horseplay on a weekday

i had lunch with the girls at Rider’s Cafe today. we wanted to try the eggs ben there because it’s supposedly comparable to the one at Wild Honey, which is my favourite to date.

unfortunately, their breakfast menu ends at 11am on weekdays )))): and we missed it by 2 hours. so we ordered lunch from the lunch menu instead.

getting to Rider’s Cafe is a bit of a hassle if you don’t drive. we met at Botanic Gardens MRT and took a 7 minute cab into Fairways Drive that cost us about $6 total. getting out of the place later was a little more tedious if you want to save on the cab booking fee. it was a 15 minutes walk out onto the main road, and another $6 cab ride to Botanic Gardens MRT.

but oh well, i still think it’s worth it to take the extra bit of effort to travel to interesting places like this one, instead of hanging out at the usual boring town all day, everyday. although i would recommend not to attempt to geh-lek there in stilettos if you are not intending to drive or book a cab.

darn i just realized i forgot to order the truffle mushroom soup

love the ambience of the cafe, despite having no air-con and getting aromatic wafts of horse manure from the nearby stables in between bites of your food

becky's mocha latte!

mag ordered a Vanilla Chai Latte (not pictured) for the first time (suelynn’s recommendation), which upon receiving, she felt like she’d seen it somewhere before. and i knew exactly what she meant, because we’ve both played BAKERY STORY!! HAHAHAHA!

in fact, it looked so good to me in bakery story that i went to order a chai tea latte from coffee bean, which sucked balls and tasted like some herbal concoction for flatulence. so i’ve been pretty traumatized about chai tea. but apparently the Rider’s Cafe one is really good and i will totally order that on my next trip there, which i have a feeling will be within the week LOL.

Crab Salad Roll with Brioche Bread, Baby Cos, Gherkin, Avocado & Seasoned Fries, $17

Riders Burger with Rocket, Brie, Relish, Bacon & Seasoned Fries, $17

i ordered the Rider’s Burger, which came with an overflowing pile of fries ZOMG! and silly me told the waiter that we’d like to have “Checkup and Killi” oh gosh…..

i had my beef medium well and it was just the right level of tenderness without being too raw-tasting. i had no complaints about the burger, except that the stealthy pickles didn’t look like regular pickles and i kept accidentally eating them, yucks!

the fries, however, were very hard and difficult to pick up with my fork. i’m a total soggy fries lover so needless to say, i only managed to stomach half the load of fries.

photobombing waiter at the back! grrr

we managed to sneak into the stables, when a delivery van unlocked the gates to go in, and went to look at horsies!

hello horsie!

scary stallion with a frightening stare and a even scarier male anatomy

we wanted to have dessert at Marmalade Pantry but it was closeddddd before 3pm ):

at botanic gardens entrance! it was wayy too hot today to be enjoying some relaxing time at the park

had such an awesome time today! i think i’ll go back on saturday for the brunch HA HA!

Sabon body scrub

one of the best beauty products that i found in NYC is this

Sabon's Body Scrub in Lavender Apple

i’m usually not a regularly user (or rather, a user at all) of body scrubs, because imma lazy person. it takes quite abit of effort and diligence to adhere to a once-a-fortnight veeting, much less having to spend extra 5 minutes in the shower twice a week just to exfoliate.

i first came to know about Sabon when mel and clement came back to our apartment one night and began proclaiming about the miraculous properties of this said body scrub. being curious (plus which Singaporean would pass up on the chance for a free handwash with some luxury scrubs?), we decided to enter their branch at Bryant park’s holiday market to have a look.

their shops assistants so enthusiastically offered to scrub our hands the moment we walked in. all of their shops are equipped with this vintage-looking wash basin that kinda reminds me of a fountain from someone’s courtyard. we had to choose between fruity or floral scents, following which, we sniffed out our favourite one out of either the fruity or floral lot of scents and start the scrubbing process.

after 15 seconds of scrubbing the bath salt onto my arms, i was instructed to wash it off with water and immediately, i feel like i just received a skin graft from a baby’s smooth backside. i am not exaggerating! even jeremy,  a big cynic of the whole cosmetic industry, noted that the scrub really made our arms smoother!

the main ingredients are Dead Sea Salt, Soybean oil and Sweet Almond oil. i have a feeling that the obsession and influx of shops selling dead sea salt products by aggressive accosting angmohs (AAAs) got their original idea from Sabon. but the difference is that with Sabon, people don’t have to be accosted to give the scrubs a try.

omgosh i couldn’t stop molesting my arms the whole day. at the end of the day, i went back to get a tub of it for US$30. the kind Sabon people bubble-wrapped it for me because they knew we were tourists and half the plane ride back, i was kinda worried that my scrub wouldn’t make it back in 1 piece.

we were also told that the scrub supposedly helps with skin conditions, like eczema. but when i asked if applying it on an active bout of eczema would help, the shop assistant sheepishly corrected herself and said that it should only be used when there isn’t any broken skin or flared eczema. hahaha though honestly, the baseline occurrence rate of my eczema hasn’t been reduced by this at all.

it, however, helped a lot with the dry skin that normally plagues my elbows! haha my mum always complains that my elbows are dry, black and ugly because i am lazy to exfoliate them. but not anymore haha!

anyhow, i also couldn’t resist buying the spoon for scooping up the salt for US$1

of course, because of scarcity of resources, i only use it once a week. i can’t ship it in either because 1) it’s 600g a tub, 2) free USA shipping requires me to get 5 tubs, and 3) vpost has an anal prohibition on liquid-containing items.

after 2 months, i’m down to half a tub and i’m starting to feel nervous thinking about the dark dark days when my scrub should run out……

desperately want a kitty

scottish fold munchkins are just the cutest things!

i want one so badly!!!!!

yes, 3 days into recess week and i’m already fantasizing about a life without schoolwork and FYP. about just going to work for 9 hours a day, and then coming home to do whatever i want to do. hence, the dreaming about getting a pet munchkin and pet corgi and playing with them all day long!

HAHAHAHAHAAHA

as you can tell, we’re pretty into animals with short legs LOL!

a bagelling good time

the last and final recess week of my uni life has started! we got the ball rolling by having a picnic at the bukit timah end of botanic gardens, since it’s only just 10 minutes away from my house thanks to circle line

the entrance to botanic gardens is right outside exit A, the one and only exit of the station, so you wouldn't get lost

it's quite amazing how this is the first time in my life that i've been to the bukit timah side of botanic gardens!

we initially had plans to have lunch there but the afternoon showers kinda ruined our plans. instead, we had the picnic lunch we had at my place.

black pepper smoked duck from cold storage: $3.95 for 1 pc. IT IS SO TENDER AND TASTY! all you have to do is slice it up and toast it for 3-5 minutes to warm it up and it's good to go!

we had that by itself, along with a plain bagel with philadelphia cream cheese spread on top of it since we were craving for bagels with cream cheese every since that trip to philly in december.

fruit salad that i made: korean strawberries, blueberries, canned lychees, and sliced fuji apple

 

when the weather improved in the evening, we decided to head down for a teatime garden picnic.

except instead of tea, we had pink Moscato HAHA!

very easy to drink, especially if you're into sweet wines

nycbagelfactory's bagel crisps with tangy herb, and philadelphia cream cheese on top of it

i never knew nycbagelfactory was that good! i always assumed it was processed and therefore, terrible tasting. you can find their packed bakery products at cold storage! though the plain bagel we had earlier for lunch was so-so only

 

saw lots of cute dogs, cute babies (damn you biological clock), and an angmoh dude posing awkwardly for a fashion photoshoot by the pondside- i wonder for which men’s magazine!

hee hee love wayfarers so much i made jeremy buy one which had wooden temple arms. and then i kope! HA HA!

i was surprised that it was pretty quiet and peaceful day at the park despite it being a weekend

wearing LB's oasis pleat maxi skirt out for the first time!

mainly because it’s too damn tight and suffocating so i’d always change out into something else. but i made an exception today and i realized that i can only tolerate wearing this as long as its before a meal. sigh, the lengths girls go for the sake of fashion……

 

the next week of holiday is so so precious. soon, i wont even be able to get a designated week off for 9 months unless i take it from the precious 14 days of leave that i have for pre-reg. so despite the heap of projects and assignments to complete, i will try my best not to complain and just enjoy the fact that i have the week off.

vday 2012: presents by the hour

i’d be lying if i hadn’t thought about keeping things “simple” this year just because i was too lazy to think of something epic to do for Valentine’s day. hahaha in fact, 1 week ago, i still had no idea what i was going to come up with for feb 14th.

but then the lazy bum that i was decided to wake up my idea and trawl the net for some really good suggestions of what to do for valentine’s. the choice of search terms are very crucial of course. half an hour of research later searching “valentine’s day crafts”, i came across this brilliant website and knew that it was definitely what i had to do this year to make it special.

i LOVE presents!!!!! and while i love giving them, i enjoy receiving presents even more so i blatantly shared with jeremy the concept of gifts by the hour, hoping that he’d buy into it and we can have an enjoyable evening of present exchanging every hour!

the thing about vday by the hour is that the gifts don’t have to be extravagant at all. in fact, all my gifts are either handmade or cost less than $10.

the creator of this idea had gifts prepared every hour for the whole day! of course, 1 week was a little too tight to get started on 7 hours of presents, let alone 24. so we only started from 514pm (the time we met) until 1114pm.

let’s get the ball rolling with the pictures from today!

all laid out, just waiting for the countdown to the 14th minute of each hour!

<3 3rd vday and counting!

 

5:14 PM

at 5:14pm, my gift to him: post-its!

and his 5:14pm present to me! although i saw it the moment we met, which was wayyy earlier than 5:14pm hee hee!

our vday meal

the most annoying thing about vday is the absolutely rip-off set meals they offer in restaurants on the day, and the fact that you’d have to make a reservation ages before or risk spending half your evening queueing up at a place that doesn’t take reservations.

so we stuck with our favourite jap restaurant of all time: Ichiban Boshi, and had their affordable Gyu Steak Gozen set meal ($25.90) which was more than enough to fill our stomachs the whole night despite having an early dinner.

no need for reservations, restaurant was quiet and peaceful, and the staff made miniature roses with crepe paper on toothpicks just for us!

 

6:14 PM

his present to me: hand painted acrylic art, entitled "Heart", which he picked up an interest in after our trip to museums in NYC haha

i gave him a bunch of coupons to use! included things like “a free get-out-of-argument pass” and “permission to drag me to jog with you at ecp” hahaha

 

7:14 PM

his present to me: mini macaroons of chocolate, salted caramel, champagne and earl grey (:

my present to him: a daiso photoframe and our brooklyn bridge photo

 

8:14 PM

my present to him: a muji container to organize his hundreds of shades! (pic wass taken with my shades as an example of its use)

his present to me: intaxes of us taken earlier on in the day

 

9:14 PM

a korean faceshop mask for me from his stash, after mine depleted recently!

my present to him: canvases for him to use for his acrylic artwork

11:14 PM

his present to me: beer! because i was craving for one the past week haha

and mine to him was a card to end the day off with a heartfelt message (:

 

such an eventful feb 14 this year! <3 thank you jeremy for making it so special

Advertorial: Dr Young Pore Eraser HD Powder

the truth is, it is pretty difficult to maintain flawless make-up throughout the day. most of us don’t have the luxury of time or the place (some toilets can be really unbearable to do your business in, much less remain in there to touch up your make-up in such unsanitary conditions).

and then by the end of the day, you would’ve gone home and realized that your face is oily enough to see your mirror reflection in, and you secretly hope that none of your friends were using your face to check for runny eyeliner at dinner just now.

maybe it’s just me, but i also dont have the habit of touching up make-up, especially foundation. it’s like piling more stuff on top of a face that badly needs a good scrub and air to breathe.

sometimes i do use oil blotting sheets, and it does work, but only for a short while before my face starts to shine a little while later.

so i was really glad to receive this product from the people at Beauty Bistro!

Dr Young Pore Eraser HD Powder, SG$37.90

comes with a cute powder puff

micro-particle powder comes out of the little holes!

this ultra fine powder really packs a punch because it helps to control and reduce sebum production without clogging up pores at the same time!

it also contains 3  herbal extracts:

Witch Hazel extract, which has astringent-properties to prevent irritation, which of course, is the trigger to horrible breakouts.

Rosemary extract also help to control sebum production.

Sage extract shrinks pores and recovers damaged skin.

finally, it has a combination of lemon, grapefruit and rose essential oils which not only protect skin, they brighten and moisturize it too!

definitely one helluva multi-tasking powder!

blending it is really quick and easy because the powder is so fine! after patting it on, it leaves a very light and barely-there finish, which is great news especially if you are a BB cream or liquid foundation user!

patting it on after the foundation step

specks of the pore powder, that blend in very quickly once you give it a few more pats with the powder puff

you can use it in different ways too:

1. use it as a substitute for oil blotters

even though i do enjoy looking at how much oil i can blot in one sitting, other people looking on might not get the same kick out of watching you soaking up the sheet unglamorously.

using the Pore Eraser, however, is totally glam because it comes in a little pot that you can bring everywhere you go because it’s so compact and light! get rid of excess sebum in the middle of the day, simply, by patting the powder onto your face!

2. natural, make-up free look

maybe you’re just heading for supper with some friends at a hawker centre, where everyone will be too focused on eating the good food instead of focusing on how many blemishes you have.

use the Pore Eraser powder instead of foundation. it will give you a matte, flawless skin and maybe that will distract your guy friends so that you can eat a larger share of the carrot cake tee hee!

3. as a make-up primer

think of it as an oil blotter that you can have on the whole day without a blue film hanging onto your face and blocking your vision use it after you apply foundation, and before the rest of the eye and cheek make-up goes on. you’ll have longer lasting make-up and a flawless complexion to add!

the Pore Eraser Powder works for ALL skin types too woopee!! it only varies in terms of the frequency of application and areas you use it on.

and my verdict?

love it because:

- the tub of powder is so light and easy to carry around in my everyday beauty bag. need i also add that i can do away with using unglamorous oil blotters?

- it does leave my skin matte, soft and smooth (like baby’s backside haha)!

- it’s light and almost inexistent when i put it on top of my foundation. love products that are lightweight because i don’t want my pores to clog up!

however…:

- it doesn’t have concealing power for blemishes and seems to work solely for oil control.

- the pore concealing effect wasn’t very obvious for me. perhaps because the powder was too lightweight, or that my pores weren’t very obvious to begin with?

- the nice white powder puff tends to gradually turn brown after awhile, no thanks to constant patting it on top of your foundation, which slightly bothers the OCD in me

finally, a picture to prove that the pore powder is amazing at oil control!

before-after

the left side of my face is where i had the pore powder on, while the right side of my face had only foundation without pore powder.

4 hours later, the right side of my face is obviously shinier than the left. on the other hand, the latter side of my face remains smooth and matte even after walking around in the hot and humid Singapore weather!

what are yall waiting for? toss out the oil blotters and get the Pore Eraser Powder at the newly revamped Beauty Bistro’s website here:

http://www.beautybistro.com

be the first 100 customers to make a purchase on their website and you get $5 off your purchase, which means that the pore eraser is only going to cost you ONLY $32.90

alternatively, you can check them out at their facebook page (facebook.com/beautybistro) or follow them on twitter (twitter.com/beautybistro)

happy shopping!!!

swamped!

blog soon, i promise!

right after the next week of killer activities ahead: driving practical (which i am absolutely not confident about passing) and my first CA for the semester!

meanwhile, looking forward to an epic valentine’s day! we borrowed ideas from this amazing DIY crafts blog that i found while desperately researching for ideas for a creative present, or rather, presents as it is now.

check it out! especially if you’re in need of ideas for feb 14th <3

http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/2012/01/valentine_ideas/

NYC day 6

pardon my lack of updates recently. all that CNY feasting and having to squeeze in time for schoolwork and  cruel fyp has left me with no time to finish up my series of NYC posts!

day 6 was the coldest so far in our trip, with temperatures ranging from 6 to -3 degC (although we came to another day that was -2 to 2 degC) and the first item on our day itinerary was a visit to the High Line.

the High Line is a park that was constructed over an old railway after people petitioned against its demolition.  the park oversees the NY cityscape, but it’s definitely from a much lower view compared if you were to stand on the top of the Empire State Building.

walking path built on the actual railway tracks

my favourite picture from the High Line

 

lunch was at Chelsea Market, where we had Shrimp Bisque from Hale and Heart, which pwns any old Soup Spoon soup there is on the menu!!! it’s a pity that it ain’t cheap- a combo meal of a soup + wrap/salad would cost you close to US$10.

the perfect combination of sweet, salty and tasty without the MSG

my craving from proscuitto ham (ever since that heaenly proscuitto eggs ben from Wild Honey in August 2011) was also satisfied with a proscuitto crepe from Bar Suzette creperie, another food stall at Chealsea Market.

i quite like Chelsea market although i wouldn’t say that it’s a cheap place to grab food at. besides, we found that Hale and Hearty has other branches, one of which was just a 10 min walk from our apartment, so there was no need to make a trip back to Chelsea market for shrimp bisque. unfortunately though, we never ever got to drink shrimp bisque soup again because the other Hale and Hearty didn’t have that on the menu for that day ))))))):

post-lunch and most of the afternoon was SHOPPING ! i found my Toms (the most comfortable covered shoes in the whole wide world) at Urban Outfitters, and persuaded naggy Jeremy to let me buy (with my own money -.-) another pair of shoes, this time oxfords at Aldo.

so happy with my buys!!!!

we met mel and clem for dinner at Kanka, a famous jap restaurant at Astor Street, for authentic japanese food.

if you were feeling particularly adventurous for kinky food, here is the place to be man!

Buta Kimchi

Yakiniku Udon

Chicken Yakitori

us at dinner!

the year of the dragon

amidst all the celebration and angpao collection, it occured to me that this CNY will be the last year that i will be an all-receiving and non-angpao-giving individual.

not that i’m tying the knot next year, in case the earlier statement came as a shock to you, but i will start giving my first angpaos next year to my parents and grandparents as a working adult.

 

this year i chose to wear a super colourful Love Bonito piece that i just received from a backorder last year.

my Alethea dress SG$31.50 is only a fraction of my brother's SG$130 A&F polo...

super love my dress! the colours are plentiful and so vibrant! just perfect for CNY i had another outfit from Topshop intended for the first day of the new year, but when this arrived in the mail, the former outfit was automatically bumped to the second day

am also wearing the butterfly Paperself lashes on the corners of my eyes, which warranted a lot of curious stares from relatives today. they had no idea what it was and all took turns to ask my parents if my makeup had smeared or if my eyelashes had fallen off halfway without my realizing LOL.

family photo!

with all my maternal relatives

was pretty excited about going over to my paternal relatives’ place because i get to see my baby niece for the first time since she was born! to be honest, i still have no idea what her name is because my cousin has a knack for naming his kids all these exotic names like Kenrick.

but anyway she’s so cuteEEEEEE!!

totally sets my biological clock ticking!!

never realized how babies were so soft and squishy but i was totally addicted to squishing her small thighs and cute little hands! so so adorable, although she kept threatening to throw my iPhone onto the floor, and biting my Cath Kidston pouch.

awww my mum and her grand niece!

oh goodness she bears such a striking resemblance to Lily from Modern Family!

CNY this year was awesome, as always! it was a good break from school and a reminder that there is more to life than CAs, project work, lab sessions and FYP. and because i only see my relatives once a year, it’s a good time to catch up with each other. especially so for my brother because for once, he has a common topic of interest that he can engage my uncles and cousins with in conversation: Army.

looking forward to yet another day of CNY, this time spent at Jeremy’s side of the family. more home-cooked good food and great company to look forward to

happy dragon CNY everybardy!!!

NYC day 5

my trip to the US didn’t feel complete even though i was going to the city i wanted to visit the most. somehow, after paying a bomb for the plane ticket, it feels right that i should at least visit 2 cities while i’m there.

however, our budget didn’t have room for a domestic flight out of New York, so we settled on visiting Philadelphia, which is only a 2 hour bus ride away vis Boltbus (US$25 two-way).

our first stop at Philly after getting off the bus, was the Reading Terminal Market. while asking for directions at the 30th Penn Station, the lady at the Traveller’s Aid desk directed us along a walking path that would take us to the market, but at the same time, have a couple of sights to see along the way.

one of which was a 15 minute long Christmas-themed video at the Comcast building, complete with artificial foam snow that began floating down from the ceiling at the finale of the video.

and this was the closest i ever got to seeing snow in NYC...still a snow-virgin btw

check out the super high definition of the video that is projected onto the wall of the Comcast Building lobby!

we also stopped at a Christmas bazaar along the way to get some latte!

tastes better than Starbucks!

<3

we got kinda hungry along the way and decided to buy a cream cheese bagel off one of them street stalls along the road. to our surprise, it was the best bagel that we’ve ever had!!!! i’d been craving for cream cheese bagels ever since day 5 and we’ve tried 3 different kinds of bagels back in NYC but none of them were as awesome as the Philly Bagel!

a couple more places we came across along the way to Reading were landmarks like the Masonic Temple (very Danbrown-esque) and City Hall, which we had initially dismissed off our Philly itinerary because they looked too boring. and they really turned out to be just worth a 5-minute look around.

 

finally!! lunchtime

warm and happy to be indoors

Reading Terminal Market is more like a Marche rather than Pasir Panjang Wet Market.

there is a large variety of food from all over the world, although we stay away from the overpriced Asian food that would probably taste worse than the food in NUS science canteen.

the bagel from earlier was super filling, so we only ordered a Motzo soup (minced meat dumpling in celery soup), a cranberry-banana-pineapple smoothie, and a Flying Monkeys chocolate cupcake. Reading is apparently famous for it’s corn beef, but since we’d be having cheesesteak later, we decided to save stomach space for that.

 

we found our way (thanks to a very helpful passerby who helped us with bus directions) to Pat King’s and Geno’s, 2 famous rivals competing to serve the best cheesesteak in the whole of Philadelphia. since they were conveniently located right opposite each other, it is absolutely necessary to order a sandwich from both places and then decide for yourself which tastes the best.how to order a cheesesteak

because there are queues of people throughout the whole day, the servers have to be really efficient, right down to you ordering your cheesesteak. you have to do it right and do it fast, otherwise they can get really impatient and hasty.

so for example, to order a cheesesteak with onions and mushrooms can be accomplished by delivering this tongue-twister of a phrase, “Cheese Whiz Wit“.

Pat King's cheesesteak

Geno's cheesesteak

the winner of the two: Geno’s cheesesteak!

i don’t know how they do it, but the beef slices are cooked to the right level of medium-well tenderness. add in the hot melted cheese and it’s just the perfect sandwich to dig into on a cold, rainy day. i wasn’t even hungry but my stomach found a way to fit this in!

AHHHHH

 

we were caught in the rain that started to get really heavy in the afternoon. at first, you wouldn’t feel it because you’re wrapped up in all your winter things, which seemed nice for a change compared to Singapore. but the rain persisted and eventually, i began to miss rain in Singapore because at least over here, i wouldn’t be wearing boots that are going to get wet and then take forever to dry.

our last stop for the day

not a very artsy person and i confess that i liked the art pieces that double up as nice and colourful wallpapers for my iPhone

like this one haha!

overall, we had a really good time in Philly and we managed to see a lot and eat a lot all in just 1 day! the Boltbus was really comfortable- i slept like a baby throughout the whole journey to Philly. the bus also has a toilet, which was very reassuring for my S-sized bladder heh heh!