Great Christmas Village

One of the best ways of spending Christmas in Singapore is to catch the lights and beautiful deco at Orchard Road. Over the years, there have been many different variations of Christmas pop-ups but somehow I always feel Christmas needs to be celebrated at Orchard Road. Maybe it is nostalgia at play, but it just hits me differently. :P

This year, we brought the kids to the Great Christmas Village outside Ngee Ann City and Shaw House. It has been a while since we saw such carnivals and it was truly so much fun for both the adults and kids. I thought I will create a guide because this was some thoughts that cross through my mind. We went twice during the day, hence a clothes change HAHAHA. I think it may be more beautiful and less warm at night, but I am not a huge fan of crowds. 

Rides that we are all here for - Mainly at Shaw House

There are some rides which definitely caught our eye because it either didn't exist during our time or we knew it was great fun when we rode them as kids! Although the 2 locations are not very far from each other, I thought it was a waste no one highlighted where each ride was so that families could better strategise their time there. Most of the these rides - European Swing, Cycle Jet, Space Shuttle Ride (Brand New!) except for Robotic Ride (Ngee An City) are at Shaw House. 

We took all of them and some twice except for Cycle Jet because the kids' legs are too short to cycle. The #2 just turned 2 YO and she could go on most of the rides.  Special shout-out to Space Shuttle Ride which I think we took so many times because it was so fun and somehow the competitive streak in me came out. Oops. 

Carnival Games that promises a toy - Mainly at Shaw House

If you are here with kids, you know sometimes you can't go home empty-handed. For some, the toy is a must to complete the carnival experience. For guaranteed toys, go for the fishing game (Shaw House) or the Spin the Wheel (Ngee Ann City). To win big, you need to make your way to Ngee Ann. I tried a few but I am absolutely skill-less or luckless, probably the former so I won nothing. 

The claw machines are at Shaw House, but lady luck wasn't on my side, I forced some possible catches to become impossible. Oops. The games at Shaw House allows you to accumulate points so that you can redeem something. The children love the mini arcade and the Space Shuttle Ride. 

Credits Maximising Tips

To get the bang for your bucks, I would suggest setting a budget maybe S$150 and top it up at one shot so that you can get the bonus credits. The credits can be used at other J'Kids organised carnivals. Space Shuttle is my ultimate favourite because it allows you to both have a ride and accumulate points to redeem something. Accompanying parents are half the credits. If your kids are young like mine, you don't really have a choice to save the parent's credit. But I always believe it is better to experience fun together for the playtime to be more purposeful. 

If you want to maximise your fun, then just do whatever you want to do with your budgeted credit. My kids just wanted to go on the ferris wheel, bouncy castle + ball pit. To me, these rides aren't entirely exclusive. But whatever floats their boat, look at how bright their smiles are. A budget of $150 with its extra bonus credits should be able to keep the family entertained for 1.5 to 2 hours.

And you know what, I think we might still be making another trip there ~!~

Christmas at Illumi

One thing I hate about Christmas Villages sometimes is how crowded it can be. Especially when I am so prone to the flu bug, I practically catch any virus that is in the air. :'( I was pretty excited about Illumi because a) it was pretty affordable (the kids could enter free), ii) not very crowded and iii) based on the photos I have seen online, it looks pretty cool. 

So here's her a cautionary tale of not trusting everything you see online. One thing they were not very transparent about was that there was a paid ride in every section. We didn't know and invested in the bouncing castle at the entrance which cost us an additional $10 per child. If we knew there were more interesting rides inside, we probably wouldn't have spent on the bouncy castle.

Basically, there are different themed sections. It was pretty cool initially but it did get kinda of repetitive after a while. If you are using a phone camera, it could be quite challenging to take the shots you seen on social media. The rides in each section are actually pretty fun carnival rides and mostly priced at $7 per pax. The coolest being this boat ride. 

If you really wanna save money, there was this dome with lotsa balls. And you know what, my kids actually spent the longest there. The kids didn't really appreciate the light display but they do enjoy space where they could run and chase each other silly. We spent nearly 2-3 hours there, so it is best to eat before entering. There are finger food which is quite reasonably priced, but I didn't try so I won't know the taste. Overall, it is a good experience but I probably won't go twice. :P

Yummy Food at Novotel@Steven

During our staycation, most of the food we had were at Food Exchange, where breakfast was served. The items being served at breakfast generally doesn't change much. It has a decent variety that allows you to remain curious about the items over the 2 mornings without over-stuffing yourself. It has all my staples including - congee and salad. I like my congee to be topped with cooked food as you can see. 

For the children, they are happy with waffles, cereals and fruits. There was also a good choice of eggs - boiled, poached, half-boiled. The kids also had juices to go along, so that really made their day.  Food Exchange is right beside the pool so the view was pretty awesome as well. :)

For one of our meals, we tried out the Sunday Brunch ($98 per pax). If you look out for some discounts, you probably can get at an even better deal. The variety was a lot greater than the breakfast for the brunch. Most importantly it had a lot of fresh seafood - with the crustaceans being their highlight. Their lobsters were probably one of the best tasting in many of the buffets I went. And there was so much variety in the sauces they were prepared with. Yums!

If you do the maths and just spam on lobsters and oysters, you would probably get your money worth. It also explains that was quite a decent number of people dining. It doesn't get too surfeiting because the seafood was prepared in different variations so you feel like you trying different dishes. Apart from the seafood, I would need to give a special shoutout to the beef - it was the best ever. The meat literally melt apart in my mouth. 

The icing on the cake had to be face painter that day. We got the kids fried rice and satay (which we knew they would savour), but they slurped up their food faster that day because they wanted to get some face painting on themselves. To be quite fair, the face painter - Artsyfleur was extremely talented. She was very fast and her pieces were beautiful. Even I got myself one <3

Overall, I thought the Sunday Brunch would be a great gathering point for mini celebrations (we saw a few tables celebrations) because you do get access to the pool if you are keen for a deep. The food was also suitable for the young and old. With some discounts here and there, you get quite a good steal. 

One of the other food we had in the vicinity was - Smiths Fish and Chips, who claims to be super authentic and British. The exterior is nothing fancy, but the food was pretty impressive. Especially the chips which was hand-peeled and chipped. My only regret was that I was kinda of full so I didn't try more of the food on the menu. 

It was a pretty rainy day so I tried the soup, which was served in a cup. Sounds kinda of authentic already, haha. It was filled with lots of fish and ingredients. In terms of price, I initially felt it was kinda on the high side. But after tasting the ingredients, it seems justifiable. I did survey some other friends who live there on Smiths Fish and Chips, but it seems like they have not been consistently good in the past. Maybe it is time to give them a 2nd chance, plus their waiter is kinda of cute *winks*

Christmas Buffet with Edge

As Christmas draws near, I am sure most workplace are preparing for the year-end gathering. A lot of people always ask me where it is the best place to go and I would always recommend buffets. Buffets are great for teammates with black holes for appetite. At least, the basic requisite feed empty stomachs will be met. :D

Also, the bigger the team, the more complicated the dietary restrictions will be. Buffets usually have food for all and everyone gets to pick what they want to eat and leave the place happy. Look out for promotions if you have a tight budget, because sometimes you may also score a 1-for-1.

My buffet recommendation for the year would be Edge. Edge serves a good spread and their quality is always top-notch. During Christmas, they will also serve the specials such the Traditional Roasted Turkey Breast with Cranberry Sauce and Yuletide Desserts such as logcakes, gingerbread houses etc. They do a good job in deco and bringing the Christmas spirits to the table for smaller teams with no D&D. 

Some of my friends have brought their teams to Edge already for their Christmas buffet and so far the feedback has been great. If you go during the weekdays, there are better promotions and will sit well in the budget. For gifting, do consider their chocolates that comes in shapes of Santa, Snowflakes etc. in little boxes. It is presentable and also very tasty!

I will let my photos do the talking, but I am sure you are feeling as hungry as I am already. Don't know where to feast? I hope I have just solved your problem. *Winks*

Food Tour 52: The Finer Food in Life

It is that month where we tend to eat a little finer, so here's a short list which you can consider for your next celebration! The food is really good and I enjoyed myself fully dining in these places. Do note that the price may be on the higher side. 

1. TungLok Peking Duck

This is the #1 place I would go every time I have a bit of cravings for the Peking Duck, In fact, every time, before the delivery of my children, I am bound to visit there. Haha. I love the experience of having the duck being presented to you as it is being diced and served. I would usually request for the remainder to be cooked into a separate dish. For me I can eat it on its own, but my husband would usually order some carbs to pair. Their noodles are excellent too by the way. I don't think their food ever disappoints, but it can be pricey. Having said that, peking dish is not a cheap dish to begin with. 

2. Yuta

If you are a fan of Omakase, Orchard Plaza is a place with all these hidden gems. I have a little bucket list to try all the Omakase there, so you can do a look out as and when. Note: it is just not possible for me to eat everything at one period la, it is expensive you know. But if any sponsors are keen, please hit me up!

For those who are unfamiliar with omakase, basically you leave the details to the chef. You kinda know there will be x. no of courses and there will be sashimi, sushi, carbs etc. but you don't entirely know how it will all tie up. Yuta lies behind a mysterious blue room and I did my first ever sake pairing with them. I loved the sake they matched for me and even bought a bottle after. The food was really good. I could eat it every day if I had the money. I thought it was a great start for my bucket list :D

3. Angie's Oyster Bar

I may not have shared here before, but I love oysters. But this was one place where I actually could taste the difference and the freshness of the oysters, no joke. Just stepping into this place with its tasteful ambience and all, you probably know your wallet is going to feel a lot emptier. It is located like in an "ulu" place, but there was still a bit of a crowd and reservations were needed. From that, you already know this place is good!

We had the Japanese Little Neck Clams with sourdough bread ($34), servings of assorted clams (~$60) and Linguine Alla Puttanesca Con Vongole ($34) and Ube Cornbread ($18). Everything was good but the dessert in particular blew me away because I never tasted anything like this. But the service was a bit disappointing, I told the kitchen to do something special given that it was the husband's birthday. And no, they couldn't even write a simple happy birthday on the dessert plate. :(

Jumptopia - As good as the reviews

We have read a lot of good reviews on Jumptopia. We caught a good deal for Triple Adventure at Marina Bay and off we go. Truly as per the reviews, it was great fun both for the kids and the adults. Basically, I would describe the place filled with giant bouncy castles. There were variations but by the 3rd spot, we , the adults were pretty much like...kinda the same. LOL!

For certain days that were non-peak, you could actually stay the whole day within the vicinity. But to be quite honest, we stayed for 2.5 hours and we were literally dead beat! The place was considerably humongous, so even though there were a lot of people, the crowd was well scattered and not rowdy. 

Internally, there was a food truck and it was great to see that the price was reasonable. It gave us the necessary yummy fuel to stay longer. The sweetener was that the kids could go home with a complimentary Partiz name band. We ended up buying stuff from their shop as well because generally the price was ok. On top of that, I also shared on my social media, so the kids got additional goodie bags to bring home! You can a token for the claw machine if you like their social media page. So with that, I gave it a try and I can assure you the claws are so weak, it isn't worth investing. 

Personally, I thought it was a great event to bring the toddlers during the holidays. With sales and promotions, the price can add up to be still within acceptable range. Parents beware, some of the ball pits and hinoki pits can be pretty insane. I had a hard time keeping my socks and a few times I dropped my phone (with a bit of fear that it can never be found)! Gasp. 

** Use the discount code "BABYNFAMKLOOK" when you book through Klook for a 5% Discount. Applicable to All Klook Activities with min. spend of SGD50. Discount capped at SGD15.

Tile: Made for the lost and forgetful

Before I had my first kid, I was already pretty forgetful. I would always misplace my things because I don't put them back to the same place. I would basically leave them in the most random place and would need to retrace my steps sometimes to find them. It is particularly frustrating for myself and people around me when it comes to critical items because I end up delaying everybody's schedule. 

A solution - Tile came into my life and it is such a life-saver. Basically, Tile is like a tracker and it works very well for people who doesn't use Apple ecosystem. I found a video that describes very well how it works. You just it up and on your bluetooth and you are good to go. 

Although I got the set that comes in 4, I didn't really need that many so my FIL actually took 2 and set the rest in his phone. (Not all has to be tagged to the same phone). They all works the same, but just that different sizes may fit wallets etc. better.  I placed one in my wallet and another in my kid's bag. What I really like about it is that it works 2 way. If my phone was missing, I could also press the button from the tile in my wallet and my phone would start singing a tune.

The technology is definitely pretty cool. I did flaunt it a few times at my workplace. The kids were also very impressed. During hide-and-seek, they would press their tracker to ring me out. Not how it was meant to be used, but yeah. The more people that uses it, the more timely the tracking would be. My only grouse is that the batteries can't be changed. 

You also link it to your other devices that are tile-friendly. My fitbit and dell laptop are smiling :) Generally, for Singaporeans, most people attach it to their pets, kids' bags, car keys and other personal belongings that are of value. Would definitely recommend this buy. I feel less anxious now that my items don't go missing anymore. My quality of life is way better.