Precious Creams

"Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"  These days, beauty is not only a want for ladies but also for men.  There are all kinds of creams and serums available in the market which promises youth, beauty, anti-age and coming in different packages and prices.  Does luxury cream really produces luxury results?  There are moisturisers that costs as low as $10 per bottle and moisturisers that costs over $500 per bottle.  So whats the difference in them all?  Should ladies really invest in an expensive moisturiser that is being marketed to be THE CREAM of them all? 

I was gifted the Cream de la mer sometime back and had also invested in  the Lamer Concentrated eye cream.  I had wanted to try this supposedly amazing cream in the hope of also finding THE CREAM for myself. 

A small amount of cream de la mer was supposed to be warmed between your fingertips to release its key ingredients; comprising of sea kelps, vitamins and minerals, oils of citrus, eucalyptus, wheat germ, alfalfa and sunflower.  The ideal part about this cream is that it can serve as both the day and night cream! this really is the reason for me to be keen to try this on. 

The 'miracle' cream

The verdict :  I find this cream rich in ingredients (as it promises) and yet when you apply it on, it does not feel sticky and makes you uncomfortable.  It is so easy to forget that I am using a cream based, as opposed to a liquid based moisturiser. The face feels well-protected and immerced in all nature's richness.  I had used it for some several months and have not seen amazing, astonishing results.  I am hoping that miracles will appear in time to come.  I certainly find this cream easy on the skin and convenient to use. Worth a try BUT you may want to access skin condition to determine whether you want to continue usage, taking into consideration this is a rather costly cream to use.

Office is closed for Year End! Yippie....



Office Closed for Year End Holidays!

Is your office closed for the year end holidays?  Mine is! Since about a decade back, I had always have the priviledge of working in an office where this time of the year, the office is closed!  Though I remembered there were years where we need to take leave for this (as in compulsory to take leave), this is certainly a most welcomed break!  This is a real time to rest, take a break, rejuvenate and heading back to the office in the new year, all energetic and full of drive. 

Personally, I love going on holidays.  This said, to avoid the crowd, I am perfectly fine with staying in town!  There are tons of actitivities which I can do.  Just a matter of planning for it.  I will already be happy to spend some time with my son at the bookshop and head for a good meal afterwhich.  And I don't mind doing this day in day out for couple of days.  Totally relaxing :)

So what do I like to do during year end holidays?  Here's some suggestions on what you can do too!

1) Take a holiday out of town! Visit some exotic places and immerse in their culture for a week or so
2) Take a driving holiday to Malaysia.  Plan for a fruit garden trip; go garden hoping and savouring the many different fruits that topical Malaysia have to offer
3) Take a yoga retreat holiday in renowned Thailand or explore further to India.
4) Take short break in 1 of the newly opened resorts in Sentosa.  Check out the newly opened resorts world hotels. Head to the beach for a good tan in the day followed by a relaxing dinner by the beach or inside the resort inside.  Take the relatively new, revamped tram rides around the island, hop on and off to visit the places of interes.  Otherwise, take a leisure walk around your hotel vacinity and simply relax...
5) Catch up with friends over coffee/tea or head to one of the many Hi-Tea buffets Singapore had to offer and engage in a day of catching uo, chit chatting and updating
6) Head for long relaxing body message inclusive of scrubs and baths. 
7) Pamper your nails.  Book an appoint for a manicure and pedicure
8) Hang out with your kids - anywhere they fancy! east coast park? gogobambini? bigsplash? universal studio? bookshops? followed by a nice happy meal? yummy!
9) Exercise day! Yes, work it out.  A gym session followed by a swim?  or gather some friends for wind surfing or blading?  Or go for a run in the park?
10) Immerse in your hobby!  Be in bookscraping, blogging, tennis or what have you... plan to totally immerse in your hobby for the day!

What is your New Year Resolution?

Come year end, many people will starting thinking about their new year resolutions for the coming year.  So, what is/are your new year resolution/s?  How many new year resolutions have you to set for yourself this coming year?  What about reflections on the past year? How have the year been treating you?  How many of your current year resolution/s have you achieved?  What lessons are learnt from this past year?

A couple of things I learnt about new year resolutions. 

1) Always have this written somewhere you can remember! Yes, somehow I am sure I had it written somewhere...BUT I have totally forgotten where that somewhere is :)
2) Resolutions should be something not too far fetched and totally unattainable.  It should be something attainable (if you put in the right effort).  This is where you will feel motivated instead of demoralised to achieve
3) Resolutions should also not be something too easily achievable.  If such is the case, there is no real effort required to work towards these resolutions
4) Perhaps not a super long list of resolutions?  Personally, I would think 1 in each key area of your life eg : family? work? personal development? kids?
5) Look back at the resolutions set the past year to determine if there are any which you should keep and make a real serious affort to achieve or some which you may want to amend slightly
6) Keep it in mind and always review review and review.  Take the list out every 3months to see what you are working on, what should be worked on harder.  Hopefully, this motivates you to work towards those not yet started/achieved.

So, lets all put some thoughts to your new year resolution and have it ready when the new year comes!

Christmas Eve...

How do you spend Christmas Eve and Day?  Are there many gift exchanges going on?  Are you the one who will always have a big Christmas meal with family and friends?  What about sharing love with the underpriviledged?  Big christmas meals and gift exchanges is our usual way of celebrating Christmas and Eve.  Nearing these dates, everyone is busy buying gifts for each other and making preparations for the celebration on the eve.  As eve draws nearer and nearer, we get more and more excited -wrapping gifts, displaying gifts in the BEST location, sharing hints on what each others' gifts is for the other?  what special meal to have for this christmas?  the build up to the dinner is indeed interesting and fun....

And in the kitchen, since 3pm, this is what is happening : (lots of preparation)

The preparations before the meal

Boiling the baby potatoes for baby herbs potatoes

The real mushroom soup (from scratch) and purple mash potato

The Big Fat Turkey in the Oven and the Fruit Cake on top

While the kitchen is hard at work, the living room is hard at work too!  Heres whats happening :

Getting all the pressies lined up!

And everyones waiting for the BIG CHRISTMAS MEAL.... heres how everything turns out at 7pm in the evening :

Yummy Yummy!

Everyone dug in and this is what you can hear :

during the meal :
add the turkey sauce! add the turkey sauce
this turkey is surprisingly tender and tasty! not just some hard chicken!
the ham slices are HUGE
mushroom soup is yummy with serious real mushroom cooked from scratch - water + flour + all kinds of mushroom
we should have salad to make this complete!  I told mei to buy...

near the end of the meal :
I am sooo full that I am going to burst
this is food enough for 20pax!
just one more turkey for you...plsss...
pack it up for tmr...bring home! bring home!

by the end of the meal :
unwrap PRESSIES!!!!!

Unwrapping the pressies is actually shouts, yells, clapping and camera snapping time.  Everyone wait on for the Emcee to announce how to do and what to do...while the Emcee herself is soo disoriented :)

All the happy faces in anticipation

and someone whom we turned into a kitty fan...all because of a kitty pot!

KTV here we come! yes, while we are having the meal and unwrapping the gifts, theres another group already at the Karaoke place 'chopping' the place and utilising the hours before we arrive.  The night ended in songs and dances and Ricco finally finding out what Karaoke is.... He was reluctant to leave the KTV place and told me that that he want to go KTV somemore....

Singapore Starbucks Bear? Or just a Christmas Bear? There is nothing like Starbuck Christmas Bear

In this holiday season, with the line up of some many holidays, many are buying special gifts for loved ones and families, colleagues and friends, gifts for that office/party gift exchange.  I had given out quite a number of gifts for kids during my pre-xmas party at my place.  I have yet to complete my gifts shopping till this day though.  With this at the back of my mind,  I had sub-consciously been looking out for the 'prefect gift' everywhere I went.

Last Monday, after a couple hours of gift shopping, I was feeling tired yet satisfied.  I had completed 80% of my gift shopping in those short couple of hours! Aint it an achievement?  I wanted to reward myself with a nice hot Latte and starbucks is surely my choice.  I walked into Starbucks united square and was greeted warmly by its staff.  While waiting for my hot warm Latte to be ready, I saw this small display of some bears over the counter.  I never knew Starbucks sell bears! It caught my eye.  Almost immediately, I thought of my endearing colleague in India who told me before that theres no Starbucks in India (with India's FDI regulations and policies, Starbucks seems not successful thus far; though there had been talks about having its chain in India).  I thought  that she will be pleased to receive a Starbucks Christmas Bear as a gift.  So I went about looking for this.  I was sure theres bound to be a starbucks christmas bear?

I browse through the lot and this is what I see :

Just a Christmas Bear... No indication this is a Starbucks X'mas Bear

So I hunted through the lot again and saw this :

I see Starbucks! and Singapore! BUT this is not a X'mas bear.  This makes an ideal bring home gift as a rememberance of your visit to Singapore.

I did not want this Starbucks bear for I thought this will be more appropriate for someone to bring home as a rememberance that he/she had visited Singapore.  Not ideal as a Christmas gift I thought.

So, where is the Starbucks Christmas bear?

Sale Sale Sale

Do you get excited when you know that MNG is going to be on sale?  MNG clothes' designs are contemporary and updated.  There are also many basic designs/pieces which are all-time favourites.  MNG is thus a popular brand in Singapore.  Its difficult to think of any ladies not owning an MNG piece in her wardrobe.  With this, MNG discount/sale are always welcomed!  You can see real discounts off items during MNG sale.  Discounts go up as high as 40%, 50% and nearer to the end of the sale season, it can go up to as high as 70%.  WOW... meaning a coat which originally costs 100 can now be bought at 30!  Ain't that a shoppers' joy and excitment?

My most vivid memory of the MNG sale is that it is the 1st brand offering a huge discount off items during its sale period.  The discounts provided far exceeds the usual 10%, 15% or even 20% (ON 2nd item) kind of sale that we see going on almost everyday.  MNG sale had started off with huge success and this is still the case now.  I heard that some ladies even took the day or 1/2 day off work in order to head for the 1st day sale! wow... During the 1st week of sale, stores will be packed with shoppers and clothes as everyone tries to grab a piece of item which they had been eyeing for months! 

There were times when I wonder... if the discounts offered during sale is so great, wont it affect the actual everyday sale?  Esp. so when MNG really takes out the seasons' clothes for sale before bringing in the next seasons'?  Well, I guess the answer is clear.  Bulk manufacturing of these items are sooo cheap that even with the huge sale going on, profits are still achievable.  This is also a means to get rid of this current seasons' items before bringing on the next seasons' and most importantly, I learnt that most ladies will still go ahead to purchase items which they really like even if its not on sale so that they are able to wear them NOW and of cos during the sale season, many times some sizes are out of stock.  You may not even be able to buy the item that you so specially like.  By the time that items are going on 70% sale, we see maninly those odd sizes.

I am glad MNG is having this major sale on a twice yearly basis.  MNG sale is certainly an "event" which i look forward to.  Though some times I end up with only 1 or 2 items, I am still happy to join the crowd in choosing, tossing, trying on the clothes.  And I am even happier when I look at the original Vs sale prices of the items!  I love MNG sale..

MNG sale! Clothes and people everywhere...(store at Takashimaya)

Look at the piles and piles of clothes thats going on sale sale sale

after visiting 4 different MNG shops at different locations, this is the only item I got for myself :)

Pre X'mas Party

Christmas! Time to be Merry!  Do you always wonder if you should spend time whipping up a meal? or should you just cater/buy from out?  There are tons of shops offering Christmas meals delievery.  Or maybe a mixture? Some buy in items and some home cooked?  Busy working mums are usually tired by the end of the work week and imagine having to whip up a meal over the weekend for a group.  Its not the actualy frying, baking, cooking. It the pre-preparations inclusive of grocery/market trips, the cutting and slicing, the washing, the marinating AND ALSO the after cooking work.  Including the utensils washing, drying, kitchen washing, oven clean ups... uuurrgghhhss.. the thoughts of the pre and after work kind of put me off 50% though I really like to cook!  Thank god, my helper came last Wed! yippie... she is a good help.

I had my 1st pre-christmas party at my place this year with couple of good old friends.  The menu kind of changed a little but its still 80% kept according to plans. I cooked the bee hoon an hour before dinner time.  Added in sausages, cabbage, eggs, chicken slices, fishcakes.  The end product is really yummy!

My Bee Hoo is seriously nice. So much so that I am invited to cook for a friend's house warming!

 And, after the bee hoon comes the rest of the food... heres what happens :

Doing some serious cooking but never losing a moment for the camera

Tiger Prawns - still preparations stage.

Ends up in the pan.. Pepper Tiger Prawns

The Tiger prawns seems kind of tasteless.  I thought I had added tons of pepper and salt??? Still it taste kind of blend..

Oily Oily Pork Belly

With a dash of lemon juice, the pork belly's pork smell is totally gone! wow... good tip?

Thats the end product of what we are having for the night!

Finally! A X'mas toast with my friends

Reading - Introducing the world to kids

Do you always want to cultivate your child's love for books? for reading?  Are you wondering what you should do, when you should start?  How you should go about doing it? 

Put on your memory recall and try to recall how you  had cultivated your love for reading.  Or vice versa, give some thoughts to why you not like to read.  I love reading and my earliest memories were primary one textbooks which introduced words like "Hand" (followed by picture of a hand), eyes (followed by picture of a big blue eye); early memories of lying on the bed reading Enid Blyton's books of pixies, goblins and fairies; memories of having one hand dipped inside a packet of chips and the other flipping the pages of a super interesting books; memories of 'book chasing' till well past midnight just to read how the story turns out. All very nice and heart warming memories! And the journey with books begin as I progress to teenage fiction; business, self help, diets, parenting and the list goes on...

As you think about how to cultivate the love for reading, you may wonder :

1) when and how should your start to read to your child?
2) what kind of books should you start with? you definitely do not want to kill his/her interest by reading boring books...
4) Should you start teaching phonics?
5) Should you read and point to words at the same time? to cultivate learning by sight?
6) Should you allow him/her to learn on his own pace?

I started reading to my son when he was as young as 6months old.  Prior to this, it had really been about talking and singing with/to him.  When he was able to play with books, I started reading to him with books.  In another word - Story Telling. I chose books which are simple and interesting to read. Feel and Touch books are defnitely a good bet for reading to very young kids.  They are able to captivate children's interest. With touch and feel books, children feel like they are 'playing'! They get to feel different textures, to touch different objects.  A very good bet!  However, I thought that whats most important in story telling is about parent's ability to make characters in books come to life! Parents should try to mimic the voices of characters eg : the BIG BAD WOLF (emphasize and slow down when reading these words). The BIG BAD WOLF says "Little Pig Little Pig can I come in?". This can be done in a low deep voice . Children are curious by nature. Which child can resist the "BIG BAD WOLF" who sounds sooo reeeeaaaaal?  and what about Lightening Mcqueen who says "vrooom vroooom (add this in yourself to create effect even if this does not appear in the book!) catch me if you can!".  You create the 'fun' element in reading in this manner.  You make the story fun and you make it feel like 'play'!  Naturally, most kids will be captivated.  And before you even know it, they want more and more and more! Just like you wanting more TV series, HK serials :)

Reading rhymes to children is another way to cultivate their interests for books. Rhymes are easy for children to follow and I love it for its rhythmic tune and nature.  Ricco was 1st engaged in "Thomas the Train" rhythmic touch and feel book at 6months old. It goes "Thomas loves to drive through the countryside. He toots at the cows as he passes by. Harold loves to fly high up in the sky. He loves to see the birds go flying by." Soonest he hear this rhyme, he hymns along and before long, he was able to recite this.  Again, this is fun! its just like singing.

So you see, fun and play is really the common key element here.  Reading must be something fun to do.  Children likes to play with fun stuff! So, make reading fun! Before you know it, your child will be hooked for life!

Kids who loves animals have a higher tendency to love reading.  WHY?  Take a closer look at children's titles the next time you visit the bookshop.  you will notice that most young kids's books are about animals!

Thomas' Rhyme Book

Will the donut craze restart just like the rebirth of the bubble tea craze?

Did you noticed the rebirth of the bubble tea these days?  Bubble tea craze in Singapore is back! this round, we have brands like "Koi", "Gong Cha" leading the craze.  So, whats the difference in this bubble tea compared to the 1st round of craze some years back?  This round, customers are taking part in the ultimate taste of their tea!  Customers are allowed to choose the level of milk and sweetness of their tea.  There is 100% sugar, 75%. 50%, 25% etc.  I read somewhere that these days, products sell better when customers are able to participate in the making of the final product.  This seems to be the case.  Facebook is a good example and so are iphone applications. 

Recently, I am slowly beginning to notice the possible rebirth of another once popular product - donuts!  Remember those days where we need to stand in line to wait for our turns to purchase donuts at donut factory? Gone were those days with the very fast expansion of donut factory, influx of more donut brands like Jco, dunkin and of cos, sales of donuts at our bread and butter breadshops' like at crystal jade, breadtalk, four leaves and more.  I am beginning to notice the 1st possibility of the donut trend might just be back! (just like bubble tea!).  Have you noticed that Dunkin donut is setting up shop at some several key locations including at Ion Orchard?  Have you noticed that Jco is still maintaining its influx of customers?  Have you noticed this new brand called Sapporo petit donuts at the basement of Takashimaya?  This is the Japanese-sytle donuts.  Will this donut be able to attract customers back to the donut craze?  Will this donut be able to sustain its customer base in the long run? 

Can we conclude that the new day donut business model certainly needs to have an element of personalisation coming direct from customers?  How can customers affect the ultimate taste of the donuts that they purchase?  How about giving customers the choice to add their own toppings?  How about giving custimers the choice to choose their own type of donut dough?  Some thoughts...

New donut in town?  Japanese donuts?

Looks really cute...

Conference calls - love them!

While those of us who use it frequently think that conference calls are such a norm, this is really not the case in Asia Pacific.  I deduced that the only reason why we think this is such, is because we are on it TOO frequently.  The fact is that conference calls are really not that common in Asia Pacific.  It is not a surprise that there are many in Asia Pacific who had never or rarely go on a conference call.  I remembered years back when I was first scheduled to go on a conference call and was presented with some strange terms like "dial in numbers' "passcodes". I was not able to imagine how this work or what will happen during which.  In order to save myself from any possible embarrassments, I actually call into a call prior to the call timing to 'see' what a conference call is all about!  And I went..oooh...oookkk.. thats all?

My work evolves around ALOT of conference calls at varying hours of the day.  From here, I had cultivated the love for conference calls.  Why do people love conference calls? Well, you get to see many different personalities during calls!  We have calls that are sooo quiet with only 1 voice going on and on and on about something and anything and everything.  By the end of such calls, you tend to wonder if its only yourself and the other voice on call.  There are calls where everyone jump at each and every chance to speak.  This is where you get to hear something like "whaho...iare..thwe..calldoing.. (cross between what/how, is/are, this/we and call/doing), than TOTAL SILENCE (as both parties try to give chance to the other to speak first), than we have "okI...iwill..wilgo...first (yes both parties thought the other is not speaking and speaks at the same time again!).  This is when the call leader will go, "Mr X, can we hear from you first" to set the call mode right again.  There are calls where we have some people hoping on 2, 5, 8, 10, 15 minutes late.  Here we have the call leader reiterate, repeat, recap, replicate again and again what was said earlier. And before we know it, its already 30mins into the call time.  There are calls where more than half the time participants say "sorry, I am still online.  I was just on mute earlier" (It takes about a min to unmute yourself!).  It is not uncommon for you to hear "We have achieving our targets for this (bop bop) month and I am glad to announce that (bop bop) we are already more than 50% into our (bop bop) next months goals.  Yes this participant is taking the call from India and he had forgotten to close his office windows.  Another common thing you will hear "I will move on to review (oh..oh) on last month event (oh..oh).. YES! participant is on MSN and his/her friend just MSN him/her to talk about shopping later! And the ultimate that I ever hear from "sorry, the operator is sleeping so he/she did not pick up the call to put me into this call" :)

Conference calls can indeed make my otherwise routine day much more interesting and fun. 

I take my calls from here.  Sometimes I gaze out of the windows to take a breather when the calls get too intense or I stare out and daydream when the calls gets too monotonous.  Guess where my phone is!

My Super phone which see me through numerous calls.  I am very good friend with it.  Theres mute, speaker, hold, voice functions on this.  Makes calls such an easy affair

Japanese Language Class

I see many friends taking up a 3rd, 4th or 5th language.  From French to Spanish to Japanese to Chinese and more. Are you 1 of them?  As I recall, the only time I was motivated to take up a 3rd language is during events when I meet up with Japanese members and both parties meet much difficulties understanding and communicating with each other. Then for 1-2 weeks thereafter, I will feel extremely motivated to pick up Japanese.  However, as I get back to the norms of life, I too get extremely comfortable conversing in English and Mandarin.  I get by very well with these 2 languages in Singapore.  There is really no strong motivation to pick up Japanese.  The thought of picking up Japanese remains a thought lingering at the back of my mind. 

I finally start taking Japanese lessons some 5months back when I made a decision to put my thoughts into action.  I am proud to say that currently I am already into my 2nd term!  Japanese is definitely not an easy language to master.  Verbs and nouns are always placed in the wrong place (at least according to me!) eg : I go to school (In English), In Japanese, it is "My School I go to".  I eat eggs and toast.  In Japanese it is "Eggs and Toast I eat".  Many times, I felt that I am actually talking to these nouns! "Eggs and Toast, I eat you!" :)  Than I need to remember which conjunctions to use after the group of words. Should it be 'de' or 'e' or 'o' or 'do'?  Its funny to wire the mind this way and at times I do fear that my English will deteriorate as my Japanese improves.  Now I can fully understand why Ricco sometimes says "I am angry OF you".

Its even worse when it comes to written Japanese.  Just as I thought I can decipher Hiragana, the sensei says now now, you gotta learn katakana.  I am thankful that part of katakana is actually kanji! thats chinese!  At least I can read and write chinese! so many a times, I was able to guess-ti-mate the meaning of some katakanas :)

I am glad I took up Japanese.  Not only for personal development but also for friendship and social networking.  I get to know some very kind, some very sleepy, some very hardworking and 1 very tobacco (yes! someone in my class says he have tobacco instead of tomago for breakfast!) souls.  Of cos, I get a chance to promote my son Ricco too! My classmates all know him! I have a wonderful sensei whom in turn we teach her stuff like "Teh See Siew Dai"; wedding ang baos = 1 table costs divide by 10 for each person; And the best thing I learnt from her : Homework not done? - Dai Jo Vu, Dai Jo Vu; Room too cold? - Dai Jo Vu, Dai Jo Vu.  Nihon-go too difficult? - Dai Jo Vu. Dai Jo Vu... Fees not paid? - Dai Jo Vu, Dai Jo vu? I wish....

So you see, school is not always all study/work and no fun!  It can be fun, enriching and very interesting. 

Look at that! Can you decipher Japanese merely by reading these pictures?

Online Shopping

With advancement of  technology, online shopping had become a convenience, a past time and I am suspecting that it is also becoming a hobby for many! I enjoy online shopping as it gives me with the luxury of sitting in the comfort of my home, looking at item by item, scrutinizing items by their ingredients/materials used, reading reviews etc.  It too provides me with the ease of shopping for 10 mins, 15mins? or even 5 minutes, as and when I feel like.  With the drop of the US dollar and strengthening of the SGD against some several currencies, many a time, it is cheaper to buy the same item online direct from manufacturers compared to getting them from boutiques/sellers locally.  With vPost, vConcierge and also the numerous sprees held everywhere, online shopping and internationally shipping can never get easier.  To top this off, manufacturers (esp the US ones) are always having some sale/discounts going on which makes it exceedingly cheap to buy direct! Online shopping too has its vices, as much as we can imagine how items look like, nothing beats the actual sight, view and feel of it.  There are material terms which I cannot fully imagine just by the read of it! I cannot differentiate 50% cotton, 50% lycra from 30% cotton, 70% lycra! Is the later supposed to be more soft and silky?  I am not too sure.  I am only assume.  Also, for costly items, there is always the fear of defects and wrong shipment (More like the follow ups afterwhich). I once wanted to purchase the leapfrog tag system online BUT I was not too sure whether it will be defective since its an electronic item and its not cheap.  For clothes, what you see may not be what you get.  All girls knows that a dress may look awesome on the mannequin but aweful on us.  Another may look just like the other dress in your wardrobe but simply look GREAT on us!  This said, I do believe that once you get into the hang of shopping online, you could get hook! Some popular manufacturers I like to shop from includes Polo Ralph, Gymboree, Old Navy, Leapfrog for the kids and Forever21, Marks and Spencer, GMarket Korea, Zipia, Amazon for myself.  My acquisition : 3 Polo Ralph tops (2 long sleeve shirts and 1 polo-t) for my son and Marks and Spencers' shoes for myself!  Look at this :

Round Toe Lace Up Shoe Boots at 25pounds

Platform Court Shoes at 19.50pounds

Latest from Polo Ralph.  Ricco will be in them for coming X'mas & CNY!

Holiday fun....

School holidays is the time where many parents take time off to bring kids for overseas holidays or to have fun locally.  Many shows are staged at the various shopping arcades including the Dora show at city hall, Hi-5 at marina square and more.  "Walking with Dinosaur" is a sell out, mainly patronised by our young audience.  The Resorts World Singapore stay-over and Universal studio are popular choices amongst parents.

Walking with Dinosaur :
I managed to get class 2 tickets some 1 month back.  By then, seats were already limited.  Though its not directly facing central stage, the view was awesome since all dinosaurs (other than the pteranodon) walked around the entire stage.  This is a narrative show talking about the different dinosaur ages and showing the many dinosaur species.  This definitely include the popular ones like barosauras, stegosaurus, triceratops, t-rex, pteranodon.  The children are exhilerated and captivated by the mere size of the dinosaurs.  The plants, trees and flowers and seeds springing into life was indeed a delightful, colorful sight.  Kissing scenes between parents and baby dinosaurs was heart warming.  Small little dinosaurs running around brought many giggles and laughs.  This said, from the eye of an adult, the roars of the dinosaurs were not thundering as I had imagined it will be, the dinosaurs feel and look live-less. Commentaries was not easy to follow withsome many dinosaur names which I am not familiar with.  Many commented that this is really a kids show.  I would think the same.  But then again, when the kids are happy, the parents are happier.  In this sense, this is a value for money show.




One of the bigger and taller dinosaur in the show - Barosauras



Biggest dinosaur in the show - T-Rex ROAR

Resorts World Sentosa - Festive Hotel
With the opening of the RWS, many parents are eager to bring kids to experience 1st hand hotel fun at the resort world!  Other than being just walking distance to the Universal Studio, the other unique selling points to the the hotel property includes the jointly shared beach pool, the family room with a high child bed, the candy place which costs over 2 million investment dollar, the many f&b joints at the hotel vicinity.  My family had stayed over a night at the Festive Hotel.  Ricco especially love the long corridor passageway where he can race us to and from the room, the beach pool where he spent hours having sand and water play, the high child bed where he learnt to climb up and down many times on the ladder and not to mention, cartoon network channel on TV!  He is sooo hooked that we need to lure him out for dinner! With 3 of us staying in a family room, space area is just nice but there are extra sleep areas.  The sleep area can easily accommodate 5 (with at least 1 child) but with 5, I would presume the activity area is very limited.  Taking into consideration tourists have huge luggages, the activity area will be even more limited. I would thus recommend the room for 3 adults and 1 child as 'just nice'.  I love the big bottle press out shampoo and bath gel - certainly eco-friendly with less small sized PET bottles required to contain these.  I love the selection provided over breakfast buffet; good enough selective and not going overboard.  The balcony provides a good view of the joint beach pool which is ideal for a cuppa.  The nearby amenities certainly add to the good review of the hotel.  This said, 500+ per room night for the family room per night is not too cheap a price to pay for. 



Child High Bed



The Beach Pool

M&M's not only in NYC! The Candy Place

Christmas is just around the corner - My Party Receipes

December has always been the month of the year filled with holidays, parties and more parties.  Usually I host 1 christmas party at home but this year I am hosting 3.  Mainly because many of my friends have yet to see my place (though I have been here for over a year).  I am happy and excited, and already starting to think of the menus I should put in place for the different groups of friends who are coming.  So, we have a group - the drinking buddies and fun loving group (reb, vince, dennis, evon..)  Taking into consideration this group comprises of the highly successful, young at heart, I wanted to put together a menu of mainly western with a tinge of fusion.  Hows that! Now now... what about this :

The Fun Loving and Drinking Buddies
Starter - totilla chips with (1) avocado dip and (2) salsa toppings. 
Entree - honey baked ham rolls
Main Courses- (1) fine noodles with everything (2) very pepper tiger prawns
Dessert - my so-famous christmas tiramisu cake
Drinks - white, red wine and rootbeer

Menu looks interesting and manageable.  Something which I can easily handle.

And for the 2nd group of good old girlfriends - bren, val, char.  A group of girlfriends coming with kids whose main objective of having this party is to catch up (I mean talk!), have lotsof outdoor mum+kid bonding fun and eat, I would think a child friendly, light bite menu will do the job! We can always steal a finger food or two, while yakking away about fashion, kids, work, colleagues, friends...!  This will look like :

The Good Old Girlfriends
Starter - colorful fruit salad
Entree - (1) honey baked ham rolls (2) fishballs
Main Course - (1) chicken in a pot rice (2) buttered pan fried dory fish
Dessert - christmas brownie with ice cream
Drinks - fruit juices

Thats easy! sounds yummy too. And now, for the group of serious old friends, I wanted to put something easy yet yummy leaning towards vegetarian.  How about this :

The Serious Old Friends
Starter - ceasar salad (plain) or topped with smoked salmon
Entree - mushroom soup (only with mushroom) or topped with ham slices
Main Courses - (1) vegetarian curry rice (2) fried toufu with sweet sauce
Dessert - cheese balls with ice cream
Drinks - juices

I thought hard about this menu mainly bacause I need to put in mind my vegetarian friends and family.  Some challenges I can foresee in putting together the curry sauce (My 1st time) BUT I am always confident that my food will turn out well (75% of the time it does! and 25% of the time...fried bee hoon turns into 'mua chee'..scary?)

Look out for pictures of how everything turn out! I am sure its gonna be good!