I am in love again! Midnight in Paris has brought back my love for the city / country again....and somehow I wished I was back in the company where I just might have the chance to go to the French HQ.
This is the 3rd wedding banquet that we attended this year, the groom sang a long forgotten song...one that if I remembered correctly is or was M's favourite song...
A forgotten song...at a forgotten friend's wedding...
MN: Congratulations! U had an unforgettable wedding....wishing you a blessed marriage!
张学友 - 你的名字.我的姓氏
Wanted to buy the Kindle for GM for Christmas last year, but he said he does not need it...however, recently he kept on researching on it and asking for one, so we decided to get it in the end! As usual, I was very excited knowing that a parcel would come today....and at around 8pm, the DHL man finally came and delivered the kindle....GM was so excited! It really is Christmas came early for him!
The egg tart at Leung Sang is still the best...but it seems that their price has increased again! We didn't manage to get egg tart at Xin Cusine on 13 Aug (Sat) "We only have egg tarts on Sundays"; didn't manage to get egg tarts at Mandarin Court on 19 Aug (Fri), "We only have egg tarts during weekends"...so GM and I decided to trek down to Leung Sang in Chinatown to get our egg tart fix.
After my fries overdose, we decided to take the Fries Challenge again at Brussel Spouts with its free flow fries....although their fries is free-flow and better than that at EWF, think I was still abit hungover, hence we only ordered 2 rounds of fries....
Brussels spouts
80 Mohamed Sultan Road
#01-12 The Pier@Robertson
While flipping through Lianhe Zaobao, I saw the writeup recommending the guotie from this place at Mei Ling Street, hence decided to note it down, since it is technically nearby our place.Finally had a chance to visit it some weeks back...alas! Was quite disappointed with their guotie which looked like it had been fried a couple of times...didn't taste too good too.
My craving for fries started since Monday...after listening to me go on about my craving for the past few days, GM suggested going to Everything With Fries since we have not tried it before. I quickly googled and found out that there was an outlet at Lorong Mambong.
On the website, EWF recommended their specialties, so I wanted to try the one egg soup. GM ordered the char grilled bagette, and I ordered the salmon in a cup, I didn't really like mine as I felt it was abit too fishy for my liking, but GM said that it had a clam chowder feeling.
I think I had an overdose of fries...
Normally, I would not go shopping in a bookshop, but since I was there, I started picking up interesting books and since they were so reasonable priced, I lugged back 6 books in total (including 3 small sized dictionaries).
The bookstores do not provide free paper / plastic bags but charge 2 yuan for paper bags. See the paper strip that they used to "wrap" my books after I have paid. It's good that I actually thought of bringing a shopping bag to SH and actually had it with me that day!
Was real tired for the 1st night, so I went to tabao 永和大王 from opposite the hotel.
For the 2nd night, we had 老克勒上海菜 at 96广场 near the hotel. I was starving, hence the food tasted pretty good.
The uniforms that the waiters and waitresses were wearing was Burberry design. We ordered:
1. 白斩鸡(something like the chicken in hainan chicken rice)
2. 菜饭 (vegetables fried with rice - served in a claypot)
3. French beans
4. Eel
5. 狮子头 (giant meatball)
6. Some kind of 冬粉
Address: 浦东新区东方路796号96广场1楼8号门(近张杨路)
For the 3rd night, we went to 廊亦舫酒楼(正大店). Apparently this restaurant was so popular previously that reservations had to be made 1 month in advance. But we managed to walk in without reservations.
Along the corridor to the toilet / private rooms are photos of Heads of States enjoying dinner there. We saw pictures of Lee Hsien Loong, Queen Elizabeth, Zhu Rongji etc.
We ordered:
1. 蟹粉豆腐
2. Fried fish
3. Crab 冬粉 (not sure why I kept on having the craving for 冬粉!)
Address: 浦东新区陆家嘴西路168号正大广场5楼23号(近东方明珠)
Once again, I am brought back to Shanghai...this time my room at the Holiday Inn is 2311. And I was on the 27th floor last year! Anyway, see that the bed in Pattaya looks similar to that in Shanghai, except for color differences.
Had a short unplanned 2D1N trip to the office at Chonburi, Thailand...
The usual see-thru shower area...
The usual hard & soft pillows...
Amari Hotel, where we were supposed to stay in...
Ocean view from my 20th Level room.
The view from the 18th floor office...
Feeling bloated from the foodies weekend!
On Thursday, to celebrate PB's birthday, we went to Old Hong Kong Legends @ Raffles City. Didn't even know that this place existed...so I went to the basement. Alas, it is actually on the 2nd level.
For appertisers, we had the fried fish skin & the yuanyang (chicken & duck) with fruits.
For mains, we had the peking duck, and chose to have Eefu noodles for the meat. We also had oat prawns, french beans.
On Saturday, Buffet dinner at Orchard Hotel. For the month of July, they offer special Durian desserts...yummy! They even have fresh fruits to be opened for you when you ask for it!
On Sunday, had to attend a wedding dinner at Amara in Sentosa. The food is actually quite good and I enjoyed myself with the wonderful performances prepared by the bridal couple & friends.
Well, having stayed at the village for almost a year, I thought it was high-time that I paid the mani-pedi spas a visit and since there was a wedding this weekend, it was a good chance for me to go explore.
Read that Lush was not bad, so I walked past it and saw that they charge $22 for mani & $33 for pedi.
Next, I walked over to the Shopping Centre and walked into Serendity Cove. The price for mani & pedi is S$53.50. At first, things looked promising, they even had a snacks trolley filled with cookies, chocolate & fruits. They also provided a wide choice of nail colors & services.
Alas! My cuticle is still hurting from over cutting and I can see the many layers of my mani! Really disappointed! When I told T, the person who can single-handedly support the mani/pedi industry, she said that she thought that I had done my nails some time back! It seems she also had a bad experience with Serendity Cove.
Anyway, we know for sure that Serendity Cove won't get my patronage anymore!
Tempat Senang, Batam...good for a short getaway...
We had the Indonesian room.
Ordered the famous beer chicken...but nothing spectacular...
Since many of the rooms were not occupied, we wondered in and took pictures:
Thai Room
India Room
Tree House Room with the special hanging bed
Lobby
Went on Rover Coaches to Hunter Valley!
Hunter Valley Gardens
I'm glad I survived to tell the tale of my Lake Macquarie adventure. The GPS is not a great help in giving directions to the saltwater lake, and yours truly is quite a scary-cat driver....anyway, I'm glad that I returned everybody in one piece, the thing to do tomorrow is to return the car in one piece.
My Lake Macquarie pictures don't do justice to the place...perhaps because it was cloudy when the picture was taken
Perhaps these 2 are better?
Pictures of the sea feeding the saltwater into Lake Macquarie look better. Postcard quality, no? :P
Had a day off...to run errands...GM was grumbling...he said for his next birthday..I am not allowed to be on leave with him...ha he doesn't know that I won't be working on his next birthday cause it would be CNY! Hee!
We went to this restaurant at Parco Millenia. Their sashimi is so fresh it melts in your mouth! Yummy!
http://www.tomisushi.asia/#point_02
My nigiri umi set - $20
Finally had the chance to go to Peony Jade, have heard a number of reviews about them...their tim sum is nice...and it is freshly made when we order, hence the food takes some time to be ready. Only have picture of their cute tim sum - this is dinosaur.
Today, we had fluffy pancakes again. The receipe?
1. 1 cup or 180g fluor
2. 2 teaspoon baking powder
3. 1 pinch bicarbonate soda
4. 1 pinch of salt
5. 2 tablespoon sugar
6. 1 egg beaten
7. 1 cup or 200ml milk (fresh with some vanilla flavour)
8. 1 tablespoon oil (olive oil preferred)
Directions:
1. Mix ingredients 1-5 in a bowl, make a well
2. Add egg, milk, oil
3. Mix / whisk batter until there are no lumps
4. Leave to stand for 30min or until bubbles form
5. Fry in non-stick pan (without oil)
6. Pour in huge tablespoon of batter into the pan and leave til bubbles burst & form tiny holes.
7. Flip over and brown other side
8. Serve with dollop of butter or maple syrup
Can't remember the website I copied this receipe from, but once I find it, I would update the post.
Don't know why I like tau suan so much...but the catch is...I can only bear to eat it with you char kway...once the you char kway runs out...the tau suan is not appertising anymore...so perhaps, I should say that I like you char kway dipped in tau suan. Hee.
Anyway, I have bought the spilt beans for some time, but didn't make you char kway cause I didn't know where to get you char kway, today, GM showed me the you char kway store in the hawker centre opposite our place, so I am now currently waiting for the spilt mung beans to cook.
Receipe (from http://www.noobcook.com/tau-suan-split-green-bean-soup/)as follow:
Ingredients
(Makes 4 rice bowls)
150g split green (mung) bean
2 pandan leaves, washed and tied to a knot
50g rock sugar
500ml water
1 “you tiao” (fried dough fritters/”you char kway“), sliced
Thickener:
40g sweet potato flour (or water chestnut flour), mixed with 125ml (1/2 cup) water
Directions
1. Soak the beans in water for 1 hour, drained and rinse again with water. Drain again.
2. Steam the beans for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft.
3. In a pot, add water, pandan leaves and sugar. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and add in the steamed beans.
4. Before using the thickener, stir the solution again to make sure it is even. Stir in the thickener slowly until mixture thickens (you do not need to add all … stop adding once it becomes the thickness that you like. I used only 3/4 of the amount).
5. Ladle into serving bowls and top with you tiao. Serve hot or warm.
See also the version from makasutra below:
Well, I didn't know that potato starch has to be used, so didn't get it, will try using corn starch instead. Hope it turns out alright.