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27 October 2012

USS Halloween Horror Nights 2012


HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS!


Last Sunday, 3 of us braved the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights 2! Pretty bummed out I didn't get to attend it last year so I HAD to go this year! Thanks to Debbie, managed to get some pretty good discounted tickets :D This post is pretty much gonna be a photo post so ENJOY.

All in all, there were 3 haunted houses that USS has erected from scratch and I must say that 2 of them were pretty well done. I particularly liked the details that went into the Dungeon of Damnation. So elaborate! (yeah right, scaring the shit out of myself in the haunted house and still had time to appreciate the artistry that went into it lol) I liked the Insanitarium haunted house the next and was AMAZED at this random actor that had to splash around in this huge bath tub of water. I hope he has a substitute or something and does not do it for the entire 4-5 hours.


House of Dolls lane, which had a lane of spooky dolls trolling around.


Poor dude! So many people went to help him up though HAHA



Had a scary conversation with this lady who wanted to steal our faces LOL. You probably can't tell from these photos, but she has a zipper down the center of her face and it rips out to show her bloody flesh below her nose. Her acting was so sadistically realistic as well.



Bought the photo that USS took as a souvenir




Beyond these gates will lead you to Zombie land - Total Lockdown. I was taking a random photo and this 'zombie' came out of nowhere and screamed in my ears. Insisting on taking the photo, I made sure the photo started processing before I started screaming and running away HAHA. You've been warned if you wanna stand somewhere and take a photo and be oblivious of your surroundings. Pretty cool, I don't mind being a zombie.

Anyway, we went through this area countless times because we queued for the first haunted house 'Death Alley' and it took us almost 30-40min to get in and we completely gave up and wanted to get the Express Pass. Had to walk all the way to Customer Service cos we didn't have enough cash on us to buy it off one of the makeshift counters inside. I know they've extended the event to 1am on the last weekend. However, initially, it was only 8pm-12midnight so we were running out of time.

I would suggest you to get the Express Pass if you decide to go. It is $40 additional top up but it grants you priority access to all the haunted houses and the rides once. In my opinion, you need it because if you're at the front of the queue, you wouldn't want to know how much better the Express Pass ticket holders get it. For eg, if you go on the rollercoaster, they allocate seats to all the 'Express' patrons and allow the 'Normal' patrons to fill up the seats, which is why you have to wait for more than an hour to get onto the ride. SUCH A BUMMER. So yes, it's worth it. (double worth it for us cos even with our express pass, we didn't had to pay very much a difference from the original $68 ticket)





At the Bizarre Bazaar where Mummies and Egyptians roam the street.





The Insanitarium haunted house was actually pretty gross but awesome at the same time. They must have placed smelling agents into the water because the water smelt gross. And yes, you'll be splashed by water. My favourite room (also because it is the scariest), is this room padded in white with strobe lights. Seriously, it will scare the crap out of you.


Our first time on the Transformers Ride! For all of us. It was fun showing Char around since she's never been to USS and had to take in all of it in one jam-packed 4 hours of adrenaline rush haha. Thanks to the Express Pass, we managed to conquer all 3 of the haunted houses and ALL the rides! We even went back for a second visit to the Dungeon of Damnation.



 

Love the 3D effect of the Transformers Ride. 2 thumbs up!
After we were pretty much done with everything, we went around to take photos with zombies.



This Zombie is a rock-star wannabe





LOVEEE the makeup! Looks like so much fun doing it


I stormed and chased after zombies demanding they take a photo with me lol. "Eh Monster! Take a photo with me!" This one here obliged.



Ended off the night with Mel's Drive-In burgers and cheese fries. Such a great night out! If you haven't visited the USS Halloween Horror Nights 2012, it's ending tonight so go grab your tickets now!

12 October 2012

Sydney | Museum of Contemporary Art, Manly Beach, Jellyfish Cafe & Churras Brazilian Barbecue


SYDNEY DAY 4



Bought this disposable camera from Typo for $5!



Nothing really quite beats the smell of freshly-baked cupcakes in the morning


This was the day Ivan and I ventured to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. He has been there before so it was more of a revisiting for him. The museum was located near the ferry terminal where seagulls roam and flew about freely. They look so cute with their crimson red stick-thin legs and feet.


This man was very determined to lure the attention of the seagulls. He even got a kid to take a photo of him with the seagull


Kids in Sydney must be really happy people, being able to chase birds without a care in the world.




It was a rather gloomy mid-day that particular day.


Here's the front entrance that leads into the MCA. It is free to public for admission by the way.



At the top floor of the museum where you could glance at the scenery below.



Part of a sculpture art at the Sculpture Balcony.





This is a wall lined with many different tiny shoes with seashell embellishment. So pretty and it kinda reminds me a little of 'The Little Mermaid' for some reason.


The details and patterns on the various shoes are so delicate and intricate. No two shoes have the same design and definitely creates quite a piece of artwork when viewed from afar and close-up. The different colours of the shoe also adds interest to the piece of artwork.






There was a whole wall of portraits sketched with pencil and charcoal. I LOVE IT.



Depending on where you stand, this artwork will appear different from different angles.


This is probably one of my favourite art pieces in the entire gallery. It is a sculpture of a human torso with images of trees, mountains and pagodas painted onto it. I like the intricacy and attention to details in the painting and the fact that it's a a painting done on a very well-modelled sculpture. The painting is also done in a very clever manner, allowing the shapes to form the images of the nose, mouth and throat very clearly while keeping composition and form in an interesting juxtaposition. It was indeed very intriguing and I found myself literally staring and walking around the sculpture for a good 15-20 minutes.


I didn't managed to see two entire floors of gallery art which was a pity because the museum was preparing for Sydney's Biennale. Sad that my trip didn't coincide with their Biennale as well.


Splashdrop glass bowls! I want one! This was at their souvenir shop. They had loads of fun and interesting artsy stuff in the shop.




After the museum visit, we took a ferry to Manly Beach to have lunch. It was a short ferry ride lasting about 45min to an hour. I spent my time on the ferry flooding my Instagram with photos as I've just got access to wifi that morning before visiting the museum. YAY.


Saw loads of shop-worthy places to spend my money at upon arrival at Manly Beach. Had to focus on the fact that we were hungry and decided to go search for lunch first before coming back to shop.


Many have commented that Manly Beach is the prettiest beach in Sydney and this is why:


Look at how blue the sky is, how clear the waters are and the soft-sandy beach.
Perfect place to hold a picnic or in their case, lie on the beach and wish your worries away.



Welcomed at our lunch destination Jellyfish Cafe by a huge dog. Jellyfish is a restaurant located along the beach and they specialise in serving great seafood.



The indoor area of the restaurant



and the outdoor area equipped with heaters and all.


Here's their menu and we had a hard time picking what we wanted because everything sounded SO GOOD!


King Prawns peeled and skewered, with Chermoula Marinade $17.90
(gluten free)


This was part of Jellyfish's tasting selection and even though I had no idea what Chermoula was, the prawns were juicy and fresh and the marinade had an exotic and interesting taste to it. A good exotic. It was on the savoury side but the sweetness of the prawns helped to even it out. I later found out that Chermoula is a marinade used in Algerian, Morrocan or Tunisian cooking, most commonly used to give flavour to fish or seafood.

 


Seared Scallops with Cauliflower Puree & Prosciutto Dust $14.90
3 per serve (gluten free)

THIS WAS SO GOOD and possibly one of the best scallop dish I've ever tried. Mainly for the combination of the cauliflower puree and prosciutto dust. The prosciutto added a really minimal but sufficient salty kick and we literally licked the plate off because it was too mind-blowingly delicious for words.



Lemon infused King Prawn & Scallop Ravioli, Lobster Cream reduction, fennel & parsley salad
$27



The lobster cream reduction had a strong lobster flavour to it and definitely gave the whole dish a lot of punch. Ravioli was prepared al dente and with every bite, you are biting into a mix of scallop and prawns. My only gripe about the dish was the fact that I couldn't really taste the natural flavours of the prawn and scallop well enough because of the strong lobster cream reduction. Kinda overpowered the entire dish for me.

 


Look at the prawn and scallops peeking from inside that Ravioli!


Roast silver Dory Fillet, King Prawn and Shallot mash, green beans and caper butter
$29.90

(*This dish was also the Sydney Fish Market catch of the day and was sold at Market price)


This piece of fish was just splendid. Crispy layer of skin with soft textured fillet accompanied by some really awesome shallot mash and a dolup of caper butter presented on top of the fish. The caper butter was VERY salty so as to give the dish extreme flavour so you definitely need a good mix of fish and mash and everything just tied together so beautifully to create a mishmash of wondrous sensation on your tastebuds. I'm not a fan of green beans but the beans in the dish was soft yet slightly crunchy, making them the perfect green beans to go with the dish.


If that's not all, there was a dessert platter! The platter caught us by surprise because we thought we weren't supposed to get it. Yes, we got this meal special via Groupon Sydney and it was $30 per person for 2 mains and 2 jellyfish tasting selection. It was such a steal as it came along with this Chef prepared dessert platter as well!



(From L to R) Jellyfish Creme Brulee, Chocolate brownie with Strawberry ice-cream topped with Raspberries, Vanilla Bean ice-cream with Pistachio nougatine, Sticky Fig Pudding with vanilla toffee sauce

I'm very proud of myself because I could actually memorise the dessert names by heart even though Sydney was like 4 months ago. lol


My favourite was the chocolate brownie although I paired it with the Vanilla Bean ice-cream instead. The fig pudding was really good too and the Creme Brulee had a hard crust and soft center. Everything was so delectable!


Awesome platter of desserts. We HAD to have the ice-cream even though it was totally freezing out. All in all, an extremely satisfying seafood meal topped with an extra 4 desserts. What more could you ask for? I highly recommend the scallop appetizers if you ever decide to give Jellyfish a visit.

JELLYFISH CAFE | RESTAURANT
Shop 5, 93-95 North Steyne, Manly Beach Sydney
Tel: 02 9977 4555
Website: www.jellyfishmanly.com
Opening Hours: (Monday to Sunday) 7am to 930pm


After our hearty lunch, we took a stroll along the beach




Such pretty clouds. Clouds you'll never see in Singapore.


Spotted a dalmation on our way back to the ferry terminal and the owner was so kind to allow me to play with the dalmation



These tall trees remind me of the Twilight movie.


No idea who took this photo but here's the only photo of Ivan and I that day.


Sydneysiders enjoying the Manly sea breeze.


Took the last ferry back to Sydney island. Ivan and I fell asleep on the ferry back and luckily the ferry conductor woke us up because when we woke up, we realised that there was a stream of people boarding the ferry. Everyone taking the ferry back had gotten off the ferry and we were the only ones left! We almost took the ferry back to Manly and probably had to stay there for the night if not for the kind soul who woke us up. Phew.


Wanted to bring back this penguin souvenir home with me so badly but no more money after spending them on shoes and clothes.


Artworks along Oxford street whilst walking to our dinner destination.



It was a super long walk but we finally made it to Churras which is a Brazilian BBQ place. It was a buffet and there was free-flow skewer selections and you could pick and choose what you wanted. The meal came with a glass of wine of your selection.



The place was cosy and had a very chillax vibe to it.



There would be servers coming to you and asking you if you would like something to be served onto your plate. There was a really wide selection of meat, including chicken, pork, lamb and beef. Some of my favourites were the mushrooms. (omg so heavenly) They even had coconut prawns!, which was an interesting mix of flavours

Not many photos of food because the place was really dark


THIS MY FRIEND, is a chicken heart. I know it's not supposed to be that big of a deal but it was the first time I was having a chicken heart so pardon me. It tasted similar to a liver and actually tasted quite nice although I only took a small bite out of it to try. Couldn't really stomach the fact that I was eating a chicken's heart.

CHURRAS THE BRAZILIAN BARBECUE
219 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia
Tel: 02 8084 2151
Opening Hours: (Monday to Sunday) 6pm - 1030pm


Next up: Sydney | Glebe Market, Oxford Street Shopping & Hurricanes