On the eve of Christmas

Hi all! I know i haven't been updating this blog as frequently as it's the festive season. I've been going out a lot, eating a lot and shopping a lot that i hardly have the time to look through the photos and write a blog post. Thankfully, i have some spare time now to blog as i'm only meeting Gabriel in the evening.

So on 23rd of December, Gabriel and i decided to check out the Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay. Before that, we headed to Koh Grill & Sushi Bar for their Shiok Maki (1st generation). This sushi consisted of aburi salmon on the top and avocado and grilled eel on the inside. 

The place was very crowded that day and unfortunately, they missed out on our order. So we had to wait 30 minutes just for this plate of sushi. Well, i guess it wasn't too bad because we had a lot of time to spare but can you imagine if we were rushed for time? 

The service was really poor too and the Shiok Maki didn't meet our expectations. It was prepared poorly. The avocados were of different sizes; some big some small. The salmon sashimi was also of different sizes? Really disappointed considering that we went all the way to Wisma Atria just to have this. Perhaps the quality of the sushi would have been better on a less crowded day.

Shiok Maki ($18) 

We then headed to Gardens by the Bay and the lights were so pretty! The picture below shows the Supertree Grove at night! It's so beautiful and we actually wanted to go to the top of it but the queue was too crazily long.

Supertree Grove

We then headed to the Christmas Wonderland and the lights are so beautiful too!

The structure you see above is actually like a dome where you could go inside to take photos. We did go inside but it was way too muddy as it just rained. There was no grass inside too because everyone had trampled on it and all the grass had died. The worst part was that it smelt of fertilizer so it wasn't a very pleasant experience inside.

On the bridge connecting Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay

We headed back to Marina Bay Sands after our little expedition at Gardens by the Bay. We didn't know that there's actually a bridge connecting Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands! Initially while heading to Gardens by the Bay, we took this really long route by walking from Bayfront MRT to Gardens by the Bay. We didn't know we could cut through Marina Bay Sands!

Marina Bay Sands

We were feeling really sweaty after Gardens by the Bay so we decided to head to TWG Tea Salon and Boutique for a nice refreshing dessert and drink.

Passionfruit tea ($11)

Chocolate fudge ($12)

The passionfruit tea was really refreshing and good, but i wouldn't order it again as it is so expensive. The chocolate fudge was really normal too but it looks so pretty on the plate anyway.

Gabriel's family always celebrates Christmas during Christmas eve and they'll usually have catered food. Two years ago, Gab invited me to his Christmas party and that was where i actually started to get to know him better.

Two years ago at Gab's house with some of our favourite friends from law school

Putting this picture here just for memory's sake. :')

This year, we didn't invite anyone so it was just a family dinner with Gab's family. We had ordered most of the food from Putien, while the turkey was from Cedele.

Salad prepared by Gab's sister

Bee Hoon from Putien

Fried Tempura Prawns

Turkey from Cedele

Turkey stuffing and sauce

This stuffing is the bomb. It's seriously too good! It consists of potatoes, mushrooms and it's very well seasoned with herbs. This is my favourite and i could eat a whole tub of this! The cedele turkey is really good and definitely worth getting!

The food on Christmas eve was really so good, all thanks to Gabriel's mum who had prepared everything!

Happenings over the past week

Last Sunday, we had a steamboat session with some of our school mates. Before that, me and Gab headed to the newly revamped Eastpoint to try out their food. The food court was not bad!

We saw this really cute stall selling charms as well and we made a bracelet together. It only costs us $15 and it looks like a Pandora replica!

After the steamboat with our friends, we headed to our favourite place at Dzerts for some cake.

For the next few days of the week, i had been a little busy lately because my brother had recently come back to visit us for a week. I've been going out with my brother a lot and exploring new places in Singapore. 

On one of the days, we headed out as a family for ice skating. It's my first time ice skating and it wasn't easy at all! I had such a hard time balancing and i can only walk minimally. Gabriel was really good at it though and he didn't even have anyone teaching him.

My mum actually took a video of me learning to ice skate. It's so embarrassing. Hahah.

After that we decided to catch The Hobbit. We were very lucky as we got to catch The Hobbit on the first day that it was screening! It was really good and i definitely recommend this movie if you haven't yet watched it. It's so much better than the previous one which was a total cliffhanger.

Over the week we have been eating really healthily as well (because my brother is into organic food). We managed to find a place that serves all organic food!

Real Food @ Central

I really love this place and will be back for more! I'll update this blog on my experience at Real Food soon.

I'm so excited for Christmas. I haven't been to the Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay and am thinking of heading there today. So in the end, we really did head to Gardens by the Bay but it was disappointing.

Shall save my experience at Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay for another post!

Have a wonderful time this Christmas season with your friends and family everyone!

Cycling at East Coast Park

Last Friday, Gabriel and I went cycling at East Coast Park. There are many things to do at East Coast Park and i have blogged about it here: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/07/east-coast-park-memories.html

East Coast Park holds many wonderful memories for me. It's also the place where my relationship with Gabriel was finally official.

Along our way to East Coast Park, the weather was so good and we decided to take some photos.

We then headed to the rental shop to rent two bikes! It's my first time cycling after almost a decade and i'm very thankful that i have Gabriel to teach me how to cycle again! Thankfully, i managed to remember how to cycle quickly.

We took many photos along our cycling route. We cycled at about 5pm and the view was just gorgeous.

All these photos were taken at East Coast Park. It looks like a different place doesn't it?

The sun was starting to set and we just had to capture the beautiful sunset.

Psalm 19:1The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands. 

Great Italian food at Etna

Back with a post on a place Gab and I recently visited. We went to Etna along Upper East Coast since Gab stays really near there. The service was impressive. We were created by a warm welcome the moment we reached there and shown to our seats. We reached there pretty early so it was relatively empty. It got crowded later on so i guess it's a good idea to reserve a place here.

The interior of the restaurant is lovely. It's really warm, quiet and private. The seats are so comfortable was well. Sadly, i was severely underdressed so i didn't take photos of myself in this place.

There's a black chalkboard listing some of the specials for the day. I almost got the angel hair seafood pasta but ultimately decided against it. It sounds good and i might get it the next time i'm here.

We had ordered a bottle of still water. This costs us about $6 i think? Hahaha. Gabriel wanted me to have a complete experience of the restaurant and he didn't want to just order plain water.

Like most italian restaurants, we were served with complimentary bread.

Ravioli di Ricotta e Spinach in Salsa di Pomodoro con Stracciatella ($24)

Wow! This has such a long name. I really enjoyed this dish, although it wasn't mind-blowing. It was a rather decent meal for the price. Each ravioli consisted of handmade ricotta cheese and spinach. I think there were about 8 ravioli in this dish and definitely good enough for one serving. The tomato sauce also consisted of stracciatella cheese. I thought that the sauce was so creamy and so rich in tomato.

Norcina Pizza ($28)

I really love this pizza! This was incredibly good! Its a pizza with Italian truffle paste. I love anything truffle. This did not use truffle oil but a truffle paste and the truffle taste was so strong! This was topped with mozzarella cheese, porcini mushrooms and homemade pork sausages. Just looking at the photo here and describing this pizza makes me want to get one to have right now. It is that good.

Moscato d' Asti ($13.50) and Passito ($16)

The Moscato (on the left) was a 2011 bottle while the Passito (on the right) was a 2009 bottle. I like the Moscato! It's a lot sweeter than the one at Lighthouse (See my review here: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/11/how-we-celebrated-our-first-anniversary.html). This tasted like sweet apples and apricots. The Passito was a little sweeter and heavier. It is fuller and richer. This tasted like plums with a taste of pear. 

At first, we were very amused by the great disparity in cup sizes and couldn't help laughing about it. But we realized that the serving sizes were just perfect in the end. The Passito was really rich and we just couldn't imagine having anymore of it.

I caught Gabriel in that blissful moment enjoying his wine. Heh.

We didn't order any dessert so they gave us some complimentary biscuits! How thoughtful. As i have mentioned, the service here was really great!

This meal costs us over $100 including the GST and service charge.

Etna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

110 Upper East Coast Road

Tel:  68846884

https://www.facebook.com/EtnaItalianRestaurantPizzeria

Review of theBalm NUDE 'tude Eyeshadow Palette

Recently i have been watching youtube makeup guru StyleSuzi (https://www.youtube.com/user/StyleSuzi) and figuring out how she does her makeup. I absolutely love her!

I actually took a picture of her looks that i really like and i'm hoping to replicate them! When i saw that she had theBalm NUDE 'tude Eyeshadow Palette, i knew i had to get it as well! I checked out SASA for their price only to realize that it costs a total damage of $57. There's too much to pay for one eyeshadow palette.

Thankfully, people online are selling it for half the price and i managed to get it only at $30 including shipping! I got mine from here:
http://list.qoo10.sg/item/THE-BALM-THE-BALM-NUDETUDE-NUDE-EYESHADOW/415392934

I'm very satisfied with my buy. The quality of the eyeshadow is there, just that the packaging inside is a little dirty. The mirror isn't too clean but i guess i can make do with that!

You get what i mean when i say the mirror isn't too clean...

The colours are perfect though. It isn't extremely pigmented so it's very easy for me to control how much product to put on my eye.

Some close up shots of how my make up looks under indoor lighting.

 Okay, the quality of pictures here isn't too good as i was using my front camera. Here's how my makeup looks under outdoor lighting.

I really love this eyeshadow palette. It's so versatile and nothing loud. I've been wearing it on a daily basis! I hope you enjoyed this post. I'll be back for more blogging soon!