the garden slug

Dear Jinks

We’d like to apologise to you (and to the many quietly suffering readers out there) for our ‘off putting’ behaviour & blatant disregard for the lack of blog posts. *pulls ears & does a thousand squats*

It did cross our minds to write a quick blog post telling everyone how busy we’ve been at the shoppe (thanks to everyone’s awsum support! Everybody say Pizzarrrrrr!!) but we stopped ourselves thinking that might sound like we’re boasting. Boastful behaviour might be off putting too. So we didn’t write that blog post. I mean, we call ourselves a “humble li’l diner” and all…

Then we thought we might write about how our little shoppe got flooded twice this past month. But we got busy cleaning up the shop to make sure it’s really, um, clean.. so we didn’t get to blog about that either.

But maybe we should have.

We’ve always had this strange idea that nobody reads our drivel blog.

It is obvious to us now, with 4 comments on the last blog post alone (which is the most number comments we’ve ever gotten on ANY blog post.. honest!) that we are completely wrong. We need to ‘wake up our idea’ and do something about our self-esteem issues.

So, here we’ve dedicated an entire blog post to our public apology. We are very sorry, from the bottom of our sluggy hearts. We know that from the day we decided to have a blog, it is our responsibility to make sure it is updated as often as possible.

Here’s to more drivel & unfunny jokes blog posts from us! Pinky promise!

Meanwhile, Jinks (and other quietly suffering readers out there), if you’re on Facebook – we’re on Facebook too. We update fairly often, about our weekly specials, and sometimes about other people’s cats and dogs and parrots.

Also, if you’re on Twitter – we’re on Twitter too. We update there quite often, like two or three times a day? We post photos of food, goings-on in the shop, daily specials, who’s on shift, and generally have all kinds of conversations with other ‘Twitterers’.

Thank you for caring, Jinks, and for giving us a good wake up call. Let’s keep this conversation going, k?

Lots of Love,
The Garden Slug

They so pretty.

In just a little over two years, our dear boy Michael has gone from this, to this:

Can you spot him?
He still makes an exquisite Pasta from the Sea, nonetheless.

Miffins • noun • a sluggy bastardisation of the word “mini muffins”

Miffins come in blueberry, banana, and dark chocolate. They can be individually wrapped, or packed in couplets or fours in a box. Actually they can be packed any way you like.

Good for baby showers, office parties, conferences, door gifts, birthday parties, staff/customer appreciation gifts etc.

Best part about the miffins? Fully-customisable icing logos on top! Best part about the icing logos? They’re edible! Nyem nyem.

(You can’t really tell we’re catching up with overdue blog posts here, can you? )

11 May was our mini renovation day (more on that laterz). In our trademark DIY style we spent the whole day, er, DIY-ing our little shoppe. After that, it was time to partayyy. Actually it was a farrrrewell partayyy for our dear Wei Yang Slug.

Wei Yang joined us some time last year & soon became a much loved Slug to both our customers and fellow Slugs alike. What we really love about Wei Yang is his spirit and enthusiasm for the F&B industry. In short, I dare say he is the perfect waitstaff.

That’s Wei Yang, sitting next to “the girl”. (Her name is Simin by the way, our newest Slug!)

We were, however, very happy when Wei Yang told us he’s leaving TGS to join an airline company as a flight attendant. Why were we happy? Because it means he is a genuine service-oriented person, and that the energy & excellent service he provided during his time with us was 100% genuine and from the heart. (Did I just use the word ‘genuine’ twice? K, nvm.)

So the next time you’re flying “domestic” (whatever that means in Singapore), you might just see Wei Yang’s friendly face again

On to the partayyy. We went to this bistro somewhere to celebrate Wei Yang.

There wuz beer.

And there wuz beer-induced conversations.

This’s the Pinoy equivalent of “lu kwa simi”.

Food.

The boyz, just hangin’.

L-R: Mr Dimples aka Mr Dimples, Jian Yun aka “JY”, Leo aka Mr Hemsem, Joseph aka Uncle Joe, Wei Yang aka Wei Yang.

“All this carbo is gonna cost me a double gym session tomorrow…” sez the Muscle Man.

I have absolutely no explanation for the following series of photos.

This is Jian Yun’s faux audition for the next Wong Kar Wai film.

This is Wei Yang’s faux audition for the next Tsai Ming Liang film.

The Gang. (I have absolutely no explanation for the gangsta look on Sophia Slug’s face.)

L-R: Louise, Leo, Jian Yun, Sophia, José, Joseph, Wei Yang, Terry

Same Poseurs Different Pose

(All photos above this line taken by Terry. Or someone holding Terry’s lomo.)
——– this line ———

WE MISS YOU LOTS, WEI YANG!

(I HAVE TO SHOUT COZ YOU MIGHT NOT HEAR ME FROM WAYYY UP THERE IN THE SKIES!)

HAPPY FLYING AND REMEMBER TO COME BACK FOR A BITE AND TELL US ALL ABOUT YOUR EXCITING NEW LIFE! ♥

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou! (Grrrreetings!) And Kia Ora from our humble little shoppe. Do you still remember we have a blog? Coz we almost forgot we had one.

May was a crazy month. Crazy and fast. Like a homeless man on a stolen moped.

We weren’t quite done with May yet and now it’s gone, GONE! Whoever said “May, she will stay” was lying. Lying through their teeth. (I’m looking at you, Mr Simon & Mr Garfunkel.)

O weren’t they nerdy-hawt in their heyday? *wistful sigh*

Anyhoo. 17 May was a very special day because
1) It’s the National Day of Norway! (I have a fascination with all things Norwegian. Don’t ask.)
2) It’s Enya’s burfday (you don’t have to admit to it but WE KNOW YOU LISTEN TO ENYA TOO!)
3) It was mah burfday

And most importantly,
4) The Garden Slug provided VIP & VVIP food service for ANZ Bank’s Singapore branch opening at Chevron House. (btw, I had my first very own not-linked-to-my-parents bank account with ANZ way back when I was a scarfie living in Dunedin, so looking at the logo makes me smile)

O, you should’ve seen our Young Slugs. So dapper in their long-sleeved white shirts & ironed black slacks. We were so busy we forgot to take photos, so no Young Slug pr0n for you I’m afraid. But we do have a bit of food pr0n, albeit hastily taken.

The folks at ANZ were a charming lot. We loved how they did a rousing Maori cheer to get the event rolling. Pity there weren’t any virile young men in grass skirts doing the Haka. (Oh well, there’s always YouTube, ey mate? HEHE)

Photo by Sophia Ms-Occasionally-Shaky-Hands Slug.

L: Japanese Cucumber Hollows stuffed w/ Smoked Salmon & topped w/ cream cheese, chives + fresh cracked black pepper
R: Pumpernickel topped w/ cheddar and sundried tomatoes

Photos by Sophia I-Love-To-Flash Slug.

Left: Sweet shrimp w/ wine-cured fruit w/ rosemary & carrot
Top: Skewers of Buttermilk chicken breast speared w/ tri-coloured antipasto
Bottom: Roast Beef strips atop green frizzy leaves drizzled w/ an exotic lemongrass & olive oil dressing

Marinated Sweet Cherry Tomatoes w/ Greek Feta & stuffed Italian olives in little shot glasses

Top: Rich Fudge Chocolate Squares topped w/ cocoa & mint, emblazoned with ANZ logo
Middle: TGS Signature Brownie Popsicles coated w/ semi-sweet french chocolate & served on ice-cream stick for extra visuals
Bottom: Strawberry Mousse Square topped w/ a chocolate sprig

We’d like to thank event manager Justin of Embrya Productions, for orchestrating a flawless event for all the parties involved.

Aroha nui (all our love) <3

Dear Slugphiles, we gotta tell you that Lorong L (at least where our shop is) has been converted to a ‘single white line’ lorong.

This means no parking in front of the shop anymore. We realised a little too late & Joseph Slug just kena saman today.

All is not lost! Here are some happy alternatives:
1) If you live nearby, why not cycle/ walk/ blade/ hop-skip-jump/ hula-hoop to TGS. Decrease carbon footprint, increase muscles!
2) Take public transport – cheap and convenient.

Also, we have an open-air carpark at Bright Centre, the entrance to which is at Telok Kurau Road itself. We’ve made a nice map w/ directions and linked to it permanently on our website here.

You can always give us a call at 6346-0504 if you need further directions/ can’t find the carpark/ need to know where to buy a hula-hoop etc. We’re always happy to help!

We’re just tabulating the feedback cards for José’s Apple Cranberry Streusel project from last month. We’d like to thank everyone who filled out the cards for your honesty and the constructive criticism.

We got a good laugh out of some of the “artwork” you left us at the back of the card. This one stood out the most because we just couldn’t make any sense out of it.

Can the artist responsible for this please come forward & drop us an e-mail at justask@thegardenslug.com (or DM us if you follow us on Twitter). We’d like you offer you an Apple Cranberry Streusel on the house!

In other news, we are happy to announce that Louise Slug has joined our team full-time. Louise will be our Operations Supervisor, in addition to José Slug. Louise, thank you for wanting to be a part of our humble li’l establishment, we are truly honoured.

Here’s to more Slug Power! \o/

—
UPDATE: The artists have spoken!

You guys are a riot! We’ll be e-mailing you soon, watch that inbox

Just for the day, as we’re doing some itsy bitsy mini renovations to the shop.

Business as usual from tomorrow (Wednesday, 12 May) 10.00am onwards. See ya!