Rewind A Year Back

25th. I am exactly a month and a year late.

I've been talking for a whole month about editing photos from my birthday and crafting a post soon. And then I realized that I've not even blogged about my birthday happenings from last year!





~*Rewind A Year Back*~

My actual birthday was spent with my mum for her check-up at the hospital for 7 hours.

It was truly a day of testing my patience-- waiting, interacting with various people, watching people, listening to people while having slight headache, watching the time tick by, being afraid that I would be late for my lessons thereafter and mentally cursing every slow-action people.

I thought my mum had forgotten it was my birthday until we were having lunch at the foodcourt. Insistent on buying drinks despite me shaking my head like an idiot, she went away from the table. When she returned, she plonked this little cup of ice cream on the table and said "happy birthday". I thought it was really cute of her attempting to do something special after a long day at the hospital and it touched me.




At night, there was the obligatory cake-cutting at my family home. I had two birthday cakes due to some miscomm which I wasn't going to complain about since everyone benefited from it.




Tiramisu cake from the hubby.




Swenson's ice cream cake from my sis.




I was 3 years old. Note the poser dad in the background.




The next moment, poser dad came forward and disturbed me.




The hubby also loved disturbing me (looking ugly in photos).




I looked clearly happy with two cakes.




The ice cream cake was too hard to cut through. I wondered if my incomplete cutting would ruin any symbolic meaning for the act.




"You can't have your cake and eat it."




Coz everyone would prevent you from eating it.




Family shot minus my eldest sis who was already in her PJs.




Finally having my cake and eating it thereafter.




~

~*Dinner at Wild Rocket*~

The next day, the hubby got us a table at Wild Rocket.




It was our first time there. The term “Mod Sin” (or modern Singaporean) was coined by the chef and owner himself to describe Wild Rocket's cuisine since most of the dishes are inspired by Singapore flavors, hawker dishes or food he grew up with as a child. I would say it was pretty interesting to see local food being whipped up and served à la fine dining style but at an affordable price.




We chose two different sets from the menu so that we get to savour everything.




We could see nothing but our reflections through the window.




We usually only remember to take a shot of ourselves when we have finished everything and the tables dirtied. Not this time.




Waiting for our food.






The bread served with olive oil was crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.




Lychee Martini and I-forgot-what.




starter: beef cappacio with sesame ginger puree




starter: roast potato soup with blue cheese century-egg fritter




2nd course: We both chose the nori tsukudani spaghettini with arabian white prawn




main course: roast red snapper with ponzu and piopinno mushrooms




main course: iberico pork char siew with shanghai kao cai and quinoa




It was served with a layer of edible "skin". Slitting the skin released the heat and the fragrance of barbecued sweet pork wafted out.




sweet: puree of roasted black sesame with milk ice cream and green tea dust




sweet: matcha parfait with honeycomb and chocolate coated tau sar




We love anything green tea and matcha.




There was a birthday surprise in the form of a lava cake.




My wish for every blown candle would always be the same.




This affectionate little patchy cat kept following us till we reached the car. I think it was our bodyguard.




~

~*Tao's Restaurant with Vios*~

Tao's Restaurant is a Fusion Restaurant that serves a modern combination of Western and Asian Food and comes in a 6 course and 7 course Set Menu. It holds the "One Price, One Menu, Many Selections" philosophy. A tip would be to go in large groups and order different courses so that everyone gets to savour a bit of everything.



The very first and last time I went to Tao Restaurant was in 2008. I had a fabulous time there with my family enjoying the really huge variety of delicious food and impeccable service.

This time, I made a trip down with the Vios group. The food was still great but not like how it wowed me the last time; the service was lacklustre.




Refreshing starter drinks




Refreshing grape tea, apple tea. I feel like drinking thirst-quenching fruit tea now!




The Bacon and Mushroom Gratin served with white, heated bread seemed to be their perennial dish and a hot favourite. The cheese and bacon wasn't overwhelming at all and went well with the heated bread. This dish certainly fed the palates so well that the hungry tummies were growling for more.




A variety of cold salad dishes








The thai style topshell cold noodle was my favourite salad that evening.




The grilled mushrooms is another perennial dish.




All of us stuck to the same 3 variety of soup:

japanese consomme




cream of mushroom soup




chicken melon herbal soup




meaty main entrees










And last on the menu were the sweets to end the day.

matcha ice cream




brownie with ice cream




tiramisu




creme brulee




After the extremely filling dinner, we adjourned to a coffee place which was set adjacent to POMO where Tao was housed.




It was supposed to be a girls' only shot.




outfit of the day



~

Coastal Settlement

I met up with my Karen and Sushi at a cozy place close the nature-- The Coastal Settlement.




vintage beetles parked at the restaurant.




hot or cold?




cold or hot




The food that we shared for tea.








smiley leo




cross-eye Leo




cuzzie sushi, me and leo




leo really had good taste! Of all things in the bag, he had to pull out...




group shot




They got me a super cute Sephora pull-a-porter that could stack up as mini drawers or pulled out to be carried around individually.




This post pretty much sums up my birthday happenings last year brought to you a month and a year late. While crafting this post, I nodded off at my laptop numerous times and I'm sure you could see the steady decrease in text as you scroll down the post.

I'm sure you know what my next post would be!





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