Sunday, June 3, 2012
Kids Dentist In Singapore
As if being a parent isn't hard enough, bringing your kid to the dentist and being told she needs this and this work done just adds more to your feelings of inadequacy at being a parent. So I just wanted to share my experiences with all of you on bringing your child to the dentist, from finding a suitable one, to our experiences with them. And if you're like me, who obsess over things that's beyond your control, and research after research just to prepare yourself and to make you feel better, than I hope this posting can help in some way.
My daughter who is now 5 years old has always had a lot of teeth problems, and no she doesn't eat sweet stuff or drink from a bottle. But when she was younger she hated brushing her teeth (still does now but is more strictly enforced). So as a consequence she had lots of cavities on her teeth and I can tell you that sometimes dentists can make you feel horrible about yourself and what a terrible job you did as a parent in taking care of your child's teeth. So if anyone's feeling down about what the dentist has said to you, I know how it feels.
The first time we brought her to the dentist was because she chipped her front tooth when she fell down. For a while we actually left it thinking it would just fall off eventually anyay since it was a baby tooth. But we were wrong, the tooth started showing signs of decay so we no choice had to bring her to the dentist.
Finding the right dentist that suits yours and your child's needs is basically trial and error. We visited DP Dental at Kovan because it was close to our place and also because I visited them before too and thought overall it was a good professional practice. Generally, and not because I'm up myself, I avoid going to dentists located underneath HDBs that look a little too run down for me to be convinced that they'd have adequate modern equipment. Perhaps i'm swayed by the nice facade of modern dentists in the malls. The first visit to patch up the tooth was fine and went smoothly. We went back again a year or two later when the patch on the tooth fell off. That was when a big cavity was discovered. But unfortunately the dentist wasn't competent enough to deal with my kid when it came time to drill because she kept saying her tongue was in the way. And you could tell she was getting exasperated. So they said they can refer us to a pediatric dentist. But I didnt think it was necessary to go through pediatric dentist, thinking of how much the costs would be, consultation alone with a specialist would be like $80. Plus I had called up a couple and their appointments were booked up usually for several weeks.
After much research we went to GPA @United Square because it had a kids room. I can say that I'm satisfied with GPA only because I think the dentists are very professional and experienced in dealing with kids and that their consultation fees is reasonably (around $35). They knew how to handle them, talk to them nicely to put them at ease and they are able to complete the jobs quite fast (compared to our experience at DP Dental). Also the equipment they use are scaled down to children's size, including the seats. There's also a tv overhead that the children can watch while work is getting done on their teeth. But on the downside they are on the expensive side if you can't use CDA account to pay. One filling was $120 not including gst!
On a recent visit to get fillings, it was discovered that she had a swelling on her gum right underneath her molar. This is called an Abscess and is basically a pocket of pus from an infection in the tooth or root of the tooth. Usually it's accompanied by pain, but my girl didn't feel any pain at all. Worst thing was when the dentist asked, did the previous Dr drill very deep into the tooth last time. How are we supposed to know, it was done at your clinic...so are you saying your Dr caused this, I wanted to say. Anyway, to treat it they gave a course of antibiotics to see if the swelling would go down and if not then she would have to do a root canal. A root canal on a 5 year old! Extraction isn't recommended if the tooth can be saved because she won't be losing the tooth naturally till she's 12. Apparently this is quite common (though we'd never heard of it).
So we went for a second opinion at Q&M at City Square (also based on the fact they had a kids room). The dentist also confirmed she needed a baby root canal. I figured ok since we were there already might as well get it done there and probably cheaper too. They quoted $300 for the root canal and $300 for the stainless steel crown to be done in a second procedure. Price wise I figured it would probably be cheaper than GPA. But after it was done, I really regretted going there. The Dr was insensitive to my child's needs, when she cried halfway because she said she felt pain from the drilling, he kept saying she shouldn't feel any pain as the tooth is dead and rather sternly said to her Why you crying?! I know for a fact that kind of talking doesn't work on my child. It was very heartbreaking. How does he know her surrounding teeth don't feel the pain? After a week, we came back to have the tooth patched and crown put on it. But because the swelling hadn't fully subsided he wanted to take out the temporary medicine filling in the tooth, which meant drilling the tooth again. My child was already traumatised the first time and cried immediately and said NO and refused to open her mouth and said she wanted to go to the other dentist. I tried to persuade her as best as I could while the Dr looked on and glanced at his watch. After about 20mins it was concluded that he won't be able to do it in this state and that was that. What annoyed me was they still charged us $50 for consultation fee! Just for him to watch me for 20mins trying to calm my child down! All in all, I was really disappointed with them. For DP Dental and GPA, both took photos of her teeth before and after the procedures for record keeping. I felt like they were better equipped with good technology and showed us her teeth on the computer screen before proceeding with any procedures. On hindsight this was probably a red flag I should have picked up when the Dr at Q&M didn't do any of that.
So although I can pretty much guarantee we will end up paying much more in the end at GPA dental, I think they are the best for us. Had we not been so concerned about finding a cheaper dentist, we could have saved ourselves a bunch of trauma and heartache. Now I can only hope that when we go back to GPA, she will cooperate and not cry......I'm scared she's so traumatised that we'll have no option but to put her under.....
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Doing the Dukan Diet in Singapore
I have in all honesty never ever gone on a diet before. Growing up I was a stick thin kid, it wasn't till after Uni that the weight started to pile on...little by little....then marriage and pregnancy happened....and then well I pretty much physically turned into a different person. I don't know how anyone in Singapore can stay so thin, ok perhaps they have an active life etc, which was what I had in oz, but not here, but there's so much good food everywhere you look! It's not food is just found in shopping centre food courts, it is literally within reach here. Sometimes shopping centres have 2 food courts AND a basement dedicated to the selling of food!
So after my recent trip to US, stepping on the scales when we got back I gasped and literally stared in disbelief and horror. I won't tell you how much I weighed cos it's just far too embarrasing. On the plus side, I am tall for a Chinese girl (I think), I'm 1.7m - but I am sadly overweight. But if I were short, I would look completely pudgy at the weight that I was at.
I desperately wanted to lose weight and was wishing that there was a Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers in Singapore. I wasn't going to fork out thousands of dollars at slimming centres that just leech off your wallet. And by chance I came across an article about the Dukan Diet in some magazine and it mentioned that Kate the royal and her mother had gone on this diet prior to her big shin dig, and JLo was also a big fan of the diet. So off I went and ordered the book.
Now diets really terrify me, just the thought of having to restrict yourself etc...I didn't think I had that kind of will power. But after reading the book, it seemed 'easy' enough and vowed that I'd stick to it. So to make a long story short, I started the diet 16th December and since then I have lost 5.5kgs and about 9-10cm off my waist. The difference is incredible, I feel so great because I know I look better. The diet was definitely hard to begin with, I did pure proteins for 5 days and tried to stick to the book as much as possible. Cheated here and there with tomato sauce etc that you're not supposed to have. And I endured Christmas and Chinese New Year (where I did cheat many times) and have kept the 5.5kgs off. I haven't reached my target weight yet, but to think how far I've come, I'm really proud of myself.
You'd think doing a western diet in Singapore would be difficult, as most of the recipes they offer is western. But surprisingly you can find a lot of the things you need for this diet at the regular supermarket. For example, Oat Bran, No Fat No Sugar added Yogurt and low fat cottage cheese and you can even find 0.01% milk at the bigger supermarkets. Now days they even have Fat Free cream cheese and in some superrmarkets you'll be able to find Non Fat, No sugar added Jell-O....although the price is a little bit more expensive, it's worth it if you're craving sweet stuff. Just too bad in Singapore there aren't much variety on Diet drinks which are permitted on the diet. So you're basically stuck on just drinking Coke Light/Zero or Pepzi Light/Max...which gets boring after a while. Sugar substitutes are also a bit expensive, I found that Equal was the cheapest amongst the brands. Beef is also more expensive here than in the west, but if you go to certain Cold Storages you can find marked down beef cuts which helps on the pocket.
In terms of exercise I don't do much simply because I don't have the time, I only walk my kid to and fro school which amounts to about 40mins a day. Perhaps if I did more exercise I would be able to lose more weight? But anyway, I am happy with the results and have realised it's also about changing habits and the way you normally eat. You do get used to it...but temptations are always there especially if you have a family.
Oh and another thing that I think might make this diet difficult for Singaporeans is you do HAVE to cook on this diet. There is no way around it since it is a High Protein diet which means you have to cook your meats, chicken, seafood etc - unless you survive on sashimi all day long....And when it comes time to Protein and Veg days on the Cruise Phase, you either have to eat a salad which I know is not favourable by a lot of singaporeans simply because they're not used to eating raw veg, or you'll have to go and cook your green veg like Kangkong, Wombok, etc....So it can be time consuming if you're not used to cooking.
If you are thinking of trying a diet, this diet really does work, give it a go, what have you got to lose? :)
So after my recent trip to US, stepping on the scales when we got back I gasped and literally stared in disbelief and horror. I won't tell you how much I weighed cos it's just far too embarrasing. On the plus side, I am tall for a Chinese girl (I think), I'm 1.7m - but I am sadly overweight. But if I were short, I would look completely pudgy at the weight that I was at.
I desperately wanted to lose weight and was wishing that there was a Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers in Singapore. I wasn't going to fork out thousands of dollars at slimming centres that just leech off your wallet. And by chance I came across an article about the Dukan Diet in some magazine and it mentioned that Kate the royal and her mother had gone on this diet prior to her big shin dig, and JLo was also a big fan of the diet. So off I went and ordered the book.
Now diets really terrify me, just the thought of having to restrict yourself etc...I didn't think I had that kind of will power. But after reading the book, it seemed 'easy' enough and vowed that I'd stick to it. So to make a long story short, I started the diet 16th December and since then I have lost 5.5kgs and about 9-10cm off my waist. The difference is incredible, I feel so great because I know I look better. The diet was definitely hard to begin with, I did pure proteins for 5 days and tried to stick to the book as much as possible. Cheated here and there with tomato sauce etc that you're not supposed to have. And I endured Christmas and Chinese New Year (where I did cheat many times) and have kept the 5.5kgs off. I haven't reached my target weight yet, but to think how far I've come, I'm really proud of myself.
You'd think doing a western diet in Singapore would be difficult, as most of the recipes they offer is western. But surprisingly you can find a lot of the things you need for this diet at the regular supermarket. For example, Oat Bran, No Fat No Sugar added Yogurt and low fat cottage cheese and you can even find 0.01% milk at the bigger supermarkets. Now days they even have Fat Free cream cheese and in some superrmarkets you'll be able to find Non Fat, No sugar added Jell-O....although the price is a little bit more expensive, it's worth it if you're craving sweet stuff. Just too bad in Singapore there aren't much variety on Diet drinks which are permitted on the diet. So you're basically stuck on just drinking Coke Light/Zero or Pepzi Light/Max...which gets boring after a while. Sugar substitutes are also a bit expensive, I found that Equal was the cheapest amongst the brands. Beef is also more expensive here than in the west, but if you go to certain Cold Storages you can find marked down beef cuts which helps on the pocket.
In terms of exercise I don't do much simply because I don't have the time, I only walk my kid to and fro school which amounts to about 40mins a day. Perhaps if I did more exercise I would be able to lose more weight? But anyway, I am happy with the results and have realised it's also about changing habits and the way you normally eat. You do get used to it...but temptations are always there especially if you have a family.
Oh and another thing that I think might make this diet difficult for Singaporeans is you do HAVE to cook on this diet. There is no way around it since it is a High Protein diet which means you have to cook your meats, chicken, seafood etc - unless you survive on sashimi all day long....And when it comes time to Protein and Veg days on the Cruise Phase, you either have to eat a salad which I know is not favourable by a lot of singaporeans simply because they're not used to eating raw veg, or you'll have to go and cook your green veg like Kangkong, Wombok, etc....So it can be time consuming if you're not used to cooking.
If you are thinking of trying a diet, this diet really does work, give it a go, what have you got to lose? :)
Monday, August 29, 2011
Pelican Pizza - Singapore
A while ago there was a Groupon voucher for Pelican Pizza. I'd never heard of it before but after reading a few blogs saying it was good, thought would give it a try after all it was only $15 for $25 worth of food.
We decided to go for the Pelican A Set Meal which consists of 1 Regular Pizza, 1 bbq chicken wing set (3 chicken wings), 2 garlic breads, 1.5ltr bottle coke - price $25.90. For the Pizza topping we chose the Pelican Special, which consisted of onions, mushroom, salami, beef, green peppers, fresh tomatoes, olives and cheese.
Verdict: unfortunately it fell below our expectations. The pizza, although having generous toppings was a little bland and tasteless. The beef mince was also a little dry and had a funny taste. The garlic bread came in a paper bag and by the time it arrived the paper underneath the bread was drenched in oil.....really not an appetising sight. Now i know why garlic bread usually comes in foil or foil lined paper bags.
On the upside though, the chicken wings and garlic breads were very tasty - but i doubt it was made in house so can't give them credit for that. And also, we didn't feel too thirsty after the meal. Usually with pizza hut we'd have to chug down a lot of water because we'd be super thirsty.
Another plus is there's no gst and no delivery fees. But im still undecided whether i'd order frm them again...\
The funny thing was when they called me back to ask for my groupon code number and then proceeded to ask me (almost begged me) if I wanted to order anything else, ie they said "that's all ah?". The guy then proceeded to tell me how he was losing money cos of Groupon and that people weren't ordering more and that Groupon never told him about GST and Paypal charges etc. Anyway felt kinda sorry for them! I suppose you'd definitely lose money, but aren't they supposed to look at this like they're advertising? He talked to me like we were old friend catching up or something....kinda weird....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We decided to go for the Pelican A Set Meal which consists of 1 Regular Pizza, 1 bbq chicken wing set (3 chicken wings), 2 garlic breads, 1.5ltr bottle coke - price $25.90. For the Pizza topping we chose the Pelican Special, which consisted of onions, mushroom, salami, beef, green peppers, fresh tomatoes, olives and cheese.
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| the box |
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| BBQ Chicken Wings - Set of 3 |
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| the Pelican Special |
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| Garlic Breads |
Verdict: unfortunately it fell below our expectations. The pizza, although having generous toppings was a little bland and tasteless. The beef mince was also a little dry and had a funny taste. The garlic bread came in a paper bag and by the time it arrived the paper underneath the bread was drenched in oil.....really not an appetising sight. Now i know why garlic bread usually comes in foil or foil lined paper bags.
On the upside though, the chicken wings and garlic breads were very tasty - but i doubt it was made in house so can't give them credit for that. And also, we didn't feel too thirsty after the meal. Usually with pizza hut we'd have to chug down a lot of water because we'd be super thirsty.
Another plus is there's no gst and no delivery fees. But im still undecided whether i'd order frm them again...\
The funny thing was when they called me back to ask for my groupon code number and then proceeded to ask me (almost begged me) if I wanted to order anything else, ie they said "that's all ah?". The guy then proceeded to tell me how he was losing money cos of Groupon and that people weren't ordering more and that Groupon never told him about GST and Paypal charges etc. Anyway felt kinda sorry for them! I suppose you'd definitely lose money, but aren't they supposed to look at this like they're advertising? He talked to me like we were old friend catching up or something....kinda weird....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Uncle Leong Seafood new outlet at Punggol
If you're a regular at Uncle Leong's Seafood at Ang Mo Kio, you would have noticed their shop has closed down. Fret not, they've actually moved to Tebing Lane at Punggol.
It is now a proper restaurant with indoor aircon seating and outdoor sitting overlooking the river.
Food is still as tasty as ever with big fat sweet crabs. Yummmmm
The restaurant is right next to the prawn fishing pond which gets pretty crowded. Come early like before 6pm to avoid waiting in line for a long time as they dont take reservations on weekends.
It is now a proper restaurant with indoor aircon seating and outdoor sitting overlooking the river.
Food is still as tasty as ever with big fat sweet crabs. Yummmmm
The restaurant is right next to the prawn fishing pond which gets pretty crowded. Come early like before 6pm to avoid waiting in line for a long time as they dont take reservations on weekends.
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| Crab Beehoon Soup |
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| Chilli Crab |
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| Sambal Kangkong |
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| view of river |
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| Their famous Crabs - Chilli Crab, Crab Beehoon Soup, Shimmering Crab |
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| Can't miss it with a big sign like that! |
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Shiu Yakiniku Review
We bought some vouchers from Deal.com.sg for this buffet. I think had there been no offers we wouldn't have gone all the way there to try it out because it's situated at this place called The Village which is right next to the Jurong Birdpark carpark. It's pretty quiet there so presumably their main customers must come from the people that visit the bird park.
The restaurant itself is pretty small but I was impressed with the number of waitstaff they had which meant service was prompt, but with the same level of unfriendliness you've come to expect from any other restaurants in Singapore.
We bought the vouchers for $23. The funny thing was, we only had 2 vouchers but wanted to bring my Mum along and was told on the phone when making the reservation that we could buy the same voucher direct from the restaurant.
The best thing about the buffet is that it truly is smoke free and you start to wonder how on earth they do it because there are no exhaust fans sucking up the smoke. It felt really good to go to a BBQ without having smelly clothes. And somehow the food tasted healthier too because the they didn't stick onto the grill plate and didn't char as much...
Food wise it was ok only. Yes the meats were good, well marinated. And we definitely had our fill of Pork Belly, Pork Collar and Beef Ribeye. Only thing was all the meats seemed to have been marinated the same way with some kind of sweet marinade - not bulgogi or anything. After you cook the meats you can dip it into their Korean red pepper paste dipping sauce or their home made BBQ sauce which to be Frank was tasteless and too runny. meats are ordered ala-carte style.
On the special deal menu, there was also appetisers and hot food you could either take from the buffet table or order ala-carte. The buffet table seemed like a cheap display and was rather unappealing. The sushi was quite poor standard (I could've made better) and same for the teriyaki chicken, didn't really make you want to have seconds. The only thing I really liked from the displayed buffet was the cucumber and radish kimchi....and ice cream.
But despite the little offering they had, we were satisfied with the meats and really when you come to a BBQ buffet that's all that matters. If you want to compare with something like Seoul Garden, the food at Seoul Garden is more but Shiu Yakiniku beats it in it's smokeless environment and good quality cuts of meat such as the pork belly, pork collar, beef ribeye and beef tenderloin. But with such little variety you get sick of eating the same stuff over and over again after a little while. This is based on the special deal menu though, so not sure how the normal menu compares.....but I doubt that I'd make a return trip there again - once is enough.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The restaurant itself is pretty small but I was impressed with the number of waitstaff they had which meant service was prompt, but with the same level of unfriendliness you've come to expect from any other restaurants in Singapore.
We bought the vouchers for $23. The funny thing was, we only had 2 vouchers but wanted to bring my Mum along and was told on the phone when making the reservation that we could buy the same voucher direct from the restaurant.
The best thing about the buffet is that it truly is smoke free and you start to wonder how on earth they do it because there are no exhaust fans sucking up the smoke. It felt really good to go to a BBQ without having smelly clothes. And somehow the food tasted healthier too because the they didn't stick onto the grill plate and didn't char as much...
Food wise it was ok only. Yes the meats were good, well marinated. And we definitely had our fill of Pork Belly, Pork Collar and Beef Ribeye. Only thing was all the meats seemed to have been marinated the same way with some kind of sweet marinade - not bulgogi or anything. After you cook the meats you can dip it into their Korean red pepper paste dipping sauce or their home made BBQ sauce which to be Frank was tasteless and too runny. meats are ordered ala-carte style.
On the special deal menu, there was also appetisers and hot food you could either take from the buffet table or order ala-carte. The buffet table seemed like a cheap display and was rather unappealing. The sushi was quite poor standard (I could've made better) and same for the teriyaki chicken, didn't really make you want to have seconds. The only thing I really liked from the displayed buffet was the cucumber and radish kimchi....and ice cream.
But despite the little offering they had, we were satisfied with the meats and really when you come to a BBQ buffet that's all that matters. If you want to compare with something like Seoul Garden, the food at Seoul Garden is more but Shiu Yakiniku beats it in it's smokeless environment and good quality cuts of meat such as the pork belly, pork collar, beef ribeye and beef tenderloin. But with such little variety you get sick of eating the same stuff over and over again after a little while. This is based on the special deal menu though, so not sure how the normal menu compares.....but I doubt that I'd make a return trip there again - once is enough.
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| Pork Belly |
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| Pork Collar |
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| Tempura |
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| Beef Tenderloin |
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| sushi, octopus, seaweed, kimchi cucumber, beansprouts, terriyaki chicken |
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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