An August Morning

The past few days had been terribly wet. The rain poured down as if someone poured a basin of water down to earth.. It was heavy and not much of a breather. I bet some places are probably facing some crisis flooding already.

This morning I dropped by Sheng Shiong, the local wet supermarket. Well it's not totally that wet and it is certainly not like the modern high and dry, fancy supermarket either. This one is totally no-frills yet airconditioned; the things in there are as good, fresh or even better than the local wet markets thought a little more messy than the fancy supermarkets. Their prices are not expensive at all.

They store lots of fresh vegetables, seafood, meats, frozen, dry, etc and this IS the place where if you are into F&B, you can get the bulk of stuff cheap and you can get quotes for business pricing. It is my territory... since the last time I was in F&B. The people are friendly, and courteous. They do joke with you, exchange advice, sometimes shares tips looking at your contents in the trolley. You know, I wouldn't mind working in this supermarket.. hahaha. I'd love to arrange products in lines and complete order. I'm the kind who can spend hours just doing obsessive arranging work and get pleasure from it...kakaka...

The cashiers and staff in some of the fancy supermarkets are very 'robotic' in their greetings and doesn't sound as genuine. Although I really do not need them to mind my own business, but somehow, i feel that their attitude really must have gone to the stage where there is no passion at all. Interraction level probably played the least important role.

MY CLASSIFICATION OF SUPERMARKETS(HOW I SEE IT)

D. No-frills - Sheng Shiong Supermarket, Mustafa
C. Mid-range heartlands - Shop and Save, NTUC Fairprice, Giant
B. Fancy - Cold Storage, Isetan, Carrefour
A. Gourmet - Market Place, Jasons, Daimaru

Check out the pics that I took of Sheng Shiong in the wee hours when there are less shoppers.


This is my favourite place. I can come here everyday.. just looking at how fresh the prawns are.. Everyday can still buy half a kilo of prawns if its fresh..









I love Meiji fresh milk. Yummy! I like their Coffee Milk too. Lea loves only that and won't take any other besides her formula.



This is the place to buy your apom flours. When I miss those Penang apoms, I'd buy the apom flour and make apoms at home. There's the Tosai flour too, but I've never tried that before.

PET SAFARI (in Vivocity)

Pets play an important role in some people's lives. I have friends who'd spend unlimited amount for their family pets, like grooming, toys, toiletries, food, spa and recently pets have weddings too..

I saw a pets' haven recently on a weekend to Vivocity. Pet Safari, is almost everything pet owners swear by because of the extensive goodies you can find in the shop. Well, maybe not shop. It's everything under one roof kinda thing. There's a grooming centre, a display area where you can purchase pets, a vet clinic where you can go straight to upon purchase of your pets, to insert the chip in case it gets lost. Hmmmm.. smart people, eh.

Shelves after shelves. Food, toys, furniture, shoes, clothes, anything concerning pets, you can get it here. Its like a one-stop hypermart! Oh, don't forget the pet stroller too.. hahaha. Well i posted some pics here... enjoy!

WEEKEND IN VIVOCITY

Time flies. Before you knew it, another weekend just swished by. It was a cloudy Sunday. We had wanted to go outdoors but looking at the sky, we thought otherwise. If plans to spend outdoor in Sentosa was not successful, perhaps we could just take the monorail there and back, for the fun of it. So.. there we were, heading for Vivocity, the new baby of malls in Singapore. Vivocity is located just across Sentosa island and the monorail station in the mall takes you over to Sentosa island.

We liked to be early.. so before the crowd arrived, we were already in the spanky new building of Vivocity. It was great. We had the place all to ourselves. There was only a handful of people. The girls just loved the quirky lime green seatings - for shoppers who would like to rest their tired aching legs.

My girls attacked every seat available. Climbing on them and pretending they were camels, horses, see saws, whatever.. oh well... Mum's not doing a good job of asking the kids to behave and not climbed on them seats.. Ok ok, no one's watching.. shhhh... Mummy's not watching the kids either..

We headed up to the rooftop towards Marche. On the way, I took some shots of shops and the rooftops and the view.

It was an opportunity for me to get some shots from the Food Republic food court as well. On the rooftop, there is a big wading pool for kids and for those young at heart, who can't resist getting their feet wet. It was a beautiful sight as well. You can spot the cable cars that hover on the cable line heading to and fro Sentosa. We headed for Marche for brunch. It was a real lazy Sunday... i love it this way.












FOOD REPUBLIC

The following are photos of the Food Republic food court. The food court centres around the old days in Singapore of street food hawkers and migrant times. It is certainly a change from the usual current all white gleaming food courts everywhere. Having a theme is very much like the market cafes you see in Marche and some Peranakan restaurants which displays the authentic wares of the Nyonya and Baba paraphernalia.

PEACEFUL MONDAY

MONDAY MORNINGS ARE PEACEFUL...
After dropping the girls off to school I went to the nearby mall to get some fresh milk and yoghurt. Well i was early, too early i guess. The supermarket is not opened and there I was, just walking aimlessly in the mall where only the food outlets were the only ones that opened for breakfast.

There was about 30mins to go before Fairprice opens so I went for some phototaking. There weren't many cars but the buses were all in their rounds. Took some shots of the extra long bus for keeps with the backdrop of our flatted housing in the heartlands..

PICTURES

SINGAPORE DUCK TOUR BUS

FOOD REPUBLIC PIX

FOOD REPUBLIC IN SUNTEC CITY

We were in town on Sunday recently. I've not gone downtown for a while, because I really do not like the crowds. Orchard is good if you want to walk and do some serious shopping but as usual, the crowd just gets bigger! Although there are already plenty of malls in every heartlands in Singapore, Orchard is still a hot favourite to a lot, especially the younger ones, and tourists here on holiday shopping. In recent years, one can walk-shop from one to another mall using the underground linkway. Of course it helps that you can just hop on the mrt to get to the destination linked to the malls without getting wet during rainy season.

To avoid the Orchard crowd, we head straight to Suntec since parking is a 'little' better. Compared to Orchard, you don't need to run back to the first mall where you'd park the car because Suntec is a complex of 5 towers shaped like a palm of a hand, with an enormous waterfall smack right in the centre. And, what i do like about it is that I get to do my ritual of walking round the 'fengshui' water feature, for luck.


WORD HAS IT THAT ON 8PM EACH EVENING, WALK CLOCKWISE 3 ROUNDS AROUND THE CENTRE FOUNTAIN WITH YOUR HANDS STRETCHED OUT TOUCHING THE WATER FOR GOOD LUCK...


How true it is, I don't know but I've been doing this since 1999 when I do go to Suntec...hahaha If not for luck, it certainly does make me seemed a little happier...

It was our usual Suntec shopping, where we'd head first for Carrefour since we do have some general things to get for home. I'd actaully wanted to also check out the convention halls but i'm usually so tired after being in Carrefour so I don't really venture around the mall much.

Most of the things are pretty much the same, except for some new shops and of course the newly opened food court, Food Republic. Food Republic is well known in Singapore for its extravagant interior setting, and ambience in a new age food court. The first Food Republic in Wisma Atria was such a huge success that they started another one in Vivocity. Vivocity's theme was like the old days when Singapore was full of migrants. They used a lot of props to create the wonderful setting. They must have spent a huge amount of startup for that. The cutlery used for all the Food Republic food courts are certainly unlike the others. They settled for the ceramic or glass wares. Gosh, the damages to these must be high! No melamine wares at all and certainly no paper cups etc.


DINNER IN PROGRESS
THE NEWLY OPENED FOOD REPUBLIC IN SUNTEC IS CERTAINLY ONE OF A KIND....THE INTERIOR CONCEPT FOR THIS NEW FOOD COURT IS ONE OF AN OLD ANTIQUE LIBRARY. MOCKUP THICKCOVER BOOKS DON THE WALLS THAT GO UP TO CEILING HIGH.. OLD STYLE LAMP POSTS COMPLEMENT THE DECOR ALONG WITH WENGE OR EARTHLY DARKWOOD COLOURED FURNISHING. It was quite stunning and unique, to be having your dinner in the library. Quite a few tourists were also taking pictures, since it was located just where the Duck tour vehicle were waiting outside the glass doors.



THE SINGAPORE DUCK TOUR BUS
The Duck tour is a ship-motor vehicle that runs both on land and water. Just like a duck. Starting and ending at the Suntec City, it brings you on a little tour around the nearby town and nearby marina and then goes into the water before it comes back up on land. It can get bumpy when it is going down the little steps going into the water...hahaha.. But it can be fun.

GROCERY DAY

Today is my grocery day, every Wednesday. Well I do do my marketing few times a week but this is the day of the week when i drop Rae for chinese class and I head straight to the local supermart for my fresh chickens and sometimes, ducks. Hee hee.

Somehow, I feel better buying chickens from the supermart because it definitely is more comfy then the wet market where some people just stick up close to you in their sweaty arms.. Yucks! I never get used to it since the days when Mum brings me to the market in Pulau Tikus for her alternate days of marketing. She knows I don't really like it cos i would usually pinch my nose when near the chicken coops...hahaha! And I'd walked so slow so that my slippers will not flick those dirty water from the wet sloshy floors. Eeeww, the smell just eek of germs, salmonella and God knows what!

Well today, I bought more than my usual, because lately I have been feeling rather lethargic. The first thing that crossed my mind was, DIET. Well after some thought, I decided DETOXIFY is more like it. Haha, love my self too much, i certainly won't starve myself to a pale death..hahaha. At least I'll die happy, satisfied, stuffed...kakaka.

We were running out of fruits, so i thought okay, get more today. The girls love them. Got 2 kinds of apples, both the FUJI sort but one is from Brazil. Have not tried it before so why not. The elderly aunty gave me a smile and said they were good. Got some XL Sunkists, Phillipines' Del Monte bananas and the little cute ones called the Berangan.. (err, dreaming? whatever that is). Carrots, French beans, Broccoli, Potatoes, Sweetcorns, Sharksfin melon, Red Vege, HK Chye Sim. Wow thats alot of veg and fruits for the next 3 days. And for meats, I got Toman fish, Halibut, Threadfin, Whole Chicken (this time i got only 1), some fresh chicken thighs, minced pork, spare ribs, soft bone as well. Looks like I can feed an army here.

To reward myself and the girls, I got low fat yoghurt, meiji coffee milk, fresh wheatgrass juice. Not bad, the total bill came up to $50, short of 20cents! Of course buying so much today, I was late fetching Rae.. it was already quarter to 5pm! She finishes at 4.30pm. Oh dear, oh dear! And I have yet to check out, push the trolley to the car on B1, boot the bags..

CHEERLEADING GIRLS

Yellow team cheerleadeers doing their stuff on sports' day. These are just primary school girls..

WHICH IS THE REAL DOLL

Lea, Ling Tze, and Calcium (right to left)