Ice cream men on Orchard Road

I read on CNNGo a couple of months back that some mystery shoppers surveyed over 30 shopping streets in the world and Orchard Road in Singapore came in at the first place as the prettiest, most welcoming and most customer-friendly shopping street.


Not bad ... I like Orchard Road. The pavements are wide and clean (like most other parts of Singapore) and most malls are connected through a maze of underground 'streets'. The creative window displays of the iconic branded stores scream 'I'm new! Come, buy me!!' whenever I walk by them. The stores stock the most up-to-date merchandises.


One of my must-haves when I go to Orchard Road is the street-side ice cream. I wonder if the mystery shoppers were swayed by the ice cream men. 


I grew up eating these ice cream. There is an ice cream man with his cart in our neighborhood and my sister and I would call him 'Bugs Bunny' because of his 2 front teeth. =)


Along Orchard Road in Singapore, there are several ice cream men selling this 'local delicacy'. The little carts of theirs offer local flavors ranging from red bean, sweet corn, peanut butter and attap seed to traditional flavors like chocolate and ripple. They serve your desired flavor in a cup, piece of bread, in a wafer cone or in between 2 wafer biscuits. If you are a beginner and are not sure of the local flavors, just get a combination of all the flavors in a cone or cup. For any combination that you choose, it is a flat price at S$1 per serving! Very affordable! It is not the the best-tasting ice cream but I like the local flavors and the experience. =)

The Wall's ice cream man at work. There is also a King's man.

My favorite combination - red bean ice cream on colored bread

If you visit Orchard Road, other than the shopping, savor the street-side ice cream too! =)


Till my next blog post, enjoy your ice cream! =)

Marina Bay Sands

I finally explored Marina Bay Sands! This place has been around for the last couple of years but I have always equated 'Marina Bay Sands' to 'Casino' and that is why I have never had the urge to go there.

Marina Bay Sands area

The last time I visited Marina Bay Sands, I went there for the Lion King Musical. I barely made it there in time for the show and left once the show ended. So, limited exploration done.

This time, I visited the area leisurely. I went to the ArtScience Museum. They had 2 traveling exhibits on - Andy Warhol: 15 minutes External and Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.

Entrance of the ArtScience Museum

Another attraction in the area is the concept store for Louis Vuitton, the Louis Vuitton Island Maison. There is an art collection and retail store inside. 

Louis Vuitton Island Maison at the Marina Bay Sands

I love the bayfront area, there are lots of sitting area and the skyline of the business district is fantastic. There is also a water and light show every evening at about 8pm.

Till my next blog post, explore somewhere! =)

Unbelievable!

I read from the Yomiuri Shimbun today that 1 in 3 married women are victims of domestic abuse in Japan. This is unbelievable! How can women sit back and tolerate any form of abuse!

Andy Warhol at the ArtScience Museum

When I think of Andy Warhol, I think of 2 things - Campbell Soup and Marilyn Monroe. I am not a fan of Andy Warhol but have always been fascinated with the silkscreen print technique used for mass producing images with different colors. Andy Warhol popularized this print technique with images of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Mao ZeDong. Different colors brought out different emotions and there are no right or wrong answers on how you feel about the emotions / colors.


He also did this with Campbell Soup but his realistic images of the soup can left a more lasting impression on me.




Andy Warhol Exhibits at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore



I visited Andy Warhol's exhibits at the Art Science Museum in Singapore over the Songkran holidays and got to know him better. Other than the Campbell Soup and Marilyn Monroe, he also dabbled with music (the Velvet Underground) and thought-provoking art installations like the Silver Clouds.


His work also inspired other pieces from South East Asian artists. These 2 pieces of realistic images are very popular canned food in the region. Everyone my age would remember these ... lychees in syrup with your homemade almond jelly and luncheon meat with your fried rice or fried meehoon.

Till my next blog post, explore pop art! =)

Asian BBQ Pork Ribs

My family and I are always in a lazy and relaxing mode on Sunday afternoons. We laze around, go to the gym, catch up with the news, play games, watch TV, etc and feel too at home to go out for dinner. So, it is up to me to whip up dinner.

I always go for easy cooking with one meat dish, broccoli and rice. My criteria for easy cooking are: nothing fried with oil to mess up my kitchen, no need to watch over the stove all the time, no need to use exotic ingredients and, if possible, no need for marination. =) I am flexible on the 'no marination' bit if it can produce good results.


I am sharing with you one of my easy Sunday dinner recipe.

Asian BBQ Pork Ribs

Ingredients:
500gm of meaty, less-fat (or trim away the fatty parts) long pork ribs
5 tablespoons of light soya sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
3 tablespoons of Chinese cooking wine
2 tablespoons of apple cider
2 tablespoons of tomato sauce
400ml of water


Method:

1. Blanch ribs in a pot.
2. Combine all the ingredients together into the pot.
3. Bring the ingredients to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.
4. Simmer for about an hour or until ribs are tender to your liking.
5. Preheat oven to 150oC.
6. Place the ribs in a foiled baking tray or ceramic dish and spread some sauce onto the ribs.
7. Bake ribs for 10 minutes.
8. Flip ribs over and spread more sauce.
9. Bake for another 10 minutes.
10. Flip ribs over and spread more sauce.
11. Bake for final 10 minutes.
12. Remove ribs. Serve on a dish with some broccoli and rice.

Easy and clean cooking. Delicious ribs. Enjoy!


Till my next blog post, eat well! =)