Claire's Flair

Hehe thanks Jessie for hosting us! If you're wondering, yes I curled and bunned my hair myself. It took me like 30 mins to an hour because my hair kept straightening!!

Did you know that there are currently 1,318 horses, 25 licensed trainers and all of them are located at the Kranji Turf Club?? Their stables can accommodate over 1,600 horses at one time. Races are held on most Friday nights and Sunday afternoons if you want to go check them out.

Buffet this time in the marquee was mostly curry and indian cuisine! I preferred the western one at the previous event :X There's also an assortment of sushi and salad but I couldn't snap a picture as they were all messy. Next time!

The Marquee was having a lucky draw to win a Chopard ballpoint pen! If you managed to guess the winning horse correctly and your name is picked from the lucky mix, you win one! Think it's worth $500 or something. This pen isn't mine ahaha. It's soo pretty though.

For one of the races, we had the amazing experience of being RIGHT IN FRONT of the stand!! 

The hottest couple that day IMO. Wish there was a full-length of them but I couldn't find any haha.

Above photo credits: Singapore Turf Club

Check out these sexy horse butts. Can't get any toner than that.

Us taking advantage of the great positioning haha. Usually the horses start at the other side of the track.

The gunshot was fired and away they ran!! I could only snap one picture, wish I was 0.5s later so I could see them galloping. Oh well next time!

With Yvette! Isn't her pink hair just gorgeous??

Sorry for the grainy picture but I just had to take a picture with Bobby Tonelli and post it here. He was the official emcee in the Committee room! #sorrynotsorry

After I took this picture I realised for the first time, that there was a lake in the middle of the track. Yup didn't realise that even though I've been here like 5x or something. It is used to water the grass and all!

Have never flown on Emirates lol. Heard many positive reviews though!

Have you ever watched horses race? Not just any horse race but the ones held at the Singapore Turf Club!? It is truly an experience and if you can, try to catch one of the big races which are held a few times a year. Most people in the air-conditioned areas dress to the nines, decked in unusual fascinators (the things on their heads, no they're not hats), you'll see guys in suit and tie, oh and rooms with free flow of alcohol! If your schedule doesn't permit, normal races are on most Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. I wouldn't call myself a gambler or an addict who needs to bet often or all the time because that would take the novelty and fun away!

It's more entertaining to go with friends so bring as many as you can. It doesn't matter if you lost a bit, you are in great company! Pity there was no Eddie Peng Yuyan unlike Longines in November as eye candy but you never know haha! 

The Singapore Airlines Cup 2015 was the first horse racing event I attended that started in the late afternoon and ended at night, which was a great excuse to wear a long gown. I took 3 hours to get ready and did my hair and makeup myself! It was a bit of a disaster initially because my hair curler ran out of battery mid-way and wouldn't switch on after. ANYWAY it's all good because it worked out in the end.

We were seated in the Marquee this time, which has a nice patio with an amazing view (and some people choose to smoke at lol). To get there, you'll take a shuttle bus near the taxi stand, feels like VIP service because you also get... 

The bread and butter pudding that I forgot to eat because my mains were that good :( Oh well at least I have a picture of it.

There are two betting stations in the Marquee, so the queue moves pretty fast! Imagine eating while watching the monitors to watch the horses for the next race, getting up, betting, going back to your seat for a bit, then getting up again to watch the actual race. Repeat at least x4 times lol. You'll lose track of how much you've already eaten!! 

Shot with the Casio TR60, the best selfie camera right now in the market, Don't you think the quality is amazing?? Your skin looks flawless in every shot, and this wasn't even taken in any special mode! Side note, I am loving my hair colour done by Yoshi at Nine by Sweet Basil. Totally trust Yoshi with my hair lol, I told him to pick a colour for me.

Apologies, I digressed!! After our filling buffet dinner, we went over to the grand stand area to catch the official opening ceremony and performances. There were women in flouncy dresses with many balls on them, people literally walking INSIDE Zorb-balls, (still have no idea how they breathe in them), and of course these cool pyro dudes on stilts. 

The sky became pretty smokey after that

To be honest, I wasn't really sure what was happening, but a bunch of pretty SIA girls were posing for photos with the jockeys in anticipation for the next race! Maybe they wanted the jockeys to size each other up or something.

Sure we may be table no 40 but we were right in front of the stage and the vip table!! :D

We were at the committee box this time, and the vibe there was more polished and refined, so we dressed up for the part.

With Daniel from Oneclickwonders, Dawn Yang, Hayley Woo and Hpility

The sky was threatening rain but we were very lucky to have escaped wrath!

The races that day were all named by the club to reflect their commitment to charities. Taught Hayley how to bet at the races, you win some, you lose some. Love the adrenaline though!!

Suave, good-looking, killer smile, perfectly positioned dimple, this guy's charisma is off the charts. All the ladies, young and old, were fawning over his 1.82m frame.

Eddie gave us a speech and sat down for a bit until...

Our president arrived!!

Hello Mr President. I want to visit the Istana one day.

The biggest race of the day, race 10 - had a S$1.35 million prize money, and of course, we wouldn't have missed that for the world! I bet 3 horses to place (come in first, second or third) and one of my horses came in FIRST!! Too bad I didn't bet win, or my winnings would've been much more!! 

(Source: here)

Gambling is addictive but it's important to know when to stop, and set a limit before you even start.

But of course, before the chef starts cooking, the chef has to be fed. Lovely muffins from Sugar n Spice, super famous ones if you're near Tanjong Pagar Plaza you have to give it a try!

Muffins are best accompanied with tea :) Major plus as Gryphon teas are currently my favourite!

After all the ingredients were sliced, to stir them up in a pan until the aroma comes out!

"So this is how you do it..."

Then, blend using this blending blade thing to mash the food up a little. This definitely looks too dangerous for young kids to play with.

The first step before you begin cooking is... to read the recipe. Know which to prepare and slice up first, before freaking out while already cooking halfway.

Chefs on standby when any lifelines are needed to be used.

Since there were some marks on presentation, I decided to place my orange slices around my cauliflower, vegetables, beetroot etc :) One down, two more dishes to go!

If you're wondering what's in those cupcake tin holders, that's vinegar and olive oil!I also cut my zucchini into pie shaped ones instead. For kicks. After mashing the vegetable mix to form a puree using the blender (it was fun!!), we had to cook them altogether with the pasta!

Was taught a neat little trick on how to slice basil prettily. roll them together and slice them thinly, sideways! That's me trying my best. If you've done it correctly, they will turn out pretty and curly. Place everything on baking paper, decorate, wrap, and throw into the oven. Dish number 2, done!

Everyone hard at work!!

There was barely enough time for dish 3, which was a simple rocket salad and cheese, but I rushed it out. The best part of the dish WAS THAT YOU GOT TO PLAY WITH THIS. 

I've sat at enough sushi counters to know the trick of making aburi sushi. I just HAD to try it out for myself, supervised, of course.

It was funny because I was just about to blowtorch the cheese in the picture above, when the chef freaked out and asked me to STOP because I would've burnt all the vegetables as well. #quickthinking

So one of the helpers helped me transfer the cheese onto the cutting board instead, to blowtorch. Which was really fun!!! Until... the cutting board started to get a bit burnt. Thankfully it could be cleaned off!! So don't ever blowtorch on a cutting board or near vegetables!! #lessonlearnt Guess I'm ages away from making my own aburi salmon. sob.

After it was all done...

Quick picture with everyone's successful dishes! Successful in terms of presentation, I can't be held responsible about the taste.

Here's a photo of my first 2 dishes. I didn't know we could take out the pasta from the baking paper. Hence mine looks brownish and greasy. Oh well. My pasta design was inspired by Squishy, my rabbit who would looove all these greens provided today!

Skincare can help the outer surface,but controlling what you eat helps your body fight signs of aging too.

And Yvette! :) Loving her blown hair in this pic!