Takashimaya 15th Anniversary Sale - Part 2

I went to Taka again on Saturday with girlfriends after brunch. It was madness with lots more people. Apparently a few other girlfriends were also there though I didn't bump into them. So yes, I got more things.
Round 2 of my purchase. Substantially more items but some were with vouchers again. I picked up the cami from Naf Naf which is super comfortable and soft. I already have one in purple, so this is in dark olive. Morgan bra is on sale, and with the 15% off and vouchers, I only paid less than $20 for it :p. It is also very comfy, the other one which I tried was more scratchy due to the lace. I still prefer cotton or microfiber material.
I finally bought makeup again after such a long hiatus. This was purchased outside the departmental store, so was not entitled to the 15% off. They were previously sold out and MAC has brought them back again. Anyway, I do love the soft peachy-pink blush (Dainty) and the purple/grey mineralize eyeshadow (Earthly Riches). I am so out of the makeup world that I am totally clueless of which collections these are from.
I got more charms! All because D told me about the credit card charm which would be so me :p No limit with Sabo Express. How I wish it is true. Hahahaha. I saw the dragonfly on Friday but decided not to get it cos I thought it would look so tiny when attached next to my other charms. But as I wore my charm bracelet and the SA attached it to what I was wearing, it actually looked ok. C also said it looked fine and so I got it. I am always more partial to dragonfly rather than to butterfly. So with the two charms, I qualify for the free Thomas Sabo scarf/bandanna. I am still wondering with to do with it.
My bracelet with the 4 charms and the scarf/bandanna.
Closeup of my charm bracelet. It looked pretty filled up now with the 4 charms. I was commenting that usually charms were given by others as a present but in my case, I buy them myself :p C said 7 charms would be ideal, so that means there is space for 3 more charms. Hint hint...Christmas and birthday are coming soon ;)

I was tempted to go to Taka again on Sunday as I was contemplating whether to get the suitcase from Lojel. Sigh. Such a good deal with the 15% on top of sale price.

Takashimaya 15th Anniversary Sale - Part 1

Despite the worldwide economic meltdown and announcements from the government that Singapore is heading into a recession which is likely to last two years, people are still buying. It is hard to believe there is a financial turmoil when you see snakes of queues everywhere - cashiers, taxi stands, redemption booths, fitting rooms, restaurants, etc.

I am no economist, but while most people may think that stocks crashing globally only affect those investors, it does mean that when banks stop lending money, companies cannot get loan to expand, so businesses revenues may drop and thus freeze or reduce hiring manpower and that means everyone will ultimately be affected. This current period reminded me of the 1997 financial crisis in Asia and this is possibly even worse than 10 years ago.

People are still undecided what to do with their insurance policy if they cash it in. Dump it in fixed deposits or banks or properties or just spend them all and be happy for a while? The sales happening now do tempt one into parting with the cash. Tangs, Marks & Spencer and now Takashimaya, not to mention the various discount offered by boutiques on their Fall/Winter Collection.

The 15th Anniversary Sale at Takashimaya and its additional 15% discount on all items (sale/promo price) for participating stores/brands meant it was a very good deal. I was pretty amazed that it also applied to fragrances and cosmetics as so far only Metro has that deal during its 20% discount event though some were in the form of rebate vouchers. So Taka is even better since it is directly off it.

And being shopaholic me, I just had to go take a look. I went there on Thursday but it was just a quick browse at Kate Spade (didn't get anything - good girl me - but also because the item I was eyeing was sold out) before I had to pick up my drycleaning at Paragon and lunch. But the traffic getting into Taka Thursday lunch time was horrendous. Don't people have to work? :p

So I went back again on Friday night and picked up these items. Again, I was a good girl and resisted lots of temptations from Agnes B, Tod's, Coach, 693 Fifth Avenue by Takashimaya New York, DKNY, CK, DVF. Good thing Bottega Veneta was not participating otherwise I would have bought my ultimate bag.

Thomas Sabo charm, Agatha hair stick and Arturo Chiang shoes.
I was at Agatha counter as a gf told me items were at 15% off (exclude charm, bummer) and so it will be 15% + 15% off. The wooden hair stick which I was eyeing was sold out and after trying this plastic hair stick, I decided to get it. The SA was very patience and even taught me another way of wearing it so I spent like 10-15 minutes practising before I got it right. I was also tempted by a doggie clip but since I stopped using clip there is no point.
Then I popped over to Thomas Sabo counter. The promotion there was a free Thomas Sabo bandanna/scarf with $150 purchase. I was good too. I didn't get more charms just to get the free scarf. Hahahaha. I decided on this star-shaped Glam Girl charm. I was contemplating the red stiletto but somehow it just was not me. Again, the SA was also very patient. She took out the bracelet and charm which I already have so that I can see how it would look when this star was added to it.
Finally, my new love. Low heeled shoes from Arturo Chiang. I first noticed them last week before the sale started. They were very comfortable, plus they do have half sizes. I was initially concerned about the material since they were suede. The SA from another store assured me that if I spray protector, they would be fine.

After trying on the 3 different colors (black, dark silver and bronze), I finally decided on the bronze as it looked different. The suede was actually hotstamped to get the effect. I also tried on the high heels which was amazing. I have kinda stopped wearing high heels as my feet always hurt after a while. But this....it felt like walking on air. Somehow there was a cushiony feel to it despite its 2.5' or 3' heels. Certainly different from Aldo or Nine West or Betsey Johnson or JLo and Guess. I didn't get it in the end as I was afraid it will cause blister as I was in between sizes for the heels.

Do check out Arturo Chiang shoes. They are really good. With the 10% +15% off, it was not too bad for comfortable leather shoes :)

I also got the Breast Cancer Awareness pin with crystals but somehow I seemed to have misplace it or accidentally thrown it away :( Sigh. I guess of all the charities, I am always partial to donating to the Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Cathay Restaurant

I have not been to The Cathay Restaurant since it reopened after The Cathay was opened last year or was it 2 years ago? I only remembered going there once for dim sum after a gf ROM many years ago. Mother decided on The Cathay Restaurant for her birthday lunch as she has never been there. The place was deceptively roomy despite the tiny entrance. There were posters of celebrities of the yesteryears to create the nostalgic mood.
We ordered mainly dim sum dishes plus the fried rice with chicken and salted fish. The mini egg tarts were the first to arrive. So hmmm....dessert before mains. Nice! The egg tart was not too sweet or eggt and the crust were flakey with hint of butter.
2nd to arrive - bbq pork pastry. This was nice too, not too sweet or dry and the pastry was light.
The dishes started to arrive faster and these were some of the food we had. Didn't manage to take pictures of the others. I love the presentation of the rice rolls. It was served on a long narrow dish and they will slice them up into pieces. I like the xiao long baos too. Juicy inside. Pretty decent dim sum though only the pigs' trotters in vinegar wowed the family. I am not a big fan of it, as I felt the gravy/soup was too sticky thick for me. The rest loved it and lapped it up with steamed rice.

What did we have?
xiao long bao, carrot cake, dumplings in sour spicy sauce, shrimp dumplings, bbq pork rice roll, shrimp rice roll, century egg and lean meat porridge, pork ribs, chicken claws, bbq pork bun, egg tarts, bbq pork pastry, beef stew with radish, fried rice with chicken and salted fish, prawns wrapped in beancurd sheet rolls, spring rolls, pigs' trotters with vinegar.

Wow! It seemed like we ordered quite a fair bit for just 6 adults :p

Location:

The Cathay Restaurant

Level 2, The Cathay

Tel: 6732 6623

My Mum's Cuisine @ Paragon

My Mum's Cuisine has changed its menu and crockery and has more branding presence now. I realized I am quite unadventurous in ordering new dishes especially when I dine in places where I know I like certain dishes.

I mean, I go to certain restaurants for certain dishes which I like very much. What is the point of trying new dishes when you are happy with the usual? I don't mind trying new restaurants as that is something which I have no idea what would be good.

E.g. at Lucky Prata, I would always order the chicken briyani and fish curry. Sometimes I would add new dishes but those 2 will always be there. Then so for My Mum's Cuisine, I would always order the chicken buah keluak or fish head curry with the hotplate tofu. I have tried some other dishes before and weren't too impressed.

So we were a bit disappointed when we found out the chicken buah keluak dish was unavailable as they did not have the time to prepare the nuts. In the end we ordered the kung pao chicken, sambal kangkong and hotplate tofu. At least one usual dish was ordered to ensure quality :p

Our dinner. See the table with some playing cards underneath? Pretty neat. The tofu was not done well that night and the kangkong too. The saving grace was the chicken. The rice was so hard and dry. Maybe new chef?
Close up of the kung pao chicken. I love the sweet and spicy sauce and cashew nuts. Can you believe I never had kung pao chicken before? As in I never knew it existed until I went to live in Canada. It was always such a North American Chinese dish as it was a staple in the Chinese stall in their foodcourts and restaurants. I always loved the shanghai noodles over there with the kung pao chicken or stir fried beef.

Location:
My Mum's Cuisine
Paragon, Basement 1
Tel: 6734 5990

Fall in Love...again, again & again

I totally HEART the fall/winter 2008 fashion show tagline by Paragon. So nice - fall in love, again, again & again. Everyday should be a loving day :p

Me and my shopping bags. Actually, 2 bags are freebies. alldressedup goody bag containing a bazaar magazine, mac lipstick and vouchers from mac and alldressedup and a f/w 2008 lookbook. Decleor bag contains Prestige magazine (darn heavy!) and TODAY newspaper. Then my shopping from La Senza and of course my beloved Tod's bag which is like a comfy pillow. The pretty burgundy wine shade which totally matched my green top.
Decided to be funny and pretend to fall. Hahahaha. It was hard to hold on to the pose for a while and people were just walking past, wondering what this mad woman is doing :p Though I must say I was not the only one posing with the tagline background.

Jazz performance @ Paragon

We were about to leave Paragon on Saturday night around 9pm when we heard a jazz band playing and decided to investigate. Yes, being kaypoh (nosy) :p
Then I remembered it was Saturday night and Paragon was one of the participating malls for late night shopping and there would be jazz performances then. We have come a long way from the very first midnight shopping that occurred in 2005. Madness then and sales really went up for most merchants.
It was pretty nice to take in a jazz performance in the middle of a mall. People stopped and listened. A little boy around 2 years old was so into the music that he went all the way to the stage area and started bopping, dancing and clapping to it. It was a sheer joy to see his obvious enjoyment. It was a great performance. Who said you can't find arts in the city?

alldressedup fall/winter 2008 fashion show

I received the invitation to alldressedup fall/winter 2008 collection fashion show at Paragon and decided to attend. Brought along a friend and met ex-colleagues over there too. It has been a while since I was involved in the fashion world and I could appreciate the work put in by the alldressedup team.

The planning, the songs selection, discussion with the show producer, the works. People do not realize the time taken to create something that would be over in 30 minutes. The backstage rush. The awful checking and steaming of clothes, plus drycleaning of clothes. It was always an adrenaline high. Dress rehearsal, selection of clothes to showcase, choosing of models (if own show), then plus the tie-up with other partners, packing of goody bags, rsvp list. Lots of people involved.

I managed to take some pictures, some were too blurry. These are some pieces which I like. Guess the flowy, drapey look is in, and to be worn with tights or leggings. Sweet!








Goodbye. I love how Paragon has done up the set. Simple runway but with the sheer curtains all the way to the 2nd level meant that people cannot gawk from the outside when the curtains were drawn. Many times when I saw other shows, it was quite open so it didn't have a feel of being an invited event.

Butler service from Bakerzin serving fizzy soda and champagne (or was it just white wine? I decided to be a good girl and didn't drink :p) and canapes. I only took the macaroons. Yummy. Partners for alldressedup were Bazaar magazine and MAC.

I do like alldressedup for its simple yet detailed clothings. They use mainly silk for their clothes so the price point was higher, akin to Maxstudio.com, another shop which I like.

Singapore Biennale 2008

Singapore Biennale 2008 is here and the above picture is just one of the many arts installation all around Singapore, particularly in the Heritage District area.

It is called Fantasmas (Phantoms) by Isaac Montoya (1963, Burgos, Spain). There are actually two filters (red and blue) which I didn't capture in my picture. But when you view the picture through the filters, the different colored filter will show either a happy or sad image. I guess this works through the diffusion of colors or something?

Check out the website for more information on the other exhibits or events. It is from 11 Sept to 16 November 2008.

Miss Selfridge Dresses

I bought these dresses from Miss Selfridge. I quite like the new collection now. It seemed like something I would wear. Then I read about how they are focusing on rejuvenating the vintage look and the designers were looking at over 1500 pieces to freshen them up. So those who love the looks from the 40s, 50s and all the way to even 80s should check out Miss Selfridge every week. New stocks arrive at Raffles City outlet every Thursday. And the items go out very fast too. So get it if you really really like it, don't wait for the sale.

The bag was a gwp with my purchase. Only at Paragon outlet. Not sure if the promotion is still going on.


I totally love the dark brown chocolate polka dot dress. It totally flatters as it skims the curves and does not cling. The front just flows over the tummy area, hiding the bulge and the v-neckline hints at cleavage (but you can still wear a tube underneath if uncomfortable with showing so much skin) and the sleeves hide big arms. From the back, there is a keyhole to play peekaboo with your skin. Everyone should really get this dress. I brought a gf to see it when I was paying for it and she tried it and bought it too.
I must confess when I first saw this, I thought it was a skirt which can also be worn as a dress. I didn't realize it is a dress which can be worn as a skirt. Hahahaha. I only realized when I found it in Miss Selfridge website. Anyway, my dual-purpuse outfit :) I love the bohemian look and am looking forward to it making a comeback. My skirts are all waiting to be worn again.

Aivonda Spa Resort - Terrible Service

There are bad service and there are BAD service. I can be exacting in my expectations of certain things pertaining to customer service but usually I am pretty laidback and easy-going. If it is not a do-or-die matter, I do not really expect much from Singapore service staff (which is usually mediocre).

E.g. At Decleor Institute at Raffles Hotel, a staff spilled my cup of warm tea when she placed a paper bag containing magazine on the table. The tea got to the magazine and my newspapers and all over the table. I did not scream at her or anything and she was extremely apologetic about it. No harm done, except for the papers. I was not scalded or splashed with tea, so I told her it was alright. It was not intentional and was just an accident.

The staff from Aivonda Spa Resort in Chinatown absolutely took the cake in providing atrocious customer service.

There was a complimentary voucher for Aivonda Spa Resort in the Shape Run 2008 Goody bag, so I decided to utilize it for a 30 minutes back massage. The other option was for a 60 minutes facial. So I rushed down to Aivonda Spa Resort at 15A Temple Street from Raffles Hotel and actually got to the area 15 minutes before my appointment.

Unfortunately I could not find the place. I walked down from Chinatown MRT along Temple Street. I saw #16 and continued walking when I realized it became 33 Trengganu Street. That was strange as it was the same street and I did not turn anywhere even though I saw Trengganu Street which intersected it.

I called up Aivonda Spa Resort and asked the staff for directions. The first girl was unable to direct me and passed the phone to another girl. She too was not able to give proper directions. They just told me it is diagonally across from the Indian temple. I did not see any Indian temple and being such a HOT day, I did not want to traipse up and down the street just looking for a temple.

I gave her my location - intersection of Temple and Trengganu - and that I could see Yum Cha Restaurant and Oasis Spa. The staff kept insisting I should be able to see their signboard. But frankly, I saw nothing. Maybe I am blind. Then she said since I am at Yum Cha area, I should keep walking. I asked where? Which direction? She just kept saying it's further down. Just walk down. But I did that before and it became Trengganu even though I did not turn left or right.

Finally I asked her for some shop front or which shop is next to Aivonda Spa Resort since I could see #16, but not #15A, and they are on the 2nd level. Then she said go into the area where they are many shops selling souvenirs. I was like...errr...which side? Since both sides and basically everywhere in Chinatown are selling souvenirs. She said the shop selling pots and pans, but I didn't see that either. By then, I was irritated with this bad giving of directions and asked her if this was the kind of customer service they provided. She had the cheek to reply yes, and since I refused to walk down, she cannot direct me further. WTH?!? Then she just hung up on me.

She was totally unapologetic and was happy to lose a potential customer. With such attitude in our service staff, it is not a wonder that the government keeps stressing on gracious living. No doubt they printed a map of Aivonda Spa Resort on the voucher, it was totally not helpful at all as there were no proper street names on all the roads, only Temple and the Chinatown MRT and a temple. And seriously, I wonder who actually went to the spa since it was so well hidden that I did not see any signages at all. Plus what if I was a foreigner living here? How would I know all the nooks and crannies of Chinatown?

Bottomline - forget about trying out Aivonda Spa Resort. Or rather, try it at your own risk. They are totally not pro-customer at all.

Their "supposed" location:
Aivonda Spa & Resort
China Town
15A Temple St #02-02
Singapore 058562
Tel: 6226 0023

Gourmet Popcorn

I discover a popcorn shop in the basement of The Cathay when I was there to buy movie tickets a couple of weeks back. The staff was very nice and offered me a choice of popcorn to try when I bought my tickets. It was a substantial amount in a small paper bag. I tried the caramel almond and liked it.

I was at The Cathay last weekend and decided to get a small size gourmet popcorn for the movie. I tried the sour cream and chives and the cheddar cheese. Both were nice but I was not in a savory mood and selected the caramel almonds again. There were more in the plastic bag but I ate 3/4 of them and only took the pic at home :p

It was fragrant with the buttery taste and caramel sweetness. The almonds were a nice addition to add more crunch to the popcorn. I love the packaging too. So cute to swing the box.

New York, New York @ Heartland Mall

Heartland Mall in Kovan has become more "happening" in recent years with many new eateries. It used to be a sleepy little place with hardly anything over there, besides the much-loved A&W. Now you can find Sakae Sushi, Qi Ji, BK, Pizza Hut, KFC, Yoshinoya, Thai Express and New York New York.
I hardly go to New York New York as I didn't hear good things about it and the one time I went was a couple of years back at the CityLink Mall outlet. I didn't remember much of the food at all and was racking my brains on what would be safe to order.
In the end, I decided on a burger. How hard could it be? I had the Teriyaki Hawaiian burger. I requested for medium well, and the meat patty was pinkish in the center. Unfortunately it crumbled when I cut into it which made eating a tad messy. The sauce was ok, nothing to rave about and the pineapple added the Hawaiian part to it. The fries were cold and awful. The piece of lettuce with tomato and onion were pretty sad and dry. So, nope. Not a keeper.
My friend ordered the same thing except it was chicken chop. It looked marginally better with a proper salad and wedges. I forgot to ask her how it was but she finished the whole thing. Then again, she was eating for two :p

While it is not fantastic food, at least there are some western fare available in the Heartland Mall area which is pretty good.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Groovy Doctor Bag

This was the bag which caught my attention from Marc by Marc Jacobs. I don't know what I was surfing for when I saw this. The purple looked so pretty in the pictures from Net-A-Porter.

I was so tempted to just order it online when I decided to go just check out how it is in real life. I have already called the shops in Singapore but they do not have the purple/grape and only the store at Ngee Ann City has it in black. DFS is out of stock.

It was really a good thing I went to the shop as I found it to be pretty big. It was not too heavy though. So since I didn't want black, I will likely wait for the next season collection colors as this is a classic design. I saw the grape/purple shade on other bags and I didn't like it. It was much darker than shown in the above pictures. If only, it was that shade, I would really just grab it from wherever I can find :p

I guess purple is not an easy shade to capture on camera. I have a burgundy wine colored bag and without flash, it looks indigo blue. It was the same for the new ipod nano. The purple nano on the website looked way better than in real life which was much darker and looked blue too.

Pondok Jawa Timur

Aston's Specialities was too crowded over at The Cathay and there was a long line of people waiting to dine there, so we decided to get out and walk to Cuppage Centre. En route to the destination, we walked past Pondok Jawa Timur at The Atrium @ Orchard. The pictures caught our attention and we decided to give it a try. Sayur Assam, which was average. It was a tad too sweet and not sour enough for me. It also packed a punch with its spices, definitely not for those who cannot take spicy food.
Ayam penyet - the chicken was crispy but too dry and tough. It could be the one of the worst ayam penyet I ever had. Other places' chicken would be so tender soft that the meat literally fell off the bones. Not this version. The sambal was good, spicy. It also came with tofu and tempeh. No kangkong.
Tauhu telor - the crackers were soft and hard, not crispy at all. The tauhu was ok but the peanut sauce was very thick and sweetish. Not very nice. Either that or we are too used to the version served at Sanur, which seemed to have set the standard for tauhu telor.
Complimentary dessert - some sweet stuff with coconut. I have no idea what they are. Either I left it till too late to eat it or what, because the coconut tasted a bit sour?

This was not a very good meal and one of the few where I actually did not finish my food. Rice had to be ordered separate too. For ayam penyet, I much prefer the one along Beach Road or at Lucky Plaza. Maybe they are better at other dishes.

Location

Pondok Jawa Timur

The Atrium @ Orchard (next to Plaza Singapura and Dhoby Ghaut MRT)

#01-16, Tower 2

Tel: 6884 5853

http://www.pondokjawatimur.com/

Singapore F1 Grand Prix Finally Over!

Found more pictures from Yahoo slideshow of the F1.
Aerial view of the street circuit in Singapore, lit up by the lights.
Alonso driving past the old courthouse in Singapore.
Rosberg driving past the old courthouse during the race. It is a very pretty shot. I didn't find any shots of the cars on Anderson Bridge, that was very picturesque too.

I watched my very first F1 Grand Prix race on telly and I must admit it was boring. Well, it was all about cars going round and round. I didn't even know it would be 61 laps (silly me thought it would be like the movie where it would be done in 5-10mins :p) and would take close to 2 hours.

I'm not the only one who felt this way as my gfs were feeling the same. Hahaha. So there I was, having the telly on, msning with a friend watching in the UK (constantly asking him what was going on as I didn't understand why there were penalties and the safety car etc), texting gfs about the race and reading a book. Multi-tasking me ;p

Gf who was watching from the track could hardly hear the sound system over there and had to text me to ask who was leading, and which laps they were in and basically what was going on. So the telly was much better in giving information. She was given free ticket (lucky her) and was seated at the Marina area where she said lots of accidents happened over there (still no idea where she was seated). She texted that it was very noisy over there and lots of commotion and just got bored watching the cars going round and round too since she had no idea who was driving which car. Hahaha. Her friend who was equally bored, wanted to leave with 10 laps left to go. I told her to stay on since it would be ending soon, so probably they did.

Conclusion: it would be better to get a suite or something where one can walk about. watch the race and feel the excitement and hear the roar of the engines, have the tv on for the commentary and just enjoy it with friends.

Pictures of the race: sources from Reuters, AFP and Straits Times.

The street circuit in Singapore, lit up by 1,600 lantern light projectors to illuminate the street, making it look like day. You could see the various landmarks though while watching on telly, it was all a blur :p
The Singapore Flyer in the background, plus lots of advertising from SingTel the main race sponsor or organizer.
The race started with Massa leading the pack. Again, advertising by STB for Uniquely Singapore.
The pretty infamous fuel hose which was still attached to Massa's car when it pulled away from the pit stop.
Towards the end of the race, I think. No idea who the drivers are :p
The winner of the very first Night Race and very first Singapore Grand Prix - Fernando Alonso for Renault.
The top 3 drivers - Fernando Alonso (Renault), Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) - having a bit of podium fun with the giant bottles of champagne.
Alonso dropping the bottle of champagne down to his crew, who shared the bottle. This really reminded me of the Stanley Cup where they poured champagne into the cup and everyone will take a sip from it. Ahhhh....NHL!

Goodbye F1 2008. Hello F1 2009. I just realized Singapore has won the contract to host the race for 5 years. So for those who didn't manage to get any tickets, get ready for next year's race.