Since last friday and the weekends

Friday, 2 November 2012

The day started at 8AM because I had a facial appointment at 10AM. Went to try out Paris Baguette at Wisma Atria L2 (It is right at the entrance beside Rolex) with Serena. Paris Baguette (巴黎贝甜) has quite a few branches. I'd always walk 20 minutes to the nearest branch. The location is very inconvenient to travel on metro/bus from the apartment I was staying, so walking is the most convenient way to get there. It is an individual glasshouse. The high ceiling made me felt like I'm entering heaven as the fragrance of all the breads and pastries welcomed me upon pushing through the glass door.

I spent one of my stormy Saturday at the little corner. That period of time was quite scary because of the consistent rain and unbelievably strong wind. I never experienced wind of that incredible strength in Singapore before... 

There is free wifi so I just brought my laptop and slugged the day away with tons of bread/pastries/desserts. The price is slightly steeper compared to other bakeries, but still affordable when converted to sgd. Life was great in Shanghai muahahahaha.. 

Back to reality (singapore), the price was madness. Together with Serena, we spent $43.30 in all. The ambience was not too bad but of course incomparable to the one in Shanghai. There is also a wide varieties of bread, but it depends on the timing as they are constantly baking. We hanged there for about an hour or so. Before leaving, we went to take a look at the bread counter again. So many new items!! We just want everything!! We cannot self-service and take the bread on our own. The items are kept behind the counter and the server will take for you. In Shanghai it's DIY!!

Paris Baguette @ Wisma Atria

First round - Seafood Chowder, Vegetable something, Blueberry pastry and a cheese stick (+ 2 Latte)

The seafood chowder was like seafood puree.. Super thick in texture. Not too bad, but I would prefer the soup version of seafood chowder. 

My favourite would be the vegetable something. Soft and tingling with spinach wrapped inside. 

Caffe Latte

Other than coffee and tea, the beverage selections are very different. There are more yoghurty and fruity ice blended in Shanghai wheareas in Singapore, the yoghurt drinks are very limited. 

Round 2 Pancakes + Gelato + Berries + Whipped cream = Goodness = $17 o.O

Not too bad. It's no the typical kind of pancake but the "bread" version of pancake, something which I never tasted before. Not worth $17 though. Will never order this again. 

Serena 

and yours truly :)

Walked around town to kill time before making my way down to Old Airport Road for dinner with my parents, hkm, and jy. After that, we headed down to Singapore Indoor Stadium for GCMA! It has been a while since I last went to SIS. Good memories with the girls and our weekly concert all FOC. We didn't have a license/car and would run to the bus stop opposite to catch the last 67 home. Most of the time, we failed and had to cab home. Oh those days...

Nevertheless, I enjoyed GCMA. It was more of performances and less of announcing and giving out trophies. The announcing part was done quickly and swiftly, which I like because it could've been quite a bore if the prize presentation was the focus of the ceremony. Who would want to see stars walking up and down the stage all the while? I would prefer to hear them sing. 

It was good despite the emptiness down at the audiences' bay. Caught up slightly with the good old Cpop scene. My favourite part was 喜欢你 sang by Kit Chan in a jazzy/pub-ish feel. Classic. 

Thank you Ning for the free tickets! Muahahaha, this is a good thing about having a friend as a radio dj... Must treat this girl better so that I can have more free shows to watch in the future!! Kuakuakua... 

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Saturday, 3 November 2012

Don't judge me, but I accepted Ning's offer to watch a free musical again... It's titled "Company" by Stephen Sondheim. Quite entertaining and I did not fall asleep. The live music, singing and dancing, along with the exaggerated stage acting... All is good. Of this standard, I will pay to watch it. I don't know why but it happened to me that the musicals/shows I paid to watch are usually so-so... and those really good ones are usually complimentary tickets. Maybe I just don't have the taste to pick a good show to watch. 

Went for supper with Ning, Cq, Teng Yong, David and Jacob at Newton Circus. It was my first visit there. Didn't really feel like I was in Singapore. The food was average. Majority of the stalls sell bbq seafood. 

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Sunday, 4 November 2012

Met my student after work because she wanted to watch a concert at the Esplanade. Since I've got tickets from Symphony FM, I thought of bringing her out. This is the first time I'm going out with a young student (10 years old) and it will be the last time as well. It was quite an experience. I never knew young children have got so much energy... She talks and runs around non-stop. Gosh. 

Us on the train.

Talking non-stop.

Young and old girls.

Basically we walked through City Link to Suntec for dinner. After dinner, we went to collect tickets at Esplanade. We had about 25 minutes to spare after ticket collection.. Jeanine insisted to check out a shop which sells her favourite crystal/water/bubble stickers. She pleaded me continuously when we were at Suntec queueing for Astons. You know how annoying it can be when a small kid kept on harping on the same thing over and over again. So we brisk walked back to Raffles City Shopping Centre, went up to the third level, and down to the basement because the girl couldn't remember the location of the shop. It was 7.15pm and we have to be seated by 7.30pm, if not, we cannot enter the concert hall. Worst case scenario is to watch the performance from the TV outside for latecomers. I somehow forced her to give up and make our way back to Esplanade. We ran. The girl is full of energy. Both of us were sweating profusely when we reached Esplanade. Fortunately, we made it in time but while I was running, I thought to myself that I will never jump into this pot of hot water ever again. 

I was so tired as I didn't have enough sleep the day before and worked the entire day on Sunday. Drained all my energy babysitting my student so I dozed off quite a few times during the concert when they were playing modern pieces which are not to my liking. It got better after the intermission with familiar Mozart tunes but the duo changed it to their style. How about Turkish March in ragtime? It was lovely. Definitely my favourite part of the concert. 

They did a remedy of MJ's Billie Jean on two pianos for one of the encore pieces. This is also the first time I watched a prepared piano performance live. Things like putting the hand on the piano strings to mute the sound, plucking the piano strings and hitting on the piano to create a percussive effect. 

Never thought that an acoustic piano could produce such sounds. 

After the concert, sent the girl to the taxi stand and waited for her parents to pick her up (finally!). Muahahhaa. It was quite a hair-pulling day but I can't deny it was satisfactory when a child is genuinely happy because of me. 

Bused home for a quick shower and met hkm for supper at Geylang. We decided on Yong He where I tried raw egg in hot soya bean milk. 

Yong He 

RAW EGG in hot soya milk

It doesn't taste as bad as I imagined it to be.. The raw egg didn't stink. Basically, it tasted very much like the usual soya bean milk, with some sluggish and slurp-able egg whites. It might be different for others because MX mentioned that he tried once and only once. Muahaha, mind you I'm someone who will mix half boiled eggs with coffee/tea. 

Went shopping at Mustafa in the middle of the night.. I felt like I owned the entire mall!! Bought almost $100 worth of food and toiletries. Yes, the supermarket is my shopping ground instead. It's not Orchard Road.. 

Our 2nd home! JY, can we join your Muthusamy club?

Reached home at 6AM in the morning (Monday, 5 November 2012). Spent Monday sleeping and woke up for lunch, napped, had dinner at home and round 2 of dinner with hkm, my bro and Cheryl at Swee Choon. 

Went to Mustafa (AGAIN) to grab some bread and kaya spread before rushing to the bus stop to catch 67 home. 

I had to give curry rice a skip because I already had 2 rounds of dinner. Need to eat scissors cut soon!

It was a weekend filled with music and performances. Cpop, theatrical work and classical mixed pop piano perf... Enjoyed myself a lot over this weekend. Next weekend at Genting!