Things To Chow Down: Part 3

Again, we can't help ourselves. There's just so many food! Although sometimes it gets nauseating to eat some food over and over and over again, there are some that hit the right spot!

Burger Bench & Bar | Cathay Cineleisure Orchard

I ordered the Cheeseburger with Sundreied Tomato Relish. (7.80sgd) The burger patty was thick and juicy and the flavors are quite tasty!

High Society | Marina Sands

High Society is a fine dining restaurant serving up quality food paired up with wines, champagnes and cocktails. Aside from this, they also offer cupcakes and desserts!

After lunch, Ilene and I needed to satisfy that sweet craving. FYI Ilene doesn't like cold desserts that much i.e. Ice Cream so we ended up here!

Ilene ordered the Apple Caramel Cupcake. Check out that face. She wasn't that happy 'cause the cupcake was small and costs 6sgd. But I found the caramel popcorn topping cute!

I on the other hand was very happy with my order. For those who know me well enough, I can't live without sweets! After checking out the cupcake offerings, I felt I needed that Tiramisu fix! It's made with mascarpone cheese which made it very fluffy and light! Plus, there's a rice crispy coated with chocolate topping that gave the soft dessert that contrasting texture it needed! Yummy, but it's quite expensive - 8sgd!

Hairloom & Caramel - Salon, Cafe, Home | Beach Road

Hairloom & Caramel is a very unique shop. It's a salon and cafe in one. Ilene and I visited this place for the first time yesterday after passing by the shop weeks ago. Since we just wanted to sit back and relax, we came to the right place! We also stayed there for more than 2 hours!

The Ambiance:

Best example on how to achieve the perfect mismatched furnitures!

Their logo in a frame! Cute!

Calendar Pillows!

The textile of my wonderful UP chair. =)

Me + Up chair + Coffee table book

Ilene and her chair - which is too short to provide optimum back support. haha

The Food:

Iced coffee (4.5) for Ilene! With unique stirrer too!

I got the Flat White (Espresso with Milk) for 3.5sgd. Had to add my sugar, of course. That clear bottle is their sugar container - which looked dubious for Ilene haha

And I gotta have my cupcake! Ordered the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (3.5sgd)

http://hairloomandcaramel.blogspot.com/

Astons Express

Ilene and I have no clue which branch this is. But we know it's near La Salle School of the Arts. But we also tried their branch in Paya Lebar which we believe is better - bigger stall and cleaner! We were so hungry after walking around Bugis and getting lost. So when we saw this, we immediately decided to have dinner here. Afterall, we enjoyed their burgers the last time we visited.

Their burger menu. My 2nd time to order the Beefy Jack Burger.

Condiments. Obviously Chili Sauce won over the Ketchup. Eew.

Ilene got Grilled Fish with Herbs + 2 side dishes (Mashed potatoes and Onion Rings). This is very worth it for 6.5sgd.

As mentioned earlier, I got the Beefy Jack Burger 5.5sgd). This time in medium so it's a bit pinkish. Not so yummy when I tried it the 2nd time because the bun was still frozen on the sides. Yuck. We suggest you visit the Paya Lebar branch for a better experience.

Stonguerries!!

So, I'm bored and thought of making a comic version of you guys! hihi

Semla from Ikea

what is Cardamom? (from wikipedia and cardamomspice.com)

Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more smoky, though not bitter, aroma with a coolness some consider similar to mint.

Cardamom spice is a highly aromatic spice which is most commonly used in Eastern, Arab, and some Scandinavian cuisines. Its unique slightly sweet and savory flavor allows it to be combined with both sweet and savory dishes. Cardamom seed's ability to enhance so many types of food is why it is combined with a wide range of other ingredients. From sea food to sauces, to meats, poultry, vegetables, and even desserts, pastries, and other baked goods.

what is Cardamom? (from ilene kho)

Horrible-worst spice

what is Cardamom? (from marie lee)

Horrible-worst spice also but i love it in my Fruit Loops!! 

Went to ikea to buy some stuff for the bed but we first decided to have some dessert.. the cakes looked yummy but normal so we decided to order something different thus our SEMLA

UGHHHHH.. its like ensaymada with almond custard and creme plus CARDAMOM in the bread

worst.dessert.ever.

What is Semla? (from wikipedia)

The Swedish-Finnish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out, and is then filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk and almond paste topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Today it is often eaten on its own, with coffee or tea. Some people still eat it in a bowl of hot milk. In Finland, the bun is sometimes filled with raspberry jam instead of almond paste, and bakeries in Finland usually offer both versions.

Singapore Coffees: Old Town White Coffee

After having my late lunch / early dinner in Square 2, i needed a hot drink to complete my meal. I always pass by Old Town White Coffee but I never went in. So today, I decided to give it a try.

I ordered their classic Old Town White Coffee (Hot) for 2.20sgd (add another 0.20 for service charge).

It was DIVINE!!! It has the same richness as the hot chocolate of Max Brenner but it's coffee. Best coffee I had in Singapore yet. It's very comforting and very very rich! You'll need a glass of water when you drink it!

But I still do love my regular coffee with condensed milk available in coffee stalls everywhere (photo below)

Perfect with soft boiled eggs (eggs are in the orange container - it's cooking in boiling water) and Kaya toast with butter! Awesome breakfast / afternoon snack! It won't cost you much, around 2.70sgd for the coffee + toasts + 2 eggs! Haha

Anyway, will blog about more coffee discoveries soon!!

Obsession: Orange Chocolates part 1

Im really thrilled that they have a wide array of choices of Orange flavored/filled Chocolates here! This is one of them..others to follow! I dont plan to buying them all at the same time.. must control control!

Actually this Cadbury bar has 4 different fillings inside:
1. Irish Creme
2. Coffee
3. Hazelnut
4. ORANGE

Super excited

Dark Chocolate with selection of liquer flavored centers

Marie was lucky enough to get 2 orange centers consecutively!! woot!! haha (she hates it)

I saw yesterday from cold storage same variant but mint filling! so tempting..

Awfully Chocolate: Rich Chocolate Cupcake

Ilene and i visited the most unpopulated mall ever, Kallang Leisure Park, near Stadium MRT. We thought we wouldn't find anything great...BUT WE WERE WRONG!!!

Hello Awfully Chocolate! They sell wonderful chocolate creations from cakes, to ice cream, to truffles!!!

I happened to buy their Rich Chocolate Cupcake!!!

Chocolatey Goodness in a cup for 4.90SGD.

Close up!! OoooooohhhhhhhLaaaaallllaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

Super worth it. Love love love! Must buy this when you're down or lonely 'cause it will definitely warm your heart =)

So the cupcake has lots of chocolate components. On the top is a chocolate mousse, that's the topping along the sides of the cupcake. Then on the center on top, there's a rich chocolate ganache! (drools) Under those two is of course the cake itself which is moist. And under the whole thing is the ganache again. I died....=)

Finished the whole thing. A good way to end the day of walking! Woot!!!

Ilene will try the White Chocolate on next time! Yay! Can't wait!

To know more about Awfully Chocolate, here's their website. Be sure to try it when you're in Singapore. Best one yet. =)

http://www.awfullychocolate.com/singapore/pdt.php

The Cookie Museum

We were supposed to enrich our minds with the cultural and artsy stuff from the Red Dot Museum or other prospect museums but we ended up satisfying our hunger for dessert only but still from a museum.. The Cookie Museum. It is located at the Esplanade Mall near where the Merlion is supposed to be but its already hidden in a hotel boo!! Thats another story.. Back to this museum..
Marie and I were passing by and we saw this plate of cookies for free taste! (our weakness) so we took one cookie each and a kind and friendly lady approached us and began talking about the origins of the cookie and asked us to come in and have a look and the rest is history.

From the outside

The place had a Victorian style/ Baroque feel so we took our seats and checked out the cool menu (I will attach a link to their website so you can see the menu as well..cool menu!

Marie and the menu

I took pictures of how the museum/tea and cookie shop looked like..

Matching but mismatched chairs

The Butt

There were a lot of special cookies for us to try.. for free!
They had over 400 flavors ever since they started 7 years ago but we just tried their best sellers:
1. Nasi Lemak- surprisingly good!! Nice pasalubong
2.Chicken Rice- comes with chili sauce
3. Watermelon (both chunky and wo chunks) - we both like the chunky one while i like both
4. Berry Lite - Marie likes this
5. Madeleine Rose - I like this
6. Arabian Mint - typical mint cookie
The staff explained that these were a very popular choice among the tourists, endorsed by the Singapore Tourism Board as one of Singapore best souvenir gifts.

The wall of $40 cookie tins

Maryjane aka Barbara suggested that we try their best seller cake which is the Baileys Irish Cream Cake and so we did and it was really yummy..moist and sweet!

@ $26.48 (tax inclusive)

We also ordered on order of tea each. Royal Apple Waltz of Marie and Antoinette's Delight (English Tea) for me. Before choosing the right tea, we had to try smell first which type of tea we want so we ended up with what I had mentioned.

Baileys, Tea or Marie?

Baileys, Tea or Me?

They had provided tea strainers as well

T strainers

Marie and her apple T @ $14.12

Me and my english T with milk and sugar @$14.12

So we took our time eating and listening to the adventures and travels of the Tea/Cookie specialists. Barbara had the pleasure of going to Venice to buy some of the masks on display here (no photo available), she told us that she even had to hand carry these because they are very fragile. She went to other parts of Europe just to buy different tea sets.! Cool job!!
We even over heard another Tea/Cookie Specialist that she went to Germany to visit a chocolate factory!! woot!! perks of her job!

All done!

The bill! (must come back for the promo)

 Outside

Marie Lee @ Cookie Museum

Ilene Kho @ Cookie Museum

Fun and inspiring tea time at the Cookie Museum with Marie Lee
Here's their website!
http://www.thecookiemuseum.com/

love how people love animals

I LOVE ANIMALS and I love it that Singaporeans love them too. Although you won't see a million dog owners walking them down the street like in the Philippines, they show their love in a different way.

I always pass by this fire hydrant when i walk home from the MRT.

There are some darn nice people in this neighborhood. They provide water (see the small bowl?) and even food for the street kitties! And when i say food, real cat food! They are scattered beside the hydrant (sorry for the poor photo quality, just used my flash-less phone camera). Although sometimes i see random food there too, like muffins! haha

Good to see how people care for these furry creatures! Love it! =)