End of FYP (almost!) + Platypus Kitchen (Bugis Junction)

After close to a year of discussing, planning, executing and finally writing, I'm glad to announce that 90% of our FYP has been submitted. The other 10% is allocated for our oral presentation, but we have decided to worry about that erm next week. This week is solely dedicated to celebrations and more celebrations! We even organised a Fatal Frame gaming session next week. LOLOLOL. 

Photo taken while waiting for Huiling to arrive! We couldn't curb the excitement so we had to take photos first!

YAY FINALLY SUBMITTED. Took this photo outside of the Lvl 4 office where we had to submit the report. HEH. Alamak my hot pink shorts sibeh AA. HAHAHA. :D 

We met up with Chay at night and had an amazing dinner at Platypus Kitchen! We went to the newly-opened (I think?) branch at Bugis Junction, and the experience was really pleasant. Definitely a restaurant that I will like to frequent many more times!

The Truffle Fries (S$6.90) were quickly polished off because they were too delicious! And at S$6.90, they were a steal! Great quality accompanied with a decent price tag. NOT BAD PLATYPUS KITCHEN, NOT BAD.

We couldn't decide which to get, so we decided to get both potato-based side dishes. The Truffle Whipped Potatoes (S$6.90) was also extremely delicious. I was actually shocked that Platypus Kitchen was so generous with the truffle shavings. Not truffle powder hor, truffle SHAVINGS. And huge ones.

Each of us ordered the dinner set meal (salad/soup, main course and drink), which was S$16.90 and up (varies according to the main course that you choose), and we all ordered the side salad. The side salad is worth raving about too. I expected like lettuce/cabbage, but was served exotic greens. GOOD JOB PLATYPUS KITCHEN!

My Sundried Chicken Pesto (S$14.50 ala carte) was too good. I was so reluctant to finish my food because it meant I couldn't have any more! It's a problem all of us encountered. The chicken was not bland and it was obvious that the chicken was well-cooked before hand. Tasted like yakitori chicken!

Chay had truffles-overload since she ordered the Truffle Carbonara Taglitelle (S$16.50 ala carte). They really are very generous with truffle.

Jeremy's Spicy 'Diablo' Crab & Prawn (S$18.50 ala carte). When it first arrived, we exclaimed, "ARE THOSE SAFFRON?! CANNOT BE RIGHT?!" Of course they were NOT saffrons. LOL. But very clever ah! Anyway, this pasta had an egg/cream base and it was quite spicy. Jeremy was satisfied with his heaps and heaps of crab and prawn. Worth-the-money-or-beyond 101.

Huiling's Squid Ink Scallop Ragout (S$16.50 ala carte). Very simple dish but very very delicious. Usually squid ink pastas have this weird fishy smell that I really dislike. But this was extremely pleasant to slowly munch on. The garlic sauce is TWO THUMBS UP.

Yinghui's Black & White, Scallop and Crab (S$17.50 ala carte). This dish is so unique! The black is squid ink Tagliolini while the white is egg Tagliolini! The sauce had a very pleasant hint of white wine. Also, once again, massive amounts of scallop and crab.

Platypus Kitchen was a food experience that I will never forget. Great handmade pastas at really affordable prices. I will come back again, and again, and again, annndddd agggaainnnn.

Anyway, we proceeded to hang out at Ogopogo Cafe at Arab Street for a quick drink and chat (coffee fix for me!). Such a bizarre cafe! However, it was a good bizarre. :D

Yay to great friends! :)

Can't wait to collect my taobao purchases tomorrow! I just placed another order (3 shoes!!!) on 65daigou. Great website! :D

Have a great weekend everyone!

Watsons Members Sale Haul (27 March 2013)

When I found out that there was going to be another Members Sale at Watsons on 27 March 2013, I had to plan on what I needed straight away. For one, I had to stock up on some necessities. However, the bigger motivator was the fact that that day was also the day when all the YR4s submitted their Final Year Projects. I felt like I had to reward myself! :D 

So yes, I went with Huiling, my fellow Watsons sale maniac, and we got ourselves some pretty good deals! 

Both of us managed to be the first 100 to spend over S$30 in a single receipt too, so we both received early bird gift packs! 

I  only bought four items, the rest were included in the gift pack! YAY! 

First up, I needed to stock up on my ZA two-way foundation. This has been my go-to foundation since my secondary school days and it is still my holy-grail foundation. The set was going for 2 for S$50, so now I have 4 refills! :)

This set of KATE gel eyeshadows retailed for S$9.90. I'm a sucker for brown/neutral eye shadow colours so I just grabbed this. A review on these will be up soon!

Also had to pick up a couple of the Bio-essence BIO Spring Water. They are amazing for setting your make-up, especially when you don't want to look too cakey and made up! They were S$1.45 each (!!!) because there was an additional discount for cardholders!

My final purchase was the Maybelline Magnum Volum' Express Cat Eyes Mascara. Wanted this previously but it was too pricey. During the sale, the mascara retailed for S$14.90! SCORE! :)

I will review this soon too!

I generally get really excited whenever Watsons holds a Members-exclusive sale. However, I think I will stick to going to the branch at Bukit Panjang Plaza in the future! Less crowded and less messy!

THANK YOU WATSONS! :)

Want! - Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Vault (40 Colours!!)

How are these not incredible and breathtaking? I want ALL OF THEM. I WANT THE VAULT.

Problem is, the set costs US$295 and it's a limited edition set. I'm beyond depressed.

Urban Decay, I hope you release this set again in the coming future. By then I'll be working and I'll HAVE THE MONEY TO SPARE.

Pretty please?

What's up what's up WHAT'S UP!! Food hunt, OOTDs, recent hauls and MOREEE

I don't feel good not updating my blog. It's like I'm forcefully separated from my love. Not even exaggerating. Every single day I think about what I should blog about, and then feel extremely saddened that I did not execute the ideas!! 

So here I am updating my blog before my FYP is due. Actually, I have edited my part and we are only meeting for an intense session tomorrow, so I am quite free now. So yay, an opportunity to blog! :) 

This is just a what-have-I-done-these-past-few-weeks post. Beauty reviews will be in soon! I need to edit my photos first! :) I have 5 upcoming beauty reviews, SO THAT'S DANDY WOOHOO. 

I ran my fastest 5.04km a couple of weeks back. Yay to that! I haven't been running outside for a while now because I always reach home so late, but I hope my gym sessions are keeping me on track! Can't wait to run outside again and break my own record! 

I ordered from Luxola.sg and it was an amazing experience. I'm dedicating an entire blogpost to my Sleek purchase and Luxola.sg. COMING SOON! :)

Recent OOTDs. Here's one featuring my new sweater from taobao. It's relatively cheaper than what you get in Bugis. It's almost always $20 and up for this floral sweater, but I got it for $14 (including shipping from China), so that's a 30% saving! I have so many things on my 65daigou cart right now, and most of them are shoes. Not going to check out anytime soon because I self-declared a shopping ban. HAHAHAHA.

Sweater: taobao
Denim top: Bugis
Shorts: Forever 21
Socks: Qoo10
Shoes: Doc Marts
Bag: Adidas

Trying to recycle my old clothes now because I realised I wore them once or twice only. Yikes.

Tank: H&M
Blazer: Qoo10
Shorts: DIY
Shoes: Forever 21
Bag: Bangkok

Another great purchase from Qoo10. I highly recommend the Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB Cream and I got it for S$10 only!! Blogpost on this COMING SOON too!! :) 

I can't get over this beyond heavenly tomato soup from Manhattan Fish Market. When kengyang said that it was too creamy for his liking, I eyed his soup like a hawk. But in the end he finished his, so I was disappointed HAHA.

The seafood platter was not so great though. Dry rice, weird-tasting fries and fishy oysters. Blergh.

OH-OH! My new nail colour from SASA (RM3.90 only!!!) is amazeballs. The consistency is definitely MUCH BETTER than China Glaze's and personally I think it's on par with Essie and OPI in terms of brush design, consistency and longevity. LOVE IT.

Haha, this blogpost is like an over-excited kid who is distracted by almost everything. I'm hopping from topic to topic with no warning whatsoever. Heehee. Must be the coffee.

Kengyang and I visited dora and aaron during Smart Kids Asia exhibition at Expo! Quick gathering, but I hope I made their days! :)

Typical dora pose. LOL. The guys cannot make it.

My stencil for printmaking class. Since I s/u-ed the bloody module already, I have decided to not put so much thought into what I'm creating. So long as I'm satisfied and I enjoy the process, I'm good. No need to get A what, pass can already! 

Ah, Din Tai Fung dinner with Jeremy and Kokky was much needed. It was a good meal and I'm still dreaming about the amazing cucumber side-dish.

I made this salmon dish myself! Hooray to my brain! I practically had NOTHING in my fridge, so I conjured some rub and it came out quite yummy yummy!

Ending this post with my most sinful dinner/supper for this week. Thosai and BUTTER CHICKEN. I could lick the butter chicken bowl if I could, but I didn't. TOO GOOD. 

Now, off to editing photos and preparing my many many upcoming posts!

Have a great Sunday everyone, and for those finalizing their FYPs, PRESS ON, 3 MORE DAYS AND CAN SENANG ALREADY! :D

Hiatus hiatus!!

It is the week before the Final Year Project submission, so we are busy busy!

Blogging will resume after 27th March 2013. I have so many review posts in queue and I'm so excited to share my thoughts with you guys! :)


Have a good week and I'll be back soon!

Samsung GALAXY S4 - I WANT I WANT!

Just look at all the brilliantness. I WANT I WANT.



Problem is, can I change my phone so soon? I mean I'm not sure about Singtel's terms and conditions, but I just changed my phone to iPhone 5 in November so I'm unsure on whether I'll be eligible to change my phone so soon? Changing to S4 does not mean re-contracting right???

I shall drop by a Singtel shop soon. Or maybe...I will just call the hotline.

OMG I WANT YOU IN MY HANDS, S4!!!!!!!!!

Batam 2D1N trip - A&W, amazing Harmoni One Hotel and more!

Last weekend, I finally got to enjoy my recess week by going on a 2 day 1 night Batam vacation. Batam is only 45 minutes away, but it definitely made me feel so very much at home. I think kengyang was a little bit shocked at how fluent I was at Bahasa Indonesia when needed. What he didn't know was that before I fired whatever I wanted to say, I had a little panic attack inside of me because I was scared of not being able to converse properly. Hence, in my head, I kept rehearsing what I was going to say. 

I'm quite a booboo when it comes to conversing in Bahasa Indonesia. 15 years in Singapore and what is left of me is just basic Bahasia Indonesia. Fortunately, I still have my accent, so yes people in Batam treated me differently once I spoke in my native language. By differently, I mean not charging me "tourist prices" or giving me more when I ordered food. HAHA. :D 

Anyway, this post is all about the amazing hotel that we lived in! It's Harmoni One Hotel (ya, Harmoni is indonesian for harmony) and it is beyond gorgeous. The hotel was HUGE. 

The breakfast buffet that was included in the package was also very good. They served waffles and the waffles were GOOD.

Going to Batam means feasting on A&W. It's just like what the tour guide said - when you have it, you don't treasure it, but when you lose it, you keep searching for it. That is an accurate phrase to use for Singapore and A&W. I remembered going to A&W at Ten Mile Junction when I was...maybe 10 and then it disappeared. My heart really broke because I loved their waffles and curly fries!

For me, A&W's fried chicken is so much better than KFC's, but of course, that's just me. Batam residents are also not very fond of A&W and the tour guide informed us that there were only 2 A&Ws left in Batam because they couldn't take the competition (KFC lah).

SO HURRY AND FEAST BEFORE IT'S GONE. AGAIN.

Our package also included a buffet lunch and looking at all the Singaporeans around me, I couldn't help but chuckle a little. It's quite obvious they were not used to the food. I enjoyed it immensely though. YUM! Gado gado was especially good! Kengyang couldn't get used to the strong lemongrass flavour.

Our last meal was a simple, but delicious, Nasi Goreng Spesial. Everything about it was magical. :')

The package was around S$80 per person, but we topped up another S$12 for a better massage session.

Overall, it was a good deal and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Even though Batam was so near to Singapore, I felt like I went back to my roots. :')

Mr Chung's Birthday Celebration Part 2 (4 & a Half Gourmands Bistro Bar)

You know, most of the time buying online discount coupons for restaurants you have never heard of is not a good move. I saw the 1-for-1 buffet deal for 4 & a Half Gourmands and bought it straight away without reading any reviews (GASP!), and I regretted immediately after because I very intelligently went to check out the reviews. 

Apparently, there's no good reviews online. I was so scared it's going to be a bad experience for both kengyang and I. But being the rational one, he told me how sometimes online reviews were not trustable and that we should just go to the restaurant with an open mind. 

I also went through all the photos on Instagram with the hashtag "4andahalfgourmands" and I was so thankful to the food blogger who replied my question so quickly and assured me that the place wasn't as bad as it was virtually painted to be. 

So... I went and guess what, IT WASN'T THAT BAD LE. I actually quite enjoyed the food! 

I think the fact that I went on a Sunday afternoon also helped because there were only a few customers dining and so the service was quite good! And since there's no blog reviews on the restaurant online, I have decided to write one! And yes, it's a average-positive review!

4 & a Half Gourmands Bistro Bar is located at Hong Kong Street! :) 

Drinks were not included in the deal, so here's a photo of my man ordering his drinks. Also, I don't know if you can notice from the reflection, the bistro bar is quite small.

I can see how people will complain about bad service during peak times lah. There were only 2 waiters when we were there, so if during peak times there were also only 2 waiters, then you can't really expect them to be attentive to everyone every time right?

What 4 & a Half Gourmands should do is to hire more staff or part-time staff for peak shifts!

My Iced Green Tea Latte was good. I like how I can control the sweetness myself!

For the buffet, we had two sections that we can choose from, one section had items that could only be ordered once, while the other section allowed multiple orders.

So, we ordered everything. :D Well, except mashed potatoes.

The grilled mushrooms looked terrible, but they tasted good, so we polished the plate instantly!

The best dish has got to be the quail egg dumplings. The sauce was so addictive!

Some prawn dish that was so-so. I have to praise the restaurant for the super fresh prawns though!

Kengyang didn't like the buffalo wings because it tasted unlike all the other buffalo wings that we have tasted. I was fine with these wings, but I gotta agree that after a while, I couldn't eat anymore because there was too much seasoned flour.

Tempura mushrooms. I love to dip these in the sauce that came with the quail egg dumplings. Kengyang didn't fancy this dish, so I finished it! :D

The Vietnamese Wings were Kengyang's favourite and he ordered this twice. It was good, but I couldn't eat anymore wings after tackling the buffalo wings.

Mushroom soup was definitely instant. However, I didn't mind it being instant because I was paying so little for the meal. It's all about how you rationalise the situation. It's a buffet, where one person pays around S$8 for unlimited food. You can't really expect gourmet standard soup right? It was good, it was tasty despite being instant, and so I was satisfied.

If you paid more for a buffet and you get instant food, then you can start firing your complaining guns.

Carbonara pasta was alright, albeit a wee bit tasteless. The solution that we came up with was to spoon a little bit of the soup over the pasta. Case solved! :)

I didn't like the squid ink pasta because the pasta came a little over al dente. Kengyang loved it though, so he was in charge of finishing it.

The garlic bread. Where do I start with these glorious pieces of garlic bread. They were quite honestly the best garlic bread that I have ever eaten in my life. I had to order these again because they were so good!

SERIOUSLY BEST GARLIC BREAD EVER.

The pizzas were not good. They were instant and they were done terribly. I'm quite sure when I make my own instant pizza at home, it will tast much better than these.

We didn't finish the pizzas unfortunately.

And that concludes my boyfriend's birthday celebration! So glad that I gave the restaurant a try. It honestly was not that bad. I'm glad I'm writing a moderately positive review about the restaurant because I think I'm the only one with positive comments! 

If you are new to this blog, please take note that all reviews are my own and I'm not paid to intentionally write positive things and fabricate stories. 

Yay, glad to have spent the day with this man and hope you had a great birthday this year, Mr Chung! :)