Cavalock and The Early Pasta Pact

Talk about a good deal. I don't know how many of you guys out there have heard of this but I only found out a couple weeks ago (thanks Alvin and Vivien!) that Prego Italian Restaurant at Fairmont Hotel has an early bird menu from 5pm to 6pm every day of the frickin' week.

Seems like a lot of dishes from their regular menu can be found in the early bird menu and I dare say, it's pretty much the same generous portions too. At S$18 you get an antipasti and one pasta dish which is quite noteworthy when you realise just them pasta dishes are about like S$30 on the regular dinner menu.

Had a great dinner there and the joint was pretty empty too. Looking forward to another visit in the very, very near future. I suppose the timing might not be exactly convenient for working folks but the way I see it, an early dinner means more time for board gaming later in the evening!

Believe it or not, I have been on a stationery buying spree lately or to be exact, a Japanese stationery buying spree. From fancy little notebooks to erasable rubber stamps, you wouldn't believe the collection that I have amassed over the last couple months. Take this limited edition Baskins Robbins pen I spotted in Tokyu Hands Japan. I couldn't resist it. There were several different designs and damn, I could only settle for one!

Cavalock and The Gathering of Friends' Shindig

I wasn't exactly enthralled by it when it first opened but believe it or not Muji Cafe has kinda become my go-to place for a cheap and satisfying Japanese cooked meal. Have been to both the Raffles City and Paragon outlets and I got to say the patrons at Paragon are definitely more interesting. Heh, always fun to eavesdrop on doctors from nearby clinics bitching about work. Anyway, the below saba fish with Japanese yuzu soy sauce was the highlight of today's lunch. Not too salty with a nice piece of Japanese radish tucked underneath.

I used to look forward to public holidays as opportunities to take a break from work but nowadays it's more of a chance to organise meet-ups with groups of friends, especially the ones with busy work schedules. This last Vesak Day break saw me at not one but two long overdue gatherings of friends. Starting with a wonderful dinner at a friend's house complete with large tasty slabs of steaks, all beautifully smoked to perfection. Ended the night with an extremely politically incorrect game of Limpeh Says. Don't usually go for party games but this was strangely satisfying. 

The next day was all fun and games at another friend's apartment. Played lots of board games like the award-winning Istanbul, Dragon and Flagon and Vast: The Crystal Caverns. Oh, how I love Vast. This is a unique asymmetric board game. Four of us have totally different roles and play by totally different rules. We are in an underground cave. One of us is the Knight who wins by killing the Dragon. The Dragon wins by escaping the cavern. The Goblin player wins by killing the Knight and the cave wins by killing everyone in it. Yes, even the Cave is an active player! 

Cavalock and The Cook Book Condition

When folks find out I read the occasional cook book, they inadvertently expect me to cook or bake but I don't, well, not as much as I like too. And they find it rather odd that I read books for fun. You'd be surprised to know that most cook books today are filled with numerous fascinating anecdotes. It's rather sad that most Singaporeans today would only pick up a book if it comes with promises of making money or getting ahead in the rat race or something equally dreary. I can never understand why everything has to do with making money. Read for fun and get to know stuff!

Like before I read My Paris Kitchen, I didn't know that the eggs in France are numbered. How cool is that?!? The story of how Momofuku Milk Bar came about is certainly inspiring. All destined for bedside reading.

Yah, been ...er... acquiring more than a couple of reading materials online strictly for our reading pleasure. This is problem when you live in a tiny little apartment and have ran out of storage space for any more books or magazines. And whatever limited space you have left, you are saving for incoming big boxes of boardgames. Hah!

An absolutely satisfying buffet dinner with the guys at Triple Three Mandarin. Tuesday night was Foie Gras Night and the guys definitely had their fill of it. What surprised me was the number of yummy spicy mentaiko dishes available. They would even drizzle mentaiko over the salt-baked fish later in the night. Always fun to meet up over the dinner table instead of a gaming table but the conversation would still steer towards topics like our early Dungeons and Dragons sessions, the latest Marvel movies and buying Lego sets. Trust me when I say a bunch of male Singaporean adults (a couple of them already fathers to teenage daughters) talking bout playing boardgames instead of playing the stock market is a rare sight indeed. Like I said earlier, never could comprehend the obsession over making money.