…from our sweaty slug outing at Pulau Ubin last week. We’ll start off with some Instax appetisers to, um, whet your appetite first… More later! Nyahaha.

Gratuitous Artsy Shot

Michael Camwhore Slug + Jian Yun Camwhore Slug

Some lookout tower

Jian Yun Camwhore Slug & Sharon Handkerchief+Umbrella+Shades+Sunhat Auntie Slug

José Muscles Slug. (the tongue is a muscle too….)

Joseph Mraz Kitty Slug

More sweaty slug pr0n to come. Be patient, can? We have customers to see to now. Have a wonderful long weekend ahead!

Business as usual from Thursday (2/9/2010) 10.00am

Our Slug Supervisors (José, Louise & Chris) have planned for our first ever “outdoorsy” outing. We’ve had a couple of dinner outings this year, but this will be the first ever in the history of The Garden Slug that we’re going together as a team to a land far, far away… Okay it’s not that far, but don’t bluff, how many of you thought Pulau Ubin is in Malaysia? Hands up!

*crickets*

K nvm.

Where was I? So yeah, we’re going to Pulau Ubin! Some of us have never been there so it’s quite teh exciting. Can you tell we’re excited? Oh look rustic island untouched by shopping malls & HDB flats. We rike!

Photo ©

We might not be able to catch this amazing sunrise (see stolen but credited photo below), but maybe after a day of fun in the sun (and maybe mosquito bites, sore thighs, sexy tan lines and then some…  HEHE) we hope to catch an amazing sunset together.

Photo ©

Honestly have no idea what the Slug Supervisors have planned for us. Will report back after tomorrow!

Meanwhile, um, just to recap…
We are closed all day tomorrow (Wednesday 1/9/2010) for our store outing.
Business as usual from Thursday (2/9/2010) 10.00am.

See ya!

What got me curious was the name of this week’s dessert special, the Peach Melba by Sophia Slug. So I press the magic F4 button on my keyboard, which brings up the magic built-in dictionary.

So, the magic built-in dictionary sez:

Don’t you just love the sound of that rolling off your tongue? Dame Nellie Melba. It sounds almost as smooth as a raspberry coulis with vanilla gelato gently swirling in your mouth. Dame Nellie Melba. *imagines a hot fudge raspberry sundae* Dame Nellie Melba. *imagines warm grilled peaches*

Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931, born Helen Porter Mitchell), was an Australian opera singer who was born near Melbourne & she took her professional name from that of the city. It turns out she was quite the diva, and has four foods named after her, all created by a chef/writer named Auguste Escoffier. One of which was, yep you guessed, Peach Melba. I think she liked them peaches. You think?

Anyhoo. There ya go, we’ve just helped you top up your useless information quota for the week. YOU CAN THANK US LATERZ.

By the way, José Slug’s special dessert projekt finally made its way into our/your hearts & into our permanent menu.

Also, this week, José Slug is responsible for almost all of the food pr0n on our weekly specials release. (Usually the photos are taken by long-time pr0nster Sophia Slug, but even food pr0nographers need a break every now & then.)

Did you not catch that cleverly hidden link to our weekly specials again? Well, darn it, you’ll just hafta wait till next week.

On a slightly different note (okay, who am I kidding. On a completely different note), Slugphile Melissa sent us The Owl & The Squirrel which had us all giggling. Thanks Mel, we ♥ you long time!

SOE 088

Couple of months ago, a very sweet young lady named Anna Shin from SMU contacted us wanting to do an interview. We agreed, as always, but we were surprised to learn it was for the Spirit of Enterprise nomination thingy.

SOE 088

Firstly, we want to thank Anna & her colleagues for nominating us.

Secondly, Anna – we didn’t get to tell you this: it was one of the best interviews we’ve had the opportunity to be part of. For a young student, you are extremely well-organised & did your job very professionally. We were so impressed! We have no doubt you will go far in whatever career you choose to embark on.

SOE 088

>> Back to regular Bimbo Slug mode >>

Now, on to the SOE (Spirit of Enterprise) thingy. There are TWO things about this SOE thingy that made us VERY, VERY happy Slugs:

1. We are number

SOE 088

FWAH!! HUAT HUAT AH!! Can’t get any luckier than that!!

2. The background colour on the SOE website is exactly the same as ours! Instant shallow brownie points oredi.

Hokay. So if you like the number “088″ and you like this particular shade of red (at the Nippon paint shop it’s called “Hibiscus”, and in hex code it’s #99000)… vote for us lah!

There are two ways to vote:
1) Online <– Need to register & can vote once (I think.)
2) By SMS: Just type our lucky number – SOE 088 and send to 79000 <– no need to register, can vote many many times HEHE

We’ve littered the entire blog post with giant SOE 088′s, y’know, just in case.
Masters of Subliminal Messaging we are.

SOE 088

kthxbye.

p/s: Voting closes 31 August.

—
The Small Print:
Each SMS vote will cost $0.50. Normal network operator charges apply. SOE Award SMS voting is open to all postpaid Singtel, Starhub and M1 users. -Spirit of Enterprise, Singapore

18/8/2010 Update: Here’s the online link to our Channel 8 TV debut (available to viewers in Singapore only). *digs a hole & hides*

—

Tomorrow (Friday, 6 August) evening 8.30pm, on Channel 8

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.

(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! ♥

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

This is José (pronounced ho-say) our Operations Supervisor, a.k.a. Handsome José, a.k.a. Mr Muscles.

José’s been with us for over a year now. He is soft-spoken, well-mannered and very diligent. And did we say hemsem?

Before becoming a Slug, José used to be crew on a cruise ship. He likes photography. And animals. And long walks on the beach.

Truth be told, hemsem or not, animal-lover or not, we hired him because of his muscles alone, shallow little Slugs that we are.

José resolved to diminish our shallowness. “I’m not just all-muscle-no-talent you know!” he proclaimed (we’re totally making up this bit). Slowly but surely, José showed us how much he loved to flambé. (we’re not making up this bit)

At home.

At work.

José can flambé all day.

One day we said, “Hokay José, we know you’re good with the flambé. We’re sorry for being such sorry little shallow little Slugs. But now you gotta show us something more. Can you make pretty little desserts?”
(This is where the “next level of Samurai Sluggery” bit comes in, as per the title of this where-is-all-of-this-leading-to post).

Being a muscle-y gentleman of good upbringing, he took up the challenge.

Not only did José bury himself in dessert-y research, he made sure it looked good, tasted good (we all endured enjoyed quite a few rounds of “taste tests” – perks of our job!) and that the entire process is transferable to other Kitchen Slugs. We guided him on the costing and marketing aspects (shameless advertising: if you’re considering a career with us, we will impart you all our secret Kung Fu Sluggery too! After you complete the prerequisite two-month training regime, of course).

On top of everything else, José even took it upon himself to make his own food pr0n.

And so, we present the result of José’s hard work: *jeng jeng* the Apple Cranberry Streusel.

We’ll be featuring the apple cranberry streusel as one of our dessert specials for a month.

At the end of April, we will be measuring the success of José’s creation.
Among other things, we will be taking your feedback into consideration.

If José’s Apple Cranberry Streusel does well, two things will happen:
• we will make it a permanent item on the menu, and
• we will make it a permanent item on the menu.
(actually José gets a little reward but we’re not allowed to talk about it here).

It is made of 15 secret ingredients. Guess ‘em all correctly & you could win yourself a pair of Apple Cranberry Streusels, each comes with a humongous dollop of vanilla gelato. Just like that, no catch.

Finally! The slugs get to hang up their aprons and get together for their annual Dinner & Dance. This is incredibly belated as we were toooo busy with Turkey TV in Decemeber. So, all the slugs will trot to Sophia slug’s humble new abode for a pot luck session and meet her food-named pets. (Pancat the feline superstar and Peanut the Samseng cocker)

We will keep you posted on what each slug brought. Let’s hope we don’t end up with 12 tubs of agar-agar. Or 12 bags of nacho chips! ha… ** To Joe slug- you are not allowed to bring Pineapple tarts **

So, see you on 2 Feb Tuesday 6pm back at the shop. Rest of the week : sluggin’ it out as usual! See ye~