Grazing @ Graze

Let's juz say i had one of the best dinners in my life...
dinner was at graze at 4 rochester park.
if u duno where dat is, it's near bouna vista mrt... near acjc...
if u still duno where, look it up in the steet directory...

so dinner it was @ graze w a long time fren and now foodie kaki, rachel.
wat i love abt the place is the ambience and the ulu-ness of the place...
so u feel so isolated from the fast paced life we lead daily...
the lush green surroundings juz seems to teleport u to another dimension...
the slower paced life... w the waters flowing... and the trees rustling in the wind...
wat's there not to love...

dining is split into the air-conditioned indoors and the close-to-nature outdoors.
i had initially made a reservation for indoor dining...but upon reaching the place,
and seeing how wonderfully beautiful the outdoor dining area was, i had to request for a change of seats...

graze is such a wonderful place for u to chill out w frens over a slow dinner and drinks... and after-dinner drinks...


(L) the little waterfall, flowy water feature my table was right next to...
(R) the building right at the end where the rattan chairs are, that is where the bbq chefs are hard at work...


the main building... indoor dining downstairs... and their lounge, mint, on the upper floor.

and so i shall proceed w the menu for the evening...

we started w oyster shooters...

the 2 on the left are oyster shooters w vodka sorbet while the 2 on the right are wat i think are the house specials... ginger wine oyster shooters w wasabi and cucumber oil.

personally i prefer the ginger wine shooters, rachel prefers the vodka sorbet ones...
so try both and judge for urself...

next up was our entree... steamed lobster tortellini w some roe...
cant remember wat roe it was...

note: this is not the actual dish... started eating it once it was served so forgot to take a foto until i've taken a bite in it...

felt dat this dish is the most disappointing of the entire dinner...
couldn't really taste much of the lobster... and it looked somewhat like squid when i opened up the tortellini... hehe.
this opinion is shared by the both of us...

shortly after we wiped out the tortellinis, our main course was served...
once again... we ate up the sausage before i remembered to grab another foto moment...

this is the bbq house meat platter for 2. the house platters come in 3 types-
meat, fish and asian seafood.
there are 2 seasonings for u to choose from for the bbq-
traditional pepper, salt and olive oil or their inhouse seasoning, the graze brushed lacquer.
we opted for the pepper, salt and olive oil seasoning.
all platters come w corn on the cob, fries and salad. yum...

the meat platter consists of a sirlion, a pork chop, a piece of chicken (one drumstick and one wing), a sausage and a lamb chop.
and we requested for the shiraz reduction as a sauce for our meats.

the meats were all very well done... tender and juicy... and dipping the meats into the shiraz sauce made everything even more wonderful...
and dat includes the fries as well... salad is dressed in balsamic vinegar and olive oil...
extra note: the chicken was v well done, skin was nice and crispy, and the flesh was tender as well... kudos to the chef.
and this is coming from a person whose meat ranking is as such:
lamb, beef, pork, chicken.

had our main course w a glass of shiraz to accompany the burst of flavours...
dinner cant get any better...

got no wine to show... only empty glasses at the end of dinner... :)

but it did !! coz dessert was next... hehe...
and so the dessert tasting platter was served...


i've no idea wat's wat.. coz it wasn't stated in the menu...
but all i can say is... they're all great...
haha...
there was a cheesecake, an apple crumble thingy, wat i think is mango sorbet, vanilla ice cream to cleanse the taste in the mouth i guess.
a champagne jelly thingy, a choc soffle and a i duno wat flavour soffle and another scoop of i duno wat flavour ice cream...
i juz eat only... good, i eat some more... not good, i leave it on the plate... actually think i'll eat it up still... cannot waste food.

after dinner and all, we adjorned to mint, the lounge upstairs, for another round of drinks...
this time it's juz simple drinks, nothing too potent...
a simple bellini and a blueberry mojito.

bellini on left, blueberry mojito on right.

and after the drinks it was time to close the tab and head for home...
at first we thought dat we were gona finish dinner rather quickly...
but we reached there abt 6.45pm and left the place at like 10.15pm.
time juz flew like dat.. u dun feel like u've been sitting at the restaurant for too long or something like dat...

and of coz the damage to the pocket was $125 a piece... but in my opinion...
money well spent... coz the service was good too. the staff were v attentive...
and they've got little stools for the ladies (or gentlemen) to place their bags and stuff instead of putting them on the floor.

so head on down to graze at 4 rochester park when payday is near... and dun forget to make ur reservations.
graze is closed on mondays too btw... so dun be so silly like me and call them on monday nite to make a reservation
and wondering why the hell are they not picking up the fone... hehe... silly me.

now i wana check our their breakfast/ brunch menu which are only available on weekends.
anyone wana take up my offer?

Smooth E Babyface Foam

Saw this on some other blog...
but cant remember where...

but this is a rather creative thai ad for a facial foam...
enjoy...

Feelings Cheated

Waaaah!!

i feel so cheated...
bought david tao's 太美丽 album at sembawang music last week for like $16 i think...
and the unthinkable happened...

i saw the same album being sold at ts video @ ps for only $8.90!!!
so horrifying rite?

but i also saw this 五月天 album selling for only like $9.90...
so i bought it...
but still feel so cheated...

and if dat wasn't enough... went for dinner at dining @ sakae at the atrium next to ps.
was expecting the food quality to be slightly better than wat u'll find at the regular sakae restaurants.
but no... the food was juz as ordinary... luckily jarrod has like some voucher promo w his hsbc card...
but den have to go back to the restaurant to eat again... so duno la...

went to watch singapore dreaming before dinner...
this is like a recap of the day in reverse order... hahaha...
but anyway... went to watch singapore dreaming by colin goh and his wife, woo yen-yen...
i enjoyed it very much... it's a pretty heart warming movie abt this family and their struggles to move up the social ladder...
break out of the hdb shell and move up into the condo level...
and the family relations when they unexpectedly win the toto group 1 prize of 2 million dollars.

so go catch this locally produced film which u can also get to catch lim yu beng speaking mandarin...
quite funny... so dun miss this show... it's a must-watch.. at least in my opinion...

Happy Birthday to me and 2 other people...

Happy belated birthday to me!!

this year was quite a birthday...
kinda started celebrations like officially on fri nite...

tho unofficially it started w the SMU freshmen bash @ MOS.
so i shall start w thur.

Thursday
thur saw me going to MOS in the evening to check out the place at a v cheap $14.
so i toured the place... the r&b at the main hall was juz so so in my opinion...
but the retro room, 54 and Pure were juz heavenly...

ppl who know me know i'm quite the retro fan... so 54 feels juz like home...
not to mention the funkily cool bubble chairs they've got there...
they're juz absolutely fabulous to sit in and nua... not to mention the always favoured music of the 70s, 80s.

pure looks ordinary when i first entered the room... but exploring the room further in revealed a gem...
nice big circular beds were turned into nice cushy chill out corners... juz leave ur shoes at the step and move rite in...
as the entire bed is the table and sofa, drinks are placed on a tray in the middle of the bed...
absolutely wonderful to chill in...

but one turn-off for me was the presence of some uncle and aunty pattern ppl.
ppl who are old enough to be my parents. while hanging out at 54,
there was this couple prob in their mid-forties dancing their twirlly, 70s cha-cha-ish dance on the
dancefloor... i duno wad to say man... my jaw juz dropped lor... so aiyoh...
i also duno how to describe...

but dat nite wasn't all dat wonderful also.. coz after 1 whisky soda, 2 chivas shots, 2 chivas green tea (which i was sceptical at first,
but pretty much sold when i tried it) and half a vodka orange, i was kinda knocked out...
think partly i had a fairly light jap dinner which din exactly cushioned my stomach against the onslaught of alcohol.
den the merlion-ing happened juz as i was abt to leave the club... i'll spare u all the details...
went to lau pa sat for supper den it was home...

Friday
fri morning marked the end of my course of antibiotics for my fever-inducing tonsilitis...
and in the evening... i was off to wala wala with the church ppl to catch e always fantastic EIC.
so began another round of drinking... but no merlion-ing this time round coz alcohol was paced and there was lots of pub grub to protect my stomach...
ordered a round of tequila shots and tequila pops for the ppl who were there...
mark, fel, benji, jacq, john, damien, ewen, peter and of coz me!

music was great... EIC played blind melon's no rain (one of my fav songs). they couldn't play it the last time i was there and requested for the song...
but dat was quite some time ago... requested for fast car by supergrass... but guess they din know the song or weren't prepared to play dat one...
so they din play dat... but the nite was great... great company accompanied by great music cant go wrong...

Saturday
sat morning marked the beginning of another long day...
started w ktv-ing at partyworld @ orchard w rachel... 11am to 2pm...
this was followed by lunch @ din tai feng... and some shopping...
bought myself a birthday present...



so nice rite? they were the last pair available at the shop and i was so awed by how comfy they were...
and of coz how beautiful they look... i juz could not say no to them...

and after dat, i went to church for mass coz the youths were singing... jubilante deo is the name of the choir...
hope i remembered it correctly... someone correct me if i'm wrong k?
i have to admit they sound so so SO much more wonderful than the horrigible 8.30am choir.

12 of us went to dulu kala @ beauty world for dinner after mass... it's a peranakan restaurant and it's v good.
tons of food was ordered... and we all finished every morsel of it... and to end off the evening, they got me a cake.. how sweet of them...
i wasn't expecting them to get a cake for me really... but the surprise was blown when i saw them lighting the candles
when i went to the counter to ask for the bill... so i promptly sat down and waited for them... hahaha...
i'm sorry u all had to put 10 candles on this cake... next year will have 11 candles...
den after dat only need 3... shit.. i dun wana think so far ahead...

dinner was wonderful, cake was nice too, tho i dun really fancy coffee cake...
but the coffee taste wan't all dat repulsive... :)
yea, u're prob saying i'm such a fool, duno how to appreciate coffee.
but dat's juz me... a non-coffee lover...

after dinner, it was off to fel's place to play some board/card games...
played dungeoneer w mark, fred, eug and peter. quite a nice game but a little v rpg...
after one round which took like abt an hour i think, it was time to go home...
coz tired la...

Sunday
celebrations continued on sunday beginning with lunch at this restaurant in tiong bahru w my family...
food there is good... so go check it out... it's called por kee eating house.
think they do cantonese cuisine... not too sure... who cares really, as long as the food is good.

after dat, i met some of the guys at mark's house to play anothe boardgame, i'm the boss.
it's quite fun... making deals and trying to psycho ppl to make deals w you and all...
but shortly after 2 rounds, i had to leave for hotel intercontinental for my afternoon tea w
jarrod, michelle, leslie, nigel, louise, eelis, lynette and her fren, chewy.
we sat at the lobby lunge which had high tea till 5pm... and it includes those dainty looking pastry trays of scones, sandwiches and puffs to have ur tea with... if only i had a pic to show... stupid cam ran out of batt.

so we had snacks instead... the beer battered prawns were wonderful as were the scallop and bacon skewers...
prawns were nice and fresh. the scallops were simply juicy...
we also had some cake from the coffeehouse... and they were fabulous as well...
a full day of dining...

after dat i went home to rest for a while before goign to mark's house again...
this time it was juz a few of us, mark, benji, jacq and john... and we had durian!!
jeannette had a durian party thingy at her place 2 thur ago..
but i was still sick and under medication so i din eat any... but this time was different... i was all well...
john managed to strike up a wonderful bargain for us... 2 boxes of durians for the price of 1 and the guy threw in a small box of durian free.
seriously, only john can pull off such a bargain... there's no way i could have done it... i'll prob like pay $76 for the 2 boxes and not get any free...
it was $38 a box. the small one cost abt $15 i think... cant really rem.

so while waiting for john, ben, jacq, mark and i played this boardgame called puerto rico...
it's game where u have to develop ur island and make produce for export or sale to generate cash and points to win the game...
it's quite a fun game... cant wait to play again...

and so ends my sunday...

Monday
the actual day was a little quieter compared to the previuos days of merry making... if u can call all dat merry making...
met friggy, jacq and jarrod for lunch at habourfront... and while having lunch, this group at another table started singing 'happy birthday'
and so it was this girl's birthday... sarah if dat's how u spell her name...
and it was her 20th birthday if the candles on the cake reflected the actual age...

and so i found one other person who shares my birthday... was somewhat tempted to go up to her and wish her a happy birthday but didn't...

and so after lunch, i went for a mani/pedi w jacq @ raffles exchange. was pretty good i must say.. liked the environment there..
rather pleasant and comfortable. and the staff got a little confused when they were trying to tell each other who was getting a mani
and who was getting a pedi coz i was doing a mani/pedi and jacq was only doing pedi. was quite funny actually.. now dat i think abt it...

after dat, we had coffee and idled the time away till abt 6ish. den we went to cali fitness at raffles.
was supposed to gym w benji but he wasa little late coz of work.. but it felt really good to b back in the gym exercising...
and getting dat achy, sore feeling from the exercise...

and it was dinner cum supper at crystal jade at holland v after gym... had porridge. meatball porridge w century egg.
good stuff man... haven't had good porridge in a long time...
bryan, jeannette and john joined us after they were done w the 'shine, jesus, shine' rally at novena church.
so we dined till abt 10.40 or so and we headed home.
while waiting for the bus, i saw another girl wishing her fren a 'happy birthday' before one of them boarded the bus.
so dat makes 2 other persons sharing my birthday...

i know dat there are other ppl born on the same day as me... but i've never like seen or met these ppl before...
and when i do, it's 2 persons... how cool/weird/funny is dat...
i dun even know how to describe it... haha...

so dat's dat for my birthday....

wad a long entry... and if u managed to read it all, good for u...
and i appreciate ur patience in staying w me thru it all...

and to all my wonderful frens who have been and are still a part of my life, thank you.
thank you for sharing your lives w me and for making me a part of your life...