Recession is coming to town

Early Christmas greetings from one of my contacts:

Latest Christmas carol for 2008:

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town!

It's hitting you once
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise
Recession is coming to town!

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's safe when you've got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY
You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town!

Finance products are confusing
Finance products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk
So keep out for goodness sake, OH
You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town!

Buffet at Ellenborough Market Place

I initiated a buffet gathering and managed to get seven interested parties, so off we went to Ellenborough Market Place for its crabs and durians promotion at S$48++ per pax. As Yvonne has HSBC card, we paid only for 6 pax.

Left: Eileen, Apple, Jess, Thomas, Lilian, Tina and Chris

Left: Apple, Jess, Lilian and Thomas

Left: Chris, Tina, Yvonne and Eileen

Left: Yvonne, Eileen, Apple, Jess, Tina, Lilian and Chris

roasted ducks, curry fish, steam fish and flipper crayfish: all good except the curry fish which was hard and dry

My favourites: pepper crabs and chilli crabs

chilli crabs were fresh, big and fleshy, thumbs up! but the pepper crabs were a disappointment, medium size and mushy flesh sticking to the shell.

We didn't go for the flower crabs for fear of being pricked by the sharp thorns.

This was Apple's first plate, I was anxious to start eating and so forgot to take a shot of my first plate, paiseh.

My second helpings of their signature flipper crayfish and abalone, great!

This was another disappointment. I'm a oysters lover but those oysters were certainly not calling out to me to eat them. Japanese cuttlefish and steam prawns were just passable.

Their signature durian pengat was good and so was the chocolate mousse cake, peach tart and chocolate fondues.

Ice cream was nothing to rave about and the almond cream paste was diluted and tasteless. More like starchy water.

Only thorn among the seven roses writing a review. We gave him so many pointers:

why no chendol, no diy ice kacang, fruits for chocolate fountain has no variety, no soft drinks, not enough waitress and our plates were not cleared on time.

Group photo outside the restaurant

Of course the food were not limited to all those we had eaten but our main purpose of going there was for the crabs and durians. There are fried rice with crabs, popiah with crabs, and three types of cheesecakes with durians filling. Then there's sharkfins soup with miserable fins swimming around. The hot desserts section had pulut hitam, tau suan but their signature ah-balling was missing.

Overall I think it's not value for money at $48++ per person.

Honey, I love you!

Don't be mistaken by the heading. I'm not professing love to anyone, least of all to hubby. It's just not our pattern to be lovey dovey.

Last week after reading a thread in M4M on the various uses and especially raves of Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner for the face, I got hubby to buy me a bottle of ACV from the supermarket. Big big mistake! My face broke out in dry and red patches after using it for one night! Bang head! Serves me right! I'm an idiot for following skincare tips blindly without first doing a patch test on a small area.

It was honey that came to my rescue! I was pretty panicky over the breakouts and decided to try honey as a remedy after reading that it promotes healing and prevents scarring. For the past three nights, I applied honey neat on my face and washed it off after 30 minutes and today I'm glad to announce that honey really works! The dry and red patches have totally disappeared. Hurray!

According to Korean actress Song Hye Kyo, honey helps to brighten skin and reduce fine lines. It is an open secret on the web that she uses honey as a mask on her face. Read here if you want to know other secrets to her porcelain clear skin.

In case you ask, I use Huiji Superior Natural Honey. This fella came free together with my purchase of Huiji waist tonic. It has been sitting forsaken in my kitchen cabinet for months and now it has finally found its way to my heart. Muack! I love you, honey!