I've discovered their Dirty, Dirty McSecret...

Now I’m sure some, if not many of you would be familiar with Macdonald’s new range of Mcflurries!



Just when you thought, “Be gone boring old vanilla and oreo cookie cup!”, Macdonald’s never fails to disappoint you again (think the no-longer-double Mcspicy which seems to be shrinking as we speak).

Being the cheapskate that I am, accumulating Mcpoints, er I mean points from Macdonald’s, is my new favourite hobby. Since my parents were going down to Plaza to get dinner I thought had an epiphany; ‘Wah! If I give them my ez-link card then ask them to buy Macdonald’s that means I get free Macdonald’s dinner AND points!’. So I gave my mom my ez-link card and warned her gravely that she MUST remember to tell the oh-so-forgetful cashiers the coveted codeword of cheapskates all around Singapore; “MEMBER!” And since it was going to be a free dinner I took to chance to try the new CHOCOLATE MUDPIE MCFLURRY!

Now let’s come back to the 2 “new” Mcflurries and examine them in greater detail.



Given the colour of the Mcflurries in the poster one would assume “Wow! They’re using chocolate ice-cream and strawberry ice-cream? Maybe the additional 50 cents is worth it!” (of course I wasn’t thinking that since I wasn’t the one paying, but I really did think that it was chocolate ice-cream).

However when my father brought back the “chocolate mudpie” it looked really, well odd. Firstly it was very obviously NOT chocolate ice-cream, it looked like the normal Mcflurry just with a tiny bit of brown swirl inside. I didn’t take a picture at that time as I was too absorbed with watching TV and so didn’t give it much thought too.

A week later me and the parents were at the Plaza again having dinner and we passed by Macdonald’s on the way back. This time I took the chance to try the “berries and cookies” one and since I was at the counter, I could see how the woman actually made it.

And my was I pissed off.

It turned out, low and behold, what they did the achieve the pseudo strawberry ice cream effect was just to add the strawberry sauce from your strawberry sundae and mix the whole thing Mcflurry style!

CHEY.

So I would assume all they did to get the “chocolate mudpie” effect was just to add the chocolate sauce too and mix it.

So basically...

	+		+
Your Regular Ice Cream Sundae		An Oreo Cookie		Some Mixing

That's what makes up your additional $1.00 you pay on top of your regular sundae, for an oreo cookie and some spinning! Voila!

And for those of you who were wondering, NO IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE WHAT IT IS IN THE PICTURE.

I'm Alive!

Now now don't be surprised. After a 6 month er, hiatus, I'm back, alive and kicking! No nothing happened to me, just got lazy, haha! Probably would start blogging soon, soon, soon... ...

Cows aren't just for milk

Seriously. I mean they help farmers plough the fields, give you that nice black-spot-on-white-fur rug, and most importantly, THEIR MEAT IS BLOODY NICE LAH!

Of course you must also know where to get good steak in order to best appreciate the taste of the meat. And excellent tasting steak doesn't always have to mean atas and expensive restaurants with waiters dressed up in suits.

Thanks to the recommendation of chin laoda, cheap and good steak is now a reality. (cue applause for laoda)

Introducing...

ASTONS SPECIALTIES!


(the steak on the BBQ picture reminds me of Burger King commercials, haha)

The queues are usually outrageously long during dinner time but thanks to the ever so wise laoda we were there around 5pm so we were ahead of the dinner crowd. Since it's not exactly a restaurant per se, the whole place is pretty informal and sadly, quite hot cause they don't have air conditioning. But I laoda mentioned they just renovated so it's possible they installed air cons by now.

You order and pay at the counter first before heading to your seats. Their steaks are relatively cheap, my sirloin steak costing about $9 only while the chicken dishes (which are quite good as well) cost about $6. The rib eye steak costs about $14. All main dishes come with 2 side dishes as well! Something like kenny rogers, they have baked potato, pasta salad, potato salad, wedges etc. My only complain is that their plain water costs 30 cents a glass! It's not like per pitcher or something it's per glass! It's weird enough that we had to pay for water in the first place. Well at least there's no service charge.


So I ordered a Sirloin Steak (with wedges and baked potato)



Laoda had Chicken Chop (with mashed potato and pasta salad) and Mushroom Soup



Sabrina had Chicken Chop (with onion rings and potato salad)



Needless to say we enjoyed our food very much, especially me because the steak was...



BLOODY YUMMY! (pun intended)

So yes people. Good and cheap steak is now a reality. All hail laoda, our saviour

Who wants to be my girlfriend?

Yes! It's the holidays! Time flies eh, so fast and a term's over at Ngee Ann. I noticed my last post was 2nd May, I think I'm starting to develop this blog-once-a-month habit. Since I have the time(tarme) now I finally get to blog about what happened earlier in year.

While my classmates were slaving over their tutorials and tests in their provisional JC period earlier in January, I was living a life of self indulgence and debauchery in between a constant state of physical decomposition and mental degeneration from the superfluous holidays imposed upon us by the intransigent regime.

(ok lah i'm being drama)

With my hyperboredom and after watching an advertisement for Habbo Hotel on MTV, I found myself at its registration page.

Step 1

Choose your avatar's look


I was trying to look "professional", but obviously I ended up looking at a waiter.

Step 2

Choose your habbo name



Ok lah I admit I was reading Decimation and wanted to act cool so called myself collectiveman

And you're done!

TaaDaa! I'm officially a HABBO-ER! (er I think that's what we're called)











So of course here is the hotel








I went to the "welcome lounge" expecting a welcome by some friendly senior habbo-er.







So Then The Habbo Adventure Begins

So I was walking around in the "welcome lounge" trying to talk to someone and ask them how to play the game, thinking that they'll all be nice and friendly and go "hey you're new? you have to ...".

But obviously I was a flaming idiot cause none of them bothered to give a rat's ass about me.

Until I met this girl.

I asked her "hey do you know how to play this game? i'm new at this".

Her reply:



"can give me money?"

CAN GIVE ME MONEY?!
Is that the way to treat your fellow new habbo-er?!

I replied "i have no money" and walked off. So much for my first taste of the virtual world.

I went to the swimming pool after that and my computer start to lag from the sheer number of people talking at the same time but one shout out caught my eye.



"wanna be my gf?"

Wahliao eh! These people really online no inhibitations one. "apizzz91" was seeking a girlfriend online from habbo hotel by asking an open question to everyone at the swimming pool.

And the insanity does not end here.

Freaked out, I went to the diving pool beside the swimming pool when I saw something even more ridiculous.

I was figuring out how people get to dive into the swimming pool (turned out they actually have to pay like $10 habbo dollars or something to dive in. I mean come on lah, who pays $10 to take a dive! not like it's golden water like that) when the oh-so-familiar question flashed across the screen again, this time accompanied by a reply.



Flash963: wan be my gf
apizzz91: ok

HUH? wasn't apizzz91 the one looking for a girlfriend just now? So now gender is inter-exchangeable on Habbo Hotel ah?

Madness. I'm either getting to old or these people are getting more insane.

So anyway I tried swimming around in the swimming pool and no one bothered to reply to my innocent "hello"s so I ended up sitting in the cafe by my own with the sad blonde barista looking at me thinking what a loser I am. It's sad being a social outcast in real life AND in cyber space you know.





Needless to say I haven't logged into my Habbo Hotel account since then.

Oh well.

Be my Amigo!

Hidden dark within the tapering byroads and questionable venereal transactions of Changi Village lies the gem of which foodies all over Singapore call Mecca.

Probably the first thing you would see when you arrive at Changi Village Hawker Centre located beside the bus interchange is the long queue in front of the nasi lemak stall (which really isn't that good by the way)

Head towards the back of the hawker center away from the main road and quickly chope a seat cause this place seems to crowded no matter which time of the day it is. After strategically placing your tissue paper packets on the table it's time to hunt down...



AMIGO!
Yes! It's Amigo! *does awkward spanish dance* Your one stop for any bar chor mee cravings just in case you were listening to mrbrown's bar chor mee man podcast for the 1493th time and felt the craving for some tur kua. If you're there you'll also probably notice a similar store with a yellow signboard with the exact same menu as Amigo. I'm not sure which is the so called "original" one but I know Amigo tastes better so, who cares who's the original!

Yes, there's a long queue for this as well	Wah, they got more certs then I'll probably have in my whole academic life	I'll have this and this and this...

Ok now back to business, THE FOOD. The price here is in the typical hawker centre range, each bowl costing about $3 ish and $4 tops if you add extra 料. They have the standard bar chor mee (tur kua optional of course) and this unique chicken chop hor fan which is quite special cause it's sauce is not the normal salty hor fan sauce but this sweet tasting one. But if you ask me their bar chor mee is still nicer. For side dishes they have these delicious fried wantons which sadly do not come with mayonnaise but nonetheless still tasty on it's own.

Bar Chor Mee	Chicken Chop Hor Fan	Fried Wanton

Supermarket Humor

As you would have noticed (hopefully) by now, I haven’t been updating for the past 2 month due to numerous unforeseen circumstances (read: I was lazy)

Well not to fret! The foodie is back! And this time with much much more new food recommendations for you ranging from steak (thank you laoda on this one!) to Singapore’s best char kway teow and bar chor mee.

But first, let’s rewind back to a week after Chinese New Year.

The night before my parents left for Shanghai after their CNY visit my aunt insisted that we have dinner at Long Beach Restaurant IMM since she had a 20% discount voucher (which turned out couldn't be used). After some dispiriting chili crabs my grandmother decided to pay a visit to Giant hyper mart.

The genius began when my cousin started chasing my sister around the hyper mart with a bottle of apple juice for some weird reason shouting "EH, YOU WANT OIL OR NOT??” Then I realised why - the bottle of apple juice bared an uncanny resemblance to oil. The evil plan hatched.

Step Number One: Place the apple juice on the shelf for cooking oil	Step Number Two: Turn the bottle around so as not to reveal the apple picture	Taadaa! It just looks like one of the other oil bottles

Me: <Eh! popo! come here!>
(Grandma wobbles over)
Me: *pointing to the apple juice* <This brand very good leh! Very healthy! Fry things very nice!>
(Grandma scrutinizes the bottle and tries unsuccessfully to read the bottle label. She turns the bottle over and frowns at the apple picture)
Grandma: <Huh what is this? Apple oil ah?>

*<> translated from cantonese

I snapped and ran in between the toilet paper aisle and started laughing hysterically that I didn't even hear what she said next. Oh well who said senior citizens were old and boring? Haha.

One Night Only: Istana Open House

Well technically it's 5 nights. The Istana is only to the public 5 days a year to commemorate Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa, Labour Day and National Day. I was watching the news the other when they announced that the Istana was to be open today in celebration for Chinese New Year.

And of course, being patriotic me I had to go (nah I just hoping to take a picture with the president)

So after a little arrangement with my trusty always-never-pangsei-me shiliang we arranged to meet at Dhoby Ghaut at 1pm. However due to unforeseen circumstances (to be more precise, grand aunties turned up unannounced for visitation and I got a little distracted collecting angbaos entertaining the visitors), I was late for our appointment.

I arrived at Dhoby Ghaut finally at 1.20pm and yes, I was 20 minutes late (sorry kid!). And since shiliang was on a self-declared healthy diet (oops was I allowed to say that?), we decided to go with...


Subway! Eat Healthy!

I had a footlong Subway Melt (left, extra honey mustard and extra extra mayonnaise thank you very much, not very healthy) while shiliang had a 6 inch Tuna Delight (right, ok lah quite healthy)

After finishing our food we were (finally) on our way to the Istana. Cutting through Plaza Singapura we reached Istana only to see...

HORDES OF PEOPLE QUEUEING UP LIKE GOT FREE HELLO KITTY LIKE THAT!

So bo bian we had to

queue...	and queue...	and queue...

No lah actually we didn't wait that long, haha. The queue moved very fast (what to do we Singaporeans so efficient, even give out money during elections also so fast take back. Efficient or not!) and within 15 minutes the most we were inside the Istana, inclusive of bag checks and metal detectors etc.

The first thing we were greeted by when we stepped into the Istana was...

Sir S.R. Nathan's private golf course!

Can die! Our HDB flats are getting smaller and smaller and this guy has a golf course on his front yard. On prime land no less! But what to do, must look good in front of foreign delegates or they will see us no up (kan bu qi wo men)

So then shiliang and me went trigger happy and started snapping away with our cameras like a bunch of suaku tourists.

tourist photo #1	our foreign male immigrants taking the opportunity to picnic	china kid's stylo hair

The Guards-Of-Honour also made a minor hoo haa as they marched down hill for the changing of guards when an assemblage of locals, tourists, adults and children alike (myself included) came clamouring after them as if they were dressed up as flamingoes and parading down Orchard road as part of the Chingay troupers. We Singaporeans are so deprived of men in uniforms.



Foreigners were required to make a mandatory $1 donation to the community chest upon entry into the Istana while locals and PR could enter free (of course if you want to donate also can lah!). The community chest was also selling "exclusive" Istana souvenirs (Istana umbrella - $10, Istana postcards - $4, Istana collar pin - $2, Istana fan - $2 etc.)

the "exclusive" Istana merchandise	wah so low budget!	tourist photo #2	me and the guard of honour

shameless me taking a photo with the policeman	tourist photo #3	tourist photo #4	me and queen victoria (one boy behind me: why she so fat!)

And of course how could I forget...

The Presidential Toilets!

There was also a special tour of the inside of the Istana building for $2 (which went to the community chest as well, you think free meh?). There was the official dining and reception room (photo taking not allowed so sorry no pics) which was rather small, and the main ballroom (also rather small, about the size of my aunt's terrace house's living room) which displayed presents from the head of states of various countries to S.R. Nathan. I have to mention that they seem to be fond of giving rather useless objects like boat models (courtesy of Bahamas), traditional bells (Korea) and silver goblets (England, ala harry potter and the goblet of fire). At least China gave a beautiful tea set that could be used. But of course like shiliang said, "they only for bai sui mah!"

At the end of the day not only did I get blisters but my slippers (actually not mine, my cousin's, which made it even worse!) broke! But of course that didn't deter me from the lure of kinokuniya so...

so bye bye Istana and hello Takashimaya!