How to make Konnyaku Jelly

For Steph - sorry! tech issues!

You will need (shown in the photo):
Konnyaku powder - 1 pack (10gms), makes 24 jellies
Citric Acid - 1/8 teaspoon
Food colouring - 1 drop
Flavouring, e.g. Lychee - 1/4 teaspoon
And just for fun, some dried kiwi seeds

(not shown)
Caster Sugar - 210 gms
Water - 950 ml
Canned fruit - my mum used canned lychees


The name to remember is Red Man. Yes, Red Man. Proudly made in S'pore. Everything shown above is from Red Man, except the food colouring. You can get the ingredients from NTUC or directly from Phoon Huat. The most amusing discovery I've just made is that - after repeated attempts to save my photo of the ingredients - it's all on the Phoon Huat website! Just buy the Konnyaku Jelly powder and you'll find the recipe on the back of the packet :)

So anyway, what you do is mix the Konnyaku powder and caster sugar. Boil the water, then stir this mixture in. Keep stirring, add the citric acid, colouring and flavour.

Pour the Konnyaku solution into plastic moulds where you've already placed the fruit. Chill in the fridge.

Easy to do, and they just look so pro :)

Ta-da :)

Today's Lunch

Just a snapshot of a relatively frugal lunch from the staff canteen.
And a pretty satisfying one, at that. I used to eat like this most
lunches but these days my food expenditure has increased...

Birthday Blooms

It's kind of nice to have flowers on the table at breakfast. This is my birthday bouquet from my aunt, in which she also artfully shoved in a mascara and eye liner :) love my family...

I can never quite decide but if I had to pick 2 favourite colours, I think it would be yellow and white (technically a non-colour).

One Hand Waving

OOH. I am thrilled to add this blog to my list of blogs-to-check-frequently.
http://thesoundofonehandwaving.blogspot.com/

Janice Tay, ST correspondent, has been studying/working in Japan for some time and I've always enjoyed her articles. Unfortunately, the blog doesn't allow for linking to individual posts at the moment so one of the articles she wrote on 22 Sep 08 has to be searched for by entering 'vending' as a key word. It's about a seemingly inane Japanese blog about a vending machine. Totally Sassy-Girl like. I could see it playing out as a movie!

I love reading blogs! (to quote Steph :)
I like going through them the hard way. None of that Google reader stuff for me, it's just not the same experience :p
Another reason I'm happy to add this blog is that most of my blogs are American-based, with 1 Australian one. Lots of mummy blogs and people-who-love-fashion/design blogs, and people-who-love-scrapbooking blogs. Whimsical Asian blogs : none, till now! Whee.

30 was good

So I was just chatting with an old classmate who shares the same birthday. And when I say old, I don't mean literally...for this birthday anyway :P

It was so funny, I was on facebook and she just popped up in my chat box. We haven't talked for what... 15 years maybe? No need for preambles to conversation, just cordial exchanges of bday wishes and exchanging thoughts about hitting the 30s and whatnot. Last year this time round, I was blue about moving up the age bracket. This year, I am much calmer. In fact, I am feeling very relaxed about many things at this point in my life. I am satisfied :)

Photo blues

I am having problems posting photos :(

Meanwhile, check out this gallery by Matt Lauder, a professional photographer - he takes astoundingly amazing, breathtaking photos of the Australian landscape.

Nitey Nite! Woohoo, the weekend's here!

Park

Played hooky today, just for awhile...

Dinner & Dessert @ Riciotti

Memo: Chelle's turn to organize next dinner :)

This was tonight's lovely dessert from Riciotti (ri-CHIO-tee, said
Steph). I was reminded of my warm chocolate cake recipe from Martha
which is still stuck forlornly on my fridge door - I will get down to
making it (eventually).

Yet another nice night out with Chelle and Steph!

By the way, I've been enjoying this free iPhone app called Polarizer
which turns photos into pretty cool Polaroid-like shots.

Jelly relief

It has been SO HOT of late.
My mum made Konnyaku Jelly last weekend and we slowly ate our way through a few trays. Cool, cheap and yummy!

Shadows

Day at the Museum

Like I said, I love big wide open spaces.

Ticket to transformation

Spotted along the way to the national museum. LOL! Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to watching Transformers. I'm on leave this afternoon, helping to man one of the stations that we're doing for our Amazing Race activity for the English summer camp kids. I'm supremely happy, having been able to work at home the past week. Had a super productive work spurt. Having cleared major bits of work, I get to enjoy a peaceful afternoon off. Bliss is wandering around the museum's wide open spaces with John Mayer in my ears. Ear.
Bliss #2: taking a million photos with Sheena, my photo kaki.

Sun Nite

Candy coloured houses

Tea Cosy

Tucked away in a corner of plaza sing, right next to spotlight's craft
corner (and by association, delightful!) is a unique cafe called Tea
Cosy. It's hidden amidst what I can only describe as decorative knick-
knacks and it's such a gem. A quiet corner and good food. Now this is
how dory should be done - lightly panfried and with miso soup. Tis a
nice lunch.

I had a productive morning at work, clearing some tasks before the
busy week comes along. Now to peruse the crafts section before I head
down to church. We have a camp over the next fortnight so we are
gearing up. I think of this afternoon's little getaway as the calm
before the storm :)

Tuesday by the beach

View of the the shoreline from the jetty. Imagine along with me, a salty breeze, a day winding down. The East Coast always reminds me of school days and of kayaking.

Good cheer

(above) Rhetorical Statements

Being a little restless as I usually am when three-quarters of the world (my world) seems to be on leave, I thought I would take the afternoon off and brighten Wendy's day with my presence. And cake (chocolate truffle from cedele - it's good). And sushi (new find: yummy sushi and reasonably priced, at Jason's supermarket). And chocolate cookies.

Goodnight, Monday

Pretty!! And soothing to listen to on a quiet Monday night!

It probably will not surprise some of you that (a) I took an Intro to Music elective in uni (b) that I still have the lists of music we were supposed to listen to (c) yes, I listened to them all (d) and I also annotated them with my reactions (smiley face for those I liked, etc).

Back in the day, we had to go all the way down to the basement of the library to borrow the music...and now it's all on youtube...

Anyway, one of the smiley faces went to...
Satie's Gymnopedies 1... (like the overcast skies I like :)


Goodnight world! (Music: clair de lune, fades out softly...)

Hello Monday

Spotted in Bali.

For Feli who's 'dreaming of a holiday'... not to worry, it's coming soon (maybe...). And for anyone else who needs a chuckle :)

Monkey Business

News: A monkey generated work for some hapless NParks employee somewhere. I must admit I was mightily curious about this dangerous monkey.

Slice of life

Breakfast with Khairani. Perfectly done eggs and good strong coffee. And lots of catching up on life stories!

Today's treat

I haven't been to Ghim Moh market for ages. So today was a treat -
Ipoh hot fun and for dessert, peanut & sesame glutinous rice balls in
sweet peanut soup... Too many things were calling my name, I shall
have to go back again...

Indulgent Saturday

I finally signed up for my own iTunes account and for the first time
in my life, paid for a game (all of 99 cents) rather than just use the
free versions.. And I am having oodles of fun with the (free) photo
apps! Super fun. Samples will be shared in due course!

I love a man with a sense of humour

It was from the blog of the stylishly entertaining Ms Spinach that I first heard of the White House's flickr photostream (Impressive!). What caught my attention though was this hilarious photo and all the comments it attracted. LOL.

Day off

Just so you know, it's a bright and sunny day...

Minorly bored

10am and my hair has held up pretty well I think :) inspired by a
video that Stella sent me, bless her heart...

Update: Here's the video!

Heart heart heart

I really get a great kick out of drinking a drink with a heart in it.
My frequent lunch time treat :)

Mixing business with pleasure

I wonder what it feels like to do craft all day ... for work :P
Does it feel a bit like being in some strange land at the top of the faraway tree?

Why I Blog

1. To capture the enjoyment / happiness I feel
2. To help me remember things, like when I last met some friends, as I did tonight at the extremely charming & affordable Pasta Brava. I met Chelle & Steph for dinner. And oh Steph, last time we met was in Feb :)
   
3. For fun
4. ...and for other reasons I'll talk about some other time when I'm less sleepy :)
   

Things to give thanks for

...namely, people in my life who swoop down on me at lunch time on a day in which (1) work is taking its toll (2) it is a very wet day in which it is near impossible to get out for lunch and the prospect of canteen food seems dreary (3) I need cheering up. Thanks gal :) This is at House at Dempsey Road. This is truffle pizza and some delicious squid concoction on the right.

Sun-dae

Sticky Chewy Chocolate!

Sweet Surprise

I was talking to a colleague on the train this morning and mentioned
that I was feeling panicky about some deadlines. After lunch he came
by with some cheesecake to cheer me up. How sweet! That's the kind of
thing I would do for someone so I hardly know what to say when I'm on
the receiving end. Um, except a very big Thank You.

Tea at the Raffles

It was a pleasant afternoon off.

Nightfall

Though the photo doesn't suggest it, it is now night as I write this.

It was a beautiful day. Joe and Mandy got married. Little boy Joe, a kid who I recall was a terror in sunday school. The kid whose favourite t-shirt for a season cheerfully proclaimed "I'm here for the beer!" It was a very sweet wedding. My brother was busy scampering about helping the couple, in his new suit and with his brand new ties which I take some credit for. Oh he looked very nice :)

It was a nice hot-but-windy-day.

Dinner was nice too. Good food and it's always nice to see everyone dressed up.

And beautiful thought, the weekend is starting!

It is night. I have had a good day and am satisfied.

My noticeboard, May 09

I brought my stamps home from work where I've been doing craft stuff with a colleague at lunch. This being a long weekend, and with my new stamps, I thought I'd have time for some craft. Made a card for Joel & Mandy who got married this May Day.

I've been playing with my friend's Polaroid camera. I wasted one shot at lunch with Stella, Jac and Sheena when I accidentally pressed the wrong button. There went $3. I stuck it up on my board as a reminder of lunch, and I tried stamping on it to see the effect.

A giant A by Adobe which I love. I tore it out of a brochure.

Christmas card from Sheena. We made our cards at Chelle's store, I mean, home :)

Some Lomo photos that I cut up.

A little pen and marker thing I did after seeing Jacob's website.

And things that have been on my noticeboard for ages... what I have previously described as a decorative thing, and a toothpick-and-macaroni-letters painted over with nail polish from a secondary school fun fair made by my one of my classmates. Someone once said that things in my house don't change that much, which is pretty true!

Here's looking at you, kid

I had a good time gallivanting tonight. Bought new craft stuff from Made With Love that I can't wait to use. Serendipitously bumped into Chelle who has a discount card! Whee. Hopped over to vivocity where I met up with my cousin who's temping at the national geographic store's Big Blue exhibit. Oh, the funny questions passers-by have asked...is it real?..(feeding time's at 4, she says, deadpan. She has her dad's sense of humour.) Anyway, the exciting thing to a stationery freak like me was there were free notebooks up for grabs! Fill in a short quiz related to the exhibit and exchange it for a notebook at the nearby very cool Nat Geo store. I want to go back to the Nat Geo store soon and check out all there cool stuff. the exhibit's on only till 3 may, folks! I know, I know - I've been caught, hook, line and sinker :) Ok I just had to say that.

Mini poster for a friend

So the story behind this is this:

This was for a friend who was very stressed. So I decided to focus my crafting activity for the week on making her a card.

I used a card from paper source ('Do something creative every day' is their motto), and started stamping. As I've mentioned, I've been doing craft stuff with my colleague who is also into it, and what a nice lunch time activity it makes! We're trying to get together once a week.

Open the pretty card and ta-da! A mini poster. I'm utilising my love, elsie stamps, still getting the hang of them but they work pretty well and the little ladybug stamp is a favourite. I was trying to keep the colour scheme pretty spare but anyway the letters can be coloured in and customised by the recipient, which I think is cool.

The Bible verse behind the text is from 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7.
"...casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
Incidentally, is that a play on words?

A long time ago, when I was still in school, Calvin gave me a little decorative thing with that verse on it. I still have it on my desk. It reminds me of what it felt like to be a student and have piles of work to do. I am so glad those days are over and I thank God for bringing me through all those times!

Once upon a time, two girls got together to make t-shirts for their
music team in church. They had all this fabric writer which they also
used for cards and such.

Years later, one of the girls remembered she still had them at the
back of her drawer and fished them out for use in Sunday School.
Amazingly, they still worked! And so another generation got to enjoy
them. The end.

[Afternote: Hmm, the Tulips brand was all dried up after all but I'm happy to report that the Scribbles brand lasts a long long time ;)]

Friday Night

I took a stroll down Orchard Road. I haven't been there in ages so it
feels sightly alien. Behold the new Orchard Central, at the site of
the old specialist's centre.

Random sounds of music

On and off, I've been feeling like watching The Sound of Music. Well, I will get down to it sooner or later. Meanwhile, here's something that tickled me. I particularly liked the little remix thing going on :p (via molly irwin)



This past weekend was a whirl of activity. I was thinking I should feel less guilty for the weekends in which I gleefully spend Saturday morning goofing around.

Discovery of the day

Treasure! Buried under a pile of Christmas cards! To Kino we will go...

LOL

The surfing amusement continues. Via Elise.
Also from her site: I agree that this photographer is really good! I like.
Incidentally, this is my 100th post! I am slightly surprised that it's continued :)

Fashion and Art

I really wish Jacob had an online store.

Life Un-Emcumbered

I am feeling a little under the weather.
Maybe it's a post-holiday reaction, what with the loss of my million-dollar pool-and-sea view at breakfast time?
I was pretty busy when I got back to work, and it was a relief that this week was a short one.

So. I have a slight cold on the horizon but a long weekend ahead of me. So far, so good.

I am indulging in enjoying the moment, reveling in my beloved weekend morning activities i.e. lolling about the couch with newspapers in hand and surfing about the blogosphere. And hunting for cool new fonts.

And oh! This has just tickled me. A photo of canoing (or kayaks? I never know the diff.) in France, via a cup of jo. There was a time when feli and I were in France and we were taken with a wild fancy to canoe in some river in the middle of nowhere. So we got all excited and started making long-distance phone calls in a bid to get ourselves some kayaks. (Bonjour monsieur, do you have any kayaks...?) Alas, we were foiled by a lack of time for the said kayaking. Still, we tried. Ah, days of freedom and fancy.

















It is a very good Friday indeed.

Dinner at Khaima, Moroccan Restaurant

Rest

There is something magical about an open living room with the wind
blowing through. I could gaze at the horizon for a long long time.

A great way to start the day.

Garden Party

Serendipitiously, we were invited to the gala opening of ayana hotel &
spa last night - this was previously the ritz carlton. There were a
million lights in the garden.

What a view

This is the most amazing view I've ever seen. St Tropez pales in
comparison :)

Caption: the view from the hillside (outdoors!!) lift

Poolside 0815hrs

After breakfast.

Where I am this minute

Sun rises early in Bali. I was up at 6am to enjoy the peace and quiet.
We are up on a hill and it feels like we are the only ones around. I
am enjoying this respite from everything.