Antoinette again!

I don't know why we keep going there since the service is not that fantastic.. Well, the only reason I can think of is the Macaroons!

Heehee!

Crepe Concorde (Roast Chicken & Cheese)

Mushroom soup is not worth it! Watery stuff for SGD10++!

My Antoinette buddy! :)

At this rate we're gonna be sick of the place really soon!

Bubblewrap!

I needed bubblewrap to wrap my breakables like my Vodka collection and photoframes to prepare for moving... Asked Brendan if he can help me buy some and he found me a huge roll of bubblewrap! Yippee! 

❤❤❤ Thank you! ❤❤❤

Mellben Seafood Reataurant

Brendan and Pamela came over in the morning to help me pack my stuff....

Pamela helped me packed all my toiletries and cosmetics into a box.. gave her my Body Shop collection as she is a huge Body Shop fan... but too bad she doesn't use makeup cos I have a lot which I don't use (Dolly wink lashes, etc).

Brendan packed my TV and my 3-in-1 scanner printer thingy so nicely with all the wires in the proper position, it looks like brand new packaging! If I were to pack it myself, I would have dump all the wires into a big plastic bag and worry about them later.

We met up with Cheryl, Brendan's other sister and we went to Mellben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio for crabs!

Based on the online reviews and raves by my other friends who have been there.. the crabs are "to die for". Well, you have "to queue like hell for" the crabs because the average waiting time is 2hours! Madness or what? But anyway, we really queued lah! The closing time is 11pm and they will close off the queue at 9pm so be there before 9pm!

We reached at 8.40pm and was only seated at 9.45pm.. Food came around 10.10pm. Less than the 1 hour expected waiting time as most of the diners have finished their meal and the kitchen is quite free by then. 

I think they deliberately make people wait to create the hype because Chinese seafood restaurants are supposed to be very efficient (I know because my dad owned a few before and the pace is super fast!)

They will take your order while you are in the queue but they will only process it when you are seated..

There's a lot of dishes which looked interesting but we chose the following....

Tofu in Mini Wok -- SUPER NICE!

The sauce taste like chilli crab sauce! Yummeh!

Yam Ring

3 types of crabs!

There were 4 of us but Cheryl don't eat crabs so it's just me, Brendan and Pamela.. That's 1 giant Sri Lanka crab per person!

Crab Bee Hoon

This is the star dish of the restaurant.. the soup is nice but the crab.. so-so.

We ordered extra serving of soup for SGD5, but don't bother cos the portion is quite big.

Black pepper crab

The sauce is.. not peppery enough. Too salty.

Butter Crab

We wanted Salted Egg but they don't have it.

This is the other alternative.. the sauce is quite nice.

All the dishes we ordered! That's Pam's hand on the bottom right. Haha!

Yummeh food! ❤

Pam was concentrating on her crabs and it's really cute to see her eat! LOL!

Achievement!

Total bill was around SGD210nett. There is no service charge but there is 7% GST. IMO opinion, the crabs are NOT worth the 2hours wait.. though we were all starving by the time we started eating so maybe at the point in time we were like "OOH! YUMMY!". Well, it is delicious, but for a coffee-shop setting and a long waiting time, paying over SGD200 for a few dishes is not really worth it.

Will I go back again? 

Depends on my mood and the queue.. but I believe there are more affordable and delicious crabs elsewhere in Singapore.

I am now craving the crabs in Batam. Though smaller, but it is super cheap and good! SGD200 can get me at least 2 dozens of mid-sized crabs there. Yums!

Casa Tartufo Italian Fine Dining

It's Restaurant Week and most of the fine dining restaurants are offering tasting menus. Brendan is a big truffle fan so I booked a table for two at Casa Tartufo at Forum Shopping Mall.

The mall has been opened for years but it's his first time there! O_O

There's a set lunch or dinner menu and the usual dishes are not available.

Busy busy busy~

Waiting for our wine~

He had the white wine (forgot the name) and I ordered the sparkling wine. I seriously cannot take alcohol cos I don't like the taste and the after-feeling. Wanted to coax him to help me finish it but he refused to. :(

Appetizer.. 

Some dodgy cheese dish. It looks like some cow's stomach or something can! I had a small bite and gave him the "eeee" face and refused to touch it. Since he never wastes food, he forced himself to finish the whole thing and had hiccups afterwards! He is a cheese lover but the cheese is one of the worst he has ever tasted.. I kept asking him to stop eating but he won't waste food so, kinda fall on deaf ears.. But when he started hiccuping, I kept giggling.. Hahahahahhahaa!

My main course is Egg Noodles with Truffle Shavings

Brendan had the Veal with potatoes.. 

Redeeming factor was the "Homemade Truffle Ice-cream"

The set dinner costs SGD55++ per person and including the wine the total bill was around SGD170nett. Not really worth it cos the staff were not very attentive and the food not very fantastic... Overall I was quite disappointed because I read good reviews about the place.

But I guess it's the food choices they offer. Maybe it's "Restaurant Week" that's why the dishes chosen are the ones that are easily prepared yet low cost? Either way, I don't think I will go back to the restaurant again.

After dinner we went to Shaw Lido to watch John Carter in IMAX! It's a super nice movie but sadly it is set to become the biggest flop in movie history with a net loss of estimated at USD200million. Why??? 

Antoinette @ Mandarin Gallery ~ again!

Tea time at Antoinette for the 2nd time in a week! :)

I had a mad craving for the Macaroon! I had 4 of them! :)

Scallop Spaghettini! ^^

The spaghettini is so-so only.. but the scallops is nice!

Wany's pasta~

Chocolate Ice cream~

My ice cream which is not really nice. I left 3/4 of it uneaten.

I will only go for the pancakes, tea and macaroons next time. The mains and ice cream are not that fantastic.

Antoinette @ Mandarin Gallery

Antoinette has become my favourite hang-out place because I like the macaroons and the ambiance.. just that the aircon is too cold and the service is a hit and miss.

I usually like to go there alone, but when Wany is free, she will join me after her lessons. :)

Pancakes with Bacon! Yums!

Macaroons!!

Their macaroons are the best I had in Singapore so far, at affordable prices. Only around SGD2.50++ each!

Bill in a pretty box

After our tea time at Antoinette, we went to Din Tai Fung for dinner! Yes yes, eat and eat.. My waist is every expanding. T_T"

House searching is a major pain

Alright.. more than 2 weeks ago I said that I am not concerned or stressed about looking for a house.. but now I am panicking because I have exactly 11 days before I am evicted.

I have view several units and it's either too expensive or the vibe is not good.

A 3 bedroom unit in a good location is going for a minimum of $2300 to $2400. I have to pay my own utility bills and it's crazy because I am not earning that much! It's crazy to spend a huge portion of my salary on rent!

One month rental is equal to my current 2 years rental because I am renting directly from the government and it's really very cheap. I am being evicted because the contract was void when Pipimon passed away last November. They are allowing me to stay till end March due to "compassionate reasons" but it is strictly non-extendable if not they will threaten me with legal action, blah blah blah.

The best unit so far is the studio apartment at Pearl Bank near Outram Park MRT but they are asking for $2300 and it's way above my budget. :(

Brendan went with me on all my house viewings and we basically agree on the same things for each unit. It's either too big for me, too small for me, too expensive or just not right.

There are lots of people renting out houses and rooms but one main consideration against me is I have Chloe and owners don't really like pets -- no matter how cute or tame Chloe is. My profile is perfect (according to the housing agent), single/female/working professional/chinese/local BUT I have a dog which I refuse to give up.

I am not sure on what to do now. Instead of renting a whole unit I can set my expectations lower and rent just one master bedroom or a room with an attached bathroom.

We found a bedroom with an attached bathroom near Nex Mall, Serangoon for $1500 but it's still a huge chunk of my salary for a small space.

OMG. I really don't know what to do. It's so stressful and I am so stressed out that my health is suffering now.. *sad face*

I am really sick and tired of the whole process of packing, throwing stuff, moving, settling down and then moving again. :(

I am going to die. literally.

2 days MC and I am gonna use it to laze at home and sleep..

Max Brenner @ Vivocity

Had a leisurely Sunday today.. slept in and Brendan came over to my place and we went for lunch at KFC before going to view a house at Outram area.. 

The unit is not as nice as the previous one we saw, though the asking price is lower. We decided to forgo it because the vibe just wasn't good. It felt very "underground" even though it's 35 floors up due to the layout of the place.. felt very "maid's room" and for $2000, that's really not acceptable - regardless of how good the location is.

Afterwards we had a few hours to burn so we went to Vivocity to walk around.. wanted to watch a movie but did not plan in advance and all the good seats are gone.. lobo a bit and ended up at Max Brenner.

Hot Chocolate with Melting Marshmallows!

Chocolate Fondue

Had to work at 9pm and he drove me to my office.. here I am, my break-time and blogging away. I love Sundays cos the workload is not that crazy.. but tomorrow is gonna be a super busy day!

Fun day out with Brendan & Sister

Today is NUS's Open House 2012 and my sister wanted to go and have a look at her future school.. as usual her parents can't be bothered about it so I accompanied her -- also asked Brendan along too. :)

We were supposed to leave the house at 9am but all of us overslept and Brendan only picked her up around 10am++ and reached my place almost 11am..

Decided to go to Harding Road's PS Cafe for Brunch as Joanna has not been there before. ^^

While waiting for the food, Brendan was playing with my camera and I was very stressed cos everytime he touch any of my electronics, he will scrutinize it and make comments like "Fingerprints! Smudges! Why you no take care???". :( As expected, he said my lens on the camera was dirty.. Hai. He also showed me some cool functions on my camera which I didn't know existed. Oh wells.

Cheeseboard! Permanent fixture!

My Portobello Mushroom Stack

❤ ❤❤

My sister enjoying her breakfast~

Kitty flower~

New flowers in the Ladies' Room

Spot Kitty!

Afterwards we went to NUS! Thank god Brendan was driving so we don't have to walk up and down the hilly roads.. There were shuttle buses that bring visitors around the school but my sister wasn't really interested. She just went to the booth and asked some questions and to walk around.. she didn't even want to listen to any talks or visit any of the schools. Haiyo. Why so lazy?

We left after 1 hour or so.. and we went to IKEA to buy my sister a new mattress. Her dad is so stingy and said she can sleep on the broken one because it's character building (he quoted some Mandarin proverb shit). A bed is the most important furniture in the house because we spend between 1/4 to 1/3 of our lives on it.. Bah.

Anyhows, got her a new mattress at $299 + $55 delivery charge. More expensive than her birthday present (Wicked Musical) but it's a necessity so it's alright. This year's birthday present gonna be cheaper! :P

Afterwards we went to view a unit at Pearl Bank (which we all loved! But asking too high), and then to Marina Square for dinner. :)

Super packed day today but super fun! ^^