gloss and so it was a trip down to Isetan Scotts after the tea. And from there it snowballed into a shopping trip :)

The BA at HR was pretty nice about it. I managed to exchange the gloss but my color was still out of stock. I have a feeling they will not be stocking this any time soon. So after much deliberation and testing, I got another color - Flush (quite neutral, peachy nude thing). The other color I was trying was Bed Red - an orange based fire engine red. It was that bright! Now I remembered the color I was lemming for, it was Carmine Passion which I have not seen in a long while, maybe the reason why I never really buy Full Kiss previously. The BA also gave me a new gwp bag after she learnt that I stained my current one with the cream gloss. I didn't even ask if I could have a new one, she just offered. Now that is delighting the customer. Something small but within her autonomy, but which made the customer happy. More companies should empower their staff with the flexibility to do such little stuff, instead of being very controlling on how gwp/samples should be given out here.

We popped over to see the bags and Nine West is on sale, 50% off on selected items. I bought a bag which I was eyeing previously. So yay, I managed to use my Isetan vouchers for that. Then it was to Topshop where I spent again, using my voucher there. Lol, I have too many vouchers to use. Instead of 1 undies, I bought 2 cos they were so cute! It said "You Rock" on 1, and "Groupie" on the other. And there was a picture of a skull for "You Rock" on the front, and a picture of a guitar on the front for "Groupie". The end season sale is still on, and I also picked up a bikini which is so spring/summery with its bright cheerful candy stripes.

It was to DFS after that and over there I was a good girl. Didn't buy anything at all :p Final stop was La Senza at Paragon where the end season sale was still on with 70% off. I remembered I still have my Style$ to spend at Paragon so I picked up a few stuff. In a total purple mood with 2 bras and 3 undies - all in purple!

Oh and at the tea, Agnes passed me the Old Navy bikini bottom which I ordered to match the top I already have. So now I have the complete set of the stars and stripes bikini :) Also got the Stila Pretty Pansy and Pussycat Doll palette from her.

A total shopping day. I love spending with vouchers :D

View from the top

We organized a press conference last month for a client which was held at Equinox Private Dining Room on Level 69 of Swissotel the Stamford. The view is amazing but the service/support staff could be better. I doubt I will ever recommend the place for events in future.

The Singapore Flyer looks pretty good from the top. I always thought it could be an eyesore to have something huge jut out from nowhere but it all seemed to meld together. Plus after the IR is built at Marina Bay area, I think it will all fit perfectly well.

You can see the construction of the barrage at the mouth of Singapore River. Afte the barrage is completed, the entire Marina Bay/Singapore River area will be a reservoir. A huge reservoir. I wonder what it will be like, especially since they have started introducing water sports in reservoir too.

I stopped wakeboarding now because the water is so polluted, and they use detergent to make it easier for people to slip in and out of the wakeboard "boots". Imagine detergent in reservoir! Killing all the fish and sea life underneath. Maybe it is bio-degradable?

In the picture, you can see the barrage at the top, the right hand side is the construction of the IR, but there are so many more cranes now than before, all working furiously to meet the deadline. And there is the floating platform opposite it. The floating platform is made up of 15 pontoons which were designed and constructed by one of our clients, hence my knowledge of the barrage and other stuff :p (the whole reason for taking the pic)

PersonalDNA

I am a Benevolent Creator.



You are a Creator

Your imagination, confidence, willingness to explore, and appreciation of beauty make you a CREATOR.

You are independent, and you enjoy your self-sufficiency.

Defying convention, you are very innovative, and you have a vivid imagination.

The look of things is important to you, and you have a keen eye for aesthetic beauty in multiple arenas.

You have a strong interest in what is new and exciting—and that includes forging ahead with new ideas, not simply discovering what is already out there.

Your eagerness to seek new and varied experiences leads you into many different situations.

You're not set on one way of doing things, and you are creative when it comes to finding novel solutions to complex problems.

You trust yourself to be innovative and resourceful.

Your confidence allows you to take your general awareness and channel it into creativity.


If you want to be different:
Appreciate the earthly, practical elements of things—there is beauty in form as well.

While you are good at thinking abstractly, focusing on details a bit more may help you discover things about the world.

You are Benevolent

You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT

You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.

Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.

You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.

You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.

Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.

Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.

Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.


If you want to be different:

You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!

Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant.

"Jungle" Cats

I took the pictures some time last year when I was waiting for the bus. It was interesting to see the way the two cats interacted with each other. Waiting...observing...pouncing.

Animal instincts.

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

They look so yummy and pretty. The recipe seems quite do-able too.

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites
Prep time: 15 minutes
Makes 16 servings

Ingredients
1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
16 (about 1 pound) whole stemmed California strawberries
8 graham cracker squares, finely crushed (about 2/3 cup)

Directions
In mixer bow, beat together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel until smooth and creamy; set aside. Using a paring knife or small melon baler, partially hollow-out tops of strawberries to a depth of ¾ inches. Gently fill each with 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture. Roll tops into graham cracker crumbs. Arrange on serving platter.

Nutrition Information Per Serving: 65 calories; 3 g fat; 10 mg cholesterol; 85 mg sodium; 7 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 2 g protein

Tips:
* To prepare recipe ahead of time, fill strawberries with cream cheese mixture; cover and refrigerate up to 6 hours. Roll in graham cracker crumbs just before serving.
* For a chocolate cheesecake variation, melt 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels as package directs; stir into one 8-ounce package cream cheese (softened). Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Proceed as recipe directs, rolling filled strawberries into finely crushed graham crackers or chocolate wafer cookies.

Recipes and photographs provided courtesy of the California Strawberry Commission. ©2007 California Strawberry Commission. All rights reserved.

Too Honest

This is hilarious! Sometimes a little honesty can be too much? Lol. Refreshing.

A Game of MahJong

A bona fide tai-tai I can never be as I totally sux in MahJong (MJ). I vaguely know the concept of being able to exchange for tiles if you get the "flower or animal" tiles, and to have 3 of a kind or in a row (straight). The rest I totally don't remember or don't know at all.

So today I spent today at a colleague's (VL) place where we played MJ. It was supposed to be a fun session, with some money involved. BUT.....due to mine and another colleague's (JC) incompetence, the other 2 decided to just play for fun instead and to let us learn through trial and errors.

They thought they were bad...until they met us. Lol. JC has only played a few times but he improved lots at the end. While I did manage to "win" some games, some were horrid and I made mistakes where if we were playing for money, I would have to pay out to everyone a few times. It was still a fun and good learning experience.

We took so long just playing 1 round. I think we started around 5pm and only ended around 1030pm, with about 30mins break for dinner. Yes, we took more than an hour to complete just 1 "wind" direction. I am still pretty clueless about how the "wind" works and what can be used to keep as a pair and the "credit" to get before you can even win. So many rules.

But I must say there is something quite therapeutic about the clacking tiles and then stacking them and trying to strategize the next move.

Wicked - A Nail Salon

I tried Wicked, which is at International Building next to Isetan Scotts, in late June on Davis' recommendation. The place is tiny, but has tasteful ambience. The seats are like a long bench with sinks at the bottom. That is good as I am quite fussy about that. I prefer to have actual sinks rather than a portable basin or those footbath thing. This is for hygiene purposes.

It is not very comfortable but still ok to sit for an hour. Magazines provided are international and quite recent and service is good. I like that the tea is served on nice tea cup and with a mini tray.

I think it is fairly new and is operated by a Korean as it also has Korean facials and waxing services in another room off the main nail area. The staff is also fairly new to the trade, you can tell they are not very experienced.

In the 2 times I was there (yes I signed a package as it was a good deal but now I thoroughly regret it), the nail technicians were not very good. I am still hoping I can find a good one for my remaining sessions.

The first one cut my nails too short and it was not straight for one of the toenails. About a week after that, I discovered there was a tiny nick on the 3rd toe on left foot. I was concerned and so made an appointment to get them to re-paint the nails (cos the colors have chipped by then - very fast for an OPI. Less than a week).

I went back and got a different nail technician. She is very new (I didn't know that in the beginning) and didn't seem to know what to do. I told her about the nick and just to change the nail colors and not to file or cut them as they were already so short. Then she discovered there is another nick on the 4th toe on the right foot. Seriously, I have never have spilts on nails before and right so close to the cuticles.

The warning bells should have rung in my head when the technician didn't even offer to repair the tiny nicks. She just allowed me to tell her to change the colors. Usually at other nail salons, they will ask you or tell you that you need to glue it back or something. But at Wicked, nothing at all.

So it was repainted and I left, hoping my nails will grow fast enough and the nicks will not get worse. But 2-3 weeks later, they spilt further. So the cracks on the nail and the reason why the one on the left foot has came off. And now I am seeking emergency treatment on the right foot as that is in a precarious position being 3/4 down the toenail.

I don't trust any nail technicians to do it. My boss recommended super glue but I am hesitant to do it on my own. I called the person recommended by Yolanda and she said I will need to put on fibreglass nail. WTH is that? Anyway, she is traveling today and won't be back till next weekend.

So I called Flair Nails where I usually have my waxing done. Spoke to my long time therapist there and she recommended the technicians there and that they are all trained and experienced. She said I will probably need the silkscreen (??) or gel nail or whatever. All these terms just went above my head. So I shall try it out today and hopefully it works. The spilt ends will hold till the nail grows out.

I did a silkscreen thing once at Snails for a tiny nick before. It didn't work and came out after a couple of days. Hence I am quite skeptical on such stuff.

Bottomline: I don't recommend Wicked at all. I think only the owner is experienced, so it is only good if you managed to get her for your appointment.

Nasi Lemak - Old Chang Kee

Nasi Lemak from Old Chang Kee? Yes, besides the usual curry puffs and other deep fried snacks, the Old Chang Kee cafes also served up hot dishes such as nasi lemak, beef stew in bread bowl, grilled fish, etc. It is called Take 5.

I tried the nasi lemak as I was not sure what to have and the fried chicken wing looked tempting. Actually I went to the wrong store. I wanted hor fun but went to Take 5 instead of Killiney Kopitiam at Square 2 :p

Verdict? The rice could be more lemak and fragrant but still quite ok. The chicken wing is good and warm. The chili is pretty good. The sausage is a surprising touch. Average nasi lemak, I would say.