Posted on

Getting high at Max Brenner and meeting Olivia Ong at the Esplanade

I had a big craving for chocolate and I hauled my sis and together, we over to the Esplanade for a dose of Max Brenner goodness. I was joined with the lovely Mintea and her sister.

Enthusiastically, we ordered a number of items from the menu :

Fudge Cake at Max Brenner

Milk Chocolat at Max Brenner

Chocolate Fondue at Max Brenner

It was all good, but we did not feel the high yet and we ordered more! 😀

Italian Thick Chocolat

Mintea had the Italian thick chocolat served in a hug mug. There were no handles, so the drinker would have to wrap their hands and hug the utensil to drink it. Doesn’t the colours of the chocolate look absolutely beautiful? I think I’ll get this the next time I visit 🙂

Dark Chocolate Suckao

And this is my Dark Chocolate Suckao. The utensils were clear cut enough, I poured the milk in, and then stirred the chocolate buttons in to melt it. But for a few moments I was clueless at how to eat the chocolate.

Upon close examination, I saw that there was a hole in the spoon which doubles up as a straw. Henceforth, the reason why it was called, Suckao!

And that was when the high kicked in and that we finally got our euphoria from the heavenly chocolate. It was really really good. Pure happiness slipped down my throat and radiated through my body.

And we all just sat there for a full 10 minutes, grinning at each other, being all happy and contented.

After our chocolate trip, we said our goodbyes, sis and I headed up to the esplanade library. I think that this could easily be one of the most beautiful library in Singapore.

Library @ Esplanade by night86mare
Photo credit by Night86mare

It was a lovely place to hide away in the tranquillity, by the beautiful sea. By then, Cartcart was already online and I walked around the library surreptitiously with the eee pc opened facing outwards and Skype webcam on to show Cart the surroundings.

And that was when I heard the most beautiful voice emanating from the library cafe and was instantly drawn to it.

She sounds so beautiful.

I found out later that that she is Olivia Ong, a 23 year old Singaporean singer who went to Japan to further her career as a singer.

She was here for the annual Mosaic Music Festival which featured artists from all over the world and all sorts of genres. There were so many exciting line-ups. I love it! I want to go!

Shamelessly, I asked for a picture with her :

Olivia Ong at Esplanade

And smilingly, she said yes, and she hugged me! Olivia Ong hugged me! My euphoric feeling went up another notch 🙂

After the encounter, sis and I headed towards the car-park where we encountered an acapella group singing and they sounded really good.

And I started dancing :

Rinaz Dance

What an awesomely spectacular day 🙂

Esplanade related posts :

Posted on

Delicious Buffet Lunch @ Siam Kitchen

Yesterday, I had lunch with my colleagues at Siam Kitchen at Jurong Point. At the end of the lunch, my appetite was so contented that for the next few hours, I felt blissfully happy.

Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Being a Jurong girl all my life, Jurong Point was certainly one of my stomping grounds. Which made me quite surprised at why I’ve never visited Siam Kitchen prior to this. I’ve always assumed that the food here would be rather expensive.

Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

But upon close examination, it did not seem to be that expensive after all. With the service charge and GST, I don’t think it would cost a person more than $22 per person for their lunch buffet.

I think that it was value for money considering all the spread of sumptuous food that we had :

Prawn Cracker - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Thai Spicy Mango Salad - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Baby Kailan with garlic and mushroom - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Thai Spicy Squid Salad - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Pineapple Fried Rice - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Minced chicken with chilli and basil - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Fish fillet with yellow curry - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Kangkong with chilli and shrimp paste - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Beef massaman in dry curry - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Sweet and sour prawn - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Lemongrass chicken wing - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Prawn ball with spicy mayonaise - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Green curry chicken - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Tom Yum prawn soup - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Crispy Tofu with oyster sauce - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Fried Thai fish cake - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Chicken Satay - Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

That is a lot of food!

Nevertheless, I enjoyed savoring the different platters. Being Thai food, the dishes were very spicy. The mango salad for example, it looked deceptively mild that I was surprised at how hot it was when I took a bite out of it!

Some of the food did not interest me, regardless, out of the list there were two of the food which I enjoyed completely. One of them, the Green curry chicken as it tasted delightfully rich and spicy. It was much different than the curries that I was used to. I also enjoyed the pineapple fried rice. The combination of savoriness and the sweetness of the raisins made it just lovely.

Theoretically, we were able to order more food from the list as it is a buffet. But we were all quite stuffed after the first round already!

Here is a quick video of a very contented rinaz :

Siam Kitchen - Jurong Point

Ah … wonderful food. Aroi mak!

Posted on

Leap Years – One of the best local romance I’ve ever watched

Truth be told, I had no intention of watching Leap Years if it was not for Malique whom was so impassionate in recommending it to me.

Vanclaire, rinaz and Mintea

Hence, I went to watch it with the lovely VanClaire at Plaza Singapura last Sunday. And it was such a tear-fest and in the end, I think I washed away my make up clean!

Leap years with Ananda Everingham

Leap years based upon the novella, Leap of Love by Dr Catherine Lim, whom I believe is one of Singapore’s most talented writer. The story revolves about the main protagonist, Li Ann (played by Wong Li Lin) whom by a stroke of inspiration decides to ask a handsome stranger (played by the hunky Ananda Everingham) on a date and takes advantage of an Irish Leap Year custom where a woman’s proposal must be fulfilled.

Leap years with Ananda Everingham

Spurred by her spontaneity he accepted. Eventually, Li Ann and Jeremy realised that they had a connection with each other. However Jeremy had a mysterious issue haunting him, and was only able to stay in Singapore for a short while before flying off. However he promises her that he will wait for her every February 29th.

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Ananda Everingham

With that pledge, viewers will share the journey and find out if this relationship would continue.

I enjoyed the movie, cinematography wise, it was picturesque. The director has effectively made Singapore look very romanticised – the lights of the skyscrapers from across the Singapore river, the bustling sounds of the colourful food centers, the tranquil shophouses, lulled by the melodious Corinne May.

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Ananda Everingham

However I do have minor qualms on how very different our landmarks look like as beautiful as they were, it just did not have the Singapore ‘feel’. In some of the scenes I looked hard and wondered if it was really Singapore.

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Vernetta Lopez

Story-wise, I thought it was deeply engaging, and there were a number of twists that kept me wondering. One of them being the identity of the man, lying in the hospital while a 48 year old Li Ann looks most concerned. There were a number of plots which was easy to figure out, such as the revealing of K.S’s girlfriend, whom by the way, I think had the most unfortunate name ever.K.S = Kiasu? Kiasee?

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Ananda Everingham

At the same time, there are some parts which are illogical, like the part when Jeremy takes Li Ann to meet his grandmother on his first date. She commented to Li Ann that Jeremy would make a good husband – a true grandmother would have known her grandson’s marital status, wouldn’t she?

Leap years with Wong Lilin

And why on earth would anyone promise to wait 4 years to have a date with someone? That’s crazy. I meet Cartcart every six months and it’s already immensely hard. If we had to meet every 4 years, I think I’d probably die from heartbreak.

Regardless, being a romantic sap, I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. And like Malique, I clapped at the end of the movie 🙂

Have you watched leap years yet? What do you think about it?

Leap years with Paula Malai Ali

P.s. I don’t know about you, but Paula Malai Ali, the actress who played Kim, is so hot. Speaking of hot, the song below is sexeh too 🙂

[audio:merryxmas.mp3]

P.p.s. I read in some reviews that Wong Li Lin and Ananda Everingham had no chemistry with each other. But I was too busy imagining that I was Li Ann to take notice 😛

Links :

You might also be interested in my movie reviews for :

Posted on

If you want to have a BF or GF, get an EEE PC

Its been about a month now that I’ve been using the eee pc. So far, it has been pretty good. It is really handy to have especially while waiting in public. Just yesterday, while waiting for my turn at the customer service, I was so engrossed that I missed my turn!

Using skype with webcam on eee pc
Using Skype with webcam on the eee pc

I’m definitely getting used to it. There is a couple of neat programs that I enjoyed using. In fact, I could touch type with no problems now. The interesting bit is that when I use regular laptops, sometimes the keys seems unfamiliarly large!

Using Gimp on eee pc on easy mode

It took a lot of hair pulling, but finally I could install Gimp

However, one of the downside is that, once the novelty has worn out, my insatiable mind started to get frustrated at the extreme difficulty in trying to do the simplest things like changing the wallpaper and installing programs in easy mode.

New wallpaper on the eee pc

Nevertheless, it’s kind of amazing the responses that I had while using it in public. Many of the people who sees it would be exhilarated by it.

Like some of these people here 😀

An engrossed Attilio on the eee pc

An engrossed Attilio on the eee pc

A happy Claud on the eee pc

A happy Claudia on the eee pc

DK promoting the eee pc

DK promoting the eee pc

Farinelli holding the eee pc proudly while NTT looks in jealously

Farinelli holding the eee pc proudly while NTT looks in jealously

CC and Mintea looking good next to the eee pc

CC and Mintea looking good next to the eee pc

Nadnut the eee pc

Nadnut with the eee pc

It even attracted the attention of a stranger while I was blissfully engrossed between sips of coffee and surfing the net. My womanly instincts noticed someone peering over my way.

It was a man. He was using a subnotebook too – a Kohjinsha. Instantaneously we bonded and spent time postulating about the merits of subnotebooks.

Kohjinsha and Eee pc

His Kohjinsha and my Eee pc look like siblings!

Moral of the story : Everyone should get a subnotebook because owning one immediately makes you more attractive to the opposite sex.

Links :

Disclaimer : I don’t work for Asus 😛

Posted on

The day I got eaten alive by fishes!

Last Sunday, I joined the Vesporeans for a trip exploring the side of Singapore that is not commonly seen. It was surprising to find out that beneath the cosmopolitan side commonly known to Singapore, there were still a less travelled, charming, urban side.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

It was a beautiful morning. We rode on the secluded, winding roads of Jalan Bahar and after traveling by a long stretch, we reached our first stop. The Qian Hu fish farm. This place is famous for it’s fish spa treatment, which seemed to be all the rage at the moment.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

It was an interesting place, there were so many fishes here that it seemed more like a museum. There were even some exotic ones which costs thousands of dollars!

Qian Hu Fish Farm

I saw one of my favourite fishes – the Blood Parrot cichlid. It’s the one in the bottom right – easily recognizable from the shape of their mouths. They seem to always be happy and smiling.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

Eventually, we headed to the fish spa area where we paid $10 for a 30 minute session. We walked past a number of children who seemed engrossed in catching some tiny fishes and then we finally dipped our feet where the nibble fishes were.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

It was a most memorable experience! At first it was scary, and then it was ticklish but after a while, it actually felt kind of nice!

Here is a quick video :

And at the end of the session, I don’t know if it was from the soak or from the fishes nibbling my feet, but my feet felt noticeably softer. It was amazing!

Qian Hu Fish Farm

Check out our sexeh feet!

On the spur, Ah James suggested that we head to visit the goat farm, which was a short ride away and thus our second stop – the Hay Dairies Goat Farm.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

It was already noon when we reached there and we quickly seeked shelter from the hot sun and we got for ourselves a bottle of fresh goat milk. It was refreshing to drink in the hot weather. It tasted a little different from cow milk as it was not have a thick after-taste.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

I got myself a packet of hay and we walked to the goats pen where there were a number of people who were already there. Amazingly, the area did not have a bad smell as generally perceived.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

It was interesting seeing the goats. I was surprised to see the shape of their irises. Unlike our round ones, theirs were ellipse – like tadpole eggs.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

The baby goats were so adorable. I couldn’t resist touching them (and even attempting to kiss them) I found out that their fur were actually rough to the touch.

The older goats nibbled greedily at the hay that we gave them and they were smart enough not to bite us (although there were a number of goats which tried to eat my bag and t-shirt) but it was their mouth to watch out for. It was really wet!

Here is a quick video :

Quick trivia

Did you know that the shape of a goats teeth will tell you their age?

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

The goat farm trip was amazing. In a way, it felt as if I went back in time and was going on a school excursion for geography – learning about the different rural practices. But I didn’t mind it one bit. It was so much fun! 🙂

Initially Ah James thought of having lunch at Jurong Point Shopping Center. It was only when he noticed a brochure that we decided to have lunch at an organic farm. So our next stop was Bollywood Veggies!

I know about the place through bloggers Shaz and Aidil whom gave raving reviews about the food here, so I know that it was good 🙂

It was another short ride, we went past a number of interesting sights. One of the memorable landmarks for me was an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere.

Bollywood Veggies

As soon as we noticed the sign “Poison Ivy”, we knew it was the right place. It seemed such an idyll place. There were so much green as far as the eye can see. By the time we entered the dining area, there were already a number of people who were having their lunch. Some of them I recognized from the goat farm even.

Bollywood Veggies

We ordered a number of items :

Bollywood Veggies

Bollywood Veggies

Bollywood Veggies
This one I liked a lot!

Bollywood Veggies
Mmmm …!!

Bollywood Veggies

Here is a quick video of our lunch :

I felt a tinge of sadness when all the nice food were gone.

Finally Leonids suggested that we head to Petal Leaves for a tea break. By then I was already tired out of the activities. Hence the lack of pictures. I spent the time plonked out on the seat.

Petal Leaves

However, Leonids mentioned that it was a nice place for wedding ceremonies as there were a plentiful of flowers and greenery. The only problem was that the place was very secluded and difficult to get to, unless the person had their own transportation. Nevertheless, the place seemed a lovely place 🙂

Eventually, it was time to get back home. As I stayed in Jurong, I said my goodbyes to the rest of the gang who were heading to Kallang, and I left alone, feeling euphoria from the wonderful activities that we had together.

It was such a nice day. I’d love to do it again!

Links :

Sidenote : I’d like to watch Leap Years. Care to join me? 🙂

Posted on

An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance

A most spectacular event. It was surprisingly captivating that I enjoyed every minute of it!

Singa Nglaras Gamelan @ NUS

Recently, my friend, Mus invited me to attend the event, An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance.

Having already hanged out with the Singa Nglaras group during their jamming session, I was definitely looking forward to watching the concert.

I brought my mum as a date. By the time we got into the theatrette at the Arts Faculty, it was completely full of people! We had to content ourselves by sitting on the stairs instead.

But the music was beautiful and hypnotic. They sounded so put together since their first day of their jamming session. Mum was going on and on about how powerful the Indonesian singer’s voice was. Whereas I was captivated by the hypnotic sounds of the musical instruments.

Here is a short clip of the first part of the concert :

I think they were great! Thumbs up for the concert! 🙂

Links :

Posted on

Chingay parade in Singapore 2008

Last Friday, I went to watch the Chingay Parade.

The Chingay Parade is an annual parade held in Singapore as part of the new year festivities. I’ve been to one in 2003 with Geri and I quite enjoyed myself, looking at the many display of colours and costumes.

Chingay Parade 2003 @ City Hall

After noticing the vigorous advertisements for the current chingay, my interest in attending was roused. After all, this could possibly be the last chingay that I’d be watching.

Chingay Parade 2008 Banner

I went with my friend Attilio to City Hall on Friday evening for the previews. By the time we reached there, there were a lot of barricades and we had to show our passes numerous times before being allowed to enter the area.

Eventually we approached the audience area where there were already a number of performers who were getting ready – some were practicing their moves, some were joking around, all of them in interesting costumes.

At length we got to our seats and waited for the performance to begin. There were a number of glitches, but it was understandable as it was a preview.

Chingay Parade 2008 @ City Hall

There were a number of memorable highlights from the performance, such as the F1 Car show, dances from various organizations and of course, the floats. It was a much grander scale as compared to the more modest one of 2003. There were a plentiful of flashy displays. But I felt that the heart element was missing.

However there was one display that I truly enjoyed would be the fireworks after the grand finale. It was gorgeous and it went on for a good 5 minutes! I didn’t mind having a neck cramp looking up!

Here is a quick video clip of the event :

Did you go to the chingay 2008? What did you think of it?

Links :

Posted on

Cardio? No sweat!

On Valentines day, I spent the evening sweating with a tall, dark and muscular man. After we were done, I was left tired, but feeling really good! 😉

Nicholas of Jurong West Sports Complex

This is Nicolas in all his sweaty glory after a cardio workout. He’s a fitness instructor for the sports council. I was introduced to this workout class when fellow blogger friend, Lizan recommended it. And for the past few weeks, my friends, Lizan, Dolly and I has been attending cardio-mix sessions with him in the hopes of becoming more fit.

The first session was pure torture. I didn’t realise that it was so high impact!

As soon as we entered the room, Nicholas started to bark the instructions … “Grape Vine! Easy Walk! Double! Step Touch” and he would laugh maniacally when he noticed us slowing down. It was so exhausting, I thought I was going to die! And that was when he announced, “Alright, that was your warm up. Lets start our session!”

It was the longest 60 minutes of my life. For an entire week my body ached and felt beaten up. And now after going for a couple of sessions, it is still tiring, and many a times my coordination is completely off. But I think I’m slowly getting a hang of it and I am looking forward to the next sessions.

Lizan, Dolly and Rinaz looking completely unglam

Here we are after our cardio session. I look completely unglamorous in here, while Lizan and Dolly still look amazingly fresh faced. Nevertheless, I felt really good. Its been such a long time since I felt that rush. Its a great feeling 🙂

You may be interested in :

Sidenote : On Monday, I went for my first class of level 2 yoga. The next day, I felt like the after effects of running the marathon. Yikes!