8th August 2008 - My birthday

After an afternoon of moping over past events, Shaun brought me to the games arcade to try to lift my spirit. There is nothing like a game of old school puzzle bobble, fighting down airplanes to fight the cloud hanging overhead. We then headed to Absolute Haven for dinner.




They had square plates which I was so tempted to steal home. Too bad my bag wasn't big enough.

We decided to do away with starters as we wanted to head over to Timbre for some drinks later.

My Seafood Risotto Rice - Risotto rice served with king prawns, scallops, fish and squids. This is yummers, but a little to salty most probably due to the seafood stock used. Generous servings of scallops and squids. My only gripe is that there is only ONE prawn!! Definitely not enough for the queen killer of the crustaceans.


Shaun went for the Oven-roasted Yorkshire Pork Rack - Oven-roasted Yorkshire pork rack served with herb new potato, vegetables ratatouille, drizzle with coffee chocolate sauce, and top with fresh mesclun salad. The coffee chocolate sauce and the potatoes are my favourite!! The pork is tender but may be too fatty for me growing tummy.

As the portions were rather small, and we were craving for it, we ordered a starter.


Soft Shell Crab with Beetroot Aioli. The crab was soft and crispy and I like the sauces dripped at the side. I can only recognise balsamic vinegar though, heh.

Then while waiting for dinner, we took lotsa pictures. Here are some...


My version of see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.


Shaun's version.


Our dessert, which was the Chef's Special dessert of the day: Dragonfruit Mousse with Bacardi Jelly and raspberry sauce. Definitely one of the more special desserts tried.

Overall, I really like the restaurant. The waitstaff were friendly and helpful. And one of them had a really nice deep voice which I was so mesmerised with. The manager (I guess) took time to recommend us the dishes and the way to eat them. The songs played were Olivia Ong's and it made the overall ambience so laidback and romantic. Food was yummy and creative. Even the iced water is special. Instead of the usual lemon slices, they put strawberry slices, so the water is slightly sweet. It's one of those restaurants that pay attention to tiny details. Too bad we were seated too near the door and could not see much of the rest of the restaurant.

After that, we walked to Timbre, but decided to give up queueing because there were simply too many people, and it was too hot to be in the open air, especially with people smoking too. So we decided to ditch out plans for Timbre and go to Starbucks for some air-con loving.

Then we played a variation of one of our favourite word games, in chinese!

We think of a word, for example, cai, and try to form as many chinese words as possible. 菜，才，蔡 and so on. It was so difficult considering the standard of our mandarin!


This is my paper.


Shaun concentrating really really hard!


And Shaun's attempt to tell you why his mandarin is so poor!

29 July 2008 - Garden Exhibition in Suntec.

Being unemployed at the moment, I had plenty of spare time and so, went with dad to the garden exhibition held in Suntec. Took over 70plus pictures using my handphone and these are some of my favourites.


Huge giant ball of roses!


I really like the upside down hanging umbrellas over the souvenir shop.


Marilyn Monroe!! And cute seating areas!

Themed gardens....

There were fairy-tale looking ones....


Ermm.. modern looking one.


Minimalist??


I like this!! It is made such that it looks like it is underwater. Especially the reflection of the water from the glass panels on top, and bubbles.


Giraffe!!


Oriental ones...


Pitcher plants! Lotsa them, from the tiny ones that are the size of the little finger to huge ones that I can probably put my foot in.




A great chill out point.


The platform to.....


Bubble chairs!

After which, we got a OK stamp so that we can go to the exhibition on the other level.


The exhibits on this level are mostly competition pieces from schools and potted plants.


Part of an exhibition from one of the schools.


Rows and rows of orchids.


I thought this was a really cute picture. The little girl was pretending to cry as her sister was trying to steal her balloon!


The little boy entrigued by the merlion which is about the same size as him.



Then there were orchids,


orchids,


and more orchids!


Other random pictures

My totoro finally found the catbus!! It looks a little distorted though.


A new found craving: DONUTS!!

P.S. I'm no longer unemployed!! I'm starting work on the 25th!! Excited and scared at the same time!! I'm so gonna make full use of my last free week.