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!

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

Happy Burpday!

Happy Birthday Jia & Tricia!
Amazing company, crazy card games, overload of good foods with cute dinosaur themed party hats & blowouts! So much fun!!

Attendees: Jia,Tricia,Angie,Deena,Di & myself

Strawberry Shortcake From the Patissier!!
Chantilly cream & strawberry on chiffon sponge on a sugardough base.
Fresh fruits, awesome crust, lick-so-licious cream = Super Yum!

*The Patissier
18 Ann Siang Road #01-01
62205565

4, Mohd Sultan Rd #01-01
67373369

Leslie Kee is one superstar

Joe Nakamura (below Andy Hui) is so hot!!

"Superstars" is a life-work project by local celeb photographer, Leslie Kee which took around 1.5 years to complete. For this photo-book, Leslie got about 300 Asian artistes to pose with proceeds going towards helping the victims of the 2004 Tsunami. MDA has banned the book in Singapore because of some "full-nudity photos of males" photos, disappointing many. If MDA are able to lift a long-standing ban on the popular US women's magazine Cosmopolitan, why not this? Time to loosen the apron strings men, afterall this is not pornography, this is ART! Well the good news is some photos from the project are currently being exhibited at National Museum, including special appearance of Singapore local artists.

Jo, Tx & myself had made arrangement to catch the photography exhibit yesterday afternoon. Somehow it did not start very well for either of us. Firstly I stupidly entered the ERP gantry four times, then I parked at the wrong carpark which resulted a 15 minute walk uphill to reach my destination. TX was 'conned' into buying a small box of mix candies at $30!! For the name of charity. Just as she thought one good deed will beget another, she found both her feet submerged in mud on her way to the museum! And poor Jo had to wait an entire hour for us. :x

A minimalist approach; no fancy backdrops using mainly basic colours (e.g white, black, brown,blue & lotsa skin), it was evident the attraction was the "Superstars" themselves and nothing else. Its pretty awesome to see the 'other side' of some of the artistes, very interesting. Pity that the exhibition space was quite small, compared to the ones held in Tokyo and HK which featured more of his works. Within 20 minutes, we were done with the exhibits. Had to admit I was slightly disappointed, not of his works of course. Do drop by if any of you have the time, its still worth the trip. :)

More photos of the project can be viewed here.

*SUPERSTARS Exhibition
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
27 Apr - 4 May 07
10am - 6pm
Admission - Free

New York New York

This is an overdue post and because I am lazy, I'm gg cut short it and let the pictures do the talking instead, yak yak yak. All received stamps of approval from me except the cheeseballs which tasted rather potatoish rather than cheesy. (bottom left)

Special thanks to Mr Conan Foo, the manager of New York New York, for hand picking the three of us to sample pure hot chocolate on the house! Instant sugar rush I tell ya! This is exclusive to only us and no other customers! *Proud look* Mr Thoughtful Foo does the hot chocolate personally and makes sure each of us get our drinks piping hot! I'm pleased I chose this over queuing for donuts last Friday. Above average food, more-than-I-can-ask-for service plus CLEAN sofa seats, trust me I will be back again.

*New York New York
1 Raffles Link Citylink Mall
#B1-47A
11.30am – 11pm

Also available at AMK Hub now

Not nuts about donuts

Man, this is crazy! Singaporeans love to queue, sometimes I think they queue for the fun of it. A long line forms at the basement of Raffles City everyday and waits could go up to 4 hours. I'm no donut fan but I was ever so curious to find out what's so special about this donut factory craze. Jo, Neoneo & me took half day intending to queue for the donuts. For the fun of it of cos. But we didn't in the end. Filling our stomachs were top priority at that moment in time so we dumped the donut idea altogether.

Then this afternoon, I received a call from Jo. She got her hands on the doughnuts after 2 hours of queuing! Woot! And she got us some..how nice of her!! I drove down to her place at night especially to view the entire collection of doughnuts and of cos to claim my share. Within one night, I sampled 7 flavours. What an accomplishment!

My thoughts? I am still not crazy about donuts. Flavours like Apple Cinnamon, Double Chocolate, White Strawberry Heart & Cheese Tartar were not bad but some erm were just weird and disappointing- Lotus Mocha. Think red bean paste in a tau sar pau but coffee flavoured *shakes head*, Peanut Butter - Pathetic solidified peanut butter filling (where's the creamy peanut butter which should ooze out fm every bite? Sigh!) Texture wise - it felt like I was eating semi-soft white bread with varied toppings all these while. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it. But they don't come close to my version of my dream donuts - melt in your mouth kind - light, fluffy, creamy in the inside with a slight crunch to it! The last time I had decent tasting (and pretty!) ones were from Mister Donuts from Taiwan.

Donut Factory gets credit for creativity i.e injecting asian flavour into their doughnuts e.g. Spicy/Wasabi cheese & Kaya White Chocolate. (Jia thinks otherwise). Also for $11/dozen of assorted donuts, they are definitely cheaper and better than those you would find in 7-11 stores. But all factors combined, I don't think they are worth queuing long hours for. In fact, the management should rethink about speeding up donut making process which clearly is the root of the problem.

Ok. Enough of doughnuts and I will stay off 'em for the time being. To know how Donut Factory's doughnuts compare to US's Krispy Kreme, visit Jia's blog.

*Donut Factory
B1-61, Raffles City Shopping Centre
250 North Bridge Rd
Singapore 179101
Opens from 12.30pm

Singapore Flyer - A new world record!

For the past year or so, I've been driving along ECP- Benjamin Sheares bridge wondering what the construction near Marina Bay was about. Almost gave up guessing until one fine day I saw an assembled rim that resembled a small portion of a wheel! Ferris Wheel I thought? Bingo! The world largest observation wheel to be exact!! Woo hoo! That sounds really cool men.. haha.. I always dreamt about being on a ferris wheel..seems like its gonna come true real soon!! Looking forward to its completion in 1Q of 2008, ppssss..anyone wants to tag along? Hee

About Singapore Flyer

Once completed, the Singapore Flyer will be the world’s largest wheel a height of 165 metres – equivalent to a 42-story building (beating the Star of Nanchang & London Eye), diameter of 150 metres sitting astride a 20-metre high, three storey terminal building.

This Asia’s first-ever giant observation wheel (GOW) will offer passengers a panoramic 360-degree view of the city centre and beyond to about 45 kilometres, including the Indonesia (Batam & Bintan) & Malaysia (Johor). Designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the wheel will feature 28 air-conditioned capsules with a floor area of 26 square metres and capable of holding 30 passengers each. Each complete trip lasts for an estimated 37 minutes. Prices start from $20.65 for children, $29.50 for adults.

Did you know?

Large Ferris wheels have been marketed as observation wheels to differentiate them from the smaller Ferris wheels, but ironically are more similar to the original Ferris wheel than the smaller modern wheels.

An observation wheel is a large slowly rotating and vertically oriented nonbuilding structure carrying enclosed passenger cars or pods along its circumference. Although observation wheels are often described as Ferris wheels, the two differ in a number of significant respects. Read here for the differences.

Sawadee-ka!!!

It was mum's day off so we decided to hang out and spend some quality time together. After two hours of furniture viewing @ Furniture Mall, mum was needing some H20 to quench her thirst. I craftily suggested we get it from Golden Mile Complex because I needed to stock up my fave fried crispy soy bean from the Thai Supermarket! Of cos I got my way, mum and myself cannot resist any supermarkets! (ok..maybe except Giant) So there I was all excited and ready to show mum one of my fave supermarkets!

I immediately headed for the basket once we reached the entrance of the supermarket and my mum stared at me. Haha, bet she was expecting nothing more than a bottle of water and fried crispy soy bean. Surely I wasn't. In here, you can get all sorts of intriguing thai products which you can't find elsewhere in sg. An entire shelf dedicated to all types of curry pastes (green/red/yellow) and another just for Tom Yum instant noodles...Woo hoo..totally awesome!! Here are some pictures which I snapped while shopping!

My fave Tom Yum instant noodles so far

Overdose of Curry Pastes


Fishies in yakult like bottles


Power Crispy Shrimp Chili Paste; I add it to almost everything!


Mischief Powder for the mischevious

After paying for our purchases, it was almost time for dinner. I knew exactly where to go, so I led my mum to level 1, Diandin Leluk for dinner. There's no better place to get authentic thai food in sg other than here! Mouth watering food at affordable prices! Forget about Thai Express or Asian Kitchen! Thinking about it makes me drool already. Both of us shared a plate of Pad Thai , Prawn Cake & Seafood Tom Yum Soup. They were all VERY VERY yummilicious! Prawn Cake's da best I've ever tasted; Seafood Tom Yum Soup - potent and absolutely SHIOK! Pad Thai lived up to its standard - my mum loved it so much that she wants to learn how to cook it!

I swear I could eat thai food everyday... I really really wanna come here again and again and again and again....

*Diandin Leluk
Golden Mile Complex
5001 Beach Rd #01-67/68

A shop @ Golden Mile Complex was selling boxing gloves for $45. Sounds like a real bargain and I admit I was so very tempted. Should I or should I not? I don't think I can take the stinky sweaty gloves any longer.. help!