Ji Xiang Ang Ku Kueh @ Bugis Outlet

Just crossing by this area and decided to try some Ang Ku Kueh which is also known as Red Turtle Cake and it symbolizes Prosperity, Longevity and Wealth. So traditionally, Ang Ku Kueh only have the red colour one. So today, there are many types of flavours. So I got myself the Coconut, Yam, Sweet Bean and Peanut Ang Ku Kueh. It is best to be eaten immediately as the longer you keep, it will not be fresh. I like the sweet bean which is traditional and the coconut ones. The rest is also good. Do get it and try it. The texture and filling were made well and of course goes well as an Ang Ku Kueh 😄

PlayStation Subscription-Based Gaming

Sony had announced their new PlayStation Plus Subscription plans for gaming with its massive libraries of old and new collection games. This is also one of the indicator that the future of gaming is from the Cloud. As I had just purchased and renewed my Playstation Plus for 12 months from 15 December 2021, my plan will be what they described as Playstation Plus Essential. So they are having more variant of subscription plans namely the Playstation Plus Extra and Playstation Plus Premium. So starting from the Extra edition, there will be 400 free titles from the PS4 and PS5 collection to play during the subscription period. For the Premium edition, it will be the ultimate package to play all Playstation collections from PSP, PS2, PS1, PS3, premuim PS4 and PS5 titles. It is not a bad thing actually especially for hardcore players. For a working adult like me, i still prefer the essential where I can download one or two paid random titles every month. 

Final Decision for my next Gaming Chair !

Ever since 2017, I had been using my unbranded gaming chair for the past 5 years and it finally broken down due to wear and tear. It had been well survived over this lifespan and truly brought back the value that I spent on this chair. During this period, my wife bought me a $40+ chair without my knowledge. It managed to last me for about 2 months and the wheel is broken, causing me to fall off the chair. Fortunately, I didn't get any serious injury from the fall. Henceforth, it is time for me to invest in a proper gaming chair..

I had seriously considered several chairs such as Razer Iskur Gaming Chair, Secret Lab SOFTWEAVE® PLUS FABRIC, ErgoTune Supreme V3,  Predator Gaming Chair and Ikea Markus Chair. After huge consideration for a week, I had shortlisted to OSIM World's 1st Gaming and Massage Chair. The highest end series, uThrone. The initial launch of this price is SGD$1599. Now it had dropped to SGD$999. But based on the latest promotion, I am able to get this at a further discounted price of SGD$749 with added 1 + 1 extra warranty which is very important to me.

Based on this posting, I will place my order by the end of this week. Also to do my last minute research to validate my decision.

Source from the famous Unbox therapy

Special Memory [28 March 2021]

This post is to commemorate for one of my loved one that had left the world on 28 March 2021. Today, one year have passed. You are the person that have awakened me to move up one level. I will still remain focused and grow even stronger than before. AmateurCraft existed because of your motivation and courage. For myself, you will always be remembered and some day, everyone will be going through the same domain. Till then, we shall reunite. Meanwhile, hope you are doing fine :) Happy Birthday !

Dedicate this song to you in 2022.

Rochor Original Beancurd @ 2 Short Street

Since I am in the area, it's been a while i came here to have the Beancurd and Soy bean drinks. So we ordered one Soya Bean drink, Soya Bean + Grass Jelly drink and a bowl of Beancurd. Being honest about it and not being overhyped or what. In fact, the moment i drank the Soya Bean Drink, WOW the original taste is still there after so many decades. Really bring back the memories. The fact that during my normal days, i usually drink Soya Bean milk from "Mr Bean" outlet or even the local market (For Example, Chong Pang Market), the soya bean drinks were very different. Somehow the Rochor Original Soya Bean drink is really top-notch in terms of quality. The Beancurd was also very good. Definitely ranked beyond "Mr Bean" and most market's standard. Unfortunately they only have two outlet which is 156/158 Sims Avenue and 2 Short Street. But if you still long for the old taste, then you definitely need to try these. Worth your every penny.

Nestle Milo - Made In Australia

Well oh well, after all the hoo-ha complained by Australian with regards to the "Made in Singapore" taste weird. Haha fortunately many Singaporeans feels the same. Milo which is made in Singapore is more malty and chocolatey. With milk or condensed milk, Singapore Milo is still ok. I bought myself the "Made In Australia" Milo and it is definitely more creamier and have a little sweetness to it. Well, no matter what, all still lose to the Milo Van i drank during my primary school days which the school usually get the Milo Van to be present during Sports Day. The Milo Van quality is definitely 10/10. Nowadays hard to achieve that standard. But this "Made In Australia" Milo is certainly 2X the price of my "Made In Singapore" Milo. Too premium for me to drink :D Just to emphasize that both Australia and Singapore made Milo are still ok, not that bad as what the Australians said lah.

A1 Bee Hoon (Rice Vermicelli) and SPAM Luncheon Meat

When I was young, back in the late 90s, my mum used to always make Ma Ling Luncheon Meat for to eat together with rice, bee hoon or even with bread. But somehow in the 2010s onwards, not sure why the standard for Ma Ling Luncheon Meat dropped very badly in terms of taste and quality. Fast forward today, my favourite luncheon or rather my number 1 choice is SPAM Luncheon Meat ! It practically goes very well for almost anything - Steamboat, Rice, Bread, Army Stew, fried or even air fried. It usually priced at $5+ in our local supermarket. But one day, I saw a discount at $4.40 each. Immediately, i cleared the shelves off from the supermarket. Bee hoon wise, I like the chilli brand, but actually whichever brand, the difference is not that much, hence A1 is also good and according to my wife, A1 is much easier to prepare and cook.

McCafe Hot Fluffy

Hmmm, i have not much comment on this actually. Went crazy and because I did not want to order a coffee-based beverage, I went to order Hot Fluffy. As what I have thought, it is just steamed Milk ! LOL ! As most will get fresh milk in small packets in Macdonald, at least they gave an option to offer you Hot Milk. I think they just pour cold fresh milk into the milk jug and used the steam wand to steam the milk to produce this product. Well, maybe this is also one of the healthier choice.

Haagen Dazs Tub Ice-Cream and Magnum Almond

Bought these three tubs of Haagen-Dazs at a good discount at around $24. The Magnum is $5 for 2 package. For the Magnum deal, there were limited choice of flavors, so we picked the better one which is Almond. You will never go wrong with Magnum Almond, it is just too good. As for the Haagen-Dazs, there were a variety of choices. However, I purposely did not picked my favourite flavor, but instead we get the three different flavors that we had never tried before. When we first tried the Honey & Grapefruit flavor, we immediately regretted eating this. I think both me and my wife gave 0/10 for this. Fortunately, the other Twist & Crunch Belgium Chocolate Strawberry flavor and Rum Salted Caramel & Biscuit flavor were a lot better. Maybe because not everyone like Grapefruit :S 

NG AH SIO's Bak Kut Teh @ RANGOON ROAD

So my wife was craving for Bak Kut Teh. Just nice, she had a $20 vouchers to use from Jumbo Membership. So here we are. Got to say this place quite difficult to come, think most people drive here. NG AH SIO's Bak Kut Teh is using the peppery soup. Wah something i didn't expect was that the soup is super peppery. It really spice up your throat in a good way. I love how tender the premium ribs are and can say that the premium ribs are better than Song Fa one. As for the rest of the dishes, quite normal, but fortunately the main highlights was satisfying. Do give it a try when you are there.

Astons Prime Ribeye X'tra Cut @ Woods Square

Deprived from having steak from the recent cruise trip, finally when I am back at work, I am able to try  Prime Ribeye X'tra Cut [SGD$20.90] from Astons during lunch time. As there are a few methods of making the beef, I chose the Medium-Well on the safer side. The fats within the Prime Ribeye was just right to let it oil up your tongue. As it is Medium-Well, the meat was still tender to the bite. It goes well with the mushroom sauce provided. This dish is just to prep up my next visit to try their Japanese A3 Wagyu Steak at SGD$43.90. Still much more cheaper than what the cruise offer for.

GreenDot @ Northpoint

GreenDot, a vegetarian food restaurant where people goes for their green. As I am committed to eat vegetarian on that day. We settled at GreenDot to get our dinner. Over here, we ordered Mee Pok with Gyoza and Angelica Herbal Noodles. Each of these dishes costs between $7 to $9 before service charge and GST. The soup looks mild, but it was refreshing. I like how they made the vegetarian ingredients tasted like meat. It really taste like such, but it is actually made of non-meat ingredients. It is decent, but on a pricier side. Overall it is not bad as they have variety of other options like rice and other stuffs.

Mcdonald Angus BLT Burger

Mcdonald Singapore had this Angus BLT Burger as a permanent menu for quite a while and it is part of the Signature Collection Series. According to Mcdonald, it is 100% Angus beef with chicken bacon, lettuce and tomato which forms the Angus BLT burger. Think the BLT stands for Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. Well, it taste ok, but i felt that the portion could improve. The advertisement of Mcdonald is always enticing, but the real thing always disappointed everyone 😔 At least, i tried this burger and still preferred their Double McSpicy Burger. Hope they don't get smaller anymore.

Starbucks 1 for 1 deal is really great !

 

Just a random post where I had a simple breakfast at Starbucks. During that time, they were having 1 for 1 deal on the drinks (ALL-DAY). I loves how food chain have deals from time to time where they attracted both new and existing customers. So I got the 1 for 1 drinks and ordered an Almond Croissant. The Almond Croissant was perfect as i got them to make it hot for me. It really make my day and perhaps it is time for me to even consider to own a fractional piece of pie of Starbucks in the stock market. Just thinking.

Sushi-GO @ Jurong Point

To me, Sushi-GO is another sushi restaurant which is very similar to Genki Sushi using the Conveyor Belt to deliver the food to your table. One unique part is they have some game system where you spend some amount and you will get to catch a free Ice-Cream. But at the point of eating there, they mentioned that the ice cream machine is faulty and asked to bring back the receipt to catch another time.

Didn't managed to snap all the food i ate, but food wise is decent. No wow factor as it is very similar with other sushi chain. Another problem i faced there was I ordered one particular dish which is the Salmon Sushi which is quite common. After finishing the rest around 20 minutes later, only left that one sushi not sent. I asked the staff and the staff somehow radio called the kitchen to send. Waited for 10 minutes, still not arrived. Informed the same staff again, she asked the kitchen again. Waited patiently for another 10 minutes, still not sent. Hence we decided to just pay at the counter and mentioned to the manager, manager did apologise and promised that it will not happened again. Not sure whats the breakdown =D

Jeju Volcano Fried Rice @ Canberra Plaza

Actually I think they many outlets, but not like this outlet which is solely selling only Jeju Volcano Fried Rice. Didn't get the chance to try their other restaurants, but tried to order takeways at this outlet at Canberra Plaza Basement. They can customized your fried rice based on your preferences and they will fried the rice on the spot. So i ordered the Egg Fried Rice with Prawns and the other one is Kim Chi Fried Rice with Chicken Drumstick. It was quite ok, perhaps it was just me that I am not used to the taste. The rice portion is definitely there and both the chicken and prawn seems like being air-fried. So probably that is the difference.

Redman Huat Kueh

My wife prepared Huat Kueh using both the Redman Traditional Huat Kueh Mix with the Redman Rose Pink Colour Paste. She also uses coconut milk to enhance the taste of the Huat Kueh. Why Huat Kueh? Because I requested for it previously to eat this before the great TOTO draw last month. Haha 😀, maybe used the wrong formula, thats why only win the small ones and not the Million Dollars rewards. Will try harder next time. But preparing these are quite easy though, do explore always and one day you will get a giant Huat Kueh !

Newly added Hard Disk Drive to my Desktop PC

Source

Yeah this is the desktop PC that I had used to produce all my website, youtube and most of the production work. In terms of storage, I built this PC with 1TB NVMe SSD together with 4TB WD Blue HDD in July 2020. So recently, my space were filling up very fast due to aggressive stockpiling of contents and video productions. Noticed that my 4TB had already touches the 3TB mark with 1TB left. Hence I got another 4TB HDD in to ease off the space constraints and got to get it before all prices goes up due to the crazy world. I might also built another PC before 2022 ends to avoid the rising prices in 2023 and beyond. Meanwhile enjoy the video process as above :)

Singapore Bao @ Bendemeer Food Centre

After reading how great this Singapore Bao stall open and usually sold out before 10am or even before 9am, I felt that I had to make my trip down very early at 6.45am. They opened from 7am to 10am or sold out. Located at Bendemeer Food Centre, they only have two items on their menu, namely Siew Mai and Glutinous Rice (Lo Mai Gai). Not sure why their stall is called Singapore Bao, i was expecting some Bao to be available 😆When I reached there at 6.50am, the queue had already formed and it is long about 12 to 15 people in front of me. So after trying, I felt that their Siew Mai is definitely better than most of the standard kopitiam settings where they have their Siew Mai steamed inside their steamer for X amount of hours. For the Glutinous Rice, I got to give special mention for the mushroom inside. Not sure why, the mushroom is in fact the best mushroom i ever eaten 😅, rest of the Lo Mai Gai is quite normal. But of course it is decent and worth having it for breakfast ! Do try it as the aunty operated as a One Man Show.

Ah Ma Chi Mian 阿嬤吃麵 @ Waterway Point

Apparently I was in the area of Punggol Waterway Point while dealing with some business matter in the area. I am finding a Food Court in the mall and noticed that the queue was quite long at Ah Ma Chi Mian 阿嬤吃麵. So i decided to give it a try and joined the long queue as well. As i saw the customer in front me order similar to this, but the noodle is little. So I ordered the MeatBall Noodles and added additional portion of noodle as shown above. As i preferred Mee Kia, so I got this. Price of the soup with noodles ranges from $5 - $7. The noodles were ok. The soup is not bad, but the meatballs were handmade well ! Not sure whether it is handmade, but it seems handmade to me and the meatballs were flavorful. So it really deserved for anyone to try their dishes !

Mi Box S Review

I bought this Mi Box S on February 2020. For the past two years, i didn't managed to get this box working for the casting from phone to this box. Anyway, I used this Mi Box S heavily when Singapore underwent Circuit Breaker Lockdown during April 2020. What I found it useful which is also very general was the Youtube and USB media playback. Over those months, I had been downloading Korean Dramas and watching them over my USB stick for over 8 hours each day for almost 3 months non-stop. Till Date, this box is still working very well and had not given much problems. There are many other features like Google Playstore, Netflix and other generic application in the box. At this point of writing, this box is still selling well in the local eStores. However, i don't really use much lately and in fact most of the things it can do, a typical PC or laptop can do it. Hence I sold it off. So this is just to set your expectation if you ever want to consider buying this box. It had been in the market for quite some time and many carousell buyers still contact me when I am selling it.

Nestle Kit Kat Ice Cream

Bought this from my local supermarket for $10.20. Each box contain 4 sticks of ice cream. Size is decent and not like those mini type. So average a stick costs around $2.55. So cheaper than Magnum, but of course Magnum is one of the best though 😅 So coming back to this KitKat Ice Cream, I would say for the Kit Kat lovers, this is one notch better than eating KitKat. The combination of the KitKat with Ice Cream is incredible. Not forgetting the crunchy part is more from the original KitKat biscuit within to give like a similar Almond crunch texture. So i think the price of this KitKat Ice cream is certainly worth it.

New Balance Running Shoes

OK lar, not exactly new series as I used my National Service e-mart funds to purchase a couple of shoes and kept in my store. So it is time to shine for this new pair of shoes. Appreciate such service from serving National Service in Singapore. I still have a few shoes in my store like the other New Balance Shoes and Adidas Running Shoes. Its time for me to restock newer models as I saw our Defence Minister recently wore the latest running shoes and available in our eMart stores. 

So I went to order and collected it from Khatib HomeTeam Clubhouse and got the latest New Balance Gen2 from my first gen series. I also got the latest two pairs of Asic (Black Colour), the colour sure looks great. Adidas one is from previous stock from reserves. Time to run more during my OFF-Days since I have secondary quest to fulfil this year.

NTUC FairPrice Chicken Flavoured Crackers

If i am not wrong, this FairPrice snack costs only $1. This snack is similar to another snack which I couldn't remember. However, what i want to say is for this $1. FairPrice Chicken Flavoured Crackers really have good portion and taste. When i opened up, i was shocked at the portion. The next thing that shocked me was that I did not expect this to be quite good. The taste and amount of salt is there. Not bad, worth buying.

Airpod Pro Review after a year

Again, the real Nintendo Switch is just for aesthetic purposes. What I want to talk about is how I felt after using Apple Airpod Pro for over a year. For the enclosure or cover or skin, whichever terms some of you uses, I bought this from Shopee, Its good, but i don't like that it always drop off easily while placing it inside my backpack. Ok now onto the main topic. At this point of writing, my Airpod Pro is still retailing at $379. Initially, I am not a fan of its earphone. But what made me bought it is because i wanted to use it together with my iPhone 12 previously. Its only after I bought it and use it, I was so amazed at how good the quality of the music is and the selling point of this was the Active Noise Cancellation. The Active Noise Cancellation was so good that once you play a music, you totally couldn't listen any sounds in the environment. Battery life however is not that lasting in my opinion, probably because of the long MRT and Bus ride. Or maybe because I am truly enjoying it till I forgotten that time passes so fast while commuting. However, while reaching my destination and doing my stuffs, the airpods was technically charging in its case. So on my way home, it is able to last me for a long while. Its enough for using 2 days non-stop usage and I'll have to plug it onto my PC. $379 is a little steep, but i felt that it worth it if we uses it frequently for many years.

Thunder Tree 擂茶树 @ Chinatown Centre

Some blogger had recommended this Thunder Tree at Chinatown centre. My wife went to ordered thunder tea with some side dishes. As I am reserving my stomach for something else, we both tried this and was quite disappointed with the quality. Doesn't really taste as good as what the blogger said. End up, I became the rubbish bin to help swallow up in order not to waste food. 😒

Takagi Ramen - Drop By to get a drink only :D

Ok I am not here to eat, just drop by early in the morning for some matters. As most bubble tea shop not opened yet. I chanced upon Takagi Ramen which is a 24 hours chain located at Chong Pang. So i definitely will revisit one day at Takagi Ramen and probably coming for supper around 1am. Need to plan haha.

So we got the Taro Milk and Shio Collagen Milk both at around $7.80. Not the best, but it is decent. As their strength is probably from the Ramen and food, having these drink choices are not bad. Will be back one day to review its Ramen soon.

New Washing Machine replacement before the CNY 2022

Throwback to my new washing machine that we managed to replace before CNY as our old washing machine had broken down here.

Decided to get a smaller and cheaper model since it is going to last till we moved to a new house based on my Housing MasterPlan which is work in progress on the right column under AmateurCraft exclusive contents. 

As we were using the top loader previously, we are going to try front loader this time round. So as to compare which provides a better experience as we intend to get a new one when we moved over to the new place. So far, the overall experience had been a pleasant one and only time can tell if it is going to last. Front loader saves more water than Top loader, but probably also because my previous washing machine is 16KG as compared to the current 7KG one.

百年酿豆腐 ( Bai Nian Yong Tau Foo)

I had eaten this Bai Nian Yong Tau Foo so many years now. Earlier years when I was still working at Chai Chee during 2017 to 2018, I always eat this for lunch. As of now, there were so many outlets across Singapore. So I think it is time I start to write something about it. As above, I ate this at a local kopitiam at Bishan near to the MRT or to be exact, it is located across Bishan Public Library. They had a fixed amount of ingredients in this bowl where you can also add more ingredient at a cost. The only thing is free and you can add is the bee hoon and the soup. The uncle kept telling me extra bee hoon no cost, so i say ok just add more 😆, then he also said to come back for the soup refill which I didn't as it is more than enough as they typically fill your bowl to the brim. Currently it is priced at $5.90 a bowl. I also live the different and quite standard yong tau foo ingredients. So far, the quantity and quality met my expectation and I think many older folks can be seen ordering their food here.

[Nintendo Switch] Better way to save and get your Nintendo Switch Online Membership

Source

Regardless of whether you getting the Nintendo Switch Online standalone or with the Expansion Pack, the concept is the same. Typically, if you are getting the Nintendo Switch Online Individual membership for yourself at USD$19.99 for a year, it is going to cost you SGD$30. 

For the Nintendo Switch Online Family membership, it is USD$34.99 for a year and SGD$52.50 a year for singapore gamers. One Nintendo Switch Online Family Membership can shared up to 8 players. Hence, if all players were to shared with each other, each player will only have to folk out SGD$6.60 or USD$4.40 per year. Definitely this is a much cost effective way.

Of course the next question is, who is going to share the cost with you? In fact, you can do it yourself by posting online or using Carousel to search for other players that are willing to share with you. There are risk though, but so far I had been doing this method for the past two years and save lots of money while being able to stay online gaming on Nintendo Online platform. If you do not want to be the host, you can simply find someone who is sharing his family slot, at a higher price but still relatively cheaper than the Individual membership at a whopping SGD$30.

Shine Muscat Grapes

Shine Muscat grapes are a variety of seedless green grapes first developed in Japan, boasting high sugar content. They are more expensive than conventional grapes. As demand for the grapes is soaring, their cultivation is also increasing.

It is expensive, but this is definitely a lot more better in taste than the normal grapes in local supermarket. The grapes here is still among the cheapest grade of the premium Shine Muscat grapes. The highest grade of Shine Muscat grapes can goes up to be USD$60 per bunch of grape. The one I am trying is still available in our local supermarket. You definitely won't regret eating it.