Pasarbella

A couple of weekends ago, I spent a large part of my time at Pasarbella. That place fascinates me! So difficult to get to, and sometimes I wonder whether it is worth all the effort, but I really enjoyed my experience there. I've been wanting to head there for the longest time - the thought of a farmers'  market in Singapore just makes me so happy! I love farmers' markets. I visit them (almost obsessively) whenever I am overseas and I always fall in love with all the treasures I pick up at such places. I wish Singapore had more of these. But I guess the fact that we don't even have many farms to speak of means that these are a rarity, which probably also explains why Pasarbella is located in such an obscure place x.x Then again, like I said, I really enjoyed myself there ^^ 

I went there the first time to attend my virgin floral workshop at Poppy Flora Studio :) This year, I embarked on a project to try out floral arranging because I think they look so gorgeous. Lucky for me, I have two huge florists pretty near my house, which makes it quite convenient for me to get flowers. The problem is, they always sell flowers in such huge bunches, and I often don't require quite so many of the same type flower! Plus, flowers are CRAZY EXPENSIVE (haha, and so I have to thank my darling for buying me flowers quite often, because I knowwww) and I would never buy more than 3 varieties of flowers. I feel the pinch every time I buy them. Experimenting with flower arrangements on my own is one thing though. I did perhaps three or four on my own? But I never had any formal instruction in it. I couldn't even tell whether my arrangement looked nice or not! So since I've yet to start work, I decided to do soothing with my time and brush up on this hobby of mine ^^

Arrived at Poppy Flora Studio bright eyed and bushy tailed that morning, all excited for the workshop! It was so wonderful to be surrounded by all those gorgeous blooms :) I liked how the flowers the store carried were moistly seasonal flowers from all over the world - Europe, Africa, the Americas, etc, rather than the typical blooms I got at the florist. It was really interesting to be working  with such diverse varieties which I've never seen before! We were doing bouquets that day, and I picked gorgeous blooms in red, orange and yellow. Everyone exclaimed in delight at how autumn-y my palette was :) 

Well, turns out it really wasn't as easy as putting all the flowers together in a bunch. Obviously. But I had so much trouble with my bouquet that I was honestly quite deflated at the end of it :'( I probably re-did it like 10 times?! And the final result was half my instructor's work. Oh well...felt kinda sad that the final piece of work was not entirely mine >.< But I think it looks lovely anyway :)

We went outdoors for a mini phohoshoot after that and had some cakes to end off. Definitely an experience for my first flower workshop! :) And there is so much more to learn. Apparently bouquets were harder, so perhaps a table arrangement workshop next? I do hope that I'll have the chance to go for another workshop before work starts! 

Came back the very next day to have brunch at Pasarbella! There are so many food stalls around ^^ But the place definitely seems more alive in the afternoon, or at least after 11am. Many stalls weren't ready when we arrived around 10.30am. Tried this scrumptious three-meat dish ($20) that came with pulled pork, roast beef and chicken, plus roasted potatoes on the side. It was yummy! 

I walked past a pie store and the owner was raving to me about the pies there! And so we definitely had to try them ;) Had the pumpkin quiche and beef cheddar pie.

Wish I could have tried the paella, which was HUMONGOUS (even bigger than the one at borough market in London!) but the stall wasn't ready yet on the morning we went :( Such a pity!!! It looked really good though.

Ending off with a last pic of my bouquet ~ :)