What You Need to Know About the Famous Milk Tea

Posted by Editor on Mar 16th, 2018 in Favourite Lifestyle | 0 comments

Milk tea has been enjoying a rise in popularity over recent years. In Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the drink is notably well-loved that you can find milk tea stalls almost all over the nation.
Also commonly called as Bubble tea or simply “Boba”, its sweet taste is enough to attract more and more avid milk tea lovers by the day. Even westerners have acknowledged it may just become the next “big” drink sold out in the market.

Origin
Bubble tea has been around for about 30 years. The drink was first created in Taiwan during the 80’s, commonly called as milk tea. It is made out of fresh brewed tea, sugar, and milk – later shaken with ice to serve ice-cold. The initial process of preparing bubble tea paved way for the name to come up. As the tea is shaken, a froth forms atop the drink. The namesake is attributed to that bubble froth and thus the name, bubble tea.

Toppings
Milk tea’s original topping is the tapioca pearls. They are these little, sweet black balls often seen at the bottom of the drink. It is made from cassava root and rolled in a ball-shape figure before it is cooked to achieve its chewable texture. Shortly afterwards, it is also flavored with various syrup and sugar. The most common flavoring used is either brown sugar or sugar extract. The chewy texture of tapioca pearls can be likened to a sweet Japanese dessert, Mochi.

However, as time shifted, so did the taste buds of milk tea lovers. Milk tea stalls now offer jellies, pudding, and a rock salt and cheese froth as toppings on your drink. The jellies are made out of nata de coco (commonly imported from the Philippines) which is a coconut-water based treat. In order to jellify the coconut water, it is fermented without the presence of gelatin. The sweet jellies are later flavored with juiced and fruit syrups, and it is also considered gluten-free and vegan!

Common Flavor
Considered as the original flavor of bubble tea, classic milk tea remains the most popular variant among milk tea lovers. It is made out of black tea combined with evaporated milk and sugar. The strong black tea is brewed and strained, and in order to cool down the drink, the liquid is pulled. Evaporated milk is then added in order to make it creamier and thicker. It’s a well-balanced flavor between the bitterness of the tea and the sweetness of the milk and sugar, making it a top-selling flavor.

Top Franchises in Singapore

Posted by Editor on Feb 13th, 2018 in All About Singapore | 0 comments

Singapore is a great place to set up a franchise. The market in Singapore is unbelievably huge. With a huge population despite it’s size, setting up a franchise in the perfect location could easily keep your business healthy. Singapore is very brand oriented which means that having a popular brand is a must if you want to have a successful business in Singapore. Of course, the downside of franchising is the lack of personal input since you are duplicating a business that is already successful. But if you are after money, then franchising is definitely something for you.

In this article, we will be talking about the top franchises that actually originated in Singapore! You don’t need to invest in a foreign company to get a pretty successful franchise. All you need to do is pick the right one from the very country you’re in, Singapore.

Here are a few of the top franchises in Singapore:

1. Old Chang Kee
Old Chang Kee is famous for serving Singapore’s top snacks. Of course, why wouldn’t there be a franchise that focuses on selling something people eat everyday? They have a really interesting selection of fried curry puffs, chicken wing, sotong, fish ball, nuggets, and more! Old Chang Kee has even been able to expand to Australia, Malaysia, and also Indonesia.

2. Prima Deli
A fusion of Singaporean Asian, French and Western business which sells pastries, buns, cakes and bread. Prima Deli is an inspiring tale of a home-grown bakery franchise that has started to get recognition and grow beyond the founder’s expectations.

3. Ya Kun Kaya Toast
We don’t know about you, but we definitely love breakfast! Ya Kun Kaya serves amazing classic Singaporean breakfast like toast, soft boiled eggs, and coffee. Another fun fact about this place is that it makes you feel like you can have breakfast any time of the day! Ya Kun Kaya is of Hainanese origin and now has 70 outlets across seven countries including Malaysia, South Korea, and Taiwan

4. Toast Box
Famous for it’s Nanyang coffee, this franchise also focuses on serving the best classical Singaporean breakfast! As for Toast Box versus Ya Kun Kaya, we can not say which one is the best. You’ll just have to find out for yourself!

5. Pezzo
Pizza is one of the greatest franchises around the world which is why Pezzo is an amazing franchise! Pezzo serves pizza in nine different toppings! Imagine having that much toppings to choose from! Well, it may not be a lot, but for a franchise, Pezzo does pretty good!

Here are the top franchises in Singapore that originated in Singapore itself! Why not hit the mall and check them out?

Living a Better Life By Smiling

Posted by Editor on Feb 13th, 2018 in Self-Improvement | 0 comments

Smiles are very powerful! Have you ever looked into the eyes of someone you love or admire and they suddenly give you that genuine smile glowing in all splendor and sort of blinding everything around them? Well, that’s the power of the smile. From displaying affection to a simply reassurance, a smile can mean a lot to us.

We Don’t Smile Often Enough
Everyone has the ability to smile but some of them sadly choose the path of a more melancholic and serious approach. Smiling doesn’t hurt anyone at all. In fact, a smile is contagious. Have you ever had a moment when you aren’t feeling too happy then somebody passes by with a genuine smile? That could definitely shift your mood around! A smile is very important!

Smiles are healthy way to communicate in a positive language. Just as you’re expected to keep a straight face when you are the bringer of bad news, you should also be able to smile when you are trying to relate positivity towards others. Everyone should smile for at least five minutes a day! Okay, maybe not straight five minutes, but then again people should smile more often.

Smiling Helps in All Aspects of Life
Even in business a smile is very important to showcase respect and understanding towards a certain topic. Not everybody likes to smile. Let’s face it, some people just don’t like smiling at all. This is something that should be changed! Just like how we cry when we are sad, our body reacts in a way that makes us smile when we are happy.
Babies are a perfect example of communication through only two actions. Babies either smile/laugh or cry. As easy as that! Babies display either a positive response through smiling or a negative response through crying. Behind the complexity of our language, the basic communication we use to convey a positive message will always be through smiling.

A Life Without Smiles is Miserable
Going a day without smiling is definite torture and nobody should have to go through that. Some people just can’t find something to smile about. This is understandable for others because of the situational hardships they are going through and although we can’t force people to smile, we ourselves can smile for them and at them. Have you ever tried smiling at a stranger?

Was it weird? Well, it shouldn’t be! You should try to smile more often and to as many people as you can. Start your day off with a smile and end your day with a smile and you’ll see how much it can affect your daily life from the way you think to the way you move. Live life with a smile.

Pros and Cons of Machine Washing and Dry Cleaning

Posted by Editor on Jan 24th, 2018 in Clothing | 0 comments

Commercial laundry services in Singapore offers more than just laundry pick up and laundry delivery. Usually, wash and fold services also includes the following options: machine-wash, dry cleaning, laundry for spa, steam-cleaning, spot-cleaning, pressing, uniform laundry, and linen washing.

Most 24 hour laundry service primarily use washing machines for their customers, but there are other available options for fabrics that cannot be washed with water and water-based detergent. Let’s look at three options.

Machine Washing

Commercial laundry services use high-efficiency washers that have more features than most residential-type washing machines. Front-loader washing machines for example, will need less water, but it has a faster spin and shorter drying time. However, this can also pose a problem for self-service laundry service customers because the waiting time is longer.

This means that because the washing machine is using less water, the wash cycles have to be longer. If you do not have the time for self-service laundry, you can opt for a laundry pick up and laundry delivery service in Singapore like www.laundryfirst.sg that offers 24 hour laundry service. Washing machines used in commercial laundry services can hold at least 25 pounds of clothing per cycle, so don’t worry if you haven’t visited the laundry service for more than a week.

Before taking your clothes and linen to the laundry shop, however, you need to remember which fabrics can be safely machine-washed or hand-washed in water-based detergent, because not all materials are suitable for such a method. Even waterproof items can be damaged when loaded in a washing machine because of the excessive agitation and shaking. Always check the care label instructions on the tags before taking your soiled clothes and linen to the nearest commercial laundry services shop in Singapore.

Take note of washer and dryer combinations as well when reading the labels, because some fabrics can be washed in washing machines, but should not be machine-dried. Before the clothes are washed, the staff will sort through the clothes and pre-treat the stains. Depending on the type of laundry service you need, the clothes will also be ironed or pressed, folded, and repaired. Most cotton blends and polyester blends can be machine-washed, but fabrics such as lace, satin, and chiffon should not be ironed.

Dry Cleaning

Dry cleaning got its name from the use of a chemical solvent instead of a water-based detergent. This method is also popular in commercial laundry services because it’s fast, effective, and will not damage a variety of delicate fabrics. Not all fabrics should be soaked or washed in water because they tend to degrade, shrink or stretch. Furthermore, some fabrics that can be washed in water-based detergent should not also be machine washed because they are delicate and cannot withstand the washing cycle.

Fabrics that can be dry-cleaned include linen, rayon, silk, and wool. However, fabrics with polyurethane, plastic, and PVC cannot be dry-cleaned because they will deteriorate. If machine-wash and hand-wash are not the best options, or if the care label instructions say that the fabric is a dry clean-only fabric, then you should take it to dry cleaning laundry service. Dry cleaning can also be used for other types of fabric that can be machine-washed, such as uniform laundry, towel washing, and linen washing.

Regardless of your preferred method, make sure to read every clothing piece’s care label. It gives you directions on how to use wash and clean your garments properly without compromising its condition.

How Do You Know You Need Counselling?

Posted by Editor on Dec 21st, 2017 in Psychological Matters | 0 comments

A lot of individuals seek counselling from a recommended psychologist recognize that they need help to face certain challenges in their lives. The same could also be said for married couples – every couple has their own rough times, after all, and sometimes the only way that certain problems can be resolved is by consulting a psychologist.

Communication is an important part of marriage. A visit to a psychologist is often what allows for the restoration of open communication when it has become compromised due to certain problems, such as the following:

Fighting as the only way towards emotional connection
Married couples who are afraid of showing each other their emotional vulnerability will often turn to frequent fighting. This fear of showing emotional vulnerability could stem from a lot of factors, all of which only end up in the relationship deteriorating and the marriage potentially ending in separation and/or divorce if not resolved through marriage counselling. This constant emotional turmoil affects their children, which may in turn require a child psychologist.

Anger is a purposeful behavior allowing a person to direct the energy needed for any motivation or change. It is neither good nor bad in and of itself. What makes it bad is when it creates problems for the married couple, and anger is often exhibited as a recourse to avoid showing vulnerability.

One way that anger can be linked to emotional vulnerability is when a person bottles up all of his/her emotions until a certain phenomenon angers them, releasing these hidden and/or repressed emotions. This could be exhibited during counselling at the www.center4psy.com in Singapore as a response to coercive behavior exhibited by the other partner, though there could be other reasons.

Another way that anger could be a problem is that if a partner constantly uses anger to achieve certain ends for the short-term. If the only time you’re able to connect with your spouse is in the middle of a heated argument, you need to seek relationship counselling services in Singapore.

Problems in prioritizing each other
You may have developed problems in prioritizing your partner if you let your job, children, or anything else take priority, and especially so if you do not prioritize your partner compulsively or because you happen to be upset with them in some way, whether you know it or not.

While married couples can’t be expected to focus on each other all the time, they do need to set aside quality time for each other. There are a lot of factors that could play into spending less quality time, but the lack of it can slowly erode relationships. It may be best to seek relationship counselling or go to a psychology center in order to properly assess the problem.

Falling out of love
Married couples will encounter feelings of regretting their decision to get married at least once, as the problems and experiences of married life can often bring them an unprecedented amount of stress that they would otherwise not experience when they were single or before marriage. Without marriage counselling, this can become a big problem that can potentially end the relationship.

These phases are usually transient, meaning they don’t last long and are simply fleeting thoughts and feelings resulting from stress. However, if these have persisted for a long time enough for you to seriously consider divorce, consider seeking therapy from a licensed psychologist in Singapore.

Getting relationship counselling from the best psychologist for you as a couple is a way to create a neutral platform in order to discuss the elements in your marriage that have disappeared with the stress of daily life, and even the rare opportunity to save the marriage.

Having nothing in common
“Having nothing in common” could either mean not sharing the same hobbies and interests or rarely engaging in meaningful conversation as often as you used to. There is no need to look out for it once you start to get comfortable with your partner after spending an extended period of time – this is a normal phenomenon that happens to most couples.

Though this could be easily solved by being open to new experiences and looking for new hobbies together, seeking help from a psychologist in Singapore or going to a psychology center won’t hurt and would only facilitate open and honest communication that could result in a stronger marital bond.

Lack of intimacy and/or sex
It has to be pointed out that in this scenario, sex is not the same is intimacy – intimacy is the romantic closeness between the couple that occurs both inside and outside the bedroom. Though this might be linked and lead to sex, the latter is not necessarily required to achieve intimacy.

For most couples, the issue around sex has more to do with arousal, desire, and the conditions for both partners that need to be met. If one or more of these factors isn’t being met, this could lead into problems that could be problematic for the relationship and need to be addressed.

There are a lot of issues that get in the way of sex, intimacy, and sexual intimacy, all ranging from body issues to stress to substance abuse to even power. Seeing a licensed psychologist in Singapore will help you find the root of these issues and how to deal with them.

Possible mental or physical disorder
Mental disorders may not always manifest immediately, and even when they do, these symptoms may not be very obvious. For instance, your partner could simply appear to be quirky or hard to deal with at first, and it is only when certain behavioral instances (e.g. mood swings) are serious enough to require medical attention that you understand that they need professional care or, at least, that you need to undergo marriage counselling. (The same is true with children: you may think that problematic behaviour are part of growing up, when in actuality they may already need to see a child psychologist.)

Serious physical ailments, such as terminal cancer, can also take a significant psychological toll on both partners. Seeing a psychologist is an important step to take in order to allow both parties to prepare themselves for, express their fears, and find solutions or ask for support regarding these problems.