Formula One Singapore Grand Prix

I had no interest and didn't follow any racing cars or whatsoever. Singapore held an annual Formula 1 Grand Prix ever since its first contract in 2008 in Marina Bay. This event is a big deal in Singapore as it boosts tourism revenue, and everyone talks about it. The cheapest ticket price is around $200+ and it could go up to a few thousands depending on the seats and/or suite. Anyway, being held in Marina Bay, which is the central business district area, bus schedule gets affected, bus gets detoured/skipped bus stops as they prepare for the F1 tracks. and I am one of the victims of this road closure and diversion :( I hate taking MRT right after work because it is so jam-packed like sardines. Haiz. and I have to take bus some more. ok enough about complaining, now lets get to the F1 itself.

We were fortunate that we had free tickets to this race, courtesy of my dad's private bank, DBS. And our tickets were inside the DBS suite! How nice, so we had the option to go outside and get an up close look on the car race, or seated nice and comfy on a sofa inside the suite & munch on snacks hehe.

Sky Suite ticket

We were invited to view DBS new office before the race, where we played simulator & got some afternoon snacks :P Then we took the duck-hippo ferry to proceed to our suite. 

Upon arrival.. The suite was inside the 4-storey building there. From outside it looks like a motel 

Once we were inside, we ordered some juice and took some snacks. 

and we were given a gift

Outside the suite, our view was the starting line.. & across it was where the drivers/cars were parked

Complimentary ride: Singapore Flyer! Yay! the normal ticket price is $33/person

Back to our suite, in time for dinner & watched the race.. Below was where the team/drivers were preparing etc

Below is some videos of the race:

After watching the race in real time probably a good 4-5 laps or so (and hearing the sound vroom vrooom so LOUD), I went back inside and headed downstairs for a free 10 min massage. After that, I just got some food & drinks and took photo of the suite. They provided afternoon snacks, dinner & supper. Impressive! 

The race lasted about 2 hours and fireworks were displayed across the Singapore skies as soon as the race ended. It was pretty. I was excited for the Katy Perry concert. We got the special wristband, which was the fanzone band which basically we got to see Katy Perry in a very close distance. But the walk to the concert area was very far as our suite and the concert place were on the extreme opposite of each other. We walked for a good 40-45 mins. By the time we reached there, we were exhausted and surprisingly the fan zone area was quite full as we were late by 30 mins. So we didn't get to see Katy Perry real close. And apparently there wasn't any seat, it was a standing area. But we still had fun though! We didn't finish the whole concert because we were certain that the transportation by then would be a disaster. hehe

On the way to the concert

Katy Perry!

Will i go and see F1 next year? Probably not. I felt it's good for the one time experience. But I would love to watch the concert :)

I am a Quarter!

Yesterday, I turned a quarter of a century! I am old!
Thank you for dear friends, family & colleagues who have wished me well, surprised me with cake & dinner & treated me a bday lunch & my mom who specially made the trip all the way from Jakarta for my bday :) I am blessed indeed.

My dear Richard asked me what I want for my bday, and I told him I want a handmade card. During our dating years, he used to make me his handmade cards, which I didn't get any this year. This bday wish is undoubtedly considered demanding & time consuming because he needed to think of an idea & execute it LOL. Despite his extremely busy schedule, I am so touched that he was able to pull this through.. and the card (the story) portrays our current everyday life very well. Definitely a well-thought, creative idea with cute drawings on it.. I am so HAPPY! best bday gift thus far :)

I am proud to show it to the world, here it is:

And here is my very unique bday cake from antoinette. Arigato!

Pink Ribbon Fondant Cake

This is considered my first fondant cake ever, solo, no help from whoever.. and I dare to make a ribbon some more >.< Well I did make a fondant cake before with a friend in the US, but that doesn't count because she helped me a lot with it.. But anyway, I wanted to make something special for my sister bday, and it's been long since I last baked. The result (i.e the sponge cake texture & the fondant) could definitely be better, and dunno why my fondant sweats every time I took it out from the fridge! sigh.. maybe because of spore humid weather??? I still need to do a lot of practice with fondant and baking.. Practice makes perfect, but usually I get bored easily so we'll see when is the next baking & fondant session :) I always admired people who can decorate with fondants so nicely, neatly and so cute & creative with those little figurines hehe.. I wonder how they can do it.. 

Lessons to be learnt in the future:  turn on AC when doing fondant thingy and make the fondant layer thicker. But anyway, I am proud that at least the cake overall is edible.. I edited the cake a little bit so it does not look that shiny & wet hehehe :P 

without fondant

the cake

Pigging out in Hong Kong

Just got back from HK few hours ago. (actually when I post this, it was already close to 1 month) The trip was very short, arrived Thursday late at night, and departed Sunday morning. So in total, I only had 2 full days, including the half day Friday in which I roamed the busy street of HK & shopping & eating all by myself (because Richard was still at work). I went to 4 different malls in 1 day, scattered all around kowloon and hong kong islands. I really had a high expectation of the food and shopping there. But honestly I am a little disappointed. I feel the food is equally good in Singapore, and the shopping is so-so and rather expensive there. But hey, it was the memories that last a lifetime :P

All in all, I find the HK breakfast is quite funny that they have macaroni soup and ham for breakfast, like the below pic from the famous Australia Dairy Company. There was a long queue but the line moved pretty fast because they sit you whenever there was a vacant seat (you'll most likely sit with a stranger).

I also tried the steamed egg pudding (below) because the online reviews mentioned that it was delicious. I just thought it was okay. I found that the portion is too much for 1 person, but I finished it anyway because I didn't want to waste food. 

Probably one of the best meal I had was this dim sum place called Tim Ho Wan. Apparently it has one michelin star, and maybe the cheapest michelin star restaurant. My favorite was their bbq pork bun. I even bought those yummy buns on my last day on my way to the airport because they are conveniently located inside IFC mall where airport express station stops in this location and I brought it all the way to spore for my sister to try. It looks something like this:

We did try an interesting Japanese restaurant at Rakuen whereby we tried the first time in our life - seaweed grape & squid ink fried rice! Both of them were really good! 

Okay, not forgetting my first meal in HK, which was milk tea and crisp bun served with sweet condensed milk..Drooool...

Enough with the food pictures, I am going to close this post with a photo of us atop of the Peak! behind is the HK view, even though the sky was quite gloomy that morning.