Sunday, February 26, 2006

Fort Minor in concert (Singapore): I AM GOING!!!

Just a short short blog entry, I promise.

As any Linkin Park fan would know (regardless how devoted you are), Fort Minor is a side project started by Mike Shinoda, with the debut (first) album out in November 2005.

Am I a Linkin Park & Fort Minor fan?

Just to tell you, I'VE got MY TICKET to go watch FORT MINOR "live" at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in a few days' time, on 1 March 2006, at 8pm. Me bet that it would start only at about 8.30pm & with an encore built into my estimation, the whole thingy would end about 11pm? Enough time to catch the MRT home, I hope.

On that night, I'll be monkey jumping up & down, screaming out the names of the guys from FM, like Mike, Ryu, Tak ...

Nope, fat chance. More likely to happen if I do that, is that a security officer will come over & tell me to "diam diam" (i.e. keep quiet/calm) & get back to my seat!!

OY ... this is a hip-hop concert, not a classical concert, featuring Maksim or Jamie Cullum!! What do you mean in drowning our spirits, huh?

Baring any "nice" price tags, I would love to purchase some concert merchandise. Getting it autographed by the guy himself, Mike Shinoda, would be very very nice. Now, where did I put that piggy bank of mine?? I spy with my little eye .... OINK!!!!!

2 Milo 4 mee (a lame sequel)

Am a bit shocked by the response to my previous posting. I still am ...

I did not imagine for a single moment that when I wrote about my one of my favourite drinks ... there's also Yakult & Vitagen but that's another 2 stories to tell), that it would be read by people other than my small circle of friends. It was such a minute mundane thing to wrote on one fine day ... not sure if it was afternoon or night.

After all, many other bloggers before me & probably after mine, would have blogged on far more interesting stuff. Hahaa, writting on "Milo"? Didn't think that it would get me "my 1.5 seconds of blogging fame". Gone before you know it. Doesn't that remind you of a movie? Eh, not the 1940s one, okay? The one with the female half of "Bradgelina".

Have tried before the various concoctions as suggested by readers who posted their opinions, baring the "Milo Godzilla" (hope I got that one right!).

To the reader who wrote that I should use only fresh milk for making Milo drinks, YUP, that is what I do. In Singapore, it is regular milk. In Perth, it is "1% fat" milk sold in 1-litre carton in the supermarket. Teeheheee ...

As for freezing a pkt of MILO to get "Milo Freeze", never thought of that before. Will try that one soon!! I've to, being the "meelow" fan I am.

Simple theory for that non-existence of Milo Godzilla: I've NO ICE CREAM in my house NOW!! Mebbie later I would go get some. I might tweak the recipe slightly, in the sense that I would replace vanilla ice cream with CHOCOLATE ice cream - recently tried Ben & Jerry.

Sorry to the folks at B & J but I don't like "lime ice cream". Lime drink yes! Lime ice cream NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!!!

To those who patronize the Polar cafe, the 2 branches at Raffles CityLink & OUB Centre do have "MILO ice cream". Not bad, except that it melts way faster than their chocolate ice creams. Do watch out for the dripping!!

Another Milo by-product that I forgot to mention is the "MILO bar". Think of the Mars and/or Snickers bar & I think you would know what I'm talking about. Have tried that but I'm sorry to say (again?) that I'm not into them.

Not sure if there is also this Milo product along the likes of "Ovalteenies" from Ovaltine. If so, do tell me. I'd like to try that one out.

Meantime, I'm sure that it would be a smart marketing move. Last week, I spotted 6-tetra "mini" pack of MILO drinks being sold in Liberty supermarket, each would fit into my palm. These would be just the right introduction to small kids. It is one of the things whereby it would be alright for the kids to have "just a taste", i.e. have their own packet. The regular-sized ones are too big for them, though.

My Milo fantasy continues with these 2 things that I've never tried it out before (didn't want to "pee por, pee por"):
  • Bake Milo-flavoured cookies
  • Bake a Milo-infused cake
Okay, that's all for now. I'll be back. If there is "chocolate prata", any chance that there is "Milo prata"???

Sunday, February 19, 2006

MILO & me

I'm a fan of the drink, popularly known as "MILO". Have been ever since my childhood days. The originators of this drink are geniuses. Man, it is not often that I claim addiction to stuff (nothing ever illegal nor immoral).

It took me many years to realise this but I do consider myself lucky to be living in Singapore in this part of Asia.

I wonder if they do have it in USA? Better I go ask my friend, who had studied in USA before. Else, I can bet with you that there will be some MILO freaks like me, who will pack AT LEAST one tin of MILO into their luggage, come what the weightage will be. There you go, Mr/Ms Customs Officer, this ONE TIN will have to last me ONE SCHOOL YEAR. Yes, that's right. You heard me correctly.

The "Milo" comes in a chocolate-coloured powder form, which is packed into grass-green tins. Now, the tins when empty, serve as useful storage containers for things like: biscuits & love letters (edible tidbits served during Chinese New Year). It is air-tight, thus sealing in the crispyness into the container.

What one can do is to take a couple of teaspoons (or in my case, TABLESPOONs) of the MILO powder, drop it in a glass/mug, before mixing it with some hot water & milk (doesn't matter if it is full-cream or skimmed), finally topping it off with some cold/cooled water. I like mine cuppa with extra MILO powder floating on top. In some food & beverage places, they call it the "Milo Dinosaur". More or less the same recipe & they put it up for sale.

MILO lovers would have you know that there are TWO different types of powder available in the market out there, at least true in this part of the world, Asia. Depending on your luck & how the business managers do it, you can get MILO powder in Singapore coming from either Malaysia and/or Australia.

Unless I'm very much wrong, the one coming from our neighbouring Malaysia, is sweeter; to accomodate our Asian tastebuds for sweet stuff. While the one coming from Down Under Australia, it is creamier (probably from all the milk supply from the moo-moo cows).

Both types are equally good, not one above the other. It is just a matter of tastes.

There has been spin-offs using the MILO powder to manufacture drinks. Like the ever-popular MILO Dinosaur in Singapore (a recent concocted drink). Another is the MILO Freeze (more or less like pure crushed Milo drink). A third is the tetra-packed instant MILO drink, in packs of six. This can be found in Singapore & Malaysia.

A fourth is the "instant MILO 3-in-1, or if u prefer, 2-in-1 powder). They (meaning the instructions) always tell you "just add hot water" ... Bah, humbug!! To me, when I do that, the drink is like drinking "long kang water" (water from the drains, not a very pleasant experience). I always end up adding milk to those "2-in-1" or "3-in-1" instant MILO powdered drinks.

In the part of Australia during my student days, I NEVER SAW any TETRA-PACK of the Milo drink. To say it literally, I would have given an "arm & leg" just to get hold of ONE.

Only in my final semester, did they come up with it ... in my uni's cafeteria. It was delicious & creamy, not too sweet. It was not tetra-packed but in a plastic bottle with "an hour-glass" figure. Not exactly what I always drink back in SG. On hindsight, I should have packed a dozen of those drinks in my luggage.

The Customs Officers surely would be interested in my packing. I guess they would probably think,"This girl is crazy. You can get MILO powder in Australia, why would she want to bring in from her home country??"

I only ever once did pack those "3-in-1" but as they fell far short of my expectations (read above), I never did that again. Instead, I relied on Australian-made MILO powder & milk. Learnt my lesson.

On a parting note, please don't try this unless you don't mind chocolate teeth for awhile. I used to sneak a clean spoon into the family MILO tin at home & gobble up a few TABLESPOONS of the addictive powder. This, of course, was done only when the parents were not at home ... and when I was much younger.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The Day when ROSES cost a bomb

Valentine's Day. The day when even a SINGLE miserable stalk of rose (whatever the colour it may be) can cost up to $10 or so. Almost everyone is jumping onto the bandwagon to sell.

This is what I've observed, which I'm basing it on ONE STALK of ROSE.

One would see ONE STALK "wrapped" in this half-transparent/silvery foil, with a small, teensy-weeny tiny coloured ribbon. The total height of this is no bigger than my two palms side by side.

Who have I spotted selling it? My neighbourhood newspaper stand vendor ... at S$4 per stalk of red rose. Then, as I exited the MRT station, there was this lone lady selling.

Seriously, I would not mind getting even just one stalk but this special day, I did not get any. Not that I mind it too much though. Gee, so now everyone will know that I am SINGLE & UNATTACHED. Sheesssh!!

For those not into Valentine's Day (not SINGLETONS), if you must have your protest march against "too commercialised days like Valentine", go ahead but PLEASE DO NOT USE VIOLENCE. Just think of it this way: you are SAVING YOUR MONEY to be put to BETTER USAGE.