Staycation at Changi Village Hotel

Merry Christmas!

We had our early christmas celebration at Changi Village Hotel 1 week before Christmas. Took a 3D2N package with Executive suite for about $400nett, so it came with access to the executive lounge, with free flow of drinks and evening cocktails.

The lounge was filled with the Shopaholic Series which I love! I didn't read them cos I have the whole range at home. I love the infinity pool! Blame it on my good friend who came to visit, so I didn't get to use the pool at all.

We stayed on the same level as the executive lounge and had a really cool ocean view from the room. The bathroom was quite unique with the see through glass window. I only realised that we can pull down the window screen for privacy on the 2nd day. :p

Spent 2 hours cycling along changi beach, pass the long stretch of road where you race with the airplanes. It was really fun, but tiring since we haven't been cycling for so long.

Ordered Room service. It was really nice for a rainy afternoon. Yes, it rained really heavily after cycling, luckily we were already back in the hotel.

The last day was spent slacking around in the room, before we checked out.

The overall experience was ok I guess, the Wifi is really weak, even the hotel staffs said so. The air con was really cold, somehow, we off the aircon and slept through the first night. (A good friend said cos it's haunted. :p) I hope to stay at Hotel Quincy the next time, also under the Far East Group.

How was your staycaytion experience?

Tea and Desserts

Recently, 2 good friends and myself celebrated early christmas at Jewels Artisan Chocolate, located at Orchard Central. We ordered a tea set and had fun bitching, enjoyin tea on a saturday weekend and listening to music from the Lush 99.5 studio just beside us.



We exchanged our christmas presents and all of sudden, the servers came and sprang a surprise on me with a birthday song! That was ultimately sweet of them. Of cos, I'm sure my friends must have planned it in advanced.

Left the place feeling real sweet, it's one place that I will go back again. I love the afternoon tea set, had my favourite Earl Grey Tea. Although it wasn't as good as Coffee Bean's but I love the desserts. One more tea place to add to my favourite list.

Steamed D.O.M Chicken

 

My mum, knowing that I was on leave, gave me some 2 Chicken Thighs and 2 Chicken Wings so I could prepare the for dinner. Took me really long to decide what kind of chicken dish until I came across this D.O.M recipe from Noob Cook. It was real easy to prepare and not forgetting that I have this bottle of D.O.M that I was trying to find ways to finish it.

I followed the recipe and forgot about the sesame oil until 45 mins later! -_- However, I must say that, even without the sesame oil, it smelled really nice, so I added sesame oil, hoping it wouldn't be too late. I steamed the chicken for slightly more than 1 hour, and it was really nice, however, it was a tad too sweet, I suspect that I threw in too much wolfberries. The hubby likes it though. :)

I used water for my version as I was lazy to prepare any stock. There's no mushrooms in my chicken too, cos I hate mushrooms. :) As for the ginger, I shredded them, tried my very best to squeeze out this little bit of juice and threw in all the ginger into the dish as well.

So, here's the recipe.
 Ingredients
(Serves 2)
2 large chicken thighs
3 tbsp DOM (D.O.M) Benedictine liquor (法国廊酒)
1 tbsp ginger juice (grate the ginger, take the ginger pulp and squeeze out the juice)
5 tbsp water
1 tbsp wolfberries
10 red dates
1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Directions
1. Place the chicken thighs into a wide and deep plate. Line the bottom of the vessel with sliced mushrooms, reserving some to top the chicken.
2. Add in ginger juice, D.O.M, water/stock, sesame oil, wolfberries and red dates.
3. Cover the vessel with a lid or seal tightly with aluminium foil and cook the chicken on high heat until the water at the steamer is boiling.
4. Lower down the heat and continue to cook for about 40-50 minutes.
5. Add salt to taste if required.

Mummy also gave me some French Beans, so I made French Beans in XO Sauce. :p

Afresh

Ever since I started on my new job, I haven't really been busy. :p
But, because the hubby started his new job, which is at the other end of the island, we tend to go home really late, have dinner outside and weekends are reserved for sleeping in, and cleaning the house.

There's a hiatus in between because my old laptop crashed. I had so much photos inside waiting to be uploaded! It's not going to happen though. :(

That said, it's really disappointing, as I have not touched the oven for 5 months! I hope to be able to do some updates soon. My hands are itching, and the bar of cheese from my cottony cheesecake is still in the fridge. :p
I should really do something these 2 days since I'm going on leave. Time to move my butt!