Post Xmas & Pre NYE Gathering

 

Still missing Xmas a whole lot - good food, wine & company. We had a post-Xmas & pre NYE gathering with Leecher's friends. It was held at our place, so Kaela & Sheena would feel more at home.Think this will be the last year Xmas gatherings are held @ our place, as Raymond/Shuya & Yanni/Kaiwei love nests will be ready soon :) 

Yanni graciously took time off work and made ribs for us.

Lil Kaela on daddy's lap. She has grown so much since the last visit, always amazed at the speed at how kids grow up. She's pretty excited to have a lil sister in a few months times for she pointed to Sheena's tummy and said " 妹妹 ”. We are also excited to have a new addition to the group :)

 

The spread that everyone contributed! 

 

We finally took out the champagne that Kaiwei gave us (during housewarming) and prepared the 1st toast. 

Tender & juicy ribs which won praises for everyone. Thankfully Kaiwei/Yanni's new place is quite near us *evil thoughts forming, lol*

 

Sausages/Potatoes/Carrot/mushroom mix-bowl prepared by the newly weds, Mr & Mrs Ang. 

 

Healthy greens for everyone! 

Kaiwei & him finished half a bottle of whiskey, several glasses of red & white wine and 2 bottles of beer.  We had so much to drink that Leecher nursed a hangover the next day, lol!

Photoshoot @ Maison De Joie

It was photoshoot day @ Maison De Joie & the subject - our humble place :) Our designers wanted to add our home pictures to their portfolio & website. 

 

The photographer came early with several bags containing his equipments. 

 Testing the equipments to make sure it's working.

Equipments all ready, just waiting for Jessie & Merane to arrive to discuss on how & where they want to take the pics.

Living room first - our place wasn't big, so he had to squeeze in a lil corner to take a complete pic of the place.

 Deep in discussion ~ adjusting the angle just to capture a nice picture.
 
We hid in the study room & let the experts do their work. Taken with the front cam of my iphone. Grainy pic :( 
 
After several shots, they adjourned to the master bedroom to capture the last pic for the portfolio. 

Trying to capture a good view of the WIW. 

Proud home-owners :) The whole process took almost 3 hours just to complete 5 pics for the portfolio. 真是辛苦各位了！

 

A parting shot with our 2 lovely designers, Merane & Jessie. Thank you for accompanying us on our Reno journey! 

 ******

2 weeks later, Jessie sent over the pics for our viewing.

 

The view from front door, the 1st look at our theme.

Our living room ~ the cozy corner of our place :)

 

Kitchen area, with the small island separating the living room & kitchen. 

 

Lastly, our master bedroom, featuring the walk-in-wardrobe. Whenever I see the wardrobe, I'm always reminded of a quote from one of my fave show, Sex & the City - "I like my money right where I can see it ... hanging in my closet" ~ Carrie Bradshaw.

:: After thoughts ::

We have moved into our place for almost 1.5 yrs now. Till this day, it still feels surreal to be in the house, surrounded by the lil pieces of furnitures/decorations that we have picked & put together. My lil bro came over the other day and commented that our place is beginning to look like a home - I'm sure he meant that it's now filled with dust and whats-not. I'm extremely thankful to our designers, Jessie & Merane, for doing a good job with our place. Yes, we had our share of defects but it was rectified whenever we pointed it out. Edwin, our electrician is amazing with his work efficiency and attitude. Thank you, once again for helping us to create our dream home. With this entry, it's another chapter done for our Reno journey. For the friends & readers who are embarking on the path of building your love nest,  click on "Maison De Joie" page to read all about our Reno journey & hopefully, it will be of help to you. Have fun in creating your own dream home :) 

Swirl: Emblem of Spring II

 

New Collection coming up tonight @ 9pm!

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PicPrints - Raindrops

 

Raindrops pitter-pattering on the window pane. 

Follow me on Instagram @caihonglim :) 

 

Dinner @ Casa Tartufo

Hope everyone is not feeling any Monday blues today :) I was away last week in BKK for a short trip. Back to work today & counting down till the next public holiday! Still in holiday mood, so here's another Xmas related post. Headed to Orchard a couple of times for shopping & an impromptu dinner date with EK & Pris over a Friday night. 

 

A different colour theme this year ... Red & Gold, the traditional Xmas colours. However, there were critics that it felt more like CNY than Xmas.

Xmas tree in front of Forum Shopping Mall. I used to look forward to seeing the Xmas display in Orchard road, but it has gotten quite boring over the years. My fave was the Tiffany & Co Xmas trees with the magical robin-blue boxes. And, I had the same thing underneath our Xmas tree this year ^^

Forum the Shopping Mall, where I'll always rem Toy'R'Us is located.

The decoration was kept to a minimal in this mall.
 
Outside Casa Tartufo, known as House of the Truffles, a cozy family-run restaurant located on the 1st floor. 

Taking inspiration from classic Italian chic, the restaurant was decorated with chandeliers, soft-style lamps and characteristic wooden chairs.

 

View from where we were seated. The restaurant was on full capacity that day & we had a chance to see Alex, the owner of the place.

 Truffle is the key ingredient in their dishes, which is why their menu changes 3 times a year, following the truffle seasons - winter black truffle (Jan-Mar), summer black truffle (Apr-Aug) and white truffle (Sep-Dec).

 Candle-light on a ducky stand.

 Quick, serve the food! *hungry*
 

Before that, a glass of Moscato... truly Italian. 

 Bread to kick-start the dinner. Served warm, this was definitely pleasing to the palate.

 Burrata (highly recommended) - burrata cheese with a truffle heart. Serves 2.

 

Porcini Mushroom creamy soup, with black truffles & Seafood soup 

 

Homemade Truffle Fries & we had 2 servings, for it was just irresistible. Priced @ $12 per serving, I would suggest PS Cafe's truffle fries as they were more value for money, haha! 

 

Master EK has to order red wine, for he can't stand drinking a ladies' drink, lol! 

 

So, the ladies took over Moscato & had our fill, lol! First time we dominate the wine glasses :) 

 

Risotto Casa - sea-urchin & truffle risotto! This was good for sharing for it gets jerlat after a while. Abit salty IMO, but Leecher thinks otherwise. 

 EK & I ordered Ravioli - goose-liver filled Ravioli, Parmigiano & Truffle Fondue. Whenever I ordered Ravioli, I will always recall the scene in Twilight, where Edward & Bella went to this restaurant and she ordered Ravioli. She had the mushroom ravioli in that scene *amazed at my memory* Pity my partner is not Edward.

 Tajarin - piedmont thin egg-noodles with fresh black truffles. This was on the recommended list as well & the truffles are sooooooooo appealing!

Highly recommended to share for mains, for most of the items are cream-based :) 

Casa Tartufo

Forum Shopping Mall #01-17

583 Orchard Road, Singapore 23884

Tel: 68364647