i can't go on; i'll go on

It's amazing how I've not done any work at all the entire day and have not yet felt the familiar sensation of guilt. Hope it doesn't happen to you, but for my case whenever I go out for too long a period of time during the weekend this feeling of guilt tends to creep up on me and the only way to shake it off is usually to break off the fun and head home with the thought of making up for it at night. Occupational hazard which i haaaaaaaaate to the bone. I've been toying with the idea for the past 2 years of possibly doing something else other than medicine in the future but I'm a complete coward and haven't had the balls to explore other options. So I'm stuck feeling sorry for myself in the meantime. But I guess there comes a point when you end up caving in to something as simple and elusive as a full day of rest and relaxation. That was today for me.

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(romper: Topshop, cardigan and bag: store in Japan, shoes: Modcloth.com )

I've been wearing these sandals which I ordered from ModCloth and ooohhhh they are COMFY. Very very comfy. Possibly one of the best pairs of shoes I've ever gotten because they are so easy to walk around in and I didn't even have to break it in with blisters at all. :) I have a niggling feeling these are going to become my new favorite shoes since they pretty much go with any sort of outfit and even allow my feet to breathe in this tootootoo-warm-for-comfort tropical heat.

For lunch, my bf and I went to Marche! He'd been craving for a gigantic pork knuckle dish (ever since he came back from a backpacking trip to Germany he's gotten rather fond of meat and beer lol) and we didn't manage to go last week so this time there was no stopping us. In the end though, we ended up having our usual staple of Rosti, threw in a mixed salad, enjoyed a steaming asparagus soup and topped it off with some sweet Crepe for dessert. No pork knuckle ;p

Am a huuuuuge fan of cream of asparagus soup. Veggies in general. And I love how it's so thick and warm, it fills you up so quickly. It's one of the soups I dream of making in the future when I become a domestic goddess, mother of 5 kids whom I feed warm, hearty soups and stews on a daily basis. (Yes, we should always dream big.)

(Secretly, I just want to bury myself in that pile of potatoes. Oh but before that, hand over the ketchup!)

Hehehe ok so it's rather obvious that we try to maximize the space accorded to us by the medium sized plate but that's really because it's SO expensive (and we're just your average Singaporeans who want our money's worth). I worried about today's mountain of veggie though. Thought it would collapse in a humiliating and accusatory pile on the floor.

:) That's the face I see every time I want to take a photo of the food UNTOUCHED. Sorry, pie. :P

Today's strawberry crepe was a lot better than expected! Usually am not a huge fan of crepe since I've always found the dough bit to be rather tasteless... this one though had a lovely orange flavored whipped cream topping which definitely added to the taste.

Today's buys from Forever 21. XD I tried on the first cream colored one on the left and it was such a perfect fit I couldn't help but try on the teal one too. Naturally, I fell in love with the second one as well. And how often do you come across clothing items that fit so perfectly? So I decided to get both. The guy at the cash register even commented, "Wah, you must really like this dress eh?". All I could do was beam back and nod my head really vigorously. I do love how the dresses have a vintage feel to them because of the print and the fall. I think I've been reading too much Liebemarlene Vintage.

On the way back home, I stopped by a small shopping center near my house and there was the monthly little book fair so I went over in the hopes of finding some Children's books. Low and behold -- SWEET VALLEY TWINS!!! Yes, I was a huge fan of the Sweet Valley Twins series and used to have practically the entire collection until my dear old dad forced my sis and me to throw away most of the books from our kiddy collection in order to make room for... some silly adult thing or another. I've been trying to buy them back ever since. I love being able to find these books at the 2nd hand book fair -- these were only 50 cents each! SCCCCOOOOREEE! ;p What were your favorite childhood storybooks anyhow?

Hmm I think I'm getting into a bit of a rut here with this blog. I keep end up posting the same sort of stuff each time ;p It's pretty much the only creative outlet I have so I'm going to be more creative about it. Maybe next time you'll see something other than food and little ol' me.

On an incredibly random note, I think these are absolutely adorable:

(Etsy.com )

My cousin's wife will be giving birth to a baby sometime later this month and I'm going to be an aunt. :D My mum and I are so excited about getting a ton of stuff for the little kiddo to play with. These teeth are so full of WIN. And so highly DIY-able too. Maybe I should work on it with my grandmama.

Good night, now.

my 7 layered slice of heaven

Chapter 2 of The Breakfast Club Chronicles took place at an awesome restaurant called Barracks Cafe at Dempsey Hill. It's a restaurant in a building called House which used to be former army barracks (hence the name, I presume) and inside there's a cafe, a bar and a beauty emporium -- all under one roof. Yet another place that can only be accessed by car though because I can only imagine the walk all the way inside from the main road under the sun would be heeeellish. This place was amazing though. Thankfully, it was fully air-conditioned, service was prompt and there was a huge selection to choose from from the brunch menu .

Cute newsletter style menu.

Poached eggs and asparagus. Not great for me because the sauce was a little too sourish and creamy for my liking (almost like what i'd imagine rotten eggs would smell like ;p).

Oregon salmon hash. This one was DELECTABLE. It was a mix of salmon pieces, potatoes, chives all lumped together in a yummy sour cream based sauce that was sooo good and so easy to eat. I love stuff that's soft and that goes down the throat easily without much chewing. This was a little like luxury comfort food.

THIS WAS THE BEST. THE BEST. THE BESTTTTT!! And my fav photo of the entire day XD

7 layered pancakes!! My friend who introduced us to the place had read about it online and that was what we had all come for... It was pretty much the best pancakes I'd eaten in my entire life.
In between the layers were all these delicious NUTS and RAISINS and DRIED FRUIT and they even sprinkled such a generous helping all over the plate! =D I'm a huge huge huge fan of well, what you can call trail mix ingredients because they're so easy to eat and they cater to my sweet tooth while fooling me into thinking that it's a healthier snack option compared to other stuff. Together with the maple syrup it was sweet but not overly sweet because there was enough pancake to balance it out. I loved the feeling of stabbing a bit of plain pancake and then topping it with a spoonful of raisins/dried fruit/nuts. It even felt healthy if one didn't focus on the syrup...and the nutella in between the layers.

So basically it was heavenly... Too bad it was more like 1/4 of 7 pancakes piled on top of each other and not 7 whole pancakes eh?

Squid ink pizza. This one was kinda weird. ;p Because the crust was made with squid ink, it came out all black and dusty. We felt like we were eating ash. But the squid and veggies on top were decently cooked with a lemon tangy taste so I ended up eating the toppings rather than the crust. Muahaaa.

For dessert, we tried this dish called Rumbaba - something like a sponge cake SOAKED in rum. One bite and it was like woahhh! :)

Oh the multitude of desserts that we wanted to try but were too full/broke to order. There were so many cakes there that were really TALL-- possibly 5 to 7 inches high type of cakes. I'm definitely going back one day, if only for the pancakes...

maxi dress and vest: Topshop, sunnies: Witchery, necklaces: f21 and shop in Shibuya 109, Tokyo, sandals: Target.com

a little bit of you in everyone

For the month of May, my weekends were the best. I spent the weekdays at a hospital learning the basics of examining patients and talking to them to get a history out and most of the time
it was just tiring, extremely humid (my friends and i would always try to take the route that allowed us to cross into the air-conditioned wards for that few blissful minutes of respite) and demoralising because well, compared to my groupmates i was pretty terrible at everything. So glad it's over for now.

The weekends were the times when I would get to relax a little and spend time with my boyfriend and other friends and those were the little bits of the month that really got me through. Nothing like starting Monday a little less grouchier with the thought that Saturday
there'd be something to look forward to! :) Don't know if you guys feel the same about things like that in your life?

A couple of friends and I have been getting into this whole brunch movement (it seems like there are lots of great placesfor brunch that have been mushrooming up lately!) and it's quite a good idea because while it's a little pricier thannormal meals, you do skip both breakfast and lunch (2 for theprice of 1! sort of ;p) and end up eating a little less for dinner because you're so full.And the brunch experience is just priceless. I loooove theanticipation of a great pile of pancakes and eggs.

So Chapter 1 of the The Breakfast Club Chronicles took place at a restaurant called Prive at Marina Bay. Perhaps it was just an off day for them and normally I'm easy going about it but this time, service was REALLY BAD! It took ages for someone to take our orders and it didn't help that we were seated outdoors beneath the scorching sun. Customers were literally fighting to adjust the direction of the huge fans such that they'd point towards their table. Another table of expats beside us waited "45 minutes for oureggs and pancakes" (which never arrived) and ended up storming off to their yacht nearby (what a life eh? that's what I call storming off in style). We waited it out though and the result was decent pancakes and VERY TASTY smoked salmon eggs benedict. I'm so hooked on that combination now. :D

After that maro and I hitched a ride from our dear friend who had possession of his dad's car that day (THAT is the keyto even getting anywhere for brunch) to VIVOCITY yet again! I had a $25 left of a $50 Häagen-Dazs voucher to use up heheso we ended up tucking in to a deeeelicious ice cream + wafflecombo dribbled with chocolate sauce. I don't usually eat Häagen-Dazs very often (because one scoop is like ten bucks or some exorbitant price like that) but everytime I do I can't help but feel that it's in a class of it's own. We had a little combo dish of 6 different flavors and they worked sooo well together! 3 berry/fruit flavors, chocolate, rum and raisin and...(Wait for it!)...---TIRAMISU. MMM :D

$25 goes by very quickly at Häagen-Dazs unfortunately.

top and shorts: GAP, shoes: Urban Outfitters, tights: random, necklaces: F21 and gift, sunglasses: Witchery, bag: mum's

(ahhhaha watch me displace those sunnies by accident; in total dweeb-like fashion)

This is what happens when you spend too long in the changing room at Topshop, leaving your boyfriend to his own devices to pass the time. TSK TSK TSK. Men.

I ended up getting this grey drapey blazer and this maxi dress from Topshop! :D I'm really in love with drapey designs now because they just add this softness to the overall look... HURR this was the most substantial purchase at Topshop yet and for that -- I became a rightful owner of the awesome Topshop MEMBERSHIP CARD!! Haha 10% off every subsequent purchase and 20% off a single purchase in my birthday month. Topshop's one of my favorite shops ever, alongside Zara (UO's still numbah one though!) so everytime I look at my membership card, I just feel so HAPPY. :) Cheap thrill!

At night we made our way down to Orchard and had our dinner at a most unexpected place ever -- an "economic rice" stall (so said because it's basically rice + a number of other Chinese dishes that you can select and it's usually the cheapest option in any food court) on one of the upper floors of Far East Plaza! I had no idea there were stalls there that sold such good and reasonably priced food. I went for claypot tofu which was so tasty, warm and comforting after a long day of walking.

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Btw, GREETINGS FROM SEATTLE!! =DDD I arrived a couple of hours ago after a loooong and tiring 20 hours of flight (complete with layover in Narita airport in Tokyo) and now I'm finally at my uncle's house... So happy to be here because the weather is fantastic and my relatives here are just the BEST. The cousins are still driving everyone up the wall though.

I'll be updating about Seattle soon but right after one more post of photos from Singapore...

How awesome is it that it's only Sunday? I love gaining one day through traveling to a different time zone.