Zespri Kiwi Dinner

All Singaporeans like to eat. I’m a true blue Singaporean and I love to eat too!

This is the first time Kless and I attended the Zespri dinner event, we missed it last year with much regrets. The event was held at a very nice restaurant, Fern & Kiwi located at Clarke Quay. It’s a New Zealander restaurant that offers the best of New Zealand food, wines, beers, music and live entertainment. Definitely a place I would like to revisit in the near future. And it seems so apt to hold a kiwifruit event in a New Zealander restaurant too. Perfect!

We were one of the earlier guests to arrive and had a chance to talk to the person-in-charge from Zespri and got some pretty cool information about kiwifruit that we have never known.

- kiwifruit is a seasonal fruit, we get it mainly from New Zealand between May to Nov
- all the growers / farmers in NZ grows and sells their kiwifruit to only Zespri (it’s by law)
- there are about 3000 growers currently in NZ, producing about 100 million trays of Zespri kiwifruit for export (each tray is about 30-40 kiwifruit)
- there are currently only 2 types of kiwifruit available in the market (green and gold), but there are 60 types of kiwifruit in research in NZ now
- this year’s green kiwifruit is considered the ‘vintage’ harvest because in the beginning of 2013 (Jan to Mar), there was a drought in NZ and thus the fruit will tend to be sweeter and with more flavour

Here are the amazing kiwi dishes.

Appetizer
Seafood Salad
Marinated Prawns, Scallop, Snapper tossed with Zespri Kiwifruit

Mains
Pan seared Pacific Snapper Loin served on a bed of Lyonnais Potato and Kiwi Coulis OR
‘Canterbury Plans’ Charred-Grilled Lamb Cutlets served with Mashed Potatoes and Kiwi Relish

Dessert
Duo of Kiwi Panna Cotta accompanied with Fresh Kiwi Compote

What is a Zespri feast without the Kiwifruits?

Yummy!!

Singapore Zoo Celebrates 40th Birthday

To celebrate the 40th year birthday, the Singapore Zoo is giving a 40% discount to all visitors (T&C). Just print and cut out the following coupon and present it with your NRIC to enjoy the fantastic discount.

Since Monday was a school holiday (Youth Day), the young and young-at-heart decided that it was the perfect chance to visit one of our favourite places.

The three ladies trying to get the attention of the monkey, now knowing they have probably become the ‘monkey’.

One of the newly open exhibit was the Frozen Tundra. It’s the size of 2.5 basketball courts put together for our locally born polar bear, Inuka. We were a bit disappointed because the polar bear was on a off-day, resting lazily at it’s habitat instead of swimming in the cool pool.

So I decided to take a few shots of the girls in front of the tank instead.
Joey is the model-looking child with her long legs. Jayne on the other hand is the cutie pie.

   

A trip to the Zoo cannot be complete without visiting Kidzworld.

Although we have been to the Zoo for a few times, but this is the first time Joey took the Pony Ride.

Jayne prefers the goats. I think it’s a good way to clear the dry leaves on the floor as the kids are all picking leaves to feed the goats.

And don’t forget to try the Rainforest Challenge. It is an obstacle course where the kids can take on to test their balancing skills or muscle strength.

   

 

I actually was on the pulley-raft too, but I think I was a bit too heavy for the girls..

It was definitely a fun-filled day. Some photos of the animals that we managed to see.

Make use the 40% discount and visit the Zoo in July.

[Giveaway] U Picnic 2013

NTUC largest family picnic event, U Picnic is back for the second year running. This time round, the theme is whimsical that promises bigger and better “Food.Fun.Experience” for the whole family. Organised by U Family and supported by NTUC FairPrice, the event targets to attract both children and the young-at-heart, with its variety of unique attractions to either create of relive their childhood dreams.

Some of the highlights you can expect from this event includes:
Sky Ballet Dancing, Unicorn Riding, Sparkles & Star Dust Activities, Speed Painter

Competition where you can stand to win attractive prizes:
Most Creative Picnic Set Up Competition, Best Dressed Family Competition, Best Family Moments Photo Competition, Family Challenges

FREE Shuttle Bus
FREE shuttle bus is provided for U Picnic participants on event day (5 October). Please present event ticket (via printout copy or your mobile phone) before boarding the bus.
Timing: 4pm - 10pm
Duration: Every 15 mins. interval
Pick-up & drop-off point: Dover MRT Station (EW22)

U Picnic 2013 will be held at West Coast Park on the 5th October 2013, from 5pm to 9pm.
Tickets are on sale starting now!
NTUC Member – $20 per family of 5 pax; Public – $40 per family of 5 pax.
Free admission for children aged 3 years old and below.
Online ticketing is available via this website.

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GIVEAWAY
For J Babies’ Dad readers, I have 3 sets of tickets (each ticket admits a family of 5 pax) to giveaway!
Just follow the following steps to win:
1. Like the NTUC U Family Facebook Fanpage.
2. Comment on my blog post or FB page, “I want to create my own magical ‘Family Moments’!”
3. Leave your name and email address for contact purpose.

Contest ends on 31 Jul 2013 and winners will be notified by email.

LG Optimus G Pro Review

Media Invite

I attended an exclusive media invite to preview the LG Optimus G Pro.

The LG Optimus G Pro is the first 5.5 inch smartphone that adopts a full HD IPS display delivering razor sharp images and wide viewing angles to bring about the most comfortable user experience.

New smart features include Picture-in-Picture Dual Camera and Recording, 360° photo taking with VR Panorama, Pause and Resume Recording to create one continuous video file, Smart Video that uses advanced eye recognition technology to control video play and QuickRemote, an all-in-one remote control equipped in a smartphone.

Some specs for the tech-junkies
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
- 3G with HSPA; LTE
- 5.5" 16M-color 1080p True HD IPS Plus FullHD capacitive touchscreen
- Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean
- Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 320 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset
- 13 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, Geotagging, Intelligent Auto, Image Stabilization, Time Catch Shot, Smart Shutter and VR panoramas
- 1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound; HDR mode, Dual recording
- 2.1 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
- 32GB of built-in storage; microSD card slot
- MHL-enabled microUSB port, USB host support
- Bluetooth v4.0
- Weights at 160g

Smart Control
- QuickRemote: Optimus G Pro is the world’s first smartphone that is equipped with an all-in-one remote control. After registering home appliances into the Optimus G Pro, the user can control the electronic devices through infrared signal. The QuickRemote supports up to nine home electronics such as TV sets, set-up boxes, air conditioners, audio visual equipment, projectors and blu-ray players form a variety of brands.
- Smart Video: With advanced eye recognition technology, Smart Video recognizes the position of the viewer’s eyes and automatically plays or stops the video without any manual input from the user.
- QSlide 2.0: The QSlide 2.0 function allows users to overlay two different screens simultaneously on one display, allowing users to do two things at once, such as send a text message or search the web while also watching a video.

Innovative Camera Features
- Dual Camera and Dual Recording: The Dual Camera and Dual Recording functions allow users to capture pictures or videos with both the front and rear cameras simultaneously. Users can now partake in the video during any special moments and capture all the wonderful expression made from both sides of the camera.
- VR Panorama: The VR Panorama function allows the creation of seamless and picturesque 360° view of scenic shots horizontally and vertically.
- Pause and Resume Recording: The Pause and Resume Recording feature allows for the recording of short snippets of videos which can then be viewed as one uninterrupted video, thereby reducing the time and effort taken to string the clips together to form a continuous running clip.

Battery Tests on the LG Optimus G Pro. The 3G talk time was pretty impressive with 20 hours and 45 mins. Web browsing is lower, only at 6 hours and 40 mins. Video playback time of 8 hours 40 mins is definitely a positive point.

Found this youtube video on the review of LG Optimus G Pro. Take a look.

Review

I had the Indigo Black handset to try out.

 

Take a look at the size difference between the LG Optimus G Pro and my iPhone5.

With the 5.5 inch screen, it is a new experience watching video.

Though the Optimus G Pro has a large screen, but the slim design enables user to still hold it comfortably on one hand.

The camera comes in the normal mode and also a Dual Camera mode.

The multi social platforms to share your photos.

One thing that really surprised me was the quality of the earphones that came along with the Optimus G Pro. LG believes in providing quality to compliment quality. Good move!

LG Optimus G Pro will be available in Singapore early July at $868. Wireless charging dock and cover sold separately.
For more information about LG Optimus G, please visit www.lg.com/sg.

Say Cheese Singapore!

Sponsored Review

Home grown dairy brand SCS has launched a series of programs to educate Singapore’s young children on the health benefits of eating cheese through the aptly named ‘Say Cheese Singapore!’ campaign.

The girls were too excited to see cheese, they didn’t give me the chance to take a photo of the hamper sent. Basically, the four flavours are Smokey BBQ, Original, Reduced Fat & Black Pepper.

Of the four flavours, the two more exotic and interesting ones are the Smokey BBQ & Black Pepper. Personally, I prefer the Black Pepper, you can taste the pepper but not spicy. BBQ tasted slightly less inviting, maybe because saltiness and BBQ doesn’t blend that well.

 

Not surprising, both the girls have their personal favourite as well. Joey chose the BBQ and Jayne chose Black Pepper (the younger one has a closer taste-liking as mine for quite several things).

Yummy!

Ooh! Nice!

 

I’m thankfully both my girls like to eat cheese, in fact they will eat it for breakfast almost every morning and sometimes even as snacks during the day or night. Eat right starts young! Thank you SCS!

About SCS
SCS Butter is one of the house brands under mainboard listed Auric Pacific Group Limited (APGL), which also owns other popular household brands like Sunshine Bread, Gourmet and Butte Cup. APGL also runs the Food Junction and Delifrance chains in Singapore.

SCS products are manufactured in Australia, ensuring high quality in all its products. While SCS butter remains a baking staple in Singapore, SCS is also launching new initiatives to reach out to a new generation of consumers for its butter, as well as new products. In the last few years, SCS has launched a successful range of other dairy products like SCS Spreadable Butter, SCS Cheese Slices (Original, Reduced Fat, Smoked BBQ and Black Pepper) and SCS Cream Cheese.