The Good Life iPhone App From Standard Chartered Bank

As one of the cardholders from Standard Chartered Bank, I am delighted to know that they have offers "The Good Life" exclusively to its credit and debit cardholders, with over 1,000 great deals, ranging from dining to shopping, travel and lifestyle, island-wide every day.

Simply locate the "The Good Life" iPhone Apps by Standard Chartered Bank from the App Store by doing a search through the search menu or look under the "Finance" Category. For your information this Apps is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with iOS 4.0 or later.

From the App "Home" screen, you can browse in five different categories such as "Coupon, Deal, Nearest To Me(meaning deals or discounts nearest to your current location), Categories(dining, rest and relax, retail) and Search" according to your preference.

As you can see from the above, Coupons are valid for certain numbers of days shown on each link. And since it is only for one-time usage, redeem only when you are ready to use it together with your Standard Chartered Credit or Debit Card.

The Good Life iPhone app also makes it easy for cardholders to locate ongoing promotions at their favourite dining, retail and lifestyle establishments through their mobile phone instead of the monthly information booklet in hard-copy form.

Here with the new iPhone app, cardholders like me can search for deals which is available near my location or through category, merchant name or keyword as well as favourite the "stores or deals" by adding them to into my “Favourites” tab.

Cardholders can also share the deals and coupons with friends and family via Facebook, Twitter, Email or SMS(short message send).

On top of the above, the app’s new “I Free Monday” coupons also allow cardholders to receive a free item from outlets such as McDonalds where a Free a la carte Filet-O-Fish can be redeemed. Other partners include Swensen’s, Starbucks and Marble Slab Creamery – that’s 32 Happy Mondays till the end of the year. So keep a look out every "Monday" for the special deal.

Note:-
~ Some of the related photos used are credited to Standard Chartered Bank.

Hearty Meal With The Family @ Swensen's

Swensen's, a household name in Singapore has bought many memories to me and my family over the years. I remember during my school days, I used to visit Swensen's with my classmates to enjoy their ice-creams and food during weekends gathering where we often share the "Huge" Earthquake ice-cream together.

Recently, Swensen's has just revamped their menu with new and exciting treats such as Spiced King Prawns and Chips, Laksa Aglio Olio with King Prawns, Crabmeat Fried Rice and etc. Here we have ordered the "Laksa Aglio Olio with King Prawns" shown above as I am curious with this East And West fusion taste. The al dente pasta is infused with Laksa flavored pesto, chilli padi and served with succulent king prawns which gives us a Wow!

{S$5.00 Top Up} With additional $5.00 top-up to any Main Course, we can enjoy additional soup of day which I always look forward to, a complimentary hot/cold beverage plus a scoop of ice-cream of our choice to end the meal.

For starter we order Ocean Crunch Salad with served with fresh greens topped with fish bites, calamari, breaded shrimps and refreshing pineapple BBQ dressing.

This Black Pepper Seafood Pasta is one of my mum's favourite pasta from Swensen's. She loves the taste and fragrant of their black pepper sauce which is not too spicy, salty or neither overpowering the overall taste of the dish. I would recommend this if you are a fan of black pepper sauce.

Although Chicken Baked Rice is always on my ordering list, but that day I have a craving of trying their Beef Stroganoff Baked Rice which served in chunky beef slices that saute in onion and brown sauce. Although the sauce is a bit too rich and salty towards my liking but overall it still quiet a good try. 

My boy's Fish Nuggets with Star Munchy And Sweetcorn kid's meal set which he often order serve with either cold Milo or Apple juice. A plus point for kid's meal is although it is deep-fried but for the few occasions that we ordered it is always nicely done without drip/trace of oil on the nuggets or munchy.

*Note:
All photos in this post is taken with my iphone as this is a leisure family meal.

Feet Haven Reflexology @ East Coast Road

Take a moment to rest your feet with a soothing massage can be a powerful brief solution to loosen the nerves in the leg. Recently I have visited "Feet Haven Reflexology" which is a premier foot reflexology spa located at 136 East Coast Road (about 5 - 7 minutes walk away from the new 112 Katong Shopping Mall). And since my brother and his friend are regular customers who shared good feedback about their services, I decided to join them for a session too.

{Luxurious Ambiance} Feet Haven has established in April 2011 and customers can choose from its many services such as Foot, Shoulder and Neck or Body massage to cater for individual needs and preferences. Upon entering the shop, I am captured by its luxurious ambiance, calming fragrance and soothing music as well as their friendly greeters. And the place give me a very smooth and relaxing feeling which I am comfortable with.

{Plus Points} There are also some cards with words like ‘I like it hard’,’ Soft touches’,’ moderate please’, ‘Silence is golden,’ ‘I don’t mind small talk’’ extended to customers where we could pick  our preference for the level of strength and whether we wish to be disturbed during the massage. And on top of that,  all customers also gets to enjoy free flow of hot tea or Pineapple juice of their choice during the massage session.

{Skillful Masseurs} From a glance and a friendly chat with the person in-charge, it is said the company has a hire local and senior policy, where seniors and locals are given priority when recruiting masseurs and these masseurs are very experience in their skills which received much praises and good feedback from customers. I, myself has experience the before and after effect from this foot reflexology massage as I could feel the different and changes in my body, as in my gastric and aching problem shows improvement after the session.

Feet Haven Reflexology

136 East Coast Road
#01-01 Singapore 428821
Telephone: 6344 7311
Website: www.feethaven.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FeetHaven

Opening Hours:
Sunday to Thursday: 12 noon - 10.00pm;
Friday to Saturday: 12 noon - 11.00pm

Prices:
Feet Haven Basic Foot: S$28.00 / 45 minutes session
Feet Haven Shiok Basic Blend: S$38.00 / 60 minutes session
For more other prices, discount or packages, please refer to their website for more details.

Chicken Rice Using Happy Call Pan

My inspiration of this dish came from my boy who loves to eat chicken rice but he hates those bits and pieces of crashed garlic or ginger that are hidden in between the rice which some of the chicken rice stalls added. So in order to let him enjoy his favourite food and at the same time prepared it in a more healthier way by reducing the oil and salt used, I decided to incorporate my HCP Claypot Rice method into this cooking this dish.

And to cut short the cooking process and get everything ready for meal in a quicker time, Happy Call Pan (HCP) method definitely comes in handy for those who owns one. But don't worry if you don't because you still can apply this recipe using your rice cooker(use broth according to rice cooker method) as well as normal claypot which would produce similar result too.

STEAMED CHICKEN RICE

(using Happy Call Pan)

My Happy Call Pan version of Steamed Chicken Rice which is done in less than 30 minutes.

(Serves: 2- 3 |       Preparation: 5 minutes |        Cooking: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
1/2 Portion of Chicken, around 500 - 550g
3/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
3/4 - 1 Tablespoon of Ginger Juice
1.5 Cup Cooked Uncooked Long Grain Rice
3 Cups Chicken Broth(refer to the broth recipe below)
1 Stall of Lemon Grass, cut into 2 sections and lightly pound
4 Garlic Cloves, lightly pound
3 Slices of Ginger
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
2 Knots of Pandan Leaves

Method:-

1. Clean and rinse the chicken, pat dry with kitchen paper towel and rub the sea salt all over the chicken together with the ginger juice(the marinade helps to tenderise the meat of the chicken during cooking).

2. At the meantime, rinse the rice thrice and drained well. Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in the Happy Call Pan (HCP), saute the garlic, ginger and lemon grass till fragrant, stir in the drained rice together with the pandan leaves, 1/4 teaspoon salt and continue to pan-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes till the rice is fragrant and dry(grains can be seen separated individually).

3. Slowly pour in the chicken broth and give the mixture a quick stir. Cover the pan(don't lock) and let the mixture simmer on the lowest heat for about 3 - 5 minutes till the soup broth reduce by half.

4. Next open the HCP, place the marinated chicken on top of the rice. Cover(lock) and continue to simmer for another 15 - 20minutes depend on the size of the chicken. (try pushing a skewer or chopstick into the flesh of the drumstick if the juices run clear out of the hole its cooked)

5. Off the heat and the chicken rest in the HCP for another 5 minutes before serving.

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Tips:-

~ Use the same measuring cup(from the rice cooker) to measure both the rice and broth for this recipe.

~ 4 Chicken Drumsticks or 6 wings can be used to replace 1/2 portion of the chicken according to your preferences.

CHICKEN CABBAGE SOUP

This is one of my favourite childhood soup which my great-grandmother used to cook together with her signature Hainanese Chicken Rice. Often she would choose between using Napa Cabbage or just normal Cabbage together with some minced meatballs or fish balls to enhance the flavour of the soup. And since then, this is one of my favourite soup which I would cooked to go with my chicken rice.

(Makes: 1.5 Litres      | Preparation: 5 minutes         | Cooking: 20 - 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Medium Size Napa Cabbage (Chinese Cabbage)
2 Chicken Drumstick or 3 Sets Chicken Bones
2 Slices of Ginger
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Stall of Spring Onion, cut into sections
1 Teaspoon of Cooking Oil
1.8 Litre of Water
Some Fish balls, optional

Method:-

1. Remove the leaves of the Napa Cabbage, rinse with water and cut it into thick slices. Set aside.

2. Using a medium stock pot, saute garlic, ginger and spring onion with 1 teaspoon of cooking oil until fragrant. Add in half portion of the Napa Cabbage and fry till almost wilted.

3. Add in water and bring the mixture to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes and you can use some of the stock for cooking the chicken rice above and reserve the rest for later use.

4. Before serving the soup with the chicken rice above, bring it to boil and add in the remaining cabbage and fish balls if using and let it simmer for about 5 minutes, season with salt and it's ready to be served.

In about 30 minutes of time, you can enjoy a pan of quick and easy homemade chicken rice which is healthy, less greasy and plus points are you don't need to do a lot of washing for this. For more short-cuts method, you can even replace the chicken broth with water or ready bought stock broth(eg: Swanson Chicken Broth) from the supermarkets.

Hope you would enjoy my version of Steamed Chicken Rice which is prepared using Happy Call Pan. For more recipe on using Happy Call Pan you can refer to the link HERE.