Internet Kimchi

I do my fair share of internet shopping - mostly books, beauty products, fun accessories and clothes..

I never thought that I'd buy food from online.

Well but I did.

I bought some kimchi from a shop on GMarket. I've always find it hard to get good quality kimchi. When I do, I find them a bit too pricey. A friend of mine had friends who tried out the kimchi ordered from online and recommended I try them.

So I went and ordered 1 kg of cabbage kimchi, some seasoned Korean pickles and kimchi dumplings (also known as mandu). Including the delivery, they cost $30.

We tried the pickles and kimchi tonight for dinner. They were crunchy and tasted good!

Now, I have lots of kimchi to make kimchi jigae (kimchi soup) and kimchi fried rice.

But then... 1 kg.. is really a lot for the 2 of us!

I really liked these seasoned pickles

Cabbage kimchi is my favourite. These ones are pretty good.

Top 10 buys from Singapore - Part 3

Continued from Part 2

6. Hai's Mee Siam Paste
Mee Siam is actually a noodle dish made with rice vermicelli in a spicy, sweet and sour light gravy. It is often served with eggs, beansprouts and dried beancurd.

Hai's Mee Siam Paste is my favourite. They can be found at most large supermarkets. I like their laksa paste as well but their mee siam paste is the best.

7. Orchids
The national flower is Ms Vanda Joaqium, a type of orchid, of course.

If you can bring home some fresh orchids (you can buy them at the airport), it's great. But if you are looking for something a little more lasting, I think that Risis' gold plated orchids make beautiful gifts.

8. Flip Flops
Maybe it is the casual way Singaporeans like to dress.. maybe it's the hot weather.. In any case, flip flips are the preferred footwear for many Singaporeans.

I seldom wear flip flops myself.. but when I do, I wear Ripples flip flops, of course.. And of course, these are 100% designed in Singapore!

9. Pandan Chiffon Cake
Pandan is a tropical plant used widely in Southeast Asian cuisine. The leaves are green and fragrant and also strangely a natural repellent for cockroaches.

But don't be mistaken, pandan chiffon cake is delicious! They dry out pretty quickly so it's best to buy them at the airport before you leave Singapore. Bangawan Solo, a popular bakery chain store, has outlets in Terminal 1, 2 and 3 of the Changi Airport.

10. Yu Sheng packs
Yu Sheng, also known as Lo Hei (or Prosperity Toss)is a Chinese-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces, condiments and even crackers.

Around the Chinese New Year season (from January to February), supermarkets all around Singapore begin to sell packs of the ingredients you would need for Yu Sheng. You only need to shred some cucumber, carrots and add some raw salmon slices to enjoy Yu Sheng at home.

Homemade Yu Sheng - My parents don't eat raw fish so we usually add abalone instead.

We like adding shredded carrots, radishes and cucumber to this salad. 

The rest of the ingredients come from the Yu Sheng pack.

Top off the salad with the crackers, sauce and peanuts from the Yu Sheng pack 

and the salad is ready for tossing!

Top 10 buys from Singapore - Part 2

Thank you to those who responded to my question on what are the top buys from Singapore.

The top 10 buys in my list are very similar - mostly food items as well.

Whether you are buying a small souvenir for friends or a really nice gift from Singapore - I hope this list will be useful to you.

1) Bak Kwa, or Barbequed Pork
Bak Kwa, or barbequed pork, is somewhat similar to beef jerky. It is thin slices of barbequed pork that is a little salty, rather sweet, somewhat dried but yet juicy and coated with honey and oil. It is in short, yummy.

These are very popular around the Chinese New Year period, and their prices and the queue for them really go up during the festive season. The best place to get these are from Lim Chee Guan - the old store is located in Chinatown but they have a branch right smack in the centre of town, in Ion at Orchard Road.

2) Kaya, or Coconut Jam
Kaya is coconut jam that is made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar. It can either come in a greenish colour (flavoured with pandan, a fragrant type of leaves used in many South east asian bakes) or brown colour (flavoured with palm sugar).

The most popular kaya amongst tourists will be Ya-kun. Ya-kun is a chain store selling traditional coffee and kaya toasts. Their outlets can be found everywhere - from the airport to most shopping malls. I don't like buying their jam for my friends though - they have a short shelf life and expire all too soon. If I have to, I'd buy the mini bottles from Ya-kun.

My preferred choice for friends would be kaya from Glory Food. These can be found in most large supermarkets.

3) Prima Taste
Prima Taste is a Singapore brand that produces ready-to-cook pastes and premixes. I find that their "Complete Sauce Kits" make wonderful gifts. When I was living in Beijing, I love to use their Laksa kit and Chicken Rice kit to whip up food that really taste as good as those you'd find in Singapore.

They also sell very good pre-mix and noodles. The Sister-in-law love their latest product - Laksa La-mian. This is packaged like a single pack of instant noodles and taste almost like a really good bowl of laksa!

4) Purple Gold
If you are looking for a really nice gift, I think purple gold is a great idea. Purple gold is pioneered in Singapore and is an alloy made of 80% gold and 20% other metal components... and it is of course, purple. It is more expensive than your normal yellow or white gold and is usually used in small parts of an accessory (e.g. a flower or butterfly). It can be found in local jewellery stores like Lee Hwa and Goldheart.

5) Singapore Shawl
This is another item that can make a good gift from Singapore.

Shawls are pretty common everywhere but this Singapore brand makes really delicate shawls with designs of the National Flower of Singapore. Personally, I like their simpler shawls with bits of Swarovski Crystal or little embroidered flowers.

These shawls are not really cheap but they do make special gifts for mothers, sisters, aunties or girlfriends.

To be continued in next post..

 My version of homemade fried laksa, made with store-bought laksa paste

Meet King Kong

Meet King Kong - A giant Harrods bear.

And in case you are wondering..

Nope. I didn't buy it from London. Neither do I know anyone who is crazy enough to buy it home. King Kong belongs to a friend's brother (ops, I didn't mean to say he is crazy... I hope he doesn't read my blog). King Kong is occupying a significant corner in my friend's spare bedroom at the moment.

King Kong is HUGE - see the picture below with the iPhone on his nose for size comparison. He is so huge he got stuck at the door when my friend tried to move him into the room. He is a Harrods 2006 Christmas bear and comes with his own little bear in his left pocket. If you google "Harrods bear 2006", King Kong's pictures will show up.

I have never seen something like this in a friend's house. Every visitor to my friend's house, including all delivery and repairman, have requested to take a photo of King Kong.

I'm of course no different.

I'm lucky to have a few very good pictures of King Kong before he gets "mummified" to keep him less dusty. (Imagine having to give him a bath!)

King Kong with an iPhone for size comparison..

Harrods - a truly English Institution

Harrods is a most amazing department store. It is truly one-of-a-kind - extremely difficult to find your way around (All the sales people asked if I needed directions to me next destination. Every single one.), has the most opulent looking decorations indoors (especially the Egyptian escalators) and has a  breathtaking array of products on sale (From wedding gowns, to grandfather clocks to food. The food department is especially amazing - see pictures below.)

I think it can be ranked as one of the top tourist destination for London, right alongside Buckingham Palace and the British Museum. And indeed tourists swarm this place. The number of people picking out reusable Harrods shopping bags and bears is really quite staggering. Personally, I don't see what is so special about the 19 pounds plastic shopping bag but maybe it is just me because there were lots of tourists buying such bags.

Going to Harrods always gives me a slight headache afterwards but I really do enjoy gaping at the selections available. This trip, I also found that if you know what it is that you want to buy, it is a very good place to buy from - Harrods do stock up rather well and the VAT-back processing service in Harrods is first class.

Photo from here

 

Even the selection of fresh flowers and small potted plants is pretty good..

And of course, there is always a few of these giant 

Harrods bears on sale. This one cost about 1900 pounds (!!)

A bag by a practical woman

My jaws almost dropped when I heard the price tag for this bag.

But you have to admire this bag for what it is - A bag created by a practical woman, for herself.

Coco Chanel got tired of having to carry her handbags in her arms and decided to design a handbag that freed up her hands. And design she did.

She ended up designing a bag that is both practical and distinctive for herself.

Here are a few interesting details about the bag
- The bag's internal lining’s burgundy colour represents the colour of the uniforms at the convent where she grew up. It also makes looking for things in a bag easier. (So clever - How many of us grope around in our bags because the lining is black and too dark for us to find our stuff?)
- There are lots of pockets and compartments for storage - the zippered compartment at the front flap is for her to store her love letters (she was a mistress to someone then) and there is a pocket at the back to store some loose cash
- She designed a double chain shoulder strap. The chains were attached by leather-threaded chain inserted though eyelets so there were strong and lasting.. and her hands can be freed up. The chains were inspired by the nuns at the convent wore to attach keys to their waists.
- Whilst this bag was later designed to have a double CC turn lock, the original 2.55 bag Chanel had had a practical and rectangular shaped lock

Mademoiselle Chanel will be very glad to know that the bag she designed for herself is one of the most famous fashion icons today..

Photos from bagsnob

Excuse me, do you Prada?

I don't. And by that I mean.. I don't really speak Prada, Balenciaga and Armani.

Some of my colleagues at my new workplace are very into shopping and brand names. As I hear them chat, I was a little surprised at how behind I am in the world of Gucci and Armani. Hey.. I work and live in a city, in an industry where many are into branded goods, fast cars and fine wine..

Yet for some reason... my knowledge of these have always been... ahem.. behind times.

But having more fashionably in-tuned colleagues had me starting to pay a little more attention to those around.

And I noticed something rather strange. Sometimes, those who can probably least afford such items are the ones who are most willing to pour all their money into them. Those who can very comfortably afford such items, especially more elderly ladies, are more likely to scrimp and save all their money safely away.

Seeing these 2 groups of individuals around me had me arrive at this conclusion - I don't want to grow old and be penniless before I die... and yet the last thing I want to do is to just save and save and have lots of money in my bank account when I die.

The question is then - how do we balance between spending and saving?

A Shapely Little Drink

Yakult has always been one of my favourite drinks.

As a child, I would pester my parents to buy me Yakult whenever we go to the supermarket together. I must have been a very persistent kid.. because even up to now, whenever I go to the supermarket together with my parents, my dad would invariably ask if I wanted to get Yakult.

There is just something about Yakult that makes it so appealing. Maybe it is the fact that it is supposedly healthy.. even though it taste incredibly sweet.

Anyway, there are some interesting facts about Yakult that you might not know about.

1. Singapore is the only country in the world with flavoured Yakult. I remember there being 5 different flavours of the drink as a kid.. The Strawberry flavour was stopped when I was in Primary school. There are 4 flavours now left - Grape, Green Apple, Orange and Original

2. Yakult is more expensive in Singapore than in most of the other Asian countries. I know that for a fact because I sometimes look out for this drink when travelling. It goes for almost half the price of what we pay here in Hong Kong! But of course they don't get the choice of having flavoured Yakult.

3. And they get smaller bottles of Yakult too! The 100ml bottles we drink here are also larger than those sold in other countries, including Japan and Hong Kong.

4. Yakult does home-delivery in Singapore. There is a Yakult van that comes by our place every alternate Tuesday to deliver Yakult to my neighbours. I used to order from them too.. but gave up because I couldn't be at home waiting for the delivery every Tuesday afternoon.

5. There is a Yakult factory in Singapore, located at 7 Senoko Ave. They conduct free tours of the factory.. and you can call them at 62577882 to make an appointment. I haven't gone for this tour myself.. but I am sure it'd be really interesting to go with my niece and nephew!

Yakult - The Healthy Family Drink

Taken by me with The Husband's new lens..

Online shopping

Shopping online is something I enjoy doing.. and it is becoming more like a regular thing for me now than in the past.

In Singapore, shopping is so convenient that it kind of makes shopping online seemingly redundant.

But I find that it saves me quite a bit of money buying stuff online sometimes. Plus you get things delivered in a box right to your doorstep.. Plus I really like the "box" part - it's like opening up a new present.. (oh dear, do I sound like a shopaholic?)

Here are a couple of websites I like to go to.

The first is Amazon.com - I go there for books and beauty products. Books are the obvious, I guess.. for Amazon. I've found that some books, especially baking books are cheaper to buy online than at major bookstores in Singapore. Even after the delivery charges.

Beauty products too. I like a couple of brands my dermatologist suggest.. and it saves me about at least 30% - 40% to buy from Amazon than from the dermatologist. (By the way, the brand I like the most is PCA Skin. Their rejuvenating serum is very good!)

Some other stuff is usually cheaper on Amazon too.. like some specialty bakeware. Our Silpat and Microplane, for example (see this post for more information). These are available in some specialty baking stores in town for about 30% more than what we paid. Plus I don't have to drive halfway across the island to buy a baking sheet.. it gets delivered to me.

The Singapore Post vPost system makes shipping a lot cheaper for any purchases from US website.

Another website I like a lot is Taobao.com. I like it a lot a lot. It is really convenient to buy stuff from this Chinese website.. if you have a Chinese credit card and an address in China. What I do now that I moved back to Singapore is have them delivered to my friend and collect it from her whenever I visit.

Because of the trouble, I shop a lot less on Taobao now. But it is really a fantastic website. You can find all kinds of stuff on this website.. and the very effective ratings and payment system makes shopping a breeze. So far, I have been really satisfied with most of the things I've bought from Taobao.

A couple of websites my friends like a lot. I haven't really bought anything from these 2 websites.. but I have done lots of browsing. One is Esty.com - a website that sells everything handmade or vintage. The things people make for sale on this website! Some people are just so creative and artistic!

The other website is for everything branded - Netaporter.com. With the Euro and Pound so cheap now, it makes shopping on this UK website really worth it. A friend who regularly buys from this website says she gets her shoes at least 20% cheaper. That's really quite a bit for a 300 pounds pair of shoes!

What websites do you like to buy things from?

Sale Season

There is the hot and dry season in Singapore.. and the hot and wet season.. and then there is the sale season.

It's the Great Singapore Sale again.

Having not been in Singapore much for the last few years, I've not really felt the excitement of the GSS. It's pretty exciting to see all that banners and posters around shouting "SALES", "50% OFF", "20% STOREWIDE"...

Somehow, these signs make the shopaholic in me very restless.

But the crowds tend to deter me a little. After all, I like shopping but dislike queues. And I'm a little afraid of women (and worse, men) zipping around the racks, with hungry, desperate looking eyes. And when the stores are that crowded, I always feel that it's a little dangerous for very young kids to be around. Yet for some reason, many parents tend to drag their reluctant kids along to the stores and when the young ones get cranky and screamy.. it's time for me to give up and head home.

But the unsuccessful attempts are usually when I start my day late. I've found that if you hit the stores bright and early.. the crowd is not as bad.. and the shoppers are a lot calmer... (the kids too are a lot less cranky)

Anyway, here's an interesting websites about all kinds of sales in Singapore: http://www.greatdeals.com.sg/

This website offers information on all kinds of sales in Singapore - store sales and warehouse sales.. They also provide information on interesting credit card promotions, coupon saver tips etc.

Best of all, the information is not limited to fashion and techie stuff.. but also household stuff as well.. Which brings out both the shopaholic and housewife in me.