Bonbon Tea

The girls and I tried this cafe with the pretty menu yesterday afternoon on the 2nd level of Vivocity. We had sweet crepes (with Chestnut cream in between and a scoop of ice cream),
savoury crepes (cheese and mushroom),

Cherry and Mango sorbets. The cheapest item there is a scoop of ice cream at $4.50. The savoury crepes are around $14. The portions are not huge. I quite like the ambience of the place. Compared to the crowd outside at the mall, the cafe was a nice quiet retreat to catch up with friends. I won't say the food there is fantastic but I don't mind trying their other stuff again.

Bob putting on weight

Bob has put on quite a bit of weight since he is in my room most of the time. I have since gradually switched him from Royal Canin "Fit 32" kibbles (community cats' diet) to Natural Balance and Solid Gold (Angel's diet). I like to mix a few brands in case any of the brands has a product recall or disappear from the market. For example, I used to feed the comm cats Nutro Salmon kibbles but now Nutro has been removed from the shelves.

Now Bob's head seems quite small compared to his body.
Sometimes he would also chew on the paper box I use to hold his toys.

I think he has a bit of separation anxiety or maybe he just wants to roam freely outside the house like Angel and see mom and us all the time. But we can't do that :( I have also received an email from a lady who's interested in Bob but she wants a lap cat who can get along with her friend's pet cat when she needs to babysit about a week every month. I'm not sure if Bob will fit the bill. I have emailed her some recent photos of Bob:

Busy, busy

I haven't been blogging due to the following reasons:

• I have been staring at the laptop screen at work from 9am to 6pm on weekdays and I just don't feel like switching on the PC at home. But I don't mind watching cable TV with mom and sis if it's a good programme or movie.
• If Bob can't come out of my room as Angel can't be coaxed into the balcony or Sis' bedroom, I will go to my room and accompany him for a short while, brush his fur or play with him or just cuddle him.
• I have attended 7 lessons of learning Japanese language. I try to go through the notes a few times (on the way to/from office, before sleeping), remember the Japanese characters (Hiragana) and the new words. The sentence structures have been quite easy so far. There is also a dictation test every lesson. So far I manage to get everything correct and hope to keep it this way. It's also fun to learn with a friend and practise with her during the class.
• Almost Sun night, my friend and I are trying to finish trapping the cats in another area not very far our own areas to sterilise, so that the caregivers and feeders there can have an easier job of continuing the TNRM effort when we hand over to them in Sept.
• Maybe I am also losing the motivation to blog. Sometimes, disturbing Angel, soothing Bob, chatting with Mom, doing other stuffs seem more worthwhile than blogging. But at times, like now, I just feel like yakking away on my blog.

I need a new camera

My Casio Exlim of about 2 years produces overexposured or stripey photos. I borrow Sis' Canon Ixus in the meantime until I can decide or find the time to browse for a compact camera. I want one that can take good photos of community cats, food and scenery, like my formerly trusty Casio. Initially, I was not used to Sis' camera and didn't quite like it. Now I find it alright but since it's not mine, I better find my own one soon.

Mini Japanese sweet potatoes

With my Japanese lessons at Shaw House every Sat afternoon, I like to visit Isetan's basement supermarket after the lesson. They have some interesting Japanese food stuff. Last Sat, I bought a packet of the mini sweet potatoes.
Mom steamed them the next day
and I had some for dinner and the rest for breakfast on 2 days. I like the slightly sweet taste. The next time, I will try the normal size Jap sweet potatoes.

Baking therapy

I haven't baked for a long time and last Sun, I baked an almond cake cake sprinkled with chocolate chips and dried blueberries. However, I blindly followed the recipe and set the oven temperature at 160 degree celsius instead of 180 or 200 and the cake didn't look brown after an hour.

It tastes quite yummy but feels rather oily. It tastes better after I toast it in the toaster oven. Ever though the cake didn't come out as nice as I thought it would be for my family to enjoy, at least the baking process did help to destress me a little.

My love for food

I enjoy eating especially if yummy food can be shared with my family and friends. For 2 consecutive Sats, I actually got Dad and Mom to pick me up somewhere after my Japanese language lesson and go for our dinner at Old Airport Road Food Centre.

On the first Sat, I had this yogurt topped with strawberries, blueberries and cashew nuts from this stall @ the basement of Raffles City.
It was quite satisfying and priced at $6.30. I also bought some nuts (which Mom and I love - the raisins, cashew nuts, peanuts and almonds as a snack) and organic chocolate sandwich cookies from the supermarket and organic milk chocolate with almond and muesli from Marks and Spencer).


Over @ Old Airport Road, I share some refreshing and spicy Thai papaya salad with Mom

and also ordered this chocolate lava cake
from Cilantro, a food stall which sells interesting western food. I had to wait for about ten minutes for them to bake the cake. Dad was quite amused to see the little cake resting on the big black plate :) I like its smallness and @ $4, I was quite happy by its chocolatey taste and the oozing lava. I also had some ice blended lemon soursop.

On the 2nd Sat, @ Old Airport Road, mom and I shared another salad (mango instead of papaya) and fried oyster with sotong slices.
Dad has some simple chicken chop that tasted yummy too marinated with some slightly sweet and savoury sauce. I tried an ABC juice (apple, beetroot, carrot) from the same fruit stall. We also bought some traditional looking bread like this red bean paste one.



And I must show you what the organic dark chocolate sandwich looks like.

We think it tastes a bit like Oreo cookies but definitely less sweet and more chocolatey. Sis said it tastes too strongly of cocoa but shouldn't this be what it tastes like instead of laden with sugar and artificial flavours? I feel less guilty when I have a craving for something sweet at night. Late July (the brand of this cookie) also has a few other flavours like peanut butter and cheese - maybe I can try them after I slowly finish the chocolate one.