Skyline Luge at Sentosa, Singapore

Another post on Sentosa. Like I have mentioned before, there is more to Sentosa other than Universal Studio and the casino.

There is also the Port of Lost Wonder and the Skyline Luge. My family and I have been to the Skyline Luge twice before and it is good fun. First you take the 'Skyride' up the slope to the top and then your take the 'Luge' down. There are 2 Luge trails - the Jungle trail (aka the easier one) and the Dragon trail (aka the slightly longer and more challenging one).

Kids who are too young and cannot control the Luge on their own will have to ride with an adult. The staff will check if your children can manage the luge, if they cannot, then they will not let them ride the luge by themselves. Wearing a safety helmet is a must. Safety first!

The Skyride. Look back on the way up and enjoy the good view. Leave your crocs and slippers at home, they may fall off during the ride. =)

The Luge - good fun for the kids!

Till my next blog post, go luge! =)

Marketing Drinks

On my recent trip to Singapore, I spent a bit of time at the drinks section at a supermarket, trying to decide what new drinks to buy when I saw some interesting marketing for drinks.

Straight red tea ... so this can make gay people straight?

Cloudy Apple. I don't understand this ... I know this is supposed to be better than 'clear apple' but if I want all that 'bits' in there, I will go eat a real apple instead. 

Charlie is really honest. No concentrate, no added sugar, no preservations in his smoothies. Just berries, acai and more fruit.

Don't get dirty-minded .. Naked means 'all natural'. Though I'm not sure what 'boosted' means here. If it is 'boosted', it is still naked?

Till my next blog post, remember .. an real apple a day keeps the doctor away! =)

Port of Lost Wonder at Sentosa, Singapore

It was Singapore's 47th birthday last week and since school was off on the 9th and 10th of August, I decided to bring my son back to Singapore so that he can spend some bonding time with his 3 cousins. I have only one son and it is important for him to spend time and bond with his cousins .. they will, afterall, be his family when my husband and I are gone. I should have heeded LKY's advice of having more kids but ... never mind, that's another long story altogether and I wouldn't bore you now.

We did the usual stuff like shopping, watching movies, eating, swimming, etc in Singapore. We also went to Sentosa.

There is more to Sentosa other than Universal Studio and the casino. There is a new water play park called 'Port of Lost Wonder' at the Palawan beach and my son and niece spent a morning there.

The park is really small. It is essentially just one 'pirate ship' with 3 mini-slides and a lot of water splashing around. Nevertheless, the kids had a great time. They went on the slides for like a million times and sprayed each other numerous times with the water hoses and water guns. Kids are so amazing, they are very simple people ... it takes so little for them to have tons of fun.

I would recommend this place for young kids below 6. The area is small and parents can sit under the shade and still keep an eye on their kids. =) Lots of families brought their own picnic mats and lazed around on the lawn.

As usual, some form of price discrimination is practised at this place. Weekend entry is S$15 a child. During the weekdays, it is S$8. Adults can enter free if they have a child with them. No time limit imposed. But after 2 to 3 hours, the kids will be super-tired.

Obviously, it is best go in the morning. We went on a Sunday and arrived there at about 10am. There were not that many people at 10am but by noon, the place was quite packed.

There is a super-big bucket of water that tilts and pours water down every 5 minutes or so. The kids love it .. you can hear their joy from their squeals of delight! =)

This pirate ship is the centerpiece of the whole play park

Till my next blog post, go and make some babies! =)

My favorite photo apps

Everyone loves taking photos! I love taking photos too! When my company runs a photo contest for one of our brands, we see record-breaking number of people signing up on the brand's website and Facebook pages to submit their photos. Everyone is obsessed with taking photos and sharing them.

Some people are very meticulous and have multiple photo editing apps on their smartphones to create the perfect photos. They crop the photo, adjust the exposure, saturation, convert it to black and white, sharpen the image, soften the focus, etc to create a masterpiece. For me, I do not have the patience or an artistic eye to do all of these. But I do really want my photos to tell a story or share a moment with my loved ones. So, my favorite photo apps are not the editing ones but those that let me add in my thoughts and share that 'kodak' moment with my family and friends.

As of today, my top favorite photo app is Red Stamp. This app allows you to personalize your photos into fabulous-looking postcards and share them with your friends via email, Facebook, etc. The templates are very modern-looking and there are lots to choose from (range from just saying hello to your best friend to thank-you notes for the cupcake your colleague gave you for breakfast to announcing engagements and new home address). The app is free but some templates cost money to download.

Red Stamp - beautiful templates for personalizing your photos!

My second favorite photo app is WordFoto. It brings your photos to the next level by giving you the option to integrate your own words into the pictures. I have to play around with it for a while to learn what kind of photos works best so that the words will be of a decent font size for reading. You have to use close-up pictures. You can choose from different preset styles or customize your own. Costs US$1.99 from the App Store.

WordFoto - power of photos and words together!
My niece drew the hearts and I added in 'love of my life'. I showed it to her and she gave me her most beautiful smile. =)

Before Red Stamp came along, I Labelbox a lot. I still use it now. I add thoughts to my photos and also label them with details of when and where they are taken but the output are just not as pretty as Red Stamp. A big plus of this app is it is very easy to use. The app is free but you have to pay for some of the nicer-looking labels. I am a cheap-skate at heart and have not bought any of the labels that cost money. =)

Labelbox - extremely easy to use

Last but not least, this Lego Photo app is for entertainment purposes for me. I enjoy uploading a photo and just trust Lego to transform it to a 'mosaic photo' in various colors. One of these days, when I am really free and have nothing to do, I will order some Lego pieces and make a photo mosaic of my own face. =)

It is free entertainment for myself and little kids to enjoy.

Lego Photo - free entertainment

Till my next blog post, have fun with your photos! =)

Malay-Style Roasted Chicken

When I am missing the strong flavours of Malay food, I fall back on this recipe. The marinade preparation takes about half an hour and the cooking takes about 40 minutes - still manageable for an easy Sunday night dinner.

Malay-Style Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:
- 4 pieces of boneless chicken thigh or drumstick
- 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
- 1 thumb-sized piece of galangal, grated
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- half a teaspoon of salt
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised
- one quarter cup of coconut milk

(The original recipe calls for 4 red chillis but I have left that out because my son cannot take spicy food.)


Method:
1) Pound, or if you impatient like me, grind coriander seeds, cumin seeds, 
grated ginger, grated galangal, oil and light soy sauce into a fine paste.
2) Add turmeric powder and salt into the paste and mix well.
3) Rub the mixture all over the chicken and leave in fridge for 2 hours or overnight. I usually do this on Saturday afternoon to cook for Sunday dinner.
4) Leave the lemongrass stalk to steep in coconut milk for about an hour.
5) Preheat oven to 225oC.
6) Cover baking tray with aluminum foil and grease the tray.
7) Baste chicken with coconut milk and roast for about 15 minutes on one side.
8) Flip over chicken, baste with coconut milk and roast for about 15 minutes on the other side.
9) Done! Serve with rice and some soup and vegetables.


Till my next blog entry, happy buka puasa to my Muslim friends! =)