National Day

Spend the national day with Alvin.

Started off with a drive around the site of our BTO area. Building progress not very fast. Still at 2-3 storey.

Then we went for lunch at famous laksa at Yishun. Already been there for a few times. This was one of the few days where there is long queue at the stall. Usually there is also queue, but not as long. Anyway the queue was moving fast, so not much of a issue.

I seated right in front of the stall as it is the only empty table. So I got the chance to observe the patrons and the workers. The preparation area is quite spacious behind. A few people prepares the orders. Ocassionally there will be a lady coming out from behind getting orders from the queue.

The stall owners are also very thoughtful to separate the gravy and the noodles for those having takeaways. They commented that this is because the noodles will not be soggy.

Yums, the long awaited noodles. I like mine with yellow noodles or mixed with beehoon. But usually if I am not the one ordering, I will make my order simplier so as not to trouble people.

This got to be the most flavourful laksa I ever had. Thick and fragrant gravy compliments the noodles perfectly. I always thought laksa don't match well with thick beehoon cos there is "no taste". I think the yellow noodles added a tinge of saltiness to the overall taste.

Spend the day catching up with dramas and met up with Terence & wife for dinner at Western Bar. The tv is showing NDP parade and I thought I would have a chance to emerse in NPD atmosphere in Singapore by participating in nationwide plegde taking or something as the previous national days was spend overseas. I envisioned that the whole Singapore will pause at certain time and recite pledge together or what. But well, it is not what I had imagined. lolz. Totally skipped the moment.

Totally forgot to take photos of the food we had. But overall, the food are not bad. Its the usual hangout for the guys, so I think I would have chances to take photos in future.

Rewatching the classics

Recently when people asked me what drama I am watching now, I would sheepishly reply that I am rewatching the 还珠格格 series. And all will give me the -_- look. This show is certainly a epic classic that I would be touched no matter how many times I watched it. I've got to admit that 琼瑶 is a very good writer. The thing about rewatching it now is that you could fast forward the parts that you do not like since I have already watched it before and I know the whole story, so no harm in skipping parts.

The best part I like revolves around 紫薇 and 尔康. I always watch in awe beliving in the possibility of such intense love and understanding of each other. It feels too good to be true.

Second part is definately better than first installment. The cast is prettier and more charming. But more draggy with the addition of the 香妃.

I skipped 3rd part totally as the majority of the casts are changed. The 2 female leads changed and somehow the series is just not the same anymore. Of the 4 leads in the show, only 尔康 remains. What a pity actually. Not a perfect competion to the show.

So now, I am catching the remake of the 还珠格格 ironically named 新还珠格格. I thought it will be totally revamp of the storyline like it would be a continuation of story from their children. But it ended up to have the same storyline but with some minor additions to the story. The drama seems to be of a different era from the previous. The headgear is smaller and different (more towards 步步惊心 type) and the era is more acceptable to westerners. So you guessed it. The revamped version has a addition of a westerner who works in the palace as a painter. Furthermore, to my surprise, the emperess is HK actress 邓翠雯. I found the actress looks familiar, but I did not expected it to be her until I googled. Ruby Lin had a guest appearance in the show as 夏雨何.

I'm speed watching the show. Generally, the show follows very very closely to the previous works but it is slightly faster paced than the previous. Though I'm already at the tenish episode of the show, I have difficulty differentiating 尔康 and 尔泰. They somehow looks the same. Perhaps because I am not very familiar with China actors so they tend to look the same to me. As I continued to watch the show, I am consistently comparing the previous series with the current.

For now, I concluded the previous version is better.

The Fancl facial experience

Finally gotten a slot to try out the facial by Fancl after 3 months of waiting. The appointments are forever full when I tried to call. So I'm very excited to go for the facial after many months of self maintenance at home.

The bad thing is that the appointment timings are very weird. For the evenings there is only 6.30pm or 8pm. There is no 7pm. Good thing is I can have a proper dinner before the facial instead of rushing all the way.

The Fancl ladies are very friendly and approachable. The beautician first do a skin analysis for me as it was my first visit for facial. She shows me that healthy/ desired skin condition is where there you can see neat triangles on your skin when magnified. For me, the triangles around the cheekbones appear stretched while the cheeks area seems quite ok. It all boils down to the fact that my skin is not hydrated enough. Besides I have a quite constantly peeling nose. Improvision to skin care routine to take extra effort to moisturise the skin there.

The beautician then leads me to a room to change and proceed with the usual facial procedures. What I like about facial at Fancl is that there is no hard selling and they are not pushy. This is a major plus point to me. I had my facial done in peace and quiet with occasional screeching and screaming from kids as the facial room is just next to the Fancl counter. This is perfectly okay with me.

The beautician is very thoughtful and gentle. Good! Hope she still serves me for my next appointment.

During the facial session, beautician will assess your skin conditions and then advise you accordingly the price and the kind of facial she will be doing on you. No worries as the price is very affordable.

Once done, there will be a hot cup of green tea waiting for you outside beside the confy chair. The serivce don't lose out to any other facial players in the market. Except much better as they don't hard sell. This is the first facial that actually makes you feel good as the beautician does not critize your skin until its like so worthless. She will just say truthfully what is your skin condition, the good and the bad with no critizism involved.

While you are enjoying the green tea, she won't rush you, she will enquires if there is any products you need to stock up and she will quietly disappears and takes them for you. No rush at all.

I'm a convert. Fancl facial tops my list now. Ad hoc pay as you do your facial each time. No package, no hard selling, no pushy sales.

Mushroom Soup

What is heartier than to have a nice hot bowl of soup for lunch?

We have decided to have a mushrooms soup for a simple lunch (which is not really that simple at all). Recipe taken from Sunday Times article.

Went with mum early in the morning to the market to buy the necessary ingredients for the soup. We got assorted mushrooms, white onion and milk. Its not cheap making mushroom soup from scratch. Mushrooms by itself are quite expensive already. Also, to me, I'm not so particular on what type of mushrooms to use, so I did not really adhere to the suggested items. I just throw in whatever I liked. Mum also got leftover potato, so I just threw that in too.


INGREDIENTS 

• 800g mixed fresh mushrooms 
• 1 medium, brown skinned onion 
• 120g salted butter, divided 
• 50g flour 
• 750ml full fat milk, divided 
• 500ml chicken stock 
• salt and pepper to taste chopped chives (optional) 

METHOD
1. Prepare the mushrooms: Wipe them clean with damp paper towels. Slice off the stems or root ends, dice into roughly 1cm cubes.
2. Peel the onion, chop finely, set aside.
3. In a large frying pan, heat 70g of the butter over medium heat. When it has melted, add the mushrooms and saute 3 to 4 minutes until they give off some liquid and are succulent. Turn off the heat, set aside.
4. In a medium pot, heat the remaining 50g of butter over medium heat. When it has melted, add the onions and saute quickly for 30 seconds. Turn heat down to medium low, cover the pot and let cook 8 minutes.
5. Add flour to the pot, mix well with the onions and butter and cook over medium low heat for 3 minutes. The mixture will clump up, that is fine. Just keep breaking the lumps up with a whisk and continue cooking. 6. In the meantime, heat 250ml of the milk in a saucepan until bubbles form at the edges, or in a microwave safe jug in the microwave on a high setting for 1 minute.

7. After the flour, onion and butter mixture has cooked for 3 minutes, remove pan from heat and pour in the hot milk, whisking thoroughly to incorporate the milk into the roux mixture. Then add the remaining 500ml milk and the chicken stock, whisking to mix thoroughly.
8. Place the pot back on the stove, and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, whisking often to prevent the soup from scorching at the bottom of the pan.
9. Add the cooked mushrooms, stir to mix well, and cook another 15 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often. The soup will thicken up.

10. Check for seasonings – add salt if needed, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

11. Ladle into bowls, top with chopped chives if using, and serve with warm bread.


We also bought some french bread to eat together with the soup. We bake it somemore to make it crispier before serving.
Above serves 4-6 pax.

White Dog Cafe

Met up with AK for lunch on one of the weekdays. Went to vivocity as we need to purchase movie tickets for the weekend. 

We decided to try the executive lunch set at White Dog Cafe. 

Ice Lemon Tea

Fish soup with salad

Celery & Potato Broth

Mushroom Aglio Olio

Beef Lasagna

Overall, the food are not bad. Its my first time trying the executive lunch set and I find it quite decent. The only thing is the aglio olio is a tad spicy for me.

Worth a try.

White Dog Cafe
1 Harbourfront Walk, #02-131/132 VivoCity

Le Gourmet

If you are working/staying at the west, you might have heard of Le Gourmet. It is a western food stall in a coffeeshop in west coast. It started off with a stall in coffeeshop in West Coast Blk 516. Few years ago, it expanded to additional shop location behind Ayer Rajah Market. In layman terms, the more atas version of Le Gourmet.

This is the second time we went to the shop to eat.

It is a small clean shop in white color theme. It's one of those simplistic design. One bad thing about the location is that it is tucked in a corner of the row of shops. You won't really notice it unless you walked towards the corner.

Glance at the menu, it basically serves the items that mostly could be found in the coffeeshop stall. But, a more atas version. There is more thought into the presentation of the dish and of course, it comes with a price of almost double the coffeeshop cost.

I had the soup and the fish with potato wedges and salad.

Both were equally yummy.

However, if you ask me, I would rather go to the coffeeshop stall as it costs only almost half the price. It is not too much distinct difference among the 2 venues. Somemore just 1-2 bus stops away I could enjoy cheaper price for same food, would I spend so much to eat at the shop?

Well, we do. Because the market was cleaning that day and the only coffeeshop was briming with people.

We was thinking how the shop manages to survive as amost all the tables are occupied because the market is doing its cleaning. Else, normally, the shop will be like 80% empty.

Zalora.sg

Ordered from this fashion bouqitue some time ago and I am very impressed by their service quality and standards. I had placed my orders the night before, like 10+pm on a Sunday. And I received my items the next day evening!

This time round, I was attracted to the many shoes in the website. Bought 2 pairs of flats.

I first got to know about this website is through a variety programme featuring this online shop. Then I noticed they are featured in newspapers.

Blame it on my itchy fingers for the purchase.

The loots arrived in a nice looking black carton box printed with "zalora". What I am impressed that they did not outsource their delivery service to other parties. And i believed they handle the delivery themselves. Well, in my household, as long as one did not inform that there will be people delivering things today, no one will open the door. It happened. The deliveryman had to call my mobile and tell me no one at home. (he called me when I was halfway through self service kiosk at NTUC Finest -_-). Then I had to call home and ask mum and sis to open the door. Duh.

What surprises me next is the stylish packaging when I opened the carton box. The shoe boxes are wrapped in black paper secured with "zalora" sticker. I was truly impressed by the level of detail they have given into packaging of the boxes. But then I find it quite a waste as I tried to tear it nicely thinking perhaps I could reuse the paper to wrap gifts or something. But the paper is simple too thin and fragile. No prize for guessing what happened next.

The happiest thing is that I am able to fit into the shoes I had ordered nicely. Yay.

I'm keeping the shoes in the storeroom for now. Use it when the current flats are torn.

By the way, Zalora has a very impressive returns policy. No worries if you regretted your purchase. As long as you have it in the original condition and the 2 pieces of return form, you can arrange for the items to be returned to Zalora and get a full refund (or exchange)! How nice is that.

I'm thinking that let's say I got the wrong size for shoes. I can arrange for return and exchanged for another size. Wonderful! P/s: They will collect the item from the address you have provided.

Yes, I'm definately going to be a return customer. UOB customers can have 10% off for GSS! I made the wrong move to select UOB discount when I'm entitled to $10 off introductory voucher code. :( I emailed them to rectify but, they haven't even replied and I have already gotten the goods. Sigh.

*Edited* Visit Zalora now!