Deerma Handheld Vacuum Cleaner (DX-118C) - A Powerful Suction & It's Inexpensive! - Purchased from Lazada.sg

Ever since i moved into my own house, which was already more than a year ago, i had been wanting to purchase a handheld vacuum cleaner and i finally got one through Lazada.sg! 

I was expecting a vacuum cleaner but i sure didn't know there were so many helpful accessories given as well since the price i paid for it was honestly quite an eye-popper.

This 60-cm extender would allow me to reach the ceiling of my HDB flat and that's important as spiders had taken over some corners and dust accumulation on the air-conditioning trunking can be such an eye sore! 

Don't worry about the wire as it's about 4 meters long! 

It can even be converted into an upright vacuum cleaner for your floor! Now, i have my fair share of expensive handheld vacuum cleaners with horrendous suction power but this came strongly recommended by two friends and it had a supposedly strong suction at 600 W.

Want to know how well it performs? Check out the video above! 

The suction was really powerful and i not complaining of its noise as i only paid S$35.01 for it! Add in shipping and it's still less than S$40.00! 

Only problem i faced was how to store the vacuum and its accessories since the box they came with were rather destroyed by me in my haste to check out my purchase. Hmmmm...

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Purchased From

Lazada.sg

Pricing

Deerma Handheld Vacuum Cleaner (DX-118C) - S$35.01

Shipping Cost - S$2.99

Guan's Mee Pok (with Yakitori, Fish Maw & Onsen Egg) - 阿源面薄 @ 713, Clementi West Street 2 [West Coast, Singapore]

When it comes to choosing mee pok or mee kia for my bak chor (minced pork) or fishball noodle, there's a 75% chance I would go for mee pok which is a flat type of local noodle.

At Guan's Mee Pok, there's only one choice and I am definitely not complaining given it saves me a lot of time in deliberating between mee pok and mee kia! Now, I didn't know that Guan's Mee Pok already has an established reputation and is actually famed for their unique toppings like yakitori, fish maw, squid or even abalone on a bed of minced pork noodle.

From the articles put up at the branch, I guess there must be a following from the Japanese community in the West Coast enclave. By the way, this stall is located in the same coffee shop as the Japanese-managed Ah Hoe Mee Pok although there's no competition since the latter had already closed shop.

My S$5 Guan's Mee Pok with Yakitori - I would love to go with the squid but the ridiculous pricing of $9 was, in essence, too expensive and too hard to stomach. 

Let's start with the soup that had a generous serving of cut spring onions which can be self-served from the stall itself - it wasn't your usual dead, bland soup and I liked it enough to down it to the very last drop.

Now on the pretty well-hidden noodle with all the fanciful toppings; traditionalists like my mom would not take kindly to this fusion innovation although I am all for special, blow-me-away taste experience. 

Clearing the toppings first - dumpling was okay, fish maw was soft, onsen egg wasn't served hot although its taste was good enough, that fried fish thingy was nice and crunchy and coming to the yakitori; I thought the meat was soft with a pretty nice marination even though it wasn't spectacular enough to overtake the one from Tori Q. 

Remaining would be the noodles and my favourite crispy pork lards! I had a lot more because two of my lunch mates passed theirs to me! Noodle, by right the star of the dish, was cooked perfectly with just the right balance of softness and hardness and the vinegar taste, though significant, wasn't overpowering! 

I cleaned up the bowl effortlessly! At S$5, it was indeed pricey but once you discount the luxurious toppings (a typical stick of yakitori would cost about S$1.00-S$1.50), it's almost comparable to a normal bowl of bak chor mee from a coffee shop. 

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Location

Block 713, Clementi West Street 2, 

#01-115, One Kitchen Coffee Shop, 

Singapore 120713

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Mee Pok with Yakitori -  S$5.00 

Numerous Burns While Baking & The Remedy to Treat the Burns!

Baking is a newfound hobby that i have enjoyed for the past one year but being a rather careless person, getting burns on my hands were common in the beginning and the painful lessons had taught me to be more careful whenever i bake. 

However, i got a rather bad burn on my hand in my recent baking session with Joyce's mother in law; due to the haste for which i had to take out the kueh lapis tray to add another layer! 

It was a lot redder in reality and the above photograph was taken a day later as i didn't think of blogging about it initially.

My family swears by a cream that's like a miracle remedy for any burns and the immediate instinct after i burnt my hand was to smear the burn area with a significant amount of the magical cream; it will cool the injury and you wouldn't even feel much pain after that. 

Condition after a week where the new skin started to form. I had to put on the cream on a daily basis, preferably twice a day although i tried to maintain at least once a day. 

10 days later.

I am quite impressed that i exercised diligence in spreading the cream daily. Normally, the scatter-brain in me would remember today, forget tomorrow and remember once again a few days later.

In slightly less than 3 weeks, the burn mark was hardly noticeable and there's not much scarring! Thanks to Bao Fu Ling (宝肤灵); the cream that my family would always buy whenever we go to China on a tour package! It's quite pricey at about S$60 for a 100-gram bottle but its results are remarkable when it comes to burns! 

Remember, the authentic ones come from a medicinal hall in China known as 宝树堂 and although you may find similar ones in Singapore / Malaysia, i am not sure if they are the "real" ones. 

Fei Zai Hokkien Mee (肥仔福建面) @ S11 Yishun 744 Kopitiam [Opposite Yishun MRT Station]

The distance between Yishun MRT station and my house was only about a five-minute walk but for the past few weeks, I had noticed a banner that's placed right outside the S11 coffee shop and I can't miss the Chinese characters "古早味", which means the traditional taste, on it. 

At my age, the traditional taste would sometimes evoke nice memories of my childhood and I gamely asked my parents to join me this evening to check out the supposedly 'traditional-tasting' Hokkien Mee! 

There's always a queue at the stall and tonight's no exception although I only waited about six minutes to get my two plates of noodles as the chef was already preparing a big wok for distribution when I joined the line. 

Compared to the mouthwatering picture on the banner, I was taken aback by how different the plate of Hokkien mee was in reality; it didn't have that visual draw and I thought it looked kind of dismal at $4 a plate with just two prawns and hardly any squid.

A generous sprinkling of crispy pork lard might help to increase its appeal and entice me to salivate a bit. The good thing is that there were quite a few pieces of pork belly but you kind of couldn't see them as they were relatively well hidden in the midst of thick bee hoon.

Taste wise - the stall made good on its claim for the traditional taste and each strand of noodle was coated with a thick gravy that was both rich and intense in flavor! I slurped up every delicious strand like a child totally immersed in enjoying the plate of Hokkien mee! Do eat the noodle as soon as you could as the gravy tends to dry up pretty fast! 

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Location 

Block 744 Yishun Street 72,

S11 Coffee Shop, Singapore 760744

(Opposite Yishun MRT Station)

Map

As above.

Pricing

Hokkien Mee - Minimal S$4 a plate

Other Stalls in the Same Coffeeshop

Rojak 

Yu Kee Braised Duck Rice

Pineapple Fried Rice

Hamburg Steak Keisuke - Triple Cheese Set with Free Flow Salad Bar & Eggs @ 72 Peck Seah Street [Near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, Singapore]

I was warned that the queue can be long but taking time-off from work in order to get to Hamburg Steak Keisuke just when it opened for business was totally worth it as we didn't even have to wait in line! 

We were ushered in immediately and i quickly put down my bag at our allocated table; reason being this would be the best time to take photographs before more customers stream in.

Ordering will have to come later although it's not too difficult given that there were only two items on the menu; the normal hamburg steak and the triple cheese variant. Other highlights, aside from the steak, were the free flow salad bar and unlimited eggs! 

The section where you can have your fill of eggs and up to 25 salad selections that were mystically surrounded by misty cool air.

Egg lovers would be happy to know that you can take as much as you can eat and all the eggs at the restaurant were supplied by a local farm on a daily basis! 

In addition to omelette, sunny side up and tamago yaki, you can even order deep fried egg, boiled egg, turn over, scrambled egg and half boiled egg. On second thought, are there supposed to be onsen eggs? 

Selection from the salad bar from your viewing pleasure; you have your romaine lettuce, frizze red, frizze green, cauliflower, broccoli, shredded cabbage, purple cabbage, mixed seaweed, red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, shredded onion, shredded red onion, shredded carrot, shredded radish, tomato, long bean, mixed bean, sweet corn and Japanese cucumber. 

That's not all; potato salad, macaroni salad, strips of radish, cha soba salad, sapporo ramen salad, pasta salad with tuna, sweet potato with lemon, simmered pumpkin, marinated bean sprout, picked cabbage, orange, pineapple, watermelon and coffee jelly. 

Are you counting? In terms of the number of items, there were over 30 and i suspected some like peppers etc could have been collectively bunched as one item.  I was famished and couldn't resist taking the more "worth it" stuff like pasta and sweet potatoes! 

Came back to my table and spotted Keisuke's signature green tea cola! That's like the must order whenever i dine in any restaurant under the Keisuke brand. In comparison to the sakura cola, green tea is way better.

Tamago yaki was deeply etched in my colleague's memory and she heaped praises on it like nobody's business! It was indeed nice with a moist texture and a delicious grilled flavour that differed from normal tamago. Don't eat too much of this as we have yet to start on the main star for the day! 

The star was still busy dolling itself so i guess i would have to start on my salad bowl which had the three kinds of pasta; pasta salad with tuna, sapporo ramen salad and cha soba salad. Which took my soul away? Definitely the super flavourful sapporo ramen salad that had Japanese sesame dressing mixed in! 

My triple cheese hamburg steak set was finally here! Do note that no sharing is allowed and it's strictly one set for each person; unless you are a big eater, this set that came with a hamburg steak, a piece of tofu, fried beancurd, rice and miso soup would literally fill you up rather quickly.

Four types of sauce, which had to be informed upon ordering, for your selection; keisuke original (soya base), teriyaki mayonnaise, demi-glace and grated radish & citrus soya vinegar! 

Slice open the steak and be prepared to snap a few shots of the triple cheese (cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella) oozing out from the steaming hot 100% beef patty!

Meat was so tender; i think a toothless person would have enjoyed it as much as i did. Taste wise was almost like IKEA meat balls in the old days yet much bigger (and way more satisfying)! I feel that the cheese gave a significant, positive punch to the meat and you can't deny that visually, it was perfect for your Instagram.

Prawn teriyaki was quite good, especially when you dip it into the mayonnaise with onion bits! A friend had the teriyaki mayonnaise sauce and i thought it was tastier! Anyway, since i already had the pasta salad and the eggs beforehand, i honestly couldn't stomach the bowl of rice; there's still about 75% left.

That fullness in my tummy didn't stop me from taking another serving of the sapporo ramen salad! Darn, i almost couldn't walk another step after that but it was so good! 

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Location

72 Peck Seah Street,

Singapore 079329

(Near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station)

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

11.30 am to 2.30 pm

5.30 pm to 10.00 pm

Website

https://www.hamburg-keisuke.sg/

Menu

As above

Pricing

Triple Cheese Hamburg Steak Set - S$20.80

Green Tea Cola - S$3.80 

(Subject to GST and Service Charge)

Additional Information

Do note that even though you can get your friends to queue for you, everyone has to be present before you would be given a table!

Nevertheless, you can help yourself to the Japanese barley tea while waiting. I always welcome such nice gestures by restaurants as they treasure you as their customers.

Phone ran out of battery and you can't Instagram? Charge it using the USB port! No charging cable? Get one from the service staff by exchanging it with your identity card / passport! 

By the way, the restaurant doesn't have pork / lard in their food.