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Crab season is here again. You can see advertisements everywhere promoting crab feast. It’s time to go for the yummy crab buffet. Hurray!

Just like last year, my family and I had made a booking at the Ellenborough Market Cafe of Swissotel Merchant Court hotel a few days ago. We opted for the lunch buffet last year. However, Ellenborough Market Cafe is offering dinner buffet only this time around.

We arrived at the Swissotel Merchant Court hotel 15 minutes before the crab buffet started at 6:30pm yesterday and the cafe was already packed with diners.

Crab Buffet :

The spread of food is just like last year and it includes Chilli Crab, Indian Curry Crab, Tom Yam Crab, Sri Lankan Black Pepper Crab, Nonya Crab Popiah, Abalone Porridge, Shark Fin Soup, Soya Sauce Crayfish, Flower Crab and so on. It also includes the yummy yummy Durian Pengat.

Besides enjoying the good food, it makes us even happier is that HSBC credit card holder is entitled to enjoy the offer of “one dines for free with every three paying adult diners”. So nice 🙂

My Favourites :

I have had a taste of Yunnan-Style Seafood Hot Pot when I was having my dinner at a Chinese steamboat restaurant this evening.

I’m used to Cantonese-style Hot Pot or steamboat but I seldom have the chance to try out regional variations such as Taiwan, China (Chongqing, Chengdu, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc.), Thailand, Vietnam and so on.

So, I had decided to try out the China style and ordered a personal set of Yunnan-style seafood Hot Pot today. The waitress told me that there was an option of adding milk to the soup. Since I wanted to try something different, I chose to have milk mixing with the soup for my order.

Yunnan-Style Seafood Hot Pot with Milk :

The ingredients include tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, prawns, fish slices, mussel, squids, glass noodles and crab meats. Some of these ingredients of the Yunnan-style seafood Hot Pot are not commonly seen in the Cantonese-style.

Iced Jasmine Green Tea :

The iced Jasmine green tea definitely helps to cool down the heatiness after taking the whole pot of steamy seafood Hot Pot during dinner time. I like the glass bottle which looks like a cup as well as a jar.

I feel that the taste of the Yunnan-style is more plain than that of the Cantonese-style Hot Pot. In conclusion, I still prefer the Cantonese-style to the Yunnan-style Hot Pot.

My Favourites :

I received a chocolate bar as one of my birthday gifts from my friend a few days ago. It was a Hershey’s Symphony Giant Chocolate Bar bought from The Cocoa Trees chocolate shop.

Hershey’s Symphony Creamy Milk Chocolate :

As the weather was hot, the creamy milk chocolate bar had almost melted by the sizzler. So, I put it in the refigerator to freeze it.

A few days later, I had almost forgotten about the chocolate until I saw my niece was eating the Hershey’s Symphony Giant Chocolate Bar this evening. It was gone by 90% when I saw my chocolate!

I told her that it was my birthday gift and she returned with a cute grin on her pretty face. My niece told me repeatedly that the Hershey chocolate was very nice and she wanted me to buy some more chocolates for her. Apparently, the chocolate bar is the more the merrier to her.

Then, my niece said to me : “You can buy a lot…a lot of chocolates and I don’t mind” 😉 Oh boy! This is going to burn a hole in my pocket soon 🙁 Well, this is kids’ talk. I always find it funny and amusing as kids are lovely.

My Favourites :

Perhaps one of the best things to do on a public holiday is to go for shopping or eating out at the restaurant.

I bet not many people would want to do some serious reading of books on a holiday when everybody’s mood is believed to be high (on a National Day) and is ready for a celebration if not party.

As usual, I went to the mall for window shopping with my sister and then dropped by a restaurant when we were hungry. We went to the Sizzler — a western food restaurant this time round.

All-You-Can-Eat Salads :

Biscuits, Tortilla Chips, Crackers and Sunflower Seeds :

Swiss Grilled Chicken :

Spicy and Swiss Grilled Chicken Combo :

The food at the All-You-Can-Eat Salad Bar were more than enough to stuff a hungry stomach. There was not much room left in the stomach for the main course to be served.

Anyway, I still have the appetite to swallow a cup of Vanilla and Chocolate ice creams. In addition, I managed to finish a plate of fresh fruits before calling it a day 🙂

My Favourites :

Today is a special day of mine and I have been waiting for this day to come. I am myself’s best friend and I would like to wish myself have a very blissful day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME 😉

I love to eat cakes and I feel happy whenever I see cakes displaying at the confectionery shops. I seldom had cakes to celebrate on the special day of mine in the past even though I always wanted to have a white cake for my birthday.

White Birthday Cake :

To my surprise, my sister bought me a birthday cake this year and it’s a white one…..my dream cake! I was so delighted and my eyes sparkled when I saw the cake.

Before this, I was thinking as to whether to buy myself a white cake if I didn’t have any this year. What I wished for has finally come true so I think this is a good start from this year onward 🙂

Actually, my family and I have had an early birthday celebration yesterday at my favourite restaurant. Below are the pictures of the meals that we had ordered at the BaliThai restaurant.

Fried Rice with Prawns and Sausages :

Butter Prawns :

Pandan Chicken :

BBQ Chicken :

Oyster Kailan :

Asem Fish Head :

I feel very happy and blessed on this special day of mine as on 05 Aug. I would like to thank all my friends for remembering my birthday. I wish my friends happiness and good health. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

My Favourites :

My good friend told me that there is a 1-for-1 Ramen promotion going on at the Waraku Japanese Ramen restaurant. So, we took the opportunity to go to this restaurant to celebrate her belated birthday and my early birthday during lunch time today.

We ordered 1 set of Tomato Ramen and got another set of Japanese Ramen free by using OCBC credit card.

Japanese Ramen :

Tomato Ramen :

As you can see from the pictures, the bowl is as big as a mini basin! Each bowl of noodle comes with a black scoop and a big piece of dried seaweed.

Chopped Garlic :

The irregular-shaped metallic plate is filled with chopped garlic for seasoning purpose. So, the food tastes better by dipping into the chopped garlic.

I like the Tomato Ramen and it tastes better than expected. I think the 1-for-1 Waraku Ramen offer is value for money even if you are not celebrating for any occasion.

My Favourites :

I went to Sim Lim tower to buy some electrical and electronic components after office hour this evening. I bought what I needed for work and then took my time to do some window shopping.

I walked into a Chinese medicated store and ordered a small bowl of Guilinggao or turtle jelly. As the name implies, the turtle jelly has something got to do with turtle as it contains turtle shell powder.

Guilinggao or turtle jelly is a Chinese medicine that is traditionally made with turtle shell powder and China roots in the form of a jelly. It is well-known to be good for skin complexion when ingested. So, I took a few minutes of my time to treat myself better with the Guilinggao 🙂

Next, what attracted my attention was the Chinese porcelain teapot. Instead of containing tea, it was filled with honey to neutralise the slight bitterness of the turtle jelly when consumed.

Chinese Porcelain Teapot :

I think the Chinese porcelain teapot was nice so I took out my handphone camera and did a quick snap. It was indeed a good feeling to admiring the beautiful teapot while consuming the Guilinggao 😉

My Favourites :

My family and I re-visited the Roland Restaurant today since the last one on 15 March earlier this year. We like the food there so we went back to this restaurant to have our lunch on a pleasant Sunday afternoon.

We ordered our favourite Dim Sum, roast chicken and crispy duck today. In addition, we also ordered seafood such as pepper crabs and baked lobsters for the family.

Baked Lobsters :

Pepper Crabs :

I feel that the food there was really very tasty and up to standard. My family and I like the baked lobsters and pepper crabs very much. The serving of the pepper crabs was big enough for a big family.

Before we left the restaurant, my family saw a wooden craft crab was placed near the doorway as decoration. My nephew requested me to take a picture of the wooden craft crab so I grabbed my handphone and did a quick snap.

Wooden Craft Crab :

In my opinion, the wooden craft crab is really a very nice piece of art.

My Favourites :

There are many new restaurants located at Tampines 1 shopping centre. My family and I have a plan to patronise most if not all of the restaurants there whenever we have the time and spare money to spend 🙂

My sisters and I have visited the F.I.S.H. restaurant recently. This restaurant is a subsidiary of the popular Fish & Co. restaurant which specialises in fish meals and other seafood.

Although the name of the F.I.S.H. restaurant is an abbreviation that makes up the word “fish”, it doesn’t sell fish meals only. In fact, you can find chicken, beef and other meat inside their menu.

I like the look-and-feel of the food served there. Here are some pictures to show people how attractive the meals were decorated :

Grilled Mozambique Spring Chicken :

Bake Spice Peanut Chicken Leg :

Creamy Mushroom Soup :

The food there certianly looked nice although my sisters and I do not get used to the taste of the chicken meals. The ingredients were blent differently as compared with those western food that we used to have.

Anyway, the F.I.S.H. restaurant has a cosy and quiet environment that can compete with that of our favourite country-style Country Manna restaurant. It’s good to have a taste of different ingredient and also to make a comparison between different restaurants once in a while.

My Favourites :

Today is my youngest elder sister’s birthday. Two days ago was my youngest elder brother’s birthday and he is older than my sister by 2 years and different by 2 days.

Their birthdays are so close to each other so it is kind of easy to remember. It is like you can remember his birthday and you won’t miss out on hers. Thus, no excuses to forget and no fightings 🙂

My family and I have had a birthday celebration with my sister this evening. We went to one of the Chinese restaurants to have some fine food as shown in the pictures below :

Mushroom with Broccoli :

Green Beans with Scallops :

Sea Cucumber with Broccoli :

Prawns with Mayonnaise :

Fish, Mushroom with Vegetables :

Roast Pork, Roast Duck and Soya Sauce Chicken :

Although the portion of each serving was quite small, the taste was above average and we like the food there. We really had a great dinner tonight. I think the birthday girl was satisfied with what we had planned for her too.

My Favourites :