Grazing @ Rider's Cafe - 51 Fairways Drive

It was much raved about by JY. He said the dining experience was really enjoyable, watching horses and ponies strolling in the stables as you savour every drop of the rightly cooked poached eggs on the sourdough.

I decided to steer them off course, away from our usual chinese sit down zhi char style family dinner. 

We woke up bright and early to graze at Rider's Cafe. JY was not entirely wrong. The ambience was great and relaxing, with the exception that not many active ponies in sight. Yes, I guess they'd rather hide in their air-conditioned stable in the smoldering heat. Most importantly, everyone enjoyed themselves at something..  the food, the phototaking or the unexpected dessert treat by ES at Marmalade Pantry next door. 

My verdict is that the food is not fantastic and if you don't drive, it's not really quite worth the effort. You might need to wait awhile to get seats too if you don't make reservations in advance during weekends. "In advance" I mean like at least 1 week in advance. I did a walk-in since reservations were full. And I was lucky to get a seat in 3 min! 

Well, I had a backup plan to go Picotin just nearby as well as recommended by my colleagues. Though I need not execute the B plan this round, I'll make it my A plan next round. :)

Blackstoned Eggs Benedict Set at $16.

Bananas and Bacon French Toast

Yummy family picture

Rider's Cafe

A horse was taking a walk..with us.

Rider's Cafe

Can you tell my okasan can't wait to start on the ginger pudding dessert at Marmalade Pantry?

Start of Reno Mission - 30 Jul 2012

Cedric was so nice. Cedric is my contractor, my phua chu kang.

Yesterday, he brought us down to Hafary again, to confirm the tiles for one last time and to make the payment. Payment equals no more changes. I must be one of his most troublesome and most fickle minded customer, choosing different tiles at every visit. We visited Hafary 3 times and 3 times I chose different tiles!

I think secretly he must be pitying ES for marrying such a hopeless decision-maker. But as a professional, he was very patient, accommodating to my whims and fancies. Yep, me and my fantasies of my dream country house. :)

Totally country style furnishings are definitely not practical in Singapore's weather so the challenge was how to find the balance.. injecting subtle country elements into a modern HDB home.

Casa Clementi

The auspicious date has been fixed. 30 Jul - Start of Reno Mission!

Chinese food

sunday.

celebrated mama's bday at Taste Paradise at Ion. Seriously, one of my dining pet peeves are chinese restaurants like those in town area especially. Ding Tai Feng, Crystal Jade, Dian Xiao Er, Taste Paradise.. any restaurants serving chinese dishes... They are my arch enemies for overpriced chinese food.


We ordered a steamed fish, Peking duck, stir fry kailan with garlic,  braised tofu and some black pepper chicken at a price tag of 279 bucks. The food wasn't good and portion was pathetic. I was hungry but didn't dare to take another piece of fish as it means depriving others of it. 


Not that the food was great anyways. For 50 bucks per pax, I expect the food to be meant for the gods. No. All I ate was half a piece of tofu, one slice of chicken, ALOT of kailan (coz it wasn't nice hence nobody wanted to eat it), a tiny piece of fish, one rolled peking duck skin and rubber tough peking duck meat fried with bean sprouts (ya..the cheapest veggie on earth). $50.


I was so dissatisfied and so was ES. We went home and shared a cup of nissan black pepper crab noodles which cost only $1.35 but satisfaction level was sky high.


I don't like the idea of paying crazy prices for lousy chinese food when I can get 100x better, more accessible chinese food at zi char stalls for 1/3 the price.

Not to mention the horrific traffic jam out of the mall on a friday night.

Not my idea anyways and I didn't pay for it. But still, wanna complain.

Blinded

Jason Mraz blinded all of us during his tour of Love is Four Letter Word concert at the newly opened Gardens by the bay. He used a different guitar with every change of song. And this was complementary to his amazing vocals and music. Not like some performers who use such gimmicks to cover up for their vocal incapabilities. Mr Curiousity and Details in the Fabric were surprising but thumbs up choices. I'm yours-Definitely oversung and abit stale in my opinion but still a crowd catcher. My personal favourite is Unfold! Somehow everything about the song screams out to me. LOVE IT.

I shall not mention the human traffic standstill at the end of the concert except that there's definitely room for improvement. It was an awesome night by the bay. Thank you Jason!

Gonna laze the sunday away as I was totally crushed by the late night after the concert and a whole saturday of shopping for the house renovations. Knocked out at 8pm last night till 8am this morning. shiok.

I'm staring at the headlines of TNP with two SUNs on the cover. Steph Sun and Sun Ho.

A controversial week as I see CHC goers professing their loyalty to their church, pastor and religion, all over FB and papers.

This is natural human pyschology to seek reaffirmation of their beliefs and choices. It is a way.. to ease their insecurity and that's how many people deal with uncertainties in adverse situations.

I'm a free-thinker. But ever since I witnessed how my bro turned for the better after my SIL brought him to church, I believe religion has its goodness and it works on some people.

Reading the comments sprawling all over media (not that I want to read but it's really ALL OVER) by some CHC members made me wonder if this goodness experienced by them has blinded them. So much so that the simple and straightforward values of what we have been taught in school about right and wrong, has gone down the dumps.

As much as it might seem confrontational now because we're right in the heat of the issue, we are not doubting your faith and sniggering at your 10% contribution to your church. It is the expression of unjust we feel at how your loyalty has been made use of for some illegal agenda. If I contribute 10% of my bloody salary (that's alot to me. not that we are paid very well in the first place), I jolly well want it to be used as how I've been promised. Simple.

Loyalty is one but I'm afraid their wait to see their pastor walking out of court innocent will not materialise.

Are these blinded people disputing the results of years of investigation done by CAD, or just refusing to believe what they fear might be the truth? To me, this is a clear case of fraud, and in a more emotional sense, betraying peoples' trust in them. This is unacceptable. Period. It is black. No room for grey.


I am very curious to know though, what could be the compelling reason for him to betray his followers' trust, emotionally and monetarily, pumping millions to support his wife's stardom.

Love for a woman? He's not even using HIS hard-earned money. He urged followers to wait to hear 'the other side of my story'. The story better be more earth-breaking than my TVB dramas. 

I'm really rubbing my hands in anticipation to see how it unfolds. Pun unintended.

Unfold - Jason Mraz

Hands in Line
Arms close to my side
I'm fighting tides
Of an ocean's undertow
And I figure that I might not make it
I'm taking empty but seldom speaking
And the words retreat
Yeah, they breath in histories
Still at ease
And the story's untold
And my arms unfold

My hands are high
And I'm holding on, I'm holding out
And I figure that I
Figure that I just might make it
And I'm waking empty but seldom sleeping
And the words repeat breathing histories
Into stories untold but I unfold

See now quality is what you see now
In the corner of your eye
And don't be surprised
If you hear the bells ring
As they form from the sky
They sound bong, bong, bong, bong, ba da
Yea yea bong, bong, bong,bong ba da yea, yea

And I'm always holding on
And I'm already holding out
Said I'm holding out your side
And I'm holding out this time
Cause I figure that I, and I figure that I
Just might make it and I'm
Waking empty but seldom sleeping
And the words repeat breathin histories untold
But I unfold 

Monday blues post

Was just scrolling through the activities on my runkeeper. Not a consistent jogger at all.. some months twice or thrice...some months can be dry till none. Well, at least I have my kickboxing once a week then. Now that classes have ended, I really gotta get back to my jogging routine.

My new workplace to home is actually only 7km. Very manageable distance. Been jogging a little more last week but think I shall space it out abit. My heel spurs seemed to have subsided a little but the funny thing is that I don't feel the pain when I'm jogging. Doc said that nobody knows how heel spurs come about but it could be due to over-jogging or over straining certain ligaments or muscles, just like tennis elbow condition. It usually comes and goes so not a big concern. My ONLY concern is that due to the protruding heel bone, I have to refrain from wearing covered shoes to work as the pain comes from increased friction of the heel and the back of the shoes.

Cheemonology. Anyways, better be safe than sorry.. I'm gonna space out my jogs.

Once past 30 years old, you'll expect weird little funny friends, illness, pains, aches come knocking at your door.

Ya..staycation is fine. but not permanent resident k.

stay true to who you are

... a motto that resonates strongly with how I'm feeling now.

the changes in people I work with affects me the most... as expected since i'm a feeeee-ling person.

starting all over trying to accustom myself to making small talk with new colleagues, getting to know peers better is a forgotten chapter which I've never revised in 5 years. Time to hit the books. 

I figured out today (in my really lethargic state...where my eyelids felt like they weighed wanton) that people I would be able to get along with, will come by naturally. I'm a sociable person by nature and I just need to stay true to myself and not become someone I am not. 

At the end of the day, one will never regret staying true to yourself. If that gets you like-minded friends, you know for sure they are REAL friends. But if it doesn't, at least you know you're respecting yourself as a unique individual. 

Life goes on. 

Coincidentally, Lenka's my latest addiction on iphone and her song tells the story perfectly.

The Show - Lenka

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle

Life is a maze and love is a riddle

I don't know where to go, can't do it alone

I've tried and I don't know why

Slow it down, make it stop or else my heart is going to pop

'Cause it's too much, yeah it's a lot to be something I'm not

I'm a fool out of love 'cause I just can't get enough

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle

Life is a maze and love is a riddle

I don't know where to go, can't do it alone

I've tried and I don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment

I'm so scared but I don't show it

I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down

I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show

The sun is hot in the sky just like a giant spotlight

The people follow the signs and synchronize in time

It's a joke nobody knows, they've got a ticket to the show

Yeah, I'm just a little bit caught in the middle

Life is a maze and love is a riddle

I don't know where to go, can't do it alone

I've tried and I don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment

I'm so scared but I don't show it

I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down

I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show

Just enjoy the show

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle

Life is a maze and love is a riddle

I don't know where to go, can't do it alone

I've tried and I don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment

I'm so scared but I don't show it

I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down

I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show

Just enjoy the show, just enjoy the show

I want my money back, I want my money back

I want my money back, just enjoy the show

I want my money back, I want my money back

I want my money back, just enjoy the show

A.fresh m0chi

I'm so putting on weight at my new work place. But then again, I do a fair bit of exercise everyday to get to work now.

Walk to bus stop - Get on bus - Climb up the double deck stairs - Sit for 35min - Go down the stairs - Alight -  Cross the overhead bridge - go down another flight of stairs - trudge through carparks - check out roosters and hens along the way - if cute, snap photos - continue to aruite - stop - fish for coins to buy tehC - cross the road - scale over another huge heavy vehicle car park - open the gate - climb up a ramp followed by another short flight of stairs - say HI to security guard, yes, i'm finally in the compound - open doors to side staircase to building - take stairs to 2nd floor

I burn quite a lot of calories during lunch as well. Thanks to the blazing heat and walking to the coffeeshops around the area. while eating also perspire..so double burn? I think so.

I foresee it'd be abit more bearable soon as I end my normadic lifestyle shuttling between 2 offices lugging my laptop. 

Life afresh.refresh.