Carrefour Wine Fair

When it comes to buying wines from Supermarkets, Carrefour (Suntec City) is my number one choice. Their range is huge, and their wines are consistently the cheapest. With my POSB Everyday Card I also get a 5% rebate on all purchases – it’s one sweet deal. So it’s no surprise that I wound up at the Carrefour International Wine Fair 2011 last Sunday.

This time around, the wines featured include: Chateau Malartic Lagraviere 2009 Pessac Leognan Rouge, Connetable Du Chateau Talbot 2008 Saint Julien, Reserve De La Comtesse 2009 Pauillac, Chateau Bernadotte 2009 Haut-medoc, Chateau Marquis De Terme 2009 Cru Classe Margaux, Chateau Soutard 1981 Grand Cru Classe Saint Emilion Grand Cru, Arthur Metz Alsace and Carrefour Demazel 2000 Bordeaux Rouge. Prices are in the brochure below.


But I bought none of those. Me, I was just there to stock up on cheap Bordeaux. Like I was telling a friend the other day, one mustn’t spoil one’s wine palate too much. As it is, my regular wine dinners with vino shifu has “exposed” me to too many expensive (fabulously delicious) wines. My palate has, GASP, unwittingly become DISCERNING!

For casual drinking, I think I should stick to under $25 wines. Carrefour is the perfect place to stock up on these. There’s a good range from Bordeaux which, although non-impressive, are still very enjoyable. The Chateau Lartigue at $18 and the Chatueau Cajus at $25 are perfect examples. As is the South African Tall Horse Pinotage at $19 – a reliable everyday red. Slightlier pricier at $29, Château Lamothe Bergeron is an excellent buy (one of my faves).

I also discovered an excellent value sauvignon blanc - Clearwater Cove from Yealand Estate, Malbourough, NZ. Very easy drinking with green-pepper aromas and subtle characteristic gooseberry flavours. At $19 a pop, I made sure to stock up a few bottles!

The fair will be ongoing for a bit so be sure to check out these wines. Erm.. if you are a cheap drunk like me lah. Check out how much we stocked up on!

Event Details:
Date: 30 September – 12 October 2011
Venue: Carrefour Suntec Atrium

Mind Your Modern Manners

I know i usually do my ranty posts on a Monday but seeing as its been a long weekend and i am now officially suffering from Tuesdayitis, i reserve the right to have a rant and rave today instead.


See what i want to know is: when did people stop RSVP-ing to things? Because i'm not all that old but i remember being taught that if you want to attend an event you send a reply of " yes " and if you couldnt attend you still sent a reply of " no ". There was none of this dithering about with " maybe " ( thank you Facebook.... ) and it was considered rude to send no reply at all - and even worse, send no reply at all and then actually turn up. I know people are super-insane busy these days but when i'm trying to organise something its usually important that i know how many people are coming.

I know i had a similar whinge to this last week in regards to my school reunion ( which did not go ahead, by the way - i just could not be bothered when i was the only one trying ) but this weekend is my hens party ( yay! ) and out of the 20-odd people i invited, only 5 of them actually rsvp'd to my SIL. OK, granted that a half dozen of the non-replyees are related to me and just gave us a token " we'll be there! " but what is up with the rest of my friends? I love them all but how is my SIL supposed to arrange things when she doesnt know how many people to arrange them for?

Ditto for my wedding - i'm going to arrange the food and bevvies at my reception venue next week and as of today i'm still missing replies. That means i'm going to have chase people up and be all " So are you coming or not ? ", without sounding either too cranky or too desperate. And i cant just assume people aren't coming due to lack of response, because i risk the major faux pas of running out of food and having people hitting up Macca's on their way home from the reception ( actually, scratch that - no doubt Mick will be fanging for a cheeseburger when we leave for the night.... ).

And my rsvp's are tres cute - how could you resist them?

So what about you - is it just me or are people forgetting their manners? Or am I just having a Bridezilla moment and expecting too much?

Staying On Track

For some reason, long weekends seem to the be the worst weekends for me in terms of eating. What i mean is for some reason i always find myself eating platefuls and platefuls of " crap " on a long weekend - way too many carbs and nowhere near enough vegies. And even as i'm preparing a meal, in my head i'm going " Throw some salad in that sandwich! Cook some vegies to go with that! ". But no - the relaxed vibe of a long weekend somehow permeates my eating attitude aswell and i get lazy. So, over this weekend, i've eaten way too much of this:

And drunk a little too much of this:

And frankly, with a little under 5 weeks til my wedding, i need to be eating right and trying NOT to put on weight. Thankfully, i've managed to stay pretty close to the " goal " weight i reached at the end of Operation Slimdown - i've had a few ups and downs but have managed to stay within a kilo of that 67.5kg.

So from here on out i need to constantly think: " Vegies! Water! Minimum carbs! ". Because not only do i need to look ravishing in my wedding dress but i need to tankini ready for the water parks on the Gold Coast!

A Quiet Spot

We all know how crazy busy a day can be in first grade! This year, I tried something new... I created an oasis for my little ones when they need a break to regroup or just to take a breather from the action. Heck- I need it too some days! According to the Conscious Discipline method, "The safe place provides the opportunity for children to remove themselves from the group in order to become calm, regain composure and maintain control when upset, angry or frustrated. Children may come to the safe place in order to be helpful and not hurtful to themselves and others".


Although this area speaks to the design of my classroom, it was constructed with the child's heart in mind. I struggle with the notion of calling it a "safe place", implying that the rest of the school/classroom is not safe. At the start of the year, when I was introducing the methods of stress relief, the children named the spot "The Quiet Spot". It is NOT a time-out or any other form of punishment. It is a continuation of the idea that we need to take care of our hearts and physical needs in order to be efficient learners. Children must feel safe in order to learn at their personal best. Here are some photos of our "Quiet Spot".

This is in the back corner of the room, out of the flow of traffic.  I knew that it needed to be by the window so the child could look out onto the beautiful woods that surround us. I got the chair from Target. I liked the style because it seemed to "hug" you when you sit in it. 

The signs are downloaded from the CD site and were placed in the area after the method of stress release was taught in our morning meetings.  I also have a tin of fidgets and stress balls on the window sill.  The big leaf is from IKEA.