Nails for the week - 25 Dec 2012 (Hello Kitty)

Decided to go for something really simple this week because I'm quite tired after 2 weeks of careful drawing. LOL. Anyway, I recently purchased some Hello Kitty seals so I decided to use them!

This is a fine example of why cheap nail polish won't last - because you can't even paint them on properly! The shocking pink is a combination of a cheapo $2.90 bottle that I bought off some store while I topped it off with a darker pink from Rubi (coincidentally also $2.90). It didn't glide on properly so there are some blotchy bits :(

Nonetheless, I think Kitty-chan brightens it up and makes me relatively happier but you know...it could've been awesome...

Merry Christmas!!

Happy happy Christmas everybody!  It's tough during this festive period to stick to any diet and it's true...just look at what I have eaten:

Roast beef, red wine, roast chicken and chocolate pear log cake.  Forgot to take a pic of the seafood risotto that mum cooked too.  So much for no red meats, alcohol and cake.  Haha...oops. Ah well...diet regime will begin next year.  At least the amount of wheat is minimal and red wine has anti-oxidants!

Anyways, went to Midnight Mass and check out the nativity scene as well as the annual pageant depicting the birth of Christ.

My brother was blasting carols sung by the Austrian Boys Choir/ King's College Choir and even Michael Buble before mass as well as in the car.  -_-;
Ok...given that these were TONS better than our church choir...it was a bit of an overload of sopranos singing "Joy to the world" if you know what I mean.

Anyway, Feliz Navidad peeps!! Lotsa love to one and all!!

Diet for us with Endometrosis

Weight is a very sensitive subject and for people who, like me, have endometrosis, this is even more sensitive because we may eat the correct no. of calories per day, exercise like mad and still pile on weight like nobody's business.

Don't know about you but I get really irritated when family and friends are not sympathetic and they think that all is needed is to eat less and exercise more.  All this while, they might also say hurtful things like "you're really putting on a lot of weight" or "don't wear that dress because I can see your bulges".

It has been a real struggle for me ever since I went off 'the jab' which lowers my hormone levels but I really can't afford to pay $600 each time I visit my gynae.  As such, I really am going to put this into my New Year's resolution to cut out certain foods and top up on some stuff so that I can trick my body into going back to it's normal metabolism.  I'll probably be experimenting with some recipes so that I can still enjoy the yummy food and I'll definitely be on the lookout for better eating choices when dining out.  This is especially difficult for us working women. I know.

Anyways, I'm going to start by....
Eliminating these foods:

• soy (because of the phyto-estrogen)
• dairy products (may contain estrogen)
• butter & trans-fats
• wheat & gluten (breads, pasta and cakes)
• refined carbs (white sugar, pasta, breads)
• red meat
• caffeine
• additives and preservatives
• fried foods
• alcohol (booo....)

Loading up on:

• omega 3
• primrose oil
• fibre (not wheat...think bran, brown rice etc)
• fruit & vegetables
• nuts such as walnuts, flaxseed and pumpkin seeds
• multi-vitamins

I'm glad to say that I've already started eating primrose oil and I have been loading up on the omega 3 fatty acid through salmon.  I just need to stop eating bread and pasta (which I love) but I think the most difficult one has to be fried foods.  I read somewhere that coconut oil is actually better than all the other vegetable oils.  How interesting.  Ah well...let's see how this goes.

Nails for the week - 17 Dec 2012 (Frosty the Snowman)

Looks like I might really end up with 3 different nail designs for Christmas!!  So Rudolf, Santa hat, candy cane, Christmas tree and Gingerbread Man had to go because the paint was chipping.  I was thinking for the longest time what design to do and then Siew Mai suggested Snowman.  Ok...why not? And I've been wanting to do this gradient sponge effect for a long time so I decided to do both.

Polishes & tools used:

• OPI What's with the cattitude (light blue)
• Disney dark blue
• China Glaze First Mate (dark blue)
• White
• Disney red
• Face Shop nail dot pens (white & black)
• Fasio Sparks on Nails (silver glitter)
• make up sponge
• brush/ dotting tool
• cotton bud soaked with polish remover

Use the light blue as your base colour.  I then sponged 2/3 of the nail with the Disney dark blue (it's a shade lighter than my China Glaze blue) followed by the last 1/3 nail with the China Glaze dark blue in the same manner.  I let each layer dry before doing the next.  Once all layers are dry (this should be quite fast), I painted the whole nail with the silver glitter.  Once that is dry, I used the white nail dot pen to draw snow flakes on all fingers except the thumbs.  You can vary the size and position of the snowflakes.  I drew half large flakes on some of them.

Now comes the slightly harder and tedious part.  Drawing Frosty.  I didn't use a brush at all but you might want to, if it gives you more control.  I merely used the brush of the white nail polish to draw 2 circles for Frosty's head and body, using my cuticle as the baseline.  If you're doing it this way, make sure that you filter out most of the polish before drawing onto your nail.  This helps because you won't get a blotch which will take forever to dry.

Once the white circles are half dry, I used the black nail dot pen to draw on the eyes and mouth.  Finally, using the dotting tool dipped into red nail polish, I drew on the scarf and the nose.  End it off with a top coat and viola!

Once

LIttle Tuscan Gem in Singapore - Trattoria Noona Lina (Restaurant Review)

Yesterday was my bro's birthday so we went to Trattoria Noona Lina, which is a small Italian restaurant started by his friend's friend's husband.  Another story of an Italian man meeting a Singaporean woman, falling in love, move to Singapore and starting an Italian restaurant while bringing along his parents (check out Valentino's in Bt. Timah). 

In the menu, the chef Simone explained that he named his restaurant after his noona (grandmother) and with his parents as Front of House, you really feel like you've entered a family's home.  Helps when you hear the chef singing from the kitchen throughout the meal as well.  He grew up on a coastal village in Tuscany and he dives, so you can tell that seafood is going to be a feature in the menu.  The decor isn't as cosy as Pasta Brava a few doors up the hill but let's have the food do the talking.

 Instead of your usual fare of a bread basket served with oil & vinegar or butter, they serve up bruschetta (please pronounce this as brus-ketta) of homemade bread with tomato and garlic drizzled with lots of olive oil.  Still want balsamic vinegar? Dip your bread slightly with the vinegar reduction on the side.

All set for the Christmas Cheer!

  

We ordered the Christmas special starter of Blue Lipped Mussels ($40++).  The garlic soup that the mussels came in was just so lovely and they know it so they served MORE bread just for you to soak up the goodness.

Another Christmas special we ordered was the Gnocchi with Duck Ragu ($35++).  If you don't already know, Gnocchi is potato flour dumplings and although this wasn't a crowd fave with my family, I really liked the duck ragu.  It wasn't too heavy and was just a very robust, earthy dish.

Below is possibly one of THE BEST squid ink pasta ($26++) in Singapore.  The sauce is rich and you can taste the actual squid ink in all its subtle glory while still allowing the crab to speak for itself.

Another Christmas special and this is a MUST TRY and I recommend sharing it.  This is their Italian meatloaf prepared with truffled mushrooms and potatoes ($40++).  Mama mia! This dish was a party in our mouths!  If you have a large appetite and cream does nothing to you, then go ahead and enjoy this dish by yourself.

Seafood Stew ($35++) ordered by mum was chockful of clams, crab meat and 2 very large prawns.  Again, rustic stews mean bread to soak up the goodness!

Take a minute to savour the photo below.  That's 2 scampi on top of ravioli stuffed with Maine lobster ($40++).  Yes please!

We originally wanted to order their Christmas 4-course set meal at $95++ but due to language barrier, the mum thought that we wanted to share all the dishes so the prices are ala carte and large enough to share for 4 adults, if you order as many dishes as we did.  Kinda worked out in the end since my bro didn't order dessert since we have his cake as dessert:

The dark chocolate fudge cake is from Laurent Bernard and look at the decadent layers of fondant and fudge! Is there any sponge cake? I don't think so.  If you want to die from chocolate poisoning, this is the best way to go.  Assured that you will NOT be hungry after eating a slice that is 2cm x 2cm.  Yup...it's that thick.  Review to be done another day as I first ate Laurent Bernard's souffles and cakes a long before smartphones came about. ;)

What I liked about Trattoria Noona Lina is that they were so game in taking the cake out for us and it was quite funny because they thought that it was my dad's birthday although I kept saying that it's my brother's.  They changed our plates after every other dish which I felt was so nice because you want to be able to taste each dish unadulterated by the sauce/ gravy of the previous dishes.  This restaurant really reminded me of my trip in Tuscany and it specifically reminded me of one of the places we ate in Florence. It's definitely worth a trip and is one of the better Italian restaurants in our tiny island! 

Trattoria Noona Lina
4 Craig Road
Singapore 089664
Tel:  +65 6222 0930
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TrattoriaNonnaLina

Laurent Bernard
80 Mohamed Sultan Road

5B Portsdown Road

Restaurant Review - Osaka Ohsho

So...Japan Foods Holdings decided to revamp the Champon restaurant at Raffles City Tower basement to "Osaka Ohsho" - the king of gyoza.  Good strategy because it keeps people interested in the place while the parent company brings in yet another 'heavyweight' from Japan. Decided to try the place out since gyoza is supposed to be their specialty.

Ordered their smaller ramen lunch set ($9.90++) which has 3 pieces of gyoza, a bowl of ramen and a choice of hot or cold houcha (tea).  I honestly don't get some of their lunch sets because they're exactly the same price as stated in their 'normal' menu...so what makes them so special?

Don't be fooled by the plastic gyoza on display.  The real thing is about 3/4 the size of those plastic models.  But of course, the taste of them gyoza isn't plastic.  I liked that the gyoza was not fried in tons of oil so it wasn't oily but yet the crispy side was crispy without being dry.  Because of the lack of oil, these morsels of pork dumplings do tend to stick to each other but who cares when you've got a spoon to use as leverage and the whole plate is yours.  Haha!  What I found slightly weird was that the vinegar had soya sauce added and wasn't sour enough.  I like my vinegar sour and pure, thank you very much.

The ramen is quite ok too but it reminded me of the instant ramen that I bought and cooked for myself when I was a poor student in Japan on a summer programme.  The char siew in the ramen was tender and not disappointing.

If you want to just eat gyoza, you can choose from 6pc or 12pc to share.  However, they have A LOT of sets to choose from, most of them having a side of gyoza.  They're not very expensive at $3.90++ for 3 pieces.  The taste is definitely better than buying those frozen gyozas and cooking them at home.

I found it so interesting that the taste of the fare in "Osaka Ohsho" is how Chinese food in Japan is like but to the normal person on the street, this probably tastes Japanese.  Weird that it's being imported back to Singaporeans who are used to a more authentic Chinese taste.  But then "Osaka Ohsho" sells itself as Japanese, with the name proudly stating 「和食処」 (meaning place for Japanese food).  Well, I guess it's the exoticism of Japan which sells, in this case. 

Osaka Ohsho
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-75 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
Website:  http://www.osakaohsho.com.sg

Another Game Card

Received a log cake and a Christmas card from another vendor today and I sense a theme...It's another GAME!

An ex-colleague pointed out 'Snowflake' to me after I had instagrammed the bottom photo.  Can you spot it?

I must say that people are getting more creative with their greetings.  Unfortunately, I'm too busy to be so innovative.  Hmm...who else will be sending us stuff? :D

Best Christmas Card Ever

An ad agency that we use sent me this Christmas Game/Card which is THE best that I've ever received in a long long time.  Especially in this age of e-cards, this Kungfu themed game is just so cute.  Thanks PulpByte! :)

I Love Skinny Pizza!

This review is kinda long overdue since I've been eating at Skinny Pizza since they first started. I think I've been to almost all their branches too so I'll just let the food do the talking. It's foodporn after all. ;)

Trinity of Truffle Fries, Grilled Corn on the Cob and Harissa Prawns with Couscous - $15++ for 3 sides

Grilled Figs, Walnuts and Parmesan cheese Pizza - $25++

Salami with goat cheese and pine nuts Pizza - $24++

I must say that their Truffle Fries used to be awesome but now, I think my current fave truffle fries can be found at Alley Bar.  I haven't eaten those at PS Cafe despite raves from some friends.  The reason is simple - I think PS Cafe's food is so-so, thus, there's no compelling reason for me to make a special trip down to their restaurant.  I had a craving for truffle fries so bad one day that I'm tempted to make my own.  Only thing holding me back is the price tag of a bottle of Truffle Oil - $39?!?! And the bottle is anorexic. Ok...enough of my rant on truffle oil (which doesn't even have real truffle...wait, I said that I'll stop ranting).

Back to Skinny Pizza.  I love how I can eat the whole pizza on my own without the same guilt as regular pizza because:

• The dough is a cracker
• There is only 1/2 the usual amount of cheese
• There is lots of veg
• Everything is super fresh

Love Skinny Pizza! :) I highly recommend their Veal, Squid Ink as well as the English Breakfast Pizzas.  Awesome!

Skinny Pizza
Website: http://www.skinnypizza.com.sg/locate-us-contact-us/
I highly recommend just going to their website to check out their menu and locations because they do have a few branches.

Nails for the week - 9 Dec 2012 Merry Christmas!

This has got to be my most time-consuming nail art with the most colours used...ever.  Pardon the cock-eyed Rudolph. My hand shook slightly when I was dotting his eye and he now has 1 good eye and 1 wonky one.  Oops.  This was a pretty ambitious design and I think I'll be leaving this on for at least 2 weeks.  I don't care.  Will be applying top coat every other day JUST to make sure that it lasts.  Lol.

I'm not going to tell you how to do each nail because I'll be typing till midnight but here's an indication of the tools and colours you'll need:

• Dotting tool with 2 sizes
• Toothpick/ brush --> I just used Face Shop's black and white Nail Dot pens
• Red crystals
• Nail polishes:
• Gold
• Light brown
• Dark brown
• White
• Red
• Green
• Sparkly glitter
• Black

I'm sure you can figure out how to do most of the nails.  The one that took the most time to do was Rudolph and you really need a steady hand.  Patience is also required because you don't want to do the whole thing at 1 shot. You will need to let the brown base dry before painting on the nose and eyes.  Ok...enough said.  Now...what shall my next Christmas design be?  I've already done the snow flakes last year...any ideas?

Review - Tiong Bahru Bakery

This has got to be THE most expensive bun/sandwich in Raffles City. 

I've eaten the danish from Tiong Bahru Bakery before and although I think it's good, I was wondering why people were raving about the bakery itself.  Opened by the Spa Esprit Group, this chain is proving to be like their other eateries (eg. House @ Dempsey, Skinny Pizza etc) where it's popular and the food's good.

Had to try their specialty buns and sandwiches right? The above, I present their Squid Ink Bun with smoked salmon, parma ham and rockets.  Guess the price?  A whopping $8.50! Yes...but since it was Friday, I decided to treat myself to it.

Taste wise, I cannot complain. The bun was light and fluffy without it being too airy.  The smokiness of the salmon with the parma ham was a salty heaven mixed with lovely minty rockets.  It was a good sandwich! One which I wouldn't mind eating but I mind very much paying $8.50 for.  Seriously. And it was a takeaway!! No service required, no dishes to be washed...why $8.50? Well, at least I know that smoked salmon, parma ham and rockets aren't cheap but I noticed that their Croque Monsieur was $9.50!!! Why?? (0_o)

Sorry...I don't love pastry and breads that much to shell out that kind of money on a regular basis. I know that TBB has its fans and they rave non-stop about the croissants.  Nonetheless, Delifrance is starting to look a lot more reasonably priced now...

Tiong Bahru Bakery
56 Eng Hoon St
#01-70
Singapore 160056

252 North Bridge Road
#B1-11/12 Raffles City
Singapore 179103

Website: http://www.tiongbahrubakery.com/

Another Trip to Bing Bian

Went to Bing Bian at Millenia Walk again yesterday with Siew Mai, and I "choped" (reserved) their last serving of yu yuan dumplings for their Taro Ice.  Thank you Gary! Helps that the owner recognised me after our last meeting.  So honoured!! :)

So, Gary had told me previously that his team and himself had spent 7-9 months just perfecting these yu yuan dumplings.  What are they?  They're sweet potato and yam dumplings that are chewy and sweet.  These really are THE BOMB.  I was uber impressed with the lovely chewy texture but yet the dumplings still retained their yam and sweet potato flavours.  Those who have tried cooking these or the Hakka Abacus seed dish will know that it is soo difficult to get that balance of flour and yam/sweet potato right.

The taro ice came with 'pearls' or tapioca balls and because the yu yuan dumplings were perfect, it came as no surprise that the pearls were perfect too.  The only disappointment was the red beans which were not sweet enough.

Anyway, this time round, the other owner was in the shop as well. Didn't manage to catch his name BUT he is Gary's cousin and the way the 2 of them were jabbing each other was hilarious! Also found out to Siew Mai's and my shock that both of them are in their 50s!! If you see Gary, you'll understand why.  His skin is so smooth and he does not have a single strand of white hair on his head.  Jealous!! His essence of youth? Apparently, heavy drinking and smoking.  Haha. Joking. Please DO NOT do those vices.

I really love the friendly and happy vibe the shop has and besides the food, it's really enjoyable talking to Gary and his cousin.  Would probably go there again just for the whole happy package! :)

I mimicked their Avocado Ice at home and you can get my recipe here!

Click here for the previous post on Bing Bian.

Review - Breakfast at Potato Depot

Got a little bored of the breakfast of bread/sandwiches/bee hoon and what not so I decided to try Potato Depot's breakfast set.  At $6.50, it comes with 2 eggs, a chicken sausage, potato salad, baked beans and coffee/tea.  I reckon that it's quite a good deal.

Taste test - mmm...I can't complain because I'm basically getting a mini English breakfast set at half the price.  Chicken sausage was normal, baked beans were good (Heinz?), eggs were microwaved so don't expect much and my tea was just a tea bag with water (what? No milk?).  Their specialty is of course, the potato so the potato salad was made with yummy Russet potatoes, cracked black pepper and mayonnaise.  I'll just stick to their spuds next time.  Again, cannot complain for $6.50 set which kept me really full...felt full during lunch too.

Potato Depot
Raffles City #B1-78
Webiste:http://www.potatodepot.com/index.htm 

Restaurant review - Bobby's

When you work in the CBD, finding set lunches at $10 is a steal and if it's $10.95++ at a restaurant in Chijmes, it's a bargain! So, we marketing gals went down with our new colleague for a welcome lunch at Bobby's.

All of us were suitably impressed with the very long set lunch menu which had a variety of pastas, sandwiches, salads and meats.  Funnily enough, 2 of us ordered the BBQ Pork Melon Salad while another 2 of us ordered the Chicken Dij-something. 

That's a very generous serving of chicken with roasted tomato (I took it from a colleague who doesn't eat tomatoes), which was very yum, as well as a grilled asparagus spear.  Both colleagues were super full from their chicken.

I ordered the BBQ Pork Melon Salad which tasted like pulled pork.  The serving was large enough as a main and there was enough greens to make you feel cow-ish.  I wasn't convinced that the melon complemented the dish though.  Was not full after the meal but I was not hungry either.  I just felt a little unsatisfied but I guess that this is good for those with small appetites. 

They claim to have awesome ribs but I have yet to try that.  Maybe I would go over to try them ribs one day and I quite like how it's relatively empty during lunch.  Good respite from the hustle and bustle in the CBD.

Bobby's
30 Victoria Street
#B1-03 Chijmes
Singapore 187996
Tel: +65 6337 5477
Website: www.bobbys.com.sg

Nails for the week - 3 Dec 2012

Nothing really special but Nails for the week is back!!! I broke a couple of nails and some of them have been peeling because I didn't repaint them...so I had to really wait it out (with tons of moisturiser) before the nails were of 'paintable' state. 

As my brother was hogging my desk and chair, I was painting while sitting on my bed.  Which then resulted in me choosing the ultimate simple design of OPI Gold with sticker tips.  Simple.  I still haven't decided what to do for Christmas.  I still have 3 weeks! Hmm...3 different designs??

Check out my previous Christmas Snow Flake nail art here.

Review - Prive Cafe

I've been to Prive a few times now but I've never eaten there before so today, brother decided to have brunch there and I started things off with my Iced Chocolate ($11++).  It's a little pricy but they used the actual melted chocolate and not some cheapo cocoa powder so I guess that made it slightly better.

Well, we were paying for the view which is marred by the threatening rain clouds...

Below is my Roast Beef Fettuccine with Roasted Peppers ($20++).  Loved the peppers and was disappointed that the beef was a tad dry.  The lovely peppery sauce of mustard and sour cream made up for that.

Mum ordered the Moroccan Chicken ($24++) which was served on a bed of couscous.  Mum loved the couscous and felt that it was more tasty than the one she cooked but I thought that it tasted the same.  The chicken was tender and kudos on the very distinct Moroccan flavour which was still subtle and refined at the same time.

Bro ordered the Eggs Royale ($16++) which was basically Poached eggs with smoked salmon, topped with loads of Hollandaise sauce and placed on English muffins.  The hollandaise sauce was thick and very oily but the eggs were poached to perfection.  I found it all very salty though.  I guess the rockets with the vinaigrette was meant to cut back on the salt and oil.  Gotta love a place that serves All-Day breakfast though.

For dessert, we shared the Sticky Cinnamon Pancake which is sin in a plate.  3 fluffy pancakes served with a cream cheese sauce, topped with honey comb and a side of honey.  Guaranteed to give you an immediate sugar high.  Not meant for diabetics.

After lunch, we took a walk around the Keppel Island and this is the wonderful view of the Reflections by the Bay, overlooking the marina.

Check this boat out! It has a freaking helicopter on it! Talk about rich!!

Keppel Island is a bit out of the way for those without cars and it is easy to miss the entrance but do go and try the food! Quite yums and the view's great!

In a mood for Christmas

I'm in the mood for Christmas!!! It all started off with Canele's Christmas macarons...

Above is Chestnut and Elderflower, although they also have Gingerbread as well as a Cranberry one too...I think.  Anyhows, I love the chestnut flavoured one while I felt that the Elderflower macaron was so-so.  These little things aren't cheap at $3 a pop (their regular flavours are $2.50 each).

That's Rudolph saying hi before taking a dip in my Peppermint Mocha!  Went a little nutso while walking around to clear my mind and I ended up buying Peeps Chocolate Mousse flavoured Reindeers and Starbuck's Peppermint Mocha.  Ah...the taste of Christmas.  Same Christmas wallet too - empty.  The Starbucks drink actually cost me $7.20!!! (0_o)  I'm all for fair trade but if I were a coffee farmer and I knew that Starbucks charges people more than $5 for a cup of coffee, I'll be setting up my own cafe.  Oh wait.  That's Oriole.

So...I was talking to the besties about a possible Christmas party and once we came to the topic of food, these 2 best friends of mine started searching around for food pics and sent me the following:

Doable? Most likely. I'll definitely be taking photos and posting that onto my other blog www.inchefmode.blogspot.com when that happens.  Is the party a go? Um...still haven't decided.  All I know is...I'm gonna make Irish Coffee with whipped cream and all that lovely stuff! LOL. 

So...I've already started taking a poll of my friends and what they want for Christmas (only my besties are thick-skinned enough to answer).  Honestly, there's NO shame in coming up with a wish list or a don't-get-me-these list because we are not mind readers.

Here's MY Christmas wish list combined with my don't-get-me-these list:

• Pazzion/ Zara/ Mango/ Stradivarius vouchers
• A Polaroid camera
• Sponsorship to The Script's concert in 2013
• Travel sponsorship (Fortune Teller Master Khor told me that I need to travel more in 2013-2014)
• iTunes gift card
• Toast Box tea vouchers
• Absolut Vanilla or Original
• No soft toys
• No jewellery
• No bath soaps (shower gels are still acceptable)
• No body lotion
• No chocolate
• No jams

I'm so happy that Christmas is coming soon! Time to get some R&R before 2013 comes! I'm starting to dread 2013...my calendar is already full!!