I keep calling it Ching Chong instead of Chong Qing! Only realised today the restaurant’s full name is “The Magic of Chongqing Hot Pot”. Don’t diss the name, the food is actually pretty good. Possibly the most well-known hot pot restaurant in Singapore.

The Magic of Chong Qing Hot Pot
Opening Hours:
Lunch : 12.00 – 3.00pm
Dinner : 6.00 – 11.00pm

*Last Orders an hour before closing
*Reservations recommended

Address: 19 Tanglin Road, #04-06 Tanglin Shopping Centre
Tel: +65 6734 8135
Website: http://www.chinesefeasts.com.sg/

An agency contacted me on a bloggers contest for adidas watches recently, and the brief was to showcase the chosen watch in a stylish & creative photo. First of all, I love it when agencies do their research targeting the right bloggers for the products they are promoting. Adidas watches? Me? Sure! I digress.

The adidas SEOUL 2010 Spring Summer Collection is a series of unisex retro-style watches which depict country colours of popular footballing nations. Apart from the basic black and white ones, the rest come in two toned colours corresponding to the country flag. I love the oversized watch face and matte straps, quite similar to the Candy model I got last time.

So I had to choose one of the above. The one that really stood out was the green red and white watch. I didn’t know which watch could represent which Country until i Googled it online.

Here is the collection with the corresponding countries:

ADH9505 – Germany

ADH9504 – France

ADH9503 – England

ADH9506 – Italy (Mine)

ADH9501 – Brazil

ADH9502 – Spain

ADH9500 – Argentina

Anyway, please click HERE and “like” my photo, winner will be chosen based on the number of “likes” as well as organiser’s decision!

Also don’t forget to be a fan of the adidas timing fanpage :

If I win, I will share my prize with a lucky blog reader as well.

想跟我吵架 我没那么无聊
不懂得道歉 我没那么聪明
好想要回到我们的原点

你又在哭泣 我给不了安慰
我又在摇头 有那么点后悔
爱情的发展已难以回头却无法往前走

但身不由己出现在胸口
两颗心能塞几个问号
爱让我们流多少眼泪

你的眼神充满美丽带走我的心跳
你的温柔如此靠近带走我的心跳
逆转时光到一开始 能不能给一秒
等着哪一天你也想起
那悬在记忆中的美好

Wang Lee Hom (王力宏)

Best wedding of 2009 has to be the beautiful union of Brian Wey and Diana Lie. Throughout the wedding planning process, I would hear details from Dru. At times he took a more active role in the planning such as finding the right live band for the evening.

So when the day finally arrived, seeing the culmination of all those ideas is probably why wedding planners keep doing what they do. Seeing the success of a well-planned and well–executed wedding must be so gratifying.

When you first walk into the ballroom, the first thing that caught my attention was the floor to ceiling fabric that draped elegantly down the walls. This was by request of the family, and to be honest, probably the best decision they could have made. With the help of mood lighting, the room was transformed to an amazing dining hall which looked elegant and nothing like the usual drab hotel ballroom.

The flowers were amazing and I believe were from Boenga. Ballroom was not overly flowered, and was smartly placed. White table bouquets looked chic and were arrange high above eye level so your view wasn’t obstructed.

The night was just beautiful. Speeches were kept short and sweet, and the party went on late in the night. I have to say I was particularly proud of Dru’s speech, because he wasn’t too excited about delivering it. You should have more confidence in yourself, you did really well!

Food was great! But I already knew it would be if it passed through Dru’s taste test. My parents were also friends with the mother of the bride, so it was nice to have them there with me too. I got to slow dance with my dad, and I THINK, that’s the first time we’ve ever did that!

My beautiful deep blue silk Georgette asymmetrical drape gown was made by Eelyn from Yu. I loved how the fabric gathered Grecian-styled at the sides without making me look frumpy.

If you don’t want to look like the other donkeys in (god forbid) Daniel Yam dresses, and want something (YU)nique, you must look for her. She has a bespoke service for those who really want to go custom.

Last week while clearing my office drawer, realised I had 3 shawls. Deciding to take two home, I took a sniff so I could keep the freshest one.

Hmmm strange, I took second sniff… and a third. It smelt like a natural scent, and it could only possibly be MY natural scent. But why am I able to smell it now and never in the past 27 years?

I’ve always known you can smell someone else’s but not your own.

Curious as I was, I then decided to google and read up about natural scents and the human sense of smell. Here’s some interesting facts!

Read more…

I wrote this post last year, and was kept in drafts. Now that I’m clearing them… I can’t remember which restaurant had made such a bad impression on me. Can anyone help narrow it down?

OH SNAP! I remember now!

It was after the World Effie Festival, the ICON team were having dinner at Oosters at Suntec City. I’ve eaten at the Far East Square branch before and had no issues there. But at the Suntec branch on that particular night, all of us were absolutely fuming at the end of the night. We have never come across such atrocious service. Here was the list of unpleasantries.

1. Starters took 40mins to arrive
2. One starter didn’t turn up, deep friend Camembert
3. They later informed us they ran out of mussels, so some of our mains had to be changed to lamb
4. Our mains then took about 45mins
5. side plates not cleared when mains arrived
6. Some mains i.e. steak, we were given normal knife not steak knife
7. Some of our mains didn’t EVEN ARRIVE for another 45mins – pork knuckle & sausages
8. lamb mains didn’t turn up at all, later we were informed they ran out of lamb and forgot to inform us
9. cocktail apple Martini forgotten
10. asked for water, never came
11. attitude of waitresses were atrocious
12. didn’t clear plates
13. we had cake but they didn’t provide any small plates or cutlery
14. restaurant manager had no balls to speak to us instead delivered messages through his minion waiters to solve the problem
15. And I overheard 2 other table of diners left unhappy

That is quite a list of complaints!

I really hope for the sake of the restaurant, that those issues have been ironed out and that floor manager has moved on to another establishment. Because it would be such a shame to have them on my blacklist, there aren’t that many German restaurants around.

Another reason why I sometimes feel like I AM the Redbull brand. Not only do they support sports like Mountain Biking, they also dabble in music and now art!

The Red Bull Art of Can is a nationwide hunt for creativity and is open to everyone, from fulltime artists to simply one with a creative flair. Built, sculpt, weld, glue, hammer, bend, fold, print, tape and paint, whatever!

Your primary material must be a blue and silver Red Bull can, but you will need to add plenty of imagination and creativity. Make a sculpture, a picture, a 3D model, a mobile, a video or a piece of modern art, but make it beautiful, colourful, clever, amusing or outrageous.

The 2010 Red Bull Art of Can Singapore marks the first time that this intriguing event is held in these parts of the world. Other successful exhibitions have been held previously all over the globe from Europe to New Zealand since 1997.

The first prize winner gets a 6D5N trip for 2 to Berlin, Germany. Second prize 4D3N trip to Melbourne, Australia. And third prize wins a Canon EOS 50D Kit with EF-S 18-55 IS lens.

Here are my local favourites:

The 2010 Red Bull Art of Can Singapore exhibits can be viewed at the brand new ‘Youth Park’ called *SCAPE located next to CIneleisure Orchard. The exhibition, which is open to public, will feature artists based in Singapore and original pieces of artworks created with or inspired by the blue and silver Red Bull cans. Entry is FREE!

Redbull Art of Can Exhibition
Date: 3-11 July 2010
Venue: *SCAPE, 5th Level Art Gallery
Website: www.redbullartofcan.sg

Kimmy’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themed birthday was a complete and utter success and the best theme party of the year! The H.O.T. party comes a close second.

First, invitations. It took me a whole weekend of messing around on photoshop to get this done. I scoured the internet for ideas and images and after hours of font browsing, image extractions and layering, this is the final artwork:

Next up, decorations. Kimmy had booked out Krish @ Rochester Park as the venue for her party, and although the Rabbit Hole/The White Rabbit would have been perfectly app for the theme, Krish was owned and run by friends of ours and she really wanted to support their new venture.

I found some fantastic ideas online which I shared with Kim and Artika from flower choices and table deco ideas. Things like chequered table cloths for the “tea party”, moss around the candy buckets, tower of cards, but my favourite was the googly eyes on the daisies. It took forever to glue gun those eyes on! Everything came together so well, it almost looked professional!

But the party isn’t a success unless guests dress to theme. And on that night EVERYBODY made a stellar effort!

When Kim told me the theme was Alice in Wonderland, I knew straight away who I’d like to come as.

Getting the costume together was quite a challenge:

Ears and basic black tail – from Cheeks @ Far East Plaza. Tail was wrapped and glue-gunned with faux fur in 2 purples from Spotlight @ Plaza Singapura)
Leggings – from Cheeks Far East
Black swimming costume – my own
Striped long sleeve shirt – my own
Boots – my own
Cheshire smile – I painted it in acrylic so the colours won’t run, mounted it on foam board, cut it out and stuck it to a bamboo stick

There was bound to be plenty of repeat characters, but it was made very clear. There was only to be ONE Alice in the party, and that would be Kim.

Snapped so many photos that night, and just too many I want to share with you in one post.

I loved how everyone got into character when posing for a photograph. Best actor award goes to Ken & Paul as Tweedledee & Tweedledum. Best dressed hands down would be SilverFox as the Rabbit.

Kim’s true-to-theme intentionally lop-sided cake was prepared by Artika.

Check out my tower of cards on the bar top! Finally those old SIA playing cards come handy. SilverFox also printed out massive playing cards and hung them all over the place…effort!

I wonder what next year’s party is going to be like. Will be tough to top the Hong Kong party the year before or this Alice in Wonerland one!

Another post which was lost in the drafts. Bear in mind this was written in 2008 when I was still with Wayne and still DH-ing! Both not the case anymore.

Everyone knows there aren’t any mountains to climb in Singapore, all we’ve got is Bukit Timah Hill, just 164m above sea water! sadface.

Not that I don’t enjoy it, I do, but sometimes you need to throw something different into the mix. To get that fix, Wayne, Leon, Lai, Ian and I headed up to Kiara KL, again.

This is the most we’ve ever travelled for mountain biking, think it has been four trips.

This time round, we brought up the Turner RFX for me to use, because I should start getting used to the bike if I was going to go slightly harder.

After this trip, I have to confess I have a problem. I’m scared.

Ever since I endovered the last time at Kiara, it’s never been the same. I’m constantly filled with apprehension and anxiety. All of which spells disaster if you’re carrying that fear.

The thing about doing drops and berms, you’ve got to be mentally prepped, unfortunately I’m having a lot of trouble conquering that mental block.

It’s been months since I last did any downhill riding, and I fear I’ve lost the “Gung-Ho-ness” after that spill.

Is this the end?

The two crazy boys Ian and Ben make everything look damn easy.

Leon’s first trip to Kiara.

At Angel drop, Kiara.

My best shot of Wayne, taken with the Canon SLR.

Note: If you’re going to Kiara, wear something you bought in Singapore. Possibility of wearing same shirt as your friend from Kiara: HIGH.

Half way through the afternoon, I was so ready to sleep.

When Rachel was back in Singapore, we had an impromptu cheese and wine night at the West Wing. Rach had brought back several amazing pairings of cheeses and dried fruit from Melbourne, and all I brought was some crummy cheese from the home fridge which really paled in comparison to the cheeses I brought from home in the fridge.

Evening was spent catching up over Martinis, wine and the good company of Rachel, Janice, Andrew and Gary. Will miss these nights when you guys finally move out! I say Raclette & Ravin Rabbids again before we say bye bye to the West Wing!

Did a shoot for Sennheiser awhile back, and besides the usual I also got paid in products too. I really wanted to get headphones, but the designs were just not cool enough. They pretty much all looked the same:black and silver. If I were to get headphones, I would get something a Skullcandy.

So instead I chose 3 earphones.

Model Number and retail prices
CX 200 Street II White – S$68.90
CX 281 – S$79.00
CX 680 Sports – S$139.00

Ever since I bought my first pair of in-ear earphones, there was no turning back. I loved how the plugs fit into the ear canal, providing the best isolation and blocking out a significant amount of outside noise. And most importantly, the bass is far superior when it’s in-ear which is my major issue I have with normal earphones. You’re just not giving music the credit it deserves using normal ear phones. Especially when you’re listening to tracks like the one below remixed by Designer Drugs with the sick baselines.

By the way, Designer Drugs at Zouk tonight for ReadySetGlow. Probably going to give it a miss, but dang I’m sure they are going to be shredding the place up!

*Side track…earphones, headphones…why phones?

Do not use in-ear headphones while cycling or driving. And if you’re walking, just be extra careful when you cross the street. You can’t hear a thing besides your music, and you don’t realise how much we rely on sound in road safety.

Just a couple of clips and a good tune.

Thanks to Sunny we got to check out the opening of the Hershey’s Singapore outlet at Resorts World Sentosa. His family’s company has signed exclusively with Hershey’s for the expansion and franchise rights of Hershey’s Chocolate World in South East Asia and the Middle East. So lots more planned and rolling out soon.

Hershey’s Chocolate World Singapore is heaven for the sweet-toothed. We spent a lot of time wandering around the salivating at all the sweeties.

The store sells most of their sweets under their brand, from the Kisses to Reese. Inclusing Hershey merchandise like chocolate-scented candles, hot chocolate cups and soft plushies.

If size matters to you, they stock the World’s Largest Hershey Bar for S$60 weighting in at a whopping 2.26kg = 50 servings = 120,000 calories!! They also sell the World’s Largest Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and World’s largest KISS!

For $16 you can also create your own customised wrapper for the 8oz milk chocolate bar with the green screen wall at the corner of the store.

Hershey’s Chocolate World
Address: Resort World at Sentosa
26 Sentosa Gateway
#01-75/76/77
Singapore 098138

I posted this song recently, but this one is an amazing version done by my favourite YouTube singer Airto. This clip is one of those songs i’d close my eyes and listen to and it would hit me real hard. Pangs of emotion and the feeling of your chest caving in.

This girl is all kinds of awesomeness!! I’d pay good money to watch her live.

I love this original of hers “Birds Fly Away”

Jules learns how to say Nom nom nom nom.

Sometimes the best Sundays are just spent g33king out with a friend and a piccolo latte.

Psss: Didn’t know that a Piccolo latte is actually the same as a macchiato.