Of OSIM uZap, McDonalds Fantastic and Xando X-Fat

Bought one of this OSIM UZAP at Changi airport before boarding the plane bound for Melbourne on the night we left Singapore. Have faithfully been using it every night. Results ? hehe...I have to confess that I still binge eat - ice creams, chocolates, deep fried foods, chips, lollies and all unhealthy stuff when I am stressed with the kids!

watch the commercial:



ALSO, I LOVE the McDonalds Fantastic burger, which in my opinion, the rice patties are yummier than MOS Burger's (how I miss it....ah...of MOS Burger, I have a story to tell...hmmmm). My kids love them too, my parents too. Is it still available now? It's junk food but it's good food. That explains why I need UZAP.



MAYBE I need this - Xando X-Fat. The actress in the ad, Fann (Woon Fong), was my primary classmate back in Sennett Estate Primary School. She's always been this Fann-tastic. She's been blessed with a tall figure, fair smooth porcelain skin, good looks and is cut out to be in the showbiz. I was a really skinny girl then - whilst she has maintain her svelte figure, I have ballooned from a 45kg frame to one who weighs 50-51kg after 2 kids plus flabs here and there. I MUST endeavour to take up Pilates. I MUST call the physiotherapy centre who offers Pilates first thing tomorrow. I MUST. I MUST. I MUST. (although this has been "playing" in my mind since I came back.)



haha...

You can watch all the Singapore commercials from this fella's blog : sgtvcm

"How to have a Beautiful Mind"

Bought this book titled above by author Edward De Bono when it was first released 2 years ago. From Borders or one of the other booksellers I cant remember. Have long admired the author since uni days when we studied about his "Six Thinking Hats" in one of our Marketing units ? Boy, cannot remember or could it be one of those Managements subjects. Memory losing me. More so of the latter.

Anyway, I was going though depression and was seeking ways out of that state of mind and read through chapter by chapter faithfully every night. Recently I took the book out to skim through the chapters again.

So, do I have a beautiful mind after reading this book ? Well, I have to be very frank with you, answer is NO.

have it all

some people seems to have it all....looks, money, status, career

why?

Black Beans

Article from www.zaobao.com.sg. About the goodness of Black Beans.

听日本友人说，近年来日本掀起了黑色食品热，黑豆、黑米、乌骨鸡走俏日本餐桌，人人趋之若鹜。

翻查资料后发现，日本人不怕“黑”大有原因。一来自然的黑色食品，有害成分含量少，二是营养成分齐全，优质多，三是具有明显的保健功能。

接下来《食材搜主意》就跟大家一起走进“黑食材”世界，揭开它们的黑色秘密，这期先介绍黑豆。

黑豆，又名橹豆、料豆、零鸟豆。别看它全身黑不溜秋的，可有人给它戴上“豆中之王”的桂冠。

　　“豆中之王”可不是空有虚名的，中医界、现代科研对它都有不少好评价。

　　黑豆是豆科植物大豆的黑色种子，是大豆的一个品种，它和黄豆、大豆的营养成分相同，但蛋白质和铁质的含量较高，此外，还有脂肪、碳水化合物、胡萝卜素、维生素B1、B2和烟酸等营养物质，而且是异黄酮的最佳来源。异黄酮有促进钙质吸收的作用，它还可改善骨质疏松症状。

　　有报道指出，日本科学家临床试验发现，黑豆有降血压功效。传统中医认为，黑豆解毒补肾，并有利尿、治感冒、活血等功能。也许是这个缘故，黑豆一直被视为药食两佳的食品。

　　目前在市场上可以看到各种黑豆食品，比如黑豆浆、黑豆酒，在日本更风行黑豆咖啡，听说还出现了黑豆香肠、黑豆冰淇淋、黑豆面条、黑豆酸奶等。

作为保健食品，病后体虚者可用黑豆煮水喝，早晚各一次，一般食用一周即见康复效果；正在发育的儿童每天吃两次黑豆糊可促进生长；一般人可以黑豆杜仲炖猪尾或黑豆泥蒸排骨补肾和补腰膝。

our beloved ah-gu

my dear brother and the kids' beloved ah-gu (uncle in Hokkien dialect) is now based in Japan for work. here is his latest picture sent to us. he looks so cool. Theo especially, has been telling that he wants to go to Japan to visit him and to Tokyo Disneyland as well. they (the kids) simply adore him lots.

then there is the story of one poor little fish.......ha....keep you in suspense!...hello ah-gu, if are reading this, any photos ? of poor little "Dimitri"?

en block

it's funny how you get to see your ex-home of 27 years, my birthplace, (a place so dearly missed and being so far away from my it now), in The Straits Times Interactive news today. true enough, the en bloc wouldnt have gotten through if not for the 80% collective agreement law and the price would have fetched slightly over $1m for each of the 30 households if it was sold years ago and not last year at a much reduced price. well, not that my parents got the full amount though, they were "robbed" half of it by my paternal aunts. it's with mostly bitter than sweet memories for me I guess although at the same time, the place is dearly missed. Contradictory self?

Theo was at the Commonwealth Games !

Hubba and him went to watch the athletes compete on Tuesday. $45 bucks even for a child - cant believe it !

Well, at least he can proudly claim that he's been to the Commonwealth Games. good on ya my young man.

Batman and Cinderella

Boys will be boys will be boys will be boys - that is why Theodore pestered me so badly for a Batman costume which I duly bought for him for his 5th birthday on 28 Dec 2005 last year.


Girls will be girls ? true to the bits - with Tessa of course. Her favourite colour ? Pink. And know what ? For her 3rd birthday party at Playdays, she got a pressie from our neighbour, who gave her a pretty Cinderella costume. She's been faithfully wearing them especially so now during the school hols.

dinner

dinner today was, besides rice, mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, tomatoes) and char siu (bbq pork) on a bed of fried crispy noodles glazed with corn and egg white gravy and a soup of tofu, tomatoes, zha-cai (pickled mustard?), fish noodles with some lettuce leaves, spring onion and coriander.

you judge.

myer my store

That irritating half of mine, who has not seen my blog, popped by my laptop and saw my blog, and chided my "my style. my life!" title - you mean "myer my store" ? referring to the tagline used by the local departmental store Myer (who is on the verge of being sold off). Stepping into one of their stores is like stepping behind the timeline - ultra-old look and ambience, decor and style. Although I love shopping, I find shopping at Myer a bore. :( - I still prefer Tangs/Takashimaya/Isetan/Robinsons in Singapore or Lane Crawford/Sogo in Hong Kong, where my other half is from.

I Love Popiah

Being a Hokkien, my family used to make Popiah and we all LOVE it coz it is healthy despite the tremendous amount of effort and time required to prepare and make it. Although in Singapore, it would have been easier to buy the skin from that uncle in the market who makes and sells them FRESH!

However, being here in Melbourne, I have, but to make my own skin in order to eat the food I missed most. And boy, that took me ONE whole day just to prepare the skins for a party I had for about 30 people including kids last August.

Anyway, here are the recipes for making the popiah skin with eggs. (No, you dont do it the way it was in Eat Drink Man Woman)- I had a crepe pan and made them piece by piece.

Recipe 1:
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup cold water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
1 cup plain flour

Method : Beat eggs & water until well mixed (but not too frothy). Add salt, oil and flour and beat till smooth. Allow to rest for 30 mins. Slightly oil pan and pour batter in.

Recipe 2:
3 eggs
800ml water
260g flour
80g tapioca flour
50ml oil
1tsp salt
yellow colouring (optional)

Method: Lightly beat eggs & stir in water. Gradually add the mixture to the 2 types of flour and salt. Mix well to a batter. Add oil & strain. Leave aside for 20-30 mins. Heat non-stick pan and pour batter in using a ladle.

Popiah ingredients by order to layer them onto the popiah skin:
sweet soy sauce
chilli sauce
grounded crushed peanuts
lettuce leaves
coriander
bean shoots
egg omelette
chinese sausages (optional)
shrimps (optional)
cooked bang-kuang (turnips)stewed with deep fried tofu (cut into strips), leeks, beans, carrots and bamboo shoots and a bit of pork belly strips and/or shrimps

enjoy !

Shopping !!!

As i said, I will talk about the recent shopping trips made, only 2, to be precise, excluding of course, trips to the supermarkets, Asian grocery shops and market. Both trips were at Chadstone, yes, the fashion capital of Melbourne !

On my first trip to Chadstone, I only had enough time to spend at Borders Bookstore only. I managed to pick a few titles at 20% having to produce my "expired" student ID on a course I did with Holmesglen for 1 semester last year, but then again, even my 3 year old daughter would be entitled to the discount as it was for "all students regardless of age". Ha. The rest of the other time was spent having lunch at Gloria Jeans having lunch with Jo, my coursemate from the course, and indulging in the vegetarian fritatta, lemon tart and a smoothie. And because my daughter refused to eat her tart nor the fritatta, I had to buy her sushi - her all-time favourite.

On the 2nd trip though, I would say, it was not meant to be a shopping trip per se, however, being in Chadstone, as you know, it was such a waste not to shop in the shops at all. I can tell you, it was worth every effort we made, although with our kids in tow, I managed to buy 2 jackets (1 brown and 1 black), in time for late autumn/winter for $15 after a further markdown of 25% from $10 per jacket which was originally priced at $49.99. Then I got a tank-top for $2.50, some kids winter pyjamams and dressing robes where you buy the 1st one and get the 2nd piece at 50% discount all from Kmart. By the end of the trip, I had accumulated a Andrea Bocelli latest CD from JB Hi-Fi, 2 books from Borders, Mrs Fields Cookies, 2 bottles of QV Body Wash, Klorane dry hair wash, ModelCo Wonderfull lip plumper and SkinDrink AirBrush moisturiser and get a free CoolFeet AirBrush CatWalk Heels!

My Kids

These are my kids - Theodore and Tessa.

Picture taken at Hai Tien Lo on the top of Pan Pacific Hotel, Singapore.

Were there on Jan 2 to celebrate both Theodore's and Jeremy's birthday.

They love Singapore. Me ? everything except the weather I suppose. There isn't a perfect country, is there ?

recounting the days from Jan to Mar

As I was saying, I couldnt believe how time flies. I'd better start to recount the days since the beginning of 2006 -

January - Singapore. A month that was so full of events ! - birthdays, catching up with old friends, eating out, shopping, moving house, Chinese New Year...................

Jan 1 - New Year's Day. Having just arrived into Singapore the night before, we spent the whole day recuperating at my parents' place.
Jan 2 - celebrated my brother Jeremy's and Theodore's bday as it happened that this year both their bdays fell on the same day in the different calendars.
Jan 19 - we bade farewell to 21 St Michael's Rd. The enbloc sale for St Michael's Court finally went ahead. This was the place I grew up in before moving to Australia in July 1998. Was sad but at the same time glad. The location was great but the facilities wasn't.
Jan 20 - First day at new place. We ALL love it. Pool view, great facilities and all except for the location.
Jan 28 - Chinese New Year's Eve. We had steamboat dinner. I even bought "poon choy" from Crystal Jade at Ngee Ann City.
Jan 29 & 30 - Well, I wore my burgundy red cheong-sam bought from Madame Butterfly but gosh, it was so hot. I prefer my baby pink mphosis dress anytime but only to be spoilt by a tartar sauce spill thanks to well, Tessa, who else.
And yes, Jeremy's friend bought "yu-sheng" for us to "lo-hei" !
31 Jan - I organized a BBQ at the pit downstairs and invited most friends over and had a jolly good time catching up and meeting before we head back to Melbourne soon.

February - part Singapore part Melbourne
Feb 3 - Friends from Melbourne came for a 1 night stopover and stayed with us. Julia arrived first at 5pm and the kids and I went to pick her up at the airport. Went to Crystal Jade xiaolongbao restaurant for dinner. It was yummy ! Couldnt believe Tessa ate so much that night, in fact she had total in all 5 xiaolongbao in addition to the noodles and other stuff we ordered. Met Lee Chyi at CityHall MRT. This girl needed no introduction to Singapore as she was from nearby JB while growing up and used to visit Singapore umpteen times. We then went to the Singapore River HongBao at the Esplanade. Mum, dad and kids went home first and we girls proceeded to Boat Quay for a drink at Coffee Bean.

Feb 4 - Lee Chyi and Julia came back from town just before we were to proceed to the airport with "yu-sheng". This was from a Japanese restaurant and was, in my opinion, better than the one we had bought from a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Due to a full flight on SQ237, we could not get onto the flight despite trying at the airport and had to return home. I was really grateful though to the Singapore Airlines airport manager at the check-in counter who could get us 3 seats despite the heavily booked flights out of Singapore the next night. phew !
Feb 5 - visited my cousin Corinne at KK who had delivered a pair of twin girls at 2 month's prematured. Thank God for their safe delivery. Left Singapore finally on SQ227. Couldnt bear to leave my ageing parents.
Feb 6 - My world exploded.
Feb 7 - Theo's 1st day at prep at Donvale Christian College.
the rest of Feb - couldnt really be bothered with what's what and all's all. as I said, my world exploded.

March - Life in Melbourne
Mar 1 - Tessa's 3rd birthday. And she started kinder at Kalker Montessori. She was already familiar with Rani and Barbara and therefore adjusted very well to the environment, in fact, she was taking on to the tasks and activities like she already knew!. Thanks to Jane who was so helpful to guide her along. She was just so sweet teaching her, guiding her like a little big sister. That night ,I made a simple birthday cake and together with grandma and grandpa in Singapore, thanks to Skype and technology and the webcam, we celebrated her bday realtime with them.
Mar 4 - We combined a birthday party celebration at Playdays together with our neighbour Ivan and Happy to celebrate their son Christian's 1st birthday party and Tessa's. It was Tessa's 1st party celebration after all and I was glad I pushed ahead with the plans to have a party for her.
Mar 10 - start of Term 1 school holiday !...grrrrrrr
Mar 15 - Commonwealth Games - love the fireworks and the flying tram !
Mar 17 - went shopping at Chadstone with Florence and her 2 kids.originally planned to go either bowling or to the movies, however, we ended up shopping heaps. and yes, with kids in tow! hmmm, talk about shopping, I will dedicate a post just on this when I have time. :)
Mar 18 - went to see the Macs with Florence and family and Jonathan. then went shopping for grocery and food. they came for dinner and I had to prepare dinner for 8 adults and 8 kids in 1-2 hours time. Thank God I made it.

the creation of style.life!

March 19 2006. Sunday. Melbourne, Australia. Mild autumns night.

Term 1 School Holidays.

Commonwealth Games.

1st blog.

1st quarter of 2006 will be gone in 12 days time.

sigh