Review: Platypus Lobster Shack

before yesterday, i was under the impression that nothing can go wrong with lobster as an ingredient. platypus lobster shack proved me wrong.

after reading decent reviews about their lobster rolls and crustacean bowl, i went there with high expectations. ordered a traditional lobster roll and a crustacean bowl (main) and was promptly informed that the crustacean bowl will take about 15mins.

quick service, the lobster roll arrived within 5mins of ordering. even at first glance, it doesn't look appealing. it was not overflowing with lobster chunks, instead, all i saw was lots of diced tomatoes and sauce. the presentation of the food was also bad, with the mesclun salad sloppily piled on one corner, with some of it even hanging down from the edge of the plate. i would give credit to the truffle crisps, though slightly oily, tasted good. as i expected just from the outer appearance, the roll came with small and few chunks of lobster meat which were overpowered by the sauce. i would say even the one at boston lobster shack tasted better!

after tasting the disappointing roll, i was hoping the crustacean bowl wasn't as bad, given that most reviews highly recommended it. the first bite was not bad, smoky taste of burnt cheddar, like eating an aburi sushi. however, after the third or fourth bite, i started getting sick of it. like really sick. the caviar was nothing to rave about and did little to enhance the overall taste of the dish. there was barely any sea urchin creme as touted in their menu. the lobster meat was in small mushy chunks, and you can hardly tastes the sweetness of the lobster with so many flavors going on in your mouth. the rice, with the ponzu sauce, would have tasted nice if not for the overpowering burnt cheddar on top. though this dish took 15mins to arrive, but it was lukewarm. im not sure if the rice was meant to be partly cooked and partly uncooked, but it tasted like that to me, and i didn't really like it.

Review: No Name Cheng Tng

cheng tng is one of my favorite dessert, and i'm lucky to be living near two of the most famous cheng tngs stalls in singapore. i had the one at bedok food corner (ye lai xiang) a few times already, but this is my first time trying 'no name cheng tng' which is actually within walking distance from my house.

for me, i like my cheng tng to be full of ingredients and not too sweet. no name got it right. at only $1.60 (they increased by 10 cents due to rising food costs) for eat-in and $1.70 for takeaway, they are surely one of the most affordable cheng tngs in singapore. you can see my bowl of cheng tng below, it's filled to the brim. all the ingredients were good, my only small complain is that the white fungus (my least favourite ingredient in a cheng tng) is 'dry' and there's too much of it. taste of the longan soup is similar to ye lai xiang.

although ye lai xiang is widely known to be the best, but 'no name' is a close second, if not on par... not to mention it comes at half the price of ye lai xiang!

Address
No Name Cheng Tng
Block 69, Bedok South Avenue 3

Gmarket Haul #2

frankly speaking, this should be my 5th gmarket haul, but being the lazy me, i didn't blog about the 2nd, 3rd nor the 4th. this haul was ordered during the gmarket black week, aka 1111 (11 Nov). gmarket was having massive discounts, big coupons (20,000W off) and giveaways during black week.

i shall state up front that this was my most disappointing gmarket experience, and i will explain it shortly. before that, let's take a look at the items i bought this time round! shall start with the purchases that pleases me the most.

1) sleeveless turtle neck flare dress (US$15)
this dress fitted me so well! because of my long neck, i like tops/dresses with high neck or turtleneck. a very simple and classic little black dress. i'm on the tall side so many korean one-piece dress tends to be too short, but this was just nice. it doesn't look impressive in my lousy photo as it does when one wears it. i just hope it doesn't shrink after washing!

2) ecole lucy waterproof longwear eye shadow + roll-on makeup remover + lip tint (US$13)
this was such a steal! all these for only US$13, can you believe it?! it's a customizable set of makeup, and the makeup remover was the additional optional item. sorry, didn't manage to get a shot of the orange lip tint, but i will definitely do a makeup review when i try it on. these items were neatly wrapped in bubble-wrap and came in a big box.

3) IPKN starlight eyes (2 colours) + remover (US$9)
i couldn't find any english review of IPKN waterglow starlight eye shadow on the web, but decided to purchase it because of the subtle glittery effect it was supposed to give. their spokesperson is girls generation's tiffany! i did a swatch of one of the colours on my hand, seems pretty cool! again, like all korean cosmetics, it came neatly wrapped and in a big box.

4) henry tee (US$11)
a very simple looking tee, but i don't quite like the material. it doesn't feel like pure cotton and wrinkles easily. although it was neatly packed, but when i opened it, it was all wrinkly.

ok, now back to why i was disappointed with gmarket this time round. out of the 4 items, 3 were very good while 1 was just alright. the problem wasn't with my purchase, but those that i place an order for, but was subsequently cancelled. besides the above 4 items, i also ordered a colourful knit sweater (from same shop as the henry tee) and a checkered sundress. these two items were the most expensive out of the six, so naturally i applied the biggest discount coupons to these items.

for the knit sweater, they changed the status to 'preparing for delivery', only to change it to 'cancelled' a few days later. the money was refunded straight to my credit card. what makes me annoyed is i wasted my biggest coupon on this item which i could have use it on other stuff, and for a in-season item, i wouldn't expect it to be unavailable so soon. btw, they didn't give me the reason for the unavailability, and even after they refunded me, they continue to list the item on their page for people to order.

the sundress was still understandable because it is a off-season item and after they cancelled it, they changed it to "out of stock". the problem is they refunded me in the form of cash balance to my gmarket account. as i have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, such form of cash means you will have to make a purchase from gmarket again to utilize that money. sure you can withdraw it, but currently they only support withdrawing to a korean bank account.

Review: Breakfast at Tim Ho Wan (Aperia)

Who hasn't been to Tim Ho Wan? The cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant with branches all over the world. I have been to try their lunch/dinner dim sum at least 3 times.

They have now opened a 24hours outlet at Aperia Mall, near Lavender MRT. The mall is new, with low occupancy rate and a bit out of the way, maybe the crowd will start to come now that Tim Ho Wan has settled in. This is the only outlet where you can savour their breakfast and supper menu, which differs from their lunch/dinner menu.

I went on a Saturday morning, around 8am, and there were 4 or 5 tables being occupied. The breakfast menu is straight forward, with only 6 sets to choose from. To be honest, I was quite disappointed with their breakfast menu. I like having dim sum items like siew mai, shrimp dumpling and pork ribs, but they don't have it here.

I ended up choosing set F, comprising 2 signature pork buns, 1 century egg and pork porridge and 2 pieces pan-fried carrot cake and 1 hot tea. I don't like char siew, so naturally I don't often eat such buns, but only Tim Ho Wan's pork buns seems decent. The century porridge was quite tasty, and if I am coming back again, I will probably get set B. The carrot cake was alright, but I am not fond of having fried/oily stuff for breakfast.

For breakfast, you have to place your order at the counter first, after which you will be provided with a number and you can self-collect when your number is called. It can be quite confusing, especially if you ordered several sets at one go. The staff at the collection counter will tell you to come back again later for your 2nd set.

Qoo10 Coupons/Q-points/Q-stamp, where do I start?

Hi, I have seen many newbies to Qoo10 asking about their benefits (coupons, Q-points and Q-stamp) or loyalty system. It is extremely difficult for a newbie to understand how to make full use of their loyalty system. Here, I will be sharing how to apply the various benefits and some tips in making the best out of your purchases on Qoo10.

Coupons
Generally speaking, there are 3 main categories.

• Shop coupon - Available on the shop/seller's page and applicable to items sold by the shop (subject to certain restrictions). The coupon can be applied at the cart page when you check-out.
• Item coupon - Obtainable through roulette spin, gift from someone or Q-stamp exchange. The coupon can be applied at the item page where you are choosing your options and adding it to your cart.
• Cart coupon - Obtainable through roulette spin, gift from someone or Q-stamp exchange. The coupon can be applied at the cart page when you check-out.

Occasionally, Qoo10 will have event coupons which works similar to the above 3 categories of coupons. For e.g. the 'MasterCard Item Coupon' which is an item coupon but only applicable if you check out using MasterCard. Another one is the 'Black Friday 30% Cart Coupon' which is essentially just a cart coupon available around Thanksgiving.

Within each category of coupon, there are different value or denominations. The common ones are:

• $1 coupon for minimum spending of $10
• $5 coupon for minimum spending of $30
• $10 coupon for minimum spending of $100
• 50% coupon with a maximum of $5 off

Since coupons are the easiest to obtain, for any purchases above $10, it is highly recommended to use at least one when purchasing.


Q-stamps
Q-stamps can be obtain either through roulette spinning, MameQ exchange or writing a review to a product you have purchased.

Q-stamp can be used to redeem coupons or charge Qtalk Callpoint (an app similar to whatsapp). When redeeming, note that 'EXCHANGE' means you are guaranteed to get the coupon, while 'DRAW' means you are just getting a chance to try to get a coupon. My recommendation is don't bother with drawing a coupon using your stamps.

Another use for Q-stamp is to buy items at an offer price. The items offered are shown on the Q-chance sale page: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Event/QchanceSale.aspx

Q-points
Out of the 3 main types of benefits, I would say Q-points is the most valuable, but also the hardest to get. You can see Q-points as a form of online currency, where you can use to offset the cost of your purchases. It is available from roulette, buying an item, writing a review or special events.

This option is only available after you clicked on 'Place an Order' from the cart page. You will then be asked to fill in the shipping details, choose a payment option and to select if you would like to use your Q-points, if any.

As you can see from the screenshot above, there is a drop down menu to select how much Q-points you would like to offset your purchase. 100 Q-points = $1. You can only offset up to 30% of your purchases or 1,000 Q-points (i.e. you can only have a further discount of at most $10).

Additional Tips
Now that you have a clearer idea of the various types of benefits, here is my final advice to you.

1.  Always check if you can use all 3 categories of coupons (i.e. item, cart and shop coupons). If can, use all, duh!
2. If there are items you know for sure you are going to get, best is to plan which coupon to use for which item before you purchase any of the items. For e.g.you might have a 30% discount coupon and you used it on item A which only gives you a $3 discount, but you could have used it on item B which will give you a $5 discount!
3. If you have more than one cart coupon and a few times that individually satisfy the cart coupon criteria, split your payment. Pay for item 1 using one cart coupon first, before buying item 2 using another cart coupon.
4. Combine small-value items (individually <$10) during payment so you can hit $10 and at least use the $1 coupon.
5. Coupons cannot be applied to some of the time-sale or daily-deal items.
6.  You can always ask for a coupon at the Q-desk (scroll all the way down at the roulette page). Bear in mind though, that you can only receive the same type of coupon as a gift just once.
7. Earn additional Q-stamps by writing a review with a photo attachment of your purchase.

Simple Recipe: Golden Fish Cakes

A recipe that is affordable (less than S$10) and easy to make! It makes for a perfect snack or appetizer for a hot day.

Ingredients
1 boneless cod fillet (I bought mine frozen for $8)
1 medium potato
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
water
parsley
chives, chopped
salt
black pepper
1 tablespoon mayonaise
1/2 tablespoon mustard

Method

1. Boil the potato until it's cooked. In a separate pot, put in the cod fillet, pour in water until the liquid covers the cod fillet completely. Cook the fillet at medium heat until it's done.

2. Remove the potato skin and then dice or shred the potato.

3. Remove the cod fillet from the pot and let it cool. Dry the cod fillet with kitchen napkins and using your fingers, flake the fillet. Be sure not to make the flakes too small.

4. In a bowl, mix the cod fillet flakes, potato and the remaining ingredients with your hands. The mixture should be sticky enough to mold into balls, if not, add more breadcrumbs.

5. Mold the mixture into cakes.

6. Heat the oil. Put the molded fish cakes into the hot oil and fry it until it turns golden brown on both sides.

Review: Pince and Pints

I have been wanting to try out Pince and Pints (P&P) for a long time, but was choosing the right time to go so that I can avoid having to queue. I tried Burger and Lobster (B&L) in London, where P&P drew inspiration from, and had a really enjoyable meal there.

Went on a Wednesday evening. Reached around 5.45pm and there was some refurbishing going at the other half of the shop so I can only be seated at around 6.15pm. I love the grilled lobster at B&L so naturally I opted for the same at P&P. The pricing at B&L and P&P were about the same, though I have this feeling that it is more value for money in London compared to Singapore as it is more difficult to get a S$5 meal in London than in Singapore, so at S$48 per lobster dish... B&L is definitely value for money.

My grilled lobster took about 15mins to arrive. It was plated just like B&L and has the same side dishes to go with it. I would say the lobster at P&P was decent and worth a visit, but after experiencing the one at B&L, this pales in comparison.

The lobster here was smaller and doesn't seem as fresh as over at B&L. The flesh should be firm and bouncy, but it was mushy at some parts. The char-grilled taste was there and it was delicious, but the quality of the lobster definitely needed some improvement. I remembered feeling full and satisfied at B&L, but not so at P&P. I even managed to finish everything (including the fries and salad) even though I'm an extremely small eater! The greens had the taste of soil/mud and the overall taste was just ok. The butter/garlic sauce seems diluted and the chives seems like it has been left in the open for a long time. The fries, at first few bites, was surprisingly better than at B&L. However, towards the end of my meal, I started to feel the grease in my throat and was wondering if they used bad oil or didn't change the oil often enough. That said, their service was excellent, way better than at B&L.

Address
Pince and Pints
32, 33 Duxton Rd, 089497

Review: The Lawn @ Shenton

Happened to be around Tanjong Pagar when I dropped by The Lawn for lunch. I like salads, especially when there are a wide variety of toppings and generous serving. Salad-focused F&B outlets are usually on the pricey side. The last thing one wants to feel is to pay a lot yet end up hungry and dissatisfied.

The staff were polite and efficient in taking and preparing your order. You get a slip of paper to choose either salad/olive rice and your choice of mains. You can choose 5 toppings for if you opt for the salad, otherwise it will just be rice, standard salad and the main.

I had the salad (mesclun leaves with egg, cucumber, olives, pineapple, fusilli pasta), grilled cajun chicken with a honey mustard dressing. I have tried other salad outlets before, but this is is by far the best. The portion was substantial with the right amount of mesclun leaves and topping so that I am full but not tired from all that chewing. I think I did a neat combination with the toppings as it doesn't feel dry even with the little dressing I added and neither was it too bland or salty. Though the pineapples were canned, but it added some sweetness and juice to my salad. My only disappointment was the cajun chicken. It was breast meat and thus very dry. For a meat-lover, I actually enjoyed the salad more than the meat.

Address
The Lawn at Shenton
8 Shenton Way #B1-11
AXA Tower

Review: Salty Peanut Gelato Cafe

East Village is a mixed development near Simpang Bedok that has officially opened a month ago. Many of the stalls, especially the ones inside, are still vacant. Besides a Cold Storage, there are several small F&B establishments fronting the mall.

Just recently I got to try out Salty Peanut gelato cafe. Their signature flavour, needless to say, is salty peanut. Despite not being a fan of creamy ice cream, I tried the salty peanut and gula melaka with salt. A single scoop costs $3.80.

Salty peanut tasted like snickers without chocolate and full of finely grounded peanuts. It was fragrant and has just the right amount of sweetness. I am not a fan of peanuts, so to me this was of average liking.

Gula melaka is something I love, but I was kind of reluctant to try out for fear of it being very rich and sickening. To me surprise, it was actually very good, much better than the salty peanut. It has a rich taste of gula melaka but doesn't have the richness of coconut milk which sometimes make me feel sick when eating desserts with gula melaka. The salty taste from the salt added another dimension to it and helped brought out the fragrance of the gula melaka. Like it, yay!

Some other flavours I spotted were Matcha, Tutti Frutti, Mixed Berries and Kiwi Sensation (?). Might be back to try out their fruity flavours next time.

Address
Salty Peanut
430 Upper Changi Road, #01-69

A Guide to Shopping on Taobao

Just recently I took advantage of Taobao Single's Day (aka 11 Nov or 1111) sale to buy some stuff. It is a day when most Taobao minishop will offer discounts and the volume of transaction can get really big. I don't use any buying agent for my purchases. Taobao SEA has it's own forwarding agent to help deliver whatever I buy to me (currently it only applies to certain destinations like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia etc.).

This guide here is meant to teach you how to shop like a pro on Taobao and what are the things to look out for. Whether you are using a buying/forwarding agent or not, most importantly it is to navigate to the product you like and have that bit of assurance that it is not a scam shop.

#1 Taobao vs Tmall
At the Taobao main page, you will see a link to Tmall (天猫) just below the Taobao logo. Tmall is part of Taobao and most buying agent can help you purchase from both.While Taobao minishops can be set up by individual, selling/re-selling anything, Tmall shops can only be set up by companies. You will definitely get more consistent quality/service over at Tmall than at Taobao because Tmall has stricter guidelines to follow e.g. 7 days refund policy, delivery time no later than x days. Tmall shops are usually of the company's own brand, hence the authenticity of the product. Major international brands like Reebok, Nike, Prada are listed on Tmall together with domestic brands like Li Ning and 361degrees.

#2 Seller Reputation
Taobao has a seller reputation rating as denoted by the number of hearts/diamonds/crowns, with the crowns indicating more reputable. The seller reputation is usually indicated just below the name of the minishop. For each transaction, the buyer is allowed to give a rating of Good, Average or Poor to the seller. A 'Good' rating will earn the buyer 1 reputation point, a 'Average' rating earns no points, and a 'Poor' rating will cause a deduction of 1 point. Clicking on the rating will bring you to a page whereby they give you more in-depth statistics on the seller's performance, even comparing the seller to other sellers selling similar products. Personally I don't recommend looking into such in-depth statistics because it might confuse you more, and unless you can read Chinese, it will take up some time.

 

#3 Product Review Quickview

If you can't understand Chinese, one quick way to get a sense of what others say about a product, is to look at the 'People's Opinion' (大家印象). It is located in the 2nd tab when you scroll down to see the product description. It is a system-generated cloud of words that are frequently said by reviewers of the product. An orange box is a positive comment, while a grey box is a negative one. You can use google translate to help you with these key words, rather than translating the reviews which can be colloquial at times. Using the screenshot below as an example, the orange boxes are 'overall good', 'thick material', 'pretty design', 'looks beautiful wearing it', 'true to size', 'very comfortable', 'good attitude', 'nice packaging', 'decent delivery'. The grey one says 'weird smell'. 

Note: Only products with a significant number of reviews will have this 'People's Opinion' function.

#4 Taobao Gold Coins

This is only applicable for those who can add items to cart and check out the purchases. For those who uses a buying agent, you will not be able to make use of this benefit.

It is basically a loyalty system whereby you login each day to collect your daily gold coins, with more gold coins given if you login on consecutive days (http://taojinbi.taobao.com). The gold coins can then be used to offset the cost of certain purchases when you check out your items. 100 gold coins = ¥1. 

Tip: You can earn double gold coins daily by downloading the Taobao mobile app and clocking in your attendance there. There are also other ways to earn more gold coins (doing mission, lucky draw etc.) which I don't recommend you wasting your time to do so.

#5 Check for Discount Voucher

Always check for any discount voucher that the minishop might provide before making payment. At the cart view, if there are any discount vouchers, it will be indicated as 优惠券 right next to the shop name. Click on it and you can then collect a voucher by clicking on '领取'. At this point, you have only downloaded the voucher but have not applied it to the product you are going to buy. Proceed to make the payment. At the payment page, the system would have automatically included the discount under '店铺优惠'. In the event that you have several vouchers, you can click on the drop down to select the most beneficial to you.

Note: Some vouchers will have a minimum amount spent requirement hence you might be able to download the voucher but not able to use it.

11st Haul #2

following the previous 11st haul experience, i decided to on another spree on 11st! it was a much smoother experience this time round! placed the order for 5 items on 6 aug, received it on 14 aug.

i noticed that 11st consolidate and package the items very neatly and carefully, with bubble pouches to protect fragile items. i was surprised that it came in a big box even though i ordered only 5 items and with the exception of the shoes, the rest are small items.

a review of some of the items i bought from 11st:

rating: 4/5

fashion vintage sunglasses. true to image. comes with a pouch and a hanky. not much complaints except that it didn't look as good on me than i expected it to be. 

rating: 3.7/5

pleated mini skirt. what i like about this mini skirt is that it has an inner safety shorts. its comfortable and more suitable for outdoors and sports, although the material is slightly on the thin side.

rating: 4.5/5

strappy heels. my best buy this haul. its a decent quality shoe, nice design and great comfort! love the buckle part, which you don't really have to buckle, but just hook it over for easier wearing. highly recommend buying from this brand. if not for my budget, i would have bought another pair from them.

Editorial: Did Wonder Girls Yeeun (Ha:tfelt) flop as a solo?

for you guys who don't know about wonder girls, i'm sure you have heard of their hit single 'nobody' which goes something like 'i want nobody nobody but you'. if you still not heard of them, you can check them out on wikipedia. they are considered one of the top tier girl group in south korea and is currently on hiatus.

so... besides sunmi who left the group in 2010 to pursue her studies, yeeun is the 2nd member of wonder girls to turn solo singer. vocal-wise, she is definitely one of the stronger ones in the group. as the lead vocalists, she carried some of the more difficult parts of the song. that said, she was never the most eye-catching member in wonder girls. in my opinion, she doesn't dance that well, isn't that attractive and doesn't have the charms as compared to the many kpop idols out there. her obvious strength seems to be in songwriting, but could it be that there aren't many prominent female idol-songwriter?

the music

music is a piece of art, to me, its really hard to judge a music to its technical details. if i hear it, i like it and it speaks to me... that is a good piece of music to me. there are pretty diverging views on yeeun's album. truthfully, i only like 'iron girl' among all the tracks. i'm not feeling her title track 'ain't nobody'. it was a mess and has a raw-ness to it which i didn't like.

the performance

the performance is as equally important as the music. with a good piece of music but poor delivery will not capture people's attention. yeeun is not much of a performer even during her time in wonder girls. your eyes doesn't automatically go to her when you watch a performance. since she chose to perform on a stage, i would expect her to appeal to the audience's sense of sight, and not just sense of hearing.

there are many ways to make a performance worth watching. it could either be the music being sooooooooo good, interesting costume choices, elaborate set or amazing dances, for yeeun, i think she tried to impress with her dance and stage set.

there were many comments saying her stage was a joke to watch, which i sort of agree. it was funny seeing her going all possessed and being everywhere on stage. she was literally everywhere, moving from one end of the stage to another... which was too much and too distracting from her music. i have seen other singers doing something similar, but it didn't come out as funny as what she did. she seems to be trying too hard to impress. slow it down girl.

the results

the commercial success of a kpop album is dependable upon its 1) physical sales, 2) digital sales, 3) streaming frequency. physical sales prove the amount of die-hard fan support you have. digital sales and streaming is a sign of the mass-appeal of the song.

after 4 weeks, yeeun only sold about 2,400 physical copies, which is astonishingly low for an idol whose definition is having legions of die-hard fans. only topp dogg and dal shabet have releases this year that sold less than yeeun. other idol-turned-solos like gain, sunmi, jiyeon and hyomin fared much better. the only consolation is that wonder girls' album tend to fare poorly in physical sales, so it didn't really came as a surprise to me.

compared to physical sales, wonder girls has been a powerhouse in digital sales, with many chart-dominating hits. even sunmi's 2 solos were topping charts like nobody's business. looking at yeeun's title track, ain't nobody, i can't really say that it's a total flop. 'ain't nobody' and 'iron girl' did rank within top 50 in the first day on bugs (has the 2nd largest market share). bugs and soribada were the two major charts that yeeun's songs fared better in. it wasn't the same over at melon, which has the biggest market share. it was already out of top 50 within a week of release. she was on the fringe of top 10 on melon's real-time chart for the best part of the time. other than that, she was mostly outside of top 10. digitally, i would say she did not do as well as expected.

beyond commercial success, did she manage to prove herself and satisfy herself? i would say yes. she got the attention she deserved in the media. as one of the least popular member in wonder girls, she was never able to break out from other members' shadows (e.g. sunye who had better vocals than her, sohee who had more charms than her, yubin who does sexy better than her, sunmi who defines korean beauty better than her). turning into a singer-songwriter gives people a glimpse of her talent in that aspect. though her skills are still very raw now, but at least people are aware. the only problem is, besides proving herself, she needs to prove that the music she creates can sell and relate to many people and not just herself.

overall

i have been following comments on her music and album and was quite irritated by her stans who tried to put down anyone who said her album/performance wasn't good. comments like "you only listen to junk music", "this is contemporary dance which only artistic people will understand" and "she release this album not for the money, but to show herself" etc., doesn't make me change my mind one bit.

without any former definition of what constitutes a successful album, the only thing we have are chart rankings. if people like the songs, they will download or buy the album, and that helps in the chart rankings. going by this logic, not many seem to like her songs and this is further proven by comments left on her news articles. it is funny how her stans are suddenly claiming to be highly artistic people and shaming others who do not share the same opinion as them. anything can be an art these days.

i dont think any singer will say they release music for the money. but releasing a music by losing a lot of money is a different thing. her company needs to account to its shareholders and her losing the money earned by other artistes in the company is just... not appropriate. it was a good try, but she could head some of the business-analyst advise and package her album in a more appealing manner.

Gmarket Haul #1

this was my first time using gmarket but navigating through the gmarket website was a breeze. since it was my first time, i didnt really have any strategy and it was really to get a feel of what gmarket has to offer.

after placing my order and paying for it on 4 march, the vendor proceeded to ship the items to the gmarket warehouse. one of the vendor informed me right away that his item will only be available for shipping a few days later. thats fine with me. most of the items were received within

the package arrived neatly packed. each of the item was either wrapped up in plastic wrapper or in a box. i hvae no complains on the delivery or the package in general!

so here's part of my haul! sorry, might not have real photos of some of the items because i have no time to take photos of them!

1) leggings with mini skirt (US$ 11)
i have a wide hip so the H-line skirt version doesnt suit me well. opted for this flare skirt instead. i was so satisfied with this item. its not too thin, the quality is good and it fitted me so well. initially i was afraid it will be too short, like many leggings which i have previously bought, but this was long enough without the leg ends keep moving upwards. you can wear it with a sweater, long blouse or a jacket!

2) knit sweater with bow and split back (US$ 22)
quality is there, nothing major to complain just that the cutesy-ness of the bow makes it feels like a cheap wear at times.

3) sweater with ruffle collar and ends (US$ 24)
saw this style on korean tv often so i guess it was the trend there. it gave off a more feminine look as opposed to your usual sweater. wore it twice ever since i bought it... comfortable and warm enough for spring weather. the only bad is the ruffles part seems to form creases easily as the material is not good quality as the sweater part.

Singapore Hawker Center: Guide for Tourists Part 1, The Local Way

this post is meant for tourists or foreigners new to the local hawker scene. you will be able to understand how and why singaporeans do certain things in a certain way.

hawker center, or sometimes known as food center, is an open-air complex that houses several food & beverages stall. they are considered a budget option and a daily meal to many singaporeans. this is the government's response to illegal and unhygienic makeshift roadside stalls that popped up in the 1950s. you can find hawker centers near housing estates or bus interchange, and they usually comes with a connected wet market.

singapore prides itself as a food paradise because of the wide variety of cuisine here. a hawker center is your best bet to get cheap and good local food and i'm going to share how you can enjoy the delicious food like the locals:

1. using 'packet of tissue papers' to reserve your table
given that it will get very crowded during meal times, its sometimes very hard to grab a seat, especially if you are intending to dine with your family or group of friends. unless you are dining alone, the first thing you need to do it find an empty table or seats. you can then reserve the table/seats by placing a packet of tissue paper on it. you can also use other inexpensive items to book your table/seats e.g. umbrella, a file, water bottle etc. once done, this will indicate to others that the table/seats is taken. you can then proceed to buy your food without worrying about returning with a tray of food and finding no seats.

2. non-halal and halal stalls
in most hawker centers there are stalls selling non-halal and halal food, with the non-halal stalls being the majority. the halal stalls will mostly be housed under the same roof, but together at one area in the hawker center. this is to make it easier for the cleaning staff to collect utensils which are meant for the halal stalls. while we sometimes like to share food bought from the different stalls, it will be respectful to not use the utensils from the halal stalls to eat the non-halal food.

3. hygiene grading of stalls
this grading of licensed food stalls are given by the national environment agency. all food stalls are advised to display this grading certificate in a prominent location at their stall. they are graded based on overall hygiene and cleanliness of their stall and during food preparation, and can be given anything from an A (best) to a D (worst). more information on the food hygiene standards in singapore can be found here.

4. self-service stalls
in the past there were many stalls whose owners will serve the food to you. you just have to tell the owner your table number or roughly where you are sitting, and they will bring the food to you. such stalls are increasingly rare and many stalls are now self-service, which means you queue and collect your food from the stall. when in doubt, you can look for a sign that says 'self service' in the store front, or just follow the person in front of you.

5. long queue = good food?
singaporeans are willing to queue for good food, hence many believe that long queue = good food. these are the popular stalls, and in each hawker centers there are bound to be several STAR stalls which serve some of the best local cuisine. its hard to go wrong if you follow this rule.

6. ordering lingo
most of the hawker stalls are run by the older generation hence they might not be well-verse in english hence singaporeans tend to order in part-mandarin and part-dialect. however, you do not have to worry because 90% of the time, you can get away with ordering in english. the only problem some foreigners face is the seemingly complex options when ordering. take for example a plate of chicken rice, you can choose the type of chicken, the parts of the chicken and whether you want gravy on top of your rice. another good example is mince meat noodles, where you can choose the size, dry or soup version, spicy or non-spicy version, type of noodles and anything you wish to exclude from your noodles. do not freak out when you hear the local in front of you shooting off his/her order like a machine gun. he/she is probably just saying "$5, dry, spicy, vermicelli, without lard".

7. tissue paper peddlers
occasionally you might find such tissue paper peddlers trying to sell you packets of tissue paper. these packets of tissue paper are definitely more expensive than if you were to buy in bulk in a supermarket, but some will buy out of convenience (since napkins are not provided in hawker centers) or pity (because they are usually the elderly selling it). you are not obligated to buy from them so you can just politely turn down their offer and carry on eating your food. other than these tissue paper peddlers, there will also be drink stall owners asking if you would like a drink. you can just tell them your order and they will bring the drink to you and you pay them.

8. tray return stations
in recent years there are tray return stations in hawker center where you bring your empty plate to the stations and leave it there. again, be reminded to correctly split your plate and utensils into halal and non-halal tray return stations! if there isn't any tray return stations, it is perfectly fine to leave your empty plates on the table as there will be cleaners going from table to table to collect the empty plates. however, it will be courteous to the next customer and the cleaner to not make a mess of the table when eating.

9. takeaway charges
like most food establishments, stalls will likely charge an additional fee for takeaway or food to-go. the charge is usually in the range of $0.20 to $0.50 per portion, and serve to cover the cost of plastic containers or plastic bags for the takeaway.

10. toilets
toilets in hawker centers are mostly chargeable. they cost about 10 to 20 cents per person, per entry. some of the newly renovated hawker centers can have clean toilets with a supply of toilet papers, but the older ones might, not so it will be good to buy some tissue paper before entering.

Review: Hanjuku Japanese Soft-boiled Egg from 7-11

while sourcing for ideas for my upcoming taiwan trip, i came across the taiwan 7-11 selling hanjuku egg (marinated soft-boiled eggs commonly found in ramen). i love those eggs and although it was said to be easy to make, but i am just too lazy to make it myself, so you can guess how thrilled i was when i found taiwan 7-11 selling these ready-made version! at that time, i made it a point to buy one when im in taiwan.

a few days later, to my surprise, i discovered a similar one in the local 7-11! i just had to buy the last packet to try!

costs about $2 for 2 eggs, which is reasonable for a pre-marinated instant food. it tasted much better than it looks. has that lovely runny yolk and meant to be eaten chilled. if you order a hanjuku eggs at a ramen restaurant, it will set you back by about $2 for an egg, so this is pretty good deal and a nutritious addition to your instant noodles.

verdict: highly likely to purchase again

11st Haul #1

a month ago i wrote about my first experience with 11st, but i havent had the time to update on the final outcome of that first experience.

after receiving that email notifying me of trying to push for a quick delivery from the seller, i received a call from 11st. the customer service guy informed me that one of the delayed item was out-of-stock and asked if i wanted to cancel or wait. as i was going on a overseas trip soon, i decided to cancel the item. the guy sounded apologetic over the phone and told me the money will be refunded to me. his english was clear so thats a plus point. i would have been satisfied if they just email me to confirm, but the fact that they did this long-distance call showed that they were more responsible. the problem this time round was quite minor, but imagine if im having major issues, i would think them initiating a phone call would be easier.

ok, so things really did speed up after that phone call. within less than an hour, i received another auto-message email informing me that item has been cancelled and the money refunded. i paid for my order by paypal, so the money was refunded straight into my paypal. this, to me is very important. i know of e-commerce websites, especially korean sites, refunding back to your account which you can either withdraw it to your bank account or use it for future purchases. i dislike the idea of the refunded money being left in the site's account because it sorts of force me to have to buy something if not my money's going to be just left there. the other option of withdrawing to a bank account is very troublesome and most of the korean websites will only support korean banks or credit cards.

my order then proceeded to ship out by ems. ems is usually very fast. from past experiences, shipping by ems will take no longer than 5 working days (on average it was 3) to reach my doorstep. if the parcel reaches singapore at 2-3am on a working day, i can receive it on the same day (by noon). if it reaches singapore in the afternoon, im able to get it the next morning. really fast!

items i bought

rating: 4.7/5
mint green flare skirt. i bought this as a working attire and it didnt disappoint! my most basic expectation of such skirt is that it shouldnt crease or crumple easily. this skirt doesnt. in fact, the material used was above average, though there was minor fray ends. the skirt ended up slightly above my knee (im quite tall), so its still length-appropriate as a working attire. i have since wore it once to work, and my friend complimented it! the mint green is a lovely pastel shade!

rating: 4.7/5

grey glitter slip-on. i really have nothing negative to say about this shoe! its comfy and fits snugly on my feet. i wore it twice so far, never gave me any blisters. its well crafted, shimmery without being too bling. no flaws that are obvious to the naked eye. the only reason why i didnt give it a 5/5 was i think i saw similar slip-ons going at a cheaper price but of cos i can't be sure of the quality of those.

Review: I-Mei Pearl Milk Tea Ice-Cream

pearl milk tea or bubble tea is one of my favourite drink. i always ordered the 'original', which is the milk tea with pearls. 

first heard about this ice cream from a taiwanese friend sometime back and woah~ finally found it in my local mart today. here's the packaging of the ice cream. it is the 'original' flavour, woohoo!

looks good right? like the real thing, even with pearl bits! as you can see, it is divided into a tea (beige portion) and a milk (white portion). embedded within the tea portion are irregular-shaped bits of 'pearl.

the tea and the milk parts should be eaten together to have a true taste of milk tea! the tea part seems to be made of oolong tea so it has a slightly bitter note while the milk part was very fragrant and creamy. i like the milk part and would totally buy if i-mei sells just a milk ice cream bar. the tea part was alright but when eaten together with the milk part, it tastes pretty similar to the commercial milk tea!

im one who likes to drink bubble tea because of the pearl. i like it when my pearl is chewy and with a slight fragrance. from previous experience, pearls that are kept too long in the milk tea will start to harden, so its amazing that the pearl in this ice cream was not hard at all! in fact it was soft and tend towards a jelly-consistency rather than a bouncy pearl. it still has some bounce and q-ness (as what is frequently used to describe pearls or tapioca balls). one plus point for this ice cream is that its not too sweet. even when i drink bubble tea, i will opt for lower sugar levels so this was just nice. an ice cream should be refreshing and not heavy.

rating: 7.5/10 - dont mind eating it again

The 11st Shopping Experience Thus Far

made my first order with 11st on 19 apr (sat). a total of 8 items that are available for worldwide shipping.

it is now 23 apr (wed) and the order status on 6 of the items is still stuck at 'paid'. a description of the status from 11st website is shown below.

the 'paid' status was there ever since i paid i.e. on 19 apr. bear in mind that since this is for international shipping, the 'completed (shipping)' shown above only equates to 'delivered to 11st logistic center'. 11st will then shipped out the entire package of 8 items to me. with the exception of 2 items, the other items seemed to have not been acknowledged by the seller.

i received an email from 11st informing that they have sent an email to the sellers 'pushing for quick delivery'. i guess this is their standard when an order hasnt been acknowledged for more than 3 days. this calmed me down a bit knowing that there is someone to rush the order for me instead of my having to draft a message to tell them to do it. since most of the sellers are presumed not to be well-acquainted with english, we might not be able to communicate well.

11st also mentioned about the option of cancelling the order if the seller takes too long. personally i dont like the idea of cancelling what ive already set on ordering. i usually spend quite some time weighing my options of the different items so having to cancel it annoys me. and then theres also the problem of where the refunds will go. will it be credited to my 11st account? which means its hard to withdraw and i will have to make another 11st purchase? or will they refund it back to my paypal which im not sure if they will refund the transaction fee too.

since this is my first experience with 11st, i just hope things speed up from here on and leaves me with a favorable impression.

11st Get K-beauty for Free!

11st was having a k-beauty contest/promotion and i managed to win a banilo co cc cream!

this was the parcel i received. i was surprised that a 30ml cc cream came in a large parcel.
turned out that besides the cc cream, there was also a pretty cosmetic pouch.
thank you 11st!

click here for k-beauty contest!

Korean Online Shopping Malls

no doubt, i love korean fashion. they have really unique yet asian-focused items which suit me. there's also a wide variety of items and the attractiveness of korean fashion can be partly attributable to the 'natural' feel their models pull off. with korean pop (kpop) being so popular and internationally recognised these days, it is hard not to get attracted to their style.

being one of the most wired country in the world, korea has many online shopping malls and domestic delivery is usually quick and comprehensive. you can deliver anything from food, snacks, groceries to fashion items all at a click of the mouse.

problem
despite the huge number of online shopping malls (blogshop equivalent), it is hard for people living outside of korea to purchase. here's some of the reasons why:
- some websites require verification of korean identity in order to register
- webmasters can't speak/communicate in english and website are in korean
- items for sale are usually made in small quantities, not enough for international demand
- selling to international customers require certain approval from authorities
- parcel forwarding service for korea products is rare

my experience
i have looked into many of the korean online shopping malls. there's so many beautiful items which i would love to have, but only a handful of such malls cater to the international community.

most of the malls require you to verify your korean identity which makes it impossible for non-koreans to register. although the main page of the mall is usually full of english links/words, but once you clicked in on the item, you will realised the details are all in korean. i have sufficient knowledge of korean to navigate through the website and to purchase, but as i have said earlier, most of these sites are not opened to international customers.

if you really really want to get the item, i supposed emailing the webmaster might work, provided they can speak decent english. the downside is that because they have no structured delivery system for such adhoc international orders, the delivery is usually expensive and payment mode might be limited (e.g. wire transfer which is extremely troublesome). additionally, you will miss out on any loyalty programme that website had to offer as compared to korean buyers.

i did bought a shoe directly from one of the korean sites before. i had to do wire transfer and the entire cost (including the shipping cost) was not worth it. i specifically told the webmaster to give me a brochure (which has my fave idol on it), he agreed, but ended up didn't packed it in the package.

this kind of situation frustrates me. that item looked really good, but yet i cant buy it. sad.

this prompted me to source for more effective way to get similar items... but i shall talk about it another day!

Hi

- am asian living in south-east asia
- 168cm, skinny and fair
- likes fashion but still learning
- loves online shopping

set up this blog to share my haul/experience using various online shopping sites!