marriott cafe

haven't been to marriott cafe for quite a while... decided to go there for high tea to celebrate ky's birthday and hoping that the buffet spread is still good.

it wasn't a huge spread for high tea while oysters were available, sashimi was not. and it's only 2 hours long on sundays, so unless you're a real fast eater that can chomp your way quickly... it's a bit rushed to eat and catch up with friends at the same time.

today, the ala minute item was prawn soup noodle. for the carbo-averse, you could skip the noodles which i did. the prawns were cooked just nice and were fresh and naturally sweet. the cooking station was surrounded by an aquarium showcasing the 'live' prawns, which might not be too appetising to the 'ang-mohs'. i was so eager to tuck into the soup that i forgot to take a picture of it. haha...

the ice-cream station features a good selection of toppings which will definitely delight the little ones. the tea and coffee station has the requisite expresso machine and a nice selection of teas and infusions.

i guess this high tea is only worth it if you're utilising the '4 for 3' promotion since the spread wasn't outstanding and the duration is rather short.

3 monkeys

doris wanted to go see kumar so did sl who persuaded me to go. ky came along too.

the stage at the cafe is a far smaller scale than that of the one at "boom boom room" where i last watched him performed. still funny but i thought more 'racist' in content. he poked fun at racial stereotypes and i felt he could get away with so much ribbing of indians because he's one. somehow, you're granted more creative license when it comes to your own race and less likely to offend.

i didn't like the 'old' segment though. the lip-synching opening acts were neither here nor there except maybe as a tribute to the show's origin as a cabaret-styled show. the audience segment were great fun... especially for those watching. :P

the pacing towards the end was also slightly off. he sounded as if he's ending the gig but kept going on. not that i minded the extra performance but it was rather repetitive for him to urge the audience to go home, have fun, get drunk and have sex more than once.

i guess we will now associate the word "fluctuation" with something less polite... i'm sure ky will. :) haha...

new project

check out my new project using scrap blog...

this time, i used the photos taken during my tioman diving trip earlier this year with ky.



hmm... this is fun :)

lunch @ element

it's our traditional birthday meal for the birthday boys, gordon this month and belatedly for ky. ky suggested element cafe at amara hotel.

the spread is reasonably good for the price although i wished there were oysters. :P

as usual my enormous appetite raised some eyebrows although i didn't really think i overeat today. hehe...

oriental cadence 2008

yup, it's another year and time for ky to perform at jubilee hall with his choir. trust him to perservere in attending weekly practices all these years despite his work.

this year, ts and i were there to lend him our support.

i feel that the performance this year is more engaging and accessible to non-arty farty types like me. the items seems to be more lively.

the japanese bamboo flute [shakuhachi] accompanying the japanese harp [koto] provided a more layered sound playing off each other, making it more interesting than having the koto alone.

ky is standing in front this year... maybe he thinks that the choir performance is better this time round hence no need to hide in the back row like last year's. :P

the hainan hwee kuan's harmonica orchestra included some japanese pieces in tune with the rest of the programming.

as usual, the japanese association's ladies choir gave the most polished performance. there were 3 members who even flew back just for today's concert. talk about having passion for the arts!

check out the pictures here and a snippet of ky's performance here.

crystal jade lamian xiaolongbao

met up with an ns pal, ts, together with gordon and ky for dinner.

we queued for more than half an hour at takashimaya. this outlet is always so popular. i guess the food taste better when you’re hungry.

haha… just kidding! their standards are usually consistent even among the various outlets.

my favourites items?
1. suanlatang lamian
2. xiaolongbao
3. hongyou chaoshou

i especially like the texture of their freshly-made lamian and how it’s always cooked al dente.

slurp.

fun @ east coast

doris booked a chalet at east coast costa sands resort and invited the jcgang to join her for some sea, sun and sand.

sl [wong], ky and i shared a cab there from clementi. eric arrived shortly after us. we just lazed around watching tv in air-conditioned comfort while waiting for janet and cayden. johann and diane surprised us by arriving before janet did.

doris, ky and i were just kitting up for our skate so johann and diane joined us on a rented “family” bike. that’s a tandem bike with a child seat right at the back.

janelle had been clamouring “bicycle, bicycle!” earlier. she seems pretty excited by it all since it’s her first time at east coast. i think she enjoyed herself very much today.

we skated/cycled over to bedok jetty. took a short break there to enjoy the sea breeze. we didn’t skate too badly considering that we haven’t been practicing for a few months. :) nobody fell. :P

after that we split up as we wanted to skate a bit more in the other direction while johann and family returned to the chalet. i was told later that janelle kept asking for “uncle mun yue” on the way back.

this is proof that nice cookies can buy your way into children’s hearts. :) haha…

dinner was at pasta fresca since we needed a big table and a child seat. unfortunately, it wasn’t one on the beach under the stars. after that, we bought desserts from the food centre back to the chalet.

i recommended my favourite cheng tng to eric and he likes it.

janet mentioned about cayden’s head being slightly big. the paediatrician will measure jason’s head at the next appointment to determine if it’s in the genes. then the talk went to cayden’s smelly poop.

doris wondered if that’s in the genes too. :) we couldn’t stop laughing... it was hilarious… haha…

we left at around 10-something. ky and i got a ride out to bugis mrt from eric since he’s going to pick tracy up.

and i thought i’ll be going home for a good night’s sleep…

treetop walk

*** brace yourself for my longest post ever ***

doris only managed to confirm that the trek is on yesterday when ky and doris’ friend, wendy said that they can make it.

originally, we had planned to meet at 9:00am at macritchie reservoir. very early for me considering it’s hari raya puasa but we had to be realistic since the trek to the treetop walk and back is expected to take 3 to 5 hours as written here.

however, wendy suggested 8:00am instead since she has a lunch appointment. in the end, a decision was made to meet at 7:45am at bishan mrt.

that means i have to wake up at an ungodly hour of 6:00am so that i will be punctual and still have time to grab some breakfast. i’ve not woken up so early for a very long time. i only keep such hours when i go for my icts.

it was raining when my handphone alarm sounded off at 6:00am.

received an sms from ky… he’s not going because it was raining heavily at his place .

sms-ed doris, she replied to say that it’s not raining at yishun…

what the heck… just do it!

decided to take the new sbs service 52 to bishan on a whim. played with my camera "action" mode while waiting for the bus…

after a while, i was the one and only passenger on the bus until it reached sin ming.

the bus arrived at bishan in a rather quick 35 minutes and i rushed off in search of breakfast. gobbled up my macdonald’s big breakfast in double-quick time, got to eat else i’ll definitely faint from hunger during the trek.

met doris and thomas at the pick-up point at 8:00am. wendy and his brother, victor soon joined us too.

waited a while for terence and diana. since the 5 of us couldn’t fit into the car, me, doris and thomas followed terence’s car in a cab to kim’s place at jalan lembah thomson.

that’s where the "secret" entrance of the trail is situated. don’t bother trying to locate it on the map because it is not an "official" start point. we set off at 8:30am in an adventurous mood.

when our side trail opened into the main route to the treetop walk, we encountered many runners along the way. doris is surprised to find so many health nuts running so early in the morning on a public holiday.

most of these runners [of all ages and gender] were in their running gear and nothing else, not even water bottles. some teenagers were even running in sandals and slippers!

compared to them, we seemed overdressed in our bermudas and trackpants; over-equipped with our backpacks containing our water-bottles, insect repellants, umbrellas, etc…

victor’s nike fell victim to the trail. he had not been wearing those shoes regularly. both soles came off eventually and had to be secured with elastic band and shoelaces.

although it was cloudy and the ground was still wet from the earlier showers, it was still humid.

walking and chatting merrily, we sometimes occupied the entire width of the trail impeding the runners’ way. probably pissed off quite a few of them as they had to slow down to pass through us. :P

only after a rather long while did we encounter other trekkers. the trail merged with the venus drive entrance route to the treetop walk. that’s where we encountered the holiday crowds of families out in full force.

doris couldn’t believe that the treetop walk can be this popular. ever so gungho, she kept talking about wanting to proceed on to bukit timah hill but nobody took her seriously.

finally reached the ranger station which is a short distance away from the treetop walk.


we had to scale a rather steep slope to the starting point.


here we are on the suspension bridge…






views from the bridge…

me and doris took our time on the bridge making the rest wait for us. hehe… :P

towards the end of the treetop walk, there’re signs that advised us not to turn back. i jested that it’s the "nai he qiao" which one has to cross on the way to reincarnation in chinese folklore so you’re not supposed to turn back. haha… :)

after the bridge, it’s many flights of steps up… and then down… to the board walk that will bring us back to the ranger station.

we decided to exit by venus drive and bade our farewells to kim and terence.

trekked past a stream… sighted an adult and baby monkey.

strange but true, we came across workers cutting the grass by the stream. didn’t know this trail requires "maintenance" too. no kidding.

by the time we reached the public carpark at venus drive, we had trekked for about 2.5 hours.

victor was craving for prata, so we took a bus to casuarina road for my favourite crispy plain prata.

a delicious and satisfying end to the morning physical exertion.

72 @ seng poh road

one of my ns friend had bought a unit at those pre-war walk-up apartments in tiong bahru, a rather quaint neighbourhood.

me & ky dropped by for a look-see since we were having lunch in the area.

sk paid around $280,000 for the 2nd storey unit and did it up simply. he did away with a bedroom to enlarge the living room. the layout of the flat has a longish shophouse feel.

there’s even a private back door via a spiral staircase which another of my ns friend thought it’s interesting.

is it nice to have a place to call your own? definitely.

but the privacy and freedom also comes with lots of additional expenses and household chores too. something which i can’t afford financially and not prepared to do so since i’m getting away with minimal chores at home now. :P

besides, i take it as an opportunity to spend more time with my family while i still can.

ikoi @ miramar hotel

made the reservations for the restaurant 3 weeks back. and yet i couldn’t get a table for saturday night dinner. it was already fully booked! so it’s really that popular...

settled for today’s lunch instead. just as well since it’s gordon’s birthday today.

ikoi is a rather small restaurant serving an ala carte buffet. $30+++ for both lunch and dinner.

ky and me were mainly interested in the sashimi. had quite a few servings of sake, maguro, hamachi, tako and kajiki sashimi. very fresh indeed, no fishy smell at all.

besides sashimi, we had salad, temaki, california maki, chicken teriyaki and ebi tempura. the food is generally of good standards. we were also served 2 soups that were not on the menu: teapot and seafood soup.

we had to wait for a while for the food to be served after ordering. wonder how bad the waiting time will be if there was a capacity crowd.

overall a good dining experience.

drinks @ km8

how did we ended up here?

well, ky is driving and doris don’t feel like going home earlier so we decided to check out the beach pubs @ sentosa.

by the time, we reached sentosa, it was already past midnight. a party was on-going at siloso beach near coastes that was organised by fashion tv for some bikini babe competition. but km8 was nowhere in sight.

so we decided to go over to tanjong beach… and lo & behold, km8 is there! :)

quite happening for such a out-of-the-way location at almost 1:00 am.

most of the folks were casually dressed for a beach party in tees/bermudas or tank tops/beach shorts and slippers. those at the dip pool were in swim wear even. wonder if they’ll catch a chill in the cool midnight air.

ky commented that there’re quite a number of caucasians.

i also don’t know what do you call the type of music that’s played there. but it’s danceable with no vocals. not house definitely. i’m so out of touch with the clubbing scene. old liao!

gordon was spacing out while ky didn’t drink because he’s driving. since nobody in our group danced that night, we didn’t stay too long.

when we adjoined to fong seng for supper, gordon made his escape. hehe…

dinner @ sakae

had intended to eat at sun with moon @ wheelock but because we didn’t have a reservation, kl & mx went to queue for a table at sakae instead.

in the end, the whole lot of us made it for dinner. ky, gordon and thomas too.

sakae is celebrating their 8th anniversary. so there’s a 2 red plates for $8 promotion plus privilege card members get a generous 18% off the bill. very good value, right?

and then we went to sun with moon for desserts again. :)

this time round, i had the matcha bararoa and a orange vitamin cocktail.

nice!

lunch @ kuishin bo

actually kuishin bo wasn't our first choice for ky's birthday treat since we've already tried it before but i couldn't get saturday dinner reservations at the other 3 that were written on in the straits times a few weeks back.

for sun lunch, it is $25.80+ for a spread that includes sashimi, sushi, prawn tempura, cold crabs and of course the signature kaminabe [paper pot]. quite good value i would say. gordon says it's better than a more expensive japanese buffet that he had in kl.

the sashimi spread consists of sake, maguro and ika only. there's a selection of sushi and maki. you can also order your preferred temaki. besides these, there're a couple of rice dishes and meats for teppanyaki.

another section consists of the cooked/fried items like shishamo, soft-shelled crab and grilled salmon. my favourite potato salad is available too. desserts are morsels of cheesecakes, cakes and konyakku. there's soft-serve green tea ice-cream and fruits too.

too bad kl couldn't make it 'cos he has to decide on his floor tiles for his home renovation starting on tuesday.

stuffed myself silly with sashimi and drank too much green tea. didn't have space for the kaminabe or the teppanyaki, think i getting old liao... :)

burp.

skate @ east coast

went skating with my skate gang [doris, kl & ky] today after almost 1 month. doris' husband joined us since he's not working today. while bride-to-be, mx gave the skate a miss to stay out of the sun and to avoid any mishaps.

surprisingly, the weather was fine at east coast even though it rained heavily in the north and was drizzling at my place.

our kind driver, ky picked us from clementi as usual. btw, we only skate when ky is available to ferry us to east coast because taking the bus is so inconvenient. besides, we need his car to be our mobile locker to store our barang-barang. :P

got stung by mosquitoes while gearing up. hmm... i hope it's not dengue since we've never had any problems with mosquitoes since we started skating there for over a year.

2nd time using my new skates, kinetic 10.0 after getting it last month, cost me a small fortune. not quite used to it yet 'cos i'm feeling some tightness around my arch area. anyway, i'm still not fast enough to overtake our speed skater, ky who zoomed past on his velocity.

did our usual circuit from bedok jetty to fort road and back. the track was crowded near the mcDonald's area as usual. from experience, the kids, whether they're on bikes or skates, are a menace since they've no concept of "road safety" and for the sake of my dear life i always give them a wide berth.

dinner at east coast food centre... was stumped with what to order since my favourite prawn noodle with pork ribs stall isn't open and the queue for the satay mee hoon is exceptionally long tonight.

settled on wonton noodles since thomas was ordering. ordered rojak to share. had 2 bbq chicken wings, a fruit juice and a teh tarik as well.

ahhh... i'm fulfilled & satisfied. :)