Monday, March 24, 2014

A Night’s Out at Marina Bay

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If you have not visited this year’s i Light Marina Bay 2014 event, then I strongly recommend that you do so before it ends on 30 Mar.

If you have the time and your children are well rested for the night, then I would recommend you to start the walk from Esplanade. Enjoy the beautiful night with beautiful performances at the Outdoor Theatre.

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Both my girls loved the music and were actually dancing along with the flute’s beautiful sound. A great lesson for the young ones to exercise freedom and encourage creativity. I envy them for I have never had such opportunities when I was young.

I can only dream…

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One of the first light installation you will get to see from here is the Giant Dandelion, designed by a French-Filipino artist, Olivia d’ Aboville. It’s a huge forest of 90 larger-than-life light flowers of varying heights.

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On a close look, you will then realise that the lights are actually made of recycled plastic water bottles we see in our everyday life. How creative! Coincidentally, both the girls did a similar pose.

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Some of the installations are just for viewing more than interactive, I will skip those but if you are interested, do check out on the i Light website or my earlier post here.

For children, there prefer those that they can touch and play, like the Cloud installation.

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Along the way, look out for interesting Uncle bikers who sportingly contributed to the lights around the Marina Bay area.

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As we reached the half way point of the 28 light installations, let me recommend you to stop for a while and indulge in the super nice gelato from Au Chocolat, situated at level 1 MBS. You get to choose 4 flavours for the price of $9.20. The children will love you for it, even the wife will love you more!

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Continue on towards The Promotory and you will find the next route of light arts.

Beat, done by Singapore designers, the translucent “balls” responds to touch and the colours changes and glows as a single beat. Not too sure if it responds to the shoes, but please don’t spoil the lights Joey.

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An installation that will definitely consume much time is The Wishing! Tree. Get a free wishing strip and write down your wishes, make sure you drop well and land on the furthest top. A word of caution, it’s not as easy as it seems.

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As you pass by the Marina Bay City Gallery, don’t miss out this interactive installation that is inside the hall. Mimosa – an interactive artwork that mimics the “touch-me-not” plant all kids are quite familiar with in the gardens. It was quite fun for Joey as she is tall enough to enjoy the fun, but for Jayne she is slightly short to see the artwork properly, she left with a loud “boring”. Hahaha..

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This is really more for the photographers, nothing that interest the girls, but just the idea of watering cans known as “The Guardian Angels”. This is done by two artists from Greece and France, echoing the preservation of the garden and plants and by extension, nature.

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I wouldn’t mind having something so beautiful and colourful in my house. Getting ideas for future renovations?

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Last but not least, as we walked towards the end of the route, we found the light installations that everyone (both children and adults) loves. It was a good plan to walk through the rest of the installations first, if not, I cannot guarantee that we will finish the entire route.

The Pool – is a group of giant, concentric circles created from interactive circular pads. By entering The Pool, visitors enter a world where play and collaborative movement create swirling effects of light and colour.

Ready – Go!

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As mentioned in my earlier post on i Light Marina Bay, if you can catch the right timing, be sure to head towards the Helix Bridge to watch the 3-min long Celebration of Life, a light projection on the ArtScience Museum exterior walls.

i Light Marina Bay, daebak!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Spuds & Aprons

Food Review

Affordable food and great view don’t always go hand-in-hand. But thanks to the recently opened Spuds & Aprons @ Mount Faber, nothing is impossible. For those who drives, daily free valet service is applicable for all diners (with a min. spending of $30). Or if you choose to travel in by cable car from HarbourFront/ Sentosa, you will get a 15% discount off total bill (just produce your cable car ticket).

Our experience totally amplified the slogan on the door, “come hungry leave happy”.

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The refurbished restaurant is more family-friendly and even the girl is more relaxed to choose her own meal.

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The restaurant has both an indoor and outdoor dining area. The indoor (where we dined) has a seating capacity of 50.

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What to recommend?

Wicked Fries & Gravy (S$8)
Steakhouse cut Spuds with 6 types of Cheeses & Brown Gravy

If you are fries-lover, then this is a no-brainer. Initially, I thought the cheeses will dominate the taste, but in fact together with the gravy, it enhanced the taste of this dish.

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Chilli Crab in a Tux (S$12)
Chilli Crab stuffed in Potato Skins

If there is a MUST ORDER dish, I would highly recommend this dish. The chilli crab is fantastic, coupled with the crispy potato skins, it’s simply heavenly.

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Asian Caesar Salad (S$12)
Romaine Lettuce, Chinese Barbecue Meat, Boiled Egg & Parmesan Cheese

Not sure to categorize this as a healthy salad or unhealthy because of the BBQ meat? Nonetheless, a bit of greens is always welcome.

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Roast Chicken and Pineapple Pizza (S$7)
Kids’ Menu

For children aged under 10, you can order this pizza (the size is also suitable for an adult) or Mini Salmon Steak or Spaghetti & Meat Ball or Derrick’s Spud Croquette.

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Tobiko Crusted Cod Fillet (S$28)
Atlantic Cod Fillet with Omega 3 goodness, Oven Roasted, topped with Tobiko & served with Green Tea Soba Noodles & Aged Ponzu Sauce

Kless’ choice for the night was this perfectly done Cod Fillet. Again for me to say that (not a fish-lover), you got to know this is special enough. The Tobiko (flying fish roe) on top of the fillet creates that mild salty taste to enhance the entire feel about this dish. Coupled with the Soba Noodles was quite a surprise, a nice touch to probably add something different from the usual.

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Grilled Ribeye (S$35)
150-day Grain Fed Ribeye, Char-grilled to your preference & served with Truffle Butter

Pardon me for the choice, I should have ordered the other highly recommended Crispy Pork Belly but I can’t stop myself from having my favourite steak especially after a long while since I last had a Ribeye. But trust me, this dish is a winner too! Done to almost perfection on the grill, I totally enjoyed the cut with a slight tinge of the sea salt just round the chopboard. And for the price, the portion is quite alright too.

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Don’t just sit and enjoy the meal, before you order your dessert or drinks, take some time to enjoy the beautiful view from the restaurant.

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Remember, if you drink don’t drive. Since I was driving that night, I chose a simple Mocktail.

Spuds & Aprons’ Sodas with Nata D’ Coco Jello (S$8)

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Jar of Happiness (S$10)
Shortbread Biscuits with Almond Flakes, Mixed Berries, Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla Ice Cream, Topped with Warm Berry Compote

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So that’s all from me and my personal opinions. I will be looking forward to visit the restaurant again. I think the price is reasonable and the food is nice. Some very nice dishes in fact. Hope you will find some time to give it a try too.

Spuds & Aprons
A: 109 Mount Faber Road, Level 2, S(099203)
T: +65 6377 9688
E:
customerservice@mountfaber.com.sg
W: www.mountfaber.com.sg

Opening hours: 11am to 11pm (Sun to Wed); 11am to 12:30am (Thu); 11am to 2am (Fri, Sat & Eve of PH)

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Gardens by the Bay - War of Roses & Sun Pavilion

Garden Angels’ Media Invite

Till 6 April, Gardens by the Bay celebrates the beauty and romance of the Rose with a new floral display in the Flower Dome that showcases one of the world’s most popular blooms. Entitled “War of the Roses”, the floral display draws inspiration from an event of the same name that took place in 15th century England. The historical “War of the Roses” was a series of civil wars between the House of Lancaster and the House of York that were vying for the throne of England. Its name drew reference to the emblems associated with the two Houses – the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York.

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Transporting visitors to medieval times, the floral display at Gardens by the Bay features two armour-plated knights on horses amidst a battlefield of roses in different colours, shapes and sizes. A battle between the Red vs White.

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Other flowers complementing the display include Hydrageas, Pansies, Bellis and Alyssums. The “War of the Roses” floral display, which features some 60 varieties of England’s national flower, is part of the Europe leg of the “Gardens by the Bay Goes around the World” series for 2014.

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LATEST PRICKY ADDITION!

With an amazing variety of prickly plants on display, the Sun Pavilion continues the efforts of the Gardens to introduce plants from various regions so that visitors can enjoy a botanical tour of the world. Visitors to the free attraction can marvel at cacti and succulents from semi-arid regions such as Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar.

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The Sun Pavilion presents an unusual group of plants that may not be the most visually appealing in the conventional sense, but is no less fascinating. Together with our existing collection of succulents in the Flower Dome, it forms one of the largest cacti and succulent collections in Southeast Asia, and adds on to our horticultural mosaic of plants from different regions of the world.

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Look out for this special Dwarf Turk’s Cap Cactus when you are walking round the pavilion. It starts off as a green and shiny ball but when it is about to flower, a special structure resembling a cap develops on top of the plant, hence its name.

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If you still have not noticed, it is my personal favourite to shoot cactus.

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And since we are there, we visited the officially opened Far East Organization Children’s Garden too. It’s a 1-hectare fun-filled family element to Gardens by the Bay. The Children’s Garden seeks to encourage interaction with nature in a venue for fun and interactive play through integrated play equipment, water play features and educational programmes in a garden setting.

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You can read more about our prior visit to FEO Children’s Garden here.