Jones the Grocer

Met up with Kaijie on a Saturday on a secret mission :) He brought me to Jones the Grocer @ Mandarin Gallery for lunch. Mountain-tortoise me didn't know they had ventured out from Dempsey. So excited to see them in town, as I love the outlet @ Dempsey, but seldom frequent the place as it was inaccessible for me.

Getting ready to flip the menu.

Check out the crowd! Fortunately, there were just the 2 of us, easier to get a table.

Love sugar cubes. I always link sugar cubes to horses, due to the stories that I read when I was still a little girl - stories about kids feeding sugar cubes to horses as treats :)

Lunch was filling even though we shared the pasta and blueberry tart. Glad that Kaijie found the perfect D for Gera & may bells be ringing soon :)

Sneak Preview P2

*unselected and unedited*

Feeling generous this time round, so 2 pics in a row, heehee :)

White Rose Cafe with Fionn & Yaozu

Dinner with Fionn & Yaozu once again @ White Rose Cafe. Personally, I find York Hotel to be very under-rated and cuz of the lack-of-crowd, I will always head there to catch up with frens.

Look @ Yaozu's happy expression when we were able to just walk in and grab a table w/o any long queues on a Friday evening.

As usual, we ordered lots of food for sharing - the menu was still the same as the previous visit with FMQ. Despite the 1 year time lag, food standard was pretty much consistent.

After the hearty meal, dessert time. Ladies get to choose the desserts for the guys.

Tea & Coffee pot for the extra perk-me-up.

so happy for Fionn as she's embarking on a new journey! However, this means that our lunch dates will be less frequent :(

Cakes to end the night - and a private joke that originated from Yaozu and he became a victim of it o.O And not forgetting to thank Fionn for the treat!

Wedding Show @ Holiday Inn Atrium

Guess where we are heading to this time?

The usual wait @ the bus stop :)

We were invited to attend the wedding show @ Holiday Inn Atrium.

The prime location of Holiday Inn Atrium is one of the best selling points. Just 5 mins walk to Zouk (great for wedding after parties!) and 15 mins to Clarke Quay & Boat Quay. Not to mention that they provide complimentary shuttle services to Chinatown & Orchard Road.

Our wedding guide, which lists down the wedding packages for Yr 2010 & 2011.

There were several themes to choose from:

Red Ardor

Ignite your passion with our Red Ardor Theme. Decorated with red candles, flower petals and exquisite tablecloths, this theme is designed to set hearts aflame to create the perfect ambience for your wedding.

Lavender Dream
Feel the romance and love in the air the moment you step into this purple-themed room. Adding to the magical atmosphere are purple candles placed on exquisite centerpieces that bask the whole room in their warm, soft glow.

Garden
Dreaming of a romantic wedding in the garden? Make your dream come true with this enchanting theme in a relaxed and light-hearted celebration amidst luxurious foliage, blooming flowers and charming bird cages.

Gifts for friends & families! Lots of varieties to choose from. I'll always look forward to the gifts on my seat @ wedding dinners. The best one I've received so far was from Orchard Hotel :)

Food for tasting! Love the lil mochi :)

Despite the invitation, we didn't sign up with this hotel (due to several reasons) in the end.

Quote for thought

I've not been reading as much as I wanted to with all the late nights and never-ending work. Even my journey time to work was spent on catching up with news on my iphone apps.

When I was packing my room the other day, I found this book inside my shopping bag, with my bookmark at a particular page - a parable that touched me deeply:

A man goes out on the beach and sees that it is covered with starfish that have washed up in the tide. A little boy is walking along, picking them up and throwing back into the water.

"What are you doing, son?" the man asks. "You see how many starfish there are? You'll never make a difference."

The boy paused thoughtfully, and picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean.
"It sure made a difference to that one," he said.

Kai Nian Fan 2011

Kai Nian Fan, a tradition that we started ever since we joined the workforce.

The night is still young as we all attempted to knock off early at 6.45pm for dinner on a Friday night. Fionn was the last to arrive, as she was caught up with work.

Walked to Marina Sq to grab our reserved table. However, they told us that they don't take in reservation as it was still CNY period and we had to join the queue and be prepared to wait up for at least 30-45 mins. So fuming mad that our "reserved" table was gone!

Headed to the Jap restaurant for dinner instead.

Nice cosy corner booth all to ourselves! Small details like the crab & prawn found on the sauce plate nv fail to amaze the girls :)

First up - sushi platter!

Followed by sashimi platter! Wow, we were amazed at the decor - well, I would rather they throw in more slices of sashimi instead of ice and flowers that can't be eaten.

We ordered 3 bento sets to share amongst us and surprisingly, the portions were not that huge.

Chawanmushi for everyone :)

Ended the night @ TCC for more desserts, news update and of cuz bitching (for the ladies only).
The cycle will continue in 2012 ~

Reno Diary - Hacking of Walls

Our designers applied the permit to carry out renovation works at our love nest. The workers came by on 20.12.2010, Monday. As I was ill in bed, I couldn't witness the hacking of walls. Thankfully, dent dent was in Leecher's custody and he took a video of the hacking and some pictures, so I would be able to experience it "onsite".

The workers were fast and precise, hacking down the walls (dining and bedroom) all within one day *salute* Leecher had a go at their hammer and he couldn't take it after 2 shots o.O

More updates to come, but as for the final results - we're keeping it a secret :)