12 Nov 2013
Launch of Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes bench!
On the 25th Oct 2013, McDonald has once again kicked off its annual McHappy Day fundraising with the launch of a travelling ''Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes bench'' at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station! As part of the McHappy day activities, McDonald will donate $1 per photo (instagram) with the hashtag #mchappydaysg, capped at 5000 entries, to RMHC. RMHC is an independent charity that had been running a ''home-away-from-home'' facility at National University Hospital (NUH) for families with children in intensive care. |
| I had a picture taken with Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes bench at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange! I know my dressing style is rather horribly mismatched and I looked like I am in a sleeping attire. After getting a stranger to snap this picture for me, I noticed that there were people queuing after me to take a picture with this pair of large shoes! Just pass it on! Remember to upload your photo to instagram with the hashtag #mchappydaysg ! |
Location of ''Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes'' bench
Dhoby Ghaut MRT station 26 Oct - 01 Nov
Harbourfront MRT station 02 Nov - 08 Nov
Toa Payoh Bus Interchange 09 Nov - 10 Nov
Boon Lay Bus Interchange 16 Nov - 22 Nov
On the 10th of Nov, I had the chance to attend a casual gathering with 7 other bloggers to witness the set
out of the event where about 500 staff volunteers from McDonald would hit the Singapore street to raise
awareness for RMHC by selling 'Ronald Smile' for S$2 each! Now for more pictures!
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| By 12.30, everyone were smiling happily, full of energy and prepared to set out to sell those 'Ronald Smiles'! Can you spot Ronald McDonald among the crowd? |
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| One really big happy family! |
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| How could you not spam some great shots with Ronald McDonald before setting off? |
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| This picture is so dam cute that I posted it! |
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| Bloggers turn to have a picture with Ronald McDonald! |
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| I bought a ''Ronald Smile'' for S$2 to store up some good karma points! OMG, why my hair style like army recruit?!? |
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| How could I resist not taking pictures of any food or drinks that appeared before my eyes! The sweet mango fizzy drink was really refreshing! Imagine the hardworking volunteers out there trying their best to sell as many ''Ronald Smiles'' as possible in the name of charity! |
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| I got to try the newly launched (not long ago) Banana Pie too! Some may say it tasted like goreng pisang (banana fritters) but I disagreed. I created a little mess while breaking the crisp shell apart, revealing the golden brown banana and the gooey 'sauce' encased within. The banana texture was more towards 'stewed' and more mushy as compared to goreng pisang which has a somewhat firmer bite. It was such a delicious snack to me since I loved the original apple pie too! |
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| Hey minion, stop giving me that face! Those banana pies were the bloggers' share! Haha, I think McDonald wanted to snatch all the bananas away from those minions! (Minion picture from google image) |
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| Kitson Choong (Chief Operation Officer) came to share with us more about the event as well as the initiative! He stressed the word 'family' many times and I knew he was someone who would cherish family and bonding really much. He also explained to us in details about the fundraising activities conducted and the operation of RMHC that has been running a ''home away from home'' facility (Ronald McDonald House). I felt that he was going to tear while explaining to us about children in the intensive care part... |
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| A picture with COO! |
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| Next, we had 2 of the volunteers who shared about their experience and why do they want to work at McDonald for over 10 years! I know it was not easy to work in a F&B industry and what kept them going was being part of the 'family' (the same thing COO had mentioned). |
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| Time to camwhore a bit with May (left) and Janet (omy blog club administrator ; right) |
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| Picture with Angela, May, Me, Kiahgek (left to right) I felt that I am quite bad with posing for photos and my poses were so not natural LOL!...Still more comfortable with taking pictures of food! |
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| Another picture with Angela, May, Me, Yuki, Kiahgek (left to right) I hoped McDonald could attain their desired amount for charity! |
Thank you Omy blog club and Janet for the invitation!
6 Nov 2013
Baking with friends!
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| This post was actually more than a month back and it was still under my draft session! It was quite a random thing as 3 other of my poly friends wanted to bake a rainbow muffin. All the 'mise en place' we had placed on the table for a little photo. |
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| Our rainbow muffin consisted of 5 colours and look at those lovely pastels. Luckily I told them to control from adding too much colours as it would look too artificial, unless natural coloring were used. |
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| We also made green tea cubcakes with green tea kit kats stuck into them. Our whipped cream actually failed, making our cupcakes looking under dressed. However, the green tea taste was still so awesome! |
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| Our mini plain vanilla cupcakes with a coffee chocolate bean. Our alcohol had evaporated in the oven.... Opps!!! |
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| Our rainbow cupcake! Too bad the 1st batch was too overflowing and the batter flooded out while in the oven, resulting in a rainbow smudging mess. This was the 2nd batch and I could only detect 3 colors?? Anyway, we had a really fun but tiring time and the pictures we took turned out quite unglam (so not posting them!). |
8 Oct 2013
Clarke Quay Central - Chilling at Coffee Club
The mere mention of the word Clarke Quay send many fond memories flashing back to me. The days when I was still serving my National Service (a year back), my dad used to bring the family over to Clarke Quay to dine. I love going to Clarke Quay Central not only because it houses my restaurants but also the mall itself is bright, vibrant and spacious. Window shopping leisurely in there made me feel so relax and carefree, unlike many other shopping malls which are so cramp and suffocating! Although my family patronize Tung Lok Signatures most frequently, we also did try many of the other food establishments in there! A family of foodies! Anyway, I decided to post about Coffee Club since it was one of my favorite place to chill, and partly due to this being a dessert blog. I went to dig out my Coffee Club pictures that I had neglected to blog about due to my laziness. (The 'Cravecraze' logo was actually my previous blog's name). Enjoy and carry on drooling over these lovely dessert pictures I had selected to post about!
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| To me, Clarke Quay would be a perfect chill out place over the weekends. One suitable location would be the Coffee Club outlet. The bright chic setting as well as the huge variety from the menu attracted me to chill in there. |
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| The first dessert that came into my mind when I thought of Coffee Club was their popular Mud Pie. The nutty one above which came in a massive slab could easily be shared among a group of friends. The gooey sweetness from the caramel easily gave me a sugar rush while the button-size macadamia nuts provided a crunch. I really love to sit close to the window to enjoy the partial view of Singapore River as well as to 'spy' on ants size people below. |
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| Not wanting to have any desserts? You could get a glass of icy beverage to chill as well. |
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| The menu have a whole range of different desserts to choose from! How about a walk along the Singapore river after your meal, although I know the water ..erm...just a bit polluted... The night life around Singapore River is always super happening too! |
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| Boom! Guess which dessert this is? Any ideas? |
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| Don't feel like having any complicated plated desserts? The typical Blueberry Bounce (cheesecake) would definitely suit you. Cloyingly cheesy with blueberries! |
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| Glorious presentation! I love breaking down/dismantling such plated dessert ; enjoy the process as it really helped to slow down my eating pace, giving me a break from all the hustle and bustle of the current stressful lifestyle. Relax, chill, enjoy! |
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| Another example of a dessert that brought out the slowness in me! |
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| Cheers! |
29 Sept 2013
Maccha House 抹茶館 - If there is such a house, I would want to live in it
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| Being a hard core Matcha fan myself, needless to say, Maccha House naturally attracted my attention and automatically registered in my 'must try' list. The name Maccha House made me fantasize a house of entirely green/brown furnishing, scented with the aroma of matcha, decorated zen style with tons of matcha food products! Before my imagination could get any wilder, here's a picture of my friend's Matcha and Vanilla soft serve cone. (He already started licking his bi-coloured tower before I could snap a decent shot.) Although the matcha taste was intense, the price was a bit unfriendly to his wallet. |
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| As for me, I decided to try something unique and ended up picking Ice Matcha with brown sugar syrup. I was quite shocked upon receiving my tall glass with a mess of cream that has such a horrible texture and looking split. After stirring the cream for a brief moment, I took a sip and immediately fell in love with my drink! A strong intensity with bitterness not too unbearable for my taste buds. (My resistance to Matcha's bitterness could be a little high though.) The brown sugar syrup only helped to sweeten the drink a little and imparting a bit of malt candy flavor. I tried slowing down my drinking pace but to no avail and in no time, the glass was empty with me trying to suck every last drop of the drink with my straw. I would definitely be back for more in future! |
7 Sept 2013
Rakuzen - A Jap dinner with mum!
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| My mum and I were already starving and I was on a verge of having stomach cramps due to excessive hunger. It was already 7+ and we still have not eaten our dinner! I seriously disliked the feeling of starvation but I still led my mum all the way from Suntec City to Millenia Walk, believing that there would be yummy food existing around that area. I was right! There were quite a couple of restaurants in there as well as hidden around the bends. My mums choose Rakuzen, which I had in mind since I had cravings for Japanese food. The place was rather quiet and dimly lit, so I felt my eyelids getting heavier every moment. I shake myself up, trying to enjoy the peaceful ambiance and the beautifully designed furnishing around me. |
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| My mum ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen which looked like an ordinary bowl of ramen. (Instant noodles would be more liked it.) How do you actually present a bowl of ramen to look more appetizing? Tough one I supposed. Despite the non-attractive presentation, the soup base was really superb! It was soothingly light and the umami flavor was irresistible. My mum really enjoyed her ramen but the greatest disappointment was that the Tonkotsu Ramen here had no Tonkotsu in it. Therefore, it was basically a plain bowl with only some vegetables to go with! |
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| As for me, I had a craving for sashimi but wanted something more filling. So I ended up picking the Sakura Chirashi Don - Mixed sashimi over japanese vinegared rice. Pardon me as I really could not tell if the sashimi were fresh all because I did not get a satisfying feel after consuming them. All I knew was that there were no traces of any fishy smell emitting from them. The prickled ginger slices were unusually good with mild pungentness. I guessed the pink sugar I left behind was sakura sugar as I did not like additional artificial sweetness in my don. On the whole, the price tag was something I should consider before stepping into any Japanese restaurant, which my mum would be oblivious to. |
2 Sept 2013
12 Cupcakes - Just another 3 of it
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| YAY! 3 more cupcakes tried from the variety of 12! Mocha, Cookies and Cream and Strawberry Chocolate. Typical girls would definitely go crazy over these lovely cupcakes. Although I felt the pinch over the price, I felt that the ingredients used were of decent to good quality. The flavoured cupcake bases were of constant denseness and richness and a generous dose of flavour infused cream was piped neatly on each of them. I was quite thankful that the colours were not too artificially vibrant as compared to other outlets which could have turn me off easily. Simple designs are usually alright for me as long as quality is there. |
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| Another shot of the trio of cupcakes! Luckily the buttercream did not smudge too badly yet! |