Valentine's Day 2015 & Bar Hopping

Valentine's Day this year was a somewhat exciting affair, being our first time celebrating this since we've started work. Work has been busy, to say the least, and we barely had time to plan this occasion. While I do think that Vday is, and has always been, a really commercial affair, it's still a good reason for a celebration once in awhile (: Have to say a hugeeeee THANK YOU to my sweetheart for planning such an incredible programme in such a short notice. This day was nothing short of spectacular and spending time together was the best part of it ^^

I honestly didn't expect much of a Vday celebration, because everywhere is so expensive!! But it was a good thing we celebrated it a day earlier too, since that gave us more options besides all the Valentine's Day set meals which are exorbitantly priced x.x He brought me to Bistro Soori for dinner! Which was a real surprise to me :') I was so excited!!!

After dinner, we went on our first ever bar hopping in Singapore! ^^ not that we do this often elsewhere, but we did have a chance to go on a Pub Crawl in Prague which was a really interesting experience! I guess we never really got over all those memories we had on exchange :') GOSH. I miss Europe so much!!!! The feeling of nostalgia and longing whenever I look at the map of Europe...ahh. 

Okay, anyway. First stop was Operation Dagger. This is literally the coolest bar in Singapore I've ever stepped into. Firstly, it's underground, and it has the most obscure entrance ever. It's actually really near where Kki used to be at Ann Siang Hill (it has since moved to SOTA). It's a sort of hipster cocktail bar, which sounded really interesting! When we stepped it, my breath caught for a moment, because it felt like we'd stepped into a world outside Singapore. This is a bar that really really made me feel like I was back in Europe!!! I need to stop swooning. Haha. The whole feel of it, slightly dark, mysterious, gosh. The walls were lined with bottles that looked like lab chemicals, without any labels on them. Wow.

 It was lucky that we were there early (around 9pm) because the place was pretty empty then! The drinks menu was rather limited, unfortunately, but one of the drinks immediately caught my eye. The Hot & Cold ($25) was a drink that was literally such - the base is a cold potion of pineapple and lavender (which was soooo tasty btw), and it was topped with a thick foamy layer of something like a coconut condensed milk. You're supposed to drink it all together and the flavours blended together perfectly!

The other drink we got was Snow ($25), which was a bit of a miss for us. It tasted a tad strange, possibly due to the unsweetened yogurt, though I enjoyed the occasional bouts of yuzu in between mouthfuls. 

We got a bowl of kale crisps ($7) to go along as well. Yummy! A healthier alternative to potato chips I guess?

Drinks at this bar were really pricey imo. Especially since they came in really tiny glasses, and we couldn't really taste the alcohol. Hmmm. For the ambience, I guess it is still worth a try though! And a bonus is that their prices are nett. After 10pm, people started packing into the bar and the small space got pretty crowded! Seems like the fact that they're underground hasn't stopped their name from spreading ;)

Operation Dagger

 7 Ann Siang Hill

Tue-Sun 6pm-late

I obviously don't have much of a nightlife since I never knew Ann Siang Hill looked like that at night!!!! It was fascinating. Haha I swear that night I didn't feel like I was in Singapore at all. This was amazing! It was really fun just walking around the area and people-watching, although staying around wasn't really my thing :p

Instead, we headed off to somewhere more spacious, with a view of my favourite place ^^ Southbridge is a rooftop oyster bar on the 5th floor of a buildling at boat quay. A pity we were too full to stomach any oysters by then! We had a fun time choosing from the extensive drinks menu though! Compared to Operation Dagger, the cocktails here were more reasonably priced. And they sounded really interesting! Unfortunately the alcohol flavour was yet again a disappointment. I ordered Sex on the Quay ($18) which was an earl grey-infused vodka based drink, but I couldn't taste any of the earl grey nor the vodka. It kinda just tasted like mango juice..haha. Oh well. We opted for wine for our second drink in the end, just to be safe haha. It was really nice chilling up there on the rooftop though :)) We were lucky to get pretty decent seats, even though it was packed when we reached! People started leaving at 11ish though, and we then had lots of space to ourselves ^^ 

Southbridge

80 Boat Quay, Level 5

Mon-Sun 5pm-12mn

I had a really amazing night! Thank you for everything, love :') I'm so blessed to have you <3

Melbourne Photo Diary (:

It's been a month since I got back from Melbourne, and the nostalgia is still there :') I miss it so so much!

Monday morning rush in Melbourne

I love Melbourne for its markets and homeware stores, its florists and fresh produce. I could have gone on a completely crazy buying spree, but the only thing stopping me (fortunately or unfortunately) was my lack of luggage space. I'm so gonna fly there with 30kg luggage allowance the next time I go. Haha I could start stocking up items for my future home perhaps? :P

Went on a wine tour with Sam and that was definitely one of the highlights of our trip ^^ This was at the Domaine Chandon winery, which is related to Moet & Chandon! 

Those gorgeous rolling green fields behind us :') Sam was just commenting on how the vineyards here look so pretty! Greener and lusher than those we visited in Tuscany. Perhaps it's because of the different seasons, or the mood we were in. But we really had an awesome time during this wine tour ^^ Gotta admit it was a little too much in the end. I had almost enough to drink by lunchtime :x 

Love this photo of us :))) 

WE NEED TO TAKE MORE PHOTOS. 

I'm having this inner conflict about taking photos nowadays. Always want to capture all these beautiful moments together on camera, so that I can look back at those days :') And we should always take more photos when we still look young and fresh, right? Haha. But Sam just isn't a fan of taking photos -.- and sometimes the act of photo taking just interrupts the moment that should be enjoyed at that point. Am I making any sense? 

One of the best lunches we had was during the wine tour at Rochford Winery. That wagyu beef cheek with mashed sweet potato bathed in red wine jus was to die for!

We sat on the green grass, shared a cup of gelato and soaked in the afternoon sun (:

I really appreciated the time I had for myself in Melbourne. It was a good balance, spending time with Sam and other people, and also having a break to just wander alone. I took the safer route so that  I wouldn't get lost, along the Yarra River. And it is so picturesque :') It would have been wonderful walking along that stretch with Sam too. But alone, I had the chance to fully soak in the beauty of my surroundings and enjoy the sights and smells. This feeling of space, even in the city is so incredible, and is one thing I really wish Singapore had. 

Thankful for the late sunsets there :) This was at 7.30pm and the sun hadn't even started setting. So glad for the long days which gave me extra time to explore all these places.

Full of awe as I stood at the magnificent Shrine of Remembrance :') It's much nicer when it's empty haha.

Watched the sun go down over the Melbourne cityscape (: 

Yet another experience of travelling together and we're improving each time! Hehh ^^ 

Twenty-three

Another year older, another year wiser :) 

This year is going to be one with so many changes - with graduation, starting work, and who knows what else? - and along with it, more experiences. This year's birthday was different, somewhat. I always make a big deal out of my own birthday, and god knows how difficult that makes things for Sam :P hahaha. I always unintentionally spoil his surprises, whoops! I'm also the one planning the entire celebration with the family (actually it's just food, haha cos I'm the foodie here right?) and I get to choose whatever I want to eat. Yay! (greedy me :P) It's never a birth-DAY for me, but rather a birth-WEEK. Hahaha. 

This year I don't know whether it's just that I can't be bothered (growing old? :O) or maybe I've mellowed, but I didn't think much about my birthday coming up as I would usually do. I like to think it's the latter ;) Perhaps with stuff going on at home and everyone just getting settled into their jobs, I didn't really expect them to have time to celebrate my birthday with me. But they did :) And it was not so much of a "celebration" but more like just a get-together with everyone and it was great! :)) I guess when you haven't seen each other in what-seems-like ages, every gathering is a celebration in itself :) Just spending time with these people makes me feel so so lucky that I have them in my life <3

Met up with the hopers finally! Since the longest time. I chose this picture because Scott insists that it looks better (probably more like because he looks better, while I look huge because I'm in the front), but since he organised this dinner and we didn't get to celebrate his birthday, so shall give it to him ;) hehe. So many things going on that are so exciting!!! Liying's first day of work, me & Mel being future colleagues (yayyy!) and both Scott & Shan's exciting news ^^ Thanks so much for dinnering on a Thursday night when most of you have work the next day! :) 

Biggest surprise of all was my "lunch with Sam" at Potato Head Folk! This was the surprise that I spoiled for him haha. And well, luckily I just conceded to go along with his plan (haha otherwise he'll get all stressed againnnn) even though I was almost ready to back out of lunch because it was so late already!!! Otherwise he'll have to drag me kicking and screaming to this place (haha kidding). And when we reached, I headed right to a two-person table before I looked ahead just slightly and got the hugest shock of my life!! :O AWW MAN :'))) Haha I couldn't stop blabbering with shock. These guys are the sweetest :)) Totally reminded me of how they surprised me at Marina Barrage like what, 3 years ago? Omg how time flies!!!! And look how far we've come since then :) THANK YOU SO MUCH <3<3<3 love y'all :') and if only Rachel was here! Just missing her to make this picture complete :) The decor of Potato Head Folk made such a great backdrop for this photo! Review will be up in a few days ^^

And YAYYYYY, they bought me exactly what I needed!! And the colour is too gorgeous. So ME. I love it! ^^ And whee I can finally get rid of my old ugly pair of slippers. Gotta thank Sam for his elaborate plan of helping to get me to the gathering and for the present idea! ;) *mwacksssss* thanks a million baby :') 

Even the exterior of Potato Head Folk looks so nice!!! We just had to grab a random stranger and ask him to take a photo for us :p 

Hee <3 And for the rest of that day, we enjoyed some really nice couple time, finally! :) This boy has been so busy with work. Which is not a bad thing, since it seems like he enjoys it! :)) Really glad that it turned out well for him <3 But also, really enjoy the times when he can put his work aside and we can have a dateeeee! We spent most of the day lazing around and chatting actually, since we hadn't had the chance to sit around and talk for the longest time! And we had dinner at Jamie's Italian ^^ One year after this place opened in Singapore, I was so excited to try it!!! I dined there last year when I was in York too :) And being so greedy as usual, I ordered quite a lot of food :P Sorry for the bad photos - I don't think you can actually see how they really look like, sigh. The lighting was just too dim. But the food was pretty good! Hehe luckily I did all my research before, and knew what to order. Their menu changes quite a bit though, so some stuff I wanted wasn't available. 

Jamie's Walnut Salad ($9.50)

This looks like an absolute mess! :'( I'm really sad okay. I couldn't even save these pictures with iPhoto. I ordered this salad because of how pretty and colourful it looked in a photo, but sigh, can't see anything here. You can take a look at the photo here instead. For $9.50, this portion of salad was tiny. It was really really little!!! And I could barely find any walnuts in it?! While it was tasty, especially with the aged balsamic dressing, I felt that it really wasn't any value for money. Thankfully, all the other dishes were really generously portioned. 

I've heard nothing but praise for the 30-day matured prime rib, but that was just too expensive for us. Instead, Sam opted for the 220g Rump Steak ($28.50), and it turned out to be pretty good too! It was a really juicy and flavourful slab marinated in its own juices - and was that a hint of red wine I tasted?  Albeit a tad tough (perhaps because it was on the skinny side), the taste fully made up for it. 

I went for the really sinful-sounding Jamie's Italian Signature Porchetta ($35). Think slow cooked pork belly that was delightfully tender, filled with a stuffing made of herbs, garlic and spices. I loved how well cooked the pork belly was (so so soft), and the cacophony of flavours that the stuffing lent to it. Halfway into the dish, I found it a bit too flavourful though, especially with the equally savoury fennel crackling on the side. Perhaps more pork and less stuffing would have been a better balance. 

It was hilarious how Sam & I had the exact same reservations about ordering Jool's Favourite Sicilian Tuna Fusilli ($14/$21) because of our bad experience of pasta in Sicily :P This dish came highly recommended in all the reviews I read though! And we were really pleasantly surprised by it! The spicy tuna sauce was a refreshing contrast from the meaty main courses we'd ordered and helped to cleanse our palate in between dishes. We ordered the tasting portion and felt that it was quite a lot already! 

Although we were already like 90% full by the end of all that food, I still went ahead and got dessert :P After hearing so much about the Epic Brownie ($11.50), I simply couldn't resist! And it certainly lived up to expectations :D  A warm, fudge brownie - this was so sinful and so good. Can't imagine eating it alone though. And I could have done without the almond ice cream. Yucky. But then again, I'm just biased. I would still order the brownie again if I come back.

Despite the fact that this restaurant has been in town for a year, Jamie Oliver's reputation obviously has kept its popularity on high. The restaurant was packed when we were there and I doubt there is any room for walk-ins. Reservations should be made a couple of weeks in advance!

Jamie's Italian
Vivocity #01-167
Tel.: +65 6733 5500
Sun-Thu 12pm-10pm
Fri & Sat 12pm-11pm

Almost there

it's crazy, how fast time flies. there is only about a couple of weeks left to the end of school, and about a month till the end of my final semester in SMU. :O where has all the time gone! the four years in university, all the memories that i've had along the way :') really really glad for the important friendships i've formed in these four years. so many unexpected things! in a good way of course (: celebrated ngan's birthday recently with our two best groups of friends in SMU <3 the ones who've made my university life so much more colourful and memorable.

happy birthday bestie! (: stay pretty (and look like zoe tay) forever ^^ 

celebrated her birthday with the Hopers at Concetto! the new italian restaurant by Saveur. will blog about that in a bit! this is a photo with our ever-growing family :'))) so happy to see everyone like this! <3<3 wish liying & ngan's boyfriends were here tooooo. and huishan is missing from this photo. but so much love for these friends who went through thick and thin together while we were slogging away on OCSP hehh :) 

and my favourite SMU girls! :))) shall not post the one with the guys because i look so unglam there (sigh). we look so colour-coordinated in white/black in this pic!! 

went to watch Non-Stop after that and IT WAS SO EXCITING!!!!! i was totally gonna jump out of my seat any moment during the movie haha! really felt like i was on the plane :O and the sound effects O.M.G. gosh but i think if i was in a situation like that i would die of fear even before the plane crashes x.x so scary when such things happen >.< 

and we went for the Senior Dis-ornetation event together too! <3 haha what a funny name right :P and it was a SUPER EPIC day as well, which i'm so tempted to post a really swoon-worthy photo teehee, but it is too embarrassing. hehe ^^ so it shall remain exclusive to us ;) and we're going for grad night together!!!! wheeeeeee i'm so excited! haha it's gonna be like prom all over again, but with such awesome company ^^ i can't wait!! hopefully we'll be lucky enough (haha *cross fingers and toes*) to win that hotel stay at MBS. my happy place <3 

so many memories for us in SMU i'll never forget :') thanks for the wonderful 21 months so far and counting! :)) haha so funny, that day during Ngan's birthday with the superheroes, Nic asked all the girls whether it's still worth it to have a boyfriend when it heightens all our emotions - both happy and sad. the answer? yes yes yes yes YES. i love you darling, to the moon and back and till the stars stop shining :) thank you for always loving me the way you do, with your amazing patience and biggest heart <3

prepared a lil something for my dearies in SMU! (: hope they like it ^^ and big thanks to PixaRoll as well! they sent me this gorgeous set of magnets which are the perfect gift for my superheroes! (: so many memories we've had captured in #makingyear4count (credits to Sam for the hashtag ^^) and being able to print them out just makes it even better! plus the fact that Pixaroll does magnets which is pretty innovative - something i've never seen so far! and you're not just limited to instagram photos. PixaRoll allows you to develop normal photos into 4R or 6R prints as well! get it on Android or iPhone and start printing your magnets now ^^

*for a little sweetener, PixaRoll is offering a special discount for my readers - use the coupon code 'KELW' when you check out your order for a 15% discount. it's only valid till 31/3/2014 so get yours soon if you want to (: 

(first) Vday in Singapore (:

hello! (: finally midterms are over!! for now at least. still have one coming up next week yikes >.< which i haven't studied for at all. but just taking a breather now before having to chiong during the break week. sometimes i wonder why i still feel so busy despite only having three mods!! WHY??!! okay i've got to admit that i am significantly freer in terms of schoolwork as compared to other semesters, but maybe it's also because i'm trying to do other things outside of school, which do take up time as well. yknow, even watching shows is in my plan :p haha i am FINALLY almost reaching the end of the 1st season of Suits since starting on it like three months ago. whuuuut. ikr :( i'm just hopeless at it. but i really love the show btw!! hehh okay so i have the tendency to waffle around the main point when i'm writing my blog posts :P oops! (*sigh* reminds me of how i completely neglected to write a conclusion for my coy law paper yesterday. KILL ME. going to do so badly for that paper >.<)

***WARNING: rambling post with lots of pictures ahead***

anyway because of all my midterms, that explains this very belated Vday post. this year was the first time we were spending Valentine's Day in Singapore :) last year's was in Italy, and boy, that was quite a different experience :P loved this year's Valentines Day :') not because of all the activities we did that day (and honestly, i always feel Valentine's Day is probably the most un-special day for any couple because everybody is celebrating it on that day), but because of the quality time we spent together :)) haven't had the luxury of time to just enjoy each other's company for the longest time! although it was really just right before the midterm week, but i guess the fact that we made the effort to put our school work aside and just go out without our laptops was really a huge step! (: 

hello Sentosa!!! 

it was super sunny that day, but I'm so glad that we were going somewhere sheltered instead hehe.

we went to the SEA Aquarium!!!!! :D so happy that i finally visited this place, and great that there were no queues! although it was still pretty crowded inside with tonnes of tourists. 

managed to get student price ($28)! (Y) 

pretty difficult to get a decent photo of us because the lighting was so blueee. but lots of love anyway xx

i was WOW-ed by this magnificent sight when i stepped into this area :)) this photo doesn't do justice to how blue the water was, and how colourful all the corals and fishes are! i'm not a big fan of fish (whether as animals or food haha) but this sight really amazed me :) the colours were so vibrant and alive! 

and i never knew WHY everyone who came to the SEA Aquarium had to take photos of the jellyfish!! haha but finally understood when i was there :P they're really cute!! and the colours were fascinating. though i know it's really because of the light that shines into the water, but it's still pretty darn amazing and beautiful. 

hee, Sam still remembered what the guy from Italy told him ;) about how they always give chocolate and flowers to girls on valentine's day ^^ (i told sam to skip the vday flowers because they're just ridiculously expensive!!!!! he pampers me with flowers all the time on the other 364 days of the year anyway :) <3). got a mini bottle of Merlot as well (love these tiny bottles! they're so adorable and handy), and we just sat in front of this huge aquarium talking, laughing and...spamming instagram with photos hahaha. felt like we hadn't talked like that in ages! or at least, i did :P (i was completely exhausted from talking by the end of that day haha). when i'm on a roll, i can go on talking forever, and the boy just listened, and hugged me and laughed with me :) and of course he talked as well haha, but it's really sweet how he's becoming a much better listener :*) 

after that, we headed for a really late dinner at L'entrecôte! they were super crowded on Valentine's Day and i think it was pretty obvious that their staff weren't used to such a huge volume of customers.  we reached at 8.30pm and i think by the time our main dish arrived, it was already past 9pm. but the staff were still very attentive when we called for service, and they gave all the ladies a gorgeous rose, which was really nice of them! :) 

so L'entrecôte is famous for the one-and-only (literally) main course, which is their Plat du Jour Entrecôte Steak ($29.90, classic portion).

thank goodness for the walnut steak that was served first, because we were ravenous at 8.30pm. this was a very light salad with yummy toasted walnuts on top! my only gripe is that there was no sauce at all! so it was rather bland/bitter. it helped tide over our hunger just a bit though.

till our main dish came! :D :D yummmmmm. it smelled so good. the portion of the steak was just right (especially with all the fries) and was slathered with L'entrecôte's "legendary sauce" which was really tasty! i can't really pinpoint what was in it (some secret ingredient haha) but it tasted like a combination of brown sauce/mushroom/mustard. savoury and slightly tangy, which went perfectly with the slab of meat. the fries were delicious too!! i probably looked really unglamorous but i was shovelling them into my mouth because i was so hungry. the fries were really crisp and VERY tasty. and for those who really love it so much, you'll be happy to know that it's free-flow! after one round of fries we couldn't eat anymore already though. haha.

we also ordered the half-baked chocolate cake ($14) which was pretty yummy! (: it was fluffy and delicate, and went perfectly with the vanilla ice-cream. *i've gotta add a disclaimer that my opinion is now biased because of the molten chocolate cake i ate the very next day at morganfields (which i will definitely blog about because it was SUPER GOOD). the one at l'entrecôte was not too shabby, but not the best either! 

L'entrecôte

Suntec City #B1-128/129

Tel.: +65 6690 7569

Daily 11.30am-9.30pm

thanks baby, for the wonderful valentine's day together :) i love you!!