Saturday Flea Market at Lucky Plaza (For Flea Sake)

Had a flea today to clear the mess in my room. 

Held fleas previously at Scape and this is my first time holding it at lucky plaza (level 6 opposite Jolibee). After reading online on what it's like to hold a flea there, I got myself prepared for it. 

I reached there at around 10.45am and there was already a short queue at the door.

At 11.30am sharp, we were allowed into the flea grounds.
From here onwards, you can just choose any empty table available .
We went in to scout for a suitable table before the flea started so when we are allowed in, we roughly know where to head to. Initially, we aimed to get the corner tables because there was more empty space around where I can place my luggages and containers.
However, everyone in the line before us also went for those tables.
We had no choice but to go for other tables in the middle.
We went for one in the middle but at the corner. Luckily for us, we chose the right table as we were just beside the organiser's table and we didn't have to squeeze with other vendors for space.
I expected to see crate tables as what other flea goers mentioned but we only had normal tables today. I guess they changed the tables. Table size is pretty small :x The large spaces with partitions were occupied by permanent vendors so we were left with the tables in the middle.

Booths opposite mine

We priced our items at 3 for $10 initially and also $10 for some items of better quality but that did not work even when my items are brand new. Despite the low prices, I managed to get back my booth rental in the first 2 hours. I brought 2 huge full luggages and 2 large containers of clothes and I cleared 1 luggage and 1 container. After deducting the rental, I made $370 when I left the flea at 5pm instead of 7pm. Flea market is a tiring affair.

The crowd flow there was quite steady so we were kept busy. 

Things to note:

1. Don't come too late as you will only be able to get tables located at locations with poor human traffic.

2. Do not bring clothe rack as you will be wasting time hanging the clothes up and they will be readily brought down. Almost everyone just piled their clothes on the table for people to ravage through.

3. The shoppers there really love bags!

4. It is the easiest to price everything at the same price as it will be messy and it will be hard for you to remember which is priced at what value. 

5. Most things priced $5 and above will be hard to sell off. 

6. Prepare plastic bags for the shoppers who buy from you.

7. Get ready small change.

8. Bring tissue paper and mask as it gets really dusty and your nose might be irritated. 

9. Small sized clothings are harder to sell.

10. Some of the shoppers buy in bulk as they are sending it home so they will likely as for discount.

11. Saturday was less crowded than Sunday so the Aircon worked well and it helped that we were sitting right under the Aircon.

12. Go with a friend as it is not easy to manage the booth alone when it gets busy. Luckily Quek dropped by for a while to help out.

Chee Wee working hard

3 musketeers

The man hard at work.

Messy table and the crowd.

The booths here are great to clear your wardrobe but if you are looking to bring awareness to your brand, you should consider other flea markets. I felt that the rental of the booth was on the high side but I'm glad that I managed to cover the rental as well as make some money. You should ensure that you have alot to clear before getting a booth here because you will not be able to recover your rental if you have too little things to sell. If you do not have alot, it is also a good idea to share the booth with a friend or 2.

Five & Dime

Five & Dime

297 River Valley Road. Singapore 238338

For reservations, call 9236 5002

Menu

 We had our random girl's dinner date at Five & Dime on a Saturday night as wanted to try out this place since forever.

We made reservations early in the week to ensure that we will have a table.

As CheeWee and I had nothing to do, we went down earlier for a small discussion while waiting for the girls to arrive. I love the handwriting on the card! If only my handwriting was that nice.

As we were really hungry and some of them were late, we ordered their Mac and cheese to share. This was really good! It has mentaiko sauce and lobster meat in it. 

That probably explained the $15 price tag. 

Lobster/Mentaiko Mac and Cheese $15

Quek and pok had fish and chips. 

They both liked it but couldn't finish their share. 

They preferred shoe string fries instead of wedges.

Fish and Chips $20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Burger $23

 

My burger! The egg with flowly yolk made it soooo good!

The portion was too much for me so I gave everyone a bite.

The beef and pork patty was tender and fragrant

 

Braised pork belly that Chee Wee said was not worth the money.

The pork was soft/ tender and kind of melts in the mouth but it was quite a small portion.

The soba was served with a warm sauce which i thought was good but Chee Wee didn't like it.

He preferred my burger :x

Braised Pork Belly $22

 

 

Mentaiko pasta for yy and Mr Chan.

They said that it was good but it was hard for 1 person to finish it on their own.

It was pretty jelat. I wanted to order this initially but i'm glad that I didn't as I could steal some from them! Mr Chan was expecting some meat as it costs $18 so he was quite disappointed.

Nevertheless, the sauce was not bad.

Mentaiko pasta $18

Full attendance!

Oh! There was a 1 for 1 beer promotion. Not sure if it's a permanent thing or it's a one off promotion. Mr Chan also commented that the menu of this place is more suitable for brunch instead of dinner.

Alive Museum

My initial plan was to visit the trick eye museum however, i'm not sure why my mind kept telling me Alive Museum. That's how i ended up at the Alive Museum instead of the Trick Eye Museum. 

Tickets are at $20 per pax (adult) with Mastercard. It was quite fun and interesting to try to take pictures with challenging poses but I felt that the lighting there wasn't that good and some of the images were too close to each other to get nice pictures. Nevertheless, we had fun :)

WooHoo!

Lunch was at a random Ramen shop in Marina Square. Ramen was not too shaby.

Spicy Ramen

Birthday Boy!

To-gather Cafe

It was Chee Wee's birthday yesterday and we had a hard time deciding what to have for dinner. I wanted to treat him to something good but at the same time not too expensive. My brother recommended To-gather Cafe as it was reasonably priced and the food was not bad. To our surprise, the cafe was located right beside our new house that will be ready in 2017.

It was not easy to find a car park lot even on a Tuesday night. We drove around several car parks and they were all full. Got lucky at the car park right in front of the cafe!

The cafe was pretty full for a weekday night. They have several tables outside and the space inside was not too shabby. We like that the cafe has a very cosy feel. Another plus point is that they do not charge GST and service charge!

We ordered:

Ice Mango Latte
Iced Lemon Tea

Soup of the day

Mexican Quesadilla

Cordon Bleu Pork Chop

Pasta Carbonara

Cheesy Japanese Baked Curry Rice

Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

The total bill came up to S$53.10.
I was expecting to pay more than this but am happy that I got to try many of their dishes with not a very expensive bill. The drinks were not bad. We love the Iced Lemon Tea. Mexican Quesadilla was pretty good too. For the Carbonara, the sauce was great but Chee Wee felt that there was a strong starchy taste to the pasta. Cheesy Japanese Baked Curry Rice was pretty good too. I couldn't finish the baked rice because it was too filling. When I ordered the Lava Cake, I requested for a candle. I did not mention that it was for Chee Wee's birthday and they served the cake with a nicely decorated plate with the words Happy Birthday written on it. They even played a birthday song in the cafe. It was a pretty nice surprise for the birthday boy!

To-gather Cafe

84 Bedok North Street 4, #01-27

Opening hours:

Tue - Thu: 11:00 - 22:00

Fri - Sat: 11:00 - 23:00

Sun: 11:00 - 22:00

Closed: Mon

                    Tel: 64451011                   

Menu

I had a good experience there and will probably drop by again some time soon to try out other dishes. 

                                            

Crab Bee Hoon

Have been trying out new recipes recently and I made Crab Bee Hoon yesterday!
Think I am very bored with the food that I have been eating on a daily basis.

Googled online for this recipe and it was really easy to cook!

 

Personally, I always go for the simplest recipes. This recipe is from Rasa Malaysia.

http://rasamalaysia.com/crab-bee-hoon/

 

Ingredients:
6 oz Guilin rice noodles (dry)
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
6 slices peeled ginger
1 cup canned chicken broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 lb crab, cleaned and cut into pieces
5 baby bok choy, cut lengthwise into halves
1 tablespoon rice wine
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce or to taste (or salt to taste)
3 dashes white pepper
1 stalk scallion, cut into 1-inch lengths

Method:

Boil the dry Guilin rice noodles per the package instructions until al dente. Rinse the noodles with cold running water to remove the starch of the noodles (the noodles should be smooth and clean of starch after rinsing). Drain the noodles dry and set aside.

In a pot, add the butter and saute the ginger. Add the chicken broth and water and bring it to boil. Add the evaporated milk and follow by the crab. Cook for a few minutes until the crab turns red and cooked. Add the baby bok choy, rice wine, fish sauce, white pepper, scallion, and the noodles. Bring it to a quick boil and serve immediately.

Cook’s Note:
Add 2 more tablespoons of evaporated milk if you like your crab bee hoon creamier.

 

I got the crabs from NTUC and Cheewee had the honor of prepping the crabs. It was his first time and I must say that he did a pretty good job. He watched a youtube video before he started. It was not easy to kill a crab. Chopsticks were sacrificed in the process. While he was dealing with the crabs, I got started with the soup base and noodles.

 

I followed the recipe quite closely only excluding the bok choy and scallion. I also doubled the amount for the soup as my family loves soup. The soup will be perfect with more ginger, fish sauce and rice wine! I'm pretty amazed at how simple this recipe is and it tastes wonderful. Cheewee and my mum love it :D Feeling happy!

 

The soup looks very yellow due to the butter on the surface. Not sure if it's because there's too much butter. I also wonder if the soup will still taste as good with reduced butter. It's good but looking at the ingredients, it's super unhealthy :X