Follow Your Heart

Toothsome haato gelatos & a priceless friendship. Luv you di! Remember: "Present fears are less than horrible imaginings" Don't worry so much!

Welcome to Elmo's World!

I declare 24/7 Elmo baking day! One potential client requested a sample on Frostie - so i ended up practicing lotsa and lotsa elmos.. big and mini elmos! Elmos are so cuteee. Some were alright while some didn't make the cut.. what do you think?

Island Cafe : Spread The Word

It's a real pity not many shoppers know about Island Cafe; which is tucked away on the top of Tangs Shopping Centre. Honestly, it is comparable if not better than some eateries are over-hyped by print/visual media or food blogs.

On Monday, Neo, Jo & myself 'pontang-ed' a talk half-way and headed straight to Orchard for shopping! Three of us had the same objective - get birthday presents for our friends. Already then, I knew where to bring them for dinner. Knowing neoneo's love for spicy food and variety - Island Cafe seemed like the perfect choice. The place was filled with mainly rattens, bamboos and plenty of wood - very resorty and relaxed feel... can get a lil too comfy (neo neo was feeling kinda sleepy! haha)

As expected, the gluttons i.e us ordered a shit load of food. Black Pepper Crab Tung Hoon for me, Indo Fried Rice (which comes with Satay, Chili Chicken, Achar & Keropok) for Neo, Chicken Bryani for Jo and one Asian Platter (Fried Chicken Wing, Spring Rolls, Wantons, Satays) & one bowl of Tom Yum Soup to share. I loved my Crab Tung Hoon lar! It had the wok-fried taste..and everything in there just tasted so right *slurps* I am salivating as I am typing!! Neo's main was pretty incredible as well - sambal fried rice was oohh lala and chili chicken was tender and sauce shiok~ Jo's one was not too bad either.. but I still liked mine n neo's better. Hee. Tom yum soup lacked the fiery oomph and was slightly diluted..but passable.

Although the dishes are not authentic, the food tastes good! To me, that's good enough. Plus it doesn't hurt that Island Cafe is generous with their portions...truly a cafe that delivers; this place gets my thumbs up!

*Island Cafe
Level 4, Tangs Shopping Centre,
Orchard Road
Tel: 6737 5500

Cafe Oliv trips

18/7 - I suggested Jia to have dinner at Cafe Oliv. Instead of the usual recommends (like pork ribs / lamb / beer battered fish), we settled for what we deemed as 'safe' i.e 1) Pink Sauce Linguine with Grilled Salmon 2) Thai cream sauce with Seafood. Oh yes, and Battered Softshell Crab with Salted egg.

The crab (one and only) was nicely presented in entirety, crispy, not oily and very well crusted. Quite the Yum. Then I thought, "what a good start, hope it stays this way".

Somhow or rather, it just didn't. The pasta dishes were a huge disappointment - one of the 'blah-est' ones ever tasted, worse than some western stalls found in neighbourhood coffeeshops.

The Three Trips for me (in order of importance)

1) The Basics of cooking pasta til "Al Dente" weren't met : Linguine noodles was really soggy/soft, a clear indication of it being overcooked.

2) Sauces (Pink Cream & Thai Cream) - Both types lacked flavour, no traces of herbs, black pepper, so we ended up dumping loads of clumpy parmesan cheese into our pastas for flavouring. Jia asked for blackpepper and was even tempted to ask for herbs! The unusually semi-translucent cream sauces weren't close to being called 'creamy'. Sigh.

3) Portions can almost be considered 'stingy' but should be just enough for females if there were other sides to accompany along . Value for money...NOT! For about the same price, I could get more 1.5 times the servings and way better tasting cream pastas @ New York New York.

Having low tolerance for crap food, Jia gave up on her pasta after a short while. She actually insisted I blog about this so everyone knows. Ok now you guys know - if you ever decide to go there, order something else. It was an unsatisfying meal but I do feel that this cafe has immense potential. Not too sure if I'll give this place ever a second chance..maybe one day when I feel forgiving enough.

*Cafe Oliv
220 East Coast Road
Singapore 428917
63443114

Care Bear Stare! I'm a Friend Bear!

	Friend Bear You are everyone's ideal friend because you are sincere and genuinely kind. Sometimes you worry about your friends' problems so much, you forget about your own responsibilities, which can get you into trouble. For you, it's the little things that really count. You also happen to be the main driver of the Cloud Car. No speeding!
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

The 2 day Getaway

Blown out sun, sugar fine beigey sand, gently swaying palm trees, 340m of "alleviation" - gunung-bintan style, tranquilizing french massage, thirst-quenching fruit smoothies & sedap indonesian cuisine; soto, curry, durian, indomie :)

Oh and a warped, tanless me.