Valentine's Day, Singapore and Worldwide: Dinners and heart shaped pattern clothes, chocolate covered fruit and heart shape biscuits

Pink lights on the trees in Scotts Road where it joins Orchard road at the heart of Singapore. The centre of Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 On Monday Feb 13 I was at a wine dinner at the Tanglin Club's group, The Affordable Wine Society. They organizers wondered why they had fewer people than usual? Was it because they were serving white wine, Chardonnay, from France, South Africa, Argentina, and New Zealand? 

I reckoned it was because many people, like us decided that they didn't not want to eat out at large, expensive meals with food and wine two nights running.  The Tanglin Club has more than 4,000 members, and The Churchill Room restaurant was fully booked for the Valentine's Day evening dinner, costing  188 Singapore dollars (116.50 pounds sterling per couple, which is just over 58 pounds per person), without wine. The price was  228 Singapore dollars including matched wine, which was just over 141 pounds meaning about seventy pounds per person including wine. That was a multi-course meal.

We chose to go to the wine dinner instead. Others might have chosen to opt to go out and splurge on Valentine's Day. We treated our wine dinner as our Valentine's night and I wore hearts in black.

Angela in black heart top. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Angela in an outfit featuring pink hearts for an online Zoom meeting with the them of love.

A Toastmasters International Club came up with a fun idea for those without a Valentine's Day Date Online

Shein blouse printed with small black hearts.

Tesco shortbread assortment, bought before Xmas 2002, a gift to Angela Lansbury.

DIY Valentine's Day pop card by Angela Lansbury. Heart shaped shortbread biscuit in tin box from Tesco, UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

BISCUITS

Tesco heart shaped shortbread biscuit. There were two of these in the box.

I made the card by drawing a heart and filling in the red with a watercolour pencil. You will find them in large stationery departments of book shops, supermarkets, art shops, department stores. I have bought them from Wilko in the UK, WHmith in Brent Cross, Mustafa's in Singapore. See my other posts on watercolour pencils.

TOASTMASTERS THEMED MEETINGS

Un-Valentined - A special meeting for Single Toastmasters who have absolutely no plans for Valentine's Day evening. 

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Single

2. Valentine's Day evening plan is to sulk at home

3. Enjoys the company of Toastmasters

Date: 14th Feb 2023

Time: 9 pm (IST) | 3:30 pm (UTC) | 10:30 am (EST)

Zoom Meeting

POETRY MEETINGS

Poetry groups run the theme of Valentines or love.

See Facebook Groups. For example, the Fertile Brains. They have a WhatsApp group.

Useful Websites

Tanglin Club, Singapore

Toastmasters International Find a Club

UK

Berry Bouquets

12 chocolate covered strawberries. Twelve pounds.

https://berrybouquets.co.uk/questions/milk-choc-gift-box.html

USA only- cake petits fours

Box of little cakes in various colours and designs. Picture of cakes' insides on website.

https://www.swisscolony.com/p/valentine-petits-fours-003191.html

Worldwide

https://www.facebook.com/ediblearrangements

Tesco Recipe

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/funfetti-heart-biscuits.html

Edible Bouquets

https://www.ediblearrangements.ae/fruit-bouquet-detail.aspx?ArrangementID=611

Edible biscuits heart shape

https://www.fairmart.app/store/costa-rhu-indian-supermart/britannia-little-hearts-biscuits-264oz-750g-biscuit-de-patits-coeurs-soft-and-delicious-biscuits-kid-03582?utm_term=&utm_campaign=CostaRhu_Purch_PerformanceMax&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=5402163297&hsa_cam=18866472471&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=CjwKCAiA_6yfBhBNEiwAkmXy50vIg1iUB8MNwCLr_RvlI4g5836NosgNi4OLJ2Bd0bc1MVTUKlft4RoCx40QAvD_BwE

Watercolour pens and pencils

https://www.amazon.sg/Faber-Castell-PL154312-12-Piece-Water-Colour/dp/B008UOTXO2/ref=sr_1_2?adgrpid=97178868873&gclid=CjwKCAiA_6yfBhBNEiwAkmXy546pD8TFkMVeK2l11v4_ybiQr_owzrlN-ZCRDlmYkcbulUEaoZ2_gBoCflAQAvD_BwE&hvadid=587401505212&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9062509&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17528429277747009784&hvtargid=kwd-256622149&hydadcr=13813_339767&keywords=watercolour+pencils&qid=1676371197&sr=8-2

Live Poetry Readings On Zoom

 

You can join poetry readings on Zoom. Each poet is allowed 2 poems, about five minutes in total. The convenors like to have your name and someone to vouch for you.

The theme was love.

I hunted through my poetry worksbook for a poem on love.

I could only find a limerick.

Jill wrote to me by direct message in the chat

Jill Sharon Kimmelman wrote

Outstanding inking Angela

I especially enjoyed the first limerick/light-hearted poetry.

P Suvarna wrote to everyone about me

Love is a link which saves life 

Love is great 

Great poem, Angela, madam 

The convenors and others comment and praise the poems.

That was awesome lucilla

Lantern Carrier  to  Everyone 22:55

Lucilla> 'in the narrow hours of sunset, nothing else matters.' Your words and images are so beautiful!!! Amazing!! - Lantern

One poem went: 'I had no idea ....' as a refrain repeated at the start of each sentence.

A commentator said: "You said, 'no idea' - but you had many ideas!"

I wrote

That was awesome, Lucilla'

Lantern Carrier  to  Everyone 22:55

Lucilla> 'in the narrow hours of sunset, nothing else matters.' Your words and images are so beautiful!!! Amazing!! - Lantern

The groups I went to had many poets, 18 to 36, all reading two poems, then the convener asking for verbal comments in addition to the Zoom chat comments.

The theme was Valentine's. 

Dramatic Dress

I was already wearing a blouse with pink hearts.

I noticed on zoom the hearts looked very small. You need one large heart.

You could draw a heart on a white tee-shirt. Make a template or stencil.

You will find lots of poetry groups though Facebook.

Please share links to your favourite posts. Please add me to the whatsapp groups of poetry readings.

Useful Websites

Facebook.com - Angela Lansbury Poetry which rhymes

The fertile brains

Festivals, Food, Fasts, Exhibitions and Events in 2023, in Singapore, Asia, London's Excel, Olympia and worldwide

I often create a calendar for the year ahead in December or January. This year, 2023, I am doing it in February because the Covid situation has changed and improved.  The opening up of mask free transport and collection of trace together devices in the week starting Monday Feb 13th 2023 and other encouragements to travel has made visiting exhibitions more attractive. 

If you go to Excel in Singapore you will see links or ads to shows around Asia and Europe. 

For the UK, Olympia is in the west of London and Excel is in the East.

2023 Event Dates

Chinese New Year is over but you can read my posts and see the lion dance on the Facebook page of Expo.

JAN Concert from Vienna on TV in UK and elsewhere. Parades in USA.

FEB 14 Valentine's Day, (See previous post including Tanglin Club.)

Feb 24-26 Expo NATAS travel fair. Friday to Sunday. 10 am to 9.30. Free admission. Hall 5. (Hall 6 is near the MRT train station Expo. Allow time to walk from the underground and up escalators if you have a business appointment or breakfast event. Also look for free shuttle buses. A food court is across the green.

Feb 24-6  Artbox - Dining, crafts, shopping. Entry Fee 6 dollars single admission, one day, no readmission, so you have to buy your food and drink at the show. Seasonal pass 36 dollars. From 12pm (noon) to 11 pm. Last time I went there were great photo opportunities. Some of the craft stalls had sold out of their best or cheaper goods by late on day one or day two.

Mar 3-5. Artbox.

MAR

March 1st St David's day Wales. Flower yellow daffodil. (I suggest Welsh lamb and Welsh cakes, which are like triple height pancakes .with currants, about the width  of a muffin, served hot with butter, fabulous. Bought cold on a train from Paddinton to Wales, not so good. 

March 16-19 Food & Beverage fair, Singapore.

March 17th St Patrick's Day Irish bars are decorated.  Green beer, high green hats. Big in the UK, USA, Singapore, Belize in central America. Drinking and singing Irish songs. Expect to see revellers with green hats on trains.

March 26 Oxford and Cambridge - Gemini Boat Race. Men's. Women's 4 pm. (Singapore 11 pm).

APR FHA Food and beverage including

Apr 25-28 ProWine, at Expo, Tuesday 25 to Thursday 27th 10 am to 6 pm. Friday 28th April 10 am to 4 pm. Prowine Hall 4. Food and drink hall 3-6. Food technology Hall 2. Restaurant bar and cafe Hall 2. 

Apr 25-28 HoReca - hospitality. Food and Beverage.

MAY

May 24 International Pow Wow, the American travel show, at San Antonio, Texas.

JUN 

Jun 22-25, Yummy Food at Expo, Singapore.

JUL

Singapore food Festival

July. Organized by the Singapore tourist board.

AUG

SEPT 

Sept 29 Sukkot (Harvest festival with lean-to open sided awning open to the sky, like the old time tents of watchmen, hung with fruit where meals are served with prayers, recitations and singing and appropriate food. 7 days until Oct

Sept 29 Mid Autumn Festival (eat mooncakes which you can buy online and worldwide from manfacturer, shops, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, ice cream parlours). 

Mid-Autumn Festival
"Mid-Autumn Festival" in traditional (top) and simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	中秋節
Simplified Chinese	中秋节
Literal meaning	"Mid-Autumn Festival"
showTranscriptions
Min Chinese alternate name
Traditional Chinese	八月節
Literal meaning	"Festival of the Eighth Month"

OCT 

Oct last day of Jewish festival of Sukkot, Friday dusk/sundown.

NOV 

World Travel Market London 2023 on 6 – 8 November at ExCeL Big show with costumes, singig and dancing and foods from countries around the world. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners by invitation.

DEC 

Thursday Dec 7th Thursday first evening of Hanukah continues 8 days with one extra candle until evening of Dec 15 2023. Foods with oil

Xmas Eve Dec  24

Xmas decorations, street lights, Xmas trees, reindeer, Santas in red costumes and festive menus.

Dec 25 Xmas Day menus, Champagne, Xmas crackers, hangings, paperchains, Xmas cards, carols, . 3 pm UK time King's speech. 

UK Turkey or other fowl, baked potatoes, sprouts, cranberry sauce, Xmas pudding, hot or cold mince pies and custard. Xmas cakes (iced fruit cakes with decorations. From France Yule log cakes. From Germany stollen (marzipan centre of sweet bread). From Italy, Spain, Venezuela, domed pannetone and pandoro.

Dec 26 Boxing Day (UK)  

Dec New Year's Eve. Champagne. Fireworks on TV and in ticketed places outdoors worldwide.

Useful Websites

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/no-masks-on-public-transport-free-vaccines-6-things-you-need-to-know-as-s-pore-lifts-covid-19-rules

https://olympia.london/whatson

https://www.excel.london/visitor/whats-on

Please share links to your favourite posts

Invicticus, Inspiring poem, and the grave of William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley wrote Invicticus.

St John's church. His grave is in the churchyard.

His ashes were buried in the tomb of his daughter.

Clearly marked William Ernest Henley, gravestone in church yard in St John's Church, England, UK.

Henley inspired the character Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1883) written by his good friend Robert Louis Stevenson.

The character inspired the name of the fast food fish restaurants in the USA and the island of Singapore.

An early Cape Cod style restaurant, now closed, in the USA

Co-brand in Wyoming.

Singapore locations of Long John Silver's include Hillion Mall, Tiong Bahru Mall, Tampines Mall, and several others, more than 20, all over the city. They serve seafood and chicken in batter.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Silver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Silver%27s

Singapore Long John Silver 

https://www.longjohnsilvers.com.sg/location

https://www.facebook.com/LongJohnSilvers.Sg/

UK Fish and chicken restaurant

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g39598-d4620033-Reviews-Long_John_Silver_s-London_Kentucky.html

Better to travel in hope than to arrive? wrote Robert Louis Stevenson

 R L Stevenson's famous quote applies to may journeys where the fun is in the journey, which contains so many challenges and experiences that the journey eclipses the place where you arrive. Stevenson  (1850-1894) wrote Kidnapped and Treasure Island. He immortalized as Long John Silver his friend, William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). Henley, on the eve of having his leg amputated, wrote the inspiring Invictus in 1875, defying fate  'I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul'. 

But let's go back to travelling and hope.

Robert Louis Stevenson. From Wikipedia.

That was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1881 and is still widely quoted. He wrote in the days when it took three weeks to reach the Far East or Australia, so the journey was a major part of the adventure. 

Nowadays, his quotation about travelling being better applies even more when the journey can be intended to be the whole event.  Cruises to nowhere? Dining in a plane on the ground! 

Those are unusual. But here are some examples of more regular journeys.

Luxury Holidays

On a well-organized cruise ship, the entertainment aboard could be better, and more memorable, than the ports of call. You might be impressed by the variety of entertainment, make friends with dining companions, remember dining with the captain, enjoy playing cards on a bridge cruise. I know of one case when a couple's marriage was saved by a young man who led a small session on relationships. 

On some hikes, there is a view at the top of the mountain or volcano, or a waterfall half way for a lunch stop. However, on others, the view on most of the trip, or the changing terrain, is the attraction.

Attractions

On a Ferris wheel. The one in Singapore is called the Singapore Flyer. The one in London is called the London Eye. The general names include Observation Wheel and Big Wheel.

Circular Routes

You can go on a circular motorbike ride, without a special destination. My husband has taken lots of bike rides around Malaysia. He said, 

'Or you could have a destination, such as the motor GP, or seeing Malacca.'

Long-haul Flights

I love travelling on Singapore Airlines. I get to watch three good films.

Types of Transport

Sometimes the novelty means of travel is at the destination. We arrived at the airport in Cambodia and the hotel had sent a taxi to collect us. The taxi turned out to be a motorbike and a canopied contraption with open sides on the back. We bounced along at horrendous speed. My right hand clung onto the vehicle which swung in and out of traffic as if we were being chased by men with murder in mind.  The wind was blowing so hard that I needed to hold onto my hat with my left hand. I was laughing hysterically.

Now, since Covid, with zoom, we can travel around the world to meetings and with major museums and hotels offering 360 degree views inside and out, and tourist boards using drones.

What about the hope? 

Everybody is rushing to travel. Despite a huge hike in prices on Singapore Airlines the plane we took in January this year was full.

From next Tuesday, Feb 13th, 2023, Singapore will no longer require masks on public transport, only in health care settings where people are most vulnerable and some are already sick or elderly in crowded places.

RLS Memorials You Might Hope To Visit

You can see several monuments to Robert Louis Stevenson on his homeland of Scotland. 

Monument to RLS in RLS State Park in California, USA.

He met his wife to be fanny and followed her to the USA.

Stevenson House

Main article: Robert Louis Stevenson House

Stevenson House

In 1879, Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson stayed at the French Hotel at 530 Houston Street, now called the Stevenson House after him and dedicated to his memory. Stevenson lived there while recovering his health as he was crossing the United States to court his future wife Fanny Osbourne. While there, he often dined "on the cuff," as he said, at a nearby restaurant run by Frenchman Jules Simoneau which stood at what is now Simoneau Plaza. Several years later, Stevenson sent Simoneau an inscribed copy of his novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), writing that it would be a stranger case still if Robert Louis Stevenson ever forgot Jules Simoneau. Stevenson wrote some articles for the local Monterey newspaper, including one that beautifully evoked "the Old Pacific Capital."

The Stevenson House features a bas relief depicting the sickly author writing in bed,^[17] and is California Historical Landmark #352.^[18]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park
One of the peaks of Mount Saint Helena
Show map of CaliforniaShow map of the United StatesShow all
Location	Sonoma and Napa counties, California
Nearest city	Calistoga, California
Coordinates	38°39′12″N 122°36′12″WCoordinates : 38°39′12″N 122°36′12″W
Governing body	State of California
California Historical Landmark
Reference no.	710[1]

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park is a California state park, located in Sonoma, Lake and Napa counties. The park offers a 5-mile (8 km) hike to the summit of Mount Saint Helena from which much of the Bay Area can be seen. On clear days it is possible to see the peak of Mount Shasta, 192 miles (310 km) distant.

Overview[edit]

The park is named after Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped. In 1880, Stevenson and his new wife Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne spent their honeymoon living in a cabin at a played-out mine on the mountain along with Fanny's son Lloyd Osbourne. Although nothing remains of the cabin, the site is identified on the trail to the summit. Stevenson's book Silverado Squatters contains stories he wrote about his experiences during his visit to the area.

The area has rough terrain, with evergreen forests in the canyons on north-facing slopes and chaparral on the south-facing slopes.

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park is located off State Route 29 between Calistoga and Middletown. The park is registered as California Historical Landmark #710.^[1]

Monument to RLS, showing a galleon, in Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA. (Picture from Wikipedia.)

Detail of galleon

Photo by Daderot in Wikipedia.

He was an intrepid traveller. I am a travel writer over seventy years old and have travelled all over the USA, Europe and Asia and Australia.

But I haven't yet reached Samoa where he was buried. I hope to go there one day.

RLS grave in Samoa.

Wiki says

Mount Vaea, where they buried him on a spot overlooking the sea on land donated by British Acting Vice Consul Thomas Trood.^[96] Based on Stevenson's poem Requiem,^[97] the following epitaph is inscribed on his tomb:^[98]

Under the wide and starry sky

Dig the grave and let me lie

Glad did I live and gladly die

And I laid me down with a will

This be the verse you grave for me

Here he lies where he longed to be

Home is the sailor home from the sea

And the hunter home from the hill

Stevenson was loved by Samoans, and his tombstone epigraph was translated to a Samoan song of grief.^[99] The requiem appears on the eastern side of the grave. On the western side the biblical passage of Ruth 1:16-17 is inscribed:

Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:

And thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God:

Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried.^[100

I know the first two lines well. Interesting to see the third line.

Profile bust of Stevenson in the Writers' Museum, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Stevenson writing in bed in the USA. Travel had taken its toll. Bas relief in Stevenson House, California.

RLS travelling on horseback.

Statue of RLS as a child, seated, with a dog. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Outside Parish church.

Robert Louis Stevenson bust by Rodin in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Scotland, UK. Open daily, 10-5 pm, admission free.

RLS's friend, Henley, who wrote the Poem Invictus, and inspired the character Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883). 

Henley's delicate daughter, who died aged five, called his friend James Barrie, frendy-wendy, which inspired Barrie to name his female leading character as Wendy in Peter Pan. 

RLS wrote to fellow Scotsman Barrie and invited him to Samoa but they never met.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monterey_State_Historic_Park#Stevenson_House

RLS Info on memorials Samoa, UK, USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson_State_Park

RLS bust in NPG Scotland

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/scottish-national-portrait-gallery

Author of Invicticus buried in UK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockayne_Hatley

TRANSPORT - big wheel Singapore

https://www.singaporeflyer.com/en

See next post on William Ernest Henley.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Sunny Singapore - has cool pools, cool drinks and cool restaurants. Why visit, what to eat, see and do?

 

Skyscrapers, palm trees, cool swimming pools in a condo, Cashew Heights. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

What to see

If you don't get beyond the airport, try to see the multi-story waterfall in Jewel, a shopping mall in a former airport car park, now a dome.

Staying airside, you can visit the airport's free multi-level butterfly park.

 

One train stop away from the airport is Expo for exhibitions. Coming up, travel, hospitality, food and drink. 

Further into the city is the best known pool, the infinity pool on the top of landmark triple tower Marina Bay Sands.

You can pay to go up to the observation deck or one storey higher for a little more the price includes a discount on your first slice of pizza or a cocktail. 

You can book a hotel bedroom and residents are allowed to use the infinity pool.

A tourist in the infinity pool overlooking Singapore from landmark Marina Bay Sands. Photo Sharot family. 

Why visit Singapore? It has warm, mostly sunny weather, cool pools and cool drinks.

Local drinks include coffee from coffee shops and canned coffee, Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The drinks in this vending machine include Groovy Grape, chrysanthemum tea, Nescafe Original coffee, Nescafe mocha, Milo, young coconut juice,and  soya bean.

Milo is Nestle's chocolate drink, originally made healthy with added vitamins to a syrup and cocoa.

Another vending machine sells snacks include Gardenia breads. Singapore has four official languages, English, widely spoken as a first or second language, with the added amusement of Singlish, They say that eating is the chief Singapore hobby or pastime.

You can find food and drink at all prices from multiple nationalities. Sample some of each in a food court, usually in the basement and sometimes on the top floor with a fine view. Singaporean specialities include kaya toast for breakfast - kaya being a sweet, tasty yellow jam which looks like lemon curd. 

Valentine's Day is a big thing in Singapore. Chinese and other local shops and malls don't miss an opportunity to decorate and run special events and promotions.

Every season there's a special festival and lots of food and drink events. When the Christmas lights come down, up go the decorations for Chinese New Year or lunar new year  From Spring Festival or Chinese New Year in January or February (See my previous posts), Valentine's Day, to the Autumn Festival it's non stop decorations, dances and dramas. Chinatown has a series of Chinese celebrations, which are also seen all over the city because the Chinese or those of Chinese descent are the majority of shop owners, shoppers, as well as the visitors from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Japanese Sushi

The Japanese use the same symbolic writing. You'll find a large sushi counter in supermarkets such as Fairprice,. Also look for Japanese restaurants with carousels like a miniature model train track taking plates around the restaurant for you to grab your selection as you sit alongside. 

You can eat all hours of the day and night. Late at night you can book an open air dinner in the Night Safari, then walk or take a train past the places where nocturnal animals are eating and drinking on cliffsides beyond a safety ditch. If your budget is smaller or you need a quick bite, there are 24 hour branches of McDonalds. They often have a seasonal Asian flavour drink or food.

Little India

Little India has an assortment of restaurants, including those serving the Singaporean speciality (Americans spell it secialty), fish head curry, served with rice an vegetables on a green oblong or cut out circle of disposable banana leaf. 

Vegetarians will find lots of options and vegetarian only restaurants, snack bars and stalls in food courts. Watch out for fish such as prawns in the rich and casseroles of the Malay stalls. Read the captions on the pictures or politely ask the stall holder to translate, or any passer-by.

The Indians in Little India, and the Muslims, have night markets with food from stalls and souvenirs and street decoration. Chinatown and Little India are easily reached on the ever expanding MRT underground train system which also goes to Marina Bay Sands and the airport.

Chinatown

Visitors go to Chinatown. If you are short of time, every food court has Chinese specialities you can try at low cost. 

Look for seasonal durian. It smells of sulphur when fresh fruit, in the markets, but tastes lovely when turned into a paste which tastes like a cross between egg and banana in cakes and on desserts.

Even if you do nothing except get a layover at the airport, you will find the airport shops, and supermarkets in town have jars of Kaya and other specialities. 

In Chinatown I was shocked to see snakes bottled in giant jars of wine or alcohol. Snakes are seasonal if you want to try snakes in Asian restaurants. I had snake in Shanghai. It came up chopped into a small circle the size of a fist, with a bone in the centre, a bit like fresh salmon cutlet. 

2023 Event Dates

Chinese New Year is over but you can read my posts and see the lion dance on the Facebook page of Expo.

Feb 14 Valentine's Day. (See previous post.)

Feb 24-26 Expo NATAS travel fair. Friday to Sunday. 10 am to 9.30. Free admission. Hall 5. (Hall 6 is near the MRT train station Expo. Allow time to walk from the underground and up escalators if you have a business appointment or breakfast event. Also look for free shuttle buses. A food court is across the green.

Feb 24-6  Artbox - Dining, crafts, shopping. Entry Fee 6 dollars single admission, one day, no readmission, so you have to buy your food and drink at the show. Seasonal pass 36 dollars. From 12pm (noon) to 11 pm. Last time I went there were great photo opportunities. Some of the craft stalls had sold out of their best or cheaper goods by late on day one or day two.

Mar 3-5. Artbox.

Singapore food Festival

July. Organized by the tourist board.

Useful websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_festivals_in_Singapore

https://www.singaporeexpo.com.sg/events-calendar

Facebook Expo post for Chinese New Year Singapore style with lion dance and lo hei (food tossing for luck dinner dish)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/857227642202738/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food_and_drink_festival_stubs

See later post on events in 2023

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Table At 7 - tastes and tales of Western and Eastern Food in One Restaurant

The name of this restaurant comes from its previous location which had the street number seven. The location is the modern, multi-storey hillside building of Sim (Singapore Institute of Management).

Elegant hallway of SIM. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

If you are waiting for others or a taxi you can play the piano. 

In table at seven towards the end of the meal I heard faint recorded country & Western music. I liked that. When I told a friend about the music, she said that her husband liked Country music, although she doesn't, so she wanted to know if Table at 7 was a romantic place for a Valentine's Day lunch or dinner. 

From the entrance on the 4th floor you can take the lift (Americans say elevator) down to the 3rd floor.

Entrance.

The entrance is amusingly decorated. Lots of corks in big glass bottles.

Crab starter with two tiny hot buns.

Lime juice.

The menu is a mixture of Western and Asian. Business partners Karl Dobler, who is Austrian and Asian chef Eugenia Ong are on older versions of their website. In Feb 2023 when we visited we were told that the pair have separated. Karl, who is Austrian, has gone to a German restaurant. The Asian partner, Eugenia Ong, has stayed on and the menu is similar in style to before. 

Mushroom starter.

We had items from the set menu, which changes regularly, and the chocolate dessert from the main a la carte menu.

Chocolate dessert.

Cappuccino.

Chocolates at table at 7. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Chocolates arrive with the bill. A touch I always appreciate.

What did we like the most? 

What did we like the least? The view of another table laid with a lovely white cloth, supposedly for a booking. But it was not used at lunch time. We had a wipe clean table. 

We went home and changed our own plastic cloth on the dining table for a white cloth.

The other diners did not like the loudspeakers out for a band when we had none. I was not bothered, thought it was interesting to know they were equipped for music. 

Catering

Apparently they do a lot of catering. birthdays and anniversaries or business meetings, or colleague reunions. You can have a dinner party for as few as ten, at a price of maybe from around 100 sing dollars a head for several courses. 

They bring their own kitchen equipment (oven) included, and serve the meal for you, and set up at around 10.30 for lunch at noon. You provide your own glasses, or pay extra for hiring glassware from them. While you are paying your bill, you might check on the latest arrangements and available dates.

Useful Websites

Table at Seven

https://tableat7.com/

http://tableat7.com/restaurant/#menu

SIM at Namly Campus

https://www.sim.edu.sg/

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