Colours, Sights & Patterns At Kampong Glam

In the 19th century, Kampong Glam was essentially an ethnic district with a strong Malay-Arab influence. It was a place where locals patronized for their Arab-Muslim traditional foodstuff and merchandise...

Immersive 4K HDR Viewing Experience With Sony Projectors

Sony’s latest innovative laser light source projector is High Dynamic Range (HDR) compatible with native 4K resolution, creating an amazling clear lifelike experience, as if you are there yourself…

Back 30 Years To Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre

Iconic along this stretch of road is the rectangular block of a nondescript beige-tiled building. The facade of this building is blocked by an overhead bridge. And this is the front entrance to a shopping centre - the Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre… (USSC).

Monti - Singapore's Longest Brunch Every Sunday

Enjoy brunch by the bay concept, complete with stunning views of the Marina Bay and its surroundings, and a fabulous menu and music programme to match at Monti…

Where Freemasons Convene

In 1886, the Masonic Club was established to support Singapore freemasonry. Guess who was the first Freemason in modern Singapore?

Philips Viva Collection Bread Maker - A Simple Way To Bake Bread

Merlion City
December 2014

Merlion Wayfarer received the Philips Christmas catalogue recently, and decided to try the Viva Collection Bread Maker to experiment with. With the Christmas season coming, it seemed perfect to share the joy of festive baking with one's loved ones.

The Philips Bread Maker has 14 easy-to-use preset programs that bake any bread to perfection, from rich and satisfying whole wheat to gluten free, French and sweet varieties. It also makes specialty breads such as Borodinsky, Easter bread and delicious dough for pasta, even jams too.
  


How Simple It Is

  1. A Recipe Booklet is included in every purchase.
     


        
  2. Measure out the ingredients accordingly with the measuring cup (in ml) and measuring spoon (in tbs and tsp) that Philips thoughtfully included with this product. And empty them into the baking tin provided.
      
  3. Switch on the power plug and choose your settings.
    -  Bread Type : Choose from the list of 1-14
    -  Loaf Size : 750g or 1000g
    -  Browning Level : Light, Medium, Dark
     

      
  4. And bake.
    There is no need to do any kneading, or baking, or waiting for the yeast to rise.
     
  5. At the end of the program, just empty the bread out from the tin, remove the paddle, and serve.
     

The Initial Attempts

French Bread


 The end result after 3h 55 mins (for Medium) - 
There was a significant amount of flour in one particular corner of the tin...

How the loaf looks like after being emptied onto a plate -
It was extremely easy with the non-stick tin...

The depth of flour in the corner...


Learning Points
  • On hindsight, this was hardly the bread to choose for a maiden attempt as a significant amount of time was required (3h 55 mins).
     
  • It's always good to read the "Notes" and "Tips" in detail especially for a first attempt.
       

     
  • As the bread time was rectangular in shape, the edges were not well mixed. A manual mixing might help. 

White Bread

The choice this time was made for a more straightforward bread.
An additional ingredient - sugar - was required...
 
The smooth brown crust...

The texture was also better with no residue of flour...

Learning Points
   
  • The crust was just nice. However the texture was still a bit sticky, and tasted more like steamed cake than bread.
        
      
  • An initial manual stirring of the ingredients within the bread tin helped, especially at the corners of the rectangular tin.

With 2 bread adventures down, Merlion Wayfarer looks set to hone her breadmaking skills to an even higher level - Cheers to the ongoing adventures with the Philips Viva Collection Bread Maker!


Gift your loved ones something special this festive season and
celebrate with Philips Christmas Promo 2014

For more on Merlion Wayfarer's adventures with Philips products, click here.
   

Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre (USSC) - Stepping Back 30 Years

Upper Serangoon Road
North East, Singapore
December 2014

Merlion Wayfarer recently went back in time to the 1980s to Upper Serangoon Road. Iconic along this stretch of road is the rectangular block of a nondescript beige-tiled building. The facade of this building is blocked by an overhead bridge. And this is the front entrance to a shopping centre - the Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre (USSC).

Built in 1981, Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre (USSC) was built to cater to the crowds living in the 1953, 1954 and 1955 postal districts. (Yes, at a time when postal codes were still denoted in 4 digits.)

A throwback picture in earlier years, when Ban Cheong Jewellers was still its next door neighbour...

A very obscured front facade - the main entrance - with an overhead bridge and a big tree blocking it...

Seasonal decorations are decked each time a festive season dawns...

In the 1980s and early 1990s, USSC was the main gathering point for xinyao singers who were invited to grace weekends with their presence - Liang Wern Fook 梁文福 was here, Dawn Yip (Yan Liming) 颜黎明 was here, even Eric Moo 巫启贤 was here too.

Where the stage used to be, now an antique and sundry shop rests...

It's quite hard to imagine all these now-empty and desolate upper floors filled with hundreds of screaming fans supporting their xinyao idols...

This is a mall so held back in time that spelling mistakes are tolerated...

By 8pm, the mall is almost deserted with the only sign of life in the eateries.
Surprisingly, all the escalators and lights are in good working condition...

House of Seafood has moved here after their relocation from Yio Chu Kang Road...

These are the shops which have stood the test of time. 
Christanio De Florist's Christopher who has stayed true to his art and his location after more than 20 years here, and Mr and Mrs Lee whose simple shop has seen their 3 children through their tertiary years...

The pair of stone lions still guard here, unblemished in their marbled paleness after 30 years 
- They will be here many years more...