Christmas Tree Decoration using recycled materials

Happy New Year 2026! Every time when I stepped into the new year, I would have thoughts about what I can do, or do better in the new year, aka new year resolution. Among these thoughts would be a renewed effort to save the environment. This is sometimes ironic because December is a time for celebrations, and normally there would be excesses, be it food (buffets, pot lucks etc) or others like gift wrappers.

This time round, post Christmas, I have decided to reuse a few of the items and make a Christmas Tree decorations that I can definitely use in 2026. I had recycled that Nespresso capsule, i.e. one with a nicer design. Not much effort there except to dig out the used ground coffee and clean that aluminum capsule (the ground coffee is visible in the background). I had to widen that three holes in the aluminum capsule as a prep for the next step. The next reused item is a Christmas log cake deco piece with three round red "berries" and golden leaves. Finally I scraped some copper wires from an old spoilt electronic, which took some efforts because it is quite hard to peel off the rubber tubing.

Raw recycled materials

Next step is to poke the Christmas log cake deco straight into one of the three holes, and tie the copper wires around the deco, with both ends of the wires poked into the Nespresso capsule through the remaining two holes. I used a masking tape to tape the wire ends within the capsule (not visible in the photo). Viola, a usable and decent looking Christmas tree decoration for 2026!

Final product - Christmas Tree Deco

Ok, wish everyone a Happy New Year 2026 and great health throughout the entire year!

Disney Singapore, Cruise, MRT & More

It is year end and often times the period for celebratory events and promotions. So indeed it is nice to see many promo, and among them the ones by Disney stands out. We see Disney Cruise promotions, i.e. Disney Adventure (and the first such cruise in Asia) marketing materials on MRTs (see the photos below) although I think the actual start dates would be from March 2026 onwards. When the hype dies down (and prices become more affordable) I would want to book and experience it at least once.

Would be fun to have breakfast with the characters and have Disney themed rooms, much like those at the Disneyland hotels.

Disney Adventure - MRT 1

Disney Adventure - MRT 2

Disney has also launched promotions at Jewel Changi since November, and we have seen the Rain Vortex displays multiple times, complete with Marvel characters and such. I am not sure if they would refresh the displays by Feb in time for Chinese New Year.

And then I am surprised to see the Singapore exclusive Disney themed T-shirts at UT Uniqlo. I guess these would make good souvenirs for tourists to bring back home. Mickey at various locations like Emerald Hills, MBS, shophouses and many others, would form good designs for casual T-shirts affordable priced at $19.90.

Uniqlo Mickey Shophouse UT

Uniqlo Mickey Kaya Toast UT

Taking this chance to wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year 2026! Christmas in 5 days time!

Bus Breakdown - Complementary Ride

Ever wonder what would happen if the bus you took breaks down? It happened to me recently during one of my bus rides. Halfway through the journey, we heard the bus captain making some announcement and honestly those of us on the upper deck of the bus didnt pay any attention to it.

Then at the next bus stop, the bus stopped for a long time, and the captain walked up and said "Really sorry but the bus broke down" in mandarin. So we all have to leave. In fact some of the passengers were so "blur" that the captain had to walk up a second time to chase them out (politely). I translated the captain's message for some of the non-Chinese passengers.

Oh well, guess these things happen from time to time.

So what happened next? Heh, all the passengers could grab a ticket, that would let them take the next bus ride for free. Actually my card was not deducted at all for this particular trip - guess they did some magic at the back. The captain of the next bus was pretty surprised to see a crowd at this bus stop and the first few passengers just walked up without tapping their cards. He started collecting these complementary tickets from all of us boarding his bus. 

So this is how that bus ticket looks like. I havent had a bus ticket for such a long time ever since everything goes by that transit card payment.

Complementary Ride Ticket

New Food Goals 20 and 30 by 2035

Singapore's goals of "30 by 30", i.e. 30% of food to be sourced locally by 2030, was set in 2019, and after many years I guess they think it is no longer feasible to do so. Admittedly local vegetables continued to be priced higher than foreign imports - who could beat the prices from either China or just cheaper vegetables from our neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia?

Thus they changed the targets last week (4th Nov), to have 20% of fibres (defined as leafy vegetables and such, not including rooted veges and 30% of proteins to be sourced locally by 2035. 

Honestly I am a bit disappointed. It is possible if we truly aim for it. We have done so for water isnt it? As for the protein part, they said that eggs already exceeded the original target, i.e. about 34% of eggs are sourced locally. So indeed if we set our mind on some of these targets, it is actually possible to achieve them. The prices of locally produced vegetables could be controlled depending on the types of veges and of course the rent. Maybe NTUC could help to roll out more promotions (they did in Aug for the SG60 celebrations) too to support our local farmers.

Food prices have been rising, and the inflation of food, both raw ingredients and cooked, would continue to put a strain on our residents.

Hope fully the new targets could be met, and not just 'adjusted' along the way or pushed back further. Would keep an eye on the Food Statistics when it is next published.

 

Happy 60th Birthday Singapore!

Today is the 9th of August and Happy 60th Birthday to Singapore!!

I believe there are plenty of congratulatory notes all over the place and many of us (thos who didnt go overseas) would be looking forward to the National Day Parade at Padang this evening. The weather looks good thus far (dont jinx it!) and the fireworks will be fantastic, based on the views from past many weekends of pre-shows.

Taking this chance to continue showing support for locally made products, especially our vegetables and eggs! NTUC has been running many promotions for both vegetables and other locally produced food. They continued with the one for one - eggs, but it seems to have stopped for a number of NTUC outlets. I found this one at the Serangoon Nex (but the place is terribly crowded, definitely not my go to weekend grocery shopping place).

Chew's One for One Eggs - NTUC

The vegetables are on promotion too! I found the Green Harvest and Phyotgreen ones (nai bai, kai lan and others). Green Harvest offered free dou miao for any 2 packs of other vegetables bought. Heh our locally produced vegetables are pesticide free some more.

Well, not just locally produced vegetables and eggs, but we have plenty of other celebratory offers, including local favourites like chilli crab and durian flavoured food. So not surprising that fast food restaurants started with lots of chilli crab promotional food. I like the chendol flavoured ice cream cone from MacDonalds, and the chilli crab sauce seems authentic too.

Mac $1.30 Ice Cream Chendol Cone

Mac Chilli Sauce

So yup Happy Birthday once again Singapore! And looking forward to many many years of peace and prosperity for this Little Red Dot!! :)

Yours truly,

Little Red Dot Diaries

Luckin Coffee Available at NTUC

 I was somewhat surprised to see Luckin Coffee beind sold at NTUC. Heh nope not the normal version at the Luckin shops, but rather the different instant mix version. Even the Coconut flavour version (I thought unique and seasonal?) is available - per box of 9 cups being sold at $10.90 (discounted from $11.90). Not a bad thing but I wouldnt feel that uniqueness (or should I say experience) of getting a Luckin coffee via such an instant mix isnt it?

Luckin Coffee Coconut at NTUC

I can understand why Starbucks x Nespresso capsules work for some (me included) because all you want is a traditional coffee made quickly at home, i.e. an instant "cappuccino". Whereas the Luckin coffee experience is a different one - one order from their app prior to reaching the store with different vouchers to offset the price plus getting some varied flavour of the month. The latter would not be offered via a box of instant mix.

Oh well, who knows, maybe there are as many varied coffee drinkers with different preferences who might like it. Besides Coconut flavour, the mix traditional black coffee version is also available at $9.90 for 8 cups. Nope I didnt buy either - would still buy from their shop instead.

Luckin Instant Black Coffee

I think normal grocery food items being packaged with known brands is a thing - so while I was looking for that Demon Hunter Instant Ramen (not available yet), I came across this macadamia mixnuts with the Netflix brand instead. Maybe give them, i.e. Netflix, another month or so to get that spicy ramen flavours in all three versions right, and we would see them in stores all over. Heh with likes of Saja Boys' Your Idol topping the US charts, I think the related KPop Demon Hunter merchandise should be something made widely available soon.

NTUC Netflix Macadamia Mixnuts

More Eggs Promotion (Not Just Chicken Eggs) from NTUC

We eat eggs every day, from the half-boiled eggs with kaya toast to omelets and eggs fried into our fried rice. And it is a good thing that we started to have more supermarket promotions about eggs in this climate of increasing cost of living. The buy 2 and free 1 promotions seem to be on-going and I am glad. Buy 2 Get 1 Free extends to Chew's and Seng Choon. Rich or poor, eggs still form an important protein source for us and it is good efforts to keep the prices affordable.

Singapore imports large quantity of its eggs, supposedly more than 70%, from Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, and now even Poland, yup eggs air-flown from Europe. Not sure why though but it is a good thing that we diversify our food sources, especially for such an important ingredient like chicken eggs. Of course, beyond chicken eggs NTUC started running promotions for quail eggs too ($0.50 off for 2 packs purchased). I wonder if they are locally produced too.

Quail Eggs Promotion

We do have local farms for example names like Chew’s and Seng Choon although I wonder where does NTUC source its Pasar branded eggs from. Since the Pasar eggs are placed next to a sign with SG logo, I assumed they are locally produced too.

Besides eggs as a success story, hopefully the efforts to grow our vegetables farms can bear fruits one day, and we could continue to have access to affordable vegetables. Heh basic staples should be kept affordable.

See also:

- Support Local - Buy locally produced vegetables & eggs