Singapore Expats

Woah! Hey stranger. Two years is a long time! Welcome back.

Howdy and thanks - it's good to be back, albeit for just a few weeks! Any gathering of the Eagles planned for the near future?

You know how it is during December holidays. Iffy at best as all are on leave.

So, any wine deals?

I picked up a mixed box of 6 bottles for $99 from Redmart recently. Wolf Blass and Lindemans. First 3 have been good.

sundaymorningstaple wrote: ↑

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 12:41 pm

You know how it is during December holidays. Iffy at best as all are on leave.

Understood. Back in 90 days so maybe then we can do a night out with lots of beer towards the end of March/early April?

tiktok wrote: ↑

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 5:00 pm

So, any wine deals?

I picked up a mixed box of 6 bottles for $99 from Redmart recently. Wolf Blass and Lindemans. First 3 have been good.

Wolf Blass has gone down a notch. Their Eaglehawk range is rougher than usual, as if the Red Label has now taken its place with the Yellow Label replacing the Red.

But at 6 for $99 it's still a no-brainer.

Lindemans is consistently good, especially if you go with the Bin series and not the Cawarra.

In fact I saw the Bin ones at Giant recently at $14.99 which is a steal (considering they are a step above the Cawarra range - which I would still force myself to drink at $14.99, LOL!).

So quite decent deals overall during the X-mas period.

aster wrote: ↑

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 11:33 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote: ↑

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 12:41 pm

You know how it is during December holidays. Iffy at best as all are on leave.

Understood. Back in 90 days so maybe then we can do a night out with lots of beer towards the end of March/early April?

That will definitely be doable! Give me a shout when you get a firm timeline and I'll thrown the message out.

Oh, and Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Cheers

From my pretty well covered cheap consumables list I'd now pick as no 1:
Italian Riondo brand on redmart/lazada: mostly 16.XS$ for prosecco, variety or red and whites depending on your preferences. Suit well for hot climate, thought the whites are italian style pinot grigio, soave etc, so not for the sweet lovers.

and for the special ones I use the AA French wines, a small importer that has old vintages, so can get a 1980s or 1990s Bordeaux's for 80-100S$ for special meals at home. still a price you easily end up paying for a regular consumables at restaurants. Getting so old that rather enjoy something more special at home then overpay at restaurant.

Welcome back PPF! Been a loooooong time. Good to see you are still kicking! I hear you on the last line of your post!

yes, been some time, I'm still around. Like you too, weren't you supposed to retire (have you?) and move back to US of A by now? or did Trump change your mind.

I'm just got my younger one started in P1 this month so I still need to work quite a few years.

Yeah, I finally retired last March at the young age of 71.5 yrs. Due to some bad luck a couple years ago, my retirement plans changed considerably. I'll be staying here. Both of mine are now married and the eldest (daughter) has given me two grandsons to spoil rotten. Things could be worse I guess.

Yeah, I'd say you are going to need to stay in the harness a few more years if just starting P1.

Politically, I find that the US is currently looking better than it's has since I was a kid in school back in the '60s. Having a no-BS Businessman as President amongst the career do-nothing politicians does make for interesting media, I'll say that! lol

Good to here and well that doesn't sound that bad. I'm aiming to retire a bit younger, but probably not that much, but aiming for 67 or so only. But that's still almost 2 decades away, and I don't really think I've move out of here. Maybe summer months in Europe but not even sure about that.

US politics well that not really my problem, but would rather call him reality TV star than a business man. I foresee that now that the gates are opened for TV celebrity President, US will be soon run by the one of the Kardashians, and then another and another.

Interestingly my strongly democrat drinking buddy who moved back to US 2 years back after over 10 years in Singapore, is pretty sure he'll vote Trump, even though he think he's an idiot, but still an idiot whose not gonna raise his taxes.

We already had a movie star as President before Trump. Ronnie Reagan was an actor as well, never knew if he was playing a part or was serious. He also had a bad habit of being caught by a hot mic.

For me Reagan had acting background but already was active in politics and more famous as a politician than as actor when he run for president.

Reminds me that I met Reagans when they were on an official visit in 1988, I was a school boy that time, but the state visitor residence given to foreign head of states was just 500m from where we lived, and my dad still lives. So we boys hanged around the building, tried get as close as possible from behind via a small forest (surprise there were cops and security blocking us). But they did have their morning walks and were pretty casual to say hi to local kids. no selfies at that time as evidence.

and Trumps stayed there just 30 years later, we were around, but didn't see them, well they missed the morning walks.

Any good wine deals?

Depends a bit what you are looking for, just cheap deals to something drinkable, or more specific. And are you enjoying certain styles or grapes, red or white or just anything.
I have my wide preferences in styles. But in general here’s what I at the moment would recommend on Lazada/redmart selection on the cheaper end of the selection for consumables and bbq wines.

19 crimes cab sauv at 19.20, there are other grapes too, but they didn’t impress. Also comes with nice crime themed historic playing cards.

Peter Weinabach Riesling `19.95, nice not so dry wine

Rawson’s retreat chardonnay at 114.45 for 6 pack. A bit pricier, but I like it, ice cold.

Riondo Merlot IGT 16.90, goof basic red for pastas and pizzas
A bit better Riondo Valpolicella Ripasso 23.70

Riondo proseccos: collezione at 17.95 and le pierre at 18.20, good value dry bubbles, more for my wife, it’s too acidic for me to drink.

To be avoided: Sainsburys’ House Cab Sauv and Shiraz (18.90) and redwood creek chardonnay (16.42); good for liver as I won’t drink much, but still no.

The prices vary a bit based on promotions, but those from my recent orders.