Christmas is over ):

I've waited a whole year for Christmas to come, and yet it passes so quickly. Time really flies, we're getting older and older. haha

1. Itacho Sushi

It's probably the only sushi place I actually like! The roast salmon sushi is amazing, The only drawback is that we have to queue to get a table because they don't do reservations I think. But I like the variety, and the fact that we can order one of each and so, try everything! :D 

 This is the salmon sushi!!! haha, each person can only order two pieces, and sometimes they run out. Looking at it makes me want it again, even though the picture is lousy haha 

2. Poulet

I've only previously had their desserts, so it was nice trying them out for dinner

 French Onion soup wasn't that great, but the mushroom soup was creamy goodness, but really rich though.

 Chicken was soft and tender, the way it should be (:

If i were not so lazy to blog, I would be waxing lyrical about this truffle mash!!!! it had an absolutely smooth consistency, and a fantastic flavour. wish I could have some now

i think that perhaps our meal had too much cream in everything though, so we got full really quickly.

3. Paul at Taka

My favourite tea time place used to be Antoinette, but maybe Paul is just as good. It's a really popular French bistro in Taka, and the food is pretty amazing.

Hidden within our omelette were sautéed potatoes, ham, cheese, mushrooms. What I can't believe though, was how good the tomato and the salad was lols. I could just eat a whole plate of the salad. haha

Desserts!! All yummy (:

 Chocolate Mille feuille. I decided that maybe I don't like flaky pastry that much after all, but it was still good, with a chocolate mousse inside that I can't really fault.

 Strawberry tart

Lemon and raspberry shortcake. This was tart and refreshing, and a good contrast to the other two sweeter and more cloying desserts. 

No more exams!!

Exams are over and I have no more exams for the remaining last bit of my NUS life yippee!! ((: It's been quite a crazy period though, with me being sick before the exams and fainting this morning. lols. Nevertheless, I am rested now and feeling better, hence updating this space.

1. La Maison Fatien

This is long overdue, but my family went to La Maison Fatien for french food on my parent's wedding anniversary. It was a really pretty bistro at Duxton, housed in quaint multi storey shophouse.

We had a complimentary snack, this was a really yummy salmon mousse on a crispy base. I really liked this, and i could probably have eaten a whole tray of this! They also served warm bread and butter as is typical of european dining establishments.

For starters we had french onion soup with gruyere cheese and bread, as well as escargot in garlic parsley butter. I think the soup was pretty good, comforting and hearty, Just that perhaps I'm not that much a fan of cheese, and we left a lot of cheese wasted at the bottom of the bowl. I don't eat snails, but dipped my bread in the butter sauce and it was yumsss.

 french onion soup ($16++)

escargot ($15++)!

Duck confit ($25++) was not bad, tender enough and it was served with potatoes that seemed something like softer potato chips. Lols, bad description, but it was good! We definitely liked this more than the beef 

This is the beef ($115++) it was a large serving of 1kg, and we don't get to choose how rare we want the meat to be. They bring it and carve it off the bone for us though, so that was rather cool. It was pretty good, but unfortunately, very rare and bloody. So I guess for those of us who are not used to it, it was a bit too much. Maybe we should have asked for it to be cooked further, but my dad loved it the way it was so we didn't. 

 This is how it looks after being carved! Yummy and tender but bloody!!

It came with super yummy side dishes, potato gratin and french beans. Loved this! Yum! 

We were quite full by then, so we just ordered one chocolate fondant cake ($15++). We thought that this wasn't worth it at all, since it was just like any other molten lava cake. 

Overall, it was alright, service was slightly pushy in that the staff kept commenting that we weren't ordering enough, which kinda got us irritated towards the end.  I guess if we went again, we'd not order such a huge serving of beef, but rather try the other dishes such as fish.

2.  Windowsill Pies

This was a really interesting cafe at lavender that us dancers went to after lesson! It's themed like a cafe in the woods, and is rather cosy with wooden benches and tables, and a large tree centrepiece. They specialise in pies, obviously. We had 3 pies to share, a mint chocolate, vodka lime and lemon curd with raspberry i think. Each pie was $7, and pretty yummy. It was cute that it was served on a wooden tray like that. haha, I liked the mint chocolate one best, but I'm biased towards chocolate. 

They also have an interesting pop up restaurant within their compounds called fortnight. I think the menu changes every fortnight. They have interesting things, like chicken heart spaghetti. I opted for a safe roast beef sandwich ($14). It was really good!!! The beef was soft and tender, and the serving was generous. Only gripe is that the corn chips were cold. 

Will be back here someday when I have someone to date! haha 

3. Lerk Thai 

I'm no food connoisseur, so maybe i'm just easy to please, but I really enjoyed Thai food here! 

Carin and I ordered a set which cost about $50 in total I think. We had a red chicken curry, spring rolls, chilli kang kong to share, as well as a super yummy fish tom yum soup each and unlimited rice. 

omg i loved the tom yum soup so much I've been craving for it. hahah i don't know though whether it's objectively real good though, cos i've probably only ever had one or two tom yum soups before. 

4. Very very early pre Christmas outing with the girls 

Have been missing these girls because we haven't been able to catch a common date to meet up for more than 3 months!!! 

Had soups and salads and then headed to Canele for dessert. 

 Strawberry shortcake ($7 ++)

 and this delicious chocolate crepe with ice cream ($14.5++)

Tania is going to china till Chinese new year for work, so i guess it's going to be a long time before we meet again ): 

No more school

Where are you now? Where is your heart when I'm not around?


haven't updated for a month! Last day of school tomorrow, although i'm seriously undecided about whether to attend. 

It's a strange feeling not to have school in NUS ever again, although the thought of a buffer year in NIE before I really really start working is kind of comforting to me i think. 

I'm glad I did geog, i enjoyed most of my time at NUS i think, especially the last 2 years. and I think I got a decent amount of cool experiences from my time in uni. 

I got to go on the best field studies trip to Thailand ever, got to go on exchange to NZ, got to do my thesis fieldwork in NZ again, got to dance so much, and will get to go to Belgium next year. Although i'd still have loved to study in London, but i guess that I don't have any regrets from my time in NUS either, and I think the experience was a rich one too. (: 

I'm very thankful for all the blessings, and for good friends i made in uni. 

sigh, will miss this phase of life, of being a student, and having flexi time tables and an awesomely long summer break to look forward to every year. 


“I think that we are like stars. Something happens to burst us open; but when we burst open and think we are dying; we’re actually turning into a supernova. And then when we look at ourselves again, we see that we’re suddenly more beautiful than we ever were before.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

yay!

Last few weeks have been busy busy busy!!! but something so exciting has happened that I have to jot it down!

I'm going to World Model United Nations 2014 as part of the NUS delegation!!! I feel really blessed to have gotten in because I don't really come from a political science background. I am really interested though, and I hope I can learn a lot from the people over there. It will definitely be super awesome to meet people from all over the world.

Also exciting is the fact that it will allow me to travel!!! My favourite!!! It's going to be held in Brussels, Belgium next March, after which I will probably be touring Europe for a month or 2 for grad trip! can't wait to start planning it. (:

so so so excited now (: it totally is the 'caffeine' i needed to keep me going till end of sem! (: yayyy!!!

Other updates:

1. Lunch with Angelina at Pique Nique

This is quite overdue, but I got to meet up with my bud at Pique Nique (: Looking at the pics again makes me hungry, the pasta and burger were yummy. Look at the gooey egg on the burger!!

For some reason, I really think Antoinette does way better desserts, even though they're the same parent company.

2. Cousin's wedding at Sentosa

I've attended two weddings in Sept! One of which was my dance friend's wedding and another was my cousin's wedding (: Weddings are really nice events to attend, because it celebrates love! and its very sweet to see couples finally pledge their lives to each other I think.

and I was enjoying the view at Sentosa Cove, where my cousin's wedding was held! It was also nice to get to chat with some of my cousins, since we dont really meet unless there are family gatherings. haha

Busy busy!!

It's recess week for me, which technically means no school, but I've been really busy, everyday is a long day! I feel like all the year 4s are soldiers, and we're caught in the thick of the fighting. haha just half a sem more to pull through!!

Instead of studying however, I am still updating this space haha

The only thing I look forward to is meeting up with people! Good food and good company are always appreciated (:

1. La Fondue 

My family went to try out this Swiss restaurant at Dempsey, and the exciting thing was that my sister, who just got her license, drove us all the way there

 I really loved the soup because it was creamy, there was truffle oil, and the croutons were crunchy. That makes for a perfect mushroom soup in my books!

 The house salad was not bad too, except too much mayo!

 They called this rosti with egg. this was mildly disappointing, because it didn't look like a rosti, but more like a ready made potato cake. Looks like something we could buy frozen and self fry. haha i don't know. but it was yummy anyway.

 Cheese fondue was really interesting, but it was toooo much cheese!! Not being regular cheese eaters, it felt a bit overbearing after a while haha

We also had bbq meat, which I really liked, the venison and beef were very tender!

All in all, I think it was a fun and quite novel experience, but it's quite expensive for lunch, after all its Dempsey (~120), and I think I can get better food for that price. So it's probably going to be a one off thing for me. haha

2, Arteastiq with C! 

I decided that I love Arteastiq! It's a perfect tea place, with pretty food and pretty decorations :D

 This is their signature orange cake with chocolate and yuzu gelato ($14++) . The gelato is super awesome!!! The cake was not bad too actually.

 Even the drinks look so pretty. This was a vanilla rose tea ($11++)  i think, and it came with a scoop of pear ice cream and biscotti!

 This was an afternoon tea set, with turkey and cheese sandwiches, salads and a cup of mushroom soup ($11.80++)

So many more things on the menu that I want to try, so I have to go back again someday (:

3. RJ lunch!

I forgot to take a picture of my tom yum noodles, but eating school food is so nostalgic and satisfying (: So happy to go back to JC and walk around. Linh called it a heritage trail hahah, it was quite sad that our time was quite tight (we both had to go to NUS to see our profs for thesis meeting), so we couldn't walk as much as we liked. But we saw a number of our teachers, so that was lovely (: we'll be back again soon!


I haven't finished updating, but i realised i have to read many papers for a meeting tmr ): so i better go now. lovelove!!

My 800th Post!

I have reached another milestone!! Post 800! Actually most of my posts are ramblings, and disorganised thoughts, but I like having this relatively private space to write anything I like. It's a nice break away from doing my editorial work, where I have to think and rethink everything I write, and phrase everything in the best possible way. Here, I can just type as I feel like it. haha :D

1. 09SO5B class gathering

I feel quite accomplished being able to cobble this outing together even though it was so last minute. It was nice and cosy because only 7 of us turned up in the end, haha but the small group meant that we could really talk (: I had funnnn! (:

We went to a Mediterranean restaurant called Medz at Orchard Central! It was my second time there, and it's very suitable for gatherings because it works likes Marche. Everyone gets a card and can pay separately, so no messy splitting of bills.

Look at my reservation stone. hahah it was so cute (:

and I had a Calzone with Pesto chicken. It was like a huge folded prata with very delicious chicken filling inside.

and these are my lovely classmates haha, it was really fun to recount JC days, and I like that we haven't really changed much ((: I miss my JC days a lot!!

2. Meet up with NZ people 

Met up with my NZ exchange friends at Highlander Irish Pub at Clarke Quay, but I didn't take a single photo partially because it was too dark, and also because I didn't think the service was good at all. Nevertheless, it was nice to meet up with my friends, especially since one of them just flew in from Japan!

3. Meet up with Jess

Met up with my buddy for the last time before she goes to do her masters in Chicago!

Awesome time catching up, and we also discovered that our wonderful subway at fareast plaza is GONE!

but there is a very nice french restaurant there now called Saveur. which offers cheap french food, and it's not bad, I found it quite good, especialyl when considering the price factor.

 Duck Confit with mash and mushrooms for $12.90. I don't know of any other place where I can have duck confit for that price. haha, it was good too, not melt-in-your mouth kind of soft, but still very tender and flavoursome. and the mash was awesome!!!

 Jess had a dessert which looks so pretty!

I guess the next time I'll see her is next year! But this time it'd be for good! (:

Meet ups with girlfriends

I feel blessed that even in my 4th year, which should be my most hectic and busy year, I still have quite a good amount of time to meet up with friends. It kinda keeps me sane after reading history of geographic thought and geopolitics for hours and hours on end. 

However, one thing that is stressing me out is that a number of my girlfriends are starting to talk about BTO and buying flats with their boyfriends, and solid plans for the future. which makes me feel super unprepared for anything omgosh... I still feel like it's agessss awayyyy for me, and i'm not ready to settle down at all. 

Maybe its because they are dating older guys. but maybe i should grow up a little bit. I am actually going to be graduating and earning my keep next year!!! I can hardly believe it. haha

1. Meet up with Jess, Linh and Xiu! 

I think I haven't seen jess in more than a year, so it was really nice to meet them all up. It would have been more perfect if dawn was there to complete the 5, but we'll be seeing her at the end of the year (: 

This is my favourite restaurant at holland v, and they serve free chips and salsa which i loveee

and these are all my favourite food!!! Looking at the pictures again makes me hungry... flautas, chimichangas, tacos, burritos, mexican rice, yumyumyum :D

2. Meet up with Summer and Tania 

Summer recommended us this awesome korean BBQ restaurant at an ulu part of chinatown. It was quite hard to locate it, but it was worth it. The owner was super lovely (: 

Anyway, we got this BBQ chicken and pork with rice cakes and veges for 2 people, but it was huge. 

and the owner cooked it for us, it was so good, i just wish there were more rice cakes and carrots, and less pork because we didn't like the fatty bits much. haha

and we got this kimchi pancake, which is really awesome too. My favourite Korean pancake is still the one in Christchurch Mihyang restaurant, but this is good too.

Address of Running Man restaurant : 3 Temple St (Gangnam Branch)
Tel: 62209858


We then went over to Poulet to chill with desserts. We'd always wanted to try the Tiramisu, because we'd heard rave reviews about it. It's not bad indeed, and for $7.80, it's a very large jar.

It's always good to catch up with the girls (((: I'm glad we still can find time to meet up although they're both busy working people. Today's dress code was blue, which made me realise I hardly have blue clothes.