Dinner Buffet in Office

A bit overdue. This was the buffet dinner spread we had at the office. I was tasked to find either a caterer or function room 2 days before the event for the appreciation dinner for people who helped out at the launch. Amazingly I did manage to find a few rooms available, but in the end, the management decided to have it at the office. So we got Stamford Catering to provide the food. It was not too bad.
Sushi platter. I didn't try any of the sushi.

Kai lan in oyster sauce with mushrooms and wolfberries. I love wolfberries. They are good for the eyes too. Very nice with red date tea also.

Penne with carbonara sauce. This could be better. The pasta was overcooked. Too soft and not al dente. The sauce was a bit watery and not creamy enough.
Spicy prawns. This was good.
Salad. I only tried the thai mango salad which was nice.
Scallops - the fake ones :p
Tandoori chicken kebab. This was also nice. Chicken was tender and the spices were not overly spicy or overpowering.

Cream of mushroom soup. This was surprisingly really good. I had 2 bowls of it :p
Mashed potatoes to go with the roast beef. Nice!
Roast beef carving station.
Roast beef slices. They were sliced on the spot and put into the warmer.
Roast beef plate. The beef was really good. Tender and moist. I loved the combination of beef, gravy, potatoes with the mustard sauce and chives. I had 2 plates of it too.

Risotto with olives. It didn't look that great. It tasted alright. I couldn't tell it was risotto at all.
Fish roulade. This was pretty good. I liked it.
Bread and butter pudding. Too dry. It could be better.
Desserts - I only tried the oreo cheesecake which was pretty ok.

It was because of me calling up the various places and checking on the prices that I got the idea to go to Ritz Carlton for the buffet dinner. This cost around $40 per person. At Ritz Carlton Greenhouse, it was $58++ for Friday night (now that I think of it, I should be asking for Saturday rate). So if you add a bit more, you would get a better spread and service in a hotel :p

VS Clothes

Victoria's Secret can be such an "evil" website, filled with temptations. So I went in there today to just check something and discovered a whole lots of clothes which I want to get! This is excluding the new scent "Sweet Daydream" which I want to try too for the bath and body products. Anyway, I need to remove some of the items from the shopping bag as they have exceeded US$400! Just blogging about the clothes while I sleep on it, deciding what to drop from the shopping bag. The 7-in-1 dress is my ultimate dream dress. I have always wanted something like that ever since I saw something similar on the shopping network more than 10 years ago when I was living in Canada. Lol. I never got it as it cost more than C$100 and as a poor student, it was extravagant to buy. But this also cost US$109, so I guess the cost will never really go down.

As a halter dress
Tube dress
Twist-around dress

Back braided dress

Cross back dress One shoulder dress
Tie-waist dress
This is another version. 6-in-1 dress though I can't differentiate it from the other 6-in-1 dress below.

V-neck tie waist top

Open back top
Halter neck with tie back
Short sleeve cocktail dress
Off the shoulder top
Off the shoulder dress

Smocked dress with tie straps. Again, I can't tell the difference between this and the one below.
Smocked dress with a ruffled hem
Key hole back tunic. I like the butterfly sleeves
Hmmm...now that I keep looking at the keyhole back, I am not too sure about it.

Babydoll top with pockets. I like the bright yellow though I don't wear yellow at all.
I like this top with the cut-out back and deep cowl neck in front.
The cowl neck in front.
I like this simple scoopneck babydoll tee too.

Finally, the very first dress which caught my eye. Square neck babydoll dress. I like it.

So decisions decisions. What to buy and what to let go.

All pictures from Victoria's Secret website.

Strawberry Kit Kat

Have a pink break! Have a Kit Kat! There are so many variations of Kit Kat available in Singapore. Most were imported from Japan and UK. Green Tea. Peanut Butter. Caramel. So when I saw the strawberry I just have to have it, particularly since it is also in support for the breast cancer foundation. Somehow I have developed a soft spot for any charity work/funding pertaining to breast cancer research. The packaging is so sweet. At S$3 each, it is certainly not cheap. Though I am not sure if any of the money goes towards the foundation since they are imported.
As usual, it is super sweet. I think the perfect strawberry dessert will be to be sweet with a hint of its natural tartness.

DHL Balloon

This is the view from my office building. Maybe the building is near the sea or on the high level but you can hear the wind howling at times.

It is a marvel the DHL Balloon can land directly on the designated circle. I heard the rides will cease by end of April. Not sure how true that is.

The dark building (Parkview Square) is Singapore's version of Gotham City :p It is actually art-deco or something (I am not an artsy person to know the different terms) but it is interesting. There are "figures" standing tall near the top of the building, like Oscar. And there are also gargoyles on the building and there are busts/statues on the grounds.

The short white building is the 7-storey hotel. I quite like the "layering" effect of the different levels. It has been around for a long time though I have never set foot in it, only drove past it.

The bare grass patch near Parkview Square was due to a roadshow by BMW. The grass was damaged after a few weeks of having a huge exhibit/platform on it.

Greenhouse @ Ritz Carlton

We went to Greenhouse at Ritz Carlton Tuesday night . It was quite an impromptu dinner. I wanted to go somewhere since there were so many promotions going on now with various credit cards. It is April - means it is time for food promotions, kinda in conjunction with the culinary summit or something (don't remember the correct name of the event). After plowing through the various restaurants participating in either 1-for-1 or 1 dine free with every 3 paying diners thing, we decided to just go to Greenhouse (which is not on the list for the promotions though DBS credit cardholders get some discount).

Being a Tuesday, it was not a particularly busy night. There were live musicians playing "elevator" music. To me, I wished they were not around as it made the place quite noisy and really didn't add more value to the dining experience. Otherwise, the service was impeccable at the Ritz, which was to be expected. I always had a good time dining or staying at the Ritz in Singapore. Greenhouse served one of the best breakfast buffets for hotels :)

Here were what I had. So stuffed and there were still so many things which I didn't get to try at all. There were a few "live" stations - ramen, roast beef counter, crepe dessert, sashimi, tempura - and many other stations
1st plate - fresh oysters, sashimi (salmon, yellowtail and tuna I think), beef carpaccio (that was really nice), some seafood cake which was cold, and in the middle in a seafood thing. I liked it though I had no idea what it was :p

The sashimi counter and part of the cold appetizers section
2nd appy plate - mussels (plump and juicy), clam, scallop, tempura prawn maki, tamago sushi, more salmon and yellowtail sashimi, potato salad, grilled salmon and a smoked salmon with beetroot appy.
1st main plate - mashed potatoes with truffles and chives (I loved that - so creamy and umami. Could be due to the truffles). Chili crab with man tou (a hot favorite), grilled butter prawn (quite tough), seafood yee mee (noodles was nice but the prawn and scallop were hard), braised tofu which was very good too
The mushroom soup with truffle was so nice! It smelled so good too. A pity it was a bit too salty for me. I loved how the herb bread with olive in the middle was laid out as part of a big round dough bread on the serving table. The cheese stick was very tasty and I plucked off a piece of dried cheese (or whatever that was) and a piece of date.
My curry plate - briyani rice with butter chicken (so good), Japanese seafood curry and beef rendang with white rice and another piece of tofu again. The beef rendang had a very rich and sweet spice taste. That was good too.
The crepe station with condiments and 4 types of ice cream - strawberry, coffee, tiramisu and chocolate
1 part of the dessert counter. I loved the cakes and pastries and lots more
The crepe was hidden under all the ice cream. The ice cream was the ultimate. The strawberry ice cream was a bit tart and refreshing with real bits of strawberries in it, coffee and chocolate and tiramisu were fantastic too. I didn't get to try the crepe as the waiter took it away. We talked too much and the ice cream kinda melted all over and he thought we were done.
Dessert plate which we shared. We usually share our desserts. Share the calories :p The mango cake was so light and mango-ey. Creme brulee was not too bad. The millefeuille was a disappointment. The pastry layers were too hard, no longer crispy. Cheesecake was good, not too heavy or cheesey. The tiramisu was awesome with a strong liquor taste. Loved the chocolate pralines too.

Just realized there was no chocolate cake at all. There were more cakes and kuehs and other dessert cups which we didn't take. Other things I didn't get to try - tempura, fish (steamed or otherwise), lamb, roast beef, soba, more sushi, ramen, cheese board, chicken and corn soup, fresh fruits, salads, cold prawns and others.

I am glad Greenhouse still maintains its standards, especially since it had been a few years now since my last visit. Quite a good place to go for a leisurely dinner with friends. We stayed there till around 11pm and the buffet ended at 1030pm. Not once were we made to feel unwelcome despite staying past its closing hour. Excellent and unobtrusive service from all the staff - water was topped up without asking, chairs were pulled back for you, napkins folded, plates cleared. I should go there again soon.