missing musee dorsay & tasting guy savoy!

had originally applied for leave on fri as the elder son's childcare would be closed for spring cleaning and i meant to take care of him myself on that day.
but he mentioned wanting to stay overnight at my mum's place and she actually agreed despite having to take care of YR from tue to thurs!
SO! the husband took leave on the same day so that we can have a proper date with just each other since both the boys have caretakers for the whole day till evening time!
for the first time, we can dine out at nice restaurants without the boys! haha.

so we started planning our activities 1-2 days before the day:
first thing in the morning, we went to run errands. @_@
our car was due for servicing so we drove it to the service centre after our MIL reached our place to take care of YR for the day.
luckily, leng kee is near our place and there were few people at the centre on a friday morning.
we were out in 20mins time, thankfully.

next stop, cabbed to plaza sing to collect our tickets from sistic.


looking not as fresh as we wanted. haha.

so where are we going?!


tada! to the dreams & reality impressionism exhibition @ national museum of singapore

hubbi and me have been to musee dorsay all the wayyy back in 2003!
it was our first time being exposed to impressionism and i remembered the boyfriend then getting more excited over impressionism works than those classic renaissance pieces by the grandmasters (ie da vinci, botticelli, caravaggio etc). @_@
so, we were both really glad to revisit some of the art works here in singapore again!
though the husband's interest fizzled out real quick DESPITE the 140+ works only being exhibited here. duh!
he was sitting down here and there as we walked through the different sections...... *rolled eyes*

let's take a look at some of more interesting pieces being exhibited here (at least to me..):

one of my favourite artists from impressionism - edgar degas
he was quite popular for his female dancers works. i remember some excellent pieces seen in the thyssen-bornemisza museum in madrid when we were there in 2009.

i like his works - he has a knack of capturing the fluidity of movement in his works.
sadly, there is only 1 piece of his work in the exhibition this time round.

hubbi and i both agreed that impressionist works are best seen from afar.
somehow, the realism is enhanced when you approach the works from a distance.
its really amazing how the seemingly bold careless broad strokes from close-up can translate to such realism of the art pieces from a distance.

some examples:

a well-excuted piece by monet. the couch takes the limelight for this painting, if you ask me.

on closer look, the couch is just made up of some blurred, blotchy patterns. LOL

ooh, ah long's fav for the exhibition. he can even accurately decipher that its night-time for this seaside painting.
hahah, maybe i've underestimated him!
ahh, the waves look so real and you can almost visualise the movement of the waves.

close-up: the waves are just dabbed on in thick strokes of white paint... zzz.

ending with van gogh's starry night over the rhone, undoubtedly the hightlight for the exhibition.
though im rarely a fan of his works. they always give me a psychedelic feel, dont ask me why!
not unlike the scream from edvard munch.... haha.

sigh, i miss paris...
oh well, back to reality. it was lunch time when we left the exhibition.
time to scout for a light lunch since we've something quite heavy planned for dinner.

lunch was at novus at NMS. we share a hearty classic all day breakfast between us and some desserts.
i highly recommended their desserts. quite reasonable at $12 for 3!
and the sizes are just right to be shared with others. :)

we had raspberry meringue, chocolate mousse (which is interestinly graduated from milk to dark chocolate!) and lemon tart. *yummeh*

went window shopping with the husband at orchard road.
bimba and lola was having 50% sale storewide so i bought some bangles at a good price!
and i finally managed to find a specs frame which design i like and fit my flat face to a T after scouring many optical shops from lucky plaza till ion!
placed a deposit to secure the frames so i can come back at a later date to test my eyes' power for the prescriptive lenses. :)

as usual, window shopping with ah long on watches never fail to impress me (the only area he can do so with ease, LOL).
learnt another one or two interesting facts about certain watch features and i discovered another choice for my next watch! *wee*
though the husband said im just a copy cat of him. pui.

we reached MBS too late, i just realised more shops are opened there now and i could've spend more time shopping there. :(
well well, there is always next time since i worked so nearby right? ok, new venue for lunchtime shopping.
window shopping, that is! haha.

we were decidedly excited with our dinner venue - guy savoy @ MBS!
this would never be our preferred dining choice given the steep price, michelin stars or not!
BUT, with the reward i just got from work, i was able to treat hubbi to a fine dining experience. :)
we opted for the cheapest (still crazily ex!) set menu - TGV which came with an appetiser, 2 main courses and desserts.
but we soon find out there are alot of "complimentary" dishes from the chef....
anyway, the TGV menu changes everyday so you won;t know whats on it till the day itself.
and so, we started our meal with no inkling what will be served to us. cos not like we can dislike the menu and opt for other more expensive set menus! wahaha.

i try my best to recall what we had...
1) a bite size foie gras with toast (above left)- to me, the taste is exquisite but ah long found it akin to ya kun kaya toast. zzzz.
2) a bite size hand-made waffle with parmesan cheese melted on it - soft, warm and very good.
3) free-flow bread with salted and unsalted butter (to choose from) - good but not the best. we made the right choice of eating half of what was offered.
4) Palate cleanser - a small drink made of carrot, orange juice with some bits in them (i miss out bits of what the waiter was raving to me...haha)
5) appetiser is........ chestnut (gao lat! LOL). its 3 chestnuts on top of a chestnut pudding swimming in a plate of foamy chestnut sauce. it was very good but the asian in us were thinking about how cheap the cost is!!! but i think credit must be given to the chef for a basic ingredient like chestnut to something so delectable, esp the pudding.
6) 1st main dish is cod fish (above right) - its one of the best ive tasted in my life though i do think forlino's one is slightly better.
7) another complimentary dish - a bite size meringue with orange syrup in it (this is fantastic!) and a shot glass of slanted 3 layers - calamansi syrup (if i didnt hear wrongly), hazelnut jelly, hazelnut mousse. very interesting presentation.
8) 2nd main dish - game bird. by that, its a pie with truffle and foie gras added to it. the meat in it was made up of pigeon, quail and duck.....
again, the dish was nice but we were getting rather stuffed by then and the husband kept insisting he cant taste any truffle nor foie gras in it. again, i felt happy that im not paying the full price of this meal. hahah.
9) desserts was dark chocolate cake - nothing too special
10) *surprise* the waiters pushed out a trolley full of desserts and ask us to choose! (below)
misunderstanding our question on how many different types we can choose, they said up to 3/4 pieces for each type!! haha SIAO! how to eat when our tummies were already bursting at the seams!
still, we chose 9 different desserts (thank god for their bite sizes) and managed to finish them somehow.
11) AND, when we thought its all over, they presented us with the last palate cleanser for the night - earl grey sorbet which was totally refreshing and light.

it was really a wonderful experience overall despite the rather hefty $180++ per pax.

the food was actually very good, the service was excellent as well (though im still not v used to waiters "introducing" the food to us each time they served us - that will be 11 times for this dinner!) though ambience is so-so to be truthful.
when we looked back at what we've eaten, we noted that we have the opportunity to try a good variety of food. also, the food was prepared in a different way from most restaurants.

i guess, thats how guy savoy earned their stars for their paris/las vegas restaurants.

thumbs up for the experience! :)

i had the most lovely day/evening with the husband.
until he kept whining at night when he stepped up on the scales.... haha.