Switzerland Day 1 (Bern) : 19 May 2013

Bringing happy hearts to leave Milano to Switerland, Bern =D However, the journey turns out to be quite a nightmare.. haha

                                           Subway map of Milano

 Me taking a random pose while waiting for the train to Milano Centrale Station, and oh yah, the waiting time can be 6.5 minutes at times =P Hence, some time to while =D

 My best companion of the whole Eu trip, Peng =D

Continuing from our Milano Centrale stop to Switzerland, our planned stop is to go Bern. Guess what, the silly duo of us reserved our train tickets but hopped onto a wrong train that landed ourselves at Genova

 It was a 3.5hrs painful train ride and I was always grunting to my friend that I dislike the train ride as it was damn boring. I had nothing to do but snack all the way while Peng was catching her Korean dramas on her mobile phone=p  During each stopover, we thought that we were nearer to our dreamed country.. Little did we know, erm, why are we stopping at Genova and the lights in the train were all switched off. We were still wondering shouldn't the train be stopping at Bern..(Yeah..the naive duo really thought we were in some part of  Switzerland till Peng and myself alighted from the station and since lugging luggages was a pain. Peng told me to take care of the luggages while she go check it out.. Minutes passes and from afar, I saw Missy with a very disgruntled face.. and Peng exclaimed to me.. guess what.. we were still in Italy and we had to take back to Milano and re-reserved our tickets. The next departing train to Milan was 2 hours later. So the 2 hungry gals went to grab a bite at some random sandwich shop.

Our late Lunch at the Sandwich shop

We really cant understand their Italian and they cant speak English. This was the worst meal ever.  We grabbed a Vegetarian set and I guess they did ask if we want to heat it up. However, we were all conversing ( with all our hand signals) .. gosh so I told them one yes one no... end up.. yes,, one sandwich was warm the other was cold.. Arghzz wad a pain.. Remember that I was complaining to Peng that the train ride was boring? Yes, I was totally in shatters, to imagine the journey back to Milan. Okay, the planned train journey was supposed to be: Milan to Bern ( I will guess its a 3.5 hours ride) 

So yes, we took the 3.5hours train ride back to Milan and we wanted to catch the train that departed Milan to Bern at 640pm. Hence, we reached Milan at 625pm, again Peng dashed down to get the reservations while I watched our luggages. As time ticked by, 640pm passed and no sight of Peng , I started to get panic as Im unsure what had happened and did Peng get lost somewheret? However, I have faith in Peng as she is the more street-smart type.. Finally, Peng appeared.. with a very pale and pained look .. Peng said, alot of trains were cancelled and I was shocked n panicked again. However, the smarter gal told me she bought our tickets that depart to Zurich ( which will be a 2 hours plus ride  then we will take the next connecting train to Bern. Never will one expect that we will take a wholesome 12 hours ride which we could just reach with a 3.5hours ride.

Finally reached Bern station.. and it was already 1.02am ( Gosh.. yes.. we were too tired and hungry and it was drizzling).. gosh...how bad can that be when I told Peng that I did not print out the map of our hotel.. Arghzz.. thats because Missy read reviews and all the guests said its just minutes walk and we will see our hotel. Never did I expect that we will reach that late in the freezing, chilly night... =x 

Luckily, we met into a  nice young guy ( and good that he can speak good English) .. phew.. we managed to reached our hotel but it was already 130am. I vividly remembered that my poor arms were aching badly with all the rushing and lugging of luggages. The Kiasu and Kiasi me.. brought everything , including muscle ache cream.. and both of us smelled very ah mahs ( old grannies with strong ointment smell) thereafter . Hahahha =P

Ending this post with a heavy and hearty breakfast on the very next day=D

                                               Nice breakfast place at our Hotel =D

                                              Love the curtains & breakfast settings =D

                                             See the more refreshed me.. enjoying my yogurt=D

                                                      The more refreshed Peng =D

                                            Ahhh.. love to go back Bern again =D 

Shall post more entry and pics on Bern. Stay tuned =D Ciao =D

TFS Bistrot - July 2013

Back in mid July, went TFS with bf ..TFS simply stands for The French Stall which is nicely nestled in a corner of Serangoon Road. We shall let the pic do all the words =P
Below displays what we had for a set for 2 =D

1) Pan Fried Seabass
Not bad, fish fresh but the presentation with the skin.,. looks a bit .. scary=P

 2) Chocolate Cake with nice Vanilla Ice cream
Normal...nothing fascinating

 3) Tarte Fine au Pomme et Caramel au Beurre Thin Apple Tart with Buttered Caramel
The very first time bf is not very willing to share this with me.. wiped off in an instant.. ARGHZZ!! 

 4) Should be some foie gras with bread.. Bf totally in love with this dish.. As for me, I cant appreciate the strong taste..Oopsies=P

 5) Pork Loin Cordon Bleu 
One of the Must-try =D

 6) French Onion Soup
Hmm, again.,. its to bf's liking.. not too much to mine=P

 Ending post with bf - busily giving his views on the feedback form
Ciao.. good night =P

Location:
544 Serangoon Road (Opposite the Shell gas station)
Opening hours: 3pm - 6pm (desserts only)
6pm - 10pm for dinner.
Closed on Mondays.
Telephone: (+65) 6299 3544
Fax: (+65) 6755 7812

Club Kyo - 11 Jul 2013

As I have only recently started on this blog hence you will find lots of food/travel trails that will be very back dated =P Sometime back in July this month, had a gf date with Jess for something new..that is Club Kyo which has a good promotion of its Quarter off its bill on some selected food items. As Jess is always game to try new food and of cos, whenever I have any beer crave, Jess will be the first person I will look for =D ( thks gal)

Looking back at the food pics, we love the presentation of the food and its visual effect. Im trying to match the food item to what we had eaten and here goes: (Pls see below pics)

1) Prawn Ravioli Sake:  $16

Totally loved the cheese sauce and how savoury the meat plus prawn can work on your taste buds. Plus, I'm not exactly a very cheese person, this ravioli totally turns its magic on me. Not to forget, I love Ravioli, I always love how the meat fillings in the pasta can make me happy=D 

2) Kimchi BBQ Pork Belly: $16
Likes how the BBQ pork belly patty and kimchi can complement so well

 3) Prawn and Crab Squid: Original price: $ 18
The bread texture ( with squid ink) is exceptionally good, the prawn / crab patty combination is good too.
If I were to go back Kyo again, will re-order this again

 4) Chipotle Tuna Crispy: $16
Totally can give it a miss. Disappointed that the tuna sashimi can taste a bit warm ( most probably the tuna was placed after the rice balls are fried. Rice balls tasted too chewy and dry. Visual effect overpowering but not the taste

 5) Nori Seaweed Wedges: $14
We can DIY ourselves.. just get some seaweed powder from any Japan supermarket and add after wedges are fried.. Good Party snacks but not with this price=P

 6) Scallop Mango Coconut Salad: $14
Totally dislike this dish, scallop sashimi with coconut taste does not go well at all. Fresh scallops are supposed to taste sweet when its superb fresh..but the taste overpowered with coconut ( So Wrong.. =P)

 ( The same Ravioli that I went gaga=p)

 6) One Pint Kirin House Pour

 7) Interior of Club Kyo

 8) Club front of Kyo

P/S: Personal opinions on above food comments nia =P

Some Me-Time =D

Oh well, its a super cosy and yet a cooling Saturday=D Love the rain that came in the morning which lasted till late noon=D Rarely had a good me-time on a Saturday since the bf has a day date with his colleagues to the Legoland.. yah in case you are wondering why am I not following for the trip=P Well, partly I dislike exposing to the big sun there plus lazy to mingle with people I rarely know and having to act friendly all day (in simple terms . anti-social lah) So, after doing some simple house chore, I dig out all my available facial masks=P Yeah.. it was Me- time..doing my facial ex exfoliation followed by application of facial mask. Okay, I have this friend, Y whom we started console buying facial masks from Watsons' promo of one for one,,, and we all know if we really buy a one for one for ourselves , we may end up with too many masks for our own usage. Hence, its better if you have a friend to share a variety of different masks, verdicts and of cos saving on costs at the same time =D We all need some girly times together hence buying and sharing beauty tips is one of the many we can talk about any time of the day =P Prior to those masks sharing times, I actually bought more from the Beauty Diary series.. love its hydraulic acid series and black pearl & etc, followed by mask from Sexy Look, which a guy friend of mine raved over its benefits about making your face slimmer. This is then I understand where his theory comes from.. that face mask actually has a hook to your ears so if your face size is bigger, the better for the mask to pull (distance from left ear to right ear) - see the green mask below..so that's how his theory comes about slimming the face.

Okay, our recent craze is masks from Dr. Morita.. and as you can seen from the pic below, these are the few items that we have tried. As for the ocean blue Hydraulic acid from Dr. Morita, both Y and myself experienced prickling feeling during the application for our 1st trial. However, the friend reverted that her second trial for this mask has no prickling effect any more. Mine works otherwise, prickling feeling still persist but the prick feeling subsided a lot. So today, I plucked up my courage and tried the 3rd time.. and eh.. no prickling feel finally.. yeah..=P In addition, I also love the eye masks from Dr.Morita ( see bottom right hand corner of photo)
Not to mention,we also tried another series from Love More.. also a Taiwanese brand.. haha and oh mine.. it took me a while procrastinating to use the snail series.. cos it just feels disgusting.. but after much persuasion from Y that it has no unsightly or funny smell.. which then I dare to try.. well there's always the 1st time to everything.. It proves that its all in the works of the minds. As long as we dare to step out for that little adventure, can we actually accept the goodness of that something/experience.

Ist Day in Milan: 18 May 2013

Sometime back, Jess has sort of triggered me.. perhaps I should really start a blog of my very own,, just to document what we had enjoyed in our food palates and our travelogy.. A lot of times,  I cant rem the cities that I visited.. example.. NZ.. which I visited years ago=x Hence, while blogging and looking back at the pictures, memories just jolted out from my old brainy =P

Back in May this year, had finally fulfilled one of my wishes to go Europe.. Its just like striking one off from your wishlist =D Finally, get my gf, Peng to go with me.. a good 14 Day Italy-Switzerland trip.

On our 1st day, we reached Malpensa Airport ( Milano), which its just a stay over and explore around the neighbourhood of San Leonardo before we set off to Bern, Switzerland the very next day. 

Thanks to our very kind host who recommended their local eatery which they frequented quite often. 

Oh not to mentioned, the very day we reached Milan, it was a cold and wet season, the night was damn chilly with rain splashing onto us. Moreover, also serving dinner after 8pm.. our stomach were growling with hunger.. hence having reached the eatery, the whole place is v warm which we had to start removing all our trench coats.. the whole Italian eatery is a warm, family friendly sort of place, we saw people with groups of friends and family hanging around there. Kids run about like nobody's business.. food was definitely delectable but a bit salty for our palates as we gobbled down.. On a side note: the pizza was made from the oven (which can be seen from the 1st pic). We were served with some sides( it was some potato balls and nice small sandwiches)  as seen from the 3rd pic. Gosh, pls see our 4th pic, we told them we are sharing pizza and they were so nice to serve us in separate plates. Damn love their warm hospitality. Not to forget their nice recommendation on having a local draft beer to go with the pizza ( in a way our bodies are warmed up too) Yah.,.I vividly remembered its still raining ( though it did become smaller) we really dreaded going back in the wind..But we definitely need to rest as our bodies were too tired from the travel and there is a little time difference of around 7 hours from our home country.
Anyway, our 1st dinner costs us Euro$16 which I consider its quite a steal =D

Dinner @ Tampopo Takashimaya

Well, last Saturday, went Tampopo @ Ngee Ann City with bf just because the greedy bf wanted his Tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) . Since,  we were in that area, hence decided to try that since we had never try Tampopo before. Comparing  pork cutlet from Tonkichi & Tampopo , taste wise we feel its almost the same.. but perhaps the portion served at Tonkichi is bigger. Menu wise, we both agree that Tampopo has more variety as it serves ramen and other side options. I personally like the ramen served at Tampopo. Had orderd a Deluxe kurobuta ramen (cant remember the name,its something along this line=p) Anyway, I love noodles that is served piping hot and have a savory taste. The ramen @ Tampopo has definitely met my expectations. Best of all, not only the tonkatsu fair that Tampopo is having now, we had also won a free chicken ramen voucher. Hence, we will love to go back there again and bf already sort of decided he is getting the yuzu flavoured tonkatsu don.

Prices before GST & service charge:

1) Tonkatsu set @$28.80

2) Delexe Ramen @16.30

Address: #B2-33, Takashimaya Shopping Centre, 391 Orchard Road

Opening hours: 1100hr : 2200hr Daily