Singapore's TidbiTs

Lontong is a popular traditional malay dish, which can be eaten anytime, during breakfast, lunch, even dinner. The dish comprised of compressed rice cakes with vegetable curry-ish gravy (sayur lemak or lodeh) whose ingredients include cabbage (lots of it), long beans, fried tofu, carrots, and egg. The rice cakes or boiled compressed rice are similar to soto ayam or ketupat found in satay dish, except lontong is roundish due to the shape of the banana-leaf wrapped rice inside the metal mould, though these one can find the pre-cooked version in supermarkets and sundry stores. Sambal chilli or chilli paste is optional too for those who wants the added zest. But what is lontong without the sambal right? The sambal tend to be of the sweeter type, not the spicy sambal belacan type. Do you notice the serunding? Lontong would not be complete without the serunding! Serunding is the golden brown fried coconut flakes. Lontong You can get lontong like the one shown here for about $3.50. Egg is o...

Mee soto is a spicy chicken noodle soup commonly found in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Mee means noodles. The spiciness depends on how much black-ish color chili you put in your noodles. This hot chili topping is optional, to add zest to the taste. If you have been to Indonesia, you probably would have come across soto. Soto originates from Indonesia, which is a soupy dish of broth, meat and vegetables. Simple yet delicious. Mee soto The main ingredients of mee soto are yellow Hokkien noodles, bean sprouts and slices of chicken ( ayam ) sprinkled with fried shallots and some mint leaves. The soup or gravy contains coriander and lemongrass that gives it a unique fragrant smell and taste. The noodles may also come in thinner rice vermicelli type. Mee soto can be found in many hawker centres or food courts and sells for between $3.50 to $4.50. This noodle is usually sold by Malay stall holders. Cheap, spicy, good and tasty! The yellow noodles are similar to the ones in mee rebus ,...

Forget about expensive gyms with their hard selling tactics and a place you are unlikely to visit more than twice or perhaps thrice in a year. You can always go for their free trials and then disappear unless they can convince you and then they also disappear. There are fitness centres or outdoor gyms in the parks and beaches across the island, and they are free. You can exercise and listen to the sound of nature at the same time or to the sound of kids playing if the fitness centre are next to a playground. You can find these exercise centres at MacRitchie Reservoir , at Punggol Waterway Park, at Pasir Ris Park , at Changi Beach and East Coast Park, and at practically in all housing estates. For many people the exercise corners are just a few steps away from their flats or apartments. No membership fee required. Public gym in the park Some of fitness centres equipment are meant for seniors which are great for the aging population here and we are already in the super-aged zone. There ...

From household to beauty products, we have heard of Daiso, the $2 stores that sell almost everything under the sun. From clothes hangers, to drinking glasses and cups, cleaning products, kitchen and home accessories, flashlight, stationeries, travel accessories, yard tools, arts and crafts products, beauty products, smartphone cables and all other knick-knacks all for $2 each. Even long-distance reading glasses sell for only $2. But of course, if you are to buy several items the cost will add up. In fairness you can sometimes get some items cheaper at neighbourhood Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats stores, so maybe you want to browse around the neighbourhood as well. At some stores in the neighbourhood they sell many items for only $1 each. You may also want to check out IKEA that sell clothes hangers for a $1 each. Daiso However, Daiso may offer varieties such as gardening tools where you can get garden fences, nets, pots of all shapes and sizes and other accessories for $2 e...

A squarish-shaped potong ice-cream held together with wafer biscuits or two slices of coloured bread depending on your preference. And it's only a dollar or a dollar and twenty cents at the most. Licking the yummy cold ice-cream is great in our hot and humid weather. You can find the portable or mobile potong ice-cream vendors (mostly middle-age or elderly uncles and aunties ) in their modified motorcycles complete with box freezers at parks, beaches, pasar malam (night markets), outside MRT stations, along Singapore River, at the Esplanade, even along Orchard Road. For office workers they can also be found outside industrial offices or estates so it is snack that can be enjoyed during lunch-hour! Thus, enjoying ice-cream need not be an expensive affair. Well-known gourmet ice-cream brands are known to cost about $5 for a single scoop! Potong ice-cream A favourite potong ice-cream flavour is yam with black beans, as can be seen in the photo. Other popular flavours include red b...

Popiah or spring roll. It can be the whitish wet version or the brownish fried ones. These spring rolls are popular local delicacies. The ingredients can include but not limited to eggs, prawns, turnip, carrots, peanuts, lettuce, parsley, garlic, bean sprout, sweet sauce, chilli paste (the quantity depends on spicy you want it to be) that are wrapped in popiah skin which is paper thin wheat flour to hold all or some of these ingredients! Some vendors will add a bit of crunchy bits to make it more crispy. Kway Guan Huat Popiah at Joo Chiat You can get popiah at most hawker or food centres . The popiah can be the deep fried version or the wet types. You can get a wet type spring roll as shown below for about $2 at Qi Ji. The ones containing prawns will be slightly more than that. The smaller fried brownish ones you can get for about $1 each. Popiah or spring roll is not exactly a meal but more as snacks. Yummy, affordable and feeling snacks and certainly healthy with the many vegetables...