Life in Motion

What I’ve been up to recently..

 

Found a new hideout for ourselves and the pups!

Life could always be better….

 

Barossa: An Australian-inspired Restaurant

If you’re looking for a laid-back restaurant with good food, Barossa’s one of the places I would suggest. Located at Esplanade Mall, this restaurant is mostly al fresco seating. If you’re lucky enough, you get to enjoy live music from the Esplanade at night. Unfortunately for us, the hard metal/punk rock ( I can’t decide what it is, just extremely loud) music that night killed the mood. Not my kind of music, that’s all.

I’m glad the food somewhat made up for the distress caused by the music, haha. The company made a difference too of course!

Our starters

Calamaris; Garlic Fries; Prawn Paste Chicken

The Chilli Crab Pizza was to die for so we ordered two servings!

Birthday cake from the lovelies (: Thanks for the celebration!

Hopefully the next time we’re there, the live music would be much better.

 

Flourless Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was feeling edgy and stressed a couple of days back, and I just needed to expel some pent up negativity. Since I had the whole night to myself, I thought, why not bake some delish sinful food. I must admit I’m not the best baker around. I usually have hits and misses (more of the latter unfortunately), BUT Rome was not built in a day, isn’t it? I usually console myself with that.

Decided to dig up this fuss-free recipe that I have been eyeing for quite some time at Buns in My Oven. Only 5 ingredients, beat that! Glad to say the cookies turned out fabulousssssss. If not I would have been one pissed off bitch. Anyway, peanut butter and chocolate can never go wrong. I don’t really fancy peanut butter alone but pairing it with chocolate is almost close to heaven.

Flourless Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups peanut butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and line baking tray with cookie sheet.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and baking soda until light and creamy. Stir in the chocolate chunks.
3. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes for soft and chewy cookies or 12 minutes for crunchy cookies. (Do not panic if they are soft when removed from the oven, let them sit for a couple of minutes to form)
5. Cool on wire rack and gobble them down.

This recipe yields quite a huge amount of cookies, and so I didn’t finish the batter. I would definitely half them the next time I make it. This recipe is so easy that everyone should try it!

Hosted on the Patio

We finally made it to Hosted on the Patio, after postponing it for about a month. Am actually glad we managed to try this place cos the ambience was good, the food was good, nothing much to complain about actually. Well, the service was abit slow, but we weren’t really in a rush so it was aight. We realised people who didn’t order the starters/salads got all their mains much faster than us, whereas we  waited for about 20 min for our mains after our salad was served.

Caesar Salad

Seafood Crepe – with crabmeat & prawns
The creamy sauce was to die for!

Egg Salmon
Smoked Salmon atop english muffins with caviar and sour cream
The whole combination was close to perfection

Wish I had the chance to try all the other breakfast items on the menu. Well, gives me the excuse to visit them again, perhaps for brunch or even dinner, when they have their live band performing.

Hosted on the Patio
991B Alexandra Road

Tiong Bahru Escapades: Forty Hands, Books Actually & Drips Bakery

Finally found a good time to meet up and do a very late post-birthday celebration for Juan!

Our choice of place was Forty Hands for some late lunch.The place is really quite inconvenient for those not driving and unfamiliar with the Tiong Bahru housing estate. I was pretty much lost trying to find my way there, didn’t help that the weather was crazzzzyyyyy…till my make up was melting.

The place was pretty small and we only managed to find a seat at the ‘backyard’ that could accommodate all 9 of us, so the ambience was not the best.

Menus at the counters:

My Jamaican Pork Sandwich & Skinny Latte (check out the poison bottle which contained my syrup!)

Headed to Books Actually which was just opposite the cafe to do some random shopping.

The vintage section at the back of the shop was where we spent most of our time. Felt like we time-travelled back to the 70s or 80s (:
I must say, the shopkeepers weren’t giving us very friendly looks just cos we were in there for too long.

It’s been a while since I saw an Ice Cream Van in housing estates!

So many other eateries to explore in this lane alone.. one of the must do things soon..

Our personal tour around the neighbourhood by Jevon! And I don’t know why everyone was colour coordinated in red & navy that day ‘cept for me pfft

Our next stop: Drips Bakery!
Good choice for us to just chill and catch up with each other. It wasn’t too crowded so that was great (:

A customer actually brought her parrot out for a ‘stroll’.. you can do that for birds?!? *gasp*

Juan’s make-do birthday cakes: Cinnamon Pear Tart, Raspberry Crumble and Strawberry Tartlet.

Two thumbs up for the desserts!

The cafe’s ambience was so great that we spent almost 2 hours hanging out there catching up with one another. We shared our aspirations, the big and the small. From practical dreams of home ownership to fancy desires of owning a parrot. We laughed with each other and at each other. We had fun as usual, and then some. I’m so thankful for this bunch of lovelies..Till the next, you all will be missed !

Ramen Champion @ Changi Airport Terminal 3

Been having these crazy Japanese Ramen cravings recently. And since it’s been a while since we heard about Ramen Champion and its interesting concept, we headed down to the Changi Airport T3 outlet.

The 4 Ramen Champions from different parts of Japan:
Gantetsu from Sapporo,
Riki Ramen from Toyko,
Gensuki from Fukuoka, &
Ikkousha from HakataSpicy Ramen from Riki.
We heard that Riki – the Tokyo outlet was the best amongst the others. While it was super tasty, it didn’t really satisfy our craving for spicy food that day. 

Special Miso Ramen from Gantetsu
The portion was super huge! And I barely finished the generous servings of noodles, beansprouts, cabbages.
Partially satisfied my ramen cravings although I would have expected the soup broth to have been tastier ):Time to search for the best ramen out there!

Food for Thought @ 8Q

Our last minute impromptu late lunch date with Shuyi cos someone was craving for pancakes. And where else better than to head to but Food for Thought!

Its been almost 6 months since we last visited the place. Was definitely craving for ALL their food…

Full Works (S$18). Makes you more than full.

Our Mixed Berries Pancakes (S$10). Sooo good and drool worthy.

Till I find another pancake as good as this, I think Food for Thought wins it hands down. Plus, its so affordable!

Pepper Thyme Fries (S$5)

or choose from Rosemary Garlic or Spicy Chilli.

Old Southern Red Velvet Cake ($6)

The red velvet was really dense, and we couldn’t decide if we loved it or not ): Probably give it a miss the next time we come again.

The 3 of us were just stuffing our face silly and could barely finish everything. Oh, can’t wait to visit the new outlet at Botanic Gardens as well!

Group Therapy Cafe

Labour Day Brunch was spent at Group Therapy Cafe – a hidden gem at Duxton Road. We settled on this place which none of us tried before, based on good reviews we heard. Definitely didn’t disappoint!

Group Therapy Cafe is on the second floor of a shophouse which might make it slightly less prominent, but a slow walk down Duxton Road will have you there in no time. The place is cosy, and not too large, so the place doesn’t get extremely crowded unlike some other brunch places. They don’t take reservations, but feel free to give them a call to check on the availability half an hour before heading down. We got a place pretty quick!

The brunch buddies – Ali & Donna

Poached Eggs (S$15)
This Eggs Benedict, unlike others, were on top of a thick toast. Topped with Smoked Salmon, Gruyere and Hollandaise sauce, my brunch was perfect! The portion was surprisingly filling, but I finished up every bit of it, including the delish Hollandaise sauce.

I will go back anytime just for this (:

Double-stacked Buckwheat Pancakes (S$15)

I didn’t get to try this, but the banana walnut pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup looked amazing and Donna said it was yummy. Next trip here, and I will try it!

Omelette with Swiss mushrooms & Parmesan Cheese (S$18)

Served with bratwurst sausage, salad and 2 wholemeal buns, this meal is definitely a huge portion to try. For a variety of food, I think this makes a good choice.

This cafe had a great ambience, and with the great food, we didn’t regret choosing this place! Prices are so affordable as well, and I definitely wanna come back here to try their sandwiches and desserts. Before that, I wanna check out all the other cafes in the Duxton area! (:

The long weekend

Had a good break of 5 days, and I must say that it felt GOOD to be away from work.

The only dampener was that the boss asked me to head down to office for 1-2 hours on a Friday noon. ):

Anyway, we planned a few things to do like explore some nice place to eat, donate blood, but we didn’t fulfil all.

OH, and we have been gyming religiously 6 times this week! I hope it won’t die off.

xxx

Pictures from the previous week!

Addicted with Draw Something. Super tired of it now haha.

Lunch at TCC again!

xxx

More food on a Saturday night! We finally went Sukiya again, this time at Marina Square.

Ate till we wanted to explode, and I think it wasn’t even that much. I swear the age does us no good when it comes to buffet.

Only beef slices.

This time round, we chose the Sukiyaki soup base and the Kimuchi soup base. The latter is appetizing when the sweet Sukiyaki soup gets abit overwhelming.

Sunday night dinner after gym at Coffee Club

I was craving so so badly for some chocolatey goodness, so I wiped off one whole Gooey Chocolate Monkey Tart all by myself. Bliss.

Long weekend ended way too quickly! ):

Time to prepare for a week’s long of battle ahead.

xoxo

Of marriage proposals and more

Congratulations to Joyce and Lionel, the cute penguin couple! First couple to get engaged in the group!

Super honoured to be asked by Lionel to help in his preparation plans (although I didn’t do anything in the end :x), and be part of the special proposal day! It’s my first time helping with such a romantic event…which I feel it’s super sweet.. awwww

Behind the scene photos..

Chomping while waiting haha

Love the photographer’s shots..

xx

Our Sunday escapades..

4pm lunch at TCC

Current addiction.

It gets abit sore on the pockets after a while hahah, but worth it nonetheless!

Can’t wait for my weekend again!