** reminiscence **

Lunch @ Marriot Cafe & Movies @ The Padang
Thursday, August 31, 2006

2weeks ago, Progistics visited Marriot Cafe - All thanks to ShAIKH'S generous treat after gettin his first Full-paycheck! *Wonder if this practice will continue when all my friends start working* heehee. Since i always have sweet-tooth, the dessert looked super-appealing. Those colourful little cups and the nicely-decorated cakes, don't they juz look so pretty? Just feel like skipping the main dishes and hop on to the dessert-section. ~International Lunch Buffet with good company on a Saturday afternoon~ nice!

Waited for a couple of hours before we visit the grocery store to get some junk food for "Movies @ the Padang" organized by Class 95. The VIPs of the event were allocated the perfect spot in the middle of the field. They were provided with a basket of food and wine, together with wine glasses n a small table -> So well-planned. We managed to borrow a 'pathetically' small piece of straw mat & squeeze all our butts on it. Well, better than nothing since this is such an impromtu activity.

As much as im someone who likes to plan ahead in order to have something to look forward to, sometimes, the unplanned act might turn out to be more exciting and refreshing. :-)

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 11:35 PM ]]

Dessert-marathon
Sunday, August 27, 2006

@ Menotti

An Italian Cafe & Bar at Raffles City. Almost forgot that there's something called "dresscode "and i was there in shorts and slippers. Fortunately, they don't practise such things.
"50% off pastries after 10pm" - I'm so going back there again!!!
We tried:
1) "MUSA" - banana with hazelnut cream wrapped with a thin slice of banana-flavoured crepe, Topped with hardened chocolate
2) "DUOMO" - Sweet cream with hints of cinamon that comes with a hidden surprise at the core of this pastry - a dark chocolate ball that has bitter liquid oozing out of it.
Woohoo... There are other interesting pastries and the price is rather reasonable (if there's still good ones available after 10pm).
*************************************
and so, Huiying and i went back 2days later after class, to try out more of their half-priced pastries:
1) "Diplomatica" - super 'nutty'. hazelnut cream wrapped with peanut-bits and taste like ferrero rocher
2) "Tiramisu" - as good and as common as it sounds
3) "Limonie" - too sour for me though it comes with smooth meringue to balance the flavour.
******************************************

@ Azabu Sabo (sounds funny - "sabo"?)
kylie can't wait to try the soft ice-cream. Ice cream is nice but To me, The dessert we tried is just Nothing more than ice kacang with ice cream. But the good presentation of menu at the entrance indeed attract many customers.

p.s. Have to rely on Kylie most of the time in recalling the NAMES of the food items.

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 12:39 AM ]]

~Progistics Picnic~
Saturday, August 26, 2006

Venue: Swan Lake @ Botanic Garden
Theme: Blue sky, white clouds (as lame as it can be, check out what we are wearing! haha)
Menu: Fruits, chocolate sponge cake, junk food (LOTSA THEM), chips & dips, assorted and sandwich and pizza!!!

While waiting for the latecomers to arrive with more food, i'd already fed a jungle of mosquitoes upon my arrival. Hat mosquito-bites!!! other than that, this outing is amazing. Well, you juz gotta come up with more of such ideas if you stay in Singapore. Thanks puay cher for suggestin that she needs a tan. haha, no tanning in the end but "pigging" out session is equally good rite?

Picnic was short since everyone has different commitment after that. Can't wait to organize another of such activity. Hope our invited guest, Yew Lim enjoyed himself. THOUGH, he didnt conform to the dress-code assigned to him - GReen grASS & TREES!!!

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 6:41 AM ]]

Orlando, Florida - The last stop in U.S
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Back to my travelling. realized that i always go back to that wheneva i have nothin else to blog about, or when i'm still in the midst of consolidating pictures ("HY, i wan pics from you!!")

OK, basically we went shopping once we reached there, knowing that there's 2 great factory outlets at Orlando, Florida. The bus service is crappy. It requires about 3transfers (jouurney = 2hrs) to get to our destination when a car-journey will take only 30mins. Check out the signboard behind us? That's the LOGO (a paw) of their transit service... Suit the fact that Orlando is a themepark-fantasy.

So i'm not surprise that we missed our last bus on the 1st nite. Know what?! the bus service ends around 6pm daily. Do they assume that everyone drives or has no night-life? We spent 1hr doing something crazy - WALKING ALONG THE HIGHWAY when parts of it are still under construction. Cars drove past so fast and it takes quite abit of courage to look back and realize that 'million' pairs of headlights dashing towards me. We were about 400m from our hotel when a kind couple offer to give us a lift. Phewww.

Here comes the best news: Rafael and Dennis(whom we knew at Daytona Beach), fulfil their promise and came to Orlando to visit us!!! They drove us to "PLEASURE ISLAND" - Different clubs/bars cluttered together. So you pay a fixed entrance fee and you get to go club-hopping till about 1plus am. So much for the name "PLEASURE" island as people get so drunk and you leave the place yakking loudly and laughing happily with one another. Thanks dudes for introducing that place to us. Else we'll think that they only have themeparks. Thanks dennis for entertaining us the whole night. Sara & i still giggle about it wheneva we r reminded of that funny night.

Interesting themeparks they have - wet and wild; bush gardens; universal studio; disneyworld etc. For your information, Disneyworld in Orlando is bigger than Manhatten City in NewYork. They have different parts such as disney sea, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom etc. And guess what, i chose magic kingdom when i'd alredy been to the one in Japan a few yrs back. And here i am, going for the same thing when it cost about SIN$100 for admission. 90% of the rides are the same, and now i realized how kiddish they are. Felt so sorry that Rafael gotta join us for this when he's on tight budget. Arghh!!! ok, nevermind. it's the company that matters.

Well, it's not exactly thatttt badddd. At least i'm sure first-timers will enjoy the feeling that "fairytales-come-true". And kids are all dressed up in their favourite princessy-costume. My favourite of all, Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.

The highlight of the day: Fireworks!!! It's the best i've seen in my entire life. haha. It's really amazing. Nice colours emitting from the castle, fireworks that showed the shape of stars, familiar fairytale-characters' voices, nice disney theme songs, the cool breeze that accompanied all these and last of all, tinkerbell flew out of the castle and across the magic kingdom. I'm so surprised that she's a real-human and not some laser-tricks or figurine.

The last meal at Orlando was at IHOP - International House of Pancakes. The serving is huge and almost thrice the amount we had for 1 meal.

ok, after stuffing ourselves, we were all ready for a 38hrs bus journey back to Canada. I didnt expect myself to feel so nostalgic. I'll miss the U.S...

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 11:32 PM ]]

Introducing... The V-Tea Room @ Esplanade
Sunday, August 20, 2006

Kylie and i visited this place last Friday.

Decided to try their toffee-flavoured tea which cost $12 per pot. Nice teapot!

Oh, the signature liquor teacake is amazing. iN FACT as "amazing" as its price. Just a small slice like that cost $15. We DEICDED on Bailey's cream as recommended by the waitress. We wonder how long did those waitresses take to memorize the description of the cakes. Very well-done as the presentation itself makes the cakes seem mouth-watering and i'm so tempted to try this partially-melted premium cake of theirs which will cost about $20. *ok, CONTROL!*

Initially, i was shocked by our drowning cake but this is Really yummy!!! Bailey's, espresso and hazelnut bits to enhance the plain warm cake.oh, and We had this with vanilla ice cream ... pPpERRRFECCTT!!!

For those who enjoys tea and cakes... highly recommended. A good chill-out place too... :-) haha

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 4:37 AM ]]

First day of school and Hy's bday
Thursday, August 17, 2006

The school started off with something to look forward to - Huiying's 22nd Birthday celebration at Daybed Bar.

Mystery of the day for the bday gal: number of friends arriving and the venue chosen for the party. "Hey ex-rmmate, hope you like the arrangement and the prezzie."

Though i Still prefer bed supper club in Thailand, this place is comfy enough after a long day of lesson. Hugging the cushion, lying on the soft mattress, indulging in l'il conversation and together with a glass of chardonnay and a piece of brownie cheesecake... These are what had kept us staying till 1am on a monday night. *fortunately, i don't have class on tue*

Took some silly pictures in the midst of conversation.
<<<GD pretending to be a pervertthe 3 "drunkards", though each of us had only a glass which is only one-third filledAudrey in the zoneBday gal and GD lying on the bed or was it just leaning against the wall?!?!>>>

I guess my semester will be crazy with the tonnes of project meetings that i'll be having. Though i only have a 2-day-week, the hours for each day is really long, IF i don't intend to skip any. Seem like a part-time student now...

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 11:50 PM ]]

Happy 41st Birthday Singapore
Thursday, August 10, 2006

This year, The Family decided to get a room at RitZ Carlton Hotel during National Day. Not only you get to avoid the crowd at the parade, but also a better way to enjoy the performance, compared to watching the parade from home television.

On national day EVE, the fireworks at the harbour side is not fantastic and we have to watch it at the lift-area outside the room. However, the night view of Singapore in indeed a beauty which i enjoyed it better than the fireworks. To my surprise, many singaporeans actually booked rooms for this fireworks festival. ~nice... The lobby was crowded with singaporean hotel guests who are "well equipped" with chips and drinks.

Our room faces kallang - where the national stadium is. Check out the bathroom and especially the bathtub by the window. Notice the building across the bathroom? Wonder how many times have those ppl from that building peep at the hotel guests. One funny thing about this hotel: they have about 10 staff, JUST STANDING at the main entrance to greet the guests. Wastage of manpower to have so many doormen. THOUGH it feels rather spectacular as i walk in.

We had tea at the lobby. A pot of peach blossom tea which costs $18 while coffee and hot chocolate cost about $9 each. Ok, let's not lament about the unexpectedly high price. I guess the great music, good service and comfy seats are the bulk of the cost. The pastries look yummy and despite how much i've raised my budget, the price for the high-tea is still shocking - $42+++ per person.

It's pretty interesting to watch the live-telecast parade on TV and checking out the planes and lightings used in the show, just by looking out of the window in the room. With l'il sis singing along with the entire National Day Parade (though abit annoying when she sings it wrongly and tries to cover for it) and enjoying all these while having dinner is really fabulous. :-)

"We are Singapore, We are Singapore, We will stand together hear the lion roar.."

p.s/ received this sms that applies to my dad totally:
"I, the citizen of Singapore, pledge myself to strike, regardless of TOTO or 4D. Based on quick-pick and system 7. So as to achieve car, cash and condo."
Gosh!!!

â§_____that's all folks_____â§~ [[ 11:31 PM ]]