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 (:

ali's birthday!

ali is finally 20 woots! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ALI (:

we had dinner at watami, which was so so satisfying and of course, wonderful desserts at tom's palette (: here are all the photos i took tonight! thank you for being part of my life hubbers, you are really a treasured group of friends <3

and thanks for expanding the group with your other halves heh heh heh!

the group + the other halves (: 

last one of the bday girl! <3

morning ride to punggol waterfront

Two mornings in a row, the boy and i decided to go explore Punggol Waterfront/ Waterway. 

Getting there

To get there, you can either cycle about 30 odd minutes along the Serangoon Park Connector, before reaching the Punggol Promenade. Otherwise, you can hop onto the NEL and stop at Punggol MRT station and then take the LRT to Riveria LRT station. You will alight very near the Punggol Promenade (:  The first time we went there, we kind of got lost and walked aimlessly for almost an hour before nearing the waterway. Do check out how to get there before going, don't make the same mistake as us!

Arriving there

There are several activity centres at Punggol Promenade, including seafood restaurants and an indoor soccer court (i think!). From Punggol Promenade, there is a long board walk where you can cycle, jog or stroll along to enjoy the scenery. I wouldn't exactly say that its very scenic (afterall, there are really nicer views overseas), but i guess this is pretty enough for Singapore, given our extremely rapid urbanization rate.

 there are toilets along the way, so fret not if you have to answer nature's calls (: or, you can do it army style (highly not advisable)!

after walking a short distance (maybe 300m?) from Punggol Promenade, you will see this red bridge, leading to the Lorong Halus Wetlands. If you are an avid bird watcher/ nature lover, do check this out. We happened to see a couple of bird photographers with their extremely large Canon L lenses! heh. 

Lorong Halus Wetlands

We decided to explore the Wetlands, as well as shoot some pictures. So here goes...

view of Punggol waterway from Lorong Halus Wetlands

view of Punggol from Lorong Halus Wetlands

gravel track within the Wetlands, leading to even wetter grounds, which we didn't manage to explore

 water lilly pond inside the wetlands

gravel tracks and tall grass, very suitable for wedding photoshoots (:

Back on track- Punggol Waterways

Generally, we didn't manage to explore much within the Wetlands as most tracks are made of gravel (not tar) and its pretty bicycle unfriendly /: We went back on to the waterways before heading home. Just a couple more shots!

oh yeah, there are seats along the way for you, so fret not if you feel tired yeah. but its a pity that there isn't much shade along the way.

This marks the end of my trip to Punggol Waterways. My parents have traveled the entire stretch and told us that there were still many places we have not covered! Can't wait to go on another exercising-cum-shooting session (:

On a side note, HAPPY LAST DAY OF 2011 (: Enjoy your countdown later (: