Celebrating A Year Of Wonder With Wonderwall.sg

Can you believe it's been a year since Wonderwall launched? This past year has been a rollercoaster of excitement and adventure, and we can't wait to see what the next has in store.

If you're new to Wonderwall, you might be wondering who we are and what we do. Simply put, we create inspiring content to help you discover something new about the familiar in Singapore. After all, we believe that there's still so much to wow us on this little island we call home.

Here are some highlights of our past year:

FOOD

Digging up and sharing yummy food hacks with you, and getting makan experts and foodies to give recommendations, and share tips and tricks has been nothing short of a delicious experience for us - and we hope it's been a treat for you too!

We got local personality Benzo to show us (and our NS brudders defending our Little Red Dot) the best places to eat near all the army camps, from Changi to Jurong:

You can find all the episodes of "Follow Me To Makan" here.

Still in the heartlands, we encountered an ah beng who is as good in the boxing ring as he is in the kitchen. Remember our feature on Jason Chua, the guy behind Beng Who Cooks, the stall at Hong Lim Food Centre that offers delicious poke bowls:

Speaking of Ah Beng, we rounded up our first-year with a new food series, "Aaron Wong's Stay-Home Survival Cookbook" - where MasterChef Singapore finalist Aaron Wong aka "your friendly neighbourhood Ah Beng" (he ownself say one ah) shows you cool hacks, tips and tricks to help you stay fed even as you stay home and stay safe during this period:

You can feast your eyes on all the shiok episodes here.

Whether you're a Toa Payoh resident or not, check out "What I Eat In My Hood: Long-Time Toa Payoh Resident".

Or, now that home-cooking is all the rage and the movie "Parasite" was such a memorable big-screen hit to kick off the year, you might wanna try your hand at making ramdon: "How I Conned My Way (Like The Kims In "Parasite") Through My Ram-Don Project".

Once you're done, wash it all down with some home-made cocktails ("4 Easy Recipes To Celebrate World Cocktail Day - Cheers!") courtesy of Peter Chua, the head bartender at Junior The Pocket Bar and Asia Brand Ambassador of Venezuelan rum brand Diplomático, whom we discovered on Facebook jamming with his father during the Circuit Breaker Period: "Good CB Vibes Only: Yan Dao Bartender Duets With Dad".

PEOPLE

What would Singapore be without our friends and neighbours? After all, home is all about the people.

For instance, this creative genius who brought the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine van to life:

Or this chicken rice seller who gives NSF and NSmen customers extra portions to thank them for their service to Singapore:

Then there's this bodybuilder/Deliveroo guy who's basically a real-life version of Captain America:

More recently, we've paid tribute to everyday heroes who chose to make a difference during this COVID crisis, whether they're frontline healthcare workers or ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

We also covered the smaller but no less stately NDP2020 celebrations, which saw all of us coming together in the spirit of #SGUnited.

Last but not least, have you ever wondered how your Ah Gong and Ah Ma would react to things like ASMR and modern slang? If so, check out our "Elderly Singaporeans React" series for a barrel of laughs.

You can find all episodes of "Elderly Singaporeans React" here.

PLACES

From hidden gems under our noses to new ways to explore, we've had a blast rediscovering Singapore and experiencing it in a new light.

For instance, here's our very first video, in which skater Dione Tan longboarded across Singapore to a remix of the classic folk song "Chan Mali Chan", showcasing our country in a novel way that most of us haven't experienced before.

In addition, we unearthed little-known secrets tucked away in various neighbourhoods as multi-talented personality Tosh trekked across Singapore on journeys of discovery and adventure - 10,000 steps at a time.

You can find all episodes of "10,000 Steps With Tosh" here.

If you find yourself with an abundance of wunderlust, check out "9 Places In Singapore That Make Us Feel Like We're Overseas" for the next best thing until overseas travel becomes viable again.

You might also be interested in our recent Live Vicariously series, in which we piggyback on other travellers' experiences to satisfy our travel bug (and plan for post-COVID holidays!).

FAMILY

There's nothing quite like spending quality time with our families - though the novelty admittedly wears off after months of non-stop quality time as we WFH (kidding, kidding - well, mostly).

Want to entertain your restless kids? Why not engage their creative juices with DIY crafts, like this one ("Make Your Own Merlion In 4 Easy Steps")?

You can also check out the wide range of Parenting hacks we've gathered and shared with you, like "10 Ways To Prepare Your Child For A New Baby" - useful for heading off sibling rivalry before it can begin.

Alternatively, if you're the proud pawrent of a furkid or two, you'll love our pet-related stories like "Popular Pet Choices In SG + What They Say About You".

Of course, we haven't forgotten about our Pioneer generation. From a simple breakdown of Silver Schemes ("Score Points With Your Parents: Show Them How SilverSchemes.sg Works") to dialect explanations of the COVID-19 situation ("Simi Circuit Breaker? Dialect Explanations For Seniors"), we've got you covered when it comes to helping out your parents and grandparents.

WORK:PLAY

Work hard, play hard, it's all the same to us. (Especially now that everyone's WFH - So much easier to do both at once!)

We've helped you make the most of your weekends with our weekly roundups and recommendations, laughed, awwed and cried our way through books by local authors and given you tips on working from home, such as "5 Ways To Make The Most Of Phase 2 While Still WFH".

We even created a quirky IG filter for National Day, because #SGUnited.

Another thing we enjoy is highlighting social enterprises, such as Foreword Coffee, a local coffee company which aims to realise the potential of differently-abled individuals.

Meanwhile, music lovers should definitely check out our new Spotify Spotlight series, put together weekly to help you uncover hidden gems in our local music scene. After all, there's no time like the present to expand your music library.

HEALTH

Ah, Health. Thanks to, ahem, recent events, keeping ourselves safe and healthy has been a more pressing concern than ever.

That said, even before the whole COVID-19 situation broke out, we've been full of useful ("How Effective Are These 5 Different Kinds Of Masks Against The Haze?") and not-so-useful but immensely entertaining ("Handling the Singapore Haze Season...With Memes") information about the latest health news, such as during the haze season this time last year.

Jokes aside, we pride ourselves on providing you with up-to-date yet easy to understand information about the latest health developments, from decoding the DORSCON code when we reached DORSCON Orange ("DORSCON Level Raised To Orange: Here's What This Means") to compiling a glossary of COVID-related acronyms ("PHPC? SHN? LOA? Refer To Our COVID-19 Glossary So You Won't Go OMG") and helping to dispel needless panic during the early days of the outbreak ("Yes Lah, It's Safe To Take Public Transport").

We've also put together tons of practical health tips for this period, such as this story on Tik Tok mask hacks (say goodbye to maskne!).

On a more serious note, if your mental stress is starting to build up from dealing with COVID-19 and WFH, check out "Mental Lockdown: 5 Signs of Depression" for a list of useful helplines.

On that note, stay healthy and be safe, everyone!

And thanks for the support! Here's to more reasons to be wowed by the wonder of home 

via GIPHY

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