REVIEW : CAPRI RESIDENCE

You probably would have caught on (despite the few blog posts on it ) that my husband and I love to go for staycations. Whenever we feel we need a break away from our busy lifestyle or the usual routine at home, one of our version of an escapades is a holiday in our own sunny Singapore.

We were happy enough with our stay at Ritz Carlton for its luxurious deco and posh-ness. But if you are looking for somewhere away from town , Capri Residence is an excellent choice!

Where is Capri Residence? Right beside Changi City Point Mall. This also means that it is very near Singapore Expo (which has various exhibitions each weekend) and within 5 mins walk to the MRT station where you can easily take the train to Bedok Point, Tampines Mall, Whitesands, Changi Airport and to town.

How accessible!

We went for a 3D2N stay. Capri Residence works like a luxurious apartment - it has all the amenities of an apartment but the facilities of a good hotel. Plus it really looks good - simple yet classy!

The all-white lobby .... with pops of colours! I like! 

The designs lean towards modern retro - is there such a term? Haha....some of their furniture have that retro look , with a modern twist.

The cakes and macaroons sold at this cafe looked super drool-worthy but they are not Halal so all we could do was salivate. 

Cheap thrill - you get this parking label and we did get a little excited when we could enter the carpark through a separate gantry (from the mall) and had priority parking.

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As usual, husby asked for a high floor. But there wasn't much of a view, to be honest, since we were just surrounded by exhibition halls and office buildings.

I have to say that I love the room decor. Simple and clean furnishings but with orange as their main pop of colour. It makes everything look so chic and lively. I could seriously live in a room / home like that .

Pretty!

The mini walk-in wardrobe . On the right side are the shelves, iron + ironing board, full length mirror (very impt!) , safe etc. It also leads to the expansive bathroom. 

See that door? It is the second door that leads to the bathroom so one doesn't have to make a big turn to the bathroom in the middle of night . It was quite funny though when we had to warn each other not to open any of door while one of us was using the toilet. 

I don't know why but I love this sofa and TV area. I spent quite a bit of time here.

Details! I was lounging on the sofa when I noticed this on a corner of the ceiling. I love it when hotels pay attention to details.

And then we have the kitchenette. That , in my opinion, is another reason to beat Ritz Carlton. Ok, so Ritz Calrton has a luxurious bathroom but it does not have a kitchenette and vibrant colours - which , in my opinion, made my stay at Capri super comfortable.

We actually spent quite a long time in the room because we were....ahemmm....marking exam papers! Hahaha.... weird staycation , wasn't it? But I felt it was productive because I completed EVERYTHING that I brought over!

Everything is available, including an Espresso machine.

For the Muslim guests, do not forget your  'sabun sertu' when you use hotel utensils / cutlery.

As usual , we did a little exploration of the place.

The Spa was under some renovation while we were there though...

The lounge / HOT SPOT area looks soooooo cozy!

The pool and gymnasium. The pool is not that huge but it suffices , especially when it is not always packed with hotel guests. 

Another plus point is that Capri Residence is right next to Changi City Point. So, in between our work breaks, we did manage to do some shopping at the outlets there. Somehow, I seem to like the ESPRIT and G2000 stuff at the outlets here better than at their regular stores.

Those of you with kids will probably be glad to know that Changi City Point caters to the little ones. They have both indoor and outdoor playgrounds for young kids to entertain themselves. Also, there are quite a number of Halal eating places here so it was not a problem for the two of us to get food. 

In fact, I just kept thinking of what to have for my next meal throughout our stay . Geeezzz......

I feel it is a good place to unwind or just to steal a break from our usual routine. Plus, since the place is nowhere near town , the price is very affordable.

We have talked about doing another crazy marking-getaway here some time next year... meanwhile, we are hopefully gonna check out Katong V Hotel next!

Beanstro @ Ngee Ann City

2013 has been such a mad crazy year (especially Term 3) that I can count on ONE hand the number of times we went to town.

For 2 persons who love to shop and window-shop, this is rather pathetic.

Thus,that one super short trip to Orchard Road was a good relief and break from our busy routine. Furthermore we decided to take public transport... that made the whole Orchard experience even shorter as it takes us about an hour to get there by bus and train.

We had passed BEANSTRO (Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Bistro) a few times before but never really ventured in. Since we were only able to spend a few hours there that evening, we decided to have dinner there to avoid travelling to Far East plaza for our usual Halal food fix.

Beanstro is located at B1, Ngee Ann City .. near Sephora.

It has the typical CBTL setting, dark wood with mod orange lights. We sat outside as inside was pretty much a full-house.

Service was a little slow that day though . The place is quite small so I would not say that there was an overwhelming number of customers. We had to wave more than a few times to get the waiter's attention ....somehow all of them were swift at clearing tables but never seemed to look up and look out for any waving hands. A guy in a corner even had to stand up to make his presence felt after his frantic waving failed miserably.

But we are very patient people...hahahhaa.... food came about 15 minutes after we placed our order. Just enough time for me to convince him that I absolutely NEED that third pair of MELISSA heels  (which was gorgeous anyway. Another entry ok?) !

The menu was quite impressive, I should admit. Everything sounded so good and I told husby we must eat here again so that we can try out the rest. I was very hungry though so decision was snappy snap.

His earl grey tea. I got excited with the sugar cubes...hahahha. Cheap thrill but I find it really fascinating to watch the cube slowly dissolve into the tea.

With my hot chocolate and marshmallows :)

Beanstro's Steak Sandwich 

His order, from the Open-Faced Sandwiches menu.
It is Aussie sirloin with mesclun and gherkins, topped with caramelised onions, roasted pepper and horseradish mayonnaise. It was actually listed as the chef's recommendation. I guess he liked it since he finished it but it was just not to my liking. Or maybe the onions pissed me off . Haahaahaa..... I hate onions, even with caramel!

Salmon Skewer

Mine , mine! This was absolutely delicious! Another chef's recommendation : Salmon marinated with ginger and soya, skewered and grilled! Oh yum yum yum.... I was very sad when I reached the last of the salmon. I have always loved salmon but this takes it to the next level.

Deep Fried Calamari with Dill Honey Mustard

This was o-kay. I have tasted better calamari

I ended up dipping the calamari in this & chilli sauce. Just cannot live without chilli :P 

A meal is never complete without dessert . Since we did not want to over fill our stomachs and in our feeble attempt to save money, we decided to just share the  Warm Molten Cake .

I love it! This cost about $10 and in my opinion , had a  perfect sweet-but-not-too-sweet taste to it. I also like the peach sauce that came with it. My only complaint is that I wished the centre of the cake was more pudding-like and chocolatey. 

Our whole dinner cost approximately $80, with taxes. Maybe a little expensive for a dinner for two at a cafe but I will definitely want to try the other dishes so there will be a second (or third) time .

:)

Customised Wardrobe Part 1 : Down with the old!

Five years ago when we moved into our current place, I brought along my then-already-3-yrs old cupboard. They looked pretty new and dad had given it a new coat of paint. Although we had our own customised wardrobe in the master bedroom, we felt that we needed some extra space.

And boy , did we need that!

I've always thought that it was big enough but you should have seen how cramped it was inside! Bedsheets, curtains, shawls, bags, traditional clothes, towels, praying attires etc etc. All squeezed into this 4-door cupboard , without much of a space to breathe. [All our work / going-out clothes and accessories are in our master bedroom.]

The left side is something like an L-shaped cupboard which allowed a little more space.

But a year or so ago, this COURTS cupboard started to fall apart. Shelves gave way and the clothes railing could no longer bear the weight of our baju kurongs etc. What we did then was to shift most of the clothes into IKeA boxes and only left a few on the rail. Each time the shelves gave way, I would put them back and arrange my shawls all over again.What a horrendous chore!

Finally, last week ,we decided enough is enough. We are going to have a customised wardrobe in the guest room , after much procastination.

We got a contact from a colleague of mine and after some market research and quotations, we finally decided on this recommendation as the price was the most affordable :)

We contacted Mr David Seah from MU Design Associates. He came to our place to look at our room , draw out our ideas and gave some of his own in return.

I am always particular about who we deal with - I must be able to communicate with that person and he must somehow be able to 'read my mind'. Make sense, no? Thus, Mr Seah gave me good vibes as he understood what we wanted and able to draw it out for us to visualise.

He came on Thursday night and said that they would demolish our current cupboard on Saturday morning.

What?!?! So fast??? That would mean I have to clear the cupboard in just one night...

Therefore, that was our Friday night project.... EMPTY the wardrobe!

The bottom area was mainly used to store bedsheets and curtains. I swear that they take up so much space! I must get rid of some soon...let go of the older ones.  Second shelf from the bottom (on the left) are some bags.

My poor bags having almost no ventilation as they are stacked up like that :( ...Patience babies...ur new home is coming soon!

Like a Tsunami-hit zone! Having nowhere else , we dumped as much as we could on the 3-seater sofa while the rest went on the floor.

Still not enough space..we had to spill over to the study room. Oh Gosh! 

On Saturday morning, Mr Seah and his workers came over to demolish the old cupboard and take measurements for the new ones....ooohh....exciting!

That's Mr Seah in grey. Look at the amount of dust on  the floor!

We haven't seen this side of the wall for a long, long time.  Soon, it will be time to say goodbye again.

For one whole week, I had to endure this eyesore in the guest room. It just looks super messy with everything on the sofa and the floor.

But hey , good things come to those who wait. Our new wardrobe will finally be installed tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to organise my stuff etc !

Look out for my update soon!

Oh, wanna guess the colours of the wardrobe?

Let the hair down!

And so it was Teachers' Day yet again.

Teachers' Day used to fall on 1Sept but it has been changed to the first Friday of September. This is one of the best decisions ever made because that will mean that in the last week of school (before the September hols), there will only be 3 working days!  Thurs - celebration , Fri - actual Teachers' Day so it is a school holiday, followed by the weekend, and then it's Sept hols!

Most teachers would still have to work during the Sept hols but it is , at least, a break from preparing everyday lessons!

There was the usual celebration that Thursday morning, with my form class  and then with the rest of the school in the hall. I love the cake that my students baked...so cute! And it was surprisingly really good as well!

 

 

My Lovable Form Class 3A1



It's not the size that matters..... heheheh.....



 

 

 

 



That very same night, we had a dinner function at Crowne Plaza (the one linked to Changi Airport Terminal 3).  The theme for the function was 'A Night at the Movies' and we were supposed to dress according to any characters shown on the big screen before.

 

 

 

My table decided to be Team Hogwarts!

 

 

 

 

It was pretty fun to see teachers dress up. We also had Princess Aurora. Viking and Minions!

 

It was a good night spent after all the hard work in crazy Term 3!

 



Home Cleaning Services

One thing I have to admit is that the husband and I are definitely not neat freaks.

Yes, we love having our home looking nice and cosy but we are not like those who are very particular about every single corner of the house (sometimes I wish one of us is like that!).

We are also , honestly, very busy people. Our workload often spill into the nights and weekends. During peak periods, we can go without much of a social life as we persevere to finish our job , which fortunately or unfortunately, is also our greatest passion.

Thus, we have toyed with the idea of a part-time maid more than a few times. Both of us are violently against the idea of having a full-time maid staying with us so a part-time one is the next best thing.

After months, or probably years, of toying with that idea, I finally succumbed a few months back because  I could not take it anymore! Honestly , no energy left to do those tiring house chores ! (simple ones are still ok...)

So I went online and decided on Domestic One Home Services.

Initially, I wanted to go for the fortnightly services. That would mean paying $288 for agent fee and then $15 per hour for a minimum of 4 hrs per session - sounds very reasonable. However, husby reminded me that this superbly busy period will cease towards end of school semester and we may not need such a frequent home cleaning service. Finally , I decided to just opt for an ad-hoc service.

It was $110 for a 4-hr session. I was satisfied with how the housekeeper cleaned my house so a month later, I called again.

This time round, I was informed the price had been increased to $120 . So expensive lah...but no choice , it is something we really need at this moment. This time round, it was a younger lady but she was just as efficient as the first one. I have to say I am happy with the services of  Domestic One.

The third time, I decided to try out pinkmaids.sg , just because they are way cheaper - $80 for 4 hours. I was a little skeptical - what if the housekeeper was not as good as the first two?  But to my pleasant surprise, she was great as well! They all have their own strengths and weaknesses but as long as my house is really clean after that , I am happy!

However, the boss of pinkmaids is this really rude man. I do not want to go into details but omg , I really could not believe that anyone in the service industry could be so so rude! I may not return to them just because I do not want to experience the same rudeness again. A pity , isn't it? You have a great staff working for you but you lose customers just because you are short-tempered like that . Geez.....

I'll probably call back Domestic One for the next round of house cleaning .... just hope they won't increase their prices again!

Just a little peek into my humble home....

Lots of red and black!