crib warming

bull pup flying solo

a wave of pre-nostalgia hit me when i went to visit xj in her brand new office. excited for her and because i'm living vicariously through her, i thought i better pay my dues by helping beautify the space a little. also, i do feel somewhat for leaving her in the lurch as the most junior on the team. whatever first-yearer work that should've gone to the both of us will unforch almost all land on her lap. but hopefully another name plate will fill the empty slot on the door, and it won't be too long before she has a roomie. 

we'd a great run as bull pups though, and i've fond memories of our pups' corner.

p/s doesn't she look happy for someone who just started the rest of her life?! wow. awesome work ethic yo.

au jardin singapore

isn't it pretty in the glow of the setting sun?

a dear family friend invited me to meet some visiting US doctors whom he was entertaining and i jumped at the chance to finally visit au jardin. had heard so much about it over the years but somehow never got down to going. also, opportunities like this don't drop on my lap every so often so all the more i dropped everything to go. 

the food was superlative (augh! forgot to keep the menu) and the service impeccable. but nothing screams "evening well spent" like a date in new york come easter 2012. can't wait to re-meet the lovely guests on their side of the pond!

uh, surry hills? sydney

precisely nick's response when i asked him to meet us at bodegas. unschooled in the local ways, i had no clue that i'd just asked the dear boy and his lovely fiancee to meet us in one of the dodgiest parts of town.

but being the troopers they were, they obliged and risked life and limb for some tapas which thankfully, was declared to be worth the potential assault. 

we'd the yummiest "fish fingers"i.e. sashimi kingfish on garlic toast with cuttlefish ceviche and mojama

the effervescent waitress recommended this - can't remember the name but hey it was pretty darn delish!

and the most refined banana split ever. whoever re-thought banana split as cream flan, dulce de leche ice cream, ginger biscuit and banana is sheer genius!

funny story about nick and fran. met nick while he was interning at the firm when i first started pupilage. he's gotta be the highest qualified (he's already an engineer with work experience...) and highest functioning intern (he was doing closing subs when we met. hellooo??!) of all time. he'd the misfortune of my being seated facing him. in the closed quarters that the old office was, all i had to do was look up and i'd be accidentally staring right at him. thankfully, for him more than me, he was away at trial for most of the time we overlapped at the firm but we did get talking and when he planned the sweetest proposal at the end of his internship, i was honoured to be part of the post-engagement party. and if i thought nick was nice, just wait till i met fran :) so yay you two! thrilled we got to catch up down under and can't wait to see you back on home turf.

(pity bodegas was too dark for photos. ripped this off fran's profile :) aren't they cute!)

sydneyside

just a few days to old friends, bondi and hunter valley :)

there's something really warm and fuzzy about hanging out with old old friends, who were at every birthday party growing up, disappear for a coupla' of years and then reappear at the very same firm you're working at. the world is too small and one of the best things about the bar exam course and pupilage was getting reacquainted with A. 

and because we can't get enough of A, we're headed down unda' to hang out outside the office - the true test of an office bromance ;)

tbc

breakfast

one of the (many) upsides of calling a tropical isle home is being able to spend a leisurely saturday morning at an awesome place like this. 

was admittedly more than a little slow on the uptake, but so glad to have finally visited. christian was sucha sweetie and gave us a tour of the place :) have now done the singaporean thing and locked in a booking for three weeks time to return with some friends, both canine and human, in tow. and, of course, the luxury of a leisurely weekday lunch is not lost on me and i'm going to make that happen very very soon.

p.s.

needs no introduction but is one of my favourite places to be on a sunday afternoon. was about to say 'hideaway' but just today i bumped into two friends so maybe it's a poorly kept secret ;) interestingly, just to digress, one friend was a belgian diplomatic and he and his wife are going to french polynesia via new zealand. turned green with envy on the spot and spent the rest of the afternoon masochistically trawling through conde nast plotting my next get away. am now determined to go to french polynesia at some point. strange how before this afternoon i didn't even know it existed but as i type, it's almost at no. 1 on my to visit list. and the other friend i bumped into is a fabulous creative type and i think i just scored myself a free museum tour :) so maybe chance meetings aren't all that bad - one new holiday goal and a freebie i can cash at leisure. can't complain!

serendipity

hello friends of happygrub,

this post's for you!

as you would've known, farhan and i bumped most serendipitously at dempsey last weekend. she's shared how we've too many friends in common, which goes to show you how small singapore is, and now let me tell you how i first got to know farhan.

(p.s cafe dempsey, although neither farhan nor i are in the photo)

was interning in august 2008 and one lazy afternoon i heard some seniors ooh-ing and ahh-ing in their office. thinking they were looking at the sex and the city wardrobe, i stuck my head in and found them on happygrub. was intrigued by the beautiful craft and baking on the blog. this accomplished baker not only baked drool-inducing goodies but also packaged them so creatively with gift tags! and ribbons! and the prettiest boxes! and then the mud started to fly. they were quick to fill me in on how farhan was not only domestically gifted but also, get this, a -doctor- i.e. very smart and presumably very busy but somehow managed to find time to bake (and beautifully at that, or have i mentioned it already) she was also married to the devoted, adoring "H" and supposed to be a lovely, personable person herself. oh,  they told me she was aesthetically pleasing, too. helloOOO? what's there not to hate about her and how she sent us all into fits of self-loathing, reminding us of our multiple inadequacies...

my internship ended soon after (unrelated to the afternoon "misspent" in self-indulgence trawling happygrub...) but i continued reading. a few months in, farhan mentioned wanting to take classes in conversational hokkien for communicating with patients and asked if anyone knew of a class. not wanting to appear like a stalker, i wrote to her to tell her that while i didn't know of any hokkien class, i'd been reading and enjoying her blog very much. was pleasantly surprised by a warm reply and that was the start of our sporadic email exchange. we soon established we'd mutual friends and i felt a bit better that i wasn't a "complete" stranger reading another "complete stranger's" blog. sure, that's what blogs are for and there's nothing wrong with reading silently (waves at my silent readers, all, maybe, 3 of you...) but it felt better after saying "hello i read your blog! and i'm not a crazyyy...", but that's me :)

so since 2008, i've been vicariously living through happygrub, excitedly anticipating hana's arrival and now enjoying the privilege of watching her grow. i've sympathised with farhan over her seemingly endless exams, was thrilled when she passed PACES on first try and turned green with envy at her food and travel photos. 

and whilst i sort of knew what farhan was up to from happygrub and through liz (a mutual friend), we never thought to met up. always presumed, probably rightfully, that she was uber busy and was happy to swap emails now and then. until we bumped! at ps cafe! and it was nothing short of surreal. i saw the cutest little girl who looked strangely familiar and it took awhile before i realised it was hana in the flesh! and then i got goosebumps because if babygrub is around, surely happygrub was close by... and sure enough, there was farhan, hot on hana's heels! said hello and thankfully she remembered me haha, sparing me any potential mortification. it was hard not to go into fangirl mode, seeing how i've nothing but immense respect and admiration for farhan. she's in a challenging field (young doctor specialising, doting mama of young baby!) but she seems to meet every challenge with grace and aplomb. she's inspired me and i'm sure she's inspired and encouraged you in some way too.

so thank you farhan for the mention - will endeavour to post a few posts in your honour before returning till blog hibernation.

p/s dear z of zee. maybe serendipity will favour us next! and this time, i'll bite the bullet and say hello :)

emirates palace abu dhabi

 

had people to meet and things to do in abu dhabi and there was no better place to meet at than the emirates palace hotel. had a lovely lunch on the balcony, perfectly cool winter day with shade and breeze from the otherwise punishing desert sun. didn't hurt that we were overlooking the arabian sea ;) and there were camels to watch! fun! 

also, is it just me or are you equally gobsmacked by the marble driveway? i mean, most people drive on tar / gravel right? WHO DRIVES ON MARBLE?!! ohmyword. excessive opulence at its most obvious. possibly only surpass-able by streets of gold...

majorda beach goa

 

one of the highlight of the stay was "supper" with the whole gin gang.  in addition to our party of three, there was a photographer/model pair from london/sweden doing a holiday shoot, a NZ/french couple based in rajistan (?), an english journalist with the economist and his norwegian academic wife and two bubbly english girls on a girly getaway. needless to say, throw everyone's background into the equation and it made for one massively fun night. the journo was my favourite though :) he asked such well couched, pointed questions about singapore and was sheer joy to listen to. and i really liked the huge mirror on the wall. it felt almost like a skype date because i could see what the other guests were up to at the other end of the table. how involving and interactive!

first full day baga goa

 

returned to sunset bar, albeit for brunch and continued to muster up enough courage to head over to baga beach. this time, however, there must've been some liquid courage in my morning porridge and whilst watching two egrets catch their brunch, i figured it was do or die! spent a leisurely day at the beach after a huge lunch at brittos. enjoyed the second goan sunset before doing another late dinner at a riveria. was impressed by their offerings, which included "granita". would recommend a riveria to anyone. probably one of the most pricey restaurants in goa but thank god for the exchange rate and relatively low cost of living. had pre-dinner drinks, an appetiser, main and dessert for S$40. unbelievable!  

cabbed back to the apartment and struck gold with sunil, possibly north goa's best cabby. and boy, are good cabbies in short supply! left a 25% tip on the already exorbitant cab fare (the fares in goa in absolutely disproportionate to the cost of living...) and took his business card. was toying with the idea of heading south in a few days and wanted a reliable cabby for the 2h journey.

mumbai madness

no amount of trips to little india could have prepared me for the chaos that was mumbai. was so very fortunate to have a family friend meet me at the airport and bring me right to the apartment. but, most embarrassingly, a few hours in mumbai was more than my delicate constitution (hah) could handle and after too little deliberation, i decided to get myself on the first plane out of mumbai. 

the obvious destination was goa.

the same family friend had a holiday home there (whew!) and miraculously made the arrangements for me to spend the week in his goan pad. plus his sister and in-laws still lived in goa and would be on hand. just in case. nothing like having an emergency contact in a strange land :)

it was a charmed escapade to goa, if i may say so myself. was absolutely impressed with kingfisher airline (they model themselves after virgin airlines, complete with larger-than-life CEO). at the airport drop off point, there was a kingfisher counter where the nice lady printed my return ticket for free. indian airports require a ticket before you can even set foot beyond the driveway! once i stepped in, a kingfisher staff beeped me through the electronic "self" check in and i just had to drop my mammoth suitcase off! never have i breezed through check-in with such ease. who'd have thought! +points mumbai domestic departure terminal...

the 40min flight was comfortable. the stewardesses amazingly managed to serve both drinks immediately after take off, followed soon after by a hot meal.  and they cleared everything before we began our descent. talk about efficient service! 

landing in goa was respite from the hustle and bustle of mumbai. was met by family friend' brother-in-law who had pre-arranged a taxi that wouldn't take me for a ride to the goan apartment (over an hour from the airport) and off it was! 

and so began a glorious week in goa. ate SO WELL. didn't see a steady stream of gourmet meals coming when i left singapore for yindia. in fact, i did some defensive eating in goa i.e. overeating and counting on getting delhi belly at least once. but the runs never came! most miraculous indeed. then again, i might've bordered on paranoia in terms of hygiene, brushing my teeth with mineral water even. but admittedly, i was a teensy tiny bit disappointed that i didn't kena food poisoning which would've compensated for the gluttony :( trust you know the drill by now! will be posting a little something on india for the next week or so. do check back if you're interested to hear how the rest of the holiday went :)

 only in india!

the ivy

was charmingly chichi and a very nice place for drinks, minus the weird ruling where the waitress poured our unfinished drinks into plastic cups at 11pm. apparently it's some new law to avoid gang fights with shards of glass, but it was weird to drink a cocktail out of a plastic glass that smelled of plastic. eeyur.

met with gaurav at the conference. i need to start meeting him in singapore, as the last time we caught up it was in hoi ann at the nam hai, and this time we bumped in sydney. good as my word, i did go see blackbird on the last day, and he was very kind to make some time for me post-production, before the final run that night.

i hate being late for people, something years of scgs training has drilled into me where i still have nightmares of dear rozzy telling us that if we're late, we better be running. but hey, it was a cool night in early spring, perfect for a little steam, sauna and soak in the outdoor tub, no? plus it was late and the kfc chimney next to their building had ceased spewing its awful exhaust into the airspace over the pool. dana shared that the residents had wanted to buy out the colonel, for there is sadly a price for fresh air, but ol' sanders sat tight on his bucket-sized plot of prime real estate. pity there's a lingering smell of deep fried chicken by the pool, because it made me hungry when i should've been swimming :(

fryer whiffs aside, establishment is also a nice bar, run by the same group so if you're ever in sydney and want to chill in a fancy schmancy bar, these two are safe bets :) the pool etc is private though, so i'm sorry i can't also recommend the pre-ivy steam and sauna haha but the clue is the resilient kfc right next door ;)