OTTO Ristorante: 3rd Year Dating Anniversary Surprise Dinner

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Here’s part 3 of our dating anniversary celebration! The husband planned a dinner surprise at OTTO Ristorante and I got to know about it when we reached Red Dot Traffic Building. I must say that his surprise was a successful one because I thought he would be taking me to some chillax place with live music.

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About a year ago, misterchewy told me that he wanted to take me to OTTO but I brushed the idea off because I didn’t see the point of splurging on a regular day. Little did I expect him to remember and fulfill his promise!

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Hellooooo. LOL. Ok la just wanted to tell you guys that I’m super lazy to go into detail about the food. Let’s just say that I wasn’t myself that night and the 7 course Gourmet set dinner lasted about 3 hours which was crazily long, which also explains why we started taking photos of each other halfway through dinner. LOL. And it certainly didn’t help that there was a large group of noisy buggers who were laughing and screeching away like hyenas.

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Amuse Bouche – Portobello mushroom with parmesan cheese

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Deep fried lagoon grey shrimps and soft polenta Venetian style

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Tuna belly carpaccio with arugula, chive and lemon oil

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Pan roasted foie gras with green asparagus and cabernet wine vinegar

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Homemade tarragon tagliolini with live prawn and spicy Italian artichokes

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Homemade cocoa tagliatelle with red wine braised venison ragout

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European sea bass fillet with sun dried tomato pesto

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Crispy suckling pig lacquered with โ€œblack locustโ€ tree honey and aged balsamic vinegar

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Warm chocolate cake with Haitian vanilla ice cream

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Honestly, the food kinda fell short of my expectations but like I had mentioned earlier, it was probably just me. I did of course enjoy the desserts ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks misterchewy for the wonderful celebration! Click here to read about our staycation at Novotel Clarke Quay and experience at making miniature food clay art! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy ๐Ÿ™‚

OTTO Ristorante
28 Maxwell Road,
#01-02
Red Dot Traffic Building
Singapore 069120
Tel: 6227 6819
Email: info@ottoristorante.com.sg

Opening Hours
Lunch
Mon to Fri
12pm – 2.30pm
Dinner
Mon to Fri
6.30pm to 10.30pm
Sat
6.30pm to 10.30pm
(Closed on Sundays)

Couple Activity: Sushi and Burger Handmade Miniature Food Clay Art

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There are so many unique things that you and your partner can do together as a couple and here’s what misterchewy and I did on our 3rd year dating anniversary! DENG DENG DENG DENG! Handmade miniature food clay art! One word, “FUN!!” best describes this! Even the husband thought so too! ๐Ÿ˜€

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Before I show you a little bit on the process of making the miniature food clay, these are the final products taken immediately after the workshop because we wanted to use the toothpicks for size comparison purposes ๐Ÿ˜› For the lesson, we could also choose to make bread, pastries, tarts or cakes other than sushi or burger. We decided to make our favourite food so it was sushi for me and burger for misterchewy! ๐Ÿ™‚

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The afternoon slot was already filled so we went in the morning, before checking into our hotel for our staycation. The workshop was held in a small room inside a camera shop at Chinatown, Pagoda Street, which is about 3 minutes walking distance from the MRT station.

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I did some online research and finally settled on attending Kin’s workshop. Firstly, Kin’s works are amazing and impressive. Secondly, she had a slot for us on our anniversary day even though it was at 10.30 in the morning. Lastly, Chinatown is near Novotel Clarke Quay so we didn’t have to travel all over Singapore.

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I asked Kin and she told us that she has been making miniature food clay for over 8 years! Not only is Kin very knowledgeable about the different types of materials suitable for making various types of miniature food, she is also very generous with her information which is what I like about her. You can ask her many questions and she will tell you as much as she knows.

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To start things off, I was given a small piece of resin clay and even though it was already white, I had to mix in a bit of white to make it even whiter. And from the piece of clay, I had to divide it equally into 4 smaller pieces because I was going to make 4 types of sushi.

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Poking holes to make it look like Japanese rice. Hehe.

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Looks cute right! One of them is without holes because I would be wrapping ‘seaweed’ around it.

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In the meantime, Kin was teaching misterchewy how to make salad for his burger set.

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Made tamago sushi first! Sorry I didn’t take the entire process because it would take up plenty of time. So you just use your imagination ok? ๐Ÿ˜›

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Tuna sushi! The husband and I were amazed and how realistic the tuna looked! Ok la maybe not mine, but the one Kin did as a sample looked damn real!

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Apple pie done by misterchewy! We were giggling away because his apple pie looked kinda thick and fat, and Kin commented that it seemed as though someone had already taken a bite out of it. LOLOLOL.

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Does my salmon sushi look adorable? Actually I’m not very happy with it because I made the indentation on the salmon a little too deep and when I used a white pen to line it, the whole thing looks ruined. Haiiii. But still quite cute because it’s about the size of my fingertip. Haha.

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The husband showing off his burger! But still got some finishing touches to be made!

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The last sushi that I made was the ebi sushi. It was the only sushi that I had to use a brush to paint the colors on the prawn. Not easy ok! Before I started painting, Kin showed me more than 10 failed samples done by her students. Those really cannot make it one. And I actually laughed at one particular prawn which she said looks like a washing board. I stopped laughing immediately because I realized I have not started painting my own. *Stressed* Thankfully, I think it turned out pretty alright for a first-timer! ๐Ÿ˜€ From left to right, we have tuna sushi with prawn roe, salmon sushi, tamago sushi and ebi sushi. The ones in the background were done by Kin, which are a bit smaller than mine, and obviously much nicer too!

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Since the husband was still working on his burger set, I took some photos of Kin’s works on display.

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Yipee! 99% completed!

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The husband’s burger set! Got salad, apple pie, milkshake, French fries and burger!

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We spent about 3 hours and after the workshop, I requested to have a photo taken with Laoshi Kin! We were full of respect and admiration for her! Kin was really patient and she constantly gave us feedback and tips while we were working on our food clay. Kin had also been featured in numerous paper publications and she was also asked to make miniature Laksa as a gift for our ex-President MR. S R Nathan!

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Out of the 4 types of sushi, I spent the most time on painting the ebi sushi because I had to make sure it doesn’t look too fake. I was actually very worried and kept wondering, what if I also ended up with a washing board lookalike prawn?! The salmon and tamago sushi seemed easy to make but they are also not that easy. Kin said, practice makes perfect!

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I thought misterchewy’s burger set looks quite impressive! Very surprising because both of us are not exactly the art and craft kinda people. Before the start of the workshop, Kin asked if we had any experience in miniature clay making or any other types of handicraft. We hesitated for quite some time before I said, “Erm… The last time I did real art and craft was in primary school?!” LOL! The husband found that the top bun of the burger was the hardest to make. He had to redo the thing at least 4 times because the shape was not perfect. Kin told him that there is a certain technique to moulding it. Again, practice makes perfect!

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Kin updates her website on a regular basis and features her latest works on http://rainbowclayminiature.blogspot.sg/
For more information on the different types of workshops that she conducts, you may visit her website here http://www.kinsminiatureworkshop.com/
I have also recently found out that Kin has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rainbowclayminiature-Kin/225509057484186

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If you enjoyed our sushi and burger handmade miniature food clay art, do ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/missuschewy and follow us on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy as there will be more interesting updates to come! ๐Ÿ™‚

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay Staycation Blog Review

Sponsored Staycation

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Happy long weekend chewys! I’m back with a new blog entry! If you have read our previous post, you should have anticipated today’s hotel staycation review ya ๐Ÿ™‚ The husband and I enjoyed a one night stay at Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, a splendid 4 stars hotel situated in the heart of Singapore.

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Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay features over 400 rooms which had been recently upgraded, each with a magnificent and amazing view of the Marina Bay, Singapore River, and also the spectacular city skyline of Singapore. We had the luxury of staying in a Premier room on the 22nd floor which is extremely spacious, complete with a balcony which can be accessed upon request for the sliding doors to be unlocked.

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One substantial enhancement of the hotel was the discontinuation of queen sized beds such that there were only king sized beds even in Novotel’s smallest rooms.

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All rooms have been designed to Novotelโ€™s latest standards offering state of the art amenities. I was busy taking photos while misterchewy entertained himself by browsing channels on the LCD televisions with easy media connectivity panel. Oh did I mention that there is complimentary high-speed WiFi too?

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Nespresso coffee machine

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Some of the snacks available but are chargeable. FYI, 7-Eleven is conveniently located just downstairs.

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iPod docking station. It’s a pity that it’s not compatible with iPhone 5.

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The bathroom is also quite spacious. I wish I had my wide angle lens with me ๐Ÿ˜›

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I like the colors that Novotel picked for the packaging of the toiletries.

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Photo taken and very heavily edited by misterchewy using his iPhone 5. Hahaha. But the photo sure doesn’t lie that it was a hot and sunny day! Perrrrfect for a swim!

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Totally got this resort or holiday feel right? *Sigh*

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It was nice having a staycation at Clarke Quay for a change! So many pubs and clubs in the area and you don’t have to worry that much about getting drunk because all you need to do is stagger a little to get back to Novotel. Hahaha.

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The night view from our hotel room is also very nice!

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We got to enjoy the MBS laser show as well. We could have watched the NDP preview fireworks display too but the husband had already made reservations for dinner. Boohoo.

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Premier room guests get to enjoy Premier Floor benefits all day, such as having access to the newly-upgraded Premier Lounge, complimentary American breakfast, WiFi, express check-in / check-out and complimentary use of the boardroom for those all- important business meetings and cocktail hours complete with free flow drinks and canapes every evening. Premier guests have the option of having breakfast at this Premier Lounge or The SQUARE on level 7, or maybe both if you have the stomach for it.

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I admit that I was lazy to get out of bed and told misterchewy to eat breakfast on his own ๐Ÿ˜› He chose to have breakfast at the Premier Lounge. We had been to The SQUARE for a brunch tasting last year and the husband concluded that the variety was much wider there even though the Premier Lounge was more exclusive.

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My simple breakfast from 7-Eleven and The Sunday Times from the hotel! Breakfast in bed for me ๐Ÿ˜›

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It was a great way for us to spend our dating anniversary at Novotel. Stay tuned to our next post as we will be showing you how we did our miniature food clay art as a couple! ๐Ÿ™‚ Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy

Click here to check out our list of Singapore staycation reviews!

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay
177A River Valley Road
Singapore 179031
Tel: +65 63383333
Email: H5993@accor.com

Celebrating My Birthday & Our 3rd Year Dating Anniversary

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YOOHOO CHEWYS! It’s my birthday today! Please don’t ask me how old I am, just wish me happy birthday can liao! Hahaha. This post is a short summary of how we celebrated my birthday and our 3rd year dating anniversary over the weekend. Just nice our dating anniversary is on 26 July and my birthday is on 31 July, so it’s a tradition for us to celebrate these two special occasions together every year. Likewise for misterchewy’s birthday and our wedding anniversary, which both fall on 9 September ๐Ÿ™‚

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I wanted the weekend to be a special one, and made sure that we indulged in some activity that we had not done together before. So, watching movie, karaoke, kite flying, etc were all ruled out. The husband wanted to sign us up for a cooking class with AFC Studio but he was informed that the studio was under renovation. To save misterchewy from the planning, I suggested attending a miniature food clay art lesson together! Actually, I was inspired by my good friend misstamchiak. She is able to make so many types of food clay that look so nice and impressive! I’m glad misterchewy enjoyed the lesson as much as I did! I did the sushi while misterchewy did the ‘McDonald’s extra value meal’. LOL! Will blog about this soon! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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After the clay making lesson, we checked into Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel. Breathtaking view from the balcony of our room!

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Our premier room was very comfortable but the air conditioning was too cold despite our countless attempts to bring up the temperature. Our next blog post will most likely be a staycation review!

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Usually, I would have found out about whatever surprise dinner plans that the husband had for me in the past but this time, I decided not to probe him at all. When we finally stood outside OTTO Ristorante, misterchewy seemed very pleased with the shocked/surprised expression on my face. Keep a lookout for the review!

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And lastly, misterchewy spent more than $1.5K on this ultra sexy Fujifilm X100S as a birthday and anniversary present for me. Knowing that I had recently been considering getting a compact camera because lugging a DSLR with macro lens, wide angle lens and external flash (on my own if he cannot accompany me to tastings or events) is no joke, he parted with his money readily and got me the best compact camera (with his budget) after consulting some of his friends. The amount might not be huge to some, but to me, it is a lot of money given that we are a newly married couple and we are trying our best to save as much as we can for our future home. The husband says that it’s ok, money can always be earned back. Yes it’s true but I hope he doesn’t have this mentality all the time! All photos in this post except for the above and the panorama shot of Clarke Quay were taken with the Fujifilm X100S. Will there be a tech review for this baby? Maybe yes, maybe no. We shall see ๐Ÿ˜‰

I really had a marvellous birthday and dating anniversary celebration and all I wanna say is a big thank you to my husband from the bottom of my heart ๐Ÿ™‚

Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy