Category Archives: Reviews

October Babies Bash: [Review] The Private Kitchen Catering

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The Private Kitchen Catering set up

With every event, obviously we’d need to think about food! Our catering decision was a little last minute as we had to see how much budget we had left.

So so so thankful that The Private Kitchen was able to take us in at such late notice! And if you are looking for good food and awesome service? They have got it. Mind you, this is not a sponsored post hor. We paid for the catering, though Lynda, the founder, was kind enough to provide us with some freebies!

Firstly, service. When I first looked at their menu, I was a little crestfallen. None of the packages fit our budget. Hahah. Like damn cham can. Like how were we going to feed 65 adults, 21 kids and 43 toddlers! Okay, granted the mummies would have prepped food for the toddlers lah. But still a significant number of people.

I spoke with Lynda about our event, the number of adults, kids and toddlers. We discussed the menu according to our budget and I thought I’d try my luck and ask if they could cook a simple dish and cater to the toddlers. To be honest, I have never heard of anyone doing it before. And oh my tian, Lynda decided to step up to it. She informed me that she will prepare something for the toddlers.

Woah. Okay!

As we went through the menu, she also made sure that the menu she suggested would be suitable for the kids. Instead of a sweet & sour fish, she suggested a fish fillet and fish balls as finger foods for the kids. She also proposed that we did 50% noodles, 50% fried rice so that we would have more variety.

For the toddlers, it was something very simple. A porridge cooked in chicken stock, potato and carrots. No msg. And she even asked if around 200ml per toddler was sufficient! That morning of the event, she went and taste tested the porridge, took a picture and sent it to me.

So much love!

morning taste test

It was genuinely a pleasure liasing with her. There was a lot of thought going into this catering process and the mummies definitely appreciated it! There were a lot of cheer going on within our chatgroup when they found out they didn’t need to wake up early to prep food for the toddlers! Hahaha, extra sleep is a bonus hor!

Soo, let the photos do the talking and there is a Christmas & Lunar New Year 2018 promo that I’ll share with you after!

yummy food!

Top left to right: No MSG! (must stress that!)
Set up, Fried Rice, Emperor Noodles
Chicken Curry, Spinach Tofu, Fish Fillet
Fishballs, Complimentary Cream puffs,White Fungus Apple Longan Dessert,  Porridge

We also had pink guava juice which I didn’t take photos of.

Close up!

The spinach tofu, chicken curry and noodles were a hit! I loved the dessert cos it was so refreshing after emceeing/yelling my head off hahaha.

Yummy porridge suitable for our palate and tummies!

Nyuuum

Mummy gets to enjoy too!

I have to give it to the crew who climbed up 2 flights of stairs to the function room. Just two of them and they were lugging it and down. Xin ku ni men le!

All empty!

Were the portions enough? To be honest, we can’t tell. We did feel that they weren’t enough cos some of us didn’t get to it much, or didn’t get to eat any at all! But we can’t tell if there was enough and there just wasn’t any food left cos the food was too yummy that people ate more than what was enough for them. Hahaha. So you know ah, if you order from The Private Kitchen, fastest fingers first hor! We had mummies tabaoing the curry chicken home (oh the bottom bits were the best, cos all the good stuff is at the bottom!), and porridge too! I didn’t even get to eat the cream puffs! Lynda had so kindly given us some cream puffs as desserts for the kids!

GO WHERE AND FIND SUCH THOUGHTFUL CATERER?? The committee members were very impressed. I am really glad we went with them.

So yes, for the Christmas & Lunar New Year promo! The Private Kitchen is offering the following:

Christmas Promo
– complimentary Delightful Christmas Chocolate Cream Puffs with orders above $250

Lunar New Year 2018 Promo
– complimentary Fortune Ingots with orders above $388 (the ingots are like fried dumplings)

For more information:

Website

Facebook:

Contact: 6659 1418

Category: Food, Reviews, Special

October Babies Bash: [Review] Offspring Natural + Giveaway

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Diaper model..or not.

You might have seen their ads popping up on your instagram or Facebook feed in July. Cute diaper prints. It definitely caught my attention. And I thought WTH. Let’s give it a shot. I mean, these are cheaper than the ones from Honest Co, nearer to me and they look damn chic AF.

I bit the bullet and bought my first bundle together with some mummies. Free shipping if you spent RM150 and above. Easy to hit leh.

Our first order!

I haven’t looked back since. Diaper changing has never gotten more fun. Hahaha. I mean, how often do you get to say ‘hmm..I think we’ll wear the lemon print ones today.’??

Walk-in Wardrobe for her diapers.

What do I love about it? Again, another environmentally conscious company. They take care to use sustainable materials, and animal cruelty free.

” Fashionable designer prints; created with ink that’s free of lead and heavy metal

Ultra-Breathable inner and outer diaper layers; made with woodpulp from FSC certified sustainable forests (FSC C133010)

Completely free of dyes, fragrances, lotions, chloride, phthalates, optical brighteners and latex.”

And all these at a fairly affordable price. I’m serious. Have you seen how much 7th Generation diapers cost?? This is comparing apple to apple hor.

Swimming in diapers

When I approached Offspring Natural, I wasn’t sure how they would react. Hahah I mean, a Malaysian company sponsoring a Singaporean event? And with only 45 mummies to boot? Gotta be kidding right? But I had hoped they would be willing to sponsor us some trial pack of diapers so that we could share with our mummies. Some of the mummies who bought together with me are in the committee and we thought the diapers were awesome!

diaper prints galoooore

They got back to me and they went above and beyond. I am so so mindblown by what they sent. A gift box full of stuff like this.

Offspring Gift Box

I was shocked when the courier came with so many cartons. I was wondering if I had accidentally placed additional orders of diapers. Not possible lah, but you never know!

Beyond that, now let me tell you why you should give Offspring Natural diapers a chance.

They are really quite soft. Soft in the way of cushy. Some of the diapers we have tried before feel plasticky and like the waist bad is a little scratchy. I’m sure diapers have come a long way, and most of them have improved the diapers. The only area of concern is the fasteners which is a little scratchy (doesn’t get on the skin). It’s just made it easier for Sarah to peel the diaper off cos it has some friction. Gaah, bad Sarah!

They have held up for us for day and night wearing. After a whole night of wee and sleeping in an air-conditioned room, she wakes up with a heavy diaper and dry bum. Yaay. I did press my palm down on the heavy diaper and was happy to just feel a cool sensation (not wet) and my palm was dry after I lifted it off.

They are thin. It makes putting on shorts, tights and leggings easier without the extra poufyness of diapers. Which ALSO means that I can easily put more diapers in the diaper clutch too! But hey, if you want even thinner ones, they have Ultra Thin diapers too! Size wise, I do find them to be on the generous fit side.

L size: Pampers Premium vs Offspring Natural

It doesn’t seem to have a funky smell after it is full. I’ve tried a few other brands of diapers prior to making the switch. Different diapers for different age due to cost and usage basically. Well obviously pee has the smell of ammonia. With previous brands I used, it always seemed to be ammonia mixed with some other smell. I do a fair bit of sniffing wet diapers no thanks to the boys getting UTI when they were infants. Since then, I have been sniiffing wet diapers whenever they had a fever. Just in case.

FML seriously. Smell stinky poop butt not enough, also gotta smell wee.

So yeah, Offspring diapers just didn’t seem to have that kind of ‘other’ smell. Just wee.

Recently, they launched fashion pants diapers. My heart squealed but I think my wallet died a little. LOL. Of course I had to get some. The pants I find a little narrow on Sarah for size L. Will be switching her to XL to see how it works for her!

Some of the babies in their fashion pants!

To share the generousity of our sponsor, we’ll love to give away a goodie bag worth $175 which includes the Offspring Natural gift box! The gift box consists of

– Fashion Diaper Trial set
– Baby Essentials Trial pack
– 20 pcs Wipes
– Featherlite Ultrathin Pants
– a special discount code!

Gift box comes with diapers in either size L or XL only.

what’s in our goodie bag!

If you wish to try out the Offspring Natural diapers, they are having a sale from 8 – 15 Dec 2017! You can also use my referral code here. I do receive referral credits for each successful referral and you will also receive a first purchase discount of RM10. (Psst, save the RM10 for another purchase cos the 12.12 discount is better!)

Major plus point is free shipping to SG if you spend RM150 and above! If you are worried that you will have to buy only pants OR tape diapers, don’t worry. You can mix and match a bundle, like 4 packs of tape & 2 pants, or half and half. You even get to choose the designs you want and mix the sizes. It is all in your hands! Best buy liao.

Simply:
1. Like the Facebook pages of Just Some Tings & Offspring Natural 
2. Leave a comment on my Facebook page; tell me how many fashion diaper prints there are and what other prints you would like to see on the diapers!
3. Giveaway closes 22 Dec 2017. Winners will be picked at random.
4. Winners to self-collect the items due to size and weight.

Disclaimer: These products were sponsored for the October 2016 Mummies & Monsters bash. No monetary benefits were received for this review. All opinions are made by me. 

Category: Giveaway, Reviews

October Babies Bash: [Review] Bio-Home + Giveaway

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When I decided to approach the team from bio-home, it was because I had already been using the products and thought..there should be something for mummies inside our goodie bag! I started using their dishwashing detergent shortly after we moved back to Singapore, and gradually included their range of products to my household cleaning. So this review is legit one hor!

Dishwashing Detergent

When we were living in Australia, we were using Earth Choice. We could get it in Singapore but it was soooo expensive then (haven’t considered it again ever since). Urgh. I was basically looking out for a more natural detergent, with a low impact on the environment, and without breaking the bank. Usually it’s the cost that outweighs everything else.

My family uses another brand with a lemony scent. Well, granted that brand really cleans the dishes well, but it made my hands really dry and tight after washing.

Then! I came across bio-home at my aunt’s place. The green tea and bergamot smelt really really good, something light. And best of all, it felt really gentle on my hands! I liked that it doesn’t really leave that soapy sensation on your hands after rinsing off. You know, that slimy soapy feeling after you have used some hand soap? That feeling. I don’t think I looked back since. The pump is really easy to use, and we usually only need a small amount of liquid to wash a lot of dishes. It removes grease fairly well too! Best is it is not too expensive when it is on promo! #auntiemode

I knew that they had other products as well, but we were using an organic range then, so we didn’t really want to make the switch. It wasn’t until I received samples of their kitchen cleaner, laundry detergent and floor cleaner that I decided to make the switch.

Floor cleaner.

Having kids, It was really really really hard to find a floor cleaner that I was comfortable with. After Oliver was mobile, we invested in a stupidly heavy steam and vacuum cleaner. The floor was spotless and super squeaky clean, all without any chemicals. Just water and we are good to go. It’s a no wonder I didn’t gain much weight during that year okay. I was lugging 12kg around to clean the house and each time it would take me 2 hours to clean just the floors.

Looking back..WHAT WAS I THINKING.

Then I decided..okay, let’s get the one that my mom used. And for some reason, it left a weird residue after mopping. I would have just mopped the floor and yet when I walked over the cleaned portion, I could see footprint marks. Damn you, glossy floors. I just damn BTH (buay tahan) to see footprints on freshly mopped floors. This was despite mixing the detergent with hot water or cold water (I thought it made a difference lah).

I changed to an organic floor cleaner with essential oil which worked as a disinfectant. But the oil also left a residue! ARGH. So not fated. Doesn’t help that I grew up in a home with squeaky floor so I have pretty high standards when it comes to clean floors.

I’ve only recently switched to the bio-home floor cleaner last year, and I can say I’m super happy with it! And I’ve been happy for the boys to dip their hands into it to help me mop the floor. Cos it’s all plant-based and baby safe too! I get my clean, residue free, squeaky floor. Oh and it doesn’t leave any watermarks when it dries up! It’s just clean glossy floors.

Kitchen Cleaner

We’ve also been using the kitchen cleaner to occasionally give our counter tops a good wipe. Most of the times we just use a wet towel to wipe down the counter tops after dinner. On days where there is remnants of breakfast, lunch and dinner on the counter tops, I give the surfaces a good spritz and let it sit for a while. Then just a wet towel and wipe everything off. Simple! We also use it to clean our gas stove after cooking, especially when I do some heavy cooking and there are oil splatters around. It does help to degrease the stove.

Though…please don’t try it on greasy floors. Before I bought the floor cleaner, I thought since this works well on the stove and counter top, it should work fine on the floor right? Wah liew..I spent a lot of time wiping it off the floor hahaha. I dunno what is the difference between the kitchen cleaner and the floor cleaner in terms of ingredients, but heck, there is a difference. Kitchen and floor cleaners should just be..what they are. Was just me being DAMN geh kiang..

If I’m hardworking enough…I’ll remove everything off the counter tops and give it a good wipe down, removing dust and all. Just so you know, we have quartz counter tops so this has been fairly safe for us to use so far! No staining, or corrosion. My counter tops still look pretty!

Laundry detergent

mmMMM. Laundry detergent that smells so nice. Nothing too artificial smelling. Before we had kids, we were using regular laundry detergent. Then Quentin came along and..well, we all know about his sensitive skin, so we had to play around and switch laundry detergents. Organic, epsom salts/baking soda-esque. The epsom salts type worked for him but they came in powdered form. And I reaaally really don’t like powdered detergent. I just get the idea that they will clump up somewhere and not dissolve. I mean I could be wrong but I can’t see how it works inside the washing machine so..haha.

I gave the bio-home laundry detergent a shot and hoped for the best. We have been using it since earlier this year, so far so good! It’s not too expensive, we use about 1.5 caps for a 9kg washing machine. Laundry comes out smelling really nice and it’s not just me who says it! Haha fellow mummy who received 2nd hand clothes from me also said it smells awesome.

What I really like about bio-home is that it is environmentally friendly. I am environmentally conscious in that I have a box for recycling in my kitchen, we use recyclable bags and we reuse/repurpose anything where possible. So the fact that this range of household cleaning products have a low impact on the environment is already a tick on my books.

But please please, can we have refill packs?

Facebook Giveaway

As I mentioned, we have had extras from our goodie bags, and I would love to share them on with mummies who wish to try! I have up for grabs 5 sampler packs like the ones below.

These sampler packs consist of:
1 x Laundry Detergent, Delicate (for delicate clothes, baby clothes and people with sensitive skin!)
1 x Floor Cleaner
1 x Dishwashing Liquid
1 x Multi-surface Cleaner

Simply:
1. Like the Facebook pages of Just Some Tings & bio-home
2. Tell me which product you have used or which products you would like to use, and why.
3. Giveaway closes 12 Dec 2017. Winners will be picked at random.

Disclaimer: These sampler packs were sponsored for the October 2016 Mummies & Monsters bash. No monetary benefits were received for this review. All opinions are made by me. 

Category: Giveaway, Reviews