Caught up with Aldine – one of the oldest pals that I’ve had since Secondary School over brunch last Saturday morning. Aldine is a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) to 2 energetic boys and her life revolves pretty much around her boys plus managing the household. Dates with her are usually arranged at least 2 weeks in advance so that she could get the husband to look after the kids while she indulges in some girlie-time with me. I think it’s pretty amazing devoting a majority of her time to her boys. Honestly, I doubt I can do that which is why I admire all types of moms – SAHM and Working Moms who devote their time to both work and home. I don’t know how you ladies do it. Some days, I’m so zapped out of energy and I only play ‘mom’ to a fur-kid!
Early Saturday mornings are preferred for the girlie catch-up so that the rest of the afternoon can be spent with her family. Fine by me, if we are heading to town for brunch, I much prefer to hit the streets earlier than later. I can’t stand the crowds in town especially during the weekends. I had wanted to try out Antoinette - the much raved about Parisian pâtisserie that’s now opened at Mandarin Gallery. I read on a couple of blog-reviews that the restaurant was opened at 10am on weekends. So, bright and early I got into my cab which dropped me at Cineleisure, I looked over and saw snaking crowds of people waiting for the first H&M store in Singapore to be opened. Thankfully, the appeal of H&M ain’t that strong so I continued to make my way to Mandarin Gallery at 10am hoping to beat the crowds only to learn that they open at 11am. Darn!
Arh well, called the girlie and arranged to meet her at Pique Nique (the sister outlet of Antoinette) instead. Well, being early does have its privileges I guess for we were the first patrons of the day.
Must say that the menu at Pique Nique was rather extensive. There were a couple of main dishes that I had wanted to try – the Cheeseburgers, the Mac-and-Cheese all sounded very tempting, but were simply too filling for brunch. So, I went for the boring and safe option of Eggs Benedict. I must say that I was quite surprised at how the dish turned out. The poached eggs set atop the toasted English muffins were done just right. The serving of fries was also welcomed by a very starving me. I thought it was a unique twist to the otherwise traditional meal. Food-wise, I thought it was pretty passable for the reviews that I read online were all pretty mixed so my expectations were of course lowered.
The girlie passed me a batch of mini macarons that she made and it was really good! She’s getting so much better at macaron making so I asked her for her recipes in the hope of somewhat perfecting mine in Geneva. 
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