Carpenter and Cook

Hi All! Tiffany here! It's my first time blogging for that feeling and frankly, I'm feeling a little jittery cause it's been ages since the last time I blogged properly.

Here goes!

You might have noticed that quite a good number of boutique cafes and brunch places has been popping up all over the island in recent years. Admit it, we all have a knack at complain how boring Singapore is - how there's nowhere to go, how the cafes are not as nice as everywhere else in the world dadada things like that. Now, there's no excuse to grumble anymore, not when we're seeing the rise of independent stores and cafes! A cafe culture is brewing right underneath our noses and I love it!

Carpenter & Cook is a relatively new addition to the growing list of cafes here and it screams two things - England and Vintage. The sheer amount of effort put into the decoration creates a wonderful homely atmosphere perfect for tea for two, or a group. Elaborate tea china sets, old typewriters, home wares and rustic wooden cabinets, I'm tempted to say that this place is quintessentially old school LDN. I really do appreciate how the owners go round talking to their patrons about their experiences in England and what inspired them to open the cafe. Really nice.

Home made tarts! Do try the lemon tart when you're there! It's mmm-perfecto! I gobbled it up before I could take a picture. 

If you're a a fellow Westie (high-five!), you would know the pains of finding somewhere decent to go apart from Holland Village here in ulu West. (Yes East-siders, don't laugh). Located at Lorong Kilat, it's relatively near to Bukit Batok and Bukit Timah. Hop on bus 74, or 174 and you're on your way!

Carpenter and Cook

19 Lorong Kilat #01-06 Singapore 598120

Tel: 6463 3648

My current favourite accessories?

I'm not such a big fan of accessories. I do more than occasionally find myself buying pretty little trinkets but I hardly do wear them (which is a waste of money). However, one accessory is quite essential every time I head out – my shades. I have photo-sensitivity and if I'm not careful, bright afternoon light mostly give me a headache that lasts through the day. Wearing shades help me with this!

My Ray Ban... knockoffs. HAHA. Ok I know I shouldn't be supporting the imitation industry and all that but I had sort of an excuse to get it. I bought it during my Ho Chi Minh trip. The sun was blaring and everything was sort of bright and irritating. Vietnamese selling racks of knockoffs are EVERYWHERE and I just got one in the popular market in the city centre. I got it for 60,000 dong (S$3).

I was looking for a pair of tortoise shell shades but not necessarily branded. A no brand was fine too but I didn't come across one, sadly.  Quality-wise, it's good. It feels well made and quite sturdy. Best buy in HCM.

Next up, a classic Casio watch. I have gotten this watch from Amazon.com. It's just the simplest, casual yet elegant time-telling device you can have, what's more, it's affordable.
Before settling for this watch, I was very extremely tempted to purchase a Nixon Kensington watch in Taupe. It was sold out everywhere, and rather pricey. I guess I made a fairly good decision (the Casio is 1/10 of the price).

Last but not least is these pair of ear studs from Forever21. They are simple with a tinge of sophistication, a perfect match to omph up a casual outfit or to pair with a dressier one. I'm no fashionista, so this kind of simple ear accessory is kinda the fail-proof ones I dare wear. They cost S$5, which I think is quite fair for this pair. Perhaps it's time to stop being lazy and wear more ear studs/earrings! :)



As you can see I'm not so much of an accessories kinda girl, probably because I'm so lazy, and forgetful (I misplace a lot of my stuff). Heh, nonetheless I'm gonna try to wear them more often.

Cheers,
HL

Let us lead a psuedo tai-tai life.

School holidays are ending in less than a week and we decide to have a nice treat before our final year commences. Our original plan was to head over to the 'shopping centre' at Serangoon Gardens for a good lunch at Relish. Unfortunately, they were closed for a private event, leaving us quite disappointed and briefly astray.

It was quickly decided that we were having our lunch at Sushi Tei.

 

The usual company of Alan with guest of the day, Jo.

They were having a lunch combo promotion where sides are offered at a lower price with a main dish of your choice. We were offered the counter seats but we quickly declined and asked for a place upstairs. It took us quite a while to head upstairs and to our surprise, there was...nobody. Why take so long lah!

We had our shoes removed and kept in the cabinets and acted all ninja-assassin around the place. Hi-yah~!

Food.

This was a little disappointing. The soft shell crab was already cold and pretty much not crispy anymore. I had a much much better experience at the Raffles City outlet.

The squid tempura though, is another story. It was freshly prepared and toooo yummmyyyyy. Fried food and mayo perfection.

 

The Sashimi salad (sushi tei dressing) is one of the dishes we always order. Thank goodness it comes in a small size as a side to our ramen (normal and not impressive)! Love it. A downside to this dish though, is it leaves a strong garlic smell/taste in your mouth for a long time....

We had a great time catching up, making fools of ourselves and well, having a great time!

Regrettably it could have been a much tastier meal, and Relish has been reschedule... They better not close for an event again huh!

Ciao,
HL

The U Cafe

Last Monday, Tiffany and I ventured to one of the more forgotten places in Singapore – Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. As a non-functioning station, it started holding many mini exhibitions and nostalgic old-time shops. This August, The U Cafe makes an appearance for a short two weeks. A close collaboration to the Underscore Magazine, it showcases great magazines from around the world, good coffee and an amazing atmosphere.

 

It was our first time at the defunct railway station and we began snapping away. Had the luck to capture a couple of nice photos of Tiffany taking photos! 

Tiffany taking photos

One of the magazines

Old school sweets and biscuits

The exhibition is from 1-12 August so go visit if you have the extra time! 

 

Comparison: Skinny Jeans, Bad to the Bronze and Morning Frost

Today's post is rather interesting. It is the comparison between three cream eyeshadows, two of which are popular products in the makeupsphere. The contenders consist of: Benefits – Skinny Jeans, Maybelline – Bad to the Bronze and MAC – Morning Frost.

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC)

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC)

Skinny Jeans is a taupe colour with a hint of green. It has a creamy creamy texture and payoff is excellent! It is priced at S$33 and I got it at Tangs Orchard. This cream shadow is good on itself for a wash of colour or can be built up into a smokey eye. One thing that bugs me about this product is the smell. I'm not sure if it smells the same across all other cream shadows from Benefit but boy does it smell wonky.

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC)

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC) with flash

Bad to the bronze is from a series of gorgeous cream eyeshadows from Maybelline. Their 24hr Color Tattoo eye colours are really hot everywhere and I can see why. Texture and payoff wise it is creamy and easily buildable. The bronze is not overly bronze (less yellow). I can't say that it will stay for 24hrs but with a good primer, this would work fairly well and not crease.

Morning Frost paintpot from MAC is a pretty colour. It is a soft champagne pink that is great for a wash of colour on the lids, and as a base for your eyeshadows to stick on. However, it was rather difficult for me to get more product out as it was a little bit dry. This was also the case with another popular paintpot, Bare Study. Payoff is much lesser than the other two and has a more noticable sheen, perhaps because of the light colour.

Price wise, the Benefit and MAC ones were close and the Maybelline one was of course much more affordable. For the quality and payoff from the Maybelline Bed to the Bronze, I'm eager to try out many other neutral day to day colours!


Thanks for reading!

:)