Longing for another cookie...

I discovered the Cookie Museum thanks to recommendation from Cat. Cousin and I went there once to have dessert and were bowled over by the premium collection of exquisite cookies.

Pamper yourself with a lovely brewed pot of tea and sample the delightful bite-sized cookies as the lovely sales coordinator patiently explains what ingredients go into the scrumptious and yummy cookies.

They have such a wide selection of cookies- from fresh and fruity flavours to flowery ones. They even localised their flavours and offered a piece of heaven for those far away from our tiny red-dot. Flavours like hee bee hiam, nasi lemak and ikan billis, laksa and d24 offer much relief to the palettes of the home-sick.

What really got me sold was the Papaya and lotus seed cookie. The melt-in-your-mouth cookie had a lovely scent of the papaya fruit coupled with the sweetness of the lotus seed nuts. Yumz.. my mouth is watering thinking of this cookie.

Last Sat, we went a sampling again after dinner at Gluttons Bay. Wanting to savour the papaya cookie again, we were all set to part with our $30 over dollars for that 24 pieces of cookies, only to be told that it's no longer available! Some of their flavours are seasonal and only available for a limited period.

So after trying many flavours from Mango/cranberry, lemon/macadamia nut to madeline rose, the 3 of us finally agreed on the lemon/apple and macadamia nut cookie. Ooh..I feel like having another one with my peppermint tea now...

So visit the one and only Cookie Museum at the Esplanade Mall today and be intrigued with the array of cookies on display!

Ember-licious!

In celebration of mine and Jenn's birthdays, we decided to bring ourselves out for a nice and quaint quiet dinner. It's kinda sad that the rest of the gals are no longer here to join in the celebrations, but life goes on.

Not knowing where to head, we decided to try Ember at Hotel 1929. We prob were one of the last few people in Singapore to uncover this much-talked and raved about gem. But well, better late than never.

I brought my yummy-licious sparkling Pinot Shiraz purchased at the last OZ trip at Domain Chandon. Ooh, speaking of which, Princess Min is now down under on her much much deserved holiday with her shining Lord in amour. Envy, envy.... :)

Alright, back to the evening.. don't expect a big restaurant! Ember was cosy and quaint, recommend to book in advance as the place does not serve a big crowd. When I saw the menu, I almost wanted to order everything.. haha.. it's just me being greedy!

For starters, we chose the pan-seared foie gras served under a warm bed of enoki mushrooms and the chilled angel hair pasta delightfully accompanied with konbu and abalone to share. What a wonderful start to our dinner. (Sorry, didn't manage to snap the foie gras, we immediately 'attacked' the dish the moment it was served!)

Pegs raved about the ox-tail at Ember, but somehow I couldn't find it out the menu. So either I am blind or this was a secret dish that only people in the know knew. For the mains, Jenn had the miso cod-fish (a house fave by many), whilst I selected the chilean sea-bass served with a warm yuzu-truffle butter sauce and mushrooms. I love, love, love anything yuzu. Having said this, I miss TOKYO and all the yummy YUZU delicacies the city beholds. The fish was perfect! The yuzu flavour wasn't that distinctive, I felt that the truffle overpowered the fresh and citrus flavour of the yuzu. But nevertheless, the fish was soft with its meat melting into my palette.

There is always room for dessert! But we didn't want to appear to be too greedy, so we shared the lemon sorbet mille-feuille served over strawberries. That was the much-needed finishing touch to end this wonderful dinner.

Was at Mum's auction this afternoon, it's interesting to see how buyers bid for that contested piece of art. B kinda forbade me to buy anymore art pieces for the time being. I guess it's better too especially in times as such!

After the auction, met up with Cousin and dragged her to the Makansutra Glutton's Bay for some bak kut teh hot pot steamboat! Read in 8 days of this bak kut teh steamboat coupled with barbeque and my tastebuds were begging for me to bring them on a test-drive for something new.

For $13, you can select the hot pot and bbq set which allows you to choose a plate of vegetables (remember to pile the stack of veggies way up high) and receive a plate of assorted meats to either bbq or just 'throw' into your steamboat. Must say, the portions are rather huge and good to share amongst 3 people.

All in all, a really good and fun dining experience, though cousins said the soup had a lot of msg in it. I guess I will find out soon if I crave for loads of water before bed.

Presenting

the very last pictures that I took from the F1 race...

Our grandstand tickets at Turn 3. It wasn't the Sky Suite for the last day but still the atmosphere on ground was a blast! We had the singing waiter to seranade us... those lucky people at the Sky Suites who had free-flows of champagne..HMPH...

And here is my attempt to capture shots of my favourite F1 cars... but with quite little hope! :( The yellow one is Alonso's car. The Maclaren team has one of the sexiest cars in my opinion. Its silver in colour, really sleek! See if you can spot it in any of these pictures.

Off to the races

This was a whirlwind weekend of sorts. I thought we were going to be hanging out at the F1 for most of the days, but a small accident happened with B and in the end, it was zooming in and out of the hospital as he got his right hand fixed! Drama!

Other than that, we had an exciting time watching the qualifying rounds at the F1 Sky Suite. Lucky us, we were hosted by RBS and we had a wonderful view of the paddock and the pit stop. I didn't see Lewis Hamilton but the view of his car was good enough for me! :)

Here are some highlights from the evening:

Tonight is the finals for the F1 Singapore Grand Prix. We didn't get the Sky Suite seats for tonight but am just glad to be there tonight.. heading to the F1 village soon to grab some merchandise and soak in the fun! Seeya peeps..

not so wild rocket

Met up with Jennimon and Peggimon after half-day training that I had to facilitate. I still have the jitters whenever I do presentations, somehow, can't exactly see myself as being a presenter. I just hope with enough practice, I would somehow get better with time.

Anywayz, met up with the ex-coll for dinner and Puffy actually made reservations this time round for dinner. We wanted to try out 'White Rabbit' but unfortunately, made reservations too late and this 'it' restaurant was full!! So we settled for 'Wild Rocket'.

Well, food was not so wild. Think the standard dropped (Puffy commented 'that's why can make the reservations'), I think the lunch menu was better.... with the all-time fave Burger and laksa pasta. Dinner menu was not so desirable.

We ordered their house white which was actually pleasantly smooth on the tastebuds. And here's the starters that we orderd. The pumpkin salad served with wild rocket greens, feta cheese and cherry tomatoes. We also tried the beef carpacio seasoned with lime dressing, I liked this dish as it tasted refreshing with the lime dressing. We also shared the escargots with black bean sauces served over polenta. Hmm, that starter tasted abit strange, not so great.

For the mains, we shared the tandori rack of lambs and the crab linguine with tomato/chilli cream sauce. The portions felt a little small so we ordered dessert!!

This was the ginger pana cotta over poached pear. They actually diced the young ginger and drizzled over the pana cotta. We made fun of this dish and said it was more like tau huay served with ginger. Haha...We also ordered the Strawberry Cheesecake, but its' not that nice as well. It was granola served with very heavy cream cheese and strawberry. Well, Peggy said she can make this.. .hmmm... I wonder..

After dinner, we fooled around whilst waiting for our cab to come. That's Jennimon calling for cab and me taking a pic of Peggy who was supposed to be taking a pic of me. And lastly, me and Pegz... hmm, my hair is too flat!!

And, today, I attended Eva's daughter birthday party. I was the only 'big kid' there.. haha, B actually called me and asked if I terrorised the kids or 'stole' their toys, I just rolled my eyes on the other line. Met with Huiming after that for a nice cold beer at 26 at Big Splash. Hey, the place was actually a gem that she uncovered, really nice and chill-out, the best part? Just outside our place, dun need to head to town to drink next time round!

I have been lusting over the Lanvin pearl necklace for the longest longest time, and it still looks pretty unattainable for now... so I got down to making some look-alikes!!! :) (LHS: The actual Lanvin necklace and on RHS: necklaces made by 'moi'!) Pretty pleased with the end-result! Gotta go now... going to try my hand at another design with some pretty pink pearlies that I got.

Valentino

B originally wanted to bring me to a restaurant at Upper Bukit Timah Rd, but we simply couldn't find it! In the end, we ended up at Valentino's Restaurant somewhere along Railway Road. We didn't make any reservations, but thankfully, we were there early so we managed to get seats. :) I guess I took a little longer than usual to eventually get here.. I mean this place was opened since 2005...so it took me about 3 years to come here.. oops... :p

The place was quaint, reminded me of Elio's in Tokyo. Decor was simple and minimal, nothing fancy, just imagine yourself stepping into a family restuarant in Italy.

Forgive the poor picture quality, these were all taken using my phone camera, wasn't expected a dinner outing so we were not decked in our finest! :p

First up, was the freshly flown cherry tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar and mint leaves. The other appetiser we had was the Burutta cheese, it was a really huge cheese served simply with olive oil and greens on the side. The cheese tasted like mozzarella cheese. Combine the tomatoes and the cheese and you have Caprese Salad...ta-dah!

For the mains, we shared the Lobster Pasta with tomato and cream sauce. The other main we shared was the beef steak with proscuitto mushrooms drizzled with truffle oil. Though we were feeling abit stuffed but when the dessert tray rolled out, we really couldn't resist! So we again shared the vanilla sponge cake with white chocolate shavings.. decadent!

After the dinner, I bugged B to go to do a foot massage along with me.. afterall, he was my foot reflex buddy. After much persuassion, he finally caved in and went along with me :)

fun nights out..

Was a fun night out tonight... met up with Princess Min and just the night away chit-chatting.. She picked me up from work and recommended this new hang-out at Portsdown Road... CICADA.. apparently, its been open for 8 months and scheduled to open at the end of the year. Its rather quaint and serene. In Min's words, not competitive unlike Dempsey.. perhaps its still new, thats why! :)

We started the evening off with a nice bottle of white Chardonay from Napa Valley, USA. Chit chat abit about what's happening in the markets and then shared the yummy blue fin tuna salad. Thereafter, we shared the Penne Pasta with Marinara Sauce. Yummz.....

Oh, the dessert is said to be really good as well, but I should watch out for those extra pounds!! Try the brownie cake, comes highly recommended by the foodies!

Cicada, definitely the new place to watch out for. And if you dine outdoors, the friendly staff would ensure that the area that you are seated is 'well-protected' with lavender mosquito coils! :) No more sand flies bites for me...haha...

Wonder Woong's

No...that is not a typo error on my part... I just discovered this new gem along East Coast Road (next to Siglap Centre).

It is fab, fab, FABULOUS.....

Cushy massage place -Check-
Foot Massages/ Massages/ Manicures & Pedicures -Check-
Clean and not sleazy -Check-

This is a winner!!! Totally in love with this place now and the best part... it closes at 2am!!!! Imagine which decent and cushy massage place actually closes at 2am??? This one does.. and its not at all sleazy.. Love the fact that I just did a foot massage at 10.30pm. With my feet and legs nicely kneaded, I am all ready to hit the bed now....

Gastronomical Minute: Nicholas Le Restaurant

Had wanted to bring B to Ember at 1929 but unfortunately, it was closed for renovation on the evening that we decided to go. Thanks to a recommendation from Jenn, I decided to bring B to Nicholas Le Restaurant that is along Keong Siak Road as well.

Decor was minimal. Cream walls and pleasant wooden flooring. Tables were just kept simple as well, nothing over the top and too fancy. Cos we made a rather last minute reservation, we were sat rather near to the kitchen. Arh well, guess all the better to observe the action going in the kitchen. B forgot to bring my camera, so I couldnt take the pictures of the yummy food.

Here's what you want to know...menu at Nicholas changes every month, so you maybe surprised with what you get for that trip that you go. There isnt an ala-carte menu. Only 2 choices that are presented to you.. The normal 5 course dinner menu or the Surprise Menu (with 8 courses) to pick from.

We had the 5 course dinner which started with an assorted appetizer platter consisting of sashimi freshly flown from Japan's Tsukiji Market, crabmeat cakes and a little toast served on the side. What is worth mentioning is the lovely warm bread that they served to us. It was really warm and yummy..just what you need to warm your tummy. Next up, was a lobster tail served with a frothy lobster bisque (ala cappuccino). Interesting.. I thought the frothy broth was too creamy for my palette. I guess its funny drinking your soup from a tall shot glass instead of drinking it from a bowl. Anyways, our 3rd course was a nice serving portion of angel-hair pasta with a quail's egg cooked sunny side up style. I was feeling a little stuffed by then and didn't want to pile up the calories. So despite being able to finish up the pasta in one fell swoop, I decided to just play with my food . For the main course, you get to choose between the Rack of Lamb, Beef Steak, Braised Ox Tongue and a Seafood Dish. B being the typical carnivore had the steak. I chose the braised ox tongue thinking it was going to be something special. Erm well, it was served rather frighteningly... I think I shall now stick to my ox tongue barbecued and not anything else, thank you very much. B's steak was just nice.

Dessert was a scoop of chocolate with poached pear *frowning and trying very hard to recall* I think. And to end off the night, we had a delectable cheese platter served with pickled eggplant.. may sound funny, but surprisingly, it was yummy and accompanied the cheese really well. Orh, if you are cheese lover and can't really stomach the pungent smell of blue cheese. Try this tip, pair blue cheese with honey. The result... FANTASTICO! :)

NICHOLAS LE RESTAURANT
35 Keong Saik Road

Tel: 6224-2404
Budget: Set menu starts from about $90 plus per person, 3 course set lunch at $38 (sounds rather good)

Have you heard???

This is rather fascinating....have you heard of Beancurd Tarts??? When I first heard it, I was thinking to myself, 'Tau Hui' in a tart... how strange?

I was having my haircut this evening and my stylist went on and on on this beancurd tart. I had to just ask her what it was...Well, true enough, it is what it is..Beancurd Tart. Apparently, its rather popular in Singapore and the tourists from Hong Kong often stock them up before heading home. How funny? I thought they would be stocking up on Pandan Cakes from Bengawan Solo..well I am wrong then..

Managed to do a google search and ta-dah..here it is <Le Cafe>.

Can I just ask for a teeny wheeny favour? If you so happen to try them out, please tell me if they are any good... :)

Back to skool

Met up with the ex-colleagues at WTC last night and us threesome went back to SKOOL... Wah School sure was ulu lor... it was at Mount Sophia and whilst we thought it was hip and cool, we realised that there were only 2 cafes there. Nevertheless it was good fun just hanging out and chit-chatting over alcohol and yumz yumz food. We were such piggies... ordered so much food. From the yummy sesame-plum salad with roasted duck, Mentaiko pasta, 4-cheese pizza and Spicy drumlets (tasted more like those you can get from CP frozen food)! :p

Here are the fun shots that we took (courtesy of the puff-ster!)

This shot is damn funny.... jenn looks like she is drunk already ...Haha....

Is that what they are teaching us in school?? Barney?!?!

Ooh... I like this shot... very paparazzi!!!

Bonta

Dinner last night was with B's ex LB friends at Bonta. Food was good and the company was chatty as wine and sparkling water flowed freely for the crowd. It was a huge bunch.. all 17 of us, and I guess we made the most noise in the room! :p

The starters was an assortment of their signature appetizers. The Wagyu Beef Carpaccio served with 24 month old aged Parmesan cheese, rocket salad drizzled with white truffle oil. The oven baked Australian scallops were done just nice and I really enjoyed the Ocean Trout and Crab Meat rolls. They also served with this warm bread with cottage cheese inside it.

For mains, I had the Grilled Kurobuta Pork (which was huge!!), B had the Atlantic Cod Fillet which was manageable for his standards. Some of our friends had the Veal, which looked really good but extremely huge!! The portion is just right for 2 people actually! So if you are ever going there,order the Veal to share.

I leave with the highlights of the dishes courtesy of Bonta.

I decided to 'beautify' it with my latest online tool!! How does it look?? Comments please! :)

Prive

Last week, we had dinner at Prive, a new restaurant at Keppel Bay with B, Elaine, JB and Lionel. Prive - the new IT restaurant that recently just surfaced in Singapore. A new exclusive 88 seat modern-styled New York restaurant helmed by world famous chef Tony Bilson from Sydney - the review read. So obviously, hopes were a little higher.

The restaurant's decor was simple, nothing that fantastic to boast about. The location of the restaurant was great as it faced the Marina, but there were no windows that overlooked the waters, so we decided to head out for drinks at the bar.

After pre-dinner drinks, the group adjourned for dinner! B had the mushroom soup for starters whilst I chose the Goat Cheese salad. The melted Goat Cheese was well complemented with the juicy red tomatoes. So that was a good start for the dinner.

For mains, B and Elaine shared the Cote de Boeuf steak that weighed 1 kg! Erm, the pictures do not do the steak any justice, as it was really huge! The last time I saw a 1kg hamburger, it was large enough to feed a party of 4 big eaters! This time, the steak was going to be shared with 2 fairly large eaters with big appetite! :p

I had the Bone Marrow Risotto. That to me was just okay. The bone marrow was a little too fatty and the risotto was nothing great to shout about.

Everything on B's plate was POLISHED!

Anyway, dinner was just so-so. We would expect that the restaurant would be a place that we could go back to another time, but judging from our first experience, I do not think it would be anytime soon. And the service, it was really quite bad!! The waiters came across as a little clueless at times, and they took such a long time to serve our dessert. B's espresso was served cold, not once but TWICE! Someone better have a look at that coffee machine at that place.