Frannywanny

Our festive 4-day weekend has just ended but that doesn't mean it's the end of the Chinese New Year. In fact, it has just begun as Chinese New Year in Singapore runs up until the 15th day where we would get together again as a family and have bowls of tang yuan (sticky glutinous rice balls). This also means that you get to have more days to toss up for luck and prosperity with my ever-favorite Yu Sheng Salad ! One of my favorite Chinese seafood restaurants here in the Lion City, Red House Seafood , has prepared a delicious line-up of dishes to enjoy this festive season. Given that most of the celebrations are done at home, they have very thoughtfully put together a Reunion Takeaway Tiffin Set which comes with 3 dishes of your choice. I remember Mommy and my Kongkong using these tingkats back then whenever they would take home food from any of our favorite restaurants. Seeing it again today has immediately brought back some good childhood memories. Should you prefer to g...

Crystal Jade Singapore  is celebrating its 25th year this 2016. Since I used to live in the Philippines, I've come to know about the brand barely 6 years ago. However, I will never forget how I immediately fell in love with their signature  Dan Dan La Mian and that's really a big surprise given that I used to have extremely low tolerance for spicy food. To this date, Crystal Jade will always be my go-to place whenever I'm craving for that mouthwatering spicy and peanut-y noodle soup. In a week's time, most parts of Asia will be welcoming the Year of the Red Monkey and we're already feeling the festive season here in Singapore. There are a few things I love about celebrating Chinese New Year here -- tossing our luck in the air with the traditional lo hei , enjoying all of the best ingredients in a pen cai , receiving some hongbao  (red envelopes with money) and lastly, having an abundant supply of mandarin oranges. Back in Manila, we would also eat all the tik...

Three years ago, there was a couple who arrived here in the Lion City with pretty much their entire lives packed in three huge suitcases. It was right in the middle of all the Chinese New Year festivities and as they thought they knew everything there is to know about this particular holiday, they were proven wrong within the span of a week. Walking around the hawker centres, they were startled by the sudden shouts and scenes of people standing around the table tossing shredded vegetables up in the air. It was madness! "What on earth are they doing? ", they'd ask one another. While this sight was very new to them, this couple was quick to adjust and have imbibed all the new customs and traditions that they have learned in their new home called Singapore . Above is a real, true to life story of Paul and yours truly. This was our first experience of the Singaporean-style Chinese New Year and having close to a dozen yu sheng salads, tossing veggies up in the air countless...

After checking in at F1 Hotel Manila for a quick overnight staycation, Paul and I, together with my MIL and FIL headed down to the 3rd level for lunch! I love that the restaurant is named F All Day Dining  as you all know that F  is my favorite letter! :) It's the hotel's main restaurant that offers all-day buffet from breakfast to dinner. They also have a little spread during afternoon tea! How cool is that? Anyway, the theme during the time that we went was Chinese New Year so the buffet has predominantly Asian/Chinese dishes to celebrate the occasion. Our lunch also fell on a Friday which means all meatless dishes for me. Normally, this is the only day in the week where I'd avoid eating out much less going for a buffet. Well, I trust that F will have a good variety to still make my lunch satisfying.  Let's go through the different stations and dishes that caught my eye: Of seafood, sushi rolls and sashimis!

The celebration continues! For the past years, celebrating the Chinese New Year for me means wearing red on that auspicious day, sharing a delicious meal with my family and receiving ang paos (red money packets) from the elders. I have to say that living in Manila, the celebration normally just lasts for two days max. After that, life pretty much goes back to normal.  When Paul and I moved to the Lion City a year ago. We arrived exactly right after the Chinese New Year and one thing we noticed was that the celebration seems to last longer than what we were accustomed to. We would still hear the dragon/lion dance trucks in almost every corner, office buildings would have those huge kiatkiat plants, people would be in red and restaurants are still busy hosting CNY lunches/dinners. I had my first taste of what CNY was like here in Singapore during my company lunch wherein I had my first Lo Hei.  "What's a Lo Hei?" I still remember asking my colleague K about ...