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Sunday, August 28, 2016

[Food Review] Classic Cheese with Angus Beef Burger


Had bio-ed the three new signature collection from Mcdonalds for weeks, before I finally found the time (and excuse) to try one of them. Being a Beef cum Cheese Lover, it was not difficult to decide which to try first.

Before I tried this Classic Cheese with Angus Beef Burger, I did not have a very good impression of the Angus Beef Patty that Mcdonalds used. I tried creating my own Mcdonald burgers before using Angus Beef, but many a time, the Angus Beef Patty tasted very dry. 

However, with the Melted Cheese, Salsa Sauce and Sour Cream alike Sauce all in the burger at the same, I had the OMG feeling as I chewed on the slightly wet Angus Beef Patty and Crispy Bacon. 



I had never been a big fan of the Mcdonalds Burger Bread but it was one of the few times I finished all the Burger Bread. 

It was not long before I tried the burger a second time at the same branch. I was not disappointed! This is the second burger apart from Carl's Junior Western Bacon that give me the OMG feeling.

I urge all beef lover to try the Classic Cheese Burger with Angus Beef and leave a comment to this blog post to share your views and experiences! 

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

4 One Dish Home-Cooked Dinner Recipes

One-Dish Dinner is definitely a good alternative for weekday dinners, if you have no time to cook up a 5 dishes dinner like I did over the weekends. Over the last week, I have cooked up 3 One-Dish Dinner which received good reviews from my kids and Laogong. Maybe you can try cooking them too

Tomato-based Spagetti with hotdog and crispy nuggets Vs Tomato-based Macaroni with fishballs, meatballs and hotdogs

Spagetti is one of the easiest one-dish lunch/dinner to make in less than an hour. 

My kids used to like the creamy pasta but now they are into tomato-based pasta. You must be wondering how come I used mainly processed food as the ingredients for my pasta. Well, I did wanted to use fresh real food but Laogong taught me one thing. Instead of cooking what we think is best for the diners, we should just cook what the diners prefer to eat. Otherwise, the cook may not get the appreciation she wants. True enough, I see more smiles on my kids first when they eat the Spagetti coz they like Spagetti more than Macaroni nowadays. 

Okay, to cook Spagetti or Macaroni, first you boiled a pot of water and then add the required amount of pasta into the boiled water. I am really bad in estimating the amount of food to cook and often I tend to overcook (meaning instead of cooking for 2-3 adults + 2 kids, I would always think i am cooking for 4-5 adults). But I now learnt that we can use our palm size to estimate. One full palm to one adult and one half palm to one kid. Try it and let me know if it works. 

While the pasta is boiling, we can fry the ingredients in a frying pot or wok with some oil. When all the ingredients are cooked, add the pasta sauce. You can also add cream carbonara or alfero sauce too. 

When the pasta are cooked, remove the pasta from the boiling water and pour the pasta into tap water to cool it down. They will be more Q or chewy instead of all stick together if you add this step.

After frying the ingredients, Stir the sauce thoroughly with the ingredients. You can then choose to pour the cooled pasta into the ingredients and simmer for 2-3 minutes and serve. Or you can serve the ingredients and pasta separately. We prefer to serve them separately so if we cannot finish the sauce/ingredients or pasta, we can recycle them for other uses/dishes. 

Note: Crispy nuggets were made by cutting them into thin slices and airfried at 200dC for 10-12 minutes.

Tomato-based Spagetti with hotdog and crispy nuggets


Tomato-based Macaroni with fishballs, meatballs and hotdogs


Talking about recycling unfinished sauce/ingredients, I made pasta for lunch yesterday and added more hotdogs and crabsticks to the leftover sauce & ingredients and transformed it into another dish to eat with rice or the leftover pasta for dinner. Alternatively, you can also fried the pasta to make alio olio pasta or make soupy pasta with fishballs and minced meat. 

Transformed dish from recycled pasta sauce! 


Shredded Crabsticks and Mushrooms Soup plus Ma Po Tofu with minced meat

These days I learnt to be more flexible in what I decided to cook. Sometimes I planned to cook something more fanciful but due to lack of time, I had to change to something simpler.

The night before I cooked the crabstick and mushroom soup I was trying to follow an online recipe to airfry shredded crabsticks. However, it didn't turn out fhe way I wanted it to be, so I decided to save the remaining shredded crabsticks to make some soup on the following day.

Laogong loves golden mushrooms and Jamie loves shitake mushrooms so I decided to add them into 

Good traffic and knocking off on time allowed me to get home pretty early. This bought me some time to cook one more of Laogong favorite dish and steamed a piece of salmon for James. 

First I boiled a pot of water and then I placed the shredded crabsticks, sliced shitake mushroom and cut golden mushroom into the pot. When all was cooked, I cracked two beaten eggs into the soup and stirred. I learnt that there are two ways of creating a texture for soups. One is to add corn flour and the other is to add beaten eggs. The soup tasted wonderful and very fulfilling.

Shredded Crabsticks and Mushrooms Soup

I bought ready-mixed Ma Po Tofu Sauce from NTUC and you can use any type of square tofu, preferrably suitable for stir frying. I marinated the minced meat with soya sauce for 10minutes, before frying it with the tofu. When the minced meat was cooked, the ready-mixed sauce was added and corn flour mixed in warm water was poured in too, to create the starchy saucy feeling. And it was done. Simple right?

Ma Po Tofu with Minced Meat


Laogong and the kids were so happy that they ate additional servings of food ^^ Isn't this what the Cook/Chef will always like to see to feel assured about her cooking skills? 

One-Pot 四神 Soup with chicken and lotus roots

Thursday I was home late because I went for my eyebrow and eyeliner embrodiery. I will share more about this in a separate blog post.

However, I really hope the kids can have a good meal. Hence, I defroze a packet of mini drumsticks by putting the frozen chicken into the chiller compartment the night before and sliced the lotus roots too. 

I also woke up 15 minutes earlier, to put all the ingredients into a 2-litres pot of boiling water, together with a ready-packed 四神汤herbs.


Heehee, I didn't managed to take a photo fo the cooked soup because there was nothing left of it when I got home! Feel accomplished! ^^

Okay, that's so much for now. I will continue to share the different recipes I learnt and tried to cook! Hope it helps all the cooking-working mama finds time-efficient dishes in their dinner menu! 

Monday, August 8, 2016

6 Reasons Why Pokemon-Go Is So Irresistible


Lately there are many negative sentiments about Pokemon Go. Many people don't really understand what is it in the game that makes the Pokemon Gamers go Gaga. I think that it is unfair of the non-gamers to comment negatively about the gamers and their games, without the non-gamers trying out the game first. 



Do not judge others if you have not been in their shoes. But I know it is not easy because I learnt this the hard way too. 

Frankly, I also do not understand why ladies can go gaga over kpop stars and korean dramas, instead of spending more couple time with their partners. I also do not understand the thrill of gambling, be it overnight mahjong/losing cash like water in casino/queuing for hours to buy 4D & Toto etc. I also do not understand people who queue up to buy toys or food, eg hello kitty or the famous prawn noodles. However, I try to respect those who are fond of hobbies/interests/activities I am not fond of. So I feel that people should respect one another for each of our differences. 

Do not use your "rulers" to measure others. One's cup of tea, can be another's poison. 

Even as gamers, there are gamers who play the same games for different reasons. So a gamer who likes Game A, may not like Game B. 

This means, not every gamer will enjoy playing the same games. So what makes Pokemon Go so irresistible to so many different gamers? 

Reason 1: Pokemon-Go is created to geniusly cater to 3 distinctive types of Gamers.

Actually I am pretty impressed with the Pokemon-Go Creator, who seemed to have a team of psychologists who had studied human behaviors over the years before coming out with the game. 

Somehow Pokemon-Go is created to cater to 3 distinctive types of Gamers. The Game Creator categorizes them under 3 Pokemon Teams (Valor, Mystic and Instinct). 

Team Valor (Red)


Pokemon Gamers from Team Valor are generally competitive gamers. They value their sense of achievements in evolving, power-uping and hatching Pokemons with high CP, IV and Fighting Skills. 

You see them leveling up in a fast speed within days and start to take over Gym even at lower levels. They usually have a strategy to help them level up as fast as they could and they do not mind spending real dollars to level up faster. 

They get the thrill from beating everyone else in the Gym or in their levelling speed or owning Pokemons with high CP, regardless of their species. They aim to be the top 10% of the best Pokemon Gamers. 

You can distinct them from the rest at the PokeStops because they usually are alone or in pairs. They will look for locations with minimium 2-3 PokeStops  to "camp" at, so that they can leverage as much as they can. But these gamers are not stingy because they believe that by activating their Lures, it will invite more gamers, who will then take turns to activate their own Lures when the initial Lures are used up. 

Type Valor Gamers are focused and they set their KPIs each time they "camp" themselves so that they do not sacrifice their sleep (and money) for nothing. They are not easily distracted even when someone shouts "Pikachu" or when majority of the comrades move in a certain direction together. This is because Type Valor Gamers know that following the commotions, they cannot guarantee that they will find a Pokemon with high CP and IV. Staying put is a better idea as catching any species will guarantee leveling up anyway.

Hahaha.. I got too much to share about the different gaming strategies used by Type Valor Gamers! 



Yes! You got it! It is because Laogong and I are a Type Valor Gamers. In fact, we are actually a hybrid between Type Valor and Type Mystic. We enjoy levelling up fast at the beginning and when we are satisifed with our levels, we plan to start to look for rare Pokemons. Because at higher levels then we can find rare Pokemons with higher CP and IV.



I will share more about our gaming strategies in my next blog post! Stay Tune! 

Team Mystic (Blue)


Pokemon Gamers from Type Mystic are generally collectors. They get their thrills from collecting as many varieties of Pokemon species as they can, regardless of their CP, IV and Fighting Skills. But they get the most thrill for catching the rare Pokemons.

Due to their on-ness in getting the rare Pokemons, they may initially win over many Gyms. However, they will be defeated once the Team Valor Gamers catch up with their common/rare Pokemons with high CP. 

They are competitive in their own ways too. They like to compete on the varieties of Pokemons, irregardless of their CP. They feel proud as they speedily fill up their Pokedex.

You can easily differentiate them from the Team Valor Gamers as they are likely to be moving around the hot PokeStops and likely to visit various different PokeStop Clusters. Once they have caught all the rare Pokemons from one PokeStop Cluster, they will move on to the next cluster to "conquer" the rare Pokemons there.

They also set KPI for themselves, according to the varieties of Pokemons they want to catch. They like to catch Pokemons in a group and may or may not camp overnight at PokeStops, depending on how long they take to catch their targeted Pokemons (aka meeting their KPI).

They are likely the groups who will cheer for each other when they catch rare Pokemons. They are also likely the groups who will shout "Pikachu" so to alert the other Gamers to follow them in their hunt. However, they are less willing to set up Lures and will prefer to leverage on other Gamers' Lures. 

I will share more about the rare Pokemons that can be found or had been found in different hotspots in my later blog post! Stay Tune! Meantime, you can like my Facebook page and follow my Instagram to be updated on my Pokemon "Journal".

Team Instinct (Yellow)


This group of Gamers are the "less serious" gamers. They are likely to play the game because they like selective Pokemon species which they think is very cute. They may also play the game because they see everyone playing it and wish to join in the trend. They may also be the parents with children who want to play the game or spouses/partners with their other half playing the game or suitors with their dates playing the game.

They are usually not willing to spend a cent on the game and hence most likely to fully leverage on other Gamers' Lures. They may move around in selective PokeStops Clusters to catch the specific species they think are very cute.

You identify them in the PokeStop Clusters by the large group size or the relationship among the "group mates", eg couples, friends, suitors with their dates and parents with their children. 

I will share more about who I think should play the game in my later posts too! Stay Tune! 

2. Pokemon-Go is suitable for all ages.



Unlike some games, which are more suitable for adults or children, Pokemon-Go is suitable for all ages. Hence, it is successful in attracting so many fans. Adults will not feel embarassed to be seen playing the game and hence more willing to make it into a friends/couple/family activity. 

I really enjoyed myself spending the last 6 days catching Pokemons at the various hotspots with Laogong. Our Paktor venues have increased in varieties and we are exploring various parts of Singapore to catch Pokemons and to farm PokeBalls. 

It feels like the good old days again when we don't mind looking silly in public as we posed with our Pokemons or we stayed up late just to spend time together like during our paktor days. We too have found the child in our hearts.

Scoot N Catch

Acting Silly in the crowded Vivocity


Sleepless Nights at Hougang Ave 10


3. All you need is an existing Google Email Account to start playing Pokemon-Go.

Most apps games need the gamers to create a gamer account before they can play the games. However, to play Pokemon-Go, gamers can simply login using their existing google mail account. 



Majority Singaporeans should have existing google accounts. Even if they don't have one, it only take 5 minutes to create a google mail account. Hence, gamers are more willing to login to "try out" the games as it is too convenient to access the game. 

4. Pokemon-Go launches at the right time.

I always believe that the launch date of a game, a product or a movie is very important. It was a good move to launch the game on 6 August 2016 (Saturday), just before the National Day long weekends. Since it is the weekends, most gamers can start "testing" the game right away. Since it was launched just before the long weekends, gamers had plenty of time to camp over the PokeStops right away. Once the gamers get to test the fruits of their sleepless nights, their lives will never be the same again. Haha! 

In addition, Pokemon-Go was launched in Singapore only one month after the game was launched in various other countries. With all the hoohaa over the game since a month ago, it is natural for most Singaporean gamers to wish to find out for themselves what is so "potent" about the game. 

They would have read up about the game and about the various types of Pokemons. They may already know the many tips of levelling up fast, catching the rare Pokemons and how to farm the PokeBalls more efficiently. The gamers were all ready to test out their "newly acquired skills". 

Launching the game just before National Day was a good move too because this is the month which most Singaporeans feel the most for our country. This game which encourages the gamers to move around will then attract the gamers who have the most feel towards exploring Singapore during its 51st birthday.

5. Most PokeStops Clusters are convenient and accessible

After few days of exploring the various PokeStops Clusters, I further confirmed that due to Singapore small size, most PokeStop Clusters are convenient and accessible to gamers.

Many of the PokeStop Clusters are found within our own neighbourhood parks, of which many can be reached in the comfort of our own homes or/and beds. There is this PokeStop that is accessible from our bedroom. Being a standalone PokeStop, it is unable to lure so many Pokemons over. But we do not deny we do get to catch a few Pokemons from home every few minutes. 

The hotspots or popular PokeStops Clusters are even more accessible by public transport. It may even be brightly lit (comparing to the neighbourhood parks) and located near toilets, food and beverages. Eg. the hotspot at Hougang Ave 10, various shopping malls and various tourist attractions. Even the MRT and LRT stations are PokeStops. 




Convenience makes the game more appealing to different gamers from all walks of life. 

6. Merchants welcome Pokemon-Go Gamers to patronize their malls, restaurants and stalls etc, by requesting to become PokeStops, set up Lures and throw in gimmicks.



To boost the economy growth and increase traffic in their shops, merchants are more than willing to become PokeStops. Many merchants also throw in gimmicks to attract more traffic into their premises eg ION Orchard and Sentosa etc. Many other tourist attractions such as Zoo, Bird Park, Chinese Garden, Garden by the Bay and Botanic Garden etc, are also filled with PokeStops to increase domestic tourism. 





Though residents, who are non-gamers, from Hougang Ave 10 are complaining about the endless crowd and commotions, the 24hours coffeeshop was more than happy to serve the endless traffic of consumers.



With merchants being so inclusive and supportive, it is hard for gamers to resist camping over these hotspots.






Friday, August 5, 2016

Conviction...

Another late night due to my work committment. Just crawled into bed and feeling sleepy. But I still wish to struggle to stay awake for a little longer.

Staying awake to reflect and share my conviction. Though busy with work and my two darlings, I do not wish to stop blogging. I miss those days when I had more time to blog. But it doesn't mean I cannot be consistent in my blogging now. But I need to pace myself and not to be overly ambitious so that I do not exhaust myself and lose faith eventually.

This is what I am convicted to do for a start, apart from revamping my blog design...

Every morning, I will do a sharing on my Facebook Page. Maybe a song or a message which I heard or read. It can also be a news or Facebook article which I read the night before. It can also be some crazy new apps game that people or myself is crazy about.

I will post my OOTD at least once a week on my Facebook Page. I will like to share my new loots with you or even lelong my preloved items so that I can buy more loots! Hehe! 

I will hope to post a picture of what I eat for lunch or dinner. I will hope to save up enough to buy a convention oven so I can share my baking videos with you! 

Every night before I sleep, I will write a simple blog post or share on my Facebook Page. Topics can be on the latest news or Facebook articles I spotted. It can also be a simple self reflection. 

Meantime, I will continue to revamp my blog and make it more reader-friendly and more appealing to sponsors too. ^^ Please feel free to leave your comments or drop me an email on how you think I can improve on my blog! 

Okay, I think my brain has stopped functioning. Haha! Night everyone! 

There are so many events lining up this month and next month, so stay tune for my posts on my happenings!