Club Street Social

Much has been written, blogged and raved about Club Street Social's $28 lobster panini and one blogger has even proclaimed it to be "better than sex". While I'm not quite sure whether to pity or sympathize with him, the sandwich was perhaps good enough to make one mutter declarative statements in daze and satisfaction.

(http://www.clubstreetsocial.com/)

Owner Min has an admirable sunny disposition - almost as if she had spent quite a bit of time taking in California, taking in its hippy happy air; we aren't friends but her friendliness is infectious. Her restaurant/ bistro (?) is a chic-as-hell eatery that wouldn't look out of place in New York City's Meatpacking District. Smaller than expected, we were relegated to the bar which freed us from any people-watching distraction.

The lobster bisque was on the thin side but by no means starved of flavor. On my next visit, which would hopefully be sooner rather than later, I would like to try their octopus and artichoke salad.

confit duck, roast portobello, balsamic onion

The confit duck was blessedly oily but overpowered by the portobello mushrooms; it went from "ok" to "oh wow" after I ate up the portobellos first.

What would really make this panini extra extraordinary is the crisp skin so welcomed from a confit dish; however, it would be took much to ask for this as the skin-to-meat ratio is regrettably unbalanced and for the sake of equality and consistency, NO ONE GETS DAH SKIN.

pan-seared lobster, avocado, yuzu mayo

Finally, the piece de resistance, the raison d'être! Chunks of lobster which have been pan-seared to bring out its sweet loveliness, layered on top of a bed of chunky avocado and generous smear of yuzu mayonnaise. The result is a block of pleasure that would knock you senseless with pleasure and delight!

The bread themselves were exceptional when eaten on its own. Whatever filling is snugly held together between two pieces of crusty airy bread - a godsend for carb whores.

It is close to 6am as I am typing this all I can think of is when I can get my next fix of this lobster panini =(

Turning 27 on the 26th

I guess my birthday celebrations came a day early when I caught The Dark Knight Rises with Diana. Diana and I belong the same category of movie watchers who don't mind catching the movie but prefer not to mosh with the crowds or pay hefty weekend-priced tickets.

The movie felt as draggy as Batman’s cape in the beginning but picked up handsomely in the last hour. Me, child of the nineties, grew up Michelle Pfeiffer's adaptation of Catwoman and I was super eager to see what Anne Hatheway had to offer in this movie. She was in a nutshell: exquisite. Coquettish but with claws, she is the pampered lap pet to Pfeiffer's angry seen-it-all stray. Though I didn't quite expect her to switch sides so quickly but hey, there are enough psychos in this Batman franchise to last us the next.

I finally broke into the Chanel care kit given to me at my baby shower. I had been saving it for a special occasion and turning 27 seemed like an opportune time to do so. 

The Mr. took half the day off from work and we popped into Club Street Social for toasty paninis that would burn a hole in our pockets if we continue make this a habit. More to come!

After lunch, we popped by Goods of Desire for some kitschy domestic goodness. 

However, compared to Franc Franc, GOD was disappointingly small and a wee bit too over the top for my liking... 

Of course, some items were overpriced for stuff that one could find in heartland homeware stores. 

With brick-sized paninis still sitting in our stomachs, we could only manage a couple of tarts from Carpenter N Cook. But, even in our state of fullness, the tarts were lovely.

A quiet evening was spent with our man, Jiro in varying stages of sushi-gasm. Happy birthday indeed! 

One lucky duck at Imperial Treasure

Last Sunday, I celebrated my birthday with my family at can't-go-wrong Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck (http://www.imperialtreasure.com). If you aren't a stranger to this blog, you would know I have the words “ Undying Loyalty to Imperial Treasure” or something just as ching chong written all my face.

The creepy thing is I do get excited each and every time I visit one of their restaurants. I know I can be guaranteed of a good time (no doubt good company plays a huge role) and good grub (why, hello consistency).

Within minutes of our order being taken, a plate of char siew and roasted pork momentarily diverted our attention away from the bub (though my mum might beg to differ). Both were excellently prepared – the char siew was uber tender and saucily sticky while the lean roasted pork bore a thin crisp skin that crackled with every bite. Fat, crunch and chew all on a plate - my favorite kinda textural ensemble. 

The sight of a glistening Peking Duck stopped me mid-sentence - the last time anything glistened and made me sit up was my engagement ring. And of course, table-side carving service only adds to the excitement.

All that glitters might be gold but all that glistens sure is priceless.

Throughout the meal, we were pelted with awesome dim sum left, right, center as if the restaurant was out to win some government-sponsored efficiency award. I would have normally been ticked off by such timing but I guess dim sum is best eaten hot and gone in three bits max. And the commendables include steamed beef balls that you could play ping pong with; fried rice with dried scallop, crabmeat and egg white; and dessert-ish coconut bakewell tarts.

As it was my birthday, we splurged a little and ordered the Sauteed Scallops with Italian White Truffle Oil. It was really good though the chef was a little light-handed with the truffle oil. We paid double digits damnit! Just kidding... Forgive and forget, love and live. 

Ahh, what a fabulous meal - a harbinger of good things to come, I'm sure =)

Weekend #29

Charlene and Nadia came visiting

Bearing gifts from Wafflicious =)

Luckily he was on his best behavior. 

How can such an angelic-looking bud 

rue us terror during his first week at home? 

I guess big things come in small packages 

Got his and her haircuts. 

Well, they aren't alike but we did visit the salon together. 

Everyone keeps saying how tall the bub will be when he grows up. 

I wonder how long it will take for him to catch up with his dad. 

Birthday lunch at Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck. Good times. 

The bub also took a ride in his Aprica stroller for the first time. 

We got the stroller when he was supposedly a girl; 

thank goodness for the unisex design!

You have no idea how happy it makes me to slap on some make up,
and get out of my drab by milk-stained t-shirt and shorts uniform.

Grandpop, pop and mini pop =)

Bottoms up for the lovely weekend!

Spring and a touch of summer please

Let's just say someone is a lot more well rested today =)
Happy Friday, folks!

One week update with The First Born

Hmm, calling Russell "The First Born" sounds like I'm going to pop another out soon. HUR HUR HUR! For those of you eyeing my u-ter-us,  u-stay-far-far-away-from-us.

Anyway, I foresee the next few posts will be heavily baby-slanted as I am under confinement. Thus if you are allergic to that four-letter word, I suggest you revisit in a few weeks time. No harm done =)

Life with the bub has been fun, entertaining and definitely challenging. With a motherload of oxytocins crashloading my system, one can only imagine the amount of swooning I/we do every few hours.

As soon as the bewilderment of how a human came out of me dissipated, I counted his fingers and toes, and sighed with relief. Can I add how freakishly hungry I was? Though I thought it would be totally improper of me to ask for food as I was supposed to be weak and ailing.

My sister took our first photo together 

as we were being wheeled out of the delivery suite.

The bub's first and ACTUAL birth-day cake, thanks to his fengfeng yiyi.

Kw has laid claim to his eyebrows, nose and ears but I have dibs on his lips. I could live with that.

The bub, gran and creeper.

Still in snoozeland...

The bub with his other gran =)

Hmm, what shall I do today? I know, WORLD DOMINATION!

The importance of being Zen

Just in case he forgets what mummy and daddy look like...

First car ride home. Zero tantrums. Score!

R-sta from the 'hood

I used to think that all newborns look like rodents. 

Well, mine was the cutest.

HAPPYYY BABYYY!

I used to think that all babies look alike.
No, they don't and mine is still the cutest.

Introducing

the latest addition to our family

Russell Huang, formerly known as the bub

A final hurrah

LWAAC Weekend #27

Otherwise known as Last Weekend As A Couple Weekend.

Yes, I am being dramatic here... I'm also quite tired from playing The Waiting Game and it's almost as if the bub and I are going head-to-head on who can last longer.

Saturday saw an epically blah morning which had me yearning for my bed, despite the fact that I have been spending an unreasonable amount of time on it over the past few days.

But a girl - albeit a moody one - has got to eat and I knew the exact sort of lunch would get me back on my feet.

After which, I was pretty much insatiable, wiping out the ika tempura (which is more addictive than calamari on any given day) and phoenix roll (any sushi roll that combines both unagi and tempura prawns doesn't last long on my table).

It was obvious that I was past the hunger stage and threading on emotional grounds when a 2-berry muffin from Cedele was polished off within 20 minutes of us leaving Sushi Tei. Strange that while I'm a Cedele cake and bread person, I hardly go for their muffins.

Super moist, filled with tart raspberries and blueberries, and topped with a crumbly streusel crown, health food this is not but it did satisfy big time.

At Nadia's wedding

The theme was Bollywood Glamour, hence the three of us clad in purple. Decided noone would appreciate seeing a 39 weeks pregnant woman in a sari.

These days, photo booths are dime in a dozen but this company, Vivid Snaps, offers you a chance to print photos you took with your phone using wifi. Ingenious and so much more personalized!

On the menu: Indian food. Think chicken tikka, palak paneer and mutton rogan josh. My tastebuds love but my tummy loathes.

I guess Hotel Fort Canning is pretty new so they handed out feedback cards to each table. Probably irritated some statician big time but I really did think the decor was worth 3.5/5.

Bollywood dancers!

Speaking of the married couple, there they are! Sorry, pictures with the real peeps are with the pros. Well, not for for a day that went from lame to lamb in less than 18 hours =)

Come Sunday, I finally (finally!) made my way down to Franc Franc for an eyeful of decor delight. We circled around the store a few times, chanting,"This store is such a trap... such a trap because you feel like buying everything..."

It took us great restraint to leave with just two shopping bags filled eye candy dinner plates and a green (which incidentally reminds me of Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street) for the nursery.

Oh, as soon as I realised I wasn't going to deliver this weekend, I booked tickets to The Amazing Spiderman. It was just o-k. Andrew Garfield did more for me as Eduardo Saverin and the chemistry between the leads was kind of odd - as if they were first cousins or something. To be perfectly frank with you, I had the teensiest A2-poster-size crush on Tobey Maguire, who, in my not-so-humble opinion, nailed the role of Peter Parker.

Loved Emma Stone though; she can (still) do no wrong =)