Milestone age
This is the year that I reached my milestone age - an age not that old yet, but not young anymore either; an age that I have associated with a special significance (’cause it is a milestone?) somehow. But yet, due to lack of time, it has took me almost 2 months to pen it down.
I always thought I should celebrate it with a Bang! But due to a shallow pocket and general laziness and busy-ness, one can hardly find the time to plan a memorable or unique way of celebration. Initially I thought to organise the run-of-mill chalet and BBQ thingy. When Mic knew about it, he was less than lukewarm about the idea. He rather spend the money to celebrate my birthday at his favourite ‘holiday’ site of Sentosa.
We decided on Siloso Beach Resort’s Roof Garden Terrace suite (with spa pool) as it looks quite good. I did not expect it to be cheap but the hefty price tag is still more than what I expected. But then I convinced myself that I’m worth it, after all, it’s a really special occasion.
As we get closer to the Day, I started to tell Mic out right what I want to do at Sentosa and wondering if I’m killing my surprise again. 
I think I did not get a cake from Mic for the past 2 years so I specifically told him I want a cake but I think I forgot to stress that I want it at 12am. When I reached home on the night before my birthday, I was rather disappointed that he was busy playing his computer games to pay me much attention. I decided not to jump the gun and wait and see with a book in bed, however I can’t help being a bit angry as well. Self-inflicted agony as usual.
Finally 12am rolled around. He came into the room and kissed me Happy Birthday. I responded with a pout. He took one look at me and said, “Orh, angry…” then went out to watch his TV.
!!!!!! @#$%&*#@$
Never mind… 我忍
Meekly, I went to him and asked, “Dear…where’s my cake?”
“Don’t have,” he replied, eyes still glued to the TV.
“Hmph!” I stormed off into the room and went to bed, wiping away tears of frustration and disappointment. Actually knowing Mic, I knew he should have prepared something for me the next day when we go to Sentosa and I know my surprise would be sweeter without expectations but I just want my cake at midnight and eat it too (pun intended).
The next morning, I woke before Mic and it wasn’t till I brushed my teeth and returned to the bed again that I noticed a present on my bed stand! Inside was a 4-sided photoframe with a Happy Birthday message, our itinerary in Sentosa, and a picture of cute sugar cows sitting on pretty cupcakes.
Later I learned that he did not get me XX (corresponding to age) cow cupcakes as I initially thought (oooh, how sweet would that be!). The picture was just something he picked up from the internet. But I did get my cake - nice chocolate cake from Bakerzin at Vivocity, that we cut and ate beside the spa pool (”It’s boring to have the cake at home,” Mic said in his defence). But I’m happy as I got my cake after all, hee hee. After all, it’s the thought and effort that counts.
We went to Fish Reflexology, something that I specifically requested as the last time we were there was a very interesting experience. I’m someone who has a very low threshold of pain and ticklishness so I was like stifling my shrieks and withdrawing my legs when the fishes are eating away at my skin or when the reflexologist is working on my legs. Hiak Hiak.
Next, dinner is on the itinerary. Mic had made reservations at a new and nice Japanese (fine-dining) restaurant, Santaro Japanese Restaurant at Amara Sanctuary Resort Singapore. My generous hubby decided to spoil me with the most expensive set dinner on the menu. The 10 course set dinner menu was not fixed but decided by the chef, therefore we are not too sure either what we had.
1) The first course was a tuna, ham and crabsmeat salad that was refreshing to the tastebud.
2) Next was something which I don’t eat but is one of Mic’s favourite food - oyster. Luckily, the oyster, though, presented in its shell, had been cooked. I absolutely cannot take the taste of raw oyster. The oyster was lightly grilled and so well marinated such that there is no smell and it tasted really really good. I guess it is the first time that I could stomach oyster.
3) The third dish was one of our all-time favourites - sashimi! We are not too sure what fish it was but the rest of the sashimi set comprised of prawns, cuttlefish and some meat. The prawns were too slimmy for my taste but the rest of the ensemble was great. The fish was firm yet melts in the mouth like butter as described by Mic. The meat item was quite different to me as I have not really tried raw meat before but upon biting into it, there was no raw taste. We wish there were more though as we absolutely love sashimi. Funny how I love sashimi so much now, it was only an acquired taste since 2003. After having finer sashimi, we know that we would never be truely satisfied by normal sashimi again.
4) Next was clear tuna broth served in this cute little cup that looks like a tealight holder. Hahaha. Basically the serving is so small that you could finish it in one mouthful. As it was fine dining, so we sipped it slowly to appreciate its (quite nice) taste. The soup texture was really very clear, no oil whatsoever.
5) The next dish marks the beginning of the ‘main course’. It was quite big! Grilled rock fish lightly grilled and seasoned with salt, served with radish. I think Mic was happy to see the fish as he loves fish.
6) This was both our favourite dish of the evening - Grilled goose liver with steamed turnips. Ooooh lala! Goose liver! And it is not bite-sized but looks like a small pork fillet. The outer layer is grilled to perfection yet the flesh is so tender and so juicy. I still miss it even now.
7) Such a big serving of chawamushi! And there is a big piece of shark’s fin inside. What’s not to like?
I’m usually not a great lover of tempura, but even I can tell that this tempura is so cripsy on the outside yet still soft and moist on the inside. Delicious.
9) Sushi is one other favourite of mine in Japanese cuisine. The variety of sushi served were traditional, professional (ie big piece of sashimi and little rice) and looks good. The fresh scallop was especially yummy.
10) Dessert was quite a non-event as Japanese cuisine is not big on desserts. Expecting green tea ice cream with red beans, it was quite surprising that we were served black sesame ice cream instead. The texture and taste of the ice-cream was quite good.
Thank you, dear, for the wonderful and memorable dinner.
We did not expect to spend such a long time at dinner and thus missed the first Song of The Seas show. Luckily, we were able to trade in our tickets for the second show. I was pretty disappointed with it though. It was too similar to the old musical fountain (free entry) and we still have to pay $6 for each ticket for this show!
After the half an hour show, we went back to the hotel and enjoy the spa pool on our private deck. Time to cut cake (see above)!
After the eventful day, the next morning was spent lazing around in bed after breakfast. Then all too soon, it was time to go home.
The service at Siloso Beach Resort could be better and I thought the reception seems a little too small and short-staffed to have a queue forming at check-in time. The room was also a bit small and the spa pool was without lights, which would have made night time dips more romantic. But the most important thing is i get to spend my birthday in a memorable way with my dearest.
Once again, Thanks, Darling for the lovely weekend, which we would remember for a long time to come.
Happy birthday to our april `babies`
We met with everyone at Bishan’s Cafe cartel to celebrate our april birthday folks. At first thought we had just 3 ladies (in the end Lena couldn’t make it) but realized Mervyn is also born in April! After enjoying a nice choc mud cake from secret recipe, we headed to party world for a karaoke session. Here’s wishing all the April ‘babies’ happy birthday!
Go Meet the Robinsons!
We went to Orchard and enjoyed an afternoon spa on our rare day off yesterday. The package offered via HSBC at the Ultimate Spa @ Shaw Centre was for “The Ultimate Wine Spa Indulgence“. It was our first time experiencing it and must say it was quite nice although a bit chilly when the red wine scrub gets done since the air-conditioning is turned on quite high.
Since we didn’t make any reservations for dinner, we walked around a bit and headed towards Far East Plaza for yakitori but alas the place was packed and in the end we ended back at Shaw’s Resturant Hoshigaoka… The set meals were surprisingly well designed with a little bit of everything that we liked.
Going along our impromptu plans for the evening, we headed up to the theatre to check out the movies on show. Timing couldn’t be better since 9pm show was for “Meet the Robinsons”. Yh and myself didn’t really know what the movie was about other than it being a Disney animation. The first few minutes after the usual trailers even brought back childhood memories as they ran an old clip of Mickey, Donald and (Dog we can’t remember name) building a ship for Minnie. Was rather unusual since don’t usually have this before movies?
Anyway, the main event came up and we sat through the start of the movie. The main character (Lewis) as we find out is an orphan who happens to be a brilliant tinkerer but constantly encounters failures in his experiments to solve problems he thinks can be solved but sheer determination and cleverness. We also encounter some unusual characters (Wilbur, Bowler Hat Guy and Doris) who hail from the future and find that this isn’t an ordinary run of the mill story about a kid getting adopted!
The story goes through some very funny moments like when the T-Rex bumps his head against the wall and tries to grab Lewis with his small hands and starts wondering to his master if the plan was well thought out.
I think Disney’s movies have really changed quite a lot since Mickey’s time? We encounter a sinister timeline when Doris takes over the world and starts dominating the human existence (not unlike The Matrix). The scene where mini-Doris’s chase after Lewis remind me of the Matrix’s chase through earth.
Not to reveal too much, go watch this movie! I think its well worth the time and money to sit through the story as it unravels. I think the tagline “Keep moving forward” should hold true for everyone young or old as they encounter failures. Good fun. great animation and a lesson to learn (all wrapped up in a nice 2 hours).