Red velvet cake from Butter Studio

First buy from Butter Studio after searching online for a cake shop at One KM mall. Contemplating between the two flavours - Red Velvet and Oneh Oneh. The former which is more normal and should suit most people while the later is special and unique but the kids might find it 'weird'. So settled for the red velvet cake which was the safe choice. 

Everyone loved it. Topped with fresh cream cheese which was not too sweet and heavy and the cake was just nice, to everyone's liking. 

Happy Birthday, my dearest friend!

Website: http://www.thebutterstudio.com/

Big Mama Korean @ Tiong Bahru

Second time back at Big Mama Korean place at Tiong Bahru. A cozy place to dine in where the service crews seems to be all korean. Simple English conversations completed the placing order process.  

First up on the table is definitely the banchan. I simply loved the lotus dish out of the many served.

Side Dishes (Banchan)

Next up is the seafood pancake. Normally, it got on the table as we loved korean pancakes. Fried thinly, this dish can't be missed if you love pancakes too.

Seafood Pancake

Main dish of the day goes to this - Dakgalbi. Tender (loving) chicken, cabbage, rice cake, sweet potato, and spicy sauce are all in and pan-fried on the spot. Goes well with a bowl of rice. 

Dakgalbi

Big Mama serves home-style Korean food and I shall be back if I'm not going to step into S. Korea soon.

Big Mama Korean Restaurant
2 Kim Tian Road, Singapore 169244 

Tonkichi Restaurant- Orchard Central

Please please, do make a reservation before you head to this place, if not, well, you got to wait. Else, please go early before 7pm. Luckily we did both. Reached at 7pm to make a reservation for 7.30pm since the rest will be late - did not really want to occupy their tables while waiting for the rest. 

It was a belated Birthday Celebration for Random S. She had cravings for Ramen but she satisfied it the night before. But well, this did not stop us from eating Japanese food tonight! It is forever crowded in Orchard on a Friday Night and I am so glad that Orchard Central remains as a less-crowd and relatively quiet place in the busy town in Singapore. Nonetheless, this place is filled with restaurants which we can happily enjoy our meals. 

Been long since I visited Tonkichi and I ordered the Oroshi Rosu Katsu Set. It is a deep fried pork loin with oroshi pontzu sauce top with grated radish (with refreshing  citrus soy sauce). By looking at the description, it had already captured my saliva - with the many different levels of flavours. This set came with cabbage, miso soup, and a plate of fruits. 

For the cabbage, you can always ask them to top up, it is free-flow. Remember to add the salad dressing to the cabbage - it tasted great. 

For the Katsu, well, it is really a big portion - the pork loin is thick but tender. With the deep fried meat, the radish that came with it gave it a less oily and dry texture. Totally a very filling meal that is worth the money! Had a great night with the girls, chatting till the shop was about to close.

Oroshi Rosu Katsu

Fantastic service and value for money. Food served fresh with very big portion. Nice ambiance for gathering.

Tonkichi Restaurant
181 Orchard Road
#07-06 Orchard Central

Melting pot - Holiday Inn Atrium

Granny's birthday and the family gathered at Melting Point - Holiday Inn Atrium for a celebration. 

It is considered an International buffet where there are a 1-for-1 credit card promotion. Not much photos were taken except for the first and last helping of the day. There are different counters for different types of food - the salad counter, the centre counter where there are fresh seafood, satay grilling, lamb and mee soto cooking, the cooked food consists of Asian Cuisine and the dessert counter.

For the seafood counter, I managed to grab a photo - there are mussels, clams, lobsters, sashimi and prawns. Alright, the seafood are fresh, especially the Sashimi and the crab. In our opinion, you will make your money worth by eating lots of crabs and sashimi. 

For the cooked food, the variety was just alright - the must try dish (if it does not change its menu) would be the roasted duck and the crayfish. Both are flavourful and have great distinct taste. Further to that, the service crew at the satay corner really had a busy time. The satay was always gone the moment it got landed on the tray. In my opinion, some Singaporeans are really inconsideration - seeing a long queue for the satay, they could happily grab the whole brunch to themselves. 

Seafood

I love cakes and there are quite a huge variety of cakes to choose from. The cube size makes it easier to handle especially after a huge dinner prior to that. With the size, we could easily try more variety. Remember to leave some stomach space for other desserts like ice cream and ice kachang!

Cakes

But whether this buffet is worth the money, I think ok with the credit card promotion. Oh by the way, the service crews are quite attentive and the empty plates are cleared promptly.

Holiday Inn Atrium,
Outram Road, Singapore 169075

Poulet - Raffles City

Meeting up with Random Friends to celebrate the youngest's birthday. Should be done in December but two of us will be away in Vancouver. Thus, we brought forward the celebration, especially when we last met up in September. 

Decided to patronize Poulet, a casual French restaurant, by the Thai Express group, at Raffles City. Been wanting to visit it since I heard quite good comments about the place. We had to queue for half an hour or so in order to get a seat and while eating, the queue never stopped till after nine plus. Good food but though not really that fantastic that I will be queuing half hour for it. 

Poulet

As a potato lover, french fries is the best starter for me. I would also try to order a share of french fries whenever possible. Huge chunky fries was great at Poulet. Complementary it was the chili sauce. Normal chili sauce which we can buy it off shelf . We could not understand why the service crew gave us such a small portion which we eventually asked for the 5th serving. Come on, looking at the serving of the fries, would really recommend them to fill it up to the brim instead of 1/5 of the saucer. This does not make sense! 

French Fries

Next up the table is the restaurant’s star dish - Poulet Rôti (roast chicken). The both of us shared the whole chicken. The portion was just nice and my friend was looking for the wing. She couldn't find it and I did not take note of the wings when eating. Seems weird, where are the wings? Anyway, the Mushroom Sauce complimented the tender meat. But towards the end, I got a bit sick of the sauce and dipped the chili sauce instead. Not sure if we did not enjoy the sauce or they really served the chicken with a lot of sauce - when we finished the chicken, there was still a lot of sauce leftover. But for around 30 dollars, personally I do not find this dish worth. Still, go ahead and order as this is, after all, my personal preference. 

Poulet Rôti (roast chicken)

Off to Mr Punch rooftop pub at Seah Street. Nice place to chillax as there was not many people there. Recommend to go!

TCC - The Connoisseur Concerto @ Orchard Ion

Amused by the number of friends that own the TCC card. 50% off the payment once again. This time round, I decided to look at the main course instead of the pasta. Can't imagine myself having to eat a big plate of pasta again. Looking through the menu, my friend realised that TCC does not have many dishes with the icon "Chef recommendations" and many of the "NEW" items have existed long ago. Our guess is that they do not update and reprint their menu. And this will also mean that they do not have new dishes for a long time.  

After pondering, the sides of the main dishes caught my attention - onion-roasted potatoes, lotus root slices and broccolini. So my choice for the day was Pan-seared Chicken Breast with Shogayaki Sauce. 

Found the Shogayaki sauce too salty for my tongue - does not like it. The chicken breast was not well marinated but the edamame cream proved to be special. Luckily the sides did not fail me. The lotus root slices are crunchy and the potatoes are soft. Good!

Pan-seared Chicken Breast

We ordered the Shrooms Bite as snack to share. It is definitely cooked when ordered as they were served real hot. So be mindful and do not put the entire piece into your mouth. The pastry was puffy and the mushrooms are great. 

Shrooms Bites

Complete the meal with my drink. This round, I ordered the Honey Citrus Fizz. It is soda that is mixed with orange, mango and honey. A fruity and thirst-quenching drink, feel so great after eating the salty sauce. 

Honey Citrus Fizz

ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn #B2-49 

Cafe Siem Reap by IndoChine @ Holland Village

Another Birthday, another gathering. This round, we headed to Holland Village as per the Birthday girl's instruction. As she IS always the earliest, she decided to just chillax at Cafe Siem Reap by IndoChine. They have this 1-for-1 beer promotion and I guess this really attracts her. 

Besides the beer, we had a fair share of Vietnamese food at this cafe. As weird as it seems, Cafe Siem Reap selling Vietnamese food. And with the food, I missed my days in Ho Chi Minh. The days without my phone, the days where I could rest and relax, eat and drink. Those days are coming, I can see the lights at the end of the year-long journey.

As Random A is a vegetarian, we order the Goi Cuon Chay - Vegetarian Fresh Rice Paper Rolls as the starters while waiting for the rest of the people to join us. Rice Paper Rolls with beer, great combination. The food was served promptly and I think I took more time trying to get the attention of the service crews to take order. How irony was that.  Anyway, the fresh rice paper rolls was nice. I seldom see this dish in Singapore and the last time I ate it was in HCM itself. This roll was filled with with lettuce, bean sprouts, chives, mint leaves and rice vermicelli accompanied with a traditional Siêm Rêap sauce. Refreshing taste with the mint lingering around the mouth. DO remember to dip the sauce as it will bring out the flavour - a little spicy but nice. Otherwise, the roll is quite bland. For those who do not just want vegetables, there is also the rice paper roll with prawns. 

Goi Cuon Chay - Vegetarian Fresh Rice

I need meat and thus, I went on to order the Com Suon - Vietnamese Pork Chop with Rice Steamed jasmine rice served with special marinated pork chop and a sunny side up egg, accompanied with a sweet Siêm Rêap fish sauce. 

The jasmine rice is really great and it went well with the pork chop. The pork chop was well marinated. The fish sauce was a great creation and it brought back memories. The portion was just nice and I enjoyed this dish alot. 

Com Suon - Vietnamese Pork Chop with Rice

Next up was the Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Pancakes - bean sprouts, onion, carrot, black mushroom and yellow beans, stuffed in a crispy Vietnamese pancake served with fresh lettuce, full - flavoured mint and coriander leaves coated in a traditional tangy sauce. That's the description in the menu with no mention of meat but hey there, there was minced meat. If you like vegetables, do try this. While the vegetables was fresh, the pancake neturalised the taste. 

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Pancakes

Last dish of the day is definitely dessert - Sticky Rice with Mango. It is actually Sticky rice with coconut milk and fresh mango.

The sticky rice is just nice, not too dry and the coconut milk complements it. The fresh mango is really fresh and sweet. Loved it.

Sticky Rice with Mango

Not a crowded place but I reckoned could be that it was a Monday night. The service crew should improve on their service and be more attentive. Otherwise, this is a great place to hang out.

Holland Village,
44 Lorong Mambong

Beauty Pot [美人锅, Bijin Nabe] @ Tsukada Nojo

Another gathering with a friend whom me and BFF M will always meet up with once a year to celebrate our birthdays. Yes, an annual event. I am not sure why this is so, but I'm still glad to keep in touch with A in such a manner. 

We decided to meet at Chinatown Point where it is sort of a midpoint from where we live. Not knowing what to eat, we then decided to settle it on the meeting day itself. M reached first and she decided on Tsukada Nojo as it was a rainy day and she wanted soup. How glad I was for her decision. I have always wanted to try the Bijin Nabe at Tuskada Nojo when it first opens at Plaza Singapura. However, it does not take reservation and the queue is forever long. Thus, I never have the chance to step into the shop for 'BEAUTY'.

Tsukada Nojo

We were all late though and thus, they decided fast after seeing the menu. We order 3 sets of Bijin Nabe ($25 for 1 pax) – a “Beauty Pot” of collagen-rich organic chicken broth with prawns, minced chicken, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms, black and white fungus, winter melon, yellow zucchini, yuzu, tofu and noodles.

First came the Chicken broth. It looked totally like pudding. I was a bit stunned but slowly, as the 'pudding' melted, it became a pot of delicious soup. 

Looks like pudding

The waitress served the raw ingredients and went off.  Not knowing what to do, we decided to put everything into the pot. 

3 person share of ingredients

And our final product was this:

Bijin Nabe ready for consumption

As the noodle was not served, I signaled the waitress. To my 'horror', she mentioned that when the ingredients was served, the person should have asked when we want the noodle to be served and that someone should be helping us to put in the ingredients. Oh man, I wondered what we had missed out on by doing it all by ourselves. So People, please note that they will SERVE you and you do not have to be too anxious, trying to put everything into the boiling soup! Nonetheless, we asked her to serve the noodle. 

We also ordered the Nikumaki Onigiri each. It is actually rice ball wrapped in pork and baked with a special sauce. There are four flavours to choose from and we ordered three. Each costs around $3.50-$3.80. I think I had the spicy with yuzu sauce. It is like sushi but wrapped with bacon instead of seaweed. 

Nikumaki Onigiri

Finally, at the end of the dinner, we were served complimentary desserts. It tasted like chocolate caramel pudding. Just a bite size and my friends love it. We asked and they gave us a second helping. They are not selling this as part of their menu but just a gesture to thank the diners. Oh, this complimentary desserts change daily. So I guess it will be a surprise the next time I visit. 

Complimentary dessert

Oh by the way, they have this reward card system that is designed like a business card. The more you eat, the faster you will be 'promoted' by the shop and if I never heard wrongly, you will be given complimentary food items. 

Quite a nice place to dine in but I think the service crew are not very attentive. Or rather, they should have informed us that they will be helping us to cook. Overall, not a bad experience and I had a great time there!

Chinatown Point
133 New Bridge Road #02-37

出海了！！！

A hot sunny day out to the sea. BFF W hired a Yatch for half a day to celebrate her 30th Birthday. I had work appointment on that day and was hesitating if I should rush to attend the Yatch Celebration. I'm glad I made the decision to make it in the end. 

It was the first time I stepped into ONE°15 Marina Club and onto a Yatch. Spending time with friends, relaxing on a Yatch was great. Surrounded with just the sea and the sky, we just have to enjoy sun-tanning. The scary outcome is getting SUNBURNT. A price we paid to stay under the sun for hours. When the Yatch anchored in the middle of the sea, we were allowed to jump into the sea to enjoy the water or to use the pedal board to stay above the sea while enjoying sea sports. 

Here are some of the pictures I took. Just let the picture tells it out:

It was quite expensive to rent this Yatch but I guess it is an experience that we all shared for life.

Happy Birthday, BFF J!

BFF J's birthday was over and we had yet to celebrate the day with her due to the working schedules we all had. Finally, we decided on 10th Aug which was over the long weekend. Decided to have a BBQ at L's place but due to some mis-communication, we did not manage to get a pit. So L decided to cook for us instead. Not a bad decision after all, since she is a GREAT cook. 

We met up before the dinner for a swim. Really need to get rid of the fats in order to load more later on during the dinner.

Menu was out a just before the day. And here we ate:

1. Baked Salmon with herbs

Heard from her that the salmon was brought back from Germany by her daddy. The salmon is really fresh tender and it tasted slightly like smoked salmon. Wonder what went into the marination process! Have to admit that baking is really a great healthy cooking method. 

Baked Salmon with herbs 

2. Pesto Pasta with mushrooms

Not into the different types of pasta, but I guess L cooked the Fettuccine this time round. Normally I do not go for this pasta as it is flat and in my opinion, it does not give me that chewy feeling. However, I was wrong. This pasta was chewy and great. The mushrooms were well hidden beneath the pasta and it was stir fried with garlic earlier on. With the pesto sauce, all ingredients were then mixed together to form this dish. 

Pesto Pasta

3. Broccoli Soup

What's more to say about the soup. Does not have the broccoli taste and it is thick and nice. This soup was the 'HOT' item on the table and the last person had to scrap in order to enjoy the last spoon of it!

Broccoli Soup

4. Millie Crepe with Nutella

Baking is fun and non-oven cake is really amusing me. I always wanted to try some of those non-oven baked cake but I am getting lazy to get my hands started. Maybe I should really start to try out some recipes before I hit back the normal office hours work. 

Okay, back to the Millie Crepe. I read it up and it seems simple but time consuming. It takes a bit of patience to get the crepe ready. How many crepes to cook depends on how many layers we want the end product to be. This is a great dessert after the sumptuous meal. L never fails to wow us with her desserts. I love this!  

Millie Crepe with nutella

Time for home, time to depart. Goodbye till we meet again for home cooked food!

Happy Birthday, Singapore!

National Day is here and it marks the 48th birthday for Singapore. Happy Birthday, Singapore!

Have no chance to be at the parade to enjoy the celebration with the lucky ones. But I am just as glad that I can be home on this day. For most of the years, I am able to watch some of the elements of the parade at the comfort of my place. For example, the helicopters with the National Flag, the planes doing stunts and even the fireworks. But with more high rise buildings, the view of the spectacular fireworks is being blocked!

The best part I love about the parade is definitely the singing part when everyone sang to the national day song. One of my favourite song is "Count on me, Singapore". Extracts of the song as follows:

There is something down the road that we can strive for

We are told no dream's too bold that we can't try for

There's a spirit in the air, it's a feeling we all share

We're going to build a better life, for you and me

We can achieve, we can achieve

An inspiring song not only for the nation, and it can be applied to each individual. Everyone should have a dream and everyone should chase after his/her dream. Oh man, at times, singing national day songs on national day does make me emotional. Anyway, here are some of the photos I took on this special day from home:

Helicopter with the Singapore Flag

Fireworks from home

Another shot

And finally, Smurfs are here to celebrate with us as well... Happy Birthday, my dear Country, my Singapore!

Smurf celebrating too...

DIY cards using Iris Folding

I love art and craft and I love making cards for my friends. be it birthday or Christmas or some special occasion. With the technology, people nowadays really do not send out cards to friends and family. Unlike what we did when we were young, when there is a special occasion, I always look forward to buying cards from shops - to pen down my wishes for the recipient. But come the technology, friends are wishing each other through Facebook, Whatsapps. And we longer need to remember such special dates as there are always the technology to notify us of the dates.

Years back, I stumbled across Iris Folding while looking for ideas on card making. And I love doing Iris folding from then on. I love colourful things. I can add many colours to iris folding and the visual effect of the end products is great. Iris folding is actually very simple and once you get a hang out of it, you'll definitely love it.  You can apply iris folding for any occasion or any design.

Whenever I ran out of ideas of what to do for a card, I will turn to iris folding. Just cut out any shapes or animals or design that you like and layers the colourful papers, the effect of the card will definitely be glamorous.

Did 3 cards this morning and here are the pictures for the steps:

1. Materials that are required

Paper, Cutter, glitter, glue, scissors etc

2. Think of what design you want for the card and draw them out accordingly. Good to be on the reverse side such that your pencil mark will not appear on the front of the card.

Design of card

3. Cut out the design accordingly

After cutting

4. Cut the coloured paper into stripes and fold them into half

Cut out strips of coloured paper and fold them into halves

5. Paste them as you like and this is how the back looks like: UNTIDY

Back of card, after Iris folding is completed

6. There you go, Iris folding cards for the number: 30. Decorate the card with wordings accordingly.

Cards are nicely done!

Depending on how complicated your design is, Iris folding does not really take up much of your time. Find it interesting? If so, time to get your hands on it!

Some of the earlier cards that I made for BFFs to mark the 30th club that we are embarking on this year. 

Cards for my friends turning 30th

Fukuichi Japanese Dining

Fukuichi is tucked in a quiet corner of Orchard - Triple One Somerset is often a neglected place for me. Never knew that there are some great restaurants hidden there. Visited Fukuichi Japanese Restaurant yesterday to have a birthday dinner for Random W. I never knew there are some restaurants on the second level. Probably heading back there for dinner for a less-crowded but centralised gathering.

Here's some of the food we had:

Kani Tofu

The cold appetiser - Kani Tofu – is actually tofu with crab meat in century egg sauce. I’ve never seen or tried this dish before in a Japanese restaurant. I am not a century egg lover but the sauce was done to perfection. It was not overpowering and went well with the fresh tofu and crab meat. The tofu simply melted in the mouth. This dish was a pleasant surprise and was very refreshing.

Sushi Rolls

Seared Salmon Roll 

This was great and we ordered 2 plates of it. Mainly was due to the fact that the birthday girl was late and she ordered another plate to satisfy her cravings. This sushi roll was executed perfectly. The salmon was seared perfectly, bringing out a smoky smell and yet not overcooked. Perfect match with the other ingredients that was added to make the roll. Yummy! 

Avocado Roll

We had high expectations to the presentation of this roll. We thought we would see a ‘caterpillar’ but we were disappointed. The avocado was fresh and sweet. For the vegetarian, please do not order as there is crab meat in this roll. 

Seared White Tuna roll 

Fukuichi really makes effort to display their dish. From the sushi roll, they put the sushi into small holder to bring out visual effect to the food. Like the Salmon roll, the tuna was not overcooked. However, we preferred the Salmon roll more.

Cold Soba

Wanted to order the Cold Fish Soba but in the end, we ordered the normal cold soba due to some error. The soba was chewy and nice. 

Hotate Yaki 

Wanted to order the bamboo clams but it was not available. Thus, we opted for the Hotate Yaki (Scallops in Garlic Sauce). Not a bad choice after all. The scallop was grilled to perfection. Fresh is the word to describe the seafood at Fukuichi. Easy to chew and it really went well with the cheese. The Garlic and Butter made it more tasty and flavourful.

Chawanmushi

There are many types of Chawanmushi and we went for the normal one. It was not bad and there were crab meat, prawn and meat in it.

Forget to take the photo for the Ebi Almond Tempura. This dish was a pleasant surprise. The almond flakes were crispy and they did not fall off the Ebi when I dipped it in the sauce. The prawn was fresh, sweet and tender. For those who like almond, you could try this dish as this is quite special. 

We also have the Yuzu Sparkling Sake. Sweet and nice and when you drink it, it does not taste like Sake. I guess that’s the dangerous part as you will unknowingly drank a lot! Overall, Fukuichi is a nice place to eat and chill for a gathering. Will come back to this area soon!

Fukuichi Japanese Dining
111 Somerset Road
TripleOne Somerset

Keep Calm and Be Cool; I'm just turning 30!

2 months past my 30th birthday and I decided to start a blog to commemorate the year of me entering into the next milestone in life - the big 30! Technology has made things easier for us to keep track of our life virtually, be it Facebook, tumblr, or instagram. Just like what we used to do when we were young. Jotting down our experiences in diary.

Last year, BFF W, challenged me to take photo(s) each day for the year 2012 so that at the end of the year, I can have a year of photos to look back. What a resolution but I'm glad I did it. The photos are the memories of what I did when I was 29. Looking at my tumblr, I recollected what I did on each individual day. Though there were days with vague memories, there were days whereby I remembered the fun time I had through the pictures I took.

With this, I shall make eblogger the avenue for me to jot down the bits and pieces of my life from age 30 onward - the happy or sad days, the fun or downside of life. Things that I love, Things that I want to share with everyone. Though it will not be a daily affair like tumblr where I took a picture to remember the day, here shall be the place where I put my thoughts and feelings into words. A picture may paint a thousand words but it would be great to jot down text as well.

I shall announce that Í'm not afraid of aging; I just want to Live to EAT PLAY LOVE!'!

If a woman over 30 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it's usually something more interesting. ~Andy Rooney