X’mas Mah-jong/ UNO Stacko/ Shepard’s Pie / VCD / Wine Session

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After a sumptuous Chinese a-la-cart buffet lunch at Royal Park Plaza on Coleman Street, we adjourned to my place for some fun activities. Mah-jong was the first activity and I must say that the luck was on my wife’s side, continuously getting “zi-mo” and winning in 2 doubles, it must be the feng shui in my house assisting us. Unfortunately, (guess what ! ) they were all just playing for fun laughter peace and joy (which is not bad), but guess my brain cells were wasted in such a futile event with the 4 potential tai-tais…

Following that was the more exciting UNO stacko, for those who do not remember it is similar to Jenga, except that the brick that you take out is stipulated by the roll of the dice. Grachiam upped the ante early in the game by putting the whole stack precariously on a single brick. The exciting feature of UNO is that there is “reverse” and “draw two” on the dice and J.Lim was saboed by her husband twice with the reversal…jolly good fun and laughter. Finally Ms Poh was the unlucky one who toppled the stack and had to drink a whole glass of water as a forfeit.

Here I am concentrating on the stack…

The champagne that K.T. brought was very light and buttery, and refreshing to taste. Here she is very proud of the bottle of champagne which she brought, but I had to pop it open. The opening came with a loud pop and I hope I did not disturb the peace in the neighbourhood. The champagne was an excellent companion to the pork Shepard’s Pie I helped my mom make. The savoury buttery potato mash blended well with the refreshness of the champagne. We finished the bottle easily and had a fantastic time – watching fantastic four as well….super corny….thanks to J.Lim for the wine and chocs and K.T. for the champagne..Big grin to promote the champange

Wine Fair at Carrefour Plaza Singapura

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There was another fantastic wine fair by-invitation-only-wine-tasting at Carrefour Plaza Singapura on Thursday 22nd of Dec. But it was really a chore going down to the place...jam jam jam for the weekend just before X'mas..

The fair was a tad bit smaller than the regular ones which are held, probably due to the fact that there was a X'mas stage occupying the part of the regular space. Smaller number of French wines were available for tasting as well and they were mostly for the festive season such as sparkling ones...

Rachel, CK & wife, KT joined us for the session...and thankfully there were very nice sweet wines from Greek and Sauternes to lift up the spirits.
KT got a little tipsy over the pink champagne, all the bubbles assisted the diffusion on alcohol into her bloodstream and had a healthy red glow on her face as she was leaving. She was also so full with all the nice appetizers (e.g. gralic cream spread on toast and Hawaiian pizza) that her fav Thai Express had to be foregone..

The following SMS correspondence :
Quote
DesDragon - You back ok?
KT - Reaching soon..didn't realise todays wines so potent . Greedy KT! Now you can write on ur blog how KT got tipsy at the CF winefair! Loser right!
KT - And she forgot her umbrella some more. [left it with me]
Unquote

Since I am so uncreative, I just narrated out our SMS correspondence... and also based on normalised typed letters per SMS, I think KT gets a better deal with her telco than me.

Wine Entry : Chateau de Maller Haut Medoc 1996 (French)

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Got this wine probably from DFS, again I think I kept it too long, such that the cork disintegrated again and it was the use of the sieve again and then into a decanter. Typically French with a garnet brick red colour due to the aging.

Smell : Blackcurrant early-flora with some scents of chocolate and cocoa.

Taste : Complex but smooth with hardly any tannins. Little fruit with spicy ending.

After Taste : Short finish with slight tannis at the end.

Wine Entry : Baron Philippe De Rothschild Sauternes 2000 (French)

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You will not believe how much I bought this bottle of wine for only! ONLY TWELVE DOLLARS for a sweet Sauternes desert wine 750 ml ! (For the uninitiated a bottle of Sauternes Château D’Yquem costs six hundred dollars! ). The bottle is from Carrefour Plaza Singapura amd unlikely that there is anymore. Found a whole stack of the wine in the cold room of the wine section last Sat and immediately smelt a good deal when I saw it printed as clearance stock.

But as I was rushing for a movie, I had to come back later for the wine. After the movie, you can imagine my surprise when I went back to the same place but all the bottles of wine were Gone! I frantically asked for help from the store personnel and they were very helpful, and found a half-case of the wine hidden below. Actually the wine was meant to be a free gift attached to a package, but guess they had surplus, and was not actually to be sold as it had no bar code. I found out that a Caucasian gentleman was one step before me grabbed most of the wine, confirming my suspicion that it was an excellent deal. The wine is a bright golden straw colour very appealing to the eye.

Smell : Lemon-lychee with scent of freshly baked cinnamon sugar buns.

Taste : Lighter and less sweet than most botrytis wines, lemon-orange tangerine peel.

After-taste : Light diffused honey finish.

Description at the back of the label :
This Sauternes appellation, situated to the south east of Bordeaux on the left bank of the Garonne, is famous world wide for its sweet white wines. The vineyards are planted exclusively with the three authorized grape varieties; SAUVIGON BLANC to bring the wine its body and fruit, MUSCADEELE its aroma and SEMILLON its fragrance. The assemblage of these varieties, carried out by Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s oenologists gives the wine its golden depth. Sauternes Baron Philippe, endowed with exceptional ageing potential, should be served chilled 8 to 10 DegC. Greatly appreciated as an aperitif or dessert wine, it also makes an ideal accompaniment for foie gras, freshwater fish or Roquefort cheese.

Wine Accessory : ???

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I was presented this gift from CK and was at first shocked what he had managed to get from New Zealand. The gift coming from him made my mind run wild and I thought that this was some cheeky wooden apparatus...thankfully I was wrong...[see next post below]

Wine Accessory : Wine Glass Carrier

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It is actually a wine glass carrier!

Wine Session at Dempsey road : The Wine Company (Wines Sampled)

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Wine Entry : SWORDS Select Wines Griffin Botrytis 2002 (Australian Victoria)

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This golden-brown nice sweet wine can be found at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, at the section with the cheeses and cold meats. You cannot missed it, just beside it is the nougat shop which all the Singaporeans go to. I had a fantastic time over there last November/December period. Bought it for about AUD $16 only, it’s a steal !

Smell : Apricot brandy with honey-lemon scented aromas

Taste : Honey-lemon with a nice intense rich finish and warmth

Description at the front of the label :
Citrus, Cumquat and apricot rich flavours with a lingering, dry finish. Ideal with a citrus tart.

Wine Entry : Yarra Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 (Australian)

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This bottle has been in the cupboard for almost 6-7 years. When opening up the wine, the cock broke and I had to use a tea sieve to get the pieces out of the wine. It was still in a good condition reddish-brown in colour. It was served cold from the fridge. This dampened the aromas, but later as it warmed it exudes the fruity scents embedded within the wine.

Smell : Fruity with plums and blackcurrents and a tinge of oak.

Taste : Medium-light bodied with sour plumy taste and touch of spice.

After-taste : Astingent in the medium finish.

Description at the back of the label :
The wine has a vibrant, crimson-red colour. The aromas are of ripe, berry-blackcurrent fruit perfectly complemented by spice and cedar from 10 months maturation in French and American oak barriques. On the palate, the wine has rich, berry fruit flavours and a lingering finish.

Wine Session at Dempsey road : The Wine Company

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Courtesy of K.T's lousy photo we managed to capture a photo of the wonderful wine session we had at Dempsey Road : The Wine Company on Sat nite. They had renovated the place and now have outdoor and indoor sitting at the back of the shack. Very nice with comy chairs/sofas and cosy with candles softly lighting up the interior. I really like the place because for every new bottle opened, they prepare a fresh set of glasses.

We had a total of two whites and two reds, a German sweet wine, then a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand and South African Red. We went a little late, so missed the opportunity to order the fried chicken wings (which was a pity), managed to finish the two cheese platters (fortunately we did not order the BLUE chesse), and called it a nite at 1am, right at their closing...

So moral of the story is go early and drink more.. :)