Breakaway - Travel Club Med Cherating - Part 1

SimplyFab was so lucky to be invited by Club Med Cherating to check out its lovely facilities and gorgeous people. Elaine and I couldn’t make it, but we asked our friend, Antoinette Tan, a full-time freelance writer and a huge fan of Simply Fabulicious, to cover it on our behalf. (Thanks, Club Med!! Kissy-Poo!) Despite her slim figure, Antoinette loves desserts and taking photographs with her new Canon PowerShot SX210 IS, which she claims is an awesome machine. So this is her story….

When I was first invited to Club Med Cherating Beach, I was sooooo excited (who doesn’t love a holiday!). And I have to say that it was one of my most memorable vacations. Lovely beach weather, picture perfect ambience, fit and friendly GOs (well, most of them anyway),

...plus scrumptious meals and loadsa free cocktails…! Loved it! Hang on, let me grab my travel journal…


Day 1

In just one hour and 45 minutes (a 1hr flight via Firefly from Changi Airport and 45min chartered bus ride), I was transported into a different world at Club Med Cherating Beach. Surrounded by lush greenery, colourful flowers, lots of warm wood around the resort and a spectacular beach, this place is gorgeous!

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a group of welcoming staff called G.O’s (gentle organisers) and Mr. Ugo, the Chef de Village (in other words, the Big Kahuna). Our guide, G.O Mobeen from South Africa showed us to our Deluxe Seaside rooms to while away a relaxing, peaceable day.

Lunch and dinner at Le Mutiara Restaurant with G.O Mobeen and my new friends Esther, Adrian and Joanne were great. On top of the mouth-watering international buffet spread, it was intriguing to dine and chat with G.Os from across the globe, like G.O Chuck from Korea and G.O Maravilha from Brazil. Plus, for a sweet tooth like me, the dessert corner is paradise!

Day 2

Nature on the rooftops - every 5.30pm...just in time for Happy Hour?

Retail therapy! Must rush in!

The day began with a tour of the village. G.O Mei, Front Desk Manager, was our guide for the day, showing us the various facilities which took care of everyone from two to 92! On top of the free practice sport areas (gym and courts for basketball, squash and tennis among many others), there was also an archery corner, a circus area (trapeze, bungee bounce and tight rope) and activities for children of all ages, engagingly supervised at all times – which means Mummy can do her own thing without angst-ing.

The Petit Club Med (from 2 to under 4 years old) and Mini Club Med (from 4 to under 11) areas set in bright colours were so adorable!

Teenagers get to use the Club Med Passworld (11 to 18) too, decked out to be suitably hip and edgy in line with their angst-ridden inner selves, and complete with games galore and even a band setup to show off and have teeny-bopper fun!

What to do next? Pick up the pace, of course. My afternoon was adrenaline-filled. First it was Crazy Signs (dancing with the G.Os)...

 then an hour of archery plus mini tournament supervised by G.O Uracca.

Our scores....and ooh, look! Medals!

This was followed by a shot at the intimidating-but-must-try trapeze with G.Os Benson and Claire. It was so fun!

Chin chins after trapezeing!

Ending the day perfectly was a Malay-themed dinner – lots of food and drinkies –

 and an entertainment with the “La Revue Around The World” Show, performed by the multi-talented G.Os.

(More in the next post....)

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WINS! - Life's Moment's Father's Day Hamper Winners

Thanks for taking part in our recent giveaway promo.

Congratulations to the winners:

Jacqueline Lim

Melody Chong
Janice Sng
Chiang Ming Shun
Karen Liew

You'll be getting a call from Life's Moments to arrange the collection of your Life's Moments Father's Day Hamper (worth $60).

In the meantime, look out for more exciting promos and goodies coming your way from us to make your life simply fabulicious!

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ADVERTORIAL - Life’s Moments Gifts & Father's Day Giveaways!

If you’re putting together a party some time, take a look at Life’s Moments, a dinky online store specialising in pretty party and corporate favours. Started by a bunch of fun loving, like-minded moms, Life’s Moments behind this outfit require a relatively small minimum order – starting from 10 ready-to-go gift packs, or up to 50 pieces of standalone items.They are pretty strong on goodie bags for baby’s first month with updated gifts; birthday goodie bags and individual gift items for corporate events.

So what do they offer here?

Our absolute favourite is the customized lollipop bouquet ($60) bursting with 10 lollipop cookies carrying cute designs or personalised messages. You can buy just one bouquet or a minimum of 20 individual lollipops ($6 each) ….a lovely gift for a girlfriend, hostess or a new mom. They've done it for Chinese New Year (with auspicious Chinese characters on it) adn its great for birthdays too.

We also like their dinky Baby’s First Month gifts like the specially created miniature shortbread ‘ang ku kueh’ with a choice of peanut or jam filling complete with a banana leaf backing and red egg shortbread cookies covered with a layer of red fondant with personalized wordings….Just that we are possibly freshly past our own egg-laying stage in life. Then again, you can pick more generic items or cookie designs for birthday parties and such....Personalised individual items like chocolate bars, rock candy with wordings embedded, peanut candy and honey are cool, too, especially if you pop them into customized wrappers.

The little ‘matchboxes’ with your choice of packaging design are really sweet. Fill with Japanese Candy, designer chocolates, chocolate red eggs, 'ang ku kueh' biscuit or premium teabags. Nice for weddings, corporate events or just big bashes with lotsa guests!

We also like their unique packaging, from personalized gift tags and cards to gift boxes and our favourite – little hobo bags (above and left) in seasonal colours and prints. And if you have a big enough order, you can get some wrappers personalized too.

Get in touch with them at www.lifesmoments.com.sg

WINS!!

So with Father’s Day round the corner, Life’s Moments is giving away 5 Father’s Day Hampers (worth $60 each) to SimplyFab readers!

It’s a treasure trove of 22 packets of assorted flavours of Gryphon Teabags, 20 pieces of Valrhona “carres” chocolate in assorted flavours, a 70g jar of rock candy customized with the wordings, “Happy Father’s Day” and 2 pieces of 8cm cookies personalized with “Happy Father’s Day” & “No. 1 Dad”.

All you have to do is answer the following questions:

1. What’s the minimum order for Life’s Moment gift packs?

2. What’s our absolute favourite gift from Life’s Moments?

Email your answers to us at simplyfabulicious@gmail.com by Tuesday, 15 June 2010 together with your name, phone number, email address and NRIC.

*Note: Winners will be notifed by email together with details for self collection of hampers from a Bishan address.

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Binge London - Boulud's In Knightsbridge!

Legendary celebrity French chef Daniel Boulud has finally opened a restaurant in Europe! Bar Boulud opened in early May at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, in the swanky neighbourhood of Knightsbridge just a hop, skip and jump from the temples of Harrods and Harvey Nics. Open from the unearthly hour of 5.30am for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this bistro and wine bar takes after Bar Boulud in New York. The French menu is based on seasonal rustic fare like Truffled White Sausage, Grilled Atlantic Sea Bass, Braised Rabbit Ragout and Coq au Vin and offers terrines and pâtés made on site by charcutier Gilles Verot. Designed by Adam D. Tihany, the restaurant seats almost 170 in two large connecting rooms, the first with an impressive zinc topped bar and the second with a sleek open kitchen. Look out for walled wine stains from Chef Boulud’s favourite vintages, photographs of renowned bistros and brasseries from Boulud’s native Lyon and watch the chefs at work at the charcuterie bar by the open kitchen.

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Binge - World Cup Viewing - Let The Man Have Some Fun

I have been hearing it from the hubs how people are boycotting buying the FIFA World Cup viewing channels. I can’t say I have been following the debate, but I know that plenty of guys are out there are on the prowl for a place to go to watch the football games. So I thought let’s do the boys a favour and give them a few good listings to put them out of their misery. Here goes, darlings…

For laid-back luxe, allow the man and his burping boys to head to Fairmont Singapore where they are offering party deals and viewing at Prego (7pm and 10pm) and later at the INK Club Bar at 2.30am. Pizza and beer make up the munchies at $50 for 3 beers and a pizza for two; 6 beers and 2 pizzas ($100) for a group of 4 and 10 beers and 3 pizzas ($150) for a party of 6. Stella Artois at $12 per order (U.P. $14). You pay a little extra but for respectable surrounds, and it sure beats heading to Bou Bou Midnite Bar round the corner to hang out with karaoke hostesses!

Tel: 6431 6156 or email: dining.singapore@fairmont.com for reservations at Prego or INK Club Bar

Mandarin Orchard is upping up the party mood at Bar on 5, which is not just screening the matches from 11 June to 11 July, it’s also rolled out menus to match (no pun intended!). The Beers of the World menu offers Erdinger White Wheat, Kilkenny, Boddingtons Ale, Kirin Beer, Tetley’s English Ale etc mostly at $15 each to drink according to his favourite teams, and match it with nibbles from the Chef’s World Soccer Snacks menu featuring picks from countries which are represented in the world cup. How about South Africa’s lamb peri peri, England’s English codfish and chips, Brazil’s fried semolina cheese ball and Spain’s Croquetas de Jamon. These snack are all priced at a sizzling $10++ each. What’s more, if he comes dressed in his favourite national jersey, he’ll get 20% off food & beverages at any of the hotel’s F&B outlets.

Tel: 6831 6288 or email dine.orchard@meritus-hotels.com for reservations

We like what’s happening at Oriole Café and Bar (no pretty pics at the mo, but we'll get it soon!) at the Pan Pacific Serviced Suites. Not only are they screening most (not all though) matches live on their ‘huge indoor screen’, they’ve also concocted new bar food and drinkies to match the match. Drinks first: quench up on campy cocktails by the carafe ($38++), like ‘Yellow Card’ made of citron vodka, lime sorbet and prosecco, ‘Ori Ole’ made with gin, lime juice, ginger beer and mint leaves and ‘Sunny Boy’ – gin, limoncello, raspberry puree, fresh lemon juice and soda. Bar food sounds equally cheesy, like ‘The Header’, a spicy chicken hotdog ($12) with onion & tomato relish, ‘Golden Goalie’ comprising cheesy beef meatballs ($12) with tomato sauce and melted cheese, as well as the ‘Fowl Play’, crispy fried chicken bites ($8). Listen up for the ‘Air Horn Alert’ too where bartenders will announce a special bar promotion whenever the air horn is sounded. For more macho libation, all bottled beers such as Asahi, San Miguel and Sol go for $20++ for three and all draught beers at $13++ per pint. Happy hour $6.50++ deals apply to house wine by the glass and draft beer by the pint (5pm to 8pm and 12am to 2am, from Sunday to Thursday). For the screening schedule, go to http://www.oriolecafe.wordpress.com/

96 Somerset Road, #01-01, Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

But it’s hard to beat what Resorts World Singapore is doing – which is turning the entire resort into a football viewing hotspot with 72 screens mounted across the vast property, making this the largest venue for watching football. At no cost to fans, the resort promises to air all 64 matches. Among the many places he can catch the action here, your man can drag his buddies to The Forum in the resort’s Basement 1, which will be turned into a match theatre with 300 seats and a giant six by five meter LED TV screen; all the 1300 hotel rooms, the Casino Royale Bar, Happy9, Feng Shui Inn, Maxims and Crockfords Club areas within the Resorts World Casino. The resort’s restaurants will be running World Cup promotions too - celeb chef Scott Webster’s Osia is rooting for Australia with a World Cup Bucket for five bottles of Little Creatures Beer at $45.00++; Palio will be supporting Italy with Moretti beer going for $8.00++; Fiesta and Festive Lounge will cheering for Brazil with Bottled Nova Schin beer at S$8.00++; Starz Restaurant for USA with Budweiser beer at S$8.00++.

Tel: 6577 8888 or visit www.rwsentosa.com for details

Yes, it’s all a bit cheesey we know, and not quite our SimplyFab style. …but we’re humouring the guys and letting them have their fun too…and that’s being pretty fabulicious of us! All these deals run from 11 June to 11 July when the guys turn back to being relatively normal again!

- By EW

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Bytes - iPhone 4 available END JULY in Hong Kong and Singapore!

If you must have it before everyone else then get your new iPhone 4 from the US, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on June 24. Pre-orders start Tuesday, June 15 from the Apple Online Store or reserve an iPhone 4 to pick up at an Apple Retail Store there. Wait a few weeks till end July and get it in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

What's there not to like? This penultimate in phone technology and design has FaceTime Video Calling, Retina Display, 5 Megapixel Camera and HD Video Recording, it offers the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in super crisp text, images and video. Enjoy up to 40 percent longer talk time and a beautiful all-new design of glass and stainless steel that makes it the thinnest smartphone in the world. Equipped with iOS 4, the newest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, this includes over 100 new features and 1500 new APIs for developers. iOS 4 features Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform.

Like the iPad, the new iBooks® app will be available for iPhone 4 as a free download from the App Store and includes Apple’s new iBookstore which will sync your current place in a book, along with any bookmarks, highlights and notes you have created, between copies of the same book on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch®. iBooks users can also now read and store PDFs right in iBooks. There are now over 60,000 books available in the iBookstore, and users have downloaded over five million books in the first two months.

Available in either black or white, the phone will cost US$199 for the 16GB model and US$299 for the 32GB model. iMovie for iPhone will be available on the App Store for just US$4.99. Note that these are the US prices excluding tax.

- Elaine

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Bytes - BookArc for the iPad!

Upside down, Right way up, on your side ... whatever your favourite position, we have discovered new ways for iPad geeks out there to display your new baby especially from a Mac only accessories retailer, Twelve South!

Love their definitive mantra "We are not just Mac Friendly.. We are Mac Only!". The brand caters only to Mac users and declares, "we feel it’s time to stop settling for PC accessories that are painted white and passed off as "Mac compatible". They launch 12 unique and innovative, must-have Mac accessories each year that are designed to protect and personalize Macs, improve Mac performance and enhance the Mac experience. One of their innovations this year is a display accessory they call the BookArc that gives you a choice of four different positions to display your iPad.

In “work mode,” iPad sits at an angle in both portrait and landscape positions, and provides access to the home button. In “storage mode” iPad sits upright in both portrait and landscape positions, perfect for charging and using your iPad as a stylish photo frame. No matter what position you’re in, you always have access to the charging port. You can view movies, photos and apps in widescreen, the way they’re meant to be seen, something other iPad docks can’t do. Place iPad in BookArc and pair it with the Apple Wireless Keyboard. You’ll have an instant work station for tackling spreadsheets in Numbers and taming your inbox in Mail. Or use landscape position to view those amazing vacation photos, movies or your favorite online webisodes.

Charging the iPad is easy because BookArc is elevated to give you plenty of room to connect and charge your iPad at rest or play. When you’re ready to go, disconnect the cable and you’re on your way. Buy yours online at: http://www.twelvesouth.com/

- Elaine 

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Beauty - Quick and Cute Pure Tincture All Natural Skincare at Raffles Place

I notice one thing about us girls – the older we get, we more we spend on skincare. Thousands of bucks on facials – and many are religious about it – hundreds on a single bottle or two of serums, and lots of interest in whitening and firming. After all, it’s the only face we’ve got and it’s a good investment to make sure it takes us, firm and gorgeous, into our later years.

So we were thrilled to discover Pure Tincture, a cute skincare boutique in Raffles Place, run by Helen Lien, a simplyfab lady who did a mid-career switch from engineer to skincare expert and business owner. What’s fantastic is that she brings in really niche brands of skincare from all over the world, all organic and many originally created by women who developed them for their own needs to begin with.

One of their main brands is cosmeceutical line Suki, an American brand that uses only natural ingredients, all organic – said that earlier – and suitable for all skins, from normal to super sensitive skin, including those who have severe eczema. It claims to use only ‘high potency botanic concentrate’ as its base rather than water, which packs in lots of goodness. I liked the SukiSpa range which is more concentrated and gives higher levels of performance.

If you want something that gives immediate gratification, the sukispa Renewal Bio-resurfacing Peel (S$150) is the thing to smear on your face. It’s a light lotion with a delicate floral fragrance which promises to whip away the dead skin and rough surface of your face, to reveal glorious smoothness and radiance below! So I did just that on a hot afternoon. It was so relaxing and the smell so soothing I fell asleep on the couch. I had expected some tingling or even stinging sensation – ‘cos it said ‘resurfacing’, didn’t it? – but I felt nothing. Madam woke up with a start half an hour later, washed it off and voila! Very smooth, pretty soft and yes, I must say, the face looked significantly ‘brighter’. The next thing I’ll try is the suki Bio-C 10% Formula Face Serum (S$160). This high potency potion claims to be designed as a ‘super antioxidant specifically to support collagen production and help reduce future signs of ageing’. That’s for me!

Pure Tincture also carries Madara, a natural skincare range from Latvia. It’s a more basic product, but I just loved the way the moisturisers give this minty, refreshing feel on the skin once you slap it on. Other brands she carries – all non-comedogenic and natural - Balm Balm, SantaVerde, Pure Lochside, Nostalgia, etc.

Pure Tincture also does facials in its premises. Don’t expect the bells and whistles of Clarins-style treatments or a spa setting, but it’s super convenient for those working in the area. The set up is pretty basic – two little rooms at Helen’s unit un UOB Centre. But they are completely private, neat and pleasant with proper treatment beds – and what’s more, Helen will give you the facials and massage treatments herself, using cabin products by the brands she carries.

Pampering at Pure Tincture ranges from 40-minute sukispa Short and Sweet facials (from $55) to sukispa anti-ageing facials ($140 for 90 minutes – a real steal!), a la Clinical Purify and Heal facial ($120 for 90 minutes) and an anti-cellulite body massage using Madara firming oil and anti cellulite cream ($130 for 120 minutes). There are plenty other treatments to choose from, and if you don’t want to pay up each time, it’s probably easier to get a bundled package – from $600 for treatments with $120 worth of free treatments, and $600 for homecare products, with $60 worth of free products tossed in. For busy babes, you can even buy your products online at her funky website www.puretincture.com

1 Raffles Place
OUB Centre #04-22B
Tel: 6533 1723

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Buys Hong Kong - Uber Chic Nespresso

You now have the dream kitchen you always wanted. Now for the dressy accessories to pretty up that breakfast counter where you start your day. Make sure you take a look at Nespresso's Citiz range. Two new colours - uber cool Limousine Black and 60s White have joined the existing Titanium and Fire Engine Red in this cosmopolitan-ly chic range. Prices start at HK$2,699. See www.nespresso.com


- Elaine

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This Weekend – Bak Chang with Bubbly this Saturday!

We like what the ladies at Top Wines are doing this month – they have just launched a bimonthly bubbly tasting event – and every gal loves her bubbles, right? On 5 June and 26 June, they will be serving four Champagnes to be paired with bak chang at their new showroom Momento del Tesoro. It’s an uncanny, but lovely match and believe me, it works beautifully. The four Champers you’ll be tasting are: Angove Regent Brut Sparkling, Duval Leroy Paris, Duval Leroy Rose Brut and a luscious fizzy red – Peter Rumball Sparkling Shiraz, together with Nonya and XO Bak Chang. It’s pretty good value - $33 per person only and with that, you also get 33% discount off purchases of the Champagnes you taste that day. Whether you bring your girlfriends or drag your man along, this is bound to be a unique experience ‘cos the venue is smack bang in the middle of Joo Chiat, quite a hub for good local food!

And here’s another little known fact: they have a lovely tasting room at their premises. You can avail yourself to it anytime with just a phone call to them. Bring your own food – eg. any yummies you decide to ‘ta pau’ from the neighbourhood kopitiams – and enjoy it in the tasting room with wines you buy from Top Wines. You’ll get a good deal from these ladies, that’s for sure.

33 Tembeling Road

Saturday, 5 or 26 June, 2-5pm

To register, call 6468 3866 or email bernie@topwines.com.sg

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