Nuffnang Glitterati Plus Bloggers Meet-up

Spent the last day of January with a bunch of Nuffnangers at Nuffnang first event of the year. Despite the huge downpour many still turned up at Sinema Old School (Mount Sophia). Followed the Map on iPhone and saw that it was just behind Plaza Singapura but can't find the way to walk in. Ended up taking a cab from Plaza Singapura that make one big round to reach there. He should have advice me that the stair is right ahead which would lead me directly to the old school.

Registration and collection of goodie bags

Nuffnang Glitterati Plus bloggers meet-up.

Opening speech by Nuffnang

Introduction by Nuffnang Community Manager

Amanda, the community manager being her first time doing public speaking but she did a great job at it.  

Introduction by venue sponsor, Sinema.sg

Sinema shows some of the movies that didn't make it to the mainstream big cinema. Not because those movies are not nice but due to budget constraint, they are unable to make it to the mainstream. A few preview were broadcast and I think some of the films are quite nice and I quite like their red sofa style plush leather seats. Very comfortable.

Gotten a pair of free tickets so I can choose to watch a movie here and I have already in mind what I want to watch. 

Ice-breaking game!!

I was in team 20! The ice-breaking game makes us all rush around the small theater like mad. We managed to complete all the 5 task though and so each of us got to keep one of the instant photo. My leader, Janessa was very kind to exchange her piece with mine cause I gotten one which couldn't see my face. 

The five tasks are:

- Taking a photo with someone who wears a red dress or shirt. 

- Taking a photo with a famous blogger 

- Taking a photo with someone with tattoos

- Taking a photo posing as bunny

- Taking a photo holding the red packets from Jibapan

   

YES! I think I've met all the criteria stated! 

Introduction of the exclusive Glitterati Plus Club

Who says there's no free movies in the world? Being a Glitterati members, I got invitations quite often to watch movies for FREE and way before other catches them since those are preview tickets. That's cause we are the privileged group who blogged. Now, the Glitterati Plus Club is an even more exclusive club that offered more chances to attend events and they are expanding! I can't think of why anybody would not join this exclusive club. Imagine going to trips with fellows bloggers, meeting new people, going for free movies, getting to attend launches of new products. Sounds so fun and exciting to me already.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those Nuffnangers who are interested in joining the Glitterati Plus, but did not make it for the event, fear not, you can send the following details to gplussg@nuffnang.com :

Name:

Gender:

D.O.B:

Contact No.:

Blog URL:

Twitter Username (if any):

Email:

As long as the Criteria below are met

• You have to be an active blogger who updates your blog frequently.
• You have to be loyal and exclusive to Nuffnang (of Glitterati membership) -> link to http://www.nuffnang.com.sg/exclusive-program/
• You must love to meet new friends, and love attending events.

    

Voting for the Glitterati Plus committee members

We are in a democratic country so the club is also democratic enough to let us choose who we want as president and vice-president of the club. Their role are important as what kind of events we gonna have in the future would depends on them. All five of them gave a short description of what kind of events they would organised for the next outing and all five of them are excellent planner. So I choose to elect those that I am familiar with. Out of the five candidates, I only know HP for he's the only one out of the five who visited my blog even though I'm not famous. As for the position of vice-president, I choose Jan since she's my leader for today's ice-breaking game. 

Lunch break. 

A spread of yummy food waiting for us downstairs.

Some photos of Sinema. 

Special Appearance by Bongqiuqiu, Typicalben and The Miracle Season to share blogging tips

These famous bloggers have 1000 to 3000 plus people flocking to their blog everyday. I wish I can be as famous as them. So how do they attract so many readers? The main tip that all three shared is to know and use PHOTOSHOP!! Everyone love to see pretty photos. Another important tips is to try to put in our name as the URL which I agreed. Also must update the blog frequently. If one blogs once a week, the readers would also come back once a week. Very true tips given. Once again, I felt motivated to updates my blog more frequently.   

Book preview and Introduction by Guest Speaker, Dr Leslie Tay from Ieatishootipost

Dr Leslie Tay is a family doctor with his own clinic. In between, during his lunch breaks, he finds time to shoot photos of the food he eat and post them up online with detailed reviews. Thus the website I eat I shoot I post. He was truly an entertaining and inspiring speaker and now has even come up with a book called "The end of Char Kway Teow". 

Went to get a haircut with bf after that. Chinese New Year coming. Cut away the bad luck. 

Dinner at Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh Eating House

Bak Kut Teh is a name that literally translated to "meat bone tea". From this name, we know that basically it's a dish consist of meaty pork ribs simmered in herbs and spices broth for hours. Most often to be eaten with a bowl of rice and fried dough and not forgetting the soy sauce with chili padi. Since every parts of the pigs can be eaten, one may also order additional dish like pig stomach or pig organs or pig intestines. Usually, I would choose to order a plate of salted vegetable.    

In Singapore, there are 3 types of bak kut teh. The Teochew style which the soup is light in colour and they uses more pepper to the soup. The Hokkien style uses more soy sauce thus the soup is darker in colour. The Cantonese style uses more herbs to the soup.    

Visited Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh Eating House for the first time. We went there after work around 7pm plus and the inside of the restaurant is already full. We were given an outdoor seat instead. 

As you can see from the soup colour, this is a Teochew style bak kut teh and so expect the soup to be peppery. The good thing here is that it's free to refill the soup whenever we requested it. I love their salted vegetables too. Yummy. Do not try to eat the fried dough without dipping them into the soup as it's has already turned soft and abit soggy.

See how clean our bowls are when we have finished? I would say it's worth a try especially during cold nights, it just warm your stomach.  

2 bowls of bak kut teh : $12

2 bowls of You Tiao: $3

3 bowls of white rice: $1.50

1 bowl of pig stomach soup: $6

1 bowl of preserved veggie: $2

Total cost: $26.20

Cia Hui birthday celebration at BEDS KTV Pub

The reaction of some who seems shocked that I attended amused me alot. Just because I don't frequent pubs/clubs etc doesn't mean I wouldn't attend a friend's birthday there what? Furthermore, there's always a first time to anything. I was among the earliest to reach and I'm glad about it. Drank some beer and sang a few songs. Yes, it's my first time singing in the open hall with so many strangers. Luckily, one of Hui's ex-colleague sang with me. Stopped singing when the place gets crowded and my impressions towards some people changed from the way they talked. Hmmm. 

Me and Hui the birthday gal, my listener cum OT buddy. She's really understanding and so pretty with her new hairstyle. Love this photo with the very nice effect done by her friend cum the photographer of the day. 

Group photo. Overall, BEDS KTV Pub is a nice place to chill and relax. Took a cab back with PY at about 1am while the rest of them party on till 4am at another location. Personally I think I made the right choice of not staying. Sometimes, too many people around caused lots of gossips. Those kind of A don't like B, B don't like C, C like D, D like E or even more complicated than that. Luckily I wasn't there to witness and seriously I don't wish to find out what happened. Glad that the birthday gal is not involved. I wished that she enjoyed her birthday to the fullest and hope that she will get her recognition and finds her other half soon. :)

Renewal of passport at Singpost Post Office

To deal with the dynamic and competitive environment, SingPost has transformed itself beyond the traditional postal service. Part of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) services can be done at SingPost too which is definitely a more convenient option for me compared to going down to Lavender. With the passport size photo and my old passport in hand, I am ready to renew for a new passport. The cost of renewing my passport at SingPost is $80. Kinda expansive for it is only valid for 5 years instead of 10 years like last time. I was wondering why didn't they cut down the cost when they cut down the validity duration? Could it be due to the higher cost of making the biometric passport? 

Taken this photo at one of the photo developing shop in the neighbourhood for $8. Instantly taken without any editing, I looked so tired with my puffy eyes. Handed this photo and my old passport to the staff at the counter. She examined the photo for awhile before she broke the bad news to me. She said this photo might get rejected because it violated part 6(v) of the notes to applicant by ICA. She asked me to retake the photo and not to take the risk of submitting and gets rejected. She even highly recommended me to the studio nearby and said that's where she always asked customers to go to.  

Part 6(v) of notes to applicant: If you wear glasses, the photograph must show your eyes clearly with no flash reflection off the glasses. The frames shall not cover any part of your eyes. Tinted glasses and sunglasses are not allowed.  

So I went and I really gotten a better photo. So much more professional and even my eye bags and pimples are gone after editing. All these for the price of $20 which includes a CD that contains the soft copy of the photo so I can use it anytime. The $12 difference of this photo compared to the one I taken at the photo developing shop is so much more worthwhile. I felt like going back to the photo developing shop to ask for a refund but decided not to make a big fuss out of it. 

I thought they are going to take away my old passport so I took a photo of my most memorable trip first. While waiting for the processing of the application, we started chatting. There's a guy beside my counter whom iPhone got stolen recently. He said that he's angry with the thieves yet at the same time impressed with their skills as he has kept his iPhone inside his pocket all the time and didn't even felt anyone taking it out from his pocket. There was no sign of cut either. The counter staff also shared her story about her daughter's iPhone being stolen. We all then concluded that there might be an organization out there just targeting iPhones. Yes. They don't want your wallet but they want your iPhone. Scary.   

After everything was done, went to buy my dinner. The stall assistant wrote a note that this box of Fish and Chips belongs to the blue girl. Haha. Good way to recognize customers.  

Bengawan Solo Factory Outlet sales

Chinese New Year is just 2 weeks plus away so it's time to buy some Chinese New Year goodies for gift and self consumption. Went to their factory outlet located at Woodlands. Almost all items were given a discount of about 15%.

If Gucci and Prada are the branded brands for bags, Bengawan Solo is definitely the branded one for Chinese New Year pastries. Like my mum said, "Giving gifts to others, though it's the thoughts that counts but the brand also matters." This applies to giving "bak kwa" too. Why do you think people would queue for Lim Chee Guan's bak kwa? It's the branding and of course the product must be of standard too. 

The two boys playing happily while their parents were choosing the goodies.

Nicely done hampers. 

My favourite is their Macadamia cashew sugee tray. Sort of melts in the mouth. 

The rest of the goodies. We bought alot this year. Totaling up to about $300+ spent just at Bengawan Solo alone. Chinese New Year is really a time to spend, buying goodies, red packets, new clothes, etc. 

Address: 

23 Woodlands Link 

Singapore 738730

Operating hour:

8am - 5pm

Sita's Beauty Secrets Ayurvedic Workshop at the Peranakan Museum + Dinner at Sunset Way Grill-Out Pte Ltd

Signed up for the Ayurvedic beauty workshop held at The Ixora Room of The Peranakan Museum. Ayurveda is literally translated as the "Science of Life" where "Ayu" is life and "Veda" is knowledge of science. Ayurveda is the earliest documented traditional medical practice during the Vedic period of India. It is somewhat like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and is becoming an influential system of medicine widely used and researched on.    

The workshop today is a beauty workshop thus I will be learning on ways to rejuvenate, exfoliate and repair my skin naturally using just vegetables, fruits and spices at home. 

We were first being introduced to the five basic elements of Ayurveda which compose the Universe including our human body. The five elements are namely 

1) Space (Akash) - Cavities

2) Air (Vaayu) - Movements

3) Fire (Tejas) - Transformation

4) Water (Aap) - Blood/Mucus

5) Earth (Prthvi) - Structure

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we have five elements too (金 Metal, 木 Wood, 水 Water, 火 Fire, 土 Earth).

In order for our body to function to its fullest, we would need to have a balance of three bio-energetic force which are

1) Vata (air & space) - Wind

2) Pitta (fire & water) - Bile

3) Kapha (water & earth) - Phlegm

When there's imbalanced of the elements in our body, our body will react in a negative ways and makes us falls sick and also affected our moods. 

In Ayurveda, there are 6 tastes and all creates different effects in our body.

1) Sweet

2) Sour

3) Salty

4) Pungent

5) Bitter

6) Astringent

During the workshop, some herbs were highlighted and they are Turmeric which has anti-bacterial properties and also good for the liver. It should be collected during night time as it's the time that they have the most potency. Another is Fenugreek which is used for the treatment of diabetes and also to increase breast milk. 

Below are a list of the other more common food and their uses

1) Milk (sweet) - Potency (cold) - For skin outbreak (that's why there's documents on how the Queens of England prefer milk baths)

2) Yogurt (sour) - Potency (cold) - For constipation and diarrhea (contradicting but true)

3) Rose (Astringent) - Potency (cold) - For inflammation, has PH balancing properties (one uses for those roses that our boyfriends gave us)

4) Chickpea - Potency (cold) - Use for mask for dull and dehydrated skin (High in proteins)

5) Winter cherry - Potency (hot) -  To improves skin glow (It's Indian ginseng)

6) Neem (bitter) - Potency (cold) - Said to treat alot of illnesses and the amazing thing is the whole part of this plant have different uses. 

7) Holy Basil - Potency (Hot) - For all types of skin, use for colds, influenza, cough and vomit

8) Indian Gooseberry - Helps lighten skin (has 20 times more Vitamin C than oranges. 

Next up of the event is a short demonstration of a facial using some of those ingredients that can be bought from the supermarket. 

There's also additional beauty tips like massaging our eyes, alternate nostril breathing (for those suffering from insomnia) and foot massage. 

Got a chance to see how some of the ingredients looks like.

At the end of the whole workshop, the organizer informed us that there's a small gift for us under the seat. If we are lucky, we will find this piece of paper to exchange for the gift.

 A bottle of black seed scrub for face and body.

Refreshments after the workshop

Coffee, tea or water?

The best thing is they have these varieties of English tea to choose from. Sponsored by Gryphon  Tea Company.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dinner time

Can't think of any place to go so bf and I went to Sunset Way and tried to settled down with a restaurant there. 

We chosed to dine at Grill-Out! whch serves American cuisine.  

Tasty Mushroom soup. 

Port-A-Melt which is some meat on the mushroom.

1/2 bird and ribs for him.

Seafood Aglio Olio for me.

Service and food wise was pretty good. Just that the price is too expansive to eat there often. The whole meal cost us $89.45 !!!