I remember chancing upon this Italian bistro when Orchard Gateway official launched. Unfortunately, it was lunch break and the restaurant was close for staff lunch. That wasn’t the only occasion that I missed the chance to dine there. The 2nd time, arrangements were made with friends to try out their food and again, we bumped into their lunch break. It was almost as it I wasn’t fated to get a taste of their highly raved pizza.

Thanks to the girlfriend who has connection with the people from S&D, we were able to score ourselves a private dining space by the window in no time.

It is already the 2nd week of August and I'm only welcoming its presence now. Within the period of my disappearance, too many accidents, events and celebrations took place. July sped by with me aggressively applying for jobs, attending interviews and taking up more designing projects. Also, I have reached my first life milestone when J and I applied for our house. As exciting as it is, I’m also aware of the responsibilities and planning that is on a close chase. The heartfelt truth is to know that I have J to walk this path with me, hand in hand and heart to heart.

Moving on, my thoughts are going at different directions and my fingers are dying to bring those memories to life. I will try to summarize all events and hopefully it will not turn out to be some draggy post.

First off, while we all were in the midst of planning and hiding a secret birthday surprise trip for Bryan, la mademoiselle Sheryl fell in her bathroom and result in a huge opening on her palm. We were really worried that the cut will not heal in time for the surprise trip. I will never forget that day at the hospital while I accompanied her and witness the pain. So everyone, please be very caution in everything you do.

With all the worrying going on, we had a fair share of joy when Cassandra announced a new kitten at her house! Marble was a stray brought home by Cass’s mum. Even though she was a stray, she’s one smart kitty. She already know how to walk to the pee pad to release herself and she isn’t afraid of humans. In fact, she allows anyone to carry and play with her, which is really rare for a cat. The cutest thing of all is that she is a heavy sleeper and can fall asleep anywhere within seconds. And when she s asleep, you can move her paws or whatever, she doesn’t move at all! Seriously cute!

Exactly a week before the actual surprise, a potluck celebration was held at Jon house. Another purpose of the party was to erase any possible doubt of the surprise and convince Bryan this was the only celebration. Everyone love the self-made Kimbap by the girls (I guess). No matter what, it was a night of non-stop laughter. The greatest thing is life beside family and money is definitely friends. You need not have to know the entire world to show that you have friends. I cannot mention enough how a handful of close, sincere friends will be enough for a lifetime. Oh. I replaced my face with a Rilakkuma sticker because I had a exhausted expression but the rest seems so happy!

Last Saturday, we finally gathered after Sheryl went Korea for a 3 weeks holiday! We went for a satisfying meal at Sin Heng Claypot Bah Kut Teh before catching up at Stateland Cafe.

Girls will always do what a girl does. Lesson learnt: Picture taken from low angle makes me look terrifying. On the other hand, the girlfriend looks perfect in any angle.

We ordered the Red Velvet Waffle with Ice Cream ($14.90) to share while I got myself a cup of Hot Mocha ($4.90). When I was first introduced to the Stateland Cafe, I heard so much praises for their Red Velvet waffle that I anticipate the day I get to try it. It was definitely a clever idea to incorporate a cake's flavour into waffle, and its appearance without doubt, brought out the appetite in me. This Instagram worthy waffle however, does not taste as good as it look and is slightly over priced. It wasn't as crispy or toasted as waffles should be. Since we visited the cafe on a weekend, I'd like to give them the benefit of doubt that probably, because the cafe was crowded, the staff had to rush into things. Hopefully, my 2nd try at the waffle would be better.

On the contrary, the Peanut Butter Honey Toast ($14.90) ordered by the boys was much much more yummy. The thick-cut toast had a perfect toasted crisp on the surface and is still soft inside. I couldn't make out what was inside the bread, but it had a crunchy texture like sweet rice krispies which made me wanting more after each bite. Not to mention how tasty the combination of peanut butter spread with sliced nut was. It would be better if they allowed their customer to choose their ice-cream choices, since I'm not quite a fan of chocolate.

Lately, I seem to have a huge appetite for Korean cuisine. Thankfully, there is one restaurant located at Nex; which is really near my residing area, that offers Korean BBQ. I’ve walked pass the restaurant numerous times, but today will be my first attempt at their service and food.

I arrived at Dae Sskin Sin approximately 12 plus in the afternoon when the restaurant hosted only 4 other customers. Fortunately, I was directed to a table right beside the serving counter. I count it as my blessing because shortly after I settled in, crowd started to come in.

Beside the usual marinated meats, the restaurant also offers traditional Korean food such as: Tteok-Bokki and Korean pancakes. I love their stir-fried glass noodle! Although this could be the simplest dish to make, the taste of it really deserve 2 thumbs-up!

You can also expect squid rings, cherry tomatoes, Enoki mushroom, fresh lettuce, mixed salad (capsicum/pepper bells with tomato & lettuce) and slices of orange from the serving counter. Sadly, the variety of beverages isn’t very wide and all of them are carbonated drinks. Hopefully they will bring in more non-carbonated beverages in the future.

My 2 favorite choice of marinated meats are the spicy chicken bulgogi (the one in tangy orange colour) and the beef bulgogi (the one in the darker shade of brown), especially the spicy chicken bulgogi. Sweet and spicy always win my vote.

Barbequing on their concave ceramic grilling plate has definitely made the process enjoyable. Because of the concave design, the oil that is released from the grilling meat flows to the side of the plate instead of accumulating on the plate. Plus, their ceramic grill plates are non-stick! This is the first time I barbequed meat without having to worry how they would over-cook and have to exert force to scrape it off the plate. I am totally impressed.

The restaurant’s overall concept is similar to Seoul Garden, except that Dae Ssik Sin offers value-for-money food. Speaking in terms of service, the crews are pleasant and friendly. Even the boss; an authentic Korean, made rounds in the restaurant to chat with his customers. We exchanged a few words while he was helping us clean the grill plate. A boss that is willing to get his hands dirty and displays such friendliness to his customers definitely makes me want to return to the restaurant.

4 months back, I was "having the time of my life" in Taiwan. As much as I was excited for my first visit to the country full of delicious street food, I never expect to fall seriously ill and spend my days getting jabs and vomiting. But that is another story. The weather in Taiwan was a whole new experience, convinced that I was able to withstand the "breeze" there, I bravely wore a dress and suffered serious shivers the moment I alight at the airport and had to escape to the wash room to throw on more clothings.

Taipei York is a home-stay place (民宿) located within 7 minutes walk from XMD station and the rooms come in different themes, which makes the stay more enjoyable. Our minimalistic room was unexpectedly clean and looks like a totally new room. The modern and chic design of the room had me forgetting that this is a home-stay place, it could easier be tag as a boutique hotel room.

After unpacking, our very first activity of the trip was non other than EAT! That's practically the main activity to do in this gourmet filled country. S brought us to this famous Mala hotpot restaurant (马辣顶级麻辣鸳鸯火锅) which usually requires advance booking, but we managed to score ourselves a table through walk-in! #lucky

We ordered collagen and mala soup base for our hotpot, those lychee jelly cubes lookalikes are actually collagen cubes that were dissolved inside the soup.

From appetizers to desserts, their range of food is beyond explanation. Tired of the usual soda drinks? Here, they offer you a wide range of flower tea that helps to improve your health. Ready to pick some food for your pot? they have 2 whole shelves of ingredients for you to pick, from vegetables to seafood, get ready to be wowed. Oh yes, free flow crabs, something you can't expect from local hotpot restaurants. Even their beef are of such superior quality, my stomach growls just looking at the picture. Love desserts? No sweat, they have an entire row of Mövenpick ice cream flavours to choose from.

This meal definitely started my Taiwan trip right.

This is the 3rd year we are celebrating Mother’s Day with home cooked dinner. We started off with Italian cuisine – Carbonara pasta with clam chowder soup the year before, and then Thai cuisine last year – Tom Kha soup, sambal kang kong, sweet & sour fish and cereal prawns. Fortunately, I grew up in a family where I was greatly encouraged to use the kitchen and explore culinary. Probably also because my siblings and I were taught to help out in the kitchen at a very young age, I grew up cultivating a passion for cooking. This year, we decided on Western cuisine – Chicken Cutlet with creamy chunky mushroom soup.

I made mashed herb potatoes to go with my brother’s coleslaw as the sides for the main dish. Mashed potatoes are one of the easiest dishes to make. For a rather huge family, my side was made with 6 potatoes along with other ingredients: butter, milk, flat-leaf parsley, salt and pepper. As for the coleslaw, we chopped carrots and cabbage into small cubes before mixing it with coleslaw sauce and leaving it to chill in the fridge.

The mushroom soup was the dish which required different preparation methods and longer time to prepare. First off, I had to slice shiitake mushrooms into pieces, chop the onion and garlic into cubes (not too small) and prepare a pot of chicken stock broth. Secondly, melt some butter in a saucepan and sauté the ingredients until they turned soft and the flavor comes out. Then I put the sautéed ingredients into the food processor and blend them into smaller cubes. You do not want to blend them into the mushy state as you still want to leave the chunkiness in the soup.

After the ingredient has been blended, I pour them into the pot of broth, add in chopped tiny basil leaves and milk before bring it to boil. Depending on how creamy you like your soup to be, you can add more/lesser milk to the broth. When the soup starts to boil, I add in corn flour to thicken the soup. When adding the flour, you have to stir the soup at the same thing, allowing the flour to instantly gets dissolved into the broth, or else they with become tiny bits of awful starch. Garnished the soup with extra parsley.

My brother’s recipe of his chicken cutlet involves covering the chicken in bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese before frying it. For the sauce, he mixed honey mustard with sour cream and add in extra honey; definitely one of the best sauce I ever tried. It was so yummy, we made extra to dip the fries with.

It is not only the process that was enjoyable, the time spent hanging out with the family and the smile on their faces also made up to the sense of achievement. Afterall, family are the ones who know you best and will always be there for you.