SAF Navy Openhouse 2013

Singapore Navy Open House 2013 

Contributed By J . Valerie |  My first Navy Day Experience

On a scorching Sunday morning, I made a trip down to the Eastern Navy Open House on 19 May 2013. Given the distance, it’s pretty secluded and inconvenient but thankfully my sister’s friend provided us a hitch for a ride. Passing by the nearest MRT station which provides free shuttle bus service, the queue was insanely terrible! When we reached, it makes no better day ahead as despite the extreme glaring weather, the entire compound was packed with crowd for everything. Every minutes to the seconds, I feel like a strand of skinny tuna packed in a can of sardine. 

Geez, shall stop blabbering about the weather and crowd, I could have went on all day. The activities of the open house includes a grand display of live show with blanks shooting and divers plunging into the sea from the choppers. 

Check these big guns ->

On a lighter note, we queued for souvenirs, patronised the photo booth, toured the warships and participated in the children game stations of making balloon. Amazing part was regardless of the weather, there were so many people queueing to take the warships and something like speed boat? My family and I could not take it and gave that a miss! Furthermore bringing small children to such activities is seriously not advisable, they became cranky as they were feeling extremely hot, tired, hungry and thirsty. Children who are 3 years and below were disappointed as all the game stations were not suitable for them! Nonetheless, we got a nicey shot as the best reward of the day; two officers in the making.

 Let me show you how to twist okays . . .

Instructions: (only for kids)

Put your two hands out,

twist em in the crowd,

pout your mouth,

and stand straight up.

Instructions: (also only for kids oh !)

Twinkle twinkle little girl

Point your index fingers to another

On my pose, I am no cute lesser

In the making of an officer

Souvenirs, another worthy trip

Heading Home

There was no sign of the direction to take shutter bus and we assume it should be the drop off from the far end so ended up carrying the kids over but only to our dismay to learn that we have headed into the wrong direction! 

That’s really OMG!!! All were so tired and I felt like dropping dead soon. It’s crazily far end and we’ve to walk a long distance to reach the shutter bus area. The kids stomach growling was obvious so we stop for some rations before reverting back out direction reluctantly.

Nonetheless, I just love my Sunday with these cutie pies. 

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My happy food

Soi 19 Thai Wanton Mee

I am a food lover and always looking out for good food. If you have any good recommendations, do feel free to let us know so that we can add more to our list =)

I have been a wanton mee lover all my life.. so much so that I have been trying to find the nicest wanton mee in Singapore. Perhaps when one grows up, the expectation gets higher. Or maybe nicer ones are getting fewer..

I see Pontian wanton mee outlets in many hawker centres and food courts. To me, I felt that their food is not raving enough to make me have craving for.

Pontian Wanton Mee

I have been to the famous wanton mee in Bangkok Soi 19 Pratunam area. It cost approximately SGD$2 for a bowl but the portion was little. It was without sauce yet there is a slight saltish fragrance taste in the noodles (it is called hum hiong in Cantonese). The only thing I dislike is the char siew as it was too hard. It was a different taste from the Singapore version wanton mee.

Thailand Wanton Mee (Along Pratunam street)

After the Bangkok trip, I came back to Singapore hoping to find the similar taste. Coincidentally, I found the first wanton mee stall in Singapore which taste similar or even better than the one I had in Bangkok.

Soi 19's Wanton Mee - $3.50 portion

Their noodles have an authentic taste which makes you love them. It has a slight saltish taste with fragrance in the noodles. The fried wanton is way better than the ones from Pontian. Do add their chilli flakes (if you love spicy food) to enhance the flavour. The normal size cost $3.50 but I felt that the small bowl is not enough to satisfy my craving. Therefore, I always add my noodles to $4. It is totally worth it and affordable! I love the Soi 19 wanton mee to the point where I can eat it every day and yet won’t feel sick of it. You will not get enough from one bowl. Try it to believe it! Their operating hours are usually from 7plus in the morning till 6 in the evening. To avoid disappointment, do head down early.

 Soi 19's Wanton Mee -$4 portion



Soi 19's Wanton Mee -Chef at work

Red Cloud's verdict :

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Service/Friendliness: 4/5

Atmosphere: NA

Cleanliness: NA

Price: $3.50 and above

Taste: 4.5/5

Soi 19 Thai Wanton Mee

Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5

Blk 151 Coffeeshop

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Craftholic, the BEST present for anyone!

Craftholics May-Jun 2013

Have you ever been trapped in a situation where you don’t know what is the most suitable and BEST present for your child, friend, and that special one?

While searching for a present for my friend’s birthday, it really took me quite long to make a decision! Clothing? Accessories? Bag? Soft toys? Some decoration or display stuff? I wanted to give something useful and meaningful to my friend. I don’t want my gifts to be gone to waste, like those that I have received…I put them aside and soon they are covered by the dust D:!

AND THIS IS WHAT I FOUND!

CRAFTHOLICS!

See how cute can the CRAFT be at the corner of the shop!

It is created by “Accent Corporation” an interior fabric & lifestyle product company in Japan.

To keep it simple and easy to read, here is what Craftholics is all about!

WHAT ARE THEY SELLING?

·         Soft Cuddly CRAFT

·         Pouch

·         Tissue Box

·         Slippers

WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT THEM?

·         Its soft and comfy

·         Washable (Just like your normal blanket material)

·         Non-furry material (Excellent choice for those with sensitive nose)

·         It’s design and colours will brighten up your daily life

·         It is a good companionship for people of ALL ages and gender!!

WHAT CHARACTERS DO THEY HAVE?

·         LORIS (monkey)

·         RAB (rabbit) – my favourite!

·         SLOTH (bear)

·         KORAT (cat)

WHAT SIZES DO THEY HAVE?

·         X LARGE (Almost a child size!)
1 for $58

·         MEDIUM (Bed time partner…)
2 for $48 (on promotion)

·         SMALL (Just nice to bring it anywhere you want!)
1 for $35, 2 for $52

WHERE ARE THEY SELLING?

·         Between the connector of Bugis Junction and Bugis+201 Victoria Street
#02-23 Bugis+ S188067

·         Plaza Singapura68 Orchard Road
#02-K3 Plaza Singapura S238839

Just hop down to one of their shop and choose your design!

You won't regret having one of them by your side...

I just love the way how CUTE, CUDDLY and their BLANKET-LIKE TEXTURE is!

Anyway! If you may wish to be their life-time member and get a 5% and 15% for medium and x large size CRAFT!

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My Mini Empire (Part 2)

Previously, i had given an introduction to Corinthian Headliners, Corinthian Prostars and also Corinthian Microstars. As promised, i will continue where i last left off, which is to give an introduction to the rest of the figurines after Corinthians went into administration.

Kodoto - No, its not kodomo the kids toothpaste. Kodoto is a figurine similar to the size of a Corinthian Prostar or Headliner. Standing at around 7cm tall, this figurine is kind of cool if you ask me. Kodoto figurines do resemble the players more than Corinthian Headliner and Prostars. According to our records, the origin of Kodoto comes from China. The features of the players are sharper than the previous 2. However, the downside to Kodoto is the quality of the figurine.

1) Kodoto figurines do not  come in a form of Blister pack, meaning they are released in loose figurine packet. The only packaging they have is a nice zip lock bag which contains the figurine.

2) Kodoto figurines do not craft out the name of the player at the base of the figurine. They had the default "Kodoto" wording on every single figurine. The only way to differentiate the figurines based on their released date can be done by recognising the base colour. For example, the current series of figurines have a common base color of transparent, something not done previously.

3) The texture of the figurine is also questionable. Prostars figurines are rock solid in its material, while Kodoto figurines can be bend over easily. The head of the figurine can also be plucked out from its body, which is quite creative if you are into remodeling of figurines.

With the above pointers, when we are comparing them to a Corinthian Prostar pack, you cant really complain as they had priced it lower than the Prostars. 1 normal Kodoto figurine would have cost you around SGD$6 to SGD$7 in the weekend flea market over at China Square Central, where a new blister Prostar could cost you easily SGD$10 over at the local ebay market.

Soccerstarz - Lastly, besides the Kodoto, there is also another toys company who is fighting for the lion market share in the soccer figurine business. Which is none other than Soccerstarz. So what are Soccerstarz? Are they another elite toys company? According to records, Soccerstarz was founded by a Danish company. That was also the reason that the 1st ever batch of Soccerstarz released were the Danish National team series.

After the fall of Corinthians, collectors were left frustrated and were crying out for a new toys company to take over from there. The last we heard, part of the Corinthian management is now helping out with Soccerstarz. Lets just take a closer look at the Soccerstarz and see how is it different from the rest.

1) The size of the figurine stands at approximately 5.5cm tall, which is the same height of the Corinthian Microstars.

2) Soccerstarz do not engrave the names of the players at the bottom of the base. Instead, they had wrote the names down using a machine. As compared to the Microstars, where the name of the player was engraved on the bottom of the figurine.

3) The players resemblance of Soccerstarz can be quite disappointing to be honest. Most of the collectors felt this too. Many was expecting better quality than this. When you put a Microstar beside a Soccerstarz, you would raise a flag to say the winner goes to Microstars.

4) Packaging wise, Soccerstarz had done a good job. The have 2 types of packaging, 1 is the mini blister form, where the buyer can see and select which player they are interested to make purchase from. The other form of packaging is the blind sachet type, where buyers have no idea what is inside the pack. It will boils down to the "luck" of the buyer. Similar as Microstar, blind sachets contains various coloured base figurines. Ranging from Green, Blue, Red,White, Blue, Silver, Gold and Black. With black being the most difficult to find and Green being the most common.

Besides having it in single blister form, Soccerstarz had also released various boxset of teams winning the Champions league, EPL title, League cup etc. The boxset has the same concept as the Corinthian Prostars boxset, where it will contains various team members of the team which won them the cup. It kind of look nice when you make the purchase but the price can be alittle pricey. Moreover, for the upcoming Manchester United boxset, majority of the players within the set had already been released as individual players. It is unclear whether it was the Soccerstarz producers idea to make more money from the consumer with the same group of players. It was said that this boxset cost around SGD$200, where 23 out of the 24 players had already been released as individual blisters. Comparing that to the previous boxset produced by Corinthian, which were an entirely new set of figurines and/or patterns of players, this is a little unfair for the consumers. Oh ya, the boxset for Corinthian back then were sold at a low cost of only around SGD$120 max. However, one can argue that prices are inflated now due to the cost of living and inflation factor. Well, you be the judge.

The price for normal Soccerstarz blister is around SGD$6-SGD$8, where a blind sachet can be purchased for around SGD$5.

Well, before we end off today's post, lets take a look at the differences between the 4 types of figurines

(From Left to right ) -Steven Gerrard (Corinthian Prostars), Luka Modric (Soccerstarz),
Steven Gerrard (Kodoto), Dimirat Berbatov (Corinthian Microstars)

You be the judge! Personally, Corinthian Prostars got my vote for being the nicest among them. Stay tune for more of my Mini Empire =)

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Everyone's a running man - Part 1, picking a good shoe

Contributed By O . Neon | A running enthusiast

Running is undoubtedly the simplest form of a healthy and efficient workout on Earth and presumably, on other planets being ceteris paribus.

I always enjoy the simple rosy opening for a poem so thou shall infuse this with running :

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Nothing I love better

Than a good running shoe

True to the above, you need to have a good pair of running shoes to support your running regime to mitigate the potential of new injuries and avoid aggravating the existing ones. 

Let's first try to understand on the specific design of shoes.

Sneakers

By the design of the shoe, it provides a very flat and straight sole which top the favourite choice for flat footers. It is preferably their choice as flat feet can rest comfortable by the linear sole which having to crunch on the contour of normal shoes with arching sides. Similarly, the majority masses with medium arch  sole does not have a problem to place their feet in, just as we stood on flat surface our legs does not hurt. The pain strikes if there is rapid movement for a constant period of time by the reasoning of the sole's material and the degree of absorbent, making it a clear reason against running.

Basketball Shoe

Like resting your feet on two layers of donuts, the shoe provides a spongy feel when you run, brake, jump and land; making it the ideal shoe for injury prevention on run-brake sports. All these features come at the expense of weight, every inches you move put a toll on your ankle (does ankle break sounds familiar?). Definitely not even suitable for clearing a good 2.4km.

Road rash is red

Bruises are blue

I should really learn to

Double-knot my shoe

 Addidas Glide

The traditional believer of a good shoe for long distance running must have fat chunky support as to act as the suspension for shock absorbent when striding your movement. Contrary to the belief without a flaw, it comes under the expenses of weight as well, better than a basketball shoe but still stressing on your ankle much. Not recommended for distance beyond 5km. 

Addidas Adios

Love is patient

Love is kind

A run with your love takes the right state of mind

Too fast makes them testy

Too slow, you're behind

Wear the right pair of shoe and you'll never resign

Based on Adi Zero Series, the new Adios arrived in 2013 top the chart as my favourite light-weighted shoe. It is absolutely ridiculous to testify this; holding this pair in your hands feels like bringing your pencil to an exam hall. However do note, the shoe itself neither enhance your run nor function like a booster pack. Its main role is to reduce the penalty of running against the tested gradients to much of human's ability to cope well.

My say:

Afterall, the purpose of getting an inexpensive pair of aesthetically pleasing shoe could spur you to increase the frequency of your running routine; expensive = heartpain = better run else waste it. 

On top of all, getting the right pair of shoe for running according to the terrain, environment and distance is an important consideration. As to the clever saying carrying out the job using the right tool, run healthy with the right pair of shoe.

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Blackball review - Taiwanese Desert 2013

Blackball review : a call to the twist out of ordinary with its featured mouthwatering desert, blackball signature.

Known as 黑丸嫩仙草, the combination of the main ingredient in this desert, Grass Jelly was very well complimented by its circular ingredients, 粉圆 - taro ball, golden potato ball with red bean and black pearl; identified by its irregular shapes and colours for its exquisite taste. 

The best part of the desert can be tailored to your liking for its serving to either 

warm, hot, cold or ICY!

Tried by the many folks whom we interviewed, the favourite is the warm serving Taiwanese Blackball Signature because it makes the 粉圆 so chewy and silky smooth as you put a test to its limit to melt in your mouth.

Clearly distinguished by its colours, the 粉圆 family consists of the ones in orange, white and 

yellow while accompanied by other ingredients of the red bean, black pearl and underneath filled 

with a satisfied portion of grass jelly. 

While it is so obvious, the hidden and under-rated main cast is its gravy-like sauce. While many 

other food therapists got overwhelmed by the vibrant display of 粉圆, we managed to snap 

ourselves focused-centric to uncover the great taste behind each serving. 

You can't see the secret (sauce) from this picture right? Faster scroll down LA.

The taste of the sidekick/'Tang'/sauce command similarly to a Chendol, as feedback by my 

taste bud. I can taste a mild coconut that blends in quite well with the self-added given milk. 

I can never imagine the taste without adding in though - just making excuses for second 

round serving.

Eating style 

1. Feed your stomach graciously - take your time to scoop a favourite colour that you fancy and 

let your teeth punish the chewiness of these 粉圆. This is highly recommended for a first timer 

as you take an hour off your shopping routine to enjoy a casual moment.

2. Like a song, if you prefer a mash-up version, perform it on your desert and do it the 

Rojak Style - mix and win method to scoop for surprises. If you are an intermediate 

desert eater, just choose this method and you will enjoy the savoury within these blackballs.

 3. Another serving is never the same. As you erase your preferred style under 

my recommendation, you could be invoked with some inspirations and innovate your own. 

Okays, 2nd round coming up, goes very uniquely with a cup of Avocado juice.

Location: Here's where you can get your bowl of yummilicious

1a. West, Clementi, City Vibe 

11am - 10pm (Daily), #01-19, Singapore 129581.

1b. West, The Star Vista, Holland Village

10am - 10pm (Sun-Thurs) / 10am - 11pm (Fri-Sat),

#01-14/15, Singapore 138617

 

2a. East, Bedok, Bedok North Street, Blk 204

11am - 10pm (Weekday) / 11am - 10pm (weekends), #01-393, Singapore 460204.

2b. East, Katong, East Coast Road, Blk 112  

10am - 10pm (Daily), Katong #02-27 Singapore 428802

3. North, IMM

10am - 10pm (Daily), #01-48, Singapore 609601.

4. Central, Bugis Plaza

12pm - 11pm (Daily), #01-14, Singapore 188067.

My say: Don't get bewildered by the blackball desert and let your anticipated trip make the call. Definitely worth a visit, revisit, and bridging a dedication to those whom has yet to give it a shot. Don't miss something so exciting, can't you?

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My Mini Empire (Part 1)

What do Kodoto, Corinthian Prostar, Microstar and Soccerstarz have in common? Toothpaste? Bible stories? No, make another guess!

Okay, the name Soccerstarz would have given out a clue. You may be a Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or any other team supporter, but you got to agree that a miniature collection of your idol would looks good on any display cabinet. Hence.. we are introducing, the soccer figurines for every vivid soccer fan in the whole world!

There was a time, back in 1995, a group of soccer vivids came together and opened a shop, dedicated in selling Soccer figurines, they called themselves Corinthians. When they 1st released the figurines, many of us in Singapore would not have a chance to get hold of them as most of us were probably school goers back then. The 1st batch of figurines were named Corinthian Headliners, which consist of the England national Headliners figurines. Afterwhich, Corinthian then released various series such as the Scottish and English Premiership teams.

 

However, Corinthian was faced with a problem with teams of lower reputations were not selling fast, they had to make changes. In 1998, they sold their company, together with the Headliners name.

In come the Prostars series, where supporters of Headliners continued to make their purchases of secret sachets, single blister forms , window boxes and multipacks boxsets. One of the excitement of collecting the new Prostars were the introduction of the Platinum pack. This was the elite of Prostars, limited to certain quantity worldwide. Back then, you would not be able make purchase for such Platinum version of the Prostars, instead, you would have received them free for the purchases done with Corinthian. It also came with the various boxset purchased, absolutely free !


Michael Owen Chaser Platinum, released by error. Sold on eBay for GBP 421.99 (Exclusive of postage)

 What's more interesting is, there were some unreleased figurines that Prostars holds (for various reasons). Collectors would not be able to collect them as they are not released anywhere.

After awhile, Corinthians decided to launch a mini version of the figurines, naming them Microstars. Those figurines are smaller than the Prostars and were only released in sachets. The catch for such Microstars were the base colors, ranging from Green, Red, Blue, White, Silver, Gold and Black. With Black being the most rare and green the most common.

However, good times never lasted forever. Corinthian officially entered administration in year 2011, ending their dynasty of Toys figurines in an era where Soccer is still very much, sought after.

That was when the prices of Corinthian Prostars, Headliners and Microstars went up. The economic 101 rules still applies here. With no more supply coming in, the collectors would have no means of getting their whole set of figurines. Thats when the eBay became a popular place for collectors to camp at. Prices might go as low as 0.01 pounds (excluding shipping) at the start of an auction, but might end up at sky high value.

Take for example a Peter Cech figurine (with his helmet), would have cost a buyer S$12.90 at a local toys collection shop  before the collapse of Corinthian. Following the cease of Corinthian, eBay recorded a sky high price of S$129 for the same piece of figurine. Which is 10 times the original price. This is insane you may say, but to the buyer, he would have thought this is all worth it.

Sold on eBay for SGD $129 (Exclude postage)



This should be it for the 1st part of my sharing today. Stay tune for my next part of my sharing..

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