Happy Mother's Day with BRAND'S Bird's Nest

Time flies and it's already the end of April....... Come May and it will be Mother's Day once again for us to show our appreciation to our mother for all the love and sacrifice that they showered on us.

Sometimes when I hear friends or acquaintances complaining about their arguments with their parents, I will remind them to appreciate them while their parents are still alive. Thankfully, my parents are both still alive and healthy but I certainly start to appreciate them and more specifically my mother when I got married and had a house of my own. No longer are the days that I can come home from work and do nothing to help out in household chores and I really miss home-cooked food (especially my mum's cooking). I had my fair share of rebellion against my mum when I was young because she is extremely extremely strict with us, specifically me (since I am the eldest and she expects me to lead by good example to my 2 younger sisters). Now I am grateful that she was strict to me as it molded my character in a good way.

  

I have to say I am proud to inherit my interest in handicraft from my mum. Check out the zodiac animals my mum built every Chinese New Year. This Dragon was hand made by my mum and gifted to my sister during her shift to her own place last year.

Every CNY, I also have no lack of festive cookies as they are all HANDMADE by her. Yums!

I have one thing I wanna say to my mum: I LOVE YOU, MUM. Thanks for all that you have done for us and the family.

In celebration of  Mother’s Day, join BRAND'S^® in our quest to find 100 ways (or more!) to appreciate our mothers.From 28 April to 11 May 2014, take part in the BRAND'S^®  Mother’s Day Photo Contest by sharing your favourite photos of you with your mother, or anything that reminds you of her.

Submit entries through Instagram with the hashtag #100WaysToAppreciateMum or through the BRAND'S^® Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BrandsSG), and stand to win prizes including $100 worth of BRAND'S^® Bird’s Nest products and a photography package worth $500.

2 lucky readers will walk away with a pack of 6 bottles of BRAND'S^® Bird’s Nest each. All you need to do is to drop a comment on what you would do for your mum on this special day and the 2 best comments win. :) This giveaway is only open to readers residing in Singapore and the closing date is 1 May 2014 so keep your comments coming in!

Ambush at Plaza Singapura

Starting from last week, I had a pact with my 2 sisters that we will meet up every Tuesday for a 'sistery gathering'. We will just meet up, have dinner, gossip and even shopping. Anything goes. So this week, we headed to Plaza Singapura for dinner and we ended in Ambush.

Located on level 4 of the new wing of Plaza Singapura, it is not difficult to locate it because it is right in the middle. It does not have a shop lot like others but it is still quite spacious in it. We decided to order an appetizer and a few main courses to share.

 

Our appetizer is rosti and it is yummy! The crust is nice and crispy and they sprinkled black pepper in it which gives it a nice mild hot taste to it.

My youngest sister decided to be adventurous and ordered baby scallop and fish roe pasta with squid ink. It does not look appetizing but is the tastiest among the 3 main courses that we ordered.

My second sister also chose a pasta dish and it's vongole. It's not bad too but comparing the 2 pasta dish, i personally find the squid ink pasta to be more flavourful. It will be nicer is there is some chilli in the vongole pasta to give the extra kick.

I decided to go for marinara paella because my youngest sis tried it before and said it is not bad. I personally didn't like it because it has too much tomato paste for my liking and was very sour. The best paella is still from Serenity *THUMBS UP*.

I am a fan of chai tea latte and saw from their menu that they have honey ginger chai tea latte. Ordered it and I can't taste any honey or ginger in it. Hmmm......

What best way to end a sister-y gathering with some shopping??? We headed to Lowry Farm and I saw this top that I really like. It was on discount at $49.90 when the original price is $89 *gasp*. I will not buy this top at $89.

My second sis commented that it will look nice with a nice necklace (did I mention she is an accessory queen) so I pulled her to Lovisa with me to get a necklace to match this top and I ended with 3 necklaces!

Nothing beats sister-y times!

December 2012

It has been a long while since I last blogged because I was busy catching up with my life, haha. December is my favourite month of the year not only because the year is coming to an end and Christmas but also because it's my birthday month. This year, BC gave me a very pleasant birthday surprise because I have completely no idea where he is bringing me for dinner.

Little did I know did he planned for a cozy dinner at Sky on 57 which has an amazing view. I really had to thank God for granting a pleasant cool weather that day because it has been raining on and off in the month of December.

Before dinner, the staff recommended me a cocktail called Moulin Rouge. The presentation is really unique with the cocktail served in a grapefruit skin, seated above sticks of cinnamon. Not only does the cocktail taste fruity, it has a nice cinnamon scent.

As there is an at least smart casual dress code in Sky on 57, BC had to remind me to not wear fitflops and shorts! He knows me well that I might just dress in that as it is just super comfy.

The service of Sky on 57 is fantastic and they are attentive to our every needs. Service is prompt and they made sure that we complete our dishes before they serve the next one. The restaurant has a nice and cozy ambience which makes the date a very memorable one.

We adjourned to the outdoor area for desserts and coffee and the weather is just nice. Sipping our lattes and slowly eating our desserts, coupled with the nice night scenery, we had a good time chatting, which is getting rare lately due to BC's busy work schedule.

And just to end December 2012 on a high note (hahahahaha), I finally tried wearing red lips. It was a totally spontaneous decision whereby I stepped into Sephora with BC and told him I would like to try wearing red lips. He thought it was a great idea since I tend to go out with very light makeup and red lips will certainly brighten up the whole look. I was browsing at MUFE Aqua Rouge as I am looking for a non glossy type of red lips and BC immediately pointed to MUFE Aqua Rouge in #8 which is a gorgeous red. I tried it on and BAM! I am getting it! MUFE Aqua Rouge has an amazing formula and more details will be mentioned in my future posting. :)

I received alot of encouragement over Instagram after posting the above picture and it certainly boost my confidence on wearing red lips. Thank you all!

Bintan holiday

Friends who know me will know that I hardly go for holidays. Other than the fact that I have 4 fur kids at home (1 of which has special needs), the idea of forking out a sum of money to travel also gives me heartache, lol.

But when BC told me that he badly needs a break away from Singapore and his work, we found some deals on Groupon which works out quite ok for us. The resort is not high end like Angsana or Nirwana but it's fine with us since we have never been to Bintan before.

The deal we bought from Groupon was 2D1N stay at Bintan Cabana Beach Resort and the ride from the ferry terminal is long at approximately an hour. In fact the child of this family in the same van as us heading towards the resort asked 'Mummy, uncle driving us back to Singapore??' I almost laughed out when I heard it so yes, the trip was that long.

The resort is not fantastic but decent and the staffs there are all very friendly. Unfortunately, there are no recreational activities available in the resort BUT we can take the shuttle bus to their sister resort, Bintan Agro Beach Resort (15mins ride away) for water sports and all. Me and BC are not water sports people so we ended up enjoying the sea breeze, watching movie on our iPad and having massages. It's definitely a good chance to get away from the crowd and especially work.

Unfortunately for us, the food sucks. I would have no complaints if they can serve nice traditional Indonesian food there but they had to attempt to serve Chinese or English cuisine cooked using Indonesian way which makes the food taste weird. Let me quote you an example. When we order oatmeal prawns in Singapore, the prawns and oatmeal are fried until nice and crispy right? Well..... When we ordered oatmeal squid at the resort, the dish came out wet! Yes, the oatmeal is wet and just like u soaking pork floss in porridge! Nonetheless, the best meal we had during our trip was the MacDonald's we had when we arrive back home, haha.

Even the food was bad, the whole experience I had at Bintan was still an enjoyable one. It's definitely a good break and we already are planning for another trip for year end! Yeah!! Before I end this post, here are some pics I took :)

My Valentine's Day

To me, everyday can be a Valentine's Day and you need no special day in a year to show your significant half your appreciation. Me and BC have never been a fan of Valentine's Day because it's just a marketing gimmick for shops and restaurants to over charge you. Once a year event, they would be stupid to not make the extra bucks! Hahaha.

We usually celebrate Valentine's Day in the comfort of our home and prepare our own dinner. Simple, cozy affair rather than crowd with other couples and pay extra money to have food. This year, we had our own burgers! We headed to Cold Storage after work to get the ingredients and we saw this cute heart-shaped beef patties.

BC with his usual adventurous cooking habit added cheese and bacon as toppings to the patties (don't ask me how he did it as I am only in charge of eating, lol) and it looks good man! The good thing about cooking at home is it is usually healthy because you can control the amount of oil, fats and salt in your food. These burgers win Outback's that I had a few days ago!

Dessert is Da Paolo Gastronomia's white choc & cornflakes scone with ice cream. Yummy........... Simple and nice! The scone is pretty huge and is enough for 2 persons' portion. It's the biggest scone I ever had. :)

I hope you guys had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well. Happy V Day! :)

Happy Birthday Sis!

The birth date of my family members are all in the 2nd half of the year and it first start with July, with my youngest sis' birthday. It is a family practice that we will come together to have a simple birthday celebration by having a meal and the cutting of the birthday cake (whether bought or hand made by my mum).

This year, my mum tried her hands on making a raspberry and mango cake and we had a simple fare at the newly opened 螃蟹专家 near my parents' place which we ordered some dishes which definitely includes yummy chilli crab with fried man tou. The chilli crab is HUGE........ I took 1 'gong' of the crab and it was like a normal size chicken drumstick and obviously that was the only piece of crab I had given the sheer size of it. I would say the food there were so so only but given it was family time spent, we still enjoyed it. One of the auntie waitress was damn blur to come over and ask if we would like to order fruit juice when I was coughing my lungs out! Isn't it obvious I CANNOT drink fruit juice???? Duh.............

The weather today was also good given that it was windy and not hot, which made the dinner all the more enjoyable. Seriously, nothing beats spending time with family...........

Hatched again!

Me and BC had such an enjoyable breakfast at Hatched during his birthday a few months ago and I have always been bugging him that I want to go back for breakfast again and we finally made it there again!!! Yeah!!!

As per the previous time, we called to make a reservation since we do not like to wait long for our breakfast. I already had in mind to try something different from what we tried previously (Hitched Me Up) and was already busy browsing through the menu the moment we were brought to our table.

I settled for 'El Chorizo' which comes with scrambled eggs (my favourite) and spicy chorizo sausages, grilled tomato with pesto sauce, toast and a small scoop of home made mashed potato.


BC ordered the single portion of Hitch Me Up which is called 'Usual Suspects'. BC chose his egg to be sunny side up and opt for sausages and adding extra bacon. It also came with baked beans and toasts. This man sure knows how to make his breakfast hearty! lol.
After eating El Chorizo for about 10 minutes, I kind of regret getting this as the sausages were really spicy. And because it was cooked together with the scrambled eggs, it made my favourite and usual super duper tasty scrambled eggs spicy as well. If the sausages were the usual sausages in BC's breakfast, I am sure I would enjoy it as much as before. The mashed potato is not very smooth but soft which is fine with me and the sauce is nice with a sour, salty taste (I suspect it is made from sour cream).

But well, this is not going to deter me from coming back again because I want to try other stuffs from their menu! The couple sitting next to us were having banana pancakes and the pancakes look fluffy and yummy!!!!

A Mother's Love

It's touching to see a mother's love for their child regardless of race or species.......

Hatched

BC and myself have been fans of breakfast, breakfast with hearty toasts, runny scrambled eggs, sausages etc etc (gosh, I am drooling now......). As such, for BC's 'pre-hatch' day celebration, I brought him to Hatched at Evan Lodge which serve eggs dishes (mainly breakfasts menu) ALL DAY!

It is situated at Evan Road, which is pretty near to Botanical Gardens. However, as the restaurant is a cozy small outlet, you definitely have to make a reservation as we arrived at 10am and we already saw some couples queueing up and waiting for an available seat.

Based on the restaurant's name, it is needless to say that their menu revolve mainly around EGGS. You can see various dishes with different way of cooking an egg: poached, fried, scrambled, egg benedict etc etc. We decided to order the dish 'Hitched Me Up' (if I remember the name correctly), which serves for 2. It comes with eggs (we can choose 2 ways for the eggs to be done and we chose scrambled only), 2 meats (bacon or ham or sausages), toasts, potatoes and a waffle.

Hitched Me Up

Do not underestimate the serving size of what was shown in the picture, it is filling........ Both me and BC were full after this hearty, satisfying and yummy meal. Service is prompt and good. We do not need to wait to get a table as we made a reservation. They took down our order promptly and we did not have to wait long for our food to arrive (approximately 10 mins or slightly shorter) and most importantly, they were friendly and always had a smile on their face. Imagine facing a super black face when you are having the most important meal of the day, I would say your day is officially screwed! Haha.

OH!!! Hatched does not charge GST or service charge which means it is also very friendly on your pocket. Hitched Me Up cost $28 and with a pot of earl grey and a ice cafe latte, it only cost $37.50 which is super cool! Me and BC would definitely be back.

Hot Pot King @ Yew Tee Point

Met up with J for a demo session at Ettusias counter in the late morning for a makeover demo and we were out since then till after dinner and man.... I'm really tired, haha. Old liao..... Lol

J recommended Hot Pot King at Yew Tee Point for dinner and I really enjoyed my dinner! We chose chicken soup and tom yam soup as our 2 soup bases and they were good. The chicken soup is light and fragrant and the tom yam soup was sufficiently sour and spicy and not too oily or spicy.

The steamboat buffet operates like sushi on a conveyor belt whereby instead of seeing sushis on the plate moving along the belt, we see meats, beancurds, vegs etc instead. I think this is a good idea as the portion is smaller than usual ala carte buffet thus we can just take another serving if we need more (I always experience wastages with ala carte buffet as the serving size were bigger). Cooked food such as fried samosa, fried nuggets, fried wanton, fried buns are also available. Their choc fried buns are yummy because we can taste the choc taste! There were also red bean soup for desserts. The drinks provided were not nice though, just sugar syruped water thus we decided to top up and buy bottled mineral water instead.

Service wise, I would give them a 8 / 10 as they were prompt in clearing away empty plates and plastic 'cases' (used to cover the food while on the belt) and also topping up our soups when they noticed our soups are running low. The seats, on the other hand needs improvement. We sat at a booth seat whereby the seats were so close to the table that we felt we couldn't move much once seated and it feel abit squeezy.

Nevertheless, this is a great dinner with a great pal with hub thus we truly enjoyed this meal. Me and hub were so FULL after the meal!!!

Chicken Hotpot

My bro-in-law has been a vivid fan of Chicken Hotpot as I always see him checking into this place on foursquare (what a good way to spy on people, haha!), so I have been thinking is the food really sooooo good???? Well, I finally has a chance to try this last Friday when I met my parents for dinner and WOW, it was good!!!

In case you have never tried Chicken Hotpot before, they basically have 3 types of dishes: Chicken (non spicy, mild spicy and spicy), Prawn (only spicy) and beef (cannot remember if they have the option of spicyness like chicken). How the dishes work is they are served in mini pots like below over a flame and it will always be warm. You can request for the servers to pour soup into the pot so you get a mini steamboat, nice right? Now, the best part is after you finish the food in the pot, you can get the server to replenish the soup and then you add extra ala carte dishes (ranging from $1.50 for a plate of veg to $3.50 for a plate of meat) to your soup. So you get an all new dish!!!

My parents and myself ordered a small pot of non spicy chicken and a small pot of prawns. And there were a lot of ingredients in it like cucumber and celeries in it which I totally like. After we added soup to the pot with prawns, it taste like we were having tom yum soup!!! Yum yum.



Yummy spicy prawn hotpot

The signature chicken hotpot, we had the non spicy version

The service of the staffs were very efficient. As we were queueing for a table, they already took our order and got it to the kitchen to prepare. After a short wait of about 5 - 10 minutes for our table and we got seated, our food arrived within 5 mins, how efficient is that? The staffs were always walking around to pour soup into the hotpot upon request of the customers so we do not have frustrating and unhappy customers.

Overall, this is an excellent dining experience with good food and good services, definitely a plus point. Try it if you have a chance, I think they have a branch at Novena Square 2 also.

Things to look out for when organizing a gathering

I always have a love-hate relationship when it comes to family gathering. Of course, it feels great to see and catch up with my cousins and some of my closer aunts and uncles. But venue is always an issue. There is nothing more uncomfortable then a 'DIY sauna' place whereby there are a lot of people in 1 place and everyone feels uncomfortable and hot and stuffy.

I am not a guru in organizing home party but in the few that we had done so far, we always find it helpful to look into the following points to make sure everyone enjoys the party.

1) Right temperature
Honestly, Singapore is hot and humid enough. We do not need extra heat and humidity in a confined space and make everyone feels uncomfortable. In my experience, I will always switch on the air con in my place whenever we organize any party. Unless it is a small group of 5 - 7 pax or so and the weather is nice and windy, then we will only switch on the fan.

2) Feed them well
The first few parties we organize, it was quite embarrassing as we did not prepare enough food. Our friends ended up eating lesser than they usually would so that everyone will have enough!!! Ever since then, we always make sure we prepare extra and guests can have the option to 'tabao' later then feeling paiseh and eat lesser.

3) Enough seats
Always prepare enough seats (sofa, chairs, portable chairs etc) for your guests as guests will not feel comfortable mingling by just standing around.

4) Kids or no kids??
The menu to prepare if it's all adults vs adults and kids is also something to consider. With kids around, we might not want to prepare food that has too rich tastes. Extra food like chocolates or even simple toys or cartoon DVD might even help to occupy the kids while the adults chat.

5) Potluck?
As I only invite close friends or relatives over, sometimes it makes it easier to organize potluck. I know some people are particular of attending a party and still yet to bring food (they feel the host might not be sincere?) thus I only look at this option with people I am close with. The advantage of this option is a wide variety of food and we know for sure that the food that the person bring definitely is something this person will eat! On practical basis, it is also easier on the host! Lol.

The last party I had organized was the Xmas party last December and honestly it was tiring..... But it feels good to come together with your relatives and friends once a while just to catch up and know the happenings in their lives.

Matrimony

There is always something touching about attending a wedding. Maybe it is the atmosphere of love and happiness that makes you feel touched and so in love again.

I attended BC's cousin's wedding solemnization ceremony at a temple yesterday morning and honestly I was quite curious if the Justice of Peace is a monk!!! And after waited for 1 hour for the ceremony to start (typical start late Singapore style), the Justice of Peace arrived and is actually a young man. I like the style of this Justice of Peace as he saw that most of the relatives are elders who most likely can only understand Mandarin thus he gave his opening speech in Mandarin and the rest in english.

He gave a very meaningful speech reminding all who are married why is it we got married in the first place. And 1 thing I remembered very clearly was when he mentioned that couples are always lovey dovey during dating days but after marriage, we can argue over the most insignificant thing in relation to our home. I find it so true especially after living with BC because it is just not easy for 2 individuals to get used to staying together and getting used to each other habits.

When BC and myself attended Catholic Engaged Encounter, the priest kept reminding us there is NO perfect partner because whether that person is the perfect one for you is how you think of him to be. I totally agree with him because I admit that I am not a perfect wife to BC as well. Sometimes I throw tantrums and ki siao at him for no apparent reasons, expect him to know what I am thinking and even sometimes expecting him to get me stuffs and spend time with me when he is busy. But BC to date still can accept my nonsense, haha. I still believe a relationship is all about COMPROMISE. No one party can go on giving and giving or accepting and accepting because relationship doesn't work this way. On the contrary, it's GIVE & TAKE. You give some, you take some and the more you give, you will take back even more in future.

I know there will be people who think that I am dreaming because I will be a losing party in a relationship to think this way, but I pray that I will reap my rewards in this relationship in future and I know God will answer this prayer of mine.

PS: I am no love guru and everyone has their personal beliefs on how a relationship should be and I respect that. What I have posted here is just my personal opinion and belief.

感触

As I lie on my old bed at my parents' place now and blogging away on my iPhone, a sense of nostalgic came back to me.

I remembered when we first shifted over, I couldn't sleep well as staying in a 3 room flat means that my room that I shared with my sisters is along the corridor. The sound of traffic on the road, children crying or playing and even the tinkling sound from the neighbour's keys when they open the door becomes so distinct at night. Here I am again, listening to these once familiar sounds as I try to fall asleep, I do not find it noisy at all but on the contrary, soothing and calming...... I guess this is the feeling of a home.

It's a pity that both my 2 sisters are still out on their dates now if not I'm sure we will be chatting away until my mum comes over and nag us to sleep early (just like old times). BC mentions that he feels it is cramped for the 3 of us to share a small room previously but we are so used to it that we somehow managed to have our own individual space with the confined limited space we had and share whatever space we had to share. I kindof miss them now I am sleeping in the room alone until they come back at the wee hours.

This is the difference between a home and house. A home is anywhere that your heart is and it doesn't matter if it's small or cramped. House is just a box like structure that we shelter away from the harsh weather outside, no feelings attached.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

It's the Chinese New Year again! Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

I am not actually looking forward or enjoying Chinese New Year because it is just tiring travelling AROUND Singapore to go for the house visitings and more often then not, we ended up feeling tired, hot and sweaty when we arrive at the place for visiting. And married adult like yours truly has to give ang baos instead of receiving them. Haha.

Nevertheless, it was still fun meeting up with relatives who we usually only see once a year (and the irony comes when there is nothing much to talk about or they still think you are in your ex, ex company!!??) and catch up. The highlight for me when I visit my maternal grandpa at my uncle's place was they were watching the video of my auntie's (who is also my godma) which is about 20 years ago! And it was in the same church which I had my wedding 3 years also! Quite nostalgic to see my aunties and uncles in their younger looks and how small my 2 sisters were then........

Despite me complaining about the tiring and expensive experience of Chinese New Year, I still think it is a good time for families to get together and just enjoy the festive period with all the feasting and laughing.... That's what family times is all about!

Sorry for the lack of posting has I have been really busy and down at work....... I was busy as I am doing more and more of what I am supposed to do and down because the ah neh is not exactly an easy person to work with. Boss had a talk with me before the holiday and she motivated me and told me to be strong and not let the ah neh knows my vulnerability. From the conversation, I can tell that she is not exactly a supporter of the ah neh and hopes that I can pick things up soon without her help. I really hope I can do this......

Xmas has been tiring because as usual, BC invited his family and relatives only. I also invited my immediate family over and even though it was fun, it was TIRING. Tiring because I had to clean the house before the guests come and even more tiring that MORE cleaning needs to be done after they left. It doesn't make things easier when there are kids on our guest list and they are not the 1st group of people who will eat properly or exercise proper hygience. This is ON TOP OF terrorising my 3 cats, who are scare shitless hiding in my bedroom. It's really not easy to play host to a party. We have to make sure our house is comfortable and clean and we have to make sure we have enough food and refreshment. Gosh..... just thinking of this and I have this urge to tell BC to stop organising another Xmas party next year (I know even if I told him so, he will STILL wanna organise it...... -_-).

And the highlight of this Xmas....... our DVD player died on us........ Time to spend money again, thanks to Eden..... Damn.........

As Catholics, we are supposed to have an altar at home. Unlike altars in a Taoist or Buddhist family whereby offerings are made, a Catholic altar is more for us to pray. Not so much of offering our offerings but more like a sanctuary for us to have a peaceful mind to pray.

We have shifted in for about 4 years and we have not set up the altar because we just keep pushing it back. 2 weeks ago, my auntie who is also my godma told me that it's about time to get this done so that we can start 2011 afresh as well. So today she brought us to this shop along Queens St to get the altar, holy family statue, picture of sacred heart of Jesus and we also got a crucifix to hang outside our door. It felt good to get this matter done finally!!!! Once the stuffs are delivered and set up, we can finally invite our parish priest over to bless our house! Yeah!

After which was shopping with my parents n sis!!! Words can't describe how happy I am to spend time with them. :)

中秋节

When I was younger, I could not comprehend why shows always depict Mid-Autumn Festival as a day that family comes together to have mooncakes and children have fun playing with lanterns. It's just another day on the calendar right? This year, somehow I was hoping that I can spend this festival with my parents and sisters and given that I have never gone back to my parents' place on a weekday (given the distance), I'm glad I did.

The joy of sitting around the dining table eating mooncakes and pomelos, while at the same time catching up with each others' lives is truly heart warming. I realized how much I have distanced myself from them after shifting out and staying on my own and I also realized I have not really been visiting my parents much. Today, I could see the happiness on my parents' faces, especially my dad because he kept smiling (you know how old fashioned men always keep their feelings to themselves? My dad is a typical example) and I felt guilty as I feel that I have neglected them so much.

I always prayed to God that my parents will be able to stay healthy so that they can enjoy what they like to do and also have a more relaxed lifestyle after slogging so much for us but I have overlooked that what they also need is also our presence. Our presence to tell them that we have grown up and they need not worry about us and that we are grateful for all they had sacrificed and done for us. Although I have not visited them often, my parents have never blamed me because they said they understand we stay far away and we don't drive. But when I do come back, they never fail to cook my favorite dishes.....

I thank you, God for the wonderful family that You have given me.....

BC FINALLY bought me a new vacuum cleaner!!!! He has been complaining about the sound coming from the cheapo Philip vacuum cleaner that we have been using for the past 3 years and claimed that the sound caused him to have headaches. Because of this, I am BANNED from using vacuum cleaner when he is at home and I will have to resort to using Magiclean floor wiper to pick up the dust, dirt and FURS on the week that my part time cleaner doesn't come over. I just don't find it clean enough because there will always be particles that Magiclean cannot pick up and only a vacuum cleaner can suck the stuffs away.

Anyway, I have been bugging him to buy the Rowenta vacuum cleaner that Charmaine recommeded and when we checked out Best Denki on Saturday, there was apparently an offer. Pay $339 for the vacuum cleaner and we get Rowenta's handheld vacuum cleaner that cost around $80 for free! I seriously thought it was a good deal but he still want to think about it as he claims that Rowenta doesn't seem established as a vacuum cleaner manufacturer and what happens if we cannot find the dustbag blah blah blah.

The next day, he suggested for us to go to Courts after church and breakfast to check out the vacuum cleaner again. This time round, the model of Rowenta vacuum cleaner that we were aiming DOES NOT have the free handheld vacuum cleaner promotion. But the sales assistant recommended this model from Electrolux that claims to be as quiet and given the established brand, there will be no way that we cannot find or buy their dustbags and hepa filter (although he mentioned that the hepa filter now is out of stock blah blah blah.........). Anyway, I vaguely remembered that this vacuum cleaner is slightly less than $400, I think it's $399 which is more expensive than the Rowenta one and no freebies, but since he prefers this for the established brand name and he is paying for it, WHO CARES! Hahaha.


This vacuum cleaner claims to be eco green as it is made up of 55% of recycled material (interesting but I hope that does not means the quality is compromised) and more energy efficient, and it is really quite quiet. It is also less tedious for me to vacuum the floor as the floor nozzle has wheels so it is much smoother to move it on the floor. Suction power seems decent considering that I am only using minimum power instead of adjusting it to moderate or maximum. Overall, it is definitely a good buy especially when I do not have to pay for it!

Yummy home made ba zhang and cocktail jelly for lunch, courtesy of my beloved mother!