Wishing you a blessed Christmas

Hello! Hope everyone having a wonderful Christmas! Did all of you have a great night celebrating Christmas Eve? No? Meh? Yeah?

If yes, then good for you and please cherish those people who are willing to spend this special night with you. If no, it's okay, it's only one night which is no different than other night especially if you are staying home (I often do this too when all my friends going holiday without me. Grr!). My Christmas eve celebration is pretty much low key this year because we do not want to splurge a lot of money as my buddy and I are going to Taiwan next year (something to look forward to in 2017, woots!).

So what did I do over few days leading to Christmas? Christmas gift hunting (which I hate the most not because I hate giving but it's hard to give something which please everyone). For example, the cookies that I buy end up too sweet (Famous Amos is trying to make its customer diabetic maybe), someone in office does not eat chocolate, etc etc. Tough decision to buy gift although I wish I can just buy everyone whatever they desire (but how am I gonna ship Gong Yoo to their house without being charged with criminal charges?). Maybe Pokemon is after all, an easier gift for everybody. LOL. 

If you have time to visit Changi Airport (or probably if you have had already travelled earlier this month), you will see that the airport is decked in festive decoration this year too. The decorations are a bit different from the usual year because Changi Airport has become home for certain Pokemon like Snorlax and Pikachu. I hope they put a lot of Eeves inside too but the management thinks otherwise apparently.

Say hello and Merry Christmas to Pikachu when you are there. This cutey Pikachu is located at departure area of Terminal 3 in Changi Airport (before immigration).

And once again, wishing you a very blessed (and not lonely) Christmas everyone.

P.S. If you are lonely, don't listen to Christmas songs. Why don't you just play Coldplay like what I am doing now? LOL.

Singapore Eats: Pimp My Salad, Pasarbella

Hello! With less than 2 months to go in the year 2016, I have decided to do something about one of my resolutions this year which happened to be the most challenging resolution for myself. It is a personal challenge to expand my social circle, which I have tried to do with a great reluctance. LOL. I have applied for another type of volunteering. And to make it the most effective challenge ever, the  voluntary work involves saying hello to people. Whee~~~ talk about meeting your own demons. Oh well, since it's only the early stage and who knows, they may only summon me when I am away for my end of year holiday (and hence, it's unforeseen circumstances, it can even be divine intervention).

While I am pondering upon my upon fate, I realise that it's time to meet another new year's resolution despite the tardiness. It's time to eat healthier I suppose since December is coming. Hahaha. I leave this resolution to my friend who is a healthy-eating-freak (I mean it in a good way if you happen to read this..LOL) now since she wanted to lose another 10kg. Everytime I meet her near her office building, we always go to Pasarbella at Suntec City where she could enjoy a plate of salad/ protein from Pimp My Salad.

I have to admit the selection offered here is the "pimped" version of salad sold at food court or hawker centre (oh yes, nowadays you can find salad at hawker centre like Golden Shoes and Amoy Street Food Market). Each ingredient has each own price tag. Even the sauce has price tag, no kidding. A plate of salad base (lettuce), sweet potato, mushroom, chicken breast and mustard sauce costs me SGD 11. Nobody tell me eating healthy creates hole in your wallet but I have to admit, this plate of ingredients taste pretty good and clean. It lasts me until 6PM too. 

 

But I suppose there is always a price in everything. Including in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Let's hope for a steady stream of income while we live in this world. 

Pimp My Salad is situated at: 

#01-455 North Wing, Suntec City

3 Temasek Boulevard 

Nearest MRT: Promenade/ Esplanade MRT

Opening hours: 

11AM - 10.30PM Daily

Singapore Eats: Azabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream, The Central

I need to keep calm and eat ice cream on certain days, really. Especially when it is a day full of chasing and got chased by irritating people instead of handsome men. Sad. While my bae and I were wandering around Clarke Quay thinking of a way out from this circle of life without killing ourselves (or other people since we don't want to spend the remaining of our life in jail, obviously), we were passing by Azabu Sabo, ice cream chains which are specializing in Hokkaido ice-cream. Bae got tempted in a jiffy and before we knew it, we came closer to the ice cream stall.

The pricing of the ice cream depends on whether you want to have the ice cream by cone or cup. Plus by how many type of ice cream you want to have in the cone/ cup. If you prefer to have only one taste, I think you should give matcha (green tea) a try because I think Japanese matcha ice cream has the best flavour.

Some of friends, however, do not like green tea though (gasp! How can it be? I know!). So if you are one of these people, you can consider trying sesame (the blackish ice cream) or yuzu (taste citrusy). Bae and I decided to go for a mixture of green tea and yuzu in a cup (SGD 5.90). One good advice to eat Azabu Sabo is to eat them FAST because they melt pretty fast under Singapore hot weather. Crazy. 

Azabu Sabo's locations:

6 Eu Tong Sen Street, The Central #01-46

Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay

Marina Square Outlet 6, Raffles Boulevard #02-170/171

Nearest MRT: Esplanade/ City Hall

Food court @ Takashimaya Department Store, Level B2

Nearest MRT: Orchard/ Somerset

Singapore Eats: Mak's Noodle, Vivo City

Aloha! How has everyone Sunday been? Some personal revelation to start with. The pastor has touched a topic of thanksgiving today and the message kinda slapped me in the face because I have been, well, complaining for a while now about my life in general. I suppose I have not been giving thanks enough and probably by doing that, I could have a new perspective of life.

To be honest with you, being grateful is easier done when you have a fully fed tummy (for a start, be grateful that you can enjoy eating, a lot of people is starving in this world). Fully inspired by the message, my Sunday date (Sun-date) and I proceeded to Mak's Noodle (yesh, the famous wanton noodle from Hong Kong) in Vivo City. This is the third branch of Mak's Noodle in Singapore. The first and second are located in Centrepoint (Somerset) and Westgate (Jurong East).

I ordered dumpling while Sun-date ordered wanton to go with our noodles. As you can see, the portion is leaning toward to the word "small". But I heard Mak's Noodle at Hong Kong has the same serving portion so this is probably the best portion to enjoy wanton noodle? 

The whole meal for one person looks like this. Pretty humble I must say but I think just enough to feed ladies (and kids?). I wonder if the uncles who dine besides us are full from eating their noodles. Hahaha.

Taste-wise, I really enjoy the salty and springy thin noodle. The oyster sauce is amazing and I wish Mak's Noodle is not that stingy with the sauce.  

The dumpling soup is not bad but it does not wow me as much as the noodle was. A lot of people think that the price-tag set by Mak's Noodle is pretty steep considering the small portion that the restaurant serves. I suppose I kinda agree with this sentiment because the whole meal costs me SGD 10-ish. Considering the cost of living in Singapore, I guess we have to live by this price tag for the days to come.

Mak's Noodle is located at the following locations:

(1) 176 Orchard Road, Centrepoint, #01-63/64

(2) Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive, #03-06

(3) Vivo City, 1 Harbourfront Walk, #B2-27

Opening hours: 

Daily 11AM - 10PM

Singapore Eats: Maki-san, The Cathay

It was such a hellish week in the office so I'm glad that it is finally weekend. Woots! Obviously I did not dare to make any dinner appointment tonight fully knowing that there is a great threat from sudden surprises to the reporting deadline which is due on Monday. Sure enough, it happens again. Bummer.

When I finally able to enjoy my Friday night, I was so tired up to the point I did not even bother to check who's free amongst my friends. I decided to just date myself on a Friday night. But, I am quite sure a lot of restaurants will be fully packed and I don't want to attract attention from the non-solo diners while I am enjoying my meal in the comfort of my own company. In times like this, I would proceed to one of the places in my list which are solo diners friendly. For today, let's make our way to Maki-san, the funky sushi stall located at the basement of the Cathay.

Customers at Maki-san are allowed to create their own sushi roll and salad. There is an ordering form whereby customers can pick the layer of the sushi (i.e. egg roll or seaweed), the type of rice for the sushi (i.e. white or brown rice) and the ingredients to fill your sushi of course (some items like crispy enoki mushroom and tempura may take longer to fry). Customers can also choose their own sauce to put inside the sushi. My creation tonight is the egg roll brown rice filled with enoki mushroom tempura, asparagus and chili crab sauce. Funky enough for a humble Friday night, no?

Maki-san can be found at:

- The Cathay, Dhoby Ghaut #B1-17/18

- Cineleisure Orchard, 8 Grange Road #01-04

- 112 Katong, 112 East Coast Road #B1-19/22B

- Bedok Mall, 311 Upper Changi Road #B1-39

- Compass One, 1 Sengkang Square #01-45

Opening hours:

Sunday to Thursday 11.30AM - 9.30PM

Friday, Saturday 11.30AM - 10PM

Singapore Eats: Lunch at Harry's, Marina Bay Financial Centre

Hello! It's finally Friday (near Saturday actually by the time I blog about this post...haha). Lately I'm pretty much grateful when I'm able to pass day by day and reach weekend again. I wonder why work is that tough for me. Hahaha. A friend pointed out that he recently enjoys his lunchtime so much by being a happy foodie (despite the fact that he has to eat by himself in order to eat at a particular restaurant that he likes). That kinda makes me want to try to but when there's lunch buddy, it's time to eat at places where it's kinda hard to eat alone. For instance, I don't really see people eating alone at Harry's. So let's have lunch here while you still have lunch buddies (believe me, they have to be cherished!).

There are three of us so we just ordered two main courses since one of the main courses is pizza. This is the first time I eat in Harry's despite its location being pretty near my office. I suppose I am more food court-kind of girl especially when it's so near yet so far to payday. Lunch buddy #1 feels like having something different than his usual caesar salad so he ordered lamb shank. Whoa. It surprisingly yummy and not tough to eat. I always have impression that lamb meat is hard to eat. Impression destroyed. Good job, Harry's.

The mushroom pizza turns out to be a choice that we never regret. I kinda wonder what did Harry's put inside this pizza because as far as my eyes can see, the pizza is filled with mushroom and mushroom (okay, there's cheese and some arugula leaves, but still...). I seldom praise vegetarian pizza but the mushroom pizza at Harry's taste good up to the point I don't believe vegetarian dishes are healthy. Hehe. 

If you are working near MBFC or have a meeting nearby, you can visit Harry's at: 

8A Marina Boulevard, Marina Bay

(right opposite Dimbulah)

Opening hours:

Monday to Wednesday: 11.30AM - 11PM

Thursday and Friday: 11.30AM - 1AM

 Close on Saturday and Sunday

Singapore Eats: Sushi Tei, Vivo City

I am so happy my bae is finally back in Singapore after spending 5 days 4 nights holiday in Bali. Thanks to the technology (i.e. internet connection), we are still chatting using LINE as if we are in Singapore. She even bought me some Balinese snacks. Yum. No wonder we are best friends. Hahaha. 

To celebrate her return (and the weekend of course), we had our usual Saturdate eating Japanese cuisine at Sushi Tei. Needless to say, Sushi Tei's outlet could be find practically anywhere in Singapore and it is famous for its long line. But it's okay, we have enough Magikarp and Rattata to catch anyway (Why can't I find Pikachu?). After we got our table, we immediately made our order and pick our favourite sushi from the sushi train, the salmon aburi sushi. I have never found better sushi than this which involved salmon aburi (okay, I am more of a fan of modern sushi which utilise the use of sauce instead of the original sushi from Japan which only use rice and raw fish). The crunchy bits are really nice too.

Both of us are missing the Japanese curry rice so much. Japanese curry is pretty different from Indian and Indonesian curry. It has a hint of sweetness and yet, pretty thick. If you want to recreate some Japanese curry, I guess it's easy to use curry blocks from the supermarket although I really don't know which brand is nice. Chicken katsu curry from Sushi Tei tastes heavenly especially since they use Japanese rice. My ultimate weakness I have to say. 

We ate the snack that my bae brought from Bali as dessert. It looks pretty similar to those dessert which I usually find in wet market in Jakarta. Texture wise, very chewy with a lot of coconut and cheese on it. This kinda makes me miss home. :(

Sushi Tei can be found at major shopping malls in Singapore like Vivo City, Raffles City, and Paragon.

Opening hours:

Everyday 11.30AM - 10PM

Singapore Eats: A Poke Theory, Telok Ayer

I love venturing out of the way from the office to have lunch. If you ask me to lunch in, I will feel pretty damn depressed for the whole day because after all I don't really associate office as my 2nd home although that is the place where I spend the most of my day other than my own house. Thankfully, I have lunch buddies who think along the same line as me and one of them asked me out to try one of the latest addition in Telok Ayer area, a salad bowl restaurant named A Poke Theory. 

A Poke Theory adopts the concept of building your own salmon/ tuna chirashi bowl. Customers can choose from either lettuce, quinoa or sushi rice as the base and choose the so-called toppings along the way. Do note that certain toppings require customer to pay additional price. I was pretty hungry so I choose rice as the base and avocado miso salmon as the main. For the rest of the toppings, I just choose cherry tomatoes, edamame, cucumber, pineapple, carrots and with the premium topping, crispy salmon skin (additional 2 dollars). You can add the sauce at your own liking because the sauce bottles are put near the utensils and free water area. 

While it tastes good on the first few bites, I realise that it is kinda a struggle to finish a full bowl of chirashi because in the first place, I probably not really a devoted fan of chirashi. It is fine to eat this once in a while but I will not go for this type of food on daily basis. As the poke bowl costs me S$12.50, I think it's a wise idea not to eat this very often. #cheapo

A Poke Theory's location:

27 Boon Tat Street

Opening hours: 

Weekdays 11AM - 6PM

Saturdays 10AM - 4PM

Singapore Eats: Standing Sushi Bar, Marina Bay Link Mall

It has been very tiring for the last few days at work. I could not get my to-do-list done in time because there is basically so many things to do. Oh well, let's hope tomorrow will not be that bad and after all, it's Friday. I nearly missed my lunch due to some Excel malfunction but thankfully, managed to meet my lunch buddy around 12+. This timing means a nightmare to find a place to sit around Marina Bay Link Mall in Singapore. 

Standing Sushi Bar is probably the only restaurant which does not have queue in Marina Bay Link Mall. The price tag that the restaurant put for their food is after all, quite premium and can create a hole in your wallet. For instance, the cheapest food you can get here cost SGD 18. So yes, my grilled chicken teriyaki set is SGD 18. My lunch buddy's chicken karage set costs SGD 19. 

On the brighter side, the grilled chicken teriyaki taste good and it is served with brown rice. The lunch set comes with side salad, miso soup, seaweed + bits of edamame, and green tea mochi. Noona was very hungry so she finished the whole thing. Taste wise - really not bad. 

If only they make the price a bit cheaper. But looking at the rate Marina Bay Link Mall charges its tenant for monthly rental, it seems unlikely for the price to go down. Life's hard. 

Standing Sushi Bar is located at: 

Marina Bay Link Mall #B2-51

Opening hours:

Monday - Friday: 11.30AM - 9PM

Saturday: 11.30AM - 4PM

Closed on Sunday

Turkey Travel: Ankara Park and Radisson Blu Hotel

If you happen to stay over at Ankara and you have free time to spare, you may want to check out a public park in Ankara (not sure how safe it is at the world today since I went to Ankara back in 2013 when everything is still peaceful in Turkey). Our tour group stayed the night in Radisson Blue Hotel in Ankara and while the bus was making its way to the hotel, I saw this beautiful view from the window's bus.

 

 

We had to wait for a while to deal with the check-in and stuff but once we received our room keys, my brother and I were ready for adventure. I don't think it is wise to go out from the hotel just two of us in the current situation so if you'd like to walk around your hotel, I suggest to do this in group. Better be wise than sorry I suppose.

 

 

Ankara public park is situated right opposite Radisson Hotel (because we can see the park from the balcony of our hotel room). 

 

 

This is the view that we saw from the balcony. The park is huge and it has a big pond and some kind of mini theme park inside. The fountain never stops sprouting water. Kinda miss the peaceful days of Turkey, really.

 

 

When we arrived, it seems that there were some preparations being made for the show later on tonight. Not sure what it was gonna be but we assumed it got something to do with lights show.

 

 

Since the weather is so hot, we decided to buy an ice cream to share (dinner coming soon). As usual, the Turkish ice cream seller always loves to play tricks on his customers (especially tourists). My brother seems to be enjoying it though. The ice cream tastes oh so good with the three flavours: vanilla, custard and chocolate.

 

 

When the night arrived, we could see sound coming out from the pond's direction and we guessed correctly, there was light show happening in the park. We enjoyed the show from our hotel's balcony. Nice one. 

 

 

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Radisson Blu in Ankara so if you'd like to stay in Ankara, you may want to consider this hotel as one of the options.

Singapore Eats: Curious Palette, Dhoby Ghaut

I can't believe it is already Sunday night now. Weekend comes and goes so quickly. I did not really like the fact that I have to work again tomorrow but at least I am grateful that my weekend seems to be quite productive. That if your weekend goal is (a) trying out new cafe and (b) dating bae. Initially I was planning to cut down my expense since I just got myself an iPad (which is awesome by the way!) but at the same time I feel like trying new cafe too and the temptation of the latter wins. Hence, here we are at Curious Palette, one of the eating place located along Prinsep Street right opposite POMO.

Quick glance on the menu if you are interested. Based on Burpple (a popular foodie app used by many in Singapore), Curious Palette's most popular items are the Hotcakes. I am not really a fan of Hotcakes (due to their huge size) but it feels not right not to order the most popular item especially on the first visit. 

But at the same time, I feel like munching on something salty and these spam fries look so glorious. I used to eat spam and rice as a child and I remember I enjoyed it so much back then. Needless to say, bae and I finished the whole plate even before our Berry Ricotta Hotcake arrived. #spamlover

It took Curious Palette a while (definitely more that the waiter-claimed-to-be-25-minutes) to serve the hotcakes to our table. At least, Berry Ricotta Hotcakes looks super pretty on the outlook. Taste wise, the hotcakes seem to be on the drier side. We started to wonder if we should ask for another portion of maple syrup but we tried not to cause we scared it will become too sweet. Bae prefer the hotcakes served at Atlas Coffeehouse though. I should probably try the mains next time but Curious Palette only serves dinner after 6.30PM so I better make sure I reach the cafe not before 6.30 or otherwise, I will end up munching spam fries again. LOL.

Curious Palette's address:

64 Prinsep Street, Singapore

Opening Hours:

Mon - Thurs, Sun: 9AM - 10PM

Fri and Sat: 9AM - 12AM

Close on Tuesday

Singapore Eats: On The Table, Pasir Panjang

Oh gosh I can't believe dealing with incessant questions, I am practically drained. To add it off, I still did not manage to get my Mac fixed without resorting to erasing the data. It has been three days without my laptop and I can totally feel the void in my life.

And that's when I resorted to other comfortable things in life like food. That was the first time we came all the way to Pasir Panjang to go for food. But that's where On the Table is located so yea, we decided to be a bit adventurous. 

On the Table is a cafe which I found randomly on Burpple and it's situated within 5 minutes of walking from Pasir Panjang MRT. Despite being a cafe, it has a superb collection of bottled beers

The name of the bottled beer is rather interesting to check. Try to get a table near the beer shelves and you can spend time checking them out while waiting for your order to arrive.

There was a plate of chicken wings on the occupied tables and based on this, we deduced that chicken wings are a must-order food in this cafe.

We ordered a pasta and a burger to share in addition to the chicken wings. Do note that On the Table only starts serving dinner at 6pm. We chose salmon and mushroom truffle linguini (which oh my gawd taste superb for creamy pasta lover like me).

The burger taste pretty normal up to the point I forgot the name of the burger. I am pretty sure it was a beef burger thou. 

On the Table's address:

118 Pasir Panjang Road

On the Table closes o

Ranting and reminiscing on hot summer day in Yehliu, Taiwan

I have only 5 watts of power remaining in my eyes and yet I feel like writing some stuff. It is now day 2 of mourning period since the day my Macbook Pro has crashed. I seriously felt significant void in my life, apparently my relationship was such a committed one. 

To make matters worse, I am not really an outgoing person (and hence in a committed relationship with my Mac) especially when the weather in Singapore is crazy hot. I think it's comparable to the heat of summer which I experienced in Yehliu last summer. Beautiful scenery and yet, hot.

I am due for appointment tomorrow with the techie but I forgot to bring the one and only laptop case that I have from the office. Shit. 

My 7 years old Macbook Pro is still the heavyweight version and I really wonder if I should find a new beau, in rose gold color.

I shall meditate on this tonite. Especially since blogging has become quite tough from the small phone. Ok maybe not so small but it ain't tablet or laptop. Hehe. 

Singapore Eats: Watanabe Coffee, Orchard

Hello. I'm still alive without my Mac. Somehow. After three hours figuring out how to resurrect my Mac through all possible ways which I manage to google, the screen still shows white color, as white as a whitewalker. Cold.

Annoyed with the whole situation, I decided to just book a slot with the repair centre but tomorrow's slot is fully booked. In despair, I crawled out from my room and decided to go out with bff to grab a cuppa of coffee instead. 

Japanese cafe seems to pop up one after another in Singapore and bff and I often see a beeline in front of Watanabe Coffee in Orchard. We decided to give the place a try, especially when there was only two persons in front of us. Sweet!

The cafe is quite cozy to chill out especially when it's above 30 degrees out there. A lot solo cafehoppers spotted inside. Seems to be a cool cafe to do some people watching too.

Whenever I am not sure what to order, chances are I ended up ordering iced green tea latte. At a whopping price of 8 SGD, I kinda expect the drink to have a wow factor. But, nope, didn't feel anything out of ordinary from the green tea latte

Bff's order of cafe mocha taste as bland as ever to my tastebud but bff seems to be able to drink it just fine as she's not really a sweettooth. She did say the taste is normal though. We must have been paying for the rental.

I suppose that's the price you need to pay to enjoy chillin out in a cafe in Singapore. 

Watanabe Coffee's location:

Level 1, Isetan Scotts
Orchard

Opening hours:

8.30AM - 10PM
 (Friday and Saturday to 11PM)

Singapore Eats: Pizza, Fries and Chicken Wings at Timbre+

My beloved Mac just decided to crash on me. Such a cruel act. But since it's an aging Mac I suppose it's just bound to happen. Sigh. With that, now I'm trying to blog by using my S7 edge. I wonder how long I will take to make this one post.

Right, where was I? Oh yeah, Timbre+. It is basically a new eating place which adopts the concept of famous markets like for instance, Queen Victoria's Market in Melbourne. Stall and food truck owners have joined forces to make this vibrant eatery goes alive. For a start, you can get any type of bottled beer here.

Once you have decided on the beer, it's time to check out the food offerred at Timbre+. We tried the pizza and fries from the food truck named "The World is Flat". The food truck puts a fancy twist to otherwise a boring pizza. The Fat Samurai pizza tastes pretty good even though it looks pretty messy on a plate. 

Even though the pizza is nice enough, I enjoy the World is Flat's rendition of sweet potato fries. The fries are mixed with sweet toppings like marshmallow and cream sauce and yet, the whole thing taste good together. And I am not even a fan of marshmallow.

If you come around 7+-ish in the evening, you may be able to catch live music performance although you need to sit pretty close to the stage to listem to band clearly. 

If you are still hungry and feel like nibbling something, there is something that you may want to try, the salted egg chicken wings. While they look pretty dull in my pic I dunno why, taste-wise, they are quite okay. Nothing fantastic but so so I suppose.

It can be pretty hot and humid dining in Timbre+, you may want to dress pretty light if you plan to come here. 

Timbre+'s location:

73A Ayer Rajah Crescent

Nearest MRT: One North (Circle Line)

Timbre+'s opening hours:

Mon - Sat 6AM - 12AM

Close on Sunday