Cavalock and The Canned Chardonnany Complex

Chardonnay in a can! And just in time for Christmas too! This latest offering from Japanese brewery Kirin caught my eye in Meidi-Ya recently. Nah, I didn't grab a can although at a little less than five bucks, I thought it's a pretty good deal. A little history bout the Kirin canned chardonnay, it was first introduced way back in 2003 with 5% white grape juice.

As usual, spotted lottsa other snacks that I don't think I have seen elsewhere. There's some new veggie Pretz sticks, cans of coffee with Japanese celebrities on them, crazy chutney flavours as well as fruit and ginger nuts digestive biscuits. I say if you wanna throw a party and are bored with the usual snacks at NTUC Fairprice or Cold Storage, then you can find some really funky stuff here. Trust me, your guests won't stop talking bout the canned chardonnany for days.

Time to geek out now with these "Lego" minifigures I bought for less than 3 bucks each! Well, if you are a Lego collector, you would probably be able to tell that this ain't the real deal, yup, they are knockoffs, fakes or copies of the very popular Lego superheroes minifigures lineup. But make no mistake folks, these are very good copies. The design and look are all based on actual existing figures so they are all almost spot on. Now since the official Lego superhero minifigures usually come as part of a Lego boxed set, it's not easy to find them sold as singles and even if you do, they ain't cheap.

The above Bizarro (evil fake Superman, hah, fake fake Lego Superman! Hey, is that an oxymoron?) minifigure is based on an exclusive Lego piece that was only released during Comic Con 2012. You can spend hundreds of dollars to get the real deal on eBay or just pay over two bucks for a pretty damn good copy of one. A lot of my friends are buying them up like hot cakes; as gifts to kids, for checker board pieces, office display, etc. It's always great to find a cheaper alternative!

I got me a classic blue and grey Batman too. Kinda weird to see a Batman figure come with gun accessories. Bizarro came with the Krytonite crystal. Then the day after I bought the DC minifigures, I found good ol' Thor on sale for only S$2.50. Wish I could find Loki too and yes, there are fake Loki minifigures out there. Like I said, if you are a superhero fan or a Lego fan who don't wanna spend a small fortune on minifigures, and if you aren't that fussy, this is something worth getting.

Cavalock and The Postcard Butterfly Effect

It's getting closer to Christmas and we be baking our ever-popular Bacardi rum-soaked fruitcakes all this week and next. A big thank you to everyone who ordered one (or two!).

Now I actually uncovered this stash of vintage postcards from the old family home couple months back. Tried to find out exactly how old they are but not much luck, figured they are at least 50 years old, looking at their condition and style. They are all from either England or Switzerland. The ones with the little kids or babies do look kinda creepy.

I really like these butterflies postcards cos they are all actually perforated or cut-outs. I gotta be real careful handling them cos it's pretty easy for the cut-outs to fall out.

Cavalock and The Retro Christmas Sale

It's almost Christmas and I'm gonna be putting up some of the vintage retro items that I found in the old family home over the last year!

What we got here is a complete set of Zodiac-themed porcelain plates, mocha cups and saucers from famous German Hutschenreuther brand.

They are all unused and still in their original boxes; I believe they are from the 1970s and each is an exquisite vintage porcelain piece portraying one of the 12 Zodiac signs. They are also part of the "Poetic Porcelain" collection by designer Ole Winther. According to folklore, singles back in the 70s were pretty much into the Zodiac as popularise by that famous pick-up line in bars during that time, "hey gorgeous, what's your sign?" :)

Anyway, back to the plates, I have searched online extensively and I have only seen a few single plates going for about S$40 per piece. But I have also never come across anyone selling whole collections like this. Thus making them the perfect gift for the family who already has everything. Well, I'm selling my family's entire collection for only S$500, that's 36 pieces of designer porcelain at about only S$13 each. I don't intend to sell any singles so that means I won't be breaking the set up.

Don't forget I still got other vintage goodies for sale here and the blue whiskey glasses here are for sale too. All four blue glasses going for just S$32.

So last month I finally made my long awaited MacArthur-like return to Johor Bahru after like decades away. Although we only spent Saturday morning and early afternoon there I really enjoyed myself. The roadside fruits stalls and hawkers all made for a most welcome post-breakfast stopover before we started our shopping. Most of our time was spent at Tesco supermarket or rather the mall that Tesco was a tenant. Once I stepped into the mall, I swear I have never seen so many shops selling smartphone accessories in my life. Plus Beats By Dre headphones going for like S$30 only! Dozens of them in almost every shop! And shops here have the gall to sell them at crazy inflated prices like over a couple hundred bucks! I knew there was no way anyone would be dumb enough to pay over a hundred bucks for a pair of headphones. Hope the shops here learn a lesson from across the causeway and set prices closer to reality. ;)

Cavalock and The Uncanny Crab Compendium

Who knew there are so many different local ways to prepare crabs? I sure didn't. Me and the guys were having dinner at Mellben Seafood over at Ang Mo Kio when I saw this at the back of their menu. Some I have tried, others I have never even heard of, like Tomato Sauce Crab and Claypot Curry Crab. Although I don't think I'll be in a rush to try the tomato sauce one.

By the way, the restaurant also has a 'wall of shame' with CTV photos of patrons who left without paying. Most look like PRC couples, hey, just sayin'.

Was going through the old family home kitchen last week and found this lot inside a drawer. I think any collector of beer paraphernalia would certainly appreciate these. Beer bottle openers from Gosser Beer, Amstel Holland Beer, Orange Smash and our very own Tiger Beer.

Cavalock goes Back on The Neighbourhood Breakfast Trail

With all the new cafes and hipster coffee joints opening in my neighbourhood of Jalan Besar and Arab Street, breakfast out can be quite an expensive affair especially if you are a big breakfast guy like me. Heard about this relatively new joint along Kandahar Road called Dong Po Colonial Cafe and decided to drop by for a late breakfast a few days ago.

They had that retro shanghai vibe and decor going. I got nothing against that as I don't usually let a restaurant's deco influence my dining experience, yah, I guess that's another reason why I can never be a food blogger. Gosh, ah hear them food bloggers devote a whole lotta big fancy words just to describe the inside of a deli, youse know what ah mean?

Anyway I rather enjoyed my late morning breakfast. The bread butter pudding would fill any mere mortal's stomach but I always knew I was more than that so I had the above kaya toast as well as 2 eggs and a cuppa tea. There's also the almond french toast and a little tea cake which I was told you eat by dipping it in coffee. Total cost was just a little over S$12 for a hearty traditional local breakfast for two, still slightly cheaper than heading to McDonald's. Seeing all that tasty pastries in the showcase is a sure way of getting me over again for another visit in the very near future.

Been a while since I posted any of my 80-year-old Dad's wildlife shots. Besides the Bird Park, he has been hanging out at the Botanic Gardens too. Some friends have suggested that I sell some of his shots as prints, would anyone be interested in them if I do?

Cavalock and The Fred Flintstone Delicacy

Remember all those vintage jello moulds I found in the old family home? Well, I uncovered another classic mould and this one I definitely remember from my childhood. It's a Fred Flintstone jello mould! Although I don't think kids today know who he is and that's just plain sad. I think I got it from a 1980 cereal box. Well, naturally I did the only thing possible and that's to make more jello, this time using the moulds that I didn't use previously.

Tried some blueberry flavoured jello which turned out rather strong. Next time I'll use a lighter coloured jello too as you can't really the outline here. Still a yabba dabba doo moment! See the little seeds in one of the jellos, that's actually chia seeds and not the traditional kiwi seeds. Yah, that's my little version of a healthy snack. <^;^>

Speaking of snacks, I still got more pix from my last visit to Meidi-ya on more groceries that you usually can't find elsewhere on the island. I believe that's some smartphone app game tie-in with Pocky and I just think that 'eat you' pix is the best. The Marmite and Guinness crisps were mighty enticing until I remembered I'm more a Brovil kinda guy. Just add milk, instant cereal bowls for those who without bowls?

Cavalock and The Hair Jam Mystery

Comes a time when a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do and in my case it was an overdue medical checkup. Spent 30 hours at Raffles Hospital last week and it actually turned out be more like a mini-bed breakfast stay, especially since all my manly bits appear to be in working order so that made the experience a somewhat pleasant one. I got a whole room all for myself, a nice view and three square meals plus afternoon tea and all the water I can drink. Managed to catch We're The Millers and Agatha Christie's Poirot on the iPad as well as finally reading Poe's classic Fall of The House of Usher.

Yah, once a gamer, always a gamer even when laid up in a hospital bed. <^;^>

Well, its been at least a month since I checked out what's new at Meidi-Ya supermarket. So I dropped by over the weekend and saw these couple of ... er ... unique items on sale. Gatsby's new hairdo cream, wax, mousse or whatever, I have no idea! It's called Hair Jam and since I can't open it, I can only imagine it looks or feels like jam?!? Then there's the very tempting Apple Potato Pie, three of my favourite foods in one. I would have gotten it except the almost S$30 price tag kinda freaked me out. That's not exactly a very big pie.

Cavalock and The Rise of The Hackivists

Our local government wasn't the only one who had their hands busy dealing with all things Internet, fortunately it wasn't hackers that I spent most of my online time with. I was emailing the tech support folks at Blizzard to fix my account so that I could get into the Beta version of their next big game Hearthstone, Heroes of Warcraft.

Like I said, it has been quite a tech-y last few weeks for me. After four years, my little red Nespresso machine has finally decided to give up on me. Luckily Nespresso has a trade-in offer where you get S$120 off the new machine once you hand over the old one when they deliver it to your home, yup, they do deliveries too. Plus they gave 16 free capsules!

And I finally got the official Lego iPhone case for my iPhone 5S! Got the iPhone 5S on the first day of launch without even having to queue cos I only wanted the boring space grey colour one that apparently no one else wants. I actually held off getting the iPhone 5 cos I couldn't find a Lego case for it. The tactile surface of my old iPhone 4 Lego case gave it such an easy and comfortable grip.

Anyway, back to the hacking, I find it rather amusing that the local government press has decided to call the hackers "hackivists". I have never heard of that word until today. Now I like to consider myself pretty well read as I do pick up the occasional copy of WIRED magazine that is if I happen to be at the dentist's waiting room once a year. But seriously, what's wrong with the more familiar 'hackers'? Is it like calling flooding "ponding"? I'm thinking maybe the older senior folks in the newsroom remember the 1995 film Hackers starring a young Angelina Jolie. Hackers were good guys in the movie so maybe they had come up with a new word for evil hackers. So the next time, if there's a news story about evil joggers, they'll be "jogivits". Nasty bus drivers could well be "bus drivivists" in disguise. Any others?