Another weekend date with hubby. I had purchased a pair of MINT tickets from Groupon at a price of one ie $15. The deal voucher also includes 20% off Mr Punch's restaurant's Ala Carte menu. However, the restaurant seemed quite empty when we reached there slightly before noon whereas the chicken rice stall in the coffeeshop next door looked pretty good judging from the crowd. Thus, we decided to have chicken rice for lunch instead of western fare at Mr Punch.

We ordered the chicken set for 2, around $13.50 which come with a plate of veggie and also Tofu in Thai sauce. The food was served to us almost immediately after we placed our order. Get your cash ready as they will expect you to pay first once the food is being served to you.The plate of chicken didn't disappoint, very tender and went well with the chili.

We ordered a plate of innards ($2). However, I only like eat the liver and not the other parts.

When you are at TCC, one dessert that you shouldn't miss is the "Dark Devotion". There was once, when I dined at TCC with my 2 other friends, all 3 of us love their signature "Dark Devotion" dessert and we actually ordered 3 sets of the same dessert! We love to see how the chocolate oozes out as we "poked" the cake.For this visit, I went with my hubby. Being a carnivore, he ordered the steak which was done really nicely! The presentation was good too! I ordered baked rice, but it was a bit disappointing.

After our lunch at JaneThai, we walked over to their neighbour - BLIC for some yummy ice-cream!So many difference choices of ice-cream here and I had a hard time choosing what I wanted!My brother had the "Durian King" in cone and I think he was quite happy with his choice.Hubby and I shared 1 scoop of Bailey's and 1 scoop of Durian King in a cup.Overall, I was happy to be here to enjoy ice-cream with my family to celebrate my birthday.

For more photos, please visit my blog at:
http://ylyn-journal.blogspot.sg/2012/11/my-simple-birthday-celebration-with-my.html

What is your first meal for the year 2013? Ours was a Bak Kut Teh meal at Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha. As we drove into the carpark around noon on New Year Day, it seemed that most of the shops and even the coffeshops next to it were all closed. Surprisingly, after we had parked our car and walked up the stairs, we could see that Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha coffeeshop was bustling with lots of people! Service was rather slow on that day as the place was overly-crowded.

The you tiao (fried dough sticks) had improved in terms of the crunchiness since the last time we were here. If I remember correctly, their you tiao used to be too soft without the crunch.Braised intestines - One of my favourite dishes that I would order everytime I am here.My bowl of Bak Kut Teh (Lean Meat). The bowl was rather small but you can ask for free refill of the soup. I felt that the soup was peppery hot but quite salty. However, it was good that we didn't feel thirsty after gulping 2 bowls of soup.

I had a gathering with my secondary school buddies last Sunday. Due to our hectic schedule, we only got together to meet up twice this year, excluding our secondary school 20th year mass reunion. We could only lament that time really flies, another year had passed by so fast. As all of us stay in the East, with 3 of them staying in Bedok, we decided to meet up at To-gather Cafe, which is strategically located at Bedok heartland. I called in to make reservation for 5 of us as I had seen queues outside the cafe on two occasions when I was around the area with my hubby. You could request for post-it from them to do some doodle or write some motivational quotes and stick them to a designated part of the wall.One of my friends decided to bring her two kids along and fortuately, there was a small play corner (just behind our table) for them while the five of us had our food and conversations over the small cozy table at one end of the cafe.Like many other cafes, we had to go over to the counter to order and pay for our food first. No service charge and GST here. My friends ordered a plate of Mexican Quesadilla ($6.50) to share - Tortilla with grilled chicken slices, sautee mixed bell peppers, mozzarella cheese and fresh tomato salsa. Roasted Hazelnut Latte ($4.40) I was the only one ordering a main as the rest of them had lunch already. I ordered Grilled Pandan Chicken Chop, served with light coconut sauce, pineapple salsa, fries and salad. ($8.90) The chicken chop was tender and for this price tag, I got nothing to complain. I had been warned by my cousin and friends that their Matcha Lava Cake was very sweet. However, I wanted to try for myself as I thought this was one of their signatures, after looking at so many of their matcha lava cakes on instagram. True enough, the matcha was really far too sweet. My friend and I couldn't finish it off! Overall, I find the cafe a nice cozy place to chill with friends. We spent two and a half hours at the cafe catching up and spending quality time with one another. Looking forward to our next meet-up. Another cafe? Probably.