Pepes Indonesian

Indonesian food is truly one of the best asian cuisines. It's difficult to get it wrong and after a while, it all starts to taste similar. There is 1 spice they like to use solo - tumeric? This delicious spice is used when cooking rice or seasoning chicken and on it's own, is truly remarkable.

Japanese Stuff

My heart goes out to the people of Japan. But, I know they will weather this crisis with the same grace and conscientiousness as they show in their daily life. Make a donation today.

I guess most of us won't be taking a vacation in Japan for a while. I took the opportunity to buy all the Japanese crafts I wanted from their local shops here. Including a beautiful rosewood and gold handpainted folding fan.

Thai Express

More posts to keep you entertained until I get back.

I really like this place for just plain classic Thai food.

Pattaya prawn cakes. How is one region's cuisine different from the other? It's all just thai food to me.

My favourite basil leaf chicken. It's done a little differently this time with century eggs. Still tastes the same.

On Vacation

I am on vacation now. Will tell you all about it when I get back.

Australian Rock Lobster

Lobster for dinner...I am in heaven *slurp*

Alcohol for Soaping

You need to use alcohol in soaping. Either to create transparent soaps or to remove bubbles from the surface of moulds. Isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol is easily available in pharmacies. Or you can use the vodka or grappa hanging around the house that isn't in use.

Fish & Chips

I feel like a kid again. Fish fillets dipped in egg, dusted with flour and deep fried, it's a classic.

Packing

Have to start packing for my holiday to Guilin, China. Temperature is 18°C and rainy, so hoodies it is.

Coconut?

Nothing like a fresh coconut to beat the tropical heat. It comes in an organic au natural cup shape so you can throw in gelatine to freeze into jelly.

Snowglobe Soap

I made snowglobe soaps over the weekend coz they are soo cute. I used an old ice-ball mould  and lots of glitter to get that snowglobe effect.

Let's take another look at the cuties!

I also made ice popsicles...bbrrrrrr.....

And ocean scenes of schools of blue fishes and blue starfishes lazing about.

Salad

I have always wondered how they can call this a salad when it's pasta?! I really like this combination of creamy pasta and chicken and even more so with cherry tomatoes and olives.

愛 nails

Hippo Grill

I don't know why they have such an adorable name for this restaurant, especially when they serve such grown up fare.

With a cute hippo sign stuck onto my steak.

Melt & Pour Soap

To use the rest of the melt & pour soap I purchased online. I love this stuff you know, soo easy...just melt and pour. If it hardens, just melt it again. I tried several common techniques just to get the hang of it.

Embedding - I made a India themed soap with cinnamon sticks, star anise and gold biscuit nuggets. I tried to make it orange & fushcia coloured but the fuschia just blended in so you can't see it. The heavily perfumed bar is reminiscent of the heady floral scents you get when you walk by an Indian store.

Layering - Rainbow popsicle soaps. I have a popsicle mould from the neighbourhood store ($3.90) and rainbow food colouring from my rainbow cake - the ingredients for rainbow soap. Not difficult to make and soo cute!

Prawn Noodle 虾面

I can have this everyday, dry or soup. Maybe, it's the crispy fried pork lard bits talking. For the uninitiated, it's distinctly different from Hokkien Prawn Mee that is stir-fried in lard with a mix of yellow (egg) and white (rice) noodles, no soup.

Alien Handwash

Toy Story Alien handwash, how can you say no?

 

Chicken Karaage Don

Japanese chicken rice. I usually have unagi don but today there is a seasonal specialty available where it is mixed with a spicy sauce...tastes like sambal.

Loofah Soap

How to make a loofah soap: you will need mp soap (preferably transparent), a loofah and a plastic container. Maybe also some essential oils and colouring.

Instructions: Place loofah in plastic container. Melt mp soap. Add essential oils and colouring. Pour mp soap into container. Leave for 1 week. Cut the container and pop out the soap.

I like to add a rope on it so you can hang it in the shower, or you can just slice it. By itself, this thing easily weighs over 1kg, only the strong can use it.

Buy mp soap locally from favomall or massagesupplies.

Laksa

Different from curry noodles, Laksa is rice vermicelli in a coconut based spiced soup. The Peranakan version has a sweeter soup base usually enhanced with prawn paste or prawn stock and eaten with just a spoon.

Bodyshop Warehouse Sale

I can't believe I braved the crowds again for this. Every time I go, I take one look at the human jam and tell myself to buy more since I already made the trip. So I buy a year's worth of stuff plus presents.

Sakura Nails

Pork Rib Tea 肉骨茶

Another Straits Chinese dish that's popular in Singapore, more commonly known as bak kut teh. Pork Ribs stewed in a clear stock with spices. The soup is robust and the meat soo tender it falls off the bone. The cafe near my office sells a not so conventional version with herbs.

Nespresso Magimix

My dad's nespresso machine arrived today...it's a magimix with aeroccino!

Stuffed with coffee capsules, 250 to be exact and a coffee menu in a black binder. Very important as the capsules are colour coded so we need to refer to the menu.

I think my cousin just bought a tube each of all the available flavours. A supply that will last my family about 6 months? Then we can refill with the seasonal flavours.

Dim Sum Lunch

Dim sim is the kind of meal you sit with friends over and slowly savour. I can't believe I am having it on a work day.

These are my favourite dimsum dishes that I always order and you really can't go wrong from there: pork dumplings 烧卖, shrimp dumplings 虾饺, black bean spare ribs 豆椒蒸排骨.

Lush Sample Soap

I got a whole bunch of soap samples from Lush recently and really, you can't do much with soap ends. So I combined all into 1 super sample bar. Not all ready made soap can be melted down like mp soap. Instead, I melted some mp soap to combine the little bits together in a tofu container (eco-friendly tip).

The result was a colourful 250gm bar that had individual look and fragrances intact so you can sample each of Lush's soaps when you use this.

I also made army themed soap bars with wintergreen translucent mp soap and chopped up bits of chlorophyll soap (soo strange right?). I think the bars are really adorable as it took on the little recyclable symbols and ridged sides from the tofu container. It will take you 2 or 3 months to use up these bars.

Leftover mp soap went into the tofu container as well. Next weekend, I am going to show how to make a loofah soap.

Coffee Art

I usually get a heart on the top of my latte. But, today it's a leaf...soo fancy. It really makes my day when the barista takes the effort to create some artwork in my coffee. Below is a pic I found of a latte rabbit, perfect for this year of the rabbit. Now to find a coffee place that does this.