How to stay upbeat at work even if it is at home ?

Working from home is pretty daunting for most of us due to the lack of space and also aircon issue. So in order to have personal space, you might want to schedule break times for each of you in the house so that there will not be cramming for space.

So these are a few things that you can do to stay upbeat at work even if it working from home

1. Trying new things at home- try to find new space or work out new schedules with your counter parts to do the zoom meetings.

2. Controlling your emotions- you might want to get a stress ball to hold onto to reduce your stress, taking control of negative thoughts, going out for a breather after half an hour with the pc or laptop.

3.Gratitude- counting your blessings 

4. Believe in yourself-When an involuntary thought makes you feel inferior at work, think of how far you have come.

5.Take time to recharge even during work cos you need a clear mind to work

How to choose a sport bra?

Photo taken from decathlon sg 

For a start, to look for better support the band around the bottom of the bra should be wide rather than narrow. Next, it should sit against the chest wall underneath the breasts and be a snug fit which will not slide up if you raise arms. If you have large breasts, you should look for wider straps so that the straps would provide better distribution of weight. At the same time, the straps should not stretch too much so as to reduce the up-down movement of the breasts.  The material of the sports bra should be able to wick away moisture from your skin. In order to prevent the chafing around the arm-holes, shoulders, and below the breast, select seamless material, cover those seams or those rolled with edges. Most importantly is to ensure that your whole breast should sit inside the bra and is held against the chest.

How to stop your sugar cravings

1. Eat small, regular meals

You have probably heard this one a few times before, but it's worth repeating! To eliminate sugar cravings you need to eat small, regular meals, with no more than three to four hours in between each meal. If you fast for longer than that, your blood glucose is liable to drop and you'll be tempted to reach for a sugary treat. Be sure to plan in advance for your day ahead; when you leave the house take a bag or cooler bag with healthy, low-sugar treats that you can snack on during the day. Planning really is integral to managing your sugar cravings.

2. Food Choices

Stand in front of your fridge and grocery cupboard and take a good look at the food inside. Throw out any food item that is processed, refined or loaded with added sugar. Replace your white rice, white bread, biscuits, sugar-coated muesli, cake, instant macaroni, ice cream, crisps and fizzy drinks with healthier options. Choose foods with a low Glycemic Load - they release energy slowly and steadily throughout the day, maintaining your blood sugar levels, preventing cravings, and leaving you satisfied for longer.

3. Water

Each of us consists of over 70% water, and it's needed for every single function in your body. In order for your body to function optimally, you should aim to drink at least two litres of water each day. If you are active, you may need to drink even more. In many cases, people reach for unhealthy snacks because they think they are hungry when they are actually just thirsty. Drinking a glass of water before each meal will make you feel fuller, reduce cravings and prevent bad dietary decisions. Remember that if you are feeling thirsty, that means you are already dehydrated.

4. Get Moving

You know that feeling you get after eating sugary snacks? Sugar releases a neurotransmitter named dopamine into your brain, which gives that characteristic 'high' associated with sugar. Well, exercise actually has a very similar effect, and can be used as a substitute to help wean yourself off your sugar addiction. Even something as simple as a long walk or a gentle cycle ride can help ward off those sugar cravings.

Tekka market goes online for the very first time!

Due to the coronavirus, many wet market stall owners have been affected. Especially our seniors who enjoyed shopping at the wet markets and also to bargain for the freshest deal that they could find.

So what happens is that the IMDA decided to partner with Tekka market to create a Tekka online market Facebook page for our seniors to be able to purchase the groceries via the Tekka online market Facebook page. The page will be launched on 5th of May 2020 between 12-3.30pm for its first debut and 2nd debut will be on the 12th of May 2020.

This is done for the sake of getting seniors to engage with social interaction via social media and also to be able to purchase fresh items from the wet market.

Here's the link for the facebook page to be able to shop at facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/TekkaOnlineMarket

The stall directory for stalls that are participating for the Facebook live selling

81 SHENG YU (81 生魚)

Founded in 1993 by a first-generation fishmonger, 81 Sheng Yu (81 生魚) sells a wide selection of fresh and saltwater fish – including pomfrets, leatherjackets, red snappers and of course, their specialty sheng yu (a.k.a. snakehead or ikan haruan). They also carry a variety of fresh seafood, from clams to cockles, crabs to prawns.

CHIA’S VEGETABLES SUPPLY

Chia’s Vegetables Supply has been bringing Singapore the freshest and most exotic fruits and veggies since 1981. They sell every vegetable under the sun – from Asian greens like kailan and chye sim to Western varieties such as New Zealand purple carrots, Australian fennel bulbs, Belgian endives and many others you’ve probably never even heard of before.

HAJI M N SHAHUL HAMEED MARKETING

As one of Tekka Market’s oldest stalls, Haji M N Shahul Hameed Marketing is a trusted source of Halal mutton, lamb and goat. Their high-quality meats are airflown fresh from New Zealand and Australia, and come in a variety of different cuts for your cooking needs.

Stay safe everyone! Have fun guiding the seniors to shop online :)

Review of Lumispa

I  have gotten this face cleansing device called Lumispa for a while. It was the various newspaper reports and validation from beauty queens make me give a thought about it cos I have never thought of giving my face a massage daily to get my skin looking radiant.

A little intro about this device is that it has been endorsed with 7 benefits while cleansing the skin with it.

One thing I really like about this gadget is that the minimization of the appearance of my pores.

You can see my pores really do really minimize after a week and using it twice a day. However, I did not use only one type of cleanser for the lumispa range. I used the normal and blemish prone range to actually achieve this effect. Why I decided to use the 2 cleanser instead of 1? It was because I do have mini breakouts. The blemish prone cleanser is good for ladies to use when you have pimples during menses.

What I usually do is to use the normal range one in the morning as it offers better cleaning power whereas in the night I will use the blemish prone for my acne prone skin. This is to deal with the issue of me using make up for more than 8 hours.

Best thing after using this machine is that my eyes don't look so sleepy and small. I can slowly see effects for my hidden eyelids to be coming out. This lumispa is very good in dealing for water retention issue for the face also.

For anyone who wants to have a trial of it without having to purchase first , can let me know..but it shall be done only after circuit breaker.

Back to school for SEO event

It has been since a long time I have gone back to any school campus for any event. It was like going back to school attending the night class.

This event is actually an event co-hosted by Avente consulting and SMU. It is meant for SMU students to decide if they would like to take on a module on digital marketing like SEO or data analytics. Data analytics has been a topic which I felt students need to know cos now it is the world of digital marketing.

  My friend, Eugene had invited me to go for the event to see him conduct the training. This event consist of a 2 part training, where first part was to be covered by Eugene and second part was to be covered by Frank who shared more about his real life work experience with the SMU students.

Eugene has been training people on SEO topics since 2012. His extensive work experience has also enabled him to teach us those at the event in a relatively easy to understand.

Eugene explained how the search engine works to the extent of the history to help us understand how Google created the search engine which we all loved to use on a daily basis. This is actually very useful for beginners especially those who like to understand things in depth like me or old uncles and aunties. I guess even for uni students it is really relatively easy for them to understand the lecture.
There are certain topics which were taught in the class like how to use SEO to pitch for business with clients and others which I found it useful for the students to pick up this skill. I shall not say much about it. If you are interested in letting your homeschooled kids to learn this skill set, you might want to contact Eugene at www.imseoking.com. Eugene conducts classes in groups of 10 or individual coaching.

Next, we have Frank who willingly shares with us his real-life working experience on a daily basis. How he uses data analytics for his daily job to achieve his KPI. It is really something we are unable to experience it as we are all not working in the industry. It really gives a glimpse to the students if they really like analysing kind of role or not.

With this training, it also helps one to think if they should choose to take digital marketing as a module or not. It was also pretty funny that I ended up talking to an SMU student about his career options. I did tell him to consider this module as with the influx of online business, he should learn it if he would like to have an analyst role in his career.

Colour charge your life for happiness

Early last month, I went for Jill Lowe's workshop for my personal development goal for this year.

I went to the class with great expectations as it was someone whom I really want to learn from.
In the workshop, I learnt that the colours that we wore could affect our daily relationship with our family members, colleagues, bosses or significant other.

Something which caught my attention in the workshop was that Jill mentioned that make-up is the signature of a woman. Make-up in any circumstances will make a woman looked polished. I was never a person who likes to put on make-up since I opted for a natural look most of the time. So after the class, I decided to be conscious in applying my make-up before I go out 'cos I want to look polished all the time ^_^.

Another tip I got from the workshop was to apply nail polish on your toes as well. When you apply the toenails, you will look polished too in the event if you wear slippers, open toe sandals. This tip is really very useful for me. After applying nail polish on my toenails, my significant other stopped complaining that I cooked too much food for him to eat. He will finish whatever food I cooked now.
It's weird I know but it really makes me happy cos cooking is a way for me to express my love for my family, friends and significant other.

There were many more tips that Jill taught during the workshop which I was not able to jot it down. Cos I was not able to write down the tips. I really enjoyed the class and would strongly encourage those who are looking for promotions at work to go and learn how to dress up for promotion from Jill.

Really appreciate Jill for thanking her weekends to run this workshop to empower woman.

For those are living in Singapore, interested to learn from Jill on how to use colours to power charge your career and relationships please use the following link to register as the next class is on 23rd Feb 2019: https://mycareer.jilllowe.com/?gen=Andrea81029909

Face shape and hairstyles

Hi all,

It is the new year thus I thought I would want to share with everyone with something I found useful when you want to change your hairstyle for the new year.

Hope this video helps on helping you to choose your new hairstyle.

Food tasting event at Artichoke Singapore (Sponsored)

I did this food tasting about 2 weeks back thru the invitation of fellow blogger, Isabelle who coordinated the whole event. I was glad that I was able to bring a friend along. Thanks to the generosity of chef Bjorn.

Artichoke is a restaurant that serves middle eastern inspired food together with bar concept. This is the 2^nd time that I am eating middle eastern food. I nearly missed this lovely restaurant as I was unable to locate the signboard. It was located in between a small alley between the middle road church and objectifs.

Here's how the signboard looks like:

We started off with 7 appetizers namely the devils on horseback(new dish that is not on the menu), the burnt miso hummus,babaganoush, samphire, jerusalem salad, beetroot boraini, iraqi-spiced mushroom and turkish toast,

Devils on horseback is a new dish that has not been included in the menu. It consist of the beef, dried apricot, labneh, mint and almond.I would say that this dish I would give a thumbs up if it would be included in the menu. However, I wished that the saltiness level of the beef would be slightly reduced.

My favourite of the appetizer would be the beetroot boraini , babaganoush and the turkish toast.

Beetroot boraini

This dish has got an interesting flavour for me cos it has the kind of cheesy taste yet not too overwhelming and it does not have a very raw kind of feeling when eating the beetroot. It also aids in digestion as well when we are so overwhelmed with the many dishes to taste.

Babaganoush 

For people who does not like to eat eggplant might want to give this dish a try. The smoked egg plant is not mushy to the max and the soft texture makes it easy to swallow.

The turkish toast tasted so much like english muffins and it is really yummy.

For mains, we had squid ink couscous, smoked chicken, hot skillet prawn, golden promfret, lamb shoulder , haloumi and fried cauliflower salad.

Squid ink couscous

Squid ink couscous was something which failed my expectations as the couscous has turned into barley size grains. It has been cooked too wet thus causing the couscous to turn into barley size grains. As I have always tasted couscous in my salad , it has never been barley size grains. I wondered if it was caused by the long taking photography session by us that causes it.

Fried cauliflower salad

Cauliflower salad is something that chef Bjorn said that even those who does not like to eat vegetables would polish off this dish. I guess it was the crunchiness of the cauliflower that came from the grilling which makes it special.

Haloumi

Haloumi was cheese that was being fried. However, it did not taste like cheese and tasted more like fishcake. Perhaps this was as what chef Bjorn was describing tasting a bit of rubbery when it was not eaten hot. I would give this dish a second chance.

The prawns were fresh.I did not get a chance to taste the sauce of the prawn ‘cos I was too full from eating other stuff.

The smoked chicken was juicy enough and did not taste like it was made from frozen chicken.The pickled daikon was really refreshing to clear the palate.

The lamb was surprisingly good without what we consider the 羊骚味. I have always dislike eating mutton because of the 羊骚味. This dish seems to be braised until the mutton meat was so soft.

This golden promfret was grilled using the charcoal and the tenderness of the fish meat was really so soft.Reminds me of stingy ray but this has got more meat.

 Drinks wise we had dark donut, pandan gimlet, pink sunset, kopi b , tiramisu latte and sangria.

However, sangria and tiramisu latte was not in the photo.

Desserts were date pudding, soft serve ice cream and malabi split. Out of the 3 desserts which I ate date pudding was the one that stole my heart away. Date pudding which might not stands out in terms of looks but the sweetness level is sweet enough to over power the 2 other desserts.

 I shan't not disclose on how the desserts look like.. go and try it out at artichoke.

Talking about the bar counter with the nice music would make a great place to chill out after work for a meal.

 Really like the creativity of chef Bjorn's cooking and I wished that one day I would also be able to create more creative dishes for home cooks as well. A little more about chef Bjorn is that he is the 

chef cum ­owner of Artichoke, and author of the Artichoke cookbook. His rebellious personality and outlandish style of cooking has earned significant industry recognition over the years. Outside of starting food brands Artichoke, Bird Bird and Neh Neh Pop, Bjorn wrote a monthly column titled ‘Bjorn Says’ for Time Out magazine, lectured at the Culinary Institute of America, and actively consults on menus for restaurant openings. Industry accolades that he has accumulated over the years include ‘Chef of the Year 2013’ ­ SC Global, ‘Rising Chef of The Year 2015’ finalist ­ World Gourmet Summit, ‘Best Local Chef 2016’ ­ SG Readers’ Choice Awards, and ‘WGS Best 20 Chefs 2016’ ­ World Gourmet Summit. Bjorn is also frequently on television, having most recently featured as judge on MasterChef Singapore on Mediacorp’s Channel 5, and also on programmes such as MasterChef Asia and Secret Eats, and in lead roles on Eat List Star Season 2 and The Ultimate Brocation.

Our group photo for the night.

Hope the next time I go back will have something new to try out again. 

Review of ESET Internet Security

I have always pondered which will be the most effective antivirus for my computer for many years. Each time I buy a new computer or laptop, I faced this issue.  However, a few years back I found the solution. This is none other than ESET.

The reason on why I chose ESET instead of Norton or Mcafee is that it has better virus database which can scan away all those unwanted virus as compared to Norton or Mcafee. Let me share with on how i started my journey with ESET. 

Initially, I thought Norton or Mcafee was doing the job on scanning for virus. However, one day I decided to try to download another antivirus to do a scan on the computer. So I started to download all sorts of free trial downloads to scan my computer. ESET won Norton and Mcafee. Since then I have been a loyal ESET antivirus fan.

I started from its version 8 and now I am using its Internet Security version. This current version provides banking and payment protection as well as anti-theft protection. However, I am not very comfortable with the anti-theft protection function after it requires me to create a dummy account. It seems like to be an open door for other people to hack it. Let me find out more before I start to create the dummy account for the anti-theft protection.


I managed to find this online lobang  at the following link:

 ESET internet security deal at 50% off for only first 1000 copies
https://www.facebook.com/2047152252208983/videos/2055221928068682/

So grab it while stocks last.

My maiden attempt on cooking in air fryer( mayer air fryer)- not sponsored

Yesterday was my first attempt to cook steak in air fryer. I have to admit that I had chosen the wrong cut of meat for steak. Nonetheless, I officially broke the record of what people choose to cook for first time in air fryer.


Recipe

1 piece of steak
1 small packet of butter
half a teaspoon of salt to rub both sides
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of mixed italian herbs

I marinated the cut of meat, chuck tender with corn flour which was in replacement of meat tenderizer, salt, garlic powder and mixed Italian herbs. I preheat my air fryer at 180 degree celsius for about 5 minutes. Next, I put a piece of SCS butter which is those packed into one small packet one and oil my grill pan. followed by placing my steak into the air fryer. One side about 10 mins to ensure the proper grilling of the steak.

Review of Ban Leong Wah Hoe

Recently, I had the chance to try to ban leong wah hoe's chilli crab during Deepavali. It was the promotion of the 2kg of crabs at $88 that got my family to go and try.

Here comes the main dish

For me, there are not enough eggs in the chilli crab sauce. It is not spicy enough and was a bit too watery. However, if it  is to be eaten with the deep fried mantou. It is just nice.

For this har cheong kai, it was the best dish that my family likes. Crispy and taste just nice.

For this dish, I would not rate it very nice.

This baby squid dish is my favourite cos it is crispy and the sauce that comes with it was good.

Overall, we paid about $146 for these few dishes, 4 plates of rice and 5 drinks. However, to ask me to come all the way to this location to eat I would consider twice. Location wise is too far perhaps maybe others don't mind.

中秋节快乐

Today is 中秋节, it reminded me of my late grandmother whom i loved the most. I thought i could make time for her on 中秋节 last year but I could not make it due to work. This is the biggest regret in my life. I really missed spending this time with her.

Walking thru the shopping malls or even supermarkets selling pomelo reminded me that she has asked me to buy her ipoh pomelo for her to eat. That is something that she likes to eat. I really missed my ah ma.

At the same time today this year, I was carrying lantern without her beside me. Though this something that only kids would do but I just carried the lantern to tell her that I missed her as well.

Anyway 中秋节快乐 once again all.

Eating Personality

I happened to chance upon an email which is done by Dr.Oz talking about eating personality. I guess a lot of us is trying to find out what kind of personality do we have as under eating. You might want to check it out from the video below

 

For the quiz to help you assess which kind of eating personality you are , please click on the following link https://www.today.com/health/what-your-eating-personality-identify-it-start-eating-right-t115624

A Slightly Different National Day

This year, it was a slightly different national day 'cos it is the first time i visited gardens by the bay.
I have been hesitating to visit gardens by the bay as i was unwilling to pay for the conservatories fee.
However, I decided to pay and see it for myself once to satisfy my curiosity.

Here's some of the pictures i took while i was there

Reminds me that xmas is coming 

For the month of august, orchids seems to be in the theme as it is the national flower of Singapore

Indeed, the flowers in flower dome are pretty. Hopefully next time i will be able to see the tulips.

Secret garden in cloud forest

For cloud forest, I don't extremely enjoy due to the phobia of heights..the emptiness when you are supposed to walk the bridge from level 6 to the lost world at level 7.

Seriously , i do think that gardens by the bay do make a great place for picnic and also place for dating when you are struggling during month end. You can just don't pay to enter the conservatories prepare some sandwiches or hotdog buns with salad, some fruits,chips and a mat  and you are good to go.

Tips on how to get there
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/plan-your-visit/getting-here-and-parking.html

i literally took 518 the express bus which is at my door step to marina bay sands and walk over via the bridge it was so simple. Really had loads of fun but forget to stay back to watch fireworks on national day.

Fast and Easy Dark Soya Sauce Sotong(aka squid)

Today I am going to share a family recipe called the dark soya sauce sotong. This dish is very simple to cook and it only requires 4 ingredients.

Ingredients
Sotong( it all depends on how much u intend to cook)
Red dates dark soya sauce
Black ground pepper (based on how much u can take)
Sugar

Steps 
1. Marinate the sotong with the dark soya sauce and pepper for at least half an hour
2. Heat up the wok and pour the sotong in to cook.
3.Once the sotong curls up , it is ready to eat and add a bit of sugar at this time.
4.Ready to serve.

Movie review on Transformers: The Last Knight

For this movie, it was not as exciting that I had expected it to be. My expectations before this movie were more of the fighting scenes. It does not give me the adrenaline rush that I wanted.

Story plot was not really exciting. I was just a bit bored during the show until the ending part. There were certain scenes of the transformers where I thought that the scene looks a bit satanic. However, this is my personal opinion.

Do write in your comments on how you feel about the movie to share with me. 

Food Review on Enchanted Garden's June menu @ V hotel

Aloha everyone, it has been since a long time I wrote on my blog after my grandmother has passed on. For this food review that was done on a weekday afternoon at Enchanted Garden at V Hotel, I was being invited by fellow blogger Jess aka JessSeasons to join her with courtesy from the boss, Mr Chris.

I loved the signage of the restaurant as it gives a very romantic feel. Here's how the signage of the restaurant looks like:

I guessed no one who has thought of that within the signage of a restaurant depicts words like with heart and soul. Let me tell you that I could see the effort in the whole team of people working in this restaurant is all great team players. This is the first time that I have been to a food tasting event whereby I could see all of them helping out one another.

This food tasting was jointly also joined by two other fellow bloggers.They are Isabelle and Yunzi.

Left to right: Yunzi, myself, Jess and Isabelle

Let's take a look at the array of food that Mr Chris and his team have taken effort to prepare for this food tasting

We had a total of 10 dishes for food tasting 

Allow me to list down all the dishes for your reference

Appetizers

Spicy Topshell -$8.80

Spiced Crispy Anchovies $8.80 

Korean Spiced Chicken Wings - $12.80 

Fish Fingers-$7.80 

Cheesy Pork Balls- $9.80 

Seafood Croquette-$12.80 

Mains

Grilled Pork Chop-$18.80 

Baby Back Ribs-$18.80

Miso Cod Fillet-$32

Lamb Shank -$26.80

Here's the up close and personal photo of each individual dish 

Spicy Topshell 

For this dish, I was not able to review due to abstaining from seafood after chicken pox for 100 days.

Cheesy Pork Balls 

For me, these cheesy pork balls were just nice in taste as they were not too overwhelmed with the cheesy taste. I did not dip the balls into the sauce. However, our host for the day, Rain told us that it was all handmade

Spicy Crispy Anchovies ( Photo credits to Jess) 

This plate of anchovies seems to be air-fried upon tasting cos there is not a hint of oiliness in them. Great to get them when you are having happy hour at the restaurant.

Seafood Coquette

This seafood coquette packs a punch on its own without having to add any more sauce. The crunchiness that comes out from the bread crumbs can give the cracker kind of feeling.

Korean Spicy Fried Chicken 

This dish is made with the head chef's special concocted sauce. It is more towards the sweet kind of spiciness rather than the kind of sambal spiciness that we are looking at.

Fish Fingers

This one taste a bit like chicken fingers just that it does not have cheese taste

Lamb Shank

This dish is well braised as the meat is able to be still stuck onto the bone and also it is tender when you bite it. If you take a look at each dish, you will be able to see the chef's effort to introduce vegetables to each dish for healthy living.

Miso Cod Fillet 

This dish is made from overnight marination of the special sauce which was concocted by the chef. What I like about this dish are the flavourful miso cod fillet and the mashed potato. The mash potato is something which does not give the very starchy kind of feeling after each mouth.

Grilled pork chop 

This dish was tasted cold as we were busy taking photos so can't really give an exact review for it. Probably when it is eaten hot, it should be more tender. Wished that it was tenderised more 

Baby  Back Ribs 

I did not taste this dish for the fear of dark soya sauce. The other ladies felt the taste was just nice.

For my personal opinion of this food tasting session, the top dish goes to the miso cod fillet which is a must try. 2nd dish would be the cheesy pork balls.These 2 are my personal favourites.

At the end of the food tasting session, we decided to check out the entire premises and realised that there are certain spots which are good for a wedding proposal, hanging out with bf/gf for a sweet whispering session and some photo taking.

Here are some photos which I feel good for wedding proposal and our photo taking session.

The fun shot that the other ladies took 

This place is catered for solemnization. The enchanted garden offers its premises for private events.

Great for catching up among friends.

Not to forget, just to share that Enchanted Garden offers happy hour all day long from 11am to 12 midnight daily. For current month's promotion will be 1 for 1 drinks  for happy hour.

For my readers, there will be a 15% discount for the main course and also 15% discount on soft drinks once you show my blog post.Promotional items are not applicable for the 15% discount