Jumbo for Crabs

Girl's night out, crabs for dinner at our favourite restaurant Jumbo.

There were black pepper crabs, chilli crabs, seasoned salt & pepper crabs...

Helpful waiters to pour our iced chinese tea for us.

Al fresco dining in Singapore near the river. The humidity was a bit hard at first and we kept loading up on juice and iced tea. The cool evening winds came soon after it turned dark so it actually gets more comfortable the later you dine.

The Lion King

I was just wondering what to do tonight. After work, I wondered over to The Lion King website and saw that the VIP tickets to tonight's show were still available. So I bought a package. But first, pre-show cocktail and short ribs from Wolfgang Puck's CUT restaurant.

Turns out I got the best seats in the house. Front and center atop the dress circle. For once, I can see everything clearly with nobody to block my view.

Disney's shows are always good, great music, amazing backdrops and wonderful costumes. It really is one of the better shows in a while (since ALW) and worth watching. Bring your kid along, children will love it. It was a full house I think.

 They even had gifts for me to bring home. I don't know what this is but I also got a magnet.

Chinatown Brass

Now that my office is close to Chinatown, a random walk out for lunch yields surprising finds. I had soya sauce chicken noodles today and passed by a chinese cabinet shop that sold custom hinges, perfect for framing my cross stitch. A little further on in an antique furnishings shop, I found out the owner makes these animal shaped old-fashion brass locks. A little polishing and it will be nice and shiny. 

Carrot Cake

Not the angmoh dessert version but the savoury time-honored Singaporean breakfast dish for the ravenous. It's white radish (carrot in chinese) flour cakes that are chopped up into bite-sized pieces and pan-fried with eggs (yumyum) and sauce (you can choose black or white).

Clorox Bleach Pen

For precision stain removal. I can't live without now that I have found this. Great for those after lunch spots on your whites and more recently on my cross stitch canvas - darn those ink bleeding pens.

Fuji Instax Mini 25

When my dad purchased his canon selphy photo printer, he had so much fun editing and printing his pictures out the conventional way that I was sold once again on the conventional camera. So I decided to get a polaroid camera or Fuji Instax, now that polaroid no longer makes cameras. *sshh, I got him one too!

The instax minis are cute, coz the pics are about as big as a credit card. Or you can just use the "wide" film for conventional sized instant pics. For your inner child, there are rainbow and cartoon films at $16.50 per box of 10 films.

Approximate prices for the instax mini cameras are $150 for 7S, $190 for a mini 25 and $280 for a mini 50S. Of course, based on the colour choice and cartoon affiliation, it can cost more. 

Envirosax Bags

The environmentally friendly alternative to plastic bags. It's soo pretty, you can use it as a regular day tote. Holds up to 44lbs or 2 regular plastic bags worth of stuff and water resistant. So you know it won't break or tear anytime soon. I have had my envirosax for 3 years and counting. I prefer it over regular recyclable bags because it's soo handy. You can roll it up into a tiny little packet and stuff it into your pocket or bag so you will never be caught in a situation without one. At these prices, I can afford to have 1 to match my moods and clothes.

 

Co. Galway?

6 months after, I receive my Austria shopping tax refund cheque. My name is mis-spelled, but, how to return it when the address is Co. Galway... where's that?

Easter

On this religious holiday, we eat chocolate and eggs, sometimes chocolate eggs. Isn't it strange how it's the year of the rabbit and there are candy bunnies everywhere for Easter?

JP Morgan Run

It's the annual JP Morgan Corporate Challenge, or marathon. The corporate crowd gathered from the Esplanade to One Fullerton.

Laos Coffee

They have coffee in Laos?

5 Blessings (五福临门) Cross Stitch

I bought this cross-stitch kit in Guilin for 25 yuan. The friendly shopowner told me it would take half a month to complete then proceeded to draw squares on the back as a guide. It took me 16 days to complete it. Including framing time, it would be 3 weeks in total.

I chose an uncommon gourd design laden with auspicious words and symbols. The main theme is 5 blessings or 五福临门, a common prayer wish for longevity, wealth, health, peace and happiness.

Now that this is complete, I am upgrading to a bigger cross-stitch of mandarin ducks and hopefully later to a family signboard of peonies and butterflies.

Posting more pictures after framing, stay tuned.

Colourful Leopard Prints

What to do with all those animal print accessories in strange bright colours? Give it away of course!

Sanrio Stores

Hello Kitty and Baby Milo from A Bathing Ape have opened a store at Mandarin Gallery. I absolutely adore the cute new clothes. Unfortunately, I cannot fit into them. So the next best thing was a shopping spree at an original Sanrio store. Not much to buy really, since they stopped restocking items from Japan.  

National Geographic Store

Fun educational toys for kids, I forgot... Anyway, the layout has changed completely since the last time I was here and the cafe is fantastic! Loving the food.

Coffee Club's Mudpie

The ultimate stress buster! A gigantic slice of mudpie with oodles of chocolate sauce and powder. It's sticky, fudgey goodness will melt your worries away as you fall in love.

Delifrance Desserts

Have been stuffing my face with Delifrance desserts. I think there are some new recipes as the fruit tarts are filled with pear puree in place of custard. But, some things never change. I still like chocolate eclairs.

Chinese Keyboard

I was actually looking for a chinese keyboard and wound up with a kid's plastic board instead. Which is a good enough substitute at 3 yuan!

It would be even better if there were stickers like those available for Japanese and Korean learners. 

Century Egg

I love eating century eggs! with ginger or congee. The best century eggs are from Yung Kee in Hong Kong. The restaurant has it's own recipe for preserving eggs, making them the most delicious of their kind. Please always buy me a box when you are there.

Mozzerella Salad

Nothing like fresh raw greens to detox after all the fatty oily food I consumed on my trip.

B & B's Birthday Party

Preparing the event room for the kids to arrive, the balloons really make a difference.

It's the usual kiddies party with catered kid-friendly food, sculpted 3D cakes, tank pinata and a magician/balloonist that made me a cute pink flower balloon.

 

Baby Presents

Well, they are 4 and 6 so not exactly babies anymore.

Boys this age are difficult to buy for. They don't like receiving useful items like clothes or assessment books and their parents usually don't like them to receive computer games and such. So that only leaves room for educational toys?!

I gave up this year and just got them Sesame Street balloons; a 62 inch Big Bird airwalker and a balloon bouquet with Elmo belting out "Happy Birthday"... the balloon actuallys sings! They never had that when I was growing up. (I ordered from http://www.kidzpartystore.com/index.php)

I also got them Lush gift packs - Celebrate and Star. So they get loads of bathtime fun.

Qing Ming Festival 清明节

The day we sweep our ancestors tombs. It is a public holiday in Taiwan! Here, we just leave for the cemetary in the wee hours of the weekend morning with the extended family.

My ancestors like Kopi-O and Teck Kee brand of Pau, because that is what we offer up every year, no joke. Ok, so we also offer fresh flowers, fruits and traditional candy that tastes like fried dough dusted in sugar powder.

We take a little hike to the gravesite, then lay out the offerings, cover the grave with coloured paper, light incense and burn paper money. I don't know why, but my family only burns paper money and not paper cars, houses or even a paper rolex. It is only during this time that the local incense shops carry paper effigys of every kind of material possession.