Frannywanny

Let me put on my geeky glasses as I share with you my new found knowledge about... our skin . Yep! That's right. Did you know how wrinkles are formed? It's through the course of aging as our skin loses its natural moisture and elasticity for each year that you blow out another candle. This is the reason why our moms and grandmothers would always remind us to moisturize, moisturize and moisturize from the moment you hit your mid-20s as this can somehow help slow down the aging process. Now, have you ever heard of collagen? Did you know that this plays a vital role in keeping your skin elastic and when you do have elastic skin, there is a smaller chance for wrinkles to form. Call me a late bloomer as it was only recently when I finally have a more regular skin care regimen. I grew up thinking that I will forever have soft, blemish-free, acne-free and wrinkle-free skin. After all, I rarely put on make-up and my belief was that the less chemical I put on my face, the lesser chances...

Singapore's 50th National Day has passed already but the celebration continues! After all, the country has such a colourful history and it's really amazing to see how far they've come and how much everyone have all worked so hard to make Singapore what it is today -- a pretty awesome place to be! In the foodie front, Singapore has made itself Southeast Asia's food mecca. With a wide array of cuisines to choose from, I tell you, you'll immediately be spoilt with choices here. Craving for Italian? Indian? Malaysian? French? even Austrian food can be found here! However, what makes Singapore unique are it's heritage dishes that withstood the test of time and these are kitchen secrets that have been passed on for generations to generations. A day before SG50, I was invited to dine at Ellenborough Market Cafe to check out the Heritage Flavours Buffet  which will be available till Sunday, 23 August 2015 . As you know, buffets can get pretty overwhelming so let me...

I love it when friends come to visit! Not only does it gives us the perfect excuse to eat out ( not that we don't eat out regularly.. ) but we just love catching up with friends whom we haven't seen for years! Last week, fellow blogger B came to the Lion City to celebrate her birthday. We scheduled to meet up with her for late night dinner and drinks at Pizzeria Mozza .  Of course, when it's someone's birthday, you have to give her a present right? However, the birthday girl was the one who came with surprises for us! It came in the form of this beautiful white box with a very clean (read: OC-friendly) logo type. OMG! It was from The Bald Baker , Cy Ynares, himself! I was so happy, I gave B a big bear hug. You see, I've never met The Bald Baker yet but I've been following stalking him on Instagram for many months now. It all began when I saw my friends posting photos of this delicious looking Banana Bread and you all know how much I love love love these l...

Some days can get very stressful and when the pressure is on... I eat. Yup, I eat to my heart's desire! That's what I told my friend D recently when we were talking about our stress-coping mechanisms. D normally forgets about her hunger when she's stress while I told her that I'm such a stress-eater. One thing though, I don't just munch on anything within reach or within sight. I have my comfort food staples that never fail to make my tummy and heart happy. These include a delicious plate of well-done pasta and pizza among many others. I'd say, I'm very Italian by heart. I love my risotto and I always enjoy ending my meal with a scoop of gelato. Perhaps, my next travel destination should be Italy, don't you think? *cough* hello Paul! *cough* While that dream trip might come in the next few years, I'm lucky to discover Bottura , which I must say is one of the few good and authentic Italian restaurants here in Singapore. Located at the newest win...

Now this is what I'd call a food trip !  Right after having kaya toast and cupcakes at Chin Mee Chin Confectionery , we literally hopped next next door to 328 Katong Laksa  as this has been one of the places friends have been recommending to us. Every time we'd tell someone that we haven't been to East Coast, the first thing they'd say is: " What?! But the laksa is the best there!" That said, we agreed not to pass up the chance to have that much raved about Laksa for this trip. To be honest, I rarely have Laksa simply because I always thought it was unbearably spicy. Sweating profusely while eating is not really something that I really like to do. Well, the restaurant has a nice air-conditioned area inside so at least they got that sweating problem covered. Now, we will have to see if the spice level of the Laksa is something we can manage. We got a small bowl of Laksa (S$5) to share. Look at that generous serving of shrimps, noodles, cockles, fish...

Happy #SG50! It was indeed a fun and relaxing long weekend that just passed and how I wish we can have more reasons to celebrate like this. So, on Singapore's National Day , all trains and buses gave free rides for the entire day and Paul and I took this opportunity to explore the other side of town -- the East. Our adventure started early in the morning where we took a 45 minute train ride all the way to Dakota MRT Station. This was followed by a quick bus ride to East Coast Road --  our first destination of the day. After attending Sunday mass, we checked out this famous old-school coffee shop which dates back to the 1920s! I first learned about Chin Mee Chin Confectionery when I saw a couple of random Instagram posts from fellow bloggers about it.

Despite my short visit home, I made it a point to visit some of my favorite restaurants. True, I have a growing list of new restaurants to try but there are just some times that I would prefer something that's familiar, something that brings comfort, something safe. So, when I was setting a dinner catch-up with my cousins-in-law, I suggested that we go to Hole in the Wall in Century City Mall. If you recall, I've dined there with my family last December but after months of being away, I just have to satisfy my craving for that yummy Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Bad Bird and that to-die-for freshly baked cookies from Scout's Honor . In addition to that, I heard that there were more stalls that opened after my visit so I am definitely heading straight to those. We were a huge group of 9 so you can just imagine the amount of food that went around as we shared all our orders that evening. Let me share with you my top picks :

5 years ago, Paul and I came to Singapore for a week-long honeymoon. Friends and family actually questioned why we decided to stay that long. You see, for most tourists, they feel that the only thing you can really do in Singapore is to eat. Well, I have to say that that's right...and wrong. Right because Singapore is clearly the food mecca in Asia (okay fine, maybe Southeaast Asia) but aside from stuffing yourself silly with all the gastronomic options available here, there are a lot of places to see as well. We came to Singapore at a good time then. It was right at the tail-end of the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) which means most stores were giving out further reduction discounts and it was also when the Singapore Food Festival  took place. Luck wasn't on my side though as I ended up with a terrible tummy ache which lasted all throughout the entire duration of our two week long honeymoon (we flew to Kuala Lumpur and stayed for a whole week too). So, instead of being able ...

I'm pretty sure we all have heard of Crystal Jade . A popular chain of Chinese restaurants with branches all over the world. What many may not know is that Crystal Jade originated here in Singapore with a history dating back in 1991. Today, it has more than 100 outlets worldwide and a wide variety of concepts all over Singapore alone. It's my first time to come across a Crystal Jade that specializes in steamboat , another in casual dining dimsum fare, a bakery outlet and a couple of fine dining ones. This coming weekend is a big and exciting one for everyone here in the Lion City as we will be celebrating the country's 50th birthday! A lot of preparations are being done for this year's National Day Parade, streets, homes and offices are all sporting nice shade of reds and whites all around and of course, in the food scene, restaurants are ready to offer special SG50 promotions not only for the coming weekend but mostly for the entire month of August. Crystal Jade ha...

A few weeks ago, I had to go all the way to the far eastern point of Singapore a.k.a. Tampines for a full day off-site work. Believe it or not, despite being here for years now, there are still a lot of places that I haven't been to and most of it are in the east as I find heading to the west much more accessible from home. Needless to say, I was excited to explore this part of town. So, before heading home, I decided to check the Tampines Mall out. It's a big, complete mall which is good as heading to the city from this area would probably take you 45 minutes or so. It perfectly services all the residents in Tampines whenever they have to run quick errands, go to the bank, buy food or catch a movie. I wanted to take something home for dinner so I checked out the basement level. The set-up is quite similar to the likes of Plaza Singapura in Dhoby Ghout which isn't surprising as it's developed by the same company. Right at the middle, there are several food stall...