SG Part Time Maid

Received a small leaflet.

.>> Local Part time Maid ....Hardworking, Trustworthy local maid... etc do household chores.... on hourly/weekly/monthly basis. Reasonable rates. Interested please contact 84521924 ...

So I rang and an asian lady voice was on the phone. I asked for the price for 3 hours .. and she gave me the sum $260 for a month. Got me shocked for a while. And she elaborate its 3 hours weekly so a month is $260. <<<

Currently there are part time maids for the rate of $10/hour that usually comes on a Sunday.
Mostly philippines and indonesian.

2 years ago: 
Foreign Part time maid is $10 per hour. if four hours then it be $50 due to the stretch of work.

Now: 
Foreign part time maid mostly are $10 per hour, some with a minimum of 2 hours. Now I got the info that some foreign part time maid request a minimum of 3 hours now with the price of $45 (which average is $15 per hour).

Local part time maid is $260 for 3 hours per week. which makes it average $22 per hour.

Indeed.. maybe majority find it $22 per hour is "reasonable rate" but I think it is a bit overpriced.

SG Indoor PlayCenter / PlayGround

Due to TigerBaby never been to a playcenter throughout her life, I have made a resolution for her this year 2012 that I would bring her to try out.

With the migration back to Singapore and another month before her school starts in January 2013, I set the determination to bring her to at least 4 play centers in Singapore.

First Week of December 
Tickle Tickle @ Delta Sport Center
http://tickletickle.sg/

• Entrance fee (non member) $12 - Unlimited Play (weekdays and weekends)
• Locker: Open concept (aka No Key)  Free 
• Pretend Play (High level)
• Active Play (medium level) 
• Cafe: None - and the closest food available place is a good 10 mins walk 
• Re-entry: Not Allowed
• Changing Table: None - so you have to walk to the Ladies Changing room to change and the only thing in there is wooden bench. So prepared on this if you are a person who needs a changing table to change your kids diaper. 
• Car Park: Free parking or coupon cark parking 
• Bus Stop: Right in front of the playcenter, though you have to walk a little to the playcenter but not much fuss eventhough without a stroller. However, to return home, you need to cross a bridge to the other side of the bus stop

Verdict:
The way they structure the place is quite different from other playcenters. They made it into a little house. So there is one house for Kitchen, one house for Supermarket, one house for servicing Cars and one house for Cafe. The active play area has a slide which I as an adult find it quite "fast" though tigerbaby after 45 mins of warm up finally have the courage to try and enjoy it.

Overall:
I won't be going again unless there are other mummies wanting to go together. As there is not much people there so there won't be much interaction with other kids. Though if you want a peace and quiet play time for your kid, then thats the place to be. Cheaper entrance fee and you can have pretty much the whole place to yourself! And if you just want to go and play and straight head off somewhere else to EAT ..



Second Week of December
None as she went for vaccination - Hep A and a booster of Prenar

Third Week of December 

Hokey Pokey @ Suntec Tower 

https://www.facebook.com/sghokeypokey

• Entrance fee (non member) $25 - (members) $15 -Unlimited Play (weekdays only) 
• Locker: Free and comes with a Key :)
• Pretend Play (High level)
• Active Play (Low level) 
• Cafe: None - but due to you can reentry so it is much easy to go out and get something you like and go back in
• Re-entry: Allowed
• Changing Table: Yes
• Car Park: Suntec Carpark Rates. 
• Bus Stop: Have to walk a fair bit from bus stop. 
• MRT: Pomerande MRT - so take the MRT if you can than to take the bus. 
• Hygiene:  Staff would sanitise kids hands, check kids legs before letting them in. Which I quite like this part. And there is a bin for parents to put in toys that their kids put in their mouth so the staff can clean them up. 
• Customer Service: Good 
• Bonus: Bubbles blowing out for about 15 mins with hip hop song so kids just went GAGA over it. Though tigerbaby just stood and watched but was all excited when I carry her and she tried grabbing them ... *lazy girl*

Verdict: 

When You first enter you find it kinda messy but hey its a kids play area.  what you expect? And on my vist there was at least 10 kids there. Tigerbaby pretty much enjoy her pretend play kitchen sets *as usual* and her ball pit. Refuse to try on slides. As for pretend play, this place has it good varietes. Kitchen sets, Hairdressing set, BBQ Set are available. Little toys house are also available but not as pretty as <tickle tickle>. I guess they didn't much invest on toy house as it is good to see but hard to manage I guess. Neways, there are definitely much other toys to play with suitable for toodlers. A bit of regret not bringing tigerbaby in when she was below 1. There is a section where you can play mini pianos which I find it quite nice as to buy one would cost a bomb.  

Tigerbaby liked the "Twin Wagon" a lot. pretty much is a stroller in my perspective and you pull or push the kid around. but due to the space and other kids and mum sitting around its quite hard to move around but tigerbaby and her friend Rena got a good 15 min ride..~~ *biceps in the making for mummies* Staff would come in to put toys away on and off so I find it quite nice. 

Overall: I definitely don't mind coming back again. One top reason is there is food for us to eat after a play and we can go back in if we want to. For that price of $25 and can't re-entry I definitely would not go for it but with the re-entry policy it is consider FAIR for that price charge. Locker is Free compare to some place charge $1 for the locker for the same entrance fee which I think is not right.  How can a locker be easily spoilt?? though if pay $1 for deposit then its reasonable but am glad hokey pokey doesn't charge anything for a locket. Thumbs up on that ! *probraly place is small and the locker is right infront of the reception so staff can watch out easily haha*

If Tigerbaby ain't starting school next month, I would have join membership. As logically calculated SAHM, if weekdays she goes school, I hardly would go. If weekends i find it to be too crowded and I most likely have other "events" or errands to attend so I hardly would go. 

however the membership is $50 , you do get One Free Entry per sign up and One Free Entry During Birthday Month, so I guess it covers up the membership fee. So if I do go again in 2013 I would sign up for sure. though I don't think I would be going again due to tigerbaby 2013 scedules .. haha 

4th Week of December  - To Be Continued..

Amazonia @ Great World City

http://www.amazoniafun.com/

• Entrance fee (non member) $22 - (members) $17 
• Locker: ??
• Pretend Play (level)
• Active Play (level) 
• Cafe: Yes - heard that it is pretty good menu they have..
• Re-entry: ?? 
• Changing Table:??
• Car Park: Great World Carpark Rates. 
• Bus Stop: have to cross a road if you on Zion Road but need to cross a bridge if you on the other side. 
• MRT: None but there is shuttle bus from Orchard MRT . 
• Hygiene:  ??
• Customer Service: ?? 
• Bonus: ??

SG Lunch - Kenny Rogers (Great World)

Had Lunch one day at Kenny Rogers (Great World City Shopping Center). 

Ordered their Set Lunch which is 1/4 Chicken with a Side dish (Macoroni Cheese) Lunch Set $11 

Note: Its serves a complimentary Corn Muffin.

Simply one word - Not worth it !

Verdict: 

Maccroni cheese was super salty or you can say super "rich" in flavour. For adults with a strong taste bud, this is acceptable. For a toodler, I think it is was too salty and not nice at all. The "cheese" is pretty much kinda "fakey" taste. Smell like cheese but don't taste like real cheese. It gave me more of a creamy taste. GV Village Cinema nacho cheese actually taste a bit better than this. 

Chicken meat was dry. The herb they use to roast the chicken didn't give it much taste. It seems like just a few sprinkle of the herb and spices and a quick roast. I had to put a lot of tomato sauce to eat it. 

Corn Muffin is however acceptable. A bit dry though tigerbaby quite like it most likely it is SWeet and she was super hungry. However I do somehow feel they use one ingredient that helps to keep it longer into their muffin. Because it made my tongue felt a bit weird after I had it. 

Another visit to Kenny Rogers? No Way! 

yogurt: brand- milkana

produced in france. available in cold storage singapore supermarket. sell in a pack of four. price : $3.5

verdict: too sweet for toodler. its more like a desert puree served on your cheesecake.

SG lunch - Ichiban Boshi (great world)

Tigerbaby hasn't had fish for a while, so I decided to let her have some fish. With that, off to the closest and the fish seems to be in better quality restaurant.  Ichiban Boshi at Great World City Shopping Center.

Ordered this set - Tojusen Sakan Gozen Set $24.90; but after GST and Service Charge the total bill amount is $29.31

It has Cod Fish , Fish fillets, Tofu, Cawanmushi (Egg), Rice, Miso soup which I find should be substantial food for tigerbaby.

Nevertheless, this was my 2nd time ordering this set, and today was absolutely disappointed to the extend I provide feedback to the manager. THe fish was over soaked with sauces and extremely salty (though said , the first time i order this set last month, it was done well). The cod fish was meant to be lightly cooked with teriyaki sauce if I recall correctly but today if you manage to see the pic it is soaked with watery sauce. The first fillet was too drench with sauce till I find the skin a bit soft.  And worst of all TOO SALTY~~~

Manager herself quickly too realise it is badly cooked and realise the sauces were quite wrong. She did offer to make another one for me or give me extra rice to contra the saltiness. As it was getting late, so I just say just give me some extra rice as it was getting late.

Verdict: Its a good set combination for mother and child. Tigerbaby ate half a bowl of rice, all of the cod fish. one tofu and 1/4 of cawanmushi. They are obviously with taste and are soft food so i find toodlers would usually enjoy this. And with whatever leftover, the mom can have it and it still can make one feel full.  And the main thing is the fish is FRESH despite the saltiness.

Note: it too have soft shell crab in this set :)



Yes, it would be cheaper if you buy yourself from market and cook it... however one thing I learn from cooking fish for last 2 years. If you get your fish from wet market, you still need to clean it before cooking it aka remove the skin or bones. As for cooking fish you need to really time it well. Overcooked fish doesn't taste that well. As for serving the fish, it needs to be warm or else it usually tends to give a taste that some toodlers (for eg: tigerbaby) tend to be able to differentiate and gets fussy over it. So occasionally order fish when we dine out is indeed acceptable.

However cod fish is indeed a very nice fish that toodlers usually tend to like due to the texture. Though it isn't the sweetest meat of all fish I have to say. Salmon is good with the omega thingy but it is actually one of the harder fish to cook if you have a toodler like tigerbaby ... :))

SG Lunch - Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee (vivocity)

We had lunch on Saturday at Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee at Vivocity (Its near the exit of MRT station right opposite McDonalds) I ordered the Combo one (forgot the name) which has Char Siu (pork), Wonton and Prawn served. Pricing is about $6 plus if i recall. 

Verdict: The noodles are springy (QQ) but the serving is a bit small for that pricing. Prawns are normal as it tasted like frozen prawns. Wonton was small size. However Tigerbaby manage to finish 80% of my noodle and at least 3 wontons. 

MSG Level: Medium. Probraly I didn't "wash" the noodles much. After 2-3 spoon of noodles she ask for water; so the next serve I "wash" it a bit more and it seem to be fine. So it could be from the saltyness (soya sauce) or from the msg. However for the soup to my level of MSG tolerance, it is acceptable. 

Service: Excellent. Probraly our lucky day. There was this lady who was full with smile and  great service. She saw us.. quickly help us to be seated. Move chairs so that we got a spot for our stroller.  

However one thing I find "surprising" for such a restaurant, there is no tissue provided. If you want tissue / serviets, pay 30cents for a packet. As a typical mum, when i heard that, i quickly went back to my diaper bag and search for 2 tissue to wipe off tigerbaby mess. I am not kaisu .. it would be much faster to get from them than to scram through the diaper bag. And for a restaurant charging that price, I think they should provide seriously. 

Summary: If you have a kid with a stroller and the food court is pack, can consider to visit this place due ot the "spacious" and it doesn't seem to be as busy as other restaurant. Probraly because the price you pay is quite expensive for the amount of food and for a simple wonton noodle in many people perspective. However you get the space, no need to queue and "chop" seats and overall I find the noodles and msg level is still acceptable to feed a toodler.