all things fancy

Trip to Little India

Posted on 16 May 2010 | No responses

I am in Singapore for a month traveling on business and I got to explore for a little bit of  Little India neighborhood/area on Saturday.  It is a drastic difference from the Orchard area of endless retail stores and grand shopping malls.  Little India is rich with colour, you can smell incense and I loved walking by the garlands of jasmine and flower stalls.  There are numerous stores to buy saris, 18 karat gold jewelry,  Indian furniture, low key out door Indian and Thai restaurants.

The strangest thing I noticed here is the abundant amount of 7 Eleven stores.  They are like Starbucks in Seattle or NY, you can find one on each corner of the streets.  Its good to know I can get my slurpee fix in the middle of  Litte India or any where in Singapore in general.

The Top 50 Best Restaurants 1-50 | The World’s 50 Best Restaurants

Posted on 26 April 2010 | No responses

The official list of the world\'s 50 best restaurant awarded from around the world.

via The Top 50 Best Restaurants 1-50 | The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

academy nominated films 2010

Posted on 7 March 2010 | No responses

This year I’ve surprisingly seen a few of the films nominated for Best Picture of 2010.

I’ve seen the following:

1. The Hurt Locker – unexpectedly loved it
2. Inglourious Basterds - solid, entertaining
3. An Education – enjoyed but expected to LOVE it
4. District 9 – surprisingly really liked it
5. Avatar – liked it
6. Up – goddamn tear jerker, great sweet film

I had reservations seeing The Hurt Locker, another middle east war film, I thought.  It’s too close to home, my younger brother, Robert  D Rauch, served in Iraq and came home with a Purple Heart. So needless to say, I have a realistic view of what the troops go through on a daily basis on the front lines enduring mentally, emotionally and physically; while we sit in our offices and take Starbucks breaks.

I loved the film, its brilliant, intense, real and raw. I hope for a sleeper indie film it helps illustrates what the military go through and what it takes to serve the US.

That aside…. its hard to compare Avatar. The 2 films are so complex and different. James Cameron delivers an entertaining, rich and beautiful film pushing the realms of technology.  The experiences are so unique.

I always go for the underdogs and I hope James Cameron’s ex wife, Kathryn Bigelow ends up a winner at the Oscar’s. She’s done an amazing job already with 9 nominations for the film.

spring fever mix

Posted on 7 March 2010 | No responses

Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2010 Womenswear

Posted on 23 February 2010 | No responses

My friend Martin works for Burberry UK and shared the link for the live streaming coverage from backstage.  February 23, 2010.   The Autumn/Winter collection is beautiful and feminine.

I am also loving their current collection of hte updated Trench for the Spring/Summer 2010, (the muted tones )and the amazing “Reef Knot” dress in washed silk chiffon.

Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2010 Womenswear

2009 cinematic achievements

Posted on 25 December 2009 | No responses

I recognized almost all of the brief images even though I have only seen roughly 10 + of the films of 2009.  For cinema lovers, this is a visual feast of clips that recap of 2009 =342 films = 1 year of production into 7 minutes edited by Kees Van Dijkhuizen.

My list of to watch in theatres:  Bright Star, Nine (I love Daniel Day Lewis), Sherlock Holmes, Young Victorian, Fantastic Mr Fox, Avatar

Netflix list: You The Living, Everlasting Moments, Silent Light, Sin Nombre, Public Enemies, Inglourious Bastards, Up In the Air, Up, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Where The Wild Things Are, District 9, Terminator Salvation, New York I Love You, Men Who Stare At Goats

Most memorable: An Education,  Paris, 500 Days of Summer,  The Hangover, Away We Go, Coco Avant Chanel, Cheri

Visualy disturbing and stuck in my head: Antichrist

the breslin & ace hotel

Posted on 10 December 2009 | No responses

i tell myself this all the time, “everything is going to be alright.”  the steps to WC in ace hotel.

my friends and i had lunch for the first time at the breslin, thanksgiving weekend so the hotel was fairly quiet.  we’ve been drinking in the ace hotel most of the time.  its a huge space that is comfy and cozy, with seating and sofas to lounge on while drinking the day away.  this is what we ordered for 3 people, they had just opened the day before for dinner:

rounds of drinks, ordered pork scratchings (sold out) thrice cooked chips (delicious), small terrine board of guinea fowl w/morels, rustic pork, rabbit & prune, head cheese (was my favorite),  they only give you 2 slices of wonderfully grilled bread so we kept asking for more.  note, they are stingy with the bread and takes forever. (i love french bistros because you never have to ask for more bred). oven baked 3 cheese sandwhich (damn good grilled cheese, velvety, gooey, crunchy goodness), lamb burger, and chargrilled beef tongue sandwich (very good).

we slowly moved from the restaurant to the hotel bar and literally i could have fallen a sleep from the heavy lunch but tried to cure it with more vodka. i went home feeling like an over stuffed cow puffed up  with salt and fat.

dan and i went back for dinner recently.  i don’t know if i need to go back, the menu is just so heavy.  i was trying to be healthy this time and ordered the cesear salad (the only healthy thing on the menu).  it’s really a nice salad with anchovies.  dan had the egg wrapped in sausage and then fried (heavy, tastey and just rich). dan loved it.  dan talked me into the smoked pork belly and mashes potatoes.  the potatoes were perfectly light, buttery and smooth.  the pork belly was a lot of fat and i was fine with just a small slice.  the girls sitting next to us had the stuffed pig’s foot, grand looking to the eye but once cut into, looked unappealing.  i had to go home and pass out once again, not from the cocktails.

breslin… thrice fried chips.

ace hotel and bar, is great during week nights.

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