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.
I'm no longer such a big fast food fan. And Tin Hang Zai has strict orders to eat only the Pixie Milkshake where possible.
It had been 5 years since I last did my very first pedicure!! And that was when I got married! This was Tin Hang Zai's indulgence in preparation for Cosmo's Big Day.
Airport had been breeding ants (red, biting ones!!!) in his Everlasting Oldies!!! The Pixies scuttled to return the songs after their battle with the ghastly creatures!
There is an important difference between these two numbers. Ten per cent saturated fat is the healthy level - because saturated fat is needed for many body functions.
By contrast, 1 per cent trans fat is a compromise level. Trans fats are extremely harmful and not needed at all. The healthy level for trans fat is essentially zero.
If we compare like with like - which is more meaningful - we will realise that all Singaporeans exceed the healthy level of zero trans fat. And we all exceed that level infinitely.
Both saturated and trans fats are believed to cause heart disease. But, historically, heart disease sky-rocketed whenever saturated fat consumption fell and trans fat consumption rose.
In many other ways, the two are exact opposites.
Saturated fat raises HDL or 'good' cholesterol, whereas trans fat lowers it.
Saturated fat enhances immunity. Trans fat weakens immunity.
Saturated fat does not inhibit insulin binding. Trans fat inhibits insulin binding, leading to diabetes.
Probably the biggest difference is this: Saturated fats are widely perceived to be harmful, while many people still do not know about trans fats - and think that products like margarine, which contains trans fat, are healthy.
When strong scientific evidence emerged during the 1990s to show that margarine was harmful, the industry came up with soft margarine, which contains less trans fat.
This detracts from the fact that margarine is produced by a highly unnatural industrial process.
In its original state, margarine is grey and smelly. It needs to be bleached, deodorised, artificially coloured and artificially flavoured before we eat it.
How can such a product be healthier than natural butter? Just because it has less total trans fat and saturated fat?
It ignores, among many things, the fact that butter contains CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid - a natural trans fat which protects against cancer, whereas margarine contributes to cancer.
Lawyer Stephen Joseph started the BanTransFats campaign in America because his stepfather, who was considered health conscious, had diabetes and died from a heart attack. Mr Joseph's stepfather 'ate margarine by the tonne'.
Readers who wish to understand trans fat at a deeper level are invited to visit my website, www.stop-trans-fat.com
Richard Seah Siew Sai
Walnut Paste
They do exist! But I didn't like the look and taste of the motley vegetable soup I cooked. Urgh!
After years of getting monkey performance from peanut-priced goods - I decided to splurge on a WMF!
Bitten by the 'Chinese Cook' bug - I decided to get a traditional wok. Didn't know that it had to be seasoned using 'dog vegetables', fermented bean paste and lard and tofu though. A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it, and wanted to give up. She was tired of all the fighting and struggling. It seemed as though in solving one problem, two more would arise.
Her father, ( a chef ) took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil.
In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans.
He let them sit and boil without saying a word. The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners.
He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and poured it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. "Darling, what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. She humbly asked. "What does it mean Father?"
He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrots went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, they softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, the insides became hardened. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
"Which are you," he asked his daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
How about you? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a changeable heart? Were you a fluid spirit, but after difficult times, have you become hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but are you tough with a stiff spirit and heart? Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain. When the water reaches it's peak temperature, it just tastes better.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and make things better around you. When people talk about you, do your praises to the Lord increase? When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, does your worship elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
" Please God, help me to be a coffee bean! Amen"
Chocolate Oatmeal Raisin Muffies 
I don't know if it's the Super Baby Foods recipes I follow, or those websites for health nuts - but my muffins always turn out bland, HARD and ... just plain unappetising!! AAAARRRRGH!!!!
Quaint little old-English breakfast place - complete with WWII-era aluminium tea and coffeepots. The Pixie Family had the Pixie Big Breakfast wonderfully reminiscient of their Lake District days...
I loved ladybirds when I was a kid. Now they don't seem to fly around anymore - so here's my urban version.
Can you believe that my ex-job still uses such things!?!?!? (In case you don't realise, this is 'liquid paper'.
This turned out very nice! It's egg-free and milk-free. 
This is a Gallon-Sized bottle of vinegar next to the Pixie Farm creatures. We use it to denature pesticides in veges and to mop the floor.
Look at the ingredients! I'm anti-soy. These are all pseudonyms for soy: Enriched High Protein Flour, Permitted 'emulsifiers'. Urgh!
This is a cool recipe - it uses no oil - just soy sauce, sugar and salt. I freeze it for quick lunches.
Lousy Fleecing Session
Home Spa
This fancy milk is made from blending 1/2 cup almonds with 2 cups water. This is THE REAL THING because the almonds areTHIS DOES NOT TASTE LIKE COMMERCIAL ALMOND-FLAVOURED STUFF.
This is a really great recipe! Courtesy of Hillbilly Housewife
