February 5th, 2012 §
Ladurée opening a boutique in Stockholm
Yes, it is true and now it’s official! Ladurée will open a boutique in Stockholm :-) If you can’t make it to Paris, then Paris comes to you…that goes for the people living in Stockholm that soon will be able to endulge themselves with the most delicious macarones in the whole world. I’m not saying that just because I’ve been working at Ladurée in Paris, but I have tasted macarones from different “brands”…and even in Sweden…they’re not even comparable to the ones that are served at Ladurée. So I’m truly happy that the Swedish people finally can buy delicious and heavenily tasty macarones at Ladurée in Stockholm very, very soon! To be continued……..
February 4th, 2012 §
Banana Cream Pie
This is almost the BEST part of my trip in Singapore…..the Banana Cream Pie!!!! I’ve got a sweet tooth, I guess you must have understood that by now ;-)
I had read about the Banana Cream Pie that is served at PS Café in a guidebook from A Lonely Planet and as soon as I read about it I just knew I had to go and try it. The pie was almost calling for me and on my last day in Singapore I knew there was one thing I had to do before I left the country and that was to find the café where the pie was served. Said and done, there it was in front of me, a small biscuit crumb base filled with heavenly toffee, sliced bananas and topping of whipped cream and coconut flakes…. the combination of them altogether gave the ultimate tasting experience and I was taken straight to heaven eating that banana cream pie :-)
Banana Cream Pie
Me enjoying the Banana Cream Pie
My friend Clara
PS CAFE Paragaon
ps cafe
ps cafe
February 3rd, 2012 §
Nanyang University of Technology
When I was in Singapore I was living with my sister on the campus of the Nanyang University of Technology. I loved the life on campus, it was like having the best part of the years at the University but without studying and the stress….Delicious breakfast every morning (kaya toast, fresh fruit shakes and exotic fruit salads), they had an outdoor swimmingpool where I went to “cool down” and Starbucks. Their canteen was also open during the evenings and when we got home I always went for a waffle with kaya :-)
Nanyang University of Technology
February 2nd, 2012 §
ac
The humidity in Singapore is between 70-90% so you can imagine how it feels like walking around outside in that hot and humid climate. The average temperature is 25-31 Celsius degrees and thunderstorms occurs 40% of all days and rainfalls is almost like an everyday phenomenon. When I was there two days in December 2011 and one week in January 2012 I think it only rained twice, so the rainfall never bothered me, but you could hear the thunderstorms pretty often.
Since its a country with warm temperature and high humidity they have installed air conditioners in all indoor public places such as the MRT, shopping malls, Universities etc etc. The idea is good but I don’t know WHY they run the air conditioner on the maximum power and let them blow out ICE COLD air?? It was literally walking into winter in Siberia when you went inside public places. I used to walk around in shorts and a top in Singapore because of the hot weather, but several times a day I needed to pass by indoor public places and that was not pleasant. I learned to always bring a hoodie with me…but I felt like why do they not just addjust the air conditioner so they don’t blow out ice cold air?
I was wondering if it was only me who thought it was so cold? But surveys has been made and the Singaporians themselves find the air conditioned public places to be too cold and they have faced issues such as flu, cough and dry skin.
Many organisations are now looking over their air conditioning temperatures and I hope they will do a change soon. I don’t think it’s healthy with the transistions from hot and high humidty to ice cold and dry air several times a day. And imagine the people who are acctually working in the shopping malls, or the public institutions. Well, I hope things will change :-)
February 1st, 2012 §
Marina Bay Sands (image source, click here)
Marina Bay Sands (the three buildings with a ship on top, see the photo above) is one of the main attractions in Singapore. It’s a huge 5-star integrated resort with the worlds expensive casino, a hotel, a shopping mall, an exhibition centre, an ArtScience museum and several restaurants. On the 57ths floor you’ll find the infinity edge pool and the restaurant that is next door, named the Club is where they offer a delicious chocolate buffet (that I’ve been writing about here: the Chocolate Bar).
Marina Bay Sands shopping mall (93 000 sqm) boasts luxury stores such as Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Cartier, Prada, Gucci, Hermès, Emporio Armani, Chopard, Dior, Dunhill, Vertu, Miu Miu, Yves Saint Laurent, Salvatore Ferragamo, Montblanc, Blancpain, Herve Leger and many others.
How to get here: take the MRT, station: Marina Bay
Marina Bay Sands (image source, click here)
Marina Bay Sands (image source, click here)
January 31st, 2012 §
Clarke Quay
Ladies night, first stop on an Italian restaurant and then off to the clubs in Clarke Quay :-)
January 30th, 2012 §
Bukit Timah nature reserve
Bukit Timah is a 163-hectare nature reserve and an Asean heritage park and it is one of the largest primary rainforest left in Singapore. In the nature reserve there are also steps leading to Singapore’s highest hill at 163.63 m. Me, my sister and dad went there in the morning one sunny day. On our walk we passed by very cute monkeys that were living there, they were playing with each other and jumping from one liana to another. It was fun to see :-) If I was living permanently in Singapore I would definately have been going to this nature reserve every week and walked to the top of the hill, best exercise ever and at the same time, fresh clean air and beautiful nature ;-)
Bukit Timah nature reserve
Bukit Timah nature reserve
Bukit Timah nature reserve
January 29th, 2012 §
Foot and leg massage deluxe (OSIM)
I’ve been writing that I’ve been walking alot around in Singapore and ofcourse that puts pressure on feets and legs. One day when I went to the supermarket with my sister we passed by an OSIM store and as soon as I saw their leg massage machine and ran in and asked to try it. During the years I’ve tried MANY massage machines and I’ve never found the ONE. Ok, hold your horses…when I had put my legs in this machine and I leaned back in the armchair I was taken to HEAVEN. This leg and foot machine from OSIM is a 3D massage machine and it did reflexology massage (pressing points on my soles) and it wrapped around my legs and massaged my calves, ankles and feet at the same time..it was like there were several human hands doing all that and I just felt so releaved. On top of that there is also a kind of heating in the machine and gives a feeling of hot stone massage around the feets. Suddenly my feets and legs felt as light as the air and I didnt wanted to leave the machine :-( I wanted to bring it with me…
January 28th, 2012 §
Fort Canning Park in Singapore
Singapore isn’t that big and if you want to see as much as possible I would suggest you not to take the MRT. On my last day in Singapore I walked all the way from Little India to Raffle’s Hotel then to Marina Bay Sands and then to Fort Canning Park and then to Orchard Road and in the evening I walked back all the way to Little India. You can see on the map below where I went (follow the pink lines).
Anyhow, during the day I took a break in a beautiful park called Fort Canning. It was boiling hot that day so I went and had a seat on a bench next to a big tree that gave me some shadow. I sat there for a while, reading my book “One Day” that I had brought and at the same time I enjoyed the peacefullness of the park. Almost no people where there so it was very quiet. A perfect park to have a break in and it’s very central.
Sollis track
Fort Canning Park in Singapore
Fort Canning Park in Singapore (artist P.Gnana)
January 27th, 2012 §
New Years Eve in Singapore
After our New Years Eve dinner at the Italian restaurant InContro in Singapore we had a walk along Clark Quay and reached the bridge at Riverside Point. It was crowded with people and everyone were waiting for the fireworks. The ambiance was crazy, people were there from all over the world…some guys had big loudspeakers pumping out songs from Rihanna.At midnight we all were dissapointed though, no fireworks around the Clarke Quay area…we should have been at Marina Bay Sands watching the fireworks instead. But it didn’t acctually matter, what mattered was that me, my sister and dad were joined and having fun. After midnight our dad went back to his hotel while me and my sister continued our evening…
Me and my sister went on to the centre of Clark Quay where there was a big outdoor NYC party. The DJ was awesome…he was playing the best hits from Rihanna, David Guetta and other awesome partytracks…people were just happy..dancing and enjoying the New Years Eve. And even though it was the first time in my life that I didn’t watch any fireworks I had enjoyed my evening :-)
New Years Eve in Singapore
January 26th, 2012 §
Robertson Quay
It was very difficult to decide WHERE to have our New Years Dinner in Singapore. We wanted to have authentic Singaporian food but in fact Singapore more or less have food from all over the world and do not have any special authentic cuisine..apart from some courses… So after been looking on TripAdvisor we found Incontro, an Italian restaurant ranked as number one in Singapore. I’m a big fan of Italian food so I was excited going there and before reserving a table me and my sister went there a couple of days before, to see how the restaurant looked like inside and we got to talk with one of the owners aswell. She was very nice, an Italian woman from Schweiz but had been living in Singapore for 10 years now. We got a good feeling about the restaurant so we made a reservation. On New Years Eve we went to Robertson Quay (next to Clarke Quay) to have our New Years Eve dinner at Incontro. The food was very good, BUT since I’ve had delicious food in Italy and in one of the best Italian restaurants in Paris (Oenosteria) I must say it was not even comparable. Italian food has to be made with Italian primary products to taste Italian..thats my opinion. And I guess it’s difficult to keep the freshness of primary products if they’ll be transported all the way to Singapore from Italy. But the food did taste very good and so did the heavenly desserts we had, tiramisu and moelleux au chocolat!
Incontro – 30 Robertson Quay, Singapore
Incontro, Italian restaurant in Singapore
Incontro, Italian restaurant in Singapore
Incontro, Italian restaurant in Singapore
January 25th, 2012 §
Pastries in Singapore
The pastries and cakes in Singapore were just a pure delight to watch and eat. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves ;-)
Pastries in Singapore
Pastries in Singapore
Pastries in Singapore
Pastries in Singapore
January 24th, 2012 §
Chinatown in Singapore
In Singapore there is a district called Chinatown. We went there one day and as soon as we stepped out from the MRT we found ourselves on a street filled up with tourists, buildings on each side painted in pastel colours and the typical Chinese red lanterns hanging high above us. The day we went there was a very very hot day and walking around on those packed street didn’t appeal to us that much so we didn’t stay there for so long. But we did pass the food street where you can find typical Chinese food from different areas, we visited the Hindu temple Sri Mariamman (see the photos below) and we passed the fruitmarket. There are several places of worship, you can find hindu temples, buddhist temples, churches and mosques. Also if you’re into Chinese food you’ll find many restaurants and there are also several museums and art galleries in this area. This website, Chinatown Singapore, is very useful if you’re planning to visit Chinatown.
Chinatown in Singapore
Chinatown in Singapore
Chinatown in Singapore
January 23rd, 2012 §
Little India in Singapore
When we were in Singapore we went a couple of times to Little India. It was almost like going to India itself (even though I’ve never been there). It’s an area filled up with markets with fruits, flowers….you can feel the scent of spices and insence in the air…hear music from the Bollywood movies pumping out from the loudspeakers of the stores and there are many, many Indian restaurants so if you’re up for some delicious Naan bread and tikka masala you are at the right place :-)
How to get to Little India – take the MRT station: Little India
Little India in Singapore
Little India in Singapore
Little India in Singapore
January 22nd, 2012 §
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
If you like chocolate then the Chocolate Bar at Marina Bay Sands is a must if you go to Singapore :-) My sister had made a reservation for her, me and our dad and in January we went up to the 57th floor in Marina Bay Sands…all the way up to the Restaurant The Club that is next to the famous swimmingpool that is on the terrace.
The Chocolate Bar, opens at The Club at Marina Bay Sands every night from 8 and offers 57 chocolate themed desserts, crafted by hand with premium chocolate. I was literally in heaven endulging myself with almost one of each dessert… As soon as we stepped in we were shown to our table and we could order something to drink. I had tea on the first round and a cup of hot chocolate later in the evening. There were also chocolate ice cream and moelleux au chocolat that could be ordered apart from what was served on the buffet. The staff really made sure we had everything we needed on our table and also took away the plates as soon as I went up for a new round. I think I had 4 plates in total…filled with delicious chocolate desserts. That is also the explanation of why I was suffering from sugar coma deluxe when we left ;-)
Chocolate Buffet – The Club at Marina Bay Sands, Sands SkyPark (Level 57, Hotel Tower 2), Singapore
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
Chocolate Buffet at The Chocolate Bar (Marina Bay Sands)
