Concert at Botanical Gardens

We are regulars of the Botanical Garden by now. We've done it so often, I can pack everything we need in 5 mins flat. Trust me, it's no small feat considering we usually have friends join us & that we spend half a day there. There's the cooler for keeping the wine cold, activity bag with stuff to keep the kids occupied, food to feed an army & even a foldable chair for my mum.

Strangely enough, unlike in New York, when I was going to Central Park all the time to watch concerts, we never saw one at the Botanical Gardens. When it came to my attention that the Singapore Chinese Orchestra was playing there one Sunday, we made our way there once again.


I've never seen the Park so crowded & it filled up very quickly. It was a sponsored event & the sponsors were giving out free mats, fans & bottled water. The mats were handy for those who didn't bring any but they came apart after 5 mins (we found quite a few in the bins on our way out).

I was particularly keen to go to this one because I wanted to introduce the 2 Frenchies to classical Chinese instruments. It has been a while since I listened to Chinese orchestra music so it was a treat to catch this free concert at the Gardens where they performed a selection of Chinese & Western music.

The concert also featured the NY Philharmonic Principal Bass. According to the MC, their flight was delayed so it was rather late by the time they performed which was a pity cos people were starting to leave.

It made me missed New York just a little more cos they were playing tunes from the Big Apple & reminded me of the times we sat on the Great Lawn listening to the NY Philharmonic under the stars.

Brunch & Bubbly

I love big breakfast but I never seem to indulge in it except when I'm on vacation. So the concept of brunch appeals to me, very much. Particularly when bubbly is involved.

We were meeting up with some friends for brunch & I was just about to book mezza9 when I chanced upon an ad for brunch at La Villa. It mentioned bouncy castle & activities for kids - nice. But the clincher is......drum roll.......unlimited prosecco - an italian sparkling wine. Not champagne but a lovely bubbly which I seem to be consuming in copious amounts in Singapore (not that I need an excuse but it's the heat).

La Villa is located in what was formerly the River Valley Primary School. Yet another school transformed into a commercial building. They have a lovely outdoor sitting area & we used to go there for drinks but I have never been for meals.

The brunch just sounded like such a good deal. Here's what you get for $48 per person. They serve you a fresh pastry basket of breads & croissants. Then from the menu you have a selection of the following

A choice of an egg dish -
this was X's poached eggs with hash browns

A choice of pizza
- mine with mozarella, chicken & spinach

A choice of main course
- meat, fish or pasta

and a choice of dessert

All that for $48++ not forgetting the unlimited Prosecco

It was a hot afternoon so we were most definitely taking advantage of the unlimited prosecco. By the time, the main course arrived, we were reasonably full. They have a little petanque area so we took a break from stuffing ourselves to indulge in some outdoor activities.

They put out plates of soapy water for the kids to play bubbles which the Girl of course loved.

That's the bouncy castle they installed in the huge garden

We had a good time & even though it sounds like a good deal & the service was great, I'm not sure we will be back again only because the food was just okay. Since we were a big group, we did try many items on the menu. Nothing was bad - everything was just so so, if you know what I mean. I think I'll book mezz9 the next time.

La Villa
341 River Valley Road
#01-03

Glutinous rice

Ever since he arrived, X has been indulging in Asian food so much that I have to specifically remind him to prepare our beloved French dishes. LOL.

Glutinous rice has always been one of his favorites. When we were living in France & if I can find this, I would buy several kgs of it. I use it to make to make his favorite thai dessert - mango with glutinous rice & the cantonese style steam rice.

I would make big batches & then freeze them for when I have a craving which is very often. So a couple of months back, a write up in the newspaper triggered the craving & piqued his interest. The recipe varied from my original one & he was itching to try it out.

It wasn't bad his first attempt at it although he made the mistake of cooking it like regular rice (adding water into it instead of letting the steam cook it). That's what happens when one doesn't follow the recipe.


I love the addition of peanuts & dried scallops which I don't normally do in my recipe but there wasn't enough seasoning for the rice. So we would probably still stick to my old recipe & just add those 2 ingredients.

Bottle Tree Park

The beautiful Bottle Tree

I have my friend Barb to thank for letting me know about this place.

The story is that one tree lover bought these unusual & exotic trees from Australia, planted them in Singapore and created a concept village complete with recreational facilities, restaurant, event hall, park & lagoon. A village called Bottle Tree Park.

One Sunday morning, with no other plans, we made our way there.....by bus. Yup I even took out our bus guide to research what bus to take. The Girl was so thrilled to be taking the bus, it was a little embarrassing, as if we don't take her out much. That in itself was enough entertainment for her.

Anyway the bus turned out to be a good idea cos it dropped us right in front of the Park.

I'm guessing it must be really busy in the evenings. There is a children's playground when you enter & also paddle boats shaped like a swan for the dating couples (but none of them were taken when we were there).

But fishing was the name of the game over there. You could fish in the big pond or you could catch shrimps in this little pond & for the kids, longkang fishing.

For S$10, you get a small fish tank & a net & you are free to catch as many as you can.

It's not as easy as it looks. The Girl got frustrated very quickly so guess who did most of the work. There was a big sign prohibiting parents from helping the children fish but everybody was doing it especially for the younger ones. Nobody wanted the children to walk away empty handed. So who do you think is the talent in the family ? X 20 Mum 1. I was obviously not very skilled in that department but let me tell you, everybody was. All the other fish tanks were filled to the brim with fish.

After that very tiring exercise, we were ready for lunch & we headed over to the seafood restaurant that is within the park. We ordered the deep fried squid but practically left the plate untouched cos nobody liked the thick batter. I was so looking forward to the claypot crab tanghoon & even though it was tasty & the crabs were decent size, it was way too salty for my liking.

After lunch, we brought the tank over to the counter, they bagged the fish, pumped oxygen & we carried them home. What happened after that ? I thought, okay so we'll just buy a fish bowl & put the fishes in there. How difficult can that be ? We'll just stop by an aquarium on our way home.

1 hour later, we walked out with a fish tank, an air pump (fish need air bubbles), sand (to collect the fish poop), water stabiliser (to prevent stress for the fish, that's what it says on the bottle), fish food, plastic greens (to decorate the tank), fish food & $80 poorer.

Bottle Tree Park
81 Lorong Chencharu
Yishun

My favorite spot in Singapore

This here, ladies & gentlemen, is my favorite place in Singapore (apart from my apartment of course). Forest n Trees @ The Cathay. They feature lots of Carrie Chau's designs. If you've not heard of her, she's the prolific 30 something HK artist behind Blind Fly & Blacksheep.

But it's not just a shop, it's a nail salon too. This is where I go when I'm in need of some pampering. When I was living in New York, getting a mani & pedi is de rigueur. A ritual in fact. That all stopped when I moved to France, too expensive.

Now that I'm back in Singapore, you can bet this ritual has been resurrected. In fact come to think of it, not only do I have my regular manicure & pedicure, there is also the hair cut, waxing & facial. What used to be luxury has now become necessities, especially at my age.

This is not your run of the mill nail salon.

The shop is a relaxing place with lots of quirky stuff to keep you occupied. The Girl loves it there cos she gets pampered too - she gets lots of attention & even though she's too young for a pedicure, I do let her put little nail stickers on her nails.

I'm looking at my slightly chipped toe nail. Hmm maybe it's time to make another appointment.

Forest n Trees
2 Handy Rd
#03-02 The Cathay

Instead of going on the Singapore Flyer

Wanna know what we end up doing instead of going on the Singapore Flyer ?

You've seen them on the roads & haven't you wanted to go on one of them ? Well I have & I did.

2 weeks ago we had a house guest from France & it was the perfect opportunity aka excuse to go check it out. Remember the Great Singapore Pass that I'd blogged about, well it came in really handy & got us a good discount.

It's an hour ride - half hour on land & half an hour in the water.

It was fun seeing everything from another perspective.

Not sure if it was limitation of time or size, we didn't go near Boat Quay which I thought was a pity
But we did have a good view of the Esplanade & the Singapore Flyer....

... all angles of the Singapore Flyer

Eye candy for the ladies
Our house guest, Remy

Seafood Paradise @ The Singapore Flyer

One Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves at the Singapore Flyer. Not because we wanted to go there. I was trying to go to Marina Barrage but headed in the wrong direction & found ourselves right at the Singapore Flyer. But we did something else instead, to find out, read my next post.

Since we were there, we decided to have lunch at Seafood Paradise, a sister restaurant of Taste Paradise. I'd always gotten not just good but outstanding food & service when I'm at one of their outlets. This was no exception. We arrived at noon explaining that we needed to be done by 12.40. No problem. No questions asked. They delivered.

Considering how good the food & service was, I was surprised at how empty the place was - for Sunday lunch. What a shame. Looking at the pictures, you're going to think this is going to be expensive but no.

The ubiquitous seafood tank but theirs were done beautifully. Did you see that Alaskan king crab ?

Because we were in a hurry, I ordered the set menu & this was what we got for $50+ which was more than enough for 3A1C.

Chicken Feet & Conch Soup
which we loved

This is one of my favorite vegetable dishes of all time
Spinach with 3 types of eggs - eggs, salted eggs & century eggs

Prawn balls with salted egg yolk

There was one more dish I forgot to take a photo off - fried fish fillets which was originally fish head curry on the menu but for the sake of our out of town guest, I changed it to stir fried fish fillet instead.

Good value for money.

Seafood Paradise @ Singapore Flyer
30 Raffles Avenue #01-01
Singapore Flyer