Tuesday, April 26, 2011

2011 Birthday

Day 1:
I left work with a few outstanding items because I was chasing other's matter while they took half day off on the eve of Good Friday. So I came in the morning to clear all that was left and was very satisfied that I cleared the work till end of the month.

So what's in plan for the first day. SHOPPING!!! Went to Bugis to search for a present but most of the shop that sells the item were closed so I went to Orchard to meet Hakimbo and went around from Plaza Singapura to Raffles City and back up to Kinokuniya Takashimaya where I got myself my next read even though I've yet to complete the current one.


Day 2:
The longest day I'm out throughout the 5 days. Started with a breakfast out with Hakimbo, then a salon appointment for a haircut and treatment at Icon by Shunji Matsuo. The whole hair pampering was meant for Day 3 but I had time so I shifted it. My hair seems manageable now.

Then it's off to meet my partner-in-crime, Bion. Started with a movie, Scream 4 at Cineleisure (Funny show). Next dinner at Sarang at Orchard Central. Love the place for serving Korean food while blasting Korean music in the background. Food review as below:

1.
        2. 3.
4. 5.

1. 게살 전 & 두부 김지 (Gesal Jeon & Dubu Kimchi) - Crabcake on tofu 
2. 막걸리 (Makgeolli) - A beverage not meant to drink alone. It's unique on it's own or with food.
3. 불고기 (Bulgogi) - The beef is quiet tender and the seasoning is great
4. 계란 찜 (Gyeran Jjim) - steamed egg custard
5. 양념 지긴 (Yangnyeom Chikin) - Korean style sweet sour chicken
Not in pictures are 김지 (Classic Kimchi) and 김지 전 & 파전 [Kimchi Jeon & Pa Jeon(pancake)]

It was a good introduction to Korean food. Yes, as much as I loved things of Korean, I've yet to try any Korean food except Kimchi. So next up dessert at Marvelous Cream at Somerset 313. 

It was 10.30pm and both of us still don't feel like going back so we headed to TCC across Somerset 313 and sat till the store closes at 2am. That marks the end of day 2.

Day 3:
Is a lazy day. Meant for my hair appointment but I did the day before hence it's a stay home Sunday. I didn't even go for my training. So it's a rest day.

Day 4:
As planned, day 4 will be my spa treatment. Did my research during my stay-home Sunday, and found a good spa closest to home with plenty of good reviews. Appointment can be made online which was hassle-free. And further more, it's affordable. $110 for a 2-hours message and body scrub of your choice.

And where is this spa? It's Healing Touch. They have 3 branches around Singapore and the one at Tampines CPF Building is the latest one which opened a month ago. The staffs are friendly and the masseuse are fantastic. I had the Javanese Fusion oil massage and the Anti-Cellulite Coffee Scrub. All went well and it was quite rejuvenating. I would recommend others to try for a classy rejuvenation.

After the 2 hours of pampering, the coffee scrub tempted me for a coffee fix. Hence Starbucks it is where I had a favorite sit-in beverage, Vanilla Wet Cappuccino and managed to complete my book, The Power by Rhonda Byrne.

And when I got back, I just felt like keeping all my Transformers display. I managed to "play" before I store them away. It's a sign of growing up.

Day 5:
The day my Facebook and iPhone got bombarded. Not in a bad way but thank you all for the messages.

So I practically completed my birthday to-do list. A lot of pampering going on. Time to take a slight breather. Had breakfast with a new book in the morning at Starbucks, a movie (Source Code) in the afternoon and continued reading at Starbucks with Strawberry and Cream Frappuccino (They're Back!!!). And I was thrilled that I've completed a book within a day.

The five days were spent wholeheartedly. It was delightful but I would still prefer to be overseas on my birthday. Sorry to say this, but there's peace and quiet when I'm away. I won't be told that I'm a year older, especially when I'm still thinking young. Though I would really thank all for the wishes and presents and treats. You guys made my day merrier somehow.

Till next time which I still don't wish to be Singapore.

Ja Matta

Friday, April 8, 2011

Quarterly Meet

It has been a while since my last entry. Work has been a b!tch for the month of March where most of my free time were filled by my running routines, reading and learning a new language (to achieve my 2011 resolution). Soon after, March marches by so fast.

It's the first week of April and my partners from SBTP decided to meet. Seems like we've been going out every quarterly from the start of my time in the store. Everyone had moved on except for Rexlee who's still a barista at SBTP. The passion is still in her even though things around SBTP had changed drastically. As for the others,
From left to right:
The Student, The Financial Planner, The Officer, The Signaler, The Authorized "Tai-Long", The passionate Barista, The Unemployed, The Intern, and the MRO Planning Assistant

Every time we meet, we'll end up eating. It's just our hobby. We are versatile eaters, love to try new things. And some of our food hunts can be quite exquisite. This time round, we had Skinny Pizza. The queue was horrendous and we were not able to make reservations. There were 10 of us (someone left because he has other LIFE to attend to) and we had to queue for almost an hour. And would the food justify for the long queue? Let me show you the photos first.

Clockwise:
Curry Chicken Babaganoush pizza, Bolognese pizza, Wild Truffled Mushroom pizza and the infamous Squid Ink pizza
We had others but I'm too busy eating to take photos. There's the Truffle Fries, Squid Ink Paella and Lobster Pasta. The pizzas were the highlight of the tummy but the skinny crispy crust made us hungry still due to little serving(fine there were 10 of us with 5 pizzas)

After dinner, we were clueless to our next destination and we had some crazy photo shoots. I miss my zany partners. It was great to meet you guys. Till the next meet.