Great firework and food at Marina Golf Club

Saturday Evening Run

An old friend of mine, Eve met me a few weeks back and gave me a birthday treat. Such a pleasant surprise and really nice knowing friends still remember my birthday. She shared with me her regular healthy regime which she brings her girls twice a week to the track near the National Stadium to run. Strangely, this thought of running this track has not come to my mind before. Considering the distance of my house to the track, this is probably the nearest. In the past, I have thought of going to Polytechnic, but laziness got the better of me.

Oliver was initially wary of the many footballers and joggers using the field, and his active self took over as he ran to and fro the track. Heidi was ever clingy, not letting either Boon Heng or I on our own to walk. This photo taken of Heidi running was the rare moments. I found a Tennis ball nearby, and Heidi was holding to it all the time after she discovered I had it. She is fast and possessive.

The Book Cafe on a lazy saturday

Another aimless Saturday with nowhere to go after Oliver finished his late morning music class at Mac Music School. A thought struck my mind, and we thought of dropping by our past favourite hangout place, River Valley. Many years passed since our fav cafe - "Simply Sandwich" shifted their operation, and we had not stepped in when another breakfast place, Boomerang, which we went, did not quite live up to our expectation.

While we couldn't quite make up our mind, we decided to drop in the Book Cafe for a simple lunch and a good cup of cappuccino. It was quite a pleasant surprise that the Cafe actually had toys for kids, as we were thinking the Book Cafe might not welcome family with kids, especially noisy ones like ours. The Cafe was almost packed when we left. Most of the goers were yuppies with lot of time to kill. Gone were those days of freedom for us.
These cappuccino were quite nice. But a bigger cup will be nicer.
I ordered Caesar Salad with poached egg and chicken. The marinated chicken was too rich for my liking, but Heidi the meat eater didn't seem to mind, and finished up most of it.
Boon Heng ordered from all-day breakfast menu. But nothing beats Rider's Cafe breakfast.
The atmosphere. Lot of magazines, but no time for us to read. Boon Heng said he might consider dropping by one of these days to hang out when he did his parent volunteer at the nearby River Valley Primary School.

Watch out for the sweet Nothing

Do not be deceived by her looks.. when it comes to food, there is nothing she will not do..

she eats like there is no tomorrow.

Those are not Heidi's tooth.. it was Mentos.

Girls Day Out at PS Cafe

PS Cafe
My last visit to PS Cafe was probably three years back, when I had my breakfast treat on my birthday. It was a pleasant surprise when my buddies from secondary school picked the same place for my birthday treat.

Truffle shoestring fries has became quite an 'in' thing, according to Chris.
Truffle oil is commonly used to make "truffle fries," which feature french fries cooked in truffle oil, parmesan cheese, pepper, and sometimes other ingredients. Some pasta dishes and whipped dishes such as mashed potatoes or deviled eggs incorporate truffle oil. They taste pretty good.

Chargrilled Portbello Salad

Crispy Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich and pumpkin soup

Smoked salmon sandwich and portobello soup

Dates pudding - Yummy. I will probably come back for more of this, if not for the overwhelming caramel sauce, which made it overly sweet.

Our Saturday Morning Hangout at Tiong Bahru

Evening without the kids at Absinthe

Times pass so ever quickly. Every year around this time of the month of June, our childcare centre Del-Care would organise a pyjamas party for the kids. Parents can then spend an evening on their own without the kids and to eat a 'proper' dinner. Yes, dining at a place which will not fancy the presence of kids. Last year, we pampered ourselves with chilli crab at a restaurant located at the void deck of Ang Mo Kio flat. This year, we decide to try out the French restaurant -Absinthe, which Charles and Yvonne have been raving about, ever since they stepped in for the very first time.

It was quite a mad rush on Friday evening from work to the restaurant located at Chinatown, Bukit Pasoh. Absinthe was full house with reservation back to back. Our reservation was for 630 time slot and would have to complete our dinner by 820 pm.

We were greeted by friendly host when we reached the doorstep. As we stepped into the restaurant and showed to our table, I could not help but noticed the number of servers and hosts. I was quite surprised that more than one servers attended to our table, which I thought was not a very good arrangement, as I was expecting personalised services. Perhaps it was full house that night, the atmosphere was lively, wasn't too formal and fine dining, which I was totally comfortable with. Being a small eater, I decided to share a dinner set with Boon Heng, and I think this move was probably wrong. It was probably shock and disgust to the restaurant as another server returned to our table and advised me that the portions were really small. I was quite turned off by the tone which the server used, while embarrassed by it. The first taste of French's arrogance?

Our dinner set us aside by $98. Boon Heng likes the Foie Gras, and find the taste to be on par with Iggys. Our main course was lamb and it was perfectly done, very tender. The dessert -Blanc Mangé au Chocolat Manjari et Gingembre, Sablé Breton et Coulis Abricot was nice, although I was expecting more.

I will certainly return to the restaurant again, but not too soon. Need to get over the feeling of embarrassment.

All Dressed Up for Sliver Tribute

Queenstown

Before I realised it, the Queenstown that I know is gone. The clip is taken by this guy called Nelson.


Pictures of Oliver and Heidi at Queenstown on February 2011 before it is gone.

Happy 38th Birthday at Iggy's

Two more years and I shall be 40 years old. Almost half of my life gone. Boon Heng kept his surprise where we are heading, as he always until the moment we reached the restaurant, Iggy's at The Hilton Hotel. As we seated down in the restaurant, Boon Heng passed me his i-phone when I got to found out that Iggy's was The Miele Guide Asia's Number One Restaurant (2010/11) and making in onto S. Pellegrino list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants (2010).

It is really quite a pity that I did not bring my camera along to take picture of the lunch set which we both have. But managed to find some decent photos over the website.

The garlic bread, before breaking into two, look like a sweet potato. This is heavenly when we spread it with parmesan and salt smoked butter. I had wanted to go for a second round, if only the server asked me. She was going around asking and when she came to our table, she asked Boon Heng and then left. Okay, I shall keep my stomach for other dishes.

Our first appetitiser was similar to this dish, tomatoes decorated with flowers and we feel like eating nature's greatest natural food.

Set Lunch Tasting Menu
May-June 2011
$85++

SALMON
Spicy cabbage, basil seeds
OR
FOIS GRAS
Figs, tarragon, cassis
---

SPAGHETTONI
Lamb ragout, fava beans, thyme
OR
CAPPELINI
Sakura ebi, konbu, scampi oil
---

MARKET FISH
Fennel, caper berries, Pernod
OR
DUCK
Carrot, sesame, natural jus
---

RHUBARD
Salted sable, vanilla beans, blood orange
OR
APRICOT
Moroccan spices, argan, almond, rose

---

We love most of them, but find it rather hard to appreciate CAPPELINI (Sakura ebi, konbu, scampi oil). Just imagine eating expensive shrimp and angel hair spaghetti. Dinning at Iggy's certainly is a memorable experience, we took almost two hours to complete our lunch. Another 40 years more birthday to celebrate... hope 'Oliver' can keep up his standard. Boon Heng has been using Oliver name to make reservation (another weird habit of his).