McDonald’s Hello kitty Fairy Tales Collection!

[30th May 2013 - Delayed Post]

McDonald recently released Hello kitty plush toys again! But this time, the kitties are dressed like fairy tale characters such as Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood, The Frog Prince & The Ugly Duckling. There are 2 more characters, The Singing Bone and the Witch. The latter can only be obtained through McDelivery.

Not a mega huge fan of Hello Kitty but I love reading Fairy tales when I was little so naturally I was attracted to these Hello Kitty Fairytale Collection!

Got up real early on the morning of 30th May (the day McDonald start releasing the first kitty for sale) for the usual morning run before heading to the nearest 24 hour McDonald in the vicinity to have breakfast. Or should I say, to get my hands on the Hello kitty to be exact. Breakfast was just an excuse. Haha:P And so, I bought my Cowardly Lion from the Wizard Of Oz at 5am in the morning. Woohoooo~! I supposed I was that particular outlet’s first customer to get their first Hello kitty off the counter. Kiasu indeed. I’m judging myself already haha. Oh well, I feel that it’s okay to be a little kiasu in this case. There are so many Hello Kitty fans out there, any slower and you might just miss your chance of purchasing one.

With Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz!

A new Hello Kitty character is released each week and it cost $4.60 with the purchase of any Extra value meal. A little pricey considering the fact that the Hello Kitty plush toys are mass manufactured.

Mcdonald Hello Kitty Fairytales Series 2013- Wizard of Oz

Totally love how they package the Hello kitty plush toys to make it look like a book this time round! The previous Hello Kitty collection did not come in a box.

Cowardly Lion Hello Kitty

Once upon a time…

Just a little disappointed that Singapore ain’t releasing the limited edition Wisdom Owl Hello kitty that Hong Kong’s McDonald had released last year.

Hello Kitty Fairytale collection- Wisdom Owl
[Photo credit: http://www.followkitty.com/toy/hello-kitty-fairy-tales-plush-toys-at-hong-kong-mcdonalds/%5D

For those who didn’t managed to get your hands on one of the kitties, you can actually check out McDonald’s Hello Kitty Plushies Tracker to see which outlet still has stock for the particular kitty released!

Hello Kitty Plushies Tracker
[Photo Credit: http://mcdgoplay.com/hellokitty/kitty-tracker.php%5D

Looking forward to getting my Little Red Riding Hood Hello Kitty already! Have you gotten yours yet?

Update: 6/6/13

Gotten my Red riding hood kitty!:D

Update: 13/6/13

So glad I got my frog prince kitty during breakfast!:D Heard it got sold out by nightfall…

Update: 20/6/13

Ugly Duckling Hello Kitty!:D The queue was mad longggg:/

Nook-DIY House of pancakes

[22/3/13 - Delayed post]
Haven’t been updating much recently and I finally found time to do so, so you’ll probably see quite a few backdated posts.

Dinner last night (22/2/13) was pancakes from Nook. Was pretty excited when my friends made an impromtu decision to eat there because I loveee DIY stuff (Check out my DIY Fun page).

Nook- House of pancakes!

We ordered 2 DIY sets for the 3 of us because the menu suggest that 1 DIY set only serves 2.

Chocolate, Original butermilk, Banana & Srawberry batter with 6 toppings

Menu

We were given a short briefing as to how to use their equipments and how to tell when our pancakes are cooked and we’re on our own…

Our virgin attempt at cooking our DIY pancakes

Failed attempt at turning the pancakes over

Second attempt at name writing with the pancake batter.

Satisfied with the second atempt at name writing, we decided to proceed on to “draw” other stuff. Here are some of our masterpieces:)

Maggots infested flower? Haha

Happy face

Butterfly

Little chick. Kinda failed…

Flower

Couple <3

“Gingerbread” girl

Say cheeseee!

This was supposed to look like a Craftholic bear but…

Lollipop

Pancake with marshmallows.

Won’t say what is this but…you can guess:)

Oh! Before we started, we were told that Nook is holding a pancake drawing competition. So, we decided to be creative. Hehehe

Our bikini babe got heads turning that night haha

Unfortunately, the heat went off suddenly and left our bikini babe looking like she has some skin problem

Bikini Bake turned Prata babe…
When the staff managed to turn on the heat again, it was a tad too strong..

We ordered a Chocolate milkshake, Oreo milkshake & Strawberry milkshake each. Each cost $5.90. Don’t feel that the size of the glass it came in do justice to its price. The Oreo and Chocolate milkshakes were pretty normal, nothing special about them but we thought the Strawberry milkshake was pretty unique.

Chocolate milkshake, Oreo milkshake & Strawberry milkshake

Too tired to come up with more designs…

Simplicity is still the best

Granted that drawing with pancake batter was fun but after the initial fun and excitement wears off, we were struggling to finish the the remaining batter. Everything tasted the same after a while. I guess we probably won’t be eating pancakes for the time being in the months to come.

Bene Spaghetti

I chanced upon Bene Spaghetti while I was googling for a place to dine at. There weren’t many reviews available on the Internet for this restauant but majority of those that had been there thought it was good so I decided to give it a shot.

Went there with a friend on the 8th of February.  I called the restaurant 3 days before the 8th (you need to call at least 3 days in advance if you wanna make a reservation) to make a reservation for a table of 2 because I was afraid that the wait will be long as it was the eve of the eve of the Chinese New Year and also because we went during the peak hour.

The place was surprisingly empty when we arrived and it remained somewhat the same throughout our stay there. Only 3 tables (including ours) were filled up. Might be due to the heavy rain that day.

A black board with a little message from the staff. How thoughtful

Oh, see that wooden thing on the left? That’s a clapper. All you need to do is shake that clapper and the the staff will serve you in a jiffy. Amusing I would say.

The staff gave us a frozen towel each the moment they sat us down. A gimmick but I love gimmicks so that’s a plus for the restaurant! Things were just starting to get interesting.

This was the green salad that came with the dinner set. Not a fan of salads but I must say the taste is pretty one of a kind. Not sure what kind of vegetables they used but it blended well with the dressing.

Avocado & Mozzarella with Basil Sauce
P.S. This is not included in the dinner set

Avocado pizza! Sound so eww right? I thought so too when my friend wanted to order that. But I was blown away by the burst of flavours when I sunk my teeth into the first piece. And that was when I knew my first piece won’t be my last. My new favourite! <3

The online reviews that I came across recommended their bestsellers, which is their Mushi Pasta so we ordered a Mushi pasta dinner set each. Mushi Pasta in short just means spaghetti steamed in a bell jar-shaped clay pot.

Mushi Pasta

Each side of the bell jar-shaped clay pot had a face

Our pasta was served shortly after our pizza was served. Wanted to find out if their pasta was as good as what the online reviews made it out to be the moment it was served but…

Timer. Another gimmick

The staff told us that we had to wait for 5 minutes for the pasta to steam. Having eaten pasta served straight up all the while, this was a new experience. Seeing the pasta being steamed right before my eyes and wanting to know how my pasta will turn out brought out the little kid in me. I was gushing with excitement!

So, 5 minutes was up and the timer started “screaming”. The staff immediately came to remove the cover.

Mushi Pasta- Smoked Pork with Blue Cheese Cream Sauce

It was totally worth the wait. The pasta did not disappoint! Absolutely love how their smoked pork turned out and I thought it complimented well with the Blue Cheese Cream sauce. Oishi!

Tiramisu

Tiramisu was served chilled upon request. You can choose to have it before or after your main. Didn’t really like their Tiramisu though…felt that something was missing.

Bamboo wine

All in all, it was really a good experience. The awesome food, great service and quirky gimmicks made dinner real interesting that night! Prices are quite resonable too.

Bene Spaghetti is located at 83 Circular Road, Singapore 049435.

Woven Duct tape carrier

Made a woven duct tape carrier to ferry the oranges around in style this CNY [Chinese New Year].

Teachers’ Day 2012

Teachers’ Day is a day to show appreciation to the teachers for the efforts that they’ve put in. Celebrations are usually held just the day before the actual day here in Singapore and we get a day off on the actual day. However, because Teachers’ Day falls on the 7th of September this year (which is during our 1 week September holiday), we held the celebrations today.

Rather than just buying gifts like I did for every other year, I decided to do something different this year – create stuff out of duct tape! I totally enjoy crafts like this. You can check out my DIY Fun to see the other stuffs that I’ve made. =)

To cut the long story short…. These are the stuff that I made:

Duct tape flowers

Carrier I made purely out of duct tape for containing the gift. Recyclable and environmentally-friendly. =)

Carriers made out of duct tape.

Gifts mostly made from duct tape. Why buy real flowers when they wither so quickly?

Here’s a quote I think is worthy of sharing:

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” -Henry Brooks Adams

Indeed, teachers are more than just teachers. They’re a friend, an advisor, an inspiration and the guiding light of our lives. They add meaning to our life and actions have the ability to create massive ripple effect.

Thank you to all teachers past and present who have taught me and here’s wishing all the teachers out there a very HAPPY TEACHERS’ DAY!

Angry birds bento set

Have been toying with the idea of making a bento for quite some time so I decided to make and bring some Angry birds along with me to school today to fight the Monday blues. Have a great week ahead peeps!

National Day 2012

HAPPY 47TH BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE! <3

Merlion cake – This was the cake I drew for a cake decoration compeition last year and I won the most skillful award ;D

Loving the performances at the National Day Parade; Looking forward to the spectacular display of fireworks later!

I heart Singapore )
[Picture credit:http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/3593/my-heart-icon-by-casey-chen.html%5D

《老九》音乐剧[Lao jiu - The musical]

[Photo credit: The Theatre Practice]

Last Friday, I had the chance to watch a Chinese musical with my school. I did not know what to expect and was pretty excited/looking forward to it because I’ve never watched a musical in the Chinese Language before.

Programme booklet and entrance ticket

Lao Jiu the musical tells a down-to-earth tale of one boy who is caught in a dilemma in making a difficult choice between applying for a scholarship and pursuing his dreams. Born as the ninth child (And hence the name Lao Jiu - Lao Jiu means nine in Chinese) and only son in a family of eight girls and also being the brightest among his sisters, his family have high hopes on him. Lao Jiu did so well in his studies that he was invited to participate in an exam in which the prize is a scholarship to university should he do well. Attaining the scholarship will give his family a better life.

Lao Jiu is known to his family members as someone who loves exams/tests and quizzes and will always look forward for more. They believe that he’ll pass the exam with flying colours. However, what his family members do not know is that he secretly want to learn the dying art of finger puppetry that his uncle taught him when he was little and not go to university. In the end, he made the decision of giving the exam a miss in order to pursue his dream of carrying on the dying art of puppetry, much to his family’s dismay.

Lao Jiu is a musical in Chinese with English subtitles.

I thought the storyline was pretty easy to digest and will probably strike a chord with most audiences. The pace is good and the set, lighting and costumes are all very appealing. Even though there were 19 actors in total, they managed to coordinate and bring out each character really well with their superb singing and acting skills without you feeling that any character is overshadowed. What I enjoyed most during the musical are the catchy and melodious songs aside from the well thought out storyline. Everything from the storyline right down to the little details like the timing in which each actor enter the scene was perfect. The only fault I can find with this musical is the subtitles shown on the screen on both sides of the stage. The translation from Chinese to English wasn’t very accurate and I thought some meaning was lost in the process of translation. Also, the timing of the subtitles did not really match the actors’ speech at times.

Life isn’t a bed of roses and there will always be tough decisions to make at some point of our life. Watching this musical set me thinking:

What will I do if I’m caught in the same situation as Lao Jiu?

Will I pursue my dreams in a dying industry at the expense of a bright and well-planned future?

How far will I go to pursue my dreams?

Well, I don’t think I’ll make the same decision as Lao Jiu. It’s a fairly competitive society here in Singapore. Without a degree, you probably will not go far.  And my parents will likely react like how other Asian parents will, “I don’t think that’s a good idea… How will you survive in that industry?” It is not common for people to venture into the non-convential path and still attain success. Not many who go through that path will succeed without strong will power, sheer determination and lots of luck. But of course, there’re people who become successful despite dropping out of school to pursue their dreams.

I am not one who’ll give up on my education to pursue dreams, neither am I one who will give up on pursuing my dreams. I just think it’s more practical to complete my education first and pursue my dreams later. At least I’ll have something to fall back on should I fail in the process of pursuing my dreams. I thought Lao Jiu could have done the same too… Get the scholarship first and learn the art of puppetry later. It’ll be a win-win situation this way, will it not?

Racial Harmony Day

Every year on the 21st of July, schools in Singapore will commemorate this day in remembrance of the racial riots that occurred in 1964. This day allows students to celebrate Singapore as a harmonious multi-racial and multi-cultural society and promote inter-racial understanding among students. Just like every other year, we were encouraged to wear our traditional costumes or a costume from another race on this day. This year, I wore the Malay traditional costume – the Baju Kurung.

All dressed up in the different ethnic costumes. That’s me in purple in the front row :B
[Photo credit: Khad]

The Baju Kurung looks big on me>.< My friend is wearing the Indian traditional costume.
[Photo credit: Zubby]

I thought Racial Harmony Day is a very good way to serve as a reminder to fellow Singaporeans that harmony between the different races is very important. As Singapore is a multi-racial country, any minior discontent between the races might lead to problems that might result in similar outcomes as the 1964 racial riots. Thus, maintaining harmony between the different races is essential.

Commerating this day by encouraging students to wear their ethnic costumes allows us to find out more about the cultures of the different races. For one, I found out that there are many different versions and designs to the Malay traditional costume for women. Other than the Baju kurung that I wore, there is also the Kebaya. I also got to know more about the different festivals that the different races celebrate in-depth and the significance behind celebrating those festivals instead of just enjoying the public holidays given on those festivals.

However, I feel that maintaining racial harmony goes a long way than just reminding students to do so on Racial Harmony Day yearly. The little actions daily like making friends with people of different races, sparing a thought for others (For example by not eating at non-halal food eateries when eating out with Muslim friends), sharing cultural food with neighbours of other races during festivals or inviting them to join the fun during festivals will be more impactful in maintaining racial harmony in the long-run than just celebrating Racial Harmony once yearly.

I don’t think we live in a non colour blind world but trust me, we have loads more in common than we think we have. Do not be quick to judge one by their colour. For all you know, they may be the ones that will lend you a helping hand in times of crisis or become your best friend for many years to come. I have made many great friends of different races over the years and I am really grateful for the harmonious relationship we have between races in Singapore.

Harry Potter™: The Exhibition

You’re way past eleven years old, have not received your hogwarts acceptance letter yet and stuck in the muggle world wallowing in self-pity when you know you should be at Hogwarts? Well, fret not because something magical have arrived on the shores of Singapore.

For the first time ever in Southeast Asia, Harry Potter™: The exhibition made its first stop in Singapore. Step into the Magical world of Harry Potter and relish your childhood memories. Fans will be able to see hundreds of artifacts, authentic costumes & props from the eight Harry Potter films.

Harry Potter exhibition Singapore

Harry Potter exhibition banner

Harry Potter exhibition admission ticket

Ticket prices
Adult: $24 ($20 for Singaporean citizen)
Child (2-12 years old): $14 ($13 for Singaporean citizen)
Senior citizen (Above 65 years old): $21 ($18 for Singaporean citizen)

What better occasion other than this than to wear my Slytherin robe to the exhibition. #Slytherinpride
P.s: Was attempting to look sinister but I apparently failed, ended up with a weird expression instead:/

Wore my Slytherin robe to the Harry Potter exhibition ^^v              [Photo Credit: YiiMei]

Group shot with friends inside the Artscience museum. About to step into the magical world of Harry Potter in a bit…          [Photo credit: YiiMei]

There’re 9 parts to this exhibition in total:

-Hogwarts Arrival
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: A replica of the Hogwarts express, owl cages and luggages, Sirius Black’s wanted poster.

-Gryffindor Common Room
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Hermione’s time turner, Galleons, Assorted wands, The Fat lady, Pumpkin juice, Quibbler, Nevielle Longbottom’s wand, Katie Bell’s cursed necklace

-Gryffindor Boy’s Dormitory
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Harry’s bed, Harry’s wand, Harry’s glasses, Harry’s Hogwarts acceptance letter, Ron’s messy bed, Ron’s jumper, Ron’s Howler sent by Mrs. Weasley, The Marauder’s Map, Golden egg

-Hogwarts Classes
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Gilderoy Lockhart’s wand, Books written by Gilderoy Lockhart, The Boggart cupboard, the clown, Advanced potion textbook, Professor Snape’s costume, Professor’s Slughorn’s costume, Cornish pixie, Ponama Sprout’s costume, Mandrakes (You’ll be able to pull a squelching mandrake out from its pot. Be careful though because it’s pretty heavy and it can get irritating after a while).

-Quidditch
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Different Quidditch costumes. You can attempt to throw the through the Quaffle through the hoop!

-Hagrid’s Hut
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Buckbeak, Harry, Ron & Hermione’s attire from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hagrid’s attire (He’s really tall!), Hagrid’s huge sofa.

-The Forbidden Forest
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Centaurs, Acromantula, Head of Hungarian horntail (if I did not remember wrongly), Thestral. A Thestral can only be seen by someone who had seen death. Does it mean that I saw death? :O

-Dark forces
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Quirinus Quirrell’s costume, a petrified Colin Creevy, the 6 Horcruxes, Kreacher, Costumes of the Prisoners of Azkaban, Voldemort’s robe, Death eater’s masks.

-Great Hall
What are some of the things you’ll get to see: Banners of the 4 houses. Umbridge’s proclaimations, Costumes from the Yule Ball, Triwizard cup, some wands from the Weasley family, Quidditch board game, candies and food from the movie.

This is definitely a must-go for Potterheads but I thought it was too short an exhibition. It ended much faster than expected and I did not spend as much time in there as I did in other exhibitions that I went to previously. Nevertheless, it’s worth going as you’ll not only get to see authenic props used/worn by the actors from the movies, it’ll also bring back lotsa childhood memories if you grew up reading and watching Harry Potter. AND you’ll also be able to buy some cool items from the exhibition shop! Oh, I decided to make the Hogwarts express train tickets for my friends and myself to add to the Potter atmosphere. You can check ‘em out here!

You’ll walk into the exhibition’s shop straight after the Great Hall. The exhibition shop is built to resemble Diagon Alley (So cool right!).  Guess what? I spotted Hedwig at Diagon Alley! I decided to take a photo with her but Hedwig wasn’t very cooperative. Seems like she prefers spreading her wings and soaring in the air than cuddling.

Aww…Hedwig is so soft and fluffy~! [Photo Credit: Andrea]

These are the prices for some of the items sold at the exhibition shop:

Hogwarts crest hoodie (Black): $65 for children, $75 for adults
Gryffindor crest hoodie (Red): $65 for children, $75 for adults
Hedwig Tote Bag: $40
Hogwarts crest tote bag: $40
House Beanies: $32 each
House Scarfs: $40 each
House Ties: $27 each
Harry Potter Replica Glasses: $16
Mugs: $25 each
All Wands: $75 (Not sure if it’s for all designs)
Dumbledore’s Army Wand Set: $350
Hedwig Key Ring: $12
Leatherette bookmark: $10
Marauder’s Map: $60
Hogwarts Crest Tea Towel: $30
Chocolate Frog (comes with a collectible wizard card): $6
Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans: $6
Harry Potter Exhibition Official Guide Book: $30
Harry Potter Flim wizardy book: $120
Tales of Beedle the Bard: $32
Timeturner: $120
Sirius Black wanted poster: $20
Harry’s Undesirable number one poster: $20
Exhibition Guide with Harry’s Hogwarts letter of acceptance: $30
House Pens: $40 each
House crest stickers (Comes in a set of 4): $12
Hedwig Keychain $12

Here’s what I bought back from the exhibition. I wanted to get the hoodie too but they were only left with 2XLs sizes so the staff asked me to leave my contact behind. They’ll contact me once the sizes are restocked (The service is only available to local citizens)! Didn’t get the other stuff because they were exorbitantly overpriced. You can easily get some of them online for cheaper.

Photo of Hogwarts hoodie added on the 9th of June:

Got my Hogwarts hoodie from the Harry Potter exhibition already! Collected it from the Artscience museum on the 9th of June.

Here are the stuff I bought from the exhibition:

Magical items I bought from the Harry Potter exhibition

Was given a huge paper bag to keep the 3 packets of chocolate frogs and 3 boxes of Every flavour beans that I bought but who’s complaining! The paper bag is so pretty!

Chocolate frog:

Chocolate frog

Chocolate frog cards

Chocolate frog cards I got: Gilderoy Lockhart, Mr Olllivander & Donaghan Tremlett. Regretted not buying more chocolate frogs. I wanted Severus Snape’s chocolate frog card but I didn’t get it with the 3 chocolate frogs that I bought.

In case you’re wondering, there’re a total of 16+1 collectible chocolate frog cards in total: Albus Dumbledore, Madam Rolanda Hooch, Minerva mcGonagall, Ponama Sprout, Severus Snape, Rubeus Hagrid, Madame Pince, Mr. Ollivander, Gilderoy Lockhart, Voldemort, Filius Flitwick, Quirinus Quirell, The Potter family, Donaghan Tremlett, Osrino Thruston, Heathcote Barbary and a guest appearence by Myron Wagtail.

Bertie Botts’s Every Flavour Beans:

Bertie Botts’s Every Flavour Beans

Potterheads would definitely not want to give this a miss but it’s definitely not for the weak-hearted! I’ve tried Black pepper, earwax, dirt, grass and soap flavour so far and dirt is the worst so far! Felt so sick after eating the dirt flavour bean. Well, I wouldn’t spoil it for you by describing the flavour of each bean so try it yourself let let me know which you like best. Do look out for the vomit flavour bean though, It’s ………

Pretty disappointed that the packaging of the chocolate frogs and Every flavour beans are not the same as in the movies.

Photography is not allowed (You wouldn’t want to be stupified!) and I don’t have a pensive like Dumbledore’s to store this wonderful memory of this visit. So, if you’re intending to bring some of the magic back from the exhibition like I did, my suggestion is to check and compare the prices online first before going for the exhibition so that you won’t be left with a hole in your pocket. Some items can be bought online at a cheaper price BUT you may not be able to find some items online at all. So check and double-check! You wouldn’t want to leave the exhibition thinking that you’ll be able to buy X item you saw at the exhibiton online, only to find out much later that it’s not available online (or way more expensive).

Remember to bring enough Galleons because only Mastercard and Visa is accepted other than cash. NETS is not accepted.

Some of the exhibits can be found outside the Artscience museum so don’t forget to catch a glimpse of ‘em! This giant knight chess piece from Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets can be found at just outside Sephora at The Shoppee:

Giant knight chess piece outside Sephora           [Photo Credit: YiiMei]

This is just one of the 3 (look out for the Death eater and Dolores Umbridge attire one too).

Harry Potter™: The exhibition will be on at the Artscience museum at Marina Bay Sands from 2nd of June till 30th of September so hurry and get there (By the Knight Bus, Broomstick, Floo powder, Hogwarts express, Apparation or by any other way you can think of) before the Ministry of Magic brings them back to Hogwarts!