Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

It was meant to be a short getaway and I rushed over to the airport after taking half day leave that Friday. The air ticket to Kuala Lumpur International Airport was almost twice the usual price since it was a few days before Malaysia's election day.

I met up with my friends in Royale Chulan The Curve, the place where I would be staying for 2 nights. Due to the horrible traffic jam, it took about one and the half hours to reach my destination. 

I should have taken to KL Central via train and alighted at SBK08 - MRT Mutiara Damansara. It would probably be much faster and cheaper too.

This was more of a eat, sleep, chill on bed weekends trip. Did not snap much pictures at all since I was in my ''nua'' mode. I even forgotten to taken pictures of the room itself. Breakfast was provided and we settled our meals in a German and Vietnamese restaurant, as well as occasional snacks we could grab.

Besides The Curve Shopping Centre of few storeys high, an underpass of food outlets that links to IKEA, I did not explore much. I probably only grabbed a few bars of Valrhona chocolate, hair dye and other random stuff which I thought was priced better as compared to Singapore.

Definitely a good place to eat, sleep and chill, provided that you are familiar with the place. I should perhaps learn Malay since I kept having people speaking to me in the language I could not understand. More short weekends getaways and staycations in future!

I had the privilege to attend a Healthy Cooking Workshop held at Mahota with May Schooling (mum of Singapore's swim champion Joseph Schooling), sharing her experience of how to prepare quick and healthy meals to refuel and recharge her son before his swim.

After her demo on a quick cheesy sandwich, it was Chef Benson's turn to prepare a healthy plant-powered smoothie which acts as a substitute for milo. It was a recipe created for his lactose intolerance son. However, the taste was not exactly like milo but still it tasted not that bad.

Next was sampling a version of Chef Benson's healthy nasi lemak and watching how he mixed the spirulina protein bar. There was also a little hands on session for us with all the ingredients prepared. I started mixing everything with the glove provided, at the same time creating a little mess. With dates as its base, the spirulina protein bar was quite sweet though.

It was a fun workshop and I got to explore the beautiful interior of Mahota. Great place to wind up and chill or even shop around its retail segment for groceries!

Hosted by DBS, road to REGATTA 2018. 

Probably one of my most unusual night's out with my friends as we spent our 2 hours in Esplanade theatre watching a ballet performance titled "Giselle". It was my first time and never in my life I would expect myself sitting in theatre watching a ballet performance. 

"Giselle" is a ballet performance in 2 acts, featuring choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, as it remains one of the well loved classics in the company's history. With the hint of romance and betrayal, I had to decipher the entire storyline based on the performers acting and facial expression since no dialogue were involved at all. I guess it would be normal for my friends and I to sort of got ''lost'' midway yet roughly understood the storyline in the end.

Anyway it was great to see interesting medieval style props as well as beautiful costumes worn by the performers/actors, maybe the term ballerinas would perhaps be more accurate. I also noticed each jump, hop or whatever movements were in sync with the background classical music as well. By watching them performed on their toes, it definitely looks tiring and requires plenty of practise.

Still, that night was an eye-opener for me even though ballet just isn't everyone's cup of tea. At least I get to experience watching such a unique performance.

Still not knowing how to pronounce "Don Quijote", titled after the chivalric main character of a fictional Spanish novel, I recalled my dining experience I had at Don Quijote Spanish Restaurant which was located at Dempsey.

Don Quijote is an authentic Spanish restaurant in Singapore, not only acclaimed for their tapas and traditionally made Spanish fare, but also for their selection of alcohol. The owner has been to Spain for at least 10 times (and counting up) ever since the resturant has started 12 years ago. Every photographs framed up in his resturant were taken by him. 

The dishes served here were basically non-region specific dishes and I started off with a glass of Virgin Sangria ($10.00/glass), a non-alcohol version of Sangria Tinto (red) ($14.50/glass). It was a refreshing and light drink with fruit cubes in it.

Spicy Calamari ($16.00) was my addiction as it was rather fresh, great texture, nicely grilled with spicyiness just right for me. I had to skip the ‘Live’ Gambas al Ajillo ($18.00) due to allergy, yet the sight and fragrance of nicely brown chopped garlic loaded on top of the large sea prawns was so alluring.

I had an instant liking to the Croquetas con Jamón ($16.00) after my first bite on its non-oily, yet crisp shell with velvety smooth potato and ham filling. Definitely a great snack to go with alcohol.

The Secreto Iberico a la Plancha ($26.00) was Iberian pork grilled to what we called ''medium rare'' in steak. It was slightly chewy and perfectly safe to consume despite the ''medium rare'' state since these ''clean'' pigs ate only grass and acorns.

Another highlight which I regret to take a decent picture of was the Rabo de Toro - Ox-tail stew ($36.00). The same recipe for the past 12 years and a great comfort food. The meat was so tender that it readily fell off the bone. I could not help grabbing bread and dipping it into the rich savoury stew!

Cutting off the gimmicky plate breaking session during the serving of the Asado de Cochinillo Espanol as probably only the more tourisy resturants does that. The ½ Oven-roasted spanish suckling pig was served with really crispy skin and tender flesh as well. I would love to stuff myself silly with this dish.

Chuletón de Buey ($18/100gm (total - $324)) was the charcoal-flame-grilled bone-in tomahawk rib-steak weighing 1.8kg that day which wowed everyone with its grandeur size while ''bone-in''. My image was already deboned and sliced neatly, revealing the medium rare flesh. 

As for the carbs, both Paella Valenciana w ‘live’ Boston Lobster and Fideuá Negra w ‘live’ Boston Lobster ($65 (large) + $79 (w lobster)) were brimming with umami, probably the carbs had well absorbed the flavors of the seafood.  

Last but not least, the desserts served were Bomba de Chocolate -Warm-chocolate ‘lava’ cake ($19.00) and Churros with chocolate sauce ($16.00). Both desserts use Blanxart artisanal chocolate imported from Barcelona. Being a hardcore chocolate lover myself, I enjoyed how the chocolate wasn't overly sweet nor 'gelat'.

Trying out less common cuisines such as the Spanish fare from Don Quijote would always be an interesting experience for me. Although dining indoors tend to be more cosy, having it al fresco with alcohol and snacks would be a great way to chill too!

Don Quijote Spanish Restaurant

Dempsey
Block 7 Dempsey Road, #01-02
Singapore 249671
Tel: (+65) 6476 2811

Website: http://www.don-quijote-restaurants.com/

It wasn't my first time taking a cruise to no-where but definitely the rare few travel related post on this blog. Recently I have the habit to blog about things straight to the point and not type a whole load of grandma story, knowing that nowadays people tend to view images more than reading a chunk of text. Am I right?

It was a weekend cruise which sets off at Marina Cruise Centre at about 7.30pm instead of 7pm due to delay. Throughout the cruise trip, I did not manage to take much pictures except a couple of selfies, knowing that my mum can't take good photos.

Typical of cruise trips, the population of senior citizens on board was approximately about 65%? 25% were families with mainly young children while 10% belongs to the others category. Most rooms had a balcony which could be seen from one of the videos I have uploaded below, at the same time featuring my room for the 2 nights. The beds were higher than normal, extremely cosy and my mum and I had 2 fluffy pillows each!

I did not really explore the cruise ship much as most of the time we were feasting, me in the room watching countless movies which I had previously missed and well, waiting for the food to digest. The food were mostly buffet style, not say that fantastic but decent. Had watched one free performance since the other performances need to pay. I think most people from the older generation were pretty much occupied with the jackpot machines and I did witnessed an auction on board a cruise of the first time in my life.

I probably would not want to go for another cruise trip anytime soon. I find the experience getting more boring as compared to last time when I was much younger and the mere thought of going for a cruise trip and indulging on food the entire day excites me. Don't get me wrong as who knows I might have a sudden urge to go on another cruise staycay in time to come?

I alighted from Imbiah Cable Car Station at Sentosa, just 2 stations away from Vivocity and navigated my way over to Le Meridien Singapore, Sentosa. It was so random that my mum had to book a staycation when I would rather rot at home during that weekend.

Le Meridien Singapore, Sentosa looked more like a heritage landmark than a hotel and I took an awkward shot of the merlion looking as if it was decapitated above. The scotching heat was already swallowing me up as I made my way into the room which my mum had already checked into. The room look rather cosy and we had an amazing view of neighbouring constructions going on, with 2 tall cranes in sight. I guess it felt more conducive when the curtains remained closed up through the stay.

I wasn't really in the mood to walk around exploring Sentosa that day, except travelling to Vivocity for dinner and having Starbucks while lazing in the room that night. The pool looked rather shallow and was quite empty most of the time. I actually brought my trunks but it just felt awkward to swim with parents around. My mum did felt the same way as well.

Anyway, my only consolation was the bathtub in the toilet where I soaked for probably an hour or more? Half of the time I was climbing in and out of it, setting my camera's timer for portraits which I used for my artistic edits posted on my instagram @dessertingbeauty. 

As I checked up on the hotel that night, I was stunned by the beautiful photography shown on the webpage. Images can indeed be decieving to a certain extent I would say.