Shabu Hana - Yum!

We had some friends take us to Shabu Hana on Friday night!  It was an authentic Japanese Restaurant; the owner lived in Japan most of her life.  Thank you “Y” & ”D” for a great night! 

Here’s the website – please check it out; just click top center and switch it to English: http://www.shabuhana.com/

The servers dressed in Kimonos (didn’t get a picture – I’ll have to do that next time!  We definitely want to go back!).  The food was absolutely delicious and that’s putting it mildly.

We started with Sapporo and the wonderful dishes below…

Daikon Radish Salad

Edamame

 

Buta no Aburi-Kakun (Braised Pork Belly)

 

Satsuma age (Fish Cake trio filled with Edamame, Cheese or Unfilled)

 

Agedashi of aubergine(Nasu)  (Poached Eggplant) – Yum!

Then, the Shabu Shabu started!!!  The “swishing” is important!  First, “Y” put in the veggies (onions, mushrooms, cabbage…) and then we each cooked our own beef.  The beef was very high and grade and “D” noted that we could have eaten it raw!!  The only word I have for the beef: creamy!!  Can you describe beef in that way?  Well, I did.  It was wonderful and you guys know that I don’t eat beef that often, so when I do, I LOVE it when it’s good!  I think I was ruined for all other beef after this experience!

 

 

Great night! Great company!  Thanks!

Happy Lunar New Year!!

 

The festivities continued on CNY’s eve at Birgit’s when we had a fabulously prepared dinner (by Brigit!!!), nice/pleasant/truly spectacular company – you know who you are!! FIREWORKS!!!!  I love fireworks – as a side note, I think we might need to continue our world tour by seeing more fireworks.  I guess it all started with the 4^th of July celebrations as a kid and grew from there (And for you Twilight fans, I did see fireworks as a child in Forks, WA).  But, now I’ve seen fireworks in Singapore and Geneva – who gets to do that??? It’s crazy cool!  I got a few good shots of the fireworks and a video, so enjoy and Gong Xi Fa Cai!

 

 

 

As you saw with my last posting on Chinese New Year, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC are really taking advantage of CNY by offering Double Fortune menu items: here are some pictures of the ads – you just want to say, “ewww” when you see the Pizza Hut one…

We have received some Mandarin Oranges.  Unfortunately, we didn’t know the custom and were not able to give back in return (I should have picked some up at Cold Storage!! Oops!).  The Mandarin Oranges are everywhere and, thankfully, have replaced the Durian display in our local supermarket for awhile (Durians are a local fruit, but it’s putting it lightly that they have a “strong” odor.  So strong, in fact, you are not allowed to bring them on the MRT).

Paul and I are also enjoying the CNY décor in our apartment.  I saw pussy willows all over Singapore decorated with little lanterns and red good-luck charms.  You can also hang money pouches from the trees.  You do this in hope of a very prosperous year (to bring you lots of money!!).  So, I made up my own display – I got the pussy willows from the Wet Market, the vase from IKEA and the charms from various other locations.  I really enjoyed putting it together and Paul enjoys having a little color in the apartment!

 

 

Marina Bay CNY Festival (Feb. 1)

It’s official!  The Chinese New Year began two days ago!  The festivities for us, started on the 1^st.  As it sometimes happens with us, we go out for a normal dinner and end up in the middle of some fantastic little festival and the night of the 1^st was no different!   Wow, what a night!  As we like to say, Plan to be Spontaneous!!  The CNY Festival runs until the 15^th of February or so.  And, since it’s located near the Esplanade, there are numerous plays, dance exhibitions, etc. to celebrate Chinese Heritage through March.

 

This first video is a group called “Bobee” out of Taiwan.  We didn’t get to see anything like this in Taipei when we were there. 

 

 

Here is another performance featuring Chinese Folk Dancers and traditional Chinese songs.  We found it interesting - we hope you do too!

As we walked to the festival from Boat Quay (by the way, Pasta Fresca is a nice little Italian Restaurant on the River - I really enjoyed the Parma Ham and Melon - yum!).  The first picture below is of the Marina Bay Sands.  It opened before we left last year but the area around it is still under construction.  And, by the newspaper reports, it's not doing as well as the one that opened, at the same time, on Sentosa Island...

 Here we are enjoying the festival dancing and singing.  This stadium is really large and looks out over the Bay.  We think normally it's for watching soccer matches - the "field" was covered that night and there were numerous exhibitions.

Hangin’ with my Chica!

Birgit and I had a great ladies' night out!  First, on the itinerary are mani’s and pedi’s!  Get a load of these pictures – this place is as the name denotes: Plush!  Too fun!

 

Afterwards, we enjoyed a great dinner at casual Japanese Restaurant – Kamado.  It was a just a little place at the 313 but we enjoyed it for the night.