JUBILEE is a new coffee house & bar located around changi village area. If you love exploring around Changi Village, you might have already spotted this place. It's not far from The Coastal Settlement. My family and I were driving around Changi Village, randomly picking what to have for dinner and we found this lovely place. Though it wasn't officially launched when we visited, they still welcomed us in for dinner. 

What I love about this place is their atmosphere and how they set up the place with all these retro furniture and accessories. It's like going back to when I was a little girl. Great memories. However, the food here are just alright. I don't know if it's because the place was not officially launched yet or something but... Anyway, you guys SHOULD really visit this place. Order a drink or two with some finger food and enjoy the atmosphere! 

JUBILEE Coffee House & Bar

580 Netheravon Road, Singapore 508516

My very first time to Chock Full of Beans at Changi Village Road and I'm really loving this little cafe. It was recommended by my elder brother and my sister in law, and their coffee and cakes are really good. What I really love about this cafe is how they put their hearts out drawing these amazing arts on not only their coffee but on their servings as well. If you like drinking ice coffee, this might be the place for you. My family are not really into ice coffee so we didn't manage to order any. My sister in law tried their ice coffee and it comes with a 3D art on it so if you like taking food pictures, this will be the best place. With 3D and 2D art coffee and amazing food and cakes, this place will never go wrong.

Chock Full of Beans

4 Changi Village Road, 

#01-2090, Singapore 500004

Tel: 62148839

Opening: Tuesday to Friday (11am - 10pm)

Saturdays & Sundays (9am - 10pm)

Website: http://www.chockfullofbeans.com.sg/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cfob.changi

Every year during mooncake festivals, my house will be stocked with boxes and boxes of mooncakes sent by our friends and suppliers. We couldn't be more grateful as it always filled our kitchen with happiness and excitement. Every this time of the year, our chinese tea pot and mini cups would also come out of retirement and my mum would prepare lovely chinese tea to go along with all these beautiful mooncakes. What's even better is to light some lanterns by the beach at night and enjoy the mooncakes and chinese tea with your love ones.

I went North Border Bar & Grill twice for dinner with my family and I always ended up with a super bloated stomach because the food there are always so delicious especially their desserts. This particular dessert will definitely make your body all curled up because it may be the best lava cake you ever had in Singapore!

I have been trying to find a lava cake that can top this but until today; this is still on the top of my list. First of all, the outer layer of the lava cake might looks rough but that makes the cake crispy on the outside and soft on the inside (let's not even mention how the chocolate will flow out the moment you cut it. Yum!). You know how some lava cake is super sweet and if you eat too much it might make you sick, this one here, not the case. Not too sweet and not too bitter. It's really spot-on. The ice cream, soft and not too crazy with the sugar level as well. The cherry sauce, bring the whole dish to a whole new level. It might look super intense but seriously, the whole dish is well balanced and it will not make you feel awful if you eat too much so it's a total thumbs up for me! 

When ordering, remember to order them together with your meals. Do not wait until you are done with your main dishes because sometimes it might just go out of stock within a snap of a finger so let me warn you, order less side and main dishes because you don't want to miss this fabulous lava cake. It's called the Warm Bittersweet Chocolate Torte. Trust me on this one.

North Border Bar & Grill

2 Rochester Dr, Singapore 139213

Tel: 6777 6618

Website: http://www.northborder.com.sg/

Look at how big my sister-in-law's mug as compared to mine. Mine was beginner's mug.

It's my first experience going to Comex I.T Show and apparently it's not really what I thought it would be. Firstly, the crowds were insane! I expected it to be packed with people so I'm mentally prepared for it but still, it's like insane! Secondly, Sony only showcased their games section and accessories throughout this show. No cameras no nothing. I was planning to get the Sony Camera RX100M3 so I was pretty disappointed. I mean I have to literally get knocked by hundreds and hundreds of shoulders just to locate the Sony booth where they sells their camera but then, it turns out there wasn't any. The only thing I find it fun was to disturb my little brother who was working under Challenger HP Printer section and that's about it. Super empty handed! Lucky elder brother of mine managed to get the laptop he wanted. I think if you are looking for like laptops, printers, gaming console, TV and computers accessories, Comex will be the best place for you. Nikon, Fujifilm and Canon cameras too. Poor Sony doesn't have a booth to showcase their cameras. Too bad then. I still managed to get my cameras at the Sony Center in Marina Square so I'm happy.

That night, my family and I went to Paulaner at Millennium Walk for some drinks and small bites. I'm not into bars and drinking but I would definitely come back to this place. The food was great. The sausages are the best! Apparently their beers are good too! I finally drank beer after so long and I wasn't even planning to at the first place. My elder brother was like "You come to this fabulous place with awesome beer and you are going to order Earl Grey Tea? No, you are going to drink some beer tonight". Yup, I have pretty awesome family who always encourage me to drink since I literally dislike drinking alcohols. Overall, we had a pretty good night at Paulaner and the live bands were good. Let’s just say with good food and good beers, nothing will go wrong!

Cheesecake with blueberry topping

Recipe adapted from +ByronTalbott 

Servings

2-3pax

*I'm using a mini springform pan so double up the ingredients if you are making a bigger portion.

Ingredients

[Crust]

1/2 cup Digestive Biscuit

55g unsalted butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 pinch of salt

[Cheesecake Filings]

115g cream cheese

55g sour cream 

1/2 cup sugar (You can put a little lesser if you don't want it to be too sweet)

1 whole eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract/ vanilla essence/ vanilla bean paste

1 tsp lemon zest (grated)

[Toppings] - Optional

Frozen Blueberries

Tools

Mini Springform Pan

Whisk

Mixing Bowl

Small Rectangular Pan 

Aluminium foil

Food processor

Weighing Scale

Directions

[Crust]

1. Put the digestive biscuit into a food processor to form the crust. 

2. In a mixing bowl, put the digestive biscuit, butter, salt and brown sugar, and mixed it all well. Once the texture looks like wet sand, it's ready to go into the springform cake pan. 

*I would recommend you guys to get a springform pan as it can save you from all lots of trouble.

3. Brush the springform pan with some butter to make sure it won't stick on the bottom or sides.

4. Start lining your pan with the digestive biscuits and press them well against the pan. 

*You can just put the crust on the bottom its fine. I love the crust so I have added them along the side as well. It really depends on how you like them.

5. Put them in the fridge for 10mins for it to set.

[Cheesecake Filings]

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

2. In a mixing bowl, put the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla extract and the grated lemon zest; whisk it well until the sugar dissolve.

3. Crack 1 egg into the mixture and continue whisking for another 2-3mins.

4. Take the crust out from the fridge and pour the cheesecake mixture into the pan.

5. Place the springform pan onto a small rectangular pan, pour boiling water into the rectangular pan and cover it with aluminium foil so there will not be any coloration on the cheesecake.

6. Place them into the oven to bake for an hour.

7. Once it's ready, remove the aluminium foil and rectangular pan, let the cheesecake rest in it's springform pan for about 45mins, and put it into the fridge for another 1-2hours.

 8. When it's ready, remove the cheesecake from the springform pan. Top the cheesecake with some delicious frozen blueberries (or another other fruits you like) and it's ready to serve.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and do feel free to leave a comment below to share your baking experience. If you have any question, you can reach me at ask.fm/iammarinelek or just leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Til next time!

I was doing my grocery shopping at Cold Storage in Tampines 1 last Friday and was planning to get some cakes or black ball home for my family but wasn't able to make up my mind until I saw Rive Gauche that is just outside Cold Storage. From the display, all the cakes looks super delicious but there are only 2 cakes that my family enjoys most; Strawberry Shortcake and Tiramisu. I ended up also buying these marble-like chocolates that cost 3 for $5 since they looked so cool and it's still sitting in my fridge. 

Tiramisu (☆☆☆☆)

There's only one sentence to describe this Tiramisu and that is "it taste as good as it looks or even better". I'm very particular when it comes to tiramisu so when I say it's good, I believe most people will somehow say its good too or maybe just decent, I don't know. It really depends on your satisfaction level. 

I believe strongly that in a Tiramisu, each layers and elements must be equally distributed. You know how some tiramisu only have a layer of sponge on the bottom and the rest is just cream and cocoa powder on top, those are simply not good. Let's not go to those tiramisu where you can only taste the wine and nothing else.

For this tiramisu, each layer of elements is equally distributed which I love. You have the sponge, the cream, the sponge again and the cream then comes the cocoa powder. The ideal tiramisu. The espresso  taste in the sponge is neither too strong or too light so the taste is just nice. I don't really remember if I tasted the wine in it which I prefer so it's good for me. It's cream, yum! Overall, it's really good so I would recommend you guys to try this one if you happen to pop by Rive Gauche.

Strawberry Shortcake (☆☆☆☆☆)

The key to a good Strawberry Shortcake is that fluffy sponge, cream that is not too heavy but still capture the essence and last but not least, fresh strawberries. I have eaten quite a few of strawberry shortcake that have these dried out sponge and way too heavy cream which swallow the strawberry, and I can say I'm not impressed nor satisfied. 

The impression of strawberry shortcake to me is always so light, fluffy and not too over the top but yet you go all melty melty the moment you put them into your mouth. Well that is the magic of strawberry shortcake. It don't have to be something sinful to satisfied your taste bubs. 

This one over here, hmm, taste SO good!. It's not too sweet either which is definitely a plus for me and this cake definitely gives me a smile on my face and go "I'm satisfied!" with 2 big thumbs up. Would recommend you guys to try out this lovely Strawberry Shortcake from Rive Gauche as well and let me know how you guys find it.

Hope you guys will like these cakes as much as I do.

Til next time!

Rive Gauche Patisserie 

Website: http://www.sapporolionsg.com.sg/rive-gauche/

Takashimaya: 391 Orchard Road, #B207-9-2, Food Department

Tel: 6887 4579

Plaza Singapura: 68 Orchard Road, #B2-57

Tel: 6341 9936

Tampines One: 10 Tampines Central, #B1-13

Tel: 6789 5518

JCUBE: 2 Jurong East Central 1, #B1-K12

Tel: 6659 6405

Jurong Point: 1 Jurong West Central 2, #B1-K2 (JP1)

Tel: 6794 5679

Suntec City Mall: 3 Temasek Boulevard, #B1-K2

Tel: 6238 0882

VIVOCITY: 1 Habourfront Walk, #B2-K8

Tel: 6376 8046

*Sorry for the poor quality of pictures. Took it with my iphone.*

This is the first time my family and I (excluding my mum, I'm sorry) planned a surprise mission for my mum's birthday. We planned a month ahead and it's killing me for not telling my mum. I almost blew the whole plan up a couple of times. Good thing my mum isn't that quick. 

So my dad came up with this plan to fly "my mum and him" off to Bangkok and letting her thinks that all her children will be staying in Singapore, then we hop onto the next flight to Bangkok for her birthday. It's a tough mission for us since we couldn't pack anything until they leave for the airport (which is only a couple of hours) and the worst thing is, my brother and I actually have to wake up really early to pretend to go to work and wait for them to leave. Once my dad gave us the green light, we rushed home immediately and start packing like crazy. It was so hectic and my nerves are driving me insane. 

It was funny how my mum kept reminding us to make sure the gate to our house is closed and to make sure all the switches are off before we go to bed, and she even stock up on food in case we go hungry. My dad and I were laughing like crazy behind her back. She's just so cute and clueless.

Once we reached Bangkok, we head straight to Mandarin Oriental Hotel where the restaurant (Sala Rim Naam) is located with our luggage (good thing the hotel helped us store our luggage at the counter) and to our surprise, the restaurant is actually located across the hotel (though it's still under Mandarin Oriental Hotel). The staffs there are so helpful and friendly which is a total thumbs up and lead us to the pier where a traditional thai boat will bring us over to the restaurant. Good concept ya. Loved it.

The waiters and waitresses were really friendly and they even helped us through the surprise event (I will be uploading the video up soon so do stay tune!). The food there was great! The pineapple fried rice (yum!), the duck dish (once it reached the table, it's all gone so you know how good it is), sweet potato appetizer (love!), fried fish (I'm not really into fried fish but my family loved it), green curry (holy moly! YUM YUM YUM!), mango salad (it's really good and the mango is just so fresh), pad thai (was alright), mango with sticky rice (BEST EVER!!). They also served us a plate of thai desserts for my mum. So sweet of them. Two thumbs up for Sala Rim Naam and we will definitely go back again for the food.

Stay tune to the surprise birthday video!

Sala Rim Naam

48 Oriental Ave Alley

Bang Rak, Bangkok,

Thailand

Tel: +66 2 659 9000

Website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/fine-dining/sala-rim-naam/?htl=MOBKK_salarim&eng=google&src=local

This is my first time purchasing from Loveien19 and it came out to be great. Firstly, the correspondence team were great with guiding me through the buying process since this is the first time I'm placing an order from them. Secondly, there are big range of shoes and accessories for you to choose from. Though most of them need to pre-order, but it's definitely worth waiting. You know how they say a full wardrobe of shoes is still not enough for a women. That sure do. 

I have been eyeing for these Isabel Marant sandals ever since the real one release but I'm someone who never ever spend more than a $100 on a good quality pair of sandals. It's ridiculous. I means a sandals is a sandals after all. You use them to step on dirt, not clean marbles so the inspired ones are just as good for me. I am willingly to spend over a thousand for Christian Louboutin heels but definitely not anywhere close to a sandals. Flats/ Loafers, I don't mind but sandals, I mean come on!

So I was browsing through Loveien19 for the first time and wala, I spotted these pair of sandals and I immediately sent an inquiry over to get them help me with the pre-order. Kiasu I know. I can go all crazy when I wanted something bad. Good thing the Lovenien19 team always reply me back asap (dope!).

Overall a fantastic experience shopping at Loveien19 and I would definitely go back again!

LOVEIEN19

http://loveien19.blogspot.sg/

My dad brought back some really huge and fresh sweet potatoes from Malaysia and my mum and I decided to have a small little BBQ session on our own backyard. Something my mum and I have in common is that if we crave for something bad, we will do whatever we can to get it in our tummy and that's how this little BBQ session came about. My parents love inviting their friends over for BBQ and we can easily top the chart of having the most BBQ parties among our friends. Even when we are living in a HDB apartment, we will set up the BBQ pit just outside our doorstep and have our friends over. Sweet Potatoes are a "must have" during our BBQ Parties and if you don't have it in your BBQ parties, I might simply just not attend. Haha. Just Kidding! 

The perfect way of cooking sweet potatoes is by roasting them over a small fire and let it do it's magic. Slowly turn them around every 10-15mins to make sure every side of the it is cooked. Use a satay stick to poke through the sweet potatoes to see if they are ready. If the sweet potatoes are still hard, let them continue to sit in the fire until you can easily poke the satay stick right into the sweet potatoes and wala, your sweet potatoes is ready! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Have a great weekends ahead!

xoxo.