The Canton Pixie

Is this NEWater???

2009-10-09T22:35:00.000+08:00

I have never been this sick in my life.

I woke up at 0230hrs two nights ago, and for the next 3 hours, alternated between hugging the toilet bowl and sitting on it as I vomitted and had diarrhoea!! The diarrhoea continued for a further 4 hours as I waited for my neighbourhood GP to open.

My dad had been vomitting and had diarrhoea the night before and I'd brought him to the GP. My mom exhibited the same thing earlier in the day. And the 2 kids she looks after had been having diarrhoea for a week!!

I was so badly dehydrated by 0930 hrs that I needed a jab.

Diagnosis: Viral infection, probably got it from an INFECTED FOOD HANDLER (ie my mom!!!!). All of us had been eating her meals for the preceding few days or so.

But the GP had an interesting addition to the diagnosis. He said he'd seen an increase in cases like ours ever since NEWater was introduced / dosage was increased.

And I heard that quite a few of my mom's cronies experienced the same thing too!! And Little Pixie woke up vomitting last night as well, after a few days of diarrhoea. Thank God she was up and running again this morning.

What a horrid experience!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Birthday Roses

2009-10-01T11:49:00.001+08:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm Grateful For Family

2009-03-20T22:44:00.004+08:00

As much as I'm always making jibes at my family, in times like these, I'm really thankful that they are my family and that I'm part of theirs!

When the Grim's mother (ie my grandmother) passed away, and she had to be at the wake for like 5 days, Little Pixie and I were suddenly stuck without lunch for a few days.

I had to er, start cutting apron strings in a hurry, and it was really no joke trying to cook 3 big meals and snacks - breakfast, lunch, dinner and teatime on just one day.

I capitulated the other 4 days - we simply ate out! -
Since I'm allergic to every other dish in the hawker centre - all we had was Bee Tai Mak and more Bee Tai Mak!

When we couldn't stand it anymore, we leeched on the Goose!! (Gosh do I feel like a vermin now)

When I was younger, I used to make fun of them and grumble about all their idiosyncracies, irritating or annoying behaviour. But, time goes by, there are ups and downs in life - and as cliched as it may sound - they look more and more beautiful through the untinted glasses of adversity and maturity.

I can't imagine how the Grim really handles the following:
- babysits 2 kids for a pittance (24 x 7 - the kids go home for a few hours every Sunday)
- cooks lunch for Adult Baby (that's me) and Little Pixie on schooldays (that's 5 days a week!)
- insists on doing household chores herself after kids sleep, refuses even part-time maid,
- insists on cooking dinner for the entire household 5 nights a week.

I can't imagine either how the Goose takes care of:
- cooking 5 nights a week for a household of VERY FUSSY EATERS who won't eat anything green and who eat at different times of the night, from 5pm to 9pm.
- babysits 2 VERY FUSSY KIDS
- being the primary caregiver for a high-needs senior
- waking up every hour each night to tend to the Gnome's needs, and never making up for her lost sleep by taking day naps
- wanting to do everything herself despite having a capable and kind domestic helper

I don't think the Goose has an easier job than the Grim just because she has a helper and the Grim doesn't. I think both have it real tough. And I've learnt to really appreciate them, and the love that is written all over their sacrifices and acts for the family (despite all their fogey demeanours that inspired their respective nicknames!!!).

I've just undergone what turned out to be a rather not-so-minor surgery on my tummy. Doctor says part of my tummy muscle's been damaged - so no exercise allowed for the next 3 months. Don't want to burst the wound!

Tin Hang Zai had the wisdom to suggest I do so during the March hols, and he was so sweet to take a week's leave to care for me.

I'm so grateful to everyone because Little Pixie got to attend the Goose Daycare (meals, nap, bath - what more could I ask???) for the entire week after I was operated on. Grim Daycare was out because the 2 charges inside were sick from a virus. This left Tin Hang Zai free to be my house-helper since I couldn't really move around!

And get this, I got homecooked steamed fish & vegetables & rice & tonic soup from Goose Tingkat Services daily for lunch & dinner, delivered by the Tin Hang Zai Courier Services which also provided Little Pixie's transport to the Goose Daycare. And since the Goose Tingkat doesn't operate on weekends, I was certainly very blessed to have hot meals, ALLERGY-FREE from Grim Tingkat.

The list doesn't end there.

Cosmo came to visit me and kindly donated her hand-me-up magazines, and I had friends (you know who you are: - Miss Quiet, Miss Intellectual, Miss Music, Miss Salmon, Miss Koala, and Miss J) who prayed for me and kept me company with your smses.

Lastly, I had received another cake order for the Pixie Fudge-Frosted Chocolate Cake this weekend but really did not feel up to it. So Airport agreed to help me fulfil the order!

Thank You to my Friends and Family!

I really thank God for you all!

Little Pixie Turns 3!!!

2009-01-12T23:21:00.005+08:00

Last year this time, we were too worn out from the Hong Kong holiday to prepare anything. The year before, we weren't aware of her allergies or mine.

But this time, I managed to find a REALLY cool recipe for decadent, egg-free dairy-free chocolate cake.

So this is her very first home-baked birthday cake from Mommy!

Over the course of 1 week, I made like 5 of the same cakes in a row:

Cake 1 - Tin Hang Zai's Colleagues (aka guinea pigs for most of my baking experiments) "they all say very nice!"
Cake 2 - For my family's Christmas get-together-cum-Little Pixie's birthday cake "yummy!"
Cake 3 - For Becks, my "apprentice" "I like it. I'd give it 9 out of 10"
Cake 4 - For the Goose & Gremlins "too much frosting!"
Cake 5 - For Lasik's Friend Liz "tastes like Awfully Chocolate!"

I haven't wanted to see, smell, taste or eat anything chocolate since.

More pictures of poetry

2008-11-11T23:23:00.004+08:00

That's me holding a huge beach bag.

The Sun, the Sea, the Sand

2008-11-11T22:48:00.004+08:00

After another eventful year, we finally got to go on holiday again. Our "simple-life" goal has always been to indulge in all the "S"s - last year's trip to Hong Kong was an indulgence in the shops and the stomach - before I got diagnosed with all those allergies.

This time round, we opted to indulge in the sun, the sea, the sand, the stomach and...the Silence!

Have you ever been to a place where there is absolute silence? I have never - not in Singapore at least. Even at East Coast Park, you could always hear - besides the airplanes overhead - sounds of other beach goers, sounds of the cars whizzing by in the distance...and just...sounds.

This was definitely the best holiday we have had so far - far surpassed our experiences at Bali and Phuket.

This is the wonderful resort we went to - the Tanjung Rhu at Langkawi - and those other people on Tripadvisor couldn't have said it better. Someone described it as "heaven on earth" and another described it as "paradise" and none of them are exaggerating. The resort's website says it even better - "1001 acres of poetry". And those wonderful pictures you see on the hotel website are nothing compared to the real thing when you get there.

That's how it was for Tin Hang Zai and me! Here's how we spent our 5 days there on the "S"s - (minus 1 day because we needed to take a day trip to check out what else was in Langkawi)

Stomach - we were on an all-inclusive plan where all meals were included and you could eat from any of the resorts' restaurants *unlimited* - and room service *all day*. (now how cool is that?) - and because I had informed them earlier about my shocking allergies - they took great pains to accomodate my meals. I had an egg-free dairy-free selection of 3 different breads baked for me daily and they even told me they had more on standby in case I happened to request it for room service at night!
Sleeping - someone described our bedroom as "massive" and it really was
Sun & Sea - having 2km of private beach, sunbeds scattered everywhere you might want to lounge around, and a half-empty resort is a good thing!

The Silence? Tin Hang Zai, Little Pixie and I took a walk one day along the entire stretch of beach - to the "Land of Far Beyond" - yes, the resort was THAT expansive - and we sat among some shrubs which sheltered us from the hot sun - and watched the sea and the islands far ahead and just sat still. And listenedto the sound of silence. It was AWESOME. I had never heard such silence before - there was just absolute peace, tranquility - and serenity. We really could have heard God whisper in there!

You've really got to see this place to believe it. It's the first time I've ever wanted to go back to a resort a 2nd time.

My First Snowskin Mooncake

2008-08-28T21:48:00.003+08:00

Life-post-allergy-discovery - I now have to learn how to make all my favourite foods in order to ensure I don't accidentally ingest anything that might make me sick.

This is one of the few recipes around that doesn't use milk / egg - and tastes just as good. (The commercial baked ones all use milk & eggs - and the snowskin ones - some do and some don't).

This recipe is adapted from Cheryl - the famous gal with those famous bakes. Her pictures look much better and she has even got some nice background as to the origins of mooncakes - so check out her post if you are keen.

Snowskin Mooncakes

Ingredients

115g Hong Kong Flour (steam for 15 minutes, leave to cool)

115g fried glutinous rice flour

210g icing sugar

1 tablespoon shortening

5 tablespoons cold water* I had to use 7 tablespoons plus a few more drops to make the dough wet enough.

1 teaspoon banana essence - I completely omitted this since I'm allergic to bananas anyway. I decided against using the store-bought pandan flavour cuz it smelt so..fake. I have since read somewhere that you could replace all the water in this recipe with pandan water.

2 tablespoons Hong Kong Flour (mix with 2 tablespoons hot water to form hot dough)

Fillings

1.5 kg lotus paste * I used up approx 1kg of it - since I only bought a 1kg pack from Phoon Huat.

100g melon seeds (baked) - as this was my first time, I decided to omit this - but have since realised that adding this would improve the texture significantly.

salted egg yolks (steamed) - can't be bothered with this - since I'm allergic!

Method

Sieve fried glutinous flour and Hong Kong flour, add in icing sugar.
Make a well in the centre, add shortening, water and hot dough, and knead until smooth.
Roll the dough and wrap lotus paste, press into moon cake mould.
Scale - if you are using the small size (which I used), scale at 29-30g for the filling, and 18-20g for the dough - just changed the ratio along the way in order to maximise the use of all the remaining ingredients - since Cheryl's original recipe doesn't give you any exact weight to go by.
Knock mooncake out from mould, chill and serve.

Notes
Cheryl scales hers at 1/3 total weight for dough and 2/3 total weight for filling, and Zu's recipe scales at something like 30g filling to 20g dough)

Simplicity through the Shops...and the Skin - Organic Skincare

2008-08-16T22:49:00.002+08:00

You know I'm a walking encyclopaedia about all the poisons that go into skincare and what's all that hype about "organic" skincare.

After all my years of reading up, I've been using these baby products for myself.

Those brands that claim to be "organic" that you find in Watsons / Guardian are generally not all that "organic" - they merely use a few "natural" sounding ingredients and the rest is all that nasty petroleum-derived stuff).

These are a few brands that I would recommend and some comments about them.

Lavera
If you want lipstick or lipgloss that won't poison you, this is the brand to go for (the rest are baby brands and don't carry makeup). The range of colours is good and very moisturising.

For sunblock, this brand wins hands down. It's the cheapest for the amount of sunblock in the bottle. And none of the nasty ingredients that go into the other non-organic brands at Watsons/ Guardian.

However, I have been trying their moisturiser for oily skin - and I'm not sure if it's doing me all that good since I started using it a month ago. It contains alcohol too (a no-no for skincare).
Aromababy
This brand uses the least amount of ingredients for their Newborn Baby Lotion, which means it is least likely to irritate your skin should you have sensitive skin. However, their prices have gone up from when I first bought these products in 2005 - the 125 ml tube used to cost S$12 then, now it retails for S$28 at Robinsons. (!!!!)
Buds Baby
I bought this today at Robinsons because it was much cheaper (cost per unit weight) compared to Aromababy. The list of ingredients is slightly longer, though I would say it's equally safe. (for me, I can't even take moisturisers with vanilla in them!!)
Their sunblock is equally effective as Lavera's, but not as cheap if you compare the costs per unit weight.
GAIA
I have tried their Baby Massage Oil for Little Pixie and I like it. Very short list of (safe) ingredients and price is the lowest amongst all 3 brands of Baby Massage Oil. Please do not even try Johnson & Johnson's or some other conventional baby brand like Avent or Mustela - they contain mineral oil which clogs pores!

I bought their moisturiser too because, it is every bit as organic and safe as the rest - and it's also the cheapest. In fact, its advantage over Buds is that it doesn't use alien-sounding ingredients that Buds claim are safe.

Lastly, about the Pureen Fluoride-Free toothpaste. Fluoride isn't as good for teeth as the media would have you believe - at least that's what I read from the back-to-naturals literature. I have over the years tried buying fluoride-free toothpaste from Neways, from organic shops, and the cheapest I'd found was this brand called Nature's Gate (S$10 a tube). So I was elated to find this brand (it actually says : "fluoride-free - safe for baby" - can you believe it? If fluoride is harmful for babies then what makes it good for adults!?!?) selling for S$2.35, and it's sugar-free too!!!

Simplicity through the Shops ...and the Soles

2008-08-16T22:19:00.006+08:00

Tin Hang Zai's Cushioned Slippers from Adidas and my Pink Crocs

Those of you who have known me through the years will know I can't stand window-shopping and shopping without a list. Those aimless strolls through the malls make me very nervous - with no promise of any "meaningful" outcome at the end of each trip.

I even think the last time I truly enjoyed shopping with THZ was when we were dating, like 10 years ago. Gasp!!

Well guess what, perhaps with the passage of time and with Little Pixie, I am learning not to be so hard on myself (why must every activity have a tangible outcome anyway?) and to well, indulge in the simple pleasures of life. Today I actually enjoyed window-shopping at Centrepoint with THZ and Little Pixie for like, 6 hrs!! We went to Robinsons, looked at "stuff", went to John Little, and then back to Robinsons, and then to Cold Storage!

About the Crocs - first, I wasn't even looking for shoes (see? that's what happens when you don't shop with a list). Second, I have never even been interested in Crocs after those horror stories about kids losing toes from wearing Crocs . THZ was smitten with the quirky Mary Janes and persuaded me to try them. And I was converted!!! They were so comfy I bought them right away and wore them out of Robinsons!

Lousy Spa Experience

2008-08-14T22:48:00.002+08:00

Since we're on the topic of spas, I thought I'd write about a past experience of ours.

We're not quite spa connoisseurs - but we had a really bad experience at this place before. The advertising and all those features in Her World magazines - goodness, we figured that the spa boss must have friends in the industry.

The "therapists" gave Tin Hang Zai and I different treatments even though we had both signed up for the same thing.

Mine gave me what I believed to be a Thai massage - his gave him what was supposed to pass for Swedish - we were never sure because they both didn't look trained. We had asked for a couple room but were cajoled into having separate rooms with an adjoining (!!!!) bathroom which the boss said was the "same as having a couple room" - I didn't hear from THZ until the massage was over! The boss insisted that I could have peeped at THZ if I'd wanted to (*roll eyes*)

Needless to say, we didn't have any heated mat on the massage. (The Ultimate Spa does - and that's really important for a skeletal person like me)

The "couple package" consisted of a single jacuzzi tub which we had to take turns to soak in because it was so tiny. So it was like, we took turns being scrubbed by the same therapist, so that the other person who was not being scrubbed would then soak in the jacuzzi. (Is this what is considered a "couple deal"!?!?!)

And, we were also booted out of the jacuzzi before time was up because they had overbooked the room. And, right after we exited the jacuzzi room, they checked another couple right in! I don't think they had the time to change the tub water / sterilise / clean anything! The boss also tried to convince us that the grimy looking stuff in the jacuzzi was from some "wine extracts"! After we saw the next couple walk in, we got the creeps and started wondering if the grime in our tub was from the previous couple! Urgh!

The Ultimate Spa

2008-08-14T22:26:00.003+08:00

OK, the heading of this post is NOT an accolade given by me. It's the real name of the spa!!

I am actually quite surprised that I'm recommending this spa despite its lousy counter service. You have to check this place out.

We first went there on Tin Hang Zai's birthday - the masseuses (or therapists if you prefer) are REALLY GOOD!!! We liked it so much after that first time that we actually signed up a short package - $100 per session of scrub + massage + soaking in jacuzzi tub (or what is known as a hydrobath in spa lingo) - you get to choose from a variety of scrub "flavours" and you can choose any massage you want (they have a comprehensive list).

So far we've tried a few more masseuses (I mean, therapists) and I must give this place a thumbs up for having really competent, trained professionals in their team. They are STRONG and really know their stuff.

Barring the lousy counter service (we got our appointments screwed a couple of times), I would really recommend this place if you are looking for good therapists.

Bento Breakfasts

2008-08-12T11:33:00.004+08:00

Niceties introduced me to the concept of bentos. For various reasons (HFMD, Tin Hang Zai coming home too late, etc) , I've not been making dinners or lunches and have been depending on the Veteran's kindness for lunches and dinners (bless her heart).

Inspired by Niceties and Lunch-In-A-Box and Just Bento, I decided that since I wasn't making decent lunches and dinners for my two charges at home, I might as well focus my efforts on making nice bento-breakfasts that can double up as tea-time snacking and pre-dinner munchies for Tin Hang Zai's frequent late nights at work. (Plus make him feel special and pampered)

Menu for today:
Me - homemade wholemeal bread with NTUC-'s minimal-trans-fat and lactose-free margarine (since I'm allergic to butter now) and organic sausages from NTUC Finest
Little Pixie - Homemade wholemeal bread kosong with a slice of orange and homemade applesauce raisin wholemeal muffin
Tin Hang Zai - Homemade wholemeal bread with margarine and jam, whole orange minus 1 slice and homemade applesauce raisin wholemeal muffin

Artisan Bread Baking Class

2008-08-12T10:44:00.004+08:00

I had been blessed with an opportunity to co-facilitate with Paul at a 3-day workshop with an offshore bank.

That paid for this bakery class. I had always wanted to attend some sort of formalised workshop where they teach you properly how to bake bread, instead of reading & fumbling my way through stacks and stacks of bread books at the library. I have been struggling with many bread books for over a year now, and until I attended this workshop, did not know how exactly the "dough window" was supposed to look like.

We focused on ciabatta and baguettes in this workshop - but this is all I need for now! It's a allergenic-person's dream come true - lean dough (no need for dairy stuff like butter or cream or eggs or even bread improvers - which also contain dairy & egg derivatives).

The flavour is ... sensational!! Tin Hang Zai and Little Pixie loved it - and I ended up eating this every day for a week. I'm still making this every week. And, I also learnt that what passes for ciabatta in Delifrance is not the "real thing". Duh.

Nothing beats learning from the professionals. The name of the company is CerealTech, a bio-technology & food ingredients company. Check them out if you are keen.

I was cheated by the Durian Man!!!

2008-08-12T10:37:00.002+08:00

Little Pixie and I were on our way to the Goose's Place. As we were going into the lift, this honest-looking man with a heavy Malaysian accent accosted me, telling me he was delivering durians in the neighbourhood and had excess to sell. He claimed he was from Yong Peng, and had these branded durians to let go.

I was in a hurry, and thought I'd buy the Goose and the Gnome some durians just to make them happy. The hawker said he'd come up to the Goose's place to show us the durians.

Well, he and his "accomplice" opened up two durians that smelled fantastic - even the Goose (who usually has NOTHING nice to say about anything) said they were ok, and so I bought both for a whopping $22!!!!

The other side of the durians were either rotten or unripe, totally inedible. Not to mention leaving a sour taste in our mouths.

Once again, I have learnt not to ever buy things from hawkersI don't trust again. Later that weekend, a trip to my regular (and HONEST) fruit man turned up 5 packs of fantastic durians for $10!!!

The Sun, the Sea and the Sand

2008-08-07T21:51:00.004+08:00

Isn't this beautiful? I really like the weather at East Coast. There's really nothing like lazing by the beach, listening to the sounds of the sea and the planes and watching the sailboats go by...

Overkneaded Dough

2008-08-07T21:44:00.003+08:00

All the cookbooks keep warning about not over-kneading dough, but I've never seen what that actually looked like. And I never knew if my own hand-kneaded dough was actually over-kneaded or under-kneaded.

Well, one fine day, I was attempting to make a 100% wholemeal bread, since I had managed to buy wholemeal BREAD flour.

Instead of trusting the fact that the BREAD flour would develop gluten beautifully, albeit speckled with the wholemeal bits, I put it through THREE rounds of the bread-maker kneading, making this a total of 1 hour's worth of machine-kneading.

At the 40-min mark, the dough had looked beautiful. Greedy for perfection, I hit the button for another 20 minutes worth of kneading - only to be greeted by this!

The bread that came out was flavorful, but well, it tasted like Little Pixie's teething ring.

Nice Hospital Food!

2008-08-07T21:36:00.002+08:00

Cosmo just gave birth. (Actually this was a month ago, but I've been too ill to do anything else except resting and eating and BSF homework.).

The set meals look so good!

We've got Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD)!!!

2008-07-12T12:26:00.003+08:00

So I had been diagnosed with multiple food allergies, and then I had been spending this hiatus learning how to prepare edible allergy-free food from my mom.

And I had been training for a 10km run. And enjoying life without allergy attacks.

Day 1
I felt I somehow wasn't in top form when running. I shrugged it off. I had a mysterious-looking rash on my arm after jogging, which I blamed on a caterpillar that had fallen onto me whilst jogging. I was nursing a very very slight cough that sounded like Airport's cough after he came back from Spain.

Day 2
Little Pixie came back from her Bible Study Children's Group sniffling. And I still didn't feel well enough to do Pilates, let alone run. Little Pixie developed a fever out of the blue.

Day 3
We panicked when Little Pixie's fever continued. I had a ulcer! And I saw a 1-mm ulcer on her tongue! Tin Hang Zai was convinced the hypochondriac me was seeing things. The doctor told us to go back the next day to confirm either way.

Day 4
Confirmed HFMD!!! Little Pixie's fever hadn't gone down, and the rashes-on-hands-and-feet still hadn't appeared. But she had sores inside her mouth.

Day 5
My cough and mysterious rash still hadn't gone away. I was feeling quite ill all over. I developed a nose-block, and post-nasal drip.... similar to symptoms of an allergy attack.

Day 6 (Today)
Little Pixie has rashes all over her face & tummy & back but nothing on arms & feet! We rushed to the doctor's again. He said it's all part of the HFMD. He found sores in my mouth!! So I have HFMD too!!

I can't help blaming myself for this spate of events. I have always assumed that because I'm a SAHM and Little Pixie doesn't go to childcare yet, we'd be safe from all these........... but....

So now we're resting at home, feasting on bread, ice-cream and sweets (the classic cure).

There's a Big Hero who's now bustling around the house looking after his two angels.

Everybody please stock up on Dettol!!

65C Tang Zhong Wonder Bread!

2008-05-18T15:06:00.002+08:00

I chanced upon Do What I Like's blog by accident, and was amazed that there was indeed such a bread! With this, my family members can stop complaining about the bricks I keep serving them for breakfast!

This is the half-wholemeal version, and of course, ever since I was diagnosed with multiple allergies - I have made the necessary modifications.

Recipe
150g bread flour
100g wholemeal flour
110g water/milk or (30g egg + 80g liquid) ( I used all water)
3.5g salt
26g sugar
5g yeast (I used something like 1/2 teaspoon, you can use less if you have the time to spare)
60g tangzhong
26g butter (I used Spectrum's trans-fat free shortening)

Note about yeast:
I personally believe after reading all the classical bread books that too much yeast in the bread is good for neither us or the bread, so unless I'm using the bread machine, I usually use much less yeast than is called for in the recipe. I just compensate for this with a longer proof time. And more often than not, I've discovered that even after proofing for just a couple of hours using half the amount of yeast, the dough doubles quite nicely. It's probably due to our warm weather! (American & European "room temperature" is 21 deg C!!!)

Instructions
Knead like crazy. I kneaded it with my Philips handheld mixer for like 30 min till the mixer looked like it was going to go kaput. Even then, the dough was still sticky-feeling and the "dough window" refused to appear.

DO NOT add more flour.

I hand-kneaded for an extra 20 min and even then, the "dough window" didn't really appear satisfactory. I left it in a bowl and cling-wrapped it anyway.

Tin Hang Zai then asked me to go out, so I had to shove the entire thing into the fridge and when we came back 4 hrs later, to my amazement it had grown more than double. Since we were going out again (or was it bedtime, I can't remember), I punched it down (it felt so hard that it didn't seem to want to deflate at all), and put it back into the fridge.

The next morning, I was dismayed to find that the punched down dough had stayed...punched down!! It looked like a crumpled heap. I left it on the counter and as usual, forgot about it whilst I went about my household chores.

A couple of hours later, it had doubled nicely! Bake at 180 deg C for 25-35 min. I left it for 40 min and it was a tad dry. So I figure 30-35 min should do just fine.

Food Allergy Attacks!

2008-05-05T12:10:00.003+08:00

For the longest of time, I only knew I had serious lactose intolerance. I just didn't think it was anything more than that - a simple intolerance which could be easily rectified by taking lactase enzymes if I so wanted. I continued feasting on my own homemade butter cookies and goodies.

After a lot of reading up over the past few years and months, I came to the realisation that the occasional bout of "allergic rhinitis", respiratory and skin ailments that had plagued me all my life - was not triggered by just my environment, but also (horrors) by my food.

I had settled on two possible tests - the ALCAT test and the ELISA test, as early as last year. My preference was the ELISA test - but the only place I knew which carried this test here was this rather sleazy-looking importer of fish oil, without even a qualified doctor on its premises. So I didn't do anything for almost a year. By a sheer stroke of God's providence, Tin Hang Zai's boss has a super-allergic daughter too, who had once done the same test which I sought - at this place at Gleneagles - the Gilead Ear Nose & Throat Centre. (what an apt name!)

After 2 months, my blood test results came out. Tin Hang Zai and I were overjoyed for a few hours (finally!!! I can stop eating foods that make me sick!) ... and then the reality set in.

Here's the list:

Severely Allergic

Eggs (think: Char Kway Teow, Carrot Cake, Oyster Omelette, McDonald's Breakfasts, Sunny-side eggs, pandan chiffon cakes, lor mee, egg prata...goodness, all the things I love!)
Milk and all its derivatives - I have to check if prata is cooked in vegetable oil or in ghee !! (ghee is a milk derivative)
No more chicken-in-a-biskit! Loads of snacks are now out! And no more KFC coleslaw!)
Vanilla (can you believe it?? So even all my homemade biscuits, cookies, muffins, pancakes and cakes which were already egg-free and milk-free had also been poisoning me because of the vanilla essence!!!) - I found out that even commercial versions of all the Chinese kuehs (9-layer cake, wa ko kueh, pak tong ko, fatt kueh) all use vanilla!!
Banana (ok, I can still live without this)
Asparagus (ok, I can still live without this)

Moderately Allergic

Cabbage - uh oh, there goes all my favourite dishes like fried bee hoon from the market (which has sesame oil & oyster sauce too), no more KFC coleslaw!
Cucumber (so it wasn't the wheat or yeast in that Subway sandwich that made me sick, it was the cucumber!!)
Pineapple (there goes my Hawaiian pizza, which is already minus-the-cheese-and-milk, or that Wu-Xiang Xia Bing Sauce!)
Oyster
Sesame Can you find a tze-char dish that doesn't have either oyster sauce or sesame oil!?!?! Or any other Chinese food for that matter? If it's not in the gravy (think Char Siew Rice, Duck rice, Bak Chor Mee, Lor Mee), it's in the marinade (chicken rice), or in the soup (pig trotters vinegar) or in the sauce (Wu Xiang Xia Bing, Rojak)

Have you fainted yet? Help! I'm losing weight much faster than I'm eating!

The Vines Steak & Seafood at Novena Ville

2008-04-15T21:43:00.004+08:00

Isn't this neat? We splurged at Changi Village on Tin Hang Zai's birthday, and we continued our celebrations at The Vines in Novena. We brought along the Gnome, the Goose and their kind new helper.

The place looks very cottage-like, and the menu looks somewhat like Jack's Place. However, the similarities stop there.

The Vines gives a lot more value for money (for the same price, you can get much more at The Vines than at Jack's Place), service staff are more courteous, and the food tastes better generally. You don't get those crummy desserts at Jack's Place (those jellies that taste as plastic as the cups they come in, or horrid pieces of butter cake that taste like they were leftovers from Jack's Place cake counters) - we got apple crumble that night.

And even though there were no credit card offers, Tin Hang Zai got a free slice of yummy blueberry cheese pie with ice cream!

The Senses & the Stomachs

2008-04-12T16:32:00.005+08:00

sp

It's Tin Hang Zai's birthday. To celebrate, we indulged by going to the spa & pigging out near the sea.

As a single-income family, it had been a loooong time since we wanted to go and splurge on things like spas. But well, what the heck. It's his birthday!

So we checked out The Ultimate Spa at the Civil Service Club (since it was so near our place), and we used some Maybank offer to get ourselves a cool 2 hrs of pampering (scrub, massage, hydrobath) at something like S$150+. And they give you some fancy drinks & dessert after that.

We had a great time, and we finished off by going to the neighbourhood foot reflexology for another 45 mins!

Evening time, we picked Little Pixie up and headed off to the far east to pig out at the Saltwater Cafe at Changi Village Hotel. I wasn't expecting too high a standard, but the food was amazingly fantastic! I'd always thought we'd outgrown buffets long ago, and certainly our last few buffets in 2007 weren't fantastic. (Think Merchant Court's high tea (yucks - you just don't want to pay more than S$20 to eat nothing but kuehs & kuehs) and Paris at Marina (just too much rich food in a day).

But this was different! I had everything I wanted to eat. The BBQ section was decent (I got to eat my favourite lamb chops - something I can't eat with Tin Hang Zai at home since he doesn't like lamb), the seafood was decent, and so was the sashimi! The desserts were decent too, so were the soups. The cold seafood selection was very decent too. All in all, I haven't (and we haven't) been so satisfied in a loong time. I finished up all the keropok the moment they were laid out (freshly fried). The poppadums were nice too.

Yum!!

God is a Matchmaker! (Part 2 of 2)

2008-02-28T21:36:00.003+08:00

Lasik and I have known each other for, er... 18 years. (!!!!!)

She first knew me as a flirt (I think). Perhaps one of the class muggertoads (hey! This was Muggertoads Girls' School what!)

I don't know if she was also a muggertoad. But I first knew her (and remembered her!) as the tall girl at the back who complained that my cough (real) sounded fake!

Lasik is the most conscientious and precise person I know. You can really depend on her to see things through. And I mean, REALLY see things through. And she is a dear friend to me. And she has been through some really miraculous times as well. And, after 18 years, she still looks like the way she did 18 years ago!

Meeting Mr Corny-and-sometimes-bad-Jokes for the first time was a funny experience. He's one of those folks who makes you feel that it's okay to make jibes at him about his erm, physique. But he is a very deep guy as well, as I found out over the past year or so.

Even though his jokes can be really bad, he does seem like the Creator's perfect "let your hair down" complement to Lasik's "we MUST get it RIGHT" style.

Congrats, Lasik & Mr Corny-and-sometimes-bad-Jokes !!!

God is a Matchmaker!! (Part 1 of X)

2008-02-16T21:44:00.003+08:00

Do you believe in miracles? I do. This is one of them.

I've known Miss Sweet-and-Gentle-Spirit
since, er, 2001. She is the prettiest, er, school chaplain I have ever seen, and she has the most beautiful heart too. Full of compassion, empathy, and all the good things you can ever think of.

Our Prison Group was very sad to see her go when God called her to the mission field. I supposed she was one of those that Paul referred to in Corinthians about "making eunuchs of themselves" - because whilst I had never doubted her attractiveness as a potential mate, I had never heard her mention anything about desiring marriage. So I assumed that she, well, wasn't interested.

Indeed, Miss Intellectual told us that when she went to the mission field, she "gave up", because you couldn't imagine finding a mate in that particular field. Turns out, God had other plans. It sounded exactly like what I read about in this book.

Guess what, the Honest Guy whom our Matchmaker had prepared for her (and her for him) appeared miraculously in that place, for a medical appointment that never happened! Instead it was an appointment with the Master Surgeon - who was showing him the "rib" that had been taken out of him!

Each was all that the other had been praying and waiting for all these years. And more.

Can you imagine waiting for "the one" till you are 37 or 42? She who had never believed in whirlwind romances has been blessed by our humorous God in the "twinkling of an eye".

We are all so excited!

The day I did something nasty to my good friend...

2008-02-09T21:17:00.000+08:00

L is my good friend since 2002, when we were both working with the straitjacket organisation.

Values & Friends
Over the years, I have come to realise that those I remain friends with, people you "pick up where you left off", tend to be people who share the same values, ethics and principles as me, whether in personal relationships or at the workplace. L is one such person.

Crossroads
Last November, I was at the "crossroads of Damascus", about to take a long break off a project I had been on for the best part of 2007, when I met up with L. On the spur of the moment, we decided to do a test project together, which involved his friend X. For me, it was a sort of a swan song (albeit for the time being). Reason being, as 2007 drew to a close, I had increasingly felt very distracted, and that I wasn't putting "first things first" (like what Covey says). The failure to put "first things first" was really causing me a lot of low-level anxiety and stress.

So 2008 was to be for me, a year of focusing on my "first things" - in this case, God, Tin Hang Zai, and Little Pixie.

Stress & Anger
Anyway, back to the story. As the date drew nearer to the event, "things" happened. We got stressed, and we quarrelled.

Customer Service
L told me that the event was closed to foreigners after I had confirmed & registered one such person. The reason was one of those rubbish government-body reasons, and after calling up the government hotlines, I failed to get a good reason and all I got was "we cannot answer over the phone even though this is the XXX hotline. Please send us an email". (what the @#$@#$ the event is 1 day away!)

I disagreed with L over how to handle this person. In the end, L told him that we were bumping him off because of "oversubscription". The guy was pissed, and I explained to Hedgehog (who had referred the guy to us) the real reasons.

I felt very bad about the way we handled this, so I called up Mr Foreigner to explain the real reason and to apologise once again. Mr Foreigner was super-pissed, and he said he would "never attend any event organised by your company again". I was so traumatised by the entire episode. I was!

That's when L blew up at me " why didn't you check with me first before telling your friend the real reason? "

I shot back "Excuse me! In good faith, my friends publicise my event for me because they trust in the quality of my work! Do you think you would publicise events for friends who turn out shoddy work!?!? And if there's such a customer-service boo-boo, I don't want my friends wondering why I screwed up and questioning my work ethics in future!"

L shouted "ok, whatever it is, I reserve the right to make the FINAL decision on the event tomorrow".

With that, I shut up, clammed up, and completely disengaged myself emotionally from the event. I refused to participate anymore, or to try to contribute anything more. Since he wanted control of the final decision, fine, I'd just take instructions and not try to be smart.

It turned out that Mr Foreigner was actually working in a VERY IMPORTANT COMPANY and well, I don't dare to think about the potential biz we could have gained (but which we had now lost). L said "we already got 50 participants what, why you bother about that one guy?". *I rolled my eyes.* One deal from this VERY IMPORTANT COMPANY was worth many of the type of participants we were getting. And I mean, many.

Anger, Rage & Revenge
I was consumed with anger the next day. But it was no excuse for what I ended up doing to L. It_was_NO_excuse. When he asked for any words from me in closing the event, I had nothing to say. I was blinded by rage.

L said "you want to say something?"
I said "something".

I was blind to the 50 plus audience around.

WL tried to smooth things over for me by saying "she means, thank you".

I felt very guilty about it. I had a huge quarrel with L after the event, over this and over other issues.

Forgiveness & Grace
And I apologised to L and asked for his forgiveness. L forgave me, and I'm so grateful. But it doesn't stop me from feeling so guilty that I did that to my friend. I mean, whatever he did that made me mad, I had NO excuse to humiliate him, or embarrass myself in that way. I was not only sabotaging him, I was projecting a very poor image of myself at the same time. And I am feeling SOOOOO guilty. That's why I'm blogging about this to get the nasties out of my system.

Our friendship was salvaged. Thank God! A good friend who shares the same ethics, values and principles in life & work is hard to come by. Harder still is someone who forgives you after you have done something as mean as I did to L. And I nearly lost this friend out of my own doing!

But the feelings of regret, and guilt I now have, is certainly not worth the empty feelings of whatever fake triumph that limp attempt at revenge gave me.

I am so humbled by this whole episode. I really am....

"Baby" Risotto

2008-01-21T21:37:00.000+08:00

I can't believe I made this! This looks exactly like a risotto, but it wasn't meant to look like this. Everything was rather "accidental". And it's unbelievably healthy. It's 90% vegetables, virtually fat-free, and you feel so full you won't believe there's hardly any meat in it (again, another accidental thing - I just didn't put in enough meat).

In fact, I think it beats those awful dishes I tried at the only organic restaurant I ever went to.

The original title of this dish is "Tasty Rice with Meat & Vegetables" and was taken from Annabel Karmel's cookbook for toddlers.

As usual, I modified it with whatever vegetables I had on hand, and everything was done "to taste".

Here's how I came to be dishing out these "accidental" dinners:

Lately, I have been getting very frustrated with having to make frozen dinners for Little Pixie, rush to feed, bathe and put her to bed before 7pm each night, and then rush to the kitchen to make dinner for Tin Hang Zai and myself. My main quibble was that if I made stir-fried greens for Little Pixie at 5pm, they would turn yellow by the time Tin Hang Zai reaches home each night at 830pm. Not to mention I have to wash dishes till 10pm each night thanks to this routine!

So I have been trying out these one-dish meals that just one-time cooking at 430pm, and then a 5 min reheat once Tin Hang Zai returns home late at night. 90% of the dishwashing is completed before 7pm. No more dishes to wash except for 2 serving plates, 2 sets of cutlery and a tiny pot.

This is one of them.

Directions (Original Recipe) (My modifications in Blue)

Rice

1/3 cup white rice (3/4 cups white short-grain Calrose rice (that's all I had at home!))

4/3 cup chicken stock (3 cups water)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped (1 red and 1 green bell pepper - just felt like buying more at the wet market!)

1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen (no peas at home, just lots of supersweet frozen corn)

Others

1/2 onion, finely chopped (used 2, because we love onions)

1 carrot, finely chopped (skipped, used leftover shitake mushrooms which I'd soaked for another dish but hadn't used)

1 cup lean ground beef (used pork slices cut up finely with scissors, cuz that's all I had in the freezer, seasoned generously with salt)

1/2 tablespoon ketchup (Just poured in as much as I felt like it, plus some Prego's Pasta Sauce)

a few drops Worcestershire sauce (just poured in as much as I felt like it)

Oil for sauteing

Spring onion (my favourite vegetable seller gave me lots this morning) - this is what gives the dish a bright cheery green because the green pepper loses its bright-greenness after prolonged cooking.

Directions

Put rice into saucepan, cover with chicken broth. Bring to boil, cover & simmer for 15 min (please monitor carefully, my rice sputtered all over the stove!)
Add red bell pepper and peas and cook, uncovered, 6-7 min, or until rice is tender and no liquid left (ditto above - but I had to add salt to the rice and some Prego's sauce at this stage to give the rice a bit more taste)
Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, saute onion and carrots in a little vegetable oil for 5 min. Add ground meat & cook, stirring, till browned. Stir in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and cook over gentle heat for 10 minutes.
When ready to serve, mix desired amount of rice & meat and cook over gentle heat for 3-4 min.
Cut up spring onion into small bits and mix into rice just before serving, for unsuspecting guests
Freeze the rest.

Our First Day at "School"

2008-01-08T16:20:00.000+08:00

I titled this as "Our" because it was equally 'traumatic' for me. Being a bit unrealistic about timing as usual, I thought I'd be going jogging after dropping Little Pixie off at her first day at Flexi-Care. (Beats me why they call it "flexi" since there is nothing flexible about it. You turn up from 0900-1200 every day, is there anything flexible about this!?!?!). And then have a leisurely breakfast, followed by grocery shopping at the wet market, and then prepare a "lunch from scratch", maybe even do some quiet time alone (peace! silence!) and come to pick her up. It couldn't have been further from reality!

For some months now, she has been displaying signs that she was 'ready' to socialise. Always the first one to say "hi" or to hug stranger kids on the streets, I thought it was time for Little Pixie to get to know more kids. (That was my only goal for this programme - other than that, I have no intention of hothousing her, and would like to try my hand at home-schooling, after my dear friend Clare pointed me to her friend who is homeschooling FOUR kids!!)

Little Pixie was overwhelmed by the number of new faces around her. Especially since it was her nap-time and she was outdoors at a time when she was supposed to be happily snoozing at home. And the fact that other kids were wailing and crying their hearts out (one girl cried for more than 2 hours straight after her mother left her there and was still crying when I left) seemed to make her think that there really was something to cry about. And cry she did! There was no way I could leave the centre to do all the aforementioned errands! (Hey I didn't even eat my breakfast!! And forget about the dinner I'd planned to cook!)

Bringing her her Linus bolster was a bad idea. Some rogue kid (who punches every other child in turn) snatched it from her and she cried. And didn't stop till I took her home half hour before time. After a quick trip to the market to buy lunch and leftovers at the butcher, feeding her, I was BEAT. I didn't know that listening to 4 kids crying for 3 hours can be so tiring and I have a newfound respect for those childcare teachers. They are indeed overworked, underpaid!

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better....

I miss Hong Kong Food!!!

2008-01-05T16:41:00.000+08:00

The one thing I really miss about the holiday is eating at this very tiny but cheery, orange-hued Cha Can Teng called the Happy Kitchen. What attracted us was the owner's claims that their street fare had no MSG.

And did we keep eating there for our 5 day stay! Everything I ate there was fantastic!!! And if you knew just how critical I am about food, you'd want to go there too!

There was a dish which stuck in my mind, but no search on the Internet would find me any recipes for anything remotely labelled "Hong Kong cuisine". Back home, I could not stop thinking about the Curry Beef Ramen I ate at that fantastic shop! (it's so tiny, their shop space is probably the size of my study, not a very big space).

I found a useful substitute at Happy Homebaker's Blog , and this is what I also used. Of course this dish above looks very gross compared to hers - it's not the Curry Beef Ramen I fantasized about, but a last-minute throw-together using S & B curry sauce mix from Cold Storage, potatoes, carrots, fresh shitake and onions, to be eaten on rice. It was good, but I think I'll try making my own sauce next time. Better still, it doesn't cause any fumes in the kitchen - where my laundry hangs. Definitely a keeper. (Meantime I have conveniently downloaded the remainder of the curry sauce to the Veterans).

The blessing of my brother and sister...

2007-12-31T21:48:00.001+08:00

I'm reflecting on the year that has just gone by. Even though my family is far from perfect, and the Veterans have the typical dysfunctionalities of person their generation, I'm very thankful that I also have two very great siblings who have been the source of many blessings to me.

Amongst all my friends, it seems few, or none of them are actually close to their siblings. So I don't take it for granted that I can talk to Cosmo about anything under the sun (especially those gross things like what happens when you get L.S.), and call her up at crazy hours (and vice versa) and that Airport is always so kind with little favours and lending a hand with everything - from babysitting Little Pixie so that we could go have a foot reflexology session, watch a midnight movie, and buying groceries, and most recently, letting us take a holiday to visit Cosmo with his free air miles.

And without Airport, I could not have come up with the most recent cheesecake "creations".

Take this wonderful oven. I only realised after recent trips to the shops that at 42L, it's almost twice as large as most of the ovens on sale now.

Cosmo bought it for me as a wedding gift 5 years ago. I had no idea then what a good deal it was, seeing that we had ordered it in some sleazy neighbourhood shop on the recommendations of an "auntie" friend. What's more, I didn't even know a thing about baking 5 years ago, and didn't know a cupcake from a muffin, or flour from cornstarch.

5 years down, and a Little Pixie later, it has become one of the things I absolutely can't live without in my kitchen - next to the washing machine. It is THE most important kitchen cooking tool for a lazy, smoke-averse cook who also happens to hang her laundry in the kitchen! And I am not the only fan of the oven. So is Little Pixie who runs to the kitchen each time something edible comes out of the oven.

Thank you Cosmo and Airport!

My Cheesecake Cracked & Cheese Cupcakes Exploded!!

2007-12-31T21:17:00.000+08:00

It was Little Pixie's 2nd birthday. I had wanted to make little muffin-sized cheesecakes with an Oreo cookie each for the base - using a no-bake recipe by Annabel Karmel (and inspired by some suggestion in David Tutera's Party Planner on Discovery Travel & Living), and the classic New York-style (this is my 5th run) to give away.

Airport was kind enough to help me out as the cleaner lady was coming and unlike half a year ago, Little Pixie is now old enough to be interested in a career as a baking assistant. She watches and tries to get involved as much as she can.

So Airport did all the mixing, pouring, and cleaning up - all I did was interprete the recipe & give out instructions.

Unfortunately, I made a crucial error in the no-bake version - as you can see. After many hours, it had still not set - and in desperation, I put one of the 3 trays I made into the oven. Well, the cheese-cupcakes-with-Oreo-base puffed up nicely, exploded and then collapsed all over my oven!!

A separate version had all the Oreos floating up into the cheese batter!

Of all the cheesecakes I have made, only the first one seems to be crack-free. And get this: I baked the first one in a blur, before consulting all those expert books on how to get the perfect crack-free cheesecake and baking the subsequent ones.

I am still mystified as to what caused all my subsequent attempts to crack!

Kitchen Horrors!

2007-12-17T19:53:00.000+08:00

Not sure how many of you read this, but I wish they'd publish the names of the offending restaurants! Now I'm filled with these horrid thoughts whenever we eat out thanks to this article!

And I think I can guess at least one restaurant that's guilty. Check out the highlighted description (in red):
One 20-year-old, who used to work in the kitchen of an American chain of restaurants, said he would go to work in the morning to find cockroaches inside the giant mixer that the restaurant used to mix batter for its muffins. Hardly surprising, then, that at least three customers have returned with half-eaten food with feelers hanging out.

There are only that many American chains here, and there could only be two possibilities. One is predominantly dessert-based. The other one stands out for its famous YUMMY MUFFINS (comes in only one flavour) !!! Which Tin Hang Zai and I love!!!

When I related the story to Tin Hang Zai this morning (he hadn't read the article), the first thing he said was "XXXXX" and he guessed it right!

I'm going to start making my own now. Urgh!!

Sunday Times 16 December 2007
Kitchen Horrors
More food outlets have been fined this year - and the unsavoury items served up in eateries include cockroaches in muffins and dental floss in kaya toast

LACK OF HYGIENE is a major problem in food kitchens, with more outlets being fined this year by the National Environment Agency for filthy premises, rodent infestation and contaminated food. And to add to the mix, food is sometimes salvaged from the floor and thawed meat is put back in the freezer.

WHEN Ms Carol Yap ordered a kaya toast and coffee combo at a cafe recently, she wasn't counting on biting into anything more than hot kaya spread and a slab of butter on crispy bread.
There was something chewy and stringy in her mouth - it was a piece of dental floss and it wasn't hers.

This wasn't the first time the 36-year-old has made an unsavoury discovery in her food. A few years earlier, she thought her noodles at a Chinese restaurant might have been overdone until she spat out a 1.5cm piece of wire.

'Luckily I didn't cut myself or break a tooth,' said the shocked secretary.

Most people could probably cite at least one encounter with foreign matter in their food - maybe a strand of hair or a small dead bug.

The recent PrimaDeli food poisoning case, when more than 100 people became ill after eating the bakery's cakes, has put food hygiene in the spotlight.

In fact, more eateries and hawker stalls have landed themselves in the soup this year than the past three years, mostly for filthy premises, rodent infestation and contaminated food.

Offending food outlets fined by the National Environment Agency (NEA) so far this year numbered 2,148. This is up from 1,307 last year, 1,524 in 2005 and 1,857 in 2004.

NEA puts the high number down to stepped-up checks and more tip-offs from the public.

But just what goes on behind kitchen doors? Heard those stories about underpaid, overworked chefs spitting into your food? That's not an urban myth.

Although kitchen staff say it hardly happens now, waitresses at one Japanese food chain were known to have done that to picky customers.

But the most common transgression, it seems, is not washing hands after a visit to the loo.

Lack of hygiene
FOOD handlers say that in their rush to get orders out, they sometimes forget to soap up. And even though gloves are a must when it comes to handling cooked food, not all use them.
A chef who has been in the business for more than 20 years says he has seen it all: from the spitting to the scratching to the sneezing.

'When I catch them scratching their oily scalps and go back to preparing the food, I'll scold them and ask them: will you eat this food yourself?' he said.

Chef Ang Song Kang of Canton Wok by Chef Kang said: 'It's about personal hygiene. If you can't even be clean with yourself, how can you expect to serve others?'

Cooks in Chinese kitchens, especially, think nothing of handling raw and cooked food with the same set of bare hands.

One 50-year-old waitress, who has done the rounds in Chinese restaurants, readily admits she and her colleagues sometimes use their bare hands to arrange food on a plate, such as the cold dish served at wedding dinners.

At a top-end popular Chinese restaurant here, tea leaves are left exposed and vulnerable to cockroaches.

Another waitress said: 'When we're busy, we just use our hands to grab the tea leaves. Or if a plate is stained, we just wipe it with our fingers.'

A part-time kitchen helper at an American-style cafe said her manager even told her not to wear gloves when dishing out food, as it was easier and faster to work with bare hands.

'All the food got embedded in my nails. It was disgusting,' said the 18-year-old polytechnic student.

Food suppliers are just as culpable when it comes to lack of cleanliness. They are known to drop their uncovered fresh produce deliveries such as meat and vegetables on the greasy kitchen floor.

But sometimes, the problem has less to do with sloppy humans than pesky insects.

One 20-year-old, who used to work in the kitchen of an American chain of restaurants, said he would go to work in the morning to find cockroaches inside the giant mixer that the restaurant used to mix batter for its muffins.

Hardly surprising, then, that at least three customers have returned with half-eaten food with feelers hanging out.

The culinary misadventures of Singapore's kitchen keepers also extend to the all-important E word: ethics - or the lack of.
Don't expect cooks to throw out food articles past their expiry date. The rule, it seems, is: it's still good for another six months.
'As long as they don't smell bad, the expiry date can always be prolonged,' said one kitchen helper about sauces, seasoning and canned food which routinely get a new lease of life.

And just because your fruit tartlet doesn't look mouldy doesn't mean it wasn't before.

A caterer says it's not uncommon for food handlers to slice off mouldy bits on these tarts and continue to serve them as if they were fresh out of the oven.

Unwashed vegetables, food that is salvaged from the kitchen floor, thawed meat that gets absent-mindedly stuck back into the freezer: when the going gets tough, so do frazzled kitchen staff.

Pinning the responsibility
COOKS' greatest defence for most things unwashed and unclean: the heat from the stove will kill the germs anyway.
Serving and kitchen staff put the responsibility on their management. 'If they don't care, we don't care. If something goes wrong, it's their responsibility, not ours,' says one seasoned waitress.

At some kitchens, that responsibility is not taken lightly.
In the central kitchen of Bakerzin at Harper Road in MacPherson, a CCTV camera watches over food handlers. The company has three quality assurance officers who do daily rounds in the kitchen, said chief executive officer Daniel Tay.

It also routinely does hand, table and equipment swabs to test for cleanliness. Those who fail the hand swab test have their names pinned on a notice board.

'We want to build a culture of good, personal hygiene and that's not easy,' said Mr Tay, who hopes to model his kitchen after those in Japan where 'it's almost like a clean room'.

The same goes for Crystal Jade, which has 29 restaurants and 10 bakeries and one confectionery factory servicing the bakery outlets.

Workers caught flouting its hygiene policies are given a verbal, then a written, warning. Three strikes and you're out!

All unsold buns at its outlets are thrown out at the end of each day, while the shelf life of cakes is 24 hours.

The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which regulates all food manufacturers, conducts surprise checks on these factories as often as twice a month.

It has imposed 42 fines - of between $300 and $1,000 - so far this year on manufacturers who used unapproved additives, sold mouldy food and had dirty premises.

But for all the unappetising culinary secrets this well-known food paradise keeps, you are still much less likely to need an iron stomach now, thanks to strict government regulations that require all food handlers to go for typhoid jabs, wear protective gear and attend a food hygiene course.

In fact, the number of food outlets that have earned an A cleanliness rating from the NEA has risen from 18 per cent five years ago to 33 per cent this year.

Even the nasty episodes that Ms Yap had to endure haven't put her off eating out, which she does at least five times a week.
'I'm too busy to cook so I have no choice,' she said.
'Just don't let me see it.'

The day I hurt a Brat...

2007-12-13T18:52:00.000+08:00

I really regretted inviting Gremlin for a stayover. But I did learn a thing or two about humility and the power of saying sorry.

An excerpt from a 3D2N experience with a disengaged 8-year-old.

Gremlin: A. Pixie, what are you going to do for me? What programmes have you planned for me? How am I going to get entertained?

Canton Pixie: I thought we agreed that we'd do cookies & the icing thingy, and then after I finish my household chores we can do other things, if we still have time.

Gremlin: But I AM VERY BORED! I AM SO BORED! Don't you have any thing for me to play? What's there for me? What's there for me?

[CP does some work on her laptop, replies some email, then quickly rushes to kitchen to hang laundry]

Gremlin: What are you doing?

Canton Pixie: Hanging laundry

Gremlin: Why can't we go to West Mall NOW?

Canton Pixie: I need to finish hanging the laundry so that I can do the next load.

Gremlin: Why can't you do them after I am gone? Why were you on the computer just now? Why couldn't you work on your computer after I'm gone? Why do we have to wait for Little Pixie to have her nap? Why can't you take me to West Mall and leave Little Pixie at home to sleep alone? I want to go to West Mall NOW!

[CP: Gets really irritated]

Canton Pixie: Look, why don't YOU play your computer games after you go home? Why must you play them now?

[Gremlin falls silent, speechless].

Gremlin: A. Pixie, your house is very messy you know? Why don't you clean it up?

Canton Pixie: Have you ever wondered who is the one picking up after you when you eat, bake those cookies, drink water? If I have to choose between cleaning up the house till spick & span and spending time with Little Pixie, which do you think I'd rather do?

Gremlin: I have people to clean up after me - my grandma, my ma, my maid. I don't have to do all these things.

[CP rolls eyes]

This Gremlin has loads of dietary restrictions. The only vegetables he eats are canned mushrooms & potatoes (yes, I looked this horrified when I first found out).

Canton Pixie: I bought you carrot cake for breakfast.

Gremlin: Not eating

Canton Pixie: Why?

Gremlin: Cuz I don't like the garnishes on top.

Canton Pixie: So what do you want?

Gremlin: Instant noodles

[CP cooks instant noodles, trying not to recoil at the amount of junk that this little boy is feeding on]

Dinnertime
Canton Pixie creates some Thai-style fried kuay teow for all, and Airport bought some cereal prawns for everyone.

Tin Hang Zai: Why aren't you eating the prawns?

Gremlin: Because there is no one to peel the prawns for me.

[Stunned silence round the table]

Airport: Gosh! Welcome to Boot Camp.

[Tin Hang Zai patiently tries to teach Gremlin how to peel the prawn].

After 3D2N of this, I just about had enough. But I felt guilty too, because I had been harsh with my words. So this is what happened on the last morning:

[Gremlin wakes up]

Canton Pixie: I'm so sorry Gremlin.

Gremlin: For what?

Canton Pixie: For being so harsh with you.

[Gremlin bursts into tears and sobs and cries for what seems like half an hour, but is actually about 15 min. The awkward Pixie runs to the kitchen in between, checking on his instant noodle breakfast on the stove and giving him pieces of tissue paper, not knowing what to do or say]

Canton Pixie: Er, so what did I do that hurt you so much?

Gremlin: You told me not to touch anything at your mom's place.

[CP: Stunned. So the harsh words did nothing to him at all! Goes on to explain why Gremlin shouldn't be touching things without being asked at strangers' homes. Gremlin understands.]

[CP & G proceed to chat about baking, about ovens, about Gremlin's mom and grandma. Suddenly, Gremlin bursts into tears again]

Canton Pixie: Why don't you ask them to buy you an oven so that you can bake yourself at home?

Gremlin: *sob sob* They won't buy for me. They'll say 'no'. All they ever do is to say 'no'.

Canton Pixie: Have you asked them before?

Gremlin: I don't dare to ask them. But they will say no. All they care about is that the house is not messed up. Everything I do has to be done on newspapers laid across the table so that things are not messed up. *sob sob*.

[CP: Gulps. Recalls that everything that Gremlin had done had always been labelled as 'useless' by his caregivers]

[Gremlin's mom calls and CP is glad to end the episode on good terms with Gremlin].

The experience was thought-provoking for me.

Are these the inevitable products of the modern-day dual-income family that just wants the 'best' school, the 'best' tuition centre, the 'best' enrichment programme for their kids?

Demanding, self-centred kids who are always expecting things to be done for them?

Unable to sit still and be at peace with themselves, even for a while?

Unable to self-entertain, always expecting and waiting for TV programmes, computer games, etc to be downloaded into their otherwise-blank minds and idle bodies? (he gets tired after 10 mins at the playground, preferring instead to exercise his fingers on the joystick)

What will these kids become in future? Disengaged individuals lacking ambition, lacking even the desire to at least give their dreams a shot? Individuals destined for a life of mediocrity because they have never been given a chance to dream their own dreams?

Money can't buy everything. Certainly not fortitude of character, and certainly not values or life skills.

P.S. We made 2 batches of cookies - this batch (with icing) and Baking 911's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Gremlin refused to take any of the latter because "not crunchy". *roll eyes* I already SAID they were CHEWY cookies!!

Easy-Peasy Foccacia

2007-12-13T10:00:00.000+08:00

You won't believe how easy this is. This is from Suzanne Dunaway's "No Need to Knead: Handmade Italian Breads in 90 minutes".

Ever since I'd had the allergy attack, I'd been unable to eat wheat, and resorted to using wholegrain spelt flour. Bakers will know that using wholegrain flours can make the end-products heavy and dense, but this was GOOD!!!

For every 2 cups of flour , do the following:

- Dissolve 1 tsp of active dry yeast in 1 cup of lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl (large enough for the total amount of flour you intend to use).

- Stir till completely dissolved.

- Add in half the amount of flour, plus 1 tsp of salt. Stir well, for 2 minutes.

- Add in the remaining flour, stir for at least two minutes, until the flour 'comes together' and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

- Cover bowl with cling wrap, and place into refrigerator overnight (for at least 8 hours). If you wish to skip this step, you could let it rise at room temperature, for a shorter time.

- 2 hrs before baking, take the bowl out, and let it double in size (the dough, I mean).

- Preheat the oven to 500 deg F.

- Once the dough has doubled in size, carefully pour the batter onto a non-stick, greased baking sheet.

- Use your fingers to make dents in the dough.

- Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and coarse salt.

- Place sheet into oven - and immediately turn down temperature to 450 deg F.

- Bake for 15-20 min, until golden brown.

YUMMY!!! (Tin Hang Zai and Little Pixie love this)

Dried Fig Muffins

2007-12-03T15:38:00.000+08:00

I really have to thank Happy Home Baker for this recipe on her blog.

Ingredients:(makes 12 muffins)

375g dried figs
90g unsalted butter
250ml apple juice
grated zest of 1 orange (omitted due to laziness)
315g plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g granulated sugar
60g dark brown sugar (simply used all demerara sugar, all that's left in my pantry)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence

Method:
Remove the stem and cut dried figs into quarters.
Heat apple juice and butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted.
Remove from heat and add in the figs and orange zest. Leave to cool until the figs are softened, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 190 degC. Grease muffin cups with butter or line with muffin liners.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugars, salt and baking powder.
Make a well in the centre and add the cooled fig mixture, eggs and vanilla. Stir until just combined. Do not overmix, the batter will be slightly lumpy.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the rim of the cup.
Bake for 20 ~ 25 mins, until golden, and toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer muffin pan to cooling rack and let cool for 5 mins. Unmold the muffins and let cool completely.

Verdict

The muffins taste extremely exquisite - Tin Hang Zai & Little Pixie & the Veterans finished the whole bunch, together with his colleague Flower - even though he's completely irked by the idea of eating these strange-looking things by themselves.

Cookie Making with Gremlin

2007-12-03T15:00:00.000+08:00

It's been a long while since I've last blogged - lots have been happening on both sides of the extended family, and I've been sick with allergy for more than a month.

8-year-old Gremlin is here from yesterday (ok, sorry for the bad grammar) till tomorrow. (Phew!!!)

He belongs to the "me-me-me" generation. In his world, things get tidied up by invisible house-elves (you know, those things that wear pillow-cases in Harry Potter movies), and these are the ones that clear up after him when he eats, drinks or messes up the place, whatever.

I've realised that these "Me" kids really expect to be entertained all the time. And I mean, ALL.THE.TIME. They are quite incapable of self-entertainment. Then again, what do you expect, when they've been brought up on a daily diet of 8 hrs of TV, doing nothing but waiting for the next show to make them laugh??

I really believe that TV deadens the mind.

I have to say I wasn't too pleased about being his house-elf for these 2 days. Look at the products, and try to imagine the hours spent cleaning up.

P/S - besides those featured here, we made another batch of Baking 911's Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies which had me washing up till 11pm at night!

The recipes were from Nigella Feasts 'Fun Foods' episode. I must say, I was impressed by their simplicity and ease!

Cut-Out Cookies
Ingredients

1/3 cup / 90g butter
1/2 cup /100g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cup / 200g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Cream the butter and sugar, adding the vanilla when fluffy.
Add 1 tblspn of flour, before breaking the egg into the bowl.
Continue the creaming, and gradually add in all the flour, a tablespoon at a time, baking powder and salt.
Get the dough into a ball, add more flour if desired.
Cover with cling wrap, and chill for half-hour. (I didn't bother sticking to the half-hour, I went jogging and then took a walk to West Mall before continuing).
Preheat oven to 350 deg F / 180 deg C.
Shape with cookie cutters.
Bake for 10 min (I had to bake them for 15 min) to desired colour.

Tin Hang Zai preferred the more browned version (15 - 20 min) whilst Gremlin preferred the pale-looking cookies that were baked for only 12 min.

Icing

1 1/4 cup / 150 g icing sugar
2 tblspn hot water

Mix, and colour as desired. You need to buy only the primary colours (red, yellow, blue) - the rest can be made from these 3.

Creative Input

Get from the gremlin or whoever you are baking with.
Obviously if you are the house-elf, you are going to be too tired to have any creative juices flowing out of you at 11pm at night!

Health is really wealth...

2007-11-18T17:22:00.000+08:00

Goodness me, I've been sick for more than a month!

A seemingly innocent trip with Little Pixie to the Botanic Gardens did me in. I came down with what I thought was flu - but the doc said it was an allergy.

I had it bad. Cough, post-nasal drip, couldn't breath!

I was almost getting better - and then had a 'relapse' after eating homemade sandwiches!!

I'd forgotten that when you have an allergic reaction - you have to stay away from ALL possible allergens - even if you're not usually sensitive to them in the first place! For me, this turned out to be bread.

It turned out that my relapse was due to the HUGE amounts of wheat and yeast I was eating - because I'd been in a bread-baking frenzy after getting to know Happy Homebaker.

Indeed, health is really wealth. I don't think I want to stinge on food anymore - the amount of money I saved from buying cheap, lousy food in an effort to be a better household budgeter was pittance compared to what the 5 doctor visits cost me this time round!

Thankfully, I also found another blogger who has experience in all these food intolerances etc!
Check out Main Main Masak Masak for all these fantastic healthy ideas!

Families and Illnesses....

2007-10-07T16:37:00.000+08:00

The Gnome had been in hospital for a gruelling month or so, got out, and then went in again. The 2nd time, it was for his surgery on the brain, which took over 12 hours. From what I could decipher, it involved opening up the brain, and then inserting some battery over his heart to be powered or something like that. Sounded very frightening to me, given his age.

They were also having problems with Wati - a good maid-turned-bad.

Over the course of the last couple of months, the Goose seemed to have aged a lot.

Chronic illnesses take a terrible toll on families. The Goose insisted on rushing daily from TTSH in Novena to home in Yew Tee to cook for the Gremlins. I felt like boxing the Gremlins and giving them a piece of my mind because the purported reason was that the Gremlins refused to eat Economic Rice bought from outside - because they "looked like vomit". I don't know where these kids get their perspectives from . But you have to know, this Gremlin takes 2 hours to eat dinner because he is simultaneously watching CartoonNetwork, has to reheat his soup 4 times in the microwave because he dislikes cold soup, and can't hear you while he eats dinner.

The Gnome's temperament had gone haywire. After the operation - he seemed to have lost his emotions and took out all his frustration and anger on the Goose. I think the Goose finally stopped trying to cook for the Gremlins.

Two weeks ago, I brought Little Pixie via MRT from Bukit Batok to Novena. I burnt off an entire day's worth of meals just carrying her 3.5kg stroller on one shoulder, 5kg bag on another shoulder, 9kg Little Pixie on one arm, and swiping the MRT card on the other arm.

Once at Novena, I was rather miffed because people at the 2-way gate refused to give way to me, a stroller-toting, baby-carrying mother. They, the single commuters without any wheelchairs, prams or what-have-yous as excuses to use the 2-way gate, just kept swiping their cards at the opposite direction, preventing me from getting out of the freaking station. I had to jump in and pounce on the swipe whilst there was a split-second gap between 2 SINGLE commuters rushing to use the 2-way gate, before the gate would turn in my favour and I could finally get out.

This is what real grape juice looks like

2007-09-18T12:04:00.001+08:00

Airport juiced a bunch of grapes which looked like Red Globe but didn't have seeds. Compare the rich colour and cloudiness with the processed, additive-rich, preserved juice-like drinks you find in the supermarket shelves!

Kenny Rogers Corn Muffins

2007-09-18T11:49:00.000+08:00

Kenny Rogers Corn Muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen yellow corn

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt in a large bowl. Add flour, cornmeal and baking powder and blend thoroughly. Add milk while mixing. Add corn to mixture and combine by hand until corn is worked in. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each cup with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins begin to turn brown on top.

Verdict
The Goose said that of all the muffins that I did up till this time (she hasn't tasted the banana ones or Nigella orange ones yet) - this was the best. However, I would use real cornmeal (I substituted this one with my organic coarse cornmeal which made the muffin crunchy.) - because I felt that this one tasted more like a honey muffin than a corn muffin.

Hanabi Trip

2007-09-17T16:03:00.000+08:00

Sashimi Sampler

Lasik and Timberlake were very kind to celebrate my birthday with me at Hanabi. I had been wanting to visit this place for the longest time - and going with Tin Hang Zai wasn't a good idea because I eat so little of everything - and he gets repulsed by rawness, and the aroma of seaweed and stuff. Bless the Pink Couple!

Anyway, despite the service being rather lacklustre - we had a great time talking. The food was VERY fresh - and the variety was amazing. It was quirky because it's not a REAL Japanese restaurant - waitresses were mainly from China and I think a couple from Myanmar or something - not all of them understand English.

Overall, I'd give this place

8/10 for food quality - if you want a value-for-money buffet and ultra-fresh food (which is critical in Japanese cuisine) - this is the place to go.

4/10 for service - it's brusque at best. One waitress preferred to converse in 'item codes' whilst another insisted that we order by 'item name' instead. Another could not understand simple English. We were also 'chased out' 15 min before closing time so that they could all go home in time. For sure this is not a "real" Japanese restaurant.

Awesome Banana Muffins!

2007-09-17T15:35:00.000+08:00

Good Ol' Banana Muffins

I must say that I have never been a fan of banana-stuff because it's considered too "cooling" for my constitution in TCM. Plus, I do not have a sweet tooth.

My ultimate food fantasy is a mountain of keropok, not some sweet dessert. Most of the stuff I make or bake is for Tin Hang Zai or Little Pixie or friends or family. However, these muffins were so good that I could not resist finishing a couple for myself.

I let MZ try some, and she said they were good enough to sell!! (MZ is a self-confessed picky eater who has very high standards for desserts).

As usual, this recipe is from a pretty reliable source - the Joy of Cooking. Check out a similar recipe here. These days, I try to stick to tried-and-tested chefs rather than odd recipes scrounged from the Internet - the results are far more consistent if you stick to a chef, IMHO.

Recipe:
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached organic flour from NTUC)
1/2 whole wheat flour / wheat bran (I used leftover wholegrain spelt flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (of course I was too lazy to add)
1/8 tsp nutmeg (of course I was too lazy to add)
2/3 coarsely chopped walnuts (omitted so that Little Pixie could enjoy it)

Wet Ingredients
1 large egg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I didn't bother to pack, and used only 1/2 cup)
2-3 mashed ripe bananas - I used 3 ripe, Del Monte ones
6 tblspn vegetable oil (I substituted with melted butter - cuz I had extra)
1 tsp vanilla.

Mix according to the usual Muffin method. Baked in a preheated oven at 375 deg F, for about 15-18 min. Makes 12. Rack should be in centre of oven.

Foolproof Cheesecake!

2007-07-19T10:32:00.000+08:00

Side View

Isometric View

This is from Annabel Karmel's Feeding Your Baby and Toddler.

It's unbelievably easy.

Ingredients

Base

250g digestive biscuits (I used Marie, don't try Jacobs, the taste is just odd)
125g butter
60g caster sugar (optional - this is an addition from the Phoon Huat class I attended)
60g honey (optional - this is an addition from the Phoon Huat class I attended)

Filling

225g caster sugar (as usual, I replaced with brown sugar)
3tblspn cornflour
675g cream cheese (from Phoon Huat)
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
225ml whipping cream
75g sultanas

Here's how:

Preheat oven to 180C.
Crush biscuits, melt butter, and mix with honey and sugar (if used).
Line a 9-inch springform tin with baking paper and GREASE the sides Note: If using a different-sized pan, please reduce the batter accordingly, else results might differ. Greasing is compulsory - else your cake might crack in the middle while baking.
Pack the crumbs into the tin - and chill for at least half-hour (or freeze 15 min). I used a potato-masher to pack.
To make the filling, mix the sugar and cornflour, and then beat in the cream cheese till smooth.
Add the eggs and vanilla essence. Beat till smooth.
Slowly whisk in the cream until mixture thickens slightly. Stir in sultanas, if using.
Pour into cake tin. Bake for 1 hr.
Chill overnight before eating.

Reviews:

Tin Hang Zai's colleagues loved this. Koala and her mom and sis did too!

Canola is not all that good!

2007-07-17T22:43:00.001+08:00

Every other day, you read that something you've been using in your food for ages is toxic.

There are plants that give oil - coconut, palm, peanut, sunflower, what have you.

Have you ever wondered if there is such a plant called canola? There isn't. This thing is a GMO product!!

Please check out this article.

Daddy and his Little Girl

2007-07-17T22:25:00.000+08:00

Isn't this just beautiful?

Nigella's Lovely Chocolate Muffins

2007-07-14T12:17:00.000+08:00

Nigella's Chocolate Chip Muffins

250g plain flour (roughly one cup)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa
175g caster sugar
150g chocolate chips (plus more for sprinkling later - I was lazy and didn't bother to sprinkle any)
250ml milk
90ml vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 200C and fill a 12-bun muffin tray with paper cases. Weigh out the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix both together – it will be a runny batter - then spoon into waiting muffin cases. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top then cook for 20 minutes or until the muffins are risen and springy. Makes 12.

These turned out very nice - as nice as the orange ones. Remember not to over-mix! And, less milk may help - makes the batter more lumpy and supposedly lighter.

Nice Char Kway Teow @ Outram

2007-07-14T12:11:00.001+08:00

I hadn't eaten this in a long time - even though it's one of my childhood favourites (next to white chicken skin and black carrot cake).

But when we walked past this stall at the makeshift Outram hawker centre, the aroma was... AWESOME!!!

It's called Hill Street Char Kway Teow. Look out (I meant, sniff out) for the aroma. And I gobbled up all the lard!

60s' Live Seafood

2007-06-30T13:48:00.001+08:00

View from 60s' Live Seafood

Seeing that the Gnome was in poor spirits and the Goose couldn't stop her grumbling as a result, the Pixie Family decided to take the G-Folks to this nice hangout.

Are all Cantonese critical? Ever the critical Cantonese folks that they were - they didn't like it at all. Gremlin and little Goblin were making such a din - they got scolded by the Pixie.

The Pixies still love this place. And Lasik and Mr Ching Wan-Timberlake got hooked too.

Baking Class at Civil Service Club

2007-06-27T21:58:00.000+08:00

The Pixie decided to take the affection-starved Gremlin to a Baking Buddies Hands-On Baking Class at the Civil Service Club for an afternoon of bonding and undivided attention.

Gremlin was so excited about it that he fantasised about the class constantly for the one month before the class.

It turned out to be a very fun experience. For $38 per adult-plus-child pair, the two of them got to bake this Monster Cookie just in time for Father's Day. Tin Hang Zai and Little Pixie both got very cute cookies at the end of the session - whilst Gremlin took the Monster Cookie to share with the adults-who-ignore-him-and-keep-putting-him-down.

The Pixie got her chance to finally ask Judy Seah (the lovely little girl who was the 'teacher' for the session) some burning questions like:

There is no way to substitute vegetable oil for butter in a cookie recipe. The effect's just not going to be the same.
Brown sugar makes cookies soft - white makes it crisp. Adjust proportion to taste and preference.
Addition of more flour to the recipe makes the dough less sticky and easier to manipulate - but the cookies will be crisper. Adjust to preference.
Dough can be frozen for future use.
Eggs make the cookies rise.

This was definitely a better value than the Phoon Huat class - but then again - this is hands-on, the other was a demo class. Can't compare apples with oranges. And of course, this is in a different league from the Imp's type of classes.

Judy's good with kids. (Gremlin kept talking non-stop - and she never lost her patience with him.) And she has her own website! Check this out - Baking Hobby Club.

Baking Classes at Phoon Huat

2007-06-27T21:42:00.000+08:00

Desperate to learn from the experts 'once and for all' on how to make proper muffins, the Canton Pixie finally succumbed to signing up for a baking class at Phoon Huat.

The menu for the day was Cranberry Muffin and New York Cheese Cake. She was probably the only attendee there for the muffin. The other 43 people were there for the cheese cake.

The Phoon Huat experience is definitely highly recommended for an afternoon of cheap laughs. At $10 per session, redeemable for Phoon Huat products, it's a real steal!

Francis (the chef) speaks in really broken English ("nebber mind lah, got no white sugar, blahhun sooger also can. If no cake crumbs, just use biscuit crumbs. Anything will do, cheap cheap") and his Mandarin is peppered with lots of English words.

The Pixie was astounded. There were people of literally all shapes and sizes! From petite teenage girls to full-fledged rounded Aunties, my goodness! There was even a guy who came with his mother!

One Auntie kept shouting instructions to Francis. "Francis ah, if you beat the egg longer, I think your cake will be softer." "Francis ah, must add more water else not moist enough". "Francis ah, blah blah blah".
You so clever then be the chef lah!

One woman was rushing to catch the 4pm flight! (Class was from 2 to 4pm). There were more than 10 digital cameras zooming in at any one time. One woman even used her handphone to video the whole process. (Can't you bozos refer to the Internet!?!?!?)

The muffins (remember - this is a "cheap laugh" kind of baking class) were actually cakes in disguise. Urgh!!!

However, the cheese cake was GOOOD!!! And Phoon Huat sells Anchor butter at half the price of Shop n Save.

Tong Shui Cafe (TSC) @ Changi Airport Terminal 2

2007-06-24T13:16:00.001+08:00

Gold Fish Dumplings in Nasty Soup

It has been a hectic month for the Pixie Family and connected Veterans. The Veteran had a knee operation - and Airport and the Canton Pixie had been stressing out trying to provide homecooked lunch and dinner for the whole of TWO WEEKS.

Tin Hang Zai has travelled thrice this month - and whilst picking him up from T2 past Friday, the Pixie Family decided to have dinner at this quirky place that looks high-class but serves Hong Kong street grub.

Hungering for hot soup - we ordered Gold Fish Dumplings in soup. The soup smelt like goldfish water!!! I bravely attempted a spoonful, and nearly spat it out! (Not that I have ever reared goldfish or gone near them - but the soup smelt and tasted as foul as I imagined goldfish water would smell and taste.) Urgh!! The dumplings were made of some cheap-tasting orange-coloured fish meat with bits of carrot and suspicious red cubes for its eyes. I couldn't stop laughing because this was such a funny experience!

The fish and chips (OK, I think this place obviously doesn't understand the concept of "core competencies") were drenched in some TSC-special "red and white" sauce - which turned out to be ketchup and mayo! Urgh! This felt like a high-class Pasar Malam fish-Ramly. And the battered fish smelt extremely fishy. (*gag*)

French Toast with Strawberry Ice Cream

Highly amused, I decided to give the desserts a try. This was ok (I mean, you can't go wrong with French Toast and what tastes like Magnolia ice-cream, can you??).

Overall - I gave the experience 8/10 for the quirkyness and the laughs (there were workmen carrying wheelbarrows of soil in and out of the restaurant through the tables at 7pm on a Friday night)

Food-wise
The usually lenient Tin Hang Zai gave the dumplings a 2/10 and the ghastly soup a 0/10.
Fish and Chips - 2/10 (for $9.88++ I'm sure we can find a better-tasting deal elsewhere)
Dessert - 7/10 (I can do this myself)

I'd probably go back just for the laughs

Fancy Stuffed Potatoes with Chicken, Mushroom and Onion!

2007-06-10T21:15:00.000+08:00

Awesome Banana-Nut Bread!

2007-06-08T21:39:00.000+08:00

I've made many of these quick breads before but they were all badly risen and generally blah. (I got all those from Allrecipes)

This is just awesome. I got this from The Joy of Cooking, lovingly given to me as a wedding gift by the 2 Women-of-God that I look up to most - beautiful middle-aged-but-forever-young-and-joyful Bamboo Poles. And this is the very 1st time I'm using this after 5 long years!!

Awesome! Soft and just right, not too sweet and not too salty!
Now, to wait 24 hrs and see if they remain soft....

Bingo!! They do!

60s Live Seafood

2007-06-08T12:11:00.000+08:00

On an expat friend's recommendation (this is certainly embarrassing, an expat recommending local stuff to a local), we checked out this interesting tze char place at the Green Fairways Club.

The journey there is nondescript - I don't even know how to describe trying to find this tiny little roadsign covered with algae which leads you into a long, winding road across beautiful meadows (sounds very Enid Blyton right? But the only Pixie around was riding in the Pixiemobile) and you can see stables and horses around, with no traffic lights at all!!

Anyway, there are quite a few angmohs hanging out here. But the food is ABSOLUTELY GOOD.

The bittergourd soup is superb ($10 for a pot for 5). Forget about the nasty stuff they serve you at the market tze-chars - full of fish cakes and MSG. This one's full of eggs, REAL seafood and yum!

The rest of the food (baked crab, chilli crab, deep-fried baby squid, butter prawns) was so amazing. Everything was just fresh. And gasp! Good!

We're definitely becoming regulars here.

I give this a 9.9/10. (Perfect scores only found in heaven)

Marvellous Soft Muffins - I DID IT!!!!

2007-05-31T14:46:00.000+08:00

Orange Breakfast Muffins by Nigella

Honestly, after umpteenth failed attempts, I had about given up. But then, Cat Angel introduced me to this recipe from Nigella.

75g unsalted butter
250g self-raising flour
25g ground almonds
half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
75g caster sugar (I just used brown sugar)
zest of 1 orange (omitted)
100ml freshly squeezed orange juice (I used Ceres packet)
100ml full-fat milk (I used my home-made brown rice milk)
1 egg
12-bun muffin tray lined with 12 paper cases

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Melt the butter and set aside. Combine the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking powder, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl. Measure the orange juice and milk into a jug and whisk in the egg and then the cooled, melted butter. Now pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a fork as you go. The batter will be lumpy but that's as it should be: you want everything to be no more than barely combined. If really too dry, add another tablespoon of milk or orange juice (I did). The whole point of muffin mixture is that it must never be overworked. Spoon out the mixture equally into the muffin cases and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove, in their paper cases, to a wire rack and let cool slightly (but not completely) before devouring.Makes 12.

This is the VERY FIRST TIME my muffins have turned out non-hard!!!
P/S Tin Hang Zai says it's not sweet enough for him - but it was for me - and this is supposed to be eaten with jam.

Doc Green Gourmet Salad

2007-05-27T21:25:00.000+08:00

This place serves grills, sandwiches, soups and salads.

Nothing out of the ordinary - but for $14.90, I had a quarter chicken, quarter-slab of BBQ ribs, and the best salad I've ever had.

Tiny tangerines, grapes, cranraisins, sliced almonds and baby spinach leaves tossed in a tangy orange dressing. Yum!

This place is blah

2007-05-27T21:10:00.000+08:00

The Canton Pixie, Miss Intellectual and Lasik checked out this vegetarian place at Beauty World for a girls' outing today.

Green+On+Earth was supposed to have had some good reviews in the press for supposedly being able to churn out salt-less, MSG-less, totally health-freak food that was supposed to taste superb.

When Tin Hang Zai heard where the 3 stooges were huddling at, he went 'Gross!'. Lasik said that Ching Wan-Timberlake would have had the same response.

Lasik agreed that this Pixie is really a food CRITIC - but this place deserves a 5/10! Urgh! My olive fried rice - I can't remember tasting any olives - and it didn't taste fried, and had tasteless bits of carrot, yam and overcooked-celery mixed in it. With a side dish of kelp - urgh!

Coming from someone who can stomach oats cooked in water (no milk, no sugar, nothing!) for breakfast EVERYDAY, I think this place really deserves a blah rating.

I didn't bother taking the name card - so no further details.

Supermarket Stress

2007-05-16T21:54:00.000+08:00

I must say I find supermarket shopping quite stressful nowadays.

I was at Market Place, and only wanted to buy less-unhealthy snacks.

Read: Trans-fat-free, preservative-free, artificial flavouring/colouring-free, yeast-free, soy-free, lactose-free, MSG-free.

Result: I spent 1 hour searching and this is all I bought:

1. Kettle's Brand Organic Corn Chips (Sesame-Blue Corn)
2. Mountain Bread flat bread (more worth it than destroying my wok trying to make torteeyahs.
3. St Dalfour Jam (ok, just found out that NTUC sells the same thing at $1 per jar less than Shop N Save and Market Place!!)

Healthier Scruffy Murphy's Breakfast

2007-05-16T21:45:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, Scruffy Murphy's is too far for our comfort, and the last breakfast we tried at Breko's was just awful.

My last attempt at this was using AMC - and I thought the luncheon meat looked so gross. So I'm so happy that this attempt turned out so nice - using the Goose's seasoned Chinese wok.

The recipe is a no-brainer. Heat wok. Pour oil in. Cook everything. Salt, to taste. Oil, to taste.

Doesn't this look pornographic!?!?!

2007-05-16T21:36:00.000+08:00

Airport asked me to collect this from his demure-looking friend who works in Fei Yue. This is actually a bicyle gel-pad - AKA Jewel Protector!!

I didn't know that such things exist!

Nice visitor to Pixieville!!

2007-05-16T21:29:00.000+08:00

Earth Rain

2007-05-16T21:01:00.000+08:00

I seldom recommend stuff, but I bought this Earth Rain CD out of desperation for Tin Hang Zai's insomnia.

And, I'm now addicted! It's SGD30.00, and I must say, it's worth every cent I paid for it! It makes us both feel relaxed, I DO sleep better and so does he!

And sometimes I just 'sun' myself with the Gnome's expensive sunning machine, listen to the CD and drift off to bliss...

You can get it here at Ben Kim's Website.

RGS Banter

2007-05-14T22:10:00.000+08:00

Lasik and I had a good laugh over the following:

We both have the 'irritating' (as described by Airport) RGS accent. (please don't ask why, because both of us are from Mandarin-speaking homes).
We both perpetuate the 'brainless girl' stereotypes because our favourite computer game is that Bubble Game. (Miss Intellectual, another fellow RGS girl, is not impressed by this!!)
Everyone who is not a girl is considered a "non-girl".
Both our SAHMs have bought all the stuff that only guillible SAHMs seem to buy - AMC and that Japanese U-Like Steamer.
We both can't stand people lying on the bedsheets in outside clothes.
We both like corny jokes.

MILO Godzilla

2007-05-14T22:02:00.000+08:00

Pixieville hosted another Prison Group gathering last Friday.

We were extremely honored to have Mr Timberlake grace us with his presence. Sans paparazzi. I decided that Timberlake reminds me very much of Lau Ching Wan. So Lasik, it's Timberlake-Ching Wan. :)

I made everyone Tin Hang Zai's trans-fat free version of the McDonald's milkshake. Despite using stuff like corn oil, REAL milk, and non-stick cooking spray, Timberlake-Ching Wan and Lasik felt it tasted like a sorbet, and more specifically, a MILO-Godzilla!!!

I still can't figure out what caused the sorbet-texture.

Night-time Coughs

2007-05-14T21:54:00.000+08:00

To stop nighttime coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.

Not sure if it works, but I thought it's interesting to put it up here.

P/S Cosmo, it's from Merilyn!

What are your values?

2007-05-12T22:50:00.000+08:00

The typical Pixie image was that of a busy bee, running around like a headless chicken, feeling stressed out doing lots of things and accomplishing nothing.

After I read this book, I understood that the feeling of mounting desperation about not spending time on 'things that matter' (despite functioning like a hummingbird) was because the activities I used to splurge my time on weren't really reflecting my values.

So here's the template I followed:

What issues do you get on your soapbox about? What values do they reflect?
What makes you cross? What value is being violated to make you feel this way?
If you asked your family and friends to describe you, what words would they use? How do these descriptions reflect your values?
What is something that you would never do, lines you would never cross? Which values would you be violating by crossing those lines?
In the past, when faced with tough decisions, what actions have you taken? What values did these actions reflect?

Sneak Peek:

Tidiness is NOT one of my values, but I think it IS one of Lasik's.

Epicurean (but NON-Ascetic!!!) pursuits is definitely one big value of mine. The Sun, the Sea, the Stomach and the Shops.

Smashed Pomfret Rice Set

2007-05-10T12:32:00.000+08:00

Can't resist blogging this. Lasik's look-good-but-lousy lunch at Marina Food Court. Urgh!

Easy-Peasy Scones are Easy

2007-05-01T21:24:00.000+08:00

Recipe:
225g self-raising flour (sorry, this was from a UK book)
50g butter
150ml milk (lactose-intolerant - I substituted with home-made brown rice milk)
1 pinch salt (can be more)
1 tblspoon baking powder
Any amount of dried fruit or cheese you like - I used raisins.

Preheat oven - 180 deg C
Sift dry ingredients (if you don't know which are dry - you'd better not bake at all)
Rub in butter (learnt in Sec 2 Home Econs)
Add in milk gradually, stirring with knife until mixture comes together.
Knead lightly, roll out to 2cm thick and divide into 9-10 portions
Bake for 12-14 min (I think I ended up baking them for half hour).

Little Pixie just loved them. Tin Hang Zai said they tasted good with cream cheese. They are my first baking success - my muffins are still cookie-like.

I burnt my Chinese Wok!!!

2007-04-29T18:53:00.000+08:00

Oh man. So much for trying to make my own gluten-free, additive-free, wheat-free tortillas. (which, thanks to Miss Intellectual, I learnt that they are pronounced "tor tee yas" and not "tor tee lahs".

I followed some dumb instructions and tried to fry them dry by lining my wok (lovingly seasoned by the Goose earlier) with corn flour. The flour got welded onto my wok, I tried to scrub it off and now the patina is gone!!

I tried to put the patina back, but the re-seasoning process caused all my laundry (hanging in the kitchen) and the whole house to stink of corn oil, and as a result, I had to do damage-control by boiling a pot of vinegar for half an hour.

Duh!!!

I finally found Thunder Tea Rice Recipe!!!!

2007-04-29T18:45:00.000+08:00

Thanks to my information-bank The Imp, I finally found this!!

Recipe from The Star

Ingredients
20g ikan bilis, fried till crispy and chopped
30g baked groundnuts, chopped
30g sesame seed
15g Kuan Yin tea leaves (or any superior grade tea leaves)
5g chopped mint leaves
1 tsp salt
3l water

Side dishes (stir-fry with a bit of oil; add salt to taste except the pickled radish)

4 pcs beancurd, cut into small cubes and deep-fried
25g leek, sliced
250g dried shrimp, soaked, chopped and divided into three portions
300g French beans, finely sliced
300g pickled radish (choy poh), finely chopped
300g potato shoots (see chai choy)
300g asparagus, finely cut
300g cooked rice

Method

To prepare thunder tea soup: Use grinder or chopper to chop up ikan bilis, groundnuts, sesame seed and tea leaves until very fine. Pour in hot water and mix well. Return the soup to a pan and bring to the boil. Ready to serve.Add this soup to your cooked rice when you’re ready to eat.

To prepare side dishes:

1. Stir-fry leeks with deep-fried cubed beancurd (tau kon).

2. Fry the chopped shrimps until fragrant.then add finely cut french beans and lightly stir-fry.

3. Soak the pickled radish. Chop finely.lightly stir-fry.

4. Stir-fry potato shoots with chopped driedshrimps.

5. Stir-fry finely-cut asparagus with choppeddried shrimps.

6. To make baked groundnuts, toast groundnuts in the oven and remove skin after they have cooled.

7. To make fried ikan bilis, heat oil and fry ikan bilis until they’re crunchy.

To serve: Invert a small bowl of cooked rice into a large bowl. Scoop portions of the accompanying side dishes onto your rice. Pour hot soup over this and mix well before eating. You can add whatever side dishes you wish

My very first Almond Yogurt

2007-04-29T18:37:00.000+08:00

Honestly, I don't know if this was a failure or not. It tasted sour alright, but I've no idea if this is yogurt-sour or just-gone-bad sour, since I'm lactose-intolerant and don't take yogurt!

ALMOND, FILBERT OR MACADAMIA NUT YOGURT
Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup whole, RAW blanched almonds or RAW blanched hazelnuts (filberts) or RAW macadamias
2 TBL clear honey
Water
Yoghurt starter (ProGurt by GI ProHealth) (I simply used fresh yogurt from here

Step-by-step instructions

1. Put all things you need on a tea towel on the kitchen table:blender, a fine sieve, some tea towels, the nuts, honey, two tablespoons, whisk, water, yoghurt maker + yoghurt container. Get the probiotics out of the freezer only when you need them.

2. Put nuts into blender

3. Add enough cold water to get a total of 4 to 5 cups / =1 litre

4. Add 2 tablespoons of honey

5. Blend for 10 minutes (use a stopwatch)

6. Pour about 1 cup of the nut milk through the fine sieve(You can squeeze out more liquid if you use a teacloth and twist it firmly.)NOW take your probiotics out of the freezer

7. Add 1/8 tsp of ProGurt yoghurt starter to the milk, per 1 quart of yogurt.

8. Stir well with whisk, add the rest of the milk, with back of spoon press out all liquids

9. Stir well and place container in yoghurt maker

10. Ferment for 8 hours.

11. Place in the fridge overnight or at least for 5 hours (overnight is better)

12. Get a bowl, put the sieve on the bowl, put a cheesecloth in the sieve

13. Pour the yoghurt in the cheesecloth so that it can drip

14. Drip for about an hour, or longer if you'd like the yoghurt thicker

15. By pressing the dripped yoghurt further, you can make something that resembles cheese.

The fermentation process takes place at about 105 Fahrenheit.As you see, I do NOT cook or heat the milk. After blending, the milk should be lukewarm, not warmer than 105F. If you heat more, the milk will separate and the fermentation will not take place.Try to find RAW nuts that have been through minimal processing. Deep frying them may be very tasty, but it will negatively affect the outcome and it is also a bit unhealthy.The sieve is such, that if you pour orange juice through it, there's no pulp in your glass.This nut yoghurt is a nice and safe alternative when you cannot tolerate goat's or cow's yoghurt (yet). Go for it!

Conclusion

Experimentation with yogurt-making over. I'm not crazy about it, neither is Tin Hang Zai and I doubt Little Pixie is going to inherit any cravings for yogurt from us anytime soon. We'll stick to acidophilus supplements.

Trans-Fat Free Instant Noodles

2007-04-29T18:32:00.000+08:00

OK, so I love the IndoMie Mee Goreng flavour - and decided to switch to Koka Brand just to be safe. (This feels like the devil and the deep blue sea).

However, the MSG-free seasoning tasted quite terrible. So I tried concocting my own and Tin Hang Zai seems to prefer it to the Koka seasoning.

Here's the recipe. Drench your noodles in them.

Oyster sauce
Sweet Soy Sauce (there is only one brand selling this in the supermarkets, and this is NOT sweet sauce)
Ketchup
Sesame oil
Chilli Powder (optional)

Everything is done to-taste. Hence, I didn't bother leaving exact quantities. Enjoy.

This Subway sucks!!!

2007-04-22T22:44:00.000+08:00

Subway is the Pixies' choice whenever we crave junk food and don't want to go the full-trans-fat way of McDonald's or KFC.

Usually we go to the one in Holland Village but I think we won't go there anymore!!!

Canton Pixie: Can I have my cheese packed separately?
Waiter: NO
Canton Pixie: huh? *shocked look cuz never had such a response before*
Waiter: We don't allow cuz not in our operating procedure.
Canton Pixie (firm voice): No, THAT's not true, cuz the last time I came here you did it for me!
Waiter: *shrugs* ok, actually not allowed
Canton Pixie: *rolls eyes*
Waiter: Why do you want to separate the cheese?
Canton Pixie: Because I want to eat it separately? *sarcastic tone*
Waiter: *sniggers*

This place really sucks. I've seen the male boss before - never smiles at anyone, never serves customers even when there is a long queue and all his staff are busy. Just stands behind them and stares. Even put up a sign reminding all customers to help them by clearing their own tables.

I succeeded at YOGURT!!!!

2007-04-17T21:55:00.000+08:00

My yogurt recipe finally succeeded after 3 tries!!!! Here's the final one:

Use PAUL's or Nestle plain yoghurt. (I used Nestle cuz it's much cheaper)
To begin your own batch, use 1 tablespoon for every 500ml of milk.
Scald milk to just bubbling and steam appearing.
Let cool to lukewarm - when you can stick your finger in and leave it there without feeling painful for 10 seconds, it's the right temperature. Alternatively, if you have a thermometer - when it reads 40-44 deg C.
Stir a bit of warm milk into the yogurt in a separate container and ensure the yogurt 'dissolves'.
Gently mix this into the main bulk of the yogurt-to-be.
Put into conventional oven, and set the temperature at 40 deg C and allow to set for 8-12 hours. Leave uncovered and door shut.
Yogurt is ready when it "feels" like yogurt (I could tip the container over and it was thick and creamy!! Yippeee!!!).
I monitored the temperature every hour or so (with my thermometer left inside the oven).
At 40 deg C, setting takes approximately 8 hrs.
Chill in fridge once done.

If you have no thermometer or oven - put the lukewarm yogurt-t0-be into a thermos or whatever container that will keep its temperature in the range 36-44 deg C for at least 5 hrs.

I made yogurt and lassi!!!

2007-04-16T23:04:00.000+08:00

Considering that I'm lactose-intolerant, it's amazing I actually spent a day trying to make my own yogurt.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of my new friend Marianne.

Yogurt

Use PAUL's or Nestle plain yoghurt. (I used Nestle cuz it's much cheaper)
To begin your own batch, leave 1/2 (half) teaspoon of yoghurt (after eating up the rest of the Nestle tub)
Scald milk to just bubbling and steam appearing.
Let cool to lukewarm - when you can stick your finger in and leave it there without feeling painful for 10 seconds, it's the right temperature. Alternatively, if you have a thermometer - when it reads 36-44 deg C.
Stir milk into the half teaspoon yoghurt when it turns lukewarm.
Put into microwave (do not turn it on!) and allow to set for 8-12 hours. Leave uncovered and door shut. I used my conventional oven instead.
Put into fridge once done.

Lassi
Just put in about 3/4 glass of yoghurt into blender, put in 1/4 glass water, honey, banana or whatever catches your fancy. Blend. Yummy!!!

Tin Hang Zai seems to like it. If my yogurt continues to turn out so runny, I will use orange juice and turn it into Yakult / Vitagen!

Rent A Toy!

2007-04-09T16:05:00.000+08:00

This is neat! We rented this for $49! From Rent-A-Toy! They even include free delivery and pick-up!

And so another friend leaves...

2007-04-09T14:06:00.000+08:00

We have been in somewhat regular contact for 5 years. She organised my wedding. She bought me my first books on parenting when Little Pixie came along. She sent me encouragement when I did a crucial workshop.

She is the only friend who is more punctuality-challenged than I am. As impulsive and fleeting as I am.

I'm so sad to see her go. I was so bewildered by the suddenness. There was no warning. Just a week ago, she had been so enthused about a new initiative she wanted the group to consider. And this week she's changed her mind about being in this group.

There were many questions I wanted to ask.
'What about this new initiative you wanted to start?'
'Is there a new guy out there?'
'Is your official reason real?'
'Is there something you're hiding from us?'

But I didn't bother to. I could see her mind was made up. And if she'd wanted to answer all those un-asked questions, she would have.

Did the Great Shepherd tell her to go? Afterall He had led the rest before her. But with the rest - He'd given us ample warning. They told us way before that He was calling them elsewhere. With her - it was a bombshell. Lightning bolt out of the literal blue.

I feel resigned. God's will has no why. And I will take Lasik's advice and just "let things be".

When God takes away, He gives us better things instead. Better things will come.

Time Management for Manic Mums

2007-04-08T18:00:00.000+08:00

I like this book! It works! And it's funny!

I think I was mean!

2007-04-08T17:01:00.000+08:00

As much as I wanted to think of myself as being the confrontational sort, I don't think I am really all that confrontational. I just don't have the guts!

We were in the Cry Room during Easter Service. There were two other families. One (a man) was trying to concentrate on the proceedings. The other (a woman) was not.

For some reason, when the singing stopped and the sermon started, the woman started conversing very loudly with the trying-to-concentrate man about kids and stuff.

I bore with the din for a while. Fine, this IS the "CRY" Room but hey, people here are trying to listen to the sermon! After what seemed to me like a long while (hey, I didn't want to miss out on my sermon! Easter comes only once a year!), I decided that I didn't have the guts to tell her to shut up.

So, I walked silently to the volume control in the room and turned up the volume so that I could hear the speaker above her din.

After that, her child started screaming non-stop and she left the room.

Directions to Pixie Ville

2007-04-05T21:55:00.000+08:00

If you are travelling via MRT, pls get off at THE MRT station. Once you are out of the station, please turn left and STOP THERE- you will see THE Mall on your right and a single block of condo units on your left. And in between the two, in the far distance, you should see some point blocks, one of which is mine. Just walk towards there. I've attached a picture of THE Mall and THE MRT station from my window - so hopefully you can figure out where I live!

If you are not the visual sort - here's the wordy instructions.
Once you get out from the station, turn left and walk straight along the station - you will pass an NTUC. Walk past the NTUC and take the escalator down. Once at the bottom of the escalator, turn right and walk towards the nearest traffic junction. Cross that junction and immediately turn right and walk along the path. Once you see a basketball court (which should be brightly lit, unless you are arriving at midnight), turn left and walk along the pathway straight towards the point block. There are 2 point blocks - one is right next to the community centre, and mine is the point block that's further away. At this point, if you are lost, you should look upwards and give me a ring. I should be able to see you from my window.

And so one door closes...

2007-04-05T14:23:00.000+08:00

Yogi Bear told Boringtazz and me that he thought we were better off starting everything from scratch rather than trying to work with Longkang Fish. Said that LongKang Fish might turn out to be more of a liability than a leverage. Hedgehog was kind enough to take the time to strategise with us in dealing with LongKang Fish. Mael was there to give moral support too.

Longkang Fish tried to get us to agree to a bad deal, and pay us peanuts in the process. The only thing attractive was the possibility of securing new leads from this engagement. But the Ts & Cs didn't really allow us to secure any new leads. So with that plus the peanuts pay (it does not even cover our babysitting costs), we had to stand our ground and say, we will accede to your terms of not securing any leads, but we can't charge this low.

From all appearances, this door is CLOSED. I feel a sense of relief, and the thought of starting from scratch, starting afresh, away from the old place, energises and excites me.

We may or may not get another deal outside of Longkang Fish, I don't know. But we are giving this our best shot. At the end of the day, we will know that we tried, and we tried our best. I guess that's what really matters.

This breakfast sucks!

2007-04-02T22:49:00.000+08:00

Boringtazz and the Canton Pixie just embarked on a huge project they are both really excited about.

One of their first meetings was held at this place. It's great for brainstorming and serious work in the afternoons. Inspiration really hits when you go through stuff like Hotdog in a Baked Potato (Lactose-free!!!), Cream of Mushroom Soup with Garlic Cheese Croutons and Crepes with Ice Cream!

However, the breakfast set sucks!! The Pixie Family suffered from bloating and rumbling tummies after eating the Breko-fast! They took an entire day to recover!!

Another interesting debate I follow...

2007-03-28T09:28:00.000+08:00

ST Forum March 28, 2007
NZ govt took heed of public views in setting pay

I AM rather disappointed with the Government's insensitivity in raising the issue of ministerial pay at a time when many ordinary Singaporeans are still trying to cope with rising living costs.
In 1994 when the then Prime Minister urged Parliament to approve the formula for setting ministers' pay, he suggested that paying $22 million a year for his team was a small price, compared to the cost of having an incompetent and corrupt government.
However, according to the TI 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, there are four other countries which are less corrupt than Singapore. New Zealand is placed No. 1 (together with Finland and Iceland) whereas Singapore is ranked No. 5. Does this mean that the salaries of NZ ministers should be many times higher than those of Singapore ministers?
This doesn't seem to be the case. In a 2003 article by the NZ Herald, it was pointed out that even though the Prime Minister had the 'toughest job in the country' and an equivalent private-sector position would command a seven-figure salary, this would not be acceptable to taxpayers. Her increased salary of NZ$305,000 was deemed reasonable as US President George W. Bush earned only about NZ$330,470 a year.
In setting the remuneration packages of its ministers, the New Zealand government was sensitive to the perceptions of the public (whom it described as 'paying customers') and benchmarked figures against those of its Western counterparts.
As Singapore is an Asian country, should we not be benchmarking our figures against our Asian counterparts'? Even if we consider ourselves as a Western country, our ministers are already being paid many times more than President Bush himself.
So far, the impression we have been given is that serving our country is like any other financial transaction or commercial project; money is the primary focus and motivation. There is no altruism or patriotism linked to the discussion.
I hope that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Government can take a different approach to this issue.
Vanessa Teo Toon Lin (Ms)

Withdrawal symptoms

2007-03-27T21:56:00.000+08:00

One of the features of being a SAHM is that your sense of self-worth is constantly being assaulted.

Some of the remarks Airport & Cosmo have been guilty of passing:

"Since you have nothing to do, why don't you run these errands?"
"Since you are so free, why don't you help me call up XXX?"
"Why are you so tired? You are so free what?"

However, nothing beats what Longkang Fish, a nasty ex-colleague said.
"Canton Pixie, how's life? So, are you having withdrawal symptoms, now that you are doing nothing at home?"

What the !#$#@!#$??

Singaporean / Asian Oven Recipes!!!!

2007-03-26T21:30:00.000+08:00

Hurray!!!! Finally a cookbook which is full of local flavour (uses Chye Po and Tang Chye!!!), uses the oven (read: NO oily kitchen, NO slaving over the stove, NO fumes), and does not use milk or cheese!!!

Use Hydrogen Peroxide wisely...

2007-03-26T21:25:00.000+08:00

Hydrogen Peroxide Casualty

My bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) accidentally spilt and soaked this napkin. After putting this into the washing machine, the Pooh Bear came out literally FRAZZLED!

Aw man! What did I forget!

2007-03-26T21:22:00.000+08:00

Chicken Gumbo

2007-03-26T21:13:00.000+08:00

This is a great recipe from Annabel Karmel!
For Basic Chicken Stock

1 Tarzan chicken (ask the butcher to chop into pieces for you)
3 carrots (or to taste)
2 large onions (or to taste)
2 leeks (I used Chinese leek because the wet market didn't have anything else)
A few stalks of celery
Ginger (my modification)

Directions:

Clean chicken.
Place in cold water.
Bring to boil
Skim off froth
Put in other ingredients (chopped if you like)
Simmer for at least 1 hour.

I took out the chicken and froze the meat after 1.5hrs. Then I continued simmering the soup for another 1-2 hrs.

For Gumbo, use the desired amount of broth, add carrots, sweet corn, potatoes, and serve with toast. Yummy!!!

Great Indian Cuisine!

2007-03-21T21:31:00.000+08:00

Cosmo's back again! Cosmo and the two Pixies went to take a swim here.

We were all ravenous after that, and found a very cosy new restaurant that had just opened! It had all these fanciful sofas and homely tables and Bhangra music.

I'm not an Indian food connoisseur, but this is really a place I'd recommend, and which I'd return many times!

This is what Cosmo and I had:
$4.50 Chicken Curry
$4.00 Fish masala
$2.00 Garlic naan
$1.50 Plain naan

YUMMY!!!!!!

P/S They said I could call ahead and order my Mango Lassi next time and they'd make it fresh for me.

This was much better than my last experience at the Chinese restaurant here.

Spice Restaurant
Authentic North & South Indian Cuisine
91 Bukit Batok West Ave 2
Club C.S.C@ Bukit Batok
Blk B #03-03
Singapore 659206

Tel: 65151397

This is nasty behaviour!!!

2007-03-20T23:04:00.000+08:00

OK, after that sour-grapesy post (why am I even feeling sour-grapesy when I don't care for those fawning serfs???), another nasty incident happened.

Little Pixie and I were supposed to meet the Old Fogey for lunch at 12pm. 1 hour passed and I called up.

CantonPixie: "Are you going to make it for lunch at all?"
Fogey: "No, not at all, maybe tomorrow"
CantonPixie: "OK"

Later at night, the Fogey tried to apologise.

Fogey: "Sorry CantonPixie, I just couldn't call you."
CantonPixie : "What do you mean you couldn't call me? You could've just called and let me know you couldn't make it!"
Fogey: "Nah, I couldn't, you know. Uncle Serf was so enthusiastic about me you know? He spent the whole day with me at the nature reserve! I couldn't tell him I had to leave because of you!"
CantonPixie: "What do you mean? You could've just called me to say you couldn't make it!"
Fogey: "Nah, I couldn't, you know. I couldn't call you in front of him!"

[Fogey shrugs, embarrassed, tries to wave his hand and tries to concentrate on the TV]

Fogey: "By the way, Nephew ABC called for lunch, I said I had to spend time with you."

[Canton Pixie rolls eyes]

Uncle Serf is one of the freaking rich Serfs. And Nephew ABC (a really nice cousin of mine) is not so well-to-do, he's a taxi driver. But he's decent. I doubt the Fogey would have obliged if it were Nephew ABC who offered to take him to the nature reserve!!

Urgh.

Pinkerton Syndrome

2007-03-20T21:44:00.000+08:00

Finally I found the label for them!

Be warned: This is a nasty post.

Everytime THEY visit, everyone fawns on them.

Here's a sampling:
- Trips up north
- Nature Walks at Sungei Buloh on a weekday (gasp!!!)
- Golf trips to the 'exclusive' clubs
- Endless refrains of "We want to take you out to XYZ restaurant" everyday.

The local siblings don't get invited to such things. The problem is, I don't think they would have gotten such attention or welcome if they were from Cambodia, or Vietnam or the likes!

Tarzan Chicken!

2007-03-20T20:02:00.000+08:00

I just HAVE to post this.

This is a brand of hormone-free chicken available from NTUC. And guess what their URL is? It's so funny!!

http://www.OEO.com.sg

P/S The company name is Thye San or something like that - Chinese for Tarzan.

Don't buy cheap socks!!!!

2007-03-16T23:05:00.000+08:00

I was very happy today because my Prison Group, the WWF, decided to hold our fortnightly gatherings at Pixieville.

And I learnt something. Mr Wrestlemania was the earliest, as usual. I thought he'd walked into the house with his shoes, because everywhere he walked, there were black footprints on my white floor!

Turns out, he had apparently bought a pair of black socks that cost $1 - and I suspect the socks were coloured black using non-permanent marker!! When he took off his socks, his feet were marker-ink black!!!

I felt so mean, I wanted to laugh out loud at him!!

Old English Evening at Sloane Court

2007-03-14T20:35:00.000+08:00

Mixed Grill

House of Jehovah (Seafood Pie)

English-style peas, baked beans & prawn cocktail

I loved the mixed grill at this place. It tasted so homemade. Maybe it was done by that old lady who just walked out from the kitchen! However, I think that old lady decided to use Campbell's mushroom and oxtail soup!

Airport liked the Tudor-style facade and the old English tavern interior. Said it reminded him of his London days.

The old fogey had a good time making fun of the harried waiters and mature Hainanese Ah Beng captain who was missing some orders here and there.The Veteran weighed herself using this relic!

I'd come back here - just for the ambience.

I should have gotten this sooner!!

2007-03-14T20:28:00.000+08:00

This fancy Japanese thingy can cook rice, steam fish and veges all at the same time - and it keeps warm for ages! I'm selling off my rice cooker now - my kitchen counter has got too many gizmos lying around!

Honeyed Pears & Almonds

2007-03-14T19:19:00.000+08:00

Tin Hang Zai has a sweet tooth - hence most of my recipes are restricted to 'cooling' stuff which I can't eat.

This is a great recipe:

Per person portion:

25g of Chinese bitter & sweet almond mixture (I just used the sweet type - they call it 'South Almond')
One pear, peeled and soaked in salt water for 3 minutes
1 tablespoon of honey

Instructions:

Cook almond for 10 minutes in boiling water
Add honey, stir one minute and turn off fire
Pour above plus pear into a bowl
Place in a steamer
Steam for 1 hour

Tastes good! (The recipe calls for a 4-person portion)

Lazy Baking Afternoon

2007-03-10T12:42:00.000+08:00

Nougat & Funny Chocolate Cookies with healthy berries & apricots

Koala invited me to her friend Christmas's home for a baking session. Not surprisingly, I was of limited help - I helped myself to the almonds and seaweed crackers lying around!

My only conclusion is - I will not venture into making nougat and other exotica. Their heated-to-275 deg F mixture of glucose water (available from the very Chee-Nah Phoon Huat, can you believe it?), honey and sugar got welded onto the mixing bowl and couldn't be removed!!

Nostalgia and old fogeys...

2007-03-10T12:30:00.000+08:00

The old fogeys are Hainanese. They would have loved this Shashlik but I think they are booked well ahead. Not to mention the prices.

Sloane Court Hotel

So tonight we are trying out another fogey hangout complete with WWII aluminium teapots and gruff Hainanese waitresses. I was quite fed up when the ST featured them - our nice anonymous haunt is no more anonymous.

IKEA still rocks.. sometimes...

2007-03-10T12:14:00.000+08:00

This is any cook's indispensable tool. And one instance where the 'One Cent Money One Cent Quality' principle does NOT work.

I outgrew this $4 one from Shop n Save within 3-4 months. Tin Hang Zai upgraded me to this $6 tomato but it lasted 2 freaking months. I was so pissed.
Finally, I found one at IKEA for just $1.80. It looks snazzy, and it's so cheap it's almost 'disposable'! Needless to say, I bought four. Even if they don't last - I have the spares ready.

Giordano - Is this business sense?

2007-03-07T21:04:00.000+08:00

One of the old fogeys posed this question to me recently:

Giordano doesn't make sense. When it's raining, they should jack up the price of their umbrellas. Instead, they half it!

It set me thinking. Then I looked at the collection of Giordano umbrellas in my store. (At least 5 of them). Then I understood..and this is what I told the old fogey.

You see, they are buying goodwill with that half-price. Had they charged me double the usual price, I would probably have grudgingly bought the umbrella that first time in my hour of need, vowed never to be caught again, and zealously carry an umbrella everywhere I go.
Net revenue for Giordano - $24

But with this goodwill, I let my guard down. At the back of my mind, whenever I'm out, I'm like "Giordano's umbrellas go for half-price. And they are everywhere. If I'm caught, I can always get one since it's only half-price." I've even begun to hunt out Giordano's whenever it rains, because "their umbrellas go for half-price".
Net revenue for Giordano - 5 X $6 = $30 and still counting

That's why I have 5 Giordano umbrellas now. I'm sure I won't stop at 5. And that's why I think Giordano's makes sense.

Moral of the story : Goodwill makes good sustainable economic sense.

I grew a Tow Gay in my sink!

2007-03-05T09:45:00.000+08:00