Frannywanny

Who can relate to this? "You have to work late at night and with barely enough cash in your wallet, you wander around your office area looking for something to eat. Not in the mood for fast food as you just want something more comforting, a bit more healthy yet quick to consume and one that won't hurt your budget. Where do you go?"  I can probably say that just like you and me, 80% would probably head to the convenience store. It has a wide array for food and snack options and you can definitely get hot dishes that doesn't necessarily mean having to ingest deep-fried food. Personally, 7-Eleven has been my go to place ever since I started working here in Singapore. It's where I can find good and reasonably priced siu mai, a delicious bar of Magnum (where I don't have to buy the entire box if the craving strikes) or the place where we bought our first ever SIM card upon landing in the Lion City. It has basically everything and almost everything that you...

Huat Ah! This is probably the first Singlish phrase that I've learned when we moved to the Lion City exactly two Chinese New Years ago. As half of the city went overseas and the other half were busy visiting families, we took this time to make our visit to IKEA to quickly furnish our new place. All around us, people were tossing shredded vegetables while screaming " Huat Ahhhhh!! " I had no clue what they were doing then but who would have thought that this would be one exciting practice that I always look forward to every Chinese New Year -- Lo Hei . Paul and I loved it so much that we even brought back packs of Yu Sheng Salad to share this "veggie-tossing" practice with our families in Manila.  This is just one of the many things I love about Singapore and the Singaporean culture. Another thing we love (and we're pretty sure the rest of the world do too) about Singapore is the yummy hawker heritage . Many have been saying that hawker centres won'...

Following our Saturdate hawker challenge at Tiong Bahru Food Market , Paul and I ventured out again the next Saturday this time to Chinatown . We really enjoy being able to challenge ourselves to a try a different set of hawker specialties given a set budget of S$15. Will we be successful again this time? Chinatown is such a fun place to be. There's this old world meets modern city feel that I really love. Growing up, our trips to Singapore would never be complete without visiting this area. Mommy totally loves this store called Yue Hwa which, believe it or not, still exists at present. The store must have been around for more than 20 years! Here, she would buy our super soft and fluffy comforters, beddings and all sorts of Chinese-style linens and products that you can think of. I think it was also here where I bought my chongsam blouse, once upon a time, when I was crazy enough to think I wanted to channel Mulan. Anyway, so one Saturday night in Chinatown, Paul and I walked...

It was our first day in Singapore and after spending the entire afternoon resting at our hotel , Paul and I decided to grab an early dinner nearby. Luckily, The Swissotel Stamford was perfectly located near the Esplanade , which is a durian-shaped theater/convention center, right at the heart of Singapore's CBD. In fact, it only took us less than 10 minutes to leisurely walk from our hotel to The Esplanade. It was very accessible indeed. We went around The Esplanade and watched a live free concert happening at the activity hall. It took us a while to locate our target destination, it was a good thing that some locals were nice enough to help us. Finally we found it -- Makansutra Gluttons Bay . It was just 630PM and the place was almost filled! Following the local practice, we got a small pack of tissue from my bag and placed it on an empty table. This is their way of reserving the table in any hawker center while the "owner" goes around and get his/her food. Our ...

How our honeymoon trip began was pretty unusual... as early as the night before, rain continues to pour endlessly and the night wind was so strong we can actually here the roof banging. We were uncertain whether or not our flight will push thru. We were scheduled to fly out of Manila at exactly 645AM. Following the standard airport rule, we had to be at the airport at least 3 hours before our flight. At 3AM, Paul and I woke up and found out that there was no electricity. The wind was still very strong and the rain somehow made me feel a bit anxious about flying. After a series of calls made to Cebu Pacific, we were told that there was still no advice if our flight will push thru or not, nonetheless, we have to be at the airport in 45 minutes. We prayed and quickly did some last minute packing with just our cellphone's flashlight shining our way around the room and within 15 minutes we were finally on our way to the airport. I continued to pray that the weather will improve allowi...

I guess I've mentioned a dozen times before how much I love Singapore ... both the country and their food. Nothing beats enjoy a plate of Hainanese Chicken Rice, some Char Kuay Teow and drinking a glass of cool Barley Juice. It was another meatless Friday for me again and after attending two events today, I thought of stopping by the newly opened Orchard Road located at the Bridgeway of SM Megamall for a quick afternoon snack. A couple of blogger friends have warned me about it... the food was not that good, they say. Still I wanted to try it out to see for myself. Going around the open-kitchen area, I finally decided to get a plate of Carrot Cake, a roll of Popiah and a glass of Barley Juice. The Barley Juice (Php. 45) came first and immediately on my first sip, I felt that it was very sweet. Not just a little more than the tolerable sweetness but this one could literally send kids bouncing off the walls all night with too much sugar and/or syrup. I pushed my glass aside and ask...