Our Christmas Celebration 2016
In a blink of an eye, we bode 2016 farewell and welcomed 2017! Looking at our archives in this space, I realised that it had been exactly a month since we updated our blog. Incredibly, so many events, experiences and memories have been forged between D and myself in this short span of time. In summary, there was our first Christmas celebrated together as a couple, our first holiday getaway (Vietnam), our first New Year's countdown and our second holiday getaway (Thailand). As this blog was founded on documenting our stories on travels, food and lifestyle, that in itself creates quite a backlog for our blogposts. Breathe L...Slowly, we will get there. On the bright side, I am really proud of how we have been consistent on sharing about our lives, travels and favourites on Instagram. :)
For all things important that happen for the first time, there is often the process of seeking an understanding of how it used to be done, and subsequently, establishing your own rules and boundaries. This is nonetheless true for our first Christmas celebration. Christmas 2016 was celebrated amongst our friends, coordinating schedules so that we could attend our respective gatherings together. D cooked up a feast for his family, and not forgetting our own mini celebration as a couple. All in all, it was a 4-day affair, which I am glad that we had so much good fun, created bonds with each others' friends and now have fond memories of.
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| Celebrating our first Christmas at Monti Singapore. |
Kickstarting our Christmas celebrations was a gathering with D's Cambridge University friends at Starkers' Bistro Katong on Friday evening (23 December). On our way to dinner, one of D's close college mate, T, dropped D a text asking him to drop by his place. The text sounded pretty important and needed to be talked through face-to-face, hence we took a detour to T's place, and sent our apologies for a late dinner arrival. When we arrived at T's place, we found out that T was now engaged with his longtime girlfriend, P, with whom D had been instrumental in setting up! P was flying back to London that night and the couple had wanted to ask D physically to be one of the three groomsmen for the multi-city weddings, which D can't be more excited for.
After dinner, we celebrated T's engagement with cocktails and desserts at Baba Chews. We would recommend a visit to Baba Chews if you enjoy your cocktails strong.
Celebratory drinks at Baba Chews
On Christmas Eve, D spent the day visiting the meat grocers and prepared a beef roast feast for his family, while I joined my close friends from secondary school and their families for a homely gathering.
D's Annual Christmas roast
On Christmas Day, we visited Marina Barrage for our first picnic and kite-flying experience. We stocked up on a good variety of fruits from the supermarket, bought some Italian food takeaway, and D brought along some refreshing Pimms, adding a booze to this joyous occasion.
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| Marina Barrage: Our picnic spread |
Our kite-flying experience was a great one! D is secretly a pro at handling kites - trust his engineering degree came in handy, even though we ended our session with some tangled strings.
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| Marina Barrage - Our first picnic and kite-flying experience |
For dinner, we headed to my best friend's place for a gathering with the rest of the girls and their plus ones. It was jolly affair over food, drinks and the annual Christmas gift exchange!
On Boxing Day, it was finally our celebration together! A mini reservation mishap led us to a hidden gem - Monti Singapore, an Italian restaurant located at the pavilion right beside the Fullerton Bay Hotel. The restaurant can be recognised by its iconic dome and is situated along the waters of Marina Bay, making for outstanding views of the Marina Bay Sands and its surroundings. We had a fantastic dining experience, beyond satisfied with both the service and food quality. We did a fair bit of research on the food reviews and would recommend the following dishes that we had tasted. Perhaps because the restaurant is fairly new, there was only a small crowd at dinner time. The ambience makes a great hide-out from the city's hustle and bustle. We highly recommend a visit here, before this place gets popular with local foodies!
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| Antipasti Di Terra (Appetiser): Carpaccio Di Vitello Contartufo Tajima wagyu beef carpaccio / Caramelised pear / Truffle / Parmigiano region / Rocket |
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| Primi Di Terra: Invertiti Ravioli filled with braised veal ossobuco / Cream of bone marrow / Lemon zest / Parmigiano Regiano |
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| Il Pesce: Signor Monti Monkfish wrapped in Italian bacon / Spring-time ratatouille / Rosemary sauce |
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| Dolci: Rosmarino E Caffe Pannacotta / Crunchy almond chocolate tuile / Vanilla sauce |
Looking forward to our next festive celebration together!
xx,
L
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