Skye Soon
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Hey guys!

How's everything going? I had a very powerful iced flat white at Supply and Demand and ended up starting a new hobby.

It started off with me messing around:



Then I drew myself and my sister in this silly, ugly art style.


It's very comical and freeing to draw like this.



I like drawing in black and white with a single 'marker' style! Thick markers are one of my favourite mediums since young. I love the boldness and simplicity of black and white too.

Drew some of my friends too!


In a caricature style this time because I could not resist the Pokemon onesies.


Also experimented with this cute chibi style for my grandma:



Yeah I did almost 10 portraits in a span of a day, thanks to that potent coffee 😂

I then took up some commissions with neater line art. Those take me super long to do though so I don't think I'll pick up comms too often! 

    Now I'm drawing the BTS members in this line art style! Meme faces are great and fun to draw. It really cracks me up.


If you want to see more, check out my page on Instagram! @chillartclub


Love,
Skye

Hey you guys!

This is part TWO of the Batam series! I visited Batam for the first time with some of my ~precious~ girl friends. 

We tried out a Beer Spa! 🍻

Yes, you saw that right. That means a jacuzzi bubble spa with beer, and also free flow beer throughout the session 😂 Definitely a one of a kind experience.

Benefits of Beer XD




First we are offered a mug of craft beer~ it is light and crisp!


Then the staff will do a quick wash, scrub and soak of your feet with beer in its early fermentation. It looks like milk tea and doesn't have the strong, distinctive smell of alcohol.

Next we were ushered into rooms where we enjoyed a very intense bubble spa in a tub of beer! The bubble making machine is very powerful. 


For ladies, you are given disposable undies and a cover up that is worn in the tub. My spa lady asked if I wanted a photo in the tub 😂

You soak in the tub for 30 minutes, and you can enjoy the free flow beer next to your tub.
Unfortunately our experiences varied - my tub of beer water was lukewarm but my friends' were extremely hot. Some of them didn't get the beer tap too, so quality was kind of inconsistent.

I found myself itching to do something in the 30 minutes of the spa - but decided to not touch my phone as the bubbles were truly intense and threatened to wet everything (or get into my drinkable beer!). I'll practise being alone with my thoughts instead.

After the spa, you towel off and get ready for the massage. You are not advised to shower (according to the website but you can do whatever you want.)

Once again, the quality of your massage really depends on the masseuse. In fact one of my friends did not even receive a refill of the beer and was mostly left alone without any instructions or interaction, which left her pretty confused. Felt like she was forgotten!! 

You will probably get the best experience here if you are attended to by a capable and skilled staff! 

When the session ended, we were offered hot ginger tea which I really enjoyed!

Overall it was a really fun novelty experience ~ The price is about $50 per person for the spa, massage and beer. You can make a reservation beforehand. 

Things to note:
*Though the beer is advertised as 'free flow', there is a limit to the small kegs in the little bar fridges. I think we had about maybe only ~12 cups split among 4 people before it ran out.

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Spa Village
Komplek Top View Garden
Baloi Indah, Lubuk Baja, 
Batam City, Riau Islands 29442, 
Indonesia

https://spavillage-crownvista.com/booking/
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Hey guys!

This part one of a series of our Batam trip! It was my first time there so everything felt new and fresh to me.

We went to a market to buy some snacks~ 

This shop is called Badminton Penuin Snack.

Fried snacks galore!

The friendly staff plied us with snacks to try. 

I think I bought almost everything I tried. Perfect (or easy) customer lol. I think my total for about 5 packets of different snacks is about SGD $17.

Let me introduce you to what I got!~

First, the original flavoured melinjo. Melinjio (or belinjio) are nuts that are ground, then made into tasty chips. It has a slight bitter taste. You can buy melinjo chips in Singapore, but these were the best ones I had so far!

They're crunchy and just the right texture and thickness. Some melinjo chips are too thin and are not as satisfying.

Also got the spicy version.

As you can see, it is the hot favourite at home. Very addictive!

Joke: I mistakenly took two packs of UNFRIED chips and happily paid for them until my hawk-eyed friend pointed them out to me. I would have been KILLED if I brought home raw belinjo lmao as you have to deep fry them. Had a good laugh.

Also bought these tempeh chips! Crunchy with a slight salty taste. (My friend bought fresh tempeh from the market!)

I'm not too sure what these are called but it is slightly sweet and spicy! 

Comes with some fragrant leaves. My favourite of the haul!

Friendly uncle gave us discount too. Way to get repeat customers! I think it's a great souvenir to bring home especially if your family (or yourself 😛) enjoys snacks.

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Badminton Penuin Snack
samping tangga, Jl. Komp. Ps. Penuin, Batu Selicin, Kec. Lubuk Baja, 
Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia
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Love,
Skye



This is part two, a continuation from the Pasta and Co post.

What do we do after eating a yummy meal? 

Of course, we cap it off with some dessert. Life on a perpetual no-sugar no junk diet is extremely depressing and frankly unsustainable. 

The Crescent Waffle and Sandwich Shop is a cute little cafe on the first floor of Fortune Centre. It has about 5 tables or so, which seats about 10! The design of the shop is a cute white and brown minimalist style. 

The shop offers pandan waffles, sandwiches, pastries and cafe beverages.

(Pandan waffles are the kind of green waffles you see in Singapore neighbourhood bakeries. )

See the bag of coffee beans at the side of the counter? The shop uses beans from Cowspresso, which I happen to visit once while in the Lor Kilat estate. When our coffee was being prepared, I was excitedly telling the Mr. all about the espresso extracting process that I learned about the coffee workshop I told you guys about.

Ah, fresh coffee is always so aromatic - but to achieve such yummy goodness at home, an espresso machine is needed! And even such a 'small' one takes up quite a lot of counter space. So... off we go to the cafes to let the professionals handle it.

Here's a look at their pastries:

We didn't try these because we were here for the waffles. You can choose flavours such as chocolate, peanut butter, kaya, cheese, butter and blueberry  ($2.60) . But the one selling like hot cakes is:

The Black Sesame Pandan Waffle ($2.80) 

Everyone in the shop ordered this!

First bite:

The waffle is hot and served in a brown paper bag atop a plate. Seems rather strange but here are my guesses as to why:

  • Maybe the less utensils used, the easier for the shop to manage?
  • Ditto for takeaways.
  • Or maybe this is to emulate the traditional pandan waffle packaging?
  • Since the waffle is rather floppy and limp, it is easier for the diner to bite into.

The Crescent waffle is a floppy waffle with an inner consistency closer to mian jian kueh (traditional Chinese pancake) than a crispy Belgian waffle. There is just the slightest crisp on the outer layer too.

I loved the generous slathering of black sesame paste, which I think may also appeal more to the older crowd too. Smart. Pretty yummy~ (but our favourite is still the Garden pandan waffle (Aljunied) even though lately it has been plagued with INCONSISTENCY!!!)

Has the pandan waffle IG account  (@pandan_pig) visited Crescent yet?!


We also ordered the Iced Crescent Coffee ($6.50). It is an Einspanner, which is a hot espresso topped with cool whipped cream. I was really excited for this! I've tried it only once in Korea.

Hmm. I think the cream and milk really covered the coffee flavour though. I think I'm starting to know what kind of iced coffees I enjoy, after visiting quite a few cafes. I like a really cold milk with a strong coffee that is sharp enough to cut through the milk. Does that make sense? XD Can't remember exactly where I have drank such a latte but I remember a few that aren't exactly what I'm looking for. Maybe the secret is really in the roast.

Other than this, I also observed a few small families ordering their croissants. They offer croissants like Ham and Cheese, Smoked Salmon and more. Saw this little boy totally living it up with his croissant, iPad, and also one of their drinks, possibly the Iced Golden (a lemonade with apple, peach and mint). That looked super refreshing! 

A cute place to hang out with family especially if they are heading to Fortune Centre to have their vegetarian day. Friends - maybe just 2-3 people because these cafes are pretty smol. 

Ending notes

One more thing I like about Fortune Centre is that many shops are run by passionate owners. Most of the malls in Singapore have large restaurant chains and these often lack the personal touch. 

When the owners or staff say goodbye to you here, you can feel more warmth behind it! (Or maybe it's just me?) (An exception: the aunties selling Japanese food upstairs)

After our day at Fortune Centre I am even more sure that Support Small Businesses, or  Support Local is a great cause. This is especially so because older malls that house small businesses like these have a rather limited lifespan in land scarce Singapore. Sooner or later Fortune Centre may suffer the same fate as Golden Mile etc and basically we will continue to watch the death of small business like these. Sad but we know this is coming...

So what are you waiting for?  😋 

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Crescent Waffle and Sandwich Shop
Fortune Centre,
190 Middle Road
#01-17
Singapore 188979
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Love,
Skye

Hello hello!

We went to this restaurant in Fortune Centre recently. Like I said, Fortune Centre, a small old school shopping centre, is really charming and endearing to me because of the interesting tenant mix and the smaller crowd despite its excellent city location in Bugis. 

Pasta & Co. serves fresh handmade pasta!

We headed there when my feed was filled with people visiting them during Valentine's Day 😙

There are about 10 tables in this small but sleek looking space. I like that this Italian restaurant is not too classy/upscale looking to scare away casual diners. Makes it perfect to hang out with less expectations and stress...

Our friendly server introduced us to the menu, gave us some recommendations and showed us the different types of pasta available on a pretty gold tiered tray (like a high tea spread!)

From what I remember there was paprika, squid ink tagliatelle, and for the short pastas: pumpkin rigatoni and beetroot fusili available that day. Forgot to take a photo of the tray but you might be able to spot it in the corner on another diner's table on the top left of the previous photo.

Besides your choice of pasta and flavour, you also get to choose the portion size: tasting portion or full. 

They also serve wine and other beverages~

What we ordered:

Our server recommended the Battered Soft Shell Crab ($10.90).  Other popular items include the Kale Salad and Burratina Salad. 


To be honest I wasn't really expecting such big, juicy crab flesh! Usually when we eat soft shell crabs in Singapore, they usually come in a burger, and we rarely get so much flesh to enjoy. Yum! There are 4 pieces of these and they were piping hot~

For our pasta: we got the tasting portions for both because 
(a) we had dessert plans after
(b) the tasting portions are on Burpple Beyond so we get to enjoy the 1-for-1 discount

From what I saw on IG, the Vongole is really popular. The Vongole here is quite of a fusion style, using Sake and Mirin instead of the usual white wine. This made the dish taste less 'aggressive' and places it firmly in the 'comforting' flavours (for me).

While the clams were nothing to shout about, the garlic, ginger, dashi, bonito flakes and shichimi togarashi really pulled the dish together. As for the pasta, it was prepared al dente. Can't really say I tasted much squid ink.



Our second pasta dish is the Beef Ragu with pumpkin rigatoni. This were served with delicious, fine melty cheese (likely Parmesan/Parmigiano-Reggiano) and a yummy fried onion. The beef pieces were cut into bite sized pieces but tended to be more on the salty side. Goes well with the pasta though. Again, I couldn't taste much of the pumpkin unfortunately.


Our total bill came up to about $30 after a the Burpple Beyond discount! 



The Beef Ragu is definitely more flavourful and possesses more of a wow factor. For both dishes I felt like the sauces outshone the pasta 😅. Still yummy! 

My favourite handmade pasta is still from Pastarazzi, but I'm glad that more and more handmade pasta joints are springing up in Singapore (like Tangled in Chinatown Point).

And off to enjoy some dessert now... 


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Pasta & Co.
Fortune Centre,
190 Middle Road
#02-17
Singapore 188979
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Love,
Skye


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Skye Soon : lifestyle blogger in Singapore, street busker and enthusiast of chocolates and books

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