The Danks Street Festival was on last Sunday and I went to have a look see. Vehicle access to Danks Street and part of Young Street was closed off for this event. I was greeted by rows of white tentage and hordes of people. Although this is the fourth year they've been running this festival, I'm only attending it for the first time this year. I was surprised by the turnout as I hadn't expected the event to be this big.
The first thing I did upon arrival at the event venue was to grab a cup of coffee! With a nice aromatic cup of coffee in hand, I went to explore each individual stall under the long row of white tentage. There was a section called 'Arty Pants' where kids could spend the afternoon doing arts and crafts and anything creative while the parents had some time to themselves. I think some of the stuff the kids do nowadays are really cool. I wonder why I wasn't as creative when I was small. Hmmm...
Most of the other stalls featured other up-and-coming designers and their work. There was this one who designs and makes hats that are just so unique they take my breath away. I couldn't afford any of the hats though.
At the end of a row of stalls were lots of food kiosks! I was famished by then and was dying to get something to eat, anything. This serious chef at work cooking a huge pan of spanish paella caught my eye and I joined the uber long queue, only to get a plate of paelle that looked much better than it tasted. It served to fill my empty stomach though so no complaints from me.
I saw these three tourists (Japanese I think) taking pictures with the chefs on stilts and thought they looked cute so I secretly took a picture of them on the side.
Besides the roving entertainers, gourmet food stalls, live music and bands, art galleries and designer booths, there was a grower's market and a designer's market. Here below, you see me snapping away inside a lighting shop inside the designer's market. I especially liked the mirror shaped like a giant flower with five petals, but again I was quite stumped by the price tags. In case you're wondering, I didn't get anything except for the coffee and some food.
I even found an extremely well-maintained vintage Mercedes convertible parked by the roadside that so totally matched my vintage outfit that I had to take a picture with it. I also saw a few of those vintage 1970s bicylces (think of it in pastel pink or cream colour with a straw basket in front full of fresh flowers) and was quite tempted to buy one for myself. I'm sure I will then be so motivated to cycle to everywhere I go!
I had a really fun day. If I'm still here in Sydney next year, I'm definitely attending this festival again!
danks street festival
aussie dollar not looking good
This whole global financial turmoil is bad bad bad for me. The Aussie dollar is going crazy. From the Universal Currency Converter website today:
I have refrained from TT-ing money back to SG for a few weeks but cannot hold it off any longer as my car instalment is already overdue. Did the transfer today and really didn't feel good about the loss in dollars due to the shitty exchange rate.
I also have a few items I so so so wanna get from etsy but will have to KIV them for the time being. And I've been thinking about them day-in-day-out cos they're really great vintage finds! *Sianz*
food diary: 20 - 26 oct
I've been busy lately and haven't been cooking much. However, the weekly herbal soup regime is still being faithfully observed. Although I have not been updating much on my Project P, it's still ongoing but with reduced focus on the diet portion due to all the eating out. There had been much stocking up on canned food in the last two weeks due to an inexplicable craving for porridge and all the unhealthy canned dishes like braised peanuts, luncheon meat, pickled vegetables, spicy pork cubes etc. I miss the teochew porridge at Havelock Road!!!
monday
B : coffee and 2 biscuits
L @ 1.30pm: thai red curry with rice, 1 mocha
D @ 8pm: prawn noodle soup, a handful of peanuts
dump: once
tuesday
B @ 9.30am: coffee
Morning tea @ 11am: campbell's chicken soup
L @ 2.30pm: chicken sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich
D @ 7.30pm: thai fried noodles
dump: nil
wednesday
B @ 9.30am: coffee
L @ 1.30pm: butter chicken, beef vindaloo, rice, mocha
D @ 8.30pm: prawn noodle soup
dump: once
thursday
B @ 9.30am: coffee, cinnamon cupcake
L @ 1.30pm: instant noodles
D @ 8pm: spicy beef, wonton in spicy soup and rice
dump: nil
friday
B @ 9.30am : coffee
L @ 1.30pm: chicken mushroom thing with cold pasta
D @ 9pm: grilled siu mai, some hot peanut dessert, hot sake, shishamo, salmon sashimi, grilled squid, assorted sushi, 1 beer
dump: once
saturday
B @ 11am: savoury spinach and potato pastry, mocha
L @ 3pm: caramel slice, mocha
D @ 8pm: homecooked porridge white baby clams, braised peanuts and canned dace with black beans
dump: once
sunday
B : nil
L @ 1pm: chicken paella, gelato, mocha
Tea break @ 3.30pm: tantan ramen, ocha
D @ 10.30pm: double boiled chicken soup
dump: once
dress from the vintage fair
I went to the Sydney Vintage Fair last weekend and sadly only managed to bring home one dress, unlike E who bought tonnes of stuff. I did not write about my adventures at the fair grounds as I only spent a short two hours there. I got discouraged as most of the clothes I liked either didn't fit or are too expensive. E did a complete write-up of the event in three separate blog entries that covered the trip there with her girlies, what they saw there and what she purchased - you can read them here.
This is a picture of me in the one and only dress I bought at the fair. I wore it with a vintage skinny white belt and my new white shoes. The dress is so comfy! I wish I can get a few more of such easy-to-wear-and-accessorise dresses.
more new shoes
A new colleague broke her shoes on Friday and asked me to bring her to the office's nearest shoe shop to get a cheap pair of shoes to tide her over the day. A quick trip to the Mascot shops ended up with 2 new pairs of shoes for myself and none for her.
I love this pair of white flats. It goes well with quite a number of dresses I got recently, so even though I found it a bit on the pricey side at $40, I bought it. I've already worn it twice this weekend with 2 of my vintage dresses.
As for the pair of black strappy 2.5inch heels below, it is not particularly great looking but at $25, I thought it affordable and makes for great work wear too. Now I just need to find an occasion or event at work to wear it to as I usually don't wear such high heels to work.
wah wah lounge
Photo taken from yourRestaurants website.
I've been to Wah Wah Lounge in Danks Street, Waterloo twice for lunch. It's just next to Fratelli Fresh and Sopra Cafe that I used to frequent.
The place didn't make much of an impression when I first went there with the Corporate Communications team for Danielle's farewell as it was quite a rushed meal since it was on a work day. However I do recall I had a smoothie drink that was refreshing and a pasta dish that was rather yummy. There are also snapshots of a colleague complaining about the number of flies just hanging around on the walls all around. Well, since it's an open concept cafe, I guess we cannot really help it that the flies are everywhere especially when approaching summer.
When I went again with KT on a rainy Sunday morning a month ago, I spent a good 2++ hours there just sipping coffee, reading magazines and enjoying a slow brunch. They forgot our orders and we had to chase up on them after an hour of waiting. The server was very apologetic and offered us free coffee and drinks to make up for his negligence. All in all, I left the place rather satisfied with my free coffee and my salmon dish. KT enjoyed his duck confit as well. We both enjoyed the lazy morning just people watching and wouldn't mind spending more weekends there. Danks Street seems to have a sudden influx of hippies and uhh.... other interesting people, great for people watching.
This reminds me: the 4th annual Danks Street Festival is on tomorrow 26 Oct. Check out what's on here. Looks interesting. I may just pop by to have a look see.
sculpture by the sea
"Sydney's 12th annual Sculpture by the Sea will transform the spectacular cliff top 2km Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk from 16 October - 2 November with over 100 sculptures from around the world."
Seeing how sunny it was this morning, I decided to head down to Bronte (Tamarama Beach) to take a look at the sculptures and get a bit of tan. I didn't manage to complete the coastal walk as it was too hot but I did take a short nap on the beach while sunbathing.
Just check out how crowded it was on the beach. Bondi was like 200x worse.
It's spring spring spring! Flowers are blooming everywhere! I love these little yellow flowers.
I saw a hat shop next to the Tamarama Beach Cafe and got distracted. I tried on a few hats and thought them quite cute.
Here are some of the sculptures I saw before I gave up walking and settled down on the beach for a nap instead.
I found the last scultpure of the man above quite scary. I also couldn't resist the urge to try to kiss its nipple but this is the closest I could get to it.
If the weather is good on Sunday as well, I don't mind heading back to have a look at the remaining sculptures and complete the coastal walk. The event is on until 2 Nov and is free admission so if you haven't been there yet, this could be something you can do on a warm sunny weekend. Ahh... the beach bumming days are back and I am loving the sun.
jigoku shoujo futakomori
This is the second season of Jigoku Shoujo. The stories are darker (I agree with tudi here). In this season, you see people abusing the Jigoku Tsuushin (Hell Correspondence Hotline). In more than 1 episode, we see kids taking revenge on members of their immediate family. The idea of sending your own parents or siblings to hell is unacceptable to me. I wonder what impact this anime has on young kids.
I enjoyed this season and thought it better than the first because this season finally offers glimpses into Enma Ai's three assistants' pasts and how they came into her service - Wanyuudou the grandfatherly figure, Hone-Onna the sexy seductive lady, and Ichimoku Ren the oh-so-boyish big brother (he's my favourite hehe). It's also less creepy than the previous season.
I don't understand Kikuri's (the irritating little girl with huge purple eyes) role in this series. She's a bit redundant, don't you think? And I totally didn't get the ending. Like huh? Can someone explain to me why Enma Ai did what she did and what Kikuri meant by "Ai's answer was exemplary"?
And halfway through watching, I was reminded of a question I had somewhere towards the end of season 1 that still isn't answered: the part when the reporter Shibata was brought to Enma Ai's house, her grandmother asked him to do something for her - what was it?
Anyways, there are many more questions to be answered. Hopefully we'll get them answered in Season 3: Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae (according to wiki, it started showing on Japanese TV just this month so I think it'll be some time before we get to stream it online eh?).
banking security?
Something incredibly unbelievable happened last week. Two cheques issued with the wrong signatories went through the banking system without a single question asked by anyone.
The bank did not question and the cheques were cleared. The person coordinating the signing of cheques who discovered afterwards that he got the wrong person to sign for the cheques didn't do anything to put a stop to the transactions before they were cleared by the bank. The person in charge of managing the account did not even stop to think that something wasn't quite right when he saw the unauthorised transactions reflected on the statement.
I, who had nothing whatsoever to do with this, had alarms going off in my head. Besides not being able to understand why nobody realised anything was amiss, I was also worried (very worried) by the fact that banks here allow transactions to go through without verifying the authorising signatories. A quick check with the bank subsequently showed that they apparently don't verify the signatures on every single cheque - I'm not sure how true that is though. I was told that they usually only do thorough checks for transactions above a certain amount.
In Singapore, even a cheque for $50 has to go through a signature matching and verification process before clearing. I once issued a cheque that bounced because my signature was inconsistent with what was shown on my records.
Not too long ago, someone somehow managed to put through multiple transactions amounting to quite a considerable sum of money on my credit card. At around that same time, a colleague's bank account was accessed by a complete stranger who managed to withdraw funds without authorisation. And now, the cheque incident. I don't feel secure here at all.
i booked myself on the A380
I have been saving my annual leave the whole year so that I can go home and spend more time with my family and friends over CNY. Today, I booked my flights. I will be arriving in Singapore on the A380 at 2150hrs on Friday, 23 Jan 2009 - just in time to help with my mum's last minute CNY shopping, the spring cleaning and CNY Eve reunion dinner preparations!
food diary: 13 - 19 oct
I kinda slipped into a mini depression towards the end of the week. I was irritable, anti social and edgy the whole weekend. I think it was extremely bad PMS + severe bouts of homesickness. I cooped myself up at home and had no mood to blog or do anything else, hence the lack of blog entries the entire week and you'll also see the blanks for friday through to sunday for my food diary below because I just didn't bother with it.
monday
B : nil
L @ 12.30pm: homecooked rice, chicken curry, 1 prata, and omelette with chinese sausages, 1 mocha
D @ 7pm: homecooked plain congee with dried scallops, canned spicy pork paste, canned dace fish, canned bamboo shoots
dump: once
tuesday
B : nil
L @ 12.30pm: homecooked fried noodles with crab sticks and chinese sausages, mocha
D @ 7.30pm: homecooked spaghetti with bacon, chilli and basil, creme caramel
dump: once
wednesday
B @ 9.30am: coffee and biscuits
L @ 12.30pm: stir fry sweet and sour pork with white rice, mocha
D @ 8.30pm: lamb skewer, flat noodles with chicken, onion pancake, hot chocolate
dump: nil
thursday
B @ 9.30am: mocha and cookies
L @ 1.30pm: salmon sushi roll, california sushi roll, cappuccino
Tea break @ 4.30pm: prawn sushi roll
D @ 8pm: pork chop, steamed pork, egg and white rice
dump: once
friday
B :
L :
D :
dump:
saturday
B :
L :
D :
dump:
sunday
B :
L :
D :
Supper :
dump:
food diary: 6 - 12 oct
There was this immense craving for some teochew porridge, the kind you have for supper with a few small dishes after clubbing at Geylang or Havelock Road. There was also a craving for roti prata and curry. Hence what you see below in the homecooked meals. That I even went to the extent of preparing chicken curry at home explains the intensity of the craving. Many have asked what's behind all these sudden craves I develop all the time. I guess I just miss SG food. Also, as you have probably observed over the weeks, this double boiling of herbal and nutritious soups has become quite a regular thing. I think the 궦čŗ (good for lungs) soup helps - I've stopped coughing now. Yay!
monday
B @ 9.30am: nil
L @ 1.30pm: 2 Reese's peanut butter cups, thai fried rice noodles, mocha
D @ 7pm: homecooked plain congee with dried scallops, canned spicy pork cubes, canned salted dace fish
Supper @ 9.30pm: double boiled soup - åå
Øå¤§č”„ę±¤
dump: once
tuesday
B @ 9.30am: nil
L @ 12.30pm: homecooked rice with braised pork rashers, hard boiled egg and chinese shitakes
D @ 7.30pm: homecooked beef ravioli with mushrooms and sweet corn in cream sauce
dump: nil
wednesday
B @ 9.30am: mocha
L @ 1pm: thai green curry with white rice, mocha
D @ 8.30pm: sichuan spicy cold noodles, wontons in spicy sauce, fried chicken bit, mouthfuls of mud cake with vanilla ice cream
dump: once
thursday
B @ 9.30am: mocha
L @ 1.30pm: thai red curry with white rice, mocha
D @ 8pm: chicken and prawn laksa, handfuls of roasted peanuts
dump: once
friday
B @ 10am: chocolate muffin
L @ 1pm: chicken rice with shredded beef, salt and pepper calamari, soya chicken and claypot tofu
D @ 9pm: tonkotsu ramen, soya sauce egg, spicy cod roe riceball
dump: once
saturday
B @ 11am: vietnamese chicken bread roll
L @ 4pm: homecooked porridge with dried scallops, canned dace with preserved vege, canned braised peanuts, canned beancurd
D @ 9pm: double boiled chicken soup
Supper @ 11pm: chocolate cake with ice cream, 1 beer, 1 glass of port
dump: nil
sunday
B : nil
L @ 12.30pm: aussie burger, cappuccino
D @ 6.30pm: homecooked chicken curry, prata and pappadums
Supper @ 10pm: double boiled soup - the good for lungs soup
dump: nil
rusty springs
I dunno how I could have missed blogging this. In my short few months' stint at Mangalore in Victoria for work earlier this year, I stayed for a week or two at this quaint little B&B called Rusty Springs. This rustic place is set in the rural town of Avenel and was built from scratch by owner Bob, a retired military man. It's a beautiful place where I spent many a relaxing evening after work enjoying a warm homecooked meal by Bob and Judi (Bob's wife) and listening to them tell stories of Ned Kelly by the fireplace. Bob and Judi's warm hospitality brings the whole B&B experience to another level. (And of course, there's Holly too.) Good things are meant to be shared with all so here are some photos and my best recollection of my time spent at Rusty Springs.
Rusty Springs is made up of two main structures.
Brewery Lane is a themed facility planned around a 1960s streetscape with an enclosed central gathering area. Along this lane are 14 small ensuite rooms, each being built to look like a shop or feature you may find while you walk along the main street of a town.
You could find yourself in the police lockup, the fire station, the general emporium or in Poppins Barber Shop - that was where I spent 2 nights in. The interior of each room is meticulously decorated to match the colour scheme of the 'shop'.
Even the key ring matches the Barber Shop - look, it's a pair of scissors!
My other favourites in Brewery Lane are the Bakery:
The Butcher and the Brothel: Patricia's Palace of Phylical Pleasures (Physical is spelt wrongly as they were short of an 's' during construction haha).
The Barn is a 2 storey, 2 bedroom barn styled cottage that is fully self contained.
All inside The Barn, you'll see Bob's collections: from Marilyn Monroe posters and red lingerie to anything Jaguar to memorabilia from Australia's farming and building history.
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Everything is so old fashioned, I just love it. The only thing I couldn't live with was the lack of internet connection. But at least that allowed me to tear myself away from the computer screen and appreciate the natural beauty surrounding the peaceful countryside.
If you happen to be touring the Victorian regions, do pay Bob and Judi a visit at Hovell Street in Avenel. They will make you feel so at home you won't mind staying a few more days there.
of stripes and heart shaped buttons
My new addition to the bedroom. Cute eh? I don't have the habit of wearing slippers inside the house, but when I saw this pair at Target, I just had to buy it. I thought, even if I end up not wearing them, I feel happy just seeing them around cos they're so cheery looking.
So I've started wearing them in the house. I dunno how long this is going to last before I chuck them in one corner.
chicken curry and pappadums
I had my virgin attempt at cooking chicken curry today. Unlike how my mum does it - stir frying the chicken with chilli powder, squeezing grated coconut for coconut milk and all the other complicated steps, I simply followed the simple 3-step instructions on the Prima Taste Singapore Curry box. I know, I know, I took the easy way out, but hey, it's still curry and it tastes great!
I got a few boxes of those easy-to-make instant pappadums to go with the curry too. Just pop them into the microwave for 30 seconds and you get them hot and crispy all ready to eat! I was so amazed by how easy it was to make pappadums at home and how readily available they are in the major supermarkets here. Here you see I've got the plain ones, the pepper flavoured ones and the chilli ones. Yumz!
we from the monkey family make great drummers
This is my current favourite tv commercial. I so like his guai lan face.
jigoku shoujo
Picture taken from funimation.com
I learnt about this anime, Jigoku Shoujo, from my tudi and decided to check it out because the story seems different from the usual stuff I watch.
There is a Hell Correspondence website where you can access at the stroke of midnight if you want revenge on someone. Enma Ai, the hell girl, will meet you once a request is submitted online. A straw doll with a red string round its neck is then passed to you. You make a covenant with Enma Ai when you pull the red string and the recipient of the revenge will be ferried straightaway to hell. Once the revenge is dealt, you will have to pay the compensation - you will go to hell when you die. Unable to go to heaven, you will be left to wander and suffer in hell for eternity. Enma Ai then leaves it to you to decide - will you pull the string?
Both BH and I feel that it's not worth going to hell for someone who deserves to. However, in many of the episodes, I can really understand the emotions the characters are going through for them to decide to pull the string. When your life and / or everything you have or that matters to you are put on the line, you don't have the time or luxury to analyse what the best course of action is. You just want justice. Immediately.
Having said that, in a few of the episodes, I feel that the 'crimes' committed are too petty to warrant the offender being sent to hell. There is even one episode where a nurse is sent to hell by a total stranger she had not done anything to. That is really very å¤ę, I feel.
Even though my tudi assured me that it's not the creepy-gives-you-nightmares type of anime, I got scared by the eerie background music a few times, especially when watching it alone in my room at night. I tried watching it on my laptop with the room lights off once and within seconds, the lights were back on again cos it was just too scary! The episode about the doll's soul wreaking havoc in the sanatorium totally freaked me out. It's embarrassing.
It's a thought provoking series and yes, tudi, the last episode made me tear really badly. Definitely worth spending my long weekend completing the series. Anyone interested can watch Season 1 here. I'm now on to Season 2!
food diary: 29 sep - 5 oct
Coles had this huge $3 for 3 chocolates promotion and I grabbed a handful of kit kat chunky bars. The cookies and cream ones are damn good!!! I am now only left with the Lindt chilli dark chocolate. I wonder if the promotion is still on? I don't mind grabbing more of the kit kats. And hey, I found Reese's peanut butter cups in a candy store in Kings Cross! They are soooooo good.
monday
B @ 9.30am: coffee with a few biscuits
L @ 1.30pm: prawn laksa, mocha
D @ 7pm: homecooked beef ravioli with mushrooms and celery in cream sauce
Supper @ 10.30pm: double boiled soup - almonds, sea coconut, pipa etc herbs supposedly good for the lungs
dump: twice
tuesday
B @ 9.30am: mocha
L @ 2pm: vietnamese beef noodles
Tea break @ 4.30pm: salad - 1 avocado, 1 tomato, 1 celery and 5 stuffed olives with mustard honey dressing
D @ 7.30pm: plain congee with braised beef brisket and fried large intestines
dump: nil
wednesday
B @ 9.30am: mocha
Tea break@ 11am: 1 kit kat chunky cookies and cream bar
L @ 1.30pm: chilli ramen
Tea break @ 4.30pm: 1 kit kat chunky caramel bar
D @ 7.30pm: homecooked spaghetti with scallops and mushrooms tossed in olive oil and basil, small chocolate fudge cake
dump: once
thursday
B @ 9.30am: coffee with a few biscuits
L @ 2pm: homecooked spaghetti with scallops and mushrooms tossed in olive oil and basil, mocha
D @ 7.30pm: half a beef burger, some chips and potato wedges
dump: once
friday
B @ 10am: a kit kat chunky bar
L @ 1pm: linguine with chilli prawn, tomatoes and rocket
D @ 9pm: assorted spanish tapas, 1 cocktail
dump: nil
saturday
B : nil
L @ 1.30pm: pan fried kingfish with a mango salsa sauce and cold japanese noodles, cappuccino
Tea break @ 4pm: 1.5 slice of toasted bread with apricots, dates and nuts spread with a spicy olive tapenade
D @ 7pm: double boiled soup (some sea coconut and almond soup thing that's supposedly good for the throat and lungs)
Supper @ 9.30pm: roti prata with egg, nasi lemak, mutton skewer
dump: nil
sunday
B : nil
L @ 2pm: 1.5 slice of toasted bread with apricots, dates and nuts spread with a spicy olive tapenade, double boiled soup
D @ 6.30pm: duck noodle soup, yoghurt, 1 pear
dump: once
subsolo
Photo taken from yourBars website
A colleague highly recommended I check out this fairly new spanish restaurant and bar in the city called Subsolo. According to him, the ambience is fantastic - his sister was the master designer for the interior lighting and he proposed to his newly married wife there, the food is good and it's not too expensive. The restaurant also won an award (I forgot what award) just 2 weeks ago. Since I promised Mr GS I'd buy him dinner after I get my bonus, I made a reservation for us this weekend.
"Subsolo is an amazing underground space with a 'Barcelona meets New York' style decor and an ambience to charm and indulge your senses. Subsolo offers a modern Spanish A’la Carte menu featuring a wide selection of Barcelona Tapas, delicious rustic Main Courses and mouth watering Portuguese Charcoal Grills – known as 'Espetadas'."
From the dinner menu, we had the following:
- Crumbed Meatballs with Melting Manchego Cheese centres in Romesco
- Ensalada a la EspaƱola Marinated Garlic Calamari & Sardines, Jamon, Salami, Grilled Chorizo, Garbanzos, Pimentos & Manchego Cheese
- Paella with Chicken, Chorizo & Seafood
From the drinks list, we had:
- Bello Fin: Homemade Lemoncello, Maraschino liquer and fresh lemon juice chilled with a ginger and lemon emulsion. Served straight up.
- Spanish Beer 1906 Reserva SP 6.5%: Deep golden colour with lots of caramel malt on the nose, subtle leafy hops with a broad chewy palate and touches of citrus.
For dessert, we shared a Hot Chocolate Pudding with Melting Chocolate centre and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.
My entire dining experience:
1. Food & drinks
The food is not fanastic. I've had better Spanish food elsewhere. The dessert was really quite disappointing. There was much anticipation for I specially saved some tummy space for the chocolate pudding but it just didn't wow me. However, the cocktail I had (Bello Fin) was delightful. Mr GS didn't quite enjoy his Spanish Beer, however he added by saying "Can't really say it's not good, it's just different, it has lots of caramel malt and I'm not used to its taste. I'll take a James Squire Golden Ale anytime though."
2. Ambience
The basement setting in a prestigious retail area gives it a very mysterious feel. When we first walked along King Street trying to locate the restaurant, we only saw the lighted sign 'Subsolo'. There was then a flight of stairs down from ground level leading into the restaurant. We couldn't take a peep beforehand to see how the place is like in case we wanted to change our minds. I'm not saying this just because my colleague's sister designed the lighting. But the moment we stepped into the restaurant, the decor just took my breath away. My initial suspicion of it being another dodgy basement place gave way to "wow check out the black chandeliers! wah see that red velvet drapes in that corner there!" and many other exclamations of surprise. I felt slightly relieved that I had kinda dressed up a bit (I wore a black long dress) or I would have felt so underdressed and out of place there.
3. Service
After the initial hiccup where we were seated at a long common table with 2 other groups of people although I made the reservation a week beforehand, I was ready to condemn the place for its lack of service. The long table was just next to the bar and was so noisy we couldn't even have a decent conversation without having to shout at each other. Very tak glam for me to shout across the table when I was in a feminine long dress mood, you know. But after the drinks arrived, we were moved to a proper table in the sit-down dining area. The service from that point on was impeccable. One lesson learnt here: if you intend to make a reservation, do specify you want a private table, not a seat at the common table.
4. Cost
When I promised Mr GS a treat, I stated my condition: total bill capped at $80 for dinner and Mr GS will have to bear the cost of drinks afterwards (I'm stingy haha). The actual bill came up to $107. The average cost of a tapas is $15 and $22 for a main. Fairly reasonable, I feel. (Without the drinks, we would have been close to our pre-set $80 limit) I would gladly pay this amount for the entire dining experience even though the food may not be as good as I expected.
If you'd like to check out this modern tapas place too, it's located at 161 King Street in the city. For reservations, call 9223 7000.
torn lens
I did not realise I am down to my last pair of contact lenses. I accidentally tore the side of my right lens and it now irritates my eye so much I can't wear it for long hours. So I went to search high and low for the particular brand and type of contacts I wear. This was the response I got in almost all the optical shops I stepped into:
"Sorry, we can't sell them to you over the counter. You will need a prescription. This is to safeguard us in case of any legal issues that may arise. You can either provide us with a valid prescription or we can arrange for you to take an eye test and do a proper fitting session that will take around 45min and will cost you about $50. However, we are fully booked this week but I can schedule you in for next week."
Firstly, I already know the degree of my shortsightedness and the curvature of the lenses I wear. I even showed them the box of my old lenses where all the specs are clearly stated. So of course I am not willing to pay extra $ for an eye test and fitting session.
Secondly, I am not a local nor am I staying here permanently. My prescription is stored somewhere with an optometrist back home in SG. I can't even remember guy's name or the shop contact details so how the hell am I going to contact them to send my prescription over? Even if I manage to somehow get someone to send something over, I'm sure it will not be recognised as a valid prescription because it's not from a local optometrist.
Thirdly, ok if I really have to do the eye test, then fine I'll pay the $50. But how the hell am I going to survive the next one week with a torn right lens (I sure am not wearing my ugly specs out) until a slot is available for me to do the test?
So I persevered and went to try my luck at other shops. Finally I found one willing to take my empty lens box as proof that I have been prescribed with these lenses and sell me the lenses with the same specs without me having to go through all the eye test and fitting shit. BUT. There always has to be a BUT huh. They don't carry the stock in the shop. They will have to place an order which will take a few business days to arrive - which is next week.
So I still have to wait til next week. But at least I don't have to pay that extra $50. And oh by the way, in case you don't already know, the lenses cost is double what I can get in SG. I hate Australia. Why do they have to make everything so difficult (and expensive) here?
my first long dress
This is the first time I've worn a long dress out. I never wore long dresses because I somehow convinced myself I look old in them. But hey, I think I look alright in this one. Hor hor hor?
roses are red
Ananya has been on my favourite etsy seller list for a long time now (although I've never bought anything from her), but I have not visited her 'shop' for several months until recently when Eliss bought a dress from her - check out the clueless diva in her new shopie dress.
Ananya makes such lovely dresses. After browsing for a while, I added 4 items in her 'shop' to my favourites list and ended up buying 2 of them.
Now I need to find shoes to go with them. Arrgghhh....
lotsa polka dots
I just bought this retro colourful dots pattern chiffon top at etsy from CeiCeistudio. It's so pretty and is only USD12.99. However, the seller is currently on vacation and she'll only get to ship the item on 8 Oct the earliest. Can't wait for the package to arrive.
In the meantime, I'm awaiting reply from TamarasBoutique if she can extend the length of this dress by a few inches. At only 26" long, it's really a bit too short for me. If it can't be lengthened, then I'll have to struggle to come to a decision - to buy or not to buy? - cos I really like it a lot.
Hey! It's spring! Time for some splashes of colours!
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