Germinated Brown Rice

I was pleasantly surprised to find this germinated brown rice selling at NTUC Fairprice for $5.95 for 1 kg!!!  What a steal!!

There are various health benefits for taking this - apparently germination makes the rice more alkaline and nutrients more available to the body or something like that.  (That's what I read in one of these whole-foods encyclopedias I have sitting around at home).

And the only reason I heard about this was I found it selling at a whopping $30 for 1 kg at Fancl!!!!

Kelly the Kitchen Kop has a very informative post here.  There is also some information here and here.

Hotpot Culture

Some months ago, we wandered to Marina Square in search of a cheap and comforting meal and found this place.  

For $8.50+++ or so, you get 

• a mini-steamboat for yourself, with a dish of vegetables and a selection of your choice of meat / protein
  
• a side dish of fried breaded chicken about 3/4 the size of my palm, 
• and a tiny lettuce salad
• and a scoop of ice-cream.

You can choose the flavour of the steamboat (chicken, tom yam, herbal and something else which I can't remember), and you can choose between seafood / pork / beef / chicken for the meat.

What can get better than that?  You can also choose different dipping sauces - they have plain soy sauce, chilli sauce and some minced garlic, chilli padi, spring onions and coriander for you to choose from.  

What a steal compared to Coca!  (which we used to frequent before I found out I was allergic to the sesame in their sauces!

Sunscreen / Sunblock FAQs and Links

After a sun-and-sea holiday in Langkawi last year, I came back with these frightening patches on pigmentation on my cheeks.

Since then, I have been obsessive about sunscreens.  And then, I learnt that there are sunscreens and there are sunscreens.

I discovered there is such a thing called photostability.  Guess what?  Not all the sunscreens that are so common in our market are photostable!  They break down in the sun and will not provide you with the kind of protection that they promised!  For eg, something labelled SPF50 can break down in as little as 30 minutes!!!


Check out the Environmental Working Group's sunscreen press release here.

They have a sunscreen guide here too.


I also discovered another concept in sunscreens / sunblock :  cosmetic elegance.  It means that if your sunblock makes your face greasy, or leaves a whitish cast on your skin, making you look like a ghost, then it's not "cosmetically elegant".  


Photostability and cosmetic elegance don't always go together.



For those interested in the technical details of photostability, here are some links for you.

Makeupalley's FAQ on sunscreens

List of sunscreens reviewed by someone on Makeupalley

You will also find that we should avoid this ingredient called Benzophenone-3 / Oxybenzone (reasons all at the link).  It causes your skin to pigment more (!!!!!!) and worse, is highly PHOTOUNSTABLE.  So don't be fooled by the high SPFs!!!

Here are the brands in our shops that have this ingredient:

1. Neutrogena
2. Nivea (only 1 or 2 formulations don't have this).
3. Banana Boat
4. Coppertone
5. Kiss Me / Sunkiller


More listings to come later....

Some Useful Online Bookstores

I rarely go out to buy books in the bookstores because I can never find what I'm looking for.  And I don't have the time to keep browsing the shelves!!

I also tend to buy books that are sometimes unavailable in Singapore, like out-of-print Christian titles, cookbooks, health & fitness type of books.


Anytime I needed some books, I'd just give Kinokuniya a call and either have them deliver it or reserve it.  If we happen to pass by during the weekends, we'd collect it along the way.  

Otherwise, they are pretty cheap for delivery - S$5 per delivery (minimum purchase of S$10) and if you purchase above S$50, delivery is free.  Sure beats the hassle of driving to Takashimaya, paying the crazy parking on the weekends or even taking 1 hour each way to go to Takashimaya via public transport.  Value for money eh?


Few months ago, ST published some useful links for getting even cheaper books!!  And I have tried out a couple of them, here's the result:

1. Kinokuniya -  As above.  They have an online catalogue, so you can compare prices and decide.  But prices are in the same range as Amazon.  So ever since I discovered the online stores, I have given Kinokuniya up.
   
   
2. Amazon - They charge a lot for shipping to Singapore (US$12+++ per book or something like that), and it's the roughly the same when you choose Amazon Marketplace.  You can lower the shipping costs somewhat if you choose the Super Saver option - where you order above US$X amount of books and get free shipping to a USA address, and make use of Globeshopper or something similar to ship to Singapore.  However, after I discovered the following few websites, I gave up Amazon for good, and only use it to check out book reviews!!
   
   
3. Better World Books - I bought some really cool out-of-print books at a crazy discount and the delivery is awesome - Free Shipping in the USA, $3.97 (per book) Worldwide.  Reaches Singapore within a week, much shorter than Amazon.
   
   
4. Open Trolley - This is Singapore-based and I am very impressed by their range of books.  I found an out-of-print Christian title here at a price that beat all the rest!  Tin Hang Zai also found a health book here at a price that beat the rest.  Delivery is roughly S$5 per order, and S$0.80 if you self-collect from Plaza Singapura.  Very competitive.
   
   
5. Acmamall - This is also Singapore-based and they have an impressive range as well - they were able to provide titles that Kino could not.  Delivery is also S$5 per order, and free above S$80.  They sell beauty products, flowers and gifts too!
   
   
6. Book Depository - Their prices are competitive as well - and Tin Hang Zai also bought some books from them that were priced lower than Better World books.  Singapore is included in their Free Delivery Worldwide!!

If you are looking to buy some books, I would say, compare prices between 3, 4, 5 and 6.  And go with the cheapest.  Forget about Kino, and visit Amazon only if you need to read book reviews before buying a book.