A Fashionable Tea Party

May 21, 2012 · By ·

Do you like walking through bustling Orchard Road after work or during the weekends, just to get some shopping done to update your wardrobe?

If you are like me, who detest squeezing through the maddening crowds, personal shopper services might be the option you can look at.

So what exactly is a personal shopper? A personal shopper will provide personalized and individual attention to advise what’s in fashion, what fashion style looks good on you. Usually the personal shopper can assist to advise the best outfit for an occasion or help select a couple of trendy pieces to update your wardrobe for each season.

Recently, my sister and I was invited to attend a tea party session where we were styled personally by Susan, a personal dresser. This session was sort of a tete-a-tete get together of girlfriends to dress up, shop, chat and have tea on the side.

When we arrived in the quaint location, we were enamored by the array of accessories display on antique dressers and tables.

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Susan first started her personal dressing services as a hobby, as she enjoyed helping her friends shop for clothes and dressing them up.  So it became a regular practice to source for beautiful clothes & accessories, each time she chanced upon suitable items from her frequent travels.

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Her passion in styling and fashion became work when she set  up ‘The Closet Soiree’ 2 years ago. She started working hand-in-hand with various image consultants to help their clients source for clothes overseas. For her, it has been a rewarding experience to able to share and provide advice to the ladies who come to her, on the latest trends and clothing styles. Also to provide them with a personalized shopping experience, taking into account their individual body shape and color preferences.

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Before we started browsing through the styles that were available, Susan did a quick personal style profile for us. She asked detailed questions about our style preferences (structure dresses, separates, smart casual), our lifestyle and job occupations and specific color preferences. Once she had a clear idea of styles we preferred, she went  ahead to select styles that suited our body shape.

It was lots of fun to play dress up with friends, and even more exciting to be surrounded with a large variety of clothing styles available.

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From shift dresses, to structured 60s ‘Mad Men-style‘ office wear (60s style silhouettes are in-style for Spring 2012), but in a more subtle shade for me.

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Cocktail dresses for parties, day weddings, wedding dinners or for dinner dates with the hb 😉

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And chic casual clothes for meet ups with girlfriends, or for bringing the little one out for play-dates.

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After deciding on the specific styles for ourselves, we were served a fabulous spread of cakes, sushi, samosas, sausage rolls, fruit and tea. We had a wonderful time chatting with one another, playing ‘fashion show’ and selecting the styles that we preferred in those 2.5 – 3 hours that was well-spent at ‘The Closet Soiree’.

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So does this sound like like a shopping experience like no other? I don’t think I will be able to find a private location where I can play dress up, shop, have tea and exchange fashion and style pointers with friends.

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All you need to do is to gather 5-8 of your female friends on a Saturday afternoon between 3-6pm. ‘The Closet Soiree’ Tea party starts at $10 per head, and the cost of tea will be waived, if total purchases of the group exceeds $1000.00.

Prices of clothes range from an affordable $30.00 to $260.00 for cocktail dresses and evening gowns.

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Do send Susan a mail at suelailee@yahoo.com.sg to make reservations. Or you can join ‘The Closet Soiree’ Facebook page for fashion and trend news and regular updates.

 

 

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So take that, Wild Honey

May 16, 2012 · By ·

The other motivation to start making my own breakfast every other morning, is due to first and final visit hb and I will have at Wild Honey at Mandarin Gallery.

Screen Shot 2012 05 12 at 5 43 19 PMMy Norwegian breakfast

I saw Avocados, Asparagus, salmon slices, some cream cheese, topped with some mozzarella cheese on two slices of thick white toasted bread from this dish that I had at Wild Honey. And it tasted bleah, very bland in fact. Hb had Eggs Benedict and we both had a coffee and soft drink each. This meal cost us SGD$85.00.

Hb and I felt totally ripped off.  Thank goodness we paid with vouchers we claimed from credit card points, so dissonance from Wild Honey was a lot more manageable.

I still cannot understand why there are crowds queuing outside their restaurant every weekend. The regular profile of people who goes to Wild Honey are young adults between the ages of 21-30, decked out in their hip clothes and bags, with some tourists thrown into the mix.

And the service is far from being desired. We had to order from the counter and we were charged service charge, for what in particular I wonder?

So, this visit to Wild Honey is our first and last. I know I will never ever go back there again. Even if a naive friend willingly wants to buy me a meal there. Anywhere but Wild Honey!

So I decided to embarked on the Breakfast Challenge to start eating healthy and to prove that my breakfast can taste as good, be alot healthier and look just as nice as a $85.00 breakfast meal at Wild Honey.

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I made poached eggs for hb, with shaved ham on Danish bread, without the rich Eggs Benedict sauce. If u know that in a dish of Eggs Benedict, you will be ingesting a total of 5 egg yolks at one sitting, you probably will not want to ask for Cholesterol-laden Eggs Benedict anymore in a typical breakfast place. This is my very first time making poached eggs, and I wasted 1 egg (which got stuck in the pot during the poaching process).

 

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I made pancakes too, making some changes to a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com, here’s the recipe if you want to explore making your own pancakes.

Ingredients

(for 8 servings)

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
  2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

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Instead of using maple syrup, you can also make your own fruit compote. Here’s some Apple and Blueberry compote on top of the pancakes. All u need to do is to slice up the apple thinly, without the skin, simmer in a small pan until some of the juices start to emerge. Then add about a tablespoon of brown sugar, and throw in the blueberries.

For a quick pancake breakfast, I divided the dry ingredients into 4 for 2 servings each. Put the dry ingredients in 4 plastic bags and keep them in the fridge and only added the wet ingredients in the mix, when I was ready to fry the pancakes in the mornings.

Apart from these slightly more rich breakfasts, I tend to go for these regular healthy options daily.

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Toast again, with grapefruit, cherry tomatoes and salad with Wafu dressing

 

Screen Shot 2012 05 12 at 5 55 12 PMWalnut danish, fruits and salad

 

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Ham on boule bread with jam, fruits and salad

 

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More variety of fruits and a Passion fruit butter with cheese on boule

 

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Hot lemon tea, it actually tastes just as good as cold ice tea.

 

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Smelly yummy cheese with crackers, dried apricots and nuts to share with hb on weekends. To make sure that he does not reach for the packet of Doritos for that morning.

 

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Just a simple breakfast of a sunny side up with ham on bread.

 

So did I manage to prove that my meals are healthier and look just as good as what they have in Wild Honey?

I think I did.

So take that, Wild Honey. I definitely do not need to pay for a $85.00 breakfast meal and think that I am eating so well.

 

P.S

All photos in this post were taken with my iPhone 4s, using Instagram filters and natural light from the windows. No other DI were done to these photos.

 

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A Healthy Breakfast Challenge

May 14, 2012 · By ·

I had a bad breakout last month.

I tend to have clear skin, except for one or two teeny zits during PMS, but apart from that, relatively clear skin.

Until last month, little red bumps that looked liked acne started popping up all over the face (horrors!). I had a tough time looking at myself in the mirror (yes, I am vain like that), and even a tougher time telling myself never to pick on those zits.

Maybe it was the hormones that went berserk last month, or stress, but I decided that I should do something about my diet and see if it improved things. So I gave myself a challenge, to start with breakfast.

My breakfast used to look like that :

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The most, after a weekend of over-eating, I would have a guilt-free detox breakfast like that (but over-compensate it during lunch)

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So, I tried to improve my breakfast, by eating mom’s freshly baked Hot Cross Buns during breakfast and some fruits.

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Then I figured I should try to reduce process foods out of my diet, stopped buying Betty Crocker’s quick mix pancakes. Made some changes to a recipe that I found online, and started making my own pancakes.

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Here’s some home-made pancakes on a healthier day with yogurt and nuts. I still allow myself some maple syrup and fruit compote over the pancakes some mornings.

 

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Breakfast got a bit healthier, when I discovered Wafu sauce, a Japanese Soy Sauce and Sesame dressing from the supermarket. That sauce makes any type of fresh vegetables taste better.

 

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And I discovered that cream cheese on bread with cherry tomatoes actually tasted quite good.

 

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And experimented with some Bento-style arrangements by using cookie cutters on leftover pancakes from K. Don’t try bolled Lotus in your salad though, it might look quite interesting on the plate, but tasted quite vile with Wafu dressing.

 

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I still can’t do without tea or decaffeinated coffee every breakfast though, and a spot of butter on my toast.

 

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And started to make that consistent effort to have a good balance of fruits and fresh veggies every breakfast. Even K was convinced that Mommy’s breakfast looked alot more interesting than his, and starting sharing my breakfast on some mornings :)

It was when I started adding a fresh salad and a mix of fruits, the process of setting up breakfast every morning got a lot more fun. I started trying different combinations of fruits, different spreads for my toast (I still can’t cut out white bread from my diet, as I am not a fan of whole-meal).

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And the result after a month?

My skin is now clear. Only with a teeny little zit during PMS recently, and I am feeling alot more energetic through the day.

Do give this healthy breakfast challenge a try, or try adding more fresh fruits and vegetables into a meal daily. I am quite sure you will start feeling the difference to your skin and energy levels after a few weeks.

Do share what does your regular breakfast consists of?

 

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