Just Moved to a New Space

I didn't know what I was thinking when I split up the blog, made a new one purely for painting stuff! But now I'm merging them together again, in a new place: www.evajovita.com

I'm so excited about this new blog where I can continue to share a little portion of my life. A bit sad to leave this blog, it has been with me since college time, many sad, true and happy moments recorded here but the new blog will document a beginning of a new phase for my family and I can't be more excited and thankful for that. So, see you all there.

Bali Highlights

.: March 27-31, 2013 :.

This holiday turned out to be a beginning of a new chapter for us, unexpected but it's a greatest joy, no question. More to that in later posts :D We had so much fun in Bali together with our dear family friends, visited Villa Maya in Ubud, attacked plates of salted egg crabs, and had tons of laughter. But towards the end of our holiday, I got sick with fever as high as 38.5 degree and had to take medical leave from office for a week. It was worth all the fun though haha. So here are the highlights:

~ My mom and dad, hubby and family friends at Villa Maya, Ubud ~

 

~ A view from our family's villa-to-be. Now it's a paddy field ~

 

~ Just three hundred meters away from the rice field, it's a beach. Well, it has black sand but a beach nonetheless ~

 

~ Learnt how to bake "kue soes" from the master herself, my mom ~

 

~ Sleepy head ~

Doctor Appointment

.: March 26, 2013 :.

Before our flight to Bali, we squeezed in Doctor appointment to check my follicle size. We were supposed to do the procedure on Saturday, according to the doc, but since we would be in Bali there was no way we could do that. So we purely hang on prayer and let nature took its course. 

Russell Peters in Singapore!

.: March 25, 2013. Monday :.

We were soooo excited! Just a couple of days ago, I saw an ad about his show in Singapore on March 25th. Quickly I called hubby, being all excited and panicky, and asked him to buy us tickets and he did. Only later did I find out that he knew nothing of Russell Peters, and I was so touched coz he didn't even questioned me or anything and straight away bought tickets. I mean, if I were him and he asked me to buy tickets to watch some random dude I know nothing of, I would most definitely object. So, we watched Russell Peters on Youtube just to prep him before the show.

Well, we were at the indoor stadium and it was all packed. We had a two-hour full of good laugh.

8/52 Brunch: Selfish Gene

.: March 23, 2013 :.

Hubby picked our Brunch spot again this week, it was Selfish Gene. This Saturday also marked the last watercolor workshop session at Raffles… yes, it was an outdoor session this week yay. Alright, back to Brunch thingy. I ordered my all time breakfast favorite, two poached eggs on smoked salmon and toasted bread. Well, I was surprised, the bread tasted sooo good I can eat it without put any spread on it. Just because of the bread, this place goes among my top list.

 

Cell Group Dinner at Yayoiken

.: March 22, 2013 :.

We celebrated hubby's birthday with our cell group at Yayoiken, Liang Court. They bought some yummy cupcakes.

 

Hubby's Birthday Dinner at Jaan

.: March 20, 2012 :.

For hubby's birthday, I booked a table at Jaan and to be honest, didn't really expect to get a really good table, but look at this! We got a super nice view of city scape at night. 

 

I love the food presentation and don't worry, the taste and flavor match the outlook beauty.

 

When we first read the menu, hubby and I thought that by 55" Rosemary Smoked Egg it means they cooked it for about 55 seconds. Well, that wasn't the case, the waiter explained that the chef smoked the egg for 55 minutes. The half cooked egg tasted so rich in flavor.

 

 It was my first time eating foie gras with broth, and it tasted good. Oh the buttery goodness and I definitely love the winter broth.

 

Hohoho these dessert baby were sooo delicious I kept smiling when I ate it. That's how you tell an outstanding dessert. Oh in one of the dessert they sprinkled it with pop rocks, so in his 32nd birthday hubby actually tasted his first pop rock. Geez, I tried pop rock since I was little :D It was funny to see his expression when the candy popped lol.

7/52 Brunch: Carpenter and Cook

.: March 16, 2013 :.

This small yet super adorable vintage cafe is located in Upper Bukit Timah, quite a distance away from city center but definitely worth the trip to step in and to admire the decor. I love vintage and the word clearly describe this cafe. Just look at those plates and tea cups, and oh the stuff they display on the store! I was drooling at them all. So I was glad that hubby picked this place for our brunch place of the week, and I thought I heard him wrong when he said he loved the decor and would definitely love to go back there again. I thought only me who secretly rejoicing and jumping up and down inside by the sight of all-vintage store haha 

Well, that's the interior, how about the food? They serve off-the-tray food, the same style as Starbucks, I like their lemon tart. I just wish that I could have something more heavier to choose from than just a quiche and sandwich.

 

6/52 Brunch: Food for Thought

.: March 9, 2013 :.

Hmm where do I begin with this post? At first, we were so excited knowing that the place we were going to was inside the botanical garden premise. I mean, surrounded by lush and beautiful garden, for sure the cafe would also be beautiful and cozy, no? Well, no. Food for Thought located just beside the basement car park. I was sooo disappointed and almost turned my back on it if I didn't remember the taxi fare costed just to get there! The inside I gotta admit is not that bad with high ceiling and wide space, but I couldn't get over the green thing that apparently was there on every table. It's supposed to remind you on going green but hey at least the staff could make some effort to clean the thing. It's broken and falling apart and just made me lost my appetite. The overall look reminds me so much of a cafeteria. Maybe it's cozy enough for garden strollers after hours combing the garden, but not if you go there on purpose to relax. But kudos for the food, they're good.

Oh I want some foam design on my cappuccino (kicking my legs)! It's one thing that get me 'high' and look forward to whenever I order one. This one look rather plain, eh?

Cellgroup Dinner

.: March 8, 2013 :.

March was definitely a super busy month that took its toll on me but even in the midst of this busy schedule, there was always time for a little gathering and party. We were having a small dinner for our cell group at our place and guess what, rendang was on the menu baby! Our dearest cici prepared the dish and it was superb.

A Friend's Birthday at Ippudou

.: March 3, 2013 :.

Celebrating hubby's friend's birthday at Ippudou.

5/52 Brunch: The Epicurious

.: March 2, 2013 :.

Hubby picked this week's brunch spot, The Epicurious. We like the location and we got the best table facing the Singapore river. Soon after we got our table, the long queue had already formed. It's how famous this little cafe is. It doesn't have too many seatings and I simply love the humble wood table and dinnerware. Unpretentious. 

 

I ordered two poached eggs and wild mushroom topped with cheese, another poached egg served in a style I've never tried before.

4/52 Brunch: The Barracks

.: February 23, 2013 :.

We are back at the Dempsey Hill! Yes, the area is teeming with cute and cozy cafes and I can see us coming here very often in the future. Well, for this time round, we planned to visit The Barracks which was closed a few weeks ago. From the outside, there's nothing much you can see, as what the name suggests, the outer appearance still very much resembles a barrack. But once you step in, a cozy but quirky interior awaits you. Their menu looks like a newspaper, clever. 

We ordered skinny pizza, fries with truffle oil, a seafood platter. Err not too fond of the skinny pizza though, the skin is like super super thin crispy crepe when what I want for my pizza is thin dough so at least there's  something for me to chew.

 

~ Fries with truffle oil ~

Valentine's Dinner 2013 at Au Petit Salut

.: February 14, 2013 :.

I'm so spoiled, on Valentine's day, it was hubby who gave me chocolate *ashamed* and present with a little note. 

 

It was a nice outdoor dinner and we could hear frogs singing (frogs do singing, don't they?) somewhere near. Totally love the place… and the food. Oh the foie gras is to die for.

Busy March

*sigh* I have to begin this post with some depressing notion.

I don't know how I'm gonna get through the whole March, looking at my calendar and all I can do is taking a deep breath. I'm dragging my way from deadline to deadline and who could have foreseen that multiple projects sinking their deadline claws this month? Well, I gotta admit though that I was looking for this trouble myself… in a way. I'm a kind of person who got motivated and really working seriously if I'm literally hours away from deadline! I'm not joking. Even if I have some time to slowly clearing away my job tasks, I won't do it until very last minute. That's the only time where I can work nonstop, well, how can't I if deadline is only hours away? haha. I know this gotta change, can't keep living my job life like this. I mean, for the past few days, I dreamt about work, I was working even in my dream!! Crazy.

But then, there's always a light at every dark tunnel, isn't it? Well, well, well, in my case, that bright, shining light is the prospect of going back to Bali at the end of this month! On top of that, coincidentally, our very best family-friends will be in Bali as well. The last time I saw them was in December 2011 helping out in our wedding. Looking forward to having an awesome break with them.

Also, just this morning on my way to a client's office, I saw a poster of Russell Peters' show in Singapore on March 25, 2013. I mean, kyaa~!!!! Am such a biggie fan of his and never in my dream would I imagine myself watching him perform live. Hubby bought tickets for us and oh I can't wait. What an energy and mental booster that is. 

But then, even amid all this chaos both in work and private life, now and then there are great little things that bring joy back into our life. Those moments are like firecracker, small but powerful to lift up our spirit and I'm grateful for that. Small gatherings with friends, sharing and opening up are really making such a big differences in life indeed.

Okay, gotta back to work...

3/52 Brunch: P.S. Cafe

.: February 16, 2013 :.

Hola, back with yet another post of cozy cafe. This time we went to PS. Cafe, located in Dempsey Hill. Love love love the place, I mean, look at it, with huge and tall glass all around it? Sitting inside or outside really doesn't make any difference thanks to the glass wall.

 

 

And ooh, the beautiful display of cakes! At once, my eyes found the green tart, it was key lime tart. The taste? Divine. The filling was buttery and had a fresh key-lime taste in it, not that fake, superficial flavoring.

 

I ordered a shepherd pie and roasted pumpkin soup with the usual mocha latte. I like the plating, just look at it makes me hungry :D As for hubby, he ordered sandwich which I found the taste was quite okay. Overall, we love the ambiance, the location, … and its key lime tart. 

Baked Whole Lemon Pudding

Gotta admit, I was sooo nervous in making this, my first in dessert department! Unlike cooking that I can just add much and much chill if anything goes wrong and it would turn edible, with dessert, one mistake and that's it. It's just unforgiving. So I chose the most simple dessert recipe from Donna Hay's recipe book. Eggs, single cream, butter, flour, icing sugar, lemon and mix them together in a food processor, bake for 30 minutes. And yet, somehow the textures wasn't quite right. I mean, it tasted delicious enough and lemony fresh, but a bit… sticky. I dunno, maybe it was what it should be like. Hmmm… 

 

 

~ Tasted much better with a scoop of banana ice cream haha ~

2/52 Brunch: The Prive

.: February 12, 2013. Tuesday :.

The last day of Chinese New Year holiday and we set off to The Prive, at Keppel Bay island for, what else, a brunch. This was a second visit for us. The Prive located overlooking the marina, just the perfect spot to sip coffee and read books. 

 

~ Look how heavy the clouds were. And it was exactly this kind of weather that makes it such a perfect day to sit and daydreaming ~

 

It was a cloudy day, with the sun shying behind the clouds, such a perfect moment to sit outdoor and enjoy our meal. We ordered a pancake (with a honeycomb! *excited*), wagyu beef burger, and eggs benedict. Oh love the eggs benny. And… as often than not, we ordered too many. In the end, we didn't finish those beautiful stack of fluffy pancakes :( 

 

~ Pancakes with honeycomb ~

 

~ My new favorite, Eggs Benedict ~