Frannywanny

As we all know, Singapore is a very small country. With its land area spanning no more than 719km 2 and a population of about 5 million people, what not a lot of people know is that Asia's "Little Red Dot"  has a very rich cultural background which is brought about by the different races and nationalities that you can find here. Given that, expect to entice your taste buds to a myriad of flavors and cuisines available locally. Correct me if I'm wrong but I feel that one of the most underrated cuisines here in Singapore is the Peranakan , otherwise known as Nonya, cuisine. Take a quick look at the hawker centers and you'll see a mix of Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Indian, Malay, Western and even some Thai and Vietnamese dishes readily available. Save for stalls selling Laksa, rarely do we get to encounter any other stalls that specialize in purely Peranakan food. This is one thing that I wish more of the newer generation hawkers and restaurateurs would consider ...

Every single time I hear the name or the phrase " Chow Fun ", I immediately remember my favorite scene from the late 90's film  "The Story of Us" . It's one of the best romantic movies that I've ever watched in my life which I feel shows the realistic side of marriage. Of course, back when I watched the movie, I was still in high school so what do I really know about love and marriage, right? Fast forward to today, I think Paul and I should watch this again on one of our home movie nights as we'll finally be able to relate closely to Michelle Pfieffer and Bruce Willis' characters now that we've been a married couple for 6 years now. For the youngsters who have no idea what on earth Auntie Franny is talking about... here's a 2 minute clip of my favorite scene: Now you know why I keep on remembering this scene whenever I hear the words "Chow Fun ". In reality though, Chow Fun Restaurant & Bar  is a relatively new food...

People walk in and out of our lives but the real challenge lies in being able to leave an impactful mark for them to remember you by. I know it's a Monday and I'm not talking about death just in case you're wondering. I'm talking the work place and the people you get to work with. A typical corporate set-up will allow you to get to know a lot of people but admit it, there's only a handful of them you eventually become close with. They're the ones whom you'd probably realized that you share the same interest with or their personalities just match yours making their presence such a pleasure to have around. Take for example my former colleague A. I had the privilege to work with her on several accounts and luckily we got along right from that start. Perhaps it's because we're always on the same wave length so it was a breeze working with her as we both believed and aimed for the same thing. So, when A came up to me one day and told me that she's l...

For the many years that Paul and I have been living here in the Lion City, friends and family would sometimes ask us if we feel that "Singapore is boring." Every single time, we would tell them that we have never felt that way about this beautiful Little Red Dot  and in fact, we always end up having an action-packed weekend filled with all sorts of activities. I always believe that one's perception of one's home is fully dependent on the person. Sure, we have friends who would rather travel to another country every other weekend while others would fall into a home-gym-grocery-mall-home routine week after week thus it's easy for them to say that there's nothing much to do here. I always believe that all it takes is a bit of creativity and an open mind and heart to what could be endless possibilities. Take one of our Sundays for example. It was supposed to be a lazy, event-less Sunday but Paul and I decided to explore our new neighborhood most particularly W...

Next to rice, noodles is probably one of the most consumed product here in Asia. Take my brother-in-law E, for example. He told me that he loves noodles very much that he doesn't mind having noodles as often as possible every single day. I guess, he loves noodles just the same way I love having rice or pasta. So, when E and Pan came to Singapore for a visit, I made sure to prepare a nice bowl of noodles for him to try. Coincidentally, I recently discovered Kang Kang Express Meal Kit Noodles  which is a locally made instant noodles that comes in three flavors -- Prawn Mee Soup, Curry Mee and Laksa. Since I prepared this for breakfast, I thought of making the Prawn Mee Soup  which is also my personal favorite. Before I show you how it looks like, let me tell you why I love Kang Kang Express Meal Kit . First of all, it has no (yes, ZERO) preservatives. Secondly, it underwent pasteurization giving the noodles a longer shelf life and lastly, while I'm not sure if it's fr...

"How was your birthday ?" This was the question that I was asked most by friends and colleagues days after the 1st of June. Well, unlike the past years when it was admittedly more festive and loud, my birthday this year was much more private, more intimate yet I had the most important people of my life sending me the sweetest birthday greetings and wishes. What more can I ask for? Luckily, Paul didn't had to go to work on my birthday so he told me that he'd like to take me out for lunch. The best part was, I get to choose where we're eating! Yay! So days leading up to my birthday, I started shortlisting restaurants that I've been wanting to try. Should we go have steak? Perhaps indulge on pots after pots of Chinese steamboat? How about Japanese? Since I'm clearly not over my Tokyo hangover yet so sushi and sashimi was the final choice for my special day. So, off we went to Shin Minori  in UE Square  since I've been hearing so much good things a...

Two months ago, Paul and I had one of the best trips of our married life as we went to our dream destination -- Tokyo, Japan ! After months of planning and trying hard not to get so excited so as not to jinx it, the day finally came for us to head to the airport and to get on our Singapore Airlines flight that will take us to the Land of the Rising Sun. Since we wanted to maximize on our travel time, we opted to take the 11PM flight so we'll arrive in Japan at 8AM local time. Good idea, huh? As you all know, we love staying at airport lounges while waiting for our turn to board the plane. Since our plane is flying out of Changi Airport's Terminal 3 this time, we went to SATS Premier Lounge  to grab a meal since we didn't had time to have dinner at home and to relax before our long evening flight. I'm a fan of SATS Premier Lounges if you remember me talking about this in my previous entries , where I would frequent the one in Terminal 2 every time I fly home to Man...