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

Hansel Tan (yep, the dude pictured above with a cow on his t-shirt) is a veteran tutor, self-taught photography enthusiast & fellow slugphile. If you bump into him here at TGS (or anywhere for that matter), just say “Hi” and ask about photography stuff hokay? — [[don't say "Hey aren't you that dude in the cow t-shirt?"]]
Anyway. He will most happily discuss bodies & lenses with you over a meatball pasta.

But there’s only so much photography knowledge one can impart over a meatball pasta, right? Right.

So. If you have a dSLR & have always wondered what those fiddly buttons & settings are for — Hansel is conducting two runs of “Shooting like the Pros – basics of dSLR photography” right here at The Garden Slug.

Hansel takes a systematic, perhaps almost scientific, approach in learning the fundamentals of photography.

Classes will be over 4 hours (2 hours weekday + 2 hours weekend) and there will be 2 runs of the class.

click on image to enlarge

Shooting Like the Pros! – Basics of dSLR Photography
Venue: The Garden Slug
Dates:
• Run 3 — 26 Apr (Mon) 7-9pm | 02 May (Sun) 3-5pm Full.
• Run 4 — 31 May (Mon) 7-9pm | 05 June (Sat) 3-5pm Full.
• Run 5 — 12 July (Mon) 7-9pm | 17 July (Sat) 3-5pm

Cost: $90 per run
Light refreshments provided by TGS.

Registration: E-mail hanshoots@yahoo.com to sign up (please indicate Run 5)

For further enquiries, contact Hansel directly via e-mail, mobile 96166629, Twitter and/or Flickr.

Champagne & Hors D’oeuvres

Trio of Colourful Fruit kebabs, Japanese Achar cucumber with Toasted sesame seeds, Feta and Stuffed Olives

Champagne on ice

Petite Starter: Lemongrass grilled Shrimps over coral leaves. Dressed in lemon citrus oil and topped with sweet basil leaves

Main #1: Grilled Chicken Breast atop Saffron Tomyam linguine, glazed with Marsala oil. White-wine grilled Asparagus completes the ensemble

Main #2: Slow-baked Vegetable Ratatouille topped with seared vegetable rings

Main #3: Braised Lamb Loin with chunky root vegetables in a red wine sauce, spiced with Szechuan pepper and rosemary

Dessert: Chilled Kahlua Vanilla custard topped with Gula Melaka and candied Pumpkin

Big thanks to Michael, Alex, Jian Yun, Wei Yang & Dexter for doing a great job and looking glamorous while doing it too!

A shout out goes out to Sharon Slug too, who was holding the fort and taking care of Mark and Adeline’s event at The Garden Slug on the same day ** and not forgetting Jose, Kenny, Leo and Sam of course!**

We were tasked to create a Jungle-themed Take Home birthday kit for a guest… Check out these food picks that we made for her canapes… Our job here is to ensure that we help you plan a great party, right down to the tiniest personalized details

Our customers are advised to sit back, makan and relax. Burping strictly optional. :-0

Meet Angie, the radiant bride You’re a lucky guy, Dillon! To get ready for  the solemnization party at noon, Angie popped by Texture ( the cool salon right next to The Garden Slug) to have her hair & makeup done up. Glam man!

The setup for the J.O.P’s table ( Justice of Peace) to solemnize Angie & Dillon’s marriage
Disclaimer: Fancy Cartier rings not provided by The Garden Slug :-0

And now we present the newly weds – Angie & Dillon.
( We noticed that the J.O.P brought along his own little Singapore flag stand!)

All their family members were here to ra-rah them on!

Any guy that is so sweet to his mum and granny is definitely a keeper. And did we mention that Dillon has a fantastic sense of humor? Looks like Angie got a perfect catch too

Friends! What’s a party without whacky friends?!

Once again, Congrats Angie & Dillon ! Stay happy, stay in love always

They get invited to cool events like last Saturday’s #samsungconvo, take photos, and write about said events and said photos.

© @deliciatan

© @jst79

Non-lightbulb-changing bloggers also get to have a photog lecturer run a little hands-on food photography workshop in a small li’l diner at Telok Kurau.

After which, they get fed & pose for group shots.

Big thanks to these good folks for organising this event: Jimmy & Zach from Silverbullet, and Stephanie & Daniel from Samsung. Thank you for hand-picking The Garden Slug as the venue for your photography workshop.

Lawrence Teo of Peepshow Machine is an extraordinary photography guru. (Click here for Lawrence’s photos of the event!) The slugs picked up a couple of good tips too, during the hands-on session.

And as for the non-lightbulb-changing Singapore bloggers, add them to your feedreader!
http://peepshowmachine.livejournal.com

http://www.danandesther.com

http://mhisham.org

http://molemole.sg

http://jayleif.blogspot.com

http://www.ladyironchef.com

http://beauterunway.blogspot.com

http://imac.multiply.com/journal

http://juicyndelicious.wordpress.com

http://nadnut.com

http://www.sabrina.sg

http://www.camemberu.com

http://www.temptingtreats.com.sg

http://musxzart.blogspot.com

http://www.hisfoodblog.com

http://vic.sg

The Garden Slug was invited to provide  food for the cocktail reception  of Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock” film premiere tonight!

We had a whale of a time planning the menu.. we wanted it to reflect the pyschedelic 70s.. Lots of colours and lots of kitschy references to Americana.

Join Joseph slug and me, on the trip we took…

Check out our brand new Pull-up banner… Sharon slug did the artwork.. nice hor?! We brought in some Fortune cookies all the way from San Francisco, they were delicious and gosh, the messages inside were a real hoot! Examples : ” The lights may all go out but your stars still shine bright” .. “The path runs smoothly for those pure in heart“. Like, what the?! :-0

Bigger pic of the Fortune cookies. Check out the “Fortune Tea pot” we brought along .. Next to it, you’ll see our take on american Chicken Chop Suey, stuffed in cool Japanese cucumbers and topped with roasted pine  nuts.

Check out the crazy colours!  These are our TieDye Brownies!
Overheard at the party…
Lady: “Oh what are these?”
Man:”These are Tie-Dye brownies”…
Lady: “So interesting, ‘Tai Tai brownies’. I’m also a Tai Tai, u know.. hahahah”

Sour dough brioche topped with melted brie, skinned tomatoes and basil.

Our spin on a New York-style  Waldorf Salad, with butter-grilled Apples, baby potatoes, almonds and sultanas in our homemade salad cream with lemon zest.

Magic Mushrooms … the legal way! Whole white buttons stuffed with hand-made Holland mash,topped with Cheddar and soy bacon and sun-dried parsley.

New agey Grilled Tofu & Broccoli kebabs, glazed with honey mustard and hand-pounded peauts. Now, all we need is a pair of birkenstocks to go with it.

Ok.. Now go dream of pink elephants and flying monkeys!! zz

We made this humongous block of Brownie Popsicles by “glueing” 40 Brownie popsicle sticks with melted semi sweet french chocolate, cooling it down..and dusting it w bitter cocoa.. We call it the Popsicle-Explosion! We hope your guests had fun seperating the brownie popsicles Happy 19th Birthday Charlyn! Stay chirpy

Oh gosh, come to think of it, even the trusty ol” slug mobile is black!  Yup, we’re off to cook for an uber cool all-black party again! Round 2 ! *ding ding*

Our work area was lit by a hypnotic chandelier… Check out the interesting shadows cast on the funky turquoise walls.Psychedelic whoa….

We’ll be using black plates for dinner service today.. I think it’s the anarex talking.. but don’t the plates look like Mickey Mouse ears from some angle? zzz…

Blended Mushroom soup with a rosemary infusion, served with a precariously-balanced Grissini stick.. Reminds me of the movie, “Man on wire“.. Have u slugphiles seen it? Best flick I caught this year.. I think it may still be screening at GV Vivo Europa.

Our guests requested for Greek Salad again, we’re glad that they liked it the first time round.. Notice the irregularly-shaped feta cheese? We’re proud that it’s sloppy-looking as it is lovingly home-marinated and doesnt come out in processed little neat cubes.

Finally, we managed to snap some shots of the main meal.. This will be the Provencale Chicken ratatouille.. The tri-coloured capsicum and aubergines spent so much time in the oven that they are almost caramelized. We created a fun side of Grilled Zucchini boat stuffed with warm Lime-buttered fussilli swirls.

This is something new   Stack of pan-seared Pacific Dory, drizzled with a Grape and Garlic emulsion, and topped with a little smear of creme fraiche. ( Same sides as the other mentioned main )

Notice the quasi dreamy effect? haha.. just for a pre-bedtime laugh..  We served a little dish of Sweet Amuse Bouche of Semi-sweet Brownie popsicle + White chocolate dipped Strawberry encrusted with jewels of mortared pistachios + Dollop of tangy Orange conserve , to balance the richness of the first two sweet items.

Hope u guys enjoyed the food pOrn! Gotta go crash now… I”m going to be the earliest slug tomorrow morning at the shop. …  Gdnite!  zzZZZzz

Joe, Jose and I went a-vroom in the trusty ol” slug mobile to an all-black party this evening.. It was hosted by some friendly folks from a well-known creative firm , and was set in their very swanky office/events hall  in a 2-storey shophouse. Think crushed velvet, chandeliers and gothic candle stands.

Ok, we have to admit that we were soo caught up in the food and service grind that we forgot to take pics! We only remembered to take snaps of the salad and the dessert.. boohoo.

This is the table setting with a jewelled table napkin holder. Very luxe!

Our 2nd appetizer of the night – Petite Greek Salad with home-marinated herby feta, cherry tomatoes and artisan vinagrette. Check out how ornate and dramatic the plates are!

The battalion of sweets, all lined up and ready for Jose to pickup! Erm, Operation Dessert-Storm? ** call the corn police!**

Close up of the Tiramisu Cube with sweet Strawberry halves,  mint and white sugar icing. Topped with bittersweet cocoa.

We were so thrilled that Francis, Agnes and their guests enjoyed the food Thank you so much for your feedback, we’re so flattered! And happy too, of course that your key clients enjoyed themselves.

Our full sit down menu for the evening was:

• 1st Appetizer : Warm soup of gently-boiled Spring vegetables in a broth of South-east Asian herbs and spices. Served with a herb infused Panini Crostini skewered on a Lemon-grass spear
• 2nd Appetizer: Petite Greek Salad with home-marinated herbed feta cheese, cherry tomatoes and artisan vinagrette
• Fish Option : Baked Snow Cod -brown bag style with an emulsion of Orange Lime butter. Topped with fresh ginger and served with Frozen Lime leaf butter by side
• Red meat Option : Premium Aust Ribeye Steak Bits in a red wine sauce of chunky button white mushrooms, rosemary and caramelized onions
• Poultry Option : Provencale Ratatouille with whole boneless Chicken Leg and slow-baked tri-coloured vegetables
• Sweets : Tiramisu Cube with sweet Strawberry halves,  mint and white sugar icing. Topped with bittersweet cocoa.
• Beverage : Gentle Strawberry and Mint-infused Iced Tea

It’s almost 1am…. gotta go tango with my pillow soon. We’ve got another busy day ahead! Tmrw, we’ll be turning a corner of the garden slug into a “living room dining area“.. Some happy folks will be having their dinner home-style, complete with leafy potted plants, cushy sofas and huggable cushions. Gdnite y’all !