Wonderful Sunday Mall Trip

I usually hate malls but after the nasty experience at Wah Lok, it was pouring so we decided to pop by Raffles City. Man, the place has been revamped! A lot more food and organic shops now!!! (my only two interests at malls)

My favourite Phyto Organics (B1) now carries a few other organic toiletries labels - and I bought myself a cool Fair Trade tub of body butter. It should last me at least 6-9 months!!

We were cash-strapped and starving after an unsatisfying meal, so we decided to eat cheap at The Soup Spoon.

This is what $20 bought the Pixie Tightwads:

- One HUGE bowl of Mushroom Stroganoff plus foccacia bun
- One HUGE bowl of Goulash plus foccacia bun
- One half Cajun fish wrap with dollop of salad
- One half Teriyaki Chicken sandwich with dollop of salad
- One Iced Tea
- One Lays Chips (trans-fat alert!!!)
- Two tiny bars of TOP chocolate

We were definitely satisfied!!!

This place sucks!!!

For a so-called premier place, Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant really sucks!!

They opened so many tables today when they didn't have enough food for all the patrons. Our reservation was at 12.30pm, they opened at 11.00am, and all the Har Gao and Siew Mai were gone way before we even sat down. So was the Pan-fried Carrot Cake and a host of other things.

What is Dim Sum without the above!?!?!?

And, the Captains nearly threw away our order sheets after we handed it to them. They told us they thought the sheets belonged to the previous patrons who sat at our table. None of the bustling waitresses could confirm if we had indeed 'ordered' because they couldn't locate their 'order Captains'. Only the Order Captains (apparently they only have 2, and there were at least 50 tables!!) were allowed to take orders.

So our order (or whatever was left from the in-stock items) didn't come until we had asked at least 4 waitresses to locate the Captain. When the order came a LONG TIME LATER, they served us the wrong things. We had to go through the orders AGAIN.

This feels like Cosmo's experience with Marjorie. I still can't believe she does makeup for celebs.

I think those ads are ridiculous

I didn't know what the Imp was talking about.

But today I just read the Sunday Times and I think those MCYS ads are super-cheesy and outright unbelievable. I think these people are right.

The latest shows a happy family of 3 kids with divine in-laws looking after the kids and a fantastic childcare.

*roll my eyes* *sneer*

Either the policy-makers are in their Ivory Towers or just plain blind.

No one ever mentions maid problems, the diseases and ghastly food (think rice in MSG soup with sausages, potatoes and canned mushrooms) that kids get in childcare, and problems with in-laws (or outlaws).


*roll my eyes*

Chew On This

I grabbed this after reading a review here. Now I know how important and powerful those last few items on the products' ingredient list are.

Did you know that fast foods (and other processed foods) are frozen & processed so badly that they have usually lost their taste and colour? And that what you so relish - is actually the result of carefully concocted cocktails of artificial flavours and colours?

• A single drop of flavour can cause an entire swimming pool to taste like freshly cut grass.
• Hotdogs are naturally grey in colour.
• Margarine is naturally grey in colour.
• There aren't enough strawberries in the world to give you that strawberry flavour in everything you eat - most of it is artificial.
• One of the most common red food colourings around is extracted from the skin of a bug found in Africa or something.
  

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.

Nostalgia

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.

Cosmo finally did it!!!!

I thought the whole thing went so cool. But Marjorie isn't as good an artist as everyone said she was. Cosmo's face looked ghastly after the photos came out!

Food - Places to go (or not)

Whenever I want to eat out - I usually follow two friend's recommendations. One is Hedgehog, the other is the Imp. (only those within our vermin budget of course - the Imp lives in a different strata of society!!)

I loved this place the Imp mentioned - and I also loved this place.

Pu Tien Restaurant
127-129 Kitchener Road
Singapore 208514
Tel : 62956358

Airport and I had to organise a CNY Reunion Dinner for the Cousins - who are strict carnivores. Because we couldn't order the usual Reunion Set, we ended up at the former-Stirling Road tze char which has shifted here.

Zi Yean Restaurant
Blk 56 Lengkok Bahru #01-443
Tel: 64710253

We don't understand why people like this place. It's expensive (we skipped the $65-upwards fish and $80 soup because the Cousins are strict carnivores) and it's not SO GOOD that we would come back.

Their '3-Egg Vegetable' was poorly done - and can't be compared to the one at Pu Tien. Urgh!!

Entrepreneurship in the HDB Heartlands..

My community club is jinxed. It opened a year ago, for some strange reason, it changes vendors for its hawker stalls almost every month. Here are some lessons I learnt from the survivors after a year of ta-paos from there:

1. Pricing - Price your goods fairly. Average customers in a mass market will not pay a premium even if you are the best provider. Having a high rental is no excuse - customers do not need to subsidise your rental obligations.

2. Quality - Familiarity (like Bak Chor Mee) can attract customers - but they will not return unless your Bak Chor Mee is good.

3. Customer Service - Even if your product is good, you can put customers off with a bad attitude - like asking them to wait while you start frying your vegetables for the rest of the day.

4. Product Range - The product range must fit the product type. Who wants to buy Economic Rice from a stall with only 2 vege dishes (one of which is tow gay) and 3 meat ones (one of which is ikan batang)?

5. Timeliness - Even if there is no queue, don't take your own sweet time.

6. Professionalism - Don't use the same tongs to handle raw and cooked food. Customers are not blind.

7. GST - Greet, smile, thank - Customers may buy things out of obligation if you make friends with them.

8. Understand the Market - Don't try to sell exotic stuff like fancy fruit smoothies if the market comprises stingy conservative aunties.

9. Marketing - Not all customers are literate in your own language - provide pictures in addition to proper signage. Wordy brochures don't work in a HDB heartland setting.

10. Strategising - Don't start strategising only after you put down the deposit for the rent and open shop.

I suspect allergies...

Being sick was (and still is) a nightmare. The cough and running nose has plagued both the Ethiopian Pixies for close to a month now. And the usually robust Tin Hang Zai has also been down with mysterious sore throats and coughs. No more fried foods or trans-fats for the entire Pixie Family. :(

As a Patrick Holford fan, I read this and suspect that my years of erratic sub-optimal health could be due to allergies!!!

I'm still wondering which test I should take....

Hand Foot Mouth Disease!

24 Jan 07 - Little Pixie's nose ran when Boringtazz and the Canton Pixie visited Yogibear. The Canton Pixie thought it was no big deal...

25 Jan 07 - Sent to the doctor's after a whole day of sputtering, choking, gagging on her mucus and crying whenever she couldn't breathe. Wakes from her sleep crying every couple of hours whenever she chokes. Ulcers in her tongue!
Diagnosis - Possible Variant of Hand-Foot-Mouth-Disease!!! How could this be? Two SAHMs, with kids well-insulated from daycare - ????

26 Jan 07 - Fever still on. Canton Pixie is worn out from the constant night-waking...help! Tin Hang Zai returns from out of town with a bad cough..

27 Jan 07 - The Pixies rush Little Pixie to the PD's early in the morning as the fever continues unabated. Diagnosis - Bad throat infection. Progress to antibiotics if fever doesn't stop.
As was with the previous Rotavirus episode - the entire Pixie Family is hit again. No more fried foods. The Pixie Family spend the day indoors feeling worn out by the virus.

28 Jan 07 - The fever is still here. Wish the promoters of 'Family Life' will show the heartbreaks a parent gets when your child is sick and you can't do anything about it except watch, and hold her whilst she cries. I swear this is one of the most agonising things you can go through as a parent.

My hopes died...

After the umpteenth row, I decided to call it quits.

I realised that things were never going to change with her. My hopes died with the finality of the realisation. That I am never going to have this particular thing in my life. This thing that I had been striving, working so hard to have all my 31 years.

Things never did change. They just got worse with each achievement (however trivial) I made.

I am not holding out anymore.

The lesser the contact, the better things will be. I am moving on with my life. To be the free spirit that I was meant to be. Free to live, to love, and to LAUGH.

The Invasion of Almighty Ants!!!

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!

I have been eating trans-fats!!!

I'm getting really nervous, and started to stop eating those nasty chips and crackers..

ST Online Forum, 20 Jan 07
THE World Health Organisation recommends that the intake of saturated fat should not exceed 10 per cent of total calories, while that of trans fat should not exceed 1 per cent.

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

Domestic Innovation....

I thought this was ingenious!

Friends of the Canton Pixie have faithfully endured her different obsessions over the years...at one point in time, it was DIY-skincare. At another, it was baking soda. Some of these obsessions have gone, but baking soda is definitely here to stay.. and so is vinegar. Here are some more tips.

Her current interests include macrobiotics, cooking for Little Pixie and, of all things, doing nothing.

DIY parenting...

Boringtazz got a new book which sounded rather dubious! So here's my recommendation!

The sun, the sea......

For us vermins, this is really the life!

Vermin Birks

Cosmo and Beefcake are the Pixie Family's only links to the 'upper crust' of society (OK, so I'm still obsessed with baking). For the rest of the time, the Pixies are vermins who enjoy low-life pursuits.

These include freeloading on Airport, grovelling in frugality, and splurging on cheap Birk-wannabes.

I'm warm and walnutty!

Walnut Paste

This is easy!

1. Deep-fry walnuts (I was lazy and health-conscious - I roasted them at low heat instead of the usual recommendation).
2. Blend with water and raw rice till powdery. (I used Little Pixie's baby unpolished rice)
3. Add rock sugar (a 1-inch cube was all I could bear to put in, since I don't have a sweet tooth)
4. Simmer for 30 min
5. Voila! (You can see oil droplets floating in the dessert)

Hakka Lei Cha Fan (Thunder Tea Rice)

This is one of my favs! Anyone got the recipe? I found some comments here, here, here, here. But none with the recipe!!

Green Carrots?

They do exist! But I didn't like the look and taste of the motley vegetable soup I cooked. Urgh!