'E' Day!

After a brief consultation with my good friend (the foodie), we decided to swing by Etna with the kids. So that's how we started the day's outing by filling our stomachs at Etna @ Upper East Coast Road.

They served us yummy bread while we were waiting for the food. Mmmm... I absolutely loved what we ordered. The usual fare, but it just tasted really YUM.

After that, we decided to go to East Coast Park for a walk. Cut across the path of the Standard Chartered Marathon runners, stood at the Cable-Ski Park for a while to admire the lanky and sporty. Then continued to walk along the coast. It was windy, sunny, what you would expect of East Coast on any other afternoon.

Then came the dark clouds and crackle of thunder indicating impending heavy showers. Okay, time to make our way back home. Pass the Cable-Ski Park again, no sight of our instant hit - this cute, young, blonde, curly-haired guy. Never mind, continue back on our path home, and cut across the running path of the marathon runners again. We ended the short walk there with a promise to the girls, that we would bring them back with their pail and shovel so that they could build a sandcastle.

Oh, by the way, it's 'E' day because we went to "Etna" and "East Coast Park". Both places begin with the letter 'E'. Hur hur.

Early Valentine's

Round and around we drove up the carpark of Orchard Central and slotted into a lot on level 5. We thought we were lucky to find a lot near the elevator (when we went home, we wished the exit from the lot would have taken us a lot less manoeuvers!).

Today, we are here at OC to celebrate love at "Sarang". Get the pun? Well, I happened to spot Sarang's Valentine's special menu in the newpapers and thought, hey, why not? We are always on the lookout for potential joints that offer yummy and authentic Korean food. The website (http://www.sarang.com.sg) looked convincing, in fact, quite enticing as the layout was clean, pictures of the food were well-taken and looked tasty, plus, chefs were Koreans.

When we arrived, there was a strong wind blowing and the sky looked dark. The staff at the outdoor section of the restaurant were busy putting away items that would be blown away if the wind got any stronger or would get wet if the rain came. We were really surprised when we asked for a table for the 4 of us and heard a "gonggg" as we were walking in. LOL. Talk about announcing your arrival. Now we know that the gong there served a purpose and was not purely for decor.

We did not really ponder over what we wanted to eat because we were there for that special menu and were ready to try it. We just ordered an additional "Panda Noodles" for the girls (Jajangmyeon) which came out a little spicy. PapaKim was quite adamant that Jajangmyeon are by default, not spicy, so they should have pointed out that it was spicy. En Bi took a mouthful of the Jajangmyeon and called "Fire"! They took a while to replace the Jajangmyeon (well, we should be glad that they offered to replace it) with a non-spicy version but it was disappointing because the noodles were more bits and pieces rather than 'full-length noodles' the second round.

Our order turned out better than expected and we were therefore, pleased. The efforts in the presentation of the food were lovely.

The joke of the day: PapaKim and I walked out feeling that we could have eaten a little bit more, like something was missing from the course. We thought, maybe that's just the way it is with restaurants nowadays, underfeed you when you order a set meal so that you'll order more. What made us realise that we were short-served our MAIN course was this huge picture of "World Star" pasted right outside the pretty walls of Sarang restaurant. Then it clicked in PapaKim's mind.

PPK : "Hey, the staff asked us whether we wanted chicken, pork, or beef, right?

MMK: "Yar, and we said 'beef'. OHH! They didn't serve us the beef!"

Good gracious! PapaKim was not going to ask for the main course but I was in my "auntie" mood and just refused to leave without trying the Bulgogi. I went up to the manager and just told him politely that we weren't served our main course. Jaws dropped. But his recovery was quick. He told us that he would get the food prepared and pack it for us to bring back. Good fire-saving skills!

We went back exploring the place a little more, with packed bulgogi in hand.

What I liked about this place:

- Really cool ambience;

- Friendly staff;

- "Odaeng" in a cup of radish soup (this pleasantly surprised us) + Seaweed-flavoured crackers for Appetiser;

- Authentic and good-tasting Korean food.

Worth a try!

All Day Breakfast On His Birthday

Had breakfast with Aslene this morning at "Hatched" (cute site with inverted "3"s that takes time to load. Be patient.). Always wanted to go there for breakfast on the Mondays when I used to bring Seo Yeon for classes at Julia Gabriels @ Evans Road. Pity they were always closed on Mondays. I wanted to go there even more when Aslene told me about this restaurant "Hatched" that she wanted to go to too because she heard that the food there was yum. So what better place to meet her at for brunch? Why, at "Hatched", where they serve "egg-inspired all-day breakfast"!

Service there gets 6-stars (out of 10), maybe they just aren't "morning people"? Haha... Food? Well... All I can say that maybe Aslene and I weren't very good at choosing good stuff from the menu. The food that others ordered looked gastronomical. Ours just looked at tasted like.... normal breakfast? Despite the fancy name 'Hitch Me Up'.

Brunch at Hatched

Ok, now, to catch some celebration lunch (or breakfast?) with PapaKim at "Wild Honey". Another all-day breakfast concept restaurant, this time situated in bustling Orchard Road, was my breakfast-theme eatery of the day. This was recommended by Aslene, whose opinion I did trust a lot especially when it comes to food, because her husband is a chef. LOL.

Caliornian (Left) & Italian (Right)

I think "Californian" beats "Italian" hands down. A pity that it totally slipped my mind to order the dish that Aslene recommended....

Back in Changwon

One of the must-see for this trip was the "House of Changwon", where I got married 5 years ago on a cold, rainy day. I had always wanted to go back to take a look and see whether the place "evolved" or not, and most importantly, eat at the restaurant where we served the wedding lunch. Yum!

It really felt like a much-needed excursion for my girls to be brought to see the place where Appa and Omma got married so that they would, hopefully, be able to relate to it when I showed them our wedding photos.

House of Changwon

Garden in House of Changwon

Here we are, the spread, and this is not all! We stuffed our guts full by just paying KRW10,000 per person! That's why I wanted to go back there so much. But the kids, gosh, they were a handful without the high chair to strap them in. (Basically, most eating places we liked to go to in Korea was quite difficult because the children tend to run around the place when they are not strapped in their high chair.)

Herb Garden in Changwon

We drove about another 20 minutes to Changwon "City 7", a lodging and shopping complex that is situated next to the Changwon Exhibition Convention Centre (CECO). While we were there, we wanted to check out SHREK 3D, unfortunately, seats for the next available showing were not very ideal. So, we had to take a rain check and took a break in "Angel In Us", a new coffee chain.

My Day

PapaKim brought us girls out for dinner today to celebrate my birthday. In order to reminisce the days we had yummy BBQ clams by the sea, he decided to bring me to eat BBQ clams at a Korean restaurant that brought the clams in from Jeju Island.

But of course, how could a air-conditioned restaurant setting compare to the beautiful sight and sounds that are found by the sea? Nevertheless, I think I enjoyed the quality of the clams and most of all, the company!

The girls were having fun looking at the clams go "Pop!" when they were cooked, but they drew the line there. "Uh uh, no way, Mom, I'm not going to eat that strange looking piece of flesh in the shell." So, great! PapaKim and I had the clams all to ourselves! Not to forget, a cool, refreshing bottle of soju to complement these fresh clams. Oh, and there were 3 mini octopuses too..

Wine Tasting, Cantonese Zi Char, & World Cup 2010

My good friend and her good friend (I like her good friend, and she's now also become my friend!) decided to celebrate my birthday for me a little earlier this year. So where were we heading for?

1. The Wine Gallery
Apparently, that's a place they like to frequent. To taste wine and then buy bottles of wine back to drink. Yes, they drink wine like water.... It was a first wine tasting session for PapaKim and I. We enjoyed ourselves lots! They ended up buying about 3 bottles each while PapaKim and I were happy munching on some crackers at the end of our wine tasting session. Oh, by the way, did I mention that the kids were at home, babysitting services complimentary of their lovely Grandparents. *Big Smile*

2. Cantonese Zi Char @ Keong Saik Road
Ok, not the coolest place to be seen, in fact, sleazy? Haha... But hey, the food was great! So, who's complaining? They even opened a bottle of wine to make the celebration a little more yummy!

3. World Cup Match: South Korea vs. Greece @ Mana Mana Beach Club
We had to swing back home to get the girls as the "complimentary service" only lasted us that long. The place was terribly crowded. I mean, seriously, like the TV was Beyonce or something. The number of people that surrounded the huge screen showing the soccer match was unbelieveable. I went nowhere near them and was pretty much content sitting at the table since I had to feed the 2 girls and try to make at least 1 of them fall asleep. The day ended on a beautiful note for PapaKim as South Korea won the match! 대한민국! 필승 코리아!

Thanks Xinyi & Lena!

Cute Shoes & Hi Tea

I must say the highlights of today was FIRST: 2 pairs of 귀어운 i.e. "cute cute" shoes for Seo Yeon. Just wonderful :) Thanks PLF and Catherine of course... my source to the endless things to buy on Earth. Wanted to get a pair for En Bi too but there was only half a thumb of allowance at the front. Dropped the idea.

Then, the next highlight. It's not the food that left such an indelible mark on me, rather, it was the service (or lack of it?) that we would not expect from eq*inox. The best part about the waitress that was serving our section - No smiles. Makes you wonder whether she just got a botox jab and couldn't smile because it was too expensive and the muscles still numbed. 

Anyway, she refilled Ma's cup of coffee almost to the brim.

Ma: Fill to the brim how I pour milk in?
Me: Ok, I let the waitress know.

I call to a person who seems to be the Manager, who stopped to chat with other customers before getting to me.

Manager: Yes, how may I help you?
Me: The coffee's filled to the brim. My Ma can't add milk to it.
Manager: Ok, I shall get you a new cup.

10 minutes later.... still no new cup of coffee.
I called out to Manager again to ask for the coffee.
He indicates to R to get us a cup of coffee.
Half a cup of coffee arrives at the table.

Ma: Look, only half a cup of coffee.
Me: .........
Ma calls to waitress R, who in turn explains that the Manager asked her to pour us half a cup of coffee.
Ma: Please fill it 3/4 full. I can't possibly be adding almost half a cup of milk to the coffee.
R tries to recover the situation by saying that everything was just miscommunication.

Finally, we got, what we think is an appropriate amount of coffee, poured in the coffee cup.

Service: 2/10
Food: 6/10
Atmosphere: 2/10 (They placed us by the window - yes, but with enough sun to make my freckles surface almost immediately.)

That's that for today. And I'm still up searching for a blogskin.

Breakfast at Botanic Gardens with Grandpa and Grandma

Today we left the house at 9.45am and set off for the Botanic Garden's in Grandpa's car. We had breakast at Cafe Les Amis. It was a very interesting time, watching the birds and the dogs and the people! I had some toast while watching all the things happen around me. It was so fascinating that I lost the mood to eat the cereal that mummy had prepared for me. She was pretty upset, i couldsee.

After breakfast, we took a walk for about 20 mins trying to look for the Children's Garden, but couldn't find it. Boy was the weather hot! We decided to detour back to the car cos we had taken a long enough walk in the hot sun. Of course we took some pictures for this little excursion and I would like to share them with you!