Sand Paper

“If someone always brings you down, think of them as sand paper. The more they rub you, the more polish you will be, and the more useless they will become.”

I came across this quote from a radio programme, read out by the DJ. An encouraging quote that I think is so true!

Instead of poking someone back just because they put you down, remember they may be envy of you, but they can’t bring themselves to admit it. And knowing this, don’t be that someone who put people down, because it’s “uncool”, and I always believe what goes around comes around.

Goals

I always have many things in my mind, and most of them are health related, or rather beauty health related. I want to make myself follow some routines that are to be done daily, weekly and monthly, I even wrote them down, but the problem with me is, the routine will die down after a while.

I thought I should just write down those that I have yet to achieve in my blog to motivate myself and set a target to accumulate them overtime. So far, my skin care regime has been almost “routinise” except for the tedious few.

Meringue

I made some mini pink meringue over the weekends. My first attempt, and it's really simple! Four egg white and a cup of caster sugar, that's all it takes to make a big handful of meringue. I should have added in vanilla essence but I ran out of it, but without it, it still taste nice and sweet and fluffy.

Planting

I am reading up on planting, not to beautify my home environment (though I will love to do so too), but more on planting herbs and vegetables for cooking.

I wrote down a list of plants that I think can adapt to our climate and the small space I have in my small flat. It will be potted as I have no balcony, patio or garden. I wanted to try my hands on cherry tomatoes, coriander, spring onions and mint leaves.

For a start, let’s not be too adventurous, and having failed terribly in planting previously, I just need to start off by cultivating green fingers. So, the easiest from the list, mint leaves, shall be my first start off. I read that it’s the easiest to thrive and my uncle has two large pots along the corridor, which I can cut some for propagating.

Need to get a good draining pot and dish, and soil. I’m thinking of putting my plants in the spare room since that area has more sun as compared to my dim kitchen.

Grin Affair

There are just so many nice shops hiding away, I believe it is due to the cost of rental. Found this dessert shop opposite my office, which I have no idea of its existence till today – Grin Affair.

Located at Everton Park, a quiet and plain shop front.

The food?

Dessert in a jar!

Something out of the box by its shop owner, which I have never come across. My colleague bought it, and he said it is very nice. The owner even do a part for the environment by collecting back the used jar and reuse it. Every jar of dessert cost an addition of $0.50, and by returning the jar to the shop on your next visit, you will get a coupon to offset your next purchase.

There’s a small corner selling handmade accessories by my loot. I am eyeing the antler ring, it is such a statement piece.

Happy Mothers' Day

It’s Mothers’ Day on 13 May 2012, Sunday! But my family decided to celebrate on the day before to avoid the crowd. We headed down to City Square Mall Korean BBQ place for dinner!

Sun Fa Bak Kut Teh

It was a last minute decision to head down to Johor (Malaysia). Initially we only intend to go out to the market for breakfast and buy some grocery home, but my husband suddenly asked if we can go Johor, and I agreed immediately.

Fullhouse Cafe

I wanted to visit the place, take pictures, before I blog about it. But good things are to be shared! I found this really pretty theme cafe at Rendezvous Hotel - Fullhouse Cafe. It looks all pretty and nice, and the menu is not extraordinary expensive.

I am introducing this lovely place to my girlfriends and coaxing them to look into this venue for our dinner next week. (My update after the jump)

Truth & Lie

"It takes a lot of truths to gain trust, and it takes one lie to lose it all."

How true.

Hearty Breakfast

I started making breakfast few weeks back. I make it a point to at least have a simple bread and butter toast every morning since it is the most important meal of the day. My husband will skip it if I never initiate. He finds it hard to eat in the morning at first, but it now became a healthy habit he can’t miss.

I will do simple bread with nutella spread, or toasted bread with butter and sugar, and even steamed bun and pre-prepared egg mayo for sandwiches. Days when I feel I can do more, or when I woke up earlier, I will do a big English breakfast spread like the one shown in this blog. Sunny side up, hash brown, bacons or sausages, salad, and toast bread.

This is my favourite and it’s not that time consuming given that most are oven baked when I’m preparing other morning stuff.

Grinded Coffee Powder

Coffee! COFFEE!

By the way, I don’t drink coffee, but my husband does. He can do away with instant coffee and pre-mix, but the person who doesn’t drink is very particular in what he drinks.

I love the smell of coffee, yet I find it bitter. This is one food that doesn’t smell like it taste, or maybe it does, but it’s just not connected to my system. I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee, not those of instant and pre-mix.

So the non-coffee drinker, me, look through information on coffee and started to learn how to brew coffee. Initially I wanted to buy the coffee powder from cafés like Coffee Bean and Starbucks, but my husband stopped me, because he said he needs Chinese styled coffee in the morning to keep him awake. In the end we bought something from the supermarket, which smells really good. He likes it too, and the colour is so much better than instant mix.

I don’t use “socks” or coffee machine, nor a coffee press, but a simple brewing filter from Bodum. I bought it from a departmental store at less than $20. It is a glass mug with filter where I can put it on and off. I just need to pour in boiling water, close the cover, and it will start dripping on its own. I like seeing the black liquid in the glass, it looks perfectly brewed unlike those of instant mix, but the sad thing is the glass mug is broken, and instead of buying a replacement, I replaced it with a white opaque mug since the filter is still working well.

I happen to find this coffee seller at a wet market near my office, and decided to buy and try. Since I know nuts about coffee and their taste, I asked the uncle for recommendation. He mixed two different coffee beans and grinded them into a 500g packet for me. It smells wonderful. Didn’t really catch the name of the beans, but I know one of them is Arabica. The best part, it cost only $9.

After reading through on coffee, learning how to brew, going through all the hassle to get the grinded coffee powder, I still don’t intend to start drinking coffee. I don’t want to cultivate such habit of needing it every morning or any time of the day, knowing how additive it can be, and I’m thankful I don’t like the bitter taste.

Well, the smell of it is enough to perk me up!

Chill Out

I had a great dinner at Jasmine’s house (an ex-colleague turn friend). She invited a few of us over for dinner, and the main is roast lamb! The chunk of meat was roasted in a huge grill at her backyard when I was there, and I was hungry immediately.

The Daily Scoop

Along the shop houses at Jalan Merah Saga, just between the Lemon Zest and Shermay’s Cooking School, lies a cute and cozy ice cream café to sit, relax and chill. The Daily Scoop!

Cooking and Baking Accessories

My husband is a darling. He drove me around on Sunday afternoon to cook ware and bake ware shops I wanted to visit.