Two Rainbows in the Singapore Sky (It Happened Before!)

I heard on radio this morning about amazing sight of two rainbows appearing in the sky at the same time. Some officials from Science Center explained that the phenomenon was due sun rays passing through two blocks of moist air in the atmosphere, thus creating mirroring effect. Actually, it happened before in Singapore and I managed to take photos of it!

As stated in Wiki, it is quite rare for a secondary rainbow to occur. When it does, the second rainbow is usually fainter, which usually locate outside the primary one. Because it is a reflection of the primary one, the colours are usually in opposite order of the primary rainbow i.e. violet on the outside and red on the inside!

Click here to read my earlier post about two rainbows appearing in the sky – I considered it an auspicious sign !

Ps: There are quite a few photos of it !

Top 10 Useless Body Parts

Wow, I never know our body got spare parts that are useless. In my opinion, they should add excessive fats as one of the useless body parts! Ask anyone especially the girls, they will tell you that they are not needed at all... Hahah.

Note: I said excessive fats, not fats.

Read MSN encarta's article - Top 10 Useless Body Parts .

25 Things about Photosophize

There is this "25 things about yourself" craze in Facebook. One of my friend tagged me in one of her's and I thought she is pretty honest. I tried to draft my own, but stopped as I am concerned of revealing too much privacy for my comfort.

However, I thought it will be "fun" to reveal some things about Photosophize so that readers will have a better idea . So, below is 25 things about Photosophize.

1. “Photosophize” sounded masculine, but I am actually a lady not a guy.
2. I made up the word - “Photosophize” which supposedly meant philosophizing photos. I believed there is a story behind every photo.
3. Majority of the photos that are published earlier are taken using Nokia N73 camera phone. However, my phone is a bit cranky now, thus I am using Panasonic FX10 camera.
4. Am saving up for Nokia N79, but if any camera phone company happened to read this and decided to sponsor me, I welcome all. I will make sure all people know that I am using your product.
5. I would describe myself as curious and creative and love anything related to design and music.
6. I wanted to be a musician when I was young. I thought I can write pretty good lyrics.
7. Dislike arrogant and selfish people. Especially those who judged and looked down on people.
8. My voice is the most beautiful thing that God or whoever had bestowed me.
9. I love to sing and I know I can sing, but I have never won any singing competition before. Hmm… Maybe voice is not the sole criteria.
10. My idols are Faye Wong, Teresa Teng and Madonna.
11. I am rather interested in making short film. I hope to produce my own short film in time to come.
12. Though I love to eat, I cannot eat beef due to religious reason.
13. Also due to religious reasons, I vowed off eating frogs, crabs and prawns etc live living thing. I am not very strict with prawns though as long as I am not cooking them myself.
14. Because of #10, I hope I could be vegetarian one day.
15. Lousy food spoilt my mood and day because we can only eat so much per day, why waste it on lousy food?
16. I used to go library every weekend to read in order to improve my written English.
17. I am terrified of dogs. Would avoid them at all cost.
18. If I was a fruit, I would be durian. Those who can stand me will love me a lot, those who cannot take it, will loathe me.
19. I often offend people without knowing and I can be bossy at times.
20. I started blogging because I got too much spare time.
21. I hate liers and to be taken as a fool sometimes. I might not say doesn’t meant that I don’t know and I don’t mind.
22. As much as people are more educated nowadays, there are still people who looked rudely at fat people especially fat girls. It is very rude to do that, I always make sure they know that.
23. I know streets of KL like the back of my hand, but I never know how to navigate my way in Orchard.
24. My brothers are my most important food critics. They are just impossible to please.
25. I do hope I will be able to find someone who will accept me for who I am. I want to bake him a jar of cookies to bring to work, so that he can have one and thinking of me. :)

If you happened to read this, start sharing 25 things about yourself too. Perhaps we can hyperlink each other's article.

What would you win an Oscar for?

Wow, I would win the Best Actor/Actress award!

You are confident and talented. (I also have low self-esteem and panic attacks at times as well.. sound like an artist hor...) When it's time for you to shine, you step up. You have a strong personality. You love attention, and you can command an audience of any size. You tend to be a bit obsessive. You're the perfect person to immerse yourself in a big role. You're both empathetic and expressive. You understand and communicate well.

Ps: I always know I could act... I was borned on the same day as Maggie Cheung and Sophia Loren... It is in our genes. ;)

Take the personality test here.

U.R.I - Upper Respiratory Tract Infection...

I guess the hot and dry weather finally caught up with me. I had upper respiratory tract infection again. Half-way relating the symptoms to the doctor and he immediately said it is the similar as the other time and began to scribble away. Yes, not sure why, but I am always very prone to respiratory and throat infection. This time round, the doctor gave me 2 days MC, so that I do not go around and spread my germs.

It started with the common flu and dry throat. Was sneezing the whole day at work the day before. The doctor prescript anti-biotics, flu tablets, medicine for infection. I felt rather amused looking at the amount of medication I have to take. If I could, I rather drink pi pa gao and wait for it to heal. I actually never like to see doctor because I am one of those few people who do not know how to swallow pills. Sometimes, I need to drink about 500 ml just to swallow the tiny flu tablets. Hai~ I wonder how am I going to finish off the cute pink and white coloured anti-botics course.

Then today, despite drinking a lot of water, the dryness got worse and I am trying very hard to suppress coughing, but I guess it could not be contained much longer. Just took some of my brother’s cough syrup (it tasted like it though it was not stated what it was) and I counting down to knock out time.

Pardon me, if I am not making sense. I am not supposed to operate any machinery now, let alone writing coherent article... ...

*Cough, cough... Yawning… Think cough syrup is taking effect now. Good night…

What is wrong with the English in this Photo? (Part 3)

Do you all know what is wrong with the sentence?

Random Photos from KL

Well, I have almost posted most of the KL's trip photos. Below are the last batch of photos. Like all good things, it will come to an end eventually. This KL trip marks a proper closure of a chapter in my life. Happy, Sad, Bitter Sweet, I guess we screwed up and had created a mess, but we are too old to continue to do that. I hope all of us will be happier and concentrade on what is more important in life. I know I have... To a tearless 2009!

I have seen Chou Dai Fock advertisment on cable TV before (I am not cursing, that is the cantonese pronunciation of 周大福). The famed Hong Kong jewellery boutique actually opened a branch at The Gardens , Mid-Valley! Wow... They were quite alert. While I was taking photos, they immediately came out to see what I was doing. Haha! I am not a robber, just a hopeless blogger~

Delights of Gurney Drive! Again at the The Gardens, there is this Marche-concept Penang themed restaurant named Gurney Drive. Look at the beautiful decor~

I am guessing the trishaw is a unique sight of Penang. I have never been there, but I have heard that there are a lot of delicious street food. Gurney drive to Penang is akin to Jalan Alor to KL, these are streets where famed hawkers resides! I do hope I could be go there for holiday soon~ (Friends who are interested to go, sms me k?)

Look at the grand entrance! I wonder if there are a lot of Peranakans in Penang. The decor looked very much Straits Chinese-influenced.

We love to shop in other countries' supermarkets as they differs very much from Singapore's. The photo was above were taken at Great Eastern Mall's Cold Storage. They had a live seafood section! Really atas (malay word for high class)!

What is live seafood without lobster? While taking photo, I cannot help but think lobster has feelings too. It was a rather shy/scare lobster and it retreated as I was flashing away. At that moment, I felt really bad that I was thinking it as food... Maybe I should strike lobster off my diet forever... For info, I have already strike crabs and frogs off my list of edible food. Hai~ May it reincarnate into a better being soon.

I think these are see hums aka cockles. Not the normal one, but the supersized cockles... How did they get so big, almost the size of a small apple. I wondered how they tasted like and how people actually cooked them. Imagine using hum this big for Cha Kueh Tiao... We probably have to slice them. Haha.

Hey, I have never seen swiming crabs before. These, I supposed, are sea-crab. Are they any good, does anyone know?

It was Halloween period when we were there. Therefore, at Pavilion’s basement supermarket, we saw these enormous pumpkins for sale! They are not cheap and very heavy. Behind them were different variety of pumpkins. I wondered if they can be used to make kueh… Hmm...

Auf Wiedersehen... My Youth!

I went to visit my hairstylist after work just now. Sadly, it will be the last cut from my hairstylist for she is going back to Malaysia soon. I began to panic when she told me about it few months back. I thought to myself - where am I going to find someone as good as her? She might not be the best hairstylist in other people's opinions, but she is the best for me. What am I going to do without her? What will I looked like? Just the thought of it is enough to throw me deep into depression...

Guys probably do not understand the relationship that a woman has with her hairstylist. It is akin to finding the right man! Once you find the right person, you will never ever want to leave him. Hairstylists not only cut hair, but also takes on many roles too. In my view, she is the image consultant, self-esteem booster, gossip pal and of course the one who can bestow you the perfect hair-day for months to come...

I have been sticking with her for about 3 years. Prior meeting her, I salon-hopped one from another, trying to find the perfect cut, but to no avail. Not sure why, a lot of hairstylists tend to give me hairstyle which make me looked older than my actual age. She is the only one which makes me looked my age which is quite a feat already... So now, I have to start looking for another salon with the perfect cut which I will feel comfortable in, where the hairstylist would be able to recognise me and address me by name. I also have to "re-trained" the hairstylist on what I like and dislike. Arggghhhh~

Then, I came to realise something today. I was buying food and the auntie said "Xie Xie Ni, Xiao Mei~!". I did not pay much attention to it, but just now, while staring at the mirror, it suddenly dawned on me - I am not young anymore... I wondered how many more people would actually address me as "xiao mei" and I did not think about this until today. Technically, as much as I do not wish to acknowledge, I am an adult and in a few years, I will be 30. Where did the time go? Why am I not prepared at all? I swear I could hear the clock ticking louder at the realisation moment.

Hmm... past quarter of a centry and with nothing on hand (literally), I think I need to review my life seriously before it was over. Someone should have told me earlier that life goes into fast-forward mode once you past 18 year old...

HELP!!!

KL's Super Noodle House - 新香港粥面家

I am not a great fan of hotel's breakfast no matter how good they can be. Especially straight after a few days' stay at the hotel, the smell of the cafeteria is enough to make my face green without having to step inside it. So, on the last day of my KL trip, I ventured out for some local food for breakfast.

Located outside Sungei Wang Plaza, there is this restaurant named "Super Noodles House".

Exterior of the restaurant had a very strong Chinese influenced decor, with Chinese pavilion-themed trimmings painted in ancient courts' colours of red and green. It was a rather prominent restaurant along Bukit Bintang Road.


新香港粥面家 or Super Noodle House specialised in Cantonese hawker food such as Roasted Meats, Noodles, Poridge and Dim Sum.


Just take a look at the wide varieties of roasted meats - Shiny Goose and ducks, Sticky Cha Siew, Cripsy meat and mini-suckling pigs. All of them looked very good. However, because it was early morning, I ordered something lighter.

I ordered Wonton Noodles in soup. Wonton is the cantonese pronouciation for a type of dumplings which is known as 馄饨 or 云吞 (hun tun or yun tun) in Chinese. They usually had minced pork and shrimp fillings, but the one which I have ordered above only had whole shrimps as fillings.

It was served steamy hot. The soup was clear and flavourful. It had a pleasantly light sweetness to it. I like how it warms up my stomach immediately. The noodles was cooked to perfectly al dente like how Wonton noodles should be - chewy and emits a light eggy fragnance. The shrimp wonton tasted good too. The shrimp meat was fresh and Q - it had some resistance when bite into it. Each of them explodes with rich seafood flavours!

I noticed the rest of the customers ordered Dim Sim from them. They were cooked upon order and served steamy hot. I ordered Har Kao (shrimp dumpling). Like the wonton, the shrimp meat had good texture and was very fresh. They should be eaten while hot, otherwise the skin was harden.

I also ordered their deep-fried dumpling. They had minced meat as fillings, with finely diced carrots and onions. Not bad, but I think it could be improve further.

If you were there for lunch and dinner, remember to order their dessert too. The desserts are typical Hong Kong dessert - Mango Pudding, Chilled Almond Jelly, Fruit Sago, Cream of Water Chestnuts, Egg Stewed with rock-sugar etc. I like how they printed part of the menu of mirror wall which looked very much like a traditional Hong Kong cafe.

While slurping on my noodles, I looked up dreamily at the restaurant. Hours later, I will be leaving KL and back to Singapore...

The bill came I was jolted awake! The breakfast was quite cheap by Singapore's standard! Rm$7.50 for the wonton noodles which converts to roughly $3 sing dollars. RM$6 for dim sim costed $2.5o sing dollars! I thought their wonton noodles tasted better and of course more worthwhile than Crystal Jade's. For $3 sing dollars, I can only probably buy wonton noodles from coffee shop and the filling is of course pork only...

Looking out of the window, I wondered when I will be back again to taste the rest of their food items...

Verdict:

Very Worthwhile, Must Try!

What Kind of Communicator Are You?

I am probably one of the worst communicator. I often offend people without knowing and I do it effortlessly as if it was in my genes or something. Therefore, I prefer to write instead of talking.

Take test here to find out what sort of Communicator You Are...

I am:

You don't mince words. You are to the point and all about the facts.However, you are charming enough to tell people the truth yet still not offend them.(Trying very hard to learn that skill, in the meantime you would have to bear with me...)

It's likely that you have a hilarious, no holds barred sense of humor. And you sure tell an entertaining story! You're also quite open. People can ask you anything, and you don't shy away from controversial conversation topics. (Yeah, come on shoot!)

KL's Pavillion - T.G.I Friday's Restaurant

Warning: The following entry contained photos which might cause instant hunger and uncontrolled production of excess saliva. Dieters, please avoid, others proceed with caution.

You have been warned… Well, I am post-blogging the remaining photos from my KL trip last November. Yes, I know it was so long ago… but they are worth sharing. So, people here go the first of the series - T.G.I Friday's!

Nope, I am not cheering that it is Friday, but rather the U.S. restaurant chain T.G.I Friday's! We went to the Pavilion outlet during the last night in Kuala Lumpur – one of my favourite cities. Actually, we had wanted to go Tony Roma, but later decided to go TGIF instead as it is not available in Singapore. I heard that S’pore’s branch closed down years ago… What a pity. I would rate it as a must-try if you are travelling to KL !

The décor of the restaurant was rather open concept, much like New York New York in Singapore. The wall plastered with pictorials of American icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Las Vegas, baseball etc, informal but lively which gave people that “always a lot of things to see” kind of feeling. The lighting was subtle which gave people a sense of privacy – good for couple I must say.

So what is special about the restaurant ? It’s the food. Do you know the difference between American food and French food? Le PORTION! America’s food portion is HUGE! T.G.I Friday's food stays true to its American roots! Because we are in Malaysia, the conversion rate is in our favour, it makes the food very much worthwhile! That is worth every reason to visit it already!

Basically, they have set meals and ala carte dishes. Set meals cost RM$39.90 which converts to about $17 sing dollars, consisted of an appetiser, main course and dessert. Well, you would have thought that is only ah? What so special? Scroll and continue to read…

For appetiser, one get to chose either Shrimp Martini or Fried Macaroni Cheese. When they were served, we were dumb-stuck… I would have mistaken them for main courses and really if anyone finished them, there is hardly any room for main course, let alone dessert…

Just take a look at this - Shrimp Martini. It is one of our favourite dishes.

Quite special, it was served cold in a HUGE Martini glass.

It is a bit like Seliche (don't know how to spell) in which raw bits of seafood is marinated in lime juice and rum. This shrimp martini consisted of shrimps, chopped up olive, onions, tomato and tomato juice. Additional lemon juice is optional which is what we did. This resulted in a slightly acidic tangy appetiser which whetted our appetite immediately. The restaurant was generous with the ingredients as well with plenty of shrimps to share among three of us.

Those on diet turned your head now. This is their Fried Macaroni Cheese appetizer for one and there are six pieces! I mean one is sinful enough, but to serve six pieces to one person is just evil. Anyway, I am not complaining because they are really good.

Served piping hot, the fried Macaroni cheese had a very crispy crust, the cheese melted and "stringed" when we divided it into half. Took a bite, the first taste which hit you was the rich cheesy flavour, but it was not salty. In fact, it was slightly blend. I would think that it needed more cheese or liquid as it was a tad dry. We actually dunked these "comforting package" into the shrimp martini sauce. It should be eaten immediately while it was hot.

Besides the food, we also ordered cocktail drinks. They were cheaper compared to Singapore's, but I never expected that it was also slightly larger than Singapore's...

My friend ordered this chocolate bailey drink which I have forgotten the name. We were laughing our heads off when it was served. This alone can filled her up already. How can they serve drink in a mini-goldfish bowl?

Tasted a bit like alcoholic milkshake with a ball of ice cream. Sweet, creamy and sinfully decadent...

Another friend and I ordered the healthier Mojito! It was the tastiest Mojito I ever drank. Don't think that it is cheaper, they would hold the alcohol back. They did not and were quite generous in fact, that I start to worry how to get back to hotel after the first sip!

Then comes the main course. Strangely, they were not as huge as I thought they would be. Perhaps, I had enough shock with the appetisers and drinks that when it comes to the main course, I was not really surprise. Perhaps, the alcohol had taken some effects as well - Sedatively.


The taste was so-so too. Normal chicken breast meat over rice with tangy sweet mandarin orange sauce. As usual with Amercian restaurant, Chicken breast meat was dry. The sauce managed to hydrate it slightly. The only thing worth mentioning was that I think they served me a head of broccoli. That serving alone was probably 0ne full day worth of vegetable intake for an adult. LOL.


My friend's order - Grilled Chicken Breast Meat with Pasta. Chicken meat tasted dry, pasta not al dente and yes, the broccoli. They gave her a smaller head. LOL.


This had to be the best main course. Fish and Chips! Crust crispy and fish fillets tender and moist inside. Not really greasy, so it was quite good.

By now, we are actually quite done with eating. However, there is still dessert to come and the portion was backed to normal size - HUGE!!! Seriously, no wonder America has the highest obesity rate. How can one stay silm there?


This was supposed to be some rich and dense chocolate cake, but it was dry too. We were not very impressed with it.

This was better one! It is vanila ice cream sandwiched between some huge chocolate chips cookie. As if it was not sweet enough, they drenched the plate with chocolate and cameral sauce. Definately not good for body, but it tasted rather good.


Verdict:


I like their appetiser and mojito and the supersized chocolate chip ice-cream dessert. Luckily, we were shopping away the whole day. Otherwise, this meal really busted our daily calories intake. I recommended should try because the price was quite worthwhile. The main course which we had are not their speciality which is grilled steak and chicken with whiskey sauce! Perhaps, they will taste better.


Staff is cheerful and friendly. While we were there, someone celebrated their birthday. All the staff actually gathered around to entertain that table with songs and cheers. The celebration lasted quite a while. They seem genuinely entertaining the birthday girl and gang. It was really fun and exciting. I would want to celebrate my birthday there - this year maybe. Hee Hee.

For more information, visit their website - http://www.fridays.com.my/

Faye Wong's Unreleased New Song -" I Love You"

Apparently, Faye Wong still got an unreleased song titled - I Love You. Written by her pal - Zhang Ya Dong, the song was actually an OST for a mainland movie titled " I Love You"! The song was re-arranged and published in Zhang Ya Dong's latest album.

I like the mood which the song sets - cold, sensual and mysterious. Faye's crystal clear and breathy voice provided the song with emotions and soul. I searched, but there is no mentioned of who penned the lyrics. I would have guess Lin Xi if it was a Faye production, but it is not. In any case, I quite like the line - 那些抓不住的 才是真的。。。

Isn’t that Love? One cannot see it, cannot show it to others but it is real and present because we can feel it. Material and bread though essential in a relationship, but their presence does not meant that there is love. Only those things which you cannot hold on to are true …



王菲未发表新歌 - "我爱你"

作曲：张亚东
作词：(未知)

多简单 爱情 像就做完的梦 清楚 模糊
多简单 像第一次问你爱不爱 你说 爱 爱
多美丽 回答 它轻轻的掠过 不愿 落下
这一些热的烈的情 和苍白的浮冰 多无影

散 散落 那些忽而现 又有时隐而不见的飞
啊… 散落 那些抓不住的 才是真的。。。

多简单 爱情 它轻轻的掠过 不愿落下
这一些热的烈的情 都无影 啊 多透明

啊… 散 散落 那些忽而现 又有时隐而不见的飞
啊… 散落 那些忽而亮 转而模糊 隐隐约 约飘落
啊… 散 散落 那些忽而现 又有时隐而不见的坠
啊… 散落 那些抓不住的 才是真的。。。

那些抓不住的 才是真的。。。 祝天下有情人能终成眷属！

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!