A very Singaporean Xmas '07!

Just got back to terra firma after a week of crazy shopping, food and even more shopping down south (well not that far down south, more like far enough to reach Singapore....)

Damn lau juak, my trip was this time. Lots to see, lots more to do. And hard-earned currency to spend like water.

Man, I miss Singapore already... what with the crazy crazy sales going on before Xmas and the even better ones on Boxing Day/pre-NY's 08 sales. But more on spending like there's no tmrw later yeah?

World, meet my beyootiful niece, Caitlin.



At 2 yrs old, she's already terrorizing my brother and sis-in-law to no end.... now I know why they call toddlers @ 2 yrs old "the Terrible Twos"! But we still love her to bits :)


I absolutely love this shot. I was just sitting on the floor next to her, playing with my camera and squeezing off random shots, when I managed to catch this. Love how the morning sunlight streaming in to the window by her right, is lighting up her right side just so... casting a very soft pall on her angelic face! *meltz*




No touching Uncle J's camera! Bad girl!

Then there was the eating part. Man, have I been pigging out this Xmas. My cousins took me to so many excellent food joints across the island.. I'm losing count where I've been already!

One thing I'll always remember about this particular trip was the amount of ice cream I had.... being an ice-cream lover, I told my cousins to bring me out to as many ice cream joints as possible!

And boy did I have ice-cream from across the whole damned world... from rich, creamy ones to gelato low-fat ones.... from Ben & Jerry's, to Andersen's from Denmark, and across Asia to the likes of Haato, from Japan.

The best of the lot? Definitely Haato, hands down. Just check out their website... gotta love their tagline:

Haato: follow your heart

And follow my heart it did, although it burnt a small hole in my pocket. OK la, then again it wasn't that expensive (SGD 4.50 for a double-scoop cone).

If any of my faithful readers (yes, all 3 of you) ever head down to Singapore anytime soon, please do your tastebuds a favour and follow your heart.... straight to the nearest Haato ice-cream shop! If you love ice cream as much as I do, you won't be disappointed. Try out their rum and raisin, pistachio and green tea flavors... it's all gelato, and low-fat, but not as sweet nor rich as the Haagen Dasz types.

Moving on... to Xmas dinner proper!

As with tradition in the J household, Xmas dinner is always celebrated at my aunt's place in SG. Although none of us are Christians, we all celebrate the spirit (and commercialism heh) of Xmas, and have the traditional Xmas dinner, complete with presents, an elaborate Xmas tree and the usual stuff.



Check out how beautiful the table settings are. One of my cousins is damn creative, and love piecing these little trinklets together. Each family member at the dinner table had their initials personalized on this nice wooden clothes peg. Ahhh... sweet.





Oven-roasted turkey? Check. Stuffing? Check. Cranberry sauce? Baked sweet potatoes in their jackets? Check and check. Bavarian premium sausages? Check. Honey-glazed ham? Check!



And of course, which Xmas would not be complete without the all-too-traditional Xmas log. This one's from Swensen's. Xmas ice-cream cake, that is. Bloody sinful, but tiz the season to be jolly!

Just going thru these pics is making my tummy rumble already. Look at all that heavenly food! Goddamn it! I wanna go back in time and relive Xmas again!

And now, on to the dark, metrosexual-wannabe part of tonight's happy happy blog.... the shopping.

Oh good God, the shopping.

Sales, lots of it. Damage to wallet... lots of it!

Running the credit card figures now... appears I've slightly (only slightly k!) overspent on shopping stuff this year. Heh, bet you saw that one coming.

In just 4 days of marathon shopping that would make any ancient Greek olympian athlete cower in fear, I managed to cover all the major shopping points of Singapore: Orchard Rd, Bugis Junction, Raffles Sq, City Link Underpass, SUNTEC, VivoCity, HarborFront, IMM, Jurong Mall and a sprinkle of warehouse clearance sales.

Yes, I know I need therapy. But seriously, the sales were good la.

And I ended up fulfilling my quota of shopping targets: found my usual brands and made a few new discoveries too. Fell in love with one particular line of men's fashion-wear called Re. It's a Singapore-brand, with boutiques in Takshimaya and The Heeren (which is another fashion boutique along Orchard Rd I've come to love - Jamie: if you're down in SG anytime soon, you'll want to check this place out! Lots of cocktail dresses and such here).

Guys: if you need an elegant dress shirt for that cocktail party or to wear on that all-important first date with that hot chick, go check Re out (if you're in SG lah).

As a small-framed guy with narrow shoulders, it's often hard for me to find shirts (esp dress shirts) that fit me. Most of the time, I have to go for brands with slim-fit lines, else I end up looking like a clothes-hanger. So everytime I discover a brand of men's clothes that have a wide range of slim-fits, I'm a very happy man.

Another good brand I'm keeping an eye on for next time... River Island and Mexx.

KIV the former for smart/casual wear, while keeping the latter in mind for the more up-market, suave look threads.

As the plane landed back in PG this afternoon, I felt my heart sinking... depressing feeling it is, esp coming back from a holiday.

Sigh, I miss Singapore already. Ah well, there's always next year!

:)
J