By some fate of the Gods, I seem to be blessed with friends, both new and old, who made my birthday week thoroughly enjoyable and utterly sinful. =D
The celebrations started out on Thursday when my longtime friend, aka Chii, and I embarked on an exciting journey across Chinatown in search of good cake. The place we’re looking for was a bakery called Pâtisserie Glacé by Chef Yamashita. We had vague clues on locating the shop, which was situated at Chinatown Plaza.
Here’s a simple guide to finding the place from Outram Park MRT:
1) Exit through “Exit H”, which is on the NEL side.
2) Upon exiting, walk towards the right… and into a lane of shophouses which is after a carpark.
3) Walk straight for about 3-4mins till you reach the end of the lane, where there should be a hotel of sorts with some interesting grass-slope installations.
4) Turn left and continue walking along another row of shophouses, there should be a shop called the “Make-up House” on the right…. and another golf shop on the left.
5)Walk till you reach the end of the road, where there is a college for hospitality or something of the sorts. =P
6) At this point, you should be able to see a main road on your right, and the Police Cantonment center.
7) However, walk left away from the main road, for about two streets, and you should see Chinatown Plaza with a Craig Rd sign post, which is beside a building with ebay,PayPal logos.
This is not the most comprehensive list of directions, but roughly how we managed to find the shop. ^^
You could try following these instructions instead. =P
This poster is in prominent view once Chinatown Plaza is in sight.
We had three cakes Mont-Blanc, Strawberry Soufflé and Choco Renga.
The cakes were a tad pricey, but totally worth it.
After cake, we walked all the way to People’s Park Complex and had bubble tea. =D
We did some shopping and took significant damages to our wallets. Around dinner time, we headed over to Dhoby Ghaut via MRT. From there we walked to Sunshine Plaza to pick up Nendoroid Nagi. Besides Nagi, I found myself bringing home Nyanko-sensei. =)
In plushie form!! I can’t afford the full sized nyanko sensei, but the plushie head version was cheap enough for me to bag it without much consideration.
This pouch came as a surprise as I didn’t know it existed till Sharon from KKnM took it out to tempt me.
I was sold the moment saw the 3d rendition of the chibi Nyanko-sensei.
All the walking made us hungry again and we had okonomiyaki. Chii-chan had just returned from Japan and her birthday gift to me came direct from an Animate shop she visited. The haul included Gintama, Hetalia and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei merchandise that I requested for.
These are just the handphone straps and a protective charm. There is another Gintama folder and sticker that I didn’t take pictures of.
And I figured that I’ll include a shot of my bed/entertainment center of sorts. I have a laptop table perched on one side of my bed which I use to put my Mac when I’m typing up stuff (i.e to write this post) or to just watch anime off. The table usually disappears when I go to sleep, as I’m not willing to risk having it fall on me in the middle of the night. =P Flanking each side of the table is my lovely 1TB WDD harddrive and a pile of my manga haul from the last Kinokuniya sale. As you might have guessed by now, I don’t really need to leave my bed all day unless I have too.
The second round of celebrations started on Saturday night with a dinner at Ma Maison @ The Central. I was invited by Nyanko-sempai (not to be confused with the ficitional Nyanko-sensei), who was giving me the birthday/graduation treat. It was pretty much a surprise as I wasn’t told of what to expect for dinner. ^^ I’ve heard good things about the restaurant and have been dying to try Ma Maison out but never had an opportunity to. Thus, it was awesome to get a chance to try the place out on someone else’s treat. =P
Unfortunately, the place is near impossible to book and thus leaving all the good seats taken up. We got a seat near the entrance which wasn’t bad, but we did end up missing out of the great ambience of the whole restaurant’s decor. But because of our location, we were in the constant care of the service staff who were alert and always filling up our water glasses, something that I appreciate because I drink like a thirsty camel.
It was pretty dim in the restaurant, hence the grainy pictures. The table setting was cute and homely.
And I totally love the customised dishes… which we didn’t really use.
I was spoiled for choice and wanted to try everything on the menu. But after much consideration… for Nyanko-sempai’s wallet, I picked the Tonkatsu Set. It was rather strange choosing a Wafu dish in a western themed restaurant that specialises in hamburger patties.
The set turned out lovely and I enjoyed the meal alot. Actually, I also stole half of Nyanko-sempai’s crab cream croquette which was also delicious.
The miso soup was POWERFUL.
Filled with all sorts of veggies and bits of meat making it deliciously rich.
And we hung around after we had dessert, which was a scoop of ice-cream, just to take in the ambience and do silly things with the t-light.
When I was navigating through The Central to get to Ma Maison, I stumbled across a cosplay costume shop. It was still under renovation and getting ready to be officially opened in June. I dont remember any details of the shop as photography wasn’t allowed so I couldn’t snap a few shots to remind me of the shop name. They had some sample costumes that didn’t exactly blow my mind, but they were okay-ish.
Unable to find a spot to park ourselves post-dinner, we walked from The Central @ Clarke Quay to Mr Bean’s Cafe, which is near Sunshine Plaza, as it was open 24hrs and we could sit and chat for as long as we liked.
I had my box of Nendoroids with me and Nyanko-Sempai had Mikuru (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) in her Combat Waitress incarnation. The array of nendoroid parts that peppered our tiny table attracted quite a bit of attention and we had people staring at our playthings. =D
I had Yoko, Louise and Nagi. We didn’t take much pictures because the lighting was horrid. But this pic of chibi Yoko with her guns was too good to miss out on. The additional firearms come from Nyanko-Sempai’s figma Mikuru.
The night concluded with a long ride home on the Night Rider service.
After reaching home, I eagerly unwrapped my birthday present.
The beautiful bag which housed the gift had a tactile surface and the gray bits of design below is embossed with a velverty texture that I just couldn’t take my hands off.
And I was delighted to find out that the wrapping paper within was made of the same gorgeous paper.
The present came as a two-parter.
And I unwrapped the box first. =D
After removing the first layer… I realise that i could have done with removing it with the second layer… but nevermind that.
In my previous post, I mentioned my undying love for Dal!Ciel… and it was epic getting the doll as a birthday/graduation present!!! I refuse to post any ugly pictures of the gorgeous doll. So there will be no images of what is within the paper covered box above.
I was smiling like an imbecile as I stared at pretty doll for a full ten minutes before putting it back into the safety of the box. My eternal gratitude to Nyanko-sempai for making the bitterness of turning a year older into a memorable experience!!
When I introduced Dal!Ciel to my parents, they were amused and impressed by the well-made doll and I got permission to put Dal!Ciel on display. =D
