River Hongbao 2010 (春到河畔)

Was it 10 years? Or has it been 15 years?

Tsk tsk tsk, with the big three O approaching, i felt that my memory is already on the downward trend, psychologically.

This attention towards the number of years is unimportant since no matter what, River Hongbao is my first experience of facing a massive human jam! I would have loved to ride on my father's back but my weight and my size were not really optimal then.

Wahahaha.
*okay, not funny*

Acccording to it's official website HERE, River Hongbao is already in its 24th year!! Gosh, has it been that long?!?!?!?

In any case, the whole family steered clear of Marina Square area during Chinese New Year period after this scary episode. 

Until yesterday. All thanks to Priscilla!!

And i am pleased to inform all of you that it really was not as crowded as i expected (we went at roughly 8.30 - 9.00pm).

Without further ado, another pictorial concentrated post today; all for your viewing pleasure!

UK Funfair!!

I thought this spinner was the same as the one in Genting, which i took umpteenth times!! Different leh!! My toes were twirled with fright and excitement, all mixed together!!

At S$2.50 per "token", the spinner costs 3 tokens and the top gun (vortex) is worth 6 tokens! o, not cheap at all. But the lucky was shining; Alex paid for us!!

What's a funfair without the game stores!! Mr Kon was taking a shot at the ball ball!

The backdrop of the Singapore's Business skyline!

The tiger display for the tiger year! Nothing special except for the wagging tails and the bobbing heads. Better than a stationary one!

A damn exquisite display of the auspicious dragon and phoenix. Guess what are they made of?

Seashells?

Look closer. Get it?

It's actually procelain spoons and sauce plates!!

Symbolizes a whole house of gold and jade!

The wishing wells! Hold on, not so simple. In order to make your wishes come true, your coin(s) must hit the hanging bells. If you don't hear the compulsory "ting" sound, please try again. n again. n again. 

That's how they "eat" our money.  

The unofficial god of the Chinese New Year.

God of Fortune (财神)

A towering statue is just a statue.

To make it more interesting, make it rain golden paper every now and then. The best deal? Print a single digit (from 0 - 9) on SOME pieces of paper 

All the people surrounding the statue were waiting for the golden showers. Look closer and you can see some inverted open umbrellas; a larger surface to catch the floating papers.

The used to be ONLY official gambling company in Singapore conveniently set up a temporary counter to let punters place their bets (remember the digits on the golden papers)

Crystallized dragon. You think? It's made of sugar lor!!

Give it a lick and tell me if it's delicious!

The traditional puppet shadow show

The traditional paper craft

The traditional clay doll art

The again traditional malt sugar art. $4 a stick!

All the pictures before the one right above this sentence epitome a very good, festive mood. Until i saw the above.

They are trapping the longevity cranes! 

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UNTIL 20 FEBRUARY 2010!!

If you miss it, please wait another year.

Opening Hours

12:00 noon to 11:30pm

Location

The Float @ Marina Bay

Take public transportation to City Hall MRT and proceed to Esplanade (durians). This River Hongbao is right beside the two spiky durians.

Pricing

Admission is free

*i love the word "free"*

French Toast @ Streets Cafe Restaurant (街头茶餐厅)

My standard of a good french toast of the ironic Hong Kong style has always come from Kim Gary.

Two slices of bread with peanut butter filling, dipped heavily in beaten egg, deep fried stacked, showered with golden syrup and topped with a dob of melty butter .....

The golden glittering end product was heavenly when i first ate it.

Now....... this one in Streets, a Hong Kong style cafe.

The beaten egg dip was done a bit too lightly, the end product was too thick and it's pretty obvious the peanut butter was spread OUTSIDE, not INSIDE.

Sighz....

Would it be another big disappointment......?

Thankfully no!

The toast was indeed too thick but the taste of crushed peanut butter with the slab of thick butter was just fabulous! The just-the-right amount of condensed milk differed greatly from most french toasts, which relied too heavily on condensed milk (if they ever use them) to give a highly probable diabetic condition 10-20 years from now!

They serve pretty good milk tea and coffee (according to my mom) too!

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Location

Level 1, Unit 126, IMM Building, walkable from Jurong East MRT Station.

Chinese Zodiac Doraemon Toys

Newspaper readers or TV viewers would have heard of the storm Macdonald's created recently with its offering of the robotic-cat-that-comes-from-the-future dressed according to the twelve symbolic animals of the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

........

With the exception of the pig, an animal deemed to be offensive to the Muslims in the country.

Of course, the storm has calmed down when Macdonalds decided to bring in the doraemon dressed in the pig costume eventually after a lot of valuable "feedback". In another two more months...... in mid-April, after Chinese New Year.

Impatient me cannot wait.

And i forgot about the Macdonald's promotion.

And i don't really fancy eating Mac every few days!!

Hence, when Mr Kon told me about this deal on the internet for twelve doraemons soft toys at S$49 for the whole set (including the pig), i was happy yet skeptical.

Because at S$4 each, the toy is

1) Bigger than the Mac's puny ones

2) Has a Partial-Removable Cap
3) Has a WORKING Bell

I was delighted after receiving the package because everything is exactly as he said!!!!

The Chicken, The Dog, The Pig

The Horse, The Sheep, The Monkey

The Rabbit, The Dragon, The Snake

The Rat, The Cow (Looks like a daisy to me), The Tiger

Now i am short of the Valentine doraemon. 

Sigh, nothing's perfect.

Spring Festival (The Spring Cleaning)

Spring cleaning is part and parcel of Chinese New Year and in fact, is mandatory for most Chinese families with a fierce or nagging mother.

no, No, nO, NO! I am not complaining!! 

It is indeed a great time to tidy up the house a little bit, making it more welcoming to the visitors. You wouldn't want them to see a dirty pig sty with furniture that have a layer of dust (note, that picture is downloaded from HERE; it's not MY HOUSE!) .

Psst, tell you the truth, i loveeee spring cleaning (quite obvious from one post HERE)! There's always so many:

1) aww-ohh-ahh memories

(cards, presents, poems from ex(s) etc),  

2) lost items you can find

(my long lost blue boxer etc),  

3) things that surprise you

(i thought i had a full series for Crayon Shinchan etc)

The old time walkman (cassette player) and discman (music cd player). I love the brand Aiwa then! Its products were so durable!

My stash of pagers!!! These were the initial inexpensive trackers and portable communication devices 13-14 years back!

This was the catheter used on me when i was going through my medic course in my army days. Yes, practice made perfect.

A tube containing my blood. It was drawn during an annual test for the medics. I was selected for my noticeable and easily found veins. =_=

The already-phased-out weekend coupons that off peak cars can used. Gosh! I didn't know we spent so much on them! One piece cost S$20!!

My first encyclopedia! I learnt so much about a lot of things, including all the presidents from United States (till George Bush Sr)!

Lastly, it is the GREAT satisfaction that awaits you at the end of this chore.

The tidy TV console with a lot of barang barang behind the glasses ande full range of doraemon toys with the chinese horoscopes theme!

The neat 2 doors wardrobe with the same range of hangars!! My wish is to get a 4 doors wardobe this year. I don't have any more space!!! TOTO TOTO TOTO!

The very adorable book cases with my hello kitty collections. Hahaha. So cute!

My comic collections!

My personal space that had my last pack of ciggies, my collections of extracted teeth from my dental orderly days, my last pony tail etc etc etc

If only the tidiness will stay forever n ever.......

Bird's Nest (燕窝) @ ZTP (正中平)

Remember the bird's nest advertisement featuring David Gan, the very very famous "auntie" hairstylist in Singapore, touting ZTP's bird's nest as the best???

Privately, I don't agree.

Of course, it's purely my own opinion and it's true i have my fair share of home made bird's nest (obviously the best) catering to my personal preference of rock sugar without ginseng etc.

Home-Made Bird's Nest (Blood's Nest)

The label itself also stated that it was made in Singapore and contained the usual ingredients of bird's nest, rock sugar and water.

BUT i am adamant that this supposedly premium bird's nest purchased from ZTP as a definitive "far off the mark" from the usual ones we always purchased for six small bottles in one box.

Never had i drank such HORRIFYING bird's nest; the only exception is the fake, gelatin-made one!!!

At an offer price of S$28 for a 250ml bottle, the issue was with the swallows' slobber, not the soup (which was still okay). Though the quantity was there, the quality was obviously not. Even picky Alex agrees with me on this.

I am not sure if Singapore adopts the same food labeling standard from USA, where you have to label accurately the ingredients used in a product. If Singapore is indeed using that standard, something must be bloody wrong with my taste buds.

Or this particular swallow has exceptionally-unpalatable salivary glands.

Hainanese Chicken Rice (海南雞飯) @ Da Jia Lai (大家来海南雞飯)

My mom doesn't understand the obsession both Alex and i have with the Hainanese Chicken Rice in Yishun, which i blogged memorably HERE.  

Her preference stands with this particular stall which always attract a long queue at the hawker centre situated opposite Yio Chu Kang Community Centre in Yio Chu Kang (phew... a non-breather mouthful of sentence!!). Or is it Ang Mo Kio? The segregation of areas in Singapore is really not easy!!! Like Yishun and Khatib!! Khatib is in fact a sub area within Yishun!!

I digress.

About this stall, translated auspiciously as "Everybody Come," i tried once but my memory was pretty fuzzy on the food although i do remember my brother in law queued a long time for them!! That was before the hawker centre was rebuilt, after the big fire that was heavily reported in the mass media.

Not sure if i have said this before but since my teens, i have always preferred roasted chicken, instead of the standard steamed white chicken typical of the Hainanese Style. White chicken skin (also know as oh-my-gosh-eeee fats) looks rather unpalatable and "fatty" compared to roasted chicken skin.

Down at "Everybody Comes" (not for dirty minded people), i tried the roasted chicken rice. At S$2.50 a plate, it's a dollar cheaper than the one i like in Yishun, with an equal serving of chicken meat. 

Unfortunately, the meat was drier and the rice was also not as fragrant as the one in Yishun. And i don't understand the necessity of having half a kalamansi lime there!

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That said, the dish was definitely not horrible bad and in fact, was better than a lot of many other chicken rice stalls dotted around this little red dot. To be more fair for comparison, i shall try their steamed white chicken rice the next time.

Location

As mentioned above. Search for the words and use streetdirectory.com. Thanks!