Festive Sharing and the B Day

Hey Guys,

(Warning: Take your time on this long post since the next time you see me is going to be in 2014. Post on love, food, fashion and the truth! Have fun!)

Festive season is coming to an end soon and how are you feeling right now! For me it's kind of a hate and love feeling, reluctant to let go of the year end holiday mood and stress-free days yet excited to enter 2014 with my list of resolutions and determination to make them happen. Also I can't wait to get rid of this super guilty feeling and start eating clean again. Had enough of me making excuses for myself in front of the food and after hating myself for not having enough determination to conquer each meal. Hey but that's life right, letting go once in a while and indulge in your favorite delicacies!! As long as everything gets back to being in control, who cares ;) For those who knows me, December is also my Birthday month. Which means MORE food!

I spent my Christmas eve being with my dearest in life - Mom and Denver. I always make it a point to stay home when he is not in Singapore so I can compensate for the time spent with bf and friends.
So this year my Christmas gift to Denver is a Durian tart instead of the usual toys which he has more than enough. Durian is his favorite fruit, he goes crazy the moment he sniffs it. I do believe that dogs are like human, spoiling them once in a while just makes the life more interesting. Having said that, I do maintain a very strict diet for Denver ;)

Got my Snowy Durian Ice Cream Tart from SuperDog Kitchen. It is human-friendly too! Seriously, self-made dog food is always healthier than your day to day human food.

Consists of: D-24 durian, strawberries, greek yoghurt, lactose-free milk, butter, honey, eggs, garbanzo bean flour and wheat-free & gluten-free all purpose flour.

Oh, Lemon mint stars is a gift to help freshens up Denver's breath. How sweet is that!

Needless to say, he LOVES it

On Christmas day, I got a date with with one of my close girlfriend from France at OSO Ristorante. Italian restaurant with a cosy alfresco area and amazing food! We took the 4 course Christmas menu at $98++. Since I was already half-drunk after a bottle of wine and glass of champagne, have forgotten to take a picture of the menu so I do not have the exact name of the dishes. ;p Here you are..

One of my favorite cheese - Burrata

Mad love for this Ravioli - there is an egg yolk right in the middle

Lobster

Chestnut and mascarpone cream if I remember correctly

The happy girls

Food was really good especially the ravioli, OSO is definitely a restaurant worth your try! Prices are on the higher side though but just good for a special occasion. I especially love their "200 Gr. roasted beef tenderloin filleto with sabayon asparagus and shaved truffle" which is on the a la carte menu.
We had a great dinner and decided to continue to Screening Room for the unfinished gossips.

We usually go out in a group and were both happy to share some intimate moments together. Ended Christmas with 2 drunk girls and plenty of gossips. When was the last time you met up with your girlfriends, especially for working mums? It is good to maintain the friendship by meeting up often even with your busy personal life or family commitments. Afterall, friends are one of the key aspects in life!

As you know my bf returned from France on the 26th, just in time for my birthday. For the past years, he usually comes back after new year so I am really happy that we can spend my birthday together ;) His return certainly doesn't help with the calories when he brought back all what I am missing.

Miam Miam !!

What is your favorite snack or dessert from France? Chocolate, Madeleine or Macaron? I love Madeleine with a cup of coffee for breakfast. Saucisson and rillettes are my favorite appetizers from France, I can finish a loaf of bread with them! He was not able to bring back rillettes due to long hours of flight. ;( As you can see from the picture, saucisson is a variety of thick, dry cured sausage that originates in France. Typically made of pork, or a mixture of pork and other meats, saucisson are a type of charcuterie similar to salami or summer sausage. They actually taste like our chinese sausage "Lap Cheong".

As always, what I usually do during the day of my birthday is to get a new hairdo. This year I decided to try the salon all the top bloggers are raving on, Salon Vim.  Booked an appointment with one of the directors, Gary Chew. He is nice, friendly and sociable. 

Transformation in progress

Despite the rave created by all top bloggers, I was disappointed with the results. Not that the results is bad, it's just not as amazing as what you would have expect. Overall I did straightening to the first half of my hair followed by curls on the bottom half and 1 color only to complete the look. To be fair, the service was good until the coloring of my hair when I felt my scalp burning after they applied the dye on it. This is not the first time I do coloring to my hair and I have bleached my hair several times before. I did not tell them about the burning sensation though, thinking that I can hold on for only 30mins. After the wash, I was told that my bottom part of the hair is not able to absorb the color because I have previously dyed black before and now I have a lighter upper head compared to the lower part. It didn't look ugly but just that it did not turned out to be what I wanted. They told me that I could book another appointment 2 weeks later to do highlights to the lower part of the hair to make it look even. Duh! My curls do look great the point I walked out of the salon after the professionals blowing dry them. I have paid $50 more to become a member so I could enjoy the 15% off + 20% since it's my birthday month, all in all $550 damage to my wallet. In order to not waste my $50, I am going to return for my highlights. Having said these, I do like my new look after it's done but my curls didn't quite last till the 3rd day. Maybe it's because I did not blow dry like how I was taught to do but overall it is not as great as what I imagined. Well, some things you just got to experience it to know it.
Now here's my OOTD and new hairdo for the birthday dinner date with him.

Top-Stradivarius, Skirt-ASOS, Shoes-Charles&Keith

He brought me to Fullerton Water BoatHouse for dinner ;) Our first time there.

I actually missed it until he says look below your menu.. LOL !!

Food porn time again!

Appetizer - Duck confit, salad, green beans, shallots, cherry tomatoes, walnut oil - Mine

Appetizer - Provencal fish stew with shellfish, fresh fish of the day - His

Main - Red snapper pan seared, melted cabbage, sweet corn, merguez sausage and harissa salsa - Mine

Main - Rib eye, Dauphinoise potatoes, buttered vegetables and bone marrow in a red wine sauce - His

For dessert, my birthday cake ;)

Please make me the next TOTO winner!! hehe

For the gift, check it out on my instagram account - engellpeh .. ;)
Happy for all the arrangements he made. Feeling blessed!

Not ending the post yet, hahaha.. You have Italian and French food, how can we forget about my roots and the most beloved Chinese food ! Invited mom to dinner on Saturday to thank her for giving birth to such an amazing daughter. ;)

Quote from all moms in the world "Don't go to those expensive restaurants, it's a waste of money! Let's just eat nearby"

Don't judge by the picture cause I was feeling the fullest for this meal. Finished the entire bowl of rice! Love you so much MOM. ;)

Hope you guys enjoyed this super long post! See you in 2014!
Have you thought about your new year resolutions yet? If not, why not try to complete those which you have missed for the past years ;)

Wishing you and your family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! To a year full of amazing great surprises and many many happy returns. Great health and plenty of joy and laughter. Bundle of love among your families and friends!

With love, xoxo
(Do give comments on my posts if you liked them) ;)