Silicopat Baking Sheet

My latest acquisition to add to my baking supplies - a Silicopat Baking Sheet! Got it from Phoon Huat for $16.31, it's the Italian cousin of the French Silpat that I see a lot on American cooking shows. Looking forward to using it.

On a separate note, I'm really disappointed that I missed the Mummy 3 on the big screen Movies come and go waaay too fast in Singapore. Why is that, can anyone tell me? I vaguely recall in Australia that movies stick around for ages, like for over a month giving people enough time to plan to go see it. Bummer......

Must've been a 24 hour bug

Yesterday was a very strange day. I woke up feeling rather unwell, felt so tired and just wanted to sleep. I felt like I was coming down with the flu. Since I was in no shape to take care of an active toddler, I sent her off to the in laws for the day. As for me, the rest of the day was spent in bed trying to sleep, except that I couldn't get into a deep sleep. Evening came and Caelyn and Edmund had come home, by that time I was feeling ok again.

Today I'm feeling back to my normal self again with still a tinge of tiredness. It's really strange, like I had a 24 hour bug or something. Thought I was also getting a cough, but that came and went within the 24 hours too. How bizarre.....

Baby Making Incentives by the Government

Now that the goverment is saying maternity leave will be 16 weeks up from 12 weeks, I think there's a lot of debate going on. Will this mean women jobseekers will be more discriminated against because it'll cost more, particurlalry for SME (Small-Medium Enterprises)? Somebody also wrote about this to the newspaper. Another woman wrote in to the paper and pointed out thta maybe the extra 4 weeks should've gone towards father's taking leave when their babies are born. I kinda agree with this one because I think it would be great for father's to be able to take leave and bond with their newborn and the new Mummy. The extra help would definitely be appreciated by those who have no one else to rely on for help except their husbands.

In the past I had been to interviews where they asked me if I was married and when I was planning to have children. Is it right for potential employers to ask this question, would you ask this question if u were the employer (even if it's not out loud)? I know it's not ethical, but I'm sure this is what's on their mind at interviews. Unless of course you have an exceptional skill or talent the employer needs, there's no reason the employer wouldn't just hire a man instead of a woman to do the same job (unless it specifically needs a woman to do). So I wonder if the government's efforts to increase birthrates will instead create more problems for working women than they know it.

What do you think?

My first Nigella Lawson cookbook

My first Nigella cooking book, Nigella Express, has finally arrived today. I ordered it from a website called Betterworld.com .Believe it or not I found out about this site through an ad on the side panel of my facebook site. I was intrigued at their low international shipping cost of US$2.97 (now is US$3.97) to anywhere in the world and free shipping in the US. Nigella Express book at Kinokuniya book store is priced at over SG$65, but on here including shipping fee I think it only came out to about SG$38. I'm also very happy with their service. I like how they sent me an email when the book had been shipped out and they let me know if I hadn't received it by a certain date to let them know because it would be deemed lost by then. This site is much cheaper than shopping from Amazon.com (if you don't live in the US that is) since shipping charges are way cheap. But it did take about 3 weeks for the book to reach me, so don't order any books that you want to read in a hurry.

Anyway, I love Nigella and watch her show on the Discovery Travel & Living channel all the time. Tho her cooking might not be conventional and her ingredients might not be as easy to find in Singapore, I am happy to add her to my collection. And I think it's the fact that she's not professionally trained in cooking, yet can whip up yummy easy dishes with ease, that makes her appealing to homecooks like me.

About Betterworld.com: "Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than two million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders."

Thai Sing Chilli Crab Sauce

We bought some crabs from the supermarket the other day and cooked it ourselves using this Thai Sing Chilli Crab Sauce ($3 for a jar from Prime supermarket). It is really delicous and tastes just like the chilli crab you buy at the restaurant. I suppose I could've concocted my own sauce mixture but I was too lazy. I also don't deep fry my crabs cos I can't be bothered, and pan frying it tastes good enough for us. The sauce is especially great to mop up with some crusty bread. Be warned tho, this sauce is SUPER spicy, I had to add extra water than the recommended and even add extra sugar to it. Finger lickin good This is so much cheaper than buying from a restaurant that we realised we should just cook it ourselves next time we want chilli crab. It's not hard to do either.

The crabs kinda freaked me out before we killled them. We left them in our sink and one of them climbed over to the other sink!! And they were pretty fierce, kept their fierce eyes on me every time I went to the sink and they tried to lift up their bodies. Lucky hubby's not afraid to kill them. Caelyn enjoyed looking at the crabs and she also enjoyed eating them....hehehe.

The yummiest Durian Cake/Swiss Roll I ever had

This was the yummiest Durian Swiss Roll or cake I've ever had. We saw this shop being introduced on local tv show 'Makan King' and thought we'd give it a try since they claim they only use D24 pure durian paste in their swiss rolls. To be honest I'm not that crazy about durians, I will eat probably one or two when someone buys it, unlike my parents who are totally crazy about it. My in laws also like durian, so we bought the cake to share with them. Each box costs $13 and there's 2 long skinny rolls inside, you can also mix and match different flavours in a box. They have an assortment of flavours including Kaya, Mango, Blueberry, etc. Next time will try other flavours, but their Durian is their signature flavour and is also the one that gets sold out quickly. So if you want to buy, go early in the day.

The shop is called Rich & Good Cake Shop and it's at Kandahar St in Little Arab. Sorry can't remember the shop number, but it's a blue shophouse, you can't miss it. While you're there check out some of the Malay Indonesian food there, it's pretty yummy.

Simplified Satay

The recipe calls for Chicken/Pork, but I only had minced beef. I used a griddle pan and I served it with grilled asparagus spears to be dipped in the peanut sauce as well.

Adapted from Mrs Lee's Cookbook

Ingredients:
500g chicken or pork
Satay Sticks

Rempah:
4 shallots
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil

Method:
1. Tenderise the meat by pounding slightly, if necessary. Cut into small cubes.
2. Peel then pound the shallots.
3. Mix all the ingredients for the rempah together.
4. Add the meat then knead together. Allow to marinate for 30 min or more.
5. Thread the meat onto satay sticks.
6. Grill the satay until cooked, served with peanut sauce.

You can also freeze these cooked or uncooked.

Instant Rendang Padang

I made this Chicken Rendang with baby potatoes the other day. Not bad although I still prefer beef rendang to chicken, but alas I only had chicken in my fridge. Rendang Padang is a Dry type of Rendang, so don't go expecting to have any sauces/gravy. The good thing with this Kokita brand instant seasoning is that coconut milk is already included in the mix and it doesn't have any preservatives.

Microwaving Krupuk/Keropok (Prawn Crackers) instead of Frying

In Indonesia we call Prawn Crackers Krupuk, but in Malay or in Singapore it's called Keropok. Just thought I'd clarify this

Anyway, I'm rather lazy to fry Krupuk, eventhough now that I think about it there's not much to it except heating up oil and frying. And usually I'll leave the Krupuk frying for when my Mum comes to visit, usually she does this before frying something else. She says this is a good way to save your oil because the oil is still clean before you fry something else. So it's ideal for Krupuk frying.

I have microwaved Krupuk before but had 'forgotten' about it till not long ago when Caelyn kept on insisting on 'Puk Puk'. Look I know it's not so healthy for her, but anywho I wanted some too, so I proceeded to microwave the Krupuks. To me personally I think they taste pretty good microwaved because you don't have that oily taste and your fingers don't get all greasy (and you can kid yourself that it's healthier). But there are people, like my brother, who doesn't really like it cooked in this way because it tastes drier. The only downside I see to cooking in the microwave is that it doesn't 'expand' as much as if you fried it in oil and usually the edges don't get cooked so you'll have to take the hard edges off before eating it. And also you have to keep a very close eye on them as they cook, because they cook really fast, like about 40 seconds for about 5-6 pieces (these are the big Indonesian Krupuks) and if you don't keep an eye on them they will char and burn.

On the upside, I like that you can just cook small batches as and when you feel like eating them rather than fry a big batch and leaving it in a jar for days (or even weeks till they go soggy)..

microwaved krupuk


uncooked krupuk


Ny Siok brand. This is 'the' brand to buy if you're looking for uncooked prawn crackers.

Caelyn the budding Fashionista

Recently Caelyn's been kinda picky about the clothes she wears and will tell me 'no' she doesn't want to wear whatever it is and then there are times where she refuses to take off say her pyjamas or a particular pretty shirt. Everytime I try to take it off she screams and demands I put it back on her again. I guess she's just exploring her personality and preferences.

Tomato, Cheese and Olive Bread

Made this bread recently using my trusty breadmaker. Was quite nice, but the olives got all chopped up, must remember to put it in a little later so it stays intact. For the tomato I had some stir through Pasta Sauce left over and I just added that into the dough mixture.

Estee Lauder Make-Up Workshop from last Sunday

I went to the an Estee Lauder Make-Up Workshop at Paragon last Sunday. I had seen this workshop advertised in last month's Simply Her magazine and decided to sign up for it. When you sign up, you actually purchase a $100 makeup workshop voucher, which is fully redeemable against any of their products. In addition you also got a small Estee Lauder makeup pouch which contains a palette that had 2 blushers, six eyeshadows and their brushes in the one palette, plus a mini mascara and a mini eyeliner crayon, all supposedly worth $125. I lurve the free gift, the palette is just gorgeous, along with the mini mascara and eyeliner, it's all compact sizes for travelling. And yes I do bring makeup when I go on holidays

The free gift

The workshop itselft was quite fun, it was 2 hours. Definitely would've been more fun if I had a friend with me so we could giggle and laugh while doing our girly things, but sadly my circle of friends in Singapore is very limited and I had no one to go with me. Boo Hoo. Anyway, quite a number of the participants came alone so I wasn't the odd one out. There were roughly 14 people in my workshop, there were other timings too. I think the max is about 15. The workshop was held at the Paragon atrium, if you don't know wat an atrium is it's actually just that empty space in the middle of the shopping centre where promotions and events are usually held. Estee had decorated the workshop area so beautifully with hanging bead curtains so eventhough you were smack bang in the middle of the shops, you still felt private eventhough passerbys would gawk at you once in a while.

Of course the purpose of the workshop really was for Estee to promote it's products, to let you try them, hook you and reel you in. My Mum uses Estee stuff, but to me they're a little out of my price range, but I went just for the fun of it anyway. I do like their concealer tho, it comes in a tube brush and their eye, lip makeup remover which didn't feel greasy at all, so I bought those with my voucher along with a brow pencil. Each one retails for around $40, so you see what I mean by a little out of my price range.

I finally learnt the correct way of putting on foundation, blusher and eye makeup. Maybe I shouldn't say the correct way, but a better way. I like the way way the eye makeup is applied by combining 3 colours to give your eyes an instant lift. Just see my photo below. Ok, so it might not be even, cos the lady did one eye and i had to do the other eye. They also helped fixed up your brows for you and teach you how to fill in the gaps and sculpt your brows with the brow pencil. Alright, so I might not be applying makeup like this everytime I go out especially if I'm in a hurry, but when the occasion calls for it i'll definitely put it into practice.

"Finished Product" Neat eyebrows, Lifted Eyes, It almost doesn't look like me.

Peek a boo!


They asked me to be a live manequin for them to demo the eye makeup technique, so I got to sit on that high chair on the stage.

Lady helping people


Each table had its own set of brushes (makes you wonder about hygiene of it all), a mirror, a box of tissues, cotton pads, etc and a box of makeup to share with your neighbour. Made me think how nice it would be if at home I had a table like that.

Lots of Changes at Sentosa

There's a lot of changes at Sentosa, and there's also lots more tourists there nowdays. We went there to see the Sound of the Sea Show, but the tickets were sold out by the time were there for both the 7.40 and 8.40pm shows. It seems really difficult to get tickets considering there's lots of tour group there too.

Anyway, we enjoyed looking at all the improvements there. I can imagine how much nicer everything will be once Universal Studios and Resorts World opens.

Bisinmon @ Bugis Junction Basement1

This is a small ramen place at the newly renovated Bugis Junction Basement 1. Their soup is a lot lighter than Ajisen Ramen's one and the selection is more limited. They also use a different kind of noodles to Ajisen. Bisinmon's one is more like the instant noodles type of ramen noodles which I kind of prefer. They also sell other food like Curry Rice and Katsudon's etc in half size.

Shoyu Ramen

Spicy Miso Ramen


Chicken Katsu Curry Rice (was so so only)

Ramen from Ajisen Ramen

I doubt that Ajisen Ramen's noodles are very authentic, but they're good enough for me. I like their sweet soup (and also the spicy ones) and I like how they have set menus where you can mix and match your side dishes and ramens. We had this a while ago so I can't remember the actual dishes we had. One of them was beef brisket ramen - the brisket was really hard. Then the other one, I think Nan-Katsu Ramen, was something similar as it had beef too but it was much more tender and the fats just melted in your mouth. For the side dishes we had fried squid tentacles and octopus cakes, very nice.

Forgot to take the photos before the ramen was all mixed up.

Nan-Katsu Ramen


Squid Tentacles


Beef Brisket Ramen


Octopus Cakes

Toddler with a bad breath

Over the last few days Caelyn had a blocked nose and was breathing through her mouth. Night time and daytime it was all the same and she'd be snoring in her sleep. She had just recovered from her cold and I was surprised that she seemed to be having a recurrence. Then yesterday she started having really bad breath and also a fever. I still thought she was probably having a cold and the bad breath is due to her breathing through her mouth. But last night I decided to google it and see what came up, I was actually looking for a solution on how to get rid of the bad breath, but what my search turned up instead was that having bad breath and the nasal congestion is actually one of the symptoms to a Sinus Infection and that she should be brought to a doctor as soon as possible as it would need treating with antibiotics.

So if we went to the doc first thing this morning. Sure enough the doc confirmed that it was a sinus infection and she needs to be on antibiotics for a week. The antibiotics will help to clear up the nose and drain the fluids away thus alleviating the pressure around her eyes (I had noticed her 'eyebags' which was actually fluid from the sinus) and best of all her bad breath will be gone too. If not treated could lead to a throat infection from breathing through the mouth and also and ear infection.

So there goes our plans for the long weekend next week...wat a bummer