Frozen - Not Your Ordinary Disney Princess Story

"Some people are worth melting for"

- Olaf, the Snowman

Even before I watched it, I've fallen in love with the movie. The music, the song, the lyrics, the dialogue, all have captured my attention in a zap. Though I only caught half a sentence of the song ("For the first time in forever...") and that quote above from the trailer, I was sure it's gonna be good.

And it is.

It breaks the usual formula where the Princess is swept away by Prince Charming, just like Brave did, which I also love.

Ying Ying Beef Noodle

I'm really thankful to God (and my sis) that I have additional tuition near Old Airport Road hawker centre. Hurrah to additional income! Hurrah to the prospect of tasting good food!

I usually go there to have dinner before giving tuition, if the time allows. At first, I was always in a rush, so I always bought something quickly prepared and can be eaten fast, like the Special Chicken Curry Rice from "Jack's Place" stall. It's quick, nice and within reasonable price ($3.5), but it's not that healthy. The combination of chicken cutlet and curry and eating it every Wednesday and Friday frightens me as time goes by, especially with my cholesterol level history. Yeah, can you believe it, the 48-kg me has a high cholesterol level. Actually, it's just slightly above the 200 limit, so it's not that high, right? Right??

I decided that I gotta survey around and find other stalls selling decent food at decent price. One evening, I didn't feel so well and actually felt like throwing up. At time like this, usually I can only eat porridge, but I couldn't find a stall that open and sell appetizing porridge.

I remembered there's a stall selling beef brisket noodle that looks very nice. Unfortunately it closed that day. I walked around some more and found this stall. It doesn't really look like it's going to be delicious because of the signage. Come on, take a look at it. It actually looks like it's selling fresh milk to me. But I thought, why not?

I ordered beef ball kwetiaw noodle soup. You can choose the types of noodle you want. They have yellow noodle, kwetiaw, mee kia and mee pok (I think) and rice vermicelli. They give quite generous numbers of beef balls. Usually, you either have numerous beef balls but small in size or a few but big. But I get the best of both worlds from this stall. And in a blink of an eye, it's ready.

It has a very reasonable price too ($4), like most stalls there except one or two. And mmmm... the warm soup and tasty beef balls calmed down my stomach. The broth is not that thick but it's nice and warm (nearly scalding hot, but who cares). The beef balls taste similar to those at NTU canteen 2. My taste bud is not like a gourmet (and I was pretty sick, mind you), so I might be wrong. Anyway, because I'm just like most other normal human beings, I can safely say that the food is absolutely edible and won't disappoint you with that price :)

So, next time you're at Old Airport hawker centre, be sure to pay a visit.

*Update on 13 Jan 2014
I visited the shop again to try their dry beef ball noodle. It's not as nice as their beef ball soup noodle though :(

Dry beef ball noodle

Smoulder

As a farewell token for my (ex-)colleagues, I bought chocolate lava cakes from Smoulder. At first, I just wanted to buy simple snacks from Old Chang Kee or the likes, but since there's no nearby OCK outlet near my office and my break time was limited, I decided to look for some dessert shops nearby office from hungrygowhere.com.

I stumbled upon Smoulder, which was placed 1^st in my search result. Lucky the place is very near office, within 15-minute walk to and fro office, plus buying time.

I like their website (http://www.smoulder.it), though it gets a little bit confusing when you scroll down. Almost all the flavour are listed there.

I went to their main outlet at China Square Food Centre and bought a combination of 9pc and 3 pc boxes. Yeah, they have an unusual package for ordering. I thought they would offer the normal half dozen / a dozen pricing.

The available flavours at the outlet vary a bit from what is listed in the website. There are additional oreo and milk chocolate; less mocha and raspberry flavours. The rest are the same as in the website. I bought all the available flavours there.

I named the signature chocolate and dark chocolate wrongly in the picture. They are supposed to be the opposite.

They are best eaten warm. They come in small sizes, so those with large mouth can eat one whole piece at one go. For me, I still need to bite twice. Actually I can eat it in one mouthful, but it will be very unsightly. And the melting filling is hot. I'm not that good with hot stuff.

I ate the rum raisin, and it's nice! It contains alcohol though. The rest of the office all exclaimed that the cakes were very nice. So, I didn't make a bad decision on buying from Smoulder. All are satisfied.

For those on diet, you can consider to buy this when you are very tempted to eat sweet stuff. At least they come in small sizes, so they won't add too much calories into your body :) You won't feel that guilty :) Just don't buy too many.

Main outlet:
China Square Food Centre
51 Telok Ayer Street #01-04
S048441, Singapore
Phone: +65 6225 6422
Opening hours: Mon-Fri, 8am to 8pm. Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Branch:
Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road #B1-68
S179103, Singapore
Phone: +65 6338 0661
Opening hours: Dailiy, 11am to 10pm

Email: enquiries@smoulder.it
Jobs: careers@smoulder.it

The Gourmet Pie Company

I've passed by this shop numerous times when I went out for lunch in my previous work. The logo and the interior of the shop make me think that the pie will be delicious. But they also make me think that the pie is expensive. And yeah, it is...

Finally, after so many times cancelling to buy, I bought one Chicken Mushroom Pie from the shop. They engrave the initials of the flavor on top of the pie. For Chicken Mushroom flavor, they engrave "CM" on it. The rest of their menu can be seen here.

Inside the menu, they provide canape, snack and hearty pies. I intended to buy the snack size as a trial. When I was in the shop, I didn't know which one is snack or the hearty size; they don't put any sign other than the flavor signs. All pies inside the display look snack size to me, so I just pointed there. How surprised I was when I paid, because that's actually hearty pie! Wow... $8 just for that size.. I felt brokenhearted. My money...

Argh, the marking on top of the pie is barely seen, but it's there.

But it was delicious. The chicken breast chunk was big and I don't know how, but the pie still had some chicken broth inside. I like it. It's best to eat it warm.

They provide meals inside the shop, but I don't know the price. For meals, they serve pies with 2 side dishes (from what I spied on the plate of the only customer eating there at the shop).

Though it's delicious, I think $8 for a pie is still too much. Well, maybe the prime location contributes in the expensive price. Afterall, it's in Boat Quay/Clarke Quay area where a lot of customers swarm in at night for a drink at nearby pubs and restaurants.

They have three branches and the one I went to is the Boat Quay branch.

Boat Quay
72 Circular Road,  Singapore 049426
Telephone: +65 6557 2734 (or Head Office 6570 0094)
Fax: +65 6491 5968 

Opening Hours: 
Mon to Wed: 9.30am – 10.00pm 
Thur to Sat: 9.30am – 11.00pm 
Sun and PH: Close

Serangoon Gardens
myVILLAGE (SERANGOON GARDENS)
#B1-K2, myVillage, 1 Maju Ave
Serangoon Gardens 556679
Telephone: +65 6636 9045 (or Head Office 6570 0094)
Fax: +65 6491 5968

Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun & PH: 10.00am – 10.00pm

North Bridge Road
GREAT VALUE PROMOS ON WINE AND BEER AVAILABLE AT THE NORTH BRIDGE ROAD STORE…

776 North Bridge Road, Singapore 198744
Telephone: +65 6298 8896 (or Head Office 6570 0094)
Fax: +65 6491 5968

Opening Hours:
Mon to Wed: 9.00am – 6.30pm
Thur to Sat: 9.00am – 8.30pm 
Sun & PH: Close

10th donation!

Finally, I donated for the 10th time on 16 Sep! I was rejected two weeks before because of low haemoglobin level of 12.4 g/dl (should be at least 12.5 g/dl). I had to take iron supplement for two weeks before I could try again.

Many ask, is the process scary?

Nexcare Acne Patch

Time for another beauty product review.

Last week, I had this extra large pimple on my forehead. Just after I thought to myself, "Good, now I have less pimples on my forehead". Then I got one. Big time. Literally.

It was so red and huge that my sis told me to just cover it up with acne patch. But I didn't have one. So I temporarily covered it with band-aid, cut into small piece, until I bought a proper acne patch.

noiseless mouse by Tuscani

When I moved to my current company and started my first day at work, the first thing I noticed was how uncomfortable my mouse was. I couldn't scroll smoothly and the click sensor was not sensitive enough. I tried to put up with it for a few weeks, but in the end I gave up..

So.. I needed a new mouse. ASAP. And because I'm soooo addicted to Qoo10, I decided to look for a mouse there. Usually they sell a good yet cheap stuff. And I found this 'noiseless mouse by Tuscani' at Qoo10. Reviews mentioned that it was great for stuff as cheap as this one. So I decided to buy it.

World War Z

I’d never have thought I’d watch a zombie movie, ever. The last close-to-zombie movie I watched was Will Smith’s “I am Legend”. Even that is not zombie; it’s rabies/vampire-like virus. I couldn't think of other zombie movies/books I read either. The only zombie thing I enjoyed was the game “Zombie vs plants”.

The idea of watching zombie movie to me was, uh, uncompelling. If it is an apocalypse movie about a deadly virus, not zombie, which humans have never encountered before, maybe I’d still watch it even though it’ll gross me out. But, the undead? Hmm…

But here I am, a person who has watched a zombie movie, starring Brad Pitt. So, why the change?

The Regimen by acne.org

Before I have acne problems, I usually didn't pay too much attention to my skin except when I was having pimples. I didn't follow a specific regimen tightly. I just washed my face with whatever cleansing foam within my budget which didn't make my skin oily. I didn't even apply moisturizer nor sun screen daily. I was blessed with clear skin with periodic acne which cleared out quickly. I applied acne cream from dermatologist only when I had pimples.

Then I moved to Singapore, and acne problem came. It was getting serious when I started working. My clear cheeks suddenly full of annoying acne. And they didn't clear out so quickly anymore :( I was desperate and I visited my sis' dermatologist for help. She gave me facial foam, acne creams and powder which I have to apply regularly until my skin clears up. And, they were quite expensive.. They did help clear out my acne slowly. So I thought, what if my acne comes back again after I finished all of the creams from my doctor? The recipe was only purchasable 3 times max.

So I began my research on how to get clear skin using over-the-counter beauty products. And I came across...

foodiesss (and other thing)

hehe for the past dunno-how-many months, we've been tasting a lot of dessert places. the most visited one is......

tadaa!!

honeymoon dessert!!!

at one time, we went to this dessert place for 4 consecutive weeks! sampe uda nyoba sgala macem mango desserts available in the store. hahaha

lately, soya bean pudding is gaining fame in singapore. so i tried once, from lao ban. hmmm.. just so so... (maybe bcos i don't really like soya bean curd haha)

and... when my surabaya friend came here, we tried one dessert place. very ulu, near leban cafe. i forgot the name :P anyway, the waffle ice cream is nice hehehe.. too ulu, so if by chance we're eating around leban there, maybe going to drop by again.

and and... just last sunday we went to Charlie Brown's cafe. the dessert serving was small compared to the price :( but anyway, we were too full, so we didn't really care hahaha.. they draw snoopy's characters on the cakes and coffee foam! i like it :P

cute righttt.... niat bener. tp ada cetakannya lah pasti hahaha.. left: lava cake (nice!); right: oreo cheesecake (just so so..)

and and and... my sister and i went to watch NANTA show hohohoho.. when i was in 4th year, my korean language teacher recommended us to go and watch NANTA because it is very famous in korea and USA. at that time, no money, so don't bother to look for the show hahaha.. now, got a bit of money, so just try :p and it's good! 

ergh.. a bit blur.. zoomed too much :p

they mix all sorts of performance inside. they have magic show, ballroom dance, acrobatics, comedy, pantomime, etc. however, the main performance is still the korean traditional percussion music (사물놀이), though not using the traditional instruments. they use kitchen utensils! and it's actually a musical, so they have a story going on. the story which unified the whole performance is about 3 cooks trying to prepare a wedding banquet within a limited time. BUT, the incompetent head chef's nephew is going to be working with them. for complete story and description, can read here

well.. if there's a new interesting musical, surely we're going to watch again, as long as the price is still within budget :p

BRAVEEE

nice, touching movie, perfect for mothers' day. here is the trailer with a very nice song at the end.

the story is about a scottish (or irish?) princess named Merida who, according to their custom, had to marry with the eldest son of the other clans. one of them had to succeed in archery competition to get her hands in marriage. but, as tough as she is, she didn't want to marry any of them and went against her mother. angry and frustrated, she went to a witch for a potion which can change her fate. then the catastrophe began. everything didn't go as she wished for. therefore she had to go through a journey to mend the bond between mother and daughter, and between clans.

here is the full song at the end of the trailer and lyrics. the sound not so good though, but.. urgghh.. almost cried when listening to this song T.T it's about a saddened young maiden whose love is at the sea. and a very nice voice of julie :')

oh and the song is in scottish gaelic.

here is another OST which i like from the movie

if you had the chance to change your fate, would you?

taxi.. taxi..

just read a post about taxi drivers in singapore in facebook. and i agreed with most of the content. and i want to share my experience as well haha.

my previous job required me to travel a lot w/ taxi. so.. hello taxi uncles... and hello funny problems.

it was the first time i realize they always ask which way i want to go. i'm a foreigner. and i'm a woman. so i didn't really give a damn about roads at first. and which way to go? harrr.. like i care. as long as it's fast and cheap of course! (and that was always my answer to the taxi drivers, haha). and that "like i care" attitude gave me problems in the end haha. getting lost. and wasted time. and felt dumb cos it seemed like i can't tell my destination properly to the taxi driver.

since i've just changed my phone to iphone 4 that time, i felt safe. i can just show the location i wanted to go on the map, and even show the taxi drivers the direction if needed.

i didn't really get annoyed with them not knowing the way. but i had a big problem w/ their driving skills and during the "change shift" time.. anyway, in the end, i gained skill. in reading maps. hahaha.. and now i recognized most roads in singapore, mostly in CBD area.

one time i had an interesting talk with a taxi uncle. i remembered i commented about how hard it was to get a taxi during "change shift" time. i remembered the conversation took place after my late meeting in orchard, which ended at 930 pm (i left first before the meeting really ended hahaha).

the taxi driver agreed with me. he commented that all those taxi drivers were lazy drivers. some of them only pretended to change shift, he said. so that he didn't have to drive around too much and still in the high demand area. sure a smart way to get money fast, but annoys the customers.

but he was different. because he doesn't have to share his taxi, he can arrange his work time flexibly. he came out super early to drive the workers to work. and he told me that he shifted his meal time slightly so that he can catch the high demand period. he has his lunch later so that he can serve those workers who comes out for and comes back from lunch. and he has his dinner even later so that he can drive those overtime workers home. at around 4pm (change shift period), he doesn't change shift so that he can get more passengers. he works more than 12 hours a day. and he drives well. i didn't get carsick. and from him i knew more or less about taxi business :p

i don't know whether he was only bragging or not. but i hope all taxi drivers here in singapore were just like him who's really dedicated to his job. manse!