The birthday cake I made for my mom

Three weeks ago my mom turned 50 years old and I was happy I was there celebrating with her and I made her this cake that you can see on the photo above. I made the cake from scratch, I made the fillings: vanilla cream, mashed bananas and homemade raspberry jam. I decorated the cake with whipped cream, almond flakes, blueberries and raspberries (from our garden that my mom had kept in her freezer) and I added lots of love :-)

Singapore

There are many things to see, do and eat…and I think I did most of it but there was one thing I skipped on purpose and that was the famous Night Safari and the Zoo. I LOVE animals, don’t get me wrong, and I would have loved to see them. BUT I enjoy see them in their freedom and not in a zoo or night safari where they have been held for the amusement of visitors.

Here is a list I’ve done based on things I think is worth to visit, see, do and eat in Singapore:

- National Museum of Singapore (visit a great exhibition about Singapore’s history)

- Marina Bay Sands

- the Singapore Botanic Gardens

- Banana Cream Pie (to die for!)

- Bukit Timah (nature reserve)

- Orchard Road (shopping district)

- Chinatown

- Little India

- Chocolate Buffet

- a typical Singaporian breakfast

- Raffle’s Hotel (have a Singapore Sling where it was created)

- Clarke Quay (district with many restaurants, bars and nightclubs)

- Sentosa (artificial island)

Singapore

Singapore

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……..

Macarones from Ladurée, photos and collage: Solli Kanani

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

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

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 :-)

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)

Clarke Quay

Ladies night, first stop on an Italian restaurant and then off to the clubs in Clarke Quay :-)