Littered with Books

  I still remember how excited I was the first time I set foot in this little, gorgeous bookstore. Littered with Books embodies what a cozy bookstore should look like.

Well, I guess I should thank a local TV programme that covers small yet beautiful stores in Singapore. When they aired one episode about a small cake shop owned by a Japanese chef, I made note to visit the shop. And God be good. Just there across the street from the pastry shop, among the quiet neighborhood, stood the cutest bookstore I’ve ever laid my eyes on, in real life.

It is charming and inviting with an ever-so-lovely white colonial windows lined the wall of its two-storey house. The owner must be a real book lover and they paid so much attention in the store decoration as well. Every little detail seemed to add a nice touch to the overall vibe. The placement of sofa, table, books on display… ohhh bottom line is, I adore this little bookstore. Small haven for you who get sick of shopping malls!!!

Note: All photos courtesy of “GreatNewPlaces”

Company Trip: Bangkok Day 1

.: September 09, 2011, Friday :.

Gyaa… I missed the flight! O.M.G! I was supposed to meet my other two colleagues at Changi airport at 6 AM and guess what, I woke up at 7 AM. The flight to Bangkok was scheduled to take off at 7:40.

Okay, so here’s a bit of story behind. Our boss, being so kind and generous, arranged a company trip to Bangkok for 3D2N, return air tickets and hotel rooms paid by company. Supposed to leave Singapore on Friday morning, the majority of my colleagues decided to go there on Thursday night after work, leaving me and the other two stayed on schedule. So only three of us on a Friday morning flight, which in the end, only two really got on the plane.

You really got no idea how horrified I was. I woke up and looked at the clock and was stunned. I couldn’t believe I woke up at 7 and even if I was to grab my luggage and head to airport in my pajamas, I could never make it, geez, the damn flight was at 7:40 AM!! And on top of that, I felt really sorry for bf, he was waiting outside since 5 o’clock, trying to call me with no result *my phone was switched off automatically every night*. By the time I panicky called him from my room, he was still standing outside *sobs*. Man, if I was him, I already left and tried calling from my home.

I almost decided not to leave but I thought about all expenses paid by my boss were about to waste, I felt bad and finally waiting at the airport for the Thai airways counter to open at 9:30 AM, trying to get myself on the next flight to Bangkok even if I had to pay for the ticket myself. Well, they did put me on standby and I was told to wait until 12 PM to see if I got the seat or not. It was excruciating to wait for 2 hours and not knowing. Every time I asked the staff, they brushed me off.

Finally, the moment of truth. They called my name and gave me a boarding pass without me paying a single cent. Lucky my company bought a commercial air ticket.

In Bangkok, after checked in to Baiyoke Sky Hotel, I had the time for myself until dinner time, so I got my nails done in gel overlay, they say it can last for two months. Let’s see…

Star Virgo: Redang Island Day 2

.: September 01, 2011, Thursday :.

We arrived at Pulau Redang and decided not to take any excursion and boy… I was glad we didn’t. The weather was just killer, hot, hot, hot. We stepped out of the ship anyway and hit the beach, sat in front of the pub overlooking the beach. We waited and waited for the sun to be a little bit tolerated, but it didn’t happen so in the end we just decided to go back to ship. It was an okay day overall, enjoying banana fritters while watching a local band performing “Waka Waka” dance with tourists.

Star Virgo: Redang Island Day 1

.: August 31, 2011, Wednesday :.

Phew. I never thought I could make it on time. I was prepared to burn the travel voucher just like last time. Everything began few months ago when we got this awesome good deal on Star Virgo Cruise. Well, just like anything else without proper planning especially on a company leave wise, it was destined to be doomed. I had one good example before, I bought a trip to Batam, since I never been there before, and on the day itself, I couldn’t get a work leave, hence the first doom. Had to close one eye and tried not to think the money left wasted *sob*. 

Almost like the first one, I knew days before that I had a small chance of going. Geez, so damn busy at office for that whole week. You never know how I mentally schemed the situation to figure out a loop hole and came up with explanation so I could go, but no matter what it was like there wasn’t any hole for me to escape. Many meetings I couldn’t ditch out coz they’ll affect my future haha. Luckily, all meetings finished on-time which was a miracle, coz like, never before in our company a meeting finished on a scheduled time! So I quickly hopped on a cab at 6 PM and rushed to Harbourfront Centre. The check in counter would be closed at 6:30 and the gate will be closed at 7 PM. By the time I reached there, bf already waiting at the counter and no one else was queuing. I made it.

After checked in, we found ourselves in a very long queue with lots of Indians and  mainland Chinese pressed against us. Gosh, I don’t know why they like to stand very close to each other and basically people queuing in front of them! It’s not like the queue will move by them doing so!! Anyway, after a grueling 45 minutes or so, we stepped on the cruise. After taking photos, the first thing we did: EAT. We had an international buffet at Mediterranean Restaurant. After that, we roamed about the huge ship; library *ooh the room was so pretty*, slot machines room, and my fave of all was Observatory area. It was a sitting place next to a floor-to-ceiling window. You can just sit there and look out to the sea, sipping a hot chocolate milk, reading book. My definition of relax, indeed.

Tulle or Ruffle?

.: August 09, 2011, Tuesday :.

It was Singapore's National Day and we had one day off, so I decided to pick my wedding gown. Weeks before, me and bf accidentally came accross this bridal fair at Raffles and we took home some of the brochures. Among those, one brochure with fabulous choices of gowns and I made a mental note to visit the salon.

We picked mum at the airport at 2 PM and straight away went to this bridal salon. It was located in a street lined with many other bridal salons, like, the whole area was full of wedding thingy. Heck, I was tempted to hop from one salon to the other, they displayed soo many gorgeous gowns with lots of varieties in style, you name it they have it. Anyway, I did stick to the plan, though, I had no choice that's why. Few days ago, on Sunday, we already paid the booking fee to secure the package *me being too panicky*. Ah well. 

Then, what happened in the next 2 hours was hectic. Bf was sitting outside the fitting room and playing games since I forbid him to take even a single peek, me standing amidst the gowns that filled the whole fitting room floor, a very kind consultant picked several gowns from the rack that she thought I might like, mum pushed her way into one huge closet full of premium gowns *that's what they call them* and picked gowns for me ONLY from that closet. Well, mum came up with a theory that the assigned consultant tried to make us pick only from the general rack not from the premium range which was irritating to think, coz we paid for the premium range. But I gotta give credit to her, a super patient lady who kept smiling despite my rejection to basically every single gown she offered me haha. She had to bring that heavy gown to me, helped me change, gave a comment, helped me out of the dress, only to hear that I didn't like it :p

It never occured to me that it would be hard to choose a wedding dress, I wish I could have more than one dress so I got to change every hour or so :p

In the end, I got what I wanted and mum got what she wanted me to have, ie. a dress from the "premium" closet ^o^

It's Official Now

.: July 09, 2011 :.

At first we didn't even plan to have a  婚約 party, but grandma said we had to follow tradition and there it was, on Saturday, July 09th, 2011 my extended families crammed into our relatively small living room to exchange gifts, have lunch and a photo shoot. Photo shoot? Uh yeah! That also one of the form of love shown by my uncle haha 

So basically, mum's family is a photographer family, started from grandma who was an event photographer herself. Following in her footsteps are my mum's two younger brothers. And, determined to capture this special event, mum's youngest brother brought along his photography gears, complete with the lighting stuff, mind you. And there in a very living room, he set up a mini studio photo for us haha... arigatou Ku :p  

Well, the session didn't end there in my house, we continued to have dinner at the W Hotel. Photos shown here are courtesy of my very beloved cousin, Nitha. Thanks girl :p

  



Gattopardo Night

.: June 25th, 20011, Saturday :.

I didn't expect the paintball could be that much fun! Sadly, my team was placed a runner up and the shopping voucher only given to the winning team! *bah* We wrapped up the game at around 2 PM and I reached home, took a much needed shower, and headed to the hospital for ma to do her check-up.

I felt so devastated as always whenever I was in hospital, the tought of a delicious, hearty dinner at Gattopardo we would be having later on that night was the only thing that cheered me up haha.

Gattopardo is our fave Italian restaurant run by an Italian chef specialized in Sicilian cuisine. I first found out this restaurant from my colleague who is very much into life style and dining experience. I needed help in finding a restaurant for bf birthday, and this colleague of mine was the first who came into my mind :p Thanks a lot, mate!

Anywhooo... here are the pics taken at full speed, given we were in an almost full house Italian restaurant and taking photos was err... a bit of a no-no. The head chef, Chef Lino himself, came out and talked to us for a while, aaah too bad I didn't dare to ask him if he wouldn't mind taking a pic with us :p

Folded Pizza... oohh this baby was pure delish.

With a buffalo cheese, wild mushrooms and smoked ham stuffing.

The famous Squid Ink Spaghetti with Crab.



And many more... we ate a lot haha

Company Outing: Paintball

Oh man , somehow I feel a bit worry about this... I just brace and prepare myself for the worst, bruises and paint smeared all over my clothes. It'd better be fun, this activity

Anna Karenina

Phew... At last! After spending almost everyday reading Anna Karenina for the last one month plus, finally I turned the last page yesterday. This Leo Tolstoy's novel... oh, what a joy I had in reading it, such a truly great work of art from the Russian writer.

I came to know this novel and its author since my early age, that was almost the same time when I knew about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and yet I couldn't be bothered to read it, what a shame! If only I'd known then the beauty and insight I could get... Well, thanks to The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks that really "sparked" my curiousity, because I love The Last Song *made me cry * and I wanted to know what was in Anna Karenina that made Nicholas Sparks put it in the book. That and also the thickness of the novel haha. I love reading great and thick novel and Anna Karenina has more than 800 pages.

It was a bit daunting at first, didn't know what to expect and actually prepared myself to some disappointment along the way, you know the things with really really absurdly good author from ancient time such as Charles Dickens and Shakespeare, they were arranging the words in a way that makes you scratching your head in an attempt to find the meaning. Well, not in Tolstoy's case. Don't get me wrong, mind you, I had to reread the sentences a couple of time to get them right, especially when the characters start the discussion about Russian politic and agriculture, but to my own amazement, I didn't feel bored at all and kept turning those pages!

So the story is about a tragic love story between a so-called brave and rebellious Anna and Vronsky. In their time, everything was about the society, if you go against them, you are like an outcast and it is humiliating to the point of depression. And what Anna did was against society, to openly leave her husband and lived with Vronsky without any marriage status. But sadly, in the end she gave in to her jealousy and despair and commited suicide.

Together with Anna, there is one more central character, Levin, he is the very opposite of Anna. And Tolstoy I think, often channeled his own ideas and view of Russian society and politic through him. I like this Levin character from the start because I think he is honest and open and say whatever he feels without much consideration of what people might think of him later on or might even ridicule him. I say it's pretty cool, like not going with the flow if that's not what we really are.

Anna dared to oppose the society just like Levin, but in the end she lost to herself. Levin, on the other hand, through events of his life, he managed to find the true meaning of why he lived, which was to live righteously in the eye of God and men.

My number one book that shifted Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns to number two

Dress hunting

.: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 :.

Well, weeks before my mom called to tell me to buy a dress, something in red hue. I was like, "can i wear my black dress so i don't have to buy again?" and I got scolded in return

And so my dress hunting began. It was so hard finding a dress which doesn't look over the top. I want to wear simple dress, a dress that doesn't scream "too much". . After spending much time from fitting room to fitting room, we went to a store which I never gave a second glance before. Massimo dutti. And, 思い以外に, I found the dress that just click haha well except that it isn't red at all! Anyway, I'll talk my way through with ma

Hm three weeks, I dunno if I can lose 2 size

One Night in May

.: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 :.

I often imagined what it would feel like when the day came, what would be the first thing that popped up in my mind, you know… that kinda thing. But to be honest, nothing came short to what I would expect. I didn’t comprehend at all what was happening, like, was this for real?

Well… first of all, I felt that moment was a part of the very natural thing of my everyday life, thus I wore a sort of blank face I guess :p But 5 minutes after, I was panicking inside haha. I remember how I struggled to contain myself, not to jump up and down and most importantly, to not squeak in delight wakkaka.

 

~ Marina Bay Sands, Ku De Ta ~

Singlish: Conversation of the Day

Yesterday, I was sitting on the train next to a middle-aged woman and a little boy. Then, she talked to this boy, I think he is her grandson.

Grandma: Turn around, look!


Grandson: (turning his head to face the window) Why?!


Grandma: See, got car car, got tree tree....

Muahhaha oh man, of all the singlish sentences... that one was the hit of the day. I almost cracked up hihi, good job, grandma!

Pretty, The Little Princess

So I was back in Bali from April 26 until May 1st with one purpose in mind, to meet our new puppies. Yes, yes… we got new puppies!!! I was so damn excited when my mom called to tell me about this news. Her church friend gave her two puppies. Pa named one of them Madonna haha and I was quick to change the name to Molly. I mean, Madonna?? Come on,  Pa… :p And the other, the smaller one in size is named Pretty. They’re of Maltese breed and only 4 months old.

I had to wait for about one month till finally I got a chance to go home. Mom picked us up at the airport together with Pretty. Molly was left at home, still very weak, because sadly, one of the customer at our office stepped on her front paw with a high heel. With a high stiletto heel! The poor puppy’s paw was bleeding and she received IV infusions. Well, a dog receives an IV? That was the first time I heard of it haha. Anyway, only Pretty was staying with us at our home in Nusa Dua.

Pretty, we called her Prit, was a real charmer. Almost all “bule” that we met took a picture of her. Ma bought the two puppies the same pink dress from Japan. It was a very cute, pink, ruffle dress, and I think, thanks to the dress, everyone adores her. Geez, I couldn’t get enough of her and I brought her with me everywhere I went, even to the hair salon :p

Oh gosh, and now back in Singapore, I miss her cute lil head and most of all, her muzzle wakkaka, adorable.

Mumbai: City Tour (kinda...)

April 3, 2011, Saturday. 10:10 AM


Today I'm taking 8 hours city tour in full knowing that the traffic will be at the frenziest coz ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will be held this afternoon at 2:30 PM. It's a final match between India and Sri Lanka and if India wins, they will finally hold a cup after 7 or 8 years waiting. Well, anyway, here I am in a taxi and as I'm sitting comfortably in spite of the almost-not-working AC, I'm struck at how Mumbai never fails to amaze me everyday by its dryness. Especially today, it seems to be even more drier than yesterday. Smoke and dust are visible and some people selling food in a side road, some people are eating. I mean, how could you eat outside in this environment? I guess they just so used to it or merely don't bother at all.

.: Haji Ali Mosque :.
We're not even near the city yet and the traffic is crawling. It took us an hour to reach half the journey to the city that normally takes only 45 minutes. The cab driver is pointing to the Haji Ali Mosque located a few hundred metres in sea from the coastline near the express highway. It's awesome especially with the mist around us *now let's assume that the dust is a mist. That way you can really see how magnificent the mosque is - wink* The cab driver asked me whether I'd like to walk there and see it from upclose which I refused politely. This morning, I came out with my mind set that I will try my best to avoid breathing outside air. So I'm perfectly content with my video cam at hand, shooting the city from my taxi window :p

.: Gateway of India :.
We arrived at Gateway of India at exactly 12 PM. I went out and walked among the crowd to get as closer I can to the gateway. Since in two hours time the match will start, the police baricade some roads near the stadium and Gateway of India is fairly close to the stadium. This monument was built to welcome Queen Mary when she arrived in Mumbai on December, 1911.

There is this clothes store in front of the Gateway and I bought one knitted olive green cardigan. They're having 40% off price. And after some shoppings, I went to an Italian cafe next door, bought home a sandwich and quickly retreated to the taxi.

.: Colaba :.
Colaba is a shopping district located very near the Gateway of India. Sadly, I didn't have a chance to actually shop there. My taxi driver only showed it to me when we passed by it. The main road in front of the beach is bustling with people waving India flag. They're queueing to get inside the stadium. I've never been in any matches before *high school basketball matches don't count* so to actually be among them is an experience I never forget as I can feel their anxiety and the excitement of the final match. It is the highlight of the day. People are waving, laughing and shouting.

I still have until 6 o'clock of this city tour but I decided to go back to end the day and go back to the hotel. If it took us almost 2 hours to reach city at 10 o'clock in the morning, I simply cannot imagine how many hours will it take for the ride home in this crazy traffic in a midst of Cricket supporters. It's worse than Jakarta, mind you.

Mumbai: Lunch ala Indian

01 April 2011, Friday

Finally, my work's done here. It was kinda sad actually. I mean, I know I met my clients only for a short time - two days, but still, parting is never a happy occasion. They're really really nice people. They took me out to lunch and ehm... it was an adventure in itself. At least it was for me.


Well, we finish our first session for today at 2 o'clock and we headed out for lunch. Oh gosh, how I wished they took me to some restaurants upstairs (because earlier they mentioned they got restaurants upstairs). But instead, we're going out. Luckily, I was mentally prepared. Oh boy, outside was a mess, the road is small so we had to walk alongside and between the cars, motorbike, rickshaws and people! It was hot and windy which was a bad news, coz it only means more dust, more flying sands and smoke got blown by the wind. Anyway, I survived and we were in a first restaurant. There was a very long queue and we decided to try our luck at another place.


You know, walking in Mumbai is overwhelming. There were attacks to my nose. One moment, I could smell cow's poop; the next time, an incense burning smell followed by smell of spices and God knows what else. So here I was, walking while trying to avoid motorbikes and rickshaws only inches from me. I saw a car moving in a midst of pedestrians! Bottomline, I was beyond relieved when we reached the second restaurant. This restaurant called Mahesh and is specialized in seafood. We were asked to wait outside. I was like, what?! You freakin' got to be kidding me! But I guess I had no choice. We were sitting on a pedestrian walk (really, pedestrian walk and a road, I cannot tell the difference, there's no clear line here), cars honking nonstop, and finally we had a table ready for us.


The first dish was, I think, a deep fried tofu skin with a chopped shallots. I'm a no-onion eater but I gave it a try. Hmm... quite tasty but I still couldn't get rid of the fact that it was shallots that I was eating. What next, happened quite fast. They served fried fish (I still could manage that), followed by dossa (thick rice paper) and some curry dippings. The waiter serve the dipping directly to our plate. He gave us each 2 type of dippings; more fish and chicken curry. I finished my third dossa and I felt like I couldn't swallow anymore. The spices were too strong and everything tasted strong it overwhelmed me. Then the waiter came with a rice. They said I, at least, gave it a try. Well, they were being so nice and I couldn't let them down. it would be rude. So I helped myself to one small spoon of rice and forced myself to swallow it. Then, one of my clients asked me to eat the black, deep fried vegetables. He said it was good for health. I just nodded and geez... how I wanted to correct him and said "Dude, you know anything deep fried ain't healty, don't ya?" The deep fried vegetables were coated in oil. They're shiny!!


After that, I just didn't bother anymore, I said no to everything they offered me. And how glad I did. Well, they asked whether I wanted to try butter milk, I immediately said no, so they ordered for themselves. Came the butter milk, and it was the colour of strawberry juice. They forced me again to take one gulp, and... oooh... I couldn't describe how awful and strange it tasted. It was salty but bitter, with a pang of sourness. They said one of ingredients is Tangerine. It explains. I.Don't.Like.It. And look at how they drank it. They finished it in one shot! It's good for digestion they said. Hmm... no wonder. I drink that and I'm sure my stomach cannot handle it.


But one thing that strikes me as funny, and the highlight of the day for me. It was hilarious. It's the way one of my clients moved his head. It happened after the waiter came with a drink. My client shook his head, the waiter took his diet coke can and opened it. Another head movement from him and the waiter poured the drink into the glass, one final move from his head, and the waiter stopped pouring the drink.No words spoken. Amazing. I was watching them in awe.


Overall, it was a unique experience, like, I'd never been surrounded by so many Indians before haha. They're generally very nice crowd.

Mumbai: Day 3

01 April 2011, Friday


09:00 AM


So today is my second day working in India. As I'm waiting in Fort House for the client to arrive, I'm reliving back the taxi experience I had on my way here. As always, I enjoyed the car journey while taking in as much I could the passing city scenery outside the window. India is no exception. I did enjoy the one hour journey. There's always something new about Mumbai but accompanied only by sadness and "skin crawling" sensation as I watched outside car window just now. If yesterday I saw cows, today I saw a women, barefooted, standing in the middle of what appeared to be a garbage dump just on the side of the street. This woman was holding a big garbage bin and pouring it over with her hands. With her hands! This happened in Mumbai International Airport area, North Mumbai, an area they claimed to be the most looked after area. There are lots of 4-5 stars hotels in this area but they look odd, standing proud and tall in the midst of what I say, a mess. A really big mess.


Other than that, once I was getting nearer to the city, there's a line of small houses. Gee, people wouldn't even call it a house. They are built with thin wood, in a size of a tent! And people living there are bathing outside their home, which means, on the road!! I cannot fathom it at all. And their clothes are hang on the roof - made of thin wood. All of these are in a city they call financial district. Mumbai is a financial district. My customer place is located in a famous area of the city, called Fort. And judging by the company name (it's a branch office of the biggest bank in Singapore), I expected to see a really nice and modern building just like its main office in Singapore. Well, no. Actually, all the buildings here are old, collonial style. I like the architecture actually, almost the same as what you'd find in Melbourne. It's just that they don't maintain them. You can see in many parts, paints are peeled, black moldings *gasp* and... dusty. It seems that all buildings, no, scratch that, all things here are covered in dust. Even Jakarta is wayyy better, and I thought Jakarta was dirty.


Modern buildings can be counted by fingers (I did count, from my hotel building and 20 more kilometres down to South Mumbai). I dreaded walking outside and yesterday, my client said they're going to take me out for lunch. Oooh... I mean, I'm grateful, really, but outside? Come on man...

Mumbai: Day 2

31 April 2011, Thursday
I woke up early today coz it took 1-2 hours driving down depends on traffic. Well, since today is my first day meeting the clients, I didn't want to be late. I stayed at Holiday Inn hotel located near Mumbai International Airport. This area is in North of Mumbai and my clients place is located in South Mumbai, more or less about 25 kilometres from my hotel.


So I took a cab and payed about 700 rupees one way. And man, if I wasn't really awake before hopped on a cab, the taxi driver did definitely wake me up. We were almost get hit by a bus! We were spared just by inches!!


Oh Mumbai. One comment from me. This city needs a huge splash of water from above. Everything here is so dry and dusty. I heard that they don't have rain in 6 months.

First Anniversary

March 4, 2011

Another flower bouquet for me hehe. My first anniversary ever so I should congratulate myself hahaha

Kate Spade

February 26, 2011

I cannot believe I missed out this brand before. Okay, so I was window shopping and came across this Kate Spade boutique in Raffles City and I instantly loved it. Their design is simple, casual and very american looking. So I checked their website to see their full range. OMG… I wanted one!! I’m always bad at holding out to buy something that I really really crave for. Like, some of my friends, if they’re eyeing some items, they can actually do a research and compare price from different outlets. I mean, I’m not considered myself a shopaholic, but I need to get the item I want like, now :p I don’t have patient to wait a couple of days or even weeks to do my research. And true enough, I got my FIRST Kate Spade bag a couple of days ago. Yay.

I was torn between two designs, but one of them was already sold out by the time I had to pick either one, so yeah, they made it very easy for me in the end ^o^ I was kinda nervous, because that was the first time I paid quite an amount of money for a bag. But it’s worth it, ya know, the fact that I got it 50% off does help me a bit hihi.

It’s weird, for the past few weeks, I’ve been having this urge to buy bags. Samantha Thavasa. That’s the next target wakkaka. One thing to ask to myself: How come I passed by sooo many Samantha Thavasa stores without even gave them a second look when I was in Japan? Well, this is what everyone’s saying, you don’t know how to appreciate things until they’re taken away from you. Now, I’m counting days to the day I make another trip to Japan to maybe buy some bag charms from Samantha Thavasa haha

Roses, Candle, and… Foie Gras?

February 14, 2011

Well, this was my first Valentine to actually spend it with someone,  so I was super excited that bf took me to this hotel in Marina bay area. We were having dinner there. It was a 5-course menu with champagne. I was super flattered haha. They gave us some kind of give away when we finished our dinner… a very sweet candle holder.

Hmm, finally I got to try foie gras after hearing it mentioned in almost every food program. How did it taste? I can say foie gras is not really my thing :p It was buttery *which is fine by me*  with a texture of tofu, I guess, but I couldn’t get over the fact that it was a fattened liver. I was having a hard time to swallow it. I wonder why it’s so freakin’ expensive.

I wanted to take a picture of the food that day, but… oh but… I felt so embarrassed just by taking out the camera lol. I guess there’s always this kind of ambience, of the fine dining that makes you sit upright and always worrying whether you pick the right spoon and try not to make some silly noises? Or is it just me? Well, I do prefer cooking at home and preparing the meal myself. Next time babe… haha

‘baby takashi’ with a bouquet of roses