Pear's Soap

After some experimentation, I found out that Pear's Soap works just as well as melt & pour soap. Chop it up and microwave it, you'll have a faintly yellow soap liquid with a eucalyptus scent for your craft projects. Good substitute if you cannot source cheap mp soap.

Secret Recipe

This Malaysian based chain serves the best Irish lamb stew ever. Try it and you will know what I mean, the meat is tender and moist, the gravy rich and hearty. I always end a meal here with a slice of their American style cakes - huge multi-layer cakes in all the classic flavours of macademia and white choc, banana and choc, cheese... you kinda get the idea. Sometimes I order their cakes for birthdays and it is always well-received.



Puss in Boots

School holidays so my mom brought the kids out for happy meals at Mac Donald's to get the Puss in Boots toy before catching the show at the cinema :)

Christmas Ice Cream

I love ordering the festive themed items even though there are no festive themed crockery. A berry ice cream shake and vanilla ice cream cake.



Christmas Chocolate

I got chocolate spoons from Watsons - for coffee, a chocolate santa from cold storage and the usual chocolate teacakes from M&S. Seems to be quite alot of boiled candy this year of which I bought none of.



Christmas Cherub Nails

Osteria Mozza

Ordered the tasting menu from Osteria Mozza and have to say although the food is properly cooked and some items do taste fantastic, there is this overpowering theme of sourish tartness that runs through every course.

Except the amuse bouche that was delicious with a complex mix of flavours and textures. The soda cocktails are also quite out of this world, fruit juice fizz with herbs!

The octopus was wonderful, too bad the salad was too sour.

The smoky bacon flavour mashed well with the fresh mozzerella.

Pasta was delicious! I ate up every drop of that sauce...hhhmm...

Pork chops were soft, tender and full of flavour.

Sorbet was good, panna cotta was out of this world. I didn't like the berry sauce though, tastes a bit like kiddy cough syrup. Maybe, they should just drizzle the sauce on without the pulp and bits. Biscotti - yumyum.



Club Sandwich

My favourite sandwiches always have egg or cheese in them. An all-in-one special club sandwich with roasted chicken, hard-boiled eggs, smoked salmon and caesar salad. Hmm, reminds me of my days at USC surviving on chicken caesar salads.



Monthly Publications

My mom used to buy me these monthly publications when I was a kid. Back then, there was a classical music series and a craft projects series. Now there is this mineral and stones series.



Mandarin Ducks Cross Stitch

Mandarin ducks are Chinese symbols of unity and love. The phrase 天作之和  denotes a match by heaven and 永结同心 means to be of one mind forever. Wishing my uncle and auntie a blissful life together.

I have been working on this for almost 7 months. It's 2x larger than the previous cross stitch with almost 3x as many colours. After framing it will be almost 1 metre by 1 metre. I really hope they love it.

Christmas Scrub

Whipping up a batch of homemade christmas scrub, I bought these oils from a Christian bookshop that smell soo christmasy - frankincense, myrrh and anointing oil from the only recipe in the bible. Using epsom salts this time around (meant to relieve muscular aches) and a soap paste so you get really clean with this.

Sentosa Resorts World

My dad needed us out of the house this morning so the aircon servicing men could work in peace, so we made a trip to Resorts World Sentosa.

It's really about Universal Studios theme park but, I don't think I want to be queuing in this sweltering heat.

So we checked out the shops around the area, our favourite is Candylicious! and had lunch at Chili's before coming home to nice cool air-conditioning, now that it's working again.

Christmas Shopping

It's the happiest time of the year and also the busiest. Safe to say, I am done with this year's christmas shopping. I did most of my shopping in June during the GSS. My sis thinks this pile should last me through the next year of gift-giving.

Made a trip down to Ikea for gift packaging. Everything is red and white this year, like National Day.

 

 

 

 

Versace for H&M

 

 

Opened today at 8am, heard the young kids queued overnight for this. Items are emblematic of Versace, so if you managed to get any, the wait was well worth it. At $249 a dress, you would also need deep pockets to buy up the entire collection, $10,000 or thereabouts.

Dell Printer Cartridges

Ran out of printer ink whilst printing out gift tags on my dell printer. Usually, a trip to challenger or the likes will tell you the model is old and cartridges are no longer in stock. However, with Dell it's almost revolutionary. I went online, clicked on my printer model and ordered new cartridges in a minute, free delivery within a week!

Zhi Cha 煮炒

For Sunday dinners at home and other occasions, my mom will order Zhi Cha or Zhu Chao. Most of these hawker stalls would give chinese restaurant chefs a run for their money. Flavours are robust and how do I explain wok hei.

Oyster Omelette

Singaporean oyster omelette, sans flourescent sauce. I finally tried the food court at MBS after some initial misgivings about the over-inflated prices for the same local dishes you can get elsewhere. Although prices are 3x that of the average food court, the portions are generous and properly cooked.



Birthday Presents!

Every year I get 红袍 (red packets of cash) and food gifts for my birthday that I am always grateful to receive. This year I got garrett popcorn from Citylink mall, 2 bottles of wine from Swissotel and party food & cake from my mom.

My cousin Sylvia got me this Coach wristlet in dark denim, that I love. I actually bought the same wristlet in brown for my mom. Great for marketing, midnight suppers and short shopping trips.

My sis-in-law Swee got me Crabtree and Evelyn handwash and moisturizer. I wouldn't be surprised if she is their best customer, all her gifts are always from Crabtree & Evelyn.

Lawry's gave me this cow soft toy and a card case.

Forlino

My birthday dinner at Forlino with mummy. It's a long walk in but worth it, this place has been voted best restaurant several times by magazines and food guides. 

Choux pastry with parmesan mousse. Crispy on the outside, soft and creamy inside. Served with homemade foccacia bread.

 

 

Reservations only I think, I tried walking in twice before and was told the restaurant was full. For my birthday, I made reservations 2 weeks in advance and even pre-ordered the degustation menu.

 

 

I like the black cod pasta with cod mousse inside cappelletti in spicy broccoli puree. It's not everyday food.

But, my mom and I loved the Boston lobster in eggplant. The sweet natural flavours of the lobster came through and it was perfectly cooked.

Wagyu beef cheek on polenta base with chocolate sauce. Tender and full-bodied flavour.

The staff prepared a birthday cake for me then cut it up to serve with the warm chocolate cake dessert. Amazingly good, it's all chocolate but the contrast in textures really made a difference. Cold smooth chocolate gelee/fudge cake with biscuity warm chocolate cake.

Good strong Italian coffee and fried dough biscuits that are dusted in icing sugar, so traditional and delicious.

Punjab Grill

My opinions here may be biased as I have only eaten at Indian fish head curry restaurants and that one modern Indian restaurant. One thing's for sure, I didn't finish all the food on my tasting menu, not even close.

Indian crackers with a sweet tart chutney, yoghurt and spicy green thing that was my favourite dip. The chaat in the appetizer was in the same 2 sauces, good stuff. The honey tulsi dressing on the grilled fruits was a surprise. 

The main course had 3 types of tandoori served on a warm plate, the flavours were just right and I have eaten enough tandoori to know that. Then 3 types of curry (chicken, mutton, chickpea) are served with rice and naan. The butter chicken was quite literally the best I have ever tasted, it's that good. I finished the entire bowl of butter chicken and was too stuffed to go on with the rest of the meal.

Dessert of pineapple sorbet, mango saffron creme brulee and jamun, finished with a shot of mint yoghurt. Gonna come back here again.

 

 

Hello Kitty Birthday Nails