Frannywanny

Now that we're on the topic of staycations and traveling, let me talk about one travel item that Paul loves very much -- meet the Xplore Vacuum Bag . While we have been traveling for almost half a decade now, it was only during our Honeymoon that Paul had his first hand experience of how it really is when you travel with a woman. Since we went on a two-week-long overseas trip, I had to make sure that I brought all the necessary items and that means the right amount of clothes, shoes, accessories, toiletries and more. Needless to say, my things alone took up 80% of our luggage space while he had all the things that he thinks he just needs in the remaining 20%. Year on year, packing has always been our main traveling issue. He would ask me to minimize on my jeans, tops and all other items while I would also negotiate for this and that. Note that we never went beyond the allowable luggage weight but I guess our things are just too bulky that it fills up our luggage right away. This ...

I've been visiting Singapore so frequently since I was a kid that at some point I would consider this my second home. Would you believe that I've never  had a taste of chili crab yet? Well, for one thing, I have a very low threshold for spicy food and the name of this dish itself screams SPICY SPICY SPICY! I think it's the only local dish that I haven't tasted then. Well, that all changed one fateful evening at Ah Hoi's Kitchen in Traders Hotel . Ah Hoi's Kitchen currently has an ongoing a la carte buffet promotion where you can choose from more than 40 menu items for only S$38+ (adult) / S$19+ per head. This is a great deal most especially if you're dining with a big group because you can order more and have a taste of it all. Each serving is actually good for one so when ordering, do indicate how many orders would you like for them to adjust the size accordingly. We began our dinner with Braised Fish Maw with Crab Meat Soup . Normally, this soup ...

Growing up in a country that enjoys more than a dozen non-working holidays, it took me sometime to get used to Singapore's set of 10 annual holidays and that already includes Christmas and New Year's Day. It's no wonder why majority of the people here do take note of these 10 non-working days and vacations are always planned around it. Last May 24 was a religious holiday as everyone took a break from work and school to celebrate Vesak Day which, I just found out, was Buddha's birthday. Paul and I were no different. We made sure that we made the most of our 3-day weekend by accepting Traders Hotel, Singapore 's invitation to stay for the night. Hooray for another staycation! We got to the hotel a little after lunch time and were quickly ushered up to the Traders Club lounge . Since we will be staying at the a Club Room thus we can do our check-in at the lounge instead of waiting in line at the hotel's front desk. Checking in was a breeze and so high tech! A...

Myster Dinner.  The first time I heard about this was when I received a very cryptic invite two years ago. Well it had the date, time and meeting place but that was it. No description of what was to happen, no photos, nothing. As much as I am a control freak, the invite surely got my attention and curiosity. Sadly, I received the invite when Paul and I were having our vacation in California so with a heavy heart and an extremely curious brain, I had to send my regrets. It was only a few days after  that I began seeing photos shared by fellow food bloggers and food lovers on what the dinner was all about.  As it turned out, it was a mystery dinner for a cheese brand and all the participants were asked to go to a meeting place. Little did they know was they were about to be "kidnapped" and to be whisked off to another place. It was a good thing that the whole thing was legit or else it surely sounded closely similar to a kidnapping plot, doesn't it? Well, luckily f...

This visit happened months ago thus I wasn't really sure anymore what happened that Paul and I found ourselves in Quezon City at 2PM and we both haven't had lunch. What I could remember was that we were both so hungry and our patience levels were running low that when he asked me to choose a place to eat, I had to make up my mind..and I had to do it FAST. It's a good thing I have my list of restaurants to try saved in my phone. A quick browse through it and focusing on all Quezon City, it was a toss between a small Filipino restaurant by a popular chef or a quick service kebab place. We passed by the Filipino restaurant but sadly couldn't find a parking spot so off we went to Q Kebab which was behind McDonald's along Katipunan Avenue. The store front is bigger so there were a lot of parking spaces available. We heard about Q Kebab from our architect friends K and R. This was one of their many projects and we were impressed how they have made it look mode...

People would tease me that I have an attention span of a goldfish or that my memory is sometimes as bad as Dory's in Finding Nemo. Tell me your name today and there's a chance that I might be calling you something else tomorrow. My former colleague Jamie can attest to this, I was calling her Joyce for about a month or two! I hate it, actually. How I wish I have a better memory! Oh well... The ironies in life. As bad as my memory is at present, ask me anything about my childhood and I can give you a blow-by-blow account of it. My class section names from Kinder to High School, my alma mater hymm, who sat beside me on my first day in college and even the trips that my family has made. There's also one thing that I will never forget -- the first friend that I've made in my life. Meet Angela or Gelato (Gelats) as I love to call her. We met on our first day in nursery and somehow we remained friends 28 years after. After attending nursery together, we moved on to the sam...

After attending the fun arts and craft workshop by Canon Pixma a few weeks ago , I happily went home with a spanking new printer. The total box weight was 11KG and despite having to taking the bus and to walk a short distance home, I didn't mind as Canon very thoughtfully provided us with a lightweight stroller too. How cool is that? You know the feeling of driving home a new car and you just can't wait for the moment where you'll take it out for a ride and there you'll get to discover more amazing things about it? That's exactly how I felt when Paul and I unboxed the Canon Pixma MG6370 printer. Let's look at it at face-value, I have to say that it was love at first sight. I couldn't stop admiring the beautiful white finish that just makes it look so classy. I placed it on top of our wooden TV cabinet and it just blended in just fine. The printer comes with a flatbed scanner, two paper trays and a touch-screen panel. Gone are the days of noisy print...