The Orchard Road pedestrian night has been on once a month since late last year and I had always been meaning to go and check it out, but somehow never got a chance, until now. The 5th of Dec was the last day for the Pedestrian Night this year and I knew I had to set aside that night to go and check it out, especially because I also wanted to check out the beautiful Christmas lights. And it really didn't disappoint :)
If you do go to the Pedestrian Night and you're driving, you need to figure out where you're going to park. Factor in how long you're planning to stay there for, and if you stay until the end think about the bottleneck of cars all waiting to get out. Obviously avoid areas where entrance to the carparks are from the main Orchard Rd strip where the road will close since that would mean you'd really have to stay there till the end of the event where they'll reopen the roads again. For us we parked at Shaw Centre and it was a breeze getting out. Getting parking there was a little difficult, after many rounds we found empty lots but the space was very tight.
We started our walk from the front of Ion. There is a ton of free activities to do and entertainment to see. On that night we got free ice cream, free movie ticket and popcorn combo, free Coke, and free water all just by installing the Orchard Rd business app on your phone! The best way to see everything I think is to go down the centre of the road, then once you've reached the end go onto the footpath and go back the other way. There are also activities and buskers on the footpath for you to check out.
I'm not sure what the other nights are like, if it's anything like this night, I definitely will come back and check it out. But if you do want to attend just one Pedestrian Night, be sure not to miss out the one in December (that is, if this event continues next year).
If you've missed it this year, you can check out our night via the video below.
You know that 'Pancake Art' becomes a trend when you see countless videos of it on your FB feed. Whilst we're no artists we decided to go back to Slappy Cakes because hey it's actually quite fun to draw your own pancake art :)
So we headed to Slappy Cakes at Turf City or is it officially called The GrandStand now? Slappy Cakes offers 5 different types of batters for you to choose from ranging from Chocolate to Zucchini to Wholemeal, $8++ for an 8oz bottlle. After choosing your batter or batters you then choose your toppings. There are Sweet toppings, Savoury Toppings, Creamy Toppings and Syrupy toppings. These toppings ranged from $1.50 - $3++.
We chose the Buttermilk batter with Cheese, Chocolate Chips and Bacon as our toppings.
Our Sweet and Savoury toppings. The butter is given for free to grease the hot plate.
Buttermilk Batter
Once your toppings and batter arrive all you have to do is wait till the hotplate is heated enough and then begin making your Masterpiece! It's harder then it seems to, um, make pretty pictures. So we pretty much just settled on drawing simple stuff. It would probably be good to get the Chocolate batter to compliment your white batter. The Chocolate batter would be good for doing outlines etc. But we didn't feel like filling up too much on just pancakes, hence we just stuck to the one batter.
It's a happy day!
Not sure what Daddy was trying to draw....hehehe.
Aside from pancakes, Slappy Cakes also offers an All Day Breakfast menu as well as pasta, all with very generous servings.
Slappy Benedict $16.50++
Country Fried Steak $18.50++
Carbonara Pasta
Caelyn's beautiful treble clef!
Great place for birthday parties and gatherings. Seems like whenever we're there there's always some kind of celebration or party happening there, so if you're coming with a big group I'd suggest calling the in advance as the seats at the Turf City outlet is a bit limited.
So about a week and a half ago I took the plunge and coloured my hair Purple. I've been contemplating it for weeks, if not months...hmm...ok I think months and I even booked an appointment at a salon to get it done but by chance and luckily for me the salon miraculously closed down!! (fyi, it was Kimage at Nex Shopping Centre).
When I finally decided to just do it, I went to LeJean salon at Far East Plaza (Sg). My friend who had previously used a Groupon voucher to get her hair coloured here said it was pretty good. Salons really make me apprehensive, first coz I'm always afraid the colour or cut won't come out right, and second usually I get a stylist who doesnt speak much English and that day was no different....I got stuck with 2 stylists who barely spoke English (they were Mandarin speakers). Lucky I had a picture of what I wanted done and I could still communicate in basic Mandarin.
Basically I didn't want a whole head of purple hair. I just wanted like an ombre purple look.
So first thing they had to do was bleach the lower half of my hair. Bleaching does scare me but hey you gotta do what you gotta do right?
The 2 hunky guys putting on the bleach. I could actually feel the 'heat' from the bleach on my back.
I can't remember how long they put the bleach in my hair, I think about 30 minutes?
And this is what it looked like after they washed it out and blow dried.
What do you think of this look? I look a bit like a poodle :p
While they were blow drying my hair I instantly knew that I have damaged my hair with the bleach. It felt coarse and rough and they were pulling and tugging at at it so hard just to brush it out.
Next they applied the purple dye. They double checked with me using the colour swatch the colour that I wanted to do. The guy explained that up top will be darker while below will look lighter.
With all the purple dye in my hair.
The dye again was left on for about 30-40 minutes. It did sting my scalp a bit. Once time was up they washed my hair for quite long. And they put some kind of ice gel or menthol shampoo or whatever. Not too big a fan of that because it was literally too cold for my head! Once my hair was dry and blown out I actually wasnt sure about the look. I could hardly see the purple. My hair just looked dark....black.
You can see the colour a bit.
where's the purple?
Then the stylist decided to curl my hair. I was like, cool. I don't usually get curls after I get my hair done. Most of the stylist, if not all, that I've gone to would just blow my hair straight. I was quite excited to see what the finished look would be like.
Ta Da! I loved the final look! Still looked too dark for me.
I only realised how purple it was after I stepped out into the sunlight and omg, I was totally in love with it!
The colour with the sun reflecting on it whilst I was on the bus.
This was taken with my digital camera rather than my iphone and this is more accurate of what the colour is.
So all in all it took about 4 hours of salon time and I felt that it was well worth it! So what's the But that I mentioned above? Well as much as I love having purple hair, the problem is it doesn't last. From the first time you wash your hair and every time after your water will resemble grape juice. Even though I'm using a Redken shampoo made just for coloured hair, every single time I wash my hair purple dye would be running down the drain. To make the colour last longer I'm only washing my hair every 2 or 3 days and use a dry shampoo in between washes. 3 days is a real stretch for me because by that time my hair is so greasy....ewww....tmi right? :)
Up close this is what the colour looks like today. I can see some yellow bleached hair coming through and I think the purple is now fading to a light magenta colour or even a dark pink. Which is all fine by me.
So I'm sure if you stayed reading this post all the way till now you're curious to know how much it costs to get this done? Well at the salon I went to, inclusive of colour and bleach, it was SGD$150. This by far is the cheapest I know. Prior to this I've asked around at lots of different salons and the quoted price ranged from $180 to over $200.
Would I get it done again? Heck yeah! You only live once so why not :)
Hope you've enjoyed reading my hair journey. Be sure to check me out on the various social media links below and follow me on Youtube!
Post Edit: Well this colour washed out super fast! It barely stayed in for a month.
I was introduced to Salted Egg Potato Chips awhile ago. One of Hubby's friends bought it for us to try and I was instantly hooked. To be honest I love anything that's covered with Salted Eggs. When you go to a Chinese restaurant in Singapore, most often than not they will have something on the menu along the lines of Salted Egg Prawns, Crab, Squid, chicken, etc. It's usually a deep fried protein which is then smothered in a rich velvety sauce made from Salted Egg Yolks and other ingredients including Milk Powder or Evaporated Milk for a saucier consistency, Chilli Padi and Curry Leaves. These are the basic ingredients.
Now I'm not saying I'm an expert in cooking these kinds of dishes, Chinese food is kind of my weakness and I often tweak recipes to adjust to my taste. But that's what cooking is all about!
So without further ado, below is my recipe for Salted Egg Potato Chips:
We need 1 packet of Potato Chips weighing 150-200g. You can use Original Flavour or Hot&Spicy, ridged or thin cut or hand cooked potato chips. It's up to you! Although I do feel that ridged cut chips will have the ability to hold the seasonings better. You can also try your hand at frying your own potato chips, but I hate deep frying, not because I'm health conscious per se but because it's too hot to be deep frying and I don't like having an oily kitchen.
(Side note: I didn't really like this packet of chips so much, felt the cut was too thick).
Then we need the second most important ingredient, which is of course the Salted Egg Yolks. For me, I'm not about to go buy some Salted Duck Eggs, steam them and then mash up the egg yolks. Why? Because I believe you have to use several eggs in order to get a few tablespoons of mashed up egg yolks. For this purpose of coating potato chips, I think a dry powder version works better too since you don't want to make your crispy potato chips soggy.
This ingredient unfortunately can't be found easily. I googled it and this is where you can buy them from in Singapore:
1) Pasir Panjang Wholesale Center and purchase from the following store: Hsin Lian Fa Trading Co14 Wholesale Centre, Singapore 110014
2) Tung San Food Industries Pte Ltd at: a. Ang Mo Kio Branch Blk 554 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, #01-2034, Singapore 560554 b. Bedok Branch Blk 539A Bedok North Street 3, #01-475, Singapore 461539
I got mine from the Ang Mo Kio store. It is from the "Chef's" series by Knorr, and I reckon this is what the chefs in restaurants and hotels use. It saves them time and saves them ingredients too, just think about what would they have done with all the Salted Egg Whites when a recipe calls for 8 egg yolks??
Next you need Curry Leaves. These leaves are very fragrant and you should be able to find these easily in Singapore supermarkets and if you're overseas, in an Asian grocery store. I've seen Jamie Oliver use these many times, so I know they're at least available in London :P You just need a handful, if you buy a whole packet, just chuck it in the freezer and they're good for months! And unlike other herbs like basil etc, these leaves don't change structure much even after freezing them. They're quite hardy.
from my frozen stash
Add a dash of Onion Powder for extra flavour if you have. If you don't have on hand, that's fine. Or you can even use Garlic Powder. Just don't go overboard.
Add a teaspoon of Milk Powder. I know it sounds strange but it makes the dish. It gives it that creamy taste. For this chips recipe, don't use evaporated milk like you would if you were making Salted Egg Prawns or something. It's just gonna make your chips soggy! Don't say I didn't warn you! If you don't want to buy a whole packet of milk powder from the supermarket, you can get a small bottle like mine from a baking store such as Phoon Huat. Useful for making breads too.
You can also add some chilli padi. This time I didn't use any since my chips were Hot&Spicy flavour. If you're using, then just slice them up finely. Actually you can also use Chilli Powder or Chilli Flakes too. Add a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten it and bring out the creaminess.
How to Cook It:
In a bowl, mix up all your dry ingredients, another words everything except curry leaves and chilli padi. If you're using chilli powder or flakes, then mix them together with the dry stuff.
In a heated frying pan or wok, add a tablespoon of butter, swirl it around till it melts and add the curry leaves and stir fry till fragrant. Add optional chilli.
Add the chips into the pan and stir it around.
Sprinkle the dry mixture all over and give it a good stir and toss (if you know how to!). At this point if your temperature is on full ball, then you should lower it to medium as salted eggs burn really fast! (did you know that?)
Once it's taken on some colour, and everything looks nice and golden brown and coated turn off the heat and place the chips on a plate or a cookie sheet to cool down and crisp back up.
And enjoy!
If you'd like to see the live demo in my own kitchen, see the video below.
This is a popular soup in Indonesia and Indonesian restaurants here in Singapore. When you eat Ayam Penyet (Smashed Fried Chicken) this soup is often served as an accompaniment. But most of the time it's so watered down and tasteless.
The recipe below is my Mum's recipe and because I don't have exact measurements the trick is to get a balance of Sweet, Sour and Salty. It's not like a Thai Tom Yum soup where the predominant flavour is Sour. Hopefully you've arrived at this page because you've tried Sayur Asem before and so know what the taste is supposed to be like. If you haven't tried it before, fret not, just season the soup and have it the way you like it. You like it more sour, add more tamarind, and if you like it more sweet, then add more palm sugar. Simple! You are the master of your own kitchen, don't be afraid to take risks and be adventurous and experiment!
You can use any combination of the below vegetables. These are what traditionally goes into it, with the corn on the cob as a must ingredient in my opinion. I also like young jackfruit, but I don't see it in Singapore supermarkets. Perhaps I would have to go look for it at the Malay fresh markets or find the canned versions perhaps at the Thai supermarkets. Melinjo or Bitter Nut I'm pretty sure is non existent in Singapore. Please comment below if you've ever seen it sold here!
This soup is also best made ahead of time in order for the flavours to develop and mingle around more. You can make it half a day to a day in advance and just reheat it when you want to eat it. And the beauty of this soup is it doesn't even have to be eaten hot!
Ingredients:
Corn on the Cob
Long Beans/Snake Beans
Carrots
Choko
Young Jackfruit
Cabbage
Melinjo Nuts and Leaves (Bitternut)
Bay Leaf
Galangal, 1 thumb size piece
Tamarind Paste
Salt
Palm Sugar
Belacan/Shrimp Paste
To Grind or pound in a pestle and mortar:
Candlenut, about 4 pieces to 2 litres of water
2-3 shallots
1 big red chilli
Put a stock pot on the stove and fill with water and turn on the heat. Don't over fill the pot as you'll be putting in the rest of your ingredients into the pot.
Place the Bay Leaf, Galangal, Salt, Palm Sugar and Belacan into the water.
Place the grounded ingredients into the water as well.
Extract the juice from the tamarind by mixing water to the pulp and squeezing out all the juice with your hand. If you're using the paste type, then you can omit this step and just put a spoonful into the soup.
At this stage go ahead and try the soup and see if the flavours are balanced.
Cut up all the vegetables into bite sized pieces. The corn cut into small rounds, snakebeans cut into 1 inch pieces, carrots, choko, cabbage and young jackfruit can be cut into bite sized pieces. The melinjo if you are using is kept whole on the stem.
Add all the cut up vegetables into the soup and cook until all is tender. Turn off heat and just let it all marinate together. Once ready to eat, you can just warm it up or even eat it at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Jackfruit, Asam Paste, Melinjo Leaves and Nuts, Corn, Candlenuts, Carrots, Choko, Long Beans, Cabbage
This is the only Shrimp Paste I could find at the Supermarket, This is less pungent than the traditional Indonesian Shrimp Pastes.
