Boufe Cafe with Chris

Sunday, December 20, 2015

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It's no secret that I love Christmas themed snacks/ toys/ decorations/ anything even though my family doesn't exactly celebrate Christmas very elaborately so when Christina sent me a screenshot of this adorable high tea set at Boufe Cafe, we decided to make reservations to spend our annual Christmas meet up + gift exchange + get fat day number 7 (or 8? we've both lost count) there. In fact, according to Facebook, our meet up yesterday marked exactly three years since our first get fat day together at Orchard Central where we ate EWF's salty skinny wings, and back when Orchard Central wasn't crowded at all (it was such a ghost town). On a sidenote, EWF @ OC was asked to leave by the management by the end of this year apparently to make way for an overseas brand and that makes me very sad, not just because I've spent quality time with so many people there but also because it's so disheartening to see local management not supporting local brands. 


That said, it's been three years of quality meet ups with this girl where we basically just sit somewhere and eat, and talk about life. I love how we don't partake in any other activities at all when we are together. Thank you for being such a constant ever since secondary one, and even though Guides is a fading memory, one thing's for certain - you made it a lot better (not that it wasn't good - I really enjoyed my CCA) and to know that I've gotten at least one good friend from the whole experience is a nice thought. I can talk to you about almost everything and you make me very comfortable. I think we've really grown up since our fetus days but at the same time we're still so full of nonsense, and I hope it stays like that for a long, long time to come. 


Anyway, this is probably the most pricey food item we've ever eaten together (this set for two costs $59.90) - trust me I don't normally splurge like that - but the components of the set were all very dainty and intricate and it is obvious that a lot of effort has gone into the preparation of it. Of course, it was gorgeous to look at and take photographs of, which in my opinion is what cafe food is all about nowadays. If I had wanted a good, hearty meal I would've gone to a hawker centre (heh). Taste wise, the set wasn't fantastic but it was fun to eat. 

The savoury items include dragon sandwiches (the bread is coloured naturally with dragon fruit), crab meat croissants, scallop and prawn canapes and smoked salmon profiteroles while the sweets include matcha cakes, strawberry shortcakes, mille feuilles and salted caramel macarons. Good variety, I would say. 

Chris :-) She enjoyed the croissant, the mille feuille and the strawberry shortcake the most. 

I liked the salmon profiterole and the matcha cake (surprisingly too, because it looked the most simple out of everything). Oh, and the mille feuille was very well done, so unlike another one I tried recently where the pastry was obviously store-bought. 

This was my first time at Boufe and the ambience was lovely. Although the place is not exactly accessible by public transport (Papa Chris very kindly sent us there - thank you!), I think it's worth the effort and time travelling there. They have directions on their website for people who would like to head there via public transport. The entire Phoenix Park premises reminded me of Gillman Barracks with colonial-style buildings with white walls, perfect for Instagram photo-taking. And the interior of the cafe was white-based which almost always works, plus we got to sit next to their Christmas tree so that made us quite happy. 

 
There was also a Christmas tree made out of two ice cream cones and a whole load of meringue. Most other people we saw didn't touch/ finish their trees but I really liked the meringue leaves even though it was just sugar so I plucked them out one by one and ate it. 


The Christmas set came with two drinks - I got the Apple Honey Iced Tea while Chris got the Iced Chocolate. She really liked her drink, and so did I for mine. It was very light and fragrant. Note that reservations have to be made in advance for this particular set and if I'm not wrong the weekends have already been fully booked. 


The staff were very accommodating when it came to photo-taking in/ around their premises (I mean, of course it makes for good publicity for them as well) but they even went to the extent to come out of the cafe to help patrons take them so that was a nice touch. I liked how Chris and I wore black/ white which helped us fit in with the whole aesthetic of the cafe.

What a wonderful way to spend my last Saturday of 2015 in Singapore.
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Grad Night 2015

Saturday, December 19, 2015

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On the day of Grad Night, I took leave from my internship and stayed home eating junk food and watching High School Musical 3. I have to admit (albeit slightly embarrassingly) that the High School Musical trilogy meant a lot to me since primary school and all throughout my school life, I constantly tried to look for similarities between my life and that of Gabriella Montez although there were far and few. So yes, even on the day of Grad Night - or "prom", as most preferred to call it - I was still watching the last installment of the movie hoping that everything will turn out like in the movies. 

Of course, it didn't. But I do think that the night turned out slightly better than I had expected and I am glad that I went in the end even though I had initially not planned on going. At least, it did offer me some semblance of closure to my junior college life, in the form of glamorous and very likely some of the last photographs that I will be taking with some people. The fact that it was held at Shangri-La was a nice touch for me personally, and possibly most of the RGS girls. As my dad was sending me to the hotel that evening, we took the same route - along the highway and through Balmoral Road - the same one we used to take for four years every single morning. 

"Back to where you started," he said as he drove through the familiar, yet distant roads.  

And so there I was, and had a pretty enjoyable time in my mum's jumpsuit (yes I didn't spend a cent on it hehe plus I fulfilled my dream of wearing "pants" to prom) and 10cm high platform pumps that killed my feet. So here are a couple of the many photos I took to make sure I took something away from the night... I mean, how often will you catch me wearing make up? (The answer is never). 

Ragini 

Chris

Yijing - this photo is such an accurate representation of our friendship, I love it. 

Chan Wai

Reuben

Chen Su Lan - Kevin, Jon, Ben, Kenny, Abraham, Adeline, Colette, Isabel, Ailica

Min Xin 

Habitat - Ben, Ailica, Tiff 

15A01C - Sheena, Celeste, Jamie, Dominique, Lorraine, Joey, Qile, Nicholas, Jun Lei, Josiah, Wilson, Ariwan, Ji Hwan

Mudassar 

Chang Kyu 

Tiffany 

Hannah and Isabel 

International Understanding - Rachel Chan, Yijing, Minxin, Melvina, Ching Wei, Charmain, Christal, Kelvinder, Adrielle

Jordan 

Dominique 

Bellyboings - Sarah, Priya, Wang You, Phionna 

Jamie 

Nicholas 

Interact BOD - Judy, Cheryl, Bozhou, Meixian, Thiri, Isabel 

Not exactly a night to remember, but most definitely a good end to two (or really - six) years I do hope that I will remember for a long time to come. Raffles has given me so much more than I ever imagined it will and I will always be thankful for all the opportunities and people that magically found their way into my life. I have absolutely no regrets choosing RGS as a 12 year old kid. Thanks for the ride! 
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National Gallery Singapore

Saturday, December 5, 2015

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It has been a while since I've published anything on this space. Since then, I've completed my A Levels (although it honestly doesn't really feel like it), graduated from junior college, and been to prom. Everything feels really surreal, and I haven't had time to take everything in or reflect as much as I would've liked to, as I started my internship almost immediately after the exams. To be entirely honest, this internship is challenging with a really steep learning curve and personally, it's a lot more stressful than studying. Suddenly, things are all completely new to me but I'm learning so much through this process - immensely grateful for the opportunity. Starting work so early did make me a little bit uncomfortable though, I felt like I was moving on too quickly from my JC life. 

That aside, having my weekdays all occupied with work only leaves me with the weekends to meet up with friends and partake in the other activities I've been meaning to do for so long. Two days out of seven a week for leisure does sound quite little but it's more than enough for me. Otherwise, I'd probably be spending majority of my excessive free time lying on my bed or watching weird videos and I don't think I'd be pleased with myself if that's how I was spending post-A's. Plus I'll be getting a proper break when I head overseas at the end of this month. 

To kick it all off, last weekend was spent at the National Gallery with a few of my favourite people. It was the opening weekend, making it insanely packed which did spoil the museum-going experience a little. I'll definitely be back once the hype dies down but for now, here are some of the sights that I managed to capture. (Bringing my DSLR out once again, felt amazing) 

The queue forming outside the museum - to be honest, we got lucky and didn't have to queue even though we lost our pre-booked tickets! It started raining when we left City Hall station, which probably cleared the crowd at the gallery but the rain stopped the moment we walked into the open so we didn't have to use our umbrellas. We then managed to get in without having to wait at all and upon getting in, a queue started forming. 

Hello there, strangers. 

Phionna and Sarah admiring an art piece. 

The view from the rooftop garden of the National Gallery. It is breathtaking, and in my opinion, the best spot to view the whole of Singapore's skyline - this picture barely captures the beauty of the view from there. 

I joked that I was going to keep this photograph to post on Instagram on August 9 next year but they laughed at me and threatened to reveal my secret of pre-planning posts by commenting on it if I were to actually post it. Hopefully, they'd forget. 

There was a completely empty ballroom in the middle of the gallery, which reminded me a lot of the Beaufort's from Age of Innocence.  

Portraits of the people! My mum and myself have our faces etched on one of these as well, and although they emailed each person with their location, there were way too many faces and I didn't manage to find ours. When we were asked to draw our faces at a roadshow at Ang Mo Kio, I didn't expect this - I thought the faces were merely going to be printed out for display and not etched into an actual structure but this is pretty cool. 

Wang You, Sarah, Priya and Shermaine - blessed with beautiful friends, both inside and out. 


Priya!


Phionna!


Sarah! 


Shermaine! 

They told me that they wouldn't be my friend anymore if I ran through this stack of porcelain bowls. 

Wang You! 


Overall, we didn't manage to cover the entire museum - this place is huge! But from what we've seen, I think we mostly agreed that the descriptions were lacking. Unlike the other Singapore museums that we've been to, this one mostly only stated the title of the piece and the artist without much background provided. I suppose art is meant to be open for interpretation, but it makes art a lot less accessible for those who might not have knowledge or understanding of a particular historical period. 


Nonetheless, that was a good start to my post-A's adventures and I'm looking forward to posting more on this space.
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