Changi City Point (outlet) Mall Fail

When a friend recommended that I visit the new outlet mall in Changi, I immediately included it in my To Visit List after I brought Fif to the airport.

It's very accessible because it is right across the EXPO station on the green MRT line. However, i found the stores quite disappointing. There were a lot of sports outlets but that's not really my cup of tea. They also had a G2000 and Esprit outlet, but unless you're looking for anything specific, the prices don't scream BUY ME, I'm virtually free!

We almost came home empty handed, good thing we saw the food court and we discovered that they had a Tapa King branch. We ordered tapsilog (marinated beef slices served w garlic fried rice and fried egg), salteg egg and tomato salad and adobong kangkong (morning glory cooked in soy sauce and vinegar). It would have been perfect if they had the crispy lechon liempo (crispy pork) available.

The mall would be a good place to visit if you have kids because there are a lot of play areas for kids, both paid and free (there's an outdoor water play area), they even have a spa for babies where the infant's head is placed in a floater with the body submerged in water with the therapists massaging the body and legs.

I don't think i'll willingly go again. I prefer killing time at the Singapore Expo if there are good sale events when I need to be in the area. Just Saying.

Note: please excuse the random order of the pictures. I have yet to figure out how to upload them with comments in the correct sequence using the blogger app.

Our (short but) Sweet Life in Singapore

Our stay in Singapore this time around was quite a short one. We were supposed to be here for less than a week. Sofia was only able to go to school for three days (because she was recovering from being sick when we just arrived), and we had to squeeze in all our usual shopping MUST DO's errands before and after bringing Fif to school. In order to save time, we jumped into cabs most of the time so I think I spent an arm a leg on that, but I think this enabled us to do a whole lot more.

We did almost everything on our list, save for going to Clarke Quay for the tourist vouchers (this used to be Kaya Jam for pasalubong), we can do that when my family comes to visit in April

Of course, we love playing with our coffee toys and baking at home. We were even able to 'entertain' some guests for 'afternoon tea'.

My new toy from Daiso, the everything for SG$2 store
Pink Cappuccino Maker (milk frother w/ stand) 

Just add two AA batteries and it does this!

I made cappuccinos for me and fif
I like using my moka so our home smells like Starbucks, but I use it only when the nanny is here to wash up.

We had time yesterday morning so we made some Freshly Baked Cookies for our guests who were coming over.

Our philosophy is "why bake from scratch if there's a perfectly good mix available".

I feel like before I continue with my story, this is the time to put it on record, that we do bake from scratch, but we bake things that don't come in a mix. This Red Velvet Cupcake was made from scratch in our Singapore home.

Back to our Chocolate Chip Cookies,
You just need half a stick of butter (110g)

and one egg
Yes! I can still crack the egg with the twist of one hand like a professional!

and mix it all togther

Ooops, the whisk was really not effective so we changed to a wooden spoon.
Using an electric mixer is the easiest, but if you're just making one batch (from a mix), you can live without one

Fif wanted to make small cookies on her small baking pan (from her ikea kitchen)

Cookies mom made, and cookies mom helped Fif make

We met my friends from University for a late lunch

then we brought them home to have some coffee and dessert

and to play with fif.

We were also quite busy on the shopping front. We were able to buy all the sets in the Lego Friends series which I previously mentioned here, and we also found a reason for Fif to buy a new Build a Bear. We decided to save the US$250 cost of re-booking her return ticket to Singapore, and just use the money to shop instead, as long as she was okay arriving one day earlier than me. Win-Win-Win!

Doing the heart transplant prayer
After a super duper long time spent in the shop to choose which one she wanted, she finally settled on a fluffy white bear.

Giving Fifi bear (yes, she named her newest bear after her!) a bath

Fif helping Fif get dressed in the outfit we picked out

We just borrowed the headband for the picture because we didn't want to pay SG$8 for it.

Good bye for now folks! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I need to bring both Fifs to the airport, and maybe check out the Changi Outlet Mall too since I'll be in the area. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to bum a Wagyu steak dinner from Tim too. 

Paradise Dynasty Teaser

SINGAPORE SERIES

We went to one of our favorite restaurants after I picked up Sofia from
school today, but since it was still early, we couldn't order much, and it served more as a snack.

PARADISE DYNASTY, at the 4th floor of ION shopping mall on Orchard Road, is famous for their flavored Xiao Long Bao (soupy meat dumplings). We love it so much, that I normally don't use any sauce.

The eight flavors (original, crab roe, cheese, ginseng, garlic, sze chuan, foie gras and black truffle) can be ordered in a sampler. The restaurant even suggests the order in which you should eat them. After several visits where we were adventurous, we've decided that our clear favorites are the foie gras (yes, I love everything foie gras) and the black truffle one.

I call this post a 'teaser' because we only ordered 6pcs each of our favorite flavors and yang chow fried rice (which we ended up taking home), and all the pictures here were taken using my iPod touch!

When eating Xiao Long Bao, you need to handle the dumplings with care so the dough doesn't break, then you bite it to make a small hole where you can sip the soup or pour it on the spoon. The flavor makes the soup really tasty. You can actually see foie gras bits in the soup! Sofia likes only the soup and the dough, so my meal normally has less carbs. Hahaha...

The service is so good that when I showed them that 1 dumpling leaked before we touched it, they sent us two dumplings to replace it. Yumyum... Since they did not take the leaker back, we still ate it... Hahaha

This place has so many other yummy dishes available, it deserves a full post in the future, most probably when we have guests again.

The ambiance is nice and the price is quite reasonable. It's much nicer but just slightly more expensive compared to Din Tai Fung, my other favorite Xiao Long Bao place, which we go to for the best traditional Xiao Long Bao and when we're craving for really good fried pork chops that come with really good egg fried rice (topic for another day). For our 2 orders of 6pcs Xiao Long Bao and 1 order fried rice + a miscellaneous charge (to cover water or tea so I ask for both) for three pax, our bill was SG$46.14.

The Paradise Group (yes, they have other yummy restaurants. We've tried the Paradise Inn too and it's also very good) has just recently launched their Paradise Card which you can buy for SG$38. It comes with SG$45 credit that you can immediately use on your first visit, plus other vouchers, so buying the card was a no brainer. I only had to pay $1.15 after the credit was applied, so I saved $6 on a $46 meal. Not too bad! :) Every time you visit, the card entitles you to get 10% of your bill credited to your card which you can accumulate to apply to future bills.

Paradise Dynasty is quite popular so the queue is normally very long during the proper lunch or dinner hour. We normally try to come for a late lunch or an early or late dinner.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for good food and sucker for a good deal... Don't judge! Just saying.

We love freebies... And we love the Camera!

Guess what fell into our lap today... (almost literally) as we were checking out the stores on sale in Anchorpoint Mall, we were given a free pictorial session and one framed picture by ESSENCE STUDIOS

The company is originally from Hong Kong and their portfolio was quite nice.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for anthing free with no obligation to buy. Hahaha. The icing on the cake is their Singapore branch is in Killiney, walking distance from our home and they confirmed our appointment for Saturday. Yay. I will keep you all posted on how that goes...