Beauty in Black

There was a free exhibition in the National Museum of Singapore not long ago, in a small section at the 2nd level. The title of the exhibition : Beauty in Black and i was there with the girls after a shopping and makan trip.

They had on exhibition 16 LBDs (Little Black Dress), from many different countries and generations.

Lined along the walls of the exhibition are photos of many different women in LBDs, with descriptions and elaborations on them alongside.

 

The best of the 16 dresses is this one, complete with an electric guitar printed on the back of this party dress.

The Grudge Prank

Shopping Kaki (Part 3)

Center Point is located right in the heart of Orchard Road. While it's a tiny place, most people come here for the Robinson's which occupies a large portion of the mall. The last time my friends were here, we had dinner at Toast Box and i had Elvin Ng 黄俊雄 queueing right behind me for food! hahaha.... 

CK Tang's is an expensive place to shop. One of the rare times i come here is normally to get some personal care products at one of the counters or perhaps to visit Triumph or Wacoal upstairs... but i do love browsing expensive kitchen wares at the basement. The exterior is beautiful, and very oriental. This place has such a long history that it is etched as one of the landmarks in Orchard Road.

Lot 1 in Choa Chu Kang. They've recently extended a bit of this place so it's slightly larger. It still looks old on the outside and parts of the inside. I do come here once in a while, cos i have friends who stay nearby, but not a really suitable place for shopping. They do have a money exchanger upstairs which offers good rates, and you have to take a queue number to exchange money... :S

Plaza Singapura is a huge shopping mall near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. It's a great place to walk and shop, and many of my friends of my age used to reminisce about this place as they grew up to know it as Yaohan. This place has so many storeys to shop, and it has big anchor shops like Carrefour and Spotlight, which makes for interesting window shopping. It is also convenient for many people to get here, because the MRT is an interchange for 3 different MRT lines.

When i used to live in Bukit Batok, West Mall is like a second home. I still come here occasionally after work for the La Mian in the food court upstairs. It's a small, neighbourly mall, sufficient for residents nearby to get all the stuff needed. One of my colleagues also told me that the Subway in West Mall is the most profitable of all Subway chains in Singapore. She got that news from a colleague's husband who works for Subway franchising.... 

Ann & Angelia in Church

Sometimes, i attend church at the other branch in Bukit Panjang with Andrea and baby Angelia. However, since Yurou is still young, she goes to a nursery upstairs where they broadcast the service on a screen. But you can also look down directly from the window of the nursery down to the service. We were there early, and Yurou was having fun running around. She suddenly just ran towards me for a hug. I was unprepared and we both lost our balance and fell flat. Lucky i was wearing safety shorts and Yurou was wearing white underwear to cover her Pampers....haha....

Yurou has a knack of daydreaming....sometimes she'll just sit and stare into space....

And other times she'll be full or energy it's hard for us to catch up with her! 

Maru

Maru is such a sweet heart! I've fallen in love with him after this video....*swoon*

Amazing Local Foods X'tra!

Somewhere in Joo Chiat, lies this small corner which sells the most unconventional baos - BaoCult. 

We purchased one of its signature bao - Salmon Cream Cheese Bao. It is cream cheese slathered on real salmon bites. Creamy, luxurious and simply divine :)

After a savoury bao, it's time for a sweet bao - The Melting Gold Bun. It has molten custard oozing with a hint of salted egg yolk. A perfect balance between sweet and salty.

When in Katong, eat Katong Laksa! This is a Singaporean delicacy which requires you to soup up the entire bowl just using your spoon. This is cos the noodles have been cut to fine pieces which you can scoop easily. I love the generous portions of hums! If you ask me, i prefer the Holland Village branch. But in Katong, you get to see tourists from every single country imaginable enjoying this bowl.

One of the Food Race challenge was to have Fermented Beancurd in Geylang.

It smelt so awful i almost passed out.

Nearby in Geylang, we also headed to Yong He selling dough sticks and bean curd.

 

It is a perfect combination, these two...akin to the Western peanut butter and jelly. One goes in hand with another. This shop makes quality bean curd and dough stick. Come here for a good supper!

Amazing Local Foods

I've uncovered my knack of having curry puff not long ago. I adore Old Chang Kee's curry puffs, and later Sixian introduced me to this famous old brand in Singapore - Tip Top Curry Puff. It only has one outlet in Ang Mo Kio, but i've read in a magazine that they are planning to have several new branches selling this puff. The stall has also been revamped to encompass a new identity.

The company claims that the puffs are fried only once order is put in. The sad thing was, i didn't get to try this puff that day cos we were on a Food Race, and so my stomach was already taken up by other foods. I had this in my bag, but by the end of the day i was so stuffed and so Sixian brought it home for her parents.

Also in Ang Mo Kio food court is a stall famous for its Satay Bee hoon.

I've never had an affinity for Satay Bee Hoon, cos i just don't get the concept. However, i tried this and found it to be really satisfying. It contains my favourite hums, and the satay sauce was heavenly think and full of peanut crunch.

At the basement of Ang Mo Kio hub, you will find a long queue developing for this Durian Pancake. It's worth the wait, for the pancake on the outside is warm and fluffy, slightly sweet and moist....while on the inside resides the durian goodness. The filling is absolutely divine, with ice cold durian paste which still has chunky bits of durian and bursting with the pungent flavour.

Check out those smiles as we prepare to sink our teeth into the pancake.

Just opposite Serangoon JC is a row of shophouses. One of it is a very famous shop selling Teochew cakes.

 

I never really liked snacks of this nature, so Sixian downed both of it! Haha....

Singapore Food Trail

Recently, Singapore is really into retro and old-school eating streets. One of the better places is situated at the Singapore Flyer. This one is modeled after 1950-1960's Singapore streets hawker food.

In one little corner, they recreate a space which shuttles one back to many years ago. 

As for the stalls, they are all housed in these wooden carts beside fake roads. This hawker center is actually semi-indoors and is sheltered from rain and shine. These stalls are famous names in Singapore food history. 

I was there on a week day night and the Singapore Flyer was down for maintenance that night. Hence, this place was deserted!

Hmmmm....they have a stall selling Ice Ball. I've never had one, but i've seen one in Lat's comic.

Let's order one, folks!

 

Ice Ball is actually the same as Ice Kachang, just that it is all compacted into a ball. I tried sucking the syrup out from the ball, but they wouldn't budge. In the end, i had to throw the ball into the bowl and just eat it like normal Ice Kachang....haha!

Shopping Kaki (Part 2 )

Shops in Wheelock Place are abit not my kind of shop, although having a large bookshop Borders within sure scored a lot of brownie points with me! Normally the reason why i go in there is to visit Borders, but having said that, i'm finding it harder to buy books cos most of it are so heavily browsed that they are no longer in mint condition.

Thomson Plaza is slightly old fashioned, with a mix of old and new, franchise and non-franchise shops. It does have lots of eating places and it is always good having more choices. However, this place is really out of the way, if you intend to take the MRT because there ain't one anywhere nearby. 

Orchard Central is a nightmare!!! At least for shoppers...This place is like a maze that you need to solve, it has hidden corners and weirdly located escalators. Once you get frustrated from trying to find your way, you take the lift right? The bad news is that different lifts serve different floors, and so you get this added stress of figuring which floor you're going and which lift you're gonna need to take and the longer waiting time for lifts....arrrggghhhh....Stay away! This place is one big stress ball...

IMM is a big shopping center which specialises in furniture and home decoration. It used to be a ghost town until one of the first Giant franchise in Singapore moved in. Subsequently, many other shops followed suit and this place is bustling with activities these days. Sometimes, my colleagues and I will hang out here after work, because it's within walking distance from Jurong East MRT station, where our bus drops us daily. It also has a big Daiso shop and a small square downstairs which sells lots of finger food.

I've only been to Bedok Point once, cos it's really far from where i lived. My friend Soon Lai brought me here, after i visited his church. It's a tiny new mall, with mostly eateries. It's pretty cosy and is a nice place to enjoy a good meal.

Dinner at Clementi Mall

When Clementi Mall opened its door not long ago, Tze Ching and I went to a Thai restaurant within, Sticky Rice. We ordered a plate of appetiser of Mango Salad. This salad is different from most Mango Salad we've had, cos it comes with coconut shavings to give it that extra crunch.

I had many gripes about this place. We had been dying for Thai Fishcakes, but later found out that although they had it on the menu, they didn't have it, so we ordered an alternative - Prawn Cakes. To our utter disappointment, this one doesn't have any slight taste of Lemongrass at all.... it's just like any other prawn cakes you may get from a Chinese Bee Hoon stall. Oh, did I mention the waiters here have no knowledge of their dishes as well? We asked for details about certain dishes, but the wait staff merely shrugged and had to holler into the kitchen for more info.

Tom Yam is a must for any Thai meals. This one is super spicy, but it's a little lukewarm for our preference. It would've been nice, if it's a little warmer.

Tze Ching loves pineapple fried rice, so we'll always order one. This one has many raisins in it, but the taste was a little inconsistent. Some lumps of rice had more taste and some had no seasoning. The cook must've neglected to stir properly. Bah.... Lousy place, don't ever go back again.

After our Thai meal, we hopped over to the neighbouring City Vibe for Heineken Green Tea, which comes with lots of shaved ice. It tasted so much like shandy though! And the price is a little steep, but it's a nice try!

God Will Make A Way

Excerpt from CD Sleeve :

Late one evening, Don Moen received a phone call with devastating news : his wife's sister had lost her oldest son in an automobile accident. Craig and Susan Phelps and their four sons were traveling through Texas on their way to Colorado when their van was struck broadside by an eighteen-wheeler truck. All four boys were thrown from the van. Craig and Susan located their sons by their cries - one boy was lying in the ditch, another in an area wet from melted snow. Nearby was his brother who landed by a telephone pole. All were seriously injured, but when Craig, a medical doctor, reached Jeremy, he found him lying by a fence post with his neck broken. There was nothing Craig could do to revive him.

When Don received the news of this tragedy a few hours later, he recalls, "My whole world came to a standstill, but I had to get on a plane the next morning and fly to a recording session that had been scheduled for several weeks. Although i knew Craig and Susan were hurting, I couldn't be with them until the day before the funeral.

"During the flight the morning after the accident, God gave me a song for them: 'God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way for me.' The song was based upon Isaiah 43:19 - 'Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth: will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.'" This song would bring comfort to Craig and Susan when all hope seemed lost. It touched the hurt in their hearts and with hope and encouragement. Don received a letter from Susan in which she quoted Isaiah 43:4 " Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honoured and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life."

Susan wrote, "We've seen the truth of the scripture." When Jeremy's friends learned that he had accepted Jesus into his life before he died, many of them began to ask their own parents how they could be assured of going to heaven when they died." The accident also prompted Craig and Susan into a deeper walk with the Lord as well as into new avenues of ministry. Craig began teaching Sunday school at their church and Susan became active in Women's Aglow, sharing with various groups her story and the Lord's provision in her time of sorrow.

She has since said, "The day of the accident, when I got out of the van, even before I knew our son was dead, I knew I had a choice. I could be bitter and angry or I could totally accept God and whatever He had for us. I had to make the decision fast. I've seen fruit come as a result of that choice. If I had to, I'd do it again. It's worth knowing others will go to heaven because of what happened to Jeremy. God really did make a way for us"

Soon after 'God Will Make A Way' was recorded, people from around the world began to write and call, sharing with Don how they had experienced similar tragedies. All of the calls and letters had one great theme - God had made a way for them when all hope seemed lost. God had carried them through a shattering situation, and by His grace they were emerging with stronger faith, renewed hope and increased courage on the other side of heartache and loss.

The truth of God's Word is always that He will make a way for those who rely solely upon Him. The exact path is of His choosing. The exact methods are of His design, but He will bring us through to greater wholeness every time we place our trust in Him.

What's On My Dressing Table? ( Part 10)

I haven't actually used this, but the two girls in my lab team uses this Clarins alcohol-free toner and frequently gives me rave reviews about this product. More and more people opt for alcohol-free toner perhaps due to the drying effect alcohol has on the skin.

I got this Laneige Renewal Day Cream ( SPF 36/PA++) as a free sample. East Asian women love products by Laneige because it has a light, watery feel that leaves no residue on the skin. They always come up with innovative new products which work very well with our climate and skin type.

At this moment, i'm using Essential's Ultra Honey & Shea Butter Hair Mask twice a week. A gripe i have about this product is that the texture of this hair mask when you scoop it up is not glossy and smooth. Hence when i apply it on my hair it is hard to spread on the hair and tends to drop in a blob onto my bathroom floor. Other than that, it is working very well and i can feel that my hair is looking more conditioned these days.

Another sample i got is Laneige's Water Bank Eye Gel. Similar to the above Laneige daily cream, this eye gel is light and almost feels like nothing.

Recently there has been crazy advertising by Bio Essence for their product enriched with Bird's Nest. The way they put it in their adverts is that Bird's Nest is rich with collagen and by applying this cream, you will enrich your skin with collagen. This is misleading because you will not obtain more collagen by applying it on their skin, but through ingestion from eating. I'm not sure why they advertise that way cos it's really a myth, not a fact.

My heavenly hair serum. Vanilla is my favourite scent and this serum by Organix not only leaves my hair smelling the way i like it, it also makes my hair more manageable and less frizzy. I'm not sure if i'd like to change to another brand, but i feel kinda stupid too, cos the main reason why i love is product is because of its scent....haha