Since I'm in New York, I decided to catch up with 2 business associates, one of which I consider my good friend - iBillionaire and SMB Capital. Got into contact with iBillionaire recently in my previous job and so I reached out to Raul, their CEO, for lunch today.

First trip together on the subway and it's Ken's first time in NYC! So yeah...photo time! We met up with Raul at his office in Chinatown but he brought us to a small Italian restaurant in between Chinatown and Little Italy for lunch instead.

I love the random art on buildings and on the pavement. Adds a lot of vibrancy and colour to the place. The pic just above made me LOL!

This small little Italian joint has some pretty good lunches for only US$10+ per dish!

I ordered the papardelle with beef brisket as recommended by Raul while Jo ordered the penne with cheese.

As you can see, they didn't skimp on the cheese. My papardelle was sooo good and it reminded me of the papardelle that I had in Italy. Really made me miss Italy after a mouthful.

Us with Raul

Ken and Raul in deep discussion

Besides it being a casual meeting, it was also a discussion on trading as well as pointers on how to operate as a startup. I believe that both Ken and I gained quite a bit of advice from Raul and to think that Raul is a year younger than I!

I really like the cosy feeling of the restaurant and unfortunately, I was too caught up in talking to take note of the name of the place. Oops.

Next up was SMB Capital where we arrived at 4pm and was in heavy discussion with a few of their people. Too lengthy and unsuitable for this blog to mention what was discussed. That also explains why I didn't take any photos of their office. Too busy yakking.

If you've been following my blog, you would've read a post 2 years ago where I mentioned that Mike Bellafore had kindly included my name in the acknowledgement section of his second book! Anyway, after the whole discussion, Mike (better known as Bella in the prop trading world), took us out for a Mexican dinner!

Guacamole with nachos to start

I ordered surf and turf tacos as I couldn't decide between being a carnivore or not. So, this is perfect. Also, I love soft tacos.

Ken went carnivorous and ordered the beef short ribs. It was cooked to perfection and was really soft and tender! Made me wonder why I didn't order that to begin with as my tacos were a bit too floury...if you know what I mean.

Jo ordered an enchilada with black bean sauce. Funnily enough, she thought that it would be dry but then, all the enchiladas that I've eaten all look like that. I took a bite of it and it was really good! Darn it. Having food envy.

All in all, I enjoyed the meal because it has been 2 years since I've last seen Mike and it was great catching up with him again. I really like talking to him because he's older, wiser and more experienced. Therefore, he gives me good advice as well as another perspective on things.

If you're really into trading, I highly recommend reading his 2 books - "One Good Trade" and "The Playbook". Trading isn't gambling because all serious traders put in a lot of homework!!

That's us fresh after a shower because 24 hours of flying does make you want to jump into the shower first. As there are 3 of us, we rented a 2-bedroom apartment via Airbnb and it's really nothing much so no point taking photos of it.

However, it's located on the Upper West side (although it's technically still in the Harlem borough) and right next to Central Park so it is quite an ok place to stay. I still would've preferred to have stayed somewhere in mid/down town but alas, those get really expensive.

What's great is that we got a memory foam queen sized bed! Shared it with Joanne. I think that's the main part of the apartment that I really enjoyed.

Typical New York, the apartment was tiny and we had to climb up 5 storeys to get to it! Thank goodness our luggage wasn't dreadfully heavy. Otherwise, it would've been a nightmare. So thrilled to be on holiday and looking forward to meeting some old friends tomorrow!

As some of you might know, I've quit my job and will be concentrating on Pásshen full time. However, I do need a break. So, I'll be having a holiday as well as a bit of a work-trip to the US! I'll be in New York, Chicago and then to the mid-West to see my cousin off as he embarks on the next chapter in his life - university!

Thus, I may be a little slow on the updates on this blog but I will try to update as often as I can. In the meanwhile, if you have any recommendations on what to see and eat, don't be that much of a stranger! Just pop me a message/comment and I might just take it up!

Judging from the heat map analytics, I think some of you are hoping to read a blog post about the famous baby Zed's 1st birthday party. I've been contemplating whether to post this or not but I reckon since my cousin has posted some photos on her Instagram account, some of these photos are 'safe' to be out in the public. But please do not copy/paste/download and reuse without prior permission. Actually, that goes for all photos on my blog. So...enjoy!

Wall of balloons

The prince's cake - crown and all

Zed was distracted by the carousel

Blowing out the candle

Door gift of cupcakes and buttons for all the guests

As Singapore celebrates its Golden Jubilee, I find it an opportune time to just wax lyrical about why I love my country, quirks and all, as my way of wishing my home a Happy 50th Birthday. Moreover, I think there are too many Singaporeans who complain about Singapore but there are in fact, a lot of things to be glad and thankful for.

1. Safety
As a female, I'm thankful that I grew up in Singapore and can go out till late drinking with buddies till the wee hours of the morning without fearing whether I'll be raped or robbed as I walk down the streets flagging a cab. Needless to say, it's not as if Singapore does not have any crime but I really do not need to walk around with a pepper spray in my bag.


2. Education
I'm glad that I'm multi-lingual thanks to schools forcing me to take Mandarin, plus the option of learning a 3rd language if you do well, and then teaching the rest of the syllabus in English. Like many of my peers, we do not need to worry about whether we can even go to school as government schools are free and there are various scholarships/grants/payment options to our local universities available. I wouldn't be surprised if we had one of the highest percentage of uni graduates per population. The fact that our lingua franca is English means that even if some of our population have really bad grammar etc, they still understand English a lot better others. Thanks to my education, travelling is a hoot as I do not have a fear of language barriers. Most of the time.

3. Food
We Singaporeans are soooo spoiled when it comes to food. We have variety of cuisines and prices WHILE having the ability of calling certain dishes uniquely ours. Of course other countries have tons of yummy food too. But Singaporean food is...well, Singaporean. Even my cousin who lives in the US and does not really identify as a Singaporean eats and craves Singaporean food like a Singaporean. :P

4. Convenience
Due to our efficiency as well as lack of size, Singapore is really super convenient. Want to get from one end of the island to the other? MRT is only a stone's throw away, or just flag down a cab or sit on a relatively 'long' bus journey. Want to get some groceries? There are tons of mini marts/ supermarkets or even wet markets in every neighbourhood. When I was in Japan, the nearest supermarket from my flat was a good 30 minute walk away. Ditto for when I stayed over with my bro in both Melbourne and London.

5. Less gender discrimination
A Taiwanese ex-colleague of mine once told me that many Asian women would like to be Singaporean because Singaporean women have a reputation of having the most freedom to do and say whatever they want. It never occurred to me when I was younger that other Asian women did not have the same access to education/ careers/ jobs as I did. Or that in some Asian societies, the woman is expected to give up her career once she is married and with child. Needless to say, I am very thankful that I am an independent woman and able to proudly say so. I guess that is probably a factor as to why others say that Singaporeans tend to have a bit more Western outlook in life.


There is no such thing as a perfect country, just as there is no perfect government. There are many things that can be improved but nonetheless, this is home. Truly.

Coughing or having a sore throat is a disruptive pain. I know because my boss has been hacking away for the past 1 month after falling ill from a flu. The fever left her but the cough seemed to loom behind. I passed her a bottle of Three Legs Pe Pa Kao, which is made of all natural products such as loquat leaves, honey, pear, chuan bei, menthol and other traditional Chinese herbs (a total of 15!).

I'm sure we Singaporean Chinese are most familiar with pipagao as a reliever of coughs and sore throat but do we know how it really works? There are specific herbs in the concoction that helps to ease the build up of phelgm (by the loquat/pipa leaves, which the name comes from), reduce the inflammation of the throat or lungs and therefore, relieves the cough or sore throat. Best thing? "Side effect" of these herbs is great skin! Well...some TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) docs will also tell you that taking Pe Pa Kao regularly will also benefit those with asthma as the herbs work to strengthen and nourish the lungs.

Anyway, about the effectiveness of said Pe Pa Kao. My boss stopped coughing the day she started eating it. Of course, she was coughing really badly so she was downing a tablespoon of it 3 times a day. She also realised that she was not drinking warm water excessively anymore, as the phelgm had reduced significantly.

I do like to take pipagao because it's sweet and minty, plus the fact that Three Leg's Pe Pa Kao is sweetened only with honey makes me feel a little better about the type of sugar I'm taking. I've recently started to take it because I've just recovered from a stomach flu but have been eating a little too much junk thanks to the multiple farewell lunches I've been receiving this week. As such, my throat is a little sore and I can feel a small ulcer-like swell at the back of my throat. After taking a tablespoon of Three Legs Pe Pa Kao, I could feel that the swelling went down a little and my throat is almost back to normal! Besides taking it 'neat', I found that mixing it with some warm water makes it quite a tasty soothing drink that prolongs the relief.

What I found quite special about this particular brand of Pe Pa Kao is that after refrigeration (I keep it in my fridge after opening it), the syrup still flows out instead of hardening like how the other famous brand's does. Moreover, it comes with a non-drip cap so you don't have to deal with a sticky cap each time you pour the syrup. It's a PET bottle instead of glass, so it's really lightweight and easy to bring along with you if you happen to be coughing a lot or down with a sore throat. People who need to use their voices very often may want to consume this frequently and therefore, they will also appreciate the lightweight too!

Interesting fact: the company that manufactures this is Halal-certified. Sweet news! Means that this cough/sore throat 'syrup' is definitely suitable for vegetarians/vegans/ and Muslims (perhaps even Jews?). Three Legs Pe Pa Kao is available at NTUC, Unity Healthcare Pharmacies, Mustafa, OG, Polyclinics, Sheng Siong, Chinese medical halls and selected Watson's. It comes in 2 sizes - 180ml and 320ml. It really is very affordable and trust me, tastes a lot better than those cough syrups the doctors love to prescribe.

If you want more details, head onto www.wenken.com and check out their other products as well as their popular 'Cooling Water'!

I love Engrish 😜😝

A photo posted by melfann (@melfann) on Jul 30, 2015 at 6:34am PDT

Spotted this at a Japanese food fair in Suntec City last week and I was so tickled that I just HAD to post it up on Instagram and Facebook. Much to my amusement, some friends gave really funny comments like "What a ride" and "translation please". LOL. What this sign was meant to read was: There is a whole prawn in each cracker.

What was more amusing to me was that nobody from the organisers spotted this error! Didn't anyone proofread the signs? Apparently not. Makes for good Engrish humour anyways. I did end up buying 2 boxes of Dorayaki though.