鼎泰丰 (70/365)

who doesn't know 鼎泰丰 in singapore? it is everywhere!! i always go there for the same stuff.. there's minced meat dry noodles, prawn pancake and their fried rice with pork chop slices! and not forgetting the red bean mini dumpling. you must be wondering how come i don't eat their famous 小笼包? i used to love it.. but somehow got sick of it. i am not that much of a pork person. but it's is yummy!! much better than crystal jade! i am definitely a 鼎泰丰 fan. =)

i have heard lots of good ravings about their 小菜. i wanna try!!! but no one to try with!!

the latest food craze

it started with bubble tea, followed by coffee buns, then it was donuts and now we have the latest food craze - the new generation ultra smooth beancurd.

it all started with Lao Ban beancurd which has a branch in old airport road and another in maxwell food centre. it's so popular, there's normally a very long queue and people usually buy more than 1 container. with the popularity of these ultra smooth beancurd, more of such stalls have started to open, all serving the same type of smooth, milky, melt-in-your-mouth beancurd. even good old rochor beancurd has jumped on the bandwagon and introduce an addition variety of these beancurd.

I must say that I quite like the softness of these beancurd. and for the record, I'm not a big fan of beancurd.

also, I think Lao ban is overrated. I wouldn't mind just eating the smooth beancurd from the competitor just a few stalls down from Lao ban at old airport road. at least I don't have to queue!

Pretty Red Nails 1 ( 69/365)

i name it pretty nails 1 because i dunno how many other shades of red will there be in this whole project 365. hope it will only be this one. i won't wanna bore readers.

anyway, these are nails done in Batam @ $14 sing dollars. Good service. and the best thing is that the got OPI. i only use OPI nail polish nowadays and i always make sure i find out what is the name of it. This colour is call Modern Girl! And I am loving it!!

a note to my green partner- try OPI Shrek colour. i think you will love it! haha

transient workers count too (twc2)

my picture of the day is just a green machinery, most likely used on a construction site. what i wanna talk about today is somewhat related to construction and that is to raise awareness of foreign construction workers. how we honor the samsui women in the past who help contribute to the constructing of buildings etc, I think that construction workers are the silent heroes. without them, we won't have our tall buildings and wonderful infrastructure. they slog day and night, under the hot sun and in the wee hours when we are soundly asleep.


they are really an under-appreciated lot. i have to admit, i do keep my distance from the bangla workers and do feel uncomfortable when they do sit beside me on the bus. but yes, lets be more accepting towards them.

i'm sure behind every worker is their own poignant story. most of them leave behind their families, borrowing large sums of money to come here to work in hope of earning a better living so as to provide for their families. work here for them is tough. working long hours at a measly pay. putting up with not-so-ideal living conditions. sometimes, their safety may be overlooked at work. let me share a video with you. this is a something i've always wanted to do but my procrastination has allowed others to achieve things before me again. anyhow, it's a meaningful video and does make one start thinking. and do support the organisation too! http://twc2.org.sg/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc6WlEf27ic

jap food @cuppage

let me be honest, this is kinda of a backdated post. finally had a chance to try out the jap food at cuppage. izakaya is located on the 2nd level of cuppage plaza among the many jap eateries found there.

the food is pretty authentic. there were quite a couple of jap patrons. but I found the food so-so. my sashimi was not very fresh. my friend's fried beef with onions was very flavorful though. service was very bad! the wait staff couldn't wait to chase us away and kept hurrying us to order. another down side is that the menu is all in jap and the wait staff assume we knew what the dishes were and were very impatient in explaining to us. terrible!

food not fantastic. lousy service. don't think I'll be back here again. though I'll definitely come back to cuppage to try the other jap eateries!

Early Critical Care (68/365)

It is finally here! HSBC early critical illness coverage. No more people telling me, sorry I decided to go with Co. P cos they have early critical illness coverage. =)

Alot of people read the news that HSBC selling off their insurance to AXA and came to ask me about it. So here's a clarification. HSBC sold off its general insurance biz. that business is the one that sells home, motor, travel insurance, personal accident. Those group medicial insurance. The individual life business that i do is not affected. And in fact, we are looking forward to working with axa. cos i always prefer other company's general insurance as compared to HSBC. that is why for those who ask me to get travel or personal accident, i always get it from TENET. so yea, life insurance business is not affected and all and we even launched a new product! WOOTS.

and i love the way they promote it with a syringe like pen.

old school buns

I'm sure everyone would have seen or eaten such buns. there's usually a variety of flavours to choose from - red bean, kaya, chocolate cream, raisin, coconut etc. personally I like the red bean ones best! I can actually finish the whole packet of 6 mini buns on my own sometimes! =p they are really cheap too. this packet cost me 90cents only! good for breakfast, afternoon snack or even supper!

MOE (67/365)

i am using the logo of MOE as the 67th picture of my project 365 today to pose a question to everyone. Remember when we were younger, we have this thing call edusave fund, i think it's money given to us by the government to subsidise for school excursions or activity or whatsoever.

so after we finished my secondary education, i thought the remainder of the edusave funds goes into our cpf??? but i still receive letter yearly to say i have blah blah amount in my edusave fund!! what am i supposed to do with that sum of money!

hmmm...

my funky laptop bag

I love my laptop bag because it's one of its kind! at least I haven't seen anyone carrying the same bag as me in Singapore. anyway the bag wasn't meant for me initially but my friend thinks its too girly for him and that was how the laptop bag ended up with me! yay!

sadly I've been using this bag for about 3 years already and it's getting old and dirty :( so I'm in search for another unique laptop bag!

Tom Yum Soup (66/365)

i just came back from Batam. Thankfully, i am not that long away to not be able to continue Project 365. Anyway, nothing red symoblises batam. so all i took is this bowl of tom yum soup which i had in batam.

i will choose tom yum soup over any other soups in the chinese menu. i always thought how bad can it go? but i have tasted some really bad ones and yet, not learn my lesson. first and foremost, the soup must be pipping hot, it makes the spiciness even more shiok. and tom yum soup should be sour and spicy, balanced. if one is more than the other, then the soup will not be as shiok.

anyway, this soup i had just lack the temperature of it.

primary school

saw this assessment book belonging to my sister's tutee and was reminded of my primary school days. unlike most kids, i actually like doing assessments! or at least I look forward to getting new assessments every year. I'll start out being excited to do it but the enthusiasm normally doesn't last and I don't usually complete my books! =p

辛 Korean Noodles (65/365)

those who love instant noodles should not be wondering what this brand is. i gave up on maggie a long time ago and i simply love the texture of this korean noodles, the thickness and most importantly, the spicyness of it.

i know it is not healthy to eat instant noodles but it is the fastest way of getting rid of hunger at the shortest notice. and i pride myself to cook the most yummy korean instant noodles, only this one in particular.

those who love spicyness will not be disappointed by this. =)

gelato di posto storico

wow what a mouthful for an ice cream shop! this is little gelato shop hidden on the 2nd level at 20A Baghdad Road. feels like I've been eating too much ice cream this week! just went Alfero artisan a few days ago (hopefully I'll get to blog about the place soon)

anyway it's a pretty quaint place, i like the seats by the window where u can really just stare out watching the world go by while enjoying your ice cream. selection of ice cream was limited though, well, at least it didn't wow me. i had the hazelnut flavour which was just normal and was not spectacular. besides gelato, they serve coffee too, but don't think you should come here for coffee. guess we weren't very impressed by the place.

Yakult the Original (64/365)

there are 2 groups of people in this world. one group who loves the Yakult and will not drink Vitagen. This group of people pledge their loyalty to Yakult and will only drink Yakult. The other group of people don't see or taste the difference between Yakult and Vitagen and thus, don't mind drinking either. I belong to the former group.

And to fellow comrades out there who belongs to the former group with me, cheers to Yakult! My personal favourite is the original flavour. but my mum at home loves to buy the one who all flavours and i usually leave the orange one behind. is not the drink i don't like, it is the flavour.

Anyway, i think there is a third group of people. those who dun even like to drink cultured milk drinks. haha

my alma mater

the feeling of being back at a place familiar is just so comforting. I spent the best 4 years of my life in cedar :) finally had a chance to go back after the renovation to see the new school today. though there were various physical changes, the feeling is still the same. can't believe it's been almost 10 years since we've graduated.

I've always been proud to be a cedarian :) the school spirit, the wonderful teachers, the distinctive uniform, the twice weekly jogging sessions, the annual track and field championships, the many school cheers and most importantly, the precious friendships forged are what make cedar days so dear to me.

I wish I could just go back to the days when I was just an innocent 15 year old not having to face the responsibilities and the disappointments of the big adult world.

my pretty companion (63/365)

i got this pretty thing on my birthday last year as a surprise. and i have been happily using it since now. the redness of it makes me smile each time i look at it. and it has helped me take some wonderful memories that i would keep for the rest of my life.

camera lifespan can be quite short sometimes. i mean new models just keep coming up so fast. i hear from a tech-gadget guy, he will not hold his gadget more than 2 years, be it a camera, laptop or CAR! hhaha.

so i dedicate this day to my red companion which has helped me take photos for Project 365 as well.

Lays

I rarely snack but if I do, I only have a few potato chips that I wouldn't mind wasting my calories on. and Lays is one of them. i know other countries like thailand have a variety of flavored for Lays while singapore only has the classic, BBQ, salt n vinegar and sour cream. I'm probably the rare few who likes the classic one best! haha! but it seemed to have gotten more salty these days :(

anyway there's this promotion going on. free KFC combo meal for every 2 sticker cut outs from the product packs from Lays, Ruffles or Doritos! I don't normally buy the chips at home but. because of the promo, I got myself 2 packets! well, just living up my reputation as deals queen ;)

OCBC Cycle 2012 (62/365)

The OCBC Cycle 2012 is this weekend. and the collection of race pack starts today and ends tomorrow!

This picture of the race pack belong to the kids' tricycle category. i would love to show you the contents inside the kids' goodie bag but one red picture a day only. it's called the mighty savers kids ride. did they use to have this kids' ride? not that i can recall. but it's uber cute. their t-shirt and i would love to see one whole group of kids riding on their tricycle. haha!

anyway, to all drivers out there, please remember to steer clear of traffic in the morning of sunday.

Ardent's Cafe Bar

so I continue on my cafes quest today and headed to Ardent's Cafe Bar near maxwell for dinner.

I was pretty impressed when I first stepped in. the place was nicely done up with both indoor and outdoor seating. very cosy and relaxing. also a place good for people who love breakfast food cos they serve all day breakfast! woohoo.

I ordered the tortillas de patatas and I enjoyed it! well I love eggs and you can never go wrong with eggs, potato and onions right! I coaxed my friend to order the California Hangtown Fry which consist of beaded oysters, bacon and scrambled eggs. The eggs were not bad but I felt that the oyster tasted abit weird. not a dish to shout about but surprisingly it has a heart shaped to it on the menu, which probably represents it is a popular dish?

I'll probably be back again to chill. very nice place to catch up with friends! good ambience! just that the location is a little far from the mrt station (tanjong pagar).

basketball players (61/365)

when i look at basketball players now, i immediately think of jeremy lin, and if you haven't heard of jeremy lin, seriously, where were you!?

Jeremy Lin Shu-How is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the NBA. one thing i found out, he was born on august 23, 1988. omg!! that makes him younger than me! i heard he is really talented though i have not watched him play yet. he is just so iconic now that i cannot don't think of him when i see basketball.

He's from taiwan btw. anyway, too bad his jersey is blue. so not my colour. haha