AMUSE BOUCHE
Ocean Trout, Mayonnaise, Salmon Roe Caviar

FOIE GRAS ANGLAISE
Goose liver custard, duck confit, ginko beans, truffle salsa, parmesan foam

BEEF CARPACCIO
200 days grain fed Black Angus Beef tenderloin, poached eggs, chives, vine cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella

BLACK & WHITE SNOW COD
Squid ink infused and iberico ham wrapped snow cod, aerated potato creme. globe artichoke, parsley, squid ink crumble

MUSHROOM GNOCCHI
Creamed seasonal mushrooms, potato gnocchi, thyme, parmesan

The boyfriend made a reservation for the both of us at Novus to celebrate our seventieth month together. He found a gem in a quite corner by the Singapore National Museum, and we enjoyed our dining experience there.

I had the Foie Gras Anglaise which really came as a surprise to me because I’ve never eaten foie gras in the form of custard – made with duck consommé (clear broth), goose liver parfait, ginkgo nuts and duck confit. And the foam had a taste to it, which kinda made me opened my eyes when I placed it in my mouth. Babs had Black Angus Carpaccio – fine slices of raw beef tenderloin – and we were tried something called the buffalo mozzarella for the very first time. Quoting the introductory cards place for us when our dish was served, it says “It’s a cheese made from the milk of a domestic water buffalo rather than from cow’s milk. A fresh, stringy textured cheese in porcelain-white, it has an extremely thin rind and delicate taste. When cut, it produces a white watery fluid with the aroma of milk enzyme.” It just burst like a balloon filled with water in my mouth. Mushroom gnocchi was savory, but I kind of regretted ordering it because it made me feel so bloated even before I could finish half of what I was given. I loved Jon’s Black & Snow Cod because I love Cod fish and probably would just love any way it is being cooked, and loved it more when they actually wrapped it up with Iberico Ham that is cured for 48 months.

The mind blowing food aside, thank you sweetheart for giving me the best 70 months of my life. Thank you for all the things you have done, big or small, even though I may be the most oblivious girl in the world but you still do it any way because you have me in your heart. For being the most tolerant person to my flaws and still be as loving as you can ever be – you’re definitely the sweetest thing that has ever happened to me. I love you, and will always do. ♥

After 70 months, I still like the direction that we are heading towards.

My group of poly mates and I wanted to relive the fun that we had in Kukup two years ago, and arranged for a second trip there. Babs joined us this time round, and it was nothing short of fun! It was a pity that some of them couldn’t make it at the very last minute. Mahjong, in between, blackjack, fireworks, karaoke, feasting like kings and queens because neither do we have to prepare any of our meals nor clean them up. It’s probably the first time how I actually felt exhausted taking photos during our fireworks session because I had to fiddle around with the tripod I actually felt like I was panting. And how funny it was when we had to take our mobiles to find the correct way of writing chinese characters as we were scribbling our wishes on the kong ming deng, just because our chinese is terrible like this. I was so exhausted with all the fun and slept at 4am (probably first to hit the sack), while babs joined my friends and continued playing (having eight persons bunking into a room, coincidentally with 2 couple beds and 4 singles). I could literally hear all of them laughing as they all walked into the room when they finally figured that they were tired.

It really didn’t matter how run down and dirty this place may be because the company really made up for it. And this was really the weekend that I had been looking forward to. ♡

Last man standing

Chau gong gong, Chau po po

Gong xi gong xi!

The season of coming together.

x

Favourite picture from Estella’s roll.

A day at the Dog Park x Pre-CNY Chinatown walkabout x Poolside picnic x LC-A+ excursion x Rider’s Cafe

I’ve been neglected my favourite film camera for quite a while, but started shooting with it quite a fair bit in recent weeks. Film photography is filled with surprises (disappointment comes occasionally too), but I do love how it is so different as compared to digital even if it means I am taking an identical shot. And this is the very first time I am actually using cross processed films as well, and I am actually loving the colours produced!

I do notice that I seem to be terribly bad at gauging distances which explains most of my blurry pictures. ☹ Definitely need to improve on my skills. I am actually dying to go for more photography trips, and let me know who wants to join me! Film and digital both welcomed! ♡ x

Check out Estella’s, my lovely Evil Twin, beautiful pictures that were taken during our LC-A+ excursion trip here.

1. Virgin attempt at playing with the beautiful eyeshadows from the Naked Palette, which I was lucky enough to grab it the first day Sephora actually had it restocked just before the Chinese New Year. 2. Caught Wicked the Musical with the boyfriend and his brother on Chinese New Year’s Eve. 3. The boyfriend drove me back on a rainy Sunday night after a reunion dinner with his family, which saw us blasting Michael Learns to Rock on the radio and singing at the top of our voices. Or maybe it was just me. 4. Loaded my forth film into my LC-A+. 5. Nude, dusty pink and burgundy. 6. Painted my nails for the first time in three years. Kinda regretted spending my money on the nail polishes because I thought they turned out damn ugly. ☹

It’s weird how I am actually not feeling the vibes for the usually-anticipated lunar new year this time round. ☹ Perhaps it could be the lack of festive vibes around, or the absence of new clothes, or the lack of faces I am actually seeing. Or maybe it is just me. I couldn’t even find a good reason for me to take out my camera to start snapping. ☹

I hope day two would be a much better day.

(Follow me on instagram: @kellynting)

Chai Latte and Sunrise Smoothie of Orange Juice, Banana, Fresh Berries, Yoghurt and Honey

Wild mushroom with truffle oil

Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Eggs with Avocado on Turkish Pide

Marinated Portobello and Halloumi Burger with Caramelized Onions, Cos and Fries

We spent the entire Sunday morning lazying around in bed, listening to music on YouTube before finally getting our lazy selves out of my place for our Sunday date.

Took on a runaway afternoon to Rider’s Cafe for brunch. The sun was burning hot, but thank God that there was breeze and we were under shelter. I loved how the place was so opened that the sun light could just shine through the entire place, and the fact that it wasn’t air conditioned. A little noisy with the crowd on a Sunday afternoon, but that’s okay. I was in the mood for some feasting but thank goodness the more logical side of me (along with the boyfriend’s nagging) won – I was so bloated with all that I had on my plate.

If only every day was a Sunday – even if it means doing nothing and lazing in bed all day, listening to our favourite songs together.

I said, give me the flattest face you can give.

Pre-Lunar New Year walkabout in Chinatown has become a tradition for the both of us. Truth to be told, the boyfriend hates squeezing with the crowd but still willingly agreed to come with me. I really appreciate this little effort from this sweetheart. I am not too sure if it applies to any one of you who are reading this, but walking in Chinatown during this time of the year really brings back loads of fond memories from the younger days. You probably get to see your favourite childhood sweets everywhere, toys (e.g. paper windmill) that you used to play when you were young, and I had a vague memory about my parents bring my brothers and I to walk around until the tradition died off. ☹

Despite the boyfriend complaining a little about how sticky he got with people rubbing their sweaty arms against his, I had fun snapping away with my cameras and enjoying his company by my side.

I am definitely looking forward to one of my favourite festive season of the year with all the goodies that are packed in transparent containers with red lids! x

Work has been exceptionally draining and exhausting with the insane crowd. So much so that I’ve only been almost having just one meal per day for a few weeks already. And this is exactly the reason why I always, always look forward to Saturday nights which marks the start of my weekend.

But this boy. He has just been exceptionally amazing it always lighten up mood. His subconscious little acts never fails to make me feel that the hardship is a little more bearable and easier to get by. I just wish it’d be this easy when he is away.

Thank you sweetheart. For putting a smile on my face with you being you. ♥

Garlic King Prawns

Impromptu supper with the boyfriend at Bukit Timah area, which was the very first time I actually been to this hidden bustling corner of Singapore in the wee hours of the night. Had frog leg porridge, and we ended up buying almost twice of what two persons could have all because the waitress managed to make us think that it’d be more worth it. We slept till late morning the following day, and we started cooking up a simple feast for our poolside picnic. And it was good. Even though we aren’t fantastic cooks, but I do have visions of us spending our weekends through our married life whipping up something new each time. ☺

Later that night, we had dinner at Tatsu Teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant. It was the most fancy teppanyaki dinner we’ve ever had, but the chef made our dining experience a really enjoyable one. He was so amiable it makes it difficult not to smile and start having a conversation. We even got short entertainment and cooking stuns from this fella, who at the very same time catered to each of our gastronomic needs. I can’t wait for our next food adventure together. ☺

And this is one of the best weekends I’ve had in a while. ✘♥✘♥

Came home to this stash of affordable and amazing masks that I’ve got – and have been using them since years ago. They smell so good it is just therapeutic using them after a long and hectic day. I used to use them every day, but laziness got the better of me and here I am going to be a strong soldier and fight it back! So today, I locked myself up in the toilet for almost an hour, working on my hair treatment, sea salt body scrub and what not. I did the usual full beauty routine from head to toe. Then the strawberry yogurt mask worked its magic on my face.

I haven’t been doing this in a really long time, and it feels really good. I’m feeling clean and polished, and smelling good too.

Need to be discipline and do this more regularly. I guess they are right when they say that there are no ugly girls, only lazy ones. ☺

2012 has been quite an emotional ride even though we are only 4 days through the year. Spent the first few hours of the year in a quarrel with the boyfriend (first time since he returned this time) over a problem and cried. But it all ended well because we went to sleep that night in hugs and kisses. Thank you (and sorry) Amanda for calling you to cry to you over the phone and having the both of us made you angry over our nonsense. Thank you for always being there to wake us up. You know how much we love you.

The second day saw us having a late night full of drinks and games with the boys. Pictionary, memory and drinking games. It was really surprising how good Little J was through the night. Hardly barking and even mingled around the boys so much through the night. Just look at the picture of J popping his head to take a peek on what the rest of them were looking at the laptop screen. *Awwww* He is just too cute not to love. And it is the first time in a long time that I slept at 6.30am in the morning.

2012 is looking to be very good. ☺

✘ Spent the first few hours of year with the boyfriend at Central Park, New York building snowman ☃ together, and the first few days of my year in the states and it still lingers in my head how amazing my trip was.

✘ Bought the most amount of cameras – Canon 60D, Olympus E-P3 and my L-CA+. Not regretting any of my buys though! ☺

✘ Flew over to Melbourne in August to celebrate the boyfriend’s 22nd birthday – had the most mind-blowing (and expensive) meal of my life at Vue de Monde, tried Tandem skydiving together with the boy, and went on a road trip to Tasmania. Australia’s just Beautiful.

✘ The boyfriend and I applied for our very first house, and got it at our very first try. Step one of building our future together as an adult.  Can’t wait to build our very humble cosy little home together in about 3-4 years time. ♥

✘ Having a much stronger relationship with Jon than before. Every year just gets more tricky, but we still got through it anyway. ☺

There really isn’t much that I am asking for in 2012, other than hoping that it really isn’t the end of the world and to really save up to build our future together. Hopefully managing to have a bit of extra cash and time to pamper myself on another amazing trip somewhere in the world. Let’s hope something in my life would take off in the brand new year. ☺

Happy New Year everybody! May we have a blasting good year ahead. x

The boyfriend and I were sitting on the couch together when I said that I was bored and wanted to visit the Science Centre to burn my Boxing Day. Off we went, just because I wanted to. ☺ Laughed and whacked each other because the boyfriend made us alighted one stop earlier and ended up having to walk quite a fair bit, and both of us got hungry half way through our little excursion and all we wanted was to find food instead. We’re gluttons, but happy just the way we are.

I can imagine and see how/where our life is heading towards. Beautiful. x