Dining In The Dark

Decided to do something special for the Boy's birthday this year. Instead of a romantic candlelit dinner, we went and dined in pitch black darkness! @@ The restaurant in question is very simply called Dining In The Dark - KL and its located at Changkat Bukit Bintang, beside Movida and opposite Radius International Hotel. Be warned though, I would recommend this experience only to open-minded people and those who are not that choosy with their food. You never know what you'll be served during the meal, hehehe..

For me, I was really impressed with the details even before reaching the restaurant. You get a reminder call as well as a very detailed email informing you of the location, what to expect and even the weather! 

When we first arrived, we were given a welcome drink at the lounge area. I would say choose the alcoholic drink since it will loosen you up before you prepare for the experience. There are games that you can play to acclimatise yourself to a world of blindness (our game was to pick the 4 paperclips from a bowl of dried foodstuff, not as easy as it sounds, I almost thought we would have to wait till midnight for us to finish the game before dinner) and then time to lock away any items that emit any light or glow, so no phones allowed during dinner.

I chose the White Russian Cocktail =)

Sneak peak at the menu, which doesn't really tell you what you'll be having @@ You can expect the final bill to be less than RM150 per person depending on the drink you choose to accompany dinner. At the end of the meal, you will be shown the actual menu with descriptions of the things eaten and we were very lucky to get a chance to try out the Christmas menu. The menu is changed every month by the way.. Very hard to describe in detail here but we were really stuffed to the brim after the appetiser (4 dishes) + soup (2 soups) + main course (3 dishes) +dessert (5 desserts)!!!

I enjoyed the experience very much since its not something you would do all the time. I'd imagined that we would at least be able to see some silhouettes of the utensils and stuff but no, I couldn't even see my own fingers much less anything else. You really have to feel your way around and I did touch several of my dishes by accident, lol. Kudos to the wait staff who are visually impaired but remain cheerful and helpful throughout!

 A great end to a fun day!

Special mention to Jo who styled my hair for me *love*

 

A very happy birthday to the boys who love us, hehe..

The almond tiramisu cake from levain patisserie which was a tad too sweet, but the amount of almonds given was awesome!

 Hint: I'll be expecting something special planned for my birthday this year too eh!

Quite a Loyal Fan I Must Say..

I haven't had the urge to blog about something in ages.. 

I always meant for this blog to be a way to track the things that I have done, so that I can remember little details of my life when I grow old and senile. However, time flies, like how all of a sudden, I realise that oh, I went to Vietnam last year and never recorded it, and I just don't feel that need to record that now since I already can't remember some of the little things that happened. >.<

Anyways, this weekend is the first weekend that I stayed back in stuffy Singapore in a long long time. I think since we got Dog (more on her when I have the mood =D)..The reason for me being in Singapore this weekend was this:-

I would say that I'm the kind of person who doesn't believe in spending money unnecessarily and I absolutely have no idea why I had decided out on the blue to treat myself to a concert. Partly it was driven by a wish to give myself a small reward after working hard throughout the peak season of my job and partly I was driven my the bf mentioning that he has never watched any concerts before in his life, but ultimately, if I was honest with myself, I kind of wanted to support this awesome and talented singer whose songs I first fell in love with 10 years ago, when I was still a blur kid in secondary school, when he debuted with his first album.

The concert did bring back lots of crazy memories, its kind of weird but JJ Lin was the only singer that I really wanted to see in person. I braved my first free standing concert for him, went to fan meetings to get his album signed and the one and only paying concert I had been to before was Just JJ World Tour in 2006. Anyways, I'm reminiscing and like what JJ also mentioned during his concert yesterday, it must be because I'm getting old.. T_T

All pictures taken using my ASUS Padfone Infinity, tried my best to zoom in to the stage but the laser lights kept messing with the camera's lighting.. sigh..

Went to watch Thor: The Dark World at 4.45pm and we went over to Singapore Indoor Stadium once the movie ended and arrived around 7.20 pm.I was crossing fingers that there won't be too many empty seats, but looked like I was just thinking too much since it definitely looked like a full house judging from the photo above.

 

 

The guest artist unsurprisingly was Stephanie Sun. I had already guessed that there would be a Singaporean guest, heh.. She sang 2 songs, a duet on a song co-written with JJ - 他说  and her one of her own songs called 逃亡. Her segment was quite enjoyable actually, that coming from someone who doesn't really like her much.. @@ She still sounded the same and managed to squeeze in some jokes , i.e. "Hi everyone, I've come to support JJ's concert dressed in Jolin's outfit!" Lol.. Zoom in on the last pic of her above to see a super funny expression of hers which I accidentally captured =D

 

JJ's elder brother also sang a song with him on stage and it was touching when he thanked his family for supporting him all these years. During that segment they showed a montage of his childhood pics. They also showed us where his parents were sitting in the crowd beaming with pride. They deserve to be proud of their children I guess.

It was a super satisfying concert - superb sound system, great live singing, guitar and piano playing, live band, hot dancing, Michael Jackson impersonation, beatboxing, everything you would expect from a JJ concert~ I did find his song choices a bit weird at some points since he sang quite a few songs that weren't that well known, but there were a few of my personal favourites as well, so it was all good in the end.. We even got a little something extra during the pinnacle point of the concert:

*jaw-drop and squealing* 
(Disclaimer: this pic taken from Instagram, credit to the owner)

I'm not sure whether we missed anything at the end since to beat the crowd, we headed for the MRT station right before he finished what he said was the last song after he came back for the encore performance, but anyways, it was a great concert experience and well worth the ticket price to celebrate the 10th year of my only real idol all these years, can't think of any other singer that I have followed for this long, hahahaha... 

Ready for your next concert my dear? :P

Thx :*

After an absolutely shitty week, I am desperately wishing the remaining weeks in 2012 to be as smooth and simple as can be. Since I've promised myself to be more positive this year and I think I had a pretty promising start to this week, I think its most fitting to have a random list of things of which I felt thankful for today :D Here goes~

Dear Monday, 27 August 2012, thank you for:-

• The nice biscuits and chocolates that I got from my colleagues today without any particular reason. Made me feel a teeny bit greedy but it all tasted good so what the heck :P 

• Giving me a seat on the MRT on the way home today almost immediately after I got on, something which rarely happens during rush hour~

• Fewer phone calls today which let me do more work than I had hoped since I could concentrate better without being harassed by phone calls all the time :)

• A nice lunch! We had something that I felt like eating today and we had enough time to enjoy our lunch instead of rushing to finish like a few times last week XD

• Not being scolded by my clients even after holding on to their work for so long, more than 2 weeks in fact because I've been spending the past two weeks furiously trying to catch up with my work that I just kept putting aside tasks that needed more time and research.

• Letting my boss agree with me to release 6 files full of documents to the client instead of asking me to photocopy every single document like they requested at first *phew*

• Getting runny sesame glutinous rice balls which I love so much and think I'm addicted to. This may seem weird but sometimes the balls just aren't runny or chewy enough. The soya milk was super warm today as well, so thank you!

• The internet at home which is working surprisingly well today, allowing me to indulge in my drama of the moment *Rooftop Prince Mansei!*

• Having people in my facebook friends list who actually answer my questions when I need advice, feels good to know that they are not just mere acquaintances  whom I have only met once in my life @@

• The availability of aloe vera gel for my stress pimples which have sprouted all over my face recently and which I hope will disappear by the end of the week, since I'm being so optimistic and all :P:P:P

Since its just past 12 midnight, here's wishing for an equally great Tuesday ahead!  and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and... oh well, you get the gist~

Gonna end with a photo of the cutest puppy in the world (or in my home.. whatever..) to make me feel even fuzzier:- 

 *suddenly realised that abrupt endings are my forte* :P

Unexpected Fireworks *.*

On a particularly hot and sunny day in July, I finally got to meet up with a friend from my KL work days. Oh how I miss those guys! So, it was quite nice to finally get the chance to meet up with Niki :)

 

Even the sky was happy that day :)

She'd chosen to go to Sentosa with me when I asked her whether there was any place that she wanted to visit, and so Sentosa it was.

 

Riding on the Sentosa Express. Pardon my shiny forehead, sweaty nose and half-awake eyes but we didn't have many shots together

We did the usual touristy stuff, including taking a photo with the Universal Studios globe and then going into Hershey's and Candylicious to escape from the sun, and I finally entered the casino :)

 Thanks for the air-conditioning, Hershey's!

 We ended up at Livewire where we could do some cheap gambling, none of us wanted to bet at the casino since the minimum bet was S$5 and we didn't want to be throwing our hard-earned money away. Bought Toto instead for S$2, hahahhaha...

Since the glass doors aren't see through, we really didn't expect such a big crowd inside @@ lots of old pros..

Okay, no particular meaning but you can see my new imitation Paul Frank phone cover here and I really like it :P

Lunch was KFC in front of the Merlion, hee.. dining with a view~

Spent a nice part of the afternoon relaxing by the beach.. Yeah, I'm more the hide under the shade of the coconut trees type of girl and not the soak up the sun and the sand type :P

Saw this couple with their awesome swimmer dog, it was so cute to watch it doggy paddling with its short legs.. i never knew that they allowed pets on the beach in Sentosa~

Yeh, Saranghae you too chingu! :)

Niki and her cousin had to leave Sentosa to reach Marina Bay by 7pm as they were going to visit the Skypark~ I have never been up there and since there was going to be something special happening there that day, I decided to tag along.

It costs $20 to go up to the Sands Skypark and we can only go up to the 56th floor. Skypark tickets and the use of the infinity pool are complimentary for hotel guests tho.. so it should be worth staying at if you have some $ to spare.. hehehe..

Turns out they were having the National Day Parade rehearsal at The Esplanade that day and we would have a chance to enjoy the spectacular fireworks show!! :D

A glimpse of the night view before the fireworks show at 8pm~ The place was so crowded and it was lucky that we got a little hole to share between us.

And the show began!!! I was really quite pretty, pity I couldn't quite capture it on my phone but it made the $20 Skypark ticket really worth it :):):) Don't think I will go up there on a normal day since there isn't much to do except look at the night view through the wire fencing XD

Our nice day was marred only by our dinner at TWG. I really can't justify the price with the food and the service! We're also expected to wait at least half an hour for a table *groan* Just because its one of the more affordable places for food inside Marina Bay, urgh.. That lasagna was really just mediocre and don't even get me started on the watermelon juice! Anyways, had dinner around 9pm and finally made it home at around 11pm @@

My souvenirs from the day.. Really tempted to get a Fujifilm Instax Mini *slurp* but I know I'll be lazy to carry it everywhere with me in the end, so I should just quell those thoughts :P

Hong Kong 2012 - Chapter 6: Avenue of Stars and The Ding Ding Tram~

Started off our final day in HK bright and early, the goal: Authentic HK Dim Sum for breakfast/brunch~! After that, we'd planned to visit Avenue of Stars and then cross over to Central to visit Causeway Bay..  After checking for directions with the concierge, we made our way to Nathan Road for dim sum at Cheers Restaurant (稻香）which our colleague had tried before and recommended.

 

Stopped by Mcdonalds to share a burger before beginning our search for the place.. They have twisty pasta on the menu, how cute~

 After walking around Mongkok and passing through Langham Place, we finally found the restarant!

The restaurant was bigger than it looked from the outside, and we were given a table in a smaller room. It looks empty here because we were very early, by the time we left, the entire restaurant was packed and there was a queue outside as well. I guess HK people really love their 'morning tea'~

 Order sheets.. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't use pushcarts, I think a real dim sum experience must always have pushcarts because choosing what you want from the cart is the part that is most fun XD

 Looking so excited over dim sum :P

Food for 3~ yeah, only 3 survivors left on the last day, one sick, one tired, another one on a date..

 My favourite was the steamed spare ribs, so yummy~~ but for the other stuff, i think we can get that quality in Malaysia as well, sigh.. too high expectations for HK dim sum I guess.

This is how they keep track of what has been eaten for the final bill.. little number stamps on the card :)

After our meal, we made our way to Mong Kok station again to head over to Tsim Sha Tsui

Taadaa.. behind us is the replica of the statuette given to winners at the Hong Kong Film Awards (how do I know that? well, wikipedia told me :P)

Obligatory touristy shot with the Avenue of Stars sign~ :)

There were so many palm prints both familiar and unfamiliar, but this one made me feel proud to be Malaysian.. heehee...

Photo-bombed by a little girl while taking a picture with the cute 麦兜 =.=

More touristy shots. As you can see, it was rather hazy on our last day there, and it was also getting warmer in anticipation of summer.. I ended up discarding my scarf and jacket after awhile.

We were nearing the ferry terminal and all of a sudden, I had this deja vu feeling like I knew this place! 

It's the place always seen in TVB dramas where the actors want to jump into the sea when they are feeling depressed.. hee.. :)

Finally arrived at the ferry terminal and bought our tickets.. err.. tokens. The ferry ride was so cheap, only HKD2.30 if I remember correctly.. I'm a stickler for cheap deals~ :)

Vending machine selling birthday and greeting cards, never seen this before back home..

Caught a ride on the tram, it was a novelty when we first got up but the ride was very long and quite boring frankly. I almost fell asleep on the way, lucky I had a seat because the space was quite tight and there were people standing all the way..

This was the general view along the way because we were passing through residential areas to get to our destination, which was Causeway Bay~ 

Souvenir time!!

  Never seen before in Malaysia/Singapore green tea, mango and spicy chocolate Pocky sticks~ Mango was awesome, wish I'd bought more..

Pink Longchamp Le Pliage for Mum and black Planetes for me :D It's much cheaper and affordable in HK, even for my standards. The small Le Pliage with short handle was about SGD100 after conversion and Planetes short handle only about SGD160, definitely not a price that we can get back home..

Shorts from Mango, I find it very hard to find nice shorts and pants for my big butt, so these were a nice find :) about SGD35 each after conversion~

The customary T-shirt from Giordano (which is so reasonably priced there!), Passport holder, pink clutch (both very cheap from Ladies Market), Perfume set from SaSa and a Revlon Lip Butter (it wasn't available in Malaysia when I visited HK, I came back to find that they had been introduced here, but luckily the colour I got, berry smoothie, isn't available here, otherwise... *facepalm*)

My Octopus card (which still has some credit in it) and random touristy rubbish that I don't know whether to throw or keep, LoL~

and the weirdest souvenir of all, Kotex White, the blue one is the one sold here. The Kotex White packaging looks so much better :) I got this when we were contemplating whether to all stay back in Hong Kong with our sick colleague since she wan't allowed to board the flight while she was running a fever. Just imagining dashing for the flight and being the last at the gate just makes me feel :S all over again.. 

Some notes I wanted to make for my HK trip:-

Glad that I got to try out all the different kinds of transportation there, i.e. taxi, MTR, funicular train, bus, cruise, ferry and tram :):)

I found it funny how they have jewellery stores on practically every corner, like how we have McDonald's or Starbucks here, do people really buy jewellery every other day?! @@

Rather disappointed that I only got to see the outside of Times Square for a few seconds before we had to leave as we had to rush back to the hotel to bring our sick colleague to the hospital. Our trip ended rather abruptly with a visit to St Teresa Hospital. It was a mad rush to the airport after that and we nearly missed our flight after a lot of drama. Two colleagues were left behind that night because of some very unhelpful people at the airport, lucky that only happened on our last day otherwise it would have really spoilt our mood for the trip.

Really regret that I didn't have more curry fishballs and didn't try steamed milk while I was there.. More eggtarts and curry fishballs and Hong Kong desserts and HK style milk tea too!!! Well, there's always next time I guess~

 2012 was a good travelling year I guess because right after Hong Kong, I went to Hanoi, Vietnam!! Hope that I have time to record my memories soon before I forget everything..