Cakes at Patisserie Glace and Obolo

We have been indulging in alot of cakes over this year and recently, we went for some cakes again at Patisserie Glace at the Icon and Obolo in Joo Chiat. Patisserie Glace cakes while having bigger slices follows the Japanese style cakes with light fluffy, soft sponge and cream such that you don't feel overwhelmed despite the bigger serving. Obolo features heavier tasting cakes in a smaller slice. Our personal opinion was that Obolo is still the standard to beat in terms of taste and aesthetics, presentation which proves that the best things in life do come in smaller packages. Obolo cakes features many intricate ingredients fused that add to the rich and multi faceted experience that you get when you taste the different layers of each cake slice. Every slice of cake at Obolo is a fusion of different layers that are distinct in flavor, yet complement to make the cake slice as a complete tentalising experience.


(Above) Fruits Crepe featuring fresh juicy sweet strawberry set in Chef Yamashita's Baravian cream layered with crepe, a unique connoction.


(Above) Double Cheese Rare Mango comprising of mango cubes, puree and melt in your mouth cheese.




(Above) Patisserie treats from Obolo


(Above and Below) Nikita Cheesecake from Obolo - Dark chocolate ganache mousse layered with refreshing dark cherry and raspberry compote jelly and smooth pistachio ivoire mousse paired with layers of almond and chocolate biscuit bathed in cherry and kirsch syrup in between.




(Above) Macarons - Ruby featuring raspberry infusion coupled with dark chocolate ganache and Salted Caramel Chocolate with salted butter and caramel ganache.



(Above and below) Yuzu - a refreshing treat featuring lemon mascarpone mousse, japanese yuzu- citrus cremeux with moist vanilla genoise and mango passion gelee on a base of ivoire crunchy feuillitine.





(Above and Below) Verrine Caprice - apricot mango gelee layered by hazelnt milk chocoloate crunch, moist choclate genoise topped with a mini bittersweet chocolate macaron.

Dining at Yoshimaru Ramen Bar

(above, Yoshimaru Ramen courtesy of Camembaru Food Blog)

This weekend, we went to have ramen at the Yoshimaru Ramen Bar at Playground @ Big Splash. Yoshimaru Ramen Bar is an established ramen bar in japan brough to Singapore by the Jumbo Seafood people. It serves Hakata ramen that originated from Hakata, Kyushu. The most distinctive difference about Hakata ramen from others is that the noodles are much thinner and firmer in texture but which adds up to a very fuifilling meal. While the menu is limited in it's offerings, the prices are reasonable and the ramen offering reasonably good.


The soup base(above) has a rich stock being boiled with collagen extracted from pork bones but yet has a mellowed flavour so the array of condiments on each table is there for a purpose for each one to individually spice up their soup.Personally, me and Gayle felt that health conscious people may like it as it was not salty but for us, condiments are needed to give the soup some kick and salt.

A novel way to keep the diners occupied is to provide each with a bowl of sesame seeds and a pounder so that diners can throw in some condiments and mix and pound it with the sesame seeds and then throw it into the soup when the ramen arrives. Yoshimaru Ramen Bar's design provides for a chic and cool place to slurp japanese noodles in comfort although we felt that the music video being played was a little too loud as a background music.

As this was our second visit there, we could use the discount coupons given on our first trip which entitles you to $10 off every $25 spent which is quite worth it. I ordered the Shabu Shabu beef ramen while Gayle ordered the traditional Hakata ramen.


My shabu shabu beef ramen(above) had strips of soft and really juicy and tender beef slices which helped to add to the sweetness of the soup.


The ni tamago- seasoned egg(above) was so soft, tender with the yolk literally melting in the mouth. Gayle's Hakata ramen(below) has thin tender and juicy slices of pork slices.



There are side dishes available but personally, we felt that the richness and good texture of the ramen and soup made for a substantial meal.2 Full bowls of ramen cost us $29 with GST but we paid only $19 after the $10 discount. It is worth a visit there or two if you want to have a reasonably good bowl of Hakata ramen.

Celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary at Marina Mandarin

(Above)Us in our cozy room

For our 2nd Wedding Anniversary, we went for a short hotel stay over the weekend to have a relaxed time together. We started off with a relaxing customised spa session at The Retreat Spa at Changi Village Hotel. After the relaxing massages and body wrap, we proceeded on to Marina Mandarin Hotel where we had booked a 2 nights stay at the Executive Premier Room with Balcony for $479 inclusive of taxes. This package is available to all VISA cardholders. It was a really relaxing time with nothing but just lazing around in the room, watching cable, makaning , shopping at Marina Shopping Centre and Suntec, and just having quiet moments together.


(Above)Gayle opening the door to our Premium Room at Marina Mandarin Hotel


(Above)Admiring the lobby view from our 19th floor room.


(Above) Us admiring the view from our balcony


(above) View of the swimming pool from our room


(Above) Our room balcony


(Above)Right view from our room balcony


(Above)Centre view from our room balcony


(Above)Left view from our room balcony.


(Above)Gayle doing some reading at the reading corner


(Above)The Bedroom looks cozy and contemporary.


(Above) Study section of the room. 42 inch LCD TV provides good entertainment.


(Above)Reading Area


(Above) Marbled tiled Bathroom and Hansgrohe fittings lend an air of luxury.

Modern Piano seat

Our previous bar stool which I had bought for Gayle to use as an interim seat for her electric piano was spoilt as the height adjustment mechanism had broken down. So on one of trips to Viviocty's Gain city electronic store, we spotted a modern steel piano seat which was what we were looking for as most of the others we had seen were the traditional wooden based seat type.

Costing $120, this QuikLok Performance Structure built seat that I bought for Gayle is constructed with 30x30 stainless steel tubing and welded joints for strength and durability. There is also a steel plate reinforcement that provides stable undersupport to the cushion seat. We like this seat because it is not only sturdy and modern in design but also provides for comfortable seating with a 8 cm thick cushioned seat with textured vinyl seatcover. This also allows for easy cleaning.






The seat's height can be adjusted between a range of 46.5cm to 64cm with a secured locking pin. All these at a lightweight 5.5kg enables ease of carrying the seat which can be dismantled flat for removal.


(Above) The rubber ends of the legs provide a secure, non scratch grip on the flooring.

Our Second Wedding Anniversary

Above: Having a quiet moment together.

Time really flies and it's seems so fast that we are already into our second year of marriage. We reminiscine about our ROM on 1st September 2007 which was a warm and wonderful, intimate affair at The Glassbar at The Jewel Box @ Mt Faber. Some pictures of that wonderful day (taken by Kuang and Eng of 39 East) when we became husband and wife.It's been a blessed and blissful two years and we look forward to the rest of our lives together.


Above: Us walking and turning to smile at the posse of photographers and videographers trailing us.


Above: Getting ready to our positions down the wedding aisle scattered with pretty rose petals


Above: Us doing a little dance down the corridor of Beaufort Sentosa villa where we stayed



Above: Sweet desserts for our guests


Above: The Wedding March.


Above and Below: Our Floral Ring Pillow




Above: Us reading our own marriage vows which we wrote for each other.


Above: Our car floral bouquet


Above:Our Wedding beetle with cans trailing


Above: Journey home in our wedding beetle

To have an initial celebration of our 2nd Wedding anniversary on September 1st this month, we had a nice dinner at Sakuraya at Parkway Parade with the freshest sashimi comprising of prawns, scallops, salmon, squid washed down with Japanese rice and miso soup. While it's not the poshest of place, well for foodies who know fresh sashimi when they see one, it's as good as it gets at a valued price of nearly $50, quality and quantity which many upscale restaurants would find it hard to keep up with. To further celebrate our anniversary, we booked a 2 nights weekend getaway at Marina Mandarin in mid September in their Premier Room with balcony under a special promotion for VISA card holders at $208 a night plus a customized $500 spa package at The Retreat @ Changi Village hotel to relax and rejuvenate. So we are looking very much forward to next weekend to getting away from it all to spending romantic and quality time together.

Financial prudence in home ownership

Having one's own home is always a key accomplishment in one's life. However along with owning one's own home comes with the financial responsibilities of owning and maintaining a home. For us, we realise that we are quite particular about the items and design of our house so we chose to go HDB instead of private. By going down the HDB route, we could use the cash saved to furnish and renovate our apartment the way we wanted. Going down the condo route would have been difficult since cash would be very sparse after coughing out cash for the wedding.Besides, it would seem quite a waste not to use up the government's 30k grant since we pay a sizeable income tax and the government is not in a habit of going huge doses of moolah to it's citizens. While a condo is one of those things in life that provides the aspiration for some people, we felt that since we arent super duper rich, it would be quite hard on us since the exorbitant sums for a condo would result in us being a slave to our house for a term of 25 to 30 years. Both of us would prefer to have spare cash to be in a position to spend it on things we enjoy such as holidays, shopping, food and car. With a HDB flat, we are able to plan to pay up our loan in 8 years time with current monthly payments of about $600 a month deducted from our CPF. This allows us to ensure that when we retire at age 65, we have enough CPF savings. If you are paying for a home for 30 years using your CPF savings,it would mean an empty CPF account which is a frightening thought, unless you are a big income earner. Also, the spare cash saved goes to providing for future needs such as insurance and medical expenses when we get older. We know that many people say that well you can sell your condo for a profit but that is a BIG 'IF' as you are dependent on a good resale market or you can choose the time to see your house ( espeicallly when you are older and you may need to get that cash in hand at the most inopportune time). Also, human nature would be that if you have been living in a condo for 30 years, it would be most difficult to downsize especially from a private to a public property. We also thought that one reason why we arent so fervent over condos is probably because both of us lived in private property during our younger days and it didnt seem like a big deal after the initial excitement of having a swimming pool, exclusivity, the 'glam' factor etc dies off. Besides, the thought of being locked in a 25 to 30 year loan for a condo means virtually you are imprisoned to your job and we did'nt like that thought very much because you never can predict the future. If we do feel like leaving our jobs one day, we can do it without fear since most major things would be paid for already.

The following are some financial commitments imposed which a first time home owner should always take into account so that owning one's own home does not become a stressful event. Do avoid high interest items such as renovation loans or little things that sap your savings such as 12 to 36 month type of installment schemes for your electrical appliances etc.

Monthly
1) Utilities bills ( Electrical , water and refuse removal )
2) Estate / Town Council Maintenance Fee
3) Cable TV subscription
4) Telephone and Internet subscription
5) House Loan Payments ( if you did not have enough CPF to cover monthly payments )
6) Car Park Season Parking Fee ( For HDB / URA carparks )
7) House cleaning ( A little luxury that saves you time and energy )
8) Groceries ( cleaning solutions,toilet rolls etc - always seems a mystery to us how a few items of groceries can add up to a big bill and we are talking about shopping in NTUC buying housebrands where possible)

Annually
1) Mortgage Insurance
2) Fire Insurance
3) Property Tax

For us, we try to do necessary savings because we believe that it is better to spend such money on things we enjoy or save it instead of wasting it needlessly on unnecessary expenditure. One example is utilities. Our monthly utilities hovers between $70 to $80 with use of aircon every late noon and nights.


With shayna's arrival, we also find ourselves using more water to wash and clean her up daily. We try to cut down on utilities by using energy saving bulbs in those areas where the light is turned on for long periods such as the study area, kitchen, dining.
We switch off lights when not in use. We also use the fan when the nights are cooler though this is rare given the heat wave recently. Our fridge, microwave oven, aircons and washing machine have energy saving inverter technology. We also actively turn off all appliances because to leave them in standby mode will add to your electricity bills.
We also look for savings promotion such as the Singtel Mio Plan which for $65 a months pays for Gayle's handphone, our broadband connection and house phone.So when buying a house, don't just factor the loan payments, do consider the maintenance because it's no joy slaving over a house when it should be for your enjoyment.