05 THINGS TO DO THIS VALENTINE DAY WITH A BUDGET OF LESS THAN $40.00

VALENTINE DAY SPECIAL
WHAT TO DO? WHERE TO GO?

The overly commercialized day is here again, 14th of February - Valentine Day. Thinking of what to do with your other half on the day itself but have very limited budget after splurging on gifts and need to set them aside for dinner? Maybe you can consider doing any of these:

1. PLAN A PICNIC + GO FOR A FREE TOUR AT BOTANIC GARDEN

(Source Photo)

How often do you get to spend some time outdoor with your other half? Why not, grab a bottle of wine, a box of strawberry and a bar of chocolate together with a bundle of helium balloon and set the picnic mat right at botanic garden. Take this opportunity to enjoy some quality time together at the great outdoor, watching other visitors, taking pretentious photos, have a good time with one and play the "LET'S NOT USE OUR MOBILE PHONES" and see who is the bigger loser that can't resist?

If things start to get a little boring, don't worry, you can go for a guided tours conducted by volunteers for free. For this coming Saturday, it will be a "Rain forest Tour", details as followed:

(Source Photo)

2. WATCH A MOVIE

Looking for something to slot in before/after dinner? A movie would be one of the best options rather than just doing window shopping. Passion card holders enjoy $9.50 movie at CATHAY together with a free passion popcorn while Safra card holders will get to enjoy 1-for-1 weekend movies at SHAW. 

You have read the book, you have heard some much about the content, Fifty shades of grey would definitely be the most popular movie this valentine day, get ready for a sexy, highly erotic movie with your loved one. 

To ensure that you get good seats, it is recommended for you to go get your tickets in advance!

3. VISIT TO ALIVE MUSEUM

If trick eye museum is a little out of the way and expensive? Why not go for the alternative, ALIVE MUSEUM which is strategically located right at Suntec City. If you know your other half enjoys taking photos and sharing on Instagram or other social media, this would be a good place to spend a few hours trying to think of out of the box poses. Pre-purchase your tickets on their website and 

Use promotion code - aliveopen at checkout for 20% discount

With that promotion code, each ticket will only cost $20.00 instead of buying it over the counter at $24.00. Take this time to capture some sweet memories. Best to ask another pair of couple out too so that you all can help to take photo for each other without constantly trying to ask random people to take a photo for you.

4. CYCLING AT EAST COAST PARK

(Source Photo)

You do not have to do a lot to impress the other half, something simple can make a difference on this special day too! How about waking up slightly earlier, have a hearty breakfast before making your way to EAST COAST PARK to spend the afternoon cycling by the seaside? Take a stroll along the beach and sit by the sea to have a good chat and watch the sunset together. Bike rental would be from $3 per hour and above depending on the type of bicycle. 

5. TRIP TO THE MUSEUM

"Singaporeans and PRs will be able to enjoy free admission to 10 museums and heritage centres around Singapore. This includes access to the permanent collections at the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Philatelic Museum, Asian Civilisations Museum, as well as heritage institutions such as the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and Malay Heritage Centre."

Take a cultural walk around Dhoby Ghuat and spend the day at SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE, PERANAKAN MUSEUM and SINGAPORE PHILATELIC MUSEUM.

Ultimate Tribute to Elvis in Singapore

THE ULTIMATE TRIBUTE TO ELVIS

APRIL 2 - 5 2015, MARINA BAY SANDS MASTERCARD THEATRES

Direct from Vegas, The Ultimate Tribute to Elvis is an unforgettable multi-media and live musical journey across Elvis' life. His iconic style, embraced by many of today's artists, continues to intrigue audiences of all generations. Featuring champions and finalists from Elvis Presley Enterprises' worldwide Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest, audiences "Can't Help Falling In Love"® with this phenomenal theatrical concert experience

Known as the "King of rock and Roll", an iconic legend in the 60s, 70s and 80s, Elvis is one of the most influential and well known musician around the world. Let loose, go back in time and enjoy the spectacular performance put up by the production straight from the states. 

Sales for the concert has started and to get good seats, book your tickets through: http://www.showbizasia.com/performance-detail.aspx?pid=1290

Feeling Lucky? With the joint contest between Gold 90.5FM, Marina Bay Sands and BASE entertainment. One lucky winner would be selected to enjoy a luxurious one night stay at MBS and a romantic dinner for two at DB Bistro on Valentine Day this coming Saturday! Two more days to go to participate in this fairly easy contest, what are you waiting for?

Starbucks Pre Valentine Day Promotion

STARBUCKS 1-FOR-1 PROMOTION

VALID FROM 10 - 12 FEBRUARY, 3-7PM

I hate the long queue whenever there is 1-for-1 promotion, especially when I am in School because the wait could be a good 30 minutes and it means that you will either be late for your lecture or take longer than usual during break. As much as I hate the queue, I love their promotion because it means that you are only paying an average of $3.50 per cup and also the chance to earn 5 points and a step closer in hitting your quota to redeem or extend your Gold Card. Yes, I am a sucker for that.

The Gem of Upper Thomson Road

PARCAMARA BOUTIQUE COFFEE ROASTERS

185 UPPER THOMSON ROAD, SINGAPORE 574333

It's like stepping into an apple authorized center, full length window, long tables with white interiors. Parcamara boutique coffee roasters is indeed a rare gem along upper Thomson road. Located next to the Shell Petrol Kiosk, this very first outlet by the stretch of the shop houses is a rare cafe that serves good food.

When someone mentions CAFE Food, we would be thinking of the usual sandwiches, truffle fries and the all day breakfast kind of menu and one would usually get very sick about if if you are an avid cafe hopper. However, this place is a really wonder if you are looking for FOOD, yes I meant proper Food.

Don't worry, the shot glasses in this photo were not alcoholic drinks, they are free samples given by the Barista - Cafe Staff. Before I go into that, let me just give give my personal review of the food we ordered. Basically, me and my friends each got ourselves a main dish and we shared the red velvet pancake which is at the foreground of the photo. We had:

1. Pesto Cream Pasta 

2. Truffle Egg Benedict

3. Baked Macaroni (Mac & Cheese)

4. Red Velvet Pancake

We were all pretty impressed by our main dishes. I only tried a few mouths of the Pesto Cream and Truffle Egg Benedict so apart from saying that they are decent tasting (My friend loves his Egg Benedict), I would be allocating the next few hundred words on my Mac & Cheese.

IMPRESSIVE, I am always a Mac & Cheese fan like many of you out there. My favorite Mac & Cheese would be from South Coast at Marina Bay Sands but after trying this, I now know that I have another favorite Mac & Cheese and it gonna be from PARCAMARA. Presented on a fine chopping board with fine pieces of assorted cheese, the attention has to be this cheesy bowl of Macaroni. Mixed with mushrooms, bites of ham/bacon (I can't really remember properly). It's not salty, just nice. Definitely a favorite for cheese lovers as you try to be fiddle with those assorted cubes by the side as you enjoy the bowl of delight. I think it's a good option to share the Mac & Cheese because after a while I got a little sick of it, *TOO CHEESY*  so I passed it over to my friend who finished up everything. I think the Mac & Cheese is ordered by almost every table and I am pretty convinced why it is so popular.

Apart from the food, they serve nice coffees too. They had their Regular beans and also *Mystery beans. If you order a white, you have a choice to choose between the beans. They are quite secretive about the mystery beans when we asked about it. The cup of coffee is slightly sweeter in taste but it is really smooth and rich. 

Now let's talk about the free samples. It was around 2.30pm when we went, quite busy I would say, as most of the seating are long tables, it's common to share a table. Us being us, we decided to take the bar seats instead, the few of us were just observing the barista while she played with the different machines. 

I thought we were lucky that day, Alicia (We asked another staff for her name), was a young fine knowledgeable barista of the cafe. She started to introduce us to this "Smart Bar". We were saying how they resemble dexter laboratory and this is definitely not a common scene. Alicia introduced to us the tea brewing machine which I would say it's so high tech, say goodbye to tea leafs or tea bags sitting in a pot, with this modern equipment, a fine pot of tea can be brewed within minutes. 

The special thing about this place is that their teas are unique wine inspired flavors. We had a few rounds of samples and she let us have a smell of the tea leafs. They are really interesting. One particular flavor - they called it the Moscato inspired tea caught my attention, the smell of it brings the familiar scent of that bottle of wine. I guess this would be something to order the next time I visit them again. So the trick is, if you want to learn more about their smart bar and at the same time have some samples, request for the bar seats but don't say you learnt it from my post.

The pricing of the food are slightly similar to other cafes serving real food but I find them value for money. It's definitely a good place for a weekend brunch with friends. I know that they do serve dinner too but the items are slightly more pricey. Here's a receipt for your reference!