Food Essence Poster

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Mum's Home-cooked Fried Prawn Mee

Hi All, i'm backed!!

It's been both fun and stressful week for me. I was involved in our company's marketing event during the beginning of the week. It was tiring yet enjoyable mainly because the group of colleagues involved were a bunch of "crazy" and easy-going people! Thanks to them I had a great time during those 3 days of event! All of us was very satisfied with the wonderful responses from the public! Good job to everyone that was involved! (Claps Claps, Thumbs Up!)

Today, was asked to wake up early coz planning to go JB City Square for weekend shopping. Really dreaded the feeling manz! But somehow in the end, when I came out of the bath room, they decided not to go =X. Anyway, as instructed by mum, dad bought fresh ingredients back from market to cook Stir-fried Prawn Mee, also locally known as "Hokkien Mee".  

Below is the picture of the dish:

Ingredients: Fresh Prawns, Cai Xin, Pork Belly, Garlic & Lemongrass Chili Paste (Optional).

This is a simple home-cooked version of "Hokkien Mee" by my mum. Usually, people will add in the ingredients in a step by step sequence, but my mum does not need to do that. She's using AMC pan which requires much lesser steps. First, she stir-fry the pork belly till half cooked. Next, she add in the rest of the ingredients, with mee at the bottom and prawns and cai xin on the top, before covering. After 20 minutes and it's ready to be dished up! Usually people will have to add in boiled water so that the noodle will not be too fry. However, my mum do not need to do so as the vegetables and pork will contribute to some moisture. 

The overall taste is very homely and healthy without hardly any oil! For me, I prefer spicy and very "garlic-y" food. This is too bland for me and that is why I had to top with Garlic & Lemongrass Chili Paste! For people with similar taste preference as me, I would suggest to stir-fry the pork belly with grounded garlic, before adding in the rest of the ingredients to bring about a better aroma!

Tomorrow's Monday and it's back to work again! So many work is piling up. Why do I have a feeling that my workplace is filled with many riddles awaiting  to be solved?! Haiz...well, at least Uncle Steven is backed and I can sleep for 15 mins more daily and walk much much lesser!! 

Always look on the BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE~~~!!! =D

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Elishacoy Organic Facial Essence Mask Review





More and more beauty products are incorporating natural food essence into their products to bring more beneficial goodness to the skins. 


Recently, Lslyn from meandmythrills.blogspot, recommended me a brand called "Elishacoy - Noblesse Naturalism", a European styled clean and refined esthetic brand which makes use of herb extracts to maximize the skin's self-survival ability. This is known by them as "the essence of botanical healing". It makes use of and combines all-natural botanical ingredients and herbs-extract processed using advanced technology for maximal preservation of their natural goodness. 

Since this is in line with "Food Essence" image, I decided to do a review on the "Aloe & Lavendar Mask Sheet" which I have used recently. 


  
Like other brands mask, after washing the face, spread the sheet mask evenly on the face and leave it for 10-15 mins before removing it. 


Before putting on the mask, the skin of my face is dry and dull, especially after washing with facial foam which normally strips off the moisture level of the skin. Unlike other brands of mask which I have used, the eye portion of this mask has an opening which gives you a choice to or not to cover the eye portions. For me, I chose to cover the eye portions for maximal coverage. The essences which is already fully absorbed by the 100% cotton mask is not sticky and alcoholic. When spread evenly on the face, it gives a feeling of tightness, very cooling and soothing, accompanied by flora aroma which was very relaxing! I actually dosed off unknowingly! 

After 15mins, the mask is still quite wet but I decided to remove it. Looking at the mirror, I feel that the skin looks more radiant. The skin of the face becomes moisturized and feels more refreshing! 

Especially for women who has preference for natural beauty care products, I highly recommend this mask sinc it has also proven its effectiveness on my skin! There is a range of masks produced by this brand to suit the different skin types and age groups. The price for Elishacoy Organic Facial Essence Mask is SGD22.90 for 5 pieces per box. For more details, you may visit www.secretive.sg to find out their other products which might be of interest to you! You can get Elishacoy not only at the mentioned website, but also at John Little Departmental Store. Do check it out!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

A day @ Resort World Sentosa cum Father's Day Celebration!

Last weekend was a relaxing and enjoyable one as my course have officially ended! All stress and tireness were magically gone! The day started with me and my family setting off to Resort World Sentosa via the shuttle bus service at AMK pick up point! Everyone was queing up and waiting for the bus, but the moment they saw the bus coming, all turn chaos. Some "kiasu" people try to jump queue. To my disappointment, those who jump queue were YOUNGSTERS, whereas those elderly folks continue to move on with the queue. I really feel that parents and school educators should instill morale values like "礼让精神" into their kids when they are young.

The day started well till a mad woman started hurling abuses at a young boy and his mother when he wanted to reserve the bus seats for his father. That crazy woman took it so seriously that she started to hurl abuses straight at the small boy, then throughout the whole journey continued to condem them. OMG~! And she kept talking nonsense non-stop, so loud and clear. Really an asshole who spoils everybody's day manz! 

Anyway, our mood was high again when I reached RWS! All the infrastructures and designs were so lovely and like living in fairytale! Colourful and heavenly! I'm so proud of Singapore! Below are the pics we took! So explore with me... ...









Lunch at Ramen Play ... ...The thrill begins with playing with their poison!!!
Stir-fried chilli chives ... ... tastes quite similar to typical korean side dish, it's actually chives with some chilli seasoning. For me, it's not too spicy. I usually add it into my ramen soup to give it a greeny touch!


Chilli paste ... ... quite spicy but still acceptable for me. I think this is nice, not salty and quite fragrant. Add it into your ramen soup to spice it up!

Garlic chips ... ... not a must for me but will add in some to boost up my ramen soup! Garlic contains allicin, which is known to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-oxidant properties, which boosts the body's immune system.

I like the concept of  this restaurant. Dining becomes so much more fun with these little surprises!

Unagi egg set ... ...tastes like typical unagi, does not have a "wow" factor when eaten! But the texture is soft and juicy, goes well with the onions, eggs and sweet sauce. Overall, it's nice but normal.


Sanpou tonkotsu ramen ... ...this is the signature dish highly recommended by the chef. The soup is fantastic...just a sip, the sweet-meaty flavours immediately spreads throughout the palate and lingers in the mouth. The pork is so well-done with the very soft and melts-in-the mouth texture! It's fattening but I can't help but eat it all in including the layers of fat! The egg is cooked to the standard of those in Japan, soft slight watery egg yolk and egg white in the middle. Thumbs up for this signature dish!


Few weeks back after my course ended on the first week of june, I met up with my "sisters" at somerset 313 and we dined at Ramen Play too. That was my first time there. Comparing these two outlets, I think the one at somerset serves a bigger portion. Both services are comparable but the one at RWS has room for improvement coz the staffs there seems to be less observant and unsure of their promotional deals such as credit card promo. Probably becoz they are still quite new. At 313, we also tried... ...


Grilled Takoyaki ... ...they have grilled and fried ones. We chose grilled ones as it's more healthy. This is different from typical takoyaki (usually made from flour and octopus filling). It is made from minced meat, like swedish meat balls! Very good meaty and juicy texture. Complements well with the dried bonito pieces and sweet japanese sauce (like teriyaki sauce)! I highly recommend this dish to u!


Soft Shell Crab salad ... ...I like this dish too not that Soft shell crab have always been my fav! Firstly, the overall appearance is attractive that it boosts my appetite! The "greeny look" makes it a healthy dish. The dressing used is I think some japanese vinegar and some sugar? Tastes sourish and slightly sweet. The soft shell crab is crispy on the outside yet meat remains tender. Saw in pic? Mustard sauce was also added on top which not only adds colour to it, but also complements well with the crispy soft shell crab!
Applause to this wonderful creation!

After lunch, we strolled around the RWS and visited the diffferent hotels there. I like Hard Rock Hotel most as it looks fun and lively! Feel like a rock star when I was there...hehe!

We then took a bus back to vivo city to shop around. Went to my fav place Daiso but din buy anything except paper tea bags =(. Sis suggested watching Toy Story 3! Yeah...actually had wanted to watch it! I particularly like this movie animation becoz it brings back my "secondary school-hood" memories when I was watching Part 1 & 2! Time flies manz! Indeed, Toy Story 3 did not disappoint me. The plot was nice and alot of the scences were hilarious! It's a good animation movie to watch, especially if you are very stressed out coz it will really make you LOL!

After movie, we dined at Kopitiam. Just wanna have a simple meal. That marks the end of Father's Day and my precious weekend! Back to work tmr! That's life?! =D 

Sunday, May 2, 2010

It's finally Labour Day holiday! Hooray~~!!!

Work, school assignment, research blah blah blah....life's is just all about working for a living and learning new things to live life more meaningful?! Anyway, it's eve of LABOUR DAY!! It's a day for everybody to rest, relax and enjoy!

To reward myself after a hectic week of hard work, I decided to buy some sweet bakery snacks from J&C from Woodlands Loop factory outlet. My favourite item is chocolate eclaire with vanilla cream fillings! Not forgetting that there's a bbq gathering with my ex-colleagues on the following day, I bought extra two boxes =D. Below are the pics of items bought from there.



This time round, I decided to try the eclaire with chocolate cream fillings (the one with curvy zig-zag decoration on top). I prefer the one with chocolate toppings and vanilla cream fillings because it's more flavourful. I like the eclaires from there because they uses premium chocolate which does not have the waxy texture when eaten. Besides, the vanilla cream fillings is not those buttery and oily type. It's viscous and non-greasy which makes you craves for more!

Saw the "seductive" cheese cake and decided to buy home to try! I like this kind of steam-baked cheese cake because it has a lighter texture and it's not as sweet. In short, it's "thumbs-up" for the cheese cake! Paying $5,50 is indeed worth it!

It's friday night and where's dinner?! Well......mum cooked ham & mushroom sphagetti using Prego sphagetti sauce. Knowing that she's cooking this dish, I bought Master Food Basil Leaves condiments to add a refreshing note to it. To my surprise, my family likes it too, especially my mum! Below are the pics of the dish.




Am going to foget about dieting this long weekend because I need nice and high-carbo food to "RE-CHARGE"!! Chocolates and cakes! And I'm going to cherish this PH and make use of it to enjoy, rest well and keep up with the life out there! Not surfing the net for five consecqutive days a week makes me feel like I have greatly lost touch with the world out there =/. Anyway, happy labour day to all~!! =D 

Friday, April 2, 2010

Home-made fruit-veggy yoghurt salad on Good Friday!

Last week was the so-called "salad week" at my workplace. My colleagues and I took turns to prepare salad for lunch. Well...gals like to eat salad because we can fill our stomachs to MAX. without feeling SINFUL! That's the wonder of SALADS~! =D

As I had bought extra ingredients on wed, decided to make somemore of it for today's lunch since my parents are veggy-lovers. Below are pics of the salad I prepared ... ...





I attempted making croutons using my mum's AMC mini pot instead oven. The last time I prepared was using vegetable oil. So this time round, I thought of using margarine to see if it would taste better. Unfortunately, most of the bread cubes were burnt, but still tastes quite well. Then I decided to use vegetable oil for the second batch of croutons. Well, from this experiment, I can conclude the following points:

Croutons made using margaine (left side)... ...

  • easily burnt if left un-tossed

  • saltier

  • less crispy, softer in texture

  • nicer colour

Croutons made using vegetable oil (right side)... ...

  • less likely to get burnt

  • brings out sweet note and fragrance of bread flavor

  • crispier
I then read on the internet, can add more flavour to the crotons by adding salt and pepper in the oil to be tossed with the bread cubes. I would suggest adding basil and onion powder, well just some personal preference! Beside, using olive oil is also a healthier choice.

The ingredients used for the salad included ... ...

  • Lettuce (2 types) 

  • Cherry tomatoes

  • Potatoes

  • Vegetable mix (Carrot cubes, corns and peas)

  • Crab meat

  • Black pepper ham

  • Raisins

  • Home-made Croutons
As for the salad dressing, I provided two types 1) Thousand-island 2) Mixed Berries Yoghurt.

I was afraid my colleauges would not like it with yoghurt dressing. In the salad that I bought to work, I also added green apples and egg toufu which compliments well with the other ingredients. It also added more colours to it which makes the salad more appetizing.  

Today's PH and it really feels so good when I woke up in the morning...oops sorry..I mean late morning..hee! I really enjoyed making salad for my parents! Too bad sis is still in Japan. I feel much happier now with my current job and find myself more lively! And maybe it's the nature of my job and the influence of my colleauges, I began to be more interested in cooking. In the past, I only enjoy baking, but now i enjoys both baking and cooking! Guess I will be exploring more dishes in my upcoming days! Stay tuned! =D

Sunday, January 3, 2010

HAPPY 2010!! =D

Happy new year to all! As we part year 2009, I look forward to the new year 2010! Last year has been a hectic year full of hicups, especially at work. Lost my motivation and direction in life, would say it was the most depressed year of my life. And here in year 2010, I have found my new goal in life, and that is to develop my interest in graphic design! Have enrolled myself in NAFA, certificate in basic visual communication which will commence in this coming monday! Really excited to see how far I can go!

People make resolutions on every new year, but do they realise it's always the same few made every year?! Well, I personally do not like to make resolutions because to me, it's just a tradition which many follows, and how many actually takes it seriously?! A kid does it because his or her parents wants them to do so?! =/

Anyway, just a simple wish for year 2010: I wish that everyone will have a better and happier year! Good health and wealth to ALL~! =D