Saturday and Snow White & The Huntsman

A drabby looking day

It started out as a gloomy Saturday. I thought it would rain. After all, it has been gloomy and raining for the past week. Aaah.. the gloom weather of winter. Nevertheless, it didn't stop me from an outing to the city. It was a windy day but fortunately for me, it never rained nor drizzled. If it did, it would definitely have been a miserable day out.

Headed to Mart 130 with three other friends only to find it closed. There was a sign outside their door written that the closing time is 3pm. It's annoying 'cos I googled the closing time before we arrived and read that the closing time was 5pm. I really wanted to try the food here after reading raving reviews about it in Urbanspoon since last year. Oh well, Mart 130 and me on Saturday, just wasn't meant to be.

With a heavy heart and hungry stomachs (at 4pm ish, we haven't had our lunch), we made our way to St. Ali. This is my third time here (tried searching for past posts on this place and couldn't seem to find any) and every time I am here, I am presented with the same menu and yet different.

The food and drink offered are the same, hence, the same menu. But the design of the cover and the insides are different. I think among the three, I like this one best! The fonts are legible, quirky and cute, in line with the ambiance of the place.

On the outside, it looked unassuming and unimpressively plain and small. But once you step in, you're greeted with quirks and character stored in a warehouse. Even the staff dressed to the theme of the place ooze with character. Well, the waitress that served our table, that is. :)

LUNCH AT ST. ALI

St Ali front cover

Cutesie font

Mocha

Chickadee

As usual, I ordered my cup of Mocha much to YC's disgruntlement and a mean size Chickadee. My first time in St Ali was memorable. My cousin, Jo brought me here with his girlfriend. The Mocha was the best I've ever had and the Chickadee was fantastic! My second visit, the Mocha was just average if not, lacking in richer chocolate taste and so was this third experience. 

And here I thought, third time's the charm.

The Chickadee was tasty and worth every morsel. It was that filling making up one's breakfast, lunch and dinner combined into that bun/sourdough bread sandwiched with bacon slices, tomatoes, salads, beef patty with avocado sauce and some other spicy sauce. 

After an hour of chatting session amidst filling our grumbling stomachs, we headed to La Belle Miette on Hardware Lane. This place is famous for macarons with 94% of 944 people with positive votes on Urbanspoon. 

If you remember my past post on Overhyped Macarons, I did not join the bandwagon of macaron fans after having a bite or two of the one's NiNi thoughtfully bought for me from Chez Dre, another much-talk-of-the-town-place on Urbanspoon. However, I did say I am more willing to give it another go before I decide against having any more macaroons in my life.

However, as fate would have it. We reached the shop only to be told that it just closed. Either it just wasn't our day or... someone just wanted to help us keep to our 'less sugar' diet. 

MACARONS AT LA BELLE MIETTE

The place looked sweet and quaint!

I would love to buy a box of goodiness...

The display shows what a lovely gift this would make

MOVIE AT CROWN VILLAGE CINEMAS

After walking around, YC and I ended up watching Snow White and the Huntsman. I am usually an easy-to-please person when it comes to movies. However, off late, either my expectations have gone up or movies churned out just aren't as good as they should be. 

Despite the hype and anticipation, I found The Vow (with my favourite actor, Chaning Tatum and actress, Rachel McAdams) just average and not as good as I thought it would be. The same goes for this beloved fairytale. Before the movie, I didn't know what to expect. All I wanted was an enjoyable movie.

But throughout the movie, I felt time passing slowly, never a good sign or testimony to the movie being watched. It is thought that attention to the smallest and littlest details adds to the whole effect of a movie. That however, can't be said for this Grimm's fairy tale. I felt that attention to certain details were a bit too much resulting in the movie being draggy and lack of focus and plot development in certain areas were glaring.

Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna is still beautiful at her age. And it was interesting to see her act as the bad person for a change. However, I felt her potential was never tapped to its heights in this movie and her given lines were lameish, at times, and other times, I do wonder why she was made to scream like someone belonging in an asylum. 

I wasn't the only one that felt it silly, the girl beside me found her screaming fits funny, too!

Chris Hemworth oozes manliness as The Huntsman. It's no wonder he was Snow White's true love. The character of William, the childhood friend, just wasn't developed enough showing clearly who the Director intended all along to be the main actor, hence the movie title. 

So, no screaming at me for revealing any spoilers 'cos there aren't any surprises and anyone who is a movie watcher with half a brain on their head would be able to see the plot and ending before each scene unveils itself.

Finally, Kristen Stewart can act. However, if I had a choice, she wouldn't have been my pick for Snow White. It felt like she brought moody broody Bella from Twilight to Snow White and The Huntsman. All in all, the movie was a let down. I, who usually am generous with my ratings, sadly, rate this movie 2/5.