Archive for April 2013

Brunch at Toby Estate

A Sunday is not the same without eating a Roast or Brunch – so I decided for the Brunch on Sunday.

I heard a lot of about Toby’s Estate along Robertson Quay, so I open an invite to get a group of friends from work to come along.  In the end, only 3 of us decided to go – but I think it was a good number, as it is a busy place, and large groups are a bit manic to organise.

Toby has a reputation for its coffee – so we definitely ensure we enjoyed that, as well as the food.  I opted for the Toby Special – basically a light fry up with a bit of everything – very tasty.  We ended with a delicious cheesecake.  I am so glad we decided to sit inside, as during our brunch, the heavens opened and the rain continued for a good hour and a half.  We decided to walk along to enjoy a nice alcoholic beverage, before we called it a day and headed back to Clarke Quay and the MRT.

What a delightful session – definitely up for more brunching soon 🙂

Toby’s Estate Café
8 Rodyk Street #01-03/04
Singapore 238216
Tel:      +65 6636 7629
Email:  rodykst@tobysestate.com.sg
URL:    http://www.tobysestate.com.sg

Wine Tasting – Hubert Lignier Wines

I was invited to join a couple of friends for a wine tasting event at Crystal Wines @ River Valley Road.  The winery is called Hubert Lignier – and when we arrived we were directed to the table to “deliver” the wine.

We were given a wine glass, and a stamp-card for the 7 samples – apparently, we were only meant to sample each wine bottle once until the 7 stamps were completed.  This particular wine tasting didn’t provide a host to explain the differences, just a chap sitting behind the table that pours the wine, and briefly explains some of the background of the wine bottles – but it was a bit ‘limited’ in the terms of a more detailed run-down.

We ended up chatting with each other for a while, and we basically continued drinking, nibbling at the cheese until the wine tasting session ended.  They didn’t seem to mind, I guess for them if the wine is open, they would have to finish to themselves, so might as well give it to potential customers 🙂

We did take a walk around the wine merchants/shop – and I did notice a nice display of Barolo Wines as well as Montupulcino – my favourite two Italian wines – but alas all wine in Singapore is very expensive.  So I opted for one of the ‘weekly specials’ – the Windy Park Sangiovese – another nice red grape.  I hope it tastes as good as it looks 🙂

I do hope that they do a Barolo wine tasting soon – haha!

Crystal Wines
491 River Valley Road
#01-02/03 Valley Point
Singapore 248371
Tel:      +(65) 6737 3540
Email:  retail@crystalwines.com
URL:    http://www.crystalwines.com

Extreme Sailing Act 2 Singapore – Sailing Event

Whilst at work, we have all been watching the Promontory @ Marina Bay transform from a grass-area to a stage and hospitality area, but we didn’t know what was happening. So on Friday, we finally worked it out – it was an boating event on Marina Bay, as part of the Extreme Sailing Series 4-day event from Friday 11th April through to Sunday 14th April.

I decided to go on Saturday, 13th April as I already had plans for Sunday, and it was a great sight. It was very hot and humid – around 34°C but must have been at least 95% humidity. The event started at 11am, so I arrived early to enjoy the various water events (windsurfing and other small boating events), then I went for lunch at La Pau Sat and returned to my apartment to shower and refresh myself, before returning back to the event for the main event at 3pm. Between 3pm-6pm was the ultimate Extreme Sailing – with the Extreme 40 Class. Amazing scenes, but as the wind was quite light, they weren’t going as far as they normally would. These are the sailing boats which tip up as you speed around corners, and you have to balance the boat to avoid it tipping over.

I managed to take plenty of photos and it was such a fun day watching the amazing sports men and women – now I know why sailing looked so much fun, ‘cos it really is! It must be tough work regardless – both for the body and mind! I managed to take plenty of photos – I just hope they came out where (they looked great on the camera!)

Imagine Prepaid Card and Amex SIA KrisFlyer Credit Card

I managed to receive two more credits cards now – the EZ-Link Imagine American Express Prepaid Card – and the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Gold Credit Card.

I will start to use the Imagine one (which combines a prepaid Amex purse and EZ-Link purse on the card) once my current EZ-Link card has depleted to zero. My KrisFlyer one will be used to help me start to increase my KrisFlyer status and mileage – I just hope I get to the next grouping of the Frequent Flyer Programme. Then again, I tend not to go with SIA or SilkAir (SIA’s low-cost arm) as they are usually very expensive for short-haul trips. Good to have the card anyway, as you get 5k free bonus miles on the first purchase 🙂

Rock Climbing – That Was Fun!

Last time I was in Singapore, I was invited to experience indoor rock-climbing with a couple of work-friends; I couldn’t find the time last time, so decided to venture this time around.

We went to the Onsight Indoor Climbing Gym at 100 Guillemard Road – it was a nice experience, and I just about remembered what we had to do. I managed to climb up 3 walls with relative ease, but the next 2 were tougher to achieve. My arms and legs just were zapped of the energy required to push or pull me up so I managed to do half-way on both before I decided to have a break.

But it was great fun, and I would certainly repeat this. I just need to do some weights and push-ups/sit-ups, to improve my upper body muscles 🙂

Catholic Church – Easter Service

I also managed to find the local Catholic Church – and luckily for me, it was located very conveniently in Novena – down Thomson Road.

I decided to go for the 09:00-10:00SGT service – and it was a very popular church service. The challenge was the outside area with seating was not that ventilated – and it was sticky and hot!

The church mass was very nice and relaxing, and it was good to spend it properly this Easter at a Catholic Church – so glad that I found the place, and hopefully it won’t be as long when I return for my next service.

Easter Weekend – Cycling Mad

Well I was aiming to spend some time away for the Easter Break, but didn’t manage to book anywhere, as the air fares were ridculouosly high, so instead I decided to spend it in Singapore.

I wanted to enjoy the time, so decided to spend some quality time with some friends doing cycling around East Coast, drinking and eating 🙂 (Well that seems to be a usual weekend, at the moment – haha).

It was actually quite enjoyable and relaxing…and I am certainly getting fitter with all of this exercis malarkey 🙂

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