I was doing my grocery shopping at Cold Storage in Tampines 1 last Friday and was planning to get some cakes or black ball home for my family but wasn't able to make up my mind until I saw Rive Gauche that is just outside Cold Storage. From the display, all the cakes looks super delicious but there are only 2 cakes that my family enjoys most; Strawberry Shortcake and Tiramisu. I ended up also buying these marble-like chocolates that cost 3 for $5 since they looked so cool and it's still sitting in my fridge. 

Tiramisu (☆☆☆☆)

There's only one sentence to describe this Tiramisu and that is "it taste as good as it looks or even better". I'm very particular when it comes to tiramisu so when I say it's good, I believe most people will somehow say its good too or maybe just decent, I don't know. It really depends on your satisfaction level. 

I believe strongly that in a Tiramisu, each layers and elements must be equally distributed. You know how some tiramisu only have a layer of sponge on the bottom and the rest is just cream and cocoa powder on top, those are simply not good. Let's not go to those tiramisu where you can only taste the wine and nothing else.

For this tiramisu, each layer of elements is equally distributed which I love. You have the sponge, the cream, the sponge again and the cream then comes the cocoa powder. The ideal tiramisu. The espresso  taste in the sponge is neither too strong or too light so the taste is just nice. I don't really remember if I tasted the wine in it which I prefer so it's good for me. It's cream, yum! Overall, it's really good so I would recommend you guys to try this one if you happen to pop by Rive Gauche.

Strawberry Shortcake (☆☆☆☆☆)

The key to a good Strawberry Shortcake is that fluffy sponge, cream that is not too heavy but still capture the essence and last but not least, fresh strawberries. I have eaten quite a few of strawberry shortcake that have these dried out sponge and way too heavy cream which swallow the strawberry, and I can say I'm not impressed nor satisfied. 

The impression of strawberry shortcake to me is always so light, fluffy and not too over the top but yet you go all melty melty the moment you put them into your mouth. Well that is the magic of strawberry shortcake. It don't have to be something sinful to satisfied your taste bubs. 

This one over here, hmm, taste SO good!. It's not too sweet either which is definitely a plus for me and this cake definitely gives me a smile on my face and go "I'm satisfied!" with 2 big thumbs up. Would recommend you guys to try out this lovely Strawberry Shortcake from Rive Gauche as well and let me know how you guys find it.

Hope you guys will like these cakes as much as I do.

Til next time!

Rive Gauche Patisserie 

Website: http://www.sapporolionsg.com.sg/rive-gauche/

Takashimaya: 391 Orchard Road, #B207-9-2, Food Department

Tel: 6887 4579

Plaza Singapura: 68 Orchard Road, #B2-57

Tel: 6341 9936

Tampines One: 10 Tampines Central, #B1-13

Tel: 6789 5518

JCUBE: 2 Jurong East Central 1, #B1-K12

Tel: 6659 6405

Jurong Point: 1 Jurong West Central 2, #B1-K2 (JP1)

Tel: 6794 5679

Suntec City Mall: 3 Temasek Boulevard, #B1-K2

Tel: 6238 0882

VIVOCITY: 1 Habourfront Walk, #B2-K8

Tel: 6376 8046

*Sorry for the poor quality of pictures. Took it with my iphone.*

This is the first time my family and I (excluding my mum, I'm sorry) planned a surprise mission for my mum's birthday. We planned a month ahead and it's killing me for not telling my mum. I almost blew the whole plan up a couple of times. Good thing my mum isn't that quick. 

So my dad came up with this plan to fly "my mum and him" off to Bangkok and letting her thinks that all her children will be staying in Singapore, then we hop onto the next flight to Bangkok for her birthday. It's a tough mission for us since we couldn't pack anything until they leave for the airport (which is only a couple of hours) and the worst thing is, my brother and I actually have to wake up really early to pretend to go to work and wait for them to leave. Once my dad gave us the green light, we rushed home immediately and start packing like crazy. It was so hectic and my nerves are driving me insane. 

It was funny how my mum kept reminding us to make sure the gate to our house is closed and to make sure all the switches are off before we go to bed, and she even stock up on food in case we go hungry. My dad and I were laughing like crazy behind her back. She's just so cute and clueless.

Once we reached Bangkok, we head straight to Mandarin Oriental Hotel where the restaurant (Sala Rim Naam) is located with our luggage (good thing the hotel helped us store our luggage at the counter) and to our surprise, the restaurant is actually located across the hotel (though it's still under Mandarin Oriental Hotel). The staffs there are so helpful and friendly which is a total thumbs up and lead us to the pier where a traditional thai boat will bring us over to the restaurant. Good concept ya. Loved it.

The waiters and waitresses were really friendly and they even helped us through the surprise event (I will be uploading the video up soon so do stay tune!). The food there was great! The pineapple fried rice (yum!), the duck dish (once it reached the table, it's all gone so you know how good it is), sweet potato appetizer (love!), fried fish (I'm not really into fried fish but my family loved it), green curry (holy moly! YUM YUM YUM!), mango salad (it's really good and the mango is just so fresh), pad thai (was alright), mango with sticky rice (BEST EVER!!). They also served us a plate of thai desserts for my mum. So sweet of them. Two thumbs up for Sala Rim Naam and we will definitely go back again for the food.

Stay tune to the surprise birthday video!

Sala Rim Naam

48 Oriental Ave Alley

Bang Rak, Bangkok,

Thailand

Tel: +66 2 659 9000

Website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/fine-dining/sala-rim-naam/?htl=MOBKK_salarim&eng=google&src=local

This is my first time purchasing from Loveien19 and it came out to be great. Firstly, the correspondence team were great with guiding me through the buying process since this is the first time I'm placing an order from them. Secondly, there are big range of shoes and accessories for you to choose from. Though most of them need to pre-order, but it's definitely worth waiting. You know how they say a full wardrobe of shoes is still not enough for a women. That sure do. 

I have been eyeing for these Isabel Marant sandals ever since the real one release but I'm someone who never ever spend more than a $100 on a good quality pair of sandals. It's ridiculous. I means a sandals is a sandals after all. You use them to step on dirt, not clean marbles so the inspired ones are just as good for me. I am willingly to spend over a thousand for Christian Louboutin heels but definitely not anywhere close to a sandals. Flats/ Loafers, I don't mind but sandals, I mean come on!

So I was browsing through Loveien19 for the first time and wala, I spotted these pair of sandals and I immediately sent an inquiry over to get them help me with the pre-order. Kiasu I know. I can go all crazy when I wanted something bad. Good thing the Lovenien19 team always reply me back asap (dope!).

Overall a fantastic experience shopping at Loveien19 and I would definitely go back again!

LOVEIEN19

http://loveien19.blogspot.sg/

My dad brought back some really huge and fresh sweet potatoes from Malaysia and my mum and I decided to have a small little BBQ session on our own backyard. Something my mum and I have in common is that if we crave for something bad, we will do whatever we can to get it in our tummy and that's how this little BBQ session came about. My parents love inviting their friends over for BBQ and we can easily top the chart of having the most BBQ parties among our friends. Even when we are living in a HDB apartment, we will set up the BBQ pit just outside our doorstep and have our friends over. Sweet Potatoes are a "must have" during our BBQ Parties and if you don't have it in your BBQ parties, I might simply just not attend. Haha. Just Kidding! 

The perfect way of cooking sweet potatoes is by roasting them over a small fire and let it do it's magic. Slowly turn them around every 10-15mins to make sure every side of the it is cooked. Use a satay stick to poke through the sweet potatoes to see if they are ready. If the sweet potatoes are still hard, let them continue to sit in the fire until you can easily poke the satay stick right into the sweet potatoes and wala, your sweet potatoes is ready! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Have a great weekends ahead!

xoxo.