denise tan blogs

Finally Hossan and I are up on the Gold 90FM blog. Sorry it’s taken so long. But be sure to check back often because we’ll be putting up the things that you missed on the show right here!

And so for today, here’s what you missed out on…

Check out the Hello Kitty wines that have gone on sale! Pink ones…with bubbles. The choices include a brut rose bubbly, “Angel” and “Devil” Pinot Neros, and a half-sweet sparkling wine. Hello Kitty fans, will also be happy to hear that the bottles sport pink foiled corks, pink labels and a Kitty charm.

*The Gold Breakfast duo says – strangely enough you’ll have the urge to sit on someone’s business counter and wave your left paw after a sip or two!

The latest craze in Japan is therapeutic ring tones that help those afflicted with pollen overload (it being cherry blossom season). For relief, sufferers need only wait for a call on their mobile phone. The sound is supposed to dislodge pollen if the user holds the handset up to their nose! That’s not all, there’s also a tune for those who are insomniacs. One listen to the disco inspired tune and apparently you’ll fall off to lala land…

Something You Should Know…According to a book called “When It Comes To Guys, What’s Normal”, men polled said that if left stranded on a deserted island, nearly 50% of men said they’d give up soap…Ewwww!

Coming soon…what Hossan and I get up to when the microphones are off and we’ve got some time on our hands…we hope you’re ready for the shock!

That’s it for now…adios hombre, tomorrow another day another bunch of goodies for you!

Being a westsider myself, it’s been years since I’ve spent a weekend at East Coast Parkway. Probably not since I was in secondary school! So you’d agree a visit my childhood playground, where many a sunday was spent renting and riding bikes up and down the track, was long overdue. Boy, have things changed – the whole place looks completely different!

It was no mean feat cycling at the East Coast since I was dressed entirely inappropriately in a dress, cardigan and wedged sandals, but since when have I ever done anything simply?! It was spur-of-the-moment, so what the hey, I ignored the weird stares and pedalled away…

Before one embarks on a gruelling 2-hour bike ride, one must fortify oneself with one (or two, or three) beers… OK, I promise I only had ONE! Don’t drink & ride, folks!

Behold the (grainy, camera-phone snapped) scenery on the way to rent a bicycle!

Another grainy shot of the shoreline.

And we’re off! Wobbly picture taken with one hand on camera and the other steering the bike.

Here’s another don’t, folks! DON’T Ride & take photos of supremely bad quality!

Cest Moi! This is what I call the “Ownself Take” effect. Yes, I’m actually riding a bicycle while doing this. Don’t try this at home, kids!

DJ with a deathwish… Just to prove I’m really riding the bike, a shot of the handlebars in motion!

WHEEEE…

Wow, didn’t know there was a kick-ass skate park at the East Coast!

TGIF! Your hungry hostess sings the blues tonight at the inaugural Timbre Rock & Roots music festival…
OK, not literally, I’ll leave that to the professionals, but I, along with the Gold crew was there to host the event.
Here’s how it all went:

Feasting comes before hosting as far as we’re concerned! Here we are in the backstage holding area that comes complete with air-conditioned containers (for the stars, not us!) and a free-flowing bar!

This was the view we had from the backstage area. Never seen the Singapore Flyer from this angle before!

Being slightly stalker-esque…

Sigh, you can’t see anything even if you peer through the tinted windows!

Howie & Maggie, Pizza & Beer – 2 Matches made in heaven!

Bosom Beer Buddies – Maggie & Me. Doh! I just realised we could be our very own Fiona Xie sitcom!

Clearly, I am enamoured of my backstage pass. Maggie, on the other hand, not so much!

Onstage, ready to do a soundcheck with the adorable stage manager, Uncle Toh

Look at me all shifty-eyed! But the stage is a beaut!

With Timbre’s Danny, who also happens to be from legendary local blues band, UBlues. He played tonight with some of the UBlues dudes and Rai from Jack & Rai. They were the opening act, calling themselves Blues Train.

SQUEEEEE!!!! The Man, the Myth, the LEGEND! It’s Buddy Guy(‘s behind)!!!! This was my view of his set for the most part.

He was awesome! Loud, but awesome!



Hello, adoring blues fans!

Earth Hour is tomorrow and if you’d like to join millions of others around the world in the fight against climate change, sign up at earthhour.org and pledge to switch off your lights for one hour from 8.30-9.30pm.

Another way to help fight climate change is to watch what you eat – we know that rearing cattle for red meat puts a tremendous strain on the environment and climate, but did you know eating seafood can also have a detrimental impact?

Choose Sustainable Seafood
We’ve all heard that eating fish is part of a healthy lifestyle, but it’s important to think about the environmental impact of our seafood selections. A surge in the demand for fish, along with factors such as habitat destruction and pollution, has severely damaged the health of our oceans. Buying seafood, whether wild-caught or farmed, from sustainable sources is one way you can eat healthfully while helping to preserve and protect our oceans.
Click here for the guide to buying and eating seafood – How to make wise choices that don’t impact the environment in a harmful way.

Lunchbox Lab – Go Veggie Today!

Saravanaa Bhavan
86 Syed Alwi Road
207663
62977755
7.30am to 11pm daily
If you have been to Chennai, you will know of this very famous restaurant chain. Many have said that this is the only place in Singapore which has food that tastes like it does in India. So with such accolades, you know this is a must-try! This vegetarian restaurant features a very extensive menu, but some choice dishes include dhal, dosai, potato (aloo) pepper fry, mushroom pulao, chat, chapatthi and panner kurma (a mild cheese curry). When you’re done indulging veggie-style, be sure to wash it all down with a glass of satisfyingly spicy, sweet masala tea!

I went cloud surfing today after work!

In other words, I finally got to visit the headline-making sky bridges of The Pinnacle @ Duxton! Thankfully, I have a good friend who lives there, so I didn’t have to pay to go up!

The views were IMPRESSIVE:

To Elvis with Love…

At age 23 today, March 24th 1958, Elvis Presley was inducted into the U.S. Army in Memphis. The next day at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, barber James Peterson sheared off the King’s famous ducktails as Elvis groaned, “Hair today, gone tomorrow.”
The cutting of the King’s hair caused a minor uproar amongst his fans, as shown in the photo. According to the US National Archives, letters from Elvis fans begged the Army to spare the King’s sideburns (Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum)!

Lunchbox Lab

Epok Epok Central
Blk 4A Eunos Crescent
#01-09 Eunos Crescent Market and Food Centre
Are you craving something deep fried and tasty?
How bout some fresh, hot, spicy potato and sardine curry puffs?!
This is a very popular stall for Malay-style curry puffs (epok epok), going at only $1 for 3 the last time I was there. Good value for money! And super scrumptious, with a thin crispy crust, hard boiled egg and buttery curry potatoes inside.
Go at lunch time, order some epok epok as an appetiser, then have their Nasi Lemak. Fragrant coconut rice, sweet sambal belacan, and choose from ikan bilis, egg, ikan kuning and chicken wings (when freshly fried, oh my goodness – crisp and highly spiced with ginder and tumeric).

Deskercise
To make tone your thighs, try this simple exercise while you’re comfortably seated at your desk!
Join both knees and press them together really hard. Then, imagine that someone is trying to pull your legs apart with great force, and that you must not allow it, counteracting the said force with one-second pulses. This exercise should be repeated three times a day, and is guaranteed to shake off the extra flab quicker than you can imagine!

Lunchbox Lab
Fancy traditional hawker dishes in a clean, modern, air-conditioned setting? Well, if you’re hankering after a shiok plate of Ipoh HorFun, Funan Weng Ipoh Hor Fun is one noodle house you should definitely consider visiting!
Funan Weng has a long history stemming from the 1950s out of the famed Hock Lam Street, where hawker stalls plied their delicious trade.
Today, with monthly meal promotions at under $10, this Ipoh Hor Fun restaurant is still reasonably priced and tasty too!
This month, for just $8.20 you get a substantial portion of crispy wanton and char siew Ipoh hor fun; oyster sauce vegetables and a drink (choose between homemade barley and lo han guo).
Other yummy choices include their crispy tofu with thai-style sauce and their gourmet dumplings, which are made fresh, completely free of MSG & preservatives.
For info and a full menu, check their website out: www.funanweng.com
Funan Weng Ipoh Hor Fun
#01-07 Maxwell Chambers
32 Maxwell Rd.
Tel. 62385038.

It’s Official: Money Can Buy Happiness!
It’s been said that money can’t buy you happiness, but scientists are now disputing that! Apparently, in a study by researchers at the University of Warwick and Cardiff University, scientists have discovered that money CAN make people happier…
…if it improves their social rank. In other words, if you’re richer than your friends and neighbours, you’re most likely to be happier.
The scientists looked at data on earnings and life satisfaction and how income impacted people’s happiness. It was found that to be happy, people must perceive themselves as being more highly paid than their friends, work colleagues and neighbours.
Bah! Maybe this explains why my friends always seem so happy!

Exercise is About Quality, not Quantity
Experts have discovered that your body can benefit as much from quick bursts of exercise as spending hours training.
They say several short, but high intensity training sessions can be better for you than spending hours in the gym.
The team from McMaster University looked at the impact of micro training sessions, such as spending 60 seconds on an exercise bike, 12 times.
It was found that if the exerciser spent the short time working out to their maximum heart rate their muscles improved as much as if they had been involved in endurance training.

TODAY IS WORLD DAY FOR WATER, sponsored by the United Nations
Water is a basic requirement for all life, yet water resources are facing increasing demands from, and competition among, users. There are still almost 1.1 billion people without adequate access to water and 2.4 billion without adequate sanitation.
In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water. This year, The theme for world water day is Clean Water for a Healthy World, with the aims to:
• Raise awareness about sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being through addressing the increasing water quality challenges in water management and
• Raise the profile of water quality by encouraging governments, organizations, communities, and individuals around the world to actively engage in proactively addressing water quality e.g. in pollution prevention, clean up and restoration.
What can you do?

Takeaway Trivia about H2O

Money Chest
Would you use your chest as advertising space? One woman did and is! And when I say space, I mean a lot of space!
ANOREI COLLINS’ bra size is 44-double-N. Fed up of people simply staring at her pillowy assets, she decided to take matters into her own hands and put up an ad on ebay that reads “I get stared at all day long, wouldn’t you like your business name/logo to be stared at right along with it?” So for a small fee she said she’d walk around Los Angeles tourist spots like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Santa Monica Pier and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, with a logo spread over her 72 square inches of advertising space.
Eventually, a weight loss supplement product shelled out big bucks for the rights.
I hope they didn’t pay her in weight loss products, cos if she lost weight, she’d deflate and they’d lose their advertising space!

LUNCHBOX LAB
So it’s getting to the end of the month, pay check hasn’t quite arrived, you need to watch your lunch spending – got some advice on how to save money this week or any week when u want to save, in fact!
Round Robin with workmates
Why not arrange with 4 co-workers that you will each cook lunch for each other one day a week? You then go home and cook an extra large portion of something yummy – and probably costing no more than $15 total – and you get to save $15 per week by the fact you do this once, and then eat whatever someone else has cooked. Saves $$$ and creates a party mood/ spirit of camaraderie.

Flat 3-pin Plug is Super Portable
A design graduate has created a thin and folding alternative to the standard 3 pin plug.
The fold-flat design won 30-year-old Min-Kyu Choi the prestigious Brit Insurance Design Award 2010 and could now net him a fortune.
Choi says his reinterpreted plug was inspired by his MacBook Air computer which, despite its slender frame came with a bulky plug.He said it caused problems when carrying it around to charge his computer so came up with the 1cm-thick version, compared to the 10cm standard model.
Judges said the design was “practical but elegant”, and were impressed with the design that folds in half.
Now if only the plug could halve our electricity bills, I’d totally buy it!