Food Escapade: Blisshouse Reviews(Italian/French)

So, before I start blogging today, I want to just add that my eye is currently in a state which is half closed (without me actually trying to close it or open it) because the eyelid is swollen. Due to an infection which I am taking antibiotics and eye drops for. Anyways, since I am resting at home (my last day of medical leave), I thought it would be good to spend sometime to tell you about my food escapade at Blisshouse this weekend.

Below is a picture of how my eye looks even though this isn't my eye.

Eye infection that swells my eyelids till it blocks most of my vision in the right eye.

I booked blisshouse through a groupon voucher. Yes, I know... I am kind of a cheapo. Hey, but so what? This gives me an opportunity to try and comment and food taste the food that I would otherwise have no budget for. I've seen blisshouse on the television and even in short films (like in I.am.Jonathan written by my JC friend Kenneth Chia). We went there for lunch and boy oh boy. The ambiance is indeed fantastic! AstroTurf all  over the place, clean white walls and furniture and even plastered pillars looking like tree trunks and Venetian aged pillars. A white baby grand piano complete with an annoying bunch of photographers and wedding couple that ran here and there here and there all the time we were having lunch, talking and shouting instructions at each other. Well, thanks to them the ambiance wasn't as good as I thought it to be. I guess what the owner was trying to do was to bring the feeling of comfort in nature and having a nice meal together. The least Blisshouse could have done (in my opinion) was to have the photo shoot in the later afternoon after lunch time so that diners would not be greatly affected.

The front and logo of the cafe/restaurant.

Hey, can you see the first white table on the right (In the foreground)? That's where we sat.

So, I ordered a 3 course set lunch which included the clam linguine vongole, the cream of tomato and the tea to subtly end off the meal. My boyfriend, ordered the ham carparcio carbonara which tasted awesome (kind of like bacon actually), and the same old soup and the coffee. 

So, here's the cream of tomato which was slightly on the sour side and because the seeds wasn't taken out and they are extremely hard to blend, the soup wasn't smooth. It had bits and pieces of tomato seeds which was something different in terms of texture.

Unfortunately, the photos of both the pasta is with my boyfriend now and I can't upload them. But that can't stop me from sharing with you my opinion of them. The pasta was cooked right: al dente. My vongole was kind of not a vongole. It was more of a aglio olio without the olio. It had chilli padi to try to musk the terribly fishy (unfresh) clams. It stated on the menu, "fresh clam cooked in linguine in a clam stock in an aglio olio like way" or something like that. But the clams weren't even close to fresh and that plate set a person (without the voucher) back by SGD$ 22. That is just plain expensive for unfresh clams. Besides, they had the audacity to not take away the unopen clam that was in my pasta. Rule of seafood pasta: never add an unopen clam into a pasta after boiling them. The carbonara wasn't really a carbonara per se because it was more olive oil based than eggs and milk based. There was almost no eggs in that pasta. Not saying its not delicious. It was just cooked in an unconventional manner and probably not the carbonara we are all used to.

Here's my cup of tea. Nice smooth tea that they bothered to cool it down for me to drinkable temperature.

That is my boyfriend's coffee and his hands. He's a coffee lover unlike me. I prefer my tea.

This is just me being stupid. My boyfriend's glasses on a sink. Looks like a tap cow!!!

Verdict

Ambience - Excellent

Food - Good

Cost - $40 per pax

Overall - Good

Address

6 Eu Tong Sen Street, #03-21

The Central, Singapore 059817.

http://www.blisshouse.com.sg/

Opening Hours

12pm to 11pm

We later went to walk around. I actually booked a bar sitting for some drinks in the evening but my boyfriend wasn't supportive of the idea. Instead we walked around and made our way to liang court. At the place, it was a japanese haven. Japanese hairdressers, japanese sales people, japanese family, japanese food and even japanese theme cafe. We shopped around and walked around until my boyfriend became hungry. So we settle on japanese curry house which he order the tonkatsu curry set and me the bento. The tonkatsu was slightly on the tougher side but had bite and was battered in an amazingly crisp panko bread crumps. Yum. Pork loin was the chosen meat cut and thus it was a little slightly tough and less juicy. The uncle preparing the meat was so enthusiastic that he jumped into asking if we ordered two sets even before we paid for our meal. So much so that the cashier had to ask the uncle not to be so over enthusiastic! It's great you are so energetic and enthusiastic about your work. It was both funny and a little weird. But hey, if the man likes his job, who am I to judge?

Blog haitus (a week) and My crazy boyfriend's mind

Me and my boyfriend has been on quite the food adventure lately. And with that, there has been a slight misunderstanding of my intents. I merely just want my food loving boyfriend to enjoy his food and have fun simply because seeing him smile makes me really happy. Clearly he thought of this as a sort of "prisoner's last meal before the officer shouts 'dead man walking'." Well, obviously I didn't intent for a great dinner to turn up scaring the shit out of my boyfriend thinking that I would soon break up with him. But, it definitely was quite funny when we had a talk later (over the phone) about what he felt, and had the cheek to say that he thought it was his "last meal". Of course, it was darn hilarious. I would think he didn't laugh because he felt more embarrassed by it. But heck, it really is funny and that's how cute he is.

Anyways, the adventure will be told in another post after this. I will then attempt to explain why I didn't have the chance to blog in the past one week or so. Sorry people. It was definitely tiring for me too with my diploma exams, the last minute studying and all the nights I can't sleep because I am not with my dearest boyfriend. I don't know when I developed this reliance of having him next to me before I sleep very very very well, but, I just don't feel refreshed and awake when I sleep and wake up without him next to me. I guess the fact he is there gives me the feeling of being protected and comfortable enough for me to relax. I do know that prior to our overseas trip, my boyfriend always had trouble sleeping with me (not in the dirty way you are thinking. Just sleep. Sheesh!) which he clearly kept to himself not wanting to hurt me. So yeah, now he tells me he can sleep beside me comfortably. That's a win for me then.

Anyways, truth be told. I've not been blogging because I am plain lazy. Ha! Yes. I am lazy. I just had my exams and I think I ought to have some time for myself. I've been using this time to catch up to my favorite animes: Naruto and One Piece. Disappointing that Naruto had so many fillers. Obviously I didn't use 5 days to watch the measly few episodes I missed in the last 2 months. I spent the rest of the time shopping online and yes, I broke my month's budget yet again! Darn those good offers! I'll show you what I got when it all comes. Btw, I also watched pewdiepie's channel on youtube. I don't really like to subscribe to channels so yeah, I'm not a bro. But that said, if he makes more crazy wheels videos I might join the bro army. Anyways, I would like to congratulate pewdiepie on being the most subscribed channel on youtube surpassing Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift! He's so hilarious if you haven't yet watch him, go view his vids! I'm sure even the person who doesn't laugh ever will laugh at at least one of his videos! Binkt is my favourite name he uses. Binkt the ball, binkt the squishy thingy he throws and binkt the journey eagle thingy. Let's bring the hate on the barrels!

Pewdiepie and his epic brofist ending (always does it in every single video)

My Nike Free Runs have arrived! Time to start training!

Hi all. I've received my nike free runs 5.0 from my online purchase at only $65 dollars. But, I am not a runner, so why should I even spend money on a pair of running shoes when I already got almost every NS boy's asics shoes? The reason is simple and its one word: Boyfriend. He wants me to have thin legs which can only be done if I manage to go for long distant jogs at least once in two weeks. I kind of regret my decision to work towards his fetish (even though he denies it is one I know it is his fetish for thin smooth legs).

Okay, how about let me show you a glimpse of the differences in our legs.

These are my so called fat legs.

These are my boyfriend's legs.

I guess that is how thin he wants my legs to tone down to be. That would mean more training and that means I am going to regret this. Why oh why did I choose to tone my legs down. Now that I began my first 2 clicks yesterday, I am going to have to complete my training till I can jog at least 10 clicks before I join my boyfriend on jogs. I hope that seasoned runner boyfriend doesn't go too fast like the last time nearly killing me just to catch up to him. How can that lil' thing run so fast?

Cooking for my boyfriend: Pork Chops w/ Sweet and Sour Bell Peppers and Onions.

This isn't the first time I cooked for my boyfriend though we shall say some previous attempts at cooking for him ended up quite disastrous. Once I made oven baked portebellos and they were very unappetizing with an extreme amount of balsamic vinegar. I learnt to never trust a random cooking site that displays their recipe. Another time, I attempted a mushroom sauce for my chicken breast but it ended up too salty because the bullion cubes were salted. Horrible as well.

Away from the horrible cooking experiences, I've had more successful cooking stints which includes my very first ramen, cha soba, cheesey baked chicken, fried chicken in hawaiian sauce and of course yesterday's pork chops. The pork chops turned out to be awesome.

Here's a few pictures of my previous attempts at cooking which was more successful.

Pork Chops with red peppers and caramelized onions.

 Cha Soba with Spring Onions

 Cheesy Sausages

Cheesy Chicken, Hawaiian Stir-fried Chicken and a bowl of Tonkatsu Ramen.

If you do want to know how I cooked my pork chops which was much a success aside from the fact that I added too much butter which lead to much of the pepper being washed off, you can see the recipe below. Feel free to tweak the recipe to suit your needs.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2

• 4 Pieces Pork Chops, seasoned with salt and peppers (taken out of the fridge 20 mins before cooking)
• Olive oil, for frying
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1/2 onion thinly sliced
• ½ clove garlic, crushed
• 4 sprigs thyme
• About 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6 slices of butter

Method

1. Sauté the sliced bell peppers and onions, and sprinkle some salt, pepper and one tablespoon of sugar to help caramelise the onions and peppers. After they caramelise, add red wine vinegar to stain and deglaze. Turn off the gas, add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and allow the vegetables to stew for 2-3 mins. Add in chopped basil and cook for further 30 seconds.
2. Heat a large, heavy-based sauté pan or shallow saucepan over a high heat. Add a good glug of oil and put in the seasoned pork chops. Before placing in, ensure to cut the slits in the Rhine to prevent the pork from curling up. Add the crushed garlic cloves and thyme into the pan. Depending on thickness, 2 inches thick requires about 3 ½ to 4 minutes on each side. Add slices of butter after turning over the pork chops and baste the butter over the pork chops constantly to keep them moist. Take them out after they are ready and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.

My Boyfriend certainly enjoyed the dish I made. I did too. The sauce was amazing! Yum. 

Day of surprise: Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day my boyfriend POP's (Pass Out Parade). Highlighted by the throwing cap ceremony at the end as shown below. This moment is the defining moment that they all passed BMT unscathed and no longer are the recruits they once were. My boyfriend is turning more into a man (people think that) but seriously, I don't see any change! No bigger muscles *pouts*. I expected that since he did undergo some vigorous training and I love my boy with some muscles. *sighs*

And he doesn't know I will be going together with a friend of his. Yes, it will be such a surprise. Can't wait to see his reaction and his joy! What most parents here term as the first step towards "manliness" which I haven't yet gone through and probably will never experience this ever. So, it would probably be something new tomorrow. At least if I don't experience it myself, I can watch my darling do this. Because of my inability to complete the Basic Military Training (BMT) due to some medical problems of mine, my parents have always made jokes of how "un-manly" I am. Not that it matters to me, but, the fact that they believe my work in NS to be relatively slacker than those who undergo physical training. Bad news update: It's mental fucking torture! Everyday I have to do shit for those people whom pretend somewhat they appreciate my presence and give me work that are either too time-consuming, too boring or too menial for them to do. I get treated like a effing "slave" and for what? A similarly "slave-worthy" pay of just 500 a month. That excludes my insurance and phone bills and other miscellaneous bills that are linked to the SAF. which makes about 350 left to spend and save? Well, let me give you another point of view. My job is similar to what people outside or in the private sector call an office boy or a clerk. These people have qualifications ranging from secondary school leavers to O levels. The pay they generally have based on my research (I tried applying for these jobs during my holidays) and estimates is about 800-1200. For this fact, I am already underpaid. Secondly, cleaners earn a 700-800 on average and they do a specific job like cleaning and taking out the trash. While, I do things out of my job scope that I don't gain credit for. The best I get is a thanks. Nothing more nothing less. And my boss has to rub it in giving my a timeline to complete an almost impossible task. 2 weeks is already impossible. Why not try doing it yourself? Well, actually all I am trying to say is that I am severely overworked and underpaid.

I am just so pissed off that even my parents don't credit me for the work I do. True enough that they don't get to see what I do from day to day but it would be best if they could know and acknowledge that even if I don't serve the nation with my blood and sweat, I am serving it with my brains, time and heart (sometimes).

Away from that ranting and back to my day to day life, my parents have decided to shift their company to occupy a new building. As such, they enlisted my help to design the layout of the office and I completed two differing drafts in just a couple of hours. I am just so proud of myself. *Claps* Anyways, this would be my maiden project in interior design (which in a way is similar to interior architecture. Architecture being a field I am greatly interested in.). My second project would be my new home which is surprisingly on its way faster than I would have expected. My home is on the first floor (in the new home) but I would finally get to have my own room! Yes, I still sleep in the same room as my brother and he snores! Sometimes it feels like an airplane landed in my room. I've designed most of the house but that will have to wait till my NS is over. Then I can dedicate more time to designing that. I'll get down to the itsy tinsy details. Finally not a rojak house anymore. Rojak is a word for mixed, or a dish created by the chinese that is a mix of dough fritters, cucumbers, pineapple, yam, peanuts and prawn paste. In essence it is a salad. Not all people love it. Like me, I am the odd one that dislikes this uniquely Singaporean cuisine. However, there are people like my brother, my cousin and my Dad that simply adores this dish. It looks something like below.

On a side note: My mum's pink coloured cheap bag is getting on my nerves. There is nothing worse than a bad fashion statement that gives people the impression that one has bad fashion sense. She carries that thing every fucking where we go! Dammit! I bought her 3 new bags just today online that would be shipping here in about 2 weeks. God help, I have to spent another 2 weeks being embarrassed when people stare and probably think of how my mum can have such bad fashion sense. A fuchsia/ hotpink bag that looks like it costs 5 dollars? Oh please! It looks something like this less the brand name and the sort of superb finishing and build quality in this specimen. Hideous colour though! Absolutely hideous!

It's time to work hard: For me and my Boyfriend.

Well, it's finally here: My final exams are round the corner. Exactly in one month's time from now, in the midst of NS and all, I'll be done with my part time diploma and have myself the capability to earn more than my current measly pay by about three times! Of course that will still have to wait till my NS is over. While there is assignment and studying to be done on my part, my poor baby has to do his first (and hopefully last) 24 km route march to his glorious end of his basic military training. I won't be there to watch him do that amazing feat (for which I was excused from in my days of bmt) because his family will be there and it would take a lot of explanation as to why a boy is attending in place of his sister. Of which they have only had a glance previously. I would definitely not have anything to talk about and much less stammer the whole way because I am such a bad liar. So he didn't want me to go. Besides, we promised that if we were to come out, it would be a time when we both felt comfortable. And telling your in-laws you are his/her son's boyfriend is a double shock. Imagine knowing the fact that your son is gay and the fact that he has a boyfriend. It could go both ways. One, the mum/dad already knows and says something on the line like, "Oh. I already know lah.  Psst. *whispers* He's a hottie!" Or, the less desirable way when he/she breaks down, maybe starts swearing and hopefully not have violence involve.

I know for one that my family isn't very receptive of homosexuality (I guess it is a typical asian parent thing). I won't be having it easy when I come out though I did leave a few traces of my being one here and there for them to speculate since I am pretty much the normal boy save the fact I love dicks. Each time I did, I rated their response and so far, it doesn't look very promising. Well, I just hope they take in those information and piece together and finally come to terms with it before my actual "coming out" so that it will be less of a problem when it does happen. Eventually and I envision it to be soon. Maybe in about 5 years? There are times when I do feel like I am tired. Tired of all these 'pretentious lies' that I am "going out with my friends" when it is my boyfriend I am going out with. "Oh, this is just a friend", "I'm going overseas with friends". All of these lies. I can't really tell lies so each time I do manage to slip over one, I feel like I die a little inside. I just hope my coming out to be a better story than I hope it'll be.

Btw, I think my boyfriend is a smart, cute and adorable little boy. I just want to hug him and snuggle up to him every moment of my life. He is however on the depressed side and tend to think of negative things. I guess it is just his personality. But I do love every aspect of him except for him always running late for dates and his negative outlook on almost everything. But, asides from all that, he really is a sweet boy. A little on the scrawny side but I like to call it slim twink-ish. I do have similar body shape but I have more pronounced pectorals and biceps despite the fact he in physically exercising and I am not really doing it on as regular a basis as I want it to be (I do chest building exercises like maybe once in two weeks). It is true that in a relationship, sex can be excluded. However, if a relationship is to last long, sex is necessary. 

Why do I say that? Well, when sex is performed, it releases a lot of dopamine. The central neurochemical player behind falling in—and out—of love is dopamine. Dopamine is the principal neurochemical that activates your reward circuitry, the centerpiece of the limbic system. Dopamine is involved with many aspects of mood, behavior, and perception. Even small shifts in dopamine sensitivity or levels can have profound effects on how you see the world, or your partner.The key word is bonding. Bonding is more than a behavior. It is a mammalian program, the program that permits parenting and living in groups. When dopamine drops, you are likely to find your partner less rewarding—and your bond unravels. So when you have sex, the attraction towards him is renewed. I don't need that often because I fall in love with him again and again and again and all I need is his smile. That smile of his never seems to fail in cheering me up and making feel like he is the "one" for me.

I do hope Mr Right stays with me till the day I step out of the closet so that even if I enter a new battlefield after stepping out, my prince charming will be there to back me up and we can get through the storm together. In the past, both of us walked a lonely path. Today, I feel that he made me much less lonely and I really really really love that innocent boy that never fails to stop eating baby carrots. A bunny indeed!

To my bunny boyfriend: I love you! :)