Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Jara Petit @ Dhoby Ghaut Xchange

I do follow lots of food bloggers/channels on instagram or any others social media platform and am always on a look out for good food. 

I first chanced upon Jara Petit on 8 Days Eat's instagram and it was during the durian season. I was totally attracted to their durian cheese cakes because it's something new to me.

Derp and I happened to pass by the stall front of Jara Petit while we were at that area for Maplesea's 10th Year Anniversary Celebration. I took this chance to grab some of their cheesecups to try it out. 


The pretty packaging of the cheesecups.


The flavours we chose were (from left to right) : Durian, Cookies and Cream and Matcha


That's how the interior of the Durian cheesecups look like. They uses real durian meat and I can totally taste the durian fruit. And that's digestive biscuits at the base of the cake. 

All their cheesecakes have biscuits as their base which is Derp's favourite kind of cheesecakes. Hence he's willing to try this new concept of cheesecakes in a cup with me :) 


Cookies and Cream 

This time round, it's the oreo biscuit that's the base of the cheesecup. It taste good too.


Matcha 

Last but not least, Matcha flavour! Their matcha is better than what I expected but to me anything related to Matcha is nice.

Personally, I also prefer cheesecakes in such form(with biscuits as the base) as it's much more yummier than the normal cheesecakes. 

A box of 3 cheesecups cost $9.50 which I think it belong to the high end kind of dessert lol. As for size wise, it's smaller than the normal kind of cupcakes but somehow their price seems to be the same. It's defintely not those kind of cakes which I will buy and eat for fun on normal days.

You can find out the various flavours of cheesecups on their website

Jara Petit @ Dhoby Ghaut Xchange
11 Orchard Rd #B1-35 Dhoby Xchange

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Maplesea's 10th Year Anniversary Celebration

Derp and I attended the Maplesea 10th Year Anniversary Celebration at Pumo! It's not our first time attending their anniversary celebration but it's been way too long since the last time we attend it.. 

Probably need to do a search on my blog to see the past anniversary celebration that we once went haha! At least more than 5 years ago since we last participate in their events.

We went back to play Maplestory lately but no longer as hardcore as last time. It's more of a leisure kind of past time these days :) I've been working quite closely with Asiasoft these days regarding the wedding prep so I reckon it's apt for us to show some support for their event haha! And at the same time to grab some ideas for our wedding banquet.


#OOTD to attend the Maplesea Anniversary Celebration..

We RSVP-ed with them on their website and we had to pay 5,000 maplecash each which is approximately 5 bucks. They have 500 RSVPs slots and we were glad to secure them. There will be a free goodie bag from them if you have RSVP.

However, when we reached that place, there doesn't seems to have any difference between the RSVP queue and the normal walk-in queue. It took us awhile to figured out where's the queue and we queued for nearly 1 hour before entering the place. I didn't expect the respond will be that good and the venue for this event couldn't hold that much people. 

Due to the offline sales, it attracted lots of maplers to get the good and limited edition items which can only be bought at the event itself. Hence, the response for this event was really unexpected (at least for me). 


The queue inside the lan shop at Pumo. Still got a long way to go for us..

They only allow probably 10 at a time to enter to place so as to prevent overcrowding..


Finally enter the lan shop and it's our turn really soon..


A #welfie taken while in the queue.

In the end, we didn't get any items from the offline sales because most of them have a validity of 90 days or so. After which it will expire so it's not that worth it unless we play the game almost everyday.

We don't wish to commit to it hence we stayed a while after the collection of the goodie bag to eat some food, and check out the events that were happening on site.

We left shortly after because it was getting late and we were tired from all that queuing lol.


The goodies from the goodie bag given by them to all the maplers who RSVP-ed. 

I hope that in future the event will be held at a not so cramp venue and able to hold up to 1000 people at least so as to reduce queuing time. 

Once again, Happy 10th Birthday Maplesea and many more good years to come!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Bangkok Jam @ Raffles City Shopping Center

I'm back from my BKK trip and it has been a fulfilling trip :) It should be made into a yearly affair to visit that country. Anyway, I'll blog about it soon so stay tuned!

Weeks back when I went to collect my Shape Run race pack (Shape run is happening this coming Sunday), Derp came to meet me after I'm done and we had Thai food for dinner. 

Even though our BKK trip was about to happen, we still decide to have Thai food even though it seems better to 忍 and get better quality and cheaper Thai food in BKK.  


There wasn't any queue and we managed to get a seat pretty quickly.


The Menu.

But what came after was unexpected. They were very short handed on a Friday and we waited very long for the waiter to take our orders. There were groups of people waiting to be seated and some even walked away while queuing up. 

Anyway, this is what we ordered.. 


Clear Tom Yum with Seafood - $10.50

The soup is no where spicier than those from Thai Express / Three @ Seletar Mall


 Minced Chicken with Basil - $11.90

The minced chicken with basil tasted alright but the rice portion is really pathetic! I've no idea if they've ran out of rice or what, but the portion is around half the normal bowl of rice. I'm not a 饭桶but if I feel the rice portion is little, it means really little okay!


Seafood Phad Thai - $12.50

The Seafood Phad Thai was the only reasonable dish we ate that night.

We find the food on the higher end and doubt we will go back again. We will rather go for Thai Express or Three @ Seletar Mall which serves much better Thai food. 

We'll continue to explore more options for Thai food in Singapore and it's not easy to find good quality Thai Food in Singapore. Nadkhon Kitchen will be the next Thai restaurant to visit :) Looking forward!

Bangkok Jam @ Raffles City Shopping Center
02-105B/C 6 Raffles Blvd Marina Square, Singapore 039594‎
6338 6632

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

新源记 @ Bugis, Durian Feast @ Bugis Street

It was supposed to be a meetup with all the bridesmaid to pass them their bridesmaid dress but due to unforeseen circumstances, I only get to meetup with Esther. No idea when's the last time both of us hang out together, just the 2 of us. 

We did that very often in the good old days. It's like a weekly affair thingy in the past haha! Now that We have our own family to take care, hence the meetups became lesser. We do cherish date night like such.  

We only agreed on the dinner venue that evening itself lol. I was craving for durians (my first durian of the year and it's the last too), and Bugis Street's durian stall is the one which is located conveniently for us. 

But first, we settled our dinner at 新源记. This used to be our favorite hangout eatery whenever we come Bugis area too. 


Long queue but thankfully Esther went in to grab a table before I reached. She also helped to order the 'usual' food and our food came shortly after..I was famished by then given the fact that I always have my lunch before 12pm. 


Ice Barley, Fish Slice Noodle and Prawn Paste Chicken



#welfie before dining in..


Okay last one! 

We had a quick dinner as we intend to have durians after that. The price of the food sold at 新源记 has increased over the years. It used to cost less than $5 for a bowl of fish slice noodle but it's $5.80 now. That goes the same for their prawn paste chicken which cost less than $10 last time but it's now $13 dollars if I never remember wrongly. 

At the very least, their food standard didn't drop over the years despite charging at a higher and higher price each time I visit them. 

We hop over to Bugis Street and walk around a little before heading to the back alley for durians. Somehow Bugis Street's stuff doesn't catch my eyes anymore. #signsofaging 

There wasn't any seats available when we reached the durian stall, but we managed to grab a table within few minutes of standing there. There's tourists leaving and even offered us to have the durians. They couldn't finish it. But we were too pai seh to take their durian but instead we asked them to give it back to the stall owner.  

Enough said, here's our 猫山王! 


Very nice looking color of the flesh and the durian is very fleshy! 

The smell is really strong but it taste really yummy :)  Down side is that it's slightly on the expensive side (despite news saying this year durian's price should drop) but give it benefit of doubt that Bugis street is a tourist attraction, things tend to be slightly more expensive. 


one last #welfie of the night before we indulge in the 猫山王

We didn't finish all of it in one shot, but instead we only ate half of it. The remaining half were split into 2 and we brought back for our husband for supper lol.

I'm glad we share cab that day because the smell of our durians were really strong (despite being covered up in styofoam box).

It was a short night out despite being on a Monday night, but totally #nomondayblues. Probably one of the best ways to kick start your week along by meeting up with your best friend :)

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Lunch @ Hoshino Coffee

I have not met highness for nearly half a year! The last time we met was last christmas when we meet for dinner at Song Fa Bak Ku Teh @ Seletar Mall. That would means we have not cafe hop together for quite a period of time. She's always the best person to cafe hop with because she's been to too many cafes haha! 

We postponed our meetup quite a few times and I'm glad that we finally found a common time to meet up. :) 

This time round we decide to head to Hoshino Coffee @ Plaza Singapura for our lunch. 



This picture pretty much sums up what they served. They have only this much items on their menu. 


We reached around 1+pm and there was a short queue. They were pretty short handed so we waited quite awhile to get our seats.. There were lots of empty seats but they were not fast enough to clear the tables and bring us to the seats. 

We waited around 20 minutes or more just to get seated. In the mean time, we were given the menu to look at it and decide what to have. 


They are famous for their souffle! Basically, they made everything related to souffle. 


Highness ordered the Hokkaido Cheese Cream Soup Spaghetti - $16.00

When it came, it smells really good. Portion was acceptable and it's a really healthy spaghetti, filled with lots of greens! Because all the rice related food contains beef, so highness changed her order to spaghetti instead. 


I ordered the "Fuwa Fuwa" (fluffy) Hoshino Souffle - $15.90

The looks of it reminded me of this sentence from the famous movie Despicable Me..
"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

But trust me, it's really flufffy! And this is how it looks like inside. Souffle with tomato rice. A very filling dish indeed. 

Because it was our first meal of the day, we were really hungry and decide to order desserts as well. It will be a wasted trip if I don't drink their coffee since that's what they are famous for. :) 


I had the Hoshino Blended Coffee - $5.80

You get to add how much sugar you will like to have in your coffee. The coffee taste slightly different from what I usually had but it's good coffee. Not those that has a strong after taste if you get what I mean.

We waited a long time for our dessert to be served, and by then it came, my coffee had turned cold :(

Anyway, this is what we ordered for our dessert...



Pot-baked Souffle with Chocolate Sauce and Softee Topping - $10.80 +  0.50

When we ate finished half of it, we were quite full. The serving isn't that small actually. It's best eaten with the sauce and also together with the softee ice cream! 

Not forgetting to take some photos. We took pic with highness's fish eye lens attached to her iphone..


. A pic with the Pot Baked Souffle and Hoshino Coffee. 


My cafe hopping gf! 

We spent a total of $60+ for our lunch. The price is consider okay considering the fact that it's 1 stone kill 2 birds (breakfast and lunch together). I do think that their food is a little over priced but it's worth to try it at least once.

I'll consider to go back there to try their pancake souffle style and coffee again.

For their full menu, you can click here: http://www.hoshinocoffee.com.sg/m/menu.html

Hoshino Coffee (Plaza Singapura)
Address: #03-84, Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road, 238839

Monday, July 06, 2015

Hello July and Hello Land of Smiles really soon!

Hello July!
The monthly countdown to the wedding seems to get scarier and yet exciting as time goes by. It's another 5 months to go! 

June has been a productive month as we checked off many items from the to-do list :) Still very much on track but I've always got feeling there's still important stuff not done yet. Hoping to tick off few more items by end of this month! *cross fingers*

Jetting off soon...
Enough of the wedding woes, I'll be jetting off to the land of smiles in less than 10 days. Pretty much excited even though the itinerary has not been finalized yet. It's my 3rd time heading there and I still refer back to my own BKK travelogue for directions to places which I will very much love to revisit everytime I go BKK. Memory is failing me as I gets older but thankfully I did blog them down which makes it easier  for me to refer to in the future. 

Slotting in a few cafes which we have not visit before for this coming trip and I think our limited stomach space will disappoint us. We'll probably stop cafe hopping after visiting 1 cafe and rather move on to walk around to digest the food. 

BKK's cafes are worth going for as compares to the local ones due to the price and quality of food. Do stay tune for my BKK 2015 updates okay? :) 

Happy 1 Year of Yoga! 

This July marks the 1 year 'anniversary' of me practicing yoga. I'll never forget how not flexible I was in the past (I can't even straighten my legs in extended triangle pose) and I'm glad I didn't give up yoga all this while. It not only serves as a cross train activity, and very often it heals my aches from all the running. 

Yay to a stronger self and what most important is that, Yoga have taught me lots about life :) It's a activity which I will like to keep it a life long journey same as running.

Some arco yoga pics (taken 2 weeks ago) from the last yoga session of yet another term...

We did many poses (most of which I've done before) and presenting to you #plankonplank 


A perfect plank is done by maintaining a really flat back.



Ending this reflection post with this favorite sentence from my yoga instructor..
Engage your core and breathe...

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Elna's 1st Birthday Party!

Happy 1st Birthday to Elna! 

Derp and I attended Elna's 1st birthday party few weeks back and time really flies. It's like yesterday she was borned and the next moment, I'm invited to her 1st birthday party. 

Truth to be told, we hardly get to interact with her but with Kyler more often. Esther can't handle both kids on her own hence she usually only bring 1 out for events. 


#OOTD that day. In a new romper from mgplabel

The birthday party was held at a waterfront waves's function room located at bedok reservoir road. Esther's ex coli was kind enough to book the function room for her to hold Elna's 1st birthday party. 

We arrived quite late so we didn't get to eat the catering food because it was almost time for cake cutting session. 



And so I question why is it giraffe haha! 

Reason being, Elna has a pink giraffe soft toy (Kyler has a blue one so to be fair they bought the pink one for her after she was borned) and she actually hug it to sleep every night haha! So she has a favourite toy now.


Little Elna and Esther.

She's so so so petite! Esther have been telling us she's been admiring her daughter's legs because she think Elna's leg will be very slim in the future (daddy's genes).


The parents trying to get the kiddos to take a proper photo lol.

It's not easy when 1 of them try to kick the cake and another follow suite. And when they stop Kyler from doing so, he cried and Elna follow suite to make that 'crying' sound too. 

Finally our turn to take photo with them before we go and get our dinner from the catering..


The kiddos totally not looking at the camera haha! It's really not easy to get them to look at the camera. Many of them were calling out to their names to get their attention.


Almost there but not yet...


Okay finally a proper one lol. Totally can tell Kyler and Elna is from the same factory because they are really alike haha! 

Derp and I had our dinner and in the mean time did some catching up with Esther. Elna was fast asleep in the midst of her party while we had some 'play-time' with Kyler before leaving the place.

Esther gave me a goodie bag (which was meant for all the other kids who attend) since she had extra and while she carried Kyler to send me out, Kyler drop the kid's colored pen that he was holding into my goodie bag for me. So sweet of him! We were entertaining him with the colored pen before we left actually.

Once again, Happy 1st birthday Elna! May you grow up to be a healthy, cheerful girl. Can't wait to see all of you grow up!