Durian Snow Skin Mooncake

Its the time of the month again, the mooncake festival month. Last year, Jolly Rosa introduced the mooncakes and also played with lanterns. You can see the previous mooncake festival post here:

Mid-Autumn Festival 2012 (Lantern edition)

Mid-Autumn Festival 2012 (Mooncake edition)

This year, Jolly Rosa is having Durian snow skin mooncake from Shangrila!

 Here's a look at the delicious shangrila durian snow skin mooncake.

The Shangrila Durian Snow Skin mooncake came in a very unique purple box.

It has flower embroidery on the box, making it look posh and classy.

Shangrila durian snow skin mooncakes are freshly made, hence it must be consumed within 3 days and kept refrigerated always.

Upon opening the cover, you can find 8 nicely packed little boxes.

Each box contains the mini durian snow skin mooncake in a classy plastic container.

Jolly Rosa cannot wait to get her hands on the durian snow skin mooncake.

As widely known, Goodwood Park's durian snow skin mooncakes are legendary.

However we have decided to go for the Shangrila durian snow skin, so we got the double egg yolk lotus paste mooncakes from Goodwood Park.

The double yolk lotus paste mooncake from Goodwood Park is not worth trying though.

The Shangrila Durian snow skin mooncake on the other hand, highly recommended!

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

 

 NICI-Mania team just got back from the SingTel Galaxy Note 3 launch event at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, B2 Hall E.

Look what we came back with!

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A brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 3!

We love the "go-green" using recycled paper theme of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The box is absolutely gorgeous.

The main attraction of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the 5.7inch full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels super AMOLED touchscreen that has pixel density 386ppi compared to the Apple iPhone 5s 1136 x 640 pixels 326ppi.

In simple words, you get a much better and bigger screen with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 compared to the also newly launched iPhone 5s.

p.s. Notice the NICI Pirates wallpaper on the Galaxy Note 3 (^_^)

The back cover of the Galaxy Note 3, now spots a nice faux leather instead of the usual plastic offering from all the other Samsung Galaxy model phones.

Let's start unboxing the Samsung Galaxy Note 3!

 

The quick start guide and all the papers inside printed on recycled paper. Everything except for the warranty card.

 All the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 accessories packed into the petite small box.

 The Galaxy Note 3 in-ear headset with volume control. Something you don't find on our previous Samsung Galaxy S2 headset.

We noticed an interesting thing with the Galaxy Note 3 battery charger.

It looks really weird and the usb port is on the right side of the charger. Why can't they just make it like the usual Apple iPhones charger. Small and compact.

Another thing to note, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 flat usb cable looks slightly different from the usual android phone's usb cable. We are still clueless why is it different. However you can still use the normal usb cable (in blue colour) to plug into the Note 3.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 "unique"usb cable plugged into the phone.

This packet of... hmm...

Let's have a look at the phone

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is 5.7-inch. It has the most beautiful screen ever seen on a mobile device. Although it has the same full HD resolution as the Sony Xperia Z Ultra (that monstrosity of almost a 7inch device), the smaller 5.7-inch gives the phone higher pixel density.

The notification bar on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 can be expanded to show a ton of options.

The Galaxy Note 3 calendar, they call it the S-Planner where you can use your S Pen to write or draw on the calendar.

Speaking of which, the cool feature of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the S Pen. It introduces a whole new world of possibilities to the Note 3, something we will explore later on.

Apparently, Samsung has been listening to the end users (that is us). They have now included the "Assistive Light" which turns on the flashlight on the back of the Galaxy Note 3 by just touching on the icon. You no longer need to download the app to have this feature.

Samsung have also also added the "Assistive Touch", the white colour window looking box below the assistive light. It has the ability to let you go to the home screen without pressing the physical "home" button. However on the Note 3, the assistive touch is highly customizable, something they took from the Apple iPhones and made it better.

 The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 flashlight in action!

One of our most frequently accessed feature, the Alarm Clock can now be placed on the home screen. Now you no longer need to go into the alarm app to turn on/off the alarm. You can simply turn it on/off directly on the home screen. That is something iPhones can never do, as you cannot customize your iPhone home screen.

Jolly Rosa having fun with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S Pen. We are still figuring out how to use it. After we do, we will do a more detailed Galaxy Note 3 review.

We loved our new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone and Jolly Rosa couldn't agree more!

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 that replaced our Samsung Galaxy S2.

no menu Italian Restaurant

Welcome to no menu Italian Restaurant. One of the best Italian restaurant in Singapore.

no menu Italian Restaurant in fact.... has a menu! However all the dishes are written in Italian.

 We brought Jolly Mah to no menu Italian restaurant today! What a lucky sheep!

If you are not familiar with what Italian dishes to order, look for the friendly waitress at no menu and they will provide their optimum services to recommend you their Osvaldo Forlino family's traditional Italian delicacies.

For starters, we got ourselves a whole Burrata cheese. Burrata is fresh Italian cheese, made from Mozzarella and cream, recommended by the friendly staff at no menu.

Then we got the Serrano smoked ham, strongly recommended by the no menu staff.

Some yummy bread to go with the Burrata cheese.

One mouthful of the Burrata cheese and the bread is a series of delightful explosions in the mouth. After the cheese, bread & smoked ham, we were already half full at no menu and those were just starters.

How can Italian food go without some wine!

We got ourselves a bottle of Chianti Antinori. Goes well with the pasta, white meat and red meat we ordered.

no menu - Pellegrino. This is an Italian brand of sparkling water

no menu - Clams in white wine sauce

The long waiting time at no menu restaurant is of no surprise for an Italian restaurant.

Finally our main dishes are here. First up is the T-Bone steak recommended by the no menu staff. It was a huge portion but they helped us cut it into many slices in 2 plates.

We forgot to mention to the waitress how we want the steak to be done. It came almost medium rare and we were very pleased with how it was perfectly cooked.

no menu - Spaghetti Gamberi (Italian Prawns Spaghetti)

no menu - Porcini Mushroom

no menu - Squid ink pasta

no menu - Saffron Risotto

While we waited for the bill, the waitress served us the Meringue with Ricotta cream. It is a perfect finale to our sumptuous Italian meal at no menu.

Total bill at no menu came at a pristine cost. However it was well worth the money to pamper your stomach with Italian food.

no menu (Italian restaurant)
21 / 23 Boon Tat Street,
Singapore 069621
Tel: +65 6224 0091
Fax: +65 6423 1339

no menu is currently expanding and they are opening a new no menu BAR right beside the existing no menu bar along Boon Tat street.

no menu BAR will be catering for the lunch crowd at the busy business district with slightly affordable price hopefully.

**latest update: no menu bar will be opening end August.