Here's My Story

Boardgame turns into restaurant?!

Due to some foolish actions by a relative, Ban and I found ourselves at Shah Alam JPJ and so I took the opportunity to contact a friend to lunch with us. We were lucky that he agreed to this impromptu meeting :) He suggested Mama Kim at Kota Kemuning. It was packed but fortunately, we didn't need to wait long for a table. It was delicious, both main meal and dessert. I would love to dine there again if not because of lack of parking space Perhaps if we go there early? Oh, also Kota Kemuning is far :/

As I stated in a previous post , CPF staff told me that the standard processing time to deposit my money into my bank account was 5 months. Hence, I am surprised that it was done 3 weeks later! Wow. Once again, the Singapore government agencies' hallmarked efficiency was in effect. Thank you! Also, the amount was a little more than the balance as at end of 2023. They probably added in prorated interest (unexpected because interest is declared on a quarterly basis but credited annually) and maybe partially refunded Eldershield premium. Either way, this is much appreciated! On a related news, I recently purchased a condo unit in the same block as my sister's unit. I've been mulling over this for over a year already. The only important reason for this is to have a place where my mum can live in if she ever needs a helper due to health condition, like how my dad needed one especially when he was no longer mobile. My sister's place simply has no space to for a helper to live...

Saw their advert on the sides of escalators in 3 Damansara and so I checked their Google rating and reviews. 5 stars from about 20 reviews! Omg! After making sure that there was suitable food for Ban and I, we dined there one day. I had Teriyaki Spaghetti with Fried Chicken whereas Ban had one of their pokebowls. We both loved our food. Normally I get 'jelak' (bored? too rich?) with sweet food halfway through but it wasn't the case with the teriyaki spaghetti. However, I won't be having this often because I naturally seldom eat fried chicken. We did dine there a second time and it was good too. Sorry, I forgot to take notes or photos of them. I definitely plan to dine there whenever we shop at NSK. Previously, it was quite a hassle shopping at NSK because of lack of eating choices with suitable food. PS: It still have average Google rating of 5 stars! Edit: It turns out that Ban had the cajun prawn pokebowl, whereas it as his brother who had the pokebowl above. I had th...

 ...this time at Adelaide Airport 😁

One day, as we were driving home from dinner at Pho Vietz (Starling Mall outlet), Ban noticed this shop named  GachaKohi along the road facing the Sprint Highway. We got curious because we know what gacha refers to. So, he googled and found a video about it (I listened to it as I was driving). I was intrigued and so suggested that one day we go there for drinks after a meal. We went there after having lunch at King's Beef Noodle . You can order drinks like in any other cafe but their main theme here is the gacha machine: Each machine contain balls with different colours that refer to different drinks but they are of the same 'theme'. For example, the Gacha Ocha machine is for green tea drinks while the Gacha Soda machine is for soda drinks. You purchased a token at the counter (if I recall correctly the sequence) costing RM 14.90 (RM 16.40 after service charge). Insert it a machine of your choice. Twist its handle a few times until a ball rolls down. Collect the ball and o...

As planned, on 16th Jan I started looking at how to close my CPF account .  By default, there are two ways of closing the account: (1) In person at CPF Service Centre, with relevant documents, or (2) Mail the completed account closure form to CPF Board, with copies of relevant documents certified true copy by Singapore High Commissioner. The signing of the form also needs to be witnessed by the commissioner. There is, however, a third way that is open only to Malaysians: complete and submit an online form but with the restriction that the CPF money will be given only in the form of a cheque i.e. there's no option for it to be transferred to a designated bank account. I chose the third way but a week later on 23rd Jan, I received an email from CPF board to submit supporting documents via method (1) or (2). So essentially, I wasted my time doing the third way! Much later, upon query, the CPF officer attending to me at the service centre told me that the third way is only for Malaysia...

For the recent trip to Australia , I juggled a few things so that we could fly Singapore Airlines from Australia (Sydney) to Singapore for the first time, chiefly to compare it to Malaysia Airlines. I wasn't disappointed: I loved it! There is a possibility that the experience was coloured by the fact that the plane was an Airbus 380 (double-decked!) but nevertheless I enjoyed that flight. Boarding was on time. Departure was only slightly delayed. Service was excellent. Seats and entertainment sets were in good condition. I remember MAS's entertainment set was poorly responsive to touch and its sound quality was significantly worse. However, I am a little miffed with their check-in system, as documented in this blog post .   Food was pretty good. They served Magnum ice-cream after the main meal!   I would seriously consider flying SIA again in future. It would have been a no brainer if they fly straight to KL, instead of needing to stop at Singapore.

During the latest trip to Australia, my sister taught me how to use her blender to make smoothie and ever since then, I was hooked. Back home, I started to think about the benefits of having a blender: Making my own smoothie that's much healthier than outside. Having homemade smoothie greatly lessens the craving for one outside. Much cheaper to have homemade smoothie (than buying one outside). Can blend in the bland protein powder in the smoothie. Can blend in oat. I usually have oat with milk each night. Create my smoothies that aren't available outside. Recommendations from the internet were either not available on Shopee, had too many negative reviews or too expensive. A friend's mother recommended a good brand but too expensive and too huge for me. Then I came across Panasonic MX-XP103WSR Tumbler Blender. Its size is great for me, it was cheap (RM 127 after discount/vouchers, original price was RM 169) and it had mostly positive reviews. The only comment that concerned ...