Golden rules for wedding preparation

If you have caught up with Zg and/or I recently, you would probably know that we have (finally) started our wedding preparation. Frankly, there are so many to-dos, so many items to check off the list, and so many wedding vendors providing so many different services. All these choices just mean that it is very easy to forget that the wedding is just an event (albeit a very happy, meaningful and exciting one) and we still have the bigger task of enjoying our marriage thereafter.

So, while I still have clarity of thought and have not been completely suckered into signing a million things that we will probably regret, I have decided to set some golden rules which I hope we (I, mostly, since I am the more impulsive one) would remember in the months to come.

• Stick to the budget. It is okay to exceed the budget by a little bit (up to $100) but it has to go if it is really too expensive. Just think about the amount of food that amount of money can buy and walk away. Recently, I have also been thinking about money in terms of the number of man-hours I have to put in to earn that amount of money. If the number of man-hours sounds too gross, then that item has to go. 
• Don't have to please everybody. As long as we like it and we are happy, just smile and nod when the naysayers strike. There will always be naysayers and we don't have to mind what other people say. Frankly, why should we? It is our wedding and our money, and I do think we can decide for ourselves what we want to do thank you very much.  
• Research. I'm a nut for researching so this one is easy. I think I research everything to the death of it so no problemo.
• Know what you need and what you don't and don't budge. I'm stubborn as a mule and Zg is an Ox so we probably don't have a problem here too. People will probably have a harder time trying to convince us than we do resisting it. 
• If you like something and the price is right GO FOR IT. Prices in the wedding industry only go north and vendors tend to increase their prices every year. So stop procrastinating, just go for it and hope that they do not pull down their shutters before your actual day. 
• Have fun! Zg and I are pretty good at planning things in general (we are crazy fond of tables and spreadsheets) so I hope we would be able to have fun in the process of planning the wedding. We are also champion saikang warriors (otherwise known as staffers) so I think we should have no problem staffing ourselves. 

Hopefully I will get around to sharing my wedding preparation in the months to come!

Riverside Grilled Fish 江边城外

I love to eat fish but I'm not a big fan of whole fishes (i.e. with the bone and all). Plus, I am definitely not fond of ma la sauce because the spiciness makes my tongue numb. So I am pleasantly surprised that I fell in love with this place after my first visit with my friends at work!

The place was rather empty when we first visited, but fast forward to a couple of months later, and there is a sizable crowd at Riverside Grilled Fish now. No long queues (thank god) but definitely enough people to assure us that this place can survive in Raffles City.

The process is simple enough. You get to choose the fish, the sauce, and the side dishes which will be hidden under the fish. We usually go for the sea bass, the bean paste sauce (one of the two sauces which is not spicy), and lots of side dishes like mushroom, lotus root, luncheon meat, beancurd skin, konjac, and rice cakes.

The sea bass is always very fresh and delicious. The size of the fish varies (naturally) and sometimes we get a really large sea bass and sometimes a slightly smaller one. Not a biggie for me because we are always so full after the meal anyway. 

The sea bass has generally less bones so it was very easy to dig in and enjoy the fish with the sauce. 

The first time I came we also ordered the chinese sausage rice but realized we were so full from the fish that we could hardly finish the rice. Subsequently, we always ordered the 手抓饼 which was like roti prata and soaked up the sauce really well. 

Riverside Grilled Fish is a good place for gatherings since all of us will be huddled around a table attacking the fish together. That is probably the reason why we keep returning to this place when we need a good lunch, and for birthdays and farewells.

 252 North Bridge Road, Raffles City Shopping Centre,#B1-06/07, Raffles City Shopping Centre, 179103

6352 2035

Something just like this

"Where'd you wanna go?

How much you wanna risk?

I'm not looking for somebody

With some superhuman gifts

Some superhero

Some fairytale bliss

Just something I can turn to

Somebody I can miss"

Somebody who will accompany me to send my phone into the Samsung service centre, somebody who will treat me to dinner on Friday because I just spent $470 on my screen, (bloody hell, I didn't know LCD screens were so expensive until today), somebody whose brother lent me a spare phone (yay, thanks LG!), and somebody who will meet me after work to pick up my phone on a Monday night sans car. 

Painful expensive lesson to learn that curved screens are extremely vulnerable. But glad that I have someone to whine to :)

The Bakehouse by Carpenter & Cook

There are times when Zg and I have no movies we would like to watch, no window shopping we would like to do, and no particular place we would like to visit. Those are the times we would drive to Ikea and roam around randomly, dreaming up the design of our future home. We really enjoyed doing this even before we secured a place of our own, and those were the days when we lamented our BTO queue number (or more accurately the lack thereof), and built castles in the air.

We usually eat at the hawker centre nearby (the charsiew rice and avocado milkshake are extremely yums), or at the atas coffeeshop (also known as Salut Coffeeshop). But one fine day we discovered that the Bakehouse was on the Entertainer App! Hurray to discounted food!

The Bakehouse by Carpenter & Cook was quiet when we entered during dinner time. A few tables were occupied but it was pretty easy to get a table. We settled down and studied the menu (i.e. find out what were the mains that qualified for the one-for-one).

Truffle fries ($8). Good and fragrant. I do prefer thicker fries so this worked for me, but Zg preferred thin fries. But generally, still a good bowl of delicious fries.

Crabmeat Linguine ($22). I am generally very fond of crabmeat pasta and this was a pretty good one. Definitely not as generous as Habitat Coffee in terms of the serving of crabmeat, but still presentable.

Pasta di Mare ($25). The usual seafood pasta which was good too. Fresh seafood, al dente pasta. But I prefer the crabmeat linguine because of... my inherent bias towards crabmeat pasta!

A good place to drop by for a meal after shopping for furniture or household items at Ikea!

321 Alexandra Rd #01-14, 
Alexandra Central Mall, 159971
6250 0040
Monday to Friday: 10 am to 10 pm
Saturday: 9 am to 10 pm
Sunday: 9 am to 9 pm

Cherry Blossom Viewing in Osaka, Japan

We stayed in Hotel Monterey Osaka which was where I stayed the last time I visited Osaka with my family. Loved the location of the hotel, and all the food outlets and shopping centres within walking distance. We also enjoyed the European design in our hotel grounds and snapped some lovely photos!

Osaka is a great place for food and some shopping, but not really the best for cherry blossom viewing. We found a great spot at Tempozan but that was about it. That said, we had a great time eating lots of tako balls and okonomiyaki, and exploring Dotonburi together!

Osaka Castle

Not a spectacular site for cherry blossom viewing and, while I liked the place, I would not recommend it as a top cherry blossom viewing spot in Osaka. But Osaka Castle is a must-visit in Osaka anyway, so just drop by and snap some pictures. 

Tempozan Park

A completely spontaneous find. We were in the area for Legoland when Zg pointed out that there was a park nearby with cherry blossoms so we walked around and searched for the place. We were so happy when we found it because it was simply amazing. The best part of Tempozan Park had to be that it was completely empty when we reached in the late afternoon. Most of the cherry blossom viewing spots in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka were so crowded by mid-day that we had to make plans to wake up at the crack of dawn to avoid the crowd. Yet here it was, a park with beautiful cherry blossoms and not a soul in sight! I love the view of the cherry blossoms in front of the Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel. 

3-2 Chikko, Minato-ku, Osaka 552-0021, Osaka Prefecture

The trip with Zg to view the cherry blossoms in Japan was an incredible one. We ate so much yummy food, took a million pictures, and had so many lovely memories together. Am also starting to see the perks of sleeping and waking early to avoid the crowd and enjoy the beautiful sights without having to jostle with a bunch of other tourists. It also allowed me to be so much more well-rested during this trip. 

Will never forget all the happy moments oooo-ing and ahhh-ing at the cherry blossoms together! :)

For our cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo and Kyoto, click on the links.