Can you believe it? We are already heading towards the end of Q1 of 2013! How time flies?
It’s been a fairly good start for us and with Lunar New Year bringing forth a gastronomical indulgence at the start of the year, and mum’s birthday too, we are happily chowing, no complaints! :D
This year, we decided to spring a surprise for mum! A planned surprise birthday dinner with her siblings was under our sleeves and boy, it was good fun! Plus, it was also the 15th day of lunar new year that we fixed the date, couldn’t let mum get suspicious… heh heh heh!
Dinner was at PUTIEN, known for its Heng Hwa cuisine as well as their legendary White Lor Mee. The usual Lor Mee is black (just like how the Hub loves it at Mountbatten Market) and has fish meat, sliced pork and sometimes ngoh hiang in it. In celebration of the last day of lunar new year, we had Lo Hei (aka Yusheng). The Bitter Gourd with Fermented Beans was soft and not bitter – well-liked by all! Garlic Roasted Chicken was crispy and fragrant. What’s a birthday without Mee Sua, so we each had 2 small servings of Mee Sua and White Lor Mee. haha! Fried Honey Yam was really yummy! Our aunties and uncle were all praise for them, and needless to say, the plate was cleaned :P Steamed Live Soon Hock Hokkien Style was ok.. meat wasn’t really sweet though. We ended with mum’s strawberry birthday cake, bought from Rive Gauche (love their cakes! except for Mont Blanc, the chestnut one..). The Hub even surprised mum with a tower of Shou Tou, for the birthday girl! Haha!
TGIFs are for pampering ourselves (usually our tum tums!) with something good. A couple of weeks ago, we planned to meet our usual gang at Boss BarBQ @ Clarke Quay a Korean Night with K-Pop dancers prancing on the stage while diners enjoyed their drinks and Korean food. Hub and I weren’t really in the mood for Korean food so we scoured Liang Court for some dinner places before joining the rest. Ended up at Marutama Ra-men, which Hub had tried previously and he enjoyed their food. Upon seeing their menu, I recalled that I’ve actually gone to their other outlet previously. Not a fan of ramen, and their variety was pretty limited (or some say, focused menu!).
As usual, we over-ordered!! BBQ Sliced Pork (fragrant but a tad fatty!), Braised Radish (sauce was too salty for my liking, but radish was yums!), Boiled Veggie Dumplings (goes well with vinegar!) and 2 bowls of ramen (endless noodles in there…!). Yikes! Was struggling to finish.. :/
The Sun seems to be getting stronger each day and some acne scars and pigmentations have been plaguing me. Whitening products to the rescue!! Aqualabel Bright White Ex ($35.90) was my choice and decided to try my first Aqualabel product. One of the brands under the Shiseido umbrella, Aqualabel has been in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, way before it reached our sunny island. Bought this a few months ago, while finishing up my other whitening care. To my disappointment, there’s a value set at Watson’s now! Get a travel size White Up Lotion and White Up Emulsion FREE with purchase of Bright White Ex! Grrrrr….! Well, don’t miss out on this promo like I did!
Quick review: Aqualabel Bright White Ex has a smooth and light texture which spreads easily. Skin slurps it up effortlessly too and leaves no sticky, icky afterfeel. Some pigmentations seem to have lighten too, and will definitely need to continue using to monitor the progress! :) So far, so good! Of course, never forget to slap on sunblock to prevent more from sprouting! Am nearly done with my Vichy one, have you got any good sunblocks to recommend? :) Tell me!
Had an exclusive opportunity to visit a trunk show for Dita, Oliver Peoples, Moscot, Paul Smith, Thom Browne. Lovely frames and sunglasses aren’t they? ;)
I’m a self-confessed junkie of Soup Spoon (YAY!!) and lurveeee their Velvety Mushroom to death. Load it with ground black pepper and slurp it while it’s piping hot, can really brighten up my day with a burst of fresh shrooms! (OKay.. i’m sounding a little neurotic here..) So when they started a sister company selling asian soups, it seemed like a natural business expansion. I’m not really a fan of Asian food (guess it’s pretty evident in my food posts, eh? :P), so we haven’t gotten around to taste test. Until a couple of weeks back, my buddy and I were deciding what to have for dinner (we had Soup Spoon during our last meetup.. hiakz!) and we chanced upon Soup Broth Asia at Raffles City. There were soup sets available with a portion of soup, half portion of veg OR half portion of meat and a drink. Balanced diets are my kinda thing! :D
My choice was the Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup, Garlic Tou Miao and hot Green Tea, while he went for Fujian Cabbage Fish Stew, Sweet and Sour Pork and Ice Tea.
Here’s what we thought: My Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup wasn’t really hot, so that was a huge no-no for me when it comes to soup and fresh serves. Taste was okay, and the portion was good with a presentable chicken thigh that still had enough meat. Veggies were alright. On the contrary, the Fujian Cabbage Fish Stew was hot! Which is great! The soup wasn’t much of a stew if you’re expecting something more gooey – it’s just clear soup. It tasted homey, just like what you’d expect fish soups to taste. Sweet and sour pork had bite and the taste was nice, just that it wasn’t too sweet like those at the economical rice stall at food courts. Overall: Soups could be better, since it’s their hero products. Prices are abit steep for the types of soups available, something which soup stalls at hawkers and food courts could easily charge 50% lesser.
What’s gotten your tummy rumbling? Discovered any drool-worthy food places? Do share them with us too! :)
