Burp..........

Some relatives from Hong Kong are staying over for a visit, so this is officially a week of pigging out !

From home cooked meals ...

To food they brought from Hong Kong (we are talking about suitcases of stuff here, right down to a tray of century eggs from Hongkong!)

To dinners all over town, I give the white pepper crabs & mee goreng at No SignBoard in Geylang two thumbs up !

Charlie's Perankan food along East Coast Road will definitely be a place that I will be going again. The ice chendol, the durian green bean dessert, the various curries, the incredible chili there ~

Good food just puts me in a good mood !

Charlie's Peranakan Food
Address:
205 East Coast Road
Tel: 6344 8824

No Signboard Seafood Restaurant (Geylang)
414 Geylang Road
Tel: 6842 3415

Old School Panton

Checked out the Verner Panton exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore, it was not really as fantastic as I thought. Whizzed in and out in under 10 minutes flat.

Met up with my friends for a dinner at Chalk in Mount Sophia.

Similar to Mount Emily, OldSchool is a small artist enclave with a cozy bar and restaurant on its premises. There is Timbre there with its easy listening live music outdoor band. Parking seemed to be a tad limited but luckily we were there early.

For about 15++ a starter and 30++ for mains, I am not coming back here again for mediocre food. Maybe to Timbre for music, but I am giving Chalk a pass. Given that Mount Emily is just located 5 minutes away with much better food and prices. I pray that Chalk will fold and something better will open. The five of us had different starters and different mains, no one truly loved or remotely liked anything except for the view. So it's not me ! It's them !

Off on a better note, we headed to Clinic afterwards for drinks and caught a full fledged salsa party hosted by Bacardi. Life is still good ~

VERNER PANTON – The Collected Works
Venue : Exhibition Gallery 2
Date : FRI 15 MAY 2009 - SUN 12 JUL 2009 10:00am - 6:00pm
National Museum of Singapore

Chalk
Address:
01-03, 11 Mount Sophia S(228461)
Tel: 6883 2120

It Only Rains When I Wear White ...

The gang decided to head to the Marina Barrage for a picnic. Convinced that there was absolutely nothing there, we were overly equipped with food and water, only to find mobs of people and opened restaurants. Damn !

Marina Barrage, Singapore’s 15th reservoir, with a catchment area of 10,000 hectares, right in downtown Singapore.

The reservoir boasts of a gallery, a bridge with solar panels, cafe, restaurant and an open area with a spectacular view of the city. To my delight, the Hainanese steamboat restaurant from the old 7th Storey hotel has moved over to the Marina Barrage. Definitely coming back for a meal again..


As for the four of us, we spent the night chatting away on a picnic mat, with the food and bottle of wine that we brought over earlier. The happily attached couple, the virgin and the newly single were engaged in a rapid conversation that covered many aspects of the bedroom. Rowdy, raunchy and fun. Good company, good Saturday.




Address: 260 Marina Way, Singapore 018976
Free shuttle bus service from Marina Bay MRT Station to Marina Barrage.
Mondays to Fridays
Every 15-minute intervals
From 8.30am-7.15pm
* From 11.30am-12.30pm (30 minute intervals)
Last Bus from MRT: 6.00pm
Last Bus from Marina Barrage: 7.15pm

Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
Every 10-minute intervals
From 9.00am-9.00pm
Last Bus from MRT: 8.00pm
Last Bus from Marina Barrage: 9.00pm

My Sordid Past

In my sordid history, I was a choir girl - Enough Said. People who know me, know that I can't sing for nuts right now. But still, choral music plays a special shameful part in my heart. So when I saw that part of the Singapore Arts Festival included the Moscow Soloists with Yuri Bashmet & Moscow State Chamber Choir, I immediately bought a ticket. One of the world's best violinist, a world class choir, two for the price of one, I am still Singaporean to the core people !

The performance was fantastic, the choir was good but Yuri was Great which made all the difference in the world. The audience encored the team twice, he was simply unforgettable.

Programme on 12 June
Igor Stravinsky : Concerto in D for Strings
Johann Brahms : Adagio in B minor for viola and strings Op. 115 Soloist - Yuri Bashmet (viola)
Toru Takemitsu: Three film scores for strings

W.A. Mozart Exultate Jubiliate, K165
Franz Schubert Mass in G Major for Choir and strings, D. 167

Electrical Electra

As an absolute failed example of womanhood, I attempted shopping today. After hitting 3 malls and 3 hours later, the only thing I managed to buy was a pair of earrings. There were shoes, bags, dresses, tops that I desperately needed to update my wardrobe with, then I saw the crowds and I decided that looking dated was better than being in a human sandwich with sweaty, gross strangers. Yes, woman I am still lacking slightly(maybe more than slightly, like ALOT).


Headed off to the Victoria Theater for a Singapore Arts Festival performance of Electra by the Suzuki Company of Toga.

I love the Victoria Theater, it is old, run down, functional, yet charming. Home for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, this theater held plenty of memories for myself. I remember hearing & seeing my first Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 performed in Victoria Theater, the tour around the stands, the various performances that has faded into the recesses of my memory.

Today was no different. The premises of Electra is about a woman who mourns for her father's murder at the hands of her mother. Placing all her hopes on her brother Orestes to exact revenge, she later takes matters into her own hands when he fails to live up to her expectations.

A cast of Korean and Japanese actors, set in a mental asylum. The performance was simply electric. A percussionist was on stage, timing the physical movements of the actors with the sounds perfectly. Electra was all primal and feral in her expressions of rage and joy. I wish I had the proper words to express it all, but it was simply an experience of pure theater, pure physical actions and movements to convey the raw emotions of hope, disappointment, bitterness and guilt.

The staging was well thought of, even down to the shadows in the background. This Singapore Arts Festival program is making me look forward to the performance on Friday that I got for the Russian Chamber Orchestra. There is a clip on the Singapore Arts Festival to give a sample of what I watched. Enjoy ~