wanderlusting: newfoundland, canada

in lieu to prep for my trip to USA/ Canada, i did some research on both countries. and Canada, really wowed me. one place in particular is Newfoundland, Canada. I know its unlikely that I will travel there when I am in Canada (due to the lack of time), but Newfoundland, i will go to you, one day.

here are just somethings Newfoundland boasts to have.



ice berg viewing




whale watching



fossils viewing

 


sight seeing (this one's at Gros Morne National Park, one of their many many national parks)

 just lovely, isn't it?

disclaimer: pictures are all off Google Images, credits to the respective people/ websites who took them. I do not own any of them okay!

picnic at barrage

my 1st post exams activity- picnic@barrage!

it was an awesome, yet extremely warm day out at the barrage. even though we went at 430pm (nearer to when the sun is setting), it was still extremely sunny /: can really feel my burnt cheekbones now! hahaha.

nic was the chef of the day and prepared quite a lot of good food :D yay! no pictures of the food sorry cause i was in a terrible position  to take any nice pictures. so anyway, here are just some pictures of the people i picnic-ed with (:

姐妹

haha we even had picnic drinks, like martini hehee! but my sensitive stomach really cant take the drinks at all -.-

happy picnic-ing. though it left us extremely tired at the end of the day, but it was still pretty fun! 

so people, seize the (extremely) sunny weather and head out for a picnic with your loved ones/ friends. FLY KITE TOO CAUSE ITS JUST FUN :D

exams exams exams

crunch time as i prep for my last 2 papers.

in just a few more days, i will be free~

pho's 21st + tp design show

Finally, Phoebe has officially graduated from TP design school (: We met a few days ago to visit her booth at the TP Design Show at Vivocity, as well as hold a super duper early 21st birthday celebration for the dear girl (:

Gonna spend some time today to introduce her works for the FYP (Final Year Project). If you do like her works, please contact her with the information provided later okay! Her FYP's style is very "her". So if you like it, I believe she can produce even more satisfying works for you (:

This is phoebe at her booth! (why look so awkard?!) hahaha.

These are just some of the collaterals she came up with. A collection of 3 books to help you "uplift your life" (: 

And here are just a few more excerpts! All these excerpts are taken off www.cargocollective.com/phoebelow Do visit her webpage for her other works!

So.. upon looking at her illustrations, do you feel "uplift-ed"?? heh! but these illustrations are so pretty, aren't they? I'm definitely gonna take some time off to learn all these from the photoshop-pros. making pretty things makes you feel pretty too, you know? (:

Then, we had dinner at Earl's Swensons. Yay for free flow salad buffet!

Because pho had booth duty, she left before the dinner ended, which bought us some time to prepare her birthday tart, from fruit paradise, and her present (:

And here's phoebe (looking slightly awkward again!) with her birthday tart. its about 2 weeks before her actual birthday, but oh well, better early than late right! especially when we are all busy during her birthday period.

happy bananas~ dont know why but this picture just makes me feel so happy (: favourite friends for a long long time already!

gonna end off with a group photo! 

once again, if you like phoebe's works and wish to contact her, her contact details are as follows:

Celebratory Dinner @ Da Paolo Pizza Bar

Last friday was the day the Sparkling Fireworks (yes, that's the name of my project group.  Don't judge) had our marketing presentation. The idea was to have it like "The Noose" and we had a ball of a time preparing for it! Just look at this!! hahaha!

Anyway, we planned for a celebratory dinner over at Da Paolo Pizza Bar, located within Chip Bee Garden at Holland Village, thanks to Angel's recommendation. She was raving about the truffle pizza so much that we knew we had to try it! Anyway, click here to check out their facebook page (:

We chose an alfresco seating as the weather was pretty good. The interior furnishing was simply gorgeous. Of fur ceilings and wine cellar walls, Da Paolo offered a classy environment, simply great for a Friday night out with friends (: Take a look at the pictures and you will understand. Probably what I liked most about the place was the lack of crowd (and noise). We had a great time chillaxing and talking, without having to scream across the table, unlike some popular restaurants.

The food were simply delicious! Especially the mushroom dishes! Please please order the Portobello mushroom salad as well as the truffle pizza. They are just yum-tums!

So here's the Portobello mushroom salad, served with rockets and topped with capsicum (i think! didn't get to eat it), feta cheese and balsamic vinegar. The mushroom at the bottom was stuffed with tomato, then grilled. The combination of the taste of tomato with Portobello mushroom is simply heavenly. All the others were so in love with this dish as well! Definitely worth trying!

Next up, we had some cold cuts- parma ham! (: Just look at how thinly cut these ham slices are! They tasted really yummy, especially with the baguette slices (which was slightly stiff by the time I got to eat it).

And, here we have the truffle pizza! The mushrooms smelt and tasted really good! The combination of mushrooms and cheese was lovely! Another of my favourite dish! Please please order this when you visit Da Paolo.

Lastly, we had some smoked salmon with spinach pizza. The smoked salmon was delicious on its own, but somehow I thought that the taste didn't blend quite well with the cheese and the spinach. But well, it could also be that I had to many cheesy dishes by then, it was quite difficult to properly taste this. Not a must-try for me!

We also had buffalo wings for dinner, but I didn't eat any (as I was so full already) and by then it was kind of dark to shoot any photographs, so no reviews for me! A meal like this came up to $20/head (after GST and service charge) for 6 people! Pretty worth it huh!a

Ok! This marks the end of my post! If you do visit Da Paolo's Pizza Bar sometime, tell me what's good and what's not! I will definitely pop by one day after school for another round (:

How to get there

Drop at Holland Village MRT along the Circle Line and exit at the 1st exit you see within the train station. You will find yourself at the back of Chip Bee Gardens. Just walk through the car park and into the small lane. Walk uphill along the stretch of restaurants and about 2 mins later, you will see Da Paolo Pizza Bar.

Fosters English Rose Cafe (:

Thanks to a bunch of gluttony group mates (not that I mind, really!), I got to try high tea at Fosters English Rose Cafe. Along the stretch with Starbucks and right beside Amici, its a quaint cafe tucked in a little corner of Holland Village. With cosy furnishing and no crowd, it was a pleasant high tea experience.

We had three dishes for our lunch-cum-tea session.

First up, we had Calamari (priced at $11.00).

 The calamari were well-fried, not too oily. It was simply yummy~!

Next up, we had their Devonshire Cream Tea Set (priced at $11.00).

This set comes with a pot of tea, 2 scones, one fruit cake, 2 sandwiches as well as jam, cream and butter. The scones were delicious! Flaky on the outset yet soft on the inside. It was nicely buttery and went very well with the jam and cream provided. Definitely the best scones I have tasted yet! As for the fruit cake and sandwiches, they tasted pretty much normal. I don't think its quite worth the money to have the fruit cake and sandwiches. 

Here's a little tip: you can choose to change the fruit cake and sandwiches to scones as well. The tea set will then come with a total of 4 scones.

Lastly, we had a Steak and Mushroom Pie (priced at $18.50).

Besides the scones, this was my other personal favourite of the meal. If you break open the pie crust, you will see a mini beef stew (with mushrooms). The stew nicely brought out the smell and taste of the beef, which was tender and soft. The mash potato that came with the set was crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside. And, it went very well with the beef stew! Well, I thought that the stew was slightly on the salty side, but its not too bad.

Overall, the food quality at Foster's is above average, but is slightly pricey. The service is a little bit slow (considering the cafe was rather empty at our time of visit). I will probably go back for more (: