Little Red Dot Diaries

Generation Coffee Roasters - Tekka

2026-10-24T23:08:19.894+08:00

Being a hawker in Singapore is tough - generally all food & beverages businesses operating in our high labour cost, high rental cost environment would need some unique proposition to attract and retain their customers.

So it was a (pleasant) surprise to me when I first heard that a hawker stall started offering barista coffee at Tekka Hawker Centre, and there were actually queues during morning & lunch hours. Now that I have some time, I decided to try their coffee when I was around the Tekka area.

Generation Coffee Roasters - Tekka Hawker Centre

Generation Coffee beans

Indeed there was a queue when I reached the stall around noon but the wait was not too long - around 10 mins before I made my order. Prices are also reasonable ranging from $3 to $4 for espresso / cappuccino (hot), and they offered other drinks including our traditional kopi / teh, as well as macha latte, dirty macha etc. I ordered a hot cappucino and I saw others with various iced drinks. The coffee is quite good actually for an after lunch drink.

I think I would continue to support them if I happened to be around the area. They have a couple of other outlets (e.g. Tanjong Pagar, Hong Lim), and for those who wanted to support our local F&B, you could also buy their beans from their website (Generation Coffee Roasters).

Pokemon KFC Collaboration in Singapore (2026)

2026-09-08T13:22:27.870+08:00

Extremely excited about the Pokemon KFC collaboration in Singapore - 5 KFC outlets would be transformed into "gyms" both in real life as well as in Pokemon Go game, while other KFC outlets would be a Pokestop. There are other activities e.g. TCG tutorials and merchandise too as part of this collaboration.

These 5 KFC outlets would become "gyms" of different elements. I took a trip down to 2 of them - Ghost Gym at CompassOne, and Water Gym at Serangoon Nex. For PoGo players, spinning these gyms would also give you special "gifts" commemorating this collab. I guess I am happy that there are more gyms with more raids and generally more Pokemon related activities.

Ghost Gym CompassOne

Water Gym Serangoon Nex

KFC is also selling Pokemon merchandise, although I think I might be too old to use these stuff. Nonetheless I bought more KFC food stuff, including their Nanban burger and fries (plus the usual fried chicken and such). The food boxes came with Pokemon print but was too oily to be cleaned and kept.

KFC Pokemon Pouch

The collaboration will run till sometime end Sep I think, at least after the various TCG tutorials. Was tempted to sign up for the TCG tutorials but again I guess I would be awkward to be the senior among the many kids there. Maybe I would pop by just to take a look, and buy more fried chicken.

Gengar

Mimikyu

Oh by the way, there would be more Pokemon related activities and events - The World Championship 2027 will be held in Singapore, mid-August 2027! Am looking forward to the event and the associated promo activities as well as the many merchandise for it.

New Phase of Life - Semi Retirement

2026-08-06T00:05:03.824+08:00

Earlier in this year of 2026 I've decided to embark on a new phrase of life by quitting the corporate world. It was not a hasty decision but rather one made after much consideration. It took almost two years to prepare for this change.

Nope it was not nasty bosses nor because of any retrenchment / redundancy at the workplace; I had the good fortune of meeting many supportive bosses and colleagues. You could say that it is both a bit of a push factor as well as pull factors of planning ahead. The push factor was simply burnout from years of corporate life where the projects and work scopes are simply... not interesting anymore. I caught myself during pessimistic moments of being a naysayer when evaluating many colleagues' proposals, while on hindsight I would say, why not give the projects a try? Just simply because I had seen many failed examples of similar projects shouldnt mean that these new proposals would go down the same doomed path. Those moments were minor but clear indications that perhaps I should re-examine my place in the corporate world.

Likewise I had asked myself if I should financially plan for recurring income for retirement, a process that would take quite many many months. Eventually it lead to a moment when I decided to give "barista FIRE" a try. So here I am, away from a full time work phrase into this somewhat new, strange and admittedly frightening phrase of "retirement". The word is "retirement" because if it doesnt work out I might go back to the work force at some point.

So far so good I guess - I have time for long evening walks and literally touching grass. It is nice to pause and look at flowers & wild animals, instead of daily brisk walks between meeting rooms. It is also nice to catch up with old friends and visit places that I had not been to for a long while.

Flowers

Squirrel

The occasional visits to the library, and many "free" hours to simply spend on hobbies are truly refreshing after tiring decades of powerpoint works and workplace negotiations. Waking up without the need to accommodate any meeting schedule is... nice.

Making bread

I am not sure how long this phrase of life would last before I get bored or if I need to be financially active again due to some unforeseen events. Maybe give it 6 months and I would find a more meaningful use of my free time. Along the way I should plan for more exercises and maybe a better / healthier dietary programme :)

Lego Shophouse Experience - Orchard (ended)

2026-04-05T22:55:00.000+08:00

The Lego Shophouse Experience that started since mid March 2026, located at the 2nd floor of Design Orchard, has ended today (4th April 2026). It was a great exhibit of the different Lego pieces and definitely drew some crowds of Lego fans. Centering around the "shophouse" theme, there was a signboard carved with the Lego name in Chinese characters, inked with gold paint, right at the entrance of the exhibition pop-up.

Personally I enjoyed the short but interesting exhibit (couple of rooms). There was proper crowd control by the Lego staff, with fun enough activities e.g. that post card activity with 6 stations for "chopping" different colour inks to form a picture, that helped to engage both the fans and whichever friends they brought along for this visit.

I like that Peranakan theme too, since that is something unique to this part of the world. The featured wall at the entrance formed from Peranakan mosaic tiles gave a good classy touch that fitted well with the Shophouse theme. Oh, those who managed to complete the postcard stamping activity could also claim a free Lego mosaic set (while stocks last). Pity I didnt manage to get a set.

It was also good that Lego featured some pieces from their fans e.g. this Nespresso Machine Piece besides their usual impressive sets e.g. the Marvels and the Star Wars.

If that is anything that is not to mark, I would say that the "sales area" is somewhat small and located across the junction at the Takashimaya side (i.e. diagonally across). Maybe some unique sales sets right at the exhibit areas at the Design Orchard side would have been great (yah I know there is a much bigger Lego store).

Christmas Tree Decoration using recycled materials

2026-01-01T18:05:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year 2026! Every time when I stepped into the new year, I would have thoughts about what I can do, or do better in the new year, aka new year resolution. Among these thoughts would be a renewed effort to save the environment. This is sometimes ironic because December is a time for celebrations, and normally there would be excesses, be it food (buffets, pot lucks etc) or others like gift wrappers.

This time round, post Christmas, I have decided to reuse a few of the items and make a Christmas Tree decorations that I can definitely use in 2026. I had recycled that Nespresso capsule, i.e. one with a nicer design. Not much effort there except to dig out the used ground coffee and clean that aluminum capsule (the ground coffee is visible in the background). I had to widen that three holes in the aluminum capsule as a prep for the next step. The next reused item is a Christmas log cake deco piece with three round red "berries" and golden leaves. Finally I scraped some copper wires from an old spoilt electronic, which took some efforts because it is quite hard to peel off the rubber tubing.

Raw recycled materials

Next step is to poke the Christmas log cake deco straight into one of the three holes, and tie the copper wires around the deco, with both ends of the wires poked into the Nespresso capsule through the remaining two holes. I used a masking tape to tape the wire ends within the capsule (not visible in the photo). Viola, a usable and decent looking Christmas tree decoration for 2026!

Final product - Christmas Tree Deco

Ok, wish everyone a Happy New Year 2026 and great health throughout the entire year!

Disney Singapore, Cruise, MRT & More

2025-12-20T19:43:00.002+08:00

It is year end and often times the period for celebratory events and promotions. So indeed it is nice to see many promo, and among them the ones by Disney stands out. We see Disney Cruise promotions, i.e. Disney Adventure (and the first such cruise in Asia) marketing materials on MRTs (see the photos below) although I think the actual start dates would be from March 2026 onwards. When the hype dies down (and prices become more affordable) I would want to book and experience it at least once.

Would be fun to have breakfast with the characters and have Disney themed rooms, much like those at the Disneyland hotels.

Disney Adventure - MRT 1

Disney Adventure - MRT 2

Disney has also launched promotions at Jewel Changi since November, and we have seen the Rain Vortex displays multiple times, complete with Marvel characters and such. I am not sure if they would refresh the displays by Feb in time for Chinese New Year.

And then I am surprised to see the Singapore exclusive Disney themed T-shirts at UT Uniqlo. I guess these would make good souvenirs for tourists to bring back home. Mickey at various locations like Emerald Hills, MBS, shophouses and many others, would form good designs for casual T-shirts affordable priced at $19.90.

Uniqlo Mickey Shophouse UT

Uniqlo Mickey Kaya Toast UT

Taking this chance to wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year 2026! Christmas in 5 days time!

Bus Breakdown - Complementary Ride

2025-12-07T23:46:00.003+08:00

Ever wonder what would happen if the bus you took breaks down? It happened to me recently during one of my bus rides. Halfway through the journey, we heard the bus captain making some announcement and honestly those of us on the upper deck of the bus didnt pay any attention to it.

Then at the next bus stop, the bus stopped for a long time, and the captain walked up and said "Really sorry but the bus broke down" in mandarin. So we all have to leave. In fact some of the passengers were so "blur" that the captain had to walk up a second time to chase them out (politely). I translated the captain's message for some of the non-Chinese passengers.

Oh well, guess these things happen from time to time.

So what happened next? Heh, all the passengers could grab a ticket, that would let them take the next bus ride for free. Actually my card was not deducted at all for this particular trip - guess they did some magic at the back. The captain of the next bus was pretty surprised to see a crowd at this bus stop and the first few passengers just walked up without tapping their cards. He started collecting these complementary tickets from all of us boarding his bus.

So this is how that bus ticket looks like. I havent had a bus ticket for such a long time ever since everything goes by that transit card payment.

Complementary Ride Ticket

New Food Goals 20 and 30 by 2035

2025-11-09T21:39:00.004+08:00

Singapore's goals of "30 by 30", i.e. 30% of food to be sourced locally by 2030, was set in 2019, and after many years I guess they think it is no longer feasible to do so. Admittedly local vegetables continued to be priced higher than foreign imports - who could beat the prices from either China or just cheaper vegetables from our neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia?

Thus they changed the targets last week (4th Nov), to have 20% of fibres (defined as leafy vegetables and such, not including rooted veges and 30% of proteins to be sourced locally by 2035.

Honestly I am a bit disappointed. It is possible if we truly aim for it. We have done so for water isnt it? As for the protein part, they said that eggs already exceeded the original target, i.e. about 34% of eggs are sourced locally. So indeed if we set our mind on some of these targets, it is actually possible to achieve them. The prices of locally produced vegetables could be controlled depending on the types of veges and of course the rent. Maybe NTUC could help to roll out more promotions (they did in Aug for the SG60 celebrations) too to support our local farmers.

Food prices have been rising, and the inflation of food, both raw ingredients and cooked, would continue to put a strain on our residents.

Hope fully the new targets could be met, and not just 'adjusted' along the way or pushed back further. Would keep an eye on the Food Statistics when it is next published.

Happy 60th Birthday Singapore!

2025-08-09T14:19:00.006+08:00

Today is the 9th of August and Happy 60th Birthday to Singapore!!

I believe there are plenty of congratulatory notes all over the place and many of us (thos who didnt go overseas) would be looking forward to the National Day Parade at Padang this evening. The weather looks good thus far (dont jinx it!) and the fireworks will be fantastic, based on the views from past many weekends of pre-shows.

Taking this chance to continue showing support for locally made products, especially our vegetables and eggs! NTUC has been running many promotions for both vegetables and other locally produced food. They continued with the one for one - eggs, but it seems to have stopped for a number of NTUC outlets. I found this one at the Serangoon Nex (but the place is terribly crowded, definitely not my go to weekend grocery shopping place).

Chew's One for One Eggs - NTUC

The vegetables are on promotion too! I found the Green Harvest and Phyotgreen ones (nai bai, kai lan and others). Green Harvest offered free dou miao for any 2 packs of other vegetables bought. Heh our locally produced vegetables are pesticide free some more.

Well, not just locally produced vegetables and eggs, but we have plenty of other celebratory offers, including local favourites like chilli crab and durian flavoured food. So not surprising that fast food restaurants started with lots of chilli crab promotional food. I like the chendol flavoured ice cream cone from MacDonalds, and the chilli crab sauce seems authentic too.

Mac $1.30 Ice Cream Chendol Cone

Mac Chilli Sauce

So yup Happy Birthday once again Singapore! And looking forward to many many years of peace and prosperity for this Little Red Dot!! :)

Yours truly,

Little Red Dot Diaries

Luckin Coffee Available at NTUC

2025-07-12T22:38:00.003+08:00

I was somewhat surprised to see Luckin Coffee beind sold at NTUC. Heh nope not the normal version at the Luckin shops, but rather the different instant mix version. Even the Coconut flavour version (I thought unique and seasonal?) is available - per box of 9 cups being sold at $10.90 (discounted from $11.90). Not a bad thing but I wouldnt feel that uniqueness (or should I say experience) of getting a Luckin coffee via such an instant mix isnt it?

Luckin Coffee Coconut at NTUC

I can understand why Starbucks x Nespresso capsules work for some (me included) because all you want is a traditional coffee made quickly at home, i.e. an instant "cappuccino". Whereas the Luckin coffee experience is a different one - one order from their app prior to reaching the store with different vouchers to offset the price plus getting some varied flavour of the month. The latter would not be offered via a box of instant mix.

Oh well, who knows, maybe there are as many varied coffee drinkers with different preferences who might like it. Besides Coconut flavour, the mix traditional black coffee version is also available at $9.90 for 8 cups. Nope I didnt buy either - would still buy from their shop instead.

Luckin Instant Black Coffee

I think normal grocery food items being packaged with known brands is a thing - so while I was looking for that Demon Hunter Instant Ramen (not available yet), I came across this macadamia mixnuts with the Netflix brand instead. Maybe give them, i.e. Netflix, another month or so to get that spicy ramen flavours in all three versions right, and we would see them in stores all over. Heh with likes of Saja Boys' Your Idol topping the US charts, I think the related KPop Demon Hunter merchandise should be something made widely available soon.

NTUC Netflix Macadamia Mixnuts

More Eggs Promotion (Not Just Chicken Eggs) from NTUC

2025-07-01T14:41:00.003+08:00

We eat eggs every day, from the half-boiled eggs with kaya toast to omelets and eggs fried into our fried rice. And it is a good thing that we started to have more supermarket promotions about eggs in this climate of increasing cost of living. The buy 2 and free 1 promotions seem to be on-going and I am glad. Buy 2 Get 1 Free extends to Chew's and Seng Choon. Rich or poor, eggs still form an important protein source for us and it is good efforts to keep the prices affordable.

Singapore imports large quantity of its eggs, supposedly more than 70%, from Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, and now even Poland, yup eggs air-flown from Europe. Not sure why though but it is a good thing that we diversify our food sources, especially for such an important ingredient like chicken eggs. Of course, beyond chicken eggs NTUC started running promotions for quail eggs too ($0.50 off for 2 packs purchased). I wonder if they are locally produced too.

Quail Eggs Promotion

We do have local farms for example names like Chew’s and Seng Choon although I wonder where does NTUC source its Pasar branded eggs from. Since the Pasar eggs are placed next to a sign with SG logo, I assumed they are locally produced too.

Besides eggs as a success story, hopefully the efforts to grow our vegetables farms can bear fruits one day, and we could continue to have access to affordable vegetables. Heh basic staples should be kept affordable.

KPop Demon Hunters - Movie Review

2025-06-28T23:04:00.001+08:00

I've just spent my Saturday night watching the latest top movie / animation "KPop Demon Hunters" and I would say this is a really good movie. It has topped the Netflix charts in twenty over countries since the release on 20th June for the summer break. The plot revolves around three girls who formed a Demon Hunter girl band group - HUNTR/X, a tradition from generations, who use voices and songs to form a barrier that shielded humans from demons. Here's the song from the starting section:

Heh the shield is named as "hon moon" - basically soul gate (hon = soul, and moon = gate), which is illustrated as a blue lined barrier formed from the souls of their fans in the animation. The aim of the three girls (Rumi, Mira, Zoey) is to create a golden hon moon so that the barrier stays "permanent". Of course, along the way the demons sent their own band Saja Boys, a boy band of five, who sought to steal the fans from the HUNTR/X and break the barriers so that demons could steal souls from humans. Some interactions among the two bands

Ok no more spoiling of the storyline. The big attraction of the movie would be the various songs. Plot wise pretty standard - self-discovery journey of the heroine(s) where fears, identities, dreams etc were played out. Here's the YouTube of one of the popular songs:

I'm guessing that Sony Pictures Animations (producer of KPop Demon Hunters) would likely release a sequel, and minimally some merchandise (instant noodles would be one track, toys another). I think there are some merchandise for sale on Netflix shop now. Looking forward to watching more on Netflix, the distribution platform for this move.

Luckin Coffee Payday Best Day Promo

2025-06-21T00:28:00.004+08:00

I'm starting to be a Luckin Coffee fan due to the many promotions that they have been running. Just had their Payday Best Day promo today with 2 cups of coffee at $8. Quite a good deal actually. Had an Yirgacheffe Latte (1 of their Black Cup series, i.e. special coffee) the other day, and tried an iced caramel macchiato on Friday. And yup I've already used that $0.99 promo previously. :)

They have many vouchers so honestly each cup of coffee is not expensive. Heh I can't get a kopi-o at $0.99 easily in town.

Yirgacheffe Latte from Luckin

Caramel Macchiato

Considering the many varieties of coffee that they are offering, I would get to try different flavours and not get bored. This month it is the Iced Minty Coconut Latte but nope I didn't try that. I might do that over this weekend if I "run into" another Lukcin Coffee outlet. lol. Other than the varieties, the ease of ordering (before you reach that outlet) with a pick up, scan and go, makes it really convenient for those in a hurry.

I like the non-coffee stuff that Luckin Coffee is offering too. The strawberry Daifuku is nice and soft, just a bit small - one mouthful type of treats. Oh well that is at least something to go with the coffee.

With as many as like 60 outlets in Singapore, I guess Luckin is doing well here. Nope I am not paid in any way by them, but yup I would continue to use their promo vouchers. heh.

Strawberry Daifuku

GE2025 - Poll Card is here

2025-04-25T18:56:00.000+08:00

The poll card for GE2025 is here, and follows similar format to the past ones. Some cosmetic changes but nothing major. They added brochures (four languages) to describe the voting process during Polling Day, e.g. pressing down the self-inking stamp to mark an "X" next to the candidate that the voter prefers (and not on the face 😂).

Of course, what is a lot more interesting is the many physical rallies, and last night was the first night of campaigning rallies. After almost 10 years, the rallies are back, and no surprise that it was a huge turnout for WP's rally at the field along Anchorvale Cresent. Jams and road congestions happened around that field where the rally was held. The physical rallies lent a certain atmospheric feel to the elections; a proof that democracy is alive well and good in this tiny island of Singapore.

Some argue that those at the rallies might not work for the rallying parties. Well vote or not, the fact that a huge crowd turn out just to hear what the candidates are saying, is a good sign that people care. And regardless of who we vote for, hopefully we would all stay united since the times ahead are certainly going to be choppy given how geo-politics are developing around the world.

Ok, here's the poll card. They added a QR Code that allows voters to check their polling station queue, which is a nice improvement (we had complaints during the last election about long queues).

Poll Card 2025

Singapore General Election 2025 Possible May Polling Day Date

2025-04-13T13:26:00.002+08:00

It is that time again where once every 5 years the Singaporeans get a chance to wield their citizens' rights to vote. This time it is against the backdrop of possible global recession (and thus a likely recession in Singapore) and the first general election led by the Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Well which day could it be? All signs pointed to May 2025, and it is likely within the next two weeks the Writ of Election would be served.

Yes, Parliament has to be dissolved and Writ of Election served before the Election truly starts. This weekend (and last weekend) we have seen appearance of many more potential candidates with declaration of the constituency that they would be contesting in. The electoral divisions could be found on ELD's website. The screenshot is also capture from the ELD website, i.e. all rights belong to them.

Singapore 2025 Electoral Divisions. Source ELD website.

With the Writ of Election, we would have Nomination Day next, and then the rallies! When election was held during COVID, there was no physical rallies. It is only in physical rallies that one could feel the electrifying sense of participating in national level activities.

So yes, which dates do I bet to be the actual Polling Day? I would venture a guess of 9th May as the date. 9th May is a Friday, which means an extra day of rest except for the election officials. 12th May is a Public Holiday, i.e. Vesak Day. So for a voter, he / she could vote in the morning and hop onto a plane or bus for a holiday in nearby countries for as many as a 4 Days 3 Night break. Helps to build in positivity and indeed helps in sentiments for the current establishment.

Any difficulty for the schools? Schools are often the place used for polling and thus the logistics is always an important element. Well, just make 8th May a Home Based Learning day where the student study from home, and viola, problem solved!

So I will stick with a 9th May 2025 prediction date for the actually Polling Day in Singapore's General Election 2025, and wait for my Polling Card in the coming weeks. Heh like what I did in GE2015 and GE2011. Exciting weeks ahead!

Post event edit - well I guessed wrongly. It was announced today that the Polling Day would be held on 3rd May (Saturday). Oh well.

Cured Egg Yolks (Homemade Salted Eggs)

2025-02-02T12:38:00.004+08:00

It is that time of the year where we have some extra time to try out new things, and heh generally the beginning of year is a good time for new stuff. So I have decided to make some cured egg yolks after watching those YouTube video cooking recipes.

Indentations in salt for yolks

The process seems a simple one - packet of salt and some sugar (I didnt add any spices since this is my first trial), And of course EGGS! There were a number of hyper market promotions about chicken eggs, so the cost of eggs is bearable enough to waste a few eggs on a new trial.

I poured the salt and sugar mixture into a plastic container, made two indentation and keep some of the mixture to cover the yolks later. Originally I wanted to make 3 cured yolks, but I over-estimated my skill of sifting the yolks and broke 1. So I have two nice yolks to cure instead.

Broken egg yolk

Cover the yolks with salt

Put the yolks into the two indentations and gently cover them with the remaining mixture. Gentle is the word because I wouldn't want to break yolks now, or the entire container worth of salt, sugar and yolks would have to be discarded.

As per the instructions from those YouTube videos, I put the container into the fridge for 5 days (the timing varies it seems but 5 days looks like a reasonable period). The cured yolks were a bit gooey and still looked somewhat uncooked. The colour is a nice orange amber like shade. So I baked the yolks in oven for a short while under low heat.

Baking the yolks in oven

Cured Egg Yolks (pre-baked)

So are the cured egg yolks tasty? Well, they tasted like the normal salted eggs that we can buy from the hypermarkets - i.e. those cured duck eggs that we used for porridge and mooncakes. Thus for a substitute that I can get for about $0.60 per egg, I think this is too much trouble. Maybe some day I will add some other spices and perhaps the cured egg yolks could be used for say, fried rice instead. Hmm.

Singapore will have more vegetables farms but less fish farms

2024-10-31T13:29:00.002+08:00

So coincidental that the day after I posted the blog post about Supporting Locally Produced Vegetables, the Straits Times ran a few articles about local vegetable farms. The first article is "Local farms push ahead with international collaborations to further Singapore's 30 by 30 plans", starting with how Mr Webster Tham of Tomato Town is collaborating with Japanese companies to grow cherry tomatos. They were producing kales and lettuce as well. The article mentioned other companies in different state of developments.

I guess it is only natural that a non - agricultural country like Singapore, would look towards collaborations with agricultural companies for advanced agricultural techniques and sustainable practices. These collaborations should help our farmers improve production efficiency, with resilience against pests (not sure what insects in tropical Singapore eats tomatos), and innovate e.g. vertical farming.

Then there is this other Straits Time article that push innovative concept of farm to table dining for Singapore. Article is about a copany Artisan Green, who wanna implement sustainable farming practices with a dining venue, plus some tours and workshops to raise awareness about the benefits of local agriculture and sustainable eating. Not sure if I want to at right in the middle of a farm in humid Singapore weather. Tried wine tasting and dining in Australia, but that is against a nice beautiful scenery plus great weather.

Oh well, worth trying I guess.

But more importantly back to the 30 by 30 concept, I think it is also great that we try not to waste food, i.e. this 30 by 30 is afterall trying to build some resiliency locally for food consumption. And if we can waste less food, I think it works too! So it is great that we have apps and initiatives to cut down waste, for example article about this app to promote retailers selling discounted food near closing time. I really dont mind getting bread and pastry at a discount near the stalls' closing time, since I normally eat the bread for breakfast the next day anyways (i.e. dont need to buy the bread at an earlier timing).

So yes! 30 by 30, and less food waste!

By the way, vegetables farms seem to be working well, but the fish farms are suffering. The linked article showed that a quarter of fish farms are closing / had closed down in Singapore. Tough life for fisherman.

Support Local - Buy locally produced vegetables & eggs

2024-10-13T13:09:00.003+08:00

I was buying my grocery at the NTUC Fairprice when I chanced upon their marketing banner to urge the shoppers to buy locally produced vegetables. Heh the locally produced vegetables are typically priced higher than those from Malaysia or China. I recalled there was a government initiative to sustainably produce 30% of our nutritional needs by 2030, i.e. that "30 by 30" programme, see this "Our Food Future" website. So I guess there is some reminder and support by NTUC Fairprice for this government food initiative.

Support Local Food Supply - NTUC Fairprice

I am all for supporting local initiatives! Although to be honest there were only a few boxes of locally produced vegetables at the NTUC Fairprice. There is limited variety produced given our weather and limited land supply. I saw some packs of Xiao Baicai and Caixin hua. Sometimes I wonder how our local vegetables farmers can survive given there is not enough scale for their production nor could they compete in terms of pricing against the farmers in Malaysia or China. Yes I bought a pack of the Yili vegetables. I hope there would also be some form of government support for these local farmers, e.g. for some of the government events (e.g. those involving food and such), the organisers should also source from these local farms.

Vegetables from Yili

Further down the shopping aisle I saw this other promotion. This time the promotion is about Chew's Eggs, and great it is another local producer of food! The promotion is a lot more attractive this time round - Buy 2 trays of eggs and Get 1 Free tray. Essentially this translates to about 33% discount if the shopper buys 3 trays of eggs in total. Given all the concerns about food inflation and such, naturally this deal would be attractive to shoppers.

Chew's Eggs - Buy 2 Get 1 Free

Personally I think we could do more to support local producers of food. It was quite sad to know our local farmers (and fishermen) face many challenges when we know (or should know) food supply is a very key ingredient for our national security. I believe the price of chicken hasn't dropped since supply has been restricted from our neighboring country - the few pieces of chicken on our hawker chicken rice is honestly quite pathetic.

This was especially stark during the COVID period when everyone was worried about our food supply. I remembered that shelves were empty and the many shoppers frantically just grabbed any food that they could find. Now that COVID is over, I think our planners should at least pour in more resources or help to make sure the "30 by 30" programme succeed. Hopefully local enterprises like NTUC Fairprice could also help these local farmers (say local commission?).

Planting Sprouted Russet Potato

2024-04-10T17:21:00.001+08:00

With the recent rush of rainfall, punctured by periods of bright sunshine, it is no wonder that my bag of potatoes have sprouted. It is quite a sad development actually because we didn't get a chance to use any of the potatoes at all - waste of food. Yes, we have learnt to cover the bag of potatoes and keep them away from sunlight.

Nonetheless here's the bag of potatoes, and the many spuds growing out of the potatoes. I have been advised not to eat them anymore or I might have food poisoning.

Sprouted russet potatoes

If we zoomed in, we can see the sprouts, although I am not sure why the tips have a darker / black colour. Are these black tips the signs of growing leaves? Can russet potatoes grow in our humid climate?

So I have decide to plant it! No I don't have a garden with sufficient soil for potato planting, but oh well, let's give one of the potatoes a chance to grow right? So I have tried it using a shallow glass container. After a few darks the tips darkened further, and I guess it might not survive for very long. Hopefully it at least grow some leaves and maybe last a few weeks.

Sprouted Potato in glass pot

知否知否 - 如梦令 by 李清照

2023-12-02T22:47:00.003+08:00

I was reintroduced to this poem "如梦令" by 李清照 when I was watching one of those singing competition online. The duo (郁可唯 and 胡夏) gave a beautiful rendition of the song, which is a song from one of the popular Chinese drama "知否知否應是綠肥紅瘦". The name of the drama is part of the poem versus. The poem in turn formed the chorus of the song for the drama.

Here's the YouTube video for those interested to hear the song:

Hearing the song prompted me to search for the entire poem again, and here's the poems for those interested:

昨夜雨疏风骤，浓睡不消残酒。
试问卷帘人，却道海棠依旧。
知否，知否？
应是绿肥红瘦。

A direct interpretation of the poem would be the reminiscence of a scene by the author 李清照. The author remembered that it was an extremely windy night (the night before) with sparse rain. This was after a night of drinking where even after much sleep (浓睡), there is still the remnant of wine in her body.

This prompted her to remember about the flowers in her garden. The flower here referred to (海棠), which incidentally is the name for a group of flowers (see Wiki about 海棠), that generally has no fragrant. This sets the somewhat melancholic scenery, and it could be inferred that the author feels sorrowful, whether it is due to the changing of seasons (flowering spring to summer rainy season) or her background, or possibly both.

Thus she asked her maid about the garden, who is helping her to roll up the curtains (卷帘). The maid replied that everything is the same, which is of course contrary to what the author felt, i.e. the strong wind would have ruin the flowers.

This then lead to the 3rd and 4th line, where the author asked that famous line of "dont you know, dont you know", the scenery should be one of many greens (i.e. many leaves) and little flowers. There is an interesting symbolic inference where 绿肥, which literally translates to "green - fat", and 红瘦 for "red slim", painted a more graphically image of a ruined garden with much leaves and not many "red" flowers.

The entire poem painted a very beautiful image, that started with the sorrowful scene of strong winds (and sparse rain) giving rise to expectations of ruined garden, but yet the reality (if you believed the maid) of a normal garden. Poem ended with the author asking if it should be the other way round instead. Guess in a way this is a reference to her life. The author 李清照 lived in the Song dynasty, and initially she was leading a happy married life with her husband until the invasion of the Jin army.

知否，知否？应是绿肥红瘦 is thus used as a way to indirectly state that the life is the other way round (instead of what the maid sees normally).

Amazing Starbucks at Home Capsule Sales for Black Friday

2023-11-25T19:54:00.001+08:00

Black Friday sale is often a time to buy coffee related items, including capsules that I used for my Nespresso machine. I usually hunt for the coffee capsules on Lazada and of course this means getting all the vouchers and planning the purchase process.

The purchase was quite seamless, and I'm amazed at how fast the capsules arrived at my place. As usual, we would add the different combinations and such to the cart by Thursday evening. Straight after mid-night, and entering the actual Black Friday itself, I selected and cart out the purchase within 30mins, i.e. 1230am 24th Nov. Below is a pic of my selection that included the seasonal special of Starbucks' Toffee Nut.

Selection of Package on Lazada.

Amazingly I received my package this evening (Saturday evening), i.e. a short span of less than 2 days (including a Saturday) from placing the order around 1230am Friday to the receipt of the package by Saturday evening! With the different discounts and such (price above was before vouchers discount), I've paid only $74.89. This worked out to be $6.24 per tube of 10 capsules, which is way cheaper than usual price at marts.

Starbucks Coffee Capsules & Mugs

Above is the picture of the package, nicely packed and with the 2 freebies of Starbucks Festive Mugs. I will try the Toffee Nut selection by tonight and see how it goes. The packers are quite careful with the fragile mugs, and they were actually wrapped tightly in bubble wraps. See the picture below.

Starbucks Festive Mug

庐山烟雨浙江潮未至千般恨不消 - 苏轼

2023-01-28T15:41:00.004+08:00

There is this famous Chinese poem by the Song Dynasty poet 苏轼 (also known as 苏东坡) that is used by people to advise others that many "dream" careers or jobs / positions, are merely that, a job / career. Before we achieved that position or career posting, they may look extremely desirable that is worth all efforts and time, but once we reached that goal, we would have realised it is nothing so special.

My poor attempt of translating the poem would be:

The first sentence, "Amidst the Lushan rain / mist and the Zhejiang tide" describes an ideal scenery, and everyone dreamed to see it at any cost. Before seeing this scenery, the heart is full of yearning and expectation, and we would try every means to pursue and realise it. Once seen, one would feel that it is nothing special (i.e. 别无事). The misty rain is still the misty rain, and the wonderous tide is still just a tide.

Here's the actual poem in Chinese

庐山烟雨浙江潮，未至千般恨不消。

到得还来别无事，庐山烟雨浙江潮。

I've read two different background of why 苏东坡 wrote this poem - one stated that it was his poem written for his son who was leaving to start an official career (government post which is a desirable job in the past). Another version stated that it was his gift for a monastery when an old monk asked him for a poem. The latter could be a refence of how this poem also described a very Zen (禅) view of life / career. Seems like the poet passed away not too long after he wrote this poem.

This poem is beautiful because the first and last sentence (庐山烟雨浙江潮) are the same, and yet so aptly position to precisely point out that the scenery, i.e. referencing that dream career, is just a scenery, i.e. a career like any other. I guess this poem resonates well with a lot of mid-career / middle aged people.

Also see: 花开堪折直须折莫待无花空折枝

2021 COVID Year 2 Just Flew Past (with bread making & basil planting)

2022-01-24T22:28:00.001+08:00

As we welcome 2022 with brighter hopes, I was looking back at the last two years and wonder how they just flew by. Two years of many changes, not just due to COVID. Nonetheless it was also a good time to reflect and try new things (at home) for new experiences.

COVID ART Test

Basil Planting

I have never been a green thumb and most of my plants died regardless of how much attention I gave them. So it came as a big surprise when my Lemon Basil plants grew with many green leaves. They did grew up somewhat "bent" instead of straight but heh they grew well! One of the basil plants even flowered! These little white flowers do look quite pretty and I look forward to seeing the basil fruits. Not sure how they look like though.

Basil plant with flower

Bread Making

I was surprised that I actually enjoyed making bread. I didn't have much hope of making good tasty bread when I first started. Indeed my first bun actually felt more "scone-like" rather than the normal bread texture. I think it is an issue of yeast control. I didn't let the bread dough rest enough.

Scone-like bread

The second attempt was not much better, although the bread buns gave a slightly more "bread" feel to it. It felt wasteful to throw them away so I ate some.

For my third attempt, I used a bread tin and followed the recommended timing for the dry yeast to do their proper job. The humid warm weather in Singapore does not create the best environment for bread making. The recommended 1 hour of dough resting in the room "temperature" is meant for those temperate climate with 25 degree Celsius I guess. At the 30 minutes mark, the dough had risen too much that I hastily put the entire concoction into the fridge to cool it down.

The texture is much better compared to the earlier buns versions but honestly speaking still not good enough. Again the control of temperature and timing for yeast in bread making is critical.

Heh but with many failed attempts, I think I got it right on my fourth attempt! Letting the bread dough slowly rise in the fridge for more than 2 hours helped in the bread baking. This bread finally "tasted" like bread, and the crust gave that satisfactory "crunch" when I bite into the slices. The crust was a bit too thick because I left it in the oven longer to 'brown' it. I should try other methods next time.

Sliced Bread

After the fourth attempt, I tried making one with chocolate. The bread came out fine but the chocolate taste was not sufficient. Ok I guess practice and efforts are the basic ingredients for bread making. At least this side hobby is one good thing that came out of this dreadful COVID pandemic.

Stay Safe!

Breakfast @ Cheng San market - Bee Hoon (和發) & Coffee (天天茶室)

2016-01-16T22:04:00.003+08:00

Many moons ago, it was during one of the rare occasions that I had a weekday morning off and I decided to pop by the Cheng San market for breakfast. The Cheng San market is located at Blk 527 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, quite accessible if you drive and exit from CTE AMK Ave 5 exit.

I tried the 'Fried Sotong Bee Hoon' from Hwa Huat 和發 (because 1 key aim of visiting the Cheng San market is to try the coffee next door) and I was pleasantly surprised by how good and cheap the bee hoon is. The uncle would fry the bee hoon on the stop, i.e. hot delicious breakfast instead of pre-cooked portions. I added a Soon Kueh just to top my breakfast quota.

和發

Of course for coffee I had the kopi from Everyday Tea Stall - 天天茶室. They were featured in the TV programme before, where the uncle (seen in the photo below) was commenting that he suffered from backaches due to long hours of making coffee. Nonetheless his coffee is damn good (for hawker fare) and there are often queues. 1 chap who was being interviewed even said that he would buy extra to keep in the fridge, so that he could enjoy the coffee when he couldn't come to the Cheng San market to buy from 天天茶室. Being a typical hawker fare, the mug is just a nice flower-design mug, i.e. not those nostalgic looking cups from the more famous kopi chains.

天天茶室

天天茶室 Uncle

天天茶室 Kopi

So for those who have the morning off, and would like to try out good local hawker fare, drop by Cheng San market for a little culinary adventure. :)

Bak Chor Mee - Seng Huat Coffeeshop @ Hougang

2016-01-12T00:36:00.000+08:00

Ever crave for bak chor mee at unearthly hours, say near mid-night? Well if you do, you could travel to Hougang for a bowl of yummy bak chor mee at the Seng Huat Coffeeshop! It is located straight next to Hougang Mall and right opposite the HDB office. Parking (for those who drive) is plentiful with two open air carparks nearby, and those who prefer the public transport could take the MRT to Hougang.

Seng Huat Coffeeshop Bak Chor Mee

Well I visited at slightly better hours, about 8 plus pm on a weekend and there are just about 6-7 customers in front of me, i.e. not a bad queue. The bak chor mee has received many awards and won many praises among the food connoisseurs. There are quite a number of articles and the owners put them up as plaques at his stall.

We tried both the bak chor mee (actually it is dried kway tiao) as well as the fishball noodles. Adding the anchovies to the noodles gave a nice crunchy texture, and the different ingredients were cooked just nice (unlike places where the liver is over-cooked). Sauce, i.e. the chilli and vinegar, is well balanced and brings out the flavour of the bak chor. Perhaps I had too high an expectation about the bak chor mee, and thus I would say it is good, but somehow didn't meet the high imaginary oomph standards that I had in mind... the curse of being famous I guess.

Surprisingly though, we find the fishballs way exceeding our expectations. The texture / feel when you bite into the fishball is addictive and you would guess immediately that these are hand made fishaballs. Good size and great taste! So I guess I should amend my opening paragraph slightly... when you have cravings for fishball noodles at unearthly hours, do drop by Seng Huat Coffeeshop!

Little Red Dot Diaries

Generation Coffee Roasters - Tekka

Pokemon KFC Collaboration in Singapore (2026)

New Phase of Life - Semi Retirement

Lego Shophouse Experience - Orchard (ended)

Christmas Tree Decoration using recycled materials

Disney Singapore, Cruise, MRT & More

Bus Breakdown - Complementary Ride

New Food Goals 20 and 30 by 2035

Happy 60th Birthday Singapore!

Luckin Coffee Available at NTUC

More Eggs Promotion (Not Just Chicken Eggs) from NTUC

KPop Demon Hunters - Movie Review

Luckin Coffee Payday Best Day Promo

GE2025 - Poll Card is here

Singapore General Election 2025 Possible May Polling Day Date

Cured Egg Yolks (Homemade Salted Eggs)

Singapore will have more vegetables farms but less fish farms

Support Local - Buy locally produced vegetables & eggs

Planting Sprouted Russet Potato

知否 知否 - 如梦令 by 李清照

Amazing Starbucks at Home Capsule Sales for Black Friday

庐山烟雨浙江潮 未至千般恨不消 - 苏轼

2021 COVID Year 2 Just Flew Past (with bread making & basil planting)

Breakfast @ Cheng San market - Bee Hoon (和發) & Coffee (天天茶室)

Bak Chor Mee - Seng Huat Coffeeshop @ Hougang

知否知否 - 如梦令 by 李清照

庐山烟雨浙江潮未至千般恨不消 - 苏轼