Monday, June 29, 2015

Sunday's cafehopping adventures ~ Boufe and The Disgruntled Chef

After so many cafehopping Sundays with dear hubby and sister, I have finally started blogging about it. Well, there are countless cafes which we have visited as a trio so it is definitely too late to mention them at all. Past shall be past - "let bygones be bygones" hahaha... Yesterday we went atas - in Singlish, it means high class. So we visited two pretty atas cafes/ restaurants, spent more $$ than usual and decided not to proceed to our third one (we usually go to three cafes per Sunday) coz we were really too full for anything more.

First stop was at Boufe Boutique Cafe, located in a quiet Phoenix Park area. I really like the serenity and quietness of the surroundings. Were led outdoors as there was no indoor seats available but the servers were nice to adjust the air cooler and we were not really bothered by the humid and sunny weather. 
Vanilla Latte - tasted really good! Love the aroma!

Mocha - quite happening with more chocolate than coffee. Isn't the latte art pretty?
We shared two items for brunch and coz Phyllis is not into mushrooms nor avocado, she ate more of the spicy chicken wings. I totally love the mushrooms with black truffle - fattening (yes) but it tasted heavenly! Was really perfect with the toast. The wings were nice too, with the special inhouse dip (which came with a tangling lemon touch).


Almost immediately, we arrived at The Disgruntled Chef (well, it is really not far to reach Dempsey, from Tanglin Road... especially when we drove). Decided to share two items again, coz we really could not imagine ordering a main dish each. And Phyllis and I ordered tea while Jiahong ordered a minty juice. We really needed to detox...!
Mac n Cheese - with crayfish

Nutella and banana toast - with vanilla ice-cream
As it was impossible to swallow anymore food, we went off to sing ktv (one of our trio hobbies) at Cash Studio. I must say that I was impressed yet found it troublesome to use a mobile app for choosing songs in our ktv room. Impressed coz it was really very innovative, despite the old furniture and toilets, clearly "need a makeover" place. Troublesome coz we had to connect to the room's wifi and the app keeps crashing.

Was at Cash Studio (Prinsep) two weeks ago but it was not like that... Hmmm not sure if I will go back there again.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Miam Miam

Have heard so much about Miam Mian and finally, it was a random decision to go there for late dinner after a long day at Botanic Gardens (for ProE Sec School students' June Camp). Though we tried our best to stay in shaded spots, under trees, away from the sun... but both dear dear and I still got so tanned (and sunburnt)! And I really felt so dehydrated, finished a bottle of H-Two-O almost immediately after I bought it on the way home, at Clementi.

After shower and chillax for awhile, we left home at 7.30pm to make our way to Jurong East. Just a short 5mins queue and we got our seats. 
As an indulgence, and also to reward ourselves for the drama day, we ordered like nobody's business.
After our drinks arrived, the spaghetti came shortly after and we were almost full after tucking in... then came the souffle au curry - pretty disappointing actually (see below for caption). Cancelled the chocolate souffle but will definitely return in near future to try it, coz the vanilla one was really yummy!
Mr Tng with his peanut butter banana milk shake - complicated taste but nice (overall)

Miam Miam Haze aka earl grey with milk - good!

House Special Pasta with runny egg in the middle - the sauce was tasty and portion was just nice. The pasta abit too hard for my liking.

Souffle Au Curry - both did not really enjoy the salty souffle plus the curry was not enough to soak up the rice inside.

Curry rice inside...

Vanilla Souffle

Really enjoyed it!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Feast Day

Think many of my friends now know that I am off on Tuesdays... well, it is great to be able to meet up with people I love that day and spend a fulfilling day!

Yesterday, it was a really long day which lasted till late at night... Phyllis came and stay over on Monday night so we left home together at around noon. Went to collect namecards for colleagues (and myself) at TPY, then brought them to the learning centre at Serangoon.

Lunch was waffles with Thai Milk Tea and Mocha with Biscotti ice-cream at The Little Family Cafe #tlfcafe (pic below grabbed from Phyllis's ig)

I kinda like how crispy the outside and soft the inside was, for the waffles. But the ice-cream there was really so-so and I was disappointed with how the latte arrived without latte art (haha...) and did not taste fragrant enough.

Since we had nothing on our agenda, we took a sunny walk out to Artease to get iced tea. It was funny how Phyllis asked the guy if the "grass" stated on the menu meant grass jelly. The guy laughed it off and said yes, while I added by saying marijuana is illegal here leh... Lolz!

I ordered a Yuzu Green Tea (coz I was still full from the waffles and latte) while Phyllis ordered Cinnamon Milk Tea with grass jelly.

Thereafter, we went shopping at Nex and I got myself a swimwear from Arena, a dress from Gorgeous Gorgeous and a nightie from a "crazy wagon sales" at basement. After walking for hours, we ended up at Monster Curry to try the Jap curry rice there. It was not bad but I still preferred Coco Ichibanya (after Curry Favour closed down). Well, I must say the portion here is REALLY gigantic!!!


Next, we fetched Kelly from Ikea Tampines and proceeded to dinner place - Nakhon Kitchen (Blk 212 Hougang St 21, #01-341, 530212)


It was a waiting (queueing) time of around 45mins before we got our seats and another 10mins or so before our dinner was served. Both Phyllis and Kelly had pretty good comments of the food there and so were the many patrons who queued for it. For me, I think the quality is not bad (but not super duper good), especially for the price we paid!


Seafood Vermicelli Salad (nice!)


Crispy Grouper with Thai Sauce (too sweet and not spicy enough)


Spring Rolls (cannot go wrong)


Tom Yum Soup with Prawns (really good!)


Stirfry Kailan (abit too salty plus the server said it is baby kailan - WRONG!)

All of the above, for only $54!!! Good "buy" right?

After leaving the dinner place at 9plus, we decided to go sing ktv before heading home. Off we went to Teo Heng at Katong and sang till 12midnight. Well, all of us are probably walking zombies today!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Superfundae

Woke up early on today for Aviva's Superfundae carnival at Gardens by the Bay... and well, the weather was really awesome - bright and sunny!

Dad, Mum and Phyllis came over to fetch Jiahong and I while Shirley and family arranged to meet us at the carpark. Once we entered the carnival, the happiness on everybody's faces sort of made the sun and sweat feel better in a way. Goodie bags were given to all ticket holders while kids received a nerf gun each. It was really gracious (but well, the tickets were paid k) of the organisers!

The activities were mainly planned for children and family bonding so Dad and Mum were kinda bored. Haha well, Jeriel too young for some of the workshops but he clearly had fun at the Water Play area shooting water nerf guns! I was sad not to have prepared for it and did not bring extra clothes to change.

We left around 2pm, to go home and rest. After chilling out for awhile, we arranged for dinner at Ga Hock (dad claimed he loves the food there) and coz Father's Day is happening tomorrow, we gave him a treat! The day nearly ended with Jurassic World movie but well, it was really tough as there were not much seats left in the soon-to-be timings. Parents went home after dinner while Phyllis, dear and I went to watch Poltergeist instead. It was a pretty awesome movie, which we really enjoyed (being scared). hahaha...

Here's a collage of some of the pics taken today:
More pics can be found at Jiahong's Facebook 

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Sisterhood!

A random lunch date with my two younger sisters on a Wednesday led to dessert n bloatedness thereafter...

Phyllis came to fetch me, and we went Marine Square for lunch at Dim Dim. great dim sum n chatting session... followed by dessert at Llao Llao. Suddenly remembered to take pics and so yup, wefies at the bottom of post...

Words cannot describe how full we were! haha!

After sending Shirley back to office, we went shopping at Bras Basah (drama during e queue towards carpark where this stupid car parked along e road insisted that we give way to it) n Phyllis spent (OMG!) $99+ at Popular Bookshop! Scary right? ~ oh that includes two Seoul travel guides which we chose, a "Spot the Difference" and "Word Search" book etc.

Then went IMM where we waited so long for a carpark lot again. Bought breakfast and shopped at Giant. This time we didn't spend as much coz I only ended up buying 麻辣酱 n dried mangoes.
HSH for dinner at mommy's. Slept over too, as hubby got to stay in camp that night.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Weekend of Gatherings!

Weekend that has just passed was certainly a happening one... with gatherings that gave pure happiness, lotsa laughters and endless joy!

Saturday was fulfilling after we did some coolie stuff - shifting loads of baggage and shoes and etc from our parents' place. The day ended with a gathering at neighbour's place. Poh Ling stays with hubby Clement and son Teng Fong; and three of them have been the most friendly and gracious neighbours ever! Among those who went were Cailuan who stays next door with hubby and mum. And yes, our distant 7th floor neighbour couple Xiuli and Jason.

The main lead was supposed to be durian (and mangosteens) but turned out to be Vera or Xuan Xuan, Cailuan's 20mo niece. She is so adorable and entertained us throughout the evening. We stayed on and chatted after the durian feast till around 11tish before heading home to rest.

Sunday started with dragonboating with the CDAC vols ~ an activity which I pushed through successfully three years ago. I was still very satisfied with the turnout and how e event made all participants happy, especially the older folks.

Coz it was raining just before we put on our life vests to enter the boats, I decided to not go down eventually (after struggling with my mind and heart). Was having flu and throat inflammation last week, and still having running nose on the day itself. It was really sensible not to risk my life for it. However, it was a thin line between being happy and disappointed when Jurong team won the dragonboat race (among the 5 boats that went out). How I wished I was there too!

The weather became better after the activity, with a light breeze and no more drizzle. We went over to Old Airport Road food centre for lunch thereafter. Pretty disappointed coz they ran out of Lor Mee and so I settled for second best - Blanco Court Kuay Chap. OMG it was really damn nice!!! Will remember the taste for awhile... hehe

After lunch, we decided to go ktv (though Wei Ting doesn't sing and I was still recovering from flu). Cindy was so quick to book a room at Cash Studio and we had our 3hrs fix then. With my nasal voice, I managed to sing about 3 songs (two duets with dear and 1 SHE song with Cindy and Jasmine). Haha the only reason I like Cash Studio is coz they have so many mics in each room, and oh wow, a stage complete with old school mic!

Dinner was at Victor's Kitchen. Well, should I say finally? It has been awhile since I heard about the good dimsum there but did not get a chance to try it. True enough, the 流沙包 is good, and other common ones like har gao and siu mai were nice too. But my ultimate favourite was the egg tarts! Warmly baked from the oven, they tasted so good and melted in our mouths!

Will go back there again!

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Kit Chan's 音乐会

Long awaited concert has finally arrived! Well, not exactly long... since e last Kit Chan concert we attended was in 2011 (just 4 years ago). It was my third one, coz I had went alone in 2001 ~ coz I did not have confidence of getting anyone to enjoy the concert with me.
This shot was taken from dear dear's instagram... haha taken before we entered the theatre.

Yes, not many people knows can understand Kit nor enjoy her concert. You have to be prepared for her coolness and straightforwardness. No camera, no video, no loud cheering, not much sing-along... just purely sitting back and enjoying her songs, the clarity in her awesome voice and of course her small talks (of having a picnic table on stage with her water, hot drink etc... and that she no longer wants to sing those 芭喇 ballads which will make her 撒狗血 push the limits...)

Pretty surprised to see FB before the concert and realised that friends like Eric and Perrine were there too! Of course, I already know that Yishi was there and so I was looking for her all over right after the concert... haha Yishi is like me, someone who appreciates Kit so much and have been supportive of her for pretty good number of years!

No doubt I will still attend her concert in future. Will never get sick of her songs!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

SHG June Camp 2015

It's time for our annual SHG June Camp and like recent years, I have been deployed to be stationed at the first aid post. Well, age is catching up and I honestly can no longer be running around with the hyper kids (both students and volunteers!)

Spent some time chatting with twinnie Calista and bestie Weiting while they were at the canteen and before Jurong's activity. Yeah, I have myself another challenge to be in the camp committee as well as games IC while planning the activity by Jurong. 


Thank goodness for the awesome teamwork and strength of the Jurong peeps that made all the four stations work well, while I see the kids enjoying themselves throughout.

 Towards the end of day one (after debrief), Jurong vols had our own bonding session as usual - supper time! this time, we went to Xin Wang at tiong bahru plaza.

Not to forget, in-between (before campfire) Jiahong and I sneaked out to travel to the airport to send Phyllis off to Japan and we even had dinner at Thai Express, complete with our fav mango with sticky rice dessert!





Friday, June 5, 2015

Air fried Salmon and Potatoes

Oh yes, e Philips Air Fryer is definitely my best friend... having helped make so many delicious dinners for hubby and I.

Here is a very simple dinner of salmon, potatoes and carrots. All air fried. of coz, hubby has additional stuff in his baked potatoes - blue cheese mayonnaise (ewwwwwwww!)


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

CDAC Heart Knots SG50 Event ~ Saturday 30 May 2015

Yet another happening event by CDAC, though this time, I am the volunteer and no longer a staff with the organisation.

As I had a first aid refresher course that day, I only managed to reach the event ground at 5plus.

Here are some of the photos taken of my knot:



Of coz, it was really fun making the knots with great friends Hui Min and Wei Ting! And though the difficulty level is high, and I took way too long to learn it, I eventually managed to do two - and thus contributed to the 50,500 knots CDAC collected ultimately!
The teenager sitting next to Hui Min is one of my teacher, who managed to show me how steady she is... haha she is also the one who said very bluntly "now still got people dun have instagram meh?" 
Oh yes, CDAC managed to invite Li Fei Hui to perform. And so, we being thick-skin as always, approached him to take pic with us. Cool right?

The finale of the event was the singing of CDAC song by Ling Kai. The coolest part of it was that CDAC@ Jurong's Supervised Homework Group kids and volunteers were invited to perform with her!
Well, singing in the public is indeed stressful. However, since there were afew of us sharing a mic-stand, it was definitely more relaxed for us. Trust that we did well anyway!

The night ended just after 9pm and it was really a good night's rest for everyone of us.