Week 17th counting down to end of the year!

just 3 days to the last of 2008! this week baby's 17th week will spend 3 days in 2008 and then begin 2009! baby's been good, less stretching but that makes me non-stop worrying if everything is ok... with me passing 4 months, i have just 5 months to enjoy the the preganancy and begin another new path in my life.

monday 29th - stayed at home and planned what to cook for ny eve. we are having a potluck party for the last day of the year. everyone who can cook or wanna try to cook has to come up with a dish. my cousins and siblings grouped together, pull our funds and i came out with 6 items for the party. then i head out with mil to supermarket to buy stuff for the dessert 1st. then i was home thruout and waiting to watch the ever-long 2 hours little nonya. i personally find 2hrs way too long! early nite for me again...

tuesday 30th - waking up from weird dreams make me so tired! no nothing sexy just weird places and gosh doing impossible things. went out with ann to holland v. we were in search for angmo cooked crab meat. we started out with having pizza at one of our favourite place in H.V.
Da Paolo. althou they have expanded and have many outlets now, ann & i still prefer this shop at Chipbee Gardens. after our eatout we head to track the crabmeat but too bad that they are not bringing in anymore of the crabmeat!!! then i bot myself a froth beater... thou i dun drink coffee, i wanted to to froth the milk for gx! and i got a new purple silicon glove! as i didnt have hands to get joyce her housewarming and post xmas gift, ann said we are gog to go back again next week for a chillout! then we left to go to our favourite bread shop! ann loves the bread at provence too. we then sat down again for early tea! sat next to a couple prop dating and gosh the worse topic - y i didnt go RI jc but instead ACS... OMG! boring! the guy just went ont non-stop! he's prob rich... and definitely boring. lucky for us we got to move a seat away from them but they were speaking loudly in the tiny place... ERGH!!! then we went to shop for the rest of the ingredients and we couldn't find some of the stuff and then we changed a few items for the party. head back to KCB to marinate the chicken wings and went home to rest and pack my room.

wednesday 31st - woke up early to send gx out for work. then refuse to sleep cos of weird dreams again! so i started blogging for the last time on this blog. i have created a new blog as i find no solution for my photo-uploading and i tot its great to have a new blog... nothing exciting for the name of my 2nd blog... is just At the end of the rainbow ii ... ... need to learn to resize my huge pixel photos. something new to learn for the year 2009! gog to meet ann later to get more food items and go back to mum's to cook a storm! hopefully the cousins and bro&gf will come on time to cook! update on the party will be on the new bloggie!

goodbye to my old blog ... where all my treasures are! but i guess the things i will get to learn in 2009 will create another treasure box!

Spizza for friends!

felt so handicap without camera for a couple of days becos i got mum to bring my camera to beijing to take all the good things she sees, eats, hear, smell! on saturday, arranged with sis to have dinner together before heading to airport to fetch mum. together with dan and gx, we had dinner at spizza at jalan kayu. it was crowded! so with out my camera, i relied on my hp... thus results poor images. we are looking to buy another camera...can't wait!

we didnt need to wait long for our table and sis was oredi busy with deciding what to have when we were in Q. for Antipasti - appetizers, sis wanted smoked salmon with onion rings and capers. this was nice, we both loved the capers but the boys thou. i wanted the cripsy calamari with "pizzaiola" sauce. when we were waiting, i saw the waiter dished out this golden plater many times! it was nice, very crispy and i like the herb batter! definitely ordering this dish when i go back top try out their many other dishes.

we ordered the special pasta served that nite. if i remembered correctly it should be Fettuccine. it was cooked in a Truffle sauce, served with mushroom and rocket salad. at first i find the pasta too thick but when it was mixed well with the sauce and with a bite of the mushroom, this was heavens! Authentic Italian Wood-Fired Pizza. for pizza here, they make the base when u order, there is this guy who will work on flatening the dough, spread the sauce and topped it up with your choice. here they have a very cute menu for pizzas! they have 24 types of pizzas and not just that they have names from A-V. we ordered Pamela - tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms and cooked ham. the thin- crust, almost crispy, hot from the oven pizza was soooooo good.

after the enjoyable meal, think sis was happy with the dinner, i head to airport with sis and dan. gx head to pick his parents. we were early, so we settled at tcc for sweets. while sis had tiRUMmisu, i had mont blanc. dan ordered a drink. sis's tiRUMisu was not very nice. the top was too cheesy. she pratically took the top off and say the bottom was still acceptable. mines nice. looking forward to make my own mont blanc!

french breakfast, chocolate making class and italian lunch

breakfast @ Laurent Bernard Chocolatier
on sunday 28th, i arranged with Dap to meet early to have breakfast at Laurent Bernard Chocolatier. we sat in the backyard of the restaurant cos its cooler. there was a couple of tables taken up, they are the only ones opening up so early. the rest of the restuarant here open at lunch time.


while i had mango juice in a bottle, dap had oj with her hearty breakfast that has toasts, served with scambled eggs, very nice sausage and salad. i opted for french crepes. thin crepes that was served with whipped cream, chocolate and sugared strawberries.

we did our little catch up while waiting for the breakfast that took some time to come. the reason could be they are all freshly made. but the service crew here is not very efficient. tables not cleared, i had to help myself to the menu and walked to the counter to order. its the ambience that save the day.

Chocolate Making Class

then we head for class. its dap's first cooking class. Chocolate making class! we were making 3 types of chocolate. we started with Nama Choco which is like Royce chocolates. then we proceed to make basic truffles. then lastly we worked on the bonbons.

for bonbons, we had 3 different coatings. icing sugar, cocoa powder and almond nuts coated. for this bonbons, its made of cake crumbs, orange peel, and chocolate. for this we used cointreau.

as for nama choco, we used rum and for truffles we used cherry brandy. the black box provided by the chef was from Japan. think the gold boxes are not from j thou. we were given plastic containers for the bonbons and i transferred them into my own pretty box. i brought my own boxes and i was glad cos i like to pack my creations nicely!

Pietrasanta - The Italian Restaurant
after class, we head to the italian resturant for lunch. think this little breads made dap happy cos it reminded her of the bread she loved when she was in spain for a whole month! she loves to dip the homemade bread into olive oil & balsamic vinaigrette.
for appetisers... we ordered pan-fried snails in a rich garlicky tomato stew! i was the one who wanted to try and dap was game for it. it was not bad, tasted like topshell? this is my 3rd time having snails. i still like the ones i had with gx in Lyon, France. dap did her own creative presentation for 1st snails dish.

Our 2 mains we ordered to share was very nice. Ravioli with spinach filing and Pomodora e Fungi pizza. mushrooms with parma ham. we ordered italian dessert wine to go with our meal. i enjojyed the meal alot! i was also inspired to paint. there were many paintings on the wall. i like the ambience here.

this is the side of the restaurant. is pretty nice to sit here to have tea but that afternoon was so hot that we chose to have our meal indoors. I will be back to try some other dishes and desserts! the food is really nice and i like the place!


at the very end next to the Laurents, was a studio for arts. i love the orange shuttle windows here. i am very glad that i attended class with dap and had a fabulous italian luncheon!

Our one day getaway

Thursday 12th June : unable to have time to travel together so we decided to relax in singapore. i really need to relax and do nothing for a day. to have some time together and pamper myself with peace.

we head out to tampines to have lunch then we took a bus to changi. the bus ride gave my getaway a terrible start cos the aircon was thin and the weather was burning hot. pretty excited when i got off the bus.

well then a little disappointed when we checked into our executive room... doesn't look like the ones in the pics we saw. smaller and the window is tiny... but still it wasnt too bad still. just that with expectation sure to feel a little disappointed.

at least the bathroom is pretty clean. i am never a bathtub person at hotels cos maybe i dun like the silence in the bathroom but with the see thru window i feel "safe". yes i am scared. like to travel but scared of hotel rooms. with the package we were given complimentry drinks - 2 diet pepsi, pepsi, 7-up, 2 bottles of mineral water, 2 cans of tiger beer and 1 mini bottles of white wine and a red wine. and oso in the fridge we got a bar of toberone chocolate. the platter of fruits came later.

i love this bath cube i got from swisshotel. it sizzles once it touches water. like this better than bubble bath cos jus love the clear hot water. could have watch tv from the tub cos they had speakers attached in the bath room but i rather have my hp music player on. we went on a exploration around the hotel. we started with the executive lounge and the outdoor garden on our level. lots of tall palm or coconut trees.

headed for the pool at the top of the hotel. i fell in love with the pool area. the view was great. very bali styled, very relaxing cos see lots of greenery and the sea. then we head to the lobby and walked thru the restuarants and bar to see the 2nd pool.

this is the ground level pool. hardly see people coming to this pool cos if you swim, people at the restuarant will look cos part of the pool is see-thru panels!

though they have nice sitting area facing the golf course, i still like the pool at the top better. then we left hotel and went for a walk. we stopped for dimsum didnt eat much cos we planned dinner in the hotel.

there are alot of small eateries mostly western and there was a spanish tapas bar too. we walked to the jetty and went for a stroll thru the coastal walk. it was pretty hot but still bearable. we walked to the end and then headed back to hotel to get ready for dinner.

thats where the roof top pool area is at.

we decided to eat at the italian restaurant at the top of the hotel which is next to the pool area. we chose to have dinner al fresco. the sun was setting thus bearable and its wasnt as warm cos there was breeze. the view was great. we could see flocks of birds heading home, soaring the sky and they "sang", making the area so peaceful. they were coloured flocks of birds and not the usual pigeons.

gx let me choose an Antipasti Freddi E Insalate (cold antipasti and salad). i always wanted to try Proscuitto E Melone (parma ham on melon) this cost $16.50. the combination was hard to picture. took a tiny bit of the melon itself - it was really sweet. the melon they served was really nice. sweet and refreshing. then together with parma ham... weird combi cos the parma ham is salty but very nice ham. i love parma ham but with melons was my 1st time. thou we find it odd we continue to savour it the parma ham together with the melon. the warm crusty bread was dipped into the olive oil and vinegar. the vinegar was very appetising.

gx ordered linguine in squid ink sauce and i had risotto with mushrooms. main course was not fantastic... really bland. we ordered a digestive - strong liqueor in a tiny glass. it really has a very high alcohol content. not very nice. as we were eating, we saw the sun setting.

then we shared a souffle. when i saw the dessert i found it familiar... it was the fork... i bet dap will laughed cos they used a fork to sprinkle cocoa powder onto the plate as design and this looks like the shadow pic we took with our desserts.

we moved indoors for our deserts. inside they played soothing music, almost opera like when they sing but mainly instrumental. candlelite. pretty cosy. the soufle was not too bad. its got molten of chocolate oozing out. gx still prefers the ones at the wine company cos that really has endless amount of chocolate oozing out! love my bangles that i got from Nice, just that not many chance to wear them out.

we changed and headed for our nite swim. lucky for us there were only 3 korean aunties and 2 little sisters in the pool. the water was not very cold, it was alittle warm. i loved the feeling of floating on my back and looking into the sky with the sound of water in my ears... very peaceful. the moon and stars shone brightly. then we saw moving clouds passing and covering the half-moon. we spotted many airplanes flying past at different intervals. it looked so near us, flying past the hotel. the little gals gathered the flowers in the baby pool and i went into it to take a pic with all the petals floating in it. the youngest one was so kind she even got more flowers and push them towards me.
gx drank while i snooze off.
*
Friday : woke up and headed for breakfast at saltwater cafe. we had a choice to dine in the quiet executive lounge which mit have been a better choice with hopefully better service but we chose saltwater cafe cos of the decor and variety.

while my breakfast was orange theme, gx had green theme breakfast. the only thing i had 2nd helpings was the mini pancakes. they are off the right size and the texture was soft, drizzled with honey makes them look and taste good. the furnitures they used at the vaus - the hotel bar, are pretty modern and cool. i like the square seat with round backing seaters.

morning swim. the clouds seem to turning grey but still the sun shone pretty hot. i love this pool. maybe the fact that here it is one level pool and i can stand in it, cos deep pools scares me, cos i can't touch the floor. also the peacefulness of the place, makes me feel very relaxed. thou not a very big pool, its long and there are not many people crowding in the pool. we had the whole pool to ourselves cos others, actually only one other couple, they were suntanning. much later when we were leaving, an family of 4 came along.

at the end of the pool, its the jacuzzi pool. next to the jacuzzi pool is the hotel's spa.

there is a block of tiles blocking people from the glass panel. its still pretty dangerous cos people can stand on it and of cos they advice not too. but it was nice to be able to "park" and look out at the greenery and the sea.

althou the hotel guy cleaned up all the flowers in the pool much earlier, but the wind blew strongly, lots more flowers fell into the pool and we gather them for a quick "couple photoshoot" before it rains.

i missed the pool very much...

i brought along the UCC japanese coffee packet that joyce gave to me. japanese are smart and the coffee smelt so good. i made it for gx while i soaked in the tub once more before we leave. this time i used the tiffany blue bathsalt i got from One'degree 15. Gx went into the executive lounge to check out their internet system jus before we check out. the area is pretty good for reading but we ran out of time...

we decided to eat at this corner stall right opposite the market stalls cos the market was so crowded with lunch crowd! i like the salted fish fried rice. the herbal soup Bak kut teh was ok. i still like the pepperish soup better.

with that we head home and its time for laundry... looking forward going to the surprise party @ mertitus mandrin, fathers' day, nesa's movie bdae, lunch with ann on her bdae, teach my frens to make tirimisu , gx signed me up for a 3days motivation course, looking forward to use my spa, nails and restaurant vouchers, fix up albums, try new recipes and start on my projects... pretty much the plan for my 6 weeks of holiday.