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Birthday in Bangkok

Monday, December 30, 2013 | 8:30 pm | 0 comments

I love to travel and I thought for a moment that I wouldn't get to travel this year.

But seeing as I really really really needed to get out of Singapore and have a break, I'm glad the trip happened. Since I'm STILL on a wardrobe revamping project, and yes such a project is a long term investment so the only way to not go bankrupt doing so is to buy the clothes from a very cheap place.

Hence the Bangkok shopping trip. :)

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Siam Paragon

Mixed Beef Rice Noodles Soup with Egg

Exploring the food street in Siam Paragon and look what I found!

A food extravaganza!

Decided that our dinner for the first night would be this very delicious looking bowl of piping hot beef noodles. I added an egg because..it's egg!

The soup base is so thick and fragrant you can't help but slurp it all up.

The beef is tender, the beef balls are so Q, and the egggggg!!

It's a ramen egg through and through!

The egg yolk is a little oozy but overall still cooked rather soft. Even the egg white is so melt-in-your-mouth soft. Slurp it up with a spoonful of the soup base and boy, was it fulfilling.

This feeling of contentment just settles over you when you finally finished off this bowl of amazing noodles.

Stir-fried Kailan

We also ordered a stir-fried kailan to go together with the noodles.

I somehow get pretty obsessed over fibre intake when I'm overseas.

Khanom Buang

I wanted to try these last year but didn't get the chance to.

Now, these are lovely. We bought 2 sweet 2 salty but to be honest, they can only be termed 2 sweet 2 super sweet. I love the super sweet ones (yellow colour).

This is actually a type of Thai dessert where they have a taco-like shell topped with various sweet ingredients and coconut shavings. Yeahhhhh coconut is not really my best friend but what's travel without some risk?

So I ate them, and survived. Phewwww.

Here's the guide I wrote last year about what you can eat in Paragon. I actually ate everything that I tried last year AND ate more new stuff this time. Yeah I know, sometimes you just can't underestimate a small person's appetite. Even I surprise myself sometimes.

Chatuchak/Union Mall

Bright and fresh the next morning for more adventure!

Looking like a tourist is the only way to go.

I think I have the tourist look down pat.

Good job!

I spent my birthday shopping in Chatuchak, the biggest outdoor weekend market in Thailand.

Needless to say, my wardrobe revamping project went pretty well.

Ever since P sent me a winter wonderland postcard from Germany, the postcard monster in me has been unleashed. Besides, I've found a postcard buddy in C and I thought maybe reciprocating some of my postcard love to K would..hmm..yaknow...make it easier for me to demand more Europe postcards HAHA. So I was positively elated when I saw this in Chatuchak! Complete with postal services!

Sending off two lovely postcards from Bangkok on my birthday definitely felt more than awesome. It was quite a unique experience, sitting on a low stool in a dingy shop writing a postcard.

I wish someone will send me one from Thailand too. Mum thought I was going to write one and send to myself, because that is exactly the kind of stupid thing I used to do.

Pork Ball Noodles

Lunch was settled at a street stall in Chatuchak.

Mum said photos look better with colour so she generously scattered all that chilli powder on my porkball rice noodle soup. It definitely looks fantastic, except it also burned my tongue. My advice? Be extremely light-handed with the spices.

I had this dish too when I visited last year and it was so memorable.

Didn't explore too much on food this year, so besides lunch I only had mango bought from a street vendor.

Okay then shit got real when we decided to return from Union Mall because the protestors have decided to move their protest up to Siam and it was shockingly near to my hotel. Seeing as all the malls have went into early closure and the shortcut is now all sealed up, we trekked 1km back taking the super long route with no dinner. Awww man, birthday plans wrecked.

It's okay, there is still the miracle kitchen known as the ROOM SERVICE!

Okay so room service to the rescue, I was starving so badly that I could eat an elephant.

Tom Yum Kung Fried Rice

This is my second time trying this dish, and I have to say the hotel cook really does it better.

This rice has the fiery kick of tom yum kung, and the fragrance of the lemongrass. The flavours kinda build up in layers, so you taste something a little different with every bite. The prawns were huge and juicy, but beware the teeny tiny chilli pieces hiding within the rice. I ate one by accident and couldn't speak for ten minutes. Killer hot. Squeeze the lime all over the rice before you tuck in, and the tangy refreshing flavour balances out the spiciness of the tom yum.

Thai Fried Chicken Wings in Fish Sauce

I have been dying to try these for ages, but my plans got thwarted when the Siam area was closed the next day for security reasons. Pretty glad the hotel serves this dish too!

Thai chicken wings are essentially, skinny wings. Super skinny. But oh so crispy and the fish sauce marinade was just impeccable. Perfect. So flavourful.

So there you go, room service became my impromptu birthday dinner.

Memorable indeed.

Street Food/A&W

Steamed Purple Corn

Chanced upon my fave street food so I bought the mixed purple corn.

A&W Chicken Waffle

I'm not a fan of burgers so I opted for this waffle version instead.

What I can say is... their chicken is really 1000x more fantastic than KFC or even Popeyes!

So crispy and juicy yet not the least bit oily.

The waffles is pretty good, airy and light. The sauce they drenched all over the chicken is a mystery concoction of spiciness and sweetness that really whets your appetite.

Platinum

Platinum is not a place not fantastic Thai food soooo.. don't expect too much.

This is what I ate when I came here last year .

Shop here, but find your great eats somewhere else.

Rice Noodle Roll with Prawn

Yeah I may be small, but somehow I seem to be able to eat quite a bit.

I like that this dish is very refreshing, the prawns very fresh. Pair it with the very appetitizing sour green dip and it's just yummy in your tummy.

Omelette Rice Balls

This is so yummy! It reminds me of takoyaki except this is more like pasar malam style.

There's egg and veggie inside and this is definitely your go-to dish if you crave comfort food.

Quail Eggs with Fish Sauce

This one is sooooo sooooo soooooo good!

Slurp it up like a boss.

Cholesterol and calories be damned, this is one dish you HAVE to try.

Vegetarian Samosas

Nothing to write home about, fairly good enough to fill the tummy.

Thai Yen Tau Foo in Claypot

This is just like your usual yong tau foo except it has some kind of sweet sauce inside.

Pretty interesting but nothing wow.

Thai Green Curry with Rice Noodles

Okay please please please do NOT order this.

For some obscure reason, this dish came to be stone cold.

Can you imagine how icky it is to be eating cold curry? The green curry is actually not too bad, albeit too spicy but still good. Except that it's cold. I really really really abhor eating food that's gone cold.

Then I realized that most Singaporeans don't order this anyway, I was just too adventurous.

Okay, lesson learnt. Be spontaneous and adventurous but not tooooo adventurous.

Silom Village at Don Meung Airport

This last meal before I flew off is generally a "eat all the food that I haven't tried yet" meal.
Because of the mall/street closures, I haven't had the chance to try some food yet and how can I possibly leave Thailand without eating Pad Thai and Tom Yum Kung?!

That would be utter blasphemy, so we settled our cravings

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is always good. Always. This pad thai is not too wet, which is the way I like it.

Big fat juicy prawns, the Thais seem to be really good at cooking prawns!

Seafood Tom Yum Kung

Judging from the milky colour of the soup, this one had plenty of coconut milk in there.

But this is veryyy good. Tangy, spicy, it's everything you can ask for in a tom yum kung.

Except there's something about me and coconut milk that doesn't go well together.

Took some precautionary measures after I ate this, so I didn't really have the runs this time.

You can refer to my guide last year on what to eat if you're in DMK.

http://dream-oracle.blogspot.sg/2013/03/travel-thailand-silom-village.html

Labels: Lifestyle

Black Box December

Wednesday, December 25, 2013 | 5:00 pm | 0 comments

I signed up for my free Black Box samples approximately a year ago haha, okay maybe not so long but definitely close to a year. The first box finally arrived in December, but since it's free I shall just take whatever I can get. It is pretty nice to receive a surprise parcel sometimes.

Quite excited to see what's inside!

Other than a pack of vouchers, there's a sample of primer/foundation, baby/sports wipes, toothpaste, face mask, hand/nail lotion and a kitchen cleaner.

I thought it was quite a variety of items and mum was certainly pleased with the sweet smelling kitchen cleaner sample. Everything else will come in handy when I travel, and the face mask does look pretty interesting. All in all, not too bad for a free service!

Labels: Beauty, Lifestyle

Standing Sushi Bar

Friday, December 20, 2013 | 8:00 pm | 0 comments

I have looooooong wanted to visit this place.

The location puts me off somewhat, but then now I think the food will definitely entice me back.

Came here with R for some happy food and boy, did I enjoy it.

I was a little overwhelmed by their menu, but we decided to give their Specialty Rolls a try.

A little spoilt for choice but we eventually decided on two rolls.

Rockstar Roll

Not sure why it's called the Rockstar Roll, but I was sorely tempted by the seared salmon.

This is a magical roll with fried mozzarella cheese stick centre, draped with lightly seared salmon, and topped with mentaiko sauce. Yes you heard me right, salmon AND mentaiko. Magic combination.

It was flavourful, the salmon was very fresh, the mentaiko and the melted cheese blended together and fireworks just went off in my mouth.

Puff the Magic Dragon

I think they were trying to be cute here, plus I think the end product looked like a caterpillar more like a dragon so that put me off somewhat. So I let R eat the head of the dragon instead hahaha.

So Mr Dragon here has a tempura prawn centre, draped with slice of grilled unagi and topped with salmon roe. The overall flavour is pleasing, but not as wow as the Rockstar. The Rockstar proved to be unforgettable, and Mr Dragon somehow just pales in comparison.

Ordered some side dishes to try and this is the Buttered Enoki.

Hmmm...I think this is just so-so..

One thing about cooking food in butter is that the food has to be served piping hot.

If not the butter just kinda tastes a little off, and the oily butter smell just wafts out. Not something a chef would like to see I think. This wasn't piping hot when it was served, so only the first bite tasted good, the rest of it was kinda a mehhh. Possibly whatever butter dishes is still best served on teppanyaki.

Lastly, we tried their Robatayaki.

I loveeeee robatayaki but damn, eating robatayaki in Singapore is practically daylight robbery.

Still very much tempted to give it a try though, so we ordered their Mixed Grill which consists of 5 assorted skewers of goodness grilled over charcoal that's specially imported from Japan.

Mushrooms were succulent, enoki wrapped in beef slices were fantastic, grilled leeks were flavourful.

I'm running out of adjectives here but I have to say their robatayaki is pretty fantastic.

Suffice to say, I enjoyed a meal that can only be described in two words.

Food orgasm.

Will I come back again?

DEFINITELY.

Verdict: 4/5

8 Queen Street

Unit 01-03 Singapore Art Museum

Singapore 188535

Tel: +65 6333 1335

Operating Hours Open Daily

Lunch: 12 PM - 2:30 PM, last order 2:15 PM

Dinner: 6 PM - 10 PM

Labels: Dec2013, Food

50 Shades of Grey: Love it or Hate it?

Sunday, December 15, 2013 | 11:30 am | 0 comments

Image Credit: HERE

The hype over the books seems to be neverending since it's still topping the sales chart on Popular's Top 10 Bestsellers. It's kinda disturbing yet intriguing to know that a fan-fiction could garner so much attention.

What's more mysterious is the fact that it's being filmed into a movie.

Really???!

Now if you're wondering who's starring in this erotica... wonder no more..

Image Credit: HERE

We have this brooding handsome dude Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey.

Image Credit: HERE

And wide-eyed girl Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele.

I'm very curious about 2 things though.

1. Is the film going to follow the book closely?

2. What will be the eventual rating of the movie, M18?

A good friend kindly loaned me the book on Kindle because "these kind of books are too embarrassing to be seen/read in public." And I agree.

Plus if the book is any indication of how awful it is, I can't quite imagine what it'll be like as a movie.

Every two pages you get them going at each other like wild rabbits, and most of it doesn't even sound remotely possible to achieve. What's more, I'm about 20 chapters into the book and I haven't even figured out what's the storyline. The plot is just weak, weak, weak. And no, sex is not an acceptable plot.

And judging that it's supposed to be erotica, it really doesn't seem to work out well either.

It looks like a book that wants to be erotica but have only managed to scrape the surface of romance.

Neither here nor there.

I think I give up, maybe I'll probably fast forward and speed read to find out roughly how it goes.

Labels: Dec2013, Thoughts

The Fabulous Baker Boy

Tuesday, December 10, 2013 | 8:00 pm | 0 comments

The Fabulous Baker Boy is nestled in a teeny spot of greenery opposite Liang Court, and specializes in cakes! It's a cosy little place that's great for a chill out session with friends.

Went there one day for our "tai-tai high tea" with a few of the foodies since the rest were having exams or busy with stuff. Each of us ordered a cake of our choice and we simply pooled our "resources" to try it out.

Blueberry Yoghurt

Out of the 4 cakes we ordered to share, this is my favourite.

I like the slightly sour yoghurt that went perfectly with the blueberry jam.

Initially I was kinda skeptical because I saw the icing outside and I'm never one for icing.

But I was pleasantly surprised, this proved to be pretty light and it went perfectly with the cake.

Big Lub's Carrot Cake

This cake has the best texture.

It's my first time trying carrot cake western style, and it felt like I was having a very nutty raisin-y granola bar. But in a good way. It wasn't too sweet and overall it's very pleasing.

Caribbean Lemon

Lemon cakes usually puts people off because of the tangy flavour.

But I found this rather refreshing and light. Could use a little more lemon zest though.

The downside is that this cake wasn't placed in the fridge so it's room temperature.

I prefer my cakes cold and I think this cake will taste better if it's cold.

Matcha Praline

I ordered this because I was drawn to the praline factor.

I have to say their cakes were all very fluffy and light, quite an amazing feat.

I haven't managed to figure out how to make my cakes fluffy and light so maybe I should practice more.

The matcha flavour wasn't particularly distinct, but the praline somehow grows on you with every bite.

I believe it would also taste better if this cake was refrigerated. The thing with the icing is that if it's not refrigerated, it tasted a teeny bit eeky at room temperature. Time to buy a bigger fridge!

Verdict: 4/5

If you're looking for hugeeee cakes to fill up your tummy, this is THE place.

Soft, fluffy and light cakes that are created to light up your day. It was a pity the red velvet was sold out, if not I would loveeee to give it a try. Most places don't do red velvet justice and I've heard this place is an exception. Ohwell, maybe next time. Come with a few friends and share a cuppa over some cakes, I guarantee you'll have a relaxing afternoon chilling here.

The Foothills

70 River Valley Road

#01-15

(179037)

Labels: Dec2013, Food

Social Experiment: Perception of Self

Thursday, December 05, 2013 | 10:00 pm | 0 comments

The experiment goes like this:

I write down a list of words that I think perfectly describe myself.

Next I ask people to describe me in 2 words, but if they have more than 2 then okay, the more the merrier.

I'll proceed to see if their choice of descriptors coincide with any of the words on my own list.

The point of this experiment is to see if your perception of self is co-relevant to people's perception of you.
Or really, just out of curiosity I want to know how people perceive me to be like, as compared to how I see myself. I think it's going to get pretty interesting hehh.

Okay so here's my list.

1. Weird

2. Picky/Fussy

3. Fun-sized

4. Workaholic

5. Blur

6. Introvert

7. Determined

8. Low-maintenance

9. Cheerful

10. Stubborn

The results I got were:

I even got a Chinese description (外刚内柔，直来直往 ) that couldn't get generated into a word cloud.
Someone gave me a pretty hilarious one (Cute and Asian!) that made me wonder if the above two qualities are mutually exclusive or something.

Some of the descriptors were something I expected but some were a pleasant surprise.
I even had a friend who got so wrapped up in this game that she proceed to give me nearly ten descriptors because she said "two isn't enough to describe you!" Hahah I have weirdly adorable friends.

Suffice to say, only 1/10 of the descriptors I listed for myself were a hit with the 20 my friends gave me.

Thus I conclude that how you view yourself and how people view you are completely different.
Okay maybe not completely different, but there would be a some kind of difference. However, if you found recognition in the descriptors others used on you, it could also mean that maybe they saw something in you that you couldn't see.

Labels: Dec2013, Thoughts

Mushroom Egg Cup

Tuesday, December 03, 2013 | 6:30 pm | 0 comments

I woke up feeling adventurous and I decided to raid the fridge for some breakfast ideas.

Guess what I found?

Eggs and button mushrooms!!

Universally well-liked items, and since I've still yet to break in the $2 Daiso ramekins I bought some time back, I decide to improvise with some baked eggs!

Usually I'll make an omelette, stir-fry some mushrooms and maybe top it off with a hashbrown.

Not today!

Time to mix it up a little with some adventure.

To be honest, I haven't an inkling what I'm doing.

I just dumped in some mushrooms, eggs, a dash of olive oil and a fair sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Then I pop it into the oven for about 15 minutes, 180 degrees.

But you know what?

It turned out fabulous and tasted even more fabulous!

What can I say, this mini adventure certainly is a success!

Labels: Baked, Dec2013, Food

Insta-Nov

Sunday, December 01, 2013 | 11:00 am | 0 comments

November is a rainy gloomy mess.

But as with all downpour, the sun will always shine after that.

One of the most significant meal in my life that woke me up to what I wanted in life.

Aside from that, salmon mentaiyaki is really super delicious.

Mentai is truly a magical ingredient that makes everything super delicious.

The rest of November passed in this manner.

Kudos to Sylvia Plath for articulating so perfectly what it felt like.

Things picked up a little when my food swap brownies reaped these homemade orange chocolate in return.

Most awesome chocolate I've ever eaten, made better by the fact that it's \homemade.

Went to participate in a multi-disciplinary immersive arts experience at KTPH one weekend.

Both Sides, Now is a pretty interesting play that explores concepts of living, dying and everything in between. Very thought-provoking and a little bit depressing, but definitely worth your time.