Take a trip around the world with virtual French wine tastings, listen to travel podcasts, appreciate Italian art, and eat San Francisco’s famous cruffins
ART
Hyperrealistic sweets
Candyland
Get your fill of oversized candy, licorice, lollipops and all the sweets you can possibly stomach with your eyes at this unique solo exhibition featuring true- to-life paintings of candy by Italian artist Roberto Bernardi.
A photorealism painter who creates art as eerily exacting as the actual photograph, Bernardi’s exhibition is inspired by a trip to Dylan’s Candy Bar in the US — the largest candy shop in the world with over seven thousand types of sweets. To achieve the effect of lol- lies wrapped in transparent cellophane, the artist uses the glazing method of applying very diluted oil colours over the underlying layer of colour, so as to obtain another colour transparency.
Discover more about Bernardi’s inclination toward hyperrealism art at his first-ever Singapore exhibition now on till Sept 19 at Mucciaccia Gallery, which is located at Blk 6 Lock Road #02-10 Gillman Barracks. Call 6694 3777 or email singapore@mucciaccia.com for more information.
DRINK
Virtual wine tastings
Vivant
Stay home and enjoy a virtual wine tasting session conducted by Vivant, an interactive online platform that offers a series of wine tasting workshops featuring sustainable, organically-grown wines from around the world. Hosted by expert wine advisors or the winemakers themselves, each wine pairing session will include a tasting kit delivered to your doorstep. If you are a beginner, we recommend the “Food & Wine Pairing Essentials” to learn the basics of matching the right cuvées with different cuisines and flavours. Through this session, you not only get to polish up on your food pairings, but also get to taste some of the world’s best responsibly-made wines such as Isabelle et Denis Pommier’s Petit Chablis Hautérivien 2018 and Château Haut-Bages Libéral’s Pauillac 2016.
To sign up, you have to join Vivant as a member at $239 per annum. Tasting kits cost an additional $120 at www.vivant.eco.
PODCAST
Travelling without moving
TellMeWhere2Go
From kitesurfing in Qatar to trekking the jungles of Rwanda, Australian travel enthusiast and writer Steve Collins takes us armchair travelling around the world with his podcast series. In addition to monologues of his favourite destinations, Collins also interviews travel experts, locals or residents living in the various regions who offer up interesting historical information and helpful travel tips of how to get there, where to stay and what to do.
TellMeWhere2Go is available on Spotify, Apple and Google podcast platforms, among others.
EAT
Cruffins from San Francisco
Mr Holmes Bakehouse
The confectionery that popularised the beloved cruffin, San-Francisco based Mr Holmes Bakehouse has made its way into Singapore with the opening of its first outlet at Pacific Plaza. Enjoy layers and layers of doughy goodness in the form of cruffins, danishes, donuts, croissants, sweet buns and cookies, available in a variety of flavours from $4 to $7.50. Cruffin flavours rotate every quarterly, so be sure to try the hot-selling Peanut Butter Milkshake Cruffin before it disappears. You can also make it a complete meal and order a sandwich or salad ($13 to $16) with tea, coffee or cold pressed juice.
Mr Holmes Bakehouse is at #01-01/02/03 Pacific Plaza. Call 6334-0308 or visit www.mrholmesbakehouse.sg for details.
EXPLORE
Walking through history
Sembawang Heritage Trail
Rediscover your love for the outdoors and go on an explorative trek to uncharted parts of Sembawang, once known for its British naval base, rubber tree estates, diverse communities and home to Singapore’s only natural hot spring park.
For those unfamiliar with the territory, the National Heritage Board (with the help of local residents) has cu- rated three thematic routes for trail-goers to explore the multi-faceted sights of Sembawang: Historical Landmarks of Sembawang is a 7km trail that visits sites that recall major milestones in Sembawang’s past; Communities of Sembawang is an 8km visit to former neighbourhoods in Sembawang, including coastal villages and homes around the former naval base; From Dockyard to Shipyard is a 5km trek to various landmarks that were part of the former Sembawang naval base.
The walking tours feature a total of 31 sites and nine heritage trail markers which invite visitors to explore Singapore’s northern coastal town from when it was first mentioned in maps in the early 1800s to the decades before and after World War II.
During these walkabouts, you will find out more about the illustrious past’s colonial-era buildings like the Former Admiralty House and Beaulieu House where military officials resided; shophouses with well-known drinking holes that were frequented by visiting sailors; and many more lesser-known natural and architectural landmarks.
The National Heritage Board has developed a total of 21 heritage trails with complimentary companion guides and maps (available in four languages) downloadable from www.roots.gov.sg/nhb/trails.
