Best Body Butter!!!

I've just discovered the BEST Body Butter money can buy and it's very affordable! Now, I've used and tried a hell lot of body moisturizer and last blogged, the last best body moisty I've used is Soap&Glory The Righteous Body Butter Lotion and that I thought was real good. Until I found the Boots Extract Fairtrade Rosehip Body Butter!!! And that is THE BEST!!!!! I've tried really expensive body butter that doesn't even deliver half the result and now my skin has never been smoother and softer!

It's got organic rosehip extract that's certified fairtrade with cocoa butter. It's got a slightly thick texture but it spreads well and melts onto skin and the best part? It's heavenly-scented! It smells totally divine with a very delicate rose scent for an olfactory treat every time you apply! I got mine while I was in Bangkok and it cost only 280 Thai baht which is below $15 SGD. When I woke up the next day in the hotel with super silky smooth soft skin, I immediately bought another 2 tubs. My dad, on the other hand, is now obsessed with the Extract Fairtrade Avocado Body Butter and we've got about 8 tubs at his place now....yeah, it's THAT good....and I think I'll stock up the next time I'm there!!! It's really really good and I've never been more industrious when it comes to applying moisturizer to my body cos I look forward to feeling the silky soft feeling on my skin once my parched skin drinks up all the goodness!

Love Sweet Love!

I just read an interview in Out Magazine on the love story of Tom Ford and Richard Buckley and I simply melted reading it cos it's a totally "awwwwww" article! Love is such an elusive thing and many of us don't really grasp what it really is and me included, but I can sure spot what it is when I see or hear about it and I can tell you it is LOVE with a capital L with Tom and Richard! They've been together for 25 years and went through the rough patch of Richard's throat cancer and they're still very much in love.....Click here to read...

I get all dreamy reading their love story and now the music churning in my head is "What the world needs now...is love, sweet, love...." Seriously, how many people in the world can get a love like that? They're really a very fortunate couple! Erm, of course the fact that Tom Ford is bloody filthy rich...damn it...some people have it all huh? Damn! But hey, they're my favorite model couple!!

Shitty Bank....where the Citi actually sleeps

The Citi never sleeps...or so they claim. But last night, the Citi actually slept.

I called in CitiBank aka ShittyBank last night to do a very simple balance transfer. After navigating the annoying number-picking jungle of selecting your service pressing 1, 2, 3, 4 or *0, I finally got to the phone banking operator. Then when I requested for a fund transfer, they said sorry, couldn't do cos their system is down, please call back the next day. Damn it! But okay, fine. System is fried and screwed up, nobody wants that to happen.

But when I called in this morning, and after pressing a series of 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 and *0 to get to the operator to request for my fund transfer. Guess what? The phone banking operator said she gotta get someone to call me back the next day. Why? Because she's a trainee and couldn't do it. WTF????? You put someone who can't do shit and perform simple banking processes on the phone? What's the point? And they have to call me back the next day? Hello, it's 9am in the morning and the trainee said they're all busy and I just have to wait. Not a couple of hours, not half a day, but a full working day! Shitty service!

But my little balance transfer woe is nothing compared to what HL experienced. Half a year ago, her ShittyBank credit card got hacked and there's an online fraud of $800. HL freaked out and called the Citi hotline at 830am, reporting the fraud incident, only to have the phone person told her that, AGAIN, they've got to call her back and mind you, this is a fraud case. So HL requested to have them called her before noon cos for all you know, the fraud might continue and the hacker might still be using her card. Guess what? They didn't call and HL had to call them in the late afternoon!

And once they're at her case at about 5pm, she got the most ridiculous answer. She is told: "Please download online dispute form and fax it to us". Hell, this is a fraud case and fine, even if that's what she's got to do, couldn't the very first operator she spoke to tell her that? And what if I don't have a printer and a fax machine at hand?

Then, SHE herself had to ask them to block the card cos the operator didn't even offer to block the card for her. Isn't that common sense that is someone is hacking your card, you would automatically cut the card?

And when she finally got her case through, they said the investigation will take some time and it's been half a year since and she still hasn't heard back from them!!!

Verdict? SHITTY BANK! And according to HL, AMEX is the way to go cos they've got the best service!

View from the top

Food porn alert! I just went to Ku De Ta for the first time (though I've long been to the original one in Bali) at Marina Bay Sands on the sky garden. Nice view indeed...

The ambiance is just normal, like a typical fine dining restaurant and I prefer the ambiance in the Bali one, but then again, the Bali one is next to the beach and it's a hell lot more relax and chilled out even in terms of the deco. The 3-course lunch menu is pre-set that comes with a platter of 5 different appetitizers (spicy ‘bo ssam’ pork belly & pickles, pressed baby spinach & toasted sesame, smoked eggplant & black vinegar, shima aji tartar, charred angus beef tataki & green chili ponzu) that's in my opinion the highlight....it's got 5 different mini sized dishes arranged in a pretty plate.

I honestly wouldn't eating these little dainty dishes instead of the main course cos the main course is just quite so so. I picked the ranger‘s valley black angus sirloin (rare) with wok-fried spinach and roasted sweet potato.

I'm a bit disappointed cos I was expecting a better quality steak. The cut itself is okay but my rare steak came to be a bit medium rare (I love my steak rare). It's also a wee bit dry and  not as juicy as it should be and my jaw got really tired from all the chewing. BUT the roasted sweet potato was unanimously divine.

Then came the dessert creation of the day and it's Yuzu shortbread with salt, pear and chocolate cream...

Now that is awesome!!! The salty taste went really well with the citrusy aroma of the yuzu and it reminds me of the nice Japanese salty lemon candy which I so very love. The chocolate cream is a mousse that's really divine and rich but it goes perfectly to harmonise with the shortbread. It's not too rich, just nice and I think the salt makes it really easy to go down even for those who don't like sweet stuff.

Somehow, perhaps it was the fact that I was on a holiday while I was at the original Bali Ku De Ta, I actually think the food in the Bali one is slightly better and so was the ambiance too cos the bar area in the Bali one is much cooler. Cos it's got an outdoor area that is super cool

But when I was at Bali's Ku De Ta, it got soooo windy that things were getting blown off and we had to go inside the restaurant instead but it's still super good!

The verdict for Singapore's Ku De Ta? Yes, I would go back but I would probably choose a different main course or perhaps just go back for dinner and I would like to eat only the platter! Like 10 plates or something cos that is just too yummy!

NO DOLPHINS PLEASE RWS!!!!

If I need to take part in some public petition or strike to petition against Resort World Singapore (RWS) to buy 27 wild-caught bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Island, I would. I would even dress up as the tortured caged wild dolphins to petition if need be!

When they're bidding for the project, RWS promised a Marine Life Park (MLP) to put Singapore on the world map as the region's leader in marine research, CONSERVATION and education. So how the hell does BUYING 27 WILD-CAUGHT dolphins from the Solomon Island a conservation effort? Instead of getting captive-bred dolphins, they have to get the wild ones. Isn't it such a hypocritical thing for RWS to promise conservation but yet PURCHASING 27 wild dolphins to keep them in captivity???  So much for conservation.

In today's (10 Jan 2011) Forum on the Straits Times, apart from saying that RWS would have a team of specialists and experts to care for the dolphins, the VP of Communications from RWS replied to SPCA's plight to ban dolphin captivity by saying that RWS has some $3.2 million-Marine Life Fund and has been doing lots of conservation campaign and what nots since 2008. Okay, fine, kudos to that.

However, when Animal Concerns Research & Education (ACRES) went to survey RWS' resort in Langkawi which also has dolphins, they're appalled by the ghastly condition the dolphins are kept. The “team of professionals and animal experts” failed to provide adequate care to the dolphins in Langkawi and it seems RWS did not even employ a full-time vet to care for the dolphins or have an animal hospital there. Two of the dolphins, who only a year ago swam freely in the wild, have now died. Click here to read more.


And you're telling me that the dolphins are well taken care of? Sorry, RWS, but I think your so-called conservation effort and MLF fund are merely tools to help you win the bid to set up resort here. It's sorely pathetic. Click here to read ACRES' note on Facebook. I totally second that. I hope a petition of sort could be quickly organised to do whatever intervention possible. 

Vitamin Water should be named Sugar Water?

Ohhh I've been duped! Last month I was musing how I love Vitamin Water and I was totally addicted to it thinking it's damn good stuff cos the advertising said that it's so damn good for your health with all the vitamins and goodies.

Apparently Vitamin Water has been sued for false advertising and unwarranted health claims and the most ridiculous thing is that, despite Coca Cola marketing Vitamin Water as a healthy drink and is a great way to hydrate, their defense to this lawsuit was that the it's "no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage."


Seriously what the fuck is this? And guess what? I've previously overlooked that a bottle contains 33 grams of sugar, not too far from a normal can of soft drink. And you know what? The recommended daily allowance of sugar for a woman is only 20 grams!!


Click Here to view the full article and you'll know how ridiculous it is!


Yikes...I hate false advertising and I was duped by its very attractive and colorful marketing! If you think about it...it's rubbish pretending to be something healthy. How is it different from the poison milk in China pretending to be normal milk? Only the latter kill you faster and is a lot more lethal....False advertisement sucks. Period. Unethical.


No more Vitamin Water for me!!! Not to mention I'm trying to cut out sugar now cos I've been having serious sugar cravings...no wonder I found Vitamin Water addictive!! Cos it's the sugar! Yeah, best not to leave nutrition to a soft drink company!

Retro Naming...

Does anyone remember the old school manual label maker in the 80s, Dymo? That piece of plastic thingy with a revolving disc and you slip in a label strip and punch in embossed letters? Yup, that one..the one in the picture...I had one when I was in grade school and I loved it. I made labels for my water bottle, pencil case, lunch box and whatever I can stick those cute little labels on. And I'm pretty sure I still have one somewhere at home but I really don't remember where I kept it.....These days, Dymo's making the modern electronic ones, so when I saw a new retro version, IN PINK!, I knew I MUST get it!!! Here!

No no no, I didn't JUST buy it cos I actually got this while I was in Hong Kong. So still a very good chinese jew. Anyways, this one is a sup-ed up version! Not only does it have the standard letter embossing, it's even got an additional disc of cursive letters and little cute icons like hearts and stuff! And these days, they've got such cute tapes...with pink polka dots and even cherries! I LOVE THIS!!!!

Well thing is, the embossing is still best on solid colored tapes cos the ones with patterns just look kinda light and didn't have that same old school analogue oomph...But I'm loving this....the modern label maker just can't compare!