Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Brunch at The Assembly Ground.

I'm always on a look out of new cafes popping out and thinking which one to visit next for brunch but one of my main concern would be the location. I probably won't visit the cafes in the west no matter how good the food is unless there is another reason (other than food) for me to travel all the way to the west. It's scary how cafes are popping out one after another and it makes people wonder how long each will last but it seem like the cafe hopping culture in SG is still going strong. Ever since The Assembly Ground opened at The Cathay, i thought of visiting the place to tryout their food.
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This is a pretty overdue post so i can't really remember the details but i think i went on a weekday which explains why the cafe is quite empty. I totally enjoy visiting cafes on weekdays although i don't get a lot of chance to do so due to work, it's like less crowd, no queue, less noise, i can hear the bg music playing and i get to enjoy my food in peace...
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The 4 photos above are pretty much what we ordered for 2 pax. Nowadays when you go cafes hopping, cannot just order one main for each person one. Must order mains liao then choose sides so that the table looks full, then can take a photo in square format, edit with VSCO cam then upload onto instagram and show the rest of the world that you are enjoying yourself. Nowadays all the hippies not like that one meh? Haha, jokes aside. I think we ordered the Eggs Benedict, i had the rosti with sausage and eggs (not very nice btw) and for sides would be the popcorn chicken and truffle fries. Anyway the popcorn chicken is i came up with myself one, not sure what they call it on their menu. LOLOL
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That's all i have for this post. Short and Sweet. Ta-dahhhhhh!

Can't believe i have been unknowingly updating this space for more than 6 years. Thank god blogger is free. Imagine one day *touch wood* blogger decide that they are going to implement monthly subscription for blogger and if you don't subscribe, they will remove your blog that kind of nonsense then i swear most of the bloggers would pay for it no matter how unwilling. It's like like how ALL my photos are hosted under Photobucket and i have to pay a yearly subscription literally forever if not my photos on this blog will all be gone. Photobucket is free to use but the bandwidth is the issue, to make it simpler, the more people who view your photos, the more bandwidth is being used up. Geddit? I'm quite sure most bloggers outsource their photo hosting. Or maybe just the more serious ones? HAHHAHAA Bu dong the rest lah! LOL

Sometimes i wish i can update my blog everyday with my nonsense and pen down,i mean type down my thoughts and anything that comes to my mind, or an impromptu topic that i randomly think of but i don't know what's stopping me plus i don't really have the time to sit in front of my computer every night. Nowadays i try to update my blog at least once a week so that i don't disappoint, it's like a obligation to update my blog. As much as i want to proudly say that i blog purely for myself and nobody else, i can't. It's like a commitment to produce quality blog posts because you know that there are people reading based on stats, you know there are readers waiting and probably visiting your site every single day hoping there's an update and you hate to disappoint. Not only them, but yourself. How many can understand?

I don't deny that there are a lot of perks being a blogger. Invites to events, free movies, free food, free this, free that, sponsored overseas trip, monetary benefits and the list just goes on and on. But no one sees the hard work being put in behind the computer screen. The amount of time to take the photos, to edit them one by one, to think of what to write, how to relate to the audience, the amount of drafts submitted before being approved by the client. I hate it when people try to relate things that i do to blogging even if it's not related at all. Like for example when i go on holiday, some people will go, "sponsored again ah!" or when i buy a new gadget and they go, "wah, free de ah!" Totally feel like shredding their face but i have to give a very PR fake smile and go, "No lah, i pay myself one. Not everything is sponsored hello?" Some people just don't get it. Even if it's free/sponsored, do note the amount of effort needed behind the scenes even though most of you don't get to see it. There is no free stuff in this world. Ok, maybe there is but still.

Unknowingly i typed 3 huge paragraphs. This post was supposed to be a pure cafe/food post, LOL

Ranting,                                       

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Homerun Baseball in Singapore!

Was randomly surfing the web on things to do in Singapore (too bored! lol) and came across this place called "Homerun Baseball" which is an indoor baseball cage which allows you to experience and try out "Batting" and "Pitching" in a indoor setting. Anyway my friend recently introduced to me this article on "50 fun and free things to do in Singapore" (LINK) Maybe you guys can check it out if you are looking for things to do in SG, some of the activities/ places mentioned are quite interesting! As part of my advanced birthday celebration this year, JingLong and Jiaqi brought me to this  鸟不生蛋 place in the west after our dinner at Dancing Crab! Homerun Baseball seem like a really good place to relieve stress! :)
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The place is basically divided into 2 parts/ cages - 1 of which is for "batting" and the other for "pitching" It's all automated so we have to purchase tokens to "start the ball rolling" geddit? HAHHAHA, no pun intended! For $20, you get 6 tokens, $40 you get 11 tokens and $50 you get 17 tokens. Each game cost 1 token. Average of about $3 per game.
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In this huge cage, you get to experience "Batting" and you can choose the different lanes depending on how fast you prefer your baseball approach you. It ranges from 80km to 110km/ hour. We chose the beginner lane where they use softball at a lower speed. Looks easy but when you are standing there waiting for the ball to be pitch towards you, the feeling is totally different. The bat is not exactly light either and you need to be really accurate in order to hit the ball.
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The other cage is where you can practice "Pitching" which i would say is more interesting and less tiring compared to Batting. All you have to do is just grab hold of the ball that is thrown lightly towards you and throw it towards the target board in front of you. You get more points if your ball hits a blinking number! If you are a home run baseball member and you managed to hit all 9 boxes, you can redeem a free can of Redbull! LOL Then again, it's not that easy...
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At the end of each pitching session, they will print out your score slips. We got better and better after each sessions! Spent about an hour and it was quite a good workout after dinner. If you are looking for a place to relieve stress, i would highly recommend Homerun Baseball. Just whack the ball only! LOL

Homerun Baseball
200 Pandan Gardens
#01-01/02/03/04
Singapore 609336


Thursday, November 13, 2014

SIA Charity Run 2014!

2014 is coming to an end in less than 2 months time, the question to ask yourself would probably be, "What have i accomplished this year?" If you read my 2014 resolutions post this year (click HERE to read if you are interested) I set about 8 resolutions/ goals for myself this year and i'm ashamed to say that i'm not even close to achieving half of it, LOLOLOL Shall review it when i do my 2015 resolutions post, haha. Anyway, one of my resolution/ goal this year was to:
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Well, reason being is that i'm fat and lazy. Running is like my no. 1 most hated sports/ outdoor activity. I can never understand people who can do those long distance marathons or runs! Can't believe i'm telling you guys this but i failed my 2.4km twice this year and only managed to pass on the third attempt. For the previous years, i could pass my 2,4km without even training, achieving the minimum timing and i thought i could do the same this year but i was wrong, LOL Must be all the cafe hopping food that i've been having every now and then. Feel so fat omgg. Anyway, with this SIA Charity Run that i went last Sunday, i achieved my resolution #6! *throw confetti all over the place and pop champagne*

My first run this year was the Singapore City Race - 15KM. Then again, it's more like an amazing race around Singapore and the total distance covered was estimated to be 15km or more depending on how you plan the route, you don't really have to run throughout actually but never mind, it's still considered a run, HAHHAHA (Read about my attempt HERE!) I also got my very first race medal! I intend to join the Singapore City Race next year, hopefully with more friends to join in the fun as well! My second run was totally not planned for - Color Run 14 - 5KM. Once again, it's not exactly a run run per se but more of a fun run, LOL Not going to go through the whole grandma story on how i got tickets to join the run but you can read the post about it HERE. Just realised i diligently blogged about all the runs i went for! Applause, tyvm.

For my third and probably the final run of 2014, i registered for the 5km SIA Charity Run! Chanced upon it online and thought since it's for a good cause, i had to clock my third run eventually (and the medal looks good!), i should register for it! Was supposed to go with one of my colleague but he had something on last minute so i roped in Joyce to join :)
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Met up with Josh on the actual day who kindly helped to collect our race pack because i was away in Australia during the race pack collection day. Changed into our official run singlet, put on the race bib and we were ready to go! Did you notice that my name is "andystorm" on my race bib? LOL We can actually put anything we want to be printed on the bib!
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This Charity Run is organized by SIA so they had this whole aviation themed whereby we have to lined up on the runway before "take off" and the emcee was like, "ARE YOU GUYS READY TO TAKE OFF IN 5 MIN TIME!" I literally rolled my eyes HAHAHHAHA By the way the run started at the F1 Pit building. Slept at 1am plus the night before and woke up at 6am and travel just for this run. Less than 5 hours of sleep #zombified. Everyone was taking selfie/ wefies while waiting or the run to start. See i photo-shopped my selfie above until so flawless, no wonder i got no facial sponsor. LOLOLOLOL

The weather was pretty nice and cooling that morning (the forecast was 70% rain but thankfully it didn't, phew.) and the route was pretty easy and scenic. Even though we technically did not run throughout the 5km, it was quite enjoyable catching up with one another while strolling, HAHAHA It was a pretty healthy Sunday morning run/ walk! :D
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At the end of the run, we collected a bottle of isotonic drink and not forgetting, our medal of achievement! Now i have 2 running medals! Probably more in the future. While cooling down, we walked around the area and went to a few booths one of which was giving out free packets of potato chips, like totally defeating the purpose of the run but i still took one anyway! Another was giving away cups of chocolate cereal (still acceptable, haha) There was also an Old Chang Kee mobile van and i was like thinking in my head, "got people bring their wallet along to the run meh?" Apparently there is a queue at the van! The main highlight which got me and Joyce excited was the Milo truck! When was the last time we saw one of these? I think mine was during secondary school sports day. HAHA The Milo from these trucks taste exceptionally good and seem like it cannot be replicated where else. So magical, dunno what they add, LOL This SIA Charity Run is probably my last run of the year, November and December seem to be pretty packed and busy :)

#3runsachieved,                               

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Honey Creme | llao llao

Recently there is this massive hype over 2 desserts in Singapore, mainly llao llao (pronounced as "yao yao" even though everyone is pronouncing it as "lao lao") and this Honey Creme which recently opened at Somerset 313. If you go to any of these outlets during the weekend, you will see this long queue which makes you think twice whether to join in the queue or not.  Most people will be wondering like what so nice about these desserts that makes people wanna queue for more than an hour just for it. I finally tried Honey Creme today and thought maybe i should pen down my thoughts regarding these 2 desserts and which one i prefer. Anyway if you have been following me on my social media, you should already know the answer. I'm actually quite curious whether you guys would prefer llao llao or Honey Creme! LOL
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Apparently llao llao has been around for the longest time but only got popular recently. I remember passing by their flagship store at Marina Square a couple of times but did not pay much attention to it because firstly, it was quite expensive and secondly, it doesn't seem that popular because there was no queue. I remember they were running a groupon deal promotion close to half a year back. It was only about 2 months back when i started seeing photos of llao llao surfacing on instagram every other day and it finally caught my attention so i decided to make a trip down to try it!

First time i went, i queued for about 45 mins and ordered a "Sanum" cup which consist of the yogurt, choice of 1 crunch, 3 fruits and 1 sauce, apparently the most wu hua and popular one in the store. At that time it was $5.90 per cup but now all the outlets standardize it at $6.50. Oh wells... First there was only one outlet, in a span of like 3 months, another 3 popped out to cater to the overwhelming crowd. Then again, 3 out of the 4 outlets are located in Central Singapore and the other in a Polytechnic in the west -__- East siders like me have to travel just to have the yogurt, so angry. As you can see from the above compilation, i've been having llao llao. Queues are much better now, probably maybe 30 mins wait during the weekends? and 15 mins for weekdays? I think it's quite worth it for such a big cup of yogurt with different toppings at $6.50. You feel quite full after having an entire cup to yourself, can replace a meal :)

Last month, The famous Honey Creme from Taiwan opened it's first outlet at Somerset 313. Actually i have never heard of Honey Creme before until my friend told me it's coming to Singapore. Apparently they have this famous Honey Comb (they have honey comb and comb honey, no idea what's the difference) and Affogato Cotton Candy soft serve which is instagram-worthy. Apparently i heard that you will be "invited" to go closer to take photo or video down the process of them preparing your dessert. Heard that the initial queuing time when it first opened was close to 2 hours! Refused to join in the bandwagon... until today. Was in town with Angie and we were deciding between llao llao and Honey Creme.
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Queued for 30 mins. No more cotton candy, neither of us wants to try the soft serve with honey comb, so we got the Popcorn one ($5.50) each. Visually it looks really good, cup slightly smaller than Mcdonalds sundae, not complaining though. Took the first mouth and my first thought was, "what's so special about this ice cream. Taste like Mcdonalds vanilla ice cream." Was quite disappointed actually. Was expecting something more wow and towards the end of the cup where all the caramel sauce gathered, it became too sweet so i threw it away. No idea what's all the hype about...

Maybe the Honey Comb one is better, or maybe the star of the brand is the Cotton Candy Affogato which was not available. I have no idea and have no intention to queue again. Maybe next time in the future when there is no queue then maybe i will try again... As for now, it's definitely llao llao FTW and i seriously don't mind queuing for it!

I wish someone (it's a franchise btw) open an outlet in the east.

Sweet tooth,                                    

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

SingTel WiFi | Platypus Lobster Shack!

After being back from Aussie, I felt like I needed to go out for a walk, see if there is any changes in town, do some shopping (oh ya, the queue at the newly opened Honey Creme is insane! Probably gonna wait a few months till the initial hype is over...) I also wanted to satisfy my craving of KFC's BBQ Cheese Meltz and my dose of llao llao yogurt! I say until like as if I've been away for 2 years but in actual fact I left for 3 weeks only, LOL Got my weekend all planned out nicely and even made reservations to have Lobster Roll at Platypus Lobster Shack! First time trying out Lobster roll!

Anyway if you have been reading my blog recently, you would have read about the SingTel contest that was running on my blog during the start of October. I went through all the entries and picked Charlotte as  the winner as I thought her entry was rather short, sweet and somewhat touching: 

 "The extra 100 mins will come in handy to call my grandma who doesn't use SMS and I'll use the unlimited data on SingTel WIFI to talk to my jie who has a year left to complete her masters overseas. I knock off work at Raffles Place around 8pm which is the time she wakes up and having SingTel WIFI at Raffles Place MRT while I wait for my train makes it so much easier to pop an early morning video call to say hi to her without worrying about exceeding data :)"

Once again, Congrats Charlotte! You won yourself additional 2GB of mobile data/ month for 1 year worth $256.80! Thank you to the rest of you guys who participated. I'll try to run more contests on my blog in the future! I recently converted my SingTel mobile plan to Combo 3 (and got myself an iPhone 6+ woohoo!!!) and over the weekend before my dinner reservation at Platypus Lobster Shack, I chanced upon a couple of SingTel premium WiFi hot spots while i was shopping in central area so I turned on my iPhone WiFi and gave the free service a try to see if it really works! LOLOLOL
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Within 10 seconds, my phone was automatically connected to the dedicated SingTel WIFI network and the connectivity was significantly faster! No need to login or whatsoever. For those who are already on SingTel Combo Plan, you get to enjoy UNLIMITED WIFI usage from now till 31 July 2015 and subsequently, all combo plans will come with 2GB of WIFI data allowance! Refer to this LINK for more info and for the updated list of places with SingTel Premium WIFI coverage!
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 Overview of Singtel's combo plans.

I was comparing my previous plan (Flexi Value - $59.90/ month) to my current Combo 3 ($62.90/ month) and i realised i stand to benefit a lot more with that additional $3! Firstly, i had an increase of 100 mins in terms of outgoing talktime minutes and secondly, 300 more local SMS/MMS compared to my previous 300 (not that i use a lot of SMS though, lol) This time, there is the add-on of WiFi usage and it really helps to off set my local data usage. I was watching youtube videos while waiting for my friends at the MRT station and because i was connected to the SingTel WiFi, i need not worry about exceeding my data. Fact: Do you know that 1 min of streaming HD video on YouTube uses about 5.1MB? :D

Recently there has been a hype on Lobster Rolls and there are a couple of pretty popular post on "top (insert x number) lobster rolls to try in Singapore" so the 4 of us (Jing long, Fenny, Angie and myself) went through the list and decided to give one of it a try by choosing one of the more value yet affordable Lobster Roll in Singapore - Platypus Lobster Shack.
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Platypus Lobster Shack
3 Pickering Street #01-31 Nankin Row Singapore 048660
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Lobster Roll at priced at $19.90 each or $22.90 for a set which comes with a side salad and truffle chips. It would definitely be more worth it if you order the set but we decided to order 4 different variation of lobster roll and a bowl of truffle chips ($6.90) to share since we are not really into the side salad. The chips was pretty disappointing in my opinion. It's totally like those BBQ potato chips you can find anywhere and drizzled with slight truffle oil on the surface.
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Honestly speaking, I was expecting Lobster Roll to be nice, warm and savory but I was somewhat disappointed. I could taste the thick succulent lobster meat with every bite though and that was quite satisfying. Maybe it's a personal preference that I would like it to be warm, LOL The roll was also quite small but then again, for the price we are paying, it's considered not bad already (other rolls in the "list" cost an average of $45) If this is how a typical lobster roll taste like, I guess I probably won't be a fan. But I will still definitely go for Grilled or warm poached lobster anytime! :D