Merry Xmas

Have fun to all of you out there !! Blessed Xmas

Tau Kwa Porridge

Ingredients( Serves 1)

1 piece of tau kwa -diced into small cubes
50g of dried shrimps
1 small shallot
100g of minced meat- to be marinated with corn flour, light soya sauce, a dash of pepper and sesame oil.
rice

This tau kwa porridge is taught by my grandma. It is rather different from the normal porridge.

Steps on how to prepare

1. First you got to decide the number of people that you are cooking for then cook the porridge like the teochew style of porridge.

2. Pan fry the tau kwa till golden brown and then set aside

3. Stir fry the shallot with the dried shrimps till fragrant

4. Upon look that the porridge is boiling, make the minced meat into balls and put inside the porridge to cook.

5. Lastly, once the porridge is cooked put the tau kwa and dried shrimps into the porridge.

Note: if you don't feel that it is salty enough, you might want to add a bit of light soya sauce. I am fine with the saltiness.

My new hobby

Currently, the latest trend for adult hobby is doing the colouring to de-stress. I also hopped onto the bandwagon. For me, it was more of a kill my boredom during the weekends.

Here's the picture of my first colouring book.

I got it from times book shop and it is at $6.90 . For that , I would say that it is pretty decent for the designs that were printed on the book. Who would have thought of that the simple colouring stuff that we do when we were young enables us to de- stress and allows us to sleep earlier?

Home cooked fried carrot cake

Yesterday I tried cooking fried carrot cake for the first time. I actually got my inspiration from looking through all the photos that were posted on my face book. Hence,  I cooked it for lunch to share with my dad.

This recipe I got it from rasamalaysia . However, I do have a cheat step to do the frying easier.

Ingredients

1 carrot cake ( stir fry ) from ntuc

2 tbsp of chai por
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 tbsp of oil
2 eggs( put a bit of light soya sauce and pepper to beat)
1 tsp of fish sauce

Steps

1. Cut the carrot cake into cubes
2. fry the carrot cake till golden brown ( for me i dun prefer golden brown)
3. fry the garlic , chai por and carrot and put in the fish sauce
4. add in the eggs
5. add in the spring onion as garnishing

Noodle salad

Today I came home early from work. I decided to make something colourful and something which i had never tried doing that before which is noodle salad.

Ingredients

1 packet of myojo chicken abalone noodles

1 carrot

1 japanese cucumber

4 hotdogs or chicken franks

2 tablespoon of roasted sesame dressing.

Steps

1. Boil the water to cook the hotdogs

2. Meanwhile cut the carrot into strips and cucumber to slices

3. Once water is boiled , cook the hotdogs and remove the hotdogs once cooked.

4. Next , use it to cook the myojo chicken abalone noodles.

5. Drain off the water and use running tap water and ice water to cool the noodles.

6. Mix the ingredients and noodles together with the 2 tablespoons of roasted sesame dressing

My 34th birthday celebration

My 34th birthday was simple and quiet one. I had spent time with one of my best friend at my favourite cafe followed by visiting my grandma and cell group for the night. I brought the rainbow cake which i had with my friend for my celebration to let my grandma to try.I guess it was also her first time to try rainbow cake as well as salmon pie.

I was like totally overwhelmed that my cell leader and his wife baked a sea salt caramel brownie for me. Cos for me being the noti one in cell group I would not expect them to bake a cake for me. I know my cell leader cares for me yet somehow or rather i felt that it was hard to share things with him.

Here's the picture of my birthday cake

If  you are keen in trying the sea salt caramel brownie, do head over to the facebook page a slice of love to order one.

Post elections feelings of GE2015

Seriously, the feelings of the post election of GE2015 were of mixed feelings. Firstly, though PAP has won again there is still a sense of uncertainty of the future. My thoughts are would the newly elected members of the parliament be able to handle the work.

Secondly, would the policies be catered to be more for the poor and the lower middle income for the next few years? I would not deny that the foreign talents are willing to take in all the shitty jobs that we locals shun but there ought to be a need for minimum wage for the locals else we would not be able to sustain our basic living. If the cost of living is going higher, the poor and the lower middle income would not be able to sustain. It will end up the next general election for votes to be going more towards the opposition.

Thirdly, would fresh graduates be able to find job easily? Seriously, I found it hard for myself to find work in the field of psychology that I had study in university and had to find myself succumb back to those lowly paid admin jobs whereby the pay have been slashed down due to the influx of foreign talents. Would there be better accreditation in Singapore for the field of psychology so that we could practice elsewhere rather than only Singapore?

Fourthly, would the pap youth wing be able to able to produce better leaders so as to lead Singapore to SG100? Seriously, I worry on this cos I do not know if the young leaders from PAP would work hard to build on MR Lee Kuan Yew's legacy.

Last but not least, I do hope that the elected members of the parliament would work hard to build a better Singapore with better governance and that the country will continue to prosper.

Japchae

Ingredients

150g of sweet potato noodles or dried glass noodles

1 tablespoon of oil

3 cloves of minced garlic

150g of beef or chicken cut into very thin strips

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

2 tablespoon of light soya sauce

150g of  puay leng (spinach), leaves trimmed

2 carrots cut into match sticks

2 spring onions cut into short lengths

4 fresh shiitake mushrooms with stems trimmed and caps sliced

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of corn flour

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce mixed with water

Steps

1. First cut the chicken into thin slices and marinate with the corn flour, 1 teaspoon of  light soya sauce, a dash of pepper and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.

2. Cut the carrots, mushrooms, spring onions.

3. Boil the water  and add the sweet potato noodles and cooked it till soft.  Once soft, drain off  the water and set aside.

4. Stir fry the garlic till golden brown and fragrant. Add in the chicken or beef, sesame oil  and 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce and stir fry till browned. Add the vegetables in to stir fry till tender.

5. Add in the glass noodles and toss well to combine the seasoning with the sugar, salt and remaining oyster sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve hot .

** A note to take: this might be a bit bland for you guys out there  so adjust the seasoning accordingly. I try to cook as bland as possible for health sake of my family and friends.

Bodyweight Exercise - You Are Your Own Gym Novice Circuit Training

Previously, I was looking into some light exercise. Now I have decided to try out a mini circuit training at home. So this is the video I am going to use. So do share with me if the work out is working out for you as well.

Empowering Women on Money Sense Matters

As part of my routine for personal development that I aimed to bring forth to you people out there, I happened to chance upon Genecia's online webinars for women entrepreneurs via Facebook marketing ads.

I started to register for my first online webinar that is more catered to online pricing psychology for customers. I did learn a few things from the webinar. I would said that Genecia really did a very good job even though when she is sick at times to deliver an impactful content based webinar for us to learn from her. When I am writing this post, it was already my third week in following Genecia's online webinars. In fact, I applied on one of her techniques that were taught on the webinar. I saw a response immediately the next day. In fact, running a business without a mentor is hard. I learnt it in a hard way trying to find myself a suitable mentor throughout the time since the day I started my business.

Like myself, being wanting to be a women entrepreneur needs lots of courage and also support from like- minded people. To have a community of like- minded women entrepreneurs to come together to support one another and to learn from a successful women entrepreneur, we could have prevented ourselves from making mistakes that other people made before. What's more the trainer Genecia is willing to help to empower all the fellow women entrepreneurs. Seriously, I saw the effort that she put in to help those who attends her webinars.

Thus, I would like to encourage those who are interested in learning how to start your business to attend her Online webinars on Wednesday.

Here's the link to Genecia's write up: http://www.geneciaalluora.com/launch-guide

To register for her online webinar, please register at http://www.geneciaalluora.com/7-figure-launch-secrets

Do you let me know how we could support one by leaving your comments

Vocal group The Neales are keeping it in the family | Britain's Got Tale...

This is a nice clip which I watched on family performing together in such a warm manner. Spend time with your family.

Cancellation of the make up class

It is disappointing to post that the make up is cancelled. It is the first time that I worked with a professional make up artist and the class has to be cancel due to the make up artist suffer an eye injury.

For those who are still keen on the make up workshop, please email me at akimoto_emi05@yahoo.com.sg.


Meanwhile, I would just like to say to the make up artist Joyce get well soon ! Looking forward to really host a make up workshop at the best minimal cost to thank my readers.

Giveaway: Basic make up class with free stiff shoulder treatment for first 3 sign ups

This will be the first time I am doing a giveaway on make up class as I am collaborating with a professional make up artist to do it .

Course details will be :
- Identifying the colour of your foundation
- a day make up
-a night make up

Date:16th August 2015
Time: 2.30pm-5,30pm
Venue: 81 Macpherson lane  #01-53

Profile of Makeup Artist

Joyce Forensia is a certified Make Up Artist trained under Make Up Forever Pro Academy in Singapore, specializing in Beauty and Fashion make up.

With 6 years of experience in beauty blogging, Joyce Forensia was a two time finalist in the Singapore Best Beauty Blog Category under the Singapore blog awards back in 2011 and 2012. She has also hosted several workshops on Skin Care and Make up through her blogging journey.

Joyce Forensia aims to bring confidence to women by sharing her knowledge and professional skills.

Interested participants, what you can do is to email me at akimoto_emi05@yahoo.com.sg at $20  for the class with light refreshments. For those who register, there will be a free stiff shoulder treatment.

Different skirt shapes

I hope this picture of different skirt shapes will help women out there to help to identify what will help them to look better according to their body shape.

For me , as I am a apple shape  I would choose skirts that are like A-line, straight and knife pleated.

Media Invite: SG Eat With Us

As the #SG50 Jubilee Celebration continues throughout the month of August, how could we forget about something which will bind all of us together as Singaporeans which is home cooked local food.

I guessed the feeling of kampong spirit and home cooked local food are going to be lost soon if we do not do something about it.

I attended the official opening of this event by starting to have the biggest popiah party in Singapore book of records.

That is in the morning at ard 10.30am

Next, it was time to try out dishes from the 12 home cooked chefs

Madam Tee serves us her authentic xing hwa cuisine 

Cha Hoon（杂粉）

 Cha Hoon  is considered a poor man’s dish  as it is a dish where leftovers were put into a pot together with pumpkin and left to boil with bee hoon or mee sua in the olden days.  The dish picks up the leftover food thus ensuring no wastage.  However, I find it flavourful and suitable for the young and old.

Mdm Esther on the left sharing with us on her braised duck buns

I did not managed to get to taste the braised duck buns, so perhaps you guys can go try it out.

Lemongrass satay by Mdm Eliza

This dish is something which is quite innovative to use the lemongrass to be the stick holding on to the satay. The satay is made up of minced meat where it is marinated with herbs and spices. It is supposed to be eaten with the satay sauce dip.

Ms Cynthia from the baking biatch

Mango tofu cheesecake

The mango tofu cheese cake is something which is very light. Suitable for ladies who are scared to gain weight to consume.

Ngoh Hiang by Lim's and Lee's families

I would say this dish is best served hot.

Dhoklas by Maya Tekwani

Something unique and does not feel sinful after eating unless u are on a low carb high fat diet. It is not oily and leaves u craving for more.

Po Co Rice

 Unique version of popiah that is made from steamed grated coconut with rice and various food with it. Started by a burmese grandfather who prepared this dish as a form of food for the children

Inside of how the Po Co Rice looks like 

Ayam  Masak Merah 

This dish is done by Mdm Noridayu as a form of passing on the legacy of her mom. Something that money cannot buy,love can buy. No money can replace the mother's love for a child.

Laksa by Mdm Noorbee

For more information, check out the programme highlights  by heading to  http://www.sgeatwithus.sg/#!sgeatwithus-celebrates-by-the-bay/ceya

Have fun spending your national day holidays at #SGeatwithus...

Eyebrow shape solutions for all face shapes.

Blessings

Today, I visited my friend to help her to do spa services for her back. Her kind daddy, uncle rocky made my favourite fried wantans for me to eat. Feel so blessed cos uncle rocky always make an effort to remember what is my favourite food when I have dinner at their place. Thanks uncle rocky for making the extra expensive fried wantans.

Knife skill - Is it important in cooking ?

Knife skill is an art which I personally feel that is important for cooking. The way a person cut the ingredients is important. Sometimes cooking the dish requires the ingredient to be cut in a certain way so that the dish will taste either more crunchy or can help a family to have more dishes.

There are various type of cutting skills.  They are the slice, the chop, the  back slice and the rock chop.

Today I am showing the video on the slice

Hope this will help for the budding chefs to master the knife skills just like me ...constantly learning new ways for cutting with the knife.

Relationship Wednesdays- How to have self control discipline and ruling over your feelings

There are many at times where we would not hesitate to consider other's feelings when there is an argument . I guess the following video could teach us something on how to have self control in order to discipline and rule over your own feelings. Enjoy

 

10 things you must give up to move forward

There are many things I feel I need to work on from these 10 points to help myself to move forward in life. Finding the solutions can be a pain yet if I don't do I will never be able to live in the present. Hope you guys out there can learn and find some solutions to it if you are continuously living in the past.

Bagel Styled Donuts

Based on the cooking theme for the best cooking blog which is local delight, I have decided to make donuts by using the bread maker.

However, as my family is getting more health conscious I have decided to make bagel styled donuts as it contains less calories.

Recipe

Ingredient
280g of bread flour
3 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of vegetable oil ( I used olive oil)
180 ml of water
1 tsp of instant yeast

Steps

1. Put all the ingredients to the bread maker and press mode 9
2. After 1 hr, it should end.
3. Next,it is to measure the bread dough on the size of the donuts you want to create.
4. Cover it with a wet cloth for about 40 mins
5. Start to deep fry
6. Cover it with brown sugar or chocolate sauce,

Cooking demo by Ms Theresa Wong from Panasonic for the Singapore Blog Awards 2015.

On 20th June 2015, I attended the cooking demo by Ms Theresa Wong from Panasonic for the Singapore Blog Awards 2015 as jointly organized with omy. Although this year is my second year in attending this cooking demo, I learnt new things. For example, I learnt that the cake mode function of the bread maker could be used to aid in making kaya. Kaya being my favourite comfort food can now be easily done without having me to stand most of the time to keep on stirring the kaya. Besides that, having a powerful hand blender is also important cos it helps to make the kaya smooth.

Here're  some pictures of the process of making kaya using the cake mode of the bread maker

We had a volunteer, Elaine learning how to make kaya as her son loves Kaya.

She did the mixing with the guidance from Theresa.

While when using the cake mode,the stirring of the Kaya is still needed once in a while.It is best to use the plastic spatula to do the stirring.So that you do not scrape off the metal stuff in the baking tin.

Yes, no longer one will need to go out to buy kaya with perservatives if one owns the bread maker.

Next, we looked at learning how to cook the herbal emperor chicken by using the steam function of the microwave oven.

To me, a microwave oven would only consist of the microwave functions. However, this model NN-CS894 consist of the functions like steaming using pure steam, microwave, grilling, defrosting of food and many more.

Key feature of the turbo steam function

One thing that Theresa mentioned that the microwave oven could do pure steam mode instead of using the microwave style of steam mode. All you need to do is to put some water in the tray to enable this pure steam mode to be able to function. Please do not use the recycled water from the tray to use it to cook the food. There will be a notification when the water level is too low and will not be able to steam. So one must top up the water level to allow the steaming function to function again.

The herbal emperor chicken was tender and succulent when eating it. Sorry no pictures can be shown cos the time when i got to taste the chicken it was almost on the finishing end. I hardly could believe that it was cooked by microwave cos since young I never had any meals which was cooked via microwave.

 Most importantly is that having this microwave oven not only allow us to have healthy cooking.It also allow us to do cooking without much hassle, no more dirty kitchen after cooking and the cleaning of this oven is easy.

14 Types of Girlfriends- A just for laugh video on relationships

I like this video cos it is just for laugh and some really do make me laugh like mad.. hope that brightens ur day

Chicken Satay Pizza

This chicken satay pizza is partially done with the help of Panasonic bread maker. I used the bread maker to make the pizza dough.

Thick crust version of the satay pizza 

Thin crust version of the satay pizza


I made the pizza crust by using the mode 12 for pizza dough. As per the recipe in the user manual, I use the following ingredients just that instead of getting milk powder I use low fat Meiji fresh milk.

Recipe for the Chicken Satay Pizza

Ingredients :
1 packet of pan fried chicken satay pizza from ntuc 
pineapple slices
japanese cucumber
onion 
mozarella cheese 

Steps:
1. Use the bread maker to make the pizza dough
2.  Pan fry satay with the sauce
3. Place the pizza dough on the tray for baking if you are using an oven. I used my roasting pan to make the pizza so i heat up the pot to A on small fire then I place the pizza dough.
4. I place the pan fried satay and other ingredients.
5. I baked the pizza from A to C and I got the two lovely pizzas as shown before.

Happy 端午节

Today is  端午节 , a festival which is mostly commonly known to commemorate the death of the poet cum  minster Qu Yuan in Singapore local context. How the rice dumpling came about is that people drops the sticky rice balls into the river in bid to save the body of Qu Yuan from being eaten.

In Singapore. there are many flavours of the rice dumpling. The types that are commonly found would be Bak zhang and nonya  flavour.

Photo courtesy of so shiok.com

photo courtesy from dongyuan.com.sg

 I love the bak zhang the most .... so each year i look forward to eat the bak zhang from my grand auntie. Cos her bak zhang consist of salted egg yolk, chest nut, mushroom and pork belly.
Have fun to learn how to wrap bak zhang today. You may learn it at the following link- http://fatboo.com/2013/07/how-to-wrap-bak-chang-top-10-tips.html

Relationships Wednesdays

Actually before the start of the year I was trying to hope that I am able to blog daily with all different themes on each day. However due to my workload, I had to slow down my pace.

Supposedly every Wednesday is a day I would share about relationship issue.  Today  I would like to share about platonic friendship.

Actually, platonic friendship is possible to occur. For me, it is easier for me to have good guy buddies rather than female good buddies. I have 2 good guy friends whom they knew of each other's existence even though they are of different countries cos I introduced them to each other on one occasion.

I am thankful that these 2 good guy friends are always there for me when I needed a listening ear. Tomorrow is going to celebrate birthday with one of them. So I still think that men and women can still be friends cos men and women just need to have friends of the different gender to offer them the perspectives from the different gender. Just keep it cool on the platonic friendship ! 

Mala Xiang Guo

Recently, I fell in love with this dish called mala xiang guo after my brother in law cooked this dish at my place for the weekly lunch meeting.

What I did was to get all the ingredients which i wanted to cook in the mala paste.

My take for the ingredients for this dish would be sliced celery, lotus root, crab stick , oyster mushroom , prawns , sotong , sliced beef, fish balls and enoki mushroom.

Here's the look of the mala sauce which i got from giant.

 Giant is selling ard $5.50 if i din remember wrongly

What is balanced in my house fridge was  crabstick , enoki mushroom, fishball , oyster mushroom so i did the mala xiang guo with the ingredients .

Here's how it look like

The numbing sensation i got from this mala xiang guo was shiok to the max...have fun cooking this dish at home and dun need to go to food court and eat the expensive dish again.

Steps to prepare this is simple:

1. Wash all the ingredients clean
2. Heat up the pot with a bit of oil and saute the garlic till fragrant
3. Add 1 packet of the sauce in to fry
4. Add the ingredients in
5. Let it cook for a while
6. Ready to serve with white rice.

In need of a part time job ?

Part time job is a job where one works less than 35 hours a week as according to the Ministry of manpower's website. So what kind of part time jobs in Singapore could be seen on job portals Singapore? It could be a part time admin, f&b, cashier, distributors for flyers and many more others. Stroff.com is specializing in Part-time jobs Singapore is one of the better job portals in Singapore that you could use to aid yourself in finding a part time job. As usual, there are many various reasons that one would look for a part time job. So which is your favourite way to find your part time job?  For me, it was through a referral in the past when I was a teenager.

Here's the link to the manpower website to help you know more about the employee's right as a part-time worker:

 http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/part-time-employment/who-is-a-part-time-worker.

Part-time jobs are so common for students who are in the college, polytechnics, and university levels. It is nothing more than earning an extra keep for themselves or earning their allowances.

Here're some things to look out for when looking for a part- time job as a student:

•  Ability to slot your working hours into your daily schedule after school
• Near home if you are still schooling till late in the evenings
•  Ample rest so that you would not neglect your school work
• Able to learn new things
• Most importantly, know your employee rights from the MOM's website before starting work.

           

·                

Part time jobs for students should not only be to earn allowance only but also to gain working experience as well as to understand how your parents feel when they are working.

For me, I started working part-time at the age of fourteen at my father's shop as a cashier or crew.  It was like burning my weekends away beside finishing my CCA in school and rushing to finish my homework before going to help out at the shop. It has helped me to be a better planner for my finances and time management.

 Even though I was working in my father's shop, I was not given any privileges. I was supposed to work just like any another staff of his. Reporting to work on time was one main question that I have to consider as I have to estimate the amount of travelling time that I require for travelling to his shop. Next, I have to manage the homework that I have yet to complete. So what I did was to have a plan that was able to fit into the duty roster that where I can work. Upon having discussion with my supervisor, my weekend schedule was like from after  4pm onwards till late like 11pm for Saturdays and Sunday mornings till around 5pm. With this kind of schedule not only was I able to complete my homework, I was able to have ample rest before school starts on Monday.

So remember to choose a part time job which suits your personality and capability then you will not find it tiring when struggling with schoolwork and the part time. You will then be able to enjoy and excel in the job.

Introducing one of my weekly routine for skin care

Just to share with you people out there, my skin type is those that is of combination skin type.

For me, my combination skin type is outer surface seems dry but underneath the skin is those that is of the oily skin type. This means that I would always have to unclog my pores quite regularly else blackheads and white heads would be popping every now and then.

I loved to use the face lift mask from Nuskin to help me to get rid of the white heads and black heads weekly. 

Me doing my unclogging the pores session( paiseh on the ugly me)

There is a technique to lift up the so called mask sheet in order not to cause ur skin to sag, you have to lift it up in the upwards direction or else the skin will sag. This goes to using any other brands of paper mask.

First loot from Great Singapore Sale 2015

Today I finally succumbed to shopping during the Great Singapore Sale 'cos my favourite pair of shoes almost gave way.  So I shopped around vivocity and managed to get a nice pair of racy red of shoes from mphosis.

Is it nice?  This is my first pair of racy red shoes after so long....thinking of what to match to dress up with this tomorrow....Anyway it is really worth it during GSS cos it is only about $21.

Internships in Singapore - What is it all about?

Talking about internships, it reminds me of the movie “The Internship” which was filmed at Google.  We are currently in an internship frenzy period for university and polytechnic students in Singapore. I remember that during this time each year, I would pause to ask myself if I need to start to look for my internship jobs. This time is also a good time for me to get part time jobs singapore opportunities for my summer vacation.

Here’s a picture of “The Internship” movie in case you have forgotten.

So what is an internship all about to you? Is it just something that you look forward to during the poly or university days? Or is it something that you dread ‘cos you have to find your own internship jobs?

For me, I feel that taking up a singapore internship that is related to your course of study is important as it will help you to define your career path to a certain extent. During my poly days, my internship in an engineering firm was not only related to my studies, but I also really worked on a project for the company’s alarm system. I am thankful that my internship was not like that of some of my other friends who did irrelevant jobs like telemarketing in an insurance company.

Having said that, the stress you have to go through to find an internship on your own is frightening enough when you do not know how to write your own resume and how to contact the ideal company which you wish to work for. Before I was being sent out for my internship by my lecturers in polytechnic, I was thinking of how to get the job that I wanted to try out instead of getting the one that was being assigned to me by my lecturers ‘cos I heard some of my friends saying that those that find their own internships get better pay.

Fret no more, I chanced upon this website called “Stroff.com” which is an internship portal for students to find their internship and for some fresh graduates who aims to try something else before setting down for their life long career. At Stroff.com, you will be able to find intern jobs that are related to your course of study. It also provides really good career guidance tips for people like us who are still studying or who have just graduated.

Here’s some of the preferred internship categories when you sign up with them:-

I registered myself in just to try if the site is user friendly. It is pretty user friendly ‘cos it uses larger fonts. Actually, I found that the job descriptions are clearer than some of those posted in jobsdb.com.

Part time jobs for students are usually the easiest to find. Perhaps next time, you might want to try out Stroff.com first before heading down to the recruitment agencies.

 To sign up, you just need to register your email with them which can be done within 2 minutes. Most importantly is that you do not have to go through the gruelling process to cold call prospective employers and companies to try to land your internship jobs.

Have fun in your internship singapore experiences, you people out there!!!