Out & About #32 | Summer Hangouts #1: Shopping + Crushed Ice

For the first time in about a year, I met up with one of my closest friends from high school.

Summer is nice in that majority of people's schedules are a little less packed than throughout the school year. I guess this isn't quite the case when you're working long shifts for a summer job, but thankfully, not all of my friends have entered the workforce yet.


In the morning, I went to claim my free birthday drink from Starbucks before heading off to meet up. After numerous photos of the renowned American coffee house's latest concoction popping up on my social network feeds, it became difficult to not succumb to curiosity.
Behold the Mocha Coconut Frappuccino (and some shots of my day jewellery that had turned out better than expected)

After all the hype that had been built up via social media, I had high expectations for this drink. But it was just plain disappointing.
Yes, it did taste like a mocha. And yes, it did taste like coconut (especially with the toasted coconut flakes sprinkled on top. However, it wasn't a particularly good taste. Rather, it was absurd. (But at least I hadn't been required to pay the full price for it.)

We were supposed to meet up at Square One; since I got there a bit earlier than the meetup time, browsing sales was the perfect way to kill time.

Hot Topic was having a BOGO free clearance sale on jewellery. I could have gotten this gorgeous vintage-like half birdcage and lock necklace plus another item for only $7. Sadly, nothing piqued my interest, and the birdcage was returned back to the hook it originally rested upon.

The pin to the right instantly reminded me of INFINITE (I want you back, back back back), but I was told that it was a reference to "The Fault in Our Stars" instead. Oh well.
It wasn't only Hot Topic that was having a sale though; majority of the other stores were too.

Taking advantage of Aldo's '2 for 1' deal, I scored myself this pretty nautical set for a little over $6!

After visiting a few more stores, we stopped for a late lunch/snack. The food court's selection of Asian food has definitely grown since the renovation to be part of Urban Eatery.

I wanted to stop by Hallmark since the Square One website had listed that there was some sort of promotion being held for a limited period of time. But upon arrival, the store attendant informed me that the promotion was only being held for certain photo frames and ornaments.

So we, or rather I, decided to check out some of the cuter items available instead.

Since my last post, I've been wanting to try Bubble Republic's crushed ice - so off we went!

I found the Green Mango Crushed Ice to have a sour, artificial taste hovering between the lines of "next level sour syrup: and 'just plain weird", if that makes any sense.
It tasted very little like mango and resembled a green Sour Patch kid, but with the addition of lime or lemon syrup. Quite the optical illusion, the little green bits were not green apple jelly. Instead, they were much harder in texture (like agar agar) and bore the same taste as the syrup that was poured over the shaved ice.

The Black Milk Tea Crushed Ice, on the other hand, was amazing! I had originally asked the waitress if I could substitute a pudding topping for the panna cotta and add less sweetened condensed milk to it, but she said that they did not allow for substitutions. She did promise that the crushed ice would come with the condensed milk on the side, but I think she forgot to include it on the order sheet. Regardless, the shaved ice was perfect: it wasn't overly sweet like I had expected it to be, and had just the right amount of panna cotta and ice.
As the bowl was filled to the brim with milk tea when it was brought to the table, a small spill was inevitable. Other than that though, I would definitely try this again!