On Saturdays when I don’t trudge down to the gym in the morning, I like to sleep in. It usually goes like this: I’d sleep till way past noon, only to be woken by the boyf’s part astonished, part indulgent voice.
“Wake up,” he’d say.
“Mmmm,” I’d mumble before hanging up the phone and going back to bed.
It would be a long time before I finally rouse myself from my bed, by which time, breakfast for me would be a complete misnomer. I’d read the newspapers, laze around and generally bask in the unproductivity of it all. And then, the boyf would call and ask about our plans for the day and neither of us would have a clue. Usually, we would arrange to meet at a certain time (usually after 5pm) and then decide in the car.
Saturday was no different, except that we were going to check out Bar Bar Black Sheep! It’s a laidback eatery along Bukit Timah Road that my ex-colleagues had raved about months ago. The place is really chill – sitting on wooden benches out in the open, we were left to the mercies of the gods. Thankfully, the weather held up. It was breezy and cool, with surprisingly no sign of the humidity that defines our climate. After a few spots of bad luck involving the lack of money and wrong directions, we decided to just order everything we fancied as a special treat for ourselves.
The North Indian food was ab-fab! We had the butter chicken, chicken kebab, mutton masala and mixed vegetables cooked in butter and cream (artery-clogging stuff, basically) and everything, EVERYTHING tasted great. The gravies tasted light on the palate. The cream and butter were not cloying and the meat was tender and juicy. Even the papadam had only a gentle hint of bitterness and was subtly crisp.
The homemade beef burger from the Western stall (Smok’inn Frogz?) was good but paled slightly in comparison to the sheer genius of the Indian cuisine. The beef patty had bite and texture, but was a tad tough to chew.
And the beer! It was only $10 for a pint of my beloved Hoegaarden. 10 bucks! A pint! It felt decadent and indulgent, the delicious beer sloshing down my throat and inducing a heady wave of intoxication in my already delighted senses.
We sat around and talked till the skies darkened around us about everything and nothing. We had nowhere to go, no place to rush to, no plans and we could sit there for hours if we wanted to. I was happy, and stuffed.
On a whim though, we decided to head to the Singapore Flyer. See, things like cable cars and ferris wheels appeal to me and I was super excited that it’s finally in operation! We entered the carpark linked to the big wheel, had the shock of our lives discovering that it would cost us $1.20 per half hour and promptly drove straight out. Ultimately, we did end up at the Singapore Flyer (but not taking a ride), filling our stomachs with yummy gelato.
And it was really a perfect date, even though it wasn’t elaborately planned. Good company, good food, good weather, lots of loving and laughter – it’s all very simple, really. 🙂
Yannisms 