The Weekend Past - Eat, Drink, Party!!

Missed dinner with the girls on Friday night, but managed to get home just in time before they arrived at our place for yet another drinks sesh and a spot of Taboo.

Food notes: decided to venture out of the comfort zone of comte, brie and camembert, and tried to introduce a mild blue german (cambozola) instead, which went down pretty well. Shall be more adventurous next time. ;p

We slept in on Saturday morning and had a late brunch of bockwurst and some pancakes with hand-whipped fresh cream (yumz!). Am thinking of adding sliced pears to the batter next time or perhaps poaching/caramelising first… lazed around the rest of the morning, watching poor Maria getting thrashed by Serena Williams at the Australian Open and waiting for the oven-repairman to arrive. And as Murphy would have it – the oven was totally fine and didn't trip up at all when the guy tested it. Although he did say the moisture in the heating element that was causing the power trip had probably been removed from my repeated attempts at starting it up. We'll see. Good reason to make a roast next weekend.

Popped over to the Robinson's sale with mum and came away with more bowls, bedlinen for the guest room, a huge vase (hip high!) and a tiered cakestand – this time in brushed stainless steel. :) Hubs thinks I'm crazy… *shopaholic alert*

We had a date night on Saturday evening and it was perfect!

Made reservations at the Barfly, dressed up and took a leisurely stroll in lovely balmy weather to The Cannery. Clarke Quay has changed so much – it's so bustling and lively now, with new bars and restaurants. I think we can try a new place every fortnight for the next 6 months and still won't be done exploring, which is great! Barfly is a restaurant tucked into the 2^nd floor of The Cannery. Dark wooden stairs led up to an open reception area and into the dining area. And I must say – Wow. It almost doesn't feel like you're in Singapore. Very impressed. Black crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, each bulb fixed with mini dark shades, and cast a moody glow over the rich velvet upholstery, and the embossed leather menus made them feel especially luxe. We were given a table in the corner, which gave us privacy and yet allowed us a view of the snazzy bar and most of the restauratn. The service staff were polite, attentive yet unobstrusive. And the food was delish! The Unagi spring rolls were crisp and not too oily, the foie gras was heavenly and the accompanying apple chutney as nicely tart and refereshing. DH had the grain- fed lamb ribs – and it's one of the best (other than Daddy's special recipe ones – none other can compare!) we've tried. Roasted to perfection – a little charred on the outside and melt-in-your mouth juicy inside. I had the slow-cooked piglet. I think the meat is teased off the bone, cooked for a long time, separately from the skin, till soft and tender, shaped into a square patty and lightly panfried, then topped with the crispy deepfried skin. Oooh…amazing! The portions are large and we just didn't have space for dessert. Otherwise, the warm ganache chocolate cake looked enticing.

After dinner, we decided to explore the rest of the area before catching up K for his 30th birthday celebrations at MOS. There are a few restaurants I'd really like to try next, including Bice and Zuma, and I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of Nectarie – a dessert patisserie!

We also saw a Moroccan-themed bar and a mongolian grill called Tent (the inside really looked like a 蒙古包, with wooden beams and drapes and all… heh…). There was a street market and DH picked up a pair of earrings for me – delicate, 14K gold wires, embellished with blue swarovski crystals and a matching droplet of aquamarine. *joy*!!

Our little party at Studio 54 was a blast. The drinks started easily enough with some Rose Moets, and progressed to a bottle of 42below. That got everyone high and happy enough to get up and dance when the first strains of familiar retro music from our era started to play. Sadly there wasn't Belinda Carlisle – travesty!! – but at least they played Electric Dream, and I knew all the words… J Gosh, I feel so old… But it was a fun night – i guess retro-cheese does it for me… *embarrassed* But, J showed he was truly the king of retro-trivia – he knew just about all the titles, all artistes, lyrics, and exactly which movie they came from..

Ended the night with bak kut teh at the corner of Mohd Sultan, hot and comforting in the cool weather, before traipsing home, ears still muffled from the loud music, and singing "Summer Rain" in the basement carpark. *giggle* we were so dying for the song, Hubs found the track on our iPod and blasted it while we were in the shower – couldn't help but dance and sing to it. *mad* ;)

Food for Thought

Surfed on from expinspira and found this new drool-worthy food-site - delicious:days. Like Chubby Hubby, there’re beautiful food-photos and recipes, and other tips!

We're going on holiday!!

Catching up!

Finally downloaded the hundreds of photos over the past few months from the camera. Here are some of them...

Char & J's pink & chocolate wedding - it was so much fun making all the decor! I got to be bridezilla all over again (albeit vicariously)... hee hee… Who’s getting married next? Indulge me!!

My Birthday! - which we celebrated on the 16th instead... Mummy made red eggs and had them delivered together with a yummelicious dinner. Hubs was really sweetums – he made a huge brekkie for the both of us before we headed out for some furniture shopping at the new Marina Square.

Christmas Candlelight Service - Arise, Shine!

- and that's XJ's handprint from when he was 14! :)


We got a half-day off on the Friday before New Years, and thought we’d try out Brussel Sprouts – this new place just round the corner, which served up pretty decent moules-frites, and Belgian beer. Of course, we couldn’t resist the very sinful but very delicious caramelized pork belly… *drool*

Update: Just realised from Sunday's papers that Brussel Sprouts is actually another one of Emmanuel Stroobandt's babies! Mmm.. wonder if they serve up foie gras too?

Sun, Snow, Ski!

Haven't had time to upload all of our honeymoon pics, but here's one of my favourites, taken at Cerro Catedral in Bariloche.

More bedroom inspiration

From Pottery Barn (L to R): Putty-green walls; Photo ledges; and Cappucino walls

btw, our chandeliers have arrived!! Going to check them out at the shop tonight, hopefully and make a final decision

Colour my world

We've been thinking about painting our rooms for a long time. Yes, i know... possibly a little late to do anything now, seeing that we've already moved in for close to 4 months, and a lot of the furniture is in place. But I've always wanted our room to look somewhat like the room we had at the Kenton Palace Hotel in Bariloche, but with a little more colour - creamy latte walls, pale olive drapes, dark espresso wood, plush white bedlinens, moody black and white matted prints and the soft glow of warm light from ivory lamp shades.

A few complications - no budget for painters, lack of time to DIY, moving the furniture around and away from drips. Maybe textured wallpapering would be easier?

Anyways, a friend recommended Domino, and i found these lovely rooms:



I like the "Cafe au Lait" wall colour in the first picture and the contrast of the dark wood picture frames. The botanic floral wallpaper in the middle is pretty! but i don't think DH is really into that. And finally, i wish i had space for a feature wall in our home - so many photos and so many mementoes from all our travels that we'd love to display. Maybe our next home, darling?

Travelbug

In times like these, i dream of faraway lands...

Pictures from LonelyPlanet.

Domestic Goddess?

Jules is a sweetie! She’s home from NYC and has brought back the stash I ordered. Yippee!!

1 x Scrubbling Bubbles brush wand + starter pack of flushable brushes – for a clean toilet
12 x Scrubbling Bubbles flushable refills – for more clean toilets down the road
1 x Bathtub caddy with adjustable bookstand, wine glass holder and taper candle holder – for a relaxing bubblebath at the end of long week
1 x ALIAS: the Final Season DVD Box Set – for the thrills and spills we missed during the season

Oh ok, alright, the last item isn’t exactly household related… no, wait… it plays in the DVD machine, hooked up to the TV, which hangs on the wall in my house. Definitely household item. ;p

And then there was light!

DH and I have been hunting for lights for our new home for a really long time. Several trips to Balestier and visits to the new lifestyle hub at Marina Square yielded nothing. Perhaps it was just me being fussy, but nothing caught our fancy. We were so desperate for pretty lights we even contemplated shipping them in from the States – except that the voltage is different and shipping cost too much. We were almost convinced we’d have to live in semi-darkness for the rest of our time in this apartment… until we chanced upon the Laura Ashley sale! We didn’t even know they brought in lights – always thought it was just girly floral dresses and bedlinen…

We’ve paid for (but haven’t decided on which) one of these petite chandeliers for the spa/guest room:

A touch-sensitive (cool!) floor lamp with ivory drum-shade for the living room:

And a pair of these for our bedroom:




Now all we need is for the furniture people to deliver our bedside tables….

30

Hubs turns 30 today and we had a little dessert party last night to celebrate. Grand plans of baking a cheese cake and a chocolate tart fell through when the oven tripped the electrical circuits in the apartment. So I cheated and got a double chocolate praline birthday cake from the patissier and an assortment of macaroons from canele to stand in… heee…

Wines, cheese, fruits, desserts, and great company made for a very lovely evening indeed!

Happy Birthday, dear!!