Friday, February 24, 2017

Spring is here



Spending my lunch money on set meals @ Collins. They have set lunches here and the food variety or quality is absolutely there.


Trying out Sims 4 video game, I am waiting for more expansion packs to come out so there's variety. Having played 1, 2 and 3 before, I have to say 4 is really quite different. You cannot scroll through the neighborhoods or start on a ready made family. Instead you get turnkey solutions, advanced build functions, more creative control in creating sims characters and homes.


Received more GMO seeds this week. I already have the multi-color rose ones so these are black roses and blue strawberries.


The seeds are soo tiny! The strawberry seeds look like specks of dirt, I am gonna need to buy compressed peat plant starters for these.


Out of all the rainbow coloured GMO variety things you can buy on Amazon.com, I have chosen these 2 new things to grow. Because, I was looking for more blue fruits to decorate & bake with. There really isn't anything more than blueberries that are dark almost black blueish in colour. So I bought the only blue fruits I could find on the internet, not exactly sure what shade or make it will turn out as.


 Black & white together create a really formal look, white roses are commonly found so I just really needed the black ones. It's supposed to be naturally found in Turkey, not sure how true that is.


Totally into this farming thing, especially when barnyard style homes and rustic furniture are the latest design/furniture trends now. Compared to RVs, trailer homes and tiny homes, this is a feasible alternative for quaint countryside living. But doesn't barnyard homes refer to tin can homes that dot the countryside in Malaysia and in the slums of India.


I checked out farm land in Singapore that can only be leased on 6 to 7 figure retainers to the government. For smaller scale gardening, there is a new Hort Park in Singapore with 80 25sqm plots for lease, even if you don't lease the plots of land you can still check out the park on weekends with classes, restaurants and even shopping. 



I checked on owning farm land in Malaysia that is more accessible to the average Singaporean and I have at least 1 neighbor that does this. The only restriction Malaysia has is minimum amount required on each land transaction. This ranges from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the state your land is located in. Singaporeans can only stay in Malaysia for a maximum of 1 month per year, so I guess you travel across the border once a year for harvest and that's it.


On the first step towards my home garden, I tried looking for seeds in the shops and there are almost none. So had to make a trip to the Thomson Road plant nurseries to get some of the local variety. The shelves were soo dusty my fingers were black after selecting my seed packets. Apart from local stuff that costs $1 to $3, there are Italian herbs & flowers @$9.90 a packet, thinking it might be cheaper getting it while on vacation. Spent almost $100 on just seeds alone!



Friday, February 17, 2017

CNY...Valentine's Day



This week we move from CNY into Valentine's Day. Lunch @ Watami Japanese Restaurant, western style salads, everything else is Jap. The cook must be in a good mood coz our meal was oishi!


Beautiful pink skies around my place at around 7:30pm.


Attended church #tryalpha with my cousins.


Got my nails done at a local spa using China products, the gel nail polish looks really good, 猫眼.


On Valentine's Day, I made lunch at home for 5 to 6 people. Everything was purchased from FairPrice under $40.


Torres black truffle potato chips     $2.95 x 3
Sunshine black truffle and mushroom flatbread     $6.90
Chinese sausages & hotdog buns (5 pack)     $3.10 + $1.80
1 big white onion                    $1.96
Tiger Radler Grapefruit Beer (6 pack)     $9.70
Poppies mini chocolate eclairs (12 piece)     $5.95


Total is $38.26, you can still squeeze in a bottle of tomato ketchup for the hotdogs.


Friday, February 10, 2017

Ang Pow Draw Tonight!


After the first few days of CNY, all the shops open for business and it gets really crowded in the shopping centres. Everyone's trying to spend their ang pow money.


Lunch @ Fat London Duck, Scotts Square. Surprise! It's actually goose.


The signature calf liver dish is a must try. It is bouncy & soft, almost no taste with a sweet ginger sauce. The signature rice roll has fried youtiao inside stuffed with seafood, usually when there is youtiao there is no meat but here there is both.


When I was at SweeGek's place, I tried Chococino that is ridiculously yummy. Instant hot chocolate with marshmellows melted in already. So I dropped by FairPrice next to the restaurant to get a packet, 25 sachets for around $7.


I was walking through Isetan and Takashimaya to get some lucky bags and its slim pickings. Luckily the instore sales were really good 50% to 70% discounts. I ended up shopping the post Christmas sale, scored an orange panettone, Harrods coffee & tea, Crabtree & Evelyn gift box.


During CNY, Singapore Pools hosts its annual multi-million dollar lotteries. Last week the prize pool was $7 million! Tonight is the ang pow draw and the prize pool is $12 million. I bought $20 ang pow hoping for the best, I didn't win anything last week but things might be different tonight.


My old bed set broke into 2, right down the middle just before my new bed got delivered, so I was sleeping on the spare mattress set for a couple of days.


I went to Courts to get the new bed coz you can get a pretty decent bed for around $1,000. As we found out, super single costs as much as queen size. So I decided on a King Koil queen bed frame custom made with beige micro-suede upholstery. Simmons mattress with aloe vera mattress topper. Final Price $1,360 including a free mattress cover and 2 pillows, we bought some pillow covers on the way out). Is that price unbelievable or what.


My new Disney bedsheets are from Isetan, Frozen Tsum Tsum and Alice in Wonderland. 700ct microfibre sheet sets $49.90 each.



Friday, February 3, 2017

Midway through CNY



Reunion Dinner, the usual steamboat and relatives. 


Went round the temples that night as people usually do, it gets really crowded. On New Year morning we visit our grandparents ashes to pay our respects.


 Lunch @ Auntie Linda's place.


Longans 桂圆 or 龙眼, peaches 桃子 or 桃花运 love luck, my fave are mandarin oranges 桔子(especially the new seedless variety). The only Chinese fruits missing here are pomelo 柚子 and pears 梨子


Gucci started releasing a Chinese New Year collection 3 years ago and this year its a red leather & gold thread embroidered Dionysus bag. It's not rooster themed and has a matching wallet and card case. There are rooster themed items like the scarf and shoes.


However, that is not what caught my attention. It's this Gucci brocade Marmont bag that comes in red or green that has me in a tizzy, from Gucci Spring 2017 collection. I hesitate coz it looks like a blanket but at the same time it sings to me.


This spring 2017 collection also has a yellow brocade Dionysus bag with bamboo handle. And a green brocade Sylvie bag.