Pimp My Trishaw !

This mean-looking trishaw looked like it has been pimped* by MTV! As stated, the trishaw is modified after Harvey Davidson's bike!

I hoped the trishaw uncle has a beard, bantana, leather pant and jacket to match! He would be fierce~!

*According to urban dictionary, "Pimped" meant :

• 1. To utterly destroy your competition
• 2. To be way tight and decked out in expensive stuff.

The Cat and I (III) - She vomited blood!

Something happened to the stray cat which I often feed last Saturday.

As usual, I was walking around the neighbourhood trying very hard not to attract Mimi (I have recently named the cat - Mimi as in 猫咪’s mi) to walk with me. After the third round, she saw me and was following me from behind. I wanted to finish my fourth round before feeding her, thus shoo and signal her to wait at the particular spot. She walked with me for some distance before stopping at the spot.

Minutes later, I was on my way to the spot to pick her up when I saw her running towards me. I called out to her as usual and she was pretty excited. As she moved closer to me, I noticed something wasn’t right with her. Patches of her fur was covered with blood. I had thought she got into a fight with other cats and felt rather bad about it. I petted her on the head and she responded back rather excitedly then, thus thought she is fine apart from the wounds.

We walked back to the usual feeding spot together. Usually when I was emptying the food from the can, she would be pacing excitedly around it, but that day she did not. She moved away instead. I signal her to come over and she did. I noticed her mouth was red and blood was dripping from it. I had a scare and was so shocked. She did not seem to notice what was wrong and started cleaning her furs with her bloodily tongue. The blood started to tint her white fur which explains the patches of blood on her fur earlier on.

As she cleans, the fur becomes dirtier and she cleaned the area more furiously. Blood was still dripping while she did that. I started tearing. I was so afraid that it is dying. I repeatedly called out her name, trying to gage whether she is fine. But as cats get into “cleaning fur” mode, they would just ignore calls. Then as suddenly as the blood came, she lied down, looking tired. She closed her eyes. I panicked and called 100 to see if there was any emergency veterinary around. The officer gave me a number to the Animal hospital at Mount Vernon which I called immediately.

Animal Hospital: Hallo, Mount Vernon Animal Hospital.
Me (sobbing sound): Hallo, I found a stray cat vomiting blood. Can I bring it over?
Animal Hospital: Sure, Mdm. We opened 24-hour. But just to let you know mdm, the consultation fees is $321 dollars excluding treatment…
Me (stopped sobbing briefly): Huh? $321 dollars?
Animal Hospital: Alternative Mdm, you can call the SPCA. (Gave me the numbers).

Throughout the conversation, I shook the cat hopping that it would response. It did after some shake. She had closed her eyes briefly because it was windy… (WTH)

SPCA: Hallo, SPCA.
Me: I found a stray cat vomiting blood.
SPCA: Is it still alive?
Me: Yes.
SPCA: Our driver is away at the moment. You might have to wait for one hour before we can pick it up.
Me: Huh? Where are you all located? I will send it over.
SPCA: You want to send it over? We are located at Braddell.
Me: Ok

All the while, Mimi is only used to me petting her and has never allowed me to carry her. I tried very hard to try to carry her, but she did not want me to lift her. Going back to “fur cleaning” mode, she sat at a corner continue to clean her fur. Occasionally, she will still vomit blood. I tear up even more seeing that. I cried even harder when I see her so indulged in cleaning her fur. How can God make animal so innocent that she is not even aware of her serious condition ? I feel for her.

Mimi is not just another ordinary stray cat to me. I was very much attached to it because she responses to my call and the sight of her cheers me up. I was feeling very down some time back and she is the only thing which I looked forward to seeing everyday…

I had no choice but to call SPCA to pick her up, but stopped eventually. I got worried. She looked and behaved fine, though a bit weak. If I sent her to SPCA and the test returned bad, she might be put to sleep… I could not bear to send her to die like that. That night, I stayed for a few more hours with her before going home.

The next morning, I woke up and went down to check on her. She looked tired (guess like me, she wasn’t a morning cat) but generally fine. She managed to clean up her bloody fur which signifies that she has not been vomiting blood in the night.

I am somewhat relieved, but still worries that her condition will turn bad. I have genuine concern about her and am willing to fork out some money for her to see a vet. However, I did not realize veterinary clinic charges so much for consultation. I am now trying to find a cheaper veterinary clinic so that I can send her there (that is she would let me carry her…)

In the meantime, I hope God would bless Mimi and keep her healthy!

Recipe - Pressed Cookies Made With Love!

In these recession times, does one still have the mood to love? Forget about roses which only lasted for 2 days, useless branded bags, cliché couples’ rings and overpriced Valentine dinner set. Valentine Day is suppose to celebrate the love of your life but it is been commercialized so much that one has to burn a hole in the pocket in order to prove the love he/she has ! If you ask me, it is time to go back to basic and time to do things that matter to celebrate the love of your life this year!

I have not found the love of my life yet, if not I would probably bake him a jar of delicious cookies and make him bring to work, so that he can have one of them every day thinking of me. Hahaha….

Ok, forget about the rubbish thoughts, anyway for those who like to bake cookies for your love ones as Valentine present, here is the recipe. Hey, these cookies are so easy to make that I think guys should not have any problem making them too! So, put on the apron and start impressing the girl!

Ingredients:

Plain flour – 150 grams
Sugar – 50 grams
Good quality unsalted butter – 70 grams
Egg – 1/2
Vanilla extract (optional) – 1 teaspoon

To note:

This is a simple recipe for pressed cookies. The flavor of the cookies comes from butter, thus I would suggest using good quality butter for this recipe. You can choose to put a bit of vanilla extract, but I did mine without the vanilla and it tasted good enough!

The original recipe also called for egg wash to be applied onto the cookies dough before baking, but I did not do so. Also, if you think half an egg is difficult to measure, then double-up the recipe. I can barely fill up one jar after doubling the recipe.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees celcius.
2. a large bowl, cream the room temperature butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. You can do that with a wooden spoon.
3. Then add in the egg. Do not worry if the mixture starts to cuddle. It should incorporate properly if you mixed it fast enough. Alternatively, add a spoonful of the measured flour. It would mix properly.
4. Once the egg mixture is incorporated into the butter cream, add in the flour. Using a spatula, work the flour and butter cream into a dough.
5. When the dough starts to form, you can use your hands to work them together. If the dough stick to your hand, sprinkle a little bit more flour onto it.
6. Chill the dough in refrigerator for half an hour before rolling them out.
7. Half an hour later, spread cling wrap on the table for rolling out dough between them. This prevent the dough from sticking onto the wooden stick.
   

To make it easier to work with the dough, I actually divide the dough into smaller portion. If you do not have cling warp at home, just cut open a plastic bag and place the dough in between to roll out. It should be roll out to about 2-3 mm thickness, depending on your liking.

Once the dough is perfectly rolled out, cut out the cookies in any shape you like with cookies cutter! Of course for Valentine Day, cut them out in heart-shape or star. If you are creative, you can cut them into alphabets and use them to form any sentences! Your love one can play a game of scrabbles with them. Haha~!

Transfer the dough onto baking tray. I have lined mine with baking paper so that they would not stick onto the tray. If you noticed, there are tiny holes on the cookies, I purposely poke them using fork, so that air can escape from cookies. Cookies unlike cake, does not like air!

Bake them at 170 degress celcius for 9-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookies. The above are my star-shaped cookies!

They should be in golden brown colour when done! I like how the whole house is filled with butter fragnance when baking them.

Let them cool down on a plate before storing them in an air-tight container. They should be able to last for weeks, if your love one have not finished them by then.

Here are the cookies which I have baked. Yes, I accidentally leave some of them too long in the oven, thus they looked like chocolate cookies or something... They tasted good still... as they are not yet burnt. Haha. Anyway, all of them are already polished off by my brother. He said:" It is strangly additive even though it is a common cookie with a simple taste..."

Well, start baking now, don't wait! Btw, this is a good baking project for children too. Just make sure that adults are around to pop the cookies into the oven. :)

South Korea grandmother failed her driving test for 771 times!

Wah! Speechless… A South Korea grandmother had failed her written driving test for 771 times! I think she can entered herself to Guiness record already. The granny known as Cha is a door-to-door sale person selling food to household items. She wanted to drive so that she need not carried those items in a handcart. South Korea Police estimated that she had spent about five million won (about $3600)to take the written tests thus far.

Reading this news, I thought I was unlucky having to fail my driving test twice and had to take again the twice expired advance driving theory for the third time! The South Korean authorities should be kinder to her by letting her take verbal test or something. How can someone take so many tests and still failed?

In any case, I wish her luck if she is embarking on the 772nd time! I hope she will pass and stop there…

Click here to read the full news.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Get to know about your blogging personality from this personality test!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourbloggingpersonalityquiz/

Here is my blogging personality!

You like to voice your well thought out opinions on your blog. And if someone doesn't like what you write, you really don't care! (Er, actually I do... Haha)

Serious and blunt, sometimes people take your blog the wrong way. But you're a true and loyal friend to those who truly get you.

Don't Play With Your Fruits...

Remember how your mum would scold you if you play with your food? Well, I think his mum forgot to tell him that...

I took this picture at Bugis Village, outside one of the fruits' stall. This traffic stopping smiley face which is pieced together with fruits has got a lot of people taking photos with it. For all you know, it might be the icon for Bugis Village in time to come!

Traditional Lunar New Year Food - Stir-fry Savoury Rice Cakes 炒年糕

I am sure not many people know about this dish as it is uniquely known to Chinese of Hockchew origin or Shanghainese. My mum is a Hockchew, thus we would always have this dish during Chinese New Year and sometimes during normal days.

It is called 炒年糕 or Stir-fry rice cake. We also called it 白粿（bey kueh). The white colour elongated rectangular-shaped item is rice cake. It has a similar texture to the Korean rice cake which was cooked with red colour chili sauce which is soft and slightly chewy.

These rice cakes were made in China and comes in a packet which cost about $2 dollars. My mum usually buy them from an old shop in North Bridge Rd selling all kinds of Hock Chew stuff, but you can get them from NTUC too. I thought the packaging looked the same, but somehow the quality of the rice cake differs greatly. When opened, the rice cake were actually sun dried and feels hard, almost plastic-like. They have to be soaked them over-night so that they will soften and double-in size slightly for cooking the next day.


How to cook them? Though I said stir-fry, it is more like braising. Firstly, fry the pork (marinated with soy sauce, pepper, sesame seed oil) with garlic first. For this dish, you have to use slightly fatty pork for better flavour. When the pork browned, add in leeks and white cabbage which are already cut in strips. Wait for them to wilt and soften then add in the rice cake. Stir them around to mix thoroghly then add water. For richer flavour, you can use stock. Let it simmer with lid on.

As it cooked, the rice cakes will release starch which thicken up the soup. At the very last minutes, add in the seafood like prawns and squids. To taste, add salt. We do not usually add sugar or anything else as the leeks, white cabbages and seafood will released sweetness into the gravy already. The fattiness of the pork actually give a rounded touch to it.

Every mouthful, one can taste soft and slightly chewy texture of the rice cakes, the sweetness of the leeks and white cabbage and flavourful fatty pork give the dish roundedness... Yummy!!! It is one of our favourite dishes at home. I could just eat this everyday.

This is our 家常菜！

Chinese New Year Celebration In Singapore - Part Three

Buying potted plant tradition is not unique to Singapore, but Chinese in Asian Countries will do that too. Most of them will visit flora nursery (逛花市）to buy seasonal potted plants to decorate their houses! I am doing it for the first time this year- visiting Far East Flora at Thomson Road on New Year eve. There were a lot of people shopping for potted plants and most of them actually drove there. I went there by Taxi, alone. Nevertheless, it was quite fun and I want to go there again!

First thing which caught my eyes was this rafflesia-looking plant. I am not sure what is it, but it sure attracted a lot of attention from people because of the size and weird look. As it was placed next to the Tiger-lily, I could not tell whether it had emited any scents, but there were many bees buzzing around it.

So much so that the nursery had to place a sticky board next to it to get rid of the roaming bees. Still, the plant looked very messy, I wondered whether anyone will buy them. Hmm... I would if I owned a bee farm! Haha!

This was not taken at Far East Flora, but the other popular plants which people will buy are Chrysanthemum. I brought them once. The key to make those flowers last longer is in watering the plants. Do not water the flowers directly as it will encourage the flowers to bloom sooner and wilt faster too. In fact, the gardener told us that we should water the roots directly avoiding the flowers. By following the tips, ours managed to last for like 2 weeks or more.

Mini Mandarin Orange plant! I always thought they looked cute. I did not buy them this year, but once which we did, it attracted a lot of beautiful butterflies to lay eggs. Read the entry here.


Pussy Willow or 银柳 is also another traditional plant to buy during Chinese New Year! We have never buy them before, but I heard that ice cubes are placed in the vase along with the plant to make them bloom faster.

See them up close. The flower actually has a furry texture, feel kind of waxy and looked like an extra large cotton bud.

This is confirmed new in Singapore and it is not taken at Far East Flora. It is a whole pineapple plant. Looked manificant. It just makes me want to harvest the pineapple ASAP. Pineapples which is called Ong Lai (in hokkien) sound like propersity come, so it is a favourite fruit among Chinese. They would have buy the fruit as an offering to God if not the whole plant.

I brought one of these plants, but not sure what it is called. Mine is a new variety with Peachy Red Colour flowers. Normal varieties are usually violet-pink or red. I just love the color too much. It costed $18 dollars. Again for the flowers to last, you should water the roots only. Also, as it is a water-retaining plant, you do not have to water them everyday.

绣球花 or Hydrangea is another favourite of Singaporeans. They looked really beautiful! However, I already have another plant in mind, thus did not buy them as well.

Far East Flora also sell fresh cut flowers and they cost so much cheaper than florist shop. I brought 10 daisies for a flower arrangement. Guess how much they cost? $4.50 only for 10 of them. Florist sell them at $1 each. Hmm... Seems like there is business opportunit, we could stock up roses for Valentine Day for selling too!

Da Daah! This is the potted plant that I brought this year! It is a Peach Blossom plant - 桃花! It is supposedly good for enhancing relationship, in fact all sort of interpersonal relationships. I definitely need some luck for enhancing my interpersonal relationships since it hit rock bottom already. They were selling it for half price and cost me $14 dollars.

I put in a lot of effort in raising this plant. I purposely chose one with a lot of young shoots to ensure that they will trive. Nothing worst than having a (touch wood) peach blossom plant that does not flower or wilt after bringing home. Because then, instead of enhancing your interpersonal relationships, it will sabotage it further.

To ensure that none of it happened, I wiki-ed about the plant. Apparently, they are hardy plant and can withstand high heat and low temperature. They like well-filtered soil and should only be watered sparingly. Too much water will cause their roots to rot. They should also be fertilised twice a year.

Mine flowered 5 days later! The flowers comes in various shades of pink and they are beautiful! Though there are two flowers now, I hope more will come later. So happy...

I will definately be back at Far East Flora again!