Esthee H.

GONNA DIE OF HUMIDITY.


Good lord, 90%?!


Someone help. :(



And thanks for the rain that appears to be looming over the coming week.

Thank the uprising temperature that will come along with the rain too.

Remember your umbrellas and water peeps.

First up, sorry for the hiatus as #estheetheexplorer has been busy touring the world. (not that I should be apologizing to any loyal readers who are dying for updates because there really aren't any anyway. But hey, stats show that my Babyface Candy Glow Tint Bar/Nakhon Thai/Chicken Up reviews are still bringing in good traffic though no one gives a damn about my travelogues. Now that is just major sad since this blog is meant to be my travelogue.)

But that shall not deter #estheetheexplorer anyway!

Today's post is gonna make you salivate but you won't regret it.
Because I regret not having been enlightened before.
So I'm gonna be this good kind soul to enlighten others now.





Now, if you live in New York City and you've not heard of this...

Or if you've been watching American TV, and you've also not heard of this...

Or if you live in New York City, watch American TV, have a sweet tooth, and you've still not heard of this....

Or if you're travelling to New York or already in NYC....


It's time you start living and listen up now.

Because I'm about to introduce the most AMAZING, most FABULOUS, most DELICIOUS, most AWESOME thing that you can put in your mouth.




MAGNOLIA BAKERY'S CHEESECAKE IS DA BOMB!!!



It's so darn good just by thinking back upon my first taste makes my world stop momentarily so I can relieve the moment.

I'm not kidding.
The first time I tasted their Red Velvet Cheesecake, I tasted orgasm.
I SWEAR.

Okay, you get the gist. It's that f*cking good.

What have I been doing all these while?!?!

I don't know why I've been to New York so many times and have never discovered this gem. Especially since it's done so well that it's been featured on big screen such as Sex And The City, and The Devil Wears Prada, and has also been franchised all over United States, and soon to be all over the world.

Here's when they shot Sex And The City!
This is where the original bakery is - Bleecker Street, on the corner of the West 11th Street, Manhattan, NYC.

Photo by: nypost

I didn't manage to visit the original bakery though.
Why go far when I could get my happiness at Rockefeller Center?
That's merely 10 minutes walk from Times Square and mind you, I'm a slow walker.


Ta-dah!!! Presenting to you, MAGNOLIA BAKERY @ Rockefeller Center!



Step inside and you'll be presented with a array of colourful, yummylicious cakes of all sizes behind the counters, waiting for you to pick them up. Trust me, I'm not a huge fan of cakes but these were like a dozen of small little things shouting at me to bring them home.

Well it's hard not to, when a simple Vanilla cupcake is described in this manner - Vanilla: rich, buttery, old-fashioned cake with a light crumb. Our most popular cupcake.

Or like this - Lemon: lemon cream filling with lemon meringue butter-cream.

Or this - Pistachio: pistachio cake with pistachio meringue buttercream topped with pistachios.

Now that's only three out of what, 20 cupcake flavours?! You tell me how to pick like that!!!

It just makes you wanna try everything!

Marketing huh.





And boy, we were only talking about cupcakes earlier on.

Wait till we get to the cakes.




Sorry I didn't take more upclose shots of the cake because I was too stressed trying to pick one and I'm pretty sure the staff wanted me out of the way as soon as I got my cake.

Not that they weren't friendly, it's just that I'm not too sure Westerners get this thing about Asians and their obsession with photographing every small little thing in life.

Ok back to the cakes, don't they just look pretty sitting delicately on their own stands just waiting to get sliced?

I always go for the ones that are less whole because that would mean that they're the best-sellers! (may well just be monkey-see-monkey-do)
Also, once they've had a slice of them taken out, I would be able to take a good look at their insides so I can tell what goodness there is in them! All the more reason to buy those right?

Being the glutton that I am, I was tempted to buy every single flavour of the cakes/cupcakes/cheesecakes that were available and I would have done so...



If I wasn't down to my last penny that is.


Oh yeah, you heard me right. I had exactly $7 to buy something from here, because I spent my other $6 on Lamb Over Rice at the Halal Guys. And i got this $11 because I made my friend have breakfast with me and I'd pay by credit card so she could pay me back in cash and I'd have cash for Halal Guys and Magnolia Bakery!

Brilliant Plan! How smart, thank you. :)

Since I had $7 exactly, a Cheesecake did just fine.
(FYI: All cheesecakes are priced at 7USD).

And boy, I made the best decision ever in my entire life because this Red Velvet Cheesecake that I bought was the most heavenly thing I've ever tasted.

Way better than Cheesecake Factory's cheesecakes or any other cheesecakes in the world. You guys can all go suck thumb, come learn from Magnolia Bakery instead!

Nope, no picture of my very own Red Velvet Cheesecake because I bought it and devoured it the very moment I could.
To the very last bit of it, ooooo yeahhhh.

However, here's a picture of the cheesecakes I took from the shop!
Uh huh, at the bottom is my Red Velvet baby.




Oh, just so you know, all these goodness from Magnolia Bakery are ALL HANDMADE.

From cakes to cupcakes to cheesecakes to cookies and pies and whatever heavenly edible items, they're all made by hand, on the premises throughout the day.

That's why it's called a Bakery because it's freshly baked and placed on the counter for sale!

Proof of their on-the-spot bakery.



As you can see, Red Velvet is obviously doing very well.

Magnolia Bakery is known for their cupcakes but my virgin experience went to their cheesecake and I must say that definitely didn't disappoint.

I will definitely be back to try the other things on their menu!
(another chance at orgasm, why not? okay sorry)




Here are just some additional information on Magnolia Bakery that I thought might be useful to some of you.

Magnolia Bakery offers customized cakes, makes wedding cakes and offers drop-off catering services.
You can place advanced orders and they even deliver!

They are even Kosher-certified and have gluten-free cake. (not that any of these matters to me but I'm sure it could be valid information for some!)

For a list of other FAQs, check out Magnolia's website over here.
 http://www.magnoliabakery.com/about-us/faqs/

Magnolia Bakery's U.S. Locations:

If you haven't caught this American drama series, I suggest you pause right now, open a new browser,  search "Devious Maids", stream it, download it, make a purchase, do whatever it that you do, and let it run. Because by the end of this post, you could give this drama a shot and you probably wouldn't regret it.

Unless, of course, you are a boring, old blobfish who knows nothing about letting loose and finding fun and humour in little things in life. Which I'm not surprised to know there are many around.

(Random: Did you know that a blobfish looks like this?)


WTF is this thing right? It looks kinda human-like which makes it kinda creepy actually.



Sure Devious Maids is soap-opera, brainless material that basically centers around the lives of five Latina maids who work for the rich in Beverly Hills. They may seem bimbotic, constantly talking about love and sex and what not. But they're called Devious Maids for a reason, and that's because you need brains and wit even think of devious ways!

Don't be so quick to judge click flick bimbo shows. I gotta admit I initially watched one episode on TV with a tad disdain but after that one episode, I had the rest of the season in my Ipad.

If you need further convincing, the show is made by the same people behind Desperate Housewives. So you can expect just the same kind of humour.

I like the show because it reflects a certain level of reality, amidst its drama and comedy.

The show constantly highlights the contrast between the rich and the less-rich. And I think it's hard to miss out the ridicule on the rich. The rich can really be ridiculously rich, or rich and ridiculous.

Much as this is American drama we're talking about, I love how real every situation in the show is. The sort of things people think they can get away with with money, or the mentality and behaviour they adopt on others just because they have more $$$ than the other party does.


My favourite of them all has got to be Rosie, played by Dania Ramirez.

Apart from being so devilishly gorgeous, I like her character the most because she's so full of principles! She's always struggling with her moral values and the temptations in life, yet always making the decision to put others before herself.





Ok, I'm no critic on Rotten Tomatoes so I shall stop here and resume my drama.

Darn, I'm watching it so fast that now I have to wait till they screen it in America before I can watch the next one. :(

Official Website for Matilda The Musical (UK): http://uk.matildathemusical.com/

Will be reviewing on Nakhon Kitchen, a cosy little Thai restaurant in Kovan, Singapore.

Nakhon Kitchen

212 Hougang Street 21 Singapore 530212

For directions:
Nakhon Kitchen on Google Maps



I generally don't do food reviews because everything that goes into my mouth just tastes good to me.

Also, there really are so many food blogs around that I just think my post wouldn't matter.

But as I was wondering what to have for dinner since I was in the vicinity, I googled "good food in Kovan" and various blogs came up.
I then realized that it doesn't matter if I'm no Ladyironchef (who btw gives fantastic food reviews that I always trust), because any other person who bothered to blog about the place only means that the place has something worthy of mention!

So I decided to do a simple review of this place in case someone else googles "good food in Kovan" in future and maybe my blog will help bring one more customer to Nakhon Kitchen.

Ok, this is my third time to this place and I totally get what the rave is all about. It is definitely worthy of a blog post.

First and foremost,
They serve REALLY GOOD THAI FOOD.

'Serving You Authentic Thai Cuisine' - That's what the signboard says.
Well I don't know about the authenticity since I'm not Thai, but what I'm certain of, is that it's good Thai food.

Here's what we ordered. Check out my Instavid here.

Did you know?

The Chinese hot pot has a history of more than 1,000 years.

The hot pot is a super popular cuisine all over China.

 So what's a trip to China without having hot pot?!




Check out this 麻辣火鍋, so super red and indeed it's as spicy as it looks.

No this wasn't the famous 海底捞火锅 because we had to take a cab if we wanted that but we were all too hungry and lazy so we settled for the one that was near our hotel and it's called DOLLAR SHOP. hahaha

I had tomato-based soup because the one I had at 海底捞 was soooooo good.
Sadly, this was only so-so.

Oh and one tip I've learnt from the local Chinese is that you should avoid ordering beef as much as you can when eating out.

Because they tend to substitute beef with chicken or pork as it is cheaper but still charge you the price of beef anyway.

I'm not saying they do this in China all the time. I'm just saying this is what I've heard from the locals. So yeah. Maybe such lack of ethics is happening everywhere in the business world, I'm really not surprised.

But I must say the service standards of China has really up-ed one notch these days.

They provide aprons to prevent staining your clothing, hair bands for ladies with long hair, plastic pouches for your handphones so they don't get oily, etc etc. Of course, you should know by now that the 海底捞 in China also provides manicure sessions for customers. WTF right. Go eat hot pot can get your nails done at the same time. I wonder what else they can come up with. Dental checkups, maybe?

But I really can't care less for these random things. Just bring me ma foooooood.

Hot pot craving satisfied!

Till my next trip to China!