A Stellar Valentine's Day

This year's vday is the best I had so far - fantastic dinner coupled with my desired gift. But it's probably larling's most exp vday celebration. If not for the two glasses of Dom Perignon champagne and sparkling water which added another $100 to the bill (I gullibly thought it was complimentary when they asked!), larling wouldn't have to dig so deep into his pocket. Haha thanks my dear for the lovely treat!
Dinner was at 1-Altitude's Stellar. Nice ambience and great food but their service needs improvement. They shouldn't have hired bouncers-alike as their butlers. The serving of dishes and clearing up of plates was done quite haphazardly.

Calla lilies.. Told larling not to get any flowers but he insisted

Still waiting for our first dish

Here's the menu... Looks alot but it's a sharing menu for 2




First dish served finally..

Fresh oysters, lobster sushi, chawanmushi

Those seats having the scenery view is $30 more expensive per pax.

Vday is really the day for retailers and restaurants to squeeze the most out of couples.

Second dish..

Pan-fried foie gras with duck meat.

My second time eating foie gras and it's heavenly this time..

First time I had it was during our convocation ball at Fullerton which tasted horrible and so I thought foie gras was yucky. Till I tried it again. It goes exceptionally well with duck meat.

Third dish..
Pata Negra - a type of ham which tastes quite like bacon.

Fourth cheesy dish..

Taleggio cheese they call it. Very unique taste.

Fifth..

Risotto with salmon roe and scallop.

I didn't know what's risotto was until larling told me, "there.. it tastes like your mui fan"
Now I get it


Main dish and it's our fav..

Wagyu!

They have the daube and rib of wagyu.

There's a difference to the texture but I wasn't quite sure which one is the daube and which is the rib.



Sweet dessert..

Macaroons, chocolates, chiffon and sorbet.

Super sweet to the max

Chocolates and cookies to go with tea

Last but not the very least, my vday gift!

Second blue box from larling.

Home sweet home..

You hold the key to my heart

quote larling

其实爱对了人，情人节每天都过

Goodies from Kyushu

Larling is finally back from Japan! He said it was freezing cold, even much colder than the previous time we went Hokkaido. He had a wonderful time, but did not forget to bring many goodies back for me! He sent it to me right after he got home and unpacked. My sweet boy..

Magazines that showcase their latest fashion

It's all in Japanese, but the pics say it all

This bag comes free with the purchase of the Agnes B magazine.

The mag costs 1,200Yen which is ard SGD20, quite worth a buy!

Volleyball T-shirt. The cartoon is so cute.

Jello with real fruits

Yummy foodies..

They are always packaged so prettily.. Can't bear to open it up

Chick-like cake

Mochi

Other non-food goodies..

After settling down all the stuff, we went to Tampines for dinner. It's getting more crowded nowadays, like mini Orchard Road. Anyway we heard KOI opened a new branch at Tampines Central so we went to check it out. But it was closed by the time we went there. Then we rem Eskimo having a new branch in Tampines too so we googled. And it's actually at the same building, just behind KOI! :D Finally we have nice bubbleteas in the east!

Cosmetics with a touch of rose

Recently I'm quite into Lancome products. All my make-up products that I'm using now have been switched to Lancome. It's all due to the 10% discount that we are entitled to for use in their boutique. But also I've always wanted to have a change in my make-up box. Finally relegated M.A.C and Bobbi Brown products!

Tendre Voyage Make-up palette

Got it at Changi Airport DFS @ $58

Very handy and great for travels

Compact foundation.

I've been using liquid foundation all these while, with this compact foundation, it would give a better matt finish to the oily-looking liquid foundation

Casing for the foundation

Total $65 + $27 = $92

Suddenly feel so broke..

Blusher that lasts me a whole day long

cost me $40++

The cases looked simple, yet classic with their timeless rose motif..

Fifth day without Larling

Two more days to go before Larling comes back from Kyushu.. For the past few days I've been having a hard time falling asleep.. Probably too used to having a lil chat with Larling before sleeping every night. Feels so empty and life is so boring all of a sudden! Haha yah I know it's only for a week. Cant wait for him to come back.. With goodies! Teehee

Pic sent from kYushu.. Having a funderful time with the jap kitties

First post of 2011

To quote from larling, my resolution for 2011 is to be: less grumpy, less sleepy and have more money! My temper fuse has been short recently; I feel very grouchy and annoyed at the slightest irritating thing and this feeling is doubled at the time of every month. I think this has got to do with aging.. no wonder those old hags always snap at others for no good reason. Now I understand why. Though it's very hard to control those moodswings and keep my temper in place (I've got a bad temper since young, those who've known me for a long time would know that), I'll do my best to always maintain a happy me.

Upcoming events list for 2011:
1. Sourcing of weddings vendors
2. Holiday trips: Taiwan and Europe
3. CPA exam
4. 姐妹(Shiwei's) wedding
5. Larling moving house

2011 shall be a fruitful year! I'm so looking forward to it!



Some pics from a random day out at Orchard.. Dinner was at a Jap restaurant in Triple One Somerset. Larling's colleague recommended the ramen there so we went to give it a try. Their miso ramen wasn't too bad but we were gulping down water after that due to the very thick miso soup base.

It reads Sanomaru behind. Yes my basic Jap is still intact.

Our special miso ramen

One of the nicer ramens around

Yakitori mix platter

Beer goes well with Yakitori and I personally find Sapporo beer nice and easy to drink considering I don't really like beer.

It's very light and smooth, not as bitter as other beers.

All the ramen and jap beer.. Oh how we miss Hokkaido.

Share Tea.. a new bubbletea shop from Taiwan opened in Wisma.

As usual, long queues can be seen snaking outside the stall.

Their pearls are very Q, but the milk tea is quite diluted.

I still prefer our local Eskimo!

Obsessed with DTTs

We had several gatherings here and there which I've yet to blog about. Last month they had their D&D at MBS so I helped them to book a Club Room for that night. The Club Room is significantly bigger than the normal rooms as it has a mini living room space, and the price is only marginally higher. But now MBS jacked up our rates for booking the Club Room cos they realised they priced it too low that too many of us are snapping up their rooms. Anyway, we had a great time playing drinking games and while the rest who are drunk or asleep, we continued playing bridge. Haha not bad, we still can think properly after the alcohol.

Then weeks back we had pre-christmas gathering at Pok's house.. They were intially trying very hard to plan something new, but her house is still the best choice for huge groups, somemore she has the best entertainer - Woh Woh!! Lol. All of us couldn't agree more on that.

11 of us had dinner at Simpang after Wii-playing at Pok's hse

While waiting for Pokpok to fetch the rest back from Simpang

Pokpok says wohwoh loves ppl to scratch his belly and he'll turn himself belly-up for you to 'service' him.
Then he'll give you the very satisfied look when you scratch for him

On one impromptu fine day, Pok jio-ed us to walk the dog and have dinner.

Pok, Sherlyn and Jon went to the Henderson waves first as I could only join them for dinner.

Pok had to look after another dog temporarily and she looked like Scooby Doo! She didn't look as adorable as Woh Woh, but she's definitely more guai than the mischievous Woh Woh. Haha.

Pok and Jon looked quite compatible over here!

Scooby doobidoooo!

Woh Woh had to take the front seat while Scooby sat behind as they couldn't stop fighting!

It's all naughty Woh Woh's fault who likes to irritate her

We went to West Coast Park's Macs as we couldn't think of any other places that allow dogs near the eating area.

Woh Woh's looking at us pitifully while we munch on our burgers

Then Woh Woh started to lose himself as he saw his fav big dogs approaching

Fatimah Pok had to go over to control him else he'll growl and bark non-stop

Then we're back to Pok's hse to bathe Woh Woh..

He looks so tiny with his wet fur

Pokpok really takes care of him very well..

I'm sure she'll be a good mother and housewife in future! Haha




Back to their D&D night at MBS room...

Luckily Jin Fen was there to accompany me for dinner, if not I'll be bored to death in the room alone while they enjoy their 10-course dinner

Some of them came back first..


Everyone's here by now, but as usual they'd take donkey minutes to get ready and pose

My all-time favs.. Jin Fen and Pokpok

My beloved A10 Daffy Daffy Daffy.

She was my first A10 when I was A11 that time, since she stays in the east, we'd always share cab to and fro client's place. It's during those times we had little chats that I found her very sweet and bright.

And the games begin.. The game is no-brainer, just DRINK!

Nearly concussed

Finally cannot take it after rounds of bridge

Rise and shine..


Last survivors..

(Ah cai and Almond is missing!)

Selection of bridal studio. Checked.

Finally we're embarking on the planning of our wedding, and the actual day most likely to be held in early dragon year, i.e. March 2012. Initially we thought of the dates 11/11/2011 or 20/11/2011, but all these auspicious-looking dates for wedding banquets in our shortlisted hotels are quite fully booked, so we decided to push it back to 2012 to give us more choices and time to prepare.



There's so much to do for wedding preparation and planning..

1. Picking an auspicious date

2. Bridal studio

3. Pre-wedding photoshoot

4. Banquet hotel venue

5. Selection of gown

6. Actual day photographer

7. Solemnisers

8. Guest invitations

I guess the list goes on but the above should be the more impt ones.



Currently we've settled on the bridal studio after shortlisting 3 candidates - Le Grand, Blue Bay and My Dream Wedding. Le Grand's gowns are known for their pretty classy designs, Blue Bay is reknown for their Taiwan photoshoots, and My Dream Wedding is quite all rounded in their gowns and photoshoot.

Le Grand was the first studio that we popped by.. After we flipped through the first local album that they showed us, Larling and I totally fell in love with those pics as they didn't look like they were taken in Sg. Le Grand collaborates with Chris Ling Photographers - a very well known name in the wedding industry which explains the quality of the photos. Next, the coordinator explained that their gowns are all designed by their own team of designers, thus guaranteed that no duplicate of design can be found outside. Very nice. But price wise is on the steep side and from what I can see in the bridal studio, their range of gowns are quite limited. Also, there's no accompanying make-up artist/assistant during the outdoor photoshoot, so it means there'll be no one there to change my hairstyle, reapply my makeup and change my gowns for me while outside! That was quite huge deciding factor for me.

Next, Bluebay Wedding. Their Taiwan shoots are really beautiful if you go look at their website. We were quite gian to go overseas for photoshoot, but after much consideration, it's the places that must have a meaning/memories to us, if not we would just be taking the nice sceneries with no purpose at all. Though they are offering us an attractive price for their package, we are not convinced that their coordinators in Sg are experienced enough to render us tiptop service.

Before we decide on either of the above, we went to check out My Dream Wedding. MDW's base in HK is quite influential and they have celebrities like Bosco, Charlene Choi etc as their models. We were so tempted to take their HK package as their studio is so damn pretty!! But gg there just to take photos in their studio is so duhh. Anyway their overall package that they quoted us is the best amongst the three, although their local photoshoot is less comparable to Chris Ling's, but their gown range is so much bigger and they would provide transportation, photographer, asst-photog, and a makeup artist during the photoshoot! This makes a whole lot of difference to me.

And so we signed the contract and sealed the deal with My Dream Wedding! Looking forward to the photoshoot.. But we need to brainstorm some storyline and venues first..........

Polaroid taken at My Dream Wedding

They took a photo of us, then I requested one more for keepsake.

Lol.

Next up.. Shortlisting hotels for wedding banquet!