Vday (Vincent Day)

So how did you spend your 14 Feb last Friday? I spent mine with Vincent of course, since it's his day. Haha. Since Valentines' day lies on a Friday this year, not much could be done except for a simple dinner date. We didnt really plan much on this day because our actual celebration was on the day after, 16 Feb, a Saturday. This year it's really exciting cuz we went for our first ever hotel staycation! Probably it doesnt sound that enticing to lots of pple, but I have always fancied the idea of having a staycation because of the positive reviews I heard about Singapore's hotels. So why not try being a tourist for one day? You shall read more about our short romantic stay during the next blog entry.
Anyway back to vday, since it lies on the 15th of the lunar calendar, it means it's vegetarian day for me. We made a reservation at Cafe Salivation, a highly raved eatery under the Rai Restaurant group. Sadly speaking, the dining experience was really really bad :(

We were being served promptly, presented with a cup of water within minutes. Sounds good right? Wait till u hear more...

 Complimentary water... I kinda like the words on this mug.   

Me with the Mojito that wasnt ($8 I think ) drink that was refreshing. It is a combination of fizzy soda mixed with lemon grass and mint. My kind of drink.   

As usual, only I am the one who is prepared with gifts. Sobz.. Not to say that I demand gifts la, but I would like a card with heartfelt words please...

                                Too happy when he saw his gift. Haha..

Haha, I love this expression. Anyway, this isnt what you are thinking it is. They are chocolates! Novelty chocolates shaped like condoms. I just thot it would be fun to give this as a gift. However I realised the couple behind us staring at us really seriously when Breadman opened his gift. They must be thinking: Wa nowadays the youngsters really so open minded ah...  Moral of the story: Always get the whole picture. Haha.. Dun anyhow assume.

 I dun think the packaging really resembles the real thing. So not hundred percent foolsproof. Chocolate is better than sex? Maybe not. Haha.  

A closer look

After this prize giving ceremony, the soup we ordered came. So far so good, I didnt wait a long time for my food. Breadman ordered a mixed vegetable soup ($6) which looked like nothing like that. Thus, that's a major disappointment. It should be called mushroomy soup with veg bits instead.

The bread slices werent crisp too. This is when disappointment starts to set in....

After breadman finished his soup, I began to sip on my mojito, took more pics of the cafe..

 Oh yes, this place has sliding doors too, but not those automatic ones. So you have to slide them manually. After 45 mins of waiting, my food finally arrived. By then, I no longer anticipated the taste of the food. It was like: just get it over and done with this dish. Never heard of the saying: A hungry man is angry man? I guess what is more vexing is that those diners who arrived later than us get served quickly! Just because they ordered the vday menu set. However, the waiter didnt even tell us anything about the vday set. Bad service one. The waiter should have informed me that this dish takes a very long time to cook, but he didnt. If he did, I could haf ordered pasta dishes. Bad service two. You served others who were just sitted in the cafe even when I had waited for so long? Bad service three.        

 Cashewnut Paella ($14.50),  a spanish rice dish cooked with cashewnuts, asparagus and capsicums. I shall not deny this, but this dish tastes pretty good. Every grain of rice was well soaked and it absorbed the sweetness of the vegetables. It is applaudable for a place that does not use MSG. However, I still will not wait for 45 mins for a dish, especially on vday. Maximum waiting time: 25 mins. I dun think I will ever go back to this place again, as I dun think they can manage their kitchen with the influx of customers. You can probably go in there for a drink or desserts. Be expected to wait if you are looking at having main courses.

 

Anyway, that ruined a little bit of vday, fortunately the time spent at Timezone arcade helped save the day! Haha. We topped up $10 in the card and got $10 free! We played a few shooting games which I sucked at, some tapping game with music (jube? I cant remember the name), basketball shooting game and so on... We were practically bad at all games! Haha, but the process is still fun.

 

 Using my laneige foundation. Hmm seems like the coverage isnt as good as the revlon one.. That's my new tribal necklace from mphosis. Anyway mphosis has membership now! Free membership with $50 spent.

      End off with a pic of us. Eeks clammy hair! That's what happens after a very long day...    

 

Total Damage:  $33.35 (for 2 pax)

 

Overall Ratings: 3/5

 

Cafe Salivation

176 Race Course Road
Singapore 218607

 

 

Year of the Horse

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Though it's the 10th day of lunar new year today, better late than never to send a greeting! Apologise for the dearth of regular posts over here, as I am still commuting to and fro from two places: Yishun and Chai Chee. Even when I reach my yishun home during the weekends, more often than not, I am still outside running errands. Hence, I hardly have the time to sit down leisurely to draft up a post. I'll be posting up pics taken during the lunar new year bit by bit as I still do not have much time to edit the sieve through the photos. This year, during the first day of CNY, I went to two temples specifically Shuang Lin Monastery and Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple. The latter temple was packed like crazy! We had to queue up to enter the temple. That is indeed an eye opener for me because I havent been to this popular temple during the first day of lunar new year and I am taken aback by the throngs of crowd. It was also quite dangerous and chaotic because people were holding onto lit joss sticks and I heard from my sister that a lady yelped loudly as someone's joss sticks burnt her hand. After that I visited third sis's house followed by Breadman's house and cousin's house at night. That sums up Day 1. As for Day 2, my family and i went to elder sis's house at boon lay as well as the temple over there. Day 3 began with a trip to the newly opened river safari, which i will share with you in future posts and ended with me visiting Breadman's house again.

Anyway, backtrack a bit. Here are the food we ate during the reunion dinner.

As the yearly tradition goes, we always must have home made steam boat during the eve of chinese new year. This year we had more seafood than the other kinds of ingredients because third sis bought some crabs from a sale. Not sure the actual name of the crabs but I think they resemble alaskan crabs! My fav food item is still the fish. All kinds of fish. Cod fish, salmon, bring it on. I also like the azhar that my mom made. It is this spicy and sourly sweet dish of cucumber with carrots, topped with peanuts. It is a very refreshing appetizer.

 

No pics for day 1 of cny so i shall move on to the second day.

Breadman came visiting my house on day 2 morning, dressed in red as always. He says he will only be in red during chinese new year. Bluff loh. I have seen you in that colour on non new year days. Anyway to cut the long story short, we are back together again. This time way better than the first time around. Guess the 1 year long separation didnt have much impact on us. Nothing has changed much as compared to the past. Except that we are both older with time.

 

My selfie! In my new dress with a sexy back. Too bad my back isnt exactly a feast to the eyes. Haha.

 My very adorable yet irritating dad. Haha. I think we look alike. Dun you think so?

Cousin in her romper and neon yellow theme items. Best to go out at night! Haha.

Sis and cousin posing for a pic. Yanni was our photographer. Aitee looks like a crab with her hands like that!

There there, dun say I didnt credit you. this is my sister Yanni whom I will be staying together with till the day I get married. Haha. We say she looks like a zebra in that outfit. Haha. She got that dress from Nichii.

 

Xy in her Dressabelle dress together with cousin Jess. These two took so many selfies using my camera!

 

Mandatory outfit of the day shot. I am in my dress which costs $25, $29 mango belt, $12 cardigan from Hong Kong.

 

I kinda love this shot because I like how my hair looks like from the back. This is a $12 haircut which took 1 hour as the salon had no one except for me. Thus the hairdresser took eons to cut my hair. I am fine with that because I quite enjoy the feeling of having my tresses cut off. My back is not very nice. Can see some back acne if you close up.

Cousins's OOTD. You have no idea how many shots we took! The behind the scenes shots will definitely make you laugh. Silly poses, trying to pose like a supermodel and all the other random stuff! That's actually the best part of chinese new year. We take photos like nobody's business. Angpaos become secondary since I stopped visiting after I fell sick. I dun really care much about meeting those immature relatives of mine, who have nothing better to say than to criticize and to sneer.

This photo looks incredibly dumb. Haha. Failed attempts at making it look artistic. It is coincidental that we both turned up in outfits with "holes" so I thought it would be cute to capture that. How often do you wear similar outfits without prearranging?

The three of us! Xy, Jess and myself. We were the only ones who took photos non stop during our "supposed" CNY visit. Haha. We didnt even take a pic with the host. OOPS.

 There, what did I say about these two earlier on? This is the valid evidence. I still have plenty of selfies of them which I henceforth think is not appropriate for this blog of a narcissistic nature. Haha.

Shocked expression while eating my magnum pink. FYI, it isnt nice for one bit. I still prefer the good old original magnum. Sometimes, innovations just do not work out.

End off with my fav pic with cousin. I love this pic because of my subtle smile. I rarely smile with my mouth closed because I feel that my straight teeth are my assets. This pic is slightly different cuz it's a subtle smile. Want to smile but dun want to smile like that. Ha.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! HUAT AH! GO DRINK AH HUAT WHITE COFFEE! (okay lame : D)

 

L'atelier Tiramisu

I was at Clarke Quay some time back as I was there to collect some free performance tix for a singing performance which turned out to be disastrous. Haha.. I realised that Blues wasnt my cup of tea after that. I popped by L'atelier Tiramisu after spotting it around the corner at the basement of Clarke Quay Central. It is a hit or miss thing as I find the basement a little hard to navigate. It's either you spot it, or you miss that shop totally. This place serves not only conventional Tiramisu, but also unique creations such as matcha tiramisu and lychee tiramisu. Guess what I had? The lychee of course! Watermelon is my fav fruit, then the honey dew and third in place would be the lychee.

Lychee Tiramisu ($6.80) per slice was indeed moisture laden, so much moisture that the usually fluffy texture of the sponge fingers was almost non existent. What remains was bits of cake that were infused with the strong taste of lychee and marsala wine. There is so much alcohol that even one mouth seems to make me a little closer to getting drunk. Haha.

The owner is really generous with the ingredients. Chunks and chunks of lychee bits await you. As I am a tiramisu lover (I even made one for Breadman's bday!), my verdict is that this is slightly above average, but a little too alcoholic for me.

 

If you cant make up your mind as to what to have, you can try out the sampler set of five ($15). 

 

Drop by this place the next time you are at Clarke Quay! I always like to give new establishments like this a chance.  

Total Damage: $6.80

Overall Ratings: 3/5

L'atelier Tiramisu

6 Eu Tong Sen Street

The Central 

#B1-09

Tel: 9389 8582