Food in Singapore

Since Rai has been writing our day-to-day entries for our Singapore trip last July. I will make this small contribution of showing the few food shots we had.

1. McDo Double Wasabi Fillet-o-Fish Meal, includes Seaweed Shaker Fries and Jasmine Green Tea - I know that one would not normally check first what McDonald's has to offer when you get to go to another country. But we do. *LOL* We were particular to this meal because it offered what we liked: wasabi, seaweed and green tea. :)




2. Flavored Yakult - We were surprised to see Green Mango, Orange, and Grape flavored Yakults in Singapore. We were able to take a picture of this in the supermarket but wasn't able to grab even a pack to taste :p


3. Movenpick Crepe - We were treated of this yummy dessert when we met up with Rai's former colleagues at Marche in Vivo City.


4. Hainanese Chicken Rice - Rai's mother, brother and sister ordered this award-winning dish from Chatterbox at Meritus Mandarin Hotel where we had dinner on our 3rd day.


5. Seafood Laksa - a seafood spicy noodle dish that Rai ordered in Chatterbox (and a good choice at that).


6. Bak Kut Teh - My cough was really acting up that time we were in Chatterbox that's why I decided to order this soup that has meaty pork ribs and a few spices. It kinda reminded me of what my mom sometimes prepares for us: native chicken in four-herb soup. :)


7. Sushi Platter - Mon and Che, being the most gracious host I know brought us and treated us to this Japanese Resto in Vivo City, named Akashi.


8. Chicken Terriyaki - We liked that the Akashi meals came with generous helping of side dishes (i.e. there was miso soup and a couple of slices of watermelon as you can see).


9. Tempura and Rice with Salmon Toppings (I'm not so sure if this is the right name of the dish and I can't recall what the greens here were) - If they look deliciously good, it's because they are deliciously good.



Wondering if these are all? Yes, these are all we have. We weren't really able to experience authentic Singaporean food at that time much to our dismay. Maybe next time... :)

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That Starbucks Christmas Tradition

By now, most people are probably waiting for Starbucks to officially introduce the holiday drinks as well as release the promo cards needed to get that much coveted 2010 Starbucks Planner. Based from the barista I asked, it will be on November 4. So, 10 days from now, people will start scrambling to drink the featured drinks just to have the planner. At the same time, it's also this time when some people would smirk and think what a capitalist ploy this is. Yes, it only applies here in the Philippines (apparently, Starbucks in other countries do not have this kind of promo).

You can actually put me in the group that's trying to complete whatever number of stickers are needed to have the planner as a 'reward'. I started December 2005 and got the 2006 Starbucks planner as my first.
Truth be told, I really don't think I'm wasting money on something that can be bought cheaper if it's another brand because I'm a Starbucks patron after all - either me and my friend/officemates have our break there or i spend time alone at a nearby branch.

I actually enjoy comparing and using the planners every year. Among the planners I got, I still like 2006's the most. It's not bulky. It's not heavy. And it's more of like a notebook. Add to that, it had coupons with it. Planner for 2007 was what I didn't like the most because although it looked more chic, it takes a toll to carry it all the time (required me to carry a durable bag as well). 2008's planner is slimmer and lighter but I have complaints regarding the paper since it's not thick and I can't use my colored gel pens to write on it. I kinda like this year's planner as it kind of resembles 2006's, just that I didn't like the colors that much (the black one looked like a Bible and the blue one looked like a record book that's why I chose the red).

I'm hoping the planner for next year will be easy to lug around as I bring mine everyday and everywhere. Cute designs plus quality paper would be ideal, too. Anyone from Starbucks who can read this? :)

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Scribblenauts - Write Anything. Solve Everything

This is one of the best games ever made, and by best I mean intuitive, clever and original. In this age where everybody relies on graphics, gameplay and originality are usually compromised. Unsuspectingly 5th Cell, the makers of Scribblenauts for NDS, was able to pull out from their magic hat a never before seen trick.



Retrieve the starite

With Scribblenauts you can virtually write any object to help you solve each level. You can use the freehand notepad or the keyboard to conjure almost limitless possibilities.

With over a hundred levels, each rated by a four star difficulty, your objective as Maxwell is to complete each scenario and acquire the starite. Earn ollars as you progress to purchase new levels. After completing each level it will turn to a star icon to represent your completion, reentering the level will trigger advance mode where you are to complete the level 3 times in a row with the added challenge that any item used during the attempt cannot be used again for the duration of the challenge.

There are two types of levels: puzzle and action. Puzzles are levels where you are faced with a situation that you need to solve like producing an item that fits the requirement, whereas action usually deals with trap doors, switches and may require some dexterity. Of course, this game is not without flaw and the main problem would usually be the tendency of action levels becoming repetitive, but one would argue that it depends on the limitations of one's imagination.



Here's a list of interesting/useful objects I often use during gameplay.
Note: I'll be updating the list from time to time whenever I find something worthy ;)

Combining objects

• Glue
  
• Paste
  
• Tape

Connecting objects

• Cable
  
• Chain
  
• Rope
  
• Vine

Digging

• Jackhammer
  
• Shovel
  
• Spade
  

Flight Small scale (short flight but useful in tight spaces)

• Jetpack
  
• Magic broom
  
• Magic carpet
  
• Wings

Medium scale (permanent flight but limited power to tow)

• Pegasus
  
• Pterodactyl (faster)
  
• Sphinx
  

Big scale (bulky but more powerful) Needs runway

• Plane (all variations)

Omni-directional and floats in air

• Balloon (hot air balloon)
  
• Bomber (stealth bomber and can drop bombs)
  
• Rocketship
  
• Space shuttle (same as rocketship)
  
• UFO (the tractor beam below can lift objects but can also be troublesome)

Hooking

• Fishing rod
  
• Grappling hook

Platforms

• Bridge ladder
  
• Drawbridge

Friendly super powered beings

• God
  
• Superhero
  
• Zeus - see God

Interesting Villains

• Gorgon - turns people into stone, upon defeat, the head can be used once.
  
• Medussa - see Gorgon
  
• Vampire - turns people into ghouls
  
• Witch - uses a wand to turn people into frogs and eats them (ugh)

Unclassified but quite useful

• Blackhole - destroy almost everything in radius before dissipating
  
• Electricity - electrocutes (SPOILER: works wonders on switches)
  
• Garlic - kills a vampire upon contact
  
• Ghost - for scaring unarmed people, does not kill unless provoke
  
• Lightning - see electricity
  
• Magnet - easily attaches with glue, attracts metal
  
• Mech - mobile and shoots bullets!
  
• Poison - very useful for taming beasts such as T-Rex.
  
• Metal spike - very very destructive on contact
  
• Sun - lights a dark area and kills vampires
  
• Thunder - see electricity
  
• Toxicwaste (solid) - make animals sick on contact, turns humans to mutants
  
• Tractor beam - pulls anything in range
  
• Wormhole (destructive) - works exactly like blackhole
  
• Wormhole (intergalactic) - pulls from space a random intergalactic hostile being

Establishments These things don't have much use but usually spawn something

• Heaven - God
  
• Hell - devil
  
• Tomb - spawn limitless zombies (limited to a few onscreen)

Just Interesting

• Edy - summons a T-Rex with bandanna and cannot be tamed
  
• Maxwell - evil look alike that steals items
  
• Meteor - if dropped from sky, destroys everything including Maxwell
  
• Nuke - once activated, destroys everything including Maxwell
  
• Starite
  
• Teleporter
  
• Tsunami - destroys everything including Maxwell
  
• Time machine
  
• Win - gives you a useless starite

You are free to contribute by sending me PMs or post it in the comments below ;)

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Singapore Trip Day 4 Part 1 - A Haven Called Chinatown

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 3 - Drummer Girls and a Guitar Hero
Singapore Trip Day 4 Part 2 - Ikea and Akashi

Before we started on this trip, the thought of visiting Chinatown and checking out all the hobby centers was already on my mind. The thrill of hunting for that missing figure for your set, not knowing if you'll be able to find it or not and at what price. Like walking through a gallery as the store collection display their merchandise as these figures have gone beyond the level of mere plaything and have reached artwork status. Or even a museum for these nostalgic memorandum of the past.

I held back my anxiety as each day we had to bump Chinatown to give way to other activities... until at last, 26th July 2009 arrived and I need not wait any longer ^___^.




Deprived of sleep since the first day, the previous night was no different as Ji and I stayed with the college gang until the wee morning. I really really really wanted to stay in bed longer, but time is of the essence and I will have no regrets.

I can feel a headache coming on...

On this day, everybody (my folks and my cousins, aunt and uncle) are going with us to Chinatown. Although we planned to leave early, we were met with some delays due to a large group. Finally we arrived at the destination via MRT by 11:00am.

All those shops and sidewalk vendors are located right as you exit the subway. This area looks entirely different. I ♥ Chinatown even if the hobby centers are not located here!

Time to split up again to cover more ground, I doubt anybody else is interested with these figures except for Ji and Kat, Rache and Sab's sister who was not able to join our trip. Paui was quite hospitable by offering to wake up early and act as our tour guide ^_^, he saved us a lot of time and effort to search all the malls and buildings in the area. We hit the jackpot on the first building that Paui recommended, which also happened to be where TC got me my last batch of figures :).



Need to remember that exit number NE4-Chinatown, my folks went on the exact opposite direction, their exit is on the other side of this one.


The architecture here is entirely different. Gotta love that change in atmosphere.


With the use of the map at the station, we walked in one direction, all the way to reach the China Square Central


Once inside, almost instantly, my attention went to the display on the stores. There are two shops here that are noteworthy, Playbar and ToyNToys. Obviously most of the shop owners are Chinese, since we're in Chinatown but interestingly, the head person in Playbar is Indian. I found my prospected Andromeda God Cloth here for a relatively lower price, the shopkeeper wouldn't give me a discount stating that all prices are already fixed since there's no point in haggling - I wonder if that's true if you purchase multiple items. ToyNToys on the other hand is most noticeable due to its size.






There were also stalls in the center of the floor and just outside the stores. There's two floors to explore here and fortunately I found everything I was looking for!


And who says I was the only one who had fun... Ji found something that appeals to her and made some friends ^ ^.


Seems like Cinnamoroll at the back caught her eye and some hand bags.

Mission accomplished! It's already time to meet up with everybody as the clock strikes 1:00pm and discuss plans... we're supposed to finish all our personal business as we are near the end of this trip. Personally, I only made plans up to this point :p.

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 3 - Drummer Girls and a Guitar Hero
Singapore Trip Day 4 Part 2 - Ikea and Akashi

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Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 3 - Drummer Girls and a Guitar Hero

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 2 - Singapore Malls
Singapore Trip Day 4 Part 1 - A haven called Chinatown



Deeper into the night on the 26th of July, Ji and I separated from my folks and took a cab to meet the berks at Holland Village. This is the area where JR and Llini reside in Singapore. Forgot to take a shot of the village itself due to being sleepy and being tired already :p. Good thing we have JR and Grace covering the event ^^ as seen on the images here.

While waiting for everybody to arrive, we heard a commotion outside... swift on their toes, our lovely reporters covered the little exhibition just outside the bar we stayed at.

It wasn't long until everybody arrived. We had some sausages :9 and a tall glass of beer, which was good... note to self: ask JR for the name of the beer. Everything was going well except that Ji was getting some flu symptoms caused by the exhaustion either from walking or from express shopping at Charles & Keith =_=.

Left to right: Paui, Rochie, Llini, Grace, Ji, Rai, JR








Afterwards, we moved to JR and Llini's apartment... and obviously made a mess :D. JR prepared some cappuccino for us. Much later, we feasted on chicharon bulaklak (deep fried pig intestine, methinks)



For the finale, we had a showdown for the best guitar hero player :D. JR hooked up the computer into the projector and voila! It got everybody more excited than when the caffeine-filled drinks were served to us.




Alas, the night must end, as much as I'm having fun I'd hate to miss the following day so we had to wrap it up since it was at least 2am in the morning. Ji stayed over for the night with JR, Llini and Grace to save the trouble of waking Che and Mon. Paui and Rochie dropped me off at Clarke Quay via taxi with a promise to tour us at Chinatown in the morning ^^. *These guys are the best!*

Some photos were grabbed from Grace's personal site :)

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 2 - Singapore Malls
Singapore Trip Day 4 Part 1 - A haven called Chinatown

Read more...