Food – Page 6 – KEEP CALM AND READ ON

September 13, 2011

NYC – Day 3

September 5

Woke up super early hoping to get into a morning show Live with Regis and Kelly We watched R&R every morning and thought that it will be fun to see them live. Travelled to the studio to only realised that they don’t do any filming on Labour Day (US holiday) Oh well… we were disappointed so we snapped some pictures of the surroundings ( They have a nice wall deco at this subway station)

Then we headed to somewhere nice for breakfast – Penelope Love the website – it has a classic rustic feel just like the resturant itself.

Food was reasonably priced considering that the serving was HUGE ( to me) and the set included Mimosa, which is a Champagne cocktail. haha… so it’s the first time I have Champagne for breakfast… what a luxury!

Then we cannot control ourselves and went… SHOPPING?!!

Finally visited the Kardashian’s store DASH. I didn’t see of them in the store.. neither did I buy anything.. it’s just too expensive.. :X

We went up to Top Of the Rock for the view…It was a pretty sight.. we were supposed to see sunset BUT it was too cloudy? A sign of rainy days ahead…

Met up with Keying and Zim for dinner at Inakaya for dinner. We finally get to try the NY resturant week menu… It was a great experience as they made mochi on the spot.. very authentic Japanese resturant. Too bad.. our camera is out of batt.. no pictures 🙁

September 13, 2011

NYC – Day 1

One thing that BH and I love is travelling. haha.. whether we like travelling with each other or not… that’s another story. Haha… ever since I am on NPL, we or rather I make it a point to plan our vacations early so that we can take advantage of the early bird deals. For our NYC trip, AA (American Airlines) sent BH a voucher for BOGO air tix to any of the 50 states in US. There are many places we could go… BUT we thought that since we have this voucher, going to NYC mks the most sense (more value for money). We booked the tix and the fare came up to be about US$350 RT per person , w/o any transit in between.

3 September

We set off *NOT TOO EARLY* We realised that we kinda calculated the time wrongly… so we rushed to the airport. More haste, less speed. We took the wrong freeway and needed to detour. Trying to keep calm… we managed to reached the airport just in time. phew… we even had time to buy breakfast, just that no time to eat.

Flight to JFK took about 5hrs… From the plane, we can already see that NYC is filled with a whole lot of skyscrappers… very urbanised.. kinda like SG?

Reached the airport and took the train to our hotel. It was easy to find and relatively near the subway. We stayed at Four Points Sherton Midtown Times Square BH managed to get us 5 nights for FREE by redeeming his points. The hotel was very clean and nice. Just that the toilet design wasn’t that good – I feel that their shower area needed a curb to stop water from flowing out when showering. Shan’t complain much since it’s free. haha…

Without much ado, we put down our barang and headed out for dinner at Taboon Initially, BH planned for seafood dinner BUT due to my infection, I got to stay off seafood for a while. Sob… well.. I like Mediterranean food too 🙂 It was a hearty dinner (NOT the best) BUT we were disapted that they don’t have the New York Resturant Week menu on a Saturday

After dinner, we head to Times Square. OMG! It’s very crowded and touristy

Then we ended our day.. haha.. too tired from the early morning’s flight and trying to get used to the time difference

I know.. the first day isn’t too exciting… haha.. it will get better.. really 😀

August 22, 2011

Less than perfect weekend?

haha.. nah.. don’t get it wrong.. my weekend had been quite fruitful and fun. It was nice to finally get into the momentum of things, doing things we like. The weather had been awesome, it was very sunny BUT not humid. I am also glad that after 1.5 weeks and lots of exercise, we finally snap out of the ‘jetlag’ 🙂 phew!

The thing about me is I like to wake up bright and early so that we won’t waste the day! So on saturday, BH and I woke up at 7 then drove to a nearby park for tennis. oh.. did i just typed tennis? haha… I rem how BH, YM and I played tennis at NUS. man… I was such a bad tennis player then ( good ball picker though!) and I’m….. still as bad at tennis now! haha.. so I guess Tennis to me should NOT be called ‘Tennis’ .. it’s a ‘pick up balls’ sport. BH said tt playing tennis with me is like playing fetch with a dog! Boo!!! After 1 hour of pick up balls, we decided to play basketball which BH commented that I’m definitely better at.. hahaha.. at least I can ‘hamtum’ shoot some hoops! heh…

as though we were Energizer bunnies, we went to Costco to buy peaches. Heavenly peaches! I love summer… for PEACHES!!! 😀 Came home finally and BH cooked instant noodles for me.. haha.. which taste great! Looks like his INSTANT NOODLES cooking skills improved after 2.5 mths of training! haha… After the food, we went to Redmond Farmers’ Market which is a short walk away! I LOVE farmer’s market!!!! I seriously think that Redmond’s Farmers’ Market is one of the best!!!! 🙂 Bought veges there, love the fresh organic vege… more ex BUT healthy and FARM FRESH! I bought fresh flowers too!!!

Now our home smells like fresh flowers… reminds me of the flowers on our wedding day… smells so good…

No… that’s not the end of our sat. , 2 of our Singapore friends are going home for good 🙁 so we sent them to the airport. It’s sad to see friends leave.. oh well… till we meet again!

On sunday, I was tired from the previous day’s activities.. haha.. I slept in till 9am ( still early but considered late for me) Got BH to sell his rubbish on craigslist. Just as I wanted to sell my kindle ( which I raved about.. we decided that the one with special offers is better… there’s a promo code of 50% off groceries!!!) I realised that the bloody 3G is NOT working! Really sad…called customer service… he tried to troubleshoot BUT it just isn’ working.. in the end, he offered to replace.. even better 😀 Waiting for the new one to arrive

BH did his monthly hsework, change bedsheet! wah.. he’s really good at it man! Fast and neat!! 😀 I think he mks a good Chambermaid! hahaha… so blessed tt BH naturally know how to do 1 household chore PERFECTLY!

Then we learnt of a deal at Sports Authority , so we went to buy matching shoes!

Not sure how much these shoes cost in SG, it cost US$99 each BUT we did our maths and were confident that each pair will cost US$35 (before tax) if the deal is right. However, we did 1 deal wrongly, so shoes cost US$55 each. I was super disapted.. the shoes were love at first sight!!! 🙁 haha.. so we are still thinking if we shld keep these shoes or nt… hehe

Ended our night at Matador – One of our fave place to chill out because the Happy Hours ( 4-6pm) are super worth it! and.. it’s so walkable to our home, so we can drink all the alcohol we want! hahaha…

You know what? what I have now… it’s perfect… don’t think anything can replace this..

July 6, 2011

Happy day!

Phew.. after so many upset entries.. time for a happy one! I’m just glad that the major works are over!! Today, the 2 biggest (imo) problems are rectified!

1) Managed to get the lights company to fix my 1 kitchen light! Turns out that the bulb fused… I was extremely glad with their willingness to provide after service! THUMBS UP for BRIGHT HOUSE LIGHTING!

2) Door laminate pasted (Another story will update soon) *nearly had a heart attack when the worker carried the door and knock against my hanging light!!!!! gasp.. heng ah… didn’t crack or break.. and it still works.. thank God!*

[SIDETRACK]
I THINK I HAVE THE BEST MUM – really… she helped me with the cleaning of the dusty place!! I can nv thank her enough 🙂 as though she was super woman.. she came home and cooked delicious chilli crabs!! I am so touched!!!

What’s left?
-waiting for furniture ( not much) to come in
-hoping that a washer will drop from the sky ( yes.. i haven’t bought it yet.. due to WWS)
-BH to come home and do more shopping of other household stuff ( spending money is not my kind of thing.. I think BH will enjoy shopping more than me)

April 19, 2011

Review: The Pink Door

It’s the last week of Seattle Resturant week. I planned for us to check out The Pink Door
According to Yelp and many other websites, this place is VERY VERY good… so since we are downtown for the EMP, we might as well check this out. We wanted to go for Sunday lunch BUT they are not opened for lunch, so we went for Sunday dinner instead.

We had a hard time looking for this place.. as there were NO signboard.
THIS IS THE DOOR! We walked past this spot countless times and we didn’t notice that it’s THE PINK DOOR. haha….

The resturant had great ambience … nice.. esp that vase of ‘FAT’ XL tulips

We were greeted by our cheerful server who patiently explained the specials for the night ( Grilled swordfish and Whole Rockfish).

BH ordered the Rockfish while I ordered the Seattle resturant week specials ( 3 courses for $28)

While waiting for our food….we took some pictures… haha
.

Our server bought us bread while waiting… well, the bread is cold and hard like rock… they shld heat up the bread then serve it…

My 1st course: Sautee Calamari ( Very nice… v soft… tasted like fish cake!!)

My 2nd course: Cioppino Pink Door ( This is like a italian seafood stew. It contains clams, mussels, fish and prawns. Very tasty.. yummy!)

BH’s entree: ‘Brazino style’ Rockfish ( Fresh w/o fishy smell)

Last but not least… Dessert… Shards of love ( Biscuits-like crackers on sweet sauce, i like it!!)

The highlight of dinner was THE TRAPEZE LADY! we were quite fortunate to get a table right smack in the centre of her ‘stage’ 😀 It was a pleasant surprise as I reserved this place not knowing that they have such entertainment!

The performance lasted for about 15mins BUT it was good! At least there’s some kind of other entertainment than BH and I talking rubbish to each other… hahaha…

Total damage: $80 with 20% tips ( 3 course specials + 1 whole fish+ 1 cocktail + Trapeze lady)

Quite reasonable for the price for dinner as compared to Purple 🙂 Hope to come back again

A picture of us to rem the date

pink door (1) — A picture of The Pink Door and ME.. lest I forget

April 12, 2011

Review: McCormick & Schmicks Seafood Restaurant

It’s Seattle Resturant week again!

Initially, I made reservations for Barrio – it’s kinda like a mexican american fusion resturant which is under the same company as Purple. However, both of us don’t feel like Mexican food so we cancelled the reservations and went to McCormick@Bellevue instead

When I see McCormick, my instant thought is the spices in the supermarket! I mean the range of spices they have are not cheap, so I thought that the food is going to be super pricy! Luckily there’s Seattle Resturant week! We are able to dine at this resturant for less!! and just when we think that the 3 course lunch for $15 is very affordable… we managed to buy the resturant’s $100 gift card at $80 at Costco! 😀

We made reservations and went to the resturant slightly earlier. We were greeted by our server with a FREE BLUEBERRY CAKE! usually, these resturants will serve bread BUT they serve us cake! Happy Surprise #1! (Yes… there’s MORE)The server added that it’s a sunday special! anyhow, the blueberry cake is super nice… I was kinda 1/2 full from eating it… haha…

We ordered food shortly. BH ordered the 3 course for $15 specials while I ordered Crab Cake Benedict ( I don’t think that I can eat 3 courses.. erm… after the cake)

BH’s appetiter came. It was Mussels in Thai curry sauce. The server and his supervisor brought 2 plates of the mussels! ( we only ordered 1) Happy surprise #2!! The supervisor explained that they made a mistake and prepared more, they didn’t want to waste food so I have a plate of mussels too! yums! That was a perfect mistake… because the mussels was SUPER NICE!!!!! keke… From this incident, i also learn that they only prepare the food when customers order – they don’t prepare beforehand and heat it up to serve!

No joke… after the mussels, i was 3/4 full…. then came the entrees

After 1 benedict… I was too full to go on… BH thinks i’m a very lousy eater

Last but not least… the dessert – Creme Brulee

We felt that the dessert was alright only… we tasted better Creme Brulee

When the bill came… it was happy surprise #3! we thought we had a whole lot of good quality seafood.. and the price was very affordable ( taking a/c of our giftcard deal)

Total damage: $40 ( with 20+% tips – gave more tips because of the mussels)

Overall: Recommended to go for seafood and when you have the giftcard ( from costco)

[Edit]
Bought nice flowers from Trader Joe’s during grocery shopping! Nice end to the weekend!

April 4, 2011

It’s 9 years!

Shortly after our birthdays, it’s our 9 years anniversary! haha..It’s amazing how time flies.. I mean.. i don’t even think that BH and I will go this far… BUT we did!! 😀 ok… I still rem the times I felt soooooooooo embarassed that I had such a ‘useless’ boyfriend.. who have NOTHING NOTHING at all and is as poor ( or even poorer than) as a church mice.. glad we are past that phrase… and how I persevered and believed..

anyhow, we didn’t celebrate…in fact, we went grocery shopping and bought some new ingredients because I wanted to cook NEW things.. haha… so on sunday, I cooked while BH played games!!!

Sneak peak of my yummy food – can you guess what I cooked? haha…

I promised I will update my food blog with recipes soon… I had been cooking.. taking pictures BUT not updating it 🙁 Heh..I deliberately made the above FOOD extra spicy to ‘punish’ BH for ‘enjoying himself’ as I worked in the kitchen… In the end, he finished the food and had a tummyache! I was DELIGHTED.. haha.. think I’m a sadist!

Because I’m back to the ‘FREE’ me again… it’s time to catch up with things I love doing… 🙂

I was in the mood for Scrapbooking – yes, I am still working on our wedding photos…

On friday, I spent the whole afternoon scrapbooking… then I realised that I had no time to prepare dinner. Heng ah.. found a FREE pizza code and ordered pizza and buffalo wings for dinner.. Invited WQ over to help eat the pizza… heh.. and it was all gone in a spilt second! v good… I don’t like leftovers!

AND… my BABY-G reached me on saturday, on our 9 years anniversary!! yay!!! 😀
Super happy! I know it’s just a watch but to me it was like a childhood dream came true! ok… so now.. i feel so KE$HA!! (Changed my mixpod music for the effect!) wahaha

Happy weekend! 🙂 Hope u had a good one too!

March 31, 2011

FANTASTIC home-cook meal

Last night, BH and I went for a dinner party hosted by Jo and Dave 🙂 Well, Jo is Sam’s friend and we met Dave ( Jo’s hubby) at Sam’s place during potluck night. Jo just came back from her trip home and bought back delicious food…… PETAI = Stinky beans!!! OMG!!! I mean… stinky beans is my fave!!! Sam was really sweet and invited BH and I on behalf of Jo to join them for dinner… wah… I love it!! Cozy dinner… random chit-chat… and of course.. it’s amazing how all married couples have the same complains… like ahem… ‘men dirtying the toilet bowl!’ hahahaha

yup… BH told me that he’s busy for the week.. so I was kinda prepared to say NO to the delicious food… BUT it turns out that BH was onz about it too!!! Happy happy!!!

We had Bak Kut Teh, Sambal Petai and Egg tofu… It was certainly the MOST YUMMY home-cooked meal I have ever had here ( The best is and will always be my mum’s cooking..) Jo also baked a delicious cake for dessert!! My skill is sooooooooooo not there can! kekeke…. but I’ll try to host a dinner party soon… 😀

and… we took pictures… but it’s with Sam… I’ll update this post if I can get pictures from her

Happy mid-week!

March 30, 2011

The BIG ‘3’

3 days after my 27.. comes BH’s Big ‘3’! haha.. oh well.. we did nothing special.. just went to Seattle downtown and walked around.. BH made a good deal at Macys, scoring a cool pair of Levis at $9.99 and a stylo shirt at $6? wah… I bought 2 Gap tops at $15 as it was on BOGO. Gap tops make good working clothes ya know…

Above all, I gave BH his bday gift – a CK belt! and…. my bday gift is still NOT HERE!! so…apparently, it’s kinda lost in transit??!!! I mean.. we had purchased numerous items from Amazon.. and it’s the first time this had happened.. sob 🙁 looks like i’m not fated to be own a Baby G. Fortunately, amazon agree to give us a refund if we still don’t get it by coming monday

We also went to the Nordstrom at downtown Seattle to look at Chanel bags.. haha… the SAs were not friendly at all.. I hate SA that talk among themselves while they are assisting you.. geez… It feels that you are not a valued customer. IF I am mking a HUGE purchase, I would spend money feeling happy and well taken care of… anyway, we left the store getting NOTHING?! heh..

After shopping, we had dinner at The Olive and Grape
I love Mediterranean food… so when there’s a livingsocial deal on it, we jumped on the chance immediately! Finally, we kept the coupon to a special occasion and used it… well… the Lamb Kebabs ( looks like Satay) was quite nice… the meatballs were nice too… however, the entree was only ok… we ordered grilled fish.. I was expecting the fish to be more flavorful but there was little aroma of spices and herbs. The only saving grace was the fish was fresh.. at least there’s no fishy smell

Actually, I wasn’t even full after dinner.. I wanted to order more BUT the food isn’t even up to standard.. so we just left.. Now I miss Panos Kleftiko Greek Taverna We went there some time back and the food was super!

——————

On Sunday, Yilun treated us birthday peeps ( all 3!! BH and WQ bday on 26, while mine is 23) to dimsum brunch.. then we watched Rango together… eeks… v disapting!

After which, BH bought me to Neiman Marcus Chanel store again.. hahaha.. it was as though he wanted to redeem his ‘sins’ I saw the bag/wallet I wanted!!! wah… the SA was super nice – she kept taking out the bags to let me see/touch/hold and try… even checked out her system for different colours and styles I might be interested in… BH was super nice… he was like asking for new pieces and all… it wasn’t cheap.. but touched my heart that he was super serious at getting the item for me… 🙂 Ok.. so I did a silly thing… I stopped him in the nick of time and pulled him out of the shop.. nah… I don’t need no Chanel….

After which, we went to Purple for dinner.. haha.. like FINALLY

BH and I decided to splurge and bought a bottle of wine to go with our dinner..on sunday wine was on special: 1/2 price for a bottle. Bh’s entree was fried rabbit!! boo.. it tasted like chicken! Just felt abit cruel eating rabbit.. so I had pasta instead. The food was ok… but the ambience was good.. Hope to dine here again in near future.

That’s how we spent Bh’s birthday weekend… it was fun… and that’s when I realised that 30岁的男人非常有魅力:)

March 10, 2011

Escape to Vancouver, BC

The weather in Redmond or rather WA had been quite weird. It cld rain, hail, snow and become sunny all in 1 day. Just last week, I was trapped in a hail! Boo… no fun… it hurts so badly that I thought my whole face was bleeding… wah… the wind.. so so chilly & strong…I thought i cld b blown me away… scary weather…

anyhow.. as part of Alvin’s last 2nd week over here, we made a road trip to Vancouver. It’s about 2.5 hrs drive. The weather that weekend was super!

DSCF8327 — BH and I at Vancouver customs

At Vancouver, we met up with 2 more Singaporeans for dim sum.. I think that’s the BIGGEST group of Singaporeans we have ever been with by date!

197682_10150198472744972_553714971_9005212_6915768_n — Thanks Alvin for the pic! haha... think the most excited pple in the pic r BH and me? 😀

Sight-seeing at Stanley Park.. a nice pic of us 🙂 so nice that I made it into a fridge magnet – oh well… just for in case I need to go back to teach.. I can put the magnet at my workplace 🙁

Ransacked BH’s camera and spotted a nice pic of me and my sophia

Then we went sightseeing at English Bay.. WQ took a candid photo of us.. haha…quite cool I would say

183168_10150198477549972_553714971_9005333_6847785_n

Had sashimi at Sumurai Sushi Sashimi were generously HUGE, fresh and cheap! I felt like a polar bear after the meal.. haha

After a ‘polar bear’ dinner, we headed home…. and I spotted this….

DSCF8338 — Don't play play.... STEVE NASH fittness centre!

It’s sad that after u made friends.. u realised that your friends are going home 1 by 1 .. and the next person is gonna be me…

That’s all… I’m kinda nursing a cold now… my nose feels funny… had some Dayquil – supposed to be non-drowsy.. but I feel light headed 🙁