Batam!

This is the FIRST time after almost a decade that we finally ALL manage to go on a trip together! YAY!!

Who? 6 girls

Where? Holiday Inn Batam

When? 2d1n

What? massage and shopping getaway 

How? 1 room (of course we not so stingy to squeeze all into one small room. This is a 3-bedroom suite!)

Time flies during the weekend. Especially when you are having fun.

And it feels so nice to have a personal photographer! Thanks ms tay! :)

Detective Dee

It was a last minute impulsive decision to watch a movie. So settled for the one and only most suitable movie for our timing. The show was not too bad. Just a little long cos the middle parts get a little confusing and boring. It has been a long long time since i last watch a movie at Shaw Bugis. The seats are quite oddly designed. The head rest pushes the head too front. The screen is too high or rather the seats are on too gentle a gradient. And some people just won't stop talking even after being asked to! Tsk tsk!

Life As We Know It

Ok, this isn't the best romance around but when GV is giving out free tickets, i simply have to grab it! Woohoo!!

This show is enjoyable enough, even though i can't really sense the romantic chemistry between the 2 leads. And Josh Duhamel is really cute. :p

Dozo

The girls' belated birthday treat for me and early birthday celebration for LF.

The concept is similar to Tao restaurant. But just more expensive. Portions are smaller cos it's meant to be degustation menu.

Some of the items i like.

Mushroom soup with truffle. You are supposed to eat the truffle (yep, it's that tiny little black thing on the spoon) first by letting it sit in your mouth for 10 seconds before slowly chew on it to enjoy it to the fullest. Then followed by the soup. First time eating truffle. You can really taste the rich mushroomy smell but i dom't understand all the fuss over it though... Give me normal cheapie mushroom for my fungi kick any time!

Beef tenderloin on some leaf and hot stone. The beef is hidden under the noodle brush. You are supposed to cook the beef on the leaf on the hot stone. The beef is really tender.

The warm chocolate cake with ice cream is recommended! The cake oozes with rich flowy chocolate. Yum!

Tavolo @ Parco Marina Bay

This little Italian gem of a restaurant is a must-try! It's sandwiched between Saboten (my current fav restaurant) and that ramen shop which i've yet to try at itadakimasu Level 3 Parco Marina. Thanks to SL for the recommendation and so coincidental, she was queuing up at Saboten this evening too.

The crowd, or rather, lack of, does not do this restaurant any justice. But i do like quiet dining places. No queues! :)

Top up $5 for dessert and tea, which is a steal cos the desserts are more than $5 a piece on the regular menu.

Bread with vinegar and olive oil

Their Mushroom soup is really yummy! i like that the soup is grainy so you can taste the mushrooms with every sip. Crunch crunch! And the cheese shaves that melts in the soup. Heavenly combination! drools... :p

Calamari with asparagus. i thought it would be more like calamari rings. There's a nice grill taste to the asparagus but the calamari is average.

Seafood calamari ink pasta. This really surprised us! It's so much like claypot seafood yee mee. hehe. Quite nice.

The tiramisu is nice and very rummy!

Retrolicious!

It was a long tiring night cos i was nursing a stomach flu from yesterday. We went to Fort Canning Park promptly at 6pm as the ticket advised. Alas, the gates were not open yet. Had to wait about half an hour before we were finally admitted! But lucky to have found a sufficiently big space near the stage for me and my 2 friends to squeeze in. :) And so we waited.

It was nearly 8pm when the countdown from 1980 finally began. There was a very long but interesting recap of every 80s year from 1980 to 1989. Well, it's quite interesting at first. But when you get to 1985 and the show's still not starting, that's when it's testing your patience.

The whole park is PACKED! And i only found out after the concert how packed it was! No wonder it was so hot! We early birds started off with sitting on the ground aka picnic in the park. It was only after the Class95 presenters commented that it's not picnic in the park, it's concert in the park that we all started standing and rushing even more to the front! hehe. :)

i think the crowd was quite responsive tonight. First act, Johnny Hates Jazz. Sorry guys, but this is the first time i've heard of you. So i couldn't get down to singing along with the rest of the people around me.

Second stop: Debbie Gibson! She's the main reason i bought my tickets to the concert. And she's a real sexy lady at 40! i wish i could be like that when i'm 40! She sang all the crowd favourites. Notably, Lost in Your Eyes was a huge karaoke in the park. But i thought her voice sounded different now.

Well, they saved the best for last! Rick Astley!!! From the moment he stepped on stage to sing Forever Together, all the cameras and iPhone in front of me were wipped out, it's just amazing. And Rick's just so charming even at 44. And we thought even more so at 44! He's so funny and charismatic, he practically had everyone lapping up his charms. And best of all, he still sound the same as the 80s! And isn't that British accent just so sexy? Don't you just love that English accent! :) Even though he sang quite a number of newer and unknown songs, when he got to his Never Ganna Give You Up, it was major karaoke town again! YAY!! :)

i'm so glad i rallied my friends to watch this with me. Even if i had to endure gastric and backaches after the concert. i didn't had much food or water from 6pm to 12mn! i just wasn't ganna give it up! :p

Eat Pray Love

Julia Roberts is the only draw for this movie. The Italy part is still quite ok, then it goes downhill slightly in India and lost it in Bali. Think the book is better, though i've not read the book yet. Just gotten the book from YZ.

Voyage de la Vie

2nd visit to RWS and both times I only spent 2hours or less there. Well, this time, LF's friend got free tickets to Voyage de la Vie and LF was very nice to ask me along. :)

The theatre was right at the entrance where the bus stopped. Lucky we didn't try to take the monorail in as we were running late. Our seats were quite near the front, though they were more to the side. The acrobatic performance was quite good, even though you could anticipate all the moves. The plot was very weak, together with the singing. We couldn't hear what that guy was singing at all. As for the storyline... well... lets just say I would treat this as a colourful acrobatic performance.