Abalone Noodles

I've heard of soo many variations of abalone noodles and I've even tried the instant noodle version. This is my recipe, a really quick and simple way to make a delicious meal of an expensive ingredient.

We start with boiling the noodles in water. It's possible to skip this step with freshly made noodles, people without kitchens can just open cans and packages to put this dish together.

Canned abalones are the way to go, if you can find smaller sized abalones that's even better as you don't even need to slice it. Empty one can of abalone, brine and all into a bowl and add the cooked noodles.

Grate garlic and ginger into the pot, that's all there is to it. I used a whole teaspoon worth and the broth becomes more of a dipping sauce than soup. Garlic and Ginger actually kills the seafood-y smell.

Rasapura Masters

Received a gift from MBS in the latest marble laminated gift box, its a set of grey coloured bath towels. Also picked up the latest copy of their quarterly magazine. I had to collect it all from customer service near the food court, Rasapura Masters.

My lunch at the food court came up to $30.80 that is the same as eating at a cafe @ MBS, so its not exactly cheaper. I also had a chance to try the $8 耗煎 and the $19 耗煎 from different stalls at Rasapura Masters.

The $8 oyster omelette from Thye Hong Singapore Heritage Food comes scrambled and the $19 version from Boon Tat St BBQ Seafood is also scrambled but comes in a nice round pancake. Both portions are the same size. The oysters are bigger in the $19 version. Accompanying chili sauce is slightly tangier and more flavorful for the $19 version. That's about it!

More supermarket prizes, I like to think of these as gifts rather than prizes. This time from Letrain Redemption Center at Havelock II. I won a Lego Technics set from Energizer Batteries, one of the consolation prizes. I think the first prize is a trip to Legoland Malaysia.

This 2-in-1 set is either an Airport Rescue Vehicle or a Fire Rescue Vehicle. Up-gradable with the Lego Power Functions set, around $100, for flashing lights and motorized crane. It also comes with the commemorative anniversary brick.

Grabbing a Chilis burger for lunch.

Having my fave Korean bulgogi chicken hotplate with rice for lunch, I can eat this everyday. Met my friend who passed me this Taiwan fruit tea pack, its a larger bag in a different flavor from the parcel I received from Taiwan. This Ladies Tea must be very popular right now.

Collected another $80 hamper from LION corp. I enter these contests for the top prizes but keep getting the consolation prizes instead. The new products in the gift bag are concentrated laundry Nanox & dishwashing Magica detergent.

Had classic mee-pok and iced tea for lunch at a nearby coffee shop. This Lion Corp building was located in the middle of an industrial park, that is soo far away from everything else even the bus stop.

My Faves from Cold Storage

Top 10 favorites from Cold Storage. If you haven't tried any of these, you should do so at least once or you're really missing out on something.

Kraft's Velveeta Cheese, sometimes it comes in jalepeno/mexican/quesoblanco/2% milk. It's similar to cheddar but soo much more delicious! I put it on everything and it even melts into stir-frys & soups wonderfully. $12.90 to $15.90 for 453gm block.

Annie's Peace Pasta & Parmesan. I actually bought this because of the cute tiny little peace signs made of pasta. It turned out incredible, definitely restaurant quality. $5.50 for a 1 person portion 170gm, 1 box is 1 portion. 

Arizona Iced Teas @ $2.60 for a hefty 500ml bottle. It's brewed tea cocktails, non-alcoholic. So much easier than brewing it yourself.

The new Nestle Fitness Granola in Honey and Cranberry & Pumpkin Seeds. It's healthy 100% wholegrain oats mixed with more health foods and yummy enough to be eaten on its own or with yogurt. My fave breakfast this last year. $6.25 for 300gm, look for the re-sealable 300gm packets instead of the cereal boxes as its different even though it says Nestle Fitness.

Post's Waffle Crisp Cereal $6.25 for 326 gm. This stuff actually tastes like a good pancake breakfast filled with fresh toastiness and syrup. The best part is its available all day with no cooking required.

Glad tall kitchen garbage bags 20 piece $12.95. The first time I found out Cold Storage sold disposable bin liners I was soo happy, it makes everything so quick and clean. The cheaper ones are $5 for 100 pieces. But these Glad tall ones for the kitchen are great coz odor resistant means those stale food smells are never a problem.

Nivea Men Mud Foam $12.90 for 120ml. It's perfumed and leaves the skin clean and refreshed. I love it soo much I bought this for everyone, boys and girls, the same thing for Christmas last year. I also love using Nivea 2-in-1 makeup clear, a facial wash and makeup remover in one.

 

John West dressed crab in a tin or smoked oysters in a tin, $5 each. I cannot believe the seafood quality and value for money these tins offer. The dressed crab is actually crab puree and roe that would enhance any salad or soup, it can even be used as a spread on sandwich. The oysters have an intense smokiness and you get 14 to 19 pieces in 1 tin.

Lune de Miel squeezable honey $7.95 for 250gm. I love the honeycomb packaging, the functional squeeziness and the practical small sizes. It comes in mountain, woodlands, acacia and orange blossom. Occasionally, you can find it in a honey bear bottle instead, still squeezable.

Magic Clean dry/wet disposable sheets. Dirt just clings onto these sheets and you can throw it away once you are done sweeping/mopping the floor. The wiper is $23.95 and the disposable sheets cost $0.50 to $0.80 per sheet. It adds up in the long run but for travelling and family holidays you really cannot beat the convenience and compactness of this cleaning system.

Novena Church

Old Chang Kee x Curry Times @ Novena MRT. I love the breakfast meals from Old Chang Kee and this newly expanded outlet has all the varieties of nasi lemak, dried mee siam/laksa, curry rice/noodles etc. Including local coffee/tea and sitting tables!

Tour of the newly remodeled Novena Church that is massive, easily 5X the original size if you include the underground car park.

The stained glass windows alone are gorgeous and incredibly life-like. My aunt took all these pictures, my phone camera was giving me problems when we were inside the church.

 Several prayer alters setup around the temple, including the garden outside. To accommodate the large congregation I suppose, this place is always packed with people on religious dates.



Heading back we ate at Ichiban Sushi. Amazing takopaki hot plate as good as the street stalls.

New Year Lucky Bags

Received amazing hampers from Malaysia, it's filled with all the stuff I want! I actually wanted to make a trip to Johor to get CNY hampers, its sold in all the shopping centers and usually filled with good stuff at good prices.

One more 年货 shopping trip. Now that we have a new deep chest freezer we can all buy what we want to eat. This place has the smaller trolley cart, I got more frozen scallops, prawn spears, pre-cooked & peeled quails eggs, truffle chips, bottled teas, magiclean refills, wet wipes, nanox concentrated laundry detergent and 2 new nonstick pans.

Just before CNY, I won this stack of Hi-Chew candy in Japan's seasonal fruit flavors like yubari melon, amaou strawberry etc. Perfect for impressing my guests coz otherwise you would have to make a trip to all the different regions in Japan to collect the different candies.

This is the first time BHG is putting out Lucky Bags over the new year. It's across all stores and departments. I went to Bishan and Jurong, the lucky bags are packed with the same things but the in-store sales are something else.

From the in-store sales I got Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume $20, Revlon shampoos and conditioners $23 for the set, Kappa crystallized T-shirts 2 for $28.

$28 Children's Lucky Bag, making each item only $7. Its all My Little Pony stuff, I would have bought this for myself if not for the kids bag, coz the water bottle has a tea diffuser core.

$68 Health Foods Lucky Bag, making each item only $17. I saw the tri-coloured quinoa and grabbed this coz 500gm of perfectly round & unbroken quinoa is usually $40+, same with raw honey its usually around $40+. Quinoa is the new superfood if nobody knew that, containing 5x nutrients compared to other grain products and is wheat free being related to spinach and all. Chia seed oil is a non-animal derived source of omega 3 fatty acids. And coconut syrup from Bali, sounds really tropical.

Won this angpow organizer and pack of angpows from Kelloggs Corn Flakes. Wanted the yusheng plate with chopsticks but didn't manage to win it.

Isetan announces its one day only Lucky Bag Sales via Facebook and its usually last minute. I made one rush trip just to pick up these 2 bags. Check out the Q! Cash payment only before you collect the lucky bags and the limit is 1 per customer.

$68 Food Lucky Bag, already I see the $60 Gong Xi Fa Cai apple juice bottles. I didn't receive the bonus can of abalone but I did get $10 Isetan vouchers. These 3 small beverage containers actually contain food, I've never seen it before. Sunflower oil, fruit & vegetable juice and udon noodle soup base, making it really convenient to prepare meals without a full kitchen.

$88 Home Goods Lucky Bag, where everything comes in box and each item works out to be $15 a piece. Tiger Thermos Flask 1L, 20cm Happy Call Black Diamond skillet, Hario microwaveable glass prep containers, memory foam pillow, Phillips blender, WMF saucepan with lid.

Takashimaya tripled the number of lucky bags it put out this year. There's even thousand dollar ones from MCM and the various mattress companies. I was cash strapped coz I really wanted almost all. In the end I got the Hello Kitty lucky bag as a gift, the sales staff will giftwrap the contents for you upon request.

The Harrods Lucky Bag $68 that contained Harrods Grand Cru Champagne, only one item in the bag. This is never on sale and at this price makes it a good value purchase.

Tangs Lucky Bags that I didn't get any of. They display the items inside the bags so you know exactly what you are getting for the price. Absolutely love the blue & white tea set for 2, wonder who is going to buy it though.