Oriole Lunch

Met up with Jo and Jills on Jills bd (happy bd!! hope you like the sketchbook of heels ;)). Re arranged for lunch to be earlier. I was quite indignant I didnt get to try the brunch cos we met on a Saturday, and they only served brunch on Public holiday (which was yesterday) and Sunday (which is tomorrow). Bummer. But anyways was happy enough to meet the girls and to get the office jacket from Jills. Thanks loads!!

So here we are at Oriole (Pan Pacific Suite) ,my favourite hangout in town for great coffee. Citrus Sin and Chilli Chocolate Mocha are by far my favourite too. After a while, they kinda tasted similar. Haha. I must have been distracted by conversation.

Calamari was really good and dusted with good stuff. Spice and nice.

Squid ink pasta with crabmeat - this was delicious too. We wanted to relive the squid ink days of Ma Maison so here we were trying squid ink out again. Tangy with the tomatoes and indulging in chunks of crabmeat.

Philly cheesesteak was a favourite too, heavenly between toasted buns. This makes me miss the steak sandwiches from Morton's.

Desserts - of which Honey crumble Affogato's still the all time favourite.

We walked to Uniqlo where Jills has already decided on her prison garb, whilst was at HMV trying to source for cheap ear phones but of cos couldnt find any. Jills had to go back to change to head to attica to continue her bd fun whilst Jo was also heading back so I was back shopping again. Bliss is team2 ;)

House, Acid Bar

Got the weekend off for the pledge taking - dad gave me a lift to m/w and then after headed down but was almost late, so had to cab from holland v. Still ended up lingering around the foyer with kels before we headed in. A little strange to be in the same pledge taking as many foreign (and familiar) regs/even acs (our dear vir lady haha). It was like grad ceremony again, worse still cos many in the crowd werent that familiar. Even the panel up on stage too.

When it was all over, we remained in our seats to capture our last moment collectively as a class, then we broke off for a catered lunch, but shortly after our cg headed out - and all in J's van - Wm and I ended up being very very squashed behind in the boot. It was rather traumatic cos we kept imagining the boot will give way and we'll roll out, all ready to be rolled over by the incoming traffic. But we survived !! Made it to the destination, House (Dempsey). In time to find 2 other groups (Pek's, and Ian's cliques).

Over the dinner, D recounted his horror stories while M was all ready to play punk with him soon to test the waters. The tale of fooling the operator got D in stitches but everyone'd love to witness the him at work. Haha. It was nice getting everyone tog, as Daryl almost couldnt make it.

My favourite ever sweet potato nibblets, and also the truffle fries which never saw my camera lens before it disappeared. Kels where are you lets go and try the PS's truffle fries on M's blog.

I was never a fan of Skinny Pizza until I tried this Fig and Cheese one. Its really fruity with the plump fresh figs. On the other hand the Veal one tasted very much like atas rendang.

If i ever do land up here again I'd wanna try the Truffle mushroom one.

Chocolate toffee cake was a favourite of Marc's. I guess I never looked at choc cakes the same way again after PS's. Size-wise.

Strawberry short cake was also popular, and I like it that the cake was warm - not after we drowned it in sauce though.
Jeremy requested for the carrot cake, and D asked for the Salted caramel cake (not pictured cos I had it with Kels before). My favourite remains the latter. Such interesting take on textures.
J kindly dropped us at DFS (where it was a hidden excuse to shop more!) , and we headed to Ion to see the blue B.V. bag that never was (sigh, regrets are left in HK) and hungry us headed to Hu-Hu Udon (B4, Ion Orchard). I had the cold Udon. My favourite cold one is still the one mei and i had at a Kyoto train station. Best ever. Doused in tasty light sauce with plenty of seaweed. The closest here would be Tetsu in Tanglin Mall.
Kel's curry beef udon. Tasted pretty much like my usual maggi mee kinda curry flavour.
Soon after we headed to Acid Bar. Recollection of Chong's the first time we were here. Fries and Calamari combi, along with Sangria is, well, bliss. Esp with the right company!
I was happy enough they played my all time favourite Under the Bridge, as requested. I never tire of that song, accousitic, though its been a long time since Z.

Met Chongs that night too ;) great full stop to the goodbye.

Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck

Vegetables (plants have difficult names to remember...)

Cold Chicken with sesame sauce (animals are easier)

Vegetables with trio of eggs

Awesome possum Peking Duck Pre op

Entering by layers.... to be ingested with sugar grains

Chops...

After some buzzing....

Post Markus Schulz (it was fab 1am-5am set, with a power encore) I didnt have much of a snooze after macs bf at clarke quay - prob settled into bed at 830am and by noon I was up getting a text from qian post hair makeover, so I headed to pickup the texts from novena and the brows done before picking her at Wisma to go to the 1st month's of Ewan. The pm kinda passed in a blur after the nasi lemak from Adam road - the usual food coma sunk in and I was in tandem with the baby too. Loved the scribes on the walls. Makes it so personal.

Missed out on the bath + monopoly deal while I was totally knocked out on the sofa (they ripped all the cardboard from the play room without me noticing) and around 720pm we departed for Paragon to try Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck (Paragon, Level 4). We went for the 2nd seating as the 1st was full. Uber posh and the food was also quite mind blowing.

Cosy it was in our little pavilion (though we were next to a boisterous room with multiple courses!!!) with our own pillows. We booked our duck for the night and had some veggs to detox - poached spinach in 3 eggs, a lovely lotus flower crunchy cold vegs which I really cant remember the name of!, and a chicken with glass noodles + veg cold dish to start off.

The Peking Duck was of cos the most exciting part - the first eat was the top most layer to be eaten with sugar, and 2nd eat was the skin and meat to be eaten with veg and crepe, and the 3rd was the minced duck stir fry to be eaten with the lettuce. love them ALL! J is gonna bring her future in laws here while I'll bring my fam here too esp since we all love duck.

Thanks for the treat Qian. Cant wait for E to be vack though Qian will be away by then. Happy birthday 0.25 ;) thanks for your mag too J - bless your lovely nephew, congrats!!

Oriole Brunch

On Vesak when we only had 4 pts to see, and after boss came after to see his ocularis job/icu i was free to go, and thanks to ml's lift i got to town in no time, and at a very unearthly hour too, when none of the shops were open and i headed down all the way to borders and on my way back, I found my pink pr. bag - which was kept inside getting ready to be shipped back to Korea - i nearly misst it. Reserved it hoping to pick it up later (which I did, after a long story). I was the earliest and waited inside Oriole (Pan Pacific Suites) for the girls - who were all quite punctual! Dont like being hungry waiting for late folks. Anw, I had to come here again to try the brunch - cos the last time I tried, I came on a Saturday, which was damn disgusting cos it was right in between a public holiday and a Sunday, which are the only two occasions they do brunch. Fate is meant to be changed, so here I am, yet again. Great excuse for great coffee. Great company with the trio too esp E who is very much missed. And she misses seeing Jas's again!

Fries cos Jas was craving for some. The thick potato wedges must have been dusted with some parmesan, and was lovely with the dip.
Oriole Big breakfast. This is a platter where different people with different restrictions have an excuse to share. The steak's mine. Reminds me of the iron cast breakfast of Graze's.

Lamb sausages- this was pretty interesting, except for the fact that the sausages were a little anorexic. It was fun to eat the chickpeas/tomato/cheese combination you see on the right.

Buttermilk pancakes, with lotsa cream and chunk of banana. This in turn, suffered from a lack of maple syrup. You need, you ask, cos none is given! Pancakes without maple syrup (and butter....) is most unfortunate.

Chilli chocolate mocha to wash it all down.

Indeed our convos revolved around the different stages of a rships (which 3 of us are, incidentally). rships are indeed a great way to discover yourself again. Reacting to a whole new situation, and rationalising it means you're on your way out of love isnt it. How very cumbersome. My homework is to watch Strangers, again. Haha. But its great to welcome E back again. My rational half is back for a bit ;)

Walked her to her mom and gran at Robinsons, before heading to quiksilver- disappointing range there. Family pick up in a new one ;) and headed to pick up the new pr bag ;);) and then headed for a ride before H beckons. Bye old j and welcoming the new baby into the family!!

Ootoya (Clementi Mall)

On elections day on Sat, my family decided to have a moms day dinner and at first I was thinking of standing sushi bar but no one wanted to try a new place so then I had a moment of brilliance thinking about Ootoya (almost wanted to be boring and just return to the comfortable sakuraya which is gonna be less crowded now). We headed down to Ootoya (Clementi Mall, Level 3) - its location is a little obscure, behind the Starbucks - but still the queue was snaking. And for good reason - for that opening weekend all their sets were going at $9.80!! (and dad joked that after election weekend the offer no longer stands). For the mega load of food here to feed 5 hungry souls was under a hundred bucks - and we ordered 6 sets and lotsa sides.

Wakame seaweed that was rather interestingly savoury with the kelp. I like the way the japanese do their lady fingers too. Minimal sap.
My set was the Scallop rice set. I liked the fact that the rice was heated throughout my meal - Cold rice is just depressing. Should invest in one of these (esp since I'm always attacking the ingredients first)

Set came with a chicken egg tofu soup that would do well with some rice cooked within the broth too.

We ordered additional 2 fish sets- the above being Hoke and the one below the Mackerel. The Hoke was the better one - smoked to perfection, and its an oilier fish. Bones were a pain, but creatures which have difficult access tend to taste better. Mmm crab anyone?

Dad's hamburger steak set
A's Chicken katsu set - came doused in soup.

Mei's Soy bean multi grain porridge that she liked but a tad salty. Had this when I was with Carol. Healthy neednt be boring.

Mommy's QQ udon.

Adjourned to the pharm where I managed to find some physiogel on offer and dad finally got his bp machine.

Happy mom's day -Trio of Hilton's cheesecakes- Blueberry, American, Marble. I actually liked the Marble best cos of the dark choc swirls.

Next day post take was a mega long 2.5 hr round with solo reg (cos the others were at an m3 exam) and poor him had to supervise my i/ds till late. (it was day before regs changeover.) Thanks Mr C for all the guidance ;) Tried to head to nov to get an atlas but alas it was too heavy and I headed to town instead and got the trio above for mommy. Alas by 8pm no more whole American Cheesecakes left and hence the trio which will be over in a gulp. Haha.

Burger Bench and Bar

On a Thursday take and I was not doing the take I was at the dsot doing my very first piles and then subsequently 2 more skin tags and ended at a decent time to be jio to catch a show with chong and the ong brothers. They planned to watch priest at an (indecently early!!) time of 725pm (at Balestier too!!) but eventually it was pushed till later after they decided to start off with table tennis at marc's house followed by dinner. I was amazed I still remembered my way thru mt rosie. I guess I subconsciously missed the good times.

We headed to dinner at Burger Bench and Bar (Level 1 Cineleisure) my favourite burger place in the world (ok, maybe in SG haha - i still miss the Angus burger in HK). We started out with more at the table tennis and eventually ppl started falling out so for the actual movie it was just the brothers and the twins. Anyway, we had a long catch up over dinner - I finally tried the green curry catfish - its gotta be the crispest fish fillet I've had. Others had the beef burgers in numerous forms -Chongs had the pseudo ramly (beef omelette), the brothers shared the caramelised shrooms and the sarawak black pepper. Glad they all liked the burgers loads!! (sigh, to think I jus had macs just before typing this entry).

The best thing was that the brothers had the amex card which entitles you to $7 tickets on weekdays plus 1 medium popcorn for every 2 tickets...mummy i need a sub card soon....

Anyway. The Priest was a vampire version of Jurassic Park. Startling effects, action packed and eye candy galore. Horror thriller, but I kinda grew out of vampires since my Buffy days. needless to say the twilight saga. Haha.

Chongs and I were tempted to go for drinks but we wanted to save energy for the weekend but it was for nothing!! ;( Sadly fri night was a wasted drive out, and sat with nat's didnt happen neither. And Sun's call. Bullocks there goes the weekend and the 3rd consecutive PH also burnt with work. New phase of working life doesnt seem very restful.

Shots, Kki

We were actually pretty free but delayed lunch till about noon on a Fri, a clinic day. Some new incomers actually came over to help (when they werent really supposed to) but not ours. Anyhow, we left to Shots (Ann Siang Hill) to try out the lunch food. I've been here twice but it was always just for the coffee.

The pretty colours of my Tiramisu latte (Cold). A little sad to mix it all up to get a uniform colour.

Roast beef

Primevera

Roast beef and Primevera tasted about the same after a while. The Primevera was a fancy name for a vegeterian sandwich - lotsa peppers and shrooms inside. Im beginning to take a fancy to vegeterian food. Au naturale's the way to go.

The real happiness was revisiting my picture book shop at Club street and then discovering a new vintage clothing shop right next to Kki, Om. I started with picking up one black/white and black piece, and Louisa then directed me to buying 2 more white ones -_- and another tiny black one for mommy. 5 tops! In a takeaway bag that resembles food. Haha. L will be back to buy more dresses.

Strawberry Champagne

L bought more trinkets here in Kki (Ann Siang Hill). My first here was with X, who directed me to the right place (would have bypassed it totally). Spotted a bright red cake the Strawberry Champagne which is pretty interesting. The red composes of tiny red powder particles covering the mousse. There is a strawberry jam core within. Real delightful to eat. Three quarters into the cake, L suddenly said she could taste the champagne. Haha. I might be immune.

The mont blanc xoxo love at second sight.

Came back with one of those for kels and got a scolding for not inviting her. Haha. Off again the weekend (labour day!) gonna miss the breast days.

Freshness Burger

Freshness Burger

Freshly cut potatoes, Onion rings

My last day as a ho was marked by a list of 4 pts, and with emperor w back I spent my pm deployed to the g clinic. But before that, we headed out for a late bf (and still had to rush back for a change to off a chest t) at Central. Nearest place with shops. It was a spontaenous choice of Freshness Burger (Central, Level1). The last I had Freshness Burger was in HK - again it was the nearest shopping center near our hostel, and was the terminal stop for the bus.

I had the Freshness Burger and L had the Classic cheeseburger. The meat was tender and the bread looked like french toast (it seemed fried on one side). For me, the huge ass tomato was kinda in the way. But it was quite a good one - a good very light one. Could have seconds

The fried potato wedges were kinda disappointing though. Not fresh outta the frier. The onion rings were, and the batter ultra light making it sublime. Size is a plus too ;)

Caramel Macchiato, Kiwi mix protector

The drinks are worth a mention - L had the caramel Macchiato and I tried the kiwi mix protector - never ever had a blended kiwi (the sourness puts me off) but this was really refreshing. Lotsa pulp to boot.

I bought more foodstuff for K (her spam and kit kat sweet potato) and even shoes (thats for myself). It was such a luxury till it all ended when we came back at lunchtime (we went out at breakfast time). Summoned down to clinic and then after a pre-op L cont'd with her call and off I was into the next phase of life. Moving onto a different place in a different phase would be quite daunting.

Tampopo

Crab and mushroom Porridge

Sushi platter

On the labour day public hol, my reg gave me the best ever present by exemption and hence slept in till had to accompany m to sime darby to browse a silver and red then eventually we went to browse tours at Chinatown and m couldnt believe the land prices of the Guilin tour tilll she went home to check out the airfares which was mighty ridiculous. Liang court's Kino was having a 20% off in lieu of their 11th anniversary so I headed to pick up my secular bib and the (4!) wine manga and finally had a late tea at Tampopo (Level 1, Liang Court). Some very comforting food we had - even more comforting with the 10% discount. Not for the 3 takeaway cakes though, which came home mighty squashed - esp the Chiffon Cheesecake. The others were the green tea chiffon and the wonderful as always Scoop cake.

M and I had the Crab and Mushroom Porridge, and I have been wanting to try their sushi or sashimi platters (they looked so good on hautestuff!) and finally we got down to trying it. Sublime. We had a sushi platter. Freshest you can have on the plumpest rice grains. Maybe havent had Japanese in some time. The omelette was strangely orange, and is the sweetest I've had.

Went to town to recee the hair salons - the Korean one at Borders is mighty mighty ex and my old one at tj pagar's sister outlet was just packed so didnt manage a cut at all. Managed one on Mon thou, and with a foam-dye it was a much cheaper alternative.

Prive

On a Tuesday when solo vascular depressingly ended at 9 plus, where all the hos were still around surprisingly (and comfortingly!). Z and I met for dinner/supper. She was in a roast chicken mood but I could think of nothing less than cocette (which doesnt serve roast chicken on tuesdays!!!!) Hence we landed up in Prive (Keppel Island) where I finally finally gotta try the small bites, which is prob their idea of bar food. First up, the fries with the awesome truffle mayonaise, makes a dallop of difference. Chicken wings fried in shrimp paste with Thai chilli sauce. It was crisp and tasty but i still miss Bonchon loads.

Onion Rings with thick thick batter - prefer the lighter ones a la Da Mario

Mushrooms with cheese - these were the most delicious morsels of fried stuff in awhile.

Trio of mini Wagyu burgers- the meat was steak in chunks, and was really delicious between butter toasted buns. Simple and good.

Z stopped really early leaving me to finish most, and we were both most dreadful of work cm. Sigh to brunch and dine all day'd be a luxury.