Europe Day 1

Its time I get started with my Europe Trip! 

Day 1!

Momma and I leaving towards Rome for our 1st stop.

Bad things happened from the start, and glad that it ended on the 3rd day (:

Flight delay, so momma and i grab a seat at coffee bean to drink some ice chocolates before our flight. 

Hello Momma!

Tried out this super cute spongebob squarepants photograph taking session with momma! hahaha

Saw our images swimming in the sea? =D

And finally, after 3hrs of flight delay due to the thunderstorm, we reached Rome! 

Beautiful sky was the 1st thing we saw when we are out of their airport. 

Oh yes, in case you are wondering, we went with tour. Took up the packages from Five star (Which is no longer available now at a pretty good deal (: )

1st stop @ St Peter's Basilica Church which was located within the Vatican City. 

This has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. 

By the time we got there, it was about 2 to 3pm! 

Rome, I would say its a really pretty place despite its bad securities. 

Oh, and they have really cute dustbins! 

A panoramic shot! 

Shot with momma and I

(Sorry for the fat face, only had time to wash my face after 12hrs of flight!)

More images of the church! 

Really indeed a magnificent place. Would definitely visit them again if i could spare more cash! hahaha!

Even their ceilings are filled with pretty carvings 

When night falls, all the lights are lid. 

Beautifully and so serene. 

Next, before dinner, we came by the Colosseum. 

An elliptical amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome and its the largest ever build in the Rome empire. 

This is in fact one of the greatest work of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. 

After our dinner, we headed off to visit the Trevi Fountain. 

Its a pity that I couldnt take a shot of that place, where wishing wells are, for people to make their wishes. 

Because its far too crowded for us to squeeze through. 

Shall continue with my day 2 another day! 

A day with Momma and Cuzzie! :D

First, featuring my #ootd! hahah!

Top: Isa

Bottom: Cotton on

 

Headed out shopping with the cuzzie and momma!

Pass by this cafe for a short break! 

Love chandelier like this! =D

They have pretty setups, but too bad, I didnt manage to take an image of them.

Back to what we have ordered, cousin ordered this vanilla crepe that comes with this berry sauce. 

Okay, this wasnt my cake, and the vanilla taste wasnt as strong as what I tot it would turn out. 

So this is definitely not the cake I would head back for. 

   

 Next up was momma's Durian Cake! At first she wanted to order this Devil Chocolate Cake, which looks much more appealing as compare to this durian cake. But apparently, it wasnt available on that day. So momma had to make do with this durian cake. Taste wise, was so much better thn the vanilla crepe that cousin ordered. But apart from that, the cream on the cakes are just alright.

  

Here comes mine! Caramel Cheesecake. This cake was really sweet! First few mouths, you may think its still alright. But after a mouthful of this, hmmm, i somehow starts to get sick of it. But oh well, I love the walnuts! They taste so awesome with the caramel melted on top. But apart from that, this caramel has this tinge of smelly melted caramel taste.

  

Hello Cousin with the cup of warm water!

  

Because momma couldnt take tea/coffee, so she had to make do with Ice Chocolate. But apart from that, this Ice chocolate was really good! Not too sweet, and had the taste of chocolate. Meanwhile, I've ordered White Chocolate Macchiato which was a little sweet. Or possibly was because I had the cakes before that, which makes me feeel sweeter!

 

A few pictures before the food came! =D

Oh did i mention, I'm falling in love with my new buy, BB Cushion from Laneige! 

Its really good! Cover up all my visible pimpos.

 

Hello Momma!

  

I dont think I'll re-visit that cafe again, firstly because their service wasnt really good. It took us quite a while to get our food ordered. Secondly, the cakes are not really worth the price that we are paying for. But than again, because they not only served pasteries, they also served Thai meals! Oh its a Thai restaurant with pretty decors! 

Food Rating: 6/10

Ambience: 7.5/10

Total Spendings: S$45 for 3 pax

Where to find it:

Coffee Stars By Dao

435 Orchard Road,

Wisma Atria #01-37/41

Singapore 238877

(Located in front of Aldo)

Bought this dress from HnM earlier on! (:

 

Apart from that, did i mention I've been going yoga with le buddy? 

Images of us after we are done with our showers! (:

For the first time, we tried out the intensive Hot Flap Abs Yoga in this sauna room!

Felt super awesome esp when you step out of the yoga room! And the feeeling was really amazing! 

Gonna take up their packages and give it a go! One week once, shld be able to help me stay slightly healthier. Oh on a side note, gotta cut down on unhealthy food! hahahah! *Cross Fingers*

 

 

 Cant wait for Yoga tonight, and meeting le besties for a short chatty session!

Miss those days!

<3

Buns making in Process!

Took the below images and recipe from cousin's blog! LOL!

Was initially heading down for acupuncture at cousin's place last Wednesday, but because the doc was packed so headed over to her place to rot before heading home.

Upon reaching, saw her tidying up her stuff, and followed her into the kitchen to be kpo abt what shes doing. And I realised, since young, I've always got this habit of following her ard, even thou its just at her place! LOL! I always like to see people being busy and somehow it makes me feel happy hahah!

While I was seated in the Kitchen, cousin opened up the dough which was made earlier on. Mayb not very early, but abt an hour or so earlier. She then started kneading them and putting kaya into the bun. So being the curious one, I put my hands on the dough and give it a try!

After all the kneading and stuffing are done, we placed them into the steamer to steam the buns for approx 20mins if im not wrong. And here you go! At first we are still unsure if the first batch could be eaten because cousin had forgotten one step which is to let the dough rise before placing them into the steamer. 

But somehow it seems like a success! Apart that the dough may be a little thick on certaiin sides, the rest are just fine (:

Check out the kaya ooozing out of the bun! (:

 

This is me, with the all done buns! (:

Below is the recipe if you are interested to give it a try! (:

Recipe (makes 12-14 buns depending on your bun size)

Modified from happyhomebaking

Ingredients
300g Hong Kong pau flour
3g baking powder
3g instant yeast
30g caster sugar
150ml water
15g vegetable oil
A jar of kaya paste (Mine is NTUC brand)

Procedures

1. Sieve Hong Kong pau flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add yeast, caster sugar and mix well.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add in water and mix to form a dough. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until it becomes smooth (about 5 mins). Knead in the vegetable oil and continue to knead for another 10-15 mins or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Take a piece of dough (about the size of a table tennis ball) and stretch it, you should be able to stretch it to a fairly thin membrane without tearing off easily, if not continue to knead for another 5 to 10mins.
3. Roll dough into a smooth round, place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 1 hr or until it doubles in bulk.
4. Punch down the dough and give a few light kneading to release the trapped air bubbles. Divide the dough into 12 portions (about 40g each). Roll each portion into a smooth round.
   
   
5. Flatten each dough into a small disc with your palm or a small rolling pin, make the edges thinner and the centre portion thicker. Wrap each dough with a dollop of kaya paste the size of a 50 cent coin. Pinch and seal the seams. Place dough seam side down on a square piece of parchment paper. Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave buns to proof for 20-25 mins.
6. Place buns in a steamer or wok and space them apart so that they do not touch one another. Steam at medium to high heat for 12mins (make sure the water is already boiling before steaming). When ready, remove the lid carefully to prevent water from dripping over the buns. Remove immediately and serve warm. Keep any leftovers in fridge (covered with cling wrap or store in airtight containers) and re-steam till hot before serving.

Dinning: Alfresco Gusto

Headed over to Alfresco Gusto for lunch yesterday for a belated birthday celebration for mommy!

Met the brother over at Ion at 1pm, drove down to meet them at this dining area.

But it was raining pretty heavy when we were on our way there, but after which once we have settled down, the rain seems to get smaller =D

Ion has never been a place that the boyfriend and I would have gone to search for awesome food! But somehow or rather, this secluded area has this Italian restaurant which serves pretty good food =D Would definitely head down for more if I had the time, but shopping and dining at Orchard area was really a killer!

Chalkboards to show what are the promotions they had! But I suppose this is what most of the restaurants do especially those located ard Clarke Quay area.

Did not manage to take a better shot of the area, but it was rather cooling and breezy that day because of the rain. 

While waiting for the rest to come, boyfriend and I headed in to grab the seats first.

And took a look at the menus, oh on a side note, I like now clean cut the menu looks! =D

Not a fan of messy menus! 

Clearer image of the dining areas!

They have pretty cute names for the drinks they are serving too! 

This is my younger brother looking at the menu.


And me, taking photos while waiting for them to place orders.


Two shots with the boyfriend and one shot with mommy love! =D
 

Hello Momma!!


And one more nicer shot! Le boyfriend hasnt been a fan of photos! LOL! but he always tries to take whenever I try to force him LOL! Thank you for accommodating <3


While the young ones continue with the menus, brother always took his own sweet time in ordering or looking at things or even packing his stuff to go back into camp! Such a slooow-mo!

The restaurants are quite packed to the point if you hadnt make any reservations, you are only able to get the seats over at the smoking area. So we are quite glad we actually made reservations.

The first item that came up was momma's drinks! 

Momma and I bought ordered Milkshake!

Momma ordered Hoho Choco which taste somehow like Chocolate milkshake but more dense!


Mine came after Momma's was called Sleepless in Paterson!
Saw the coffee beans in it? Yup! Its milkshake of Espresso and Chocolate!
Which taste pretty good too! (:


Le boyfriend being the old uncle of the day, he ordered Americano!
I wasnt a fan of Kopi-O, so I didnt tried it! ahahha! But according to him, he said he prefer the ones from Starbucks more! LOL!


Comes the appetizers! First was was this Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic Bread! (:
Because I have this thing for mushrooms, so I would definitely say this is a must try!
The sauce mixed well with the mushrooms, which also goes well with the Garlic Bread! As I was typing this, I was really hoping for a serving right in front of me now! Slurps!

Brother ordered Soup of the Day (Mushroom Soup) for himself which also comes with Garlic Bread! hahah! Too much garlic on that day! But this wasnt really up to my expectations. Probably I've gotten too much expectations after trying the one over at Poulet which I blogged earlier on, this was really just mehh.

Momma's main dish came first!
Seafood Risotto which was Saffron and white wine risotto with different kinds of sauteed seafood! I tried one of the mussels and it was really good! The mussels are so fresh and it tasted sweet! (: But somehow risotto tasted like porridge to me, so i wasnt really into that.
But momma loves it!


Boyfriend ordered Carbonara, he's aim was to try out different carbonara at different places! LOL!
This was a little watery but surprisingly it was up to the boyfriend's expectation and he says its good! (:

Mine came next, Chicken Pappardelle!
It comes with homemade pappardelle in cream sauce cooked with Chicken and fresh basil!
The Pappardelle tasted like the chinese homemade noodles (Mee Hoon Kueh), but of course the texture was so much softer and tender! Finally I've found my new love! =D The chicken was so tender and juicy that it actually absorb the cream sauce and a little basil makes it perfectoo! =D

The brother ordered Chicken Ballotine which comes with roasted chicken leg, stuffed with mushrooms duxellex, together with creamy couscous, vegetables and pan roasted jus. Even thou I had no idea what was added, but the chicken stuffed mushrooms tasted quite good! Soft and juicy! But a little tad salty for my liking. =X


And pizza for all of us to share! This pizza was called Pizza Pollo which consist of Grilled Chicken, Pineapple and bell peppers, with extra cheese added! This pizza was really good! It wasnt too dry like how some other pizzas may tasted! The chicken was grilled to just nice and the texture was done so well!

But because of all us are already full to the brim, this dish didnt come at the right time =X

I wasnt a fan of Tiramisu because in the past when I first took a bite, it was all so mousy! And realised that i wasnt my cup of tea at all! But after the ones cousin made for her boyfriend, I took a bit and it totally changed my perception! =D It was so good that I wanted more!

So I've decided to give this Tiramisu was the first thing that came across my mine because I could totally remember the taste of the tiramisu that couzzie made the other time! The bad news was, this tiramisu was rather bitter to my liking. But the short bread was good! Fresh and tasted crunchy! I took a bit and left about half the tiramisu untouch and momma had to finish it for me. 

Thanks momma!

Brother and his girlfriend tried this Pear Tart Tartin which was caramelized pear tart with gelato. I suppose it was nice? Because both of them finish every single bit without leaving traces! hahah! But the smell was too sweet, oh yea, because of the caramel! =D But no trying for me! hahah! I got to stop taking in sweet stuff!

Overall the experience was quite okay, despite the heavy downpour, every dishes were so nice!

But the prices are rather steep but delicious food I would say. So I suppose you get what you paid? Oh on the other hand, one reason why I might head back would be because of their service. Even thou they might be full house, but their service was really good that they pay attention to your needs. 

Overall Rating: 8/10

Total Spending: SGD$304.84

Where to find it:

Alfresco Gusto

#01-15, Ion Orchard

2 Orchard Turn

Singapore 238801

Tel: 6509 9380