June 22, 2010

World Cup?

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My husband watches soccer only during the World Cup season. And since we haven’t subscribed to the pay-TV channel that airs live matches, we only watch when the free-to-air channel (Five) and Malaysia’s RTM 2 broadcast selected matches. 'Watching soccer' for me means checking the scores every half and hour - I am usually reading the papers or preparing snacks to make time pass more quickly.

Soccer is beyond my league. Well I do browse the Sports section daily and do know about soccer stars, their achievements, scandals and the legion of fans they attract. Other than shelving the soccer-related info as ‘general knowledge’, soccer is a game involving many players running about a large field with scoring of goals as their main objective. I also know that these players are virtually pseudo-ambassadors of their respective teams and countries, sometimes even fashion labels and pop music trends. Watching soccer is laborious nevertheless. Over 90 minutes of staring at the same landscape on the TV screen, no thanks.

A pull-out chart from the New Paper

I acceded to putting up a wall-chart of soccer matches and the groups of countries this year – just for the fun of guessing which countries will pull through the preliminary rounds and to document the scores after every 2 or 3 matches.

As I used to muse to my soccer-crazed friends/colleagues who rave about countries and certain teams they support, “The ball is spherical and anyone can win, lose or draw – why burst blood vessels and damage your lungs with all that screaming?”

I recall one soccer-maniac ex-colleague asking me (the year France hosted the World Cup in 1998): "Which country do you think will win?". My random answer: "France." And they did win and my friend (after losing some bets apparently) came at me after the games were over: "I should have listened to you and bet on France! But how it is you knew? You don't even watch soccer or know Barthez?!!" My nonchalent answer (when it comes to soccer): "Because France is the host country and they've always been an okay-team?". I failed to appease my friend, obviously, but treated him to iced-blended mocha as a form of consolation. Turned out that the coffee opening up more wounds as he wailed, "How could England or Brazil not win? They had so many star players?"

Until the moon turns blue, I am likely to remain largely apathetic towards the hype over whatever-Cup and whatever-League.

P/S: See the Toy Story alien magnet in the picture? No prizes for guessing what the alien metaphoricaly represents...

Read review of Barca chips
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Home mumusings #30: Steamed yam cake in 12 minutes

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Making authentic steamed yam (taro) cake requires skill and much time. In fact, choosing yam itself is hard task for me, let alone dealing with the sap and cutting of it. Until I can find time to make my own yam cakes, I can only steam ready-made ones and enhance it with garnishing to make it more tasty and ‘yummy-looking’.

My sister kindly bought me a mini-tray of yam cake from a stall near Kovan last Sunday. It came without any garnishing as she well knew I preferred my foods plain and also because she knew that I was likely to keep it in the fridge till I find a way to ‘modify’ it.

Steamed yam cake is a popular choice of food for breakfast and snack-time for many Singaporeans. My husband and I enjoy eating well-made yam cakes and often find the commercial ones sold at coffeeshops too bland. We love yam cakes that are dense and with lots of taro cubes. Not easy to find! In case this tray turned out like the rest, my husband suggested adding our own favourite ingredients.

Here’s how to transform a tray of yam cake into a breakfast-worthy meal:

(1) Soak some dried prawns. Drain off water and place dried prawns at the bottom of the steaming plate.


(2) Cut yam cake into smaller pieces and place them onto the plate (above the dried prawns).


(3) Steam the yam cake and sweet sauce (which came with the yam cake, packed separately) for 10 minutes.


(4) While steaming, cut a few stalks of spring onion (and fresh chilli, if you like it burning hot).


(5) Remove pieces of yam cake and place it on serving plate, followed by the pieces of dried prawns. Serve it with some sauce and spring onion.


Verdict:
This plate of piping hot yam cake is perfect! The yam cake itself is very well-made (thanks to the folks that sold it), with generous chunks of taro cubes.

I am definitely going to frequent this shop my sister went to and keep a few portions in my refrigerator for quick breakfast fixes!

Time taken: 15 minutes (including preparation) and totally idiot-proof

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June 19, 2010

Home mumusings #29: Tyre-some fun

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Recently we ‘culled’ one of our prams as it was getting rickety. As we only use the pram at home, the wheels were still in excellent condition. This stroller has served us well for a year - primarily as a seat for my growing toddler when he naps in the afternoon and watches TV. We also had to discard this stroller as we found the the 'board' that provided back support was turning mouldy when we pulled off the seat covers for a wash (we wash the seat once every three months).

One fine afternoon last week, my husband coolly dismantled the pram: frame, seat, buckle and wheels. We decided to keep the seat, rain-cover (can be used for other strollers), rims and tyres. Well, he says these are very good patented 'thermal rubber' tyres used only by this particular stroller brand. 


No hard feelings or regret dismantling this full-feature umbrella stroller as both my husband and I nearly lost a chunk of flesh off our fingers trying to adjust the seat position some time back. 


Initially we placed these wheels in the store but seeing that my son was getting to be quite a big fan of cars, wheels and Pixar’s ‘Cars’ (the movie), we found use for them.

Here’s how we found ways to have fun with these tyres:

(1) As parking spaces for my son’s many cars. These tyres also double as ‘obstacles’ when he plays with the cars.


(2) Stacking game. A small packet of ‘tyres’ at the departmental store retails at S$12.90!

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(3) For ‘training’ kid’s accuracy in throwing and general psychomotor skills.


(4) Individual wheels can be used for bowling too!
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June 16, 2010

Festivals and foods: Rice dumplings (粽子)

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Today is the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, or 端午節. Some people know it better as the Dragon Boat Festival.

When I was about 5 years old, my grandparents and parents brought me to watch a dragon boat race at a local river (perhaps the Singapore River?).

I vaguely remember the huge fanfare, dragon boats and intense drumming. It was on that outing that my mother explained to me the origins of this festival and why we made rice dumplings annually during the 5th month.


Qu Yuan was a learned man and deeply loyal to the Emperor. Holding on to a heavy, he threw himself into the Mi-lo river after being falsely accused of crimes and sent into exile. As Qu Yuan was reputed to be a man of honor and righteousness, many people were moved by his death. Boats were hence used to facilitate the local people in throwing rice dumplings into the river so that the fish would not devour Qu Yuan's body.
The death of a patriot in 278 BC was thus the inspiration for the annual wrapping of rice dumplings. It's amazing how this tradition is kept till this day for most Chinese families across the world!


Eating the last two remaining rice dumplings at home, I suddenly recall a line from a poem I learnt in Primary school that goes: "A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds..."

I sincerely hope the story of Qu Yuan will serve as a reminder and impetus for all of us to stay true to our ideals and shun hypocrisy. I am intent on remaining altruistic. Not easy but I am doing my best each day – as a wife, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, grand-daughter and citizen (my primary roles!).
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June 15, 2010

Childhood and Traditional foods: Rice dumplings (Ba-zhang)

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I’ve been a fan of rice-dumplings (bazhang) since I was a child. Before I learnt how to read the Chinese lunar calendar and duan wu jie (端午节), I only knew rice dumplings are made annually. It was a torture, waiting for the NEXT batch of dumplings. To me, a year seemed like forever.

As a child, I had a good memory for seasonal foods and fruits. Very often, I will start nagging at my paternal grandmother (a very quick and skilful cook) after the Chinese New Year, “Have you forgotten to make rice dumplings? Is it soon? Can we have it earlier this year?”

As a result of my annoying early reminders, my grandmother gave in and made rice dumplings TWICE annually. After I got what I wanted, I started whining one year (I think around 1980), “Why can’t you put something else instead of meat (filling)”. My paternal grandmother did a batch of rice dumpling with spicy prawn paste just for me. After that, I had no more requests. They tasted fantastic! Her two types of rice dumplings remain my favourite till this day. (Only until the 1990s did dumplings with spicy prawn paste filling become commercially sold.)

Until I was in university and sometimes given very limited choice of foods at the canteen, I had never eaten rice dumplings made by non-family members. This is testimony of my absolute loyalty to my beloved grannies!!



My paternal grandmother had strong hands when she was younger and so her rice dumplings were always large, firmly tied and always larger (than those sold at commercial eateries). She was so fast at wrapping them that I never got to catch her in action as the steaming hot rice-dumplings were always ready by the time I returned from school at 2pm. In fact, she used to keep me out of the kitchen as she preferred to work solo mio. "Faster, and with less hindrance.", she used to explain.

Single-handedly, my paternal grandmother makes nearly 200 at a go. Well, as her biggest fan with the earlier "order" submitted, I was entitled to as many rice-dumplings as I wished. After my family moved out in the late 1980s, she would call as early as April to ask: "So what is your order this year? I haven't forgotten what you like. More of the prawn-paste (hebi-hiam) again?"

My grandmother continued making large and delicious rice-dumplings until she grew weaker with age. Only in the late 1990s did she allow my the maid and family to help. Simple reason: she couldn't bear to see standards 'fall' or 'change'. That was the pride she felt for the food she cooked. She used to say that my mother's dainty bazhangs were too small to fill the stomach.

An aunt's - almost as large as my granny's rice dunplings. Almost.
Red strings for the spicy-prawn paste filled dumpling.


Now to my maternal grandmother. She too single-handedly made hundreds of daintier and less-oily rice dumplings annually: nonya flavoured (white glutinous rice with sweetish diced pork with chestnuts and mushroom fillings) and the conventional salty Hokkien bazhang.

Aren't they dainty?

This year, my mother and her sisters made rice dumplings 3 weeks before the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. I've happily eaten nearly 25 since...

Read more about rice-dumplings:
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June 14, 2010

Food: Mom’s mee hoon kway

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My mom was in an adventurous mood today and so we co-cooked a pot of mee hoon kway. It’s an honour to cook today because granny is around and it’s my FIRST time cooking for her. I made the dough while she prepared the rest of the ingredients, including fried shallots oil. She decided to use scrambled eggs as soup-base today. Baffling choice (I hate eggs) but yes, scrambled eggs as she is intent on trying out something new.

Ingredients:

Mee hoon kway dough (click here to read how to make dough)
Shallots
2 eggs
Vegetables (she picked caixin)
Fresh large prawns
Marinated minced pork

Method:

(1) Fry shallots. Drain oil from pan and place fried shallots in another dish. Add light soya sauce to the bowl of oil.


(2) Fry scrambled eggs

(3) Bring a pot of water to boil.

(4) Pull dough into small pieces and drop them into boiling water.


(5) Pour in scrambled egg, fresh prawns, minced pork and finally vegetables.


(6) Stir and serve after 3 minutes.


My grandmother’s verdict (roughly translates to):

“Prawns too large, soup tastes confused and mee hoon kway should be in thinner and smaller pieces.”

However, my grandmother said the taste/texture of the mee hoon kway was good (YAY!!!). The soup, size/shape of mee hoon kway and choice of ingredients were my mom’s doing.

I know she was very happy eating anyway because it’s the first time I have cooked for her. Given that mee hoon kway is my most favourite dish (that my maternal grandmother does weekly for me as a child), it's definitely symbolic that I cooked this for her today. 

What made my day was seeing my maternal grandmother finish up a bowl of mee hoon kway completely and with a smile on her face. My grandmother is a very neat eater but will decline to eat or ‘give away’ parts of her portion if the food is not to her taste.

My grandmother's meehoonkway eating style: scoop a spoonful of shallots/oil and perch it by the plate (left of plate). Using a fork, she dips each piece of mee hoon kway into the oil before taking a bite.
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Food: Mom’s fried shallots

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Here’s fried shallots done by my mother. She cuts the shallots evenly and separates each layer so you get fried shallot ‘rings’.

See the shallot rings? All evenly sliced and fried to golden brown!

I chop shallots up haphazardly...

"Barbaric" fried shallots, as my mom describes my product!
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June 11, 2010

Home mumusings #28: Puncher

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What has bothered me for a year and a half since the start of 2009 was the issue of the many S-sized nipples that came with all milk bottles. I have nearly 30 of these since my son graduated from Small, to Medium and now Large for Pigeon milk bottle teats! So, for nearly 2 years, I have been buying new bottles (and with every bottle an unused S-sized nipple) and many sets of L-sized (each set costing S$6.70).

I didn’t want the title of this post to sound pornographic and so kept to ‘Puncher’. I was relieved to find the baby-department well-stocked with Pigeon Wide-Neck L-sized teats for my 2 year-old toddler’s milk bottles. “At many stores, it’s hard to find L-sized, especially during sale.” I lamented to the saleslady. She said, “At OG, we have lots of stock. No problem even during sale time. If you cannot find the right size, you can buy puncher.” Nipple puncher??!! Sounds horrific...

Turns out that Farlin (a Taiwanese brand of baby products) has a product called the ‘Nipple Hole Puncher’. The product includes 3 removable ‘hole’-blades (of different sizes) and a contraption to hold the nipple/blade.


Fix the right size needed onto the puncher with the nipple above and press lever downwards. Works for all milk bottle nipples. I used to wonder what to do the S-sized nipples that come with all bottles... this product is a saver. At just S$7.90 (20% discount at most stores during sale-time), the purchase is well-worth the price.


I can now ‘transform’ all my spare S-sized bottle teats to L-sized ones! I am eternally grateful to the saleslady at OG departmental store for her enlightening recommendation!!
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June 10, 2010

Great Singapore Sale #2 – Real Sale

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Talking about Chance, I happened to be at the Harbourfront today at 2.10pm and went up to the Mothercare store to look-see.

To my happiness/horror, I saw the sign state that there is 50% discount for all children’s wear until 2.30pm. Well, I didn’t go crazy-buying, but I did make a quick grab for shirts, pants and pyjamas for my toddler because he DOES need some new apparel as he is soon to outgrow 50% of his existing clothes.

Politely asking my husband to help supervise my son at the toys' section for 20 minutes, I quickly made a beeline for hangers with the words “24 to 36 months”. Within 15 minutes, I was blissfully carrying a large bag of clothes enough for Chinese New Year and another year or two. Afterall, Asian kids fit cflothes that are slightly one/two sizes smaller than UK kids. He’s soon outgrowing “12-18” months shirts and looking slightly small in “18-24 months” apparel.

What a sale!!! I count my lucky stars that I refrained from any purchases at Mothercare in the past 3 months, opting to wait-and-see the kid’s growth spurt. I asked the staff if this sale was going to be repeated, the reply was: “No, madam. We won’t know if there will be another as this is a joint-promotion with the management of Harbourfront.” I only know that I would have felt so-so-so sore if I had bought certain items on my previous visit toe Mothercare just TWO days ago.

Another wonderful bargain I found today was at the Guardian Pharmacy: 2 packs of GP heavy-duty batteries (which makes 16) for $3.80. We need quite many batteries, given the number of remote-controls present in the house (for toy cars and appliances). I was in such a rush that I only realise that the salesgirl placed numerous packets of free facial product samples into the bag!

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Great Singapore Sale #1 – Caveat Emptor

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Many Singaporeans are shopaholics (mumusings included). The only difference is that I am very much focused when I shop and I only buy what I need. I am very impressed with the Great Singapore Sale 2010. In the past, I seldom come across genuine discounts:

(1) Usually it’s the same-old 20% -storewide discounts which happens all through the year. There are myriad reasons for a sale in Singapore. I recall a shop along Orchard Road in the 1980s bearing the banner ‘Closing Down Sale’ for more than a decade. Or ‘1997 Hong Kong Handover Sale (huh??) which afterwards became ‘Post 1997 HK-handover Sale’. In any case, there’s a reason for a sale every other month. From New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Hari Raya, Deepavali, National Day, Pre to post-Christmas Day, every major departmental store will have its allure when they have a sales event.

(2) Promise of winning a car/holiday via lucky-draws with every $X amount of spending. Or redeeming inane ‘gifts’ with every S$X purchase.

(3) Sale of really really old stocks, AND they’re not really much cheaper.

(4) Very often, one can fine an item even cheaper at no-gimmicks heartland shops and the Mustafa Shopping Centre. (I once bought a St Ives facial scrub at S$4.20 at Mustafa when all other shops were retailing it at $7.50. With the maximum 20% offer, the item is still S$6.00)


(5) The most irritating 'sales' tactic: Marking up the price by 200% before giving a X% discount. I once bought a toy for my toddler at a shop. The tag read "U.P: $14.95 Sales $7.95". Well it turned out that this item is $7.95 at every toy store, including ToysRUs and better still, some stores have further 20% discount.

Shoppers should consider the following before going gaga at the stores:

(1) Know the range of prices – simply so that you don’t get hoodwinked by seeming-discounts.

(2) If there’s no rush to get the item (as in you don’t really need the item urgently), wait for the next round of discount.

(3) Don’t get all stressed out over shopping. Leave it to Chance and buy when you are comfortable with the price. (4) Be mindful of the terms and conditions at each store because some may not entertain exchanges and refunds in case of regret-buys.

(4) Caveat emptor - you are responsible for your decisions (and assessment of the worth/quality of the product) and purchases!


(5) Is it worth the time and effort (queueing for hours)? I saw hundreds of ladies queue for entry to a Coach/KateSpade sale at the Singapore Expo 2 weeks back. The sales event was slated to start at 4pm and end at 8pm. At 5pm, there must be still 500 people waiting to get into the sales venue!
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June 09, 2010

Snacks: Barca Potato Chips

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I am not a football fan. I’ve never enjoyed watching people chase after a ball and the World Cup doesn’t mean anything to me. Watching almost every other sport, yes. Football, never.

I was at the NTUC Fairprice Supermarket last week when I chanced upon 2 bags of chips. Quite drawn by the unusual packaging and strong colours, I bought the ‘nicer’ bag with the word ‘Barca’. No Real Madrid because the image of a certain British player and his hedonistic wife flash through my mind when I stare at the packet.

Anyway, these chips were on sale at S$3.15. I thought, “why not?” – since most other potato chips are retailing at around S$4.00 (Ruffles, Frito-Lay etc). They are likely to be very fresh and crispy from the sound of it (I shook the pack slightly).


Turns out that these Made-In-Spain chips are indeed yummy. Crisp, large pieces and lightly salted. Feels like one is eating authentic chips overseas, say, a pack of Walker in England...

Turns out that my son is also a fan of this, grabbing the entire packet of chips faster than I can protest. My husband, too, agrees that the chips are of good quality.


His only question: “Since when did you become a fan of Barcelona? I thought you didn't like football?” My spontaneous reply: “What Barcelona? I didn’t like the Real Madrid packet and so chose this because red/blue more striking and the chips are on sale!”

My packet of chips before they were 'robbed' from me by my son

Whatever Futbol Club Barcelona and La Liga titles were the last thing on my mind!
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June 08, 2010

Fruits and childhood memories: Durian-cure

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I have been ill for nearly 3 weeks. The advent of sore-throat and intense sneezing (middle of May) was soon followed by fevers and body aches. And, the COUGH and phlegm that never seemed to go away. So, for the past weeks, I’ve had little or no appetite, sticking to a simple diet of Barnfield 4102 Navel Oranges, water, Chinese herbal tea, lozenges and simple steamed dishes. I’ve have steamed this-and-that for nearly 40 meals and then I suddenly recalled a Chinese-saying that roughly translates to: ‘using poison to fight the poison’.

The above Chinese saying brought to mind an incident when I was around 5 years old. As I’ve previously written in a few posts, I was often ill when I was young and banned from ‘heaty’ foods. My paternal grandmother was the only one with the super-vision beyond the conventional cures (doctors, Chinese medicines and soups). I was recovering from a bout of nausea, fever and cough, lying on the sofa, hapless. Because of my flu, I hadn’t met (I hear them play, which makes it worse) them for a few days because my mother warned: “Don’t you sneak out and come back coughing even more badly!” My paternal grandmother had to enforce the curfew unfortunately and so I moped about the home, keeping to very mundane activities like drawing and playing pretend on my own.I had wanted so much to go play with my neighbours.

Finally, one afternoon, a MIRACLE happened. A large truck drove buy with the driver touting Malaysian durians. I casually asked my grandmother: “So when can I finally eat durians?”. My grandmother replied: “Do you really want to eat them? Poison can cure poison. Maybe durians can double-kill your sickness. If you want, I buy some for you. I feel like eating them too, but don’t tell your mother when she comes home.” And so my grandmother and I finished off around 5 small durians. I obediently drank salt water using a piece of durian husk as a container and waited to see if I would ‘die’ or ‘live’. Strangely, my throat didn’t hurt anymore. I started perspiring profusely and felt livelier.

Within 2 hours after eating durian, I had recovered! I ran to my grandmother and said, “Look at the sweat! I am okay, right? I am going to play – BYEEEE!” My grandmother said: “I told you doctors are useless, only good for curing sick dogs. Go play and come back before your mother does. One hour is enough?” I was only too happy to be able to play with my neighbours.

My mother found out somehow that I had been playing (from the sweaty-clothes?) but couldn’t scold me as my grandmother certified me fit. I only know that from then onwards, my grandmother convinced my mother to let me exercise a little even if I were ill and also to allow for small portions of my favourite ‘poison’ fruits like durians, mango and lychees.


Back to the PRESENT:

Here I am with a box of durians. Heck the cough and phlegm and what-nots. I'm feeling better already:) What doesn't kill my grandmother can't possibly kill me!

The durian seller charged me S$12.00 and said: "Now you are a member. Next time come, say "member" and my men will give you discount. Hope you get well soon and see you again."

I am definitely going back to 'claim' my membership-perks with this stall!!!
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Read about jackfruit-infused rice and jackfruit seeds here...

Fruits: STAR!-fruit

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My grandmother used to say that the star fruit is the best fruit to eat whenever I had the cough. I often buy star fruit juice when at the fruits stall – it really does sooths the throat. I decided to buy some (3 for S$2.80) last weekend as I am still coughing (what’s left of the flu after the runny-nose, sore-throat, fevers and body aches).


To entice my son to eat the star fruit, I cut both ends of the fruit before slicing the rest into smaller pieces.


See his fingers? He was clinging on to the edge of my kitchen top, eagerly waiting to play/eat with the fruit, exclaiming: “star, star!!!”
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June 07, 2010

Living in Singapore: Window-eating and shopping at the Food Fair

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I have never been to a Food Fair at the Singapore Expo (which ran through a few days till 2nd June 2010) and this was my first venture. Feeling intrepid and restless after nursing a flu for 2 weeks, I decided to visit the fair alone. I couldn’t imagine having to cope with my toddler, the pram and the potential crowd the fair infamously attracts.

Just in case I went on a buying spree, I purchased a market trolley at S$18.00 at a stall near the Tampines MRT and brought slightly over S$100 in my wallet before I embarked on my journey. I am grateful that the Singapore Expo has an MRT station connected to it as it was raining. A little clumsy initially (and embarrassed) with the new trolley, I soon got used to dragging it across the train platform and going up/down the escalators.

I reached the Singapore Expo at 10.30am. Lots of people were also armed with environment-friendly shopping bags and trolleys, looking furtively around, some were obviously ‘lost’ and relied on the direction of the walking crowd to get to the right hall. There were other sales going on at the Singapore Expo (a book fair, John Little warehouse sale, electronics fair and branded goods sale).

I am largely a focused shopper – usually figuring out the ‘layout’ of stalls before walking through the door. After 30 minutes of walking casually about, I did managed to pick up some real good bargains. Note: I only took 30 minutes because I am not one of those to stop at every stall to ask for samplers. I only stop at stalls if I intend to buy products.

Here are some of my purchases:

Assortment of Tatsumoto's frozen sausages that are apparently made from lean meat. I bought 6 packets for S$19.00. Works out to be around S$3.16 per packet (Usual Price: S$4.50). My husband and son loves eating sausages and so I bought 2 packets of Aribiki, Chipolata and Cheese sausages.


I couldn’t resist buying 3 packets of Golden Dragon oriental sausages (less-fat versions) for S$8.50 (UP S$3.60 per packet).


Remembering that my stock of rice is running low, I bought 2 1kg packets of Heavenly rice as it was retailing at nearly 40% off the usual price. I only know that if I had my husband with me at the fair, I would have bought at least 5kg of rice!!


The salesman gave me a small packet of brown rice and cooking instructions to go along. Not bad, S$5.00 for 2kg of premium new-crop rice!


I paid 3 packets of Chew’s 25% low-cholesterol Sakura eggs at S$2.50 per tray (UP$2.95).


Seasonings, mixes, cheese powder, sesame oil and premium dark soya sauce were also picked up along the way.




Not forgetting, S$12.00 for 2 large packets of Hersheys' chocolate kisses for the chocoholic toddler of mine.


My trolley probably weighed 10kg by the time I walked out of the Expo Hall to grab a taxi home. I felt tired – not from walking, but from minding the crowd, taking care I didn’t hit anyone with my trolley!

If I may coin the term 'window-eating' (as like 'window-shopping'), I sure did as I walked through the food fair.

Between purchases, I managed to wolf down 10 sticks of satay and a ketupat, a durian crepe and bought takeaway Shanghainese fried buns and Peking duck rolls for my husband.

I will definitely pop by the next food-fair for good bargains – no wonder my mother is a fan of this event...

P/S: After all the buying, eating and cabbing, I was left with exactly S$4.50 in my wallet.
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