Birthday WIAW and Skyve Review.

I couldn’t come up with a better title. Haha. Well, it sums up what this post is about so its pretty apt.

It was my birthday yesterday, yes, my birthday is on September 11. Anyway, I thought I’d do a post on my (birth)day which was really amazing, and made me realise how much I appreciate my family and friends. Don’t worry, all you foodies, my day was filled with loads of good food as well!

So here’s my third WIAW birthday-style, hosted by the creative Jenn at Peas&Crayons.

Just a disclaimer, this is far from healthy! Haha, but it was my birthday so it was no holds barred 😛 Two ice creams in day is what I’m talking about.. and 2 slices of cake the day before that. But hey, what’s life without treats?

Let’s skip breakfast, and jump straight to lunch since that’s where the pretty photos come in.

I went to Skyve for lunch with my mother and sister since I had been meaning to check that place out. The restaurant had a lovely laidback atmosphere, with a rather posh air about it. Maybe it was the decor, or the type of people dining there, whatever it was, it definitely created a distinct vibe. I can’t quite put my finger on it.

The table was the perfect depiction of “less is more”.

The lone flower in a glass cup added a nice touch, as did the cutlery in a rustic metal bucket (below)

Just a word of caution. The bottles of Fiji water displayed on your table aren’t complimentary. They cost around 4 bucks a bottle. Be sure to ask for normal water if you aren’t willing to pay so much. Our waiter/waitress didn’t tell us so we ended up paying for the crazily-priced water.

The menu comes in the form of a clipboard, and gives a clear description of each dish, so no worries about ordering something you are clueless about.

Here’s the food!

Skyving Breakfast

My sister ordered two poached eggs, with Brioche, and the rest is part of the standard fare… mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, potatoes, the works.

This was pretty good according to her, so I’d say its worth the try! Especially for the bigger eaters.

Parma Ham Caesar Salad 

I for one would never order salad at a restaurant. It doesn’t make sense to me to pay so much for a bowl of vegetables when I can make my own bowl of salad. Well, for you salad lovers, this salad was topped with a lovely egg, with a centre that was similar to that of a ramen egg. The dressing was good too. The only bad thing was that it seemed rather small to me.

Mushroom soup

This was quality mushroom soup. You could taste the earthiness of the mushrooms, and the ever present chunks of mushrooms in the soup were proof that this was good stuff.

Sous-vide eggs benedict

Skyve specialises in sous-vide style cooking, so I decided to try their egg benedict. Their eggs benedict usually comes with bacon, but I asked for more mushrooms instead, cause I’m not a fan of bacon.

My eggs benedict came nice presented as you can see… but the portion was rather small. I saw another customer polishing off his eggs ben in a matter of 15 minutes, maybe less.

It was rather simple fare, if you ask me. Nothing spectacular, unlike the Eggs Ben at Wild Honey. Still a Wild Honey fan here! The english muffin and eggs weren’t hot, just slightly warmer than room temperature, which was quite a put off for me cause I like my food hot.

The mushrooms were good though, probably the same ones used in the soup. They were very flavorful and paired nicely with the eggs ben. The corn was well, sweetcorn. You can’t exactly make corn very spectacular.

Here’s what disappointed me the most. The eggs didn’t flow! The yolk was slightly firm, so I had to poke around to get the yolk to run. The strange thing is that the egg whites were rather firm, as you can see above, where it came off in a chunk, but they were undercooked inside. Somewhat like a soft-boiled egg.

I wasn’t too impressed with this dish. Small portions and average taste, I’d rather go to d’Good Cafe at Holland Village for their Eggs Ben which was much more afforable, and the same tastewise.

Top view! Their food looks pretty, but to me, that’s about it. Nothing amazing given their prices.

Just a few pictures of the ladies who lunch!

Skyve was good, but not great. It was nice to try a new place, but I wouldn’t be back again. I didn’t feel like I got the bang for my buck, if you know what I mean.

Rating: 6/10

Being voracious eaters, we headed over to Ben&Jerry’s for dessert right after. The portions weren’t enough for us. Haha. Clusterfluff on a cone for all three of us. Delish!

Then it was time for the festivities!

My lovely mother prepared my favorite meal for me… Popiah!

For those of you who don’t know, popiah is like a giant burrito, just that its wrapped with a thin skin…similar to what you find on wantons/egg rolls. The filling is shredded turnips, carrots, cabbage, and some stewed meat/chicken stock to add flavor.

What I love about it, apart from the fact that its a healthy veggie-loaded dish, is that you can customise your own popiah. You lay the skin down, put the lettuce as the base to prevent the skin from rupturing, and spread some sauce (chili/sweet sauce). Then you add the filling, and top it with hard boiled eggs, crushed peanuts, prawns.. anything you like! I like to add a dab of sweet sauce when I’m rolling it up so that it acts as a glue.

We were in such a great mood, I think we easily polished off at least 3 rolls each, as we laughed and talked about the day. It was such a brilliant feeling having everyone at the table, without technology distracting us from enjoying each other’s presence. I’ve really missed sitting down and enjoying a nice family dinner, especially since we are all usually exhausted after coming home from a long day at work/school.

I was so surprised by what my family did for me. They really planned every detail out. It was hilarious because I got excited over each thing they brought out, and each time I started to thank them, they would cut me off, and say there was more. It was so nice to see them bring surprise after surprise out. I won’t talk about the presents here, because the people matter so much more.

First surprise was the card! They bought cupcakes to match the cupcakes on the card.

What a genius idea, I was so impressed. Rose, chocolate and lemon cupcakes.

Lemon Cupcake
The cupcake was tart, and not too sweet. I usually don’t eat the frosting, but the frosting was full of lemony zing, unlike the gritty icings that are loaded with sugar. The cupcake itself was moist, and not sweet as well. I loved this!

Chocolate Cupcake
The chocolate cupcake was well received as well, and the frosting was similarly loaded with chocolate goodness and not the typical sugar-loaded commercial cupcake. Good stuff right here.

Rose Cupcake
The Rose Cupcake was nice too. It tasted like Bandung (Rose syrup drink), and like the other two, wasn’t overly sweet.

In case you’re wondering, these cupcakes are from Cupcake Engineer, I did a review on them a while back, and I’m glad to say they are still my favorite cupcake bakery to date.

Well, on to more surprises. My sister bought me a beautiful pink rose, because she said that people in sports rarely got flowers, unlike those in performing arts. I was so touched. I love receiving flowers!

The cake was another surprise too! It was so colorful and cute. Best of all, it was an ice cream cake, which I’d choose over a normal cake any day. They bought it from Island Creamery.  All the colours made me so happy! I felt like a little girl again.

I’m really thankful for my friends too, who wrote me cards, and gave me presents. One of them even made me a cake! Honestly, the presents don’t matter to me. I’m happy to receive a card, or a birthday wish, cause it shows that your friend remembered, and you actually mean something to them.

I was so thankful for my family, for planning a beautiful birthday, and keeping the mood high all day.

I’m thankful for my mother, for making and planning the celebration. It was an amazing birthday, and I could really see the effort and thought that went into it. Thanks mum 🙂

I’m thankful for my sister too, for she put together a cute little video for me, despite her busy schedule.

To my brother and father who couldn’t be there, thank you for making the time to call me from across the globe to wish me a happy birthday, and for giving me such well-thought presents! You guys are the best.

So here I am, a year older. How do I feel? Not much different actually, but I definitely know that I’m loved 😛 And that’s a really nice feeling. Can’t stop smiling as I recall my day. Its so nice knowing that people put in the effort to show that they appreciate you, be it through their actions or their words.

As I end off, I think it’d be nice to have a moment of silence, wherever you are, for the people who lost their lives on September 11. Let’s just take a moment to pray for their families who are still hurting inside, and remember to show your loved ones that you care. You never know what might happen today or tomorrow, and the worst feeling to have is one of regret. Call up your friend, your relative, someone special, and just let them know that you appreciate them. Its the small things that count.

Just for fun, I’ll end off with my outfit of the day… my favorite top and green pants!