Steamed Cakes from Breadtalk

In different flavours. I thought they would taste like huat kueh, which can be gotten from pasar malams, but these taste different. They are much denser. The green one's green tea, the marbled one's chocolate, and I can't figure out the taste of the other 2. The orange one is mango perhaps? I like the green tea best of course.

Burt's Bees Lemon Poppy Seed Facial Cleanser + Orange Essence Facial Cleanser

A long time ago, I got a few Burt's Bees products from the States at a much cheaper price as compared to locally, but it seems that they are now not allowed to ship Burt's Bees overseas. I wanted to try the Lemon Poppy Seed Facial Cleanser for the longest time and finally decided to just get it from Sephora @ $18. Smelling tart like freshly-squeezed lemononade,I use this as a cold cream to remove makeup, soften or hydrate the skin rather than as a scrub. The poppy seeds offer little/no abrasive factor whatsoever, especially to one who is used to scrubs made with crushed walnut/almond. A great perk-me-up, and did you know lemons helps in brightening the skin?

I love the Orange Essence Facial Cleanser that I got a couple of years back as well. In fact, I prefer the scent of oranges to that of lemons, as it feels 'warmer', if you get what I mean. This, as opposed to the Lemon Poppy Cleanser, is more of a gel than a cream. It smells just as good. I use this as a massage gel and the body heat eventually melts the gel into oil. Contrary to the instructions on the packaging, I have to wash both cleansers off with soap as they as very heavy and would otherwise leave my face extremely greasy. However, these are two products that I would repurchase any day.

Marks and Spencers' Fruity Oat Porridge for Breakfast

I got these boxes of oats from Marks and Spencer this week. It's a very convenient way to have a nutririous breakfast.

You just have to add water and cook on low heat for about 3 minutes. Stir it constantly to keep it from burning. As it does not contain sugar and is bland on its own, I add a tablespoon of honey. The dried cranberry and blueberry pieces are more sour than sweet.

This is how the Cranberry & Blueberry Porridge looks like uncooked. A beautiful purple color.

This is how it looks like cooked.

And this is the Apple, Sultana & Cinnamon Porridge after cooking.

Lupicia Budou Green Tea from Japan

I got a packet of Lupicia Budou Green Tea during my trip to Japan in January. A blend of Japanese green tea and green grape, it smells like Japanese grape-flavoured bubblegum. The taste however, is very subtle compared to the scent, but that's mostly what Lupicia teas are like. Their Budou Green Tea ranks up there with the Melon Tea in the scent department. It just lifts your spirit by a thousandfold.

Nonya Kueh Making Class

One of the items we learnt to make that day was Rempah Udang (spicy glutinous rice balls).

Frying the extremely spicy filling - grated coconut with a pinch of tumeric powder.


Adding the chillies, shallots, garlic, lemongrass and ginger...


Adding the pounded dried prawns.


Wrapping the glutinous rice balls in banana leaves.


Adding the filling.


Securing with toothpicks.


All done and ready to be grilled in the oven.

Peranakan Shoe Beading Course (Kasut Manek)

These are the materials provided by the trainer. A porcelain saucer for holding the beads, a small pair of foldable scissors, a pack of tiny needles for beading, two huge needles for breaking wrongly placed beads, and beading thread.

The canvas provided by the instructor is harder than regular cross stitch cloth. This is glued to a piece of backing cloth made of cotton which is attached tightly to a frame. We were also given some blue colored practice beads.

There were a few templates for us us to choose from, depending on our gender (yes, males wear beaded shoes too, but sewn by a woman of course), the size of our feet and the type of shoe we wanted (open or close-toed). The chosen template has to be cut out and traced onto the canvas before beading can commence.

I chose for my shoe to be close-toed. Note that if you choose the close-toe option, you would have a larger background area to bead.

The colors were chosen for me by the trainer, and this is how it looks like with the first two flowers completed. Somehow I feel that the colors look like they'd be more suitable for a male than a female. It also bugs me endlessly how the beads look like lego pieces.

You can take a look at my progress here, with the background partially done.

Late Lunch @ PS Cafe

We were back at Dempsey shopping for furniture and decided to go to PS Cafe for lunch. Not being terribly hungry, we shared a sheperd's pie that came with a bowl of pea soup with bits of ham in it. I had never tasted peas as a soup before and found that it tasted weird. The portion for the sheperd's pie was surprisingly small, but there was plenty of minced beef under the mashed potato & cheese gratin to make it real yummy!

We finally ordered the truffle oil-infused shoestring fries and not the regular PS fries. The portion for the shoestring fries however, was surprisingly huge and we had to takeaway the remainder yet again. Although it tasted much better than the ordinary PS fries, it had too little truffle oil and cheese in it to make it unforgettable.

Lunch @ Island Cafe Tangs

Tangs was having a 10% off electricals + 12% rebate for cardmembers, so we went down to get our Miele washing machine and Panasonic rice cooker and blender. Happy!

We decided to have lunch at their Island Cafe. Another place that serves expensive hawker food like chicken rice, fried rice and ice kachang etc. This time we shared their platter and ice kachang as the boy was in a rush. The food here is pretty good though, and we like coming here for dinner.

Going Vegetarian @ Green Room Cafe Again

Love this place. We usually come here for drinks and not so much for the food, although I would say the restaurants here serve some pretty decent stuff, like this one.

I always order the Blue Rush smoothie. The boy chose the strawberry, orange and pineapple smoothie which was sour, much to his dismay.

We shared a pretty good pizza with olives, mushrooms and mock chicken. It really doesn't taste that different as compared to non-vegetarian pizzas.


The popular avocado wrap with wasabi was popular, but we found it a little too dry. A bit of mayo or some dip on the side would have been good.



Both of us were feeling a little under the weather due to the stress from the renovations and trying to make ends meet that we weren't even tempted by the delicious desserts. They sure look nice though. Maybe next time.

Dinner @ PS Cafe

After furniture hunting at Dempsey, we decided to try out some new restaurant and finally settled for Western fare at PS Cafe. We had no idea PS stood for Project Shop until we tao bao'ed the fries and saw the entire name spelled out on the carrier...lol.

The food tasted wonderful for the first few bites, but the more we ate the more mediocre we found it. That aside, the portions were HUGE. Just a main would fill you up thoroughly.

Although we found the environment nice and cosy, with glass walls you could look out of, the positioning of the tables meant that only one person could look out into the greenery. It also does get rather loud and noisy during peak hours, especially if there are big groups laughing and each person raising their voice a little higher than the next in order to be heard above the din.


I ordered the BBQ Ribs with Blackcurrant Coleslaw and Onion Rings. I felt that a crispy batter for the onion rings would have been so much better than a mushy one.


The boy ordered the Beef, Mushroom & Bacon Ragout. If only the beef was a little more tender, this would have been great.


We regretted ordering the PS Fries after seeing how big the mains were. I had wanted the shoestring fries in truffle oil but the boy ordered the wrong one. The fries came with BBQ & lemongrass sauce which I found weird.

My verdit? $10 for ordinary tasting fries ~.~

Making Kimchi

Since I am able to attend classes in the day, I decided to take the opportunity to go for a Kimchi making class. I have already decided on a few kinds of pickles to make once I move into my new place, and after seeing how easy it is to make kimchi, I'm adding it to my list!

There wasn't time to take pictures at every step of the process. In addition, both of my hands were covered in chilli so it was impossible anyway. Maybe in future, but this is enough to make me drool.

Hands-on time :)



Each of us gets a basin with 2 lettuce quarters. I enjoyed spreading the chilli paste on every single leaf. It was real fun.



The 2 quarters nicely wrapped. Can't wait to try my handiwork :')



The teacher cuts hers for us to taste. It wouldn't be sour until it has fermented at room temperature for a day but it's edible either way.

Trip to the Peranakan Museum

The building that used to be a primary school now houses the Peranakan Museum. I was excited enough to snap a picture from the carpark beside the building immediately after I alighted.

The main entrance at the front of the building will give you a feel of what it's like inside. Very colorful and pretty, just the way I like it :)


If I remember correctly, there are ten galleries over three floors. We were in time for the guided tour at 2pm, which started at the 'Origins' gallery on the ground floor. This was the first time I ever followed a guided tour, and I must say I liked it very much! The lady was very sweet and entertaining, and we learnt pretty much from her with regards to the life and rituals of the peranakans.

As a kid at heart, there is one thing I have to mention. If you are so inclined, you may get these gold-colored stickers from the front desk at $1 each (free for kids below 12). These are for you to emboss various motifs and designs on, at one of the many embossing stations around the museum, and kept as a souvenir.

The main reason that sparked my trip to the museum was a sudden interest in beading. Not any type of beading, but peranakan beading, and particularly shoes. Which woman doesn't like shoes?

Shoe beading is a very time-consuming activity, but as peranakan women in those days weren't expected to wander outside the house, they had to find something to occupy themselves with. Sewing, cooking and other feminine and domestic skills were the criteria these women were judged on in those days.

The main attraction at the exhibition was this tablecloth made out of about a million beads. If a pair of shoes take about 90 hours to bead, I wonder how many people and how many hours it took to complete this exquisite piece.

I was delighted to see a display of crockery, since collecting pretty colorful floral pieces is another of my interest. Though I find some peranakan color combinations a little too loud for my liking, prefering pastel shades instead, I found many of those on display really sweet nonetheless, and could very well find a place on my shelf.

They also had on display, dining pieces from a few prominent families. A measure of wealth, it meant that the larger the set a family had, the richer they were.

Another item that caught my attention were the sireh sets. These are so beautiful that I'm seriously considering getting one for myself. It was rumoured that a sireh set could ward off evil spirits and as such, one was placed in every newlyweds' room. In addition, a sireh set was also used as a face-saving gadget when a boy's mother visits a girl's parents to ask for her hand in marriage. If the request for marriage is denied, the girl's parents would politely refuse the sireh, saying that their teeth hurt too much to be chewing sireh or give some similar excuse.

Clothes. Another of my fetishes. Cheongsams, kimonos, kebayas. Basically any traditional apparel. I spent quite some time admiring the detailed patterns and embroidery. The fact that my paternal grandmother did not leave us her clothing had been a sore spot for some time, and unfortunately, that was the only indication that I had a peranakan heritage.

It took us about an hour or two to view the entire exhibition and on our way out, we paid a visit to the two tiny shops outside the museum. These shops sell a limited range of peranakan goods, but there are a few rather eye-catching albeit expensive items. I was eyeing a mirror with a decorative tile as well as a beaded stamp , but needing to ponder over my purchases as usual, I decided I would return another day to get them.


As we left, we bade farewell to their resident cat, or at least the sculpture of it. Happy day! I would highly recommend this place. After three decades of living in Singapore, I finally made the daytrip.