ideas

Thank you all for the condolences and care. I'm okay, no worries :)

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I've always talk about having my own restaurant or cafe or both haha..and these are some ideas i've seen along the way that i'd loveee in my lil place next time :)

First and foremost,

The interior setup and choice of crockeries are the fundamental elements that make the place and give it its distinctive edge. The kind of feel it evokes in a new potential customer as he/she steps in either

a) makes him/her cringe and head out (worst possible scenario, in which case i should just close shop and sit in a corner and cry)

b) comfortable enough to linger for a coffee or meal (on my way to repaying those mounting bills incurred)

c) thinking already of the next time who he/she shall bring here for a nice lil chit chatty over coffee (ka-chink $$$...of cause the food/coffee has to be at least of reasonable standard, of which i can assure you, will be in My place :) )

well...my first lil cafe will be comfy with a quirky arty edge. Nothing too posh or outlandish in appearance, just a small simple charm-y place tucked in a corner of a street. As you push through the doors, you'll be greeted and lulled by the sheer electric buzz in the air, the aroma of coffee, steam milk and slight charred smell of a toastie in the oven heating up. I went to a perfect lil place i wanna call mine today, it's moulded exactly how i wanna it (just not the name perhaps) :)

Brother Baba Budan Cafe

Simple lighting, loads of natural light, quirky yet endearing design. i'm enthralled and excited and captivated by this lil cafe. i so love the hanging chairs and shelves and cabinets. Definitely making this my coffee hunt in the city (besides Mr Tulk), worth every distance travelled to get there.

Speaking of crockery, this latte set (from Map cafe) totally grabs me. I mean, such a simple idea yet so elegant and effective. It's like a lil surprise you discover as you sip your latte. Well, at least for me, maybe i'm just easily excited haha.

We made vongole for dinner a couple of days back during Good Friday but because it was Good Friday and the supermarkets were closed and we ran out of linguini at home (shame on the italian haha) and we already had the clams and wine bought and are all psyched up for vongole, we returned to the basics and what we do best: making pasta from scratch. Plenty of practise ala Colosseum from last semester as one fondly remembers.

See the clothes hangers used to dry the pasta? When i have my lil restaurant (i'm thinking authentic italian food because i'm going to rock at that hah), the chef will make fresh pasta and hang them just like how we did in our kitchen. Half open kitchen concept with a woody counter at the dining floor, all white and messy with flour plus a wood fired oven nearby and my chef rolling out pizza base or linguini and hanging them on the hangers behind before sending into the kitchen for that perfect carbonara, Just Like Mummy's. Yoks! The look of the place will be old world charms (much like my cafe), quaint and nostalgic of days spent in the kitchen with your gran (i was thinking of housemate rolling out pasta with his gran during his childhood).

:)

Just to end off, we totally mastered the art of making al dente pasta if i would say so myself.

Pat on shoulder.

Beams.