1 Caramel @ The Cathay

Hanged out with a friend @ 1Caramel (run by the same people who run 1 Rochester and 126 @ East Coast Park). And, as it's name suggests, it is the place for desserts. Unlike the other 2 joints which are drinks joint, this one located in the heart of the city is more a dessert cafe sorta feel, but open till late (1am!). And.. The dessert selection is prettily set up in the glass cupboard-like display sets. It's just so many to choose from! Here's what we ordered...
An ice blended double shot espresso with caramel (i think). I like the 2 lil butterflies that set atop the whipped cream! So pretty and cute!

Luckily they had some promotion which allowed for 5 sampler sized items @ $10. And me and my friend could try a variety of the cakes. The peanut butter tart rocked! The red velvet showed promise, but maybe cos of it's small size, I felt it dried out a bit... But you can taste the richness of the cocoa in there.

My tea... I asked for something relaxing... Well, I did have a good sleep after that, so I supposed it worked. :)

Luncheon Meat

There is something about luncheon meat that I love. Maybe it's the msg, the nitrates and sodium that goes into making it, but the combination just ROCKS. One of my favourite back to school food is thinly slice luncheon meat toasted till crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, paired with a baked beans side. All the same, I can't resist ordering HK cafe instant noodles telling them I don't want the noodles, just give me more luncheon meat. (I do love the noodles, just that it's carbs... URGH... I'd rather spend the calories on luncheon meat.) And, I realize my colleagues love luncheon meat just as much - tomorrow's breakfast menu consists of luncheon meat. YUM! Specially ordered because of the luncheon meat. Hahaha... Oh, and I hear Relish serves luncheon meat fries! *grin*

Time Out

I need to time out and reconnect with My Maker and find myself again. I hope it happens this year.

My perfect wedding

A friend was sharing with me how her other friend was on holiday with her boyfriend and on an impulse they got married at a little inn in a quiet little valley place. Well, I wouldn't say it was an impulse, it wasn't planned, but they had been dating long enough to know that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, except that there were no wedding plans yet, they hadn't looked for a house and were just letting things go with the natural flow. And go with the natural flow they did. Well, they didn't want to rush into the wedding as they wanted to look for the perfect wedding location. So, when they found it in that quiet little valley, they got the innkeeper to get the solemnization documents and the innkeeper and his wife were the witnessess!!!

When I heard that, I was stunned for a while, because that would have been my perfect wedding! And I thought it only happened in my dreams. I had always dreamed that the perfect proposal will take place out of Singapore (eg. maybe in the Woods? At the top of a Mountain? By a quiet lake? in the night view of the Parisian/ New York lit skyline?) And my perfect wedding would be held in a quiet, serene place (meadows by the lakes... ahhh...) where the people are so friendly and warm, with no preparation, except spontaneity. Find the perfect place, head to the town to get a nice sundress, if there's a little chapel by the meadows, all the better. Get the local pastor or local solemnizer to solemnize the wedding and get the innkeeper and his wife to be the witnessess. The rings don't have to be anything expensive, even one weaved outta twigs also works. That evening's celebration will just be a nice, homely dinner celebration with whoever's at the inn. Or one at the local restaurant, proclaiming to all the patrons that "We're Married!". How COOL will that be? And, it will be a ONE OF A KIND wedding. Spontaneous? Impulsive? Whatever you may call it, I think it's absolutely romantic. Because, this kinda wedding, is one that focuses on the crux of the wedding - the joining of 2 as 1. No guest list, no dinner, no traditional ceremony to worry about - the only thing that matters would be the 2 of us. Imagine the thrill of coming back to Singapore and then proclaiming to everyone, "We're Married!".

Sure, I want everyone to celebrate in the joy, but many a times, many couples get too stressed up and caught up with the preparation, the most important thing is lost in the busyness. Not to say I won't have a "proper" wedding with the full works, but let's get to the crux of the matter first, the wedding is about the union of the man and woman in the eyes of God. Once that is celebrated between the 2 who really matter, then let's bring the joy to the rest. The excel sheets, house hunting, dinner venue etc. can all wait. :)

Ivy's Amazing Cakes...

My colleague made these figurines herself!! All from icing!!! Too bad I don't have the photos of the other cakes that she made. But they're all so pretty and super yummy!!!

Cupcakes for friendship day

As part of our annual FL Friendship day celebrations, we baked cupcakes for the event. (The last few years we had balloons, special heart shapes, musical dedications). Ad since it was my first time using this new microwave to bake, I decided to try out the recipe I was using (I used Magnolia's recipe as the base, but instead of using 2 types of flour, I just used all purpose flour and 2tsp of double acting baking soda) to ensure that the heat and all was appropriate for the recipe. That evening, JoTng came over to help design my trial batch of cupcakes. Check this one that she painstakingly decorated! It's got my name. =) Love it!!Really, decorating the cupcake with the stars was an exceptionally tiring task. I spent over 4 hours decorating 30 cupcakes for the FL event. Check some of the designs out. I changed the method of frosting a lil (cos I was super lazy to start the fire), so the colour came out a lil different. But since the stars were individually put, i could adjust and design each cupcake differently. But if I ever have to do so many cupcakes on this level, I'm gonna use a piped frosting. It'll be way easier.

1st tray of the cupcakes I made:The colourful heart's so pretty...

I also like the random multi-coloured stars...

Sundowner @ New Asia Bar

I always thought New Asia Bar is dead at about 8pm since it's sorta a club. But I was very surprised that when I headed there the other day at 8+pm on a saturday evening, it was quite crowded! And I like the feel. Very different from City Space (which I'm a big fan of too!) cos it's not jazz/lounge music, rather it's more upbeat clubbing music that isn't blasted too loud. Just good for conversation. And from 6pm-9pm it's sundowner, so the drinks are a lil cheaper. And most of the seats were taken. Very nice chill out place. But next time if I go, must go earlier and get a seat nearer the window, then can enjoy the beautiful scenery and the changing sky colour from bright to dark.