This entry was supposed to be posted on 24 Mar but due to hectic schedule, it will only be posted now.

<24 March 2012>

Before heading for the movie, This Means War, I paid a little visit to this Paris/Japan pâtissier at the recently opened Scotts Square, Maison Kayser.

My brunch consisted of

• Bread Basket – an assortment of bread with a single refill, coupled with blueberry jam and butter (S$4.90)
• Tarte Citron (S$4.40)
• Vanilla Eclair (S$3.90)

The assortment of bread did have an interesting selection with nuts, but I am not a big fan of nuts so I am only fond of some of the bread in the basket. Fan of bread with nuts, you shall enjoy it more than I do.

Besides nuts, I am not a fan of sour acidic stuff. And this means their Tarte Citron. It was extremely sour and I could not even finish it even after 5 glasses of cold water. Compared to Canelé, well this is too unbearable.

Despite the less than enjoyable 2 dishes, Maison Kayser does have a wonderful item that will entice me to return, that is Vanilla Eclair. This is a strongly recommended item for sweet loving people as the vanilla was smooth and unlike those chocolate eclair, the vanilla does not leave stains onto one’s teeth. It does come in various flavors besides vanilla. So I guess my future visit will revolve around eclair and bread without nuts.

So my spurge continued with a visit to Jewels artisan chocolate, at Orchard Central and bought 4 of their macaron – Brun, Butterscotch, and their 2 recommended flavors, Korean black Garlic and Black Palm Island Salt.

I must say Brun and Butterscotch and Black Palm Island Salt tasted alright, though the saltiness of Black Palm Island Salt macaron lasted in my mouth for a while.

As for the recommended Korean black Garlic, I can only say that those with a sweet tooth should avoid at all cost. It has a peculiar taste, like a mixture of the bitter ginseng and slight spiciness of garlic. It tasted like Chinese medicine in a way that totally removed all those pleasant taste from my previously eaten macaron. I am extremely glad that I did not start off with this flavor else I will have problem tasting the others.

The above is a review of your average lady who has a freaking appetite for sweet pastries.

Well went to a few places for food huntings. But I dont have much time reviewing the food as i have urgent reports to do… So I shall delay my reviews until the end of the semester.

Recent eatings from

• Jewels artisan chocolate 24 March
• Maison Kayser 24 March
• Pasta de Waraku 2 April
• Paul Madison De Qualite 8 April
• Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie 7 May

Yes finally, after a long wait. It’s coming… 24 April 2012 is the release of Lynsay Sands’ latest Argeneau /Notte novel. This time the victim of cupid’s arrow or should I say dearest mother, Marguerite’s, is Christian Notte.

Below is an excerpt from Lynsay Sands‘ official page;

Christian Notte’s story, the sixteenth book in the Argeneau series is set on an island paradise called St. Lucia. After a bad relationship and an even worse divorce, Carolyn decides to go on a long overdue and much needed vacation with the ‘girls’. Only the rest of the vacationers didn’t get the memo. Around every corner there seems to be another couple celebrating their honeymoon or anniversary and the few single men she does see are far too young to even consider, including an irresistibly attractive rock violinist she meets. It’s really too bad he’s so young but in the end it doesn’t matter because according to his cousin, Giacinta, women in general aren’t Christian’s type. But there’s a catch, Christian needs Carolyn’s help. He needs her to be his beard (to play the part of his fake girlfriend) for the week to appease his ‘machismo’ family. Carolyn just can’t seem to say No and decides to help Gia’s cousin. The only problem is that being around Christian and acting like they are a loving couple is wreaking havoc on her emotions. Carolyn’s thoughts keep drifting back to places they shouldn’t, like kissing his full lips or feeling his broad shoulders under her fingertips… good lord, she’s in trouble.

I have managed to catch a glimpse of the story from her last release and it had me on bait for a while. For romance rs out there, be sure to keep a look out of this soon-to-be-released title.

I can only hope my local library to be efficient so that I can read it asap.

Get it from : amazon | barnesandnoble

01. Party queen – Tells me the definition of a party queen. Genki, happening, enjoying. Song is nice and catchy. However, the live version in Hotel Love Songs CDL was even better hence this is a ‘must sing in live concert’ song.

02. NaNaNa – Still leading the life of a party queen. Enjoying the disco scene as such. That’s the feeling intercepted by me. Melody is catchy too and the chorus is nice and the parts by Timmy, I pressumed, are appropriate.

03. Shake It♥ – Slight difference. A little harder in the music. Seems to me the party queen is trying to fit in? Anyway the song is a tinny winny bit heading towards Bold & Delicious direction imo and I hated B&D when first listened… as time passes… it sounded 30% better.

04. taskebab – Seems to prepare me for a transition… of a party queen’s mask fading?

05. call – Kinda lost here. Unknown stage of a Party Queen. Despite so I this song.

06. Letter – Still lost in the mids of locating the real Party Queen. Seems to be showing me the ordinary side of her. The old ayu type of song and of coz another big of mine.

07. reminds me – I guess this is the old ayu or at least the secret alone side of her. The emotions are
strong and the song is powerful upon the chorus. Another from me.

08. Return Road – The slow apperance of the unknown sorrows? loneliness? of a Party Queen. The melody of the chorus is heavy, resonating the heavy weight of our queen’s title. Despite the sudden change from intro to chorus, the song is another one to in the album.

09. Tell me why – Slow/mild tempo together with the continued heaviness, the song is not my no 1 favourite but it is nice nonetheless.

10. a cup of tea – Nice and comes with a bit of wonderland feel. But somehow it seems a bit strange after the heavy melodies, and makes me curious of what lies after this.

11.the next LOVE – Broadway type of music and hence a new genre in ayu’s history of music. It seems to be portraying her, with her mask back on, and heads out to perform to the world.. Interesting and refreshing for me. I like it.

12. Eyes, Smoke, Magic – Continuing from the previous, this broadway intro has more appeal to me than its subsequent melody. I guess, the show is still on.

13. Serenade in A minor – It seems to signify the end of the performance. A seemingly der melody than the previous transition. Perhaps she realised that all the masks of a Party Queen are not her, the one that fans .

14. how beautiful you are – With that, she left all her masks and decide to embrace her true self and hopes that everyone will do so too. Accept who she is and realise how beautiful one can be or in fact already is.

A nice ending to the album, or the life of a Party Queen. This is a touching song and grows on me ever since I have started hearing it.

Overall, I have fairly positive reviews on Party Queen. I am rather surprised that many are skeptical of it, saying that Party Queen is a disaster. As a fan of little musical talents, but with the ability to enjoy nice songs, this album is refreshing and likeable.

I am not sure what ayu really wants to tell us, but in my opinion, I have managed to have a glimpse of the life of a Party Queen – how she portrays what the media wants to view her as (party and disco etc), and her behind media life and the performance she put up on stage aka broadway and finally hoping that we can accept who she is in hbya after making certain decisions on her future.

Eyes, Smoke, Magic didn’t interest me as much as others. Prefer the next LOVE more. But I do like the intro of ESM.

I hope that people will try to understand what the album is and give it a try.

I guess I can only watch my CDL dvd after exams and fydp…

Yes thanks to Raymond, we’d got to attend the gala premiere of the highly anticipated ‘The Hunger Games’.

Opening on March 22, 2012 in Singapore, this novel based film has been widely promoted ever since end of last year due to the success of the novel. As this film has yet to be shown in other countries, security was high when we attended the premiere and we were requested to deposit our mobiles and mp3s to the security counters.

Apparently, all the halls in The Cathay were for the screening and this time we got to watch in a hall that we have yet to watch in…

Starting off with the introductory explanation of the story involving the betrayal of the 12 districts, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) bravely replaced her 12 year old sister, Prim, and joined fellow District 12 mate, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) in the Battle Royale type of tournament.

The duo was to equip themselves with essential skills under the mentor-ship of former District 12′s winner Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) in the Capitol, while obtaining ‘sponsors’ for life-saving materials that were used in the Game. After a series of combat practices, media and sponsorship campaigns, the 24 youths set off for battle in a technologically manipulated arena, where Everdeen experienced danger, fear, betrayal and helplessness.

An unexpected twist in the game had given hope but that was quickly taken away when it boiled down to Everdeen and Mellark. However, the quick thinking of Everdeen had changed things, resulted in the implied death of game master and eventually brought them home…

My few cents on this movie was a combination of ideas from Japanese manga, Kaiji and novel, The Incite Mill.

The auditorium of people attracted to the display of gladiatorial killings is akin to those rich and influential willing their time away by watching others fighting for survival in Kaiji and The Incite Mill. Dressed in flamboyant costumes, loud makeups and hairdos, the citizens in the Capitol do give me the idea of restlessness and that pleasure can only be obtained from the annual battle.

Despite the similarity in some of the ideas, the story is nevertheless an interesting and thoughtful one as it explores on various issues dealing on imperialism, brutal violence in a highly competitive society and the inequality in treatment of the different social classes.

I guess I will be seeing myself picking up the novel perhaps after the end of my examinations…