New Blog Skin

How do you like my new blogskin? I downloaded it from blogskins.com.......

I badly wanted a new skin after viewing other people's lovely blogs but I totally suck at IT and programming so I decided to just download the skins. This is a lovely skin created by Eric Sim and is a series of 4 skins according to the 4 seasons. Mine is Spring........its my favorite season anyways. I just love it when all the flowers start blooming durign Spring in USA.

Anyways, being the IT incompetent ME, it tool me almost half a day to figure out how to download the skin.....alas, everythin's good now. There are a few bugs though but its not bothering me too much. Will work on it when I have time.

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I just found out that my furnitures are only coming in November after the the Hari Raya holidays......dang!!!!! I really was hoping that it would come sooner. I have been married like what.........3 months? And I dun even have my own place.

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Product Recommendation: Herbal Essence Totally Twisted Conditioner

It is a very very good product at an affordable price. REALLY!! Actually, the first time I used it was accidental. Yup! I was in USA visiting my sister and to save on luggage space, I did not bring my own conditioner. She had a bottle of HE's Totally Twisted Conditioner lying around among her 101 other products. Anyways, my hair was absolutely soft after that.

It was even better than those expensive Keratase products I used. Somehow, Keratase, although a fantastic product, is time consuming. Yup! You read right. You need to leave the consitioner in your hair for at least 5 mins before it is effective. Come on, which working lady in Singapore do you know that has that kind of time? It takes me 5 mins total to get into the bathroom, shower and out of there and Keratase take 5 mins for the conditioner only plus I hate feeling wet and cold (in the shower) while waiting for the conditioner to soak into my hair.

HE's Totally Twisted, however works super fast. I just have to:

1. Get in the shower, wash my hair with ANY shampoo (cheap cheap one also can) 1 min

2. Rinse 30 sec

3. Put on HE's Totally Twisted 30 sec

4. Lather my body, wash away 1 min

5. Wash my face, rinse 1 min

6. Rinse Conditioner 30 sec

Total Time: 4.5 min

Yep, so inluding drying off time and all, it is about 5 mins flat and my hair is so soft and moisturised..... I know it is quite unbelievable, I had my doubts too. I have tried previous HE products and it left me unsatisfied but this range is totally cool. Unfortunately though, this particular HE series is only available in USA, not in Singapore. I can't wait for it to hit stores in Singapore. Please come soon. Meanwhile, I gotta get my sister to buy it for me.

Monday Blog Continued........

It's Wednesday but I don't care and I am going to continue my Monday blog. Yep, I was talking about the baking class. On the following Sunday, I made mooncakes. I did NOT plan on making mooncakes this year. I was still recovering from the mooncake fever 2 years ago when I made an excess of mooncake and got muscle ache from the standing on hours.

Anyways, somehow, the fact that I know how to make mooncakes leaked to the office employees, thanks to Mom. One of them actually requested for me to make mooncakes and it is quite difficult to refuse now that everyone knows so........

I made Orange Walnut and regular RedBean and Green Tea mini mooncakes. Snowskins if course because the traditional moonakes are much more tedious to make. I bought the Orange Mooncake Filling at the last minute. The store that I know sells Orange filling has sold out on their fillings. Luckily, I was reading Sweet Decadenze's Blog and she told me of another store that sells mooncake ingredients. So, being a thorough person, I paid the Kwong Cheong Thye a visit and tada, they were selling Orange Filling. Had to add my own walnuts though.

I forgot to take pictures, btw. Nevermind, cos this coming weekend, SY and I are going to make more mooncakes. This time, we will be trying to make the popular alcohol mooncakes. Yippy! Maybe chocolate and blueberry as well. I personally think that blueberry mooncakes are gonna be yucks but SY insisted. And anything that SY insisted, well let's just say, she normally gets her way.

Sooooo, wait for this weekend to see pictures.

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Monday was also the first day that Takashimaya is going to sell the Vacuum Saver. Something that Mom and Dad brought in from Taiwan. This is really exciting, the first time that we are actually doing retail job. Delimanjoo does not count. Anyways, Vacuum Saver is actually similar to a tupperware except that it comes with an inbuilt pump that pumps out all the air and you get a vacuum tupperware which helps to keep you food longer.

Anyways, me and RH went to help set up the stuff Sunday night because Takashimaya has allowed us to have a mini promotion booth for 2 weeks. Pictures below......and please go and support us by buying the Vacuum Saver. They are slightly more expensive than regular tupperwares but totally worth it because of all the benefits.

{RH, hard at work, stacking up Vacuum Savers}

{The guys working hard while I snap away}

{The booth is at Takashimaya B1, household area}

All stacked up. Its not very nice or appealing. I wanted to re-arrange it but RH was very agianst it saying that it was alright. Guys!!!!! *roll eyes* but he is the head lah.

{The promotion table all set up and ready for our promoters}

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Last night, we had Fellowship at Starville and DC's Godmother, AB, was invited to speak to us. She shared with us many many testimonials and spoke about God's will and how to find it. It was such a wonderful sharing and really helped me to understand how God speaks to us and what He wants us to do with His instructions.

Many times, we say we want to seek His will but when He tells us His will, we more often than not do not follow His instructions and just follow what we want to do. It is no wonder that after a while, we do not hear Him at all. If a friend came to me for advice but everytime, I gave her advice, she will do something else, then why should I giver her advice the next time? She is not goign to listen to me anyways. Right?

Anyways, I really wanna thank DH and DC for bringing their Godmother, AB, to our gathering. Really insightful stuff there. Praise God and praise Him always!

Weekend Update

Busy weekend doing lots of baking...........

Saturday Schedule:

9:30 am - 12:30 pm Ministry Training @ Church

1:00 pm - 7:00 pm Baking Class @ Creative Culinnaire

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Dinner with Family

Sunday Schedule:

9:30 am - 11:00 am Church

11:00 am - 12:00 pm Send RH to Dragon Boat Practice

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Make Mooncakes

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Pick up RH after DBP

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Continue Mooncake making

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm Run errand for mom

6:00 pm onwards help mom make dinner

9:00 pm help set up Vacuum Saver Booth @ Takashimaya

Oooooooooooo, my weekend was packed. Enjoyed it though!

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Learned to make Choux (pronounced as "Shoe") Pastry on Sat. It was a partially hands on class and took all 6 hours to complete the class. Cost $80 and totally worth it. We were taught to make 4 pastries: 1. Durian Puff 2. Chocolate Eclairs 3. Polo Puff 4. Churros They all belong to the choux pastry family though so their recipes were all very similar. Pictures below. Anyways, for more information about Baking Class, go to http://www.creativeculinaire.com/

{Picture of classroom}

{My preparation table.....}

{Judy, my instructor}

{Frying Churros}

{Ready to eat Churros}

{Making swan necks}

{Durian Swan Puffs}

{Naked Eclairs}

{Eclairs dressed in chocolate mousse and choclate almond topping}

I just realised that I forgot to take pictures of the Taiwanese Polo Puffs. It is really a pity cos they came out really pretty too. Well, I would have to post them next time I make them then.

Pumpkin Head Headwear

I was surfing the web....as usual....(eat snake lah). Anyways, I came across this website of a SAHM (Stay at home mom) which is a modern word for housewife.

The website is http://www.punkinheadhairwear.com/

Apparently, this mom makes bows (those you can wear in your hair) using pretty ribbons and sells them through this website. My goodness, in my mind, I was thinking "Like that also can!".

Yes! In fact, it is really possible. I am just amazed at the number of things people can sell online. Anyways, one of the products on her website that I found quite interesting was this.

{Ribbon Holder (so you do not squash your ribbon)}

{One of her ribbons}

{Plus, she got a very very pretty daughter cum model.....}

Cross Stitch Shop – FOUND

I went AMK Central again today and................... I FOUND the shop.

Phew!!!!!! 3rd time is the lucky number. Anyways, it is exactly where it was described to be at. Its no wonder that I could not find it, the shop is quite uncolorful and there are some clock and watch stalls right in front of it thus blocking the shop's signage.

I bought a couple of threads, an extra needle and a photocopy of precious moments' Noah's Ark Cross Stitch Blueprint. Its quite big and I thought it would be perfect for my future kid's blanket. But I gotta start now if I am ever gonna finish it.

Anyways, I took some pics of the shop just in case I ever forgot where it is but after 3 visits, I do not think I will ever forget.

The address is here:

Elsie Departmental Store
Blk 709 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 #01-2607
Singapore 560709
Tel: 6451 5519

Ang Mo Kio Cross Stitch Place

Anyone heard of it?

The shop is really hard to find. Knowing that it is in AMK Central. I ventured to AMK Central twice to find the shop. I can't find it both times.....I can't believe it. How big can AMK Central be? I am quite positive that I searched the entire AMK Central.

Anyways, I am determined to find it the third time I go to AMKC so I asked my friend where the shop is and even tried to search the forum for its address. The only information I can find is this. The shop is named Elsie and it is located beside a Ba Kwa shop opposite a foodcourt called S11. Hope I find it this time.

And I am darn sure to get a namecard with the address on it. :P

Japanese Cooking

I cooked over the weekend..............forgive me for acting so excited! Cos that was the only exciting thing I did over the weekend besides watching "The Banquet" on Saturday.

I have been watching really twisted and "trying to be artistic" Asian movies this weekend. I watched a korean show, "Return of Lady Vengence", hong kong made "The Banquet" and the korean "The King and the Clown". All of which are capable of giving you bad vibes and nightmares. Hee hee!

Well, back to food. This weekend has been an amazing galore of food. Perhaps, it was to make up for all the weight I lost when I was sick (2kg only lah).

First, I cooked fried chicken rice for lunch on Sat. Its actually just hainanese chicken rice but instead of having roasted or boiled chicken, I deep fried the chicken. It is actually something I cooked quite often when I was studying in USA. But I used a different chicken recipe, something I got off the internet and the batter was suppose to be extra crispy or something.

After hours of labouring in the kitchen, RH commented that the chicken rice is not worth all the labour. Thanks hunny for "appreciating" my cooking! Urgh! Husbands......they are just not worth it.

Well, the chicken was crispy but not ultra crispy in my opinion and it got soggy quite fast.

Then, sat night, mom cooked a delicious salmon dish.........pan fried salmon with lemon pickle sauce......Yummy.....I had second servings followed by Alio Golio Spaghetti (made by AL) which was equally good..........

AL is my parent's friend. He and his wife both enjoy good food and wine and that was how he met my Dad. They met during a wine tasting event. Not only does AL like to eat, he likes to cook good food too and his spaghetti was good........of course.....my grandparents and auntie cannot appreciate that.

Was sooooo full but I could not resist dessert. Tape with ice cream. Tape is actually an Indonesian fermented glutinous rice...... **delicious!

Next day, I cooked lunch again. Poor RH had to eat salmon for both days. I cooked some Japanese recipes that I have been meaning to try out.

I really need to work on my presentation but then this was the best I could do with a bare kitchen.

I cooked Hijiki Seaweed, Miso Salmon, Hijiki Roll and Miso soup. I made the last one so that I could finish the cabbage and tofu. Hahaha.

I really like Hijiki Seaweed cooked this way but some people might not like it because Hijiki Seaweed being full of Iron smells really fishy. I was suppose to add some sesame oil to counteract the fishy smell but alas, my bare kitchen did not offer me that luxury. My next shopping list should have sesame oil on it.

{Hijiki Seaweed with Pork}

Japanese cooking is really easy. You just need a few key ingredients and you can cook most Japanese food.

1. Cooking Sake (green bottle)
2. Mirin
3. Shoyu (Japanese Soya Sauce)
4. Dashi (Japanese fish stock)
5. Miso
and that is all folks.........you can really cook lots of Japanese dishes with just these sauces.

{Hijiki Seaweed Egg Roll}

{Miso Salmon, a little bit burnt but RH said it is very good....}

Sunday evening was spent at a friend's house. IL and SL are husband and wife. IL used to be RH's colleague. Anyways, they invited us to their place and SL prepared a fantastic seafood dinner. Lots of prawns, fish, crabs and vegetables. Yep, the seafood were really fresh and sweet. I wished I had taken pictures. Yummy Yummy....so dat was my weekend food adventure with nothing but GREAT food. Everthing home cooked......

Thanks Mom, AL and SL for the fantastic dinners and especially thanks IL and SL for being such wonderful hosts.

SICK....

Disappeared for 2 weeks..

Contrary to what most people believe, I am not overseas, I was sick with severe kidney infection.

*face turns blue* just thinking about the horrible experience. It started out as a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). First time getting it and never heard about it before, apparently, it is VERY VERY common among women. Almost all the women I know has it one time or another.

I must be really suaku, according to my friend, JT. Anyways, the UTI was not properly taken care of because I delayed going to the Gynae, hoping that it will clear up on its own. Nothing ever clears up on its own!!!!

Finally, when I went to the gynae, the infection has already started to hit my kidneys........plagued by two days of high fever and nausea, I finally gave in and went to the A&E at East Shore Hospital. Shivering, weak in the knees with RH supporting me, I made my way to the emergency clinic and got admitted into the hospital.

What was suppose to be a 3 days stay became a 1 week stay at the hospital. My doctor tells me "its easily treatable" on the first day and by the 3rd day, he comes in to tell me that I had "severe kidney infection". URGH!

Another few days of hospital rest, food and "entertainment", I finally was well enough to go home but had to undergo another 5 days of antibiotic injections. Good to be back at work today!

Gotta take it slow and easy though........dun wanna trigger a relapse......meanwhile oral antibiotics for another 10 days