Big Cocks & Giant Fishes in Tiong Bahru

(Daddy searches)

It is official. The biggest cocks can be found at Tiong Bahru.

As part of Tiong Bahru Heritage Fiesta 2014 - which is in its second year - photographer and visual artist Ernest Goh has plastered five animal murals on various walls around the estate.

We did not actually set out to locate the 5 wall murals initially. I had signed the entire family up for the guided Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail - spanning 2.5km and 10 stops - when we stumbled upon the first cock wall mural.

On a side note, the Heritage Trail was awesome and filled with interesting bits of history that not only captivated me and the wifey, but also the boys. But more on that in a subsequent post, as the big cocks take centrestage for now.

Yes, the monkies (actually, it was me as well) were obsessed in hunting down all of the 5 wall murals around Tiong Bahru and so that was what we did after the trail.

Beside cocks, fishes in the form of guppies and goldfish were part of the gang of five. The animals selected for the 5 murals were some of the local pets that were common in Tiong Bahru in the old days.

This pair of guppies were tucked away in an alley between two blocks, making them a tad difficult to locate. But that is part of fun in trying to suss them out, no?

Oh, if you intend to head down to see the murals but do not want to play hide-and-seek, I have included the locations of the 5 wall murals towards the end of this post.

Our fourth find was yet another cock, only this time it was strutting its stuff and all ready to pick a fight.

Which the monkies duly obliged.

The chickens depicted in these wall murals are actually not the usual chickens that end up on our dinner table. They are Ayam Serama chickens, a type of ornamental chicken and are bred not for consumption, but purely for ornamental and competitive reasons. These chickens are prized for their built, size, behaviour and showmanship and compete in ‘beauty pageants’ held in villages throughout Malaysia.

And in terms of showmanship, I think Ayd might just trump an Ayam Serama if you ask me.

Ale too, possibly.

The fun thing about wall murals is that everyone can probably concoct their own interpretation, and come up with numerous silly poses and moves in front of the camera.

 Positioned just behind a cock's butt? No problem.

But try as we might, we just could not locate the fifth and final mural. Thanks to a tip-off from Gingerbreadmum though, the elusive goldfish was found!

I think this was my fave of the lot. It was so realistically painted!

As our hunt came to an end, everyone was undeniably utterly exhausted... and thirsty. But for sure, we had loads of fun during the Heritage Trail and the bonus of coming face to face with larger than life animal wall murals!

As promised, here are the locations of the murals:

Cock #1
Block 77, Seng Poh Road
Beside the entrance of Tiong Bahru Community Centre

Cock #2

Block 72, Seng Poh Road

On the side facing Eng Watt Street

Cock #3

Block 81 Tiong Poh Road

Guppies
Alley between Block 66 and 65, Eng Watt Street

Goldfish

Block 28, Tiong Bahru Road

Here is a map, where I had marked out the 5 locations of the animal wall murals. Yes, you are welcome. :)

Click on the map to enlarge

Have fun locating them!

Note: I do not know how long the murals will stay up, so better hurry!!!

Eggy Day Out at Jurong Bird Park

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(Daddy flaps)

This year's Good Friday long weekend had seen plenty of attractions in Singapore jumping on the Easter bandwagon. Not that the monkies minded of course... after all, who can say no to more chocolate eggs? Especially if hunting for them was part of the fun and even better yet, all these took place within Jurong Bird Park!

Jurong Bird Park threw a huge Eggy Day Out celebration over the three-day period, which even saw children enjoying 50% off admission rates. There were plenty of kids-centric activites on offer, ranging an Egg Treasure Hunt to Celebrity Eggs-cursions. Kids also could sign up for a Lory Loft Behind-the-Scenes Tour, where they got the chance to get their hands dirty and prepare their own lory feed for an up-close feeding frenzy with the birds.

That was one activity that Ash and Ayd were bent on trying. Pity though we could not make it for the morning session, but the Egg-lympics that we caught more than made up for the disappointment.

Especially when they were super on in volunteering to be part of the show!

In the end, Ayd got selected to go on stage to aid in one of the magician's tricks while Ash pulled me up together on stage to participate in a telematch. He had to throw balloons from a distance and I had to use a net to catch them.

And guess what? We emerged victorious and had medals to show for our efforts.

After all the fun, it was time to absorb some knowledge... which came in the form of an Eggs-periment! session at the Breeding and Research Centre.

This was yet another activity that had the boys all excited, as they were given the opportunity to learn more about eggs through fun experiments with a certain Dr Squawk.

Ayd even tested the strength of an ostrich egg shell by planting his body weight atop it!

But I think the highlight of the session was when the children got a first-hand loo at how a chick feeding was done.

We, and the monkies especially, certainly enjoyed our eggy day out at Jurong Bird Park. And while its Easter programmes may be over, you can be sure there will most definitely be more exciting activities lined up when the June School Holidays roll along!

I think I speak for the monkies when I say that we can hardly wait!

Smoulder's Mousse Madness

Product Review

(Daddy munches)

The softcore bakers with the hardcore flavourful lava cakes at Smoulder are at it once again. Famous for their bite-sized lava cakes - the monkies swear by it by the way -  it seems that Smoulder is just as deft at making little cups of pleasure as well.

The brand new Mousse Cups will make their bow on 1 May 2014 and the monkies got the chance to sneak a few mouthfuls of the 4 flavours! Well, technically it was only 3 as one of the flavour contains alcohol.

The 4 new and delectable flavours of Mousse Cups line-up include - from left to right - Chocolate Orgasm, Tipsy Lychee, Matcha meets Azuki and Mango Tango.

And it was hardly surprising that the monkies zoomed in on the Chocolate and Mango Mousse Cups just seconds I had snapped the above photo.

The Chocolate Orgasm consists of a smooth, rich chocolate with a Hazelnut crunch while the Mango Tango offers Mango Mousse with a twist of Passion Fruit. To be honest, I only had one small miserable sampling of either flavours and I was the lucky one. The wifey did not even manage to snare a mouthful. But at least it showed how much the monkies enjoyed their late night dessert, no?

The Tipsy Lychee more than made up for the wifey though. The tiramisu comes laced with Kirsch (a type of fruit brandy), and a generous helping of lychee and crumble bits. A lethal combination, and I mean that in a delicious way of course.

I had the Matcha & Azuki by default, which is green tea mousse with layers of red bean. It was not overly sweet, and one certainly can never go wrong with the green tea and red beans combo.

But the one thing that I love about these little pleasures is that they are not too big to stomach, which makes them an excellent dessert choice at children's parties. There's no cutting or apportioning required and one portion is just perfect for everyone. Not to mention that they make wonderful eye candy for parties too!

For those who still prefer a conventional cake but struggle to finish a normal-sized cake every single time (that's us!), Smoulder has also expanded the Mousse Cups into Whole Mousse Cakes that comes in 4, 6 and 8 inches. Perfect for those who prefer intimate celebrations with smaller sized whole cakes.

We had the 4-inch Chocolate Orgasm Mousse Cake for breakfast on a Saturday, and that probably marked the first time that all 3 monkies asked for second helpings!

From 1 May 2014, the Mousse Cups are retailing at S$5.50 per cup while the Whole Mousse Cakes will be available at S$18 (4-inch), S$32 (6-inch), and S$58 (8-inch).

FREE ICE CREAM PROMOTION

Smoulder is expanding! To celebrate Smoulder’s new outlet at Takashimaya Food Hall at Basement 2 on 1 May 2014, Smoulder will be giving out FREE ice-cream for a single serving of molten lava cake purchased! The free ice-cream promo will take place again on 1 June 2014 to kick start the Great Singapore Sale period as well. *Do note that free ice-cream will not be applicable to a 3-piece or 9-piece box purchase.


Useful Information

Outlets: Raffles City Shopping Centre #B1-68 (11am to 10pm daily) & Takashimaya Food Hall #B208-4 (10am to 10pm daily)
For more information, kindly visit www.smoulder.it

Buying Art from the Comfort of your Home

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(Daddy blogs)

Who says buying art needs to be confined to art galleries and exhibitions?

With the proliferation of techonology and of course, the one thing we can ill afford to NOT have in our lives today - Internet - people are redefining the manner in which one browses and buys art pieces. So one of the thrilling things the Internet has given mere mouse-wielding mortals is access to a huge range of affordable art.

In fact, according to a study conducted by Hiscox, one of the largest global insurers of fine art, 64% of established art collectors are buying online based on a digital image. 

So it is with this in mind that 3 ladies came together to set up Art Loft, a curated platform that features emerging talents of the Asian contemporary art scene and gives one preferential and direct access to their diverse collections.

Headquartered in Singapore, Art Loft is essentially an online art platform and initiative, and deals primarily with the buying and renting of Asian contemporary art. Yes, RENTING. Because renting is a great way to explore how the artwork looks in one's home (or office), it allows one to live with the artwork for a period of time (for as low as $20 per month by the way) to decide how convicted he/she is about it.

I have to admit though - I know absolutely zilch when it comes to purchasing or even investing in art. So I was naturally awestruck by the mind-boggling range of genres of artwork on display when I attended Art Loft's launch 1.5 weeks back.

The artwork were no doubt beautiful to gawk but for an art novice like me, the sheer number of artwork hanging on the walls can get rather overwhelming, or even intimidating... especially if I have a desire to find out more about the artist or the story behind his/her works.

But with Art Loft's online portal, I found it extremely useful to have the detailed descriptions of the artworks and their respective artists' profiles at my fingertips. Oh, and can I just say the website is such a breeze to navigate too?

Interestingly, Ayd was peeping over my shoulder as I was typing this blog post and the photos of the various artworks that I photographed caught his attention... which eventually resulted in him spending a good 15 minutes surfing through the art pieces on Art Loft's website. You see, he is quite into art himself so maybe one day, I will get to see his artworks on that exact website? Heh.

At the end of the day, you do not have to be a Google or Facebook co-founder to buy a masterpiece. Because with Art Loft, it offers great art at great prices.

Useful Information

ART LOFT
Website: http://artloft.co/
Email: info@artloft.co
Contact: +65 6521 6690 (10am to 7pm)
Facebook: http://facebook.com/artloftasia

Redeem Prizes with Sentosa HarbourFront's Great Egg-Venture!

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(Daddy hunts)

The Easter long weekend may have came and gone, but that does not mean the fun needs to stop! In fact, the Easter festivities at Sentosa HarbourFront are just getting started.

Good Friday saw the official launch of The Great Egg-Venture, Singapore’s biggest Easter Fiesta at the Sentosa HarbourFront. And when I say Singapore's BIGGEST Easter Fiesta, I mean it. For one, it encompasses the largest Egg Hunt activity that Singapore has ever seen - one that will take egg hunters on a journey up a hill, across the harbour and onto an island resort!

The Great Egg-Venture kicked off over the weekend with a Sentosa Egg Fiesta at Emerald Pavilion on Siloso Beach, and it was one boisterous affair.

There were loads of arts and craft activities for the little ones... all which centered around the Easter Egg theme, for obvious reasons.

A special Egg Garden was also specially set for children to go on a mini egg hunt of their own.

But it was a garden with a twist - the kids had to walk on eggs in order to search for the eggs!

And yes, those were real eggs that Ash and Ayd walked on. I was tempted to give it a go, but I was afraid the organisers would run out of eggs.

For the younger kids, a separate Egg Hunt area was set aside for them to burrow through the sand to look for plastic eggs. I thought that was a very nice touch.

Ale though, was more interested in snapping a photo with good old Mother Goose.

While Ayd even found himself on stage to help out in a magic show!

Although the Sentosa Easter Fiesta at the Emerald Pavilion has since ended - DO NOT GO this weekend, it will be empty! - the Great Egg-Venture Hunt is still very much on... all the way until 5 May 2014, actually.

For the first time, 100 eggs have been planted around the entire Sentosa HarbourFront area, which includes Sentosa, St James Power Station, RWS, VivoCity, Harbour Front and even atop Mount Faber! The eggs measure 1.5 metres by 1 metre, so they should not be too hard to spot. They have been colourfully decorated by local artists from various associations, charity groups and schools, and this is one such example.

All eggs have a unique QR code on them. Using the QR code reader in your smart phone, scan the QR code on the egg you have found. Do note that you have to visit http://www.bit.ly/shbaegghunt to register via your Facebook account beforehand in order to store the eggs that you have located.

The more eggs you find, the more eggs you will see on your “Egg Found” screen in the Facebook app. And when the hunt ends on 5 May (11.59pm), the person with the most number of eggs found will be crowned the winner of the inaugural Great Egg-venture Egg Hunt and win $5,000 Cash and & a FOZAILOFF JEWELRY Pink Sapphires & Diamond Egg Pendant worth $5,890! Participants with the second and third most number of eggs found will win the 2nd prize ($3,000 Cash) and 3rd prize ($2,000 Cash) respectively.

But the fantastic thing about the Egg Hunt is in addition to the top 3 prizes, you can also redeem prizes as you go about on the egg hunt. The more eggs you find, the more prizes you can redeem. 

There are different tiers of prizes that one can redeem; for example, if you found 18 eggs, you can redeem it for a $50 Starbucks Gift Card or a One-Day Adult Pass for Two to Adventure Cove Waterpark for 28 eggs. Or how about a One Night stay in a Deluxe Sea View Room including buffet breakfast for two persons at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa in exchange for 88 eggs found?

Sounds good, no? But hurry, because prizes are limited so do go on your egg-hunting adventure really soon!

Useful Information

The Great Egg-Venture

Dates: 18 Apr - 11 May 2014; All Day

Venue: Sentosa HarbourFront Precinct

Website: www.shba.org.sg/events/easter-2014/the-great-egg-venture.html

The Egg Hunt

18 Apr - 5 May 2014

To view the locations where the eggs can be found AND all of the prizes redeemable, visit www.shba.org.sg/events/easter-2014/the-egg-hunt.html